So, I'll be if it's okay with the board It was. I'm sorry. It was not said to staff. But it was said in an email to us. Yeah. Yeah, I and I think I passed it on. I I think I replied back to Dr. Perkins and I think each one of you got a separate copy of that reply as well. So, we are here. We are a big family. We are family. And regardless on some personal things going on out there among this tragic death, I think as a district we already you know, as a district we well represented but as a board, I think we can also show we're out in the community. I hear all of you talking about events that you went to. Well done. Excellence in the field and this just a compliment. And I don't want to get into the religious basis behind this but just the sympathy showing we're there.
um And I genuinely do believe that that uh what he has done and and who he was continues to live on because we we will it so. So, with deep gratitude and respect to you as the family for for sharing him with us and to him and himself for for committing um our sincere condolences from the governing board. Thank you so much for being here this evening. >> [clears throat] >> Any other board members care to share anything? >> [laughter] >> I think he said everything. Okay. All right. Um With that, we'll move on. Um number two for this evening is our Himdag Award, Mr. Diaz. President Wadia, members of the board, at this point I would like to um um bring our administrator, um our proxy administrator from Baboquivari High School, and also Dr. um Marcus uh to join us for the Himdag Award uh so that they can read the letter and also acknowledge the students with the um honoring the students with the Himdag Award.
And so, we'll go through a little bit of that as well. So, our first is the state results. Statewide, um, the school district spent 13.4 4 billion in FY25. Um and so that was a $4 million increase. Um dollars spent in instruction and per student spending continue to increase from the prior year. And that's something that we see on an annual basis. Um this provides an analysis and breakdown of statewide district uh spending and again by operational area. And so I'll talk a little bit more about that. Um and we'll also give details on the state's average teacher salaries. So the first comparison that we have is looking at the state spending versus Blige results. Um and just a couple things to bring to our total operational um total operational spending. You can you can take a look at the so state demographic information versus um district demographic information.
Jonah is always showing safety in and around the classroom as well as other areas around the school. Jonah has come so far this year and I am beyond proud of him. He is becoming more and more independent every day and has made such growth. He is such a hard worker and a joy to have in class. I feel privileged to be his teacher. Congratulations, Jonah, Mrs. Higdon. Ashton This award is proudly presented to Ashton for showing kindness, responsibility, and safe choices every day. Your positive attitude and others make our classroom a better place. We are so proud of you. Keep up the great work, Ashton. Congratulations, Mrs. Nickerson. Milena Milena, you're so tall. Milena demonstrates what it means to be kind, safe, and responsible in our classroom. She comes to school each day with a positive attitude and brings a joyful, friendly energy that brightens our class.
We are family. So, I will be attending whatever day that is of these three kids. Again, I thought it was last Saturday only to find out it was more Correct me if I'm wrong. It was more for the grandfather. Yes, there was a lot of not clear communication. Yeah. A lot of family involved. Yeah. Yeah, cuz I I thought the venue had changed when I think Sheryl made us sent it out or whatever. I said, oh, I expected everything to happen that day, but unbeknownst to me, it didn't occur that way. So, but you know, no hard feelings. I was glad to be there. I was glad to stand up when he said when Dr. Holyfield said, "Stand up, representatives from Cree." I was glad to stand up, be one of those representatives. So, I would like to give some type of resolution from the board similar to what Dr.
So, if you don't mind Mr. Dalton coming up and reading the Himdag Award, and Mr. Marcus, would you like to join um as well in the podium? Please do. There's also an amazing beautiful video that will come back um next month and and showcase uh the video showcasing uh our students. But, at this point um I'm going to ask our representatives to um go ahead and and and read the Himdag letter. Um members of the board, if you don't mind joining me in the front so we can thank our Himdag Award recipients. Are they here today? Are they both here today? Okay. Good evening. I'm Alan Dalton, uh one of the assistant principals at the secondary campus, and it's an honor to be here with you this evening celebrating um Himdag Award. So, I will read the letter from Miss Onsay, our principal. Are you ready, Mr.
You'll see a couple things I want to point out on this is students attending. Oops, sorry. So students attending. if you could go to the other side um sorry Chris there you go thank you so students attending um in the state and you can see that this is a 6% decrease decrease and then if you go down to Blige you'll see that there is a there's a more significant decrease in Blige so we're um at 1537 as of the date as of this report we are currently our um current student attendance is 1573 we check it daily. So, we're at 1,573 students. Um, but you can also see the special education population, how we um how we compare to the state with a special education population, the ELD population, which is our English learner. Um, and then you can also see our poverty rate. Um, so our poverty rate compared to the state poverty rate uh for 20, and this is going to be for the prior year from this report.
