so as we get down to analyzing the models as presented and looking at edits and modifications to those models i believe that we should one of the criteria would be to preserve or enhance some of the grade span options available in the district thank you board member beau nick we have board member rodriguez kenya yes good evening everyone first of all i just want to thank the um superintendent and the cabinet and the reorganization team that worked so hard on all this information and brought to us recommendations they have a very good models three and four i have myself personally switched from model four to start one to model three when as i did my research speaking to community members and speaking to parents and also visiting those two sites i did notice that the school sites that were the seven to twelve their schools are a whole lot larger than our schools they had a lot more space i'll tell you so that's one thing that kind of like i don't think our campuses are big enough the way the high school kids are pretty much in one area the middle schools for some reason from this other area but our schools are so are very small um does it compare to those those two so i i could not compare ausd to the students that i visited um and i also think that my decision is based will be based on the community the students and what is best for our kids and our programs in the band and the football team and this is what i'm hearing from community members so and i do feel that the seventh and eighth graders i i retired 40 years to a junior high school they need their own space they definitely need their own space their own um personalities their you know their own football teams their own cheerleading team they just need their own space i don't think it'd be great to put them together because then all of a sudden it's always the high school you know seniors or peer leaders that would have her whatever you know probably have more weight than they do in the element in the middle school so again i changed my mind again i'm gemini so i changed back and forth a lot too that's from what i hear so um now i'm at the other side and i'm thinking that you know i would like to see one of the high schools be a seventh and eighth model and the other school combined with the high school uh students so we can have better programs this is our goal our goal is to have more programs you know activities uh electives that was the main goal why we started this new organization thank you for your comment i i i also have can i please hear one thing that i i'm bringing to the table is i'm i'm bringing both models to um to the table but but first i would like to recognize one of our council members um council member avila thank you for attending and i know you have a student in our district so i appreciate your presence um i i brought this um fourth because i would like to approach this um in a way where we as the board can think about different options the models that were presented to us model 3 model 4 can have other you know ideas so i'm bringing those ideas forward and what you guys see up in the screen screen is model 3 but it's modified and so what i'm bringing to the table is for us to be able to have foothill arts academy k-8 which would be at foothill middle school and that would have stem just everything from the arts just all there valley dale k through eight dalton k through eight so we would go ahead and have three schools that would be k through eight paramount k through hodge k through six magnolia k through six and murray k through six and one of the things that i would like to you know to see is for us to have all of our preschools at their home school so therefore longfellow is not on this model model three modified uh one high school 10 through 12 at one of our current high schools we talked what i've heard from the board is um and i've heard from some is that the overcrowding right um i i think that being able to go ahead and do a 10 through 12 at one of the current high schools would alleviate that and would help making one of the middle schools seventh through ninth could be three grades as well at one of the current high school and we would be able to keep our our field everything that we've invested at both high schools we would be able to continue using these models these renovations that we have we fought so hard and i as a parent i remember wanting a requesting um for the bathrooms and the bleachers at gladstone high school to be renovated for a souza's a gym as well and so these things have happened we put an air conditioner so much a lot of you know renovation has been happening at these two high schools and therefore with this model you would see both high schools being utilized one for one high school 10 through 12 one from middle school seven through nine one thing that i modified here with model 3 is to move sierra to an empty school such as center because it has it has a locker room and we can utilize the rest of what uh of the empty classrooms for things such as um uh what is it called oh my gosh the um the offices that we have in covina dirk bring them to asusa let's move them you know let's let's move them there there's there's going to be room and the reason that i with this model that i went ahead and thought of the idea of moving sierra because theory and the adult school are just not fitting in one area therefore it were to move sierra adult school would have all that area here high school would have enough um room as well they would have locker rooms the students that go to continuation school would be able to have pe as well they would have you know we can go ahead and um take care of the track so they can walk um run have some sports there and those are the modifications that i've added for for model three i'll be um does anybody have i i have another model model for as well that i'm gonna present does anybody have to add one thing to your model oh um dalton i also seen um as a pedo eighth but i would like to also see a dual immersion um chinese still merchant and um valley dale has the uh film version also but it's banished and victor hodge right the victor hodgkin but i think we need to you know um have another language also offer another language to our community you know i bringing that i i think one of the conversations that we were having as a board um was what was the fact that it was initiated there was uh not a lot of parents interested but at the same time um i i feel like it was not um correctly advertised um to to all of our community just everyone and so one of the conversations that we were having as a board was um to what you're saying board member rodriguez pena is having the dual immersion but but making it an all campus dual immersion and starting it off that way and so that that's a conversation you know we can't have um for all of the school to get to have this um dual language um mandarin and i want to add something else i noticed you don't have power on there correct correct i do not yeah i will and so um so so when i thought about this i i thought um you know powell is is out um on the enrollment i looked at the enrollment um i looked at the capacity it is off of monoloa and citrus um i was thinking also i know we discussed about us two closures and i mean even the last time we made this too close we talked about you know at that time we should have may have closed more than two schools and i think now is the time that we need to make these decisions so we're not doing this like every year and it's true i think powell only has 288 students with eight uh 84 capacity so i i really don't see the sense of keeping that school open with uh you know delightful in and would well with the funding that we're paying into this one school this one small school so i i agree with you um board member i'm honest thank you that's that's something that we can definitely consider the mandarin um you know like you said the capacity uh the enrollment um i took all that into consideration i took all the data and um was able to go ahead and come up with this model and like i said we don't have um i i went ahead and um made sure that i uh you know addressed that some parents are are comfortable with k through eight right um some parents are not we're giving them that option some parents are that want that one high school right we're giving them that one high school but it would be 10 through 12 and it wouldn't be as impacted as um previously is has been shared on the board that that was one of um you know one of the issues that um looking into the one high school uh the one middle school uh seventh or ninth the ninth graders would be able to go ahead and still participate in cif sports because they would have a feel and they would still have all of everything you know they would they would still be able to do uh football they would still participate in football baseball and so forth and we would be able to provide that for them when we look at the programs right one of the things that um i've been considering is you know we talk about program programs we would like to see well it would be better at this school you know that is why i i thought well why not have a foothill arts academy we need to keep the art we would have music right we would have art drama i'll incorporate it all in one now that's one thing that we yes powell um you know did did have that but being able to go ahead and bring all k8 i i think that with this model it would benefit those students that are looking for that you know those parents that are looking for that um for their children um any questions discussion model three i'd like to have a discussion around what a seven through nine program looks like in terms of a ninth grader taking advanced last what what would that look like what what would the options be for a student to take the next level ap class if they're on a 7-9 campus initial reaction would be that um there'd be some limits there and we'd be back to maybe the same situation that we're in right now uh in terms of access [Music] again initial reaction um it seems we're talking about pathways talking about possibly growing uh other programs um seems to me more fitting for for ninth graders to be on the same campus as the 10th 11th 12th graders um but i mean that's just initial reaction i mean obviously we'd have to look into i'm not aware of 10 to 12 um so programmatically um my initial reaction is that ninth graders would be better suited and better served on a high school campus again not saying this is impossible there's just initial reaction i don't know if if any of anybody else has any reaction to that but that's again just some initial reaction in terms of giving them a robust access and experience to to the high school again in no way shape or form saying it's impossible i mean that's just an initial reaction mr taylor could you um i didn't want to interrupt when you were speaking did you elaborate or give some additional context when you said there could be some limitations like what we have now what do you mean what did you mean when you said that so yeah so we have courses that are not grade specific right um so we have some electives that are not grade specific uh we have uh some activities that are not rate specific and so that again my gut reaction is again i'm not saying it's impossible but my gut reaction is would we be limiting ninth graders from taking uh an ap course or an advanced mathematics course or you know something like that because what we are what we are trying to address right now i would hate for that to be built in a seven to nine where we're back to small classes and we're trying to offer everything at the ninth grade um for ninth graders which we should but again does that dilute um that that possibility again we have to look at it more carefully that's just some initial reaction there thank you oh yeah so the the seven two uh nine model the um so the seventh and eighth graders have a different curriculum than the ninth grade traders right can i just well you guys are thinking about that um i thank you for your questions um but before you answer i think you know one of the things that i hear you saying um is that your gut feeling but in reality i i think you know the way that we are doing things a lot of the times we we approach things as a gonna be a lot of work or oh i don't i don't know you know we're gonna i think it's important that yeah we do the research and that you know one of the things that with this model that i would like to see is the ecp to be the early college program the ecp to be offered at the middle school for the students to start at seventh grade because citrus college offers that and for them to you know to once they enroll in the program what will happen is once they're done in 12th grade they would have completed the two years at citrus college therefore they would have an aaa and a high school diploma i would like to see this be brought forth in you know with with these changes that we're doing so this model kind of reflects that as well that they can start i mean we look at electives right i please you know let me know like let us know why is it that we would not be able to offer these electives at a middle school right what are the challenges you know share that with us we don't know you guys know but from being in the classroom for 15 years at a high school right and being at the middle school we can we have to find a way we can't we just have to find a way right we don't see i i knew because i tried to research um middle school seventh or ninth and yes i agree with you i i did not find one but at this point right now as we're making these changes right let's think of no idea let's think of what we can do different to attract people to our district right and this is something that nobody has ever done and if if we can why not why can't we do it okay so i have the same question that i asked you prior and also i do know those many concerns of parents uh speaking about their younger kids going with odor in the same that was the whole idea with the 7 to 12 model so here we're talking about uh 12 and 13 year olds with 16 year olds you don't think we're gonna have that same um concern from parents and that's what concerns me and again i i want to ask on the curriculum same question okay um there's there's definitely different curriculum for middle school and for high school right and so uh ninth graders are part of that um credits high school credits right and so they are also taking those a through g courses um just again this is just initial couple things that come to mind world language right now our 9th graders can take spanish or french the other thing that comes to mind is our integrated mathematics program and so 9th graders can take integrated 1 but they can also take an integrated accelerated course as well so those that's just a couple things i'm thinking of taking the same process that you know if they're in the same campus they would not take the same classes right yeah and and just my second question real quick also the k to eighth um the curriculum there also um i know we have concerns with l 10 regarding is it going to be an elementary model um their curriculum because they have like less minutes than band less minutes than and again i'll bring it back that was another concern so i'm just bringing up stuff that we we we did experience it by having that k2a school concerns from the staff and and the parents i just wanted to add that a board member career so looking at this model that that that you put together here's here's personally here's what i love about it i love that it is out of the box thinking and it is not biased to uh necessarily well to the models that were presented that came forward as recommendations as as it comes when it's all said and done it's on the board to vote on what the models will look like so i appreciate that this is out of the box thinking and it pushes us to consider things that we have not considered with that said i think that there are a lot of layers here and so it's things in here that are that are probably helpful to consider and things that that are within this model that are problematic so it's as we're looking at this it's probably important to note that you're you're presenting this with components and how can we how can we analyze this from components like what components might be might we you know consider keeping or being part of the model but it's not even with this model that you presented it's not an all or none so maybe there's things that we look at here and we say this is this is a good idea this is not this is a this is challenging this is this is helpful um to help shape whatever um model ends up absolutely board member career i i i'm presenting this this model here tonight because like you said this is out of the box you know we need to think out of the box um and this is absolutely this is not like solidified i'm open right for us to to talk about this and and that that's why i'm bringing it forward board member cruz gonzalez thank you um so just a couple things um i think what i've heard all of us say is that we're all leaning toward one middle school junior high and one high school i think i heard us all say that i still have one model okay you wanna okay then i'll i won't say that but i think um i would be open to having a conversation about whether that middle school is a seven nine or six eight um but i do i mean and i know that there there are schools that do exist like that there are and they're mostly you find them in other states not in california but i would be really interested if we're going to do that what you know what does research say about that right i mean there's been a lot of configuration people made switches like in the 70s from this model to what we have today so just understanding what are the trade-offs to having having these grades right so that's what i'd be very interested in having a conversation um and then in terms of the elementaries i feel like a lot of my brain space has been around this middle high school piece right so i think um and i hear a lot of people throwing out programs that they want to see you know i heard duel immersion which i agree with i hear um the arts i mean i think i've heard sabrina talk about um um international baccalaureate which which i think is a critical point so i think i'd like to have well let's see your other model then because i think i would like to make at least firm up where we are going with the high school levels and then after that start having a conversation about you know what are these what are the elementary schools level look um before i move on to model 4 i i want to thank my colleagues you know thank you for you know for just looking at this and considering any of this and if you guys have any ideas right um one of the things that you said uh board member cruz gonzalez is um the the bachelorette um iv right international baccarat you know that can also be included in one of the k through a you know i mean that that can be totally doable one of the one of the great things that um someone shared with me just in the last two weeks is this that we as the board are going to make this decision and they're not going to be easy this is going to be a painful growth for everybody and this model three you know many people as you are watching right now may like it may not but this is what right now what we have in front of us right and we we've kind of shared what what what what we think about it whether we like it we're not um and i i agree we should we should have a robust conversation if this is a model that we we think that we would like to go ahead and have right which includes the one high school now moving on to model four so if you look at model four we still would keep we would go ahead and go with the foothill arts academy k through 8 valley dale k through 8 dalton k through 8.
you all knew that right if i gave a test you already knew that answer opened in 2017 the first graduating class in 2018 i'm sorry oh you're so right [Music] yes uh 1917. i actually was a superintendent in the district that uh opened in 1909 and i kept saying the same thing 2009 and open to 2009. anyway 1917 graduating class of 1918 had four students a hundred years after it opened 2017 gilbert high school became an a plus school of excellence so congratulations on that award as well i think that deserves a round of applause so i i need the um the team from gilbert high school to help me with this part so we have a banner for their school and we have a plaque krista has the plaque and we're just so excited to congratulate all of you and everyone involved with gilbert public schools because it takes the first high school to have everything else happen right so thank you and i want to also special thank you to gabby who made arrangements and kept in touch i always appreciate those people right she's like the queen right she's running the show i i i knew that gabby i as a former superintendent i know who's in charge so thank you so much to dr mccord and everyone else do you want to say if you i just i think you know she had mentioned about this being presented at an asa conference in sedona and we weren't there we thought it was very important to celebrate gilbert high school in gilbert public schools with all of you with all of our board members so i'm very thankful that they have the time to come gilbert high school is the flagship of all of our high schools in in gilbert public schools and it has served so many families in this community and it'll continue to do that as we continue to move through the education process in gilbert but we're very proud of everything that they do what they stand for and the people that work extremely hard every day and that's our support staff that's our teachers that's our administrators they show up every day for kids and that's what's extremely important so congratulations to gilbert high in a well-deserved honor congratulations again [Applause] graduate of gilbert high school once you leave you never really leave together right thank you so much [Applause] nope he's good thank you dr santa cruz that concludes our recognitions for this evening you get 25 percent of that congratulations to all of our semi-finalists from our variety of schools and congratulations to the faculty staff and administration at gilbert high school for their cogno recognition well deserved behind that is always the hard work of faculty members parents included and students working towards excellence so well deserved we will now move to item eight as a request to speak to the governing board we have four requests this evening also would like to comment that we have received online commentary from members of the community as always those are red and we acknowledge that they are there and it is yet another opportunity for members of the community to address the governing board we will move to the recorded message and then i will read the order of our speakers the board may make an open call to the public during a public meeting subject to reasonable time place and manner restrictions to allow individuals to address the public body on an issue within the jurisdiction of the public body at the conclusion of the open call to the public individual board members may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the board may ask the staff to review a matter or may ask a matter be to be put on a future agenda however members of the board shall not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during the open call to the public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action during the open call the board requests that speakers refrain from voicing complaints against school personnel or any person connected with the district as it may impact due process rights policy k ke b and k e d are provided by the board for disposition of legitimate complaints including those involving individuals forms required for use of these policies can be obtained from the gilbert public schools website those who have requested to speak will speak in the following order cheryl massey flint crump steve walker and paula duvas hello my name is cheryl massey and this is not the first time i've got to come up here and talk about the same subjects i wanted to just to encourage you again that a couple months ago i dropped off a constitutional live package which is the complete thing all you have to do is look at it and use it and what it's going to do for you is that as we see different things going on in the world that maybe we disagree with or don't like and since two months have gone by it's a lot worse now than than it was the constitution can be used to make changes to where if you know how to change something and where the power is supposed to be you can sense what you can do to better have the schools run right the families happy the government running right to where we have everything that we need rather than trying to figure out who's going to get this what are we going to do about that so i just wanted to encourage you that you have a copy and it's the whole thing i wanted to also applaud you for the desire to provide something for a handicap preschool i have a young lady that i know who's in her 20s now that went and graduated from gilbert high school and she was in the brick and mortar version of a special education class because of the way she was born she was in a wheelchair had to have someone with her at all times which at some times with me and she now being in her 20s is working on her own and supporting herself so that that was awesome going to make me cry just remembering that and then i also am thankful that we still have choices when it comes to school choice what what you're planning for online really is good for some students but maybe not for all of them well so you have a combination that's really going to help the student again there's where some of my experience with just even my own children come in some more book people others needed my hands on my hands-on student graduated at 17 from gilbert high school he is now 43.
