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Okay. So, and we've got build in it's all part of budget because we can't we can't you know you heard in all of those things that that we have to prioritize but we have to keep in mind I have to keep in mind for me for sure um the kids first and the you know and how we're getting them how we're getting them where we need to be. So I'm not trying to be I'm not trying to be argumentative here. I understand what you want. You want straight data. Um but we have to be able to interpret those data in a logical way too. So, um, Jen's doing the cohorts for you. Yeah. And, um, um, I'm still going to share that this year data and we're going to see the principles on next Tuesday, next Thursday's meeting. Yes. They're going to each one is going to present.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
They've got about seven minutes, I think. So, the workshop needs to be well, they're will an hour at least. their data would would their presentations give us hard data or is it just going to be they're not going to give you a lot of hard data. They're going to show you the process that's that they've been through this year. Desert Valley has had hard data and Desert Valley has hard data. You could ask we can ask for the other from the others as well. What they're what they were doing originally was presenting to you. We wanted them to present to you what they presented to us for what's been going on this year. And um and then because of some of the midyear data, Desert Valley wanted to add their data. We can ask the other schools to add theirs as well. Okay. Data. Okay.
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Um I want to compare numbers. I I've been an educator too long and we have a tendency to say to be positive to do the right things and do all those things. So I'm what I'm saying is I just need something concrete. Absolutely. And I don't need an observation. I don't need that. I need quantitative rather than qualitative. Well, you're going to get some qualitative, too, but we'll make sure there's quantitative. Okay, please do. Um, any other kind of questions that we might have that we'd like to have answered? No, I want I want to see the quantitative data because what I've been seeing I haven't been mathematically is not making sense to me. So, I I'd like to see some better quantitative data. And let me tell you something, she and I have not talked. No, but being we don't talk being the math mind person, I I want the math figures, you know, the the other doesn't mean anything to me.
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Math I can read real well. I think the only thing she did ask me for were the scores that we got in June and I told her that that was on board docs and she that's okay. Um it will be um just I know you're not you're talking about future topics but so our intent was to have at the workshop have the princ principles do their little presentation. Jen and I have some data then to share with you. So that's probably going to be a little over an hour for uh for workshop. So it still start at 5:30. Just understand that it's going to be a longer one and and we can set the board meeting the board meeting time say for 6:30. We can always start later than that. Yeah. Um, but we want to give you a lot of information, but then the meeting itself is going to be meaty because I'll have I'll have a won't be a proposed budget.
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I'll have a draft budget for you to look at. And uh and then uh I have another um I talked some today with you about classroom site fund. Um uh but I have another budget that I didn't know what it was and how to use it and I'm going to share that information with you. um and some decisions relative to that. Um we have some other things on the agenda. So um it may be it may be a little lengthier meeting than usual. Fine. That's but meaty stuff. We've been here. I know this is the longest meeting we've had since I've been here. Welcome Judy. Yeah. Is that all for me? It totally gets easier from here. Right. We had a wonderful lunch. So that sounds good. Did that mitigate the time some? That makes your valuation better. Yeah, I'll cook more often for you then.
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And I'd just like to offer an observation too. I um not being an educator and and looking at the data that Madame President is referring to. I I can understand and have felt some of the same feelings I think that both Barb and and Belinda have expressed. But the one thing that sticks out in my mind is that one day I went over to middle school and I got to spend about 15 minutes in I think they were fourth graders, a fourth grade classroom. And I went in there and I saw this chaotic flurry of activity. And when I looked past it, what I saw was I saw the teacher coordinating and observing and directing. And I saw the students engaging with each other. And there was one girl in particular, tall, very pretty, tall girl. somebody at the next table was having an issue with something and she understood what they were talking about.
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She left her chair and she went over there and she spent a considerable amount of time trying to coach this other student till they got it. So maybe from an analytical data perspective, I totally understand. And I have those same reservations because seeing there's far too many students to the left of where we want them. Far far too many. And I don't think anyone argues with that. But I don't think I've ever been in a classroom where I've seen that kind of engagement. and student peer-to-peer help. And so if that's what IE brings uh or yeah, if if that's what they're bringing, maybe there is some value to that that is is not quantitative but qualitative. I'm I'm just offering that. And if you have a chance, maybe uh and I know you've been in in classrooms. I've been. Yeah. Not not so much in the last two months, but yeah, I can get back, Fred.
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I will get back. The other thing I would like to I would like to have on future topics. my classroom always was Galileo cuz maybe Fred's right and we are not evaluating things the correct way. Those are the data that I'm going to share with you. We maybe but compared to national data we're going to we're going to compare it. We're going to show our data to compared to national the I'm I'm thinking that the Galileo may not be the the instrument we need to be using. I don't know what's out there, Jennifer. I do not have a single clue. But maybe Galileo isn't the instrument we need to be using because if Fred is right and this is one incidence and I saw a couple Mhm. when I was over earlier. Um I saw a a good science and I saw a good math.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
um you know so Fred's got a point but this does not the data that you're showing us is not good. Okay. So maybe if you would bring us some other way of evaluating what the kids are doing. And well, some of it, Melinda, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I I think part of what you're talking about, and it's not so much with math, it is as it is with ELA, but one of the things that we realized recently is that um uh our K through2 people have not have somehow or other made teaching foundations of ELA, of language and reading and that stuff, um kind of secondary to the process, the new processes that we're trying to institute and and so um I I actually met with the with the elementary principles last month and directed them to reinstitute for reading for language ELA K through two a very specific structure for that ELA time so that we can make sure we're doing those foundational teaching foundational skills because let's face it reading is not reading is not a a human a hardwired thing in humans.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
It's not hardwired in our brains like oral language and uh some other things. So you have to be taught it and you have to learn it and somehow or other those things were weaker. That's part of what we were seeing with dibbles and that's what led to this direction that I gave them um to reinstitute and we made it very specific. must have these pieces. Your your ELA t time must have these pieces. You'll still see the conversations because those need to take place also, but but you don't learn to read with a conversation and you don't learn to read by listening to somebody else read. So, we've instituted some things particularly K through2 because if they don't have it, it's not going to happen in third grade on up. And um and that was part of where our analysis led us with ELA. Um uh we don't see quite the same thing in math, but we also we didn't we didn't want to hit them with too many things at one time, but the ELA for sure.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So we've already take action taken action relative to ELA, which will affect both Galileo and Dibbles for them. So uh we're not just sitting on our hands and I'm I'm not trying to be defensive here either, but I want you to know that we are being proactive. And Galileo may not be our best tool, but man, we've looked at lots of tools, haven't we, Jim, over the years? Yeah, because there's only certain programs we can use. It has to be approved by state. Correct. In order to do the benchmark. Oh, it doesn't have to be. Oh, okay. And no, but you want it to be aligned with state standards. So, that restricts it some, you know. I mean, you've got to find a you've got to find a tool that aligns. Well, if and so we may have to look. Somebody would just look at it.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I know I mean Galileo has been around for over 20 years and uh I don't know. I used to I mean I had Galileo for last 10 years I was teaching that I used it and stuff and the the way we seem to be using the Galileo now and the way we used it back then is just so totally different. I felt I had much trueer knowledge of where my students were when we the way we were taught because I was one of the uh teachers that when we first brought Galileo in, I was a test teacher for a year with them and stuff and the way they had us set it up and stuff just seems so much more logical and gave us to me tour readings what we get this now with it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. some food for thought.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Got it. I've got my list. Um item 7.2, upcoming board events. I don't think we have any. Do any of the schools have any programs that Not right away because we're going into testing. Yeah. Yeah. State testing doesn't start next week, but it does start the week after. Is there a board event that we should maybe put in there? Like uh something for the teachers? Cassie's going to have something for you, I think. Not this meeting. Not next week, but April for about appreciation, which you directed her to. Yeah. Yeah. Go work on that. I'm just thinking snacks. If you're going to be testing all day, some snacks. Oh, I see. in the in the workrooms or something like that. Would that be something you guys They would appreciate that. Yeah. Just a box of potato chips or something. But you know, but I'm just thinking something to say thank you for doing all this and it's pain in your beehind to do all this testing because it it's not it's sort of anti- teaching.
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Yeah. Yeah. And that's hard for teachers not to do. So, if we could do something simple since we're going to do a big appreciation and Cassie always puts together a good party. We'll see what she can think of before next meeting and you can decide. Yeah. 7.3. Date, time, and location of future meetings. It looks like we're stuck with next Thursday, March 20th, 2025, starting at 5:30 with a workshop and meeting at you said 6:30. I'm thinking 6:30. Okay. So, we're coming at 5:30. Yeah. the board meet the regular board meeting. Okay. Is there anybody with a conflict? No. As long as we start at 5:30, I'm fine. Okay. Because foundation ends about 5, so that gives me time to get over here after that one. Okay. If you're a little late, we'll expect you to walk in quietly. I mean, I can't make a grand entrance by late.
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Fashionably late. I mean, come on. Okay, last thing. I'll be dressed up for the picture, so I should make a grand entrance. Last thing with an order. I need a motion to adjourn this meeting. I make a motion to adjourn this meeting. All Is there a second? I'll second that motion. All those in favor? I, Melinda Subaski. I Charlene Diaz. I Fred Rushton. I Barb Zarziki. Hi Judy Reed. We are adjourned. Hey, thanks all for Thank you for everything you did today. Very late evening. Thank you, Jennifer. I hope the time late. It was
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e e good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the March 133 2025 general meeting of the Clifton Board of Education please rise for the flag salute and a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you sorry gentlemen sorry Mr shahada the roll call please nobody even noticed that Miss bassford here Mr Brunet here Mr kova Dr Danny here Mr Mahia here Mr siano here M Suarez here vice president Santiago here president Paris here we have a quorum thank you Mr Shada uh commissioner Mahia could you read the mission statement okay uh vice president Santiago can you read it thank you president Paris the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an everchanging world thank you the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has C caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV and the local press on the district's website and mailed to presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policy 0168 is our student representative in the house hey Mark come on up hi good evening all um well there haven't been many report worthy events happening recently at CHS so tonight I just want to give a quick synopsis of what's happened in the past weeks and what to expect uh for the future uh our recent performance of Sweeney Todd was very successful I want to thank all of you that attended um lots of clipon students parents were in attendance and in whole I would like to thank all those that support our arts and theater programs uh they cannot succeed without your support furthermore ngpa testing is happening this week which has been going smoothly uh tomorrow there will be a students versus staff basketball game at 700 p.m.
