Okay. And um and so if we have another parah in one of those rooms then we can accommodate more students without necessarily having to have another teacher. when the year starts and we actually see how many kids are coming, I may have to come back to you and say we need to add a preschool teacher. Okay. Um and and I'll have to figure out how to make it work in the budget. But we also know that if that's the case, we will get some additional weighted funding uh because we get additional waiting we ging waiting for special needs kids. Okay. Um Okay. Um, as I told you, we're we have a couple of positions we're transferring. So, we are transferring uh a special ed teacher from Desert Valley to Diamondback and we're transferring one from Fox Creek to the middle school. That neither increases nor decreases our budget.
That would be I think because you want that as a special permit, especially the heights and I think having that kind of that would help. >> Parking spots. >> The parking should be pretty clear on the site plan. >> You're I think you're good now. I think you gave us some numbers, so that's good. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Can I just get a clarification? The draft that we're talking about is the one that was attached to >> the February 24th email. >> That sounds right. >> Okay. No, there's a email like >> No, you should have gotten a new one like two days ago. It just has one minor like two minor edits in it, but that's >> um Let me send tell you the exact date. Sorry. >> I think the original emails were dated around the 24th, which is what I was thinking.
Good evening everyone. Uh thank you for letting me speak this evening. Um it's very difficult. You all spoke of difficult situations and you can see why this particular issue really is impactful here to all of us here on the Tucson campus. We are heartbroken because as you heard from just a few students, every student has a story and I've written to the board, I've written six emails to to you all and I've spoken to every director administrator st on the stage so they know where I'm coming from and where I feel. But I I'm speaking to you as the board of directors because you you make decisions for us for all of us and it has a huge impact. And I I know change is in in the air. We have to do something. But I think what was the most painful for all of us is not being a part of that discussion.
It's just us putting people in the right places. Um, and then I already said to you, the librarian at Desert Valley and the CTE person at Fox Creek, I will I intend to move those salaries over into classroom site fund. So that removes those salaries and benefits from M, but we get to keep the positions. And then um strangely enough, our enrollment at every single grade level is down except the current fourth grade that's going into fifth grade. That one's up. Okay. And we currently have eight fifth grade classrooms with the increase in the number of students moving from fourth grade to fifth grade. Right now, they're all okay at the three at the three elementary sites because of the way it breaks down by number of sections, but when we put them all together and move them to the middle school, uh we really uh could could use two more teachers.
>> If you went back in the emails, >> just want to make sure I'm looking at the right draft. >> Yeah, the one from two days ago has the last little minor changes. >> Yeah. And I think there were two there were two files, one marked redlinined and one marked clean. >> Okay. So, I think I'm looking at the right thing. So just so >> it's a February 24th draft though. That's the problem. So if I'm looking at the February 24th draft, that's not the most recent is what you're saying. >> It was sent yesterday at 3:16. >> Okay. >> And there should be like Scott said, two versions, red line and a clean version. Do we need to go through the traffic studies as well? >> You you've done that previously. That was done a long time ago. That's why I'm asking. >> Yeah.
not being part of the planning and the op operating principles of ACT, accountability, collaboration, transparency is what our agency stands for. We were not included in that and we're an intricral part of what what happens here. We know these students better than anybody and you're put in a position to hear information.
However, we're only putting in one. Those classes will be a little bigger than they are right now. They're not going to be huge. They're going to run around 25 um uh 25 26 uh which is not horrible for fifth and sixth grade or fifth grade. Uh but we did that because um you'll see four counselor positions in this list to add into M probably temporarily. Jen has filed our request, our application for the state competitive safety grant funding that pays for our school resource officer at Fox Creek and pays for four counselor positions. It is a competitive grant, okay? Which means there will be more applications from school districts in the state for positions than there is money. We c and and it's a threeyear it's a three-year cycle. We're at the end of the three-year cycle. We have people in the We have counselors in those four positions.
>> I was that when was that traffic report? Is it more than a year? I think there were already there were already the things that I think affected things um as part of this, right? Sight lines and >> um uh the sidewalks that went in. Um >> we didn't have anything on the decision on those. >> I don't think so. We can we can look at it ourselves between now and then. >> Did you do you want me to resend it, Anna? Sorry. Would that be helpful? >> Sure. I I literally just need to know the title of the document. >> Oh. >> Um, >> you just search under her name, McCain. >> Okay. >> So, what's the timeline then for us to give them the decision? Like I I don't know how this works. So, >> um, well, uh, assuming that they will just be continuing to two weeks to March 26th, right?
