fellows to action you can have discussion but for action it's just I think the vote is a motion has been made it's been second in there's opportunity for discussion and then the vote would be called so you'd still vote or they can send items but this is an opportunity for discussion that would be me and my discussion would be on item number g12 was a recommendation to approve the middle of school facilities board capital plan and although I know SFB has not sent out their forms yet I don't see how we can approve the plan if the forms haven't reached us or reached any of the schools yet and I I mean just do July 1st and I know we what dismissed our second board meeting in June so we could have kept our fingers crossed that the forms would have reached us by then but we don't have the plan in order to approve but we don't have the plan on the forms for because SFB hasn't sent the forms out to any of the sisters are you able to provide some more information Madame president members of the board so mrs.
sourcing fellows correct the SP was hoping that by the end of this week they will have the forms available is what they're working on so this agenda item was approving and authorizing me to submit it on the on the behalf but she is correct the forms are not out there for districts so we have not attached it because we don't have them for this for this governing board meeting we can make an amended amendment to this motion to pull this off I believe you can make an amendment and then pull this off and then vote on that separately which then could include that tabeling it till the next meeting that we have with the hopes that it be if that is what the board wishes at that time if it just the forms or I guess help me understand because I I it was submitted to be on the agenda knowing that we didn't have that piece so were you still feeling comfortable moving forward or madam madam president members of the board good question so this is just a capital plan nothing in the data that we will submit will generate us getting a school so this is the capital plan that you make a request to see if you're eligible to get a school built for you with growth so there's nothing that we will submit that would generate that and and so I'm comfortable with it because that's why it went on the agenda because we did want to mate meet the July 1st deadline missing the July 1st deadline does not come with any severe penalties from the SMB at that point so if we submitted it on the 24th if the board approved it on the 24th or the 10th and then we submitted the next day we would be late but there's no audit finding and there's no concern from that standpoint so it's really how comfortable where does the board feel from the standpoint do you have a concern well it's asking us to approve the plan and approve the submit all of the SFP the school facilities board capital plan and and there's the caveat and authorize Ken Hicks assistant superintendent to sign and transmit all the documents we don't have the documents yet and we don't have the plan because we don't have the forms so I it's it's a little catch-22 I understand what mr.
Hicks is saying but how can we approve something that hasn't been created yet but is this only two requests a school being built which you say we're not eligible to receive I Madam President members of the board the capital plan identifies all the developments there in stay in within the district happening what our current ADM is projections going forward are demographic data in that sense so it really is just about qualifying for new construction if we had no interest in having a new school would we still be required to submit this Madam President members of the board that's a great question and the answer is yes so we will probably still submit next year for building renewal grants and with that they check to see if you've submitted all your forms on if all your forms are up to date at the point so at one point we will have to submit this because they'll we requesting that all forms are submitted and completed by the time before they make any award so what's administration's recommendation well I was hoping they would be done that's why I put the agenda on that we'd have it I was working with our team to make sure that we got them as soon as it was released I am comfortable if the board feels better to wait on it but I have no problem if you authorize me to submit it as soon as the forms are ready and put it together I could then report send a copy to the governing board at that point of what the report is that we submitted so you're fully in the loop but I have no problem if you'd like to wait until the next governing board meeting whatever the purview of the board is is it typical for them to have the form so late to districts yes it is they used to have the deadlines used to be September 1st since they moved it up to July 1st it seems like it's always a little struggle to get it right at the last minute so yeah this is difficult I think cancelling the second meeting is what's probably cause that's probably always there by the second meeting but not by the first meeting is probably what's created this problem this year not then past so what's the interest one way or the other we're leaving it on or I would feel more comfortable approving a plan that I can see madam president if I may an option is we have a very short board meeting planned and a couple of weeks just to approve the district budget that's a one item or meeting we could make it a two item board meeting and that would accomplish the objective of having this approved by July 1st and the board would be able to see assuming that we get the forms within the next two weeks if I could just for procedural wait there's a motion on the table here it's been second and it would be appropriate to as mr.
Hicks said there there needs to be an amended emotion and then vote on that and then vote on the motion that's on the table mr. sink though would you like to do that okay so I move that the governing board table the approval of the sfb excuse me the school facilities board capital plan until president members resort I would suggest that you make an amendment to the current motion to approve the consent agenda that excludes g12 and then you could vote on that separately to table it or you can include the table in G 12 and approve all other consent agenda items okay so I didn't make that motion miss Pritchard I guess that would fall to you to make to amend your motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item G 12 which would come forth at a future meeting okay so I move that we amend the previous motion and approve all consent agenda items as presented with the exception of G 12 which will be tabled for a future meeting okay Marshall made by Kristine Pritchard seconded by Jennifer tanner thank you dr.
callous motion carries thank you next we move to information items information item h1 recommendation to revise governing board policies sections 10.7 10.8 10.16 and 7.17 in eliminating policy section 7.18 dr. callous thank you madam president members of the board members of cabinet this evening there as you can see several policies that are presented to the board for first read and I will start with mr. Dean and then we'll move to mrs.
buck madam president members of the governing board this evening we bring to you item 10 point 7 governing board policy 10 point 7 admission of residents students this and ten point eight 10.16 as well these are recommended changes by ASB a the changes are included for the governing board to see and I'd be happy to answer any questions before we move to miss buck for 7.17 and 7.18 Madam President madam members of the board we also bringing forward 7.17 as a revision and 7.18 as a elimination the intent is to combine the two grievance policies into one and consistent with ASB a model that they are currently have in place so that all employees have the same process and procedures to go through when they have a complaint or agreements any questions let's remove information item two information on school health office staffing thank you madam president members of the board and members of cabinet this evening dr.