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e e e okay uh Megan Mogan I have her for agend agendized and non- agendized and I'm going to time that for three minutes okay Megan so whenever you start and I just have the agendized item so okay thanks good evening members of the board superintendent rikman assistant superintendent and staff my name is Megan Mogan and I'm speaking tonight as a community member um I was a very proud longtime former staff member here on the Tucson campus prior to my resignation last spring to pursue my my full-time doctoral degree um as a former staff member I had the privilege of working with leadership on the pillars outlined in asb's strategic plan for 2021 through 2026 and um the plan commits to four things just as a reminder excellence in education student development organizational culture and Resource Management um recent proposed cuts to teacher stiens removal of salary step increases limits on their professional development and a hiring frees directly contradict all four of the pillars in asb's strategic plan the cuts undermine asb's overall mission and threaten educational quality quity staff morale and ultimately Student Success so pillar one excellent communication and relationships freezing salaries and cutting stiens significantly undermines teacher morale it erodes trust between leadership and staff and research consistently shows that stagnant wages and lack of professional growth opportunities lead to high attrition rates disrupting student teacher relationships and th the overall stability of our school pillar two outstanding student development putting limits on staff professional development and implementing a hiring freeze prevents teachers from staying current with best practices this reduces instructional quality pillar three superb organizational culture salary freezes stip Cuts restricted professional development they devalue staff contributions making it harder to recruit and retain diverse highquality Educators the hiring frees and stagnant wages directly contradict objective 4.1 which calls for attracting and retaining the most qualified Personnel pillar four effective Resource Management any budget proposal linked to decreased or Frozen staff wages represent short-term savings at the expense of long-term stability cuts are not effective Resource Management so instead of targeting student facing Personnel the board must explore alternative cost-saving measures asb's own plan states that every student and staff has the opportunity to grow and succeed so I urge the board to uphold the commitments you made in asdb strategic plan and reject budget cuts that weaken the educational experience for asdb students and the professionals who serve them thank you realize that was that loud thank you next I have Sher Brown oh can you hear me yep okay good afternoon superintendent Annette rikman board of directors ASB staff um my name is Sher Brown I'm the counselor in the high school for school for the deaf and School for the Blind I've been working here for 31 years and so that makes me old committed but personally I like to say extremely passionate I'm here today because I want to talk about the budget cuts and the possible impacts on students I want to remind everyone that we are all having jobs because of our students so let's face it it is all about the students student education and safety must be our priority remember we are all on the same team and we really need to communicate and collaborate to address these budget challenges together we're all wearing red we are cons in solidarity supporting the school uh we appreciate super superintendent rikan's weekly short poil emails and especially Friday's in-depth changes and cuts but those Communications have only been one way we cannot discuss or ask questions or clarify points again we need to have an opportunity to come together to work together some areas being cut our field trips and restricted Sports and things that attract students to come to ASB we want to preserve programs and services that attract students and encourage parents to send their children to asdb I understand the importance of using data driven decisionmaking but that is only one aspect of the equation the other aspects are the students the most important part every single one of our students is on an IEP which we must consider their unique needs challenges language Behavior accommodation in order to meet those needs we need to have a sufficient number of Staff everyone is aware of the teacher shortage so we cannot afford to lose anyone or freeze positions on the front line in fact we need additional support because if an IA or a teacher is out we have limited backup we are already doing more with less and functioning on a skeleton crew I don't know how much more we can cut what we really need to do is make cuts from above the front line not to the front line positions above the front line need to be reconfigured and resources Consolidated positions from above the front line need to be dispersed so additional support can be provided on the front lines wherever possible we need staff on our campuses supervisors directors on campuses one or two days a month supervising from another city is not effective we also need staff work working in person not from home staff directly working with students must be protected cutting staff on the front line will and does impact students the impact cannot be seen or recognized by data or ratios but it's only understood by working with the Frontline staff and I'm overtime I have plenty to talk about I'm here to be consulted thank you thank you next I have Dan mallis I'm sure I just butchered that name and I apologize you're forgiv I'm sensitive to that with a name like kifil hello and I want to thank the board superintendent rikman and Miss kifil for inviting us to come and U express our opinions I am Dan Maes I have been a teacher here for the school for the deaf working with multiply disabled severely sensory impaired students M dssi for well over 30 years if I can take a moment i' would like to read from the asb's vision mission statement we are committed to respect support and the well-being of all we are committed to the Excell excellence in the education of all children through Arizona who are hard of hearing de and have vision loss excellence in the education of our children I am concerned that our students education will be affected by some decisions that may be made I am retiring this may and I have been informed that my position as a teacher for the deaf multiply disabled severely sens impaired students the MSI is going to be frozen I'm worried my students in their excellence in a education will no longer be occurring I am sure you are aware my students require a highly specialized education program involves extensive modifications that is functional under the category of multiple disabilties ities MD SSI my students require a specialized access to make progress in their educational curriculum program all my students IEP state that they are to receive specialized education from a teacher who is certified and qualified to work with students who are in the mdss program I ask that you do not just Place someone without the MD SSI experience and developing A specialized program it will be a detrimental to my students and their program and their excellence in education they will not succeed I wish that my students education not suffer by being given their instruction by a non-qualified individual um so I'm asking that you the board to reconsider freezing my position and to open it up also so my students can achieve their full potential in their Excellence of Education I know there are tough decisions to be made I know I only ask that you please honestly listen to the ideas that are being presented to you guys today and to be willing to take them seriously and to consider them when making your decision thank you thank you next I have Karina Lee hello Bard uh thank you for being here and allowing us to speak today my name is cran Lee I am one of the teachers at asdb campus and this will be my 17th year teaching um I hold a general education certification cross categorical special education CT as well as a teacher of the visually impaired certification in addition to those I hope the national board certification and special education was a rathon teacher of the year finalist and the Southern Arizona Association for the education of young children n and Brandon teaching award recipient tonight you will be voting to offer myself and colleagues a contract for the next year that contract will not reflect any of the additional certifications or Awards or the additional professional development hours that I have sought in order to be a better teacher to earn those recogn recognitions While most districts provide additional siphons for national board survi teaching asdb does not and my contract will not reflect that it has never reflected that and up until this year I was okay with that because I felt that asb's strategic plan aligned with my view that we should provide high quality special education to students in in our most vulnerable population I felt supported by Administration and colleagues I was proud to work at ASB and I had thought I had found my work home sorry last Friday I applied to work for another District in Tucson the entire budget budgetary process has me questioned CB's mission statement and strategic plan the lack of transparency and communication have not given me enough information about what extra expectations and duties will be placed on me if I sign that contract and I do not know if I can fulfill my duties to the best of my students needs when we hear about budget cuts the majority of them are affecting staff who are direct with students these Cuts include no step increases limiting fi trips no subay for covering colleagues classes and no stiens for going above and beyond as a leader on campus in addition we do not know if we will be able to fill any positions that are vacant my cooworker and I have repeatedly said that we are at our limit to add that we will be expected to take on additional respons responsibilities next year without clear guidance on what those will be or how the administration will support us the spirit of determination of determined optimism as leaders have stated does not include input from us the teachers who will have to find the supposed Spirit the contracts being offered to us at this time represent a future exploitation of teachers comp compassion for for our students I ask that you meet with teachers and direct service providers to come up with an equitable solution in regards to the budget crisis to get a plan that will allow ASB to be successful without losing highly qualified staff thank you thank you I appreciate everybody's comments tonight and before moving on to the next agenda item I I do want you to hear that this is not something we take lightly um All State agencies are being asked to reduce travel reduce professional development freeze positions that are open look at position descriptions and see where we can um downsize in in the light of the budget cuts that asdb has already been told that they have to make we are ALS also at the state being asked to do an additional 2% per year um on All State budgets as far as any kind of spending goes so I don't want to say that what you are saying is not important but I do want you to please bring some of these ideas forward to your leadership team um emails I'm sure will be accepted by not only the executive team but as well as your direct supervisors and managers um a lot of those things come directly to us a lot of those things Anette and I speak about on at least a monthly basis um so please feel free to reach out and and bring that information any ideas that you might have up the line um the finance committee all of that information is public um it is on the board docs page I believe it's on the ASB page um as well and you can see what we talk about at those meetings you can see where the bottom line is as far as that money goes um so I would encourage you all to take a look at it and reach out with questions thank you again for your comments tonight moving on to 1.3 superintendent the superintendent report superintendent reikan good afternoon board president kifil members of the board interim assistant superintendent katov assistant superintendent Cooper and asdb Community I'm very happy to see you all here with us this afternoon and I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and ideas as well as your feelings about what is currently happening at ASB we do not make these type of decisions lightly thank you board president kifo for sharing that with the community as well that these types of discussions are ongoing at the agency level at the board level and none of us want to have to make these types of difficult decisions but we have to move forward one of the things that I'd like to discuss is the qualities of a leader we have here this afternoon our asdb leadership and their contracts are being brought to the board for approval we have a list of Leaders with the intent to offer contract for the next school year I do not recommend that you offer contracts to these leaders unless they have these specific leadership qualities so this afternoon I want to talk about three leadership qualities that these leaders do have agility and that agility means that any time a situation arises they are able to quickly adapt and respond to those situations they are able to make decisions on the ground provide leadership to the teachers and professional staff St and other members of Staff these leaders are good stewards of asb's resources sometimes when we become leaders we may think that we have a right to take what we want that we can use asb's resources for our own gain instead these leaders are good stewards they are not taking asdb staff resources or money for own their own personal gain they are here for the express purpose of providing the best education and supports to our students that they can and I just heard from staff and teachers that they have the same intent the same goal and the same mission they are here to provide the best education possible to our students we are all in alignment with that the third leadership quality that they exhibit is courage We As Leaders must have courage in order to confront difficult situations and challenges that we face and sometimes we have to make decisions that are not easy that are not popular and that others disagree with but we have the leaders here who have the courage necessary to make those decisions and to move forward with those decisions and those decisions again are based with the intent of our agency which is to provide the best educational support that we can to our students so I submit to you that we um look at at the contracts offered to these leaders for next year and that you the board approve these contracts for all of the leaders that are listed on the agenda we need them we also need our qualified teachers professional staff and support staff of course we need them as well our students need them but with that we do have to figure out what our resources are we have to look at the external environment and all of you are aware that our environment is is dynamic it is changing rapidly it is changing in ways that we never could have imagined three or six months ago for us here at asdb one change that is happening more quickly than I anticipated is the enrollment numbers of our students I knew that that was tied to the birth rate the first time I heard that discussed was two years ago someone asked me about the decline and birth rate and whether that may potentially impact ASB and my response two years ago was well maybe in five or so years down the road but I didn't anticipate it impacting us very soon however we are already seeing that impact with our enrollment numbers not just on our Campus based programs but in our itinerate services as well the number of students that we are serving and supporting in the itinerant Services model continues to decline the connection to the birth rate with our student enrollment and our new and and continuing students means that we have fewer students with which means we have less Revenue with less Revenue that means that we have to make some changes we have to look at the external environment and figure out what that means for us we have to be good stewards of our resources and figure out how to achieve long-term sustainability now we do not currently have that last year we closed the fiscal year with negative $1.8 million this year we are projecting a deficit of $2.3 million if we do that again next year we are going to run out of money literally run out of money we will not be able to meet payroll and if you've been reading the