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e e all right Julie if you wouldn't mind uh calling roll call please K cast one of those things Ken Dawson here Chris esposa here Charelle Fuller here Jenny hagstrom here Terry pavage here and Don Runner here thank you okay having a quorum let's stand for pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right Julie the first reception of visitors do we have any slips no sir no okay I'm going to turn it over to Hank for item number four let's time just a couple of quick items for the board this evening uh the first of these is uh the final opportunity for discussion on strategic plan draft indicators and measures uh we're asking the board to take action on these tonight and adopt these uh just to review uh quickly review uh these stem from our larger mission statement uh you can see the Mission Vision and values up there uh those pieces created by that strategic plan committee a couple of years ago uh led to our work over the last year of trying to identify what our top priorities were inside of these uh to actually measure and Report out on regularly to the board as indicators of our success within those the Strategic plan are four strategic directions which are listed across the top of the page there underneath there the Strategic plan planning committee outlined for us some descriptions of what those things mean based on that we went back to our work uh the work that we're doing and uh what we hope to do in the future and looked for ways to come back to the board and show you uh ways in which which we are making strides in these areas and to identify gaps that we have and to come back and explain how we're working to close those gaps uh so the board has seen these in at least four separate occasions so I I don't want to necessarily read through all of them to you you've seen them this is just kind of the final format that'll present as these uh four slides I'm showing you will eventually end up on our website as that single page document that provides the overview and then we'll provide the kind of structure as we report out throughout the year uh so you can see this for each of the four domains and that's pretty much it so asking uh tonight for any last questions uh before we take this for Action otherwise we'll adopt it and then this will become a major part of our uh welcome back for staff uh week from tomorrow that's here so fast oh honestly it just seems like yesterday we were at graduation oh gosh time flies when you're having a summer yeah but in the winter time it doesn't seem to go this fast not this quick no I would just like to commend the administration all the work that went into this uh I think it looks really nice it's appealing it's visually um I think it's concise and presented in a way that is easily to be understood so kudos to your team and putting all of this together it was truly a collaborative effort there was a lot of people across the whole organization involved in it so thank you thank you all right well and then hopefully you'll approve it and then get ready because the rest of the year is really going to focus board reports will be a lot of them will tie back to these MH that just now will Encompass getting the work done behind the bullets right yep that's what our work will be well it really helps us Focus what that work is for us it's these 11 things that are most important in the work that we're doing all right I'm going to turn this one over to Gina all right thank you so we are recommending an increase in the number of days a student would be considered excused per semester which is outlined in our student handbook our student parent handbook currently it is after the sixth absence that we pretty much require documentation from families so doctors know those kinds of things and of course there's reasons under school code for which a student can be excused absence we are recommending shifting that to after the eighth absence and for a variety of different reasons there's no requirement in school code as to the number of excused absences until it triggers unexcused so there's nothing there that's precluding us from that change that is something that is set within the district and each district can set it some districts do not have a certain amount right other districts like ours it's after the 6th we believe we should change it for several reasons you know we've talked a lot in recent years about chronic absenteeism you may recall our chronic absenteeism rate MH is significant and something we've been working on for I don't know the last three or four years it's it's been a while that we've been working on pic definitely post pandemic and um that rate will not be impacted as much by this because that rate is 10% of the school year so 17.6 days excused or unexcused another factor that I'm the school report card though is chronic truancy chronic treny is 5% of the school year and only considers unexcused absences and so this could potentially and is potentially inflating that number for us you may recall also related or coming out around the time of the pandemic a little bit thereafter that the state is allow students to take up to 5 days per school year off for mental or behavioral health reasons and so in alignment with that that that's approximately 2 days per semester we feel that moving from 6 to 8 takes an account for that change in terms of authorized Days by state law so there's a couple of different reasons that we would like to shift from the 6th to the e8th absence in terms of changing our practice we're still going to be doing all the Outreach that you've heard about in various board presentations that we do related to attendance but it would be a change from which when documentation would be required and when an excused absence could potentially flip from being excused excused if I remember correctly the excused absence well absolutely were a part of the atenism yeah so I'm making the assumption that we probably can't change the definition of excuse actions we don't have control over that corre correct yeah because that was a little cloy to me how it's mastered mhm but the control we have is just to change the number of days because there's no stipulation on that you're absolutely correct okay this also helps our Deans a little bit when they call it six sometimes parents are like well why you calling me now you know and it's kind of hard to say six when the state numberers really closer to eight right now it all kind of lines up where they can say well the state has this measure of chronic absenteeism and it's any absences that are you know and it kind of helps that narrative in the dean's Department that it doesn't feel as arbitrary because it is kind of an arbitrary number of six it's more correlates with that state measure we have using language of absent with parents too so that aligns nicely so can you explain the eight then the eight is a state measure the you're not required the state measure is 17 and a half in a year is when you become chronically abon so eight in a semester eight is half okay kind half the so okay yeah it's in that and the idea is we want to prevent students from getting to be considered chronic chronically absent so since this is a change in the handbook we're bringing it to the board for yeah we don't print the handbook anymore do we it's online it's all all online so this is easy to yeah we'll just update the online document yeah I believe Julie does well by we we mean Julie we mean Julie yeah thank you Julie is a lot of people so it'll be at the ninth absence that they'll start asking and and subsequent yeah yeah yes and yeah yes how does this impact truancy so true in so there's chronic absenteeism which is what we typically focus on in part because chronic absenteeism impacts our Summit of designation you've heard me talk about Summit of designations every time I do a school report card chronic treny does not but it is part of the school report card it is reported if you go to Illinois school report card you look at our district or any District in Illinois you're going to see that every district has a rate we determine based on school code though things that can be excused we decide what's unexcused certainly we use school code to guide but that number is our deter ation it's not like school code says oh you can only have six and so it should and I can't say for sure every year is different every student is different um it should impact our chronic treny rates which are approximately about 15% 15.5 and by bringing it down which would have what impact on the score par card nothing lower number it's a lower number it's a it's a number that you can view on the school report card there's a lot of data on the school cour sorry I'm not following I don't understand I'm not following the connection dety so chronic truancy is defined as a a chronic truant is a student who missed 5% of school y right unexcused for an unexcused reason y they don't factor in the excused we decide that right now after the six if a family does not provide documentation that even if the parents call and say Johnny is sick it's unexcused now I got loss with that unless you bring a doctor's or a medical medical yeah whatever absolutely some documentation which is which is making more of our students true it absolutely because of the number we have selected and we did not adjust than other districts we have a lower threshold for frency yes got it and we did not adjust when the mental health days went into place we did not adjust for that so for truy you're saying if a parent call and said my kid was sick but there's no doctor's note or then that's Tru it no after after the eth after the eth that's what we're recommending after the eth but currently it's after the sixth it I guess my question is is is there a reason why it's eight rather than 10 because that's two weeks so so we we want to head it off before a student becomes chronically absent which is two weeks this is before the threshold of 17 and a half days yeah so it would be 16 we also don't want to give the impression that it's okay to be it's okay to be ABS I guess I look at College visits and things like that could add up to eight pretty easily you can they can when I first looked at this my my impression was we're having absenteeism problem problems and we're now making it more lenient um but I understand why but at first blush that was my resp that's why we but it went back to me the fact that when I thought about with the excuse absence with what was in there it it it kind of to me felt like that should be changing but there is no way we could do that right cuz if you're excused and you're going to college visits I mean to me that's you know and I get to six of those that's easy to do in a semester because there are a lot of colleges right so and especially if you go uh Coast to Coast you know you could easily take 3 days maybe four days at each visit so just getting there yeah well that's what I mean you know I think the move to eight is is like you said we had never made the adjustment with the mental health days so it's more consistent with what has been done around the state correct yeah it's the what this threshold is at is really not consistent across the state but what is consistent across the state is chronic anarchism at that larger number this then aligns with that larger number and it just kind of brings everything into that Focus being reducing chronic absenteeism and the metrics that are associated with it cool is there any impact to like an individual student in terms of being designated as chronically Trent like is there there's no enforcement or any no I mean obviously it might impact student learning there's obviously well there's those yeah but I mean like discipline there's yeah no different discipline for that or something that would follow a kid around or something like that yeah all right any other questions no all right this is about to be an action item as well okay item number five the consent agenda before the vote board votes on the consent agenda is there any agenda item a board member would like to pull out of the consent agenda for further discussion no okay hearing none can I get a motion for the Board of Education to approve the consent agenda is presented which includes a person Personnel report appointment certified contract adjustment certified appointment classified B Personnel report retirement classified resignation classified C strategic plan indicators and measures 2024 to 2025 and D student parent handbook change absenteeism so moved second Terry moves K seconds thank you Terry pavage hi Ken Dawson hi Espinosa hi Charelle Fuller hi Jenny hagstrom I Cara Caston hi and Don rener I motion carries item number six uh second reception of visitors Julie do we have any slips no sir thank you item number seven closed session um can I get a motion from the Board of Education to go into close session for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park recreational or educational setting or specific volunte of the district or legal counsil for the district including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee a specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park recreational or educational setting or a volunteer of the district or against legal counsil for the district to determine its validity so moved second Terry moves Ken seconds thank you Terry pavich hi Ken Dawson hi Chris Espinosa hi dra poer hi Benny hagstrom hi Cara Caston hi and Don r i motion carries for the members of the public the board may be taking action on a person Personnel matter as noted in the agenda when it comes out of closed session we are in closed session all right does it matter what day

[Music] hello and welcome to the Views expressed we are a public Affairs program uh broadcasting on waca TV right here in Ash Massachusetts today we have a very special guest Mariel Kramer she is a candidate for Governor's Council here in the Commonwealth District 2 Miss Kramer thank you so much for joining us today thank you so much for having me and for doing this for all the candidates I really appreciate this well we appreciate having you too and uh we're not going to waste any of your time we're just G to jump right into it if that's okay great awesome so a little bit about you first what's your personal background oh wow so my personal background uh I'm a United States Air Force veteran my husband and I moved to Massachusetts um actually I grew up in Massachusetts but we moved back to Massachusetts after college because we were stationed at hansam Air Force Base and we've been in hopkington actually for probably about 32 years and I uh left the Air Force uh did a lot of um I did some freelance writing for local papers I worked as a Certified Pharmacy Technician for a number of years I we my husband and I raised our six children here and then I went back to school when my youngest were in high school and I got my degree in social work looking for a degree um that I could use to work in social justice Fields I didn't at the time when I was looking for my next chapters work um I didn't know that social work was social justice work found that out and went back to Boston College they have a actually they have a macro Social Work Program which is about systemic change transformational social work so that's uh that's what I did and I uh started my social work career in homelessness services in Boston and Cambridge so working with a lot of people with very deep challenges um a lot of access challenges to services and support rep s for health care in general but certainly Behavioral Health Care substance use disorder treatment mental health treatment um and that's actually what what brings me to um fast forward to the work I want to do on the governor's Council well that sounds there are a lot of questions and we gonna save those for a little later uh but that's a very interesting background but you're running for Governor's Council right now first I'm gonna ask you why you're doing this uh but I also want you to explain for some of our viewers out here who may not be familiar with what the government's council is charged with doing um if you could give a little background on what this position is what is the governor's Council and then why you're running yep yeah I I really appreciate that um so the governor's Council um is a little bit of um an advisory Council just to use sort of Layman's language for the governor and lieutenant governor on um on appointments for judges clerk magistrates parole board appointees industrial accident review board appointees some bills you know some bills that come before uh the governor's Council um also Pardons and commutation decisions also decisions on notary publics and Justice of the pieces so it's a there's actually a very uh broad scope of appointments that the governor's Council might be um tasked to interact with when you say IND direct does the governor's Council make those appointments or what what's the function in those yeah they make the final decision on those appointments yes so um they have an opportunity to uh to review the candidates um professional record personal personal experiences too I'm sure if they play into the professional record um although I think in 2024 we need to draw a bright line between uh a person's personal life and their professional life but that's those are those are lines that are sometimes hard in in in real time but they do um they do make these decisions they get a chance to review the work they get a chance to interview the candidates before the governor's Council hearing and then they get a chance again to publicly interview as a collective so they can interview these candidates individually and then um they meet they meet on Wednesday typically um the public can by the way watch these meetings or watch them after the fact because they live stream them um and uh and they meet they interview the candidates and then uh typically a week uh a week later they vote on the candidates whether to make the appointments or not to make the appointments so that thank you for for providing that that detail I feel that sometimes voters will see that circle on their ballot and just sort of like fill it in and not really understand like what what that position is yeah think you're right and you mentioned the ballot uh and I and it's it's not just that the governor's Council work is is a little bit obscure and you you you know you mentioned this before we started it's Unique to Massachusetts and I think maybe one other state um I'm not sure how many states have it but certainly not many it's a hold over from Colonial times from the beginning time um so a lot of people may not understand how the governor's Council works or why there is a Governor's counsel um and then also on the ballot you're right um and it's even a little bit more obscure because on the ballot we are listed as counselors doesn't even say Governor's counselor um it says counselor um so when you get your ballot if you're invested in voting you have to flip that ballot on over the primary ballot um and then under counselors you have to choose one of the four Democratic candidates um and there is a there is legislation well there's a I think there's a republican candidate that's running as well so there will be so in November they'll will there will be on the B well it depends on what ballot you pull so if you're pulling a republican ballot I'm not sure where that where that's placed on the ballot whether it's on other side or not I prob you're right I think it's probably the same to be honest with you but I'm not sure yeah yeah but no still great information and thanks for clarifying that because like counselor like what does that mean like is so now we understand what Governor's council is why are you running for Governor's Council yeah yeah I I am running for a very specific reason I work professionally um working to elevate the voices of people who are impacted by systems into to the process of developing those systems so very often when we think of uh doesn't we don't have to think very hard to understand how powerful judges and clerk magistrates and Parole Board appointees are um I think most of us if we're we're paying attention to the news can see the impact of judicial appointments um what I think is a little harder to understand perhaps for some people is how those appointments in a real way impact the people that appear before those judges so I work in um substance use disorder system development mostly um I am a very big proponent of expanding options other than incarceration for people who are substance using or suffering from mental illness I think that we can do a much better job um diverting people do you know employing restorative justice um mechanisms really helping people that appear before us accountability is a very important thing so I don't want to lose sight of that but also you know upwards of 70% of the people who are in jails and prisons are in mesed in the legal system are people suffering from mental illness or substance use disorder or both um a very high percentage in over you know people of color are over represented in that system I want to um Elevate that conversation that conversation is happening but what we don't talk to about a lot is um how to make a change change so that we level the playing field and address Equity so you are running for Governor's counsil because these are these are some of the issues that you're concerned about and as a counselor you're well we'll get into like some of the specifics around that but I just want to be clear that I understand like what what you're running um yeah I want to make sure is important yeah I want to make sure judges and clerk magistrates are really fully informed of about the things that they can do to connect people to healthier Futures okay that's great um I want to take it back to some of the conversation we've just had about Governor's Council and how it's a hold over from Colonial times and I think there's one one other it may actually be a commonwealth um it may not even be a state but like that has Governor's Council has a Governor's Council there has been a lot of talk over the past few years and questions about like should this body even exist many states don't even have it they seem to function just fine I know you're running for this office so you clearly feel like there's a function for it but I'd love to get your viewpoint on on on on that particular Viewpoint like yeah is it really needed right now why is it really needed why we use this system yeah I think that um I think that that is the right conversation to have in 2024 right I I absolutely do and I am not emotionally attached to holding on to the governor's Council I do recognize that the governor's Council has power in the system the way it's designed and so if we have one I want it to be populated with people who represent differently not just attorneys um not just people who are sort of uh dedicated to the legal system as it exists today I really want to see people who are going to spark conversation and change within the criminal legal system it also impacts um Family Law youth law all all kinds of law um workers compensation a worker safety law um so it's not just criminal law but Equity is a equity is a concern and a major Focus across all facets of the law so I think that your question is is it do we even have it I I think that I think that it's a good ation to have maybe we don't need it but if we don't have it we do need a system whereby there is some check and balance on the appointment process but I would be very open to a more modern approach well miss ker I'm not asking you to redesign the system and this small like broadcast here but thank you for sharing every looking for an answer but um but the good questions uh to raise and uh very helpful to think about for all us the think about uh you've talked extensively about your background in mental health uh and substance disorder substance use disuse or use disorder um advocacy and uh support it sounds like those are two policy issues that you're very concerned about um as a pertains to you being on Governor's coun you also talked about not being you're not an attorney um right and but this is the experience that you bring um why are these two top policy issues so important to you and specifically what do you hope to accomplish as a Governor's on the governor's Council as a counselor uh to address some of these issues yeah great question so they they matter because people with substance use disorder and mental health issues and people who EXP experence poverty they're over represented in the system and judges and clerk magistrates in particular have a real role in reversing that Trend right can can I interrupt you for a second I um clerk magistrates what did they do exactly because I I feel like a lot of people aren't familiar with with a lot of these terms yeah I'm not sure that I'm the person to give you the whole short course on clerk magistrates but they are in charge of of Courts and they do things like issu warrants right and those are very impactful for people there's a lot more to know about clerk magistrates but they're very powerful players in the system that at times we know disadvantages certain categories or subpopulations of people so we need to start asking those questions of those folks in your background as a substance abused counselor and someone who has done work with uh folks who are suffering from mental illness you know as a as a counselor uh on Governor's Council how would you those are policy those are policy issues that you care very much about how do you see that translating over to your work on Governor's counsil specifically like what actions would you take or not take around those issues if elected yeah I just want to clarify I'm not a substance uh use disorder counselor but I work in that field no no no that's fine I work in the field of actually really Building Systems um and ident identifying system needs and helping systems change so one of the things that I bring forward from my professional experience is is change management uh tools and techniques and so forth so um for for example um it's very hard to change anything effectively if if you want to change it you have to actually identify it and you have to measure it um so I think that transparency is a real um concern and I and and something to highlight um in 2024 the governor's Council doesn't have online um you can't get have online access to their votes well that's a simple thing to to address I think that um percentages of people that you know that represent with diversity whether it's Geographic diversity so the entire state is is represented whether it is um uh defense versus Prosecuting experience where the if there's balance there and certainly racial and cultural um diversity as well as diversity of experience um is very important so so making sure that the judges we appoint for the future or any of the appointees that we appoint for the future really represent the community that we live in with a better understanding probably of the experiences of a broader variety of the public is very important um also just um simply uh simply telling you know simply helping educate small ways educate um judges for example in um how to connect people to substance use disorder treatment just the mechanics of how to use the system in different ways a lot of the work that we do in developing substance use disorder treatments in cities counties States um including includ law enforcement includes the judicial system and and making those connections to help systems and people in the systems connect over the gaps of between the systems is really important so very often I've been watching the governor's Council meetings and attended a few um very often people understand that there is um there is race you know Sy the impacts of systemic racism uh we do have a lot of people who could use treatment but but they don't get to the questions about how can we move forward and make a change and honestly judges and clerk magistrates and parole board appointees have a huge role in that they can have a very constructive role in helping individuals that are in in the system connect over that divide and that's what I hope to bring is is really education purpose how we might make change and also reporting where we are today and and and talking a little bit about where we want to be right what's the system of the future we really want to see and how do we incrementally build to get there together oh thank you for clarifying that those points uh Miss ker was very helpful and so it sounds like I'm just curious it sounds like currently um there are resources lacking for for judges and other folks in the court system to be able to connect people with those resources I bet that the resources are there I bet that it is more that people don't understand what resources might help them do their job even better in terms of uh constructive paths forward for people um let me take an example for substance disorder um relapse most of us who are Professionals in the healthcare World know that relapse a recurrence of the disorder is part of recovery and in the judicial system often relapse is sort of a hard stop a hard fail and they get an individual can easily get bounced out of recovery services and back into carcel Services when there might be there should be there is a better way to address that um that that relapse can be accounted for within the judicial process as well right and what it in in the treatment process what it means is that you should be reassessed for the level of care that you need so imagine if judges clerk magistrates parole board uh appointees knew that relapse wasn't a hard stop wasn't a failure but it was part of the process and there's a mechanism in place in the Health Care system to help people and they can employ that mechanism and get people back into reassessment for level of care appropriate level of care treatment right that's just a more constructive process if it's possible excellent um so I will also ask is this uh is this your first foray into public service no it's my first foray into public service at that level I have been an elected or appointed official in hington for 20 years so I've served on the select board um two different terms I've been the chair for three of the six years I've served on the planning board I've also been the deputy Town moderator been chair of the master plan committee served on the board of appeals a variety of roles I have been um active for 20 years this kind of dve Tails into my my next question um so with that experience and some of the other experience but we've heard about what in your opinion makes you uniquely qualified to serve on the governor's Council I think that I bring a different perspective in particular that my focus is on making sure that everybody focuses on the needs of the individuals that are most impacted by our legal system when we are making decisions about who will represent us in the future um as judges clerk magistrates parle board appointees and so forth right it matters we don't have to look very far to see the way way those appointments can matter so we need judges for the future just to use judges as an example who will not just maintain the status quo but are really willing to lean into what we today know in terms of bias and and systemic racism and substance use disorder treatment as examples lean into what we now know and help move the system forward to better serve people um rather than just simply encour people okay well we're coming up on the end of our time together so I want to thank you again for joining us but before we uh wrap this up I do want to give you the opportunity to kind of make uh your closing arguments closing arguments your closing arguments as it were uh as to as to why folks should consider you um for Governor's Council um I don't want to make it adversarial against other candidates like this series this series is really about uh having candidates uh tell a little bit about themselves so voters can make informed decisions but we're not but it's purposely why I didn't do a round table or debate amongst the candidates because I wanted folks to be able to to talk so so I want to give you this opportunity to to talk a little bit about uh to make your case uh I really appreciate that um um I I sincerely hope that people will consider me um and obviously I hope they'll vote for me but what I really want that people to realize is that I hope to represent a little bit differently there's some really wonderful people who have served as Governor's Council there are some really wonderful candidates who are running in District 2 for Governor's Council um but I represent a little bit of a difference I believe in that I really want to elevate the voices of those that have been under served or or disadvantaged in the system right I want to make sure that when we are elevating people to to positions of power at every at every intersection of the of the legal system whether it's criminal law whether it's family law whether it's um work Workforce uh safety at every intersection there are people who are disadvantaged at every level and we can we can talk about it we can measure it we can design improvements and we can insist on progress so yes we want to present we want to protect our our rights as they exist today right women want the right to to choose for their themselves their own health care decisions yes um we want to protect lgbtqa rights we want to we want to protect everyone's rights but we also want to make sure we are really constructively interacting with the fact that the system over the last 30 years has in Massachusetts alone our incarceration rate has risen 300% in the last 30 years we can make a difference in that we can we can shift that Trend and and invest our dollars in communities and in education and in infrastructure ra and and in treatment rather than incarceration so I want to expand on what options exist to really constructively work with the person that's in front of you if you're a judge what what can we do constructively to hold a person accountable and make sure they are um they are supported and and best um best connected to a positive future some 90 95 98% I don't know the statistic of people who are incarcerated come back to communities we want them to come back um healthy right with with healthier Futures we want to make sure we're doing the best we can as a society to provide treatments if they're needed while people are incarcerated and make sure they're transitioned out again with services and treatment so that they can uh move forward in a healthy way well with that I want to thank you Miss Kramer for coming on the show uh once again uh Muriel Kramer running for Governor's Council District 2 um and when is the primary the primary is September 3rd there are four Democratic candidates and then the general election is November 5th for whatever Democratic candidate makes it through the primary they will have a republican opponent in November and Miss Kramer one more thing is there a way that folks can reach you or find out more about your campaign yeah I have a website murial kramer.com I hope you will check it out um and uh send me an email you can send me an email straight through the website um I'd love to hear your thoughts I want to know what people um what PE people out there that I'm hoping to represent what they prioritize for the future of the governor's Council and the work we do there miss Kramer thank you so much for joining us and thank you viewers for watching the views expressed in our governor council's candidate series thank you so much see thank you see you next time [Music]

now to our back to school coverage today thousands of Arizona kids will be headed back to the classrooms and our next cetti is feeling that Vibe for us joining us live from Brunson Lee Elementary Nick while students are starting their classes today the teachers the support staff administrators they've already been really hard at work just to make sure everything runs smoothly this year oh oh absolutely actually just we saw a staff member just walked by now they're getting here early we've already seen two teachers arrive as well to help out the more than 400 students that go here to Brunson Lee Elementary part of the balt School District here near mcdal and 48th Street you know when the superintendent arrived about 2 and a half years ago I got the chance to sit down with him Dr George Barnes he was fairly new at the job at the time really ambitious though had a lot of goals for this District here listen to part of our interview from 2022 our kids need to understand that their Nemesis is sometimes life uh and the obstacles that are against them our students want somebody to look at them and say you are great you will achieve greatness just keep at it I'm here for you and I'm refusing to give up on them um because they deserve the opportunities all right so that was Dr George Barnes back in 20122 here at abc15 we believe so much in following up with people especially leaders in our community so what do you know joining us right now live Dr George baren superintendent of Vault schools thanks for being with us bright early we appreciate know it's a busy day for you but you heard that sound from yourview you talked so much about motivating the kids in the past years do you think you've been able to do that you know what I have a beautiful fantastic governing board I have a great staff a great community and I think collectively we've been moving these kids we've helped them understand they can do all things through hard work good routine and just believing in yourself yeah I hey that's a great message especially as we start off a new school year speaking of messages to start off a new year you have a coaching background right I'm going to put you on blast this morning he's got a coaching back can you give us your best back to school speech your best motivation for parents teachers students watching this morning I sure can can I look at the camera please do all right fames you can do it you can do all things just make sure you have a strong routine and remember this good habits build Great Character so make sure your students are ready to go in the morning time and in the afternoon a great place to study get PL get somewhere to uh sleep get somewhere to get up in the morning and get activated for the day you can do this can't wait for you to be successful throughout the entire State especially at let's go all right get activated Dr bar hey appreciate you thank you so much for being such a partner with us in this community here we appreciate you know students appreciate you and the staff members here H how are you not motivated after that speech right it's like I want to go back to school now after hearing Dr Bar's here hey coming up at 6:45 we're going to celebrate some of the cafeteria workers here in this District they're the unsung heroes providing breakfast and lunch to thousands of kids every single day so we're going to celebrate them a little bit coming up but how about that speech guys go it was amazing I need him every morning to just get me going for the day yeah right love him thank you

school is back this week for tens of thousands more kids across the valley including at the Bal School District in Phoenix where I was on Monday and I stuck around there at Brenson Lee to talk to families and staff members just to see how that first day was kicking off morning good morning Brunson Lee family and Community they got the backpacks water bottles and new shoes ready to go back to school is in full swing across the valley and right here at Brunson Lee El entry in Phoenix part of the balt School District I think it's very exciting principal Olga Perez has been getting ready all summer long just like her dedicated staff teachers even picking up some homemade swag for the first day courtesy of Olga's daughters I think the culture that we have created makes us not as working Partners but as a family Bron is a family oriented school that our students know that when they walk into these doors they're part of our family and that feeling seems to be contagious how you feel starting your first day good Justin Sanford is saying his final goodbyes to Mom and Dad and ready to race into third grade thanks in part to some summertime prep we did like a lot of spelling tests too getting their minds ready so that's just it getting them ready for school they're pretty ready wow okay so mom giving you homework over this summer I really want them to be the greatest kids that they can be like I want them to have really bright features we got it popping out here outside the excitement continues Miss V leading the dance line with music blaring through the drama offline principal Perez leaving us with a reminder for everyone to get involved what do you need from the community is there anything that you need from us well this year we want to make sure our community knows they're welcome we want to partner with a lot of our community members to support us on our events and also our families understand that we're here to support them as well oh yeah we had a lot of fun there at Brenton Lee Miss V have me doing the Electric Slide there in the parent drop off line it was a good day Miss Perez says more than anything they just need volunteers especially people who want to come in and read to these students so if you're interested head to the main page of abc15.com and click on the story and we included a link there on how you can get hooked up

I'm abc15 zetti live here in front of Brunson Lee Elementary part of the balt School District in just a few hours behind me here more than 400 kids are going to be heading into this school for the first time since May we know chomping at the bit eager to go to start a brand new school year well at abc5 we think it's always important to follow up especially with our community leaders so today we thought was the perfect chance to Circle back with the district superintendent Dr George Barnes I had the chance to actually sit down with him back in 2022 at the time he was only on the job for a few months but we talked about some of his ambitious goals for the district and he really wanted to set expectations high for not just the staff here but also the students listen life uh and the obstacles that are against them our students want somebody to look at them and say you are great you will achieve greatness just keep at it I'm here for you and I'm refusing to give up on them um because they deserve the opportunities all right that was Dr George Barnes there in our 2022 interview and what do you know Dr Barnes is joining us live here this morning thank you for being with us I appreciate it yes of course of course nice and early we know it's a busy day for you I know you plenty of caffeine in you too I'm ready to go ready to go you're going to need but you listen to that sound bite there from your interview when you and I talked two years ago and I know for you it was all about motivating the kids and knowing that someone was there for them do you think you were able to achieve that in the past 2 years 100% I think our governing board really leaned in they made sure we had the right people on the bus they made sure that uh our community knew that we were here to stay and we were here to support them and we're going to be the epicenter of change and to see parents to see community members to see Neighbors you know abc5 find folks from across the street all over the place love all these kids the way we've been loving all these kids our kids feel like they're Superstars rock stars and they have fans behind them and they're ready to rock yeah you know what and that encouragement that love Barnes we know goes such a long way and you're right we are neighbors this is our school district at abc5 all right I'm going to put you on the spot real quick let me ask you this a tough question that I'm bringing to an educator here all right Y what do you think the last two years have taught you what have you learned do you think you know I don't think it taught me anything new but it reemphasized the fact that um as a people we're tenacious we don't give up we don't give in with the right spirit with the right energy with the right cheerleader with the right coach we're able to overcome a lot of things and sometimes we have to spark that fire in our in our kids in each other but once we get going once we get ignited it's amazing what we can do yeah you know you I know you coached before that's I feel like this is those coaching routs have really came in handy Dr Barnes I appreciate it okay we're going to check back in with you at 6:30 we appreciate you and what you do in this community like I said at abc15 we think it's important to follow up with all of our community leaders so thank you Dr Barnes I appreciate that hey at 5:45 like I said we're going to celebrate are hardworking cafeteria workers who make sure they're feeding these kids breakfast and lunch every single school day they do it with a big smile and a whole lot of love that's coming up at 5:45 how could they not right with that energy that was the pep talk everyone needs for the first day of school he's awesome yes he is he's good right incredible incredible thank you it's 542

Nick Selen at Brunson Lee Elementary this morning highlighting some unsung heroes Nick Kaye and Amilia I think that's the perfect way to put it they are the unsung heroes the cafeteria staff here at Brunson Lee Elementary throughout the Bal School District throughout school districts across Arizona and across America so here at the Bal School District as I mentioned earlier they provide free breakfast and lunch for students that's provided through Federal funding here so I mean let me tell you this cafeteria staff working around the clock to make sure you got some full bellies here and ready to take the day on for a full day of learning so I wanted to celebrate some of these cafeteria worker Heroes like Miss Coco here who as I said she had her staff work around the clock and she says that she makes sure in every single dish she prepares there is one key ingredient and that is love we care about our kids we love them we love to see them eat you know um a lot of kids they like the food um it's healthy it's nutritious and of course I'm the cook so it's always good I heard that about you miss Coco I heard you're a good Chef I did hear that about you I love it I've been here going on 16 years so I wouldn't want to do anything else I love the kids they love me and I've watched a lot of them grow so that really means a lot to me you know and a lot of them like I said I get unconditional hugs and they look forward to my food all the time you know I don't know I just I just love the kids I just do it's I wouldn't want to do anything else I wouldn't oh you can hear it in Miss Coco's voice she is the salt of the earth what a lovely person she is truly a labor of love for her and she told me very proudly she learned to cook from her mom and her grandma her specialty she told me ribs okay sign me up cornbread all right I want that too and any other Southern dish you could imagine so when you got that cornbread ready you tell me Miss Coco I'm coming back she works alongside a staff about a half dozen other ladies who I got to meet on Friday to make the meals happen here at Brenton Lee so of course we need to give them a shout out and celebrate these cafeteria worker Heroes and real quick I want to show you this I don't know maybe I overstate my welcome here Friday because those ladies they put me to work my goodness as part of the pep rally on Friday they had these bikes that were attached to blenders and it was like a spin class on steroid let me tell you it was all about pedaling and spinning and mixing these smoothies at the same time it was just part of the fun there at the pepper Ali on Friday for teachers and staff and uh I don't know I I think they might have rigged my bike and made me pedal harder there cuz they uh it was a whoop in there they were pedaling a lot faster than I was but I just saw a wonderful morning here at balts as we get ready to kick off a new school year uh here in the bald school district and also at more than a dozen districts here across the state more coverage for you coming up at 6 but let me tell you my my legs are tired that was a lot of work after that wo you're making us over here that's fantastic talk about great motivation did you get to have a smoothie afterwards I hope at least a little bit of a taste maybe oh yeah yeah they hooked it up they hooked it up fruit of my labor this is awesome Nick thank you

