Maybe that we don't have to train for things again because they would have already they already know a lot of those those things. So moving that from 10 years I I'm going to make a motion that we just change that contract language in the certified teacher salary schedule, but I'm open to anyone. I hope I get the second, but we can discuss it. So thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Before a second, since we can still ask clarification. You're talking about if I am a teacher who is looking to apply into this district and I come here with let's say 13 years of experience or even 18 years of experience. When I get hired here, they cap it at 10 years currently of experience. Uh this would be they would recognize you for 15 years of your time or up to 15 years of your time as a previous uh teacher.
On page 31 it's not. Well, we did we did go through them Yeah, we scrolled through them quickly. Yeah, the last meeting when we were at, I agree. I thought all these were included. Yeah. Okay, I the last And there wasn't no there wasn't no it was smaller I increased the font, but I I will increase it more and maybe make it flash and strobe and So, if the total we're presenting a level service budget, none of the priorities are included. No. No. That would be an above level service, yeah. So, that's good why we're having this meeting, right? So, you guys are giving us the feedback so we can get ready for the March 10th. I was just going to say maybe if you change the heading on those two slides where it says investments and impact for consideration, like to adding to the budget.
If I'm the school that it everything looks okay but my attendance is low, my action step is going to be around attendance. If I am a school who maybe my at risk factor is that I have a lot of students that are in credit recovery and have failed classes, I'm going to put my emphasis and my energy around creating an action step to support that. And that's where I think this process um has been really beneficial because we're not just assuming that one action step, one goal is going to work for everybody, but they are under the umbrella of what we have outlined that we're sharing with you tonight. >> Thank you. Can I ask a question about chronic absenteeism because I've heard presentations that um coming out of CO Arizona was really struggling with that issue. Um is that something we struggled with as we came out of the pandemic?
Is that correct? So, three Yes, that's what I'm saying. So, in other words, uh it's $3,500 for 10 years experience. So, instead of the teacher starting teacher salary, you would add $3,500 onto that. To move to 15, it would go from 3,500 to 5,250. Cuz you're talking about adding onto the base, correct? >> Yes. Okay. Um does anybody have any other questions before a second or anything happens? Do you have a question? I just >> [clears throat] >> I'm already concerned with the >> [snorts] >> increases as far as the 4% that was done at the last meeting and I shared my concerns. And it might I mean, you say it's only this much, but it adds up and I have I have a big concern what the impact of that would be financially um overall. And again, we're already dealing with a deficit and adding more to that.
You know, so like right in that Yeah. I mean at some point you just got to be like I mean uh it says right in the budget. Would it maybe It was So we might not I thought it was clear tonight. I did not think it was clear last Last time. What? Because were these notes not in there last What if I made What if I made this the very last section? No. Right? So I differentiated it from everything and say So like then you in the next it's not going to matter. It's not going to matter. Okay. >> going to matter where it is. I don't want to bury them. I'll do I'll do my best to make it last. I don't want to bury this. These are important and note you have on 31. You just made that on 32 and 33. Joe, can we get some alarm sounds in there if I download some?
Is it something that we're doing better on now? Where where are we with chronic absenteeism? I think that's an area that everyone always feels like is a huge problem, but we're very very fortunate in Gilbert public schools that our absenteeism rates are are very they're strong are low. Absenteeism rates are low. >> Attendance is strong. >> Attendance rates are high. >> Crushing it in. >> Yes. >> So, while teachers and administrators focus on a very small percentage, we still don't want to leave those kids behind. So, um, we are this particular upcoming quarter after spring break at the secondary level, we are going to create a a committee to try to look at our practices to make sure that as a district we're supporting schools um in the I guess consequences for absenteeism and what we can do to identify those kids and help get them to school.
Financially is a problem. Um so I personally don't think it's it's a good idea um to do that. President Wade, I um I think uh fiscally it's not really responsible to do it this year. Um maybe if I just it especially doesn't make sense right now that we are working on the deficit. So, I see kind of your motivating factor, but I really do not think it's wise, especially now. President Wade, oh, go ahead. Did you I was going to ask Ms. Johnson Yes, she looks like she's >> [laughter] >> I I would like ex- President May Um [snorts] members of the board, um that would cause a couple of difficulties because we have other salary schedules that we base years of experience on. So, just adjusting that one schedule could cause some wage compression from people we just hired this year because we only count it up to 10 years of experience.
