Give us wave, Mr. Harmon. All right. Congratulations to Greg Bronman, volunteer at Butterfield Elementary School. Jim Irving, community partner at Maricopa Elementary [Applause] School. Michael Takagi, community partner, Pimabute Elementary School. Autumn Spurlock, parent volunteer, Saddleback Elementary School. Jim and Alice Schae, community volunteers for Santa Cruz Elementary School. and Evette Compton, parent volunteer, Santa Rosa Elementary School. Zachary Schroeder, volunteer at Desert Wind Middle School. Aisha Jernigan, parent supporter, Maricopa Wells Middle [Applause] School. And Matt Lambert, community partner, Desert Sunrise High School. Stephen Christristen McMullen, parent volunteers, Maricopa High [Applause] School and Staca Bang, community partner, Maropa Virtual Academy. Congratulations again to these outstanding spotlight community members. Next, we're proud to honor our Spotlight Employees of the Month. Dedicated staff who go above and beyond to meet the needs of our students and school communities. Congratulations, Spotlight employees. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate.
Um, because it's not just what comes with the building and the FFN package. It's all the instructional supplies um, and just, you know, library books, media books, and uh, equipment. um to find a place to storage that we have to order things start starting now and have those shipped in in time for to open up at the building and so where we put that we're working on that so Dan Donovan and I talked about working on a scenario where we have some storage containers on site at DHS and so things that need to go there uh to the DHS West building um we'll go to DHS they'll check those in and we'll try to keep track of the supplies that way and then we'll have those containers moved over to the new site when we're able to move in. Um it's just a way of trying to keep track of the inventory um and the slips and the invoices as they come in.
So um we all know for sure we're in a national housing crisis right across the country. Not only is there not enough affordable housing for low and moderate income households, but we're also dealing with um the segment of population, which al it's also called in planner terms the missing mi middle where folks that don't quite qualify for low and moderate income households, but they also can't get into the market yet. They aren't able to necessarily afford uh the the housing that we have and therefore we have a crisis. Um and of course we we all know that we have uh issues with people that are unhoused as well. So the challenge that we have not only in the in the country but also in the state, it calls for definitely providing for a variety of housing options. Um, and uh, while I've only been here about a year doing this work, um, when you look back at the planning, uh, efforts of of Bel as it relates to their master plan, um, and actually boots on the ground, what has happened on the ground, you will find that over the past 25 years, you did a you did a master plan in 2000.
Give a quick fist bump to the governing board and Dr. Lopeman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Congratulations to Renee Hoskins, special education teacher, Butterfield [Applause] Elementary. Gretchen Lana, third grade teacher, Maricopa Elementary. Paulen Barte, music teacher, Pimbut Elementary School, and Daisy Aoyo, classroom aid, Saddleback Elementary School. Tanya Tapia, speech language pathologist, Santa Cruz Elementary School. Haley Nolan, counselor, Santa Rosa Elementary School. and Malia Yoshiawa, student clerk, Desert Wind Middle [Music] School. Happy birthday. Briana Ramirez, front desk clerk, Marob Wells Middle School. [Applause] Jamie West, career and technical education admin assistant, Desert Sunrise High School. Irene Lurren, math teacher, Maricopa High School. Jelly May Perez, English teacher, Ram Academy, and Veronica Fiero, student activity specialist, business department. Congratulations again to these outstanding spotlight [Applause] employees. And finally, we are thrilled to honor our spotlight students of the month. School principles select these remarkable students based on their outstanding commitment to their education, their school, and community.
So, we're going to be working through that, but it's going to be a very very very busy summer of movement and uh keeping tracks of all the equipment that's supposed to be where it's supposed to be. So, glad Terry has a question. Yes. Um I heard that the sign over DHS West is going to be 50t tall. 50 ft tall. Isn't there was a a recent um zoning thing that was passed or they were requesting a large sign for DHS West? I don't know. I'll have to look into that. That sounds very large. I think it was this comparable size of the name Curtis had they said. Oh, at the top of the building or maybe it's up 50. Okay. I just I say we're going to have to look into that. People were worried about folks being able to find the building. That would not be a problem if that was we can look into that.
Um, it included a housing element and fair share plan. That's basically your affordable housing plan. Um, there was also one done recently the last two years. Um, but what you will find is that uh there are there were there was an R5 and still is an R5 zoning district which allows for multif family housing. Those are apartment units. So places like the Branding Wine at Breel is an example of that. Um Whers Key and Union Place are examples of what would be considered affordable housing. Uh you have attached single family homes uh in different areas within the municipality. So, you started to plan for this in 2000. There was a recognition, and I'll talk about this in a little while, but there was definitely a recognition that you as a bureau just didn't have enough space, meaning you didn't have enough land to support the the large obligation, which we'll go through.
