Um, timeline, I don't like that it's a quick turnaround. However, um, in conversations with my administration and in conversations with teachers, it is needed. um if we wait until the end of next year, then we're going to be in the same place and and we know where we are. We know that we need alignment. Um and one of the reasons I would like to do it and recommend for possible approval tonight is because teachers need the resources. Um and we already are going to have them looking at these items over their summer. So, um, instead of waiting and and kind of kicking it down the road, um, we think that the better situation systematically speaking would be to possibly approve the new ELA curriculum to help with alignment to help everyone have consistent curricular resources. I have been communicating um with my building administration on a regular basis.
It's not the first time it's happened. Um I will add just there are three major components to the audit. One is the audit of the financial report of the of the town. The second is a single state audit report where the auditors examine um the grants that are paid by the state. And then the third component is a single audit of federal grants. This year, one of the federal grant programs that was um audited closely was the child nutrition cluster, which is a a food services um budget, and there were no uh there were no findings that were problematic. So, it was good audit all the way around. And the um town's annual comprehensive financial report is available for viewing on the the town's website which also includes the opinion of the auditors which I provided. And the last thing I wanted to mention is that um CLA which has just completed its fifth year um as our audit firm, they um provided pricing to extend for two years and the town council did approve CLA to continue on as the town and board of ed auditors for the next two years which we're happy about.
I sometimes hang out by the sheep pin, chuckling into my beard. Sheep often think that they're better than us, but goats never need to get sheared. I wait in the woods until nightfall. Then down to the barnyard I creep because nothing looks quite as delicious as chickens who've fallen [Music] asleep. Now it's night time in the barnyard and the moon is shining bright. It's time to leave the animals and wave them all good night. The horse is in his stable and the hens are in their shed, but the sheep dogs falling fast asleep inside the farmer's bed. [Music] [Applause] And then the last selection we're going to do is another student created. Valentina was part of the team that created this to accompany the book Tiptoe Joe. Ready? [Music] [Applause] Start. Tiptoe fast, tiptoe slow. Say hello to Tiptoe Joe. Donkey, donkey, come with me.
They all are in agreement and we are working with the teachers on a plan and a process. We're working um I already have a year of professional development set um if this goes through tonight for next year for grade grades K through eight. Um that way they do get the support because what I feel and what I've seen as a leader sometimes when you adopt curriculum programs if you don't give them the support and the professional development that they need then it doesn't get utilized in the correct way. Um, and then essentially you are wasting time, you are wasting money. And I've been very clear if I'm coming and I'm asking that I want to make sure we're doing it um fully implementing it and doing it the right way because that is what what you all expect of me as well. Um, we we just the student impact as well.
you know the you know the working with the CLA group um over the last five years you know has been positive you know certainly there are things that they find you know we work through them um they um you know are a good good group and we will just continue on with that for two more years then is there a particular rating scale like they don't rate if there if there were any kind of findings um they would identify that in the letter so It's either a clean opinion or an opinion that might have some deficiencies whether they're material or not. They would disclose that. In this case, there were not. And so, if we were to fall on that lower end, we'd have time to improve whatever. If they identify deficiency, depending on the severity, they would impose either some corrections that needed to be made.
I know something you should [Music] see. Rabbit, rabbit, come with me. I know something you should [Music] see. Turkey, turkey, come with me. I know something you should see. Tell us, tell us. Tiptoe Joe, what's the secret? Let us know. Tiptoe, tiptoe. Quiet, please. Tiptoe underneath the [Music] trees. Tiptoe lightly. Point your toe. Tiptoe soft. Tip toe slow. [Music] Tiptoe, tiptoe, softly creep. Here's my secret. Fast asleep. [Music] Thank you for showing up and fun fun fun. How cute. Recorders. Yeah, those recorders are my kids. Mhm. Okay. Item 3.2, Bullhead City Middle School. Adopt the cow. Now, I hope you guys aren't bringing the cow. Is there waiting for us? Yeah. Okay. No, we're not. Oh, look at this. So, are the parents for these kids here? Yep. All right. Hey, thank you. All right. Good evening, Madame President and members of the board. My name is Cynthia Ferguson and I teach fifth grade math and science at Bullhead City Middle School.
