so any other questions or comments regarding the consent agenda nothing we have a motion then to accept the consent agenda as presented emotion second from margaret all in favor that'd be three of us that's a majority okay next items are business items uh item 3.1 recommendation to approve the updated list of wells fargo bank signers dr wright we understand what that is would you explain yes we just we need to remove a former employee that was a signer on this account and had dan aguilera who is the current person in that role in order for him to conduct business and it requires board approval any questions or comments we have a motion then for item motion from chuck a second from diane all in favor that would be unanimous also okay item 3.2 recommendation to approve the amendment to the current senior center lease dr wright yes sir the senior center has been a joint i would use the word probably partnership with the district for years i would say probably a couple decades or longer that school had effectively donated the property and it's the program supported by the town and through donations the senior center is desiring to do some updates to that facility in order to do so they need a long-term lease to apply for some of these grants so my recommendation would be to allow at least to be extended to 20 20 37 and i might be retired by then at 20 37 that's 19 years and that's as long as you can go and that would enable them to get the grants that they need and loans and other things to do them make the improvements it's it's as you know it's a great asset to our community they're also serving meals from there and they help a good number of our senior citizen folks any questions or comments regarding that and motion to accept as presented motion from chuck second from diane all in favor thank you dr wright item 3.3 to prove out-of-state travel for high school odyssey of the mind this is a great thing it is um normally we have a few i don't see anybody that are representing the odyssey of the mind but it is a function we've done every year it requires board approval because it's out of state and so the most the request is the board would approve their travel they're going to ames iowa yes sir on may 25th through the 29th right okay any questions from the board in regard to that and we have a motion for three point uh 3.3 emotion from chuck ii margaret all in favor and also is unanimous okay item 3.5 recommendation to approve blue ridge capacity report for the school year 2022 and 2023.
you've just got to get yourself out there and take a few risks thank you it is my pleasure to introduce our valedictorian the one and only ethan cauley [Applause] that's a tough speech to follow class of 2022 we did it i am ethan colley this year is valedictorian and it is my honor to represent miranda high school's 100th grade graduating class you heard that right 100th that means that the entire time that the soviets were throwing chimpanzees in his pace and people thought that nukes are going to fall from the freaking sky miranda students still had to deal with the nightmare that is the school's morning traffic that's crazy but you know what is even more crazy than that insane even that's right our high school experience like i know it's not a competition but if it was we totally wiped the floor with the other 99 graduating classes because obviously we had a whole pandemic everyone talks about that way too much but we had so much more than that we had the best spirit day ever as people brought wagons trash cans and even canoe to replace their backpacks we got to watch the football team send mountain view back home with their tails in between their legs as they smack them 13 to 12 on this ferry field [Applause] we had the most strangely beautiful prom ever as a ticket sold out a week before the event just to have the venue removed the ticket cap predictably it was super cramped but i'm sure none of us really cared we even had the most entertaining school assembly ever the game of musical chairs was amazing and insane which xavier yuria's represented the senior class and won that for all of us thank you [Applause] now that was super crazy i remember being told early into the school year that the seniors were the only ones on campus who had had a full person year of high school which was our freshman year that meant that the class of 2022 is the only class who gets to see the before and after of miranda high's coveted times what may not seem like an honor there is nothing like seeing the resolution we conquered the pandemic and we saw how it affected our lives we are stronger here because of it the class of 2022 is made special by our ability to overcome hardship and adapt this senior year we showed our fight and drive as we gave a hundred and ten percent into anything as we no longer took the small things for granted it likely was not worth the sacrifice of those many sophomore and junior months but i think it is safe to say that our senior year was leagues better because we didn't want to miss a single minute of it and for these hard work and for all of our hard work for these four years of high school we're seeing it a small piece of paper signed by people we have never met before was very nice to know that we are now 10 percent more likely to get a minimum wage job we all know that our high school diploma is not the greatest thing that we gain from our high school experience instead our growth as people and our relationships required through here is what we can really take from our time here really though the physical rewards will never match up with the effort put in becoming valedictorian took hours of work and my rewards were this medal a stressful assignment to give this speech and the valedictorian certificate which somehow read ethan crowley i know you are jealous the certificate's frame ended up melting in my car myself and so many others have lost so much sleep over this speech and this medal will probably be in the stomach of my demon dog even if i do end up hiding it but i didn't do it for any of that though i did it because i knew i was capable of being the best and i really loved the sheer shock of fellow students when they learned that out of everyone i was number one unfortunately though after tonight no one is going to care about the high school gpa while it is true that valedictorian was a very nice perk and a highly competitive title it is also true that 95 of the school never wanted to or even cared about being valedictorian instead we had students who prioritized ctes certifications over gpa worked tirelessly to enlist in the military gave hours into creating amazing plays and concerts practiced every day to hone their craft in sports of every kind or just didn't have the time to give to school work as they needed to work or take care of siblings these kinds of students don't get represented at graduation especially on the stand but your impacts by the school are still felt by everyone and we thank you it is amazing that every kind of student was able to find their place at this school and how the school has facilitated our development is what sets marana high school apart as a truly amazing place through miranda high school's diverse course selection and amazing staff each student has had the resources to accomplish their goals as different as they may be personally my goals for senior year were pretty short-sighted but i am still proud of them and nonetheless i would like to share some with you first and foremost become valedictorian you know that part check earn a part on the academic decathlon competition team check actually go to prom check finally get my driver's license check get my first kiss at the pretty girl took a while but check [Applause] and last but certainly not least i wanted mr kelton to illegally attack me as his son that one did not work out but the real reason i'm sharing these goals with you is not just to earn your pity as i had the hardcore as i had to card poll with mr salutatorian all the way until january but to again bring awareness to the individual nature of everyone sitting on this field we might be the class of 2020 but you cannot put any of us in a mole together we are each our own individuals and i am sure that we each had our own goals this year that may or may not have completed we are the class of military recruits certified workers and motivated people but ultimately we are a class of amazing individuals who do incredible things no matter where we go the work done by everyone this year has been fantastic and i wish you the best of luck wherever you go in life miranda high school will not be the same without the members of its best class since 1922.
second okay moved in second and debbie do you have any uh did you get any input from changes okay we had a good discussion about that the last time too so okay any discussion from the board they all in favor all right okay good all right next up is uh just as a discussion on the uh the budget um and uh i uh maybe i'll make a couple of comments and rose i'll let you jump in as our finance chair um the vote was last night um i worked the polls there was uh it was pretty low turnout right um i talked to somebody who's been a studier of the history of referendums and it's the law it was the lowest turnout in the last 15 years and a lot of people attribute it to the people i've talked to to the fact there were no issues right there was no excitement it was there was general consensus we did a really good job of communicating across the three boards i really wish more people would come vote you know sharon was in the voting place with me as well and it was very quiet all day long but i think it's because there was no issues it was nothing driving people to the polls either either pro or con and that's as that's a tribute quite frankly to the work that was done uh back in december january february actually i could probably go back before december um and uh and i think it it was well received in general the i had the they posted the preliminary results and i'm just going to quickly go through those um these are not certified yet there's been some interesting challenges that the registrar and the town clerk have been working through on getting the certification done but um just a question one which is about the board of education budget had a total of 1049 four and 751 against that's uh so that's about a 300 vote margin on 1700 votes that's pretty good um question three at a high level question two which is too high adequate too low um it was slightly it was 740 too high 696 adequate and 328 too low so it was passed but it was kind of mixed between whether it was adequate or too high it was interesting question three was about the town side of the budget um it passed 1124 to 670.
for both for both ela and math it looks like the above grade level or early on grade level um i actually went down in between 2021 22 whereas two grade levels below or three grade levels below both increased and i was wondering if there's can you come see and look at the chart so on both of those um the the top brackets decrease both bottom brackets increased and that also was the case with the map now keep in mind when we go start breaking it down here oh sorry can i go back absolutely one of the things we have to recognize when we're looking at the second report is remember the first uh implementation back in 2021 with far fewer students okay so we really didn't have accurate scores we hardly had any high school students taking the test and couldn't get them on wi-fi we had much bigger issues getting the other kids on uh throughout um so so this is a more representative number because you have a larger sample size i'm looking at the 2022 results because now i know i'm in the 90 percentile in terms of completion rates and in the high school in the 80 whereas in single digits and some of the high school levels again [Music] we couldn't get them online it's an online internet based test i i'm sorry i have a hard time hearing but can i ask the question real quickly um when looking at this report i've got an employment computer that you've got two lines for each grade level you've got your most recent and your diagnostic one so should i presume that that the diagnostic one is like our baseline that's what we did last year and the most recent so it's showing the progress so you're the leader i might not read it you're looking at the curriculum associates report that's what the long lines correct so diagnostic one would have been the one we took way back september and the most recent we just finished up within what like the last month oh so i'm kind of confused why trust me uh uh bruno was saying that scores went down because it appears that all of them have gone up significantly am i am i not reading this right i don't know he's looking at the other report the five labs report [Music] or back correct so the five laps reports looking at everybody who took the test where the other reports just again how kids improved kids who took the test early and was their improvement okay yeah i think maybe the only one that went down according to this is grade 12 and everything else appears to have gone up significantly so that's good the only reason sorry the only reason there's a two different reports i can't pull the demographic data out of the curriculum associates report it just won't let you do it so you dump that into what's called five laps and then we're able to pull that demographic data out it'd be much easier to have more room because we're not able to share the screen with people who are live streaming um maybe it would be best if we table this until our next meeting so that we can share this beautiful data but do it um but at this point i i don't think people are getting the full uh impact of what you're showing kelly i believe the graphs are available in the in the board packet for the meeting so it is available online we're just not able to broadcast it right now through there based on the way but if you if anyone gets the sample we can also come back if it helps we can post these on the website underneath so it's more public for people we could pull those out the place on there so people know because this is a big packet this time but if you're in there and you're following through you can get to these reports i think there's some confusion um on the like on the five laps there's 2021 and 2022 those time periods that that's really showing a difference from what we did at the end of last school year to the first of this 2022 period 2022 that we just took as far as gains and stuff you really want to look at the curriculum associated with us to see how we progress so that that's the heart it is confusing so we can we can make sure we work to clarify that this we can't with the five lab with that first window it's very hard to pull exactly what we're trying to get at with that so we're trying to use some information off of the five laps for the uh disaggregating it but for the other to see our progress as a whole if these are off critical necessities well that's good to know if you just you can't pull the demographic data off the curriculum association i'm not curious about that has it always been that way i was i was under the understanding that curriculum associates provides this aggregated data so kind of they do we haven't well we haven't been able to get it in there and i think that's one of the reasons we went with wildlife to really break it down so it does a lot of overall it breaks down further so we can see individual strands for kids where five laps doesn't do that for us so it's kind of two systems um if there's a way to do it we haven't been able to get it to work okay that's how we're using the devil and the reason uh trustee kelly the reason they're not coming up on the screen that's no fault eugene that's probably something i probably didn't click something that allowed him to be able to shoot we'll work on how to do screenshots and that for the future make it easier on you on this page yes the statement underneath the bars on top says yeah just so you guys know i can't really hear anything anyone is saying it sounds like you're all underwater so um if i look stupid that's because i i don't understand what's being said you're saying you're telling me i'm all wet okay on this page with the bars across the top underneath the bars it says that 486 students are tested okay students were tested out of those 486 students or three or more grade levels below that's huge is that accurate i don't have and just we're looking at the rating results so this is what you want to do is look down here underneath it's going to tell you for example in the first one there are 240 students we took the tests originally beginning of the school year who are one or more degree levels above uh and now there's 590 students and that's why that green bar has gotten bigger if you'll see what trustee anderson was looking at when we started the year there were 644 students who were three or more levels below we've decreased that to 486.