news that is happening in one school District in Phoenix right now they ran out of money they could not cover the payroll for their staff as good stewards of State resources I do not want that to happen to us I want to keep our commitment to paying all of our staff every two weeks we do that by looking at the resources that we have and figuring out how to cut our spending and cut our costs some of those cuts are not easy to make we started with travel with professional development with your typical areas where you would First Look to attempt to reduce cost stop buying certain equipment and those types of things some repairs um can be deferred other types of um methodology to try to cover costs right now in terms of reduction are um happening however what we're left with now are staff staff are 80% of agency budget we have to look at that we have to look at the numbers of students that we have and then we have to try to align our student numbers with our teacher and staff numbers last month we had a meeting with the two principles and the directors during those meetings we talked about their students we talked about their teachers and their support staff we talked about scheduling for the fall and how we can move things around in order to reduce costs in some way way in order to reduce the number of teachers that we need in order to align with the needs of our students and the numbers of students in classrooms we had productive conversations those conversations were productive so much so that we decided to do them again next year in about January or February we're going to have these conversations every year get those groups together to talk about our student numbers and our student needs look at our staffing and our teachers and who we are able to place in order to meet the scheduling needs that also align with our financial resources and try to pull everything into alignment we will bring those groups in to make those decisions annually again none of this is easy two weeks ago I I finally made the call that next year we cannot provide increased pay we do not have the money to cover that cost without that money to add cost in that manner is not feasible we have to balance our budget first with a balanced budget we may be able to become a bit more flexible but for the next year at least we are not able to offer pay increases and just to let you know your leaders were part of that conversation and it's been an ongoing discussion for the last three months when it was time to make that decision they didn't make that call I made that call I did not make that decision lightly and it was not easy my job is to look at the agency and the agency's long-term sustainability that is my goal I want asdb to be standing strong 10 years years 20 years 30 years down the road so what we need to do now to make that happen is have make these hard decisions so if that means right now we have to make difficult decisions then that is what we will do I will close with taking any questions from the board thank you doesn't seem like we have any questions so I will move on to 1.4 assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction report interim assistant superintendent or catch off excuse me good afternoon board president kifil members of the board superintendent rikman assistant superintendent Cooper and the asdb community you all have my board report and I look forward to any questions um in anticipation of a long board meeting as well as the rainy and windy weather outside for those traveling I do want to keep this brief as superintendent rikeman mentioned over the last two months we have met with leaders of the Early Learning Program itinerate services and the two campuses to dis to discuss the student count their IEPs the staff needed for next year and where we could potentially tighten things up to find cost savings I do want to thank all of them for advocating for their programs during these discussions while also being professional uh during these tough conversations it's easy during these times of the budget cut to forget that we do have amazing things currently happening at asdb for example the Arizona Department of education's comprehensive literacy State development Grant specialist toward our three toward three preschool classrooms this grant specialist was able to observe the foundations for literacy instruction in three different settings and they were incredibly happy about seeing how it's working in our programs at pdsd our Robo Runners robotics team won big at the state championship coming in fourth place out of 47 teams they also won the judges award which recognized their outstanding effort and exceptional presence throughout the tournament in the skills competition the robo Runners ranked third with a combination score of 212 points and was one of only three teams to score over 100 points in both the driving and programming portions of the robotics they're now off to the world championship in Dallas this may at our Tucson campus they're in their first year of implementation for positive behavior interventions and support also known as PBIS based on an assessment of their initial implementation the Arizona Department of Education found that the Tucson campus has a 93% implementation rate uh which is absolutely outstanding lastly I want to brag a little bit about the collaboration between Jason Lily and Scott maton in creating the first annual asdb transition fair at the Tucson campus the Phoenix campus and virtually for the rest of the State of Arizona this happened February 10th 11th and 12th they're able to pull together a vendor list that included acdhh VR ASU U OFA galet RIT Camp abilities Four Corners Camp abilities Tucson direct advocacy and Resource Center of Arizona foundation for blind blind children and Savvy this event or these three events I should say uh we're able to provide high school students from the campuses our itinerant programs um and clear across the state to come together and learn about supports and services that are unique to their needs here in Arizona as we navigate this budget um at times it feels very frustrating and at times very defeating but as I just showcased from the achievements above due to our leaders and our amazing teachers we are doing great things and we cannot forget to continue focusing and supporting these achievements uh in conclusion I'll quote Maya Angelou uh she stated that you might not be control in control of all the events that happened to you but you can decide not to be reduced by them and I think that's very fitting for where we are right now as an agency thank you any questions okay all right moving on to item 1.5 information item assistant superintendent of agency operations and support services assistant superintendent Shaina Cooper good evening board president kifil superintendent rikman acting assistant superintendent catcho members of the board ASB community and staff members as the final stretch of the school and fiscal year is fastly approaching the operations and support services team has been very busy supporting each of the educational programs with planning their needs for the end of the school year the team also continues to work on completing other various projects such as planning and scheduling building renewal projects for the summer and that's totally about $2.4 million they've been planning and preparing for Emergency Operations rotating the agency's fleet to ensure utilization and overall health of our vehicles we've also been continuing with monitoring the agency's projected current budget year shortfall developing plans for the New Year budget analyzing student count Trends identifying student staffing need needs we're also looking at strategizing new Recruitment and Retention efforts and reviewing staff member certifications and professional development plans in addition to the end of the year and New Year planning the 24mon followup of the September 2022 performance audit and sunset review was just completed and now we are all gearing up for the upcoming performance forensic and sunset audits where our operations management finances academic performance and student outcomes will be scrutinized with that said at this time I would like to go ahead and share some updates on where we have been addressing the budget challenges like practically every school across the state the nation is currently facing and as board president kif has already mentioned around this time last year the state governor's office instituted a Statewide head count cab and they provided compensation Administration measures due to the state's projected 1.2 billion doll deficit superintendent rikan just mentioned for ASB we ended last year with a 1.8 million shortfall and in order to balance our budget this year based on year Pro ections we must reduce our expenditures by about $2.3 million because of some of the revenue losses and as we Face a second year of a potential budget shortfall we have continued with most of the same measures last year that the state implemented and because our budget this year was reduced by the state and because we continue to see student counts decline this is concerning because the revenue from our institutional vouchers fee for services prop 301 funds are directly tied to our students and their attendance and unlike other schools students are either placed at our site-based campuses or receive Services through our early learning and itinerant programs based on the referral and IEP determination processes with that said ASB doesn't Market our schools to our parents and students and we're not able to increase our student counts like other schools have the ability to we can however ensure our families and the community understand what services and programs we provide and what quality those services are it is important to reiterate that our siteb campuses operate as schools and we do not receive the same funding since ascb falls under the state funded agency umbrella were subject to what the state decides to allocate to use based on available funding and in addition to that as a reminder special education in Arizona for students with disabilities continues to be underfunded and so what that means for the students that we serve we fall short and are having to fill the Gap with other measures we're having to use legislative General fund Appropriations Federal and private grants donations and cash reserves from prior year non-restricted fund balances and I have expressed concerns about ongoing use of the cash reserves and our fund balances to help balance the budget we are finding efficient ways to try and reallocate our resources however we must continue reviewing our require ired programs services and Staffing to align them with our current student counts and based on what we're projecting and for an agency as a reminder our payroll is our staff that does make up 70 to 80% of our budget and as already mentioned we have been meeting with the educational leadership teams collectively to review their Staffing levels and that is because at this time the principles and directors are planning for the next school year and identifying ways to how they can align with their projected student counts and realistically because contracts are presented to the board annually in March budget kits as already mentioned either reduce the efficacy of Staff or reduce the availability for the resources for our students keeping in mind our goal though is to ensure we're focusing on our core educational objectives and the goals for the students IEPs so realistically that does mean some class sizes May grow elective courses and extracurricular activities could be impacted and may be impacted as we've already talked about and that does mean staff if necessary may be reassigned to other roles that match their qualifications and we've already heard today that does have an impact on our staff and their future and in full transparency while that may be our goal the reality is that those cost-saving measures are initially being felt by them and along those same lines there has been a lot of scuttlebutt assumptions made that we're only focusing on the educational positions but that is not the case we are reviewing agency Administration positions our Educational Consultants operational and support services staff and in order to be able to do that effectively we are reviewing each department individually across the agency and that will mean departments will see budget reductions and will operate with fewer staff and we're hopeful we'll be able to eliminate the need to further reduce Staffing levels through an attrition model of when staff resign or retire their positions will not be approved to be backfilled unless the IEPs the positions are IEP driven or will reduce the need to continue with contractual Services due to Staffing shortages with our drivers with teachers and nurses or they are needed for the continuity of the agency's operations and since 2018 as already mentioned we have already provided staff yearly ongoing salary increases that has totaled over $10.8 million and unfortunately when it comes to reviewing our staff levels we are unable to commit at this time another year of pay increases this is the first time since I've been with ascb that we've actually had to share that news and as we work on forecasting and projecting through the future at this time next year for fiscal year 2027 I am hopeful we will be able to continue to provide staff increases as appropriate however that does mean doing more with less to the extent possible in addition to reviewing our staffing levels we are actively seeking ways to reallocate our resources streamline operations and find new funding sources so we're just not looking at Staffing and unfortunately as we're all aware there is a lot of uncertainty at the state level and at the federal level and for some of us who do enjoy watching basketball March is a time for madness and with luck I hope at this time we're going to be able to address the angst the concerns that all of us have we are all facing I know staff get frustrated we're not able to answer any of the immediate questions however at any time during a normal budget projection process there is a lot of unknowns we are having to adapt to change and so if we're not doing what we're doing now it's going to be even harder in the future and as already mentioned nobody wants to talk about budget cuts nobody wants to talk about student enrollment numbers declining but that is the reality and we are being forced to have to make decisions but that means we need to continue to do that together and I know there continue to be challenges with communicating information but that is a collaborative effort it's not just the leadership we are relying on the input that we're receiving from stakeholders we are trying to make data driven decisions and again this is difficult conversations we're having um and so in order to be able to do that that does mean as superintendent rikeman mentioned making tough decisions regarding our programs services and Staffing and I do want to thank everyone for their ongoing input feedback and support and I hope that our students and staff are able to take this time during their spring break to be able to recharge and reflect on the work that they have put in so far and come back refresh to close out the year although I know it will be challenging um so at this time I do end my report and I'm open to any comments or questions that anyone may have yes um hello have I heard hello president hello is that you Earl you can go ahead yes yes hello yes Linda it's Linda speaking right now hi Lind can I go ahead sure yes hello I am here and I just want to let you know that I've been watching the meeting through video Relay can you make sure everyone brings their volume up because The Interpreter can barely here and has been struggling to hear for the last little while so when somebody speaks can they elevate their voice please thank you for the reminder Linda Earl did you have a comment no I'm good thank you okay go ahead Mike Shaina um you said the projection is about 24 for this year's deficit correct um that's about 200,000 a month and does that uh how much is each payroll each payroll is roughly about $1.8 million if I'm not mistaken on a bi-weekly I'm sorry I can't hear got to get it closer sha I I will try to speak up latter is that good enough yes I can hear you now so so we payroll is about 1.8 million and that includes benefits and retirement and that's a complete okay so that's pretty steep um in the private sector when you have repeated years of deficit uh quite often your auditor will write a letter of lack of confidence uh so it's perious when an agency or a business uh continues to have um negative income as far as their expenses so when you this isn't really a question