I have three minutes. I don't have your ear. I reached out and say, "Please contact me. We would We'd like to give you another perspective. Our students have a voice. Their lives change. We change lives. I've been here for 32 years. I don't even think I introduced myself. I'm Sher Brown, the counselor. Um, we change lives. We I love my job because I see it every day. And now every day I have to see an extraordinary amount of pain and suffering and we're we're having to fend for ourselves. A decision was made but there was no plan on rolling this out and how to do it in a respectful, kind, and supportive way. And one of ASDB's vision is we're committed to respect, support, and the well-being of all. And I'm telling you, we're not we don't have the support. Parents are going to two-hour placement IEP meetings and they're shared how their child's succeeding and growing and thriving and yet we don't have we don't know where you're going.
I know you know how difficult it is to find counselors. We will not know whether we have been approved for that grant until the middle of May. We put out contracts the week after spring break. If I don't offer contracts to those folks, we will lose them. Now, the thought is, and I understand everybody's thought is, well, okay, Stuart, you presented RIFF letters to 13 employees. Why are we not figuring out a way to keep those positions? Because those are valuable employees to us. Also the thing is I don't have even a hope for funding to cover those positions. I have hope for funding to cover for these four counselors so I don't lose the individuals put them in the budget in this main budget M right now we have pretty good sense that we will receive that funding but not 100% I don't have 100% guarantee that we will get it okay so this is a a temporary hold I will tell you that the principles and the directors all gave up something else to keep these positions to keep the counselor positions.
>> I'm assuming you would be Right. >> We'd like Yes, please. >> Yeah. So that um you know, as soon as we can just get through the decision. Um so hopefully we'll we'll work to get that out as early as possible so that people have time to read it. Um the conditions are usually the most important part and those will just be outlined here. In fact, we maybe those you can work on right away and just send out that section of conditions. >> Yep. Um, >> and then so if that's all good and we all like it, then two weeks from now we're give the thumbs up type of thing. >> Yeah. I don't >> Awesome. Cool. >> Yeah. I just wasn't sure like where we're at. Thanks. >> Did you get it, Hannah? Sorry. >> Oh, you said you just resent it. >> Are there tried but sometimes it takes a minute.
There is not a placement decision because we are eliminating a a level D campus program. There is nothing like what we provide. And yes, I commend I commend the agency creating an alternative. I'm all for an alternative. More options the better because kids don't fit into a cookie cutter mold. But we're forcing a round peg into a square hole right now because of our budget. And I get it. These are tough decisions. But I've spoken to Shaina Cooper, too. That's willing to go from 25 years to 20. That would save us $3 million. I'm asking the board to start investigating other ways. There's other ways to look at saving money. But sadly, it's the students who have had the biggest impact on these cuts. Something is wrong here because the whole reason we exist is for these stu these children. And I've seen them change and grow.
Every one of them did so that we could be assured to have those counselors for next year. Other considerations you can see on the other page and you might want to bring that up, Cass. Yes. None of this is easy and it's all fit together. It's like a puzzle. Uh or it's like dominoes. you make one decision and other design others fall. So I want you to know that the other considerations many of the other considerations I've listed here for you. One of the things that I could have proposed to you is that we no longer fund uh insurance at 100% for our employees for our full-time employees. Okay. This board has historically insisted that we continue to fund uh 100% of insurance premiums for our full-time employees. That's two and a4 million. Okay, I honor that and I agree with it because we have to think about how to keep the people in the positions that we keep.
>> Any further questions from the Y >> Sorry, was >> that's Paul. Was that Paul? Do you have a question? >> No, no, sorry. I was gonna ask, but I don't have a question. So, >> I appreciate you hanging in there, Paul. >> Yeah, I'm trying to move around because I got construction going on behind me. So, I apologize. >> To be clear, these are the exact versions I was looking at, and they're both saved as February 24th, even though they're from a few days ago. So, my level of confusion was not me being an idiot, but it was the fact that the only versions I have available are literally dated February 24th. So people kept saying there's a new version from two days ago that I absolutely did not receive and does not exist at least in title. >> So we're all on the same page.