i also think they're great examples because stephanie as a certificated teacher and robin is a classified personnel have both worked with each other to on many occasions and and are integral parts of students lives on our campus and off our campus but in varying ways so they really represent the the connection that goes on between our certificated and our classified staff i'm kind of going to do this at the same time and i've never done this before but i like to be a little bit risky with these two ladies because i respect them so much so i'm going to recognize both of them and mirror their careers as we go down stephanie starmer started student teaching in 1989 she was hired at the start of 1990 at chico high school she did her student teaching and taught at chico high school for over 30 years she taught drama for 22 years and she produced over 50 productions including a very difficult les miseral thank you very much stephanie while stephanie was navigating the beginnings of her teaching career robin was a parent aide in kindergarten for two years a health assistant at mcmanus for 10 years and she moved to chico high school as a health assistant for three years and then she moved into the office manager position at oakdale school for two she came back to chico high to work for principal's jim hanlon for nine years where's jim okay do you want to say something okay okay so and after that she worked for mark bieby for three and she's worked with me for four years stephanie served during that time on site councils reading and research committees pearson's awards review boards with kelly staley helped administer a mentor grant program for small luna a small learning communities grant a csuc grant on developing question strategies that actually brought i believe a bayo into the district for the first time and on cuda rep council e-board as secretary while mr sauers was the cuda president and both of these ladies have held multiple positions in terms of go-to for my staff all staff have people they go to to talk to some teachers talk to each other some teachers talk to classified but i think what i respect most about both these women is i think that both of them have been go-to individuals for all of our staff i think people will feel that if they want an answer they'll go talk to stephanie whether they're a teacher or not and i know that if they need help in the office everybody comes to talk to robin i know they're not there to see me but they're there to get something done they know who to talk to and so both of those qualities i think are mirrored by both of them their professionalism their ability to detach from emotion and to carry on with what's happened when i arrived four years ago each of these women were integral parts to me being able to blend into the chico high family and doing it in a way that was respectful questioning me on things that i needed to be questioned on leading me in ways that i didn't know at the time and whether they know this or not without the two of you i wouldn't have made it through the first year so thank you very much [Applause] uh one little piece i like numbers and this is where i think it impacts everybody um robin of course writes down stephanie says her greatest joy one of her greatest joys is that her daughter ainsley is graduating from chico high ainsley give away [Applause] and and that's mirrored with robin though the last thing she wrote down she wants to make sure i say that she has four children that went through the chicago unified school district graduated from pleasant valley two of them work for chico unified karen armstrong teaches third grade at shasta elementary and luke carrier teaches pe at marsh and all four of her kids and ten grandchildren live in chico her oldest granddaughter amy will be a freshman at chico high next year thank you i'm proud to represent you here and i also want to say that just two numbers robin in 33 years and 181 contractual days if he used the contract if you only had 40 contacts a day which i know often you had more you would have navigated 238 000 contacts with students and staff over your career one more number stephanie in your 32 years at 175 contacts you have helped 5 600 students navigate high school life and move on thank you [Applause] so of course all of those things that doug said and ditto to that but i had the honor of working with stephanie for 14 years and nine years with robin and these are two very remarkable women and i really appreciate and i'm honored that i got an opportunity to work with you as your principal during those years so congratulations in your retirement [Applause] thank you and now i would like to invite up diane olson good evening board thank you i'm glad to be here in a happy place tonight and being able to present to you one of the most amazing staff i have ever had work for me in chicago unified school district i'm introducing to you tammy baderis tammy come on up [Applause] tammy is one of those rare people that probably can name every single person in this room she has an uncanny ability to remember everyone she comes across and have a fun story about them or a fun memory about them in fact today john shepard came into our class and told us some wild stories of things that he did with school buses and tammy was able to share school bus stories of her own from her own past and and that's just who tammy is and it's in special education that's really really needed because we have so many parents that are struggling with so many different needs wants and not understanding how things work and tammy will always take the time to stop talk to them sometimes to my get to work and let them know that she understands she cares about him and she's going to find an answer she handles about 2000 iep students per year keeping track of timelines and iep dates and all of our graduating students and helping getting that going and so i just wanted to honor her tonight for everything she's done to keep me in line and keep me on course throughout the year so congratulations tammy [Applause] we need to smile and that concludes the superintendent's report back to you madam president all right so now we're at announcements does anybody have an announcement i do okay um i just want to let people know that i will be stepping out uh shortly before seven o'clock to see my child who's performing next door pv in a jazz concert and has a solo so my apologies to anyone who i don't get to hear from maybe tonight all right thank you i will be returning when when the performance is over if the meeting's still going on and we have a lot of our schools are doing some form of art music presentation so i think it's wonderful that you can be there to hear your kid play okay so if there are no other announcements nobody all right then we will move to items from the floor and so uh i need to let you know uh if you had submitted for a speaker card then i have your names it is three minutes for a person and mr hanlon will alert you to that and then no one may respond to your comments and just a reminder i will give you 30 seconds the first bill is 30 seconds to go and the final bill is time's up all right so with that i have elizabeth stevens [Applause] tell me when oh okay okay okay um i'm speaking this evening as a concerned community member an educator and chico unified parent i feel necessary to speak up not only because i come from a place of privilege as an english-speaking middle class white lady but because this is what i ask my students to do when they see something that isn't right i'm here to walk the walk as an educator i tell my students that as leaders they need to identify values that will serve as their compass when times are tough tonight i'm leading into my own compass into what i determined to be my two core values compassion and learning it is from this place of compassion and learning that i am calling in not calling out the leadership of our district school district calling in others requires one party to point out hurtful actions and truths from a place of love the idea is that i'm here to walk learn and work alongside you for the betterment of our community i don't consider myself a leader but i am in awe of those who are we study six characteristics of good leaders in one of my classes and students actually physically sort what they believe to be the most important and least important characteristics the top three highly debatable contenders for the most important characteristics of a good leader our integrity concern for others and courage the good news is that we are all here because we are concerned for kids but the issue tonight is that the district district's concern isn't being conveyed for all of its students and families recent events have revealed that our district struggles to meet its goals related to equity those struggles those actions communicate louder than words to our community for whom the district is truly concerned we have the words and documents and plans related to equity but the actions don't match up we are witnessing a crisis of integrity good leadership means moving things forward past the status quo to have a vision and to stick to it even if it isn't popular among others all of our points of pride in our nation's history stem from movements that pushed us to be better the movements for independence to free the enslaved rights of women farm workers and lgbt communities were born under the pressure of those who sought to be seen and heard and they weren't always popular mlk is who is now revered as our national symbol for the civil rights movement wasn't loved widely by americans until after his death he was considered too radical too progressive too political it takes not only integrity to lead when ideas are unpopular but courage equity and education the promise that all students and their families are given the opportunities to be seen heard and empowered to be their best selves should not be unpopular equity is no longer negotiable in the 21st century people who are tired of being people are tired of being discounted and unseen and this current movement the unseen and discounted have allies and co-conspirators who are ready to get in there and do the work to ensure that underserved students receive an education that empowers them as future change makers it is my hope that my friends colleagues and community members experiences and ideas won't be shared in vain this evening from a place of love we are pushing this district forward beyond the status quo demanding it all do right by students and families it won't be easy and make it ugly but equity will be the reward and what is a reward without the hard work that went into earning it doing what is right by all students not just the ones with parents and families who look and speak like me should be our district's focus we need to be able to as a community define what yeah you've exceeded your time [Applause] all right our next speaker is pablo cormierto corncho cornejo hola todos hi everybody my name is dr pablo cornejo i'm from poder parents organized for dignity and equity at rosedale let me be clear a highly qualified latina woman of color and my son's bilingual school was demoted censored in silence for being too focused on equity which was her role her assigned role as equity lead the district now appears to be attempting to disappear her from memory and blacklist her from the school in the district words like sensor silence disappear and blacklist hold different weight and different meaning for many people from south america central america mexico and the caribbean we are the seas of military dictatorships civil wars gang warfare and hardships to let our people to migrate north we're hard-working resilient people some of us grow your fruit work in your kitchens are your teachers professors and also administrators our voices deserve to be heard we're demanding more transparency authenticity and accountability from our school district on their policies practices and procedures related to equity i'm here to present signatures of over 1 000 people demanding justice for joanna and equity and education i have it in my bag over there 1 100 signatures 80 percent of them from california 50 percent of them from the city of chico it's time the rosedale administration and cusd answer a critical question how does rosedale and the school district plan to address inequities for historically marginalized groups especially our emergent bilinguals we requested rosedale administrators provide a written response to four demands in our petition one we demand that rosedale administrators and cusd bring ms joanna campos back to campus immediately as assistant principal and equity equity lead while clearly defining the role of equity lead was not defined two we demand that rosedale and cusd leaders hold a meeting with a group of concerned parents and caregivers to discuss our petition and the district's commitment to authentic equity three we demand rosedale administrators follow the district's expanding learning opportunities grant plan which states an equity alliance lead will be on site at every school and the equity will be at the center of every decision four we demand that rosedale administrators work with parents caregivers and teachers to create a strategic plan on equity incorporating best practices in dual language immersion was that my bell respect uh okay i i just want to say that all due respect to the teachers at rosedale currently we want you all to respect and protect our equity-minded educators that are already doing the work please read the full petition at change.org backslash justice for joanna hasta que la vigna costumbre [Applause] all right our next speaker is uh anisha johnson [Applause] good evening with all respect to the board my name is anisia johnson i'm a lifelong chico resident born in chico in 1961.
well done you may be seated one of the great things about discovery canyon campus is we offer a pre-k-12 program and the opportunities for families to have their children do their entire pre-k-12 experience at discovery canyon campus this is the fourth year we have graduates who have been at dcc from kindergarten through 12th grade if you are a student who did all your schooling kindergarten through 12th grade at discovery canyon elementary middle and high please stand and be recognized [Music] [Applause] you may be seated at this time if senior choir members would start making their way up to the choir risers here on the right you'll be singing just after the class president's speeches our ceremony continues with the address from the past and present class presidents from the class of 2022 our evening speeches begin with andrew keegan i didn't realize four years ago when i was freshman class president that i'd have to give this speech and if you remember the one i gave the eighth graders that year let's hope this one goes a little better so each of us class presidents chose a word to them our speeches around relating to our year as the president the word i would use to describe my high school experience since freshman year is change to change is to make someone or something different or to modify the someone that has been changed in this case is us the class of 22 through our high school journey i know none of us are the same as when we walked into the gym as little freshman and heard coach mitchell sing waterliacha that experience alone probably changed all of us as to this day i think that's the only time i've ever heard that man sing regardless through these last four years we've all grown and changed in ways that i don't think any of us expected change is a natural important process that we all must go through whether it be a change in location friendship personality family or any other important part of our lives we will experience more of it way more than any of us could expect we've already seen the world change in a dramatic way with the pandemic and will continue to change in ways that we can never expect in fact the only thing that will never change is the process of change throughout our lives it can be painful sometimes but these pains are the only ways that we are able to grow we don't become who we're supposed to do become without any change or with an easy life where everything is always the same we grow into ourselves by taking in the changes and the pains as ellie pointed out at the banquet we've been in high school for 326 400 minutes or 326 400 minutes sorry and each one of them has thrown new situation at us pushing us to grow going through the ib programs at our school what stuck with me most is to always keep an open mind this has been vital to accept everything that's been thrown our ways throughout our high school experience it's one of the hardest things to do as a human to stay open to new ideas and to different perspectives when it's so easy to hold on to old beliefs going forward in life keep an open mind towards change and growth understanding that it's natural and good to change and that people shouldn't always stay the same as when you met them be grateful for these opportunities we've been given that have allowed us to grow without them we'd still be stuck in the same shape that we were as little freshmen i'm sure everyone in the crowd is glad we're not that way so go on in life embrace change use it to grow just like we have since we're a freshman thank you please welcome anna sukel to the podium focus a noun meaning the center of interest or activity a verb meaning to pay particular attention to if you have ever been in the same room as me you have most likely realized that focusing isn't my strongest trait i'll admit it i don't really know what happened this year in language arts sorry mr jameson it's nothing personal how was i able to stay on track to help lead a successful homecoming week i have no idea am i really paying attention to what you are trying to tell me or am i thinking about the joke that somebody said that i still don't understand after much reminiscing on our sophomore year and obvious procrastination i endured while writing this speech i decided that focus is something we learned a lot throughout 10th grade and honestly a lot throughout high school and it's one of the top clifton strengths that walsham loves let's take a quick trip back to the 2019-2020 school year we danced at color dance homecoming snowball and sadies we took our first thor wars dub we watched our friends siblings and classmates win one of the highest football games of all time against palmer ridge we somehow completed our personal projects which i'm sure you all forgot about and we played sports made new friends and actually went to class until we didn't you all know what i'm talking about then we went on walks participated in tick-tock trends and ended our sophomore year by shutting our computer now why do you think i think we learned to focus during this time i came up with a list here are reasons we learn to focus or things we learn to focus on during sophomore year with all of our free time we started thinking about college and life after high school we learned to focus on our personal beliefs opinions ideas and thoughts we build stronger bonds and relationships and focused on the people closest to us we learned how to be selfless and look at the whole picture instead of focusing on our individual wants and needs we focused on our families more so than we had in previous school years and we learned to focus on all the good things in life the small things that matter and what makes an impact through all the ups and downs we faced during sophomore year we learned very important life lessons that in the long run paid for the unconventional year we had my hope is that you were able to take these life lessons we were fortunate enough to learn and bring them out into the real world with you my hope is that when you say your goodbyes and your see you laters to your friends and your family you remember how you got to where you are and that you will always be a part of the thunder family please welcome grayson joachim to the stage have you ever asked yourselves how long we have been striving for greatness not only the years we've been engaged for the quest of knowledge but from the moment as a child when we realize that the world could be changed it might not always be easy but it's possible sometimes life will hit you like a brick wall and knock you down maybe even break you but how you respond and choose to recover is your choice thank you for taking that literally sam seniors of discovery canyon i ask you rise for this historical hour because we've earned it don't tell yourself for one second that you're right now because of luck we fought hard for this opportunity just like how hard we fought last year in the thor wars and seeing how furious the class of 21 was as i stormed out of the gym even though we're definitely the most spirited smart and lovable class in years some people tell you we aren't ready they'll conjure up images of us wearing pajamas in public labeling things as mid in our obsession with social media it's our job to change their perception i say to you and you'll understand that it is a privilege to continue this journey we must never acquiesce mediocrity because we deserve to be remembered i say to you seniors of the world unite never let our hearts stray from the quest great job please welcome to the podium sahil bhandari hello before i begin i'd like to shout out my family for being here and my mom i know how hard you worked for me to get here mom i hope you're proud of me i love you so much i'm going to read you a line from my favorite poem from street poet linguist aubry graham or as we know him drake featuring critically acclaimed writer soulja boy started from the bottom now we're here started from the bottom now my whole team here class of 2022 like the name of that poem we made it i started my journey at district 20 in kindergarten like many of you i was assigned a student number 154-313 i was given a card and told that i would carry out through high school and then in 2022 when i graduate i'd have it i remember thinking that 2022 was way too far away but here i stay in front of you on may 18th as 154-313 throughout our four years at discovery canyon campus we've done a lot as a class we've created historically both academically and athletically and we've created change and impacts that'll reach the world around us but we continue to shine brighter day after day we are notorious for our willingness to take risk and to make change and to push the boundaries of what it means to be successful but we also happen to be the funniest and most attractive class at dcc which is cool as mentioned before by drew we've attended discovery canyon for 326 400 minutes which is also christian wacker's sat score and in those minutes we've created memories that one day when we tell our kids when we're wiser and we're older that they won't even believe the first girlfriend the second girlfriend the third girlfriend realizing that maybe you shouldn't date in high school that you're the problem the fourth girlfriend yeah you know what i'm talking about but all of our stories at dcc come together at this moment we have a rich history of friendship and reliance and resilience together we somehow survived ib nyp ap verizon lte and all the other acronyms that the school has thrown at us i know some of us are going to miss high school more than others but i want to remind you of a feeling we all went through that day at thor wars that first day we sat there thinking it was some boring welcome to school event but ended with us becoming a family and setting a fire in our hearts to light the world one second sorry even now when i think about the last thor wars i think about those freshmen who sat there who have four years to make a change it was a sentimental moment or even i even think about the day at the gym the last day at school it was a sentimental but bittersweet moment leaving the gym for me i could feel the weight of my body i could feel my legs pulling me towards the door willing getting faster and faster but as i got closer they got heavier and heavier to know i may never walk through his halls again as a high schooler but as an adult was a harsh moment but it felt good walking out with my best friends in the world but in that moment between the doors of the gym and the outside world i felt hesitation scared that i wouldn't be remembered i wish this was like high school musical and we could have broken out into song and dance what time is it summer time but instead it reminded me of a quote from kendrick lamar when the lights shut off and it's my turn to settle down my main concern promise that you will sing about me class of 22 our impact has been etched into the stone of the school your work has not gone unnoticed your patience your perseverance and your willingness to take risks will be remembered forever remember the passion that you carry for the school the same passion that will carry you forward into life and the passion that was nurtured by students teachers staff and family as i talked about before our stories at dcc led to this moment mine started in 2015 with my one friend aiden who was my neighbor i walked into mr lockwood social studies class where i met a kid with a violent pair of voices named riley cummings who became my best friends it led me to the seventh grade where i met sicily and silas who ended up becoming my other best friends when we discussed science and nerdy stuff in mr gary's science lab and eighth grade where you met grayson which his speech was brilliant and his accenture among dana who i love so much shout out dana by the time high school came around i thought i met all the people who were important to me but i was wrong i realized that this school keeps giving even now to this day the school keeps giving from meeting drake and jack harlow and mr b at the security desk to begging ms snyder not to mark me tardy because my mom would yell at me i've realized that the school has given me so much and every day continues to give to the community but today the greatest gift to mankind has been given the class of 2022.
