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51% of the budget for All funds are expended slash encumbered leaving a budget balance of 39.4% the average for this time of the year for expenditures through November is 41.67% and BD has spent 2457 not including incumbrances are there any questions anything from the board than than you car appreciate you thank you next item on our agenda this evening is the barbecue UniFi School District principal reports Mr [Music] D president when members of the board at this point please help me welcome back Miss Enriquez M Enriquez please take it away good evening board president governing board members super superintendent Diaz I have submitted my report in writing I hope you've had the opportunity to read it unfortunately this month we and that should say November I apologize um we dropped to 88% um second grade is I don't know what happened you can go that's okay you can go back right there yeah um second grade is holding out they are still in the 90% um super proud of second grade um so we're hoping that we can get it back up for the month of December we have a couple of um attendance challenges for our students so we're hoping to see that increase back into the 90% TI um Erin can you go back up to the highlights at the top please thank you we want to thank everybody that supported with our him himash day um we had lots of um community members supporting with different activities um for our students we want to thank um Miss Valdez miss sudam and miss Medina we had four volunteers scheduled in of them showed up to help with the making of popovers which provided lunch for all of the kids all the staff and all the presenters but they stepped in and we were she left um but we were we were just moving really fast to make sure everybody got fed so thank you especially thank you to the three of them because we wouldn't have been able to do it without them um congratulations to the following students and families who had 95% or better attendance they had zero tardies um they won a turkey with the fixings so thank you again to miss sudam Mr Diaz Miss Cornell Miss Bond Miss Sylvia and myself for donating the turkeys for those families um I believe that is it Ruben unless I miss something um I did check the attendance from last year to this year to compare that November and you're still higher than last year so congratulations on that so uh let's keep the students getting sick during the month of November but everything that you're doing is working so congrats thank you [Applause] [Music] above the highest show was four five any questions from the board for Miss Miss V um I guess my computer had to restart but I wanted to go back to the report on where it shows the scores and you know I just wanted um the public and those of you online to see that you know for the scores for our students you know it shows that they are progressing so that's really good so if you look at the um the slide that one right there in the beginning the second grade was like and the red but look at there's 15 that are in the blue now so that that is like proficient right hi highly proficient so I want everyone to see that because it's important it's important that our community knows that everything that you're doing principal um oh my God I have blink it's good so everybody at the school is doing an excellent job I believe and and I know there's room for improvement and there will be um so I just want to I just want people to see that because they are moving forward and we're getting to where we want to be and um you and your staff um we have a great deal of thank you for you doing what you're doing so thank you I I wanted people to see that thank you thank you m [Applause] v first there yes sir she's pointing at the blue and I'm pointing at the red look at how much red has reduced and we continue to improve um and just for clarification purposes we are in the process of finishing second quarter so we will be have B2 hopefully in January uh with a new grafts um but thank you for pointing that out and shout out to our teachers and for our parents for sending the kids to learn anything else the board thank you Miss Enriquez we appreciate it thank you [Applause] Miss Flanigan you are up thank you for representing the prime uh the intermediate um we you are on behalf because Miss B leis should be a grandma anytime soon right that's right the clock is ticking the clock's ticking good evening again um president buendia and board members and superintendent Mr Diaz I'm hoping that you all had a chance to look at the board report that Mrs beay Lewis had shared with you but before we show our video I'd like to just point out a few things um first I want to definitely thank you for allowing me to present in Mrs Bay's absence again the intermediate has turned in their board report and I'm hoping you got a chance to look at it um before you show this video though I'd like to also point out that tonight's video has been um created by our first or excuse me our new sixth grade teacher um Alvin agular so this is his first year with us in fact he's just been with us for less than 6 months so we are proud to have him and I'm hoping you enjoy his video and just a few things from Principal Bay um we at the intermediate excuse me we at the intermediate it is my understanding she taught them so without further Ado I believe if we can watch the video C for [Music] liary [Music] thank you for watching our November video wait what character are we going to focus on next month next monning trustworthiness [Applause] thank you Miss Manan any questions from the board in advance I don't have any questions but I just wanted um the public the audience to um in the in the video where it had the students um all at the desks and then they had that piece of paper and it was in the four sections and then one in the center can you kind of explain what that is or why it is what from go ahead well we're trying to focus one on just collaborating and working as teams so what happens is that the there's a question posed to the students and then they collaborate as a team and share and teach from one another and that's good but one of the things that we were we were shared was shared with us was that those four sections are encouraging the students to be on their own and think about what the question is and write down what their thoughts are so each one does that and then the when they come together in the center and then they collaborate and give um one answer but I really like that so I wanted I wanted people to see that because I think it's really going to help kids to um uh promote thinking really thinking uh about the questions they are asked so thank you yes thank you anything else from the board just um Miss siia no I just wanted to kind of if you want to look at the attendance again but just wondering how the average for 23 24 for fifth fifth grade is 89% where they've had 90% Plus for the since July and it should be 2425 right because that's the school year that was but you see on the part right hand side it is how the school ended last year 23 24 so that we can reference to see if we are beating last year's record oh I see okay talk to us about your systems in place for I'm just kidding but I do like the question anything else for Miss if not thank you ma'am appreciate you let's give it up for M please thank give me welcome back hello again board members president wenia and superintendent Diaz um our highlights for this month is actually our BHS culinary 3 worked with the Desert Diamond Casino in creating their gingerbread Creations they were going weekly and now some of their work is on display at the casino in the big Ginger things um we also had our himash day um it was excuse me it was a success and thank you Miss Enriquez and um Miss Bay Lewis for sharing your teachers with us um we also have number three Mr M has was selected as a finalist for the Arizona Athletics teacher of the year um something nice about that is it's act um there are nine finalists in The Tucson area he is one of nine he will be honored at the U OFA men's basketball game on February 26th um as part of this um kgun 9 will be coming out to do a little video on him and when that comes up we'll let you know but that's just it in making um we'll find out at the end of February if he is selected as it but being a nominee is good enough because you know he's going to be honored and then basketball season has officially started our next home game is on December 20th which is the last school day which is a Friday okay for for e thank you so much Miss on Gover board members questions comments for Miss V um I have a question on the um testing course or the testing portion do you have a preest and a post test or there's just because I don't see so they we do have a preest but the way our benchmarks are set up according to district is for quarter 1 it is specifically on the standards that are done during quarter 1 so to align it to the full like preest is kind of like not fair because it's fewer standards that are addressed on this assessment so that's why it's not there like that okay I just wanted um clarification on that and then also [Music] um again congratul ations to Mr me on his um finalist for Arizona Athletics teacher of the year I know at one time uh there was a quiz that was given to um to us that um um which um sport um made it to or what was the like the division title not division titles but anyway everybody thought it was basketball and it was cross country so that was like something that was like we we overlooked that and yet Mr me has been doing a great job all these years and you know he's he's taking our students far and he deserves that so I just want to make that uh do that shout out to Mr me thank you I do agree with you that's why when we saw that this um application was up we had to make sure we nominated him to ensure that he um does get the um recognition he does deserve absolutely awesome was that miss m elme um I'm concerned about attendance it's still 0 in the 80s is there any kind of um information going out to the parents or to the students that yes um our actual our behavioral support specialist actually contacts um the families um but for the month of December or November there were 17 school days in order for us to get into the 80s 85 you miss 3 days so it's not like it's chronic I mean it is chronic but people were getting sick in November so it's my reason in saying that is if you miss three days in the month of December when there's a few more school days the percentage would be a little different yeah because um yeah it's like July remember July was like 70 because we only had those four or five days I did the math just because I'm Sorry Miss the seniors it's 80% I mean it I mean they they they be they'll be graduating pretty soon you know and I hope they make it Miss Mr Diaz U president members of the board em miss an um I pull out the records from last year to this year to compare where um how we are when it comes to attendance um as I compare last November from last uh from 2023 and 2024 to this year's 20 U 4 25 uh for the month of November you increase the attendance from 71% last year to 83 this year that's an increase of 12% and when I compare also for the High School um uh you increase the high school scores attendance scores for November from 77% to 84% and increase of 70% and as a schoolwide you all have also increased the attendance from last year to this year from 77% schoolwide to 83% so your efforts in continue to increase the attendance um we can slowly but surely continue to seeing um so those initiatives that you are um introducing the students are responding too um I keep an eye on November December and January but when I was compared the last three years of of attendance uh I did notice that there's a huge jump from the Middle School um of 12% and at 7% for the high school for the month of November thank you was that it from the board thank you Miss thank [Applause] [Music] you Mr Fox give it up for Mr Fox everybody good evening president buendia board members and superintendent Diaz um so our highlights we had a good month as far as uh we did some really cool and very educational field trips the snor and Desert Museum the University of Arizona you'll see those incl and Toc AG day in our video uh we added another person uh we'll add a couple two or three more well you'll We'll add we're going to add more but you won't you'll see them in in January um Aaron if you want can you go to the uh last page right keep going right there I want her to keep going down you got to see my BR no no I'm sorry keep going to that picture so you can see the top again and again and again we're very proud that we went three months with no real issues the only reason I'm bringing this to your attention cuz I know next month it's not going to be and again we had a little slip here early on in December um but we're very proud of our 79 students that are pretty much playing by the rules while they're there and there have been no there has been now but there wasn't any large incidents um and then if I would just like to look at our our completion rate numbers um because if you Aon if you let's see go yeah that way keep one more get we don't want to see that right there uh down a little more so on this slide we have the comparison of last year to this year and Ju Just November alone overd doubled last year's November this is with 79 students we had something last last year at this time so every month our students are doing more and more and more um and we're very very excited about that um because that's going to really help me with my grad uation rates U which will hopefully get us up to a b next year um our attendance is what it is we're working on it um when you look at them if it's in red if you go down a little Aon we'll we'll we'll look at the attendance keep going a little bit further so in the purple purple means it's on the right direction last month you saw the middle school was red it went down a percent or so uh this time it went up one but the high school went up 5% um so it things things are happening and you know our 12th our 11th and 12th grade both went up in November which is good because last November they really took a dive I believe and I know Mr Diaz probably has that because we discussed it um so we're working on it and we're getting up there and the little gains really they they add up uh it might take us until May but we're going to keep getting up there um so Aaron whenever you're ready for the video [Music] good job got used to those little 30 second Snippets I I was special now I'm trying now I'm trying to speed the slides I got figure how to speed up I used to try to figure out how to slow them down just wait before I start asking you what your systems on place are um thought any other questions from the board for Mr what department the at the U was it the science I I think it was like science and geology yeah yeah you'd have to ask our in-house U OFA expert which is Mr Alvarez he's our field trip guy you know and and um I do believe they went down underneath the stadium where the rocks and a lot of cool little samples and stuff are and they they absolutely love the Sor Desert Museum um it's we take for granted that it's just it's just down the road from me but from these guys it's a far ways away and they experienced stuff that they're still talking about it the Stingrays the Stingrays were huge they got to feed them um which you know is something that that's a once in a-lifetime experience for some of us uh so we're very grateful to Mr Alvarez for planning all the science all the stem steam activities and the Mesa Club M Stevens the bikes that were donated are those given to the students or are they used on campus or campus well the uh y youth on their own we I forget how many participants we have Mr fro knows they brought bikes for every youth on their own participant I think that was probably about 16 or so and then they asked us how many mckin vento kids do you have so we gave him a list of that and they said well is there anyone else we said hey there's always somebody else so they managed to bring over 36 bicycles they went out to all our students um it was very cool seeing a couple of them strap on their helmets and put the reflectors on and then they rode them home actually um so yeah it went to everybody it went to all pretty much not everyone cuz there's 79 students but many of our students benefited from uh they're really nice bicycles too I really benefited from that so youth on their own um I can't say enough about that organization they've they've made a world of difference for our little campus awesome if nothing else thank thank thank you sir thank you very much for your service you will sorely be missed thank you guys uh with that govern board we'll move on to the governing board member reports go ahead Miss passal theate graduation requirements um I think it's ikf um it says through the um graduating class of 2025 the comp competency requirements for FES to obtain High School can't read that right high school equivalency diploma a a pup pupil must correctly answer at least 60 Questions of the 100 questions listed on the test that is identical to the Civics portion of the Naturalization tests used by the US citizenship and immigration service so make sure yeah so I think that's next next year maybe I believe that part of the policy has to deal with the Effy test where the GED where it's it's the GED they have to answer those that Portion by policy now once they passed it but still our students at at the high school level still have pass the um Civic Civic test thank you thank you ready graduation I think you're referencing the GED program of the test students get grade sometimes I just wanted to giving us some marching orders yeah thank you Mella um Miss siia um I just want to thank the board members for allowing uh the change in in our meeting time um just because I asked every one if they're okay because I am taking thei hamash uh course that the uh the college is offering this um for I think we have 16 sessions that we have to go to and um so Bo you be your spokesperson when we're done but transl everything we're saying so thank you very much for allowing for the change for approving it um I did attent the um Miracle On Main Street I know that I haven't been attending very much just because of work and then also been ill quite a bit too and um trying to get through all that um but again um uh it was a wonderful turnout for the Miracle On Main Street um was so much happening that day the Miracle On Main Street and everybody went to the just parked their cars there and the parade came by and and um thank you uh it was a a wonderful lunch it was really good the the barbecue chicken and and all that and um yeah so that was what one of the fun that I was able to actually go to um that's it okay anything Miss Stevens oh she miss Vance turned in her written report I submitted my board report in writing short sweet to the point she list no um for for that for the board report um I put on there that I attended the Miracle On Main Street but I didn't put any details on there because that was going to be that evening and I wanted to make sure I met the deadline but um I had a I had a really great time time along with um um the primary school and um the high school and we were in the serving line so it was so cool we had fun and the food was delicious it really was barbecue barbecue and the corn and ah it was so good for those of you that missed out you missed out it was really good we had a we had a lot of entertainment there too and that was really nice so I really want to say thank you to miss Hart for putting all of that together and getting all the people there and step and it was a really great turnout so thank you for that um I think that's it and then on the the three previous things were the watrs um and I just want to really say I want to I want to thank the principles for you know having us go through the walkthroughs because I'm learning a lot and um it's just really neat to see how the teachers are doing and how the kids are responding and and it's just a really good thing that we're doing with with the walkthrough so I just want to thank all the um principles for for that um there is also um on the elementary I mean the um the primary school there's that multi- system uh and support plan that's attached to your um report so I really want to thank you for that because it kind of it really shows like what you're doing what steps you're going to do to make sure kids are on track and if they're not on track then these are the steps that we're going to take so it's it's more than just highlighting you know what we have like the the plan um so I really want to say thank you for that so that's that's all thank you m thank you Miss B no thank you Miss for her Mt as this plan plans coming I had questions but it's thank you for sub um I don't I don't have much I know that um same thing just a miracle I mean um I was in several different places all at once but uh nonetheless I always want to say thank you so much to all of the staff and everyone who comes together to make those uh community events a success it is such an honor and a pleasure especially to see you all interacting with the community um I always mean to to um I always mean to and I should have because you weren't here and I should have um acknowledged to the community members that everybody there is actually staff members for the district and that's their opportunity to to to get to know them but um next time I'll do that next time uh nonetheless um I think more or less I I don't don't have much so we'll we'll we'll continue with our agenda this evening so not holding anything up um we'll move on barbecue unified scho dist superintendent report Mr Diaz president when members of the board members of the community and uh colleagues um during the month of November it was a a very busy month um and a lot of events were taking place um I want to thank also the principles uh for their support not only for supporting the the individual ilts that we having and reviewing everything that we're doing to see if it's what we're doing is working or how can we improve um I want also to support uh thank them for being supported with the classroom visits and also the board members that are join us in the classroom visits um also I want to thank the the board members that have joined not only the the classroom visit but also all of the events uh thank you for your support doing the uh toono autum Nation meetings uh for um guachi as well as uh sales District thank you president mundia uh as well and thank you Miss Ella for being in the games and and you're the loudest person in the um in the audience supporting our Warriors um I have another uh a couple of shout outs as well um there's more uh that will be highlighted during the video but for the curriculum and instruction Department I want to congratulate them on the ongoing uh support suppor in the new teacher um inductions U they have ongoing sessions to continue the support um they have not only the beginning of the year but they have done two additional ones and also for collaborating with the primary um with these new amazing um um initiative or thinking classroom where the students get to stand up and collaborate uh the students are responding very well to that uh so thank you for curriculum instruction and for B for collaborating in that professional development uh to operation um even though he didn't not mention in his report I wanted to bring it up to everyone's attention the bble give of high school district and operations they are collaborating with OCC to establish an ongoing uh professional development um and preparation through the app Apprentice program so that we can take advantage of the plumbing electricity uh electrician and the carpentry program so we will be continuing the the that plan and collaboration so that our operations uh staff they can um take advantage of three hours a week of professional development and continue to get also certifications through Toc transportations I want to thank them for the ongoing maintenance uh preparations that they are doing to ensure that we pass the inspections for DPS from the social emotional learning um Department um all of the topics that you are preparing um for our students for six and grade including building healthy relationships taking care of relationships and now an important one relationships in the digital age thank you for those topics that you are bringing into our sixth and seventh graders to the sunrise house um again a shout out for the miracle main I apologize for not being able du to a family um event as well that was U taking place at the same time um uh and also for the workshops that the sunrise house is providing related to parent view um sewing and attendance classes the importance of attendance classes to the exceptional at Department thank you for getting our exceptional LED students ready for the Special Olympics and beginning that training and um at this point can we pleas please uh play the video uh thank you for mran for supporting me in putting the video together uh with all the highlights for the month of November how do you do that we have we're just solving these equations [Music] that wasn't it no that wasn't it that is um October's month uhhuh oh well no no no no no no no well um Mr zala and no there were good stuff in there please is that one that's and when I asked for Access San actually emailed it to me because it wasn't it wasn't on this yeah Weir yeah yeah yeah so I was able to watch it on email the we we're work uh he's going to work on it right now um but yes we need experience menual the links for whatever reason that we're not working and we were troubleshooting them today um but we do have the video I promise you nope nope BL once twice [Music] sorry come on on that note um I'm sorry takes Port NADA you you see do you see do you see it no there's a word for this CH we're almost there if you go to the December I mean November tracker I mean December tracker for the November highlights okay then we'll take a break 3 minutes minut 3 minutes good call [Music] beats did you send it to her she sent it to all of us but when I was when I Wasing doing the board was access we have a Tracker when I click on the [Music] tracker that's it that the one [Music] there's cake I believe you there's cake Hello everybody uh if you go to the left out here uh SF made some cake for Miss gwood if there's some plates and forks up there if you want to grab some [Music] I was going to say that when I was speaking all they get some computer she could she she learned she learned yeah [Music] over here video yes yeah there I know we made sure I asked her if we could put her in she said it was oh yeah they did they did great I love that picture get back tool tomor yeah they said I show the kids videos and whatnot can you make it funny say something funny yeah stuff I'll [Music] try uh all they're going to hit you with the epol if you're lucky that's all it is what'd you [Music] get is that new beautiful make some coffee a bunch of sugar in there oh no Alexia Alia Oh I thought it was like Yeah because it looks like it looks like constellation what is that harle Quinn yeah that is harle quin how cool that how's a princess who made [Music] the peaches it's a white cake [Laughter] no it's a white but and Saturday she going to have it well you waited and really you get it I turned that I just don't know congratulations did you get dinner what are they having what are we having every ready yeah yeah okay well uh go ahead and call the meeting back to order so we can uh get to dinner somebody wants their video you got dinner too um we'll call the meting back to order Mr D Aon call he doesn't have it on oh it's words that you don't know you are it's words that are that you do know around a word that you don't know you use the words around to get the word that you don't know yeah wow the first sound together begin [Music] St still we're looking at the degrees right here and there's an invisible one and since they're the same degree we're dividing the top I forgot what this is called We're dividing this with this one invisible one so but how you oh with a B battery can May eyes get closer to see how he's going to react whoa sorry super cool how is that even possible e questions or comments from the board for the super um questions comments if not thank you sir appreciate the report number eight this evening is our first reading of the Arizona school board's associate Association policy advisor again board this is just for your information at this point first reading at our next meeting Mr sabala correct it'll come back for actual approval yeah okay so if there's anything you want to make sure or recommend in these policies please make sure that you're forwarding them to Mr sabala Number Nine is our coaches and Club sponsors um Mark Justin maros for secondary project yes uh for just for your information again letter F is this evening is is our action items number one is discussion of possible approval the bar un School District FY 23 FY 2023 annual audit reports issued for fiscal year ending 6 2023 Mr Diaz or do you want Miss Carla Miss Carla [Applause] [Music] so there you go thank you so this is a annual requirement um ars1 15- 914 requires that school districts who have an adopted M budget limit in excess of $2 million annually shall contract for an audit Financial annual financial statement audit and the completion of the usfr compliance questionnaire school districts who expend more than $150,000 in federal revenues must also contract for federal single audit and in the spring of 20201 the Arizona legisl legislature passed legislation that requires the governing board to publicly accept the audits through a roll call vote the school district must also upload these files in the AR to the Arizona Department of Education and provide them to the county superintendent's office so I don't know if you had an opportunity to review the audit um there was uh after all this Fiasco all of the delays there was um I say only because I've seen it a lot worse there was only nine audit findings for fiscal year 23 um everything has already been uploaded we dodged a bullet um the ad wanted to put us on the agenda to withhold our state funding because we're so late with the fiscal year 23 but we were able to prove that we had submitted all the files the audit had submitted the fil so they took us off the agenda for it was actually today right Reuben mhm the meeting was today so we're they're not going to withhold anything so now this is just the last step for the fiscal year 23 audits is for the for you the governing board to approve the the reports so so the little email that we got because I know I got one um from the aotter general was just that notice that we were late in submitting it was actually from ad uhhuh so ad actually contacted the AG's office to confirm okay that they had received the file not from us but from the actual auditor so we did I had already sent it to them but it wasn't official until the auditor actually submitted the files to them oh gotcha okay yeah I don't have anything anything else from the board if not the recommendation is to um accept the FY 23 annual audit report it motion by Miss Sylvia Hendrick second by Miss anary Stevens M okay motion carries thank you Miss car number two is discussion and possible approval of Arizon of schools for the DEA and blind and bar UNIF School District Regional Cooperative agreement Mr Diaz president members of the board uh this is one of the agreements that we do annually uh we need the governing board to make sure that we can continue to provide um the uh those services for the number of students that do need it or that will need it or may need it um this is one of the uh M that we do annually to ensure that we continue to provide those Services I know we do it annually and for the sake of I understand that it's needed but I I do want to make sure that um I guess impress and Empower our staff if they're I mean I I've never ever actually gone to and seen the school and what our students are doing and maybe that's a point to make as a board member to be able to be there and to see um but I definitely want to make sure that we're also um making sure that we're advocating for them as much as possible I'm sure that they're doing everything that they need to um but I always want to make sure that you know we're not just approving for the sake of approving and that if there is anything that ever comes up or anything Miss Miss P please for the for the students that we have the few students that we have attending ASD um they include us in their their meetings when their when their annual review comes up to review their individualized educational program and um those meetings are just amazing because I I've attended several and um the parents are usually there and all the teachers and all the related service people who provide the child these Services they all share and and then of course they have the representative from the from us from our school it's usually me um ask our thoughts in regard to how the services are being um you know provided I mean are I mean do we feel that they are good services and whatnot and I usually tell them that they we could not provide the services that our children get from them because we don't have Specialists who sign who um work with um children with um who are deaf or who are blind and so our kids who go there get some really good services and then the staff the bus driver drivers who wake up in the we hours of the of the morning to go way out there to you know close to pass Santa Rosa to pick up kids and then pick up a few more and they drive them into Tucson and then they drive them back and um they they do just a terrific job and asdb has remarked on them as well that uh we have we we provide um Superior drivers for our kids to take them to ASB so for the um agreement we have with them I think our children get very very good services and plus we have an individual who comes to the um primary school um generally on a weekly basis to provide services at our school here because we have a a kid who has a a visual impairment so um I've been quite impressed with the U individual who provide services to our kids from asdb thank you Dr P it's very I very much appreciate your input I it is thank you Mr syvia no I just was kind of curious how many students um their servicing and then also I'm pretty sure that families appreciate the the agreement that we have with them as you said you know we don't have the Personnel to you know to take to do the work that needs to be done with the students but I'm pretty sure they all appreciate us providing that for them but I was just kind of curious how many are we are they servicing right now we have three over there have one at the oh okay going to be two so we have three that go over there full time and then two over primary okay oh okay okay thank you thank you if there are other questions I will move to um approve the item as presented second by Miss Kathleen Vance carries lgy this evening is our vote to convenience to Executive session per ars3 8-4 31.03 813 uh without objection a motion to approve is there second second second by Miss Kathleen with that if you are not and you don't need to be here we appreciate you Mr Diaz you're free to let yours go you're free to let anybody go that doesn't need to be here than e e e Mr Bates when you're ready we're ready you going to make the motion yeah oh second okay uh we'll go ahead and call tonight's meeting back to order letter H is our vote to reconvening to regul meeting without objection a motion to approve is there second second second by Miss syia Hendricks m m thank you we are now back in a regular session our action items this evening uh letter I action items uh number one is discussion and possible approval of the superintendent paper performance uh governing board members uh FYI recommendation is to uh for the board to approve the release of paper performance plan in the amount of $5,000 as presented are there any questions or a motion to approve second oh motion by Miss anarie Stevens second by Miss Sylvia Hendrick motion carries number two discussion and possible approval of the 2025 2026 superintendent contract governing board as you're aware uh we are approving the contract as presented by the superintendent I would like to motion to approve with the amendment to extend the contract um as opposed to [Music] ending um June 30th 2026 to extend to June 30th 2028 second second by Miss Sylvia Hendricks motion carries you can't go anywhere for a while [Music] you are not going anywhere you can't no take backs um so govering board for your information that um um contract will be sent to the lawyer for adjustments and then we'll go through the processes of signing off and getting everything taken care of so we're happy to have you for as long as you want and we look forward to continue to see you grow and and be amazing so letter j is our consent agenda this evening is there a motion to approve second motion motion by Miss Anam Marie Steven second by Miss syvia Hendricks M all right letter K is our request for future agenda item number one is the spring nap spring when is it I think it's in March it is March um there week do from March I have it right here I think I I I notified when we were asked before I said I would rather go yeah I would rather go to the spring [Music] yeah still Mid Winter it's going to be cold it's super cold C March I remember last it was so cold just it's still cold that cold the last year we went or was it no just that one night where we went yeah oh yeah we read that when when we went it was really you feel that face was cutting I didn't I like to go out I didn't even go out anywhere it was so cold 9 through the 11 so you uh yeah if we can make the same arrangements then you want that right yeah the scooter we want a push cart I with only one board member who else what only one board member we can make it work um there will be one point that we can divide and conquer um and we'll have some students okay mayth events what about the incoming M that will be a possibility um how long do we have a little time well be here next month start tomorrow so I guess I could reach out I can get number I have her number I'll her call see she wants to go doesn't want to go we're here anybody be the back she's Anna I can't go I have stuff for work already when is it it's March March 9th to the 11th the 8 8 9 10 11 8 9 10 11 and I'm hoping to pack all of the we're going to do the same thing that we did last time we're going to have our own visits and I'm going to we're going to be super packed hopefully on the Monday the 10th and half day on the 11th to see if we can complete those I can't go so you can go I'll be an alternate okay will umri and V did we have everything set up for the for the retreat do we have everything set up for the retreat sorry I moved on to agenda there okay remind remind me of the dates and remind me of the dates too which one the retreat um that is Janu uh January uh 25th in 26 oh you weren't here by the way did you send an invite for that I did with the items also all right be here oh be here are can you can you send the agenda i s the with the top okay on the invite and then then did you set up the delegate and the alter for the yeah I did I sent okay is that me I think it's me and you oh you're going after all no it's virtual so I was going to log in oh it's virtual for the 19th okay for the 19th yeah and I also have an update on the 19th okay on site or only what time is it at 3:00 but you'll be there yeah well I'll take my laptop I guess okay St been at McDonald's um go ahead Mr Mr Diaz president members of the board um Mr Fox had already sent the invitations for the graduation to start at 4:00 okay on the 19th at 4:00 eight students and it it's going to be at the intermediate uh gym to be able to accommodate um as with that then Sylvia I'll probably only be able to do the first hour if you'll do the rest oh really okay CU I'll be on at 3: and then be over there at the thing at 4 oh okay okay okay do you want to set up here to listen to oh that' be fine I could do that that will eliminate the yeah then I have to do I'll just be here and get on there and then go over there okay confirm so we can get S link B they'll send a link probably but eight kids are they a link I didn't get one but I can maybe they'll do it like as we get closer huh no I'm I'm confirming that so far we have eight students still that are going to graduate and each one and only uh Sylvia and Ella are going to go get our award CU we got a boore Award right and a nomination oh no I what do you mean why not So Pro hold on let me look at my videos any other requests board members anything else uh future agenda items if not is there a motion to adjourn motion motion by Miss Kathleen Vance a second m m m

and we have some special people here would you like to introduce the group roll call roll call oh roll call well they're here all right president Melinda saski Charlene Diaz here Fred Rushton here barbariki here okay would you like please introduce some sure all right um so today well first of all my name is Valley school today our fourth graders are going to be performing Jingle Bells for you miss Ed has been working diligently with the fourth graders for the past few months they have a holiday show um next week for our fourth grade students and parents and so we're super excited so she's here to showas some students from Miss's class and mr's class and all the things that they've been working on so all of these people here are parents nice of you to be here thank you thank you thank you thank you everybody yes inde for showing up obvious and just inic class we're always really excited to show all parts of our school thank you looking forward to this I bet you they do better on bells than you do I know they do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] w [Music] [Applause] wonderful thank you Miss Edge thank you fourth graders that's wonderful thank you Merry Christmas thank you parents mer Christmas thank you thank you for bringing the kids that was wonderful and you're certainly welcome to stay you don't have to leave just because they're done but that's up to you okay thank you oh that was one that was that was good now if I could have only have done that will on Sunday bills are not easy to play they're not thank you Miss wiie I got I lost I I lost track after the four first four the first four measures yesterday at church okay I was just kind of lost you I didn't know what bell to ring or where I was it was like I ruined it for everybody but it was just like so I am impressed I am impressed did a really good job that was awesome what time ises next Wednesday next Wednesday at what time and it's on it's on the community calendar at the end okay that'll be fun that'll be fun I think I'll try that good look at all of them taking pictures I love it yeah I don't know okay item 4 point 1.4 pressures of the on the general fund duee to school [Music] funding I don't know why my microphone won't move but there we go uh okay so uh earlier well in November when we had uh um an ASA superintendent uh superintendent meeting and uh we have those every couple of months um I didn't go in person I did it virtually but one of the superintendent in the state uh uh Dr Annabelle opella uh put together this information and at the time I thought oh I'm sure the board would like to see this uh because it talks about how we how funding is done in Arizona but it's comparing it's also giving us information about public school funding charter school funding and esas and uh how that all plays together so uh I thought that she did this in such a way that it's pretty accessible uh which makes it really nice for those of us who are not necessarily um uh on top of all of this stuff so um here's her report uh for for uh K12 total revenues for fiscal year 23 so keep in mind that's two years ago um okay so here in the leftand column you can see uh how funding works for um districts like ours okay so the blue on the bottom is the funding from the state the Orange is the primary tax rate now keep in mind that these are averages so it might be a little different from school district to school district um so I'll give you an example uh the on the left in that First Column school districts like Scottsdale that get no State funding so where it's red where it's orange and blue it would be entirely orange there are three school districts in the state that do not get State funding at all don't get any Equalization funding they fund their schools completely with uh property tax uh money from their you know in their County or in their school district okay but most of us the rest of us 20 230 some school districts get um some kind of state funding so this is the average okay and then uh the light orange uh is for so the Blue Line shows for most of us okay so for us it would be the blue and the orange that's it for uh some districts that have secondary um or bonds or overrides or other local money um they get um that light orange and then there are federal dollars now we do get federal dollars because we have title funding uh we've had eser funding recently uh whatever so any of the federal dollars so for us uh it would be something like the dark blue the orange and the green okay okay and this was for fiscal year 2023 so you can see how it is that sometimes they say in Arizona that districts have between 14 and $15,000 funding for each student okay um uh and the blue part uh adding the blue and the orange makes it about 8,000 uh I will tell you that's not us um but it gives you an idea of how the state funding and the local the county funding and the other funding streams work for public school districts the second column is Charter Schools so Charter Schools draw no funding from the county from property tax all of their funding uh the blue part all of their funding comes from the state so that means from the state budget that's approved by the legislature each year okay um and then in some cases they get some local or County money okay I don't know how that's determined I don't I'm not sure that Annabelle told us that she may have and I didn't put it in my notes uh and then they can apply also for uh Title One and some of those funds as well so U so you can see uh that uh that funding okay then you can see the esas so in fiscal year 23 the esas they were drawing all their funding from the state from uh that state budget and you can see it was below the blue line so it was about $99,500 doll a little over $9,500 um and for fiscal year 24 for which they did uh she could get U data uh that went up to 9782 uh and this is per student okay per student so for all four columns we're talking about the amount of funding uh and this is averages but for uh for each student Okay so we've talked in the past about um uh what can happen and what can be beneficial for those districts that have uh bonds and overrides and so when you look at this this average of $2,400 for those districts that per student that they can get because they've passed bonds and overrides um you can see that that can make a significant difference in the funding available uh in a school district um and clearly arizonans um uh support public education uh 78% the bonds and overrides that were on the ballot in November did pass okay so there's strong support in Arizona for public schools and that's a good thing we want that um you know we want that for any school district okay um it's interesting though that adding up the the our column District column we get about $9,600 and then 98 and 97 uhhuh not quite right but that's okay keep going well and and the thing is that's part of what we have to look at here because what you're going to see is then what happens when for instance when we lose students to a charter or we or Charters lose students to us or we all any of us lose students to the esas um and that's part of her uh part of the point of this um but keep in mind that all of that blue when that all adds up in the in the um uh the state budget uh the Constitution limits the percentage of the annual state budget that can be spent on education okay so if so if you think about my examples of the jars of marbles okay so even the legislature each year when it approves a budget only a certain percentage of those marbles in the jar can go to education and they can't go over that or they have to change some other things Okay so so the core State responsibility for for Equalization formula so this gives these are examples of um um schools so on the left you have District a uh which has low wealth and in this case the uh the blue still indicates uh the State dollars that come out of the state budget and orange indicates uh property tax County property tax okay and then you have a medium wealth a district of medium wealth and then you have a district of high wealth and then you have those three districts that are not represented here where that entire amount of money 100% is blue because I I mean is orange sorry for those three District it's orange because they fund their schools those three school districts completely with property taxes um uh we are kind of between on these examples we're kind of between districts a and District B okay we're kind of in there it's not we're not at 5050 U uh but we uh we get a little more money so I'm going to give you kind of round numbers in our $18 million budget about 10 million comes from the state and about 8 million from the county roughly okay and then you can see over on the right charter schools are entirely funded with um uh with State monies and uh and get an addition amount of money so they get the 100% that the rest of us get with the combination of State money and local tax money and another 20% okay so any questions or comments about that um just because I don't know why do Charter Schools get that extra 20% I I don't know the reason I just know that's the way it was built into the the legislation that uh authorizes Charter Schools okay kind of goes against the uh the equality that the government uh strives to force down our throats right thanks FR I that's a good conclusion or the equity if you would um I mean and the whole idea of the State uh equal ation and I will tell you Most states have Equalization because they recognize that they have districts that particularly rural districts that don't have the you know the property tax funding and U and and so you know 40 or 50 years ago Most states recognized wait a minute if we want quality education in all of our districts in all of our schools we better figure out a way to make sure that there's pretty equal funding per student in all of our school schols and so I think virtually every state has some kind of an equalization formula uh to make that happen of those three schools who don't use this funding source who use just property taxes do they have the same rules we have yes absolutely the same rules we have Charters not so much yeah not so much there are there are some things that U uh that they don't have to do uh but pretty much they match the public schools pretty much um there are enough differences that some of us whne me included sometimes uh that that it would be nice if not only were there equity in funding but equity in expectations and accountability okay so it's you know it's like it's like okay let's play football U but this group is going to play by these rules and and it's kind of like a VIN diagram you know here here's the rule here are the rules for public schools here are the rules for Charter Schools and so there's there's a lot of overlap but then there are some differences out there and you kind of go can we can we get these lined up can we just get them lined up I'm just thinking about Scottdale that doesn't have any state funds are they still dictate or dictated to by the state absolutely they have all the same regulations we have even if they don't get state funded absolutely okay absolutely all right okay I just was curious okay so um okay so this gets a little more complicated but we're we're we're talking here about non-sp special education we're talking about regular classrooms and uh and the funding and keep in mind that on on these other graphs okay so even on here this includes high schools so now you're going to see because I'm sure you're saying wait a minute Stuart you told us our our basic funding per student was about a little over $5,000 well okay so this will explain to you why so you can see here that the base amount for elementary for us uh it says 5805 I will tell you that when I calculated our adjusted budget it was about 5,15 so again there's an average here but you can see that High School base pay is over base rate is over 6,000 so that's why on that first graph it looks like there's more per student than what we actually get for our district okay okay and then there's additional uh District additional assistance daa which is capital and we get funded at roughly 4 $550 per student and high schools at 685 um and I will tell you that that because we were really good this year about salary raises and and those kinds of things um what we get this year for daa is in fact our capital and that's less than uh less than last year and and you'll see that you can see that when you look at the budget um revision that I you know that is now posted and that we're going to approve uh hopefully on Thursday um uh that you can see that our Capital uh amount for this year is down simply because uh we're using all all but about $20,000 is from the daa okay District transportation uh is the same there's a an equal amount there for Elementary and high school and then and uh there's the the capital uh the charter additional assistance um for Capital things um at 20 290 for elementaries and 2435 for uh high schools so that's that additional uh 20% okay so then uh base formula of total for the district rows 1 through three so you can see it's 6598 that's the average for elementaries uh and then for Charters 7 895 and then you can see what the esa formula is and what the legislature approved was 90% of what they fund Charters okay okay now just like public schools Charters don't have to have transportation um uh and of course esas don't have to have transportation um uh so if they choose not to transportation um if they don't have it do they still get that no they wouldn't get that okay so you can see though the the uh dise Equity of um particularly line five and line seven uh for the esas and here's the other thing the esas any any student who's receiving an education in Arizona through an Esa there are no rules yeah so they don't don't have to do State Testing they don't have to use State uh uh curriculum or state standards there are no rules and there is very little accountability so if you've noticed in some of the news releases last year there have been some things like oh we purchased uh we we bought ski tickets or um we bought a baby grand piano or you know I mean those are some of the some of the more outlandish ones uh we heard recently that um three individuals who don't even live in Arizona uh established Esa accounts for a number of students uh for some reason 12 students comes to mind but I'm not sure if that's accurate or not um uh and and collected the money they don't the adults don't live in Arizona they have they enr they have no children they enrolled children in Arizona esas and received the money now the good news is they got caught yeah and well you know the the state will take them to court to get the funding back but think about how much money that that really was that went off to people that were you know have no kids in Arizona or Arizona schools never okay so so there really are no rules for even applying not much not much and the fact that you know it's three that they caught how many more are out there that they haven't caught yet exactly exactly Charlene you had a question comment yeah I I just want for clarification when you're saying ES say you're talking about the homeschooling yeah it's not just homeschooling it's it is the esa is the uh um the empowerment scholarship fund so parents who have their children who've had their children in private schools forever can apply and get the money for esas and in fact of the 70 plus thousand students who had esas this past year about 58 thousand of them have never been in public schools never they've never been enrolled in public schools so their parents could afford to pay for the private schools and um and now they are getting paid for having their students in private schools and there's still no there's still no there's still no accountability for those students okay the intent was uh originally the intent was to make sure there are opportunities for students who have maybe special needs or and keep in mind these dollars don't even have to do with special ed these are just general ed students but the original intent was to make sure that students who had disabilities uh if their own School District could not provide the education for them that they needed um that there would be a way for them to go someplace and have those you know have those opportunities um or for uh uh or for St students who were in low performing school districts to be able to you know to go to a a school either a charter school or a private school or whatever um that would have the opportunities uh for them to get equal you know equal opportunity some equity in in their education okay um uh so you know so there's there's some I see some disconnect between the intent and the and the way it's functioning and I think a lot of people see that you know that disconnect does this money have to be spent within the year like hour yes so that means if somebody got the 7,000 78 whatever for Esa 7100 M well it's supposed to be I was going to say I don't think it's supposed to be but I'm not sure that in fact we've heard stories now these are rumors so be careful here and and uh but we've heard stories that some of those folks who have been paying tuition for all of the years that their kids have never been in public school are socking those funds away for uh or what they're doing is they're paying for they're using their esas to pay for their students to go to private schools and socking Away what they would have been spending to send their kids to college okay um we hear that um I wonder if that's true it sounds you know it sounds plausible to to me that that that that's happening um uh can I prove it no and I'm not not sure anybody can but uh you know but that's one of the things that that can be done with the funding okay okay well here's here's the the thing that I really wanted you to have a chance to look at about the additional cost to the state and oh by the way the uh the funding this is all for kids who are nons sped so any student who spe has special needs there is a waiting Wei G HT i n g waiting for them that they get more money and uh uh and so uh I think the highest is like 35,000 per student per year um that would be a very very high need Student um uh so you know the range goes up significantly from the 7,000 to you know a much a much higher amount okay so um this is fiscal year 25 so any school choice away from a school district meaning a public school district is an additional cost to the stated uh state fund state general fund so if a student moves uh from a district school like ours to a charter so let's say we lost three students this year to one of the local Charters um uh in terms of State funding um that is costing for elementary an additional almost $1,300 to the state budget okay per student okay so so I'm going to flip to the next one and no not that one this one and then come back so if you think about each of these columns as being 100% of the money available okay then when you think about this okay so the money available each year is whatever the legislature decides that's 100% all right when a student moves from a district school dist from a public school district to a charter that balance changes by 1,300 bucks roughly 1300 bucks because the 100% doesn't change it's there okay and at the high school it's about 1,500 okay if a student moves from a district to an Esa so um uh so ad is including teacher experience index in this um it costs the state about $57 okay if a student moves from a no state aid District to a charter so that's Scottdale Cave Creek and preset look at the cost to the state budget per student per year $ 7895 in elementary and O and almost 8,800 in high school because keep in mind that that Esa is 100% from state budget and the student if the student was in one of those three school districts that where it was being paid for by the county by county taxes and the whole then the whole cost goes to the state okay to the state budget and so that means for every one of those students the amount of money available to other schools either Charters or Public Schools goes down because that 100% is still 100% okay if a student goes from a no state aid District to an Esa it's slightly less but it's still pretty significant if a student goes from a charter to an Esa the state actually saves some money okay it sounds kind of counterintuitive but it's it it's um uh the truth if a student goes from private or homeschool to Esa it's that same $715 because prior to esas parents who homeschooled their children received no funding mhm okay no funding at all okay so when we look at the uh K12 U revenues this really is the same as that first graph thanks Cass okay okay this shows you how much the the budgets have gone up from 2004 to 2000 actually to the current fiscal year and you can see that the current fiscal year total is less than the previous fiscal year okay so the once is all based on that whatever the Constitution or the legal says of the percentage of the budget yeah and we're going to see on the next slide where where you you know where you level that out and and see that 100% and how the 100% whatever each Year's 100% amounts to how that breaks out but in this case you're actually seeing the actual dollars um uh uh so 900 uh 9 9,000 million what billion dollar uh um that doesn't sound right but um you can see still the blue is the general fund so that's the state money the light blue uh what is s right now I can't remember what setr s t is well it looks like it's a it's kind of it's pretty small it's pretty small and you not well and it's disappeared actually doesn't exist in the last 3 years then we have have the turquoise which is education sales uh I'm not even sure what that is okay um uh and then uh permanent state aid is the purple um I think that's uh I think that is uh classroom site fund okay okay so that's sales tax and then the qtr is the county you know the county thing okay okay so now when you consider every year at uh at uh 100% whatever the total dollars were for that year here's how they break down so as an average for the current fiscal year the state is funding 65.8 7% okay the county is funding County on average funds 64% and then you can see those other um the other things the purple stays about the same because uh uh sales tax has been pretty healthy in Arizona for the last few years you can also see that it was pretty slim in those years after the uh after the bubble burst the um real estate Bubble Burst okay H State Equalization tax rate oh that's the rate and sunset2 oh yes and it sunsetted in 22 okay thanks Lance I should have looked that up well that's why it disappeared that's why it disappeared it sunset it it was a it was a one of those timed things that the legislature passed and said it you know it can looks like passed right after the the upheaval yeah yes oh yeah and then sunsetted okay so this one shows you now what's happened with uh how this has changed with uh esas so down at the bottom you can see so now 8% of the total school funding budget school funding 8.2% now is going to esas so look what that has done to the blue the dark blue okay so try your schools are even feeling a pinch aren't they absolutely okay now once again as a as a personal and as a professional stance um uh it wouldn't make as much difference to me in terms of our district if at least we were all planned by the same rules you know have the same accountability for the use of the tax dollars okay um uh and I think that that's a fairly common opinion among Educators you know if we're going to do these things to help educate our kids any all of our kids whatever then let's at least have everybody have the same accountability uh and play by the same rules okay so truth and Taxation keeps the qtr relatively flat uh with no connection to cost uh of the education formula so we don't really determine our um uh tax rate um that's determined by a formula based on the um uh assessed valuation in our district so um while I can say over the last five years our tax rate has gone down um it wasn't anything I could control I mean it's determined by the assessed valuation and a formula at the state level and that's true for every District in the state every Public School District increases to anything in the equalization formula results in additional cost to the general fund okay that's an important Point increases in anything in the formula result in additional cost okay so when the uh when they anticipate or um uh estimate what the uh state tax income is going to be so that the legislature can determine a budget um then and it changes all of these formulas doesn't change the formulas sorry it changes the amounts the numbers that go in the formulas so if you recall this current year fiscal year 25 the anticipation was that state tax revenues would be less than last year so when the Constitution says you can only spend this percentage of the state budget on education if if the state budget amount drops then the amount then those dollars drop okay that's very logical but I think it's the thing it's one of the things we don't necessarily think about when we hear that the legislature is talking about the budget is recognizing that whatever that budget does affects the amount of money that is in that maximum that can be spent for education in Arizona okay so let's say it's 48% so if the Constitution says the maximum of the state budget that can be spent is 48% okay every time this raises or lowers that 48% raises or lowers and then affects whatever it is we're doing in you know in our um calculations Caroline do states typically have a percentage that can only be can only be spent for education I I don't really know that I just know that in Arizona it's in the Constitution yeah I mean so it's not like it's not like the legislature can just decide you know oh this year you know schools need X Y and Z so we're going to increase that that it's just it's dictated okay it's kind of like the AE is dictated from a constitutional amendment that was uh that was made now that that piece of the Constitution at least has a a a safety valve that lets the legislature uh wave that on an annual basis um there are some proposals that say because the way that is written is based on $1 1980 um uh and and a formula related to that but there's uh there is an opportunity that the legislature could without having a referendum of the public to change the Constitution or that Amendment could change what's used for that formula that would mean that we would not have to calculate that every single year and you know and and get a waiver from the legislature every year so uh each year uh the alphabet groups encourage the legislature to look at this alternative way of calculating that you know calculating that so we don't have to go through this every year so we're hopeful that um you know as school districts we're hopeful that the um uh the legislature will look at that you know that change in uh in how that's calculated at what numbers are used to calculate that tie it closer to the cost of living increases and those kinds of things as opposed to a finite number that it is now okay um now the daa which is that District additional assistance which is for Capital the the legislature has to has to determine that every year and this past year there was a struggle to get it approved and there was some conversation that this current fiscal year 25 would be the last time they would approve it now of course each legislature gets to decide you know each session of the legislature gets to decideed but it was in the conversations so for us that means that we would have to move whatever it is we are currently funding from daa into our m no okay so right now that's a million 15,000 no a million 115,000 and if that went away then that means for us to continue to do um uh to to lease our xrox machines to consider purchasing a bus to uh the number the the 10 or 12 um uh ongoing uh technology programs that we use like visions and Panorama and um Synergy all of those programs that help us function as a district are funded out of capital okay because they are considered leases we'd have to then take to continue those we would have to take a piece of our M budget and move it over to Capital to continue those things okay so U of course we're always you know we're always encouraging our legislators uh to continue the daa uh because for us it would be it would be pretty drastic it would be a pretty drastic change that's a lot of toilet paper well and it's I mean and no toilet paper supplies that well yeah but then we might not be able to buy as much toilet a lot L I should have said less toilet paper I mean or pencils or whatever classroom supplies yes and considering that and in fact I just calculated this today for something else that I'm working on okay uh 57% of our budget M budget is salaries another 21% is benefits so salaries and benefits represent 70 8% 78% of our budget okay and then so then that leaves Okay so that leaves 22% we have fixed costs that we can't control you know electricity and sewer and uh you know and and all of our utilities and our our uh disposal no insurance is in that benefits it's in that 21% um building insurance and stuff yes you're absolutely right those are part of that 22% that we have left okay uh repairs any supplies that we use for repairs any toilet paper any any cleaning supplies Any teacher supplies any office supplies okay or advertising or I mean there's a whole laundry list of things that fall in that 22% travel expenses um but some of them we don't we can't really control we can't control what happens with utilities we have to make sure we budget enough for the utilities okay so it ends up leaving only about between 5 and 8% of wiggle room there okay um so then 5% of our $18 million budget you know what goes away if we have to move that million one over to over to Capital okay not that we can't do it we can those are the only two budgets where we can move money back and forth okay those are the only two um uh and we could do it but what goes away well okay I think we still need toilet paper and you know there are some things like that that we still need we still need cleaning supplies we still need some of that and so then it boils down to okay what do we do relative to salaries do we cut you know do we cut the number of people because we still want to give raises every year so somewhere somewhere some Mar marbles in that jar get moved okay and I'm not complaining I'm just talking facts of life here all right and what we have to consider okay um and so then you can see the other pressures that that are on the legislature when they're talking about funding for schools okay okay and you've asked really good questions and I hope you don't ask any more difficult ones because I probably can't answer them but I can certainly find out U because I know that Annabelle and Annabelle U was gracious enough to share all of these uh share her slides and her research with all of us um so that we could share it with with you and with anybody else who wants to know so uh she would be very gracious about answering questions and helping us and I'm sure she would be able to answer them is the state doing anything about esas about limiting because I'm sure that they've recognized this somewhere along the line has been pointed out to them at least well pointed out um uh but when when an amount of money that's that's budgeted to the uh Arizona Department of Education so that the state superintendent of public education can promote esas it's doubtful that that a whole at this point the Outlook is that is that there's not you know that there's not much of a move to put some restrictions and some um accountability on this the truth is that the folks who really want to promote the esas are not interested in having accountability because they useit because they use the esa for their family yeah and some of those folk and some of those folks own schools that benefit from the esas but don't our rules Come From the state department of Education well from the State Board of Education through EXC through them but only based on what the what the legislature um passes as bills and as as whatever so they have to function within whatever laws the the legislature passes okay so besides helping you be informed because I will tell you this was very informative to me I could not have told you these things on my own I haven't done that much research but I will tell you it kind of guides me in what I want to be saying to our local representatives and Senator about you know please look at some of these things does that mean that the the little church schools that suddenly cropped up here in Bullhead yes are getting almost 59 or $7,900 per student yes that's what it means when if their parents have enrolled them in those schools with esas yes that's exactly what they're they don't have to follow any of the rules no the curriculum doesn't have to be followed zero they don't have to do State Testing more money than we do they don't have to adhere to state standards they don't have to no no that's why I'm saying Melinda that that this would be an easier pill to swallow if we were playing by the same rules yeah okay good and as a passionate ad advocate of public school education you can see why my opinion is very is very focused on this and it is my opinion it's my professional opinion it's my personal opinion as a parent I would resent the fact that my neighbor's child could be going to school paid for with tax dollars and no accountability so I can say it as a parent and I can say it as a professional it's not so much the tax dollars you resent it's the fact that there's no accountability that you resent right yeah but as but as a taxpayer yeah you know um uh okay so U Mark Scott who is our facilities director okay came to us out of Private Industry came to us as a former owner of a you know of a uh construction company and a um uh developing you know he owned the company and so if if if if costs were going up or or there were expectations and rules and regulations for uh for electrical installation and plumbing and all of that stuff he could change his budget change what he charged to to accommodate that and he didn't have to answer to anybody because he owned the company okay um so when he came to work for us it's a whole new ball game and and um you know and and he's been very nice about about it and has learned a whole lot and is and and is really on board at this time but at the beginning he's going why can't you just XYZ and I said because it's tax dollars and taxpayers hold us accountable they hold me accountable for having that budget that you're going to look at on Thursday they hold me accountable for keeping that balanced okay um uh and for us projecting down the road you know there Washington school district in Phoenix just determined last week that they're going to close five schools for next year okay and of course that irritated a whole lot of parents and neighborhoods and whatever because they are neighborhood schools but they are looking at a $5 million deficit in their budget so they're trying you know so they're planning so they don't have A5 million doll deficit in their budget okay that would be like us looking at having a million doll def or you know somewhere in the range of a million dollar deficit well you're not going to let me present to you a budget that is a million dollars in the red and taxpayers don't want us to be functioning that way they hold us accountable so Fred you're right but part of me as a taxpayer says wait a minute you know I want to know I want to know as a taxpayer how my dollars are being spent and that somebody's checking on that to make sure that it's legitimate expenditures okay so it's a number of those factors that I kind of all group together with a let's play by the same rules right okay so um uh I hope that's not too much of me pontificating but I get pretty passionate about the fact that we do great things in public schools and um and try to do everything equitably so that every student that we serve has the opportunity to as good in education as we can provide okay every kid um and and um and that gets harder and harder when the dollars are not there it gets harder and harder it's kind of off topic but just curious if you have like a private school that they don't have to test they don't have to do all the things we you know they don't have the follow the state standards whatever how does so they're not accredited how do those students benefit from that to get into college you know say just to get into High School some place well yeah exactly except some of them are high school schols M if you're talking high school if you're talking high school and and it's a private school so they don't have the test they don't have to do any of those things they don't have to they don't they're not accredited some of them are some of them have sought accreditation there are some I'm working with a student teacher right now she's working at a private school it is an accredited school and they do have to adhere to State Standards but there are some that don't so I don't understand the parents Ben uh thinking because if it's not accredited how do they get into you know what I'm saying typically that's a family that wants her child to go to Harvard or yes whatever how do they get in if they're not going to a high school that's accredited I suspect that that's where some of the like act and the SAT test you know sat act and those testing help yeah so they still have to take those have to I guess but well unless the University or the college requires it and most of them do so you know somehow they're going to have to demonstrate demonstrate proficiency of you know to get into the college uh or the university you would think because it just logically it doesn't make sense to me it doesn't we even a trade school yes you know if you can't do the math you can't get into a a trade scho that's right that's right if you can't uh so a trade school is considered a still a college of no tra well no it's just it's another level of it's another level of higher education it's postsecondary and trade schools are not going to let you in without some kind of evidence of what it is you're capable of doing I'm sure that if you're going to a carpentry trade school that they're going to make sure that you know how to use a ruler well one would hope that yes um although I've had some construction done that not sure they did okay maybe we should move on and thank you for the extra time to do that but I I really felt that this was valuable information if nothing else background information for you and also um also I don't like to be completely uh in unable to I me you know could I could I bound on this a lot no I'm depending on annabella's um Annabelle's uh research and she's clearly taken the time to do it um so you know I'm not going to go out and expound on it to lots of people but I I appreciate the fact that I can now at least answer some questions if a you know if a Community member or a parent comes in and says you know you know that they say in the news that you have X dollar to you know per student and and I can say well not really or yeah yes you're right or no we actually have a little more than that um uh but at least I can be a little bit intelligent in in my ability to respond to people um and then honest enough to say I don't know the answer to some of it but I'll find out for you um and I and you all get asked questions Melinda mentioned something to me before we started tonight that somebody in the community had asked her so you know we we want to at least be able to to respond intelligently to people okay so thank you okay do I have a motion to adjourn the workshop I make a motion we adjourn the workshop I'll second at the motion all those in favor I'm Melinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I BB ziki okay I'd like to call to order the regular meeting for uh Bullhead City School Board on Monday December 9th 2024 at MH roll call I pres Melinda sabraski Charlene Diaz here Fred rushon here Barb Zar ziki here and I don't see oh we're going say pledge ready pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liy and justice for all I always forget where that is there is no well that's where yeah okay um all citizens present I don't see any so I'm just going to skip that call the public I'm going to skip that because we don't have any of that um adoption of the agenda how about donations we got donations donations oh yeah I was looking at that can we bring that oh yeah what was the one that I was looking at festal There He Go Ellie and Mitchell zler of festal Center Museum selected Valerie deloo yeahuh as one of the 500 what what is her um she's a teacher at Sunrise we actually have uh teachers at Desert Valley oh gosh now I can't remember we have teachers we have I think we have four teachers who uh got the uh $2,500 uh fiestable really what do they do what do they doing with the 2400 uh different things they're doing uh things for their classrooms so I know one of the teachers is um uh increasing the classroom library and um materials another teacher is creating uh kind of a reading Nook um in the classroom and so uh uh some bean bags that meet fire standards and some carpets to designate an area for that because keep in mind we you know removed carpet wall toall from classroom so it's kind of nice to designate an area in the classroom um uh I looked at valer part of Valerie's list today and uh she was looking for some bookshelves and some uh storage you know units for her kindergarten classroom because you have lots of things in kindergarten classrooms uh so a variety of things that they're that they're doing for their classrooms but it's very nice they just did she just write for it or what did she do they did and then it's just a random drawing oh it's a random drawing of all the people who uh you know who put in and then it comes through uh donor's choose so Festival Charities um um sets it up with donors choose and they send their you know send their orders through there so it's very nice it is that doesn't mean that the shrine and oh no all everything all the rest of these guys on here are not appreciated it's just that I was really astounded by 2500 bucks right there were um yeah there are 500 recipients in the state each year from fiestable so you know so not only does festable do cool things for a couple of colleges or universities to come and play and bring their folks and uh does things for tourism in Arizona um but there's also the give back to Arizona schools which is wonderful wonderful I appreciate it every donation is appreciated any other comments on donations okay now we get to adopt the agenda can I have a motion to adopt the agenda as presented I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda as presented second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Dias I Fred rushon I Barb Zuki okay superintendent um can we go down to the fiveyear comparison the last one Mal has been around a long time I mean lot longer on this side um right I think what we're seeing from particularly last year and this year um are a couple of new Charter Schools the private es the private schools sorry not Charters the private schools well and also effect of one of the charter schools uh you know desert star added to High School this year added freshman sophomore of their high school and uh in a few cases the parents of students who they Cho the parents chose for the students to go there the high school students then it made some sense I'm sure for those families to take their elementary students there as well so I'm I'm sure we lost a few there um but the other thing is right now the in Arizona part of the issue is the drop in the birth rate and um uh so we're being affect Ed by that as much as anybody so um you know there's not one single cause for this drop but in four years we've lost 400 students 300 300 okay 300 300 students yeah students and over the course of time with uh over the the the last few years probably the last 10 years we've lost 900 well I think of the economy because a lot of people moving out even when I was still working the parents were leaving with their children to go back with to live with other family members and so that's I think created a lot of movement in the population too I I find it very interesting that um uh 2122 uh 2021 was the year the full year of covid MH and um that 2122 that our numbers went back up and um which was nice but I don't know quite why why that happened his parents were excited to get them back in maybe I think maybe that was part of it although we had kids in school all year on 23 uh in 2021 although a third of our kids were were um you know at home and virtual but they were still enrolled in our schools um um but I also think we had we had some folks who were you know moving in multiple families in you know in households because of because of the after effects of you know of covid and whatever um uh but yeah the the drop since then but there's not one cause there are multiple multiple reasons um if you have questions about any of the other charts or or tables um I I'll try to answer those I only have one item for an update um the Auditors were here the week before Thanksgiving and that full week before um they were done on Wednesday afternoon I I've never I I mean in you know in the five years six Fifth Fifth time of doing this for them to be done in three days was amazing um I mean literally they were done and we did exit report on Wednesday afternoon before they left uh we usually do exit report on Friday morning and uh so that was pretty amazing um it was a clean audit and um we had 10 minor uh 10 minor little you know fix these things some of which were fixed before um some one item of which because of course it was the audit for fiscal year 24 one of the items that you know that they reported to us we'd already fixed for this year so uh it was fixed before they even before they even saw the the data and stuff um but we've already worked on everything else so um uh you know those items will be cleared for for next year so it was a it was a clean audit and uh was good good kind of nice to hear very nice to hear yeah that's great okay any and you will I'm sorry you will get the formal audit report when the written one comes and and it will be on your you know on the agenda so you can see all of the you know all of the information including the 10 items that they want us to to work on so do anybody need to see anything any of those reports anybody okay not today um moving on then to 2.9 board member updates has anybody been in the schools not since last month I was this is a good one for you Fred I was talking to the guy from IE or EI I Kevin Kevin he says that we need to be up at uh Sunrise talking to our third grade teachers because they have shown some real enthusiasm not necessarily Improvement but enthusiasm to at least looking at Improvement and well actually doing some improvement so because that was one of the schools that you really like going to wasn't it I like going to them Mall well yeah I mean that was but I was impressed by the sunrise campus yeah and but you might want to go up there and I CU he's he basically I I what was I doing um I was over at Desert Valley or we were going to give Santa stuff Santa Clauses to people who the Kinders who were caught being kind and uh he caught me in the parking lot so I thought of Fred at that time uh oh your phone's ringing excuse [Music] me this fure out sorry I apologize for that but anyway Fred third grade and Kevin was mentioning the third grade teacher's enthusiasm about uh about the EI stuff yeah about improving he he didn't say that they had reached any kind of specific level right but that they basically were attitude more than results yeah and I thought you got to start there got to start somewhere start somewhere and I was really I was really happy that he stopped me and he said he was talking about this with with usual Kevin enthusiasm you know sometimes I'll swear that he takes pills for that but he but he's he does you know he was very enthusiastic and I did think of you Fred because okay you had talked about Sunrise thank you um item three consent agenda anything on the consent agenda you guys want to talk about that we need to pull or can I have motion to accept the consent agenda I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb Zari and there is no old business so we're going to move right on to new business and Wells Fargo this is the same thing right we do this annually um uh this is this is just to give us a financial cushion in case uh for any reason the state does not deposit for us the you know the monthly monthly uh dollars uh We've not had to draw on this at all since I've been in this position but it's always nice to have a parachute yeah is 7.75% is that a is that a pre I think that's typical yeah right now yeah okay I don't and frankly I don't pay much attention to it because as I said we've not had to use it U but as I said it's nice to have a parachute so I have a motion to approve the uh establishment of a credit line with Wells Fargo for school year or fiscal year 25 I make a motion we approve the line of credit with f Wells Fargo for the fiscal year 25 I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon i b there zi property donation now this was interesting yeah um yeah Cass would you put up the there you go thank you so much so uh uh the um there's a better map of this yeah there's a better map on the next page so oh there we go yeah you might want to bring it down a little bit now there you go um the realtor uh contacted Cass and asked her about this uh and um of course she asked me and I said well I think we need this on the board agenda um you can see it's immediately adjacent to the football field at uh Fox Creek um the elevation is a little lower than the football field but certainly not as low as uh down in that wash so it's it's not at risk of flooding or you know any of those kinds of things uh it is rather an odd-shaped parcel yeah um and uh so it's it's kind of understandable why U they were having uh you know they've sold some other Parcels in along the parkway for uh businesses and whatever um but U one of the advantages for us is not you know is that if we have it as part of our uh property um then then there's not a chance of something being built there you know some business being built there which becomes kind of an attractive nuisance for our students we like it another Circle K yeah yes is it is is it something that's usable or I mean I think it would be I don't know I you know I don't have any ideas right offand what we might use it for um but yeah I think it would be you know it's even just as a buffer zone you know if it's and stuff yeah yeah um uh I mean you can kind of tell from this areal view that that there's some changes in elevation there and they're pretty they're pretty pronounced too they they are when you drive when you drive by and look at it um uh but you know we just we don't know who knows we might end up with some great idea of what to do with that little piece of property mhm is it going to increase um property taxes or anything like that it doesn't change property taxes we don't pay taxes on our property and um uh you know we don't pay tax we don't pay property taxes on any of our properties and um uh at this point it's not going to it's not going to increase our uh insurance rates or any of those things because there's you know there's nothing on there right now to uh to be insured that's probably going to be a real tax advantage for the donators well and I think so too um um and um you know and certainly no harm no foul to anybody else oh absolutely right right um so it's it's one of those where I kind of go well don't look at gift horse in the mouth exactly it's not it's not U something that it is very there's no on it it is kind of a funny shape isn't it it makes me kind of wonder why uh why originally our property wasn't didn't include that to begin with you know um but I have no idea I mean that's you know that's that's ancient history 25 years ago so I have no idea um do I have a motion to accept this donation I make a motion that we accept the property donation from Avalon reality LLC for the parcel of land uh adjacent to the southeast corner of the football field at Fox Creek junior high I'll second that motion all those in favor I'm Alinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I Barb Zar Zuki okay okay uh Cass would you put that regulation up please when I read this I didn't see anything weird with it yeah I I skimmed it I it's very long it is but I was and it's our current regulation the changes are at the very end I didn't notice any difference in type or color or anything I'm sorry I had a long weekend it's underlined but it's there it is okay so one of the things are the blue things which are the references to regulations um uh they're not laws they are um they're Administrative Code regulations and um and the many of them have to do with graduation which does not affect us at all yeah uh Cass if you scroll back up just a here okay wh okay uh establish implement make available to its personnel and parents written procedures regarding access to special ed we do that already uh I think mostly this is just to reference some new things that were put in the uh administrative regulations and you can see the multiple references there and then whoops there's one okay and again it's graduation so it doesn't really affect us and I saw this I I didn't see and these all have to do with uh uh things for uh special ed students yeah so it it very much defines uh School District's UH responsibilities for uh continued education and um and a plan for students um uh services to students beyond the age of 16 um so these changes really do not affect anything that that we would do differently at elementary yeah do I have a motion to adopt regulation ib-r special education special instructional programs MO to adopt I'll make a motion that we adopt regulation ib-r special instructional pro programs all second the motion all those in favor I'm Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I I Fred Rush i b ziki okay item 4 5.4 uh going into executive session do I have a motion to move to Executive session I'm sor you have to read that whole thing that you love what happened to you I have to read the whole thing yeah oh yeah okay I you're right I don't like this item 4 or 5.4 convenient to Executive session pursuant to AR ARS 384 31.03 A1 discussion or consideration of employment assignment appointment promotion demotion dismissal salaries disciplining or resignation of a public officer appointee or employee of any public body except that with the exception of salary discussions an officer appointee or employee May demand that the discussion or consideration occur in public meeting did the person want a public meeting no okay so do I have a motion to to convene I'll make a motion that we convene to Executive session I second it all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene andas I Fred Rushton we are in executive barar ziki I'm sorry I had a m full lemonade [Music] a [Music] he [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] for [Music] he [Music] he [Music] nah [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] I have a motion to reconvene into public session make a motion that we reconvene into public session I'll second the motion all those in favor I Melinda sabraski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I biki um item 7.2 establishing the St superint stup super sorry Carolyn superintendent Prof or per yeah performance goals do I have a a motion or anything I make a motion we table 7.2 until our special meeting on Thursday o uh December 12th at 10: a.m. I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz hi Fred rushon hi barbariki closing items 8.1 future topics was there anything that we would like to to dis have discussed Barb and I have decided not to go to annual conference so we are not going we're not going it's 4 days before Christmas and it's like cuz it's the 19th oh and it's like it's just an ugly time didn't work out right for being too close to Christmas so yeah and with everything else at this time of the year we we've opted not to this year [Music] um item 8.2 upcoming board events I think that's yeah Desert Valley holiday show that's what I want 18th at 5:30 is anybody else planning on going to that what's that the Wednesday 18th yeah for the um I will be Lance even if two of us are there you might want to put out a notice that we that we may have a quorum oh okay I just want you to just want us to be thank you yeah um got to go support members yeah just 5:30 I think that would be kind of cool to see yeah um um that's the only one I see on here are there any of the other schools having is Junior High having one tomorrow sunrise has a couple Sunrise concerts tomorrow at 5:30 oh I could go at those no I can't no not tomorrow not tomorrow maybe Wednesday maybe the Wednesday one tomorrow we got VR so 12 12 1211 at 5:30 sunrise and you may want to set your January meeting tonight yeah not wait till we is January meeting is that what you're saying yeah the regular meeting the nth theth I don't have any trouble with the 9th I'm okay with that me check real quick come on phone works for me January 9th works for me yeah um that will be the night that you will that will be the night that you consider um any anybody who's interested in uh School Board School Board vacancy MH [Music] um when does the Science Olympiad happen is that we're not doing Science Olympiad this year we had no we had no sponsors that's too bad those kids were inspired yes is that an after school program mhm and they should have been working on it all year long okay I was going to say oh man I wish i' had known that because I probably would have volunteered to do that um okay we'll keep that in mind for next year okay so we're going to go for January 9th and we're going to start with a workshop at 5:30 and have a regular meeting soon after that right yes okay do I have a motion to adour well let's remind everybody that we have a meeting on Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m.

this event is for students and families and special education programs as well as students who have an IEP or 504 plan who are seeking more information about college vocational and Career Training students from asgo high school and trer Thompson and Ben narc and plank junior high schools shared their musical talents at Friday night's Christmas walk hosted by the village of a weo we're so proud of their performances good job congratulations to the seven OS musicians and the a OE HS musicians select at I lmea all state band chorus Jazz and Orchestra this distinct honor showcases the students talents and commitment and the value of a strong music music program in our schools we're proud of each each of you of course um for our Junior High and high school students the first semester is quickly coming to a close congratulations to our students on the successful school year thus far finish strong and best of luck to our high school students during finals week yes congratulations finish strong please study all right we're going to move to Stu I'm sorry yeah student board member reports hello so during our last ssac meeting Dr McDonald I mean Mr McDonald and Mr Kyer co-directors of Technology came to begin receiving feedback from students on effective next steps for providing Chromebooks devices to our seniors upon graduation we look forward to being a part of the process to create an outcome that's best for all students furthermore me and Cali have collaborated with new ideas to boost and create momentum after the winter break we have enjoyed collaborating during our Lunchtime with Miss prior where she gives us the tools to lead the ssac we have determined what we would Define as a trusted adult and we look forward to sharing more about our fine tuning after the new year as we take the new steps to collaborate with our building Administration and staff thank you so very much we're going to move to 6.3 the board committee reports we'll start with the equity and learning and Innovation report um in equity learning ation uh we had a presentation and update on uh the strategic planning process and then we also discussed specific policies that had a uh a strong connection to curriculum and instruction um those were presented at um legislation or the legislative committee as well at some point so we discussed some policies related to that and then that is all thank you m finance and Facilities uh um we had a robust conversation around our strategic planning Dr Kade presented an update to our committee it was an excellent conversation um key components that have been completed such as the curriculum audit and building walkthroughs for the master facility plan the next step will involve both colleagues and Community to provide their feedback through both digital and in-person discussions and I think we all look forward to hearing from our community the strategic plan has a draft of four main pillars academic and Student Success educational access and supportive environment partnership and collaboration and resource allocation and underneath those pillars is very robust list of what those things will do and mean and be measured by these are further divided into the focus areas as the process moves along um we will see feedback and revisions and tenative dates for presentation it's very exciting this is something that um I think will I think all the entire committee believes will really um give us a huge uh step forward in the future um we are looking for uh the Strategic plan to go to the board and approval in February or March of 2025 also uh as you saw Jason Coyle from Baker Tilly came tonight we had another robust discussion around our annual financial report otherwise known as our audit um for the first time in many years as he stated it was filed with the Kendall County Roe on time to meet the December 15th deadline actually was early and um just a chuckle that we all had that Kendall County actually went ahead and did a um extension for us because we always do ask for extension or need an extension and uh so I was proud to say we did not need it and um they were quite surprised but um we're incredibly proud of our finance team um so and then the notable highlights as he said which I don't think we can um stress enough but our net position and increase which is the accumulation of all our fund balances the debt impact and the capital asset assets the fact that we did not file those tax anticipation warrants for the first time in 20 years and the audit highlighted which Mr obafemi has told us and made us well aware of that we really need to address the transportation deficit um which is the current focus and um we all can uh collaborate on ways to make that happen but overall we are in a very positive um position and really excited uh for the future finally um Mrs satar uh talked about fee Collections and gave us an update and um it was really interesting to see that um right now our overall collection rate is at 53% um that's 53 out of 100% of the fees that we need to collect at this point in time again it was this is at a point in time it changes every month but they are presenting that information also to the board um they will that information will be and our board packet moving forward um it's very important that you take a look at that um as the school year progresses they also updated us on um some rfps that are going out including a bid for the redeveloping plan for the old choer building um that RFP is now public we encourage everyone to take a look at it forward that information on to any developers you might know and that want to uh collaborate with us uh to take some of this unused link and put it to good use for the benefit of our students and our community so thank you very much any additional comments questions and I did not ask the same thing for equity and learning and Innovation so any any additional comments or questions all right great policy and legislation so we had a very efficient meeting um and uh basically we went over some um new policy from uh that'll have their first reading tonight from the uh from press 117 um we discussed some bills regarding ethics and gift bands accelerated placement program equal educational opportunities and connection to the community uh we also looked at the digestive bills that were passed in the spring of this year and uh couple the two of us Dr Maro and I each picked out a bill that we wanted to highlight um so since I'm talking already I'll go ahead so the um the one that I wanted to highlight was uh HP 4219 which is the fentanyl education for grades 6 to8 and the reason I wanted to highlight this was not because and not because I think that six to eth graders need to know about fentanyl um but the fact is whether or not I think they do um it's kind of gotten to that point in education we need to make sure that our kids that our students um know what's out there in the world world and are not living in a bubble so um it's not something that's going to be some big um uh some big class that they're going to have um five days a week or anything like that but um the state does mandate now that fentel education do does take place for junior high students and then the book uh bill that I chose to highlight was HB 4261 teacher performance assessment task force the bill actually just stated that they are requesting that that task force make uh or provide a report to the legislature in October of 2024 so upon research they did that and I read through their report uh and this is related to actually teacher preparation and what they need to pass to get an Illinois teaching license um the summary of the report is that they're um they're going to move forward with a a two or threee plan to review that process and what they might need to change or or add um to the te the teacher performance assessment that um for for Teacher licensure in the state of Illinois uh not a like direct direct impact on us except that is about the teacher Pipeline and the more efficient and more prepared we can make teachers to pass that assessment the stronger our pipeline is uh and it will likely have some impacts in the future on our teacher Residency program as those residents will have to pass the TPA to be able um to obtain their license so I'm not sure if we've already highlighted this one but I think um it's kind of one of those that needs a little new want which is um HB 499 which deals with the tier 2 pension piece and it might sound like hey why are we talking about tier 2 pension but I think uh we need to be real uh or we need to realize and and thank you to um representative kwit for really um spearheading this that if we don't do something and we don't make Safe Harbor uh at the very least um we're going to take a huge hit and so there's definitely some interest from all sides depending on who you are um you know uh there's there is we should be definitely paying attention to this um and I'm sure uh uh Mr oemi um if we have to start paying Social Security on our employees you're going to come to this meeting and have a serious conversation with us in a real quick moment so um that's not all that needs to be done with this because we're not attracting enough Educators but uh certainly that's the here and now if somebody asks what it is that uh is going to affect us that one would absolutely impact us immensely right away any additional questions can you just repeat your bill number why your bill number I have to go back I'll go back to the notes no that's okay that's 42 H 42 thank you all right right moving on to 6.4 board member comments I'll I'll just be quick I apologize I I kind of thought I was going to be late and then I thought no I'll be okay and then sorry to the community um over the weekend we uh family dealing with my mom over at Copley she's still there um be there probably till tomorrow maybe we're hoping we get her out or she is saying bust her out uh but my apologies um for that so she'll probably be fine but you know one of those things so sorry no apology need it but yeah no apology I just wanted to update um we a lot of us all of us were at uh uh triple I uh and a great opportunity for our board to do continued learning um uh around our work and the school board I did have a chance uh to represent uh 308 at the delegate assembly so I just wanted to report back on those results um the six consent agenda items uh were all eventually passed uh although four of them were removed from the consent agenda from the cons consent agenda to for further discussion uh mostly for um districts to provide additional information or support regarding um those items but all six of them uh um passed they were about dual language uh e EB F authorized charter school funding Tiff accountability faiths law the centralized state agency for state for Faith's law um HealthCare coverage and then polling places at school so those six all uh passed in the assembly um and then there were three appealed resolutions that actually uh made it through the process uh to uh for comment uh and then um to um vote on if we wanted to be if we wanted it to be heard on the floor so those were cell phone usage uh the Inspector General one and then the criminal background check again um a couple of schools made uh some comments on those but on the vote uh there was not enough people in the room that wanted those items to be heard and so they never made it to a vote eventually but there was some discussion on those items um so proud to represent the district I think we have a good process for moving forward with these uh with this process um so I take questions if there's questions if I can answer you know uh it's not really a question it's just uh if somebody's listening to our meetings for the very first time yeah what passed like what does that mean it means that my understanding is that this is what they will be uh ADV advocating for at the state level um so the Illinois Association School Board they lobbyist yeah thank you that's the word I was thinking Lobby for those items Lobby for those items so they're not NE these aren't law things that are being passed right these are what we are are supporting them and and lobbying for okay so I do have I do have a question and um I'm actually very happy that it's very heartwarming to know that they took up the Inspector General piece and had that discussion can you like I don't expect you to give me a playby play but what was there kind of like a um maybe a consensus or a theme as far as both sides of that go um my notes although they could be lacking have only one um District speaking on it and that was Harvey a school district from Harvey um and just indicating that there has been a lot of mismanagement and so we need something like that to kind of have the the checks in place to make sure that mismanagement doesn't occur and I'll Echo that because I you know like I said there's I don't I think when we're not nurturing or paying attention to our local levels there's there's an opportunity for some nefarious things to occur tragically uh I'm not saying here necessarily or uh but but it's out there and it's it's too bad I'm assuming the vote was not closed though um only 17 voted for it to be heard sure yeah it it needs some work but I'm I'm glad to hear there was the discussion because there should be attention to it so yeah is was there any discussion around I you know it's interesting lately um other school districts I've seen across the country um we had a parent recently um gift us all a book on cell phone use it just feels like there's something there and I don't know what it is yet I don't know whether that requires the board level or you know Administration level but what was the discussion if was there anything of significance in there um I think most of what was heard in support of it would be that yes we want to look at limiting cell phone usage in schools um out of the ones that were brought for consideration to appeal this was one the one of the ones that had the most votes out of three 167 people voted wow to be have it heard and I would concur just personally my experience and I'm hearing a lot of this as well uh nationally in my home with my friends yes with with parents um and so I think it's um worthy of continued conversation on the board of where where where we might land on something like that because I don't see necessarily you know that going away and it shouldn't go away right it's I think um our children and us are going to have to contend with in the future so and I think we as a board um our specific um situation that we have such an Engaged and intelligent um student board and student advisory committee that together if we could do something and have those conversations so that we aren't taking away something that is so you know integral to to them but also um still honors the you know the learning environment within the school um so maybe a potential topic down the road for our ssac and and her ambassadors and my personal experience is sometimes I think that we think it's so integral like they won't ever want to give them up but when you talk to kids about it they understand like my experience has been that they understand like yeah it's probably a big problem and we would probably understand if you took away our phones or whatever ever the case may be so um yeah it's interesting yeah I will say like my high school this year I've had zero problems and last year it was terrible it was it was like what was the CH what was the CH what was the change yeah great great question it's a large school right over three 3,000 students and so what happened was it was a schoolwide expectation that uh in the front of the room every room has um pocket a pocket and and they put them in the beginning uh and then they pull at the end and what we decided was Hey listen rather than fight with students throughout instruction like we're like Hey we're we're going to give up that we're used to these Bell ringers but give up that first minute and that last two minutes right so that they can get their phones so that there's not that like uh what do you want to say um taking away their property right but then they have those moments right because to some of them they are like checking things there might be things going on at home Etc and so forth and so on on um and so it's been largely successful I'm not saying there hasen't been issues there are but compared to last year uh last year like cell phone was the largest thing and we had situations where students were texting each other and trying to meet up in in the bathroom and there were there were issues around that we've had none of those none of those um I highly recommend something like that but again I'm not I don't like to dictate to to any kind of like um community of schools because I think that's a choice that has to be made and they have to come to that but uh I'd invite anyone to ask anyone for and my school can be a tough crowd from time so it's not like it's you know hey this is the idic place all the time but yeah we've had nothing and and the other High School in our district isn't doing that and and I hear about it all the time so Food For Thought um I think when it comes to like phones being in the classroom I feel like students and even outside the classroom understand just how much like phone usage that we get like we try to like limit but it's like I'm not going to lie it's an addiction a phone is an addiction especially when you get at such a young age and like you're having iPads at three you're having iPads at four so you're like intertwined with that for a really long time and then coming to the school setting I feel like the issue comes where students don't know how to decipher between school time learning time and then them just being on their phones like as a whole like I feel like if like students were to understand that hey like I understand that you know I'm at school learning is what we're here to do and then we can use our phones whether it's during that passing period I know that um one of my family members they can't use their phone at school at all like it's just not allowed not in the hallways not in the classroom like it's not allowed end of conversation you'll take it you'll have a referral that's it but here at AOS we go east it's very like by um it's by department and it's by by teacher and if they decide that they you they feel like it's a issue then it is but if it's not and I actually wrote a page on your book about disruptions Dr Waller knows about it but I wrote a page on it about so cell phone policy and I talked to Miss Bowski and I kind of you know wanted to see it from a teacher perspective student perspective and then a higher perspective and I kind of just wrote a little bit about how students it's not that they have a problem with turning it in but they feel more secure with having it on them it's more of a comfort thing um they feel like more comfortable having it they feel like what if something happens like it's more of a disconnection that they feel when they're giving it to somebody else or can't have it near them rather than oh I don't want to turn my phone in no I do but I just don't want to have it like I just want it to myself but teachers are like you're not understanding the material so yeah that's my input it's really important to understand I think especially when there are Generations gaps with you your generation has grown up with with technology and we haven't and I think also I think the trust conversation comes in too that do you trust your teachers and your admin that if something were to happen we have the process procedures and and plans in place to keep you safe that's actually what Mr Bell does that's like his whole job and what you know he manages is to make sure that in each School those things go and are in place to protect you and sometimes I think as a as the adults where we get concerned is that they actually get in the way instead of helping because we're not paying attention to the things that we're supposed to instead we're paying attention to our phones and I say that for adults and children you know we're we're no different you know when it comes to being addicted to phones um it it it was built up that's what technology was built to do was to get you addicted so and I'll say there was trepidation in our school from from everyone like first of all you had adults who didn't think it would work I I personally model it I go in the first thing I do is is put my phone in there too the students do it on their own it's um of course like that first week there was a lot of what the heck is this nobody even says anything anymore it's kind of like when in our school I know I'm get controversial in our school like we don't care about hats anymore and of course there were people who cared about hats like this is going to be the end of the world cuz people are going to wear hats nobody cares like like nobody cares anymore and it it's like one of those things like I think sometimes we just don't like change and so we get mad cuz something's about to change and then you know what it's like oh okay I I mean I'm not saying like this is what we should do I I don't like I said I don't like that because I think a school should have its own culture and figure these things out but I do think sometimes we're just like afraid of change in general and we're fine no hats are okay where we're at like I haven't had anyone get in a fight over a hat the phones they put them up it's they learn a lot and they'll tell you that they are paying more attention just one this is a oh please after you oh okay um I have three things I want to talk about real quick oh I I just want to just to underscore um all these themes I think are really important I want to invite everybody January 9th at 6:30 p.m.

