001such a crowd in here we're not used to that and right now we need to have call to order roll call president Michael Flores vice president Linda Heath here governing member Chris Gillespie here governing member George Arradondo here governing member Victoria Quintero here we have quorum now would you please stand and we will do the pledge of allegiance now do I hear a motion to approve the agenda so moved All right, so it was moved by Mr. Arradondo, seconded by Mrs. Gillespie. All those in favor? Yes. Now we need to do the principal's update, starting with Dr. Ferguson. Hey, watch out. I couldn't see the light right. So good evening. Just wanted to share some things. I don't want to share too, too much because if you can see. The rest of this space is
002taken up by lovely high school students, so you're going to be hearing a lot about our campus this evening. Yes, wonderful. So, you know, our students took benchmarks in January, saw a lot of growth. Teachers are already analyzing, assessing that data, making plans so that we can push through quarter three and really get them ready for when they come back from spring break and hit those state tests hard. So hopefully all that will... Be spectacular news for you here coming up. Winter sports are closing out. We have a couple of groups in postseason. I know boys basketball has their first postseason game tonight. We've got three. The wrestlers for the women's side already made it to state, so they will be competing. And then I believe boys sectionals is this weekend to see who makes
003it for state for boys wrestling. So they finished out pretty well so far and hopefully still rocking. And then the only other thing, just some things coming up. We have Not My Kid parent presentation next Wednesday, our Black History Celebration next Thursday, and then Mr. Bear the following Thursday after that. So it should be a fun, fun February. Thank you. Public participation. No. Good. Then it's not a problem. Mr. Chapman. Hi. Good evening, Governor Board members. I know we're... Got a packed room, so I'll be as brief as possible. I'm still proud to report that we're continuing to make small strides in both CVA and CAP and moving in the right direction. So far, we've had 508 classes passed at CAP, and 470 of those classes have been core classes. And we also had five
004early grads that month, which brings our total of early grads at CAP at 10. So we've had 10 early grads so far this year, which we're very proud of. At CVA, our teacher, Michaela Kidd, is continuing to do an excellent job working with those students, and we're starting to see some small growth with CVA. So we made the decision to make a shift with a classified position from CAP over to CVA to kind of help more on that side, and that didn't impact our budget at all. and we think that that's gonna be very helpful for her and for us and our students. And lastly, at CVA with our classes passed, we've passed 394 classes so far at CVA and 365 of those classes are core classes. We had three early grads at CVA, which
005brings our total to eight. So overall, between both campuses, we've had 18 early graduates that we're very proud of, both Mr. Gonzalez and myself, as well as all of our teachers. Thank you. That is wonderful. Thank you. Now, Mrs. Dix, Dr. Dix, pardon me. So the junior high is having a fabulous February as well and I would have to piggyback on what Dr. Ferguson said about the benchmark assessment data. We used some time on our PD Friday this last week to dig into that benchmark data and had all the teachers create plans for how they were going to address deficits and gaps that we noticed in those assessment outcomes so that. All the teachers have a plan for what they're doing between now and AASA and AZ PSY. So we're going to put those in
006place and move forward. So some of the exciting things that we have going on I don't know if you noticed it or not in the college examiner but we had two students Brayla Snelling and Myra Valenzuela who are actually they are going to the National Middle School Honor Choir in New York in July which was very exciting. These two young ladies came in early. They worked with Mr. Stewart and practiced and they auditioned and they were very successful in that and got onto the honor choir. So it's an exciting. time for them. Speaking of the choir, if you want to come hear them, they are performing tomorrow night at 6 o'clock in the pack. So those ladies usually have some solos, but the entire choir has just been working really hard, so it would be
007a good time to be had by all. If that's not your speed, you can come to the dance. We've got a junior high dance going on tomorrow, 5 to 7. The king and queen of kindness will be crowned. So the kids took time during advisory to vote on that last week and this week. I do know who the winners are but I will not share. So we have our very first ag field trip that is coming up. So our ag classes, that's a new class for us this week. They've been focusing in on large, more exotic animals, and so they are going to the Phoenix Zoo this next week. So 190 kids are heading out to go and take that field trip. We will see how many of them come back with their permission slips
008signed and all of that, but that's our goal to get as many of them as possible out to go and see. in real life what they've been studying in their class. Speaking of like AG and FFA, we have students that are qualified for state. So they're actually gonna be going down to Tuesday or to Tucson this coming Friday and Saturday. They're not staying overnight. They're gonna travel down and back each day, but they're gonna go and compete. So you can see their stats and hopefully winning stats on our Facebook page. So I'll post that as soon as I get all that from Mrs. Coates. The last thing I'd like to share, and I know it's a lot, but this one is really exciting. Our Hulu River Indian Community Youth of the Year Banquet is coming
009up on February 21st. And we have a finalist who is actually going to be giving a speech at that banquet and finding out if she wins or not. And that is Kiera Kewen Yama. And so just really proud of her. She had to work really hard at that. And so she's going to go and give her speech and then wait with bated breath with the other. finalists as well and so Mr. Gonzalez and I are going to be attending that on a Saturday evening to go celebrate this student and her hard work. So those are the fabulous things at the junior high. Thank you. Thank you. That's wonderful. Mr. Bruno. Since our last governing board meeting some of the big happenings at Heartland on January 21st we had our awards assembly and as I mentioned
010previously in the year we split them up instead of trying to get. really ambitious and back to back and so the parents understood and were really happy that we were able to have that. And we had Rory, our mascot, make a big appearance and so he was really happy to high five all 500 plus students as they went through the door. So he's making a lot of appearances. throughout our campus now this second semester. On the 22nd, we had SRP on our campus with our fifth grade students and was talking to them and teaching them about different renewable energy resources and they brought in the energy bike where students were able to power the light bulb on the electronic kind of chart that went up and there's a couple of fifth graders that we left
011on the bike for a while just to get some of that energy out and we would let that light bulb get really bright for some of those kids in the morning. On the 28th, we had our science and STEM night. It was a... a huge success we had over 120 students and family members show up in our library Miss Hodge was there, unfortunately. She was there two minutes after it started, and I think she was the 40th person in line. But it was a great success. We had a lot of stations set up in the library and the hallways, and the students had a great time learning. It was a Valentine's theme, so they made circuit card hearts and did a family shopping trip. So different little things for STEM. They got to play with
012robots and build them and do some engineering tasks, so it was a great event. Our fifth graders are going to visiting Biosphere 2 today and then the other half are going tomorrow. A lot of great feedback from the teachers and the students today the ones that came back half of them the students really got to learn what humidity is like once you're inside there and there is a different sensation for some of them who have been in Arizona their whole life and have never left this dry desert climate so they got to learn about that ecosystem. Tomorrow we'll be having our third through fifth grade Valentine's dance after school. If you're Looking for something cuter at 8.30, we're having the K-2 dance in the gymnasium. Separating them out so we can get all the wiggles
013and all the runs out in the morning. So if you want to see a lot of happy kids dressed up because we're doing our spirit week, so tomorrow's Dressed to Impress. And you'll see a lot of kids trip over their dresses and tuxedos tomorrow. And lastly, we'd like to invite you all to our Dr. Seuss Family Literacy Night coming up on the 25th. That'll also be in our library from 5 to 6 p.m. Thank you. Mrs. Ferguson. OK. So at West kind of to echo some of the other principals we completed our performance matters testing for third through fifth grade in all of our grades their strongest strongest growth was an ELA. So we were really excited to see that because we've kind of been focusing on that. We saw growth in math as well.
