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test test Anna can you hear us I can hear you can you hear me we can hear you okay thank you good evening I would like to call this meeting to order Miss Richards may I have roll call please yes let the record show president when that four members are here in person and board member Van Hook is joining us via phone miss van can you hear us I can can you hear me yes perfect thankk you please join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all did you do something no I said it's going to get cold this brings us to uh 2.1 I motion to approve the agenda miss jarmin seconded all those in favor I I I I I motion passes 5 Z Miss Richards president Wade members of the board we have another episode of higgle Adventures so this evening we want to recognize the College Board recipients in August of 2024 the College Board awarded thousands of students Nationwide with academic honors through the annual National recognition program the program celebrates underrepresented students who Excel academically on College Board assessments including PSAT [Music] nmsqt psat1 and AP exams the five programs were open to high achieving students from all 50 states and US territory we are so proud to share with our community the recipients of this honor from higgle high and Williamsville I believe some of the students are joining us in person so if you're here this evening would you please to the come to the front of the room [Applause] this is simply incredible I'm going to let you introduce yourselves I don't usually do this but I bet you you can do it if you did this you can do anything hello I'm Michael I'm a senior this year I don't know maybe you're doing than and I'm planning to go to ASU next year to learn software development computer science stuff and I want to thank my mom dad and my little brother for joining [Applause] me hi my name is Alexa skro um I'm also a senior from Higley um I'm involved in band I'm the best buddies president and I'm also a member of NHS um After High School I'm planning to go to the University of Arizona Honors College for biochemistry um yeah I'm Emma I also am a senior at Higley um I'm an NHS and I'm going to ASU for architecture next year awesome I'm so glad glad you guys came this evening and your partners up there and academic Excellence shine down on Higley Unified School District now stay up here because I'm going to do williamsfield and then have the governing board come down for a picture oops not that quick these are our students from williamsfield high school I'm not not sure if any of these students were able to join us is anybody in the audience all right let's give them a round of applause this is an amazing amazing honor and governing board they would love a picture with you [Applause] all right here We Go Again williamsfield High School is the division one small all girl show cheer state champions here to share a little bit more on this is Williamsville athletic director director Daryl stangle so Daryl come on up [Applause] Madame President members of the board superintendent Richards the cabinet thank you for inviting us here to enjoy to celebrate this uh amazing accomplishment by this group of young athletes um this group of athletes truly does understand what it means when we talk about how a Blackhawk dominates in every aspect um this group just to give you an idea of a of a day in the life of a Blackhawk cheerleader 6:00 a.m.

will basically disenfranchise most of the Middle School families and the Middle School teachers you want to you all keep claiming to represent the community represent the community and keep the meeting at 6:00 p.m.

and that it's 5 o'clock I call to order the P school committee meeting on Tuesday February 4th um public comment um public comment we have't do we have anybody in the room who wants to give public comment all right so just because somebody may actually view this public comment can be emailed to SC public comment at arps.org by 3 P.M on the day of the meeting public comment can also be left by voicemail under 3 minutes at 413 3621 1891 by 3M on the day of the meeting um we will move on to approve the minutes from our last meeting do we have any I make a motion to approve did you make a motion approve the I do not okay I move to approve the minutes second uh any discussion about the minutes all right all those in favor great um all right here so warrant reports are here for anybody who wants to see them there are three this month um we actually have a gift this came in this afternoon middle of the afternoon very great it's great to see it um would someone like to read William would you like Sarah hi uh move to accept Roger Wallace excellent and teaching award Foundation Inc number 1031 to support social justice curriculum materials speaker events Etc as described in the attached letter the amount of $500 second are you second I am uh any any discussion about this there is a second page here with an explanation of what the grant is for um so uh We've accepted that Grant gratefully um G to move on on to the chair's update so since we actually have people in the room uh I just wanted to say um that just a couple of things about how we run our meetings um the public comment is intended to be for the school committee to sit and hear people uh we don't answer we don't have discussions but it's an opportunity for people to give us their input um the other thing is that this you know we follow open meeting law and something that I found a very useful way to think about it is it's a it's a p it's a meeting in public so the meeting is amongst the school committee we don't have a public meeting where everybody participates unless we have a a special meeting or a forum which might then entail some interaction with people um so I went to the student concert this morning Willam was there as well enjoyed that very much really liked the students dis announcing what they were going to play and they had their little things that they read about the different pieces and really enjoy seeing the students um thank you for sending the meeting invitation because then it was on my calendar um I have put up I put it under the chair's update it isn't something we need to discuss tonight but Micky I asked last time if we could get a list of all the positions in the school and she put together this this list which is very nice because it goes by grade it shows teacher and Par educator and then there are also the other positions but are not directly in the classroom that are listed here and I think when we have our budget here in this will be really good information to have so you know hopefully we'll have a chance to go over it before we come for the budget hearing um there is a the pjo is sponsoring a multicultural night on Saturday and on their calendar it said it's at 6:30 a.m.

it's virtual um to kind of hash through the budget and look at the positions um with Mickey and just you know walk through what next year is really going to look like what what can we afford um we got some numbers in today we I'm going to wait till tomorrow to got my head around it and need to sleep on that I'm a bit but that's really where we're at um I have to say I'm really really grateful to to make you for the work that she does um here in pum and you know between her and now she has do and then we have Marita and um your I know as the adjustment counselor and the counselor they really hold like a real administrative team to move the school forward so I'm very very grateful for that work that she's leading at the help um and of course I want to say thank you to the community um and ending with a good quote my favorite from my Angelou do the best you can until you know better then when you know better you do better and so that's what we'll continue to do thank you thank you question I would just have a couple of questions sure on the um bullying stuff in pum who is the is the principal the one that's in charge of everything or how does it work for procedural wise so the counselors um will do the investigation um and then they'll present the investigation finding um to me and we'll have a discussion and um then make a decision and then um do does your staff all understand that they need to put it into brim or do you feel that staff are not putting it in brim and judging it before they put it into brim um I do think that people think about it before they put it in Bri most of the time it's a discussion and I put it in for whoever brings it Forward um it's so small that the counselors and I are usually the ones hearing about it and thinking about it with whoever tells us happen I do not all right thank you Dr Z all right so our next order of business is the afscme contract cont J to present so I brought two copies but I think s have seen this at least Twi before but I'll give you another copy if you want can share all right here you go thank you so um on the top page you'll notice um marget that there's a summary of changes and a lot of this are are changes to language you know increases in in number fre days but really I'd like to um point you to the most substantial changes which are um the financial changes so for instance um changes for the bus drivers who moved from this is this contract I should start off by saying covers our maintenance facilities custodians and drivers um and so one of the most substantial changes was changing our bus drivers from a grade uh e up to a grade F and the other was changing our maintenance specialist so our hbac technicians electricians plumbers um our mechanic from grade L to M and that was an effort to retain but also recruit um individuals into those roles since they are such short staff roles and it's hard to recruit um individuals um who who hold those licenses we've also negotiated a 2 and a half% increase for this current year so this is R it will be retroactively applied for the members in this contract so 2 and a half% for this current fiscal year 3% for fiscal year 26 and 3% for fiscal year 27 we also did a really great job of aligning a lot of the language in terms of retirement benefits with our um Unit A teachers contract and other contracts which is a push that we have because we do have different language in all in at least five contracts that we have um but we increase the longevity payments for our ask new members to reflect what our administrators and teachers and cl and cafeteria staff workers have the same with our retirement benefit um and with our Bally fiveback that applies to individuals who've been in the district for at least 20 years I'm trying to think um we've also increased the Footwear allowance to $225 it was previously I believe it was $200 um but most of the the other language or the other summary of changes that you'll see here are really language changes they don't have a monetary impact um per se um but they did help clarify a lot of the things that you know could have led to Mis understanding between management and um the union group and I would really like he's no he retired rer but I have to give him a shout out every time I do this he was our former director of facilities he did an amazing job of integrating all of Theus previous M us that had been um negotiated into this larger contract and he also made it completely gender neutral so he did the bulk of the work on this and so I I have to I have to give him um credit Rec credit to but I'm not sure if you have any questions or anyone has questions um I I don't think I do um I like the things that are in here that you mentioned you know I know we struggle keeping those people getting those people so I think recognizing them in that way is Meaningful yeah um I have to attribute that to to our business office Kate hulum she was incredibly creative in coming up with pay structures that would recognize the work that they did and I think it really went a long way for the Union as well to see that we were trying to be creative in ways to to bring you know bring people up to another grade or create a new grade and create you know acknowledge them in different ways we also have um to that end we feed a training program where we train will help train our own um uh members to get their van driver license or their bus license their their school bus license um and reimburse them for that training as well all an effort to recruit and retain folks in most positions it was was a very collaborative process it was it was a great process good thank you well I would make a motion to approve the 2024 through 2027 AFS CME contract you got it all right all all right [Music] thank you J of course um made your assessment Mickey you're back um so I didn't bring any numbers because I didn't think it was fair because the parents haven't gotten um assessment of the children right on that reading yes yeah um they haven't gotten report CS yet and we're such a small school I just didn't want to do that um but I can bring it next okay um and like I mentioned before the students are like in particular the math program shows you their growth and their growth is considerable um so and I do know the um I don't remember the acronym for the person who was here yesterday but um they they mentioned they saw two teachers no last week and um really walked away saying I think other teachers to come observe what's happening so huge compliment to our teachers and what they're doing great okay thank you that means you're up next oh nope sorry after sorry so we have not been able to meeting with the after school individuals think last Wai on them to give us so we'll reach back out okay so we'll wait now Wayne so um here excuse my voice my voice little loud but I'm here to give a quick update highlighting our uh student and family engagement um inititive that our sua has uh initiated putting family and student engagement on the school based level so I'm just going to highlight tonight our um P mentoring groups and as well as our pum family connections okay so uh and I wasn't able to do this this last time but I'm going to just quickly run through the mission statement for each initiative and then get some data feedback on where we have been from the first session okay so the P mentoring groups is here to to empower students with the skills and mindsets needed for successful transition to the middle school and Beyond through mentorship we focus on emotional regulation respect making good choices and personal growth we strive to create a supportive environment where students build confidence develop positive relationships and learn to navigate challenges with responsibility and resilience by fostering self-awareness and a commitment to kindness we prepare students to be positive respectful and proactive members of school and community so I want to just report that we have successfully completed our first four-week session of the Parliamentary group for the fifth and sixth grade groups which ran from mid November through mid December our PMG 5 which is pelor group five which is the fifth graders we have about 19 fifth graders and we have about 17 sixth graders um for the first session we really focused for the fifth graders we focused on recognizing identifying and and regulating negative emotions and how to be an empathetic good friend so that was the focus on our our first sessions and for the sixth grade we focused heavily on respect um a little bit on self-confidence and preparing for middle school but respect was a big big topic that we talked about with sixth graders and through this initiative um we have expanded um um from the group mentoring we're going to expand out to peer mentoring for uh four fourth grade students and for the fourth graders we're going to be focusing on responsibility um taking responsibility academically per uh personal feelings and relationsships with peers and outcomes and consequences of actions so we're going to run a smaller lunch group with about four four grayers and as well we're going to expand out from that to individual mentoring so we're going to start I'm going to start doing in conjunction with the principal and and the counselors individual mentoring for a couple of sixth graders and a couple of third graders and we'll be you know uh develop really building relationships developing trust between us so that we can go into some of the things that they're dealing with uh ranging from anger um taking responsibility as well being empathetic and then how to deal with peer relationships so I'm very um excited that we have expanded and we're going to grow our mentoring program uh a little bit little bit of feedback uh so we just did a quick survey for our fifth graders so far so I wanted to give you some feedback and we uh surveyed the fifth fifth grade mentoring group in I'm not going to go through the whole survey but a basic question of how do you feel about mentoring in general and I would say about 90% positive got a couple of borings which was not bad because I got to see but mostly range from I feel good it's fun I like it it makes me happy I like it it's calming uh mentoring is helpful um it's fine I'll take that one said I enjoy it I get to connect with classmates one said I think Mr D does a great job teaching one said good but also I like this when he said sad because I wish my friends from the low grade was here to see how we do this so that was very touching light okay that show that that expansion to the p and individual is going to be uh SU uccessful so um so that is moving forward and I look forward to Bringing more data and information as we move into the second session now uh also I wanted to um just highlight that and just feedback we had um Helen conducted our kindness week in the mid mid December and it was very very nice all the students came and gave notes and it was so heartfelt so I just wanted to share you know because this I I think it just really grounds you in the work that we that we're doing really makes me makes me individually um personally I'm sorry uh really uh value the time that we have with the students and the important uh impact is making on their lives so one response and I only have three responses but one said Mr D you're so kind to the team I love when you come to um I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry um said Mr D I love when you come to tell them because you were so happy when we come to the field thank you one say thank you for supporting the fourth grade soccer team I look forward to the days you come and one says thank you for being outside at recess Monday Wednesdays and Fridays you're really nice and really fun so it just shows the impact of you know even out on the recess field even at lunch you know we we make differences we make impacts and following up on that uh from that was the student engagement but now we're going into our family engagement and this is one that I'm really Hing in on and looking to expand as the district's initiative of every account and we're looking to really uh bring out the voices of the P family so I'll quickly read our mission statement for p family connections and just give a quick um update on where we do and uh one one feedback um from a family so the pel family connections initiative and our mission is to build strong collaborative relationships between families and our school through meaningful and consistent communication we're going to strive to build Bridges and create a strong sense of community by fostering open respectful and meaningful conversations with families through engagement calls we aim to connect listen and collaborate and we will ensure that every family feels uh heard uh valued and empowered as essential Partners in their child's education so this is an initiative that I'm looking to really grow uh I we are looking to do at least two per family that's our hope and our goal which is very ambitious but you know we got to have vision and we got to have something to strive for so I'm looking to get that done and uh we are as Micky mentioned uh the P caregivers survey went out so we have a lot of feedback from the families and also with the uh family arts and culture be connecting with families also fostering this connection and getting these calls going but we were able to just wrapping up we were able to conduct one uh P family connection call which went for about 45 minutes and it really came off of you know some issues that what happening and it was a good connection point but I just want to read the feedback that the dad sent me by text um after we finished so he said great meeting today I really want you to know how much we appreciate the initiative that we were taking and seeing our children's well-being and educational Integrity remain intact during their school years which is extremely important to us thank you and I won't say the parents name but that really touched me as well and it let me know that there is um a value in these making these connections and also from my standpoint trying to highlight their voices and bring them into all of the P families into what's happening with the school um the the P PTO and also try to get them um uh on the hel school council as well so I look forward to Growing that get having more dat to bring back and um also just uh excited to be back and and and continue the work and I'm really seeing the value of having a school-based family and student supports so any questions com so can you you said something about two two two I I didn't understand so our mission was to have two of these pum family connection uh connection calls with the family with each family one in the beginning of the year and one towards the end of the year okay yes and to reach out to each family is what you're saying I was just gonna say on positive note that it seems like to me I've only been here for a year but that since the family center is more school-based versus at district offices that we are getting a lot more services to families than have their asked so I would like to publicly say that that I think that it seems like it's been very positive to have the offices at the schools and it seems like our kids propelling were getting more Services than we had ever through the family center that I've experienced all right thank you thank you I would just say to that point it has been my experience and we're really making connections with the students on the ground and I think after sometime as we as we build really solidify it I think we'll see great results but I do agree with that same thank you thank you this is another attempt to make family connections is I did have a conversation because we're we have two vacant seats on the committee we have no one with children in the school right here we have two vacant seats there's two more no one on the committee Who currently has children in the school so I did have an opportunity to talk to somebody at after the concert today who indicated that they might be interested and it's another it's another way to connect you know which is hard to do so anybody who knows anybody please yes um okay um which is I don't have anything to add um so the next thing would be to talk about what we want to have in our next meeting in March um I am wondering because in the past we have had occasionally presentation from the um curriculum person or and others about a particular curriculum and I know you know I really appreciated when they they did a sort of an indepth presentation about the IRA the math program and I'm wondering and and I keep hearing about a writing program I'm just wondering is there something else that you're doing in the curriculum that you can bring to us and talk about sure um I think there's some leadership trainings and different trainings time can definitely don't put it on her calendar to come in and present okay so we'll talk about that all right um I don't have anything else at this point Micky I can bring the assessment data yes that's right um after come back abely while can she come back with the AA cont next P Margaret General T do it he said maybe you could bring the APA contract for our next all right well in that case me all those in favor we areed 43 minutes

practice 7:30 wait 8:30 to 2:30 school and then from 2:30 to 3:00 to 5:30 practice again and then sometimes after that they go and cheer for another one of the teams from me the sideline the the the uh the Baseline they've been at the pool cheering they've been at the golf course cheering um they truly support the what we do as as a community as a blackhaw community and they are uh they make me uh very proud they make our school very proud they make our community very proud the whole time they're doing this they maintain a 3.5 team GPA so I am so very proud of this group of young ladies and I want to introduce you to the 2024 2025 AIA division one small group show cheer champions [Applause] are you ready for a picture or are you going to say more couple more things okay so after tonight again the the selfless nature of these ladies they're going to leave here because they just finished practice they came here they're going to leave here they're going to go back they're going to cheer for a basketball game they're going to get up tomorrow they're going to go through school they're get on flight they're going to go to Orlando and they're going to compete at the Nationals in both show cheer and game day cheer which they qualified for earlier this year so it uh just uh just just life as they know it and um and again so very proud of [Applause] them Mr stangle should be up here [Applause] your steps your steps they've got quite the reputation and I mean a good one so let's go with our points of Pride let's start with chaperel Elementary principal Chris Hansen and assistant principal Terry [Applause] pepper thank you all right good evening Madame President members of the board and cabinet my name is Christine Hansen and I am the proud principal of Chael Elementary School my name is Terry pepper I'm the principal over chel oh thank you thank you it is our extreme pleasure to be here this evening to recognize four very special people in what we call the Shark Tank uh we often say one team one dream and we could not do what we do without every single person in that shark tank so let me kick it off please with our certified staff of the month Mr Robert olette all right Mr O uh Mr O is currently a sixth grade special education teacher um on our campus he's been at cherel for quite some time um he's also our edte lead he facilitates professional learning for our staff he is our purple star school point of contact he's a highly decorated uh veteran himself which we're very proud of uh but what is so special about Mr O is he lives by the saying C need fill Andy which we say at chapparel um and whenever we give him a little shout out I will always hear my teachers in the audience say that's our Superman he's our Superman and Mr O you absolutely are because he sees a need he feels a need whether it's literally ding digging trenches in the courtyard to make sure our sidewalks don't get flooded or hanging in a bird feeder to help a student find her genius you name it he's done it I could be up here for a very long time so Mr O please just know we appreciate you and thank you so much for representing our Shar tank you get to stand up here uh Mr O who did you bring with you this evening I brought my wife Marty and my oldest son [Applause] Ben all right um I have the honor of introducing our classified points of Pride recipient this year and that is Miss Betty Sanchez so come on up [Applause] Betty so Betty is a Pera in our crosscat program she services and and supports um some of our students with the highest needs um she shows up every day she's been on our campus for years she shows up every day with her patients um and just you can feel the love um emanating from her for her students for her colleagues and just our chapero campus so um we love seeing her every day big smile we don't hold it against her she's a Dodgers fan um too much but um we just really appreciate all she does and we couldn't do without her so thank you Betty Miss Betty who did you bring with you this evening I brought my husband Lis and my daughter Biana thank you all right next we would like to honor our points of Pride student Miss Delila palifox come on up [Applause] Delila Mr Lila is currently a fifth grade student in the the Shark Tank and we are so very proud of her she serves on our student Lighthouse team and it has been so much fun to watch her find her Voice this year uh habitate for those of you who who know the habits um a quick just a quick example um and Delila certainly leads by example I had asked her and another student to help us prepare for a video um that we were going to use in a presentation and and I gave them late notice right before we went on October break I called called them back after break and was ready to go through kind of what we needed from them well Delila and her friend already had a plan they had it all laid out they were ready to go I said well let me see what you got and they they nailed it they nailed it um so to watch her speak in front of actually I believe it was um Mr Armstrong and our and our superintendent a group that that we were hosting so I was so proud of you and it's been so much fun to watch you find your voice and continue to lead and be that light that inspires others all [Applause] right Delila who did you bring this evening I brought my family with um my mom my older brother and my dad job [Music] [Applause] girl thanks Mr all right and last but not least um we'd like to recognize our volunteer uh points of Pride um and that is Miss Rita Baldwin [Applause] so miss Rita is the grandmother of a couple of our sharks in the tank um and over the past couple years she has really um embedded herself in our PTO um she uh comes around campus and just brings her smile and positive energy she's willing to show up um and support um anytime anywhere any need um that there is um she brings us little treats and things like that which is always appreciated but um we just really appreciate um her passion for our students in our campus um and appreciate all that you do Miss Rita so thank you all right and she's got a crew with her so Rita who did you bring I have my granddaughters Briana and Nora my son John my daughter Anna and my son-in-law [Applause] Rob job [Applause] congratul than you yes thank you chaperel and next we have power Ranch Elementary with principal Michelle McNab and assistant principal Nicole [Applause] McCulla thank you for having us here Madame President board and cabinet we're happy to be here to recognize some amazing people at Power Ranch I want to start by recognizing our certified staff member Mr William [Applause] cesolini so he's known as Mr C at Power Ranch um and he's been a remarkable addition to our staff this year he's dedicated to inclusion and his positive attitude have significantly impacted our students behavior and fostered a respectful environment Mr C's efforts have made Power Ranch a better place through his service in the able classroom and our best buddies program and just helping students understand each other out and about on campus we are incredibly fortunate to have you on our team thank you Mr [Applause] C next up we'd like to recognize our classified staff staff member Mrs Heather paa [Applause] so Heather is a joyful warm and accepting member of our Panther family and she is incredibly loved by all she's creative enthusiastic and it shines through in everything that she does um Mrs P's dedication and joyful Spirit make our school a better place for both students and staff and I can't imagine her being anywhere else we appreciate you thank you [Applause] I apologize I'm new at this Mr C who did you bring with you tonight I brought my mom we I we live together and I take care of her and so I'm glad she came today my family wasn't able to come today due to prior engagements but they are here in [Applause] spirit our student that I'd like to recognize was unable to be here this evening but I do want to honor Kai Gallagher he's an exceptional student and human on our campus intelligent hardworking an incredible artist and he consistently always works to lift others up when so much in our world tries to tear our kids down so thank you Kai wherever you're at this evening thank you for shine being a shining example of kindness respect and hard work we're so proud to know you and have you at Power Ranch thank you Kai [Applause] and last but not least is our volunteer Miss Ally [Applause] Ratliff so I am honored to recognize Ali Ratliff for her outstanding cont contributions to our school community at Power Ranch Miss Ratliff takes immense pride in her role on the PTO board ensuring staff and students receive the support they need her passion and drive and unwavering focus on student well-being make her an indispensable part of our community and we are truly grateful for everything she does thank you Ally and who did you bring with you I have my handsome husband Greg and my oldest son Nash and my sweet friend Jackie here tonight thank you all good job sh e president Wade we have some exciting events coming up in the month of February beginning with next Tuesday um our business partner breakfast will be held at the power ranch Barn we're looking forward to having you guys and very many people in our community join us on that same day and the evening we have a parent event it's a virtual event dangers of Snapchat Wednesday February 12th we will celebrate Johnny's New Year at cornado Elementary this year it's different than what we've done for I don't know how many years board member Schultz you might you might know better than I do a long time so we're excited because it's going to be I say it's going to be more like a carnival atmosphere and so Coronado has stepped up to host and we look forward to you guys joining us if possible we also have preschool open houses ky's preschool openhouse is February 19th San's is February 27th and one of our most favorite events of the whole entire year is our best buddies carnal at Higley High School so if it works for your schedules Community to come join us um you will leave with the biggest smile on your face and your heart full that concludes upcoming events thank you so much Miss Richards next on the agenda are the requests to speak can you please play the video I think we 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 ARS 38-4 31.0 1i action taken as a result of public comment will be 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 particip ation 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 up first we have Stephanie Giddings I'm going to take that that Stephanie was unable to make it so we'll move on to the next one Christina Shope can you hear me now sorry about that members of the school board governing board and cabinet thank you for allowing me to speak today about the importance of maintaining the highly gifted think program the exceptional program is designed for students who qualify in all three areas of giftedness providing them with the exceptional education they need to they need to thrive excuse me cutting the think program would worsen could worsen our District's already declining student population as families May seek out other districts that offer similar specialized programs husd must remain competitive with surrounding school districts to attract and retain our talented students neighboring neighboring districts require highly gifted students to attend separate schools which can be challenging for families with multiple children by keeping the think program at Bridges Elementary husd offers a unique Advantage it allows families like mine to have all their children attend the same school regardless of their gifted status this simplifies Logistics and fosters a sense of community and belonging it's also important to recognize that gifted students should not have to wait until third grade to receive Services these students have unique needs that deserve to me met early the district must ensure these students have the resources and opportunities to reach their full potential gifted students are entitled to support just like those receiving sped speech and disability services in conclusion maintaining the think program is not just about providing an excellent education for our gifted students it's about supporting our families enhancing our District's appeal and ensuring that husd continues to be where every student can succeed let's work together to keep this invaluable program in place for the benefit of our children and our community thank you next we have Maryanne I know that the board is looking at to at moving the meetings back to 5:00 pm 5:00 pm.