with that meeting adjourned thank you

uh we have all five trustees um in person here uh first uh item is the the adoption of the agenda if there any questions if not I'll ENT in a motion I move to adopt the agenda second moved and seconded all those in favor say I I I the agenda is adopted as presented the next item is under review and discussion School consolidation and closure study session Dr FES thank you good evening this evening uh assistant superintendent of Business Services Kevin Franklin will open our presentation and and assist the board in their discussion on the matter of school consolidation right all right good evening so I have a few slides here that are part of a request for more information from the last study session that we had so I'm here to present those particular slides um and answer any questions that you might have about some of this information so the first is just um a slide about the options that uh we had brought forward at the last study session options a b and c um with I believe the focus being on option b um at that time but still have the three options available um depending on what the board's direction is okay the next item that was requested was the schematics for a tk8 campus and so what we had talked about was that there are really two realistic um schematics uh for a tk8 campus the first one being this particular school pedmont middle school and what we were looking at was option C within the three different options and a lot of that was based on cost and the timeline to be able to implement those changes to reconfigure the School site so with this particular option for um pedmont Middle School to make pedmont a K8 what we're looking at doing is pretty much kind of dividing the school into two sides um with the bottom side on this particular map being the elementary side and so you can see reconfiguring the classrooms there in the front to uh the TK classrooms and Kinder class classrooms putting a playground out in front of those classrooms for the kindergarten students so um playground appropriate for ages five years and under to accommodate those students and then out further on the black top behind the mini gym is the other playground for the older Elementary School students then what we have is pretty much everything else along the the administration building remaining the same with the choir and then this NPR um being the same and then leaving the band room um where it's currently located in the library and also in this particular instance leaving the fif space where it is and then um creating the the upper 67 and eighth grade um classrooms on that end of the campus the other thing that we would do that I failed to mention was down in the TK section is that we would reconfigure the restrooms in that area to be appropriate for uh the TK and Kinder students so in in installing smaller um toilets and and um making that restroom suitable for those students so we would do that reconfiguration so all of that cost is about $2.4 million we would also look at what options we have to make drop off a little bit easier out here in the front so right now there's currently a a short fence along that curve for the drop off we would look at removing that fence then we would also look at any other reconfiguration we could do to help make it uh easier for parents and families to drop off students especially the younger students that are TK and Kinder age over there by those classrooms any questions about this particular uh layout for pedmont before I move on from the board feel free to ask interrupt Mr Franklin uh quickly for the for the drop off glad that you mentioned for the conf reconfiguration for the younger students so I would imagine there would be a staggered um belt schedule uh because if if if we do uh end up with the tk8 configuration so yeah that would depend as we're developing um you know what what that looks like um I know that I'm familiar with some tk8 campuses that are larger in size than what we would be creating and they all have one standard start time of of 8:30 so we'd have to take some of those things into consideration you might have some families that have an older student and a younger student and so maybe a stagger drop off might not be conducive to to their situation so we'd have to really kind of take a look at how we wanted to do that as far as the bell schedule goes okay okay then the next option to look at at roughly the same cost was sierant middle school and reconfiguring that school into a tk8 campus as well and again the same concept of kind of creating that divide between the the younger grades and the older Middle School grades so creating at the bottom half of that map um you know the Kinder and TK area there at the bottom having that TK playground out in front of those classrooms and then going around on the side the first through uh fifth grades and then leaving the other half of the campus for the older students and not doing any changes to the current art room the current band rooms or the science rooms all of those um would still remain the same and then you would have um the seventh and eighth grade like I said on the on the middle of the building and then eighth grade also occupying some of the Portables and there I don't know that we would need to do any reconfiguration for drop off although there is an option to be able to do that to reconfigure the small parking lot in the front to have an entrance and to have a drop off section there as well but that would be a little bit more than the the 2.3 million that's shown um as the cost for the reconfiguration and then another playground for the older elementary students out there by the third and fourth grade [Music] classrooms any questions about this particular layout do those good schematics require change to the existing boundaries to the middle schools so yes it would because depending on how you want to configure um you know what elementary schools are going to be feeding into those so for instance if p was chosen and if it was Toyon and and um Summerdale merging into this particular campus then we would need to reconfigure the Middle School boundaries for Vincy Park and Noble which feed um you know about 50% of their students to uh to Pont for both schools and then CRM also depending on what schools were being um Consolidated into that particular campus then we would have to look at capacity and to see um how that would work out so in other words if um Pon was selected to become a TK through 8 school their boundaries would shrink and same for siot if they were selected to be a TK through 8 their boundaries will shrink as well yes [Music] okay just one additional note on that with the tk8 at sier aont you would have a more large scale boundary change for the Middle School attendance then you would with pedmont simply because the elementaries that feed into sier Mon are larger in size than the elementary schools that feed into pedmont any additional questions before we move to the next slides all right so I'll quickly go through these next ones because these are just some of the items um that kind of came up during the board study session discussion last time and so there's just additional more in-depth information that I'll go through relatively quickly but please feel free to ask questions as we go through if you have any um first was about the boundaries um as you just mentioned and what those currently are um and where they they all the students are currently located so the next couple of slides are the current boundaries and then some school density Maps as far as where our students reside within those boundaries as they currently are so it's the elementary these are the Middle School boundaries so you can see how some of Noble's attendance area um splits between sierant and that peach middle section um some of Noble's boundaries go there and then they're in that fluorescent green those students go to uh pedmont and then same with Vincy Park some of Vincy Park's area is green going to Pont and some of Vincy Park's area is yellow going to morill so those are the adjustments that would need to be made um in the situation that um that was just being mentioned and then as far as density Maps it's a little bit hard to see on this particular screen it's actually pretty clear on the on the displays but um you can see that there's darker um red color areas where it's a higher density of our students residing and so you can see some of the really dark red areas are some of the areas where you see some of the apartment complexes that have uh many students living in them and then some of the lighter shaded areas are where we don't have very many students uh residing and then this next particular slide um shows in these dots exactly where we have students and higher densities of students so again that's something that you know when you see it on the on the computer screen and you can zoom in you can kind of see where our students are currently residing right now the this is a a graph of the or a table of the distances between school sites so you know how close one school is to another and for each particular School you know what the next closest school is those are highlighted in yellow so you can see the next closest school for instance to uh Noble the closest schools are Ruskin Summerdale and Toyon so that's how that particular table works okay next was school capacity and utilization and again just a reminder that all of these slides have been presented before they're presented to the committee and we've we've shared them a few times they're available on our website as well um these are the school capacity calculations so just how many um uh students uh can be served at a particular School site based on the current number of classrooms and if we add additional Portables how many can uh the School site sustain and how many students can they serve so that's the current capacity calculations here's the utilization rates for 23 24 so this is the the utilization rates that we were utilizing last year when we started this process so you can go down and you can see that for each of our school sites and then because we're looking at implementing this in 2526 we did another utilization rate based on projected enrollment at that time for each School site so that's why we use 2526 rather than this current fiscal year because we're going to Implement next year there are also some questions about the Mandarin dual immersion program at Cherrywood so this is some of the information that was requested out of that conversation so the program started in the fall of 2018 starting with two Kinder and one first grade classroom and then two classrooms were added each school years each school year to build the program and now we're currently having we have students in sixth grade and seventh grade at CR middle school as well so it goes beyond Cherrywood now and then as you can see on that next line in 2526 you will have our first group of eighth graders uh finishing that first cohort through camont middle school so the total enrollment as it currently sits with the Cherrywood dual immersion program there's a total enrollment of the school site of 533 we have uh 277 of those students in the Mandarin dual imersion program 256 six that are not currently in the program so a little bit more than 50% of the students are in the Mandarin dual emersion program at Cherrywood and then you can see how those numbers play out between how many Resident Cherrywood students are in the program versus non-resident students and out of District students so you know a majority of the amount of students come from either outside of the school district or from other School site attendance boundaries uh do we know which School uh sends most Mandarin students from our district to Cherrywood Vincy park I think it's in the 54 or so um but yeah Vincy park has the most uh students in that program the next set of information that was requested was about title one so just a quick overview of Title One eligibility and what it could be used for um Title One schools are eligible for Title One funds when they're above 40% % um when above 40% of their students are considered low income so when you go below 40% then you can apply for a waiver if you meet any of the following criteria which is greater than or equal to 25% of the students being low income greater than 30% um being English Learners um or if you've been identified for comprehensive or targeted support so all of our schools currently receive funding through a title one waiver meaning none of our schools qualify anymore as being above 40% so all of them are below 40% now where that hadn't been the case in Prior years and then expenditures um all must be supplemental in nature and directly related to increasing the academic achievement of economically disadvantaged students so everything must be above and [Music] beyond this is a list of our schools that qualify for Title One status and the percentage of free and reduced um free and reduced price meals which is How We Gather the low-income um and socioeconomic status of our students so that's the in the middle column is the number of eligible students and then what that translates into as a percentage and then the corresponding Revenue associated with those students for each of the school sites and then another term that we use often is the unduplicated pupil count so we also get supplemental dollars from the state for our unduplicated pupil count students very similar to Title One in nature um and it's for we get additional funds for any student who falls into one of these three categories um students eligible for free and reduced price meals English Learners Foster youth or homeless and so basically what that means is that if a student falls into multiple of those categories they only count that student once you don't get additional dollars if they meet multiple um categories and then this is the unduplicated people count by um type at each School site so which one of our students are Foster youth or homeless um which ones are free and reduced and which students are English Learners so this is just um a chart showing how many of those students are at each of our school sites as they currently are this year any questions about any of these slides thank you for the presentation um there any questions from the board uh we may ask at this time before we move to public comments we could spend some time um discussing the findings of the data uh and then uh move on to public comments and come back uh to discuss the U next steps the Bo's prerogative I also just want to quickly share with the trustees we do have others here in the audience that can also support answering any questions you may have we have Brianna Garcia here who's our facilitator for our school consolidation advisory committee we also have Tom Williams our demographer um our uh chairperson is still here Mr Carol for the committee as well as Harold Freeman our um legal councel who's been assisting us through this process and of course cabinet that can answer any question questions you may have so on the U just from the uh the data from [Music] Cherrywood wrong slide oh there you go so the nonmi enrollment is uh all all 256 sherrywood resident students or do we have transfers overflows and things like no we do have some students who are overflowed into the in into the school site um I think there's about 10 that are in the K5 program and I think there's another 8 to 10 or so in TK that come from other areas in the district okay I I just have a quick question about um how our students and families get around to the different schools are you do you have information about um how many students will be who walk to school who will be impacted if we do a TK to a like to pedmont and to sierant like the incoming schools do you have those kind of rough numers yeah I'd have to go back and look at the previous presentation from that time frame but we did have um we did have the safe routes to school that was part of the study that uh Dan Norris did um and we did present that information so we do have that data um I just don't remember it off the top of my head but I can get that you know um I know combo class sizes changes every year but is there any particular site that historically always has had an issue with always having combo classes because I think that's one of the issues that I would like to address is to avoid the need for combo classes yeah so from my experience the past few years it's typically your smaller School Toyon Summerdale um there's a handful at um Cherrywood this year Lan view has some um Brook tree I think has one or two but typically it's the smaller schools we've we've seen them every year at at Toyon and Summerdale since I've been here okay so our two smallest Road schools are are Toyon Summerdale and what's the third one now Lane View Lane view okay Noble's another one that's probably roughly the same say go ahead sorry yeah I have one question just regarding the you know the uh I guess adjusting or you know upgrading the facilities the middle school facilities to accept um you know to make them T TK to 8 so the cost is roughly 2 half million that's what we're trying to save by uh you know by consolidating schools why can't we use those funds just to pay for you know for the cost instead of consolidating schools yeah so that's a good question so the the dollars that we would use to upgrade this facility or CR for a tk8 would come out of our bond and developer fees which are specific to using to improve our facilities and can be used only for our facilities and not for um just general purpose salaries and we have the the bond funds available for for that type I know because it wasn't initially you know part of our our planning for yeah so there are bond funds so you know if we do close uh three schools we will um have some savings from not needing to do all of the projects scheduled to occur at those School sites some of them we would still of course um still follow through on such as like fire alarm systems things like that because our facilities are still going to be are going to be around and we'll need to keep them safe um but there'd be other projects that we would maybe um not be moving forward with that we would could then reallocate those funds to upgrade these sites okay and then there's also some dollars available that that were already committed um for instance upgrading science labs things like that that were already scheduled to be done at each of the middle schools okay and it seems like pretty extensive work that could be done before the beginning of next year yes So the plan would be um once the board makes the decision on whether or not to move forward with the tk8 at either of the school sites we we've already had an architect look at um the layout for each School site what we would do is we'd start with purchasing the playground equipment so we can move forward with that and we would start doing a lot of that work um and then we would try to schedule out the restroom work to be done during one of the breaks if possible before the summer okay um what are your thoughts on um when it comes to converting uh the middle schools either seront or Pont middle into TK through R uh the safety and traffic issues I know SI is located further inside the residential areas there's a lot of uh residential parking for parents and Guardians to walk their students or their children to school a little bit more safer but as far as Pont middle it's on a larger thoroughfare just right out here um could that become problematic or how would we address that um I'm not sure is there do parents drop off their kids right off here in peont road yeah there's some that do park down the street and and the students walk I've seen parents walk with students as well um it's pretty good traffic flow moving through the the circle here and and out in the morning um you'd also then have probably staggered in times to you know so typically TK and Kinder get out earlier than the rest of the students um but again the School site after creating a tk8 would be roughly the same size that the school sites currently are maybe slightly bigger if it's pedmont versus zont but again pedmont a just a few years ago was over 800 students and so if we're creating a tk8 that has between 700 and 750 students you know there's actually less students coming to school um and then typically you know if we're looking at Summerdale and Toyon those students are already families that come here um for drop off currently but again too we have to remember that with the reconfiguration there's going to be more staff so then there will be staff that could help you know out in the front with helping children get out of cars and help with the flow of traffic so um it there's a chance that or there's more staff so it helps make things smoother during drop off and pickup times thank you so even just even is you good please sorry um yeah that's actually one of my concerns as well as traffic um you know for this site I have a middle schooler here you know I have a an elementary student at Summerdale and those you know younger students need the parent to bring them to the school to wait for them after school my middle school or you know I wait for them on peniten Creek Road because the traff so bad um so uh I think you know with the just having the main road here one of main roads and know the Bas area is is a little bit problematic in terms of traffic flow and stuff like that but we also have theot lot right which Right Now isn't available to drop off or pick up it's just for would that be something that perhaps we could look at um um I probably wouldn't recommend it just because of the fact that we are going to be reconfiguring and rebuilding our warehouse facility and it will be rebuilt up in the front here but even before that there are still big trucks that do come in to to drop off for deliveries and we can't always you know plan exactly when they're they're coming into theot yard and so if we're allowing that to be used for um for pickup during the day and we have deliveries that need to be made it could become problematic but we would definitely look into traffic that'd be part of one of the next steps moving forward is to to look at what the impact of the decision would be as far as traffic and the two and a half million doesn't include any like say you know parking lot upgrades or changes or anything like that um it would it most likely would be able to include some of those if you're going to completely redo the parking lot then no we would need to add some funds but there's definitely um some some dollars in there for some reconfiguration of the parking lot to help with the traffic so of course this was this was redesigned like five years ago into the current um layout with Middle School in mind but we could we would definitely take a look to see if there's a more efficient way to make it um more conducive to a tk8 and then just to go back to trusty HG had asked about the safe routes to schools and those numbers it's on page 176 in your binder you'll have a configuration there for every school that gives an estimate of the Walkers and what those um patterns are around each facility which is what the committee looked at during their August 8th meeting it's under the appendix a and in appendix a page 176 is where it begins and as Mr Franklin mentioned um the next follow-up step once we do have schools identified from the board would be a more intensive traffic study for those locations so basically no matter what we decide we'll make it work uh in a good way yeah kind of pivoting to another topic too I also wanted to touch on um Staffing for mental health as well so for a TK to8 model has do we have an idea if we would maintain the model that we currently have with our psychologists and social workers we share them among the elementary schools and what would happen with the TK to8 model would we maintain one for the entire school or I'd kind of defer that to ed services and and what their thoughts are I know psych just we allocate based on a a student ratio so that would probably stay the same yeah the one thing I would uh advocate for is if you're moving to tk8 you have two elementary schools our school social workers support two elementary schools so I would advocate for an elementary social worker and then a middle school social worker then you have that additional um academic counselor and then the school psychologists who would serve probably just the whole school and they wouldn't um uh share sites where most of our school psychologists currently share sites so I think that would be my recommendation so I'm actually glad you brought that up uh because I think one of the most important factors um of this process the closure and potential consolidation is that uh we want to provide more resources we're not we shouldn't be thinking of it as closing a school and taking away from our community but we should be discussing it as if we're adding more resources by consolidating it so that way our students have more available resources that are more readily available to them at one site absolutely and if we go back to our original objective um for this school consolidation process as much of a financial challenge that we have it is about making sure we're better utilizing our resources and maximizing services for our students um I know there's no actions taken tonight but uh maybe uh we could set some parameters is there any potential School sites uh that you guys feel are off limits or you absolutely cannot support closing so that way when we do take action next week we kind of focus our conversations on the schools that at least the five of us can't support consolidating or closing like is there a middle school or are middle schools off the ti T any particular sites that you just absolutely cannot support closing yeah I think the the last meeting U I expressed and I think trusty boak also might have I don't want to speak on her behalf but I did Express um that I'm not inclined to to close uh any of the middle schools as far as possible uh I mean uh again we want to keep that as a last option uh ideally if there's a there's a pathway to creating a tk8 uh in a successful tk8 model uh then we we should look at uh preserving the Middle School uh and preserving all three middle schools uh you know reconfiguring one uh into a tk8 kind of a model that that's where we were at at the for middle schools and I can also speak for myself since I wasn't here but I agree with that I really think we should not touch our middle schools for closure there would be a lot of students impacted I also would like to stay Within in the schools that were recommended by the committee I think that you know the process was robustly done by community members and we should maintain that short list that they provided to us and also I would like to voice that I'm really concerned about the impact that uh this will have on our Latino population our um mckin vento students and so I would a on the side of you know trying to make sure that they're supported and that our decision does not ultimately greatly impact them the most since school closures are happening across the side it's disproportionately affecting our lowincome homeless Latino students so I just want to voice that as well all right uh any other questions trusty black yeah if I remembered correctly the last time we met here we chose option was it option C or I can't remember what it was anymore where we would reconfigure one one middle school and close two and I think it's uh option option b then I think that's the one right yeah it's option b no Middle School must close I totally I am against that and I think we all agree as members of the board so the with the option b we say we talking about closing two Elementary merging wait sorry two Elementary merging one with a middle school but um if I heard you correctly uh I mean you probably might have cited it as an example but you did talk about suale and toon merging into pmon so capacity wise uh does pedmont have capacity to absorb both the schools um as they are meaning without breaking up breaking apart the community uh the S Summerdale community and the toon community community and then bringing both schools as it is so it won't be a closure per say it'll be consolidation of both elementary schools into Middle School is that capacity yes so yeah so the the utilizing the current projected numbers for Summerdale and Toyon for next year combining them into one school here as a as a tk8 would be within the capacity it'd be well under the maximum capacity and it would be somewhere between probably 740 to 775 students somewhere around that that range just depending on some of the parameters that are put on to uh the creation of the of the tk8 right and for sorry uh just quickly uh to continue on that tk8 model for seront I don't think we we spoke about any one school or two schools I did I I do understand that the the M Majestic Cherrywood and rasing that feed into San a larger school elementary schools um what would be the vision like for for that um I'm just curious how how we structured that yeah so to be able to create that at carmont you'd probably have to reconfigure um you know what that looks like so right now you currently have the Mandarin dual immersion that I mentioned at um at sierant so then you'd be looking at I would assume most likely Cherrywood becoming part of that K8 um but then you're really limited because then that's one attendance area then only for um the middle schools or for the Middle School portion of that K8 and so um that wouldn't necessarily work but but they have 520 or 30 or so students and so that's around the amount of elementary students that we would be looking at having for a a within a tk8 so configuring that to be able to be the size and and and everything to not have the disruption to the other two schools as far as where those students go to Middle School you'd have to um have the rusin students um go to a different middle school and you'd have to have the Majestic students go to a different middle school as well I got okay and then if you chose Ruskin rusin then you're looking at 300 yeah to 350 depending on the projection in the the years moving forward and then that's not enough so then you'd have to look at then where you're GNA you know pull the remainder of those elementary students from to create that TKA yeah just see minutes I am oh I'm sorry [Music] okay thank you um so if we were to consolidate say you know Toyon and Summerdale here how would that affect the boundaries of the other schools that feed into uh pedmont Middle School right so right now part of nobles students come to uh pedmont the rest go to sierant and then uh with Vincy Park some of them come to pedmont some of them go to morill so I think after having conversations with Tom Williams um we would most likely look at um having the Vincy Park students feed into uh Mor and the um Noble students feed into camont but of course we could take a look you know in more detail at those boundaries and see if some of the Vincy Park students if it would be more appropriate for them to attend um camont based on where they live but um there was also a good point brought up to me earlier about um Vincy Park and there being um public transportation bus Transportation through VTA going from the Vincy Park neighborhood directly to Morel so Vincy I mean of the four schools Vincy and Noble are more affluent than you the student populations than say Summerdale and Toyon right so and in a way we're segregating the more affen students with the less affluent students because now you know they all me here I mean it just depends some of them like I said already from Vincy Park they they already split between the two schools so um how those numbers you know and what the status is of those students I'm not right I don't know which you know half goes there but right you know just in terms of uh just entire School population as the whole yeah that's okay I um I have a concern at the same time when we have to close Title One schools and if um Summerdale and toon were to come here here that's all Title One schools but at the same time I'm looking at it in another way too that um more students that can receive Title One um more than 40% it will be schoolwide so the resources would be would be com in plenty and know for them am I correct on that one yes so if it were Summerdale and Toyon merging in with pedmont trying to get to that title one slide here so you know you're looking at you know the two highest percentage Title One schools merging within the highest or pedmont and Mill are roughly the same um as far as Title One percentage but you're you're correct you'd be merging um essentially three Title One schools together um basically two the two feeder Title One schools that feed into pedmont and so more than likely um because those percentages are so close to 40% for Summerdale and Toyon you would have a school that was over 40% um and not needing the waiver uh for Title One um by creating the tk8 here at peont so the the resources would be schoolwide and perhaps hire more resources more mental health people more there more counselors and so forth right for instance when you see you know Summerdale and Toyon combined receiving about $90,000 in Title One money and then on top top of that another $90,000 from pedmont you can do a lot more with those dollars combined than you could with just sommerdale and Toyon so for instance Summerdale and Toyon the way they're currently configured um you wouldn't even really be able to hire a halftime like reading intervention teacher for instance um or some other um type of uh support type teacher intervention teacher um but when you combine those three together you would definitely have enough money to provide resources like that at a school yeah I also have to point out too Summerdale and Toyon pedmont is their home school for Middle School right so they're going to have to come here anyway okay yes oh and I also want to note um I would also like to see if we were to combine all our Title One schools like pushing for something that would benefit those students like a steam school for Pon middle school just to give um this community a benefit you know since if we were to do that option as well I would voice Advocate heavily for that as well it's my concern you know neighboring districts have schools with large Title One populations no one is clamoring to go to those schools no one is saying You know despite the additional funds additional resources hey I want to send my kid to Title One school or high Title One population so that is my concern uh that you know would happen here is that we would have a giant school with a large larger Title One population than any other school in the district uh I don't see parents saying oh well they have you know they have extra assistance they have an extra counselor I want to send my kid there that's not what parents look at um you know um so that's that's something I'm really concerned about but if we reconfigure this school as a steam some kind of an academy then I think it would be more attractive to the other districts if we were to do something like that yeah and that's definitely an option so I mean as part of the Recon configuration we could definitely look at doing something like that and reconfiguring classrooms um as we start to create the the plan for the school we can definitely look into that I think we the board agrees as to not to close any of the Middle School uh I think I'm getting that from everyone here um so perhaps The Next Step would be we need to really think about the other closures the other school sites if that is something that the board agrees on and to rethink all these things I just want a quick clarification from truste so can you uh explain one more time your concern about creating a big huge Title One school is that a I mean over the Optics of I know that yeah yeah I know that you know neighboring districts have schools with large Title One populations I went to Title One schools all my life and they're not the schools that people choose to send their kids to despite people you know when parents are looking they look at test scores Etc right um but and they look at you know student uh demographics they don't look at you know they they're getting some extra funds because you know they have poor kids because they have second language Learners that tend to bring down the test scores right so uh they're not usually the schools that people want to send their kids to for whatever reason you know why we know the reasons but it's just yeah having gone to Title One schools I can tell you they're not the schools that people even though they may be good schools right and they have you know resources they have great teachers and assistants and all that stuff they're not the ones that parents want to send their kids to right so so just just due to the fact that we label it as a as a title one school just the Optics of that might uh might not look good even though the the yeah well I mean you and students that are you know second language Learners that come from disadvantaged backgrounds also tend to score lower on on tests and so that and that's what parents look at as the test scores right so unless the assistant is assistance is really but I mean in general is it really enough to to elevate the test scor to some you know to a school with like say a Mor affluent all English learn you know all English proficient population I don't know okay thank you so I see it a little bit differently um I don't think it should be looked at whether the parents want to send their children to that school or not I think it should be looked at the fact that the children that that are enrolled in those schools are they getting the the support that they needed and if we have the ability to provide that support and additional resources I think that's what's important especially for um families living that neighborhood often times they don't have the resources or ability to drive their children to the schools that they do want to send their kids to because it's not Title One or whatever uh oftentimes those families are forced to go to those neighborhood schools um and if they are sending their kids to those schools we should provide those children with the uh the most uh resource and support I think that's how we should be looking at it yeah well and and that's part of the problem so the the families within those boundaries that can that have the means or have the knowledge to send their kids to another school uh within the district or you know they can afford a private school they will do that and so my concern is I mean that happens here at this school right I know kids that choose not to come to pedon because you know it has a bad reputation uh quote unquote so they send you know the ones that know that they can do that and they have the transportation they have the time to take their kids to the campus or the means to s in private school they will choose those options instead so it creates more segregation and that's really that's my concern I think that parents if they wish to send their kids to private schools they can I mean that's their choice but at the same time as a former educator myself I am not really too concerned about um whether whether the parents are going to send send their kids to a title one school believe me we can create it we can create a school that is extremely attractive to these parents and one of them in my opinion is turning it into a steam Academy of some kind and and that I think is very very attractive as a teacher myself it's it's not so much of a concern because we cannot help when parents want to send their children to private schools yeah yeah I want to Echo that I share the same concern as you trusty Jimenez because I do acknowledge that that you know all three of the schools are Title One schools but I also agree with trusty boak you know I think that if we give the school an added benefit it'll become a even better school and we can give them those resources like having the steam Academy or like a steam school but I would want to know like you know with our board Direction I want to make it explicitly clear that we need to give it some sort of like steam Academy steam school and have some sort of special benefit for this school specifically for the title one kids because growing up in the district too like I I know the the reputations that our different schools have but you know they change over time you know so I went to moral midle and like at the time it was like only Morel was like oh the one for sports and whatever but now we have completely different reputation with Morel and you know being a California distinguished School site now you know like there's the school can change over time and I think that that you know having like steam at peont middle can you know change that reputation over time too so and I hear the private school argument a lot as well and I want to make sure that you know all of our schools have that added benefit and with this process we have that ability to do so so and I I hear you on the segregation Point as well but what I've learned is that you know we need to give additional resources to these schools and I think that doing a seam programming or something like in addition to would make ke M middle a really incredible school you know so that's what I'm uh thinking as well yeah I agree with with you know both of you um so I don't think that you know just having it be a title in school because it's get gets extra money for you know the extra system that the students need anyway I don't think that that is to me it's not a selling point but if there there were something else right to make these schools that aren't so attractive right now right no one's saying oh I want to send my kid instead of sending him to Ruskin I want to send them Summerdale I want to send them to Twan and that's part of the problem right or I instead of sending him sierant you know I want to send them to people how how often do we hear that we never hear that so there has to be something that really makes if we're going to do this right to make it an outstanding School uh besides the title one status actually in spite of the title one status so I agree with uh what everything was said and I've shared this with the superintendent fenus I also support uh rebranding if we were to go down this route rebranding the school that we decide to consolidate to make it a steam Academy adding science programs engineering programs you know to make it attractive for our parents and the students that are impacted by this um and one of the the largest points uh for the parents I speak up against the Rusk enclosure was they have a science lab there none of our our elementary schools have a science lab so whatever schools get impacted maybe we could you know incorporate those type of programs into the schools that are are Consolidated so that way our elementary schools do have these these programs that are so important in this Valley you know engineering and math um so again that's just how I see it um when we think of the consolidation process it needs to be not what we're taking away from our students but what we're adding to the students that are getting impacted all right good points so um maybe this could be a good time to move to public comments and we can come back uh you know if you continue to gather your thoughts want come back to that uh discussion is that does that sound okay with everybody or are there more questions for um for uh the cabinet or any of our uh guests today you good interesting one are you okay all right all right so let's move to the uh public comments on the agenda items they 12 me e okay all right let's move forward with public comments before uh before we go to public comments uh I want to remind everybody I I uh said this is the last meeting also I wanted to uh uh begin once again acknowledging the challenges involved in this process never easy uh to consolidate schools or uh close schools those are scary words uh the worst thing that that a school board can undertake uh we understand that it's a emotional journey and can it can be very difficult to grasp uh just wanted to share with everybody in case you missed it last time that we started this process in 2022 um when we established our budget stabilization committee uh it reflects our commitment to addressing the district's Financial realities thoughtfully and the with the desire to preserve services and support to our students as we spoke just now uh as we review the process and uh you know talk about uh you know all the all the information tonight uh I ask everyone to REM remember or share purpose it's to ensure that all current current and future students in the barasa community receive a quality education um let's keep this meeting respectful constructive and focused on the facts uh basa we have a strong reputation for maintaining decorum and I really appreciate that from everybody for being thoughtful and respectful and for setting a positive example for our children some of whom here are here today hopefully some of them are watching us online all right so um before calling up the speakers um I'll read the speaker conduct for those uh all those who wish to address the board during the public com periods speakers are requested to state your name and affiliation for the record each speaker today will be given 2 minutes to address the board and 5 minutes per per organization uh we are a little flexible with the timing uh so uh I I'd like to remind the speakers to communicate with respect fairness and courteousness to each other and to all present we ask that you not use the name of any District employee in your comments the board welcomes orderly communication from the public with that we will call first Speaker uh PR from Ruskin [Applause] uh thank you everyone for your time and effort it's a difficult process and it affects our children navigating this path has to be well thought of and I'm encouraged to see that our trustees are taking this seriously I personally would like to say that I am in support of the decision of making a school as a speciality school every parent likes something special for their kids so if there is a special program parents are going to be encouraged to role in that given that opportunity we should also keep it in mind some parents may not want to have that uh stem or steam process such parents should be given an option to opt out and anyone else who is interested in should be given an opportunity to join what this means is to keep our enrollments open give parents an option to choose the school that they want their children to go to this would not only encourage the parents to stay within the district and maybe bringing some of the parents who are in private school back to our public school system so thank you for giving the opportunity and the best thank you for those comments next speakers uh there are two on the start Victoria Kio and Delila Ramirez [Applause] hi my name is Victoria CIO I'm a former student hi my name is dalala r and I'm a first grader student okay um with recent discussions about potential changes affecting the schools I wanted to share why I felt it was essential to keep them open um I understand your guys' concerns about declining enrollment and reduced funding but I believe we must keep the students best interest at heart instead of taking any easy way out I watched classmates from my elementary school Ruskin go on to Ivy League colleges and top tier uc's beras is a place where students are given opportunities and Pathways to success and I know it can continue to be that place if we make thoughtful decisions so going back to the point you guys said earlier I really do like that idea of added benefits because it brings attraction to the schools um I'm very glad I didn't attend a private school because I feel I got way more resources from Barry Esa than I would have got anywhere else um most people want to send their kids to these schools because they feel that the benefits are better than a private school for Less cost for them and that'll allocate more money to you guys and the district so as a political science student I also want to call attention to a recent Bill introduced to eliminate the US Department of Education one of these biggest impacts would shifting K through 12 education funding directly to the states through block grants so while this may sound promis promising such funding often falls short of meeting the schools and community's needs so while I urge you to make the right decision about the future of our schools please consider not only short fixes but long-term effects for students uh families and the community as a whole [Applause] [Music] wait so we learned about Johnny apple seed and also we go to the science lab and my favorite thing is about the science lab the water cycle and if they close Ruskin and there's a shiny Park and I will so be so sad thank you thank you both thank you both for those comments next speaker is Jennifer hen [Music] hi my name is Jennifer and I'm a Rus I'm a rusin parent Ruskin is ranking as one of the top in the district for academics data from the state indicates that students perform 8% higher in math and 30% higher in Reading tests compared to the district average for students exceeding State benchmarks Ruskin Rings among the top in public and private last year Ruskin number one overall in the Silicon Val Valley Math League beating out private schools like Harker and Challenger in addition programs like the science lab further make it a competitive alternative to nearby private schools these achievements make Ruskin not only an asset to the district but also a critical factor for families deciding between public and private education additionally ruskin's oncampus after school program Sunshine offers extended hours and activities such as Sports arts and language this unique offering supports working parents and enhances ruskin's appeal compared to private schools data from the last meeting showed only 60% of students born within the district boundaries enroll in district schools 40% presumed to be attending private schools the student density map that was presented shows that most of the dense areas are where the top performing schools are and it further supports that perhaps families are choosing private within District boundaries are because of their homeschool doesn't perform to their family standards closing Ruskin would push families out of the public system and further decrease enrollment high- performing schools like Ruskin are essential for retaining workingclass families who would prefer not to pay tuition if the district wants to grow and maintain enrollment Ruskin must remain open thank you thank you V Next speaker next speaker is T Yan uh my name is cayen I'm a rasing and Si Mountain mom I know many friends and neighbors who send their childrens to private schools but I was still shocked by the number our demographer presented at the November's board meeting more than 60% of students attending straford mil Peters School are from our district that's about 400 students and straford is just one example we have many other private schools nearby but it was uh it was it wasn't always like this only s years ago about 90% of our kids attend in the public school and today the number dropped to about 60% parents chose private school not because they believe those schools are perfect solution for their children's education most of those families are working class and tuation a heavy burden to them as well they chose private school because public schools have a disappointed him because they feel that our district don't care about what they care about so if we continue to make poor decision right now the enrollment will for sure decline even further when more kids leave Public School the one who suffer the most are those who have no choice but to stay fewer students means less funding for our schools and those who have to stay are left with fewer resources and opportunities and my last sentence I think all parents care about the quality of their children's education regardless of social economic status thank you for those comments next card I have is Cherrywood [Applause] teachers um we the chairwood teachers I'm a the third grade Mi teacher I'm Miss Wayne I Am A K1 teacher my name is Sylvia Chan okay we would like to thank you for our schools district support cherwood is the only School in the district with a positive enrollment change rate we have the second highest enrollment in the school district and the third highest utilization we are one of the top two academically performing School based on state priorities we have the highest transfer in numbers one of the lowest transfer out numbers so talk about attracting more students and parents to um come to our um basa School District I I I do believe that Cherrywood it's like a magnet we we we attract a lot of um positive um learning um students and parents who really want to come to um bayasa school to study okay and um as I found the above that I said one of the most important thing to consider is um it has been taking years and years of hard work to establish a work on bilingual teaching model with the one-on-one switch class at every grade level and an integrated bilingual curriculum that requires enhance collaboration between the English and mentoring teachers within and across grade levels the logistical and financial challenges in relocating the entire program and reimplementing it effectively elsewhere include moving or retaining teaching Partners at each grade level cannot be underestimated putting the district in a position of restarting the process with new teachers creating a greater financial burden um so with the district's support with our manag immersion program we were able to win and receive a lot of national um wide recognition um and so we also are very proud of our manager imersion parent advisory Council and our home and School Association who um who's had very strong established strong Community with um engaging parents so we wanted to 10 seconds to finish your thought Miss Chan 10 seconds more that's okay that's okay thank you thank you so much thank you for your [Music] support next next speaker will be Lily from rusy it just say I don't have the last name [Applause] sorry hello everyone thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Lily and I'm a proud parent of two students and Rasin so eight years ago my family moved to this community because of the excellent reputation of Raskin and saramont their reputation was built through years of hard work and dedication through Educators students parents and the entire Community today my children are thriving at Raskin both academically and socially the school has met and exceeded our every expectation and we are grateful for that however we are facing the challenge as many families in our district now choose private schools in recent years while some simply believe private school offers a better better education many others still value public schools and would happily choose top performing public schools for great education with free tuition if they are given such opportunity so I urge the district to strengthen to invest and to promote your top schools as magnets and making en rollment more flexible to attract students from both in and outside the district keeping the public education strong on the opposite if a top school like Raskin were closed instead of solving the financial problem in the short term it will cause both shortterm and long-term negative effects to the district on the short term we may immediately lose students to private school because many families simply wouldn't risk the quality of Education in face of uncertainties on the long term the insignificance of hard earned academic reputation in the school closure decision-making process will damage the overall reputation of bosd make it harder to attract and retain families harming the enrollment for years to come so in conclusion please fully consider the immense value of Raskin and sount to our school district and to the future of our children and Community thank you very [Music] much next speaker excuse me next speaker Karen kamisa I said your name right the last time I this time sorry it's about as good as I get it thank you and and thank you all for coming out this evening and for giving us as a community another opportunity to talk I think it's been really helpful at least for my perspective to see the additional data and um thought process that's going in behind that so I I really appreciate app that um I know we've talked a lot and I've been up here in front of you all before um I really just want to remind you all um that in the past you chose Cherrywood as the source for your Mandarin program and you chose it because of its good location the ease of access to multiple communities to come and drop off children to pick off children for the ability um for it to house many many students um my my children aren't personally in the Mandarin program but we still can see the benefit of that across the community and it's it's really built a strong um School environment um for our children to learn in um The Mandarin program and its dual pairing is is kind of an important part of that program and its success um so I would urge you to consider that and uh the success that it brings our district um in as far as drawing in children um bringing positive enrollment to our group so um please consider preserving Cherrywood and Pres in that Mandarin immersion program which is going so strong um it would be a real shame if in all of this disruption um we hurt one of the things that is going so strongly for our district that's all thank you thank you for your comments next speaker is Alex hello uh my name is Alexander jimsky um my daughter goes to Cherrywood sorry can you hear me now um so what I wanted to tell you um board is I would urge you to look outside the five schools that were selected I disagree with the fact that the the committee did a good job I'm not it was not at all clear what um criteria was selected in especially ranking these schools that that were given uh I thought the whole point of this was It was supposed to be about money a lot of the schools or at least some of the schools that were not on that list seem to be spending a lot of money per student uh and now I'm now I look at some of your new data as well so let's you know just an example Brook tree has a huge drop in utilization um and there was nowhere even on the list and from your own data it showed that uh it's spending quite a bit more money per student than all the ones that are on the list so I would just urge you to take a second look at all the schools and not just pigeon ho yourself and the ones that the committee selected thank you thank you for those comments next uh speaker is [Applause] Sheldon I sorry well hi everyone thank you all for uh the work you're all doing in this difficult time so you know I'm a parent uh who just this past year uh put my kids in Cherrywood School actually so um um I thought I'd talk about two things um um two C's maybe one is community and one is competition on the community side um you know as a parent put my kids in Cherrywood for the first time by the way we moved from Stratford so we have some experience in selecting private schools um you know one of the things we wanted to do was just to see what the Public School System had to offer and we met with a lot of people at Cherrywood before putting our kids there um and so far so good so you know I have to say one of the one of the great things about Cherrywood is the community aspect uh they've over the years put a lot of work into developing a very very strong community that extends I think beyond our very local region across uh the district um you know the Homeland school club the teachers um the students we found all very good so so that's that's one on the community aspect so um for us that's been a plus coming from a private school and the other thing I'd say is um I was encouraged to hear some more discussion about specialized programs and the reason I mentioned competition is because you know earlier on I heard a lot about demographics and you know I I don't want to say that's not an issue it's definitely an issue everybody needs to have more kids I suppose but on the other hand um you know there is competition so it's not true that uh there that that's the only issue I mean Stratford is building more schools in the area and so um I think as a school district you know the school districts need to understand how how do you compete effectively and it seems to me one way to do that is through specialized programs my kids are not in the Mandarin immersion program but I can you can expect that that is a draw um the other would be like some what some of you have been talking about today is a specialized steam program so um you know my view is that keep the programs that are working working look at really how Implement new programs that can also be an attracting to the region okay thank you very much thank you for those [Applause] comments next speaker is Kim [Applause] no hi I only have a few words um I'll be quick just Reflections on the last couple months um we the rusin sount community have put efforts to collaborate with the schools within our district and for awareness and in the process you know we reach out to all the schools um to unify our voice and so we aligned efforts um to support our schools for many months now because we all love and we care for our schools deeply and we I don't think any of us can imagine our communities without our schools so um I know others have already brought up the our permanent um science lab our test sco um Ruskin fit program our Math League competition results and our outstanding teachers and staff so I don't want to repeat any of that I just want to tell you that I truly believe Ruskin has the secret sauce that makes our school Irreplaceable my oldest is just a first grader I have two younger younger than her um and I still continue to learn about the accomplishments and accolades that Ruskin has achieved over its time I have found Ruskin to be inclusive and diverse and more than that just immensely supportive as a community we all want the best for our kids and we hope that you the board have listened to the numerous great points that all the parents have brought up um the teachers and the community I'm encouraged by the dialogue and discussion so please continue to dig deep and continue to ask those questions before you make your decisions um I'm just hoping for as smoooth a transition for anyone that is affected and so I at the end of the day um if there are ways for you to help us be reassured that our kids best interest is your top priority um in your decision-making process I would just appreciate that and your time and your efforts thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Steve Chang Steve Chang two of you walking [Music] up hi good evening um thank you once again for giving us the opportunity to speak to you um be kind be respectful be responsible be safe these are the phases that our children memorize at Cherrywood elementary school right it takes a lot to heart I wish as adults we could learn a lot from them and continue to learn from them right I want to speak on behalf of Cherrywood because of its super strong Community right um we actually are very inclusive and have students from all walks of life right we have students that are pretty privileged also students who are homeless and students qualify for free reduced meals why do I know that well there's data but I know it because I've spent numerous hours volunteering right whether it's at our steam night or shering for field trips Etc um so what you have here is we have a an institution here that's performing really well um it has one of the highest enrollment rates right it continue to grows and actually we have according to the data very good utilization rate but the capacity take more so I think at chood we are welcoming of students into our school right it's taken seven years of really hard work right you know I don't think it's fair to separate or divide or split the data between what's at Cherrywood versus Mi nonmi because well the data for the seven last seven years speak for themselves right and um I sincerely or but respectfully disagree with board members who say that they looked at the data from the committee the Consulting committee that's incorrect data right and there's a lot of data to refute the consulting firm on that so in closing I would say hey we've worked together really hard by we I mean the school the staff and the parents the community this is what makes up our community right we have something going really well my kids they tell me it doesn't make any sense to close cheru I agree if you look at the data cheru makes a lot of dollars in sense right that's just from the business angle but again we're here for our children we're here for Education thank you for your time thank you for those comments next speaker is Nina Nina from Ras [Applause] seron thank you for the opportunity to speak this uh this evening uh I am a Community member and I live close to Russian and seront so I'm going to be speaking on behalf of these two schools one of the things that I want to reiterate is I spent a lot of time you know I work from home I spend a lot of time walking the neighborhood meeting new neighbors and and I have found that in the last you know since Co hit there are a lot of young couples who have moved into my area so these are people who are planning to have kids they've moved specifically for Ruskin and sierant I mean I know this I've been to the open houses right I mean that's the reason why a lot of these couples you know either people with young children or no kids they're moving specifically for these schools so I think the one thing that we need to be really cognizant of is that while we may see a shift in enrollment right now that doesn't mean that people aren't coming that in the next 2 to three years or four years that you're not going to see those students come to these schools um the second thing that I want to reiterate and I think a lot of people have talked about this is that I think the school district has been a little bit behind the eightball when it comes to creating competitive programs I mean when I went to Ruskin and seron I mean the only competition was probably St Victor's right and maybe some other random private schools right but you didn't have Stratford you didn't have Challenger you didn't have Mary Hill you didn't have all these other schools and in order to compete effectively the public schools are going to have to create more programs right I mean I think that's what it boils down to I mean it might not have been the case 20 or 30 years ago but that is the case today and that's what families are expecting and I think it behooves us to create those programs because I grew up in a household where we couldn't afford to go to private school and that's the case for a lot of families they want a good quality education for their children but maybe they don't have $225,000 a year to send their kids to statford and so we need to really have those academically challenging programs you know whether it's the science lab whether it's other programs that we create so that bsud has that Competitive Edge thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is T [Music] dear members of the BD I'm Jeffrey Chow I'm the father of two daughters that attend Cherrywood uh they are in the immersion program I don't envy your position you guys have an important decision to make that's going to impact all of our community um the budget deficit is a looming issue that takes precedent and I understand that um I feel like I've gone through the five stages of grief at this point um you know and continuing to reflect on what we are facing as a community um with the deficit with lower enrollment with stagnant funding um It ultimately brings me back to the decision-making process and the rationale of this decision right um in spite of declining enrollment um Cherrywood is one of the only schools to have increased year-over-year and they have capacity to continue to increase um and if if enrollment numbers are a critical Factor actor then cherry wood is the wrong school to close um I can understand the rationalization behind taking the imersion program moving it somewhere else I've spoken to my kids teachers uh you know they've worked lockstep at that at the infrastructure in Cherrywood and they they've told me that if you move the program you kill the program because they partner with their with the English teacher so if you move them they have to start over from square one that's seven years of work that's undone um I'm I'm against closing any school um I understand I'm I'm trying to be realistic about it and I just again I need to harp on the fact that I think closing Cherrywood is the wrong closing Cherrywood is the wrong school and you're killing a Golden Goose you guys talked about making schools and having schools that attract attract members of our community Cherrywood is that school um and one one small anecdote we did a poll a week ago before Thanksgiving or a week before Thanksgiving 100 36 responses 80% in favor of increasing the parcel tax by $60 to save all schools so so there's something for you guys to think about thank you for those comments next speaker is CH Shen Fang Shan Fang [Applause] [Music] uh good evening uh my name is Fen Chen and I'm from rasing elementary school and this is my son Alexander Chen he's a little shy but he is uh the third grade scho students in rasing elementary so we are standing here is because we really want to voice the thought from as a parents as a proud parents of rasing Elementary so school is always about learning and I definitely see this from rasing elementary when um 2,000 years ago there is a mother single mother in China he she moved three times for her son to get a better environment to get better education and her son which is mon became one of the most famous politician and educator in Chinese history he is as famous as Kung fui okay so as a parents of the modern society we are always worked so hard to be able to provide our children a better education so we moved to the rasing school district right actually uh it's not exact because it's Bas District but it belongs to Wasing and we took our son out from Challenger which is a private school because we think rasing can provide a better education than the private school it's not because we cannot afford it but we think this is a better choice and I joined the PTA in rasing I feel so many people are really like a family raise your hands up my family so please this is really about family and closing it is breaking us up thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Jeffrey CH Jeffrey CH sorry no I thought he was F oh that's Jeff ch no that is same this is [Applause] just uh good evening B members my name is t I'm a parent of three children attending Raskin and Sh today I urge the bo members to consider the long-term impact and sustainability with making decisions about which schools to close so it is unfortunate that our school district is facing financial difficulties and we must make tough decisions however we need to ensure that we do not find ourselves in the same situation again in five years so we must consider the messages or decisions sent to the community and the Future Families according to the data presented by the demographer at the November Bor meeting the future of our school district looks bleak if we do not take the correct actions the kindergarten in Roman ratio has dropped from 90% % to 64% in five years and about 60% of ster students come from our district not to mention those two Challenger Val chisan school and M chisan schools so we need to focus on tracking and retaining students in our schools closing top performing schools like Rasin and sount send a message to the community that we do not care about education quality this will result in losing more existing students and attracting fewer new ones uh additionally we will be taking away opportunities from low-income families to access high quality education because they cannot afford private schools so please do not make decisions solely to get by this financial hardship temporarily consider a long-term implications for school districts and Community thank you thank you for the comments next speaker is Eli from Sam Eli [Applause] [Music] Eli I am in i a third grader the first time I went to some I was s but I made some friends on the second day I was not s on the third day I made at least five friends soon I got enough friends and I realized that was some of those store so keep some window open for people to can make friends enough friends please do don't forget about the students like me at some of please do not forget our amazing teachers and the principle the the phrases of some adult is stay safe treat others with kindness act responsibly and treat and be respectful thank [Applause] you hi I'm Eli's mom I wanted to thank you guys for reading my letter and I just wanted to say that as Eli's mom I know that my family my kids are going to be okay because I'm very involved but I volunteer at the school and I see the parents who cannot be involved because they're working two and three jobs and it shows because they're not here you know all of these parents who are at these schools are not here because they are busy and they don't have the opportunity so I just want to speak for some of the title W moms who are not able to make it to say don't put all the title one schools and one school and then put a Band-Aid on it and call it steam because all you're doing is you're hiding these kids and you're making them into a poster child for something that it's not if you have the resources to help them why aren't you doing it right now why are you going to wait till next year these students need help right now which it just bws my mind how that's the thought process when these kids deserve a lot better than what you guys were discussing up there [Applause] thank go ahead I'll give you 30 seconds all right thank you um thank you all for uh listening to us and reading our letters and hearing our voices um I'm also a parent at suel elementary I represent sumerell I've been in the PTA my children have gone to the school schol since I have a Kinder I have a third grader who just ran for student council president um you don't hear that a lot with other schools that have been doing it she was the only third grader that ran and actually won against the fourth and fifth graders um we're doing great things at the school we have great teachers and staff um Eli here that just did he's been with the with my girls for at sumerell for the longest time and we've all become a close family and um we might not have a fancy science lab or other things but we do have friendly staff loving teachers caring parents and a great community so please save our school thank you thank you for thank you for your comments next speaker is Susan Susan Lee oh [Applause] thank you my name is Susan Lee and uh my child goes to Ruskin uh went to Ruskin is now at camont I actually really welcome um new specialized programs like the steam Academy at pedmont if that could happen even if it's a big Title One school if the steam Academy succeeds I would really consider moving my child from camont to Pont for that Academy what doesn't make sense is to try to elevate peont Middle with the steam Academy Academy but Clos the existing top schools like Ruskin and camon next I want to talk about um converting uh one of the middle schools a K through 8 like I said our my child used to go to a private k through eight school so and we liked it as long I think it's fine as long as the kids the elementary school kids and the middle school kids are kept separate Pont middle has two gyms that makes a lot easier than camont which has a very small gym uh one gym also I want to address Traffic Safety we bought a house so my child could walk to camon and shockingly even though it's a residential area it's actually very dangerous because tra I really would like the board to drive to both peont and camont because it's a residential area and there's no crossing guards no traffic uh control no traffic lights parents actually do u-turns all the time parents um cross the crosswalk even though uh kids are crossing the crosswalk I almost got hit by a car because and I'm experienced I had the slam on the hood of the car to get it to stop and it stopped right here so imagine if it was a child who does not have the experience to recognize the car was not going to stop um I actually drove to pedmont because I actually thought the the traffic here driving to school would be worse but here there's actually controlled one-way uh traffic flow which camont does not have and so I was actually able to leave school after a fake drop off faster than at camont which uh all the all the drivers have to exit off host stutter and they run into crossing guards at crosswalks and there's no controlled safety there so please consider the traffic issues that way thank you thank you thank you for those [Music] comments next speaker is Asia Asia um M mon hi [Applause] [Music] thank you my name is Asia I have a second grader at Cherrywood Elementary in the Mandarin immersion program the Mi program is a wonderful program and it's the only thing drawing student enrollment in the district closing the school that's a ma magnet for enrollment while being worried about declining enrollment is only going to make enrollment work our family acely transfers from out of the school district we don't speak Mandarin at home but we still commute from Milpas to join this program um we wanted our son to be in a dual immersion program and we debated attending a Spanish imersion program at our public Milpa school and ultimately chose the Mi program at Cherrywood the prospect of having the program we chose torn apart is very disappointing also Cherrywood is is the most convenient location in the Bara Union School District for us to travel to since it's near the freeway and not buried in a neighborhood um Chinese is my son's favorite subject even though math comes easily to him and English is the only language he's grown up with this is due to the phenomenal teacher teachers and strongly involved home and school club with their many enriching activities at Cherrywood the other Chinese Heritage students help him in Chinese and he helps them in their math or English they all learned so much from each other adding English only students from other schools to Cherrywood be would would be helpful so that each level can return to having two equal classes of Mandarin and English classes all of their lessons are very integrated last week he was learning about matter solids liquids and gases and he sang me a song about it in both Mandarin and in English because he learned it in Chinese but it was written on a poster on the wall of his English class you cannot split up our school you would need to move all of the students together this is an amazing program and it has been so neat to watch him to go go from zero Mandarin to where he is at in only 2 and a half years please don't close Cherrywood and halt this program's amazing progress thank you for those comments next speaker is it natania Nat [Music] um can you help me is it hit or well let's see all right hello hello board members I'm Natan osul a student here at pedmont middle I'm speaking because this idea of consolidation will not help anyone I believe that the idea of merging with an elementary won't help it would hurt our students staff and teachers that worked hard to get here there will be many challenges through this decision teachers who work hard would be affected teachers may need additional training to get the differences between younger and older students and their learning levels this would be a struggle especially for everything to happen so sudden merging would also affect students deeply I don't think it's suitable for older and younger students to be in the same campus the age differences would impact many students Lives Many may be imitated merging this school would not only disrupt our way of learning in campus culture but also result in the loss of community Hub a place of learning and a significant impact on both our staff and students the halls of peont Middle School Echo with the voices of countless students who have walked through them each leaving their Mark and taking a piece of the school with them in their hearts let us please keep the laner Spirit Alive and ensure that pedmont Middle School continues to have the spirit we've always had for generations to come this school is more than just a building it's my school home and for many a place where we've built memories that last a lifetime thank you good job thank you so much for those [Applause] comments uh next speaker is Christian uh [Applause] narez hello hello my name is Christian of ours I the a president here at Pont Middle School I'm speaking today because I deeply care about what what our school and the people inside of it the plan to combine the school doesn't sit right with me I know it will you guys think it will help but I don't think it will I think it will hurt our students and staff more our district motto is Pathway to the future but how does this align with this how can you say we're building a pathway to the future if we're tearing down the foundation of our community P middle isn't just a school to me it's my second home it's where I have made a long long lifelong friends grown as a person and had the chance to lead and make a difference combining this school wouldn't just affect our education it would tear apart the bonds that we have made over the years what about our teachers they are our they are more than just Educators they are our mentors role models and the ones who Inspire us to aim higher I can't imagine losing the teachers who supported me and many others if this plan moves forward many of them will have to leave and start over somewhere else that's not Frid of them for all they have done for us this is about the students this isn't about the students here now it's about the future what will the kids who come after us do will they have a school where they feel safe valued and connected schools like Pont middle are the hearts of our community and taking away that would only be Dev sitting for all of us have you seen the traffic here at pedmont it is very congested and scary the plan to double the traffic here adding small children into the equation is a recipe for disaster the the traffic here at Pont is so bad I even seen a teacher get H dry drop off if this board is really concerned about the money then the reconfiguration cost for Pont million for P for Pont middle is 4 to $ million two minutes which is much higher than P middle which is about 2 million and it would take a whole lot less time according to the schematics that the board has published thank you for your comments in two minutes thank you so much for your comments our next speaker is an Chu good evening my name is Conor I'm a fourth grader at trood elementary school I it will be sad if these some of these schools close down and it will be sad for some teachers to lose their teaching job and also it it will and it will be really crowded at schools if we merge them all right um I'm speaking on behalf as a parent um the founding member of myc as well as the former HSC president as many of you know also the current School librarian one point I want to touch on that was talked about on data points earlier regarding the homeschool um actually as a parent when we signed the contract to join the program we forgo our home school and see no longer do not return therefore if a student is a part of the program and come to Cherrywood if they decide to no longer be a part of it they actually remain at Cherrywood so in terms of numbers they've kind of have now become a part of Cherrywood even if they're not a part of the program um in terms of enrollment costs we I see that neighboring school districts are opening similar programs to mirror this and so to stay competitive I think we need to keep ourselves at our advantage with the seven-year um gain that we have ahead of these other programs and so we don't want to see the loss that we have have made um many have iterated tonight that the Seal program that the model of the teachers use has taken the years to develop and to form these relationships and bonds and so it's not really just a portable let's pick up this program and move it elsewhere so taking consideration how nationally recognized how locally we've been recognized I hope you strongly consider that we can keep the program intact at and keep the pl and keep Cherrywood open thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Cassandra fam Cassandra fam [Music] [Applause] Cassandra hello everybody my name is Cassandra fam and I'm an eighth grader here at pedmont and an ASB Spirit leader I've been a student in the berasa Union School District for eight years and have developed a strong love for our community P Middle School is a place where I constantly see growth love and support because of this school I've met people who have stuck by my side through thick and thin and have made friendships that have lasted me a lifetime because of the school I met teachers who inspire me to persevere and always dream big because of the school I am the person I am here today every day I come and watch connections be built in an environment that's meant to be lasting forever this school has been a part of shaping many lives throughout our district and even some of our own faculty members when people look back at their time here I know they'll feel a sense of comfort it's what I'll feel when I reflect on my last three years here the reason why I felt this Comfort was the fact that I've been around people my own age facing the same experiences we were all pre-teens learning about ourselves and how to handle life a kther eight would disrupt this process for many people like me children deserve a school experience where they are comfortable and on the same level with the people they are around this configuration with the campus at pedmont would merge children with different ages groups which would not be appropriate whereas a school like camont has a layout that can create hubs for separate grade levels it would create a more beneficial K through 8 plan if this board was were concerned about the money then the cost to reconfigure pedmont would be four through $4 to7 million which is much higher than sier of about $2 million in addition it would take a whole lot less time according to the schematics that you have published merging pedmont would uproot relationships and connections established it would erase history memories growth and Community thank you thank you for those comments uh next speaker is um M MP [Music] M say MP oh there you go [Music] hi good evening uh this is my first time to attend this kind of a meeting so um and I'm actually a little bit of a sad in what the agenda is all about so the agenda is about closure of schools so I'm actually thinking why don't we have an option D no closure make it like do we have other alternative atives that we can think of instead of just closure because I only found out about this today that these are the agenda this is the agenda all closures no other Alternatives I live in the area of Raskin and shamont I actually just live across Raskin my children studied at Trin and Sheron and of course eventually they studied at pidmont Hills High School these are all high performing schools and my children are actually now in a better place they're all Engineers because of their foundation and the foundation is Raskin and camont high performing schools and because they are actually close to pidmont Hills High School all of them actually are high performing schools if any of those are going to be closed what are we losing we're losing High performing schools that eventually will also raise our high school which is pidmont Hills High School any of these schools if they are closed what are we going to have in the future future of our kids future of my grandkids and that is what I'm here for so I'm hoping that I'm giving you some insights and if anyway we can help in terms of getting that alternative in a business process way re engineering way like in a corporation feel free I will be happy to be part of it to look into Alternatives thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is next speaker is Caroline Guam Caroline [Applause] one good evening everyone this is Caroline a sixth grader from Sierra Middle School and a rusin alumni I have lived in this area for since I was born I love this friendly Community which was full of Harmony safety and diversity today I'm going to give a big thanks to roskin and sier for supporting us children to grow into a better person first thanks to rusin for helping us kids for having a vision of being a global citizen this summer in my promotion speech I use six different languages that I learned from my friends at school to greet everyone and now I'm going to do it again Ola kicha s magang umaa an and hello in this way I just want to say every single child matters Every Family Matters and every single race or culture matters and of course Ruskin and Sierra M matter today I also brought two things to share with you first this is a national champion shirt from the math League uh there are a total of schools on it and Ruskin is one of them and and I also brought this one which it shows 2024 national championships second place sweep Stakes division 5 I am so proud of us rusin kids not only because of our success in academic achievement but also our fabulous teamwork I am happy that we trusted each other and used effective strategies to overcome different challenges from qualification level District level state level and finally the national championships thank you everybody thank you for your comments good job next speaker is Dan Je [Applause] um good evening everyone this is Demi from Sama Middle School thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts I'm so proud of our rasing and the s kids who are willing to learn and welcome all cultures of the community I'm so proud of our parents par s and teachers who are willing to participate in every activity to engage our kids in school we are not Title One schools and got the least funding but we had always been the top performing schools if it is a business it is worth it to keep treating ring and camone as role models and welcome more students who are interested in joining in according to the survey about how parents choose schools for their children if rking or ceremon is closed the data show that our school districts may lose hundreds of children and actually lots of our friends have already thought about private schools that priv uh provide more advanced and challenging classes yes private schools are available for certain families but we still need to ADV for low-income families and the families with multiple kids in our rasing and seram Community berasa used to be a great School District I really hope that we can achieve our goals together by value learning and the real good uh education systems thanks thank you for those comments next speaker is sh Brewer shaa good evening I'm guessing I'm one of the last because I wasn't going to speak and I put my card in pretty late so hopefully I'm not between you and going home um I'm shaa Brewer I was actually on the committee um I'm parent of a noble student a peont middle student I grew up here I went to school Noble peont Middle peont High School um I also am unique in that I have one kid that did PPP at Noble one kid that did not I had one kid that went to St John viani for Kinder when we couldn't um go to Noble there wasn't room and I also considered going back there when I didn't think we could get back to Noble um after covid so I've I've weighed all the odds something I've learned is that um every school's so special and all these parents here love their school they're so involved we have a very high presence of some schools and as one of our parents said those that are not here there's a reason where we have some schools that we're targeting that are title one that being said I'm so supportive of K to8 here I think it's a wonderful idea I'm uncomfortable with consolidating Title One schools in one place for the reasons that have been mentioned but um I'm very nervous wow uh and those would tell you I'm not a quiet voice on this committee I've been this is the most nervous they've probably heard my voice um Summerdale was not on my list I didn't actually I wasn't super excited about that idea even though I've never attended that school my kids don't go there but what I learned is their PBIS program is very strong and the work that's been done at this school in the last year that I've seen my daughter's in eth grade has been a complete turnaround with the PBIS program so I have full confidence in the leadership that's going to help bring a k to8 I also believe that when you have a parent community that starts from K to fifth it carries over if that school is still intact for 6 through eight whereas when we move it's harder to stay involved so I just wanted to share that with you um I have other thoughts but I'm out of time thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Jordan Jordan Nash hello my name is Jordan Ash and my name is Ava white we are student athletes and a part of the music department here at pedmont my family purchased their home years ago because of the highly rated schools but these ratings have significantly dropped since I understand the importance of saving money and reducing schools but you also have to think about the students and parents involved in this if the rating drops most parents are going to want to move their children out and into other schools or go private now not all parents can switch up their daily life schedules or afford private because you guys want to change things here at pedmont we barely have enough resources for the students and adding on students will start decreasing them also looking at the map for pedmont it looks very decompacted but compacted with more classes for elementary students when there's clearly way more class periods for middle schoolers while looking at Sierra Mon's layout it looks more like an elementary school layout how will making this change affect the classrooms we use for our clubs music and after school sports here at pedmont how will it affect the special ed classes how will you try to fit all of these kids and not think about the ones who need more help it seemed to us that students and as students and parents some of that the board members are only interested in saving money and not saving our child's future education and attitude problems produced from older children we want the best for everyone thank you for those comments next speaker is uh Shu Chang Liu good evening thank you for the opportunity uh I'm a childwood uh parent uh and I want to thank all the U committee and the uh board members U for your effort uh we understand that the district uh is facing some difficulties but we still want to express our concerns um to our parents um Charwood is a very um good school with a group of uh great faculty and a a great principal um who they emphasize uh the academic uh the student development and support many academic and enrichment Pro U activities um as a as a parents we feel very confident to have our uh uh have our um kids uh in this school um I know that there are a lot of reasons we don't want to close Charwood and many of them have been uh emphasized by by the previous speakers so here I only want to put one question um to the the board U since we all know the man M immersion program is a very unique uh infrastructure as a whole uh and it uh include 377 students and du due to this report so in our opinion to maintain the structure and moving the whole uh whole program means moving all the almost 400 students and all the u m immersion teachers together um there for um we and based on the report uh we notice that uh whether or not we keep the cas three model not none of the elementary and middle school have enough space to hold this almost 400 students so we hope um our superintendent and all the board members take this into consideration don't close childhood thank you thank you for those comments next speaker is Eddie uh K Edie cor got good evening fellow board members I'm a a parent who sends their child to a k38 school I have two children who um we live right here we have two homes and when we were deciding it was between Ruskin and Noble but we decided to send our CH child to a k38 dual emerence Spanish program and I will tell you I was hesitant about sending a child to k through eight having sent my child through a k through e is it awesome because my older kids did not mature too fast you get little kids looking up to the older kids as role models and then you see the older kids not behaving like middle kids being positive role models to the other kids so that's personally um I think that uh converting one of the middle schools to a k 38 model is actually the way to go ideally I think personally we just live two blocks away pedb Middle School is the ideal location because it's the most the least disruptive you have toyan is only one block away and you got Summerdale three blocks away from a traffic perspective what you end up doing here is you have the little kids arrive later because you want to make sure there's space and and and parking um and all those things you can manage now um the important thing here is do not touch any program that's going to give you growth and the reality the only Pro two programs that will give you growth is your manand program if you do not um if you keep the Ming program I encourage the Chariot schools uh parents to be the drivers to get another um cohort because you are the best recruiters there's no other schools around here I've doing the Spanish on there's a lot of competition so if you stay together then help the district by growing it the other one don't touch your high performing schools that is what's going to keep you and it's going to keep parents not sending their their kids to to other schools so um do the the best thing you can do but the reality is don't touch where your growth is because people are not having children and third don't touch your high performance because that is what's going to have your parents stay here thank you very much great thank you for those comments our final speaker tonight is T t [Applause] [Music] t my name is t I'm a fourth grade student at Cherrywood I feel very sad about the idea of our school closing and moving to a new one I love my teachers mov to a new school make things difficult harder for me our teachers have been so important in helping us learn and grow it would be difficult without them I can only ask you think about the decision closing CH thanks for listening to me thank you job so in one one thing I would like to bring to both notice is like Cher is one of the schools which is able to attract the students not just within Bas school district there are good number of students who are coming and joining cherwood because of program which is quite successful which which has been there from P seven years so and whatever the enrollment future enrollment prediction is probably much higher in cherwood than whatever currently we are predicting because likely some of the students from other uh area who are not staying in basa District also will likely join Cherrywood in the future so I would like to request board to consider this while consolidating the schools thank you thank you for those comments and those are all the public comments we have uh the board the board will take a short break 5 minutes e e e if the board is ready we can uh restart our meeting y all right okay so we will Circle back to review and discussion about the uh School consolidation Clos closure study session um so what have we learned um after this what other other questions do we have uh we did talk about extensively about um you know possibly converting pedmont to Kate consolidating ton possibly consolidating uh toon and suale here uh that gives us that gave us two schools um talk about we need one additional School uh and from the list we have Raskin and Cherrywood um and what else L as the three other schools that we need to uh discuss uh uh how we structure that thoughts comments from the uh question questions from the board on that first of all do we are we still comfortable with the um with the K8 model for Pont or do we uh do you have a change of heart change of opinion well I want to know what other options are in terms of consolidation uh Middle School whether it be at pedmont uh you know what are elementary schools could be an option or at seront wood schools would be an option right I am I am um in agreement I'm I'm fine really with consolidating tuon and Summerdale the pedmont middle it's the other two that I'm having I have to really think about all the possibilities of the other two schools two elementary schools and as a board do we want to limit to the list to the five schools on the list or do we want to consider schools that are that weren't on the committee's recommendation list um let's let's hear it let's hear your thoughts but we don't need to mean we can definitely um see what else makes sense if it does what are your thoughts trusty us oh my thoughts are everything's on the table do you have uh any one particular site in mind that you're uh thinking no but I don't want to uh you know limit to say you know although it makes it more difficult right and it might be more timec consuming to consider everything but I want to make sure we're thorough and considering every option all right yeah if we were to expand the list one more time to all the school sites I think we should um maybe pick out different criteria and then look at it that way like look at school capacity again School utilization rates and rerank them as a possibility but you know I'm a little more comfortable with sticking with what we have selected just because I know the committee had a long process on it but if board members are open to looking at the other schools again we can definitely do that but just keeping it to the elementary school sites yeah we would just have to rehash and re rank the schools again if we are going to consolidate Summerdale and toon that is two schools already two Elementary so all we need if we're to do three then all we need to do is choose one more if that is the case but I do agree with the um that we everything must be considered but at the same time I am I am actually in agreement with what's already listed there I think um I can select or think about where I should go with a second with a third school if the board is in agreement with that and so let's hear all the opinions um my thoughts on this is um I agree with trustey uh H um I am confident in the committee's work um I know there's disagreement uh but what I can say is that there are some schools as part of the recommendation that I cannot support closing or consolidating I'll go ahead and say that um so I've sat up here for 16 years and never once across my mind that would consider closing two of the schools that ended up being on the list and uh those are Ruskin and Lane view so those are the two schools that I just absolutely cannot support closing um sitting up here for 16 years and this the first time I public said it because I know it's controversial but toyan has always been the school that was up for discussion um the other two schools that were Runner ups were cherry wood in sommerdale and that's just based on my experience of U being a board member uh so if we were to discuss any three schools it would be between those three schools toon Summerdale and Cherrywood and for me uh closing a middle school is also off the list as well along with Ruskin and Lan view those are the schools that would not support closing yeah I just want to highlight too that with Lane view my particular concern with that school is that we have the autism program there and I'm really concerned about moving our students with disabilities around and so that's why I'm you know I wouldn't necessarily support closing that school specifically as well yeah with the other schools on the list I really want to take a look at the resident schools or the resident um students going to those schools and the projected capacity as well like that's kind of what I've been taking a look at as well for um the next school to take a look at for consolidation and closure I just want to ask you know of Staff um so you know uh obviously you know School consolidation School closure uh the community feels obviously you know they feel that it's a loss for them is there anything redeeming about um you know potentially losing your school site um that there might be something that the community can kind of stand behind or say okay well I I can see why I would benefit from that I don't know if there's something you know perhaps like that but if there is I'd sure like to hear it I think going back to some of the discussions um some of you had earlier it's you know it's looking at improved Services how we can how can we make our students learning experiences stronger than they currently are uh we know every single School in varesa has a wonderful Community a wonderful School culture uh we've seen you know great engagement with our parents um we know that we have that can't be here at every study session or board meeting but they've called they've emailed you know we've we've heard voices uh throughout the community but also in your engagement um on sites at different events you've seen the the wonderful spirit that each school has um having said that we also know um part of the budget stabilization committee when they reviewed all of our um efforts in trying to mitigate our structural deficit you know School consolidation was always considered as the last resort and it as a result of the pandemic as a result of changes in state funding uh we are now at that place in time and also in you know the challenge that we provided to the committee before they even looked at any data points was to understand that yes we have some FIS we have fiscal pressures that we need to address but to also know that lower enrolled schools are already dealing with impacts of that such as combination classrooms um that continue to increase each year we know that we've never been able to make that promise of no combination classrooms but to know that a child might need to have uh be in a combination classroom not just one academic year but two possibly three we know that's not the best situation for for the students also over the years uh we've received increased request for expanded elective opportunities at our middle schools and as our middle schools have declined in enrollment uh being able to provide the additional Staffing for those electives has also become a challenge so um so not only do we want to pay attention to being able to remain fiscally solvent at the same time we want to see where are those opportunities embedded where we can provide increased Services uh to our students no matter what school um they're at that remains open and I think um for the board that is your discretion to give direction to staff to ensure that that happens uh not only you know with our existing resources I know there's been a lot of focused discussion on our Title One funds but remember the driver of School Services across all of our sites is our lcap right every year we work through our lcap talking about um what you know intervention supports we want for students but also enrichment opportunities um student supervision you know after school care all of those items that are really important um to make sure our students and families have what they need those are opportunities where uh those Services um and interests get expressed and uh you know and ultimately the board gives us Direction on on you know those action items that are really important and critical for you in terms of making sure our students have a well-rounded uh learning experience and so that certainly this is a a very critical time to stay focused on that as well thank you um so uh for me you know Toyon is it's an important school because it's at the uh southernmost part of the district although moving at to pedmont you know it's not a huge um you know shift for parents um that you know walk to the school or the drive it's not much more of a commute Sumer I mean my kids you know three kids I have one there now uh it's near near to my heart um the school but I also have a student here um and to me you know a way of preserving the schools you know preserving Summerdale preserving toon because we would be able to bring them here entirely is that correct with all the students coming here and pretty much all the staff the teaching staff we would be able to bring all of the Toyon and Summerdale students here if that were the decision how about the staff with the staffs be able to stay together for you know for the most part for the most part yeah what what the contract has is that the teachers uh have first priority to follow wherever the students go so in this case if one SCH one school came to a middle school all the students that know those teachers would have the ability to move to that school right and you know being part of the summerill family I know those teachers are very close you know some of them are newer some of them have been there a few years U you know they've mentored those teachers one thing I learned and this is you know problem at toy on and Summerdale that I learned at the conference that you know we had a a workshop on School consolidation is they have one teacher per grade level and that doesn't allow for collaboration between teachers of the same grade level which is U something that I think is you know it's instrumental to to providing a good education so that would be a benefit um so therefore I wouldn't be you know oppos to the idea of combining those two schools and bringing them here because in a sense it would be you know in a way you lose some of the the school identity you lose you know the mascot you lose the um the name of the school and even then right we can find ways to maybe uh work around that somehow but uh but you know you preserve the students and to me keeping the students together um you know U I grew up my parents were Runners and as a runner you move around and I moved around schools a lot and that was detrimental so to me it's a priority to make sure you know when I was raising my kids that they went to the same school from kindergarten or from TK all the way to fifth grade and Beyond and to have the same classmates just because that shift and you know changing schools and uh making new friends and things like that is it's disruptive to the students so to me that's a priority and that would in a way help us uh you know be able to do that and from TK all the way through eight they would have the same classmates I which I think would be great um yeah I'm I'm a little troubled by you know we're going to then lose some of the students because I think also combining students of different backgrounds of different um you know social classes U of different ethnicities together in a way we would lose some of that because then no would be and beny park would be uh they would go to different U Middle Schools uh so that to me is is detrimental um but I think uh maybe the benefits would be uh you know be greater than the loss created there um I'm wonder if we could explore the option I know at the East Side Union School District I believe it's um uh Evergreen there's like a a um a certain geographic area over the East Side were they the option of attending either ever evergreen or Silver Creek I'm wondering if that's a possibility for us for example the Toyon students if they choose if their families choose to have their children remain at a K through five they could potentially send them to Noble if they choose to to attend this if we let's say we go forward with this newly uh TK 38 program they could have the option either going to Noble or or um pedmont TK through 8 and same with Summerdale they could potentially have the option to go to Cherrywood or t or Pont TK through 8 so uh just a similar uh um you know format that eite has up in the Foothills so that way we could address the problems or the issues of some parents having you know reservations send to send their students to a TK through 8 school I would be supportive of that as well I think the schools that are um selected for consolidation or closure the parents should be able to pick which school they would like to go to or at least that first year that they're affected just just to give them that choice but you know like limit it to like okay you can go here or here not like everywhere you know so that I would be excuse me supportive of that as well I think giving the parents a choice certainly um it happened when I was principal at Silver Creek High School and um we had a boundary change and the parents were given a choice to go which way they would go either it's Silver Creek High School or Evergreen they were given that choice uh but with that said I do support the the TK through a program at this site I believe that uh when we uh close schools again I just want to reiterate what I said uh we shouldn't look at it as we're taking away from the community when we close and consolidate we're adding back to the community so when we consolidate programs to this community at this site we're giving it to more students instead of splitting it up amongst three different sites so um that's why I support the TK through 8 model at this site yeah and saying that um I agree with you um I think that we should make sure that if we do a need create a a TK through 8 school here that it's it's an exceptional school and that we do everything in our power to ensure that we're providing students not only the tools they need but uh beyond that uh programs that perhaps you know other sites do have you know rusin does have the science lab that's great Noble has the PPP um Cherrywood has you know the the dual immersion there are other programs in other uh schools uh in the district and we should provide you know steam plus maybe some other uh things that would not only be beneficial for the students living within the attendance area of a TK 38 school but that would attract students from you know other other schools so then a rusin parent could say hey you know what I want my kid to go there or you sieron parent could say you know I want my kid to go there or even students from other uh school districts or a possibility of a dual immersion Spanish K8 I would not mind the exploration of that or you know either uh Spanish or Vietnamese I know we talked about that you know a few years ago having a Vietnamese dual immersion uh anything you know in addition that we provide our students I think well for any of our schools right but if we're going to have a a school of that magnitude kind of a unique School in the district uh that's that creates a lot of opportuni yeah sure I think the opportunities are endless on this one if we were to go this because I think we can create something that's really fantastic for this school for our own kids for our kids and for kid for other kids who might want to join us here I think we can create something that's extremely wonderful I agree that you know it's a it's it's an opportunity to explore something new I mean we have um been status quo for for a bit I mean we made we did make some boundary changes we did uh Institute the U man immersion program uh but PR of pretty much has been traditional uh program offering so this structure might give us you know um the impetus to think about something uh to create something unique uh you know create those um opportunities for our students uh that may otherwise not have that had that opportunity um outside of private schools right so uh so the hope is my My Hope and prayer is that you know we are able to Recon we able to create the configuration and create those opportunities uh for our students uh so are are we so where we at so we we're saying um ideal scenario is to is to consolidate Toyon and and suale uh into into a tk8 at pedmont with the option of uh uh of giving those families that do not want to participate in ATK to be able to uh go to a choice school is that is that where we we landed with this scenario I'd still like to consider you know the the other other options are there other options uh we've discussed this one discussed it thoroughly and it sounds a good idea but I just want to make sure that there are you no other better options uh so if we were to consolidate into seront what would that look like or maybe perhaps are there options for other schools uh to consolidate into pedmont middle instead of Summerdale and toy sumd and to right yeah I guess to if we were to entertain um sierant to be the middle school for the K through 8 um is there any thought or discussion about which schools we would want in seront and like how many how how much can seront take like how many students can they take cuz I know that we can keep the communities together with Summerdale Summerdale and Toyon but I'm not sure about like treywood resin or even Majestic Way if we were to put them in si what would that kind of look like I don't know if anyone has from from a logistical point of view the closest school to to S is Ruskin right uh so from walkability or or that that point of view U and from what I heard uh from a capacity uh point of view there will be a lot more changes uh with with sieron because uh the fer schools correct me if I'm wrong the Fredo schools into to all three schools are pretty large uh so we there will be a there'll be a configuration change if you want to speak to that again Dr Fus Mr Franklin yeah so currently the the schools are a little bit larger because you have Cherrywood you have Ruskin and you have Majestic Way now rusin and Majestic Way are are projected to decline but right now the way they currently are you'd have to I mean you you'd have to decide to go off the list and so you would probably or you'd have to move the Mandarin immersion program from crer to somewhere else because if you chose to consolidate most of rusin or all of Ruskin and most of a majestic way then there would not be room for the Mandarin immersion program at the middle school they would those students would have to go to a different midd middle school now if you chose to keep Cherrywood um and their 500 plus students and move them into camont as a K8 then again like I mentioned then that would be the only um students that would be going to camont so they you be talking about um a lot of change for those middle school students that come from Majestic Way and rusin to then have to go to a different Middle School and so and even if we were to say U consolidate one of those schools in seront it wouldn't save Toyon or Summerdale there's no guarantee of that right that they would be left intact because then we'd still have to decide to close I mean we have to close or you know consolidate three schools total three elementary schools so um to say that you know new and that would preserve you know the school that my kids go to it's not realistic I agree with that and yes so that that's a that's a valid point and you know regardless we are going to have a touch um we one or two of those schools and if if we do have to touch one of those two two schools then why not create something new right that's where that's where that's my thought process is um initially I was thinking may maybe turn on due to the vicinity uh Noble might be able to absorb all of turn because there's not too many kids uh but then again we run the run the risk of uh maybe losing the the T1 dolls it doesn't look like we will but uh with the change in enrollment in demographics we might uh but but again so if we are able to pull those resources into into one uh one part and create something unique for our district would be my preference to to go that way but you're right regardless of what we do there one of these two two schools uh will will get affected or both both also I just want to say about Title One you know we have a new presidential uh Administration coming in next year I don't know we don't know what's going to happen Title One federal dollars so I don't know if those will even be around and uh let's hope that you know not too many changes that affect schools public schools in their would way happen but you let's just say that it's not looking very good yeah I doubt it I I mean all those rhetoric uh and all those things uh there enough I I personally believe that there are enough uh representatives in the middle that do do the actual work in Congress the rest of them one one is on CNN one is on Fox uh they're all just doing interviews the people in the middle that are moderates that know understand America well are the ones that that are doing the work and I'm sure that uh we will we will be okay well and I'll go back and just remind the board again in terms of funding source your main funding sources are within your LC cap it's LC cap yeah I just want to clarify if it were to go with um seront not to close it but to reconfigure it one school would fit into it and and and Kevin you mentioned um Cherrywood would fit into the school but only one school would fit at camon am I right on that one yes cuz then the numbers would be about the same as what we'd be doing here in the toy on Summerdale scenario of putting around 550 Elementary School students into the school and then having a school size of about 750 or so so you would achieve that by moving Cherrywood into camont but there'd be room for a few you know for a handful of other students but not an entire school and then Raskin then will be left as is correct however is what we decide they would however they would not be going to CRM mon for middle school they would be redirected to one of the other two middle school that's right that these they won't be going there for their middle school they'd be correct it would just be Cherrywood students that would then promote into camont then we'd still have to close two other choose to close two other schools so just for clarity too for SI middle if we were to to do this option so it would just be Cherrywood but no other feeder schools would go into sierant is that am I understanding that correctly yes I mean it it maybe a a few other students but I wouldn't recommend it there would not be capacity to take a whole other school but you could reconfigure boundaries however you wanted to to achieve the size of the school that you like reconfiguring um moral middle school is out of the question it does not have the room am I right on that one it was that one was eliminated by the committee um as a result of space but also because of the cost and time frame the school would not be able to be reconfigured in less than a year and the cost was was also significant I understand the cost was closer to 7 million because of all the reconfiguring of classrooms that would need to be done and is it the same case if we were to do put Ruskin into seront then the Cherrywood students wouldn't go to camont at all if Ruskin went into camont ruskin's projected to be in the low 300S for elementary um in the upcoming years so you would need to move students from another school to be able to have uh a large enough tk8 school to be successful however again all of Cherrywood wouldn't fit and um even including all of Majestic Way even though Majestic Way is projected to um reduce down it would still be be um it would be too many students at first maybe in four or five years they would fit um but currently you'd have you know 650 almost 700 Elementary only kids and then the associated six through eight we' be above capacity that is the um number of students if we were to do that with seron that would come from Majestic Way and Rasin it would be too many students going into it correct and also for clarity one more time um I Heard a couple of public comments about the price of the schematics is the cost for both camont and pedmont about the same that 2 million number is that still correct yes so 2.35 was estimate for sieron 2.4 is the estimate for pedmont those are fairly conservative estimates I believe some of the um public were referencing other schematics for pedmont there was a option A an option b and then an option C option A and B were at a higher price point as well as a longer time frame option C however was very similar in price and time frame as the sieron option so if if we were to try to do sierant we would do Majestic Way and Ruskin but then wouldn't the Cherrywood manderin immersion program be affected like would they still be able to go to sier that's you're correct it would be impacted you have currently three and a half feeder schools that go into sieron you've got all of Majestic Way all of ruscin all of Cherrywood as well as half of noble then um moving Cherrywood over here wouldn't be beneficial because would it would the whole school first of all would the whole school no I guess not since they have 500 plus students so it would have to be the English only students where would the Mandarin immersion students then go right so if you it it'd be the same issue with if you move Cherrywood here so then all of the students that lived in locally here for Summerdale Toyon Vincy Park Noble they'd all have to go to a different Middle School just like in the sierant um scenario and Cherrywood feeds into sier Mon correct all the students from Cherry feed feed into camont yes so then they would change that would change their Middle School boundaries yeah I mean given that discussion you know I am more supportive of having Summerdale and Toyon come to pedmont just because you know we can keep the communities together and then we can invest in pedmont Middle School you know breaking up the feeder schools for Sion I think is a little too much I think it might just be e like it might be more beneficial to keep the communities together at Summerdale and Toyon rather than breaking up the different communities feeding into sierant I do have a point that hasn't been discussed yet but at some point I do believe that uh there should be a uh a study done on Noble's boundaries uh I believe there's an issue of uh inequity um Noble's boundary stretches across the entire district and it consists of homes all up in the foot hills it just uh bothers me that there's you're driving some homes you have to drive past three elementary schools just ATT 10 Noble uh I believe that with declining roing Lane view some of the Noble's homes needs to be moved to Lane view some of the homes in Noble currently Noble needs to be moved to Majestic Way and some of it needs to be moved to Ruskin so that way Noble could absorb potentially some toy on students would that be part of this uh restructuring or would that happen later on that is depending on the direction the board goes so if the board decides you don't want to do a tk8 then you can look at boundary Recon reconfiguration with option C of closing three Elementary sites because the other piece that you need to keep in mind is trying to balance all the schools that remain open as as much as we can and um so when you start looking at the different boundaries and where they'll be realigned you're impacting those numbers so your uh staff's recommendation would be then to uh work in steps so do this uh consolidation first and then possibly later on look at uh look at our boundaries and see if we can you know Al term to create kind of a more as we continue to monitor them and of course we have Tom that comes out each year uh to let us know what is being um you know anticipated and projected out we've already which is why I say just in terms of I know the Board needs to determine the direction you want to give because what we've heard so far is you want to have the least impact possible to our families during this existing round of review right that's correct I have a question regarding the um the enrollment over at at Noble the PPP program does the PPP program accept students outside of our district they do but very few so it so students are accepted if they wish to enter the PPP program over at at Noble remember there's only one uh class per grade level K1 two three and then that's it so only four classrooms is there a limit to the enrollment of the PPP program 24 students only 24 students and over the last couple years we're barely able to get 24 how about Noble consolidating into pedan how would that look I have to admit I thought about that yeah I have to chime in I you know I was kind of surprised that Noble also wasn't on the list because I know they have you know one school or one classroom is you know resident students and then another classroom is the PPP so that's why I was I was also thinking of that as well but then you know there are other considerations that was taking a look at so I also want to protect what the committee recommended to us but we could take a look at Noble if you if that's what your interests are I'm open to taking a look because yeah if I am not a huge fan of like having seeing one classroom have a lot of things and then one classroom not have a lot of things also from the cost perspective um would with consolidating Noble as an option how much of an impact would it be as compared to uh s toon and maybe one other school U should is Al should also be uh considered was also one of the criterias to in the I have a question regarding the um the decision by the committee why um if they if they considered the the inequity in quity of the PPP program at at um Noble your your chairperson's left but we do have some committee members that are present they did look at all special programs that existed across the sites that was part of the Criterion um I forget which early meeting it was but that that was discussed by the group they didn't go deep into to instructional models but they did identify every um program that was existing uh not only specialize programming but special education programs as well per site and as mentioned that was you know one Criterion of several others that they visited thank you what's the Noble's enrollment Noble's enrollments around 350 so they could consolidate into pedmont but it would just be that one school no there would be capacity to look at Noble and Toyon and potentially Noble and Summerdale just depending um schools in their entirety or uh just SE sections of yes because you have to remember to Noble is comprised of a quite a few students from outside of the noble attendance boundary so the noble resident students if we're talking about moving them or if we're talking about the whole PPP program um just depends can we take a look at um Noble's projected enrollment one more time we're able to pull that out too thank you so the the this is a little bit older but these projections were from a number of months ago but 2526 enrollment for Noble was projected to be around 373 for next year but again that's with the PPP program that's with the PPP program yes I see okay if we were to consolidate Noble then what would happen to the PPP program would it continue or would we have to dissolve it or move it Anis right yeah personally I don't have anything against the ppv program I think it's a good program especially if we have U you know capacity and it seems like they're not a capacity right there are other parents that that could take it take advantage of uh of that program and it's another program that the District offers so um I'm not I'm not opposed to it so where are we right now um are we wanting to pursue uh looking at Noble boundary changes and PPP program and consolidation of possibly consolidation of noble or do we stick with some on K with pedmont um I'm not sure where we landed on but yeah can three schools be consolidate I been reconfigured here that would include Noble toon and Summerdale would that would there be enough room for everybody I'm not sure that there would be enough I don't believe there'd be enough space for all three you're also uh targeting just one geographical area and in addition to that remember that Noble students do not all feed to mon Middle School half of them currently go to sier mon school because of the boundary geography that they have that trustee NN was mentioning that they go across from one side of baresa to the other and one other thing that I think was asked a little bit earlier was the the cost savings and the cost savings with Noble is they were the lowest amount of savings compared to all of the other school sites yes the boundary makes it really diff difficult for that school so um I think that's something that maybe we do have to as trusty said that we have to look at but maybe you know that's a problem for another day yeah I mean if you want to pull up the School boundary site the School boundaries as well in the slideshow so the public can see um what we're talking about with um Noble they have a split population and so they go into the Foothills and so it would be difficult and I think it would add to that inequity honestly if we were trying to make this as Equitable as possible having students commute from all the way to the north down here so that that's also my concern you know Nobles that blue U the turquoise yeah in case anybody was wondering how that goes you know all along the Foothills from one basically one end southern end of the district all the way to the Northern end I don't think there are too many homes or students enrolled in those homes right but is there the this scatter diagram yeah yeah there you go so I don't think there's that many impacted students but I do believe that needs to be uh corrected though so that way uh the students that live in certain areas they go to morale the other students go to carmont and then the bottom goes to Pont middle but what I do support is um is the again after the discussion I still support the T8 model here at Pont but uh expanding Nobles boundaries to include uh some Toyon students if not all Toyon students into Toyon and uh focus on the Summerdale students into middle as the primary uh school for TK through 8 if we were to consolidate Toyon and Summerdale uh there would still be room at Noble right because our boundary likely wouldn't change so any students from either Summerdale or Toyon who wanted to go to Noble they could probably get the get the transfer the in intradistrict transfer yeah I mean Noble definitely has space for them um it's just depending on what we're comfortable allowing and and the size of the school that you know we're looking at having for a um you know a successful K8 program here at pedmont if that's the choice and again my uh you know my recommendation to parents is and you know transfer your student to school you perceive as better uh my goal is as a trustee is to make sure that all schools offer uh students a good education and something that you know will make the this the school a quality school for everybody I'm not you know to transfer because you know the school is going to be better than another one I agree I agree with that sentiment and and you know that some of the rhetoric you know is a little sometimes it's a little disappointing I understand the the emotions behind uh keeping your your school but not not wanting to identify yourself or your family or your student with a different school that is perceived of as a lesser value it doesn't sit well with me so so I agree agree with you uh on that the as as trustees our objective should be all schools 13 school campuses uh all 13 schools um should be successful should be considered top performing schools uh regardless of of you know what whom we serve uh and we we definitely need to be mindful of uh some of those um those communities that that serve underprivileged kids and autistic kids and you know it's they don't have voice here today at the podium so we need to be their voice uh we need to advocate for them uh for sure no I appreciate that uh that sentiment from go ahead TR yeah I just want also just want to Echo that too and I think that's you know after all of our discussion you know I would be more supportive of um Summerdale and Toyon going into pedma and really giving them an amazing school to look forward to joining and so I think that's kind of where I'm louing at that's where I'm landing just to Echo that sentiment of making sure that all of our schools are incredible schools and making sure that we equ equitably do this by providing additional resources at um pedmont middle and giving that to our Title One students are you okay with um with that landing at um K8 consolida we still have more decisions to make that would be the end of for sure but one step at a time yeah yes uh I think you know again you know for the reasons I said you know these keeping these students together and if we're able to do that and it doesn't seem like in any other scenario we can do that um I am okay with that yeah okay I support that as well okay but I also support the fact that trusty nen mentioned about the the noble um the boundary change just to make sure and I'm in agreement with that as well so it's interesting because the um the boundary map does show the the vast vast spread of noble and like Trustin Newan mentioned there are three elementary schools on the way to here so if we if you divide that Community to all the three elementary schools it looks like noble will be left with nothing it'll be you know everybody will be want one to Lan view some to Majestic some to uh Raskin and there'll be no students left in no which that's why I had brought the fact that maybe um potentially um I mean I agree with the the Summerdale and toon consolidation to PE up but maybe we should also discuss Toyon consolidating with Noble because technically I mean they're just a few blocks away from each other very low impact it's it's impactful but it's it's not as impactful as some other consolidations right I I did I did mention that some time ago that the the only I I didn't have that also as an option in my mind but the only challenge I felt is you know the risk of Los losing that title one status those additional support dollars for the students for reading intervention and things like that it may not it may not be an impact maybe uh there are enough there'll be enough students from Toyon joining the current students in Noble to still uh for still be able to be eligible for that waer for for title one dollars but uh that that's the only only Point uh where where I felt was a stumbling block uh which is why having that pool of uh resources for tile one in one place uh g i I felt G gave us little bit more flexibility uh as to how which programs we can uh we can introduce and and things like that uh but yeah definitely that was one of the considerations trusty human is yeah something to say no I was just wondering that if we were to allow say some you know change the boundaries maybe uh increase or adjust Noble boundaries to allow some Toyon students or some Summerdale students to go there you know be their home school would that then allow other students to come here from uh the the you know so have the try to keep more of the students that feed into pedmont middle from the noble boundary area and from Vincy Park do you understand what I'm saying would it allow for you know just because I think again the diversity is important and allowing those students to come here for Middle School is still uh you know beneficial so would that allow for that if we were to say you know adjust no's boundaries so they can absorb some of the students from the yeah but then we're not keeping the students together so it's kind of a no one situation and the students from Toyon would be split up um I think that I think frankly I think that Vol having them go you know if they want voluntarily that might U that might be enough but as far as capacity is concerned so P Pon middle as a middle school uh even with the K8 model do we will we have still have some room for viny and no we still have when they join so they will join the sixth Noble ninc kids will continue to join at the sixth grade level um that would be a boundary uh Readjustment correct Kevin they could have or an option right so I mean you'd be talking about then Vincy Park students then joining the K8 for six through eight I mean there would there would be some space but it's really trying to figure out how many then are choosing to go to Noble to know how many you know you know we have to really establish how many seats we want to H you know what's the capacity of the school I we know what the Max Capacity is but what's the capacity of the school that we want to operate and what's that number and then then you'd be looking at figuring out how many you know Vincy Park students or how many noble students you want to allow in um seems a bit complicated for True what we're trying to achieve at at the moment um but again I mean to to trusty him as his point we we run the risk of creating a silo right because if we if we just have those those set of kids only uh you know targeted then it doesn't seem fair and I appreciate that that point which is why I thought um if if we have a structure where we can continue of getting those kids starting at a sixth grade uh level and I think to remember too that you know even though we're making these decisions right now for 25 26 we're projecting a decline so that'll still continue to happen so we'll still have the opportunity uh you know and while it you know may be a little bit cumbersome to reevaluate boundaries again in the future um after this decision has been made and after we see then where everybody begins to go that's that's I think it's you know the good point is something that obviously if we do this right and create this school here K uh TK to8 that is something that we have to study yearly and make sure that we are uh you know providing the Optimum Services to the students and if there are changes we can make you know year out uh so after next year um that you know that we make those changes and and we look to always improve which we do anyway right but uh you know especially focusing on that if we're going to have such a a a big school with a big population here and Al some of the benefits right so right now schools split uh they split social workers uh what do middle schools split with you know do they have their own uh um counselor do they have their uh they have their own counselors right now middle schools or do they split yeah so each uh middle school has their own academic counselor another thing I just want to bring up when we're talking about just resources if you the um two elementary schools here you also have a music teacher that could start teaching the kids in second third grade you have a choir teacher you have an art program you can really tap into those folks for the potential to make this more than just steam let's focus on Arts let's focus on other aspects that we could bring to the table because steam isn't the Magic Bullet because we already have a really good science program that we've adopted over the last couple years so let's really focus on just additional resources to bring to the table and especially going back to the reading interventionist if you have some, you could potentially hire two people to help support with tital one funds and we have many folks within our district that would be excellent read interventionists just by two cents this particular school has an excellent music uh program so you know you can add it on to the steam and make a Music Academy or something create something that's so attractive to these kids so they split social workers in among elementary schools right now right they do split time so would would they have their own devoted social worker at the school well in earlier Dr mcccu provided the board you know his recommendation would be to have two here to have one that could focus on the needs of you know the mental health supports for elementary and then another that would support specific needs of our middle schoolers so instead of having a halftime social worker they would have two so the elementary kids would have a full-time social worker okay so it sounds like uh if Toyon were to be closed they would gain more benefit if they were to go to Pont Middle's TK through 8 opposed to Nobles okay so with that said again I just go back to what I said earlier here in this evening uh whatever schools decide to be closed uh the savings should be uh uh given to the students that are impacted so however Toyon if toyan is a school that's selected to be closed it should benefit them so if they gain more benefit from going to a TK through 8 where there's more programs and there's more consolidation of programs and that's what I would support okay we can put up pin on that and um and talk about another school either from the list or uh if you have a different School in your mind that is not on the list of the committee uh recommendation um I'd like to hear that so now we're looking at a school just straight School closure so what would be the the case uh you know if I mean obviously we have to decide to close a third school what would happen to those that school students since they wouldn't you know like Summerdale and Toyon they would come here the students would come here the staffs would come here that's not what we're talking about with a third school it would be a different scenario what would happen to those students if we're to close a a third school so with the the other three locations um they would have to be split because they're they larger in size or their geographical context would require that so when I say that I'm talking about like Lane view for example if you take a look at the geographical area that they currently um Encompass you'll have to uh to try to get each child to their nearest next location you would you would do a multi-split there the same thing with um Cherrywood you see they're in the orange there at the bottom and then uh with Rin similarly so there's no way around that the student populations would have to be split into how many parts that that would that depend on the school whether it's into two different schools or three different schools so with with L so let's take one at a time sorry losing it so if you take Lan view for example uh from the list L we does have our autistic kids SDC program there so how does a split over there look I mean if we if you decide to re redraw that boundary and send some kids to The Majestic next to it right on that side um will the SDC kids will they be moved me will they also be split will the will those uh those teachers that collaborate uh for that program be moved how does that correct so with Lane view you have the autism Focus class which is three classrooms three and so Dr McCurry can add but we'd want to keep those three classrooms together and we'd have to select the site of where they'd be relocated and then you have the other students as well and looking at the boundary map you know I I don't know how many additional locations where they would go would it be between Northwood as well as Brook tree yeah I think I think you'd be looking at Northwood and Brook tree or Majestic Way and Northwood or all three Majestic Way Northwood and brick tree but but that that um um those classrooms or those students will will move together is is that is that the Hope which students are you referring to autistic those three classrooms we would keep together move them to one other location but then you have the other students that we'd have to relocate across multiple sites as well see we would we wouldn't break up the autism program so from from my perspective I mean I know the L has worked really hard to get some of those kids back into the classrooms after Co especially uh those autistic kids and and I'm sure all of you know more about autism the Spectrum and things like that and any small change in the environment and the in the way they they uh they arrive at School the way the classroom looks looks like the way the teacher uh is teaching might put them off again so you know that might they might withdraw uh and not go to school again right and that that might lead to learning loss uh it's my one of the risk scenarios that keep going in my mind that you know we don't want um those kids with with those challenges to be put in that position so from from my perspective the if we can avoid uh splitting l view it'll be it'll be great uh but it doesn't look like we can move all the all of the students into uh one School uh as such yes so I just wanted to add on to that I agree with you um truste sh Bon um uh as mentioned earlier Lan view is one of the schools that I I would not support closing uh mostly because of the autistic and special EG program there and also secondly hasn't been mentioned yet but a school Birchwood did close in that neighborhood back in the early 90s and uh or late ' 80s and I don't want that to be forgotten uh if we were to close lane view that would leave U nothing yeah nothing in that neighborhood essentially uh and also I just want to remind the board that there was boundary changes recently about two three years ago maybe longer where the C cadi neighborhood was impacted uh from Northwood they were moved from Northwood to Lan view uh I want this to be as least impactful as possible so that's why I bring up um those changes that uh we made in the past along with the Autistic Program yeah I also want to Echo those sentiments um my main concern is the distance between Lane view Majestic Way Brook tree and Northwood that side of town you know as truste wi said has already close to school and so I'm really worried about that and also you can see on the map that 680 runs directly in between where Lane could Lane view could feed into Northwood and Brook tree and even Majestic Way is closer to the middle of the district and so I think that would be really inconvenient for our lane view families and I'm highly concerned about um our artistic program there as well can some of the students from Lan view which could they could they be accommodated over at Ruskin rather than going across properly and all that and all those other the next nearest school for Lane view is Majestic Way um we have the slide that shows the mile distance yeah from site to site which lets you know um if you look up at that map it's in your presentation there and it'll share with you the next nearest locations for that particular school yeah and then I just also want to point out that you know Brook tree and Northwood are closer but you still have to cross over 680 so you have to cross over through the freeway there's no EAS way here okay so um doesn't look like we have support for uh breaking up Lane view right now do you have anything any thing to add on that or any questions no I mean just like Toyon you know it's it's not my favorite to close because of the location on one uh kind of you know end of the district Lane view is on the other end of the district so that to me is it's a deal breaker all right so uh from the list then if we if we eliminate Lane view we have we left with Raskin and Cherrywood or any other school that the board might uh uh want to consider that was not recommended by the committee U and I'd like to hear your thoughts on uh Cherrywood Ruskin or any other school uh why was Majestic Way not selected by the committee to be on the list the committee didn't discuss Majestic very much from my recollection The Majestic just was not really in the top um of any of the criteria as far as um you know when they did the compilation and scoring and so the committee was not entertaining Majestic as an option how does the operational cost of majestic compared with u Cherrywood or Raskin I know Cherrywood has has a high operating cost we already spoke about that but how does it compare with with the two do you have the if you have the numbers off um Majestic is less savings than um both rusin and uh Cherrywood so while they Gathering a thought so um so let let's see uh what we have for Cherrywood uh we we have the Mi program there and according to the criteria that that program can be uh can be relocated uh easily so one of the things that that was uh that that stood out to me in the in the in the um in one of the tables it's buried in my uh uh folder is the uh um is a Seal Seal program I don't know it's a certification or program how how you want to classify right so all of our all the teachers uh at at um sherrywood are seal certified is certified the right term train SE seal train okay all the teachers of Cherrywood are seal trained but not all teachers at Raskin uh are seal trained uh so in in the in the discussions of moving uh potential moving Mi to Rasin uh we might have that as a stumbling block U according to my my uh analysis over there and uh that's that's one concern I have with the uh with the m program I do trust our uh cabinet and our teacher teaching staff and our administrators to be to make it successful anywhere it is I know it's it's very challenging um they they've worked the community is work work really hard to build up the program to the to the extent that it has uh become successful uh you know it's a it's a good program for our school district so their concerns are valid about um you know disrupting that momentum uh but again we at the end of the day we have to be uh pragmatic and we have to make sure that we we putting the best foot forward for the benefit of all of our students uh but so that those are my thoughts about the Mi program the only only glaring thing in there is is a seal uh part of the equation I don't know whether you have any um any thoughts on that um on the Seal training uh how what's the timeline uh for all all teaching staff uh at a at a different location to achieve that seal uh training um the Seal training started many years ago um six of our elementary schools are currently trained through seal um the majority of the Seal program goes TK through third grade Cherrywood is the only school well not only but fourth and fifth grade are trained um a handful of our teachers at toy honor train in fourth and fifth and I think one teacher at Lane View's taught in fifth grade and seal trained usually takes two years to be sealed trained completely um goes through six units of plan planning and so there's a lot of sub out days for teachers there's a lot of that they call unit development days as well and so they're creating these units of study and they're usually collaboration with um their kindergarten teachers throughout the district so they're not creating units that are outside of what has already been created so they would have to recreate some of those units and update them to the standards so you know I think what we started was kindergarten first grade and then we rolled in second and third grade the following year um all of our TK teachers are already trained so the TK teacher at resin is already trained um for seal um once again there's transfer opportunities to to potentially you know move into that school as well for teachers that are already steel trained too that's good to know okay all right can you remind us one more time what is the benefit of having seal teachers like what is Seal can you for just of the Public's reference sure so for um seal it's a uh it's language based right so I think the one father talked about matter and they sing the songs and it's all very inclusive of language and vocabulary and so one of the trademarks of the manand and immersion program is the maner and teachers are seal trained so their seal units are aligned completely with the English language or the English classes so when the students rotate between the two classes they are hearing and seeing the same thing in Mandarin as they are with their English only counterparts so is the main concern then reg um of moving the mandin program to um Raskin so the main concern then is the fact that some of these teachers at Ruskin are not sealed train is that the that was my no that was my concern that was my that's the thing that stood out to me but I mean is that the main concern here that they are not that not all of the of the teachers there at Rasin in the lower grades or in the upper grades whatever that they're not SE trained is that it is that the main concern of not of the reason why we're not we cannot move the Mandarin program there because they're not sealed train so the better question would be uh what would be the impact of moving uh am I program from a from a school that has all seal train teachers to maybe not uh to to a school that maybe does not have all seal TR I understand your concern but my thinking is the fact that these are teachers they can easily be trained as a teacher like myself they can easily it may take some time as Dr mcrai mentioned but it's not impossible for them to know and to understand what seal is all about that's my concern as an educator I I do not disagree with that so my my question is um my concern is the the timeline so like like I said uh the community has worked hard to build up the program to this level uh my concern again it may not not be a real concern not be a valid concern I I defer to The Experts that we don't lose the momentum of the program I'm sorry but I totally disagree with that I think all teachers are are excellent teachers and and besides that if we were to move the Mandarin program there they will be there for a long long time and so therefore they can we can train them or the or seal they can be trained as still teachers I mean so it takes two years Dr mcra in order for them to really absorbed everything that they need to understand but I think these are mature and very smart educ well educated teachers that they can handle something like this thank you thank you for that feedback I just want to add my two cents as well I'm honestly really split on these two schools because you know I understand like how much it took to build the man and immersion program but I can also see you know the cost that it is to you know have that school open you know with Majestic Way like the facility the buildings themselves like I can see the cost savings there I can see how hard it is to upgrade a school that has a lot of concrete in it and like looking at the permanent capacity at Ruskin you know like they have that capacity to add even more students to the Mandarin emergent program and so that's where I'm like unsure you know so I I would love to hear everyone else's opinions on it but I'm still on the fence about you know both you know I'm not sure but I can see the facts on both sides so I'm still like unsure so as for me um again the the not want to close any schools but if I were to entertain having to close schools the three schools would be Toyon Summerdale and Cherrywood with the possible um consolidation and creation of the TK 38 model at pedmont but with that said I believe that when seven years ago when the Mandarin emerging program was first uh implemented um uh it was implemented in order to uh save Cherrywood because Cherrywood has such a high uh declining en rollment and we also tried to implement the Spanish and Vietnamese emersion program which unfortunately did not take off at the time there was not enough interest at the time and then covid happened and then um one thing led to another we uh we stopped trying uh that's for another convers ation though but I think that it should be worthwhile to to consider the fact that um that the Mandarin emerging program is successful and um and it did what it was set out to do at Cherrywood which was to preserve it so I think that's important to um to be mindful of that's the whole point that was put out there is to just preserve that school and prevent it from being closed and we tried to do the same thing with with other school with the other two languages but unfortunately it didn't happen but had it happened we drawn enough interest probably would have prevented toy on and Summerdale from closing too but um that that's one of the purposes of uh the mandering Emer program being placed at Cherry was to uh preserve that site and and I do have us um I'm a little split too because again those were three schools if any schools were to be closed in my opinion it would have been Toyon summerdown and Cherrywood but that's where I stand yeah and I also want to acknowledge that the resident number of students in that neighborhood is falling and so you know I want to also recognize that that's why I'm also unsure so is there an alternative to Cherrywood that anyone would want to consider I mean if you match other schools against the criteria that was uh that is selected and and you know evaluate um everything including cost including programming and and everything um I feel that the committee landed at the right set of schools is is my uh is my thought um again it's a recommendation but if there's anything else any other school that jump out um that would make sense from uh from a cost perspective as well uh being that being one of the criteria um items then you know we can we can definitely have a discussion on that so all of Cherrywood will not fit into Raskin and all of Raskin will not fit into Cherrywood either correct correct and um so if so in in the in the scenario where uh we touch uh cherwood so the the idea would be to uh separate out the Mand immersion program and move it to a different site and then um move the English only Learners where English only students were well Kevin can you share how many classrooms are available at rkin so the board can get a sense of capacity so the projected number of um classrooms available at rusin for next year would be I just want to make sure I get this right it would be 14 so there' be 14 classrooms available at rusin next year and that would that would accommodate all of the all of our Mandarin imersion students correct there's 12 Manor and emerging classrooms at um Cherrywood now how does that one-on-one switching model looks um how how will that look like at at a different side uh than chry would can we we still can we are we still able to continue that that one on one to one switching that I there would be enough classrooms based on the current enrollment but again again moving forward declining enrollment it just depends on on the number of um the English only students at Ruskin because remember ruskin's enrollment is projected to significantly continue to decline well in that case then we should look at definitely redrawing the noble boundary to capture some of those students and bring them to Raskin right so that would make make sense and also um know that we have uh currently anou in place for the Mandarin instructional model at Cherrywood because of the impact that they've experienced recently with the declining numbers uh of the English only students to be able to continue supporting one to one I have a quick question as well so um with the enroll or the resident students in Cherrywood and rkin which one is projected lower like can we see the projections for both um resident students for Cherrywood and rusin so yeah we have that Kim that's in Tom's report on page 19 if you're able to pull up Tom's full report yeah because I've been hearing a lot of concerns about that onetoone model but you know like realistically like if we're looking at the number of students with each school like would we have enough students to keep that model if we keep it in Majestic Way or rkin you know that's the question I'm trying to answer EAS to see on the power show it's it's in both so whichever it's page 19 on the I I have the the report up on my phone or on my iPad and I'm trying to I'm pulling up their current number of classrooms right now no it' be Tom's PowerPoint I don't know if you have that one downloaded so be page 19 for this particular report and then currently there's 12 Mandarin classes classes at Cherrywood and there would be 12 classes at rusin which is more about page seven because we're looking at resident students right for next year pinix 1B I was looking at the chart at the end you see on the right column for 2025 there's only 244 resident tk5 kids projected for Cherrywood next year columns direct to the right of the rightmost vertical B Bar shows Cherrywood at 244 next year in tk5 Resident students that doesn't include in in District kids in the regular program it does not include the mandering program int District kids in the mandering program these are simply the uh residents this is where your kids home address is okay that's for Cherrywood so excluding the ones that are all the in distri kids go to Cherrywood whether for reg or Mandarin there are 244 kids cheed their next year that compares to 251 this year okay so I recognize that Cherrywood has a steep decline but uh what I would like to do is I would like to preserve Cherrywood I recognize that the hard work they've done to uh build up that program but what I would like the district to do is uh now that Co is kind of settling down I would like the district to try again to bring back the Spanish and the Vietnamese emerging program perhaps make Cherrywood a language site I know our our our neighbors to the north and to the South both have Spanish emersion programs and our neighbors to the south in alrock also have a Vine emersion Program so I don't see any reason why us as a district where both both our northern and southern neighbors have a Spanish Immersion program we can't have one and our neighbors to the South there's a lower Vietnamese population than beresta and we can't have one I think the interest is out there I just think that um uh we just need to um uh uh try to Market it better and I I think think we can do it but uh with the declining enrollment in Cherrywood I think that could be a good thing uh in creating a potential language site at Cherrywood for Mandarin Spanish and Vietnamese with the declining enrollment there and preserve that site the one thing to keep in mind and I'll ask um Kevin to share the total capacity of the school because that 244 does not include your 12 Mandarin classrooms to then add an additional language program there at the site you may not have room for a full sequence uh of TK through or Kinder through fifth grade uh potentially then could we move the some students in the Cherrywood population and expand Ruskin and have them attend Ruskin and maybe just focus solely on having a Cherrywood a language site yeah I mean I think if you do that and you move the all of the non- maner immersion students that you see within those figures are the English only partners that we're talking about with the switch so then you know you'd be talking about having you know if you had two different languages there then I I suppose you'd be talking about the two different languages doing the switch and then so that's the way I would Envision that having to be done then the you know if you had a say Vietnamese program along with the Mandarin then they'd switch for English with with the Mandarin teachers and English with the Vietnamese teachers is how I would in that scenario that would work versus having the resident students that are not in the program be the English only switch so I I don't know how successful that model would be but that's what that model would look like if we were to move the Cherrywood resident students um to uh Ruskin and then again with those numbers there 244 resident students and there's currently 44 resident students attending the Mandarin emersion program leaving approximately 200 students resident students English only some of which attend other schools so Cher wood out of the question are we going to look at rusin I think Cherrywood is still in play I don't see I don't think it's I don't think we eliminated Cherrywood as such interesting new exess reservations but uh so talking about rusin next um what what what would be the site that could absorb um those where is the 36 61 going to 339 um uh kids in uh next year is there a site that can absorb all the all those students or uh like how we discussed before rusin will need to be split up into multiple uh sites correct Ruskin would have to be split amongst um a couple of other sites just depending on which I mean some of them could go a Majestic Way um as we mentioned Cherrywood has um limited capacity um you know so you'd be looking at splitting about 12 classes or 12 to 13 classes from rusin so um Majestic Way has room there's also Noble right so with with either of these schools there's there's no uh way no winning there's no way to keep the community whole is is what what I'm hearing and that's a really unfortunate situation there and I don't know if anything has changed since the last time we met uh vold thinking but is there is there a scope of um doing this doing one uh consolidation event now do we did we find any money anywhere to keep the other schools the floor unfortunately it's going the opposite direction that you'll see at the presentation next week um some good news yeah I I wish it would make my life a lot easier all right what are the um truste the other I just want to know is there weight in favor of one or the other in terms of you know uh just the objective measures uh then you know personally I I mean facilities wise you know obviously rcin facilities are nicer um you know just in terms of the school layout what it looks like Etc right um over Cherry Woods you know which is a nice school I mean all our sites are nice but comparing the two with Ruskin you know to me that's uh that gives it a little bit of you know advantage AG um over but are there any other things that you know will you know on balance scales give one way more way to uh just a second trusty hog I just wanted to address that so so from from uh specific to answering your question the the the only only thing uh I don't know I don't know whether it's a positive or whatever you want to call it is is having that um Mandarin immersion having the ability to move the entire Mandarin immersion bubble to a new new location uh from that perspective CH Cherrywood looks uh kind of little bit positive you know it's it's not not there I mean I don't want to create any uh controversies here by saying it's it's a positive thing but what I'm trying to say is uh from the options that we have from The Limited challenging options that we have the only attractive things thing is we we're able to accommodate that entire mandate immersion uh program in in a new site um you know if Ruskin is a target site for that U maybe that that's that's some gives us some hope trusty how things go no just to add to that too you know one of my the things that I was looking at too was also the capacity between the two schools right like with rkin there is more capacity there which I think could be beneficial for that program they can bring in more English students they could attain that onetoone model that they always talk about and you know I find Value in that as well and so that's why I was looking at like moving the man and emerging program to Ruskin just because of that potential for growth because they have you know larger facilities like newer facilities as well yeah and then again on the flip side we do impact the English only students uh whom I would assume uh again just like Ras would be move to multiple sites and do we have any sites in mind um that could accommodate some or all of the students for the Cherrywood uh English only students I think that there would be choice between um splitting between either Lane view or Majestic Way for the students on that end um there's also you know since we're looking at not having Summerdale as an option for those other students than um you know you're looking at Brook tree or Vincy park I think so important to mention is if we do move the mandering emerging program to Ruskin the remaining Cherrywood students they were once Title One School correct that they will be potentially become a title one school again yes so the numbers if you removed the Ander and immersion program from Cherrywood yes they would be about 39% free and reduced so they would be a title one school so um you know pretty much those three schools that I mentioned aside from Majestic Way you know you'd be Lan view brck tree or Vincy Park those three schools are all Title One schools so the non or non- manering students um they would benefit from Title One benefits if um cherry wood were to be closed correct they Title One school yeah what are your thoughts trustan on that I mean you uh are you are you thinking there's a benefit to that but just going back to um the TK through rate I mean I just I think there's huge upside potential to that and there's an opportunity for us to reinvent toon Pont midle and um Summerdale so that's the hug the biggest draw for me all right so so where we at with the with Char and Raskin are we still focusing on those two schools we we don't have we not talking about any other schools at this at this point correct we'll still because we eliminated Lane view I think yeah I'm post closing Lane view um yeah did we Majestic Way I mean I know it's not as SCH on the list but right make sure to discuss we did discuss it but we did discuss it I think uh they didn't meet the criteria and from a cost benefit point of view also it doesn't have that much of an impact on the bottom line uh as well that needs to be one of the things we also need to consider uh whether it's popular opinion or not it's it's one of the things we we need to have uh in mind so it's brusin or Cherrywood it looks like uh those are the two schools that we are um so yeah I mean reluctantly I would be uh willing to if we can move that that Mandarin program you know in the same model into Raskin um and figure out you know what's the what's the best way of achieving that without losing the momentum that that the community has built has worked uh really really really hard uh into getting that to that point where uh they have uh they have won multiple Awards and you know accolades uh and I've been to into at some of those meetings uh uh with those um with ncls ncls national Chinese ncls and the uh feedback that that I heard from uh the visitors and the guests and and the conversations I had it was great to hear so my I don't have any any doubts about my our students the students are amazing I have no uh questions about the staff capacity staff ability teachers uh ability and uh administrators abilities uh my only concern is is that we don't want to lose that momentum uh when we then we disrupt that it is it is going to be disruptive uh regardless of what we do so uh so we how do we preserve that momentum how do we make sure that um if we do decide to move the mandin immersion program to Ruskin how do we continue to uh push forward to make sure that um uh you know we we are getting the best value and we also need to project that we value that the program because it's you know it's something that we have built and you know then the community is taken charge of that and we need to make sure that um we value that program as well so um but yeah I mean um Back Against The Wall I would think uh you know that would probably my be my choice to uh move sh with immersion program to to Ruskin and um and find out what uh what what best we can do for the remaining students um that are not in the M verion program thoughts critiques I mean is there a way that we can guarantee that we push for that onetoone model if we move the Mander and immersion program to rusin is there a way that we could try and ensure that remember that the oneto one is also dependent on you know the number of students so that's what varies year toe and we've you know we've worked collaboratively with our teachers on supporting that we've offer um incentives for those that are participating in that uh onetoone switch so that's something we've talked about and added through the years as well so that would all continue I don't think there could be a guarantee for that because I think when the Mandarin program was uh implemented um there were staff that wanted to participate in the manor Merion program there were staff that didn't and the ones that didn't left Cherrywood correct so if correct overtime so if if Cherrywood the mandering emerging program at Cherrywood were be to be moved to rusin I think um it would go it would start all over with what happened at Cherrywood in the past seven years and I think that would be too much and I don't think all the Ruskin teachers um they uh they're willing to be a part of that yeah and I'm I'm with you on that I'm I'm right there with you so it'll be a uphill task uh if we do decide to go that that route it'll we have t to to get that um uh get that uh program you know uh settled and and you know have the same value that it has it has right now I completely agree with that and I spoke about that at the last meeting also uh you know what those concerns all right so we need some direction we need uh I don't think we are not we're not making a conclusion today we're not making taking any votes um but um we we need at least some sort of consensus on what everybody's thinking and U it looks like on this side of the neighborhood we are we we are comfortable with the uh with the K tk8 uh model at pmon consolidating um toon and suale uh over here is that is that okay is is that correct is that is everybody on board with that um that's the proposal I would support I think gives the most benefit to the impacted students okay perfect without taking away too much from uh uh the sites and uh on the other side uh um it's between sherrywood and Ruskin what are your thoughts so uh again back against the wall we don't we don't have much of a much of a Le much of a choice uh to do uh to do anything uh you know I'd love to preserve Cherrywood the way it is um but things are what they are right now so it's just just unfortunate situation um so from my perspective like I said uh we would carefully move the Mand program retain its value um make sure that they have all the support that they need uh and move it to to Ruskin and then uh ensure that the EO kids uh you know either get a choice of school or or you know are uh well taken care of where wherever they land uh while while you're all thinking about all these conversation one of the things we never spoke about is our ptas and our home on school club uh you know and I know there'll be a drastic change in in culture we'll have if we close uh if we don't have somebody and to on those pts we need to dissolve those will need to be absorbed in uh uh into into the pedmont PTSA uh so that's that's another big change for the for the parent community that uh uh we need to make sure that the council the PDA council is uh you know we collaborate with them to make sure that they they provide all the support that we need that they need uh if we do move Cherrywood uh any part of Cherrywood any other school Cherrywood doesn't have a PTA they have a home school club structured very differently from a PTA have been on both both um both sides uh so I I know the differences so that they the parents will need a lot of support um in U getting uh used to working with the PTA PTSA type of a model it's a different type of a um Ty of model so just wanted to put that out there because that's that's a critical piece um of the equation as well but entertain your thoughts or um you know if you have any any um any other ideas than what what I presented what what I spoke about let me know so again I spoke about moving the mag immersion program only to to uh Ruskin and then um the EO kids to to other schools that that's where I'm at right now so what is your proposal because if you suggest closing Cherrywood then what's the other sites that you propos to close um so we are at suale toon we consolidating Su sum and toon to pedmont to build a K8 pk8 and moving the maning Merion program as well moving the maning Merion program to Raskin on the other side um and impacting shedwood so we're impacting four schools then is what you're proposing we're impacting Cherrywood Pont middle uh summer down yeah yeah the the trade off is the preservation of the three middle schools so yeah we're you know technically impacting Pont but it remains open so as a regular Middle School not TK 38 no it's a three tk3 so the choices were um you know to basically you know close down uh or consolidate three elementary schools and preserve the middle schools which we're doing yeah we're impacting it but we're preserving it you mean the boundary changes for the middle schools what was that so you're is me suggest that Cherrywood is the third Elementary School to be closed right yeah because we have uh Summerdale and Toyon are basically closing they're consolidating because we can move them in their entirety to uh to pedmont we can't do that with Cherrywood or with Ruskin or with any other school on that side uh so they the students there would have to split yeah I think I think that was option b the one that we're entertaining so creating the TK to a consolidating two elementary schools and then closing an additional Elementary or I guess we're doing is that what is suggesting that we close two elementary schools purging one of them so so so option b I think this there's a slight change in option b because now we'll be merging two elementary schools with One Medal school and closing one Elementary School is that correct yes that's correct so would the cost savings be still approximately 2.5 to 2.8 good question based on the schools that you're talking about it' be closer to the 2.5 than the 2.8 the two we would save 2.5 by doing Cherrywood Summerdale and Toyon is that what you're saying yes so if we were to close rusin instead of Cherrywood would the students then be split up among more schools than the Cherrywood students would be because all the Mandarin Merion students which is roughly half the school of Cherrywood would go into one School uh and then the others would be divided among one or two is that right two so three schools total how about Ruskin how many schools would have to uh accept their students so three it' be three okay but it' probably more like a third a school or something like that okay so with mandin immersion we have students from multiple schools coming to to Cherrywood we have students from Maximum from VY Toyon brooktree Majestic uh Ruskin um they're they're all coming to to yeah so so in a way there's fewer students impacted by consolidating Cherrywood um because they're already not in their home school y only half are actually uh so like 250 roughly or are with would you know from the home that's their home school so if Cherrywood were to be closed where would the English only students be going again it would be we'd have to look at the numbers it'd be between potentially either Lane view or Majestic and then either Brook tree or Vincy park and if you want we could you know Vincy park has a lot of space they they all have capacity um you know at least six seven eight you know just depending on which school six seven to eight classrooms or more so while they couldn't take the entire English only students they could you know they could be split between two schools it's just the distance that you want some of those students to travel to get to the school so that's a potential issue for me because I I prioritize neighborhood families before specialized programs I believe if you live in a certain Community you should be entitled to be going to the school in your Comm in your neighborhood so for a Cherrywood family because they're English only if they're not allowed to go to Ruskin and they have to skip rusin to go to Majestic Way that's an issue and for them to cross a freeway to go to Vincy park or Brook tree that's also an issue I believe that as a Cherrywood family in that neighborhood you have priority if Cherrywood were to be closed you should be going to Ruskin or another neighboring School you shouldn't A specialized program I I support the manor eming program but in this this case they shouldn't Trump another family that lives in that neighborhood right is there another option for the Mandarin immersion program the only other school that has space for Mandarin immersion is Summerdale and we're looking at closing some correct it's because of the the size of the program now the other thing to keep in mind Kevin you mentioned earlier the capacity was 14 classrooms Ruskin that's correct there's 12 that's needed for the Mandarin um is that 14 existing classroom space that's existing classroom space not inclusive of if we add any Portables to that location so if there was interest in trying to bring a greater number of Cherrywood students over that could be a possibility to and Kevin just said That's not including perhaps bringing additional classroom space over right that that that wouldn't that wouldn't equate to moving all the 200 200 and something we won't be able to do that that there'll be like 10 10 plus classrooms right then um just for those students we won't be able to do that um in toal to at Cherrywood there are 26 classrooms according to the Chart here 26 yeah that's the that's the whole classroom number yeah so again with the sorry you still saying something Mr Franklin no okay so uh see for for the English only students at Cherrywood um if we do decide to do this uh do the split uh again can we give them the option of uh one of the four schools um we would have to work through that with Tom as we look at the demography okay there would be a geography issue but in terms of stricly numbers I actually think all the regular kids at Cherrywood could go to Lan view but for some of those kids be a long ways to go can you repeat that uh Tom you said the students that would be going to Lane view would be which students the Cherrywood attendance area GG within the Cherrywood attendance area the number of kids attending Cherrywood in regular education and my num is about tk5 there are there are 200 regag kids in that attendance area but 35 or six of them go to other schools such as Noble's parent participation there's really only 164 currently tk5 kids in cherrywoods attendance area in regular at that school so when I look at next year's forecast numbers there'll be space for that L the only thing I'll warn you with that is some of those kids are going to go a long ways to L numerically you can fit them all in L so that that's what I want to um underscore it's a long distance away it's unfair to those families we're unnecessarily um I don't know what the word is but uh not recomending that impacting them yeah so that's why if if we were to close Cherrywood they have to go the neighbor the neighborhood families need to go to the next closest neighborhood school which is rusin and they can't be pushed away because the specialized programs going to Ruskin which is the same con idea was arguing with Noble you know there's families living close to milus and they're driving past three schools just to go to you know another school which I think doesn't make sense to me geographically I wouldn't say that distance however is any longer than some kids currently go for Noble some kids currently go for all right so according to the and I can go to the slide the School site distances Brook tree is actually 1.2 miles from um Cherrywood and Ruskin is 1.4 um which is and then for Cherrywood to Lane view is 2.2 miles now whether Brook tree could could absorb all of those students um I'd have to relook at that we do have um special ed programs at uh brooktree and that would involve a freeway Crossing correct but if we're just looking at strictly distance that's these are the distances just for the sake of conversation and potentiality I know that you know we've been talking about these five School sites if what happens if we were to and I'm sorry to rehash this with this is just an idea since we seem like we're kind of stuck in a wall what if we push Noble and Toyon into pedmont and then Cherry would push into sodale and Ruskin just like from a geographical sense I was just looking at it say that one one more time what if we were to push Noble and Toyon into pedmont because Noble and Toyon geographically are closest to pedmont middle and then we would push Cherrywood students into Ruskin and Summerdale is that something the board would kind of look into or yeah I mean Summerdale definitely has capacity because Summerdale has you know over a dozen or about a dozen classrooms available so that that could work any downsides to that they be able take they wouldn't be able to take the whole school um necessarily um they they potentially could but then you run into the same issue that we talk about with the distance for for uh Lane view it'd be the same thing for Summerdale um and then um I think it was brought up earlier too if we're just talking about you know um a geographic split and going to the next nearest school if you look at Majestic Way if you're going off of the list which Noble would be also um Majestic Way is um you know when you look at Majestic ways distance from from the other closest schools that have capacity or looking at rescue in Lan view also no kids go to right so yeah and then looking at middle schools Noble splits too between where they where the students attend middle school so they would then only go here from some students from Noble they'd go here from K to 5 or TK to 5 and then they'd go somewhere else for for Middle School yeah I mean right now for Noble the students go to um camont and pedmont for Middle School right what 5050 roughly um depends on the year I suppose so they would not stay here from K to a but how much interaction is between the Middle School and grades and the Elementary grades in a k to8 school or TK to8 school if it was it say that again how much interaction or overlap is there between you know the programs of say you know from TK to 5 to um the middle school grades it's more it's more about the shared instructional resources right that they would have I mean that's what makes a K8 attractive right they would have a Continuum of learning experiences whatever that focused area is so the noble parents could potentially request has to stay here if they like it and then suel could take the Mandarin immersion program and then the English students from Cherrywood could go to Ruskin yes that would fit so trusty house suggestion um would would not be optimal is that is that what what I'm hearing is that would not be an optimal U plan or or will not be much of a difference is is that uh what's the conclusion on that that'd be for the board to decide I mean I'm trying trying to see from the from a data point of view what yeah I me it would work um I think logistically it would work the other follow-up question would be the cost Savings in that change of schools yeah so the cost savings would drop Noble well actually let me double check Noble's savings Noble yeah Noble is the lowest cost savings so if you're looking at Noble Cherrywood and Summerdale then we get farther away from making from making the 2.5 million Noble wasn't considered in that range because um they weren't on the list it was only the schools that were on that list that comprised that range how much of a difference do you have any idea yeah Noble is barely over $700,000 in savings and the most of the rest of the schools exception of Summerdale are $ 800,000 in above so 880,000 or so less yes ,000 less yes that's not even one staff position 80,000 um a teacher salary without benefits a beginning teacher with no benefits a teacher is roughly what like 150 with benefits but again then we're 880,000 shorter of shorter so that's more we'd have to cut yes and then just as the reminder that you know the distance the School site distances were one of the criteria that the the committee considered amongst the 19 I I agree with Trustin when though that uh you know that the resident students that live in that neighborhood should get priority in terms of uh you know going the close of school yeah do we know how many Mander and emersion students where their resident school would be Vincy park right oh I was just asking where the res the Mand the Mandarin emerence students would what is their primary residency school and that's Vincy park right Vincy park has the most the second most is Cherrywood um and then I'd have to look and then it's pretty yeah it's pretty split amongst everywhere else I think North would have the lowest amount of students are we able to move the Mandarin emerging program to Majestic Way no not without doing a boundary change for Majestic Way the only sites that have 12 classrooms available are Summerdale and rusin can we consider doing a potential battery change Majestic Way too because that's another um school where I think has awkward boundaries there's a school just north of uh the creek I'm not sure what Creek those that is but essentially those schools are closer to Lane view than Majestic Way yeah I mean Lane view has capacity to take on a number of students so if that's something the board wants to entertain that could be possible to do a boundary change with Majestic Way to then have enough capacity for the Mand erion program those schools on the south side of cople I mean they're passing they have to go down to peont Road or or what is that hostad or no that's not the morel just to get to and then make a turn onto Hoster just to get them a chest way when they could just enter the neighboring residential streets of Lan View and I think of that way we could maintain the manor immersion program within the sierant family if we can maintain the manary mer program within the San family if we move it to Raskin too yeah but then that would unfairly impact the Cherrywood residential homes regardless of that if even if we moved to Majestic Way We Still impact the Cherrywood EO English only resident students correct it doesn't matter if the Mandarin emerging program is in sieron boundaries because the people come from all over the district anyway yeah that's fine I'm game from from a logistical point of view space point a few we yeah but Middle School Manor Middle School students are at Sion right yeah yeah but the ones even if they go to Summerdale for you know uh the Elementary grades they could go to Sierra mon for the middle school grades and since most of them a lot of them are from out of the district or you know from other schools uh with from every school within the district uh it's not like we have to keep the schools close together so it's not like a home school you know where you go to the elementary school in the middle school that's close by it doesn't matter where in the district they go um because they'll go they'll go anyway they'll obviously they they'll travel to go to that program right so it's it's not important well what I'm suggesting as potential um uh way of doing this is change Majestic ways boundaries move it to Lane view because Lane view is experiencing a decline enrollment High rate of decline enrollment and putting the manor immersion program at Majestic Way so if that happens too then the Middle School boundary would be adjusted then for maril and those students currently attending Majestic in that whatever attendance area of majestic is the north Majestic W north of the creek would go to um Morel correct cuz there's L homes just south of coply that goes to mades way when they just need to cross crop to go to Lane View wasn't coply cutting um the boundary for Lane view I thought that's what I saw in the map is there are there are there schools on the other side of cople that are going to Majestic you're saying I thought coply is in [Music] the cop is B between Majestic and l view right s boundary between s Vista and oh I see yep but trust so so your your your logic for moving Majestic I mean the Mand imersion to Majestic Way um you feel would be less impactful for the Cherrywood uh resident students is that is that where we coming at yeah and then the if if you're suggesting that we close Cherrywood then the English only language English only students will be going to Ruskin oh I see for for capacity purposes correct because if that's the case I think it's um more Equitable for the neighborhood families to attend their neighboring school as opposed to a specialized program to Trump those families that's a good point there that's a good point actually so then Majestic uh ways furthest from viny right because so most number of students we're going to verify if there's capacity at Majestic Way sure by moving over so there viny students will have a long commute to come to Majestic for for Mi right I mean Ruskin would not be that much worse either I mean it'll probably be comparable but is there a scenario that the board things that would keep Cherrywood uh intact without without disturbing is there is there a different scenario that I know it's late I know pretty much everybody's famished but uh is there anything that uh comes to mind that would keep sherrywood intact Ruskin intact is there any other um any other scenario you have any any two two more schools maybe that you're looking at I know I'm creating more creating more controversies here but I'm just trying to see uh what other options are there um spe no I have another spreadsheet that's not part of that that shows how many classrooms are in use and so it looks like I think for and I'd have to double check because these numbers were from last spring and so this year um numbers have changed um slightly I think there's five classrooms current at Majestic Way there's room I believe to add two to three Portables and then I believe they would be based on declining enrollment would have two additional so I think that there is about approximately 10 or so um classrooms so it'd be close to being able to fit in the current configuration all of the manor and immersion program but we'd have to double check the capacity figures for or the current utilization for Majestic Way right and so I'd have to double check with the with trusty Newan suggestion of redrawing that that boundary right and right sure we redraw if we redraw the boundary depending on how many students are within that area that he mentioned um we'd have to see how many students currently live in that area to determine then how you know how those numbers adjust because right now the utilization rate shows that there's excess capacity at Majestic Way of 188 for 2526 which we know that there's 277 students in the manner and immersion program as it currently is so it we would need to have at least four more classrooms I don't know that we can add four more Portables there um you know or if there's going to be a couple of other classrooms um based on um revised enrollment uh projections if you make that boundary change the only way that works for next year is if you don't grandfather any of those kids right y just force [Music] them so then we're displacing Majestic Way families for wouldn't support that I'd rather phase it out that's too much of an impact there are the numbers don't work how many classrooms are available at Majestic Way did you say that's what I have to double I'd have to go to the school to double check so the classroom figures they weren't on theist I so I didn't go and and double check those as far as a school for capacity and so the the rate the utilization rates we have are from last spring and so we've adjusted and the school has moved around teachers so we'd have to go a double check but I I think that there's at least five um five or six vacant classrooms there based on the last time I was there um because one thing that did change as well which impacts these numbers is um I believe is at the last board meeting there was a um a board item um to purchase the two County Portables that are currently on the property for a dollar the county has been out of those portables for a number of years now but they weren't ours so we weren't able to include them in the capacity and so that's why that number changed also so that's why I think there's at least five or six because we weren't counting those before and those do exist on that campus maybe since it's getting late we should consider the following options you know the maybe we should at next week's board meeting we should go over Majestics ways capacity and also taking a deeper look at Cherrywood and Ruskin and seeing you know which one like we just look at the facts for both School sites but then what I'm hearing from the board is also we reached a consensus on consens consensus on Summerdale and Toyon and pedmont so now our decision is just on that final school and then maybe we can rehash that relook at all the numbers um next Wednesday that sounds like a plan to me the rest of the board is okay with that um if you want to continue their discussion that's okay also um so I did get a anonymous tip right now that there are six with the county Portables there'd be two more based on declining enrollment that I figured so that's eight and I believe there 's room for three Portables so that's 11 so we're still just shy of and it wouldn't allowed for growth beyond that so that's that's although Majestic will keep declining so so there's really not enough just short all right so um so we it looks like at this point in time we do have somewh of consensus on on the I wouldn't put anything on that oh no Okay so until we we decide all three uh I say you know we're going to do this and then not that it's got to be all on anything tonight I can guarantee that so with with some tration let say we have some sort of a right agreement on the uh tk8 model uh building a tk8 model at pedmont consolidating um Summerdale and toy I don't know because Cherrywood would fit into Summerdale and you know their mandar immersion that would logically make sense if we bring pmon over here Noble over here so that's why I'm not really set on that right so so the so the discussion for um for for Cherrywood for for the man immersion Still Still Remains so that's still still an option that that we need to gather some more um thought and U information on and it might very well come to the point where we we say that we keep suale and then move mersion there uh to and then move the rest to Rask um so the only thing that we're sure of is that we want to do a tk8 here right yeah that that's that seems to be the one thing that we be kind of all are okay with um so what action items do we have for the uh for the cabinet if you can summarize so let me just get clarity here for what staff needs to bring back in terms of scenarios so we have tk8 model for pedmont Middle School the first scenario that the board discussed was looking at Toyon and Summerdale and merging those two here um looking at what I had was options for choice for those families as well um now also staying with pedmont Middle School the others the second scenario was noble and toyan okay and then do we still want to work through what we just discussed with Majestic Way and and what is what is the request what What scenario would you like to see I thought we figured out that we didn't have enough space there just wanted to confirm so with the second scenario we we spare suale which would mean that uh potential uh potentially we can move Mand immersion to suale okay and then uh the the um resident students of Cherrywood to um to rusken did I get the right okay okay or we consolidate rusin is that still on the table it is but capacity wise I think we have we have an issue don't we consolid to consolidate Rasin Raskin cannot I mean from what I understand and I'll let Dr FES elaborate uh there are too many students so Rustin will need to be broken up he cannot go as a whole to right can I ask put at Summerdale you then do that with the Middle School level Summerdale was go is pedmont just going to become a k of the noble and toy areas which really is enough kids to or does I'm just trying to figure out how the numbers work here it works make program cross middle scho down yeah it does right now I mean the the students that are that are in Mand programs at seron are not resident students anyway correct so what does it matter if they they all come to suale and then go to Sion right so I think we might want to revisit U Majestics way status um in my makes sense for us to consider the closure uh preserving Cherrywood closing Majestic Way and splitting it between Lane View and rusin you good yeah I would like to I don't know about that decision but if you want to entertain that I want to see all the rehash what Majestic Way like the cost savings would look like the facility so I would yeah well you know Noble is also not on the on the list of the Committees so if that's up consideration I don't see why Majestic Way shouldn't also we should have you know pretty thorough discussion on that yep yeah if we were to poll another school that wasn't on the committee's list I would like us to have like a really thorough discussion just because you know we went through the committee process and we trust entrusted them with this and so I want to make sure we really land on the right decision there if we pull a school that wasn't on the list so apart from the rest of the rest of the criteria the cost uh you know as a reminder you know we we need to uh be mindful of the you know the cost savings also at the bottom of all this uh whether we like it or not the uh cost savings is an issue so we need to maximize those campuses that will yield as the maximum uh savings to be able to uh be fiscally solvent uh so let's not let's not lose focus on that piece of the equation also I know that I understand all the different options it's great to have those options but at the end of the day uh you know fiscal solvency is also key uh to this to this equation and we need to get to that to that point so trust I was going to say if staff has a best option recommendation uh that I'm open to that as well they're looking at us for directions I don't think I don't think and we're looking at them it's an impa so do we do we have Dr F all the notes that you have all right so so we will uh we're not making any uh taking any votes today we will continue this uh discussion at the next at our regular board meeting on the 18th so at this time I'll enter a motion to adjourn the special meeting please second moved in second and all in favor say I I meeting adjourned at 10:43 p.m. thank you all for your patience thank you for being here we appreciate it [Applause]