Mr present Johnson come back she's Dr Mar present Mr pres present Amy do you want to check to see if her thing got muted AC we have a board member who's coming in remotely please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all we are moving on to he you want to just pull her into roll Jen Johnson Miss Johnson yes can you state your name for the roll call Jen Johnson okay all right good evening board uh this evening I'm going to invite uh Mr Bei um who's bringing to us an update on uh banking services RFP and we want to welcome um some of those uh guests as well Mr thank you Dr coatti I said District we have not uh we've used the same bank since 2008 which is really not best practice what we need to do we need to uh look out in the marketplace and see uh if the opportunities to get better service and uh better pricing for the services that we we get from Banks as part of that we went out and developed an RFP and during the RFP process I believe seven Banks uh responded to to the RFP and we vetted them and the bank that uh we thought B suited the the process that we put in place actually is right here in our backyard serve bank and serve bank is is actually a swo based they used to be called Ali bank they changed their name to serve bank and they're located uh in asgo and they've Al they've been an integral part of our community over the years they give out $1,000 scholarship to 20 of our kids every year to use to college and the uh the proposal they submitted was by far the most uh reflective of what we looking for that's why we recommending that the board approve that we we have serve Bank become our banking partner moving forward now we have three individual from serve Bank who are here joining us tonight to uh to speak to to uh give an overview of the bank and also to answer any questions that board member may have I have uh Joe valenci the branch manager of the Igo bank here we also have uh Richard toer Rich is the Chief Operating Officer of ser bank and then Michael Finn who is the vice president of Treasury management so I'm going to hand it over to them to provide an overview please almost oh no not yet now while he's working on the uh on the microphone too okay I think I got it all right there we go appreciate appreciate the the wonderful introduction my name is John wise um and Executive Vice President for for serve Bank um and I just wanted to thank the board and everyone in attendance um for allowing us to come in and speak to you today um it's much much appreciated um as most most of you are aware of um allied Allied First Bank which was previously um serve bank now um so we took over and really really what I wanted to come talk to you today about was not really the specifics of the RFP but more so our community involvement who we are as an organization and really the direction that we're going as an organization um you know Community is is number one um number two is also the way we serve our clients right we really treat our clients um as family um I call it for a lack of better terms old school banking really where you're shaking hands you're meeting with your clients you you have direct lines of contact we have three of my team members behind me here today um that are all an integral part of how we service our clients um day in and day out and then on top of that it comes down to capabilities right um as you know looking at combining you know the schools within within the district into One bank there's certain Solutions you're going to need um ultimately we're here as a partner um from moving money in and out to fraud protection um to adding additional products and services that you need to to ensure um that everything is running smoothly is all all crucial um to our partnership and then that open communication that we have between both parties um so really uh why I came here today is really to talk through that piece of it um the CRA implications as well as the community uh were heavily involved um as we have a long Legacy it looks like it's really really porn right now sorry serve and rain really coming down uh so getting back to giving back to the community obviously we have a a great relationship and a in a long-standing relationship um with the district and we want to continue to grow and and be a steart uh and a partner um as a banking partner um for the long term um and then obviously too as well as going out to Market and getting multiple rfbs you want to maximize the the dollars you have the way you do it as far as how efficiently you can do it and move money in and out of your accounts uh but also it comes down to you know the the that you can get on your your relationship as well um and so serve bank is really competitive we have a very strong balance sheet and we're going to continue to grow um within the local community here and continue to expand um on on the commercial banking side so we're really excited for that and I I'll pause um for any questions from the board um or any anywhere I can kind of dive into that you guys might have I would ask the question um are we going to see an even greater are we going to see an even greater experience with you all from a community perspective and the things that you do um in terms of you know relating to our students and the types of opportunities that might be available to our students I know Alli did a lot um will that continue and we we see an even more robust um opportunity if I can speak to that at the beginning then you can you can follow up we had a meeting during our interviewing process a meeting process one of the things that we requested is that Ali Bank offer each of uh two of a high school students from one of each o and OE an opportunity to do a paid internship every summer and they agree to that without without any hesitation and I think that shows their commitment to the community I think what is great about that is there's really no function that a child wants to learn that one of our students cannot learn working at serve bank if it's communication they do corporate communication if it's banking if it's Finance if it's advertising so that shows right there their commitment to being partner to be in partner with us so I'll let him uh speak some Rafael thank you uh so Rick tomman again delighted to uh to be here tonight a little bit more detail on that so I'm not sure out of the uh the student population that is here that if someone wakes up tomorrow morning and says you know what I think I'm going to grow up and be a banker uh or something like that however um the whole thought of what Raphael is sharing is that here in asgo and again we're right over on Orchard love to say that word caddy corner from Dunkin Donuts um and so again it's the bank that has the gymn uh in it uh and so with that from an internship perspective uh that one it can be very Finance specific but it can also be also incredibly um holistic so from Human Resources our people team our marketing uh compliance people don't think really about compliance or risk uh and these are critical critical aspects especially in the regulatory environment that we are in today so yes the ability to uh have paid internships not just during the summer uh but often times there might be uh the opportunity as well that you know they leave school at one um and get credit and come uh you know come over to the bank so very excited for that I love all that and I just want to comment like I think this can be a model for the way uh Industries and companies can engage with us as a school district I think sometimes Industries or people might think well what what could I do right um and I'll just I I hear you saying like we're going to accept students in for like internship experiences and things like that but I also think a lot of kids wake up like you said and they're not thinking I want to be in Banker but they don't know what they want to do so is there a way even to push into schools and offer and and just give like on you know job day or whatever like career day like you know here's some things you can do in the banking industry and we're right around the corner so I appreciate um um obviously the banking services uh but also the commitment to community so thank you and it is not I promise I I don't expect this to be answered but you know like here you can certainly get back to me on this but um I remember way back in 8th grade I uh I uh actually that was my uh report you know we had to do career reports right and it was banking right and I had an older brother who was I don't know in charge of the loan department River Forest bank which became chorus bank and all these things right reason I bring this up right is uh 2008 I know it was very traumatic for the industry uh my brother was one of those who was lucky enough to make it through all those he made good loans right and I'm just curious like if with the amount of banking mergers and everything I know this is a complete technical question I like everything I've heard but will if you're bought out right if you're taken over by somebody will those things how do we what reassurances do we have that those things will continue and and you know hope hope your balance sheet is is good and and and your loans are great uh I'm not going to get into all that I'm going to trust um uh you know Mr obafemi but I'm just just curious about that piece I can answer that uh in a prior District where I work a similar thing happened and I spoke to them about it uh there was a community bank that we bank with good relationship uh Community Based Bank and that bank got bought out by a larger bank and before the transition took place we interviewed the CEO of the bank we actually had a conversation where we ask about all kinds of things all the things that they'll be willing to do to maintain the relationship that we are with the Hometown Bank and the commitment was made by the CEO that it will continue to do that and I would say now it's been a few years and as I'm no longer in that District the relationship continues if with the new owner and they continue to get back and they continue to work with with the district as well as the kids in those District I think it's good business banks that are that have relationship with the community that they serve is good business for them because if you think about we also talked about the possibility of working with our staff member who need uh a place to bank who need to uh to get mortgages offer them competitive rate so that helps our employ employees it also helps the bank so it's a symbiotic relationship if you will it helps them and it helps us for us to have a good relationship yeah and I'm I'm glad you point that out there I'll be quick but you know I'm glad you point that out there you know there's a lot of small towns not far from here and one of the problems with a lot of those small towns they don't have Banks anymore right when I was when I was a kid you know growing up down the road we had a bank that invested back in the town so I I'm excited that that that's what we're doing all those things and and like I said I'm going to I'm going to trust you on on on some of these pieces and I know you do your homework so I appreciate it thank you and I'm glad you brought that up the key part of that also is if we bank if we use a a money a leverage that the taxpayer gave us and we keep it in the community it allows serve Bank to be able to provide loans and to be able to develop businesses that are based here in orgo or the surrounding area I suppose to a mega bank that this is just a place to do business there's no connection to the community so he serves a lot of purposes to bank with a HomeTown Bank with a commitment to our taxpayers and the businesses who are here to give them loans to open bank account for them to assist businesses that are trying to emerge to help them grow thank you and and just to add of Ro appreciate that that was very great context um great question right when you look at 0809 you can even look back in the beginning of 2023 a lot of regionals you know we all we all heard about Silicon Valley Bank and all those Banks having those issues right so picking a right partner is is so crucial uh especially where you know I don't want to get into an economic discussion but especially where um where where we're going these last couple days have been a little chaotic but um when you when you look at an organization like ours right it comes down to the relationship comes down it does come down to the balance sheet right having strength in liquidity having putting good quality loans out on the books and then lastly I think this is a crucial piece we're privately held organization right so when you look at the large guys that are publicly traded they make they make business decisions based on what their next call reports going to be so they make sure to take care of their shareholders right so we manage for the for the long term we manage really for the best interest of the business always and that's really helped the community community bank our size really give to our clients and then also save through kind of the longevity of the economic cycles that we're that we're going to see so a little bit uh more uh more color so thank you John um so we recently received our scorecard if you will uh we went through and this is a little bit a boring Banker uh so our fbic uh safety and soundness exam now I'm not permitted by uh regulation to uh share what our score is I absolutely wish I could but let's just say if we were a student here um or and any one of the 22 schools um we would be on high honor role um so just very very proud of that because again this is local um and this is a scoring system across the entire banking uh industry in the entire United States so to have that right here local and let's just say to be a high honor Ro students and we worked really really hard for that um and so just want to share again without being specific on um on you know what the actual score was but very proud of that and that's proud of our due diligence too it was fun when we met we had gone through the FDIC the FDIC research they provide information about banks that are insured by them and we read up on them and we were talking to it were kind of surprised that we did that but that's part of the process that we one of the many process that we went through in vetting the uh the banks that we uh we brought in for recommendation and and one additional sorry to interrupt if um one additional commentary as well as you know having having insurance right having whether it's collateralization the the district's total deposits or it's an IC product which gets FDIC Insurance to the collective dollar amount that you store at one institution um that also is another layer of protection as well right you you have collateralization or Insurance of the total deposits um of of the district and and that's a big crucial piece as well Miss Johnson did you have anything that you wanted to ask I do thank you so much president S I have three questions to for the gentleman and one fori um I apologize I can't see your colleagues behind you but I am interest interested is the bank invested in any Dei efforts uh so absolutely uh and a very important question um so we do have uh not just a Dei committee um but very active uh I think was mentioned earlier with our uh CRA which is the community reinvestment act um our plan right now is before uh the FDIC many of you may have actually seen it uh when I say it like that uh we had to publish that uh locally for 30 days um and when I say locally it's in the Chicago land market as well uh and so with that plan being reviewed uh right now a huge reinvestment back into the community so that's external uh from a CRA perspective but also internal uh from a Dei initiative uh one thing that I'm very very proud of uh we have a very strong women's leadership forum and so from uh again an internship perspective uh that would want uh young men and young women to be able to go through and experience that Forum as well um so again yes very much so and thank you for asking that question um my second question is and I incredibly lightly on this the school board is to be nonpartisan we try very hard to be nonpartisan unfortunately in the last election a lot of um different boundaries um kind of became blurred and I would say the election was one of the most the many of my colleagues sitting up there will tell you was incredibly complicated your bank made a very um specific endorsement of a candidate for the Phil Village president um unfortunately we had a lot of contentious um meetings with and discussions with um some former village board member how do you see that moving forward and will you continue to um endorse specific candidates in local politics so again a uh incredibly uh not just important but uh critical question and so as much as uh I want to share that uh things have stayed the same from a stability standpoint and absolutely they have but also uh we do have new leadership uh here at the bank and with that uh again to it's easy to stand here and say oh nonpartisan uh but at the same time yeah but at the same time uh the thought is we are here to bank we are here to support the community um and that support that we uh render whether it's in Talent treasure time um it does not need to be political in any way and and again it's uh incredibly heated uh world that we're in right now as we go into no November and and post November uh but at the end of the day there are some changes that have been made at the bank and that is one I would say that has been um a step forward I appreciate that we need partners that are going to support our students regardless of what's going on in a political landscape and work with and collaborate with the school district so thank you absolutely Mr um do we have any sort of financial return on investment with going with a specific provider do you see do you have any numbers behind going with a specific bank over another bank yes we have a we have a score sheeet that we use we're happy to share that one huge uh variable that I'll be very transparent in telling you is the fee structure and some of the fee structures from some of the bank was significant sign very significant they charge for everything heck they charge for blowing your nose they charge for looking around I mean it was just this is significant amount of money that will cost us over time now I will say with serve Bank uh one of the uh the attractive thing with them is no fees no fees and we know every we we recognize that our taxpayers work hard for their money and if we can get services from a bank that is stable that is solid without having to pay all those fees we believe we owe it to our you know to our community not to do that and some of those they they are bigger Banks who uh you know they are branches and uh in different parts of the of the of the state and they have to support that and how they support that is a lot of fees with serve bank they have one branch and the branch is here in nrio and nowhere else so they have the ability not to have as much overhead as some of the other banks that uh submitted uh RFP that was one one important and the ability to be able to walk in and talk to the Chief Operating Officer of the bank the vice president of uh treasury the branch manager to be able to have a face tof face meeting with them without having to call New York without having to call Chicago without having to schedule time ahead of time to be able to talk to a lowlevel person that makes a big difference too in relationship building so those are some of the variables that we we uh we use in trying to determine what would be the best fit for us and lastly what I would say is this is an ongoing relationship we hope it works for us but if it doesn't work for us we have the ability to go back to the market and see what else is out there right I love the idea of again keeping it on us weo or Montgomery planfield Aurora I think the more we pour into our neighborhoods the better we are we are so I appreciate the presentation okay thank you we're done any question okay thank you thank thank you thank you I'm not sure if we're uh permitted to ask a question but I think uh if we are so October 25th cross town challenge who is going to take it this year can we go on record not on the agenda principal Bowski ASO East so I I'll I'll give you I'll give you okay I'll give you a controversial answer to that question typically asgo High School wins the football game Ty typically asigo East brings home the overall cross town trophy am I wrong yeah all right okay all right didn't mean to hear state championships thank you we are looking for sponsors gentlemen well I've been a um member of Allied Bank as a customer for 20 years so I'm looking forward to continue in that relationship with you all appreciate it thank you thank you all very much appreciate the time thank you thank you all right we are moving on there are no public comments so we will move on to you Dr katti with your superintendent report 6.1 okay good evening board good evening everyone it is uh just truly uh incredible to be here at this uh this point where we are beginning to think about the start of the school year um I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable break and we will be welcoming our teachers back on Monday uh for the uh upcoming school year and uh we are excited to see all the Fantastic things that have been planned um in preparation for our Educators to return and uh following that on that Thursday we will welcome over 177,000 students back into our schools woo woo we've been waiting we've been waiting excited uh there's nothing nothing quite like the energy that fills our Halls when our students return it's been a joy to run into some throughout the summer um I think Beckham's in the audience there is that Beckham all right he can't wait to get started uh this year our District's theme is centered around our bright sd38 life we're full of energy optimism and a shared vision for success and I can't wait to see our schools buzzing and I want to thank all our Educators who already uh supporting and getting classrooms ready we know what it's like and we thank you for your due diligence and care we will also see our buses humming around on our roads and all our young people traveling on bikes or walking to school um as a community I want to invite you to really uh be prepared to shift how you think about those roads and really increase our safety in our communities we really want to keep our students safe and so really thinking about that and we want to thank all our administrators and our village um partners for thinking about how we prepare to make our road safe as always this is a time with a lot of questions where is that list where's this and where's that and so how do I find this I can't remember this so again we're here to help you and I want to thank our Communications team for really working really hard to create that single place online um where you can track current information about all things and so on our website sd308.org you can find find a link to back to school that's it simple as that find back to school and on there you're going to see a chalk full of information and of course as always I know that our administrators are already always prepared and ready to help answer any question that may come up that does not help you um that that doesn't get you the answer you're looking for so thank you and so just want again board just uh wishing us a fantastic year ahead and to all our staff students students and community members we are ready and we are looking forward to it and I have to thank and I think there's some comments of this but our buildings operations team our finance department and our HR team who are really in the background doing everything possible to get our schools humming and ready I think we should give that one a shout out I I visited a couple schools today and I I'm I'm not kidding you could literally like lay on that floor it was so glistening with just Beauty so it's just smells fresh so um I want to invite the board uh to add some comments um that have been prepared related to start of school year I will go ahead and get it started so over the summer all elementary and Junior High School students were welcom to dive into Hands-On steam experiences at maker space here the students could explore with ozobots construct intricate Marble Runs play with green screens engage in interactive iPad exploration and bring ideas to life with 3D 3D printers pil pilot drones and indulge in arts and crafts kits maker space experience can be included in the school day clubs and other exploration opportunities the excitement generated in these sessions is just the beginning of a journey that will continue to inspire and educate sd308 students so last week administrators from across the district and all schools joined together to team plan and got to know each other ahead of the start of school uh the energy was definitely intense I never did find out though did did I a couple of people from no we didn't win air 308s didn't win we didn't win did we come in third at least no n there was a nway DI well I was appropriately exiting from that then I guess but I I I I um myself and uh Miss Johnson I know were there and I think um I'm not sure if anybody else was there also but throughout but we all um kind of uh showed up and know made our presence known I just failed sorry in my uh contributions but I'll try harder next year maybe I don't know uh but this year's leadership team is already rocking uh very creative I can tell you that uh can't wait to see our schools fantastic energy come alive soon uh in addition the human resources department and leaders from many departments and schools have been working together to host open interview events and today another successful event was um was hosted and candidates completed their preliminary interviews on the spot we're closing in on filling the remaining openings but hey uh 308 Community if you're interested in joining the team there's still time so visit our website today to apply well the blue silver bash and and the panther Fest are both coming up on August the 16th the blue silver bash is from 4: to 7: at asgo East High School and The Bash will include a kid Zone Pres presentations robotics team demos and more and pantherfest will be at asgo high school and will take place on the 16th again from 4:30 to 8: and both events have free adiss free admission free admission and include cheer dance performances Spirit Weare sales and activities open to the community so please come out and support on next week we invite all staff and their families to the second annual back to school bash on Wednesday August 14th beginning at 12:30 staff can come to learn about benefits always important visit area business booths pick up their staff shirt and of course and most importantly visit the board's Lemonade Stand we we hope to see lots of staff and families in attendance K I'm excited to announce this school Year's Pride program will be recognizing twice as many employees as last year we we will acknowledge a total of 86 individuals the board established the pride program in 2015 to recognize promote and celebrate the many contributions made by our teachers and employees Pride stands for proudly recognizing individuals demonstrating Excellence we look forward to sharing more about our fantastic Pride winners soon thank you and to finalize our superintendent comments this evening I want to invite Dr Z to share some hiring news everybody's wondering about the final Staffing and so Dr zmy I really like the way Mr ploger uh stated um there is still time um we are in uh we're in really good shape um we've been really working well uh with human re uh human resources in our departments Dr kelad has really talked this year about a profound interdependence amongst our departments um transportation operations is look uh extremely well um our teaching positions are looking extremely well we have um 14 teaching positions uh open right now uh about five at the elementary junior high five I'm sorry 15 and uh five at the high schools uh and goal um we anticipate being able to um fill those before the start of the school year we had a very successful um job fair today um we met people today that wanted to be uh Health occupation secretaries Health office secretaries to rbts to custodians um they did very very well uh today and we're looking forward to talk to them um special education openings are probably our number one priority right now uh we still have 10 case manager positions open related services and related services are things like Social Work psychologists rbts bcbas um we're still working through those um and we're going to we've been doing very well with contract Based Services our goal throughout our system is to eliminate first of all reduce if not eliminate our dependence on contract Based Services period um we have a shared interest with uh all of our unions with that with oea OA OTA and ocma uh to really to bring in our own 308 uh employees so I want to make sure that that's clear number two uh we've been very aggressive with our contract Based Services this year uh there has been legislation for a non-compete Clause within contract Based Services that we have use to our advantage um I want to give a tremendous um props and a shout out to Jamie Torres who works in uh Dr duell's Department as um a contract Based Services um we will bring you a total of um what we project in our savings um uh soon um and I i' like to uh perhaps get her involved uh you know in a report in future um we are doing very well with our contract Based Services uh right now um a couple other things so where we might be a year from now with our Residency program led by anamarie candelario 16 to 18 residents right now right so if I have 10 special ed positions and about 15 teaching positions I don't have any teaching positions next year that's what the teacher residency program can and will do for us because of the support and the vision of Dr Kade and the teacher residency Grant the support of our superintendent the support of our board and the work of Human Resources led by anamarie candelario Sarah law Claudia Ruiz and and others so bear with us while we look for some contract Based Services that's where we're at but we will be further ahead of school districts in our area because of the teacher residency program so um just wait on that um tomorrow we welcome more than 100 plus new Educators into our system we will yeah absolutely uh we will be working out of uh East viiew Academy for the next four days we have great Partners Chamber of Commerce is going to be there our Union partners are there as well too um also for the first time in a few years we have reinstated a mentoring program for all of our brand new first second and third year teachers with an option for our fourth year so it's not only important for us to recruit them but also to retain them and then to make sure that we reward them so they are successful in our schools with our students uh so those are a few updates related to HR that I wanted to share with the public thank you can I ask a question may how many do you recall approximately how many openings there were that we needed to fill over the summer between we started about 87 openings and new positions and what I don't need an exact number a lot yeah okay that's a technical answer we will bring a we will bring a more yeah we just just from um you know 7 from 61 710 when we kind of started tracking a a daily like have we made progress have we made progress have we made progress like for example on 7:31 teachers assistant we had 63 positions remaining open and now we're down to 46 and so we just keep meticulously um picking off those those numbers um couple things that are really really helpful we have very good union labor Partnerships and uh negotiating two successful contracts last year made it very attractive for staff members from local areas to come here um unapologetically we are taking the best and the brightest from local areas and we're happy to welcome them into asgo 308 and we anticipate that to continue I'll get you an exact number of what of what June 1st looked like yeah no I just wanted to emphasize the fact that you guys have done an awful lot of work over the summer and and have done a great job of total team effort Y and and it's nice to kind of be one of the almost cool kids for a change cool District yes [Applause] okay we're moving on to 6.2 board member comments do we have any board member comments I I just have one right it's kind of a Shameless plug but you know what are you going to do um just as as school returns you know sometimes we don't think about just kind of different perspectives or different things that are going on and um we have a place in the community known as uh it's called Pigford and it's where uh you have assisted living and it sits right next to Prairie point and uh uh my my mother happens to live there and I will tell you that um they are in anticipation there many of them to see the kids every day it's like a highlight um for them as they're eating breakfast watching them so you know sometimes I think we just kind of forget about the community aspect and and all of us that are touched by um you know and and affected by um you know all of what we do so just thought I'd throw that out there beautiful so I have a few things first of all uh Mr Gatewood I don't mean to correct you it was written incorrectly um but but the blue and silver and pantherfest are actually on two separate days so the blue and silver is on August 16th and pantherfest is August 23rd I'm sorry September 23rd August August August 23rd what month are we in oh it's August consecutive Frid yeah okay as I read a same day I said that okay good it's okay I almost made it twice as bad um but I just wanted to I just wanted to give some clarity on that which I sort of failed at but anyway you get the idea um aside from that couple things that um went on we had uh Community cares had their back to school bash or their start strong um back a couple weeks ago and we had several families coming in um picking up their backpacks um and their school supplies so it's nice to have an organization that kind of gets kids ready for school uh also this past Saturday I was at a BAC family event at Prairie point at the splash pad what's really nice about about the Dual language parents they have kind of a a fairly close-knit community so they're always doing something on a monthly basis so that the kids kids can continue to kind of hang out together and and and they do it over the summer as well so it was nice to see the kids it was nice to see a bunch of um parents that were really invested in their kids uh in their kids education and their future um so that's it they're they are also excited for the uh new school year to start Miss Johnson uh yes thank you so much first of all I want to thank Dr kelti for the invitation to join the admin Retreat last week it truly was an honor to come join the uh inside of what is going on and to see the joy and the hope and the Really the Brilliance of our admin and our leadership um the last couple of years I kind of feel like hope has been a little lost I think the teaching profession in general has been pulled down and I am so excited to see the admin bringing back the joy and the glow if you will um it was it was excellent and we were welcomed by the s weo High School meeting could start that way it was pretty um um remarkable I also just touching on the joy thing I've been feeling a little hopeless lately and when I do I always take to writing um and journaling and as everybody is probably watching the Olympics right now I just wrote a few thoughts if I could share them with you about how what's going on in the Olympics really parallels what's going on with um the Olympics have increasingly reflected diversity inclusion and equity in several very Global ways the Olympics brings together athletes from a rideways countries and backgrounds showing a broad spectrum of cultures ethnicities and genders this representation really is the beauty of diversity on an international stage there's been significant process towards gender parity in the Olympics for the instance the Tokyo Olympics saw the highest number of female athletes in history and the inclusion of women's events in the sports discipline Sports disciplines reflects the commitment to gender equality with the par Olympics held shortly after the main games focus on athletes with disabilities promoting inclusiv and highlighting the abilities of athletes who might otherwise be looked and called cultural rep representation often we see feature traditional ceremonies music and cultural displays from the host country which gives us an insight into diverse cultural expressions this helps in really promoting a greater understanding and appreciation of different cultures and then there is awareness of an advac such as issues with social justice and human rights and the VIS visibility that can help bring attention to important causes and really Foster a broader dialogue about what equity and inclusion really means while we seeing significant progress we all know challenges Still Remains but it's very comforting to see that what we're doing here in our district really does reflect in the global world and um I am had the privilege of working on the 2002 winner Olympics their Olympics have always been very near and fear to me so I just wanted to share those thoughts and I thank everyone for um allowing me this time thank you for those thoughts Mrs Johnson anyone else all right then I'll just wrap it up by saying a couple things one um I attended the operations and finance appreciation luncheon a couple of weeks ago and um you know I think Dr katti hit on it as well you know our grounds and our schools are always Immaculate and kept so well um our operations department just completed a project to make sure that all of our um staff from from the district office could be in one place and it's a beautiful um addition to to what we're doing and they brought that project in you know quicker than than than would have been uh normal and at a cost that was really great so I and and I just want to thank even the finance department that that um luncheon was amazing they had a huge pig roast an entire Pig was roasting on the on the skewer and um everyone enjoyed it I mean and then I think the highlight of the of the day was having all of these amazing prizes that the uh staff hold back from their vendors and I mean just some Yeti coolers and just I mean I can't even begin to explain it but there were so many of them and it was just such a beautiful way to show appreciation for what you all have done and so you know obafemi and Bill Queen thank you for your leadership and um everyone Amanda you know everyone who's making this thing work and it it's a beautiful thing to see and then I also went and greeted the um New administrators um it's amazing to see how many individuals we had that were new and so thank you to the HR department for doing the work in Dr kelati and the board for making this a preferred destination because it is definitely that and um it's amazing to see it and then lastly I also attended the administrative Retreat and you know it's it's important to to to our staff and our students to know that this is a place where everyone benefits from the way things are whether it's our our staff or our students and so that's the the message that we want to send I mean we're sending the message in terms of you know making sure that there's ad adequate pay for our every one of our um our unions every one of our our District staff our administrative staff making sure that you all feel and understand that you're valued and that you're seen and that we need you and that we want you here and this is not a place to come and get skills and then leave but we want this to be a place where you're you feel um that the culture here fits you and that you belong here and that you want want to stay and be a part of this family so I just want to thank you all for all the work that you're doing all the things that we've dreamt about in our hearts when we ran for the school board we're seeing those things manifest and we're just excited so thank you all right we're moving on to 7.1 the consent agenda can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda please make a motion to approve all items under consent including 7.1 minutes from the Board of Education meeting on July 15 2024 open and close session 7.2 to acknowledge the foyer requests received by the district and 7.3 to approve the field trips for overnight and or over 200 miles are there any questions on the consent agenda second second Mr G hi Dr Mario hi Johnson Miss Johnson hi hi hi motion passes 60 action item 8.1 approval of building administrator contracts can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the building administrator contracts as discussed and presented second Mr hi Mr Gatewood hi Miss hi Miss Simon hi Dr Mar hi Miss Johnson hi motion passes 60 board thank you very much for approving our uh brand new administrators uh into the district we welcome you Dr conade and Dr dubiel will just take a brief moment to introduce our newest members of our 308 team yep so I have four people that I would like to introduce uh the first person that I have ACC companied by uh principal Kelly merits is Todd dudy so Todd is Todd is our newly uh appointed assistant principal of Churchill Elementary um he is a highly recommended candidate for this position with a broad uh teaching background extensive leadership experience and unwavering commitment to student uh success so these are the things that have made him uh not only you know Church Hill's recommendation um but our recommendation of our district strengthen um datadriven strategies relationship building and maintaining a safe and inclusive environment so Todd welcome aboard wel [Applause] welcome our second second uh administrative uh recommendation accompanied by principal Laura Bowski is Step llaa so Stephen is recommended and now approved so thank you for the dean of students at ASO East um he is currently a dean of students at planfield South High School um Steve began his career as a business teacher and throughout our interview process um really showed strengths in making meaningful connections with our students um building relationships with the intent of breaking down obstacles and barriers um for all students so his experiences in both the classroom and as a Dean will be a wonderful asset to our school Community thank you [Applause] Steve the third um person that I would like to introduce is Cody penberg so Cody cannot be with us tonight thank you kindly uh Cody was um our newly approved uh Prairie Point Elementary assistant principal so thank you so the fourth person that we're going to introduce is timony Francis so who is a who is accompanied by principal John Evans so Tiffany um has been a long-standing member of our not only School uh Community but our community also she is currently a teacher on special assignment so a tosa for our gifted students here in sd308 she began her career as a fifth grade teacher moved into a gifted education teacher and then obviously our Lead Teacher of gifted so through the interview process Tiffany demonstrated successful experience in both coaching and mentoring um teachers staff has led professional uh development both during the school and all throughout the summer um and has a strong ability to collaborate and communicate with teachers parents students and staff so her experiences as a classroom teacher mentor and teacher leader really stood out to principal Evans and his staff and Tiffany is our candidate for assistant principal at trar jior High [Applause] Aaron Paris is a now approved recommended candidate for tap it again [Applause] thank you D yes the next recommended or now approved candidate Denise McNamara she is now the approved candidate for the program administrator at oh I don't think I have this sorry thank you whoops Crossing in berari that's right um so she'll be serving as a program administrator for w Crossing and assistant principal for benari Denise has served as a special education teacher since 2018 through the interview process Denise demonstrated critical awareness of special education and the importance of care for families and students her experience in special education leadership will greatly benefit our students welcome [Applause] Denise okay okay 8.2 action item approval of personnel report can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the Personnel report as discussed and presented second Mr gwood I Dr Maria I Miss Johnson I miss Simon I Mr I I motion passes 60 8.3 approval of the fiveyear superintendent contract extension can I have a motion please make motion to find that the superintendent has met the goals and indicators of student performance and academic Improvement in the superintendent July 1 2023 to June 30th 2026 performance-based superintendent contract to terminate the superintendent's July 1 2023 to June 30th 2026 performance-based superintendent contract and three approve a new performance-based superintendent contract for the period beginning July 1 2024 and extending through June 30th 2029 in substantial the form presented to the board second Miss venm hi Dr Maria hi Miss Simon hi Miss Johnson uh really quick before I give my vote I just wanted to share that there has been a profound amount of work and intention that has gone on strategic planning and goal setting and I look for to working with Dr HTI and the rest of the board I'm providing Precision around these goals in the near future and excited to see what the next few years holds I Mr cler hi Mr Gatewood hi motion passes 60 [Applause] I I just wanted to say I hope that um that this is an investment in our district and in our community it's an opportunity for us to send the message that we solidly stand behind Dr katti and the vision that he has for our district and it it sends a message of or Pro provides for us stability and predictability and a commitment and I hope that um our community sees it as such um I know there's so many times I'm in the grocery store and I'm in many different places and I'm just getting such um accolades and praise for the direction that we're going and what we've accomplished so far and we look forward Dr katti to the next five years so that we as a District know that the vision that you set forth will be um that people can follow it that they're that there that there's a commitment here that we're not Here There and Everywhere but that we have a clear Direction and a focus and that we're going in that direction and we look forward to you leading us there thank you madam president do you mind if I real quick I I I got on the board in 2015 and it was um the best of times the worst of times the interesting most of times right and um lived through a few superintendents at this point and one of the things that I think was an over overlying theme all along was that we needed to really invest and I mean really invest doesn't necessarily mean Financial all the time but it it it does not also not mean Financial all the time and so um what I see now uh compared to what I've seen in the past when I came up in on this board in 2015 people were afraid I mean I don't know if anybody wants to be honest about it but there was a lot of fear uh in a lot of places and a lot of division and so I I am thankful for the the board that sits up here I'm I'm thankful for for Dr katti I'm thankful for Mr obafemi I'm thankful for your entire team what what I see are good things um and I know that for those who' Liv through those times there was always this division about upper admin building admin staff and and the divisions always worked against us um I'm not saying I'm not saying I didn't understand why they existed I 100% understood why they existed but uh what I see from you and what I've been very appreciative of is that we're not going back to that and so thank you and um please community board Dr kelani St continue to please invest in all of our good people because we have excellent people thank you Jared over the last several years I've it's just been an honor to be on the board and the last I'll say the first couple years on the board um it was my honor to spend time in the community clarifying the vision of the district and explaining what was happening but over this past year and I'll just give one example which is just a microcosm of of many conversations I spent a about an hour and a half in Walmart's parking lot talking to people that I didn't even know knew who I was and they approached me and just started to talk to me about all of the wonderful things that is going on in the school district and they just couldn't stop and they just kept telling me and and they talked about the four or five other kids that they've had that have gone through the district before and the morale and that and that has happened many times that people will approach and come up to me and just start talking about the community uh talking about um I work in another neighboring district and just uh talking to them even about hey what's going on over there in your District it's just a it's just a wonderful feeling to not have to explain but just to listen to the praise of not just you as a superintendent but your teams the teachers and so the morale is up um people I think um Mrs Simon or Mrs Johnson talked about the hope that people feel and so I'm just excited about this opportunity to give a sense of community a sense of consistency um to someone who has come in to give vision and forethought about not only what the district is but what it could be and and your vision to see Beyond Where We Are and to Envision uh who our children are and what they can be has just been amazing and truly truly appreciated and looking forward to um not only you but the staff and for our students as well as well thank you Mr G so this is the be so well yeah first of all ditto um but this is so so you you and I kind of started at the same time ex except you know I I had a couple months on you there um first of all you should appreciate the fact that we're not calling you at midnight like we did last time to let you know that you had the job but no having I was awake waiting we we did we discussed and discussed and literally called him at midnight to tell him that he was our selection um it's been so my my first year on the board has been the same as your first year on the board and and Dr Mario I don't know about you it's been um it's been fun which is not the word that I thought would ever apply that's great um well and I'm I there are several definitions of fun but I mean fun in its real sense um but it's it's really nice to uh to have the same vision and to be walking in line with you all of us walking together um and the leadership that that you've given to the district so far um I am just so impressed and so amazed and um I'm so glad you're GNA be here for another five years you're stuck with it I'll just add a few words I'd like obviously to concur with everything that was said so I um just appreciate your vision um and your um stamina just to work through all of the all of the work right like um thinking through it's a was a it is and continues to be a big project um and when we had um a bite to eat when you were first hired and we sat down and I said a couple things and I said one of the things I want you to know is that I want you to hire and have the team around you that is going to make your vision come to reality so I know that you walk in front but I know there's a whole team behind you and um I think the board is is um feels like a part of that team as well so thank you yes one more [Applause] time I'll I'll lecture us later about Robert's Rules exactly if I may just say just a few words one is um just I am so honored um that that the board um I want to thank the board um This truly is a team sport in our efforts to serve children uh this is not an individual this is not this is not about me this is about our students and the more we collaborate and when I say we from the board's vision for that collaboration that was the one thing I heard from the board is work work work with people over and over over so if you're listening that was the board's mission to me work with people and I was honored to have that mission and to see it Blossom from the superintendent's Advisory Group to our Partnerships in the village of asgo Kendall County Montgomery Aurora Yorkville to our politicians um to our school leaders um our union leaders our Educators staff parents and especially our students I see Tyler's here in the audience so great to see you um our students um are just we are so fortunate they're some of the brightest students I kept asking students I stopped are you a senior they'd be like no I'm a freshman are you a senior I'm an eighth grader like like you want to talk about Brilliance what so I just I am so honored and thank you for for your trust and confidence and my leadership and really in the team that has come together and we are excited to serve together and and to really build a platform we're just getting started this is not the end this is the beginning and and this is laying a foundation and when you built there's a there's a there's a proverb um is which is Nigerian just I'm so sorry I was like oh god I've never said that with Rafael in the audience which is that which is made with love cannot be broken that which is made with love cannot be broken thank you brother and so the board has set our our North Star we have a new Northstar our rightful and Equity policy raise that North Star we are going to fight for the Excellence of all of our students and not because one person is good or bad but because we are all going to engage in continuous Improvement and to be better so my good today is an opportunity to be better tomorrow right my good today is an opportunity to be better tomorrow and we will not rest until we see every student succeed I just again want to thank the board I want to thank the team um all of you um for your shared leadership and we let's get this year started yeah [Applause] yeah okay now it's your turn okay well we promised transparency so let's talk about financial statements 9.1 the uh the first month of the fiscal year what we have we have loaded here and there's there are no surprises here everything is going according to plan for the first month of the fiscal year and then as it relates to the Investments what we have here this is actually a good time of the year we received uh 55% of uh property tax receipt from Kendall County back in uh it started coming in in May all the way to to June so if you look at the uh the portfolio we were we in good shape we have close to 69 million doll cash on hand from uh from the general fund and we still have $2.3 million that used to be part of the health fund when was self funded still sitting there earning interest and then we have uh the D the proceed from the last Bond salale that was sold back in uh February of 2020 22 still sitting in there those are the funds that we've been using to do uh the capital projects that has been going on in the district so for a total amount of 85.1 million cash on that I I just have a real quick note it's it's kind of related but kind of not I'm not going to lie um I just want to take a moment to commend um the district itself because you know I understand that you know I've certainly heard things when we talk about like transparency and so forth and so on but I I think we need to understand we have we have Public Finance like openly finance committee meetings right we have lowered the bid threshold so that we're trying to monitor spending more um like I don't think that there are some people that understand that there are districts out there that are absolutely doing work in the dark and so um I I listen we we're a family here and we're going to have our disagreements out in the open and so I appreciate that and I just think we need to take a moment to to realize that and appreciate it uh doesn't mean that everything is you know where we want it to be and and it doesn't mean we're not going to have disagreements but at least we're having them out in the light thank you if I could just put an exclamation point on that Dr k k will I'm sure nod our head when we lowered that threshold you know admin is like just so you know you're going to have a lot more contracts and and uh proposals in front of you and it's going to cause a lot of work extra work and we really were committed to that you know at some point when we have all the systems in place and everything is firing you know the board at the time choose to you know um change that policy but we really have truly gone through the fine Toth home and are trying very hard to be as transform parent as possible so thank you for um bringing up Jared yeah and and I'm swear I'll make it quick but I very we're very much uh again ahead of things because you know and I don't I don't understand the law completely but the Secretary of State's office I know passed some um pieces or in implemented I should say not past but implemented some pieces where uh there's a lot more light on school districts than there was in the past when it comes to dealing with vendors and so forth and and it's a lot easier to find information and so I commend this board and and the administration for getting ahead of the game because like I said there's a lot of people out there dealing in the dark and and I I I challenge those other districts too to to do your work in the light because I think every student in this state and every family and every taxpayer deserves that so am meeting are so long I have a quick question um at what point I I know that we're into a new fiscal year um and I know that the last set of financials that we had were actually through July 31st but I know that there were still probably some residual items that hadn't come in yet at at at what point will we see the final final report so at the end of August we should have a final closing of the fiscal year what will also be very helpful is the the audit because the annual Financial audit the independent audit that will come in and they'll review our books and in the past our audit weren't completed until March than so one of the first thing that we talked to the auditor about is that was not acceptable we requested that our audit be completed which is what is required by Statute by the end of November no later on the end of November and the community doing that because we're required to file an audit uh with isby as well as the county by the uh by the middle of December and we intend to do that so the audit is the most comprehensive uh review of our finances for the last fiscal year because it's conducted by an independent entity not us right so we show are that ready uh to present to the board by November and we started the process and from what the auditor told me we we've never had an audit that early before as a district but by Statute we're supposed to there's a lot of Nevers so we started working with the auditor back in may we started providing them uh documents are required so that by the time they come uh later on this month to do their field audit they have everything they need great thank you okay um 9.2 purchase of jedar for operations Department Mr good evening hi welcome it's good to be back so uh we reached out this was through that law action suit with with several school districts with juel and we we won it so we got some funds and we would like to use those funds to uh do some sewer work and start a preventive maintenance program so we reached out gathered three bids and we are recommending that we go with the lowest bid uh Alan J Coleman and the sum of 24,79330 felt very strongly about this that this was a important Pur so what this is and unfortunately uh the district is actually not paying for it out of our own covers this was part of the jewel settlement uh payment that the first installment of the payment that we received and I believe we receive $70,000 of that amount we set aside money to be able to buy the Jetter and the thinking behind that is a lot of time when our kids uh vaping they put the cartridge down the uh the cod in the bathroom and we then have to hire a third party to come in and and R root the uh the bathroom to be able to get those uh cartridges out and it happens in not just in the high school happens in some of our other buildings by buying the Jetter we're saving money because we can do preventive maintenance instead of hiring someone to come in every time we need to have this done and they charges between I believe 2500 to as much as 5,000 if we own the equipment we can use it in properity yeah thank you for making that connection because you know I think some people might think wow we we spending in on that um and how does it relate to The Vaping scenario so thank you for that okay I think we're done okay last but not least on our updates uh Mr Queen I know we talked a little bit about this earlier but any other we have some big project and honestly if you if you look at the slide up there this is the first time I've ever seen us in in a situation like this where there's actually less coming to you for bid than what we have completed um we had a really busy summer and and capital projects were pumping thank you for that thank you for that so to replace the concrete you guys seen this back in the fall I want to say last year and we needed to bring that back to the table and res scope that work to get to get a better deal for for the district um Long Beach or the the roof project is another project that we will be uh going out and forbid in December so you will see both of those pieces come to you in December Fox Chase roof we're pushing a Finish Line we have had some challenges over there but we will still make that substantial completion and get it done before the 15th start of school 10year health life and safety that is just that ongoing body of work we're currently working through the junior highs now and you will see some of that information come to you in the next three to four months with with the proposal for the junior highs plank rtu replacement is done we uh set nine units on top of that roof come through the punch list and we're just debting up on there we have sus substantial completion on that project um Boulder Hill uh Long Beach cooling towers we will commence that work as soon as we shut these things down and we're in a little bit cooler weather and start that project and be moving through that through this winter and have that completed for the summer and I'm happy to announce the asigo track project and Os track projects are complete 100% thank you oh my gosh tennis courts are complete although Mother Nature did come through and and bend one of our polls up and we're getting that worked on through that tornado we had come through but we we will get that buttoned up but we were looking really good there and the asphalt Fox Chase and Hunt Club are complete 100% so we made a a great effort and got capital projects pushed through along with several other projects that you had mentioned with with the uh Renovations over at Dak and other areas in the district where we had to give some love and make sure those those buildings were ready to go for the start of school year any questions just one quick one since you brought it up you brought up Storm Damage I'm just curious if if insurance kicked in on anything absolutely absolutely and we we didn't get hit as bad as what we could have and what I did see some of the things happening but unfortunately there was one place that that storm wanted to go and and it was that tennis court of course of course absolutely marel and the the claim process with our new insurance company click easy painful no argument so yeah they're covering it painless painless was it just a painless painless yeah oh I'm sorry painless painless painless we know what you meant yeah so the process is been it's been going well of getting a rep that's great very good okay thank you very good thank you thank you wow all right action item 10.1 approval of bills for payment can I have a motion please thank you uh make a motion to authorize the payment of bills in the amount of 10,2 92,83685 [Music] motion passes 60 action item 10.2 approval of Title One sip plans can I have a motion please sorry my computer Jam did that to you too yeah must I think it went down yeah hold on I got to find the I know I'm trying to find the actual motion sorry it's okay 102 oh we're at 10.2 oh here we go sorry about that make a motion to approve the title one school Improvement plans for school year 20242 for Boulder Hill and Long Beach Elementary School as presented second second Dr Maria hi Johnson I Mr hi hi I I motion passes 60 action item 10.3 approval of student systems supports can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the purchase of an additional plugin support for our student information system from MBA Marsha brener Associates in the amount of $144,950 second Miss Simon hi hi Mr hi Dr Mario hi Johnson I Mr hi motion passes 60 can I have a motion to adjourn make a motion to adjourn

turn on your mic check check all right it is 6:30 for those that are able if you wouldn't mind standing for the Pledge of Allegiance flag of the United States America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all okay we have six of our board members here so I will call the meeting to order Dr Phillips thank you Miss Welden we always like to start off our meetings by uh reminding everyone including ourselves of our vision mission and core beliefs our vision remains that bcsc will be the choice to learn work and play our mission is to develop expert Learners by partnering with our community to invest in people and our core beliefs are that we can all rise to the challenge of high expectations learning is most effective when we have Choice flexibility and see relevance we Thrive when our physical social and psychological needs are met our community and School District are stronger when we partner with one another we flourish because of the diversity and variability in our community and our do democracy and Democratic institution are strengthened by civic-minded citizens thank you Dr Phillips I think next on the agenda we have school board member reports I'll start over here to my right Mr major do you have anything um no there's been no Redevelopment committee meeting anytime in the last two or three weeks and the Health Trust meets tomorrow thank you the uh districting and Facilities committee some of the representatives met with teachers and staff uh Architects out at uh um Westside Community Church and talked about the 12th Elementary School um I don't think any firm decisions have been made uh but things will be coming to the board pretty soon okay thank you Mr Stenner I don't have any updates from my appointed committees Mr grms a few items from the school Foundation uh we just met for the second time over the summer July 22nd to work on the Strategic uh our strategic plan moving forward uh I think it's safe for me to say at this point as well uh the past grant program that the school Foundation operated uh through donors choose uh is no more and the uh School Foundation board is currently examining and uh talking about how to handle grants not just for teachers but but for all staff uh moving forward um executive director Nicole Cunningham wants me to pass on a reminder about the Wizards game uh that Sunday November 10th uh that is fresh on the bcsf stars.org website and uh still looking for volunteers and sponsors for that big moneymaking event for the school foundation and then lastly um executive director Nicole Cunningham um will be leaving her position as of about the middle of August uh she will stay on to see through many of the events that are currently underway um but that uh position her position is now posted on on the website so many many thanks to uh Nicole and her time spent as the executive director of the foundation Mr Schultz uh no meetings with ccic or the others okay thank you none of my committees met we all got a summer break didn't we it's okay back to work on Wednesday everyone okay well thank you we have some cabinet reports for you this evening uh starting with our each August we'd like to bring the board up to date on all the work that our facility folks have been doing over the summer to get our build buildings ready to go so hand that over to Dr his team good evening thank you for a few minutes of time um and thank you Dr Phillips yes each August we do try to give an update to you and to the community on small and large projects that have been completed are are or are in completion now um I'm going to introduce uh Mr Drew Minette who's our manager of Maintenance and cpf projects and then uh Mr GRE Ferguson who those two gentlemen will start walking this way here in just a second I would assume and they will handle the line and share the presentation uh just for reference Drew Drew handles um what I would consider a smaller project so roughly those that are below $100,000 and then Greg of course is managing our larger projects renovation Etc so I'll turn over them and um happy to answer any questions that you that you may have thank you as most of you got to see uh hopefully everybody got to go to the ribbon cutting at Parkside Elementary um which way that go so there we go so there's Parkside it's got new hard surface and uh asphalt new front entry took away the steps uh we got a new bike path for the parking on the on the front side of the school and then we have another one in in the uh backside by freedom field as well we made a new uh drop off pickup for the connection for the parent pickup line and there's just some uh flexible Furniture carpet new uh ceiling tile lights and the hallways and LV LVL uh there's a the coat room with the single use restrooms that are in between both classro rooms our next project that we just started is uh the uh Johnson Early Education Center it's a four room renovation uh and a playground area uh if you can see the dash lines that is what is taking place in the phase one Renovations at Johnson we tried to do as much demo as we could so we won't impact the students so we're ready to go back with it and there is the new playground area for the one-year-old 2-year-old area then we have Schmidt we're into the blue which is phase one which is new office area classrooms that'll be on 27 Street side which is the 57 Harry whis part of the building and we hope to move into that dark blue area over fall break and there is the new old main entrance so kind of exciting to get it back to where it was in 1957 so there's some of the original brick that you'll go right into the office area there a typical schmi classroom right now as it sits and then uh CSA Lincoln roof we got to be able to put a new roof on Lincoln this summer um turned out that project turned out really great uh we were kind of got a little late start but we got it all taken care of and cleared out on a Friday and they had a little bit of a summer school on the Monday so that worked out great and then we the other the Athletics we've got new LED lights at Columbus East and Columbus North football fields and they're ready to go and they are the musco lighting that we have at soccer baseball soft so now all of our Fields have the musco app with the LED lights and then another little project here that we just got done is the scoreboards for East and North and the video boards and that's kind of some of the summer projects that we've been working on and like I said sh will be another two-year project just like Parkside and just appreciate all the support the board gives us and I'm going to turn it over to Drew our maintenance manager for the rest of his projects from the summer uh good evening uh I just want to say that I celebrated my second year here at the beginning of July so uh got my feet wet and we're ready to go again so uh so I do a lot of the cpf projects uh for bcsc those are the projects that are kind of um behind closed doors uh a lot of carpet flooring uh paint a lot of cosmetic stuff that gets done to the buildings and uh our team you know Dr Boseman and Greg and uh Martin Roberts and Josh and Nick and all these guys John Green uh our security guy um we have a really good team and we do a really good job of making sure that we don't overlap with our 2030 Vision stuff and make sure that I'm not going to put floor down that's going to be tore out in you know 2 years or something so you know these guys do a an amazing job it's a it's a great team to be a part of and I love everything about it but um so again like our cpf stuff uh we we did some Fountain work uh this year at the admin here uh we took out the liner put some new gravel in and and got that thing back up to speed where it's uh kind of been lacking in presentation in in the past uh we did some lighting and some uh seiling work here at the admin building there uh that was the last of this project I kind of came into it uh in many many phases and I got to do the last one so uh all the ceiling is um all one grid now so uh we did uh two gym floors this summer uh hoping to do a third possibly in Central Middle School but we did Parkside obviously uh they needed it really bad uh it turned out great uh it's a beautiful floor and we did fodrea um one of our smaller gyms but uh you know Martin flooring they do a fantastic job with our our gym floors uh we did some epoxy work uh at Columbus East uh in the athletic areas uh there that's the hallway there by the pool um it I love the epoxy floors I I think they're great we do a lot of those in our athletic areas locker rooms uh nurses offices they're they're easier to clean and and kind of take care of uh the other picture the nice blue wall that's our LGI room at uh Columbus North um we do a lot of painting projects in the summertime um and we also do a lot of camera stuff uh and we take our security um you know we don't take it lightly we we want our security and our cpf budget to be uh up to date so uh that's the uh parking lot there at uh CSA new tech um it was crumbling from the bus traffic um that that parking lot was originally a machine shop or a some some sort of Automotive thing and it it didn't like the traffic of the buses every day in the same path so we we were able to kind of build that up and and give that some good structure underneath uh we did the loading dock there the concrete work um it was the handrails were about to fall out of there so uh they did a great job in patching that and making that look nice again uh we did some carpet um at the tnm building um some offices and our conference room where our organizational team meets uh the door um you know I kind of joke I do doors floors and mowers that's cpf stuff and uh that's the uh ISC building the MDF room uh lot of server stuff behind there it was a wood frame wood door not very secure now we have a nice steel door that's probably going to have a S2 system on it of some sort um to it a little better uh we did whiteboards all across mcdal Believe It or Not McDow all the pods still had the original chalkboards um and we were able to apply new whiteboards to all of those and kind of get them back up to date there uh that's a new camera that John Green sent me um that's kind of going up in most of our buildings and the parking lot there is the East band lot we were able to do uh the South student lot the North End of the bus lot and the band lot and uh that's without the football grid which is now on there for the band people to rehearse their stuff so um did a lot of seal coating um we did I believe Smith playground um some of the worst ones but so our cpf typically um we go to the principals we meet with them they give us their wants their needs you know their wish list we come back between Dr Bose and Greg and John and all of us and we kind of prioritize that list and then as Dr Phillips knows he was the one that used to find the money for that stuff so um and then we just kind of figure out how many of those we can complete and and how many we can do so um with that said this is kind of a list of not everything is on there but this is a good gives you a good idea of kind of what we do uh cpf projects a lot of our uh other security is like exterior lighting um Lighting in the parking lots make that better more visible because a lot of stuff goes on after hours and there's the rest of our cpf list and I'll give it back to Dr bosan to field any questions click it one more time happy to answer the questions you may have questions well we were all taking a break you were clearly working Dr bosan so I stand corrected my earlier statement on time and on budget absolutely okay and teachers happy yes sir okay here we go so I've just got a quick comment and then maybe a question so I've seen a lot of the summer stuff I think probably the most recent uh at EAS for grandson's football game on satday so saw the new lights and video board at the fire pit I yeah um and then lastly um Parkside looks great I I was unable unfortunately to make the ribbon cutting ceremony and and I know I Pro I know we've seen this before but I've forgotten Schmidt the remodel there are they on roughly the same timeline start to finish as Parkside was that's that's correct yeah one year of design two years of construction y yeah and they're just started this this summer at Schmid thank you questions good thank you thank you thanks Dr Bosman and their team do a tremendous job two and a half million square feet of uh building under roof in this district and and for the for the dollars that we invest in are they sure make them stretch to make sure our buildings look presentable so appreciate their their work the next cabinet report is um an annual requirement from the uh actually Indiana code mandates I believe that we provide an annual update on our teacher evaluation plan and the results of the uh of the their evaluations for the year so Dr stal thank you Dr Phillips and members of the board of school trustees I have the privilege of sharing the teacher performance Report with you this evening so I first want to start by contextualizing the teacher evaluations system we are to provide an annual evaluation to all certified teachers and that plan must include these designation categories of Highly Effective which would categorize as a four effective as a three Improvement necessary two and ineffective one our teacher evaluation system consists of four domains on the screen so we have the domain of universal designed for learning or udl positive behavior instructional supports or PBIS academic citizenship and Student Success at bcsc our domains are weighted and those weights are in accordance with Indiana code and then we've also included the operational definition for each domain our averages when we look back we have averages in udl PBIS academic citizenship and Student Success that are averaging at that highly effective categorization what was presented in the previous years are the coupling of the two domains that you see on the screen that do not have full reports so those two domains were coupled into that Student Success domain those domains of academic success and learning outcomes this is the same information from the bar graph in the table additional information on this side includes the number of elements for each domain so as an example udl has five elements within that domain that an evaluator would score and that score would aggregate to an average for that domain again the coupling of the academic success and the learning outcomes became our Student Success domain in 2022 2023 we present information on the universities and so of the bcse teachers who come to us from these universities we collect and share data on their averages within those domains our top three universities remain University of Southern Indiana Indiana Wesleyan University and Indiana University Southeast lastly we have our evaluation averages by years of bcsc experience this is not years of overall experience but years of bcsc experience and you can see here that we have um our 0 to four year teachers of course having that 3.4 year average and then that increases as our teachers spend more time with us at bcse speaking of new teachers we were able to welcome our new teachers this year with our new teacher orientation and we have a video to conclude this presentation [Music] on Monday July 29th 2024 Columbus East High School was full of excitement as bcsc welcomed nearly 60 new teachers to our district what's remarkable approximately 70% of these Educators bring a wealth of experience from prior teaching to bcsc highlight our strong reputation as the choice to learn work and play this incredible and diverse influx of talent wouldn't be possible without the community's unwavering support thanks to the 2020 operating referendum we are able to offer competitive salary and benefit packages attracting and retaining excellent and engaged Educators as we embark on this new Academic Year we wish all of our new teachers success as together we learn thank you do you have any questions Dr stalba I I've got just a a request out of curiosity and and that would be a breakdown of all the teachers 43 21 just at your earliest convenience I can provide that to Dr Phillips for you all right thank you Dr Salam on the metrics you said on the academic success it says we combined it two but then I also noted four so what's the other two um elements that go into academic or Student Success can you repeat your question so originally we talked about how academic success and learning outcomes you know Consolidated into Student Success but then it mentions four elements below so what's the other two elements to uh Student Success that are not from the prior consolidation okay so academic success and learning outcomes when the state of Indiana decoupled some measurements from the teacher evaluation system then the teacher performance team committee looked at the elements underneath academic success and learning outcomes and determined to keep four of those elements or they may have revised some of those elements and then created that separate domain of Student Success so on our website we have our teacher performance evaluations system and the rubric is on the website okay you would be able to see what those elements actually are underneath that Student Success category okay yeah the the question I have is more of a really comment and question is for the chart that you presented with the top three schools um that we're getting Talent from do we have um I guess a conern ConEd effort to Target those schools with recruiting maybe taking like USI for example or Indiana Wesley and either one you've got eight and 15 teachers from those schools of those 17 should do you think we should take maybe three to five of those teachers and actively recruit at those schools to try and pull more Talent since those schools are performing better than other schools I think that's certainly consideration to look at when we're recruiting okay all the USI people in the room gloat off when we put this up every yeah any other questions so I found this slide really interesting but I do have a question about so many of our teachers have gone to more than one college so is this their undergraduate or their most recent College this would be the university that they received their education degree from so if they're a transition to teaching teacher then it would be from that University okay thank you on the uh the next slide with h years of experience um it looks like for most of the columns as you gain experience the scores are going up but I didn't see that in students success necessarily is that a tricky one or different from the others somehow I think that is due to Student Success becoming a new domain and so I would okay my hypothesis is that that would be the case thank you 60 teachers at one time is quite remarkable for onboarding congratulations on getting all those spots filled um H how many do you know approximately how many jobs we still have open we have a few I can present that during the Personnel report we have one I'll present it right now we have one non-classroom position one special education position and then one virtual position open okay that's pretty remarkable I don't know if anybody watches unemployment rates in Indiana right now but for people who are hiring it's really tough so the fact that we've been able to fill these jobs is pretty remarkable really well done thank you Dr stal Bal I just want to point out I know I sent you all a note before too but um I believe somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 or 12 years ago we had more than 120 teachers in our new teacher orientation and that was following a retirement incentive combined with a whole lot of resignations that were just unexpected kind of that happened across many schools in the state and the fact that we have reduced that to now lower than 10% of our uh of our teaching staff turning over now for two years in a row is pretty remarkable as Dr stalam said in the video uh a tesate the fact that our average teacher salary now is much higher than the state average so well done uh the next cabinet report will come from from me um I'm proposing that we consider uh a more consistent schedule for board meetings um the currently the last uh I believe three years we've had 177 meetings per year each of those meetings has varied depending on the month uh and the number of days between meetings from 14 days to at times there was actually one year we had 42 days uh so six weeks between um between meetings we are uh we're in the middle and in our second of five meetings that we'll have in 11 weeks during this stretch but then we go I believe another um 28 days between the SE last September meeting and the October meeting and so the proposal that I have for you um some folks at the admin building here worked for um a long time trying to find the consistent weeks that didn't interfere with holidays or fall breaks and spring breaks and all of those things um originally trying to be every 28 days to see if that was possible we had to do some adjustments to that but the proposal is 14 meetings per year with uh most of the time there are 28 days between meetings but some there are a few times that there are only 21 we do have need to have uh three meetings between basically September 1st and the end of October for the budget and so that's one of those stretches that has a slightly more frequent meeting schedule and then in this proposal between the June and July meetings there are always 35 days so a five-week break between those um I put on the slide for you five me years of those projected dates basically following the consistent pattern but am requesting approval this evening of just uh the January of 2025 through uh the end of next school year so June of 26 is what I'm requesting approval if um there are no requested adjustments to the to the schedule I did have um feedback from a couple of um people from the public as well as board members about considering changing the meeting night um I decided considering all of the other things that I've changed in the last few weeks that I wasn't going to propose changing that evening for for now but um as far as internally at um from an administrative perspective the night of the meeting does not really have a a huge impact on us um as long as it's consistent uh there was a a suggestion from someone that we we move the evening of the night so it didn't always interfere with certain things sorry the evening of the week um I didn't think that we all could keep that straight and and don't have any desire to move the evening uh of the week that it's held to different nights so these are the these are those dates uh corresponding dates for each of those five years if we followed that pattern um and the highlighted ones in yellow are the ones that I would request approval from this evening the one um the one question that um that Logan asked me actually a couple of times that is not addressed in here is in the January meeting we usually have a organization meeting at that first January meeting and during that meeting officers are elected the following meeting the board president uh signs uh the Committees for each that each board member serves on and so this doesn't allow for that you would have to wait until September or schedule a special meeting just for that purpose uh the third option would be to have anyone who was considering uh serving as president to have their appointments ready for the first meeting in January anuary those would be the the three ways of possibly addressing that concern but outside of that I didn't hear from others with any U really technical needs that this doesn't allow us to to accomplish I think the only other thing that we encountered tonight was open houses and it looks like you're in the second week in August so I think that you know we've got a light audience tonight so I think that would help people maintain attendance that want to and and Mr Stenner as the since Pat isn't here you're the longest running member Among Us so I'm going to ask in the past we have done officer elections and committee appointments in the same meeting is that is that right it sure seems like it would be possible yeah yeah I think it's been a practice that we've done on this on on bcsc board in previous years although it's not maybe been in recent history so you're asking a question that test my memory M I'm sorry Mr St I could go back and review the minutes but no it seems like yeah that would work Dr Phillips you're talking about uh evening of the week for meetings it it Monday is fairly standard across the state for Schoolboard meetings or no I think it's the most common but not um I I think with the exception of Friday I've heard of districts that have them on any of the other nights yeah I think the feedback I got was all the other entities at least correct me if I'm I know Josh with city council or any other like I think they all also meet on Monday so there was I know there was a couple conflicts where Library board was meeting at the same time we were meeting and people were trying to make both of those city council was meeting at the same time we were meeting so there was more of an arrangement between all the different entities that all happen to also choose Monday nights as their meeting nights I think the other thing you're going to run into like you mentioned Friday night no one you're not going to have any audience if it's football game night right so during the fall that's a problem during the winter Tuesday Wednesday Thursday how many basketball games ebl and all that so so I don't know how many people have asked if if 10,000 people have asked for change of night then it's one thing if it's one person then it's then it's a little bit harder to fix that especially knowing that there's so many other conflicts once you move the date yeah I think the the one thing that I think I'd like to see as we get into out years is just trying to Target the same day of the like so if we're going to go second Monday of the month and that way all the other entities can go third or fourth or whatever they desire and then obviously inserting for the extra for the budget that makes more sense to me which it looks like in reality we're kind of doing that but it goes AI there during the spring so I'm good any other questions okay thank you okay now is our time for public comments but we have no public comments this evening so we will we will move on just maybe I'll give a reminder for anyone watching from home if you would ever like to speak publicly there is always a blue sheet that I'm holding up at the door when you walk into the room and you just sign up there and and you'll get your three minutes okay right okay uh we have old business uh requesting approval of the minutes of the regular school boarding board meeting from July 15th I move that we approve the minutes of our regular board meeting held on July 15th second thank you Mr Grimes and Mr major all those in favor of approving the minutes of our school board meeting from July 15th please say I I I all those opposed say nay motion passes thank you under item seven we have uh letters a through g under new business those include the the normal regular uh meeting approvals of the supplemental contracts school fundraisers and there are no field trips in the approval package for this uh board meeting claims uh and payroll we didn't have a did not have a regular monthly approval just the payrolls and the uh the regular monthly claims not the pre- runs for this one usually we have three items each meeting but because there were only two meetings between these you only see two um and also requesting approval for the change of the board meeting dates that we just presented permission to process a change order to the CSA Lincoln roofing project which is a closing out of that projects and a reduction of the final contract amount as is usually the case at the conclusion of a a project like that one permission to uh Grant an easement for a utility at McDow a relatively small piece of property that they need have access to the gas company needs to have access to that space and then letter G is the final item under new bus business and that is appointing members of the repair and renovation School building corporation which is still left from 2003 and so the three new members of that building Corporation once they are in place would work with Mr mcgyver and the ice Miller folks to dissolve that building Corporation so that we don't have three in place anymore we would uh just have one so I request approval of items 7A through 7g please I move that we approve all new business items under number seven letters a through G as presented by Dr Phillips second thank you Mr Schultz any questions or comments from the team before we go to vote no okay uh all those in favor of approving item seven a through G please say I I I I all those oppos please say nay motion passes thank you 60 and Dr Stalone Human Resources recommendations thank you the human resources recommendation for this evening consists of five resignations 13 appointments one withdrawal and 56 special contracts I request that you please approve the Personnel recommendations as presented in the board packet I move that we approve the HR recommendations under number eight as presented by Dr Stall bomb second thank you Mr gron Mr major any questions for first bom before we go to vote okay all those in favor of approving item 8A Human Resources recommendations please say I I I all those opposed say n motion carries 6 Z there are no additional Human Resources recommendations for tonight thank you okay board input I started on the right before I'm G to start on the left over here Mr Nan do you have anything um just that I want to acknowledge and um express my appreciation for all the time teachers have spent getting ready for school and I hope we have a great great start to school yeah I just want to Echo the same I was just I just came from the Southside open house that's why I'm wearing green and uh my kids were very excited to get back and uh I saw the energy in the schools and I think uh a lot of lot of folks a lot of new faces and like Mr Nan said I mean all the teachers have already done so much efforts in making their classroom so welcoming um hope off to a great start and go get ready for Wednesday well I would just like to uh mention again uh and compliment um whatever it is I should do be positive about the move to board dos that has been a uh I would say a welcome change um secondly uh super congratulations to Northside social studies teacher Molly Fountain last year's bcsc teacher of the year um who who a while back was notified that she was a top selected as a top 25 finalist and just recently was named a top 10 finalist for the Indiana State teacher of the year so congratulations and good luck to Mrs Fountain um many thanks to everyone who had a hand in putting together the back to uh School guide for the 2425 school year uh chalk full of good information and then also I would like to say the the Legacy pass that's mentioned in there uh the extracurricular pass to um uh stakeholders in the bcsc community age 62 plus um take advantage yes the Legacy pass that's great and then lastly um yeah best wishes for a successful beginning of the school year uh for kids and teachers uh back at it in the classroom on Wednesday and at the risk of sounding sappy or corny or whatever it may be uh too bad I'm going to read it anyway um but in the latest um Indiana school boards Association Journal there was an article written by a Schoolboard member from IPS um who went around to all the IPS buildings um you know IP s arguably frequently a hot B of controversy and he wanted to see for himself and so the article talks about many of the different crises and challenges facing uh public education in particular and so just to read his last paragraph from that article I have concluded that the headlines which often focus on the crises are missing the story they Overlook the small quiet triumphs that happen every day in our schools where talented kids Blossom and discover new gifts daily thanks to great teachers so thank you to um you know I I'd say that doesn't just apply to IPS that applies here as well and so best wishes to all as get moved back to the classrooms Wednesday Mr you're a tough act to follow follow down um I I'm just going to again gush on um Dr Boseman and the team that has worked at Parkside um and the the patients that the T-shirt teachers have had and the staff and all of those moves there were lots of smiling faces everybody was so excited to show us their furniture and their smartboards and coat Cubbies and just every little detail was was kind of gushed over it was really nice to see um special thanks to Miss mocus and Mrs Vincent who took some extra time with me just to show me around um I thought it was just a really good event the amount of people that showed up to see a school opening was pretty overwhelming so just shows how big of a deal it is for our community congratulations um I'll Echo the comments of other board members and uh sincere hopes for a great start to the school year for all the students and staff uh I during the district in facilities committee I should have thanked and I will now all the folks that have been part of the planning of a new Elementary School on the west side of town the amount of time that they put in the amount of thought uh discernment and U helping to make sure that things move in the right direction is really impressive and uh I was in a room full of people who obviously care a lot about education and about how that new building is going to work so uh much appreciated for their time and effort yeah so I want to thank everyone uh for their work this summer and any personal development that has been done uh on the part of teachers teachers AIDS and others I also want to wish everyone a safe start to the school year and welcome any new students parents families teachers teacher aids cafeteria workers janitors maintenance secretarial bus drivers nurses and administrators welcome to bcsc I hope you have a very successful uh school year I also want to make note that I saw on Facebook earlier today uh that Mr Chastain was uh this year's teacher of the year and I I don't know I I don't know if all of you have met him or not but he is very beloved at uh East I haven't met a kid that didn't like him um he was by far one of my uh daughter's probably two most favorite teachers uh one of them was Mrs Williams at Richards and one of them is Mr Chastain and so you know God bless the man for doing all the running he did over the summer he made it to as many uh graduation parties as he was invited to and so that just says you know a lot about that individual um to make the effort to do that uh is it's a lot of work and I've talked to several people teachers and coaches that said ah it's just too hard to go to everybody's and he made an effort and so I think as reflected in him winning today so thank him and his family for doing the work that they've done over time to Des to deserve that award thank you Mr major for mentioning that we will be honoring Mr Chastain at the next board meeting um and he uh his wife and mother-in-law are both also lifelong teachers so it was a pleasure meeting them today and Mr Chastain was very surprised this morning so that was always a fun day I just want to to add um to that uh e echoing um the work that was done around the back to school publication hopefully everyone received received one of these in your mailbox Mr Bernett over there um responded to a conversation that I had with him at a very short notice to say be really be great if we could do something like this and then really worked hard to make sure that that happened and um I also want to note thanks to the Republic who helped us not only um not only create the document but also really distribute it taking uh taking advantage of their distribution abilities so we we appreciate our partnership with the Republic also want to Echo the welcome back to everyone it was so much fun to see how much activity was happening around the buildings uh as our staff came back today and then tomorrow with the professional development day I do want to let folks know that normally during the course of the year when we have a professional development day we do close the offices that won't be the case tomorrow with it being the day before school starts the the offices will still be open for families that have questions and need uh need any assistance and then um I appreciate Jason you mentioning all the folks who get us ready from an operational standpoint I just don't know many organizations that do what Public Schools do at the scale that they do it so we're going to go I won't say we're going from zero to 100 but maybe like 20 we're going from 20 miles an hour to 100 miles an hour like that so we will not serve any meals tomorrow we will not drive any buses tomorrow but on Wednesday we will have 120 bus drivers going 8,000 Miles we'll serve probably seven or 8,000 meals to students and for the most part it will go off without a hitch um more importantly than that our teachers will greet 11,400 kids with smiles on their faces I mean the teachers will have Smiles on their faces I don't know if I know the parents will have Smiles on their faces when they when they uh send their kids to school on Wednesday but just echoing what everyone said here about thanks to all our staff for everything to do they do to get us ready for uh really an amazing logistical feat that happens on Wednesday when the number of cars on the street uh go up by a factor of at least two I think on during school days compared to non-school days thanks for letting me rant on there m will you're welcome no problem okay next meeting is on August 19th it's a public work session it will be in this um building but upstairs in the boardroom at 5:15 p.m.