014We saw growth across the board in everything but our strongest growth was an ELA. So we were really excited to see that. And teachers are kind of like I think Dr. Dick said planning to adjust instruction from now until testing to really make sure that they're hitting those things that students need a little bit extra support on from now until we test in March and April. Our culture night last week was a good six or two weeks ago sorry was a big success. We had. multiple food trucks out there and we had every grade level every class did a different project a different culture. Students kind of brought some of their own food or they made their own presentations some made artifacts. One class did grease and they each student made an artifact. So they
015had some really amazing things that they came up with and so it was a really great turnout and we're excited to continue to host that night. And then we would like to invite you to our third annual West of all. It's our carnival on February 26th from 430. to 730 we will have games and food trucks and bounce houses and the inflatable obstacle course. I know some of you have been waiting for that so we hope that you are able to come and participate this year in that. Thank you. And you might as well just stay right there because we're going to do the governing board outstanding character awards. I would like to call up Miss Annalise Valenzuela. So Annalise was nominated by her teacher Miss Ashley Coyle her second grade teacher who is here
016with us tonight as well. And so here's what Miss Coyle had to say about Annalise. Annalise has made incredible improvements during the first half of the school year. Her focus perseverance and strong commitment to learning how to read have truly stood out. This determination is clearly reflected in her DIBELS scores which have increased by an impressive 54 points. Annalise approaches challenges with a positive attitude and is never afraid to try again. Even when learning feels difficult, she is always willing to help others and her warm, welcoming personality makes her a friend to everyone she meets. Annalise is a wonderful tiger who consistently demonstrates the Tiger Five every day. And as a bonus, she gives the very best hugs. That gives me a great pleasure to call up Heartland Ranch fourth grader, Ms. Grace Garcia. Grace
017was nominated by her fourth grade language arts teacher, Ms. Jennifer Gillespie. This is what Ms. Gillespie had to say about Grace. She said Grace is an amazing student. I have enjoyed watching as Grace has built confidence throughout the school year. She is actively engaged in learning and she participates in our class discussions does well working with her group and does very well on her independent work. In addition to her academic efforts Grace is kind respectful and funny. She gets along well with her classmates and is always willing to help out others. When she sees that there is a need. I would also like to add that Grace has shown a lot of growth this year on her performance matters benchmark tests. I am extremely proud of her performance and her hard work. I am happy
018to have the opportunity to get to know Grace and have her in my class. She makes our classroom a better place with her presence and her sweet smile. Grace Garcia. Dr. Dix. Coolest Junior High. I would like to recognize. Trey Jackson. Trey was nominated with Miss Ross his sixth through eighth grade ELA teacher and she said since moving to my second hour class Trey has shown tremendous growth he has become more focused consistently steps up to academic tasks and approaches his work with a positive attitude. Trey is respectful, well-mannered, and encourages those around him by being a positive role model in the classroom. His willingness to participate, stay on task, and support his classmates truly reflects what it means to be a Cub. We are proud of the effort and leadership that he demonstrates each
019day. Way to show up, step up, and Cub up, Trey. Mr. Chapman. Trey Jackson, that's a great name. Richard couldn't be here with us tonight, but it is with great honor that I recognize Richard Ruiz as February's Character Student of the Month. Richard transferred to CAP this year from Coolidge High School and has made an immediate impact on campus. Richard is not only kind, personable, friendly, but he's also hardworking and takes his academics very seriously. Richard is currently a senior and working diligently towards graduation. There is no doubt in my mind that he will graduate from Coolidge Unified School District, and we are all so very proud of him. So again, thank you, and help me recognize Richard Ruiz. Dr. Ferguson. CHS nominated Julian and Jaden Escalante. I know brother got pulled up to play
020with varsity this evening, so glad to have Jaden here. We are proud to recognize Julian and Jaden as our students of the month. Both students are dedicated members of the basketball team and consistently demonstrate leadership, teamwork, and school pride on and off the court. In the classroom, they are focused, hardworking, and set a positive example for their peers. They are always willing to help clean and organize areas after school events without being asked, showing responsibility and respect for their school community, their kind hearts, positive attitudes, and willingness to help others make them true role models. These students truly represent the values of our school and we are proud to honor them. I just got two extra seconds. They clean up after every game. Like it is beyond impressive to me and they don't say a
021word about it and they get the whole family involved that's standing back there here to support him and it's just phenomenal to see out of high school students and I absolutely love it. Go back over there. What are we on, Zayo? Now our governing board outstanding service awards. We're going to start with Mr. Bruno. Like to recognize for our outstanding service award for the month of January our Heartland Ranch registrar Karen Memmott. I did not expect to see Karen here when I told her that she was nominated. She turned about 50 shades red and said I'll see you there and then I was like no you're not. I know that's what I said. She is very humble and was very embarrassed about this because to her she said he was just doing her job. Karen
022was nominated by our school counselor Miss Diane Englehart and this is what Miss Englehart had to say about Karen. Ms. Engelhardt said I am proud to recognize Karen Memmott for our outstanding service award. Karen is kind caring and dedicated attendance clerk who consistently supports both staff and students here at Heartland Ranch. In her role she assists daily with essential tasks including helping me navigate power school prepare class lists and supporting outreach efforts to families regarding our attendance initiatives. Karen is always willing to step up and wherever she is needed. When the office is short staffed she covers the front desks assists with recess duty or ensures that operations continue to run smoothly. In addition to her many responsibilities Karen brings creativity and positivity to our campus by helping design Halloween costumes decorating the front office
