I didn't know what was going on." And I got to tell you, um, the two years that I spent there, the FFA, the things that they do, the things that they teach kids, the the skills that they walk out of that program with and graduate from the high school with, phenomenal. And, uh, it's because of instructors like Casey, instructors that were before him, and it's the students that put their time and effort into it. Casey, you have um some folks here. I'd like you to introduce them and talk about what they did and what place that they earned if you don't mind. Sure. You bet. Thank you for having us. Uh we have Gunnar Merlick who took first place state champion right here and he won a special special prize, the meat cleaver award and uh it's in a glass case and it's it's quite impressive.
But this board may say, "No, we want the three campus supervisors. You need to bring it to us or we need to figure out what are the other three $60,000 worth of staff more." All right, I'm still thinking. Okay, no problem. Erica, I'm going to go down this end. Sure. So, how's that? Um, for those of us who didn't hear the conversation last night, could you just summarize the property liability insurance discussion? Yeah, m Mrs. Robbins. Oh, sure. We um get our renewal a little bit later in the season. Um, this year we um the CEO was negotiating and it was a little bit later than typically. So, our rate was reduced from a 5% to a 1 and a half. So that cost about $18,000 and so we can that's a realizing change. Okay. Essentially the conversation last night was we found $18,000. Now they tack that on.
Um Mia Kanti took second place individual in the uh state contest and uh they are both juniors this year. They are both in my meats processing class. And then we have uh Hyram Dornney who came in as a freshman. Okay, a freshman which is really hard to do. Stepped up to the plate and uh and helped this team take first place. And then um we have Dakota Hubard who's a senior this year and she's also in my meats processing class. They've done tremendous work to get to this far. And I've coached a lot of teams over the years, and I've always told these kids especially, said, "You can do anything you put your heart and mind to. You can win. It just takes a team of a dedicated team of four individuals. And I've never seen a team work so hard coming in after school, during lunch, you know, during class time, during other class time of their other classes.
So we're looking for 140 because the insurance was already brought up to the board of finance and they said, you know, reduce your budget by the 18 and then the total cut was 140 plus the 18. That's where you get the 158. Okay. Okay, thank you. Um I think I think that's it. Other than um I'm glad we are leaving the social worker in. I know there was seemed like there was some confusion about that. I know we've said before that this is something we have to do to to save money. Yes. But there was still some confusion in Yeah. So, one of the questions that came out was can any of the current social workers cover that? The answer is no. That that the current and I have Mrs. McClean here that Mr. McLean, why don't you just answer that question while you're here?
Not to throw them under the bus or anything, but uh they put a lot of their whole heart and soul into this and they went into that contest prepared and uh and they did it, which is incredible. And uh they're they're headed off to nationals next year. Did I see an email from you today? You might have. You want to talk about a little bit? Sure. So, uh, in there are 86 chapters, FFA chapters in the state of Arizona and every year we do a pretty rigorous application about a 23 page document that really highlights all of the activities that our students um plan and organize and put together throughout the year. And uh this application highlights uh their hard work and their dedication to the program. And it goes on to be judged. And um it's the National Superior Chapter Award. And uh we just got results back this morning that Gilbert High School FFA took a gold rating, which hasn't happened in a number of years.
received the question. Why don't you come right up to the It's it's the difference between It was suggested last night that we try to leverage the town social worker into the school a little bit and avoid the addition of the.5 social worker, which apples and oranges, but I'll let you explain the current social worker that we already have on our staff, right? Why? So our our current social workers already have uh really reached capacity in terms of their case load and in order to maximize therapeutic programming within Thrive, it really requires a dedicated social worker, those students require a higher level of care and support. Um so it's necessary that that program have a social worker dedicated, right? And if we didn't have the social worker, then we would have to outplace the student. It could lead to further outplacements. It would impact our ability to provide therapeutic supports and services to high students.