so that way the Middle School families can actually make it also if you're going to keep asking the community for budget overrides and for more bonds then we need a fiscal audit before we find ourselves in the same spot that Isaiah is in you are claiming to represent the community now represent the community thank you next we have Suzanne Stanley good evening Higley board members and members of our District administration uh my name is Suzanne Stanley and I've been a teacher at Higley High School for five years all three of my children attend Higley schools and I want to tell you about my youngest son um um this bright and beautiful boy sitting in the front row right here is Nixon um Nixon was born substance exposed and was brought to my home through the foster care program at only two days old um I was gifted with the choice of adoption after fostering Nixon for 18 months before he was even two years old I started to realize there was something different about Nixon he could write with nearly perfect handwriting and he recited the alphabet backwards in the car one day um by age three he had taught himself to read and was doing basic math when he was four we had him tested and he was diagnosed with autism and hyperlexia at age six nixen writes short books can do all sorts of math and can tell you so many incredible things about states countries planets and more his brain is magnificent um and needs a school curriculum that pushes him to his full potential um Nixon did not get into the think program at Bridges as a kindergartener as disappointed as we were he was blessed to have Miss Dunton at courtine in elementary who went above and beyond for a student who was extremely gifted and made sure he didn't get bored in her class at the end of kindergarten we um went with an IQ test that showed he was highly gifted and he was finally accepted into think the bridges think program has allowed Nixon to use his amazing brain for Learning and growth in a positive environment led by teachers who understand his giftedness these teachers also understand that he has social and emotional challenges that other students in a gened class may not have my son's unique combination of strengths and challenges means that traditional classrooms often do not um provide him with the appropriate level of intellectual stimulation or the social and emotional support he needs the think program at Bridges has offered him a safe and nurturing environment where he can Thrive academically while also being understood and supported for his neurodiversity think is a form of special education these students are born gifted and have specific requirements they have to meet in order to qualify just like an IEP or 504 student having looked into the programs Higley offers it concerns me that there are other programs that could have been considered before think um wonderful pro programs that should be offered if Higley has the budget for it but these programs are not special education taking the think program away is a detriment to students like ours and also to the Higley District as a whole the think program shows an attractiveness to parents searching schools for their children and is something that other districts do not have I urging the board members in the District administration to please reconsider closing this program for all of The Nixons out there who are in need of the Higgly think program thank you next we have Chase Stanley uh good evening members of the hickley um board and School District administration my name is Chase Stanley and I'm the father of Nixon a first grader enrolled in the bridges think up program I'm here today to express my concern regarding the recent communication we received as parents about the closure of the think program well we feel fortunate that our child is grandfathered into the program and is not directly impacted by the change I am concerned about the future for students like Nixon who are going to be impacted by this decision as my wife said my son did not enter the think program when he was in preschool or kindergarten it was it took us until first grade for him to be able to get into the program and his Early Educational experiences were challenging for both us him and his teachers for example Midway through preschool several times Nixon's teacher had to deal with his refusal or uh to participate or move on from a task he enjoyed because the the task he was going to didn't engage him and he was bored fortunately for us this wasn't the case in kindergarten as Miss Dunton quickly recognized Nixon's giftedness and went above and beyond supplementing his regular education and tailoring her approach to meet his unique needs however we believe that a teacher in a standard classroom shouldn't be required to make such extensive accommodations and there should be alternative educational environments available to better address the needs of highly gifted students like Nixon many of us parents believe the primary reason the think program is being targeted for closure is due to budgetary issues caused by the failed Bond vote and it appears that to be the most rean since no other explanation has been provided for the shutdown of this program uh given this the Assumption we're left wondering why thinka not being prioritized over other programs remain open uh especially since the these programs are not special classified as special education or even steam based programs such as the Dual language immersion programs the Dual language immersion program also features small class sizes like the think program promotes skills like a second language the skill um will have little need for in a future with advancements uh being made in AI where we'll be able to have people the computer translate for us however we need the best and brightest like our kids in the think program to help homeone and expand these new technologies like AI Robotics and Medicine which are the very individuals that this program serves ask you to please reconsider closing the program as this has been a life-changing for our son and his peers and also because it unlike most other specialized programs will continue to positively affect the gifted students of Higley and surrounding districts thank you for your time next we have Alistair power so good evening members of the board um I'm here here to talk to you guys about the cancellation of the think program as well um I think it is a great disservice to the community that this particular program is on The Chopping Block uh the reality we've heard the stories already of our kids who are benefiting from this program I am lucky that my son Bennett is also grandfathered into the existing program but I think about things that matter to this District like enrollment and competitiveness and if we're not actually providing a value to the community something distinctive what prevents a parent like myself who lives right around the corner from Legacy TR schools to take my gifted student and put him in that school instead the entire reason my family decided to take him to Bridges was the offering that think provided for us the fact of the matter is that we have great phenomenal certified teachers who are specialized in gifted education we've heard of the cancellation of the think program we haven't seen anything put forth as to what the plan is to service those kids from K through three moving forward I looked at the I looked at the operating budget today I saw that there's a budget for gifted education for the Higgly Unified School District of 850k my question to you is even though we are cutting this particular program what are the soft dollar costs going to be to give the guaranteed gifted Services guaranteed by the state to those kids who are no longer in the think program we're going to have to manage separate individual learning programs for each and every one of these kids pull them out of classes for various gifted activities instead what we have is a program where these kids can in fact learn amongst their peers develop social emotional bonds with kids who are like them my son Bennett uh is a phenomenon don't don't give him your password I'll tell you that much uh but he can hack into pretty much any computer system at the age of six what we're doing is making sure that these individuals continue to thrive amongst their peers unfortunately what we're setting up is to disenfranchise these very same students because let's face it kids like Nick kids like Bennett kids like the other students in that class will get bored very easily in general education Bennett could read and write his name at 18 months that's not the standard for someone in grade one thank you next is Mark scopa good evening I'm here to talk to everyone about indoctrination on January 8th and actually over the last couple years between my daughter who graduated from Higley High and my son who's at saucan I've become increasingly more and more concerned with the curriculum so let's go January 8th just a month ago introduction to social movements this is what my son was being tested on that week things change when people make things change what is a social movement if parents knew what you were teaching the kids just like the 300 other parents who pulled their students everyone would leave and none of you would have jobs it's disgusting so let's go into it what is a social movement organized Collective efforts by relatively powerless groups to affect social or political change operating outside the normal political channels so what is that mean people come together to plan and voice a need for change in other ways than lobbying lob uh lobbying in political office examples civil rights movements women's Liberation movement labor movement anti-war movement let's go to the next one let's see these type three types of social movements reform seeks limited changes in some aspect of a nation's political economic or social systems most common the Civil Rights Movement revolutionary Revolution AR so you're teaching the kids to be revolutionaries this is good seeks to overthrow the existing government and to bring about a new one and even a new way of life example American Revolution and the r Russian Revolution you mean the Communist Revolution that killed 30 million people and starve 10 million ukrainians is that the revolution that we're teaching Let's uh let's keep going uh let's see oh the people in power control those traditional channels you know and oh let's see what's that one right there let's keep going key characteristics operate primarily outside traditional political systems arise due to a group's exclusion from normal institutional political channels are always resisted by those in positions of power and privilege when it is a movement that threatens said power and privilege people in power prefer protesters go through traditional channels so what's the alternative that you're teaching so if the kids aren't satisfied with something what are you teaching let's figure it out what's what's next goal of social movement and the change they want to accomplish maybe it is to redistribute material resources more equitably that's an interesting one how how do you intend to do that more equitably so you talking about more communism is that what we're teaching to kids in e8th grade let's see comply it's a verb act in accordance with a wish or command why is withholding consent or compliance powerful powerful people only have the power we allow them to have when we comply let's see how do powerless people exercise power there's more this is disgusting absolutely disgusting and I'm going to keep going for a second my daughter you guys tried to assign my daughter about that everybody else sir I'm going to ask that you respect the same time you I don't care I don't care sir we can ask that you I'm not happy with the normal political channels Jud I can do this because I'm not happy with the normal political Chan can we I'm I appreciate your time we ask security to please support him back appreciate you thank you thank you sir next we have Kelly mon Kelly mon matano sorry Montano my bad Madame President members of the board thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Kelly Montano U my son Leonardo is a first grader in the think program at Bridges Elementary I'm here to implore the board to continue the think program at Bridges so that future GI gifted children can experience the many benefits that my child has we knew that our son was was gifted early on much like what Suzanne shared um when he began adding subtracting skip counting and reading independently at age three we knew we had our word our work cut out for us we began the search for prek programs that progressed faster than the standard one letter a week um we must have toured at least a dozen preschools with no luck and when our son was diagnosed with autism spectum disorder at age 4 we knew he would need a school a class and a teacher as special as him forgive me for getting emotional I can't express to you the relief of this mama when a friend of ours who was a former hgle unified staff member recommended the think program my family lives out of District we drive 25 minutes each way every day and we have for two years and I tell you that every single minute on the road is worth it in the think program my son's benefited from accelerated and rigorous project-based curriculum taught by knowledgeable and effective teachers who specialize in strategies and best practices for gifted and twice exceptional Learners a few of them are sitting over my shoulder right over here the think class is smaller than average which gives his teacher the ability to give personalized support to each student it's common for gifted children and especially twice exceptional children like my son to experience loneliness social isolation but the think program has ensured that that is not his experience when I asked him uh before I came here I asked him like did the think program how did it help you like get to know your classmates like make friends he looked at me like I was crazy and he was like I didn't need to get to know them they were in my class last year and I was was reminded that the think students progress through grades K through three at Bridges as a cohort as a little team they move through these grade levels together um and so the stability that this consistency has provided for my autistic son has been invaluable now I understand that yours is a tough job you have to decide which programs get priority and which don't and I don't envy you at all but I think we all can agree that every every child deserves to learn something new every time they come to school and that doesn't change if they're operating at two and three grade levels above their age level peers so I implore you to continue the think program at Bridges Elementary so that future gifted children can experience the many benefits that my child has thank you next we have Kim Jackson good evening board members I stand before you with a protective concern for our District's commitment to transparency inherence to proper protocols in decisionmaking recently after submitting a proposal for the independent PE for grades 7 through 12 and receiving no follow-up I sent an email to the director of secondary education the reply indicated that the administration would be providing their recommendations this phrasing raises concerns about the process are these recommendations grounded in comprehensive evidence and facts before being presented this isn't an isolated incident or concern last year when I advocated for a town hall to discuss current and future cell phone tower contracts the administration advised against it leading the board to vote accordingly instead of presenting a balanced view of pros and cons and allowing the board to make an informed decision the administration stance seemed to preempt open discussion such patterns propped a critical question if policy decisions are handled in this manner how are pivotal choices like hiring a superintendent approached the board is entrusted with making these significant decisions yet it appears Administration influence May overshadow Community input and transparency it's my concern current Administration approach seems misaligned with our District's best interest as I engage more it becomes evident that this methodology May contribute to declining numbers and erode trust board members your duty is to critically evaluate the administration's actions not merely to defend them you represent the community's voice as a new board I urge you to reassess these practices ensuring decisions are made transparently transparently and in the best interest of our students families and staff District administrators I'd like to challenge you to improve as you recommend on topics like independent PE options communication by proxy or the hiring of our future District employees please present all and any facts both good and bad to our board so that they can decide accordingly and I just want to close with some positivity um well before I do that I would just like to Echo your community is telling you guys that they want something bored as you advise Administration to take action please implore them to do so with both pros and cons my concern is that they may see a biased approach and not present to you both sides to be able to Advocate properly for the people here talking about getting rid of certain programs that they do not want you to get rid of to end positively I'd like to give a shout out to the entire sixth grade staff at cornado Ranch Elementary all three of my children have been blessed to be part of that program and I'm super grateful for them and I want to publicly thank them for all of their efforts with nurturing my children at that school thank you moving on to consent agenda items I'm president wait yes um go ahead Miss vanhook I I'd like to ask um superintendent Richards to look into this assignment because I'd like to know how this fits into State Standards Board member van h yes we can look into it I appreciate it yes I motion to approve consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.11 second Miss Schultz seconded all those in favor I I I I I motion carries five I'd like to um just mention something um that's in the ENT agenda um there was a there's an expense on there um for an application fee for certificate of excellence and financial reporting um the only so we're paying almost $1,300 for this application fee the only concern I have here is it it it feels like we're buying an award because we then we we apply for this certificate of excellence and then we advertise that that you know we received the certificate of excellence in in financial reporting but in reality it's like we're we're just buying the award um and then advertising it that we got it um so I I kind of feel like this process seems a bit deceptive um when we're actually paying for it um so I'd like to understand um the point um if we're having to pay for it and it's not necessarily received because of truly being excellent Madame President this is Jennifer mcclinon um and uh board member Van Hook if if you'd like to discuss that item the appropriate thing to do is to pull that item from consent so that there can be discussion at the board level I believe we've already had a motion second and a vote on the consent agenda so we would need to move on we would need to move on in the agenda now thank you that's fine I didn't expect an answer now but um I wanted to make that statement regarding that item thank you before we move on I would like to uh say thank you for the gifts and donations I believe we have a slide to put up there we can do that that is thank you to Melinda Le Katherine Ortiz School spe School specialty Chase Building team and Gilbert Centennial PTO for their generous donations to the districts and schools this now brings us to our information items we are looking at 6.1 governing board initiatives for 2024 2025 update Miss Richards president Wade members of the board and the community we adopted you guys helped to adopt our strategic plan and 2022 so every year we work together to determine goals and we've committed to Bringing quarterly updates to you guys so you know what kind of progress we're making so that's the purpose of this agenda item this evening you also have some superintendent evaluation forms should you decide you want to make some notes because these are all of our goals but spefic specifically how I am evaluated so we always revisit our vision our mission and our values and like I said we went into this strategic plan and pulled out specific goals for this school year as you look at our strategic plan it goes through 2027 so we've systematically been going through um these anchors goals and indicators to ensure we're making progress teaching and learning is strategic anchor number one and I'm a little partial to that one I think that's why we're all here we um work together to ensure our kids are learning at high levels and that they're successful our portrait of The Graduate is Central to everything we do we want our kids to be responsible citizens College and Career ready Scholars and Innovative Learners and as I mentioned before we started a superintendent student advisory Council and you've got some Dynamic kids there 6th through 12th graders and and I was super impressed with their input and so we made a little video that will tell a story hopefully and then I'll tell you more about this [Music] Council this was the superintendent advisory Council and essentially what they did is they got together a group of students and we all got together and we answered some questions about the district and they really just are looking for our input when they're planning for the future I think it's super cool that students are getting a voice to kind of explain what they see in the schools because I think a lot of times adults have the say in most things which is valid but also students have a say too and it's cool to know that our voices are valid and heard and I feel very safe and comfortable expressing my opinions on things even though sometimes it could be harsh to hear I think it's a great opportunity being part of this program is being like a leader for your school it's a very important job we find all the ways every school benefits us and we find like what needs some fixing what doesn't need some fixing what certain programs help you benefit with your learning hle is doing awesome I love that they have so many different programs for every different level they just do an awesome job of having the right curriculums for that and making sure we feel included they just do an awesome job of promoting clubs and different groups of people like there's something for everyone no matter where you [Music] go so we have plans for this Council to meet again in February we're going to go to Chandler Gilbert Community College Williams campus we're going to go on a tour and then we're gonna dig deeper into what's going well and Higley and how can we improve so what was interesting to me is when we were talking to these kids a lot of these kids had never been on a college campus so I was like oh opportunity there for us to get their feedback so we're going to cgcc on February 24th and then in May we're going to take them to ASU to the mix Center so we've got some fun things planned I want them to come in May and report back to you guys on what they've learned and where we need to go next because they're always a lot smarter than we are okay something else we did this year um the Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce hosted their eighth annual Elevate for tomorrow conference and it's for local high school juniors um it took place on January 10th at the ASU Polytech campus we took close to a hundred Juniors from williamsfield and Higley so during this event they had the opportunity to meet with businesses College instructors and they learned a few things about how do you write a resume how do you interview so we have a little video on that and I'm looking forward forward to these these Juniors getting not these but the new Juniors getting to participate next school year and I will say the president Chris Clark went out of his way to invite us so all right we going to see him on this video too today we're holding e4t it's Elevate for tomorrow it's a half-day conference for juniors for career in college explor ation what we do is hope that they get an idea of what they might want to pursue going forward and then they have their senior year to really dig in get more information find out extra details and maybe make those final decisions about where they want to go we're hoping that they gain some experience on planning for their future and what they want to do in either college or career it's nice cuz there's lots of volunteer speakers and guest speakers that are not only affiliated with the college but also with career field so they can Network and really gain a lot of insight into what they want to um do in their future today we're learning all about college and your career um people are taking different classes I personally took a class on how to be better at interviews I got to learn about um how to be better at interviews what questions to answer and how to answer them I hope to gain better skills at interviewing my interviewing skills personally aren't all that great so hopefully I'll be able to take away a lot of better skills when I go home there's plenty of opportunities for everybody we just really need to get these kids to take that first step and they'll leave here with a better idea of what they might want to do going [Music] forward so I'm really looking forward to us partnering with these universities because how many people in this country have this many universities around them that want to support So Mr L and ozer and I and Mr Armstrong have met with people from cgcc and ASU and I think we're going to learn a lot and our kids are going to get exposed to what's out there so I'm excited about that um as we move into strategic anchor number one teaching and learning I'm going to turn it over to Marcus birkshire to talk a little bit about goal one and I've got the clicker so all right so our first goal is increasing our uh distri by proficiency rate by 2% on both uh aasa Ela and math and act Ela and math so if you want to move forward um this year we've been very intentional in terms of the professional learning that we've done with not only administrators and teachers um as well as what's happening at the the site and in trying to to look at our achievement and what we can do to approve so with administrators we've done a lot of work this year uh looking at the intentionality around what resources and instruction our staff are using with students um but now we've branched into looking at next year um so we've worked with our principles on a structured approach towards a comprehensive needs assessment and then that root cause analysis that really dives into what the real true need is on our campuses and we we will be using their work at that they've done at each of our sites to develop a districtwide integrated action plan and A needs assessment um we're very excited about the conversations that I've had up to this point um and look forward to seeing where we end up at the um by May with uh elementary teachers we've done a lot of work around uh data and looking at and how what do you do with that data for example this past um Elementary PD day in January we did a lot of work with our teachers on our new fastbridge um Universal Diagnostic and screener platform there are some wonderful reports that look at student growth expected student growth and how do you use that to to look at what we need to do to help kids improve and and grow even more um we continue with secondary looking at formative assessment strategies and then our sites following each of our quarterly benchmarks have engaged in work with their teams looking at those results and looking at what they need to do in in the instruction happening in their classrooms to to to better improve results for their students stay all right I am up to talk about um the development of our in instructional maps and how we are working with teachers to implement those so I'm very excited to share that um our team has completed the K5 Ela instructional Maps um jod Walker was in instrumental in getting those up and started and today we started our fourth and fifth grade math instructional Maps um led by Wendy stove and that is going really well I was excited about those conversations that were happening and the K3 Maps will be completed by mid-march so both the ELA and math Maps will be ready for teacher to use to start forward planning for next year um and then the other item that we have left to complete are secondary Fine Arts and elective instructional maps and we do have a plan in place for that it is a matter of bringing everybody together to make that happen because there's a lot of Singleton teachers um in figuring out schedules to make that happen but it will get done and then the next is working on um adopting and implementing in a comprehensive um districtwide instructional coach model and I'm really happy to share that we did identify Jim Knight as that instructional framework um instructional coaching framework that we will move forward with um this year into working on planning out how we will train both our district site Administration and our site instructional coaches and our district content specialist in the framework so that they are all able to work as one unit together on how to best provide job embedded professional learning and coaching cycles for our teachers um for next year so we don't have a solid timeline on when we will get trained but that it step one was identifying that coaching model which I'm very excited that it's jym night because all of our coaches have been trained in cognitive coaching and those go hand inand really well and I believe oh skipped one back to Marcus so our next one was looking at uh professional learning communities and the multi-tiered systems of support within the district and creating a districtwide framework uh which aligns our practices across the district and and philosophies uh if you want to advance to the next slide I don't have a clicker all right um our task teams have for both of those Frameworks have met three times um at this point in time we've developed a vision for both plc's and um mtss for uh the Higley Unified School District we identified a theory of action for both of those and then using that theory of action and the vision we've looked at what the co the practices are across the district uh we want to make sure that we honor what we're currently doing around plc's and the mtss processes and then what's working that we need to keep uh what do we need to introduce um and where do we need to be tight and loose on and and so we've completed that uh component uh and started to to really start building out the framework we hope to to meet on February 24th and and finalize that so that we can bring that to our admin team uh for presentation and and ultimately share that with you good evening so I get to talk about my favorite thing highly effective personnel and that is a picture from our um Higley Leadership Academy correct I think so no same room different people oh okay well it it's not moving could you move oh there we go so strategic aner 2 is highly effective personnel and this year continuing to provide meaningful Prof meaningful professional development and support to all employee groups and to continue to evaluate and seek effective means to pass on potential benefit to cost-saving employees all right there we go so our progress so far um due to miss Miller's efforts with our par professionals the special education department they continue to train um our par professionals uh and our teachers uh to make them as highly qualified as possible and we continue to have uh PD days on Wednesdays usually and they are doing a great job over there with our par professionals and special education staff next um we talked earlier this year about the classified evaluation tool being turned into electronic tool right now we have um our classified supervisors and employe using that tool new higher evaluations have been done that's the 90day evaluation we had 78 of those done so far this year and then classified self evaluations we find our employees are definitely using the tool that we provided for them 76 have been completed so far with 50 in progress right now our classified annual evaluations are ongoing so we should have some statistics coming in towards the end of the um school year when those are due we progress on our training we have the stop the bleed training coming this February and our health services department with uh Miss Jillian Fulton will be uh hosting that along with her staff they've also been trained uh our health services area to do now free first aid and CPR training for our employees who need that either recertification or that initial training so our employees no longer will have to pay for that we have trained three members of the health services staff to be able to provide that that should start this month as well we continue to hire as needed um a little plug we need bus drivers and we need bus AIDS and if you know anybody please send them our way new employee orientation continues as needed uh we continue to provide the more than sad training during the new uh employee orientation that is being provided and as well as completion of the vector training while they're here learning about new things about being an employee here we have upcoming recognition which will be the teacher of the year re recognition I apologize for the spelling area up there it's or it's not it's of it's not or so um we will have that announced shortly as well as we look at those applications and the committee reviews that there we go progress uh let let Mr Walker talk about this progress because this is his his specialty thank you Miss Johnson Madam president members of the board the update on indicator 2.2 we have our Higley Leadership Academy we're about halfway done with the sessions for this year um in addition to that uh our employees are representative of both classified and certified staff have participated in some Community uh bridging uh and building with volunteer opportunities they came out to The riparian Preserve in Gilbert and help prepare it for a a holiday setup and then they've also done Feed My Starving Children uh where they helped uh prepare meal kits and they're going to do that again actually in a week um and so it's it's a thriving program and it continues to attract people from uh all areas of our of our organization thank you Mr Walker okay so progress on our Wellness we have quite a few things coming up um thanks to our benefits Department they're putting together a pretty robust wellness program this year we have the mom bus coming a blood drive the Matty bus which is similar to the mom bus but we always fill up the appointments on the bom bus so we brought in another bus um we are just began the Great River Walk challenge to teams formed throughout the district and they will be eligible for prizes if they complete um the walk as well as a $25 gift certificate so there is some prizes with that good participation um many teams were formed throughout the district uh next is the good consumer campaign and that's no that's something to help our employees learn about things that they need to know in order to make good decisions at their open enrollment for not only their health benefits but other benefits as well and I think that concludes uh the highly effective Personnel all right thank you president Wade members of the board um as you know I'm Jessica Bautista director of marketing and public information um I've been with the district just over a year and I'm really proud of the work that my team has been able to accomplish so far last year we launched the brand and align those branding standards um and that work continues into this year so talk a little bit about that and it aligns with strategic anchor 3 communication and community relations so this year our goals were to establish systems and processes for site level communication including the website and mass notifications and to establish relationships in our community to enhance student learning opportunities so at the start of this school year we launched new websites for the district and all schools and we trained all um of the office managers and school school content managers on the content management system tools to keep those sites updated with course offerings we also implemented some of the um the board directives which include staff directories on each website and prominently displaying board meetings so for several other action items on those new sites we established a subscription option for our district newsletter higgle highlights so the community can keep up to date with the news and activities and upcoming events um and to strengthen Partnerships we also reformatted our business and Community partner breakfast event to include more networking opportunities we're looking forward to our spring event next week and I hope to see you all there um we're also really grateful for our venue sponsor The Barn at Power Ranch which is also new this year um that new venue allows us to use their space which gives us an opportunity to include even more Community Partners uh our department is also continuing to curate contact lists for our stakeholder groups including HOAs PTO and local businesses and if you have schoolage children or live near a district you may have noticed some of the marketing content that had started on December 2nd we launched our quarterly marketing campaign to increase Elementary enrollment and we're almost finished producing school specific marketing material for all sites to promote their unique progr programs so you may have noticed in the lobby we have all of those Elementary Flyers out there um those have been distributed out to all sites and they are using them for feeder events community events and more so we also run geot targeted digital ads eblasts um to All Families within our boundaries including those who don't currently attend Higley schools distribute Flyers to um local daycare and preschool facilities in and around our boundaries and more so I have a couple stats for the to share um so far Those ads on Facebook and in Instagram The Meta platforms have reached more than 69,000 users and driven more than 750 visits to our enrollment landing pages search ads have resulted in more than 1.8 th000 new users visiting our enrollment pages and digital ads have driven more than 5,000 users to click through to our website and again those um campaigns are on goaling and have uh been tweaked and aligned every quarter we reassess we just finished a big push to publicize our Kindergarten Roundup events that have received great feedback from our principls about attendance for those events last week now one more important update to point out this quarter we had previously prepared one of the action items was for a new Mass notification system this is a new platform to share email text message and phone call communication to our families um this service is provided by final site um I had discussed in the previous quarter final site acquired our previous um vendor Blackboard which we used for website and mass notification systems they had paused the roll out of their messaging system so we have also paused our roll out of that um transition and we're reassessing our options for Mass notifications our current system is still suppored we're really proud of the resources we're able to provide and we're looking forward to more work this quarter Tyler just a quick update on strategic anchor for finance and operations um We are continuing to work on our 25 goals which again include security enhancements and finding additional Revenue sources for the district a quick update on progress on 4.3 security updates um we have completed um basically half of phase two of our camera um installation so all the middle schools have now been um equipped with our um upgraded camera system um again we're replacing outdated camera equipment that's uh some more than a decade old um that's been well received on the high schools we have all but three cameras left to replace at williamsfield high school and then this remainder of this spring we hope to finish Higley High School we are um planning phase three um a project for fiscal year 26 and this would be at the secondary campuses particularly the high schools who have um they had three systems and so with phase three we'll get them all down to one camera system um creating a more efficient system for our administrators and our district office Personnel to use our traffic calming phase um these the picture to the right highlights some of the newly install speed bumps at Coronado um again this was recommended um out of discussions with the town of Gilbert um and some safety measures that we can take um that are easily attainable to help address uh potential um cars or high rates of speed um if there was a seizure or something in in those lines speed bumps are a way um to help um reduce the speed coming into those zones where children are either being dropped off or walking across so um that phase we've uh finished about four elementaries um over winter break and we hope to have um some additional speed bumps over summer James Mr Walker you want to talk about the mass communication protocol sure working with um Our IT department and our facilities uh we're we're initiating a piloting of a mass communication uh protocol tool um we're beginning uh at an elementary school and then we're slowly phasing that in to distribute that across all of our uh K12 schools in the upcoming uh months and another uh another nice update is that we were awarded a a mini Grant an 18-month Grant to be able to provide a school safety officer on our sassman campus so we've been working to get this accomplished for a couple years uh and through the ad's opportunity the grant was awarded and we have a consistent uh uniform police officer on our saucan campus daily as a result uh it is a minig grant it runs through the conclusion of next school year and so we're already working to find resources to continue funding uh and having uh that resource in the in the midterm and long-term future as well and just wrapping up with uh progress on 4.2 identify and seek additional Revenue sources um we have presented and the board has approved um the review of District fees including the community ed and preschool um both uh before and after school program fees and the preschool tuition fees in addition to the rental fees going into next year um Commerce Bank if you recall was a solution that uh we implemented this year for alternative paying um payment method for our vendors um if they choose to receive payment via credit card um again we give this option to vendors uh currently our process to pay papercheck but we did have a number of vendors enroll in that uh and there is a kickback for the district and so um we're only three months through the pro progress but we've received over $5,000 and and basically Revenue that we wouldn't have had for paying our same bills that we um were paying previously so um we are still evaluating uh the foreign exchange program and looking at opportunities to increase Revenue in that program um on the uh Food Service side uh we are still evaluating uh the Food Service uh contracted versus self op and what solution best fits our district so um that's in progress um and we may have more information in the next update so with that that concludes my comments and I think the presentation so uh Madam president with your permission I just that's a lot of work from a lot of people and uh that stayed here and stayed late to present to us so uh a lot of people that are very dedicated to Higley so I just want to thank you guys for that I'm sure it's some intimidating some of you don't know me or or no Miss jarmin yet we you know but uh we appreciate your time and effort into putting all this stuff together into staying late to uh keep us informed about all the good things and the hard work that you're doing so thank you president Wade um Mrs Richard I'm super excited that we are partnering with uh Queen Creek chamber now I know there was a little bit of a disconnect for a while and we made that happen and it's um super important that we're connecting the business community and I know it was a great success and uh the chamber mentioned that you you had said how good of it I know you said it tonight but said how good of it a connection it was um and the speed bumps are helping at at Coronado I think for sure just to let you know um as far as I just had one question um for Miss batist um the ads that we're running do you have if the I know you said that elementary schools were happy about the the Kindergarten Roundup do you have numbers to show how those ads have helped us or where people are coming from is there any kind of report that we could see we could have that at a later date okay perfect thank you rounds haven't um the ad Cycles haven't completed yet so okay perfect thank you I appreciate it thank you for everything that you're doing and thank you thank you so much for the presentation I'm grateful that the sro's that were really there's a big push um for Safety and Security in the schools that's very important to the community um yes and also the feedback on how we can adapt um and the finances touch base I love how you guys really touch base with the schools it's really hard being in a a sticky spot where we have to choose sometimes wants or needs over wants a little bit so I really appreciate you guys really getting out in the trenches and touching base on that so continue to do that and let's let's continue to work as a team reach out to the principles and everybody who and see what could maybe skirt away as an expense and what can what the children really value and really make sure that we kind of put more of our spending in that area so I commend you all thank you all right with that we're going to move on to item 6.2 do you have a question really fast Mr Walker you said once the grant is done for saan then we're going to try for more grants is that I know we've been trying to work with the town of Queen Creek and Queen Creek Police Department it's not the same as our partnership with the town of Gilbert um but I just want to know where we go from there in 18 months and if you don't have the answers now just at a later date no I I I I do have an answer we're not going to wait until the grant expires to seek another Grant we're working on it right now to see what kind of opportunities are out there so we can be prepared for when this grant cycle expires if there's another Grant cycle if it's a budgetary discussion but we're working right now to predict and forecast what we can do uh once this grant expires in 2026 and the town of Queen Creek wasn't able to help us with any of the cost at all correct uh this this funding mechanism comes through the ad so it's a grant that we right I just wanted to see there wasn't any um discounts or anything anywhere well we can thank the ad for the discount as we the grant funding through that thank you all right well thank you we're going to move on to item 6.2 second review of the 2025 2026 maintenance and operations budget we'll now hear from Mr Moore on the second review of the 2526 maintenance and operations budget yeah thank you president Wade members of the board uh tonight we're reviewing like you said the second review of the FY 26 M budget just a quick recap uh we are working towards uh our June 2025 um adoption um but as you know we have to work backwards into that final date um to one prepare for contracts and um uh get ahead of the school year before it starts so everything tonight is uh presentation with preliminary numbers looking at um that adopted proposed FY 26 budget just filling in the highlights of what we know so far again the AAL the pro the aggregate expenditure limit as you've known that has been an issue um with the state legislature and uh State Statute uh problem as school districts have exceeded the budgetary spending as outlined in state Chachi by over a billion dollars but the State Legislature has Exempted districts and allowed us to utilize our full budget capacity over the last couple years again I'm still monitoring um the legislation and looking at um potential exemptions um for the eal in this in this legislative cycle um also I think I didn't include in here but some of the hot topics included uh from from um a legislative perspective and regards to funding um we're closely monitoring prop 123 uh there's been a number of different proposals on Prop 123 um that currently provides the district about uh uh 400 or 800,000 excuse me um that is set to expire at the end of this year and so I know legislators in the state and the governor are all hopeful to come to some solution to continue that funding uh for next year uh but again monitoring that waiting to see how that finalizes and what that means for the district if there's any parameters or new gu guard rails on that funding some of the known implic ations that are included into this projected budget again are the estimated 2% inflation adjustment to the base support level so the state is running about 3 and a half% in terms of inflation um minimally the state legislature is obligated to uh match 2% um they can go higher if they choose but um they have not in years past and so um I am including that 2% inflation adjustment to our base level support in our proposed budget for next year the Arizona State retirements system as I mentioned in the last meeting um is decreasing their rates that's a favor for both our employees and the district as both are contribut um contri contributors into that um retirement system so um the decrease in the Arizona State Retirement System to 12% that will realize about $200,000 savings for the district uh and employees can calculate uh 27% uh that would be back into their paychecks so not a lot but it is a positive movement um with that rate going down um in addition the alternative contribution rate this is for employees that have retired and then are back into the system they pay a different rate that rate is also decreasing has a minimal uh monetary effect to our district is we have a very few employees that have retired and that we've hired back um on the last column there um are husd kind of special budget estimates um m transfer to Capital this is our Middle School lease payment um I I want to thank Mr Arman for coming in and getting a deep dive into the middle school lease uh history um but uh this is our our current obligation is $3.5 million for principal and interest payment and that is for the next 28 years that is that will go down over the years but for the most part we're looking at you know a $3 million plus um for that payment we have continued to fund that from our M uh budget via transfer as we have to pay that statutorily from their capital budget so um as I mentioned the the last the first iteration of this projected budget um we are now being a little more aggressive in our projections for ADM loss uh we are in this budget we're projecting an ADM loss of 300 um now again we hope that is conservative and we hope that is uh not the case but as we've saw in December um we underestimated um that enrollment loss to the tune about 250 and so um increasing that ADM loss on the front end will let us uh appropriately budget for the fiscal year and if we have if we come in above that or under that um hopefully under that uh we'll have some budget capacity to add back into the budget to utilize uh in the middle of the year um in addition this is um FIFA 26 our override will now begin its phase down as again it was it was not renewed in November that phase down is estimated approximately a reduction of $5.1 million for FY 26 so just a quick snapshot again of uh same um summary of what I presented in the first round um we have no new information so this is still our FY 26 projected proposed budget but uh just to recap our the top section is our current revised budget as of December 10th uh that's 125 million um we are looking at the bottom half FY 26 projected proposed budget again it's taking into consideration everything I just mentioned so the 300 unweighted ADM decrease the M the first year the M phase down and then our M transfer to capital for our lease payment so with all those taken into consideration it also includes the base level adjustment so that 2% adjustment but even with that the decrease outweigh that that 2% increase in in the base level adjustment and we are projecting a m budget of 116 million which uh comparatively to what we have our current budget to our projected budget we're looking at a $9.2 million decrease we do have some information that we are starting to fill out as you as a reminder I didn't have any of this information the first iteration so um property insurance uh C insurance and workers compensation um our current carrier the trust is finishing their uh board meeting um in the middle of this week and so we should have those renewal rates um at our March meeting um again every indication is uh the reinsurance market is is going to go up so um even we had we've had low claims but just the reinsurance market for um property and and all the valuables everything's valued at a higher dollar amount and so um we anticipate those numbers to go up um we have finalized kind of our utilities uh FY 26 budget projections we are seeing um we are budgeting for $200,000 increase largely in part to the SRP unknown increases that are going to occur mid year uh based on their letters that they've provided us so um SRP has made it known that they are um researching an increase in utility rates um they operate on a calendar year and so they won't have any proposals or any information to us until November uh that is smack dab in the middle of our fiscal year and so we are being prudent and um anticipating an increase um and we are setting aside $200,000 in large part to uh have enough budget capacity to address those utility increases our school and Department budgets um we have had difficult conversations in terms of reducing um our department and school budgets across the board our largest contributors are uh from the maintenance operations Department uh we made some large reductions in their M budget in addition to shaa and the sped Department um we've made some large reductions in in that apartment as well while still maintaining our compliance in our obligated standard you know um obligation to service those students um when we take into consideration all those uh budgets we were looking at reducing um getting back maybe is a better way to say it of 750,000 and so we'll see estimated cost savings right now without the insurance um numbers in there of $550,000 in reduction so when we put that into the equation um we currently as a reminder so we we were we're currently realizing a decrease a budget decrease into f26 of $9.2 million in the first presentation we talked about the 5.1 million in position reductions for fiscal year 26 um and FY 26 recommended fix cost we now have a little more information and I've included the $550,000 and um net reduction for our department and school budgets in large part and our increases to utilities so we are now looking at a budget decrease of $3.6 million and this is where I I talked to the board about um utilizing some of the budget bounds carry forward to um absorb um basically budget to a deficit next year again this is not a long-term solution but we do have that carry forward um and we can utilize it for this purpose looking at what we would deem phase two so as it stands we do not have Au authorization uh for an override continuation and so um me being uh very conservative and and trying to be prudent and get ahead of FY 27 so this would be two years now um we need to look at realistically as it stands right now what that reduction would look like and go through um that process um as early as possible and so this again is the m override phase down timeline so again we are um already planning for a fiscal 26 which is what I just went over um that reduction again is estimated at $5.1 million in FY 27 we're looking at another $5 million so again it comes in the the override phas down is is in thirds and so um we we again would like to start we've started a conversation with our leadership um we would like to engage our community and a lot of our stakeholders into this process as we have about a year um to formalize some of those reductions if no resolution is called for the continuation of the override so uh and then in fiscal year 28 there would be the complete reduction of the override funding again which is currently providing about $14 million um in additional M Capa budget capacity for the district so with that I'm going let Miss Richards explain about the steps that we will be utilizing for phase two okay thank you Mr Moore president way members of the board this is what our plan is at the moment we want to be able to collect input from all stakeholder groups that includes all employees our parents Community leadership meet confer and I would like for our students on the superintendent advisory Council to participate as well so our goal is to come back on March 4th with some recommendations that we've gathered both through surveys that will go to these groups and our community meeting that we have schedule for Wednesday February 19th at 5: that is when Wednesday is it okay uh my brain is Tuesday Wednesday anyway I think it's super important as we move through this we're listening to kids like Miss jarmin mentioned our employees the community and our parents specifically so we've started on this survey our goal is to send it out on Monday with a TW we window so send it out on the 10th and have it come back on the 24th so we can compile the data and report back so you wouldn't think it would be tricky to put together a survey like that so it makes sense so we've spent quite a bit of time working on that to ensure that it's clear so it'll be the phase two plan if there is no voter approval for the continuation so I think I think what we are doing is trying to be really thoughtful because anytime you reduce people programs it's tough right so I think we went through that last meeting too so um I'm interested to get the feedback from our parents employees and the community and then then let's see what the students have to say as well so that's our plan moving forward um and I think if you guys have questions or input on that process let us know because we haven't done this before or I haven't it's a new procedure so Mr Moore do you want to finish up with the budget calendar yeah just finalizing again we we hope to bring those results back to the March 3rd excuse me March 4th board meeting as well as the third and final review of the M budget and I hope to have those insurance rates so you guys can get the final full picture of of what we're looking at in terms of a proposed f26 budget um in hopes of you the board tentatively approving that so we can issue contracts for teachers um which would go out on March 15 once uh March is completed we'll kind of shift our Focus to the capital budget um and start those discussions on April 1st um and and continue through April 22nd so with that I'll be happy to answer any questions thank you Mr Moore um I don't necessarily have a question I just given some of the the comments that we've had today and the chart that we have where we look at what phase two looks like what phase three looks like um I'm appreciative for the members of the community who talked about one of the programs that's getting hurt now which would be think um and the idea behind that for those of you who have not been here the last time our M did not pass and those types of things we are seeing similar hardships to what we have had in the past and so I hope as we can continue to go forward over the course of the next year we can work with the community and get people to see kind of how these changes impact because they have a direct impact on our students and our students are the ones who are harmed at the end of the day um and it's hard decisions that we have to make and it's not something that we want and we routinely talk about how you know we're competing for students with other schools and everything else and this is common throughout our state this is the way our state structures funding and so you have a lot of districts who are in similar positions for example Mesa has to cut 144 uh positions which is a lot and I recognize that Mesa is larger than us that that's that's a lot um and so I think think when we see how these impacts can happen and when we feel these things hopefully we can make it a point to talk about the importance of going forward and so when Community gets these surveys and you see things and go oh God I don't want this to go away I can't do that yes we agree we agree we don't want these programs to go away and so I think it is important for us to kind of keep in mind the hardships that could come as a result Mr Moore as always I'm appreciative of the way in which you do your job I'm appreciative of how this Administration recognizes that these dollars are attached to human persons and that there is hardship in that and so I'm always appreciative of creative ways to try to figure out how we can look forward and I am always appreciative of looking to prepare rather than being responsive to some of these problems and I think that's the best that we can do so I appreciate apprciate it president Wade president Wade go ahead Miss vanhook thank you um I want to just mention yes you know obviously the the override and bond didn't pass but at the same time um we do I will remind every we we have a 20% M carryover um and so we're not in a bad position and for me it's a bit frustrating pulling at parents heartstrings saying it impacts this yes obviously it impacts this but our main concern should be to do what it takes to ensure that we're attracting families and when we have a upset parents because there's a lack of transparency and and parents aren't being heard or things that are happening in classrooms that's upsetting parents that's causing them to pull their children that is the direct impact where students are leaving our district which means we're losing the funding so we really have to think hard what can we do to to change this so that we are attracting families instead of pushing families out that should be our main priority instead of making parents feel bad and say oh you didn't pass the bond so now you're going to feel the impact of losing a program that was benefiting your child and and that needs to be the number one priority in in all of it how do we what shall we do in our district that's going to attract parents um and I mean I've I've talked about several things over the last two years and um sometimes I feel like it falls on deaf ears but it truly is impactful and I hear from these parents all the time um another question I have uh for Mr Moore is I noticed that um the projected budget the 9 million that number changed a little bit um but it's not reflected in the numbers above um can you explain what that's from I mean it's not a big change but there is definitely a change from the last presentation yeah uh president Wade member Van Hook yeah we continue to update these based on current enrollment numbers so as we uh finish out our our fiscal year we are continuing to update them as our ADM uh continues to fluctuate based on um aoi aoi does not function um we still get funding and counts change past the 100 day so that changes um our current budget projections for next year again we're projecting out about four or five months out um we want to update this as much as we can to the most accurate information so as our ADM fluctuates we modify that and present that to the board as the most C current and recent numbers thank you that's all I have President Wade um I have as a community member I just want to say what kind of in my general opinion and you guys can counter this either way but the things that kind of pull people from the district is the lack of curriculum transparency and um Safety and Security um sometimes people really have rough experiences with the district and sadly they feel like that's not addressed and there isn't kind of a swift change so I just I hopeful because we're you know we're working together and we've got some years going on but ultimately that is kind of the strings that I see that pull people sadly from the district so I think there's room for improvement so maybe we can touch base with that in the future um and again I just want to say I am a very big advocate of family and so I was thinking about these programs and stuff and I I don't know if some of them pull extra time away from the family that is unnecessary sometimes but maybe those are the ones that we just kind of reassess and look at um in any business the left hand needs to know what the right hand's doing and in a way we need to all kind of just cooperate and help Mr Moore do his job better you know but it's hard for him sometimes but if we can help figure out ways where we can perhaps pull some funding from if it's not efficient for families and um additional time or just distractions and the students are not really enjoying it so much then those are things again that we can kind of Swift away and just touch base on what they really love and then just get those wants kind of a little bit away if they're distracting and aren't very prod productive um when it comes to focusing on academics and just really give families and parents what they um what they want they really just want a good wholesome um education and just thank you madam president um well I just I just want to I don't want to counter anything that anyone has said because that you're you know you guys are all entitled to your your opinions but there are enrollment challenges is really everywhere across throughout Arizona um and it's not because um the curriculum uh I teach in a different District I teach science and I teach social studies the Social Studies books I'm using uh were adopted in 2007 um the standards may have changed a bit but the materials that we still have are the same materials um the the re what is not being mentioned here at all is the fact that our state legislature has decided to give public money to private schools and that's why we're all struggling with our funding and I just want to point that out as another Counterpoint uh to you know something to think about President Wade um I'd like to say um something about that so everybody's blaming esas um it's not esa's fault parents wouldn't utilize esas if they were happy with the school obviously if a parent is choosing to pull their child and uses Esa dollars then there's a reason for that a parent can pull their child out completely from a district and not use Esa and the district would get absolutely no money but when a parent pulls their child out and uses Esa the district still gets half the money so in a way es a parent being on Esa is still benefiting the district um we have to keep that in mind and and it's not the fact that the legislatur decided to give money to uh private schools it's giving parents a choice to make the best decision for their child's education and that's why I'm saying we have to make that decision on you know constant negative news and inappropriate sexual books given to our students um such as the father spoke tonight assignments like that uh those are the kinds of things that are pulling parents out of our district putting pulling students out of our district I hear it weekly Madam president Madam president miss Van Hook I think I think we're getting away from the topic at hand which is your maintenance and override budget while some of the discussion among the board members has been about reasons for student uh decline in enrollment which is directly related to budget I think we are straying from the topic and so I'd ask that we reconnect to the the presentation that Mr Moore gave and questions related to that please thank you all right this takes us takes us to item 6.3 uh fiscal year 2025 2026 employee contracts uh we're going to go to Miss Johnson for employee contracts president Wade members of the board um before you you have of the um employee contracts for fiscal year 2526 uh we did move this to an information item as there were some questions regarding the contracts and some possible changes to them based on the contract questions so um I don't know if you want me to get into the questions would you like me to go there you gu ask Miss Johnson do what feels great okay so we did have a a question in regards to to gender identity and now that there has been an executive order um that is being asked to be removed uh I wasn't uh we are at the point of with legal council making the recommendation to remove that but we have a few policies that may affect so we would have to bring the policies back to the board as well if we remove that language from the contract so I'm working with with legal counsel U Mr Haw and of course our legal counsel here this evening um also another question was asked about um adding language to contracts in regards to um and District policies and so I'm checking into that as well and I'll be happy to update the board members through status this week on some of these questions that you've had that one I will be able to answer and then um we do have something new that was put in the contract and it's according to a statute that if there is a um if an employee specifically a certified employee uh has some type of offense or has been arrested for some type of offense that they would immediately need to uh refer that to the superintendent so we're double-checking if that's for every employee or just certified employees will look into that again that would that would mean that we would have to change a policy gbb states currently that they must report to a supervisor we want to be specific with our contracts and then there was some discussion to in regards to liquidated damages and we're looking into that as well and we I will report in status this week about liquidated damages and what that would look like again again if a change is needed we would need to bring the policy um GCB back to the board as well to be updated so a lot of the changes or questions that we had definitely reflect policy as well as the contracts so um I should have more information for the board our plan is to bring that to a status and then um bring the contracts back for approval and if any policy needs to be changed or updated uh revision would happen at the March 4th along with the approval of the contract language questions yes president Wade sorry I can't see anybody so it's hard for me to know who's speaking go ahead Miss Van Hook and then we'll go after you so it because it's easier thank you um um I just lost my question here oh yes um Miss Johnson one of the questions I had was about uh the background checks um I know there's a portion in the contracts that mentions that um but I wanted to know if there's a a policy related to background checks yes that's then tied to the contract and if for instance um I know with like uh like Mandarin um if we ever hire uh you know a for a foreign teacher to come in and teach uh a foreign language for instance um do we only do background checks within the states or do we also do interpole background checks for those those types of situations and um if if we don't is that something that we can consider doing um and including as part of the language and the policy and in the contract for any type of um employee like that um to ensure that you know obviously if they're coming from a foreign country they're local record would be clear um so just something to sorry go ahead oh member Van Hook yes um we do background checks on every employee um uh as far back as we need to uh that is seven years and also every employee that works for us must have a fingerprint card and that goes back 99 years so that um I wasn't aware of a background question coming in so I'll I'll check check into that as well but yes we're covered with a policy and we're covered in uh when we hire somebody uh they have to go through that process we do not allow anyone to work until those two things are completed can I can I also have Johnson too Miss Van Hook members of the board we do have a background check service provider that we do utilize and we do pay for an additional International check so if they're coming from Asia or from Europe uh or anywhere else in the world that is a supplemental that we ensured that we have as part of our package so it does do International checks as needed wonderful thank you that was my main concern other questions oh sorry thank you Miss Johnson did you want me to talk about my the conversation that we had yes you're welcome to yes okay so um just for the rest of you guys policy GCB is talks about the liquidated damages um and it just has come to my there's a couple of things that have come to my attention um but one is the is the I saw the language in the certified teacher contract so in U well it's a different number but in line 21 of the teacher contracts it says the district res re uh reserves the right to wave or reduce the amount of uh the amount owed of liquid damages liquidated damages if certificated teachers failure to perform the entire term of the contract is due to circumstances Beyond his or her control and that's great and there are situations where that does happen there are uh there have been occasion uh everywhere I've worked that sometimes you have an employee that is you know unhappy making everybody unhappy and you just sometimes have to have a conversation with them that like is this really what you want to do and so um one of the fastest ways to get them on their way um would be to remove or just to add the language that if it was deemed in the best interest of the district by the superintendent uh that gives them some discretion because otherwise you're either dragging it out and they're going to wait till the end of the year and make everybody even more miserable um or you know they have to wait like a month and hope that it goes through to the board and then it passes sometimes there are situations where you know it's really best if people parted ways and uh that's just a little speed bump that gets in the way and I also would you know I've been thinking about you know as we sign contracts we sign them very early um I think teachers should be able to go out and look for other jobs I mean job abandonment fine that collect the liquidated damages criminal stuff collect the liquidated damages but like if you have an example like a teacher you know that I know you know her two people in her family died and uh it was just becoming too much and uh you know to to charge them $1,000 when they just you know mentally need a break um it just takes a long time but as we you know start to downsize some of these things there will be people that are going to have to be moved locations and sometimes maybe you just don't want to you know you don't want to move but if they've already signed the contract then they have to pay and uh I just think we should be a little more flexible um I I would like to give the superintendent the flexibility so just to add that line you know if it's deemed in the best interest of the district by the superintendent that they they have the authority on occasion to uh to wave that just to speed things up uh for people um and so that would require us to look at policy GCB as well so that was my concern just to make it a little bit easier in those rare instances where you have somebody um that we all kind of agree probably just need to move on Miss Johnson um just so I can understand what we're supposed to do at the present moment in time based off of some of these things so am I to understand it that you will go through talking to legal and finishing up your queries at the present moment and then depending on what your outcome is at our next meeting March 4th is where for example Mr Glover's policy would be where we vote on whether or not to include that language or is that a discussion you want us to have at the present no we would bring it back um you were right and saying that I'm checking with legal okay getting legal advice based on the contracts the language that's been um asked to be added whether that should or not and then if it is going if we make a recommendation to add that language to the contract then policy would need to be changed as well they have to match right the contract and the policy needs to match so we would make those recommendations both of the policy and if you don't approve the policy then obviously the language would stay the same okay so right now we don't need to do anything on any of the the request or all of that until the next I just want to make sure I understood that that is correct perfect thank you thank you president do we have any further comments Anderson I mean I can't stop doing that President wait um okay one issue I've had with liquidated damages um is the fact that uh we have in the past um had an employee who was uh who resigned um due to uh inappropriate conduct um the the employee was allowed to resign and then we allowed the individual we we voted to allow this person out of their contract um and I don't find that to be right if if an employee has done something wrong and they're being asked to resign instead of being terminated which I don't agree with to be you know to begin with if if an employee has violated District policy or state laws um I think it should be termination instead of uh being allowed to resign and then just go to a different District um but I think in this situation too if we're going to have such policy that we should have verbiage in there um that in those situations first we as a board need to know who that individual is so that when we see them um um in the documents we know who they are and then also be able to uh not have liquidated damages waved if they're having to leave due to inappropriate conduct and or violation of law or policy so I'd like to be able to see that um and I I mean I understand that it sucks to you know have to pay that but is a contract and that they have to sign um and just like any other contract if you sign it you have to be responsible for it and to just leave it at the discretion of um you know is this benefiting the district if this person just leaves but then the district then takes on the burden of covering their uh fees for breaking their contract and now having to spend money to hire a new staff member uh that's an impact that uh obviously impacts our taxpayers and uh us as a board we're here to ensure that our district is spending money wisely um that's benefiting our taxpayers and we need to be cognizant of that as well thank you okay so to clarify Miss Johnson next meeting is when we can talk about what legal advises per this correct can we also include in that because uh I as far as I understand it having worked here in all of that um should I break my contract the fees are to me there is no fee to us as a district should somebody decide to leave and no longer do their contract whether we collect the ,000 or not there is no cost to us it's either we're collecting the Thousand from them or we are not as far as liquidated damages correct well no because there's um to rehire somebody and is that what you're talking about presid I'm just the the rehiring is separate to what I'm I'm talking about specifically I just mean contractually if we lose an employee no matter what we're going to have to do that regardless whether they sign their contract and not at all that jazz that's the same across the board I just wanted to make sure that there is no additional fees that are part of the contract itself the the cost to us would be having to replace that individual not that that I'm aware of okay that was all this moves us to action item 7.1 we are looking at approval of special warranty deed with town of Gilbert for Gateway Point Elementary um before I make a motion on this I'm going to have Mr Moore clarify some things just to make sure we understand it before we go on yeah president Wade members of the board just to uh explain this agenda item briefly before for you vot on it um as they stated in the issue U we've been working with the development of The Villages of bellastoria which is a property south of Gateway um Point Elementary um this has been going on for a year now um part of their requirements in order to continue their development of that land is to uh the town of govern is requiring them to put in a roundabout at the intersection of blue jay um this roundabout will uh take uh a portion of our property and convert it into easement approximately 343 Square ft um we view this um warranty deed as beneficial for the district as that roundabout will include now two student crosswalks um and obviously with a roundabout there's some slowing to traffic so um there's some benefits for the district which is why you see a monetary dollar Domin nomination U denomination in the warranty deed uh with us um moving this 343 Square ft to the town of Gilbert and deeming it now easement so I'll be happy to answer any questions if the board has any but that's my explanation of this agenda item awesome this is this is my kids school in my neighborhood so I'm I'm looking forward to the the easement of traffic in some of those areas I think might be beneficial um so if nobody has anything I motion that the governing board approve special warranty deed with town of Gilbert for Gateway Point easement second that's Mr Glover seconded all those in favor I I I I I was that an I from his okay great motion passes 5 Z I don't know don't know where that was all right we are on to 7.2 approval of fiscal year 2024 audit reports again I'm going to give uh Mr Moore a minute before I motion on this one thank you president way members of the board I just wanted to take a brief moment to mention two things these audit reports um one firstly uh we had a unmodified um audit with no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses again um this is the culmination of of not just me of my team and and really in part the whole District right a lot of our procedures that we put in place that maybe teachers or other classified staff and coaches uh feel are overburdening them um they're not procedures that we put in place um discretionary right we have those procedures in place to meet these large compliance uh rules that we must follow and so I also want to say thank you to all those teachers staff and anybody who uh is involved in some sort of a procurement process with the school district uh for one helping us by following those procedures that we put in place again we don't try to overburden stuff but um it's really a whole District culmination of of having an audit that's that's clean um and to um I think this is opportunity to address the consent item agenda regarding the Sher exence award um that is a fee we pay to send this audit to get additional um basically review so we go above and beyond our state audit standards and we send our audit to the N A National Review team to have it reviewed um and we um that is called the certific certif certificate of excellence award um but that fee is to pay for the fee to have our audit reviewed so thank you I just want President W oh sorry Mr Mo the fee is to pay to have the review not for the actual award itself correct okay thank you president can you hear me go ahead Miss vanhook thank you um the only uh issue I have with the audit um report being as an action item is the fact that we didn't have an opportunity for this to be presented to the board as an information item and for the numbers to be explained to everybody and I'm not sure that um everybody on the board has a full understanding of the data that's in the audit in order to approve it um I think items like this uh should be brought to the board as an informational item and explained uh so that we understand all the details that are in it um especially you know all the financial information um and so that's my only concern uh here five of us do all five of us have a full understanding of what's in this audit and what we're about to approve um and I I'm not confident that that is the case and so um with that said um I'd like to move to table this item and bring it back as an informational item first before we actually approve it so um I guess I I can make them a second if you didn't hear I oh sorry go ahead we have a motion uh to table uh item 7.2 approval of fiscal year 2024 all those in favor of tbling I I all those opposed Nay Nay Nay as well that was Sarah okay and and this and president way this is the problem uh we as a board continue to rubber stamp information without the full understanding of what is being presented to us for approval board member Van Hook I'm going to ask that we move on from the the table has not passed I recognize the frustration with that if you have anything more specifically to this specific agenda item that is totally fine I will let you continue with that um but I I recognize and understand where your position may be it's just not the position held by everybody on the board in that process and and I understand that um but again as and I have the right to State the board continues to rubber stamp information without asking questions and expecting answers and this is a major problem and so you have a right to to proceed to approve something that you don't have you might not have a full understanding of um so yeah let's proceed let's vote thank you I do wish to express as far as the statement of rubber stamping where I may choose or other individuals may choose our understanding of the process or our understanding of what's in front of us may differ and again that is part of of governance and I recognize the frustration with that um hopefully as we go forward you know we can continue or there are other opport unities for those of us on the board who still struggle to understand to make meetings with Mr Moore if we wish to have more information on that um so with that I motion that the governing board approve the fiscal year 2024 audit reports as presented second that would be Miss Schultz second all those in favor I I I okay I didn't hear I will abstain okay so motion passes 4 to Z with exstension moving on to discussion or sorry 7.3 discussion of board meetings start time president Wade um we have got some feedback from the community and one of them had to do with uh or some of it had to do with points of Pride um and so I would like to make a proposal of moving points of Pride to 5:30 um and then with the board business start starting at 6:00 which I think might help everyone um and then also allowing for public comment to for people to sign up for public comment up until 6 o'clock I'm going to ask for legal guidance on how you want us to do that make a motion you like make right right so right now Madam president M you are just I'm sorry I forgot to say Mo I said propose and I apologize so you're in discussion on that item I I would understand the motion to mean that you were moving to move the start time of the board meeting to 5:30 essentially um and that would allow the points of Pride to occur um you have the option to um as a governing board to require the administration to accept to request for public comment up until 6: p.m.