These students set the bar high and are recognized for their efforts in academic achievement, demonstrating great character, helping others in being great ambassadors for their schools. Congratulations, Spotlight students. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate, and give a quick fist bump to the governing board and Dr. lotman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Mr. Harmon is standing by the hallway and we'll point you in the right direction. Give us another wave, Mr. Harmon. All right. Congratulations to Kaden Hall, first grade student, Butterfield Elementary School. Sophia Amethyst Beahan, second grade, Maricopa Elementary School. Alisa Aguilar Hernandez, first grader from Pimabute Elementary School. Ezekiel Ramos, fourth grader from Saddleback Elementary School. Olive Petrites, preschooler, Santa Cruz Elementary [Music] School. Greg Marie Morales Pino, third grader from Santa Rosa Elementary School. Payton Hatley, eighth grader from Desert Wind Middle School.
But if you want more information, send it send it my way, too. So, I can I can certainly ask. I haven't seen the final sign what it's going to look like. It was in the paper. It was in the paper because they had to go through zoning and they told us that we better build a good school or have a good school in the paper. [Music] Okay. All right. So, that's that's the update. So, we're looking forward to that. Um, farm to school grant award. So, this is really exciting. Some of this conversation happened in the in the prior meeting. Um, but we won another me has been um kind of working really hard on the farm-toschool angle. um bringing in fresh food, organic food, um vegetables in general into our schools is really important. It's something that a lot of us are passionate about.
and and therefore um really started to think about um just just generally waiting for COA, Council on Affordable Housing, which was the administrative body uh before the courts took over um to really create rules and regulations uh for for the bureau to abide by. Um so you've planned for it to some degree uh and you have implemented actually some affordable housing. However, it doesn't necessarily meet the definition as the state would define affordable housing. Any of the units that people go into have to be deedestricted for 30 years that it's only it's only affordable for the low and moderate income households. Uh that is one major restriction and and that's one of the ways that you would get credit for affordable housing. So, the need as you would see here uh which is calculated by the state of New Jersey through what's known as the Fair Housing Act.
[Music] Okay, I practiced this next one. Lincoln Osarzic, senior, Desert Sunrise High School. Brian Bush, junior from Maricopa High School. Kelly Kiger, sophomore, Maricopa Virtual Academy, and Brandon Pollock, senior from Ram Academy. Congratulations again to these outstanding spotlight students. Parents, we have one more recognition before you meet your students in room 123. In partnership with the Maricopa Rotary Club, we'd like to honor a deserving group of students. Rotary honors young people who are developing leadership skills and making a difference in their communities. Rotary students, as I call your name, please come forward. And Mrs. Ramirez and Miss Coutree will present you with a special certificate and in addition, you'll receive a $50 gift card on behalf of the Rotary. Thank you. A special thank you goes to John and Mary Lou Smith Education Foundation for their sponsorship that helps make tonight special for our honores.
Making sure that the kids are eating better and are exposed to different things and and get them to taste and try things that are not normally outside of their pallet. Um I've personally been to the school sites when they're doing uh doing these tastings. And so what they do is they uh they take these little cups and they fill it with I think the one time it was sweet potatoes but it had you know apple cider vinegar and some cinnamon and some butternut squash and you know the kids are looking at it and oh boy what is this you know but when they taste it it tastes pretty good. Um and so it's really just about exposure and getting them to try some new things and we did the same thing um in a few other schools with different different items that were equally as delicious.
As I said, that's a body of legislation that that regulates affordable housing in the state. Um, that this need that you see on the screen is based upon household change in the state of New Jersey from 2010 to 2020. And then the 80,000 units comes from a multiplier. 40% of that change of households. Um the way that the Fair Housing Act reads is that that number 40% the 80,000 units are the number of low low and moderate income houses that that are households that are needed in the state. So for the next 10 years uh the goal is to hit 80,000 units of low and moderate income households. That is then brought into um it's divvied up as I said amongst the six regions. One of the regions of which Bel is in is Mercer Ocean Mammoth. Um that is divvied up and there's about 13,000 units that then will be divvied up amongst municipalities throughout throughout that region.
Okay, Rotary students, when you we call your name and you give a fist bump, you're gonna head to room 123 and we're going to take a group photo. Okay. All right. Congratulations to Amora Cortez, 8th grader, Marop Wells Middle School. Charlie Rogala, seventh grader, Desert Wind Middle School. Destiny Castro, senior, Maricopa High School. Alec Hernandez de Laena. Senior Desert Sunrise High School. Bridada Barco, senior, Maropa Virtual Academy, and Brandon Pollock, senior from Ram Academy. Congratulations again, Rotary [Applause] students. Parents, you can meet your children in room 123 or if they've made their way out. Um, we're going to take a 5-minut break to allow everyone who is here for the recognition to make their exit and then we will begin the business portion of our meeting. You are very welcome to stay. We're back. It is 71 and our next agenda item is our work study with the classroom spotlight.