023and sharing creative ideas that contribute to a welcoming school environment. Karen is truly an invaluable member of the Heartland Ranch community. She is dependable a go to person who consistently goes above and beyond to support everyone around her. Karen Memmott. And Mrs. Greeson. I would like to call up Miss Christina Cooper and Delicia Garcia. So Miss Christina and she loves when I call her Christina so I'm going to say Christina as much as humanly possible tonight. Christina. So these ladies are interventionists. They were nominated by Miss Sheridan and myself but we also have input from kinder first and second grade classrooms that they work with. So it's kind of from our whole West School. So this year Delicia Garcia and Christina Cooper stepped into new roles as interventionists. While this transition brought changes to their
024job titles and responsibilities both both embraced the challenge with the same enthusiasm and dedication they have consistently demonstrated throughout their many years with CUSD. They truly enjoy the work they are doing with our students and are already seeing meaningful progress and growth. Delicia has been a tremendous support to our kindergarten staff and students this year. Her work with small groups ensures that every child receives additional support when needed. Having her expertise in the classroom each day has been invaluable as she helps teachers strategize and ensures we are providing the very best reading instruction for our students. Given our diverse student population it is critical that we deliver research based instruction that closes reading gaps. And with Delicia in the room this is happening across classrooms and grade levels. We we are incredibly grateful for the
025significant impact she is making. Christina Cooper is dedicated to supporting both students and teachers. She plans engaging lessons and approaches her work with calmness and patience as she helps students strengthen their reading skills. In addition she supports teachers by encouraging positive student behavior and offering guidance and support. The second grade team shared. Thank you for all your support during reading small groups. You are always ready to step in wherever needed and you have made such a positive impact on our students. We appreciate you. Thank you Delisi and Christina for your hard work and commitment to all our Tigers. You are truly appreciated for everything you do for our students staff and school community. Go ahead Christina if you would like to give your speech. You may go ahead. It's taken me 26 years to win
026this final award and I want to thank all my students because they they got me here. On to the consent agenda. Do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. All those in favor. Yes. Yes. No instruction. Oh, this is the good part. Career and Technical Education Program Presentations. Please come on up. SPEAKER 7 Good evening Vice President Heath board members and Superintendent Hodge. The CTE programs and I are happy to be here tonight especially since February is recognized as career and technical education CTE month. CTE programs provide students with meaningful hands on learning experience that prepare them for college careers and life beyond high school. In our district we are proud to offer seven CTE programs agriculture business management culinary diesel mechanics early childhood education graphic design and sports medicine.
027Each of these programs is supported by a career and technical student organization CTSO which provides students with leadership development real world experience and opportunities for competition and growth. At Coolidge High School I have the privilege of witnessing firsthand the incredible work taking place within these programs. The dedication and personal commitment of our CTE teachers and advisers. show to their students each day does not go unnoticed. They go above and beyond to ensure students are not only academically prepared but also equipped with the technical skills professionalism and confidence needed for their future careers. As you listen to our student leaders share about their programs I am confident you will see the impact of that dedication reflected in their experiences and accomplishments. So first up we have FFA. SPEAKER 9 Good evening everyone. My name is Sophia
028Franek. I am the Green Hand president. Hi, my name is Molly Tucker and this year I am honored to serve as Coolidge FFA's chapter president. To start us off, for FFA we're going to be talking about our CDE and LDE success. CDE stands for Career Development Event and LDE stands for Leadership Development Event. Some of our highlights are two state qualifiers for CREED, our wildlife team got eighth place. individual got eighth place in job interview and we are just so proud of last year's all of our successes we are just so proud to see their growth and our CDEs and LDEs. Last year we were rated a silver rated program which is a really big win for us in FFA. That is a very competitive area if you know. So this year we're going to
029be working a little harder trying to get the gold. But last year we're proud to say that we were a silver rated chapter. Next we're going to be talking about student led opportunity student led learning opportunities. Last year our agriculture program. We just got a new room in our room. We got two rooms now. So our student learning opportunities wasn't, students weren't had as much opportunities to be able to teach their peers, but this year we are proud to say that we're growing in that aspect. And next we're talking about members competing in national nurse events. I'm proud to say that in My team in the micro tank of national event. We had two teams compete for FFA Myself and another team we are part of the five teams out of nine in this the
030semi-finalists. We got a $2,000 hydro Ponics tank to Grow our plants for our business. My business is personally Micro green micro green based dog treats and our business is called sweet green. So we're really proud of our success Last year we also had four students recognized on the state level. They were receiving their state degree, which is the second highest honor you can receive in FFA. And we also had one student receive their American degree, which is the highest honor you can receive in FFA. Also, submission of the Agri-Science Fair projects for state evaluation. Agriculture One is currently working on these projects. All throughout this year, we've been working hard and submitting all of our work and hours into AET. These projects consist of... different aspects of agriculture such as plant science. You can basically