mr gregory earned his master's degree in educational leadership and principal licensure from university of colorado colorado springs and earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and teacher licensure from university of southern colorado please welcome mr gregory well thank you mr gorge before i start i want to introduce some folks on stage to you also from our board of education board president miss karen reynolds vice president mr doug lundberg board treasurer mr tom lavallee and board directors miss heather cloninger and mr will timby well thank you and i would like to start by acknowledging a couple other folks up here dr jim smith and all of our high school principals i'd like to thank for their continuous efforts to plan re-plan and plan again graduation ceremonies over the last few months to keep up with ever-changing guidance their focus has always centered on developing a traditional graduation ceremony with as few restrictions as possible and as many guests as possible dr smith and mr gorsh on behalf of the entire district 20 community thank you for making this day of celebration possible i also want to recognize and thank class of 2021 students isabelle harris and jack o'neill for participating on my student advisory council this past year isabelle and jack not only did you represent the village high school student voice with honor and pride your perspectives regarding the effectiveness of our website online learning covid frustrations equity and inclusion graduation ceremonies and many other topics was both valued and constructive thank you jack and thank you isabel well class of 2021 congratulations you've made it you've navigated some of the most difficult circumstances faced by students in decades you sacrificed the end of your junior year and continued that sacrifice through your senior year and your senior year has been like no other remote learning in-person learning online learning and hybrid learning that's definitely a lot of learning and all that learning included a host of new norms such as mask breaks cohorting social distancing quarantines hand sanitizer more quarantines more hand sanitizer and more quarantines you endure shortened athletic seasons online concerts and plays outdoor proms numerous cancellations and dare i say it not one single snow day and that was not all your senior year was marked by some of the most contentious social and political events in history your senior year has been one of historical proportions you've made history in 10 20 50 100 years students and teachers will read about your journey in their history classes but through it all you persevered you were patient flexible and you showed grit in short you've demonstrated resilience resilience is described as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or maybe the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape or most simply put being elastic resilience is now part of your dna and frankly that's a good thing because resilience is a characteristic you will need to lean on throughout your life i wish i could tell you life gets easier and resilience is only a trait that you needed in 2020 and 2021 but the truth is whether through your job continued education or future relationships you will face challenges you overcame the challenges of your senior year and you will continue to overcome future challenges because you are adaptable you are persistent you are resilient and you are creative problem solvers an article in the journal journal of medical science from 2016 reads resilience is an individual's ability to adaptively respond to hardship stress and adversity it is the ability to bounce back that describes each of you that same article also reads individuals who report high levels of resilience typically portray an optimistic outlook positive emotionality curiosity and openness to new experiences they are able to emerge from a challenge stronger wiser and more powerful resilience correlates strongly with success success interpersonal satisfaction happiness and hope as you leave here today prepared to make your mark on this world i ask that you use the events of the last 16 months to propel you forward no matter how much the world tries to hold you back challenge you or knock you down always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible do not lose hope stay confident believe in the possibilities channel your curiosity seek solutions to problems that others may not see you can find hope through many means hope can arise simply taking in new information or gaining new knowledge sometimes it may be just the smile of a trusted friend the friend who trusts in you or in your ability to find creative solutions to new problems as described in the story of the loan shark and the daughter the story goes in a small italian town many years ago a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan shark the loan shark was an old rough looking guy that just so happened to fancy the businessman's daughter the loan shark offered the businessman a deal to dissolve the businessman's debt however there was a catch the catch was they would only forgive the debt if he could marry the businessman's daughter needless to say this proposal was met with disgust however as the story goes the lone shark proposed that he would place two pebbles into a bag one white and one red the daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble if the pebble was red the debt would be forgiven and the lone shark would marry the businessman's daughter if the stone selected was white the debt would still be forgiven but the daughter would not have to marry the lone shark standing on a path strewn with red and white pebbles in the businessman's garden the lone shark bent over and picked up two pebbles as he was picking them up the daughter noticed he'd picked up two red pebbles and placed both of them into the bag he then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one naturally the daughter had three choices as to what she could do one refused to pick a pebble from the bag which would not help her father two take both pebbles out of the bag and exposed the loan shark as a cheater which again would not help her father or three pick a pebble from the bag full well knowing it was going to be red and sacrifice herself for her father's financial freedom so she reluctantly drew a pebble from the bag but before the color was discovered she appeared to accidentally drop it to the ground undetectable amid the other red and white pebbles she had quickly engineered a fourth option after a short pause she said to the loan shark how clumsy of me i'm sorry but if you look into the bag for the pebble that is left you will be able to tell which pebble i dropped the pebble left in the bag is obviously red and knowing the loan shark did not want to be exposed he had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white her father's debt was cleared and the loan shark defeated her creative solution saved the situation in an instant the father and daughter went from feeling hopeless to feeling hopeful as the result of a short moment in time when she saw solutions others did not as martin luther king jr stated we must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope you are graduating from a great school in a fabulous district in a terrific community in a beautiful state in the greatest country in the world you have every reason to be hopeful and optimistic as you reflect and celebrate on your time in high school remember that you did not make the journey alone please take time to thank the friends teachers parents and grandparents or anyone else who pushed you or sometimes pulled you to this day congratulations village high school class of 2021 i wish you a successful hopeful and fulfilling future be well and be safe thank you thank you mr gregory we thank you for your support for our school and a special thanks to you for helping to find and secure our new building we could not have found a better home for our school and it already feels like home so thank you mr gregory normally we host a senior breakfast where a staff member gives a speech but this year we were unable to host the senior breakfast so instead we will have a staff member speak during the ceremony senior class you voted on who you wanted to give the speech and you picked miss lindsay keller please welcome miss lindsey good afternoon everyone thank you for the honor of being staff speaker for the class of 2021 i'm humbled and grateful for the opportunity the staff at village high school is the best i've ever worked with no contest so i'll do my best to represent this group of people who have helped you all arrive at this day catherine ryan hyde wrote a book that was later adapted into a movie titled pay it forward some of you may have seen it but for those who haven't here's the gist of the story a kind-hearted social studies teacher gives his class an extra credited assignment to create positive change in the world and his student 12 year old trevor mckinney comes up with this do a good deed through for three people something that will help to change their life for the better and then ask nothing in return but that they pay kindness forward and try to help three more people and so on it's a good book it was an okay movie but the idea is great right the best ideas are genius in their simplicity so you know where i'm going with this of course before we talk about how you might pay some stuff forward though let me start here it's important to root this request in what makes educators tick obviously we aren't seeking fame or fortune and yes we enjoy working with young people and the joy of learning and all of that but i believe what really drives great educators like the teachers counselors and support staff who have worked with you these past years is that we want to leave this world world better than we found it and we understand that one of the most powerful ways to do that is through you if we do our jobs correctly then you enter this world and you make it better you become our legacy consider these then as some ways you might pay it forward and in the spirit maybe in part of village high school make the world kinder gentler maybe a bit better number one start every day in joy play a song that you love and maybe sing and dance but be sure to connect with in a meaningful in a meaningful way with your community as you set your intentional purpose for the day ahead number two remember that it takes a village no one does it alone so be an active and positive participant in whatever village you choose for yourself surround yourself with people who stand alongside you and are invested in your growth and progress let them challenge you to be better and challenge them to be better too number three we are all different but equal our commitment to crafting a personalized education for each of you was our recognition that you are all unique and have different needs and motivations but no one of you deserved more than the person you shared the school with you all deserved your own version of the most excellent education we could provide pay this forward every person deserves the same opportunity for happiness health safety and security and protection and prosperity equal to the other people in their community number four failure is the best opportunity to learn if we treat it that way see your failures as a gift and a chance to do better next time and extend that same kindness to the people in your life too number five a four day work week is better than a five-day work week so redefine how we think about work we don't have to sacrifice our mental physical and emotional health to prove we work hard number six our priorities differ and that's okay for some of you school took a back seat so you could become elite athletes artists beautiful dancers contributors to the economy and stewards of the environment sometimes the world broadcasts what our priorities should be but resist being passive to that the world is a better place because you put school in its place it was a vehicle for you to reach your dreams that is your mark and that was brave number seven whenever and however you can give people a second chance or a third or more if we gave that to you remember that in gratitude and pay it forward finally pay this forward we aimed to do better than what had been defined for us by tradition and time by redefining what high school could be do the same in the world in your own way you've witnessed some really bad behavior in your childhoods you've learned about some traditions and time-held beliefs that could use a second look but you've also witnessed beauty and the strength and tenacity of humanity and you've seen the power of an individual and the sheer force of a cause worth fighting be thoughtful be brave and be willing to take on the status quo to be better to do better you're capable of that each and every one of you the question is will you take it on every day in morning meeting i ask you to turn to your neighbor and tell them to yep make it a great day today i ask you to please turn to your neighbor and tell them something different something bigger something to mark the day and the occasion class of 2021 turn to your neighbor and tell them make it a great life thank you and congratulations sorry and now i'd like to introduce caitlyn rolfe administration teachers custodians security and last but certainly not least parents without you guys we'd be absolutely nowhere without your patience encouragement and constant support i can honestly say i don't believe i'd be graduating today as most of you know i transferred into the village as a junior which means my first two years were spent back at tca since i went to two different high schools it's almost like i got two entirely different high school careers which i count myself very lucky for junior and senior year after i transferred into the village i was filled with a sense of peace and belonging the village is an amazing school and i'm so unbelievably lucky i was able to attend the two years i did so on behalf of the entire class of 2021 i want to send out a huge thank you thank you for all you guys have done to support us through our journeys and thank you for making a safe environment that students feel loved and valued in class of 2021 can you all join me in making a huge round of applause for their generosity towards us well class of 2021 for those of you that don't know me i'm caitlin rolfe and we went to high school together how crazy is it that we can now officially say went instead of go 1382 days ago we started high school when i think about the single most important thing i learned in high school it isn't how to write a research essay how to use y equals mx plus b which to be fully honest i still don't understand or that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell it's an assignment lindsay assigned to us in career explorations you guys remember career explorations right it's that one class we were required to take and we're all super annoyed about now i don't know how much of the course you remember but for one of the major assignments lindsay had us write our own eulogy i thought this was very strange at first i saw it said write your eulogy on the module and immediately got concerned for my safety all jokes aside i was thrown off so i dove into the assignment fully expecting to be irritated by it once i actually read the instructions i realized how special this assignment truly was i immediately changed my perspective from an annoyed student with senioritis to an individual eager to learn and grab onto this opportunity before this assignment i had never looked at my life in this way before this assignment gave me an amazing idea of who it is exactly i want to be and what i wish to be remembered as the second i realized the person i wanted to be i began making decisions to point me towards that goal with no angle in mind we don't know where we're headed and thus make decisions based on current emotion rather than future situations my challenge for you all is to figure out who it is you want to be and stick to it every decision you make from here on out counts it's real so make the decisions that will get you one step closer to who you want to be rather than three steps further away don't allow others to walk all over you but always make it your top priority to be kind motivated genuine and generous with your time money and love during my freshman year i was involved in a girls small group where we would get together and talk through our crazy high school lives side by side towards the end of my second semester we all watched a movie entitled i'm not in shamed i'm not sure if you're familiar with this movie but it's the true story of rachel scott rachel was the first to be tragically killed in the columbine high school shooting that occurred in littleton colorado on april 20th 1999. even with all the time that has passed since that terrible day rachel's life of faith continues to inspire many people including myself one quote of hers has remained with me since the day i first heard it freshman year i quote i have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion it could start a chain reaction compassion is the greatest form of love that we have to offer tomorrow's not a promise this powerful statement of rachel's inspires me and i hope it does you too i trust that hearing her christ-like view on life inspires you to be a compassionate and considerate person let's face it our nation is in desperate need for understanding and a deeper compassion for one another and i believe we can be that change 1382 days ago we walked into high school but we aren't walking out the same people and i pray for every single one of us not only that we continue to grow and flourish into the people we wish to be but also that we live lives full of compassion for one another class of 2021 it's been a wild ride from the very bottom of my heart i truly wish you all the very best in life thank you for walking through high school by my side and thank you for allowing me to be up here and be a small part of your special day if you ever find yourself in phoenix give me a call congratulations class of 2021 we did it i'd like to introduce carolyn finley hi i'm carolyn um school kind of sucked there wasn't any random song outbursts or rhythmic dress basketball dribbling like i was tricked into believing i blame high school musical for the unrealistically high expectations i guess i did learn some valuable things like how to find the area of a circle or the chemical makeup of tear gas that was a fun day in chemistry at my old school but i really did learn some valuable things i learned about people in middle school i was bullied i had started to distance myself from people i didn't have many friends and as a 12 year old i started my struggle with depression and anxiety after a few hospitalizations i thought i was better fixed and i wasn't everything was going perfect until junior year when all of my friends ditched me i couldn't figure out what i did wrong i was alone so i turned to drugs being high was the only way for me to escape my oppression i brought a whole new meaning to high school finally i got caught sorry dad my life came to a crossroads where i could either decide to wallow in drugs and self-pity or do something to change my path my mom wanted me to move back in with her to have more structure and schedule to get clean so i did it's not like i had anything to lose normal school had never gone great for me and then i came to the village it was great i had new friends academic freedom teachers who loved and care about me i love you miss sherry and overall i had room to breathe and grow i even found my passion through the construction program slowly i started to learn more about myself and the world and who i am as a person then i realized something the world is a really crappy place there's so much darkness and sadness and hate but there is also good the little things that make you smile and those people who love and support you i know without those people in my life i wouldn't be here today so i implore you fellow students families and friends we have here today be the good in the world don't let the little things like race class gender religion nationality sexuality and such divide us we are the future we have the power to change the world so be the good things be the support system for someone be the reason a stranger smiles be the reason that other people love living what matters in life isn't how much money you make or how good you are at baseball or art it's the impact you make on other people the lives you touch be the light among the darkness because kindness is a virtue and it's something that needs to be spread be the positive change that you want to see because the world isn't going to fix itself for us thank you and congratulations fellow graduates of 2021 next i would like to introduce introduce elena wilson hello my name is elena wilson and i'm honored to be speaking at the village high school's class of graduation ceremony today i would like to congratulate my fellow classmates for working tirelessly in order to make it here i am proud to be able to share my experiences and would like to thank all of our staff members for not only helping me complete my journey but for encouraging my own personal growth and letting me fully realize my future path i am so grateful for this school and the opportunities it has given me part of the reason i was drawn to the village is because it is not just a school that emphasizes importance on academics or our grades we were always encouraged to be ourselves the village allowed us to figure out our strengths and grow into you unique and daring adults we focused on who we wanted to be although who we wanted to be has changed significantly since our very first days i think many things have changed throughout my four years here but i have learned an incredible amount from teachers friends and fellow classmates and nowhere else could i have gotten such an important experience my freshman year we were first introduced to all of our teachers we were asked to choose one that we become our mentor for the year someone to help us navigate school and get to know us personally so that they could help us in our journey here our mentors are some of the greatest support for our school and i know they mean a lot to our class they work hard to ensure that we know what it means to be successful on our own over this last year i know know that there was a struggle to constantly strive for success nothing was what we were used to and it was hard to find motivation to continue on like normal luckily our mentors were some of our strongest supporters and encourage us in our hour of need mr savage was my mentor freshman year and miss nolan for the past three and words cannot truly express the gratitude i have for them especially during the first rough beginnings the challenging middles and for the final few months i would also like to thank my friends and family my friends for being just as loud as i am [Music] but also for being the most supportive people i know nothing was impossible with them and for that i owed the world and for my family for being prouder of me than i ever was of myself and for believing in me no matter what i know that i doubted myself but they were my guarantee that i could do anything these are the people who i honor today and my goal is to keep making them proud of who i am i am grateful for these people in my life who've made it possible for me to be here today i truly could not have done it without you this past year was difficult for everyone we had to carry on through school and through work during a pandemic and let our realities completely change around us we even tried to figure out what our futures looked like when we had no clue what would happen next in the world we have been through so much in so little time and it has been difficult to process and we haven't had capacity to fully understand it we had to spend a lot of quarantine alone with ourselves and that has forced us to look inward and ask ourselves who am i where am i going what do i actually want to do and the answer i was afraid of most was that i didn't know i was afraid of what would happen next and that i was unprepared for the big changes that came scarily fast but there were any unknowns in my four years that turned into great successes the village has outgrown two different buildings and looking back i never imagined how far we would come this school has