Pauline will present this item good evening madam president members of the board dr. Kelsey cabinet at this time I'd like to call Clark race up our director of exceptional student services and he will present on this item how about now okay thank you all right Madam President members of the board dr.
Kellis and cabinet members thank you for having me here this evening to talk about our health office staffing model and kind of address some challenges we're facing and some possible options that we would like the board to consider so in our current model we have a variety of different staff supporting our health office needs in our just Health Department so we have a lead nurse across the district who is an RN and then we have two Regional RNs that we implemented last school year maybe the year before those regional RN support the supervision of our elementary schools to support the health office staff there and for medical needs that have to be done by an RN only and really support with like our health care plan writing and meetings and things like that our high schools all have a school nurse that is an RN and then all of our schools elementary and high school have a help office assistant and currently our health office systems health office assistants are all LPNs there are a couple who have other certifications but those were people who when the change was made to LPNs were included in grandfathered in so I believe there's a one CNA but most of them are LPNs and then sometimes we have other specialized nurse just best based on very specific student needs if we have a student with a one-on-one or things like that the challenge that we've faced is staffing those health offices more at the elementary level so for the next school year right now nine of our elementary campuses do not have a health office assistant hired for next year we've had a really high turnover at the elementary level in many of those positions so 10 of our HSAs resigned throughout the year I'm just not staying with the position and a couple of our schools had more than two resignations and so different three or more different staff in that position throughout the year one of the definite reasons that we hear from staff is just about pay so when we compared Arizona salary for an LPN it's the low 50s 52,000 according to indeed and our base salary in Dysart is just under 32 thousand so coming in from the medical field it is definitely a position where staff you got to want to work in schools and we have many that do and that are great but we find that our nurses coming in many of them are coming in and then not staying it's also a real challenge for us to find any sort of substitutes to help cover when there is they can seize or absences partly because of that LPN requirement so looking at what we could possibly do to help address this we wanted to propose a pilot for the next school year that looks at different qualifications for the health office assistant that doesn't require them to be an LPN so we would look at staffing our health office with a non-medical licensed staff member that's a technical term from the state nursing Association and but in order to help support that we would be looking at increasing the number of Rs so there would be more our ends to help supervise those schools and we do not have any challenge filling our RN specific our RN positions they're a different salary and schedule and contract there are two documents that I linked there for you both from the state nursing Association one of them just talks about the recommended certification for the school health office and that in there talks about the non licensed person and that schools are in a situation where they need to utilize this type of staff and then the second document talks about the use of that unlicensed assistant personnel and the delegation process and what an AR can do and how they would help support that just back in for a second so with the vacancies are they has we've been trying to recruit we've had one applicant since April for these positions and so it's not it's not like we're even getting applicants that are turning us down there's just not a pool of people so what this pilot would look like is on these schools just the schools where they're currently not staffed we would look to create a different position that was a classified position more alignment with like a paraprofessional position but in the cost savings from the difference in pay between those two we would be able to add three additional Regional RNs and so those three would be covering supporting three schools right now our to regional our ends support ten schools each so this would lighten the load for the two that we currently have but provide the necessary medical support for the campuses that would have the staff who are not LPNs so overall this would actually increase our nursing staff it would just decrease some of the staffs qualifications thank you for the information just just a couple quick questions or just want to get your thoughts on it in regard to our neighboring districts do we know if this if this structure is similar in other districts it is similar there is no requirement to have an LPN in a health office and most of our day burying districts do not and the last district where I worked we did not either we had RNs who covered two or three schools but our health office staff was staffed with anybody who was interested in that type of position and they really focused more on they can do med distribution but basic first-aid band-aids checking temperatures calling parents doing the data entry for our immunization and then the our ends really support any of the diabetic needs or other health care needs so they would be certified in like first aid CPR all those they would be and then our our ends would have training that they would provide them in order to delegate certain skills to them that are allowed by the law and they would have to sign off on those and continually monitor anything they delegated to them I remember when we we moved to the model that we're in right now and I just can't remember all the detail as to why we did what we did I remember there was some valid reason and valid concern but do you remember anyone mister it was before me do you remember Madam President I do recall when when we did make the switch exact reasons why I don't know the answer to that however I will chime in that one of the concerns brought forward here is the fact that we don't have folks for our school offices moving into next school year at this point in time and the difficulty in getting LPNs to take those position is a real issue for us what about if not because because my concern and it's been a long time since I was in the medical field like full time but back then like even the low I think the first level of like certification for certified nursing assistants and it could have changed it could be different cuz it's in a school but at that time they weren't able to dispense medications unless they were pre dispensed so there were some real restrictions on what they were able to do but at least they are you know there's still a licensed nursing type professional so maybe that's change because you're saying that