031do anything science related and we're just really proud of all the work that our Agriculture 1 students have done. This year our goal is to return back to a gold-rated chapter. We're working really hard this year on our national chapter application. We're going through it a little bit sooner. We set goals way sooner so we can review them as we have our events and we're able to better fill them out and kind of fine-tooth comb and refine our wording so we can return back to the top eight in a gold star chapter. And we were hoping to maintain all of our CDE and LDE success. At regionals this year, we had multiple in ag sales. We have first place individual, second place individual, and third place individual. And our team got first place overall. We
032had also Floral Culture Compete, who I believe got third. We had dairy evaluation, correct? who also placed. And we're just super proud of all of our teams that competed. It's a really, it's a lot of work to be able to do that between that and school. So we're really, really proud of all the teams that competed, whether they placed individually or not. This year, as of right now, we have six students that will be receiving their state degree at the state conference in Tucson in June. And then we also have three students receiving their American degree, and they will be going to Indiana with us in October to stand on the national stage and receive that award. Okay, next we're going to be talking about our SAE 2024-2025 highlights. Last year, excuse me, we had
033our barn pretty maxed out. Personally, that's one of my favorite areas in MFA is being able to show. And so being able to see all those exhibitors really light up and shine in the show ring was so amazing to watch. We had so many successes, so many kids make it to final drive, win buckles and banners and win ribbons. And we also had a lot of kids who were able to take that knowledge and put it back into their projects for next year. This year, we also have the opportunity of students who have jobs and internships in agricultural fields. So one of our students works at Stoats. He is a Stoats employee. And myself, I am also an intern at Red Barn Livestock. It's a swine production facility. I work with farrowing swine, breaking little
034piglets, feeding them, and day-to-day chores that we do on the farm. Next partnership with Coolidge Junior High Mentorship. This year we have one student currently helping with the new agriculture class. Her name is Mia Bella Lemire. She teaches different things such as wildlife, flora cultural, flora culture. She's just teaching the Coolidge Junior High students what they're to be expected of and our goals and standards at the high school. This year, it is very new for us, but we have two small stock exhibitors that will be showcasing their chickens at the Pinal County Fair. And our 2025 and 2026 schools. This year, we also have our barn maxed out for the Pinal County Fair. We're also holding our Skousen Memorial Livestock Show a little bit earlier this year. So people come out and they work with
035the kids, showmanship, market, feeding aspects for their animal. And so we're better able to let those students kind of practice in the ring with real critiques and feed changes so they can put their best feet forward at the Pinal County Fair because that's our end goal and that's where they want to do their best. And we also have a partnership with U of A and ASU veterinary programs this year. They will be coming to our Scouts Memorial Livestock Show, and they will be taking videos of some goats, kind of assessing them and veterinary needs that they may have. And they're going to be sending those videos to different countries, and they may not have access to libraries and books to be able to treat their animals in their country. And so they're going to be
036able to gain some knowledge from the little videos that we're going to send them. Our partnership with U of A is with aquaponics hydroponics and fungi culture. U of A is graciously offering mentorship with students in the classroom. Continuously growing on our growth in the classroom especially with our new hydroponics classroom. We just got this classroom this year. It's again with the new class we got and we're just The hydroponics room we can grow. Ag three is currently growing all different types of plants in that classroom. Last year we were able to. expand our ag program a little bit on the mechanic side. We have a new mechanics program at our high school taught by Mr. Tucker and he is he teaches half a semester and Mr. Gillespie teaches half a semester and he focuses
037on all aspects of ag mechanics that maybe you wouldn't get out of the plant science course and so he teaches half a semester of agriculture mechanics. In the other half, Mr. Gillespie teaches the hydroponics facility. He teaches about plant growth, plant science, which they could also use in the different CDEs, such as floriculture. This is very important to know since this is what we eat. They are also growing such things as microgreens, and it's just a really fun part of agriculture to take. Last year. We also had the opportunity to incorporate actual real live animals into our learning instructions in all four AG classes. We had someone graciously donate a steer and AG 4 works with breaking that steer and kind of helping facilitate with the care of that animal. And we also have students
038go out. and deworm and vaccinate all animals on our campus. So they get a little bit of a takeaway of vaccinating animals, but they're also doing exhibitors a service. Piggybacking on that, expanding lab opportunities offered to students. In agriculture, it's really important for us to get hands-on work. I know personally in Ag One, we have done numerous, numerous lab, and I feel like I have personally learned a lot. Recently, we just did... We learned how to use a drill with different drill bits and things like that. We also did a lab with filtering water. I think this one was one of my favorite ones. I think it just really showed on the aspect of countries that might not be able to have clean water. And I just thought that it just gave the classroom a
039new perspective. and student-led learning opportunities. Again, with the drill lab, we, I, and other students got to teach the other students how to use the drill. I think it just give us a way to be able to talk to the people, just really build a community without the classroom. Last year and this year, we're working really hard to establish a actual alumni group within the FFA chapter. We need a lot of support, not just from our students, but from people who may have been past FFA members or community members. We need a lot of support just throughout our chapter, people that we can go to with questions and who are more than happy to support us at events like our barbecue, our banquet, and anything else we may have during the year. expanding our 2025-2026
040goals. We are hoping to expand our plant production for the 2026-2027 school year. This can look like having more students be involved with the hydroponics room, having different SAEs with growing plants at the school. Again, it's just really important for us to grow our newly... own hydroponics room. We are also looking at have flower beds, hopefully, flower beds outside where the barn is and things like that. And we are also hoping to expand our University of Arizona partnerships. Our programs are working really hard to have our students walk away with different certifications. I'm really proud to say that I will leave high school with my OSHA certification and my meat evaluation certification. And we're also hoping next year to get certified by Arizona Farm Bureau. But that's all we have for you guys today. Thank