Okay. Last year we were silver and we we had a goal this year to make gold and so we are of eight chapters in the state of Arizona with a gold rating and so we're extremely excited and proud of that. We'll be competing in June at our state leadership conference to uh hopefully fingers crossed become Arizona's chapter of the year best of the best. So we'll we'll now be going on to nationals in Indianapolis to compete on the national level across all gold programs. So super exciting. They teach these students all kinds of life skills and and part of it from what I've observed over the last 30 years is respect is a huge part of what they are all about. When you walk onto a campus with an FFA chapter, you know who these kids are by the way they carry themselves, by the way they present themselves at their school, and how just friendly and kind and willing to help they are.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's it for Okay. Thank you, Mr. Russell Push. That to me, so my I mean my biggest question was when you were saying the non-certified staff that the social worker was staying in there because that seems like it cost savings, not expense. uh what I've been trying to poke through but I couldn't find it fast enough. What is the what was the total technology budget fun all of the technology budget besides choice. So our biggest line item is um software um that is 240,347. Um we also have um contracting services 115,870. We have some supplies under 20,000. Um, right. So those are the software defin would that include like what software is that new software or is that software renewals and stuff that we already have Mr. There's there's very little that's being added to us. It would really be the evaluation system that we already have.
They're some of my most favorite students on our campuses. And uh I'm always partial to Gilbert High School because that's where I saw my first hanging cow. And but I I instantly had to learn cuz I knew nothing about it. And I got to tell you what, I'm so very proud of you guys. We're so honored to have you here tonight. Thank you for representing Gilbert High, Gilbert Public Schools, as well as the state of Arizona. So good luck this summer. We hope you guys take it all. Congratulations to them again. Thank you. Well done. All right, guys. Right here in the middle. Congratulations. And they do meat processing there. You have to sign up. It fills up within about an hour, I think. And uh but you'll Yes. Have a be hanging this morning. So, if anyone wants to come check it out, you're more than welcome.
Okay. Okay. I mean obviously I'm concerned about that. Oh, I'm concerned about the programs cherry and how well they it would not it would not impact the the program at Cherry. Okay. So, so your concern is taking out technology or yeah just I just want to know where you know what I mean we'll get on the finance committee get dive a little into that would just be my concern right it was so successful. Okay. Anything else? That's I think that's it. I I think that John did just as a comment on last night's meeting. I think John did a great job on this explaining off the top of his head what the seven people do on the communications. That was impressive. That's that's what they call pop quizzes. Yeah, it was a serious pop quiz and you just rattled it off. It was amazing. But but at the same time I wish maybe just for the public like that that it was brought up that the town has one guy and he takes care of the town employees.
Let's head on. We're moving the meeting. Well, I'll tell you, it's it's it's amazing to see. So, congratulations once again. Next, and last but not least, I'd like to bring up Sandy Willard and the Lions Club. Come on up. Bring your friends up. Are you ready to talk, Sandy? I'm ready to talk. Will you introduce your friends? I sure will. Okay. Okay. Good evening. I am Sandy Willard and I am president of the Gilbert Lions Club this year. And we um had a discussion a few months ago and decided that something that the Lions who have been serving Gilbert since 1969 um we serve our community. We do lots of things with schools. We offer um grants to teachers. We give scholarships to students. Uh we do the peace poster contest every year for the sixth graders that can enter the Lions International Peace Poster Contest and all kinds of other things around the community.
There's this there's there's all the teachers and all the students. So it's not even a kind of a clear comparison. I would say we're probably the understaffed on the technology side. We just did it by numbers of people supported. So, we did a pretty we did a pretty significant study several years ago with that too to be able to make determinations around our our purchasing cycles and our staffing with that too. So, I appreciate that. That's it. Peggy, uh the only question I have is um are there any surprise or unanticipated retirements that might occur still? No. Um we count we factored that all in. Um we have our retirement of Mrs. grant here at the high school for science and we factored in a possible savings for that. And then our library med library media specialist or digital innovation specialist at CIS at Kelly Conway who retired in January that position has been filled at at a lower rate.
But um we thought that we recognized that we had never in the past that we're aware of recognized our Gilbert school board. They do so much for our schools and they do so much for our community that we decided that this year was a time to give them some recognition for all of the things that they've done for our community. And so we have a um little award for distinguished service for each of our schoolboard members because we appreciate all that they've done to support our community and our children. So if we can have want to introduce everybody real quick. Oh, all right. I forgot about that. I'm sorry. But they're hiding behind me. Okay. So this is Lion Suzanne Ramsey. This is Lion Bob Rhyr, whom you all might recognize anyway as a former principal here in Gilbert. And this is Lion Susan Hansen.