paramounts paramount k through six podge k through six magnolia k through six murray k through six now this is where it's a little different the one high school would be nine through twelve at 1 of the current high school the other high school would be a 7 through 12 arts academy high school at one of the current high school and dara would move to the empty schools adult school stay at the current site and again longfellow in the schools that you do not see here would be the ones that would be eliminated um one of the reasons to that what i've heard from from parents and again the data is that parents want a 9th or 12th some parents are ok with 7 through 12. well guess what with this model in model 4 we give options we give variety of options that may be something that again stepping out of the box right thinking at i i i did not find another high school another district who has both models that are here near us you know in san gabriel valley but when we look at programs again um you know so my question would be you know we're talking about uh now sport right well that's why one of the high schools would be kind of like the continuation of the foothill arts academy the arts academy then we would have high school that would be an arts academy so one of the high schools that would be nine through 12 would majority constantly the constitution would be um we're talking about like extracurricular activities we're talking about the sports we're talking about things that right now we cannot fill because we have two high schools right we can't get a a cross-country team together football i i went by the schools today they have one varsity team we have freshmen playing on the varsity team you can see a difference between a freshman and a high schooler i mean a 12th grader in high school you can see the difference right how about if you know with this right here um there's there's not much changing in the elementaries um we would just be looking at the high school this is what i'm presenting to you guys um [Music] thoughts questions i'll jump in first so um you know when i first when we first started thinking about the high schools and actually gabriella when you you brought it up i think four years ago about looking at one school high school i think in my mind this something similar to this is what i thought and i thought okay we could have one big comprehensive high school and we could have a smaller school like in west covina they have an early college program where it's a small school site there are really not really extracurricular activities but kids need to go go there and they know they're going to walk out with a dope with an aaa right so i thought to me that made that make sense um but now having had seen a lot of a lot of information having had the committee discuss it i mean i i really still lean towards having one comprehensive high school because we can build those programs into that comprehensive high story we can build a full early college program and there's actually nothing preventing us from having a conversation with them right now about starting in ninth grade right you know what talked about hospital so we can build that and we can build a really strong ibb program um so i would just say i still um and the appeal of thinking that we're going to have a middle school is going to have access to a gym it's going to have access to an amazing field that could potentially have access to a pool right if we're able to work with you know you know and you know i'm just dreaming big why not exactly so but to me that is that to me is very appealing and so that's why i still default to something connected to model 3.
so i i really enjoyed having this having this here when i came and it's kind of off the subject but i'm thankful are you going to tell me thank you mr massey mr crump good evening my name is flint crump i am here to talk about a subject that is not very pleasant as a father of a daughter virginia judge finds transgender teen guilty of sexual assault in loudoun county high school girls bathroom case a virginia juvenile court judge ruled monday this is yesterday a transgender gene was guilt teen was guilty of sexually assaulting a female classmate at loudoun county high school last may the national review reports judge pamela brooks of the juvenile domestic relations district court found that there was sufficient evidence to determine the teenager guilty of sexual assault in the case that has received national attention this is a current national issue i don't know if anyone has seen news reports of this but it's in the press now um the victim a 15 year old girl testified in court that she engaged in consensual sex civil activity with a defendant two other times in the girls bathroom at stonebridge high school but on the occasion in question she had been violently intimidated to perform sexual acts the outlet reported according to the commonwealth's attorney a teenager accused is accused of two separate incidences that happened months apart at different loudoun county high schools according to fox 5 the teen was wearing an ankle monitor for the prior assault at stone bridge when he forcibly when he allegedly forced a girl into an empty classroom and did other things at a new school so shifted from one school to another without any uh without enough precautions in my opinion i am against and i oppose transgenders the policy of transgenders using female bathrooms and i would like to request that the board take all resources available of legal counsel to file with whichever jurisdiction is necessary to change that policy to same gender only bathrooms or the bathroom of sexual birth that's my request we don't want this to happen in gilbert public schools and currently i called my high school today the kids high school and that's the policy that transgenders can use whatever bathroom they want i do not agree this should be an immediate priority an immediate priority please thank you thank you mr walker good evening my name is steve walker i'm a community member and member of gps education advocates which is a like-minded group of about 1 600 gps parents due to the district's close association with the nsba you might know me as steve the domestic terrorist i am here to speak out against your proposed policy change in agenda item 1007 relative to policy section bedd proposed change states the governing board president may recess the meeting without a vote of the governing board in order to maintain decorum and governing board meeting rules of order the purpose of a five-member board is to disallow autocratic power this policy would give the president of the board sole power to recess a public board meeting at his or her discretion this is an abuse of power we have seen this abuse of power in surrounding school districts used to muzzle and censor the frustrated citizens of the district speaking out against bad district policies this is not just about dr santa cruz this is about all future board presidents who may abuse this power in gps board policy section bca titled board member ethics it states quote board members will recognize that decisions should be made only after discussion at publicly held board meetings the decision to recess a meeting should be made only after discussion about among board members and never to avoid hearing from frustrated citizens of the district in section c i quote board members will render all decisions based on the available facts and independent judgment and refuse to surrender that judgment to individuals or special interest groups board members should not be surrendering their duty as a decision-making board member to another individual including other board members the board president or the asba which is who is behind this proposed policy change section bedd rules of order the board prescribes rules for its meetings as follows section d a motion to adjourn is an order at any time such a motion shall require a second and a majority vote section f quote rules of order may be subject to suspension only upon a majority vote of the members of the board present at a meeting the question i have is who who is it among you that is seeking autocratic power to decide when to recess a meeting in order to effectively muzzle and silence the citizens when they gather to express their discontent with you the suggested change by the asba is against the very purpose of a governing board for those that don't know the asba is the local state association of the nsba who has been made popular in the news the past couple weeks by calling parents domestic terrorists i suggest that you discard even the thought of relinquishing your individual responsibility i think i'm the shortest one good evening thank you governing board superintendent cabinet for the opportunity to speak with you tonight on the record as a resident and taxpayer in the town of gilbert i am here to request that you acknowledge investigate and act on a matter i believe is important to gps student academic experience and the well-being of the community at large i ask you to acknowledge that the current gps workplace conditions are taking an unreasonable physiological and psychological toll on educators of all levels of experience i ask you not to take my word for it but to investigate the advancing mental health issues within gps by speaking with the superintendent and the cabinet on this matter as well as working with gps leadership to initiate discussions with educators and their representatives and witness direct testimony on this issue lastly i ask you to act thoughtfully to improve workplace conditions and student academic experience before something tragic happens due to distraction anxiety or depression stress and feeling overwhelmed can be factors with consequences thank you for considering my request in the caring spirit in which it is shared with you i believe some of you may already have heard the emerging call to action on this situation my purpose in speaking with you and asking you for help is to confirm without a doubt that this is a community concern with respect your help is very appreciated i thank you for your time and your consideration and if there's any way you feel that we as a community can help you address these concerns i ask you to ask the community for that support thank you we have one final speaker i believe it's howard kimsoff don't know if i pronounced your last name correctly sir okay g-i-e-m-s-o-e i'd like to speak about face masks what good is a face mask we are told by the mainstream media and some of our leaders that masks are a worthwhile way to stop the spread they will say experts know experts agree i ask these experts to step forward and show us the tests or experiments that they base their advice on please do not present an anecdotal account of casual observations i asked for scientific experiments on people one group masked one group unmasked these tests have been done and they the results are online at the cdc and the nih and others this is what i found from volume 26 number 25 may it 20 non-pharmaceutical measures for pandemic influenza non-healthcare settings a lot of verbiage bottom line evidence from rcts of face mass did not support a substantial effect on transmission that's from the cdc and the nih you can find it on your computer too there's a commentary from uh dr browsnew masked for all for comet 19 not based on sound data her by her bottom line is data lacking to recommend broad mass use we do not recommend requiring the general public who do not have symptoms of covid 19 like illnesses to wear cloth or surgical masks there is no scientific evidence that they are effective in reducing the risk of sarcoid 19 transmission and another one public health from the indian public health service face masks for prevention of viral respiratory infections in community settings a systematic review their bottom line existing data pool from random controlled trials do not reveal a reduction in the currents of influenza light illnesses with the use of face mechs alone in community settings for yourself you may have your personal reasons for you to wear a mask you might feel safe you might feel virtuous but if you or anybody else can make rules that other people have to live by that others must follow then you must have real evidence to refer to and thank you for letting me talk thank you that concludes our open call to the public those wishing to speak like to thank those of you who addressed the board we appreciate hearing your commentary we moved to item nine which is reports item 9.01 fy 2022 monthly financial report year-to-date september 30th 2021.
i want to add regarding the um if we had thought about if we have the 1912 and one high school enrollment-wise capacity-wise is it feasible yes if we went there um when um president i was mentioning about the overcrowding and despite the idea the 789 right so again you know because we also need to think about room for growth you know we can just pack everyone in in one place and all of us in room for growth you know we need to think about that also but so as we're looking at that capacity numbers enrollment i'm look as i look at the chart and i see that that we're projecting to have continued declined enrollment i i don't see the impact that we're talking about i think there's one model that that i i saw somewhere that says 105 if we were to move everyone into one of them changed very much to be noticed as the ghost of the years right well i don't know i think it i think it does like as i'm as i'm looking at it as as i'm look well i'm the this is the 10-year enrollment capacity and it says that school sites uh right now azusa and gladstone would be at 36 percent and 38 capacity by uh 20 was this 20 30 31.
dr mccord anything by way of introduction thank you dr santa cruz governing board members we have for you tonight mrs betts superintendent assistant soup of business services she's going to present you the monthly financial report good evening governing board members dr santa cruz dr mccord this is a short presentation tonight um we're really going to focus on maintenance and operations on understated capital and of course the federal funds i wanted to let you know that this is the last time that we'll be presenting the budget reflective of the budget revision number one we have received information indicating that due to our student accounts our budget capacity is expected to increase um up to 5.1 million dollars which is really good news so our student council reflecting a very positive result in addition when we present the october 31st report it will also include the results of the afr which you the annual financial report the fr which you approved at the last board meeting okay so again the budget revision reflects budget number one and then the cash funds also have not been updated to reflect the afr so focusing on both maintenance and operations and restricted capital the available balance has declined which you would expect we're well into the school year now and our schools and departments are continuing to spend and we are continually uh allocating out more and more unrestricted capital as each day goes by um to our schools this is just the detail written that i just shared with you and then the federal grants it's important that we share the sr3 which is the one remaining federal fund that we have for use by gilbert public schools for the fiscal year 2022 we have not yet received formal approval for sr3 but we have we have resubmitted again and prior to that we did engage with our with angela marler connor in title 1 as well as our representative at the department of ed to give us some feedback and some specific suggestions regarding what else we needed to get our sr3 grant application approved so again just to be clear that the substance or content of what we have presented to you that we plan to use the money for are not at question it's just the information that backs up those budgetary requests and then just this is just a update on all of the federal funds and to note again that the education plus up is also an application that we are working on it is still pending we have provided the additional information they requested via email and we are hopeful to receive a response back soon that that will be allocated out to us shortly and that's all i have today for that board members any additional questions nope thank you miss bets appreciate your thorough and brief report 9.02 is fy 2021 bond and override report dr mccord thank you dr santa cruz gardening board members miss betts is going to be back on the microphone with our bond and override report again this is our annual report required by statute so this the arizona state revised statute references there for you requiring that any organization that has an override or bond proceeds to spend must present annually a report on how the proceeds were spent in the prior year so that's why we are here today so today's report i really wanted to talk overall about the commitments that we made both in the 2015 bond authorization as well as the 2019 bond authorization in addition wanted to talk about the commitments we made regarding the m o override both in 2015 as well as in 2019 and how those two commitments do come together and then share with you some of the history and how the monies were spent and then also to share with you the financial summaries regarding the specific bond spend in may we did present to you a summer project summary that that shared with you our plans for operations summer projects this report today is comprehensive it will be presented by both myself and albert dutch over as well as mr john castellano regarding technology spend and then i will share the specific transportation spend as well and then finally just to end just again another summary slide of the gps tax history that's directly related to our override as well as our bond authority so the maintenance operations override so if you recall the override was approved in november of 2019 right before the pandemic hit so under those because it was approved we were able to budget for those over for that additional five percent of our revenue control limit in the 2021 school year so again the uh the authority is good for a total of seven years but in the sixth and seventh year the revenues must decline by a one-third each year unless approved again by the electorate of the school district so in 2021 the m override generated a total 32.3 million dollars in budget capacity that's up 11.6 million about from 2020 and then keep in mind that the mno overrides calculated based upon the prior year's average daily membership so the loss of the student count that we realized in 2021 was actually reflected in the mno over override amount in the current year fiscal year 2022 okay any questions on any of that okay so if you recall for the 15 override there were three main priorities that were presented to the public into schools so a class size reduction allocation of two million dollars identifying the most urgent opportunities for reducing class sizes throughout gilbert public schools in addition the adding social emotional support so this included the addition of social workers at the elementary and the addition of mental health counselors at our secondary schools and then the other main main commitment was to retain and attract high quality personnel throughout all aspects of the throughout all functions of gilbert public schools if you recall it was during 2019-20 that otm engaged in the compensation study and that that information informed many of the pay increases along with the overall five percent pay increase that was approved by you in the spring of 2020.
so as we're looking at those those numbers and we're thinking about room for growth there will be room for growth built in uh if if we were to move to the one campus room for growth would happen as there is decline as enrollment declines then if enrollment picks up there's room because we're not at because we wouldn't be at capacity yeah um so i just when we cause a cup i've heard a couple um board members say talk about impaction i just don't i don't see where where where have we talked about their the potential for are supposed to be impacted is that is that a concern from the surveys that parents were saying that's where they came from and so and i wonder if the so when people are talking about impaction i i wonder if what is meant by that is we talk about the ratios of the student number of students to uh to teachers but those ratios are connected to one to to uh state standards and also state funding and so even if if we were to correct me if i'm wrong if as we look at some of these different models that the uh that staff and have put together that does not necessarily drop down the student-to-teacher ratios so there would be no so the number of students in the classroom would not necessarily change regardless of the different model what do you mean because that was one of my concerns because i know the ratio of is of 1 to 36 right for teacher right i don't want to see a classroom that's going to have 36 students it's not part of the future of teaching it's not fair for the student to learn to me that's to me that in one class because i've seen classrooms and walk in them where all these kids are just all in there you know um and and i don't think they're the student again or the teacher that teaches because we don't have instruction noise any longer very many anymore i should say um also to help this team but um can you speak to do any of the models that you have that you've presented do do they do they suggest that we would drop our student-to-teacher ratio now right now our students who teacher ratio is a contractual uh that's with a bargaining unit and um right now we don't see any any model that has been put forward that suggests if we go with this model it'll be 20 to 1 or 1801.
