But I think it stays until we figure that out. The general consensus that the general consensus, are you okay with that as well? Right. Um, so if we could take a vote with that amended with taking out those three first three green paragraphs and leaving in the vendor contractor conflict of interest. If we could take a vote on that, please. Julie Jenny, yes. Jason Jansik, yes. Bridget Sandlin, no. Darling, yes. Mindy Hartman, yes. Katherine Potter, yes. Stacy Salt, yes. Okay, that motion is approved. Uh, next up we have the approval of policy 4140, waiver of student fees. May I have a motion to approve policy 4140, waiver of student fees as presented? I'll make the motion for discussion. Is there a second? Sure. Second. And the discussion. Okay. Um, 4140 waiver of student fees. Um, again, I'm just gonna, if you give me a second, I'll brought this forward um, and ask the board to consider finessing the language at the bottom.
For example, um as you know, we have a hybrid and electric vehicle um wing on our automotive shop. Well, let's make sure that when back when we're learning about car batteries and things like that, let's make sure that we have curriculum integrated in at that point about electric vehicle batteries. So, we're looking at things like that just to make sure that um these concepts are in our curriculum. We also have funding in this grant for a wage reimbursement program for our graduates um so that as they leave GLTS, there's funding available for clean energy employers to uh hire our students and have the first three months paid for. And lastly, we don't feel like we want to do this all on our own. there's funding to get guidance from industry experts and um a project management facilitator to help us move all these pieces forward at the same time.
Kimberly Dods Karen. Dr. Dods Karen brings 28 years of experience in education, including leadership roles as director of teaching and learning at Scottsdale's Unified School District, coordinator of gifted and talented education at Higgley Unified School District, and director of director of gifted education, AVID service learning and alternative education at Scottsdale Unified School District. She is also an educational consultant with J Taylor Education. She is a pro practitioner of teacher education specializing in differentiated in curriculum and instruction in both the K12 and university levels serving as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Southern California. Her educational background includes doctor of education from University of Southern California where she also earned a master of science in education and a bachelor of science. So we are pleased to recommend Dr. Dods Kieran. Thank you, Dr. Lauren. Um, so without further ado, I'll just move the governing board approve um, Kimberly M.
And then we really also um work a lot with thankfully um our research and data department um with Tableau, Fastbridge, Illuminate and um in at the elementary level particularly also looking at ASA results and and what can help our schools get even better uh as compared to the states letter grades. All right, take it away. Sorry before before do Mr. Cannon starts one question. Can you I know a little bit about Tableau. Can you explain fast fastbridge and illuminate? So, and maybe explain Tableau for the community so they can remember what that's all about. Okay. Well, FastBridge and Illuminate are programs that assess students throughout the year, give us some information about how students are doing at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and at the end of the year, and so that you can make decisions in the areas of reading and writing at the elementary level.
Any questions about this piece here? You don't have to have questions, but and I know no questions doesn't mean there aren't questions. I started my career as a teacher and saw silent rooms without full uh knowledge. So I know that doesn't mean no questions. Um the DCC I've been working closely with over the last couple of weeks and or couple of months and their role is really critical in strategic plan implementation. And when I talk to Tom and the leadership team about who should be your working committee, this kind of big group in the middle that helps align on what strategies are we doing, figure out what uh what we should use for initiatives, provide feedback on what data we collect. They immediately said, "We have this group that's the DCC. They represent all of our other committees and they're an interdisciplinary group that really knows the district well." So that's why we've been working closely with them and that team has had the chance to see all of the materials from today, provide feedback.
That's a win. Um so I appreciate you exploring this and bringing this to the table. Thanks Job. Bottom line, it means year one we're paying $43,500 more. After that we're paying $28,996 less for every year after that. Any other questions? Thank you. Uh, next up we have the D26 policy manual review section five. Yep. Um, so I can kick it off and then I'm gonna pivot to Mrs. Potter, who once again has done her homework and has um dug into the um the policies and um set forth some things. Um we've collaborated also um and she has some great questions prior to bringing these to the board. Mrs. Potter, I do have one idea for you all when you talk about the first one 5:15, but I'll let you share and then I'll share my idea and then the board can kind of decide where they want to go with that.