as much as a kind of a statement about what's happening kind of systemically um that a lot of businesses agencies schools are in this position where they are trying to work within a deficit and it's not just a matter of what you can and can't fund for that year is a certain level of survival that is is really being addressed because if you do have a repeat showing of of negative deficits and that would come to your funders that information is sent to all your funders all your supporters that there is a lack of confidence in the in the uh solvency of the agency or school or institution so when it comes to difficult decisions it's not just a matter of what can you or can't you cut it's a matter of trying to determine how you're going to have Sur survive and when you have a 1.8 million payroll every other week that's a lot of cash that has to be covered regularly and in some months three times so in two months each year so it's these aren't just issues about what are we going to try to do and not do these are really hard and deep decisions that are being made is how can this money be made or oberved and applied to to an agency or business's survival because if you do have a lack of confidence uh uh decree against you it's basically you're basically done and I know it might be a little different with tax dollars but at the same time there still is a bottom line it has to be observed in that way yes okay that's accurate thank you sha I do I have a couple of questions um this is Suk oh I do yes um this is Katie but I'll I'll go after you so I I'm making an assumption here but I'm asking for you to confirm it the fee for service and the vouchers that we receive for a student is that covering the total student cost no it is not the budget packages that you've asked for this year for this the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year were any of those funded by the legislature no they were not and those included coverage for the transportation costs that we do not get reimbursement for correct and are we able to do a bond type of thing like school districts do no we are not um and from an FTE percentage wise with the you're saying 75 to 80% is payroll not FTE payroll um is that common for an agency this size yes it is at this point yes okay um and as a rem reminder when back in 2018 we were at Staffing levels above 80% okay so based on attrition um we have been able to reduce where we can um and we continue to do that but yes I can't hear you again who's speaking sha hold on I'm sorry yes okay so I I know having to do the budget for an agency that we are often asked to or there's like a I don't know how to it's not a written rule let's say it that way it's not a written rule but they don't like our ER our Personnel cost to go above 50% of our total overall budget and we're well beyond that at is sdb correct we have been averaging at this time right about 45% of er okay all right thank you that's all I wanted to know does anybody else have questions or comments thank you for that this is board member cinko I'm trying to formulate my question so first of all before I ask my question I want to recognize the teachers and the audience and the amazing work that you do and the amazing work that you do to serve our students I see you I hear you it really bothers me to hear about the budget cuts that are directly impacting our teachers um I mean the I mean if we're talking about budget cuts we can talk about the cost of living that is exponentially increased for all of us but I'm curious as to what other Alternatives have you looked into if we're saying that we are not able to give pay raises what other options have you looked into before that other options that we continue to look at again would be reallocating some of our resources doing some reprogramming we have also identified reductions to a lot of our non-instructional classroom support departments we have reduced professional development we are looking at ways to reduce contractual Services um just trying to think there there's a list um non essential travel nonessential spending uh We've also tried to identify ways to reduce um ongoing commitments that we have made in the past to fund capital projects um computer refresh um so other non uh non-payroll related items and again it's not just payroll we are looking at re-evaluating how we are structurally operating with our services some of our programs that are not directly tied to the classroom as well okay understood and I'm currently in my doctoral program and I'm focused on industry and organizational development and and I understand where you're coming from and that point of view but my biggest concern when we talk about reallocation is when we also talk about hiring freezes or not replacing Frontline teaching staff that is very concerning to me um because like for ex for example our public commenter Dan who has a very special skill set um if we were to not open that position that potentially forces another teacher to teach that position with extra duties extra responsibilities without the experience or level of um experience needed for that classroom then causing burnout of the teachers that we do re retain which directly impacts our students so what are we doing to retain the teachers that we do have I understand that we need to save costs and that we are facing a deficit of 2.4 million but what are we doing to make sure that we keep the teachers that we have let me clarify it's not fair to them that's an accurate statement but let me clarify we have not made decisions to freeze all positions we have determined that if the positions are IEP driven or would reduce contractual Services when it comes to Staffing also if they are to ensure the continuity of business operation s we will make exceptions to fill those positions we are also looking at aligning certified staff our qualified staff to ensure that they have the necessary requirements the credentials for the individual classrooms that they are providing support for we um as I already mentioned we are looking at how we can rest strategize with our Recruitment and Retention efforts understanding that there has been a reduction of staff that we are looking to refill positions for um and so that is an ongoing discussion that we've continued to have over the last several years we have also in the past consulted a contractor to help identified ways on how we can improve that so that is an ongoing discussion and we will be addressing a lot of that in our upcoming steering committee meeting that is scheduled for April 4th okay um and I that then leads me to the question of how much are we paying in Consultants that could have been reallocated to teacher pay are you specifically asking which Consultants are you asking for contractual services or staff that we have identified as Educational Consultants that's a general question all over to consultants if I'm not mistaken for Educational Consultants plus contractual Services I would guesstimate that would be over maybe about $3 million well that $3 million could have gone to our def deficit again please know that I'm not here to try to make your jobs more difficult but rather just to share my perspective and I appreciate that thank you I appreciate you hearing me out um I also would strongly recommend that our leadership team revisit when we talk about replacing significant positions such as Dan position uh he's been here for a very long time and I don't want another teacher to take on that burden and then we lose out on so many great teachers we currently have so if we could revisit and take their cons their thoughts and ideas into consideration sorry I don't mean to monopolize everyone's time I will step down off my Soap Box any other comments or questions all right thank you Shaya moving on to 2.1 consent agenda items approval of the consent agenda items consistent with board policy to include items 3.1 renewal of District agreements 5.1 the burger Performing Arts Center and other rental agreements 6.1 um school year 2025 2026 teacher employment contracts 7.3 policy gcfc 7.4 donations and 7.5 previous meeting minutes I'm open to a I can't even think of the word motion thank you wow this is Gordon I did we hit was that somebody on the phone making a motion yes this is Colette thank you Colette we have a motion do I have a second second thank you Mike um any discussion on consent agenda items all right all those in favor say I I I I do we have everybody on the phone okay thank you motion carries all right moving on to 3.2 action item approval of new District agreements interim assistant superintendent catch off president board members there you go and superintendent rikan we have one looks like new District agreement this is with the pine strawberry Elementary District we'd appreciate being able to to bring them on okay um are there any who was speaking can you please identify who was the gentleman that was speaking I can't see anybody my apologies this is this is Orin so this is an action this is 2K now this is an action item so do I have an motion to approve the new District agreement for Pine strawberry Elementary this is board member Cino I make a motion to approve the proposed agreement for the pine strawberry Elementary School District I have a motion on the floor do I have a second I second thank you CCT all those in favor say I I I I motion carries moving on to 4.1 information item Finance report Kim bitr director good afternoon board president kifo superintendent rikman assistant superintendent Cooper assistant superintendent katoff members of the board and asdb Community you have been provided our most recent board report that covers the financial data for January 2024 and 2025 the data was covered in more detail at our most recent finance committee meeting held on Thursday March 6th with board president kifil and board member Gordon also in attendance were superintendent rikman and assistant superintendent Cooper the total student count provided in the board report for February 1st 2025 shows 1, 194 students compared to 2,178 students as of July 1st 2023 total decrease of 274 students When comparing the February 1st 2025 student count to January 1st 2025 of 1932 there's a decrease of 28 students the Tucson campus decreased by one and pdsd remain the same preschool has increased by five students all at FBC foundation for blind children birth to three decreased by 10 and the regions have decreased by 22 as of February 1st we had 8 full-time equivalent staff which includes 8.5 full-time equivalent staff at foundation for blind children at that time we employed 700 and 13 staff there were 47 posted vacancies across the agency which includes 15 teachers and 10 drivers the positions that are open are required by student student IEPs those needed to reduce contracted staff and to maintain continuity of operations the highlights of the January 2025 Financial board shows the total revenue of 30.1 million was a 1.8 million higher than the January 2024 revenue of 28.3 million the major difference is the decrease in the general fund spend year-to date offset by an increase in the voucher Revenue the classroom site fund Revenue fee for service revenue and state grants vouchering students and invoicing districts for services has occurred earlier this year as compared to last year the state Grant revenue is from esen extraordinary special education needs grants for students with high cost from the Department of Education the budget fiscal year 2024 for obligated expenses of 38.9 million were 1.2 million less than budget fiscal year 2025 obligated expenses of 40.1 million the increases are in payroll and employer related expenditures of 3.1 million this is partially due to salary increases given to staff as well as step increases for teachers and related services staff to match their years of service this is offset by a decrease in all expenditure categories travel and Equipment are decreased as part of budget cuts food service is down as a result of few fewer students we are expending more non-appropriated funds this year specifically the classroom site fund and the Medicaid reimbursement funds to the extent allowable the financial statements for December of 2024 and 2023 show our fund balance bance is 41,000 higher as of December 31st 2024 than it was on December 31st of 2023 this concludes my report of the agency's financial status and I'm available to answer any questions on the information presented thank you any questions anybody on the phone with questions thank you Ken thank you moving on to item number 7.1 information item ud's person report Donna Williams Esquire we have her on the phone is Donna here or on the phone okay then we are going to move on we will table 71 and we will move on to 7.2 discussion and action item urgent approval of revised policies Maria Murphy director of policy and government relations good afternoon board president members of the board superintendent rikman assistant superintendant and staff and members of the community for the record my name is Maria Murphy director of policy and government relations you have before you the policies AC through Ked for revision um I have requested an urgent adoption for these policies and you may have noticed that there's a lot of them the reason that we uh that there are so many of them and that we're asking for an urgent adoption is because we now have the online complaint portal and these are all of the complaint grievance policies which have paper forms attached to them so what we are trying to do now is take down all of the paper forms and root everybody to um the online portal so it's basically just we we want to reduce duplication and it doesn't make sense to to keep the forms online any longer than they need to be and with that um I'm open for questions any questions for Maria otherwise I will entertain a motion for approval of the revised policies as stated in the agenda this is Colette yes um so move thank you Colette I have a motion do I have a second I'll second thank you Mike all those in favor say I I I'll second okay I think I heard five eyes okay there we go um motion carries thank you thank you moving on to I believe we're at 8.1 call to the public for non-agenda items the first one I have is from don't oh the first one I have is from Caron Carmen robas is she present this one was submitted online okay um this one is this one I'm going to it's all it's online so it is public um it's open to the public it is in support of or actually against the redistricting of Transportation radius um so that her son her grandson could participate in asb's um program without having to live on campus moving on to the next one I have um Karen Talis good evening board members superintendent rikan and asdb community members my name is Karen Talis and I currently work here on the ASD ASB TUC sign campus I deliberately separated ASD and ASB because I believe that it is critically important for us to acknowledge the fact that the Tucson campus has two distinct and separate schools with different student needs different languages and different cultures this is an important distinction from our sister school pdsd that only serves one population of students in my 20 plus years of service I can't compete with Dan I have seen the agency face budget crises before when the last one occurred the agency instituted a reduction in force a riff and then that impacted two of my teachers and all staff were directed to take Furlow days as well this time around the agency is considering actions that will directly impact our students one of the first Cuts made as mentioned was limiting sports activities being able to participate fully in sporting activities ities is one reason why many of our students come to ASD ASB our visually impaired students have access to goall g o a l b a l l a VI specific sport but our VI students have also participated in track and field including cross country and even football and basketball these opportunities are not there in their public schools and are a draw for students across the state limiting these activities can have an impact on a future student's willingness to come to ASD ASB as concerning as that issue is there is another one that prompted me to speak tonight this came up during a meeting that I had today we have a shortage of teachers who are qualified to teach visually impaired and deaf heart of hearing students we have classrooms where teachers hold certifications other than VI hi some of our students have VI or hi direct service minutes on their IEPs these Services can only be provided by a certified teacher of the visually impaired or deaf heart of hearing we have temporarily solved this problem by working with an itinerant teacher but she didn't start with us until February however that is not feasible as a long-term solution because