to discuss the budget revisions and to take care of our tabled item do I have a motion to adjourn I make a motion we adour the meeting I'll second that motion all those in favor I Melinda saski I Charlene Diaz I Fred rushon I meeting is now adjourned

we're talking about mental health and wellness I think that's a great time to join the discussion as our strategic planning process to bring these to Bear how we prioritize what comes first second and third as we make these plans that's a great time so let your neighbors and friends know that that can be a very important part because a lot of the centers are on Mental Health and Wellness so agree sorry thank you um actually now I have four things uh first of all I want to mention that um we are doing another Presentation tomorrow at the ASO senior Center at 10:45 uh this one will be tomorrow this one will be on education um secondly um I want to give a shout out uh actually to Braden Swanson Braden is a uh Varsity wrestler at uh asgo and he um he has now got 100 wins under his belt so um congratulations to brighten uh I want to preemptively thank uh everyone helping us out with the community cares holiday project that is this Saturday on the 14th uh that's the day that you know the fire station is open and and we distribute the the food and the presence that we collected over time it's kind of a it's kind of a big Endeavor and since we won't be seeing anyone until next year uh thank you to everyone who helped out and uh last but not least just just something that's been kind of been on my mind there's been a lot of discussion about and and and Miss ch and this is I was going to bring this up anyway but then you know Jagger had to get up and talk about it so it's nothing against nothing against you um but there's been a lot of talk recently about um about 308 and practicing in asigo and oh my gosh sometimes people have to practice in Playing Field I just want to remind everyone that when it comes to District 308 we are not just as weo um we as weo is just sort of half of us and that we do take in all these other communities including planfield including Montgomery including a including Aurora including Yorkville including Joliet I think that's everyone montgom and M oh good God I forgot I'm sorry and you live in Montgomery kiding no I do happen to live in asigo but um I just you know let's not lose that sense of community um 308 is all of us and all of us we've got board members here that don't live in asgo the community is not just asgo um let's just not lose sight of that I'm done thank you any other board member comment I just wanted to for to finish my board comments um Dr Mario talked about the um craft fair at Pathways I just want to make a statement that it is one of my favorite places to shop for Christmas but if you do not buy and I don't know who makes it but the scrub and the lotion is the best I've ever had and I've used some of the most expensive stuff on the market and I've used some of the most um you know talked about highest rated and to this day it is the greatest stuff that I have in my house they're their hand scrub and their hand lotion and it smells Divine and I can't wait every year to buy more of it so it's just a joy to go and see everybody so proud of all the things that they've created and if you didn't get a chance this year please make a CH please make a uh calendar note to go last year because it's a great place to pick up stocking stuffers and Gifts I'll just I'll just second that so awesome I probably got like 20 20 of those little jars you know and and then they did these cool candles this year I was like H stocking stuffer stocking stuffer stocking stuffers all right thank you moving along to 7.1 can I get a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda please job pays me the same that's for Mary Joe uh make a motion to approve all items under consent including 8.1 minutes from the Board of Education meeting on November 18th 2024 open and close session 8.2 to acknowledge the foil requests received by the district and 8.3 to approve the field trip for overnight and or more than 200 miles second any questions on the consented denja okay Mr Gatewood I Dr Mario hi Miss Johnson hi Mr Cerone hi Mr ploger hi Miss vou I motion passes 60 okay 8.1 I would invite Mr Bei to discuss financial statements investment schedule and fee collection rates our uh Finance is on track as we have planned and as far as investment is concerned we're doing well as far as we on and our investments and as it St as it stands right now as we speak before you we have a a balance of 118 Point uh Z million uh uh money on hand in the bank and uh yeah that's okay any questions just on that financial statement or on anything for 8.1 um anything okay anything 8.1 I have a question on the the fees collected sure uh I understand that those are that's a moment in time yes um because some people are on payment plans so as the year goes they will I'm just wondering um if we know typically what our endof the year collection rate is yep can I I I asked this too and I think that we're going to get a okay kind of an I don't need it right now I'm just wondering like we asked about this okay will it be adding to it so whatever you guys need I can show you so one of the commitment that we made in FFC is that we want to be able to do apples to apples so we want to do a snapshot compare what we're doing this year to what happened last year so it gives you an idea of is this an outlier or is this trend f is this what to be expected so this is our first uh go at it uh starting in January we will show uh FY 2324 compared to f 52 425 okay so we can see that that would be an additional column that we put in it okay that' be great thank you y and I think this stemmed from our discussions about the computers and laptops right no we've actually been talking about we've been talking about this all year okay okay couple years I think it's important to especially for the board to understand but also for the community that when we have a deficit in collecting fees and this doesn't even include all the fees is correct Amanda no so when when we have a deficit that money has to come from somewhere so if we have a def deficit in transportation we have a deficit in revenues over here we really have to figure out you know where that money is going to come from so this is more or less this discussion that's been ongoing on our finance committee about um what that looks like and because other things have been brought up in the finance committee for instance um we used to offer students that played multiple Sports a discount for the more sports that they offered but we took that away because we needed to collect fees and so to go back to that Raphael and Amanda really did a financial analysis to say well if we do that here's how that's going to affect things so we can't ask for something without understanding okay the impact it has on other on other scenarios so this has been a true like in-depth analysis of what's going on so that the board can understand it and the community who's asking for these changes or for us to retroactively go back to something that we used to do why we can or cannot do it and and yeah we weren't talking about just that specific situation or multiports I just giving an example yeah no no I just want to make sure that we're trying to get recommendations so all right thank you any other questions okay uh next we have an uh 8.2 I think we have to vote oh wait this isn't it's not consent we voted already this is information sorry FY annual Finance report right 8.3 we have a operations project update Mr so one of the two key things I would like to share this evening and one of them is actually been shared by Miss Johnson already as to do with the um the uh request for proposal for the old trouble Middle School uh building that has been uh I believe it was abandoned 8 years ago and uh since I know Dr kagat started we've actually been in conversation with different parties to try to figure out a way to repurpose that whether it's sale whether it's lease we've been we've ramped up that we've actually also uh collaborated with our partner in the village uh the economic development director as well as the village uh administrator to try to see if they can help us find a uh interested party to either buy or lease it to uh to convert to a different use but as it stands right now what we've done we've decided to go public and do an RFP and this in our opinion will cast a wider net and provide an opportunity for different folks to come up with ideas as while we can reuse that one option is we can lease it for a maximum of 25 years years or we can if possible if we find someone who's uh interested in buying that property we have to sell it by public auction but that will be something else that an interested party can provide as a submission to the RP and we'll take it through that so this is something that's been ongoing but we think an RP is the shortest way to get ideas from different people for us to finally uh do something uh with that property the second issue I want to address as it relates to operation we completed the first phase of the uh Master facility plan the walk through and the assessment of the uh of the buildings as well as the equipment in there that's been completed we on to the second phase thank you very much um I think it's really important to underscore over the last couple months board we've receiv received quite a few requests from the public from the community about what we call public private Ventures and so really for the community to know that the board um and the administration is really working and has built a structure to invite this kind of reflection and what are the ways in which to do this in a really public and transparent way and so we would invite everyone to to really consider and for those of you who've reached out I will be sending an email to those individuals so give them access to this and we'll also provide a press release this week regarding this information um the other thing is uh Dr conate has been working very closely um as a deputy superintendent to help really structure the master facility plan in coordination with our strategic plan and these both have been happening Dr K do you want to add anything about those two processes with the master facility plan in relation to the Strategic plan absolutely so um as was mentioned earlier this evening in the week um when we return from winter break we have a variety of public engagements so a combination of both focus groups and Halls um we will also have later on either in the month or the beginning of February additional opportunities for public input as part of the master facilities plan so when you look at and um review potential opportunities um to provide your input please make sure that you're looking and reviewing both the Strategic plan and the master facilities so there will be targeted opportun unities to discuss facilities as part of phase two um but we are launching both focus groups and the town hall the week of January 6 so please uh another plug for look at the different opportunities for focus groups Our Town Hall will be a more General opportunity but then there will be diff uh additional opportunities specifically related to our Master facilities later in the month and can I ask specifically whether this question is for you or Mrs citas where can people find that information Teresa it it is currently on the um www.sd308.org ourstory um we are adding the link to the homepage the RSVPs are being set up now those should be live by tomorrow so you'll be able to sign up for each of the individual focus groups as well as rsvping for both of the Town Halls that'll be on Saturday but you can see the dates and times on the website they were also in the parent newsletter that was released on Friday yeah thank you and two things I forgot to mention about the uh Redevelopment RFP is going to be published in the newspaper as an advertisement uh it's going to go in the newspaper tomorrow and as of today even though the RFP went live on Friday I've actually talked to two major developers uh who interested in uh in responding to the RP and they just they call inquiring about where they can find the RP so I will say there seems to be interest in uh in the Redevelopment of the property and I want to thank you um as a board member that is I know Jared will also um appreciate this that you have really pushed the administration both the last Administration in this Administration very hard for transparency and to make sure that things don't just kind of fly under the r um I appreciate the transparency of the RFP and the um um board or the administrators for bringing the information to us um and making sure that we honor one of our pillars which is collaboration and we know that the more people that we collaborate the more Innovative that the solution will be so thank you very much yeah the only thing I just you know me I'm always going to go with the historical context and so the one thing um speaking of our communities and just just kind of a reminder um you know at one point we did have a solution for that um area we had somebody who wanted to come in and uh the community around there I think sometimes we forget there's a community around there uh of very um longstanding and um uh proud yeah small community that's there and um we we had a solution and unfortunately the state said that there was a um retirement home that was done in Sugar Grove and that's too close to asigo which still mystifies me to this day but we we have we have always tried to be very good neighbors uh to that neighborhood um and I'm sure that um we will continue as a board to to do that and um I encourage any of those uh people living in that uh Community if they have thoughts we want to hear from you to because we want to continue to be good neighbors as we have uh always tried to be in the past so just a a small little like historical piece to add to that um I kind of wanted to make a a side comment about earlier about um refurnishing the old trer so OS and OE we kind of started making new sports come to the school such as flag football and I know recently last year lacrosse made its way to our school so I feel some this just kind of a comment something new that I probably would find beneficial for us is making old Cher like a new location for practices because I know that for flag football it's during the fall Sport and obviously we can't practice on the main field because that's where mostly the football practices take place and also during I think lacrosse is a Spring sport and I don't I don't know what sports take place during that time but I feel like refurnishing it to help have like a better place and a new location for us to practice is like really nice instead of going going all the way out to like either planfield or or like Yorkville or somewhere else because yeah that that's really it just a little side comment thank you thank you thank you for your feedback also and I feel like if we do happen to purchase or give it out to auction somewhere else it would kind of be harder for new sports to come into the district and for like having new places to practice that and also if new sports do come and we find out that the practi are all the way in Yorkville and 3 minutes away it might be harder to make the sports become a sport so that's that's a little side comments and I just can I really can I respond to Mary uh Miss vmou um I totally understand and I agree with you we have often I've often been um reprimanded in the past for saying us we go and not realizing that we are a community we serve five communities I think the disconnection though is that Oe needs more practice areas and O needs more practice areas and because we don't offer transportation in Junior High parents are responsible for it so when you have to go from the west side of asgo all the way to planfield even though yes it's the same district the whole idea of feeder schools becomes irrelevant and that is where we're we're trying to get back to that idea of pride in our community and pride in our and keeping our dollars in in in um the community so I didn't want it I just want to make sure that there's just another part of that conversation that we're having and making sure that we are it's the connection it's connecting those dots so I totally agree with you we are a very big broad large unit district but there's also just a lot of the logistics that are getting lost because of the decisions that we've had to make over time and and I I understand no thank you for that and I understand the you know Yorkville and all that but I mean we're talking about Grand Park and Grand Park is part of 308 I I understand that there actually part of Grand Park that's part of the asgo park district also and and I think I I I I agree like like I'm listening to both these pieces and at the end of the day like if I'm being honest Illinois just draws some crazy lines all over the place and it leaves people very confused it goes back to that local piece where it's like you know and and full disclosure you know we had tough conversations and and not everybody in the room agreed with me when I said listen we have communities plural and I get that we have like a community and 308 is what unifies it but it it does look different depending on where you're at and who you're sharing things with I mean I live in the ninth ward of Aurora and I talked to the Indian Prairie School District 204 board members over there quite a bit because um the ninth ward of Aurora is also shared with them and on the other hand you might have have a different take on that if you're in Montgomery and so because we're so large we do have all of these various um um relationships and some of that is is a positive and a plus and and and it should be used as an asset but sometimes there are some challenges with with some of these pie places and and and here's a it's I know it's a small little measure but sorry it's a small town Kid in Me is we mentioned all these communities but the very southern part of this is It's unincorporated and very agrarian and you know you depending on what side of the road you're on you might have a Yorkville address or an asigo address but you're you're you're you're kind of different because you really are still that rural um historical place so it's it's it's that is literally like across the street is yourk bill for me so I appreciate saying you know it is our it the whole point is that when you build and you live in a home and you expect that you're going to go to this specific high school or this specific you know Junior High and then the sports are there when you have have to go to the complete other side of it it does present challenges and Logistics and so forth so I just want to make sure that it wasn't just simplified I don't think anybody's saying that we don't aren't still spirited for our district it's just that is logistics and challenges that's all I wanted to point out and connections so please check out the website because in January we have a number of dates that we want to invite everybody that include a focus on these topics and I want to say that that's part of what I love about about this community is that we have this diversity across the Spectrum and we are also very much committed to some of the nent parts of our community which do are rooted in the history of asigo it's both and I want to say that's something that I'm very proud of and I love about this community and so I want to thank those comments I think that the RFP Mr Obi we want to thank you for your leadership and really pulling this together brings and the board I want to thank the board as well I think as the administration administrative team we've appreciated the board's commitment to this function of transparency and collaboration and so we want to thank um again and invite everybody to participate in this process great right all right 8.4 8.4 so uh board policies first read Dr concade welcome so we would like to highlight four uh policies for first read the first one being 2105 um part of this policy for ethics and gift band includes some updated um footnotes there was also the opportunity for optional language but upon our um both board attorney consult and discussion uh we are recommending keeping the language um in the policy for 6135 accelerated placement program um we have discussed this now in multiple uh board uh uh committees so there is updated definition from um Illinois school code but our recommendation based on one of the updated changes is to keep our current policy for the AP to be meets and exceeds so the discussion was really focused on providing additional opportunities for students so while we are updating everything to be in compliance with school code we are expanding opportunities and being more encompassing of providing communication to students and families for 710 um equal educational opportunities this is changes in relation to Title 9 UM based on reproductive health and Military status and then our final policy that we wanted to highlight is 810 connection with the community um this is updates to the policy in footnotes specifically address ing official governmental speech so in your packet um especially in section two number two um talks about the role of the board president and communication um Through official District channels so um if you could uh please review that change to the board policy um and then we will be recommending these four to to move forward at our next meeting as part of um action can I just make one comment on that particular one of the things that I think gets confusing is when we use different language so when it says the board in consultation with the superintendent articulates the district's Community engagement goals what specific goals are we talking about because I haven't heard that terminology commun and engagement so does that exist somewhere I just want to make sure that we keep our language consistent so people know what we're talking about so if that could be something that is it's a good feedback we could answer that the next meeting that would be great is that a Col I'm trying was that what where did you see that exactly oh number two I'm s policy 810 number two it's all highlighted or I'm sorry hold on hold on I'm sorry in under Community engagement which is the second page it says in the second paragraph the board and counil with the superintendent articulates the district's Community engagement goals just want to keep consistent language because that doesn't sound familiar to me I know what it means but when we're talking about either our strategic plan or our mission or our vision or our let's just make sure that is consistent with the other language that we're using agree with that thank you any other questions feedback okay thank you very much appreciate it all right action item 9.1 approval for B of bills for payment can I have a motion please make a motion to authorize the payment of bills in the amount of 4,891 45079 as presented second Miss Venus I Dr Mr marel I Mr Cerone I Mr Gatewood i m Johnson I Mr ploger I motion passes 70 60 1 2 3 four sorry 60 uh action item 9.2 approval of Health Life Safety survey can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the work for violation wait a minute yes I'm sorry make a motion to approve the work for violations classified as priority a and priority be for the junior high schools second Mr Gatewood I miss vmou hi Miss Johnson hi Mr Cerone hi Dr marel hi Mr pler I motion passes 60 9.3 action item 9.3 approval of recycling disposal RFP can I have a motion please make a motion to approve moving forward with our current vendor greenware Green Wave recycling as the offer the most favorable terms for our needs second Mr ploger I Mr Gatewood I miss vmou hi Mr Cerone hi Dr Mario hi Miss Johnson hi motion passes 60 9.4 adoption of 2024 tax levy can I have a motion please make a motion for the adoption of the 2024 tax levy second Dr marel hi Miss Johnson hi Mr ploger hi Mr Cerone hi Mr Gatewood hi Miss ven I motion passes 60 uh n action item 9.5 approval of Pest Management Services may I have a motion please make a motion for the approval of integrated pest Management Services RFP second miss van I Dr Mar hi Mr Cerone hi Mr Gatewood hi M Johnson hi Mr pler hi motion passes 60 action item 9.6 approval approval of school maintenance project Grant can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the school maintenance project Grant as presented second Mr Cerone hi Mr Gatewood I Miss Johnson hi Mr ploger hi Miss venth hi Dr Mar I motion passes 60 action item 9.7 approval of board policies make a motion a motion please I'm sorry sorry make a motion to approve the following board policies as presented section two colon School Board 2 col 70 um- e 2 1 120 section 4 operational Services 4 colon 30 4 colon 60 4 colon 15 four colon 170 section five general Personnel five colon 1 0 5 colon 20 5 colon 60 5 colon 90 5 colon 120 5 colon 125 5 colon 230 section 6 instruction 6 colon 60 6 colon 270 section 7 11 students 7 colon 1 0 7 colon 1 180 second Mr Gatewood I Dr Mario hi M Johnson hi Mr Cerone hi Mr bler hi Miss v i motion passes 60 action item 9.9 uh approval of resolution authorizing notice of dismissal can I have a moot 9.8 I'm sorry 9.8 action it 9.8 approval Personnel report can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the Personnel report as discussed and presented second Dr Mario I miss venas I Mr Cerone I Mr Gatewood I Miss Johnson I Mr pler I motion passes 60 action item 9.9 approval resolution authorizing notice of dismissal can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the resolution authorizing notice of dismissal to educational support staff employee Dena Melendez second Miss VMAs I Mr Cerone I Mr ploger I Mr Gatewood I Dr marel I Miss Johnson I motion passes 60 action item 9.10 approval of no trespass order can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the no trespass order as presented second Mr ploger I Dr marel I Mr serone I Miss Johnson I Mr Gatewood I miss vmou I motion passes 60 action item 10.1 can I have a motion to adjourn make a motion to adjourn all in favor I second