so the override commitments again just summarizing the difference between 2020 and 2021 where 2020 included the commitments that were made in the 2015 override and then comparing that to the commitments made and continued in the 2020 and the 2020 on 2019 election approval so note that offering competitive wages it was always part of the 2015 override note that the increase is substantial at about 7.8 million dollars to uh to increase wages going into fiscal 2021. uh maintain a reduced class size there's the reflection of the two million dollars more some from 4.3 million dollars to 6.3 million dollars increased social emotional supports that was not part of the 2015 authority so added 1.8 million dollars for those and then as part of the 2015 authority there was a commitment made for academic programming affordable student access to to extracurricular programming and then post-secondary advisor career explorer and early college credit those all have been maintained at those dollar amounts each of those programs of course have seen increases associated with staff increases etc for purposes of this illustration we we just wanted to make sure we were reflecting the fact that these commitments are ongoing when it comes to overrides these these are repeating every single year okay so you can see the 20.7 million was the 2020 actual budget capacity increase and 32.3 million was the actual budget capacity increase in 2021 due to the override so this is our gps override levy history um and then that's misstated it's not in this it's not just the override levees this includes all the levees so from 2010 to 2021 and then uh the final thing i wanted to share with you um is that the eminence should capital expense comparison so i'm going to focus on the benefits and salaries in 2021 in comparison to the benefits and salaries in 2020 so recall that the total increase in override was 11.6 million and and all of that was reflective of staff so over 15 million dollars in salary and benefit increases were realized year over year from 20 to 21.
so if there's a if a parent has perceived that our classrooms are impacted now if we were to go to this model or any of these models that we looked there would there this doesn't necessarily get at that that is correct and and there are if you look at the survey there are some some folks who feel that if we went with like a model three that the school would get larger therefore the class sizes would get larger but the class side class sizes do not get larger again this is a contractual issue so the class numbers do not get larger now if we have a class right now currently with with seven kids right seven students taking x course then yes right the potential of that class growing um is is high this is why we're doing uh what we're doing to maximize our programs maximize uh our facilities but in terms of where we can how many students can take a course uh that doesn't change support member bo mr tay i have a question and if you could give uh your best verbal answer now and follow up with um a report for us um i know board members pena posed the question at our last meeting around um cost savings from our most recent school closure can you speak you could give us some idea now around either the you know what reduction and or redistribution of staff and administrators happened in our last school closure and in in any of these scenarios what what do we think is anticipated in terms of either staff administrator reduction and or redistribution to support new and more robust programs uh the first question would be tough because i was not intimately involved in in that aspect of the first one but we could speak about right now um so if we are like looking at the model 3 consolidating one high school then that automatically if we start if we begin with administration that doesn't necess does not necessitate two principles depending on the size of the school that we have you know put out does not necess does not necessitate the amount of system principles that we have uh would not necessitate necessitate one two principal secretaries so yes there would be there would be a reduction in in force when you combine two schools that doesn't mean all along uh that could be certificated that could be classified and that could be management as well um it would again depend on on openings retirements you know all that good stuff but but yes when when you are condensing or you're consolidating in that manner um it is going to come with reduction of force so may i ask that formally that you and your staff put together a comprehensive report on what staffing redistribution or reduction look like as well as any operational cost savings we achieved in the last full closure is that possible i mean i know you have to pull it together but i think that it makes it real right if we're looking at we're in a school reorganization paradigm and there are things that we need to cut in order to gain and so we i think we really need to know what those numbers are or at least what the numbers were and what what could be contemplated here we we can definitely try and we also need to look at the um what money how much are we gonna have to spend to make all these changes you know what are what look like when we are going to i don't know at the parking like we did it you know like i mentioned before correct and you know what has to be changing what is the budget for that and how much are we going to spend because i like to see you know what are the second um move that we're doing or unexpected um spending one of the things that i i would like to see with with both models is i would like to commit for us to fix those pools you know it to be able we have the fields now right to bring to bring a believer i mean let's let's have a conversation about having a district feel at one of the sites that we're going to close down i mean i i understand you know what i what i'm hearing about the budget and and and how much we're going to spend but at the same time i think it is important this is our our our chance to be able to reimagine right we look at we look at this and to re-imagine our asusa unified school district we're going to have to probably you know perhaps it we are going to have to spend a little to get a little if we want to be a district that is competitive and that you know offers programs where we have individuals that are living in this city that are going to other districts for these programs and for the you know for the curb appeal come on you know just lawson the other day you know and latasha was here but wow a little bit of pain a long way right we need to start thinking about yes we need to start thinking about the budget but at the same time having this comfort having these conversations of why is why are the ceilings falling apart why is the carpet at lawson middle school been there for 35 years i mean these are conversations that we need to have we we look another question when when we are going to do these um um you know all the changes that is going to be one bond money right move on measure k funding um all these changes that we're going to be having when we have to revamp the schools or add a portable or i'm not sure so i think we need to look at that first before we start building the pool it can um one of the things that when it comes to the pool there was a few years ago when i was a um well i'm still a parent but um but i was not on the board and one of the things that there's a lot of grants out there that we are just not taking advantage of we have hilda solis that is our representative here in a souza high school area we have katherine barger who is the representative in the in the gladstone area a few years ago i went ahead and reached out and tried to you know uh get try to try to um meet with hilda solis and um who who who i was able to meet at that time was um catherine barger and one of the things that they did was at south hills they granted i believe it was five million dollars for them to redo their pool the only thing that they asked in return for the community was for them to be able to access and be able to open it up for the community in the summer so this conversation was had and i and i was able to go ahead and bring some people in and the district was approached and because and and this is what happened i'm just i'm just sharing i'm not putting any blame but somebody decided that that was too much because that was a lot of work and i really want to stress this because you know what this right here whether it's model 3 or model 4 is gonna be work and that falls yes on our cabinet and that falls on our directors and that falls on our principles and that falls on the secretaries and then it falls on the teachers and so forth and so forth it's a domino effect i get it but again and it falls on the board of education at the end all the time yes ma'am you know as we're approaching it and and we're gonna have to make a decision let's think outside the box when it comes to you know money again there's money out there the conversations just need to get started the conversations need to be happening being approached right south hills i don't know if you guys have seen it has a beautiful pool and it's open for the community for them to come in the summer um board member cruz gonzalez yeah no i think those are excellent ideas um i know they also paid for a pool in la puente too so i'm at the y so i think those are um great things to do what i would like to suggest is maybe we can just talk about like where do we have consensus so we can start moving forward i think i tried to stay i think maybe we had consensus around the you know whether we have one or the model 3 or model 4 because i think that will help us just move forward and then we can start talking about you know what it what grade and then element board member career yeah no i would agree with that completely and and let me let me just go out and say models wise um again not necessarily talking about talking about schools now but just looking at models the concept of having a one comprehensive high school the concept of having one comprehensive middle school and looking at for you know capacity reasons that being a six through eight instead of a seven through eight um utilizing one of the the high school campus for that and still ensuring that there is at least one k-8 model in the district that seems to make sense to me to offer some options and also maximize resources for programs um one of the questions that was before us uh during public comment was what what models as we're looking at these things what would what would provide the programs and the opportunities to build the uh you know a holistic dialed and and i think that that model some variation of that model would get at get at that the concern i would have with that the only one of the issues that i i also can't quite understand is the transportation aspect of things that's still that's still something to look at and consider is if there was one comprehensive middle school how would we go about doing that i know that we saw numbers that communicated like home to home to school i wonder if it was full site full site if you and if we look at some of those those pieces um but i i would i would be in favor of us exploring options down down that one of the things um i did an internship at glendora unified school district and one of the things that they glendara high school um does two things that i want to share is one they have block schedule and as i did my own little research and i surveyed my students they loved it i spoke to teachers and you know what some teachers were not okay with it at first but one of the benefits that it brought to the high school and for the students was you know the student athletes um the students that are that need um the extra help that are in um special education right rsp sdc um they had the chance to be able to to get that extra help so they would start um they would start late uh later and they would have i believe it was like a half an hour or so of open office hours and the teachers would and i know that's that's contract and negotiable i'm just right this is a conversation i'm just throwing it out there um for for the students to go ahead and in the morning they would go and they would um they would have help um on homework or things uh that that they needed to to speak with the teacher about and so they would have um do they have this block schedule with student athletes it would help because they did not have six courses to do homework on it was three and so the grades have improved the performance their test scores right because they had that extra time with that teacher it was not just lecture and go do your homework it was lecture present hands-on i'm here you know it was and so i would like to have a conversation about block schedule i want to show yeah i'm just throwing ideas out there i'm just i'm not attached to any of them i'm just throwing them out there because the the concern i think that's great but the concern i have is that that's that's probably a little cart before the horse i think as we look at that whether we went with a model three or a model four that we can have that conversation and discuss you know block schedule or not um so that's a that's a that's a that sounds more of like an in like an in the weeds program thing that we need to have at some point when back to the board member uh cruz gonzalez's point i think it would be wise for us to kind of get some sense and around some general direction i guess we're not we're not i don't know we're not taking action tonight right the reason i want to be able to just express that this is why we're here i i think and so i want to take this opportunity i mean if anybody else has any ideas and i also have something to say if when it's my turn okay go ahead board member yeah so um what i'm um would like to do between model three and four i would like to see one high school nine to twelve one other high school seventh and eighth students all in one campus dalton elementary gateway with a mandarin valley dale pay to eighth spanish all elementary schools k to sticks and um longfellow i would like the long fellow students to go to their home school and and even that um campus may be used for uh sierra high school sarah high school this time has 164 students and it varies i'm not sure what the highest they've gone but at this time they have 164 students but it's a smaller campus they do have a cafeteria and and you know um and everything but um board member that's bernie can you repeat that again you said all which part um you said you would like to see allah elementaries k through six and then the k-26 and then the long fellow students go to their home school and then you get to get their first that that was my idea and so the high schools i'm sorry high school i would like to see um one high school nine to twelve and it and it's because of the curriculum i think it's important that we keep the ninth and twelfth because of their curriculum and their um is totally different than the seventh and eighth grade seventh and eighth grade on one campus um dalton elementary k-8 mandarin with the mandarin di bellydale spanish di which they have now and um victor hodge also has the mandarin and okay then all the other elementaries keep them k26 but of course ed the long fellow students um you know go to their own home school i don't know how many kids there are in there but um and you know i just had one more question mr thanga so the um all these enrollments they do include the students that are independent study at this time and um special education students also that is correct okay thank you that that's my five stance here rodriguez can you say when you were with that model does that does that um suggest that one of the high schools would be the seven eight yes yes so i'm kind of mixing three and four i'm not i'm not on three i'm not on four i just kind of know my research and i just thought this would be feasible for the students in the community just for clarification um did you say k through eight dalton with mandarin yes and did you say k through eight valley dale with spanish yes and then podge keep oh no no they're still okay to k26 but i'm just saying they do have um d.i you know spanish dual immersions yeah um i i know that um and i thank you guys for for your comments and yes i i probably am getting ahead of myself but um you know these like i said i i think it's important that um that we do have these conversations and um it's not a it's possibilities right well we're looking at these well we're looking at all all of these uh reconfigurations changes that are that are going to be happening you know being able to to share being able to say hey you know what about this like i said about the polls i i i feel very strongly about the polls um that's a conversation we do need to have and i mean yes we're getting ahead of our i'm getting ahead of myself but at the same time you know it is important that if any of you guys have anything to share you know that you guys would like like i think this is this is the time um i'm i'm not married to the one um right i i think um this is something that um i mean let me ask you guys these questions real quick um as as we're going to move forward into fighting but i i think it's important that you know what we can publicly just share what we if we are married to mary uh to model three or model four um it really is you know it's up to you guys um what you would like to share but i think um it is important that um that we all have input in this is this is just not by me presenting these models this is just not my models these are our models and i i want to i want to stress that this is just not me just like this is what i want um but one of the things that um parents had concerns right was that and we we've had we had just had a parent tell us and i i've met with i i've met with over 200 parents and one of the things that was consistent with all the parents was this why is it that the district next door gets to have this and we don't why is it this right or why is it if we were to do you know everybody goes to northview well let's have a conversation once we decide what model we're going to i would like to ask us to have a conversation of why can't we have this why can't we have that we owe it to our students so with that being said if you guys are are comfortable with um going forward with with one of these models we can go ahead and have a more robust conversation are you saying one of the models that you presented as as you presented or any of the right model three or model four right yes uh would you like to go ahead and start a board member sure so the the the challenge that i see with model 3 as it's presented to us let me let me share one of my assumptions and so staff please correct me if i'm wrong an assumption that i have is that when when we the the closer that we get to having our school sites at full capacity the the more we're able to offer by way of program that's that's an assumption that i'm that i'm making uh that is very very close so the more students we have on a campus uh and that that rings true at elementary middle and high school uh the more robust programs we can offer so with that with that in in in line as i look at the these programs i'm i'm wondering which of which models allow us to get closer toward toward capacity even with recognizing that there will be continued declined enrollment as time goes on so even if we were to get close to the 100 percent mark that's going to drop down it it will decrea it will likely i should say it will likely decrease over time with that being said the challenge with model 3 as it's presented to us is the the 54 capacity that that we have with uh if as an example that's here if we were to have seven and eight being at one of the middle school campuses or remember rodriguez pena one of the things that you suggested if within the your the example you gave was having multiple k through eight was is that correct two two yes so this model as it was presented to us has one k through eight and a and with one k through eight it puts it puts middle school at 54.14 capacity so if we were to add a second k8 it would drop that the that capacity down even further which would limit the the programs that that we would be able to offer to our students so that's so again i look at how do we how do we maximize that and that's why i see challenges with model three as it's been presented to us but if we were to bring you know entertain the idea of bringing sixth grade back onto middle school campuses and taking middle school i know that we just we moved there but we made decisions with the information that we had at the time and we've since then gathered tons of additional information so if we were to move sixth grade onto a middle school campus then it brings it as we're looking at some of those other models it brings it up much higher to capacity not even full but but it would bring it much higher to capacity if we were to look at having that at one of the high school campuses so again my my operating assumption is if we can get that number higher the capacity number higher that is how we get to maximizing that's how we get to robust programs the more schools that we have this is where we're at the more schools we have with lower capacity that means we don't have there you know there might be seven kids at this school three kids at that school four kids at that school for a particular class but because there's not enough for that that class doesn't exist and now we don't have that option available if we put all those those students in on on one campus now we can have that class because there's there's there are enough so again i'm i continue to look at how can we maximize capacity so and i'll just jump in because i think adrian i already heard you say what you want what you preferred which was one comprehensive high school nine through 12 and then one middle school stick through eight and i'll just say that's that's that's where i landed too so i'm on the same page as here sorry did you say one comprehensive one yeah one comprehensive nine through twelve and then one middle school six through eight which is what adrian said a little while ago right but i but i i do think that options wise it does it may i'm within that model uh it may be wise to have a a having 1k8 option within the district to create an option might might also be a good idea and i'm not talking about i'm not even thinking about elementaries right now i'm just i'm i'm gonna um just uh one of the one of the reasons um i i i actually had three right um i was thinking you know we have um ellington right now that has paperweight but looking at being able they're so close together right being able to to bring that k through eight to valley dell and we have the k through eight on the south side right we always talk we always talk about well the north side hazard or the south side um one of the things that i would like to see is is k through eight on the north side for those parents that aren't not able to go to valley though right um and ha having to do if if that's something that um right that that we can do um but he'll art so we're looking at model 3 right now we went back right so um [Music] what do you guys think about an arts academy um so i i'm just really interested in hearing from all of you i think adrian and i have been really clear about where we've landed in terms of our what are our preferences i'd i'd like to hear from the rest of the other three of you where you are and if the answer is i don't know yet that's fine too but i just really would like to i don't know yet all right well i already told you what what my model was um what i planned but i think that um i also agree on the you know where it says new high school it's not going to be a new high school people are getting the wrong impression on here it says new heights so i think we need to change that first of all but again i would like to see the nine to 12 in one high school fix them to nate i agree with that and one high school also on one high school campus i think um where i have strong conviction around is on a couple of points another couple points i'm still processing um i'm in at this point in time i'm in favor of one comprehensive 912 and a six through eight um i feel strongly about though my other strong feelings are more around programming and looking at pipeline from preschool you know the entry point um board members paid in and board member when we went to west covina right they have west covina high school as their comprehensive high school and then the two edgewood schools um the middle you know technically a middle school and a high school but it functions and operates more like a unified 6 through 12 school i remember the head of school dr maddox saying very specifically we looked at creating this this this group of schools this this pair of schools 10 years ago as an ib program and that's when their ib program started at the secondary level and they dr maddox specifically said we needed to look at ways to attract students to the district and if i recall from the printout they have about 200 kids transferring into west covina unified for that full 200 kids out of 1400.