a tosd a t PR many en ear stre a PRI are Al have app ear much en trans are to really ESP bu resp PR B are of those PR of want us supp an have AB re is El ESP of little the supp also and we a so should St are Lo s this I all time our I those is things years are their in J inter hell right so we're just presenting tonight on the middle school project so we're ises in our spes as working around construction that's still going on the good news is that we are our offices are now out ofs hour so I wanted toing the was to really tack two entry system to middle school as soon as buzzed into they had instant access to students so there was restri in our building they were we addressed access remember our main entr rain all of par out on the road had to all thew of the retaining couldn't immed steps so then you had to go around the entire building to get yourself where the offes located with the addition of this parking lot this has allowed so come in the able to in the conference restated syst footprint that we're talking about so we to get took offes exter walls repurpose space down in the lower part of the building did not change any fo but we how to have TOS when you walk in that front door that I was pointing out earlier this is what you will see when you walk in this is our new re standing re re this is in the hallway rightside the offices so where these BL lockers where the lockers are now right in the middle that the entrance into the old lock of windows on all offel we get stent spre we have visitors in and student traic re runice now this is every day things are getting wrapped up and it's looking more and more polished and finished right now our receptionist is working in our conference room but allows to work in the FR of the building still have working Performance Services last2 hours Friday app iove profession I the acted Serv speci am El trans will a little I also to am excited con out sign

and then our regular board meeting will be um here at 6:30 p.m. on the same day thank you everyone meeting a j

e e e bues good afternoon to everybody we're gonna go ahead and get started with today's meeting the crane school district understands that our community of schools is located on the ancestral land of the oam jid and eim oam to people who descended from the Hohokam and have inhabited these lands since the time immemorial the oam whose name translates literally to people are vibrant culture and communities spaning countless Generations into the past continue to thrive in the present and carrying a powerful Legacy for Generations into the future with this acknowledgement the C School District formally recognizes that the traditional caring keeping of these lands by indigenous people is an aspirational model of community stewardship that we are committed to honor with practices policy and human relations that brings us to our next agenda item of the Pledge of can you please miss MB can you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you I pledge aliance to the of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands Nation indivisible lice thank you so that brings us to itmc which a r call we have Miss Gibson McLean Miss SS myself and Miss Michaela present in today's meeting we want to welcome everyone to tonight's meeting and remind the audience of their request to address board cards that must be completed and submitted to the board secretary if they wish to speak to an agenda item board policy provides for two cards White cards to be submitted in order to speak to an agenda item and blue cards to be submitted in order to speak during public comments due to open meeting law board members are not allowed to address item that are not on the agenda that's prayer policy B DH that brings us to 2A which is approval of agenda I move the governing board approve the agenda as presented second all those in favor I I I thank you that brings us to um our 3A which is governing board reports and Miss MB since I have you on my right side we'll go ahead and get started for with you if you have anything right um well for first of all welcome back and uh I hope everyone had a wonderful first few days back I know it's exciting and chaotic all at the same time um but I know all those kids were excited to see all of their teachers and admin all over again um and I got to attend the new teacher orientation uh breakfast and lunch phenomenal job by the team um I heard a lot of really great feedback from the teachers as well as the presenters um and then got to go to the rally as well which was absolutely amazing the energy was very contagious so um that was super amazing and um for any of you techie nerds out there uh the Senate passed Copa 2.0 which is the children's online privacy protection act we already have Copa that's what dictates that children of a certain age can't be using different Technologies without parental consent along with a lot of other details but they're up updating it um for the most part pretty non-c contentious um but they also passed a new law called kosa which is the kids online safety act and there is some contention around it as far as censorship um but basically the idea is protecting children more from social media and the harm and that it can do to their mental health so there are some really great benefits to it but as with any bills there's a lot of fine language um so the house is on recess until September so we won't hear anything else more about it but um definitely worth paying attention to because that will impact the technology we use with our students in the classroom the responsibilities that our Educators have with that as well as communicating with our parents too thank you so much for that Miss SS um good evening everyone um welcome back as well um I was sad that last week I didn't get to come to any of the new teacher stuff um I got a new position at work and I had to start quite a bit sooner my summer ended quite a bit sooner than I wanted it to um so I kind of missed out but I did get to go to the rally and I really really enjoyed it um it was nice that it was on a Tuesday instead of the same day as mine usually is um so um I love the message and uh it was really personal personal to me and um I took a lot from it so I really really liked it and um I appreciate whoever managed to snag that guy that um spoke he was amazing um I hope everybody is having a great first week um and we'll have a good year thank you so much Miss Gibson mle I was gonna say is is that the gentleman that spoke at Cube last year yes Alex were you there a cube oh I was like oh you didn't see him interesting um because get my wires crossed well hello everybody um I wanted to come to some things last week and I was going to come to the morning whatever that was but I got stuck in a courtroom for three hours for something that took five minutes um so that was fun and uh I hope everyone had a great time and a good first day back um I'm happy to be here uh last this is August so last month I went to caby which is the California Association for black black school educators conference in Napa it was a cool fun conference to go to they had great workshops I have things written down on some pieces of paper in my home right now that I did not bring with me there are people that I would like to connect with um and some researchers that I think would be cool for us to have them hopefully share things with us um if we were nice um and I just thought it was a great conference with kind of a different vibe than some of the other conferences we go to mainly because um throughout the whole first day there weren't even breakout sessions there were just these large big room conversations um that I guess you know they're encouraging people to be candid and open and honest and have these larger conversations among a group about issues that are impacting specifically black and brown Youth and so I mean we're starting from a whole different spot than some of the other conferences we go to and the conversations that we had and I just really enjoyed it and there were lots of people to meet with and learn things from there so I really appreciated the opportunity to go um other than that I don't think I have anything else just happy School Year yay awesome thank you for that um I just have a couple of things to touch on capsi yeah the California Association black school Educators it was awesome their theme was black to Basics and it was just awesome to know that we were in a conference where that it was aligned with our goals right one of our goals is our 0% black students in grade will pass the math standardized test and to be in a room full of doctors educator professionals superintendent Schoolboard members from California knowing that this is an issue that's happening Statewide and they also are having these conversations in their local governing board meetings and making sure that our students that are you know their most vulnerable are getting the attention and they and the resources that they need was just awesome a lot of good networking from there to hopefully bring into the school district as well um new teacher education every you know the new teachers and the welcome back rally were awesome I am a 10 is my favorite message now I see our superintendent wearing their sticker I mean the pin that says I am a 10 and it's just really awesome um I was able to also participate in the kids Congress conversation that our guest speaker or that our panel speaker keynote speaker had and that in itself is amazing to see how children were coming together the students and creating these ideas on how they will spread this positivity instead of going into the school year thinking you know about what's going to go on with academics or all these different things they were literally going and brainstorming on how they're going to bring this positivity and this you know loving yourself and the more that you love yourself at a 10 how that will project and it's interesting that these conversations we're having with the students because if you think about our student outcomes focused government governance work that's one of the things that we do say right is that I am the Genesis of change and change will start with us and then eventually it ripples off so for our students to be getting that kind of same messaging it's very aligned and I was just so proud to see the students and how they were so in their in theirselves and their in their power they were literally holding in into their power and how they're going to go into the classrooms and making sure that that power is rippled with their colleague I mean with their students as well so that was great to see um another thing with capsi I I'm just really happy to with the alignment of copper um education Alliance that we just joined they are partner with capsi as well so the fact that everything's starting to align in the district and we're heading in the right direction to make sure that our students are putting up at the front front at the Forefront is awesome to see and I did want to let everybody know that we have a Appropriations Committee coming up that I saw that I think it's really interesting for anybody in the community to see um it's an input meeting on August 15th from 4 to 5 and it's basically um for anybody that wants to discuss or give input on how crayon School District uh proportion it shares to support students enrolled by parents at private schools so this is a good conversation I'm hoping that community members that have an interest this in show up and give your input because this does affect us and with that being said um I have nothing else and I'll turn it over oh I do have one more thing's the host of that meeting um do we know I'm not sure yeah who's the host of this take it there because I believe it is a a mandatory meeting yes we are hosting the meeting here in house are you facilitating we can't discuss the meeting just because we're not post okay sorry saying for the information that we're giving out to people so they know who the person is it's in the Comm yeah it's in the community newsletter I'm not sure who's putting it together but we're hosting it and it's going to happen at the crayon school district office in the lunch conference room on August 15th between 4 to 5 thank you you're welcome and then the last thing I want to say is I know Monday was the first day of school I got to see some behind the scenes at the end of the school when kids are getting picked up and my I it was just another moment of gratitude that I had for the principals the teachers the staff on getting everybody making sure the kids are not out in the heat how they had to rechange all the operations that was going on at this specific school to make sure that the kids were inside classrooms in shade it was just you know we really do have superheroes in the school district and that's how I'm going to say it because it was hot everybody was running back and forth and with the young kindergart gardeners who don't know their parents' name who don't even know their own names you can see how that can get very hectic when parents are trying to find their children at that age I'm I'm just so thankful for all the bodies and all the moving parts that we have in the district to make sure that every child goes to the designated home or goes to their who they need to so I I got to see a little bit of that and I I'm in awe of all the superpowers that individuals have within them to take care of these or of our students and with that I will turn it over to Mr Man thank you Madame President um members of the board it it's always interesting being at this time of year with with school kicking off um I really I want to reiterate your shout out to our principles and our staff like all the hard work that goes into making sure um that we're getting kids safely on into our schools getting them set up for the year and and getting the school year started um in addition to that I know a lot of our district office team members are deployed out to the sites um for the beginning of school trying to provide some extra support so many thanks to all of them um I want to give a shout out to our transportation department because I got to ride with one of our bus drivers Mark um on Monday morning which was super fun to see the kids all excited to get back to school and um you know they're confused as to why some guy in a suit's on the bus with them but you know they were they were very gracious and um and it was really it was nice to get a chance to you know to see all of that flowing smoothly um for transportation and um shout out to our cafeteria team as well um our our nutrition and wellness team um got had an opportunity to help serve some corn dogs and burritos for lunch that day um and that was actually super fun as well so um I just for me that first day one of the things that's really special about getting to do some of the things that I don't normally get to do is that it lets me see kind of what you were saying president koreo that behind the scenes of all the hard work and effort that goes in in a V wide variety of areas to make sure everything works including getting a chance to visit our newest campus um Kennedy School which you know opening a brand new school that is opening a school in general is stressful and rough so my kudos to our staff and and our leaders at our school sites but opening a brand new schol schol it's like you don't know what you're missing until the first day of school and then you're scrambling I know Vanessa and her team were working hard to like fill some gaps as we were finding out you know some some bits and pieces that were missing but um PR principle LeBron was just doing a great job the parents the families were great we had ABC 15 out who did a news story on the new school opening and I think one of the highlights of the day the highlights of the day are always getting intera students but one of our students um there Indigo was was interviewed on ac15 and I don't I don't recall if this made it into the interview but um the I am a 10 with Alex Boyer was mentioned um and so the that student's teacher on her whiteboard had I am a 10 and had all her reasons why she was a 10 and when the student was being interviewed by abc5 they asked her well what is it that you um are learning today on the first day of school and she said well you know we always start off with procedures and and all that and we learn this and we learn that and she goes and I really like that we learned that I am a 10 and it like really warmed my heart that you know we were able to bring this great speaker in and that it was we saw the impact with the students he worked with in that afternoon as you mentioned earlier but beyond that you know you could also see that our teachers were impacted by it and that they were bringing that message forward and so to me that's a big jump start to the school year because if we can help make sure our students are seeing their own value we get ahead of you know behavior issues bullying you know we get people in the right mindset to know that they can be successful and prepare them for learning they learn more they perform better and so it just you know the year will have its challenges but I just feel like it was a really great start to the school year and not just saying that because you know it sounds good to say it was a really great start to the school year um I know um um principal Gutierrez is here with us in the audience and he was one of the school sites I got to visit and he was just so calm and I thought how can he be so calm it's the first day of school right but it was because things really were flowing pretty smoothly for the first day of school so a lot of that also goes to all the hard work done over the summer by by our teams as well and then lastly I know I've gone on a bit too long today um I have a story to share that is not my story it was sent to me by principal cardier and it kind of ties back to the comments earlier about seeing behind the scenes because apparently our our board president went behind the scenes as well so she sent me this story it says yesterday I sent a robo call to our families asking for their patience this week with dismissal 20 minutes later Sophia shows up at school and says I can help where do you want me she helped get all of our kids in cars and stayed outside in the heat for a 38 minute dismissal on the first day was super kind of her and are Beyond grateful so sorry to put you on the spot I know you didn't do it to get recognition but it really touched me when I heard that so yes we have a lot of superheroes in our midst and um you know it's that it's really corny that old saying it takes a village to raise a child I mean one of the really awesome things about kraton is we function as a village and we're all hands on deck to try to support our kids in our community so makes me very proud to be here and thank you for the time thank you and thank you Miss cardier there will probably be Vengeance um that brings us to our next item which is student outcomes Focus governance update 4 a we do not have a slideshow in here we actually do have a meeting coming set up with our coach which is Dr Ramos and we're in the process of getting our intrum goals for the guard rails and we're going to start up our intrum progress monitoring calendar report I know that some links have been shared amongst the board members and hopefully with the awesome new revamp of the website that we have that I'm totally in love with um we can start tying some of that stuff in there too documents so everybody can kind of go along where where this framework is going and the next step is actually putting our monitoring calendar set up we now have our board goals each goal has to be monitored you know a certain time during the quarter year and now we're going to have a full Year's worth of calendar to make sure that we're staying on track that we're following the interim goals the goals and then once the interim for the guard rails get up they will be put in the calendar too so for a next board meeting we will be able to have a little bit more of clarity in the calendar hopefully set up for that um also we have a study session coming up on September 28th I believe it's September 28th Miss htis and that's going to be a very important study session that we invite you know the community any staff members that want to be involved and especially any um Schoolboard candidates that we have just because at that um study session we're going to be really deep diving into uh how this next school year is going to look like with our goals moving forward in our guard rails and go into depth it's about I think we're scheduled from 9 to 3 so 9:00 am to 3 p.m.

a roll call yes Vice President Van Hook let the record show that four out of our five board members are present thank you please join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance e I motion to approve the agenda second all in favor I I I uh motion passes for to zero um Miss Richard do we have any upcoming events thank you Vice President Van Hook as you can see we have conscious discipline training here for our parents on Thursday August 22nd at 6: PM everyone's invited to attend also on Tuesday August 27th we have our next board meeting right here in the district office and next on Thursday August 29th we will have dangers of Snapchat parent night here in the district office Bard thank you thank you um we will now move to public um to a public hearing to discuss the fiscal year 2025 adopted budget Mr Moore president vice president Van Hook members of the board uh tonight I'll be presenting on our budget revision number one um a little background on why we are revising uh this early in the game um first uh obviously this is um the previous budgets that have been approved so far for 25 in June 5th we proposed the board approved our proposed budget on June 26th the board approved that proposed budget and adopted it uh tonight I'm presenting budget region number one um and then as we look into December there'll be another opportunity to revise the reason we are looking to revise uh this early in August is we had uh we are looking to correct a budget cell on page two um this particular cell has implications on our Ida funding and several grant funding uh essentially we under budgeted uh the adopted budget um included a budget of 102,000 uh and in reality we needed 1.2 million uh for that a particular cell um so that put us below what they call the maintenance of effort um that ad tests when we submit our budget up to ad after the board approves it um and so below that maintenance of effort um for sped funding they uh basically cut off our Ida grant funding saying that we did not meet or exceed our special education funding so um the revision right here will correct that um one cell in budget appropriately on what we intended to budget um again that was typo and a mistake on page two in addition while we were fixing this we did adopt on the preliminary budget forms because we um our board meetings are in June the legislative cycle was still ongoing uh and did not get and did not finalize until July so we took the opportunity to update our budget forms and and um present this revision on the finalized budget forms which have all the legislative Appropriations that were approved in the legislative cycle for fiscal year 25 so what has changed um again not not a lot um m is exactly the same as what you adopted again the only the main change on the ml was changing that one cell for sped Transportation on the capital side um there was a slight change um this is because we um utilized the final budget form so if you remember when we adopted um there was discussion around the capital funding and how um the increases were going to be appropriated for fiscal 25 if you remember the final decision was to appropriate the capital increases on a one-time basis and not an ongoing basis and so I took the Assumption when we adopted that they were going to be ongoing and so the final forms um they reflect the one-time increase but what that means is 80 has not given us those one-time numbers yet so we have to basically take out this appropriation uh that I anticipated coming what I envisioned is in December when ad gives us the final number we'll be adding this 322,000 back in the budget but the issue is the final forms don't have that number in it so when we when we are revising to these final forms I can't legally um put that number in there until ad gives us that number so I have to take it out of the budget revision and that equates to 322,000 but I completely anticipate bringing that back in once ad gives us that final onetime appropriation so that is the only um budgetary change in this revision is there any questions on those two cells before I get to my last Mr Moore I do have a question um so if we made the mistake of the 1.1 million um you said in cell g19 and then um which is the IEP Pupil Transportation cost with program 400 correct yeah that's directly related to sped Transportation costs okay so how come when we're doing that it doesn't make an impact to the total budget of the 6 million yeah so it doesn't change our total budget implication it just indicates how we budgeted where we budgeted funds and so um that budget number is just uh it's not derived to the formula at all it's just saying we intend to spend 1.2 million on this area it it has no delineation on the funding formula or the budget formula it's just one of those cells that's built into the um outdated I would say budget forms that we have to indicate how much money we intend to budget for out of the total M budget it's not saying you can increase your budget it's just saying how much do you intend to spend or to budget for sped Transportation has no relationship to the overall budget formula in its entirety so we're not taking it from somewhere else and applying it to transportation and that's why it's not changing the total number correct okay thank you so I took the opportunity to also fill in the board and and the public on kind of the 25 budget calendar um going forward again bringing this budget forth tonight uh fixes that correction on page two which which then puts us in compliance with uh the maintenance of effort um requirements from the Arizon Department of Education in December um we at that point in time ad issues a letter um and if we are um over budgeted by 1% or more they will ask us to revise our budget um we have to wait till December but that's at that point in time ad has reconciled our ADM to what we adopted um and at that point we get to kind of true up or reconcile um the adopted budget or tonight the revised budget to where our ADM numbers are reflected in December January through March uh that is our timeline where we review our FY 26 budget estimates and then on May 13th uh we do our final revision that could be either budget revision number two or budget revision number three depending if we need to revise in December and again that one revises to the final day the average uh 100 day ADM and that um that day is January 10th but again that 100 day is the average of from the start of school to the January 10th day the average ADM for those 100 days that is what we're finally funded on and what we revised to in May with that um take any questions I don't have any further questions but um if any member of the public has any questions or comments you're more than welcome to speak at this time nope no questions all right uh we're moving on to the consent agenda I motion to approve the consent oops oh oh yes sorry um uh at this time we reconvene into Open Session and now we're moving on to the consent agenda I motion to um approve the consent agenda items 51 through 510 second all in favor I all opposed motion passes 4 to zero um at this time we'll take a short break uh while the mo uh board moves to um moves for the work study e e e we'll turn this time to miss Richards for the AI presentation thank you vice president Ben hook members of the board and Community we're excited this evening we have been working on this for over a year so I think you're going to find it informative and fun and we don't have fun in these meetings but tonight we're going to so about a year ago for me I went to the trust model policy update program in August and that's where I went into a session with an individual named Matt disi and I was like wow this guy is ahead of us and I like that when other districts or other places get ahead of of us but AI is a real thing and it's out there as we all know so I spoke with Matt and I convinced him to work with us a little bit he works closely with Mesa public school so he uh did a couple of meetings with us and then he came and did a presentation for leadership and that happened in December so since that time we've all been working together to learn and grow and gain knowledge so I would be aiss if I don't like highlight the two experts in the room their names are Janie Ramirez and Valerie Thomas they are your instructional technology coaches so they have been very very interested and sometimes a little pushy about how slow can we go you need to hurry up but yeah I called you pushy in a good way so they've attended and we've attended several professional development sessions probably one of the most interesting one was hosted at ASU and they had kids talking and presenting and convincing us that we need to learn how to use it it but use it right and so that was part of our journey you're going to have you have several handouts in front of you um our main mission initially was how do we implement the use with guard rails and a vision so that we support teachers but we also give them parameters and guidelines so you'll see a document that says getting started with Gen generative Ai and this is the guide for the higgle Unified School District and so Valerie and Janie I mean if you're on our AI team raise your hand and this is our team and Armstrong you're part of the team now you're just late H Jeff Bickle is part of this team as well so you have a lot of people working to understand and do things correctly so this guide is kind of our vision and our guardrails let's call it that so we know you know where we're going and how we're going to get there safely and these guys are going to present in a minute so I don't want to keep talking about all of this but you also have a um generative artificial intelligence K12 education guidance document this has been very instrumental all the top experts in the state have worked to develop this including ad um NAU in a bunch of school districts so you'll see a lot of references here I'm wanting all of us to go to an AI Summit on the 23rd of September in AGA friia School District High School District they seem to um have done a really good job and they're working really hard on responsible and ethical implementation so build building a strong Foundation gaining momentum and then continuous Improvement one thing that's in this report it's the future of jobs reports of 2024 by the world economic Forum it forecasts by 75% of surveyed companies plan to implement AI so we need we need to learn about it we need to be responsible with it but I don't think our kids eventually can function if they don't have that knowledge so that's part of our journey in addition there's a three and three challenge document which we want to accept as we are putting these um steps in place there are a lot of districts across the State of Arizona that have accepted the challenge and I think you're going to be happy with what you learned this evening from our experts so I'm going to turn it over probably to Jamie first right right thank you so before we get started we're going to give you access to the AI literacy presentation so in your search bar down at the bottom of your screen if you type the word camera you'll find your camera app and once you find your camera app it will open and it opens directly to the camera but on the right hand side below your camera app there's a little QR code so you'll just need to switch to that if you have any issues finding it Valerie's here to help we also have quite a few of the Tech Team here that can help and once you find that QR code you'll you have a QR code in front of you if you hold this up to your QR Code Reader a link will open up on the bottom of your screen and if you click that link it will give you access to the presentation for today so if you have any trouble getting in please just let us know [Music] spe no you're fine okay everybody over here is think Amanda may need done [Music] okay is there anyone who's not able to get in that still needs a minute okay I think most people are in so this gives you access to the entire presentation that we'll go over today but the reason we wanted you to open it just so that you'll have access to some links for an activity we'll do here in a minute but to set our purpose for tonight this AI literacy training for teachers provides the basic knowledge of gen AI as well as information about the AI implementation in Higley so before we get started we're going to have a little fun this is the fun part we're going to do a little activity and because we're a Microsoft district for this activity we're going to use Microsoft co-pilot it's called a large language model and it's sometimes referred to as an llm and a large language model can understand and and generate human language it works by being trained on vast amounts of text Data from books and websites and other resources out there this helps it learn patterns and structures in language so when you ask it a question and or give it a prompt what it will do is it uses what it's learned to generate like a relevant response that a human would give you or what you or I would give someone so what we're going to do first we are going to click on the on your screen go to Coop pilot.

e e testing testing 1 two 3 testing t e e e okay I would like to call this meeting to order for cre mon School Board special meeting today is Tuesday August the 6 2024 6:30 p.m.