This was um, new in the D26 board policy manual. And really, we talked I I got and I had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Thomas and Laura earlier, and I appreciate that. And um I felt like the most important part was to I guess I don't see it in here. I don't know. Um I think I have it I think I have it marked miss those I see I see where it wasn't at the bottom. It was at the bottom of the former one. Okay. Um I I guess what I felt was most important to keep in to move from the old manual to the new would be the um responsibility of the superintendent to present the proposed fees fee schedule to the board at that certain time. Um and not we don't have to have any of that other language just that final last in green.
So, that's what we're doing with that funding. And then also we received a $750,000 um clean energy equipment grant from the Mass Clean Energy Energy Center that we're going to use in our new barn building to be able to set the equipment up so that all of our different shops will be able to go and um learn about the different new technologies. We we're putting geothermal heating in there. Um trainers in wind, solar, geothermal, and heat pump technology. and also u more trainers in heat in also heat pump technology. And we're also looking at this funding will be used for a model home where it'll be a hands-on um place for our students. You know, they go out and every year they're building a home. This will be with all high performance building standards. So, they'll be able to learn that and uh construct and deconstruct so that we'll be able to use this building over and over.
Dod's Karen for the position of director of curriculum instruction and assessment effective July 1st, 2025. Second. All those in favor? I. Congratulations. And always, you don't have to say anything, but we'd love for you to come up and say a little something. And as she's coming up, if anyone caught a smirk when we were talking about looking at improving our good services earlier, you might have noticed some things in her biography as well. Yes, thank you. Um, good evening, Vice President Gibson Mlan, members of the board, um, Senate Man, everybody present. I'm honored for this opportunity. Um, it's been an exciting, uh, month, it feels like, um, to get to really know your school district. Uh I appreciate the um student outcome focused governance that you as a board are truly committed to and I look forward to getting to know the team. Um of course supporting Dr.
And then Tableau is a system um that compiles all sorts of information. Tim takes over most of it because their area has so much data, but it's compiling and and that research and data team is putting together visualizations of the data, the results, things to think about. It's broken down by demographics, by school, by grade. It contains ASA information. It contain those. It can have the information about attendance, um, enrollment, it's just housing, all sorts of information. I might not have done it justice. You agree. Okay. All right. You're welcome. Thanks, Tia. Tia has way more schools than I do. I mean, she has 26 elementary schools and I I that would give me hives. I have 13 secondary schools and uh I can barely keep up. But I'm going to start with a story and Shane I promise it'll be short. Uh every 45 days we have what's called impact checks both at the elementary and at the secondary level.
Actually, a lot of the goals were influenced by that group. Um, and they also are ones who are building action plans, collecting data, analyzing that data or reviewing that data and setting a direction for what needs to happen next. Um, and how this all fits together. So, on a monthly basis, the DCC is meeting to uh review action plans. So, and what I mean by action plans, I'll show later. I should have probably pulled that up earlier, but building out specific steps that say what are the things that we're going to do um or that our teams are going to do that's going to um be lead to change on our specific strategies within our strategic plan. Um, and then at the dcc it's reviewing each other's action plans and saying, "Hey, I come from the resource side of the world, but I have a lot of questions.
Well, go ahead and share your idea. Okay. So, M I I want I I didn't want to steal the your thunder, but Mrs. Potter um raised a great point. So, um the the district previously had policy 515, which dealt with employee um situations of nepotism. Um and in our new policy manual, that language does not exist. So, originally, Mrs. Potter had recommended that we add that policy back in. And I was trying to think of a way that if you added the policy back in, it would be a custom policy, meaning someone on the board needs to remember to review that one each year or so forth. Um, because we would not get updates automatically from press. I thought though, I did find policy 520 120. I'm sorry. Policy 5120. Thank you. I see. I see. I see that. I was wondering why that was there.
And then as we were discussing um we felt that perhaps even bringing it to the board no later than the February board meeting um would be appropriate if would you agree Mr. Shepard? Yes, we currently abide by that timing anyway because registration opens in March. So, we have to have those those fees hammered out by February. So, this is a perfectly doable. So, thank you. And if so, if you're looking at this language here in green, um I suppose that I'm going to make a motion to amend um the final sentence to read as the superintendent shall present a proposed fee schedule to the board to allow for planning by both the board and district and parents. The board will approve the fee schedule no later than the February board meeting. Are you striking the bullet points? Unless you guys love the I like computer discs in a policy manual, but I just I want to make sure that So, we're striking that everything above that.
as well as there's funding for solar panels and um we also want to make sure that there is equal access to clean energy careers. So that really goes on to talking about our adult learners and we do have funding available for um we've run two cohorts so far so far on solar installer technical training. We're coming up on building maintenance technician training which relates to how buildings are now operated which is everything's automated and so it's a very different way of operating buildings. So we're helping our um adults look at that and start on that career pathway and we there's continue to be funding available. So we have also submitted additional um grant proposals to help upgrade our building and our heating system. um especially for our pool and our new cafeteria area to heat that area with heat pumps and not need to use our large gas boilers.