so class size reduction as you remember we were not anticipating the loss of students going into the 21 school year and all there were contracts that were already approved reflective of the entire year plus one of the requirements of the esser funds was that we maintain staff and make sure that we're an ongoing concern during and after the pandemic so you can see that from 2021 to 2020 our class sizes were quite significantly less in 2021 in comparison to fiscal 2020. these are averages but it results of a significant lowering of class size or more staff per student throughout all of fiscal year 2021.
um i'm i i am very interested in expanding our offerings around world language and i'm also looking at it from a sustainability perspective and also student choice right um i think the ability to offer world language beginning in the primary grades is critically important that's what the research says about neuroplasticity and the best time to learn your second and third language is you know in the womb and in preschool so regarding dual language looking at about adding mandarin um increasing our access for spanish and looking at the reality of teaching right now the teaching profession um getting the best teachers to staff our bilingual and dual immersion programs i'd like to put onto the table and again this is my my my bent around program is that we look at beefing up our ib pipeline and creating an ib primary years and middle years program at the if it's if that happens in a k6 and then or k5 and then a 6 8 um that's going to expand the great things that are going to happen at in the ib diploma years program i visited azusa high school and the classes were amazing there were only four or five kids in the class and i would love to see that be a class of 25 fit um so creating a very specialized program when i look at the ib programs in other districts west covina dorade students are transferring to those districts and then it feeds the pipeline we already have at azusa high school and they also had seventh and eighth graders right west covina yes ivy right yes that was the the middle school yeah so the mid that that whole campus we visited yeah um at the edgewood schools um it was it started with with sixth grade so um so my point around world language is i think that offering world length the ability to offer world language at the beginning in the elementary years is important for development it's important for 21st century learners and practically speaking it becomes increasingly hard to fill seat when students leave a dual immersion program and students have to then make other choices around when they go to high school staying in those courses or saying you know i really want to have a different high school experience and then we end up losing students out of our dual immersion program with an ib program students are exposed to two languages so in this case i'm thinking of spanish continuing spanish course and adding in mandarin there they would be able to continue into our existing diploma program at our high school and when a student moves here and they're interested in that program it's much easier for them to come in and join us in fourth grade or fifth grade or third grade whereas the dual immersion program you really can only come in at kinder in first grade so looking at the ability to attract students from out of district and also to to be able to continue to feel seat as we go forward just a uh clarifying question dr boat when when you with that the the model that you just suggested are used are you does does that place a does that mean that the pipeline into a uh ib go into the comprehensive middle school or are you thinking that there would be a separate middle school a separate smaller middle school for the purposes of ib i would love to explore the idea of having our dedicated 6 8 brib middle years program um one additional point is i would like to seriously consider keeping at least one k-8 program and that not being and it being an arts program um the other part component of the ib curriculum is that you know main main points are two world languages and art so it's not as if arts wouldn't be offered in ib but it would be a built-in recognized part of the curriculum and you know i have a soft spot for art i think having a dedicated k8 arts academy i'm not talking about campuses but i'm talking about the idea of that program is really critical and the ability and and we're seeing other districts have dedicated arts academies at k8 level and they're very attractive and families are going to either that district school or that charter school within the district because they believe in in the arts and they believe in what it what how it transforms and really enriches their student one more question for you dr bo would would you be able to share um would you be able to share your thoughts because i want to make sure that i hear you clearly in a concise and bulleted format of the models that that you're suggesting all right i'm gonna try to read my own bullet so nine through twelve comprehensive high school that would that would continue to offer that high school program would have an ib component but it wouldn't be the entire school would be a comprehensive high school with all the bells and whistles a six through eight middle school i'm seeing that on the other high school campus i would like at this point i would like to for us to think about that six through eight middle school being an ib middle school as our feeder and also as a way to really um have structured rigor in our curriculum sorry so that would be school-wide yes yes so yeah so that wouldn't be i don't envision that being a track but being six eight full wide um i would also like i'm really leaning toward keeping uh or maintaining at least one k-8 program and i'd like to see that be a dedicated arts program i think those are my four main points 912 and ib638 school 1k8 for the art if i can be so bold to introduce this really quickly um just as an observer without the programmatic just logistically um it sounds like board board members have stated on 9 912 a 6 8 with a k8 with one k8 is that correct or is that i didn't i didn't say that but yes okay i apologize for that but i agree with okay right i i was also looking at a a a 2k eight so that way for me at least one at least right um i i really like the idea of um you know one ka program being an arts program um i have a a clarifying question for you a board member beau so looking at from uh looking at the middle school from sixth to eighth one of the things that you said is to have ib um uh throughout the whole middle school so it would not be a program it would just be the curriculum for the entire sport is that correct yes so that the sixth rate middle school single middle school on one of the high school campuses would be an ib school um now when a student participates in ib at the different levels so in elementary it's called primary years middle school it's middle years and then um in high school it's the diploma program and the the cp program right there to track in high school or just one two right so there's two ib tracks at high school um i i'm a fan of creating a school-wide program and not a track within a school because i think it allows the faculty to have a more more robust resources everyone's trained in the program everyone's um and it also it's everyone together i mean that sounds sounds kind of funky everyone together but yeah it's everyone together everyone on that campus is an ib student every teacher is trained um it's what we it's what we do right it's like when you go to this azusa middle school it's what we do and if you'd like to continue that when you go to our comprehensive high school you can or if you want to do other things in high school you have a really solid middle school foundation and board member rodriguez pena i really agree with you that middle school i really believe is that formative time right um you know in terms of academic success social success um to the extent that we can ramp up the programming and the rigor and the experiences in middle school i think will only benefit students when they go to high school i'm hungry i'm wondering if i can ask a question of dana or art doodle because i know you've done a lot of research around this um and so i think that you're gonna agree with what sabrina said but can you just talk about when you think about the primary years in the middle school years are those generally school-wide initiatives or do you see people doing putting tracks into school right that's why i'm asking you though as people who've done the research as our school school-wide programs that is correct so that's the normal approach at the middle years it is and i've seen i've seen uh as well uh school-wide um and i've seen combinations uh like a k8 we have the pyp and the nyp on on one camp i have a question so um about the ib program you know uh bringing it down to the middle school and um thinking about um you know we're we're having the conversation about primary years um [Music] is that something does the board feel is that something that our community um would do you think that it would attract the individuals that don't have kids in this district at this precise time that they would want to come to asusa is that something that you guys feel that would i i think so we we need to give options but we also need to give programs that um again you know we're also in competition with those school districts you know you just said you know why they have it next door and we don't have it here we want to be able to have offer that so people can say well if they haven't existed we can go there we don't have to go next door i definitely i i know several families personally that have gone to different districts because of the ib elementary program and and because we have ib all right out of high school to me it just makes sense to build our own pipeline um when it comes around to me i have another question around preschool i had board member career but i request um from staff would you be able to create a report i i see this report that has on model 3 that presupposes six through eight on one up on on one of the high school campuses but this shows one k through excuse me one t k through eight could we could we run that with a potential of two k through eight because i'm interested to see what the capacity would be at the high schools if there were two k through eights versus one k three excuse me what the capacity would be for the middle school yeah on one of the high school campuses if there were two k three and you know what that's also good for for often their parents may they may not want to have their child that one at one school you know with the junior high level i guess you'd call them and they want them to continue in the k-8 model so it's also about options and that's one thing we did here in covina valley that they had so many options for parents you know they can go to any several schools that they have had different options and that's what we want to do here so i'm i'm gonna jump in so as we're as we're continuing our conversation on these models or should i say the majority of the board has i is leaning towards model 3.
the other thing i wanted to point out is when we do these these comparisons we are always looking at the same time during each year because every single day this changes as we hire or individuals leave the organization so we are being consistent with always pulling this data sometime between october 1st and october 15th so that the data reflected is consistent with the sder reporting as well as our average teacher salary report that we include on the budget documents and then this reporting as well i wanted to share too that in the future we plan to be very intentional about where those additional ftes are going to go to and which class sizes or classes that we are targeting to spend those extra 13 to 15 fte depending upon the salary of the teacher that we are hiring any questions on that okay great adding social emotional supports you can see that the social workers in 2021 there were 34 in 2020 there were 26.
that is that correct i hear with some changes variations variation of modeling just model three so now now that we're here in model 3 you guys have feared that one of the things that and and i've heard from the majority of the board is that we would like to see sixth grade brought back to middle school is that correct i'm saying yeah the numbers the numbers yes okay and so what what i'm also hearing is that there would be a 9th through 12th so the idea of having a 7th or 9th you you guys would would not like to consider you guys want to continue with uh 9 through 12. yes i do and what i'm also hearing is that the possibilities of having two k through eight and one of the one of the k through eight being an arts program right we already have them but having a k through 8 moving that program to a k through 8.
so we did add eight social workers we also added six mental health counselors we did realize um an an inability to hire all of our positions that were available for these um the social emotional supports during 2021 but we are nearly fully staffed in the current year fiscal year 2022 and that's all i have on the mno override any questions on any of that i just wanted to express a thanks for sharing that with us and i really think it was um quite remarkable that our superintendent and staff suggested that we add those social emotional counselors and social workers i if we just give a little history it came some students from gilbert high school came into our board meeting with a resolution requesting that help saying that they felt very overwhelmed trying to deal with their peers and feeling that it was more responsibility than they could take so our board president took that resolution and we we passed it and then when the override came up it was one of those things that we worked on and so i just really feel like it was um i'm very thankful that those students came in and that then our superintendent and cabinet supported that and the board supported that because it's been a very great help during the very difficult time for our students so thank you okay anyone else great continuous bet okay going into the bond the details of the bond spend so this is the bond spend estimates from the 2015 authority i am not going to go into detail on this particular grid but we have been pretty disciplined following this except that we've been spending the dollars more quickly so we've identified that our needs are more urgent and we've determined that it would be best especially giving the very low interest rates to go ahead and sell bonds earlier and spend them earlier seeing that an all-in interest cost is something in the neighborhood of 1.5 to 2 which is historically extremely low so in addition this was the preliminary bond projected spend estimates for the authority and you can see where the largest spend is in the facility reinvestment also i'd like to point out the security camera implementation that you approved last spring we are well into that at this point in time and then um also note the technology infrastructure and equipment line i wanted to point out too that you can see that if you look at the technology infrastructure and equipment note that it does go through 2024 that was by design remember that the 2015 authority requested that we go to a secondary one-to-one initiative so seventh grade through twelfth grade um that does require that we be judicious about replacing our computers annually and so we have considered that schedule as we have done our bond sales and our making sure that we spend those monies within the three year period required so again all of the bond proceeds have been realized for the 2015 authority and to date we have sold about 32 million of the 100 million dollars 2019 authority so district-wide spend a summary i'd like to take a few minutes just to speak about the fact that some of the numbers that we are going to share with you we've reconciled them but they're not going to be exact so keep in mind that much of the projects that we do during the summer cross over fiscal years so at one point in time i'll make sure that i let you know that the annual financial report indicates this dollar amount total total but operations and technology services had projects that they anticipated to spend money on that crossed the june 30 fiscal year so there will be a slight discrepancy i mean not a lot like maybe a hundred thousand dollars at the most so just so you're prepared for that so bond fund the 2015 authority this just shows you the detail by year of spend i'm not going to go into the detail here i just wanted to make sure that you had that for your own information and this is consistent with what we present to you monthly in the monthly financial report and then really this is the area that i just shared with you so look at the 2021 actual versus the encumbrance release so that basically says that we actually spent 17 million but we were planning on spending 18 almost 18 and a half million so that is what i'm talking about regarding the discrepancy between what's going to be presented in the details in comparison to what the annual financial report is sharing okay again same situation with bond fund 630. we keep bond fund 631 and bond fund 630 separate so that we are we know which authority we're working from in each of those so as an example the technology spend we we haven't spent all of the 631 which is the 2015 authority because of what i shared regarding the technology one-to-one initiative but the 2019 authority called for the security camera implementation which would which would mean we would need to spend those bond funds for the security camera since that that's what the voter voted on with those with that authority okay again same idea with the 21 actual versus the encumbrance and note that the annual financial report does not consider both the authorities they just group all the bond spend together as one bond fund and this is the bond fund summary year to date again this is consistent with what you've seen in your monthly financial reports this is the bond spend total and this is from the annual financial report indicating how the total amount was spent and realized again as of june 30 excluding the fact that many of the projects were continuing in july and august this past summer so a total of 25.3 million dollars was spent in out of both bond funds during fiscal year 2021.
