president well let the board have the conversation at this point okay I'll go ahead and open it up for comment let's go ahead and just go down the list and in no particular order let's go ahead and seek comment from mr. Pritchard okay thank you um I'm actually just sitting here taking it all in there's a lot of powerful messages in there I have I have a lot of questions different thoughts I think I think for now notice my first question is I know dr. callous you mentioned that there'd be seven million dollars in cuts and phase one eighty percent of our M&O overrides and salaries but have we looked at have we have you been really taking the time yet to look at any other areas and when an 80% of salaries but what are some other areas that are or are there any areas other than salaries or programs that that directly impact our students that could be that could be cut if this override doesn't get on the ballot or if it doesn't pass mr.
president miss Pritchard yes we are looking at everything and while there are some other areas that may total hundreds of thousands when you're talking about seven million it's it's not going to dodge our employees in any sense of the way but I'll let Ken Hicks give a little bit more information about just putting in perspective if we were to look at cutting other areas that did not impact employee salary what the impact of those other areas might be so mr. Hicks can you shed some light on that thank you very much dr. Calais mr. president members of the board yeah we did I did go through looking at some data trying to see could we without touching people looking at as miss Pritchard mentor member mentioned the other 20% and what that looks like and so a lot of that the vast majority of that is in outsourcing either special ed services it's in outsourcing our custodial and it's in our utilities there are some discretionary that we could cut all the discretionary spending to get a lot of the way there but to get over seven million dollars from that other amount without touching any person is nearly impossible could it be done I guess if he did it it would be done it would he have huge devastating impact across the district I know that um when you weren't had reported back on some of the feedback he'd received from our override committee one of the one of the pieces one of the recommendations that a couple of the members or became from the committee in general you said was that they asked about a smaller override but you thought that maybe that wouldn't be feasible or be you weren't feeling comfortable recommending not necessarily but is that something that I mean that was something that was appealing or more appealing to this group was to not go out for as much which then would maybe not be as big of a tax burden to our community it was I think only mentioned mr.
president members of the board it wasn't voted on or really considered about there it was just a lot of questions being asked from every direction to see so know that that wasn't it it is a the entire amount is a dollar fifty on the tax rate currently so if it was less it would have a less impact on the tax rate I guess I'm it's kind of hard I apologize I not being able to see faces as far as kind of going off of nonverbal cues and if someone else is trying to jump in and and or something I just I think just some initial thoughts and again I mean just really taking in some of those comments um that we were just listening to - I mean just some thoughts that come to mind I mean I I am very concerned I mean even even prior to hearing those thoughts I mean I know we we've all probably considered them ourselves as far as the economic uncertainty right now people being unemployed losing homes a spending recession that's for a lot of the same reasons why we didn't feel the bond was a good idea that really does still apply as far as the situation of our families and our community members right now um you know and I'm I'm sure it's going to be happening so I'm gonna just throw it out there and and those who know me I probably don't have to say this but just for the record this is not an anti education anti-air comment this is not I think in this type of situation you may have people that are always gonna be against our override and may be always gonna be for and override in my opinion what's going on right now globally this this all that's put aside because we're in the midst of a pandemic we're in the midst of a you know again a pending recession to where that unfortunately nobody can plan it even if everybody's heart was a hundred percent into moving forward with an override or not I think that that's put to decide based on something completely unexpected that was handed to us that we're still very much in the middle of so um you know and obviously I'm open to you know Willis into the community comments I'm opening to listening to a view what my fellow board members are going to say but I do I do really struggle with that right now as far as just wondering - if it'd be a good faith effort you know to illustrate as you know as far as if we considered possibly not going out for an over bike right now just to illustrate how we're cognizant of the economic challenges our parents and families and community members are facing and you know perhaps that'll result in better community buy-in and support for this discussion maybe you know next year possibly I don't know I I just keep thinking about you know even I'm looking at some of the the bigger major companies out there right now who are waiving fees and deferring payments and you know for for families and for individuals out there who are struggling desperately again losing their homes are being unemployed you know people are gonna remember who helped them in their darkest hour and who were not or who were still asking for more in a time when people are just they just don't have anything to give so um you know it's not necessarily an issue for me of you know struggling with you know do we do we support of course of course I mean if it's not assumed or people don't know me of course I would never want to see a teacher let go of course I think teachers for what they do deserve tends more money than we could probably ever give them it's not a matter of that right now it's a matter of this whole pandemic and it's more of an issue of humanity you know that this this pandemic is somewhat of a game changer and I I don't think that we can you know again I dr.