they can dispense medications but I think my not knowing all the specifics but I'm thinking that a lot of the thought behind what was happening in my concern now would be just making sure that we have staff that are trained and able to handle any I mean I know emergency we're gonna call 911 obviously but they're still those three plus minutes until they arrive and are we gonna have medical people you know able to respond and meet the needs of our students even if it means I mean I understand that it sounds like for what a twenty thousand dollar difference I can understand why we're having a hard time getting people but you know I guess I kind of looked at Ken I mean is that something that we would I just hate to sacrifice our students and the care that we'd be providing them you know and put somebody in there that maybe isn't as able to manage those types of situations medically yeah one of the reality is even a lot of these schools we have already been doing that because they've been vacant some of them have been vacant for months and so we've been putting in a substitute who is not medically it's not an LPN and then those RNs happen providing that support so in those substitute situations we've already been doing this some when we can't find someone there is still a training they have to go through we also do a training it's obviously much lesser for all of the office staff on how do you help cover the health office if there is an unexpected vacancy so that delegation of meds and things like that is something that has changed quite a bit and that with training and then kind of signing off on it there's a lot more that can be delegated there it's at a point we don't do this but with a parent approval we can authorize someone to even do diabetic care so it's changed a lot as far as what the delegation can be that's not something we're proposing or something we do but a parent could recommend that they want to delegate somebody else to do diabetic care and as long as they're trained you can do it without those medical certifications are you proposing that we at least look at at least a certified nursing assistant level or are you saying you're gonna open it up to anyone initially our thought was to open it up to anyone but I will look into the certified nursing and see what that's our comparison is that something that isn't something I had done already board members have any questions or comments yeah because I'm just thinking of the liability that could be on the district by not having I mean one of the things she's talking about is having an unlicensed assistive personnel in the office and I'm just wondering what our liability would be on on this there so there really isn't from a what's the law say do we have to provide standpoint and these unlicensed people there's a scope of practice that they can do and then there's things that they cannot do and that's why we would need to increase the RNs so that there would be more rn's available to provide that specialized care that must be done but as far as what is the requirements by the law there isn't a requirement that the health office is a licensed medical person so have we have we run this by our counsel to see if I mean I haven't talked to Jennifer about it again that's something that I can add to my list I do know that this is how most of the districts I've talked to are staffed okay and as far as recruiting and I know it's it's hard to find but as is there another avenue that we can recruit another I don't know looking at the hospitals if they have a pool of people that need to we do reach out to job boards in medical field job boards and things in it it we push it out nationally through many many many job sources work boards that are out there but if we're always open to new ways to try to recruit and look for new ways to do it so we can and not that it impacts us immediately but I've been talking whenever I get a chance to talk to universities there isn't a school nurse path um you'll become an RN you'll become an LA LPN but there isn't a let's do some rotations in school nursing and so I've been talking with colleges when I get the opportunity about could we increase that so we could help get staff in earlier and see the benefits of working in a school and helped them see that that's kind of the field they want to head in because I know that the the program the nursing program over Grand Canyon is is a very good program out there and so those that are you know becoming re ins they're already LPNs I don't know if there was you know they have a pool of people yeah I did pull a focus group of our current nursing staff to kind of talk about the challenges and things that they face and there there wasn't a lot of other options we talked about the college path and things and one of the things they said that they feel is a challenge for staff coming into the district is when you work in a medical field there's almost always some sort of clerk who's working behind the scenes doing a lot of your paperwork for you and we don't have that type of position so they said they come into the school and there's a lot more paperwork than they expected and a lot more lot less medical work and so that is something they have shared here's a challenge for them this is a challenge I know maybe not so much because again with the salary maybe you're not gonna have much luck pulling from some of the universities but again a long time ago our community colleges and I think at the time it might have been Mesa Community partnered with Boswell hospital and they had nursing students not necessarily all RN but community colleges might maybe have like this certified nursing assistant programs or something which they do they they're at a lower salary so maybe that would fit our budget a little bit better I mean I hate to I mean if we could find LPNs I think that'd be great but if we can't I would feel more comfortable at least having some sort of certified nursing assistant as opposed to just opening it up to you know anyone that may or may not have any medical background at all is just a thought to possibly consider when you're exploring options this Dunsmore you were gonna yeah my concern is some of the paperwork that might be submitted to the nurse's office like chronic health forms things are you know medication dosage are those then going to be forwarded to the you know I guess the head are or how did how is that going to work in that model yes the regional are ends would be the one verifying meds reviewing the paperwork putting any kind of orders in place or anything like that okay so they wouldn't there would be no attempt for you know an unlicensed person to try to interpret what that plan was you know they would only be working under the direction of the RN so here's already established your schedule for the day this is the time the kids that we know are coming down if a parent brought in a new medication the RM would be called okay one last question guy stars base for this position is thirty one nine to thirty one nine what calendar is that on it's a one day I'm the one ninety seven it's on the 197 okay thank you thank you very much yeah thank you thank you mr. Adam three information on parent organizations dr.