and having the other k through eight which it's which i'm going to bring up the question would it be bellydale or ellington i i'm not saying well i'm not even sure that i'm in favor of 2k8 so i'm wanting to collect them from personally so i'm wanting to collect information right and then and i'm what does that look like i'm also not at a point where where i i'm even looking i don't know that i'm necessarily looking at fools either i'm i'm thinking about a model i know close close behind that we would need to look at school sites but i'm still thinking about the model itself so when do we have the conversation about schools i mean i'm with i'm with board member looking at models and and then looking at the least of the the least amount of changes to achieve our desired effect so what i'm hearing from two board members is that and i'm just you know throwing this out here is that we still would like to have um what what does it look like to have the two through eight not that we're married to anything again but just the possibilities and this is why we're having this conversation right the possibilities what can it look like i'm sorry what was your question what was your question you wanted us to [Music] no no i said well we're looking at so the reason i'm asking is because we really need to have a conversation about if bellydale closes right we have a dual immersion there the spanish dual immersion where we've one thing to consider as well these families have have we we've moved them from mountain view now to valley dell but we haven't even discussed right i'm just i'm just throwing it out there what we've i'm just i'm just throwing out the possibilities right we're just having a conversation we moved him from mountain view to valley dale and now they're there with no immersion and so i mean let's think and and have a conversation about if we were to close valleydale and move them to ellington for that k through eight then we would be relocating them again and and so that's just a conversation to have that's it because i have been approached by parents and and you know they said you know we've been moved from mountain view now to valley dale right are we gonna be moved and so i'm not married again i'm not married to anything i'm just putting it out on the table that that's something that we should consider as well um i you know do we keep ellington do we keep bellydale right are we going to move dual immersion um these are real conversations that that we need to have publicly um so yes board members and so um i think adrian's point earlier i i i mean and i think having seen the impact of the what 17 meetings how many meetings you guys have 17 18 meetings yes the reorganization committee had i think um there's value in having a school agnostic conversation and instead of talking about like right now we're just talking about principles right i think there's value in that because then it it becomes less feeling like you're talking about my school so i i'm going to say i agree with adrian i think we it's i i like the way we're going right now in terms of talking about like principles or what sabrina is talking about i would say in terms of deciding what the schools are in my mind adrian's point earlier about like what does that look like in terms of we have 2k what does it look numbers look like matter to me but i think also what matters to me would end up being where does that which one is the high school which one is the middle school right because then it doesn't then then that will impact my thinking about where does that school do go does it go right next to the the middle school that are that's going to be comprehensive so so i think that's why it's kind of premature to talk about pacific schools and have that conversation in valley dale versus ellington and instead think about like overall what are those principles that we're going to be that we're going to be following yeah i i agree i i think i want to i want to do it one step at a time right now we're talking about the high schools and the programs and so forth and then we should move on to the next one because it does get pretty convoluted when you start talking about you know the elementaries and and right now we we're having a great conversation regarding the you know the one high school and the you know the um six seventh and eighth and the other and so again we haven't even said what's good like he said we haven't decided any anything like that or what curriculum looks like that's what my turn is um but you know i don't know all that before i really yeah that being said i think i think there is a point that we have to have a conversation about programs that i think we call people bringing up because i mean for example um you know whether whether it's ib or dual immersion i mean there are districts like i'll point to anaheim elementary school district who's made a commitment and has essentially dual immersion programs at every single one of their school sites right they've found a way and they have they have students yeah and they have multiple languages and they have they're all thriving programs so i think really we need to have conversations about what are our priorities we just we just agreed moving forward to really go to to go deep in with steel right we're making a commitment to do this approach at our elementary schools so we do have to have a conversation around what are the programs what is the vision and where do all these pieces fit in where still immersion fit in ib i think the early college program but we do have to have that conversation so there's an overall plan and that does tied to it eventually what schools are we talking about especially the element and my concern is though um we're supposed to vote november the two but i was gonna i think i'm ready to to vote on november the second at this moment because we're really discussing this you know how long it's taken us and i'm glad we had this special i mean so this is all we're discussing and i think we knew maybe i don't know if you have another social media discuss the other question and you know look at this deeply i think we need to do that yeah i wonder if it would be helpful so if i'm not mistaken from staff in a perfect world the vote would have already taken place or and or i'm getting i'm getting hard not um and or at least we we would vote with all of these pieces in place schools school sites um with an understanding of programs and everything this this next meeting you're saying no what what would be it what is what is your what would you be as the goal for the vote on next week i i think i i'm i'm not sure if it was board member cruz gonzalez um and i agree and appreciate um the the questions around uh program uh are we gonna go academies are we you know not gonna go academies are is every school going to be an academy you know concentration and so um when i think about implementation um i kind of seen it like buckets right so right now it seems like some buckets are starting to form right if i'm wrong i'm wrong but it seems like a 912 bucket is starting to form a 6a bucket is starting to form at least a k8 bucket is starting to form um because i think about to do this there's going to have to be some construction uh some you know redoing and that's that's a that's a process now that's a process that's going to require dsa that's going to require uh architectures planning if we're going to bring in modulars or you know whatever it is that we're going to do some of that can can um is going to necessitate that and then of course staffing right and we haven't talked about is this next year three years two years five years you know whatever that is um and so i think about like in my head like getting that ball rolling and then simultaneously okay this ball is in motion now we have time it's rolling now let's talk about um academies program and those kinds of things again we're open just again if we are going to make a decision on something that's going to affect um again some kind of you know we're going to bring in a wing of modulars or whatever just know that again that that adds a year and a half uh possibly to go time or start time i would like to go ahead and um one of the things that um that that i would like to request is i know that right now at the high school um board member beau shared and which i have also um seen is um rb pro ib program only having like five students what would the cost be right and having the ib be in all school for the middle schools just as what is the cost and for the high schools right now i know it's at like 300 000 for five students right but but we need the students in there we need i mean it's we need the bodies there right um what is the what is the possibility right so first is the cost for both the middle school and the high school because we're looking at just not being a program we're looking at it being all of the school is that is that correct is that something that right for the bigger picture right um yes just for clarification the suggestion has been who wide middle year programs not school-wide high school did i hear incorrect white middle school so it's this yes let's look at the cost uh what that would look like and and also to um if as we're looking at one high school and we're having this conversation um would it be if would it be feasible to have both the ecp program and ib program on the same campus i i think it is feasible i mean to give options and to you know provide interest um i think that's that's that's possible yes board member uh mr dick if if i could just bring back to the question i asked just for extreme clarity so if there was a because i'm i'm trying to sort through what i would be ready to vote for versus what i would not be reading about and i think i have a sense of that but but so i'm trying to get clarity from from you on if there was if there were a vote that took place next week what would you hope that what would you hope to have voted uh versus what can what can uh uh wait for for a further compensate uh for us probably the the biggest uh pressure points are what's happening at the secondary level um again i've heard seems like there's some buckets here we haven't said okay so where's the 912 and where's the six eight so so i think that would would help us if the vision of the board is that this happens sooner than later if there is no pressure of time or you know those kinds of considerations right then that that could be a different conversation um and then i think i think again once that gets in motion then everything else um still pressure right still we need we can't let go of the gas in terms of those decisions and those conversations but i think are not um again as we're thinking about preparing the facilities um are not uh as uh as critical in terms of you know quicker decisions on that board member career so to be super duper clear if we voted if there was a vote next week on the skeleton we're talking about as we kind of just laid out some thoughts on a skeleton if a vote took place there this next week that would be sufficient for what you are envisioning for process and if by skeleton you mean uh school sites no not not supposed to no not at the secondary level again that's a that's a great head start all right to start you know to start um planning and envisioning and vision casting and all that dreaming but in terms of again okay we have the marching orders all right let's start thinking about okay what facilities needs are we going to need um how does this pan out how you know those kinds of things we can't do until we know what campus or campus is and when you say secondary you're including uh what k-8 campuses um in this in the model that the board has been speaking about is the high school and the middle school so you're you're saying that direction vote that would give direction on high school and and junior high models but if but not necessarily where k-8 work that is correct board member gonzalez have a question and a comment um so you referred to potentially the need of maybe putting in portables or something when i look at these numbers at the secondary i mean i see they're pretty close to capacity so you would still anticipate maybe having to put in additional buildings at on the high schools so for instance we walk to campuses um and a lot of you have have used the word like vision new start we think that this is a possibility to re-look at some of the areas of the high schools where maybe this huge area takes up [Music] five classrooms and there's a way to redo that in the same exact space that might net us you know seven or eight classrooms um because we know that even though uh the capacity is there right now as we think about our programs and we think about our specialty programs uh having making sure that we have the adequate spaces uh enough spaces um we think that there's room there uh to provide uh to the to the comprehensive high school um to to assist in those kinds of areas so i and i believe if i'm not mistaken we put that into the cost analysis so i just i can't see how you have those conversations about visioning those pieces without thinking about the program so i don't i mean i don't see how so that's that's just so but my comment is really around um i i feel very strongly that i want to make sure we have a comprehensive package i think the time is now because we have one-time monies we will probably be getting additional one-time monies next year there's all these extra resources that are going to come in that are going to sort of free up some of the supplemental concentration dollars plus we're coming out of the pandemic right people are sick of the way we're educated let's do something let's figure out something that works better now for our kids so right now is the time to do it so i really want to make sure that back to gabrielle's point earlier that we're pushing ourselves and we're saying it may be it may be a lot but right now is the time to really rethink everything so that was my football board member rodriguez and my question is um so we're supposed to vote next week is it possible that we can vote in phases and not vote on the whole enchilada the whole thing you know what i mean board member can i interject real quick i think this is our decision for us to make i understand that but that's my question yeah the wishes of the board for sure just i'm just i'm just throwing it off because you know we have discussed a lot of high foods and we have not just programs we have not just actually you know um or the elementary we haven't even been there yet so we're supposed to make this took this they're just really important you know this is going to be for the kids future and for this community and i want to be sure that i do make the right decision but i don't want to make it on the whim and make it where if i feel pressured but never bow a couple one question first um mr ortega we um you put together a report for us that would show the cost of um adding preschool classrooms all elementary campuses so according to what board president i'm echoing your sentiment around distributing preschool and i think distributing preschool locations and not just centralizing it at longfellow um i think preschool is also a key entry point for families to come into the district and to stay in the district and to the extent that families you know for two years they're going they're driving to an elementary school campus they're going to see that as their home and it's going to be much easier and very natural for them to say yep we're enrolling in tk we're enrolling in kindergarten and they're going to see the teachers i know that you know currently our preschool and our tk programs have really strong articulation and i think that will only be enhanced by having it being site-based knowing that right what what does it look like to carve out preschool space on any and all of our elementary campuses um i'm in favor but i we need to see what those numbers look like and what that what that timeline would be especially if it requiring vsa approvals and and all of that that was my question um my comment around the urgency to make a decision and all of the things that we need to consider i think that i think we should stay on this train and really push ourselves to think boldly to ask questions to get as much data as possible i also feel from a community perspective that we should have as many special meetings as we need to before the end of this calendar year to get these decisions made both facilities wise and program-wise i'll say this talking to the public going into winter break and not and having only some answers around a campus but no not a definite answer around programming um that's not where we want families to be we want families to be very excited um and as assured as possible about okay these are the campuses and these are the amazing programs are going to be offered i can see where this is going that i really believe that's where we need to leave families before we end this calendar year so i'm i'm committed to coming to all of the special meetings and doing whatever it takes if it takes some phases to do the facilities piece and the program piece because that's what we can comprehend in three or four hours i'm fine with that um but i'm looking at this i don't see this going past december 31st i think for the benefit of the community board member cruz gonzalez so i i mean i agree with that i also just want to say i just want to be clear like i am not comfortable like we i would not have been comfortable talking about which school sites at the next meeting and actually voting on it right i think we have we our community deserves to have hear that conversation and have an opportunity to come in and give us their fee give us what their feelings are and not feel like oh they just decided just overnight they just picked it and without without any community input although i know there's been extensive input through the organization process i think it's not it's not fair to just vote to discuss and vote the same day but what i'm hearing for from the board and is that next week would be too soon to vote but we should vote before december 31st that way we know and we don't go through christmas break while everybody's um in christmas break and still wondering what's going to happen that's that's what i'm hearing i agree i agree with sabrina regarding the you know communication beforehand because the last time the decisions were made they felt that it was rushed they felt that it was last minute and i don't want to be in the in that position again i want to be here to give them enough time to decide what school they want to go to what programs are we going to have to offer to give them that the community that opportunity i would like to speak to the community right now and that is the models that i presented today do have goals i am not married to these schools these are not the schools that i just want to have but i do want to clarify that i did give them names i probably should have put but you know what i i i did um this is a conversation that we will need to have um at the same time you know what is pragmatic what what is gonna work um when it comes to the schools that we're actually going to um be able to you know close i mean that that's the that's the reality of it um we need to look at many different things so what i'm hearing is that um we're going to go ahead and take the agenda item off or next tuesday no we're not voting i'm not sure i'm hearing that i'm hearing that we're not going to vote next november on november 2nd i didn't hear that we're taking the i'm sorry let me the action item oh that's correct right right and the agenda the action item yep we're removing that i just want to because that's what i'm hearing yes okay and we i'm sorry oh i'm just trying to read the other side of the room is that where we all are but potentially uh so i think tonight we we've not though we've not taken action there have been a lot of act there's there's been a lot of action and conversation um without without formal act i mean as we're thinking through specific models um so yeah i i think i i would say if we're looking at it as in its entirety and if we're looking if voting means voting on on everything i'm not ready to vote on everything next there are some pieces if we were if we were looking at models skeletons of models and if we took a vote on that to um you know for lack of better words eliminate some options along the way i i would be ready to vote on that um i would not be ready to look at locations necessarily i might i think that that warrants a a another conversation maybe we schedule another special meeting to talk at i i see programs locations and also the what needs to happen at the locations to to make them to make the programs that we're wanting to have feasible at school sites as as additional conversations that need need to happen i see at least at least two kind of at length conversations um where we talk about programs and location and budget right programming budget three yes i agree with adrian regarding um i think we should do it in phases just like you know we couldn't vote on i don't know what part and have a further discussion on the programs and and so on you know let me just ask for clarify mr thera yeah and then and and again just for clarity right this is only in consideration uh and not really knowing of what the desire is in terms of implementation right and so um if if uh this so the first iteration of the board was november 2nd perfect do you guys obviously can can change that then the next iteration is by december then that doesn't that's not you know that's not a whole heck of a lot of difference so that's that's fine that's great i think it could all be voted on in december and that's i think but i think it would give us time to gather information that we are we all want to stay here that they want to see i would like to make a special request for us not to vote on december 14th as we are voting on something else i would like to have it separate talking about the redistricting so i i would like to go ahead and ask that from my board i agree that's fine a lot about the 14.