Collins kind of opened up by saying or opened the discussion by saying about how well we don't want to contribute to the unemployment rate you know that that may be true but again the majority of that that's looking at our at our particular just our district and in the bigger picture the bigger hole and I'm hoping that well first of all let me ask this to would we our teachers right now in staff members that are under contract that's not this is not going to impact them though correct for the next coming here right president miss Pritchard so the election if the board were to call for an election would be in November and the override would kick into gear starting the following academic school year so it would be the twenty one twenty two school years when it would start so this coming school year we are still okay but we can't defer the seven million dollar cut that will happen if there's no election there there's no getting around that part that would that would happen in the starting at 2021 2022 school year okay so in theory and I mean just throw this out there if since these cuts would not happen next year um we would how would we theoretically have time to see what the what the economy is gonna do people are gonna be getting their jobs back people aren't losing their homes seeing just just how financially our community our family members are doing and then if things seem to bounce back and this might be this might be a conversation that we could have next November and maybe even at that time whatever increase that staff were would not be receiving if this didn't pass maybe then for that override it's it's double its to make up for that year that they didn't get what they had hoped to had it passed the first time around I mean just different creative ways of looking at it but but again just setting ourselves up for success being mindful of what our families are going through not making it personal about any employee group or any any special interest area just looking at us I mean as a whole as a country as a you know our entire world we're all going through this and I I feel like we need to look at the big picture and I feel like I'm talking too much right now I need to listen to other people but those are my initial thoughts coming into the meeting and then after hearing that feedback from our community I just want to share that that's right now well I appreciate you going first obviously it's a huge responsibility and one of the reasons why I asked you to go first is because I always appreciate your well thought-out comments and and obviously your creativity I'm looking at other options and and I think the opening of this up to questions and and your input is very valuable and I appreciate that and thank you for going first and for looking at those and I'll definitely give you an opportunity at the end just to you know gather your thoughts and if there's any other questions we'll come back to you so I'll go over to let's go with Jen tanner okay so bear with me I wrote a lot of notes so I'm gonna try to just keep it on try to stay on the task here and not jump around too much we're losing everybody but I guess my first thought is is you know the a lot of the comments that were given against doing an override was regarding an miss Pritchard kind of commented on it too as well was kind of out wrong timing and I know for a lot of some of those for some of those individuals who really don't understand the importance of an overtime it's over right it's never going to be a good time but I understand where some are coming from as as far as like okay the world state right now what's going on and while I am empathetic to so many of our families that are struggling right now and going through not working I still don't want to take away what our students deserve and what what I feel that they need so dr.