bloomed into a beautiful community full of some of the most hardworking and talented individuals the village and i are nowhere near where we began and for this i am grateful it shows us that change and hardships are not only worth it but it shows us where to go next we had to push through a lot this year we worked harder than ever to be here today and i was afraid still that my hard work wouldn't pay off like i wanted it to and i know that some of you may be afraid as well or unsure or maybe just confused as we face one of the biggest decisions of our lives i know that some of us have a detailed plan for what we want to do and some are still undecided but i want you to know that any of these ways of going forward is remarkably courageous to deal with the unknown you have to be passionate and driven our worst fears and disappointments are going to follow us forever but we have the chance to make the most of who we are and what we do in spite of those things we are throwing these curveballs to challenge our idea of who we are yesterday and who we will be tomorrow even though it's frightening the future is waiting for us to conquer it our class has been through three buildings one name change a global pandemic and four years of high school there is nothing we can't handle change is the scariest thing that can happen sometimes but it lets us figure out who we are and what we are capable of focus on your dreams your passions and who you want to be because this is something you can always be sure of even while the world is unsure of itself i would once again like to thank my teachers and staff members for an incredible high school experience and for rooting for me when i needed it the most i wish my fellow classmates the best of luck in their futures and encouraged them to never be afraid of change congratulations class of 2021 we did it next i would like to introduce kaylee cornaldi who will be performing an original piece of music she wrote [Music] oh my god just wait a minute got my heart don't know how you did it this beat kinda hittin different 360 in my head got no intuition just want to make you feel good come on take you out to my hood residential ain't my place sitting and listen to my hits all day sweet like cinnamon [Music] having fun during graduation on this special day heart pumping on this funky new day you say that you like me to say all the ways that you make me feel sweet dear give me your jacket and your new hat your body making me feel that in the purest of times times can't believe our lives are starting today graduation came kinda quickly shivers all down my spine singing sweet shoes so sublime pack it up it's time to go home convertible cruising down to soho listening to biggie while we go so you wanna be hardcore oh no no sweet in like crowd so into him having fun during graduation on this special day are pumping on this funky new day you say that you like me too jay all the ways that you make me feel sweet dear give me a jacket and your new head your body making me feel that in the purest of times class of 2021 i want you to get up on your feet clap with me now hey [Music] crazy days memories may in our blue gown screaming classic 2021 hey we are pumping on this funky new day you say that you like me touche all the ways that you make me feel sweet deal [Music] give me your jacket and your new hat your body making me feel that in the purest of time sweepy funky times high pumping on this funky new day you say that you'd like me to shave all the ways that you make me feel sweet [Music] thank you guys so much you can add me on my instagram corey kcori thank you [Music] next i would like to introduce jack o'neill i'm gonna take this off because there's a hundred percent chance it blows off while i'm speaking so good afternoon graduates faculty staff parents family and friends to my fellow graduates i want to say congratulations on your high school graduation we have overcome a year full of unprecedented and demanding challenges set forth by a devastating disease obviously the disease i'm referring to is senioritis which unfortunately there is no amount of masks or social distancing to keep us safe from it i'm honored to be here representing such a talented and diverse group of students it is surreal to look back and think that we have actually made it to this point of being high school graduates i mean most of us made the choice as freshmen to attend in high school inside a literal trailer yet here we are somehow four years and three buildings later graduating from an old bank but let me tell you there is no group of people that i would rather have spent the last four years with and so as i wish you all farewell i would like to leave you with a list of three things that i have learned as a student of the village high school number one in life sometimes you have no idea what you're doing and that's okay think back to when we were freshmen and we decided to go to a completely new kind of high school i don't think i'm alone in saying that i had no clue what i was doing or if what i was doing was right but look at us now four years later and the whole world is wishing that they had a school like ours most people will credit that to kovid but i just think we're really cool trendsetters and the rest of the world is finally catching up another great thing about not having a clue what you're doing is that there are endless opportunities to succeed i have learned to never say no to an opportunity because many great things in life come from unexpected places you just have to be bold enough to put yourself out there and go for it i think this is especially important considering most of us are moving on to bigger things in the next chapter of our lives involves trying to plan out the rest of our lives so if you find yourself stressing out about not knowing what you're doing just remember there's a good chance nobody else does either so just be present and live in the moment because one day you might be thinking to yourself something like andy bernard from the office once said when he said i wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you've actually left them the second most important thing i've learned in high school is to find your own village make sure your village has people that are invested in your goals and will support you no matter if you are succeeding or failing you might think the people that support you are your cheerleaders but oftentimes the people that are the most supportive are those that hold you accountable kind of like that awkward conversation we have all had at some point with our mentor when there is a week left in the semester and it is looking like there just might not be enough time or red bull in the u.s to make sure you finish the 45 missing assignment in algebra 2 and a spanish class you haven't started yet but all jokes aside make sure your people are always make sure you are always looking to add people to your village because people come along in your life for a reason i know for me there are people that have made me the person i am today just because they came into my life by chance when i really needed it and they helped me make opportunities out of challenges because they saw more talent and potential than i saw in myself however sometimes you won't be as lucky as we have been for the past four years and you might have to bravely start something that nobody cares to support you in so you have to be strong enough to be your own village which leads me to my last point this is one that i've learned from mr gorge understand that everybody deserves a place where they can find themselves express themselves and find value within themselves look around in life and take note of what tables don't have space for everybody be brave and create space for yourself at those tables and then ask yourself who else is missing what voices aren't we hearing what communities are represented here take on the challenge of making the tables in your life inclusive to everybody because as we have learned here at the village everyone has a unique contribution and the world is a better place when we make room for diversity and inclusion so to my fellow graduates my wish for you is to take the foundations of education and character that you have learned here at the village into the real world chase big dreams that will lead you to even bigger dreams be open to new opportunities and never stop the pursuit of being your best self next i would like to introduce audra register thank you [Music] hello village high school class of 2021.
thank you specifically to our parent leadership groups parent-teacher organization acdcc accountability the parent advisory group and our athletic booster group thank you to our district leadership team and the academy district 20 board of education for your leadership and support specifically thank you to mr tom gregory superintendent dr jim smith assistant superintendent and miss mary elsner dr smith's assistant for your effort to ensure that the class of 2021 had this opportunity to have an in-person graduation ceremony let's give them all a round of applause thank you to family members friends and community members who have served and are currently serving our great nation in the armed forces would you would those who currently are serving or have served in the armed forces please stand and be recognized thank you for your service and your sacrifice any students who are children in military families and students who are entering the armed forces please stand and be recognized thank you for your sacrifice for our great nation i'd now like to invite you to join me in a moment of silence to remember those family and friends that have passed away and are not in attendance today to celebrate with us the success of the class of 2021.
she also attended explore elementary school timber view middle school and liberty she is highly involved at liberty with many leadership positions she is president of the national honor society and national honor society for the dancing arts secretary of the international thespian society and dance captain of the scarlet elite dance team she has been involved in most liberty theatrical productions either acting on stage or working behind the scenes finally she was a member of the ladies tennis team outside of school jennifer volunteers for teen court and is part of a jewish youth organization in the fall jennifer will attend the university of wisconsin madison and attend the college of letters and sciences she is unsure of her future so far but plans to have a career where she can help people jennifer you have a bright future ahead of you and we're all very proud of your accomplishments congratulations ladies and gentlemen jennifer goldstein hello and good afternoon as mr timming said my name is jennifer and i'm honored to be your commencement speaker to start off i want to thank mr gregory and all of the members of academy district 20 school board for all of your dedication next i want to thank mr timming and all of our amazing faculty for your hard work 24 7 this year finally i want to thank and welcome all family members and honored guests for coming out to celebrate this special day to my fellow classmates class of 2021 it's your graduation day soak it in now i could give a speech to you today about how our senior year got stripped from us or i could say how this year was so unique and unconventional because we've never heard that one but instead i'm going to tell you a story when i was little i had two snails my mom one day was helping me clean out the fish tank and threw out my snails into the garbage yeah she told me that they weren't moving so she thought they were dead i was like mom they're snails they don't move but thank goodness my fifth grade self dug through the trash and took them out and you know what they did they moved like turbo mode i swear they ate so much algae it was unreal i feel like that is the class of 2021 for you [Music] honestly during this pandemic the time has moved in slow motion every day felt like the same and it seemed like we weren't making any progress forward i'd like to reflect on a few things that happened while we were in slow motion to start off we woke up at 7 40 logged on in the same clothes we've been wearing for a week or at least i did then i know during class i always was 100 of the time paying attention and definitely ready for those cold calls from mrs paulin although the student body couldn't be at most sports games this year we know that our athletes represented liberty proudly and crushed every game we also got to hold our first virtual scar bro which if i do say so myself kinda rocked and what would we do without our stellar band and cheerleaders keeping our spirits high and practicing like crazy to get perfection but i am truly in the most awe with each of you if we can make it through this will make it through anything it's time to go turbo we were snails thrown in the trash but now we are race cars ready to conquer the indy 500 once we get yeah [Music] once we get going i know there's some things i'm going to appreciate more than ever i'm ready to go full spirit mode for all future sporting events even if i don't exactly know what's happening i'm ready to give a friend a hug and not sanitize afterwards and finally i'm ready to see what all of you guys are going to do while this year was hard i am proud of each and every one of you for making it to today so in the future if you see two snails not really moving in a fish tank don't throw them away they're snails they're just moving slowly once again congratulations class of 2021 will the band please move to their location hello everyone and i am zoe perrier i would like to introduce you all to our amazing superintendent mr tom gregory mr gregory has been in education for 31 years and has been with the district for 30.
so it's all his fault mr gregory became our chief financial officer in 2009 and served in that capacity until 2016 when he was named the deputy superintendent chief financial officer he earned his master's degree in educational leadership and his principal licensure program from the university of colorado at colorado springs he earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and his secondary school teacher license from the university of southern colorado please join me in welcoming the best superintendent in the state of colorado mr tom gregory well thank you mr olson i would like to start by with a little honesty i get a lot of credit for uh for one thing this graduation ceremony but i need to acknowledge dr jim smith and all of our high school principals for their continuous efforts to plan replan and plan again graduation ceremonies over the last few months to try to keep up with ever changing health guidance their focus was always centered on developing a traditional graduation ceremony with as few restrictions as possible and as many guests as possible dr smith and mr olsen on behalf of the academy district 20 community thank you for making this day a celebration possible i also want to recognize and thank class of 2021 student luke davis for participating on my student advisory council this past year luke represented the air academy student voice with honor and pride and gave effective perspective regarding website effectiveness online learning covet frustrations equity and inclusion graduation ceremonies and many other topics that were valued and constructive thank you luke and if you will indulge me for a second i want to welcome the spindler family and the guevara family this morning as they attend to celebrate the graduation of my niece cadet senior sydney spindler congratulations sydney well class of 2021 congratulations and for about the fourth time this morning already you made it you navigated some of the most difficult circumstances faced by students in decades you sacrificed the end of your junior year and continued that sacrifice through your senior year and your senior year has been like no other remote learning in-person learning online learning and hybrid learning that's a lot of learning and all that learning included a host of new norms and terms such as mask breaks cohorting social distancing quarantines hand sanitizer more quarantines more hand sanitizer and more quarantines you endured shortened athletic seasons online concerts and plays outdoor proms numerous cancellations and dare i say it not one single snow day this was not all your senior year was marked by some of the most contentious social and political events in history your senior year has been one of historical proportions you've made history in 10 20 50 100 years students and teachers will read about your journey in their history classes but through it all you persevered you were patient flexible and you showed grit by the way dr mr mr olsen and i did not uh compare speeches they're very similar in short you've demonstrated resilience resilience is described as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape or most simply put being elastic resilience is now part of your dna and frankly that is a good thing because resilience is a characteristic you will need to lean on throughout your life i wish i could tell you life will get easier and resilience is a trait you only needed in 20 and 20 21 but the truth is whether through your job your education or your relationships you will face challenges you overcame the challenges of your senior year and you will continue to overcome future challenges because you are adaptable you are persistent you are resilient and you are creative problem solvers an article in the journal of medical science in 2016 reads resilience is an individual's ability to adaptively respond to hardship stress and adversity it is the ability to bounce back that describes each of you the same article also reads individuals who report high levels of resilience typically portray an optimistic outlook positive emotionality curiosity and openness to new experiences they are able to emerge from a challenge stronger wiser and more powerful resilience correlates strongly with success interpersonal satisfaction happiness and hope as you leave here today prepare to make your mark on this world i ask that you use the events of the last 16 months to propel you forward no matter how much the world tries to hold you back challenge you or knock you down always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible don't lose hope stay confident believe in the possibilities channel your curiosity seek solutions to problems that others can't see you can find hope through many means hope can arise from simply taking in new information or gaining new knowledge sometimes it may be just the smile of a trusted friend a friend who trusts in you or in your ability to find a creative solution to a new problem as described in the story of the lone shark and the daughter the story goes in a small italian town many years ago a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan shark the lawrence shark was an old rough looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner's daughter the loan shark offered the business man a deal that would dissolve the businessman's debt however there was a catch the catch was they would only forgive the debt if he could marry the businessman's daughter needless to say this proposal was met with disgust however as the story goes the lone shark proposed that he would place two pebbles into a bag one white pebble and one red pebble the daughter would then reach into the bag pick out a pebble and if it was red the debt would be forgiven and the loan shark would marry the businessman's daughter if the stone selected was white the debt would still be forgiven but the daughter would not have to marry the loan shark so standing on a path strewn with red and white pebbles in the businessman's garden the lone shark bent over and picked up two pebbles as he was picking them up the daughter noticed he had picked up two red pebbles and placed them both into the bag he then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one moment of decision naturally the daughter had three choices as to what she could do one refused to play refused to pick a pebble from the bag but that would not help her father two take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan the lone shark as a cheater but again that would not help her father three pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was going to be red and she would sacrifice herself for her father's financial freedom so she reluctantly drew a pebble from the bag and before the color was discovered she appeared to accidentally drop it to the ground undetectable among all the other white and red pebbles on the walk she had quickly engineered a fourth option after a short pause she said to the loan shark oh how clumsy of me but if you look into the bag for the pebble is left you will be able to tell which pebble i dropped the pebble left in the bag is obviously red and knowing the loan shark did not want to be exposed as a cheater he had to play along as if the pedal pebble dropped was white her father's debt was cleared and the loan shark defeated her creative solution saved the situation in an instant the father and daughter went from feeling hopeless to feeling hopeful as a result of a short moment in time when she saw solutions others did not as martin luther king jr stated we must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope you are graduating from a great school in a fabulous school district in a terrific community in an outstanding state in the greatest country in the world you have every reason to be hopeful and optimistic as you reflect and celebrate on your time in high school remember you did not make it here alone please take time to thank the friends teachers parents grandparents and anyone else who pushed and maybe sometimes pulled you to this day congratulations air academy high school class of 2021 i wish you a hopeful successful and fulfilling future be well and be safe thank you thank you superintendent gregory now please help me welcome to the microphone miss kate nelson i thought that i had grown up i thought that i had found love i thought that i knew the whole truth i never thought that they changed i always thought that it'd stay a place i never thought i'd lose [Music] but i'm keeping my head above water [Music] the better days are waiting for me i knew that i would be tough i knew i'd never give up bully proof inside my head i thought i knew who i'd be now i'm watching the day sleep by me [Music] treading on my own belief but i'm keeping my head above water roll back the clowns till i see the better days are waiting for me each day is one day behind us homesick these days will remind us late nights we preached into silence each day is one day behind us homesick these days will remind us late nights we preached into silence [Music] each day is one day behind us homesick these days will remind us stand up run with the giants [Music] treading [Music] till i see the better days are waiting for me outstanding job one more round of applause for kate and her backing vocalists next it is my privilege to introduce our student who will be giving the summa laude address miss emma franzen sorry okay good morning cadets it is my pleasure to welcome all of the families friends faculty and most importantly students to this year's graduation ceremony i would like to begin by thanking all of the families friends teachers and administrators for your help and support throughout these past four years it is greatly appreciated now cadets we are here to reflect on and celebrate the past four years of our lives which have been [Music] unconventional to say the least i remember the first day of freshman year like it was yesterday running through that tunnel of link crew leaders into our first ever high school assembly i was both nervous and excited and as i looked around i realized i wasn't the only one we were all on the same line about to get on the crazy roller coaster known as high school as a class we have experienced countless highs from our band marching in the rose parade and winning state championships to winning powder puff to housing a spectacular jrotc program to our boys soccer team winning two state championships to numerous successes in debate deca choir and so many more outstanding achievements and positive memories but we have also experienced a multitude of lows from losing beloved teachers stressing about classes dealing with drama and most recently going through the global pandemic of covey 19.