And we actually met with the union today to ask them if they knew of any retirees surprises and they didn't open it. I I I would like to say that I think it's really important in the um elementary and kindergarten to have smaller class size than larger because I think it's just so uh foundational and in the long run I think it'll save us money and I think we've said that before too but This is what I believe. Okay. Anything else? That's all. Mr. Sh, just a couple of comments. Did spend a lot of time reflecting on the conversation last night. Um I think it's important to point out that there was a lot of support for the budget as presented or close to as presented uh from the uh board of finance and from the I don't know half a dozen folks or so that that spoke supported uh class size is important that the policy was developed 10 years ago based on research based on uh practice based on input from teachers based on our our neighbors and it's probably time to look at it again.
She's our club secretary. So that's that's the that's four of us, but there are a lot more. We couldn't do this all ourselves. Anyway, so if um Mr. Chad Thompson, could you please come forward? [Applause] Dr. Blake Robersonson. this one. Uh, Mr. Jesse Bernard, Mrs. Jill Humphre, we have one for Mrs. Shaina Murray also, but we also have one for Superintendent Dr. Shane McCord. So, there you go, Dr. McCord. And I think that uh you know I can't um express enough how much we appreciate what the school board does and how they take care of our schools and our faculty and staff and our children and we truly appreciate all that they've done through the years. Give them a hand. I've had the opportunity to speak at Lions Club's meetings over the years and I got to tell you what, you walk into the room and all they really want to do is see what they can do for us.
So, we have to do we can't guarantee a result by the end of this year and certainly beginning next year. Um that there are uh considerations this year uh that make uh reducing staff, professional staff uh really quite difficult and the impact on kids would be will be significant I think. So, I'm I'm happy to answer that's off the table at least for now. Um the budget there was some implication that the budget was developed without input from the board of education. Budget was developed over as all of us know over months with a lot of input from the board of education. U input obviously from the people the folks we've hired to do that. Uh the insurance situation uh is odd, unusual, difficult to explain uh and it's really impacted us uh I guess you could say unfairly. But those are the cards that we have have to play.
And they do that and Sandy will send me emails saying, "Hey, will you get this out? We we want to give out these scholarships. We want to give out these grants." And we're more than happy to do that. Um Mr. Rhyr, obviously you're still serving. You're still serving the kids of Gilbert Public Schools. Thank you. You're welcome. How old are you today? I know it's a quiz. You really want to know that? Yeah, I do. 93. And I got to tell you what, you got more energy than most 50 year olds I know. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And uh it's just amazing. This is what happened. He joined the Lions Club when uh coming from Roosevelt uh 1973 and has been serving Gilbert, the town of Gilbert, Gilbert Public Schools ever since then. and that obviously has trickled down to a lot of the people you've met over time.
Uh there's no fluff in the budget. The fluff in the budget would be to cut it already. It wouldn't be there and there is a need to fluff the cut. So So something has to go and for the amount of money involved, you know, there has to be personnel involved. I think uh I was really sold on the need for a campus supervisor, especially after uh after hours at the high school. Since that came up, I've been here many times and there are a lot of people in and out of here. Uh, and we've been extremely lucky so far that there hasn't been an issue of any significance. So, I hate to see that that go, but something has to go. And Jordan, leave that up to you and the finance committee and the administrative team to come up with that $92,000 worth of nonprofessional staff cuts.
And so, uh, on behalf of Gilbert Public Schools, we truly appreciate your recognition, but more than anything, we appreciate everything you guys do for us. So, thank you. Please give them another hand. You guys would shake hands with the take a picture. They want to get a picture. So, we got ahead and we'll be Thank you again. Well done, Mr. President. Governing board members, that concludes my recognitions for this evening. And again, congratulations to everyone and thank you for everything you do for GPS. Thanks. [Applause] Okay. Yes. Yes. [Music] Okay, thank you. All right. Thank you. That's always favorite part of uh of every board meeting except for the financial reports. Those are also pretty amazing. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Moving on to uh in our agenda uh agenda item number four, superintendent report. Dr. McCordon. Thank you, Mr. President, governing board members.
uh the tech budget. Remind me again what are contracted services and in in that line I are um our copers um our service our um I can get to that the entire list but that type of thing is where we go out to another vendor to provide service. Those are the two things that pop up. It's it's not fluctu just to just able to do away with contracted services create some problems. That is correct. I mean that's a line by line um items that are currently embedded in our infrastructure for operations. Okay. And Tren, do you is it too early to give any indication where you might go into technology cuts or Oh, I I I think you if I had to guess it would go to software that would affect instructional programs that would affect I think it would affect both. Um I think it will in fact instruction I will it it can also affect data management and how we mine our data.