Cal is just to like Remis I just so I know I'm right this would not increase taxes I'm going to defer that to mr. Hicks and he can give the the more fiscal response summer there was some breakup there but I think you were kicking it to me and yes ma'am mr. president members of the board this is a continuation this is a continuing from 15% to continued for 15% and so it's at a buck 50 tax rate now is gonna kick okay okay thank you thank you yes that's okay I just want to make sure I know you know I say this all the time I think it's so much easier for people to like right now fear to say hey if it's not increasing anything would you be okay to continue on and a lot of people at least that I've talked to has said yeah it's not increasing I'd be willing to carry that forward once something's taken away and then having to increased it again I find that that's so much more of an uphill battle and then serving on the board as I know others did in 2014 when the override did not pass when we had to furlough employees when we had to get rid of programs I saw how hard that was to try and restore and we had a couple a few comments about how a lot of those effects are still being felt how those kind of carried with the students throughout the years and so and for me it's something that if I know this is right something that our that is the best option for students it's something I'm always going to fight for I know especially like we talked about like some families of course going through economic hard times how some are you know kind of their lives are just in disruption and to me that's even more reason why our students need to be able to come to a place where they can have those things that help them cope with some of these things whether it's their music sports just seeing that regular teacher that they're used to seeing every day to give them as much normalcy as possible and the environment to learn even if some things around them are unstable and kind of falling apart I would love for them to be able to still come to a place where they're going to feel like I can learn here this is a safe environment this is constant and again just given them the best opportunities as possible a couple other things I wanted to just comment on I think from the comments I know that a constant thing being brought up is well the voters just voted on this five months ago just voted on this when you guys get to take a hint and honestly I just wanna say if people don't like how the law is and the districts be able to go out with the overrides then go to the ones who make the laws and go with the legislators and and talk to them because for me if it's something we're going to continue to do and and I believe in something l heartedly I'm going to keep fighting for it until hopefully it goes the way that I I see is most important so that was just one comment I want to make for that and and also as a tax payer in this district and no longer have to into the district I know for me personally and for many around me that for kids and our students it's it's worth the fight you know nobody asked for this panda make to happen everybody you know there's so much of like people feeling that something isn't fair or and it's not it hasn't been good for anybody but to me I'm like I don't I don't want to put the future of our students and the best possible learning environment on hold just to see how the world is going to react to something I'm going to just I see what's for me what's right is giving them the best learning environment possible and I'm just going to continue forward on that so those are just my comments on this I think you must and I appreciate that thank you for your well thought-out comments and for your encouragement and also staying positive oh let's go ahead and go with Miss Densmore oh yeah I did have a few questions and some notes I've just been jotting down after all the community comments and other board members comments one one question that I have is about the override and and how that works with our budget so it's a 15% in add additional fund from our budget but our budget can change from year to year so I'm curious how that percentage is adjusted is it adjusted annually or is it a fixed dollar amount based on the election year that first election year mr.
Hicks can you respond to that yes it's the 15% so it's not a fixed amount but for the voters and for the voter pamphlet we do have to calculate and estimate what that fixed amount is for that first year everybody it is a percentage of 15% of the revenue control limit going forward okay good question so potentially if our budget were to decrease at any point if we had lower enrollments or whatever reason we had a lower budget that percentage then would be then decreased and on the dollar amount would be decrease in the subsequent years right okay thank you I guess my next question was about the the 80% in salaries versus the 20% in utilities I know this is just really maybe only a month or so but have we actually seen any savings in utility cost you know with having our schools somewhat close it's not closed mr.
president members of the board so it's not 20 percent utilities but utilities was one function of that 20 percent but 20 yes but but yes we've actually seen some really good savings for example as soon as this happened I know our facilities director contacted our trash company and said we no longer want two days that fast we only want one days of trash and so that cost went down we sell our water usage going down as we turned our buildings in the unoccupied we saw you electricity's going down we saw subs going down we still fuel going down and so we are doing everything we can to put buildings in unoccupied mode to reduce and save as much money as possible because there's other areas where the costs are going up there's some technology cost there's some support cost there's some other funds outside of M&O cash funds that when the governor said continue to pay everybody as planned we had expenses with no offsetting revenue and so those costs are going up as well and our food service fund there's one that we will probably plant on schedule two revenues greater than expenses by four or five hundred thousand dollars and now it's probably the opposite from that standpoint it's probably going to be an $800,000 swing or $700,000 swing from that standpoint so we do have higher cost but we are doing everything we possibly can to save every single dollar as we are currently going to help mitigate any of those that impact okay thank you and then I guess my other question is whether whether or not you know it passes tonight or if we call for the election in it and it passes or fails potentially with the voters how are we preparing for the possibility of a loss I mean what are we so I guess I I'm trying to understand what we are looking at to cut because I know that we always immediately talk about the the kindergarten full-day and the arts programs but is that an absolute or is would there be a subsequent vote to decide that if an election filled administration's decision or is that the Board's decision mr.