so I'm assuming that's incorrect and I was going to look at the sign and I forgot so do you know what time it is Mick I'm 6m I will let you know just saw that I'm not going I was GNA say is there a place because I was looking today and there seems to be multiple old places to look at online for different events going on in col is there a current place where people can go so I know from the district lens um once the information is shared with Seth and and the superintendent's office it's pushed through um all of our social media Pages um and then also I know that individuals and I because I get them mi's team Marita sends it via parents Square as well so I don't know I mean you could talk about school based but District based as yeah I I know I think we're in the works of getting a new website platform and the old one I tried to be trained on last year and it it's a lot so I did a because there's a new one from 24 that has bricks on it that's that has like placeholders but no descriptions on the calendar oh I don't know about that one but um I was just curious I was looking today to be what time and I was like you really supposed to look you get the parents we do not I don't I get parents Square for middle school high school my students no so I know we're supposed to be getting it you should be we we'll double check we'll double check that okay would be great um I just wanted to note uh that some policies were updated we had a joint meeting with the region in ammer and several of our policies were updated at that time um we've decided to try to meet jointly when we have to do approvals of policies and a couple of other things so that it doesn't have to happen three different times at three different meetings so so far that's worked really well I think we did get rid of the one specific P yes yes thank you okay thank you for mentioning that um and I then I just wanted to say that we have the budget hearing which I believe is the 25th 20 I think 24 the 24 thank you okay and I just wanted to check Dr Z that that's going to be like a special meeting yes and that means that we can take qu I mean the people who come can ask us questions at that point in time is that correct right yeah yeah okay it'll be about um I think it's supposed to be half of the time um the ammer chair sent me the the write up on it and so we have to present and do our presentation and then public comment for about equal to okay so then that's then I have to reach out to the region and Mar will decide what that public comment time would be okay great thank you um all right that's my update um Mickey oh no do wether Rie have any updates um continue to the APA negotiations of continues to negotiate our meeting last week was postponed our meeting was not available and we have tomorrow okay but things are going really well good oh wait I can give you the real update so we have one of the things we have decided in our meeting is to have a joint statement that we write as an update at the end of every at the end we write together at the end of every meeting so our statement is good evening the negotiation team for the apaa 2025 2028 contract which includes apaa members District administration and school committee recently had a productive meeting we began by having every member of the team and the ground rules following this we identified and discussed various interests many of which both are left these interest were categorized into three phases one easy clean up phase two process or procedures and three economic issues our next meeting is scheduled for January 29th is one I got postponed during which we will finalize all interest for discussion after this point know interest will be introduced and we can will continue to work towards alignment instes thank you okay so we'll move on to the principal update Mickey okay um so I kind of have it in different categories students first uh the PTO has been running a readathon and it has blown away expectations um the students are so into it it's really fun and um the PG member who's really taken it and run with it has been more than amazing um to kind of coordinate with this monthlong readathon um we have a couple author visits uh one the PTO set up one I set up um so I can tell you more about the one I set up um the author is coming I coordinated with the library and the Council on Aging and they're the author's going to come and do two different readings lower grades and upper grades the book is called mending small things and it's about community and an elderly person um mending a stuffed animal for a younger person and so the Council on Aging is g to be coming and mending stuffed animals that the kids bring in and the librarian is so excited because she was she's gonna have a stuffed animal sleep over at the library so the public libraries and just in case you're wondering kids are not sleeping over at the library um but the stuff animals will and she's going to be posting on Instagram and whatever all social media the seff animals having their sleepover super cute um so I'm excited about that and then in between the two readings the author is going to do a like a lunch group with the older students on like a writing Workshop so the PTO um is helping to sponsor that and also um you know it was it's great that we're able to bring in the Council on Aging and the LI the public library because we've always been trying to do more community events um and then there's a bunch of things coming up like a walk ride stroll to school is coming up in the in the couple months from now but in preparation for for that the um Mass Department of Transportation is coming out and working with the PE teacher to do some bike safety some crossw pedestrian safety um and then mcats are coming so we're preparing for that did a little fighting with the computer yesterday trying to upload stuff um and luckily the kids it's not on their radar quite yet but they put it on their own radar in you know out of recess they talk about it unfortunately it's start getting stressed out about it um the school council met recently we sent out a parent survey um parent and um uh and a student survey and we divided the student survey in by younger and old to really get a sense of how students are feeling what they might need more of um and that was it was really helpful to start the conversations around that and the goal is to um create new school Improvement goals um so we're gonna we're working on that and you mentioned the Multicultural night and then the grant which is social justice um we're meeting a meeting with the staff in a couple weeks to think about how we want to use that because we have um done a lot of work on social justice and have a framework from which we've been working and um so that the next step would be how do we want to continue our work around that and money um and then the final thing is our Safety Committee has um met a few times we've met with the fire chief and the police chief and the safety protocols have been updated a little bit for the state and the police chief um and I are working on dates for them to come in and do a 4-Hour training so we have to kind split it up among days um but it's been really um I don't love having the safety meetings because you think of worst case scenarios but it's been really good to have them and in the past I I think our our planning around it hasn't been as deep as it should be should be um and so I'm hoping plan planned for the worst case and never have it so we're having lots of meetings around that and we had some tabletop um exercises which was a recommendation from the police and fire chief um with the staff and we went through you know different scenarios in different places of the building so don't want to think about it but have you okay and then next time we meet I'll give you some more updates on um the student academic growth the preliminary results um are looking really good um especially in math um so that's exciting I think the new curriculum is proving to be um very effective and accessible so that's really exciting so I can bring that next time okay any questions all right then we'll move on to mrct good afternoon um first off I like to just remind everyone that we're having our four towns meeting on Saturday um and so definitely I know that pum feeds into the it's really CRI difficult to just hear what's happening um I released a grim data um which CA a little tiic for some schools and and just so we ended up updating it that we were clear on the fact that there are multiple ways that we report um and that's a part of the findings that we have in terms of why schools may not have um any data in in the system I believe that we have about two cases that were in pelum um one case of bullying confirmed status um two are listed in the Raw data and it may be a duplicate and then one case is currently in progress so um we are working diligently um we had a couple PRS complaints that came in around this situation and we've been looking at our buling protocol um we did find the team and looking at I did find where there was some language that D requires that are that are intervention protocol did not in in include um but then we've been working also on what is the investigation protocol so there's a bullying um prevention plan but we need to kind of outline what the investigator is supposed to do and put that together so we have the tools we know need to talk about how to use the tools um so that first report um went out but we have some work to to continue to do um we also started our portrait of a graduate work so thank you Margaret for showing up from representing P um and so it was a really great two days of deep talk deep deep conversation diving into data and we agreed that we are actually going to take an additional step so what we're going to do next is host focus groups um and have like elementary teachers come in and different individuals come in to kind of get that buy in and roll up together so we're working with um Dr leand to kind of do that um and then for me I'm doing some opportunities I realized that um a lot of a part in building relationships in the first six or seven months of my leadership has really been at the central office or School leader level and so I'm actually hosting um some sessions at the different schools kind of more of a get to know you um and I believe hel is our first school up and it is on Thursday so um yes it is right th yes Thursday at 2:30 to 4: p.m um so I'll be here I'll be available I'll reach out my team and I reach out to Nikki to see where's a good place for me to centralize and and be and it's really so that individuals will get to know the real do z um also that Thursday we have our budget meeting um to start diving into the final pen budget so that we're ready for our budget book to be posted it has to be posted I believe seven days ahead of the meeting so um we have our budget meeting that same Thursday 11:45 a.m.

will basically disenfranchise most of the Middle School families and the Middle School teachers you want to you all keep claiming to represent the community represent the community and keep the meeting at 6:00 p.m.

that's not illegal you can set your Rules of Order about that issue okay perfect thank you for any discussion motion yeah absolutely disc there is not miss Van Hook if you would like to say something go ahead yes please um so at the last meeting uh board member Glover asked for Community feedback and we got community feedback um and the majority of the feedback that we got was asking us not to move the meeting time um and I if you know if we're going to listen to the community they're asking not to move the time and we need to consider that uh Mi uh we had um Taylor emailed in um great information regarding other District we are the earliest District uh around us and that hasn't changed anything um and so I would like to keep it um at 6 o'clock because that allows more Community involvement um and whether it's online or it's in person we might not have seen a drastic increase uh of in-person attendance um but that that doesn't mean that these people aren't involved after work or on their way home um and we need to ensure that our board meetings reflect our commitment to our family values and our our community engagement that's why we're here we're here to serve the community and the earlier our meetings are the more we limit our community members and we as a board it's our job to be here for the community and give them the opportunity to come in after work if they if they have something to say um you know they might not attend on a regular basis but if they have something to say one day that they have the opportunity to come in um with a six o'clock meeting um so I my recommendation would be to keep it at six o'clock one thing I would like to say is once it's online it's online and so you can watch it at any time and so that's the great thing about putting it online is that you could watch meetings from I think four years ago if you wanted to if you wanted to go back so I don't think that start time affects you because you can watch it at at any time online uh president board member president Wade um president Wade oh sorry there's a delay I'm sorry president Wade um I I also like the current time schedule I really think that it's helpful for families buttoning down everything at home and getting everything and all the homework kind of settled if need be in dinner um Gilbert Queen Creek and scottd they have a similar time currently 6:00 p.m. and these are other uh school districts mesa's at 6:30 Deer Valley and Chandler at 7: p.m.