good afternoon I would like to call this meeting of Berlin Boyston Regional school committee to order just a reminder that this meeting is being recorded your image and or voice may be broadcast please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag the United States of America and to the republ for it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for [Music] all um all right so public comment I don't believe anyone here wants to make a public comment just want to make sure great does anyone have any Communications they would like to share before we jump right into the meeting okay fantastic all right so tonight we are are interviewing some interim superintendents just give me one minute here it is okay so I'm sure there's people live streaming so just so everyone is aware of how these candidates came to be um so Michael Wood works for the district right now he works for TMS and he has been filling in in the finance director role and Albert ganam um was recommended To Us by masc so what happens is when you are looking for an interim superintendent you can reach out to the Massachusetts Association of school committees and they have a list of people that they will recommend um to come in and do an interim stint in your district for a year six months whatever you need so Al was the person that uh Tracy NOC had recommended to us and he is here tonight to interview so the way we're going to do this tonight um we're going to have each candidate come up they'll give us a two to three minute introduction about themsel and then each person on the committee has prepared a question it will be the same question that will be asked of both candidates and then after the questions are done what we will do is we will have a 10 to 15 minute period where the candidate will be able to ask ask questions I don't want it to be a free-for-all so the questions have to go through me and then I'll see fit you know you can raise your hand if you have something to say or if I feel that you know someone might be best suited to answer it I'm so glad Janelle is here for all of the special ed stuff and Renee and I think John should be coming so hopefully we'll have all of our bases covered Paul's here as well um if we have any questions so we can answer all right so without further Ado the way we're going to do it is we'll have Alo first Michael is not here yet and then Michael will come Al will go in the hallway so he won't hear Michael's yep and then we will be able to um have both candidates go in the hallway and we will deliberate on camera in public and then we will vote and make a decision tonight thank you Lori okay Al without further Ado welcome thank you so much for coming good evening good afternoon I should say like borderline yes [Music] all right so whenever you're ready you can start with a little introduction um and then we'll go around the table and it'll be five questions I do not have a question I am just going to facilitate and make sure we cover all of our bases if I feel like something is missing I might ask it on the end okay um so good good afternoon um this is uh a little different for me I'm usually on this side of the table so um thank you U making for the instruction if I could just tell you a little bit um about myself I know some of you guys have my resume but for those who don't um I've been I've been in the education for a little bit for years um I started out as an elementary school teacher in Wester um I did that for a couple years and then I became Elementary in the sister principal at the same time probably one of the toughest jobs I I had had in my entire career doing both those jobs together um from there I was asked to become the assistant principal at wout maging school um it was the first Magnet School in the city of Wester and that's where we're trying with de isolation bring students from all over the city into what was called a magnet school at that time um warts magnet school we based on how it got under his theories um and we really you know we're drawing things on that box side that right brain um so was based on how Gess theory of multiple intelligence um I was there for 13 13 years I think right around there um very successful um school and even at this point this still one of the highest performing schools um in the state of Massachusetts when you're looking at mcast schools as well um from there um I was asked by the superintendent to take over City View Discovery School um which was located in W true inner city school a little over 700 students 98% free and reduced lunch bilingual uh inexpand time day school and that means it was a little bit earlier in the morning we started and a little bit later in the day as well too um from there the new superintendent asked me to become the director of curriculum and professional learning forer um so myself my team overa on the professional learning for 5,000 teachers in in the city and for the 25,000 students we had to oversee um all the assessments that took place map testing mcast and advanced placement as well too um I was there for about three years and I applied for my first superintendent job up in the West State hon wam which is a Regional School District uh was there for six years um successfully passed in work with um the the budget and successfully P six budgets that year um h w a little difference of communities um the probably the most difficult part is the school commun is made of seven seven School Comm memb five from one Community two from the other uh 80% One Community pays 20% the other pays and trying to keep that Equity there was is really was a really good challenge but we were able to do that successfully six times um it made it through CO as well too um I I retired from him no over him the school asked me if I'd stay on for three months more so I stayed on and helped out with the new um superintendent as they as they came on board um I was retired for about a month and I am no Tom GRE syndrome here I'm happily married three kids been married for a long time I just wasn't ready to retire I didn't realize that until after I was retired after about a month I was like okay what am I now um so you know my DNA makes it so I like to work I enjoy working that's my that's my place um so I am currently right now the assistant principal and director of admissions at Vine Academy which is a private prek to8 um school that's loc Catholic school that's located um in in wer it's run by the sisters of Vini love it um I've been there for a little over two years now um the director ad missions piece is a new piece for me a new learning piece and and that's what I'm really enjoying there um again very happy there um I got a call as Megan said from Tracy no from um and said hey you're interested in ber Bon School District had a great chance to talk to Megan several times as well too and it's definitely something that are very interested interested in learning interested in being a part of this um spent the day yesterday traveling well I appreciate um a lot of people Rene and John gby to Bill they spent um some time in all the schools as well as in the municipal office as well too um it seems like it' be a really good Fit U for myself here but that's important to make sure that I'm a good fit for you guys I say the same thing to parents when they're coming around um during as a Director of Missions and Veteran I say it's got to be a good fit for both you guys and for me and as much as they're interviewing me I say we're interviewing you and so as much as you're interviewing me I'm interviewing you to make sure it's a good fit for for me here because that's extremely extremely important um so I'm here to hear more about um world and Bon Regional School District and answer your questions as well too so thank you for the the opportunity thank you Al thank you um okay so I hate to put someone on spot but I'm gonna do Lisa I already saw your question and it's great hi Lisa So Lisa will go first and we'll just go right around the table work Lisa Mike Julie Jess Lori and just point in clarification answering Lisa because I've been in some committies where they want to answer the chair and then go that way comfortable okay good it doesn't matter whatever you're comfortable with and I think I I'm guessing I don't know Kyle you can tell me I feel like maybe a lot of people are live streaming this I don't know so I think there's a lot of parents and people in the community that are interested just couldn't make I get it home with kids summer really tough to get here at 4:30 in the afternoons abut so there I think yeah if you want to answer towards I think towards the camera so people are sure um is it a lot of people 25 that's still that's decent yeah people want to hear all right go ahead Lisa sorry so I'm sure you're aware that many parents are becoming concerned that schools aren't really partnering with them in their child's health and me physical and mental health and um that they're not being transparent about important issues that might be coming up regarding their physical and mental health and and likewise they're also getting concerned about materials that they might be exposed to that they might find controversial or objectionable and so I'm wondering like what your general feeling on that is and also specifically would you do you support the parental right to be notified about controversial topics and also to opt out of that so when I was a director of curriculum and W for three years the curriculum was a huge piece right I I still believe that is the backbone of of Education having a strong curriculum that doesn't mean just a program right A lot of people consider a program to be the curriculum whether it be en Visions or whether it be you know literacy pys of literacy the curriculums and that's the gateway to our children's education and and that's really important is to makeing sure that we're vetting that and looking through that and and really taking up to whether it be a math program whether it be a social emotional program I'm a strong proponent um of PBIS right and and as a social emotional piece of that that goes along ifone thinks it's just that reward system of PB but there's a huge social emotional piece of that that goes along with it um so I again I believe we're the Gateway when we need to really The Gatekeepers and start out the Gateway We're The Gatekeepers and really making sure the curriculum that's coming into our schools is V and it's vetted through not only myself in the role that I was as director of curriculum and hopefully vetted through myself as a superintendent but also through my Administration as well too and also through the parents so it's real important to make sure that people are having an understanding of that and I think it's important to inform parents all the time the more communication the more transparency that we're giving families the more transparent that we're giving the community about what's taking place I think that's extremely important do I think that parents have the right to op up absolutely I think that's certainly something that parents have have have the right to do um we want our parents invested in this education as well too so it's not in in IA that we well their functioning when when we talk about education it's combination of the community It's a combination of teachers and administration and it's and it's a family piece as well too and those three have to be working together right to to to see where we're going to be in providing our education for our children um again curriculum is is that backbone and we need to make sure that we have a high quality curriculum for both social emotional and there's quite a few programs that are out there and curriculums that are out there as well too um so it's important that we bet that and and get that information out to our families as well too I hope that that answered your question if I didn't feel feel free to ask me really do prioritize trust and partnership it is it it it's extremely important that um and the people involved the more we're all R in the same direction right so that's real important that we're all together um and supporting each other as well too thank you thanks and please if I don't answer a question fully please like don't hesitate to ask me a followup question that's okay yeah if anyone wants to ask followup questions maybe we'll save it for the end y all right Mike sure thanks hi Mike hi how you doing good thanks uh yes so just to introduce myself I'm Mike the committee from burlin couple of young kids in the elementary school over there so looking forward today good time with that yes absolutely very much very I mean he runs par School y absolutely so uh if I could just I'll just read the question here so you've worked in Regional districts in your past and you probably understand some of the unique challenges we had this year uh in our school district especially getting a budget pass so what experiences from your career will you draw on from and how will they help you lead this District through this coming year and if you were hired can you tell us what your priorities will be in the next three weeks and then in the first 60 to 90 days here and what was that second part sorry yeah so if you hired what would be your priorities based on what you know about our district in the next three weeks before school starts and then in the first 60 to 90 days you're here so my first three weeks I think the first thing about a successful candidate is is sitting down with my the administrative team right sitting down with directors sitting down with principles and really seeing where where we're at and making sure that we're ready for the start of school that that's the biggest piece what's missing what what what don't we have do we have enough Staffing because that this is the time of year where Staffing gets get that that CR time myself in the role that I'm in as well too the second thing in in in all honesty is is I would meet with the the facilities director um making sure that buildings are ready um when I visited the schools yesterday um curbside appeals a big big thing to me right so even as a as a superintendent my facilities director new and him over him that the schools need to look at they open whether it's summer or whether it's it's you know the middle of school year and and that's a huge piece for me and I I think we need to get them ready both outside and inside and that would be the conversation I'd have next after my administrative team and saying where their needs are and and what they're ready for um and making sure we're ready for that opening day the second part would be that facility director bringing him and making sure that we have everything we need buildings are ready buildings are prepared as well too um so those would be the first things I would do the the other part would be getting into the schools I had a chance yesterday I appreciate Renee and John both gave me a chance to walk around the schools and they they're great but really diging in a little bit deeper and seeing what's happening in the schools what're we're ready for getting ready for those opening days of opening professional learning teachers I'm a big proponent of professional learning and making sure that we use that time wisely right a lot of famili sometimes think that it's a half a day or a release time day and those days are so important it's extremely important toiv that professional our teachers get better at their trade everyone needs to get better at their trade right I I I'm GNA use the analogy again and I apologize even Tom Brady had a coach right so we need our teachers need to have coaches our principles myself included need to get prepared and get ready and have that professional so those are extremely important making sure that's all in place and not sort of like flying by the S of a pants okay here's a half day what are we doing right instead of having that all L up for for the entire year they the six month thing was it three to six month was that the second part of that question uh I I said yeah six 90 days yeah I'm I'm a proponent of the school Improvement plan right we need to look at what our what our school Improvement plan looks like for our district um a lot of times it just stays on the shelf right and and that's a huge piece I had that conversation with John y say that that should be our Guiding Light right everything else there's a lot of things happening and and no one loves a blinking Christmas tree better than I do right but it's really about having that steady light um and if you have a strong School Improvement plan that's that's sort of your your non stop that's what you're looking at all the time and there's a lot of things that come at you as a superintendent as principles and administrators and teachers but my theory has always been with my school Improvement plans if it's not on our school Improvement plan for the next five years great idea we G put it off to the side because what we should be focusing on is our school Improvement plan so that next phase I would be would be that school Improvement plan making sure because that will lead our district and hopefully the district for for coming years when I was getting ready to retire superintendent schools that was the one gift and John proos came in as after I retired said that was the best gift you could have given me that a completed School Improvement plan so that will be the work the other part is get me to the community um one of the things that I'm known for is being in the community both in himam you'd find many uh uh AMS in the senior centers they had one in each Community hearing from the community what they wanted getting people to know me as well too um I had I had an unbelievable Administrative Assistant when I became a superintendent um I kept a tight schedule everything went through through Kate but the one thing that I insisted on was that 8 to 10 block I didn't stop my day in the office until 10 o'clock and because the Min getting that off is just getting something right there's a lot going on there um but from 8 to 10: every morning I was in the school I was in the community I was visiting the senior center I was out of school every single month that 8 to 10 block was sacred time and everyone knew not schedule me in at that time from 10 on it was great but that first couple I was I was in schools and I think that's an important piece of that role as well to getting in the community building that trust building those relationships because very soon after that we're preparing for the next year's budget and we need to make sure that everyone's aware what's taking place and the community are on board what's taking place so if you were asking me what my my schedule in terms of what I be doing for the next couple of months that that's what I be I'd be working on you asked me a first prodct question I don't think I answer I'm sorry if I uh that pretty much covered I mean I asked to draw from your experience in Regional districts yeah how you would handle the challenges we've had reason inct Regional School districts are tough right they're they're complicated there's a lot going on there um like I said H and wilham and I apologize I keep referring back to them but that that's my that's my my mindset that's where I came from there was five to two right every single time there was five on one school could two on the other so trying to make sure that things were were Equitable and that that's important as well too um I even spent my time as a superintendent I'd go a little bit in hampon get my coffee there i' go into wilham and get my gas there right so the people in the community could see me as well too because that's extremely important as well too and and fames are paying attention that so that will be an important role for me as well to make sure I'm both in Berlin and W to thank you H hello how are you hi Julie how are you hi good good all right so my question is I also wrote my down um how is the role of interim superintendent different than the role of an appointed superintendent are there any differences and can the district continue to grow with an interim superintendent and how does that happen so so I look at this one year with not a high quality teacher the data shows that impacts a child for three years one year of not not having a high quality teacher I I I imagine that's what it looks like as a superintendent as well too whether it be in or not so I I believe the rules are the same right there is many people that think that inum is just coming in and just keeping things a float and and certainly that's a p of the RO but I imis that as a very small part of because my conversations with Megan my conversations with Renee my conversations with Julie my conversations out in the community John sorry jul that question J there inde deed there and and it's time to do it now right and make sure and whether it's a onee inum or two inter it's making sure that we get things in place so that we have whether it be a school Improvement plan we have ready to move and ready to move forward uh we constantly got to be moving forward so I think it's you know people might look at it differently I would look at it as I'm completely invested in here as a superintendent even if it's a and making sure that the work needs to get done because if it doesn't the only ones that really suffer are our students and our teachers and we get need to make sure that's not no one's looking it's sort of like the substitute teacher right they say you know all all heck breaks loose when a substa comes in it breaks loose because kids don't like that un unability right they get they really like that DayDay routines so my job as a supernintendo make sure those day-to-day routines continue but also that we continue to move forward so that we don't s suffer a set back by any means instead moving forward thank you ddy answer your question yes thank you okay great awesome Jess hi Jessica hello thank you for coming today thank you um so my question is what culture did create and support in your past districts and what culture do you hope to Foster with a staff school committee students parents and the town's administrators and finance committees so it's all about that communication right it's all about that trust um I think it's extremely important and and one of the things that like I said earlier it was extremely important for me to be in the schools right and have it being there first in the morning when the kids are arri and seeing the parent drop off right seeing the bus drops off getting a chance to talk to the families getting a chance to talk to teachers I mean that's that's just who I am and that's what I did and my teachers and principles knew that my principles first had a hot time when I first became a superintendent doing that because but then they realized like I'm just there to have those organic conversations right and just sitting down and having those conversations passing the hallway walking with the principles and just saying what's happening talking to those teachers in the hallways talking to the students in the hallways as well too that that Fosters that relationship it I I I go back to you know when uh a parent a teacher has to call a parent because a student has an issue or there might be misbehaved and or there's a concern about some academic piece I used to tell my teachers that City it's a lot easier conversation if you constantly have that communication taking place with them so they're not always getting that call saying you know here here's what I'm concerned about um and I feel the same exact way so that this way then no one's thinking that I'm just in that corner office because that's not superintendent I ever have been and will never be um so fostering that open relationship um the other part and and again um I attribute to my Administrative Assistant like I have sort of an Open Door a lot of people say that but I did if if people need to make appointments and come in and talk to me I did that but not from between eight and 10 anytime after that I was there and I I'm not afraid of the hard work I'm not afraid of the long days and many many times I'd have those meetings well into the afternoons and well into the nights as well too um and and that was with an hour drive one way at the end of the Willam I'm eight minutes from here when I when I did my when I did my Tim yesterday today I'm a wish the guy right on the right on the right on the board in that Bal here as well too um but many times um you would have seen me very late in hand in wam because um sometimes it's the best time to get work done as well too but in answer your question fering that communication fostering that that you know being present and not having to always be having those conversations with they're difficult but having those conversations um what it's just day-to-day in organic conversations dad ask your question indeed thank you so much great last but not least Lori hi Lori from um so I'm gonna abandon my um really fancy questions and I'm gonna ask you kind of off the cuff so hopefully this comes out okay um you said you did a lot of research into our district and I know that you know within the last few days to appreciate no yes limited but it's been it's been hard for us since Co I think for a lot of districts um and I think you know parents and citizens are concerned because it just seems like every time we we get past a problem we get into there's another one around the corner and so what I'm wondering is another like just another like like you know budget was a hard budget Pro process and and you know that there's many pieces to that so I think I have two questions number one after doing your resarch what made you say yes I want this and number two how are you going to make um the parents and the the citizens who the taxpayers who don't have children in the school feel about the fact that you're you're coming in here and you're you know you want to do this this is like a a positive challenge for you so again I am currently at veteran Academy great great spot I thoroughly en right um again looking to learn always right director of admissions was like something I never experienced on the first impression when families are coming in right with their most precious precious possessions you know we start out preschool 2.9 right they're and they're coming to visit that my back by the way they're coming to visit us when they're two and a half and two years old they're they're young so that that first impression is so important to us um so I thoroughly enjoyed that um but when I got a chance talking to Tracy talking to Megan and and doing a little deeper dive um with Berlin Boston um I had this conversation a little bit with with John yesterday so one of my favorite books oldtime book old school book is is Jim Collins good the great right whether it be working in in Industry education like that this is one of the the best books and my first year as a superintendent we did as a book study across our entire U our entire community and I'll share with you the other books that we're doing now but when I look at Berlin and Boston they're they're very good SCH I looked into their data um little concerned open and honest conversation here uh math right there's a little there's a little worry there when I'm looking at that data there it looks like there's about about 70% of students doing okay um but there still that 30% that AR right and that's a concern that's the ones we we really need to worry about but but I I think that this district is a good district and there's a lot of really good things happening but I think it could be great right and that's that's the whole premise of Jim College book good the great right the enemy of being great is just being good and I think we need to do a lot Digger digging deeper into some of the data that's out there data is not everything right that's one piece but but that's one piece that intrigued me um so it's one of those communities and I and I felt the same way about Cam and WAM and again Regional School districts are are complicated right the budget's a huge piece right and I'm sure someone around here is gonna ask me about the budget but if not I'll share my my theories on that as well too but I I I I sort of like a challenge um and again I'm retired right I'm walking my dog the other day someone says to me what are you doing off and I said I'm retired I could be I could be walking my dog every day um but I I enjoy you know taking on a challenge and I don't think this is a challenge but I think this is a place to take us take something to move it forward and every job I had whether it be at City View where again Bilingual School and I didn't really speak much Spanish at that time right but I took on that challenge and I wanted to make it better hon wilham as superintendent brand new no Regional experience at all they put me into a Regional School District that that at the point was closing middle school and that's something I ended up I ended up doing was closing one of the middle schools I always enjoy learning more I always enjoy moving things to the next level and I always hope that I take things to a better spot so when I leave whatever job I've had and I haven't had that many sort of consistent along the road that I I hope I let them in the Ben well and so my goal would it be one year as an interim our how we we categorize this is to leave this place in a better spot so it's least moving in the right direction as a district especially Regional everyone's rowing right everyone's rowing everyone's working really hard but I think the job is super is make sure all grow in the same direction and sometimes that's really really happen um to answer a question about the community it's it's a huge piece and I think that was probably my one mistake I didn't really do well my first year in hand and overand right I got in there they hid me in Late July I got in there there was budget end of the year we got to get that budget all set and I was getting doing everything I needed to do but that Community piece and getting that ass that emotional piece involved with the community members which was a huge piece uh so back to what I said earlier many times I was at the coffee spot right many times there was a old senior set there's a meeting with them having sort open forums and talking to those people and letting them know what was taking place because they're taxpayers and they're paying the budget as well too and and especially in particular in hon wilham very the population that had children was less than the population of people there so I had to make them buy into what I was doing and believe in what they're doing and answer questions as well too so you know when you see me at that coffee place it's really not just because I'm having my coffee but no one wases it better than I do but but it's because I was engaging those conversations with a lot of the community members and having those um whether it be the to meetings and things like that thank you that answer question yes it did thank you okay great so um thank you everybody so now we're gonna spend 10 minutes um you can ask us questions that should bring us to about 5:15 and then that'll be perfect we'll have 30 40 minutes for Michael and then we can vote oh yeah one thing Al um a few people in the community had thank you Jessica um so you and I had spoke about this the um ethics a few people have reached out to me that you self-reported yourself to the board of Ethics in the state of Massachusetts so could you just I I want it to be recorded on so everyone hears it so it's not my take on the story but you explained to me totally reasonable explanation to me and honestly I think it's a very uh moral and above board thing that you did but please explain it so everybody can hear so so you know I I I own that right and that's the type of guy that I am so during Co we we we did really well with Co the best we could do in the end we we were open September 10 we had cohorts we had core a we had cor B we had it it was unbel we all lived through it we had some remote groups that had were 100 deep I mean some of our kindergarten were 100 deep um it was it was difficult finding staff and finding teachers at that time um my wife is a retired uh ESL teacher was taught for many many years we couldn't find any teachers and the biggest part there was a reading group from 11 to one literally was that time frame from 11 to one um that we needed some help just the kindergarten teachers were struggling with that remote trying to keep it all going live um post of the job didn't get posted a couple times in G I'm sitting at the denner table one night and they say to my wife can can you help us out here she she reminded me that she was retired as well too we really we really we really need some help here so she started doing that um School commity members were on there as well too their kids were on the remote that they were that they were um that she was teaching right um posted the job no one applied for it school cre members all knew about it someone from the community said hey by the way you're you're supposed to report that there's there's a part again I was new as a superintendent deal on Co didn't really know that you're supposed to officially let the school commit know and get permission someone reported that and said hey you really need to do that told my school committee they were like we know we're good but that's not who I am so I'm I'm the one that reported to the eics but I felt like I need to do that right so so that's the type of person I am right so I didn't have to but I self-reported myself because I needed to let people know that's took place um they came back as you can tell there was there was no finding right there was no fault a lesson learned that you in the future if you hire someone that's your you know family related you need to let schoy officially know um but that just goes a St type of person I am right so I needed to make sure that I did this and and they came back with a couple choices Al you could do this you could do this you can you can I just a little bit more if you walk said no I made a mistake I own the mistake and and that's one thing I I always said and I still say when you know what hits the fan I'm the fan as a superintendent I when all heck Breaks Loose I'm I'm the fan and so I needed to make sure that I own that as welled um and so that's why I self-reported that to the ethics board and they came back with their fining school he had um my school had no concerns with as you can tell they still employed me after that as well too um and then I ended up retiring in SC be on for the next three months to work with the next superintendent I could have retired um just for a record many many years ago um I didn't because I was getting mess with Co and I thought that was extremely problem but that was a great question and and I own it and that's just who I am and that's the type of superintendent you're GNA get someone that owns his mistakes and don't try to put it off with someone else or something else as well too but again during Co we needed to do what we needed to do and I probably would do the same thing again but this time I let know writing as oppos to just that way as well too I hope that answers your question yes thank thank you very much I really appreciate that we talked about that before yeah I just wanted it to alen I that was the first thing I had asked and yep and um yeah but I wanted it out there in public y okay great thank you so do you have questions for us I do I got I have a couple questions first okay um if that's okay yes it is um the the first most important thing um you know and John and I had a chance to talk yesterday is is the budget right so the huge end reports coming up a lot of things coming up as this time of year um so so I I'm curious with type of budget process you go through one of the things I grew up with I'll say grew up with in wer and I brought it to him for him is a zero base budget um are you are you familiar with that service do we do that here no no we don't we should um what we do is we take last year's numbers and so I I'm just going by what has been done in the past y so they took last year's numbers and they added a percentage increase but the principles sit down and John you can speak to this what you the principal usually work with the superintendent and the Director of Finance and they'll come through and say we need a new teacher or we need to increase supplies by this amount because we didn't have enough paper last year um so John do you want to like add more detail that's exactly how it works we go through you know the personel part is already it's all set right you know you know the teachers you have you know the teacher you need to get um part of the conversation with building principles and administration is I need a new math teacher in the high school that's not going to be somebody who's Bachelor three right they're very hard to get this is what it's probably going to cost us we go through that part of the process um but a lot and then the other piece and this is usually the longer part we look at our strategic plan sure and we go we promis ourselves we're going to fill in the pl get a literacy coach um what's that going to cost what that what is that going to look like and how do we spread that cost out to make it palatable for the town from there it kind of goes behind the Ed of curtain of the business H so so so I to answer I would like to do I think zerob based budgeting I mean in finance that's kind of how you well sure combination but yeah I think if we just haven't done it before I don't think that necessarily means we can't do it that way it it's tough to introduce it is everyone familiar with a zeras budget in case for sometimes you throw acronyms around as Educators on sometime so so zerob based budgeting is is you start at zero every single year right whether it be my directives whether it be my principles um your budget is zero you start there and you build your budget so it's not just adding on to Lash budget you build it every year and what I did is I have my principles and my directors they they build their budget stting what they need they they come in and they meet with myself and the Director of Finance and they build a budget from zero but the one piece that everyone that ever has ever worked for me knows that when you're building that budget from zero the the one Focus that always has to be part of that conversation is about the child right so that's the non-star and I use that over and over again and anyone that knows me knows that right you're building a budget based on how that's going to impact that child how it's going to impact our students in the district and you build it from zero and you you build it up and then basing it on how it's going to impact our students whether it be an extra math teacher whether it be curriculum how's it going to impact our children and that's the conversation that I have with not only the school committee I have with the select board I also have with the community right here's our budget we're building from the from from the very beginning it's not just adding on each year we start from the beginning because sometimes things look different each year and sometimes it might be a bigger push in director of special education it might be a big push there or might be a push this year is going to be in curriculum so there's got to be a little bit more there um so zero based project we start that every year and it's just worked out really well it's a concept that sometimes people have a hard time understanding but when you have the child as being that Center of that zero based budgeting it's an easier um story to tell when it com to those communities and that are the ones that Ely going to be voting on that budget as well too and the select board as well too so I I'm sort of a proponent of that I i' be I'd be very interested in seeing if that would work here both in Berlin and bston I think that would be important and I think it really works for with a regional school budget as well too um again that there's so many variables right that whole Transportation Fe that 100% we're supposed to get 100% reimbursement for transportation right that has never happened and we're supposed to getting that that was the first caveat to becoming Regal School District was that reimbursement to transation and it's been at 70 and sometimes 80s that's how well it's been so um but just was just CU on that much I yeah yeah definitely something to think about as we will have a new Director of Finance so perfect timing y agree anything else um it's a question I I I ask sometimes the people I'm I'm hiring um so a year from now if if I'm the successful candidate a year from now um and you were evaluating me and the process of Education says you know you either need Improvement you're proficient are exemp right those are the categories that go through if a year from now if you were evaluating me what would be that the one thing that you'd want me to be proficient no what would you want be example what the one thing from a year from now that you'd want me as a superintendent of this District to be exempt over again that you could evaluate me and say yes you accomplished that goal that's tricky sorry didn't mean to that's okay does anyone on the school committee have uh just something you want me to be you it kind of follows along with my original question that I asked you and what you just explained about zero budget if we were to say you were exemplary at something when you mentioned zero buing you mentioned getting everybody to buy in how do you deal with the people convincing people to buy in who I'm sure one of your books there has something to do with uh dealing with change or people who are resistant to change there are some people who are just just wanted the way they've had it and it doesn't matter if it's new different or even correct versus the wrong way so if we were going to rate you exemplary I would expect that we would be able to say you know he did a hell of a job explaining this new zero based budget to people who don't understand budgets and getting the buy in for the community that's what I would say thank you anyone else okay I would have said budget related also just because we almost had a civil war yeah really need to avoid that going forward and by way it's just not this Regional s right so in him and wilon we had the same thing sometimes right and that that's the job of the superintendent is to be the common that on right but I really find if you if you keep it all about children right it's not about you know okay we need another math teacher this is the reason why look at this the students math scores right if you keep it all focused on children it's an easier story to tell I like that anyone else want to pipe in on that Clarity and communication about the budget budget yeah I would say not the budget um because I think if we have a strong finance department I think that I know we went through um um trouble with our budget but I do think that was a result of um we weren't in the right place with the Department um so for me what I would want to see you to be if you were a selected Exemplar yet is getting our students to leave high school with everything that they need to be successful yeah after high school and that probably means with getting all this staff exemplary getting the curriculum really proficient and great um that that would be what I would like you to be exemplary at is getting our students where they need to be after high school and and isn't that the true true test of success right what what are our student are are they getting into those I Le Schools are they getting into schools of the choices they that really is the summit of of how successful we are as a dist there are a lot of wins right along the way uh but when our students graduate from here you know what are they doing where are they going how are they becoming a part of our society that is successful and really to carry on you know even a veteran one of the first questions that even preschool parents ask me the kids are 2.9 years old saying where when they leave veter where do they build where are they what's their next step what schools are they get accepted into and that really is that the true test of your success right when students are graduating when walking across that stage from everybody in this room to all of our teachers that's the true test of our success that all our students are graduating going on and moving on right that that truly is we where how we know that we're doing that job well yeah yeah it doesn't even have to just be school right that they're walking out of school with that's right walking complete human that's right yeah portrait of a graduate was something that was worked on this year and um and is a really beautiful Vision yeah um for our graduating it's one of my favorite times right when the kids are I mean that really is I'm not sure how we do it here and I know there's talking to yday had 56 students graduating from years right around there might off on a couple maybe right around day of gradua like one of the things that I did as a superintendent is I had all of our school committe on stage right because that was truly the work that we were doing dayto day was those students walking across that stage that was that that was the true test of our success as well yeah all right awesome did anyone else want to add in on that all right if you have one more question I will allow it and then we're g to move on so when I'm I I just more of a statement so one of anyone that knows me there are there are two things I'm looking for I when to hire anybody and I've done a lot of hiring in my career um it's compassion and hard work those are the two things I truly anything else I can teach them anything else they can learn we can move forward we can teach him math we can teach him the new program we can teach him the curriculum it it's compassion how to work when your education those are my everyone knows that about me and that's truly what I will bring to this job if you think I'm a successful Camp is that compassion and how because those are the two things that that is truly needed in these jobs that we're doing you got to be compassionate and you got to be will to have hard work and I think those are the two things that I possess and I think you'll see that um that that's the type of guy that I am and the my my work ethic the hours that I put into this again I was at feran I just came from the yeah right so that's just just who I am and and and I promise you that's what I'll be doing here superintendent as well too if that's if that's what you guys choose to select me thanks for the opportunity to meet with everyone really was a pleasure that was great thank you thank you so much all right so Al I'll ask you if you want to wait in the hallway while we interview Michael for 45 minutes yeah what are the other two books yeah so this is my app so this is the book that I'm doing this year with all of our teachers uh at better uh this book is called Teach like the champion there's are many many versions of it this is the newest one 3.0 um it's all strategies about teaching Like A Champion whether you're a veteran teacher or it's your first year teaching um so what I I did sort of our book study um so what I do is I break up our staff um and everyone takes a chapter you have to read the first chapter so I make some humer of it like this is your summer reading ladies and gentlemen right here's your book come pick it up before you leave when you I always give a little picture of the umbrella on the beach and stuff um but they read the first chapter and then afterwards we break up the chapters um and we each take a Chapter we each present the chapter um when we're done um we have to do sort of like a one pager and so we don't have to read the entire book but have one do a part of their thing reading so it's great book this is the newest version 3.0 um great great book to read the other one for brown right and them that she writes is just you can't you can't help but it right so she she's my Guru right so she's always what we're looking yeah um on how to be a a better educated um so she she this is just her newest one it's always a good it's always a good greed but I believe in book studies with our teachers I believe in book studies with our our principles s to make it fun right start start being a little bit of a competition because you had to bring food as well too so that September you have maybe bagels and by June it's like this full course field people having right because they're all trying to do each other with each each each meal but um I always found doing a book study so I am strategic right so if Janelle hasn't worked much with Julie because one's a an eighth grade teacher one's a preschool teacher I strategically put them together right so this way that they get know each other a little bit better doing a book study together reading a little bit um it's it's great so it's your question those uh sort of the ones that are always sitting on my desk as well I'm familiar with the first one but not this one yeah so a little bit OC right so that's who I am right but it's always Page by right this is this still holds itself right and it's an older book but it's still one of one of the best book there than okay that's great thank nice meeting everybody thank you very much for the opportunity thank you oh my God I'm sorry I think it was over my time no you're fine thought he wasn't here but he [Music] Wasing all right so guys I'm just gonna I'm just gonna grab Michael see you lat me you guys let show them right's no see here all right okay all right hi Michael thank you so much for coming sure so I'm GNA give you a real quick rundown on how we're g to run the interview okay so we'll give you the first two to three minutes to kind of give a brief introduction of yourself to the community um and then we're going to go around the table we'll start with Lisa and we'll go just right around everyone will have a question for you it's the same question that we asked Al um and then after that we'll give you a brief period 10 minutes if you have any questions for us okay okay sounds good all right so without further Ado take it away sure so um I gave a lot of thought to apply to this position um I think I have a lot to offer um I've been a superintendent for 22 and a half years uh in variety of districts but the majority of them have been in Regional School Districts both in Maine and New Maine uh Massachusetts and so and one of them uh was a a two Town Regional School District One was actually one to Regional School District if you believe that um no nobody wanted them so they were able to by special Act of legislature great your own Regional District but anyway um and I think I think being a superintendent of a Regional School District does take special skills uh and it's about leadership of bringing people together both uh within the school Community to understand what you're trying to do in terms of building a vision about what your school district is about and what we do for children and families and teachers and staff and also uh how do we work with the community as a whole uh and think of them not only as um individual communities but also as the community of Danto and how do they want to see themselves supporting uh the education for Berlin Boon students and that's really I think a critical skill set to have in any kind of leader and when I think about a leader um who uh is doing an interim role it really is to bridge where you've been and address as much as you can to build a great platform for the next leader to come on board and really take off you know I always think like to think that you're you're doing something that's going to leave a better place and um and I think that again the skill set that I have in terms of leadership really um plays to that role quite well um about me personally just thinking about um you know the commitment of this work um I really like um the idea that I'm only five minutes away um I really like that I'm at a stage of my life where my children are grown and that I can commit uh to the kinds of activities that really I think a superintendent should commit to in terms of evening and activities on the weekend and things like that so that they have there's a presence there and so there a touchstone to what they want to hear uh and talk about and I don't have to speak to anything I just have to listen and bring bring whatever I hear that's of import to back to those who need to hear that and to give the community voice whoever if it's teachers or staff or students uh or community members uh and so um I think that's a great advantage to my candidacy uh in terms of things uh that uh I think this role will need because there there are some things that we need to work on and it's going to take time you know because it's going to take conversation and conversations that aren't easy sometimes and but conversations that will definitely take time to do and we're going to have to figure out how to have those conversations in an open honest respectful way uh so that we can be great role models for kids and each other uh and um again I think that's an area that I have a skill set that has come a long way since my first superintendency at 34 you know I was a very different person then in terms of being able to understand what voice really meant uh but certainly over the years you you you begin to have great mentors and and colleagues who can show you what it's like to really be a good listener and a good practitioner uh in the in the school setting um so I think I can bring something to the school district I'm not without my foibles I'm I'm not without making mistakes uh I am a y am um I'd roll up my sleeve but it's a short sleeve so um but I do put my heart and soul into my work and um when the outcome is really shining uh you have a great team uh and that team will be ready for uh continued work with the next leader and I think I can do that great thank you all right so do you want to jump into the questions we'll start with uh Lisa we'll go this way so just in society in general and especially with schools there's a growing concern about lack of transparency and trust and so parents are getting very concerned about schools maybe not being upfront with them about issues that their child might be having physically or mentally and um so there's a lot of concern about that and um also with them with kids being exposed to material or maybe lessons that the parents think are controversial or potentially damaging and so I'm wondering what your take is on that whole situation and also if you support uh notifying parents of things and also giving them the option to opt out things that they find objectionable sure so give me an easy question you know this is a very challenging time as a society and what we're going through and again I I go back to what I said earlier about conversation um I think that principles and and teachers need to know Their audience and they need to know and understand what it is that will um be well received and what won't be um my my general rule of thumb is to go to the core of what what we know we have to teach and that's the Massachusetts Frameworks and that's accept it's not my argument to say I don't like this piece I don't like that piece so that is what it is that said there are multitude ways to reach the goals and the objectives that are in there and I think that's where we have to come to some grips around well how can we do this in a way that's respectful because we want to respect our community how do we respect our community when we know we've got to cover this uh and what materials do we want to use now obviously there are some laws and regulations around certain topics that absolutely have to have parent communication about but I would go back to know your audience know your community you should be open and honest with them whether it's at my level or at the principal's level to say you know ask the teachers if you're going to have a difficult unit to teach and there are materials in there a make sure you have options B make sure you you communicate with those options aree ahead of time and see make yourself available so you can have a conversation about what those options are or could be and maybe the parent has one too because they understand it from a different perspective they would like their kids to learn it but they don't want that those materials I think that uh again if you bring them up first you can have an attempt at showing them the materials and trying to help educate people about what is real and what is out there uh that's not and um I think that once you have those kinds of conversations you can usually come to a compromise in the end they've got to come to school we've got to have them there it's better to figure out a plan of action that allows them to be included rather than excluded and so I would say you know let's work together to make sure we have a plan like that but it has to follow what the objectives are of the massachusett Frameworks and you would in favor of notifying parents yes I'm a I'm a big proponent I I know this is televised I don't know how many teachers of of weekly letters going home to parents this is what we're going to be studying this is what's going to be happening this is the name of the book I mean everything's online now so it's not as complex to pull something like that together I know things change and sometimes you're off a day or something like that in terms of your lesson planning but um you know making sure that there's a a plan of action ahead helps the teacher think more more than anyone to be able to lay out that letter and say on a Friday afternoon this is what I'm I'm planning to get to next week and um this is the UN that you have so communicate communicate communicate goad Michael yeah Mike sorry thanks Michael Mike uh hi mik so um so you're working in the regional district in our right now and you worked can't speak let me start that again since you've worked in Regional districts in the past and you're working here right now uh you probably have a a unique understanding of our particular challenges that we have right now so um what experiences from your past would you be able to draw from how would they help you lead us through this year and if you were hired what would be your immediate priorities for the next three weeks before school starts and then in the coming 60 to 90 days so let me start with those two pieces there um I've had a very linear path in the last eight weeks in terms of what I've been able to look at and what I need to uh do uh so in the next three weeks I really need to figure out what is the plan for this year how are we uh opening up school how are we making it available to everybody are we really clear about what our goals and objectives are and our things tied to that in a very coherent way so that teachers get the message that we have a plan and and even though we have an interim in different capacities we have a plan and we have good people in those roles and we're taking action um as though it's any end of the year so I think that's a real critical piece in the next three weeks to really unpack what we're about and where where we're headed educationally because that's what we're about we're about education in the next 90 days I think I think my my time needs to be spent really developing relationships with you as a board and bringing you into the conversation with our two communities um because it is really critical that we start our budget process early and we talk talk talk until we have a clear understanding of everything every time I seem to open up something I I have to pack it even further to understand what's this what's this about and how was it done previously and um if I'm doing that and I'm in the role imagine what the Greater Community you know again talking about transparency how do you explain our formula when the people in the in the business of doing it not only myself but other people desie we can't get our agreement around what the formula is uh and so um I think that's the 90-day plan is to really understand what our goals are for the year that have already been started I I don't think I'm coming into say you know oh no let's throw that out and let's do this uh but I I think that we need to really talk about let's look at a gar and look this is what we need to do this is how we're going to get these things done this is who's going to take the lead and figure out the support systems in place so that we can um do that um to the earlier part of your question about Regional School Districts they're complex but I I don't want to I don't want to put them in a different box Al together I mean I I was in Malden for a gr time and you talk about neighborhoods and each school had a neighborhood school and that was like seven different towns they each had their own identity uh many times over in some respects and they were schools thousand student schools uh and so it's about how and again I I go back to what I said in my opening remarks I think the leader is about weaving that fabric together so that when you talk about Berlin Boon Regional School District you're talking about all the kids you're blind to what town they come from and what goals they have in the future only that our job is to figure out how to get the there and figure out with them not for them and so um I think that the the Regional School Districts what I've learned the most is you you you've got to be careful about and I would say this about Municipal districts too but you've got to be careful about how you talk in a way that might disparage one one community over another one neighborhood over another you've got to be careful about how you engage folks to make sure that you engage the right people in terms of um you know people who really know what it is and have a have tentacles to the community greater because you want to use your time WIS right you want you want people who are going to learn what it is that you're talking about whether it's about curriculum materials or budget or uh special ed or whatever it's going to be and you want to get it out there and you want people who can help you can be your army to to really get that information out there um my my chair in my in Hatfield when I was there uh her background was marketing and um she absolutely had an amazing way to Market and to figure out how to get materials thoughts ideas out there to people uh and um we were very successful and I I really credit our school committee to do this we we did an override um in a small town in in very hard times and I and I think that that's you know a testament to their understanding that this is our message this is what we've got to say we got to say it over and over and over again and do not deviate from that message not a harsh way like that but you know that that was our Mantra and um they took it to the Greater Community I took it within the schools and we were Partners uh in in making that happen I think you know collectively the teachers Administration and and the community really got together and made that happen because we were on message almost all the time and and that's very unusual um and again that's that's not necessarily unique in Regional Schools but what's challenging in Regional School is to to get that message to bleed into the communities as though it's one message not a Berlin message and a waron message but a greater will message so great thank you Julie yes okay hi Michael hi um all right you you sort of answered this a little bit in the introduction but I'm just going to touch upon it again and then I'll answer the second or ask the second part of my question um how is the role of interim superintendent different than the role of an appointed superintendent are there any differences there and can the district or how does the district continue to grow with an inter superintendent right so uh this would this would be my third interim superintendency uh and I think that I've handled them different depending on what as far as the needs and the duration of the time I was going to be there to do that uh and what role I was going to have after that was going to be and uh I think that the key about a good interum to me is someone who comes in and strongly Advocates what's already on the road map to go forward so that people don't feel like oh another superintendent another plan here we go again I I I hate when we talk about that and we do that to ourselves within schools and it's really harsh I think to do that and so I really again my initial three weeks is to really get a handle on what our plan is and to move that forward so that people know that yes we have somebody leave but there's somebody in their place and they're going forward and there's no no question about what we're doing and how how we're going forward I think that the uh the nature of the interim role is really then carved out by the work that we do together with the you know partnering with the school committee uh and you know if there's specific tasks that need to happen then during the time that I'm interim and and it I'll be frank sometimes it's easier when the interim does certain things that it's harder for somebody who's coming and wants to stay uh and and you know that's just harder uh and so I'd want to hear about those and and learn about how we could do those together in a way that's respectful to the organization and moving the organization uh further uh the key to a good interim is not to disrupt the work that teachers and principls and staff do every day you know it's to make sure that you're complimenting their work and you're you're able to be a resource to move it Flor can iover yes thank you great thanks uh okay Jess all right even thanks for coming in um what culture did you create and support in your past districts and what culture do you hope to Foster with a staff school committee students parents and towns administrators and finance committees I think people would describe me as very approachable creating a culture of openness um a culture of being able to talk with them and understand the issues for trying to say this is how it's be um I don't need to be right I don't need to be you know the last board on anything but I do need to follow the policies and the regulations of the state and laws of the state and kind of going back to my teacher I need to educate people to to get there and so the culture that I like to think that I build is one that he's fair and and fairness is in the land uh and and I don't think I'm too far away from what's already in place so I think that's a good starting point a good platform to to jump off on um but um that's that's a culture that I that I want I want people to feel like they can come to the central office not as a way to get around people uh get around principles or directors but simply to say uh you know there's there's a conversation going on and we thought you needed to hear about it if you haven't already and maybe I do and and maybe I don't maybe it's something that you know really needs to stay where it is and I don't need a part of it but thank you for sharing with me and I appreciate that you're you were willing to come to my to my office and do that share VI an email uh I think that that's the kind of culture that makes people want to come to the school district because when you have a leader that is not creating fear then you will have a leader that welcomes everyone uh and engages with them and again it's not to be have a one way fits all but at the same time there are practices and policies that we all have to follow I have to do it you have to do it and and as long as I'm Dem demonstrating that and and not secretly you know giving out something on on the on one side of my mouth that that uh shows uh you know I think that's the the best kind of culture that can be thank you hi hi so I went off I went a little Ru with my question so I tried to recreate it um so what I had asked Al was I had heard that he had did a little bit of research and but you actually have been here so you you you know what what our difficulties are and what our struggles are um and so I guess my question would be what makes you want this position knowing that it's challenging right um and how are you going to help the community feel better about the future how we're going to move ahead and I by Community I mean parents as well as taxpayers who don't have students in the school right so I think the challenge is what excites me because it's something it's a puzzle and it needs to be figured out and we need to think about different ways of moving forward when we do this work and I want to lay the fears of the communities as a whole we're not different in terms of our challenges you know there may be some things that are a little more public out there um but not really we're we're the same as a lot of districts and you know when I think about districts that I came to um to work in uh it didn't phase me to know that there were particular kinds of challenges uh you know I I went to one District that had a culture of a superintendent who was tyranical you know I put it up there um I I knew the person I didn't never thought of that that person in that way but come to find out that's really how it operated and you know it took me a long time to move that culture to a different place in terms of what um Comm and and a lack of fear looked like and I I learned that firsthand and you know I came to a district that had a um Finance Authority board didn't know what one was when I came there learned very quickly uh people said oh it's going to last five to seven years we were done in two years we cleaned it up pretty well now and I do say we we had a great Finance team I came in and um you know knew how I thought it needed to be approached the Finance Authority chair was great to work with he really knew his stuff from do so I learned a lot and we were able to be done in two years and and it surprised me I mean that was I didn't say oh we'll be done in two years and that that was a goal that I had but uh you know just just knowing that being able to get out from that cloud would allow the community to start to look at the district as the with pride because it was all about education and not about these terrible Finance issues that you know they they had lots of headlines on um and oh by the way the finance issues weren't all terrible they were just not well communicated to the parties that really needed to know and a little better organization of the off internal offices so people knew who was doing what and who was watching what you know so it didn't take rocket science to figure out how to fix it uh but everybody thought oh we we were that district with that uh Finance Authority board under uh under that cloud and we were able to to move forward pretty quickly and get onto the business of educating kids so I I I think that that's the challenge here is to again have good communication and transparency and that wide network of people who we're talking to so they better understand what's going on and how it's going to have to be so that they can start being proud of their individual um student and the schools that they attend and getting the education they know is a quality education thank you I really appreciate that keep going with you're gonna ask questions all right well thank you so much um did anyone have any other lingering questions before we move on to letting Michael ask us questions uh do you want to bring that did you guys have a chance to look at that did you want to bring that up or do you want me to bring that up now sorry I didn't have a chance so I just um I didn't have a chance I didn't read the whole thing sorry um just so you know you usually Google a candidate and um a lot of the community has as well and so I just came across an article about um your departure from Thea Regional School District in 2015 and I was curious if you could speak to that situation and and leaving that District sure it was um very difficult to leave um but uh you know this this is about transparency and Dynamics I will tell you this is my vantage point you'd have to talk to other people who had a different vantage point in what they were thinking and doing I went through the evaluation process in April I got glob remarks and and glowing um ratings and we went through a change in the school committee and a new chair came on board uh and I had a great relationship with all of the chairs up to that point it was a different dynamic in terms of how the school school committee operated and um I thought I would have a good Dynamic with the the new chair I knew her for a long time and and was very knew her knew what she had to offer and so forth but um she had a vision of her own of what she wanted to accomplish and uh didn't think with me in the superintendency and i' had been there 13 years so I had developed a culture that was I'll be honest it was just it wasn't driven by me but I was a big part of it um and I think she wanted to drive the culture to the goals and and directions that she wanted to go um I think they they you I I remember the day vividly um I I mean I literally uh she didn't have a meeting she came in one day with another member of the school committee and um simply said we'd like you to go and that was that was the conversation that we had I got no explanation I got a nice letter of recommendation um she just said I want you to go and literally I thought okay well my contract's coming up and I'll leave in June and um a week later she was in my office and said no you misunderstood we want you to go now and I was like why and she wouldn't give me an answer and I didn't push it you know once once you once that barrier is broken that there's no relationship you just got to go and I wanted to go out on High um at the same time that all of this was happening G to take a breath um sorry my wife was sick and is a little bit of a gift sorry get personal apologize it's not a foreign question and I I am end up doing the same thing every time so um so yeah it was that was it and I had that gift of time so it was it worked out the way it did and then I was able to kind of scale back um and go into the director of special ed role um which I've done previously and it just gave me my nights back and a little bit more life with my two kids who were still in high school and um yeah so thank you I'm still very fond of that I I lived in the community um throughout my kids both graduated from noov I attended every event that I could um I don't think if you talk to anybody who knew me um they had anything against me or any any issue with me um and there was no no um what's the word I'm for um M feance or anything like that and um yeah it's a great school system thank you and my apologies no no wor you're not the first okay great did anyone have any other questions thank you all right so do I I wanted to leave a little bit of time um it's a little bit before 6 so it's perfect if you have any questions for us um I know you've been working here for a couple months so I don't know if yeah I mean I don't have any questions I think the the conversation that I would want to have would be around how can we develop the parnership between the superintendent and the school committee there there are some some practices to be frank that I saw um with the previous superintendent that I would want to I would want to grow from and and make sure that we understand how differently it can work uh in terms of of being a school committee and a superintendent uh and um and do that well uh so that everybody is getting their needs met um and so that's a a big part of developing what's part the relationship piece of the evaluation right it's that school committee superintendent um relationship and and understanding what do you need from me in terms of communication what do you want how do you want to present it um all things that if I don't do it the way you thought you were asking about then I'm GNA get slammed for not doing it or not doing it well but if if I'm not clear and I don't ask so that's on me too I'm accountable for that um then you know how do we do that how do we have those conversations and just be able to do it softly calmly respectfully uh and and understand that you know and I don't want to in any way under um estimate what the issues are that we have here because we have issues um but this two shall pass and we'll we'll get through them we'll move through them uh and and like I say the experience at in the show was a good one in that regard because man when I got there I just was I never had a reporter come to my office before and I think my first or second day I had reporters at my door there um because it was very much in the news and it was like okay let's let's talk about it let's figure this out and so we did all right all right well thank you so much um really appreciate yeah I really appreciate you coming out and talking about yourself letting us get to know you a little bit better because we've been working with you now for a couple months you didn't know a lot of this stuff so it's great really appreciate it all right so next thing we are going to do is I'm going to ask you to wait in the hallway probably because it's easier we're just going to talk about the candidates and take a vote right now um oh okay yeah so just uh for the public time is of the essence um and the main reason is because Carol's last day is August 30th and it would be great to have somebody you know once we vote on a superintendent we plan to meet again on Thursday and in this meeting we will work on the contract that would be in place between the district and the interim superintendent um once that's all set then everything should be official and the person can get started um but ideally so school starts in three weeks from Tomorrow teachers go back in two weeks from Monday so I know it seems like we're moving quickly but I think the goal is to make sure that we have somebody in place and up to speed before that first day of school so that none of us are floundering and we all know where we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to do and we have another great school year so we will um take a few minutes we'll discuss deliberate take a vote and then I'll come out in the hallway and let you guys know and then we'll adjourn the meeting okay all right sounds good so feel free to good luck thank you I really appreciate it thank you so much right so I felt like that went really well I think we got a lot of information about both candidates um really really hard to deliberate about people people in public and I remember this firsthand because I had to get appointed to the school committee and there were six people that had to do that and I was one of the six and then they made us sit all in there and oh by the way we all had masks on so on top of that we had a present with a mask on which was really really hard um so yeah I just remember how awkward it was sitting here and cringing like listening for them to talk about you so I figured it would be easier if they didn't have to listen and we could I'll speak freely um I remember from that meeting the best way to start is maybe we talk about like what things we liked about each person I think that's an easier way to get into the conversation and then go into maybe I don't even want to use the word negative just you know pros and cons concerns and then we can take concerns yes thank you Jess um and then we can move forward with the vote so um I can start [Music] um so I thought they both bring good specific experience to what our district is looking for that mean that they both had um really good Regional superintendent experience they both have done this job before so neither one would be walking into a job being like oh I've never done this before I have no idea what what they're doing um so you want guys want to start let's start with positives let's start with positives that's that's an easy positive right there I was just picky back that positive and say Michael's done the inter R three times I think that's a very big positive y I think an inter R is very different than a superintendent I don't think Al has done the intro as I didn't read it on his thing I don't only he said three months he did so but yeah he what district he worked for he was for 3 months after that to help them hire someone but that's not really I agree totally different experience yeah so I just just to piggy back on what you said with Michael he said three but I'm only seeing Lester in 2017 did I miss uh for Michael he did say three he did say three I just don't know if see it Hatfield uh he was assist assant superintendent in [Music] maldener interim curriculum an intern superintendent Lester and then it looks like he went back he was an interim in Hatfield he did a three-year stint maybe he just right well it's three years and it says 2021 to just yeah I thought Al was great had a lot of energy I liked his energy yeah yeah I felt like he had like a really Clear Vision like he was just very organized in his approach the way he explain things to me I was able to understand it better yeah I agree I also liked how Al had book study groups I think the culture within the schools and teachers knowing teachers and working together kind of carries on the you know the half days that we have planned right um you know the importance of that work I also like that Al is just a completely fresh set of eyes I feel bad that Michael is not bad Michael has been with the district for a couple months and and a different role and I don't know if he's gotten bobbed down in details um but Al is just coming in from like the birds I view um which might be might actually be easier because he's not overwhelmed with some of the minutia maybe I don't know I need time for that right well it's a different role too I mean there's it's so different and I think we have to remember that the finance director role is just being a finance being a business manager is not being a superintendent they're two very separate roles and they should complement each other they're not the same thing right and I think too that Michael's job with what he did now for the district you know he came in as we know like it was a mess yes he did the very best he can but we can't we have to we have to view him on yeah it has to be totally separate yeah we have to remove all of that piece and focus on all the things he said in my opinion for Mel um you know moving the district you know into a pa place of calmness and respect um I think right now we have some significant rebuilding to do internally with the administrative teams and externally with the communities this is no big secret we are are not a well-liked committee we are not a well respected committee um take it or leave it that's where we are and what I liked about Michael is he was in the trenches with this committee when we were at our worst um as a committee um and still he wants to stay and what he wants to do is work to rebuild this so then we can connect with the community so we can be a successful District that I liked Al on the other hand I heard a lot of that's just the kind of guy I am this is the type of person I am just the kind of guy I am and in my for me it seems always to me is that people that are boasting about themselves rather than working with the groups that that's a flag for me Al he is selling himself to us yeah but so wasn't Michael but he was doing it let's do this together guys we have to be calm we have to be respectful we have to do this as a group we've done some damage and I know he has that internal piece but I didn't hear Michael at once say this is just the kind of person I am and even when he had the opportunity to show what kind of person he was with you know his wife being sick he he took a moment of pause and that would be the kind of person that I would have as a superintendent in this District in my opinion I I like how Al is about zero budgeting but I I just would caution us to hold Michael accountable for the finance piece when that's not what he's applying for here he's going to the superintendent of schools yeah that's a good point that's a very good point I thought I heard a lot from Al about Community talking to theun building up he said the whole thing about 8 to 10 he's out of the schools in the senior centers right that's where senior Senators is where there's issues if you want to talk about image right I agree I just don't know that seniors respond really well to that that's the kind of guy I am I think they respond better to Michael more he was talking more about explaining what they're doing because they won't necessarily get those Communications every day or every week I just I thought it was a positive thing yeah I agree I think it's positive to be the communities I agree with you on that yeah because we know people aren't reading emails cor cor cor unfortunately cor I just think we have we have done some we we need to work um with these communities the schools are the schools we in good shape I mean I know we don't have Finance director and that sense but the schools are they are the schools are we are Great Schools we have great schools and I believe in our schools I I think we need to have us long term I do think we need to have somebody and we need to put out a search we need to do it the correct way panel that whole thing but to have somebody as the inum what did he say when I asked that question about what makes a good interim superintendent and Michael said it's about bridging that Gap so that the next leader that comes along can do their job versus what Michael said it's kind of the same thing and in versus a regular superintendent and I don't think it is well I think also we don't want to be stagnant as a district so I I mean I think both of them said they want you know I felt that you know for direction and not just hold down the fort which I think is important that's all I say I really I really want what Al did with the books with the teachers I mean that's fun and it's inspiring and community and hopefully improves teaching that was I like that um the article that I found so you know simple Googling it was a 2015 article written by Kent Cleveland um and it talked about his departure and there was concerns on communication with the school committee and requests not not recognized um in terms of contract act and not getting approved by the school committee [Music] um and so that gives me pause um it's a little bit more information I guess executive session notes were opened up the December after he left um so it just that gives me pause um because it also said they there was not good working relationships with school admin um town Administration either which again take with a grain of salt because if you're fighting for a district you might not be buddy buddy was administrators so yeah that's a good point and he did get a good review from the school committee he said right uh Michael that yeah yeah it would probably be worth it to go back and read those minutes and um that was a long article it was really hard to I was trying to read in p is I had not seen that um and even though we had U Michael in the district I had just received his resume two days ago and we all got it so I don't because we hired him through TMS he doesn't actually work for us TMS works for us he's a consultant for TMS so he actually doesn't work for us he works for TMS as a consultant um and I guess for me it's really hard to um you get to know somebody because you've been working with them their habits and so it's really difficult to separate um what we've gotten to know from Michael and this new Michael that came to interview um one of the things I noticed is it it didn't seem like you know he said he was willing to come to meetings but one of the things I've noticed is that um he didn't seem interested to come to a lot of the nighttime meetings so that was a concern and I know he likes to work from home but again like we don't know what the other person's going to do because we haven't worked with him so it's just really hard to separate that because we know that but we don't know what the other person is and anyone can say whatever they want it's until you actually have experience working with them to your point Julie about this is the kind of guy I am this is the kind of guy that's the kind of guy he perceives himself as being but we don't really know until we work with them but we have worked with Michael and just that would be my one concern about some of the things I've seen um in working with him personally so um anything else hard I think that's the hard part is that their strengths are completely different yes and we have a lot of needs it what I found really consoling is that both of them said and I didn't mean to make it sound like our district is is um is not doing well because we are doing well but you know it's been it's been a bit of a bumpy ride at times and you know some things we've handled well and some things we haven't and so I wanted to know why both of them would want the job because it you know you're coming into kind of like a little bit of a tangle you're going to have to pull a little bit to get out and you're going to have to work with people and I think the real struggle is we have two very different people who have different sets of skill sets and would be beneficial in two different ways and that's the hardest part is trying to figure out what would be best for us going forward right now and that's what I'm struggling with as I go through the mountain of notes that I took and their resumes looking for something to stand up to make it obvious yeah and obviously it's really tough in general to hire someone in a couple days um but unfortunately that's the position that we're in um and just a reminder uh I mean I as long as I am on the school committee we will be doing a search a full search this is not just we're going to hire an intrum and if it works out you're in if obviously if the inim person I don't know if either of these people would be interested wants to apply for the full superintendent role but we will be doing full search there will be a search committee there will be an interview process so the first round of interviews would be conducted by the search committee and then the school committee would have to do the second round of interviews so we'd be looking for teachers parents principes to serve on this committee it would probably take place sometime in the winter late fall early winter um and you know I'd assume we'd be of course hiring probably right the beginning middle of budget season um but from what I learned from masc we're very late in the game so most most people that are interested in being an interim already either have something to do or they they've decided they don't want to do this right now so it's it's not a huge candidate pool um so I don't know if they've changed their practices I was um the when when the when we hired um Jeff I was on that search committee I was a they picked a person from Brand and from Boon and I was the treasur of the ESP PTO so um chair the chair couldn't do it and they asked if I would do it and I believe we did I think we did in the spring but they may have a different now but even then it was like very it was like it was early early spring but there were people from the community there were uh select board members there were um school committee members um it was a really nice group of people and I think I just want to kind of put that out to the public because when we go forward it's not just it's not the school it's a it's a a group of people that would be putting you know their heads together to see what they want for the the future of this of this District I agree so but I'm glad you explained why we have to do this so quickly right now and that we don't have the luxury of time yeah yeah we need someone to get ramped up many people reached out to on different recommendations and it was two people that were interested yes exactly yeah yeah and I called Mas we called NES whatever um I reached out nesda nesda um we reached out to masc masc was the one that provided Al we reached reached out to Old superintendant I've reached out to people that came and did trainings for us we spoke with all the principes and asked if they had any leads so yeah this was not taken lightly it's just I mean Megan if I could I'd like to give you I don't think you get the credit that you deserves you have given up I I can't even I can't even to tell the public how much of her time she's G she has small children they were sitting in the back she's given up vacation time she's given up days with them she's given up nights with them she spends almost all of her time on the phone or contacting people or researching going over to Central office trying to lend a hand like thank you so much for stepping up because you've gone above and beyond what anyone could have ever asked you to do and I know I am incredibly grateful and the community should know what you're trying to do to to to make us stay afloat and go in a positive direction so thank you you sacrific a lot and I'm grateful yes thank you you appreciate it sounds like it's more than full time even what you're doing itun basis just the past couple days but thank you guys so much I just want thank you thank you so much I just want people to know that to your point time has been put into this it's not like a knee-jerk it's not like we're just trying to fill the role there been a lot of research and yeah you've done a lot of that so thank you and yeah I I you know it would have been great if we had you know 10 people and we could have done a first round interview and the second round interview and had more input and had more time to do more research but we don't um so does any do you guys want to vote now or does anyone have anything else to say Julie you said you didn't have anything else or no no I don't have I thought you said that Mike did you have anything else please I don't want to I want to make you guys ready to vote well that's a different question I know someone I said are you ready to vote I guess someone has to make a motion as to who they think should be that's usually what we do I moveed to a point l G him as the interm superintendent second okay Mike Lisa all right any discussion on that I think the masc Tracy norc's recommendation you know I've heard her speak at the conference and you know as a field agent she is a very Dynamic respect respected person and and a personal recommendation from her I hold in high regard um aside from his presentation as a person yeah she did Tracy is the one that uh so just so everyone knows again Tracy recommended him to me and I texted Tracy back and said well I see he was reported to the board of Ethics so I think I'm gonna pass on that and she said I urge you to call him and talk to him he's a great candidate so I even gave Tracy an easy out and she didn't take it she she said he's a great guy so I listen to her and I called him and I I agree yeah well and you want to explain what the masc is for the community yeah so masc is the Massachusetts Association of school committees so it's a group um it's a not for-profit organization um most of the people that work for masc they have been doing this their whole life they're experts in the field as far as open meeting law and how School committees operate and how school districts operate how budgets work and all that so they're very well connected in the state I think is the best way to uh put it right um most Tracy's part of the board of that group I I believe um so uh she actually offered to come to a meeting and give us any advice that we needed um and I believe Al would need a waiver I don't know from Michael but um Tracy offered to help me apply for that waiver so it's great resource for us it's something we pay into our district pays into and we all have resources they put on trainings and they come and do trainings for us but great great resource for uh all school districts across the state all right any conversation so motion on the table is to hire Al it was seconded all right so it will be easier to do a roll call vote on that all right all right Lisa I will start with you sorry okay this is an i Mike all right Julie I'm a no okay Julie's a no all right lari this is really hard I'm an i okay Jess yes second it's very hard um I an I as well okay I'm an i as well so that motion passes 5 to one we have ourselves an inim superintendent it is 6:20 I'm GNA let them know want to leave my's already there are you sure yeah all right oh y Paul you had another business item yes thank you so uh the other thing we had on the agenda was to vote a finance director so right before Carol gave me her resignation she hired a finance director um I think given the fact that she is leaving and we just appointed someone new I think that the right thing to do is to let the new person make a decision on if that's a person they want to work with so um now that we know Al is going to be our inum I think we give Al a little bit of time not much but a little bit of time to make a decision and we're meeting again Thursday if that's enough time that would be great to get that vote in there so we don't have to meet again next week if not we can uh get a zoom vote in once Al has had adequate time can you refresh my memory what happened last week at that meeting which meeting I feel like we already voted on that we did not we Ted it we just discussed it was not on the agenda I put it on because I thought we were going to vote on it but then after much thought I think it makes sense for like we said the finance director and the superintendent are they should it should be a really strong partnership um I don't know that we've had that lately in our district and so I think that it's only fair to let that person decide who he wants to work with and then we we the school committee so superintendent hires that were all the school committee votes kind of to affirm that decision is my understanding and when did you say you wanted to table that too so we have to Mee again Thursday what I'm hoping is that will give Al enough time to make a decision on what he wants to do and then it's not on the agenda but I did put on there any business not foreseen by the chair within 48 hours because if Al feels he's ready to make that decision by Thursday I would love to do that and then this committee will not meet again until August 27th because God knows we need a break and we will meet August is it August 27th at Tuesday before the first day of school okay and that will be with both Carol and the in superintendent all right so I guess we don't need to notify people in public I guess what we can do is we can adjourn the meeting right now and then I'll let them know is are you guys okay with that so are we having a meeting on Thursday we areos to Thursday at 5 the way it's going to work we'll go into Open Session we're going to go into executive session we will negotiate the contract with Al in executive session Al can step out we can negotiate I spoke with our attorneys this morning um and then we'll come back into Open Session and we will vote on the terms of that contract the big thing we'll have to discuss is salary um and um you know any type of other time off stuff like that um but I we should have uh our attorneys will be um providing a blanket contract for us to work off of this week the other thing I'm still waiting on is just some detail to see what type of wiggle room we have with the numbers and the finances I still don't have that information I hoping I will have that by Thursday or at least we will have something hopefully you know Wednesday night or first thing Thursday before we go into that session all right anything else thank you guys all for coming all right so um could I please have a motion to adj the meeting so all right Julie second Lai all right all in favor I all right I'm an i as well thank you so much motion passes all right guys all right so I

and we'll be in this room um we'll have more information coming up but that's when we're really going to I'm go into all the details of how that's going to start looking um I know we don't have a slide but do you guys have any questions or comments that you guys would like asked of Dr Ramos or anything no and then I don't know if cabinet or Mr Man if you have any additional comments yeah I just would add that um one of the things that we're kind of furiously working on is figuring out those interim measures for the for the guard rails themselves and looking forward to you know when we get to work with Dr Ramos coming up you know just kind of getting some additional Clarity on that I know as we went through the goals we had a few fits and starts along way which I think was really healthy because we learned a lot and we really were able to refine and get to where we needed to be not only with the goals but with the annual targets and the interims but um I think very excited to get uh the interims and the targets for the guard rails locked down as well okay awesome I don't believe we have any other discussions so we'll go ahead and move into our next agenda item which is 5A public comments Miss wattis do we have any um public comments no we don't okay thank you that brings us to six which is approval of consent I move the governing board approve consent agenda items a through V in accordance with policy bb- e second all those in favor I I I thank you that brings us to 7A Educational Services this is the request approval of affiliate agreement with the University College of Nursing and healthc Care professions at Grand Canyon University and gr I mean and crayon School District do we have any discussion or any questions regarding this item doesn't look like it okay yeah go ahead Miss gson I understand that this is uh it's my understanding that it's like an a just a regular agreement that we do would be akin to like student teaching agreement with the university um and so there's like no money exchanged right that that is correct and I defer to Dr dupin and um Miss Kaiser who's here with us this evening as well okay um were there any other um uh um I don't know what word to use potential relationships explored with like Maricopa County community colleges or any other educational institutions or is this the only one I know we're always looking for those partnership opportunities but I I don't know the specifics of which ones we've attempted to engage in so I don't know if the team has any others that we've looked at Miss Kaiser if you're able to come forward and speak to the continent the agreement and specifically if you know if we've communicated with other entities that would be great thank board president um governing board members Mr Man and leadership team um we are always looking to partner and affiliate with um with count with the colleges and different Partnerships to not only increase and build on the capacity of our leaders and our teachers and and such but also the collaboration for potential pipeline opportunities and employment I cannot speak to what other organizations that we were solicited but um it is a great pleasure of mine as ESS member of the team that our leads oftentimes are reaching out throughout the year to support that so no I don't have a current list but I do know that that is something that we do intermittently throughout the year to build that collaborative um opportunity um with other organizations outside of just the one on the governing board agenda thank you um if I could add um I I know this agreement is specifically regarding the nursing program but we do have existing agreements with the Arizona State University and NAU and the community colleges for General uh and special education uh classroom teachers for internships certainly I guess my concern is well one my top concern is always that I would rather have Partnerships with Public Schools whenever possible that's just my philosophy number two my other personal issue is is that we've been talking about how we can create Partnerships even within our own like more nuclear Community here and Nur the nursing program at Gateway I feel like has been there since I was in high school I mean I think that there's ways that we can uh walk it like we talk it and figure out how to build relationships here in this exact very small community um and so I would love for us to try our best to and this is again just my personal opinion go with public and try to get them as close to home as possible my very last one is just I know it doesn't have to do with nursing and there's no money being exchanged but our district is very unique and everybody knows that in terms of our um socioeconomic demographics from the north side of the district to the south side of the district we also know what a big issue gentrification is in our district and I wouldn't want to get into an agreement with an organization who's contributing to gentrification in a different neighborhood across town they had a very contentious uh situation where they uh were responsible for evicting people out of a trailer home park um and not providing or following through on what was promised to provide adequate ways for th those folks to relocate um and I just personally am not down with any any organization that moves in that way and given how close to home gentrification is for our district I just wouldn't want to be in a professional partnership with them so that's just all of my piece and we can have other discussion and vote do we have any other questions or discussion okay hearing none and then um misses I'm going to do a roll call vote I move the governing board approve I think it's yeah it's okay I move the governing board approve the affiliate agreement with the University's College of Nursing and healthc Care professions at Grand Canyon University through June 30th 2026 Miss MB oh sorry second okay Miss MB hi myself nay Miss SS hi and Miss Gibson so it's 2 to two so motion does not pass correct thank you 11a approval for continuing of governing board advisory committee for review and recommendations on the following board policies fncc fnf foa fod and any other related policies I will go ahead and turn it over to Mr Man to have this conversation and then if you want to go ahead and get us started thank you yeah thank you Madame President members of the board um and I'm gonna rely pretty heavily on on Miss gipson mlan who was very helpful um ex officio with this with this committee last year um one of the things that happened as an outcome of the committee work last year is there were a lot of recommendations related to the policies around student conduct um we did not manage to get them integrated because of the change in policy service providers and in order to make sure that our policy Services were stood up in time for the start of the school year um we went with sort of the vanilla copper policies just to get off the ground because the crosswalk was going to take a bit of effort so one of the the hopes is um regardless of how we move forward with that crosswalk and integration it it felt to me that um this team should probably review that before it comes back to the board for recommendation to make sure that the intent that they had in making those recommendations is represented in the new recommendations um related to our shift in policies and in addition to that as Miss Warz has included in this item there were four policies that we did not get to you don't see them reflected under their own policy letter she's tracked them down to where they live in the new policy manual um My Hope Is that the work for the team will be smoother and easier on those four starting from you know basically already more uh tightly put together policies that aren't quite as verbose as the policies that we were dealing with originally but um the I think from an from the administrative perspective and I'd be curious to hear Miss kipson mcan's perspective because we haven't had a chance to talk it feels like it would be helpful to bring not only bring this um committee back into bear for this school year but perhaps rather than trying to repopulate it to see if the participants from last year would come back because I think that would expedite the work and ensure um the ongoing alignment of the work work so I definitely agree with all of that um sorry I was trying to navigate to um the new policy situation here I'm sorry um just I wasn't familiar with the new I haven't memorized the new lettering yet so I was like uh I'm not sure which ones those are yeah they're they're all in F instead of J okay I know I I'm like okay so yes I would say I'm totally down with this and I think we should move forward with this um the one thing I would add is so that we don't h i mean we could bring it back but one thing that we T discussed was um moving forward and doing the same work with the staff conduct policies and so I don't know if we want to add that in now or revisit it at a later date so that we could like seamlessly move into it or you guys just want us to stop and come back I I could see it either way but what what might be elegant and this is just a thought is um and this may be optimistic my hope would be maybe for the first half of the year we could get this finished and cleaned up and get through these last four policies and then perhaps in the second half of the year um put a committee together and at that point if people want to continue to participate that would be great but if they want to hop off and rotate a little bit then at least you know we're giving people that opportunity at that point um plus that will give Miss Suarez and I an opportunity to figure out um specifically which policies we're dealing with at that point so that way we can represent them in the board action I agree I just wanted to make sure that was on folks radar and I mean I'm I um am certainly committed to continuing this work myself if I'm permitted to and um you know it's nice to have I wouldn't call it a baby but some sort of project to work on as a board member that's outside of meetings or things that you would normally do so this is the kind of stuff I get nerdy about and excited about so if everybody's down I'm ready to continue doing this I know the really appreciated as well miss Michaela or Miss SS any other comments or discussion regarding this item um just that I think all the work that was done is super valuable and I think we're right to not try and rush or just set aside like oh those are good enough so I see tremendous value in continuing with the trajectory that you all have yeah and I agree also so I think this is a good idea and I appreciate that this was even something that Miss Gibson McAn is able to continue and do because I do know that the committee was very appreciative of having her there um so with no more questions or just discussion I'm going to go ahead and make the motion um I move the governing board approv to continue the governing board advisory committee to review and give recommendations on the following board policies fncc fnf foa fod and any other related policies with approval to the direct superintendent to bring forth the same committee members from the last school year in addition to approve that Mr Man and Miss Gibson McLean continue to serve as ex official members of the committee second all those in favor I I I thank you motion passes that goes to 12a Future agenda items do we have any future agenda items all right any discussion on any of the stuff that's going on in the schedule just remember the study session is September 28th our progress monitoring calendar should be all done and set up by the 17th because between here in actually August 20th meeting we will be having our sitdown all right hearing none we go ahead and move to the next agenda item which is 13A I move the governing board adjourn second all those in favor I IES thank you to everybody have a great night thank