i would like to thank academy school district 20 for making this commencement ceremony possible and please let me extend a great debt of gratitude to all of those who have bravely served or have served in all branches of the military especially those who are currently deployed could you please stand and be recognized thank you for your service i would now like to give you your senior class president and student body president sydney jones and mitch rubin you can now sit good afternoon parents students and rampart staff my name is cindy jones and i am your senior class president we've always been told this day would come and we've spent countless years days and minutes preparing for it some of us have grown up together from kindergarten to now but some of us have just recently met via microsoft teams we look at each other in our caps and gowns standing at the beginning of the rest of our lives covet has been an obstacle to say the least and you may look back at your senior year with some sorrow however look at everything you've accomplished despite it all you emerged a stronger individual when we leave here today if you take anything from my speech please hold on to this whether you're going to a university community college trade school the military cosmetology school broad broadway culinary school embarking on a gap year becoming a social media influencer or going straight into the workforce follow your own heart seek what sets your soul on fire there's no set path that every single one of you is meant to follow i encourage you to close your eyes what makes you happy what motivates you every single day what will make you excited to wake up every single day what is your purpose maybe you don't know what that is right now maybe you're still searching maybe your purpose isn't clear right now maybe you leave here today still not knowing what you want to do next month next year or even for the rest of your life and i'm here to tell you that's completely okay i encourage you to look to the left and to the right at your classmates we've grown up together learned together laughed together maybe cried together but most importantly we've become stronger together look down at yourself look at how far you've come i know we've all been through times where we didn't think we'd make it where life became so overwhelming you thought it would break you but look at where you are right now all of those experiences and memories and struggles have shaped you into the amazing person you are today be proud of yourself you deserve it rampart high school class of 2021 it has been the biggest honor to grow with you and make such genuine connections with each of you i have loved serving as your senior class president and i'm so excited to see where every single one of you go please remember you're loved you're important and you have a purpose it's okay to not know exactly what's next for you but always seek what makes you happiest this is goodbye for now but not forever keep an eye out for our rampart high school's senior class reunion in 2031.
from our school leadership team mrs lovka craft assistant principal mr matt mahan assistant principal mr josh trahan senior class assistant principal and athletic director and mr brian wright assistant principal and our district 20 leadership who continuously work to provide the finest opportunity for our students and families dr jim smith assistant superintendent for administrative services and mr tom gregory superintendent of schools and finally from our school board due to their work and dedication to our community the academy school district is the finest school district in the state and a place where students are equipped with knowledge skills and character essential to be a responsible citizen of our community our nation and the world mrs karen reynolds president mr doug lundberg vice president mr tom lavalley treasurer and pine creek board of education liaison mr will tembe director mrs heather cloninger director and colonel andrew t johnson the usa liaison i am pleased to introduce senior class president rachel suter rachel was a member of student council hosa sources of strength iris and mario mentors and several honors societies additionally she was a member of the d20 health advisory committee and the swim and dive team rachel is an ap scholar with distinction graduating with distinction and the recipient of the flight of the eagle award rachel's favorite classes were ap psych art and biomed she will be attending cu boulder and plans to major in neuroscience and minor in art please welcome rachel suter thank you mrs back teachers administrators counselors coaches security guards custodians and staff we thank you when i say pine creek is an incredible school i truly mean its staff is incredible it is not the bricks of our building that make our school incredible it is the people who fills it halls with life and learning thank you for seeing us is more than just our test grades thank you for looking beyond our identity as students to our humanity beneath you saw us the good and the bad and continued to accept us every day even when our faces were replaced by initials on microsoft teams you never gave up on us your kindness and sensitivity to each unique situation is what truly sets the staff apart this past year you have given us grace you have understood that each of us might react to the situation differently and you adapted to accommodate us not for your con convenience but for the benefit of your students your sacrifice and selflessness especially throughout these past months are unparalleled we recognize and appreciate your dedication to our success throughout this pandemic i cannot imagine how difficult it was to accommodate your materials and teaching to an online platform we cannot thank you enough for the time you spent redoing your lesson plans instead of with your family the hours you dedicated to us in our learning you had to cr you had to guide us through learning while relearning how to teach your career was turned inside out and still you prioritized us you were always there for us even when we turned our cameras off you kept yours on thank you for being a source of reliability in times of such uncertainty thank you for your commitment to our well-being and your constant unwavering belief that we could succeed this was a tough year but it would have been nearly impossible without such an incredible staff to guide us to this moment some of us are going to college some are getting a job some of us are joining the military and others are taking a different route but i can say one thing with certainty you've prepared us for anything because of the pine creek staff we are better students but far more importantly we are better people sure we learned how to solve for x how to analyze a speech how to succeed academically but beyond that we've learned leadership and resilience and empathy and kindness we've learned how to conquer adversity how to be brave in the face of a challenge and how to never give up despite how difficult the circumstances may seem time and time again the pine creek staff exemplified these qualities and just like their lessons in class we soaked them up thank you for an incredible four years the class of 2021 will miss you dearly i am proud to recognize the class of 2021s valedictorian and salutatory those students ranked number one and number two in the class of 2021.
dr wright you want to uh address that or would you have i'm sorry i think we're switch that we're on item 3.4 you know my problem is i mark them off as next but since i think i've done it sorry uh this is uh early graduation for one of our br students high school students yes the board has that information unless it has specific information from the principal where the the request is to allow this to occur any questions on that okay we have a motion to accept that early graduation i almost said early retirement we don't want that student to retire early graduation a motion for margaret second from diane all in favor that's good okay now item 3.5 regarding capacity for the next upcoming year yes sir classroom capacity right absolutely and so for grades k through 12 pre-k through 12 we have to establish capacities to determine the maximum size of the class and that that then drives the the extent to which you have open enrollment available and so after being meeting with our administration team and reviewing where we're at and considering the learning loss makeup one of our goals has been and will continue to be to keep our class sizes as small as possible those numbers that were provided to the board reflect what our principals believe we need to keep those classes at in order to make up the ground academically and so if there are any specific questions from any of those bands i'm willing to answer that otherwise i think the information is fairly straightforward any comment from the board on those class sizes glad to see them that size yes great all right there's no further comment can i have a motion to accept item 3.5 motion by dana second by chuck all in favor that also is unanimous okay item 3.6 and there's a list of new hirees are any of these employees here dr wright that we'd like to be introduced to not that i see i will if i may if it pleases the board i'd wanted to mention a couple things a couple where two of our teachers are returning home they're taught here for quite a while and they went to another school that remained unnamed for a bit and they're coming home and we're really happy to have them and we have also been able to attract good teachers i think we have three positions mr grace at the elementary three or four still open three that's with that we're in the best shape we've been in since i've been here norm and this is may we would be happy to be that way in the middle of june so we've got to jump on it mr webb is fully staffed i believe and my principal hoffmeier won one position so we're well on our way and uh we're excited to have these folks join the blue ridge see that are family experienced teachers too yes that's true do you have any idea of the experience level of the teachers that are coming back years uh we're we're getting a number that have quite a bit of experience one on this list is amy schimmel she has 25 years experience and an outstanding teacher has his the others that are coming back so we welcome him home yeah uh do you think it necessary we uh go through each individual name here or it's posted all right so we have a recommendation to approve the higher of these new employees for the 21 i mean yeah 21 22 23 school year this is really wrong this is 22 23 23 school year yep we need to change that in the minutes all right so we have a motion emotion from chuck a second from margaret all in favor they're officially new hirings hey dr wright this might take a little bit of time i i i know we have scholarship night and an interest of time i'm going to cover this now be brief well that's at 5 30 right yes yes sir 29 29 minutes exactly i won't take all that 28 minutes now thank you that a couple of follow-up items the board asked one was the vaping with the we had a call the public want to know what we're doing about that principal hoffman did a thorough job of addressing that we'll continue to work on that throughout the summer these policies will be in our student handbooks that will be in our orientation beginning of the year and our objective is to enforce those as outlined if there are if there's further discussion required by the board we'll put that on a board agenda item and we're open to more guidance if the board believes there needs to be more secondly the board asked us to look at our busing operation there's one hard fact it is becoming more and more difficult to find qualified bus drivers one recommendation and the one that i have that i wish to move forward with and i'm just announcing publicly we will not be running buses to white river next year saves us two drivers and four routes effectively back and forth back and forth and so we're going to notice that to the students before the end of the school year and we'll have a note to hand to those kids coming home and we'll also put that mr pico will notice the the various media points in that community to make sure that they know well in advance the school year the tracks the tax credit report is still in progress we'll capture that and we'll present that information in june and it's it's uh the reason for that is we want to make sure it's detailed enough by program and there are a lot of programs that the tax credits are supporting the review of athletics and our and our clubs and our support groups and extracurricular activities is ongoing we're still in the middle of doing that we want to make sure that we're able to retain our head coaches at the junior high end high school for all extracurricular which would include music our stem programs and also our athletics we've made some progress but we still need more effort there and we'll have that presented to the board in the july meeting if it pleases the board we've talked about vacant vaping we have our senior scholarship night tonight in about 27 minutes the last day of school is the 19th and i believe that's an early release day principles and graduation for the class of 2022 will be at the paul morrow memorial stadium at 7 p.m at the football field and that will be followed by that same evening with lock in and the end of the year celebration i think that is about the uh four day extent yes sir oh i i skipped the 40.
one last thing i want to offer is a brief thank you i know you expected it to everyone to help us get here because we sure as heck didn't do it alone to our families who were always there to motivate and love us we thank you to our friends who made every day special and gave us a reason to get out of bed every morning we thank you to our teachers for bear bucks gave us all the resources and more needed to succeed we thank you and to our amazing staff who have created an environment of learning and dealt with our shenanigans this year we thank you and special shout out to mr goligowski mrs nakarotti mr rohram miss pacina ms civilian nueva and mrs kozad for their amazing look filling in for the principal vacancy your effort has not gone unnoticed and we thank you we thank you again for your time and i would like to introduce our next speaker the one the only the amazing principal mark kobakowski [Applause] one of our shared responsibilities at mhs is tiger pride in the time i've been at marana high school i have learned that this means more than school pride it means having the courage to try and remain committed to achieving excellence many of you this evening embody what i'm talking about you've carried on this tradition as we celebrate our 100th graduated class it is appropriate to also recognize the tigers who are here this evening if you are a marana high school graduate or ever served on the staff at mhs please stand and show your pride now that includes all you folks in blue right there you're you almost got there good job okay so graduates you are here this evening because you have demonstrated perseverance and excellence we are now expecting great things from you in the future your burden is great but we know you will impress us all so without further delay members of the board dr streeter parents and friends i am pleased to present marana high school's graduates of 2022 [Applause] i certify that they have completed the requirements for graduation as established by the arizona state board of education and the marana unified school district governing board will the graduates in the first row please pay attention to mr rohram as we get started here here we go [Music] marisol graciela acosta verdin [Music] tyler adams [Applause] ed marco aguayo [Applause] nicole yvette aguilar jacob albright caden thomas alvarez jacob alexander anda [Music] angelice talisa anderson charles jack anderson dominic anderson [Music] adam archunder christina isabella arneson isaiah arrington [Music] trinity lynn ash samantha joe atteberry [Music] aubry andrea agate jacob giovanni aventi alejandra babuca kiwi alejandro babuca kiwi persephone lizabet baez andrew kyle bailey jessica rose bailey elise baker robert alexis balderrama dakota baldwin maximilian dakota baliki baesteros peyton alexander banks nicholas berrigan aaron michael barton russell bauer woodman tate lucas beasley logan alexander beatty liam edward bergeson alexis stormy betancourt sophia nicole byer [Music] casey jordan beamer kiana bibo erika amara bickert casey john big adrian paul billy tyranny hua bird hayden miles black hall [Applause] alexia gabriella boatwright jack donetso bolton anthony manuel bonilla spencer harrison booth joshua lee baudwin [Music] colin alexander bourget everett ray bowser jessica michelle boyle carson dale bradshaw joshua isaac britton eric christopher brown jackie lee brown jr isabelle victoria bucher grace marie burrell ethan aaron kellyer reagan caldwell abby lynn callaway luis francisco cancio jr hannah ray cannell grace lee cappell [Music] jesus francisco cardenas jr cheyenne mercedes-carrige asia dominique carzoli lamar curtis castaneda samantha bell cathy zachary mccade kathy ethan clark cauley sarah leona chambers joseph mosiah chapman william edward clapper maya elon claire tanner mark clearage [Applause] megan renee clarke rafferty sundance co [Music] lisa cristo colon torres [Music] jet coda cheney grace corey [Applause] owen sheldon crandall [Applause] troy riley chrysop fox ethan lee crist kendall grace crockett jacob kimball krotz brandon lee crowl ethan chase cruz jesus alberto davila julia lynn davis trent aaron davis tyler jackson davis eduardo asher de la torre elaine faith delisle isabella rose delvinery austin michael demerit [Music] alice may denton john michael destefano joseph adam diaz jr joshua raymond diaz kyle nathan dickerson zanetta letty desang talon maddox dong spencer keith dotson madison betty doyle ian elijah duke tristan and duron aaron christopher dusick [Music] kanye jamil eaton charles chicadonaka evanoa [Applause] kylie ann eckles daniel joseph edwards daniel mark eller gabriella natale elias brandon james enos patricia marie espinoza benjamin hayden evans megan nicole fabian bianca gabriela felix cameron lee fernandez rihanna nicole fjordstock arturo fieros marisol elisa figueroa [Music] colton james fincher luke dominic fleming [Music] corbin porter flood [Music] christian flores marcus abram flores [Music] mason riley flores brian israel flores hernandez sierra leslie lynn flowers alexis antonia franco cameron ainsley franco jordan carl frolic [Music] hunter john gallardo andrew guadalupe gamez jr jacob dylan gardner simeon flowers [Applause] andrew william gah melissa alejandra gil martinez cason nicholas giordano abe herschel goldstein [Music] isabel gomez cameron alexander good to meessa hosanna gordima jordan jessica gracia wallace joseph graf wesley james graham [Music] chloe and greene [Music] roxy green ashanti michelle griffin [Applause] jocelyn marie gutierrez angelica ruby gutierrez ruiz ivana dominique guzman alvarez malcolm lee hadley griffin [Applause] ariel marcela hoffman [Music] rachel and hollick stacia annette hamilton finley hannah shelby lynn hardy hannah hartzell hunter hasbreck javier daniel hatflick [Applause] bradley james hayes adam lee heath [Music] brenna nicole hefflin christopher lee weldon heim allison herr [Music] garrett derry herring jr abriana danae hernandez rylan michael herrick hunter blake heskin [Applause] karlene marie hessen julius jordan hinkle james charlie hodgins juliana marie hoy justin anthony holt cassandra lynn hooton matthew summers howell [Music] lucas ryan hoyt [Music] austin raymie hubbard evan christopher hubbard caleb riley hubble phoenix lance irwin donna k ives abigail lee ivy frederick floyd james [Music] nicholas victor jankowski jimmy david jenkins jr [Applause] sierra paige jenkins lauren elizabeth gerald zoe elizabeth jett sanaya keana jordan samantha elena caterly james edward kellogg davina estrella kerr [Music] stephen neffy kesterson [Music] michael charles kiefer carly ray kingston brooke kayleen kirkland haley elizabeth kishba tanner j knipple jacob kosty [Music] sarah kyle julianne law [Music] emma ann lafferty jacob isaiah lander ollie larkin smith christina lyanna larson [Music] samantha marie larson nathan carl larson [Music] adele b lawman landon lee lawler dominic alexander lachey colin edwin lee dylan andrew lee viviana elise lee adriana yvonne lyden frost lorena lentz rayna marie leonard christopher joseph lewallen adam youssef louis foxy joral jonathan kent laba owen carter litz josephine brook livingston [Music] catherine joan livingston [Music] dylan giovanni liszaraga zachary gordon logan ethan dean longacre tristan hunter lopez brent anthony lord vernon alonso laurie the third eleanor josephine lozano emma lynch kayla lynch audrey janelle macias julie nicole macias lillian elizabeth malbon madeleine sarah manky reina mia hernandez menkel connor leone wayne marsh adriana isabella martinez josiah jeremy martinez juan augustine martinez jaden dale maddie abigail lee maver owen samuel mcadams constance melody mcallister [Music] alec mason mcclure leslie marie mccracken m katherine