so that way the Middle School families can actually make it also if you're going to keep asking the community for budget overrides and for more bonds then we need a fiscal audit before we find ourselves in the same spot that Isaiah is in you are claiming to represent the community now represent the community thank you next we have Suzanne Stanley good evening Higley board members and members of our District administration uh my name is Suzanne Stanley and I've been a teacher at Higley High School for five years all three of my children attend Higley schools and I want to tell you about my youngest son um um this bright and beautiful boy sitting in the front row right here is Nixon um Nixon was born substance exposed and was brought to my home through the foster care program at only two days old um I was gifted with the choice of adoption after fostering Nixon for 18 months before he was even two years old I started to realize there was something different about Nixon he could write with nearly perfect handwriting and he recited the alphabet backwards in the car one day um by age three he had taught himself to read and was doing basic math when he was four we had him tested and he was diagnosed with autism and hyperlexia at age six nixen writes short books can do all sorts of math and can tell you so many incredible things about states countries planets and more his brain is magnificent um and needs a school curriculum that pushes him to his full potential um Nixon did not get into the think program at Bridges as a kindergartener as disappointed as we were he was blessed to have Miss Dunton at courtine in elementary who went above and beyond for a student who was extremely gifted and made sure he didn't get bored in her class at the end of kindergarten we um went with an IQ test that showed he was highly gifted and he was finally accepted into think the bridges think program has allowed Nixon to use his amazing brain for Learning and growth in a positive environment led by teachers who understand his giftedness these teachers also understand that he has social and emotional challenges that other students in a gened class may not have my son's unique combination of strengths and challenges means that traditional classrooms often do not um provide him with the appropriate level of intellectual stimulation or the social and emotional support he needs the think program at Bridges has offered him a safe and nurturing environment where he can Thrive academically while also being understood and supported for his neurodiversity think is a form of special education these students are born gifted and have specific requirements they have to meet in order to qualify just like an IEP or 504 student having looked into the programs Higley offers it concerns me that there are other programs that could have been considered before think um wonderful pro programs that should be offered if Higley has the budget for it but these programs are not special education taking the think program away is a detriment to students like ours and also to the Higley District as a whole the think program shows an attractiveness to parents searching schools for their children and is something that other districts do not have I urging the board members in the District administration to please reconsider closing this program for all of The Nixons out there who are in need of the Higgly think program thank you next we have Chase Stanley uh good evening members of the hickley um board and School District administration my name is Chase Stanley and I'm the father of Nixon a first grader enrolled in the bridges think up program I'm here today to express my concern regarding the recent communication we received as parents about the closure of the think program well we feel fortunate that our child is grandfathered into the program and is not directly impacted by the change I am concerned about the future for students like Nixon who are going to be impacted by this decision as my wife said my son did not enter the think program when he was in preschool or kindergarten it was it took us until first grade for him to be able to get into the program and his Early Educational experiences were challenging for both us him and his teachers for example Midway through preschool several times Nixon's teacher had to deal with his refusal or uh to participate or move on from a task he enjoyed because the the task he was going to didn't engage him and he was bored fortunately for us this wasn't the case in kindergarten as Miss Dunton quickly recognized Nixon's giftedness and went above and beyond supplementing his regular education and tailoring her approach to meet his unique needs however we believe that a teacher in a standard classroom shouldn't be required to make such extensive accommodations and there should be alternative educational environments available to better address the needs of highly gifted students like Nixon many of us parents believe the primary reason the think program is being targeted for closure is due to budgetary issues caused by the failed Bond vote and it appears that to be the most rean since no other explanation has been provided for the shutdown of this program uh given this the Assumption we're left wondering why thinka not being prioritized over other programs remain open uh especially since the these programs are not special classified as special education or even steam based programs such as the Dual language immersion programs the Dual language immersion program also features small class sizes like the think program promotes skills like a second language the skill um will have little need for in a future with advancements uh being made in AI where we'll be able to have people the computer translate for us however we need the best and brightest like our kids in the think program to help homeone and expand these new technologies like AI Robotics and Medicine which are the very individuals that this program serves ask you to please reconsider closing the program as this has been a life-changing for our son and his peers and also because it unlike most other specialized programs will continue to positively affect the gifted students of Higley and surrounding districts thank you for your time next we have Alistair power so good evening members of the board um I'm here here to talk to you guys about the cancellation of the think program as well um I think it is a great disservice to the community that this particular program is on The Chopping Block uh the reality we've heard the stories already of our kids who are benefiting from this program I am lucky that my son Bennett is also grandfathered into the existing program but I think about things that matter to this District like enrollment and competitiveness and if we're not actually providing a value to the community something distinctive what prevents a parent like myself who lives right around the corner from Legacy TR schools to take my gifted student and put him in that school instead the entire reason my family decided to take him to Bridges was the offering that think provided for us the fact of the matter is that we have great phenomenal certified teachers who are specialized in gifted education we've heard of the cancellation of the think program we haven't seen anything put forth as to what the plan is to service those kids from K through three moving forward I looked at the I looked at the operating budget today I saw that there's a budget for gifted education for the Higgly Unified School District of 850k my question to you is even though we are cutting this particular program what are the soft dollar costs going to be to give the guaranteed gifted Services guaranteed by the state to those kids who are no longer in the think program we're going to have to manage separate individual learning programs for each and every one of these kids pull them out of classes for various gifted activities instead what we have is a program where these kids can in fact learn amongst their peers develop social emotional bonds with kids who are like them my son Bennett uh is a phenomenon don't don't give him your password I'll tell you that much uh but he can hack into pretty much any computer system at the age of six what we're doing is making sure that these individuals continue to thrive amongst their peers unfortunately what we're setting up is to disenfranchise these very same students because let's face it kids like Nick kids like Bennett kids like the other students in that class will get bored very easily in general education Bennett could read and write his name at 18 months that's not the standard for someone in grade one thank you next is Mark scopa good evening I'm here to talk to everyone about indoctrination on January 8th and actually over the last couple years between my daughter who graduated from Higley High and my son who's at saucan I've become increasingly more and more concerned with the curriculum so let's go January 8th just a month ago introduction to social movements this is what my son was being tested on that week things change when people make things change what is a social movement if parents knew what you were teaching the kids just like the 300 other parents who pulled their students everyone would leave and none of you would have jobs it's disgusting so let's go into it what is a social movement organized Collective efforts by relatively powerless groups to affect social or political change operating outside the normal political channels so what is that mean people come together to plan and voice a need for change in other ways than lobbying lob uh lobbying in political office examples civil rights movements women's Liberation movement labor movement anti-war movement let's go to the next one let's see these type three types of social movements reform seeks limited changes in some aspect of a nation's political economic or social systems most common the Civil Rights Movement revolutionary Revolution AR so you're teaching the kids to be revolutionaries this is good seeks to overthrow the existing government and to bring about a new one and even a new way of life example American Revolution and the r Russian Revolution you mean the Communist Revolution that killed 30 million people and starve 10 million ukrainians is that the revolution that we're teaching Let's uh let's keep going uh let's see oh the people in power control those traditional channels you know and oh let's see what's that one right there let's keep going key characteristics operate primarily outside traditional political systems arise due to a group's exclusion from normal institutional political channels are always resisted by those in positions of power and privilege when it is a movement that threatens said power and privilege people in power prefer protesters go through traditional channels so what's the alternative that you're teaching so if the kids aren't satisfied with something what are you teaching let's figure it out what's what's next goal of social movement and the change they want to accomplish maybe it is to redistribute material resources more equitably that's an interesting one how how do you intend to do that more equitably so you talking about more communism is that what we're teaching to kids in e8th grade let's see comply it's a verb act in accordance with a wish or command why is withholding consent or compliance powerful powerful people only have the power we allow them to have when we comply let's see how do powerless people exercise power there's more this is disgusting absolutely disgusting and I'm going to keep going for a second my daughter you guys tried to assign my daughter about that everybody else sir I'm going to ask that you respect the same time you I don't care I don't care sir we can ask that you I'm not happy with the normal political channels Jud I can do this because I'm not happy with the normal political Chan can we I'm I appreciate your time we ask security to please support him back appreciate you thank you thank you sir next we have Kelly mon Kelly mon matano sorry Montano my bad Madame President members of the board thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Kelly Montano U my son Leonardo is a first grader in the think program at Bridges Elementary I'm here to implore the board to continue the think program at Bridges so that future GI gifted children can experience the many benefits that my child has we knew that our son was was gifted early on much like what Suzanne shared um when he began adding subtracting skip counting and reading independently at age three we knew we had our word our work cut out for us we began the search for prek programs that progressed faster than the standard one letter a week um we must have toured at least a dozen preschools with no luck and when our son was diagnosed with autism spectum disorder at age 4 we knew he would need a school a class and a teacher as special as him forgive me for getting emotional I can't express to you the relief of this mama when a friend of ours who was a former hgle unified staff member recommended the think program my family lives out of District we drive 25 minutes each way every day and we have for two years and I tell you that every single minute on the road is worth it in the think program my son's benefited from accelerated and rigorous project-based curriculum taught by knowledgeable and effective teachers who specialize in strategies and best practices for gifted and twice exceptional Learners a few of them are sitting over my shoulder right over here the think class is smaller than average which gives his teacher the ability to give personalized support to each student it's common for gifted children and especially twice exceptional children like my son to experience loneliness social isolation but the think program has ensured that that is not his experience when I asked him uh before I came here I asked him like did the think program how did it help you like get to know your classmates like make friends he looked at me like I was crazy and he was like I didn't need to get to know them they were in my class last year and I was was reminded that the think students progress through grades K through three at Bridges as a cohort as a little team they move through these grade levels together um and so the stability that this consistency has provided for my autistic son has been invaluable now I understand that yours is a tough job you have to decide which programs get priority and which don't and I don't envy you at all but I think we all can agree that every every child deserves to learn something new every time they come to school and that doesn't change if they're operating at two and three grade levels above their age level peers so I implore you to continue the think program at Bridges Elementary so that future gifted children can experience the many benefits that my child has thank you next we have Kim Jackson good evening board members I stand before you with a protective concern for our District's commitment to transparency inherence to proper protocols in decisionmaking recently after submitting a proposal for the independent PE for grades 7 through 12 and receiving no follow-up I sent an email to the director of secondary education the reply indicated that the administration would be providing their recommendations this phrasing raises concerns about the process are these recommendations grounded in comprehensive evidence and facts before being presented this isn't an isolated incident or concern last year when I advocated for a town hall to discuss current and future cell phone tower contracts the administration advised against it leading the board to vote accordingly instead of presenting a balanced view of pros and cons and allowing the board to make an informed decision the administration stance seemed to preempt open discussion such patterns propped a critical question if policy decisions are handled in this manner how are pivotal choices like hiring a superintendent approached the board is entrusted with making these significant decisions yet it appears Administration influence May overshadow Community input and transparency it's my concern current Administration approach seems misaligned with our District's best interest as I engage more it becomes evident that this methodology May contribute to declining numbers and erode trust board members your duty is to critically evaluate the administration's actions not merely to defend them you represent the community's voice as a new board I urge you to reassess these practices ensuring decisions are made transparently transparently and in the best interest of our students families and staff District administrators I'd like to challenge you to improve as you recommend on topics like independent PE options communication by proxy or the hiring of our future District employees please present all and any facts both good and bad to our board so that they can decide accordingly and I just want to close with some positivity um well before I do that I would just like to Echo your community is telling you guys that they want something bored as you advise Administration to take action please implore them to do so with both pros and cons my concern is that they may see a biased approach and not present to you both sides to be able to Advocate properly for the people here talking about getting rid of certain programs that they do not want you to get rid of to end positively I'd like to give a shout out to the entire sixth grade staff at cornado Ranch Elementary all three of my children have been blessed to be part of that program and I'm super grateful for them and I want to publicly thank them for all of their efforts with nurturing my children at that school thank you moving on to consent agenda items I'm president wait yes um go ahead Miss vanhook I I'd like to ask um superintendent Richards to look into this assignment because I'd like to know how this fits into State Standards Board member van h yes we can look into it I appreciate it yes I motion to approve consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.11 second Miss Schultz seconded all those in favor I I I I I motion carries five I'd like to um just mention something um that's in the ENT agenda um there was a there's an expense on there um for an application fee for certificate of excellence and financial reporting um the only so we're paying almost $1,300 for this application fee the only concern I have here is it it it feels like we're buying an award because we then we we apply for this certificate of excellence and then we advertise that that you know we received the certificate of excellence in in financial reporting but in reality it's like we're we're just buying the award um and then advertising it that we got it um so I I kind of feel like this process seems a bit deceptive um when we're actually paying for it um so I'd like to understand um the point um if we're having to pay for it and it's not necessarily received because of truly being excellent Madame President this is Jennifer mcclinon um and uh board member Van Hook if if you'd like to discuss that item the appropriate thing to do is to pull that item from consent so that there can be discussion at the board level I believe we've already had a motion second and a vote on the consent agenda so we would need to move on we would need to move on in the agenda now thank you that's fine I didn't expect an answer now but um I wanted to make that statement regarding that item thank you before we move on I would like to uh say thank you for the gifts and donations I believe we have a slide to put up there we can do that that is thank you to Melinda Le Katherine Ortiz School spe School specialty Chase Building team and Gilbert Centennial PTO for their generous donations to the districts and schools this now brings us to our information items we are looking at 6.1 governing board initiatives for 2024 2025 update Miss Richards president Wade members of the board and the community we adopted you guys helped to adopt our strategic plan and 2022 so every year we work together to determine goals and we've committed to Bringing quarterly updates to you guys so you know what kind of progress we're making so that's the purpose of this agenda item this evening you also have some superintendent evaluation forms should you decide you want to make some notes because these are all of our goals but spefic specifically how I am evaluated so we always revisit our vision our mission and our values and like I said we went into this strategic plan and pulled out specific goals for this school year as you look at our strategic plan it goes through 2027 so we've systematically been going through um these anchors goals and indicators to ensure we're making progress teaching and learning is strategic anchor number one and I'm a little partial to that one I think that's why we're all here we um work together to ensure our kids are learning at high levels and that they're successful our portrait of The Graduate is Central to everything we do we want our kids to be responsible citizens College and Career ready Scholars and Innovative Learners and as I mentioned before we started a superintendent student advisory Council and you've got some Dynamic kids there 6th through 12th graders and and I was super impressed with their input and so we made a little video that will tell a story hopefully and then I'll tell you more about this [Music] Council this was the superintendent advisory Council and essentially what they did is they got together a group of students and we all got together and we answered some questions about the district and they really just are looking for our input when they're planning for the future I think it's super cool that students are getting a voice to kind of explain what they see in the schools because I think a lot of times adults have the say in most things which is valid but also students have a say too and it's cool to know that our voices are valid and heard and I feel very safe and comfortable expressing my opinions on things even though sometimes it could be harsh to hear I think it's a great opportunity being part of this program is being like a leader for your school it's a very important job we find all the ways every school benefits us and we find like what needs some fixing what doesn't need some fixing what certain programs help you benefit with your learning hle is doing awesome I love that they have so many different programs for every different level they just do an awesome job of having the right curriculums for that and making sure we feel included they just do an awesome job of promoting clubs and different groups of people like there's something for everyone no matter where you [Music] go so we have plans for this Council to meet again in February we're going to go to Chandler Gilbert Community College Williams campus we're going to go on a tour and then we're gonna dig deeper into what's going well and Higley and how can we improve so what was interesting to me is when we were talking to these kids a lot of these kids had never been on a college campus so I was like oh opportunity there for us to get their feedback so we're going to cgcc on February 24th and then in May we're going to take them to ASU to the mix Center so we've got some fun things planned I want them to come in May and report back to you guys on what they've learned and where we need to go next because they're always a lot smarter than we are okay something else we did this year um the Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce hosted their eighth annual Elevate for tomorrow conference and it's for local high school juniors um it took place on January 10th at the ASU Polytech campus we took close to a hundred Juniors from williamsfield and Higley so during this event they had the opportunity to meet with businesses College instructors and they learned a few things about how do you write a resume how do you interview so we have a little video on that and I'm looking forward forward to these these Juniors getting not these but the new Juniors getting to participate next school year and I will say the president Chris Clark went out of his way to invite us so all right we going to see him on this video too today we're holding e4t it's Elevate for tomorrow it's a half-day conference for juniors for career in college explor ation what we do is hope that they get an idea of what they might want to pursue going forward and then they have their senior year to really dig in get more information find out extra details and maybe make those final decisions about where they want to go we're hoping that they gain some experience on planning for their future and what they want to do in either college or career it's nice cuz there's lots of volunteer speakers and guest speakers that are not only affiliated with the college but also with career field so they can Network and really gain a lot of insight into what they want to um do in their future today we're learning all about college and your career um people are taking different classes I personally took a class on how to be better at interviews I got to learn about um how to be better at interviews what questions to answer and how to answer them I hope to gain better skills at interviewing my interviewing skills personally aren't all that great so hopefully I'll be able to take away a lot of better skills when I go home there's plenty of opportunities for everybody we just really need to get these kids to take that first step and they'll leave here with a better idea of what they might want to do going [Music] forward so I'm really looking forward to us partnering with these universities because how many people in this country have this many universities around them that want to support So Mr L and ozer and I and Mr Armstrong have met with people from cgcc and ASU and I think we're going to learn a lot and our kids are going to get exposed to what's out there so I'm excited about that um as we move into strategic anchor number one teaching and learning I'm going to turn it over to Marcus birkshire to talk a little bit about goal one and I've got the clicker so all right so our first goal is increasing our uh distri by proficiency rate by 2% on both uh aasa Ela and math and act Ela and math so if you want to move forward um this year we've been very intentional in terms of the professional learning that we've done with not only administrators and teachers um as well as what's happening at the the site and in trying to to look at our achievement and what we can do to approve so with administrators we've done a lot of work this year uh looking at the intentionality around what resources and instruction our staff are using with students um but now we've branched into looking at next year um so we've worked with our principles on a structured approach towards a comprehensive needs assessment and then that root cause analysis that really dives into what the real true need is on our campuses and we we will be using their work at that they've done at each of our sites to develop a districtwide integrated action plan and A needs assessment um we're very excited about the conversations that I've had up to this point um and look forward to seeing where we end up at the um by May with uh elementary teachers we've done a lot of work around uh data and looking at and how what do you do with that data for example this past um Elementary PD day in January we did a lot of work with our teachers on our new fastbridge um Universal Diagnostic and screener platform there are some wonderful reports that look at student growth expected student growth and how do you use that to to look at what we need to do to help kids improve and and grow even more um we continue with secondary looking at formative assessment strategies and then our sites following each of our quarterly benchmarks have engaged in work with their teams looking at those results and looking at what they need to do in in the instruction happening in their classrooms to to to better improve results for their students stay all right I am up to talk about um the development of our in instructional maps and how we are working with teachers to implement those so I'm very excited to share that um our team has completed the K5 Ela instructional Maps um jod Walker was in instrumental in getting those up and started and today we started our fourth and fifth grade math instructional Maps um led by Wendy stove and that is going really well I was excited about those conversations that were happening and the K3 Maps will be completed by mid-march so both the ELA and math Maps will be ready for teacher to use to start forward planning for next year um and then the other item that we have left to complete are secondary Fine Arts and elective instructional maps and we do have a plan in place for that it is a matter of bringing everybody together to make that happen because there's a lot of Singleton teachers um in figuring out schedules to make that happen but it will get done and then the next is working on um adopting and implementing in a comprehensive um districtwide instructional coach model and I'm really happy to share that we did identify Jim Knight as that instructional framework um instructional coaching framework that we will move forward with um this year into working on planning out how we will train both our district site Administration and our site instructional coaches and our district content specialist in the framework so that they are all able to work as one unit together on how to best provide job embedded professional learning and coaching cycles for our teachers um for next year so we don't have a solid timeline on when we will get trained but that it step one was identifying that coaching model which I'm very excited that it's jym night because all of our coaches have been trained in cognitive coaching and those go hand inand really well and I believe oh skipped one back to Marcus so our next one was looking at uh professional learning communities and the multi-tiered systems of support within the district and creating a districtwide framework uh which aligns our practices across the district and and philosophies uh if you want to advance to the next slide I don't have a clicker all right um our task teams have for both of those Frameworks have met three times um at this point in time we've developed a vision for both plc's and um mtss for uh the Higley Unified School District we identified a theory of action for both of those and then using that theory of action and the vision we've looked at what the co the practices are across the district uh we want to make sure that we honor what we're currently doing around plc's and the mtss processes and then what's working that we need to keep uh what do we need to introduce um and where do we need to be tight and loose on and and so we've completed that uh component uh and started to to really start building out the framework we hope to to meet on February 24th and and finalize that so that we can bring that to our admin team uh for presentation and and ultimately share that with you good evening so I get to talk about my favorite thing highly effective personnel and that is a picture from our um Higley Leadership Academy correct I think so no same room different people oh okay well it it's not moving could you move oh there we go so strategic aner 2 is highly effective personnel and this year continuing to provide meaningful Prof meaningful professional development and support to all employee groups and to continue to evaluate and seek effective means to pass on potential benefit to cost-saving employees all right there we go so our progress so far um due to miss Miller's efforts with our par professionals the special education department they continue to train um our par professionals uh and our teachers uh to make them as highly qualified as possible and we continue to have uh PD days on Wednesdays usually and they are doing a great job over there with our par professionals and special education staff next um we talked earlier this year about the classified evaluation tool being turned into electronic tool right now we have um our classified supervisors and employe using that tool new higher evaluations have been done that's the 90day evaluation we had 78 of those done so far this year and then classified self evaluations we find our employees are definitely using the tool that we provided for them 76 have been completed so far with 50 in progress right now our classified annual evaluations are ongoing so we should have some statistics coming in towards the end of the um school year when those are due we progress on our training we have the stop the bleed training coming this February and our health services department with uh Miss Jillian Fulton will be uh hosting that along with her staff they've also been trained uh our health services area to do now free first aid and CPR training for our employees who need that either recertification or that initial training so our employees no longer will have to pay for that we have trained three members of the health services staff to be able to provide that that should start this month as well we continue to hire as needed um a little plug we need bus drivers and we need bus AIDS and if you know anybody please send them our way new employee orientation continues as needed uh we continue to provide the more than sad training during the new uh employee orientation that is being provided and as well as completion of the vector training while they're here learning about new things about being an employee here we have upcoming recognition which will be the teacher of the year re recognition I apologize for the spelling area up there it's or it's not it's of it's not or so um we will have that announced shortly as well as we look at those applications and the committee reviews that there we go progress uh let let Mr Walker talk about this progress because this is his his specialty thank you Miss Johnson Madam president members of the board the update on indicator 2.2 we have our Higley Leadership Academy we're about halfway done with the sessions for this year um in addition to that uh our employees are representative of both classified and certified staff have participated in some Community uh bridging uh and building with volunteer opportunities they came out to The riparian Preserve in Gilbert and help prepare it for a a holiday setup and then they've also done Feed My Starving Children uh where they helped uh prepare meal kits and they're going to do that again actually in a week um and so it's it's a thriving program and it continues to attract people from uh all areas of our of our organization thank you Mr Walker okay so progress on our Wellness we have quite a few things coming up um thanks to our benefits Department they're putting together a pretty robust wellness program this year we have the mom bus coming a blood drive the Matty bus which is similar to the mom bus but we always fill up the appointments on the bom bus so we brought in another bus um we are just began the Great River Walk challenge to teams formed throughout the district and they will be eligible for prizes if they complete um the walk as well as a $25 gift certificate so there is some prizes with that good participation um many teams were formed throughout the district uh next is the good consumer campaign and that's no that's something to help our employees learn about things that they need to know in order to make good decisions at their open enrollment for not only their health benefits but other benefits as well and I think that concludes uh the highly effective Personnel all right thank you president Wade members of the board um as you know I'm Jessica Bautista director of marketing and public information um I've been with the district just over a year and I'm really proud of the work that my team has been able to accomplish so far last year we launched the brand and align those branding standards um and that work continues into this year so talk a little bit about that and it aligns with strategic anchor 3 communication and community relations so this year our goals were to establish systems and processes for site level communication including the website and mass notifications and to establish relationships in our community to enhance student learning opportunities so at the start of this school year we launched new websites for the district and all schools and we trained all um of the office managers and school school content managers on the content management system tools to keep those sites updated with course offerings we also implemented some of the um the board directives which include staff directories on each website and prominently displaying board meetings so for several other action items on those new sites we established a subscription option for our district newsletter higgle highlights so the community can keep up to date with the news and activities and upcoming events um and to strengthen Partnerships we also reformatted our business and Community partner breakfast event to include more networking opportunities we're looking forward to our spring event next week and I hope to see you all there um we're also really grateful for our venue sponsor The Barn at Power Ranch which is also new this year um that new venue allows us to use their space which gives us an opportunity to include even more Community Partners uh our department is also continuing to curate contact lists for our stakeholder groups including HOAs PTO and local businesses and if you have schoolage children or live near a district you may have noticed some of the marketing content that had started on December 2nd we launched our quarterly marketing campaign to increase Elementary enrollment and we're almost finished producing school specific marketing material for all sites to promote their unique progr programs so you may have noticed in the lobby we have all of those Elementary Flyers out there um those have been distributed out to all sites and they are using them for feeder events community events and more so we also run geot targeted digital ads eblasts um to All Families within our boundaries including those who don't currently attend Higley schools distribute Flyers to um local daycare and preschool facilities in and around our boundaries and more so I have a couple stats for the to share um so far Those ads on Facebook and in Instagram The Meta platforms have reached more than 69,000 users and driven more than 750 visits to our enrollment landing pages search ads have resulted in more than 1.8 th000 new users visiting our enrollment pages and digital ads have driven more than 5,000 users to click through to our website and again those um campaigns are on goaling and have uh been tweaked and aligned every quarter we reassess we just finished a big push to publicize our Kindergarten Roundup events that have received great feedback from our principls about attendance for those events last week now one more important update to point out this quarter we had previously prepared one of the action items was for a new Mass notification system this is a new platform to share email text message and phone call communication to our families um this service is provided by final site um I had discussed in the previous quarter final site acquired our previous um vendor Blackboard which we used for website and mass notification systems they had paused the roll out of their messaging system so we have also paused our roll out of that um transition and we're reassessing our options for Mass notifications our current system is still suppored we're really proud of the resources we're able to provide and we're looking forward to more work this quarter Tyler just a quick update on strategic anchor for finance and operations um We are continuing to work on our 25 goals which again include security enhancements and finding additional Revenue sources for the district a quick update on progress on 4.3 security updates um we have completed um basically half of phase two of our camera um installation so all the middle schools have now been um equipped with our um upgraded camera system um again we're replacing outdated camera equipment that's uh some more than a decade old um that's been well received on the high schools we have all but three cameras left to replace at williamsfield high school and then this remainder of this spring we hope to finish Higley High School we are um planning phase three um a project for fiscal year 26 and this would be at the secondary campuses particularly the high schools who have um they had three systems and so with phase three we'll get them all down to one camera system um creating a more efficient system for our administrators and our district office Personnel to use our traffic calming phase um these the picture to the right highlights some of the newly install speed bumps at Coronado um again this was recommended um out of discussions with the town of Gilbert um and some safety measures that we can take um that are easily attainable to help address uh potential um cars or high rates of speed um if there was a seizure or something in in those lines speed bumps are a way um to help um reduce the speed coming into those zones where children are either being dropped off or walking across so um that phase we've uh finished about four elementaries um over winter break and we hope to have um some additional speed bumps over summer James Mr Walker you want to talk about the mass communication protocol sure working with um Our IT department and our facilities uh we're we're initiating a piloting of a mass communication uh protocol tool um we're beginning uh at an elementary school and then we're slowly phasing that in to distribute that across all of our uh K12 schools in the upcoming uh months and another uh another nice update is that we were awarded a a mini Grant an 18-month Grant to be able to provide a school safety officer on our sassman campus so we've been working to get this accomplished for a couple years uh and through the ad's opportunity the grant was awarded and we have a consistent uh uniform police officer on our saucan campus daily as a result uh it is a minig grant it runs through the conclusion of next school year and so we're already working to find resources to continue funding uh and having uh that resource in the in the midterm and long-term future as well and just wrapping up with uh progress on 4.2 identify and seek additional Revenue sources um we have presented and the board has approved um the review of District fees including the community ed and preschool um both uh before and after school program fees and the preschool tuition fees in addition to the rental fees going into next year um Commerce Bank if you recall was a solution that uh we implemented this year for alternative paying um payment method for our vendors um if they choose to receive payment via credit card um again we give this option to vendors uh currently our process to pay papercheck but we did have a number of vendors enroll in that uh and there is a kickback for the district and so um we're only three months through the pro progress but we've received over $5,000 and and basically Revenue that we wouldn't have had for paying our same bills that we um were paying previously so um we are still evaluating uh the foreign exchange program and looking at opportunities to increase Revenue in that program um on the uh Food Service side uh we are still evaluating uh the Food Service uh contracted versus self op and what solution best fits our district so um that's in progress um and we may have more information in the next update so with that that concludes my comments and I think the presentation so uh Madam president with your permission I just that's a lot of work from a lot of people and uh that stayed here and stayed late to present to us so uh a lot of people that are very dedicated to Higley so I just want to thank you guys for that I'm sure it's some intimidating some of you don't know me or or no Miss jarmin yet we you know but uh we appreciate your time and effort into putting all this stuff together into staying late to uh keep us informed about all the good things and the hard work that you're doing so thank you president Wade um Mrs Richard I'm super excited that we are partnering with uh Queen Creek chamber now I know there was a little bit of a disconnect for a while and we made that happen and it's um super important that we're connecting the business community and I know it was a great success and uh the chamber mentioned that you you had said how good of it I know you said it tonight but said how good of it a connection it was um and the speed bumps are helping at at Coronado I think for sure just to let you know um as far as I just had one question um for Miss batist um the ads that we're running do you have if the I know you said that elementary schools were happy about the the Kindergarten Roundup do you have numbers to show how those ads have helped us or where people are coming from is there any kind of report that we could see we could have that at a later date okay perfect thank you rounds haven't um the ad Cycles haven't completed yet so okay perfect thank you I appreciate it thank you for everything that you're doing and thank you thank you so much for the presentation I'm grateful that the sro's that were really there's a big push um for Safety and Security in the schools that's very important to the community um yes and also the feedback on how we can adapt um and the finances touch base I love how you guys really touch base with the schools it's really hard being in a a sticky spot where we have to choose sometimes wants or needs over wants a little bit so I really appreciate you guys really getting out in the trenches and touching base on that so continue to do that and let's let's continue to work as a team reach out to the principles and everybody who and see what could maybe skirt away as an expense and what can what the children really value and really make sure that we kind of put more of our spending in that area so I commend you all thank you all right with that we're going to move on to item 6.2 do you have a question really fast Mr Walker you said once the grant is done for saan then we're going to try for more grants is that I know we've been trying to work with the town of Queen Creek and Queen Creek Police Department it's not the same as our partnership with the town of Gilbert um but I just want to know where we go from there in 18 months and if you don't have the answers now just at a later date no I I I I do have an answer we're not going to wait until the grant expires to seek another Grant we're working on it right now to see what kind of opportunities are out there so we can be prepared for when this grant cycle expires if there's another Grant cycle if it's a budgetary discussion but we're working right now to predict and forecast what we can do uh once this grant expires in 2026 and the town of Queen Creek wasn't able to help us with any of the cost at all correct uh this this funding mechanism comes through the ad so it's a grant that we right I just wanted to see there wasn't any um discounts or anything anywhere well we can thank the ad for the discount as we the grant funding through that thank you all right well thank you we're going to move on to item 6.2 second review of the 2025 2026 maintenance and operations budget we'll now hear from Mr Moore on the second review of the 2526 maintenance and operations budget yeah thank you president Wade members of the board uh tonight we're reviewing like you said the second review of the FY 26 M budget just a quick recap uh we are working towards uh our June 2025 um adoption um but as you know we have to work backwards into that final date um to one prepare for contracts and um uh get ahead of the school year before it starts so everything tonight is uh presentation with preliminary numbers looking at um that adopted proposed FY 26 budget just filling in the highlights of what we know so far again the AAL the pro the aggregate expenditure limit as you've known that has been an issue um with the state legislature and uh State Statute uh problem as school districts have exceeded the budgetary spending as outlined in state Chachi by over a billion dollars but the State Legislature has Exempted districts and allowed us to utilize our full budget capacity over the last couple years again I'm still monitoring um the legislation and looking at um potential exemptions um for the eal in this in this legislative cycle um also I think I didn't include in here but some of the hot topics included uh from from um a legislative perspective and regards to funding um we're closely monitoring prop 123 uh there's been a number of different proposals on Prop 123 um that currently provides the district about uh uh 400 or 800,000 excuse me um that is set to expire at the end of this year and so I know legislators in the state and the governor are all hopeful to come to some solution to continue that funding uh for next year uh but again monitoring that waiting to see how that finalizes and what that means for the district if there's any parameters or new gu guard rails on that funding some of the known implic ations that are included into this projected budget again are the estimated 2% inflation adjustment to the base support level so the state is running about 3 and a half% in terms of inflation um minimally the state legislature is obligated to uh match 2% um they can go higher if they choose but um they have not in years past and so um I am including that 2% inflation adjustment to our base level support in our proposed budget for next year the Arizona State retirements system as I mentioned in the last meeting um is decreasing their rates that's a favor for both our employees and the district as both are contribut um contri contributors into that um retirement system so um the decrease in the Arizona State Retirement System to 12% that will realize about $200,000 savings for the district uh and employees can calculate uh 27% uh that would be back into their paychecks so not a lot but it is a positive movement um with that rate going down um in addition the alternative contribution rate this is for employees that have retired and then are back into the system they pay a different rate that rate is also decreasing has a minimal uh monetary effect to our district is we have a very few employees that have retired and that we've hired back um on the last column there um are husd kind of special budget estimates um m transfer to Capital this is our Middle School lease payment um I I want to thank Mr Arman for coming in and getting a deep dive into the middle school lease uh history um but uh this is our our current obligation is $3.5 million for principal and interest payment and that is for the next 28 years that is that will go down over the years but for the most part we're looking at you know a $3 million plus um for that payment we have continued to fund that from our M uh budget via transfer as we have to pay that statutorily from their capital budget so um as I mentioned the the last the first iteration of this projected budget um we are now being a little more aggressive in our projections for ADM loss uh we are in this budget we're projecting an ADM loss of 300 um now again we hope that is conservative and we hope that is uh not the case but as we've saw in December um we underestimated um that enrollment loss to the tune about 250 and so um increasing that ADM loss on the front end will let us uh appropriately budget for the fiscal year and if we have if we come in above that or under that um hopefully under that uh we'll have some budget capacity to add back into the budget to utilize uh in the middle of the year um in addition this is um FIFA 26 our override will now begin its phase down as again it was it was not renewed in November that phase down is estimated approximately a reduction of $5.1 million for FY 26 so just a quick snapshot again of uh same um summary of what I presented in the first round um we have no new information so this is still our FY 26 projected proposed budget but uh just to recap our the top section is our current revised budget as of December 10th uh that's 125 million um we are looking at the bottom half FY 26 projected proposed budget again it's taking into consideration everything I just mentioned so the 300 unweighted ADM decrease the M the first year the M phase down and then our M transfer to capital for our lease payment so with all those taken into consideration it also includes the base level adjustment so that 2% adjustment but even with that the decrease outweigh that that 2% increase in in the base level adjustment and we are projecting a m budget of 116 million which uh comparatively to what we have our current budget to our projected budget we're looking at a $9.2 million decrease we do have some information that we are starting to fill out as you as a reminder I didn't have any of this information the first iteration so um property insurance uh C insurance and workers compensation um our current carrier the trust is finishing their uh board meeting um in the middle of this week and so we should have those renewal rates um at our March meeting um again every indication is uh the reinsurance market is is going to go up so um even we had we've had low claims but just the reinsurance market for um property and and all the valuables everything's valued at a higher dollar amount and so um we anticipate those numbers to go up um we have finalized kind of our utilities uh FY 26 budget projections we are seeing um we are budgeting for $200,000 increase largely in part to the SRP unknown increases that are going to occur mid year uh based on their letters that they've provided us so um SRP has made it known that they are um researching an increase in utility rates um they operate on a calendar year and so they won't have any proposals or any information to us until November uh that is smack dab in the middle of our fiscal year and so we are being prudent and um anticipating an increase um and we are setting aside $200,000 in large part to uh have enough budget capacity to address those utility increases our school and Department budgets um we have had difficult conversations in terms of reducing um our department and school budgets across the board our largest contributors are uh from the maintenance operations Department uh we made some large reductions in their M budget in addition to shaa and the sped Department um we've made some large reductions in in that apartment as well while still maintaining our compliance in our obligated standard you know um obligation to service those students um when we take into consideration all those uh budgets we were looking at reducing um getting back maybe is a better way to say it of 750,000 and so we'll see estimated cost savings right now without the insurance um numbers in there of $550,000 in reduction so when we put that into the equation um we currently as a reminder so we we were we're currently realizing a decrease a budget decrease into f26 of $9.2 million in the first presentation we talked about the 5.1 million in position reductions for fiscal year 26 um and FY 26 recommended fix cost we now have a little more information and I've included the $550,000 and um net reduction for our department and school budgets in large part and our increases to utilities so we are now looking at a budget decrease of $3.6 million and this is where I I talked to the board about um utilizing some of the budget bounds carry forward to um absorb um basically budget to a deficit next year again this is not a long-term solution but we do have that carry forward um and we can utilize it for this purpose looking at what we would deem phase two so as it stands we do not have Au authorization uh for an override continuation and so um me being uh very conservative and and trying to be prudent and get ahead of FY 27 so this would be two years now um we need to look at realistically as it stands right now what that reduction would look like and go through um that process um as early as possible and so this again is the m override phase down timeline so again we are um already planning for a fiscal 26 which is what I just went over um that reduction again is estimated at $5.1 million in FY 27 we're looking at another $5 million so again it comes in the the override phas down is is in thirds and so um we we again would like to start we've started a conversation with our leadership um we would like to engage our community and a lot of our stakeholders into this process as we have about a year um to formalize some of those reductions if no resolution is called for the continuation of the override so uh and then in fiscal year 28 there would be the complete reduction of the override funding again which is currently providing about $14 million um in additional M Capa budget capacity for the district so with that I'm going let Miss Richards explain about the steps that we will be utilizing for phase two okay thank you Mr Moore president way members of the board this is what our plan is at the moment we want to be able to collect input from all stakeholder groups that includes all employees our parents Community leadership meet confer and I would like for our students on the superintendent advisory Council to participate as well so our goal is to come back on March 4th with some recommendations that we've gathered both through surveys that will go to these groups and our community meeting that we have schedule for Wednesday February 19th at 5: that is when Wednesday is it okay uh my brain is Tuesday Wednesday anyway I think it's super important as we move through this we're listening to kids like Miss jarmin mentioned our employees the community and our parents specifically so we've started on this survey our goal is to send it out on Monday with a TW we window so send it out on the 10th and have it come back on the 24th so we can compile the data and report back so you wouldn't think it would be tricky to put together a survey like that so it makes sense so we've spent quite a bit of time working on that to ensure that it's clear so it'll be the phase two plan if there is no voter approval for the continuation so I think I think what we are doing is trying to be really thoughtful because anytime you reduce people programs it's tough right so I think we went through that last meeting too so um I'm interested to get the feedback from our parents employees and the community and then then let's see what the students have to say as well so that's our plan moving forward um and I think if you guys have questions or input on that process let us know because we haven't done this before or I haven't it's a new procedure so Mr Moore do you want to finish up with the budget calendar yeah just finalizing again we we hope to bring those results back to the March 3rd excuse me March 4th board meeting as well as the third and final review of the M budget and I hope to have those insurance rates so you guys can get the final full picture of of what we're looking at in terms of a proposed f26 budget um in hopes of you the board tentatively approving that so we can issue contracts for teachers um which would go out on March 15 once uh March is completed we'll kind of shift our Focus to the capital budget um and start those discussions on April 1st um and and continue through April 22nd so with that I'll be happy to answer any questions thank you Mr Moore um I don't necessarily have a question I just given some of the the comments that we've had today and the chart that we have where we look at what phase two looks like what phase three looks like um I'm appreciative for the members of the community who talked about one of the programs that's getting hurt now which would be think um and the idea behind that for those of you who have not been here the last time our M did not pass and those types of things we are seeing similar hardships to what we have had in the past and so I hope as we can continue to go forward over the course of the next year we can work with the community and get people to see kind of how these changes impact because they have a direct impact on our students and our students are the ones who are harmed at the end of the day um and it's hard decisions that we have to make and it's not something that we want and we routinely talk about how you know we're competing for students with other schools and everything else and this is common throughout our state this is the way our state structures funding and so you have a lot of districts who are in similar positions for example Mesa has to cut 144 uh positions which is a lot and I recognize that Mesa is larger than us that that's that's a lot um and so I think think when we see how these impacts can happen and when we feel these things hopefully we can make it a point to talk about the importance of going forward and so when Community gets these surveys and you see things and go oh God I don't want this to go away I can't do that yes we agree we agree we don't want these programs to go away and so I think it is important for us to kind of keep in mind the hardships that could come as a result Mr Moore as always I'm appreciative of the way in which you do your job I'm appreciative of how this Administration recognizes that these dollars are attached to human persons and that there is hardship in that and so I'm always appreciative of creative ways to try to figure out how we can look forward and I am always appreciative of looking to prepare rather than being responsive to some of these problems and I think that's the best that we can do so I appreciate apprciate it president Wade president Wade go ahead Miss vanhook thank you um I want to just mention yes you know obviously the the override and bond didn't pass but at the same time um we do I will remind every we we have a 20% M carryover um and so we're not in a bad position and for me it's a bit frustrating pulling at parents heartstrings saying it impacts this yes obviously it impacts this but our main concern should be to do what it takes to ensure that we're attracting families and when we have a upset parents because there's a lack of transparency and and parents aren't being heard or things that are happening in classrooms that's upsetting parents that's causing them to pull their children that is the direct impact where students are leaving our district which means we're losing the funding so we really have to think hard what can we do to to change this so that we are attracting families instead of pushing families out that should be our main priority instead of making parents feel bad and say oh you didn't pass the bond so now you're going to feel the impact of losing a program that was benefiting your child and and that needs to be the number one priority in in all of it how do we what shall we do in our district that's going to attract parents um and I mean I've I've talked about several things over the last two years and um sometimes I feel like it falls on deaf ears but it truly is impactful and I hear from these parents all the time um another question I have uh for Mr Moore is I noticed that um the projected budget the 9 million that number changed a little bit um but it's not reflected in the numbers above um can you explain what that's from I mean it's not a big change but there is definitely a change from the last presentation yeah uh president Wade member Van Hook yeah we continue to update these based on current enrollment numbers so as we uh finish out our our fiscal year we are continuing to update them as our ADM uh continues to fluctuate based on um aoi aoi does not function um we still get funding and counts change past the 100 day so that changes um our current budget projections for next year again we're projecting out about four or five months out um we want to update this as much as we can to the most accurate information so as our ADM fluctuates we modify that and present that to the board as the most C current and recent numbers thank you that's all I have President Wade um I have as a community member I just want to say what kind of in my general opinion and you guys can counter this either way but the things that kind of pull people from the district is the lack of curriculum transparency and um Safety and Security um sometimes people really have rough experiences with the district and sadly they feel like that's not addressed and there isn't kind of a swift change so I just I hopeful because we're you know we're working together and we've got some years going on but ultimately that is kind of the strings that I see that pull people sadly from the district so I think there's room for improvement so maybe we can touch base with that in the future um and again I just want to say I am a very big advocate of family and so I was thinking about these programs and stuff and I I don't know if some of them pull extra time away from the family that is unnecessary sometimes but maybe those are the ones that we just kind of reassess and look at um in any business the left hand needs to know what the right hand's doing and in a way we need to all kind of just cooperate and help Mr Moore do his job better you know but it's hard for him sometimes but if we can help figure out ways where we can perhaps pull some funding from if it's not efficient for families and um additional time or just distractions and the students are not really enjoying it so much then those are things again that we can kind of Swift away and just touch base on what they really love and then just get those wants kind of a little bit away if they're distracting and aren't very prod productive um when it comes to focusing on academics and just really give families and parents what they um what they want they really just want a good wholesome um education and just thank you madam president um well I just I just want to I don't want to counter anything that anyone has said because that you're you know you guys are all entitled to your your opinions but there are enrollment challenges is really everywhere across throughout Arizona um and it's not because um the curriculum uh I teach in a different District I teach science and I teach social studies the Social Studies books I'm using uh were adopted in 2007 um the standards may have changed a bit but the materials that we still have are the same materials um the the re what is not being mentioned here at all is the fact that our state legislature has decided to give public money to private schools and that's why we're all struggling with our funding and I just want to point that out as another Counterpoint uh to you know something to think about President Wade um I'd like to say um something about that so everybody's blaming esas um it's not esa's fault parents wouldn't utilize esas if they were happy with the school obviously if a parent is choosing to pull their child and uses Esa dollars then there's a reason for that a parent can pull their child out completely from a district and not use Esa and the district would get absolutely no money but when a parent pulls their child out and uses Esa the district still gets half the money so in a way es a parent being on Esa is still benefiting the district um we have to keep that in mind and and it's not the fact that the legislatur decided to give money to uh private schools it's giving parents a choice to make the best decision for their child's education and that's why I'm saying we have to make that decision on you know constant negative news and inappropriate sexual books given to our students um such as the father spoke tonight assignments like that uh those are the kinds of things that are pulling parents out of our district putting pulling students out of our district I hear it weekly Madam president Madam president miss Van Hook I think I think we're getting away from the topic at hand which is your maintenance and override budget while some of the discussion among the board members has been about reasons for student uh decline in enrollment which is directly related to budget I think we are straying from the topic and so I'd ask that we reconnect to the the presentation that Mr Moore gave and questions related to that please thank you all right this takes us takes us to item 6.3 uh fiscal year 2025 2026 employee contracts uh we're going to go to Miss Johnson for employee contracts president Wade members of the board um before you you have of the um employee contracts for fiscal year 2526 uh we did move this to an information item as there were some questions regarding the contracts and some possible changes to them based on the contract questions so um I don't know if you want me to get into the questions would you like me to go there you gu ask Miss Johnson do what feels great okay so we did have a a question in regards to to gender identity and now that there has been an executive order um that is being asked to be removed uh I wasn't uh we are at the point of with legal council making the recommendation to remove that but we have a few policies that may affect so we would have to bring the policies back to the board as well if we remove that language from the contract so I'm working with with legal counsel U Mr Haw and of course our legal counsel here this evening um also another question was asked about um adding language to contracts in regards to um and District policies and so I'm checking into that as well and I'll be happy to update the board members through status this week on some of these questions that you've had that one I will be able to answer and then um we do have something new that was put in the contract and it's according to a statute that if there is a um if an employee specifically a certified employee uh has some type of offense or has been arrested for some type of offense that they would immediately need to uh refer that to the superintendent so we're double-checking if that's for every employee or just certified employees will look into that again that would that would mean that we would have to change a policy gbb states currently that they must report to a supervisor we want to be specific with our contracts and then there was some discussion to in regards to liquidated damages and we're looking into that as well and we I will report in status this week about liquidated damages and what that would look like again again if a change is needed we would need to bring the policy um GCB back to the board as well to be updated so a lot of the changes or questions that we had definitely reflect policy as well as the contracts so um I should have more information for the board our plan is to bring that to a status and then um bring the contracts back for approval and if any policy needs to be changed or updated uh revision would happen at the March 4th along with the approval of the contract language questions yes president Wade sorry I can't see anybody so it's hard for me to know who's speaking go ahead Miss Van Hook and then we'll go after you so it because it's easier thank you um um I just lost my question here oh yes um Miss Johnson one of the questions I had was about uh the background checks um I know there's a portion in the contracts that mentions that um but I wanted to know if there's a a policy related to background checks yes that's then tied to the contract and if for instance um I know with like uh like Mandarin um if we ever hire uh you know a for a foreign teacher to come in and teach uh a foreign language for instance um do we only do background checks within the states or do we also do interpole background checks for those those types of situations and um if if we don't is that something that we can consider doing um and including as part of the language and the policy and in the contract for any type of um employee like that um to ensure that you know obviously if they're coming from a foreign country they're local record would be clear um so just something to sorry go ahead oh member Van Hook yes um we do background checks on every employee um uh as far back as we need to uh that is seven years and also every employee that works for us must have a fingerprint card and that goes back 99 years so that um I wasn't aware of a background question coming in so I'll I'll check check into that as well but yes we're covered with a policy and we're covered in uh when we hire somebody uh they have to go through that process we do not allow anyone to work until those two things are completed can I can I also have Johnson too Miss Van Hook members of the board we do have a background check service provider that we do utilize and we do pay for an additional International check so if they're coming from Asia or from Europe uh or anywhere else in the world that is a supplemental that we ensured that we have as part of our package so it does do International checks as needed wonderful thank you that was my main concern other questions oh sorry thank you Miss Johnson did you want me to talk about my the conversation that we had yes you're welcome to yes okay so um just for the rest of you guys policy GCB is talks about the liquidated damages um and it just has come to my there's a couple of things that have come to my attention um but one is the is the I saw the language in the certified teacher contract so in U well it's a different number but in line 21 of the teacher contracts it says the district res re uh reserves the right to wave or reduce the amount of uh the amount owed of liquid damages liquidated damages if certificated teachers failure to perform the entire term of the contract is due to circumstances Beyond his or her control and that's great and there are situations where that does happen there are uh there have been occasion uh everywhere I've worked that sometimes you have an employee that is you know unhappy making everybody unhappy and you just sometimes have to have a conversation with them that like is this really what you want to do and so um one of the fastest ways to get them on their way um would be to remove or just to add the language that if it was deemed in the best interest of the district by the superintendent uh that gives them some discretion because otherwise you're either dragging it out and they're going to wait till the end of the year and make everybody even more miserable um or you know they have to wait like a month and hope that it goes through to the board and then it passes sometimes there are situations where you know it's really best if people parted ways and uh that's just a little speed bump that gets in the way and I also would you know I've been thinking about you know as we sign contracts we sign them very early um I think teachers should be able to go out and look for other jobs I mean job abandonment fine that collect the liquidated damages criminal stuff collect the liquidated damages but like if you have an example like a teacher you know that I know you know her two people in her family died and uh it was just becoming too much and uh you know to to charge them $1,000 when they just you know mentally need a break um it just takes a long time but as we you know start to downsize some of these things there will be people that are going to have to be moved locations and sometimes maybe you just don't want to you know you don't want to move but if they've already signed the contract then they have to pay and uh I just think we should be a little more flexible um I I would like to give the superintendent the flexibility so just to add that line you know if it's deemed in the best interest of the district by the superintendent that they they have the authority on occasion to uh to wave that just to speed things up uh for people um and so that would require us to look at policy GCB as well so that was my concern just to make it a little bit easier in those rare instances where you have somebody um that we all kind of agree probably just need to move on Miss Johnson um just so I can understand what we're supposed to do at the present moment in time based off of some of these things so am I to understand it that you will go through talking to legal and finishing up your queries at the present moment and then depending on what your outcome is at our next meeting March 4th is where for example Mr Glover's policy would be where we vote on whether or not to include that language or is that a discussion you want us to have at the present no we would bring it back um you were right and saying that I'm checking with legal okay getting legal advice based on the contracts the language that's been um asked to be added whether that should or not and then if it is going if we make a recommendation to add that language to the contract then policy would need to be changed as well they have to match right the contract and the policy needs to match so we would make those recommendations both of the policy and if you don't approve the policy then obviously the language would stay the same okay so right now we don't need to do anything on any of the the request or all of that until the next I just want to make sure I understood that that is correct perfect thank you thank you president do we have any further comments Anderson I mean I can't stop doing that President wait um okay one issue I've had with liquidated damages um is the fact that uh we have in the past um had an employee who was uh who resigned um due to uh inappropriate conduct um the the employee was allowed to resign and then we allowed the individual we we voted to allow this person out of their contract um and I don't find that to be right if if an employee has done something wrong and they're being asked to resign instead of being terminated which I don't agree with to be you know to begin with if if an employee has violated District policy or state laws um I think it should be termination instead of uh being allowed to resign and then just go to a different District um but I think in this situation too if we're going to have such policy that we should have verbiage in there um that in those situations first we as a board need to know who that individual is so that when we see them um um in the documents we know who they are and then also be able to uh not have liquidated damages waved if they're having to leave due to inappropriate conduct and or violation of law or policy so I'd like to be able to see that um and I I mean I understand that it sucks to you know have to pay that but is a contract and that they have to sign um and just like any other contract if you sign it you have to be responsible for it and to just leave it at the discretion of um you know is this benefiting the district if this person just leaves but then the district then takes on the burden of covering their uh fees for breaking their contract and now having to spend money to hire a new staff member uh that's an impact that uh obviously impacts our taxpayers and uh us as a board we're here to ensure that our district is spending money wisely um that's benefiting our taxpayers and we need to be cognizant of that as well thank you okay so to clarify Miss Johnson next meeting is when we can talk about what legal advises per this correct can we also include in that because uh I as far as I understand it having worked here in all of that um should I break my contract the fees are to me there is no fee to us as a district should somebody decide to leave and no longer do their contract whether we collect the ,000 or not there is no cost to us it's either we're collecting the Thousand from them or we are not as far as liquidated damages correct well no because there's um to rehire somebody and is that what you're talking about presid I'm just the the rehiring is separate to what I'm I'm talking about specifically I just mean contractually if we lose an employee no matter what we're going to have to do that regardless whether they sign their contract and not at all that jazz that's the same across the board I just wanted to make sure that there is no additional fees that are part of the contract itself the the cost to us would be having to replace that individual not that that I'm aware of okay that was all this moves us to action item 7.1 we are looking at approval of special warranty deed with town of Gilbert for Gateway Point Elementary um before I make a motion on this I'm going to have Mr Moore clarify some things just to make sure we understand it before we go on yeah president Wade members of the board just to uh explain this agenda item briefly before for you vot on it um as they stated in the issue U we've been working with the development of The Villages of bellastoria which is a property south of Gateway um Point Elementary um this has been going on for a year now um part of their requirements in order to continue their development of that land is to uh the town of govern is requiring them to put in a roundabout at the intersection of blue jay um this roundabout will uh take uh a portion of our property and convert it into easement approximately 343 Square ft um we view this um warranty deed as beneficial for the district as that roundabout will include now two student crosswalks um and obviously with a roundabout there's some slowing to traffic so um there's some benefits for the district which is why you see a monetary dollar Domin nomination U denomination in the warranty deed uh with us um moving this 343 Square ft to the town of Gilbert and deeming it now easement so I'll be happy to answer any questions if the board has any but that's my explanation of this agenda item awesome this is this is my kids school in my neighborhood so I'm I'm looking forward to the the easement of traffic in some of those areas I think might be beneficial um so if nobody has anything I motion that the governing board approve special warranty deed with town of Gilbert for Gateway Point easement second that's Mr Glover seconded all those in favor I I I I I was that an I from his okay great motion passes 5 Z I don't know don't know where that was all right we are on to 7.2 approval of fiscal year 2024 audit reports again I'm going to give uh Mr Moore a minute before I motion on this one thank you president way members of the board I just wanted to take a brief moment to mention two things these audit reports um one firstly uh we had a unmodified um audit with no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses again um this is the culmination of of not just me of my team and and really in part the whole District right a lot of our procedures that we put in place that maybe teachers or other classified staff and coaches uh feel are overburdening them um they're not procedures that we put in place um discretionary right we have those procedures in place to meet these large compliance uh rules that we must follow and so I also want to say thank you to all those teachers staff and anybody who uh is involved in some sort of a procurement process with the school district uh for one helping us by following those procedures that we put in place again we don't try to overburden stuff but um it's really a whole District culmination of of having an audit that's that's clean um and to um I think this is opportunity to address the consent item agenda regarding the Sher exence award um that is a fee we pay to send this audit to get additional um basically review so we go above and beyond our state audit standards and we send our audit to the N A National Review team to have it reviewed um and we um that is called the certific certif certificate of excellence award um but that fee is to pay for the fee to have our audit reviewed so thank you I just want President W oh sorry Mr Mo the fee is to pay to have the review not for the actual award itself correct okay thank you president can you hear me go ahead Miss vanhook thank you um the only uh issue I have with the audit um report being as an action item is the fact that we didn't have an opportunity for this to be presented to the board as an information item and for the numbers to be explained to everybody and I'm not sure that um everybody on the board has a full understanding of the data that's in the audit in order to approve it um I think items like this uh should be brought to the board as an informational item and explained uh so that we understand all the details that are in it um especially you know all the financial information um and so that's my only concern uh here five of us do all five of us have a full understanding of what's in this audit and what we're about to approve um and I I'm not confident that that is the case and so um with that said um I'd like to move to table this item and bring it back as an informational item first before we actually approve it so um I guess I I can make them a second if you didn't hear I oh sorry go ahead we have a motion uh to table uh item 7.2 approval of fiscal year 2024 all those in favor of tbling I I all those opposed Nay Nay Nay as well that was Sarah okay and and this and president way this is the problem uh we as a board continue to rubber stamp information without the full understanding of what is being presented to us for approval board member Van Hook I'm going to ask that we move on from the the table has not passed I recognize the frustration with that if you have anything more specifically to this specific agenda item that is totally fine I will let you continue with that um but I I recognize and understand where your position may be it's just not the position held by everybody on the board in that process and and I understand that um but again as and I have the right to State the board continues to rubber stamp information without asking questions and expecting answers and this is a major problem and so you have a right to to proceed to approve something that you don't have you might not have a full understanding of um so yeah let's proceed let's vote thank you I do wish to express as far as the statement of rubber stamping where I may choose or other individuals may choose our understanding of the process or our understanding of what's in front of us may differ and again that is part of of governance and I recognize the frustration with that um hopefully as we go forward you know we can continue or there are other opport unities for those of us on the board who still struggle to understand to make meetings with Mr Moore if we wish to have more information on that um so with that I motion that the governing board approve the fiscal year 2024 audit reports as presented second that would be Miss Schultz second all those in favor I I I okay I didn't hear I will abstain okay so motion passes 4 to Z with exstension moving on to discussion or sorry 7.3 discussion of board meetings start time president Wade um we have got some feedback from the community and one of them had to do with uh or some of it had to do with points of Pride um and so I would like to make a proposal of moving points of Pride to 5:30 um and then with the board business start starting at 6:00 which I think might help everyone um and then also allowing for public comment to for people to sign up for public comment up until 6 o'clock I'm going to ask for legal guidance on how you want us to do that make a motion you like make right right so right now Madam president M you are just I'm sorry I forgot to say Mo I said propose and I apologize so you're in discussion on that item I I would understand the motion to mean that you were moving to move the start time of the board meeting to 5:30 essentially um and that would allow the points of Pride to occur um you have the option to um as a governing board to require the administration to accept to request for public comment up until 6: p.m.