041you for listening to our spiel about MFA. Thank you. Thank you so much. SPEAKER 7 Hi my name is Sophia LaPolle Pisano and I am the executive vice president for our local Coolidge chapter and I am the vice president of social media for the state of Arizona. SPEAKER 8 Hi my name is Camille Gant and I'm delighted to serve as our chapter's vice president of public relations. Okay, so to start off with some highlights from last season, the 2024-25 season, we had a first place national winning team. So that team consisted of three seniors. Their names are Natalie, Lauren, and Emily. They competed in local chapter annual business report and placed first nationally, so they beat out thousands of other people to do that. And out of the 14 people in Arizona who placed nationally,
042they were the only people to place first. Moving on, we were also a national gold chapter and an Arizona platinum chapter. So to accomplish that, we had to do a bunch of little mini goals throughout the year. So we were able to accomplish all of that and get those titles. Moving on, we also had FBLA National Who Who's winners for the third year in a row. So that is an award you get nominated for. And we have been... having someone from Coolidge win that every year for the past three years. It started in 2023 with a senior named Giovanna then in 2024 it was Natalie and then in 2025 most recently it was Emily Ledesma. Lastly to cap off our highlights from last year I myself was nominated as I mean ran for state office
043and I got elected into state office which marks are also our third year in a row having someone from Coolidge serve on the Arizona state officer team. Looking ahead, our program goals are to increase our student industry certifications, increase member participation in competitive events, and expand work-based learning experiences with community business partners and strengthen our leadership and professional development opportunities. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the board. My name is Gunnar Mercy. I am the FCCLA Culinary Chapter President for Coolidge High School. To my right, I may present Tristan Vargas. He is our FCCLA Culinary Chapter Treasurer. And to my left, Brian Pickering, our FCCLA Culinary Chapter Secretary. I'm going to go over a few points of what FCCLA is, what it has done for Coolidge High School, myself, and these
044two as well. So first, for those in the room who didn't know, FCCLA stands for Future Career and Community Leaders of America, and it is a nonprofit organization focused on teaching students the skills of leadership. with the goal to bring them out of their shell and learn skills that can be applied to different careers across the board. The culinary chapter specifically is culinary arts. It is where we study recipes, the art of food, as well as doing food-related activities for the community of Coolidge. Now my experience with FCCLA actually started without me being in FCCLA. I was a very shy freshman. My brother, Balon Mercy, who had the president title before I did, was a very ambitious and talented young man who is now an amazing top student at the School of CIA, Culinary Institute
045of America up in New York. Very proud of him. FCCLA got him to that point, and I believe I can get to a similar point through this as well. Now, my experience started as a freshman. I was nervous, didn't really know what I was doing. I barely cook at the house, if at all. But FCCLA really drove me to grow myself as well as meet new people, network myself, and gain more knowledge along the way. I first started out with what we call Fly-Ins, which we would collaborate with the Lions Club, who is also a nonprofit organization focused on supporting veterans. We would go down to the Coolidge Airport every morning. At 7 o'clock, we would set up shop and make pancakes, bacon, sausage. Even the batter, we would clean the dishes and serve customers
046and I was always known as the egg guy since it was the easiest thing to make. And I'm the best at making them and nobody else can touch them but me. At first I was only able to start with one pan of eggs but now I can do two at once. I can clear a rush. The egg dish is never empty. It grew from that very rapidly. It wasn't until junior year in which my brother had left and graduated the school in 2025, and I do miss him, but I was hoping that I could live up to him. So I took the title of president, not really knowing what to expect, but I jumped right in, attempting to learn and grow alongside my fellow officers. At first, my junior year, I was alone. I was
047thrown into the deep end. We were very low staffed during our fundraising activities, and it was a bit tough. However, even if I had to compete at State by myself, I still had hope that I could grow. And this year, I'm happy to say that I'm accompanied by two amazing individuals that I may call my officers. My relationship with my brother and him to this school is very important. He was inspired so much by my culinary teacher, Chef Armando Pisanio, which I like to point out in the room, right back there in the hat, wearing his fancy coat. And I'd like to thank him for taking me underneath his wing as the second Balan. But he actually came back, my brother, to teach a class how to properly cut a chicken as well as to
048cook it. The class learned very well. He did it throughout the entire day. And that's just a great example of what FCCLA can really help you do. But enough about me. I would like to speak on some of the things that we actually do as an FCCLA chapter. So we gained the special opportunity to go to Williams Lost Canyon, which was a, well, first, we went there to cater for FBLA, the wonderful two ladies that just talked, had the gracious opportunity to enjoy our food. as well as we gained the gracious opportunity to learn from experienced chefs in a chaotic kitchen. We learned a lot. I was one of the line cooks. I was able to see how everybody working as a team can really make a kitchen run and how leadership is really important
049in those chaotic, very confined environments. And these two did an amazing job. They were working on the drinks. They kept the table stocked. and I'm very proud of them as new members of FCCLA. It gave us the opportunity to see what a real kitchen looks like and the responsibilities it takes to actually help it run. I would also like to mention, but not to go into too much detail, I'll leave it to my two officers here, on the fundraising that we go through. We do caterings for many different things, weddings, we've done... the 60th reunion for the class of 1965 for Coolidge High School, which was a wonderful time, as well as catering for most of West School's events, including their honors events and ROTC events. We're very proud of that, always a fun time.
