>> Not homeschooled, but the ESA funds they only take per ATM. They only take per head half to buy a TV. So, so then let's say if I had a kid and I wanted to get the ESA funds and take take them to let's say all of that money go right is that what you're asking >> I was thinking more home that way too I guess >> right but also remember this So the big word in the media is broad and everything else. >> It does not all go to a private school. Half of it stays. It's supposed to stay at the district which is what what I wondered. >> So because only 50% for ADM so for high schoolers it's like 16 15. It depends on what school district you're in. So for veil for sawita for I don't know what it would be but it's about 14 to 16,000 but they only give half of it.
Yes, it created a little bit more work for some of the adults in the room, but that's a better assessment for our students and that gets put in the grade book and that's communicating and helping students have confidence knowing that their grade is more reflective of their true learning. And so, it's just being open to that feedback and um discussing those things and then turning over to our team if we feel like something needs to be addressed if it's for maybe a different reason. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, you're welcome. All right. So, with that, I will share finally uh I saved my favorite data point uh for the the end of our presentation. Our advanced placement participation continues to grow. This is data from 2021 through this last year. And you will see that for the fiscal year 26, the registration for AP exams has uh closed.
Uh annually the contracts are reviewed. Um the information in there is is annually reviewed but any changes legislatively would be uh taken into consideration on an annual update before they're uh submitted to the board for the first read. [clears throat] >> Okay. So annual update also is there any kind of when it comes to behavior and um such like that is that in the contract or is that more um behavior toward uh in the other the agreements and such? No, there there's language in the contract that uh is the expectation to abide by all governing board policies and then within governing board policies is language that talks about various uh violations of staff conduct. >> Okay. And then uh like with legal and HR, we're utilizing the opportunities to kind of make it really uh clear exactly the consequence of of you know incorrect behavior uh with the finances and touching base with uh any actions, inappropriate behaviors with the students.
You know, we are obviously trying to live within our means. You know, the challenges Mr. Mr. Harman's articulated how clearly opening a new school is and the challenges that involve. We believe 3 3% is something we can stand behind and uh again I appreciate his work on that. There are plenty of other districts that not are offering anything even close to that. >> Um an additional follow-up question. So having a new school, do you find that it's more challenging to get um teachers when it is a new school? >> Member Rothchild. Unfortunately, we can't really dive into that because this agenda item is just on the contract language. >> Thank you for the claration. >> Do I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Lisa, I have a motion in a second. >> Shante Rothschild. >> I. >> Ben Owens. >> Hi.
Uh and then we have a combination of both school improvement days, which are early dismissal days when our staff learns, and uh then records day when they do their records and grading holiday waivers. So, we sent out a survey and the purpose of the waiver was for us to use a group of holidays as Chromebooks will not be going home on a daily basis with K5 next year. Um, because of that, we could get caught with that kind of snowstorm that like we had like I don't know two years ago it was October 31st and then we got hit uh with snow. I believe it was like November 6th this year. Uh so it would give us the flexibility if we could not have an e-learning day. The e-learning day means that all students have devices and have access to their teachers um at home.
Um, somebody else might not look at that that way, you know, and and so we all bring a perspective to everything in life. And so I I think all those perspectives are important and and school safety is no different. And so, um, just want to share that with you guys. Again, I'll be sending something out um maybe this evening or or probably likely tomorrow um just with some more updates and and but also just wanted to share all the great things that we do every day here at school um to ensure the safety of our students and staff. So, and that's all I have. So, items from board members. I've got one. Let me go first. >> Go ahead. Um, so Amy, Travis, and I had a meeting with Roger Klein about policy number 3060. Um, he proposed making a small change to the end of it.
If appointed, I would bring a prepared, curious, and collaborative approach. I believe in listening carefully, being open to different perspectives, and asking thoughtful questions while keeping students at the center of our decisions. Most importantly, I would bring a calm, respectful, and transparent approach to the work. I understand the school committee decisions affect the entire district, and I'm committed to building trust, encouraging respectful dialogue, and serving the community as a whole. Thank you again for your time and consideration. I would be honored to serve. >> Thank you. So, uh, we'll each ask our question and we'll just start here. Lisa, we'll go around the table. >> Well, I think you answered. >> You did. Great. I was just gonna say, why are you coming forward? >> Yeah, sure. Um, so yeah, I think I I mentioned a little bit about my personal experience with public life education.