microsoft.com so just click on that link and then you're going to sign in to Microsoft co-pilot using your husd login credentials do you want yep all right so step three let me little let me explain a little bit about what we're doing here on step three first before you get started so step three is a template and this is a template that I created and so you are going to use this prompt template to create your own Pixar style yearbook photo of yourself so the template you're going to copy and paste paste it into the Microsoft co-pilot and so what you once you copy and paste it into co-pilot you're going to change all the words that are in capital letters to fit your characteristics because currently it's fit it's it's reading towards to describe me so we want it to describe you does that make sense you're going to copy and paste prompt three into co-pilot we'll people come around and [Music] help e [Music] e e e so once you've created your character feel free to share with each other what what your new characters look like e e e I hope you enjoyed that this was just a nice little warmup just to introduce you to co- pilot and to get us thinking about generative AI do not um close out that tab because we're going to come back to co-pilot here in a little bit [Music] all right so it's important for everyone to be literate in the basics of AI so this statement from digital promise describes AI literacy so please take just a moment to read it and all of these pieces here in the statement will be addressed at some point in today's presentation so why why is AI literacy important because it's our responsibility as Educators to help prepare students for future success so what does that mean for Higley everything that we are doing with AI ties back to our mission vision and core values as well as the components of husd um portrait of a graduate such as being a responsible citizen an Innovative learner and a College and Career ready we need to expose students to AI so they are better prepared because universities like ASU are embracing it and they're partnering up with AI and for students who go the career route there will be there will be fields that they go into um that will require the use of AI such as digital marketing social media managers it support technicians so this AI literacy presentation focuses on key indicators 1.1 1.3 that's under the teaching teaching and learning Student Success and 2.2 under highly effective Personnel so the first topic we're going to talk about is demystifying AI for educators so the term AI is used very broadly but there are different types of artificial intelligence so the three types are stage one machine learning stage two machine intelligence and stage three machine Consciousness the world is currently just over in stage one at machine learning and what machine learning is it's the ability for computers to learn from experience or data without human programming so this graphic shows how AI technology builds from each subcategory and one subset of AI is generative AI so if you look at the very bottom generative AI is it generates new text audio images video or code and it's based on content that it's been pre-trained on and pre-training is a technique in machine learning where a models trained on a large data set to learn General features and representations so for example if we show an AI various pictures of dogs and they're all labeled dog as well as other animals that are not dogs once AI has seen many pictures of dogs it can identify any dog even if it doesn't look exactly like the specific picture the more pictures it sees the more efficient it is so AI is everywhere and it's not anything new so on the screen are some examples of AI in everyday life so some examples might be streaming apps like Netflix so when you log into Netflix it might suggest certain movies for you based on your streaming history or navigation and travel you might use Google maps to get to a location or SmartWatches lots of us probably have those on today we know Educators have a lot of valid concerns regarding AI there student safety issues like data privacy and misuse just with all online tools we need proper safeguards in place help protect the students and their data there's cheating but on the other side AI has the potential to enhance student learning when used with clear guidelines in place there's also content issues like uh misinformation but with strong safeguards and an emphasis on critical thinking students can learn to evaluate the ai's responses so this is a graphic from the Arizona guidance document that you have and as with any online tool students need to be taught how to use gen responsibly so on the left hand side Education Without AI is like riding a mountain bike the human's in control but has no assistance too much Reliance on AI the center picture too much uh Reliance is like riding a motorcycle you could go fast but it's unpredictable and could be dangerous so our goal would be the image on the right um using as a learning partner so using it as a learning partner is like writing an ebike the human's in control but the ebike can reduce the struggle and result in more productive learning so AI is similar to the calculator in the Internet it's a gamechanging tool that will transform education whether we're ready for it or not our second topic is transforming learning with AI there are three guiding principles the first one is AI is ubiquitous AI is everywhere 169 plus countries have access to Ai and the second guiding principle is that AI is undetectable so there are AI detection tools but they're not effective because they give too many false positives so because of this students may turn in an assignment and be accused of cheating even if the work they turned in was completed without the assistance of AI and higher education institutions have chosen not to use those detectors the third guiding principle is that AI is transformative it's going to transform how we live work how we teach and learn in terms of redefining academic Integrity I'm going to read this quote from Arizona's official generative AI document which you have in front of you within the educational implementation of generative AI lies a transformative opportunity to reconsider the methods we use to teach and assess student learning AI can help us rethink what we ask students to do and why now let's hear the thoughts of a 25-year veteran writing teacher Spirit Week jammies get over it my brain is hurting because I thought today long and hard about all the new tools coming out all the new sites like chat GPT there's a new one called simplified that I hadn't learned of until today I don't know that we as a human race need to necessarily still know how to write essays very well just like we stop needing to know how to do long division all by ourselves at nauseum we need to understand the elements of good writing we need to understand what it looks like and how it works but I don't know that we all need to be able to do it really well anymore this coming from a 25-year veteran teacher of writing instead I went back to square one why do I teach essays I teach essays because I need students to have opinions that they can support with evidence and then make arguments and I suddenly realized that I believe and I could be wrong I believe the future of essay writing is going to be reverse of what we do now I believe that what we will probably see are essays given to students and they have to dissect those essays specifically looking for thesis identifying the evidence looking for how well the argument supports that evidence and that opinion it's a whole new world we're in my friends and we can drag our feet on this and pretend this isn't happening and try to insist that everybody still knows how to write their five paragraph thesis based essay but I think it might be the end of a time period that we've come to folks adapt or die actually in this case adapt or spend the rest of your life being the AI place not my plan thank you all for doing the good work in other words generative AI offers an opportunity for rethinking how we teach and learn so here are some ways Educators may use generative Ai and there are a lot of opportunities for AI in education so for example a teacher might use Microsoft co-pilot which is what used at the beginning of the presentation to get ideas for how to make a lesson that they're using more engaging and there are also future opportunities for AI and education for our students so for example a student might use Microsoft co-pilot to get a tutorial for steps on how to solve a math problem many opportunities for student use of generative AI but we are not promoting the use of AI with students yet all right and while there are plenty of opportunities with AI they're also risk to consider and mitigate so our third topic is ensuring a responsible approach to AI so on the screen here are five things that we need to consider when using generative AI bias misinformation intellectual property data privacy and Equitable access but I want to focus primarily on data privacy to emphasize that personally identifiable information should never be fed to an AI and AI is like any other tool guidelines and policies surrounding student information must be adhered to when using AI Jamie can I ask Miss Davis to elaborate on something because we don't want to miscommunicate uh she knows what I'm looking at her to say I think um I just want to go back to the video of the 25- Year veteran teacher that we watched um that is not to say we are saying throw out writing throw out explicitly teaching writing we are saying that we can use AI as a tool to enhance writing instruction so instead of going and finding um Exemplar pieces of writing to use when modeling writing we can go to Ai and use that as the tool um we can go and find or utilize AI to um pull the essay and then say what let's find a good thesis and use that instead of having to always have our students write that when we're trying to get them to identify what makes a good thesis so we're not saying stop writing stop teaching writing never no we still have to explicitly teach writing um but when the point is for students to be able to identify what makes something good in writing we can go to AI for that support So when AI can be a good tool that's when we want to use it it's never to stop explicitly teach something so once students have a handle on that like long division we can turn it over to the technology to help out with that to reduce that burden on students um because I know I frequently don't do long division by hand I'm going to go to a calculator for that so if I can go to AI to help me reduce a burden of writing an essay I'm going to do that so how can we help students get to that step we're not saying stop writing or teaching essays so now that we all have a basic understanding of AI literacy let's try a prompt together let's go back to Microsoft co-pilot so in your other tab on your computer I want you to type in the prompt and it's this prompt create a list of famous people I should know and then share your results with your neighbor e interesting okay can can you share um what you noticed about your response anyone I'm sorry just like one person from the list or do you want the whole anything you noticed about the response that it gave you um I don't know if there I'm supposed to like recognize a a connection or okay maybe compare your list to we were just talking about our our difference and what did you notice between the two lists I don't know she got Cleopatra I got Marilyn Monroe so I don't [Laughter] know got JK and I got Bill Gates why do you think we got different responses I don't know based on how we look it's got to be it's it's got to be compared to like like the previous oh photo because it kind it generates based on the information that it has about you and the only information that it has is our description of ourselves yeah yeah your response is only as good as the information that you gave it so this particular prompt that create a list of famous people I should know it's very broad it's open so you you two are going to get two different answers whereas in the beginning when I gave you that very detailed prompt for you to go ahead and change your characteristics it was really really detailed and it gave you a pretty good little Pixar character of yourself so again it's um it's only as good as the information that you give it we call it kind of a there's a there's a saying for it and it's called garbage in garbage out all right so what's next where are we with the implementation of AI and Higley so some sites have had uh the AI literacy training the rest have all been scheduled teachers can use AI for things like planning for instruction student engagement ideas however we are not promoting the use of AI with students yet we're setting our teachers up for Success which will then set our students up for Success it's just the beginning and teachers will receive ongoing trainings in the future on AI resources and tools to use in their classrooms Jamie did you explain how you might have um co-pilot operates in terms of what we put in there if we close out of it what happens yeah so the reason we had you log in with your husd credentials is because co-pilot is closed for us in Higley so there should be a little green symbol up in the I think it's the right hand corner that's a little shield and what that means is once you type information in there and you exit out of it when you come back your responses are not saved unlike using co-pilot if you were at home and just you know Googling co-pilot so it's a little bit of a safer model that we have here in hickley questions uh Vice President Van Hook um I do have a question actually I'm curious with since it is on our Clos system if I put stuff in here do we have much in the same way if I try to go to certain websites I'm limited to what I can do is those same limitations in terms of what search results we have I guess I'm thinking about it from a student standpoint in the future good evening uh co-pilot does not is not filtered the way that we filter our websites uh light speed our filtering software U we're investigating whether or not in the future it will it will do that but at this point in time it does not uh Microsoft does have safeguards in place um we we for example uh as a test asked if it would show us how to make fireworks uh it will not uh so it there are there are safety uh structures built within um the model that prevent certain types of results and U Microsoft continues to refine those but at this point in time um it is not filtered in the same way as a as a web search is filtered and does it have the capability of knowing this is for I don't know what grades we're planning on using this for if it's just for high school or middle school but do we have the ability to put in there that it's for these grades these a groups so that it doesn't allow kids to be able to pull up like inappropriate content as of right now we're not recommending the use of co-pilot with students so it's just being used by our adult uh employees so that's where we're at right now um I don't have so I don't have uh anything beyond that thank you and and thank you for explaining about the uh the Tik Tok video because that was literally like I was like what we need to um obviously kids need to learn how to write um so that is a concern and then obviously data sharing is is a concern of mine too um so it's nice to know that there will be safeguards in place uh so that student data isn't shared um and and I think AI is great it it's the endless possibilities in education um but my fear is uh the bias um the information that uh you know inaccurate information um that it gives uh also uh the potential of [Music] um not allowing the critical thinking skills for kids uh is concerning as well um you know I don't want it I don't want kids to heavily depend on it uh and if they're using it obviously here they're limited as to how much they can do but they can go in at home and and use chaty PT um and so obviously the the importance of using it in a proper fashion um learning that is is crucial to all of this and to to know that don't depend heavily on this tool um because it will impact their their thinking ability as they grow up so um those are my three biggest concerns with AI thank you go ahead vice president v um thank you for kind of walking through this and and the different aspects and I like how we're thinking from an educator standpoint I know we're not going to quit teaching writing but what a concept of the teacher saying what are we ask what why are we asking them to write an essay what are we expecting them to get out of it and um looking at that from a reverse engineering St Point going well I want them to be able to cite evidence of something and so obviously it's much easier not necessarily totally accurate all the time that if they go home and write an essay because of these resources are they asking what we're are they learning what we're asking them to that if we're kind of going backwards and providing them here's the written essay now I want you to find the supporting evidence is it appropriate is it really evidence and so um and I know that was just one teachers Tik Tok an example but it does make you start to think of we talk a lot of about intentional teaching and intentional learning and again the good point of long division we all learned it we all had to do it over and over and over again and I'm with you I never write out long division um you you used to be lucky if you had a calculator and now everyone has one all the time with them because everyone has some type of phone or electronic device so um the thought of this is out there it's at their disposal um we can't control it so how do we make sure that they're still getting the intentional piece of what we're trying to to teach and how do we use that to to teach and to I don't want to say to our advantage but to our advantage for them to learn a skill so um I like the process that you guys are going through and and thinking and thinking of the teachers and not just I know when um chat what was it GPT I don't I don't do it but when it came out like all everyone was freaking out going okay these kids aren't going to do anything they're just going to go home and they're going to use this and turn in these essays and turn in this paper and this report and everything um and so everyone kind of was really afraid I think from the educational standpoint of well what are we how are we going to teach these kids when they have this resource so learning and thinking how to utilize this resource both from an educator and then from the student standpoint I I appreciate you taking your time and learning about it and how we can help our teachers utilize what's there to ensure our students are learning what they need to anybody else um thank you uh I use AI every day and it makes my life way a lot easier I can get a lot more work done um you said there's no we're just using it for adults right now is there a timeline for students to eventually use this good question uh so right now we are looking at it first we want all the teachers to have the same information so we want to make sure that they all get the same AI literacy piece and that they get the proper training and the proper tools and then we need to look at our policies and the backend um agreements and things like that for data privacy and making sure that students are the right age to be able to use things and then from there we'll talk about which tools that might be appropriate to start using with students but there's not a hard timeline yet we want teachers just practicing with things first to get comfortable with it and then eventually we'll make a decision on that do you know if there's any programs Beyond co-pilot I mean there's lots of AI programs right now um that is geared towards kids that might have those safeguards or something that's out [Music] there oh yeah there's all kinds out there and there's a lot of things that are embedded within things that they're already using but yeah there's quite a few there's for example there's Magic School some school districts are adopting that for student use a lot of those are are paid um versions and so some people are doing Pilots they're us they're pretty expensive but everything's new right now so we're hoping at some point you know it kind of balances out and maybe an add-on that we could get or something like that but and it's always nice to see what the other districts are doing so they can like you know get all of those little bumps out of the way and and then we can look and see you know how well it worked there and before we try it here co-pilot is included as part of our Microsoft Suite so we don't pay anything extra for it so that's one reason why we want to go to that Summit um at AA freia cuz so many districts are there and we will learn from each other and we are going really slow on purpose but I want to applaud the team for all their work and intentionality on this very good job um Vice President Van Hook I wish to Echo the same thing in that this was very informative um starting today I'm resistant to AI I think for for rational reasons as a teacher right in that you want to focus on the skills and I think the most important thing is to take a step back and ask what's the intention right and so I'm very appreciative of the information that you shared because I feel like it it opened a box of my brain that I was resistant to in general um the way I think about it specifically as I remember uh when computers started being in classrooms which is the start of my my teaching experience and the complaints of well kids won't know how to handw write and how important that is and it's just not proven to be the case right is because ultimately there's still acquiring language they're still learning how to do that and as far as our older Generations being upset with how they're writing that's just a normal cycle of events so I'm greatly appreciative of of giving teachers maybe an opportunity to start looking at things in a way that has always been diff difficult because like for example I'm not an English teacher and I still taught AP and they still had to write a thesis statement and I taught High School seniors and the level of frustration of like sweet pee that is not a thesis statement um is really hard and so I think being able to have quick access to a lot of opportunity rather than relying on my mental energy to do so especially being a singular individual I feel like all of us in education can understand I can explain something 17 times and then one person comes in and you're like oh my God that was so much better so I am very grateful if it's at all possible I don't know how others are feeling I'm very interested in some of this information so like maybe just seeing how these things are impacted or other ways that we can start doing that mostly for my own edification I recognize that these are a slow process I just you know there are options that I didn't necessarily think about so I'm I'm grateful for that thank you I just like to jump in I had the opport this summer to chaperone for the national speech and debate tournament and so I was in De Mo Iowa with five uh National competitors in uh public forum debate and the national speech and debate Federation is basically said use Ai and the kids were very clear if you use AI you won't win AI is a starting point but the Nuance that they need and the detail and the the ability to be able to speak about their their subjects to a certain to to a higher degree means that AI gives them the starting point but they have to take it to the finish line and So speaking to some of those concerns about critical thinking and that kind of thing I saw it firsthand this Summer that AI is a tool and and when kids are really invested in what they're doing they're going to use that tool but they're ALS it it they need to do more in order to to to be effective sorry that gives me one other thing actually I would like to from my understanding like in jat chat gbt because we don't have access to like academic journals verus public ad and that's expensive I could type in to chat GP to basically create an in and they create sources right they manufacture them they they write them in ways that make it look and appear as if this in fact was an actual academic journal and it is not so one of the things that I'm interested in maybe as we go through this is there a way that we might be able to as an education system get access to more than maybe just Google results for some of these things because like in my head I think one of the things that would be beneficial at a high school level is everybody having to take a course of being able to look at what makes a good study and what doesn't so when we get information to find answers how do you you know look at what was qualifying and if we only have access to Google we're very limited on what those can be it doesn't mean there is a solution but I I feel like this is something at least in the future I definitely can see a benefit to if we can from an English perspective especially be able to look at some of these things and decide our science this what is what makes a good study versus not just you know if we can um and to add to that um I'm an it so in in I can literally type into chat GPT asking it to tell me how to use our our work system and it will literally it knows our our system so it will literally tell me how to do something um and so it kind of that's kind of what you're asking is to for it to have access to any like on online applications that we use and things like that to create any type of curriculum or supplementals a I think that'd be beneficial from a teacher perspective I was more looking at um if I have to write a paper and we're looking at what makes a decent paper right and people will often cite sources um from a history perspective we're limited because we look at who's the source coming from it's a picture it's a letter Etc in science or other English ones if you're doing a research paper how do I know that this information that I have looked at is a study worth quoting in those types of things that's more of a college level in general but part of me is curious in how we can potten potentially include that because if I'm an English teacher and I know they can get manufactured sources that's really hard from a teacher perspective to how to know where these things are and incorporating that as part of lessons seems beneficial so that way students themselves when they type into it can look at it and be like ah this is crap right this one's made up to kind of help set them up for success I think later which goes to that critical thinking skills it goes to how we can use some of these things I just don't know if that exists that's what you all are smarter than me for kind of deal I'm just curious because I think it could be very beneficial and that could potentially help with like bias information that it spits out um anybody else have any questions Vice President Van Hook we had wanted to end this with my voice telling you all to go home and take a siesta but we didn't get that far because when Matt came he did that and everybody in the room was like where is she because it it was my voice through Ai and I never said it so it was really it's an eye opener right there are a lot of things we have to learn and be cautious and aware of so I want to applaud the team yes thank you so much are you good letting them go yep absolutely thank you so much all right um we're going to move on to 6.2 um policy update for J NB uh technology resources um and instruction Miss Richards yes Vice President Van Hook tonight we are proposing changes to this policy specifically to address the use of artificial intelligence so when you look at our proposed changes specifically on page two you're going to see a large paragraph that emphasizes the proper use of AI the fact that it should be guided by responsible and ethical considerations um and in including mitigating bias as you say and we all agree promoting transparency and providing AI benefits to students if it's used in the classroom it should be approved by the site or District administrator and teachers instructions and expectations AI should also be guided and monitored by teachers and their administrators in align with the district guidelines and policies so as you'll see um the very last sentence speaks of AI systems should comply with the family educational rights and Privacy Act furpa and should support data privacy and security so we're asking for these changes or additions and additions to be approved this evening sorry I just trying to jump ahead excuse me I apologize everybody else is like nope first read first three um all right um and then um onto uh 6.3 uh I'm sorry uh questions or comments about this policy nope all right um moving on to 6.3 um an update on policy bbba board member qualifications pres Vice President Van Hook tonight we are proposing adding that a convicted sex offender is ineligible for membership on a school district governing board policy verbage is being added uh to add legislative updates so you'll see that highlighted in blue and this is a first read um thank you for that it's it's a I'm glad that we're adding this um it's crazy to think that you know um it could be a possibility the other way so um glad to see this is being added anybody have questions comments I agree I too was like I assumed this was part of it but here we are but again I I think the argument probably is the reason it wasn't is because why would we vote for that but you know here we are I'm assuming it happened somewhere so there was a law created to prevent that um all right now um moving on to 6.4 policy ikf graduation requirements first read Vice President Van Hook if you'll take a look we are updating the graduation requirement because by state law we need to include a statement that you can see in blue on the second page that says including instruction on the Holocaust and other genocides for at least three class prayers or the equivalent on or at least two separate occations during any of grades 7 through 12 that needed to be added to the social studies part so if you take a look at page two of it in blue that's the verbiage that we are adding additionally we added some clarification on the math courses what they can consist of and three credits of science as well those were clarifications from the uh asba policy however we needed to include the uh blue language specifically for the Holocaust and the genocides any questions or comments no all right um all right um that um vice president Sor really fast with this policy it doesn't change anything we're doing we're just we're already doing all of this correct correct we just add that language to it okay thank you all right now we are um going to move to the action items um a motion um that the governing board approve the budget revision uh number one for fiscal year 2025 as presented second oh all in favor I I I I uh that was four um motion passes uh with four eyes zero a 7.2 ratify payroll and fense voucher um um I do have uh a comment regarding this um and I had met with uh Miss um Richards about uh hop skip Drive um and uh just to discuss if we were using it um and I I had shared my concerns about um this company uh I'm not sure if anybody saw but there was two incidences with this organization with this company in um Scottdale unified uh where a um a student was sexually assaulted by a driver um and then another student was physically assaulted by another child that was in the same vehicle um and so my question is um because we don't do the background checks um and we depend on the background check that the the company is doing um how do we uh ensure that our students are safe um you know being with these drivers and and some of our our kiddos obviously you know are um vulnerable students um in the care of a driver without an adult and so that's scary for me um and and [Music] um you know I I want to make sure that we're also uh I know when we we discussed it that um we didn't necessarily share what the parents that are using the services um of the incident that that happened in in Scottdale and um and I mentioned that you know we we can't assume that people are are watching the news and and paying attention to the news to know this information um and I would assume that most parents think that if if the district's providing that service that it's a safe service so I want to ensure that our our uh parents are notified of any incidents that occur with with companies like this so that they can make an informed decision of whether they want to um have their child use that service or not um and um one of the questions I also had was that um we're utilizing it for I believe um oh no that oh it is for the outof boundary kids correct that and is that the reason that the transportation cost increased part partially because of this company the the budget modification in this um particular vendor are not related not the Hops Drive provides contracted transportation for our mcken vento students so are homeless uh students um those students we are required by law to transport um and often times with a driver shortage uh those routes are are not filled and so um we contract out with hops drive we also use another vendor ever driven um we have had no instances within our district um and unfortunately the escal did have that isolated instance with that driver and so um we do have a vendor registration form that all vendors who do work with us they sign in um indicate that they are vetting um their individuals they do have um uh background checks cleared with them ultimately we have to rely on the vendor it would be we don't have the man-hours to to go and and ask for that for every single one of our but by them signing that agreement we can then hold them liable if something does happen um that they agreed to that uh vendor registration form saying they would have background check if something did happen we then have um the upper hand um to hold them liable for that instance um you know like the type of background check that they do like the extent of the background check that's being done is it just basic $5 background check that they pay for online or um you know it would be nice to know like to the type of background check that's performed on their drivers um are the background checks um performed before and after hire date um and how often are they background checked um board member Van Hook can I ask you a question about the Scottdale one real quick before you go on for that in the case of that um because it's pertinent to what you're talking about are you aware one way or the other if that individual had anything prior because part of me goes I agree with you we need to do background checks and I also think asking how often do you do it those kinds of things fingerprint clearance card all that genuinely matters I'm also if that person had not been convicted of anything then that also I think matters with respect to it doesn't change the situation in terms of it is horrific and not something that obviously anybody would want but it does play into what we can and cannot do with respect to who we hire who we use Etc right no and I understand if you run a background check and they don't have any priors nothing is going to show up um which is why I'm asking like how often are they doing background checks in case something changes after the higher date so Vice President Van Hook we can definitely reach out to them and get specifics on this um I do know that the director of that organization reached out to meliss gardland who's our director of federal programs and compliance and I know she shared that with you but at the end of the day this is helpful for information for us to get and we will put it in status thank you um and just a clarification point if they because DPS has recently I guess in the last year changed their fingerprint process assuming that they have to go through and get at least a class one fingerprint clearance card because they're dealing with children um DPS has changed their process that now an employee is actually assigned to an employer in the past they weren't and so they we could have their fingerprint clearance number we can check and make sure it's valid but if we weren't attach to them if something were to happen regarding their fingerprint clearance card in some cases it was almost impossible for them to notify the employer now like I said in like in the past year um maybe even less recent than that um now fingerprint clearance cards are attached to employers so if something does happen during that time um with their fingerprint card it's much easier for employers to be notified now so it doesn't I get what you're saying and I agree too I mean a background check is only as good until something has happened to show up on a background check right um but assum like I said assuming they have a fingerprint clearance card because they're dealing with children um it it's much easier now to be notified and DPS has also started doing some different background checks as well um so and that's even been more recent so so but what could like we don't have a contract with them I think is what was said in the Q&A um they're possibly anou or I just want to know like contractually like what what forces them to tell us what's on the background check of their employee um you know are they obligated uh to to share that information with us if it's a driver of one of our students and that's a good question as well as were we notified of the situation with another driver do they notify the people that the other districts that they work with I'm sorry no that's board member yes we were notified um and I can't remember when this happened like vice president Vin hook do you remember the date that it happened um I don't I I know it was last year some time we can provide a summary of what happened and how we were notified and then answer all these other get answers to those thank you you're welcome um I also know that they had a Cyber attack um and a major data breach uh although um I believe it said it was their driver information that was leaked and not necessarily the student information um but that's that's an issue as well um and I did look into the the person that's in charge of like their security and she used to run like a doggy dat care so as far as experience with kids I think this is like her first time working for you know for a company that's driving kids around so um that concerns me as well um and you know my ultimate um issue is just to ensure that the the company is o obligated to notify us when they find information um about their drivers um and then in return were notifying um the families um or um I think the situation in Scottdale um I forget the um possibly home like a homeless child she was like a homeless child um and so um you know there's got to be some sort of guardian or something anyway that they're notified um that's all anybody else all right and this was 7.2 I motion that the governing board ratify payroll and expense voucher 11 second all in favor uh and I will abstain just because I I'd like answers to those questions all right uh motion passes three eyes and one exstension um on to 7.3 approval of license agreement between Higley unified and SL Saro solar um LLC I motion that the governing board I'm sorry um yes I motion that the um unless somebody has questions anybody have questions um again I motion that the governing board approve the license agreement between Higley unified and SL sororo solar LLC second all in favor I I all opposed did I hear four all right um motion passes with four eyes and now we are at 7.4 communication protocols bear with me here um on page four of the communication protocols and I actually thought that um the last time we talked I thought that this was going to come back for another discussion um because when it first came out we talked about changes occurring and then we held off um due to the superintendent situation um and so I actually expected that this come back as uh as a discussion item versus an action item um so um I would like to [Music] um recommend some changes on here to be done um and so um I would like to um make a motion to table this uh to have uh further discussion and possible changes before we make a vote we can have that discussion at this time but can we make changes to it before we vote we can so we can go through you can make a recommendation for changes if the board agrees then we can vote on those changes and when we make the motion it's just either with or without those changes with this change without that change okay um that's what we'll do then um so uh let's go with uh page four number two um it says if board members plan to attend Community meetings um the superintendent's office should be notified um I think that this needs to clarify that this is District hosted meetings and events [Music] um because for me for instance I've been involved in the community for many years and things things that I do within within the community are not board business uh board related so um that's not something that I I need to you know go through you so um I think that we need to just clarify that that it should say District hosted meetings and events I I I hear what you're saying but the intent of this is if I'm going to attend a town of Gilbert council meeting um then it to let the superintendent know hey I'm I'm attending like if we've been invited to certain Community things as board members as board members you do not need to notify the superintendent's office if you're as a individual person attending some meeting if you're attending as a board member or on behalf of the district then that's when we would need to notify them right that's why I want clarification so it's not necessarily District hosted but we could use phrasing there because if if I'm attending my community HOA meeting I don't need to let Miss Richards know I'm attending my community HOA meeting so now if I'm attending my community ho HOA meeting because there's something being discussed regarding the school or on behalf of our district they invited board members because they wanted to get to know us something like that then we should let them know yes I'm attending this but those meetings are the ones that are coming through that the invitations we're getting through the district right so um right but that's why like it needs to specify that it's it's board related attend Community District hosted Community meetings as board members if the invitation is yeah if the board members are plan to if they plan to attend a community meeting as a board member the superintendent's office should be notified community meeting as a board member um and um District hosted meetings and events but not all those are district hosted right but I'm saying and in addition to we can I think the expectation is if the district's hosting it that we would be there or we would let let them know obviously okay okay but either way I mean if like I said if the district's hosting something then we're board members are um and I and I think I've shared um last time that um there was like I you guys are wanting to make sure like open meeting laws aren't violated that there's no more than three board members but there is information that I I think I've shared with Karen possibly that says um more than two board members can be somewhere um and as long as board business is not discussed that it's not an open meeting law violation um so I but we practice that when we attend events all the time District events yes not events um I think like the Chamber of Commerce Awards I believe is one thing we've all been at right but like for me like I go to City Council meetings like I I shouldn't have to disclose that I'm going to a city council meeting not if you're not going as a board member no and typically I mean because bottom line we're still community members we can right we can still go so it's this is primarily at at when we're attending as board members it has been the district's practice that if they know that there's going to be at least three to air on the site of caution that we post it just in case that anything were to come up because like I said we're all community members we're all involved in different things and if I see you somewhere I'm going to come and talk to you you know and so um if I if I see any of you guys hey how's it going what's up you know and we just don't want it to be misconstrued so any time that there's been a scheduled event that we're attending as board members it has been our P our practice to try and post that just to air on the side of caution got it I think to add to that board member ree we also can't control how public respond to us when we're there and so I think the benefit of doing that is again just doing everything we can to ensure that we stay [Music] compliant all right so for that one um board member Van Hook I want to make sure we have the exact language that you guys want there so Christine did you grab it yeah just after meeting yeah just add as a board member okay perfect thank you um and then there's um number 6A um board meeting packets and supporting documentation prior the meeting usually at least 5 days prior um I just want to I know we also discussed this but that going forward we are going to get the pack packages on Wednesday um um Vice President Van Hook Miss Richards for cabinet I know the reason we had talked about keeping it on Thursday before is to make sure that we can get some of the information that we are after in order to post I recognize we now have meetings on Tuesday so I guess my question is are we in the same position that we were prior to moving the meetings to Tuesday or because the meeting are on Tuesday now some of those things have shifted because I ultimately I'm I'm after a packet of information that we have rather than you know trickling in information kind of deal so I'm just asking how that impacts where we are at so bember way we are work working really hard to get it all together um meet with the board president go over the agenda and our goal is if the the following Tuesday the governing board meeting is scheduled to just send an email to you guys and let you know it's ready I think you do know that um Miss Zimmerman puts information in there if she can so we've missed the target a couple of times but you know it's been Thursday morning but we are working on it and it's a it's not a good excuse it's just we're going to keep trying you know and and if we are then like once you guys meet with Michelle and work on the agenda than anything else that's added afterwards um for instance this the solar agreement um I don't think it's fair to add it to the consent agenda I think it should be a separate item um especially the fact that it was just added yesterday um and all of a sudden it's part of consent to allow us the the ability to have a little more time to to review it um and also just for the purposes of transparency if we can put those items as an action item separate action item instead of part of consent I'd appreciate that um if the if that's what the board wishes we will do you understand what she's saying I do I'm just trying to um I guess I'm trying to understand the point of of making some of these changes I I think in terms of adding it as verbage so much as an informal practice right because part of me goes oh I'm not asking to change verbage I'm just just discussing that section what I'm what I'm trying to say is I think that request at least in my opinion in the way I would view it and I obviously there are other people here on the board is the situational right so we get our thing on Wednesday and something gets added on Friday you guys send us an email the second that happens I I don't think there's anything wrong with putting that in consent agenda considering it's a consent item a lot of times the things that you update is either specific numbers or the dates or those types of things and that still gives us time to request to pull it should we do that because that's already our practice as it is if a singular board member asks it to be pulled it gets pulled um so I I guess I'm hant to say this needs to be done for everything I think it is realistic to say especially considering our meetings start on Tuesday should we get a Monday change send an email out of saying this is going here does anybody want to pull it because it just got added today I think that's really realistic and that follows with the policies that we currently have because it may be something that you can go check in that email and go oh no I don't care like it's fine to be in consent agenda does that make sense so I feel like if it depends on the time frame with which we are given in order to do that seems realistic to me I don't feel like every change needs to be something because sometimes these are clerical errors that get updated or just normal business practices just to put it in something else um for me personally um for me personally I I would like for the sake of transparency to be able to have uh a lot of these things in consent get approved with one vote and and they're done um this specific situation uh was added after our deadline to be able to ask questions and get answers and so that removes our ability to be able to question something that's been now placed on consent so when something is added so late then we don't have the ability to ask questions on an item and we have to approve it without being able to get our questions answered so that is the reason why I'm asking that if it's something that is past the deadline for us to be able to get our questions submitted and answers back to us um then that item should not go into consent it should go into an action item on its own so that we have this ability to be able to ask questions about it board member or sorry Vice President Van Hook so it sounds like we're in agreement then that if our questions are due by Sunday end of day that would be any changes we add on Monday would that not I mean we're not getting any email notifications on Saturday and Sunday as it is that they have changed these things so if it's not on Thursday by end of business day not on Friday by end is business day I think it is realistic to say that Monday it gets put to to an action item I'm specifically saying the Monday I agree with you that that seems a realistic desire a change for Thursday or Friday feels less realistic to me because you still have time to ask your questions does that make sense yeah no I'm talking about adding something after our deadline to be able to ask questions so that would be Monday which is this situation this agreement was added yesterday and I asked that it be moved to consent can I clarify that though the agreement was added Friday morning for Sundial uh okay so and that's and that's another thing like if I'm done reviewing the agenda I assume everything's there and I don't have to go back because I I assume nothing's being added so it wasn't until Monday that we were told that there was changes made and then I so I think for just general practice if anything gets once you email us that our agenda is out there if anything gets added I can email sooner I usually call it out on the questions and answers but I can just email you sooner so once I send you on Wednesday hey it's ready to review if I change something I'll just email you right away just email us that something's and I won hold it till questions and answers I think that might solve the problem yeah because that's exactly what happened is I was done with all my stuff and then I didn't know changes happen till yesterday well I'll call them out sooner to you guys I guess my question then on where it goes I'm trying to understand why that matters from even using this as an example it was pulled and put as an action item we didn't have any questions and didn't talk about because then I I had time to review it last night right and if I did have questions I would have asked today sure but then at that point it dur if you haven't gotten just the same on any and consent if you haven't gotten the information you need will one pulling it from make a motion well pulling it from consent um if you don't feel we have enough time whether it's in consent or an action item if you don't have enough time to review it you don't have enough time to review it no matter where it's at on the agenda so um if you feel you haven't had enough time to review it then that needs to be a whole different conversation on if if it should be there or that you could make a motion that it come off and be tabled to the next one um right but it still requires a motion and potentially my I don't get a second and now I can't move something out of consent and I can't talk about it well and that that's the other thing is that um by because something's in consent doesn't mean we still can't ask a question right but it allows me so if now I've had the time to review it now it's a separate action item and if there's a concern now I have the ability to vote just on that one specific item let's say I didn't agree with this agreement now I have the ability to vote no on just that agreement instead of the entire consent you like yes and you could always make a motion to request that it be removed out of consent and then my my motion doesn't get seconded and then I can't move it I I don't I don't see why it wouldn't be seconded to move it's happened before to be clear in the past the second was for something different than this specific scenario I I think it is important to know that I agree with you and I think it is important that we have adequate time to be able to do things I think Miss Zimmerman's suggestion of emailing them as they happen gives us that opportunity but I'm talking about last minute items like this situation Miss Van Hook I hear you my point is if you make a motion and I recognize that there is frustration when some of these things don't happen considering the fact that the assumption is all of us have had the same amount of time and have the same information in front of us and if you second that you would like to move it because you have concerns with it and there is no other individual on the board who agrees as frustrating as that is that is the nature of having five individuals here to make that decision right so like I think it is important to say that during any consent agenda item if you have not requested previously to move it you can make that motion you can do those things I agree with board member Ree and that we have had opportunities to express it but again there are still other members here that if we don't agree with you and we wish to move on that is the nature of of a a democratic process but we as board members all have a right to request something to be moved to so I I think the the arguments is is is mute point because no I just I'm just saying I think it just depends the only purpose of this particular and again we go to this particular scenario because it's just happened the only purpose was changing ownership so I I mean the agreement would still stand the terms of the agreement nothing we didn't have the ability to change anything I hadn't even looked at it I understand I understand but knowing that the only thing we were voting on is because the company were contracted with their name changed I understand that after I looked at it but I hadn't looked at it when I said when I got the email that something had changed I immediately said can you please pull this off consent I haven't had a chance to look at it well and I think we can continue with that same practice I don't think that we need to have a blanket if something's add it it automatically goes into action I think if we look at it last minute is my concern right and and she's going to email us so now we'll know ahead of time and the email we got was like 4:30 5:00 I don't remember the exact time that the email came back we just talked about yeah we just talked about a general practice if something gets changed will email that something was changed or added I Vice President Van Hook I just want to clarify something for transparency the district has never denied us answering our questions we do have a deadline but they're always willing to answer our questions so I just wanted to be transparent that they're always even if it's last minute they're still willing to get back to us we don't have a deadline that we can't ask anymore just for the Public's knowledge no absolutely um it just that in this specific situation we got it last minute I hadn't had time to look at it so I wanted the ability to be able to review it knowing it's an agreement um and not knowing what the changes were I wanted the ability to be able to ask questions during the meeting instead of passing it through consent um and so all that all I'm asking is were notified as soon as changes are made and if it's added at the last minute that it be moved as a separate action item because we haven't had the ability or the time to be able to review and and get our questions answered as part of our Q&A so that's all um um on the um shared agreement um what page are you looking at I'm sorry page two and bullet point uh seven so this one um says board members and staff will maintain strict confidentiality in all matters discussed in executive session matters for which confidentiality has been granted by statutes federal or state regulations case law or policy including but not limited to students records and discipline um of individual students private uh Personnel information and privileged information that could cost the district money support or public confidence um it's obviously we we've had situations that have occurred um where information out of executive sessions has leaked um information has been shared um on social social media um based on things that have been said in executive session um and so uh that's definitely an issue [Music] um but at the same time I want to ensure that um we do handle matters in a in a transparent um way um before things escalate um other than obviously you know private U Personnel issues that can't uh be shared publicly due to you know laws um but I think just talking to to the community um you know their their biggest thing is is transparency and ensuring that um we are as transparent as we can be within the laws um and I I have um so what is your recommendation on this bullet point I just mainly making a statement um okay and not necessarily A Change gotcha sorry just reading through my notes here right that's it for that one um and then for number eight uh board members and superintendent will serve as ambassadors um for the district emphasizing the positive aspects of the district um I'm sorry where are we I just um want to make a statement in regards to that as far as board members um and superintendent serving as ambassadors um I think it's crucial to address negative issues um that occur within our district um and sometimes those negative issues unfortunately overshadow positives um and we must strive to improve our district as people in the community have serious concerns that are not being approp appropriately addressed parents have um are having to withdraw their students from certain classrooms because their concerns aren't being taken serious significant issues impact ing the learning environment should not be ignored I have repeatedly asked and requested that we remove politics and ideologies from our classroom but given but given um excuses as to why they can't also legal advice should prioritize student safety over political convenience and that has been extremely lacking with bad legal advice our administrator our Administration is receiving it is also challenging when community members Express the lack of faith in the district feeling that students are not prioritized such as repeated issues um with sexually explicit books um books related to race critical race Theory sexuality and many other obscene things Higley is not immune to this garbage unfortunately we are seeing it all over the country but we can change that instead of modeling districts like Scottdale uh we should be our own model for other districts um where we can prioritize the students well-being and um without the interference of politics and ideologies and I just I I don't know how else member hook I I I'm struggling to understand how this is pertinent to our specific Communications beyond that you're as it's happening right now you are making a political statement as you're talking about this policy so what I'm asking is how is this pertinent to something specific in the policy point of order um I am not making it political I'm asking that we stop because if we're supposed to be ambassadors for our district it's hard to sometimes do that when I as a board member I'm coming to the district and saying this is the concern for my constituents and their voices and their concerns are not being heard so I'm asking that if we are supposed to make these statements that oh all board members have to be ambassadors for the for the district then we need to ensure that we are doing what is best for our students I board member Van Hook again I I hear you and I appreciate the concern that you have for students in our community because I think it's something that all of us up here agree with and that's why we are here I recognize and understand that sometimes as things happen when we go through policies we are limited by these policies and that is frustration I guess where I'm failing to understand is what it means by ambass here is that as a board member when you go out and you do things you behave with the understanding that your behavior is reflective back on the board in those moments routinely we have constituents who come to us with concerns and expressions and being human persons our perspective on things may not be always what is reality and getting that information to figure out who the what the where the when and the process do matter and we have policies for that what I imag asking then is is there a proposed change or suggestion you have because while I get that you feel passionately about what it is that you just described it still is not pertinent to this specific agenda item that we are dealing with it absolutely is pertinent because of the statement that's written here I want to explain that if we are expected to be ambassadors for the district district and you know are we are we going to pretend that everything's always okay no can you define for me then what you mean by what is it that you take ambassador to mean in that sentence because I think where the difficulty is is maybe the way I Define that and the way you're defining that are two different things in this moment right because at the end of the day you are still a a free citizen who lives in this city who gets to decide how you feel about things and I think it is important that you can express yes I am frustrated with how some of these things get done absolutely I I I'm struggling to understand how what you're describing and the way the sentence is in terms of ambassador to me do not meet the same thing we are not saying you cannot be critical and in fact routinely every two weeks when we have board meetings we tend to be critical that's part of our job that's how we ask questions that's what we're doing so I'm struggling to understand how what you described an ambassador as it's meant in this policy if you could explain to me the way you take that to me [Music] right that I I feel that by this sentence it means that I have to be able to promote the district at all times times but at times it is difficult for me to be able to do that by expressing these concerns I think to be clear two things can be true at once I can say hickley is great and there are things that I'm upset with or frustrated or have concerns about I also think the way we have things which is why I said what I said at the beginning Fair ma'am what I'm trying to get at is right now I understand that you have concerns what I'm failing to understand is how those concerns would change what we are literally writing in there because nobody is telling you you cannot go and do certain things as a board member it is dangerous for you to make comments that directly undercut certain things that the boards board does or if we vote as Focus understanding it but obviously you can't comprehend the fact that by by what I'm reading this is how I feel about that sentence so it's it's not really a debatable issue I'm stating that based on this this is how I feel and so if I'm if I'm expected to be an ambassador for the district that which I am yes but there are major concerns which is why stated that some of sometimes the negative issues overshadow the good can a question then and if you're here to express how you feel which is great and I'm here for what is it that you suggest we do because then the way I take your statement just now as a point of clarification is you wish to express that you're frustrated with this situation great if that's the case then we can move on I I understand your frustrations I think every single person up here has experienced some of these frustrations and we've only been here for a short period of time right because I've had to make decisions or I've had to do things that ultimately are for the better of the district because that is my job in this role so my question to you then is your choice in making that statement do you wish to just make it or are you expecting us to engage with how we change this protocol going forward if it is merely an expression of you are frustrated by this circumstance great I understand that now and we can move on from it and you can go to your next point or are you trying to make a statement to change our protocols that's what I'm after the purpose of my statement is to ensure that we are doing everything possible to ensure that our students are not impacted their educational environment is not impacted so that we can be continue to be ambassadors and and promote our district and and then when we do that we don't have parents going uh no I'm pulling my kid no I I I don't like the district because of this and this um and then it it creates other issues so I'm literally just making a statement and I and I hope that we could look into fixing these issues to provide a better environment for our students and our families that we are here to support agreed and as as an ambassador we should be doing that we should be um representing the things that need to be fixed we should be bringing that to our superintendent's attention so as yes as an ambassador that is exactly what we should be doing we should be working to improve what we already have so it's not to say there's not things that need to be changed changed but as an ambassador we represent it all and that helps us be with our community and bring issues to the superintendent to be addressed for for the better of all of our students for sure that is all I was was trying to say here for sure um and then for um number 12 all communication um news media so um for this policy um this policy is specific to um all communication with news media so this is specific to um statements on behalf of the district um so I wanted to I wanted to make sure that um we clarify in there and it it does say providing official statement from the district um and it does reference that policy adding verbage to say on behalf of the district is what I was looking well underlined it says providing official statements from the district to me that reads that the district is giving the statement No that be if we're indicating we're providing an if we're saying Christina ree Higley school board memb says this like if I if it is coming across that I am making a statement on behalf of the district yeah I like the word instead of the word from to change that to um statements on behalf of the district and that would be fine point of clarification if if a news media Outlet contacts me because I'm a board member would not any response I give to them be on behalf of the district no I the reason I'm asking that and the reason I I say that is because if one of us gives an interview to a news Outlet on a specific agenda item we run the risk of getting into a very big gray area with respect to open meeting laws part of that especially if it's an item that has not been voted on one way or the other and you in your statement or I or whoever else give some indication of how they feel about a specific agenda item it is a gray area admittedly because these laws were written a while ago but we now run the risk of putting ourselves in a potential open meeting situation especially if multiple of us who are unaware of the other person already answering decide to do that unless I'm misunderstanding how open meeting thatall Works um I believe your misunderstanding because we as individual board members um um have uh the right to speak to the media on how we individually feel about something we cannot give statements on behalf of the district um but we can speak personally personally um that is our First Amendment right uh not only as individuals but also as elected officials um so the this specifically is related to providing a statement on behalf of the district which I would never do our board policy addresses this so for sure but for future if you make a statement on how you feel on a future a board agenda we specifically had lawyers twice Express this to us so if you are giving how you feel about a specific agenda item or an item that ends up becoming one you run the risk of opening yourself up to open meeting violations that is true yes that is true also if that was the case then an open meeting violation could be filed against that person yes correct that that is that is true that if you are making a statement to the media on something we haven't voted on and you're indicating things and that could potentially run into an open meeting violation Y and then that would be handled through the AG's office for sure and the other intent of this is um if you are providing a statement to Media it is asked that you share that with the board or with the superintendent as an informational so that the district is not caught off guard a statement was made VI president then and members of the board are we rewarding that or leaving it um I don't see a problem with changing on behalf of the district I would just like to clarify instead of saying from from the District onf of the district on behalf of the district um Vice President Van Hook and members of the board can I just point out also that that's a Verbatim from kdda policy bullet point 12 on the communications mirrors the governing board policy that is so we can change it in our protocols because it's not policy if we bottom line we're still Bound by policy so absolutely no thank you for pointing that out we can these are our protocols these are as board members what we agree to do um and at some point then policy kdda could come back for a a request for revision but thank you for pointing out that it's the exact thank you So Christine you have that right okay okay um have we addressed I think your changes uh I think that's it yes okay so so now make a motion um should I just need one one motion for both would I I'll go ahead and so I'll make a motion that we approve the communication protocols with the changes as discussed yep yes with with the changes as discussed yes um all in favor I I I I who seconded that who seconded that Amanda I just knew it came from down there all right so then our communication Protocols are agreed upon okay um I motion that the governing board approve the communication protocols as as amended that was to change it no that we approve them as With The Changes provided okay sorry I thought we had to make motion to make the change and then motion to no because we never had a motion to begin with so our motion included those changes got it okay yep we're all good um that's it all right that's all for Action items um we're on to um 8.1 future agenda items anything and then um moving on to 9.1 uh 2024 25 governing board initiatives no no all right um I motion to adjourn this meeting second all in favor I hi

