001Governing member Chris Gillespie. Here. Governing member George Arradondo. Here. Governing member Victoria Quintero. Here. We have quorum. Good evening everyone. If we can stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Moving on to the approval of the agenda. I make a motion to approve the agenda. Second. Motion's been made by Vice President Heath and seconded by Board Member Quintero. All those in favor? Yes. Yes. Motion passes by all. Moving on to public participation. There's no public participation. Moving on to presentations the principal's update presented by dr. Natai Ferguson You would think that with it being the March kind of overlooked I would have nothing on these papers because we're only in school for a couple weeks But I have a few things so I'm gonna go make it as quick as possible I do want to talk
002about testing. We're hitting some great attendance rates We're already at 98% and we've got a few more kiddos to grab with makeups tomorrow and makeups for our freshman testing next week so those should be excellent I also want to talk about right before break we had our our lovely dance senior showcase and those seniors put so much time and effort into that and they create those all themselves and that actually contributes to their seal So that's definitely something to look at as well. We had FFA regionals. We had kids at FFA with county fair, ribbons galore. It's just been a good run for FFA as well. We had FBLA compete. Also lots of... first place, second place, third place. We have a state officer, Sophia LaPaglia-Pasana will be the state vice president for FBLA. We
003had FCCLA compete as well. Again, several awards, state officer Molly Tucker. So our programs are doing amazing things. And like I said, you'd think March would be slim, but... All these same four groups also did things with their students over break, whether it was state competition, dance incentives. So it's just, it's amazing to see our teachers and our students who put so much effort into all that they do. Just coming up, just for April alone. the rest of April we got a JROTC awards on the 14th, athletic signing, piano on the 16th, FBLA job fair on the 17th, guitar recital on the 17th, and then FFA will have their banquet on the 25th. So that's CHS. Thank you. Dr. Yvette Dix. So Coolidge Junior High is in the middle of testing as well. We have
004the deadline coming up on April 11th for our AZ Psi and our AASA writing test. And I'm thrilled to say that we are over 95 percent for both of those which is wonderful. We only have a couple of students left to test and they'll be coming in hopefully tomorrow. We called every single parent of every student that was still missing a test and invited them to come in tomorrow to try and make that up. One of the things that was actually really exciting this year during our writing test is we've really focused in on our writing and our kids took their time to the point where we had to do like double and triple overtime. Like we had to extend our testing window because when we got to the end of a two hour window
005we still had 250 kids that were still writing their five paragraph essays. And I know we're not supposed to look at it. I did not read any of it. I just glanced at what the work but they were writing all over. their pages though they did a lot of pre-writing. It was really exciting to see and we had a lot of kids that were celebrating afterwards like they were excited about how well they did on writing so all our fingers and toes crossed that it translates but it was a really good energy on our writing day which was I don't know unexpected for them to be as excited about writing as they were. We have boys basketball going on right now girls soccer boys soccer cheers so there's a lot of Athletics every day after
006school those kids are all part of our 21st century grant clubs so they come in. We have a really great system set up so any kids that become ineligible they jump right into tutoring after a week they go right back to being eligible. So it's really working well for our kids to be able to stay eligible and to participate. We have another dance coming up March 17th if you're interested. Spring dance of the junior high from 5 to 7. And finally coming up on the 22nd our mathletes team has their very first competition of the year. It kept getting pushed back and so it is happening on the. 22nd in Florence. These are students that actually worked with Mr. Zen at West and now he's been working with them throughout the year after school and
007they're gonna have their first competition. So I'll report how they did afterwards. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mark Bruno. Good evening board members. Going along with. One of my colleagues was saying we are in the middle of the testing season for high school for CAP and CVA. We're at about, I want to say 95% tested for our Aspire students and CVA, 100% at CAP. I have some of my best bounty hunters out scouring the neighborhood getting those last couple of students from CVA. Our CAP students are in the middle of taking the ACT this week, and then we have the online students coming in next week. So far, just kind of asking them at the end of the day, how do you think you went? And for the first time, kids have actually said, I
008feel pretty good. I've never had that confident answer before. You just get the shoulder shrug. So at least that's positive news in the right direction hopefully. We want to invite you out at the end of the month on April 29th. CAP will be hosting our first ever community invite events. In the past we've had family nights. We involve students and families who already attend CAP and I think that a lot of people in the community just don't know much about our program or what it involves or what it even looks like. So we're. came up with this idea, Mr. Gonzalez and I, to invite members of the community, really push that don't attend CAP. So we wanna invite people in, even if they don't have students, just please come on in and check out this