>> [laughter] >> Okay. Uh I see. I see. Were they like that way too high or just a little too high? What's that? Um so like All right, I'm keep talking about the 1.1 from Oil City. What did Berlin say? Did they say oh 786 way too high or did they just say use your cash to offset it? Just cash to offset it. They haven't given us a number. They haven't told us how how how too high we are. So how do we feel about the Again, this this will come down somewhat by next meeting. Um you know, I I you know, How so? I I think I Mhm? How so? How much? How so? You said it's going to come down by So so I have the my meeting with Janelle and Michelle yesterday is not included in this. Oh. >> So we we Yeah, so we've we've been working on this continuously.
Um, sometimes it's really hard to come up with different ideas and and our schools have tried all sorts of things to increase that small percentage to get it get them to school, but it's challenging, but we're always working on that. Always looking at different ideas that are out there that we can use to try to increase those rates even though they are actually very good. >> Okay, good. Yeah, >> I mean I just I've heard a lot even on um different maybe news sources about you know a lot of this is just tailoring it to that individual student whatever challenges that they're facing >> personally or with their family or with maybe with their health or whatever whatever reason is keeping them out of school to work with them to and it it's very very um detailed oriented work and and really needs uh follow through find someone at the school to just help and encourage I think >> yeah it's challenging very challenging um let's see >> this one it goes a little bit out of order our third um action step for this goal um was actually the alternative pathways and expanding options at Canyon Valley uh at global and some even some of our schools specifically have created alternative pathways.
Um we have other salary schedules that only go up to 12 years of experience. Um we also use years of experience for when uh calculating administrative salaries as well and we cap it there, too, at 10. So, this could cause some financial um concerns and we haven't analyzed what that could look like in the future. Just my comment at this point. President Mr. Glover, so maybe it's something we can look at next year. Sure. Yeah, and I mean you have to consider also Sorry, I didn't Oh no, you're fine. I was just going to say I agree paying people for their expertise and having good teachers is important for our students. Um but if it doesn't financially make sense right now, maybe we could bring it up at add it to next year's discussions. Yeah. Well, you know, they the greatest you know, the most beautiful waterfall starts with a drop of water, so >> [laughter] >> got to plant the seed.
We'll continue to work on it, but Not ready for tonight. Yeah, so so so there will will some reductions to out of district costs and some transportation costs. >> huge, Aaron, though. Let's be Well, they're not they're not they're they're not going to suddenly make Boylston and and Berlin jump out of their seats It's not going to come up all level all the prior ones. I I Would it cost cover costs in the future? Hm? Would it cover costs in the future? It surely would. I mean, it it surely would is going to salvage some things. Uh and you know, again, I guess I would implore the school committee if I'm looking to try to, you know, fight for this budget is to begin by at least approving the level service budget that we have, right? At the next meeting. The the the conversations we don't have exact numbers from Berlin.
One example is the CAT foundations at Mosquite High School. Uh but to this particular slides point, this was our fourth action step and it primarily focuses on our CTE programs at our at our schools and industries alignment and workforce readiness. So the key metrics on there that we're using are retention rates in those programs. So from their first to second year. Um and then the certification goal of making sure that our kids who complete those programs we would love at least 50% of them to be completers and earn that industry certificate. Um so workforce some of the actions workforce alignment. Um this is one that our new uh CTE director will be working closely on making sure that our programs are evaluated against a 10-year job growth projection. um jobs are changing and so we need to change our programs in order to accommodate uh the need that's out there and make sure that our our students are best prepared for those changing uh the changing needs.
But sometimes when you have somebody, for example, like myself, I was at the top end of the salary schedule when I retired. So, to replace me with a first-year teacher, you're still saving a tremendous amount of money, probably. Um so, anyway, I that's fine if there's not a second, but maybe it's something we can talk about in the future. Thank you. I I am interested in in at least getting some some language or verbage as to what those changes could look like, what things we could look forward to in terms of the financial impact and all of that. Obviously, we have time considering contracts are in this moment because the the the teacher in me looks at the crisis that we all see in front of us, which is a teacher shortage outright. And so, I think it would be beneficial for all districts to figure out ways in which that they are the lucrative place for experienced teachers to go.