e e e good evening everyone um um I now call this meeting to order uh it's uh 6:03 p.m. my name is Gabriel harp the chair of the an arbor energy commission and I'm calling this meeting to order participating from my home in Ann Arbor uh welcome this is the December 10th 2024 electronic meeting of the enery commission we will conduct this mer this meeting like iners meetings and Commissioners during roll call please indicate your current location also during the meeting please remain camera just as you would be visible during inperson meetings finally M mute your microphone when not speaking public comment will be bya telephone only to speak during any of the public common opportunities please call one of the following two toll-free numbers 877- 853 5247 or 888 78899 and enter the meeting ID number 956 8718 7876 on your phone this information is also available on the published agenda in the Public Notices section of the city's website and on the broadcast of this meeting on CTN Channel 16 AT&T channel 99 and online at www.a2gov.org CN Joe would you please read the land acknowledgement statement um I acknowledge that the land the city of an arbor occupies is the ancestral traditional and contemporary lands of anab including Odawa wujiu and badm and wind out peoples I further acknowledge that our city stands like almost all property in the United States on lands obtained generally in unconscious ways from indigenous peoples The Taking of this land was formalized by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807 knowing where we live work study and recreate does not change the past but a thorough understanding of the ongoing consequences of this past can Empower us in our work to create a future that supports human flourishing and justice for all individuals thank you joean would you mind doing the roll call yes um and I will note we do have a new council member joining us council member Malik um so if folks don't mind when we do um the roll call if you can just give a quick introduction to who you are and what what brings you to the energy commission um commissioner berwitz oh I don't hear you I saw your mouth movement so I come off mute but trying again with microphone issues pres Arbor thanks all um council member Briggs y here in an arbor I think we know each other uh commissioner coven Garcia here in an arbor U welcome council member Malik I have uh been participating with the energy commission since 2017 what brings me here to uh now and it has been is um definitely interest in renewable energy as well as decarbonized transportation and um I don't want to go into my entire background right now actually um but it would be great sometime maybe we can see each other in person and introduce ourselves uh chair harp uh gber harp joining from my home in Ann Arbor present um uh welcome council member Malik and uh I have been part of the energy commission now for about two and a half years uh joined uh primarily out of an interest in um looking at energy use practices and how to uh reduce Reliance on uh fossil fuel intensive energy use practices and just how that fits into the sort of shape of everyday life um here in Ann Arbor um but also regionally and have an interest in in the sort of uh service design of programs and how they're how they uh how that experience plays out over over different types of programs to reduce um energy use or or um other other planning and and built environment types of activities um voice chair Hans from my home in Ann Arbor um I uh I guess C council member Malik um uh I am a member of the local Electrical Workers Union um and that's primarily my background um suited for this committee I am also born and raised in an arbor and have always had uh some Civic involvement and this is a continuation of that uh commissioner 11 uh yes I am here in my home at an arbor uh welcome uh to the energy commission I have on been on the commission for a good while now uh my background is as a an attorney uh I've done uh various things with environmental law um on the commission uh yeah I'm just interested in seeing how we can uh help the city to be greener and get to our energy goals council member Malik hi everybody uh thanks for the the welcome and this is my cat trying to make his introduction as well um uh as stated I'm uh new to the energy commission as well as new to city council I am I think maybe I've hit a month as of this week sometime um my day job is with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and rural devel velopment mdard uh where I am the policy director and I have spent the last few years helping the department um get in line with the uh Statewide uh Michigan healthy climate plan so a lot of climate energy and Emissions worth there um look forward to learning uh what the energy commission is able to do and getting to know all of you a bit better thanks oh and I'm calling from Ann Arbor's second ward uh commissioner Mercy uh I'm here uh in my home in an arbor in W 2 uh I've been on the energy commission since 2016 and for most of that time I've also been the liaison to the environmental commission uh where council member Malik we first met a couple of nights ago uh I'm a mechanical engineer I was born and raised in an arbor left for graduate school um moved back in 2015 after retiring um after a career a career with Bosch and uh I'm involved in a number of different uh nonprofits and um advocacy groups working in the environmental and climate and housing spaces the other is commissioner overc who I am not seeing who also is a member of the commission guess he's not here tonight um with that chair you have a quorum and back to you thanks Joe okay we'll move on to the approval of the AG of the agenda is there a motion to the approve the agenda as posted and a second so moved Commission mki in a second second second H thank you um Commissioners please raise your hand if you want to propose any changes or discuss an issue seeing No Hands raised all those in favor of approving the agenda as posted please raise your hand and say hi hi thank you all um all those post please say no seeing none uh the agenda is approved okay we'll move on to the approval of the minutes is there a motion to approve the minutes as posted and a second uh commissioner Coen Garcia and a second uh do I see a second commissioner mki thank you um Commissioners please raise your hand if you want to propose any changes or discuss an issue seeing No Hands raised all those in favor of approving the minutes as posted please raise your hand and say I I all those opposed please raise your hand and say no okay thank you the minutes are approved this is now an opportunity for uh public input and for people to speak for up to 3 minutes if you're watching this on CT please call 888 78899 or 877- 85352 47 and enter meeting ID 956 8718 7876 this information is also displayed on the meeting agenda and video feed City staff will select callers that have raised their hand one by one using the last three digits of your phone number to electronically raise your hand to indicate your desire to speak please press star9 on your phone and you'll hear an automated announcement that the host is allowing you to speak please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments and when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any background sound so that we may hear you clearly have um caller ending in [Music] 134 thank you Mr Langan and chair harp Ken Garber 28 H Hill Court second ward I'd also like to welcome council member Malik I'm looking forward to the a20 presentation here here's how one way I look at the challenge basically our scope 1 and two emissions come down to 2/3 buildings 1/3 Transportation I'll just talk about buildings as we'll hear tonight Bryant neighborhood decarbonization is underway Bryant is 262 homes roughly 280,000 Square ft great project here's the problem the Legacy 19-story building on East Washington will open to students next year 255,000 square feet all heated with fossil gas that one project will almost completely negate negate emission savings from Bryant and it's just one Broadway Park West now Rising on the hon River 260,000 Square F feet all gas sorious AG off Ellsworth 250,000 squ ft gas huge energy footprint The Village 400,000 square fet with gas then there's Maple Cove South home to Hotel Hampton in bright Dawn Village and on and on heck even the Marriot going up across from City Hall will burn gas the city approved over a million square feet of gas heated new construction last year alone 200 2.5 million since adopting a20 most you have to come online reduced Community emissions only offset a fraction we don't even count embedded emissions from all that steel and concrete which can be up to 50% of a building's lifetime emissions my point is this I think we'll be doing well get any emissions reduction At All by 2030 unless we pay massively for offsets which is not a solution and in my opinion would be counterproductive the seu won't impact gas combustion at least not in the shorter medium term and negotiating a gas franchise for 2027 while a great idea is too late even if it succeeds which is in doubt that doesn't mean we shouldn't do Bryant and the seu and the others we absolutely should every pound of CO2 matters but as for carbon neutrality in 2030 that horse has left the barn the city's carbon fueled building boom has seen to that I mean we're not going to retrofit the Legacy or Sartorius not in our lifetimes anyway unless we tax carbon emissions from buildings which we should but I see no political will for that otherwise positive messaging at this point just leads to complacency or cynicism in my view none of this reflects on OSI good work it's a collective failure I include myself we all need to look inward but let's start from reality and move forward from there I have my own ideas but I run out of time I look forward to hearing staffs and commissions thank you um no further callers hey thank you for those comments and moving on to the next part of our agenda we have a presentation tonight um from the office of sustainability and Innovations and Dr stultz um will be I believe giving us a a a brief overview of more or less brief overview of of different programs um and challenges that have been accompanying the20 plan um and I will just pass it over to you missy if that's okay and great thank you CH harp and thanks everyone for the opportunity to be here today and excited to be here you council member Mallet for your first meeting so um what I am going to do is exactly what was in the agenda and set up I'm going to talk to you a little bit about where we actually um despite the comments I think we have notable achievements that we really do want to lean into because every ounce of CO2 does matter that we're able to keep out of the ecosystem and a lot of our work has fundamentally shifted people's lives in really transformational ways and so I I do want to spend some time talking about that want to share a little bit of a look ahead of what's coming in 2025 with the laser focus on the Energy System there are so many things going on in our office so if you'd like to know more I'm not going to spend a lot of time thinking about the circular economy and talking with you about that here today just give the perview of this group but if you have questions let me know and I can tee up some of what we're working on and then I'm going to end with the reality the challenges that we're facing and uh you hopefully know if you've worked with us at all that that a challenge is but an opportunity in our eyes to think a little bit differently um it would be delightful if we could move forward the way uh a community might have in California or a way someone did in Colorado or how they've worked in Massachusetts but we can't and so we have to work within the context and that's where I think a lot of the creativity comes in and we're very much excited to hear ideas people have but it does I just want to name often lead to some frustration when people say but why can't you do this thing why aren't you doing this thing and the answer is we can't do that thing that way but we can do it in a different way and so we do inherently have to be quite creative in a lot of the work so uh with that we'll jump in so in terms of a little bit of a highlight of some of the things we're going to break these down by the 7820 strategies you may know we intervene in quite a lot of cases uh we are not particularly good at coming out with press releases announcing that we intervened and we successfully secured x amount of a reduction in rates for for rate payers but we are behind the scenes pushing for lower rates greater investments in reliability holding our utilities accountable to actually make the Investments that they're getting money to make as opposed to putting it in shareholder Pockets so uh right now we are in five Active cases mostly our history has been on the electric side so we intervene in vgp cases volunte pricing cases the irps integrated resource planning uh the rate cases of course are infrastructure cases uh we we intervene a lot this year was the first year that we intervened in gas cases and you um it's it's kind of now become common for us to intervene but we are often I think exclusively we've been the only municipality to intervene in the cases here in Michigan in the gas case it's pretty rare for a lot of people intervene at all so this time this was our our future inter or our first time intervention we intervened in both the gas system depreciation case and the gas rate case we argued for a future gas proceeding that would require the utilities to put a road map for how they were going to completely transition away from gas and what would come next uh we got some notable victories in in truth we had things that the AG fought until we talked to the AG and they realized what we were doing because people do not think about a transition away from fossil gas in the way that we intervened now we did not get a future of gas proceeding in the add sense like what Massachusetts New York Minnesota has but we are we did we did make our intervention made notable progress such that the utilities are required to come back with the beginning of what a transition plan would look like we you'll hear in um I don't actually know if this is on the SL deck but we are also looking to commission a report where we could do our own future of gas study and put it into the formal record so instead of having only one option we have a counter that's a holistic analysis of what a future would look like uh that's truly decarbonized in the heating and cooling space u I mentioned we intervene in gas cases solarise hit a major Milestone we hit five megawatts I mean that's just insanely successful program uh helping save over I think it's 1.2 over it might even be higher than that Joe you know the number um million in upfront dollars the cost of solar we're running another group by in January we are also in discussions about handing this program over perhaps to the county or someone else as we scale up the seu so we still help people get solar but we really focus on filling other gaps in the system since this program has a lot of momentum so that's kind of a transition that we're working through internally uh but solariz continues just to be wildly successful and then we were able this year to bring on some more quite a lot more solar we have just hit 700 KW in Municipal facilities and the next system the one that's uh in Final interconnection at this point they're kind of working through the last pieces will double that uh because it's a just over 700 KW syst in and of itself we also are finalizing a 1.2 megawatt system that's coming online we have about four megawatts of additional solar that are in final design right now so 700 KW might not seem like a lot but uh in a blink we're going to have a lot more on that system so working really hard on energy generation in terms of our work to promote electrification our rebate program has distributed $250,000 you're going to hear we're doing a little bit of a a revamp of that program what we're finding people ate up uh certain programs really quickly uh we've talked in this body about what I call the peas and the carrots of Energy Efficiency it's true we are not having people take rebates for insulation or air sealing they're taking them for bigger things that they want like a battery or an electric panel upgrade or an ebike so I I think what you're going to hear is we've been working to redesign that program take a lot more funding to support the Energy Efficiency work that people seem somewhat reluctant really double down on uh but we're in redesign right now on that program but we have money going out the door we've also done a district geothermal study analysis and Technical design for the Bryant neighborhood uh we as part of that broke ground just a few weeks ago on a geothermal system for the Bryant Community Center which is part of our work to make the community center a living learning laboratory of decarbonization so people can come in and see the Technologies experience it understand what it means when we say geothermal or we say a smart thermostat or energy storage to see these things in real life and interact with them as opposed to kind of in an ethereal space we successfully secured a grant to expand charging uh we got uh 2.9 2.8 million and we also launched a commercial EV charger program where we're giving away Chargers to Commercial and multif family sites for a 5year period we're buying the charger we're doing the insurance we're doing the whole package as long as they agree to install those Chargers and make them publicly accessible and then with the CFI award the charging and fueling infrastructure award we're going to be able to go even further and helping really tackle the kind of split incentive problem where the people that would use those Chargers don't own the facilities where the Chargers would actually get installed so we focused on multif family and Commercial we're also looking at expanding our curbside charging infrastructure structure where we can and this is a combination of fast Chargers and level two charging Joe is leading our work on a Citywide geothermal study in partnership with stanch that's advancing to really understand what is the potential what's the optimization of sizing for geothermal system so what kind of commercial load paired with residential load makes sense how many units uh do we build a network system that's linear kind of running down major road corridors or do we build it more in a Spider Sense where maybe Parks become aners and pick up surrounding neighborhoods but sanch is helping us do a lot of the preliminary analysis we'll be moving in the New Year into a deep dive into three areas of the city to really deeply design what a a geothermal potential could be for for those areas and then of course we continue to do do engagement we just put this forward our electrification Expo it always amazes me how many people come out to talk to us about electrification we had dozens of vendors that were there our reviews from the vendors were exceptional and we had hundreds of members of the public who came out and were interacting again with kind of like a a touch experience these Technologies get your questions answered including from some of our ambassadors who are going through their own decarbonization journey and so could help really demystify what this process looks like in terms of Energy Efficiency work we have our home energy advisor which has actually delivered um as of today more than 200 path to zeros which are these customized strategies for individual homes on how they can hit their own decarbonization goals it connects them to rebates whether those are local state or federal rebates utility programs ways they can operationalize those strategies we're now starting to go back to the people who got those assessments to see how it's going uh what kind of support do they need to start operate operationalizing the ideas that have been brought forward we uh were successful in winning 3.1 million from the Michigan Public Service Commission to advance our work in Bryant that particular Grant was to fully decarbon 50 of the homes in the neighborhood because we've been successful um I I know we've talked about Bryant some of you are also new we um we fundraise a lot for our neighborhood decarbonization work we don't fund our office through this right we're funded through taxpayers we're we're good we fund can we fund physical improvements in homes we fund the things that are hard to fund but we also do fundraising for can and with can and can Community Action Network that runs the Bryant Community Center has been pretty successful in bringing down some Misha funding to help do decarbonization work so in conversation just last week with Derrik Miller the executive director of can we think we're going to extend past 50 homes and probably get more to 70 75 because of our ability to stack the funding we've been able uh to receive which is very exciting our herd home energy rating disclosure is in full swing you can see Steven jell here on the top they're out in the field they are working with Realtors they are getting into compliance uh they are doing a really really great job of that uh bringing that program into fruition we are working now to transition our street lights to LEDs thanks to the grant we were able to bring in from semcog that our team helped uh secure and then we initiated our green business challenge this year in partnership with spark I'm delighted to share for those of you who might have a business or if you want to talk to your friends who do that challenge is a very supported way to help businesses make sustainability improvements that align with whatever their Mission and Service delivery is and we just brought in fresh Coast to provide customized sustainability planning for businesses so it's an additional service that can help businesses really figure out sort of like our path to zero for residents this is a similar offering for businesses that we have here in the community in terms of our work on VMT reduction we have been putting money in the ground so we've been funding the expansion of bike lanes and side walks really closing some sidewalk gaps and doing some lighting to make sure our sidewalks are well lit uh we we very much know this time of year in particular it's nice to have sidewalks but if you do not feel safe on those sidewalks you may not be on those sidewalks so we need to have proper Lighting in those spaces um I sometimes feel unsafe biking because the distance between uh different lighting options for me leaves me in the dark even with a reflective vest and the lights on so this is a something we're really aware of we hear from bikers and we're trying to really close some gaps on that we are active in the comprehensive land use Plan update that's taking place right now uh we got briefed on where things stand from public engagement I am ecstatic and very excited to talk about what this might mean in terms of smart infill and density that will help us hold multi-use function so that we can walk-in bike scoop take transit to the places we want to go um also making sure we really lean into Transit corridors where people have access to multimodal options and then uh we partnered to bring in Bike Share actually with human electric hybrids and common cycle you can actually check out a series of electric bikes right now and take them around town they're all branded a20 uh they're out in the wild I hope you get a chance to ride one enjoy one uh they're they're pretty fun circular economy is really exciting there's a there's a lot going on our team here here has been growing kind of into what it's meant meant to look like we launched the sustainable Food business Coalition this year we have our first 40 members this is co-chaired by Argus uh and us we are actively recruiting more businesses into this landscape they're working on what their goals and their their values will be as they move forward in promoting more sustainable food uh and more a more sustainable food ecosystem broadly we have been continuing to do Outreach with veg Michigan about plant forward diets you know not exclusive we that's we're not there's no shaming in this work that's not an effective strategy to make people feel small or challenge their choices instead what we know is inviting them in to try something is actually leading to a lot more success and people being excited about trying a planet forward option that they hadn't before so uh We've this number is wrong because we were out at kindlefest on Friday and we signed up I think 200 more folks so we're almost at 4,000 people who have joined us to try plant forward diets we did our first Electronics takeback event we collected over 6,400 lounds of electronic devices that certainly at end of life will be recycled but go further up the point here was they're all scrubbed and meant to be reused if they're damaged repaired or refurbished and put back in circulation so these are going to uh as they're donated they're cleaned up and then they're sent to Schools they're sent to uh IM imant families there these devices are staying in use which is really exciting we it was so successful that we plan run many more in the new year so take those devices especially as the holiday season comes up please do not discard of them uh do not put them in the trash that is a terrible idea given the amount of toxins in them uh save them for an electronic event and we'll make sure they stay in productive use we made significant progress towards the end of this year in designing a Citywide returnable container program in partnership with the University of Michigan and anber public schools we also put in a nearly $20 million Grant to launch the largest city-wide returnable container program in the country uh fingers crossed uh that that comes together but a lot of time and attention went into figuring out what this would look like and the whole point is to minimize single use Plastics in our system and then we want a grant to help some of our small businesses think like a corner store make a transition in their refrigerant systems to low ghd refrigerants uh there's an RFP that's going to be on the street next year to bring in The Firm that's going to help us do this but this is our first fora into uh refrigerant management which has such a high global warming potential that even a little bit of work has really notable impact resilience just a few things here we have hit our our goal of 10,000 trees uh distributed through the program so that's great sea Reynolds gets incredible uh credit for his vision his progress his dedication to this program we've now pivoted into a survival study we want to understand how many of those trees are still with us how are they doing what support do people need we also W A Grant from the US Forestry service to start helping people manage their trees on private property we can't require you to do anything with that tree on private property on your own lawn but we know that some people really struggle to maintain them it might be a mobility issue uh it might be a time issue and so we're trying to figure out how when people have value from those trees which we know value for all of us we can help them keep those trees as opposed to have those trees deteriorate and lose them in our system pollinator where arcade program is still wildly successful uh Bryce pictured here graduated his H 100th Ambassador through the a20 ambassadors program which also was one of our E20 goals he uh just launched today the next cohort the application for the next cohort of ambassadors so if anyone you know is interested please let them know that that is open and then we launched work on our fourth and fifth resilience hubs which are peace neighborhood center and green backer Court uh the these two have funding support from a us uh Environmental Protection Agency grant that we won we are actively in design work we also helped peace apply for some additional funding just a few weeks ago we should know about that uh what they say is next week which would be great but it's this is the Deep sustained community- based work that we're doing and you may know our philosophical approach to resilience hubs is to invest in existing trusted Community institutions to make sure that they're there every single day every day even Blue Sky days and gray sky days and so this is these are two of those really important institutions that that we've been working with uh some highights on engagement we launched our social media accounts uh for those who don't know me I am not a fan of social media uh the team knows this intimately but it is important and so our team has these accounts we are putting material out every day on these accounts to keep people engaged we launched Greenlight which is a CTN series that highlights we shine the green light on sustainability activities that are happening in the community our viewership has been growing in that program it's all chronicled on our website we launched a series with 1071 uh we have a weekly episode on a20 uh that airs every Wednesday morning so folks can hear what's going on in the office and we can invite people in our americore program uh our first cohort has graduated and we are now in our second cohort which is great we are recruiting if you know any folks who might be interested uh we're looking for three to four more Amor Corp members to join us so please please do help us share that news and in partnership with Leslie science and nature center and the neutral zone we have launched a youth Le youth designed sustainability program aaps is also part of this but this is uh youth telling us and literally designing how they want to function in the sustainability space What can power what kind of activities it's it's a pretty it's a pretty exciting space to be in with our emerging leaders so that's some of the stuff that's going on in 2024 there is a lot more that is not on here we just released our newsletter last week there's some highlights in there and I encourage you to take a look and of course we do our annual report in June that corresponds with the adoption of a20 so we'll give you we'll give you more as as things progress but as we look ahead major things coming in 2025 there are many many many of them uh one is of course the sustainable energy utility uh I've been working with a number of staff on the preliminary things that we need to do to launch the seu we are telling everyone from an expectation standpoint 18 months before you see an seu that's actually installing things in the ground but we have a lot a lot to do before that point we're working on bylaws governance structures the charter uh Amendment and language the voters authorized the amendment to the Charter but now we have to actually amend it and bring that forward we are working on a job description hopefully in the spring we'll be hiring our executive director so they can come in and start building the elements like the Recruitment and Retention plan the technical specs for how we're going to work with what are the expectations for contractors that are going to bid in to help us build the actual infrastructure we have to have Standard specs specifications for them to work from we're working on the legal elements working on all of the fun stuff the financials um and I'm fundraising quite a lot right now and I'm very excited to hand off a little bit of this to our executive director when they come in uh because we got a lot of stuff in A2 Z to work on but a lot of time and attention is on getting the seu world's class so when it launches it's just it's it just is it's it's just great and people love the experience that they have and they tell their neighbor and it snowballs and becomes wildly successful I mentioned uh when I was talking about our home energy rebate and home energy advisor program we are doing some work here to make sure these programs you know these are new programs how do we get more people to take advantage of them and doing some revisions to the rebates to really significantly increase the amount of funding we'll offer for things like insulation uh people are coming to us um we're also going to offer some additional rebates hopefully soon for appliances that we're in like induction cooktops I think we're going to bring those forward as a as a remade option which I'm I'm excited to see and we have interest in we're gonna be launching um I feel sort silly saying this but I love this word uh a Huga Campaign which is a kind of like Scandinavian concept of it's really hard to describe like comfort and uh coziness and delight and just like this incredible sense of your place and purpose so we're gonna kind of lean into helping people understand how these programs improve quality of life we're going to try to really bring this down so people can see themselves taking advantage of these programs but if you know anyone who's sitting on the sidelines waiting to do a project we have rebate dollars we have the home energy advisor they are there these contractors are ready to move dollars or move programming please send them our way the home energy rating disclosure team is working on wraparound services to really work with our real estate agents to think about uh from the beginning how we help them move houses that are really efficient or if their house isn't really efficient we help make it efficient can we do a joint program to do air sealing in those homes is one of the things we're exploring to the other end when a homeowner buys a home how can we follow up with them and maybe bring them in to the home energy adviser or a rebate program and so they're using that information that they've collected to do something meaningful you've seen green rental housing uh Joe even today was working powerlessly with legal on some elements of this this is going to be moving forward hopefully in January uh to council uh we also come the New Year will'll be launching an electric lawn care program for commercial Enterprises this will be a a rebate program with some discount that we've negotiated I'm very excited to move that forward and then we likely will have a discount program for residential where we've just negotiated that off the off the top you're getting a certain amount so it's not a rebate from our office it's because we think we're going to move volume the the manufacturer the distrib has agreed to reduce reduce costs so we're going to help our commercial businesses es especially our small commercial businesses make this transition we leaf blowers are the primary thing because of our our leaf blower ordinance but we are we did not stop there we are looking at all the equipment that they might have and how we can help them make the transition to electric now I mentioned Joe's working on U with santech on a geothermal feasibility study at three different areas of the city well we're doing it Citywide in the new we'll be doing a deep dive into three geographical areas one of which will be downtown because that will be a very difficult place to do geothermal at the volume needed so we want to do that site and then we'll be looking for two additional sites to analyze and then um we've already selected our second neighborhood to start neighborhood decarbonization work we're trying to figure out how the time sort of gets uh shorter in terms of moving into other neighborhoods so we'll be starting our work we've already started our work with Pittsfield Village which is the second neighborhood engaging with but we're continuing Bryant and what was I mean I'll just say this what I think was a twinkle in our eyes when we did a20 this idea of creating one of the first carbon neutral neighborhoods in America with all of the things coming together we are we're gonna do it and that's incredible it's a lot of work it is incredibly hard and the lessons we've learned are profound and this is where we have stories of peoples who whose lives have literally changed from a home that was killing them and they'll tell you that uh they might have had COPD or asthma and a gas leak was increasing their hospital stays to folks who were about to lose their home because they couldn't afford their bills anymore and they were making choices between heating their home and buying groceries and these incredible residents who've been going through something that I think most of us can't actually imagine living through we might intellectually imagine uh we're seeing their homes stabilized we're seeing their homes be healthy spaces for them to raise their family and invest in their future this program is fundamentally changing lives and I I I don't know how else to talk about this when we think about impact we can obviously think about the mother metric and we cannot lose the humanity of this work this is significant uh for all of us to be able to stay in the community that we love we're waiting to hear about the geothermal award from the US Department of energy would which would in fact be one of the last pieces is it would help us transition the entire neighborhood to a sustainable source of eaing and Cooling and stack with the remainder of the funding that we've secured so these are some of the things coming in 2023 again on the energy side but I'll name we've got grants out there to launch that city-wide returnable container program we've got huge goals around natural systems uh that we're working on I've got a franchise that I think will probably come to council sometime in early 2025 for discussion we are working on land use strategies if you think think about it uh sustainable food is going to be a very important topic I think in 2025 uh we are open to your ideas about what we're not thinking about but please do not leave this and say this is all OSI is working on these are just some curated examples of what we've got going on so let's talk about the reality um doing this work is incredible it is a gift it is a true gift to be a public servant in an arbor and get to work on sustainability and it is also a gift of creativity because it's not easy it's it's not a linear path some of the things that we struggle with very intently are state and federal preemptions there are many things we've tried to do that the state has said Thou shalt not and pulled away our right there are many things that we thought about doing that they got ahead of us and said Thou shalt not so an example is we've talked about the building code we canot set a more aggressive building code than the state of Michigan period full stop sentence end you cannot go above you cannot go below that has been litigated that is established well what if what if we ask the legislature to do a pilot program with six communities where they test a different code and they collect data that mirrors what the state is establishing their code on to demonstrate is a more aggressive code actually bad for homeowners is it bad for home builders or actually is it all Hyperbole and this is a really good thing now the the answer is the legislature may say no but we are working on legislation to ask for permission to test a different code it's a different process right we we can't just Implement a new code so we're trying to play in the gray and figure out how might we get at the core problem which is people are really afraid that this is going to impact home values well let's test it let's collect the data and see if that's true and maybe it does and we then have the data to say you're right we need to stick with this code for those reasons or we can say the world did not end it is okay so those are the kinds of things we think about but I transparently this is a big one you know building performance standards are something I wish we could do we're trying to figure out how we might be able to do something like a building performance standard here but acknowledging it's just not as simple as we pass a resolution and we have a building performance standard so that's key for us we are working really hard with our state representatives and Senators to try to uce more transformational policies that will help us do what we need to do now Michigan has had some really notable successes in the last year on the energy space but we're not sure what it's going to look like in January right so we're trying to find what priorities our legislators have how we can lean into those and help them move things forward and we're nervous about what's going to happen in a federal Administration I think we're we're doing a lot of well I don't think we are doing a lot of contingency planning what happens if all the EV in Ines go away what happens if all the federal tax incentives vanish right we need to be prepared that that's a possibility what happens if all the grant funding that maybe we secured but we don't have a signed Grant agreement never comes through what do we do right these are these are just realities that we can't we can't solve for so what we're doing is everything we can we're getting our lobbyists on the phone we're talking to the funders we're offering additional information when we hear that we want an award we won an award for two more electric Refuge trucks which is great they gave us five days to encumber that because they needed off their books they need it safe we can't move in five days our processes do not look like that we have to go to councel we have to get authorization so we explained to them and then we called our city administrator and said I need a council sponsor can I get someone to sponsor this outside of City process traditional process to move this fast right so we are trying to be nimble and responsive to how things are moving uh grant funding our office is well funded from the standpoint of the capacity to do kind of basic things but the things we are talking about and the speed in which we need to do them is astronomical we have to have more resources and it's not just grants for dollars to to do it is certainly that ways to make this more enticing for people to do what we need them to do but it's also capacity we are at a point where we will not take a grant if I do not get more staff to take it on we can't everyone is underwater uh we'll be putting out a job description Caren this one's for you uh we're going to be hiring an EV manager well an EV coordinator is probably what it'll be to come in for four years to manage our CFI program I negotiated with them to bring in to use some of that award to fund a person right to go as fast as possible to expand charging infrastructure in the community so we need to build more capacity to actually do these things moving money through Bryant it it's not as simple as in here's $50,000 to do all of these things you've got to help with the Contracting you've got to sign up and do site visits so there's just a lot of very exciting things that happen but the reality is this work moves at the speed of trust and we have to establish trust and be present in these spaces in a meaningful way if we're eventually going to Sprint otherwise all we're going to do is trip as we try to move this work forward and then somehow we've got to figure out how to get people excited about those peas and carrots right they are super healthy they're super good for you but boy oh boy people do not want to do insulation uh I cannot get them to do air sailing we just we're going to try to increase dollars I don't know if you've got some creative ideas of how to make these things really sexy so people want to do them but if I talk about a heat pump people will show up if I talk about solar people will show up if we talk about air ceiling w w like it might be us on that line right we're just not getting people excited so we need more creative ways of doing that and then it's not on here but I'll end this is the last thought is people are overwhelmed and so part of what we're trying to figure out is how do we bring them into the movement in a way that really reflects their needs their desires their interests and not an and for them how do we how do we let them be part of this work because unlike me um I can do whatever I want to do in my own life and I can control what I'm doing in this home but I as I move into director role cannot control what you do in your home I cannot control what that business down there does when a boiler fails are they going to think Geo or are they going to think heat pump or are they going to go for a boiler we have to find a way that they want to be a part of this movement and so we're trying to find creative ways fun ways accessible ways for people to see that this is theirs right it is not osis it is not the energy commissions it is all of ours this is our movement and we have to have space for everybody if we're going to be successful so that's kind of an overarching challenge I think that we all face in the work that was a lot too much I'm sorry but that's all thank you DRZ that was great um really appreciate the presentation um and I think um the the intro to the challenges but I'm really congratulations to you and the team and I think everyone on the commission and I know many many many people around the city are really excited about a lot of these programs and a lot of the successes and so it's it's really great to hear your enthusiasm um as well as always and so um I'll maybe I'll just open it up for questions and clarifications and and comments and whatnot um from from commission members commissioner Burker wtz uh thanks Missy awesome presentation and um I forgot to do this during the roll call introductions but uh welcome council member Malik very excited to see you on the energy commission um I've been on the energy commission for a couple years now I'm in Ward five and uh my day job I work for Elevate I'm the director of policy in Michigan and I spent a long time working for the Sierra Club beforehand so probably got here um Missy I just wanted to ask you for a quick update on the city's benchmarking program um it's one of the things that maybe was not listed but I think has made some progress and folks have been interested in that in the space so I'm curious just where things stand there yeah absolutely and Joe I'm GNA put you on on the spot too so I can jump in Connor on our team has uh the Theo transitioned as many of you know and Connor has stepped into this role and has been phenomenal he has done incredible Outreach uh we did not have high compliance rates Connor has fundamentally shifted that uh Joe do you have the updated data I think he's looking for it it looked like he might be I think he's at about 75% compant at the yeah I I mean we were like sub 20% compliant when Connor took it over so he's really supporting businesses and getting to compliance and then uh OSI just got authorized to actually do enforcement so enforcement had fallen on other units and uh Council just off authorized that a few weeks ago we're in the process of getting our our person ready so they can actually issued tickets on a very limited basis our goal is not to ticket our goal is compliance but we do have some people who have candidly told us there's no Universe in which they're doing it and we would like to deliver them a pretty little gift uh to say well that's fine uh we are excited for your donation for our office we're tentatively looking to uh have an update um a report and an update to y'all in January we're we're going to get everything compiled for that so that's the goal perfect thank you both yeah commissioner over P yeah Missy great job great enthusiasm um it's really just wonderful to see how things are developing uh and I can understand your pain with not having the staff to grow further that's always a uh problem for rogo Getters um I'm wondering about the University of Michigan and your p uh what you're thinking about our uh cooperation or coordination with the city are things going pretty well now yes and I'm really excited to see what comes out so next Friday I'm in a three 4our strategy session with the University of Michigan and aops on some of our shared work um one of the things that is on that agenda something like geothermal uh solar installations in right now we're sort of cannibalizing each other's Market uh because we're putting a bid out and the same firms are bidding and then they're going to start aap's work and then they're going to go to um's work and then they're going to come to our work and so we're all delayed in process uh geothermal is particularly acute there are not a lot of Drillers in the state of Michigan and so part um this is just an example part of our our purpose for Gathering is to say what if we don't go after these individually what if we start putting out a joint RFP and we actually asked a firm to relocate here and grow its business in an arbor so instead of taking all the the rigs that are in Michigan we just bring more rigs to Michigan you know like how do we grow that so that's one of the conversations that we're deeply exploring together and then some of the other things the 25 megawatt solar program we're in a lot of conversations about that because one of the things the developer offered the winning developer was a community contribution and so we're trying to figure out what that looks like right how how do we put that to use in the most meaningful way within the community we're talking about the seu and the role that the university could play um we're talking about curriculum you know how do we have students when they're at the University understand that the city is also doing this and you can engage in it you know be on campus but also when you walk across that line on State Street how you can engage more broadly so I'm pretty lucky that I get to have uh regular meetings with with shaa lmer and sha Baker to think about those different elements and same with aaps uh we meet regularly thinking about what we can meaningfully do together excellent I happen to know of a Dean who leads one of the most preeminent schools for sustainability and I'm very excited to see what ideas he may have about how we can continue to grow that collaboration well he's very proud of his alumna uh and uh yeah I I think one of the things would excite me um and shaa knows this and shalanda will know this too is figuring out ways that you know we're going to build out the living lab on campus and in Detroit um and it would be really nice if it was you know like you said just sort of seamless with an arbor so our students could end up doing a lot more learning from what you're doing in an arbor but you know we just sort of um their projects their experiential learning uh hopefully would help accelerate things too well talk to those other Deans too we'd love to work with them as well but OB sees our fa well the big one is tman you know and Jonathan massie's no Dean is more excited about living labs in this space the built environment Urban Tech than he is um you know I'm excited for sure but I mean I think he's someone who uh we could get on board and you know we could even like you know you and shaa and shalanda and he and I you know we could all just have a session and we should eat lunch that be great great yeah council member Briggs I will Echo those thanks on a outstanding presentation and outstanding work from everybody on the team um would you speak a little bit more to the capacity issue and um opportunities there and also um a little bit more about the A2 ambassadors program and if there's an opportunity to um to engage folks there in um how I guess how folks how those 100 individuals are being engaged I should say yes so I'll start with the the Ambassador and then move in to sort of the other space the ambassadors have been of critical importance in community engagement they they really they're your neighbor they're the person you see in the grocery store and so they're so relatable and they're helping bring more people into the movement in a way that's accessible that has been priceless uh they also are doing like they're doing their own work and so they're storytellers for us of all all of it right things that are not going well they are telling us and we are able to go talk to contractors course correct fix our own internal processes and when things are going well they're inspirational right uh sort of advocates in that space so the ambassadors have been critical in particular in Outreach engagement education elements uh that that has been wildly successful I think not for every Ambassador for sure right let's not sugar coat that but the ones who've been with us um really powerful they've also come with with some pretty creative ideas too that we that they're running on their own that are supplemental to what we're doing in the office so all of that is fabulous and I'm excited to see where it goes on the capacity side every person in OSI has a full work stream right there there's no one who's kind of like twiddling their thumbs someone started yesterday uh as an over hire we have someone transitioning out they're a little bit slow right now but like they won't be in four weeks they're the only person who's like any capacity and that's good right and and part of that's because because we've been successful in securing additional funding the millage of course new programs were standing up uh that require capacity they require work behind the scenes so what we're doing now is uh We've set the goal that we rarely apply for Grants under 100,000 anymore because it's just as much work for a $20,000 Grant as it is for a million dollar Grant so it has to be for something that's really important like stiens for residents would be something we'd apply for that's that's really smart and strategic and our grants need to have funding for staff so historically OSI has fund raised for everyone else we've never fund raised for capacity for us we fundraised for peace Neighborhood Center to be able to hire more people to do work or Community Action Network to be able to hire people we have a lot of things we have to do in a very short period of time I can't ask staff to do more I can ask them to do different right which we're evaluating efficacy and impact but if we're going to take on a new thing assuming the things we're doing are working we have to have bodies to move that work forward with intentionality and purpose so that's what we're looking for in the office we're not going to come back to council and ask for a new person um and to be candid the seu is beautiful but it's like it's been tough right holding that in addition to all these other things we're doing because we held it so once that spins off I will get time back that I haven't had and so maybe that will be useful but you know just just hope there's a lot going on council member I don't know if you know can't a lot it's beautiful it's so lovely what a gift what a gift commissioner koven Garcia this is really great to hear this update this report I love the questions that everyone's asking I'm taking all kinds of notes U my question is is the city working with a neighborhood neighboring uh municipalities in any in any way that's like more structured you know joint programs joint funding joint how are you working with your neighbors yeah so all of the above depending on the topic we uh the county LED but we ghost wrote a grant for charging infrastructure for the whole region for all the municipalities in the county but we let it um because we could right but the funding a portion of it would come for projects in an arbor but it's for the whole region we won that EPA resilience Grant which is in fact working with the county to build resilience infrastructure both physical and social infrastructure countywide uh the county has hired a resilience manager it's someone that I know very well and have worked with quite a lot um in previous roles and responsibilities so we've had multiple me meetings kind of figuring out what that might look like uh one of the things we talked about you heard me say the solarized program you know I think I think that program actually might we've done so much work it might be ready to go to the county to expand um and we might be technical experts behind the scenes to kind of help but we're in those kinds of conversations at the moment to figure out how we can expand and then you didn't ask this but I did want to share we're working with the state as well so the state is the state brought down some pretty big dollars like solar for all or the climate pollution reduction Grant and we are helping them think about how to spend that in ways that are deeply meaningful uh they are under the same time constraints we are they're worried about clawback and so there's a natural proclivity to give it for example to the utilities because the utilities can spend it and we're saying whoa pump the braks let's talk about how we can actually design something that meets the timeline you have but also meets deep sustained Community impact so we work across those various scales quite a lot thank you I just wanted to uh thank you uh for your team's participation in anber Township's first public engagement event for yes congratulations thank you so much for helping and sending um some of your team out there anytime anytime climate doesn't care uh that it things are happening in an arbor we gota we got to do it all M mki and then council member Malik thanks Missy hi John you are the gift that keeps on giving so uh you've heard it already from several people but I'd like to reiterate it just you're doing a fantastic job together with your group and uh I want to just uh emphasize something you said and that is um everybody here should read the November and December issues of the charging station there's a lot of material in there and there's a lot of nuggets that you weren't able to cover tonight and there's really a good summary of everything that's been going on uh all that said um we had a presentation of the greenhouse gas inventory and uh as Ken mentioned at the beginning of the meeting whether you look at the simple inventory or whether you look at the expanded inventory we're reducing our greenhouse gas emissions at the rate of about one to one and a half% per year and as Ken indicated and this is something that's really the challenge for all of us it's not only for us for the state the country the globe I mean if you look at tipping points and more and more evidence that the kind of tipping points that the PC uh presented to us in back in January they're looking more and more dire and so we we have this challenge of moving from a reduction rate of one to one and a half percent to 15 to 20% so a tenfold increase in in what we're doing basically and that that is just extremely challenging and um I think Ken said something also that's really important and that is that I think there's a group in an arbor that is tremendously engaged and involved but there's still a lot of people that see this as being the responsibility of Civil Society to do and you I I'll be frank here um you know even within my my circles um everybody has gone back to just living life like it's the good old days flying all over the place not even thinking about offsets or anything else they're just running their life as they used to and you can see that also here in another perspective and that is um we looked at the dashboard and the dashboard shows that the percentage of commutes in vehicles is increasing again it's it's back to where it was pre pandemic and and and even higher than that it's basically at at a high so um I'm going to throw out some some ideas and um you can respond to them or we can um just maybe talk about them at at some later point in time um the first is I'm wondering if it's worthwhile getting a bunch of people together to talk about how do we engage residents in Ann Arbor I'm thinking back to the kind of meetings that we had um four years ago five years ago when we were brainstorming what should be an a20 we met several times multiple times in the basement of City Hall we had a meeting um with a whole bunch of of different people at County Farm and we broke up into groups and we talked about what do we need to do and I think we need to talk about what do we need to do to accelerate the the the rate of decarbonization we're just we we collectively have to do this we can't just depend on you and your team it's just impossible and then as you pointed out there's there's going to be lots of headwinds that we're going to have to overcome or maybe headwinds is not the right word is there going to be undermining potentially from the the federal level and and other levels um a couple of other ideas just throwing out things um we need to rapidly Implement our most impactful actions as quickly as we possibly can um one was discussed already tonight green rental housing program 50% of all housing units that needs to be really an impactful ordinance with teeth and we can't do what we did with herd where we pass an ordinance I mean I don't know if there's if there's any City policies that prevent this but when herd was passed there was six months until it took effect and then another six months before it had any teeth so we're talking about another year for before anything really starts to happen um you talked about District geothermal I think that's fantastic um I think many people in this group have heard that the University's study that the was commissioned by the pccn indicated that just for the University roughly 20,000 geothermal Wells were going to be needed um you already talked about that that's just not going to be possible um at least right now um especially I just listened to a video clip um a couple of days ago indicating that drilling rigs have been taken out of service they're like down 30% um so one thing I think we really definitely need to collaborate with the U ofm on that I'm glad your meeting um one thing that I would ask that maybe you look at and I've mentioned this several times to Folks at U ofm is enhanced geothermal um so this is the kind of geothermal that's being done by fero um they already have a u uh a I guess you call it pilot but it is feeding the grid um this is where they're going down to 10,000 ft or or below they're using I don't know if they're using it but there's a company called quaz out of MIT they can drill at about 10 or more times the typical drilling rate um and it seems to me we should be look especially for U ofm with where they have existing power plants instead of drilling hundreds and hundreds of Wells um for example on Mitchell Field D drill one really really deep well down to 15 10 to 15,000 ft and and feed the central power station do the same thing on on North Campus I mean we're we're going to have to think about not what's what is the realist what is it realistic about drilling having all these rigs the Aesthetics of that all over campus I just don't think it's it's it's really palatable I think it's going to run into a lot of a lot of issues um I already talked about vehicular commuting I mean that's that's that's a mess um I'm glad to hear that the SCU um roll out is happening as fast as it can what could be done to make it even faster I mean you know we're we're in emergency situation here is you can give me the funding John make some phone calls okay soon as that funding comes in we're done yeah yeah well I don't know I mean I don't think there's going to be more funding given when what's going on with the federal government and even at the state with the state house being under Republican control I don't know if there's other resources that can be used um I I'm going to make a pitch for something also that that Ken has talked about regularly and that is I think Council and I'm this is a message to our council members I know there's no appetite for sticks when it comes to Natural Gas We considered an ordinance here a year ago um a draft of an ordinance a resolution I should say brought by Ken Carver um based on uh actions that have been taken in other in other uh jurisdictions putting a fee on carbon I mean we we can't say that there's nothing there's things that just cannot be touched we all have to do something you know that's landlords that's all of us with private citizens that is developers um all of us need to do something and I'll just repeat then my idea again let's all get together um staff um an our climate partnership um citizens climate Lobby ambassadors and let's brainstorm what we can do to just dramatically increase the rate of decarbonization otherwise we talking about 2040 or 2050 um before we are carbon neutral Jo I think we should take that back to DeAndre and use the collaborators network uh our next meeting should be focused on on doing that I think that's great um I'm not gonna answer I I I know I can't because I know you're all you have a policy agenda but I just want to take a few things and say a lot of what we're working on is structural right which is not fast but is transformational if we get a land use code I mean one of the things in the land use policy we're thinking about is housing 40,000 more people in the city right in the City if we do that that increases density walkability you know VMT so that won't be tomorrow but that is we have to be doing that and the other things so I think there's there's elements there I just wanted to name I know you know I can just comment on that I'm um on the board of housing uh nonprofit we made a presentation to Jeff chadis today to put 4,000 housing units at the corner of Plymouth and murphin and create a village there and he received it very positively it's our probably third meeting with him we've also met with several of his vice presidents I mean these are the kinds of things that really and I would hope because we haven't seen a lot of evidence of it at least this within this this nonprofit talking to both people at the city and the University at the city and the University's two planning processes are really engaging vigorously on on opportunities like that I can't speak to vigorously but I can say yes they are engaging in those opportunities and what folks may know I know you know John but I'm not sure if everyone else does when a20 was adopted there were two strategies that were removed from it by Council and they were both land use strategies they were about density right they got pulled because they just were not politically palatable fast forward those are exactly the strategies we are talking about implementing through the comprehensive land use plan it just took four years because the community wasn't quite where we were in that moment and here we are so I think that's that's really helpful and useful and then I just want to say I I agree with you about one of the things that from a management standpoint is difficult is the world is not fabulous uh in the planet space right now right I mean all you have to do is read any article that's coming out about the state of of where we are and the Tipping points that are uh you know pack there are things that I studied in school that we thought would never happen that now we're starting to see evidence that could potentially in our lifetimes take place how do you manage that reality and keep people motivated to do the work and that's the tension that we face so it is not blind hope it is action right and that's what we focus on because action is Hope and so doing the things that hopefully lead to the transformational changes in the system the idea is we can't spend five years in every neighborhood like we are in Brian but Brian is one of the hardest places to figure out how to do this work because of all barriers I mean the mold the flooding the like lack of intergenerational wealth like we it's everything is stacked against some of these households if we figure out how to solve for this we can take it and go quicker in the next and the next and the next and the next and build a model that's inspirational for others to move forward so it's that tension and I can choose to look at the world and say what everything we've done has been negated by new development or I can choose to say you know what that new development is actually in a dense urban area and I don't love the it's connected to gas but that is a hell of a lot better housing than it would be if it was 50 miles outside the city or 10 miles outside the city and they were going to commute in every day and I'm negotiating a franchise thinking about how do I get people off of gas how do I actually and not just like take it away from them how do I give them something better right so I just want to say I hear it and I see it and I hear folks like Ken Garber and I feel that exact same thing and you can fall in on yourselves or you can choose I think and what we're trying to do is choose to kind of like lift up a counter narrative and say we don't have to have that we can have this and this is even better so I don't know that's why we're all here tonight we love yeah we're we are I am so appreciative for your time tonight sorry council member Mal and then council member Briggs thank you so much Dr staltz um hearing from you two nights in a row and all of the progress you and your staff are up to um it's such a treat um so you mentioned with the home Energy rebates um for instance that the air sealing and insulation um are not particularly sexy and that folks are are not really using them to the extent you had hoped um well I'm happy to say my husband and I did do some of the insulation and air sealing and we did apply for rebate and got it so we're one of the few I suppose um but my question is what kind of data are you receiving on the uptake of the rebates so far um as in like who's applying for these rebates are they folks who have already interacted with OSI and the a20 overall you know maybe like taking part in a different program and now they learned about this program then learn about that one or is it folks who otherwise are disconnected um in in my own example you know we worked at the city through these rebates and now we're getting solar on our home in a few weeks because we you know learned more about the solariz program and everything worked out really well with the rebates that we were like wow you know this is very effective we're excited to see what else were eligible to do so I guess yeah you know is any of that gonna if that data does exist can it help in engagement on how to get folks involved in the future yeah absolutely so we have Elevate and Michigan energy options are a rebate administrators so they're the ones actually doing the intake and they're collecting data on demographics how people hear about the program and so we're able um and you probably know we have an income qualified track and then we have a market rate track and so there's different techniques we also do Outreach and engagement to help bring people into the programs so we do in fact have that data we also have data on why people are declined a rebate um we're seeing people come primarily from some touch an OSI or OSI adjacent so it's an ambassador it's they went through the concierge it's you talk about your program to someone and now they went and looked for it so we're not um we're not getting the UN of familiar yet so that's that's one of the things that we need to pick up on your experience is also the experience a lot of people have is that they come in through some program it might be food based program it might be a rebate program they have a good experience which is why we try to have really top customer service where wherever possible and then and then they stay with us and so part of what we work on is how do you like what are the different Entre into the work and then expand the portfolio so they can be with us on a long-term journey in the space yeah great question and I'm happy if you want to see the data um I can have Elevate pull it but we will we just did a six month it's not even six months we we've been doing evaluations to recalibrate in January you're going to see a refocusing of the rebate program based on what the data we've collected Missy isn't it posted on your website on on the web the dashboard is so you can see exactly in real time how many rebates have been given out and how many are reserved how much is left in funding but it doesn't tell you for example why someone was rejected U from getting a rebate or uh the demographics specific demographics or how they heard about the program those are things we're tracking just not on the dashboard yeah if you're able to share that that would be wonderful thank you yeah yeah you bet council member Briggs yeah and I just wanted to um respond to a query and clarify a little bit um commissioner mki had um posted a uh a challenge I think to counsel around um sort of our appetite and at least from from my perspective and what I understand um from from my colleagues there is nothing that we have been presented with that is uh legal that we have not um is resistant to um to to implementing you know climate initiatives as quickly as possibly we can were you were you present when we discussed the ordin or the resolution that was presented by Ken um I actually think I missed that particular meeting but I do I do know what you're talking about um so um you know if there's a certainly again yeah and then also for I know many on the screen probably know this but others may not who are listening um there has been a complete sh almost complete change over on Council over the last four years the only um existing the mayor is the only person who um has been on there before 2020 so those those elements that were taken out of the comprehensive or the a20 plan were not by this existing body of council um and I think in that situ uh on the land use side again this is an area that um we're interested in lean into and what we're hearing from the community is that there's a really strong interest um in making these changes that does not mean it's not going to be difficult um because the reality is that change is difficult but um I think there's a lot of awareness of how important um it is to to to be looking at these uh issues comprehensively and cohesively Miss if you don't mind one you know one last question um I you know I I want to pick up the communications and the engagement thread I think that John mentioned and and and council member Mal briefly mentioned um and that you referred to as well and it's and it's just a question of how how you're thinking about some of the communications challenges in the landscape because I you know I think in general now it's a very difficult landscape but um and Ann Arbor has a number of I think somewhat unique challenges but um yeah but there are also a lot of lwh hanging fruit and I I think you know knee wall insulation is probably one of them and things so you know I'm just wondering how how are you how are you sort of thinking about those challenges but also like what do you what might do you think that you need to sort of really get at that and to really broaden that engagement around rightly probably directed so one of the things I didn't share is in 2024 we've already hosted over 250 public engagement events so our office actually does a lot of Engagement we just don't do a lot of big engagement um we do sustainability forums we do green Fair we spend a lot of time really deeply working with say Temple Beth emth Or peace Neighborhood Center or uh you know a given neighborhood that we're engaging with uh going like really really deep with places so part of and and then we have these bigger Strokes of of Outreach and kind of education we're doing a door knocking campaign we're going to hit every door and leave a20 lit using the americ cor members because we don't have centralized media right like that's the thing that stinks we don't have a daily circulation that everyone gets some people get the Michigan Daily some people pay for M live a lot of M live is behind a a pay wall we have it's just hard to hit people um constantly and things like social we can be more playful in social media but we're hitting a different demographic um one of our team members said it beautifully their social media generation we're putting out social media and yet their parents don't use it right so we miss them by focusing on Instagram posts uh so we're having to kind of fire on multiple cylinders because we just don't we don't have a big Market media market and in the way other places do it's why you catch us um you'll catch us on NPR you'll catch us on the radio you'll catch us on CTN we're we're sort of like Buckshot because that's how our community gets information so I like the idea of bringing people together a little bit more in not um we do big like everyone inviting but I think what I heard from commissioner mki was also this idea of invested organizations coming together to think about how do we lean more into them messaging and engaging with their audiences and bringing people into the movement and what kind of Engagement techniques have they found effective and how can we leverage each other that is something I'd like to spend more time with pleas chair Hans and then commissioner overp um just wanted to take an opportunity along with the others uh to thank you for uh being here with us tonight um Missy the presentation was fantastic but also um just uh speaking from uh roughly you know three decades of experience in this town um I've seen a a lot of the changes uh particularly recently in accessibility of of the infrastructure in this town and and it's been quite profound over the last five years so um I think that speaks to a lot of the work you guys do so I just wanted to thank you for coming tonight and for the work you do and thank you commissioner Hans for the work that you do both on the commission but also in your day job it's really really critical that we have a skilled trained Workforce that has paid uh a wage to be able to be part and contribute to our community so thank thank you for the working thank you real quick uh there's a new Pew survey out that came out just this week how many people have seen it but I'll send it to Joe but one of the things that's really loud and clear in this survey is um majority of Americans want their uh government and their corporations to do more climate work and that majority goes way up like 80 to 90% among Democrats which of course is our community so I think it's a really a a clear message that you got a good headwind uh behind you when it comes to our citizenry I hope but thanks again well when I P them too far just remember one of you wants to hire me I'm just kid we're fine we're going to keep going thank you Dr saltz um I think we'll put a pin in that for now and um thank you again really appreciate you taking the time and and the questions so and next on the agenda uh a discussion of uh city council um priorities and challenges um and but if before we do that maybe we could just take a five minute break and come back at uh 7 32 and then we'll reconvene thank you s I have to leave early because I'm a I'm in DC right now I gotta go to an event thanks thank you for popping in e e e welcome back everyone I think we might have briefly lost council member Briggs I saw yeah I saw their screen freeze up but um carve out some time um just to have a I think a a a brief discussion around city council priorities one of the roles of of the energy commission is helping to advise um council members on uh policy and policy priorities other um uh technical advice um and other issues that uh come before the the commission and so um I think we wanted to sort of set aside some time to sort of hear what um Council might be facing and dealing with but also um to use it as time to sort of frame that discussion um leading into next month's energy commission meeting in which we'll also just take a look at the agenda for the year ahead and so if there are some um particular issues that we want to begin to tackle head on and and set aside energy commission time for um this is sort of one way of starting to get at get at that and and really focus on whatever we need to do to to be able to um help bring those forward so um maybe I can pass the the the um pass it over to council member BRS um if you don't mind just sort of giving some uh sort of overview or or however you'd like to to tackle this yeah sure and um thanks for for asking for that um feedback sorry I'm having a few Zoom issues so hopefully it'll it'll actually stay on um but in terms of you know Council priorities I mean you you heard um how incredibly active and um and um ambitious the osi's office is so I feel like we are certainly very rapidly and um kind of at the edges of Staff capacity um in terms of our work on on the a20 plan um but that doesn't mean that I think there's still a lot of work for the commission to be able to to dig into um in many ways uh you know one of the key you know fundamental places where you can help is recognition that we as council members are you know in addition to our our day jobs and serving on on Council and lots of different commissions um you know it becomes difficult at times to dig into the the details of issues and so that's really the function of this commission is to be able to um every time the um OSI is bringing forward a program or a project or an idea to be able to ask those types of questions to really be able to dig into it here so that we know that when it gets to council it's had that level of scrutiny so um that you know that's a really important function that the the commission is um needs to continue serving and um working on I think um Dr Sto spoke to some of the challenges that the office is facing and I think it's worth going back and really thinking about those um and figuring out um you know is there an opportunity for the commission to take on some you know to dig in deeper into those issues um I think a lot of good questions got raised tonight um in in the discussion around reflecting upon the work of 2024 and looking ahead at 2025 um that you know there's some opportunity to dig in deeper there um as we struggle with the the limitations of what the state allows us to do um I'm a transportation geek so I'm my my I'm always going to turn towards Transportation as the solution on things I know that two-thirds of our missions are coming from buildings I get that that's a big piece of this but we do have full control over uh almost full control over our transportation infrastructure in town uh there are some mot controlled roadways but um we've asked the city to to work with mot to take control of those but thinking about if there's more opportunity for um there um I will always be supportive of of those options that that might be get might get generated but so I think there's there's real opportunity to think there about um you know the overlap between um our different different plans whether that's a20 with our um uh Transportation plan or the development of our new comprehensive plan um that is a huge piece that's coming up this spring with the land juice and that is going to be challenging um one digging into the details of that's important and obviously you're all Commissioners you just can only take on so much as well but just throwing out there some of the things that we're that we're struggling with um so you know what another are is just simply that um the comprehensive plan um my understanding is you know there's there's going to be a lot in it um and we're going to be wrestling with that the community is going to be wrestling with that and there's going to be need I think for um you know uh I guess we're just going to have to see what comes out of those recommendations but um encouraging folks to kind of to look at that um is another area of overlap that really impacts our our energy usage so you know I think for for Council um we're going to be looking a lot of our time this coming year is going to be um on the comprehensive land use plan that's a lot where a lot of the focus is going to be on some of those changes and so that might be an area um to be spending and thinking about um more time um and then of course as Dr Schultz mentioned uh the development of the seu that is that's something that is is going to be um moving forward over the next 18 months and hopefully launching then um you know that won't be an OSI activity um when it actually moves to to launching is my understanding and that's a little bit you know the running of utility is really outside of osa's responsibilities but I it's still a huge part of of moving our our energy um goals forward so that's what's that's what we're that's what I'm thinking of I think that's a lot of what's on our minds um and you know thinking about how that might work into the work plan next year what elements of that are bite-sized chunks that the commission might be able to take take on um you know certainly starting I think with the challenges that Dr stz mentioned are a good place thank you um come council member Mal did you want to add anything to that as well uh I was just gonna underscore uh something council member Brigg said about you know just the comprehensive land use plan you know it's my understanding that we haven't done this in a while in the city and what we do this time around may be the plan that's in place for several decades so it's important that we get it right and that it includes you know a lot of forward-looking things when it comes to energy environment and things like that so just to just to underscore that if it wasn't already a high priority great thank you um commissioner mki I had a question uh for clarification purposes uh as your Le on to the environmental commission we went through this same process in our meeting last week and uh my understanding um from that meeting was uh a couple of points first of all that the council is going to be looking at recommendations um for policies directed at the state level and finalizing those priorities in January and so the environmental commission focused in our meeting last Thursday exclusively on policies that were directed at State Legislative um and let's say related kind of uh policies that could be enacted um at the state level either at the department level or through leg legislative action not at policies that might be something that we would be doing um directed at the city or maybe the county or something like that so one of the things that um I would hope we get clarification for for the discussion going forward is what are we talking about tonight and um if it's at directed at the state level then um what I would suggest is what you implied earlier um chair harp is that we look at other policy kinds of topics directed at let's say the more local level in our January meeting and where we talk about topics that we might take up in um calendar year 2025 is is that an accurate um assessment um and one of the things if so one of the things that we did is we looked at the current um or let's say the past set of policy agenda items um and there's a half dozen or so of those from the energy commission as well as a half dozen from the environmental commission and interestingly enough the ones that made it into that list from the environmental commission were almost all climate and energy related even though they don't deal with climate and energy they deal with water air um Solid Waste um things like that um so uh what do we actually doing here tonight as we continue the discussion yeah so so th this part of this part of the agenda was was just a um some time that we wanted to set aside after the challenges and opportunities also to just touch base with council members on the priorities of council sort of moving forward into the next year we have a next the next item on the agenda is feedback from the energy Commission on policy recommendations that I believe then the city can take uh or city council can take to to move forward on those and those might be ones elsewhere at the at the state agenda so we're going to get there in just a second um that's great to hear that there was some overlap um and um uh but I think this you know this will be useful there may be you know probably what we're hearing are more local locally driven ones that I think we can fold into that January discussion of the agenda items um that we want to take up and and really focus on moving forward and so this is really helpful just in our sort of us setting the stage for that and and I'll just um I'll mention now if you all start thinking about what hopefully you're all making notes so that when we have that discussion next month we're able to sort of surface those and I'll follow up with an email between now and then so we can have a productive discussion in January any other um clarifications or or questions um for for Council Members um at this stage okay this is you know this is of course a dynamic dynamic disc discussion particularly with council members and so I this won't be the last opportunity we just want to make sure to touch base um in a in a fairly explicit way on the agenda around these things because it was so tied to the OSI presentation on a20 and sort of the successes and challenges and also as we're looking ahead to some of the next um the the next months ahead in terms of um our agenda as well yeah and I um just to chime in a little bit more about what I mentioned earlier I feel a little guilty when I suggest that you should take on everything that the city is doing like land use and transportation you know like I just want to note that these are these are areas of overlap um oftentimes you know when the Planning Commission which is really tasked with focusing on land use um and it's their charge to be moving for the um recommendations the comprehensive land use plan and bringing you know that final plan to council for adoption but um they're looking at it through certain lenses right and so there's some opportunity to to be getting feedback for us to be getting feedback um as council members that you know may go into um might be might be able to be feedback that goes into that process as well um on the transportation side obviously people come to Transportation with a lot of different um through a lot of different lenses um but a lot of times the the conversations in Transportation Commission are very safety focused because it's it's a um a vision zero based Transportation plan about ending um roadway fatalities and and injuries and so you know think just making sure that we're you um also taking the opportunity to think about how our transportation Network really advances our energy goals I know OSI is doing that but it's an opportunity at times for for the commission as well great thank you commissioner coven Garcia I um you you bring up the the topic of transportation and it just so I've been in this this phase of our meeting right now and thinking that um I need to like get cut up on the information the statistics the data of what's going on in the city as far as the vision zero um injuries and fatalities like how are we doing um and um it's as far as being able to contribute to conversation uh more effectively um and um the same goes with with occupancy for housing and high density housing and cost and things like that for you know like temporary rentals and things like that and how how is how is that being track and and with um all this development what what's in place you know to make sure that that you know housing is either being owned or rented in a way that's being fully utilized um and accessible so that's what's on my mind right now um as far as like in informing myself um and then engaging based on that okay thank you commissioner colen Garcia that's great um I think it's one of the challenges is there's a lot of there's a lot of information and we're often time to trying to process and and and nudge out the this the technical details and the policy details and I think um trying to process that and and make and pull forward questions um and comments and perhaps even Frameworks that are that are going to be useful um and so if if there's anything I think in terms of how Commissioners or how this body can can do that and sort of um package that in ways that are useful and helpful for council members I think we we're often times open um and excited to hear in ways that we can be more effective in sort of uh putting that forward as well so um please please let us know um I want to move on to the next agenda item which is the policy recommendations for fiscal um fiscal year 25 and um perhaps Joe would you mind framing this a little bit um I think for for commission members if you don't mind um I think and and council members you may you may have a a a good handle on this as well part of what we're trying to do is is put forward what kinds of policy priorities the energy commission might have for Council and for the city to to work on going forward in the next the next year um and so we wanted to open it up for uh discussion comments um questions or clarifications about that but also ideas that you all might have yeah and I will I also don't have a ton of information on this so I want to make sure I'm getting it right as well as with council member Briggs especially if you have any um other understanding of what it should be my understanding was it was things for the um to Advocate at the state level but if that is incorrect please let me know no then I'll let you take over because I just got like an email three sentences that's all I knew yes so yes sorry um you are correct that it is for at the state level um so the this is from the policy committee um you know in that I'm I no longer serve as a lean to the um Council policy committee but a couple of years back by um the process changed a little bit there used to be a long list of sort of very specific um legislative policy goals um and sort of uh down to you bills that might be uh might be of interest to to pass and that it's that was deemed to not be as useful to our lobbyist in Lancing and so it's a little bit um um grouped a little bit more broadly now in terms of that um that policy agenda um in terms of what our objectives are is my understanding for for a lobbyist but um yes I think if there's we all know that this things have shifted in Lancing in terms of some of the opportunities there um but certainly um you know I think that this is this is an opportunity to to to provide some guidance to the policy committee around what the energy commission thinks that our legislative agenda should look like as related to energy um in Lancing this coming year um you know and they will take that feedback and provide it you know discuss it and provide it to the lobbyist and you know try to work in um elements into into our sort of legislative agenda and obviously that gets shaped by what is what's moving and what's possible and um what the opportunities are this coming year had some understanding but not the full so appreciate that and I will I'll say it for in terms of like process just for um you know quick like um commissioner mki was mentioning just to give us sense of I'm just going to flash it on this screen real quick but um for what it looked like for you know what um the environmental commission did um just so we have too buttons um you know just kind of have just kind of a list of some of the different things here and so what I'll do is I'll be taking a list on you know my screen I can share the screen if we want otherwise so we can see each other's faces I'll just kind of keep taking those notes um and then at the end we can share it talk about if anything should change or anything like that and then we can vote if we agree with those General suggestions things like that um but I'll also pass it over to M if you have other um how that process went for you all during that discussion so uh what we did with uh Council liaison input is we agreed that we had very little time um so we have in the environmental commission three active three or four active working groups and what we were advised to do was to whittle down our list that long list to three to roughly five ideas so each one of those working groups is meeting to take those lists and to whittle those down and to provide them um through our staff liaison um back to essentially Council to to um provide a very very shortened and broader list so that's that's the the the tact we're taking um it seems reasonable to me also it seems reasonable given um the political situation at the state level and that we're probably not going to get through lots and lots and lots of environmental or energy or climate bills we're probably going to be having to pick and choose what we do I think Mike can give us a lot of uh good good guidance here but that's what that's the the path we're taking forward and we wanted to make sure we had the input before the meeting in January where Council finalizes the list yeah the only thing I want to note in terms of timing um what I got is we they needed the um items for consideration by January 3D which unfortunately with our schedule this you know from the time I we got that uh that request and when that meeting or that needs to be put in this is our only time we are meeting uh in between those things so apologies for the timing on all of that but just noting that's how it's coming about so in terms of process one thing that might be feasible is for us to share o policy recommendations if if um we can um discuss any or share any top ones here in this meeting now but if any come up in the next week or two to to share them with the staff leaz on Joe um who might be able to compile them and and feed that back to the the energy commission um and if we we may not have time to discuss them but we could certainly forward that list to to the other um committee as well yeah and also noting like staff are also working on compiling um you know these different topics and such and so I can okay pass things along from people on on your behalf kind of a deal okay and I think it might be helpful if you know we shared out uh what was adopted last year so you can kind of see that format um and folks can and can think that way that might be a little bit more useful um after you leave the meeting I was just looking on legar and for some reason I I cannot find it right now but okay we we'll we'll do that then with with with Commissioners as well we'll we'll try and follow up with that as as a way of um soliciting anything else um is there any are there any items that uh any Commissioners would like to share right now or and maybe they're they're sort of Topline um items for for those policy recommendations at the moment commiss mki I'll throw one idea out on the table but again I think um commissioner Burk is probably the expert here um at least within within this group um the one uh and this is now getting pretty specific so this is running a little bit against what I heard from council member Briggs um the one thing that one thing that really stood out to me that didn't make the the the package of energy bills that was passed last year is community solar I don't know why that was it seems to me that that's the one um thing that looking forward if you were looking for any support across the aisle it might get some libertarian leaning Republican support and if you think of how people who live in condos and Rental uh units can share in doing something that relates to solar it's that's really their one major Avenue the the problem is obviously that the IUS DTE CMS are probably going to fight against it so I don't know if it should given that should be high on the list um and the only other thing that I would throw out there um and maybe this is something that um Council aison or or or Joe can comment on and that is um you know Community Choice aggregation was um something that figured prominently in the a20 plan it's never really been pursued um even with the the change there for a couple of years where Democrats had a trifecta um it's also somewhat libertarian leaning in the sense that it gives communities a choice but it doesn't Ram anything down their throat so those are the two things you know we have a short list to me those particularly the community solar thing Rises to the Top If CCA is is been abandoned by people who in the know then then we should probably drop it so I'll let others talk that that's really all I have to share I can follow up a bit there commissioner mki thanks for uh saying kind things about me uh I appreciate that um I I think you're spot on with Community solar um essentially the I think the reason it didn't get through in the large package that was passed last year is because the utility companies were not willing to allow it to happen um and I don't think that Dynamic has changed uh going forward but um Community solar in the past and I think going forward is specifically bipartisan the initial proposals on it and the proposals before the legislature this session were introduced by Democrats and Republicans um and so it's not just a democratic issue um I do think there are still lots of active coalitions and interest groups working on that and thinking that maybe in the future there's some roads to Victory so I think that makes a lot of sense to to include um the other thing I would kind of maybe pair in with that um are enabling uh micro grids and uh Ral power plants um know the same thing is community solar um right now our state law does not allow for virtual power plants um essentially like using batteries and storage uh integrated with the the grid um and then micro grids like islanding if you've got say a critical facility or um you know institutional buildings that want to be separate from DTE you know some of those things might be a little moot now that we've got the once the seu is up and running but in in the interim I think those are still important so um uh the other thing there there are discussions about incentives for behind the the meter uh solar in storage um again I don't think that most of these things will actually pass unfortunately the utilities are still very strong in their lobbying and their political spending um and I that's not going to change despite the you know kind of partisan makeup going forward um but those I think would be the things on the power generation side that would make the most sense and be the most helpful to the city I've got a couple other things but I've talked a lot so why don't I back off see if other folks have ideas and then I'll jump back in all right hearing none um so I guess I talked about Power Generation Um on the building side of things um we uh Missy mentioned uh getting the state to you know enable a pilot around going beyond their building codes um I know there's a coalition that is working to draft legislation that would One enable stretch codes allow municipalities to go further than the state energy code um and two it would make the state adopt energy codes more frequently I think folks might know from we had like a a presentation on this at some point in the past year but Michigan is still operating on 2015 building toads um we're struggling to adopt even the 2021 codes at this point so U we are really behind the f ball and so this legislation you know if adopted would require the state to update every three years and make sure this doesn't happen in the future um similar deal I think the Home Builders Association will go hard against that they are a power powerful lobby but I think they're less powerful than the utility companies and so there's maybe more opportunity there um and then there's some kind of pie in the sty ideas around buildings there's a coalition working to uh essentially get the state to establish a whole home retrofit program so instead of like doing weatherization here and doing Michigan solar for all here and doing energy assistance over there just kind of putting it all together and having a direct pot of money that funds all this so then you can do the health and safety fixes uh and then do the Energy Efficiency and then solarize and Electrify and kind of you know do it all as one process in package instead of being siloed in all these different departments again that's challenging um in its politics and um the inertia with state government it also require a lot of money but I think that's a like North Star to aim towards and there's an active Coalition um working towards that that the city can you know Le on so it doesn't have to own all that work uh there's one other thing I'll mention um the state gets funding from the federal government from the Department of energy for uh Li Heap the lowincome heating and energy assistance program certain percentage of that goes to the state's weatherization program each year beond it's lower than the percentage that goes to weatherization in other states across the Midwest um so like Minnesota and Illinois they put I want to say it's like bubble percentages of the funding into weatherization um in Michigan we normally put a single digit into weatherization and the rest goes to directly just helping people pay their energy bills and that's important um but you know reducing people's uh energy use making their buildings more efficient is like the long-term solution versus a Band-Aid that's just oneoff payments uh for energy so um the state you know could be essentially through the budget process told to allocate more to weatherization or a higher percentage I think that's something that potentially could still be on the table and is maybe a little more lwh hanging fruit any those were the top things I thought of I could come up with the huge La laundry list as well but I figured with the impending grid lock at the state level that might not be so useful and um M briggs' comments I think uh nailed that on the head too so leave it there it's great uh thank you commissioner Ritz so I think what maybe we'll do is um if there aren't any additional um items that anyone wants to share at this time if you would all um or if you do have some please share them with Joe um who who I think can compile them and we will um and I think we'll try to compile them and then share them all back out with the commission and then I think uh I imagine staff are probably since they're also working to compile other things um maybe can integrate with those as well if that makes sense with that I think one of the things because that if we can get a resolution for lack of a better term from the commission would it be helpful to send you know I share what I have right now just check on those things make sure I worded things correctly and then share that as a you know resolution from this and then I can also continue to add things as we go but that way there's something officially coming from the Commission in the in lie of everything else coming in that so um I said I was trying to quickly capture them I'm sure I did not word these correctly um so let me just share real quick and then please tell me what to fix that I did not adequately right zoom in for so that looks perfect for the items I I discussed thank you and good job from from my side as well I I think these need to be put through Jo a filter that maybe or Missy or others have in terms of uh what's realistic or not and where we're going to have the greatest uh um resistance as well as um you know for the second point for example you know I don't even know if that's really something that's that's really desirable anymore given the seu and things like that but I think this you've captured act accurately what what at least I discuss too okay yeah go ahead I'm not one change and someone correct me if I'm wrong it we may want to add um the stretch codes for both the state and for both the building and energy codes and then if you'd like um we can vote to approve these as our U recommendations um obviously up to yall move second vote all that kind of stuff but in terms of next steps do I hear a motion to um move towards a vote on on these that moved second that so moved and seconded by um commissioner mki and commissioner burwitz um council member Briggs yeah and I just wanted to um kind of rise up or raise up what um commissioner mki had just mentioned around um thinking about Advan in terms of these recommendations being adopted that um it's useful for OSI to take a look and make you know make sure there's not any conflicts with existing OSI or you know what's what what they're recommending putting forward I think that things that sort of um are coming here and also coming from OSI might be the what might end up going to um policy committees would that make sense to folks here I don't want to try to block anything that anybody's suggesting okay I think there's agreement yeah I think there's broad agreement that that um perhaps both with the prioritization and also um how how those might be filtered is what I'm hearing from commissioner Commissioners um commissioner mki yeah a quick question along the lines of the statement from council member Briggs uh I'm wondering where in this process if at all and maybe OSI does this particularly just in the climate and energy space there is an attempt to align our priorities with potential partner organizations that are doing lobing at the state level like the Sierra Club like um Great Lakes renewable energy Association I know they just had their annual meeting unfortunately I wasn't able to go um but it seems to me if if we want this to be impactful it would make sense that we not only align our recommendations with osis but we look at what OSI is potentially recommending and seeing do these align with those of of partner organizations and what they're putting forward um so that we're applying resources to basically that you know the the same top uh grouping of of uh of lobbying uh efforts so I I just throw that out there Joe you might check um whether that's done at some point in the process maybe the lobbyist does that I don't know yeah I can't speak on my end but I know there's definitely work on that I can check in on that and similarly um said we're we're all in the process this week as well compiling all our recommendations from staff to and then working on that as a team to do all that as well so that'll be working in this process as well yeah and then I imagine there's work done with others there I just don't know where in the process that is one sorry one clarification do we need to add um to this resolution something about um making it flexible for OSI to sort of prioritize or filter F to them um from my opinion I'd say it's okay as is just because this is the recommendations from the you know the commission itself um who you know advises OSI advises as well so it's kind of you know okay we can put something in there if it'd be helpful but in terms of like is it required it it's okay as is okay all right well then why don't we move towards a vote um and um all those in favor of the policy recommendations um as described please raise your hand and say I I hi hi all those opposed please say no seeing none opposed the motion passes and these are some recommendations that we can then forward on to OSI and the policy committee as well thank you okay we will move on um we have one two few more agenda items um but I think these will go relatively quickly um next up is the establishing the 2025 energy commission calendar and I'll just pass it off quickly to Joe for that yep just uh noting annually we have to establish our calendar nothing has changed it's just it's still the the second Tuesday of each month at 6 PM um if anyone has any egregious issues with the second Tuesday of each month at 6m let that be known otherwise happy to just move forward and continue doing business as uh as we've been questions are clarifications okay uh moving on to our next agenda item um we would like vote to we would have to vote to approve that is there a motion to vote to approve um the energy commission calendar for 2025 so moved commissioner burit is our second Comm commissioner culvin Garcia thank you all those in favor of approving the 2025 energy commission Calendar please raise your hand and say I hi hi all those opposed please raise your hand and say no seeing none opposed the motion C passes thank you um next item of business is the um is a resolution to hold the January 14th energy commission meeting in person um and the goal was to try to uh pull the energy commission together in person and conduct that meeting the uh plan for the agenda for that meeting is um ATT tenative plan to cover the the um benchmarking ordinance and and review that and also to discuss the agenda uh of the year ahead and and prioritize some of those items based on the discussions that we're having today but aside from that um Joe I believe there were up to four energy commission meetings that we could have in person per year um if I'm not mistaken um but we'd like to try to um meet in person and um I'll open up for any questions or clarifications on that I believe this would be held in where would this be held Joe we'd be able to do council chambers for this council chambers for for this as well so I guess while we're discussing this um I'll add in here um we had like an inperson happy hour as a commission at some point last year I was on vacation so I wasn't able to join and so selfishly I would love to do another one of those in 2025 and if we're meeting in person maybe a few of us could just stick around for beers or go across the street after or something so I would just throw that out there all right that's the most popular topic of the evening can we get a vote for beers is that is that allowed is that how that works I had one question about meeting at council chambers doesn't the Planning Commission meet in person the same night we do at 7 o'clock in council chambers they do but the way it is structured now is their if they have every other meeting is when they are in person and council chambers the other week is they virtual in working sessions and so the the overlap for that one is a working session that will be virtual so we're okay for for this one sometimes it overlaps weirdly but this one we're okay and for future reference if it were we would still be able to meet we would meet in the city council basement which has all the or not the City Hall basement which has all the same capabilities minus the fancy room and all that okay hearing no more questions or um clarifications uh is there a motion to vote on the resolution as written motion CH Hans sorry motion to vote yeah is there a second I'll second thank you commissioner Cen Garcia okay all those in favor of holding the January 14th 2025 energy commission meeting in person please raise your hand and say I hi all those post please say no the motion carries thank you I will get just for refence I'll get everything set up and I'll send out information on how to do all the different things and get there and Logistics and all that sooner rather than later so be on the lookout for that if anyone has any questions thank you okay staff report yeah um so um yeah we ended up talking about a little bit during Missy's presentation U but did just want to give an update on some of the green rental housing stuff because we talked about it recently had the resolution support um like we're talking about I've been in just kind of concept communication with um legal and other City departments on just the various things like this we mentioned it does cross stretch across a couple different city departments various codes and all of that uh so we've just been working really hard to make sure we have everything as buttoned up as we possibly can you know Crossing te's dotting eyes all of that to make sure that we have a program that as we discussed here achieves our goals while also being a program that is um you know legally allowable and enforcable so we're we've been working really hard on that the goal is to have that going to counsil in in early next year ideally in January so working really hard to get that done with that in mind um also like Missy mentioned the Ambassador me Ambassador applications are now open for the seventh cohort of a20 ambassadors to gain increased knowledge tools and resources to discuss sustainability broadly and specific options that you and your community can Implement to advance carbon neutrality uh community members are welcome to learn more and interview in person on December 17th from 5: to 7: p.m at the downtown an Harbor District Library branch December 18th from 10: to 11:30 a.m.

doing the pledge of allegiance and I've asked Jennifer Brimhall to lead us in that Al to the flag of the United States of America indivis andice for all right I'd like to welcome everybody here tonight we are uh short chairs so bear with us just for a minute while we set up some more chairs I think we'll have enough with that there will be a little uh change to the beginning uh of this program or outline tonight the uh Fine Arts presentation by Teresa dicks group will be at the end of the meeting instead of at the beginning of the meeting right now because they are practicing for another performance that they have so we we'll we we'll stick them in at the last instead of the first and just to let everybody know Diana Butler is participating with us via phone tonight as her health won't let her leave the home her house tonight Diana you still there I'm here all right thank you all right we will begin with some uh recognitions and I've turned this section over to Dr Wright he'll do all our uh presentation and recognitions thank you Mr President we appreciate that that can you all hear well enough okay so Diana's on the phone and I dropped and made a presentation to her earlier today so she received a plaque like this I carry chairs I'm out of breath but that's actually pretty good so I won't get emotional uh these plaques say uh for all of our departing board members I want to provide some context as well Diana between her service as a teacher an administrator and a board member has invested more than 50 years more than 50 years of service Mr Waldo up there the handsome man on the corner between his Service as a teacher administrator and board member over 50 years of service that's an incredible amount of dedication to our community and I want to make sure that that doesn't go unnoticed Jennifer has been on the board I believe this would be your 13th Year Jen 12th year and uh Jennifer you know is very active in our community and has helped out and all three of these board members have I've grown to love and respect and theyve been um a tremendous asset to our school Community each of these plaques reads thank you for your years of dedicated service to the student staff and community of the Blue Ridge Unified School District your commitment and contributions have made a lasting impact and are truly great we are truly grateful for your leadership and support and those to me those words seem a little bit empty you can't really say in words um the impact that these good people have had on so many lives we we love them we appreciate them we honor their service and so I have two presentations Jennifer you come down please I'd like to give you your plaque and then I'll present Mr Waldo and if we could take a picture you bet present that to you and now Mr Waldo we could have your picture thank you sir I appreciate you coming stand over here just like the kids we are we we're excited to have Sylvia steans Bridget wood and Michael grenal join us in January and so um we'll may be making that transition so one more round of applause for our school [Applause] REM I I just have to uh second everything Dr Wright said and I have to say he did very well because I expected tears he did very very well but but he he got a little out of line we need to uh talk about the elementary school before those presentations Mr Ryan [Applause] Grace so we got a new Banner that we're going to be able to hang up in front of the building there you go I will say it's bigger than our friend's banner down the road uh for a purpose this was this was a big deal um we take the education we provide the kids at the elementary school very seriously and and uh in the last three years we've brought our school that grade up 18 points um mostly in the area of proficiency because we were already high in our other areas so getting students to to essentially pass the test um while it sounds like the test is the most important thing we've done that really through hard work and dedication and and making sure that what we're providing to the kids is quality enough that when they get to that test that test is easy like that's the that's the purpose if we if the test is the hardest thing that those kids have seen all year then we did those kids a disservice all year long and so our teachers you can see they show up in force you know when we when we ask them to they deserve every bit of credit that they can have for this they are there for long hours every day they're there when students need them on weekends to show up to their soccer games they build lasting relationships with these kids and these kids want to come to school um it's a privilege to work with all of these teachers that are here behind me and all the ones that are not here tonight as well um this was just an incredible honor that that i' I feel like they they deserve they deserved it when I got here but they definitely deserve it now because it has been been a lot of work to get here um currently we are one point behind two other schools in the county for being the best elementary school in the county um and that's that's a big accomplishment so uh we're also three or four times the size of those schools so uh one more round of applause for our elementary teachers they are phenomenal human beings and uh I absolutely love working with them we are also joined by an elf and the Grinch over there who's trying to hide from a lot of of uh yeah better than yeah five years ago years ago hopefully we all take the education of our children is as serious as Rachel takes dress up day can we get a picture can we get a picture with you sure you would like the board [Applause] folks I just have to tell you that is that is a very big deal that's a big deal that come from where we were to where we are now and it rest entirely on the faculty at the elementary school you are the best appreciate you so much um know a lot of you personally and I'm gonna let Dr Wright take over yeah thank you thank you and thank you uh for participating we appreciate y for showing up as well and and acknowledging this accomplishment of our our faculty and our students we appreciate you we have now a recognition for those that are involved in sports in any of the Fall Sports irrespective of what sport it is please come on up and then we're going to we're going to announce the various teams if you have a student athlete or a coach that participated in Fall Sports please come on up um I'll MC I think you all need to go over there in front of the bluid banner come on up be here by the banner come on over here and so uh last board meeting Mr KF did a good job of providing a summary of how our girls and boys teams did in the fall from from the various Sports and uh we have a lot of those student student athletes and other traveling and other sports or activities are preparing for the band concert tomorrow but we want to hear from you we don't have a lot of you so we want to know your name and the sport in which you participated or the coach you look like a high school yes I'm Casey flake and I was the junior high Cross Country Coach looks like a high school student but that's coach Lake I'm honey ainson and I'm in the junior high cross country nice job how about you I'm Coleman flake and I did cross country in wrestling way to go I'm K KF and I did wrestling and football nice job I'm Jackson reek and I did wrestling and football my name is Dalton gner and I also did wrestling football my name is my name is Blake Maloy and I also did wrestling football nice job sir Jack esner wrestling coach thank you sir shanon Atkinson in Blue Ridge cross country thank you so for the these three these three coaches put in a ton of time for these students and represents these programs throughout the junior ir and high school we appreciate you immensely for your hard work and kids great job for your participation thank you very much [Applause] um guess not uh students in the month we'll go in uh let's go in just a grade level or start with the elementary school and then was that just Junior High you know what did we High School do high school student athletes if you're here can you stand up I didn't see any is coach hommerson here come on up then uh Eric Cox coach Cox come on up we had we did have one high school coach Shannon come you do both levels come on up give us a real quick view of your season for the for uh for you and the three of you i' appreciate it hi coach Eric hommerson head football coach PE teacher um TSW teacher we had a a great start to a season or my first year back um I'm in alumni graduated from here in 97 um taught here from 2004 to 2006 uh it's great to be back what a great Community great school great leadership uh we started off 7 and0 and then we uh we got in four dog fights and and lost our last four games but made the playoff um and loss to the eventual state champions push Ridge down in Tucson so good season thanks for all your support thanks to the community thank you coach appreciate it I'm just his right-and Man Behind the Scenes so I Echo what he said so cross country had a phenomenal season this year we had 40 kids who were cross country athletes this year which is a humongous program for any school but especially for a school as small as ours we had our girls were a bit of a surprise I knew they would do well all up our classmen for the most part but our senior Ireland McShan came out of the gate running okay anyway but she um she trained during the entire offseason and was our first place run runner for our team most of the season and then unfortunately we had a couple illnesses and injuries going into sectionals we weren't able to secure a spot for State for the girls but we did take two individual girls to State tally Applegate and Gianna gerardi both ran phenomenally at state had great times and then our boys team I knew would be a force to be reckoned with as I've worked with them as they were in junior high I knew they would be great but they far exceeded my expectations um we had I mean all season long they voled for spots on that varsity team so a lot of really great competition a lot of um pushing each other to be better and that's what we love to see eventually we took seven boys for Varsity to sectionals all of them PR and they secured a spot for the state championship and out of those seven we had three freshman boys um jet gerardi Garrett gestner and hold on parley Brandon um we had two sophomores Kemp Smithson and olly Rustin and then two seniors Dylan Nez and Spencer Brandon so our team is extremely young I'm really excited to see the future that they have it's going to be really fun to watch cross country over the next few years years but a special thanks to coach KF has been has done such an amazing job as our new athletic director he's there to support everyone he's on top of things for the most part and he's he's right there wanting to have his hands in it and then also a special shout out I don't I saw her earlier but to Denise Hall for from Transportation cross country is an interesting one because we don't get penalized if meets get changed and times get changed so that happens a lot and they rolled with it and worked with us and so we appreciate that but we're excited to see what next year brings we have 16 graduating seniors this year which we'll be rebuilding our program but we had 16 new kids join this year too so I'm not worried anyway so but thanks to all of you who have supported let me say one more thing real quick because I know coach helmerson won't say this I have been part of the program here since 1999 we went through I have missed five games since 1999 okay this year we had three kids who blew their ACL out we had a kid who broke his back and we have a kid who broke his elbow all kids who were starters at one point scheduled I have never seen that kind of injury and it happened to coincide with us starting to have problems so coach won't ever use that as an excuse and he shouldn't but it is a fact that we did see this year and I haven't seen anything like that in a long long time Eric also is our athletic trainer so he speaks with authority on that topic thank you Eric uh Mr reek did a lot of work I know for the boys soccer and a lot of administrative work helping out our new coach this year I wanted to recognize you Adam for your help and uh and for that I don't see Maya but I'm I know she's working doing something but uh we appreciate the the efforts that were made on the boys and girls soccer programs as well and thank you Adam for your time um and did I miss anybody else I do not want to okay I forgot to mention one super super important thing um jet gerardi placed 15th at State making him not just the fastest freshman in division 3 but he is the fastest freshman in the state of Arizona right now so that's [Applause] phenomenal hence the name Jet right not just a catchy name fast kid and now are we to the program for the awards now let's start at the elementary junior high and then High School you have your own mic all right all right our student of the month it's not just a special day because she's a student of the month but it's also her birthday our student of the month for the elementary school school is Charlie flukiger so Charlie come on [Applause] down all right so Charlie and her family are new to the district this year um Charlie is a kindergartener and she's in Miss krauss's class and Miss Krauss writes that Charlie is a kind and caring friend she has an intuition to know of somebody needs help she always has a how can I make this better for you attitude she always tries her best and is a qu is quiet but a strong force in her classroom every single day so like I said it's not only that she's student of the month but today is also her birthday so Charlie Fluker as our student of the month for the elementary [Applause] school I think we ought to sing happy birthday I think we should too I think Happy Birthday and I'll start that happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday [Music] dear Happy Birthday to [Music] you that's a first yes sir that's cute that is exceptional all right this on yes can you hear me okay okay Hattie can I have Hattie Atkinson come up please Hattie was hatti is an eighth grade student at the junior high and she was nominated uh by a teacher um and her teacher wrote I nominate Hattie ainson for Junior High student of the month because she consistently demonstrates exceptional leadership dedication and kindness within our school Community Hattie's work ethic sets a high standard she always gives her best effort in every assignment and actively participates in class discussions bringing insightful perspectives Beyond her academics Hade is a positive influence on her peers often helping others and encouraging them to succeed her willingness to lend a hand coupled with her friendly and respectful nature make her a role model for others Hattie's commitment to Excellence and her genuine care for her classmates truly embody what it means to be student of the month and I second that hardly she is an exceptional leader on our campus and we are very lucky to have her [Applause] here all right all right so the high school tonight we'd like to recognize Ashlin Smith as our student of the month she's not able to be here tonight because she is playing basketball and so she's representing bluid on the court as we are she's back probably getting ready to warm up and get out there so this is what we have about Ashlin Ashlin Smith is the high school student month for December she's a motivated young lady with a competitive background but is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet she's a compassionate young lady caring about the Gen W being of her peers teachers love having her in their classes because of her hard work and dedication she's taken honors in college classes all four years at bluid and is currently in her second year taking cosmetology with navit program she currently has a 4.7 weighted GPA in addition to her academic success she's an amazing Athlete on the court she has received Regional honorable Mansion Awards in basketball and volleyball and was the second Team all region in volleyball her junior year and was the regional offensive player this year in volleyball so congratulations go out to Ashlin Smith and I will give this to her [Applause] tomorrow and I'm up next right Tasha if I could have Mrs hunt come forward [Applause] please congratulations to you so we want to recognize Tasha hunt for the teacher of the month for for December so a fellow teacher says this about Mrs hunt she shows up looking fly every day of the week somehow she can tame freshmen and get them learning another Stellar history teacher who lays a strong foundation for all of our BR kids thank you TSH on the admin side we're always grateful for tsh's flexibility stepping in to cover for another teacher covering someone else's Duty she always she has also willingly served as department chair and as on the high school t3s helping her col colleagues navigate technology issues it's great having her on campus and we appreciate all that she does thank [Applause] you than we'd now like to make the presentation for the December BR Star Award good evening so Denise from Transportation who was mentioned earlier about getting all our sports kids everywhere they need to go is going to present her one to some that works in her Department he couldn't be here tonight but I wanted her to share what how wonderful he is good evening um I stand before you today to honor an individual who often goes unnoticed yet plays a crucial role in our department with every every trip mark embarks on a journey that's more than just Transportation he navigates busy roads ensuring the safety of our students he does this with patience care and a commitment to duty that is truly admirable Beyond his role as a driver Mark as a mentor and a friend he offers a friendly greeting and a calming word and a watchful eye he creates a sense of community on the school bus fostering a positive and supportive environment we thank him for his unwavering patience and countless hours of dedication to our students and we thank him for being a true hero to all us thank [Applause] you thank you I honestly believe this is my favorite part of every board meeting just coming and seeing all the recognition especially those that are honored in the elementary school at just uh touched my heart a lot tonight thank you Mom for bringing your kids out tonight all right the next item on the agenda is the consent agenda and after looking over the consent agenda board members are there any items that you would like to take out and vote on separately or there anything that you'd like to discuss any items particular that you just like to Chuck yes um I'd just like to make a comment that uh I noticed Dryden Brown the Financial specialist is moving and to my recollection this is the second time we've hired someone to be the assistant Financial director and gone through a Long training paying their salary and and other staff time helping them we get them almost ready to take over and they leave and this is the second time that I can recall that's happened and I wish there was something we could do I I I don't know why they're leaving yeah but it just it bothers me that we're spending a lot of taxpayers dollars and a lot of Staff time to train these people and then they leave and and may I speak to this Mr absolutely in both instances that were family um dren's relocating back to California his wife's from the from this area and so for family reasons they're moving in the same as last it was family reasons uh the other thing I'll tell you these are highly competitive um positions uh we haven't had people hired away from us but they're just they're very specialized positions that are difficult to find and we're seeing a lot of Mobility right now a lot of people making um transitions so it we share your frustration Mr Waldo um I can tell you we vetted these applicants and there were a number of questions about longevity now there's certain things we cannot ask legally you can't ask and you you hope you're having people that have Roots here want to make you know plant The Roots here but it it truly is something that with which we struggle and you know I apologize for that well oh that's all right I just I didn't know why they were leaving but I just noticed it and I'm I'm sure Kimberly has spent many many hours training this person and the one before that out of her day to to do all this um is there any way we can do a multi-year contract were there not with those positions with those positions they're annually by Statute yeah um but we might throw a b BR Jersey in and some cookies or little bit of extra well you know I honestly and all kidding aside we we share in your frustration we are I'm confident we're doing the best we can to try to find folks that are that want to make roots and stay here so good yes sir all right thank you thank you Chuck uh thank you for that answer I I wondered about the same thing myself and I hope that the next person in line will be the best person in line all right so is there anything that we need to take out to vote on independently if not can I have a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented a motion from Chuck second from Margaret all in favor say I and raise your hand I I got it thank you that would be unanimous all right the next item has uh reference to the budget uh revision that we just went through on the public hearing just a minute ago Kimberly is there anything else you'd like to say about that nope I'll just ask for the governing board's approval all right so we need a motion to approve the revised budget as presented in the public hearing have a motion from Jennifer I have a second from Chuck all in favor raise your hand and say I I I thank you uh next item on the agenda is a recommendation to approve the Indian policies and procedures for 2005 25 and 26 school year Dr Wright do you want to explain this is something we have to do every time Kimberly do you want to do that every every year we have to approve this yes have there been any changes since the year before uh no no not no any not really any changes other than um we were monitored by the federal government last spring um this is specifically for impact aid funds um in their monitoring they didn't give us a finding we actually didn't get any findings in our um in our monitoring but they did say that we needed to switch to a template that they have um on their website they're they're they're making all everybody that um gets impact Aid use that template all we did was use the template and and and didn't change anything just put the existing information into their required template so nothing has changed one thing that um has changed is that we need to do um a presentation of our Native American information and data so I'd like to give a very short presentation that um my colleagues have helped me prepare um that it doesn't really have to do anything to do with the Indian Poli policies and procedures it just has to do with what we're doing for Native American students here at Blue Ridge one thing I want to add that's not in the presentation is we have 140 students that are um from the Apache reservation they live on the Apache reservation and they attend blidge that is where we get our impact Aid funding from um last week my colleagues and I met with um the Bia representative from the Apache reservation to go over all of this information they were very impressed and they were very thankful that we had invited them here um to come and speak with us and go over this information and get their feedback um about what we're doing and how we can partner with them I think it was a very productive conversation um and we got a lot of good information out of it and I especially want to thank London she's not here tonight she must be probably at a sporting event she put together um the first part of this presentation and I just want to quickly run through um it's not branded with our normal branding but that's because it's featuring um our Native American students and we've had a lot going on and I kind of just want to showcase that Ryan is then going to come up and talk about our Native American data which is a requirement um for our um impact Aid and our title 6 money which is also a Native American Grant um those two um funding sources combined are about $450,000 to the district um and we appreciate that money um from the federal government um there is I I did want to mention there is some talk about um reducing impact Aid at the federal government with the new government coming in um to uh in on January in January I've um have a lot of experience with impact Aid I worked on the Native American I worked on the Navajo Nation for uh many years um I've gone to Washington I've lobbied for impact Aid I've gone to many many many impact Aid meetings that is likely to not happen um they have a very strong lobbyist group not only does impact Aid pay for um students that live on Native American lands um to come to a public school it also funds um military based schools and so this money is like kind of a big conglomerate um I do not see that that funding going away or being decre inre significantly at all just because of all the stuff that it funds it's just part of the funding formula for education in the United States so if you hear something about it I wouldn't worry too much about it all right so you can see here we're making um uh Indian bread or Indian fried bread um and we have some ladies in our office who um also are uh Native American and they love to make friy bread and so they had an activity here at the school where um they were making fry bread and um talking about their traditional food that they eat um also we had um some Native American royalty here and you can see them and they prepared snack bags and they brought them around to the football team and you can see them there and you see the girl in the front in her traditional dress um we have some uh gate scholarship um awardees that were Native American um they went to Stanford and notredam Notre Dame notam I don't know Notre Jame I'm not a sports person um we also had um um we during um our Native American uh week we had uh students wearing moccasins and then you can see some pictures here of uh some of the moccasins that that the kids wore and they show um their fellow students um we had an an assembly um you can see there's some uh Crown Dancers here that came to uh present in front of our student body um to show their culture and things that they do um uh in their culture and here's more of the um Crown Dancers and the assembly and uh Denise I believe Denise took all of these pictures she's a she loves taking pictures for a bluid she's amazing and she seems to be everywhere all all the time it's just amazing to me you can see we've got um some uh Native American students here um and uh that are using Johnson o Mal money um in in at Blu Ridge with the Apache TR tribe all the Johnson Ali money runs through the tribe not through the district so they apply to the tribe to get that money that's also Federal funding um that can pay for um Sports fees it can pay for uniforms supplies things like that and we have more uh kids participating in sports here this looks like we had some uh young kids here learning to play basketball and as you all know basetball is very popular here uh and then we have uh some awards here for uh GPA for perfect attendance being in the navit program um students that have 4.8 averages and we're just doing um when uh Ryan's going to present some actual academic data here in a minute and you'll see uh and then we've got uh Native American students visiting colleges and I think that one of the conversations that we had with the um representatives from the Bia was what are Native American students doing after um they leave uh Blue Ridge are they going to college are they doing um jobs and trades and they're very the Bia representatives are very interested um in the students getting into trades and um us partnering with them with the Bia to help um students learn how to apply for federal jobs I guess it's a very arduous process um Ryan was telling us about it um he knows some people that have had to apply um for federal jobs and I guess it's very difficult and so they want to partner with us um to help our students be able to do that uh more um talk about universities and U visiting universities oh there's a picture of Denise yay so she since she put all this work into this uh we've got a fall Expo where colleges come and visit us and then and all of our student body get to visit with them and they get to see their opportunities we've got Fort Lewis College there I believe that's in Durango is that correct yeah um a lot of mine I I just wanted to add we have two students uh Native American students at Columbia uh Silas Baka just earned Dean was on the dean list as a freshman in the engineering program at Colombia his older brother is a senior at Colombia and plans to uh attend Harvard after Columbia so we've had some very good success with our our Native American population and uh I just wanted to bring that's cool um and then more career U military um information um and uh helping students get apply for that and get finding career opportunities for them uh and then we had some uh school for ethics and Global Leadership um where they attended that and they got to get some learning um and I I'm not familiar with the SE seagull uh Lauren shaking his head uh then we had uh some the University of Pennsylvania you can see we're doing great things at blidge and opening up doors for all of our students including our Native American students you can see that they um dressed in their um traditional uh uh clothing um for their graduation um and again uh we partner with the Apache tribe for Johnson Ali funds you can see here um Chris Slaughter put together some information about how many Native American students are currently uh or sorry last year were in our CTE program um and you can see here I won't read the list but how they're how they're participating in um our navit program which is awesome here this is hard to read but um Courtney wanted to share her uh the her um students that participate in uh Sports at the junior high Native American students that tall bar is girls basketball right Courtney and that's 80% of the girls basketball team um is Native American at the junior high and this was last year and then uh Courtney had a uh here's just some pictures from our Native American Heritage um week uh month where we're celebrating our Native American students and their their um traditional outfits are just beautiful all right Ryan you're up Ryan put all this data together while he comes to the to the podium he's worked very hard on this it makes a lot of sense to me so if it doesn't make sense to Y all because I've just been staring at it for days at this point um but if it doesn't make sense to you by all means please let me know um and I can stop and and try to go through that so this is going to be our current sixth grade students um the academic data that that Miss dugdale wanted me to pull up was off the state assessment the ACT um and comparing the our Native American subpopulation to our uh overall grade level growth so the first two columns on the left are going to be your uh of each of those grade levels are going to be the current grade level followed by the Native American uh proficiency level so the 47 on the far left is going to be the grade level in third grade from 2122 and then 2122 is the Native American population and then it'll be math is the gray bar and math native American population will be the yellow bar um so as you can see going across it's going to be grades three four and five we are increasing across the board um the trend lines show you that we're increasing both um pretty sharply in reading and also in math which is really good to see um is that we're seeing both subpopulation growth as well as overall growth clicker you have a click you you have the clickers all right perfect next one so uh I think you skipped a slide but it yeah so this is our current seventh grade same thing it's going to start with your 2122 school year 22 23 and then 23 24 um you can see that we are we did have a dip in um math throughout uh but that's a dip kind of across the board in math throughout this is going to be the beginning of the year where we implemented the curriculum um as well as this would be the year where our uh Elementary and probably our Junior High population of Native American students went down a little bit because we no longer were running buses down to White River um and so statistically that makes every student you know weigh a little bit heavier but this would be the start of of our curriculum um as well as we were I think one year into the the current state assessment model that they have uh going the ASA so um in e8th grade see the same kind of thing we're going up in ela we are dropping a little bit uh these are our current eighth graders that're the last year that we have um all of the the same data for to look at um we're dropping a little bit in math but still we are showing gains from previous year so if you you were to look at it not as the cohort you would see that our math is still going up across the board um it's just a little bit lower than what we would like so questions on those all right um oh yeah sorry our current ninth grade is going to be the same thing uh this would be the last year that we have and then they start taking the Act and the ACT Aspire um so we have the 67 e8th grade um this is going to be that 22 23 year is going to be the year where we reimplemented that new curriculum so that's those middle bars um as well as as we we reduced our our population a little bit so it keeps the the numbers weighing a little bit heavier um 11th grade ACT scores so the senior class of 2023 you can see the state average there they don't have a state average for the class of 25 yet uh that I could find but it hasn't changed for our state of Arizona 17.7 our local average is still sitting the same at about a 17 and a half um so our our Native American students they're a smaller group so they each individual person weighs a little bit more than when you take the whole 150 students in the grade or 170 students in the grade um and so they're they're performing right about the same that they have been for the last few years as well as well as our grade levels are performing on the act right about where they have been um it is worth noting that we have students on both ends you know students that are scoring low on their act but we also have students that are scoring in the 34s um which there was a lot more in the 30s than I had anticipated seeing when I started looking at the data which was great to see um the ACT wasn't as big of a deal when I was a student so I don't think that I made a 30 on the ACT I can tell I didn't um so that's a huge accomplishment for these kids uh but our our scores are running pretty much the same across the board um for the last few years uh and then this last one is our graduation rate so this is going to go all the way back to 1920 uh school year 1920 is on the far left with the projected 2024 2025 which would be this Springs graduation rate on the right um so we are trending up on both of those um and recently by looking at some of the data I know that Lauren and his team are working on bringing that up even higher um one of the things that goes into graduation rate is not just the number of students that are here but the number of students that are in your cohort um reported to the state and so being able to uh find any clerical error to remove students that are no long no longer here um goes a long way to helping out our graduation rate um currently we have 15 students in our graduating class and 170 students in our cohort and the counselors and Lauren are working and Megan are working to uh to find some of those in the clerical side of things to remove them all right thanks Ryan all right that is our presentation do you guys do you board members do you have any questions I I just need you to approve my thanks thanks are there any questions regarding that I had one question sure are there any dates specific that the public can attend any group meetings or anything like that like I was reading those those will be coming up yes yep there was one I think January 30th that had to be presented presented and it was open to the public so the public could go see this is one of them okay and we have to like a two week notification s great so that information will come yes all right thank you very much a question yes um going back to the U to the this agreement that we have for the title or the um impact Aid in looking at that um I noticed that in the requirements and procedures that it requires uh us to ask for um responses questions or comments from the public I'm just curious uh you know about how many responses we have gotten and the general gist of those responses once you once you approve it then we'll put it out for public responses and then we'll get feedback and then we can adjust next year's okay this year we had to use their template so we're kind of uh hand tied with what they want us to do what they want all right so that information will come all right thank you appreciate that any questions if not if there question have to approve yes so question I mean we need a motion to accept item number 3.2 which is the Indian policies and procedures for 2025 and 26 I have that motion from someone the motion from Margaret second from Chuck all in favor raise your hand and say I hi hi thank you that looked to be unanimous all right recommendation oh we're going to insert Dr dicks group right now so that they can they're getting looking actually they're looking a little anxious to get out of here and they were looking at the agenda thinking we're gonna be here another hour come on so appreciate you being here now and we'd love to hear from you now oh you're going you know if they don't sing well they sure look good they've been at play practice since 3:45 that's why they're looking ragged come this way come up this end swing this way okay now Center around him there [Music] christas here [Music] [Applause] [Music] everywhere Merry Christmas Merry Christmas [Music] ha ha ding ding ding [Music] [Applause] [Music] we Willow [Music] [Applause] merry Merry Christmas Merry Merry Merry Christmas [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] d da [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] gentle Christ Bor on Christmas day to us all from Satan when we were gone asay tidings oft and joy comfort and joy Tidings [Music] of remember Christ Our Savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan when we were gone asay oh Tidings of Comfort and Joy comfort and joy Tiding of comfort [Music] Comfort Joy [Music] [Applause] God gentle let you dism remember Christ Our born on Christmas day to us all we were Tiding of comfort and joy Comfort Andy Tiding [Music] of Merry Christmas thank you for having us and sorry we couldn't be here earlier but Merry Christmas this was great before you leave we need to know the names of these young men and young women individually yes oh good heavens and then pass it down Zoe Wen my name is NAA quis Katie Larson Spencer Whiting and um can I one of the cookies in the bag keep going thank you going River rig Harley Brandon Zack Ren Kathleen Jensen Alina navarez Georgia Kerr Elliot Woods Spencer Brandon Kem Smithson Santiago Santana Brock Turley Alexandra Vias and I'm Dr D but honestly please have a very merry and a very blessed Christmas and holiday season so we appreciate you and there's a lot of personalities in here if you couldn't tell so we have a lot of fun so my thanks to the parents and to my students and Mom I have to disagree because they're mine too but I won't take her if she's misbehaving I don't want thank you hey there are cookies at the back thank they're specifically for you thank you every year that just gets better and better I appreciate it so much that is beautiful thank you much thank you very much okay next item on the agenda is recommendation to approve the amendment to the church lease we tabled this last month a lot of information has been disseminated since then uh Dr wght or would you like to come up and uh representative of the church we'll hear from now feel free doctor right I feel like I'm at a distinct disadvantage following that yeah that's a hard act of follow Pastor if I could just add this we have for the board's edification we have reviewed all the terms with the lease including insurance and every application and uh we have been told we're appropriately insured the lease is appropriately priced and that the terms meet all the standards required by Statute and I just wanted to reemphasize again the tremendous support this institute is to our this program and these these folks I'll just say these people have been such wonderful people to work with and uh I couldn't say more about what a asset the artar district so Pastor Savage thank you for that I appreciate it thank you for the kind words yeah I feel sorry for you just you know it's like you're a little Piper Club take Cub taken off after a jumbo jet right with that group right there that being said I feel blessed blessed to have been here to hear it so any questions for me you know I have none just uh presentation if you'd like to just tell us what you would like us to do we'd appreciate that uh what I think I said this last month what you have in front of you as an amendment to the lease agreement that the church maintains with the school district uh again I can't overemphasize or overstate the the amazing relationship that we have the amazing partnership we have uh between the school district and the church and between Dr Wright and his staff and between me and my staff and so I thank you for that and it's it's been an amazing few years and I look forward to continuing that the only substantive change in the amendment is the change of the the the lease end date if you will uh the in the in the previous lease or or in the lease agreement that's already on record that was set to expire in mid 2027 we've asked for that to extend through the end of 2030 so does that answer all your questions that that's all I need to hear um any questions from board member anywhere all right so we need a recommendation to uh on this motion to approve the amendment to the church lease have a motion motion from Jennifer have a second from Chuck all in favor raise your hand and say I I I I thank you Diana that looked to be unanimous thank you Pastor thank you very much I really felt bad for you coming up after those kids it's true all right item 3.4 for a recommendation to approve the booster and the PTO and PS ptso organizations um Dr R you want to explain why we're voting on that we're g to uh Kimberly will give the explanation I want to provide a little bit of context though all of the each year there are regulatory changes required of the school district to remain compliant some of these changes require us to be have uh ensure we're tracking spending on programs for uh Title 9 purposes to make sure all the programs the boys and the girls programs are supported equally um this is not these approvals are not driven by the district nor do we have any energy or interest in managing your money or limiting funding these are vital to our programs we just want to make sure we're we are remaining compliant that's it uh we're not going to tell you what to do with your money we're not trying to reduce the money we give you whatever money would be budgeted granted it's small will continue to go forward irrespective of whatever is raised so I just wanted to make sure we made that clear this is not our some effort to regulate even further um but it is it's what's required of of our finance so Kimberly with that I'll turn it over to you thank you Dr right uh governing board members the governing board president so the usfr that's the document that um the State of Arizona uses to uh audit us there it's a questionnaire there's all kinds of questions on it one of the um one of the questions on uh the usfr um asks that the school district the governing board has approved our partners which is our booster clubs and our ptso and our PTO this is just just a formality to um formalize that partnership with them one of the things that that allows us to do is that allows the booster clubs and the PTO and the ptso to use our facilities um as a partnership instead of as a vent um them paying us and this is just one of those ways to formalize that another uh perk of being a formalized ptso or booster club with us is that allows um them to partner with our student clubs in fundraising and to to co-mingle those funds essentially and so we can just to be to add to that in real plain language allows us to provide our resources and Facilities to you without charge if you're a partner we assume that's what you want and that's what we want want to continue these relationships we don't want to create undue expense but we have to follow this path in order to be able to do that and this something that is required every year for the PTO and for the PTO and the boosters to get governing board approved we're just doing we're just formalizing that um on this board meeting there'll probably be more to come as we continue to formalize these agreements and then um on SE they normally moving forward they would be all hopefully approved in the September board meeting um each of the I think there's a representative from each of these booster clubs in ptso here if you have any questions about their purpose or anything like that I did send um the cover sheet from the packet that they submit to us with their officers on it um so that you had that backup information any questions from the board I don't have any questions but I have a big thank you for everything that they've done we appreciate it so much some things would not happen without those those organizations we do have a website set up um on our website for all the pto's boosters um to put their information so that we have it all in one place so the community can just go there and see all of the approved ones that we have I just want to add that thank you all right any questions if there are no questions can I get a motion to approve item 3.4 have a motion from Chuck second from Margaret all in favor raise your hand and say Hi I hi thank you Diana okay we need a recommendation to approve the new hires excuse me um Dr wght are the any of these new hires here that we need to individually recognize or just a group I I do not I do not see any of the new hires here sir all right so can we have a recommendation to reprove to actually I have a question really fast if one of these employees I employ their mother do I need to State a conflict of interest or no okay remove thank you all right so I have a motion then to accept item 3.5 the to approve the new hires of Shelby Myers Elizabeth Meers Brenda R Rodas have a motion second by Chuck all in favor raise your hand say I I I thank you all right recommendation to approve out ofate travel for Denise Hall to a why would you want to go to is it De Moine Iowa in the winter I'm sorry I'm sorry it's in May oh it's in May I was thinking it was next month and I was thinking holy cow you don't want to go there beautiful there yeah May is beautiful beautiful in Iowa yeah unless you get in a tornado exactly so this is this is a um National Congress on school transportation is there anything you'd like to tell us about that we do have a packet as she's coming up I just want to say that um Denise was selected for this um through a um application process and she's going to tell you more about it but I'm proud that Blue Ridge can get represented at a national level and Denise is very passionate about um student transportation and I don't think that we could send a better representative someone that is so knowledgeable and trains people all around the state about transportation and Transportation laws so I'll let her share but I'm very proud that she got selected so this is not a burden this is a reward yes so to speak all right thank you um I am deeply honored um to have followed her I am not that quite that important but thank you very much um I'm honored to be one of the three delegates representing Arizona at the National Congress of school transportation um this conference plays a vital role in shaping and improving Transportation safety standards for the students across the country as a delegate I will review and provide input on proposed laws and amendments related to the student transportation ensuring that they align with the best practices and prioritize student safety this opportunity allows me to use my knowledge and training to make a national impact on student safety which is something I am deeply passionate about is there any questions yes any questions of Denise Chuck um I'm just curious since you're representing you're one of three I guess representing the State of Arizona um are is this District funding the total cost of this that is correct okay aside from I'm just curious since it's you're representing all of Arizona basically and I greatly appreciate that yes any other questions concerns not then we can we have a motion to accept item uh 3.6 yeah at the end come back and tell us what you learned absolutely thank you so we have a motion to ex uh to accept item 3.6 as presented a motion from Jennifer a second by Margaret all in favor to raise your hand and say hi hi thank you Diana thank you thank you Denise and good luck all right next item on the agenda is item 3.7 and this is a recommendation for out ofate travel for the graphics team um Mr Peterson do you want to tell us what you're going to do and why no I told you I was going to grill you this I knew it was coming um Okay so we've been taking kids out to California for a long long time I think personally I've probably done about 15 of these trips and then I was with my dad when he was doing a number of his trips as well um some of the main highlights for the kids is we go to the Huntington Library Museum um they get to see a lot of the old manuscripts and stuff they get to see the Gutenberg B which was printed in 1450 um one of the first books ever printed um and it's something that we we is part of stuff that we cover in class and then they get to see firsthand um this stuff um so that's one of the big things the other thing is we go to the um the Expo there in Long Beach Convention Center and that has it's a huge Expo and they get to be able to see what big business is like international business and stuff U with screen printing and printing and signage and all that kind of stuff and a lot of companies and stuff of course are selling their things things like that but it's it's a good for the kids to experience and see the big picture that a lot of times we don't get to see while you know being here on the mountain but they get to see the more the global picture of the whole thing so those are the two main things we go out there for any questions I think it's a great great thing to do thanks I did notice that you're going to drive ride the train over there yeah since we when since we don't have the Vans available I guess for insurance and you know something like that um so our vans the school Vans we can't take those anymore so we haven't done this trip for a few years um and so we figured this would probably be the only way to do it would be to go ahead and take the train or fly out there that's an experience in myself I'm sure it'll be something I haven't experienced so yeah Chuck you had a question just couple of comments one David thank you for coming back again this year yes and secondly thank you for taking the kids every year is something that's not required in your contract and you and your wife very dedicated in taking these kids over there and I've done many of these trips myself and believe me it's it's not easy how many are thank you how many are um looks like right now probably six students and then my wife and I and one of the parents so great all right so can we have a motion to accept item uh 3.7 as presented motion from Chuck a second from Margaret all in favor raise your hand and say I I thank you Diana all right next item on the agenda is recommendation proof out of state travel for the scene your trip um I guess we're getting a head start on that uh may I make a comment before Miss Rachel starts yes go ahead bring your stuff about eight years ago this young lady said I want to be a teacher and I said well I tell you what you graduate college come back and we'll hire you Mr web made good on that promise so she is an amazing she's a first year teacher but I would think if you just watched her perform she's a very experienced teacher she's outstanding and I'm thankful for the energy she has brought to the senior class and in the classroom and she and Sydney are doing a wonderful job supporting our kids and I just wanted to say thank you Miss Rachel well deserved do I have to okay uh thank you for having me here um so I'm just here to approve the senior trip we are planning on going from May 10th through the 13th and we have our chaperon as lovely Mr web Alex stubbin and Mr height so those are our three male sherons that are planning to go our three female shopon are Miss Slaughter Miss woods and um oh my gosh who's the other one I just trying to miss lingo isn't oh it's Gina Gina Bowman so um us two student council advisers we are we are stepping down for going on the senior trip because we want the moms of the seniors to go and because they're faculty here at the high school so they're going to go um but I need your approval please if we can have them go on the senior trip it is out of state it's going to California uh we have the Disney grad night we also got approved to go for that um I can give you the quote for that too the Disney grad KN night only certain amount of high schools can go to that so that was really amazing that we got approved to go they go from 8:00 a.m.