009wonderful program that we have in the evening. And that will be about from 5 to 6, 5 to 630, depending on what turnout we have from families. But we're going to send flyers as much as we could. We're going to send out social media posts asking people to share it, just a community thing. Let them come into the classrooms. Let them see what that is. Have some of our student government participants in there to guide and tour them around, answer any questions they might have. So we're opening our doors. Our doors are always open, but hopefully we'll get a lot of community members to come in and visit camp. And then lastly, just the season graduates are starting to fly off the shelves. We've had four in the last two days, which is really fun
010during testing season, trying to get all that going. I told the students, if you want me to be the person handing you a diploma, you better finish this year. So either they're doing that for that reason or despite of me, but they are starting to finish up. And our current numbers are right now, 15 at CVA, 24 at CAP with probably about a dozen more on the on-deck circle between now and the next board meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Principal Headley. Going along with the other principals, our testing is underway. We have 100% completed in third grade reading fluency, all of our writing in our fifth grade science. So we started reading this week. I believe we have 14 makeups between part one and part two third through fifth grade. So hopefully we can get
011those tomorrow and Monday. Last week our kindergarten put on a kinder doughnuts with grown ups event. So we encouraged all the male figures in their lives to come in and they did a bunch of collaboration activities so art and physical activities. There were donuts and so we had a really nice turnout for that. And then lastly we didn't meet last month over spring break but I wanted to highlight our Kid Wind team. So they competed in the regional competition at the end of February and they four of our students two of our teams made it to what is called the Kid Wind World competition. and there are teams internationally coming in and this year it's hosted in Phoenix. So they have the opportunity to go and compete. One of our members is here today and
012he is going to be recognized a little later but that is at the end of May and so two of our teams were selected to compete there and we're looking forward to how they do. Thank you. Principal Kelly Ferguson. Well I guess I'll continue the trend West is continuing to test. We have one week left right now similar to Heartland our third grade or students are 100 percent done our third and fourth grade writing students are completely 100 percent done. We have one fifth grader who has been sick for about two weeks unfortunately and so we have one fifth grader left to do for writing. We just did our reading. yesterday and today and we will continue make ups tomorrow and next week. Our students are working for perfect attendance on testing day. So every
013student who has perfect attendance on all eight testing days get their name in a drawing and they get the potential to push Ms. Sheridan and I into a pool on our Olympics day. So the kids got to choose. There were some. Interesting choices they came up with. Fortunately none of them had the majority of the vote so we're getting pushed into a pool. We're very excited about that. So we're looking forward to that at our Olympics to be able to celebrate our attendance for testing days. Our parent teacher conferences at the beginning of March. I know that was a few days ago. Our teachers really pushed this year for some student led conferences so that the students were sharing their data and telling parents showing the parents their growth and explaining. where they made the
014growth and where their strengths are at. So we really like that from those classrooms and so we really want to look forward to that more next year for those conferences so that they're really those student led conferences so the students are really taking ownership of their scores and their data and their their progress that they've made throughout the year. So we really want to focus on that for next year. In leadership a month or so ago we were talking about how do we how do we reward those kids who show up every day and do hard work and they kind of just fly under the radar and they do their job and they don't get in trouble and they just kind of come to school every day without any incidences. So we want to start
015rewarding them. So Miss Cooper came up with her name top tier tigers. And so once a month we're going to we're going to award our top tier tigers. We did it last week they got Otter Pops last week. Miss Cooper bought a lot of Otter Pops and so they were able to come up and celebrate. The kids were able to tell us why they were up there and they were very excited about it. So we're looking forward to continuing to highlight those students on our campus and make sure that we're we're honoring those kids who are making those right choices every day. And last but not least last night we had our battle of the books with Heartland Ranch arts. Our team of three fourth grade girls have worked so hard the last two months
016reading all of the books trying to get them all done practicing extra staying after school extra to get the reading done. And so we're very proud to say that West won I think for the first time. Right. First time we're very excited. Our girls are one girl took her trophy home and slept with it last night. So that's how we're so and then she paraded it around school. They went this morning to the three winners went to the kindergarten classroom to explain to them what they did and how they won and what they had to do to be able to win. So one of the kindergarten teachers invited them down. So our girls are very proud and we're very excited for them. Congratulations. Thank you. Moving on to the governing board outstanding character awards. Kelly