Parrish thank you madam president after conversation with our attorney it we were advised that there is a clear distinction between our parasport organizations and the district when it comes to where the authority lies that as a third party they're not under the direct administration of the district that being said administration has taken a look at how we can clarify that that that differentiation of roles in the past the district has required that parent support organizations meet certain criteria to be approved by the governing board and to represent organizations within the district it's the recommendation of administration and something that we are moving forward with is to discontinue presenting those parent organizations for governing board approval there are things that still have to happen just with any even if a club wants to use our facilities they have to reserve a room when they have to do certain things that we would require of parent support organizations not suggesting that we are exercising Authority in their business but rather just as as an occupant of our buildings that we would require that they reserve rooms or our auditors require that we collect a financial statement not for judgment but for a check on the box and our audits and then as soon as they check the box there those financial statements are discarded we would continue to operate essentially exactly as we are currently with these parent support organizations the only exception is that they are not board approved to represent the organizations that they are formed for orientation meetings would continue just to help them understand the operations of the district if they want to have an event that they want to work with a club what our district requirements are as far as procedures but as far as making any judgment call or any authoritative approvals or denials on bylaws or any other such operations within a parent organization it would be clear that that separation would make sure that there was no district directive on those organizations I don't want that as clear as mud but we happy to answer any questions about that any questions or comments from the board so I appreciate you saying that things are going to be kind of business as usual and that you're still going to have to work you know we're still going to be working with these organizations whether or not the board approves it or not whether they're involved but you know policy government governance does you know cite a few different things around you know third-party organizations in these relationships are those policies still in place Madam President were upon review of the policies there is policy that strongly encourages and directs the superintendent to maintain positive relationships with outside organizations and yes we would hope to I'll just say as an editorial that we absolutely support all the parents who volunteer their time for our students and there's countless numbers of hours that go into to those volunteer hours across the district in multiple organizations that exist we would have absolutely no benefit from creating any any processes that would discourage the volunteering from within the district okay I appreciate the fact that because we've always been a separate entity this seems to align more with that fact that I kind of assumed a little contradictory before that if we truly are separate then why is the board kind of approving and it kind of even if it didn't change the fact that we don't have any authority over Parent Support organizations it I think gave that perception because we're taking action to approve them so I appreciate you looking into this dr.
callous and making that distinction and taking that role off the board as far as recognizing or formally approving them because I think it aligns more with what what the law it says regarding separate entities I do I'm glad to hear two because and that's the one question I have I just want to make sure that you know even though they're separate would there still be a process in place to make sure that you know should should concern a rise in the group or with the groups and the school or the groups and the parents it would seem that the school or the school administration or the district would have a responsibility to uphold the mission and vision of the district and the policies that govern the district you know if a concern would ever arise so are we going to look into how that would how would that would work just to make sure that we're still upholding you know like I know that like the executive limitation of 4.2 as far as just making sure like you had already mentioned we have good relationships with our parents and our schools and how would that how would that come into play Madam President members of the board with any entity that partners with the district or that uses our facilities the the Dicer name is attached to the activities that are associated and if there is an issue with the oh I'll just throw out the the balloon art club and maybe their balloons keep popping I don't know and somebody would like to express their dissatisfaction that something like that is happening in Dicer we believe that there are current processes in place for public concerns and complaints where anybody from the public can submit a public concern or complaint and I would be processed again we aim to please we want everybody to have an extraordinary experience with anything associated with the district we would certainly look at our attorneys opinion to see if that current process would meet the needs of specific cases but generally as we do now if something happens and somebody's dissatisfied with an event that happens that may or may not or even if it's not associated with the district just the fact that it's located on district property and that event occurs that we're always happy to receive those those concerns okay so it would probably just go through a parent could go through the district or the school and not be turned away because our separate entity they're gonna still uphold what we have in place and whether it be through the current grievance process or you'll check with the attorney just to find out because your what I you kind of are saying what I've been what I feel when I read this too is we don't want the district to be tarnished in any way or our parents to walk away feeling less than you know when it comes to our our district because of something we don't have control over so even their stuff you know they're separate I would just want to make sure that there would be a process in place regardless whoever rents our facilities or uses our facilities because it's still the Dysart name that being said it would not be within the purview of the district to tell this balloon club to buy different balloons right but you have to we're not gonna tell them how to how to run their business but we would bring the concern and try and make sure that their satisfaction on all parts and then as far as my abilities concerned what are their requirements for them they required to have it an insurance or like how would that work for something happening oh I'm sorry I'm mr.
Damon as far as something happening maybe within one of our buildings like who holds the liability for something like that with them being a separate entity mr. actually doc to answer that question madam president members of the board it depends on the situation but our Arizona risk retention trust policy has that if it's a school administrator approved event then they're covered so if we have a policy and procedure or at procedures in place that have a fundraising request form this the administrator signs off on it it now is covered so in most of those situations there will be coverage if it's within our facilities and on our campuses I can't envision one that wouldn't be covered in that sense so an example perhaps never hoped that this would happen but suppose that my chair team wants to have a car wash in front of a local business and there is no request for approval from the school district or from the principal there's no submission of an event on the calendar it's just that a pair organization takes it upon themselves to have a fundraiser and they invite the the cheerleaders to go do that that is not a school sponsored event and there would be our trust would would say that that is not something that would be covered madam president members but just to maybe nitpicking a little bit but if it is that your team they're our students and we have a sponsor and it would be a school sponsored event it if it was the cheer booster that did it and there was cheerleaders there that might be that's the scenario that's different it does show the complexities of the nuances of how it goes and that which is why we do when there's an event we know our properties and our equipment is very well maintained and we do a good job we do encourage everybody to hold their car washes and everything on our facilities in mr.