president members of the board we have already had conversations in the Racine before as the override failed five years ago or beyond that six years ago I think it was 14 the IBA process was used to identify where the cuts and how the cuts would be implemented and so there's a very myriad of ways that we can go about with that okay for those not familiar with what IBA is can you explain that oh sorry I'm Adam mr. president members of the board that I appreciate that I've used acronyms so frequently and everything I assume everybody knows them our IBA is our interest based approach that we from certified staff classified staff administrative staff cabinets board representation to go through our budget process and a very collaborative manner that makes sure that everybody is heard and they would collectively have a consensus of what is what we're looking at and that process doesn't include just going out but improves going down and sometimes it also involves items that we'd like to look at as we say there's nothing there's no sacred cows or anything off the table we can look at different departments different uses of current things we we purposing dollars for other ways to get the most effective efficient use out of our taxpayer funds okay so primarily it is staff making those decisions correct okay and what stands more if I could just jump in and and say that that would happen and as we look at the rolling forward if we were not to go out this year and we say okay well we'll take the 7 million dollar hit this year it would be another additional 7 million the following year and we would have to again find cuts for that and then another 7 million the following year so at some point either we go out for the election or we we cut that 21 million and I know that dr.
Calais and I talked about this but you know a I'm curious you know are we looking at sir v8 surveying the community parents Guardian students educators to see what kind of data we can learn from them in the midst of this pandemic to see maybe what they're what they're liking or not liking about distance learning to see if maybe we can take some of that to our advantage and and do some budget cuts there mr. Hicks oh sorry I was gonna say that mr. president members of the board I didn't know well well yes I since I'm on tons of conference calls I do hear of other areas and where we are and yes there's a feedback collecting of how the remote learning is going on we're a constant conversation and discussion about what that looks like going forward how we could take advantage of it how we could take advantage of it for the summer school for the HB house meal 29:10 that was passed and if we were able to maximize what they passed in that to mitigate revenues in any of those cents so we constantly look at that I know I've talked to mr.
Dean and some of the staff over and dr. pony's area about online high school moving it down into lower grades to get more opportunities some of that's not just to increase revenue sometimes that's a preventive measure so that students don't leave our district so we don't see a loss and they were able to recapture them or continue to serve them in the most efficient effective manner and I don't know if dr. polling or Jim Dean wants to speak about that as well I might just jump in mr. president member Densmore we are having conversations and looking at positive lessons learned during this time and how we can continue some of those aspects as we move forward part of that involves electronic learning part of that involves as mr. Hicks indicated pushing our online fool down to lower grades than we're currently offering part of that also looks like taking a look at our school current school calendar and considering the need to start building in electronic learning days you know every you know every so often in there you know as we move forward I will state that we were in a pretty good place to move to electronic learning with most of our students when this hit our our teachers did a phenomenal job we already have a lot of electronic learning pieces in place with the use of Schoology and so our teachers were able to move very very quickly within a week from in classroom physical instruction to online instruction certainly I you know we would also attest that there are things that we are learning in this piece that are not positive for all students with electronic learning and so the lessons that we're learning at this point in time both positive and areas for challenge we will put in place as we move forward to continue to provide the best opportunity for our students but you know in considering potentially a lower amount for an over I'd say I'm just throwing numbers out there say 12 13 14 % have we looked at we modelled anything like that to see how that would impact us positively or negatively mr.