Pombo. She's been really delightful to get to know in just these last um few weeks and of course with change there's always some trepidation but I have to say um the day that Dr. Pombo called me and there was like a speaker phone of we're all here. Um it felt really welcoming and I just really appreciated um how sincere everybody um has been. And my husband couldn't be here this evening and not a lot of people um know just yet about this but one of my um partners in crime, one of my coaches came tonight because she didn't want me to be alone. And so I want to thank um Johanna, one of our science coaches who's here and I think some of the other members of the team are uh in the cloud. uh creeping in, but um I want to acknowledge um their support for my transition.
And at that 45 days every campus comes to the district office and presents uh data relative to their goals and their action steps. At the last impact check, one of the college and career counselors shared a story and uh she she reminded us that she was tactfully relentless and that's what our job is is to just be tactfully relentless in the pursuit of providing opportunities for kids. So she shared that there were 26 kids that had no intention of going to college. uh because she was tactfully relentless. All 26 kids are going to college with full rides. And when she said that, we looked at one another. I have three daughters and I thought, boy, I wish I would have had her. I was I just wish I would have had her. But what I thought of was working backwards. Those 26 kids were able to qualify for scholarships because of the teachers uh preparing them for the counselors choosing their courses.
What does this mean?" And having that open discussion around how where have we made progress and where has progress stagnated and how can we move forward? They also spend time reviewing data. Um, we spent time yesterday looking at um some early spring data and saying, "What does this really mean for us and how do we want to move forward? um and problem solving. The subcommittees also meet month monthly as you all know and sit on many of them and subcommittees should actually be building those action plans. So while the dcc is reviewing them, the subcommittee is building them and might be collecting some relevant data especially progress data like how many teachers participated in this PD um that we had or signed up for this new software. So that would give an indication of whether or not it's successful. So those two teams meet very regularly and their work is really progressing is really creating progress and then staff and the board are updated on a regular but less frequent basis with much more information.
Yep. Policy 5120 is employee ethics, code of professional conduct and conflict of interest. So when I was looking at it, I was like, well, what we could do is take the language from 515 and put a new section in 5120 labeled nepotism. That way 5120 would continue to be brought up in revisions from press and then you all could review that language when it's brought up. So that way no one has to monitor that one custom policy and the language still gets in policy. So that's what um I just wanted to bring that up and I didn't have a chance to talk to you about that one. I forgot. So I apologize for not bringing it up sooner. I like um I like it. So I guess um the issue was is that um nepotism this this paragraph that you'll you can see there that was removed from the um board policy manual in the new manual and my suggestion was is that we really needed to have something on this.
We can keep discats if you want. Okay. And add floppy disc. Just so the board's aware too, most of except for the discounts, most of what's in those bullet points are actually in the um handbooks in the know your schools handbook as well as the entry handbook and the junior high handbook. So that information does exist elsewhere. I do like having deadlines for when we're supposed to get things done and for everyone to expect that. It does help us hold administration accountable. Not that you guys haven't blown any deadlines, but it does help us know what's coming. So, I like what Miss Powder has proposed as the consolidated version of all this green language. I'm just bringing it, guys. I'm just bringing it. I'm just want to hear from you. But I I felt that that was the most important language to have as well.
Um and we've also submitted for another grant to continue doing solar training. Um and the thing is that we do have more grant opportunities available to be able to when there is um equipment missing or extra training that's needing needed, we'll be able to do that as well. Um, so I just wanted to let you know all the different things that we're doing to um integrate clean energy careers into our um day program and into our building. um you know it's a it's an issue of not just um for example doing the curriculum but it's also doing the career awareness making sure that we have the right equipment and making sure that our teachers are up to speed with everything as well. Um, so that that's what we're trying to do with all of these different funding sources and connecting with employers because in the final analysis, what we're looking for is to help our students um get employed in this um changing economy that we're in.