050And we make... Pretty good money on this and it all goes to FCCLA. None of it is pocketed. We promise. We actually spent about $500 on these coats right here embroidered with our names to show my and our appreciation for our very hardworking officers. Now, I'm going to finish off by saying the... the impact FCCLA has had on not just myself, but also these new officers I can present to you today has been absolutely tremendous. The lower classmen, we were able to give a similar speech like this, and I was able to get two freshmen to be encouraged and inspired by what we do and get out there and get out of their shell like I did. If I didn't join FCCLA, I probably wouldn't be doing this up here right now, if I'm being
051honest. I probably couldn't. But I can't wait for the youth to rise up and have their voice heard, big and small, as that is what FCCLA stands for. We are a one big happy family, and I would like to show you the rest of that family. I would like to pass it off to Tristan Vargas. Thank you. One thing that I would like to talk about is the Lost Canyon trip and how it's very memorable to me. Not just for cooking, not just to meet new people from different schools, not the experience you get in a kitchen, but the leadership camp that we did after that. It touched a spot in my heart that I don't open up to a lot of people. I'm a very closed shell. And for people to have me easily
052open up and talk about what's wrong, it takes moving mountains. And it showed me that... FCCLA doesn't just care about quality of food, how good it tastes. They also care about the people, care about them a lot. I was going through a really difficult time, the beginning of this leadership week. And I'd like to shout out one of the ladies from FBLA, Camille. She came up to me and asked me what's wrong. And I don't go up to anyone and say, like, hey, something's wrong. I need to talk to someone. She came up to me and asked me what's wrong. to which I told her. And she was there for me. She listened to me, make sure I was all right, make sure that I wouldn't do anything irrational. And because I was in such
053a bad state, I didn't really participate much. And my wonderful friend here, Brian, he also came up to talk to me and helped me get past it, helped me have fun, helped me open up. to all this camp, this entertainment. And it shows that even though the groups that we were in were from different schools, we're all heard. And it wasn't just them. Even though those are the only two people that I know from name that talked to me. Other people from my group had me open up and I talked to them. I let them know. And they told me they were here for me. But even though we're just... We're just all random people in a group. We all listen to each other. We all hear each other. No matter if your voice is
054big in the group or you're the quietest voice there. And it really, really was memorable to me for that. But I might have got the room a little sad. I will talk about the caterings that we do. One catering in specific that we do is the spaghetti dinner over at the American Legion. I made quite a bit of friends, almost friends from the whole staff. And they see me come in, they get a smile on their face. Hey, look, it's that kid. You know, the hardest worker. They always see me running around. They recognize it. But different caterings that we do, I don't want to just work. I want to remember people from it and possibly go back if I'm given the option. And it's... a hell of an opportunity to be a part of
055FCCLA. Just the small community here at Coolidge supports me and lifts me up when I feel down. And I love it. So I will be passing it on to my good friend Brian. Well, I don't have a heartfelt story to tell, but I will be telling what we are planning to do next year. And unfortunately, as a senior, Gunnar will not be able to see and participate in what we are planning. We are planning to be more open and start to advertise more around the school. Like they said earlier, we sell, or I'm not sure if they said this earlier, but we sell burritos every Thursday just to help make money for FCCLA. And we don't really advertise it very much, but next year I plan to be making posters or just getting the word
056out that we are selling them. There are other like or other ways to advertise so there are five people going to competition this year Last year we there was only one gunner next year. I am happy I want there to be at least eight maybe more so I want to open up the I just want to get that open so more people can participate another thing is we have a club, but there is not very many participants in the club. So I also want to get more people in the club so we can be able to do more things like that. Just so we can participate more, have more funding, so we can do a little bit more cooking or something like that. Or just to get to know each other as a culinary program.
057And the opportunities, like Tristan was saying, there is a lot of opportunities that can be had from the FCCLA program. Just getting to know people or being able to go on these trips that are very inspiring, not just as a leader, but to just help people in general. It's very inspiring to just watch everybody do what they do. And like they were saying, every voice is heard, no matter what. It's very inspiring. And it's just a very... It's a really good program to be participating in. And I am kind of disappointed with the amount of people that actually participate in it, but I will be advertising and trying to get more people to participate in the actual program. Now, I didn't have much to say compared to my others, but they did cover a lot
058of what I was going to say. So I will be passing it back to our President Gunner. I would like to thank all of you for your time, ladies and gentlemen of the board. As you can see, FCCLA has been very successful over the past year or so. We have committed to a lot of activities and even had a culinary alumni return, my gracious brother, to teach a class of young and curious individuals. And these two in particular have been brought here because of their innovations that they want to bring to FCCLA. And I can't wait to see what they come up with while I am still here. I will be working with them diligently to grow FCCLA and its presence in Coolidge. I'm very excited for competition this year. These people have been working
059very hard, and as you can see, they're very inspired and touched by the family aspect of FCCLA, which is, in my opinion, its most important. We hope that you stay with FCCLA and FCCLA stays with you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Hugo Peralta, and I am the Coolidge FCCLA Early Childhood Education Chapter President. Good afternoon. My name is Charlie, and I am the Coolidge FCCLA Secretary. Hello. I'm Felicity Story. I'm an FCCLA student in Early Childhood Education. I'd like to start off by stating that this year our chapter has seen a really strong improvement in both competitiveness and student involvement. We've earned national placements in events such as job interview and chapter website design, and we're also proud to be recognized as a Gold Star Chapter and Community Service
060Award recipient. Our biggest highlights this year was student involvement. Eight students attended FCCLA Chapter Leadership Camp, and we had record participation at Fall Leadership Conference. With 35 students from culinary arts and early childhood education, FCCLA has helped these students to step into leadership roles and build their confidence through real experiences. Our students of FCCLA have also had hands-on experiences with real care babies. This teaches the students of FCCLA how to care for a real living child. Three of our students... have also submitted projects for competition and it shows how FCCLA encourages, leads, and shows students how to take ownership of their education. As I was saying about the three students who have submitted projects for FCCLA, I would like for the people in here to pull out their phones and scan the QR code on