Um, also within the last year, we've made some improvements to student learning. Um, as I mentioned before, we upgraded all the access points in the building to provide faster, more reliable internet for the students. Um, we've been monitoring student Chromebook usage using tools like GoG Guardian um to make sure that students are using applications um with data privacy in mind. So, student data privacy is very important and ensuring that they're only using applications that protect their information. Uh we've also developed a plan to replace all 100 interactive classroom displays um this summer with a new system that they'll be on a mobile cart uh so the teachers have more flexibility as well as a Chrome box just with the idea to make the teachers lives as easy as possible for their instruction. Uh we've developed a and implemented a new uh Chromebook borrowing process. uh with so much curriculum online these days, if a student forgets their Chromebook, it makes their day very difficult to learn.
Board of Education goal, learning environment and belonging. Board of Education goal, embracing equity, and board of education goal, workforce development. It's exciting that when we look at the administrative team priorities and we report to you every week in your in our updates of really grounding everything that we do in our board of education goals, the strategic plans. And what we really had to do as an administrative team is really narrow down and zero in on our administrative team budget priorities relative to student achievement in all areas across the district. Maintain our class size according to the Canton Board of Education policy. I commend our policy committee for allowing me to have the confidence in what I'm presenting you tonight that we're in the the range of our class size. What's most important is focusing on teaching, learning, professional development, and social emotional well-being of all our students.
We wrapped up Almost Main uh earlier last month performed by the Azuza High Theater Company. Our students did an excellent job and this production marks an important step as the program continues to grow. We're looking forward to their next performance, the musical six, which which will be presented in May. In the family and parent engagement level, we have seen a strong participation in our technology classes for parents. These classes have focused on practical skills such as using Google, working with Google Docs, and drafting emails. We appreciate the support of community schools and parent bridge for helping provide these learning opportunities for our families. Two weeks ago, our career technical education pathways, including computer science, graphic arts and multimedia, medical and health careers, engineering, and automotive, visited Glastale Middle School for their career fair. Our instructors and student representatives were welcomed by student ambassadors and spent the morning introducing eighth grade students to the pathway pathways available at Isuza High School.
And I'm trying to go relatively quick. These are cooling towers at building 13. You can see the rust that is gathered on these and that is just degradation and corrosion on it. And this is an old cooling tower. It's older technology. It's it's end of useful life and time for this to be replaced as well. >> So Russell, you want to just make a comment? >> How long mechanical equip usually last and how old these is. >> So, these are back in the 90s or older. Uh mechanical equipment, you want to have about 15 years of useful life. Around 15 years, you need to be planning replacement. Anything you get beyond that is just it's gravy and it's good. And I I got to give hats off to your your maintenance staff. They've done a great job of scabbing together and and extending the life as long as they possibly can on these units and on the equipment.
They only So where does the other half go? >> Doesn't come here because ours is based solely off of our ADM. I know there's been a lot of changes with ESA over the last four or five years. Um, even for students with disabilities, which is how it originally started. Um, they're getting a little more selective and there's more barriers that parents need to kind of navigate through. that doesn't necessarily fall on us, but >> So, not only can they get that money to go to private school, they can also get more than $400. That's what >> it's a lot. It is a lot. I want to say private schools, it's >> more than tax credit here. It is >> back to this report, this highrisisk report >> and this is the public has access to this report. >> How many other districts are comparable to us?
And we are on track to facilitate 6,200 exams this year. And I will also share that if it were up to me, I would have loved to have taken this longitudinal data back even five more years because you will see this significant of an increase in exams for even four to 5 years prior to this. And so where we went from being known for having a couple of strong AP schools, we now are a strong AP district. Um, and what I find to be um I know we don't have 2026 exam uh pass rates yet. We'll get that in July. So for the sake of a middle of the year presentation, all I have for this year is the number of exams. However, I did want to share in the last 2 years um our pass rate has increased by 10% over two years and um our pass rate last year for these 5570 exams was above 80%.