Madame secretary roll call please sure um Mr Al Mr gigos M rup is here Mr swales here miss dumus here Dr Hall here president Brown here let us stand for our Pledge of Allegiance led by Mr seales with our mission state statement led by our board secretary yeah board secretary trust me no more I I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and our mission statement is to engage and Empower our students to positively impact their community and future thank you both we have any public comments know Electronics or do you have any vard updates um I do hold on I just wanted to point out some of the I have it written down some of the good things that are happening um in athletics they I know that um I always ask questions about what's going on they have a new weather system on the building that is supposed to be enhanced to keep our athletes safe and our students as a whole um I've been told that we have honest game in place to help with our students um and it's not just for student athletes it actually helps the entire school um so it's for the athletes as well as um the the student body when used um we have the creek Bulldogs if you pulled in they're out there um practicing on the on our grounds now try bridging that um I know Dr carab charged the athletic department with trying to bridge the gap with the communities U we we have a pretty good relationship with the up lions and now just rebuilding that that uh relationship with the creek Bulldogs um seems to be going well as they're out there practicing here on a regular basis so and then August 12th everything gets up running for High School athletics and I'm pretty excited about that and to see that we're making progress with this um Athletic Complex is exciting um I think sometimes people don't understand the importance of how Athletics is is a part of education and how it connects and how many people sitting here or teaching are actually teachers because of being part of Athletics and it's it'll be exciting to finally be able to host the track meet and play on a uh have one of the top football teams in the state play at a place that is suitable for the talent that we're putting out on the field and have our girls and our our softball and baseball our girls and boys on campus um having our tennis courts updated turning into something that the community can use as well so it's just really exciting and I think it's unfortunate that people miss the mark with that understanding that how many many students actually come to school because they're a part of something and and it is a part of the the overall educational process so I'm excited about the hard work that you all um put in um directly and indirectly so thank you that's it thank you Dr Hall on that and it's just kind of fitting that the topic came up during this time of the Olympics and they have shown on a lot of those Olympic participants for the Us and other countries as well I've seen where they have showed the Journey of them being kids through school through college and now being where they are now so it definitely have a impact on learning in many ways Sports is a a component of learning in and of itself so thank you and thank the board for driving the process of having a new sports complex soon to be here on these grounds here on the high school thank you anybody else any further public comments okay so we do have under 5A Alpha board updates our Title Nine board training tell yes um as I had in uh informed the board in my newsletter uh there is some mandated board training that needs to be done uh and our attorney group is here tonight to do that for us it is on Title Nine and uh it um this training then will enable you to participate in any hearings subsequent hearings that might result from some of these cases so I'm going to turn this over to you to introduce yourself thank you so my name is Mary Roco I work with pakka gleon who's the firm that works uh with the district um and we've been invited here tonight to do the title 9 training um my colleague Eric gry I was supposed to come as well but he wasn't feeling well so it's just me tonight um but I'm happy to give the training um so I have a presentation it's a lot of information um but it it's an overview of all of title 9 the law has just changed as of August 1st so there's a lot of new information um that you may not be aware of um and so I think it's important to kind of know what the new law is what the new expectations are there are some injunctions in different states uh that have been filed on behalf of the different states but Illinois is not affected by that injunction so you may be hearing other states not following the new uh August 1st 2024 rules but as of now there's nothing pending in Illinois that prevents us from following the rules and so we're just going to follow the new rules that they are until further notice um okay so this is Title 9 uh okay so what is Title 9 so Title 9 perfect okay thank you so Title 9 this is where it comes from right from the statute it deals with a sexual harassment and it it says no person in the US on the basis of sex shall be excluded from participation in be denied any of the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance so this is straight from the statute this is where it comes from and how it applies to schools um and so it's enforced through either the off the office of civil rights which is under the the US Department of Education where um people can complaints saying the district is not following the rules of Title 9 UM and then a complaint gets filed with the office of civil rights and they'll do an investigation to see what what's going on with the district and whether they're complying with the rules or people can file a federal complaint uh in federal court um and bring a lawsuit against the district for moniti damages so that's why it's important to follow and make sure we're doing what we need to be doing under the law um and so as a district you have a lot of responsibilities under Title 9 um one of them is to adopt a non-discrimination policy statement that identifies a title 9 Court Ator district coordinator which you guys have I don't know who it is off hand but Okay so we've identified the district coordinator so that you guys have done that um you have to adopt and Implement procedures for receiving and responding to reports of complaints of sex-based harassment which you guys also have a policy um you might want to change it a little bit um a new press policy release has come out recently in the last uh month um what's nice about the new uh Title 9 rules is that there's not a separate grievance process anymore for Title 9 under the new rules you can do it all under that uniform grievance process so if a complaint comes in for sex based harassment or sexual harassment you can just follow your regular grievance procedures and don't have to follow these special title n grievance procedures which is good yep are SE and gender defined the same here uh there's two different there's two different uh definitions right now there's two sexual sexual harassment and there's gender-based harassment um and so that's why you see that new term sex-based harassment the new rules and I'm going to go through the definition of it and how to recognize it um but the new rules it's a new term that you guys will have to get used to right because you're used to saying sexual harassment it's now a broader term that encompasses a lot more so when you're going to say sex-based harassment when we talk about Title 9 UM and then you guys have a grievance process to address complaints and then all of course all the various notice Rec recordkeeping and training requirements for title n okay so when you get a complaint of uh sexual harassment or sex-based harassment there's going to be two parties they're there's going to be the complainant and the respondant so the complainant is the person who is the alleged victim of the conduct that constit constitute that sex-based harassment and the respondent is the person who is reported to be the perpetrator of the conduct that is the sex based harassment so it's important to remember who the two parties are when we're dealing with title N9 complaints um and so you guys have a formal grievance process to investigate and resolve any complaints of sex-based harassment and then um any complaint is able is enabled to be investigated through the grievance process which which is a change from the rules uh from 2020 under 2020 it was only formal complaints that were gone through the grievance process now it's any complaint it kind of has done away with this formal complaint um as Title 9 was before August 1st you would get a formal complaint that was signed by the complainant um and they would write out the allegations write it down and then you would they would say Okay I want to go through the grievance process the formal complaint is now gone any complaint that comes in should be investigated and we'll kind of get into that a little bit but what's nice about the new rules is that it allows for a lot of more of that informal resolution so a lot of hopefully a lot of the complaints can be resolved informally rather than going through that full investigation okay so um we have the grievance process you have remember to treat everybody uh equally you want to look at the sex based harassment um and that everybody has an equal opportunity in the process for investigation and decision um and so the process is going to have an investigation a determination of responsibility a basis for appeal um based on the objective evaluation of the evidence um and then there's going to be reasonable time prompt time frames for inclusion so there's no exact amount of days that you need to comply with stuff the new regs just allow for reasonably prompt time frames so that just means under the old RS I think it was 10 days the new regs don't give you those exact time frames but don't take 60 days to complete your investigation or come to a conclusion you want to me make sure everything you're doing is reasonably and that you're getting it done as prompt as possible um so the first thing you're going to do when you get the report is meet with the complainant provide them supportive measures um and then you're going to offer them either an informal resolution or if they choose not to go that route you're going to go through the grievance process and when you go through the grievance and I'm going to go through each of these in details this is just a general overview right now the grievance process will be your investigation your determination responsibility and then a possible appeal okay so what's the standard that we're looking at when we're talking about sexual harassment and sex-based harassment so it's whether the district has actual knowledge this also changed a little bit of the title 9 sexual harassment or discrimination against an individual in the United States in an education program or activity of the district you have to respond promptly in a way that's not deliberately indifferent and so what this I'm going to go through each of those to kind of like break it down for you but what it means is that if a school has knowledge and it occurs somewhere where the district is in control of of the students or is able to I like to look at the standard of if you can in uh issue discipline procedures for the students uh then you should be looking at whether sex based harassment occurred so if something occurs off campus whether it's through social media and it comes into the school and it's impeding uh the education that's could fall under Title 9 um and so you need to take steps to prevent and remedy the sex based harassment and now sex based harassment falls into two categories under the new rules there's sexual harassment which is really has not changed much under the new rules that's the way we all look at it the sex the sexual harassment including sexual violence but then we're also looking at gender based harassment as well now under the new rules which broadens it a lot and a lot of protections for for more people okay so what would be considered a education program of the district so really it's anywhere that the district has control right so locations events or circumstances where the district can exercise control over both the respondent and the where the context of the sex based harassment occurs this includes off-campus events um and so the new rules this is a slight change I don't know how relevant this will be to districts but in the old rules if it occurred outside the United States it wasn't uh falling under Title 9 under the new rules even if it occurs outside the United States if the district has control over it then it'll fall under Title 9 I think that really only applies maybe on like those foreign language field trips if students go you know on a foreign language field trip that's sponsored by the district and something happens you would be entitled to to investigate that okay so what is sex based harassment now I've kind of thrown that term out so sex based harassment is when uh someone is subject to unwelcome conduct of a demeaning nature um and because of a par person's sex or characteristic that is generally imputed to the person of that sex so these two different forms right you have sexual harassment including sexual violence or gender-based harassment all right so Title 9 defines each of those um so sex sexual harassment is unwanted sexual behavior advances or requests for favors unwelcome verbal visual or physical sexual conduct offensive severe Andor frequent remarks about a person's sex and then harassment of a sexual nature which interferes with an individual's rights to education and participation in a program or activity so that last statement is also a big change in the law as well the old rule rules were um that denies them equal access to the education or program here it's that it denies them participation in the education program or access so it's a little bit different and it's it's more individualized so you're not looking at Equity you're looking at are they able to participate in the education program okay so this these are different types of sexual harassment right you have an employee who's discussing their sex life actual or attempted a sexual assault unwelcome touching suggestive comments or J jokes intrusive questions about someone's private life or physical appearance being followed or watched now that's like kind of stalking with stalking you want to make sure that there is some sort of sex-based component to it you know if there is some stocking that could not fall under under Title 9 so you want to make sure that that you make that connection um with Title 9 if you're looking at Title 9 stalking under under Title 9 UM excluding a person from training promotions or opportunities based on their sex or gender unwanted invitations for dates uh and then sharing sexually offensive pictures or AI generated deep fakes and then we also talk about sexual violence um these are are standard they're under you know the criminal statute as well but they lay them out in Title 9 so it would be that sexual abuse or battery unwanted sexual conduct that shop stop short of rape or completed rape force or manipulation unwanted sexual activity physical acts where person's incapable of giving consent or it's against a person's will so these examples would be sexual assault rape inappropriate touching phys physical aggressive sexual advances um and then you also want to look at kind of that quid proquo sexual harassment um and this is usually uh usually it's a school employee to a student or another employee and it's very broad um it can be implied it can be a single instance there's no requirement of intent when you look at at this kind of sexual harassment it's usually something for something right you come sit on my lap and I'll give you a good grade is a very basic example of that but that's kind of what we're talking about when we do quid pro sexual harassment um and so you when that happens um you're not looking at intent you're not looking at the severity you're just looking at unwelcome conduct and whether they're asking them to do something for something else kind of like a power base between the two parties all right so this is the new broader term of gender-based harassment that was not under the old rules so gender-based harassment is unwelcome conduct based on a student's sex harassing conduct based on a student's failure to conform to sex stereotypes so um this would be kind of like making gender related comments about a person's appearing appearance or mannerisms um bullying someone using gender related com cond comments or conducts treating a person badly because they don't fit a stereotypic gender role so this allows for a lot of protections also for that lgbtq Community as well um and so you're going to want to Encompass that and think about Title 9 when you're when you're looking at things of that nature that come up in in your your District um and so gender discrimination is also defined in Title 9 um so again it talks about discri discrimination or harassment based on one's gender so it could be um you know even females who are pregnant um that's a big big protection as well so um if someone's making comments about someone being pregnant that may fall under title n if someone makes a complaint about it um unfair treatment or attitudes towards an individual based on their gender gender identity discrimination sexist attitudes sex stereotyping um and then there's some examples right gender based bullying derogatory or sexist remarks gender discrimination activities Athletics programs the office or classrooms so I you know with this new broader definition I think you're going to see a lot more complaints come in um and I think that's a concern that a lot of districts have and again we'll talk a little bit more about how we can we can move these cases towards informal resolutions so we're not bogged down with this full grievance process of all these claims if they start coming in because there's this has broaden the definition a lot I think for school districts but um I also think it's streamlined the process so I wouldn't be scared that you're going to get a million complaints coming and you have to do 50 million grievance procedures and investigations hopefully we can move forward and get everything resolved as informally as possible um so some T some types of sex based harassment asking intrusive personal questions about a person's sex making inappropriate comments or jokes based on their sex um displaying images or materials that are sexist or misogynistic unwanted expressive attention through phone calls emails letters gifts using language that's offensive um you know calling someone a slud a a stud um or continually making offensive comments about women in general okay so not only do you want to um um look at what what's the conduct that's occurring but it also has to create this hostile environment right so you have the sex based harassment occurring and then you're looking at is this cre creating a hostile environment for the complainant right is the respondent doing the sex based harassment creating a hostile environment to make the complaintant uncomfortable um and so Title 9 defines the hostile environment right because you want to look not only is it occurring but is it is it impeding that person from participating in the educational environment in a hostile environment um and so you want to look at the the nature of what occurred is it creating an adverse setting is it uh creating an intimidating or offensive conduct or environment so the person is fearful um is it limiting or interfering their ability to participate in or benefit from a program activity or job so that last bullet point is really the main point you're looking at when you're talking about how hostile environment right is it impeding their ability to to participate in the school environment or the district environment whatever that conduct is it has to be impeding their ability to participate so some examples of that would be this bullying abusive intimidating comments offensive comments uh that conditions of a person's work classroom or program environment continual offensive comments uh discriminatory nature sexual nature um again when you're talking about sex-based harassment you don't have to look at their intent you're looking at the totality of the circumstances right the expectations of the people uh who are are uh complaining about it or their relationship the location the frequency the gravity of the conduct so you know when when a complaint comes in you want to ask yourself all these qu things right if it's a one-off comment it may be sex based harassment it may require an investigation but you just want to look at the totality of the circumstances were they joking around what did the person apologize and you know this was not something that that's ongoing and causing them not to be able to come to school or not be able to come to work so these are all things you want to ask when you're looking at these complaints and then you want to when you're talking about the hostile environment and what happened you're looking at it from the reasonable person standard it's subjectively offensive right so someone may come in and make a complaint and say that they were offended you want to ask yourself if I was standing in that person's shoes would I reasonably be offended as well right because everybody has different perspectives about what's happening and what's going on so when when a complainant comes in you want to take a step back and say is this person reasonably offended by what the person said or did they just meet misread what was happen what happened and can we handle this another way but it's a reasonable person standing in the shoes of the complainant um again it's very fact specific you want to look at the circumstances the incidents the parties involved um and you know different people are going to come to different conclusions um and so there's also a severity uh component to this as well not to say that a one-time incident may not um doesn't have to be severe because it can but you want to look at the severity of the incident and what's going on right you look at the age the disability the sex the characteristics of the people complaining um and this is an important part to make it's it's not up to the complainant to to to prove the severity of the conduct right it's the school makes that determination right so the complainant comes in and they complain they tell you what happened it's up to the school to say this I think this was severe or this was not severe um and so you have to make that determination again from that reasonable person standard um and then the other standard that it's severe and pervasive are the two kind of standards that go together um so something could be maybe not severe but if it happens over and over over again then it's pervasive and it still warrants that that you know a second look into it what's going on and maybe a a closer look at what's happening with those sex based complaints right um and so maybe a single incident comes in uh and this comes up a lot I think maybe with with School Employees you have someone come in and complain about a school employee it's a one incident but if it's happening you know over a course of six months or several years that may cause you to say okay this is starting to look pervasive we've had three complaints now in the course of two years maybe we should look into this and do an investigation as as to Title 9 so you want to make sure you're looking at a pattern of harassment and so this is really important I think when you're looking at that record keeping that you guys are doing as a district um because if if something happens in say one year of employment and then it happens again in year three of employment you may not know or you may not have a record or the person who's doing the investigation May no longer have been here and so you want to make sure you're keeping a record because you want to know every time something comes in so you can start to see those patterns especially with students to too right students who come in as freshman year may have one complaint freshman year one junior year and then one senior year now by the third complaint if you don't have good record keeping of it you may not have a record and no and OCR is going to look at that and say it doesn't matter that you guys didn't keep Good Records you should have been on notice that these three times have happened and so therefore we're going to impute you know some sanctions against you for not following through all right so what's unwelcome conduct right it's without the consent of the victim it's subjective um the complainant doesn't want to participate that's pretty much what it's unwelcome because they're not participating um and again you want to look at the age the ability of them to participate um and the different cultures of the different people okay so here's some hypotheticals that we can kind of talk about just to give you an idea of how this all plays out in practice right so the first hypothetical is a student who's spreading rumors of a sexual nature through emails texts and social media about a classmate over a number of weeks so this this would likely be sex based harassment but there's some things you want to know right how is it affecting the students in school right if it's just occurring off campus and it's not impeding their ability to come to school they're still getting good grades they're not afraid to come to school maybe it's not you know in part of the district's environment and maybe it's not impeding their ability to come to school but you know that that stuff flows into the school into the schools and the districts as you guys well know especially with the discipline Arena social media is is a beast of its own in terms of of how districts handle it so um you know this would this would I think fall under under the District of the duty to investigate at least what's going going on um okay another hypothetical through throughout football season a team member makes sexual advances towards another team member and that player quits the team so pretty straightforward right that would be something that would fall under sex based harassment what about a female teacher is complimenting a male student on his new haircut someone comes in and complain maybe not right they come in you would might say okay what's going on I need a little bit more information what if that teacher compliments only that student and it does daily now maybe you start to see a pattern going on right um and then also like if the teacher had been a uh subject of a prior sex based harassment complaint by another student in another year so that's why that recordkeeping is very important right those are things that you would want to know when someone comes in um okay so a male teacher sends female student text messages and buys her gifts for her that her parents believe are inappropriately expensive maybe right depends on what what's going on now the other thing to remember too I'm talking about this in terms of Title 9 so some of these things may fall under some of your other board policies and procedures um so there's nothing preventing you if someone comes in with something like this and you say well you know what this is not Title 9 but we're going to investigate under you know our school employee code or even discipline code or bullying code um and so you want to keep that in mind too um because a lot of these things may fall under under some of your other board policies and procedures um but I'm talking about in terms of Title 9 so this may or may not fall under Title 9 um I think you'd have to look into what's going on and it's definitely inappropriate that they're buying gifts um you know so you want to see what what they're saying how the person's feeling are they of a sexual nature is did the did the student not want those gifts was it unwelcome um all of those things but that doesn't mean that they can't be uh sanctioned in other ways uh through some of your other policies um an attempt to ostracize a perceived rival a girl starts a rumor that another girl is sexually promiscuous and perform sex acts on boys behind the school so this would fall under the new the new regul um I don't believe this is something that would have fall under the old regs from 2020 but this definitely falls under those new uh August 1st 2024 rule so you should be investigating this under Title 9 as well and then this is the last hypothetical you have a a male student in grade nine has many female friends more interested in the Arts than Athletics is repeatedly called quote F homo queer by a group of boys in the school so this would now fall under Title 9 UM and you you have a duty to investigate this under Title 9 you may also do you may do a separate bullying investigation too because to me this would also fall under bullying um so you may have two separate kind of ongoing like parallel investigations going on in terms of bullying and title n and you can even do them at the same time and make different conclusions but you should definitely be looking at Title 9 when it comes to this kind of hypothetical all right so when is a district on notice they've changed kind of the standard of this is really important I think for districts too um what is that of conduct that reasonably constitutes sex-based harassment so under the the regs from 2020 the knowledge of sexual harassment did not occur until the district coordinator got that formal complaint in their hands and was made aware of the sex Bas harassment now knowledge is imputed on the district when any employee gets information about anything that's happening up somewhere within your District about sex based harassment so this could be your your school bus drivers your cafeteria workers your you know custodians teachers even students anybody really who works within the district or within the district so I think it's really important that we have to train our staff to know what to look for and who where to go and how to tell people to report these complaints because the last thing you want to do is have um someone say you know they had knowledge of it they heard it so and so heard it and they didn't do anything about it they didn't tell anybody and maybe it didn't get to the district coordinator maybe it didn't get to the administration but you're still on notice that it's going on in your District so that's just something to really keep in mind um under the new regs they they have two different uh types of employees they have your confidential and your non-confidential employees so those non-confidential employees is pretty much everybody right that's going to be all those people I just mentioned the school bus drivers the the cafeteria workers everybody the confidential employees are those people that are protected under statutes um so that's like your social workers your school psychologists they have they don't have to disclose stuff um when they're talking to students in that kind of therapeutic relationship um and so this is just for notice of a district so if a student goes to say a social worker who um and says you know this happened to me uh I feel I was sexually harassed by a teacher you're not on notice for that title 9 uh investigation or that title n grievance because the the confidential employee has an information the duty of the confidential employee is just to inform the person who's telling them how to remake a report so they can how to make report that incident to someone within the district whether it be the district coordinator or administrator and so while they may have other duties under say the DCFS statutes and those kind of reporting duties under Title 9 just because the your confidential employee knows something is happening that doesn't mean the district knows about it that's kind of what this says um it doesn't really change any any of their responsibilities otherwise um so again examples of reasonable knowledge that a district would know when they personally hear or see something they receive a verbal or written report multiple reports together um or a you know a complaint is filed through the grievance process so any person can report sex based harassment it doesn't have to be the complaintant or the victim right any person could say I heard so and so say this to to my friend they may not be the person who who was being sexually harassed but if they make a report then you you have a duty to investigate that um again it could be at any time it could be by telephone mail email however they want to report it once you get that information you're on notice that it's happening um again so this this replaces that actual knowledge that's from 2020 and then it's important to keep in mind all these confidentiality rules for student records as well when you're dealing with these Title 9 uh investigations uh even though the complaints come in you still want to keep in mind you you should not be talking about this with other people in the district unless they need to know you should not be giving out names to other people unless they need to know so you want to keep all of that student confidentiality uh as much as possible uh when you're deal de with these issues and then under the title n RS now um it's always retaliation has always been prohibited but they really Define it now and they really let you know um what it means to retaliate against someone for title n investigations and so you know you guys have this in your policy the retaliation is prohibited but no District or other person can intimidate intimidate threaten coerce or discriminate against any person for the purpose of interfering with their title n rights um and they identifi they Define retaliation under the new RS you know a strike back in response to another person's act action or accusation Revenge because they filed a complaint against a person refusal to promote or Advance a person uh due to a complaint filed and so if you find that there is retaliation going on I I believe your agreement process has it most schools do um they can then be disciplined at that point for retaliation um if you find that they're they're doing something for retaliation purposes so again examples of of retaliation demotion firing unfair treatment uh due to the complaint being filed and so what is deliberate indifference so deliberate indifference this is where a lot of districts get in trouble and where most I believe most of your lawsuits are going to come if from failure to investigate Title 9 or follow follow your procedures and processes right so most complaints that come in that I've seen come into OCR will say I complained about sexual harassment or or now sex-based harassment going on I told so and so they didn't do anything they didn't investigate they didn't tell me what was going on they took 90 days or I told them and nothing happened and that's kind of where you get that deliberate indifference and that's most majority of the complaints and so you want to make sure as a district you're not acting deliberately indifferent um and so deliberately deliberate indifference is if the response to the allegation of sex-based harassment is clearly unreasonable in light of the circumstances known um so clearly this comes from the courts so clearly unreasonable is not defined in the regulations but the way you can avoid this this appearance of deliberate indifference is by treating both complaintants and respondents equ right so you want to make sure that you give them both an opportunity to be heard that you are looking at in terms of your investigation both sides all the W the witnesses that they present and any opportunity that you give to the respondent you give to the complainant um and that also when the complainant comes in the first thing you should be doing is offering them those supportive measures which I'll get into in a little bit about what supportive measures are but when the complaintant comes in as a district you have to offer them some support so they'll come in they'll make a complaint and the first thing you say is what can we do to help you what would make you feel safe in this environment while we while this investigation is ongoing so that could be a you know whatever you guys come up with but usually it's like Counseling Services Social Work Services change in classroom um you know maybe an escort between classes if that's available um and so you want to make sure that's the first thing you're doing because that shows you're not being deliberately indifferent right you're showing you're acting appropriately you're offering them something while you're doing the investigation and then you're treating both the complaintant and the respondent equally the other way you can get in trouble in terms of deliberate indifference is if you discipline a respond it before your investigation is completed you cannot issue any discipline or sanctions before you complete your outcome and make a final determination of a title n grievance so that what does that mean that means you can't issue discipline such as suspensions or expulsions you can't um put put someone on extended administrative leave without pay you could put them on leave but make you better make sure that it's with pay while you're doing your investigation because otherwise it can be seen as a sanction or a discipline before you have a final outcome of what happened okay all right so let's talk a little bit about these supportive measures so supportive measures they they must be offered to the complainant they may be offered to the respondent right so like I just said when the complainant comes in the first thing you're going to do is offer them supportive measures um and you're going you're going to let them know um that these are these are confidential to the extent they can be um it's the responsibility of the title 9 coordinator to uh coordinate the implementation of the supportive measures um and that they will be ongoing and continuous until the investigation is over again they don't they don't Define all the different supportive measures it's like under the circumstances what's reasonable now what may happen is a complainant may come in and say this is what I think would make me feel safe and supported in the school environment if that that offer of a supportive measure by the complainant is unreasonably burdensome on the school district you do not have to provide it you just have to say why it's unreasonably burdensome right so it might be really burn some on the district to have someone follow a student around for the entire school day right from start to finish because you just don't have the staff and and the capacity to do that so you just need to make sure that you document the complaintant asked for this and we denied it because it was unreasonably Burns and we don't have the capacity to offer that do you have any questions or no no okay so that's just something yeah just something to keep in mind um you know if if something just is not feasible for the district because it's just unreasonably burdensome you don't have to be providing it you can provide something else and here's some examples of some supportive measures counseling extension of deadlines modification of work or class schedules uh leave of absence for an employee make sure it's paid increase security monitoring and and whatever other similar measures um they should be age appropriate you know use common sense and good judgment consider the needs of the parties so again these are not supportive measures expulsion termination of employment um you can do do those after the grievance process is played out and the and even the appeal is is final then you can you can put in whatever remedies or discipline uh as a result of your entire investigation but before then you should not be doing that um the other thing uh I don't why that slides that there but there can be a removal of a student for as a supportive measure um what if you're going to remove a student as a supportive measure uh it's usually under like a safety plan because the continuation of that student based on the complaint probably is is creates a either real uh safety issue in the school environment um if that's something that you guys are considering um it doesn't eliminate their rights under you know Senate Bill 100 or or to have a hearing on the issue so the hearing would basically said this is a complaint that came in we feel why you feel it would be dangerous for them to remain in the school environment and then they have a chance to come and say why they don't think that's true um but it's not a suspension and it's not an expulsion it's not under the discipline it would just be kind of an emergency removal under kind of a safety plan while the investigation is ongoing okay so this part of the training this impartiality training um talks about prejudgment and bias um this is the part of the training that will entitle you guys to partake in all of the title n investigations as a board um especially if you're handling appeals so you want to make sure that you know how to be impartial not have prejudgment not have bias so we're going to go over that that role that you would play as a board um you know because when you're making these decisions you want to make sure that you're impartial impartial not prejudgment and and kind of know what your biases are um if you were ever to come you know and have to make a decision a final decision on any of these matters um and so these are the different roles that people can play in terms of the the Title Nine investigation you have your coordinator your investigator your decision maker your appeal decision maker and your informal resolution facilitator most likely as a board you will be partaking in the appeal of the decision maker um but you could probably you could play role as a decision maker you know in some in some instances but I would say mo the focus probably is on appe peal decision maker in terms of the board of education so what does it mean to be impartial um being impartial means avoiding prejudgment of the facts that issue avoiding any conflicts of interest and avoiding any bias um so bias could be for against complaintants or respondents generally or it could be for against any of the parties specific to the case that's before you um prejudgment of the facts that issue so what is prejudgment prejudgment means prematurely without sufficient analysis or investigation making a judgment right you see the complaintant before you they want to appeal you're reading the complaint and just the allegations and now you've made a decision without even looking at the full investigation or hearing what everybody has to say or reading whatever information is before you um so you you want to avoid assuming something happened based on your own PR preconceived beliefs so this should be you know your belief that se sex stereotyping that males are sexually aggressive and women regret their sexual behavior um that most harassment claims are baseless that the respondant is responsible because of rumors you may have heard about that respondant whether it's employee or student um assuming that because someone doesn't remember what happened um they because they were consuming alcohol at the time that that they're just not credible because of that or uh disbelieving someone because they don't remember every detail of something that happened in order so this is a little hypothetical about prejudgment so you have an investigator they make comments about how female students dress inappropriately and asked for attention from male students and staff the female student alleged sex based harassment was wearing a short skirt during the incident issue does this investigator seem impartial I would say yes so you want to make sure that you're not presenting yourself as impartial so what I will say about appeals which may come before the board a lot of the appeals say there the decision maker wasn't wasn't impartial they you know prejudged the facts or they had conflict of interest and didn't recuse themselves so I think it's also important to keep this in mind too when you're looking at appeals that come before the board and you're reading your investigations you're kind of looking to see well is were they prejudgment did were they biased did it show or did they go just off the facts that are presented um so make sure you want to keep an open mind you want to hear all the facts you don't want to assume stuff try to avoid your gut reactions um you want to seek out more information right so when you're looking at those investigations to determine if uh there was prejudgment or they're biased did the person stop investigating once they heard the information they wanted to hear or did they hear everything and then come to their conclusion right did they hear everything from the complaintant said I'll talk to the respondent but I don't need to talk to any other Witnesses and make a make a a judgment on what happened without hearing all the information um with conflict of interest um this is when a person's private interest might affect or compromise his or her actions decisions or judgments and there's three different types of conflicts of interest there's actual conflict potential conflict and perceived conflict so an actual conflict is you know they actually interfere with the participants ability to act impartially what kind of relationship do you have with the parties and your duties a potential conflict is it could interfere with a person's ability to act impartially um but it may not necessarily but it it could and then perceived is there may not be a a actual conflict but because of the relationship between everybody it could be perceived as one so here are some examples right you're if you're invest the investigator or board member is related to the complainant then you may have a conflict interest and you may have to recuse yourself from participating in that in that investigation or appeal um if you have an outside business relationship with a respondent again this may be a conflict of interest um if you're close family friends or or maybe you are you know in the same ba baseball team as some of the people who are coming before you with the with the title nine you may want to rec reuse yourself just because it's a potential conflict of interest and may give that appearance of one um so when a conflict of interest when does that disqualify a person from partaking in this grievance process right it's a re again reasonable person standard the law likes to use this reasonable person um what a reasonable person believe based on the facts that issue that the participant's personal interest uh prevents them from acting impartially right how do you think people will react to your participation how would you react to to your participation if someone had the same conflict so just kind of keep that in mind if it were to come up it's better to recuse yourself and say I'm not going to part I'm not going to participate in this part or somebody should take this over um if there's any sort of conflict of interest because it just you'll just avoid trouble down the line all right so what's bias so bias is favorable or unfavorable inclination or perceived opinion it could be General it could be specific you could be bi biased against a particular complaintant or respondent um or you could be just have a general you know I don't like complainants when they make sex based harassment claims they all they all are just terrible people um you know so you want to kind of it's really hard to prove that someone has a bias but you want to kind of just keep that check right you know it could be very implicit so when you're you're looking at these these cases and the facts and what comes before you you know just make sure that you you know what you're thinking right like think about your attitudes and beliefs and stereotypes it may be unconscious um but you just want to be cognizant of what you're thinking and feeling and why you're thinking and feeling and so a way to combat this is make sure you're listening to all the opinions of everybody um and that any outcome that you make is based on the facts right any any decision you make there's facts to back it up based whatever is in the investigation report whatever in the appeal before you um are you making this based on the facts presented for you and not some some bias that you may have unconsciously um again so for General bias maybe you had a sibling that was accused of sex based harassment and now you kind of think that most complainants make things up um specific bias maybe you had given uh the employee a bad evaluation or they had been before the board before and you kind of know their behavior you want to make sure that you're not showing that bias um or or making your decision based on bias and then of course you want to be impartial right so that just means each party has the opportunity to present evidence so this is where a lot of the appeals come to they say they they didn't listen to everything they didn't look at all the evidence and so when you're looking at whether something was done impartially did both sides have an equal opportunity to present all the information um was the respondent treated innocent until the until the actual decision was made um and it's important to remember the district is not an advocate for either side the role of the district is to make a decision about the complaint whether or not it falls under Title 9 so you're not advocating for the complaintant you're not advocating for the respondent um you may like one more than the other but that's not your role Your Role is to come to a conclusion about about whether it happened um and then what remedies or discipline can be imposed if it happened or if it should be dismissed because you couldn't come to a conclusion okay so informal resolution is hopefully how this is all going to play out before it even gets to the board for appeal but the regulations now allow for informal resolution of almost all complaints unless it's a student employee complaint if if there's a complaint that involves a student and employee it has to go through the grievance process you can't do in formal resolution and that's that's kind of obvious right why they wrote it that way there's a power struggle um there's there's an interest in in the district kind of you know making those full investigation of those kind of complaints that come that come but if you have student to student complaints employee employee complaints all those complaints now can be done informally um so informal resolution is kind of like mediation what you're going to have you have a person who is the informal uh moderator that could be anybody who's done this training um I know a lot of the Administration staff has done some of the training as well um and so they sit down with the two parties and they kind of come up with with what the parties agree to to resolve the complaint so that there's not a full investigation that happens it can happen at any point in the in this process um before the decision is made right so if if they say no we don't want to do informal resolution and you start the investigation and then they say we'd like to do informal resolution you can stop your investigation and do the informal resolution um what's nice about the informal resolution you don't have to start the investigation process until they've denied the informal resolution right um they can't be forced to do the informal resolution but you have to offer it to them and you can kind of kind of say you know it's a chance for you guys to sit down together and come up with what whatever you agree to um and so then you're not bogged down with this investigation and the decision and all the other things that come with that um so it's in L with the formal grievance process uh okay so you're required to give notice uh okay so here's here's the role the title 9 coordinator just so the the board know kind of knows what their role is um so one person has to be uh designated as the title 9 coordinator um the board has to let everybody know parents students employees unions who that person is write their name title address email telephone number that's in your board policies I think it's in the handbooks so you guys have have done that um but all that information has to be displayed in uh for everybody to see on the district's website the handbooks uh and anybody an applicant for employe employment you say we have done that yes it is in your handbook I believe is it so yeah so you guys are good on that in the stud handbook okay yeah um but you might you know you can double check but as far as I know you guys are complying with that everybody knows knows who it is it's the role of the district coordinator to oversee um they don't have to do the investigation and the decision- making um but they kind of you know delegate down who's going to investigate the complaints who's going to make the decision um and then the appeal process um so a dis a complaint of Title 9 must be dismissed um and so if the allegation is not constitute sex based harassment so we kind of talked about a little bit sometimes there may be a parent may come in and say this happened um maybe it's not sex based harassment maybe it's just bullying so if they come in and say I have this title n complaint and they are telling you that it's sex based harassment and you're like okay that doesn't fall under there um then you can dismiss the complaint um but you want to give them notice we're dismissing this on tit on line we're going to investigate under bullying or if you just think there's nothing to investigate you want to make sure you just tell them we're just missing this because it doesn't constitute sex based harassment under the statute and the definitions and therefore we're not going to proceed but you want to give them notice this is where that deliberate indifference comes in too if you're dismissing a complaint for for that reason you have to give them notice that you're dismissing it and why um the other reason it must be dismissed is if it didn't occur in the district's education program activity right so they may come in and say you know my my daughter was you know sexually harassed at the McDonald's up the street right and but it's not affecting her in the school environment right or maybe I've had some cases where um some schools have called me over the summer students are being sexually arrested over social media over the summer well there's nothing going on in the school and it's not in the school environment yet and so you know that complaint can be dismissed because it's not happening in the district's education program activity now when school starts if it falls in here and some for some reason kids are talking about it the student refuses to come to school or things start popping up um you know they certainly can reopen that and look at it again but um if it's not occurring in the district District's education program activity um if the respondent doesn't go here you know is not is not a student in the district if the employee uh you know doesn't work here anymore you know those are kind of reasons that you would dismiss a complaint um so you may dismiss a complaint again uh if if the complaintant says they want to withdraw their complaint right so you hear you have an allegation of sex based harassment they come forward and they say you know what I don't want to go forward with this anymore um I wish to withdraw my complaint then you don't have to go through the grievance process but you want to make sure you get that in writing and let them know that this this this complaint is going to be dismissed um again if the respondent is no longer enrolled or employed with with the district you can just miss your complaint uh you know there may be certain circumstances so sometimes employees especially will resign before the the investigation is completed um if they resign you can dismiss their complaint um there may be some instances where you want to just finish up that investigation have it on record but most of the time um you know it's up to the district but you don't have to dismiss it but you can dismiss the complaint just um and not continue on with the investigation um and then if there's EV if there's circumstances that prevent you from Gathering evidence to reach a sufficient determination regarding the complaint you can also dismiss the complaint and so that may happen where you know sometimes there's a an ongoing police case or court case going on as well and so the parties each get attorneys and they didn't say you know what we're not talking to the school about this because there's ongoing Court matters or police matters and so the district can't do any of their investigation then you you you are able to dismiss the complaint if you're not able to get the information to do your investigation but again you want to make sure you're making you're making a record of this and everybody's on notice that it's been dismissed and why and so when you dismiss you want to send notice to both the complaintant and respondent simultaneously and give reasons for the dismissal and so it's important this remember when it's dismissed the part either party can appeal that dismissal so you may choose to dismiss a case and they may they they have a right to appeal that dismissal um and so you know if if for some reason they appeal you just want to look at why it was appealed and and what was going on again the dismissal from Title 9 does not mean dismiss from the entire District Board of policies uh conducts and policies so make sure you're following that uniform grievance procedure if there's other policies that maybe they can uh fall under whether it be your discipline code or your bullying policies or your your code of conduct by all means just because you're dismissing a sex based harassment claim under tit 9 doesn't mean you can't use any some of those other procedures that are in your pocket I talked about this already emergency removal of a student as a supportive measure um again you're doing a risk analysis uh to see if there's an immediate threat to to health or safety of students by having that student remain in school um okay so this is I'm almost done so we're going talk about the appeal right so once the decision is made from from the district you've done your investigation you've talked to all the witnesses um each side has an opportunity to review all the evidence then you make a decision right um and so the district will say yes this constitutes sex based harassment um for these reasons these allegations uh based on the definition and our investigation and we're issuing these sanctions or these remedies um once you have that decision the parties can appeal that decision and say I agree or disagree with it but there's very specific basis for how why they appeal right um and so they can appeal either dismissal of a formal complaint or uh the decision the final outcome of the decision once you've gone through the grievance process it could be for a procedural irregularity that affected the outcome so um you didn't give them whatever their due process rights are you didn't talk to all the witnesses uh you you treated them didn't treat them impartially um you know whatever it is for a procedural irregular irregularity um whether there's new evidence that was not reasonbly available at the time of the termination of dismissal that affected the outcome so if there's some new evidence uh that that comes to light that could be a basis for appeal as well um and then you know the title n coordinator investigator decision maker anybody involved in the process had a conflict of interest or bias that affected the outcome so that's why it's important with those prejudgment bias and conflict of interests even if there if you if it appears to be one it's better to recuse yourself so that you don't get that appeal um there's not you're not leaving it that open for them to come in and appeal the decision um and then once when when the parties appeal you have to uh each party can appeal equally right um and so the the appeal decision maker can't be the same person who does the investigation and can't be the or or a decision um so if you have whoever does the investigation and makes the decision cannot be the appeal decision maker they have to be unbiased can't have a conflict of interest um and then so once the decision is made you notify the parties in writing uh that they have the ability to appeal that's that comes out in their decision and then they must notify the school in writing when the appeal is filed right uh I believe it's 10 days you have to look at your grievance procedure most schools give 10 days to allow to file an appeal of a decision um and so if they file it within those 10 days you'll get something in writing um when they when the appeal comes to the district both parties are given a reasonable equal opportunity to submit a written statement in support of or challenging the outcome of the decision right so if one party files the appeal the other party then has an opportunity to also write something um in support or against whatever the appeal is um the appeal then uh must be a written decision so as part of the appeal process whoever is doing the appeal will read all the information um you don't do a full investigation again you're looking at those bases was there a procedur irregularity was there an appearance of a conflict of interest is there new evidence that we didn't know about that changes the outcome um you know those those bullet points that I just went over that's what you're looking at and you're going to look at the investigation everything in it you're going to look at the decision and you're going to look at those um op those written statements from the complainant and respondant for the appeal and then then you're going to issue a written decision um and give your rationale for why you either agree with the appeal or uh upheld the decision of the original uh decision maker and when you write that appeal decision it's going to go to each party uh simultaneously and their advisers if they have an adviser or an attorney and that's the end of the training anybody have any questions I know it's a lot of information um but well I thank you for your time well just one one quick question one question when a complaint come in when does the clock start to investigate so you're the know it starts when you have knowledge so that time frame has changed under the new RS right before it used to be when the district coordinator got it now it's when anybody in the district knows about the sex based harassment happening so whoever they make that complaint to so the complainant will tell somebody in the district that's what it comes from so there's nothing in 9 to say you know and you must start the investigation within 24 hours of receiving the complaint nothing like that in time no it the the standard is reasonably prompt time frames so there's no so it has to be reasonably prompt so if say a teacher hears about it and no one's done anything for 60 days and nothing came about it you could I guess you could get in trouble right because you're on knowledge that it happened and nobody told anybody and nobody did any investigation um and so OCR is going to look at what you did was it reasonable what you did as a district um um my guess would be telling one one person depending on the I mean it's Case by case right so it's very factual and Case by case um you know maybe telling one person if it's not that severe it wasn't pervasive and it was a one-time thing and you know um you didn't do anything maybe you'd be okay but if it was really severe and it's something that was pretty bad and no one told anybody and no one did an investigation you might get in trouble I think if there was an OCR complaint if someone came in and said we told someone and no one did anything um so what if what if someone had a complaint and a person that they had a complaint against actually went on moved out the district or cease employment right so that's why you would do that you would dismiss you can dismiss the complaint them so you just want to let if they move out out and you guys are dismissing the complaint and stopping your investigation then you just issue them a written notice that says the title n complaint is being dismissed because the respondent is no longer with the district okay that's a lot lot there yeah I don't have a question but thank you you got a lot of information in a quick time and very understandable so thank you okay thank you very much do we have a presentation no yes we do we do it's in the it's in the board okay thank you okay a lot of valuable information there all right moving on with the agenda number six administrative updates superintendent yeah just a couple things um you know we're moving along getting ready to uh open our doors uh in just a few weeks uh today actually we had a full day training we did it over actually at Mooney airport which was nice um we had it for all of our principles and administrators we did a training on um our teacher evaluation tools we're looking for um making sure that there's alignment consistency for all of our schools um as we go through the evaluation process so it was really well received today so we're excited to continue that training throughout the year and revisit that so that went well today and it was great actually to see everybody back everybody's excited about coming back and starting the new year we had a couple new faces at the tables uh our new principal at tala as well as our bridges assistant principal joined us um as well so that was um well received today and then also uh our buildings are moving along out there uh we've got a lot of construction and remodeling that's going on everything seems that it's U moving along at um the pace uh some of our buildings have had quite a transformation with some beautiful colors in the hallway uh Mr swales we're going to have you take a look at some of our buildings because I know the color was one that we wanted to talk about um we're going to do a building tour if anyone's available um I think I through up my FYI um I think it's next week uh we'll schedule some times if any of you are interested to Pal around and just see some of the buildings uh we'd love to have you come along um we're going to have you know hopefully get some pictures of them so you can see some of the buildings um so we're really pleased about the work that has been done and uh that's it for for this week okay that's the good news it was good news yeah okay and discussion policy yeah um just to bring this up to to your awareness and then uh Eric you can chime in wherever you need to but board F policy 5 uh 240 it was basically giving some update what's in green U on your sheet was just some added language it basically um just follows up with the suspension without pay this would be for any uh professional employees that um would give me the board or the superintendent uh May suspend professional employees without pay pending a dismissal hearing dis which would result in disciplinary consequences of up to 30 employment days so they just outlines those pieces as well I don't think I don't think the board that's just my opinion I don't think the board we don't discipline we just you know we agreed to the recommendation so that's what that get in some districts it's been that um the the superintendent can't um discipline without pay the board has to make that approval our policy allows me to do that this what it say we we we will the recommendation that come from the district right corre and we will agree or not agree but we don't read that again set the so uh creep Monon School District Board of Education or right superintendent May suspend a professional employee without pay so do we suspend it's the without pay but I think te I think technically they come to us with a recommendation and then we make a decision so ultimately I think we are making that decision we're not specifically setting that table but uh Dr Eric and and Dr Kagan are coming to us with their recommendation so yikes what this policy basically says that you are giving the authority to me to make that decision and I can do that well I think that's how it should be said it verbalized yes and that's what it is that that's that how it's been verbalized wait is that is that something you all agreed on last time or is that was that a change or was that always in do you want to add to that I don't think this was a change from one of us was it no no okay this was uh the recommendation from Mr Gleason on the situation that we've talked about in close session with an administrator last school year this is where this is coming from that our policy didn't have any teeth to enforce an unpaid suspension upon uh non on a contracted professional employee yes yes yes this is his his writing okay all right so I'm just making uh you aware of that and then the um there's further language on it that basically outlin the procedures that I would need to go through which would be to send a pre-suspension letter it allows them to um have five calendar days if they seek to have a hearing um and if they don't seek that within five days it's considered to be waved so this just basically outlines the new language like uh Dr Eric had said um that we've sort of talked about I think from last year so you can essentially suspend an employee without our concern is that you would be notified but it allows me the authority to do that I think that's how it's done now I don't think that's not how it's done now do do you need board approval for suspension I think an expulsion of a no this is just suspending them with with suspending them without pay for example five days if there was something but I'm just it's not terminating them do you need a board the board approval for that this is saying no it allows me to do that but in the past did you need board approval I don't think before with this change I I think what we had done before is I always would come and talk with you about that yeah just let us know there was no there was nothing in our policies to back that up regardless if she did it or we did it we tried and no so I think this is just putting a little B validity behind it because of our previous situation but we attempted to and because we had nothing in there we had no back no back up on that at all so and I still think the superintendent's going to bring it to us and notify us and we can table it and change it as we need but this is just putting in um the verbiage into our policies because right because previously we tried and we and it was absolute zero on that it was it was a bad deal yeah so there's any other questions or Eric is there anything else to add okay so I'm just bringing this to your attention that that change um based on our last it's a change right so if we decide we wanted to add the verbiage or have Mr gleon look at and say that all of this is pending a board approval I mean I don't know what the difference is whether it's yours or that right I mean I think that's what you guys are asking correct well for me I was just trying to be clear um to see if she had permission before to suspend without pay or if she always bought it she I'm sorry she the superintendent the position had per permission in the past to just suspend without pay or if the superintendent had to bring it to the board and we voted on it that's what I was trying to get understand I don't think we had any position whatsoever to do that it was practice that I always had though and and I guess I was trying to figure the advantage and disadvantage of of that I mean cuz I know some districts say that if you're going to suspend without pay you bring it to the board like you said and the board has to vote on it um and I was just trying to I was just thinking what's the advantage versus the disadvantage um and I'm sure verbage can be written in that way I mean I I think don't think one way or another matters to me as long as we have that opportunity because of what happened in the to suspend one way or another because of what happened I believe our policy allowed me to do it before but like I said um okay that that's all I was trying to understand yeah it's clearcut now yes it is so anyway so you bringing this to us next you'll vote on that next week for approval yes so that was just that and and then I think without any other questions we can move on to the uh tentative budget yeah Bravo business there's no other questions on the so Brian Johnson he has our um preliminary budget for review today evening everyone my name is Brian Johnson Director of Finance for the school district we're just going to talk through a draft version of our tenative fy2 budget this is substantially the same format of what we saw for a revised budget in June so it should be familiar to everyone if I'm moving too quickly just feel free to Slow Me Down ask questions at any time as an introduction again this is an annual procedure where we need to post notice of our budget hearing to be available to the public for inspection prior to our budget hearing our everything will be posted and available by this Friday August 9th we voted to have the public hearing on September 10th and then we will hold the meeting to adopt the budget on September 17th from there we just need to post the budget to the website and submit it to the State Board of Education next we're going to talk through some different R revenue and expenditure definitions sources of revenue property taxes that's our main source of Revenue people pay taxes taxes go to fund our schools other revenues are anything not classified Elsewhere on the list which is mostly donations field trips building level revenues that's fairly small state revenues that's our evidence-based funding some state grants Federal funding which we'll get into a little bit more later that's again mostly grant-based expenditures salaries and benefits that makes up over 70% of the district's annual expenses purchase Services is exactly what it says just Services provided where there's no physical inventory provided supplies and materials that's usable Goods um Capital outlay that's our expenses for our major assets buildings other objects is just things that don't qualify anywhere else non- Capital Equipment that's physical supplies over $500 and under $5,000 so we don't have to worry about depreciation of those termination benefits also so usually small but again if someone leaves the district and their contract deems they get some sort of termination benefit we have that in there our tax levy is the amount the district needs from property taxes and we go through the annual Levy process in December to request funds from the county our tax extension is the amount of money the County agrees to give us and then our debt limit as of June 30th our debt limit our debt liability is $125 million with principal just over $96 million owed so moving forward here again is the draft breakdown of our revenues and expenses for FY 25 this is all funds property taxes should go up some just through our annual Levy process we're able to Levy 5% in December of 23 State sources evidence-based funding is included there and then some state grants and then a big thing to point out is revenue from federal sources if you notice that is scheduled to decrease by a little over $5 million this is due to the Esser funding being done as of August 31st everything has to be expended so we will not get any more Sr funding and then expenditures again the same breakdown we just talked through salary benefits purchase Services Capital outlay that is a large deficit number that 18 million 780,000 which just to remind everyone that is part of our long-term capital projects plan we're still paying for projects that we funded through bonds issued in Prior years so that revenue is already in our bank it just doesn't show up here due to it being processed in a prior year moving on to our operating funds this is just our day-to-day expenses to educate students and run our schools pretty similar with the revenues again that Sr funding is going away our expenses are all you know they go up every year a big thing as we know Insurance the insurance committee agreed to go to a new broker insurance is going to go up a little over 10% I believe 11.2 something like that which that's a fairly large expense so I'm just pointing that out and then supplies and services everything's estimated to go up 3 to 5% depending on timing contracts inflation and so we are showing just under $500,000 of an estimated deficit right now there are still some final figures that we're unsure about which we should have a better handle on when we present again in September again we're just presenting these numbers for conversation to make sure there are no big surprises but we have been talking through efficiency plans and finding ways to you know get the people we currently have to pick up roles of people who are retiring increase efficiencies there and just you know we have great people who work here we can Broad in people's Horizons a little bit and help to bridge some of these gaps so then the next two charts are the charts that we showed on our June financials at the July board meeting we're just including them here again for conversation this is our our cash flow for last fiscal year this is all funds and then the next slide again this is the operating funds if you remember that dip in May that was we did a fund balance transfer so $20 million moved out of our operating funds to cover our capital projects but again this is something that we've seen the past couple months so we're just including it here we'll have the updated projections for fy2 just with this meeting being a little early the books aren't quite closed yet for July so next week we'll have some updated charts that we can share for further discussion and then as always we're going to end with our 2425 Department goals for business and operations a big thing is to complete our audit by August 15th we can always extend until December 15th every year if we need to our goal every year is to be done by October 15th we're in the second week of our audit right now everything's been progressing fairly straightforward no real surprises Auditors will be on site tomorrow to walk through some some final documentation and things so we should be good to hit that deadline so we'll work with them tomorrow to find the date that makes sense for them to come present their findings to you so that we can wrap things up to meet that October 15th deadline and then I know I mentioned this when we presented in June but a big project for the business team is to formalize our policies and procedures and training manuals we've already started our training we had training with principls and administrators in July we're meeting with office staff next week and with that so we have our agendas and things that we're training people on we're then going to build on that to make make more formal manuals frequently ask questions with links build out our website a little bit more just so people can operate and find the answers to their questions much more efficiently president Brown also brought up the need for a formal fraud prevention manual so we're adding that to our list we have again those policies and procedures in other areas we just want to have a more formal document so that if there is fraud someone can act quickly to respond to that rather than scrambling around to different documents um and again with the policies and procedures we want to have those training manuals for people outside of our department but then also those resources for inside our department staff are learning growing moving on we can have those documents so then our training and onboarding of new people can be much more smooth and it's just good practice not that we're comfortable in our cumulative system it's time to to get that finalized and then finally the facility planning and capital projects I know we talk about that fairly frequently we we do have larger projects coming up with our Athletics facilities our beautification projects are ongoing and that's something that we're forever looking at for preventative maintenance and just continuing to build and budget and make sure we're checking all those box so that again we're able to keep everything operating at an efficient manner moving forward so if there's any questions feel free if not that concludes my portion of the meeting a quick question yes U you mentioned that the insurance is going to go up about 10% yes and I I can't recall the secretary was that 10% going to be an increase across the board or that was the district was going to absorb those costs for insurance um that wasn't that that was no I don't think we're not absorbing them all I mean it's was it going to be passed over to the employees in some manner of so the overall policies are going to go up so the district's portion will increase and the employee side will as well okay okay great and and obviously I'm rhetorical question did we not know that the esa Esa funds was temporary right corre we cannot fund programs that we want to be sustainable right correct so and you are looking at temporary funds non sustainable funds out there to not support programs that we want to last right correct because that has got gotten us in trouble in the past we was hoping running programs with money grant money and things of that nature nature and only for the grant to be ceased and not under this Administration in the past right so but I heard you mentioned that's one of the money of loss of Revenue Source was no longer have any s funds correct okay and one other thing we've also been very fortunate with high interest rates we do have that Bond money that we can invest and gain interest on which again rates are likely going to start coming down so we had to be conservative with our estimates there because that's not by any means guaranteed Revenue either so those are the things Jason and I have been talking through I mean we've been meeting weekly daily monthly throughout this process and there are a lot of moving targets but we're doing our best to nail down everything we can to be as accurate as possible yeah and that was one of the things I had a federal reserve it was looking to lower interest rate next month but they might short cycle they might so I expect interest rates to be coming down given that being said the bonds that we have borrow I can't recall are those bonds callable can we refinance those bonds if the position you know if it lends itself to be advantageous to us are we in a position to say hey would we sold these bonds at 5% for example interest rates going to come come down we might nail it at 3% can we do we have an opportunity are all the bonds we sold I can't recall again are they non-callable or are they callable you don't have to answer if you don't know the answer right now right and that's something where PMA is great with working with us and you know they monitor that much more closely than we do and they're very good with helping us with those types of strategies and when the opportunity comes up we'll be ready if it is available okay and the last thing if you can get board as soon as you could without really stressing yourself out kind of a 5year forecast sure we haven't seen one of those in a while we actually spoke about that today okay I met with um our adviser at forecast 5 and we've definitely looked at that in the past it's just finding where to click in the system and mess around with different projections and things and refamiliarizing but once this budget's done that's on our list to make sure that we have that for you okay and I believe this is again this what we're seeing here a little less than $500,000 deficit budget I believe we're going to have the opportunity to amend the budget and I believe we're going to come into Surplus and I as a stand this is going to affect our financial store uh score state so but I think we're going to come up with a surplus and we'll be okay okay thank you all right thank you no further questions from any other board member no I just want to make clear though because sometimes I'm not so quick on my feet you know the district pays for a single HMO um amount for for the um for the staff you know so we'll pay whatever that amount is for a single HMO we pay so we have to absorb that but then if somebody has a family plan if they have the PO or whatever then they are paying more too so the district is not going to pay at all but we do we do have portion of okay yeah so sorry space it out and then you ask me a question like oh I need to think I came out of my back pocket with that one so no no worries okay thank you Brian thank you Brian all righty okay who's next up we got Jason Jason will take on number two under settlement of tax business yeah okay Jason good evening president Brown uh distinguished members of the Board of Education Dr Kagan um yes I'm here to uh open discussion regarding uh tax settlement or a settlement to tax rate objections that was brought to the attention of the district in the spring um each year when we go and Levy uh as we Brian alluded to we previously uh levied for 2023 um there are particular law firms out there that monitor uh the fund balances in uh of school districts and if you accumulate an excessive fund balance and specific funds um where it opens the districts and makes them subject to uh a rebate or not I wouldn't shouldn't say a rebate excuse me but for them to object the levy and to seek um some of that money back so the particular funds that we have experienced that with it happens over a three-year period keep in mind we're talking about tax levies from 2020 2021 and 2020 um those specific funds excuse me for a second as I just grab my notes but in 2020 it was the transportation fund um 2021 was the 50 fund which is imrf Social Security and Medicaid and then also in 2023 I mean 2022 it was the same 50 fund imrf Social Security and Medicare paid um the original amount that was being sought from the district was 774584975 um to put this matter to bed for those years that we are being objected to um part of the stipulation was that they withdrew the uh tax rate objection from the 40 fund from 2020 um and then will'll settle out of the imrf Social Security and Medicaid fund which is our 50 fund so the amount that uh Mr ISO has negotiated would come out of the fund balance in that particular fund uh took Brian's financial report that was um ended for fiscal year 24 and we were projecting to have a balance of 5,798 846 in that fund at the end of fiscal year 24 so we do have the funds available to settle this matter um going forward how we're going to monitor this situation um Mr ISO uh presented Brian and I with the Miller ratio which has three specific steps that we've actually started to build out to the applicable funds um when we Levy and when we prepare the budget each subsequent year we're going to calculate the Miller ratio for each one of those funds and adjust our Levy accordingly um for example uh if it's looking as if we are running a surplus again in the 50 fund what we would then do is we would divert those funds when we lovey from the 50 fund maybe run a deficit on paper from that fund and uh allocate those funds that you know we wanted to capture for the 50 fund into the 10 fund um another option that we have to avoid this problem is if we do have funds with sufficient fund balances it's recommend that we conduct a transfer uh an allowable transfer I should say from said fund to another fund that does not have an excessive fund balance um unfortunately for us the fund the 50 fund you're not allowed to transfer in and transfer out of to uh into or out of so the amount that's built up as an excessive fund balance over the years um we have no ability to transfer that to our 10 fund which is education fund 20 fund which is onm or Debt Service Transportation or any of our other eight funds um I threw a lot at you so um I will definitely open this up to questions um that you may have so so the negotiation for for the money that the district is looking to give to is a group of lawyers it's a law firm representing specific very similar to what you would say so where's the money going it's going to a law firm that would then disperse the fund funds to the individuals that have been contacted by this law firm and the law firm reached out very similar to a class action law suit but this is our district though that supposedly we over living our district correct so and in in in in specific funds the Miller ratio should have been taken into consideration when we you know finalize the levy cuz we present in December each year you guys pack pass the levy that Levy is then those documents are sent to Will County at some point in the spring generally around late March early April they send us a sheet to revise the levy we could shift funds as we see fit um and those funds were not moved around in the past which led to the excess accumulation in the 50 fund and at the time the 40 fund okay and just one clarification this group of lawyers out there that's looking into this they're not only coming after school districts when I was on a Township they came after the township so it's government government entities yes sir government entities and I I can't recall I talked to Dr car on this I can't recall how we end up settling and I I didn't think it was a big monetary amount but this seemed like this is a big this is a big amount they're seeking 700,000 but we kind of yeah 774 to be honest with you and when we and then at the end of the day we we said maybe 250,000 or whatever 200 plus, 225,000 is the agreed upon amount um when we met with Mr ISO in the spring I believe it was in May um he did not believe that we had a strong case to object and continue to fight these and incur legal fees so that's where he suggested um looking to settle with the opposing councel so are you looking for us to vote on that tonight no sir I've uh put this up on agenda um as committee hold week yes and then I have the verbiage from Mr ISO to make it an action item next week okay I I if you don't mind I'd like to get back to you just to see what our supervisor at the township did I can't recall that was 10 12 13 years ago that that happened to us in the township and I I'll get back so yeah you can move forward as planned but I'll try to get some more information on how we how we handle this situation okay okay cuz I thought it was kind of we was okay kind of like what you're coming up with a corrective Action Moving money and placing it here I thought we we was hit with over living x amount of dollars Surplus but we was able to moving forward created another kind of a capital expense def category and taking money and putting it into that so we wouldn't be hit again it was something like that but I'll find out more details tomorrow yeah I I look forward to hearing from that and um like I said the the one uh and from school Finance we do have nine separate funds um those funds do have regulations as to which ones you can transfer into without a fund the the 50 fund is one that you cannot transfer into or out of that sounds like kind of a the corrective action we did but I'm not sure how much we settled but yeah and it's nothing personal this is a shark group out there they look at it every year throughout wherever area they are and see who over levied and this is the result they try to get a hit here and there and we got hit so okay all right so this is going to be on agenda to approve the payout of 200 some, 220 $5,000 from the from the 50 fund yes that would be on next week's agenda okay all right any further questions [Applause] Jason okay thank you thank you everyone all right you appreciate it all right all right moving moving forward ahead with the agenda can I have a motion can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so move move by Dr Hall second by Bill second second by Bill so is there anything we want to pull out before we okay if not Is there further discussion on the consent agenda well I guess I did have we we're saying to approve a contract but are we supposed to see that contract yeah I'm a little it's not I didn't see it yeah I don't I don't see I see a contract in it was it in I think the electronically I didn't see it I think it was it's in the who it's it's in the extra wait where's where's the extra sure and also I'm a little I'm a little confused on this do we approve it's asking do we approve each item do we vote on each item or do we disapprove you see what I'm saying as a consent agenda but it has usually we yeah is that typically we do it yeah I see no just both of them it says approve personel report and a motion and a motion and then you motion for each one of these but now we're just saying approve agenda approval okay huh yeah I would I would think it'll be each one of these the second item oh I see yeah cuz you got to approve this approve this approve this yeah okay we don't have any questions just just for clarity we are approving instead of each individual item under Personnel those two items there and under the teacher and learning those three items there for approval we're going to Encompass the whole typically as a consent agenda approval to capture all of those those five individual items so everybody clear on that as usually we we approve the consent agenda everything that falls up under there I didn't think we had different items I have to go back and look under the consent agenda that requires certain individual approval on an action item line item if that makes sense but anyway there's a motion out there to approve the consent agenda which Encompass seven Alpha and bravvo in its entirety and no further questions or any comments everybody saw what they was looking for as far as the contract for the rooc position any comments on that if not Madam Secretary roll call please okay um Mr swales I miss site stumbris I group isn't I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry do we have any old business um I um Nelson and I were contacted to see if we were remaining on our same committees for like safety with Mr Tobias and I just wanted to make sure that because you assigned those committees last year I just want to make sure that it was cool that I still went to them yeah okay oh yeah I would never fire you okay well I just wanted to make sure so I will respond that I can be there but I wanted your permission matter fact you got a promotion no you're all good okay any other old business new business I just have one item under new business to let you know so the the athletic boosters are are wanting to do fireworks again and they asked me to get I got a contract but I got it yesterday which was late to get in there so I gave all the paperwork to uh um Miss Highline and she'll include it in the board packet for you to to look at it's exactly the same thing I think we've been doing it for 12 years so I'm just letting you guys know that I did give her the paperwork to put in there for approval next week for Tuesday and then once and I think it's September 20th I think is what's on there that's when homecoming is did you add my cut so um I'm just doing getting the paperwork together for them and uh the athletic boosters are taking care of all of it but I'm just submitting all the paperwork because I haven't been for 12 years but I want to let you know I would have normally got it a little quicker but they they're busy so I got it yesterday I'll never fire you either Bill we're all good all right okay so that I do I do okay any other new business if not we do have a reason to go into close session or reasons and the reason is the setting of a price for sale or lease of property owned by the public public body five Illinois Capal Statute 120/2 in parentheses C is in Charlie and parentheses the number six in addition to self- evaluation practices and procedures or or professional ethics when meeting with a representative of a Statewide Association of which the public body is a member and that's coming from five Illinois compile statute 1202 C in parentheses C is in Charlie and 16 in parentheses as well can I have a motion to go into close session session for those reasons stated so moved second moved by Jamie second by Dr Hall any questions or comments if not roll call please okay Miss rup is and I Mr s hi Miss stumbris I Dr Hall hi president Brown I motion carry we should be in close session anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes and there will no will not be any further action conducted thank you public for joining and everyone here for joining us today have a good evening be safe and God bless