president members of the board member debs martini by modeling like like we could definitely look us are to the taxpayer but he's saying also what that looks like and where the cuts would be internally on both sides I guess but I guess from my point of view I think that it would show that the district what worked in good face just to show that the community that we are listening since the last election and grafting on those other concerns that were shared with us five months ago I think even if lowering possibly by one percent could potentially change the perception out there in the community for those that maybe were on the fence or maybe just thought that it was too much I know it sounds insignificant but as you know mr. Hicks 1% is quite a lot of money to the district so we have we haven't really modeled that at all or have those conversations I'm sorry I didn't I didn't hear the question in there it'd be difficult everything on line not catching we looked at the different cost structures with the committee we looked at should we change the amount that was a brief conversation you just heard the Auditor General presentation where we did less money than our average and we get less money than the state and this would only make that worse than the exacerbate the situation so we did not spend a lot of time on the expense side to show where we would make the cuts with that you would still have the challenges of an election and so I think I would just make an assumption here which this is an assumption so this is a my interpretation is that if you're going to go for the election and ask for it going for 14 percent although would show concern the average home would probably save about 18 to 20 dollars a year and we would not probably change how many people vote for or against it in that sense but that's I'm making an assumption of you and our conversation from that so we did not have extensive conversations of modeling the different decreases okay thank you I was done if you wanted to take over mr.
Leonard sorry and Jay I think you're muted we lose him no sorry all right I'll just stop talking to myself and talk to you guys how's that sound no I definitely miss Densmore I appreciate your your comments and I feel like they are very well thought out and definitely added some good substance to the conversation on this this matter and appreciate that so thank you for that one of the things that that I've thought about just here for a quick second obviously I know miss Dan's bar wasn't here I wasn't here I'm not sure if Mitch mr. Pritchard was here at the time or not I believe she was but I know that just in discussions with the the past board members as well as some of the current standing we'll call them old-timers like miss Tanner you know it's it's interesting for me to just have discussions with them on what it was like to go through the cuts and what happened with the district when the override did not pass one of the things that I would ask I know dr.
cows I don't believe you were here at the time maybe you were in a different role but is there anybody on staff that was here that can just kind of take us through maybe a three-minute here's what we were presented with here's kind of what happened and here's where we made the cut so that we can have just a little bit more history and put that history on record for anybody that would be listening at this point dr. Kellis mr. president members of the board I would not imply he is an old-timer but he certainly has experience and mr. Dean talk about what he experienced during that time I think I'm starting to become an old-timer mr. president members of governing board cast members of cabinet I I certainly would not be truthful if I didn't tell you that it was painful it was a painful time I've been in the Dicer Unified scholarship for 15 years and we during that time to my recollection we've only had one year where we did not have an override in place and that was the year that it failed and we had to phase out 7 million dollars during that year we laid off many many staff in in all areas we we laid off approximately 150 teachers we laid off many district office staff administrators were involved in that we cut down to a skeleton crew very very skeleton crew and truthfully while the work continues and and we continue to pile up many hats when there's one person doing the job of 4 to 5 as hard as people work the quality does suffer you know to a detriment educators work tirelessly to attempt to assure that students never see a change in service or never see a downturn in service however the reality is that when you have to cut 7 million dollars out of your budget in one year you're going to see a decrease in in service to this day we have a class continuing through our system that did not have full-day kindergarten that we continue to see that there were disadvantages to that piece for for that particular class additionally during that time we saw a decimation of our athletic arts programs we continue to see impacts of that again to this day we worked very very hard to get back to a position where we are offering outstanding arts opportunities for students outstanding band classes band opportunities visual and and and and 3d arts theater choir you know all the arts activities and athletic activities as well we continue to recover from that time however I we are still in a bit of recovery mode and not nearly as far down the road as we were at that time so it was a difficult time you know that was that was one year that we had to phase out seven million dollars fortunately we passed the override the next year and were able to kick the override back in however had we not done passed the override the next year year two would have brought another seven million dollar cut and year three would have brought another seven million dollar cut so that we would have had to cut 21 million dollars over the course of three years out of the budget as devastating as year one was I can't imagine what three years of seven million dollar cuts would be it was it was a difficult time we struggled through continue to provide the best education we possibly could for kids but there were services that were not available to students that were in the years previous and began again in the year the years afterwards thank you mr.