Hicks great wisdom and legal expertise his answer is absolutely correct it depends Thank You Dysart as a other additional insured on their liability insurance they would just still be under the trust Madam President members of the board organizations that are renting our facility we do require them those that are coming on to our property we do require them if it is a booster club that if we're going to have an orientation we're going to clear the lines and draw it not require it so we're going to do some things to define things and define roles and expectations but we would probably still have a process that has a school administrator approve or sign off on them and our policy states that once a school administrator has approved or acknowledged them they are covered under and we are part of our guidelines are that on our facilities and so we do ask them to jump through some hoops and we could pull off a few and and clear the lines a little bit but there's going to be still some requirements of them I would think that we'd want to be careful with requiring administration to approve because then we're still in kind of in the same boat that we are now as far as they're separate and you anyway so whether they approve it or not it doesn't really matter so when you're saying like well if the principal approves something about their organization or club then they're covered Madame president will be very clear that it's not approving them as an organization it's in line with our insurance policy okay its approval of the event or them as an organization to be covered under insurance policy that is what we're talking about not anything that they're doing when so we'll draw those lines a little somewhat somehow this is gonna be communicated to our parent organizations okay so thank you and I just want to make sure that we are saying that no longer do the parent organizations need to be approved by the governing board correct madam president sourcing Bell that's correct okay so is that something that we need to have as an action item to say that we no longer Madam President a sourcing but after looking at all of our policies procedures there is no policy that requires this thing okay and it's a current practice that will be discussing thank you dr.
Callas for looking into that next we move to information item for information on survey results dr. Kellis Thank You Madame president members of the board and members of cabinet isert recently embarked upon a very aggressive effort to listen to our community and to receive the feedback from parents teachers students not just teachers all employees we tried to reach out to all the stakeholders within the district to to complete this the survey this evening I would like to present in aggregate the results of the survey the board has received more detailed reports of the survey and if the board so wishes there are eight binders in my office totally at about 1,700 pages that you're welcome to come in and review as well but this overarching report is just a summary of those responses first of all I'd like to talk about the parent responses the total is about 1,700 1,800 responses while this is acceptable next year we would like to see probably about a hundred responses at a minimum per elementary and about 250 to 300 per high school some celebrations from current responses first of all the dice shirt has high standards for student conduct it was interesting reading through the results that there is a high level satisfaction as far as school safety and some of these will show up later but there's a low frequency of conflict so we asked parents if whether based on race religion gender several different categories if they felt that their students experience conflict and there's a very low frequency of reported conflict as we look at additional celebrations an overwhelming majority of the parents believe that we respond quickly to safety concerns in other words when there's a lockdown that the messaging goes out very quickly to parents and though they feel like they're informed parents feel like their students have lots of opportunities for extracurricular activities though there are activities that are offered that are of interest to their students and they feel like our facilities are very clean safe and well maintained physically parents who participate or who benefit from special education services reported satisfaction overall a t-4 percent of the of the parents were satisfied with the district and in each of the surveys this last question was inserted in there are you satisfied with the leadership of the superintendent and parents reported 85 percent I would share that in 2017 a similar question was asked and it was about 30% slower but there are some opportunities for growth one of the things that the parents identified was that they would like more interaction with school counselors as a high school level particularly as they're preparing for college that they have access to counselors to help them get into whether career or college prep programs testing scholarships the like there was an interest in coaches receiving more training and then while 84 85 percent of parents said they would recommend the district or their child's school to another another parent that's 16 percent who would not and that's about a hundred parents who would not recommend their child's school to another parent and so there's an opportunity for growth there to raise the bar on on satisfaction of of individual schools looking at student responses again that's the response rate is okay but we would like to see at least an 80% response rate across the district for next year's survey some celebrations are the majority of classes and this was you might say is just an expectation why would we celebrate the classes start on time but it's something that we would expect that our teachers teach from bell to bell and then there isn't a lot of missed instructional time so students say classes start on time again just as with the parents a high percent of the students report that they have not experienced conflict in those several categories that I alluded to they feel safe in various locations throughout the school in the hallways in the library and the restrooms and at lunchtime on the buses they feel safe and they this is an interesting one that says teachers students believe teachers expect them to do high-level work you're going to see on the next slide that students also report that they don't feel like they are challenged and being challenged what is something that we would see as a growth opportunity if the students don't feel like they're being challenged let's challenge them I think students have the capacity to do much more than we traditionally expect and we would like to raise the bar well how far we can we can push the kids to achieve students report that teachers don't typically change their instruction to meet the needs of of individual students and that they we feel like teachers could probably do better at paying attention to all the students in the classroom having been a teacher you have 160 students that's a hunk basically a lot of students to give individual attention to but students recognize that some students tend to get more attention than others and then the students also report that they would like to have more access to councillors it would also like some general cultural change I guess but an opportunity that not just the councillor but that everybody within the school environment supports their long-term goals either in career or in college it's just basically that the conversation that adults have with kids that it's always college career based and that there's that high expectation interesting students reporting about themselves say that students don't believe that students treat teachers with as much respect as they deserve finally going to the employee survey and just as a note this crosses many different employee groups so there's school staff and district staff there's administration and they're certified and and classified overall we're very satisfied with the number of responses from all of our employees as you look at the celebrations employees believe that there are processes in place to inform students about their learning we have the Parent Portal which is probably the most frequently cited example but that parents staff leave parents can access information about their and their children staff believe that they get positive feedback and support from their supervisors and that they believe that they have a good relationship and good communication good open communication with their supervisors employees believe that beta is a big part of an ongoing continuous improvement in the district staff also believed that our facilities are clean and what safe well-maintained if we look at the opportunities well one more celebration page just like to go to the last one and this is an important bullet here it says a very high rate of employees believe they possess the capacity and competency to accomplish extraordinary things and what that says is there's self-efficacy here that our employees believe that they can do great things with the other caveat of there's a high degree of satisfaction with leadership I think we are going to be seeing great