She is always willing to try new things and takes pride in sharing her ideas, especially during reading and writing where her creative creativity truly shines. She has been working hard on her reading skills and has already made wonderful progress. In addition, she shows great responsibility by staying on top of her assignments and giving her best effort in everything she does. I am so proud of Milena's growth and positive example she sets for others. Congratulations, Mrs. Navarro. Victoria. Victoria is as kind as is as Victoria is as kind as can be. Victoria is always showing responsibility. She completes assignments on task and always has her school supplies ready. Victoria works hard to show safety around campus and in the classroom. She also takes time to tell her classmates and her peers to be safe. Congratulations, Victoria, Mrs. Wade. Isabella. I would like to nominate Isabella as my March Colt of the Month.
>> [clears throat] >> I mean, or Mr. Holyfield, principal did. And I don't know if Janine, would you like to work with me on that? Is it okay? I'll pass it through the board. Again, it's it's just say, "Hey, we're as a board, you know, da da da da da da da da da da da and present that to I believe the father or family member." Sure. Okay. Thank you. And if we can invoke some of that verbage and language into this policy, we can do it or keep it and just use that bullet note. Again, I want to continue being a highly effective board, and I think doing things like that is just showing the public that we're here for you. Did you want to speak more? Yeah, I just had a question. Um how is the format of notifying us about the services?
Diaz? Almost. We're going to wait for the four members. Okay. >> [laughter] >> I am pleased to recommend two outstanding students, Ariana Garcia and Alice Lopez for recognition with the Him Dog Award. Both students exemplify the core values of Him Dog, being healthy, inspiring, motivating, developing, and achieving, and before we know it, graduates. They have demonstrated excellence as as I can recipients in their respective areas of athletics and art. Ariana Garcia has shown exceptional talent and dedication in the arts. His creativity inspires those around him, while his commitment to growth and expansion embodies the principles of development and achievement. Ariana Ariana's work not only reflects his own passion, but also motivates others to explore and appreciate artistic endeavors. Alice Lopez has distinguished herself in athletics through her commitment to physical wellness, discipline, and perseverance. She consistently models what it means to be healthy and motivating, encouraging her peers to strive for their personal best.
So this is FY25. We'll see FY24 poverty rate and then graduation rate is the same. We only see um we only see that from 2024. So the poverty rate in the state is 14% versus 21% in uh Blige. And then at 89% graduation rate, I I was not able to see the they didn't have the state graduation rate listed. Oh, I take that back. 78%. Sorry. on the other side at the top 78% is the state graduation rate. So um so much higher than the state average which is great there. We'll also we'll take a look um on the next slides on our total operational spending. So this is just looking at this next slide shows our peer groups. Um and so this is all of the schools and if you are able to can you zoom in a little bit on those schools? This just gives you an idea of the schools that are in our own operational peer group.
Isabella is not afraid of a challenge and comes to school each day with a positive attitude ready to learn and grow. She truly makes the most of every opportunity in the classroom and approaches her work with determination and enthusiasm. One of the most impressive things about Isabella is seeing her in action when she serves as a classroom leader and math teacher. She confidently leads the room, asks thoughtful and probing questions, and shares insightful ideas that help deepen everyone's understanding of the lesson. Isabella has a natural ability to guide her classmates while encouraging them to think and participate. What I admire most about Isabella is how humble she is, recognizing her strengths while still being kind, respectful, and focused on helping others rather than seeking attention for herself. Even though Isabella is a strong leader and an excellent student, she remains modest and always supports her classmates.
Cuz I I didn't know the grandfather services was on Saturday. And so, I may have missed that I that email. I don't know if >> Yeah, I think Shonda sent it out. He sent it out to the whole board, I think. Yeah. Okay. I'll I'll I'll go look for that. But um it that's the way to just is that Yeah, and in that email, it said the funeral service for the kids. Was it Was it in some other email? Was there other information in that email? Or was it just that >> was that for that date. And again, I >> Yeah, it showed the location. Mhm. And had the location where it was at, what time. >> It showed the time, the location, and the date. >> Okay. Okay. Fair enough. And but the previous email showed a different venue. And when this second email came, I thought things change.