Dana I appreciate that and it definitely helps me to bring perspective obviously not being here and just having conversations with like I said passport members that I served with that were on the work previously and then the ones that are still here that have dedicated you know over eight years I'm to serving on the board like mr. Pritchard must think Belton was Tanner definitely you know I just I see when when that subject comes up it's definitely one of those ones where it there's definitely some some tough decisions and some hard situations that were brought up and so it's good to get that perspective and I appreciate you being here for as long as you have and also giving us that perspective so thank you for that and I think you know as I look at where we're headed you know I remember dr. Plotnik you know if she was queen for a day and said I'll say if I was queen for a day and was able to pull out my crystal ball and look at what this next year was going to look at look like and then the year after that which will directly be affected by this I think we need to take into consideration some of the things that have happened in our past I think that that history that you just gave us is important to consider obviously it was an emotional time and I think we can take the emotion out of this and look at this from the people as a board that have elected us to do a job and I think that that's important and to represent them I can say for the record that I have had many conversations on the positive and I've had some people that have voiced concerns as far as communications I've received one email towards the negative and I haven't received any other emails in either regards to the passing or on bringing this back to a vote so I appreciate the we certainly three of the comments and taking the time to read those I also want to look at what we've done as far as getting our teachers raises and the the process of being Arizona and being in the lower paid teacher range we need to take into consideration that we worked and the teachers worked very hard to establish that 10% and we got the governor to listen and you know I'm not taking credit for this when I say we but the district was able to influence them as well as the teachers when they took their stand and we were you know the process was one where the government did help us to pay our teachers a little bit veteran as we continue to look at the future I think we need to take that into consideration what it took to get to the place that we're at now I think the recovery from 2014 when we had the cut I think we definitely understand a little bit better what that is and I think as we're balancing out the pandemic and the fear and the things I'm looking at this from a business owner standpoint because that's who I am and that's what I've done with over a hundred employees we've had to look at some serious you know options in seven different states where we have employees and we've had to make some some decisions and they're not always comfortable but I feel like we've done the best thing for the business as well as for our employees by continuing to fight the good fight and trust in the system and look at our leadership for guidance and direction and as we've done that and weathered the storm as a business we've come out and are coming out in in a good and a good standing I think that we need to take that into consideration as a district there are a lot of unknowns but currently we have to make a decision based on what we do know and based on the feedback that we've received and the feedback that I've received tells me that you know although there was a election and there was a vote that there are more people that I've discussed with that want to see this back on the ballot and most of them are saying that they felt like the bond and the override together was the deal breaker and that if we go back for what we currently have and aren't asking for the additional money that we were looking at that they would be more in favor of looking towards that and I think that's what gives me hope and and has definitely helped me see the importance of this as well as knowing that I'm doing the right things for the staff for the teachers and for the school and for the kids and representing the people that elected me to this position and at the end of the day making this decision ultimately puts it in their hands and in several months there could be major changes and they will have the opportunity to make that decision along with myself and as long as that along with the other board members to cast our votes in that democratic process and I think it's time for us to take it back and have faith in the system and listen to what the people have to say and I think giving them that opportunity to vote on it is is important and so that that's kind of my my thought process and just where I'm looking at this from a business owner standpoint and from the district that I've been a part part of for the last three and a half years and so I think I have one more first in my sourcing belt I'll let you go ahead and take the reins and and wrap this up for us and then I'll go to cause if anybody else has any further comments I'll ask one last time before we move forward so I'll turn it over to you Tracy and yes back in January 2014 I think I even said during that board meeting it was a dark day and I sir and to echo mr.
Dean's comments yes it was a very difficult meeting and it was 143 people I remember that number that we had to phase out and but I just wanted to echo that real quick I have several things written down and so I'm just gonna take them one by one first off is on the actual resolution itself and this may be a can hexed question on exhibit b1 the third paragraph down it says that the election will be a mail ballot only election was it determined that in November 2020 was going to be a male-only mr. president members of the board no we actually on both exhibits actually here's the process and exhibit if it's a in person ballot and here's it if it's a mail-in and so I don't believe it will be mailing but I don't think they've officially said everything and so we have both things yeah number in both the ways no matter which way it goes awesome thank you you're on number two would probably be to dr.