things in Die certain satisfaction with superintendent and with the district are also highly rated I'm just gonna skip over to the opportunities for growth employees believe that there's a need to increase expectations first chose to go to college that's basically now in all three of the survey groups have highlighted a need for support for college and career supports employees also see an opportunity for the professional learning communities PLC's and PD professional development some opportunities for improvement in both of those areas and I think as we look at some of the comments that were made the primary areas that they focus on are meaningful and relevant professional development experiences employees have said that they perceive that some administrators could spend more time in classrooms and interestingly employees report that peer to peer trust at school level is somewhat at a lower level culture growth opportunity at that point that peer to peer trust could be improved and the majority of staff say that they would not take a risk or try new ideas and there's another opportunity to change culture and make it a place a safe place where any employee the district could be innovative think creatively within their realm of responsibility and to try new things overall themes throughout all the surveys celebrations a safe environment strong confidence and leadership overall there's a high satisfaction with the district and with district leadership good communication technology is good technology and it's available it works well facilities are clean safe and well maintained and that those receiving special education services are satisfied opportunities for growth probably the biggest one we need to raise the bar and challenge our students more we need more post high school awareness among all the adults in our district purposeful community building in other words professional development PLC time and then also increased access to our students counselors just as side notes another interesting question most of our parents prefer school safety notices in other words if there's a lockdown they want to be notified by text as number one or email second and then an autodialer third the other categories rated significantly lower such as websites and then school level data this will be provided to each of the leadership team so that the schools while this is district aggregate data really it is something that is of most value at the school level that will be provided to each school leadership team the summary data is going to be provided to the public it was a promise we made for each survey that those who took the survey saw that this isn't just something that will be put on a shelf is something that we will be transparent about and that it will be published later this month but as I mentioned the seven binders in my office there's still a lot more data to call through and we will continue to really make it a working purposeful document that will drive future district decisions with that I'm happy to take any questions Thank You dr.
pellis and do any board member have any questions or comments regarding the survey results just one dr. Kellis and that I had pulled from here all of it's great it's it's the fact that like Bob young and team are just you know they're everybody's doing great but Bob young is just like going out there and and really making sure all the facilities are safe and and whatnot but just one of the things that I picked up and it had to do with additional training for coaches and I with any type of sport teams or anything a parent might not agree with what the coach says and vice versa that type of information we'll get back to all of our schools on what type of additional training that we would have for coaches and I don't know if that would fall under yeah wouldn't fall under mr.
Williams so right there okay okay press mr. sink though yes the school level is really where the details would be most important because his comments were made related to this question it would be a school specific comment and so while it may be tempting as a district to say well based on these results we need to do something district-wide and that is the worst thing we could do because we would be hit and miss on which coaches or which areas need which training but mr. Dean is very aware of these results and it's something that he will be working on because I know it's you know it could be at Willow it could be over at Ashton it could be a number of coaches that it's not specifically identified as down but they could also benefit from that additional training and Madam President we certainly want to assure that we have opportunities available for our coaches not only to expand their capacity in their specific sport but to expand their capacity in leadership and leading others as well so that our coaches are providing to use dr.
Keller's word an extraordinary experience for all of their athletes as well I appreciate this so much and it was it's great to go through all this information because we can all have our own perception of what's going on or how people feel or what but it really gives a great great data for what our students what our employees what our parents really are feeling about the district and so it's such great information I had a couple of questions real quick so under the employee employee portion so I just want to make sure I have this right so there was low trust and school level staff but a high trust and district level staff is that correct president mr. Tanner that's correct we found that employees of district level actually very similar if not the same question had a very high level of trust with each other and there seemed to be a low level of trust at the school level employee the employer okay this isn't they all reported district and school level high level of trust communication supervision training between their evaluators and the employee so supervisor to employee was strong employee to employee at the school level was low okay my question just specifying that so I appreciate that I also just wanted to say I'm so grateful for how people feel about school safety and our facilities because I know just with you know so many experiences that have happened across the nation I mean that's one thing to feel safe in your school and as a parent to feel safe sending your your child to school and so I appreciate that the processes that are in place for school safety people are recognizing it and and that they feel safe having their kids here I did have a question though about when they talked about as far as communicating things like for school safety do we have the ability just with school safety if the lockdown happen that we send a text just with that can we separate it because I know people can select what they prefer but can you differentiate that where if it's just a school safety issue just a text goes out Madame president member tantra to your question is yes we have a lot of different capabilities a lot is determined based upon what parents select in the portal and so one of the things that we've done successfully we believe in the last few years is that when there's an incident at a school we communicate with that school community and not district-wide so that we're focusing a laser-like approach to communication to those who are impacted in that community all of those parents that are in that community and so whatever whatever device that they've selected to be informed with through the parent portal is what shoots out immediately and one of the other things that we've done with our safety communication is follow up not only that piece so they may get a text right away if they have selected text but then we also put an autodialer out as well so that we're covering basis so that parents get information in multiple formats so the yes we communicate with the way that they have requested but then we also turn around and make sure we generally communicate as well so that we cover all basis and make sure we get to all parents especially in the event of a safety situation president miss tanner i think if you're asking if can they opt out of the cookie-dough reminder exactly and just get the right the safety ones I believe the answer to that is no because we would have to maintain multiple databases and that's kind of what I was wondering because yeah I think if people are used to seeing an autodialer for everything like the reminder of hey school yearbooks are on sale it's kind of easy just let those things go to voicemail but if yeah if there was a different way that the the emergency things came across I think that would catch the attention more so that would that way yeah and one of the things that I would state is that we're our PR department is very good in drafting messages that that address the safety situation immediately so if there's an auto you know it's not hey this is what's happening this week it is immediately this is you know miss winter Stein from Sunset elementary school we need to inform you of and go from there so that it's heard very quickly before somebody just clicks out of that but if you'd like to buy cookie dough we'd be happy to take care that is much yeah lots of lots of definite things to celebrate from the survey I wish mr.