so I think six keeping it the same is the good balance around so thank you president Wade um one of the things that um Mr Francis mentioned in his email uh was the fact that yes people can watch at home um but it's it's when and they want the opportunity to be able to come in um and speak uh and and because of work they're unable to do that uh that eliminates them uh that eliminates the ability for them to be able to to do that uh so if this is you know for just to be able to change the time um I I don't even know why uh it was init recommended to bring this back because we voted to move the time less than six months ago and here we're asking to change it back um and we wanted to hear from the community we heard from the community the majority of the community wants to keep it at six o'clock thank you madam president so um so I was back and forth on this issue and I know that the staff stays very late and has to get up and all work in the morning as do I um I was comfortable because the dates had already been through June 24th for 6 p.m.

that's not illegal you can set your Rules of Order about that issue okay perfect thank you for any discussion motion yeah absolutely disc there is not miss Van Hook if you would like to say something go ahead yes please um so at the last meeting uh board member Glover asked for Community feedback and we got community feedback um and the majority of the feedback that we got was asking us not to move the meeting time um and I if you know if we're going to listen to the community they're asking not to move the time and we need to consider that uh Mi uh we had um Taylor emailed in um great information regarding other District we are the earliest District uh around us and that hasn't changed anything um and so I would like to keep it um at 6 o'clock because that allows more Community involvement um and whether it's online or it's in person we might not have seen a drastic increase uh of in-person attendance um but that that doesn't mean that these people aren't involved after work or on their way home um and we need to ensure that our board meetings reflect our commitment to our family values and our our community engagement that's why we're here we're here to serve the community and the earlier our meetings are the more we limit our community members and we as a board it's our job to be here for the community and give them the opportunity to come in after work if they if they have something to say um you know they might not attend on a regular basis but if they have something to say one day that they have the opportunity to come in um with a six o'clock meeting um so I my recommendation would be to keep it at six o'clock one thing I would like to say is once it's online it's online and so you can watch it at any time and so that's the great thing about putting it online is that you could watch meetings from I think four years ago if you wanted to if you wanted to go back so I don't think that start time affects you because you can watch it at at any time online uh president board member president Wade um president Wade oh sorry there's a delay I'm sorry president Wade um I I also like the current time schedule I really think that it's helpful for families buttoning down everything at home and getting everything and all the homework kind of settled if need be in dinner um Gilbert Queen Creek and scottd they have a similar time currently 6:00 p.m. and these are other uh school districts mesa's at 6:30 Deer Valley and Chandler at 7: p.m.

living with that I don't you know I'm not I'm like you know babe Lincoln Changing Horses Midstream um I think your proposal I think what I heard and let me just say that I heard from only about like a dozen maybe a little slightly more than a dozen less than two dozen certainly people out of the th tens of thousands that live here um so you know I don't know that that was enough feedback um you like your proposal um what I really heard from that and what I've taken away from some of the reasonable um well-written uh input that I received is that our meetings are running long and uh an example was just previously um if I have problems with anything Mr Moore presented or or uh Miss Richards presented I me I like to just talk to you guys ahead of time so uh I will call you know call you first thing Monday some of you know and uh and get things in in the work so that I can understand everything that I have to vote on I feel like that's my responsibility that's the way I approach approach the job um and I think that can help contribute to uh shorter meetings I also noticed that the points of Pride were a little bit shorter I don't think that was an accident um so that also helps but I I like your proposal of 5:30 for points of Pride then we can take a a break and still start at 6 that seems like a reasonable solution to me and uh I was thinking that I was I wasn't sure how it was going to go but that seems reasonable to me I also um would like to say that doing the points of Pride I I recognize a lot of times we have a lot of elementary schools and so part of me is I feel like the littles and getting them home for bedtime and all of that jazz seems delightful we also had cheer in here today who had to come here just to then turn around and go back and so I I do think I do think that is a a a Best of Both Worlds in terms of we allow for the opportunity of points of Pride the benefit of that is the individuals who are in points of Pride they know ahead of time right you know who's going so you get the the email notice at your school and site and all that jazz and it gives us opportunities to you know honor the the many lishments of all the different groups and programs and things that we have and still giving people an opportunity to get here by 6 you can still do the the public comments and all of that until 6 I think that's a reasonable solution um to meet all things I guess in that our meetings still as far as the the things and the decisions that the community cares about that people are here for all of that would still start at 6 and so that seems you know like a a rational solution I'm at least willing to vote on it then I would like to motion that um we start the meeting at 5:30 with points of Pride can I say allowing for public okay allowing for public comment to um be taken I think that's not the request request thank you allowing for request to speak to happen until 6: pm.

so I think six keeping it the same is the good balance around so thank you president Wade um one of the things that um Mr Francis mentioned in his email uh was the fact that yes people can watch at home um but it's it's when and they want the opportunity to be able to come in um and speak uh and and because of work they're unable to do that uh that eliminates them uh that eliminates the ability for them to be able to to do that uh so if this is you know for just to be able to change the time um I I don't even know why uh it was init recommended to bring this back because we voted to move the time less than six months ago and here we're asking to change it back um and we wanted to hear from the community we heard from the community the majority of the community wants to keep it at six o'clock thank you madam president so um so I was back and forth on this issue and I know that the staff stays very late and has to get up and all work in the morning as do I um I was comfortable because the dates had already been through June 24th for 6 p.m.

um and should we yeah that's it I will second that um so all those in favor just a recap uh this would move the the points of Pride essentially the start of our thing uh to 5:30 and then board business will start at 6:00 with keeping public comments uh available until 6: pm.

living with that I don't you know I'm not I'm like you know babe Lincoln Changing Horses Midstream um I think your proposal I think what I heard and let me just say that I heard from only about like a dozen maybe a little slightly more than a dozen less than two dozen certainly people out of the th tens of thousands that live here um so you know I don't know that that was enough feedback um you like your proposal um what I really heard from that and what I've taken away from some of the reasonable um well-written uh input that I received is that our meetings are running long and uh an example was just previously um if I have problems with anything Mr Moore presented or or uh Miss Richards presented I me I like to just talk to you guys ahead of time so uh I will call you know call you first thing Monday some of you know and uh and get things in in the work so that I can understand everything that I have to vote on I feel like that's my responsibility that's the way I approach approach the job um and I think that can help contribute to uh shorter meetings I also noticed that the points of Pride were a little bit shorter I don't think that was an accident um so that also helps but I I like your proposal of 5:30 for points of Pride then we can take a a break and still start at 6 that seems like a reasonable solution to me and uh I was thinking that I was I wasn't sure how it was going to go but that seems reasonable to me I also um would like to say that doing the points of Pride I I recognize a lot of times we have a lot of elementary schools and so part of me is I feel like the littles and getting them home for bedtime and all of that jazz seems delightful we also had cheer in here today who had to come here just to then turn around and go back and so I I do think I do think that is a a a Best of Both Worlds in terms of we allow for the opportunity of points of Pride the benefit of that is the individuals who are in points of Pride they know ahead of time right you know who's going so you get the the email notice at your school and site and all that jazz and it gives us opportunities to you know honor the the many lishments of all the different groups and programs and things that we have and still giving people an opportunity to get here by 6 you can still do the the public comments and all of that until 6 I think that's a reasonable solution um to meet all things I guess in that our meetings still as far as the the things and the decisions that the community cares about that people are here for all of that would still start at 6 and so that seems you know like a a rational solution I'm at least willing to vote on it then I would like to motion that um we start the meeting at 5:30 with points of Pride can I say allowing for public okay allowing for public comment to um be taken I think that's not the request request thank you allowing for request to speak to happen until 6: pm.

all those in favor I I I all those opposed nay nay motion carries four or sorry three to two math is mathing this moves us to 7.4 approval of the 2025 2026 board meeting dates are there any uh questions or comments before we vote on this um I would like to move um to change one date um and well I first I'd like to ask um if there's any issues with moving July 15th to July 8th no Mr Moore does not president Wade Mr Moore has no concerns with that date change because we usually defer to him okay budget report so you're saying it's okay okay I will comment because thank you board member Van Hook is that because you're unable to attend on the 15th um that's correct then I'd like to be able to be present so um so that's why I'm asking if we can just move that one single date because I have um I have already a that date set for something that I have to be at so um so with that said um I mve to change July 15th to July 8th Madame President Miss Van Hook do you think you could withdraw that motion and move to approve the item as presented with the exception of the moving of the date from uh July 8th to July 15th uh board member Van Hook before you make that motion uh it's just hard because of the delay uh board member or sorry vice president Schultz wanted to make a comment before the vote or motion I would just not be able to attend on July 8th I I believe that's a holiday weekend as well it's part of Fourth of July or week so 4th of July this is the 8th Fourth of July would be the week before correct it's the the weekend of travel for most folks is is what I take it board member sorry vice president Schultz was meaning and this would be the Tuesday after 4th of July correct we understand that that's that part is clear um I can call my phone you can call in on that one sweet awesome could you please express the motion again and then board member Van Hook I'm I'll just do the motion so you know this is easier go ahead uh mad Madame vice president the uh board should move to approve the board meeting dates for 2526 as presented with the exception of moving the board business meeting on July 15th to July 8th 2026 second wait no can can you motion uh no I can't I was like well goodness this is delightful please go ahead all right you can say so one second Sarah we'll get you in there all right you one of you can say so moved as presented o I like that so moved as presented second sorry I'm writing on the wrong spot so that was Sarah jarmin with the second okay so I don't need to motion again that was what we just did all those in favor I uh I I all those opposed motion carries 5 thanks for that one thank you all right item 7.5 approval of overnight Andor outof State tra uh staff travel questions or comments board member Wade I asked to pull this item because this conference is set to um for Miss Richards to attend uh three months before retirement um and I'm not sure I know so it looks like almost $9,000 um was paid in September of 2024 um and that money covered um registration flights and lodging and three other um conferences uh what I'd like to know is were the other conferences already attended or are remaining to attend um and was this paid in September so if if we didn't attend the other two conferen say uh so was this paid in September knowing that this conference was going to be in um March of this year board member Van Hook I hope I can answer your questions this insert is a organization it's the national Center for Education and Research it's these conferences are national executive leadership conferences in the fall of 2022 Higley was invited to join insert there are three districts in the state of Arizona that are invited to participate um I did attend the Conference in October I did know that this conference was in March and it's my understanding they will have one in July and my hopes would be that the new new superintendent especially with our start date being adjusted would be able to participate and there are about 900 superintendents from across the country that attend these conferences and I found it very valuable so I would love for the next superintendent to be able to participate did I answer everything board member Van Hook yes thank you and um it's it's good to know that there was one in October so you've been able to to take advantage of the um for all you know the conferences um but so you're saying that this is transferable it's not just to specific individual yes okay my main concern was just that three months before um you know the cart contract ending um and then just the value of that for the community and the district well I with permission president L just I found it very valuable in October and I did bring back and I if you you might remember we went to the Naval Academy and I shared some of things we've learned and we've also so honestly that Superintendent at biserie Council was part of that Vision as well so my intention is not to go and not bring it back my intention is I have to go and bring it back to cabinet and report back to you guys as well thank you thank you thank you Miss Richards I also would like to say I'm appreciative of the fact that yes we know we only have you for so long before you're no longer with us it is also part of your contractual obligations and part of our evaluation of you these PDS so I mean I'm appreciative at least that you're looking at it in terms of ways in which you can set that your whoever comes after you up for Success here in hickley as well so I appreciate that I'm going to motion that the governing board approves the overnight and out of state staff travel requests as presented that' be Miss jarm with a second all those in favor I I I I all right motion passes 5 Z items for future agenda do we have any future agenda items or requests for future agenda items I was going to uh recommend a policy but um it sounds like uh from Miss Johnson that they'll be bringing in that policy back anyway so I'm good I mentioned this earlier to miss Batista but a a marketing report on what our numbers and where our money was spent and and how it affected our Kindergarten Roundup I know we still have all the other outside issues um birth rate and everything but just like to see those numbers thank you and the athletic kind of optin thing or opt out that one was in our our status last Friday that and so I don't know what date that's coming but that was it was mentioned in our status last week when District's going to come to us with that or at least that they will be president way we plan on coming March 4th with that inform there you go we've been getting information from our surrounding districts compiling and we'll bring a recommendation to you on that date I also appreciate the quick turnaround on that cuz that's a that's a large task and that was a large ask and so when the community asked you did the work for that and so I'm appreciative on the timetable for that sound I'm appreciative of the work don't take credit over there all right thank you yes please give credit to Mr bur he's helped leading that charge for us thank you I appreciate it all right with that there's no more I'm going to I motion that the governing board adjourn to Executive session pursuant to ARS 38-43 1.03 uh A1 for discussion or consideration of employment assignment appointment promotion demotion dismissal salaries disciplin or disciplining or resignation of a public officer appointee or employee of any public body second Mr Arman seconded all those in favor I I I motion passes five to zero e

um and should we yeah that's it I will second that um so all those in favor just a recap uh this would move the the points of Pride essentially the start of our thing uh to 5:30 and then board business will start at 6:00 with keeping public comments uh available until 6: pm.

agenda and we are in hearing room 229 this meeting including the audio and V video of remote participants is being streamed live on YouTube you will find links to viewing options for all Senate meetings on the live and On Demand video page of the legislator's website in the unlikely event that we must abruptly end this hearing due to Major technical difficulties the committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business on Friday February 7th 2025 at 3:00 p.m.

is in place from November 1st to March 31st so be aware of that and certainly it is more strictly enforced when there are weather incidents so if there's overnight snow or ice and the roads need to be done so but you know I did notice that last time the snow that we had there must have been Vehicles well there was obviously vehicles that were parked out in front of town hall along this street here hopefully they receive tickets yeah and you know we've we've actually talked to the chief recently just about ticketing in general downtown um and stepping that up so yeah I mean it's I think Outreach is important first step right right I would also I mean I think one of the some things that needs to be addressed is you know as we said one of the issues that's going on is we have a couple of buildings that might have extra people there with vehicles that are not parking in their buildings that's exactly what's happening so now there's no overnight parking in town hall correct correct is that something that needs to be looked at so that they're not on the streets or in the public parking lot across um on Front Street can they Park overnight there because I'm I'm all for ticketing people you know and and if they're used to parking but if we are not able to give them someplace else to park is that something we need to I mean yeah I mean it are we looking at actually this is it's a great question because as we're looking at certain things we may want to look at permit resident permit parking parking and making you know those public lots available you know for those snow emergencies for residents right um yeah I'm sorry I didn't mean to that's okay that's that makes sense I think you know so so at a practical level I think allowing people to park in the parking lot is okay like I said from a practice practical level because in the morning Theory being that they leave right right the thing just like with a mixed use building right so like I said in practice I think it's okay in principle I think kind of what frustrates a lot of people um is that a lot of residents to who observe this is that you know when these multif family buildings are parking or are permitted with a limited amount of parking right um you know it's it it's not it shouldn't then be I don't think up to the municipality unless there's an explicit discussion about it to provide overflow parking right um and the theory again is is that the market should dictate what happens so if at 128 Main Street if you've only got 1.5 parking spaces per a unit somebody has two cars like right guess what they might not want to rent there and so the rental you know amount could you know potentially come down to make it more attractive or marketable for one person to live that right you know so I mean another possibility is you know generating revenue for the town by renting those parking spaces to people who to Residents who potentially you know that's another potential thing to look at if that's what it comes to but you know just getting cars off the street when we need to do snow clearing and for public saf purposes is important so and I think from a perspective of right if there's there's no on street parking from 2 to 6: a.m.

good afternoon and welcome to the Joint Committee on education and labor and technology today is Wednesday February 5th it's 3:00 p.m. we are in room 229 and we are here today to hear Senate Bill 420 related to education this bill allows newly graduated high school students to be eligible for workers compensation coverage during the summer following their High School graduation while participating in Department of Education sponsored work based learning programs so Senate Bill 420 um to start off off we have our Department of Education superintendent good afternoon chair and vice chair I'm Tammy Chun Deputy superintendent for Kei Hayashi we're standing in support of um our written standing support of the bill and um referring to our written testimony on this matter thank you would you like to start questions any questions I have your questions okay superintendent or Tammy how many students and new graduates new high schol graduates would this bill impact uh we have not been able to um we've not brought on um new graduates as interns under these conditions before so we don't have um track record on this but we would imagine somewhere in the ballpark of maybe 50 in the fir to 100 in the first year thank you so how or will this positively impact these students in the work Bas learning programs oh absolutely this is really an important um experience for students and an important transition for students who are have graduated and moving on to the workforce it'll give them experience to be able to uh to pursue addition to and to build skills to be more ready to apply for um employment post High School can you describe uh various Partnerships with employers Community Partners military or higher education institutions sure so um we have different Partnerships that offer students um work-based learning experiences the ones that are currently state funded through the D um hel imoa program we are currently only offering to students for um who are um work doing doe work sites at internships At Doe work sites there's a separate bill that would allow our students to do those internships at private sector organizations um but in terms of Partnerships uh some of the Partnerships for workplace learning for example include the Hawaii lodging and tourism association with their own funding in uh prior year they were able to offer students internships paid internships um at hotels so I have not seen that separate bill has it been um sent over um let me just double check on the bill number we'll look it up okay thank you members questions any questions any question so right now these students aren't eligible if this question was asked and answer okay for a workers's compensation if they're participating in internships correct uh but if it's a regular summer job if they're employed as employees then they would be eligible as employees for workers come so as an internship do they receive do they receive compensation they interns May may not receive compensation okay so if they don't receive compensation where does the where does the money come from to pay them the workers comp so the because doesn't the employer normally have to put into the workers's comp so under the current statute the uh the Attorney General's interpretation is that if students are in um if students are still enrolled not graduated yet that Doe workers compensation would cover them while they're participating in doe sponsored internships so this is to extend the period of coverage for until July 31st After High School graduation for students who are participating in in the same internship Ty programs okay and the doe is in supportive of this support yes okay thank you further questions members so do we have a a you don't have a number yet as to how many students are in this category uh we would newly be able to offer this so I would estimate perhaps 50 to 100 in the first year that's for all de schs correct and can you describe the types of Partnerships with employers or Community Partners military and higher education institutions that um we currently have sure so um we have opportunities for our students to participate in for example pre-apprenticeship programs with the Carpenters Union um apprenticeship the carpenters training and apprenticeship program so that's a short-term opportunity for students to learn some skills and also to have some experiences to decide if they want to pursue the full apprenticeship program thank you question questions sure go ahead so do you have experience um in terms of like numbers I mean they're not in in very dangerous kinds of um work that they do when they're interning but do you have any idea of what kind of accident yeah it's I'm hang on I have that information we have it we have not had um my recollection is that we have not had any incidents with students um in terms of workers compensation and from a cost point of view Doe's um current uh what doe is uh requested in terms of overall workers compensation would cover the cost so there would be no additional cost for this bill um and as for Senator kid's prior question um see some more examples here um just as an example of the kind of um funding we have had students participate in design and Technology lab to be able to um learn how to learn use different kinds of media equipment so but the the primary place that students have been a lot of the internships have so far been uh through the state funded program has been on campus or At Doe facilities doing a variety of different kinds of occupations at the doe So currently this um workers compensation coverage um ends at the time of graduation correct so if they work through the summer they're not covered currently and this this bill would allow them to be covered correct and that would extend through the summer through July 30 31st through July 31st only so it' be maybe two month after graduation and this is for high school seniors who have graduated correct members further questions so so it's it's covered you're saying your coverage for them during the school year will just continue on if this passes the bill would extend it the the current coverage is while they're students once they graduate um they would no longer be considered a student so this would just extend the coverage for up to two more months without additional cost correct thank you chair thank you members further questions if not um recess thank you reconvening The Joint Committee hearing of education and Committee of Labor and technology [Music] in for Senate Bill 420 relating to education this allows new gr newly graduated high school students to be eligible for workers compensation coverage during the summer following their High School graduation while while participating in Department of Education sponsored work based learning programs committee on education is ready to vote are you ready to vote so recommendation recommendation for both committees is to support this bill amending amend oh yeah I'm sorry we have to defect the date to July 1 2050 and this will be changed when hopefully when it gets to ws and means thank you ready for the vote okay so for Senate bill 420 the recommendation is to pass with amendments chair kidani I this chair votes I Senor hasim ior Senator I five recommendation is adopted okay thank you very much labor and Technology same recommendations defecting the uh effective date to July 1st 2050 questions of concerns memb sing non senator for the okay for uh labor committee uh those voting i h chair pimo I uh uh Senator Lee excuse Senator ihara I uh maruki I and Senator fella excuse legis Bill adopted thank you very much thank you so the Committees on education and labor and Technology have passed out Senate Bill 420 with amendments hearing is adjourned thank you thank you welcome back to the committee on education we are now reconvening this me meeting to this is Wednesday February 5th 2025 it's 3:02 p.m.