our itinerant teachers have full case loads and full schedules when I was asked what the plan was for next year I had to answer honestly that there is no plan right there are eight certified VI teachers on the TUC sign campus and we have two more teachers who are almost certified they're finishing up their programs one of those or of those eights of those eight one is an assistant principal me one is our IEP coordinator and one is employed in our low vision office another VI teacher that we have is our technology teacher serving K through 12 her schedule is full we have a certified orientation and Mobility specialist who is also certified as a teacher the visually impaired but we are currently short an onm specialist on campus and have been for over a year so we cannot ask him to provide those itinerant VI services that are needed all of the other teachers of the visually impaired are all classroom teachers and they don't have the extra time in the day to provide Direct Services to students in classrooms that don't have certified tvis we were assured that cuts would not be made if they impacted students IEP services or were otherwise legally required however there has been an almost total hiring freeze and we are not able to hire any new teachers to help us provide those legally required Direct Services to students additionally ASB High school has lost a social studies teacher and we have been asked to divide those classes amongst our remaining teachers rather than hire a teacher certified to teach social studies I am concerned that with the budget cuts and the hiring frees we are becoming more and more like a charter school as we know the State of Arizona does not require charter schools to follow the same certification standards as public schools if we cannot provide our students with certified teachers or opportunities to participate in activities they couldn't in their Public Schools then why would they come here I respectfully ask that before any final decisions are made regarding open positions that consideration be given to the impact this will have not only on the agency's ability to provide mandated services but also our students needs to have their instruction provided by a certified and qualified teacher thank you thank [Applause] you oh Donna are you there I am can you hear me I can I'm going to hold on the rest of the public comments and go back to the ombudsman's report and then we'll come back to these Donna the floor is yours thank you so much so there's a little bit of a delay so bear with me because what I see on the screen is actually not what's happening there so I'm going to do my best to get through the written uh report that I submitted and hopefully you all there in person are looking at the PowerPoint presentation so good evening board president t i superintendent reichman assistant superintendent Cooper interim assistant superintendent teof and members of the board and the ASB Community I am ASB UT person Donna Williams in this evening I am presenting the office of the ambut person semiannual report covering the period July 2024 till December 2024 so since July 2022 I've been working to facilitate positive relationship among asbb staff students and the public by collaborating with staff and the community to ensure Fair process that equitably and reasonably resolves concerns Reed from staff students parents and community members and in furtherance of these goals I've engaged in activities ranging from providing information to conducting mediations and training I'll talk more about the engagement and the various types of matters later in this report but overall the feedback that has been received thus far continues to be um that folks are satisfied with the assistance that they receive from the unut person and so I'm grateful for that um as we um Advance the slid and look at the aggregate user data um I want to reiterate that users can access the services of the umus person by submitting an electronic request for form by sending an email or calling on the phone um there's an agency phone assigned to the UT person as well as a Google phone that is assigned for public use and that number is on the website the request form Remains the most effective means of contact as it does capture the user's name their title contact information and then the details that they share about their concerns um once that form is submitted I'm alerted by email um and then can respond accordingly I will say that over time fewer and fewer users have utilized the request form processed most reach out via phone or email and await a direct reply from me um the direct um Bud person and the Donna Williams email accounts were used for this purpose uh generally speaking repeat users of services tend not to fill out the form more than once unless directed by me to do so so as we dig into the reporting period um from July 2024 to December 2024 approximately 15 users contact with the UST person 15 different users two users reached out using the request form and the remaining users either contct contacted me via email or phone uh many of the users engaged Services throughout the reporting period multiple times during um that period And I would say all the three of the users were internal to the agency some of the reasons for the contact included formal complaints informal complaints as well as interpersonal conflict some procedural concerns as well as policy concerns in most instances the matter was resolved with a subsequent email reply or other matters required a meeting or required involvement of third parties to fully resolve the matter most of the email users were information Seekers asking who what when where why how questions and really once a user's questions are researched and answered or the user is directed to the appropriate resource for the answer the matter is considered closed addressing user concerns via email appears to be the preferred method of communicating um with the um person's office a few matters appear to be ongoing in that they are um more complicated and require more people um for complete resolution my role in those ongoing matters is to really continue being a resource um and help the parties guide through um productive dialogue um on resolutions during the reporting period the Inus person engaged also in Special Projects participated in planning sessions for the newly developed online complaint filing system so beginning last May I met with the planning committee to ensure that the new automated system was tailored to meet the needs of the agency the planning meetings ended in July and the automated complaint filing system went live on August 16th 2024 with the start of the new school year the online complaint and grievances portal is accessible to staff students and the public through the ASB web website under the board board resources tabs and it's really too soon to tell what if any impact the automated system will have on the volume of users for umbus person Services um I also conducted training during the reporting period on September 13 2024 during the steering committee meeting I conducted training on winning with crucial conversations this training was designed to equi the leadership team with the skill necessary to engage in critical and highs convers ation with their teams the trainings offered tips and also gave participants a chance to practice their skills using roleplay scenarios the training was designed to help participants build upon the skills necessary to engage in upcoming conversations about the budget and other sensitive matters the winning with crucial conversations training was repeated on October 28th 2024 for the larger education executive team meeting the training was received by both groups in October I met with the group of ELP teaching professionals on the Spix campus to offer professional development around their chosen topic of effective communication and ways to improve your Effectiveness this training um included tips and strategies for active listening for interpreting verbal and nonverbal communication for reading the room and for delivering bad news these strategies will help them better navigate the conversations they are having with parents of students that they teach there's additional training plan for the first half of 2025 which will be discussed in the next semiannual report um in conclusion um the I am I logged in approximately 165 hours during this recording period addressing user needs and condu in training during the same reporting period in 2023 the hours log were 155 so still kind of in the ballpark of what has been typical the general volume and tener of work remains consistent and continues to be suitable for one umbus person serving in a part-time capacity the most prevalent concern shared by users has shifted from interpersonal conflict to um informal complaints which were often rooted in concerns uh regarding decision making or changes in policy or practice as the agency continues to navigate the current fiscal challenges the staff will need opportunities to share their concerns as well as their insights on how the agency can address these challenges effectively and sensibly the next report from this office will cover the reporting period of January 2025 through June 2025 that concludes my report I'm happy to answer any questions thank you any questions from the board anyone on the phone with questions hearing none thank you Donna re going back thank you very much going back to 8.1 the next um request to address the board is from Karen Feldman it's only one page hopefully it'll be quick um good afternoon members of the board leadership team um I just wanted to bring to your uh attention some concerns regarding proposed uh money-saving solutions to the de to the deficit we've been talking about this and a lot of this has already been discussed um we know that there's a teacher shortage across the country and certainly asdb has felt the impacts of the shortage as a supervising teacher in Region 3 I can tell you that hiring for Teacher positions in rural areas is beyond difficult sometimes we're lucky to find people in rural communities who have teaching experience and on top of that special ed experience and are willing to go back to obtain additional degrees in either VI or hi one proposal the administration is making is to not Grant great advancements to those people who have been working to complete Master's programs to obtain the certification required for their job that they've willingly said that they would do for this agency what's to stop those people from leaving the agency and working for an agency or a district that will value their time and their expertise leaving us in the Lurch to find some providers to for services to students I supervise one teacher who's been two years in a program she she's about to come to the end of her master's program and we now have to have a conversation and let her know that she will not be getting a great advancement un I've heard everything that you said and I understand it and my concern is is that this teacher will not feel valued um as a member of this agency um One cost savings area that I know has come up this evening has been to no longer um employ Educational Consultants who don't provide Direct Services to students the leadership my understanding is not interested in this suggestion and it's curious to me that services to students AR in't a priority at the last steering committee meeting several people in attendance suggested the superintendent hold T Hall Town Hall meetings with staff for open communication regarding the budget while the superintendent is communicating with staff on a weekly basis via email the communication is one way when staff are in steering committee meetings and they've asked questions they're told this isn't the appropriate time or place and are later then spoken to about their voicing concerns during sering committee meetings I could go on and my time is limited I appreciate your time today also know that um as a side note personally I'm terrified to be speaking in front of you for Retribution about either I'm going to be disciplined for speaking to the board as your employee and stakeholder or my director is going to be directed to do some disciplinary challenge against me so I just need you to understand that I and I don't think I'm alone I suspect that there are several other people who feel the same way so all of this is leading to a morale issue as well thank you thank you I appreciate your comments I I also have Tina Feldman hello I do want to clarify how many minutes do I have five for five minutes thank you so much to keep it brief I will just say hello and good evening to our administrators and to our board members and to our community and stakeholders who are here in our audience today and for those of you who are watching online my name is Tina Feldman and and I am a stakeholder times two my daughter was a former student here at asdb she graduated from here at 18 in 2022 asb's education was superb and was the best placement for her she had outstanding teachers who had experience appropriate qualifications and certifications for her her and her cohort of students the second part of my stakeholder is that I've been an employee here since 2001 and I've been in almost every part of this agency from birth all the way up to high school instruction including itinerate experience I have been here and I have seen a lot but speaking as a teacher is not what I'm here to do tonight I'm speaking as a parent of a child who has special needs who is deaf among other things there's a growing feeling of disenfranchisement of feeling completely put off and disenfranchised amongst the staff families who are working here and represented in this agency we've heard a lot about the deficit of 2.3 million and we understand that there's a shortfall but all of these discussions and potential actions are being taken without stakeholder input we don't have a seat at the table it's already been mentioned that the suggestion was brought to the table of having Town Hall meetings and yet that has not happened not even a town hall or open dialogue for staff or teachers let alone one for parents and family members of children who are being served by asdb within the community they are being Direct ly imp impacted by the decisions that are being made as a mother I'm furious about the idea that our families do not have an opportunity to reach out to be heard within this process that the agency is undergoing or how to manage this shortfall how is it that we are planning to be solvent as an agency while we are still managing to instruct and deliver appropriate education to our students we talk about growing classroom sizes which potentially then means that my child who is deaf plus who potentially has learning disabilities or cognitive issues related to working memory may have less one-on-one time with her teacher because there are several other students in the classroom that has a direct impact on their education or potentially another situation where we have a child who is deaf and has additional disabilities they may actually need a one-on-one Aid or a pair of professional in a class that large they come to us for a reason because we have a small classroom and student teacher ratio that's one of the reasons our students are placed here I've been one of those kids and I represent a parent of a child like that who needs to come here for that specific reason we H I have a unique lens as a parent and as a teacher but we need to have a serious conversation about the lack of dialogue the lack of transparency communication has been single-sided one way there's been no back and forth with the superintendent or the board I would invite you to set up a town hall for parents to be able to ask questions and have open discussions and a back and forth dialogue to summarize all I'll quote Shirley Chisum I'll paraphrase her if you don't give us a seat at the table we'll bring our folding chairs thank you for your time thank you moving on to 8.2 discussion and possible action item possible work study session date in June um topic would be the 2.0 for the Strategic plan yes this is Superintendent rikman at the last work study session which was February 13th the board spent about two and a half hours listening to presentations and having discussion about the the agency's budget and you were unable to finish at that time so you asked to continue that session so the next work study session is scheduled for April 10th and that will be a continuation uh and the presentation and discussions regarding agency budget so I am asking for the board to then add a third work study session in June and that session would focus on the Strategic plan 2.0 so I am suggesting perhaps June 12th I think that's the second Thursday in June this is board memb Ino I need to double check just trying to make sure there's not a um conflict with the acdhh board they tend to meet on Thursdays as well so I just want to make sure that there's not a conflict with the standing board meeting I think we should be okay I think our meeting is in May so we should be okay for June let me double check but so um do you do you need us to vote on that or do you need us just to go ahead and say schedule it this is superintendent rikan I don't believe we need a vote for that um if you are able to commit to come on June 12th for that work study session let's plan that then okay thank you all right moving on to 8.3 discussion item um agenda items for the next regular board meeting which is May 8th in in Phoenix is there anything that the board would like to see added to the next agenda we're good you can always contact myself or um superintendent rikman to add anything prior to that meeting um if no if nothing else comes up here um the next is 9.1 action item adjournment do I have a motion there's I Lynn's not on the phone today so somebody has to take her role I will I will motion to adjourn this is Linda motion to ad the meeting thank you Linda I have a motion do I have a second second seconded this is board member CCO all those in favor say I I I motion carries the meeting is the meeting's adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