061the screen. This QR code was made by three of our students in FCCLA. Please scan now to see what we have been up to this year. As you can see in FCCLA our students work very hard to achieve the goals and you know push further to achieve their dreams. Thank you. Good evening. Didn't know we had to prepare eight minute speeches but you know I guess this two minute can go. Good evening. My name is Betsy Rodusco. I'm the SkillsUSA Graph Design chapter president. This past year our SkillsUSA chapter made huge growth in leadership academic progress and student engagement. The highlight of our year was earning the Gold Chapter of Distinction Award, which recognized strong student leadership and program excellence. In order to earn this distinction, hard word, sorry, distinction, we had to create and
062implement a program of work aligned with SkillsUSA framework. We are so proud to have Gabriella Shirley elected as regional officer for region three. Our chapter has had students earn gold, silver, and bronze medals at regionals and state competition, showcasing our technical and leadership skills. We are also proud to say that our graphic design program had an 85% pass rate on the technical and skills assessment, beating the state average of 76%. Amazing. This year, our chapter has made it a priority to give more students involved. We had a record number of students attend FA Leadership Conference this year. 10 students attended SkillsUSA Camp Champion, and those 10 students earned either the SkillsUSA Statesman Award or Advanced Statesman Award. demonstrating growth and leadership and professionalism. Our chapter has gained work-based learning throughout design and making t-shirts in
063various groups of campus, as well as designing and printing posters and banners. Our goal this year is to grow partnerships throughout industry tours and collaborations, maintaining our gold chapter of distinction status and earning industry Certification sorry big word. Thank you so much and I can't wait for state. Hope I win number one. Good evening folks. My name is Shooter Robinson. This is Andre and this is Gage Garcia and we're here to talk about diesel technology today. Some of the main things we would like to talk about is the students developing hands-on skills. Me personally, a lot of the hands-on skills is taught from him and it also helped me get my job. Mr. Tucker has taught us numerous things about the tractor, taking apart clutches, and really just reworking on how to split tractors and
064it helped me get my job at Stokes Equipment as he was a past employee of them. So I feel like that's definitely something I've had hands-on skill learning with. I know Gage has an example, and I know Andre's also had an example, so I want to give them a second and let them speak on the topic as well. Through diesel technology, I've learned how to drive a diesel tractor. Through this, every once a week, I am able to pick up some of the waste from our animal lab for FFA. That really teaches me a lot on how to use it and just how to really tell the right speed and stuff. Not only that, but... A few weeks ago, I was able to help out cleaning up the bay for our shop, which was moving
065old engines around and tables. And that's really taught me a lot with diesel technology. Good evening. So this program has helped me. I started the year, I didn't know anything about engines or anything. This program just really got me into engines and I wouldn't know how to pull apart an engine bit by bit, piece by piece other than the help from Mr. Tucker. So he's been a real big part of it for me and all my friends and people, they help me. Like Shooter, he's helped me probably the most. I really don't know what to say, but this is just a really great program. I love it. I didn't know anything about engines. Again, sorry. But I just, I really like this program. Thank you very much. A big thing that I want to talk
066about with us, like me and him, we both ride quads. And one thing that we had to do for his quad was learn how to solder. That's like the next in our program with the hands-on stuff. Quave taught us how to solder, and we were able to solder his ignition back together. And I think that was something that really we've accomplished and was big for us, and also him being able to teach us and use it in our daily lives. And I thought that was amazing. And another thing that we would like to... speak about is our hydraulic machines that we made. We made many hydraulic machines, again, that he's taught us how to make. We made, well, this was our group. We were in a group. We made a drawbridge, and his group made
067a scissor lift, and I thought that was really sick, just being able to scale those down and know exactly, like, what part goes to what, and I thought it was amazing. I thought it was a very cool opportunity for us, and I think more kids should learn how to do that because it is stuff that we need to know in our everyday lives. A big thing that we all should talk about is the safety within the shop and the classroom. Because no matter what wherever you go your shop safety is gonna be your biggest thing your shop organization And mr. Tucker is really big on where the tools go and how he organizes the shop and how he runs the shop And I just want to say like a big thank you to him for
068how we run our shop at work a lot of it is how I run it there and he's just set that expectation so high and We all as students appreciate it because when we go out there and get jobs of what this is preparing us for For what skills prepares for to get jobs in the future. He teaches us based on that and I think that is the best thing about him and taking this program. So do you guys have anything else you'd like to add? Only the fact that, yeah, with Mr. Tucker helping us clean, every Thursday he does make us clean the shop, which I believe that that's very important with us because, I mean, no student just wants to go out there and just clean on their own. But yeah, every Thursday
069we help out clean the shop. And honestly, it's a lot of opportunity and team membership between everyone in the classroom. I'd just like to say thank you guys for making this a program, and thank you, Mr. Tucker, for teaching us all these valuable skills that we use every day. Thank you guys. Wow, that's a lot. Anybody have anything to say? I thought it was absolutely monumental what these young men and women have done. It's so exciting to see their dedication and their hard work. Wow. I just... It's so nice to hear wonderful things from the students about what they are learning. That's what we want to do. We want to get them ready to go out into the world, and some may go to college, and some may be able to fix engines and make
070a whole lot of money. So thank you. That was wonderful. I just wanted to say to the culinary people back there, I taught... years in high school and we would make breakfast burritos and I always swore after I retired I was going to set up a little booth outside of school and I was going to make my millions selling burritos because they ate those things up and good for you I hope you make your millions doing this thing I thought great idea great idea and The diesel mechanics, being from a farm family, I'm like, yay for you. You are in the right field. Oh, yeah. Because we get those bills. I'd like to add that with all your respective organizations, you guys set a high bar for those that follow you. That's a great thing
071because you give somebody something to shoot for, improve. You fall down, you get back up, and you move forward. And I think that's great that you all do that. You all focus on collaboration, support, and networking amongst yourself, with your peers, as well as outside. And I think that's wonderful to see that in this generation that you guys, you know. are seeing things that you have to do and work with and that's important. And kudos to the staff and support these young kids. Thank you for making this happen. Thank you. Kudos to the staff. Yes. Just one comment. One theme I'm noticing across all the organizations is that you've had someone to show you the way. You've had not only your teachers and your advisors, but also you've had someone in your family or a