good e hello hello okay mues we're gonna go ahead and get started all right so we're going to start get started with our budget hearing for R revision number two of the 2425 maintenance and operations in District additional assistant budgets and Mr Man I will go ahead and turn it to you thank you Madame President members of the board um you this is kind of routine but there's some interesting twists and turns and I'm speaking slowly to give Miss Shapiro a second here to get her presentation up and running and with that I will turn it over to Miss Shapiro to walk us budget revision thank you um Madame President governing board member superintendent man I am uh presenting tonight the fiscal year 20242 revised budget number two um we've discussed this a couple of times in our uh budget conver ations that in October the Arizona Department of Education does notify us if we are in a situation that requires a December budget revision this is in accordance with ars1 15- 905e we did receive a letter from the Arizona Department of Education stating that our District budget was exceeding the limit by $494,000 and um approximately and that a revision was required so some of the factors that do um require us to do a budget revision typically in a budget year is that we don't necessarily know our final budget balance carry forward when we bring our initial adopted uh proposed and adopted budget um this year with our revision number one we did make that um update to our numbers also another area that can impact the um and require a budget revision is that our final year end calculation of our student data isn't necessarily completed uh when it comes time to gather data in October um which is what they review in order to determine if we need a budget revision this year in October we did have uh some minor student data and our free and reduced price lunch data was not available in our um student data information due to a couple of reasons um our specifically our sped preschool data there were some complications in getting that uploaded to the Arizona Department of Ed we work with a student management system that system has to collaborate and talk to the Arizona Department of Ed system and sometimes we will have some issues with that our it department and our vendor worked diligently to ensure that that student data was updated in November fortunately it was not in time for the October review the other um piece that really impacted the budget was that ad revised the rules uh for submitting the free and reduced price lunch data student data uh because of that it didn't give our vendor time to make updates on their end to ensure that that data would upload properly um they have been working with us and again uh the problem has been resolved that was resolved in December and those counts are now showing up in our budget numbers again because they were not in our numbers in October it has required a budget revision um as per Arizona statute so those were the reasons for our December Revision in May when we bring a budget revision back to the board that's when those numbers will be updated and our final budget numbers uh will be corrected that's all I have and before I turn it over to any board members for comments or questions Miss wattis do we have any public comments okay perfect board members do we have any questions or additional comments all right um I was just gonna say thank you for everything and explaining all those adjustments and this is so small but under comments on your first page it says steamed on YouTube instead of streamed oh but I will correct thank you all right awesome thank you and that will since we have no questions or comments that will conclude our budget hearing portion of today's meeting and we could go ahead and get started where our regular board meeting the crane school district understands that our community of schools is located on the ancestral land of the oam jid and Akim oam people who descended from Hohokam and have inhabited these lands since time in Memorial the oam whose name translates literally to people are a vibrant culture and communi spanning countless of generations into the past continuing to thrive in the present and carrying a powerful Legacy for Generations into the future with this acknowledgement the Kon School District formally recognizes that the traditional care and 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 next agenda item 1 C is a rooll call we have everybody here Mr Man Miss Gibson McLean Miss SS myself miss m Jeffrey I shouldn't have said Mr Man no no you forgot Pledge of Allegiance oh my bad um Mr dupen or Dr dupen can you please lead us in the pledge thank you Miss wates I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to theic na indivisible thank you that brings us to our roll call Miss Gibson mle Miss SS myself Miss Mev and Miss MC cheffrey we want to welcome everyone to tonight's meeting and remind the audience of the request to address board cards that must be completed submitted to the board secretary if you wish to speak to an agenda item board policy provides for two cards White cards to be submitted in order to speak to a specific agenda item and blue cards to be submitted in order to speak during public comments due to the open meeting law board members are not allowed to address items that are not on the agenda white and blue cards can be um found on the left side by the coffee pot all right I move the governing board approve the agenda as presented second all those in favor I I also since we just did our adoption or we just had our budget hearing I move the governing board adopt the Revis number two total aggregate School District per a RS 15- 905 and specifically 15- 905 E1 for fiscal year 2425 second all those in favor I awesome thank you that brings us to 3A um we're going to do a special recognition of our outgoing governing board members do we have any um public comments for the specific agenda item okay um the administration and governing board would like to with great sincerity recognize the following outgoing governing board members for the service that they have given to the children and community of the CR Elementary School District we have Amy Miss MC cheffrey January 1st of 2015 through December 31st of 2024 that is 10 years of service Miss lindsy McCaleb January 1st 2021 through December 31st 2024 four years of service it has been a great honor working with both of you um I ran a slate the first time I ran with Miss MB and Miss SS it's been an amazing four years even though through our discussions you know differ since alignments and it's beautiful that for the past year we've been able to get on board and making sure that we're always putting our students first Miss MC cheffrey I want to thank you for every single time that when it was hard for some of us to say the things that maybe we didn't really want to see you have always brought an amazing perspective and always push for what's best for the district and for that I can never thank you enough um I would like to give this time to miss MC Jeffrey or Miss MB and any other board members if they have any comments or if you have any last words to say because it is our last meeting of the year I I'm sure we'll be seeing you guys around M Miss MB did you want us to talk first and then you guys yeah yeah that's fine I'll go because you might have more than me um I I can't believe I've been here for two years already I was just thinking oh wow um but it feels like I just got here but probably that's because the work has been I wouldn't say easy but good and so um kind of just echoing everything Sophia has said um you both have such uh very strong perspectives in and rooted in kind of your backgrounds and why and your why always and I think that shows through and how you show up on the board every day um and um I think Lindsay you've been invaluable as Heather um in in making sure that um we have teacher voice on this board and and even if it isn't somebody currently working in the district but folks who really get it um and I think just again Amy obviously you slog through some years on on some boards with some interesting characters um and so I think that um you know it's hard to survive some of those situations and feel like you're you're speaking and um I hope you feel confident in leaving where we're at right now so thank you thank you Miss Gibson mle misss um Lindy um I I've always appreciated your insights um and I am so happy that we ran together and that we've become such great friends and um I just really value our our friendship um Amy thank you for all the time that um you've put um on the board I know we always didn't see eye to eye but I really feel that we always did have the best interest of the kids in our hearts even if we didn't agree on everything so thank you Mr Man or Dr dupin if anybody else wants to say anything before I turn it over give me a microphone in a couple of minutes happy to contribute um I'll start Miss MC cheffrey with you I just want to thank you for 10 years of service I think you have watched so many of us grow as school leaders you've contributed to our growth with your critical thought partnership your encouragement your great questions and you have been a tireless advocate for excellence in kraton school district and and we have we have worked through some stuff and we are grateful kraton is positioned well because of your leadership and the Legacy that you leave is vast and my hope for you is that as you take your final vow tonight that you can look back on these 10 years of service and recognize the the wonderful contrib contributions that you have made to all of us to our students and that's going to go on for Generations thank you so much Lindsay we have worked together in so many different capacities during your time in the district I remember working close close I've observed you teach I've watched you try so many cool Innovative practices we worked in Design Studio together you helped us build the infrastructure that has become the curriculum and instructional resource tools that we have today and always creative always Innovative always ready to try new things um and always seeking to put children first and to help us grow as an organization so you too leave your legacy of leadership um on all of us who remain on the generations of or the kids who've been here and the generations of students that will uh come in the future through our doors so thank you for your kind-hearted leadership you're modeling both of you for your years of service and I just want to say especially now where it feels like the rule of law the role of policy the foundations of democracy are challenged every day you know local school boards this model of governance where local communities make decisions for themselves through their elected officials is is hard work and it's it's to me never been more important that we have excellence in board leadership to really show how how democracy can function for the betterment of a community and you've really embodied that so thank you both so very much for your service to to the kraton community m m cheffrey i I would love to give a list of all the amazing Partnerships you've helped us form over the years but I would miss them all so I'm GNA I'm just going to share one in particular because it came up today um we were talking about an opportunity we have to potentially have a new partner to bring more music into the district and one of the things in our conversation that U that Dr dupin brought up was well we already have a mod for this because of the partnership that we have with Phoenix boys choir that was one of the many connections that you've made for us um but that have had a pretty deep impact on opportunities for students within our district so you know beyond the Partnerships you've been a tireless advocate for the community for what's right um and I have appreciated the combination of not only your support but your willingness to challenge me to help me push harder and further um I think has been really really important over the years and so thank you very much for for all of that um I think you've really helped this District move forward in ways that we might not have had we not had your support here as a governing board member um Miss MB you you always say I have the story wrong I still believe you pushed me out of my chair and took over the spreadsheet from me back in the day um so it didn't actually push it was there was no violence involved but you know it's been a pleasure to work with you as a teacher in the district as somebody who was a member of our Capital team that helped us um not only with passing the bond um that we passed in 2016 but also with the bond that we just recently passed as well a lot of that work is kind of outgrowth from that earlier work there's a connection there between you and and Miss MC cheffrey who helped pass our prior bond to that and helped us get our first M override in a number of years and capital override and as a Community because of both of your hard work we've been able to maintain all of those funding sources for the district and as um funding in Arizona you know we're 51 out of 50 states We're Not Gonna not likely to get anywhere near the national average anytime soon and as much as we hate the local taxpayers having to help out you've helped create value for the local taxpayers to be confident in helping out um in addition to that I remember you were a member of our Teachers Association and while we are streaming this meeting today live from this boardroom there was a time when you were the one with a handheld webcam here to stream the meeting from the board so um so it's as a board member you've helped our thinking you've brought your Professional Knowledge to bear and it's been super helpful to me in my first year and a half as a superintendent to have someone with your depth of knowledge as a classroom teacher and your time as a principal to fall back on um for wisdom and guidance so thank you thank you Miss MB do you have any words to say I'm gonna try um my goal tonight was to not cry on the days um not making promises um as uh Miss Aris and Miss Creo stated we ran a slate together in a pandemic um so I decided in the February of 2020 to try and go for an appointment didn't get it and said I'm but I'm going to run and then you know the world fall apart so um what a journey with the two of you running and then um with Miss MC cheffrey um as we navigated 2020 and 2021 as a board um very challenging but very rewarding um in all that was accomplished it's been a privilege to serve on the board for the past four years um on top of my five six years um working in the district prior to that um and uh for those of you that were listening back in this past February when I announced I wasn't rerunning um I for the record while it was a hard decision to make I am glad because I already have two night classes next semester that would have been a conflict um but I have learned so much and uh you will not be getting rid of me I plan on finding ways to continue to stay involved in the community um through committees and whatnot and I'm super excited to welcome our new board members and watch all of the amazing work this is I watch a lot of board meetings and read a lot of news about school boards and uh part of why I ran in the first place was seeing some dysfunction on the board that and as a staff member and so to be leaving with what I feel is truly aligned cohesive um strength of coming together and working so closely with our amazing new superintendent not new anymore really but um I'm just really proud of all the work this board has done the cabinet all of our administrators all of our teachers all of our staff um just thank you all for doing everything you do for this community thank you Miss MC sheery yeah um thank you thanks for those kind words to everybody um you know this it's not a secret that this has been a frustrating position for me um but it's been rewarding too I'm really I feel like I am leaving um the board and the district in a better place today and we had a nice um conversation and executive session just about how I think this board is in a really great position with Mr Man um um leading the way as our superintendent um because I haven't seen the board so aligned really since I've been on the board so it's really refreshing and relieving um and I think that's going to continue with our new board members that are coming in um so it I you know I'm happy to be leaving the board in this position and I think we're making progress it it's not always as fast as we want it but I see progress and so um I'm really grateful for everyone coming on board with the sofg because I think that's going to get us where we want to be um and while still recognizing all of the challenges that live outside the goals in the guard rails um so you know it's been a privilege I I want to say um the kids at kraton um are you know as capable as smart the smartest kids that I have seen you know as my kids were growing up so they are capable of doing everything that every other kid in any other District are in so please have faith in them and you know give them Grace for when they're you know misbehaving or doing whatever they shouldn't be doing for whatever reason but I have 100% confidence that um we're going to see um some growth here um in the next year so I'm excited to hear about it so um please keep me posted on all that and thank you thank you very much yes certificate and oh yes I better still get eighth grade promotion dates because I still have forever my student forever my kid so still have a few more years was eighth grade can you guys get a certificate in a nice open it open it it's an engraved that way you can never forget about K thank you plus if anything through the pandemic you have to stay hydrated thank you guys so much for your service and I hope that this is not the last time you guys are engaged you guys invaluable and we want to see you guys thank you all right that moves us over to our next item which is 3B and I'm so excited about this we have three well two new whole new board members that will be joining us and incumbent Miss SS that got reelected to another four years so at this time we would like to take the opportunity to publicly swearing the newly elected governing board members for a term of office to be three four year terms for January 1st 2025 to December 31st 2028 after the S um swearing in I will take a 15minute recess if you guys want to take pictures with your families up here in the Das whatever you guys want to do congratulate each other we'll do that and then after the 15minute break we'll come back and continue with our agenda um Miss htis do we do this up here in the front and then I have each one o of office we also have a notary here we have um Maria heenez here so after they're sworn in they can go over to the back counter and she can um notorized their signature on the old office I do need this back because I need to send it to um the mer County and then um and then you know we'll get perfect and then um if we can have all three just come up here I'll meute you guys at the podium down here and we can start with Miss SS feel like it's been like a quiet Church service so far and so don't be alarmed you can make noise in this room so you want to clap for somebody or you're happy please share we're not yeah can you guys hear me yeah if you want to we like this so they can see all right you're just gonna repeat after me okay State of Arizona county of Maricopa I Heather SS I Heather SS do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona and the Constitution and laws of the state of Arizona that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies and defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic foreign and domestic and that I will faithfully and impartially and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office discharge the duties of the office of governing board member of cranon Elementary School District number 14 of governing board member board member of Katon Elementary School according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities so help me God so help me [Music] go all right Miss Nico Marquez all right I Marquez I marus do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and law of the State of Arizona and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and defend them against all enemies and defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic foreign and domestic and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and partially discharge the duties of the office the duties of the office of governing board member of governing board member of Kayon Elementary School District number 14 of kraton Elementary School District number 14 according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities so help me God so help me God I Tristan H Jones I Tristan h Jones do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Arizona and the Constitution and laws of Arizona that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and defend them against all enemies defend them against all enemies foreign and domestic foreign and domestic and that I will Faithfully and that I will faithfully and impartially and impartially discharge the duties duties of the office of governing board member discharge the duties of the governing board member of kraton Elementary School District number 14 of kraton elementary school district 14 according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities so help me God so help me God yay we want to do a picture with the board number yeah we can have I don't sound so infused and I call for the 15 minute recess now e e e good we have like five minutes left and we can go get started in charge I know all right thank you so much we're going to go ahead and reconvene that brings us to item 3C which is governing board reports and we're going to go ahead and get started started with Miss mcrey well I don't I don't have anything more to say other than what I said before so thank you thank you Miss MB I was saying nothing other than um to all the staff I hope you survive the ne what do you have a week and a halfish eight days eight days all right um sorry I'm spoiled right now I'm not on a regular school year calendar this year it feels weird um but and truly take some time to relax and enjoy the holidays with your families and your friends thank you Miss MB Miss Gibson McLean um we just met for our advisory committee yesterday um and had a fun conversation and we're coming right back next Monday so where we get really putting the work in folks so again for your viewing pleasure on YouTube or come and join us in person if you want to hear about student conduct policies that we're revising And discussing um just excited for the work that we're continuing to do in that committee um and hopefully we'll grow that into other areas as well um yes eight days that's very exciting um I used to yeah just I used to recall what it felt like leading up to winter break and I can only commiserate and hope that everyone makes it in one piece and um trying to think of what else um um very pleased with our uh dismissal of the lawsuit that was brought against us um I know other people probably have more eloquent things to say but given that I'm from here you know you can't bring somebody up from Scottdale up in east Phoenix and try to beat us it ain't gonna happen so I'm very pleased with with with the results um and so I just think it's the right outcome and I know that there'll be an appeal I'm certain that there will be I'm I'm also certain that the the arguments that our um legal team made were strong and also I think that the precedent that it sets given if people aren't aware of the specifics of the statute in kind of kind of um enumerating a unique way to find standing in court that's not really seen in any other part of our um State statutes or Constitution or really recognized in common law of any state to just be able to have standing to anyone um I think that if we're continue to be successful on appeal it'll really um narrowly Define how how that statute is enforced in the future and only to our benefit because it will survive attacks like this which are baseless and unwarranted and continue to um let these programs Thrive as they should I'm I'm happy for our students I'm happy for our families I'm happy for our community and I'm most pleased that um we've stayed United as a board and as an administrative team in knowing that these programs are uh great for our communities and our kids and that um the right thing to do is to keep them going even if we're facing consequences one or two times or even if we see it again um we're still going to be ready to fight that and so um I'm just happy with the outcome and I appreciate everyone's kind of unwavering support of these programs and and them continuing within our district thank you SK some to clean Miss SS good evening um I just want to take a second to thank the community for um reelecting uh me into this position um I'm really happy to continue on with the work that we've been doing um I really enjoy seeing a different side of um education um so I've done a lot of different roles in education and this is something completely different so it kind of gives me a 360 view um and I I really am happy that we're continuing with the sofg framework um I really do truly believe in it and um think that it's that our kids are going to benefit from it um yeah eight days I'm totally counting I'm not going to lie like I want to countd down the hours because like I feel like everybody is really just needing this break so I'm really looking forward to this break um and I hope that the rest of the staff um has a great um holiday um during the two weeks so thank you thank you Miss SS um just for me I'm gonna double down on what Miss um Gibson McLean stated I am so happy that the Dual language um lawsuit was dismissed and I'm so thankful for our governing board members for standing strong at the end of the day we do represent the vision of the community and I know that dual language is a very much loved and wanted um parent choice you know using the same the terms that Mr horn likes to talk about um parent choice and I am so happy that that happened and that the governing board stayed steadfast I know of other districts that have ended their dual language programs in their districts because of whatever reasons if they were I don't know um but I'm just so thankful for our governing board members that said no this is what our community wants this is what's best for our students and we're going to hold steadfast and just bring it on so bring it um um also I was so happy and pleased to hear that um some of our administrators and coaches have gone through the sofg um training I know that it is very hard work but I will always double down on the student outcomes part that we are here to make sure that our students are thriving and that they have the tools that they deserve to succeed in any aspect of themselves it takes a huge mindset change um to jump on to something like that and it's much needed um it is the adults in the you know in the environment That Make It or Break It for these students or students are capable and we talk about parallel processing a lot and whatever our adults in the institution are parallel processing down to our students is imperative so I'm thankful to all those who are doing the work and to those who need a little bit more mindset work I I hope that you take that opportunity and and get on it so we have the best outcomes for our students and that is all for me we're going to go ahead and turn it to our superintendent report Mr Man thank you Madame President um one thing I I wanted to note um is that on our consent agenda tonight um should the board approve him um we have Mr Dominic Ruth who's being recommended for Director of Finance and he's not with us tonight because he's ill so I just wanted to I didn't want anyone to think he didn't show um and also wanted to if he happens to be watching wish him to get well quickly because we have a lot of work for him here in the district assuming the board approves his uh role here in the district so um in addition to that I have some really exciting news that I don't think we've had a chance to share in a board meeting yet but um some of these things feel like they were a thousand years ago even though it was probably two weeks but our manav Vista soccer team not only took first place in the district but they took first place in the idak tournament I so blue doubles I'm a Blue Devil well and and that idak tournament is um basically an interdistrict competition um among some of the districts uh that are part of the Phoenix Union grouping um and so it's typically pretty competitive so it's a a pretty big win for for armont of devils and um I didn't go back to check the record but I'm kind of wondering if that might be our first first place win in that tournament so it's pretty cool um and I know everyone shared a little bit about you know winter break is is upon us um I've been trying to share a message out with a lot of people and and I apologize but I'd like to share it here tonight you know the holidays are a truly delightful time but they're also a time that can be very much filled with stress right there's a lot of pressure on people it's the time where you know if there's family illness or tragedy it really kind of comes back to us again and so it can also be a very stressful time and so two things that I'm trying to be mindful of that I would like to share with others is that you know as that stress comes upon us it is very easy for us to transfer it to others we you know stress is very contagious and so my encouragement is for us to try to bring a sense of calm to each other rather than a sense of stress um and to also be very aware that for our students you know we get very excited about we've worked so hard all semester and now there's a period of break but for our students very often it is a time of stress because their safe place might be our schools and so the place where they get their meals from the place where they have safety and comfort is very very often within our buildings and within our doors so my thoughts go out to them I know we have support systems within the district um to help with support during the break but it's it's always a concern that I have and one of the things that I'd like to just kind of reiterate is that for our staff if you're feeling stress at this time of year we do have an employee assistance program that's there to help support you um and for staff students and Community we do have a partner in care Solace that can help with getting people connected with um support services that they may need and so I just kind of wanted to give a shout out for that as well because um you know very often when you're at that point of stress restrain it's difficult to start thinking about where you might get support So It's always important to be aware of it um before the need arises so with that I will stop lathering on and pass it back thank you Mr Man and I I apologize I forgot two important things one of them is I want to give a big shout out to our facilities team I know that um we're about to end the tree plantings of the grant that we got um LC I think um lck is the last school um Friday this Friday so I was able to attend one of them 32 trees were planted and it's just amazing because a lot of our schools are as you seen on previous agenda items square footage is being reduced and we're creating more outdoor spaces for our students and just the fact that our facilities team is on Deck you know there to um help out with the Arizona sustainability Alliance too big shout out to them because they were the ones that brought the tool schols the students got to plant these trees and it's just amazing seeing the kindergarteners first and second graders do that because by the time they hate 8th grade some of these trees are going to be matured and they were part of that so huge shout out to the facilities team and to the City of Phoenix for giving us this grant to be able to make our spaces more Greener and give their students shade during the summer because I always think it's crazy that when it snows like in Chicago people will stop school because they're snowing but we don't stop school because of the heat advisories that we have here so shade and trees are hugely important for that so thank you and thank you to all the principles for working because I know it takes a lot of you know especially with the solar panels that are going in there's a lot of stuff going on and still making the time to make sure that everybody arrives safely comes back and forth for this to happen I I was very pleased to see that and the best facilities yes we do have the best facilities team ever I I will double down on that um and also so um I was in one of our schools and I experienced what uh teachers calling out and having no subs looks like and I just want to double down on the administrators and teachers I saw teachers taking in extra kids from other classes I was there to volunteer for something else and then I was helping you know take all the kids everywhere to their designated areas and it really takes a village so it's beautiful to see how schools really take part in that community and we all just take care of each other so our students can be you know well so I really think those teachers that took all those extra kids on top of their class and trying to maintain everything it's it just I know it's really hard work I I could never do it that's why I'm not an educator but um it's it's beautiful to see it because I know that the majority of our people here are really for their students and not their self-interest so I just want to give a big shout out to that and yes hopefully you get the must rested that you guys need um coming on this winter break thank you all right that brings us to 4A which is our student outcomes Focus governance update we will be talking about progress monitoring report goal one and two and guard rail number one so in Fall of 2023 Kayon School District adopted a student outcomes Focus governance s SOG framework to ensure the focus on improving student outcomes the infographic that we have on the agenda that anybody can access provides information on sofg and describes the initial efforts that the district has taken to implement this framework the sofg framework is based on the idea that student outcomes don't change into adult behaviors change using sofg the cron School District board aims to create conditions that support improving student outcomes the sofg frame framework is structured around six research informed compet competencies vision and goals monitoring and accountability unity and Trust guardrails communication and coll collaboration and continuous Improvement the vision and goals describe the community's vision for the future direction of the school district they distinguish between inputs outputs and outcomes and pertain only to student outputs and outcomes and our goals are smart formatted meaning that they are specific measurable attainable result focused and time bound our guard rails our guard rails are based on Community Values and the Strategic plan vision and goals they identify specific actions that the district leaders may not use or allow in Pursuit Of The District student outcome goals and they do not undermine the district's ability to meet goals but often required leaders to accomplish them in a different way up here we have our goals and our guardrails for everybody to see and we also have them on the agenda and we're going to be doing our progress monitoring report um we're going to be going through our progress monitoring report and you may ask what is the progress monitoring it is a conversation between the school board and superintendent that provides boards the opportunity to evaluate the alignment between the community's vision goals towards student outcomes and the school's District's reality the current student performance or growth while student outcomes goals and current student performance may not match perfectly it only becomes problematic when there is no evidence of student growth and progress and even if students areen yet growing and making progress that's only catastrophic if the superintendent doesn't have sufficiently aggressive strategies in place for increasing growth and helping students make progress in addition to clarifying student and superintendent performance monitor when done well it confers several other organizational benefits it's lead by example it clarifies strategies it communicates expectations so we're all on the same page and it creates a formative evaluation with that being said we're going to go ahead and get started with our sofg goal one progress monitoring report and I will turn it over to either Mr Man or Dr dupin for this presentation I'm just gonna give a a quick frame and the Dr D but um I think just kind of marking our progress as a team um this is act well this is progress report two for goal one this actually marks the very first time that we not only have sort of our pre- dat but we actually have a a point in time of progress towards looking at outputs right or sorry toward yeah towards looking at outputs which are intended to be predictive of our outcomes and so it's it's kind of a milestone for us um it's our first time with that and then um upon completing goal one report two and goal two report to we have our very first guardrail report and guard in our first guardrail one um progress report and so just kind of wanted to note that because I think it's important as we're working through our our first year of having all of the components of the student outcomes Focus governance framework up and running and that may have been a little bit of an overreach because I'm not sure we have all the components yet but the most of the major components and so with that I will turn it over to Dr dupin to walk us through progress monitoring report for goal one report two thank you superintendent man president CIO members of the governing board and fellow members of executive team and Community just a reminder that goal one is focused on decreasing minimal Proficiency in mathematics for all eighth grade students the goal is that the percent of eth grade students that score minimally proficient on aasa math will decrease from 73% % in August of 2023 to 48% by August 2028 so that is our expected outcome we're monitoring progress along the way this year our annual Target based on and this graph shows all of our expected annual outcomes for the duration of the goal this year's annual Target is that the percent of eighth grade students that score minimally proficient on aasa math will decrease from 77% in August 24 to 71% by August of 25 so progress along the way we shared last time as as these were developed we have a current measure and an interim measure our current measure is looking at the group of students who are in that grade currently so our current eighth graders our interim measure is the kids who are going to be making progress this year they're in fifth grade those fifth graders are the eighth graders of 2028 and so we'll be monitoring their progress along the way and development as well we use two data sources for this goal and for the inter measure the primary data source is the ASA State assessment there is also um we use our DNA benchmarking assessment for the interim measures and I will say that the there is some talk just as a awareness for all of us there's some talk at the at the State Board about making some some adjustments to the stand standards and the state assessment that would be aligned to that um the current conversation is around right now we have a comprehensive set of Standards the conversation is about creating power standards or Focus standards within each content area U this could have a prettyy dramatic effect on the state test moving forward this is some years in development but the conversations are starting and they're really starting to get attention so I I can't predict at this point in time how this may affect our our progress and tricks but it'll be part of our conversation that was going to be my question yeah if they change this right now we're fortunate in that the blueprint so we can build a set of expected goals and annual targets uh in in like form so if that if that changes dramatically we may have to relook it at some of our targets we we will also have to be very mindful of how cut scores are established for each of the proficiency levels um but if that happens or if as the conversation evolves we'll continue to bring that information forward to all of you keep you informed so we can respond according so this is the breakdown of for current measure 1.1 for this year's eth grade students this is the breakdown of students who scored minimally proficient in math on interim Benchmark one this is the assessment that our students took the pre-assessment is right away in August interim Benchmark one was taken in October so all the data we're talking about with this interim measure collected in October our students are getting ready I believe on Monday they start interim Benchmark to so we'll have a whole new set of data for the upcoming uh round of progress reports but this is looking at reality of life back in January I'm sorry back in October um when you when we scan across our uh all of our schools you can see that the rate of minimal proficiency ranges from 81% at butore prep um the rest of the schools are kind of clustered between 93 95% up to 100% so there is still very much work to do in that uh with that that subgroup so the current measure of eth grade students um again with that inter and Benchmark measure there is uh some success to report at at the time of the inter and Benchmark one we were at 95% of students scoring minimal proficient and when we work with these we're always looking for places where there has been some change for the positive and so what we can what we notice here is that this proficiency level at 95% minimal proficient is actually lower than it was in the prior to school years when interim Benchmark one was at 97% so it's it's early to to call that it's early to call that a trend um but it is a a glimmer of positivity in in this this work which is going to be representative incremental progress so in our analysis we highlight that change the fact that that minimal proficiency level is lower um we know that our rate of students who scored minimally proficient decreases pretty substantially in 22 23 we went from 97% at the end of interim Benchmark one and I do have a little pointer going on the screen so kind of keeps my thinking on if that helps I don't know um 97% minimal proficiency after an A Benchmark one that went all the way down to 83% that's a 14% decrease last year we went from 97% again in Benchmark one down to 79 so being that we are at 95% we need to get a decrease of 18% to reach our um current our current measure for this year we we are making the determination at this time that we are currently on track to reach this the current measure 1.1 we also want to call out some schools where we're seeing some favorable progress and papao they had a decrease of minimal proficiency of 7% so this we we don't have the answers to this at this time but we are curious about what is happening with that set of practices with with with those conversations with those students in order to see if there's things that we can learn that can be beneficial across the district the Gateway had a decrease of 4% minimal proficiency and Linda had a decrease of 1% uh in measure 1.2 focuses now on our fifth grade students again these are the students who will be eth graders in 2028 again you can see the proficiency um the ranges of minimal proficiency are actually bit higher uh for fifth graders ranging from 93 90 93 at the low end all the way again to 100% with all the schools being at 90% or above another thing I want to remind us all of is that these assessments the kids haven't really seen all the standards they haven't had the opportunity to learn all the standards at the expected level of that until they take the post test so there's still a lot of really new information for the kids when they um are responding to questions on the inter Benchmark one especially so in this situation um what we see is that our October 24 rate to fifth graders scoring minimally proficient was at 96% on ibm1 that's actually a little higher than it was in Prior years so it's a little it's it's different than what we saw with our eighth grade students um when our fourth graders finished the year at the end of when they finished fourth grade they were at 86% minimal proficiency so they came into fifth grade with a little bit less of the prior knowledge that is needed to to Really demonstrate mastering these standards so we have a lot more ground a lot of ground to cover with our fifth grade students um however given the the substantial growth made between interim Benchmark one uh in 2223 and the post test and in 2324 between ibm1 and the post test we again are predicting um being on track to reach in measure 1.1 with our our fifth grade students so we have our team and one of the things as Jay superintendent man mentioned with our team progress a highlight is you know when we gave the first report it was really a very small group of us analyzing the data and working to provide this information in the time since our last report we've expanded the group that's working on this considerably so our entire administrative leadership team has had an opportunity to go through these reports and resp like look at the data give input have conversations about the the what what we're sharing tonight so what we're sharing with you is really reflective of you know many voice at this point in time and there's a much greater awareness which was one of the things we said last time needed more attention we needed to put explicit work into ensuring that communication was cascading throughout our organization uh all the way to the kids so we're we're making that happen Dr Pomo is here with members of our teaching and learning coaching team and that team has been working well to to to understand the goals understand the interim measures and give input into the analysis as well as recommendations for changes to the inputs moving forward so I'm going to introduce Dr pombo and her team at this time good evening president Kio and members of the board and superintendent man first I'd like to introduce Marie twist she's our coordinator for math so this is Marie good evening good to see you again and she's going to introduce our math coaches we are so lucky to have four coaches this year here specializing in math and science those are Patty Lockwood Maria Guyer and Sarah Larin casy aen couldn't be with us tonight so we're going to share with you what's working and then Marie will also just fill in whatever I forget to share um so what we've noticed in our learning walks we've been doing learning walks the first quarter and also the second quarter the first quarter we did about 190 and then this quarter we're about 150 but we wanted to show you just the math classroom so just Fifth and eighth grade math classrooms how they are um improving in our learning walks and so if you look at the the slideshow we have um with our learning walks we have 27% um of our classrooms in quarter one to 50% of our classrooms in Quarter Two where they were improving in learning targets for Success criteria which we talked about in our uh study session uh has also improved from 9% the first quarter to 30% in the second quarter so that's some of the work that we've been doing with the data wise process uh creating action plans our leadership teams creating action plans um conducting learning walks and then providing feedback and coaching from our coaching team um also we have one of the T one of the 10 teachers participa math Cadre and the fifth grade is a fifth grade teacher and 19 sixth through e8th grade teachers completed 10 hour a focused professional development in math instruction I don't know if Mar you want to talk more about sure okay absolutely I'd love to so math Cadre has been going on in kraton for several years and it's an Afterschool professional development it's a two-year commitment so our teachers that are invited to participate and agree to participate are making a really big investment in themselves as Educators and also in their students we meet monthly for an hour and a half after school they learn all about deepening their own practice and particularly in terms of the math standards and the standards for mathematical proficiency they also participate in collegial coaching Cycles where they get to we have release time for Subs to come and they get to go and observe each other putting the practices into action and giving feedback um it has been larger in the past one of the things that's been a challenge this year has been that we've lost some of our more experienced teachers um and of our math Cadre of our fifth and eighth grade teachers of our eighth grade teachers we have nine across the district five of them have already participated in math Cadre which is amazing um and then two of them are new to us one of them was on maternity leave so the rest of our eighth grade team just really has either has participated or didn't have the opportunity this year of our fifth grade teachers one of them is participating in math Cadre this year and we're so excited to have her she works at mon Vista she's delightful um seven of our fifth grade math teachers are new to us this year and most of them are new to the profession so that's been something that we're working through um we're really excited about the professional development that teachers have been receiving during our Craton professional learning days on those Wednesdays once per quarter um third through fifth grade has been focused on fraction fluency using a concrete representational and Abstract model so how do we get materials into students hands to help them make sense of it and make those connections between what they're holding and the Very abstract number crunching um at our sixth through eth grade we have a great partnership this year with the Department of Education and their math Specialists so someone is coming out and working with us there getting again manipulatives into the hands of our Middle School teachers so that they can become proficient and confident using those tools so that then they can go back and support their students through those um and then the math coach is and I actually had the opportunity we spent all day today at a math conference that was put on by Arizona math leaders and the Department of Education called math Mavericks where we got to attend three two-hour sessions with some of the brightest Minds in math education in the country today so we've already been all AB Buzz about how can we bring this back to our teachers to bring back to our students to start to transform what math instruction looks like in our classrooms so what me more attention um well first I wanted to thank the principles and our leadership teams and the coaches and and our teachers are all working really hard to uh meet this goal and what we found with the learning walk data is that the learning targets and success criteria are improving um and it's coming from the teacher perspective and the part we're talking about here about engagement and practice is that our students need more opportunities to engage with the learning Target and the success criteria uh right now most of it's coming from the teacher perspective and having the students have an opportunity to practice more so we talked a lot to the teachers about the students need to be practicing most of the time um either Reading Writing listening or speaking and collaborating with each other and so we just need to focus more on the students doing the work um and then the other part was about the curriculum being used less from the first quarter to the second quarter and as Marie shared we have a lot of new teachers and when we had the new teacher orientation we shared our curriculum how to use it how to lesson plan but as you know as a new teacher that was in July and as we're going through this school year it takes a lot to remember how to use that curriculum and so at Kennedy because we have most well all of them are new right all the new teachers are there so we had our um coaches go in there our math coaches and teach them how to use the curriculum and how to write lesson plans and the pacing guides and so we want to continue that with our other campuses especially with our new teachers on how to use the curriculum um because that's what we're noticing is just not that they don't want to use it's just how do you use it and how we can make it accessible for them um something something that I would add from our last visit when we spoke about the preest is that since then a change that we've made is all of our fifth and eighth grade math teachers are now working with a coach so all of them were working with a coach oneon-one most of them are working with one of our math and science coaches we do have a couple that are still perfecting their foundational teaching skills and so they're working with our student support coaches on the foundations of classroom management and instruction routines and procedures and then collaborating or Consulting with our math and science coaches to develop their content knowledge I think that's it for now one thing I want to point out real quickly when we talk about curriculum use is that the curriculum comprehensively includes several parts in kraton it includes our our pacing calendars which kind of show over time when standards should be taught throughout the year it includes unit guides which show how like what the standards are how they're deconstructed and you know what the what the outcomes should be for students while they're interacting with those standards and then it includes the instructional materials so in our case it's hot mlin harcart par cour hmh into math a lot of times when people talk about curriculum use they think of just that set of just the instructional materials so when we're when we're observing during learning walks and having conversations with teachers we're looking at all four of those components and one of the things that we've observed is that with regard to the pacing calendar we're in I mean we're halfway through the year and so the longer the year goes we're observing a little bit of Drift from the pacing calendar so it's not that the M like the instructional material aren't being used it's that they might be two or three or four weeks off of the intended Pace that's Guided by the the pacing calendar so when you see that decrease we believe that that accounts for some of that and so we'll we'll want to talk a bit more about what we're planning to do about that but that is an observation that we've made is like as time goes on this shift is happening we know the math is hard and it takes time but also if you stay four weeks behind if you're four week weeks behind at the half way point you're going to be eight weeks behind which is almost a whole quarter by the end of the year and you're not going to be prepared and that's how you end up with students that are two and three years behind as the as the grades progress so we're we're keenly aware of that based on this year's observations and the other part of the curriculum on the rubric is that it's at the rigor of the standard and the rigor of the curriculum and sometimes they're using a curriculum they might be on Pace but it's not the right level of rigor so that's the other area when we're when we're measuring curriculum use thank you so much I know that we're going to open it up to questions but before we get questions I just want to share that monitor this monitoring is about understanding the extent to which reality matches the boards adopted goals in term goals monitoring is never about offering advice or recommendations most of the monitoring is a better understanding where we are and how we got here the board's attention is focused on what's true for students not on what adults are or not doing so with that being said I know that there was some prequests um set up if the board did not have an opportunity to preas some questions we can open it up and ask some questions Dr dupin yes we are ready to to respond so should we just go through the questions yeah I think you can go through um goal one um the ones that were pre-made and then I can open it up to the board members if they have any other questions and they did not have a chance to submit their questions yes happy to so one of the things that we were asked was to to was to Think Through um what our what plans were putting in place to ensure that um we were supporting teachers in effective use of the curriculum so Dr Pomo uh Mrs twist will you talk about the changes we've made in the support for teachers to effectively use the curriculum yeah so one of the things we talked about was giving them uh providing more professional development on using um the adopted curriculum and we've been doing that on Wednesdays and so we'll increase that we also um have coaching support so we have been having our coaches work with our our teachers and we change where they're working more closely with our fifth and eth grade teachers so helping them with planning um to make sure we're meeting the rigor of the standard and then obviously regular monitoring in the classroom so working with our principles when they doing learning walks we do learning walks once a quarter at every school but also the learning walks in between monitoring the curriculum um use and then in January we have our um leadership seminar and during that time we look at all of our data so we're going to look at our benchmark assessments we're going to look at our learning walk data and from there we make action plans and identify a student learning problem so we look at what are the students not learning and we create an action plan based on that during that time we will talk about how to create an action plan to increase the pace or get back on Pace um with our with our units because like Dr dupin shared we' done learning walks in there a month behind sometimes they two month behind so how do we get back on track with our with our pacing guides anything else you want to add um I would add that particularly with pacing that is something that coaches are really familiar with the standards and they're really familiar with what's most important and what's going to impact their future success as well as what they need to be learning right this moment or what we would expect them to be learning right this moment so one of the things that they do when they work with teachers who are behind Pace a little bit is to sometimes help them reprioritize sometimes help them see you know what this unit on coins that'll be a really great one let's bump that to the end of the year and let's get back to place value because we know that your students really need these place value Concepts to be able to move forward with the next things whereas this this particular piece this could wait until a little bit later in the year um and especially as the student get older and we are a little bit more focused on those outcomes and testing sometimes it's a matter of looking at what is the key core understanding in eth grade in eth grade it's expressions and equations and so statistics and probability if you were supposed to teach that right now let's wait let's put that one off a little bit longer and let's make sure you have a really foundational understanding because that's what our high school partners are telling us they care about when these students come in so that's one of the things that they're able to do to help support teachers especially newer teachers because having newer teachers one of the questions that I got from a newer teacher recently was how am I supposed to know how am I supposed to Pace it and plan it out if I don't know how long it's going to take like I planned for it and I thought it was going to take me a day and it took me three days to teach it because those are things you just don't know yet um you you think that you have it planned out for a 45 minute lesson and it turns out that you were very mistaken sometimes um so that's one of the things that they help with they also sit one-on-one with teachers during their prep and plan actual lessons which sometimes involves let's look at the lesson and let's get out the manipulatives together I've sat in on some planning meetings in the last few weeks where the coach was teaching the teacher how to use these tools great let's do some practice problems which of these are going to be most beneficial for your students because when know if teachers aren't comfortable using them they are not going to get up in front of 12 to 13 14 year olds and look foolish and lose their credibility so our coaches are helping teachers to build their confidence so that then they feel prepared to go and work with their students so that speaks to the teachers role in addressing um the curriculum use needs the second question is about support what support systems are being implemented to address the engagement gaps so the students role in learning identified in classrooms to meet the required standards well it's very similar answer it's going to be through coaching um I observed actually a coach today working with a teacher on how to engage the students in the standard and so part of the coaching is that each teacher sets a goal and then that they work with their coach to set up the criteria for that goal and so they might be thinking about an engagement strategy how do I engage the students in learning Target success criteria and they set up a checklist and from there the coach models that and then the teacher goes over the checklist while the coach is modeling that strategy and then the teacher tries it and so it's just going to be a lot through coaching and professional development on engagement strategies and how to engage with the learning targets how to engage with success criteria and how to get students practicing more reading and writing and talking more about what they're learning may I have a follow-up to that um are we asking any of the kids what engagement looks like to them or what works or it's not working for them personally as being the student in the classroom I think that's a really good idea to talk to the students about um what engagement looks like to them and I think that could be done through teachers especially with at at the end of a lesson doing a check for understanding or checking with them on engagement okay so it's not currently being done I could say that I know there is one piece of it is that sometimes frequently when our coaches are modeling lessons they're really trying to work on bringing in student voice to show teachers how powerful it can be so for example I can think of I know that um Mrs Guyer modeled the lesson recently at Mackin where at the end of the lesson she had her students that she was working with reflect on how did turn and talk impact how did talking about the math impact your learning today and then the teacher was able to see that and that was really powerful I think things like that are going to obviously benefit our students you know obviously critical thinking skills and then depending on how you're delivering that obviously can be like literacy too depending on how you want that feedback given um but I think that's just a great idea I just sometimes when we're talking about the things it gives me um like gives me flashbacks to to times when I because I felt like as a student math was just I was always behind I was always trying to like stay above water um and felt like everybody was moving faster and so I would just um hate to see it maybe thought of as engagement necessarily um when there's clearly s and and maybe they can't communicate it exactly to you but I think with all of these these prongs all around there's got to be some way to identify you know for some kids what's going on even if it's not having to do necessarily with how the curriculums like you know being in delivered I don't know how to put it exactly but I there's got to be some solution to really get all of these points out there and so I'm happy to hear about that and one one of the things that that we've been talking about too is that you know as we look at trying to correct some of the pacing challenges the the risk that we create as we create urgency around timing is that people tend to revert to their old practices or they or they revert to what feels most time efficient to them and so I think one of the balancing acts for the team as they're working with teachers is going to be to help to continue to model those opportunities for that that student voice for that student engagement and how to engage the students but at the same time while creating that urgency around getting on Pace to not J in that because it might be faster to just talk to the students and talk to them twice as fast to get further along right but twice as fast might move you further faster but not necessarily effectively where the students are being successful with gaining the knowledge and skill sets that they need to be able to to have the um outcomes that we want to see for them bless you I just wantan to coach to miss anything that you want to add that we're doing to address this I don't want to put you on the spot I just don't anything we forgot you yeah we're not scary yeah yeah I know thank you um I was just gonna add um another teacher that I was working with one of the things that she considered was um asking students to like self rate themselves in terms of if you were going to work in a small group with a teacher what portion of this assessment that I just gave would you need help on and so just trying to um let the students tell the teacher this is what I think I need help with and it it showed a couple of things kids who actually knew all the stuff and got it 100% right but still felt like they didn't know it so like okay you need to talk to that student because that's just a confidence issue right like they get it they just need to know they get it but then also the students who said you know I'm struggling with whatever the concept was like yeah you're right you are and that's good information for the students to know about themselves and for the teacher to be able to address so just trying to show teachers that they can do that in a really quick simple Google form like a really easy way and their minds are blown with like what their kids are telling them so I think that's just another really good example of like how we can help teachers talk to their kids about what they know what they think they know what they don't know and then just start that cycle thank you for sharing that I really appreciate that two-way communication because at times as adults you know we're like nope this is how it's going to be and you guys have no say and we really do learn a lot from our students on what their needs are versus us um trying to input what we think their needs are so I appreciate that and I was going to add when we talked about the different levels of data that's the street data talking to the students examining their work um and that's one of the areas we want to strengthen is that street dat awesome well building on that I'm wondering um you know there there are not curricul like example lessons out there like I know through like CCR Frameworks and things that address specifically self-efficacy and they're quick little like 10-minute things you know depending on what the schedules are with morning meeting kind of things and that might be really powerful to explore especially like math just tends to be one of those subjects where self-efficacy if it's low it tanks really quickly um but I think maybe some other tools like that and letting our teachers know that it's okay to have you know that social emotional learning right and that space um when we're navigating difficult Concepts so thank you and in particular that feedback is helpful because I think when we so the coaches will be able to get much more granular and much more focused into the planning with teachers when we do learning walks it's kind of high level but one thing we we do ask the kids is what are you learning if it's appropriate we don't interrupt direct instruction if it's happening but if the kids are working and it's appropriate for us to interact with them without creating a disruption we'll ask are you learning or more frequently now tell us about your learning targets and success criteria and um but it's a very different question to ask what engagement are using or what engagement would work for you so that's a tweak I think we could make um it's still pretty infrequent that kids sometimes they can't they're starting to be able to more frequently articulate learning targets and success criteria that's still very much like external to the learner and now the shift we're making is trying to get get it internal so appreciate the feedback did anybody else have I'm sorry was that the last question that was submitted yes does anybody have any other questions questions I had were answered so thank you I'm also pumped to hear that math Cadre is still going strong because that is a really powerful thing and I think once it's great to know how many teachers have already gone through that and then seeing the partnership between um the coaches as far as classroom management while still addressing the content um and I hope that we can continue to push to get some of those NE newer teachers once ready into things like math Cadre as well I like again just things like that are are bonuses to working for a district and having those types of professional development opportunities so I think that's really great and I wish we had more than 10 people in it when throughout the conversation on on all the goals um one of the questions that was recently posed to us which I think we'll want to keep going with is how are we going to evaluate the impact of the change in our coaching model because we made a really significant change in the model this year CA has given us feedback to integrate um like like satisfaction survey type feedback um and so the team has built a way for people who are participating in coaching now it's just getting started right to be able to give feedback on their coaching experience that's one piece a question I was going to ask but I didn't know if it fit into sofg but I didn't ask it but I was wondering if that was something that was being considered as a part of the coaching changes yeah I don't know where it fits either but it definitely feels appropriate given that our answer to many questions is effective coaching effective coaching well so we feel a growing obligation to be able to measure the impact of that coaching experience and we're really are going to be tying it to the outcomes which are the assessment results and in particular students in these grade levels are students of teachers who have been receiving specific and ongoing professional development and we're looking for for Trends and patterns there so we're Ser we're surveying in that now right now we're sending those out to get feedback before the break so we can make plans in the second the second half um similarly like for those teachers that are focused more on classroom management is there some framework for evaluating when they're ready to kind of start getting in more heavy on the content because like at some point those kind of go hand inand right um well they're doing their impact coaching cycle so when they meet reach their goals but then also the content coaches and the student support coaches are working closely together so some of the teachers are getting both at the same time the content and the student support awesome do we have any other questions I just have a thought like I'm just wondering how we can normalize um newer teachers asking for that help when they get that far behind because I find it Troublesome that they're a month behind I mean I can see like a couple weeks I think that's kind of normal but I'm wondering like how can we get our teachers our new teachers to say hey I'm like drowning I need help before they get that far behind or their checks are in place like assuming lesson plans are submitted and things like that to where it can kind of come to people's attention right like are the principls looking at the lesson plans and seeing hey this is where they are and this is where they should be on The Curriculum maps or are the coaches seeing their lesson PL saying oh they should be here but how can I help them here I just like I I know that we try to shove so much down our our kids' throats like and I know it's really hard I'm sure for new teachers I haven't been one for a long time but um and I know it takes time but that I I just feel like we need something in place to make sure that they're not getting that far behind thank you for the feedback I think it's an excellent question you know we try to make the coaching process and the learning walks as collegial and and supportive and nurturing as they possibly can be um but that's something I I think we need to take back as a team and think through and you know talk with some teachers about how to how to help I I do think a big part of it is is noticing like hey I noticed that you're here on the unit guide like let's we should be here like just it doesn't need to be punitive but just like how can we how can we ensure that there's kind of a more timely before it gets to that point are you seeing that pacing issue pretty consistently across the board for all new teachers or is it just here and there uh I don't think it's just new teachers it's not localized to new teachers okay I mean I'm sure you're still trying to normalize the pacing guides because I know that it's kind of a hard thing to do when you have new curriculum and you're constantly like adjusting those um so I know there's a lot of like factors that play into that well I was also going to share Marie's in charge of this too but the new teachers she meets with them once a month so the coaches do you want to explain that how the coaches them once a month yeah absolutely so we do have a new teacher Cadre this year which is part of our ongoing commitment to support the professional development of those that are new to the profession so teachers that are new to kraton and also in their first two years in the profession participate in one one-hour session once a month it is scheduled very close to after their school's dismissal so on those Mondays there are three separate sessions to accommodate the three different release times um and our Coes collaborate on those those are really focused on foundational skills for teaching so which includes things like learning targets it's a lot of classroom management it's a lot of routines and procedures um helping helping teachers to be successful and then because it is consistent districtwide for I believe the first time this year it's a district program rather than something that's run at each school and it's similar but maybe it's a little bit different and it kind of depends um because it is a district-wide message this year and the coaches all collaborate in planning it and delivering it all new teachers are getting that same message and support no matter who their coaches after sessions we communicate clearly with principles this is what your teachers learned last night here's who attended here's how you can support them and here's some highlights from their feedback do you have any like Mentor programs here as well we do we also have a mentor program that new teachers participated for their first two years in kraton um I will say that one of the challenges that we've had is having enough mentors some of our campuses we really don't have critical mass of teachers that are in their thir fourth sixth 10th year um and so we have some mentors that are mentoring three or four teachers we have some mentors that are mentoring teachers that are not on their on their grade level team so they don't share a prep um there's some challenges as far as staying after school or being able to meet but we do have a mentor program um Maria guire is our district coordinator for it she meets with the mentors to train them and support them in how to be a good Mentor and how to check in and provide that support um but it's definitely something that we're still looking to grow and expand we're looking to figure out how we can better support our teachers who are here on H1 and J1 visas specifically um so we we know that we still have some work to do but it's very much on our radar thank you so much do we have any other questions for this progress monitoring report all right so given this progress monitor report if we have no other questions and if you feel that our questions have been in smart format and we have asked questions not necessarily looking at adult inputs but student um outcomes I move the governing board we adopt goal one progress monitoring report two second all those in favor I I thank you so much for that and that brings us to our goal to progress progress monitoring report you might as well stay close by because we're goal two is very similar to goal one but with a very special and important subgroup gr goal two is to increase Proficiency in math for black eth grade students the percent of eth grade black students that score proficient on aasa math will increase from 0% in August 2023 to 28% by August 2028 and I want to to start with an apology you likely noticed a difference between the materials that you received a week in advance in our um governing board update and then when we publish the the reports for this evening's conversation there was a change with this goal and that is my fault I transposed a column and I reported a 1% increase in proficiency on an ear and Benchmark one per black students and it I I would say I got caught up in the excitement of seeing a change and I I I missed it so fortunately we have an excellent team and Mrs twist brought it to my attention quickly and was like you know there are I think 30 give take students in this group so a 1% increase would be like3 of a student that's not possible so we went back and and I so appreciate it for the feedback and apologize to the board uh for having made that error it's it's completely mine so upon revision of the materials we bring to you this information our focus our annual Target for black students is to increase proficiency so we're looking for that graph to go up from 0% in August 2024 to 6% by August 202 our current measure for this year's eighth graders is that on the DNA math benchmark they would increase from 0% in May at the post test when they were seventh graders to 4% by May by this may at the end of this year's post test the interim measure for the fifth grade students who will be our eighth graders in 2025 is that they would go from 0% as well to 6% by May of 2025 so again given the very small um totality of this subgroup we share we kind of talk in terms of all of our eighth graders when we look at our school by school breakdown you can see that the school the proficiency rate for students in eth grade is still very very much clustered together and very very much uh at or near zero per.

e e okay good good evening I would like to call this meeting to order uh Mrs Richards may I have the roll call please yes president Anderson let the record show that all five board members are present thank you I motion that the governing board adjourn to Executive session pursuant to ARS 38-43 1.03 A3 and A4 for legal advice second that was Mrs Wade a second all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to zero e e e okay I motion that we reconvene into Open Session second seconded by Mrs Wade all those in favor I I I I motion carries 5 to zero okay um please join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance e okay I motion to approve the agenda Mrs Van Hook got the second all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to zero now we have the superintendent Report with Mrs Richards good evening president Anderson members of the board tonight we want to start out and acknowledge our a schools so we've got banners up front here and I'm going to ask Mr lenher and Mr Armstrong to help me as we call schools forward in alphabetical order we need Bridges Elementary Mr Jeff Bickle and Miss Elizabeth melter congratulations we're going to ask that you stay up here all right oh yeah good idea next we have Centennial [Applause] Elementary Miss Amanda day and Mr Eric Rogers chapparel [Applause] Elementary Miss Christine Hansen and Mr Terry pepper okay cornado Elementary [Applause] Mr Brian Griggs and Miss Alice stortini congratulations Cortina Elementary Miss Kelly pfy trade places with you this is a problem when we're running out a room right good job Higley all right next Higley Traditional [Applause] Academy miss Karen bacon and Miss Mandy Bali congratulations Power Ranch [Applause] Elementary Miss Michelle McNab and Miss Nicole Mulla saan Elementary just a trick did you hear the sound effects from back here I'm pretty sure we're in Middle School okay yes I just wanted to make sure Mr pots was paying attention saan Middle [Applause] School yeah probably he just looked confused surprise next should I say Higgly high school elementary let's go Higley High School Mr Allan [Applause] Phils Stan corrected the Higley High School how about the williamsfield high [Applause] school principal John Dolan not you're gonna have to do it and this one really is an elementary and I'm not kidding Santan Elementary Mr [Applause] marado I think he was running late but he's going to slide in here in a minute and then very importantly we have a school district that is rated an a that is a difficult accomplishment so I need the governing board to come down and acknowledge this rating [Applause] in the middle yeah like very confused well we do have a Elementary yes we do we many of you know the AR Arizona Department of Education ranks school districts and schools and to get a letter a is not an easy accomplishment our problem is we don't have enough room in this board board meeting room to accommodate so congratulations to all schools and the district [Applause] wait principal Ray Marcado is here [Applause] congratulations we're gonna move over all right congratulations everyone e some of the schools may may want to leave otherwise we're ready for Higley Adventures think so all all right good evening everyone thanks for being here we have some very exciting acknowledgements this evening uh technology there we go all right this evening we have williamsfield High School freshman recer Ian he's an independent artist drummer producer and EM Emmy nominated actor musician and was nominated for a Grammy for his role in the AL album Solid Rock Revival by Rock for children he's composed and recorded drums for many of the songs on this album created in collaboration with teams from no other than Alice Cooper's Solid Rock teen Sinners with proceeds benefiting these Sinners the gramys will be aired on February 2nd we are so proud of this talented young man and know that he has so many more wonderful things in his future on the next slide we get to share a little bit of his talent with you and I believe he's in the audience [Applause] somewhere so recer when we're playing your video will you come forward please now it works too well it's not playing can they play it for me [Music] wow congratulations so very very impressive I wish we had drums in here for you to play for us right can you tell us what the most uh rewarding part of your journey has been um the most rewarding part is having the support system that I've had and um like my parents and the school district like it's just been amazing like just being so Cooperative of what I'm doing and with all the students and it's like pursuing your passions while like missing school and trying to keep your grades up so like I just appreciate every single one of you and just thank you for like just being there and supporting me and same with my parents just being surrounded by a great support system and being pushed on the right path is just probably the most like the best thing I could ask for so we're very proud of you I think you have three principles in the room raise your hand if you were one of his principles Mr Armstrong Mr Dolan and Who ah and Louisa good job all right we're ready for a picture aome [Applause] all right next we have the higgle High School thesbian celebration in November Higley High School's thesbian troop 6907 attended the prestigious AR Arizona State Lesbian Festival an annual event that brings together over a 100 Schools Statewide to celebrate theatrical achievements and showcase students in various acting and Technical competitions during this event Higley High School was selected to present The Outsiders to an audience of over 2,000 students from high schools across the state this exceptional accomplishment highlights the school's commitment to Excellence in theater in Higley High School is thrilled to been have been selected for this prestigious distinction not done yet the school was also recognized for their outstanding contributions during the 2324 school year and earn numerous accolades for the sixth consecutive year the troop achieved gold honors status and for the second year in a row under the direction of Mrs April French they received the coveted Award of Distinction this recognition places higgle High School among only three schools in the state to earn gold in all categories so I believe Mrs French and her team are in the audience so we need you up front [Applause] congratulations my guys do you want to say something do you want to say anything sure put on the spot um I'm just so grateful to work with such amazing kids and I I love what I do so thank you for having us here thank you yeah it is it [Applause] is all right now we have the Williams fi High School Marching Band state champions where are they Mr loten [Applause] haiser you need to do this for me yeah you could be [Applause] thank you [Applause] okay all right can barely fit you guys in the room congratulations I'm going to let you speak a little bit and tell us why they're up here thank you all um we had a really successful season we got first place uh for the aboda state championship and really this wouldn't have come down we didn't get here on our own just from the hard work it's from the community that we have here in the Higley district from our um the ad Administration to Transportation getting us um all the buses and um trailers and to get to all of our competitions from Finance to be able to help with getting new instruments when we need to repair those and um also bring in new instruments with the HR department with helping our staff for getting the staff to support the all the instruction that we have here and as well as the board members and administration for continued support of the music program and the district and also for the students and families that we have here that it is without your dedication and countless hours that we put towards the program we wouldn't have got to this point so thank you for everyone here it takes a community to get to where we got and it is awesome thank you [Applause] I'm on [Applause] [Music] and thank you for the shirt if you need otheres let us yeah okay next Higley Leadership Academy our amazing higgle Leadership Academy District staff came together for a day of giving back they rolled up their sleeves and spent the day cleaning up Gil Gilbert's repair reparan preserve and completing various Landscaping task from picking up litter to Landscaping Maintenance our team work tirelessly to make the community a cleaner and Greener place a huge thank you to everyone who participated and made this project a success let's continue to take pride in our community and Inspire others to do the same thing and now with our final meeting of the year it is with mix a mixture of gratitude and admiration that we acknowledge the dedicated service of two members of our governing board board member Christina Reese and board president Michelle Anderson both Mrs Reese and Mrs Anderson have served our district with a level of leadership that is truly commendable Anderson H um excuse me especially considering the roles on the governing board are entirely voluntary right guys their dedication and passion for education has made a great impact on our district and it is my honor to recognize their contributions so if you two will meet Miss Miller and Mr Moore in the middle I'm going to say a few more words about you to acknowledge you board member Michelle board member president Michelle Anderson has led our district with pride bringing her expertise as a longtime educator to every decision she makes her commitment to our schools is reflected in in her family's Journey with both of her children attending Higley schools from kindergarten through graduation now she is back in the classroom we know Mrs Anderson's commitment to students will continue through her work and in the student she impacts each and every day we are thankful for your leadership and dedication to the students of Higley let's give her around of [Applause] Applause board member Christina ree has been a pillar of our community serving on the board for over a decade without pay right with three children who attended our schools her commitment to Higley is deeply personal she has invested in our community not only through the governing board but as a Gilbert business owner specializing in early childhood education she brought her expertise in servant leadership style to our district and to the countless roles she's played in organizations from Girl Scouts to the Chamber of Commerce while we say goodbye to Christina's time on the the Higley governing board I am sure will cont continue to see her impact in our community thank you so much for your [Applause] service no that's not how it works you know continue to try and in addition I'm going to have cabinet come up here so I don't know who's going to take the picture Jessica hey we're so Curtis good job Curtis they're both going to say something so hang tight uh thank you thank you everyone for being here and congratulations to all the teams that were recognized in your hard work and parents for your commitment um I just want to say more about Christina than myself uh she she's kind of one that motivated me to run um and to keep supporting this District um I worked nine years in HR in this District I taught for three years in this District um I've done crossing guard in this district and now governing board and um like and it was one of the hardest things but one of the best things and it was a dream to to do this and it was a dream to serve this community and I'm so grateful for everyone the good and the bad I'm grateful for it all helped me grow it helped me learn a lot that I did not know already being a teacher you think you know a lot and you know everything because we like to put on that face like we do but there's a lot we don't so um Christina thank you so much for your time I'm trying to make her cry thank you for being such thanks for being such a good friend friend thank you for being an inspiration and a true leader um this district is absolutely honored to have you and for your service now you're the say that stuff and then hand it off that's not fair I just want to say what an honor it's been see you you started it um 12 years who's got the over under I I see it I see it all the bets that go on um it's been an honor to serve this district for 12 years um everyone's been great what a great night to go out on with all of our schools I just want to say thank you and thank you to my family congratulations all right we're ready for points of [Applause] Pride all right we need Centennial Elementary up here Amanda day and Eric Rogers [Applause] all right good evening everyone thank you so much for being here tonight um president Anderson and members of the board were really excited to recognize four really special individuals from our campus um this is one of the best nights for us be I wish we could do it every every single board member for our campus because there's a lot of really PE good people to recognize um but without our teachers our students our support staff our parents and the community um it wouldn't be possible so we're really excited and we are going to start with our student point of Pride Miss Nora Lacy [Applause] here you go all right so I'd like to share some words that Norah's sixth grade teachers um shared about here and you get to stay up here with me the whole time okay all right so Nora Lacy is a dedicated and enthusiastic sixth grader who brings a positive attitude to everything she does she approaches her schoolwork with care and commitment always striving to do her best her friendly and kind nature makes her a wonderful friend and classmate as she includes others and encourages teamwork she demonstrates Integrity in her actions consistently making choices that reflect honesty and responsibility additionally Nora shows great respect towards her teachers listening attentively and always following instructions her positive character dedication and willingness to participate make her a fantastic student to have in class she truly enhances our classroom community [Applause] all right and we're going to have Nora share who she brought with her tonight I brought my mom and my sister with me today you did great good job all right all right next we'd like to recognize our um our volunteer uh Mr Joshua [Applause] bar so we're thrill thrilled to recognize Mr Joshua bar as our points of Pride volunteer Josh currently serves as the communications liaison on our PTO and has recently joined centennials site Council he goes above and beyond to highlight the wonderful things happening on our campus and has been instrumental in supporting our first fundraiser of the year his creativity and thoughtful approach to communication helps strengthen the connections within our Centennial family we are incredibly grateful for Josh's willingness to jump in whenever needed whether it's assisting with f fun Friday morning Donuts late night cleanup after a pumpkin lighting managing the pizza to social media and website supporting the Spirit Gear popups shops in the morning and simply being an all around genuine person Josh truly is always ready to lend a helping hand in any way he can thank you Josh for all you [Applause] do all right and Josh will you share who you brought with you definitely got the wife and kids with me here and without them sacrificing time with daddy this wouldn't happen I I would not be able to do all these things so I appreciate the opportunity to serve and thank you so much all right next up we have our classified staff member Mr Brendan [Applause] nice job all right so I'd have um something I'd like to read about uh Mr Brendan from myself and Eric and then his lead teacher in the classroom she is out home with her baby she will be back soon um but there is something special she wrote about you too so I will read that after all right so we would like to recognize Mr Brendan as centennial's points of Pride classified staff winner Mr Bryan is a paraprofessional in one of our CR cross categorical classrooms at Centennial Mr Brendan's dedication to his students and colleagues does not go unnoticed his positive mindset flexibility and willingness to support each and every student in his classroom is one of the many reasons he is receiving this recognition when you see Mr bryndan working with his students on campus both in the classroom and around the campus you can see firsthand how calm patient and kind he is Mr Brendan is a natural leader in the classroom that makes decision instructionally and behaviorally to support all of his students he builds positive relationships with not only the students in his classroom but also the students in other classes oftentimes we'll hear the students Shouting Out Mr Brendan Mr Brendan so thank you Mr Brendon for all you do for your students and your class and the campus as a whole we're extremely grateful for [Applause] you and then I would like to re a special message from Miss Garcia Mr Brendan's Lead Teacher so she stated I have had the privilege of working alongside Brendan for several years and during this time I've witnessed his deep passion for Education his genuine love for what he does Brendan goes beyond helping students achieve their academic goals he's patient and a calm demeer enables him to support students even during those challenging moments he takes the time to understand each student unique needs and preferences using this knowledge to guide his instruction effectively Bryan is a true pleasure to work with each and every day I commend him for his exceptional patience both in and out of the classroom nice [Applause] job all right share with us who you brought sorry a little emotional always uh I brought my beautiful and very very supportive wife [Applause] all right now we would like to recognize our certified staff uh for points of Pride U Mrs Susan [Applause] Montenegro for our certified points of Pride recipient we'd like to recognize Miss Susan Montenegro Miss Montenegro is our dedicated second and third grade resource teacher whose unwavering commitment to our students success is truly inspiring she consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that each student's individual needs are met thoughtfully tailoring her approach to provide the best possible support to her students and colleagues her skillful use of data to set goals and inform instructional plan speaks to her professionalism and focus on meaningful and measurable growth for each child her collaboration with grade level plc's is invaluable as she brings brings insights and resources that enrich our entire teaching team and help us create an inclusive and effective learning environment we are incredibly fortunate to have her on our team and deeply appreciate the difference that she makes every day who would you bring with you tonight my husband and my friends congratulations Centennial [Applause] get away oh no wow cleared the room out just about I never know I is gonna yep all right we're ready for HTA with Miss Karen bacon and Mandy [Applause] Bali thank you president Anderson members of the board and cabinet we are so proud to be here this evening to honor four amazing members of our HTA family we truly are a family and it shows by the turnout tonight for the love and support that we all have for one another uh we're going to start with our very special student miles would you come up here and also can I have miles's teacher Mrs Gonzalez come up [Applause] too so miles's teacher wrote some really nice words that I would like to read for him miles is a wonderful role model in our classroom and all around the school he's a great leader who sets a positive example for his friends by working hard being kind and always trying his best miles has absolutely thrived in second grade and has made tremendous gains in all aspects of school he lights up a room with his big smile funny jokes and awesome dance moves that always makes everybody laugh and have fun miles inspir inspires everyone to do their best and brings so much joy to our classroom every day and I got to see him be a leader in his classroom today when he found the elf that gets up into Mischief every evening he was the first to spot it and wrote Amazing sentences and read the letter from the elf to the class so good [Applause] job miles would you tell us who you brought with us with you this evening uh Roman deck and my two brothers very good to take a picture and can you grab those we also have a little special treat for dessert [Music] next we'd like to recognize our amazing volun oh sorry yeah yeah stay up here buddy our amazing volunteer our PTO president miss Kristen Lawson where do I start Kristen you're a point of Pride for so many reasons but you exemplify what it means to selflessly serve our school Community despite working full time you consistently find ways to support our school demonstrating unwaver unwaver in dedication and Care your contributions are vast and impactful from spearheading community events that bring families together to organizing fundraisers that directly benefit our students you lead with enthusiasm and a servant's heart you also take great care of our instructional staff by working collaboratively with Community Partners to host staff appreciation celebrations throughout the entire school year your commitment goes well beyond our expectations ensuring that every effort effort you make a CO a positive and Lasting difference we are incredibly fortunate to have someone as passionate and hardworking as Kristen leading our PTO her energy kindness and dedication Inspire us all and we are so grateful for her service to our [Applause] school and would you tell us who you brought with you yeah um I have the Rowdy bunch in the back my husband my three-year-old and our third grader [Applause] all right I am excited and truly honored to be able to be a part of this what a great organization all around so this next person is our certified staff member the name of the individual being recognized is Kimberly paffenberger affectionately known as Kimmy [Applause] Kimmy is one of our first grade teachers and Mrs paffenbarger exemplifies dedication and Leadership at Higley Traditional Academy as a first grade teacher she inspires a love of learning in her students while consistently going above and beyond to support our school Community her multifaceted role has made a tremendous impact on students staff and families alike Mrs paffenbarger serves as the PTO liaison fostering meaningful collaboration between parents teachers and administration through this role she ensures open communication organizes initiatives and promotes parent involvement in ways that directly benefit our students in addition to her classroom respons possibilities Kimmy coaches our elementary cheer team her energy and positivity motivates students not only to Excel and cheerleading but also to build confidence teamwork and school spirit her selflessness and unwavering commitment to the success and well-being of every student and colleague makes Mrs paffenbarger a Cornerstone of our school community [Applause] and who did you bring this evening I brought my husband my well he looks like a one-year-old but my six-month-old son and then my [Applause] family okay and then next I would like to recognize our classified staff member Melody Al Brandy [Applause] welome Melody is the first friendly face that greets our school Community when they enter the office as well as the friendly and efficient person you speak to when you call the school on the phone throughout her 16 years of experience in the role of the school receptionist at gley Traditional Academy she has built positive relationships with both internal and external customers to provide excellent service she is kind knowledgeable and efficient and has a memory like no other her level of professionalism is unwavering and we are so lucky to have her and who who did you bring tonight my daughter Aaron and my wonderful HTA [Applause] family thank you so much to all of you and the impact you have on our community e re bring people up here we're going to take a couple of pictures and take a couple of minutes for a break so and I mean like four so if you need to run to the restroom please do and if you're the photographer please don't leave e e e okay thank you Miss Richards um are you ready for some upcoming events yes president Anderson we are all looking forward to winter break December 20th through January 3rd School resum resumes on January 6th we have our District spelling be at hcpa at 5:00 p.m.