Kellis on one of the community comments regarding the community connect magazine that was sent out to our residence correct me if I'm wrong was that done on wasn't that funded by community donations um mr. president members of the board mr. Singh felt that was a very unique publication I believe it was well in the first and a very long time where it had ads in it and those ads covered the cost of the distribution the printing basically the cost of that magazine Community Connect magazine that's different than the achiever and which is another printed publication that is sent out to homes our process now is to Sam the achiever only to current students families that includes things like back-to-school and whatnot but the community connect will continue to be funded based on the ads just like any other community magazine thank you thank you very much um I had also heard in one of the comments that there was a 50% this was a 50% over right and I'm just hoping that they were thinking 15 not saying 50% but that's just what I heard keeping track of the yeas and nays it was 34 Nate yeas and 9 nays of course it could be more you know if we took a bigger poll or it had lasted past the 5 o'clock deadline or even before but I am thankful for those that actually took the time to go ahead and comment I took my own poll as far as asking speaking with residents from Waddell surprise El Mirage just to get a feel you know I explained what the override was even explained during what their feelings were would be during this pandemic and with my own poll I had five that were against and 35 that were for and the 35 that were for said that as long as there were no new taxes they were okay with it and so I just wanted to share that with the governing board also let's see the I know that the teachers work hard I know that the classified staff works hard and the admin worked just as hard and all of these groups that are here for our students they are all here to educate and that is our purpose and we need to support that purpose myself I just can't in good conscience vote no on this measure to me that the no vote would not only be handing several staff their papers to walk but to me that's like a seven million dollar slap in the face of this pandemic where we're protecting our staff we're protecting our students and above all our students and going down the road of not supporting the staff and they may also be having some other type of issues that have surface because of this pandemic I can't in good conscience hand them another slab and I do appreciate the comments of all of my fellow board members and yes miss Tanner and miss Pritchard were on board at the same time so they know what it was like to shave off or face down those funds and I I just quite honestly don't see how we could do that again and I am so glad that years ago we went out for the override the following year but really remembered 75 million dollars behind at that point and when dr.
Kellis had you know was talking about the the issues earlier about you know having this issue during the pandemic like I said when I took my own poll the people were they just didn't see any other way around it and I like I said I'm glad I went ahead and actually spoke with them so I I echo a lot of what miss Pritchard says what miss Tanner says miss Dennis Moore and mr. letter and it is it is a difficult decision but I I feel that it is in Dysart's best interest to go ahead and go with it and better those are my comments thank you Thank You mr. Steinfeld I appreciate your thought your experience and your insight as well I think it's valuable to look at past history and definitely make decisions based on what our future is and looking at the whole picture so thank you for the insight is there anybody else that has any other comments I have a I have a question and then I have a couple comments I needed um mr.
Hicks when does a final decision have to be made we have to let the county know verbally if we're going out for next election by June but changes can be made to a resolution all the way up into the end of year because and this is this all just kind of couple at once and I I mean this respectfully mr.