in room 229 and a public notice will be posted on the legislature's website members we are here to discuss Senate Bill 844 propos sd1 relating to education this bill appropriates funds to the Department of Education to fulfill the local Farm to school meal goal requiring 30% of the food served in public schools to consist of locally sourced products oh sorry oops mistake sorry the purpose of this decision-making meeting is to insert subst stantive Provisions into the following short form Bill a public hearing will be scheduled at a later date at which testimony will be accepted this is for Senate Bill 894 relating to education propose sd1 did I shake up the Department of Education and this checking eyes on your toes just checking so send a bill 894 appropriate spunds to the Department of Education to F fulfill the local Farm to school meal goal requiring 30% of the food served in public schools to consist of locally Source Products and recommendation is to adopt this proposed sd1 members questions no I didn't have it on my agenda I don't know what happened to my agenda decision making only no okay so the recommendation is to amend Senate Bill 894 to include the Amendments that was uh read to by the chair and so any discussion hearing none the chair Vice chair V Senator hasim Senator Senator Dort is excused for in in um support and voting I your recommendations adopted thank you and that concludes our that's decision decision making we have another agenda yes reconvening the committee on education for our next agenda first first one on the agenda Senate Bill 789 relating to school cafeteria meal costs this bill repeals the requirement that the Department of Education set school cafeteria meal prices at no less than half the cost of meal preparation to testify superintendent please Vice chair Kim and members of the committee excuse me Dino Deputy superintendent testifying on behalf of Department of Education the department stands in its written testimony which provides comments on this measure the department is requesting that rather than repeal the existing requirement that the threshold instead be lowered to 1/4 of the cost of prepering the meal this would align it with the language and our administrative Bill package which is Senate Bill 1394 thank you okay members questions question so what what prompts this meas the repealing of the 50% oh whatever you're asking for yeah it was um we tried to go to the board Bo of Education to increase it cuz right now we're charging like $275 but it cost us about $9 per meal so we weren't in compliance with the statute we went to the board they didn't want to increase the rates they just wanted to increase it for adults and for the second meal and they wanted to keep everything the same because of you know everybody's having a hard time with the economy to way it is so you know we need to address the statutory requirement at the 50% so that's why the bill came in to lower it we we're kind of at the 1/4 right now at $275 at $9 you're at what cost right now yeah $9 per per plate and we're charging $ 275 and this bill would raise it to what um would be like 25% so 450 225 yeah 225 oh no this bill would be half the cost it would be 450 yeah we go 1/4 going to be but you're at 275 yeah so so if we go 1/4 it's lower than the 275 yeah we above no we going to be above the 225 the 225 is 1/4 of our cost we're charging 275 you want to be in compliance basically you want to be in compliance with the statute right correct it's not to what question so this bill I would think this is a better bill because it has no requirement right yeah I think you you're deleting everything you're deleting the 50% requirement right yeah we're asking for the 20 25% but that's in your bill package this one this one I'm looking at it just deletes so this one has nothing right but you guys want something in the statute I guess to be consistent with the the package that was submitted so so what why why was the doe not following the statue we hadn't done a increase since 2015 and then Co hit and so everything got pushed back so nobody was worried that they were in not in compliance with the statute I think um it it came to our attention I guess towards the end of last year that's what we started so nobody figured it out until last year I guess so interesting well you know CU I think I think obviously just based on what happened in the news and the outcry it's it's a very touchy subject and so you probably have to have a long-term plan like you have to tell them okay within the next eight years this is what the increase is but you haven't touched it since 2015 and then have no plan well we tried to increase it getting it closer to 50% but staging it over a 4year period so gradually stepping up yeah but when I was a kid you you like quarter quarter increases right and you're you're saying a couple dollars that's like of course people are going to flip out right yeah and then you know the cost of the cost of the food is going to go up too right so we got to try and figure out how you going to Pace it with the cost of the rising cost of the food going up that's not addressed anywhere just it says 50% of the cost of the meal right so okay so the the Department's intention though is whatever we put in the statute you guys are going to comply that's correct okay okay thank you chair Senator K so with all the bills going on about free lunch for everybody well how then this bill becomes moved right at some point yeah if that passes yeah it'll be moved and and so when you're when these bills are coming up and what the cost might be you're using the current cost of preparation per meal as to look at what the cost might be to the state right thank you further questions MERS thank you is there anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure okay moving on please come [Music] forward H chair Vice chair Nate Hicks with Hawaii Public Health Institute we really appreciate you folks hearing this bill and introducing it uh you know Point's pretty clear School Meal prices are uh you know shouldn't be doubled as we've seen in the news recently and removing this would be a great step so we're definitely in support of this uh and we think yeah not instituting the quarter would be the better move we don't want to tie the Department's hands and making sure that they follow right if costs go up all of a sudden we don't want a big jump so removing it entirely would be a great step thank you thank you [Applause] Daniela Daniela good afternoon chair Kim Vice chair or chair kadani Vice chair Kim my name is Daniela Spoto I am with Hawaii apple seed um we are in support of this measure and um I also just wanted to acknowledge Senator Hashimoto's remarks um I do think this is the better bill um the bill that Deputy um Ido was referencing um it's if the goal is is eventually to have free School meals for children which we hope that it is this would just eliminate one more barrier towards that whereas um the governor's package bill would still have this additional statute and there this barrier and the statute that 25% of the costs need to come from parents um so it doesn't necessarily require that they make the meals free but we do think that this just sort of makes it simpler if that is the eventual goal so thank you so much for hearing my testimony thank you anyone else here wishing to testify this measure can I ask one more question of do so this will cover not just student meals but adult meals as well um I think the board wants the adult meals closer to what we're paying oh I see so that's that's not covered in in this language thank you members no further testifiers and we will move on to Senate bill 449 relating to Capital Improvement establishes a school Capital Improvement project modernization initiative in the school facilities authority to create a planning database for school facilities and appropriates funds testify superintendent thank you chair kidani Vice chair Kim and members of the committee in deputy superintendent testifying on behalf of the Department of Education the department stands on its written testimony which provides comments on this measure what department appreciates the role of the school facilities Authority we continue to serve as the overall lead for CIP and deferred maintenance projects we believe the department is best suited to oversee the overall Planning Development and constructions construction of its facilities and believe that a planning database would be better suited within our department rather than duplicated under the s Fe thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you further testimony good afternoon senate committee on education Ricky fujitani with the school facilities Authority we support this bill we feel that Hawaii needs to develop a plan for the tectonic changes coming about as the federal programs and funding for Education will dramatically change in the 14th Edition for mandate for leadership also known as project 2025 the common theme is student choice and that will have a amazing impact on the way schools in Hawaii are run and funded especially when in our case 20% of the kids are in private schools 7.9 are in Charters and homeschools so the impact is great what this Bill does is create a proactive decision-making tool for legislators where the data schema will be by legislative districts so key questions for the legislators who deal with funding budget and spending will be answered ahead of time questions like why should we build what should we build and where we should repurpose so we are very much in support of this Bill thank you members questions thank you Ricky good afternoon chair kidani Vice chair Kim Senator ha Hashimoto and huchi from the Department of the Attorney General um in our testimony what we noted is that um the the bill places this new section in the um subpart C of part six chapter 302 that's the subp part that relates to the school facilities Authority um to make it clear that um references to the board in this new section are um relate to the Board of Education rather than the school facilities Authority board we've suggested amendments in our testimony to insert the words of Education um in the new or in the statute so that it's clear that the references to the board or to the bo e and not the SFA board I'll be available for questions thank you thank you members questions thank you is there anyone else here to testify on this measure not question question um so I'm hearing Zoe and then I guess F Ricky so doe is saying that they're best suited to oversee the overall plan right and therefore you're saying that this funding and I guess the database should be in the department and not duplicated under sfas so is this duplicating or what's happening well it doesn't exist now so the key is to build it as quickly as we can um we feel we're not right now there's no duplication because we don't have it no so is that your understanding okay so you're saying it shouldn't be in F you should only be in do correct okay and you're saying that you guys are the ones responsible for the planning no no we're saying this thing has to be done and you you to us or give it to them but we got to build this right but who is the more who or should it be both places or who is the one that supposed to be overseeing this definitely we have to work to we have to work with each other but but who can move fastest to get this thing up and running as quickly as we can well who can s if he can are you saying you guys can no give us the money and we'll do it no but that's what you guys say and then you I mean the reason no matter who does it somebody needs to get the money so if you're not going to ask you're not going to get yeah right but the thing is you guys have a history of that's if said we created this we created all stuff you have a backlog of so when you're saying give it to you guys and you guys are going to do it I I don't necessarily have faith that it's going to happen it's going to happen in a timely manner I'm sorry that's I know yeah our history um is not so good yeah but we try to make some changes within the organization that can be better responsive getting better people you folks already have this huge bureaucracy that yeah I'm think so if you folks get it then you folks will work with oh absolutely we have to because all it is is provides information to make better decision right ultimately the decisions have to be made by the legisl who decides funding or the do who decides repurposing and reusing put some language in the bill or in the committee report to assure that happens yes okay thank you so let me ask this So currently um does the doe work with SFA at all or does SFA work with the do at all or how are you doing projects right now there's four standing committee meetings where we regularly meet with the doe for each of the programs that we run first there's an overall one where we meet monthly and that involves operations Dean Audrey hadano and Chief of Staff yeah it's the same yeah but who's the lead uh myself and in the case of the overall Chief of Staff which is Camille then in the Central Maui schools the lead is Jen oraki and Brenda Lowry who are in charge of new schools in the case of work for housing we hope to work with the land department at the doe and then the third one in terms of midd Ling housing our lead right now is Fred Murphy but we want better oversight with either uh the best person would be audrea D and she's in charge of scheduling that regular meeting now and Audrey is with Dey okay thank you y thank you thank you Senate Bill 423 relating to the Early Learning board as adds the director of the Hawaii headart state collaboration office or their design as an ex official non- voting member to the Early Learning board requires the Early Learning board to invite the president of the Headstart Association of public or their designate to serve as an ex official noning member of the board um is y aloss here hi chair kidani Vice chair Kim and Senator Hashimoto I'm Yuko Adar cross director of the executive office on early learning we stand in strong support ofb 423 and we thank the committee for hearing this bill back in 2011 then Governor Neil abber cromi declared the Early Learning Council um by way of executive order as the state's advisory Council uh over the years it was replaced by the early learning Advisory Board and now it's currently the Early Learning board and so as a result The Early Learning Board needs to comply with certain requirements of the federal Head Start act so in 201 23 act 170 which structured the composition of the Early Learning board and this bill just makes the change that's needed to realign the new composition with the headart act so adding the state director of headart collaboration as you mentioned and also inviting the president of the headart association or the president's design um the header act also requires that the board include a representative of local providers of early childhood education and development services so the membership of our current board does already include an individual who satisfies that requirement however e recommends that the bill be amended to ensure that this requirement is not accidentally overlooked in future years and has suggested language for your consideration thank you thank you members questions thank you anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure elenia mashita who's chair of early learning board is is that you on Zoom yes thank you go Aloha chair Aloha Vice chairo for the opportunity to um testify on this and uh we stand on the testimony of uh executive office and uh I submitted my testimony a little early so the language I will def in that we are suggesting I'm going to defer to the eel version we discussed it yesterday and um the E version of the language we're suggesting is more appropriate so thank you for consideration and thank you for your support thank you Elaine members questions no thank you very much is there anyone else wishing to testify in this measure seeing none moving on Senate Bill 1384 relating to the early childhood education special fund this bill amends section 302 l9e HRS to require stien funds repaid by a stiped recipient pursuant to section 302l HRS to be deposited into the Early Learning special fund established pursuant to section 302 L5 HRS to testify orar cross Cher kidani Vice chair Kim and Senator Hashimoto Yuko Ado across director of the executive office on early learning we are in strong support of SB 1384 and we thank the committee for hearing this bill act 210 slh 2021 established the Hawaii Early Childhood educator stien program to address the shortage of qualified Early Childhood Educators in Hawaii the ACT specified that recipients of the stiens who do not satisfy the requirements of the program must repay the stien funds and added a new section to to HRS establishing the Hawaii Early Childhood educator special fund into which any repaid stien funds were to be deposited however act 210 also specified that the special fund shall be abolished and repealed on June 30 2023 as a result the fund was abolished in 2023 and is no longer in use this bill is a housekeeping measure that deletes section 302 L10 HRS which established the Early Childhood educator special fund and redirects any stien funds repaid by a stien recipient to the Early Learning special fund instead thank you thank you members questions how much is in the early learning sted Early Learning special uh so we have uh the only amount that we've ever deposited into the Early Learning special fund is maybe like about 2,500 that we received from a ho e Dental Service Grant and what kind of stiens normally would get put into when it was under the early educator the early so the Early Childhood educator special fund so we do have a early learning uh stien program and so it's if anybody should default on it then the money should go into the special kind of default um so for example if somebody withdraws from the program or if they're termin the how much was that was a lot of money or just Okay so as of Summer of 2024 there were only nine recipients and the total is 31,8 64 that we're in the process of recouping from these individuals how hard is it to well they've we're giving them notice and then at the same time we're trying to look into Contracting for a collections uh piece because this is something something new for our office that's such a small amount to go to a contract yes so that's why we're trying to recoup it from them directly thank you question members thank you thank you is there someone else on Zoom wishing to testify elen mashita yes Mahalo here I am again chair of the Early Learning board and we stand on our testimony Mahalo in support thank you Elaine in support yes members questions thank you if not moving on to our final agenda item Senate Bill I'm sorry not yeah it is our final Senate Bill 684 relating to the Board of Education requires the Board of Education to adopt administrative rules to ban the usage of cell phones at Department of Education schools does de have testimony on this no to testify Andrew crosslin out here Renee diaper rink and support Alice abalin also in support any additional testifiers present or on Zoom wishing to testify if not members questions yes I introduced a similar bill um so is there a problem do you we see any problem with the cell phone situations of students during classroom time so every school currently sets their own policy regarding the use of cell phones there's a variety of different ways schools schools deal with that do you think there should be a more consistent model there there could be a more consistent model I I do think that um we have not heard schools ask us to provide more consistency different School some schools say no cell phones at all some say none during instructional hours not during class unless the teacher asks to bring it out some say they can't be brought out at all so I think um we we could have more consistency i al you have that ability without a measure right without a bill correct so why don't you I mean there's number of bills have been introduced in the house side and on our side and I know parents have talked to me and they applaud having a measure like this so um I think the fact that and Schools Kids move from school to school different policies that will be doe not to have a more consistent policy throughout the schools I may not be so restrictive that's why we're leaving up the the details and the policy to doe but we want you guys to come up with something so we're working with the Board of Education and the board um has an intention to set a board policy regarding cell phone use in schools are you folks aware of the different types of um items out on the market which you like they have these little pockets that kids can put their cell phones into that locks and then open after then are they allowed to or other measures I've been to conferences and there's all of these different ways in which the schools can achieve that purpose are you folks aware of all of those yes Senator some schools use the pouches currently okay well again even more so if some schools use it others don't I mean it would be think helpful for parents out there to understand what the policies are because they have kids in different different schools and have different policies so the expectation is that the board will set a policy this year in um collaboration with the Department okay thank you thank you members oh I should just correct the board is going to work on the policy I'm not sure it'll be this school year but I would expect it would be in place before next legislative session that was requested in the board's testimony or resolution thank you okay no one else here to testify on this measure okay we're going to recess thank you members the committee is reconvening committee on education and with regard to Senate Bill 789 we are going to this is relating to school cafeteria meal cost recommendation is to pass with amendments changing the requirement of the threshold to 1/4 of the cost of preparing mules and also defecting the date to July 1 2015 questions members okay U no questions a recommendation is to pass with Amendment Senate Bill 789 uh Senator kidani I Vice chair votes Senator Hashimoto Senator kuha Senator Dort I five eyes recommendations adopted thank you members on Senate Bill 449 relating to cap Improvement uh recommendation of the chairs to beer Senate Bill 423 relating to the Early Learning board uh we my recommendation is to pass with amendments and to um include the testimony of the executive office of early learning and defect the date to July 1 2050 members questions if not shair vots up if not uh recommendation is Senate bill for 2 three pass with amendments any member voting no any member voting with reservations hearing n all five members in the affirmative recommendations adopted thank you for Senate Bill 1384 relating to Early Childhood educator special fund recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments and we will defect the date to July 1 2050 chair votes I any member voting no any member voting reservations hearing none all five members present voting in affirmative recommendations adopted thank you for Senate Bill 684 relating to the board of education and the usage of cell phones at doe schools the chair would like to defer this matter and would like the Board of Education to take up this matter rather than this committee thank you any questions meetings adjourned