Her dedication to improvement and teamwork reflects the developing and achieving spirit that the Himdag Award represents. Together, Ariana Garcia and Alice Lopez represent the essence of Himdag to their achievements, leadership, and positive influence within our school community. It is with great confidence that I recommend them both for this honor. >> [applause] [applause] >> That was it? Mhm. The next one is the student council presentation. Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you. We can come back for the next presentation. Yes. And as the board members are coming back to their seats, may I please have the student council please come forward and join us here in the podium. Welcome. Welcome. You can begin when you're ready. Oh, your presentation. Um this is Kristash Anionuevo Chugay. Mr. Acuna, I'm the class sponsor for train train eight. And I want to introduce the officer series, but before that, I want to say it's been a privilege I'm working with these two students.
And so they list these these are schools that have similar demographic uh similar population sizes. And so but you can see that we I mean there are a lot of differences between all of these a lot uh some of these that are much more rural than we are um but all within that same operational peer group. And so a lot of the comparisons that you see are within this operational group. Okay, this is going more specifically into the district uh into our district results and we'll show a comparison too on the on the um percentages as well, but classroom spending 63 uh% with instructional spending being 49%. Um and then non-classroom spending 36.8%, administrative cost 10.6. plant operations. That's everything to do with all of our uh our building and you know our maintenance um and building our facilities. Um and then our transportation and food services 5.6 and 5.2% on our spending.
She leads by example and shows that true leadership comes from confidence, kindness, and humility. Isabella is a wonderful role model, and our classroom school and community is so lucky to have her. So proud of you, Isabella. Love, Mrs. Flowers. Giancarlo, your positive attitude every day is amazing. There may be times we have to do things that aren't exciting, but you are always ready to get it done, and you do it with 110% effort. Your willingness to help your peers whenever they need it is appreciated. Your kind kindness towards everyone, being responsible and safe are exactly what a colt should be. Thank you for being a great example and a great leader. Keep it up, Giancarlo. Congratulations, Mrs. Montoya. Gabe is a great addition to our school. He brings high energy and a lot of compassion to our school. Keep growing and making good choices, Gabe.
Got you. >> things were not going to be involved >> It was in a different village, the second one. The different >> Different location. We had no when I sent that out, there was no information at that time on that. The only information I sent was from the aunt that she'd given to me that day. That is what I passed along to you, and that is what I passed along to the buildings. Mhm. Um the buildings um And it shows it actually showed the kids, too. So it actually showed the I believe I I believe it may have only showed the kids. I could be wrong. But anyway that's what I assumed. And after the services, I talked to Dr. Perkins and Principal Hollyfield. They said, "Oh, no, they're going to have another service." I said, "Oh, okay." So All right. Anything else on Janine?
I had them since freshman year and the growth that they have shown is tremendous. I remember freshman year they were all quiet, sitting in the back, but now this year they took a active role in the community and school. Um they helped with volleyball and you know, they helped with the different food sales. They're always stepping up. And I hope they keep continuing this and when as a student, but also outside of school and a community member because we need more people like them. So. So our officers, so our first one is So our president is Kyler Baptista. Our vice president is Um Haze Shawon. Our secretary is Jared Sixkiller. Our treasurer is Rihanna One. And then our representative is Wilfred Alzi. Uh throughout the year we our fundraisers were bubble day we made about $429. We sold at a couple of basketball games and we made $391.
Um this will show the district results as far as our change in classroom spending and non-classroom spending. So from FY24, uh we went we uh went down 2% in classroom spending um and then up 2% in non-classroom spending. Okay, this is uh this page will show the operational the areas of our spending. And so this is the same thing. You can find all of these reports on that auditor general's page. And that's what all of these are just I have just taken all these straight from the auditor general's website. Um but this will give you a breakdown of the state average spending cost when administration our operational peer group which is in that middle column and then what the district spent in um each one of these categories. So it's broken down by administration plant operations and food service. And then it shows how we are spending on the right side um how we're spending relative to our peer average.
Congratulations, Miss House. Kalia Kalia has been volunteering her time to help clean the cafeteria almost every day. She also helps pick up trash around the campus, helping her school stay clean. Her kindness is appreciated. Thank you very much, Kalia, for doing that. And congratulations, you were nominated by Mrs. Veronica. Leah is a sweet is a sweet and kind student who is always willing to help others. She is very aware of what is going on around her and often shares great ideas during class discussions. Leah participates regularly and is an active learner who never gives up, even when something is challenging. She is a wonderful example for her classmates and a joy to have in class. Leah was nominated by all of the elementary school specialists. Congratulations, Leah. Marisa consistently shows kindness, work ethic, and is always willing to help other students. Marisa's excellent job balancing extracurricular activities with her academics as well.