and this is just a graphical representation of that you can see the majority is in the facilities renewal there's a small amount in the cost of issuance and the rest you can see with technology and transportation so technology spend details at this point in time i'd like to hand this over to mr john castellano and thank you mr castellano and you could just tell me when to move thank you mrs bens appreciate it dr santa cruz members of the board dr mccord thank you for having me uh here tonight i don't have any robotics tonight i apologize so try to keep you engaged as much but um most of the things you're seeing here again we bring back every year so you're gonna recognize these same light items sparkle obviously these are new for you but like miss betts said we've been following a very regimented schedule with our budget and it is working out exactly how the taxpayers had voted for in that 2015 bond the stuff we i wish we could talk to you about tonight but again supply chain has slowed some of our projects down so our data co-location we're just we're now getting started on that unfortunately but hardware is starting to arrive so next time i'll be able to share more of that with you and the security camera project as mrs betts said is now rolling along and we have multiple schools cabled and we'll keep doing that as well waiting for hardware to catch up so again supply chain has just really hurt us but things are starting to move a little bit now so that's that's positive um so we're going to jump i'll jump right into the next slide mrs bets please um so cabling so these are the schools that we cabled in last fiscal year we will currently be cabling the remainder of our schools this fiscal year which we'll report next time i see you with the bond report um but we will be 100 percent complete then with re-cabling our schools so that'll set us for for quite a few years to come with cabling but again we keep a regimented schedule and do as many schools as we possibly can during those summertime months to avoid as much disruption as we can next slide um so we uh have replaced a few of our servers at our secondary locations this obviously falls under infrastructure we only have one server at each of our secondary sites because we have the data center but we still need to have one server at those sites for certain things that we do on that campus that we just need that data there for a quicker customer service so when we re-image computers or do certain things on the campus that's why we have uh one server at the secondary location site so that's what that picture is there the new ones on the bottom and the gray one is old which they're being removed right now that's just a power supply backup on the right hand side there okay obviously mrs betts talked to our one to one initiative so that continues during this bond spend obviously every year we refresh the ninth graders as they come into high school they get the new device and they keep that for the following four years throughout their high school career we did replace our seventh grade and 10th grade devices at gca on the last spend and then our elementary refresh we were able to refresh 9000 devices last that last fiscal year so that was great we still have thousands and thousands more to go but obviously we're looking to address that between semester funds and and some of the other budget if there's left in the 2015 bond span so still rolling along there and nothing really new to report report there with that i believe that's the last slide if you have any questions i'd be happy to answer them other than that thank you for having me um to continue the 2021 transportation spend details i'd like to acknowledge that mr toby would definitely be here to present if i had given him more notice and reminded him that he needed to present so i offered to do the presentation for him so i just wanted to own that so transportation vehicles we did purchase transportation vehicles 54 passenger buses seven of those 72 passenger buses six of those and then 10 passenger vans the 54 passenger buses are primarily special needs buses i think that mr tolby's whole hope is to right size the fleet for the specific needs of each individual route throughout gilbert public schools so um and then this is a picture of the front of one of our new special needs buses so this we are working to standardize our fleet to thomas buses you can imagine the advantages of having the same brand of bus as it relates to our mechanics and even our drivers understanding how what the idiosyncrasy idiosyncrasies are of a thomas bus and it's very comparable whether they're in a 54 passenger or a 72 passenger or an 84 passenger purchasing various sizes again to meet the very needs of distance and student ridership that explains the reason for the vans we do have a lot of mckinney-vento students which are we are obligated to transport students sometimes as far away as dysart or goodyear because of their homeless status at a point in time in their school career this allows us to have a smaller vehicle to go across town to meet the those needs also we're ensuring that all buses include an integrated seat you can see the picture of the student there that has the harness actually a part of the seat this eliminates the the struggle of having to add the harnesses to existing seats prior to the bus run every day and then having to remove them for middle for junior high or high school students so this streamlines much of our operations cost and our our driver costs associated with prepping prepping their buses and then finally um the last focal point for for mr toby has been to ensuring that there is undercarriage for our large buses to make sure that we can expand the use of these buses to longer athletic trips so that there's enough room for football equipment and band equipment etc so he's thinking ahead on what the fleet should look like this is just a regular education 72 passenger bus and then finally these are the 10 passenger vans right right now we haven't really established a van standard as to brand but the last three years we've been buying these ford vans these four 10 passenger vans so are there any any questions on that i i do want to express appreciation for that because i think um if we have one type of one brand of school bus that makes getting parts a lot easier that's the other thing um so hopefully we'll settle on the van that we like and then just go with that one as well so and i would say i remember half having to okay the purchase of car seats so now we don't have to the additional cost of car seats are moving them in and out we'll still need them for a while okay the car seats all right so uh this portion of the presentation i will be sharing with albert and i i'm gonna give all the gory boring details and mr dutch over gets to share all the photos of all the great work that he and his teams have done so this is just the total project summary a total of 16.4 million dollars has been planned for the summer work primarily so mechanical you can see that we spent time and effort at harris islands meridian patterson and then mesquite high school on these mechanical projects to remind you of mechanical that's our hvac lighting and electrical and i'm going to send this over then it's all yours mr dutch over thank you thank you dr mccord dr santa cruz members of the board um so as bonnie stated we'll go through these and groupings um as they are particular to each department or area first we did a grouping of mechanical projects which included hvac which which was the larger of this area this is a before at meridian elementary a package unit to the left and the split system to the right and just a picture of the new hvac system i will note that we do when we do implement or replace we utilize uh this opportunity to implement high efficiency units not only does this add reliability to the facility but it gives us a return in saved energy and maintenance costs secured entryway gilbert high this was this was a unique situation so this was the last of our comprehensive high schools to do a secured entry lobby area so as you can see here the prior area was open open hallway office was to the right not very as far as security goes not not not very secure or not very doesn't present um presents a little bit of a challenge there as far as security goes as you can see now we have more of a true entry entryway a true lobby um that allows the attendance and um reception area to onboard our yeah attendance and reception area to onboard students as they come in structural this is where the biggest portion of our dollars were spent or our projects were which include classroom flooring painting restrooms portable renovations and things of that such so just a brief overview of of all the spans in this area uh this touches on the move or the relocation of houston elementary arms neely to the houston campus there was a need for a drive so this is a preliminary drawing of what the drive potential was or what the drive idea was as far as implementing that there on the new campus this also shows a expansion of the north east northwest staff lot so keep in mind that the expansion of parking was required due to the fact that the there were some somewhere between 750 and 800 students at neely that were now going to have to be at houston whereas there were just under 300 students at houston so it was important that there be not only greater opportunities for parent drop off and pick up but also for additional staff at the new at the new neely facility again this is neely traditional so you get this kind of gives you a quick view of the some of the items that we did touch at this at this site that's repainted there too is that right albert that's repaint yes and this gives you the finished product for the front drive and the new lot are the front the front drive and the parent pickup and drop off lanes this highlights the interior paint that was completed at the site as well as carpeting this is just obviously more just a little outline of where the existing this is the current state and just outlining the existing expansion area for the staff parking portable renovations again this is something we try to work on just due to the state of the building and the age of most of our portables they i know they're temporary site uh temporary structures but uh have tended to be a fixture on on most of our campuses and this is at canyon valley oh wow and along with the modernization we try to incorporate the the portable and make it more of uh tie it into the facility so it's more as one building or multi everything ties together as one facility i'm sorry is that a refurbishment or a replacement it's a refurbishment you did a wonderful job it looks really good restaurant renovations this is a this is usually pretty big these are most of our restrooms are pretty dated this is mesquite elementary here this is obviously our before picture and here's the after again we'll show one of our other older facilities this is islands elementary before picture and now the after exterior paint again with the facelift and additional renovations we're doing to try to modernize the facilities we're focusing on exterior exterior aesthetics aesthetics as well this is desert ridge high school this is currently with the new paint job i just thought it was a nice piece to start with for desert ridge this is the before outside of their auditorium now this is the after incorporate the school colors have you heard anything about this one laura you're are they happy with the colors okay that's good you and i have had conversations about that and then we have greenfield junior high again incorporating updated modern colors as well as school colors into the building harris elementary you can see they had a green before this isn't the new color this is the old color and now this is a new more modern color scheme flooring flooring renovations this is the flooring at desert ridge high school to the left we have the library to the right we have one of the hallways again trying to incorporate new technologies things that are going to save maintenance costs as well as just regular day-to-day operations costs we're moving to the lvt hard flooring which gives it aesthetically a better look as well as lowers the maintenance cost it reduces the stripping and waxing of the floor so it's a little bit easier on our our custodial staff and site staffs uh highland high kind of caught this one midway through this they had um ceramic tile obviously this is a demo phase the next picture shows a hallway prior to demo showing the the vct as it was now this is hot call with the lbt throughout as well as the hallway and along with the flooring projects we are incorporating the schools are choosing at this point elementaries mainly to incorporate their their logos or do a mar branding making sure their branding is the center court there in their multi-purpose rooms this is gilbert elementary i just thought it was a nice piece i wanted to add it in so these are pending projects projects that we're currently currently looking into projects are currently in progress right now we're we're looking for a kitchen an ap storage expansion at neely neely houston houston campus and then at all five of our comprehensive high schools we're looking into led sports lighting as well as automated irrigation again cost savings maintenance savings things that give back to the district sorry oh it's okay you're just playing with the button uh greenfield junior you saw that we had we did the exterior paint we're also doing exterior learning congregating areas in the north west side of off of the cafe as well as their center courtyard district-wide security cameras bonnie touched on that we're in the middle of that project as well rit is in the middle of that project um perimeter fencing again going back to the security pieces and trying to be as least intrusive as possible we're trying to incorporate perimeter fencing at our facilities encouraging the safety of the students as well as adding to the aesthetics of the site we're doing these right now at gilbert high school gilbert al superstition springs their exterior field as well as a mesquite l preschool containment and then transportation bonnie spoke to that as on on the current state of transportation and what they're looking to provide you'll be seeing uh some of these coming to you in the next at the next board meeting for approval to purchase the seven five seven uh eight additional buses um to hopefully be delivered by the summer um can you tell me how many passengers that activity van or the activity buses that we're going where we're going to have one at each high school is that my correct understanding that was that's the plan and do you know how many passengers oh my gosh is it 16 i think they're 16 passengers in the vans i believe so right yeah okay and they're they're they're more of a bust but because they're white they don't require the driver to have a cdl okay so and we'll i hope to be providing some training to yes we've already trained quite a few actually that are planning on driving that's great we just want everyone to be safe and i just wanted to share that all these projects these are going on right now these are projects that we are able to do without disrupting school and there's about a nine million dollar spend here just to touch on the neely expansion this is this is uh what the plan is to the left is the current layout or format um not to get too too far because it's kind of i don't know if everyone gained their bearings but to the upper to the top of the the the upper left schematic you have the current receiving area uh to the right of that is the current storage area a pe storage area what we're going to do is expand that storage area out into the current receiving area but also in the receiving area food services installing two new uh two well one new freezer and one new exterior refrigerator and then on the lower the lower end we're gonna expand the dry food storage to allow for the additional capacity and growth of the facility so the same thing is occurring in nutrition services where there the site was used to serving breakfast and lunch to between 200 and 300 students and now are ramping up to 750 to 800 students each day plus the fact that we're on universal free breakfast and lunch right now so that's making the participation rates um quite high so to move forward because of the the spend and the fact that we're still enjoying extremely low interest rates we are engaging with our financial advisor next week to talk about the next bond sale which hopefully we will close probably at the end of january early february so we're prepared for the next phase of our bond projects and then albert and i will be presenting to you the summer bond projects again in the april may time frame so that you have a preview of our plans for the summer final thing is just a quick tax rate summary you've seen this before again the rise in the total tax rate is totally due to the m o override going from 10 to 15 we actually saw a reduction in the secondary tax rate due to the bond because we've maintained or lowered the tax rate due to the very favorable conditions regarding interest rates as well as managing the time frame in which we are paying back all those bonds which is very rapid here in gilbert public schools and that's all we all have if there are any questions we're all available to answer them for you [Music] board members any questions is wood yes thank you thank you so much i appreciate everyone who presented tonight and i really appreciate our community for your support through override and bond funds and i think it's really important that we are accountable and show that we are spending how we said that we would bond funds you by law we have to spend them within a certain percentage very close to exactly how we said we would and then the override we have we're showing that we are keeping our commitments and we'll continue to do that so i think that's really important that we do that i just had one question when you we've talked about that we are taking advantage of the advantageous interest rates in the bond market so we are kind of increasing the speed with which our projects are those projects were already on our list when we went out for that original bond we're just kind of increasing possibly the speed of them do you anticipate that we would have bond needs sooner than we thought we would again or do you think this will carry us through to where we thought we would be as far as years between bonds um so a couple of things in in the conversations with the financial advisors we have been looking at a very long term schedule of of bonding and paying off debt so the focus has been on not ever increasing the bond levy in fact decreasing it annually but but we're going to be continuing to look at it albert and i are planning to actually look at what we need for this year and next for the summer and next to determine how much we should potentially sell in this next bond sale and then figure out how long that will last us and that what what projects will go un unmet with our present um i guess expedited completion of projects the other thing is i think that there was a an arbitrary and help me if i'm wrong albert i i do believe that there was a focus in the past of just only spending what five to five million dollars a year or something and constraining the spend to a level even though you're able to manage a higher level of spend yes we we spent roughly four to five million through the course of the summer which again assessing it with misbets and and trying to move forward and expedite some of these processes or even in curriculum changes we found a bigger need so we ended up moving things and continuing with that that spanned into the school year if i could add to that because i remember at a particular point way before this cabinet where we we didn't have any more bonds to sell and so we were phasing down our override and a capital override that we had and so we were constraining our spend because they're just we didn't know when we would have funds just when we would be able to go out and have up on sale so there was a year or two there where we really could not do all the things that were needed um and that was probably that summer where we only spent five million dollars because of the cuts to the district additional assistance the lack of bonds and the cuts to our maintenance and operations budget um it it we went down to state funding only for that one year and so once we were able to do the bond sale in 2015 that was a great help to both get the override passed and the bonds passed and i am very very grateful to our voters um i have the second one mrs wood said that they supported that and helped us have that money because there just isn't the there was not the funding at that time to support all of our needs so um i think it's you know i i don't know because i was pretty new on the board at that time what they had spent previously but we just hit a patch there where it was very very difficult and the cuts from the state on our district additional assistance didn't help but um we're doing much better now and i appreciate the voters for that because it could have been a different story and and yeah we we were at that point through those lean years we ended up getting into probably a deferred maintenance of over 100 plus million um and then when we did get into the 2015 bond that is we did approach it slowly um we got into the four to five million same standard as four to five million but as we continue to see again with the deferred maintenance and other items that we were unable to address at the time we looked into picking up the pace just just so that we could add that added value to our facilities so we didn't just get further in the hole which i feel like we've done a good job addressing and reassessing items as needed as well as not only from community board members students staff as we take these assessments in we continue to address that way we stay keep our facilities modernized as well as hopefully we don't we don't bury ourselves in another hole if we do have to go back into lean years so we try to think ahead of the game um rather just stay with it rather than just staying with the crowd yeah and i would say i mean one of the i think it's a point of pride that we've been able to keep our schools up it's a point of pride for our students to have a you know a nice school to attend and for our staff members to have a nice school to work in so i think it's you know i really appreciate the community support on that well and i think due to the fact that we were very low funded in the past it it seemed like there was a greater urgency to catch up if we had the available resources and the fact that the interest rates have been historically low giving us an opportunity that was unprecedented so we have been expediting it but it's a fair comment because we had the failure of the ashland ranch main um main switch yeah main switch care that was an emergency repair that was in excess of a hundred thousand dollars yeah we were over a hundred thousand dollars at that point well and when you were talking about transportation i do remember even though the bonds had passed the new buses were not here and the first day of school the first week of school when it was so hot it seemed like there was one report after another of buses breaking down so you know it has made a huge difference so i really appreciate that i appreciate the hard work and i appreciate the voters so thank you ms betts can you speak to the point and it is consistent with miss woods commentary uh the manner in which we're spending you indicated a quicker turnaround on our spend uh can you speak to the positives related to that and taking advantage of the current uh interest rates and how that is benefiting our taxpayer well and i think it's twofold i think that by expediting the projects we are benefiting more students every year and that we are even hearing from i mean even albert's son looked at greenfield junior after it was painted and made a comment oh my gosh this looks like this looks terrific so i think that there i mean at least when i since i've been here i felt a sense of urgency of trying to bring our school sites up to par across the school district so number one is to benefit our students and staff and then secondarily the the relationship between the low interest rate and the benefit to the taxpayer is that the levy is that much lower and their tax rate will go down over time and the ability we have to not have long-term debt in my history debt has been extended between 20 and 30 years and here in gilbert our average is 7 to 10 which is really remarkable that we're able to pay that down and off so quickly and still meet the needs of our schools and our students one thing bonnie i'll just add to that it helps us be reactive or not react i'm sorry uh proactive rather than being reactive um and then heightened sight being everything um allowing us to do so many projects and and a wide variety of projects we tend to have buying power as well and and being in the state we are now actually eliminated a lot of issues we may have ran into with again i mean we still jumped through a lot of hurdles this past summer with supply chains and work shortages and things like that but i felt we were still in a good position there were small inconveniences compared to where they could have been if we had waited or or drug our feet or only handled minimal um products or projects thank you for that mr dutch over mr parker i just wanted to say uh is it working okay uh i visited gca last week and the work you guys have done over there is pretty amazing when they switched to school over from a junior high the only comment i had from a couple of parents were concerned about the lighting on the athletic field and so other than that they were really happy so just one pass that on great thank you thank you mr parker and to your point on being proactive miss dutch over i appreciate that because we we saw the volume of scheduled projects that we were unable to get to prior to this and we've been able