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e e e okay we're going to be getting started here in just a second ready okay I'd like to call this meeting to order Gloria can we get a roll call please miss marronis present Mr Alexander here miss Raymond pres Mr Holt and Mr Carlson or abson thank you can I please uh get a motion to adopt the agenda it's just the one where you the agenda as presented I move to adopt the agenda as presented M ramond second all those in favor I I can we all stand and do the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated recognitions and presentations Dr okay at our last board meeting during the superintendent comments I got to brag on these two outstanding teachers a little bit tonight I'm going to bring them to you in person so can I have Elliot Beck and Teresa antifer meet me up front [Applause] please okay so this is a fun one so tonight we get to recognize and congratulate both Teresa antier Mirana high school English teacher and Elliot Beck uh Beck Mountain viiew High School algebra teacher as U OFA amazing teacher of the year finalists they were selected by a committee of Educators and community members to represent southern Arizona schools we will Begin by recognizing Teresa uh Caitlyn Coffman principal of mirand high school says Teresa is more than just an exceptional educator she is a pillar of our school Community a source of inspiration for her students and a transformative leader for her colleagues in her role as a department chair and collaborative team lead Teresa has been instrumental in providing curriculum and instructional support to her Department under her guidance her Department was the first at MHS to voluntarily observe one another's teaching practices a remarkable initiative that was that has enriched professional growth and instructional strategies her Innovation extends to her students at the end of the first quarter 100% of her students were passing so 100% pass rate first quarter this is achieved through clear expectations proactive parent communication regular check-ins with students reteaching of challenging Concepts modeling differentiated instruction and following up on missing assignments by the end of a unit students can articulate their progress and identify supplemental resources to expand their learning in addition to teaching English Teresa offers time management tips breathing strategies and language frames for setting boundaries and inspirational videos during mindful Monday Bell workor she ensures students are taught about learning styles and how to self- Advocate Teresa's dedication to the school Community goes beyond her classroom as the sponsor of the area Club a club focused on inclusion and creator of the club Council she has cultivated a BRI a vibrant extracurricular environment twice a year Teresa brings over 50 clubs ensuring that students are aware of the many opportunities that are available to them this initiative has significantly enriched Student Life on campus Teresa's Devotion to her students superb character traits and highly effective leadership established her as an amazing finalist for this award congratulations hang on to this and don't go anywhere we are now pleased to recognize Mr Beck Elliot is more than just an amazing teacher he is a catalyst for change a leader among his peers and a mentor to all who seek to grow says principal deia mcra what truly distinguishes Elliot is his extensive knowledge of highlevel math combined with his dedication to working with freshmen in algebra he meets students where they are and brings out their best from those struggling with the basics to those ready to take on Advanced topics in his role as algebra 1 collaborative team lead he facilitates meaningful discussions about teaching practices and assessment strategies ensuring that all students receive the highest quality math education during his time as the dual enrollment college algebra college algebra teacher over the past two years student enrollment has increased by 89% and 100% of students who took Mr Beck's class received their college credit at the end of their second semester that's worth a round of applause Juniors from his class average Five Points higher on their act and math than their Mountain View peers last year and four and a half points higher than Juniors across the State of Arizona ot's classroom is a dynamic and inspiring place where students actively engage in learning his approach to teaching mathematics invites students to move around the classroom collaborate with different peers daily and Tackle challenging problems together this non-traditional environment has energized even the most reluctant Learners there's a couple of us that have done building thinking classrooms Mr Beck yes Elliott's Innovative Spirit commitment to Excellence and Relentless pursuit of Better Learning experiences for students make him an outstanding Choice as a u OFA amazing teacher of the year finalist Elliot was also recently awarded the Excellence and resiliency in mathematics teaching early career teachers award at the mathematics education Appreciation Day Conference the awards committee had the privilege of reading over 50 nominations and scoring them on four criteria innovation risk-taking instruction and encouraging colleagues Elliot received a certificate in $200 and a custom award designed and created by the Mirana Unified School District's welding students please help me in congratulating both Elliot and Teresa for their outstanding contribution and we're going to do pictures over here with the board and Ali's going tell stand [Music] all right thank you congratul [Applause] okay gles board Communications um I believe I'm the only one that has something so I'll be really quickly thank you Dr streer and my fellow board members it was a pleasure to attend the strategic planning meeting at quell run a zoom webinar on winning strategies for school bonds and overrides I served on the selection committee for our exceptional student service director position and I recently went to the EST a school visit which was amazing I encourage everyone to support our schools students and staff thank you uh remarks from the public first up [Applause] Patty hi Patty you will have three minutes three minutes my name is Patty julig I am the Kea County chapter chair for Turning Point action moms Coalition the Arizona parents Bill of Rights states that it is a parents right to direct the education of their child it is also the parents right to opt their child out of any learning material or activity that the parent finds harmful to their child this includes material that questions beliefs or practices related to sex morality or religion the mom's Coalition believes that teachers should teach the subjects there hired to teach and keep their opinions out of the classroom Hot Topics being taught to students of Pima County that go against parents values of sex morality or religion we believe is a form of mental power and abusive a man is a man and a woman is a woman 05% of the world's birth have ambiguous genitales so why are we spending taxpayer dollars on teaching this when our children are failing grade level standards I moved to quiet Mirana five years ago from the ridiculous anti-family agenda state of Washington I am involved in my community because for 23 years I live the radical agenda of the Washington State School System I can tell you for a fact parental rights are being taken away in Washington and in beginning to happen here in Arizona as well I can tell you a single personal fact I can't tell you as single personal fact about any teacher I ever had we never had a conversation about religion I didn't know if they liked pep sear Coke or how they voted they taught what they were hired to teach and nothing more in reference to the recent incidences at Rana High School it is not the job of the teacher to teach that there are more than two genders not the job of the teacher to disrespect the president and not the job of the teacher to be sending inappropriate pictures to students it is the job of the teacher to teach the basics and respect each family and student I am proud of the students and parents that have brought this to the attention of their principle parents need to have the right and confidence to speak up so that their parental rights are not taken away also to those parents of the Brave kids that spoke up we have a place for you in the mom's Coalition I am reassured to hear that there has been appropriate discipline taken we want it known that Turning Point action mom's coalition are watching and we are speaking up for what's right in the eyes of parents thank thank [Applause] you next up is Corey [Music] Stevens my name is is Corey Stevens I am the co-chair of Turning Point action moms Coalition and a taxpaying citizen of Puma County while you all may have swiftly and appropri appropriately handled the inexcusable actions of two teaching staff members here at musd it cannot go un address that significant failure to protect our vulnerable and in impressionable children has occurred the prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed until age 25 with a physics teacher veering out of their Lane to try and teach biology it's no wonder that Arizona rikes 50th in education schools have become indoctrination camps teachers have become ideologists propagandists and gaslighters who are trying to steer children into this Dei woke C seal CRT everything has an acronym and hidden agenda you must sub describe or aren't a human Theory school boards have become biased political P playgrounds I encourage CH kids to challenge teachers who try to push their insane ideology I encourage parents to attend all school board meetings and hold the board accountable you do have a choice when it comes to your child's education we are fortunate in here in Arizona to have the parents Bill of Rights which exclusively allows parents to direct their children's education I always tell my daughters that you are your best Advocate but we as parents must advocate for what is in the best interest of our childr yes we as a coalition are watching and you will see a sea of pink and blue because there are only two genders for me and you thank you [Applause] Lori Moore hello um I'm a retired teacher of 30 years 15 years Elementary and 15 years Middle School I would like to know that this school district is safe for receiving their federal funds in other words boys are in boy boy Sports and girls are in girl sports that's very important I would also like to as a taxpaying citizen make an appointment at your elementary school middle school or high school and have a tour of your building to see what it looks like I'm real concerned about dress code and I know that's a battle it's always been a battle but I think if we run our schools like a business the kids will rise up to that level if you don't give them a high bar there's nothing for them to strive for so that is my concern at my Board of Supervisors meetings in Pima County I've told them kids cannot read write spell or think at grade level but we're teaching them how to masturbate that is ridiculous there are things that have to be stopped and if we don't stop it we have we have a battle with the internet we can't possibly I mean how are we going to do this it's up to the people in these schools to set the standard and run that school like a business and make those kids rise to the level we're getting them ready for jobs they have to be able to know how to talk and speak and negotiate and do things and I just feel like things could be a lot better and I want to make sure that your school district gets those federal funds thank you thank [Applause] you Raina York I have I've always given a prepared speech that acknowledges and uh recognizes the hard work of our teachers however tonight I have to go off script and um defend our Educators based on what I just heard um our educators are the most caring dedicated hardworking passionate Educators the Fox News talking point stories that they're coming up here and telling you are not happen in our schools our kids are thriving our kids are learning our kids are um I I would encourage all of these people to come spend time in our classrooms and see the work that we're doing the dedication the the uh the way our students um Can can critically think for themselves because of the work that we're doing and so a lot of this is is honestly they they're calling my they're calling our teachers propagandists none of that is happening our teachers care about our kids we are defending our kids we are taking care of all of our kids all of our kids deserve a quality education and is that that is all we're doing every day we come to work and want to make sure they can read they can write they can critically think for themselves and so I must come up here and stand in front of you and defend our Educators and defend our students and our board and our administrators who are all working together to make sure our kids are successful and Achieve and so I thank you for working with us and making sure that happens thank [Music] [Applause] [Music] you superintendent comments vice president marronis governing board members members of the audience uh couple of different uh big events really in the last month and they they've been referenced a little bit uh by uh vice president marronis in in her words um this past Tuesday we welcomed nearly 50 members of our community to our fifth strategic planning committee meeting huge thank you to all the stakeholders who have genu genuis dedicated their time over these past few months as we work to Define strategic goals for the future of the Moran Unified School District we've had productive conversations uh including developing a graduate profile analyzing our strengths our weaknesses our opportunities and challenges and I'm looking forward to translating this valuable input into the development of specific goals that are tied directly to our board approved strategic priorities also this past Tuesday I had an opportunity to uh visit Estus Elementary School with Mr Holt and Ms micronus for one of our superintendent board campus visits the Estus team uh and I know Mrs bergerson is is joining us uh tonight uh put together a great day with a well planned out agenda during our classroom visits we were thoroughly impressed by the engaging activities that we witnessed we saw small group reading instruction insightful math lessons and even enjoyed the sounds of music as our elementary students were preparing for their upcoming concert which will be a large concert uh many participants um the meetings with our different employee groups were a highlight as well as a strong theme of a student focused family oriented Community emerged throughout our conversations we we heard many heartfelt comments that included there is a family aspect on this campus we all work well together I love working here and I love the community here you have a family here est's home we also had the opportunity to speak with students and parents and they echoed this sentiment of a strong family atmosphere their comments included my children have never had a better experience there is not one staff member here that wouldn't go above and beyond on for our students I feel comfortably comfortable speaking on behalf of our team the administrative team and the board and saying that we appreciate the dedication and hard work that's