Mr Hopkins here uh Mr kich uh M Rodriguez here Mr Guri here M Olson here Dr soltero here Mrs Arcon and I'm [Music] here so I have a motion to adop the agenda I will make the motion I'll second all those in favor I all those opposed passes five to zero stand allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thing we have up is public we have comments to be made by Steph you can just talk from where you are if you want to oh I've never been to one soang visitors are welcome to speak on agenda and non-agenda items comments are limited to three minutes please state your name and address prior to making your comments please note that members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda therefore action taken is limited to directing Administration to look into the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for future consideration sorry about that oh so I've never been to meeting before so I thought I can make comments after the agenda was brought up about the the topic to discuss so apologies I was I thought I could speak after the topic was already brought up so I I misunderstood never been to a meeting before so so so now's your time so if you don't want to speak now then okay forever hold your piece okay got it well I'll just say that um from what my limited understanding is of the possible prek tuition uh raise is um that I don't know the exact total amount the proposal is being um of the raises I just know that um my husband and I we have a four-year-old in the prek program and we highly doubt that we would be able to keep our four-year-old enrolled in the prek program if it were raised any higher we feel that the 275 price is um steep enough as it is um so we as much as we love the program and we um know the importance of it uh you know our point is I don't know if we could we're opposed to the ra I guess have to say that that's all that's all thank you and now we'll come to governing board report if not we'll draw to the superintendent report of current yes Mr uh Hopkins members of the board um and everyone in attendance and and other staff member district members here um you have I believe I'm going to ask Angelina to pull up now you have um go through several things in order on the on the on the PowerPoint here something different I was try like to try like to change it up for you so we have a a little something um change is always good so uh I have several things I want to share with you on our uh for the superintendent report and this is board up updates and so just to give everyone uh so everyone is is informed of of some of the things going on wanted to give an update this is our vision and Mission and if you recall I believe the last time that we went over this uh we had during our June meeting the last year I've given you several updates throughout the year so in and talking with this out going and talking with our staff and families uh we have a pretty good solid uh uh Foundation of where to go with our vision it's really it's it's really if you want to look at it Universal Vision I think Nationwide as far as getting everyone ready to graduate college and career ready at a K12 Public School District but if you see right there to your left gain it's it's an acronym that that we uh worked on but it was already in place and just looking at at at the presentations over the last um over the last few uh few years we've been talking about uh just getting more information uh you remember this hand out that was shared with everyone uh I believe in June uh the Red Raider the vision we had the mission statement action steps we but we didn't have it set up like that so and then we've shared this with staff multiple times we've also shared with the community uh multiple times most recently uh the open house on August 1st but also with last year so the community has seen this information and so we just wanted to share with you how we have it set up now with a mission and and um and so we have the acronym of of gain just because that follows in line with in this rough draft that we have from June it says here in the mission statement data driven professional development follow the three Rs read responsible respect for a safe and positive earning environment differentiated instruction so we just reset it to where it's a little bit more stands out a little more that g part is critical generating success with family Partnerships a advancing a safe and positive learning environment with the three Rs respectful responsible ready I investing in Educators the data driven professional development and learn train and academic achievement through differenti instruction so we have a guide now I'll pass this to miss Olson and she can pass it along uh just we're getting there we're getting more and more more established now all the staff uh is well aware of this shared with our with our parents you guys have had multiple updates and so that's what I want to share with you right now um can we go to the next slide Angelina this is also another thing I want to share with you as it pertains to miss on con an opportunity presented itself over the summer with the p County Superintendent of Schools Dustin Williams specifically with his uh uh his uh his his chief Deputy superintendent I believe so you have right there in front of you it's called lead now and I just have some highlights here that I'm going to read for my notes but it's pretty much the same up there uh this institute was created to support new and aspiring educational leaders in Southern Arizona in partnership with the Arizona Educational Foundation and the Pima County School superintendent's office uh on that slide I have the notes right here too it says here um individuals will acquire skills and applications essential to becoming an effective educational leader Learners will gain enhanced understanding apply profession of practice Concepts and values and Leadership and policy so it's a cohort and uh as I have here some more information uh lead now is a research this is critical a research and evidence-based curriculum delivered locally through Pima County school superintendent office and a cohort model Professional Standards for educational leaders in 2015 were developed by the Council of Chief State School officers so uh Miss will get the ability to to collaborate uh very similar to to in my first year here when there was a superintendent collaborative that that I was very fortunate to be a part of throughout the year on a monthly basis she's going to have the same opportunity to people County Superintendent school's office team building leadership skills goal setting she'll be mentored also by uh an Arizona Educational Foundation a plus School of Excellence principal and also the chance to visit an aa+ school of excellence and as you see on the next page there's the strong partnership with those foundations specifically with the Arizona Educational Foundation executive director Kim Graham NAU professor of practice Dr Clement and the U OFA College of educational policy studies and practice Dr me go so you know you know yes we're here we work together we collaborate but at the same time it's good for her to also get some some feedback and to get some some other Insight from people outside of where we are those are the people that are going to be leaving the the discussion and so it's it's also in a sense there's no ideal time but this is real good time it's going to be on Saturdays once a month either in person or by Zoom virtually so this is a real really a beneficial we talked about this she's really excited to to be a part of this of this cohort it's going to be cohort number eight so it's pretty well established in in in pea County and so I just wanted to share that with you also with the community that that we we're having a principal who doesn't just have the experience in background here in multiple districts as an instructional coach High School Master scheduling anything and everything professional development she's going to get from practitioners who are current principles right now or principal leaders and college professors so it can only be beneficial to the entire student uh uh body to the staff to the entire Community wanted to share that with you part of part of my report um and so the next part is is uh I also wanted to to give you an update uh we last had a presentation where we shared facilities what the facilities team was doing so this is called the renovations and improvements and we'll just go through the slideshow just to share with you uh the improvements the renovations that were ongoing throughout the whole summer June and July you see the the trim right there of the gym by the north by South exit of the double doors and I believe actually that that that one to the left is right and building one by the school office right before you get to the science building so the columns not just the trim and the beams on top with the columns on every column is ready to stand out we can go to the next slide not just the The Columns but also all of our benches just to really build that school spirit just to promote uh a strong environment for the students so they can see uh what we have uh we have the wings also if you remember remember this pasture all those vents right there all those were maroon so you still you know we wanted to try and have it looking as as as cohesive as possible the next slide we have um someone took this picture of me I'm not going to mention no names but um we have columns there to the right but uh just to highlight all the inside doors inside of the doors were painted as well all right all the uh the doors were painted inside as well so you have the doors trim a so you have if you notice there not just the inside of the doors but the trim was also painted on the inside so so for many years the last years we had the outside of the doors painted but the inside was not painted and the trim was not painted so now it looks more more in sync it just looks better that's yeah that's that's he's an independent contractor so you see there this is something that we really wanted to focus on the primary Wing entrance that Arch have that's that's a school red and if you see on both sides uh yesterday that was the sunset so you can tell Alo Elementary School you see in the background the flag the gates too yeah that's that's a good idea yeah so we have we have the flag there in the background but just little things like that to pick up the whole school spirit campus wide for all the families when they come in the doors on the primary building were not painted school colors so we wanted to make sure that we also have the doors inside and outside school colors there is I believe the um ax Gonzalez was holding that door open yesterday that's the inside of fernandz this is the next page here we have the computer lab we have the computer lab the potential JT drafty lab and the JM storage that building red and white trim doors inside outside on the back east and west side we have the next slide please we have we want to be consistent all around so we have the colle as you see is right there on the north and south side and double doors to the technology storage JJ room keep that schol spirit in every building are they going to do the windows right there too are those also those are the windows yes we can we can look into that sure sure let's go to the next page and this is what we really wanted to really highlight this is a little video Angelina can play it for you [Music] to show up these are some of the 180 new de and shars um it was a video so something must have happened we go to the next go to the next there go the school office coming back columns beams rails in front the trim on top go to the next slide uh you notice the district office too is co colors red and white long wild Road uh facing the South um so next slide is that video working we got the picture right there from the southide um what's our next slide there want El get that part right there double doors right the high school sign the trim the music building and D A the tour you notice the storage door on the right the right the picture that's all r with that trim on top so a little just to try and make each building stand out more and really just have it looking as as you know the best we can have it ever look so that's a big thank you to our as facilities team on the left picture we have Cardinal so Jose Angel and and Daniel on the right we have Andrew AEL and Esther so they did all this hard work the whole summer uh they did real well as a team have the next slide we wanted in with a softball we also did some work on the softball field that picture I was able to catch that yesterday just I think that's a beautiful picture just to show a school spirit Pride the flag the grass is never looked as green as it is right now so that's a little report on on our vision and Mission and our our partnership with P County Superintendent Dustin Williams and our renovation for summer I think the school looks better right now than it has in a long long long great job great job the staff they did a great job the facilities team they were they deserve the jersh that's all Mr okay next item on the agenda is approval of the consent agenda I will make the motion to approve it I second it all those in favor all four to Z as lost I'll let you know if he call back um first item in personal is certifi of annual substitute teach Ral Mr hop as members of the board um the administration brings substitute teacher employment renewal to the board annually the following individuals have expressed an interest in substitute teaching for the out School during the 2425 school year Kathy Morales Tom bosberg Tom Shane Kelly BR and Oscar sis recommend the approval of the employment of above individuals and substitute teachers okay I have a motion on I'll make the motion Morales those in favor all those opposed passes 4 Z okay next is the extra pay volunteer position Mr Hopkins members of the board the following individuals have expressed an interest in extra pay and volunteer positions you have your names roll on the positions I recommend the approval of the employment of the above individuals for the extra paid positions and volunteer positions okay and I will make the motion to approve the Slate on one vote unless somebody wants to pull individual out soorry only question I have is the same question I had in the we have to have a second second so what did we decide on the policy that we discussed in the last month's meeting that there wasn't a policy it wasn't a policy so it was just made up by the super prti that's as far as I know prac policy there's a part on our our our application that says have you ever worked or you know resigned quit from the high school district it's on both of our certified and our classified and yes no is always good always on all of our applications there's never been a policy that disqualifies somebody from okay thank you have there all faor all right I I all the proposed passes okay next item is business item approval of the prek tuition increase Miss Dr as members of the board um the prek funding source first te first grant is reducing the number of students from 13 to six a breakdown of the cost per student compared to the funding per student is below 14 students is the limit for two staff members the administration is requesting increasing the monthly from 275 to either option 475 or option 2 600 per month her request the last increase for prek was in May 2016 from 200 to 275 cost per month was $500 at the time agenda item and backup for the May and backup for the May 2016 meetings are attached in consultation with Consultants this recommended tuition increases to help cover the cost of inflation which is almost a 24% increase since 2016 for more possible families will be paying tuition prek is not funded by theate formula ADM average daily membership for attendance Grant in tuition based funding supports the program otherwise all supplemental funding comes from ml maintenance and operations if the prek student has an IEP there is some State funding to support that student's cost of services so um you have the the numbers in front of you I don't know if Angelina has access to pull up the Excel chart which is a little more detail and easier easier to read but um approval of free dat tuition increase is recommended um I will leave it for you Mr President and the board for discussion okay I'm going to make a motion that we table this vote until the October and I have some reasons for that I'll get if I get a second I will second that okay yeah my reason for doing that is um first office schol year has already started just would not seem right to me to jump to miss enough among students they started the year at One Rate it seemed weird to me within a week or two to have such a big increase and I realized that the cost of prepay has not gone up since 2016 so that's eight years and everything has gotten more expensive than those eight years including the minimum wage we're paying and the salaries we're paying not just the minimum wage so I would like to look at the possibility of doing a smaller increase help cover some of those lists but to not start it until after you earli as the January semester that would give parents enough time to plan ahead for it and not quite as much of a shock to for the public to have found out from the newspaper that came out today and then have us vote right now but I also think if we push it until October that gives Ginger and the finance team more time to look for other sources to help supplement this and like I said it's giving parents more advanced notice on it but it's also giving the public more time to come forward with their concerns about that increase if and when it does happen are we allowed to have discussion this right now yeah we're allowed to after we have the first and second in P so my my question Ginger is is that if all four of those families decided not to keep their kids in in the program would this how would we supplement the Lost of of of that income that would all come out of the I mean the cost is the same whether those poor people there or not right Rona has a waiting list for kids that want those spots so um they would be filled at the new price not sure we we haven't taken that consensus so and the public found out about the but what I know what Lonnie's getting at what Lonnie's getting at is while there is this s list what happens if each one one of those families even on the waiting list besides just delete that delete the purple thing then we will we should be able to find out what happen so so that's what the district will be paid the red one yes that will come from M about 50,000 and right now it's 20 30,000 so right now it's about 3132 with the 275 and that's even without those four students or any of the students on the waiting list right now this is with them paying number right I think what you just said it's different from what I'm showing I'm showing that 23 so this is this is hang I'm showing the one that says 23 24 cost on my computer is showing 70,000 that was the deficit from last year wasit from last year the same rate if if the rate doesn't go up our amount drops to 30 so we can go back with less kids so we go back to 2425 change that to 275 so no increase it's just 275 thank you my for Ma teer and then next C please oh you know how to do it equal sign 275 time four we have four okay how much is this 1100 so 47,000 is the deficit so that's what the the district if if there's no change to it yes there's no I know with the two different proposed changes came out to about 24 or 29 out of the and yeah like I said I just worry about definitely worry about the fact that we've already students enroll I was thinking the other day I was like if I was in college and I enrolled and started classes and then they just decided to increase division on me I'd be really irritated by that so I don't think it's I don't think it's fair for us to look at increasing it this semester since this semester has started but if we if we do vot to the table until October we can talk about starting it in January also look at what other possibilities there are yeah and I think I think our families who registered this school year registered under the impression of this is our tuition cost and I'm going to go ahead and go forward because we can make me but then to have it increased after I've registered my child and they started um I be great and and especially for losing students that's the one thing I don't want to see Early Education is so important and to see children losing out on that it's a big mistake on our part so you let all the tuition students know that there was going to be an increase before they there first yes that's what we've talked about he said we're going to say 275 for the month of August and then there's going to be a proposal um for um possible increase um parents were given the heads up and we don't know what that increase would look like yeah and I mean a possible increase is what but then when you're saying at least $200 a month that's a significant increase this isn't just like you know pocket change this is a lot of money per month that it's increasing you um I was told uh that there yes I was told that there would be a board mean to discuss the tuition but the words I was told was um it could be to decrease the tuition keep it the same or increase so um it wasn't necessarily that was the price of it being raised to the potential 4 100 that was just a a quick sort of decrease same or increase that was well okay I think I think even if people were made aware that it could increase is still stand by the motion I made to table this until October so can get more inut I just think bringing it to light though knowing that informing you guys that there was a deficit last year we need to do something with it so it brings it Delight to the to everybody you know so we're not trying to pick on anybody just yeah make sure you guys are informed no I get it like I said I know tuition hasn't gone up since 2016 and right expenses have increased and the burden on the district has increased at the same time okay um we're never going to feel that anything that you say or do is personal in any way we know you're just giving us the facts right right you we're just here to inform you and and that's what we understand okay so we appreciate that right we want it we want it talk to us in a in a correct correct way so we can make make informed decision right so thank you welcome is there any more discussion on this have Motion in the second all those in favor okay thank you for that next item is the authorization to raave extracurricular fees yes Mr Hopkins members of the board um for the Arizona Department of Revenue for a public school to accept tax credit donation the school must charge students extracurricular fees for participation ar ar Arizona revised statutes allows School administrators and the board permission to wave student extra extracurricular fees if the principal believes it would cost a financial hardship for students um recommend the approval a student fee for 2425 school year um that all you do recommend it you know you know uh Mr Hopkins members of the board I do recommend this is why after thinking about the previous uh item Miss missina and I were talking about this today uh this is a financial hardship if um financial hardship we should support all of our students by waving fees the whole student athlete and families are impacted we're talking maybe 50 60 70 80 families we're talking about four families before potentially we're talking about 70 80 families now I really believe and I really believe this and I'm just talking to you from the heart but also I think uh common sense and just for entire Community morale we should stay consistent with other topics we have over 80% of our students pre lunch eligible all students receive femals here on our campus per USDA K to 12 we should stay consistent and cover all students uh with the extracurricular fees I want to reiterate we're not Catalina Foothills we're not South Point Catholic we're not Scottdale Unified School District we're not mly Unified School District or not Paradise Valley we have to really Provide support in this area where I believe many of our families can fill it um we should cover the fees for 50 60 70 maybe more student a and families and that's just why I strongly believe that we should uh approve the student fee labor I mean so our students can play sports and and not it's not just Sports I I get the discussion that came up last time a lot of our students this provides an additional motivation uh Tak miss out they're looking at their grades more they they focused but but just the reality to the economic and and and uh just the common sense approach to where you know if we did not want to increase the tuition for four maybe some can afford it or some can I get that too but we want to implement a fee for a bigger population that arguably cannot afford it um and have all the families paid I I'm just really want to distress these points that that's how I feel about this when he's talking with Administration and with District staff that we should wa the feed so that's that's my question extracurricular activi can we make the motion please please make the motion y the motion I'll make the motion okay so extra fees aren't aren't Just Sports it's the k through eight field trips it's when we had the equality Club um the equality Club went to um uh Pride events it's the CTE paying for um the testing that they just did for the to get their drone license that was paid out of tax crit um band um PSAT ATT uh be waivers come out of tax credit um what else can I think of it comes out of tax credit so it's not it's not it's everything for the district both the clubs we had the history Club go to um um to Washington DC one year they so it's not just for to come out of sports all extracurricular activities that we couldn't survive off of if we didn't have these donations and for things like the trips to DC and stuff like that there's an extra charge for the actual Tri it's not just right they have the fundrais do all of that stuff but part of it if they have a club with the president or the vice president they have a history club or the equality Club or whatever then and the Govern board approves it to be then they Encompass that instead of like charging dues or whatever like you would get if you had a club in Valley or or oh I just crunched the numbers and you said it's about 50 students the 80 80 students it's 2800 okay that's that's what I was literally just doing on my phone yeah yeah so I think you know that if you look at and that's assuming that all 80 of those students are at the high school level which is not the case Elementary School is $1 each so that to me is not a very significant hit to the you have something so this money if it was generated what fund would it go into it goes into the tax crit account go so the $35 that the kids would pay would go in the tax credit account and then that money who who makes the decisions on where that money is used that so when people give to tax credit they have that form that they can fill out and part of it is as needed so this $35 who would make the decision on where that money was used answering no she's answering about no she's talking about the tax credit he's asking about the fee that's being paid the the fee that that people pay for goes into the tax credit account so if they if they pay the fees it goes into a section called as needed so that it would be it encompassed into the tax credit donations with the fees and it would go in as needed so if I donate to tax credit and I say I want the money to go to the football teamone goes to football team and if I say I want to go to baseball team it goes to baseball team where's this $35 to go and who's going to decide where it goes all fees go into an account called as need okay and who makes a decision on where that money goes as needed is as needed as needed so if softball needs five bats and they don't have the the the funds they don't have the tax credit money the extras then that that it comes out of that as needed fund if the the football team has $1,000 and what they want to order 1,200 that extra 200 comes out of that as need fund that fund can only be spent on extracurricular extracurricular activities as need yeah we can't change next year and say it's coming out of the library what about like testing fees though too you said that like like own testing has it own little Mark on it okay is that money used to pay Empires and referees no it uh uh uh gate tickets um that stuff that from football basketball volleyball you know that's what pays the the tiet and the um not out of tax CR and what fund is that that's an auxiliary account that's different that's completely different and completely different and it's just so ticket sales are just used to pay refs and umpires the majority of yes then what's the rest of it used for it just stays for for whatever is necessary for contingency planning for year to year to always have like TI sh us to have some amount in that line it rolls over from year to any more question so if the yeah I have okay I have questions on this so if we decide to collect $35 on each athlete how much of an issue would that be in collecting that and do you have any idea what the plan would be on collecting that so if we decided to collect those fees we have to stand a letter home to all K to K through 12 students saying this is what the Fe schedule is this is how much for each kid um pleas play at the district office this is what a family is or and then you would have to keep track for every single student um that uh that has to to go through because it for so we can say we're not going to charge this student or that student because they don't play sports but they could be in band or they could be so then um but the k28 everybody's going to go on a field trip everybody's going to go to that activity or that whatever so those have to be charged to every single student so it's $1 per year for that for young kid right I look at it again it's like k650 and then 7 67 and eight something like a dollar so for the entire Elementary School would be what $100 299 * one plus 50 cents yeah the only other point I want to make with this and then I'll so about five six years ago they used to provide meals for athletes when they went out town and there was a controversy over some teams getting money out of tax credit in order to eat it at Steakhouse and other people eting it at um at regular places because they didn't have tax cred money right and so at that point they made a decision to do away with the entire paying athletes meal right at that point the athletes had to make those decisions now what I'm going to say is this the point I'm trying to make out the whole thing since then because of mainly coaches but also mainly parents with some coach help there's never been a kid that come out town on that slake trip that need didner you know what I mean the the the kids the money was provided so the kids could eat whether it came from parents or coaches or whatever the money was provided so they to eat so I am positive not positive but I'm pretty sure that if we put this $35 charge on the students that that every kid would be able to find $35 a year to play sports It's Not Just Sports it's everything but but what you're trying to say andela is is it's not just $35 it's going to be more than that because we're going to have to start paying for fi trips we're going to have to $1 per year what I'm understanding but we're not getting the tax credit right no we have we have to we're not getting rid of the tax credit program right well that's between 10 and $50,000 then we would get before tax critr so we'll never get rid of that so our options are we have to charge a fee we have to have a fee schedule now we can because we're 82% you know poverty when reduc lunch we can wage the fees for all students nobody has to pay those fees we if the board chooses wave them it just becomes zero we don't have to the district doesn't have to now give the money to tax credit it just zeros it out and now we're able to to take tax credit donations the report that I make to the Department of Revenue each year it has a little box and it says uh fee schedule and then I click yes and then it says wave and I say yes and then that's the they don't ask me any more questions from that it's not W it is w if it's if it's not we we have to collect Fe for many kid that wants to participate we the the letter of the law the way the law is written it says we have to collect fees and there nowhere in here does it say if you don't play then you can't participate it says the district has to have a fe schedule and we have to collect Fe essentially it would be for every student in the school ENT say that I know but but like you said though every child goes every k through eight they all go on a field trip so again it would essentially be every student in the school so the only other question I guess that's come to my mind at this minute is I wasn't around Danny might have been around but I wasn't around when it would put in the handbook that it would cost $35 to play athletics so do you recall why that was put in the hand in if there was no intention of every collecting it why is it why is it still in the handbook we have to we have to inform uh all K through K through 12 parents um that this the schedule occurs so it's in the handbook every year rain Sunshine whatever so I couldn't say zero we can't no we can't take it out of the handbook because the board adopted this Fe in 2009 it can't we have to tell everybody of the existence of this so it has to be in the H now after we can say okay those feed are waves and now it's nothing but we can't ever take it out of the because it's it's a Bo schedule since 2009 you can unadopt it yeah but that's not on the agenda I'm not saying it is I'm just saying we do have the power to un adopt it right so if we don't have a fee schedule then we can't get tax credit donation if we do away with the fee schedule we cannot have tax Crites we have to have the Fe schedule either one or the other even if we even if we wait it we have the schedule there so we get every yeah but what I'm saying is even if we wave it we still get the tax credits because the requirement is that we have that we have that aard it doesn't matter that we use the schedule if we say no we're waving fees but if we don't have that on the schedule then we don't get that tax one other thing I'm thinking about this is very similar to the prek tuition a lot of our teams have already started practicing and we'd be hitting them after the fact with oh yeah now you owe us individually for this I think if it is something we look at it be something we look at doing in the F of not W it be something to look at in the future so again people have more advanced notice than finding out you know Johnny's been playing football for two weeks and now we have money we have to do it every year we have to have to wave it every year so we probably just if we're going to do it we need to do it in probably July yeah that's my thinking before the before the team start practicing again it's got granted the dollar amounts are much smaller than the still I don't like that having somebody sign up for something and then change what they're do so the only other thing I have to say is this symbolically it sends a message that we don't care we do care because we put it we put we taed it but we care less about a four-year-old being able to go to preschool that we do a 60y old playing baseball but that's not the message I'm getting from it or the one I'm trying to send it's that's completely different things it's different amounts and different requirements for it again if we don't have the fee schedule and don't reinforce it we still get that tax credit money but they're paying completely different things one of them is paying for the extracurricular stuff one of them is paying for education education naturally is going to cost more than that but like I said on that one we tabled it but on this one even if we decide down you know to do it to me it feels weird to do it after the season has started and hit people with okay you've already been pring charging for those and the amounts are I mean just the different amounts for the district are V different this is you know less than a tenth of what this over the district is for not doing anything with the pr yeah well comparison to it just a dollar amount for this dollar amount even at the maximum 80 students do is not a bank breaking Mr can I say something yes sir I I just everyone's point is very well well informed the perspectives are good I think M also made a very good point about we should probably do something like this for the end of even the end of the fiscal year June 2025 have this on the agenda so we can plan in advance I get all the technical terms and the reasons why and the details but just I think just the basic Common Sense approach of charging a student to want to play a sport I'm I'm Not Looking Back I'm not looking deep into the details of all the other comments that made the years already started you made a good point too and we figure this out by the end of the fiscal year in June we have a better plan for next year when we start and I just you know I get the other points about the dollar the 50 cents I get that but families are going to walk away where is pay oil F trip even if it's a little bit I get it we can take we can we can get through this this she made a good point this is 2400 2,000 maybe we'll be fine but the ramifications it's like a ripple effect it's going to be felt the whole year um a lot of families and uh we can figure this out next year with a better plan before the FIS year is over before the end Jun and we know now as as a finance team Administration to plan this before the end of this and have it ready to go before maybe even before the end of May before the kids leave everyone knows before they go in May it's the expectation you come back July when the season start right so that's so we have a motion to approve the labor second I will second discuss all those in favor all those no pass okay next item is authorization of extend School Mr Hopkins the board to Ure Elementary School students have a safe and conduc learning environment we propose purchasing new desk Insurance 20 30y old furniture currently in use make sure modern ergonomically designed furniture will better support support students academic performance and well demonstrating our unwavering commitment to providing the best education experience recommend approving the optimization of expit the amount of 13,43 okay I make motion I'll second the of between I say the youngest ones are 20 and 30 but the old yes with okay so is there any discussion on this call for a vote all those in favor pass next item is the approval of disposal disposal of teacher and office chairs Mr Dr as members of the board 14 office and teachers chairs are being replaced and the old chairs are being recommended for disposal each chair is less than $500 and is not having fixed asset tag pictures of the fews are attached recommend the approval of the disposal of 14 and office chairs recomend second all those in favor passes okay next item is the intergovermental agreement with ve Unified School District Mr HK members of the board us into agreement with aeds outreach program UniFi School District which provides a unified school district with staff development and training to ensure accurate student that is being submitted to State through Power School the agreement is attached and has been approved by a legal council recommend the approval of the attached IG between a schools and Bale UniFi School District AED outreach program next item is the adoption of science curriculum Mr hins members of the board during the 2224 school year curriculum committee and consultation with the teacher mentor and principal met to review and discuss the need to adopt a new science curriculum for statute textbooks were on display in the media center the committee recommends the adoption of K program generation genius and high school textbooks from science curriculum recommend the approval of the adoption of K program generation genius School texts from sciencec second those in favor next item is second reading opular Unified School District governing board policy adoption 77879 Mr President members of the board the following policy advisories are derived from the Department of Education final R under title n to ensure that under title n no person experiences sex discrimination or harassment and Fally funded education effective August 1 2024 the final rle protects against all sex based harassment and discrimination for all persons including students and employees promotes accountability and fairness and empowers and supports students families The District LA has review the attached policies policy ACA sexual harassment policy ACAA title sex discrimination sexual harassment regulation ACA a AR title mindx discrimination sexual harassment policy G gbk staff grievances policy jii student concerns complaints and Grievances and before making a recommendation to Mr President memb of the board because of the extreme importance and and sensitivity of title line I would like to just we had the first read Monday but I would like to just read the summary to make it the second second read not all the details like like Monday but you have the summary and the policy advisory discussion first two paragraphs following policy advisories are derived from the Department of Education C FAL under Title 9 to ensure that under Title 9 no person experiences sex discrimination harassment and funded education effective august24 final Ro protect against all sex face harassment discrimination for all persons incl students and employees promotes accountability and fairness and empower support students and families the final one requires schools to make take prompt and effective action when appropriate reaffirms the do's commitment to fairness for all parties including par and Guardians and demonstrates its respect for complaints autonomy and privacy it clarifies definitions of scope of sex discrimination and school's obligations including not limited to taking prompt and effective action providing supportive measures and communicating as non-discrimination policies also provide schools with the flexibility needed to implement title line and different education communities and settings protect students employees and applicants from discrimination based on pregnancy or related conditions and protect students and employees from retaliation the attach policies are recommended for approval upon second reading Mr President I'll make the motion on second all those in favor all those opposed pass next item is the second reading ofo District governing board policy adoption [Music] 792 Mr President members of the board most of the following policy are D from of the 56 legislator sent regular session 2024 these are indicated by references to the bills and our statutes which have either have been Billy created or altered by the legislature jhd jhd ghd EA and jhd were updated to align with language and statute and once again Mr President members of the board just because of of the issues of sensitive nature some of these advisories board member qualification professional staff hiring uh basic instructional program especially as it deals with the Holocaust notification board meetings open enrollment administering medicines I would like to just briefly highlight the summaries that's it just to stay consistent Monday 792 bbba board qualifications that bill 128 amended ARS 15302 and 15421 convicted sex off vender is ineligible for membership on the school district government board 793 GCF profession staff iring Bill 5050 of ARS 15509 any individual who applies for employment by a K12 school to disclose a said individual has pled guilty no contest been convicted or is a waiting Char for various offenses including dangerous crimes against children sexual conduct with minor any crime requir sex offend registration in times in other states in similar categories you know in violation such as a class six felony unless fa to disclose due to good faith mistake LW 794 gdf support staff firing 795 basic constructional program house 27799 ARS 15712 to increase required instructional time on the Holocaust and other genocides 796 J ikf graduation requirements 797 JF ABC notification of board meetings H Bill 2645 added 157 104 role of the State Board of Education to develop guidance for school districts to consider in their policiy that govern academic credit calculation partial credit for foster students who transfer schools while R Gres 912 the school district governing board must also develop policy that address transfer credits for foster students who transfer into the school district additionally within 10 days of receiving this Foster students educational records a foster student must leave with a school official to discuss a graduation plan in addition a School District that enrolls a foster student can administer a local competency assessment to award full and partial crit to competencies School District govern board may not require 11th or 12th grade transferring Foster student to satisf of stud or comping requir to graduate from high school in addition to higher than minimum stud prescribed by the State Board of Education 798 jfb jfb up 21 ARS 1581 601 for school districts ARS 15184 from Charters adding an additional student category to whom a school district they give enrollment preference to specifically children of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who either is on active duty or was killed in line Duty the regulation is also updated 799 ghd gdr regulation ghd EA jhd exclusions and exemptions from School attendance number 800 regulation jail CDR medicines administering medicines to students HP 217 for ARS 1534 401 32141 32854 32901 one school district may now obtain a standing order for Glon and store doses at individual schools where can be administered by a specified individual so student diabetes and emergency policies areed for upon I will make the motion agend discuss approval of the2 Mr President M of to discuss action to approve and all are in part the draft 2025 political agenda of the Arizona School Board Association and direct District delegates ASB to the board detered position this is a Bo decision Mr President I'm looking yeah we did okay I was thinking we were going to be looking at what the delegate assembly voting on page starts page four okay I'll make a motion I will second okay now and this is where we decided that we that Lonnie was going right yes is he going to be going to all of it or just to this I assumed that he was going to go to all of it that's what I thought too okay and if you just go to the delate assembly of [Music] District I will double check with him but I'm I'm pretty sure all of it all discuss what page page five number [Music] 13 yep [Music] yeah I don't see kindergarten it was I saw it I did see that okay yes I did see that um that is page five number four ni yes excellent I like 10 page s page seven number 10 you propose any legislation that seeks to make School Board elections par SE yeah about AR ures all students in Arizona Small schools considered by policy makers alongside the students in Metropol equ invest in technology modernization district from just read that one I so a lot first one more time we have a a motion to approve all those next item possible new agenda introduced [Music] car