Hawkins were here I'm sure he's watching right now online I'm sure of it because I was gonna give him a shout out he got his students 1287 to respond and that is the highest of all of our schools that's amazing so I don't know what he's doing but kudos to mr. Hawkins and that's great especially for students I mean to really take the time to fill that out that's amazing I we should kind of like hold on get a hold of him and find out like what his secret is because it'd be nice if we could get more responses from our other groups some of our groups were like 962 or of a parents like 1530 and they kind of like fluctuated so in the grand scheme of things we didn't get a whole lot of respondents you know for a lot of the areas so if we could if we could do something with that I think it would give us more information or get people more involved I think the most one of the most encouraging things that came out of the survey for me is what the staff employees as far as some employees believe school administrators need to spend more time in classrooms and like super surprise to most people but I'm big on accountability I just love that and so many people I've always said no it's an opportunity for growth it's like it's how you learn it's like give give that information not something to be feared or concerned about and so when I read this to me that is so encouraging because we have our own staff members who are saying hey come into my classroom watch what I'm doing celebrate with me or help me out with this and you know tend not to feel comfortable to do that and to ask for that I think is super encouraging and it's just I think a wonderful message that we got out of this same with students students report they are not being challenged in their course subject areas if you think about it students you know whether it be elementary but even think high school kids you know to say challenge me I want to be more challenged are you kidding me like that's amazing that they would say that and so I was excited to read those things and I would like like if we do this again just if we could find a way like I said tap into mr.
Hawkins find a way that we can get more people to respond because what we got just out of this is some good information so next we moved to information item five superintendent year-end review dr.
Kellis Thank You Madame president members of the board I'm members of cabinet I'm calling this the state of the district address and as we look at a year in review I'd like to just again on a very high elevation give the board a quick report on just probably a small percent of the things have been accomplished and publicly I'd like to thank all of our employees in the district who have been through a world wind of change in this last year and have weather that maybe it's a storm maybe it's a magic carpet I don't know but it's been a ride and I appreciate every employee who has done their part through this change process this year we have focused on three areas the arts the academics and the athletics or the athletics the arts we are the academics the athletics and the arts it should be the academics first because that is our primary purpose and that is our business as we I'm just gonna go through each of those areas and highlight some of the things that have happened during the year and academics we started out the year with an initiative survey and we identified what what things on our plate were important and needed to stay on the plate and what things could be taken off the plate and as we looked at the instructional supports identifying of all the resources that we have are they appropriately allocated resources whether it's personnel resources budget resources time resources and so there is a very aggressive process of identifying what are the needs of the schools to focus on our primary purpose of academics and how would we appropriately restructure our resources to provide those supports so we as a result of that have teaching and learning specialists that are provided at each school social workers are in the process of being hired but to have a social worker at every school we are still looking at transportation services because we realized that that might not seem like a readily identifiable resource for academics but when we are as we'll see in a little bit as we now extend the classroom beyond the four walls we want our students to experience learning outside of those four walls not just virtually but literally and to to have field trips and so having a adequate transportation our goal there is to be fully staffed with all the bus drivers and an additional ten just for special circumstances speaking of field trips I mention that if we can expand a love of learning and instill in each student that fascination with the topic that they're learning because they can actually go out and experience and see it in the real world that's a benefit and so opening up the opportunity for field trips and encouraging field trips where they haven't been in the past the grading policy is something that has been an area of focus in academics we have aligned this has done previously our our 59.5% the passing grade we have aligned that to industry standards retakes are for tests are no longer mandated but our grading committee is developing a new vision for identifying evidence of learning and we're excited to see what is going to come from the grading committee in that respect teacher innovation with you maybe have heard that the phrase of tight loose tight we have standards teachers have to teach the standards we want them to be creative in how they teach it use their own craft and the attributes that they bring with them to the job and then there's the tight of their assessments and expectations of learning so tighter they activate standards looses the present the delivery and tight is the accountability and then we also revisited previously the teacher evaluation model and really narrowed it down and focused on the things that matter most CIPS celebrations with our CIP presentations the been reported from both the schools and the cabinet those were very meaningful engaging dialogues with school leaders and with cabinet we had great conversations about their goals with celebrations and opportunities for growth and the fact that we had them at the end of the year it was timely and that allowed them to give a report to cabinet on what they have achieved based on their early goals continuing on with academics promotion ceremonies are not only allowed but expected and as was mentioned earlier an extraordinary experience it's not just something that happens for an hour in the morning half in the cafeteria but we had every school in a high school auditorium we live streamed it so that family across the globe could participate and we want parents to be happy and excited about their students extraordinary promotion ceremony experience here in Dicer and that they can then share with their peers and other parents that well and I cert they do it in a great way preschool and community education opening up the preschool providing students at a very early age the opportunity to be ready to enter kindergarten this isn't playtime this is learning time in a play environment and we're very excited with the growing minds preschool and look forward to the grand opening ribbon cutting that's coming up here in just a little few weeks the programs are self-sustaining they are already almost at capacity in each of the programs but aside from coming in prepared we believe that when preschool students enroll and Dicer they stay in Dicer and we want students to feel like dice it is their educational option finally the school identity signature programs this is going to be probably our biggest emphasis in the coming year is helping schools to fully develop and implement