mcdaniel catherine rose mcgarry gannon charles mckinney [Music] [Applause] ismail medina anthony jesus mendoza roman nicholas menzel kalia jane mercurio justice mendessa minguni marlette aislin molina grant michael montague caitlyn marisol montano henry john montoya jr gregory adam moore logan christopher moore david estevan mora alexandria sage morgan benjamin ryan morgan braden alexander morgan [Applause] [Music] cadence james morgan caleb michael morish jason marie motes jedediah steven moats logan blake motts [Applause] luke william moyle ayodan sage menoyan peterson [Music] rachel marie murray brennan william nadler jake robert nelson isabel nesbitt jenny v newen jillian paige nguyen elijah yvonne nogales alyssa gabe gabrielle norris ty matthew north jamison thomas o'connell hayley anna oldham cruz antonio olaves charlie shane olson destiny maria ornelas luis eduardo ornelas soto aiden gilbert orepesa richard adam owens daniel ivan pacheco [Music] mia inespares michelle parkhurst [Music] daniel christopher parrish benjamin arthur perry connor carl parton dominic james passion reagan elizabeth pate sarah ann pattengale taylor gene patterson isaac mariadoc paul nikolai peregrine paul christopher jayden penny david hunter pepper owen keith pepper [Music] dale perez [Music] joshua jacob perez taylor [Music] connor larry pierce melissa pino jimenez liliana elise pizzuto madison elizabeth [Music] pizzuto genesis plaza [Music] aiden daniel prall [Applause] shea thomas prall adrian nequatch [Music] emma lynn quackenbush riley joseph quesada tyler kibel selena selena reyna quijada james quinn marcus nathaniel quintero rain lillian radke trenton marcus ramey [Music] azaria marisol ramirez [Music] matthew joseph ramirez rachel victoria ramirez gage russ rasmussen caleb price raymond genevieve leilani redmond isabella marie marietta rechemir [Music] ethan richard remington genesis juliusa rosendies [Applause] caroline light richards paris sherry richards ashton michael richardson jaden daniel robertson andres ivan robledo angelina del carmen rodriguez [Music] daniel rodriguez estrella marie rodriguez candace rose rodriguez [Music] spencer gene thomas rollins [Music] nathan joseph romero renee alejandro rosales [Music] arcelli joey rosas jerome rosas asia marie rosetti [Music] emma gene rozelle [Music] tommy jeffrey rudel daniel abraham ruiz ahani flores braxton renee zach [Music] caleb hunter sells salcido christian carl del carmen santos nissiana elizabeth santos brooke alexandra sarapo jayden james shaffer [Music] jacob shablock mackenzie elizabeth michelle shane [Music] jackson tyler scoggin maddox shay scoopin [Applause] stephanie patricia serrano [Music] devin jeffrey sharp amber irene chago [Music] jada aaron shepard [Music] elizabeth mary shields [Music] jacob robert shirley [Music] aaron lauren chauvin madison haley silvas cody eliza slaughter hunter michael smith jennifer marie smith cameron antoinette smith abigail katie solomon jasper boyd wenbu sorensen piper gene sorensen today today doe soto renee joseph sotomayor iii brianna giselle sosa amman marcelo squires ronan tiemann stahl samara nicole sterner taysom walker stolworthy [Music] jensen whitney stone colton dominic zwick ella talucci ryan taoka [Applause] catherine joy testerman jacob ethan size angelina taylor thomas [Music] michaela analia thomas tracia thompson [Music] lauren emily tidwell [Music] christina on tutsi [Music] only kong tran trimble r.j trujillo [Applause] [Music] gabriel kenzo daniel turpin president jeffrey um [Applause] [Music] is liliana jade valenzuela nikolai van desande jaden alyssa velasco chase arturo velazquez alexis christina verdugo william frederick verdugo leila marie ren natalia sofia villanella madison peyton wagner adriana sophia walburn [Applause] [Music] sebastian iran walden stephen alexander walden [Applause] bailey and walker faith marie walker cheyenne alisa washburn kevin joseph watson donna jewell webster audrey shea winterberg [Applause] finn werner dominic evan wheat lana skye wibble house crystal marie welder [Music] andrew j williamson anthony edward wilson dominic gavin wilson [Music] seth zachary windham [Applause] grace lilly winters [Music] chloe danielle winterton harley cooper wolford [Applause] jayden timothy wolski kaylee danielle janis clayton andrew young william alexander ziamba [Applause] [Music] um uh [Music] uh thank you was just [Music] who's ready everybody loves hobbies oh my gosh is oh we should start singing all right here we go as soon as he hits his seat [Music] you guys are awesome thank you um if we haven't had the privilege of meeting my name is javier hatlovic i've been the president for the class of 2022 since freshman year what this class has taught me is that life is more about the experience and more about the moment how i see you guys being in the moment makes me realize that that's what life is all about it's not about what you have or the friends you hang out with but the memories that are created i remember being a freshman or like my pastor would say fresh meat i would see students running for their lives during tardy sweeps and being freaked out as i see teachers locking their doors being in high school was an adventure for sure because it was one that we all share together each graduate sitting here has their own unique mhs experiences miranda's the starting place for us it is a soul that started our growth we share roots and now we get to grow in our own directions we got to experience a lot of new things like how some of us were learning a new instrument learning and practicing skills in sports and even growing us as a person by volunteering for our community even though we gained and lost friends it may have passed and failed us it made us the people we are today strong smart and a bold class i don't think we're the 100th graduating class at mourinho high school by coincidence we have proven that we are more than a class that goes with emotion we fight for what we believe in we hold on to what is true and we are not scared to be who we are this is why i'm so blessed and honored to be to have been your class president for four years the ripple effect in my life that you had on me is something i'll forever be grateful for i wanted to write this speech to not just talk about the fun things in high school like meeting incredible people laughing with our friends and joining sports and clubs but i wanted to encourage all of you to be you you are all such unique and amazing people with incredible passions and dreams each of us has a purpose in this world even if you can't even see it now that star in the sky doesn't know the impact it has on the universe just like we don't know are as full yet that star is shining down on us tonight and i hope our lives can shine in this world too when we think of purpose we think of the biggest impact as possible but what if your purpose in life was just love on people rather than a career or job you're more than a job you're a person that can breathe think and feel emotions that's more beautiful than you can even imagine when we go on this adventure that's called life or every parent says the real world we may feel overwhelmed or fearful but one thing i want to point out is that just because you don't fit an environment doesn't mean you're not in control of your life and destiny you get to choose the past you want to take even if no one is walking that same direction and just because everyone is going in one direction that does not mean that's the only direction everyone is going to go their separate ways after we step off this field but don't forget where your roots come from and where they were watered your roots are the foundation of your life that's how a tree stands up how a tree grips the soil when a storm comes and how a tree soaks up water even though we may forget that we're there we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our roots some roots may look like a dream personal belief and passion so don't forget who you are as a person and your dreams and the mirena tiger you are start this new season in life with confidence because look around you your miranda tiger family is here for you and forever will support you each and one of you has a purpose in this world that's so unique and so influential to this world by even knowing it so fight for it strive for it and continue to be the person that you want to become this is why we're the 100th graduating class because we overcame some of crazy events but we kept going we kept going if we had a year of zoom we kept going when days felt long we kept going when the world stopped the world is so unpredictable and will stay unpredictable but if you stay rooted to a foundation that cannot be moved you can only stay true to yourself and the people around you if you're rooted in something that encourages you loves you and celebrates with you like what god did to me you can achieve anything so stay rooted in a foundation that builds you and doesn't destroy you why build a foundation on sand when you can build it on a rock that is more stable and secure build your life on a rock that is more than what people want for you but what you want for yourself one last thing before i go is that when times get hard keep moving forward keep pressing and keep fighting for your dreams life is going to throw many obstacles and sometimes it may feel like mountains and canyons but if you stay true to yourself have a foundation that is rooting encouragement love and a healthy support system that also sharpens you you become an unstoppable force that this world desperately needs this is why god blessed me with such an incredible class and was such an incredible and support system i can't believe i'm saying goodbye but i can't wait to see who you all are becoming and how you impact and change the world goodbye my class of 22 family love you guys and again thank you for impacting my life [Applause] okay guys will the graduates graduates now please rise [Applause] and move the tassel on your caps from the right to the left [Music] please remove your caps it is my honor to present miranda high school's graduating class of 2022.
so there's a little over a 300 vote margin on the town side and it had very similar types of results on the too high adequate too low it was 674 too high 884 adequate and 199 too low well and then on the capitol it passed 1158 to 616. so that was uh over a 500 vote margin so uh um so people seem to be very comfortable with the capital spend that we put in play that they the board of finance put in play which we're a piece of it but it's uh it's a it's bigger than just the schools those are solid results um and so there's all but there's a lot of work getting certified i asked them when they thought they would get it certified and they think in the next 24 to 48 business hours so i'm thinking end of this week maybe early next week because there's some challenges in it so so that's kind of an update on how the vote i'm happy and confident and uh john i think we do need to do the uh uh deal with the non-renewal letters and get those kind of uh you know back on play but i think you need to wait until we have the formal certified we're ready to in hr we're ready to go we're waiting on the certification yeah and i think then it's an easy thing to go we want to get that information to our teachers as quickly as possible yep i think that's right so and i'm very confident that this will this will hold up this one so uh rosa anything you'd like to add no i think um you know i think you're right i think we had a really smooth another smooth budget season and i think that was because you know the process that we put into place in the finance committee it's very in-depth it's very time consuming but it pays off because it really gave the board of finance and the board of selectmen just the answers to the questions that they didn't even know they had to ask you know sort of things so i think um you know i think we did we did a lot of hard work and i think it was um it's something that is it's becoming part of our practice now and that's that's really good to see and i'll just finish by thanking the public who came to vote right that's always important to vote on these referendums because they are what give us the funding to run the schools well and uh i think we have a really good budget i think we're all we were all pretty proud of the budget we brought forward so do we have the results on the kids vote i don't know actually can you look those up there was a problem with that election there was some confusion as to where it would be oh they sent the first to the actual polling place which they can't be there and they sent them to the cafeteria so it was a little confusing and a lot of kids didn't get a chance to vote one of the parents was going to see if they could have another one oh okay good activity very good the kids are very excited the kids were excited yeah so okay so that's it on the budget estimate unless anybody else has any comments okay um next up would have been public comment but we had nobody sign up so we'll uh that would skip by that one and we'll go to the candlewood lake elementary school building project all right um i have a couple of just updates for you guys and then um we went on a tour of the new school a lot of most of the board members did and it was really exciting so i'd like to give everybody an opportunity to sort of share like their highlights because it was um it was really exciting but as sort of like the nitty gritty business of the new school as we saw windows are in in many of the areas one of the biggest takeaways i would say is the amount of light that just pours into the building was really really impressive i think you can see outside from almost every angle any place you're standing in the building we did see some classrooms were fully sheet rocked so we're really starting to see you know what the classrooms are going to look like we are still on track for a december sort of soft opening when the kids and teachers move in in december there will be some interior work that's still going on mostly just finishing type stuff nothing major construction going on and then we're still on track for the remainder opening that july in exciting news the last piece of constructional steel was placed last friday so the building is structurally complete and now they're just going to start working inward so so that's really cool brick work on the exterior starting in june the ff ffe so furniture fixtures and equipment all of that is in procurement and pretty soon um dr burl i think you're going to be selecting playground equipment right so um yeah so that's exciting dr p and i are going to try it out we're going to go down the slides and like i said the adjustable basketball hoops are key from ten foot to eight foot as long as i can dunk over a fifth grader we're good um and then the other thing that we we heard was um so sculptures are gonna be going in throughout the building um the same artist that did the horses at town park or the town hall and they will coincide with the theme so each neighborhood within the school has a theme so there is forest and rainforest so first grade is i think forest i actually don't want to commit to the grade levels but we'll do there's forest and rainforest oceans and reef grasslands and tundra so each of the sculptures within those neighborhoods are going to coincide with those themes so it's going to really tie in and just be a beautiful space so those systems with ecosystems so it's it's going to be very very exciting so um so yeah so that that's my big takeaway in some of the business and then you know you guys are more than welcome to share because it was very very cool to walk through the highlight for me was walking into one of the sheetrock areas and dr p was standing next to me and i've never seen anyone so excited about sheetrock he's like sheetrock the amount of outdoor space was great um great opportunities for an outdoor classroom it's very exciting the uh i will comment that the big indoor spaces were big i mean uh that i if those of you have been remember the huckle the huckleberry gym those of you in huckleberry have seen the gym i think the gym at the school is two to two and a half times the size right it can it can run multiple cross you know the width of the court types of things the library is two floors and when you put them together it will be uh you know a uh magnificent library uh and it's open right you know you got a lot of light going in and uh the cafeterias are nice and and they showed us how they have a smaller cafeteria for the younger kids which is fun so it's it's it's going to be really nice space yeah the uh the the energy efficiency of the classrooms the um i forgot what they call it was covered with the blue chill there the children beams the chill beam uh i thought that was that was pretty cool so the energy efficient how energy efficient the building's gonna be and how they pump fresh air in i thought was pretty cool i was really impressed with um the multi-purpose rooms and the shared spaces i know when we were looking at the floor plans we said that it was very important to have you know spaces for collaboration and team building and and group work but when you walk through it you really see where those spaces are allocated at the end of communities so i thought that was really impressive it's exciting i did i did have kind of a concern with all the like possible extra materials that there's no basement i was i found that kind of i was like there's no basement that's kind of interesting so like when we have all the extra materials lighting fixtures like i know there is a uh that's gonna go and i know mr checko worked on that with the architects quite a bit with josh um there is is uh crawl space storage in certain areas oh there is space i'm aware of that and i think that's off to the cafeteria area off to the side where the cafeteria and the um the loading dock areas i think i think that's the area where you'd get some of that mike okay and then there was a lot of discussion not only with the with dan caldwell the custodial team but with teachers about um getting maximizing closet and other storage space not just simple storage space but we all talked about the additional cubbies that were purchased for storage in the classroom that matched additional storage cabinets for teacher storage that match the the cubbies but additionally curriculum space storage and so forth and also custodial space storage and slop sync rooms and those kind of things so um it had to go through the multiple approvals so i i think we're going to be okay i like the adjoining doors um there's pairs of classrooms and there's a door in between so yeah sister classroom is really nice oh the other pair up with one there was a security glass in the room too which i thought was for those of you who are always interested in security they told us that there's a special glass in the doors that you can see into the room straight away but the minute you start trying to look sideways through it it blocks it it actually it's the type of glass that it blocks the view which creates some uh for lockdowns for lockdown safety zones where you can't see you know you go into this corner but you can see you in the room josh said it was like a honeycomb prison it's a honeycomb of some sort of the windows and the windows yeah and the windows are all well secured which is great so and what's great to hear from everybody i wasn't able to make the make the walkthrough yesterday is i anticipated you'd be having different pieces that really resonated with you from what you saw the one thing that's an important reminder for everyone is the things we're talking about are all in the various presentations over time over the last couple of years in the design and the planning and now the construction of the building so if anyone wants to go to the new school website it's right under the border that section and you can go there and see everything the other thing and i know mr belden and i have talked about this is is and i've talked about certainly with the nbc as soon as it is safe and appropriate when we're further along in construction there will be planned opportunities for not only getting new photos and some video and drone more drone pictures and things out but making sure we can get the public in in very safe and you know efficient ways to tour the building and get a chance to look at at least pieces of it as soon as we can oh speaking of which at the mbc meeting that happened afterwards um i mentioned that we actually televise our meetings and mr checko who used to be on this board said i'm going to get you some uh some show and tell slides some updated things so we can actually show them at our next meeting so if we can if you can pull that off it would be right it'll be great so yeah so we'll keep reminding you exciting times indeed it really is so and i if by the middle of the summer we're starting to see facing on that building it'll really start looking like a building right instead of a construction site which is fun okay anything else on this topic okay so that's it there so next up is three main points um i had some more on candlelit that's why i was looking at you when i