e e e you e e e good evening and welcome to the Ashlin select board for Wednesday February 5th 2025 and I'm just pausing because we have not switched yet on cable Mackie okay well then well it went to something else but that's okay yeah okay okay well we're GNA we're going to continue um first perfect nope that's still last meeting again if you're if you're catching us on Zoom just give us a second there we go thank you now we're now we're live on cable again welcome uh to the select board meeting for February 5th uh 2025 I apologize for the late start we were in exec committee meeting uh before we have a couple of scheduled appointments and then and citizens participation before we open that up I just want to make a a brief statement uh I was at MMA last weekend which is the mass Municipal Municipal Association and I had a number of conversations with different colleagues there and I've mentioned this to the board we at the local level we see everything that that's going on from the federal level the executive orders that are being put out that are making people concerned and worried had a conversation with Jack Lewis he's hearing things many of our members here have been getting concerns we saw a statement go out from Jim Adams our superintendent of schools and I want the residents of Ashlin to know that our Focus as we hear these things come down is going to be working with what we can do locally to keep our residents safe help to try to keep them calm and do what we can from a local level to support our residents in anything and everything that they are dealing with we are later in our meeting going to have a discussion about some of the potential Financial impacts that we are aware of and who knows those might not come to fruition but we'll have that discussion but just know that we are going to work locally and hopefully regionally and across the state of Massachusetts I think Massachusetts in is is in a different position than some other states but we are going to work to make sure that our residents are feeling safe that our students that are elderly that every resident is feeling as safe in whatever we we way we can here locally so if you have questions if you have concerns reach out to any of us reach out to Michael reach out to the superintendent of schools reach out to your school committee members um if you have questions or concerns specifically for you and your family so thank you uh on that note we're going to go to Citizens participation anything that anyone has give us your name and address and Mackie we can't see the full Zoom screen so if there's anyone on Zoom that needs wants to raise their hand to um talk to us as well if but you can go ahead perfect okay Mark y okay good evening Mark the Sony 119 Main Street that was as part reason why I came up here was was that but through the chairperson through the town manager all that was put on your latest management post is that other half of what is what is being said the freezes and stuff like that that you put in a big Mr Town manager what I'm saying to um understand that the what the federal government did the freezes on you put on your header heading part of the manager report online and um it was basically everything from the schools to uh business to the AR ARA funds and stuff like that right so so mark As I said we do have it later in our agenda so some of it was addressed in Michael's newsletter and we're going to be discussing it later in the meeting under Town manager reports some of those Federal funding things and other potential impacts that we're seeing so if you could hang out until then we can go into further discussion rather than just address your one question okay I'll flip I'll flip around quickly on this part um on February 11th Zone board has another public hearing on on 1060 Main Street I'm I've been thinking I have almost all the zoning codes at home and trying to work it up I'm trying I'm going to try and see if I can get a paragraph or so I upgrade in the zoning codes just for the just for 1060 there to understand that it can mix in housing and business and to understand better what the town can see forward in case the zoning board cannot do anything either because of the freeze I want to stay ahead of the curve thank you you mark appreciate that there is no one else is there anyone online for Citizens participation I'm not seeing any hands or waving of anybody okay we're going to go into our first scheduled pres presentation and this is on the hazard mitigation plan it's being presented by mapc metropolitan area planning Council you want to come up introduce and yes we can get that slide back up if we can get the slide up on this on the screen above us that'd be great Mackie and also shared online thank you very much for having me before the board tonight my name is Martin Pillsbury I'm the director of the environmental planning department at the metropolitan area planning Council mapc and if you don't know we are the regional planning agency to which Ashland and a 100 other towns and cities in Greater Boston belongs to uh and we provide a range of planning Services um for communities from transportation to economic development housing land use and what we're talking about here tonight um Hazard mitigation planning which is a program that will discuss a little bit more detail here um just to give a broad context this presentation tonight is for public information we're not at there's nothing we're asking for the board to take action on tonight uh but when we come back with a fully drafted out plan in a few months uh there will be a point when the the plan will be uh approved by FEMA and will be asked to just to adopt the plan that will be the very end of the process we're in the middle of the process now and we want to make sure that a broader audience in the community is aware of this plan and has an opportunity to ask questions and give us comments so I'm assuming I can advance this here so this is a brief overview of what we're going to talk about introdu we already I gave an introduction background talk about the planning process talk about what information we've heard and gathered already and then what the next steps in the process will be so I mentioned mapc the regional planning Council from you can see on this map here uh that it is 101 cities and towns and we're working with a number of towns to do similar projects like this um and Ashland as you can see is part of the Metro West group as you well know uh we've worked with some of the other communities around this area in these kinds of similar plans as well a little bit of background about Hazard mitigation plans I think you know many people are familiar with Comprehensive plans Master plans open space plans Hazard mitigation plans aren't exactly a household term that everyone's very familiar with it's part of what I like to and because it's kind of a specialized plan but in today's world where we have more threats of of different kinds of of um weather events storms floods winter events um it's becoming an increasingly important program so we want more people to be aware of it and have an opportunity to even comment on it and have some input into it as we do the plan so this whole process is is actually um a arises out of a federal law that was passed in the year 2000 called the disaster mitigation Act of 2000 uh which essentially charged FEMA the Federal Emergency Management agency with developing a program that would help communities plan in advance of disasters happening FEMA had already and always had been there after it happened responding recovery after the disaster but they wanted F to be able to and the nation to States towns and cities to be able to take stock of what your hazards are and take actions before they happen in order to maybe make your community more resilient and less vulnerable so that's the philosophy behind it uh under this law FEMA set up a planning process which has a goal that every city in town and the whole country do a plan like this and a good number of them did not every but a good number of them done in Massachusetts probably 90 plus perc of our communities have these plans in the metro area for mapc all of us do um the planning process is set up that assumes that you know data changes over time you do a plan it gets out of date and so there's a five-year renewal cycle that female likes to encourage communities to do to re revisit the plan up refresh it with new data there's new technology between plans things change quickly these days so there's better computer technology to assess things uh there's better mitigation measures that can be thought about for what the community might do so the for that reason actually Ashland is in the middle here of doing a plan update from an existing plan you have already uh in fact if you can see on the right side of the screen um your last plan which MBC helped you do at that time as well was approved by fem in 2017 uh and there was a plan before that in around 2011 or so 10 I can't remember exactly right now going back this is actually your third plan in the series of going back to one this program got started so this is Hazzard mitigation 3.0 for the town of H hler the other thing I'll mention the last bullet on the left side uh one of the benefits of having a plan is that it makes a community eligible to apply for some pretty significant grants to do projects on the ground to actually mitigate drainage and flooding problems and other sorts of things um so you have to have an approved plan by FEMA before that fem will then turn around and give you a grant for a project that's the prerequisite it makes it a prerequisite So the plan having a plan is not a requirement there's no penalty for not having a plan there's no fine or anything like that but the you don't get Garner the benefit there's kind of a carrot not a stick here you don't Garner the benefit of being able to get some of these grants if you don't have any plan so when we're done with this plan update in the middle of this year 2025 you'll get a five-year plan that will take you to 2030 sounds very futuristic I know uh and the town will be eligible in each of those next five years to be able to apply for these grants many communities have taken advantage of this grant program you can get six figure grants and plus depending on the kind of project you're looking at and what the needs are so back up for a minute to talk about what do we mean by Hazard mitigation like I say even the term is not something that is in common in vocabulary necessar so first of all we're dealing with natural Hazard which you see on the right side of the screen FEMA has a lot of programs some of them might have to do with man-made hazards chemical spills radiation of course Homeland Security terrorism all that this is a whole corner of FEMA that's just focused on natural hazards but it's focused on every category of natural Hazard that a community might experience from those that are common and frequent like flooding to those that are pretty infrequent and not very likely to happen like earthquakes but still if there if it's more than a 0% chance it'll it'll have some role in the plant the ones that are more common and more experienced in any Community will have more Focus there will be more of a focus on those but all in there um on the left side of the screen you see here kind of a def just a working simple definition what we mean by Hazard mitigation reducing impacts from natural hazards through strategies that include policies programs and projects so those drainage projects that I talked about that's part of the picture but that's not the whole picture there's other things that you'll see can fit into mitigation such as different kinds of local regulations on how development occurs and where it occurs and that sort um and the lower left side of this seren is sort of like the starting questions we start out with when we do a plan uh we say what are the preventative actions that the community is already taking because you've been living with these houses for decades it's not like this is a new thing it's just like we want to get take stock of what you have in place already from there we can say where are the gaps where are the things that could be improved where are the things that could be modernized and that will lead us to the second question what additional actions can be taken and the answer to that question becomes the core of this plan a set of recommended actions that you can map out over the next 5 years some of them will be longterm and won't happen immediately some of them may be lower lower hanging fruit whole combination of those M so this graphic is intended to show what the FEMA program is designed to do is to time to interrupt this cycle uh to slow this cycle down we could probably never completely stop this cycle uh as long as there are storms out there but to sort of like interrupt this cycle that has often been experienced in many communities of you know having a disaster causing damage rebuilding and then you know rinse wash repeat do the whole thing all over again time and time again so that's kind of like the idea is to get is to get in place measures that will reduce the Comm the damage that's occur you can't stop the storms from happening or the other natural events from happening but can you get a little more out of Harm's Way in your community to reduce the damages that they would cause and another thing to think about is looking ahead to the the future uh these Hazard mitigation plans when they started back in the year 2000 they mostly were based upon assessing a communities hazards and what's their what's your vulnerability based on the record of the past events and you we don't we still do that that's still very important like how many floods where have they been how many blizzards nor easers Etc were there earthquakes whatever in some communities that's more important than others uh but like that only gives you the picture of what the past was what we now have is the ability to look forward a little bit more because we have tools and models that have been brought to brought about in the last decade or so that give us some idea of where future patterns of precipitation may be where future patterns of temperature may be due to the climate change where things are not really just static but or they're Dynamic so the curve is like going up like this in some cases and we can when you look at the future you're not looking at measured empirical information it is a model so it's you don't want to say that's exactly what's going to happen but you see the trend you see the tendency that you if we've had these many floods before we might likely have more of them more frequently in the future so let's it just informs what you want to be prepared for and what you want to think about when you do your hazard so Hazard mitigation is not one technique or one method of of dealing it's actually a broad umbrella term and we'd like to break that down into some components that you see here on this list um a few of them are prevention uh so if you could can prevent the Haz the damage from occurring in the first place that's always the best thing right that will extent uh that old expression about you know an ounce of prevention it's worth a pound of cure um and so to the extent that you can think about how how and where the development occurs with respect to where the hazard areas are like flood planes Etc the more you can direct development away from the areas that are great a greater Hazard the more you will be reducing future hazards in future damages then there's property protection because we have an awful lot of property that has been developed over the past many years decades even centuries in New England that got built in what we now know to be flood planes in other areas I mean it's not un it's it's it's not unusual our communities were often started out as Mills right along the rivers and built out from there and now we look at that and go oh that's the low spot that's where it floods that's exactly where we built that's exactly where it floods and so we have to have a way to coexist continue to to coexist with having development in areas that we now know to be have some Hazard risk associated with them so different kinds of property protection for what's there already uh is another component of this potential public education is important because it's not just about the physical structures we build in the infrastructure but it's make making folks who live in the community who own property homeowners small businesses Etc uh aware of what the risks are for different kinds of Hazards and what kind of meth methods that they can use themselves or their own property management and what is available from the town from the state that may help in certain circumstances so that this is part of that effort just to get the word out about this kind of planning the late a broader public know about it natural resources protection um thinking about the functions that wetlands and watersheds and flood planes serve Us in terms of absorbing the flood water um I like to call this one just letting Mother Nature do the best for for us that we can and staying out of the way uh so that's where some of your Wetlands regulations and flood planes and open space protection come in as like on the side of the Ledger that's trying to prevent more damage structural projects are the ones that are addressed at trying to deal with the damage that's already happening infrastructure that's old or outdated or the town has grown and it's under size now uh a lot of this is often drainage infrastructure culverts and that sort of thing and these are the kinds of projects if you identify the need for some of them in certain places in a community that could potentially be funded by those immigrants or some of other kinds and finally Emergency Services protection the idea here is that your emergency services have various facilities and and vehicles and Equipment communication systems and you want to make sure those are really hardened and protected or located in safe areas because you want them to be able to function so that when the rest of the community may be having damages they're still operable they can provide that service and that Aid if they go out they can't help anybody else and there were examples there was a a police department up in the to think was North Reading that used to flood and they had their communication systems at the lower level and they would go out and they got a fig Grant and put in a solution around the drainage area so that's an example I also like this to to draw the analogy when you're on an airplane they say if the masks come down put put the mask on first and then help everyone around around you it's like keep the Emergency Services intact so prioritize that so that's really where that comes from so how do we do go about doing a plan like this well um we've we've laid out a road map of holding a number of um meetings with a Town's uh Hazard mitigation team and I'll talk about the members of the team in a minute um Chief Robie is here tonight and he's been leading the the team um we we hold a series of meetings Where We Gather local information we put it into a format that we know is the format of the plan that FEMA requires there's a certain very prescriptive way that these plans have to be designed uh but the content the local information we don't know that at MC that has to come from local officials from fire department from planners conservation uh Health Etc all of the different boards so we have a multi departmental team that's been meeting um we've actually held three meetings of it so far in the last few months starting last July uh and in this little timeline here uh we're at this where we are the what we call the first public meeting um what were be doing after this is holding a final meeting of the team where they'll actually come up with the recommended actions for the plan for what will be the mitigation steps they would recommend the town to pursue in the next five years once we put the whole plan together and have an actual draft plan just a few months from now in the spring we'll actually release that plan for public to be able to see it put it up on the website and we'll hold another public meeting where there can be comments and questions about the plan itself when people actually see the plan give it you know a more detailed picture of what's actually in there and and give us any comments they know once we had a public review and the draft plan is ready to be submitted it'll go to MIMA and fima who will then review the plan and make sure it meets all of their their criteria they have a lot of very specific checklists they go through uh and once they're done with it they'll approve the plan and that's when it would come back to this board for a vote of adoptions fairly simple vote of adoption but it only comes at the very end of the process when we know we have an approved plan from FEMA so the local team I want to really give kudos to the local team you see on the right side here different members different boards and commissions committees that are represented on the local team um and the team has been helping us over the course of these four meetings we've had three of the four already to establish goals to provide data and local expertise and to then what they will do at the next next meeting is finalize the priority actions for the plan on behalf of the town so they really are the eyes and ears on the town of putting the local important local data into the plan that makes it very specific to to ashy so the data we've gathered already and what the team has shared with us already we can begin to talk about just a few examples um the plan includes within it a number of sites that have been identified as where there are existing known flood flooding and drainage problem areas just a few examples here there's a longer list in the whole plan and every one of these sites is also mapped um and we're also looking at some other kinds of Hazards besides flooding like for instance areas that might be subject to Wildfire you know more of the forested and vegetated larger areas you know and interesting think these things go in Cycles three or four years ago we talked about Wildfire people go yeah yeah right and then last year we had 6,000 acres in Massachusetts burn the dry year we've had right so it's a wake up call every once in a while yes we do get these things no we're not California but these can be these you know there were some pretty serious wildfires in linnn Salem and around different places around here so and you have a lot of open land here which is a good thing but it's one of the things you want to think about so we map all this information all where all these sites are the areas that might be subject to fire to flooding Etc I know you can't see it at this scale but there's a GIS computer-based map that has all this information in so when you actually have the plan you can take a much closer look at it just to a few examples of some of the flooding sites are are listed on the left here uh that are each one of them is mapped so if you see an item on the map there'll be a little number next to it that would be referenced in a in a database you could look that site up and get the details on similarly this next map looks the same excuse me but it's actually another set of data that we mapped which is critical facilities and critical infrastructure uh and so there's a good 70 or 80 of those sites have I remember correctly uh and it includes things like your own Municipal facilities that you rely upon uh it also includes facilities in the community that might require assistance so facilities that provide assistance and Facilities that might require assistance both sides of that coin are listed on here that's why you see things like schools senior centers Etc and then of course you know resources like dams Etc you got as you know quite a few dams in this um flooding has been front and center in most of these plans but the plans do cover the other categories of natural hazards you see a few examples here extreme heat wildfires um earthquakes you know we've had three earthquakes in the last week they're they're they're small you know but you know it was a reminder yeah we get these uh drought we've had lots of droughts you know 2016 a really big one a couple more not so small ones and since then so all of a sudden drought is back on the table again in a ways that for a number of years before that we hadn't had a drought in 20 20 something years so all of a sudden now we've had three or four of them just since 2016 uh in extreme precipitation just a few examples of some of the other hazards that the plan will cover and of course we can't leave without talking about nor easers our beloved New England nor easers uh these are just a few examples of some of the bigger ones we've had in the last decade um and those affect Coastal communities but they really can affect Inland communities with high winds and snow as well so the other thing we looked at is what are some of the the mitigation measures that you have in place already this is that first question on the first slide what's the town doing already well we go into actually taking stock under each Hazard category of different kinds of measures you have in place already whether they're actual physical infrastructure measures or whether they're things like zoning and bylaw and regulations that help manage risks Etc so we we take stock of where all those are so that we can then say what else can the community do and that will be pivoting to what the next and final step of the plan will be this spring is to exate what else can the Comm do that would strengthen the plan and um to get to us there and to help have an opportunity for a broader public input um we've launched a a CommunityWide survey that's an online platform uh so that people can go online using that link or even using that QR code and this will be put up on the town website and sent around through social media this but this is the first time we're putting it out publicly here uh and it's fairly simple userfriendly survey that only has four or five questions questions it probably takes less than 10 minutes to complete it uh but it tries to ask people what are your concerns about which kinds of Hazards is something going on in your neighborhood or any of these that you're concerned about that you want to make the town aware of what do you think the town could be doing or should be doing to help address that's kind of the the general level to be able to solicit some ideas from people where that where we should go with this plan so we'll use the input from this survey as we finalize the plan as well so it's going to be out there uh we encourage folks to take it it's easy to take and um that's that's almost the end of it except for if you have time we we're willing to we have willing to answer question end of April yes just because we'll be wrapping up the plan probably in May and so so we're holding it open as long as until we're actually starting to pull everything sorry thank you uh so the survey will be open till the end of April thank you I will open it up to questions from the board Joe go ahead Jump Right In thank you madam chair thank you for the presentation very very informative and very detailed I appreciate that um I don't know how this relates to you know natural disasters um I noticed that you didn't mention well it says conservation and under the conservation title would beavers be something that would be considered a disaster thing because in our neighborhood and I and I know someone's already been out in take taking a look at a 14 acre area that has been completely devastated by flooding and along with that there is a railroad trussle that runs right by there and it's been undermined severely right and we keep letting the railroad company know that you know you better go out there and keep checking that because they're back and they're doing you know exactly what they're doing so any Grant monies that would be considered available maybe to help restore or replace some of that Trestle that's been eroded because of the uh the flooding is that something that may be available well first of all the big question are items like beavers a hazard in this plant absolutely yes okay you know the flooding doesn't just have to be my natural causes or whatever we've see in almost every town we talk to Beavers or problem somewhere in the town with that you know it's an unintended side effect of their activity yeah uh and so yes absolutely and in any anywhere it's known that there's a beaver flooding problem that will be actually documented in the plan put on the map described and that's part already in the list we have there's a few cases where beavers are part of the picture one of the causes great thank you whether there could be a grant to then resolve the problem if some piece of infrastructure is threatened possibly yes yes now if it's a railroad under the question becomes like whose infrastructure is it if it's the railroad's infrastructure the town isn't going to be applying for a grant but they could maybe they should or somehow just do the work whether they get a grant for it or not so it's great that you I think you should keep making them aware of it because these things can fall on death ears sometimes there's so many other things are dealing with uh it's good to be aware of that for sure uh conservation agent is on top of it and and I greatly appreciate all the effort that she's been doing for us so thank you for the presentation appreciate the answer Randy go ahead um so thank you for the presentation this was something that I wasn't aware of that we've done before so um in fact like I'm like making notes and I'm curious if and this might be more of a question for us is the 2017 plan out there somewhere where people a look at it I'm curious like what the recommendations were in 2017 and it's a it's a good start to look at that it should be on your website usually I'm sure at some place whether it's easily toin it might be good to make sure it is I mean we're starting by looking at that plan every time you do a Plan Renewal you start with the last plan and in fact especially with the list of recommended actions um the first thing we do not the first thing but one of the things we do along the way is what's the status of all these things we recommended in 2017 have some of them been implemented right have some of them been partially implemented because they're just long term and they take a long time to do and some of them not been implemented which you're going to find these are long difficult problems now we're doing a new plan for the next 5 years does the town want to carry over any unfinished projects from the last plan into the new plan as a starting point and in most cases most case that's that's what we'll do there could be a few measures that on second thought seven years later nah that our priorities have changed we won't carry it over but that's exactly what the team will decide on BS of the town okay and then we want to build into the plan for 2025 new measures beyond what might have been in the last one things that have come up since then right so maybe there's a beaver area that wasn't a problem in 2017 but we now know it is that could go or or a dam that's a little bit older and things and we know we know climate change has accelerated and things have that's puts another spin on it that's exactly right so you know when we talk about droughts and when we talk about flooding and we've talked about I mean we know that we've seen many more frequent issues than we used to see you know back in 2017 so I think it's really great that in the world of hydrology in general what we're seeing is more of the extremes we're seeing more extreme rainstorms two or three inches of rain in a short time and then we're seeing more droughts in between it used to be more even out right yeah we're getting less average and more highs on both ends right and the highs on both ends are the ones that cause stress on the community that cause problems right and cause C expose costs Etc so and that's what this plan is helping to hopefully identify thank you and thank you to Chief Roby and everyone that's been involved in kind of working on this yeah the team has done a great job absolutely so we're we're I think you know hopefully we can be as well positioned as possible y that's the idea yep thank you Makita yeah I was I was just going to um ask a couple questions it would be interesting I think to look at what if we've applied for grants in the past and maybe that would be part of um what's posted and then what what um when you say that we're we'd be eligible for Grants with this in place um are they all are the grants all based on some sort of mitigation that you that would be the gr this category of Grants are there are other grants out there you could get as a community but this is focusing on what you could do for mitigation all right and uh if all that Federal money remains right that's the big if of course this even the plan itself is being funded by federal money so hello but it's through mepc right so the federal funds come through MPC has these funds available to reach out actually it's Mima has the funds FEA Mima FEA the funds go from FEMA to MIMA Mima and then Mima writes contracts with the communities and then the communities hire us right so it's it's down the chain But ultimately if you trace back it's Federal dollar now these are federal dollars that were allocated over a year ago and their contracts are in place so I don't think we're going to stop the middle of this plan but like the towns that are a year behind you that are just applying for a new Grant now and if fact there's a grant round available right now for application into till next week I'm worried about those towns maybe those next round of Grants will they come through it's a big question I think you just answered my question [Laughter] so right no we don't we don't have a crystal ball we're worried about it though for sure well Martin thank you for the presentation thank you to all the members of our local team I know the first time that it was done we had a very large team we had I know one of our select board members at the time and it's a pretty good sized team this time too very robust absolutely good well thank you thank you so much and if you're watching I ask recommend that you go to the town website we'll get it up so that we can people can take the survey I know there's a lot of surveys and stuff going on with different things but please a survey page there you go all the surveys on one page that's a great idea there you go okay great well thank you very much and we look forward to seeing the final plan and again thank you Martin for coming in and I know one of your colleagues was online so thank you all I was thinking we probably should have introduced everybody for being here too yeah they're gone thank you all I didn't even see you there great okay so uh we have our next public hearing but not until 8:30 so we're going to jump into old and new business we're going to start with a discussion and vote to accept the gifted four Parcels of land from hopkington area land trust including parcel known as map 18 I'm not going to read the whole thing um do I need to read the whole thing okay and the discussion and vote is to authorize me as chair to execute and enter into any and all documents necessary to effectuate the acquisition of said property uh little bit of background and I know there's some information in our packet so these are Parcels that were owned by an organization called halt which is the hopkington area land trust and when we started having discussions with them to become our CR holder for the Valentine property they mentioned that they had these parcels and because they're in hopkington they really s were like you know can we can we donate them to Ashlin none of them are large Parcels they're V small Parcels that are attached to different open space that they have but it's small Parcels but we're willing to take them we've already taken the vote at town meeting we just have to do a final vote and then sign any documents um any questions or comments just one quick question question Madam chair uh the Fawn Ridge Road uh property um having Drive driven up in that area um there is there's a an open piece of property at the lower end of f Ridge which is on as as you turn into F Ridge from Cross it's on the Le hand side is that the piece of property that we're talking about or is it the one is it the piece of property that if you drive all the way up in Fawn Ridge because it's it's it's on a hill there are actually two houses up there so that's not the property where we're talking about we're talking about the law and property none of these part I don't know exactly I on the map I know none of the parcels that they're looking to donate that we're looking to get have any buildings on them okay I know one of the parcels is somewhere on cross street that's in hopkington so there's open space and then as part of that it goes into Ashland so they're giving us the portion that's in Ash and actually I was having a discussion with Carl hackins who who has helped with this discussion and halt is asking if they can keep that parcel on their map but donate you know denote that it's in Ashland because they have some walking trails but their walking trails don't come into Ashland so got you it's all open space there's no buildings on it and they just yeah you know they want to just have property that's in hopkington I just for my sake of mind I just want to make sure we weren't right it would have been nice to get those two nice houses up there because they're they're over a million each so you know that' be nice to put on our tax levies we're not we're not taking anything out of hopkington right we're not getting any property that's in hopkington just property that they own that's in Ashland over the line because they've had other small you know because at some point it was probably part of hackington and then when they you know so if I can get a motion to move that the select board accept as a gift four Parcels of land from hopkington area land trust Inc said Parcels known as assessor map 18 lot 0067 map 18 lot 0074 and map 27 lot 010 for General Municipal purposes and assessor map 18 lot 0142 for conservation purposes as authorized pursuant to article 8 of the May 1st 2024 annual town meeting and Article 4 of the November 19th 2024 special town meeting and further to authorize the chair Yolanda Greaves to execute and enter into any and all documents necessary to effectuate the acquisition of said property so moved second have a motion in a second any other discussion all those in favor I I that carries 5 Z second uh brand you made the second right I made the motion okay Joe made the second second okay good so I'm going to sign this and then pass it down signature thank you to Halt for working with us and done next town meeting warrant is open notice of intent for a warrant warrant article is due by February 28th 2025 live uh Jen any else okay okay so if you're interested in seeing the calendar the calendar is up on the town website uh so if you have something you'd like to do we need to have notice by February 28th 2025 so as you're talking to people let them know that uh article guidelines okay next discuss the process to fill the vacancies On The Board of Health and the planning board I don't think there's anything in our packet about this but I know we've been approached from the town clerk's perspective as well as from the Board of Health and the planning board both of these need to be done by a joint meeting and vote of the select board and planning board I believe we're looking at trying to do joint meetings with one or both of them for our second meeting in February might we need to go to one of their meetings or are we going to try and have them both come to us um you know it would be great if uh if they could both come here on the 19th okay and um that taken care of okay great so we we've already received some resumés for the Board of Health position and I've heard that possibility someone for the planning board if you are listening to this and you would like to be appointed please get your uh information in or has that closed already someone remind me Susan did the request for people already close or is it still open if they want to be appointed still open it's still open so if you're interested in Board of Health or planning board still submit any other questions thoughts discussions go ahead I just wanted to point out that the way it it works which you know something that I've learned learned is when there's a vacancy um the person's appointed until the following election correct and then they must you know if they're interested they run for the position at in that election and it's only for whatever period of time is remains in that in that term in that term correct correct good thing to point out I just think it's important for everybody to know that right correct and papers were available last as of February last Tuesday yeah yeah so good point if you're looking to be appointed part of I know for myself one of one of the questions I routinely ask someone if they're willing if they're appointed is will they then be willing to run because if someone's taken the time to start learning it would be good then to know that they're going to run but so good anything else questions comments okay wonderful moving on update on the tri board meeting um so we had a questionnaire go out out and we didn't find a good day during the week um so now we're asking if people are available Saturday March 1 and then April Saturday April 5th the first Saturday of March and the first Saturday of April um I know a doodle poll went out Susan what was the response to that doodle poll I think pretty good okay yes it was pretty good I still have three people that I'm waiting for responses from okay so if there's anything specific you have questions about let Michael know I'm actually going to do a one-on-one town finance 101 with Makita if anyone wants to sit in with us and yeah I might sit be part of that discussion um yeah I would also just like to say that I think in the future because we've had such a problem trying to schedule this meeting that maybe this needs to be something that we schedule you know very early on on in September or um you know so so my my first request was back in the fall I reached out to the chairs of the school committee and finance committee and partly because of things going on it was like there was the excuse me cofin the response I got was well let's wait until January when we have more information and then when I reached reached out in January initially that's different than than scheduling a meeting right because I remember when we too talked about it right we and so what I'm saying is maybe we should have scheduled a meeting and had some meetings on the on everybody's schedule and then then decide okay well we let's wait till the January time one that we've scheduled because just so that I mean because now we're we're going to this is late to be talking oh believe me I and I would and I would say that after you know as we finish up this budget cycle we start planning for next year right and I me just get some dates on the calendars yeah that's that would be that's a great recommendation that we look at when we get into the fall let's you know and maybe it's a standing budget meeting right for the three boards and if people can be there great and if not but we're having a discussion I like that idea a standard a standing a standing budget meeting budget meeting right not that we all want more meetings but you know the time and energy it took to book this great suggestion yep yeah yeah okay great so March 1st and April 5th put them on your calendars and we'll figure out location and you know March 1 will be the most important you know depending on how March 1 goes we might not need the April meeting but it's good to have it on the books better have it on the books and yeah or we may really need that ail meeting yeah you never know no no okay no we don't have a location yet starting at 9: um I think probably nine either is fine whatever I don't know whatever's easiest for you all 9 o'clock 8 o'clock either either way yeah I mean eight or nine is better the earlier we start the earlier theoretically we we finish so yeah it doesn't matter to me well let's maybe put a no well 8 o'clock or nine o'clock 8 o'clock 8 o'clock Joe Randy you go I would say let's talk we should check with br I was going to say let's let's check with Britney and and the other two committees and and if it should be you know yeah I mean yeah check check with Britney what's gonna work for her because we need to make sure she's okay she's the one who's got the longest drive too right right okay and I just want to make sure that okay we're still good okay moving on report on MMA annual conference uh I believe Michael and I were the only ones who attended and it it's always interesting they had it at a new location this year they've had it at the hindes in the past which made it sort of easy we all got our steps in they held it at the they held it at the Boston conen was there for part of it as well they held it they held it at the Boston Convention Center manino airport minino airport and if you've ever been to the Boston it was a beautiful facility it's gorgeous but unfortunately they had the trade show floor at the furthest end so if you're if you've ever been there you you you you can come to the entrance you have the Weston Hotel the Omni Hotels across the street the trade show was all the way at the end it was so far they actually had golf carts for people to take so that you didn't have to walk it all the time the timing was changed they used to have the trade show from on Friday all day and half of the day on Saturday and now what they found was people would leave early on Saturday so you'd go to try and do something on the trade show floor at at noon on Saturday and a lot of the vendors would be gone so they shifted that and they opened the event on Thursday they had a women's event an interview with a mayor from Texas it was supposed to be a great event but it was at 3:00 on Thursday and then they had an opening reception starting at 4:30 again on this trade show floor um and you so you could spend time at the trade show and and stuff like that and then on Friday they had their sessions so were there were some great sessions they had two great speakers there was a gentleman that just talked about energy and things like that and then then on Saturday they had Matt lurman who at some point I'm going to put stuff together to present to all of you because he talked about something called courageous conversations in how to get your community to be involved and have conversations so um so it was different because of where it was and so part of what they have is they have what's called a weimo the weimo luncheon which is women elected Municipal officials well you're on the trade show floor they had the General Sessions next door then they had the weimo luncheon across the street at the Omni Hotel so you had to get there um great interview with secretary Walsh it was a great event and then sessions were starting and you had to get back it was just I'm hoping they could try to consolidate it a little bit better next year maybe have it at the beginning of the con Convention Center something like that so maybe um I mean overall I had I had a good weekend I met a lot of my colleagues there got to speak to a lot of different people we had a good update on third on Friday from the governor and lieutenant governor lieutenant governor came back on Saturday as well and gave some more information the beacon is out for February and it has some great articles and stories about some of the information that they presented and some of the awards and things like that so get a chance go ahead and check that out because that will give you some information as well but uh she mean she talked about exp expanding excuse me chapter 90 um they talked about supporting fully funding the schools child I forget the exact name equal opportunity the Equal opport Opportunity Act so doing full funding there and just from a federal level thank you supporting the cities and towns and and how things might get impacted and yeah Michael your thoughts Jen your thoughts on what you saw and heard and yeah you know it's a change in venue as you mentioned and uh that changed a lot of the Dynamics I thought yes um terms of attendance it was weird um said that there was a you know almost like a record attendance I didn't see I didn't see that um there were a lot of elected officials there uh not as many I think like senior appointed officials or staff members as there usually were but um yeah I mean I didn't necessarily take advantage of any of the sessions or anything because you know what typically happens I'll roll in and see somebody it's like oh I haven't seen you in a year so uh so that's kind of that's kind of what happened but um it was it was an interesting Vibe yeah definitely yeah it was it was definitely had a different feel to it and I think part of it was the space and how spread out it was yeah because usually you know at the Hinds it's a big building but it's kind of stacked and the way it's situated is you know you could kind of position yourself in certain places and see your colleagues and talk to them and interact with them in between sessions and everything you didn't get that opportunity in this venue um and they are you know I talked to Adam there and he said they're going to So Adam chapain oh sorry is the executive director of the mass Municipal Association and um so they will be having it there again next year as the hindes is undergoing Renovations and you know I do hope look I mean you got to try things and try to mix it up and see what works see what doesn't um but uh from what I know right now I'll be happy to move back to the Hinds yeah if they can make it more compact in the convention because what happened was the trade show was all the way at the end you had to go all the way across the street and then even they have some meeting rooms there but there was one meet there was one breakout session that I went to I was on the trade show floor had to go up had to go all the way back to the other end of the convention center on the other side so they need to they need to cons if they want I know they're going to stay there next year they need to try and consolidate it oh but should we talk about the highlight of the weekend guys know the Highlight no I won a Lego set oh that was a highlight I never win anything yeah like the Highlight let's see what was the highlight it was a nice Lego set Lego it was the downtown City one um yeah I had to get so it was at the trade show super New York City is it is it New York City no teph had double po Joe double poles but uh yeah you had to guess the number of Lego oh this was funny you had to guess the number of Legos in this jar and I guessed a number you know I get my text oh you know you won so I please go pick it up and I'm picking it up and the lady's packing it up and I was like yeah so it's great I she heard me say I never win anything before so I'm like so you know how many were in there and she was you know kind of like flipping through and then she like changed the subject and I brought like I really want to know and I was like so how many were in there and um I don't think she really knew or counted I think I really think she just felt bad for me could not you out of a hat oh that's too funny raffle it was really a raffle ask you question what was 1301 yeah Price is Right rules whoever's the closest without going over of course you couldn't tell me but uh it was great it was uh it was the highlight of Jen you wanted to add no the only thing I sort of I would have liked to add is that if they consolida sort of the space it's also I would love for them to consolidate the um the program because I think having they had some really good ones on Saturday which I couldn't make um but also I would have liked to send some of our senior staff to like maybe one or two but it's really hard to ask somebody to go in on a Saturday at two o'clock for a sort of this professional if you're not doing the whole training but there was you know there's a couple that I think some of our staff would have driven in in an afternoon taking an afternoon it's not a huge time commitment days and then not your weekend so I think they might get a bigger crowd of sort of staff that would be going and partial or if they shift it to THS the Thursday full day Thursday and full day Friday yeah it would be nice and get rid of the Saturday well they could do all their other like they have their meetings and breakfasts and all of that but I feel like in terms of getting more people to participate because there were a few that were looked really good and they were on the last session make sure you fill out the survey I was going to say is there a mechan they always have yeah they have a survey so I do think that I do think that would be helpful there were some good ones on Saturday there was one or two that I said a little disappointed yeah yeah great okay any other comments or questions um the other thing to remember is they also you should all be getting emails about upcoming virtual sessions that they have they do their new select board event in the summer that is still informative even if you haven't yeah okay okay moving on to vote the accept proposed change to the ba grants and select board community Grant programs hold on a second were you waiting for us Rob to do something or oh okay okay no we're GNA do that at a I should have emailed you back um we're GNA do that at a separate time but I'll get back to you okay okay you're wel good to see you rob good to seeing you take care okay moving on vote to accept we time yes 15 minutes vote to accept the proposed changes to the ba Grant and select board Community Grant programs Randy please hi so I get to follow the Lego Story okay tough act to follow tough act to follow so um back in December you guys might remember even though it feels like forever ago at this point we had talked about some some minor cleanup changes um and edits to our baa um Grant and our our community Grant policy um so what we had looked at back in December was sort of a Redline diversion um the two main changes that we were making one was that um we wanted the community Grant to specify that it's for uh nonprofit groups because we did have a um for-profit business that had applied for it back um at our last Grant round and we had never really addressed that in our policy so we we added that to our policy and then the other part of it was um to specify that the programs and the groups that are applying for these grants should either be Ashland residents or benefiting the Ashland Community at large so um specifically so we're not looking for outside groups to come in and ask for grant money for things that don't benefit the Ashen community and then the rest of the redline changes were really just more just clean up because the first time we had proposed these changes it was a whole new kind of way of structure to look at it so I kind of Consolidated a lot of those changes um so the only thing I was looking at so Susan thank you for giving everyone sort of a clean version and the Redlin version um the only thing that I saw like in the clean version we still had something in there on the on the the third paragraph under background that just had the balance of the gift account I think we should probably just take that out because it's Old St stale information so that balance and gift account um number as of 831234 [Music] and then that's really only the only change that I had in this I just wanted to see if there was any other questions or things this way this way when we go to open up the grant cycle the next Grant cycle we have uh a clean a clean policy you have anything you want no I just no I want to just say thank you for doing that because you know I when we worked on the grant Awards um in the fall you know these issues came up and I appreciate your it you know we tried to do what we felt was the intent of the committee but it certainly is some good thing to have it written into the policy so thank you yeah well it's always good to be updating these things considering yeah what it was 12 years ago right yes yeah well we need to vote the policy because we discussed it at our last one so if I can get a motion to accept the baa marathon runners and grant program policy with the one update made so moved motion and a second all those in favor I I carries five Z and a thank you to Brandy and to Claudia for the work on that we greatly appreciate it um and I would say at our next meeting we'll vote to open the grant round as of March 1st right okay so perfect okay moving on okay this is a discussion and then this will get moved to our next meeting for an actual vote even though it's a pretty straightforward one I like to keep it so that if people are hearing this discussion they hear our discussion and know that at the next meeting we'll vote it so this is uh disposal of surplus property Jen is this something you want to take us to that'd be great so just as part of the procurement law um you know that usually um really when we're talking about procurement it's about us purchasing you know equipment or services and we have to follow certain set of rules um depending on what type of service or construction we're following um under 30b when we have property that we no longer need or can use um know that so that could be vehicles that could be Furniture um we really need to have a policy on how we dispose it so this sort of outlines what we would do um for things under you know if we're determining things are under 10,000 we would this just sort of lays out that we would reach out to other departments to potentially reach out um and if there's no use for it then there's there's a process that we would follow so we can sell it we can auction it we can it allows us to still do trade for vehicles um and that is really it so and then obviously for higher higher um estimated amounts which frankly I I can't think of ones that we would have when we start to dispose of equipment and Furniture it's usually pretty well used um so to like sort of exceed $110,000 feels like a stretch um there's you process take the highest risk um we are able to possibly donate to nonprofits and we would just I would write a memo to the board and they that's this just allows us to follow the process with with any auction items um as a result of this this policy does that money go back into the general fund so if it was a pickup truck from the DPW and it was auctioned off it wouldn't go to the DPW line item it would go directly into the okay but if they quoted if they were going to get a vehicle they could quote a trade as part of that and the sort of this formalize our ability to do okay so you can still do that use that as a trade-off yeah and so it doesn't requ ired us just because that's option y okay thank you I have I have a question about the policy I'm sorry did I um yeah and I don't know if this is housed here or somewhere else but when you're talking about Surplus uh s Surplus uh Surplus property uh if there's anything that may have held pii or um any other sort of data are there any sort of policies and procedure that P that dictate that that information is wiped or certified IED in some way that um that that that that's not available because if not I think that needs to be added here uh if you're talking about computer hardware software uh phones uh those sort of things I think it's just important to have that provision if we're not I don't know if it's somewhere else but I just didn't see Pi personally identifiable information and any other kind of sensitive information from the town that we would obviously would not want um distributed bad yeah I think I think there are some policies that hous within our it that might speak to that I know the thing we have computers we go through right anything before it comes to us but we could certainly I will definitely have a conversation so we can confirm it and sort of determine whether we just want to reference they have an actual policy if it's just practice um and then if not we can sort of add it if we need to like image it is that I'm sorry I think they would I think they called it Imaging image it Oh Oh you mean the process of of wiping it yeah so re reimaging you know like you know basically just resetting the OS or whatever you know they are different terms but um but yeah and I think also just uh if it's if it may not even be a specific it item I'm even thinking about any sort of any sort of place where data may be hous that you may not want out whether it's like a vehicle because you know their computers and everything now so it's not just you know a desktop or a laptop or anything like the GPS GPS exactly it extends Beyond exactly it extends Beyond just like computer equipment so I think if we could specifically address that that would be a good thing to do that's a great idea and if not if it's not in another policy we should probably create it another policy and then reference it yep any other see that's why we discussed before we vote good okay great so you'll let us know what you find out and if there's changes and then we can do that and vote it at our next meeting wonderful okay still not at 8:30 okay so we've discussed that couple of reminders the winter parking band no on street parking from 2: am to 6:00 am.

and we want to have them cleared so if there's a snow emergency is it the kind of thing where we say Okay during a snow emergency in particular we can open the Lots or not you know and that might be a discussion with the police chief with Traffic Safety Committee to say okay and planning because so you know we're thinking about things in the here and now right and kind of the demand but 10 10 to 60 man comes online you'll have a similar incident yeah with a l larger scale and even if you open up a lot I mean and this is true I think of lots of apartment buildings in that too they tell you you got to have your car out by a certain time because you need to the lot right well and that was another point I wanted to bring up sorry for interrupting Claudia is you know Doug will tell you I mean sometimes we'll delay opening Town Hall so Doug and his guys can get in and clear the L right right right people parked here then there's an issue get okay a question a question and a comment before we leave uh so uh the question I have is for state roads like 135 and 126 they there's not supposed to be theoretically there not there's not supposed to be parking on those anyway but like if there is like are we responsible for ticketing or Towing those or is the state uh okay yeah yeah even for towing Joe can we do I mean I know we can TI itth think anywhere on either road that there is on street parking oh it happens I I will well I will tell you that happen parking right there's no parking spots or anything like that so okay and you're also right Joe I'm sorry Makita 135 is actually for the most part a local Road 135 there's pieces of it that are State okay get me started just like Road C road is actually maintained by the state okay right and so is the is the 1.54 parking spaces per unit something that we need to consider changing I think with some of the current stuff that's going on at the state level and housing they're actually looking at not either they're either looking at reducing the number of parking spaces per year unit or saying things like you can't not permit something there's a lot going on with the discussion of parking in regards to well discussion going on but in the meantime we're living it right right so is that perhaps we can take a look at what other cities and towns are doing around this issue and come back and discuss it later because I think instead of trying to reinvent the wheel that might be the best called tag and toe yeah the two T's right and I think I I think to Makita point I think we we're going to need to we're going to need to talk about some solution because for downtown for downtown and and you know maybe maybe there's like an alternative site somewhere where we can have people Park whether it's I mean you know like we were just talking about 135 you know the lot that's across from Seasons you know maybe there's a way that we can but maybe there's some sort of arrangement that we can you know strike I I'm I'm just trying I think certainly something we'll need to discuss it is 8:30 so we need to open but just quickly maybe in terms of around here too can we make some kind of an agreement with the state in the MBTA lot and and be be able to move cars there that's an idea as well that's good perfect okay moving on hearings before the board notice is hereby given that the select board will conduct a hearing regarding a change of manager at Clock Tower pickle Lac the proposed new manager is Steve pinsk mhm Clock Tower pickle LLC 200 Homer AV ashon Mass 01721 a public hearing will be held on the matter on Wednesday February 20 uh February 5th 2025 at 8:30 p.m.

agenda and we are in hearing room 229 this meeting including the audio and V video of remote participants is being streamed live on YouTube you will find links to viewing options for all Senate meetings on the live and On Demand video page of the legislator's website in the unlikely event that we must abruptly end this hearing due to Major technical difficulties the committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business on Friday February 7th 2025 at 3:00 p.m.

is in place from November 1st to March 31st so be aware of that and certainly it is more strictly enforced when there are weather incidents so if there's overnight snow or ice and the roads need to be done so but you know I did notice that last time the snow that we had there must have been Vehicles well there was obviously vehicles that were parked out in front of town hall along this street here hopefully they receive tickets yeah and you know we've we've actually talked to the chief recently just about ticketing in general downtown um and stepping that up so yeah I mean it's I think Outreach is important first step right right I would also I mean I think one of the some things that needs to be addressed is you know as we said one of the issues that's going on is we have a couple of buildings that might have extra people there with vehicles that are not parking in their buildings that's exactly what's happening so now there's no overnight parking in town hall correct correct is that something that needs to be looked at so that they're not on the streets or in the public parking lot across um on Front Street can they Park overnight there because I'm I'm all for ticketing people you know and and if they're used to parking but if we are not able to give them someplace else to park is that something we need to I mean yeah I mean it are we looking at actually this is it's a great question because as we're looking at certain things we may want to look at permit resident permit parking parking and making you know those public lots available you know for those snow emergencies for residents right um yeah I'm sorry I didn't mean to that's okay that's that makes sense I think you know so so at a practical level I think allowing people to park in the parking lot is okay like I said from a practice practical level because in the morning Theory being that they leave right right the thing just like with a mixed use building right so like I said in practice I think it's okay in principle I think kind of what frustrates a lot of people um is that a lot of residents to who observe this is that you know when these multif family buildings are parking or are permitted with a limited amount of parking right um you know it's it it's not it shouldn't then be I don't think up to the municipality unless there's an explicit discussion about it to provide overflow parking right um and the theory again is is that the market should dictate what happens so if at 128 Main Street if you've only got 1.5 parking spaces per a unit somebody has two cars like right guess what they might not want to rent there and so the rental you know amount could you know potentially come down to make it more attractive or marketable for one person to live that right you know so I mean another possibility is you know generating revenue for the town by renting those parking spaces to people who to Residents who potentially you know that's another potential thing to look at if that's what it comes to but you know just getting cars off the street when we need to do snow clearing and for public saf purposes is important so and I think from a perspective of right if there's there's no on street parking from 2 to 6: a.m.

persons wishing to be heard on this matter are invited to attend the public Hearing in person or by logging into the zoom meeting interested parties who are unable to attend the hearing May submit written comments to the select board's office Town Hall 101 Main Street ashon mass 01721 or by emailing Susan at sroy Asin mass.com uh I move that we open the public hearing so moved second Perfect all those in favor of opening the hearing I I perfect Susan do we have anyone from perfect uh I'm here Steve brazinski great thank you Steve good I would say good to see you we can't see you but thank you for being here I know I don't know why I need to apologize my voice I have uh Strep throat and laryngitis yes I apologize for my voice that's okay okay so uh who is so Steve you and Macy are here to talk about in favor of this change we have information in our packet about the change of management uh Steve why don't you take us through this please or Macy if that's easier for you Steve no that's fine I'm happy to do it great so um had a change of uh of our manager of the uh liquor license as well as the manager of Clock Tower pickle ball where Marissa is no longer with us uh in a very amicable uh uh transition and I felt it was best for me as the primary owner of the clock tower PAB ball to take over as the manager I am there uh uh almost not every day but a lot of times and Macy is our manager now and she's there at least 40 hours a week and um I just felt that was the best way to go about this as we continue to uh go through what we're doing at at Clock Tower pickall okay okay Susan anything else that we need to know from you it looks like we have everything no everything is in order and we did not get any comments from anybody thank you I was just going to ask that thank you sue um have you all been inside clocktown pickle ball no yes if you have the opportunity you should go check it out it's a great space um so okay uh the foot we love to we we would love to host all of you to clock tower me ball so you can bring your friends and play pickle ball I think we need to have a board a board pickle ball game pickle ball Retreat oh that I have several friends that are members but yeah oh okay I hope they enjoy it they love it actually they do have to look that look into that okay so this is just a straightforward change of management um y if you don't know Steve he's been he used to be a member here in the community very you know was involved in a lot and what they're doing at clock toown pickle pickle ball is is a is a is a great thing um how goes it on the kitchen Steve it goes good we um so we're going to slow playay the kitchen quite a bit because we're trying to figure out you know how many people are going to be there so the important part is to open up the bar which is actually going to be done within the next week okay and um what we're finding is there's so many people from the town and from the surrounding areas that come there and play and they just want to hang out afterwards yeah and I know we have our liquor license right now but it's just going to be a better environment yep and it's uh we have 170 members now which is great um just getting everyone there and the town loves it and the one so again excuse me for my voice no need to apologize the one thing that we are really doing with this whole operation is making a community we do not want to be you know what's on route nine on on those guys we want it to be a community and that's what we're that's what we're doing so we're very excited about our our our our our our path where we're going and uh we're just very excited about it so it's cool great great well that's great to hear so uh if there is is there any other deliberation by the select board on the approving of this change of management we're not changing anything on their license or anything they're doing Footprints the same it's just a change of management any other no now that the bars open I'll be down okay I can't wait and Steve I just wanted to say so my my my son is is a senior over at the high school and he was there last weekend for um oh for great the fundraiser that you guys were doing for on behalf of like the class of 2026 so when you talk about Community I'm glad you've you've you're like that that's that's really important and my son is a big pickle ball fan so he he no they they had a great showing and I will tell you one thing we're doing with everybody that wants like a donation or uh anything that is the fabric of what we're doing is to bring people in community give them stuff and just just because you got to understand just this this what we've created is so exciting and people love it MH that's great I got to tell you people love it love to hear that love to hear that good heard nothing but good stuff yep okay if there's nothing else uh to deliberate if I can get a motion to close the public hearing so moved second second I have a motion in a second all those in favor of closing the public hearing I I if I can get a motion to approve the change of management as presented so moved second have a motion in a second all those in favor say I great so Steve you are all set we have approved that change of membership and Brandy I like your thinking I think we need to get a uh a p a select board pickle night going um only if there's a possibility to get taught how to do it Steve so we do have uh Macy is actually a teacher and she's very good at it and uh we would love to have you guys up there and we we'd uh entertain uh inviting you guys on our on our Tab and uh we' love it great well thank you so much Steve good luck and continue doing the great work that you're doing there at clock toown pickle ball great stuff Steve yeah good job Steve feel better buddy nice to have you still in town have a great night I'm back back we'll see you guys okay thank you Steve thank you Macy okay um moving on to our next one the class 2 liquor license uh notice is hereby given that the public hearing will be held on Wednesday February 5th 2025 at 8:45 PM oops hold on I I can't do that one yet uh moving on we have another reminder hold on uh textile clothing recycling the pickup must be scheduled with simple recycling at 1866 835 5068 or simpler recycling.com or if you are are a compost uh customer you can go to their website and purchase stickers for textile Recycling and you just have to buy white plastic bags to put your textiles in you take one of your stickers and when you put your green compost out you can put it with your compost and they do they recycle it either they pass it on if it's still in good condition or they actually recycle the textile so yeah you just go to their website and buy the the stickers yeah and if you need some white trash bags let me know okay moving on we have our unfortunately those don't work for the re those don't work for the uh textile recycling I was thinking about it Claudia excuse me okay no no uh motion to accept the consent agenda as presented so moved and a second Al those in favor I I and with that a thank you to Marcela Arjona and kg nariana Marcelo had to step off of our planning board and kg had to step off of our Board of Health and so if you're interested those are the two seats that we spoke about earlier in the agenda we're looking for people to fill those okay Michael F you have five minutes YMCA update maybe or yeah actually yeah that's that would be a great thing go ahead so uh the YMC actually came before the planning board uh for an informal discussion before uh submitting a formal application and uh it was I think they got really good feedback I thought it was a good good meeting um you know obviously there's some questions YMCA is not at the place yet where they're ready sub to submit an application um but they're getting there um I think they still need to do some assessments uh test for a little bit more ledge uh things of that nature but U yeah all in all it was uh was a pretty productive meeting J did Pete relay anything to you didn't relay to me okay um so yeah looking forward to getting that thing going uh moving forward so my understanding is that you know from a fundraising perspective got close to 10 y they're at so the the YCA they're at 10 million committed based on some grants as well as some true funding from different organizations they're looking to do the next 10 million to get to the 20 million which is about half of what they're expecting the base area of the YMCA to be depending on what they decide to do when will'll determine the full cost and so that second half that other 10 million is where they're at now they're trying to talk to and some higher level donors as well as some different corporations um and then potentially come to the planning board for site review starting in sometime middle of the spring so April May March April uh with moving that forward and then potential shovel in the ground sometime in September or October yeah depending on where the fundraising goes so 2025 yeah so one thing I want to point out is that as Yolanda mentioned they're thinking about it you know in phases so constructing the the first phase which is like the gym and the essentially the community center The Early Education Center um and I think they're proposing potentially two more phases which involve swimming pools pools are one of the more expensive items yeah unfortunately um but what they're going to do is they're actually going to go to the planing board and actually get the whole thing permitted right so they don't have to come back for each phase so that as they get the funding or as they start the first phase so that they have the the the the permits for everything as they get the first phase done if the fundraising then catches up to be able to do the second phase they can just flow right into it without having to get more more permits and approvals and just have it all done so yeah so that's good yeah um okay I mean we're gonna they're not here anyway right we're pushing okay we're gonna we're gonna jump it oh that's yeah we're gonna continue this so um notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held on Wednesday February 5th 2025 at 8:45 P.M to review a Class 2 license modification the current Class 2 license allows for the sale of used cars at 73 Waverly Street Ash uh Ashlin mass and they are requesting to increase the number of cars allowed at that location this is New Beginning Auto Services Inc Jose padila 73 waver Waverly Street ashin Mass persons wishing to be heard in this matter are invited to attend the public Hearing in person or by logging into the zoom meeting interested parties who are unable to attend a hearing May submit written comments to the select board's office Town Hall 101 Main Street ashin mass or by SE uh or by emailing Susan Roby at sroy ashin mass.com I can get a motion to open the hearing so moved and a second enthusiastic okay um so here is a statement I've been asked to read it has come to our attention that the applicant potentially requir zoning relief for what is proposed and the fire and police building department have a number of comments related to Public Safety which need to be addressed before the board can take up the matter therefore I will retain we've opened the meeting we've opened the um hearing I entertain a motion for the board to continue this matter to April 16th 20125 at 7:15 p.m.