their school signature programs every school it will be heavily supported with the bond dollars and the best part of all it's community based so that each neighborhood works closely with their school leadership and the staff and they put together a signature that represents the neighborhood and what the interest of those parents for their kids at their school and that it has the the funding to support it moving on to the arts one of the most extraordinary things that happened this year was the annual festival of the Arts with over 5,000 attendees 7 different stages running simultaneously with students live performances the the boost the arts brews the artisans the actually hands-on art experiences that the attendees had it was all wonderful we're also looking as far as the arts with a facility and equipment improvements and which will be part of the bond dollars middle level electives so starting next year students will have a full hour of arts instruction in their middle school years there's electives that they can choose from it's not on a rotation every three weeks they get a few days of it but it's there's a fly up here not just I know de neige is working on an instrument drive and we have already started collecting a lot of instruments we have reached out to the arts community and we're seeing some really good relationships being built at a high level with not just artists and artisans and local arts organizations but at the city level and soon we have great plans at a state and national level as we host traveling shows right here within our district in athletics mmm again improvements on its way for facility and equipment and which will be covered through bond dollars sports Bass PE classes are pretty big deal and we're already attracting a lot of attention from coaches players parents reporters recruiters just on the amazing things that are happening with athletics are all district team awards if you haven't had an opportunity next year we hope to invite you to those awards ceremonies where the all-district players are recognized and not to steal what willow canyons new tagline is WC is willing winning culture Dicer as a district is on the rise and we have high expectations of high level victories for each one of our our sports next a culture of trust this is just building again back to the the tight loose tight environment we're extending trust means that we provide opportunities for our employees our students our community to bring in their big ideas and to say that we don't corner the market on on great ideas that we're open to to that kind of innovation a culture of yes or how do we get to yes if it's appropriate to be yes but that kind of culture of yes or how do we get to yes is amazing how people do start thinking why would I share a good idea if I know the answer is gonna be known every time and so being open to those ideas I have been getting emails myself from staff across the district who have ideas and want to share those with me and so they're directed to okay yes let's figure out how that can happen the collaborative leadership we have extended cabinet we have principals council and district leadership team the instructional leadership team each of these leadership groups are two-way communications it's not a opportunity for cabinet to tell but to to talk together and to dialogue in our community we will always be Dicer the the tagline hashtag we are die cert still exists but we want each school to be the center of its neighborhood and to develop that relationship not only as a as an icon that our facilities continue to be highly well maintained and safe that they have strong curb appeal physically and visually but that what happens inside is an extraordinary experience and that the community stands behind each one of their schools because they know what happens and they're proud of it developing community connections we have employees who are going out and having outreach events hosting meetings for the public to come and and hear about die search and to ask questions and to be informed several or being invited out for speaking engagements nice part about that is often those speaking engagements happen north of the wall and there are parties who are interested in what Dysart's up to who don't have kids in the district and so that's exciting and we're making great political connections I think the board is aware of some of those for example most recently we worked with one of our state senators on the open enrollment bill and that will continue to be a topic as we get ready for the next legislative session but we're also talking to legislators about finance and about curriculum and about safety and some of the other things so we have strong community connections again reaching out for our community bond election is coming up it's going to be recommended for two Elementary School's new high school and support for each of the signature programs safety enhancements while there was strong indication from our surveys that people are satisfied with the cleanliness and the safety of our facilities we're learning a lot from across the country of what can be done even more to secure our schools and so there are safety enhancements and then academic arts and athletics like to just put a shout out to the Dicer Education Foundation they are a great community support they provide scholarships they supported the festival of the Arts there's good leadership there we have a community liaison that's working closely with the foundation and they also support the three A's so as far as the superintendent's focus what has been my focus and what will be my focus my focus is the district's focus that is the strategic plan we have to be number one in academics we can have a lot of fun doing a lot of other things but we have to do extraordinary things with academics we have to have a culture of continue to grow the culture of trust and community have safety at every level in every environment and to maximize the resources that that we need to be an extraordinary district been a fun year it's been a great year I'm looking forward to next year great things ahead perhaps either filled any questions any questions from the board no I just like to echo everything that dr. Kellis has said it's been a great year it's been a new year for you because you've come back to Dysart and I think you've taken a model and I think I told you earlier that or several months ago that you're like the new chef in the kitchen so you just you cook what you need to cook with and I think you've really done a great job you would be surprised how many times around the district I have heard other people using tight loose tight and I think that it's getting embedded into a lot of our staff and they're finding the value in it so that was the one thing I wanted to tell you how tight loose type residents are think Bell thank you and I appreciate the positive comments but it is a team and every time I say yes it means 10 people's jobs just got busier sometimes 20 or 30 but yeah it's a collaborative effort to approve the appointment of High School assistant principal dr.
pills thank you madam president members of the board this evening we like to present for the board's approval an assistant high school principal and mr. Dean will introduce this item madam president members of the governing board dr. Kelso members of cabinet is my pleasure this evening to bring forward a recommendation for assistant principal at Valley Vista High School that recommendation is dr. Gina Auslan dr. Auslan has worked at Valley Vista High School as an English teacher for the last four years prior to that she was an English teacher in California she has her doctorate from Grand Canyon University Cole opes I'm an alum and we are thrilled to death to present this recommendation to this evening and dr.