asked if there was anything else on this topic sorry dr burrell thank you so i do have a little something else you do have something else i thought you changed your mind i apologize bob there we go all right all right teachers want to come closer i heard that dennis i'm not that i'm not i'm not that old all right so we could have all the brick and mortar we want we could have a state-of-the-art school um but it starts with people at the end of the day we have to have our amazing faculty and staff um and in all of their love in that building and families sending us their beautiful children every day that we can do the greatest job for and so what's really important is i wanted to update the plan for the structural plan of leadership for canada like it so this is a literally a one slide brief presentation this evening what's really important to note is to bring everybody back especially bring the board back to november 3rd i provided an update on candlewood lake part of that was leadership structure other pieces were the delay to the supply chain with the roofing materials and on november 3rd at that time we were in iteration of the leadership structure that wasn't the original iteration of leadership structure we were working with the existing staff we had and we all know we've had certain changes in leadership a number of them and we did some introductions tonight over the last few months having said that back then we had four administrators in a design in the building with an upper school principal assistant principal and a lower school principal assistant principal that now we're going to change and we're going to move to a one principle model so it's important we're going to have one principle we're going to have the same number of administrators as we talked about in november that hasn't changed it's just we will have a little bit different structure and you're about to see that so we're going to have a one principle model are then going to have an assistant principal for grades three to five which is upstairs we will then have a lower principle system principle model grades k to two okay now the other piece that's really important is we we're going to have between at least projected right now for the start when when can uh center school joins in the fall of 23 we'll have around 1050 students in the building that's what our enrollment projection looks like right now another administrator as an assistant principal now we have a lot of options before us and going back to this original conception years ago when we talked about a one principle model is having enough uh administrators to engage with faculty and engage with families and provide enough supervision for the entire building and obviously the children and so the the this this fourth administrator position we've got a lot of options we're going to talk about and they need to talk with our cracker jack team that i introduced tonight over the next few months as to what that might look like and of course i'll bring that to the board some of the things we're considering are we going to have someone in that position who's really focused on curriculum instruction and instructional leadership are we going to have someone that's more focused on family and student engagement or might the focus be on operations of the building it is a rather large facility and so we talked about that so we're going to examine our needs and continue to work and address and even look to other schools of similar size and look at the models and see what's out there and we'll make some decisions on that it's important to note that our special education supervisor will be housed at the pre-k to five building special education supervisor along with the principal uh does the supervision of pre-k but the special education supervisor right now mrs baldwin services students pre-k to five across three buildings so you can imagine the the logistics of being present for for all the pieces the meetings the supervision the evaluations etc the connection uh it takes a lot of time with the drive and everything else so having that additional administrator our special education supervisor housed at the building really provides us with a cohesive team that is working together day in and day day out so we're really excited about that now we have dr rudel and mrs farias who we uh introduced tonight we're not they're going to be the leadership team they are going to be there with us um we're just not sure right now with a lot of roadway in front of us literally more than a year and we know what just happened over the last few months there's some changes and some things happen um they will be part of the candlewood lake team we're just not sure exactly which position they would be in but i want to make sure that everybo it's denoted that dr rudel mrs ferris will be part of that team and then we move to we anticipate that dr pepsosky will take over as the very first principal of candlewood lake elementary and i think everybody's going to be very excited so to that end what i'd like to do is actually invite dave who is what did we say dave 18 years you were you're only like three years old when you started right that's it if you would come up to the podium share a few words about an exciting opportunity and we and and both uh danielle and deb and dave we really talked about uh and with a number of the the faculty to have the chance to be the first people in a building and and create and that's what we talked about the canada lake planning team creating our tomorrow literally before our eyes is just so exciting dave want to turn the lights on so we can see you just give them a flip there would you thank you can you see me behind the podium uh as as i was driving in today it really dawned on me that this it's a once in a lifetime and when you consider all the variables it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity i mean those variables being you've got the exceptionally talented hard-working staff at center school you've got the exceptionally talented hard-working staff at huckleberry exceptionally talented hard-working fifth grade staff at wisconsin forces in this new gorgeous state-of-the-art facility i mean you think i was excited with the sheetrock wait till that thing is all together it was just amazing i must have said also you know rudolph said come on pick another adjective i said awesome probably 72 times yesterday and it really is a phenomenal structure you throw in the leadership in support of dr brill uh you throw in the amazing amazing community outpouring and support i mean brookfield's the place to be brookfield's really going to be the place to be i mean and even dr mann i'm so excited to be working with you and learning from you and the whole committee felt it uh during that interview process was oh she's awesome we need her please please uh so and and all those variables you have honestly just the premier elementary school is going to be right here in brookfield so it's so exciting and deb and danielle i mean how are you not considered the dream team when you work with devon danielle now dave we need another day maybe dean i don't know maybe he'll come aboard but just be on the moon excited thank you you are going to love candle lake elementary school we all are so thank you so much i appreciate it it is more good news this is an exciting board meeting yeah we can say that a few times that's the most exciting building update yeah right all right so what are we going to do exciting on the premium points those three exciting things yeah that's a lot of stuff um i was going to lead off with the whiskener spotlight and then go into number two would be the announcement of the new administrators and then the third being the update on candlewood lake elementary yeah okay at center this saturday may 21st is the pto spring fling from 11 to 2 with the science show at one o'clock tuesday may 31st is a community meeting and spirit day and thursday june 2nd is play day huckleberry friday may 20th is the fourth grade trip to putnam park and wednesday may 25th is the huckleberry band concert at the brookfield high school football field wisconia has a virtual author visit on thursday may 26th for all grades and on thursday june june 2nd is the wisconner art fest brookfield high has the prom this friday at the water view the senior prom next tuesday may 24th is the chorus concert and wednesday may 25th is the band concert and all schools have an early release next friday may 27th and no school monday may 30th for memorial day that's all i have thank you all right so that's it for our public session we will be moving into an executive session yeah i'll move that the board enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing the superintendent's evaluation unaffiliated salaries and contracts second thank you all for attending on tv thank you all for coming here uh but we're in this part
that's what we want to do when you get to the red it's opposite you want to get those numbers lower that means those kids are progressing and moving out of the lowest category you want your numbers in green uh obviously to get higher because you want more kids going towards the grain and moving on does that make sense it's a little confusing because you have to flip one show that there's a significant number of students that are three or more grade levels below level correct that is correct so so if we were to set some goals would it be good to make you know numbers or just say improvement how specific would you want a goal to be how specific [Music] three percent out of whatever category i think you have to remember that students are going to change over this year it's not going to be an apples to oranges right for next year when you look at that does that make sense in some ways you gotta look at it every year there's a new set of data we can see trends start to develop but it's not gonna be as easy as we're gonna get two percent of the kids we have this year increase next year because we may not it may be a whole different set of kids that we have we do have a fairly high mobility rate and kids are coming and going right the other predictor that we'll see is obviously this is done three times a year and then we're also testing the statewide testing is done annually is happening just wrapping up now so that'll be these should be predictors towards our success in that and so we use this more as interim so we're looking at how do we improve to get better to that point knowing what they they students know or or don't know to progress with instruction so we're spending a lot of time diving into each of these i ready assessments to identify where so saying all that might be better to look at the totality of the cast testing and then start setting some goals from that because this will should be a predictor of where we're going we also obviously us in districts across the nation are dealing with the whole learning loss issues so we're seeing kids come in a lot lower than they had before and so we're happy with the results but we're not resting with the results we're we're we're pushing on uh we want everyone in the green that would be my goal absolutely and when we get to winter next year we'll have had two more assessments now i can look at let's say students with an iep now i'm going to start seeing a trend okay they've taken this you know students with an iep whether it's the same exact report we know we have an issue potentially with those students because those those scores are going to stay consistently low now okay now we really need to focus on this because we've got a baseline and we know that that's that's staggering because we want to see all groups like mr lehrer said moving on moving up to green and the other the other the other thing just one more is what we're having in conversations we're also looking deeper into the data we're designing finding identifying groups that may not be achieving as well as others looking at what can we do what groups are are you know so we're not just looking at the flat number and saying oh great we're improving 20 we're looking at specifically grade levels performance within that strands within that curriculum associates does a great job of breaking the strands down so we can know is it phonemic awareness for our little guys oak hill for example we had a great conversation with them they've identified key areas that they're working on in grade levels specific to all of let's say second grade who's needing some extra help with phonemic awareness so it dives really really deep so just to clarify something about the the data on the five laps reported um when it's saying things like percent of grade level or you know percent of school percent of gender it's not actually the percent of that grade levels percent of the students in that grade level who took the i ready assessment correct so it's not representative of like 11th grade here isn't representative of correct all the 11th grade only the subset of the love of grace that's correct okay it's only to give you ticket credit but the high school level again is especially given to the senior level of many of those kids in the math they're not taking the test they don't have a math class there is no we're we can't put an intervention in now it's you know right for the school year okay so actually that means the numbers are a little bit likely a little bit more positive than they look here correct so that's good to keep in mind thank you yeah you included all your ap honors but that's not what the purpose of this test is right and what we'll do and we would welcome input but this is our first time coming back to you with this with this set of data i'm going to be real clear we're still learning we have we have access to a ton of different data now so one of the things we plan to do is come back to you routinely so you all can see the progress that we're making and we'll hopefully we'll get to a point we can standardize the reports so you'll you'll be looking at the same thing because i think like tonight we're spending time learning the reports you know so what i'm thinking is we probably should have done a better job prior to this mr jordan we could have shown a sample report so always the teacher and us trying to make it as good as we can or as great as we can so what we can do is we come back to the next round we'll be able to you'll start seeing the same report so it'll it'll make sense plus the completion rating is a big deal if we don't have high participation the data is all wonky when you start comparing it so the five labs data to start off is sorry it's wonky for lack of a better cool data term so anyway so so you're going to keep seeing this is not going to be one thing it will probably see this more than we even see our cast stuff because this is frequent and we're using it we have teachers right now in the classroom who know how all their kids are doing they're asking us how can we see it and how do we get more because it's driving instruction nice i can assemble one moment um i can assume that part of the learning gap is due to the epidemic and the learning loss associated with that correct i would say absolutely right and i'm not going to say that everything was perfect before the pancake that's not true either but right certainly it can't have played a role absolutely and how are we capturing um the students that have the learning loss specifically now we're getting baselines where our key is and then we're gonna have to keep looking at kidney kid kids inside the district where are they going and that you're not gonna necessarily see it on these two reports so you have to dig deeper into that data to look at those specific arrays a good example would be we're not saying scott and carol are are impacted by learnless we're looking at all students who are not performing where we're on grade level and then we're targeting you guys approve multiple intervention teachers and aides that will be helping we have some great people doing some great things our title one programs they are really targeting some of our students that need some of the most help so that's how we're getting it learning us through good first teaching in the classroom because our teacher's doing a remarkable job but our intervention and support folks are doing a really good job through the data identifying because their reports can pull up by name you can pull it up and be like mr bruno we know he's having great struggles with this and so is mr lair so we're going to group them in something to help eliminate that so my phonemic awareness one we might have three of us in this room out of a classroom who are struggling with our title one or our intervention support will come in and work with those students and we're seeing some really positive success with that the little guys and things like that we're seeing oh they're they're like little sponges you start feeding them information and working with them and teaching them it's remarkable and then as those kids take this they can track those individual kids you're just these two reports so these are the big broad strokes you're not going to be able to see that level i can bring that if absolutely um in regards to absenteeism if the student misses a test do they go back and take the test well the best we are able yes now if a kid's gone for weeks on the end obviously at some point we're gonna shut the window because that's that that's what got us in in the the second window was covent so we had a lot of kids that were out and it was hard seth worked really hard to get those students re-put in but it takes some time out because it's just amazing who would do it they'd pull kids separately and try to get them to take the test just to get those completion rates up because we saw the value in getting more data on more kids in there because we're using it we still have the high school measurement program where they go down and create applicants imagery no we had i don't know we just have teacher 2000 and then um with that's been gone for a little bit but then also we uh have done some e.l tutoring where we took our blt our el some of our students who see multiple languages will go down and work with el students that were younger we had to stop because of covenant we couldn't intermix but that's something we certainly will bring back and we're looking at how do we expand that to other strategies especially right now we have some great kids that know a lot about math and here you know teaching okay trustee kelly you wanted to say or ask something i i can't understand a word anyone is saying at all i think i heard my name so um you were you were trying to say something or asked something a moment ago yeah so scott had mentioned that the schools have self-identified some metrics and i think those would be really useful for us to see those i apologize this has already been said and that's kind of just being redundant but yeah it would be really useful to see what those metrics are that they've identified and then see what the progression is so sorry that was really about did you hear that so one of the things you know since the census will outline for each of our schools el capitals and sibsibles will outline those key areas of their votes okay do you say that the lcap will will show those metrics so lcap will do the broader district goals and progress as a whole but school sipsas their single school plans for student achievement they outline and diagram all their goals around those areas thank you very much [Laughter] okay moving right along we have uh committee updates facilities update with richard good putnam good evening everybody um so we are coming to the end of the year uh facilities department is helping the various school sites with any help that they need for graduation needs and then some of the bigger items that we have going right now is we've started field renovation at uh wilson c riles on the artwork field um everything has been scraped we'll be starting the next process and then sometime next week we will start a high receiving process and then we'll have that field up and running in the fall for the students at rise and then also rise upgrade in both the mp and the gym doing at so we'll go from the old fluorescent lighting in there and we're upgrading that to led lighting and then we will also be at center high school i'm creating the lighting in the library to do led lighting and that is what we have right now what's going on over here there's a lot of a lot of activity going uh eugene has been going out the drawing area and getting some other uh aerial photos for us and clark sullivan will be the contractor it has a time-lapse camera that was being installed this week and then that will run every day through the entire process so we'll be able to see a time lapse uh when everything is completed on the site that's cool it's getting fun any questions thank you thank you thank you very much okay comments from the audience regarding items not on the agenda do we have any comments okay no comments next we have consent agenda with item 20 removed um i'm sorry procedural question do i ask promotion or do we just wait either way okay do you have a motion for the consent to judge a motion to approve the consent agenda removing item 20.