and we want to have them cleared so if there's a snow emergency is it the kind of thing where we say Okay during a snow emergency in particular we can open the Lots or not you know and that might be a discussion with the police chief with Traffic Safety Committee to say okay and planning because so you know we're thinking about things in the here and now right and kind of the demand but 10 10 to 60 man comes online you'll have a similar incident yeah with a l larger scale and even if you open up a lot I mean and this is true I think of lots of apartment buildings in that too they tell you you got to have your car out by a certain time because you need to the lot right well and that was another point I wanted to bring up sorry for interrupting Claudia is you know Doug will tell you I mean sometimes we'll delay opening Town Hall so Doug and his guys can get in and clear the L right right right people parked here then there's an issue get okay a question a question and a comment before we leave uh so uh the question I have is for state roads like 135 and 126 they there's not supposed to be theoretically there not there's not supposed to be parking on those anyway but like if there is like are we responsible for ticketing or Towing those or is the state uh okay yeah yeah even for towing Joe can we do I mean I know we can TI itth think anywhere on either road that there is on street parking oh it happens I I will well I will tell you that happen parking right there's no parking spots or anything like that so okay and you're also right Joe I'm sorry Makita 135 is actually for the most part a local Road 135 there's pieces of it that are State okay get me started just like Road C road is actually maintained by the state okay right and so is the is the 1.54 parking spaces per unit something that we need to consider changing I think with some of the current stuff that's going on at the state level and housing they're actually looking at not either they're either looking at reducing the number of parking spaces per year unit or saying things like you can't not permit something there's a lot going on with the discussion of parking in regards to well discussion going on but in the meantime we're living it right right so is that perhaps we can take a look at what other cities and towns are doing around this issue and come back and discuss it later because I think instead of trying to reinvent the wheel that might be the best called tag and toe yeah the two T's right and I think I I think to Makita point I think we we're going to need to we're going to need to talk about some solution because for downtown for downtown and and you know maybe maybe there's like an alternative site somewhere where we can have people Park whether it's I mean you know like we were just talking about 135 you know the lot that's across from Seasons you know maybe there's a way that we can but maybe there's some sort of arrangement that we can you know strike I I'm I'm just trying I think certainly something we'll need to discuss it is 8:30 so we need to open but just quickly maybe in terms of around here too can we make some kind of an agreement with the state in the MBTA lot and and be be able to move cars there that's an idea as well that's good perfect okay moving on hearings before the board notice is hereby given that the select board will conduct a hearing regarding a change of manager at Clock Tower pickle Lac the proposed new manager is Steve pinsk mhm Clock Tower pickle LLC 200 Homer AV ashon Mass 01721 a public hearing will be held on the matter on Wednesday February 20 uh February 5th 2025 at 8:30 p.m.

so moved so moved okay so we are now um we have so moved in a second all those in favor of moving this uh ail April 16th 2025 at that meeting I I okay so we have now postpone this till April 16th is that all you need from us Susan did we do that right okay thank you um so I mean we have the information in our packet already but I guess there's questions about the parking lot and how they want it to be configured so okay great so that will be moved to April 16th wonderful okay all for that okay going back to town manager report fiscal year 26 budget update Michael please yeah I I you know I don't have too much information or too much new information um I will say though that the governor's budget did come out and uh did not do us any favors so fact actually looks like in total when you look at the State uh State a looks like we might actually lose a little bit or if we do have a gain increase in that they've said it's very but by the time it gets through the legislature we'll probably typically you know you know typically what happens is the house will add a little bit more to it the Senate will add a little bit more to it and generally they go with the Senate numbers but you know they do they do usually key off of the governor's figures um so if your start low I know um so yeah that was a little bit um unfortunate so we'll we'll see how that you know that process at the state level evolves um Britney and I are just trying to you know kind of get together she's really kind of been swamped with a couple other things but um just trying to just look at the budget in general and you know you know we got the department head submissions and everything we're looking at that and I think having the tri board meeting is uh set is really good it's it's going to be you know tough I think for us to kind of move forward until then until we have a sense you know how do you want to address the deficit that we have you know do we want to look at Cuts do we want to look at you been able to reset reschedule the um Department Department heads meeting because ideally if it could happen do do we think it'll ideally it would happen before the March 1st yeah I'm hoping for February 14th right but I'm just I didn't want to put that out there okay so um just if if when when you know like I If the sooner the better just take some arranging for me to if it's during the day I have to give enough notice I to provide coverage for the other thing I do that's not here you mean the things that pay for you to be able to do this there you go let's put it right out there Makita come on it's legit so um we could do it Joe I don't yeah so I actually that that option if there is an option for that that might be something that I'm depending yeah it might be a little easier swing depending I don't yeah you know it might be a little clunky um but yeah yeah Al could be a little funky yeah oh yeah but um yeah we'll have to talk talk about yeah okay but yeah I mean I think you until we have that tri board meeting get a sense where everybody wants to go um in terms of how to handle the deficit we're kind of you know a little bit at a at a stand still right which is okay the next week is school vacation week yeah yeah the calendar calendar thing is to do it the day before the March 1st meeting but if there's input or stuff like that it could be tight to it could be tight but like even next week is tight oh yeah so um yeah as soon as we know um that would very helpful yeah and I'm just m I'm just trying to think of an alternative like if you know you can't make it or you can't hop on Zoom or something like that um you know another thing that you had mentioned is kind of um tangental to the budget itself but you talked about the 300 million in chapter 90 yes that the governor filed so uh this is actually a pretty significant win been a little critical of our governor um but I will have to say that for two decades now um there has been advocacy to try to bump that that chapter 90 money from 200 million to 300 million always gotten resistance so to the fact that you know she actually filed that bill I think is great now just needs to get through the legisl because we've had a couple of other Governors I want to say Baker at least once or twice filed a 300 million for chapter 90 early on maybe and it I mean I I remember sitting at an MMA conference and and hearing that before so and I do remember like they would sometimes issue supplemental like rra rap funding WP trying to remember what that stood for but it was kind of supplemental Road fund what I've been finding interesting at the state level is you're hearing two things right they're saying that the fair share amendment has received more funding but regular taxes has been short yeah um and so what I what I always get concerned about when that happens is fair share amendment is supposed to be for transportation and education and because the other side is short are they going to well take you know say Okay since we have all this money over here rather than adding to our funding what it's supposed to be doing are they going to take stuff on the general side and say okay we're going to move stuff over here and then just pull it from the fair from the I don't think it's instead of stopping the tolls after the pike is paid for they divert it towards the big dig yeah they would not do that yeah you know and and allowing the auditor to do what the people of the state wanted her to do oh and and they all got their raises this year by the way so yeah um and uh so yes that uh that that's a huge win so hopefully that will be supported y I just you know what that means for us we'll see so we get about 400 50,000 in chapter 90 a now so just take 50% of that and add it on the top we could that'd be great 00 and uh just for reference uh to fully reconstruct a mile road at least a few years ago it was like a million a mile so full reconstruction so you can tell it ain't it ain't going that far which is why sometimes people in the community go why have we not seen any work done on any roads and it's because sometimes we wait a couple years to accumulate funds under the chapter 90 funds to actually then do some of the major reconstruction so we have some accumulated funds rather than trying to do it all in one year yeah well it's a it's a timely subject because spring is is coming spring is pothole season as in New England as we all know yeah it is coming so um so yeah that's good news uh and we cover the YMCA update before I get to the federal grants update I'll leave that uh for last but um I did send you all a note about the municipal empowerment act yes um and so you know if you could if you have a moment you know take a look at that and just I think you send me your three most important points Michael I have a question about that so um my impression and it could be incorrect from the email was that previously our legislators had supported it and the legislature was uh in general was was pretty lukewarm towards it yeah and they didn't move it forward okay was there something in particular or not that I'm aware of okay Claudia um it was just not a priority for them okay um yeah so I wouldn't want to speculate but it yeah I did I did talk to Jack um yesterday just about this and just kind of you know take his temperature on it and uh you know at this point in time he didn't necessarily see too many issues with it but he hadn't studied it too much but the the one of the things we do have to remind them about is the current what the language is so right now we can do virtual meetings right and that expires I believe it's March 15th 31st I it's either the 15th or the 31st of March so they need to either they need to pass another for you know kick it down the can you know kick it down the down the road or they need to do the municipal empowerment because that makes it permanent that we can do virtual meetings without making it a mandate so that each Community can handle it themselves and I saw that Madam chair and that is the number one thing that concerned me the most about I mean if they don't of act I would hope that before whenever whether it's the 15th or the 31st they at least extend it um and in enough time that people who have meetings like there are people who have town meeting in March that they need to know can they do it virtually can they not do it virtually um but on that note we passed a remote policy where would I I need a copy of that I have to send it to somebody we we can get it to you okay if you could shoot that to me um so no I don't think that either of you so we voted a remote policy that allows us whether it gets passed at the state level or not to do to allow remote participation by people who are on boards and committees and then also continue doing Zoom for participation by residents so you know Joe's going on vacation and he wants to participate he could do it via Zoom um we don't necessarily care because we have that but from a perspective of some of these other meetings that we participate in the ability to have virtual makes sense the but if I remember correctly there's one there's one thing in that policy you have to have Quorum here to have like you can't you can't be 100% you can't be 100% remote but you have so you have to have Quorum remote so you know if two of us are traveling as long as three of us are meeting here I think that was the only major um and I think it used to be that the chair couldn't be remote but I think we did something that allows the chair to be remote I believe [Music] so right yeah that's true yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so okay so but yeah if you can get that uh if you can take a look and and get that info to me what your what your thoughts are yep I think I said next Friday if that's possible okay and then what I can do I think I indicated you know symbol everything you know like a position paper if you will that we could put forward to the legislature um okay w have to do this next one federal grants update um well um you know I I think uh I think it's fair to say everything is fluid um right now I think that's probably the most optimistic way of staying it um so just as background all of you know um president Trump Trum signed an executive order that froze all federal grants and Loans which didn't necessarily clarify anything um I think you know Office of Management and budget issued a very like cryptic is probably the best uh best way to describe it uh memo obviously put everybody a bit in a panic um because just at a local level example we are depending upon a number of different funding sources not just for one time opportunities that we taken advantage of like the uccc property that we just purchased which was going to be partially funded with a $65,000 Grant which was a federal government pass through but then we also have funds and Grant funds that um flow through to help with operating expenses and salaries and things like that and so we did not know if those were in Jeopardy as well um so obviously there was quite a bit of consternation as that went forward um I think uh you know fortunately the courts intervened and at this point in time that looks to they have intervened and put essentially a halt or restraining order on that order um so right now it looks like that money should be flowing uh my understanding though is that all of it hasn't necessarily started flowing yet it's extremely scary because we have uh somebody it sounds like at the till literally um you know deciding where the payments go or who gets paid and when who is essentially not an employee although I think he's been designated as a special employee and really has no government experience whatsoever although he is a very very wealthy man his name is Elon Musk um and so the fact that he actually has access to Treasury and um has the ability to impact payments and my understanding is that um the intent is to bring in a lot of Silicone Valley Silicon Valley not Silicone Valley um although although um and you know basically uh AI is going to be the efficiency savior of the federal government hey hey Michael before we uh we we go down that path I just want to roll back to what you what you started with because I think that uh our residents want I think they probably want to get an idea of the scope of if if this injunction for some reason you know doesn't stay or if some other mechanism is used so that these funds uh there may be a delay in these funds etc etc um just for clarity purposes what you said that there are a number of Staff positions that would be impacted What specifically do do we know specifically what those impacts like we can even just say departmentally and how that might impact resident services to the town I think that would that would be helpful to we we're collecting all of that Makita because you know I do know like human services u i I am sure the school department has a number of positions do you remember if position the dmh grant is pass through like from federal funds um okay so like our you know our um our uh social yeah jail diversion uh person MH yeah so I mean it sounds like you're on the on the case and trying to uh to compile that information right now I think you know no matter what happens I think it would be a good idea to make sure that we have a clear idea of what what could be impacted and it may be like maybe partial impact depending on what happens in the courts depending on what happens there may be partial impact no impact etc etc but I I feel like we as a community need to be ready to communicate uh specifically if something comes down what what that means right and what if anything we can do about it in the short mid and long term yeah so So the plan is you know we can you know we'll assemble that list of everything and then that way as things move forward like you said if it's partial we'll just you know we can highlight those right these are the ones that are going to move forward that we know of right now but it's just it's um it's uh it's it's it's kind of it's kind of tough uh just just in general well it's a bit of a moving Target right it's a moving Target you know what was the the original executive orders and then the injunctions and what injunctions I did receive an interesting email today that actually had some of the executive orders in it if people haven't received that I'd be happy to pass them along and I can forward that email to to you I started looking at it I didn't get the time to look at it in detail I think so we can understand right what are some of the things they're talking about but also understanding that there are states and different municipalities and different places that are pushing back on this are we getting anything from the state like are they providing any guidance as to like what that's an excellent question Brandy have we heard anything think everybody I mean I know that programmatic your so I think some of our programmatic grants we've reached up to our grant managers so sometimes um Michael's point was sometimes we we're getting the Grant from a state agency but it's really a federal pass through and so right we're calling our state Grant um pro project manager looking for guidance and they're also sort of trying to figure out what all this means and they're looking from guidance from the federal government and so it's a little bit of a trickle down and that we're not getting a ton not because they don't want to provide it but I don't think because they know so it feels like everybody's like in the same vote of trying to figure out like what exactly yeah does this mean but I know that the staff that I have working on grants they've been out outly reaching out that first day sort of lots of things were kind of locked up systems kind of weren't working and so um you know they they were just trying to figure that out because I would hope I would hope as Things become a little bit less chaotic maybe um that we would get some sort of higher level guidance from the state down to municipality to say okay this is this is how it's going to affect this level and that level and because I mean even when we were talking to mapc and they were talking about the the grant use do the project for for that it's you know we're not probably affected by that but there is a lot of there's a lot of things that are in the mix like you know if there's other grants that we've applied for but we haven't gotten funding for I me we talk about the land grant MH but the fund coming to the school to the well the school that's the biggest one I mean we were anticipating millions of dollars yeah so specifically right we we're getting $600,000 to put towards a purchase that we are already under agreement with correct I mean we have a contract that we have to come up with that $600,000 there was no contingency that said there no contingency that said oh by the way if the president decides to say sorry right and then and additionally $3.2 million in tax credits from the government from the Energy savings um y things that were put into place in for both the mes and the public safety building $3.2 million $600,000 just those are two right so almost $4 million right there just a start just a start just a start so and then there's also just to follow up on your point in terms of people to think about people coming to work now wondering if they're how long they're going to be paid for and whether I've seen a person be laid off mid year because the grant was pulled or whatever and just it's amazing that we're not and we're not talking about one person we're talking about many people in this town and probably there hundreds of thousands across this country who are in this position it's wide ranging systemic impacts that will directly affect the quality of life for our residents so that's why I think first off thank you for um you know getting this information together the more that we understand it the better that we can go back to our constituents when we're being contacted and I am being contacted about this um can explain the situation and you know we can do what we need to plan for whatever we need to plan for yeah it's um I was just going to say you know to that point like could we make sure it is a standing item on our agenda for the next I think that's a very approprate idea Trump Administration update well just well no federal funding Federal fund just and impacts on on Ashland I mean have like a Administration up I mean we're talking about like a hazard mitigation thing we're talking about grants I don't even know if FEMA is going to be around that was actually on my list to ask him like what happens if disappears but honestly you know Martin from the mapc is like you know he has zero he can't answer that question because nobody knows but but I think I think if we have it as a standing item on our agenda and we're addressing it like even if even if because we know it's going to be fluid and we know it's going to change and you know it's um we have to let con contextually and this is not a political thing this is an operational thing we owe it to our constituents and our fellow citizens to let them know what we know and and let them know how we're you know trying to you know put any sort of mitigation planning in place or at least make sure that we are a source of as well as we know accurate and upto-date information about local impacts uh on these issues because there's going to be there's also going to be a lot of mistake I'm going to say I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt there's going to be a lot of like mistaken information transmitted there's going to be a lot of you know speculation I would like our residents to be able to depend on us to provide accurate information as we know it I I would I would just say right I mean even between when we heard this and even today we keep hearing changes so what I would say to Residents is what I would say to Residents is we will keep discussing this we'll work with with staff and and to get the best information as we're sitting there knowing that within a day or within a week or within a couple of months some of this could change and I think we just need to be very aware of not only this stuff that's happening but other stuff that's happening and work locally to ensure that we do not lose our connection with our residents and with what democracy looks like in our country we'll say you know we talked a little bit about you know State officials I will say our our federal delegation has been very engaged um yes I have I did H I was on a call with Mary's office um you know you know letting them know what we did know at the time in terms of what what was impacted and of course they've um you know they've committed to working you know they say all the politician things that they say and um you know so we'll see if it actually does anything but um you know at the and so you know it's very clear kind of like the operations going forward uh we do have a president who feels this is the way to operate issue an executive order see what sticks that's exactly it see what sticks um and so we're dependent upon the courts in many cases to corre identify you know where he is potentially overstepping and basically taking steps to do that where I get worried you know what's that old saying possession is nine10 of the law so you know if a court does decide to issue an injunction they don't have operational control right so you can still have somebody who is not pressing the submit button on the payment and what does that mean and yep you know you do have and I don't mean this from any kind of political standpoint but you do have a president who is probably the most well-versed in criminal law than any other president we've had before and you know knows those boundaries to push you know I I think just kind of rolling back to what you had said the one thing that's going to make this uh a very kind of destabilizing situation is that in a very real and practical sense the courts can issue injunctions etc etc but at this point we don't know if that button will actually be pushed or not and I think it's important again this is a Communications issue because people will be like well the court said this so where's the money and we have to be clear with them and say yes we know that but the button has not been pushed right the funds have no federal employees there right because if we're hearing all kinds of things about federal employees either losing their jobs or early retirements or I mean we've we've seen it here in the state when they did early retirement for people working in certain departments at the state level where then design review few things instead of taking six months to to nine months took a year and a half when they did it for mass for do yeah yeah back in 1314 when we were working on getting Route 126 approved by the tip we had our 25% design we were working with people at the state level and because that was it was around that time when they said okay we're doing early retirements and they laid off you know they had a number of people retire and all of a sudden they were telling us well now we don't have enough staff to keep this on track and we lost a year or there about and pushed our whole project back so I I have a fear that we have to be conscious that this could happen at the federal level at well as well the other thing too is it isn't just a matter of the courts issue this and then it's a matter of the confusion that it creates oh definitely that nobody really knows does that mean I should push the button or no that's not me that's exactly the confusion is crazy that's why the communication is important so like you know I think what we can do is just try to you know keep in touch with our state and federal officials um make sure that uh we understand we understand what the situation is so that we can provide that you know or Echo that information and make sure that you know our our neighbors here in Ashland um have the information that we have and so that they understand what's going on because at the end of the day you know folks are going to be like well I depend on the food pantry or like what's going on with the daycare with the with the kindergarten situation or like what's going on with the roads or what's going on with my water or what's going on with this we need to make sure that people understand what's happening how it's happening and what we're doing if anything and what we're doing about it and what we can and what exactly and we have to just be very clear about that so people understand um but I I hope that folks understand that no matter what happens that we'll be working very hard uh for the residents of ashin uh regardless what whatever comes up like that's what we're here for that's what we're going to do and we're going to do our darnest to uh make sure that we continue to serve this town and its residents to the exactly so so and I know like I know you know so far like I know you've been contacted uh by people I have received over 30 like w correspondents Co phone calls from residents you know about before or after your your letter went out this weekend um so some of it was before which kind of prompted yeah what I put out there but then you know they're just they're trying to figure it out and you know right now everybody it's so still kind of new so everybody's being kind of gracious and you know patient yeah I think but um you know at some point that tensions are going to fray and oh yeah that's why that's why I'm suggesting and and you know I think we've talked about communication here in the past there's there is a very strong uh possibility of a lot of in misinformation and disinformation around these issues and we have to get ahead of that because anything what than that is going to be a disservice to the folks of the town so I think at some point maybe in a future meeting like we need to pick up that conversation talk about how we're going to work to mitigate that especially given light of current events um because it's critical that our our Town's folk know what's up yeah it's that's a good point and I just want to you know we've been working on like a Communications yeah plan so Jordan and Beth and I and so um I think we're meeting to review it next week and then we'll talk about it a select board meeting probably won't be ready for February 19th but probably one of the ones in March so it'll be a good time for it's kind of all coming together it's converging can I can I recommend that once before you bring it to the select board if you have a you know draft right maybe send it out so we can take a look at it and give you feedback and then you Beth and Jordan can sort of review our feedback and see oh that that would actually be ideal if we that way you're not bring to us yeah right if you if you get you know if within the if by the end of the week you think you'll have a draft send it out to us let us take a look at it you know and then we can all reply separately to you and then you can look at that information and see if there's changes or tweaks or whatever that you want to you know can either maybe talk to the whoever sends you the information and then you can present it to us and then that way I think it might be a little bit better process it would be great to have like a first round of that kind of done before before you come to us in a meeting because it's tough sometimes so yeah it might not we may not have enough time to so that's a fantastic if you email it out to us we can do it on our own time and and review it yeah okay and you can talk to you know me about it we can have questions or comments or discussions does that make sense to people it makes sense and I will just say this before you've even distributed the plan um I'll say that you know I think we have to you know we'll have to think about like not just when um you know the mechanisms to to disseminate information but also um you know how not just select board but like how Town employees can handle information requests you know and make sure that you know how how do we keep everybody aligned with the same information in realist time so that we don't have conflicting information going out into the community just something to think about while you're putting together those plans and just to that point like just just hearing Makita say that like it kind of it for Me Maybe we need to approach this like we did covid and have like a task force I would Age with you that really um handled sort of like was the central of all the the information and I I don't know I feel like this might be that scope that we need specifically about the federal funding and how it's impacting it's not just our general marketing yeah I mean Communications plan right I'm just throwing that out there because um I think that's a very good point because because that might be the scale that we're talking about with this that we need to kind of think of it as I want I want to say a crisis because it pro it might I mean it might it could be but I mean I think we just want to make sure that we have that mechanism in place should we have to kick it into gear so only because again it's not not me it's somewhat our agend I mean it is on our agenda but more of a grant update so what I'd like to recommend is we're going to put this on our agenda again for this next meeting in February as you have thoughts and ideas certainly think about that um let's look at this Communications plan that we get from Michael Beth and and Jordan Jordan thank you um and give your feedback back to Michael think about a task force idea what would that look like maybe we can discuss that at our next board meeting to see how we want to handle that we can add that as an agenda item I think it's a great idea by doing that because now you have a central centrally located point of contact where all that information is funneled into that into that Center and then people can grab that information instead of Peace meiling Here There and Everywhere localized it's right where where it needs to be which is what we did with Co we had one point of contact person and all the that information was provided to that a person and it was disseminated out to everybody in that one way so yeah great idea because because also you know you think about it this will have impact on the schools oh this will like so wi ranging systemic impacts every every every Department in this community and not just Ashland but everywhere everywhere couldn't agree with you morej Jo and Brandy I think that was an incredible suggestion I think that's where a good place to start okay great okay anything else Micha Endor Jen okay it is time for board reports Makita hello um so um I would unfortunately like to share that I have been pretty sick over the past couple of weeks so I haven't been out and about but thank goodness I'm on the mend um the one thing I will share is that I we did have a uh committee uh subcommittee meeting uh to talk about the process uh the committee uh selection process process and and and um Recruitment and and and process and such so we've got another meeting that will be posted soon um right now what we're again we're just doing some Discovery as it were trying to make sure that we fully understand the business process or the process uh end to endend before we can make any kind of recommendations uh about Improvement and we're obviously talking about all the stakeholders in the process right now um so that work continues and we'll uh be able to provide provide an additional update because we'll have another meeting coming up soon so um yeah I'd also like to wish everyone here in Ashland and farfield a very happy Black History Month it's February um so uh it's a great opportunity to study study up about uh some of the cont contributions of African-Americans uh that have uh helped make this country great um African-American history is American history so there you go so great that's all I've got nice Claudia yes thank you um know just a couple of things I've had the occasion to go up and uh not personally skate on the Warren Conference Center rink but um my grandchildren and some friends and you know it's really nice it's um it's well lit they have lights all around it they have a fire pit um you know where you can get warm the um you know the restaurant Henry's Place happens to be right there so you could actually go inside and and have have a little drink or refreshment while the your children were skating so it it's really a nice spot it looks great and um appreciate it and you know we're the process for building the the new structures is coming along and I know Jen's been very involved with that um and then I did attend the uh school committee budget meeting two weeks ago I guess um and you know it was what we've really been hearing in terms of there are some challenges um a lot of you know costs of weely Skyrocket in it in terms of um you know inflation has hit everything and and um things like the out of District cost for students has been really skyrocketed um so and then there was a lot of discussion this was a this meeting in particular was focused on uh the preschool um special education and um mindes and the thing with the preschool was a big discussion really about whether or not that school should be servicing try to meet the uh need in the community um currently the building is too small to really do that it does meet the need of um allowing the school department to service students um with special needs that are very that that re require intervention at at three years old and then that allows us to U you know educate them in our in our state I mean in our state in our town um but then we have in terms of typical students we have many many many on a waiting list um every year so um you know there's a little little conversation about what the future might look like uh and I have to say that it brought back some sour memories for me in terms of um a preschool that was attached to the high school when uh we first lost that that votes first vote and um that we would have had a preschool very nice preschool U with a program for high school students to be involved with and in any case it's so 23 years time ago right so 23 years so in any case so the school department is working very hard to manage the challenges that they face like um the town fa faces in general and and our friends and neighbors face thank you thank you Claudia and thank you for for going to that meeting Joe thank you madam chair uh I signed up for a u an online Forum uh and discussion with respect to uh quiet Zone uh development and what cities what other cities and towns are dealing with when it comes to that um to that specific uh projects and one of the big issues and concerns and the discussion will be with the liability aspect of it which is what we discovered over the p over the years and trying to get our acquired Zone completed um so I'm I'm looking forward to do that it's going to be next it's next uh Tuesday I believe it's 1 to 2 it's online who's doing it oh you had to ask me I had it written down and I left the paper is it Mass do or no it's not Mass doot no okay it wasn't Mass the if you find it was it the well it could it could it could have if you find it if you could forward me I don't know if I can sit in on but I'd be interested in listening okay I'll anything else Joe uh yeah couple of quick things with respect to the uh Road uh road traffic study committee uh we've been um working very diligently on trying to assess the issues that are concerns with the 1060 Main Street um we have drafted a letter that went to the uh zba uh earlier today and I would be more than happy to forward that in that letter to you all I don't believe we have yet but I will forward it to you all with respect to that all the concerns um that you folks met with uh Jeff uh were discussed in this letter and hopefully uh he'll understand that uh some of the concerns that we had with their traffic study report um again statistics can be used to be you know be for or work against you so um we we were questioning some of the the information that was provided to us in in that report and uh we're doing our own at the same time so hopefully we can get uh a better handle on what what's going on and again the concern is with the the residual neighborhoods that will be affected by the traffic flow and those folks not wanting to come down here so cutting from Winter Street all the way back you know C of Road in winter you know cutting to strobis land all these side roads hildale strobus Lane coming so that they can get beyond that to get to their uh destination on Badger Road to get to Route n and the mass bike so we' been been dealing with that and um I'll be coming to the board and to um Lisa within the next next three week maybe two weeks uh when I get back back uh regarding putting a signage up on Myrtle Street with respect to uh weight limitations on on trucks because there is one right now on Badger Road so we would like to we would like to keep it you know similar and the same on both on both both aspects so we'll be coming back to you folks okay that's all I have thank you just to follow up on that so Tuesday February 11th the zba is having their next meeting regarding 10 to 60 Main Street and their discussion will be on traffic okay Brandy um so the major thing I have to report is that we uh the comprehensive plan group met um two weeks ago two weeks ago I think at this point 22 January we discussed some so you know we had gone out with a survey on specific strategies related to the goals um and we had these technical working groups right before the holidays so I'm told one second uh Mackie did we get bumped from cable we're no longer I just want to make sure we're still going out live via cable okay because we're seeing a channel guide and okay I mean we're almost done but still if we're still going it would be good for the public to be able to watch us if that's what they wanted to be doing on cable okay keep going okay so we met as a comprehensive plan group to talk about the strategies there was some strategies that um didn't rate very high in the survey where people weren't super supportive or the technical working group so we met as a group to kind of go through some of those strategies um our big meeting is going to be on March 20th we're no we're not going to meet in February um partly because of school vacation week partly because um our consultant is really going to be doing a lot of the real heavy lifting between now and March to give us a whole basically to to pull everything together so we're weighing in on all these strategies um that I think is sort of like the last big task before we start writing this thing and start drafting this comprehensive plan um and then of of course the goal is is really to um to finish it and sorry we'll get there Brandy we'll get there sorry I'm a little I'm like I'm you know it's been it's been a long haul the edit function in my brain didn't quite make it there um the uh so the goal is to to get this to to to fall Town meetings so um we are we are working on it so so there there will be more public input once we have some of these strategies pulled together and and the drafts and things like that so we have that um and the only other thing I wanted to to um remind people or let people know that um I think it was mentioned of Claudia mentioned it or Joe mentioned it but um in the town clerk's office nomination papers are available for folks thinking about running for um office this may anybody that is interested did to um to run for office needs to get nomination papers get get 50 signatures and turn them in to be on the ballot for May so um I always and all the offices that are up for election are on the town website y so you can look at that okay so and um just as the winter season is is um finishing up over at the high school I just want to wish the the the clockers uh those that are going off to States uh best of luck because uh winter the winter season is short and it is ending so um believe it's not even it's just February and the winter season's over and stay safe in the snow guys we're having we're going to get some weather this week tomorrow just take it slow that's it it's called it's go rail go rail okay yeah oh perect thank you okay couple different things so we received an email from Arthur the gentleman who came and talked to us about nips I did reply to him I've forwarded to you guys what some discussion that we can have I've started some discussion with Susan so I think we can either decide either next meeting or the meeting after to see is there things we can do based on his input uh let's see senior breakfast was missed in January over at the community center they are having one tomorrow it might be too late if you haven't already signed up um but otherwise I believe they are back now uh the first Thursday of the month we've already mentioned zba uh school vacation week is February 9 the week of February eight8 no six Monday is the 17th to that week so pres President's Day yep um our next board me meeting will be Wednesday February 19th so we'll see you then a couple of other events that I've been notified about ashon education casino night is happening somewhere in March um it's always a fun event I saw that they're now it's so it's at held at the Warren Conference Center in their Lodge I was there I think preco I don't know I was couple years ago it was a lot of fun they've expanded it to two floors it's it if you if you're not busy that it's a great fundraiser for AEI it's always been a fun event um also coming up I believe later in March is Library uh mini golf in the library also if you like mini mini golf they set the course up through the stacks and oops throwing things um f i was there last year that is a delightful it's a fun event it's a fun event so um uh and the not again not for tonight but just for discussion we should start talking about uh new select Board office hours um uh I was also thinking about that this week I saw that the library had their book sale on Saturday and I'm like oh we've done that so let's start thinking about that maybe next meeting we can sort of set a couple dates and um I have some ideas on that as well based on one of the sessions I attended at MMA uh I believe that's all I have so if there is nothing else motion to adjourn we have a move in a second thank you all if I can get a all in favor of adjourning I thank you all that ends this meeting again our next meeting is is Wednesday February 19th stay safe we are expecting some weather uh we don't need to go past 10 o'clock so thank you all who have sat in and remember if you have questions or comments don't hesitate to reach out to any of us and if not before then we will see you on Wednesday February 19th for the next select board meeting thank you and good night