Um the alignment for students to know that teachers have consistent resources even across the hallway is extremely important um for their instructional strategies and approaches. Um what questions do you have for me? I will throw in it is a a an expense ELA is one of the more expensive of the curriculums. This would be a $575,000 um unbudgeted ask. We are not going to be purchasing any curriculum next year. Correct. We're going to be focusing in on really focusing on the implementation of this curriculum as well as an administrative uh refinement of our um leadership focused on learning is is and to further add to that, that's an excellent point. Um, when you get into the lower grades, it is more expensive because with ELA, there's so many components like the the phonics component and the manipulatives that come with it and the additional classroom library.
There's also a report that gets, you know, filed with the state and, you know, those corrections would have to be made and the state would have to be kept notified of those corrections. So, we didn't have any of that. Got it.
Three years ago, I had heard about or about Adopt a Cow through an advertisement on social media. I thought it would be fun for my students to learn about dairy farming. I've always been fascinated with it because I would always tell people my uncle who was a CPA would count cows as a living. Most of his clients were dairy farmers in middle California. So, learning about dairy cows is what we were going to do. Each class was always excited when they found out we adopted a cow. The one question I always got was, "Is it at your house? Can we go see it?" Even though I wish the answer was yes, it was always no. So, the adopt a cow program is through the organization of Discover Dairy. The program is free for all types of classrooms, public, private, and even homeschooled, and comes with cross-curricular multi-levelled lessons that meet multiple Arizona state standards in math, ELA, and science.
And I want to provide as much of those pieces as as we can to support their navigation in teaching ELA as consistently across the board as we possibly can as well. Then you'll notice on the quotes as you get higher in the grades, it's not as expensive because there's just not as many tools. Um, another part that we're looking at is our RTI. Um, we want to give our RTI teachers some intervention um, resources that tie in with what they're learning in the classroom and that has also been added to this quote. So, consistency across the board is is truly going to be gained, I feel, um, if this is approved tonight. So, administration recommends the purchase of this. It will um, when we approve the uh, this year's budget, our final budget, we will be in the negative. I'm projecting it to be close to $700,000 in the red, but 575,000 of that is is um is this.
Any questions, Mr. White? Thank you. Uh, yeah. So, clean opinion. That's great. Thank you very much. But I just want to be clear on this. Normally they would give us some sort of recommendations even stuff and and I'm not too interested in us being tisk test that we have petty cash at at the high school football games. Yeah. And I understand that is a control weakness but it's just not reality to do anything about that and Venmo might change it but anyway besides recurring stuff like that did they have any recommendations new ones this year? Yeah they they so they they'll typically provide recommendations in the management letter. Yep. Um, in years past we've had two or three. This year the only one they had was the completion of an accounting procedures manual that there they've been making this recommendation to us for a couple of years to document all the processes we have on the town and the board of ed side.
Multiple dairy associations throughout the US sponsor this program. The purpose of it is to educate students about dairy farming and the milking process. First off, we would like to tell you about the farm our cow lives on. The farm is named Stokes Dairy and it is located in Buckeye, Arizona. The owners are Jen Milikin and her parents. The farm was established in 1981 which makes it over 40 years old. Jen is second generation dairy farmer. They have 13,000 cows which are moms milked and have 7,000 heers. Heers female cows who have not given birth. It is on 3,650 acres that is been that has been acquired over the years. This is Charlie. She is the cal we adopted. Her birthday is September 3rd, 2024. She is a heer. Her breed is Jersey. Jersey Jersey cows are smaller than others. Cows and their milk is usually used for used more for cheese and other dairy products rather than milk because it is higher in fat.
And so, and we currently have the fund balance to handle that. We have the fund balance to handle that. And not something we want to make a habit of, obviously. Correct. It would also be for six years. I think that's important. And and we would not have any additional costs yeartoear unless there were a few moveins, but that would be very that would probably come out of a a building budget versus Yeah. Um Yeah. you're talking about RTI in my mind I think of ROI return on investment so I don't this is response to I know it is but it's acronyms but that's how I look at it too is this is an investment and you think we need it because we haven't done anything for quite a while. Yes, I do. And we were wanting I mean, like I said, it's just expediting it and there's not going to be a big purchase next year.
We've been working with the town. We have a shared uh network drive that we do have our accounting procedures but it's not complete. It's one of these tasks that we've been working on whenever we have time. So, one of the things that was suggested by Jim Jinx was um to ask CLA if they will provide us with basically a work assistance where they would help us prepare the accounting procedures manual. So, they did um agree not to quote a price yet, but we're meeting with them next week to talk about what we need, how many different people would be involved in this review of procedures and then they'll give us a price to help us complete this accounting procedures manual. Thank you. And and part of what's driving that is, you know, the the point that they've made is they've seen in other municipalities where they have a high degree of turnover, you know, in the finance department in particular that documenting the procedures allows for continuity.