i am the daughter of dorothy johnson as some of you know for whom the local building recreation center is named and also a.d johnson jr junior college's first athletic trainer my parents migrated from the rural south in the 50s from the cotton fields of texas through the san joaquin valley and to chico chico has been traditionally two percent black another staggering statistic is that in my parents household one hundred percent of their four children went preschool through university in our hometown with degrees so we know a little bit about being disenfranchised marginalized and a minority it's been quite a journey for me i established an african inspired non-profit in 2017 to be a resource for educators outreach to youth and families our objective is to instill pride in and respect for the african diaspora which includes africa all of the americas in fact the world and black american history we do that by sharing lesser known facts about the foundational role of africa and black people to all world civilizations including this society i stand here in solidarity with senora joanna and her uh her efforts to assure well-being for all children and learning environments and communities that support that also i would like you to know i wrote a story in 2010 that was the cover story for the chico news and review called growing up black and chico i encourage you to read it i have a website amaculture.org and again um it's just it's i'm here with a lot of mixed emotions i feel i feel for these the next generation i do consider myself an elder in the community since i've been here going on a hundred years um but they there's um the struggles did not start now and they won't end now with this but um i have compassion for these young people that are stepping up and um taking a leadership role for equity thank you oh sorry i have to say this so i didn't wear this outfit for your entertainment but for your edification this uh the print here is adinkra from west africa the hat is african inspired my auntie made it and it reflects some say some the women of the zulu in southern africa and the cloth is also uh from ghana there are three over 3 000 ethnic groups on the continent of africa most people don't know that 42 americans 42 million americans are classified as african-american and we have not been educated about our great african heritage i'm available for your classrooms [Applause] the next speaker is jocelyn ahern jocelyn ahern a-h-e-r-n all right so no okay we'll move on to the next one dre e4 tray e4 the number four this one just left an email address so if that's your email address now be the time oh great [Applause] vidas is [Music] i was only 10 years old when i came to the united states i also attended rosedale at that time roosevelt did not have a double immersion program i carried a dictionary i tried to make sense of whatever words um were being said to me translated in spanish and that was my way of learning not a lot of people were there to translate for me to help me not a lot of people were there that look like me professionals [Applause] that was our last speaker in that category so we move now to the consent calendar does anyone wish to pull an item from the consent calendar so kathy let me just clarify that there's two items from the floor and we had the ones that we heard from had signed up for the initial items from the floor the other ones had signed up for the last items for the floor um i think it's at the board's discretion whether you want to hear them all now or separate them out but i would guess that we probably have some of them that are here now what do you want to do did you want to have a discussion make a motion how do you want to handle this i think that if anyone was mistaken when they signed up and would rather speak now i'd be willing to accommodate that the same okay so we have a motion and a second any discussion um i think maybe do we want to just make sure that we're clarifying that we're going to hear all speakers since our time limit is 30 minutes and we hear each speaker for three minutes do we want to just take the full number of speakers who signed up i think it's 14 when we're down to looks like 10.
if this is goodbye then it is also good luck there's no doubt in my mind that you'll make great employers bosses ceos mothers and fathers i know you've heard the rest so i won't repeat it all instead i'll end it with a quote from another billionaire philanthropist kanye west who said something that reminds me of this class i'm a star how could i not shine it's been an incredible honor to be your senior class president class of 2022 be phenomenal or be forgotten thank you so much [Applause] well done one more round of flaws for the class presidents next up singing baba yetu under the direction of miss alissa miller the discovery canyon campus high school varsity choir [Music] oh yeah um [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] me [Music] now [Music] let's walk away [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] wonderful [Applause] one more round of applause for the choir well done you guys well done next up we have our student speaker for the evening please welcome to the podium anya guitorsum almost all right there's a jar in my craft room it's nothing more than a vase for my mom's glitter but the small ceramic jar is engraved with the words happy endings when i was little i thought the happy endings jar was full of pixie dust that the sparkles within held magic so whenever my sister and i got into fights i'd secretly take some of the glitter to sprinkle on my head i thought the happy endings glitter would make everything better i had hoped that there really was magic within tiny granules of shimmer now look at us at the happy ending of our childhood we are a culmination of memories and moments from learning our abcs to sitting in alphabetical order ready to transform our lives with the movement of a tassel we are tethered to our past as we are to our future like a needle and a thread we weave between the opportunities we are given in the present with nostalgic wonder and unbreakable hope that's the meaning of this silly little life right to continue on filling our hearts with a company of new memories and relying on the undiluted grasp of love in what's to come now we're expected to go far in life as if success is a distance measured but we're not running in the same race the finish line should not consume our enjoyment of the passage of time going far in life must be entirely subjective for going far in a marathon does not make you a winner memory lane is paved by dandelion wishes and make-believe perhaps some of us will go on to make our wishes come true perhaps some of us will pursue the vibrant belief that there is good in this ever-changing world we are to become the effervescent hope of what our futures will hold they used to ask us what we wanted to be when we grew up now we've reached the brink of our youth and we're faced with the simple hope that we'll figure out how to embrace the future that awaits us maybe it's true that these are the golden years maybe the sense of permanence and possibility will never leave us all i know is that we've come too far to color within the lines and to tarnish the golden years ahead of us with the fear of failure so here's to happy endings and triumphant beginnings here's to our kindergarten hearts and our belief in magic and pixie dust we are a generation of thunderous belonging we are the remarkable miracles of who we're becoming thank you [Applause] i now have the honor of introducing a person who is extremely invested in the discovery canyon class of 2022 and we are very grateful for all the contributions and support he has extended to the discovery canyon campus community born and raised in the academy school district 20 j thomas gregory has a passion for the educational process and thrives on helping others succeed he was a classroom teacher for 11 years a school administrator for four years and completed his 14th year as the leader for the business operations at academy school district in 2019.
wow that was quite a bit wasn't it i don't mean to bring anything to a horrid backup but need i remind you that over these past four years we have experienced three different building changes we have experienced half the state on fire when it wasn't buried under copious amounts of snow we have experienced several alleged murder hornet and ufo sightings across the country and well the obvious that all of this was just a glimpse into our collective level of experiences i am certain that individually we have experienced far more now one other thing that happened over these past four years is a re-establishment of our mascot and now we are officially the village high school mountaineers and how appropriate is this given oh my gosh our new building and classrooms dedicated to various locations across colorado given our new schools location at the foot of the rockies and of course our collective values as a village family however this does beg the question what is a mountaineer now of course you're probably thinking audra a mountaineers one of those guys that climbs mountains that much we know okay but what is it about mountaineer that helps them to climb those mountains because mountaineers in my opinion are far more than just climbers first off mountaineers are courageous these individuals stare in the face of danger and they go straight through it they take it on head-on and we too have done so as mountaineers in our own respect last year in march when we were faced with schools closing and life as we know it being turned upon its head of course we wavered who didn't however we did not break we rolled with the punches and we made the best of this new normal we too are the epitome of courage along with being courageous mountaineers are relentless and resilient and strong they are tough taking on any and all work necessary to achieve their goals mountaineers will stop at nothing to watch their goals come to fruition and we of course are already driven passionate students not to brag but these qualities have only been accentuated as of late even with headline after headline reporting the newest danger in our world we carried on and we completed our work anyway even when surrounded by turmoil we took care of ourselves and we survived that is a true feat next mountaineers are curious and open-minded but they are also wise they are flexible and they take their experiences only to use them for good my friends we have done exactly that too our school was already flexible with the four day workweek hallelujah with an alternative personalized approach to education but the village has only developed that these past few years we now know how to change buildings how to change curriculums how to change our lives as they are and how to rebound from that we now know how to prepare for these changes how to cope and how to continue letting ourselves shine we now know how to come as we are and absolutely kill it may i just say more than that mountaineers are creative they are adventurous they are so much more than just climbers all of these qualities bravery resilience all of that helps them to climb and keep climbing my fellow mountaineers are we not the same given our experiences in particularly in particular pardon are we not just as brave just as strong and just as knowledgeable and admirable as other mountaineers yes we indeed are mountaineers in any and every context of the term village high school class of 2021 my mountaineer family we did it congratulations all we have made it and i could not think of a better class to be graduating here with today let's go conquer those mountains thank you and next up i would like to introduce holly white hello to the family's friends and graduates of the class of 2021 many of you know me but for those of you who don't my name is holly i am student council co-president and some might even say i'm a staff member although i never quite convinced nathan to make it official i have been at the village since i was a freshman and when i started here my world was filled with chaos i was battling crippling anxiety and i felt like no matter where i was i didn't belong i began my journey through the program completely online and as a sophomore i started going in once a week and completely fell in love with our little family from there my life only got brighter my grades went up my social circle grew i made connections with teachers and most importantly i was truly happy the village not only saved my report card but it honestly saved my life and that is something i'm going to hold with me forever our class as a whole has had the unique opportunity to have seen the village through all three buildings from the portables on pine creek's campus with no plumbing to the center for modern learnings surrounded by other school programs and finally to our very own three-story building that is now our home and that truly is what the village has become for so many of us it's become home never in my life would i think i would wake up and be excited to go to school but here we are welcomed every morning with grace's smiles jeff's fist bumps and evie lindsey's hugs not only is our school unique socially but also academically i can't think of any other school that will teach you how to be a beekeeper start an etsy business and even how to survive in the great outdoors the village was also able to teach us things immeasurable on paper like time management and how to advocate for what we want from our education and from what we want in our lives through the years we've made new friends and welcome back old ones we've made relationships not only with our peers but with our staff as well through all of the obstacles we've faced we have always had an army of supporters behind us and boy have there been some obstacles i mean we did live through 2020 after all one word is brought to mind when i hear the class of 2021 perseverance nothing could take down this class not a failed test not a snow and not even a global pandemic that took most of our senior year when the odds were stacked against us we pushed through and came out the other side as they say when one door closes another door opens and as the class of 2021 sits here today we are closing the door of adolescence this is the door of innocence of field trips of cafeteria pizza of many memories that will be missed but this is also the door of sat tests missed buses scraped knees and countless mistakes which may not be so bad leaving behind as we open this new door full of unknowns we are stepping into independence an endless opportunity the future we are beginning to build at this moment is completely up to us let's all remember that those we see as leaders as heroes and as inspiration started as average people those just like you and me and just know that greatness is always in our reach and it is what we do to work towards success that will be remembered forever and all that said i will leave my time at the village with a quote by a.a milne that embodies my last four years how lucky i am to have something that's saying makes saying goodbye so hard congratulations once again to the class of 2021.
thank you at this time i'd like to introduce the members of the academy district 20 board of education the members of the academy district 20 leadership cabinet are student speakers and vocalists and our head faculty heralds who are joining us on stage today dignitaries please stand and be recognized miss karen reynolds president board of education mr doug lumberg vice president board of education mr tom lavallee treasurer board of education mr will tembe director board of education ms heather cloninger director board of education mr j thomas gregory superintendent [Applause] dr jim smith assistant superintendent for administrative services and my boss jessica locke class president 2017-18 mia dancer class president 2018-19 sarah gallego class president 2019-20 and daniella van der marva class president 2021 doctor janelle watkins faculty herald mr sean mitchell faculty harold sria vijay senior student address kaden ford senior student address elia muncie senior vocalist also i want to recognize the two members of the administrative team helping out with to the ceremony today mr ron sukel assistant principal athletic director and ms karina biermann assistant principal thank you it's a long-standing tradition at discovery canyon campus high school to recognize the top 10 students in their graduating class these 10 students have deter i've earned the top 10 cumulative grade point averages while at discovery canyon when i call your name please stand remain standing and be recognized for your outstanding academic performance in alphabetical order the top ten cali blase christina chang luke jesuits [Applause] kalyan comceti arthur nice patrick orlowski christian thomas [Applause] shrea vijay [Applause] jacob vollmer [Applause] and kieran joachim congratulations job well done one of the great you may be seated one of the great things about discovery campus is we offer a pre-k-12 program and the opportunities for families to have their children do the entire pre-k 12 experience at the school this is the third year we have graduates who have been at dccc from kindergarten through 12th grade if you are a student who did all your schooling kindergarten through 12th grade at discovery canyon elementary middle and high please stand and be recognized [Applause] senior choir members if you are singing today please make your way up to my right to be in place for your performance after the class president's speeches our ceremony continues with addresses from the past and present class presidents of the class of 2021 come on up if there was a book written about the class of 2021 we think that it would be called the road not recommended yet followed by many and it would go a little something like this chapter one on our first day of high school we learned the value of a dollar from coach mitchell we learned how to navigate a mosh pit within our first week in a cloud of color and by our first thor wars we learned that maybe just maybe school spirit can be cool we learned to walk on the right side of the hallway and some of us learned to not stop in the middle during passing period we did a lot of learning in our first chapter because we were thrown into the unknown chapter two developing super powers ah yes this was the year guys this was the year for us this was the year where we really bled blue we won our first and only thor wars by a landslide shout out to the class of 22 for that interception pass during powder puff couldn't have won that one without you personal projects were so innovative and absolutely creative our athletics were monstrous and dominating our divisions and not only that but this was the year where we were going to buckle down meaning literally or medic foreign whether that was getting our driver's license and shouting hey you guys need a ride across the classroom with our brand new cars parked in the school parking lot or deciding if ap or ib was really the moves for next year this was the year where we developed our superpower of procrastination and our superhero catch phrases seniors in the back or my personal favorite pools closed chapter 3 junior year a year defined by its twists and turns we started on top of the world we were 100 about to win thor wars even with cruz we weren't even that upset when we didn't or at least not that upset junior year was the year for new beginnings for the first time we weren't solely defined by our grade levels now we were part of dp ap honors and all going our separate ways junior year was the beginning of defining our high school experience and deciding where we wanted to take it our teachers were becoming friends instead of rule makers we were beginning to ask why and how to everything around us we were taking coats a bit too seriously and waiting in mile long lines for chick-fil-a during lunch and we were just enjoying all the freedoms we could take then the new year came and our movie changed from coming of age to dystopian thriller it's easy to complain about everything we lost but that would make a fairly depressing speech so instead here's what we learned we learned the importance of friends and unmuted in our mics we tested our teachers technology skills and our ability to accomplish assignments without a constant reminder miss carpenter miss carpenter read us a scarily relevant book proms were held in basements and we all learned how to bake and watch movies over face time we fell and we stumbled but one thing we truly learned over junior year is that we are unstoppable and we are strong chapter four a wish for bad luck we wished for high school musical and ended up with five feet apart senior year was the surreal place in which you laid in bed to go to school instead of staying in bed to skip school friends helped us to smile even though we were all so far apart it was a year where you forgot what your classmates sounded like or even looked like you might be looking around at our class right now and saying hey you still go here compassion helped us to connect make friends with people we never thought we would have before from now on we will not delay opportunities we will not wait for them to get closer so there is a safe distance to jump because we've waited long enough our book is not finished and it will not be placed in the back of the bookshelf senior year might have wished us bad luck but i think it's safe to say that whatever life throws at us in these next few years we can conquer any obstacle because we are the class of 2021.