All that kind of stuff is covered in these. Utilize it you utilize these. That way you can have more of a swifter, firm action. Yeah, from from a HR perspective, the the overarching uh staff conduct policies encumbered in the rest of the governing board policies that all employees are expected to adhere to and then the specific consequences and the uh ramifications of violation of policy then is is enforced through the contract by way of the governing board policy. >> Okay, wonderful. So, it's very transparent to them what they're signing up for and the actions for that kind of conduct. Okay, thank you so much. [snorts] >> All right, there's no more questions or comments. Thank you, Mr. Walker. This brings us to 6.2 fiscal year 2025 audit reports. Miss Rush Camp, you have somebody to introduce. >> Uh good evening, President Wade, members of the board.
>> Lisa Garcia. >> I. >> Carolyn Lopez. >> I. >> Patty Catra. >> I. >> Discussion of And we're moving on to item C. Discussion and possible approval of the employee compensation plans. Mr. Beckett. >> Thank you, President Catray, members of the board, and Dr. Lman. You have all of those plans in front of you tonight. Each of the plans will reflect a 1.5% increase, uh, with the exception of the certified compensation plan, which is just raising a full thousand, which is a little over the 1.5%. Additionally, we'll be adding some uh additional money to our substitute rates which are on the stipen extra duty schedule and we're just asking for your support tonight with that. Once again, just I want to reiterate 3% for continuing staff and we're just raising initial placement by 1.5%. >> So, Mr. Becket, just to clarify so I understand it because this always gets confusing the way it's written.
And so it was to give that flexibility that we could use that holiday instead of making it up uh at the end of the school year. And it was not um automatic. it was something that uh the superintendent would work we would work with the union and decide uh if we would use that day and so because of that feedback we sent a survey out to all 700 plus staff members. It went out on January 14th and then it was due on uh January 16th that Friday and we asked them three um questions which was uh what was your work location meaning your building if you were represented by either ACME or CMEA our unions or not and then the question asked was if a full school day closure occurs excuse me and an e-learning day can't be implemented I would prefer One, use emergency days in June and extend the school year.
Um uh concerning staff may request a meeting with the superintendent who will help bring the matter forward to the school board through the appropriate process. Um he said he would feel better if we had that that needed to be in writing the request to the superintendent. I don't disagree. I was kind of surprised it wasn't already that way. I thought it was. Maybe it wasn't an earlier edition of it, but so if you guys don't have a problem with it, I'd like to amend that next meeting to say the request needs to be in writing >> to the superintendent. So that's all I got. >> So that would be added to the agenda for Monday and >> then we'd have to vote on it. >> Yeah. So, if anybody's got an objection to that, >> and I'll say it was a it was a really nice meeting with Roger.
Um, and being involved in the community. Um, I come to these meetings, I see the important work you guys do, um, and how that affects the students. Um, this just felt like the right moment to step forward. I had been thinking about running for a while, so this is great timing. Um, I've done the preparation. Um, I've collaborated with a lot of administration and teachers. Um, and a lot of them have said, "Hey, you've joined that school committee." So, I sort of took that as a a positive note. Um, and I want to support the work that you guys are already doing. Um, not coming to disrupt or anything. I think we're have we're making great progress and I'm excited about some of the stuff that um, Rich and folks are working on. Um, and again, I'm going to listen. I'm going to learn and um, keep stuff focused on students.
Um so we were able to create a new process so that they can borrow a Chromebook and still be held accountable to make sure that they're returning it and that the families are also notified if they continue to borrow and they've lost their uh computer. Um I'm also very proud of the fact that we've resolved 958 uh technology support tickets. Uh we are very close to that 1,00 mark. Um but I'm very proud of the 958 that we've resolved in the past year. Um and we've also strengthened most recently we strengthened student account security by um enforcing a password reset. So we made all the students reset their password and we also made the requirements more complex and longer for their passwords. Um and that's also following the NIST framework for those uh password changes. And then finally, some schoolwide operations. Uh over the past year, um we have collaborated with administration um during budgeting just to make sure we're buying what we need and we're not buying what we don't need.
Provide a safe and healthy school environment. and propose a fiscally responsible budget that aligns with the camp board of education goals and the community design 25 through 2030 strategic plan. You know, each week when we when we I present to you what's really happening in the schools and the schools present to you what's happening in their reports that they present weekly to you. And when we come here to the to the meetings, we really talk about the successes that we have within the K public schools. And you know, not often do we really sit down and really celebrate where we are. And and it's an opportunity when you present a budget that you really have to ground the work in the successes that are happening within our school district. Because if you don't, what's the purpose? Why are we doing what we're doing if we're not becoming successful?