072friend. who has made that example for you. So I think the examples you're setting are definitely bringing in the volume and the numbers and the camaraderie that you're wanting. So keep it up. I'm absolutely enjoying the passion, the flames that have been ignited within you, with each of you, and just keep going. It takes every single type of... person and individual to make it all happen, to make the world go around. So thank you so much for being here and thank you again to the teachers and the staff for putting your hearts into it and to fanning those flames of passion for the young people here and wanting to go further and wanting to do more. It definitely shows. And I certainly hope it's something we can expand. Oh, yes. Ms. Schmidt, thank you so
073much for your leadership of CTE programs in the district. We're blessed to have a great director back there. And students, you are really blessed to have fabulous instructors that have a passion for what they do because you can tell exactly. what they're teaching you because you also have that same passion, right? You can see the love of what you're doing. And regardless of if you go into this field that you're actually studying right now, the skills that you're learning translate to any industry, right? All those soft skills, getting up here and speaking in front of us, that's not easy. So thank you. Thank you for taking the time tonight to come out and show us what you know to kind of display all the things that you guys are doing in class. Makes my heart
074happy. Speaking of making hearts happy there we're going to have a discussion and possible action to approve the addition of a new CTA course education professions at Coolidge High School for the 2026-2027 school year. As a retired teacher that is just amazing. I am so pleased with this. So the goal is is to continue to identify different areas that students might be interested in with the amount of funding that CTE gets and the amount of funding that the district has to provide that matches we always want to look for things that one that kids are interested in doing that maybe eventually we could benefit from and then make sure that we're offering things that, at professions, from a logistical standpoint, doesn't cost us a lot of money to start. Whereas something like a diesel mechanics,
075Has a lot of overhead to get started and so some of these so we kind of have to balance out the the programs that you have and so Ed professions This would be a new program for next school year and If you'll notice we only are doing ed professions one and two so those are the first two years Depending on the enrollment and the interest in it. We would go back and ask you to add three and four to that as well Are they year long programs. Yes. Semester. Yeah. Year long. Who's the underlying sponsors like SkillUSA FCCLA or does that have it separate. It's FCCLA. Yeah. So it falls under FCCLA. That's good. Yeah. Growing our own is a wonderful idea. Do I hear any motions. I move we approve the addition of the
076new CTA course, Education Professional College High School for the 26-27 school year. Second. All those in favor? Yes. Now discussion and possible action to approve contract templates for this. Oh, sorry, missed one. Oh, business. Discussion and possible approval of the 2025-2026. Mid-year budget revisions. Ooh, that's an important one. Yes. So normally Alyssa would be here to explain all of the ins and outs of this, but this is an annual or a routine revision. It captures our one-time funding that's been calculated now by ADE. They were previously estimated in the last budget that you approved. It gave us our actual amount for district additional assistance, our free and reduced population weight, And then we also had some money for our FY25 ADM adjustments that have now been added to our FY26 budget. Now, again, this is
077a routine revision. And, again, we'll bring this back to you in May when we have those final ADM numbers for a final revision of the budget. I noticed some of these had negatives and positives on the percentage there, but they're reflecting where we're at. in our current funding year? As compared to last year, right? And so depending on the goals of the district and where that money is going, so you might have seen a big increase in K-3 reading. There's a big increase there. All of our K-3 teachers are going through letters training. And so you'll see that increase because of that increased professional development in that area. And so as compared to last year, yes, you have the fluctuation. Thank you. Any more discussion or questions? I move to approve the 2025-26 mid-year budget
078revision. Second. All those in favor? Yes. Now back to human resources. Discussion and possible action to approve contract templates for the 2026-2027 school year. So it's hard to believe we're already at that time to start talking about next year's contracts. These are just the templates for the FY27 school year. And those have been reviewed by our legal counsel to ensure all the correct language is there. Any revisions that needed to be made according to any changes in the laws have been made. And so you have... the templates for all areas throughout the district. I move to approve the contract templates for 2026-27 school year. Second. All those in favor? Yes. Yes. Yes. And other action, governing board and or superintendent report and update. I think the kids just kind of spoke for themselves you know
079and the principals did a great job of where they're at as far as where we're at in the school year. Always looking at that testing season coming up and making sure that our kids are prepared. I've had the great opportunity to be subbing in a sixth grade math class recently which has been. I don't want to say eye opening but eye opening. And it's not that I haven't filled in in classrooms like you know in the last several years you do that right and but to be planning and teaching every single day and to be working with sixth graders who have an attention span of maybe 30 seconds has been been very interesting to me. But what our teachers do on a daily basis I will tell you is phenomenal. Working with our kids making
080sure that they're well planned and focusing on those state standards and so that's always my spiel to them. I said I wouldn't be doing my job if we weren't if I didn't prepare you to take this state assessment. So we're constantly going back over that but. No, it's been a great experience to be at the junior high and work with those students. I have 24 lovely kids that, they're a lot sometimes. How long are you going to be doing this? Till mid-April, mid-April, yeah. So we've got a little ways to go, but yeah. I haven't called in yet. I know this is an expertise of yours, so. And right. And so you have a lot of teachers. We have a teacher that has fallen ill and has to take some extended time off. And so
081you've got teachers at the campus that have stepped in. And Mr. Gonzalez has been fantastic about doing some lesson planning, making sure that it's as easy as possible for those teachers that have stepped in. And so it's been a good experience. You'll notice at the field house, it's underway. There are bricks going in. We're on schedule. As long as we can keep the rain away, we'll stay on schedule. But they've built in time for that too. But yeah, it's coming along. So we're excited about that. Other than that, everything's moving along. Second semester. for the high school seniors and the high school staff, making sure that all the scholarship programs are out there, that our students know about them. get engaged, do what they have to do earlier. I guess it's better than later, right?
082So we just want to push that out again. On a personal note, I'll be running for Justice of Peace Precinct 3, so their seat will be vacant. I'll continue to, well, I'm going to finish out my term, but for those in the community that want to serve on the board with a good board and good staff, I encourage you to do so. Thank you very much. Thank you. We'll miss you. We have him through December, so. Yeah, so we're good. Well, do I hear a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn. Second. All those in favor? Yes. We are adjourned.