At birth, she was 29 in tall and weighed 71 pounds. Right after birth, Charlie was given colostrum which has high levels of immuno globins, anti- microbial pep peptides and growth factors. It is extremely important for the growth, development and immune system of the calf. Also her novel NAVL is dipped in iodine. Iodine is made of water, citric acid, potassium, sorbate, and sodium. Benzo and is used to combat infections. At the beginning of the year, we were given a picture of Charlie and a certificate of adoption, which will hang in the classroom throughout the year. Charlie's first few months, she lives in her own calf pen. She has access to fresh water anytime she wants. She is separated from other cows, but has neighbors that are calves. She Charlie also gets one gallon of milk a day to help her grow. The picture is of some of the feeding team preparing to feed all of their cows that are in the calf pens.
Um, which will allow us to gra to gain more ground and truly dive into the two programs we purchased this year. Personally, I hate spending money with a passion or anything, but I I think this is kind of an important It is an investment. It is. It is. It really is. Yeah. So, I mean, we're we're investing in the the kids and we have to give them every tool they we can to make them help them succeed. Good. Any other questions, comments, concerns? May feel like making a motion. I'll make the motion. That's easy. Thank you. I'll second. All right. Tyson seconds. Roll call, please. Greg Meyer. Yes. Mrs. Schumacher. Yes. Tyson Search. Yes. Norin Friedrich. Yes. Kelly Moyer. Yes. All right. Unanimous. And I have to uh recognize Dr. Gayy for all the work she's done on this has been a amazing progress. Um being the board president, I can see a little bit more behind the curtain than everybody else and and the work that's gone on behind this.
So, it's certainly a sensible thing to do. And as I said, we've got quite a bit documented, but it's not complete and we would like to complete it. Do do you think So, including yourself, so all the way to the top of your finance department. I believe you're expecting some turnover in the next 12 months. Do you think there's any chance that you could you'd be able to get the lion share of that documented? We'd think so. The the person actually we're we're talking to is the same person that did the student activity review and made several recommendations. Jeff Ziplo is his name. Okay. So because that, you know, accounting procedures manual, we I don't think we do anything really out of the ordinary. Yeah. So if they have a good starting point for us, you know, they'll come in, do some interviews, look at what we do, help us document it, we'll see what the price is, but it is something that um we should be able to complete, you know, before the next audit is done.
Jersey cows, like said before, are the smallest breed of dairy cows at one year. They will grow to be about 42 in tall and weigh about 550 lb. Full jersey cows will be about 48 in tall and weigh about 800 lb. This is Charlotte Charlie's mom. She was three days short of her second birthday when she had Charlie. She was in the adopt a cow program two years ago. Her birthday is September 6th, 20, 2022. Fun fact, she was Miss Ferguson's first adopted cow when she joined the program, her first year at the middle school. She is 50 in tall and weighs 850 pounds. She produces 63 pounds of milk a day. Her main job is to produce the high quality milk that is used to make fluid milk and her products. Charlotte lives in a dry lot with other cows that are milked. On hot days, they have open barns with misters and fans.
And it's not just a hey, let's do this today and we're going to roll it out. This is months of preparation. In fact, these books back here are evident of of what she has and have them on display. So all the teachers can come look at the curriculum and evaluate them beforehand. So I think you did a great job on that. So thank you very much. Thank you for all that. All right. Next one is the approval. We're going to spend some money. Might make a little bit more here. So approve of the lunch fee increase for 202526. Yeah, having these two items next to each other was probably poor planning on my part. However, um our food service program does operate on its own as far as the money that we get from the sales of foods goes back into the purchases of the supplies and materials for the foods.
Okay, great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Hi V. Um, so would the auditors be helping you put the procedures together? Because how could how could they audit your procedures if they're the ones who put them together? Yeah. So Jeff Ziplo is not on the audit team. He's on the consulting side. Okay. So it' be more about you would have a hire a consultant to do that. Yeah. Okay. Yes, that's what it is. That makes more sense. All right. Thanks. Okay. Okay. Are we ready to move on? So for school meal prices, I would like to introduce Emily Taylor, our assistant chief operating officer, and Erica Bajetti to explain the recommendation and why and how much we're recommending at this time.