taking place at Estus uh they've clearly fostered a unique and nurturing family feel that benefits every students so congratulations Mrs bergerson to you and your team yes last week I also had the opportunity to attend the National Conference on education uh similar uh to years past there was a nice mix of highquality breakout sessions and Keynotes uh the learning opportunities at this conference are always valuable but equally important is is the validation that comes uh when you're at the national level and you're hearing about the similar work that's being done in districts to What's Happening Here in Mirana a few examples of some highlights uh attended a session by Chicago public schools in Innovative approach to school well-being in fact I have a followup uh meeting with the presenter tomorrow tomorrow to discuss some of the specific strategies that uh Chicago is taking to implement to help support their staff members attended a parent and Community engagement presentation building parent capacity which was a great session that showcased the different ways that districts can engage their parents and really engage their parents on a much deeper level I took away some uh several strong ideas that I'm looking forward to implementing with our own parent partnership group that will be coming uh back together this April and then maybe one of my favorite breakout sessions uh Houston is creating a new education system if you've read the news Houston's kind of a lightning rod but the the presentation itself really highlighted some Innovative strategies that are are taking place in Houston ISD and have really led to some of their early successes and and helped me think about some of our own work here in Morana in really a new and meaningful way I will say the opportunity to attend this conference with Miss REI and Miss Lin salada really made the experience more valuable as you can imagine it's great to be able to come together each evening after a full day of sessions and and reflect and really discuss what those implications could be for for Mirana and our work and then I want to just touch on uh tonight uh back on February 26 we had our superintendent board campus visit to Ironwood and I know Mr Johnson's joining us in the back of the room as well and I so I want to thank the Ironwood team for putting together an actionpack day for Mr Holt and myself as we visited that campus uh again this was a busy day several classroom visits meetings with representatives from each employee group uh student leaders and their PTO we were able to witness some guided reading instruction productive group work and some great math lessons I think the Highlight might have been the coffee cake and the cookies if you could pass that on please to to Robin Aeron we'd appreciate that uh but the theme that emerged at Ironwood is really around the community feel that's in place there as we heard comments from the faculty that there's a sense of community a family feel and this place is so welcoming I love our parents and our kids we have a tight-knit community here the teachers here love having our cluster students in their classrooms this is very evident and during our visit the parents and students were equally excited about the sense of community as their comments included there are quality teachers here and there's a strong sense of community everyone here is really nice and especially friendly the Ironwood team should be incredibly proud they have truly created a strong advantage in the area of creating a tight-knit community fi so congratulations to Aaron to you and your team at Ironwood and thank you for that visit and this concludes my report for tonight thank you the consent agenda can I get a motion I move that the governing board approve the consent agenda as presented all those in favor I I okay motion carries unfinished business none new business J1 Dr streer Vice President marronis governing board members members of our audience uh Sarah Clem Who currently serves as the Director of the of exceptional student services a position that she has held in this District since 2016 will be retiring effective June 30th 2025 the director position was posted applications were received for the opening a screening committee including a principal a speech language pathologist a school psychologist a facilitator a director a governing board member and an assistant superintendent vetted the applications and selected four individuals to interview the candidates were interviewed by the committee and final candidates were forwarded to myself and the governing board president for a final interview and tonight I am pleased to recommend Tiffany Hodge for the position of exceptional student services director Miss Hodge currently serves as the Director of student services in the tank of birie Unified School District and prior to her move into Administration she was a reading recovery teacher kindergarten teacher and currently serves on several special education boards and groups throughout Pima County can I get a I move that the governing board appoint Tiffany Hodge as the exceptional student services director effective July 1st 2025 second all those in favor I I I motion carries congratulations [Applause] congratulations J2 Mr Bogart thank you vice president M cronis governing board members superintendent streer and the whole wide world happy to present to you uh resolution for the authorization to sell the remaining $20 million in bond that was authorized um in November of 2022 uh you'll remember authorizing $70 million of bond sales previously and so um over the last month couple of months I've been working with legal counsel Jim Gils in the audience as well as our underwriter um Brian Lundberg uh to draft the documents that are presented to you and with that I'll happy to stand for questions or if you have questions for Underwriters or legal we have those people here as well can I get a motion yes I move that the governing board adopt the resolution exhibit a authorizing the issuance of the bonds with within the parameters set forth in the resolution providing for the annual Levy of a tax for the payment of the bonds delegating the author to approve certain matters relating to the bonds to Thomas Bogart's Chief Financial Officer and approving the form of financing documents including the preliminary official statement second is there any discussions or questions from Mr Bogart all those in favor I I motion carries j3 Mr Bogart thank you vice president M cronis governing board members superintendent streer and yes I I stand ready for questions but the board has the resolution or a memo speaking to the Readiness of the district to afford the the retention stien for the spring semester okay can I get a motion I move that the governing board determined that sufficient funds are available to pay the second retention incentive stien of the 2024 2025 fiscal year to all eligible employees second is there any questions discussions all those in favor I I motion carries um who's doing j4 Miss Harper good evening V Vice President Mike cronis governing board members Dr streer and Senior staff Community hiring schedules for teachers and speech language Pathologists for the 2025 2026 um school year are attached also attached are the ancillary stien extracurricular and coaching placement schedules new forms of certificated employee contracts for teachers are attached for your review and approval also attached as a list of returning certificated Personnel to whom we intend to offer contracts to for the 26 20 25 26 school year okay can I get a motion I move that the governing board approve the teacher speech language pathologist ancillary stipend extra extracurricular and coaching position salary and placement schedules as presented I further move that the governing board approve con approve contract forms as indicated in the attached exhibits I further move that the certified employees identified on exhibit a be offered a contract for the 2025 and 2026 school year second is there any discussions or questions from Miss all those in favor I I I motion carries thank you Miss Harper um are you doing you're five yep y five hiring schedules for administrators professional non- teing and exempt employees for 2526 are attached also included our contract terms for administrators the new forms of administrator and exempt employee contracts are attached for your review and approval also identified on the attachments are those administrators and exempt employees to whom we intend to offer contracts for the 2526 school year okay can I get a motion I move that the governing board approve the 2025 2026 hiring schedules and contract terms for administrators professional non-teaching and exempt employees I further move that the governing board approve contract forms as indicated in the attached exhibits I further move that the governing board approve the offering of contract cont s for 2025 2026 for administrators professional non-teaching and exempt employees second is there any questions or discussions from Miss Harper all those in favor I I I motion carries thank you okay j6 Miss L Salada good evening vice president maconis governing board members tonight I bring to you a request for the following new Staffing for Morana Vista academy one social studies teacher and one special education teacher these two full-time equivalent positions are in addition to three full-time positions coming from Mountain View High School uh that will be transitioned to Mirana Vista Academy what questions can I answer for you just one second can I get a motion I move that the governing board approved new Staffing of one social studies teacher and one special education teacher for Moran Vista Academy effective for the 2025 2026 school year second is there any questions or H comments from miss linela hearing none uh all those in favor I I I motion carries j7 Miss Lin Salada next I bring to you a request for a few additional Staffing positions with the increase of special education students and to support the safety of all of our students we're requesting the following year- end Staffing one teachers assistant at Mountain View High School an increase in a 15-hour a week special education Aid to a full-time which would be 35 hours a week position at Rattlesnake Ridge Elementary and an increase in a a special education Aid position to an intervention position to follow a student to inspire okay can I get a motion I move that the governing board approve new staff for one teachers assistant at Mountain View High School increase one part-time special special education Aid to a full-time position at Rattlesnake Ridge Elementary School and increase one special education Aid position to an intervention specialist effective immediately for the remainder of the school year does anybody have any questions or comments all those in favor I I thank you Miss Raymond I thank you motion carries thank you Miss Lada Mr gagoski j8 good evening vice president M cronis governing board members Dr streer senior staff and all in our audience one of our Community Partners ESP design build recently reached out with a unique opportunity to purchase two modular buildings that had been built for the Department of Defense at a discounted price after conducting an assessment of projected growth in the current condition of our existing facilities it has been determined that the purchase of one of these buildings would be the best solution to support the needs of Ironwood Elementary we have known for many years that we need to replace the Aging buildings that currently house their upper grades and this opportunity gives us a chance to do so at an affordable price we are request ing your approval for the purchase of a 156t by 60t building totaling 9,360 Square ft this building includes two full restrooms and has the flexibility to be modified into eight 319 square foot classrooms accessible via two interior hallways this investment allows us to replace five existing Portable Buildings located on the north side of the Ironwood Elementary campus these Portables are currently in poor condition um so replacing them with a modern highquality structure will significantly enhance the learning environment for our students the total cost for the purchase and completion of the ESB modular building project is 2,3,4 187 equating to $216 93 cents per square foot the cost will be covered by bond funds that have been allocated to address the growth within the district I welcome any questions can I get a motion I move that the governing board approve the purchase of or sorry from es design and build for one 9,360 foot building for Ironwood Elementary School second are there any comments or questions I just have one question I do two so go ahead um my question would be that on the timing does does the cost include any charges that they have for storing the like before we take possession they they're actually currently being stored on location at their build site so they're haven't charged us anything for that um yeah so there's no additional charges associated with it and I don't know if you'll have the answer to my question but um this was a unique opportunity to came come to us so we got it at a discount if we hadn't had this opportunity and had to pay full retail price What would that price have been for a similar building so right now building costs are right around $400 over $400 square foot right now and we'll be getting this for like I said about about 47% cheaper exact so about half the price being very fiduciary responsible that's good okay all those in favor I I I motion carries j9 Miss Rey good evening vice president mcris members of the board Dr ster and members of our in-person and virtual audience this evening I'm bringing an agreement to you for consideration of approval that would partner Maran Unified School District with Arizona State University as well as the uh Arizona Board of Regents for the purpose of enabling our high school students to be able to take Universal learner courses through ASU for dual enrollment this agreement would facilitate High School enrollment in those courses students would be able to take courses through ASU for dual enrollment and also get concurrent credit through uh for current High School Credit as well we would be able to offer these courses in two different models one a teacher could facilitate the ASU curriculum and then take assessments through the ASU platform which would be graded and assessed by ASU professors or students could take online Universal learner courses independently the nice thing about this program it would only cost $25 for a course fee for students and so it's a lowrisk uh investment for families and so once the courses are completed families would then have the option to determine whether or not they would want ASU to transcript those courses and then could pay for that $400 transcription fee but if the students weren't successful they would not have to incur that cost and I know that's something that the board had requested with previous uh agreements from other organizations we're excited for this opportunity for our high school students can I get a motion I move that the governing board approved the Arizona State University Universal learning learner course agreement between the mar Unified School District and the Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of Arizona State University second are there any questions or comments all those in favor I I I motion carries thank you request for future agenda items does any board member have a request for a future agenda item okay thank you our next board meeting is April 10th at 6m can I get a motion to adjourn uh I move that we adjourn second all those in favor I I thank you for attending thank you Kathy thank you Gloria en enjoy the rest of your night bye bye okay byebye [Music]