Some kids loved it um and were and were happy they tried it and some kids, you know, gave the scowl face and was like, "No thanks." You know, where's my where's my uh my pizza? Um but we're trying to expose the kids more. Um but the but the the work and the effort and the planning comes through um a grant. So DPS uh through the office of family and school community partnerships applied to become a farm-to-school institute. So you'll hear that term being used u quite often. Um so we have a coach and the DPS team uh focuses on the three C's. classroom, cafeteria, and community. And this is where we work with elementary teachers to um to really expose kids to the life cycle of plants and and growing and eating healthier. Um it's all tied to national science standards. Um so there's a lot of nutrition and a lot of science involved in in the education.
So that really talks about the need um and that's what then drives the affordable housing obligation for the burrow. As I indicated uh the Fair Housing Act is the body of legislation that that regulates affordable housing. Um just last year, March of 2025, the Fair Housing Act was um amended significantly uh and it was signed by the by the obviously by the governor and it did a couple of things. It established the affordable housing need which I just talked about. It created a methodology um of how that need is allocated amongst all municipalities. Uh it creates a general regulation to some degree as to how we put together what what needs to go into affordable housing plan. Um it sets up a mediation process and it's what's known as the program to address any disputes on obligations and then going forward any affordable housing um plans that we put together.
Pimabute Elementary, Miss Allison. Good evening, Vice President Coutree, members of the board, Dr. Lopeman. My name is Elizabeth Allison, and I'm the proud principal of Pimabute Elementary School. Tonight, I am pleased to present to you Pimabute's approach to strengthening math instruction to support student success. This aligns with MUSD strategic plan. Goal one, every student graduates, maximizing tier one instruction. And goal two, access and equity, elevating student voice. Improving math instruction for all engages learners in all five areas of the portrait of a graduate. Through this process, we continue to develop skilled communicators who can articulate and critically problem solve while strengthening their resilience and confidence in their conceptual understanding of math concepts. Supporting students leadership skills and innovation allow students to extend their thinking. Driven by our commitment to excellence, our guiding coalition spent time over the summer analyzing data trends and identifying a and identified a consistent decline in math scores on AASA and mimic assessments across all subgroups.
Um but late in February, um DPS uh was invited to apply uh for another high school grant and another high school team. And so um you know as part of the application we put forward um our idea around the green academy and the sustainable living and we have a greenhouse and we're going to be engaging in um more green activities and so that curricular programming allowed us uh they chose us to partner with as a result of that. So we're very excited about that. Um there's a two-day institute retreat coming up in June where the team's going to go and write and do some more planning and um and this ties into the last item on the agenda list uh which is the future chef competition. So on just last week we had students um we did a future chef. It was kind of like a episode of Chopped at Stanley Ruff and we had fifth grade and a couple of of fifth graders um had to submit all the fifth grade team got a chance to submit a recipe that they designed that they would cook if their recipe was selected.
So we will as a bureau uh we've we've accepted our obligation of 65 for the fourth round and I'll talk about that in a second. Um, so you haven't had to go through what's known as mediation that actually ends next week. Um, and so you've accepted your number. Your number will will uh be 65 for what's known as the fourth round. However, uh, we will put a plan together. It will be submitted by June of this year and it will go through a mediation process. People have the option have the ability to object to the plan and we have the ability to mediate that. So, there's a program that's set up by the Fair Housing Act that helps with those disputes. Um, it establishes an approval process um and which I just mentioned. It will go to court, however. So, the program is a mediation arm.
We found that key practices such as consistent small groupoup instruction designated math intervention time, math talks, use of manipulatives, and a common understanding of standards and standard progressions among teachers were underutilized. As part of our continued commitment to improve math outcomes for all students, we developed a comprehensive, intentional approach to ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed. This approach is rooted in deliberate planning, strong instructional practices, and a focused use of data to guide our efforts. Our master schedule prioritizes tier one instruction, ensuring that all students receive strong first instruction. We also provide daily time for intervention and extension to support all students. Grade levels participate in weekly professional learning team time, allowing teachers to collaborate and refine instructional strategies, ensuring consistency across all grade levels. During this time, teachers focus on one of the four key questions. What should students know and be able to do?
So we had three students who had stations set up in front of the front of the gymnasium with tall hats, chef outfits on, all the ingredients, their recipe, and they had a limited amount of time to cook. um while while their entire classmates were cheering on um with the cooking, they had to take their samples. When they were done, they had to plate it in five or six different plates and bring them over to the judges. The judges sampled them, they rated them, and then they chose a winner. And if you saw the newspaper recently, you saw these just beautiful faces beaming um with how proud they were to have cooked for these judges and just to even be in the competition. But it was so empowering to see these kids um take this challenge on under a lot of pressure, you know, timed uh pressure um to do this.