[Music] so I'm very involved here at weo I would say I'm about in like five or six clubs Roar a program we have here also snowball which is another program I also do choir and I am also in MHS which is music Honor Society I also do student ambassador and I am also an avid tutor so yes the amount of support you have here at weo and how much teachers truly really care about you and support you throughout everything another thing is just the community and who we are surrounded with um because we have really good people here itas everything will pay off at the end I promise so I want to go to a 4-year College I want to major in Psychology I'm still not sure which field I want to if it's more of a forensic science or applied psychology but yeah I'm on might Vega and I'm October student of the month [Music]

testing testing one two testing e e e all right I would like to call this meeting to order special school board meeting for creep Moni 201u today is Tuesday December the 10th 2024 6:30 p.m.

all right we welcome everybody to our school board meeting here tonight we'll start out with a pledge of allegiance followed by prayer I pledge aliance 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 dear heavenly father we just give you thanks today for your wonderful Merc mercies the many blessings that you've given to us Lord the opportunities that you've given us to serve in our community in which we live for tonight we just ask that you would that you would bless this meeting that you would give us understanding and that you would give us knowledge to make wise decisions Lord that would best impact our children and our staff Lord in the community in which we live father we look to you as as the author and the finisher of our faith knowing all things Lord we look to you for your wisdom and we ask it that you would just give it to us this evening in Jesus name amen amen than our future board meetings our next one is January 14th um that meeting then we'll have an organizational meeting that night also and then January 28th all here at this this Administration at 6:00 there's a couple items of revision to the agenda but we'll get to those in our HR report and public recognition we've got several donations here we'll just approve those all at once got a recommendation to approve a $37 83 donation from Long Lake C ground for South Junior Senior High School for FFA Battle of the bals recommendation approve a $30 donation from Denise stofer for North bu wrestling recommendation to approve a $300 donation from Wabash County Sheriff's Department for Northfield wrestling recommendation to approve a $300 donation from Ashley pool and hot tub service for Northville wrestling recommendation to approve a $935 donation from Harmon photography for Metro North Elementary recommendation to approve a $500 donation from Master seal unlimited for norfield wrestling recommendation to approve $180 estimated value from Boy Scouts of America for popcorn for Southwood Elementary classroom snacks um recommendation to approve a $5 donation from boy Tiana haris of Southwood uh Elementary classroom snacks recommendations to approve from music Gibson Roberts from southw elementary for classroom snacks and another Keana Roberts guess yeah there's no amount there but K Roberts I'm pretty sure it was $5 yes it was $5 that yeah K Roberts for $5 for classroom snacks and just to let you know those last three were students yes they they needed to donate $5 to help their their cause have more STS they get a recommendation second got a motion a second to approve all these uh donations all those in favor say I any opposed all right we appreciate all those donors all those that support our many different organizations in both schools and always are grateful for that uh so we'll move on to the spotlight all right so nothing against our business part of our meeting but this is some of the best part of our our meeting and that's the St Spotlight so I'm going to call up first of all my phone just going make a phone call or my phone call take a picture later so Mrs Megan mckel if you can come up here so Megan for we it's actually the 2025 staff of the year because the school year ends in 2025 so sometimes we get confused about that but she was a Northfield uh 2025 staff member of the year so we want to congratulate her and as always we have the First Farmers Bank and Trust uh gives us a sponsorship for that so we' like to present with you a $50 voucher um for the online school for Northville so let's give her a round of applause and for uh they actually write um some information for us about themselves and different things it's a little bit different from staff so what teachers do but I want to read just a little bit and let her share and let Mr Snider share too if he'd like after I read this it says I feel like I have effective communication skills which helps in keeping active records resolving issues promptly and promoting positive relationships with student staff and parents and just a reminder she um her title at norfield um this year is attendance secretary correct and whatever else that someone asked you to do right um it is important to me that students are present to learn participate in activities and build a routine that sets them up for success and as attendant secretary I pride myself and accounting for students each period so that I can maintain and secure an organized environment and she does do an excellent job there so Mr Schneider would you like to share any information before Mrs sure it's awesome having her in the office because she's always calm fairly quiet you know you know we're outside I don't know I would say that you in the office calm quiet presence and professional always on the phone and with staff and with parents patient professional I appreciate that and it kind of sums up what she does because she does keep the building safe because she knows every period she's checking attendance when kids switch classes to know they're in the next one and if they're not then we find out from her and we go find them luckily it doesn't happen that often but but I think last week sums it up so hopefully you remember this but her and Mrs Kennedy were joking of how crazy the office was and I was trying to get in classrooms to observe teachers and I had a pretty good morning and they were going you said something like how crazy the morning's been for you and didn't really get done what you wanted to get done and I said but I did and it's because of them that I'm able to get done what I need to get done you remember that I do remember that we were joking but I thought that pretty much sums up how you all in the office are and you especially keeping everything going so I appreciate that thank you you have to share anything just thankful I'm here all right let's give everyone more round of Mrs cat hoer she is our teacher of the year award for uh morfield but also she was the secondary teacher of the year for too so I'm stand a little further away at this it's a long story never mind that later so again on behalf of First Farmers Bank and Trust uh they sponsor this like to give you a $50 and so congratulations so let's give her a round of applause I'm going to read a little bit of what she wrote also um first of all cat hoer pedagogy priorities include promoting effective communication providing a positive and inclusive learning environment encourage creative and and critical thinking these priorities help students develop a strong Foundation language arts as well as prepare them for future academic and professional Endeavors and then going along more with uh relationship it says I prioritize building strong relationships with my athletes which inadvertently impacts the classroom environment students notice the positivity I bring and are drawn to it I often have dozens of students congregate um in my classroom before school some are coming for advice While others come for a shoulder cry on many students love to share their triumphs with me so that we can celebrate and focus on the reward of hard work no matter the reason students come into my classroom I always stay positive my goal is for students to leave my classroom in a better and more confident mood and what they came in and so I really don't know Mrs hoer real real well but every time I've seen her that's been that situation and I can say why I'm standing a little bit further away she is um very excited about promoting and doing well with other students and with athletes and things like that and if you're ever um close to her when there's a lot of excitement she may just I will you and that happened to me so tce yes so I learned my lesson that's why I'm saying a little further away but anyway that's great because I love the enthusiasm that she has um also just to let you know uh Taylor University where she's doing classes for transition to teaching um actually recognized her also um for being the teacher of the year norfield and and she's uh a poster child now is that what it's called so I'm going to call it Mr Sneider before we let Mrs hper share well she kind of shared a lot of what I was going to say she just very approachable not just the students but staff too she's very approachable and genuinely cares if people tell her things and she can help she will and people know that you can depend on her um so just for instance example of this was last week and I won't name I'll name teacher names I won't name student names but there was a student that had a presentation in her class this is just an example of what she does every day not just last week this is a difficult student not easy to get along with she actually has built a relationship with him and he's starting to do a lot better because of the time she's put in in that relationship building and he was doing a presentation in her class like a speech and a demonstration speech I think with a guitar I don't think the kid can play a guitar but that's what he chose to do anyway he brings the guitar in and he forgets his guitar pick so she finds out about this we don't have guitar picks around so she goes to Cammy Ross our new computer science teacher who just happens to have a 3D printer and they print him a pick for his guitar before his presentation and this kid was elated it was awesome anyway that's just the kind of stuff that happen all the time because of great teacher especially um what she does so those little things don't go unnoticed but at the same time she also can get on their case because she knows or they know that she cares so it's a good balance of the yeah I love you care about you but you got to get your work done and uh they know it and kids love her and we're blessed to have her at Northfield so thank you let's give a round of applause and Mr Snider and Mr K if you can stand here for a picture please we've done this before but we're doing it again if we did it during the beginning of the school year this time ready all God thank you all right thank thank I think Ridge wants to stay for the rest of yeah they both have things pick up kids places so than you apprciate than you all right and I have a few things I would like to uh read that have been given to us Mr Snider you want to read yours you me go ahead and read it for you I have okay well I'll start with the the ones I'll just do these in order and do his last it's the last one here so first of all from Southwood from Mrs Lewis U she gave me this one the Southwood seventh grade boys basketball team received an exemplary report from official Kevin Baro who officiated the Southwood versus oill game Mr Barlo stated this night the seventh grade uh teams from these two schools played each other this was one of the most pleasurable nights of basketball that I've officiated in a very long time both teams played with great displays a sportsmanship with players being respectful to officials by saying thank you sir when handed the ball for throwi inss and numerous times of players helping opponents up off the floor after fouls both coaches were wonderful in coaching their players in a positive manner and not trying to influence NE shating by complaining all right and even the fans were positive in chearing for their teams I don't recall a game where fans were this positive and mature I think the fans attitudes and the players attitudes and actions were a direct reflection of the coaches and assistance kudos to both sets of coaches Mike mcdot David Homer Evan Deon Scott Deon herb Carter and to the school's athletic directors you have selected great role models it's a joy to officiate at these two schools so that was great I'm going to go ahead and keep that up I guess I'm going to do the one from Northfield next and then I have a longer one to read so I just want you to not that I like to hear myself talk and read but it's a really good one but this is also a good one so from Northfield Mr Snider said um put this in here during the boys basketball game Friday December 6 at Taylor official James Newburn recognized norfield number one Carter Rogers with an exemplary behavior report Carter show extremely good sportsmanship throughout carer was approachable and was polite when asking for explanations he set a very good example for his teammates and opponents so it's always great to get those reports it almost is pretty pretty consistent that we get one um for every board so that's really really good now this other one's a quite a bit longer one and this actually has to do with Metro north um and also Northfield and I received it um from a parent and you'll be it'll be evident who it is I did get permission that I could read this and even though it is long it's very good and I like to read it so in light of this holiday season and this being way overdue I would like you to know about your amazing sta as you know our daughter Grayland was in the hospital beginning of the school year she scared us all tremendously but with that tan and I have found a whole new meaning of living each day entire stay at Riley I had several teachers reach out to me from Metro North Mrs Moore is the greatest principal I am not just saying that she she was the first one to send me a message first day of school saying how much grin would be missed but how special we would make her first day in first day of school when she returns Mrs Moore dropped off signs for Grayland that hung in her room for weeks from her classmates she dropped off cards that all the second grade students had made she went out of her way to make us feel so special and not forgotten she helped me with accommodations that we needed at the beginning she never left me up in the air or without an answer she truly made this hardship and worry about Grayland schooling not so stressful when we were telling the doctors how easy going helpful and accommodating our school was they were amazed they deal with schools all over the state of Indiana and they said not one has ever been this helpful and this accommodating they you usually have to write letters work with their home school Riley teachers I didn't have to do any of that such a blessing Mrs Janelle emman gr and second grade teacher she took me after school to come to our house for weeks and do school workor she answered all my questions quickly when trying to do virtual school she is so kind and gentle with us and helped get grillin back into the groove as a parent I still get the worrisome of school for grin and Mrs emman always calms my heart and racing mind we are blessed to have a wonderful second grade teacher Metro North the best I could not ask for more love for them several texts while in the hospital several set meals gift cards notes and so much more they truly do care about their students and are not just there for a paycheck the first day of school all staff greeted us with the huge smiles and huge hugs Metro North Elementary is trly the best and we are so blessed to have each and everyone Tracy Kennedy and norfield office staff during greyland stay we had no idea where our youngest child melee was we would hear she is with Tracy we would hear she was with Addie Rosine we would hear she was with my parents we truly had no idea we were focusing on grm I did hear she spent several times in the Northfield main office I heard she set up office next and Mr Snider with her Barbies we probably better not ask about that and participated in putting stickers everywhere they would St having such a school system that seems like family and drop their own needs to take care of someone else speaks volumes I haven't heard one complaint about them having a Spitfire three-year-old sitting in their chair yet so I am assuming it all went good this email is way past due our time we are thankful for our journey and where it has led us today but at the time we so many questions why and not know so much thankful and a scar Tanner and I truly believe grillin is here for a great testimony of faith and perseverance in our time with thankfulness we couldn't leave out our school system we hope you have a great Thanksgiving Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year thank you for everything thank you for your amazing staff Sonia eats so long but very good excellent and appreciate the staff um when I did write back you know we we hear things like this but but sometimes it's more about the negative than the positive so it's always great to to hear about those and just confirm what we already know about our staff so that's all I have for recognition well we are definitely appreciative of our our staff I obviously have kids that are still there and I we there for the kids and obviously as a community we're there for for each other so we appreciate that for those that reached out and helped them all right public comment agenda items only guys have any comments or all right we'll move on to our agenda items uh approval of our minutes need to get a motion in a second to approve our minutes of November 12th 2024 Motion in second to approve those minutes all those say that are in favor say I I any opposed all right uh financial report um claims and payroll number nine and 10 since we've just had one meeting again last month you can see there's a difference between the two but a lot of it is based on um all the stiens that are given for whether it's uh just ecas and also for bridge stiens and different things like that so the difference that's why there's the difference of of the two guys have any questions about any claims or anything we got a motion in second to approve claims and payroll 9 and 10 all those in favor say I opposed okay passes um Chris isn't here he's at a ball game with his daughter at Taylor tonight we got in month yep yeah and the summary is um there's no variants that I really need to share um so it's all looking good um and if you want me to continue on with the cash flow uh we have the yellow the yellow again here again that's the payback um and that line item um he did put it in this time to say the transfer and last time when it was in that fund it was just that was in a miscellaneous fund so that's why that [Music] was yes so the state took that clear out yeah it comes right into our same draw then yes into the education yes but there's no town do we still behind the SC yes Chris will be doing that we have to do that so yeah the computer refresh and all that is looked at that account a little bit correct or not say that again refresh computers are those Fe dumped into that and then of course the operation fund there there's the 2024 and you can see the estimated for December and then he just has the 2023 we keep those on there for reference 2023 and 2022 but more important to look at the future so any questions about the education or operation funds one more question yes when you get your draw do they separate that out no well you know I don't know that I know that answer almost they would have to well you know your number well as we track our expenses against what we're getting reimbursed that's the question then start I'm sorry but they start playing with it yeah I'll find out yeah but I did say that you wouldn't know but I'm almost sure that you would know or you would know what the total is for the whole year and then it would just be because we're we're under funded right now correct oh yes definitely yeah only only reason why we're positive was because we've had funds in the past that have build up cover that and that fund textb fund charg for we have extra funds there eventually our computer rental is being dumped in there too though and that's not being funded not told all right all right there's no questions on our financial report we'll move on to HR under employment we have uh Nicole Knox volunteer wrestling coach at Northville High School effective immediately Rebecca Barefoot as a cook at NHS that's was effective 1119 Adam Wier sixth grade boys basketball coach effective immediately that's Southwood Trent kuster third grade boys basketball at Southwood Elementary and that's effective immediately oh that's Sharp Creek yeah looking at the coach Sharp Creek Elementary um Alissa mckel volunteer track coach at North High School for okay 2025 track season um Brent Williams volunteer fifth grade boys basketball at start Creek Elementary effective immediately B stiff fourth grade boys basketball South Sharp Creek Elementary effective immediately and Jeremy Raymond a substitute teacher uh high school and I assume that's for all those schools affected immediately resignation Torrance leaks custodian at Metro North Elementary effective right now looks like and termination uh 184 terminated November 26th leave 185 believe to be intermittent interent days and transfer from Tanya Allen transferring from kindergarten professional to Title One Professional December 2nd 2024 at Metro North Elementary that's it Motion in second move second a motion in second to approve the HR report all those in favor say I any opposed okay artland career center anything new and exciting there m not exciting but uh they approved the school corporations approved the the cheaper of the cheaper cheapest the cheapest The Well of the two we were considering the metal or the the fiber whatever so they approved that one the majority and on the extra money they put that towards the road and then the nipco money would put towards scholarships okay so that was basically the highlights of so they approve the fiber roof yeah the two the two ply whatever yeah Bas what was what's on there do you think they recognize that the largest payer that approved the more expensive is willing to pay I'm just I I looked at him you know how it is if you have somebody going to to pay more than their fair share to go with the other that would have been a better investment the other schools in see it that way you were the only one that voted that way we were M but everybody else voted put the extra money that was collected before back into it and then this go the other way so there wasn't any argument there was just the other all right uh let's see M just want to show a short video um why again we will probably show video once um a month at least we'll probably have them come in quarterly with the project so this is still a little bit behind um last time you just saw through September so this is more through October so let me um go ahead and just show you this it's not very long gives you just a little idea [Music] the fun part the septic [Music] you see the tennis courts there too yes I paused that on purpose so you can see ten courts longer [Music] actually got a lot of for yeah it's really nice so if you right now yeah like Jay said there's a lot of the Footers are all done right here they they do them by letters um and so they've done like G and H and I forget which ones but um it's looking good at least there's some things coming up higher off of the ground so yeah the breake layers were supposed to be starting next week so watch it again it's not really long it's only 53 seconds so [Music] it was really neat today though when I went to Shark Creek to see what are there 8 10 guys out there and they're moving around working pretty fast I think trying to keep warm too so Thursday it'll be moving a lot faster [Music] how often do they send you a video like that um once a month because last time we had SE well we had the beginning September and October and so yeah and so I'm just asking that for every month that we can have one to show and then they'll come in they'll come in uh to actually talk with us a little bit too talked about maybe coming in quarterly um maybe maybe more often I don't know that so we'll see how things go but looks good they're on schedule SP on schedule so hopefully the weather cooperates and keep there um I only have one other thing and it's a if I can get to it something so I just want to say one of the legislative priorities of governor Ron was he reiterated his commitment to increasing teacher pay and so the the of course you know that the state mandated starting salary or minimum salary for teachers is 40,000 and the average in Indiana now for the first year teachers is $ 46,0 and just wanted to point out that msd's uh starting salary is 47,000 so it's really good that we've been able to work together with the teachers and also with the administration the school board to be able to have that starting salary that's actually higher than what the average is in the state so just wanted to point that out because he continues to talk about that um and I'm just glad we're in that position we can do that so that's all I have all right Tim's not here we'll move on to new [Music] business I don't have anything here to show you but just um you know the last several years we've had the teacher appreciation Grant in stiens and we just ask that you approve those um and we appreciate the state being able to give us some of the funding to do that need a re we need a motion a second to approve that teacher appreciation grants tit so sorry Motion in second to approve the teacher appreciation Grant sens for this year all those in favor say I I oppose we a recommendation to approve transfer from rainy day from operations to rainy day we continue to try to make sure we have that Fund in a good shape as far as the rainy day and when we're able to be able transfer this is when Dr typically um puts that transfer in so this is the resolution to make that transfer accept second a motion second to uh approve the transfer from money from operations to rainy day all those in favor say I you opposed recommendation to approve our end end of Year resolution and on an annual basis yeah on an annual basis this is basically just to be able to um reduce and to reapo appropriate funds required to make sure it's all balanced by the end of 2024 in all of those different [Music] resol a motion second to approve the resolution all those in favor say I opposed recommendation to approve the 2025 calendar of Board of Education meeting dates so here so if you look at that this is really would be uh emulate what we did um this year in um and as always we could make changes but you can see the the two in January and February and March one in April one in May one in June and then we start full again in July two August 2 September Two October just one and then November one December one and then back to to January we have on there the regular organizational and also God bless you the second one in January would be the regular and the board of finance and we will have that will help us get started for the year we have to have three of them so just ask that you approve these dat course problem appr I'll make a motion to approve 2025 cber presented in front of us second a motion second to approve the 2025 calendar Board of Education meeting dates all those in favor say I I opposed and the last one recommendation to approve Valerie d to assume the board position of David B the ran Public Library Board of Trustees for term ending September 15 2027 you might recall and and St point this out in our cabinet meeting David was just approved this past summer U but then he had to step down and now his wife's doing it so that's why we're making a change pretty quickly here so move got a motion to second to approve Valerie Dow to assume the board position of David Dow for Roan Public Library Board of Trustees all those in favor say I opposed all right have any Unfinished Business board policy any public comment any items for board members all right thanks J thank

all right all right we're back in Open session for our meeting just finished our executive session before we get into the superintendent search presentation just two pieces of news so this is our last scheduled meeting before December 23rd which is when the former superintendent Carell retires so there you go and also congratulations to the football team for winning fa Super Bowl this year right so good stuff [Music] [Applause] absolutely can't that so uh let's bring up superintendent search presentation Lori do you want to introduce us yes we have um two two different people here we have um Miss Tracy Novak novic is going to um present first from the masc and then we have Mr David is it deusi is that how I say it yes and Mrs oh my goodness Miss Judy paluchi um they're they're here from NE de and both um both sets of people are going to explain to us how they would run a superintendent search um so and because this time we're going to do a full search um and we'll see what they have to say and we apologize um Tracy mil for the spelling your name on [Music] theck so good evening be with you um thank you for uh for inviting to be here my name is try noic um I man to speak to number of you and um I'm the field director for Massachusetts for the Massachusetts Association of school committees um and that actually brings me to my first point regarding the superintendance search I mean obviously any um decision that you need to make really is a question of why would you choose one organization over another organization and the thing that I think is actually most important in terms of you making the decision and the determination as to what you want to do um is that masc is already your organization um we are why we you are why we exist um masc is a member organized member driven organization um we were originally informed um by members who felt that there was a need for a Statewide organization of school committees um to provide them with professional development to keep them appraised of um legal and policy changes that were happening in Federal in National level and our services th have just simply evolved in terms of what school committees actually need from us um and regardless of what choices you make um as again a number of you already know um MC will remain your organization um you have a field director I am your field director for central Massachusetts four of us across the state um a significant part of our job is actually responding to members questions emails phone calls um on a daily basis there's a significant part of my time that's actually simply devoted to that um and the professional development that we provide to school CL across the state um the emails that provide information policy updates and so forth will continue to come um and so that support I think is something that's actually very important um we of course are all um at the association because we are the association of school committees our focus is on the school committee um and the needs of the school committee um all of the field directors are either current or past school committee members um as some of you may be aware I'm a former member of the W school committee my colleagues um either are currently serving have recently been on school committees um and that is the perspective that we bring to the superintendent search which I think actually matters quite a bit um we also uh bring the perspective of someone who um is not sort of um coming to your District without um without any background being your District right I live in Wester I'm from central Massachusetts I actually grew up in Sterling um well this is I think the first time I've been in this building it's not the first time that I've been in your school district by any re um and I think that that actually matters quite a lot because part of what we see superintendent searches as doing um is really first of all being an opportunity for a school for a school district to really strengthen itself it's a chance for you to look at what you're doing well to look at what you could be building on um and to see the search as a process through which you actually expand upon that um one of the things that I think of superintendent searches is doing is actually being an opportunity for us to also strengthen our relationship with you um and so um when I say that we are um we sta a search School Committees of course are the ones who direct the search that's usually me um and that means that I'm the one who's actually doing the conducting the survey um I try to make sure that I get into every faculty meeting um and actually in front of your staff with your central Administration um conduct the public information centers myself um I think that matters quite a bit in terms of my then being able to bring back good information to you work directly with the screening committee um it will be me unless there is some sort of unavoidable conflict in which case it will be one of my colleagues who also is a field director um and similarly there for the interviews um working with you in terms of making sure your questions are good doing a solid job of making sure that you have um a good ability to um to get insight into the candidates that um making sure that you have an opportunity to visit their District they have an opportunity to visit your District um and then of course regardless again of what you choose in terms of uh your search process um MC doesn't go away so we are always available for um completing a search for us doesn't actually end until you've assigned contract but of course we then also encourage you to do things like have a retreat with your new superintendent make sure that you are on the same page in terms of setting goals for the superintendent and goals for yourselves um making sure that you've considered and come together around operating protocol that are on the same page in terms of things like the open meeting law um this new superintendents are a really good chance for strong professional development of the governance team um and we again that's part of what you get from us already because you're members of the association we think of that being as a really important U part of the process I've kind of walked you through this already um but this is really more or less what a search looks like for us um we do make sure that we sign a contract what you're looking for is entirely included um for the cost of the contract um the only thing that would be an exception is if for some reason you decided to advertise in the Boston Globe and frankly we tell you not to do that because it's kind of a waste of money um so we um make sure that we we are on um available for for Staffing to make sure that you have everything that you need and every step along the way um and one of the things that I emphasize certainly to the school committee um but then also to the search committee when I'm working with them um but then also I share my contact information with the larger District um because the one thing that I want to make sure is that they always know what the next step is and they actually always know what's going on um and I shared that the thing that I would share with teachers is my own experience as a former teacher um I was an educator I remember getting an email from my um central office saying that the superintendent was retiring and that was in the fall and then the next thing that I remember hearing about it was the that we were all being invited to this lemonade party in the high school School Courtyard and to meet the new superintendent and and I will swear that I was someone who read all my emails but I don't think I heard anything in between um and I don't think that's a fair position to put anybody who's in a school district in and so that's something that I always try to make sure doesn't happen to the staff or anyone else in the school districts where I'm doing a um and so really um at the end of the day we at the our relationship with you is something that we highly value um it's something that we think is crucial for us um as an association but also us as field directors to have healthy working relationships with our school committees um in our districts and so um obviously the search is actually really all about that we're really about making sure that you find the right person for where your district is at this time um there is no perfect candidate and perfect District what there is is people who actually put each other's P I'm happy to take any questions go ahead ifone Trac could I you put it back to that um the slide that had the different phases absolutely than that yes certainly and by the way I'm certainly happy to share this with you Tracy while they're looking at that can I ask ask you which searches are currently MBC is doing right now or which ones that you're involved with as well so the one search that I'm involved with right now is Winchendon um which is announced its finalist and is in the sort of that L latter stage of the the process at this point um I know that brain tree is announcing finals tonight because one of my colleagues is was just updating me from there um I know that mashby and um something else on the cap because my boss has been most of his time driving to the um we are and then we have we have um we've had a couple of we're just sort of starting we think of superintendent start just start of two seasons there's the people who kind of Do The Fall season and then there's the people who do the spring season um we're just starting to get the the notifications from the people who are doing the spr thank you so far I don't have anything following that idea what is the typical timeline look like um so I mean let let me start by saying that we can be flexible um I will say that um I generally if you if you are kicking off a search now so first of all I wouldn't do anything prior to vacation for when it's work if you decide toight um mostly because it's a lovely and exciting thing but I don't think anyone's paying that much attention to it at this time of year um but i' like to to Jump Right In um with um gathering information so if we were doing that say in January um I would anticipate that you would be bringing it um all together assuming that we don't have a very snowy second half of the winter um by probably April um I want as much as possible for my spring searches to come in um well before the end of school so that there's time for a transition um there's time for the person who's coming in to really have their feet under them in terms of what the next reason what the next year's budget's going to look like like um you know ideally if there's still Our Town meetings or what have you going on at that stage in the game that's wonderful um but I want them to actually be a presence who's known in the district rather than sort of like an email as people are going out the door does anybody have any other questions so Tracy as I was going over some of your materials and and even looking at this right now it sounds like masc does a lot of the work a lot of like the behind the scenes work and the committee basically reaps the benefits of that whereas we don't have to V the references and um like I noticed even things along the lines of um like you you tell the successful candidates or those that aren't you're the one that breaks the news we we made the unhappy phone calls yes can you do the reference checks and things like that um and one of the things actually that I will say is also um a benefit of having the association do it is because we are in nearly every District across the state like Justified every school committee in Massachusetts as a member um we do have working relationships with almost all districts and so when I get an A list of applicants which by the way are confidential but they're confidential within the office the first thing that I do is I share it with the other field directors and with our executive director and say okay what do we know um because I want to know whatever the stories are I want to know whatever the reputations are um if there is a story to know I want to know what the story is um so I I want to make sure that I'm walking into your search committee um who have then reviewed all of the applications with all of the information that's at the association disposal which tends to be fairly wide but yes we we are always happy I mean if you know if school committee members want to make reference calls once we get there that's entirely fine um but certainly all of the sort of compiling you know compiling applications making sure they're accessible working with the search committee and making sure they have their questions answered um and and just generally being available you know putting together the interview questions making sure you have access to good draft interview questions if you want them all of those are things that are part of the job yes say a little bit more about um phase one there focus group surveys and what other community stakeholders would be involved and how would they be involv um so I mean the first thing I will say is that it is entirely up to you there are particular on on that you want to make sure are involved but that's that's entirely up to you um I do always make sure so we we now as a matter of course we'll post a public survey um and I will become almost annoying to your to your Administration in terms of asking them to please share the that as much as possible um one thing in particular that I really encourage I mean everyone thinks to put it in the parent newsletter and they usually think it to Black class that's faculty um I really encourage sharing it with students as well if you think students don't have opinions about Administration right um but I also know that not everybody's going to fill out a survey um and so something that I have found so I've been doing this job for 10 years um something that I have found is um really really important in terms of getting the read of the people who work in the district um is to be at your scheduled faculty meetings and ask for 10 15 minutes um because if I just show up in a school and say I'm in the library teachers don't have time for that like they've got they need to go to the bathroom right they need to make copies they need to get their lunch they don't have time to talk to me um if it's part of what they already are scheduled to do they're more than happy to share um and that also gives me an opportunity to give them a sense of the starch um I try I also try to do the same thing with Central Administration um and ideally if I can get the secretaries the custodial staff School nutrition I have been with all of those people in the past um I you know again people who have real insight um I like to be able to meet with students Council if possible and then one of the things I ask you all is for your best read on how to do the public input sessions so you may have a community where nobody's GNA come out to a meeting and you have to do it online I know in Regional sometimes people feel it's really important to make sure that you hit every town happy to do that um whatever it is that needs to be done there I also in the past um have met with Town administrators um which first of all is not a bad kind of political move to be a little bold about statement um but they also have Insight in terms of what are the you know what is this what is the district doing well from their perspective and what do they need to work on in terms of that perspective and of course we know those relationships matter um so those tend to be I can't think if there's anything else those tend to be the main things that I do and then of course I share my contact information widely and say if you think of other things you know send me an email get in touch and all of that then comes back to you um um the the things that I share first of all you know we say that we um we come back to the leadership profile which essentially is here is what your District needs at this point which would then go into the application or the brochure once you approve it um but the other thing that I report back is essentially I mean I was on a school committee anything that I heard that I think you should know I make sure I bring back to you um and that's really what I mean in terms of it being an opportunity for you to kind of do an internal assessment without you know without being a strategic plan or all that kind of thing if I'm going to go ask people what the district is doing well and not doing well and what they need to work on you should know that right that's information you can use I have one question just based on that um I you mentioned something about you know going up withit into the communities and speaking to the parents um I received a lot of emails from parents who very much want to be involved in the interview process and there's just no way to they all can be right for everybody to be there so what what I'm curious about is hearing how you speak to how we can let voices be heard you talk about going do you do like a presentation or um so and let me also add that again it's one of those where if you have very active PTO and think I should go to the PTO or should go to the site councils I'm happy to do that too um so when I speak to those groups it's sort of two hals the first thing I do is you know as I said I don't want to ever leave anyone in the position of wondering what's happening next so I say so here's what you so here's who I am um I am not choosing your superintendent your school is here's what my job is but here's what the timeline is to your point right here's when you can expect things to happen um one of the things I think that uh school committee would understand but sometimes the general public does not is that there's a period during which things kind of go quiet right so like there's this big thing I'm everywhere I come talk to you you approve the application and then it kind of feels like nothing happens well that's because we're collecting the applications then the next thing that happens is an executive session there's screenings so I mean those meetings will be posted but there's not going to make any headlines it isn't until the search committee comes back to you with the finalist that anyone hears anything again um so I try to make sure that people are clear in terms of that of that you know it isn't that anybody forgot it's not that nothing's happening this is the way that it works and then the three questions that I ask when I do with a an input session in person um I ask what are the strengths of the district what do you what do this District do well what do you brag about what do you want to make sure they continue to do um what does the district need to work on what do hope that they stop what do what are they weak on what do they need to actually continue to continue to do work on and then what is the district most need in leadership U because most of us who aren't directly involved in either superintendency itself or school commity work couldn't necessarily tell you what a superintendent does but most people can tell you what the district needs in terms of leadership and those are really my three questions um and I do it whenever I'm doing it in a group in in a larger group um I do it on sticky notes because that way it isn't only the loudest voices in the rooms that get heard we make sure that everybody gets a chance to put their things up um and then I take all of that information back along with the information We Gather from the survey and put it together in our report for you just yeah so I see the search committee mentioned in phase three y are they also involved in phase one kind of informally or more formally no so what would happened is that um you would be putting in you would be deciding um really during this period of time um what it is that you wanted for a search committee sort of um how many people who you wanted to make sure it was represented what the balance was that's a school committee decision um and then also the second part of that is then if you have these designated seats how do those get allocated how do you decide which Elementary School parent gets it which teacher gets it um so that is when that happens while the files are coming in um one of the things that masc does is we always make sure that we train our search committees before they meet and before they have applications um while you're familiar with the open meeting law and confidentiality and the state code of ethics it's not something that necessarily your search committee is going to be so I meet with them for a training prior to them doing anything else so that they have all of that information um they sign a statement of confidentiality they're familiar with the conflict of interest law those who need to make a file a declaration do that at that point um and then we put them through open meeting law training particularly because most of their meetings are going to be an executive session and they need to have an understanding of how that works um and then they've already done that by the time the um applications then all compiled and they get shared with the the search committee confident confidentially vert the the electronic um needs final questions one thank you thanks thank you very much all right we'll take a few minutes for the groups to uh switch up the rooms [Music] thanks Tracy go ahead if you're ready good evening thank you for having us here um we're going to probably share some information that's very similar to uh to masc my name is H Dr Judy Puchi I'm a former superintendent and I'm now a staff associate with uh NE and um here is David my name is Dr David deusi I the executive director of Nez this is my second year as the executive director here at n de and I have put 34 years 33 in Massachusetts as an educator super in from special ed teacher to superintendent in two districts one year as an inter in New Hampshire and now I am fortunate enough to be here working for next so Judy will be a lead consultant on this so I'll here do some of the talking we've given you a a folder it's just a very simple outline we're going to walk through it what a search through our company would be like the proposal you received was for a guided search and I think the only difference between comprehensive search versus the guidance search is focus GRS but we'll talk about that when we get there so I'll let you start we're just going to kind of tag to you this so if you have any questions stop right in the middle you'll hear it very similar than not so there you go so first I I hope you notice that throughout the whole outline you'll see a lot of communication I think that's the key to a good search the search is your search we are assisting you with that search so we start with a a meeting for planning and organization setting a timeline expectations for when things will happen um and we support the development of that timeline but of course um how you want the search to receive is up to you um there's also um National and Regional publication of the vacancy and one thing Nest has that many organizations don't have is the reach generally we reach not only the New England states but even Beyond so we uh set a publication of the vacancy both regionally Statewide regionally and nationally and so so um and so many people who are looking for a superintendency will periodically go to our website but also receive Outreach from us so there's a lot of so a little bit about nezda we with the New England School Development Council so nec's been in business for I think we're in a 78 years so we have a wide reach we run from Connecticut to main we're also members of the national school Development Council I sit on that board so that gives us reach be even right into uh the New York Pennsylvania and Connecticut area so when we're posting for your application your your future candidates we send out to all of those um agencies so we we will send them to New York we will send them to Connecticut we'll send them out as well as our Affiliates and our Constant Contact members which right now number close to 6,000 contact from like I said Connecticut all the way up to May so when we put a posting out for you it it goes up and we've had candidates as far as Singapore part of an application I completed a search in New Hampshire last year kide New London it's regional and they ended up hiring somebody from Missouri so we when y your posting will get out we'll give it the coverage it needs in all reality you'll probably have more candidates from Massachusetts however with having the wider reach you'll get to see candidates and interview some candidates that are maybe are further away and you'll know at the end that you really have the best candidate possible so uh as far as advertising goes um we um do the advertising for you so there's School spring is a very common place um for people to go for um who are searching for a superintendency but there's also top school jobs of the Ed week publication aasa online announcement National Alliance of black school Educators Association of Latino administrators and then um a professional diversity Network so we have a lot of means to get the news out there certainly um through a search with n de no one in the region will not know that you are for superintend one other piece we will work with the school committee on is developing the application letter and we feel that's an important part for the liaison of this search with us because you get a a chance to highlight your community your school district you're basically going to put the letter together so that if I deci if I see a posting for um the job I'm going to be able as a superintendent who's interested look at that letter learn learn so much about where you are as a district and then the idea is you're selling me to say hey this is a great place to come here and work and that's something we would work with the school board anything we do with you is through the board the committee approved by the committee so we don't make any decisions with regards to outreach what what the voice of the committee is the voice of the committee we will help you put it together we will help package it you approve it you put it up okay so and in addition to the um advertising that we'll do uh we have a constant contact Network and so this um information goes out to just a wide variety of of people across the state um as as uh David said a little while ago um The Proposal you'll have you have in front of you is for a guided search uh we can expand that to also include focus groups that is totally up to you um but um I have had experience with focus groups you get a lot of very good information from those focus groups uh we would sit down with you at the very beginning to decide who should we be reaching out to what type of information do we want to gather from people and what the timeline for that would be in the electronic survey we use we start you you'll have access to that that through this proposal we're seeing a an uptick in responses to the online surveys it's a we much like other you know agencies we start off with two basic questions what would you like to see in your next superintendent what skills what traits and then we usually ask the next question would be what would be in the first six months what would be some of the challenges and tasks but then the online survey also has places where you can put in their open-ended questions responses and the way we break it down it's an anonymous survey but we can graph how many teachers respond how many parents respond how many administrators respond so that and we pull all that together give that to the committee to review a you ODS to have but also if you had made the decision to all right we could use that survey maybe one or two focus group you can pull together a candidate profile out of that I helped a small smaller District in New Hampshire they did the survey I sat with the leas on we looked at it and they built their own profile off that survey we just B I had the lia on we worked it out she sent me the bullets we went back and forth and and she basically helped build their own candidate profile and then during the time when applications are being received um we are the folks who um potential applicants will call if they have any questions uh we hold on to those applications but at the same time we're in constant communication with you so if you have questions about um you know how many applications have come in so far what does it look like have we had a lot of response it's the communication is is ongoing and um so you'll have our telephone numbers we'll be probably speaking to at least a contact person on the school committee um single during the process and again we put a lot of emphasis and it's the the most difficult part of research comes down to the screening committee so we would help you navigate those Waters would help you decide who how many you'd like on that school committee uh screening committee we will meet with the screening committee prior we will meet post afterwards so how that works for us really is um work with ala on we send the information we have all of this in gous number of templates so if you need the letter that to recruit people for the screening committee we have different examples we give that to you you could make it yours you put your name you send it out so the screening committee we recommend anywhere between 9 and 12 is manageable I did a search um last year with 22 that was a bit of a that was cumbersome but again so we we help you with that we will train up that screening committee we'll come in in person train them walk them to the confidentiality laws rules we leave it up to the district uh some searches that I've been involved in they will bring a clerk from the town side with one sheet of paper review confidentiality rules have everybody sign off some districts have their own policies which we'll review at that meeting with them sign off the confidentiality piece is big but that first meeting what we would do is Comm in because you get a different group of stakeholders we recommend you look for positions not people so you definitely want someone representing the teachers we always Advocate maybe a union president a vice president you want an administrative voice you may want a PTO parent voice you may want the special ed per parent group so you look at positions because you're right you're going to get inundated everybody will want to be on it the goal is get a collective stakeholder voice you have different opinions at that table we collect all the applications what we will do would come in that first day Train everybody the liais on Judy we be working together but when we leave that first day we do this a little different each member of that screening committee has access to our link and password to see all the apps you may say why would you give us all the applicants nezda and its history we wouldn't scream to you unless you asked us to because I'm not sure what you may think is really paper this is a person this paperwork looks great versus you may say I like this one and I may say after 33 years of whatever I don't think any of them fail so that would not be our job our job is to give it to all your screening committee members individually they go through them we have a tool where they can rank them so after you look at Dave on paper you have the ability to click on a survey that comes in touch nobody else one definitely want to see Dave again two someone want to see Dave again three not interested in seeing dat so that work is done by the screening committee individually they do that work then we come back for the second meeting which is scheduled and what we would have for you is the ranking of how everybody on that screening committee individually saw each candidate now this is the real work is the deliberation so you see the top five and then it's like how many people do you want to bring back to screen and we work through that I have seen that work where somebody that might be in the middle of the pack gets moved to the top of the pack because Del Liberation in the room I've seen people at the top drop a little but that's the work of the screening committee we're there to facilitate that it's your search your candidate pool we want you to make the best choices screening committee at the end of that will then say we want to see these eight people to interview we do the the happy calls we do the not so happy calls and we' deal with all of that we'd work with the committee to set up a schedule and then screening committee goes to work screening committee will decide who they want to move forward once again we would have all the reference checks on our end meaning make sure their uh paperwork's in order reference checks go either way I agree sometimes School committees want to be part of that sometimes they don't we have a process to help make that easier for school boards to do the reference checks but again that's up to you uh it's your search I think it's a valuable piece to break up if you have five finalists share amongst the school committee give each one because we'll send them out we'll collect the data based on give the references for parents staff you work with administr so they'll send us 15 of those and I think it's valuable for the school committee at that point to each split some of the work up because then we each get a field for the Campa so when it does come time after the interviews and you're trying to decide who's the next superintendent you could turn around say well I checked the references the parents had a lot of good things to say you could say I checked the administrators they had so so many and the staff and then that's the deliberation so again we can go either way with that we could screen them check them but I think it's valuable to give some of that work back to the committee because you're going to be making those decisions and ultimately of course it's your decision on who is the candidate that best meets this District's needs um whether a candidate profile is done solely by the committee or with uh through focus groups that candidate profile that description of a perfect person for the job the superintendent here drives the work throughout the process so even if you have a screening committee part of the training is making sure that they are not looking just out of their lens but out of the lens of here's what the school committee decided is the ideal candidate here's the profile of an ideal candidate so when you're developing questions you ask questions to get at is the person that's sitting in front of us meet that profile um and then if you get down to finalists then you get into the details about um okay here's our profile how best do each of these finalists meet that those criteria and what can we further ask references in order to really find out if if that's the right candidate for us so that candidate profile does Drive the process it's a profile that you all agreed to it's not our profile it's not a profile developed by the screening committee um but it it's something that's really important to make sure that you have candidate that meet your needs and we'll help the screening committee we have Banks of questions like I said NEC has been doing this a long time so we have questions we break them up by category so we'll work with the screening committee we'll give them all this information again the screening process from our Viewpoint is we always tell the screen you have to figure an hour with each candidate you have so many questions your job is you saw them on paper now bring them in person that's where you throw the questions that's you get a feel how does this person interact how we but I also remind uh School committees being some of that's interviewed for jobs as a superintendent there's a piece of where you're also being interviewed by that candidate they want to they want to see how you interact with each other they want to see the bigger picture how how do I feel when I'm sitting in front so we'll go over that also with the screening committee because I think that's an important piece as a kid they saw your application letter we really think this is where I want to be the way they interact with that screening committee is very important now once the finalist is chosen we come back in person we work with the actual school committee we have some advice on how to do that with work a schedule how do you want the interviews do you want days in District you you tell us we set that up we reach out to the candidates we we fill in the schedule for you and um you go from there we tend to not be in the interview process meaning we wouldn't be there for the interviews you would like Nez there we would be there uh the rationale for that is there are moments where the candidate if I'm in the back of the room and Judy is and they think we're we're the ones conducting the search I don't want them interviewing to me or Judy we we' rather them inter we're on call you'll have our cell numbers should have bumped in the road come you call we're ready we help you but again then the proposal will be there if you want us that's that's fine but we tend to leave we'll training we leave that work up to the screening committee and then the um actual work of the board if you wanted us for those final interviews we be there we'll set it all up then you do your job you last not we have the warranty which we hope we don't have to use but I see smiles there's a warranty and proposal if for whatever reason let's say you go through this whole process and you're like nope don't like any of them other than just the cost of US reposting and everything you you get a consultant back and we'll walk you right through the process again should for whatever reason the appointment not last through the first contract year then once again we would come back as part of the warranty you get the leas on you you get the consult we do the work for so we're hoping that does happen um in that folder I believe we're starting to do some work around Executive coaching and it ranges from entry plan support which we've done before to strategic planning strategic audits uh we're trying our best to build that relationship we build a relationship when we commit with the school committee and the school boards and I think if we could still manage to work with the relationship afterwards it would be better for everybody superintendent are becoming more and more difficult to find good ones if you have when you wanted to work you have a draft timeline to take a look at our search is your where the guided search is minus the focus groups they run a little bit FAS but the average search is about 120 days a guided search depending if you do want focus groups added if not how many you want that's up to you but um yeah they come in closer to that 90 90day because you're not losing weeks for the focus groups and writing it all up but that's the basic timeline you can see the benchmarks that we try to hit and our goal would be to help you build the search you need and facilitate it's a big task it's one of the most important jobs of a school committee is to do this work because you have a lot of rting on anybody have any questions I do yeah so I noticed um your develop letter and AD ends before Community needs assessed so are you posst for the job before the community needs assessment yes that's where I think the once this let you'll make a decision on which which group that would represent the search view once we know if it's us we would ask the next meeting we'd come right back we' have another in person the idea is we need a liaison so one once the school board committee decides the liaison is going to be Albert he's going to be the liaison if Alber gets tag then Albert and I go right you go right to work so what we would do is we' send some examples you can go online on our website you'll see what an application letter looks like we'd go right to work on that the faster it's approved repost yeah if that doesn't have the whole detail of a candidate profile that's like the basics you want some with with a certification you want want we would ask you do you expect experience with certain um roles and so on so that's the basics the candidate profiles gets into a bit more specifics and so we don't need that before we no that application letter as I said gives you the opportunity to tell somebody what's special about working and living and being here what is it that means this environment a special place to work so that's where as a school committee you'd want to pump in some of your you know what whatever is like new programs new projects also is if we would help you do that you craft a little bit about budgets like we've had you know stable budget for the last our budgets are approved we've had a stable school committee those are the things superintendent want to see they want to know that they're coming into a district that has a level of stability but there's progress also and we help you craft that and if it's not that way that's okay don't worry about it works out having been in several districts in my life yeah so just a point of clarification I I like myself have doing this 30 plus years right multiple searches that I participated in on all levels so you keep referring to Liaison right it's important to school Community to know that it might not be you two that we're going to be working it's going to be her leison is from y so we'll be working with you'll be working with you AB make sure no that's we're here J your I'll sh some work I like to be on the ground with people like to her up as well so that we'll never have a conflict there's always G to be somebody who can respond to you but I'll be the primary person but there'll be someone from the school committee he'll be and then we need one well L could double is disos person also because if we get a call at nesda you know what's going on with the Sur we would refer that to Y everything comes back to the committee so we need somebody who can answer those questions for us but no we Judy's on the point I'm in here um and and again we you may see other Nez we're we have a team so even in my office Christina I think you've talked with Christina she's we we work as a group but I may I'm trying to train people too so you may find this three of us here at this screening committee meeting just because I'm trying to train people in the process any other questions the the broad Outreach is great that you go outside of the area I'm just curious how often you find an outside of the area per candidate would be willing to come to such a small District I think you know I I'll I'll tell you a little bit from experi my own experience I do think the majority do come from the general area in the particular State I have spent most of my career in Rhode Island um when I was ready for a superintendency I don't know if you know this but there's only 38 districts in Rhode Island so you either have to wait for someone to pet you know uh to move on it's it's difficult I ended up going to Maine so so I was in Maine um I had to come back for family so I drew a circle around Providence ended up in Massachusetts so yes you get candidates from um from nearby States in general far fewer candidates will come from outside New England but there will be some and there have been some that have come to New England that have been really pretty successful bring a different perspective um working in different states you really learn to um to not take things for granted because people just generally do things differently um but there's some advantages to having people who understand the Massachusetts way as well that'll be up to you but being able to compare candidates from a wider wider stretch I think is very advantageous there there have been moments and we get we people contact us so superintendent will call us so that's another piece of the Outreach um I and I know of at least two superintendents out of state trying to get back into State we had one from New Hampshire t h last year search for us so there's this kind of crossborder people trying to either get back in that had left people that had you know looking to just start something brand new Massachusetts still was a very attractive state for Education too all right thanks for coming in pleasure have my contact that contact thank you for your app just I guess I think the search subcommittee Lori that's you and Megan and Jeff maybe take all this in get a meeting in the next little bit of time and then our our next meeting make a decision on what we're GNA do and get started all right okay we're gonna as if we're starting over right let's start with our our public comments so is anybody here public comment yeah all right uh anyone who's here public comment if you don't mind head up to the front of the room name and address and what you like to talk to how many just anyone else all right uh we're going to try to stick to our comment policy which is three minutes but you're the only one so go ahead right up there be great thank you jasonette Berlin um my son Kaden is a fifth grader at EMS uh he spends almost two hours a day on a bus uh I'm here to extend mine and my wife's support for the work alls has done starting making the bus routes more Equitable in terms of how much time kids spend on the bus we are in favor of the proposal to reverse the afternoon routes to SW as outline it should be noted that running the routes currently takes longer than they need to the routes can be redesigned to help take much less time than they do that's not hypothetical this has been proven when chip Durant was the substitute driver filling in on the route my son spent much less time on the bus that he does today I understand r r design is out of scope of the current discussion but it is worth noting that we may not be in this situation to begin with if the RS took less time overall personally I'm willing to accept that I chose to live on the edge of count furthest from the school and my long my son would have the longest commute as result but the excessive time the rep takes is what brings me here today as a Band-Aid to cor route design I support the proposal to flip us three and with an additional request to please consider Route efficiency and optimization during the upcoming contract process I want to thank Bob Holmes for the amount of time and energy he has put into analyzing the bus routes proposing the solution seeking input from Neighbors and Town's people working with the district and nrt and now presenting to the school committee in offering my feedback to Bob I looked at an additional dimension of the data are more kids positively impacted then negatively impacted no by how much Bob's analysis will show that The Proposal results in equity that all students will have the same overall daily commute time but I was curious how many kids will gain time versus how many kids will lose time in this proposal my question is rooted in the Assumption most people who deal with commute is going to get shorter will likely support flipping the Reps people whose daily commute is going to get longer will likely objective flipping those by doing the math on what the current commute is versus the proposed commute and see how much time is gained by shorter commutes versus how much is lost by longer commutes with the assumption that shorter is good and longer is bad in mind we can look at the data if more kids save more time and fewer kids lose less time the rush should flip if more kids kids lose time and fewer kids save time the route should not flip bus three is skewed heavily in favor of flipping the route based on this criteria 41 students benefit from the change versus 21 are negatively impacted by the change there is more time saved than there is time lost 17 students will lose 21 minutes a day but that enables 27 students to save 30 to 63 minutes a day more students save more time than relatively fewer students losing less time pending large review and redesign of routing in the future please enable to propose Solutions starting after the holidays this school year so kids aren't spending almost two hours a day the last thank you final call anyone else all right uh any Communications I know other than uh we did receive many Communications regarding the bus situation um both in favor of and against switching so does anybody else have any other Communications we received emails reced uh yeah comment on we also yeah we a lot of comments as well that come up with question there were separ EMA would sure yeah I thought that went every I didn't get anything yeah I just got the synopsis that has a bunch of comments from the emails but not the I think Jason's email yeah I said it just you yeah so that might be a sorry Miss but a lot of those emails were and we just try that we're getting a few here and there so we talk to Mike and and John will talk a little bit later about it so that's why we just send the survey up to everybody so we can Capt everybody instead of just one e here be a good Capt everybody's comments anybody else have any if I could I I just I heard you guys say they just put comments from the email those comments are just from the survey right clarify that because it is confusing all right no others all right the uh the consent agenda um before we get a motion on that um I only see the me the minutes in there I don't see the warrant in there is there a warrant for appr there there were warrants signed this month be warrants yeah they are not in the file we'll make sure they're in the next apologies all right so should we just go the minutes and it's fine I don't want anyone to vote on anything they have not seen they have a motion to approve the consent agenda November 124 meeting minutes please second Megan okay any discussion on those I don't know if it matters but it says that Julie Lee was present instead of me unlisted further down but this the top section yeah I see that there yeah all right um have motion to amend the motion to include Elizabeth M's name and jul minutes J second any discussion on that sorry all those in favor of the amendment I Against All right so the amended motion passes we are now the original motion to approve minutes and discussion minutes all right and all in favor on this motion hi yes all right the motion passes the November meeting minutes okay uh next up is the chair's report I really don't have anything specific to say other than the other agenda items on the agenda so we'll just continue on to superintendent's report please thank you so apologize I got sort of a l for tonight um so good evening before go anywh I just want to sort of reiterate what Mike said to congratulate our high school football team um who are Super Bowl champions um I know that making the decision on behalf of even the school team myself to have that half day last Friday was met certainly with mixed feelings but seeing my students win and having that many people in the stands certainly moving them on was a memory that none of our students will forget not only for the students that were playing but also for students to have a chance to be that close on Jen stadium and that close to the field and some of our students actually even being on the field um so we want to congratulate our our high school football team in the cheerleaders that did some great work as well too uh there'll be a parade for them on on this coming Saturday at 10 o'clock I'm starting at the West Wilston Town Hall um so please be able to make it join us we also have something special play for our football team that we're working on right now for Friday long as well too that we're trying to keep that sort of a secret until till Friday takes place as well too but congrat rations um Mike you have said something lately that really holds true for this moment that we we need to celebrate our successes right and this is one of our successes we should absolutely be proud of our our kids the way they handle themselves in the field and it's just really remoc to see them doing that so congratulations to those guys um I'm gonna this time ask our student rep I know Matt D's here with us they know you have a little bit you like to share with us Matt if you could yeah um I don't have too much to share this time um the first thing I got was some student coun events are recently held so we had our Thanksgiving food drive which we hold every year uh it went really well so we donate a whole bunch of canned goods to um the Boon and Berlin pantries as well as we put together a couple of Thanksgiving dinners for uh dinners for Tonto families um and then our upcoming stuco thing we're doing something a little bit weird around this year we always have our winter Spirit Week this year we're doing it combined middle and high school so I'm looking forward to it it's going to be a lot of fun I think um we've never done it before so might be a little bit crazy but um and sportswise obviously as mentioned our Lions football team won the for the third year in a row won the state championship um and also the girls varsity soccer team for the second year in in a row made it to the uh State final four competition so that was really awesome um and other than that there's not really much else to mention that I have so I think that it's about yeah we need to make sure that uh the soccer team doesn't sh we celebrate I think we acknowled at the last abely fin agreed agreed absolutely um thank you thanks M so the next item on the agenda is proposing for the bus route changes for the town of gr town of gr um this time I'd like to introduce for those who don't know W Holmes who will give us a brief presentation on the proposal that proposal plus changes um after B presents I'm going to have John Campbell um will provide us some data based on a survey that was sent out to parents at brillin um so and I thinkk John he actually spare ahead of that for me so I I appreciate that and after that I'll I'll ask be asking SCH Comm to just give me a little bit of direction on how to receive um as a super school um and I look forward to that feedback from them making this final decision on this so I'll turn it over to ball homs at this time please so good evening folks uh school committee superintend gam thanks for inviting me and sharing some of your time if I haven't had the opportunity to meet you my name is Bob Holmes I'm a parent in Berlin I have three daughters in grades three four and five at bur Memorial School um what I'm about to show you is uh four years worth of lobbying uh with past School administrators to make an improvement to the bus routing in Berlin I'll try to keep it concise for you uh so to start I want everyone to know that as a family that utilizes the bus uh we recognize it's job one is to get our kids safely to and from school it does that uh very effectively over here and we're very appreciative of that um what I want to also highlight is that buses also create the first and last um experience of school for kids and uh while we are grateful for the system we have There's an opportunity to make it even better for our kids and it's free so as mentioned uh as Jason mentioned and perhaps youve as you've heard from others that have written in uh today the way buses run in Berlin uh the afternoon routes are run backwards they're run in Reverse as compared to the morning routes what that means is the student that's picked up first in the morning spends the entire route on the bus before they get to school and then that same students dropped off last so they have they make their way all the way back before they're dropped off um this might mean and it does mean in some cases uh over an hour to school and an hour home um as par of kids affected by this that are in this situation I can tell you that they are absolutely drained by the time they get off the bus it's a tough experience I work 35 miles from my house and I don't spend that much time in the car going to and front work I think it's it's unreasonable to expect an elementary school kid to do that especially in a small town where all children live within three miles of the school fortunately there's a really simple solution and that is to Simply run routes in the same order in the afternoon as you do in the morning uh there's a few benefits first of all it's it's one route for bus drivers to to memorize and just repeat it morning and afternoon um the child has picked up first they might have a long commute to school but they'll benefit with a short commute on the way home because they'll be the first dropped off and it creates you'll you'll see that it creates perfect equity for every student every child has exactly the same amount of time on the bus from each bus rout use I'll give you an example for bus three so what I'm showing here is the current routing for bus three and the total amount of time a student spends on the bus is plotted in the Y AIS and these are the various stops that that bus makes across the x- axis you can see the disparity from someone that lives on lyen Street versus someone that's on Highland or or one of the other addresses there is not a correlation between distance from the school it's not like uh we live in a a town where there's an extreme other side of the track section where someone would expect an hour ride to school as I said everyone been three miles BMS on this list yeah there's a pretty substantial disparity by simply switching that uh flipping the PM route back so it runs in the same order as the morning route you get this it is is mathematically perfect equity for every student everybody's got an hour on bus it might be 5 minutes in the morning and 55 minutes on the way home it might be 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes on the way home it might be 55 minutes in the morning five minutes on the way home but everybody spends the same amount of time today this is what it looks like side to side it said 60 minutes per day perfectly level loaded for every student there's one route for the driver to memorize and by my math the driver's getting home doing it this way and this is excluding you know some of the optimizations that that Mr pette mentioned that are out of scope through this conversation but recommend it for meview summer same thing applies to bus two You' got the same disparity um bus two is a bit shorter than bus 3 so it'll be a 45 minute toll duration per day per child that buys the bus level load every day and similarly you get a similar effect on bus one bus one is a 55 minute route and so students will spend 55 minutes so proportioned uh differently morning and afternoon on on where their pickup time is on the RO there aren't that many opportunities where a little tweak can make a sweeping broad Improvement to a community this is one of those opportunities and your vote can enable it tonight um I do want to share before we get to that point a little context about how we got here so I want you to understand families in Bur and have been living with for four years in three months it'll be four year anniversary this was first raised uh at least on my radar in March of 2021 a different family in Berlin brought this up they found their child was exhausted getting off the bus after an hour commute and they brought it up to the then director of box and finance Robert conry um within a week of that inquiry I'll direct you to what's in the red box Mr conry replied the following what you propose is generally how we like the routes to be structured so overall drive time is similar for all students he he passed the request to nrt our bus company and within seven days the lead dispatcher of nrt said the following Bob I think this is something we can accommodate in the past the route was run like this for a student with medical reasons that student no longer Rides the Bus both Bob uh both Mr conry and nrt committed to making that change and within weeks in April he was married and the Rost were changed in 2021 everybody celebrated um in August of 22 at the beginning of the next school year the routes were published and we quickly noticed that they reverted back um I had reached out to Mr con's replacement he had retired and uh Miss kisy took his place I reached out to to miss kisy and over the course of several months uh several weeks excuse me and informing her and getting her the back story um she agreed and committed to making the change on October 17th or reply to me good morning the bus company will be rerouting this run in the afternoon they'll do their best to have it done by October 17th it'll be different than what you had as I was missing some stops that were added after the school started great we're going to fix it you might remember in 2022 postco there was a complete crisis and shortage of bus drivers so before this was enacted well help BR close for lack of better terminology and we didn't have bus drivers in many cases we didn't have buses at all we were combining routes and so really the the year was spent triaging a bus driver crisis um so regrettably this was but understandably this was uh deprioritized to just try to get some buses going we accepted that in 2022 we were still uh optimistic in August of 23 when the routes were published that it would be there it wasn't again the old the old pattern so I reached out to um again miss kiski former superintendent Costello dragging the backstory with me and informing them on on what happened and what we were hoping to do immediately after they were published uh we had a few weeks of back and forth with uh former superintendent Costello and she expressed her frustration that she couldn't get through to nrt on this uh in her words in 23 the battle revers the bus route has become insurmountable at this point and I both tried to understand and to demand the reasoning from nrt they maintain it will take longer uh that all buses operate in this manner yada yada yada um at this point she even uh considering bringing in legal counsel to uh Strongarm nrt into getting this done where we landed was bottom box now fully aware of your concerns I can Advocate earlier in the year for changes such as yours to be honored um I made a reminder on my phone that day remind Carol Of July 1 to follow up with nrt um and when that reminder came up I sent her the email and within a couple of the days you got back to me this is in uh July 10th summer before this school year thank you for your email Bob I haven't forgotten you as soon as we begin bus route discussions with nrt I will push to have this Chang I'll reach out to them this week just as a reminder that we had discussed making the change for this year so they could take it into consideration as they plan great me being annoyingly persistent I reminded her again several weeks later actually shortly after I saw the retirement notice hope you great yada yada yada did you have an opportunity to connect with nrt for this year and I never heard a respon August of 24 the routes are published again and of course they're in the same same old pattern uh so at that point I reached out immediately to the superintendent uh to the school commit probably within hours maybe minutes of the bre being published right there was a flurry of emails and uh this process has taken us where we are today the information this information was presented last week at the BMS parent teacher organization link at school and here of course today bottom line uh we've got a number of families that are really looking have this change done um it's it does create as you can see perfect Equity the math is beautiful perfect equity for every student it's free and it's simpler most importantly it does create a better experience for our kids every day um want to just uh highlight again uh that the Administration has been aware of this issue for nearly four years there has never been push back there has never been an argument to not do it I don't think there's a reason to not do it but for one reason or another we've been living with it for four years so i' asked that while I understand changing routes mid year is not ideal please as we consider voting do not ask these families to wait a little bit longer and get again so if you have any questions that happy be taken but that's all I have to plan to present question on your like first or second slide um it had on the way home it was a second slide um 13 to home for the first kid off the bus the second no next one 13 minutes long yeah yeah with the asteris I was curious what yeah so the bus actually uh I used the published bus routes to calculate all of this and um the route starts the clock starts while the bus is sitting at the DMS parking lot and it sits there for 12 minutes loading kids and then it goes and drops the first child off so the child you know if they're the first one on the bus immediately they might sit on the bus for 13 minutes but it's actually driving for 60 seconds uh or if they're last on you know if they if they jump on last it might be just 6 seconds but that's that's why that's little all three buses are there they only dismiss one bus at a time so the bus will be sitting there for while right any questions well thanks thank you I I remember last year your conversation we spoke a lot about it I mean I'm also a family that's on the we do have another side of the tracks in town I mean schools on that side of the track we're on this side TR uh and I'm one of those families too and I specifically remember talking to you and speaking to Carol and NC I remember their commitment and promise to you do this it's another one of those things that was dropped this summer but UMO yeah gets dropped every year every every year those with last year specifically was tough was Nancy's first year doing it full I I remember specifically sitting in a conversation with you those two and the commitment that they made to you and your emails show exactly what happened there so I'm with you I'm with you John you're gonna have a say about the the comments from the parents I'm with you but I am concerned about the comments we received those in favor are a general yeah I'm in favor let's do it the ones that are against they're a lot more detailed about how significantly this will impact families so I just I don't know what's going to happen I just want you to understand that it might be perfect equity in time I mean I love Equity it's all it's all equity in time everybody's equal but it's not for the families that are voting these comments there are some that are you know they're they're going to be hurting if it's media but that said here we go like I would just add that I I understand that please consider that the families on the short end of this stick have been hurting for four years we've been enduring this right it's not convenient to have this I know you I know you feel that way I just don't think every family feels that so my kids are now at tondo this is more than four years old this has been going on like my kids left the building before this ever got fixed the roots get published like a day every year it gets a little bit closer at the first day of school and then not only it just that they promise to reverse the route and they don't but they all the corrections that were made the year before where you have kids being picked up on the wrong side of the street you have kids walking down South Street it all revers and then everyone calls and they say you got to give it a week it's the first week of school you have to be patient he doesn't have a chance to rectify it before school starts so I'm sorry that it's December and we're doing this but no one's ever given a chance over the summer to fix it that's our fault the school district's fault so like I said like I'm one of the families that is impact this will impact our schedule it will make it hard for us but I'm also sport H but I didn't mean to steal John th you stolen fund stolen just real quickly I you know we wanted to make sure that everybody had a chance they have their voice heard you can see in the graph about two-thirds of the family favorite I don't have the data to support it but I would guess that it's onethird of the people who would benefit and one third of the people who wouldn't see a lot of change so fine we can make a change that last one through the people that that we're talking about who've made their child care arrangements for the year their work arrangements for the year um I thought that the observation about the people opposed being you know having a more concrete set of reasons um is is is very accurate um and it's hard if I can go a little further with your permission by all thankk it is what happens every year last year I checked while um we were talking earlier we got the bus routs August 27 for August 29 start and it's not the first time this is not so much school district created as it is our inability to motivate our employee andrt because you said something at link the other night I think it's the same list that just keep copying it I thought oh my goodness he's probably right yeah we get all this talk from them about oh we're working on it we're putting a lot of time into it this year and it is it's the same bus rooms and I think that's where whatever you decide with this and you know Mike you know I would love to see the kids had that I think we have to weigh parent concerns in that as well but we have to be it has to be July 1 we are on these people we can't accept bu what later than what August 1st August 7th maybe because it's just it's just bad business because when it comes on the 27th there is literally then they start oh we need a week and then they start to tweak a couple things you know every year I have to call Sergeant goulder this bus Stop's not safe these kids have to cross the street there is no sidewalk here it's a huge time cyle and for what because it's e for them just to copy the bus over um but yeah it was nice we had 70 parents respond to this that's probably about a third of the households in the school the other thing that I thought was interesting and someone brought it up um several people mentioned Tahanto having the same problem so this is bigger than just little Berlin and I think you know yeah but it's not a problem at thees nobody has complained or I mean I have not heard and I they were reversed at bees for at least one of the years we've been here and back I think the issue and we talked about this last year the issue is I think burland needs another bus we actually threw that in the budget full $60,000 I think so I think to have kids on a bus in kindergarten for an hour is a lot I don't think it's right but um it was just something and again that would be 100% going back to the town right if you need another Berlin bus whether it be for Dondo or BMS it's Berlin cost and you know it was a very tight squeeze last year so we were not able to accommodate that the difference in Boyston is I don't think any kid is on the bus for longer than 30 minutes permission to talk yes so um at Boyston it's it's not more than an hour um it's 45 minutes to an hour we get that all call when they're clear every day the issues with Wilson again we got that bus route two days before school started the other issues were unsay stops that again that takes our time at the beginning of the year and that wait to give us a week give us two weeks and there was a family waiting for I think a month this year about an unsafe stop that was super gum finally took care of for this family they were very grateful that that is an issue the time needs to be bumped up from this company yeah sorry so so not that I need to defend anybody Theus is really us as a district right so Aaron and I can attest for working in the Regional School District for many years there's a window that we have during the sum we're supposed to submit our bus rooms and and that's what happened this year we're supposed to submit our bus rooms submitting changes get feedback from families look at the stud who a graduate and don't longer need bus look at our preschool kids who are coming on board with their addresses and submit that all to the bus company it doesn't for the emails that I've seen that we submitted that at time we had and for us not to submit it to them that's good the issue was so when I my first day in August I was like where are the bus RS where are the bus rots and we did a lot of pushing to get them for the day we didn't I think it was shortly after I started that we got them in there but there's always a window that you're giving during the summer to put all that information in that we missed this past in fullest you need to know that the second part about that is is we're in the process starting to negotiate a new contract with our house company and that would be one of the things that will be of utmost important to us about making sure that we have these Buss in time so that if there is an error or there is an unsafe bu that we can make those changes before school starts but not after but in all Regional School Districts you do have a window of opportunity to to submit those Buss if I can clarify um we are not renegotiating with our Busan we're putting it out to bid that's right thank you right good so do we have to vote on this so I'm not asking you to vote on this I'm asking you to give me some guidance personally I think this is this makes sense the one thing asking from school committee does it make sense now in in January to do this right so that's why we brought the survey up the families and get some input for them this will absolutely something that we put in place for next year for sure in the fall it will be in the summer I should say we be putting this in place as well as looking at the other roots and getting input from secretaries in principles about are these the roots that we need for next year and submitting them to nrt or whoever the bus company is thanks Aon for that clarification but I just need some direction from school committee is this something that you need me to do now or is this something that you want me to wait on um until the fall I I do have to say that seeing the emails of of the exchange back and forth I think there were some promises made that this wouldn't be in place um so I I just give you all that information hope that you guys can give me some Direction with to and we're doing that right now because winter break is coming that's they need some time to notify that's right PS need time to rearrange if this does happen that's right col would doing it in October and it's taking place that week so when I met first with Mike fron from nrt he would it would detain it during the the fall they spring that might was he needed to do this at the Christmas break so we could train the bus drivers whether whatever that looks like to make sure they re and I that's less than a month away I mean most people have their January work schedule so I I don't support kids being on the bus more than an hour but just from a working parent perspective like you you know every second counts for you getting home to that last time so I respectfully I would like to suggest maybe after February break just to allow parents more than a month to adjust their work schedules to get home a different time sorry um so first of all I have to compliment Bob on that presentation because I don't know how you could look at that and and not be horrified not only by the amount the amount of um inequity that that is that is there but also how long it's taken you to get here and you've been told yes so many times along the way and you still had to persist um I empathize if this was you know if this was December 20th or something I feel like it's December 10th um I feel like there's enough time and and I believe me I'm very much on the fence about it because I get both sides but I just feel like it's really terrible to have these kids on the bus that long twice a day I just that doesn't sit right with me and we talk a lot about diversity Equity inclusion and that is not Equity so thank you for taking the time to do that because it really made it clear anybody else yeah he said you well I was on Ball Hill I am on Ball Hill Road to and my kids were in that same situation it was awful and I just ended up driving them most of the time because of that you know that's not ideal for many reasons so just and I do think it's really unfair you know to have been going on for this long so I like I you know I would be like yeah like let's change it now but I really do worry about the families that have to change their schedule so I think that just had a really great idea to wait until February but like to do it this year and don't delay you know until next year I uh one thing that must cut me out correct me if I'm wrong the reason we're doing it now is the break we would start January AR one way and go until February and then make a switch that not be the same issue as if we were to deci side in October yeah they really uh uh they want the break the change to take place during the Christmas break right and and I'm not again for training they they can hide bring the bus driv is in they can practice the roots with no kids on it so they don't want to be able to do that and Christmas break is a long longer than usual so they'll be able to do that as well too and um and so that's the direction and this at this point and I think said that in the presentation there's zero cost with them saying to us in January this at this break this is what you Happ they did not give me a a suggestion of February January um I was gonna ask Mr Campbell and this might be more of a Mrs rappa question how often do kids end up back at the school because they didn't and what are the what grades do they have to be in to get off the bus by themselves you have to be they can't be in elementary school I think okay think it's 13 and how often do they boomering that very okay yeah so answer they have not be an elementary to be let off the I think I and this is that's a JY question 12 or 13 but sometimes like for fifth graders if the parent has talked to the bus driver they'll well then there's that whole piece sometimes parents and bus drivers move their own is a small town they generally but so if those parent is not there they will send the kid back to the school so that would obviously be we don't want yes I've experienced that hold them but I think if it's at a house they leave them at the house it's like if it's a stop and there's no parents there so like I know if it's that a if if it's a kindergartener and there's nobody there they're not they're not you po people must I don't know what you guys so respectfully there there is a cost to the parents who now will have to leave work potentially early that they arrange their jobs to get home at a certain time um and in terms of the length of the break versus February break both um if you celebrate Christmas and New Year's are both during the weeks so there that Still Remains five working days for them to do that schedule because I doubt they're going to have their drivers come in on christmasday so respectively you know they have the same amount of time to train their drivers in February break versus winter break um and again likely most people have their schedule at least a month in advance um some two or three months in advance so you know we are a more diverse economic District and our calendar has not recognized that fully recently and so I think this would be an appropriate time to recognize that time needs to be allowed for people to adjust yeah Bob um this conversation specifically that you're having you've made several presentations to the B parents so it's not t it's not the first time B and parents know this is coming right how many times have you presented the parents the group like official groups formally last week at the parent teacher organization was the first time I stood up and gave this pitch to any parent one and inally conversations happen in all four years I hear what Jess is saying and I'm with you I'm one of these parents who will be impa my kids the first off the bus last off it does impact our situation but I also you know this statement came up during Co for the first time schools are not dayare right it's not our child care our responsibility is to educate get home safely uh and make sure it's fair so even though this personally impacts me and our family and our schedule we're going to have to figure something out it's also I look at the bus and they're empty because kids are there's a lot of activities after schools staying after school is All Sports basketball after school right now just about the entire school is playing his enrichment activities after prr the bus in the afternoon my kids getting home much earlier than the state at time so I would support this for January and that's what we need to do tonight is tell Al you support or not Al's going to make this decision it's within his jurisdiction so yeah I agree yeah I I think if you could ask them if you could have a little bit of a grace period if one of you guys could talk to nrt and maybe you get like even a little bit more time so people can arrange your schedule I am in that camp of I feel for people that have that situation where they they're you relying on the bus times for their work um but at the same point in time you know I talked on the phone with Bob in September and this was supposed to be done in September so the fact that we're talking about this now I'm I was shocked I thought it was already done and I mean back in April of 2021 Bob Conor just made the decision in a week and it was just like all right this is happening um so I feel like this has been the reason that it's the way it is is because of mistakes on the The District's part it was decided in April of 2021 as clearly shown that the routes should be reversed we talked about adding a bus last year I think again that is the actual solution to this problem because I don't think kids should be on the bus for an hour um but that's just not in the cards right now so I I think the right thing to do is to to make this change and maybe see if there's you know to jce point where what like 10 15 days out from there's MLK day yeah so right exactly you at least get a little bit more time to make the change that's not that's just going to give people that extra time to figure out what they need to do so I think what I'm hearing correct me if I'm wrong we support the change it's just a question of the date so yes at least Me Maybe we say we support the change and now works out the date with ourt that works best so what I think I'm hearing is that absolutely so I will call nrt tomorrow and see if it's doable for a February break and if they say to me there's going to be a cost for it or we can't do it during that time and again this isn't them giving me this information then we'll we'll do the January date is that everyone okay with that alternatively they could train during winter break as planned and then enacted on MLK day I'm going to talk to them so it sounds like we're not waiting till the fall we're going to try to get the earliest date um that works for our families and and works for the nrt as well too yeah I'm curious I know sometimes um for after school program you can only enroll with certain times I don't know if that's true i' BMS but I don't know if that if any particular W you know waiting period could be waved for any fames that might need to use after nobody okay so you can say oh now I need this and just one last thing ver John did really great work in this he even know he's been was very helpful with this getting the survey up to parents having scheduled a meeting with w and I the par CR I appreciate that F guys decisions made that this work we have too like notifying parents get the information out so this will be one of the to priorties Tom all to find out I'll send an email up to you guys at schoy after I talk to nrt and then we'll proceed that meet with John and go from there I would just like to make a request if we do go with that February date the first time those kids are on the bus is February 24th which is more than two months from now I don't think February is a is a realistic time if we're going to compromise then sometime in January to give people a heads up would be okay I mean I'm good with J I'm good with right after vacation but if you feel there's more of a time I just don't think that's fair I don't really understand we training the bus drivers to re every well I like Jessica's idea of training them and giving a little bit of a plum so everybody then everybody get a little bit what they this is them so I got to talk yeah MLK would be idealized I agree okay so we have that I feel and just to Echo I really appreciate that they did J that you took hours and hours hours and John you as well that up the survey it was really nice to actually see what parents you know were saying and feeling and see data I'm sorry sh thank youate sorry do I continue so I want to give a little update about vocational schools because I know that was a conversation we had at the previous school training meeting um I had a chance to speak with the superintendent schools Ernie H uh he is a superintendent aspect so just a little background because I needed to make sure I understood this um as well and most of you probably understand it more than I do um but 1968 10 school districts were asked to participate in the formation of as um they were all invited to come in um K and lot of them B to be in London as well too three school districts when it came time to really initiate that and go forward with this preschool district B and one of them was Wilson at the time um so in the past um would talked to the superintendent the the average number of students that apply was anywhere about 179 right so about 179 so there was room there um and so we'd have kids that there'd be opportunities for students that were outside of district and W is considered to be outside of District they could apply and G able to pull from the the ly of those students that there most recently what with their their approximate they're receiving anywhere from 450 to 500 applications now yield um um they accept 300 so that's from just in District so that 150 that I put on weight list are still kids from in districts and you know be one of them um bolon students can apply But after those slots are filled are not used then the opportunity for Bon kids can the one thing I did learn in these last couple meetings I've had and conversations I had with them that students that could apply from bston is in their temporary right um and there's more open opportunities for that I'm going to talk to Lis I chance to and the guidance counil but there is opportunities when you're re temporary the the The Limited opportunities though so you might not be able to choose exactly what you want if there's openings here because a student freshman year says you know what this is not for me I'm going back to my neighborhood school then there ask openings so what we've suggested and I I spoken to Mike our chair about this that we're going to get together with myself the superintendent Mike and this woman called L Ry her name is l she's from Berlin she's a representative on aspid Valley um and so we're going together just see what what are some other opportunities just now that we found out that 10th graders have more of an opportunity than our ninth grades do because there'll be some old things there so we need to do that one of the other things that is available to us that I want to make sure we're taking um opportunities is is our students have the right to go visit right so we making sure that our students can go there whether it be W students so go visit take a look at that and that's open for our so we need to look at that again I need to have conversations with um the principal of the high school as well too so our next step is a schedule meeting like I said L Ryan who the representative from berin superintendent Mo myself and M we we'll be able to give you back more information to that okay I want to make sure I gave you an update about what was taking place with in terms of um vocational schools um so the next thing I'd like to talk to you about is what's called our academic RAR our academic excellence and and what that looks like um I I've heard loud play that we need to do better and that we can do better um and I believe I mentioned even in my first conversation with you about this book could theg great by Jim Collins right um the enemy of great is is being good and we are a good District but we we can do that and I think we all agree whether it be my admin team the community school commy we can do that but my question to to school and and as a whole that we're starting to have these conversations what do you think what is what is doing better need what does that look like to each and every one of us and I I reference it as being called academic Excellence right what is academic Excellence um and I think that's a real important question I think we talk about wanting to do better but what does it mean to everyone sitting in this room because when I look at the table of organization I I look at our parents and our students I look at school committee and then I look at myself and the admin team right and and the flow chart that goes down but I'm curious to the people that are sitting in this room what really does academic Excellence look like what do you mean by that is it is it better incast because some people believe in that and now they say it's only one test do not base everything on the mcast is it is it higher Advance placement SCH huge piece of that is an improve attendance we've heard that a piece as well too is an high enrollment numbers something we talked about is it college and university acceptances huge pce do we have kids going to I schools is it rigor for our students is it professional learning for our teachers or is a student protention the list could go on and on but I I really need us to decide as a group what we think you know academic Excellence is what are we looking for as a school because are saying to me we want that but what do we think that is what are you expecting from us in terms of that and and I'll tell you a little bit what we as a Ministry is do but and I'm not putting any on schooping on the spot but just something to think about like why do you believe academic Excellence is because we've done this activity in my previous district and only had a little different L on it and it's really hard for us as administrators and the people that are helping me this District inst structurally to be looking at this direction when you really want us to look in this direction but I want us to think about what do you believe academic Excellence should look like in scho and and I'll just pause for a second to see if anyone in school commit would like I'm not put anyone in the spot I am just a little bit what Al's talking about this is sort of the theme that we've been talking about the last few meetings what we're talking about going into the superintendent search we're going to have subcriptions of what we want that next person to be so um earlier this year we talked about uh we expected to have another vote on the hand for Tanto tonight that's going to happen next month it's not happening tonight we not ready but uh that's a piece of we're going to have that come up not prepared tonight but this idea this this theme I guess you know we heard this at the Town meetings last year with the budget focus on the the special needs and there is a lot of focus there and then the other half of the parents stood up at Town meetings and said well what about the other side and we don't talk about that as much because I don't know um so this is sort of a theme that I think is g to be coming this year and as we look for the super anybody want add I have so I think that one of the things that I've observed is that I think that um you know we spend a lot of time um to your point and resources on special needs and helping kids that have needs and I think that's great but are we spending time and resources on kids that need to be challenged kids that you know if you just let them go they'll just do status quo they'll be good they'll be okay but if they're pushed they'll be great and I think that we could do a better job of that districtwide on identifying those kids that might be lazy or might be you know just kind of like hiding because what kid is gonna say give me more work I'd rather do work than go outside and play or play video games but I think you know and I don't NE I'm not saying like the teachers need to do that I think maybe we need more resources we need you know more coaches more people that can come in and identify those kids and push them further because to me you know being great and I I'm a runner and I I love fitness and exercise and and pushing myself is even when I'm uncomfortable or tired is how I get better and I think we need maybe shift our focus on that in the schools and a lot a lot of this to make this point you guys in China but a lot of this does come from that exit survey 8th and nth grade we looked at we saw the summary over the summer we got the more details on that but a lot of this does come from comments from that so I went to a talk on just this and so there's a I forget the the full name but it's ma um and they provide education on how to do just this so apparently Massachusetts is one of the few states that doesn't have um an IEP for those that are excelling gied yeah A Gifted IEP and so interestingly Jessie just hired someone to spearhead this within our state which is really great um but MC might be something to look into for that type of you know instead of giv make extra work you have them do two or four problems and then do this more you know enrichment part of of the lesson just couple of things so special education right there students with IEP right by law we have to make sure we provided that but we also got to look at special education sometimes it's two spectum right so the kids that are special because they have that high performance that are accelerating this through so we need to take a look at that and I don't necessarily know that we doing this much push in that as well too again lot of lot of good ideas out there but it's a lot of blinking lights that we really need to get focusing and and and and that's something that the work that we're going to to do as well too because it it needs to be done it really does it was I'm dating myself wave but but used to be in Wier we had was called the peak program right p a k providing a rich for academic kids right so this was a high performing kids that were providing the academics in the curriculum for so there is are things that are out we can go visit and see and not necessarily in the state of Massachusetts but we we live very close to the water of Rhode Island where they have these prrs as well and that's really what we get that so I just wanted to comment um you know I was uh I was at to grades three through five I was the I don't know they do inclusion anymore but I was the inclusion classroom so I had kids with IPS in my class and a lot of them were extremely right they just had processing problems or things like that but when I taught in Berlin my first year we had Mrs Russo and she was an enrichment teacher and she came in once a week and let me tell you every kid in that classroom lived for that day they loved the way that she challenged their mind she got them to think in different ways I think enrichment is a really huge piece and I think we got rid of that because we more time on learning but I think it really just gets these kids to think differently and I was always really impressed with with my special students because that's they soar and they they a lot of their um you know their their classmates would see them in that way so it's helpful for both kids for both Spectrum ends of spectrum and the kids in the middle too this group has heard me not saying over and over again apologize udl right Universal Design for for all students can learn right and we're not just single out for students who are special ucation but there are ways to teach that everyone's kind of learn to well on and see so it's not just SK L but there's different ways of suing right so that's a that's a huge piece and that's some of differentia stretch we talk about that's being very very specific so that's the work we really need to do and and I'm going to just again push back and this is the work Sing I have side we need a strategic plan right so that we all know what we're looking at doing so even when we sitting in the budget me last night someone's throwing out oh how about this how about that we should be even Ching financially never mind our instruction on let off focuses for the next five years so we're not saying we're not supporting that this year we're putting it on the back burner this is what we need to be focusing on an academic sign and not Financial sign we really need to have and if there's anything that I'm going to leave here as as mainstream superintendent is something some of a strategic plan in place so the best gift that a a superintendent can have as I gave to the superintendent when I retired is a strategic plan place here it is now I can really do the work that's been laid out there every but I don't want to so there's pockets of Excellence going on right when I'm talking to Cindy and I'm talking to John and I'm talking to Lisa there are academic things that are taking place that are excellent but they're there're in silence over so we have to make sure because everyone that's coming from B and Bon eventually goes to the Happ and eventually walks across that stage of graduates with a r bis and Regional School District of fall but we're all doing some really great things but we're all sort of growing but we're all rowing in different directions we're all working really really hard but I think could work maybe a little bit differ and that's the work that we need as an admin team to say okay this is our plan this is where we're going and we understand this what school Community wants and this is what the community wants so we're not just trying to like go like the blinking light oh that sounds good let's go over there so if I could just ask for a couple minutes I don't need to put you on the squat principles but if you could share and this is something we're going to do every single meeting and it goes back to to Mike saying like we should be celebrating our successes so what are some of the things that we're doing in our school this this time period from September from when we first came on board from when I first came on board what are we doing now to show that we're being successful in the work that we doing so if I can ask you Lisa to stop yeah sure absolutely so um at tant we're dedicated um to reviewing and always looking at our programming to make sure that we ref finding our program programming to ensure that we're meeting student needs um so we're excited this year we were very excited um to have reintroduced our accelerated math um in grade seven with um the new full with the full-time math teacher that we have um I know that it's hugely successful and the students um are now going to be able to move further in the math curriculum in high school without H needing to double up uh in at the high school level and then this also will allow us next year to be adding or to reintroduce Algebra 1 at grade8 so that that's very exciting at the middle school level working with the Department chairs to develop course descriptions um that I've had I've been involved with discussions about what our course offerings and what scheduling is going to look like for next year and we have some really innovative ideas and Innovative um ideas about scheduling and I have gotten proposals which I'll present next um for the January meeting for a variety of different courses that we would like to um bring forward and have approved and this will be um able to provide AP courses to sophomores and so introducing AP research and AP seminar um AP pre-calc list and also looking at providing or offering a um coding class python at the high school level because we have three levels of coding U science computer discover science computer science discoveries at sixth seventh and eth grade um and we have computer science principles and AP Computer Science principles but that's it so what's one step further we can take and that would be a coding program of P program um and um to we are um I'm working with my mentor um this year to explore two areas um in our high school and that's looking at potential Pathways and what does that look like in terms of in it with our current structure are there ways that we can develop Pathways in our school um and also developing our life skills program to reflect the highest standards in that area and visiting programs and Janelle and I are working um on that as well um I do want to highlight that when the US News and World Report came out um Tahanto was identified as number 30 um as a 30 as 33 um out of all Massachusetts high schools um and number four in the Worcester area schools so that um you know it's um and that is reflective of the AP offerings and scores and the level um the types and range of courses that we offer so just pain saying offering algebra and an earlyer age for our kids is an unbelievable opportunity for our kids our students can then be able to follow that that chain and be able to interc there take Calculus BC which is the hottest AP Quest off in the entire world right the student that gets a three four and five in that can absolutely basically write their ticket in the college University the hardest a course but if we don't out for Al earlier which we're going to stop doing next year they can't fit that IND this so that's a huge pie also offering AP opportunities at an earlier age for next year is the things that maintain kids right so when kids are applying to college and universities 's resume looks really great out there right and now we have ways of really making our cover letters look even better right electronically right because there's ways of doing that now but the advanced placement is the advanced placement stands across the entire world right from Australia everywhere so offering that is an incentive to keep our kids here and making sure that they're going to be successful when they apply University so good work on that I I I will be briefer because I didn't know we were fragging about our US News and we report scores I would have worn my one 111 t-shirt beginning of the year at for the memorial we all decided to take on I think I shared this once a schoolwide goal around Independence because the challenge for students today their hands are held so much and so often that they you know you let go their hand they don't know where they're coming um and one of the places we see that is in mathematics which was the focus of PD for us this year so all of the teacher all most of the teachers some had already had your plans but teachers who were able to adopted this school of enhancing Independence in both learning and personal Behavior what that looks like in learning and this is especially to because it is in case you had not heard the Europe of map and PD is getting kids to take ownership of the problems that they're being presented with you everybody knows if you've had kids go through Upper Elementary School word problems are just dep to that they want you know they can do 17 minus 5 they can do 14 time 7 but you give them a story bill has five marbles and shenny has three more how many do they have all together they can get lost because they don't take the time to think for themselves what's the question here so that's what we're working on in terms of academic Excellence you know we're blessed in Berlin we have this amazing parent group they do enrichment programs all the time so I feel comfortable in the types of enrichment things that kids can access they're very affordable we've made arrangements through link to fund kids who can't afford it um and there are I would say by the end of the year every kid's taking at least one um so I'm comfortable with our enrichment piece I'm comfortable with the attitude that people are taking holding kids more accountable for their own work um and it's a lifestyle because we we talk we talk about this every year Tanto ready if they're not Tahanto ready they're going to get left behind mid schools hard and they have to learn to work hard to be successful so they can do Algebra for example and do those things that we offer here P so impressive that me last am the enrichment that they're offering those students talk about developing the right brain of a child not just the left brain academic is was incredible I will point out that it took an entire group of people to do what a Rosso used to do but they are doing it very led by you as well that s first thank you for giving this opportunity you know we know um and looking at some of our data that we have some work to do with oilon and one of the things you heard me say at the beginning of the year was we were going for gold that is that grok mindset that I will say the staff at bees has dove into and they are there they are buying into this and they are jumping in and they are working on some things and some of the things that I want to highlight and that I'm very proud of um is you know the Data Drive and we said that before and I want to talk to you about what that looks like at EES this year so we're analyzing assessments and benchmarks and State Testing to identify the things that we're doing well but more importantly the gaps and adjusting our teaching methods to that so during grade level meetings during staff meetings we are spending more time looking at the areas that we were weak them so some of those areas that they identified um were operations in algebraic thinking fractions and decimals geometry example right angles quadrilateral symmetry word problems an Ela parts of speech proper nouns and you think about that permanent and we go deeper that's more third fourth and F of those areas why you do deeper looking at K through two how are we going to support that what are we doing in grammar in K through2 do we have resources to support that answer is no what can we do to support that what can we bring together for those grades to support because I don't think mcast is grade three mcast or grade four mcast I call it kfre K to four K to five they know that so they want to work together to support how can we support those younger skills in math because it is the year math but also in ela what are we doing to support them they're looking at math in those areas as well fractions what can we do in kindergarten for fractions to support as they get into those older grads um so it's diving into the data looking at it what are we doing what do we need how do we support that some examples of that um we do have a Wind Block this year and this is where we're putting in that enrichment piece and it's it's interesting that enrichment came up I still have it written on my whiteboard when I started last year when I met with some of the families and the parents that is an area they said that we did not do well in this District what are we doing for enrichment the Wind Block allows for that piece so the Wind Block is what I need now and what we do is we split up we have three times in our schedule for most grades it depends on the age kindergarten is not going to meet for 30 minutes or 45 minutes they might need for 20 three times a week and they're working on the skills that our data is showing us we need to work on fifth grade is working three times a week and we are going across the grade level so we have three fifth grade teachers there's a high level and trinie we have a middle level and we have a lower level that's working on those skills right now they are working on where do I have it they are working on fractions and decimals which we discovered was an area of weakness for us that is an area that that during our Savas it comes in later they're working on it now based on what they've assessed in the dat that they're doing they're still going to teach it later on but they're diving into now to give them that that skill set until they get there um they've already adjusted their their groups I was amazed at this they're looking at their data they've adjusted it and kids have moved across those groups so they're getting those pieces fourth grade's doing the same we have two fourth grade teachers they're going across the the classrooms to do that and they're working on those skills their skill set is different measurement data how are they focusing on that they're changing kind of scope and sequence a little bit and I'll be honest we don't have that scope and sequence of something we'd like to work on going forward but measurement and data was a weakness they moved it up concern with that is what are we moving back and how do we fit that in so they're moving geometry back we got to be careful there how are we fitting that into other places third grade noticed um and they're working on area and perimeter aavas math resource separated area and perimeter as a former third grade teacher area perimeter like this why are they separated they ask can we move them and teach them together absolutely let's do this and let's teach it together we're looking at the data they're saying can we teach this together and they're teaching so they're bringing all those things in they're looking at our resources they're using this in our Wind Block and they're giving what the kids need so we're getting some of that enrichment in and we're doing it I'm very proud of them for this because they're very open to it they are going for the gold and our younger grades are really looking at how we can support those older rats and they're doing the Wind Block as well one of the things that we are trying to get the Specialists involved in is doing kind of that cross-curriculum things how can we support them in fractions how can see your map how can we do symmetry our could do symmetrical um snowflakes and how can we do that and I know that we've talked about that doing further down in TV how can we get that map into those areas and you know we're working on attendance and I I I have to brag a little about this this is a team effort with everybody involved um in order to teach them they got to be there and we've made some progress already so last year this time I sent out 48 letters according to our policy if you have over five days this year 21 that's huge so I'm proud of our team and we're gonna keep going there we're gonna get there thank you for letting me share so here are three prime examples of Excellence right all really cck stuff but we still don't have that overwatching what what is our go right great stuff going on in Tonto great stuff going on in burland great stuff going on won but it's all just like this right so we need to have a Common Thread of what we're all doing because they're all our kids they all eventually go up to work the way to tant what it look like and what our expectations are so that's the work we have to do we we own that we we all agree there's no one in this room is saying no we don't need that we know that so that's the work that s and I are doing um we're basically interviewing who to come in and help us do this work as this region Mon and that will be the umbrella that all these other pillars will fall into need including the bud and we'll keep getting updates on every month every month every month you're gonna have AGA I would imagine some grade parents starting look what they're going be doing next year so they know this is going on maybe that influences them a little bit the last thing and then I'll be quiet I promise so the last thing you going to see is we're we're changing our website and and we to see our new website that's coming out we're we're initiating it first at tont and then I work our way to B Boston we'll be finalizing that tomorrow at our our ad mid meeting where we're getting professional winning on how to do evaluations better for the teachers um but we're really ready to launch right before Christmas the new website for Tanto and like I said we'll mer for both us the website is the way that we're engaging our families right not only for our parents that are here but parents that are moving into the community and saying hey let me just check out the school district and having that be active and interactive and current you're going to see a whole difference so I'm hoping that January's meting we're going to be able to show you what it looks like um and and get your feedback on that but that's a huge piece because even myself when I was first you know asked about PR bu I went right on the website right and what does it show and what doesn't show and that's the work we're working on now making it interactive and making it so it's tied to our social media as well too so you'll not seeing that as well too that's another big piece thank you any uh quick final questions yes so there was a threeyear plan that is in the drive um and I think not all of those goals were addressed in that three year so that might be is a district Improvement plan yes yes so if you so I just Googled threee plan and it po up um and then there was also um portrait of a graduate that was done with a huge group of parents staff um and students and former students too so that I would I would say that on strategic plan is here and then you look at the school Improvement plans as a pillar District Improvement PL I'm really not familiar with a for to graduate now think it's like that's up here somewhere yeah but I really do believe and then there's Equity audits as well to there all those pieces that fit as pillars of need there but we really need to like what are we doing as a district in what direction do we want to move it and that should be with the scr holds on to as well too to say this is what you said we're going to do and and hold our sort of our fire for GR kind of speaks to that direction okay I I honestly I haven't had a chance to really read it yet and look at it and that will probably be one of the the things iing on this anybody else think next up is Aon all right so um how you everyone um so I'll just dive into it you have a memo um in the uh shared file regarding the 2025 budget um desie is breathing down our NE a little bit to have a uh a voted uh 2025 budget so in crunching the numbers um we do believe that our revenues can support uh the budget figure of 24 m793 688 uh broken into to um the assessments to Berlin and Boyston uh that were voted at Town meetings um so we would uh humbly request that the school committee vote that we will then share that information with desie um and move forward disc so Des is asking us for well they not asking us but they're asking us to vote on this yes to to basically affirm what we believe the budget to be right the GRE period of D is over for us yeah they're they're not as forgiven as they were maybe a month ago y okay so this is on the agenda right here as a vote needed so you're saying we I'm saying we should we should probably vote it um as an affirmation vote all right so uh I'll just read your recommendation there as a motion may I have a motion please that the bur Bo Regional school committee vote to affirm the fiscal 2025 School District budget totaling 24 m793 688 developing an assessment of 8,442 9467 the town of Berlin 13, 89986 to the town of w some Megan second L would anyone like to discuss this just to confirm these numbers are was verbally agreed upon but not presented at the Berlin meeting by accident um and they had passed a higher number but this is a number that we agreed upon in the meeting before that town meeting and then thus bur's assessment Bo's assessment is lower which is allow a law without a new vote correct both both towns have committed to these assessments they are both paying these assessments um as as we speak um so you know we're we're confident that towns um you know support this we've talked to I believe both April and Kristen they're prepared to support these assessments any else uh all in favor I anyone against this budget all right I'm favorable that motion passes thank you very much Aaron I know great counting work is Greatful we'll start working on that and uh and and make things right in this year's budget with that said uh you do have a copy of a presentation we shared with the town of Boyston uh last night uh that seemed to go pretty well um we will have a similar presentation for Berlin uh we're making sure I've got the pronunciation right um uh much so uh we will present that tomorrow night uh in town and uh one once both of those I will are done I will combine them I don't want didn't want to present information to Boon uh that Berlin wouldn't have so Berlin of the equation will be presented tomorrow and then we'll have a combined presentation for both towns there okay and then I am just going to share a few things going on in the department um we've made a lot of progress and I feel pretty good about it so uh just just a a bullet list of items to to fire away and just make you aware of um so we have uh posted all fiscal 24 payroll I think we shared with you that there were summer pays that had not been posted yet and had to be teased out a bit um and those were the teacher summer pays so we have booked those teacher summer pays um and those are in our accounting system uh all fy2 24 accounts payable uh is complete so there may be something out there we don't know about but but everything we know about uh is paid so we're doing our best there and I think we're good with those with those two items done uh we are now in the the formal process of of closing fiscal 24 there's going to be some reconciling of May and June um and that's going to be a little work to do um I've done some reconciling we're going to be uh working with Cynthia Harrington in our office to uh to kind of fully close that out there will be some receivables to book things that came in that didn't get booked but for the most part uh with that said that means we can begin work on the end of year report so I'll lot the um desie breathing down our throats are our next um we've received um emails from desie for our end of year report um I've worked with uh J Sullivan of desie and we will uh be submitting that report by January 3rd so I'll be working on that um over the next few weeks and probably over the holidays uh once we fully close uh fiscal 24 we will begin the end calculation that's something you can't do until you have all of your accounts are settled and done the end of your report we can begin a little bit in advance um pre-closing um we have installed configured and trained on the receivables module in our fiscal software I think I shared with you that that um up until now it seems the district has been booking all of their receivables through journal entries which is one way of doing it it's not the most efficient or effective way of doing it um I've been booking some things using journal entries um but now that we have the receivable software um it'll make that a lot more efficient um all of our fiscal 25 bills are current with the sole exception of Amazon which usually takes a little more reconciling and I think if Amazon wakes the next couple days they'll be okay um so we have paid fully Amazon through September and we're moving into October to make sure that they're paid full um all fiscal 25 payroll to date will be posted by next week I'm working with our payroll coordinator to make sure that all of our payroll files so we have paid everyone I think as as we know um but we do need to book those into our system so we have a methodology to do that we will make sure that is all in our system um all fy2 Grant accounts and budgets have been entered so I think when I arrived we had some situations where a number of our grant accounts um the actual account numbers and then the budgets were never entered in the system uh that L some people to having to book things in I guess the best word for it is hidey holes so um things were booked in account numbers that weren't necessarily the correct account numbers so in that process in addition uh today I completed a number of adjusting entries to correct some of those ex those um expenditures that were made in improper accounts um and uh those should all be accurate we'll be double checking with folks I make sure I'm not 100% but I think we're we're we're there um I think you should given all of that you should expect to see uh a fiscal 25 general fund budget report at the January 14th meeting I think that was a conversation I had with uh the chair Mike um and I felt like that was doable so uh we are committing to getting you guys um an actual Financial portion or we stand which I think is fair uh a couple things that are pending uh we have a number of Grant draws and closing reports that need to be done that's sort of next on my list um and and then we will work on properly booking our fiscal 25 Revenue so those are things we can operate on without doing immediately the money is in the bank so when we receive money it goes into the bank but we need it recorded properly on our financial system and that's something that had wasn't happening additionally Grant draws bring in some of that Revenue we aren't hugely Grant uh dependent but we really should be doing those Grant draws on a regular basis uh typically quarterly or monthly um so that is about it um I feel pretty good about where we are um I really want to say that um Patty our payroll coordinator and Arnold our new accounts payroll coordinator um I've been doing a fantastic job and uh I I couldn't be doing any of this without them so thank you you really have a a really good financial office right now I'm still very fortunate hey po was that work and just one last thing Nicole do you have exactly captured the the vote and the numbers and all that because we're going be defin with popular education so all of that you have that written I read Theo sh thanks Aaron I mean I have my own PTSD with thousands of accounting transaction lines back in the day so I understand exactly what you're looking at and I don't have you at all but thank you for coming in it is what it is we're we're we're actually having a good time with it I as funny as it sounds I mean know every time something new comes up we you know we have a good laugh you know I I Laugh to Keep from Crying there's nothing there's there's nothing we can do our hair on fire and running around screaming doesn't help anything I'd rather just roll up my sle it's a good we're gonna get there y all right thanks does anybody have any questions all right uh next technology update I think we're gonna skip yeah we're gonna hold till we could forward the new website that be nice all right so next a little bit of business for us uh subcommittee appointments uh I did hear from you um so we have policy negotiations budget safety facilities and Student Success um policy negotiations are currently in the middle of right now obviously negotiations starting up um budget safety facilities that used to be Megan and Julie Julie's clearly no longer here we had an election for that and so Beth you mentioned you'd be okay on that committee is that something you're interested in um I don't think I mentioned that but Julie might have mentioned thaty you know I'm not gonna ask you to do anything oh no I it personally I'm interested in policy I understand if it's not a good time to do that I can defer that to later if it's the better fit for Budget that's fine I just wanted to say as far as negotiations goes um I did the chartering the course uh class past weekend and there was someone there that was new to their committee they were on a seven person committee they had a three person negotiating team and he was the alternate I didn't know if that was something that we would ever be interested in that maybe if someone that was interested in joining the negotiation to keep things moving was ever a conflict or a conflict that like timing a personality or maybe someone's better suited to jump in or jump out is that something that yeah an alternate actually is we had that makes us a quorum if four of us are we did not have an alternate when Lai and I did it and it actually was a problem because I got Co and then it threw everything off so you can have an you can have three think if there's three of us we do have an alternate right you can have three in but you can't have four yeah because four is a form you can have two right now there's two on negotiation right so third on the would be okay right that was my point okay yeah not I know Jess you also interested in negotiations um I Jess just Mor sorry no I've been going to suggest Jess so if we're gonna do an alternate I think that's a good idea J okay uh sorry that no that was my suggestion that's why I brought okay um the budget committee subcommittee I think it would be good to have someone yeah um Leisa unless you're on technology and Student Success you do that or what uh do you think I would love to be on the budget subcommittee and I'm not even sure about the Student Success in technology subcommittee anyway like it's kind of unclear what the purpose is and we really barely ever met I don't know I kind of thought that we should rethink that one that's fair yeah Jess you're the chair that we yeah I mean it's kind of a morous right so like Student Success in technology kind of kind of sometimes talks about policies but we're not the policy subcommittee right and and so you know we both went to the conference and so that was actually great so we could talk about that and then kind of shrink everything down um we never really were able I think with all the budget J in this we were never able to have a meeting to hatch out a mission statement for that particular committee so um can I ask that we keep that committee because I think we're gonna this some work that that I'm working on with technology I'm looking to have a fiveyear technology plan um and instead of it all being presented through school committee all the time I'd like to be working through this the sub Committee of that we don't have a fiveyear or even a threeyear plan that was one of the things that came up when we're in the meeting night like what's your plan for computers like how how you rolling those over how many times you buying new computers what's the lifespan what's Insurance like how we so all of that is a lot that needs to be done and my goal is to get that done right after the holiday startop working on that and I don't want to do it with all School Comm I'd like to keep that technology Committee in place to vet it for them yeah that's fine so but if Lisa wants to come on if she want she's Berlin she could come on budget and then you can let Beth do the um Student Success in technology everybody Jess so then Jess will be on two Jess you're on two I understand what you're saying we're both yeah Miss and again I just don't want to V the purpose of the policy meeting is right so I can V it through them smaller grp and then they can bring it to the whole school and there's a lot of work we're going to do in the next couple months as you'll see shortly that needs to get that I mean at the too like we've addressed like cell phone policies and that's kind of you know obviously it's a policy but there's a lot of research and stuff to be I guess presented to the policy sub committee so how about how about that so we'll do that restarted with uh with a bit more Direction a bit more activity if there is something that comes up the crosses with policy um one policy and one success Comm you know together something like that and I think the Optics of it look really good that we're having this because both towns have asked us me about like what do we do on computers what are we do they're on your Capital every year what do you so for us to dissolve that I I don't think is a good thing for us to do we restart that more attention more activity there Lisa on budget with Megan for burlin um all right she had two other things she had an idea and then I think so obviously this year we'll have subcommittee of um superintendent search as well which would be lri me and Jess Jess that's a lot for you are you I wouldn't want to chair theology right Ian all right we'll have to add a superintendent eal which is a whole of I apologize when I said about for mik I was thinking about the three of us being on the negotiations and I don't know why I keep putting I'm I'm sorry um on superintendent I keep putting back together with negotiations so that's why I thought we already had right no no but in my head I was thinking there were three of us already on it we added another one be a quum so that's all right so technology and success with Jess um budget Megan with Lisa and policy negotiation will all right but Jess will go and Jess will be the alternate for negotiations yes and Lisa have an idea yes I was thinking we should have a Communications subcommittee where we have where we can share more information social media you know important things that are coming up you know things we're considering highlight successes you know just kind of build a lot more Goodwill and excitement in the community that work with technology and your new webs I think once you see what the website's looking like it's like I'm amazed on on the work that goes be behind the scenes and developing a website that's so interactive that if we could just wait for the next month to show you what that looked like I think that might tie really nicely that all of you could as school Comm members be providing information to that and uploading it so um and there's gonna be a district website as well too so I I think if we could just give be a month I think we'll be able to show you what it's what it's going to look like and that will help out the communication tremendously all right let's um can we put Communications on the next agenda Communications all right thank you so M sorry who's on negotiation the final committee for negotiations me and L with Jess as the alterate so Jess also for negotiations something you guys can decide but it came up last night um they wanted to know usually we have a municipal rep and they take turns okay so Boon did it three years ago F's turn they wanted to make sure that they were not going to get pulled into that when that was April it was April so it would be priston they decide they both come to the um ground rules right yes and then they mutually they have to decide and then they kind of set forth like so just let know and now we will be uh we've got a A list of dates to respond to the Y uh okay so you get in tou withr course absolutely all right Absolut y thank you I'm switching to my phone um we don't have to vote you just yeah just all right next item on the list is bbr is the attorney consideration so uh some has come up um looking at different ways to move forward New Direction uh financially save money we've uh had the idea of possibly reaching up to a new attorney or taking signing on a new attorney for the district currently is mar uh so that has come up that's an item uh business items if we want to do that both so I know we received a proposal uh has any a chance to look at that you have anything to say about that our sign yeah financially good deal financially I also appreciated that it was a small firm um just thinking back to the other educational attorney that we used who was wonderful but he had a lot of a lot and it's knowing they're small is also helpful okay if I could also say this is a fir that um I I work with M BR I work with wam Aon and I work with there as well too and did all of our negotiations and currently also doing multiple negotiations which is very helpful to us as we SC the negotiations process as well uh so that'll come up on our business items to vote to accept that if you like uh sub committee updates next anybody uh so Jess do you have an updat yeah um so when Meg became chair she handed over or offered to for me to be on the Boon master plan implementation yeah um thank you yes and so there is a very lengthy document you can review at your leisure um but I kind of summed up about 10 or 12 items that I thought were relevant that so our job is to say what in that master plan can we check off can we own can we do um and so um I emailed about a month back but I'll forward it again to admin team as well um to see what things that perhaps have already done or even there's um a possible project that high school students could do to create a QR code and a tour of the Town um so I can forward that to admin team to see if they have any thoughts on the matter so I can give an update from our comme um and then um so last year we both had gone to the conference and so we had an opportunity to have a meeting um we haven't had a meeting since the November conference um but there were some really great talks about budgets and you know coming two years ago you know next happening and so it was it's really nice to get grounded in some of the topics and you know knowing what a call center is and that we should be receiving quarterly report projections for the budget and um new job descriptions are changed or added we should be approving them um also um not in my tenure here um operating protocols um or something I learned about um that we should be discussing within the committee creating together and periodically revising and then also signing us members and also the superintendent um and our self eval based on those operating protocols um and then also being posted on the website so that is something I wasn't aware of um and so I thought that was of interest to us do you have any question uh so we have not had a meeting but I believe we are finally going to do it next week now that we have our committee um so we'll try to touch base before uh break and with Lisa and Aaron and Al if you want superintendent search y so we just had those uh two companies present to us I'm going to set up a meeting where we can discuss and present do you want at the next meeting you said for us to our we need to get started this okay so we can do that um I think at our next meeting we should decide are we g go one of those two we do it on our own what are we G do we'll take uh input from your sub wonderful great can I just sub means we you have those meetings do you want okay good your office okay we'll be munching on your snacks you are an excellent more yes policy subte update uh might as well just get into business items because that's all we have there for policies so if we can take our business items first uh if we can do the policies first so read first reads um student absence and excuses and attendance JH and j e uh they're marked in there one is a removal and the other is you just update some language that had been updated last year a couple small changes in there you take a look at and this will give us one comprehensive attendance policy tended being a big deal in elementary school this year right come to school so you actually learn no vacations during uh school days right okay um so that's first read and then the student dress code is in there for first read uh the administration made some changes to that as well so we got that get we'll vote on those in January the service animals and school update this is on there for vote because it's a very small change but important one Al do you want to say anything about that sure so we myself um um and Mike and sorry had a chance to have a a meeting um we got a policy and we met with the the chief of police as well as the country dog that they have bringing in um to the the community um so one of the things that you know John and I have spoken about right so where does that fit in there whether you're having a pets along pets in school or whether having service animal um in in school so it didn't fit in either spot then we eventually all agreed that it does sort of fit in that service in in school um and just so you know a comfort dog is different than a service animal right so um a comfort dog wouldn't be if if there were something that took place if there was a tragedy that took place or there was a situation that took place um this this dog would come in and um work with our students work with our staff work with our faculty and we had an opportunity lry my Mike and myself had an opportunity to meet um the do it's it's incredible right it just really is a comforting anal um and this is something that's happened throughout the not only the entire state but also happening um country bre in light of everything going on um but in as to what's happening in we want to keep policies and that was not anywhere in the policy of AD so we're asking Ong service anals in school that I'm adding to the very last um paragraph it says the superintendent of schools are their design shall be responsible for the developing procedures to accommodate the students use of an assistant assistance SC in District facilities and on school transportation vehicles and then I'm adding to that this also this is also clue Comfort dos to be available in last and that's what I'm asking I think to to vote on tonight if we could um because it's such a minimal change but there there's is a little bit of a sense ofcy and working that dogs in our community um and even last night on Monday night I'm sorry um had their town meeting right and they were aate the dog in there so they just want to make sure we have that in place um whether it's a school event or not a school event being BR that dog three hours 80 something people unking while they wow ja truly is very cute picture fire the police yes okay so could I please have a to approve policy imga service animals school as presented moved second okay anyone like to discuss my only concern is that a lot of people say there have comfort dogs so I don't know if you need the verbage to say approved Comfort dogs so like I know it's like a company that will bring it in or like the fire or the police so I just feel like just saying Comfort dogs Lees it wide open for some say I can bring my my doctor know it says the superintendent yeah the paragraph says the superintendent devel procedures okay so that would be cover just for cl and I asked a question like they can't just show up right they can't just show up at schools and say I know the Comfort done would have to pre-arrange through myself or the principles but also if there was a reason to bring the Comfort down again we're not just going to interrupt instruction not just have walking up and down the hallways but this way we have this in place in case all in favor of motion again all right I'm favor as well so that will pass thank you thank you all right last item is the approval of uh so we can discuss it I have a motion to approve the change in BBD RSD attorney to uh go with the law offices of Sean PC Jess Lisa all right would anyone like to discuss that you're here just having the ability to call and some pick the phone and give us answers when we need them in the timely manner is crucial for us to do our work do our work all in favor anyone against Mega is against I in favor as well so that Mo pass I will call tomorrow next wrapp up work on that uh all right I sorry um the first read I I just have a claric um so you said one's getting deleted and one's getting edited which J is being deleted J is being deleted J it's the first one it's just redundant J we passed last year it was just an oversight that we didn't have them we didn't vote to remove JH J masc suggested we replace JH with j and I think I mistake I think JH was voted on even before I came here I think you guys voted at a previous meeting SP some time in the spring that JH was out of there completely so I I got to go back to September Lisa it was September 10th September 10th I apologize was so um if do you mind if I clear go ahead um so on um Tuesday September 10 there was a revised budget it appears as though the business item identifies approval up to remove policy JH when speaking with Nicole it it looked as though it was t AED so that that's where I think the confusion was yes yes yes yes why was it something happened because we were going to that's right that's right so so that will all coincide in January with the hand discussion so J is the one we're keeping yes and so the highlighted edits are the changes to be made to that policy I was curious under section two the B it a Dr dentist appointment card letter note from phys dentist is going to be deleted so I was curious and I know under Section seven there's excusal notes from Dr dentist must be given for days but I'm curious why that is being deleted for exceptions or absences um so yes um so um because we're um we're getting a a lot of um blanket notes so what we want is very specific notes for specific things so there are um three parental excusals um per se in at Tanto it's per se per semester so six per year so if you so choose to use it on that um if there's an extended absence for a specific medical condition we have you know waiver procedures in place for extended period of time but it's a doctor's appointment um it should be considered within one of the um parental excusals okay so then I guess for illnesses so I mean one of my children had a fever for five days because the microplasma pneumonia and then right my second kid got it and had fever for four days right so you have to get a doctor's not so that still falls under that like long as I give it within 14 days I just I just was confused why what it was getting deleted I understand like I you know as a provider I oh my kid was absent these 10 days here and these 15 days here can you write an excuse now like well you weren't seen so I understand that reasoning but I guess for for illnesses that are more than a day I just I I I don't know maybe I'm not understanding it so so no doctor's notes are now accepted except for extended illnesses so so a doctor's or dentist appointment so it's not illness it's it's a doctor dentist appointment so that is the exception so it's an appointment come the school at 9s at 10:30 appointment at well no so right it's it that is it's like they come in 8:30 just or they they come in they're dismissed at 9: and they're they're out for the rest of the day it's it it's trying to curtail that type of those types of situations so it's for for appointments okay so hypothetically if someone has phes that's monthly or well hopefully they would come back to school 110% but I don't know how that covers a person for only you know being left for 45 minutes versus I I don't see how that for full day in the if you have an appointment to make that class period you are present for that class period that's what we're saying right so ex absences not counted so it's like a full day absence so we don't we we don't want full day absence for doctors or dentist appointments amen so that that's really but I guess not seeing how that's delineated I just totally didn't get thaty I don't know be like like it's really hard to get an appointment after school hours for a dentist or broken hands but hopefully like they come they don't take most of the day off for that appointment hope most parents but I don't see how that is delineated within this policy there be like language put in that says like the school prioritizes so let me ask so let's do first read right and then when we have comments and coming back we'll have we have sir Rene and Rich because they're working on that with us so the next school meeting we can we can talk about that like I holy support that and and you know even as a provider I'm like okay I'll give you one hour to go back to school so so I wholly support that I just don't I don't that way so don't forget that there is under six a waiver of the policy will be heard by the principal or assistant principal so there are exceptions that can be made Lisa can I ask a question how long do the students need to be in school for for it to be considered a full um I it has to be they have to be it has to be half the day so okay it used to be like 11:09 so I don't know how many periods that's equivalent to it used to be like five out of that at least right right five out of seven so perhaps like no more than two periods can be Miss for an appointment or something right so it's got whole District see that's that I think is the the the piece we can have specific things in the handbook that delineate more specific for schools but just as um Mr ganam said this is an attendance policy in general for the district spell that out the toono C right yeah you can't because it doesn't I mean in in two sections there's already an elementary school and middle high school so under the one class attendance it splits out elementary school middle school and then under five it does as well so I just maybe asked that that be looked at you know as again a working parent that's un just we also want so that parents just also just don't make appointments at 10:00 right or 11:30 right because that's when you know they we're trying to have parents be a little bit mindful of like trying to get those appointments I know every what else is trying to get either after school or before school or during vacations but we also don't want to be just like a complete like pass to say yeah you got 10 I'll go at that time 100% but I challenge that with like my pediatrician doesn't do physicals in the afternoon they only do them in the morning and I if do not the appointments after school it's resered specific but you would bring your child back to schol the appointment I think the AR so yeah I think the argument that LE is making is people were kind of abusing that because I have it offed on I up that but it just the left does not so you can still take your kid out for an appointment you just have to bring them back and it's excused well that that time this doesn't say that I don't know yeah that's confusing and this is not just a districtde right two more seconds so the very last thing number eight it says parents are to call or use the dismissal management system at the elementary level in this day and age we canot email the night before so I don't have to wake up you know like you know we do it B but not so I I just you know if the verbage is if email like three different people like the principal the nurse and the whatever you know I just we're trying to channel into to either they using that dismissal management we we all know that sometimes I'm myself included I haven't looked at e one St so sometimes it doesn't there so always copy what takes place so we're trying to really use a system of package we use what dismissal so we're gonna we're going to look at that who's on the technology sub by one the first things that we take a look at as well we have the ability we just do I'm just reading this this is I mean I am guilty of this like we've gone away I've forgotten to put it in the thing 8:30 comes and goes I don't answer my phone they're going to call the chief of police not anymore not anymore that's the old one chief police said what the heck oh it's yeah sorry I have several commentaries on the dress code policy all right feel free so I think that private parts is not a great I don't think that the verbage is going to seice I think that's going to leave to this open to I don't know a liability of what constitutes that an argument back and forth I what would you suggest I think you have to spell it out and I went to nisha's policy clothing that reveals nipples genit Alan but offs they literally spell it out and then you say I think you need to spell it out but I also want to bring to your attention that if you're going to spell it out that that applies to male students as well and what was pointed out to me by a teacher in another District several years ago is that you have boys cutting the sleeves off their shirt that would be a dress code violation tra shirt do do our uniforms all meet the standards are you going to make all the boys wear shirts to the uniform like so let's be really clear this is not just for girls but it's for girls and boys that we know but I I I don't disagree about the CRS I I would ask you know NC in in tracing noic like to give us some other areas you know that other districts that are using it or some input you might want to give us in terms of that because it's an issue and and we're seeing it more and more I totally get it I have a 16y old girl I understand I'm just telling you that I think that you're that you might find yourself in a position where the boys basketball team is practicing and their practice dures with the low like that's and we're giving them to them do some of our uniforms against this policy we need to look at those I would hope if we're given them no because they wear their uniforms to school during the day is what she's saying like oh basketb you have to dress up right or Le used to I mean if we're issuing them uniforms that don't meet standards for our policy mind if I ask to CH little I think she's chopping over there give us information chopping sorry I see you smiling trumping sorry I apologize have uh so I mean our recommendation honestly is that the policy as opposed to the procedure the policy um should should not actually get super specific um because it does very quickly devolve into that kind of deliberation for scho company um you absolutely need to make sure that it's gender neutral um and to your point yes it is generally standard that you know students out will wear the uniforms on game days and then is the outfit that you told them that they had to wear in violation of the code that you also proposed um so I mean uh I I've seen honestly what we've seen is more districts moving towards and this may or may not be where you're at um good dress codes that much more are you need to be wearing something on top you need to be wearing something on bottom you need to be wearing shoes um and really getting into Heights and inches and lengths and everything else um very quickly can devolve into um things that are discriminatory in terms of things like body type as well um and we certainly have seen reflections of that um it most often is female students will complain of it but then you also get into discriminatory kinds of things in terms of race class so so did I just complicate your you did we we had that policy that was very land and neutral but then there's been a lot of things hanging out that so we we've heard she did move right along but U we're we're seeing inappropriate dress for both males and females right and and it's unacceptable and we need to be able to say that's what the policy is and that's what we're we're working with masc for to say there's a policy that says that you can't have things exposed you can't have things hanging out whatever you got to have you got to have the appropriate clothing and so we got to decide what that what that looks like for our male and female students I would just I would suggest if everyone wants to look at the I can send it to you you can look it up the AA policy Pages 35 and 36 break it down I think it might more meet what you're looking for and then at the end it does have a line that says with our core values in mind all students should be able to dress comfortably for school and engage in learning without fear of body shaming or being singled out in front of teers reasons for conflict and inconsistent inequitable discipline should be minimized whenever possible teachers should be allowed to focus on teaching without additional burden of dress cour enforcement teachers with specific student concerns should forward them to assistant principal I is this a yearbook or is this policy so I don't this is the noova policy that was like the last line of it or is it hand is it policy their handbook I'm sorry they handbook handb so that's more specific so this this was created by the administrative team correct that's correct is there what on here do people have issue with I think is public question saying private parts is that's okay no I agree with that I heard something about ripped clothing I think that ni if you change if you're going to sit there and say that that's and that's what we're looking not looking for just be aware that you might that you need to enforce it evenly and that you might be capturing a lot more of a population that connection so you're saying the basketball team basketball not their official they're the um practice jerseys dur practice right practi those the practice jerseys like the the uniforms have like the smaller arm roles but the practice jerseys are long and big they not no I think it's a style of Jersey that it is and I've also heard some from other families that you know girls F po uniforms right the skirts are very you know sh we allow on in school as well too yeah so I mean I understand I'm just might so this uh all your suggestions and take care we will come back we do have a student in room on on anything on the dress code yeah um not particularly that I can think of I mean I I kind of genuinely agree with the idea of like kind of I think I think a broader from what I can hear the difference between the policy and the handbook a broader policy and a much more specific hand Handbook of uh laying things out individually this this that and then a more broader policy but mostly I don't have any additional comment this going to law school all right so we'll talk to about that about fews so can I have ask a clarifying question so this is a policy so the um so the student dress code policy that's currently in the policy manual for bbrsd is a um a copy of what masc recommended in August of and um the school committee voted in December of 20122 to accept that policy um so this policy that's being presented aligns a little bit more with the handbook um so is a little more strict than with the current policy is so I just want to clarify so I I guess I get confused as to when we're asked for recommendations because this is a school committee policy like where it's just a clarifying question like where do you want us to provide information and how far does that information because I think that's what happen with the handbook because I presented a handbook that I thought was complete but as a committee you had questions and so you have questions so but it's a school committee policy do you know what I mean so I'm just I need to understand what my responsibility is when the questions are asked because it's a policy do you understand I do understand exactly what you're saying okay so well I mean this policy didn't work the current one gji IA during right I mean that's what I'm saying so the idea of a policy is if I'll give you an example ler or Rich Rene say inappropriate clothing we need to change it they need to put something on it and the parent we whatever happens reprimand it out the parent comes to me and says what are you doing about this I'm gonna bring my attorney or I'm going to do whatever I need to be able to say as a school committe and as overseeing the school district he has the policy that says myties that's the one thing that drives us right and that's one of the major responsibilities the school committee has right hiring me budget and policy right so I'm saying like the one that passed before was is was not working logistically so this so now there's feedback so I guess I think we're supportive of of what you gave us in terms of the new one I think but you were saying the private parts is what you had that was I just but we we got to live with this right so whatever policy you guys create for us we got to live with it dayto day so we're telling you what would make our lives so we can operate in a day-to-day basis but whatever policy you guys decide is is is more protection for us so that's why we that's why we did this as the first read it's on a V and so here we are shows up with so we're gonna we're gonna stop the conversation you're gonna provide comments to app they'll figure it out we'll come back all right any new comments on the there was one other policy moving any comments on that all right so then we're going to move into our executive session now and we will not return to open session after this I have motion please to enter executive session massachus General law section discuss strategy with respect to colle barting litigation open may have public body chair so declares so I heard I heard Megan and Lor seconded all right Megan Lorie hia all right we need to like bringing pizza