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[Music] to flag of the United States of America and the for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for alls to approve the previous meeting minutes hearing none motion to approve so move second all in favor hi um we will move the spotlight of exence to Dr uh Billy principal report this is H welcome everyone we are excited to share some amazing things that have been happening this year at CMS so I'm going to start by introducing our student leadership team and they are prepared to introduce themselves to you and tell you what great there if you just want to stand up where you are I won't make you come up here yet okay start I'm I'm inth grade I'm Shay rovski I'm in e8th grade I'm I'm [Music] all right they we have some um girls that presented some amazing things that have happened this year at CMS so if you girls want to come on up uh they're going to be talking about uh what our student leadership groups our student advisory Council and our student leadership team have done this year they made some big goals and we really wanted to train our students about our HRS level one and what that means and having a voice in our school and we've done that through a variety of ways so I'm going to let let them take over and I will CLI for you about that I'm I'm KY Lane and I'm Lexi Cs and this is CS Spotlight on Excellence athlete of the week SAS musician of the month one way we highlight students achievements is athlete of the week and musician of the month when a teacher or coach notices an athlete or musician going above and beyond expectations they're nominated for one of these Awards and why they the student served it for example if a Coach CES shown leadership or grit they get their school photo to be put up and saying why they earned the athlete the week okay we use positive behavioral intervention system or pvis we use the shield trip and Athenian Central as a way to reward our students for meeting the criteria and core values Shield trip requirements are they must have no unexcused absences they must have no moon work no more than three parties no writeups and they must receive all A's and B's with only one students can earn Athenian stickers from teachers for good behavior making improvements or exhibiting the core values to to spend on fun things that in athum central discipline down and attends up one way the P PBIS helps our students is to give it gives them more incentives to come to school and not only just come but meet the expectation and exhibit the core values the disciplinary actions have gone down significantly significantly and they are now at the low as they've been in a long time we are also very proud and and we are above the state model attende R which is the highest attendance we have in a while we are very proud of all of our accomplishments this year and this is just one of them Game Changer another way that we reward our students is called Game Changers which goes along with our theme this year of Game Changers game changers is another reward system using the five core values of being kind getting involved being respectful being responsible and being safe these are our tear of involvement at CMS at it goes from most to least and at the very top is the teacher advisory Council the teacher leadership team and the parent advisor Council they are the most involved at TMS and then the second most involved is the student advisory Council the teacher Mentor team Friday friends the teacher d data team student data team student leadership team teacher welcoming committee and the student welcoming committee the student leadership team is the most involved out of all of these the teacher social committee student appreciation team a team which is the service learning Club blue crew which is a spirit team save club and bring change to mind are just not as involved as the other ones but they're still really involved with our school Friday friends a wait for us Mentor our sixth grade students is Friday friends Friday friends helps is held every other Friday it is a student Mentor group where the student leadership team and the student advising council members Mentor sixth gr sixth grade student to help navigate and transition from elementary to Middle School play a variety of games and activities to build communication skills team building and friendship skills appreciation team the appreciation Team Works to a knowledge the work of the school staff the appreci the appreciation team has made a breakfast bar for the staff and has also made Valentine's they also make gifts for the school board another team is the welcoming team the welcoming team shows new students around they also help new students learn how our school does things they produced a short film presented with subtitles and a variety of languages and are also making a book to welcome kids to CMS data team the data team is all about helping students have a voice saying what is going to in was going in school the data team makes a lot of different surveys to send out to the student body and they take that data and analyze it some of the data they have collected is ideas on spirit days PBIS and safety in conclusion we are very proud of all the students or of all the things we have accomplished this year because of the goals that our student leaders have made we have seen increase in participation increase in student voice increase in attendance and decrease in discipline referrals does anybody have any questions thank you all right moving on next item would be old business is none so we'll move on new business first it is consider the a Virtual Academy student hand I going to recommend that the board table A and B for further review I guess before we go on if you like toity to leave the meeting couple more so the next item would be to consider a High School National Art Honor Society take away Le hi I'm a junior at C high school and I'm the secretary for National Art honors study I'm Le I'm sorry I forgot my kind of um the national AR society would like to ask you for permission to go to Kings Island in Mason Ohio on Saturday April 19th this year will be an amazing way for us and our club members to celebrate all the hard work that they that we have put into nahs this school year our members have sacrificed their free time to help our school and help our whole community in more ways than one they have volunteered at events held at the elementary schools bought gifts for those in need and even done SAR tasks such as just doning food and simply volunteering in fundraising this trip will cost $90 for each student and it'll be paid half by the student and the other half by the fundraisers fundraisers that we have done in the club on the of the trip we will meet at 7:00 a.m.
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7 o'clock we'll call the meeting to order we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance IED Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all want to welcome everyone to the school board meeting tonight it's it's good to see a lot of people in the room with us um we will remind you that we are live streaming the board meeting so when the green light is on we're we are live so we'll start um the meeting tonight with a motion to accept consent agenda items motion I have a motion by Earl do I have a second second second by Cheryl any discussion all those in favor five um next we'll move down to commun community non-agenda items I believe we have a presentation we do so we'll begin at evening with Mr Dave stocks who's here to present um one of our students Jaden miniman from the middle school with a Patriots pen award so if Mr St if you would tell us a little about the program sure there are two programs the VFW hands okay one is called voice of democracy which is for the 9th through 12th grade students and then the Patriots pen which is designed for the sixth seventh and eighth grade and in this case we had participants I believe from just the eth grade this time I'm pretty sure and to give you some statistics on this um this last year there were 68,800 students across the country and outside in uh you know like guano Bay that kind of thing uh and then there were recipients the people at the state level from both programs that one went to the National level and got more money in terms of college money so that's what this whole program does is put money to help Mom and Dad for the students College time okay this year the voice of democracy we did not do we didn't have any applicants for it and we ran late in the post and had one applicant from the Middle School here in North Ferman and his name is Jaden men come on up now I want to tell you what the statistics are with regard to Jaden's participation he was in competition with let's see 1,552 students from Indiana in Indiana alone of which 121 of those were Advanced to the next level now the levels are local Post like our post 2021 and it goes to District which is like our legislative districts and then it goes from there to the state and at the state they'll choose one winner and one both programs okay so you are one of 1,552 this year Okay now what's really neat about this is that this next year he's going to get the lead this freshman Juniors sophomores and seniors to participate in the voice of democracy next year okay and I understand there was one that competed with you at the school level and so she will get her chance right she it was the eighth grade and then they chose two finalists from each class I think know that yeah it was the entire eth grade grade that's that's that's even better uh so you're going to lead the way and to lead the way I'm going to start off with just a a certificate all right which is the normal thing we'll show it to everybody here show the the council he's going to be a good military guy all right I'll set that down there go back to you but this is the one one that we're most proud of you're the first one to ever receive this from our post back to you can I get a picture of you two together sure different like that you can hold that thank you [Applause] I'll go ahead and leave thank you for coming thank you I know I know you're going to step out but that's quite an accomplishment and from the school board and from our entire Corporation we just want to congratulate you that's really something to be be proud about um so you should be proud of yourself and we're proud of you so thank you good [Applause] job that was awesome that was real quick and it was like a nice transition been practicing for hours he When de tells us to get something done it happens right so I'll I'll just go ahead and introduce next we I believe we have another presentation from North Vernon Elementary and are we facing that way maybe we face this way oh we're going to face that so guys turn you want to face and present this way okay if if they would like it's fine to face that way the camera's that way the that so we will rotate just give us time you're going to get sorry the camera and the parents are the most important so that's right all right so my name is Leonard glette I'm the principal at North Vernon Elementary we have a great presentation for you tonight um our kiddos have been working for several several weeks to put robots together through our Lego stem um boxes that we have um and and it's about coding so this past summer we had two of our teachers that were able to participate um in a class over the summer and part of that class is they were able to get these Lego stem boxes for the robots through this class well through um help from our PTO we were able to buy how many I think total now we have 14 we have 14 boxes um that were're able able to help um our kids with the coding program and and so tonight you going to see a presentation um from some of our students and I will turn it over to our wonderful teachers to introduce themselves um and what we're doing hi guys I'm Valerie bam I'm a fourth grade teacher at nbe um Trisha Skinner I'm fifth grade at nbe so we went to Bloomington last summer and we um brought this back to our school because we thought it was pretty cool to our kids to how they can incorporate Sim into coding and stuff like that so they're building things they've changed codes they've had to adapt and debug problems with the codes and stuff it's a great program the kids have loved it it's um like 100% stem I mean it's got everything every every aspect of stem is right here um so we thought it was an awesome program and wanted to get those back with with the with the students um this set is actually geared toward your upper grades up into mid Middle School even but we kind of piloted this uh with even third and fourth grade younger kids and they did amazing they loved it um so we're hoping to to really get more more hands on it uh this year and and there's also a a younger um kit that kids can buy like K one and two that can use but this kit is designed for the older kids so they've um we've had them program or um do three different projects that are all different so they've all had to come up with different ways to solve this their problems so we're gonna start off with you guys can introduce [Laughter] yourselves myn so our project is called out of order and it like has so we debug so before we had to debug it and it's supposed to stop at to [Music] what suppos to we [Laughter] have doesn't so the hope is that we save Bob that's what I heard exactly okay [Music] you want to do it on theid on the Flor you guys when I set it right there [Music] [Applause] I'm Harper HR and I'm Catherine Kelly our project is called training course one we had to it started by just going in a straight line and coming back to where it started and we had to program it to move into a square [Applause] my name's every Douglas what are Lego is called it is called a right dancer originally did was it um moved its legs um what the motors are called is the motor and then the color sensor theam it to move it arms and we had toam it to add music if you put green [Laughter] if you put a green brick it goes kind of slow and if you put a red brick it stops and if you put purple it goes really fast start daning [Music] Lucas I didn't know we were do this kind of show not all of us do it get it Lucas nice job so they've been very very hard at work and and the time and effort it takes to actually go through debug reprogram it really takes a lot of effort and thought put into this and build and build build they have to follow the directions to actually build the machine first and everything else with it both sorry all of them adapted their you know build and added more things to it and they could definitely tweak it to whatever they needed it to be yeah and there's lots of lots of plans on there that um that also adapt it to math to language arts uh to a lot of different subjects as well so we're excited to to really bring this into all other other classrooms right and so this really ties into our stem initiative that we have in jny County Schools um our programs are really growing um I know we have some schools that are already stem certified but next year as long as everything follows suit hopefully North Vernon will be one of our next schools um that will be stem certified so we're excited to see what our kiddos are going to be able to do with these programs especially as they get older um and hopefully you know the experiences and the opportunities they have here in our school will carry over um to hopefully a future career and some of the robotics Fields um or maybe even teachers teaching stem in the future so thank you everybody we appreciate it I get aou picture everybody stand together for one group picture all right one two three got it do any parents need to take a picture real quick no we're good okay if everybody we're GNA talk about sh the musical so we wouldn't want you to miss to hear about that it does matter we're good all right we'll we'll move pretty quick here if you have time I can stay and hear a little bit about Shrek the Musical that's the next group yes yes yes perfect I think they're just waiting to get in the door okay hello everyone Hi I don't know where to look you just keep spinning the entire did that a lot in the show so a little break hello everyone my name is Hannah Webster and I'm a senior at jenes County high school and I'll be playing Fiona and Shrek the Musical hello I'm Kaiser dagger I'm also senior at Jennings County high school and I'm playing Shrek and Sh School we're so excited about this show and we've loved the support we've gotten so far if you want to see the show it's on April 4th at 700 p.m and April 5th at 4M in the da pel Auditorium so yeah so some of my favorite moments about the show have definitely been learning um all sorts of different music that plays into it and this is really the first show that I've ever been huge part in so I'm really excited for that it's definitely different but it's pretty fun so far so really looking forward to it there's something in this show for everyone the music is so different from anything the high school's done before so there's definitely someone for everyone if you're not the most musical person I think you still are going to be dancing in your seat during this one it's been really fun to see the show come together we have elementary students and then high school students all working together to make this show amazing and it's going to be a great one so we're just really excited and thankful for all of our support that we've got [Applause] so we have some information I would have sworn that Mr Roller was gonna play Shrek I do every day I didn't thank thank you thank you very much good luck you guys so remind us again dates time April 4th at 700 p.m.
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