to at least be very judicious about our spend and how we're going to address those projects along with the fact that it's a it's a real overt and obvious way to illustrate that we are certainly taking care of this community's investment investment in all of these facilities some 41 plus of them and if i could just add i just really wanted to call out mr dutch over it's really a pleasure to work with a director of operations that has such a sense of urgency to the point where two days before school i caught him with a vacuum pack on his back vacuuming the floor at neely to make sure it was ready for students on the first day of school that doesn't happen very often that was a photo op i got a picture and i didn't get it in the presentation i should have sent it to his wife because i'm pretty sure that doesn't happen that's just one example so it's been a pleasure to get all this work done and it's largely due to mr dutch over so i just wanted you all to know that and the point is not understated the benefactors of all of this work are our students so good job mr dutch over and all of you who presented this evening thank you i just want to piggyback on that just to thank my crew as well because it's not me by myself so um i don't want them to beat me up tomorrow morning okay no they they take a lot of the grind off of my back too and they should take a lot of pride in the work they've done anything else board members thank you miss betts thank you mr dutch over mr castellanos appreciate that we will now move to item 10 which is consent agenda items for consideration discussion direction and possible approval we are ready to entertain a motion on the consent agenda i moved that we approved the consent agenda items removing item 10.07 and 10.08 for further discussion thank you ms humphries there's motion is there a second second thank you mr parker it's been moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda item items as printed and presented excluding item 10.07 10.08 any discussion seeing no discussion we will vote on the consent agenda items as stated in the motion all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye those opposed the same motion carries 4-0 we move now to item 10.07 is there a motion uh i move that we approve the second read of policy bedd rules of order and also the second read of policy behd public participation at board meetings it's been moved and seconded unmoved that we entertained 10.07 10.08 any motion is there a second second it's been moved and seconded we will discuss each individually seven first and then eight but is there any discussion um if no one else has i would like to i wanted to just share some thoughts on this these two policies we've gone over them probably three or four times in policy meeting so i just wanted to share some thoughts before we finalized our vote on policy bedd the change is to sorry i need to get my papers the change is to the language um and it was mentioned tonight in public comment the governing board president may receive recess the meeting without a vote of the governing board in order to maintain decorum and governing board meeting rules of order and as people have mentioned they don't want a board president to abuse their position to end a meeting and not allow the input of constituents and i i concur that is a valid concern however i did some investigation and follow up and learned a little bit more about some situations in our state both in the vail district and the scottsdale district a lot of times when we when there have been contentious board meetings it's not necessarily the community coming in with that contention it's outside groups and in the situation in scottsdale and vail the board mating board meeting became so contentious that students who were there for recognition were beginning were becoming concerned so it's not just the safety of the governing board that we have to consider it's the safety of the students and families and staff who are attending those meetings so i understand that this is concerning that we don't want a board president to abuse their power i will address that in a few minutes because i think um i i just don't think a change of policy is going to constrain a board president who is spent on abusing their position and the reason i put both together is i wanted to make a few comments about policy bedh on this policy i wanted to comment the the reason it's on the agenda is for the presentations of unsolicited services will not be permitted but i wanted to go back and comment to something that was adopted earlier which is under the letter c where we gave some a better definition of what would happen if we had a number of speakers come to the meeting i personally there's there's several different ways we can deal with a influx of speakers we can limit the time for public comment we can limit the number of speakers or we can limit the time that each speaker has i personally want to allow each person to speak and in a particular board meeting earlier i believe we had about 70 people lined up to speak and 50 of those got to speak and i put this forward to the rest of the board because i felt that you know as much as i want to allow everyone three minutes when you have 70 speakers that gets a little bit difficult for everyone because of the length of the meeting and we also have to remember the open meeting law we want to be transparent we don't want meetings that go late into the night because then people aren't able to be there or aren't they aren't able to watch so that's why i put that forward but when we're talking about someone who is abusing their authority that is a grave concern and i um recently had a conversation with a friend who was a board member in another district and is struggling with this very concern so i wanted to address that issue because when i came on the board i was part of a very dysfunctional board a very dysfunctional board and so i i want to put forward that by the time a board president would end a meeting early or constrained speakers the damage has already been done when you see those things happen behind the scenes things have happened to micromanage the district and the damage has been done so i want to put forward there's three things that i think help very greatly in keeping this from happening and one is the community none of us select whom we serve with up here it is totally the selection of the community and so when the community is voting i suggest that you really look at candidates and you pick candidates who have integrity dedication knowledge and empathy with no agenda that they are here for the good of the students and the staff in the public schools and i would say if things happen the community needs to hold board members accountable and that's why i do not want to limit public speaking because my experience was we had packed board meetings for two years and there was an attempt to limit public comment but those people were coming to the board and holding their accountable for some very very hard decisions we have to remember that we're serving as board members we're affecting the entire community the career choices of staff and the education of students so the second way i think it's really important to help people to understand what their role is i think it's really important for us as board members both individually and as a board to get professional development and i understand that not everybody agrees with everything that the arizona school board association says or does neither do i we are a member-driven organization we have many differences and we try to come together to bridge those differences and move forward for what is good for kids so i it's really important that people go get that professional development to learn what their role as a board member is to learn about open meeting law to learn about running a meeting and to talk and network with other board members so if they are dealing with a challenge then they have other people who have similar experiences to draw on um and the third third way is relationship building i think it's really important to build trust between the superintendent and the board and to build trust between the board members that's why it's important to have those retreats and to really work together and i feel like we we can tell the difference between a well-functioning board and a poorly functioning board and so i just wanted to address those concerns because i do think they are very valid but i don't think that this these changes in policy will affect um someone who wants to abuse that position i think there are other things that can be done and should be done that are much more impactful and with that i'll end my comments thank you miss humphries any additional commentary thanks ms wood thank you um just back to policy b-e-d-d rules of order i do believe that it's important and i've heard my fellow board members share similar sentiment that we have public comment and that we are received the public comment that that's important that's an important part of our board meeting i also believe it's important to have order and to have a well-functioning board meeting to to get the business done that we're here to do but i do have concern of giving a significant power to one board member the board president in this case not specifically personally dr santa cruz but just in in as a board president and i think there's already a mechanism in place in the policy to address these situations as a five member board that we could have a motion in and a second and then vote on it and i think that that would be sufficient to address any needs that come up and i i would prefer that we keep the policy as is you miss wood any additional comments i'm actually in favor of this i i think there are unique circumstances at times out of the ordinary and hopefully would never have to be used but in a situation like that uh i i uh i'm in favor of giving the board president that authority mr dr sanchez if i could just say one more thing um under the circumstances with vail and scottsdale i believe that the meetings were ended at the suggestion of the police officers who were there that was how um dire the circumstances where they felt it would be more safe for everyone if the meeting were ended so with that i have to support this policy i um mrs wood if is there a way that we could reword that that um you could have buy in on that particular change in the policy i mean i'd be willing to table it if you want to come back next month if you had some wording that you felt would um try and i because i don't have an idea of how to change that wording um i just under the circumstances that were in scottsdale and vail um it was at the recommendation of the police officers that the meeting ended and i think when you get to that point um and and we don't you know we have security here we don't usually have police we have had at some times because of the number of attendees or the the tension we've we've occasionally had police officers come so it can't be at the recommendation of police because we don't always have police here so is there a is there would you like a month to think about that and take it back to policy off the top of my head i don't have any suggestions other than what's already in place i mean we've discussed it in policy yeah i don't know if there's i i don't know i again my concern is limiting it to a one two uh to the board president and i don't know that we're gonna come to uh well i appreciate that you're asking i just i was hoping that maybe yeah if you had some time to think we could come to some kind of a consensus on this any additional commentary okay done then we will vote on each item individually even though the motion encompassed both item 10.07 motion second read is to adopt b-e-d-d rules of order all those in favor of the policy proposal second read as presented please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed aye motion carries 3-1 item 10.08 policy development approval second read adoption of policy bedh public participation board meetings and we have discussed that all those in favor of the second read and adoption of policy please signify by saying aye aye aye all those opposed the same motion carries four zero item eleven action items for consideration discussion direction and possible approval item 11.01 dr mccord anything by way of rationale yes sir thank you dr santa cruz governing board members this item is related to the baseball field at desert ridge high school desert ridge has been in place for close to 20 years and over time land gets developed and homes are built and on the south side of the school adjacent to the baseball field is a development called mulberry which is was developed by blanford homes and at that time where the baseball field sits as well as where houses are in relation to the proximity to the baseball field foul balls have over time went into the housing development created some damage um and then there was some construction of a net that was put together by blanford homes and although that attempt was uh a good one it still does not stop the balls in this proposal is to construct a hundred foot structure to stop uh errant baseballs entering into that neighborhood again this is uh something that we've worked with blanford homes on over the last several months and tonight we bring a proposal to you thank you dr mccord so you have rationale for item 11.01 is there a motion i move that the board approve and authorize the superintendent to enter into the cost sharing agreement with blanford homes in form posted with agenda item 11.01 but with changes as follows strike the language mbi builders llc and desert vista 100 llc from the first paragraph in paragraph three the first sentence will read in exchange for blandford's participation in the cost sharing agreement the district releases and waives blanford mbi builders llc and desert vista 100 llc and their related companies affiliates members officers employees and agents the released parties from any and all liability arising from and the district without limitation agrees to defend a dem i'd indemnify and hold the release parties harmless from and then continue with the rest of the paragraph with the remainder paragraph three remaining the same as the form posted with agenda item 11.01 you miss humphries is there a second a second thank you mr parker that was a rather long motion i take it that you understand it and is there any discussion i just wanted to thank blandford homes i i think they're doing the right thing in helping us to solve this problem desert ridge has been there for many many more years in the neighborhood but you know considering we just have to move forward and we appreciate their helping us do that thank you ms humphries any additional commentary seeing none we will vote on item 11.01 you have heard the motion second you understand the nature of the motion all those in favor please signify by saying aye those opposed the same motion carries 4-0 item 11.02 discussion possible action related to approving save cooperation contract 17-03 awarded to sun valley builders dr mccord any rationale this just goes along with item 11.1 in terms of awarding the contract to sun valley builders to construct the polls and netting to protect the community as well as the rest of the individuals over there so this motion will help the project move forward is that correct that is correct item eleven point zero two is there a motion some moves thank you so much thank you mr parker then and thank you miss humphries for the second is any discussion dr santa cruz just that we went out for the pure procurement procurement as we always do and this this came back as the the best bid and the timeliness as well so just wanted to make that note thank you miss wood this was indeed a very favorable offer so any other discussion seeing none we will vote all those in favor of item 11.02 please subscribe by saying aye aye aye those opposed the same motion carries for zero item 11.03 discussion consideration give direction on voting on one bylaw change proposal for the arizona school boards association dr mccord any rationale i'll just read the uh rationale to everyone with unanimous approval of the asba hispanic native american indian caucus and asba board of directors this change is being sought by the hispanic native american indian caucus it would create a seat on the asba board of directors so the hispanic and native american interests can be represented simultaneously on the board currently there is one seat on the asba board of directors designated for the representative of the hnaic and it alternates every two years between hispanic representation native american representation creating gaps in representation by contrast the black alliance has a seat on the asba board of directors ensuring representation on the board at all times this proposed bylaw change also provides effect flexibility of the hnaic to split into two distinct groups if its members so choose and allows those groups to change their names and be recognized under the new names thank you dr mccord you heard the rationale a motion on 11.02 would in effect direct a voting member of this board to either affirm the bylaw change or reject the bylaw change is there a motion i move that um the gilbert public schools governing board vote yes on the byline change from the arizona school boards association is there a second a second thank you mr parker is there any discussion um i i want to give some input on this this is something i have served on the board of directors for five years and this is something we have been working on for five years for from the the entire time that i have served there um i will say that the board of directors is a you know we are very a wide very diverse group of people but we work together in a very good way and we can find a lot of consensus also each of us because we have hispanic students because we have native american students and because we have black students in our district we can each be a member of the the black alliance or the hispanic native american caucus or both i have been a member of the black alliance for i think probably seven or eight years and um i've learned a lot through that association and and have attended also some of the um hispanic and native american meetings so i think it it is one more seat on the board but i think it's a very positive move forward to give representation to um as many as we can and and we all can be members of those alliances and caucuses thank you ms i'm afraid there's any other commentary miss wood thank you dr santa cruz i think my concern is that in adding one more seat this would in effect dilute the vote that we have currently which is two maricopa county representatives and that would be that's my concern in in adding this other seat but it really doesn't because you can be involved in those organizations so you can actually be represented twice or three times on the board as a board member in maricopa county as a member of the black alliance and as a member of the native american hispanic caucus right which they're already represented right now well i mean you as a board member can be a member of that organization which then represents you again on the board if you so choose thank you miss wood thank you miss humphreys my comment would be uh that this creates representation for all membership groups involved in asba and so i would support the amendment request for change any additional comments i think that i feel that we we need to be representative of our population and that this is something that will help do that all right the additional commentary just to repeat then item 11.03 as an affirmative vote would then affirm this board's support for the amendment all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye those opposed the same aye motion carries three one we are at item 12 items for future agenda item 12.01 again just a reminder to board members if you have uh items that you wish to be placed on the agenda if they're not uppermost in your mind right now and wish to articulate that then please get a hold of miss wilson and we will have her take your request and discuss it for a future agenda item 13 13.01 our committee reports gilbert education foundation ms humphreys um i wanted to report that we had a very successful bowl-a-thon at the end of september and um raised a record amount and so we really appreciate all of our sponsors who purchased lanes and donated and it was a very fun evening also we have our innovation grants that can go to our staff members and teachers those are up on our website and people can go there to apply um and we will be having our scholarships for students and staff will be up on the website in november and so please look for those um it's you know it's a very busy time for gilbert education foundation i also wanted to just mention um at the arizona school board association maricopa county meeting we had some board members who received recognition ms laurie wood and miss sheila eugetti and miss gabby wilson all received awards at the county meeting so i wanted to report that congratulations thank you ms humphries item 13.02 city of mesa liaison ms wood yes i just wanted to share that desert ridge high school student council in partnership with the city of mesa police and other mesa government are having a community trunk or treat this saturday and that's a great event we're appreciative of the city of mesa and the students and staff at desert ridge high school for coming together for that and hope that they have a great a great night thank you miss wood item 13.03 the town of gilbert liaison and dr mccoy i'll defer to you anything that you would like to add there nothing in particular that their bond issue is up for election next tuesday thank you sir item 13.04 is finance and audit committee mr parker yes we had our uh the first meeting that i attended uh and that was more of an administrative uh meeting setting up some policies and and that type of thing i did find out that uh we should be very proud of our accounting people in the district have had a clean audit last year for first time in a while and really doing a great job thank you mr parker 13.05 insurance trust committee ms eugetti is not with us this evening we wish her a speedy recovery item 13.06 legislative information at this point and i have nothing additional to report so we move to item 14 which is meeting dates dr mccord thank you dr santa cruz governing board members november 9th we have a board work study and brief board business meeting november 16th is a policy meeting and november 30th is a regular board business meeting thank you sir we are at item 15 which is adjournment item 15.01 is there a motion a motion for adjournment thank you mr parker is there a second second thank you miss humphries is there a discussion seeing that there is no discussion we will vote on adjournment all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye aye those opposed the same thank you the motion carries 4-0 we are adjourned we appreciate the attendance of those of you on live stream and those of you who were here in the boardroom we wish you good night you
but backwards mapping this does that mean a what exactly does that mean another board meeting on the board meeting so what i've heard is um three things the programs locations what happens at locations budget and budget but one thing i need clarification board member rodriguez pena as you said in phases so just so i so we get a clear understanding i have clarity phases do you mean like um starting just with k through eight and then middle school and then middle school and high school like start just talking about we're mainly discussing the middle schools and the high schools today okay right um so i i'm saying that i mean maybe i don't know tuesday's too soon vote on i don't know but you know how soon it is and then just look at the elementary booth you know we have several elementary schools and which ones do we want to make paid away you know what which ones which program do you want do we want to put in in so that's separate okay so just so i understand so when when we vote in december right um you want to go ahead and vote for everything k through k through five middle schools and high school at that point once we've we've we've received the information and we've had a conversation on programs location and budget am i hearing it correctly can i maybe share thinking um i know we we're identifying three big buckets locations programs and budget and i think we cannot actually separate them because we can't talk about locations if we don't know what's going to happen there and if we need a specialized space that requires a budget and so i don't think they can be i don't think they can be through a different vote i think the whole package needs to be voted on not on not on november 2nd and that's what i think we need to maybe map out some where we can add some meetings in november and as you're creating the agenda item you know give the focus program so that our public our community and we're prepared to dive into programs and then from that i think close budget because we're going to have different ideas after that program discussion around okay superintendent can you pull up the budget for that what does that look like and then we can say you know i think that's where we are okay if not if there is a sequence but not three separate act it would be one final action after discussion with our special meetings yeah yeah okay i just wanted clarification because you had said i wanted in phases so i said okay i just want to make sure and thank you for for sharing that um i just want to make sure that i'm hearing you guys correctly and that's why i'm asking for clarification so i i think it's important um that one of the things that i'm i'm hearing is where the majority has spoken and would like to dive deep into model three with the programs location and budget have several um meetings too and we have to go ahead and put these on the calendar um as soon as possible and be able to have uh our final meeting and only have this last final meeting on this vote um after december 14.