for uh getting on this meeting uh Louisa would you do the roll call please sure Al present Michelle present I he Terry present uh Dr Cronin okay Lauren here I'm here glattus here Kate here Monita here Rich here and Julie okay here she here I'm here okay superintendent would you like to uh go over this uh Moi memorandum of understanding before we get into the action item yes absolutely first I just want to say I want to say thank you again to everybody for taking time out of their busy day we'll try to make this as quick as possible um we got a a call from the city that um they had a little bit of additional arpa money uh that they were trying to kind of redistribute and they thought it would be we would obviously benefit by that um we talked about the uses and so um we are obviously going to have a lot of expenses as we open up the academy we have some money set aside but there are a lot of unexpected expenses such as filling up the media center with thousands of books and um you know equipment that we're going to need that's not covered by the the FF package and so um we don't need to be as super granular with which books we buying or which microscopes we're choosing at this very moment but that this gives us um some time to spend it but the the intended use is to support the instructional supplies and equipment needed to support the opening of a new academy uh and the shift so it's sort of a generic cover at the moment and then um as we go to us this we'll get more granular and certainly report out on on how that's spent um we're getting a lot of these typ of um right now December 31st is a huge trigger date for the end of arpa money so um the state I just have two two small requests in the last couple of weeks uh for small amounts that came through the egrant system for us to apply for hurry up and apply you've got two minutes to apply the deadline is tomorrow you has to be encumbered by the 31st so we're starting to see a few of these come in um but this is a a very nice chunk of change we're very appreciative of the city uh that they thought of us and um we will happily accept this money if the board chooses to do so any questions before we uh move into the discussion yes Teresa um the other people receiving arpa funds are they subject to the same reporting that we are yeah so the arpa funds are you know they have a a few more strings attached to them then other other things so there's you know there are very strict guidelines on what you can spend on the bidding process and the procurement process is a little tighter uh needs to be you know scrutinized you have to get reimbursed so you have to put money out and then get reimbursed um so you know this is uh we're kind of familiar with this with these protocols so it's all it's all good on our end we just um we'll work with the city for that to you know to access these funds once it's approved I hear someone talking in the background okay I'm sorry I'm sorry to cut you off to Res that's fine I was I was finished um I just uh okay never mind uh thank you thank you okay I just have one question is it only money is the money only for the Career Academy no you can use it for the Career Academy no so we had to designate how would we use the money to make sure that it's a qualified expense under the arper rules and so um you know like I said given the fact that we're going to be you know needing every penny to open up that that Academy we thought for sure this could be help us with that effort so um that's it's you know there's there's still a lot of unknowns you know once you open up a new building there's a lot of things that come to light that you know were not included um and and we will need more instructional supplies over there you know especially with the startup so uh the money will be for instructional supplies for our kids regardless it'll just help on on the academy side but it benefits it benefits the school district as a whole uh we have Wanita and Dam Michelle why she's muted I don't know we can always go back okay um Michelle for just to get an idea if it's 200,000 towards these expenses what is the overall budget currently on the job on the project itself allocated for such funds is this a drop in the bucket is this like this 200,000 represent in the overall you know budget regarding you know this kind of allocation for resources yeah so we'll definitely you know there are all kinds of things that we'll have to purchase and that we plan on purchasing and some of that money we did set aside if you remember but we couldn't spend it because we didn't open up we didn't open up when we were supposed to um so we do have some of that in the reserve but we need um you know there are certain things Michelle that U so like if you have class sets in in the classrooms and uh bookcases of libraries and and reference material in classrooms um the the kids that are still students that are still at Danbury High School will need to access that so we won't lift that and bring that over to the to the Danbury West Campus we'll need to have more you know another set there same thing with uh things that aren't necessarily covered in the RF in the um FFN package which is the uh the equipment package so some things get covered some things don't and so so it's $200,000 um you know is it's usually a drop in the bucket for such a for 1400 students to outfit from from scratch yes however it complements some of the other money that we have set aside and the money that we'll need moving forward so it's definitely um a nice like I said nice chunk of change to help us with that effort can you please remind me or or the group how much money has been set aside and what am I looking for is because this is what I used to do what is the budget currently look like to outfit the furnishings and materials necessary so that's all in should be some sort of a a milestone a budget that's been allocated what does that look like like for you to have presented and get these funds you know I understand that the museum isn't going to be funded at this point um you know they're not being funded the money is being allocated what is that noise sorry somebody has their has got um her computer on and it's echoing with the phone so I know that there's other projects These funds came to us and we're fortunate other programs have actually lost funding so we must have put forward something and I'm wondering what is the number that we are looking to outfit outfit and furnish this school there has to be a number what do we currently have that you said we set aside I don't recall the number at this moment and this 200,000 you're looking to allocate and put de side to that if not possibly useing another way that eventually helps I'm just looking for some clarity on the numbers thank you sure so the so the furniture numbers the equipment that was covered is all available as part of the project we could certainly get what that what that is that's on the the project stuff is on the city side with the the packages that have been submitted and those things have been a little bit on the move as as the project is coming uh coming along right and so um certainly we can get that list um but that's covered in the bond um and so what we're will'll be working with to find out is you know what other materials that we'll need outside of what we think we set aside 1.4 um last year if you remember Michelle and that's what went into the reserves because we couldn't spend it um and that is what we think now will get us up and running but there's you know every every week that we meet there's you know equipment that we're identifying that we that we may need that may not be uh ready to come over yet you know come over from deny high school that we're not that we're not splitting if you will so you know we set aside about 1.4 but you know every day those numbers become um thank you every day those numbers become you know a little bit more um fluid in in the sense that like going to bring over some laptop carts those are not going to be covered in the in the bond uh in the in the package we have to bring you know copiers need to be outfitted over that build some of our copers here are obsolete but some of them work we'll be bringing those over from Beaverbrook so um we're just identified this to help us with the overall uh expenses that will incur as we're moving as we're transferring um you know our and we're seeing kind of how we're able to out the new school so some of it it's it's a little bit fluid right now um so this you know it's it's is like I said we're we're happy to to be right no I I understand and I'm not trying to give a hard time I'm just like okay so obviously for our next budget we will also be allocating funds specifically to cover that absolutely to k a cost driver for sure yeah right I'm just trying to make it so that you know when we're there we've figured it out and we've allocated the funds for it and that we're not really you know what I mean yeah and again this 200,000 is very high level at this point um on purpose you know as we progress through the year no I I understand can yeah I construction and moving in and things you didn't think about so that's why I'm wondering how much have we allocated what in reality is the budget I know that there's been other schools that have opened in such a manner you know what is the typical 10% of the overall budget you know what I'm saying usually is a way is an outliner that's all so just want to make sure in line and realistic okay thank you thank you is it okay if I read Juanita's question See's question okay so we need said are we looking into funding for preparing bbac for the use uh for reach and Endeavor keeping this important issue this is also very important to us as well Anita um we did get some preliminary um some estimates here they are a a lot of money our preliminary estimate that just came in and we're kind of questioning it is there's about $13 million to redo this building to make it habitable for students um so we just kind of we got that information back from from frier and we just started to discuss it but um that's for another day really but it's a lot of money to so we have to try to um you know figure out how to approach that in light of the budget season that we're anticipating and opening the academy so um we're still figuring that piece out we're going to have to sit down together it might be a good discussion to have for sites um coming up that we we anticipated that being an an agenda item coming up maybe on the next sites to discuss but yeah we were we had some sticker shock when that number came back um and thank you for I saw that you vote in favor so I will if other people do not see what we need to put in she said she voted in favor of the motion yes I saw okay any other questions yeah I do GL it Richard yeah is I read theou if I'm reading it correctly it says the expenses have to be encumbered by the end of this year and then paid for by the end of 26 because to me as I read that that means you has to have that mean at this particular point you would have to have obligations already committed by the end of the year for these particular projects is that correct yes which is why I had to determine how we would use it we had to come up we had to you know come up with the phraseology of how we were using it so that we can put that in make sure that it was allow allowable expense you know a thumbs up on that um and then the city on the city Side they encumber it the city encumbers it because the city holds it they'll encumber it by December 31st we have some of our grants here that we have to encumber by December 31st Okay small grants that are that the state provides but um uh and then we have to spend according to that that umbrella okay all right I want to make sure I understood that thank you y okay for we move on are there any other questions one more yes Teresa um it looks like we have to pay the bills first and then get reimbursed by the city yes if if they approve the bills that come in I mean it's kind of tricky considering the the history of of City finances I have full faith that um that you know the city the city has been you know granted these allocations so this is money set aside it's special money uh for these purposes um you know along with other other arpa projects that are that have been designated so um I have full faith that we'll we won't have any issues um with this if the if the number was uh millions and millions you know those probably make me sweat a little bit more but I think we're good on this number here you know if they granted the encumbrance it should be just a flow through that the invoice followed should be no yeah should be pretty quick yeah okay are all hearts are clear all minds are ask all the question that you want to ask okay so when we get to the questions in the motion we should not have any okay Al would you read the entire motion yes memorandum of understanding allocation of American Rescue plan Act of 2021 parentheses arpa funding motion that the Board of Education approve the memoranda of understanding between the city of Danbury and a board of education for $200,000 allocation of the American Rescue plan Act of 2021 funding in accordance with 24-24 Al made the motion could I hear second to the motion I'll second who Kate Kate Kate okay are there any question seeing none all in favor could I hear I I oppose I so have it I make a motion to adjourn so move make a make the motion made by a second it by Lauren

at the dwood library uh branch and December 18th from 12: to 2 PM at malet Creek Branch and then December 19th 5: to 7: pm at the Westgate Branch you can also learn more and apply online at OSI a2gov.org ambassadors um lastly less energy Focus but still um kind of in that vein we are working to do an a20 Community cook book uh we're currently um compiling um recipes from the community for this and so if you enjoy cooking uh with local seasonal ingredients have creative ways of using food scraps or have a tasty plant-based recipe you love you can contribute recipes and sustainable food tips to the a20 community cookbook at OSI a2gov.org cookbook that is all from me at this time unless folks have questions on any of that um report from other Commissioners commissions environmental commission I mentioned that we talked about the uh policy priorities um from the uh environmental commission's perspective um and I mentioned what our processes and how that's being finalized um the other thing that was discussed was uh there was a presentation of the annual Solid Waste um status um reported on was a number of different action um I'd like to take the opportunity to point out um to our Council liaison that um after the meeting I looked at the Public Services uh uh performance dashboard and the only information that's there on Solid Waste by the way in the presentation no no Trend information was presented on tonnage diversion tonnage per person Etc and the only information that's posted on public services website is five years old and if you look at the uh osi's 820 dashboard there's a section on circular economy that has one graph only that is just a snapshot of tonnages from last year so uh there's opportunity for improvement in in that regard but those are the two topics that we discussed in the meeting thank you um and any updates from Council Noone okay great um we will turn to our last opportunity for public input oh sorry are there any other updates from Commissioners that anyone else wants to share before we do that none okay um this is the last opportunity for people to speak for up to three minutes if you're watching nctn please call 888 78899 or 877 853 5247 and enter meeting ID 956 8715 7876 this information is also displayed on the meeting agenda and video feed and City staff will s callers that raise their hand uh using last three digits at their phone number um please press star n on your phone to indicate your desire to speak and when speaking please move to a quiet area um so we may hear you and please state your name and address at the beginning of the comments don't have any callers with hands raised so back to you okay thank you um are there we've had a few uh items for the next agenda shared um over email and um we're also planning as I mentioned previously to tely take up the uh uh presentation around the benchmarking ordinance um and then also to look at agendas um agenda items for the year ahead um so if you have agenda items um please mention them now please feel free to email uh the the um the chair Vice chair and and and staff member Jang around um those uh agenda items as well um but if anybody has any hot hot items that they want to share right now that would be great I'm curious to learn about um any battery storage like grid scale battery storage projects that might be um occurring in an arbor or in the vicinity of an arbor you know onsite or offsite okay if if that's available and just a quick note we haven't um yet settled or organized our our process for sort of the agenda items for um the next meeting um part one one possibility we might do is similar to what we did last year um where we try to identify all of those but then we also try to do uh uh some some prioritization of those as well to get a sort of clear sense of how to proceed um and also sort of what's floating floating to the top based on some of this discussion and prior discussions as well and sort of what's resonating um so we will um pull that together over the course of the next month with any luck and share that and other items out with you over email in advance but if if you're able to um share any of those by email or any other items um please please do okay thank you everyone no I just wanted to say thank you Joe for queuing up the benchmarking uh topic for January know uh handful of us have been asking about that for a while so just very much appreciate that and uh Qui update you and Missy were able to give earlier too um the other thing that popped into mind um at one point we were discussing like incentives and you know um sticks carrots and sticks around um electrified buildings or you know ping against gas and buildings um and I know the city administrator had of come up with a proposal uh with deage or classification um and so would be interested in revisiting that at some point if there's still interest or the city administrator is still thinking about that and just to follow up I will follow also um offline with um I know we're we're still sort of thinking about the the vacancies on the energy commission and also sort of what that looks like moving ahead and I'll I'll follow up um with staff and council members offline over hopefully over the next few weeks too to sort of touch base on on where we're at with that um as well um and we may be able to um discuss that in the New Year too so I'll add that to the agenda as well I know that I know that's been brought up a few times on the last couple meetings so I just want you to haven't lost track of that um okay um I think with that sorry is was is there another question I just want to say thanks to everyone for what's been I think a fairly busy year on a number of fronts and um but I also think we've been um reasonably productive and we've had a lot of good uh good discussions and presentations as as well so I want to thank you all for um being here and and being present in the sort of in the work that you've done as part of the commission and and helping um council members as well so thanks everyone and uh stay tuned and we'll follow we'll follow up over the next the next few weeks thanks happy holidays all okay it is now 7 and I declare the energy commission meeting adjourned happy holidays stay safe all that thanks everyone see you next time

and then they go all the way till 2: a.m. in the morning so that's going to be a fun experience for the chaperon um and then the main reason why I'm here is because we need to M as Mr web is preparing right now for that um the M main reason why I'm here is we need to approve for our transportation over there as you know inflation is growing and growing um so we're still looking at doing a charter bus and we need to get approved for our charter bus to do that the quote for that right now is about 10,000 $ I believe yeah so dividing that up by the 50 students that are able to go we have 50 spots and then the six Sho owns that can go and yeah that's about it so just if we can get that approved if you have any questions for me is there a a date a drop dead date how many kids you're going to take so if we decide to do the charter bus we can only take 50 students on that charter bus because there's 56 seats on the charter bus um are you saying like the date for the quote for the charter bus the sooner the better because they do raise prices on us um I know I got this quote about a month ago so hoping they don't rise rise any prices on us but I know that they do rise prices for May because they have multiple high schools going out there and doing notb farm and Disney and all the Six Flags and stuff like that so they do raise the prices soon okay are you doing any fundraising or are they just paying on their own yes they are doing fundraising we are already starting the senior candy cane grams and then we are doing the concession stand a couple times and it's the seniors who want to volunteer so we have been communicating with them through emails saying if you want to fundraise please come talk to Miss lto or I and then we let them sign up and get their own percentage of however much they want and then we do have already a deposit down so they've paid $100 we do have a wait list and then there's also some people that have dropped off that are are not able to go anymore so all right that was kind of Chuck um just a couple of comments uh I think going to Disneyland is a wonderful experience um but I think I've expressed before concern for the expense and since half of our students are on free and reduced lunch $650 I think is going to basically eliminate a lot of our students that aren't able to go simply because they can't afford that expensive a trip it I just think it would be nice maybe if we could do a trip in stap um and like half of that cost but I understand and I appreciate your efforts in doing this and I'm sure the kids are excited about going but it's a long way to go and it's a very expensive thing uh plus that's the cost of go going there but Disneyland is extremely expensive in there buying food and so forth so anyway just for what it's worth um that's my only concern I wondered if there if the community has been approached about scholar shipping some kids that possibly couldn't cover the cost themselves I wonder if the some of the businesses in town might offer scholarships to do the um who's I what's that the yeah the Johnson Mali we tried to have um them come in and help us support but unfortunately because this is not a educational trip then they can't fund money to us for the senior trip um but yeah we can the student council senior class they can start to maybe reach out to certain companies and seeing if there's any possible donations stuff like that um but I do agree with you Mr Waldo um I do agree with you it is very expensive and it's only going to get more expensive as the years go on so looking at inate for next year would be great uh or even doing just more surveys towards the seniors on what they actually want to do because this has just been a tradition for quite a few years to go to Disneyland and get out of state go to California and go to the beach so no water though just touching the water with your fingers so yeah but I I agree with you it is very expensive I'm just thinking like perhaps a trip down to a golf land or Big Surf and going to a Diamondbacks game or a Suns game uh some things like that in state at half the cost then more of our grad our graduates would be able to go on the trip um but it's wonderful for those that can afford it uh it's a great experience um but and I applaud your efforts and the volunteers that are going all of that is wonderful um but I'm just concerned about the students that just would love to go but their families can't afford it um through the counselors we I did hold five six spots and I asked the counselors for families that were not able to put a deposit in right away so that if some students wanted to go there are spots open so that we can take in those donations I know um your family practice team they have already put in $500 donation so there's some money that is coming in from other places that we can have those spots open for those students and children to have available do you have any idea of how much money beyond what you raise doing things at the high school that these kids have to come up with not as of right now um or maybe from past years just an approximate amount um well I know last year and the year before they're senior trip was about $550 I don't know how much how many fundraising options they had last year with u miss gelic doing student council but yeah I don't yeah I'm not for sure how much will a a good majority will be out of pocket if the seniors who are going if they do not want to put in the effort and fund raise so any other questions thank you appreciate it very much um so we need to vote now on the ID State travel for the senior trip so they can get started on that you have a motion to accept item 3.8 have a motion from Jennifer a second from Margaret all in favor raise your hand and say I I those opposed ready say nay I think I lost Diana all right oh she's there oh there you are she's an A okay I I mean a not an a sorry I a we'll get you all all right so a recommendation item 3.9 recommendation to approve State mandated minimum wage increase I thought we were trying to keep up with that and it looks like we had pretty well kept up with that where we only have to come up with 35 cents well yeah 35 cents across the I know that's a lot but yeah it but we are keeping the Step at vast majority earn more than minimum wage we I estimate the impacts about $8,000 because we have moved most of our folks up to 15 or higher okay so but it is a mandate so we need a motion to accept item 3.9 to comply motion from Chuck second from Jennifer all in favor raise your hand and say I I I thank you uh superintendent report Dr wri you want to just fill us in on some of the things that are happening in our district yes sir I'll make it brief and give you just the highlights that the Winter concert last night was wonderful and we uh we heard some of that from the choir that performed that numerous numerous choirs performed last night and did a a wonderful job as did the orchestra tomorrow night will be the band we'll have theirs and I believe it's 6 pm at the auditorium so we're looking forward to that performance as well wrestling basketball for boys and girls is underway there's a game tonight think against Monument Valley boys and girls at the high school level we I also just again wanted to wish express my thanks to to Diana Chuck and Jennifer for their service and for all that they have done for our district and for for me personally and professionally I appreciate youall we will welcome the new board member sylvana I see her there still she's here tonight welcome sylvana uh Bridget wood and also Mike grenal I'm providing onboarding training for them this week I've already met with sylvana I met with Bridget will meet with Bridget tomorrow and Mike on Wednesday or Thursday actually and we're looking forward to having them on board and appreciate their service we have posted the position for high school principal Monday internally and externally that position will remain open for uh consideration for applicants until January 17 20125 and then uh at that time there will there's a committee that's organized and those folks will be noticed and Jonathan our new superintendent as of July 1 will come down and conduct those interviews as well with the committee of high school stakeholders and Jonathan will make that decision after he has input from the committee and uh that will those interviews will occur on the 20 7th of January the interview is in the evening of the 27th We Believe yeah so it we're taking applications till the 17th so if we yeah oh I'm sorry thank you another announcement winter break thank you this just in the 19th of next week through January 5th thank you ladies that's an important announcement and we're going to post for the business manager position we've been trying with a a finance specialist the suggestion is instead of a CFO or a specialist is to find a business manager we'll post for that in February of 2025 and uh that concludes my report if there's any questions from the board i' be glad to answer regarding these items that I've covered if not thank you Mr President I don't have none any board members questions comments if not uh make a call to the public right now we'd like to invite anybody that would like to address the board to do so right now like to limit your time to about three minutes can't SE that to anybody else uh appreciate those that are going to come forth right now and talk talk doesn't look like anybody wants to so uh we will at this time looks like we probably need to move to Executive session to discuss Dr Michael Wright's performance evaluation it's done on a yearly basis in Executive Center oh yeah we probably got turn before that right sorry thank you guys uh the board will meet uh regular governing board meeting will be held on Tuesday January 14th at 5:00 p.m.