We don't have a We know a general ballpark of where Boylston is. Those conversations can continue so long as we're not doing it on the floor of town meeting, right? In in sort of that desperate sense. So, we've got, you know, all of April, um all of March and all of April to sort of continue some of those conversations. We may be able to sharpen our pencils a bit in that time. There may be other savings as I said, there are some sort of potentials out there that we're keeping our eye on that could change. And and if that were to happen, I would at the next available school committee meeting where we could do or if you recall last year, we did a couple meetings where we just did a very quick online Zoom meeting around noon and said, "We've got a reduction to make.
The um our CTE advisory board this year created an updated work-based handbook uh workbased learning handbook brought an example of that if you want to take a look. Um, it turned out really nicely and gives our counseling departments at the high school level and even down to the junior high level some of the pathways that they can uh participate in while they're there in order to be better prepared post uh post high school even if their choice is not to go to a 4-year university or college. Um, we added student success advisors this year. um changed, I should say. They weren't added. We adjusted the FTE allocation and utilized our some of the full-time teachers from Global Academy. They went back to the campuses and we used some of that FTE in order to create student success advisors that were track that are at our five comprehensive high schools and are tracking students who are taking global academy classes or taking um on track to move or transfer over to Canyon Valley temporarily to credit recover and get caught back up so they can get back to the comprehensive campus.
I recognize that everybody needs to start in their career someplace, and I found mine at Higley. I came to Higley because they were offering things that other places weren't. And I think there is there is some some benefit to that. So, I appreciate at least getting the the ball started, Mr. Glover. Any other questions or comment? Okay, yeah. >> Sorry, President um Ms. Johnson. You probably you might not know this, but I just have a question. Do you know if other districts what theirs looks like? Or I know Mr. Glover mentioned, I believe Gilbert Gilbert is 10. So, I just some feedback if you know. I can look into that for sure. Okay. Thank you. Uh I motion to approve the 2026-2027 fiscal year salary schedules as presented effective for the new fiscal year July 1 of 2026. Second. That would be Ms. Schultz seconding.
We've got some cuts. Here's what we can do to get there." So, it it doesn't, you know, as much as our our deadline of 45 days is governed by the state, right? So, that the town has adequate time to put it on there. But in most cases, if we have a reduction, they're going to be happy to reflect that in the town meeting or to bring it up on the floor of town meeting. We just can't be negotiating on the floor of town meeting. If we agree and they agree Whatever we vote on Tuesday, that's the ceiling. For now, that's that's that's the starting point, yes. The ceiling it can come down, but we can't increase it up. >> We're not going up from there, yeah. So so Aaron and I worked together a long time, so I respectfully disagree. I think we should vote level service, but I also think you should be looking at slide 32.
sooner. Um, this this position, our high schools cannot believe they survived without this position. Um, it's really challenging for our counselors to we have a lot of students, thousands of courses that are taken online through our global academy and to keep kids on track and kind of keep pushing them to keep making progress in those classes uh is hard because nobody was taking full responsibility for that. So, this is a position where they're keeping track of every kid that is taking an online class and any kid that is um coming up on some of these indicators is being behind or off track, working towards the that credit recovery in whatever capacity it is, whether it's finishing an online class, getting them into inter session, getting them to summer school, getting them to Canyon Valley, making sure that they're doing everything possible. So um really really uh valuable position and um I think is appreciated by the schools as well as Canyon and Global.
Please take the time to vote on the thing. >> [snorts] >> Ms. Oberman, mine is overwhelmingly delayed on this side. Do we have We have five years. Okay. Motion carries five to zero. Yeah, mine showed up like the last one about 30 seconds ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, good talk. 7.3 approval of the 2026-2027 employee contracts.
That priorities. Right? Like why why shoot low, right? Let let the let the conversation happen from March 10th. Well, we're hoping people come and have that. That's right. Next week. But why like again, I'm going to say this quickly, tell us tell us which one of these So I'm curious. So tonight we're not doing a a vote, but I mean say hypothetically if we said okay, well, let's say everything on page 32 and then we can whittle it down on Tuesday. Or do we feel that is too much for Tuesday discussion and we want to try to whittle it down to more? >> [clears throat] >> But again, then it's it's based on what all of those staff said last week on why they were arguing. >> [clears throat] >> But I mean the only thing on 32 that I would say maybe we could consider using savings to pay for would be those luncheon recesses, which I understand isn't a lot.