e all of this that we're doing uh is not just to make pretty pictures we're not here uh to to make something that EX exclusively people get excited about when they see on the floor uh or on the building or something like that what we're we're here that that's a that's a benefit for people to be excited uh but at the end of the day what this is all about is helping the community understand that Huntington County Community Schools is the place to be um we're not we're not creating something new um you are you are this good you are a great organization and and what we want to do is is tell the the community that and and and encourage them to be proud of that fact um because what we want is we want uh we want more kids to come to this school system we want more families to move into this uh into this County um and they should because there's a lot of great stuff going on so we're not here to make people think something U we're not we're not here to um uh great pretty pictures we're here at the end of the day uh to bring more families into the school system and that's what this driver uh this effort has been all about um so again just as a reminder uh flip to the next slide this is where we started and uh and so you can see um again not representative of of what this community is all about everything looks somewhat different somewhat dated um we could spend a lot of time but I think we've done that in previous sessions um we're trying to make a a a community image uh something that feels like it's all together something that people can be proud of and you'll see in the next Slide the reason uh is because of this when we did that survey just want to bring this back because it was a long time you probably forgotten um there are a lot of people out there that don't understand what Huntington County Community Schools is all about and we need to tell them um that's what we need to do because there's amazing things going on and so what we're doing is putting tools in the hands of the school system to be able to more effectively tell their story anecdotally um since this time I've I already hear that the these kinds of things have been going where where that where that positive flow has been picking up I'm excited for maybe in the future for us to run this again and see how that's changed but this is our goal is to get more people talking about the great things uh that are involved in all in Huntington County Community Schools all right um just as a reminder again we won't spend a lot of time on this because I think the things that have changed since the last time I I was here um are largely the images and we'll go through that but we do have a brand story and I would encourage you um I'll leave a copy behind I don't want to take uh all your time tonight to go through it um but but that's a very very powerful brand story that I think really speaks to the idea that that that strong students make a strong Community strong students make a strong County that's what we're about here is helping people understand the that's what Huntington County Community Schools is doing uh because when we make our students better we're making our community better so um that's the goal again I won't read that whole Brand Story we'll get into the changes um because I know that's uh what people would like to see um I'm going to go through some examples here um these are preliminary these are just uh sketches they're designed to just give you an idea sometimes when we look at logos and things like that um it's hard to see what they hard to imagine what they look look like in real life so we've created some images just to kind of give you a look and feel of what some of these um applications would look like and so there you can see an example now we're starting with the one that's probably going to change the most as we move forward um but but at least you get a sense of right now if we were to if we were to move forward with this identity this is what it would look like when it's applied so that's the high school we also have in our conversations and again I'll I'll go into this a little bit deeper but we realized we needed more more of an athletic uh presence uh component to this brand identity so on the very next slide you're going to see an example of the incorporation of that of that of that H that would be representative of the athletic logo um as well as the mascot so you can see some examples there I'm not advising that you rip up your basketball court and put that down I know that you've made investments in that already um this stuff can be decided on on a caseby casee basis of how you to implement it but just to give you a vision of what that could look like and in the last slide uh I think we have an example of salamony down south right um and some of the work that we're doing there with that logo and potentially utilizing their colors what that could look like um as we move forward so just a glimpse of some of those things again they're not real they're just designed to help people kind of begin to see what these things look like uh on the uh oh one one last slide um the corporation so we had to get a picture of John in there there he is that's great happy about that I'm sure um some business cards just some examples of of uh of wear I I've noticed a lot of a lot of logoed wear here tonight even so um it'll be great to uh see some of this stuff come to life I think on on different apparel um all right so uh let's look at the the uh the actual logos then for for all the schools so next slide uh Cindy sorry so this is this is where we're at I can tell you right now we're still tweaking some things uh I believe um detail from from a detail perspective I think Huntington High School still has some elements that we need to work out on the H um Flint Springs has uh some things that they'd like us to try um Salon salamony has some things they'd like us to try on the mascot side as well but these would be the uh school um logos they would be used in just kind of conventional communication you can imagine on a uh on a sign out front um wherever the the school is kind of communicating it's um from a school perspective from an academic perspective these are the identities that we would use on the next slide uh and we can we can go back and talk about these uh as as we as we move forward um on the next slide is a representation of their mascots so a lot of great mascots um they all looked very different didn't have a collective feel so we tried to create something that was more consistent in the way that these mascots looked uh and and what you'll see there um I think since our last meeting um Rono did some some internal research with its constituents and landed on the the bulldog and um and then we had them U I think also right below the Bulldog is the latest uh uh version of the Rebel at Salomon um and then uh I think the last thing I'll point out uh on the school just because it is the it is the flagship of the system right is the is the high school um you can see some examples there and kind of how we would Envision this being applied um where you on the leftand side you have that athletic identity that feels a little more sporty and Rah and and um and fun with the with the with the Viking um and then uh what you'll see there on the right hand side is more of that academic look more of the um Department employee communication kind of look um as well as an example potentially of what Huntington Learning Center might look like uh the last piece this is a a look into Kenny's World um so um all those things are great U but but we also have to surround that with some of the the graphics and and tool sets to bring all this stuff together and so you'll see uh a pretty comprehensive um visual pet that Kenny will be able to T tap into I think um certainly it was playing before our meeting tonight um maybe it'll be playing again after um Kenny's loaded some slides that that have utilized some of those aspects and so uh it's great to see it's great to see Communications coming to life using this tool this is a little bit more specialized tool this is going to be something that's available to everyone U because you have to understand how all these things work to put it together um but what it represents is is a very comprehensive set of tools that that the communication team for Huntington County Community Schools can use um to to promote itself that was the quick run through um I wanted to get that out the way because I know uh I want to go where where your concerns lie the most certainly happy to talk about any of the process any of the logos any of the mascots anything you'd like to talk about I think Kenny and I are are ready to talk about those things okay so let's let's uh reverse order here so let's start with this slide right here okay so Kenny talk to us a little bit about the pallets the Reds why this is important also the graphics on the left with the fonts and those pieces and then I'll jump on that a little bit but why is this page so important to our conversation then we'll go backwards into some of the other things then well these are whoa it is hot uh these are additional tools that that bring that Unity piece um so when you when you are familiar with the consistent consistency of the fonts being used throughout the entire District that is another indicator that we're all a part of that same that same group same Community um when it comes to that color pallet use um again it's just it's another Advanced way uh per se to to make those connections um whereas if you were just to leave it just to a logo just to a mascot uh the dynamic is not there um and and it can just be kind of lost in The Ether uh per se uh so the again these are all just additional ways to to bring every part of the district I.E the schools together to show that connection uh yeah go ahead go ahead no you're fine um so if you remember back about a year ago we started this conversation about all the different Reds that we are utilizing in our district for a variety of things that we're doing and so we've tried to there's actually this red that we have here is a specific has a specific number to it etc etc so if you would go down for example into our gym and start looking at all the different Reds and all the different fonts and all the different whatever or even for that matter materials that we are sending out into our community with all these different pieces it's really important for us that we start finding finding this commonality so when our community or when our area sees this red or they see this logo they know exactly um who and what we are talking about so I don't want to brush over this page because the fonts that you see on your left would be so many of the font would be the fonts that we would use throughout our entire District uh regardless of what it would be so if you would look around the table for example at the sports wear that you're wearing um these would be the fonts that we use this would be the red that would be there but then across the bottom here you see the greens and the yellows can he talk to that just a second um you educated me on this I had no idea about this but when we start talking about the other school logos this will be really important to the conversation yeah so the the additional accent colors referring to the the little squares at the bottom um that's an you can use those as cues uh in a way to indicate something like a specific event or specific um yeah just we'll just stick with a event that you want to highlight uh so as an example maybe you have like an arbor day or what have you at ronoke and they use their green but every time you push Arbor Day you use that light green and then you use that over time and then as as you develop that content um when you get back to to sharing and promoting that again you can almost expect those colors to to be there and it's another CER indicator of those special components so that's one way to use those accent colors is to highlight something specific uh within within the community and that that could be used throughout you know so let's say Rono as Arbor Day but Heman wants to as well so they can use that same color to kind of highlight or promote that kind of idea whether it be ar just fill in the blank in the on the type of event or day so that's that's one way to use those accent colors um so you you still hold true consistent consistently throughout your internal Communications internal Graphics external all that with your school colors but you can use those to accentuate specific specific items that's one way so I have two thoughts I like to your opinions about talk to us about color schemes and fonts okay not okay want us to consider other things um thoughts opinions so so the fonts um so that's everything I mean anything I see corporate Cy if you want to slide up to so you see on the left that that's a specific font to for athletics so you're to answer your question yes and no they're there's they're just not on the same page so Athletics on the left and then on the bottom you would see the addition or the next slide you would see those additional to to help we would we would anticipate that Communications for athletics would then utilize one of those uh one of those fonts but your your image H yeah or your image Viking is going to be that that specialized okay yeah and when it's when it's all said and done too it's not that we just have a massive file full of stuff and we say good luck um there's a there's a process Beyond when it's complete where there's instructions and guides and and and sit down sessions on how to use the stuff properly and then there will be checks and balances of sorts throughout to make sure it's it's actually being used the way it's supposed to so yeah that was my question how do we especially Athletics music oh sorry with Athletics music things like that how do how do we there's so many vendors out there how do we enforce that this is the logo yeah so just stepping into my well kind of previous like my other um life doing freelance work um you frontload a lot and you communicate directly with vendors to make sure that it's it's correct um I think it's just the enormity of the district it's inevitable that things will slip through the cracks at some point um but the goal is to minimize that and um make it as consistent as possible um so a lot of it will be honestly on me to communicate with those V ERS um and it will be my responsibility to communicate with our athletic directors then coaches so on and so forth on that process so and there's there's a lot Beyond just stamping it and being done and and um approving it there there's going to be Grace periods throughout uh because there's already a lot out there right um not to get too too deep in the weeds but I mean you have um yeah you have a lot that's already been designed that is setting on the table to print um you have a lot that were just designed and being used now uh so we have to um be mindful of all that um provide a lot of Grace in that transition and also respect that you know we're not we're not a Starbucks we can't just go inh house in 24 hours make look make everything everything look different right there's there's a transition in it all we have to kind of Honor what's out there and and respect um especially these kids I mean a lot of the kids are are the ones that raise the money to get new uniforms right and if they they spend all this this time and energy to to purchase these we we need to get every every dollar amount out of it before we make the switch to something new so there's there's a lot to consider post completion so the the quick answer uh Matt is it's G to take time you know it's it's it's over time it's putting a stake in the ground saying this is where we're going moving forward but it's also being U very sensible and wise to understand that we can't go in and just for a variety of reasons rapidly change everything it's moving it's moving to this direction along the way we also want to be sensible to our vendors who have a lot lot of material already out there and setting a date out into the future to do that and so This Is Us trying to get our arms around it for the very first time and to do that like we can't go down into our gym and rapidly change all this over to do all that we've got to move start moving this direction um along the way another subtle one here that I don't want you to miss is Ben I want you to talk about where it says heart of the community there um the first four words are big words there's a fifth word that's not there okay and so I want the I want you to talk to that and see what the board's feelings are about that um yeah so on the messaging side um what we what we really um learned in talking to people um was that the the entire system uh from from the people that are cleaning things at night all the way up all the way through uh management everyone is focused on the kids there there's an exceptional um care uh that they have a heart that that absolutely beats um for the for students and to see them succeed it's it's passionate there's tears at times uh that that I've been in meetings where I've seen um I've seen people um expressing that that compassion um very publicly so um that's evident uh the other piece of this is if there's anything that that really um pulls this County together it's this school system in fact it's really the only thing uh that that reaches every single corner of this count and and um because you know with the old song our children are our future right um they're the ones that that if if we can focus on making every single student in every corner of this County successful that's that's the win and and um and we just saw over and again there's this Focus um um on setting aside a lot of the a lot of the stuff that may have happened in the past a lot of the the concerns that may have happened in um a lot of the old stuff some of the old baggage that has kind of prevented us from moving forward and talking about what we can do um there's a desire within the system to put all that stuff aside and really begin to focus on on creating unity and and um and driving this idea that that Huntington County Schools is the heartbeat of of this community and should be so you'll notice that in some of the messages meag in here I didn't want this page to go and I want your thoughts and feedback on this for example you'll see in the middle there underneath the question mark you'll see hccs and you won't see the last C so if you look at Chuck's um um what is that Chuck um yeah that's it's a winter coat that he has yeah yeah I know it's a winter coat but I yeah so yeah but I'm saying call the logo sorry the logo that's on his jacket the C is not part of that and so if you notice there in the bottom in the middle some of the messaging that we would do that we're saying as we move down the road is the corporation would come off of that and it would be Huntington County Community Schools thoughts and feelings about that and and we did that to match the The Voice that we wanted to denote because a corporation sounds cold and stuffy and uncaring by removing that now it it feels like it put the right emphasis on the right things I like that I I think it's gonna take time when you're typing an email address not to put the C on the end if we change all of that but um no I I I'd be thankful for that I'd be thankful for that yeah I I think that is and a very easy simple easy to understand change um I don't know whether I was good fortune or Misfortune but I was part of the why I worked for the why when they went through their branding change about 12 14 years ago and getting the vendors to do what needed to be done and stuff is very very difficult getting your staff to do what needs to be done is impossible um except that you just are real strict about it you know you just have expectations and they slowly move things over but you're right they're all going to have files and files of logos and templates and things that they love to use every every day for back to school yeah the great thing about um where we are today is that there there there's specifically one program called canva that we're exploring right now that is very very user friendly even even somebody that's not a graphic designer can can utilize it and and we're able to uh if if we provide the right tools with the right instruction on the right platform then then everyone who needs to make something should have access to the right tools to make things and so much easier today than it would have been 14 years ago to do and I don't want to I don't want to uh get away from the fact that I like H hccs I think that's pretty simple and I can't believe it's that evident I mean I see now that you said it I'm like how did we just not say something but um good it always somebody else good anybody else have a thought or an opinion about that piece you know we're still in the design phase see a thumbs up from Carrie we're still trying to figure it out but I'm just telling you where we're at today that's not that paragraph's not there by accident and that logo down there at the bottom in the middle is not by accident um with that either and so I'm just kind of letting you see some of the thinking that we're originally doing uh Kenny been very helpful to me the pictures by themselves um I've been educated on by Kenny um with that and don't let the outline of the red and the white and the phase in of the red of the building over to the right uh go unnoticed with that there's being some things that's being done professionally um to help us too and so I'm just saying to you is I'm just picking out a couple of the highlights of that page so it doesn't go unnoticed if you have a thought or opinion about it coming up the next couple of weeks few weeks I'd appreciate knowing that but when you see this in the future I want to draw your attention to a few of those pieces if we could go back I don't know what number it is Cindy to this page oh that page right there all right G stick to the left about the Athletics what do you like what don't you like like on the left side of that page and I'm not going to lead you anywhere but just to get your thoughts and opinions about what you like and what you dislike okay and I'm gonna pull out I'm GNA pull out a couple things to really get you going but I would like just your initial what you like and what you dislike I like no black you like no okay the color yeah okay good what else likes dislikes I I like the Viking I do too um I know that I like the one that's back there too but I know that's very difficult to reproduce on um embroidery shirts things like that so I I do really like the Viking I like the H okay that's where I was going to lead you yeah I know that's something we've debated in the past on the football field the center court at basketball i i i wor it looks a little like hu's H oh which hu the one the either one they both lean and uh H leans okay as opposed to just a block which I thought was kind of distinctive for us I know this is semantics but we have to make a decision if it's the H or the hn because we got both everywhere and if we're going to bring some consistency to this this is one of the I know it sounds crazy say big decisions but it's abolutely the truth which direction we're going because we got to find some consistency here okay so like in Matt shirt with the golf we've got an H in he's got the H there so I've never liked the hn because I think it just looks like a bunch of spaghetti in the middle I mean it yeah unless they're different colors the H and the N but you don't see that on anything thoughts other thoughts H hn this H I like the just regular age yeah but you're gonna have people that are going to say we're Huntington North that's why I'm asking yeah yeah yeah I think maybe more of a block and not the forward leaning H would be worth a look kind of like what Kenny's got shirt okay what else where did you one Le us I'm not I'm just making eye contact with Ben I I think to me the biggest decision that we've got to make is if you look in the middle of the football field there's the H okay and I know to some people are going to say what's the difference I think it's a big difference when we're trying to Brand ourselves that if if you want the H or the hn we've got to know that now we can debate what kind of H or what kind of hn but and I'm not looking for decision this evening but I am going to be coming back to you saying we're reaching a point where we got to make a decision on this and we're we're coming closer when Kenny starts talking to you about web page design that's sneaking up on us quickly and so that's one of those pieces that I would really love your inut on um with that I think if we Lan one to the other then what it looks like whether it's the block AG if it's a fig I mean what's the word I want Kenny if it's a um variation of this that's not the right word I know I embarrassing with my lack of I'm trying to read your mind I'm not I know dangerous place to go but thoughts any more thought about the H or the HM one nice thing about the H is that if you were sitting on the football field or the basketball court the H is the h no matter which side of the field or the court you're on I think that was our discussion and why we did the football yeah way we did it where the hn is convoluted on the opposite side okay any other thoughts because I'm watching time I'm being very conscious here on the left side I'd like to see the Vikings also kind of straightened up and set a forward leaning too and just see what a version of that would look like okay I think it's forward leaning a little bit all right good what else anybody okay talk to me about the right side of this page let start specifically with the logo the red Lo red and right logo thoughts likes dislikes I do not not like the helmet um it on the left side we have kind of a serious looking Viking and on the right side I feel like I mean I I understand what the thought is and the concept it just just doesn't look I mean this is going to sound goofy but I think of Bugs Bunny Elmer fud when he's got the big oversized Viking costume on okay what would you maybe I have to Google that I don't know what would you like to see then maybe straighten it up not have it curved um keep the helmet or not keep the helmet if you had your preference well all the other school logos that we're going to see up above have something in it so I think if you're going to be consistent Ben's going to tell us yeah it can't just be a block AG yeah that red a red Block H which is why you got to be a little careful can come off looking very very much like a hospital sign yeah okay Kenny you had something you going to say yeah I just wanted to this conversation just to back up a little bit um after our initial meeting um work session and then we had a meeting with all admin um ad Administration principles were instructed to get with their stakeholders um after giving it a little bit of time time to rest a few days um get with their stakeholders within their school communities and and have these conversations so uh there has been additional input from parents retired teachers fill in the blank that have investment or interest in our community um so I just wanted to put that out there um and there's been pretty good feedback honestly and I I actually just submitted a lot of that to to Ben earlier today um but the uh the elephant in the room is is Huntington North it's there's there's more weight to it um we had that meeting yesterday and um it it went well it was constructive uh but the collective thought was that um the the monogram for the school the academic side um not not a huge fan of the helmet where it's at they're not opposed to a helmet being used they just conceptually they're not be a they're not there to to to actually show what they're they're wanting if that makes sense saying a little something similar to what Matt said there yeah correct absolutely so I I think that that trend is is pretty consistent across the board and and that's that's totally fine um but yeah I just wanted to be open on that uh to where we're at those conversations are continuing and the voices are are being heard so yep I just wanted to point that out anything else about the logo on the right side had some good discussion here other thoughts anybody likes dislikes Matt your conversation is very similar to what Kenny just said with the stakeholders here so I found that interesting anybody else on the right side the lettering the fonts anything there that you want to comment on uh I like the font bold do bold I mean you can clearly see what it says and everything a lot of our communication that goes home would be this would exactly what it would look like here would be consistent with that getes you some thoughts Okay C light up uh okay we're going to throw a few of you at at you here just at one time so understand that Kenny's been working with the principls who have been working with the stakeholders who have been working with whoever uh I have also heard from a few people myself here on some of these I'm GNA Just Lay It Wide Open here and tell me likes dislikes on this page and to chime in quick the ones that you're seeing on the screen are the ones that we've had conversations about so there's continual conversation Beyond right that first preview that we saw so okay so anything on this page likes dislikes I can tell you that I do not like the salamony at all it looks like a cowboy and the same with the hat in the like we are not the salamony cowboys that just ties into the stigma with the southern half of the county and that is what I have heard from multiple people um that that is there I've not heard anybody that likes it okay so what do you want to see the question I that's what I don't know I don't know what a rebel looks like but it's not necessarily that like to me that looks like that's why I always wondered why we always talked about the lightning I know that's changing a mascot but yep like the lightning yep yeah so I don't and I don't I don't know yeah that's way be that's Way Beyond and that's what's hard here Kenny and I'm glad you reminded us that there's been a lot of groundwork and we're just kind of picking it apart when a lot of people have done a lot of hard work already so yeah I mean the million-dollar question in the room is what what is a rebel in 2024 and what is a rebel in 2040 and what is a rebel in 20150 right so that's that is the million-dollar question it it it does keep me up at night if I'm being honest car all of these I'll just tell you of all of these on this page I've had more discussion about that one than I've had with all the rest of them combined yeah our original was a horse and so we were trying to lean away and then we were asked to embrace it and so we we desperately want someone to tell us what to do cuz we'll do it um but but but when when you have competing viewpoints and and nobody can make that decision then we're kind of left with rounds of revisions that don't don't go anywhere and that that's eventually going to start costing so Carrie um I'm receiving text messages from people my age that when we went to salony school of what it was and remember this and um I mean I've gotten so much about this that's my question that I'm starting to ask is what is it and I'm not trying to be difficult with it I'm not at all I just I think we're right where Ben's at I want somebody to tell us or somebody's to tell us give point us a direction okay because we've been we've been three or four different directions and we can't land on something that works yet okay a cowboy what's that anything but a cowboy hat okay all right that narrows it somewhat but not a lot okay yes I think Rono you know went pulled people together yes made an executive decision to say we're the Bulldogs boom we got it we got it in one um we need that that same intentionality to say here's what we want and we will be all over it for you I would really encourage you know with Mrs kitchen and the parent groups down there and a lot of input from a lot of people to I mean and I mean this in all honesty is point us yeah and it's just like that does not capture right what salony is right and so my question that's what we've got to go back to is what what is it yes towards am I I with that but no M you've seen two or three different diversions just in this slideshow um yeah needs to be a bird or a dog it looks like okay others thoughts about this page likes dislikes I'm watching the time here likes dislikes got about 15 minutes opinions colors thoughts sorry I have another question those colors the same as like the accent colors that were at the bottom yes of the first of the this right here at the bottom yes yes okay so obviously they all I think one of the things that we allowed the schools to do was look at that pallet we we gave recommendations on where they were today and and what we felt like were the corresponding uh colors but then we gave them the option to to choose two of those primary colors um so that they'd have that ability so all these are reflective of the school's choices correct yes uh so I don't know if it's not a part of this slideshow but there was a there's a slide on a previous that it shows the six core colors um and they're they're all pulling from that the six core colors so you have right there you can see them there essentially so you have your red and then gold and then Navy Crimson green can't count black I said Navy okay let's try this makes this count Red Gold green Crimson Navy black those are your those are your six colors so all schools have opted to pick a main and then a secondary so in in this case your your Andrews would be your main would red be red and then black would be your secondary yeah um you know Carrie um I'm coming back to you because we l we were here for a while with this and when when I say that to you um it's important that we get it right um you know it's it's just really important we get it it seems like we're getting closer with all the other buildings I'm not saying we're done but it just seems like we're going down a path that we're getting close you can see how everything's starting to flow and fit the one that we're just not you just don't seem to get any traction on yet and we will is what are we doing what are we doing at ceremony you know like Matt said um you know I'm showing my age but when I went to elementary school and warn you know was the lightning five because that's what the high school was way back in the day right and so um those things and it just doesn't seem it just doesn't seem like we can get to what we need for that and so any input that you can help us with any input that that's the community can help us with we're we're really we're truly all ears for that anything else here on this page you can just see different where we're going you can see how it's starting to fit on to the yeah I'm gonna get you that's that's the last big one I didn't want to evening to quit I would love for your thoughts about Huntington County Community Schools and the logo up there that's the last big question of the evening I have for you is your thoughts about that Ben and I have had some Lively uh discussions to get to this point yeah and as a just as a as if you recollect so for context um that logo came out of the realization that there are six sorry nine can't count uh nine schools all together and um and so what we're trying to say there uh is is that these schools come together to form Huntington County Community Schools um and so that's a representation of all the schools together together uh unified in into one system one County one Community I love the thought process on that I think that's awesome but I I don't know it just looks like a block I don't see the age right away CU yeah I don't see the age I didn't see the can you go to the applications because I because the other the other thing to remember is you're going to see this always in applications um people aren't going to not know that this is Huntington County Community Schools right it will always be there to me yeah you're you're right in the middle of Ben and I's Lively discussion okay you're you just jumped right in it I think that's a nice business logo I think maybe it was you and I Tim that talked about uh the one thing I like about the one we have now is that you see it and it it says education it says something about schools um and I like the story too uh or you know how it's nine schools um and I see the age um I don't know I just wish there was something that that when you see just the logo it has oh that's a that's a school corporation or oh that's a something education related okay does that make your heart sing Ben no comment your honor John looked happy uh to be fair to Ben that's exactly where he started I know I'm just going to be I'm just going to be I'm just going to be perfectly honest with you um he's he's keeping a very uh stoic face but when he gets in his car he's gonna say trout I told you um because um this is some of the discussions that he and I are having continually to have over this I don't want this to be what I think other thoughts conversations about this the white version of it is not as obvious as the red version so if I had to like if we did do something like that I would want it to be in red and not the white okay really don't like the white yeah she's saying like up in the business card up there in the far right corner I can see that okay what else likes just likes how much does it change it if you you like take the do red and black versus red and white I mean I'm sure there was a a reason why you chose white um over black um is there any thought on that the the the boxes that are not filled in right now instead of putting a a black in there or or outlining everything in black sorry no I'm either way okay I mean I was going with the the boxes and I was calling them filled in white even though it's a white background um so you'll um you'll see in I think in the examples of the shirts and then in some of the buttons below that it's actually just not it's a nonfilled in and so it's just outlined instead of um instead of filled in so um you can kind of see what if if we were to go with black is just those two the middle squares top and bottom um you can kind of see that on that shirt that's what you would get um I don't know if it reads differently on other colors um yeah we would have we tried to um we've tried them all there's a lot of trial trial and error on these kinds of things um I think that uh one of the things that we're trying to do is make something that's flexible enough to use on um lots of all the different colors that you have and so um you know you might have a primary one that that is um you'll have the the logo that's going to be used 90% of the time but then when you start having shirts and things like that so we would have wanted to try to keep it to as minimal color uh choices as as possible to make it just easier to replicate across a lot of different tactics okay that makes sense other thoughts likes dislikes this is of um being just blunt um these are the two salony and this is still the significant work in progress and I wanted your thoughts and feedbacks about it I do like how the Huntington County Community Schools works on this type of things Matt made that comment you know earlier just to me now we're we're still a work in progress on our logo here and so that's why you know Matt said he'd like to see something a little bit more educational minded other thoughts I would also encourage you to sit with stuff um most people don't like new things the first time they see it um you may find that it might grow on you it might not um but but as a society we tend to hate things that we see for the first time and mock them uh quite a bit and then we end up loving them I think of the progressives flow you know or Geico's caveman uh and how corny those were but now they've become a center point of society and marketing people point to those as examples of good advertising so um so sometimes you got to sit with something um before you can really feel like you understand it I think Carrie ruined it when she said Rubik's Cube it was either that or a matrix and I figure everybody knew what Rubik's Cube was that's good that's why we're asking because we need to know we want to know you know like everything else we do if you think about it for a while and something strikes you let me know let Kenny know um we're to the point where you can see we've made a lot of progress and a lot but we still got work to do in a few areas and that's why we're having this conversation tonight this is by no means final this is just a work in progress and we've reached this stage and we need your input and I realize that that may take may take a few days for you to think it through and whatever but I I wanted to get this out in front of you this evening other thoughts about the logo about this logo just out of curiosity Mr trout said that you started somewhere else and he led you down this path where were you going things and I think Matt mentioned it you know how do you say school without getting so literal um that you've got like a a church kind of symbol uh or a uh you know a book or something like that you know even when you think about books well how many you know books are kind of making way with laptops and things like that so how do you say school um what we tried to do conceptually was represent the idea of growth and so we had an H that had Incorporated a leaf design into it um so a lot softer feel uh a lot more um yeah just probably a lot more a bit more feminine a little bit more U conceptual in this idea of of representing growth and it it it did feel more organic too yeah um and then when when you put them all together that being every monogram and the the district the district was it was the outlier like there was it was hard to conceptualize how the district connected with the schools whereas when we brought back the squares and the grid you can see them all play together when they're put put together and there there's been some cool animations and and we won't go too far into the rabbit hole but uh it was It was a it was an aha moment per se when when everything was put together with that nine grid system um so yeah I'll just leave yeah that was the second uh that was second go around and so it was something we discovered as we were looking at at the solutions we created I do think the the the H um the original H with the leaf the leaf was kind of used in the same way that you see on on the schools have animals this was a leaf so um that that was the the primary departure from whereas all the other schools I think have animal mascot representations except for uh the high school I will put a bow on this conversation and say this to you all okay uh I love working with Ben and Kenny okay I really do they challenge me they make me think about things that I would not normally think about and I drive them crazy I he's smiling at yeah I just drive him crazy I am with with this logo I'm just telling you me personally I'm ultra traditional okay and those two guys that that's that's been our that's been our play back and forth with this um growing up in this community and doing those things I am I am probably way too Ultra uh traditional right I can't get out of that of that mindset um within that so we've gone we've we have we have bannered this back and forth so much and uh I've always said to Ben I would love to know can I record him in the car when he gets in the car after dealing with me because there's just some things I just can't get to and and this was kind of the compromise because I keep coming back to a more a more traditional p which doesn't fit with everything else we've done okay I under I completely understand that um but I am really I'm still I'm not saying dug in but um yeah he thinks he said dug in okay so um I'm just really it's really hard for me to let go of of that very traditional uh piece you know going to school here in the 60s and 70s I'm just rooted in that and so um we're I'm G to need your help I really and I mean that to you I'm gonna need your help because these two gentlemen have been more than patient with me with this piece and they're smiling and I appreciate the smile with the cameras on but I will say to you is that this this for me personally is the biggest struggle because I think we've come so far and yes we got to get the the Salamon thing straightened out and I agree we'll get that but right here is where I am grappling the most and I'm really GNA need your help what what was our logo before what it is now do we have any like historical um I think so before what Chuck has on it was still a it was a it was a schoolhouse of sorts and then the it was really tall skinny hccsc that fit inside the shape of the there yeah with the bell tower on top okay um we did that we did the the current logo yeah because you did actually that's true you did the one that's on yeah it's on check yeah so you need 2010 2013 somebody somewhere around there 11 12 years ago so yeah this is I'm going to need your help we're going to need your help with this okay um when you get when you get those great thoughts let us know you know um I'm wide open even people who are watching online uh anybody here um I uh I grapple with this but I'm at least letting you know where I am personally at doesn't mean that's right that's just what we're trying to to work through okay other thoughts Matt I would be curious to know what the younger High School uh just younger than all of us say about it um you know I mean it could be just because we're old and more set in our ways and this looks new retro you know so on so forth I mean maybe that is the thing for the future I I don't know I I I don't want to upset their apple cart either but we have nine schools now we had more than that a few years ago um before we Consolidated some schools so that nine is probably not going to be nine forever it was quite a bit more than that before um so I understand the basis on that but that's kind of irrelevant as far as I'm concerned I mean we have nine schools now it's great um yeah a couple years ago we had 10 or 11 so yep yeah okay so if cl to open I if you could give this some thought give us some feedback I would really appreciate it Kenny uh give us the twom minute uh uh web page uh update about timelines and things that you're working yeah so we are transitioning to a new website as we know um with final site um a big component of a new website is branding so uh the the pivotal move next beyond their base assets that they need are colors logos mascots favicons you name it they they need The Branding uh to to move that forward um the the the date if if we're being specific spefic is later this month that they would need it in order to move forward and have it done by the end of January so every every month that passes adds another month and so the drop that's in essence where we're at the drop dead date for me is spring break because when we come back from spring break we're in the throws of registration okay and so I'm putting those timelines out in front of you if we wait until the end of August we're we're late January if we wait till if you don't have a decision made until the end of September we're into February so you can feel where it's at so we got to keep this moving and in addition to that our current website it's on a yearly contract and that would also reup right around spring break so we don't we don't want to go into another you know if we lapse we still need a website we don't want to pay for and you can't pay by month it's a whole year so so I will keep pushing because now we're we're much closer than we were but we still got some decisions to make and I'll keep coming now I'm going to keep coming back to you where are you what do you think where we at um Ben Kenny and I will keep working on this too but we that's where we're at any final thoughts questions as we move out of this discussion item anything Ben go ahead if I can just take a minute um he John pokes a lot of fun um but I do want I would do want to say that it's been a privilege working with John and his team Chuck Jay and Cindy and Kenny of course um amazing people amazing leadership uh I've been really really impressed with his ability to allow us to push back to speak and to and and allow us to do what we're trained to do uh he he acts like it's a big problem but um I've thoroughly enjoyed working with him and and I'm really impressed with your leadership team so just thought we'd share that so thank you for the opportunity we appreciate it well and then the reason we came your Direction you don't always tell me what I want to hear but I have such respect for you and your team that you make me stop and make make us think um and you haven't been in the room and we still had had all these Lively discussions and and I appreciate what you have done you've gotten us so far with so many pieces we're getting really close to finish line and we wouldn't be there without you so thank you I really mean that thank you very much Kenny thank you appreciate it uh we're ready to move on okay we're gonna flip complete gears so we're just going to change we're not even gonna be on near the same subject you know a month without Terry thornsbury you wonder what's going on right so if you don't get to see Terry Thor Burberry like every month you think wow you know what are we doing here so need that guy back yeah yeah um what we're gonna talk to you about tonight and share with you are um details as it relates to salamon's HVAC okay and so um Rich hurdle if for those of you who watching at home may not know who he is is the director of facilities and maintenance here for our district Rich has been with us for a couple of days yeah how how long Rich youve been with us 29 and a half I was gonna say almost 30 years and does a tremendous job but we are now uh need get needing get to get you some information and kind of help us with some decision making along the way as we go now and to discuss salon's hva so Terry I'll uh turn it over to you and you can walk us through this then all right thanks John I appreciate it um Cindy's gonna pull up that image and then I'll get started so a little background on this so um the 2023 Bond um which was Valor you know the timing when that was approved last year um I don't have the I I know it was closed um right at the end of the year right so that that bond is allocated for salamony school and um the primary project that we've been focusing on that you guys approved um my team to move forward with is the HVAC replacement and renovation of that building and so that's what I'm going to talk about um and talk you through where we are design wise we've been making great progress um we're about 75 80% done with design been updating cost through vendors contractors suppliers um everybody that can help us out with with numbers and um so we have a we have a cost estimate that we've been putting together and and continuously update and then we also have a budget with Valerie's help that we've established from that Bond of what's spendable uh for the building itself so if I could add one more thing this is we're reaching critic stage here too um Rich do you want to talk to the age of this HVAC that's in that building um yeah handlers are the same age as here basically around 197 whenever that building was built originally y um your boilers were replaced in the late 90s um they're showing a lot of wear age um chillers getting to be obsolete um having trouble finding parts for it we found out last week y we thought we had a board down luckily we had to work around on that um it's just time to start upgrading that facility if we're don't to continue on with that building right because we're we're we're literally have maxed out the time frame for equipment seen its life huh equipment has seen its life yeah so that's why this is such an essential uh conversation for us to be having here so okay Terry all right thank you um so our focus on this project originally because this was actually one of the first projects that um uh previous superintendant shared with me over lunch and said we need to focus on this building and we need to deal with it um but at that time we realized that the building I I know the building as middle school because I ran track out there and that's that's what it was when when I would spend time out there it's not that anymore um 100% of the building is definitely not utilized these days based on it uh the natatorium has been closed for how long Rich 10 years 10 10 years or more than Natatorium more than that been empty it's it has a few things in storage in there um but it's basically Cold Storage it's not heated and cooled it's not conditioned any longer um the locker rooms that are on the top of this image uh labeled as alternate too those those locker rooms were added at some point um and the the right side of that is not used at all there's some stuff again stored in there but the left side is a store um that's used for clothing and other things um and then alternate four was in addition to the building as well some classroom spaces there right now i' say half or more than half of the building is utilized um as admin space and as we know they're going to move to the the renovated uh red building at some point um probably end of this year early next year and so then there's going to be more of this building that's empty at that point um and so what we're focusing on for the HVAC replacement is the areas that are colored on this floor plan so um our our budget based on what Valerie shared with us is about $5.5 million and right now the cost estimate we have for just the HVAC replacement for the colored areas is $5.5 million so we were trying to also um see if we could write size this building as we're calling it so the natatorium is not used anymore it cost money uh to to maintain it as well as uh pay for electricity and things on that space um there within the the red square with the alternate three and the gray space between that and Alternate one which is the the pool um those are the locker rooms that serve that pool same thing they're not used anymore again there's some stuff stored in there and it's it's just like anything at home if you have room you're G to put stuff in it and stuff just piles up um alternate to I already talked to you about what how that's utilized and then alternate for um that I think is all Chuck's office from what I've been told so the whole thing and I've been in there I never find Chuck because it's so big but yeah right so um so if I if I add in um right sizing the gray portions of the building right now we're at um about 7.4 million um so we looked at the options of okay do we replace the HVAC for those gray areas not the pool but just replace the HVAC and the cost to replace the HVAC and tie it into the system as compared to demoing it are basically a wash so we're going to design this whole project uh which will include HVAC replacement uh the removal of the gray areas of the building um but we're going to bid it with alternates like it's listed on this Flor plan so that we'll have a shopping list to see what we can afford um we we've heard a lot we even heard it this morning Chuck was in the meeting for the large mechanical project for this this building and right now the mechanical contractors say that there are years of work in front of them based on work in forway so the new uh data center that's that um Google's building and um IU Health is building a whole campus of hospitals buildings on the southwest side of fortway not far from my house and um just one project after another after another after another and so we're concerned about pricing for this we're also concerned about getting vids for this um so we're trying to be as cautious as we can and Design This with enough parts and pieces in it price-wise that we can figure out what we can afford and hopefully at a minimum that is the HVAC replacement for those those colored areas um but it may be that the rest of the building stays that's in gray with the HVAC for those spaces will not be replaced because we don't have the money to do it um luckily those spaces the alternate four and Alternate two have their own mechanical systems already on the rooftop uh and within the space they are tied to the overall boiler room but they're independent as far as how they operate um so that can happen the pool equipment has been shut off for years and so it's not even used um but also that pool equipment I may have mentioned to this to you guys in a previous meeting is that pool equipment was was installed and the building was built around it there's no way to get it out so and there's no way to get in new stuff without chopping off part of the building because it's not on an outside wall it's internal to that gray space uh above the locker room so um so that's where we are today we're working on finishing up the drawings and putting this out to bid um early September and then the idea would be um get bids hopefully bids within budget for at least like I said the colored areas um and then I'll come to present that to you guys and um hopefully get approval and start moving forward the lead time on mechanical equipment is still pretty long it's not nearly as long as it was here but it's still around 30 weeks um and we know with that we need to get started in order to get equipment ordered and then have it show up um so that this project the majority of the mechanical equipment portion of it could be done for for occupied space for classrooms could be done next summer and then the spaces where admin uh would have been located um that mechanical equipment could be done during the school year um because there aren't students in those spaces so Kevin I think you have a question thought thoughts comments so on the alternates um so are you designing it so that you could say five years from now you say oh we got a little extra money let's complete alternate four or are you designing it so that alternate four will have to be separate from the rest um kind of like it is now I guess yeah um that we're designing it the whole thing so that in the future you would have drawings that um could potentially be used by a contractor to do portions of this to take off pieces of the building but it also if if it if it those drawings need to be updated for some reason um they could be updated but it's all the information will already be there we we could have said okay we're not going to design the gray area and just not do this at all do that at all because you don't have the budget for it but we' were already well down the road of doing that and had structural and civil and everybody involved so we're just going to finish it um I'm crossing my fingers that the cost will come in to maybe where we could at least remove the natatorium which was our original goal just the pool because it's totally unusable and it's a waste of space um and it's easy to it's a very easy portion of the building to remove the locker rooms um on the north at alternate to are also fairly because they were in addition so that's not hard and the same for alternate for it's pretty simple because there's already an outside wall That's buried within the building at those two locations other thoughts comments questions so this will do away with all of the steam all of the steam or will there still be a steam system okay yeah it's the only building with steam in the school district so we would eliminate that um but do everything we can we can't as a rich knows we we would love to do all the piping that goes to all that as well but you never have the budget to do every single part of it so we do as much as we can I think um this is my 10th year on the board and we've been talking about the pool and salamony for the entire 10 years um we've tried to come up with things we could do to utilize that space convert it to this or that and it just seems like the best solution is to tear it down I mean I hate to say that because being the parent of a swimmer I wish we had a pool right here or some place that we could use but I just I don't to what you said Terry there just doesn't seem to be anything economically that we could do that makes sense to utilize that space it just would you know I know H filled their pool in but I I guessing it cost an arm and a leg to go through that process and their their reason I think was they're kind of landlocked and needed to do some things there but yeah I filled in was Tri State now trying University's pool and which their pool is was twice the size of this one as far as square footage easily twice the size um and that was nearly 20 years ago and that was a couple million dollars um and right now we're renovating Rochester Middle School's nitorum which is very similar in size to yours but in a little better condition because it's still being used and that's nearly three million just to renovate it and get it up to up to date they're very expensive spaces um and we've looked at ideas of could that be storage could it be other things and the big thing is it's so far away from everything else that it doesn't make sense to store stuff out that there that you need here in town yeah so other comments questions so is alternate for isn't that currently some Kindergarten class rooms class it is um because because they have access to the kindergarten ground right and and we've talked through uh with Jay about how the classrooms would be utilized because right now there's some classrooms that are underutilized so losing those is not a a big issue because there's other classrooms that could be used instead and and they're also talking about leaves yes once admin leaves yes a lot of this works around admin leaving so we need to get rimit done which we're underway at least to getting getting things going and so um even after all that um the building will be underutilized until New programs new new things go into place uh which Jay has a list that's plenty long enough I think to help fill this back up and um utilize the building much better than it is today uh my second question was the next to alternate three the gray area is the locker rooms um do we not still need those for some athletic events based on all the discussions we've had uh with everybody in the building that no one uses those whatsoever the showers have stuff stored oh yeah the showers didn't we didn't we take the lockers out of that area and put them in the visitor side here oh an alternate to okay right I was I was waiting for you to bring that up well I mean they were the nicest newest Lockers in so the um so what is utilized in that gray area are two restrooms and so the two little rectangles Cindy if you below the Green in the corner right there those would be two new restrooms to replace those two restrooms so that there because we still need restrooms for the gymnasium for spectators and parents and others to be able to utilize that but from what I've been told from gym class to Athletics nobody uses those locker rooms whatsoever which if you think about it you go to any Elementary School I mean they'd be the only one that have a locker room everybody else uses classrooms so they choose classrooms then yeah I I I don't want the alternate to just skip over all this okay because as a board you're going to have decisions to make and some of this is going to be made by what's the driver is the going to be the money some of the other drivers are going to be there that we're going to talk about that you're talking about here today you know along the way too we have looked at this from a variety of aspects but we felt Terry and I felt that this gives you the most options to consider into the future um we have literally looked at this from every conceivable possible angle that you could look at but again and just like The Branding conversation we're getting this out in front of you early so that when we bring it back you know that we're looking at this from a variety of standpoints I was what' you tell me Terry how many zones there are in this building for 13 13 um which is just as hard for me to understand but when you look at all the how that's changed over the years and how we've had to make it work we're trying to we're trying to rightsize things here too to be as efficient as we can but we don't want to overdo it either right and so this is a this is a significant investment in this building and we just want to do it the right way um for years to come but we're giving you a lot of options to consider when we're doing this too so Jay what am I missing here anything you've been part of all these discussions too anything that I'm missing here that we haven't talked about no I don't think so just looking at other options about how we can use once the admin team uh vacates the building uh what are our options that we have to to use that space right and we're going to come to you with a variety of options within that but right now what we got to do to get ready to meet the timelines because the one piece we haven't talked is that the end date on this bond to spend is also out here that we're also being very mindful of so at the 5.5 million Mark um we've got to be cognizant of that too but when the when the air conditioning when the when the cooling went down last week uh we're we're on borrowed time we we are on we're on borrowed time yeah I heard about that yeah we've got to get this we got to get this done but I I just wanted you and the community to see how we're looking at this from a variety of different aspects uh for consideration okay other comments questions for Terry or Rich so when would you like to in a perfect world when would you like to put it out for bid it's already scheduled to go out to bid um beginning of September next month so yes the plan is is that we're going to bring this to you at the end of the month this is why we moved this work session to this time because we want to give you some time to look at this to ask us questions so that Terry and I have some time to reconsider or consider some things maybe we haven't been thinking about along the way but time is becoming of the essence here uh especially with all the work being done in Fort Wayne we've got to get in the game here for next summer um um and so we're just showing you all the different uh options and varieties that we can possibly look at here along the way okay other comments questions Val anything financially that we haven't touched that they need to know here so I think um a couple pieces when it comes to financials it's important to remember that it's December of 2026 is our spend by date um so you know Terry talked about how it even takes 30 weeks to get equipment in uh once the bid is awarded so those are those are big pieces um another piece is the fact that we are able to earn interest on these allocations so we are being diligent uh with that opportunity however there is a cap threshold so we have to be mindful of that as well um and then lastly um you know that 5 million 540,000 is uh what our balance was as of last month but um and and Terry brought you know these alternates to us but it um when it comes to contingency allocations the what if of once we get into the uh Renovations in the construction part you know the the unexpected unexpected so that's where uh the bid's going to be really important when it comes to um the alternate options in uh contingency allocations and and putting a number to that so we're trying to give you as much flexibility in this process you know you truly have about 7.5 million of need and about $5.5 million of money that's just what it boils down to and that's why it may be confusing for the public to look at and say why do we have all these phases and alternates and that's why um you've got to be mindful of that's that's going to be a driver in this in this piece here along the way too so that's just where we're at um but this has been as Terry started I want I want you to hear hear me this has been pushed down the road as far as we can push it we've got to got to make some decisions here because like I said when the cooling went out last week I kind of had a panic called a rich and said uh please tell me we can we can get the air on back out here because it was it was awful it was miserable so and then and then you know you can't go too many days with moisture and all all other things that compound so that's why we're coming at this with you with so many options is is to make this work the best as you want it to work make sense with that what other comments questions do you have for Terry they are excited the groups that I've run into about the reinvestment in a great school it is a wonderful Elementary School down there and the town of Warren is a wonderful Community is money really well spent that is a great Elementary School the and great education and the town of Warren is appreciative from the meetings I go to Mr TR yep I agree anybody else Terry um bids are first of September or so and they return to you when so you he goes out for bids in first September um we bid for two weeks but we also have to do Public Notices and everything else we're working that out with Cindy get those Publications done um I'll have an update soon because we're we're meeting with our team again tomorrow um to talk about the constructibility portions of this the demo piece of it is the most complicated the mechanical equipment is not hard um most of it's on in the penthouse on top of the building um but it's the constructability and how do you take these portions of the building off and because that also affects for instance that alterate in the gray area adjacent to it that's served by the equipment that's in that internal part of the building that you can't get to so if that locker room came off for instance then the new equipment for the gymnasium would be on top of the building so structurally we have to make sure that's going to work and so right now we're shooting to put it out the bid like I said September um but I'll get better dates to Cindy here soon because I need to get her the public notice so she can get with the newspaper to I just anticipating that you know we may need to make some decisions if we the bids come in higher or if we need to be concerned that it's going to be more than five and a half that we have to spend right um similar to what we did with admin but much smaller budget we're doing the same thing so that we have you know a list of five costs what can we afford because if the mechanical portion comes in under do we have enough left to do the pool or do we have enough left to do alternate four that way we we could pick and choose and figure out where to spend as much as that money as we can um still have contingency in the project for the unknowns um so we're trying to make sure there's a safety net there um and and and continuously asking for updates from the suppliers the contractors the vendors on costs um with the supply and demand coming going up around here it doesn't mean that it's cross the nation because I'm actually seeing the opposite um the on the architecture side there's called an architectural index billing index that comes out every month and right now it's at one of its lowest which means the industry is way down what we're not here regionally there's just a tremendous amount of work here in Indiana especially in North Northeast Indiana um because we had Notre Dame is notorious for having endless amounts of project and theirs have kind of dried up and so those contractors out of the South Bend area um they bid that Natatorium project that we did for Rochester schools uh a couple months ago and we had I think seven contractors in the room because none of them had any work but now they're willing to come to Fort Wayne to work when you're getting paid as much as you are to do you know a big data center or something along those lines that's astronomical in price so uh PDP today they're the mechanical contractor for the big project here big mean project here and they told us that um unless you're willing to pay above and beyond uh wages guys will just go somewhere else there's so much work right now so I've got PDP lined up I've got current mechanical I've got other contractors aware of this um and trying to make sure that they bid it for us and and be fair and and put it on their bid schedule okay anyone else har thank you um your work this summer was exceptional thank you um I know we're trying to get the reg trying to regulate these what we got going on in here this is the old mechanical system here and it's a meat locker so this is great so yeah but the rest of the building that I was in in here today it's it's nice and chilly so it's working it's it's a lot more efficient and it's a lot better than the old stuff that was here so we're GNA to dial it in so so okay but we're on the old system in this room right we are for a little while for a little while next when was this when was this area this is coming out at winter break yep uh winter break the it's right over there it's a big huge unit on the other side of that wall it comes out that serves this whole cafeteria so the work continues here thank you um board that concludes uh the agenda items we had for this evening we're done here a little earlier than expected thank you um we'll see you Monday night uh for the board meeting have a great evening thank thank you okay

yes we got to get back in open S okay so um could I please have a motion to reenter Open Session Julie uh Jess all right all in favor all right I'm an i as well so we're back in Open Session um we have we were able to negotiate a contract with our new interim superintendent um Al ganam so could I please have a motion to approve the contract between the bbrsd and the new interim superintendent Al gam which will be subject to final edits by district council with myself the chair authorized to sign on the committee's behalf Julie Lisa all right all in favor I okay I'm an i as well that motion passes thank you thank you very we have superintendent super I just feel like you always should seal so great thank you you thank you thank you very much very much lot thank you all right with that said could I please have a motion to adjourn the meeting Julie Mike all right all in favor I I'm an i as well meeting adjourned thank you thank you