so is that december 21 we have a meeting december 21 no we don't have that during winter break um the winter break until the is it winter break starts i believe the twenty third third oh okay twenty first mr jacob what's our schedule our current schedule of november meetings the second the second right now we have two board meetings in november the second and the 16th and the 16th our study session correct on the 16th we have um one currently we have one board agenda item which would be a public hearing on the cvra maps um that'll be technically meeting number four but meeting number two with actual maps i'm just saying yeah go ahead okay all right no i'm not saying and then right now the study session topic is uh communicating that's correct right yes on the 16th and then the study session um right now is slated for communications i i would i would i would not like to have it on the 16th i would like to keep our meeting um for for that alone it would be too much so [Music] if again if the if the board wish to again we can we have to do the cbra that's just one public hearing and that's just one item but if the board wanted to we could dedicate the study session to school reorganization would we have ample time though i yes the the cbra i'm assuming it's not going to take a long time that would be in lieu of communication correct correct 100.
again that's the wishes of the board yes board member bo um i was thinking november 2nd so we have a regularly scheduled meeting we keep that school organization as an info item at a special meeting the week of november 8th and for rhythm and cadence consider that tuesday the 9th so one week out so the second is a regular meeting the 9th of the special meeting the 16th would be the regular meeting with the cvra and this and the study session which i've i would like to keep that as communications because that is a critical component and something that we've been talking about for months and where else can we plug in an off schedule meeting in december does this is there a meeting on the seventh or no meeting at all the fourth no meeting on the seventh we can go ahead and on the seventh go ahead and be able to go ahead and meet that day if everyone is open november 9th and december 7th yeah i'm not does that get us to these these me is that i'm not sure that's not that's not me i mean i don't want to have keep having me but we need to have we need to have time to talk about these things does that get us there i feel like we're short we have the second the ninth would be the additional and then november december 7th would be the next one now those are just those happen to be on tuesday and they're giving us a week to get more reports get more information what what kind of space is there on the second let's say let's say if we were gonna programs locations facilities if we were gonna say let's tackle programs on the next beat is there is there space to have that i mean we as we've talked for two hours on you know today do we have space in the agenda to talk about that or can we clear face to ensure that there's there's time to yes they can uh right now on the second um and these are of course just the potentials are you know just estimating um we have a public comment or a public hearing sorry on uh cbra this will be the first time that they're presented formally and publicly even though they're already public uh now uh then we have school reorganization and then the only other thing um that's um quote unquote like in a presentation mode is the board requested uh a presentation on um our results of our diagnostic assessments and so there's a presentation built in that day for that so in terms of presentation kind of open items those are the three so just to clarify the diagnostic assessments are from the ones administered this fall that's correct but we also have some space where we were going to talk about reconfiguration and we can go ahead and carve out and start the conversation then is that correct yes that's one of the three but cbra school reorganization uh diagnostic assessment presentation those are the three kind of open i mean we do have other action items for approval consideration but they're not quote unquote presentation so so november 2nd let's go ahead and um what i'm hearing is we can go ahead and get the conversation started um december 7th and december 14th now those dates again i'm sorry i'm not december 14th it was um december 7th 7th sorry and november 9th or not november november 9th number can we set goals for these conversations so if we say we're discussing programs at this if we say programs okay i would like to give the um room and flexibility for for cabinet to go ahead and um be able to look at all of that because there's stuff that they're gonna have to research um and bring forth to us so would it be okay to give them the flexibility and then but the problem with it with that is i think we need i i think that we as the board need to set some targets so if we were to for example i don't i think we need to have we need to have a programs conversation and and to have if we can have a program's conversation which is then going to influence i don't know if we do budget or location i'm i'm they're they're tied together but but if i would like to attach maybe we can ask the uh uh staff now what order do you you all see making the most sense but i would like us to define on these three dates what we're discussing or what our goals are at those with i think it's going to be a little i don't think it's going to be as discreet as that i i think the program conversation should lead and starting that i mean we've started a little bit here but having that be the main focus of our november 2nd agenda item it will bleed into budget it will bleed into locations um so i think any requests we have as board members around costs of programs timeline for implementation of programmers we should send those in if we haven't already so that we can have as much data and information at the ready when we come next week i would agree with board member beau i think it's important um yeah we do start with programs and then after that um if we have any questions it is imperative that as we're thinking these things and we're writing them down that we we go ahead and we email um our you know our superintendent um as soon as possible i know that just from tonight i have like 10 questions right about programs um i i and so it is important um [Music] that the next question that i have for the board is as we're looking you know november 2nd november 9th december 7th um and being able to come back one last time to have a a special meeting on december 21st um for us to be able to take the vote on that day how do you guys feel about it yes i i think there'll be enough time just to be clear school is and still still in session yes ma'am okay that way in case we need some more that gives us ample time in case we need to you know um [Music] if we have other questions and our cabinet needs to research then we will have the ample time and we can go ahead and reconvene december 21st so we can have additional conversations if the need if not then we can go ahead and present and take a vote i'm hearing yes i'm hearing yes so the consensus is then december 21st would be the new date for us to finalize and come back with asked a clear front question for 11 9 12 7 and 12 21 um my understanding is that 11 9 and 12 7 our special board meetings just like they are today so these are just info uh items and then 12 21.
i'm sorry can you repeat those dates again 11 9 and 12 7 would be special board meetings just like today uh info items on school reorganization 12 21 it would again be a special board meeting with one action item to take a final vote yes sir can i also ask a further clarifying question on these three meetings is a start time still 7 pm yes at this time i would like to go ahead and give the opportunity for anything else any questions anything that would our board members would like to share board member cruz gonzalez board member career member bo for member rodriguez pena yes i'd just like to thank again the uh organization committee in the cabinet and the board of education for all the great work that we're doing i mean i'm pretty excited you know this is going to be all new for all of us but you know it's something that that has to be done and and i'm glad that the the reorganization committee i mean they actually brought us the bones that we were able to look through and questions that we had so their 18 meetings were not gone to waste it was a really really great model three and four that they brought to us and also i know the cabinet and the sprint has been your staff you know spend many many hours and still gathering information that we want to help us make our decision you know smoothly yeah thank you thank you i have some final thoughts um i i think that today was very productive and i would like to thank um my colleagues our board members um that we were able to go ahead and bring forth um something to the table and now we're able to go ahead and you know collaboratively now we're moving on to um things that i feel as i was part of uh the first closing of the schools which was mountain view and gladstone street um i i i feel that we are diving deep and that we are not scared to ask these tough questions because again one of the things that i heard um from board member beau today was that you know that i appreciate was that being able to have a ib program at the middle school would be able to attract families that live here in azuza that are not here and that you know would make us more attractive and that that's basically my goal is for us to be an attractive school district where families want to bring their school bring their kids to school here so thank you for that board member rodriguez pena i would like to thank you for being able to um share your you know your your thoughts on how you you had two k through eights in mind um thinking um you know about the the the students and um and opposite ends of our school district um i would like to go ahead and thank um board member greer um for being able to to share um and that we we need to bring um our sixth grade back to middle school to be able to feel that that fascinating be able to sustain um the programs and be able to to have a a strong middle school and board member crew gonzalez i really appreciated that um one of the things that you you know you shared was that they're you know again the sixth grade we perhaps a lot of the people at home are probably you know saying like what's going on the board's going back and forth well it's not that we're going back and forth is that we're looking at every option that we can for our constituents for our families i mean for our families for our students for our and there is no linear way that we're going to be able to come together to be able just to make a decision i want to thank my board for being able to express that we need more time and that we need more information so and thank you cabinet for for taking it all and writing everything down and so and thank you to everyone watching at home that you guys are invested in everything that will be coming forth i ask you guys to please be patient with us as we move towards this reconfiguration that you may be able to hear us and see things and one of the things that i heard that i didn't mention i'm sorry uh boardman recruitment solace is to have that conversation about you know actually naming the schools and to give the opportunity for the public i really appreciate that um why not it's something that you know what we we haven't done before and and i know and i trust that we all that are sitting here in this diocese have the best interest for this school district and for our students and to make us a amazing asus unified school district and with that being said i will move on to if i may i apologize and i'm probably there's no no i don't know if this helps the board or does not help the board um does it help the board for us to try to synthesize what we heard today and actually bring forward like like what it would look like in a in a real model with real locations with real programs with real cost knowing that it's gonna not it's not going to be the ideal because again we're just going to try to synthesize it does that help or does that not help and and i also don't want to over promise because this is november 2nd um and it's not like you know but would that be helpful that we try to synthesize what we heard today and say this is what it might look like if we had one tka versus two tk's is what it might look like if this school was the art school of the school i i don't know if that's helpful or not helpful board member gonzales i mean i think i think seeing what it looks like with the high school and the middle school flip both of those scenarios that's helpful i'm not sure and i think i'm not sure whether whether it's helpful to put names on the k8 and the and the others i'm not sure that's helpful i don't know but i don't know how well can we have scenarios i think that would be that would be helpful having scenarios of the possibilities and not be married to them what it looks like with no name you know what is the key to it doesn't have to be a name of a certain school but just literally like you know i think for myself i'm a visual learning learner and i would love to see something like that that's why i also didn't mention i wanted to thank you for the opportunity that you gave us to be able to look at these seventy-two models you know we saw what it looked like and and and that was great i thank you for that board member so i'm i'm comfortable i think for the purposes for the for the purpose of moving the conversation forward i'm comfortable personally if as we have been looking at models that have full sites there because that talks about capacity and it helps us to visualize but to be super duper clear as i've looked at those models i have in no way concluded or assumed that the schools we see there are the other schools that we're landing on so again for the so for the purpose of creating a uh an actual scenario or three or four i would be comfortable if there were if there were school if there were names attached to it um but having names attached to it hasn't would not have a bearing on on what i would vote necessarily or i'm not able to say that i'd be ready to vote on that necessary uh one of the things that i'm hearing from board member rodriguez is that you're a visual and so with what adrian just shared is that it would be a visual to have the names in the different scenarios and you know flip-flopping kind of what board member crews and zelda said what would the high school look like here the middle school here and then flip what does that look like what is the capacity right and putting names to it so that way um again we have a clear understanding um so i i would like to see that as well and not be married to it i think having names on the on the model so i mr tega i do agree that having a document to react and respond to helps the conversation because we can say okay change this right um i do want to be mindful when any time we we put campuses right that triggers response it triggers passion it triggers criticism all of it and and as it should um i am more interested in grade spans and programs and names of school now of course when we talk about location and grade span how many students can fit on a campus i think that makes sense maybe if there's a way mr taker to give us this um one sheet kind of document and include the capacity but just not name the school so that we are taking that gut reaction of my school the name of my school is here that must mean it's going to stay or that must mean it's going to go and just look at capacity and then that could help us have more of a blind um or more neutral perspective when we look at programs and how many students would we need to run xyz program on any any number of campuses the only reason and and i i hear what you're saying but the only reason is because like for example today right i named valley dell right it could be ellington one of the things that i heard tonight in the diocese is that it would make a difference on [Music] what elementary would would we be putting the k through eight right so i i think for for those purposes it is important for us to know um right what middle school you know is it going to be gladstone high school is it going to be is a high what high school naming them would give us a clear understanding of are we going to keep valleydale a k through eight i'm sorry ellington at k through eight right and close valley dell or are we gonna do both right because of the fact that these decisions now we're putting some um some um visual to it right we're able to go ahead and make more clear concise decision um because of the fact that we're able to the proximity of these pools right how how close they are if we were to have for example a um which i heard one of the board members i can't remember which one of you guys said i mean it makes a difference um uh right we have a middle school so close are we still going to have that k through 8 there i mean those are the possibilities and so therefore um could it i think also would be helpful to know well the names now you know i'm thinking the other way around also because the um then you know what's right is in the north side is it in the style side then you also know what the um um the distance is the distance from i have to walk all the way across over there we need to know that's what the distance and also what side is it going to be on of the community the town of azusa we need to know that also and of course you can always change it or like you say i mean it's not a concrete we're not married to it like i said but we can change it i don't know maybe this don't be for whatever this whatever reason it is so i do think it's important that we have uh names board member career yeah and uh to to your point board member beau i think that had we if up to this point we had not had any schools listed on any of the models that we put forward that would probably be a scary thing to do to throw out there but this is one of one of the things that's helpful because we've had a because there's been a transparent open conversation along the way is that there have already been some potential school sites listed again and i've seen this every meeting i've seen school sites there and it has the school sites there while it's helpful to look at the information and i can visualize again i i have not felt uh um you know locked into what is here um uh board board president you put up models when you put your your it's from here from from what was here because i saw that you did not have powell on yours both most of it so so meaning that you're the model you put forward it also did not necessarily you didn't feel locked into what was there necessarily so i think that if if we continue along those lines and have school sites with this understanding that it it it is it is a it's a visual but we're not we're not tied to it i i think that that's okay at this juncture because because they've been there all along yeah i can get on board with that mr superintendent ortega do you have anything else cabinet last thought i want to make sure that um everyone here feels heard um tonight great meeting i think it was very productive still more comfortable moving forward awesome and and as we are finalizing our time here um i again great conversation um great input from everyone and for those of you guys at home thank you for being patient with us as we are learning and trying to make sure that again that we are accountable for the decisions that we are going to be making um at this time i would like to ask for a motion for five we have a motion first by board member rodriguez pena we have a second by board member rear and can we please ask our vote oh oh okay we'll go ahead and do a hand vote board member cruz gonzalez member guru yes i remember uh bo yes board member rodriguez pena yes i say yes that is 5-0 and again thank you guys all for watching tonight um i did not think we were going to take the two hours but we did and 72 hours thank you guys for watching tonight have a great night you