sink bill but I I somewhat take exception to the comment of turning this into not supporting staff or how can we not support staff I feel like again respectfully I feel like that comment has a tendency to put one group against another whether it be the board against staff or the board against teachers or or whatever and again I am NOT this is not about special interest groups employee groups in particular this is about the greater good and the greater whole um any questions about not possibly going out for an override or any questions about looking at the other side that's responsible that's fiscally responsible and that is taken in consideration the entire community and I think that this board has been blessed with four more times than not getting along we enjoy each other we enjoy the people we work with but then sometimes it makes it very personal and it's hard sometimes to be able to then make some tough choices and because we have names for those faces and I don't believe I was there on the board in two dozen 14 but I do remember maybe it was I want to say there was another time when when something didn't go through and I so I I know I know what it's like as far as it is painful for me to even think about the possibility of losing staff but it can't I mean think of these bigger corporations that have had to layoff tons of employees or have gone completely out of business it's not because they don't care about their workers or because they don't care about what happens it because it's because financially this pandemic has taken such a nasty ugly toll that some hard decisions are having to be made so I'm yeah I'm assuming positive intentions so I I want to just clarify that point which I'm sure you probably didn't mean it that way but for the record I I just wanted to reiterate this is not well you know we need to support our staff meaning if we don't vote for this this means we're not supportive of staff and teachers because I'm telling you I used to be one out there with my kid on the corners with the signs to pass overrides and bonds every single time we've gone out I was at those walkins with teachers went during redford I did all of that I support I support our staff I support our teachers but that doesn't mean that sometimes I mean our teachers are one one group within all of what is in Dysart they are the vital part of what dynastar is with our classified in every administration everyone nobody has any no one's expendable or disposable at all but we also have you know our our community members not all of our community members are diced art students or parents and and again it's because of this pandemic that it's just it's a harder decision because in my good conscience I'm thinking how can I go out and ask them to continue attacks attacks which okay it's it's a continuation it's not a new one but it's still more money that we're continuing to take during the time when again we're facing a possible recession and these people lots of people might end up leaving Dysart because they're losing their homes so I don't want anybody who this like I said in the very beginning this is not about you know are you a pro education pro a pride person or are you not are you the big bad wolf against it it's a matter of what it regardless of what your typical viewpoint is of bonds and overrides that's to me completely separate because this pandemic has thrown everyone for a loop and it's put it into a new like class in and of itself so I I wanted to I wanted to kind of throw that out there to clarify it and then my follow-up to mr. Hicks was because this again for me is more more about this whole pandemic piece and the financial impact to our community if we have until June or July to get back to the county is there any reason why we can't wait and see what our economy you know my gut has said probably by the end of May beginning of June we're gonna we're gonna have some good information my name my crystal balls been in the shop for a while now so I mean I don't know a hundred percent but I think a monthly to two months is gonna give us a lot more information I didn't think Arizona's he--that speak yet with this corona virus so if there's a possibility or if the board is willing and open to considering tabeling it and so we can see what this what's the financial impact it's going to continue to be had on our community because of this maybe by that time as well we can get creative and looking at you know if we absolutely had to cut somewhere which we shouldn't wait and do if it if it fails anyway whether it's on the ballot or not we should be proactive I believe because again these are people's lives and I think they should be able to have some forethought and planning of who might be impacted and who might not be but I think it can give us some time to really look at all right what kind of what do these cuts really look like we say cuts but you know it is it a matter of well I don't know I just think we can look into maybe having some time to look into those other options might um my pack up a bit that's all I have well this is Tracy miss Pritchard in no means did I mean that you did not you were not supportive of staff or supportive of our teachers or classified I know that you are a true advocate of Dysart and the students and everyone involved so no no way did I mean that you are not I'm just saying in general everybody is here to educate our students and it is it's not it's not meant to be manat meant to be a dig or anything I'm just stating that we are all basically in this together and dirt even during this pandemic I just want to make sure that everybody is still supported and I know that the community is probably looking at it as yes I'm about to lose my home because my husband was just laid off oh now I just received a pink slip from die sir so now we've got to and I know they're going to be all different scenarios within the Weddell El Mirage and surprise areas I know that there's going to be totally different situations but I am looking at it from an overall point of view and if we need to get more information and I'm not sure what more information we can get or have mr.
kicks mister kicks I'm sorry mr. Hicks run different numbers I'm totally fine with that but I'm still leaning towards calling for the overwrite continuation and that's just me thank you for that insight and miss Pritchard I appreciate your your comments and your thoughts I think you know you've you've definitely put together some some great ideas and in lieu of that dr. callous when is our next board meeting and if we were to table this to get more feedback would it be appropriate to open up for pub comments again would it be appropriate to I don't know seek some sort of public opinion poll what are our options if we need more information and want to get more public feedback before we make this decision and also in giving giving us a little bit more time to see how things start to change Thank You mr.