so as we Analyze This uh we continue to see that from there was no change from pre to interim Benchmark one um we therefore report that we are currently not on track to reach current measure 2.1 uh the 4% by the end of this year for our fifth graders again proficiency proficiency does there's not the the slight range of proficiency for our fifth grade students many more schools have a proficiency rate of zero uh at this time so our fifth grade students again that rate of proficiency uh remains at 0% as of interim Benchmark one and we are currently not on track to meet uh in our measure 2.2 so we continue to put energy and effort and inputs into the the focus on this goal so a lot of what's been done for our eighth grade students um I'm sorry for our entire eth grade student and our entire fifth grade student population applies very specifically to these groups as well to this group as well but I invite once again Dr Pomo and Mrs twist to to share some of the highlights of this the work well this one is very similar the the difference that we did between um just the whole eighth grade class and then also focused on our subgroup is that now all of the schools have a list of their students that are um that identify as black to support and follow their data and also do that street data and find out how we can ensure that connection and belonging um but the number even some of our our coaches are tracking who the who our students are so we can see how they're doing and also during our learning walks um observing in the classroom to see how our our black students are learning in the classroom so that's just the only main difference between here and the other one do you is there anything else or anything else I know Mrs twist you're monitoring you actually are monitoring these students on an individual basis is that correct so that's how you know that was one of the ways when she looked at the initial progress monitoring draft she's like this number is wrong because I know each kid and I know them by name and I can tell you that there's the movement isn't there so that is a strategy an input that we've added is to have that direct progress monitoring for those individual students at the district level um anything else so the what we did here is and Mrs twist and I have had this conversation to go from absolutely 0% to go from not being proficient on the test and you may recall when we were looking at the test Quest sample test questions during our study session the the test questions are complex they often are multi-art so you have to do multiple steps or respond to two different parts in order to get credit for the entire answer so to go from not being able to access or show what you know on that content at the beginning of the year to proficiency is a huge jump for one year remember when we were talking about that so we we wanted to provide with you some information that's kind of about what's happening in between so for these students and so you can see across the top column of the little white boxes there are 29 students in this subgroup kids who took the preest and interim Benchmark one who are black eighth graders so 13 of them actually showed growth and can you elaborate on that just what the growth means um it was a percentage score so for example if a student scored a 15% on the preest and a 19% on Benchmark 1 then they showed growth so this is helpful when kind of trying to look at all the kids being at zero in terms of proficiency what did they grow at all was there any change so this is we do see that for 13 of them there was individual progress six of the clarify to be in the growth or the loss ground it could even just be 1% or yes yeah yeah and we did this as an initial analysis for ourselves just to kind of see because I think ultimately what we we we coulding this down and say okay well what would be and this might be future conversation what would be the expected growth how much growth would a child have to make to get from um minimally proficient to partially proficient like how many percent or how many more questions would a student need to get right and we could maybe get a little bit more precise u in our monitoring perhaps in our coaching so when we get our interim Benchmark 2 data back in January one of the other things that we've changed is our leadership seminar usually for many years happened later in January like the third or fourth week that's a lot of weeks between the time the kids take the interim Benchmark and when we have not that schools don't take action on it but when we have a time to be systemic with our data wise process so this year we've moved it to the first week back so the kids are going to finish their assessment right before they go on winter break the our team is going to Crunch all the data while we're on break and then as soon as we get back we have we have we have the data like fresh so we're going to bring the leaders all together we're going to implement use our data wise process and evaluate and for these students in particular really start to dig into those more subtle changes and determine problems of practice and learning centered problems based on those more subtle distinctions for third quarter because you know realistically we've got from January to early April spring break so like spring breaks in the middle so we don't have a lot of time between two and when the students sit for asasa so we have to be really targeted and really precise in these areas no and thank you for bringing that up because I think I do like having the data laid out this way I think it is helpful because if you're just looking at zero proficiency to zero proficiency you never see where things are blossoming and changing um but to build on on Miss uh Gibson mlan I think the next step for you all would be let's dive in and see of those 13 making growth are they making you know 20% growth or whatever those kind of can we make this up um and then my other especially with those numbers we're g to say on that like a third of eth graders that are losing ground or a half of them fifth graders that's a little concerning on the opposite end yeah um and so I think yeah with that being able to monitor how much ground if they're losing 1% you know they're almost in that maintaining still problematic obviously um and then my follow-up question to that would be how are or how often are conversations being had with the teachers about those specific students because this you know could be a teacher has one of these students right and so how often are is that happening in planning time with coaches like about that specific student well I I mean I think it probably depends on each School some schools have um you know grade level meetings or plc's or um they have their Wednesdays but I don't I don't think we know exactly how often they're talking with their teachers so that's valuable feedback we could structure or create a a frequency for for those those monitorings I guess those check-ins yeah well because I'm just thinking you know when we have like we know the subgroup for this but often too you know you have a student who isn't qualified for things and you're trying to you know make up those gaps and being able to spend explicit time talking about what's one win I can get with this student this one student this next two weeks right you know in little pieces like that thank you I think there was some submitted questions for this but oh go ahead Dr dupin I have the questions so just if you're ready what plans are in place to address the observed decrease in in classroom curriculum adoption and use particularly for populations where proficiency gains are critical so much in the same way that we talked about addressing curriculum use and engagement uh by students how are we thinking about that what are we doing to think about that for these students in particular um I think it it's the same thing that we were talking about just um obviously bringing that awareness to the teachers I know that some of our some of our schools the leaders have created data sheets to make sure um that we know who the students are and that they're monitoring them so like you were saying but I just don't know how often they're doing that but the same thing like professional development understanding how to read the um the data to be able to address that with the curriculum um and there and the standards and then using that datawise process see what standards our students are not understanding and how we can use a curriculum to support that um we have gotten some new curriculum which is Freckle right and other areas to have students practice at home um but basically it's the same strategies for increasing that curriculum use and pacing I know you had read the thing before about and I I'm trying to like not give advice or it go into that and I don't know how to word things but I guess what the point I'm trying to get across is um I think that it's going to require you know and I we've already been here we already know this it's going to require some level of intentionality some level of differentiation to really like obviously there's a difference here right the I mean we've identified uh black 8th grade students for a reason and therefore I think there's going to have to be some intentionality and differentiation and how um and and what's working and like what needs more attention because I don't know that applying the same things for all eighth graders is necessarily going to be always successful for this this cohort of students and I think that's the like core of what this goal is and how to make movement here and I think that's where I totally see that last bullet point on what is working and I don't know that that's enough and I know we've just started and I'm hoping we can continue work on how we can become more intentional with something some more things things like the last bullet point that talk about what are we doing with that information rather than just supplying it or how are we you know being intentional or learning new things about how to work with black students in making sure that they're making growth in math and so I'm not trying to do this in in like violation of how we how we do this progress monitoring but that's just kind of immediately where my brain went when kind of looking at all this and seeing kind of just the similarities between the two because they aren't the same goal for the that very reason you know and so that's just kind of where I'm at and I agree with you about the differentiation because we've been able to do that with literacy and teach how to do small group instruction and how to differentiate for our students and so we've talked about how do how do we replicate that in math and have differentiate instruction based on the student data and what skills they're ready to learn next and so that's what we're working on as a team but for starting with all of us getting professional development on how to do that certainly and I understand that I was going to ask kind of with that um if you can remind me because I know like the schedules are the same across the schools yes yes with the exception in dual language there are some some variations and I know typically in K5 you can kind of wiggle room a little easier with you know having this 30 minutes is you're you know teaching and you know retach and enrich what does that look like for the schedule wise for the teachers especially in eth grade do they have is the schedule built out is that maybe a infrastructure constraint where even if they knew how to differentiate do they really have that time built block it definitely was an expectation that was set forward um as far as building Master course schedules for the year some schools due to Staffing challenges like as far as students not coming in their neat little boxes um were unable to incorporate that 30 minutes of ret time every day also in the upper grades correct me if I'm wrong there's 30 minutes of reteach or enrich built in in middle school and that would be math or Ela and I would say a lot of schools have chosen to use that in ela time um something else that's really interesting is that of our eighth graders of our black eth grade students seven of them are emerging multilinguals and of our fifth graders 15 of them 15 of the 45 are emerging multilinguals um and then of course as you heard at one of our last sessions of the emerging multilinguals in our district half of them are pre-emergent emergent so it's definitely a a need um one of the ways that we're supporting that is by having our SEI Cadre that's working with Heidi kosy and Sarah Beth and our SEI our elll coaches that are working with teachers um as you can imagine though our Math teachers are not getting that direct professional development on how to engage emerging multilinguals in math instruction but I can tell you that it's something that teachers are asking for that coaches are very much aware of as far as helping them to plan starting even just with some basic strategies for how do we make math instruction more accessible to our emerging multilingual students oh and I'm happy to hear that because I think you know there can be opportunities in math for the emerging multilingual because there's the universality of the numbers and if we can help with that vocabulary which is still meeting you know their instructional minutes as far as language immersion so and this is another place where we see also an intersection between the guard rails and the goals so a lot of that awareness for that dig down into noticing that multilingual connection came through a conversation we had um with Dr o from na um and some of his personal life experience that he shared with us that really kind of opened our eyes to we don't have a monolithic subgroup of black students like within within this very small subgroup there are subgroups of the subgroup and so you know as we look at things like strategies you heard the team talk a lot about very individualized differentiation and ultimately that's going to be the key because if we try to create like a blanket type of individualization for this sub group as if they're all the same we will be we won't make significant progress doing that and in some ways we'll create greater problems than had we not tried to differentiate and I wonder too like it sounds like it's possible but are we checking to see is there greater absenteeism with these students is there um have they been suspended you know things like that that could contribute have a list of who they are and we're following them I assume that we would have access to situational stuff like that yeah now now that we have the now that we have them identified it's easier to look at that situational data yeah this is very helpful feedback and I think so some of the things that we can take back are um I appreciate the recommendation around or the I the the conversation around monitoring absenteeism and suspension that is not something that we're currently doing relative to these students um not not specifically um the intersection between language learning and math that is not something that we're we've been giving explicit attention to so so when we're teaching language acquisition strategies they're typically applied in the language development space so that makes us start to wonder we start to wonder if we can work on a way to kind of bring that planning together so when you're learning whether you're a teacher and you're learning how to teach language or whether you're a student and you're learning how to apply language acquisition strategies do we have an explicit way to bring the to apply that across Ela and math could they could we somehow facilitate the planning process in a way to bring those together those are ideas what's that it's an in science right right right for sure because vocabul is a huge part of this as well there's just you know so if there's some preloading that we could do with the um with the math vocabulary that might also help because that's one of the language acquisition strategies so this has been valuable for us to take back and continue to work on so that we can bring back a more robust uh progress report for the next round yeah I was going to share too that Maria and I have been discussing how to replicate a lot of the things we're doing in literacy and in math and the different different ation can happen during the normal math block um it's just teaching how to how to do that because we do that in literacy they have times where they're working independently and they're working in small groups with a teacher or independently with the teacher we could do the same thing in math it's just getting um the training and and implementing that plan but also the intense coaching that the literacy team is getting with Heidi kosy like something similar for our math team I appreciate that do we have any other questions s on this specific goal to progress monitoring report just one other thought I mean again without I'm not sure how to 10 years of like recommending yeah um you know we're doing the math in Spanish in our dual language program so I mean maybe you know we are already doing that with some students it's not the same I know but um you know math is a universal as Lindy said Universal skill so you know there may be some ahas over there you know even talking to those teachers you know I just want to say a thank you to you all because your jobs at a district level and serving multiple schools is typically to look more macro at the data and to be this intentional and spend this much time with individual teachers on individual students I know that takes a lot of hard work and effort so I and and working on data over the break so I just also want to appreciate all of you yes thank you um any other questions all right with that being said I will move the governing board adopt the Craton SOG go to progress monitoring report to Second all those in favor I thank you so much that moves us along to progress monitoring report for guard rail one so at this time I'm going to invite Mr kahal to come forward this is exciting because this is our first guard rail progress monit Mr kahal and the entire team at um our Family Resource Center and our uh Community Education Center play a big role in helping us to keep this this guardrail so he's going to add some insight and help with responses to some of the questions that were provided so we have four guardrails tonight's conversation is about guardrail one which is that the superintendent will not neglect student social emotional health wellness and development so for this guardrail we have the board established two interim measures the first is that the percent of students in grades six through eight who respond favorably to indicators of self-management on the Panorama survey will increase from 62% in May of 2024 to 66% in May of 2025 the second interim measure is that the percent of persons utilizing the Katon Family Resources Center who respond favorably to indicators of customer satisfaction on the listen for good survey will increase from 0% in May of 20124 to 25% by May 2025 so we've introduced two additional data sets the Panorama survey is a tool that we have been using for about four years in the district we began to use it when we were part of project Elevate and so we do have um years of comparative data uh although though the when we first started with Panorama we were under an agreement with the Arizona Department of Education under the prior superintendent of Public Instruction and then when the administration changed the relationship of Panorama ended so we had to transition it to our own management so we only have access to our couple years of of of data from when the agreement uh has been between the district and Panorama directly and then the listen for good is new to us this year can you give us just a tiny tiny little bit about what listen for good is and absolutely Madam president members of the board executive team thank you it's my pleasure to be able to uh share some information about you we're super excited uh all of the Family Resource Centers uh across the Arizona State um are working with listening forood this is a company that specializes in surveys uh to find out uh the high quality of uh customer services that all of the Resource Centers are providing to the families and also what gaping services are in between and so the service I specifically designed uh to gather that information about Services uh what we're doing right what's something that we can improve and what was the ultimately the impact that the family and the child um are obtaining through those uh Services resources and support so one of the things that we learned about the listen for good survey this comes comes to us through the first things first grant which provides essential funding to the Family Resource Center for its operations so we didn't initially go about selecting it however we've been researching it and what we learned is really exciting because it deeply aligns across our guard rails and I just wanted to share several of the key principles that guide the listen for good survey as a tool one of those is that they have this concept of a feedback loop so we ask for feedback and receive the the voice and then take that information back to inform the community of of participants and and then keep that relationship ongoing so to be high quality a feedback loop has to be in service of equity it is an equity Centric tool designed to elevate voice and share power and that is highly aligned to our District's Mission it is highly aligned to the work of the Family Resource Center and it is highly aligned to the intention of this and the other guard rails so it's the more we learn about it the more we like it and and it's still in its kind of infancy for us but it is we are optimistic about the value that we will be able to to gain from the information provided but also the relationships that we anticipate being able to build with our with our community so I'm going to switch back to the Panorama survey uh what I'm sharing with you is is um the responses by our student subgroups so these are screenshots of the actual reports that we have in our Panorama dashboard so I was unable to to manipulate them too much in terms of you know how they're presented but I wanted to highlight some of the acronyms that are used in there because they they label things a little bit differently than we might typically talk so the first grid shows our student elll status these are our emerging multilinguals in multilingual students in grades 6th through 8th um yes the yes bar is more like that's a the percentage of students giving a positive or favorable response no would be the percentage of students giving a a no response so we can see a difference in most cases between how the general population of students in sixth through eth grade is responding versus a very specific subgroup so the English language learner the emerging multilingual students overall positive responses are a bit lower than our um than the the population as a whole free and reduced price lunch those are students who um are qualify for participation in it's it's a poverty indicator um we can see the breakdown with our students who are uh receiving free or qualifying for reduced price lunches having slightly lower indicators of of positive responses on these questions um students with spectral education status also a little bit lower positive response so it was interesting to look at this breakdown by these groups to kind of see um interestingly our male students expressed a slightly less positive uh set of responses they're all you know kind of generally higher than 50% but there is a difference with within the subgroups [Music] our this is just the breakdown of participation in grades six seven and eight so the majority of the respondents were eth graders on this survey and then the majority of respondents across um ra or this is just the breakdown of of all the students who responded how did they self-identify in terms of their race oh okay so of all the kids of all the 266 students who took the the the survey 68% of them identified as black or africanamerican and so forth um so wait so it's not showing that students of different races had viewer points no it's saying that 90% of the 26 6 students who did the which is I'm sorry I I was like that doesn't align with our like actual student math I'm sorry the percentage of favorable responses okay favorable responses okay I was like how does this work sometimes I get lost in all the bargraphs okay a lot of data my apologies those are percent favorable percent of students responding favorably overall by sub by sub okay that's thank you thank you thank you for the questions I'm like you had me five of the six graphs and then just it was that numbers meme in front of your face well do you know do you ever have that where you look at something so many times you can't see it anymore so that's my relationship with these images so overall 69% of the students in grade 6 through 8th that responded favorably to indicators of self-management 69% of the students responded favorably so that is actually higher than it has ever been um I don't know if we address this but what are the indicators of self-management you know I will be I can provide that to you I can give you the questions I intended to have that here but I can put that in a board update it's a very valuable question and I only asked that because obviously looking at the racial breakdown it made me wonder how much those indicators are rooted in whiteness and that's why 90% of them are are giving favorable responses I just that's my curiosity there well and I have another question too about like the language and the vocabulary used in them so if they're students that are you know an eighth grader but they're at a fifth grade reading level if they're multi emerging multilingual is that affecting how they can access the survey yeah I I just want to speak to that real quick I would say that that's one of the things that about panorama that isn't working so well it is a complicated assess um survey okay the vocabulary is pretty high it has a lot of questions on it so it I I think that one of I think that that actually might be contributing to the response rate which was one of the board questions is what can we do to get the response rate up as you can see this is based on 277 students who took the assessment in October we do require we are required to get parent consent before we can give this survey to our students so I actually haven't looked at the breakdown between how many parents said sure let my student take this uh survey versus how many actually did it but I I I do know that one of the things that is challenging about panorama is the complexity of the language and the length of the survey which could contribute to rate of response and given what you just said there also what is kind of generally the format of the answers is it multiple choice is it a free form scale it's both it's primarily lyer scale multiple choice responses it also has spaces for free response to open-ended questions and sometimes those liyer scales depending on the vocabulary can then be very confusing in deciding well which end of this means this and which end of this means that kind of like those job interview questions in the applications or the attitudinal assessments that people get and they're like is there a wrong answer I think it's important to think about because it's difficult to measure these things right you're always going to have an error Mar a margin of error because it's self-reporting from middle schoolers who are trying to figure out how to articulate their own abilities and feelings and efficacy um but I think it's definitely worth looking into is this the right tool if the vocabulary and things like that are making it so difficult to even understand adult struggle with which side is strongly [Laughter] disagree and that's the beautiful thing about you know these progress monitor report that we haven't really had anything like this it's the first time but as we keep going in time if we see that this is not really being effective you know if by the next round we still have the same amount of kids obviously we have more than 4,500 student enrollment so that's not even a you know um and that's why I kind of asked that question is how is the District addressing the parent opt out rates because as a parent myself I didn't really get any um yeah like education on what this was or how it was happening how I can talk to my you know anybody else um I'm on all the newsletters I didn't really see it going out so what is specifically is the district um addressing to make sure that parents are aware of like hey these are conversations you can be having with your kids or this is what this is meant for that's definitely an input that I think we need to strengthen is the the the communication component about the survey to students to the even to the teachers and then ultimately to our parents families and so Mr Carvajal is prepared to talk a bit about how we're we're seeking to address all of our surveys because as we mentioned and there's a question about um survey fatigue so one of the other questions is what processes are in play to mitigate the effect of survey fatigue while ensuring critical data collection so you know this is a long survey listen for good you know we're looking at specific questions Panorama we're looking at specific questions but the survey encompasses quite a number of things so um you want to just dive into before you jump into that if I could just something that I think is important from a p you know an important perspective for us to have as we work with the data too is the survey itself may not be perfect and we may be able to find alternate tool sets you know that can improve over time um or we may be able to improve the way we interact with the existing survey regardless of that um the I think one of the things that was important to us as a team we felt was important to the board was to find a tool set right so this is the tool set we had um and I'm not saying this as an excuse or anything but one of the things that that I've come to learn is often with then student outcomes Focus governance people will say well we can't really do anything with this right now because we don't have a tool set to use right so we're trying to find the best tool set that we have I'm saying that as a frame because the other thing that's important to know is we are measuring over time so whatever problems pre-exist within the survey the comparative to Prior years those problems still existed so as a measure for measure it still gives us um some amount of valid data because it provides us with a comparative based on the system having the same problems within it at each point of measure now that's not me saying oh let's not find a way to do better absolutely let's find a way to do better but I just don't want us to throw throw out the results you know based on oh but it's only 272 or oh there was all these barriers or the language is difficult you know we're we're still the language was the same language in Spring of 23 24 as it will be in Spring of 2425 so there still is a comparative there you know that we can draw out of that soor going to say the baby with the bath iied I avoided it I completely dodged it so but I almost went there and with that I'll turn over thank you that's a good set way because everyone likes to receive support and resources until they ask to give feedback whether it's in a survey or B that's like I don't have time I'm leaving I got what I needed and off they go and so the first thing that we need to do to ensure that the community understands is to provide a staff member that is going to be the link uh with that person with that student in that case is staff member or a teacher um for the families is our Outreach specialist Our Family Resource Center and our community ed Adult Learning Center through those venues we have those conversations and we are able to explain to parents this is why important you may think that your voice doesn't matter but it does matters let's Empower you you have yeah a brain in your head and we want to hear what you're thinking if we're meeting the goal and how we're best uh supporting you when we ask those questions people are okay until they're about three to five questions none of these surveys are three to five questions they're 15 20 or over absolutely not yes and then once once you think you're done through all of the survey question on the content and the areas that we want to collect the data to report back and improve our practices then we hit them with the extra which is the demographics and please it's a tachy feeling but I need you to identify yourself in the next five seven questions and so the first thing that we need to do uh as as a team to uh ensure that the community understand is to be transparent and the best way to be transparent is this is the purpose of the survey and your answers are Anonymous and this is how your feedback is going to help us improve another thing that we can do is to streamline the surveys and what I streamline the surveys I mean let's minimize the number of questions if they're similar can we combine them so instead of 12 questions can I have eight and I can get the same the same uh uh data we also um uh we uh don't rely only on the questions that we want but we have uh Handover research we have first first listening for good and other people who this is what they do for for for work and so they let us know which items will give us the answers or the information that we really need and so they help us with the design of the survey what will be more practical whether there's going to be a scale uh whether there's going to be a a multiple choice or whether there's going to be an emoji for specific students or specific language so that's that makes the uh survey more attractive and less intimidated if it feels like a test I won't take the the the survey but if it's more friendly then uh then I'll be more willing to give you my feedback in addition to that the next step that we can do is to incentivize people to take the surveys how do we do that here's a coupon for the next time you come to this class here's you're going to be entering to a raffle and we're not coercing the results we're not trying if you give us good a good survey results we're going to give you this it's just a way to incentive people we know that motivation um leaps better discipline is a little bit more precise but motivations we need like we need to answer all of these questions I don't know if the latter is something we can delve into that will be that will be one one one thing to steal and then the last thing that we do for our our surveys that we try to time and right what will be the best time is it weekends is it during paring conferences is it a at a carnival event what would be the uh the best time for parents or students to give us their their responses and of course knowing that uh in our district there are spoken over 27 different languages we offer not just in English and Spanish but with all languages so everybody's counted and everybody has an opportunity to provide the feedback so you a not sh that's how we try to mitigate the survey resolve and how our process to collect data goes into any survey not just uh a specific department or school did you say that um there is the ability to customize on either of them Panorama or the listen for good yes yes so we have the ability within Panorama and one of the things we'll have to study is if we do customize how does it affect the yeah relatability of result so that's not to say you want to keep giving a you know a survey that may be too much or misaligned but if you if we just gave for example the indicators of um of uh student geez I'm bat in a thousand s Management self management thank you then but by the time they get to those questions are they influenced by the question they already taken so if you break those out but there are ways to customize in both tool set and and we have actually um we've diagnostically customized it in the past where like if we saw troubling results we've sometimes um I don't think we've done it with with student data but with staff data we've sometimes gone back and after there's been some sort of effort to improve situations taken a subset of questions and deliver them to staff in order to be able to determine did we make an impact on this or not so so they're I don't know if it works the same way with the students or I don't know that's a good question what I do know and this is why we part of why we have to get parental consent for Panorama is we actually can see the how each child responds so if you get um and I don't know that I don't know that everybody can see that but like I can log in look and see the results of individuals and so if you get you know students who are flagging really low or like are really showing it like you can know who they are and plan for individual followup so that's one of the things that we like about panorama it gives it that experience and so we're hopeful that as we um are successful in selecting our academic director for student support um and in restorative practices that this will be a data set that actually could inform our mtss process um there's a lot to work out with the details of that but that is a piece that could be very Val about this survey tool so we could potentially go back and either through survey or through personal followup get more detail about a student's responses so just a few things about what is working and related to the guardrail holistically which speaks to the superintendent not neglecting social emotional development surveys are a measurement but there's other pieces that go into what shapes the responses that our students are providing so all of our school schs will have a ruler implementation team and all members will complete 6 hours of initial orientation training by May 2025 three of four of our teaching and learning coaches for student support have been hired the academic director for student support and inclusive practices position has been created and is posted thank you and the listen for good survey has been fully developed and is now live for family use the items that need more attention um Frankly Speaking Harmony and ruler implementation have been delayed due to un unanticipated staff vacancies and the the the fact that we had to reorganize around those teams the those vacancies so I've been going through the training Miss wasik's been going training that wasn't part of our initial plan but I've been learning a lot about ruler as has m molik um Eve Carol from our effective schools team is is going through the training now and that wasn't part of the plan but all all to say um there has been a delay in implementation and we're working to catch up and we have a team like going tomorrow to tour a third year implementation at a neighboring District correct yeah we have 17 staff going tomorrow with ruler or harmony with ruler okay ruler um one of our teaching and learning coach for student support position remains vacant so we've hired the three out of the four uh we have been unable so far to fill the fourth we've done some interviews um and it remains vacant the role of the teaching and learning coach for student support is unclear and requires Focus they've done some good stuff but but it's a new role it's kind of like the the shifting from the child Justice advocacy role that we phased out into this new role and what is it supposed to do do they are they in charge of ruler are they not how do they support selfless Behavioral Health how they integrate with car Solis these are all questions that Dr pombo and team have worked really hard to try to to to bring into efficacy and so they the the decision was let's work with new teachers and support their integration into the district with best practices related to student um classroom management um that's very much a need but the intent here is to really build the capacity working with kids and working with our staff to support the social emotional needs of our students um and we've talked about the survey structure requiring parent consent some parents do exercise their their right to opt out uh we believe that with more information more time um you know this year we are only doing one round we did one round at the beginning of hey we're given a survey here's how you give consent for that um we could do another round supported by additional uh Outreach and opportunities to learn and um we still are very much in the beginning phases of looking for good and though we believe it's a great survey we're going to have a lot of learning to do as we start to get data back thank you for that oh go ahead Mr Man I think in this case we may have hit the two questions I believe so yes so yeah do we have any other questions or comment on thank you so much for all the hard work thank you seeing no further questions or comments I move the governing board approve cron sofg guard ra one progress monitoring report one second all those in favor thank you so much and that concludes our student outcomes Focus governance um conversation we are moving over to public comments uh Miss watad is no public comments thank you moving over to six which is approval of consent I move the governing board approve consent agenda items a through o in accordance with policy bb- e all those in favor I and congratulations to our new hire I'm excited to meet them and see where the district moves forward with their added on assistance that brings us to 7A which is exceptional student services department update so I'm privileged to introduce Miss Gretchen Kaiser our director of exceptional student services I can't believe it's been just now a year right so you didn't get here yesterday she and the team have been working tirelessly to uh support the work of the department but also provide um evaluation and honest reflection about progress made and progress yet to come so at this time I'll turn it over to you and we of course stand ready to respond to questions throughout and at the end of the presentation of course thank you this is that time in the presentation where you need the Jeopardy music to kind of thank you for your patience well you figure that out does it feel like it's simultaneously been a month and 10 years that you've been here [Laughter] yeah holding on back up help if it's helpful I can use we can use thank you I it's it typically Works patience I we even tested we even tested it so thank you for your patience oh that's why that's why yeah we're too prepared you're right you had that up and going no call for backup Panic di just SP that interesting probably a restart right fix everything or over okay either one Dr I'm gonna bring my computer to you thank you for your patience I apologize for the delay no thank you Dr D it's late the Technology's tired thank you all for your patience on that Madame President governing board members superintendent man leadership thank you Dr dupin thank you for the opportunity to stand here today to talk about one of my most favorite comment topics our kids and what we do and to really celebrate and look at the work of the exceptional student services department perfect thank you sir on the side thank you for that in the spirit of our student outcomes Focus governance um what what we expect of our colleagues we model and expect of ourselves I like to highlight today our learning targets and success criteria of our time together today we will understand how the exceptional student services department serves the Craton families students and staff the common themes of Celebration and action items for continuing department and programmatic de um Improvement and our success criteria how will we know um while learning about this update we will identify the responsibilities of the department describe the celebrations and ongoing needs and summarize the recommendations to support actions and next steps I would like to formally introduce you to the team our leadership team of the exceptional students Department um I'll first highlight the structure and then I'd like to proudly introduce some of my teammates behind me on the perimeter of your screen you will see um the members of the exceptional student service department that are housed at the district office that we then are used to support and deploy to campuses as needed the director two coordinators and right now we have three teaching and learning coaches um and I'd like just to highlight as you know the the loss of our teammate Allen this year was one of the vacancies that you see listed there in that second coordin has yet to been filled all year and we currently have one of our teaching and learning coaches on long-term leave one thing I would like to continue to highlight is our colleagues um located in the center circle these colleagues serve as our leads and departments to really support the work of special education in the exceptional services department and I would like to highlight that each one of the members you see our lead um psychologists lead speech and language Pathologists our motor lead lead and assisted technology carry full jobs during the day including case loads of students and service are part of our preschool child find team and so are committed to carrying out our initiatives outside the workday so I just like to highlight the commitment they have to our department um and to the work of our team I would like to take a minute just to introduce you um I'm so proud to be members um of this team we have Dorothy green one of our instructional coaches we have NIS marel who is our lead of our Universal Design assisted technology and accessibility lead and our lead motor therapist um William Ormsby you heard a little bit about who we are um the next topic I want to discuss is our why really what drives us um to do the work in which um we do with the exceptional C student services department we do provide services and supports to bring our student outcomes focused governance goals Within Reach to each and every CR learner when we're looking and talking about the work of decreasing minimal Proficiency in math for all eth graders increasing math proficiency increasing English proficiency for emerging multilinguals for increasing reading proficiency for third graders our students that do receive specialized support within the exceptional students Department are in that subgroup so we are we believe and we work towards the sofg goals to support student outcomes for all when we're looking at the exceptional student services department sometimes people think that that is just supporting special education and that is a huge part of what we do and we're very proud and which to do it and in kraton we service the entire the entire District in many different ways and so the two column highlights um the the groups in which we serve and the way that that team that I mentioned that leadership team of our instructional coaches and our leads who we serve and who we support the exceptional services department does support all of our students who visiting the health office we have the great privilege of supporting our nurses and medical team we do support our Community Preschool which is our students who might not yet be identified or are not identified um our general education preschool students looking to grow our long-term K8 team within preschool we also service our students um through the Rehabilitation Act Section 504 plans who may have a disability um and do require accommodations and support in order to access that of their typical peers we also serve as I mentioned before we have 11 nurses and medical staff in which we support and we have the great privilege of walking alongside our hardworking leaders our principles and assistant principles at the elementary schools when we're looking at the profile of the support in which that we serve really believe in that that servant leadership within exceptional student services as of the 70th day numbers we are currently supporting 674 um students identified with with special needs who are currently on an individual education plan that's just under 14% And in looking at the data from last year we were hovering right around 12 that is an increase in our students in which we are serving in the special education realm we right now identify and support 48 developmental preschool students those are our students and our families that are coming in at the age of three through five looking for that early intervention supports and services and we are proud to be supporting our developmental preschool students and families as well part of the work in which we do also support within special education is we support our private day schools and our homeschool families that have that reside or live or in the boundaries of our kraton elementary school district and currently that does include the entire child find process as well as developing and customizing individualized service plans which is a little bit different than an IEP in the public setting but we are also currently serving 27 of our students who are apprently privately placed or our homeschool families we have the great honor of supporting and walking alongside our special education teachers our educational professionals our psychologists our speech and language pathologist our occupational therapists our physical therapist and our assisted technology specialist we are so proud to serve and support our teams that are doing the right thing for our kids in our campuses this snapshot is a highlight of just recognizing and identifying the different areas in which the exceptional student services support Sports and the yellow the shades of yellow are that general education that that support of all students there are Health Services 504 preschool we also collaborate directly with our head starts team in providing Direct Services in some of our related areas for our headart families we support our students who are on home instruction our general education students who do require that type of instruction um and we also support as I mentioned before that Universal Design our assisted technology and Loan library and highlighting some of that education um our teams do support all of the child find find evaluation that federal law of making sure that we are identifying and supporting our students with special needs we support and I'll talk a little bit about in a minute our special education programs we'll talk about the Continuum of services in which we provide our developmental preschools um our team within the exceptional students Department also supports our alternative assessments so the students who are eligible um into a modified assessment and that don't take the aasa we also provide our homebound instruction those students who are not yet able or not quite ready or able to attend a full day of inperson school or in school at all we support our home instruction our team also looks at the Medicaid and runs all the Medicaid supports and again the private parentally privately placed we are a busy and exciting um department and we're really as I mentioned before it really does come together to support the whole team and the whole child looking at both that general education side and that special education side as I mentioned before in the slide um we are proud kraton is proud our department is proud to provide a Continuum of services so not one size fits all for our students who are identified with special needs um so we do provide a Continuum of services and if I may frame for just a moment please one thing you'll notice in the next two slides is that each of our program description starts with a cross-categorical program federal law does require for students to be eligible and receive specialized Services they must meet metrics or criteria under a category we very much believe kraton believes our team believes that a student's eligibility criteria is not the story it does not define them and sometimes um that can be oh well that's that it's they're cross-categorical it is part of the story but we customize supports the program does not fit the student this the student doesn't fit the program we make sure that we build the IEP to meet their needs and offering that Continuum of services like to highlight some of those programs in which that we do provide those customized supports and those methodologies that differ so we're able to meet the unique needs of our of our Learners one um program that many people are familiar with is known as that resource program that's looking at the cross-categorical program offering a blend of instruction to support students in the academic social emotional whatever those needs may be um the students oftentimes their disability is not yet impacting a enough where they're unable to access the typical or general education setting so that Continuum of services could be push in into the general education classroom it could provide some customized pullout support the majority of our students do fall under that category um for our resource programming and that type of support is offered at every single school to meet the needs of the students when we're looking at our regional programs I'll go through a couple acronyms and talk a little bit about the programs and where they're located as those are Regional programs in which we support our students taking responsibility for success is our star program that is located at lomalinda school um that crosscat categorical program um supports students who may struggle with social and emotional D um regulation to a degree again that interferes with their ability to be in the general education classroom throughout the day it's a customized um Regional program that we provide different methodologies um and curriculum supports in which to support students who might have those needs at lomol our structured teaching reinforcement individual environment our strive program is located at two campuses at excellen and papigo we're looking at that cross-categorical program providing those supports both academic and adaptive supporting students with those developmental disabilities that significantly affects their verbal and non-verbal um communication and those social interactions again that in a way that adversely um impacts their performance in the typical education setting reaching for um reaching Independence through supports and education a Rise program is proudly located at Mackin again a crosso program that looks at academic and social for students functioning below their peers and intellectual ability our practical academics and Community Education is also cross categorical categorical program um who for students who do function significantly below that their peers again that adversely affects their ability to access learning in the general education or typical setting and one of our um um Regional programs that's at the new Larry C Kennedy is our providing learning and Community essential skills are places um which is looking at again those cognitive and self- health adaptive needs for students who are functioning significantly below their typical peers it also customized supports in our students who might have medical needs that require consistent supervision or support in order for them to access their fre appropriate public education that's located at Larry C Kennedy was that the one that was on yes ma'am that's correct yes thank you heard a little bit about who and why and what drives us and who we are and I'd like to spend the rest of the time really leaning into the programs review our focus of the work in which that I've had the great privilege of of of of supporting um since my tenure started about a year ago here in kraton the intentional work when I first began was to really understand and listen to what is the current reality to hear and understand the celebrations to talk through and have cander with our colleagues to have those rough conversations um to say not only where are we what are those celebrations what strengths can we build on but what's that honest conversation of where do we need to go what are those blue skies I want to start by saying um the amount of time that my colleagues um gave me um for one-on-one conversations for attending site meetings that every single site for visiting with our cohorts or um there's just a list of the amount of people that offered their heart their cander and their honesty to help provide a picture again of those successes and also where we really need to go um based on their experiences and based on their expertise and disciplines in all different roles both both special education and general education around the district and I'll tell you it was so cool to start in kraton and hear the brag to hear the the cool celebrations I didn't really know a lot of people yet so I said I got to meet that one or I'd love to pop in that classroom but the celebrations were great and I know the list might look small but I want to still and celebrate and highlight the conversations that in the previous list through those interviews those surveys those one-on-one conversations there was so much celebration around the dedication of our teachers our teachers are coming in every day to work very very hard for our students and that is I'm like I'm walking into some place really awesome so really wanted to highlight the work of our teachers additionally thinking of the boots on the ground our committed pair professionals which really often times serve as the glue to some of our regional programs and provide those accommodations and additional supports for our students um throughout the day many of our teams identified strong collaboration with maybe their School site with their grade level collaboration with their Department team um that open conversation that productivity those conversations many of our schools highlighted some of those strong collaborative relationship ship and partners within their school team or Department some of our campuses were highlighting their established inclusionary practices right that collaboration with our special education and our general education teachers what does that look like in supporting our students with special needs in their least restrictive environment so hearing some of those campuses talk about those inclusionary practices was a great celebration to identify our sightly asons is a term that we use pretty much interchangeably within the ESS Department of our instructional coach or our teachers on assignment as I mentioned before um U the department team as well as our leads as I had mentioned often times are deployed to sites to provide coaching to provide guidance to look at unique situations and be a thought partner and critical thinker for our school teams also they're called out when things get tricky and and there's the interpretation of what does this look like from the legal perspective and how do we write by students and making sure that we're honoring all of those layers so a huge opportunity to brag on our our instruction coaches are site liaison from our school teams that say thank you for coming out on their support and I Echo that um and um I came in um to kraton and the celebrations really looked at the compliance we had recently completed our compliance report and audit with our department of education and some of the schools really had highlighted their practices and what they're looking at for compliance and making sure that our IEPs are comprehensive and meet um the compliance regulations for Department of Education so a lot of great celebrations I do want to lean into and identify with that program's review the cander the heart the honesty and the trust given to me um in those interviews to really highlight some of those deficiencies that were identified in that programs review that went from November to February in category in categorizing them through big picture there was a strong Trend and really leaning into the feeling that relationships between the department and the schools were not strong whether that was I'm not sure who to speak to or sometimes when I approach someone it may not always feel like it's super approachable so it might not feel as if I can come and ask a question that I might need help with also looking at who supports me with that and if I'm looking for that unique thing is that who is that in the department so those relationships and the ability to access them well was identified as one of the deficiencies in the programs review may I ask a clarifying question when this um feedback was given is this coming more of a teacher to an administrative role not feeling supported by their administrators or was it peer-to-peer what what do you mean by lack of strong relationships between department and schools thank you thank you madam president if I may go back a slide to kind of highlight the the stakeholder group so I think that's a great question I think from the principal's perspective I can honestly say from that perspective that Trend was we want to lean into the department for help in certain areas we not quite sure who to lean into or we don't always feels if we get a timely response back in which to support um in looking at um art special education teachers a lot of them are asking for we want support and we want to build that relationship with you but you're not spending enough time out there to really establish those relationships so we're asking that our department for building those relationships spend more time on our campus so I think there was a common theme um Madame President um in in each of the perspectives that again was resonated enough for me to identify it's not everywhere but it's it's threaded enough through each of those stakeholder groups to say we have some action to do in that area Madame President did I answer your question yes thank you great um some feedback we received is um the end I labeled it as no standardized structures for meeting practices that special education meetings run long that sometimes they feel unorganized um that our colleagues are are maybe not all the time coming prepared that we're not providing a structure in which families can meaningfully participate in I AP meetings and in met meetings so identifying that as the standardized structures for meetings um as a topic identified as a need very limited curricular resources for specially designed instruction and that's what's really unique about special education is not that it's the same as general education just repeat a couple more times speci um specially designed instruction has a definition in bylaw it is adaptive it is looking at the content it is restructuring how we teach so it is a highly need of a skill and when we're looking at our student outcomes and we're seeing the lagging student outcomes and we're seeing the need to bridge that Gap with the special education process with those instructional practices and with the curricular resources um both of those were aligned as a need our teachers are eager and willing and many of them know a lot of great things but how do we keep elev what they have in their classroom so they can really tailor and customize what they need to provide specially designed instruction for their IEP needs when you say um I guess for in terms of the very limited is that at like the district level or is it um there's not a connect I guess at a at a greater level in general across this country is there Li there and so then in turn I guess is my question if that makes sense in in response to the data gather gaed through this survey our teams again teacher level Administration level identify that we and kraton have a lot of different resources and some people have access to resources that can better be adaptive for specially designed instruction so this um um board member um Gibson McLean is specific to the resources available for our teams within the kraton school thank you for that question and please stop me at any point thank you for that additional deficiency identified as I talked a little bit about the relationship examples labeled in the first was the varied perceptions of roles and responsibilities again I'm needing help and sometimes it's urgent sometimes it might wait till next week but who am I going to and how do I get the help I need especially in a timely manner in which I feel as if I then can take that information and support in what I need what was also identified as inadequate departmental structures and systems and I that is huge when we're looking at doing really really hard work and when we're looking at the needs of our special education students and families much of that requires unique decisions within the framework of a system that makes sense and in a system in which our teams can talk critically think brainstorm and make those decisions within that system so that was an identified need um as well and one of the additional deficiencies identified was those inconsistent use of multi-tiered systems of support and that is part of the exceptional student services department we are collectively part of that tiered system tier one tier two and three in identifying and looking at those areas of deficiencies then our team really looked critically and identified those top priorities for improvement and identified them in the following categories first and foremost starting with us what does that dep Department culture look like and how is that an area that we can grow in those relationships how do we provide efficient customer service we are servant leaders that is what we do our goal and our job is to serve our our students to serve our teachers and to serve our schools providing as I mentioned appropriate resources for specially designed instruction as I mentioned before also implementing those effective instructional practices a big part of that is and how are we equipping our teams in which to do it how are we intentionally providing structures and professional development so that our teams we can be respons to what our teams need as well as provide that ongoing professional development as we know that's what research supports it's not the one time it's that ongoing relevant professional development and also looking at engaging and empowering our families in this process as well those are those top priorities in looking at Priority One that department culture as I mentioned before our team looked at said how can we lead what does that mean for us so some accomplishments to date and I'll highlight um our um created commitments and core values on the next page I'll first review some of those accomplishments to date please um again created those commitments and core values as we talked about relationships who do I go to what does that look like in moving forward how does my voice get heard how how do I understand how decisions are made so I I understand that process a little bit more um we initiated the special education task force um beginning of last year and that task force is a committee that we meet Reg L and it is open to any of our members certificated classified administrative um so we are excited to continue that and that was initiated um as an accomplishment thus far and it is continuing into year two now increased engagement with staff through our professional learning communities and Special Education team meetings in order to build relationships we need to be out we need to be walking alongside we need to be learning we need to be understanding so that was a big goal and that was a commitment that we made within our team to rep prioritize our work to see how do we get how do we lessen some of the work that's taking us away from the priorities of our students and teachers in the classrooms and that's also part of that evaluating those roles and responsibilities how are we in line with our sofg focusing our efforts and our time on the outcomes for our students with those identified accomplishments I'm very much leaning in also to those areas of ongoing needs due to some of our vacancies and some of the challenges which we are facing that is an area that I still identify as ongoing I stand here very humbly saying the commitment is there the intentionality is still there and it is an area for us to be looking at moving forward and continuing to be present on our campuses um to build those relationships and to walk alongside our teams at the campuses and that's also looking at increased visibility and communication when we're looking at building those relationships we're looking at building the decisions in which we make building those guidance documents helping those systems how are we lering in communication well so that way it's responsive and meets the needs and in a way that our our teams can hear it and receive it absolutely in ongoing need that we are addressing and continuing to look at I have a question how much of your time do you believe is spent on case management versus actual you know in in classroom I mean does that take away time from other things that you could be focusing on or is it pretty even what does that look like Madam president are you asking that of my role right now current or are you ask sorry you asking for the the the department in in in a whole um that really is our charge is when we're looking at restructuring our instructional coaches to mirror the work and the cycle and the coaching cycle of our curriculum instruction and assessment team that really is the number one priority so I would like to say and I think now I don't know if I'm able to provide that because we haven't been able to be out in rooms as much as we are currently operating a department of three um but that when we're looking at that Target goal and mirroring what that is we're looking to have that be at least 50 to 80% of our time and that's our Target goal unfortunately right now we're unable unable to meet that need but that is constantly the conversation um within our instructional team on how are we prioritizing time on campus in the classrooms walking alongside our teams okay thank you um thank you for that question Madam president um evalu the roles of responsibility and the ongoing needs is that is absolutely a place that we need to go and when we think about our student outcomes and we think about research supporting that the most important person in a students live is our teacher if we want to see movement within our students we need to be there to support our teachers as I mentioned before the first thing we did as a department is really looked in within this is our brainstorming session as a leadership team and I include this as not only our Department's team our instructional coaches and at that point our coordinator but also so our leads so our our motor um our assisted technology our school psychology leads we really are brainstorming about what is it that we prioritize who are we what does it look like who do we want to commit to be really looking at students first building that trust that Integrity that reliability the ad the advocating that we believe that we look at long-term trajectory of having our students ready for college career community that access in that education needs to be a high option to spr opportunities for our families and students looking at those relationship building as well as Solutions I Channel Alan blankstein failure is not an option our kids need it now so how are we focusing on those Solutions and next steps converting those priorities in the We Believe statements what are we anchoring our practices in what are we anchoring our behaviors in We Believe decisions to be made with the best interest of students working together we believe in the power and the promise of Education We Believe in leading by example we believe in building strong relationships and we believe in being flexible creative thinking and problem solving that is focused on Solutions so highlighting the work in which the team identified collectively as who we are who we want to be known by and how do we keep holding ourselves accountable and each other accountable to our commitments and core values highlighting priority two um efficient customer service as we mentioned those first two priorities we're really looking within and really looking within for me as a new member to the team and knowing that there is strong work happening already around the district who did I want to be joining in a team who do I want to be as a leader who do I want to be as a team member part of what we looked at that a fmer customer service very much believe in servant leadership that is the role and the commitment that we have being in the privileged spots at the district office in the ESS Department again creating that special education task force to support transparency to support input input to get that voice and talk through through that system with any of those members that are willing to be part of that brainstorming um opportunity to solve problems and to work through things that might be barriers within our system right now increased Inu instructional coaching that is a high priority for us and not just instructional coaching of spending time in the room but even working with our team recently and in that true coaching cycle of spending time with that teacher getting to know what that need is including an observation potentially modeling inviting a debrief and coming back in a couple days to follow up I we're I'm excited to highlight that later in what we're doing with our corrective reading and reading Mastery with our team with McGraw Hill but that is still a great need that we recognize and it's also as you will see um on our leaning in the deficiency areas as well in joining collaboratively with our charge for a unified front for our sofg framework joining our educational leadership team joining our curriculum instruction and assessment team and joining those learning walks so we are out there we are seeing we are walking it we are supporting we know how to respond in a timely way that is directly linked to those Targets in sofg looking at the standardized systems within the department um again what does that look like how can people operate freely and well and make those decisions within the framework of a of an understood system allows for building capacity and allows for that agency of our teams to build those decision-making on their campus and lastly the establish the use of agendas within special education meetings are blue skies as you will see on the right hand side are ongoing needs is truly getting to um a fully facilitated special education process with the Mets and the IEPs and phase one this year is we've established an expectation of agendas we've provided some model examples um and as our leadership team is joining teams if we're able to add some of those facilitation flares um we hope to that is is absolutely a great need that we need to continue and to expand that to just beyond the agendas but the the value of what that does allowing for Meaningful input so continued intentionality and developing a skill set of facilitation for the met and iips increasing communication it is everywhere we recognize that that needs to be something to we do better we do more intentionally and we do in a way that our teams are able to receive the information which we give we continue to evaluate roles and responsibility within the apartment to build that capacity one thing we realized um collectively and the programs review is that we have a lot of great experts on our team and just over the years they have remained the one expert on our team and so oftentimes if somebody is out if someone unexpectedly is no longer with with us that skill set that expertise that understanding of that system that platform of the student information system um that also is lost with that with that colleague no longer being with us or out for a couple days so building that capacity within our team and sharing that intentionality of the work so that there's that crash training and opportunity for us to expand on that we need to continue conducting our learning walks we are doing that not only with the sofg um we will continue doing that with our corrective reading and reading Mastery team which I'll highlight here um shortly continue the facilitation of special education meetings and again continue to streamline the resources documents and websites so our teams have access to that that's well and easy to navigate and find the information they need appropriate resources for specially designed instruction accomplished to date we are thank you governing board for your support of the special education task force recommendation for um the reading program mcra Hill reading Mastery and corrective reading um we are in implementation on that and we're very excited to have um that information um up and running um and we are partnering right now with mcra Hill to provide that coaching cycle with our instructional coaches we're a little bit thin and not quite on the pace to hit every single classroom that we intended to at quarter one but that goal is still going strong and we're prioritizing that work in semester two as an ongoing need um continue customizing that professional development what is it that we see that we need especially in response to the data that we're collecting not only from visiting the classrooms ging teacher input but addition looking at the sofg learning walk data how can we support that and customize that within our special education programs as well also continue to evaluate those curricular resources so our colleagues our teachers in the class have the tools they need to meet the needs of their students as well looking at those effective instructional practices again learning walks increase our instructional coaching Implement a corrective reading and reading Mastery within our special education programs we're also working directly and we'll highlight that in our professional development but working directly with our program specialist of the Department of Education for our preschool teams both community and developmental preschool working on those Early Learning best practices not only are we inviting those experts in throughout the year to provide the direct instruction from those experts at Department of Education We're working directly with our teachers to develop our own best practices and look for us in the classroom and that's done in a collaborative way um and we're building that together and then reviewing that data together as we look at those best Early Learning practices and continuing those learning walks continuing those coaching Cycles not just visiting the classroom but truly one-on-one with our teams um to identify what those needs are and continue to be responsive to the needs of the data the needs of our teams to customize that professional development as I mentioned before the continued collaboration of we as kraton collaborating with our curriculum and instruction um and assessment teams and coaches um as I mentioned before we throughout the year I think we have two more um at least two more sessions with our mcra Hill expert to come in to provide that coaching um not only are we doing learning foxs with learning walks with our mgra Hill team team but we're also providing on those Wednesdays for professional for Craton professional learning we're also providing providing that tailored ongoing for times of year um followup after learning walk data is collected in the special education classrooms to build that professional development um based on the needs and implementation plan of our teams and as I mentioned before I'm working with the Department of Education to support our um Developmental and our community programs Early Learning best practices um and as well the feedback from some of the summer work with our colleague then alen and one of our school psychologists an Henry of building us that that system um for supporting that tier 2 data collection understanding what that looks like the feedback was so strong that we also brought it back to our um learning this year so we have our Craton professional learning that's also four times a year um we have um um stakeholder groups general education our school psychologist also um accessible to that tier 2 um behavior supports Within the classroom throughout the year continue to develop that customized um professional development plan to look at those instructional strategies and use of resources and again you'll hear me say that again but it's something we believe in so deeply we need to get in the classrooms and support our teachers directly with our students pardon me for going fast if I okay thank you it is it is who I naturally am so and I get really excited and when I get excited I speak I speed up a little bit too so thank you for your grace on that priority six looking at engaging and empowering our families we have um established the special education family advisory Council our cfac not only have we established it but we've really as a collective team with our families identified our purpose which is working together to strengthen a solid foundation of diversity that empowers students to be strong independent Learners that with our colleagues in the CAC depart um coun and the CAC committee um we do meet regularly um we're looking at increasing supports within our health services department similar to seeing an increase in um our students who are identified in special ed education as identified this year we're just under 14% we're also noticing that some of the student needs are really unique and are requiring not just tapping into our child find team but also tapping into our nurses and our medical professionals and to see them work directly the unique needs collaborating with families collaborating with parental consent with doctors to really understand and tailor the medical needs so that is not a barrier for students to access um the the campus has been really impressive so I'm really proud to brag on the work our nurses and medical staff are doing and again as I mentioned before by establishing the use of agendas within the Special Education meeting does allow for a meeting structure for Meaningful input from each member of the team including our families at those meetings ongoing needs is continue the momentum increase um the CAC membership and continue to build the capacity and understanding what those facilitated special education meetings and I'd like to extend that as well that very much could also mean 504 meetings it's the structure of facilitation um Madame President governing board members while I am very proud of the accomplishments we've made in the past 10 months I stand Here humbly recognizing that we have a long way to go and our team is committed to that long that long way to go because we believe in the work and we believe in the students and in which to do so like to propose some recommendations for your consideration please the recommendations um are to reclassify two coordinators to our two managers of exceptional student services in looking at um our staffing as I mentioned at the beginning of the presentation one of our coordinators Alan H served in that coordinator position and there was a restructuring a parody study um that happened before um I arrived and I would yield to leadership to explain it if there's any additional questions on that um that um that allowed for that work to happen at a different salary schedule the coordinator position um also when we're looking at the needs of our district we're also looking at the needs for coordinator versus manager the work is very different and I'll explain why when we're looking at the need to focus on our instruction and to focus on the time in the classroom the work of the coordinator really covered too much of that instructional coach and that teacher on assignment and what we need to look as identified in our ongoing needs are those structural building that capacity supporting our team in the systems and that is one of the reasons why we're by making the recommendation to U Move the coordinator position to a manager for a more competitive salary schedule to attract people that have that skill set and have that heart and knowledge to meet those needs that identified in those deficiencies um as well as um to really better articulate that scope of work that Al LS to the work we need with our department to make those moves for our students additionally um the request and recommendation is to hire an additional instructional coach for a myriad of reasons as I mentioned before we believe and want to prioritize that work and protect our instructional coach from doing coordinator and manager duties that we're currently doing right now because of the Staffing shortages but also really restructuring that to protect their time as I mentioned to get that increased time in the classroom in true coaching Cycles not just visiting and popping in but that cycle of modeling and coaching and looking at that implementation of instructural practices and curriculum and additionally when we're looking that strong collaboration of we are Craton and focusing on the sofg to align with the model within the curriculum and instruction um coaching model as well our recommendations we have work to do to continue to evaluate our department roles to align to Resources with needs we need to continue to increase capacity within our team I sit on the leadership team with so many great experts and we need to continue to understand what each of those experts are um and I can say very transparently my colleague Dorothy green is one of the Departments and District's expert in preschool that is the new learning for me and I'm humbled by what she has teaching me but she's teaching me what I need to continue to learn so I'm grateful for her time and looking at that how do we continue to build that capacity so the work is shared and the work gets done in a way um that's Equitable and meets the needs of our families themes and lastly we need to continue to evaluate systems and methods of Service delivery to maximize efficiency and impact on student achievement we have a proficiency of our students with disabilities at 5% for reading and math our state average is covering right around the past Trend data past couple years hovering around between 12 11 to 15% we also are currently identified um through our federal um monitoring system that we are a targeted School Improvement for our students with disabilities that's they continue to underperform to that the rate of other um students identify with special needs and our students with disabilities continue to lag in achievement and outcomes compared to their typical peers so when we look at continuing to evaluate the work which we do we are protecting our time with our teachers we are protecting our time with our instructional coaches so we will continue and be committed to re-evaluating how are we spending our time on the leadership team to prioritize that work in the classroom if I may provide thank you for your grace and keeping up with my pace of speech um the proposed organizational structure organizational structure will look then similar to this so we started where we were at at the first slide um and then the vision of how do we really start making an impact to moving that needle for High student outcomes this would be that new organizational structure um that I just explained and and asking for consideration um as my recommendation moving forward um industry-wise I I guess I know this is kind of like a Personnel HR thing in terms and the industry in terms of manager coordinator teaching learning coach so I guess my curiosity is essentially I know you kind of got into the difference between the manager and the coordinator but then I'm wondering you know what's the gap between a coordinator and a teaching and learning coach and if we're going to not have any coordinators is there another Gap that's going to be need to be filled down the road or how does all of that fit together well I no that's I just which one thank you uh I think one of the differen between the coordinator and the manager position is the supervision piece uh and that would be directly related to how the support for the coaches would be distributed among the managers so there was that position um that was sort of part of the work that Allen did uh but wasn't really operationalized as a coordinator whereas the manager position really is supervisory position in addition to all of the other things that Miss Kaiser had shared certainly okay board M get McLean we did did in that consideration of what does that work look like and looking at those job descriptions to say what truly meets the need of the work ahead very transparently we did we did I did consider and did have thought Partners to look at what does that structure meet that's fiscally responsible and does meet the need and that still yielded the conversion the reclassification to the two managers um and forgive my ignorance but um I you did mention that through the federal department we are below average right do we get additional funding because we are at that level and are those funds what can those funds actually be used for thank you um Dr dupan I know um we've been working collaborating with you on with our ad specialist would you mind jumping in explaining that a little bit I'll do my best thank you there's a formula no one understands precisely we get access we will get access to additional funds to support our CSI targeted needs the difference though is that the funds directly to the school level okay they're they're for use at the school level they don't filter through the district whereas like um the CSI comprehensive School Improvement grant that we got at the district level that's what we used to fund all of the stiens for the lead teachers we could do that as a districtwide structure whereas with the CSI it it'll be targeted to the school level we will still have a great deal of input into how that's prioritized but there's going to be a lot of site involvement in in how that works and I'm not sure when we get access to those dollars we'll find out and our teams are currently collaborating with the school tight and our instructional coaches are joining in many of those meetings as well okay got it thank you thank you and they're not I just I do want to say real quick since we're on this one this topic they're not dollarars that could really be utilized for um personel I figured thank you Dr thank you Dr do we have any other questions or wonderings a question um I mean I should know this but um what is the difference between the G Ed home instruction and then special ed homebound instruction and how do parents or students that need it how do they find out about it here in kraton because I think it's a different um District to District thank you Miss M for that question the distinct difference is looking at a student identified at general education or identified with special education um so home instruction there could be a myriad of reasons why a student um general education student is unable to attend school whether it be medically whether it be other needs um and our homebound instruction is looking at that specialized instruction for students identified with IEPs so very similar process but is a little bit different because we're supporting under fatee a little bit different process process for special education than general education um but similar um and they both come through our department so um if anyone does have additional questions and we can happy um to support that or to help identify if someone's unsure what those requirements are what those needs are we're happy to support okay so from a practical standpoint say someone um is going through cancer treatment or something and can't physically make it to school how do our parents know that that is an option like how do we capture them and that may not know I yeah I mean I sure what my typical experience has been because I've kind of you know I've had a variety of different roles at a variety of different districts and in many cases it's intersected with some of those students um because uh I spent a fair bit of time in technology at several districts and a lot of times it was the technology tool set that created connections for those students um very often it's through a conversation that happens the School site where a parent will come in and say you know my child's not going to be able to be here for 6 months because they're either going to be at home convalescing or they're going to be checked in at Phoenix Children's Hospital and um typically in those cases uh it's sort of the internal communication structure within the district that connects th those families to the available Services either with special education you know or in my case um I had some experiences where we were leveraging iPads for video conferencing into the classroom to be able to connect students to their classroom peers and not have them lose that connectivity during their treatment period you know or whatever that might be and so um some of the things that Miss Kaiser talked about earlier in relation to you know the efforts that are being put into strengthening those ties between the department and the schools and that feeling of well who do I talk to about this you know is really in those cases it's very magnified because what you don't want to see happening is a parent comes in they're distraught like my kids got to have you know um you know bone marrow transplants or something like that and then at the school site they're like well I should be connecting with somebody district office but I don't know who that is right because that can create delays in being able to get those those resources to those families I don't know Dr dup and if you have any alternate experience or correction the only thing I would add to it is that there are there have been occasions when families don't self-report tragically so in those cases what is it's incumbent upon the staff of the school when they're monitoring attendance you know usually after ideally PE parents are contacted on a daily basis if an absence goes unreported but typ but after you know a period of time of absence a day two three days Outreach is made to connect with the families or attempts at outreach are made to to connect with the families to figure out what's going on and so usually it's through that interface that families will say well this this is why this is what we're dealing with and then we can dispatch Family Resources um our uh effective um geeez I'm tired our wonderful CEOs our community engagement Outreach Specialists and then connect through the ESS Department to engage homebound service if if I can add also from my experience um off in Phenix Children's Hospitals a really good example they are proactive with their social workers and their class their teachers because they have teachers on staff uh that they will be working with the families to make sure that they're having that communication that's a two-way communication uh and I I found that that can be a very successful model for some students as well great thank you yeah and while we're talking about related to like some of those medical concerns it's actually not far off from um some of the processes that Mr carvajal's connected to in relation to homelessness or you know other types of displacement issues for our families and it is it is an area that is often a struggle because when a family goes offline you know sometimes by the time you realize this has been an extended period of absence there might be communication challenges and so it's certainly an area where I think we have a desire to be strong in but there's there's always some room for continued Improvement I know like in my experience working with Phoenix children like I sometimes had to reach out but then once I did like their staff is amazing and they'll you know have transition plans and things like that they have the resources but sometimes it takes like no like I had I had my human and then that human moved another job and then I'm like so similarly with people here knowing who to go to in the department it's making sure we have connections um because they do have a ton of resources for those cases and I'll Echo um executive team superintendent man really our school teams are such great Advocates this the teachers recognizing someone's not there a school nurse is coming in because there's a concern about a chronic health issue or need or the principal's reaching out because they see someone at pickup and there's conversation so I really do Echo um leadership explaining that really credit our school teams for recognizing the need for us to respond in a different way I just have a other random question does the student services department do you also service gifted students except no we don't oh sorry Dr D those uh gifted services are under curriculum instruction they used to be we moved them under curriculum I don't know five or six years ago that's what I thought I just couldn't remember and it's one of those things that varies District yes some districts it is and others yes great question do we have have any other qu I just had a comment um so thank you very much for the thoroughness in this you know I've been um concerned about this apartment for a long time and um you know Mr Man and I have talked and you know it's a very very challenging um uh many different needs and it's I think it will not ever be perfect that's just the nature of this um but I do recognize improvements that I have heard um staff asking for um and I know we're still in a huge challenge because we're so underst staffed which is you know I believe happened because we've had a broken system for a while so it's there is going to take some rebuilding to do and I know that's really kind of where we're at right now but I appreciate um the recommendations the things that have gone into place like the resources the curriculum resources that was something that was being asked for um and then all of the other things so I appreciate this very much and all the hard work that you guys have all been working on thank you and recognizing that there's still a lot yes ma'am yes ma'am and I really just look back and I'm so proud to be on the team I'll tell you that I'm so proud to be on the team because of the colle especially you Dorothy that I have the privilege to work with no no I was gonna say I mean I I don't know what you knew you were stepping into a year ago or if you knew anything but I mean I really appreciate all of the um time and energy that's been put into try trying to figure things out or at least get a lay of the land and then figure out where to guide things um and I know you're giving credit to your team but it it takes someone to come in and and have that leadership to to figure out kind of the landscape and figure out where things need to go um so I really appreciate that I appreciate all this this is like all great information and and just so informative um and and I just look forward to things Contin continuing to improve and on a side note I used to love uh listening to uh Dr Lauren because I said his voice was like ASMR and I found myself in the same space again feeling very relaxed listening to you speak here and I kept thinking I need to not fall asleep and not because this is boring but just because of how relaxing your voice well I well I always tell myself to be mindful when you get excited slow down but I was excited so I appreciate your grace and and in that thank you for that it was great thank you yeah thank you so much any other questions or comments I just wanted to say that there was um a list of questions comments concerns that I did get from teachers um in in the in time I just email I mean I texted uh Mr Man um and asked him to find those answers to those questions because I also don't want to bombard you with a bunch of things that maybe you don't know the answers to but I think they're really relevant so um maybe you could give a update to um the person on that that um text that I sent to you and then just a update to the board on some of those questions and comments and concerns we can include it in in the board update and we'll certainly close the loop on that I I think there may be just at glancing at it there may be a few misunderstandings because there were some places like well you know where is we we're not seeing and it's like well it's in the column that says working on right so so there may be some assumptions like well this one's done and and yet some of those things were identified as this is yet to come but we we can easily kind of approach all of those and give a status update and share that both with the board and folks that are that are asking those questions and um and I just want to also add that um the structure of this board meeting is a little bit out of the norm because we've Trad Ally put like this manager position into consent but we felt it wasn't really the right Pathway to say hey can you approve this and then find out from Miss Kaiser why you might be interested in approving this and and also rather than just you know kind of standing on principle and going well it goes in consent you'll have to move it if you want it after the presentation we've just placed it into personnel which follows Educational Services but I wanted to point out the connection between the two items because you know that that is in this restructure that is one of the steps if the board's in favor of making these adjustments that's one of the ways um it's we'll put it back into our sofg terminology it's an input that you can approve to help create the outcomes that we're hoping to create for our special education uh student subpopulation before we do that just another thing that occurred to me and it goes with the vein of the communication and the structures I think this was really informative and it might be worth just sharing this slide Deck with not just special education teachers but the gened teachers as well because they often have students um with special needs in their classrooms just to help kind of that continuous loop of communication um and let people know you know it's great that there are specific people that reached out asking questions there's probably a dozen more that have the same questions so thank you for that recommendation Bard M Mayors thank you for that feedback look forward to being able to respond well to those inquiries thank you any other questions or comments awesome thank you so much thank you thank you for your time that brings us to 8A which is approve the job description for manager of exceptional student services department I move the governing board approve the job description for manager of exceptional student services department second all those in favor I I I motion has passed and hopefully we can fulfill that those two to vacant positions as soon as possible um any future agenda items just keep an eye that our board study session will be February 22nd and it's going to be a very informative one so hopefully everybody can make themselves available for that I do not have any other future agenda items um here February 22nd 2nd 20 seconds corrector 2 two2 alignment numbers all right seeing no other questions or no other future agenda items I move the governing board adjourn all those in favor I'm done yeah I just it's absolutely I mean we have no qualms with answering just I was flipping through them but I don't want to like I didn't I thought that was weird I just didn't want to bombard and I think part of the reason you understand them is because they they literally were questions teachers that they haven't had this training it's like future by thank you so you by by

on January 9th and you're all invited to come it's quite impressive we have kids that know words and spell words I've never seen so they're amazing in addition we have a parent event one pill can kill in the district boardroom that same evening at 6 that concludes the district events thank you Mrs Richards okay we will moving on to 5.1 the public hearing public hearing of fiscal year 2025 budget revision revision number two and we will now move to a public hearing for the second revision of fiscal year 2025 budget Mr Moore thank you president Anderson members of the board um as you alluded to tonight will'll be presenting the uh second revision for the 2025 budget which is our current year budget um just as a kind of a standing slide in my presentations is just to uh oops is my Arizona School District budget timeline I just kind of continue to put this in there to make sure the board is tracking where we are in our budget process so uh just a quick reminder we proposed and adopted our budget in June we did come back um to the board for a a revision number one and if you recall that was for a small sped adjustment so largely the budget that we're revising to tonight is still the adopted budget uh and utilizing a lot of the um projected ADM numbers um estimated budget bounds Carri forward numbers so keep that in mind as I navigate through the presentation uh and then tonight as I as you already alluded to we'll be reviewing the 25 uh revised budget number two some of the major highlights in this budget revision are a lot of the things that we estimated in the adopted budget we are now reconciling and shwing up um to our current year so uh there's a couple reports that ad publishes these are public reports um but the first one is the called the budge 75 essentially what that means is um it gives us a prior your Reconciliation Report to what uh we finally finy on our AFR so where we ended the year last year um we um ad basically reconciles that with our adopted budget and we true up our numbers to that report um that report uh basically what we take from that report is our actual budget balance carry fors again for m& Capital um those are two things we estimate in the adopted process but now at this point in time with the AFR being complete we can uh true up in this budget revision one thing I will note and and if you when I get to my next uh segment the reconciled fy4 ADM numbers um were higher than what we adopted on in June and so um annually a lot of our numbers for students in building basically inperson student learning are finalized at 100th day however with an aoi program that is based on average attendance throughout the whole year those numbers came in um a little bit higher than what we anticipated which is good it is a net increase but is net increase than what we adopted so um I guess in layman's terms um after all aoi minutes were turned in we had higher ADM than what we anticipated in the year on so that's a net gain from prior year but we adopted a lower year ADM because we didn't have those numbers at the time when we were adopting the budget in June it'll make sense as I get to my next point which is the budget 25 which reconciles current year ADM to what we estimated on our adopted budget so we adopted a budget if you recall estimating 100 ADM loss we looked at trending data we realized we were starting to lose students um at a rate uh it at the as of last year it was about 1% so we felt as prudent to start to budget for a loss um so that was a estimated ADM loss of 100 or about 1% of our our total ADM our actual ADM is down 381 that's about just over 3% from prior year but the true budgetary impact is just from the adopted ADM numbers versus um the reconciled 24 numbers the next slide will show the math on that but if you real if if you're trying to calculate this in your head and realize the math doesn't add up it's because we adopted ADM numbers that were not completely finalized from ad at and so a lot of moving targets there and that's the basically why you know school districts are current year budgeting uh this is some of the challenges that we face when approving budgets and estimating budgets so our true uh budgeted ADM loss and that what we'll be revising to tonight is 239 .45 which is just under 2% from the adopted Budget on the third bullet point we um all the the November election results so that override phas down will begin in fiscal year 26 so that's July uh 1st 2025 um we anticipate having those discussions starting in January on how we'll address that phase down for fiscal year 26 um that estimated reduction is about 4.8 million dollar for that first year phase down so this is a graph uh trending with some trendline data of our ADM um again this is a projected ADM so as of right now the budget that we're revising to is using ADM numbers as of November 15th um when we we'll have to do one more Revision in May once we have our final 100 day ADM numbers but as we're trending right now we've known um Elementary basically uh preschool through eight uh is trending declining enrollment right there's low birth rates our Kinder sections are lower um year after year and so that uh ulation comes up the grades as those Kinder sections are lower the next year the first grade sections lower and so on so that was part of the reason why we started a budget for 100 ADM loss and so um you can see um on the graph that actually was a little bit faster loss than what we anticipated in the elementary section in addition on the secondary side the 912 uh we've been seeing a steady increase in ADM um we did not foresee that kind of a leveling off this year but that was uh where we are trending right now at a small uh decline um at current year numbers so how does that factor in with some of our neighboring districts um across the the state and especially East Valley um most districts are seeing decline uh we are not uh in an abnormal situation um you'll see Queen Creek uh Benjamin flanken Charter Schools that's both their Elementary and their secondary campus um are the only two really I guess East Valley districts that are seeing some growth uh Queen Creek still has capacity being built out uh we are landlocked in that sense um but if you look at Gilbert Chandler Mesa um all as well as Higley um all these districts are well above 2 and a half% in enrollment decline as of November um some of our neighboring Charters are losing at a faster rate uh The Learning Foundation which is off of Recker and Warner um almost 4% and then Legacy Traditional right across the street is almost 5% loss ADM um I will note um Al a Gilbert I can't pull their numbers because uh they report as under one ctsd number so essentially uh they have multiple campus throughout the state they report all that ADM into one summarized number uh and so that ADM uh numbers are not readly or publicly available in addition Gil with Christian is a private school so that enrollment is not public as well so I can't um pull their numbers so looking at the impacts of the ADM loss to our budget again I mentioned the budgetary loss is 239 um that impact if you run it through the state formula is uh the next line the revenue control limit so you can see from Revis to Revis budget number two um basically that straight ADM loss including some of the group b losses so that includes some of our SP um Group B weight um free and reduce percentage all those are kind of summarized into that 91.1 million um that ADM loss equates to $2.3 million in basically um budget capacity um the Eno no transfer to Capital in the legislative process um going into this year they appropriated one time dollars uh for a daa adjustment how they are ad is appropriating that is that prorating it through M so what that additional transfer amount is is basically moving that legislatively approved onetime Capital money from M to Capital because that's how they are making us do it um on the M override there's some small reconciliation um to True up that number so 14.1 to 14.17 there's a 45 $4,000 increase there and as I mentioned previously we estimated our budget balance carry forward and our adopted budget which did not change from our revised one of 23.1 million uh we actually ended up slightly higher at 23.6 million so that's an net increase of 4 191,000 prop 123 there is no change in that dollar amount we we estimated that exactly as to what was appropriated it's a little easier formula based on prior year ADM so no change in that amount but from basically our adopted budget as I mentioned the revised budget number one only had a small sped change from our adopted budget what we estimated in June to where we are trending now with ADM uh we are basically over budget $2.1 million so uh with M uh we do have a budget balance carry forward uh so we will not be making any um operational changes to our district at this time will be utilizing the budget BS Carri forward to absorb this loss in the in this fiscal year on the capital side you'll see a little different story um the district additional assistance the first line is a Formula basically much like M&L the the difference with that formula and how it's easier to calculate is actually based off prior year ADM um and so I mentioned earlier that the ADM from prior year was actually a little bit higher than what we anticipated so you'll see that difference there but typically we're spot on with that uh estimate because it's it's a prior ADM uh calculation so that increas is based on the ADM difference from what we adopted to what we've Ada recalculated the M transfer to Capital as it just stated the appropriated onetime daa legislative adjustment for this year is being mandated through ml so we are just transferring that to put where uh that was appropriate that should be going for this year the budget balance Carri forward with capital we take a more conservative approach these are our larger projects um most of these projects did not get expensed in Prior year but rather they got expensed in July and August as they were finishing up um cons you know uh whether finishing up prior to the school year and some of those payments didn't take place until this current year and the start of the year so um that net increases just strictly on obligations that we anticipated paying in Prior year but we actually paid in this year so we just recapturing the budget capacity um in the tune of 3.5 million that's basically budget balance estimated ending at 4 million but where we finished actually was 7.5 um and interest earnings is just chewing that up um on the capital budget there's one budget where you can actually Capt capture um interest earnings on your uh balance and so we had an additional $18,000 dollar wi which we can capture in the budget so the net change with the capital budget was $3.9 million and that's really it so really looking forward um we have as I mentioned previously our in January we intend to have our first discussions on our f26 budget um we have limited budget or board meetings prior to mark in which we typically ask the board for tend of approval um to issue contracts and so um we will get uh on the January 14th meeting we'll have some recommendations for our budget reductions uh not only due to enrollment loss which um you can see we're over budget currently so this would be recommendations for anticipated continue enrollment loss to 26 but also recommendations for our ml override phase down due to that renewal being uh fail failing this last November on February 4th we'll have a second review um we'll look to finalize those recommendations for the budget reductions again to to enrollment loss and override renewal failure and then on March 4th we'll ask our board uh for tenative approval so we can issue contracts um contracts are now statutorily um they gave us a date now so all districts are on the same playing field but um all districts now are not cannot issue contracts before March 15th um so that kind of givs us all same playing field but we'll still need some um board approval to issue contracts um or board approval prior to issuing contracts and then in April um we'll bring forth a first review of the capital budget um this year kind of phasing these two conversations um I think they're they're drastically different conversations this year uh with the override not passing so with that I'll be happy to answer any questions no comments from the board okay thank you Mr Moore it's going to open up now for me member of the public that would like to come up and give or provide any comments okay all right um president Anderson Mr Moore other than the fact that we don't have any you know we're running out of space for more homes to be built within the district and um obviously competing with esas uh and birth rate but like as far as the drop do we have an idea of just based on like parents who have disenrolled um do we have an idea of like reasons why we dropped so much in ADM like I said we're seeing lower sections at our at our Kinder levels um we started seeing that Trend last year and so as that attritions up our grade levels there's not more students to capture if our Kinder grade levels say are at 500 but our first grade sections at 600 you already have a built-in net loss of 100 going into next year so um that is the biggest Trend that we're seeing is that just lower um basically Litt we're seeing um lower enrollment at our uh Elementary levels and that's just now atrica up our grades and uh through our district so right um president Anderson Mr Moore I understand with like kindergarten enrollment uh might be down due to students not enrolling at you know um but as far as the higher grades you know from 1 to 6th if we've had any um students that have left the district is that something that we've been tracking um to understand what the trend is um that's causing that to happen yeah president Schultz M um I mean we we have enrollment that fluctuates daily of kids who transfer in and transfer out we do ask for that information but you know sometimes parents aren't truthful or they don't give us a reason we don't mandate it uh nor can we I think mandate if they unenroll that they have to fill out something telling us where they're going um and so it's often times when it's voluntary data we we don't get much feedback in that sense so um but there's nothing that's trending that's screaming out people are this is why people are leaving if okay gr the reason that that our team has seen I mean it would be great if everybody can fill that section out um you know on a exit survey um just to be able to understand any trends that are out there but obviously it's love that so we can have some idea of how to address right if they're leaving for a reason yeah okay thank you okay thank you we will now reconvene an open session and next up is 6.1 the request to speak if we could go ahead and play the video we value input from our constituents this time on our agenda has been set aside for anyone from the audience who wishes to address the board those that wish to speak should have filled out speaker cards which are due prior to the start of our meeting members of the board may not discuss comment or take action on matters raised that are not specifically identified on the agenda therefore pursuant to AR 38-4 31.0 1i action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date also we ask that audience members practice proper public meeting decorum refraining from either negative or positive responses including clapping or verbal outbursts to ensure fairness to All Points of View those that refuse to follow these rules may be asked to leave in accordance with policy bedh public participation at board meetings if considered necessary the governing board president shall set a time limit on the length of the comment period in order to ensure that each individual has an opportunity to address the board the president may also set a time limit for individual speakers thank you for your cooperation okay first up we have Taylor Francis Madame President members of the board my name is Taylor Francis and I am the parent of two kids in Higley schools for the last year and a half I have been a fairly outspoken critic of the district both constructive and positive tonight I wish to highlight one of the least talked about departments within the district plays a very important role Transportation each school day about 3,000 Higgly kids utilize husd buses that is one quarter of our students or enough to fill this room 15 times each school day our buses Traverse about one mile per riding student which is the distance from here to Hawaii and we accomplish this with only 46 buses none of the numbers by the way include field trips or other special activities this is simply the regular daily usage in the last 7 years the higgy transportation team has never once had to cancel a day's route busing students to and from school is not required by the state and is a service offered by the district as a convenience the average age of our Fleet is 12 years old and the oldest bus has over 20 years the recommended lifespan of a school bus is five to six years school buses are not built with air conditioning and there is no requirement to have one on board but Higley invests the money to outfit each and every of its buses with air with AC for the safety and comfort of our students something that not every District in the valley does because busing is not mandatory each district is allowed to set a walk distance or the distance from a school where buses will not run and force his parents to find their own way to get a child to school Higley is the only School District in the area that has not increased its original walk distances which other districts have done as a mean to cut costs unlike charter schools public districts must account for every single mile driven to receive funding and the cost of driving students to certain activities such as evit for CTE programs are not covered this extra cost is absorbed by our district as a convenience to parents higgle is The Benchmark for school drivers in a record setting four weeks Higley will take an adult with only a driver's license get them their CDL school bus certificate CPR first aidid training complete drug testing and get them certified with the state and uher with the state and on the road the quality of our program is so high that Higley is the is the only thirdparty testing site authorized by the State Department of Motor Vehicles to certify bus drivers and other school districts send their own drivers to us to get certified our drivers uh work some of the hardest schedules known as split shifts their day begins early in the morning and once their morning duties are complete they go home for a few hours before having to return for round two and do it all over again they take the abuse from Rowdy students angry parents and aggressive drivers and have nearly no recourse for student misbehavior yet they show up for work ready to go day in and day out I had planned to highlight a transportation team back in October was but was unable my original intent was to highlight that despite our bus drivers cargo being far more precious than working uh and working worse hours our drivers are paid $5 less than garbage truck drivers and gravel truck drivers and to ask the district consider pay increas uh specifically for those in transportation however with the failure I just wanted to highlight the wonderful job that our amazing team does and I don't believe that they receive nearly recognition that they should thank you thank you next up is Sarah German thank you for the opportunity to speak today as a newly elected board member I feel a strong responsibility to address a concerning Trend I observe recently the unwarranted attacks on parents and community members on social media these actions parly when perpetrated by individuals within our educational Community are deeply troubling and hypocritical during my campaign both my account and marks were unfairly suspended and removed as apparently we were perceived as threats by some just two weeks before the election our Facebook pages were also terminated and taken down an account that I've had for many years it was very disheartening to witness attempts to silence voices especially through such hostility from adults as role models for our students and children it is crucial for us to demonstrate respectful and constructive Behavior I've noticed some of these individuals proclaiming that children are watching if they truly believe this then they should embody the M maturity and integrity expected of adults rather than engaging in hypocrisy this Behavior exemplifies bullying a practice I firmly stand against we would never tolerate such conduct from students so why should we accept this double standard among ourselves our shared goal should be to foster a positive and productive educational environment for all students imagine the possibilities if we focused on collaboration and support instead of division and hostility it is essential that we find Common Ground come together and move Beyond pettiness I think we all can agree on that thank you thank you I motion to approve the consent agenda items from 7.1 to 7.14 second that was Miss Schultz for the second all those in favor all those in favor I hi hi motion carries 5 to zero fast um with that um I want to thank uh thank the organizations for their gifts and donations um it was sasman Middle School I believe that received a pretty large donation and then um Mr Walker would like to make an introduction thank you president members of the board uh with the approval of the consent agenda I just wanted to acknowledge that we are welcoming uh Mr Kenny de laora to the district office to serve as the assistant director of student services uh Mr Deora has uh a long history of campus and District administration and we're excited to have him come on board to help support uh student safety in our [Applause] campuses all right thank you next are information items with 8.1 information relating to proposed engagement agreement with the France Law Group and Mrs Richards uh would you please introduce yes president Anderson members of the board I would like to introduce Mr William shanoff he's going to share information related to thiso proposed engagement thank you very much Mr President and members of the board my name is William shinoff and I'm attorney with with the France Law Group out of San Diego California I'm here to discuss with you a litigation that I've been working on for the past 2 years in which I represent over a thousand school districts across the country in federal litigation against a number of social media companies uh specifically meta which is the parent company to Facebook and Instagram Tik Tok Snapchat and YouTube what we're alleging in in this litigation is that these companies have intentionally addicted children to their platform which have resulted in increased uh emotional health issues uh what we have seen and what our experts have found is that we over the past 10 years in which these platforms have been around we've seen an increase in anxiety depression Eating Disorders suicidal ideation and sadly even suicide as well in this case we are trying to hold these companies accountable specifically for the impact we've seen on our campuses what we've seen is that districts had to go and increase their mental health budgets hire more staff what we're also trying to do is be able to provide the financial resources for the school districts we represent to be able to provide those services in the future in addition to the monetary compensation that we are trying to receive in this case we are also trying to go and obtain injunctive relief uh from the court specifically we are requesting from the court uh better parental supervision on these platforms give give parents the access to go and understand who their children are speaking with how much time their children are spending on it in addition to that we are also going to try to get better communication uh between the public entities and these platforms to go and deal with when there's threats or posts on these platforms that are causing U mental distress to the children um finally we we want changes to the algorithm uh their algorithm has been created in a way to go and ensure that those that are using it are on it at at a very excessive amount of time which has been found to be correlated to the mental health issues we're focused on um this is not a class action uh this is a multi-district litigation in which we are filing these individual lawsuits um in in federal court in the Northern District of California uh as I said we have been litigating this case for two years uh procedurally we are passed the motion to dismiss stage and we are preparing for our first trial in October of 2025 um two things I want to um make sure is clear um right now we do have the school districts that are going to be our first 12 trial so at this time we're not looking to go and have and your District at this point be one of the trials but in the future uh that may be something that needs to be discussed in addition to that there there is no Financial Risk for the district to join um that's because we do work on this case on a contingency fee basis which means that if there is no financial recovery then the district will be not paying any uh attorney's fees or reimbursing any costs um in addition to that we have uh reduced our rate for our contingency fee normally that could be up to 40% of the recovery uh we have reduced that to 25% to make sure that if there is recovery that a majority of those funds ends up going to the school so thank you very much for the time thank you any questions or comments from the board no no I think we're good thank you president Anderson I do have one quick question sorry is there a uh like a stipulation as far as what those funds from the lawsuit can be used on if there is a recovery yes uh that does happen from time to time obviously we're not there yet we haven't discussed a settlement uh or whether you know right now we're focused on going to trial there are times where there will be stipulations to how those funds could be used um but in this case even if there was a stipulation obviously one of our main focuses is on Staffing um so if there was that type of situation I could see there being many ways that those funds could be used by the district great thank you so much thank you very member vook too there's also on that's one side of it then on the accounting side we have rules and regulations with the uniform system of financial records in which we have to account for those funds too which put them in a a restrictive fund um so there there's two parts to that so just want to point that out thank you thank you very much thank you that was a good question okay uh 8.2 the superintendent search survey feedback we'll be hearing from Mr Walker good evening Madame President members of the board uh tonight presenting a summary and recap of our superintendent search survey Miss Johnson's uh out under the weather tonight so I'm I'm helping to present that information to you all tonight um where we're at uh on our timeline uh November 19th through the 30th the survey was open to our community um parents staff uh and students to be able to respond uh for what uh characteristics that they're they're seeking in in our new superintendent and so if we go to the can you pass me the clicker sorry I guess I'll go to the next slide um well we're at the Timeline again today uh you know we've begun the process and November um as as a human resources department we are gracious that the board has trusted us to conduct an an in-house search for our superintendent uh with the goal to uh execute that final uh hiring at the March 4th 2025 board meeting to on board a new superintendent for July 1st 2025 um the next important date on that timeline is December 19th which would be a week from Thursday is that posting is going to close it's been live um online and it was been advertised in various uh places and so if people are interested uh that that's that posting does close in a week um where we're at with the survey uh again the survey went out and it was based on the key responsibilities of the superintendent and those are outlined in the uh the job rack and so leadership and vision uh operational management student achievement Community engagement fiscal responsibility and policy development and implementation implementation uh consists of the the responsibilities that superintendent uh is charged with taking on as they oversee uh the school district so the first question was basically um to identify your role within the community and you can see on the results we had 678 responses to the survey um 66% of that made up of parents or Guardians who are self-identified um another 30% uh were were School staff or teachers uh with one student um shot out to that student maybe a future president of the United States had responded and then uh community members and other uh were the rounding out the 678 um then the next question was to identify the affiliation within the school district and so Higley High School you see is indicated with the red circle uh they had the biggest representation with out of the 600 and uh 78 187 of the responses came from somebody who identified with with that campus directly um question number three was asked uh to rank order uh most important least important uh the following areas that the superintendent should prioritize um the most important coming in is academic achievement and Student Success uh with the least important uh identified as equity and inclusion initiatives and then from from that number two fiscal responsibility and budget management three facility and infrastructure improvements and four communication and Community engagement and then question number four also asked to rank order uh leadership qualities and so the the highest ranks uh so the the result that had the highest number one um so C uh people who fill out the survey were asked to then rank so what's your first uh Choice what's your second choice third choice and then basically repeat that so the one and this is listed is uh in order of highest to lowest as the most important leadership quality being sought so the most important one came in as transparency and accountability um followed by strong communication skills then decision-making ability Under Pressure familiarity with Arizona education policies experience with diverse students and then the lowest ranked number one was Visionary leadership uh question five uh asks for preference of Prior experiences and so 227 responses or 33% was a combination of both teaching administrative experience was the was the highest uh sought-after uh experience for the candidate um Then followed by uh some experience as a superintendent uh one to four years identified and then next was experience as a school principal or other leadership roles and then finally extensive experience as a superintendent with more than five years of experience was the least uh desirable for the choices question six asked of how important it was for the superintendent to have experience within our school district or community and of the responses essentially 85% thought it was at least somewhat important um with the most uh being with the somewhat important category or important and then very important as 22% with not important at all uh came in with 14% of the results um question number seven was an open-ended question and this is just a summary of of themes that were reoccurring throughout and it asked for challenges that were identified um and it summarized within categories so finances the overriding bond and then within that salaries and wages uh keeping quality employees paying teachers more infrastructure replacement of buildings maintenance and preventative maintenance another challenge identified was academics uh including things like curriculum and improving test scores um school safety was identified as a challenge with violence bullying and student Mental Health enrollment another challenge with the declining enrollment uh the competition with school choice as well as the voucher programming in our state um the governing board uh is a challenge in supporting public education and then challenges within the community of divisiveness and and the lack of trust uh question number eight again that's an open ended question as well about what qualities and skills uh and this is just basically a summary of reoccurring themes identified from those responses and so they're listed as such classroom experience administrative and finance experience public education experience strong leadership a good listener value people people focused Visionary innovator Progressive ideas creative thinker Dependable humble honest supportive of employees data driven ability to work with all understanding Problem Solver openminded accountable sincere respectful and respected Common Sense hard hardworking strategic goal Setter resilience Open Door High emotional intelligence Integrity dignity authentic Champion for students trustworthy positive pedagogical knowledge reasonable rational open to collaboration service-minded uh legal knowledge policy knowledge transparent and then question number nine again another open-ended question was anything that uh the board would like to consider uh for the um uh the superintendent so current issues cell phones books Bond override special education the vision for husd challenges within public education competitive enrollment school choice uh managing employee retention Recruitment and wages make decisions based on student outcomes a down toe individual superintendent that will rally with other superintendents for more State comprehensive funding superintendent that will support uh stakeholders res serve stakeholders and a superintendent that value safety for all children and then question number 10 which is was not shared tonight but that was soliciting uh potential questions uh that would like to be asked of the superintendent and it's not shared purposely because those questions May uh go into the the application process and so in order to maintain confidentiality with the employment process they're not they're not revealed for tonight so that was question number 10 and that's just the summary of the of the survey um president Anderson um is it possible to get a the all the results survey results yes it's possible okay that'd be great sure thank you any other questions or comments thank you thank you all right next we'll move on to 8.3 the rental price increase uh Mr Moore has information for us good evening president andon members of the board I'll also invite Gustavo Landeros who's our director of Maintenance and construction to help us review uh the facility rentals uh proposed rates so just a little back uh little background um our rental rates were last updated uh fiscal year 2020 2021 uh so they're over uh 3 years old um rental prices along with everything um are are now well below market rate in several areas and um a part of this uh recommendation tonight and bringing forth um these facility rentals is to the need to realign some of the rental class classifications to better support our facilities team and and try to manage these um as well as uh being more transparent with our community and where they fall on the classification so uh we are proposing uh basically two classes we are currently operating under four different rental classes uh one being teachers staff student groups we have another students related to nonprofit organizations such as PTO boosters youth organizations we have another that's even in the middle of that nonprofit organizations and so we're trying to streamline this classification process to give us a little more um clarification on where uh people fall and as well as just simplify the process uh and so you'll see that throughout this presentation um just a little quick plug more so for our community but we utilize fmx uh as the facilities management um company to uh uh register and rent our facilities um we have some directions there really not intended for the Board review but really just a plug if anybody's looking to rent from our district um this process is highlighted on our website and um we have various protections when an in renter does rent from us um we have a liability insurance requirement as well as an agreement um that has has been bed by legal that kind of supports um if there was anything to happen with that rental that we have some coverage in terms of liability reducing liability um some rental revenue for the past two years uh We've steadly increased our rental revenue and a lot of that is just um sharing what spaces are open to rent um kind of cleaning up um some I wouldn't say handshake agreements that were not exactly on our books um and so a lot of those has has transpired into um formalizing this process making sure these renters are registered in our system um we have their rates as accounted for and we're capturing that money via invoice process or not renting to these renters who are not paying I think we've seen a lot of that of we continue to rent to people who are have outstanding invoices so we've establish some processes to improve our Collections and hold our renters accountable um but you can see from 22 to 23 um the rental Revenue was just under 250,000 and just this last year uh we were just over 500,000 and so um a lot of this revenue is is money that can be used interchangeably between M and capital uh we do provide uh 30% of the rental fee back to the site to use as they see fit and then we utilize all this Revenue to improve those areas that are heavily rented um as well as offset some salaries um for custodial rentals Etc and so um as this increases we are better we're leveraging it in a a fashion that is supporting our district and freeing up M dollars gu was going to highlight the two main changes uh that we have in this proposal good evening so the two main proposals that we have um is to change uh what we do with our Ballfield lighting um so we increase that rate um some of the things that we were seeing is the increase of utility bills and the increase of the rate that we being charged and so we just don't want to take that cost on as a school district we want to um try to maybe pass that along to the people that are renting our sites if you know um if the if we can um so those are those are very simple rates that that we we felt very necessary to increase and the other the other part that we're not really increasing we're initiating is um labor rates that we want to start charging people for extra Services when it comes to rentals so for example if you're wanting to rent a soccer field and you want lines painted on it we feel like that's an extra charge it takes extra labor extra material and time and so we wanted to just make sure we're capturing that um and having some some fee to to offset some of those costs um I feel like what we did was look at other districts around us and look at what they're charging and um we obviously didn't want to go over any of those but we wanted to make sure we were in line with everybody else and still competitive but maximizing our profit so just elaborating on kind of those to specific areas we've we looked at Gilbert Public Schools Mesa Public Schools Queen Creek and you can see our old we used the class two rate as an example on the far left of the category so it's our our current rate as it stands and you you can see how uh well below we are our neighboring School District but as Gustavo alluded to we are exp experiencing not only higher costs when we're turning on those lights with utilities Etc and so on the far right is the new propos rate for those two specific areas um and then on the bottom um how G alluded to we are not currently charging now this is if a a field is already lined we would not charge a fee for that but if uh somebody wanted to line that field that is not currently lined right we would ask our facilities crew to go out line that and that cost is not being accommodated in a rental and so any ask it's really in addition to the using the facility is when we would um ask to include this other rate um you see this a lot for example in uh tournaments right if um a sports league is hosting a tournament or softball field they'll like clean lines right if they're just practicing they're fine with the facility as is but if they're asking for that additional um chocked lines painted lines um we are feel it's reasonable to charge a fee to to go and uh use our facilities Department to line those um areas and and incur that extra work moving forward so looking at our elementary proposal um I want to emphasize the class one rate is currently just our teacher staff and student groups so I couldn't put all four classes or else we wouldn't be able to read this presentation um but this class one rate is going to look really low across the board that's because it's just currently our teacher staff student groups um our new proposal would be those groups be included in the the new class one but it would also encumber Encompass um our boosters pto's Etc and so this is part of our reclassification kind of streamline this rental uh fees into two classifications um we still feel the class one rates are reasonable um and I'm not going to go line by line but um you can see the the fee increases from uh the class one old rates the class one new rates and then vice versa class two being that's going to be our people um for profit sports leagues um that are not associated with our district in any means um these organizations could be um commercial business again for profit um that would fall under the class two category yeah we also have a lot of club soccer a lot of leagues that use our fields that are not associated with our school district these are kids from other districts and other towns around us that come in and use our facilities and so that's kind of where that where that lands as well so I'm if there's any questions Elementary if you look at um some of the spaces that are commonly rented um would be our practice fields HTA considering that's our only Elementary with the lied field uh is is heavily rented um our atal brass courts are are not but occasionally when a PTO does a carnival right they utilize that space and so that as well as the parking lot that's where that would come into um into play we wouldn't just rent our parking lot to park in our parking lot so uh some of these are self-explanitory us but I want to make sure that's um prevalent to everybody reviewing this if we look at our Middle School there's a a few more areas that are rented um but again across the board uh we were low in pretty much every single area um the bigger increases uh coming in U our lighted areas or Middle School softball fields with lights um and some of our field usage and then on our high school look like some of the bottom is cut off um but again a lot more spaces at our high school um we do work with our our schools um with fmx that's also the the system that's used for um our Sports programs when they go for enter their practices so we would never double book in that sense right so if a outside renter wants to use the varsity baseball field but the school already has in the system their practices we would not book that right and so often times at the high school it is very we barely barely rent our facilities because our Sports programs run you know 24/7 it seems like um and so really these are are often rented in the offseason over breaks Etc if there is any rental here um one thing we will be adding is our tennis courts currently um we do have a rental fee for those but is not currently charged um there is some difficulty right now with how they currently are operated because there is no lock on the gate so the tennis cores are frequently used by the public um at this current time so going into next year uh we would make some facility modifications to lock those tennis courts and then unless they're rented then we would have somebody there to open those um but they are being used at a rate that is increasingly High because they are free essentially right now um which is calling where where wear and tear um Nets are being abused trashes being left um and so that is costing us money and so to formalize a process um and put those facilities essentially have a formal process to rent those facilities um we would Implement that in a more stricter fashion by making some accommodations to uh lock those facilities um but also have a rental fee that's established and then the last little change we've already highlighted the other rates which would be um associated with the ball fields um but the custodial fee um so any facility that is utilized where we have to open a bathroom where we have to pick up trash um we do have a codian that um is there for the entirety of that rental um on the class one side that is typically waved because when an employee rents they typically have a key for that space um and there is some uh agreement that the employee picks up after themselves they leave the space as they found it um I do want to note though there there hasn't been a case yet but we do have um uh in our agreement language that if if that space is abused say that employee rents it and they don't clean up right we we do have um we'll have that conversation and the next time you know they'll recuse their right to have that fee waved if they can't maintain that space or keep it back put it back to where it was originally so there's a lot of information there but uh if there's any questions myself or Gustavo and then we also have our Rental specialist Chris good here we'll be happy to answer any questions president Anderson um Mr Moore can you clarify for me because it's things we've run into in the past um the difference for an employee if they are also a club coach and they're running their club team out of our schools that are obviously not they may have some of our students but not all of our students it's not a district um where would that fall under so that would be a class to right under the proposed schedule here um we have yeah experienced that in the past where um an employee would rent and it would be for their own for-profit program um with our facilities management or fmx scheduling um if the site administrator doesn't improve that practice so if this is not practice that with an AIA team or something that is District approved um that will notify us that hey this is this is a not an a practice rental right this is not a um District approved group so they would be then treated as a class two rental and that's um at a higher rate and so yeah we wouldn't be in a situation where we'd be having a gift of public funds or put oursel in a situation where the employee is is profiting off of the district's space okay and I was going to ask the same in certain circumstances sometimes private lessons are are given from in dance specific um other things even coaching uh basketball they'll do one-on-one lessons and they use our facility to do so yeah and I think relying on um our athletic directors and our site administrators to making sure those spaces are um used appropriately um is is some of the emphasis of this but I think a reference back to our our fmx system and and if that is not in the system and somebody comes across that right I think that raises a red flag or if we book a rental over that say somebody's from the gym we book a rental over that then I think we you know there's ways we can catch some of these things um but we do rely heavily on communication from our schools to ensure that you they are following you know our processes and um allowing our spaces to be either used for practice or if there is a for profit that we are renting and and following that Rental process okay thank you can you please remind me when this is going to take place if if it were to get approved July 1 so it follow a lot of the other increases that we are um currently bringing forth in front of the board um we've already made some implications into um in regards to the tenants courts we already planning on um not only signing those because I think several people have gotten used to these using these facilities um but notifying those individuals like hey this is going to be a rented facility not a free space um but we would have a leeway from now until July to for those people to find new spaces or to formally register with us and and and rent the space okay and what was the the thought process uh between class one and class two I'm looking at the high school right now where it look like you know with the old rate um our employee PTO booster enrichment groups comparably um they were they they were significantly Less in some cases and it looks like now with the new rates on both ends that the class ones are trying to get a little bit closer to the class twos but it that seems like and that has put a significant increase on our class ones bigger change than for the class twos I'm just curious of the thought process for that because it wasn't that that bad before I'll like youself answer too but I'll point out too the the class one that I'm that that's up here that's being advertised is the basically the teacher staff and student group rate there there is a class two for our p2os and boosters that's higher than that that we currently have I just couldn't put all these up there and there's also a class three for nonprofits and so I would say how many rentals are being rented by employees right now we do have several um but ultimately I think the old rates didn't really cover the cost that it takes to run the facility and so really that rate is set to just offset the cost of facilities it's not really meant to for the district to profit on it and so that we just wanted to make sure that they're we're not losing money as a school district right that we're still able to cover the cost that it takes just to run operate the facility during that rental president Anderson Mr B um I think it's great that we're charging because to cover costs and um wear and tear as you mentioned I just have a question on the tennis courts why aren't they locked or why haven't they been locked for this time is are there no Gates and do we have no trespassing signs or anything I've never been to them so I'm sorry yeah right now currently there is a gate but that's not it's not able to be locked um we have current practices where they've modified lighting to have a switch just publicly available so we have to undo some of these things that been basically in place and so um one thing is is we're going to be addressing some of those so um but these are practices as as we we're reviewing this we found to be concerning and so um part of this process is to review these and and address these going forward so some of the is there is that when they when they're not setting up a schedule for us to know when people are going to be out there and the school wants to use it for their kids and their clubs then it creates this huge conflict between the community and our site and so we're just trying to ensure that where you're collecting money as far as whoever is using the facility but we also want to make sure that we have a schedule in place and that the school has the option to approve or deny those requests as they come in depending on if they're using the facility or not and I know they have some new initiatives over there um that they're trying to use that facility more so we're trying to get it up to speed for them and get it updated and get it fixed up for them but we also want to make sure that it lasts for a long time so um I think these are just old policies that were put in place from Administration from before and so we're just taking this opportunity to try to rectify some of those things thank you president Anderson Mr Moore do we not rent out our indoor basketball courts they're listed on there oh I did a search on the whole document it didn't pop up it just says um outdoor gy or Ox gym on on this current slide which slide I'm sorry on the current slide this is the high school it's called main gym in Ox so those are oh main gym okay and then on the um Middle School is called Middle School gym got it okay thank you any other questions or comments all right thank you thank you for your time thank you okay that concludes our information items we're going to move on now to our action items with 9.1 the discussion and possible action relating to proposed engagement agreement with the France Law Group second wait yeah any questions or comments never mind okay I motion to approve the proposed inre engagement agreement with the France Law Group for the France Law Group to represent the district and make making claims for damages associated with social media litigation second nice give it to Amanda I said it prematurely you know Fair we don't have time for this all those in favor I motion carries 5 Z did you give that to me or give it okay I just want car moving on to 9.2 the approval of the fiscal year 2025 budget revision number two is there any questions or comments I motion that the governing board approve the revised expenditure budget number two for fiscal year 2025 as presented second I that one Mrs Ben hook all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to Z 9.3 is the second read in the approval of policy DJ bidding and purchasing procedures are there any questions or comments president Anderson um the only thing I would like is um one of the answers was that the district can add this to the regulations if we can just get a copy once the um the regulations have been updated um that's all okay wonderful thank you I motion that the governing board approve the changes to policy DJ bidding purchasing procedures Miss Reese for the second all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to zero uh 9.4 is the approval of rental rate increase are there any questions or comments for this one no I motion that the governing board approve the rental rate increase as presented in the attached document for fiscal year 2025 2026 second that was Miss man hook again all those in favor I motion carries 5 to zero moving on to 9.5 the approval of the 2025 2026 course guides for high school middle school special education and the Higley Virtual Academy are there any questions or comments I motion that the governing board approve the 2025 2026 course guides for high school middle school special education and the Higley Virtual Academy second Miss Wade no that's sure oh I apologize all those in favor I I I all those oppose president Anderson I'd like to explain my vote um I did ask for um the uh sped course guide and the high school course guide to be listed separately and they were not removed um and separated and unfortunately due to um my opposition to the castle framework um I am voting no um on the sped um due to the castle um and then regarding the high school um course guide I I'm really disappointed that we can't um add some sort of an asteris by the courses that would apply to sensitive explicit material um and I'm not I didn't say explicit just referencing sexually explicit but just any explicit material as most of these books um do contain several different types of explicit material um so due to those reasons I vote no okay thank you motion carries 4 to one next is 9.6 the approval of preschool rates are there any questions or comments Mrs Anderson as I have in the past I am going to abstain from this vote no other comments or questions no okay I motion the governing board approve the proposed rates for preschool as attached second that was me thank you all those in favor I I and one abstention motion carries four with one abstention okay moving on to 9.7 approval of Community Education kids club rates any questions or comments on this one yes sorry was very forceful sorry M I know that at our last meeting we had discussed the changes for uh employees and since our meeting there have been some changes for that and so I'm told that Mr Armstrong has the information yes ma'am on that uh president Anderson board member Schultz we community and I are working together with our billing company to go ahead and figure out the best way to support this change we know that there this change is is substantial for our employees and it's a big change for them so we are working on that change and we will be communicating that tomorrow um as we send a letter out to our entire staff notifying them do we not so the change as currently presented to us previously or the the change for the rate in the rate okay I think that I thought that there was some differences on how we were going to be able to work with employees to not change it so drastically but I'm guessing I misunderstood that so the rate the rate change is going from do we have a slide sorry I can't find thank you so the rate change is going to be a 20% discount as Mr Moore was describing last week or last month in regards to the IRS compliance piece and to continue living fiscally responsible and we understand that that is is a big shift so that 20% 20% discount is based on the current rate that is there um but as a district we know that we are that's a huge jump for our for our staff and so what we're looking at is how to support them in terms of billing and what that will look like to go ahead and take some of that ease off of off of them so board member Schultz they're talking specifically about providing an hourly rate for employees only so okay rather than a chunk of time okay like it's X it's if you're there an hour right there an hour but it is an employee it is an employee discount that's so if a teacher has to stay a little bit longer we're not going to charge them the amount to try to work with them on those fees I mean to try to work with them because of the rate increase being so high yes so it won't be what's the normal it's going to take it's going to take that rate that we have for an employee and it's going to divide it by the time that they're using it throughout the day so it's going to be a rate of an hour right so if they're electing to use that hour we're going to you we're going to be looking at how we can charge them for only an hour so instead of their whatever their employee rate is it's going to be divided by the time that they're going to contract with to go ahead and reduce and only you pay for they use as a benefit to being an husd employee okay you said that this was going out tomorrow to employees are you communicating that portion of it is that been flesh fleshed out okay I just wasn't sure that it board member Schultz we can share that letter with you guys this evening as well okay thank you president Anderson to just to make sure I understand this let's pretend hypothetically speaking that I was a high school teacher and on Wednesday my kid gets out of school at 1:00 which is normally okay for me I can get there a little bit after on regular days but on Wednesdays I would need let's say 3 hours instead of if I my kid stay still five then obviously I will pay that full rate at the 20% but if I am only using an hour or two then that's what I'm paying for is that so the the time that you use is what based off of your employee rate the time that you use is what you'll be charge thank you pres and um Miss Mullen this question's for you because of that difference would that require a separate vote because the rate is going to be different for employees and it's not included in our vote technically with this document Madam I'm sorry that's okay Mr Armstrong um if you'd like to answer to give some factual information please feel free well the the rate the the employee is being charged the same amount they're being charged their employee rate which is that 20% okay so their hourly rate is just taking the 20% and dividing it by the three hours that they're or the four hours that they're going to be using it per day so they're still being charged their actual rate but it's going to be charged hourly instead of it being an entire the entire 1480 for the entire day so that's the 1480 is for the length of time that it's open so let's say it runs from 3:10 to what is it like 6:00 oh look at me I didn't um so for the whole time that's the normal time yeah so then that way if I as a teacher can get there by four instead of paying for the whole day that I'm not using I'm only paying what I'm using got it okay never mind thank you thank you for clarifying that was a fair question M re did you have something I am also abstaining from this gr sorry president Anderson real quick one thing I just really would like to say is gratitude for that I think it is really really hard being up here especially knowing that we have difficult decisions to make as things progress knowing that our override didn't pass and going forward I am greatly appreciative of the fact that we do what we can here to try to help employees and that genuinely matters especially considering we're not the only District that is experiencing a failure in passing bonds or override and so there are going to be a lot of things that are changing and we need reasons to keep people here and this shows that we care so I'm appreciative of that yes and I guess to to go along that line um I was a teacher back in the day at Chandler high with our first kid that that's why I quit because I'd be bringing home I think a little over $100 little back in that day but um so I appreciate you working and putting together um assistance for staff in this manner okay um I motion that the governing board approved the propos proposed RS for Community Education kids clubs as attached second that to miss Schultz all those in favor I I I and we have one exstension motion carries for with one exstension all right what we are on future agenda items does anyone have any requests yeah Miss Rees yes what would you like no all right I motion to adjourn this meeting second oh miss W got it all those in [Music] favor did that to me motion carries 5 to zero good night everyone have a great break and thank you for being a great community