It's astonishing what we do. And we are dismantling this program. It is it I'm heartbroken. and angry. Um, and it's embarrassing going to these meetings and not supporting parents who have trust us with their child. Some of them have grown up here and we're like, "Nope, we closed the dorms. Your school district needs to fill it out." Thank you very much. >> Next, I have Mary Rim. Um, thanks for t thanks for letting me have some time tonight. Um, I'm not well spoken like all the other people that have been up here today, so I may be really all over the place, but I have something to say. And first of all, Michael Gordon, thank you for being being vulnerable to us with your comments earlier. That was >> Can you move over to the mic? Thank you. >> That was refreshing. Michael Gordon, to hear you be vulnerable with us.
Okay. The second thing that factored into this is based on information I've gotten from the trust and the alliance, we anticipate a 10% increase in property and liability insurance. That's $45,000. Okay. We will be right at a half million in liability and property insurance and workers comp for the next year. We anticipate a 5% increase in utilities costs. Okay, that 5% would be $67,750. So that's money I have to put back in here. Okay, that I can't take out. I have to put it back in. Um, and then for me, a whole lot of things have to do with retention of our folks. We're always concerned about recruitment, but we also have to be concerned about retention. We have to acknowledge that the people who are the positions that remain and the people who are in them, we want to do everything we can to keep those people.
>> Okay. Then I think we are ready for a motion to continue this to the 26th. And at that time hopefully we'll be looking at decisions. Madam Chair, if I if I may, not not to belver this any further, but um the one thing I think that we would hope to get a little bit more conversation with and uh clarification is the charity bond. You know, the town has a a precedent for larger projects to to impose that. Uh GCD GCG did provide one. uh we have some somewhat conflicting numbers, not not apples to oranges, but slightly different. Um so I think we just want some clarification and this doesn't have to happen now, but maybe some some thought whether it's with the town manager or whatnot, uh about forms of that and and an ultimate number and how that will be conditioned. There is a a placeholder condition currently which contemplates perhaps, you know, splitting it up in the future since this is a phased project and and what method that'll ultimately be.
That was refreshing. Um, it seems that transparency is not occurring here. I get the impression that you guys are moving and in 5 years you're letting the the the cooperative programs get all up and running and then in five years Copper Creek is gone and then magically all the kids are going to be uh mainstreamed and supported by uh the cooperative programs. Um, it doesn't work that way. This week, a student had an IEP and the student is a dorm student and the student is deaf. And this is the choices that the parents were given. You can go back to your home school district and be on a waiting list for an interpreter. The student uses ASL. Or the second choice is that you can have a 2hour transport to Copper Creek. The public school district will take the student to a dropoff point. ASDB will pick them up there, come to school at AS Copper Creek, and then and then two hours back to home.
So, um uh initially um we would have uh we would do step raises based on the salary schedules that you approved uh in January. Secondly, I wanted to keep honor that original plan in classroom site fund to keep it at 20 to keep it at as close to 20440 as possible. Okay? And you can see that in that 40% that's for performance pay that's $826,000 anticipated for next year. Okay? which works out to, as I recall, just about $6,000 in performance pay available per per teacher. That's in the ballpark of what we've paid out as performance pay for the last two years. If I move one more teacher over there, it reduces that amount by another $520 per person, which would start to make our existing people a little upset. I'm recommending that we retain the longevity stipens that we put in place um three years ago, I think three or four years ago uh as a way of retaining retaining employees, excuse me, and that cost us about um 83,000 a year.
So again, I don't know that we have to dig into that too much further tonight, but we would hope to obviously not have that be a brand new issue in 2 weeks and then have to continue again because there's uncertainty. >> That's that that makes sense. And and typical typically I think that is written by um our town council um or has been in the past. >> Okay. So this this particular instance, we did receive a quote from Mike Carter, which is typically you receive the quote from peer review and then is being reviewed by a town manager's office right now. Yeah, I meant the verbiage and not Yes. Sorry. Yes. >> Okay. And not the not the number. >> Um, yeah. So, I I I don't actually know too much about where that is, but I think it's fair that that gets discussed in the meantime so that we're Yeah, we're not held up on that.