017Ferguson. So we have Victoria Williams, but I do not see her. I'm still going to read it. Yes. Okay. So Victoria was nominated by her fourth grade math teacher Miss Cynthia Lorfess and here's what Miss Lorfess said. Victoria stands out for her kindness dedication and leadership in the classroom. She is always respectful thoughtful and considerate of others even when they don't always return the same courtesy. Despite being very shy and quiet her positive attitude and willingness to help classmates make her a role model for everyone around her. Not only does Victoria complete all her work with care but she also participates in class discussion. asks for help when needed and never has hesitates to assist her peers. She makes our classroom a welcoming and encouraging space and her efforts do not go unnoticed. I will
018take this and read it to her tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you. Principal Headlee. Heartland Ranch would like to recognize Mason Daniels. Mason was nominated by his fifth grade teachers Miss McCain Miss McDowell Miss Baker and Miss Teichart and they wrote Mason is a member of the Kid Wind Club at Heartland Ranch at the regional competition he demonstrated resilience and determination. His partner was sick but he represented his team and school individually. He placed first for his age group. This competition included an interview blade competition judging and content quiz and now he has qualified his team to compete at the Kid Wind World Competition in May. Mason is a hard worker who always puts his best foot forward. He is not afraid of a challenge and will always give 100%. He has a friendly disposition and
019will always look for the best in others. He is always offering help to staff and those around him. Mason is a student we can always rely on, a student every teacher would love to have in class, and we are so proud that he is a Heartland Ranch Wildcat. Principal Bruno. I'd like to call up CAP senior, Larry Bishop. Larry was nominated by the CAP administration. I would like to recognize senior Larry Bishop for this month's student character award. Larry has been with us at CAP for his high school career and I can personally attest to how much he has grown both as a student and as a young man. I've had the pleasure of knowing Larry since he was in second grade and now it's come full circle as he's a senior working on finishing
020up his classes to graduate. Larry has an infectious personality that instantly makes you feel at ease when you talk with him. Rarely have I seen a student who can talk so naturally to both the classmates and to staff with an air of maturity and confidence. Larry is always the first to volunteer when we need something and everyone can count on him and trust him to do the job that is needed. This year, Larry has really stepped up outside of his academic responsibilities by voluntarily becoming our new student who lowers our flags, the others graduated, and also training the others how to do it properly and fold them so that they can take over when he leaves. He also is becoming our student first ever student government treasurer as well as working a job outside of
021school. Shout out to Wendy's. Larry is always quick with a joke and a smile but never at someone else's expense. He is a leader on our campus and we look forward to seeing him be successful in whatever path he chooses after high school. Larry Bishop. Principal Dr. Dix. The junior high is a sorry nominated Alexa Sings. So Alexa was nominated by her robotics club sponsors Mr. Jans and Ms. H. And they had this to say about Alexa. She's an outstanding student from her high grades and consistent participation in class and on campus to her driven nature and personal determination to achieve high academics. Alexa is a magnificent example of a CJHS cub. She treats her peers with respect and patience in her daily studies and in the clubs she is part of this year. I've
022had the pleasure of having Alexa as a student and as a club member during her time here at CJHS. She is considerate in working with group members, gently leading in her own thoughtful way. She's the kind of leader that supports others with cooperation and being of service. She is not one to take the spotlight immediately, but her calm nature and her supportive cooperation makes her stand out as a young leader on campus. She is a bright, thoughtful, compassionate, respectful student, and I think she is an outstanding choice for this award. Dr. Ferguson. CHS is nominating Miabella Lemire. She was nominated by the dance teacher, Ms. Shaylin Timmons. She said I would like to recognize me a Bella Lemire for student of the month. Mia is one of two freshmen in my company dance class in
023a class of mostly seniors. She continues to lead so effortlessly and promote a safe and inclusive environment for her classmates. Mia is an honor student who is involved in several after school activities on campus. Mia has taught at fusion lab classes. which is an after school dance class open to anyone on campus. She teaches with patience and attention to detail. Mia recently has been discussing possible career pathways and shared that she may want to be a teacher. Mia works well with students. She came back from the Coolidge Water Festival after leading various hands on activities for elementary students. She was so excited about sharing her knowledge and interacting with the students that day. Mia is one of the most mature students I teach always being inquisitive and problem solving with ease. It is my honor
024to nominate Mia for the student of the month as she consistently shows up for herself and her classmates. If you're here and nominated one of these students here would you please come up and have a picture with them also. Moving on to the governing board outstanding service awards presented by Principal Headley and Kelly Ferguson. And just one not two. Heartland Ranch would like to recognize Miss Cat Morales. She was nominated by our administration as well as Mr. West. So we wrote Cat brings a passion and love to child nutrition that is unmatched. The welcoming environment and dedication she brings to our district really makes an impact on our students daily lives. With her contagious smile and laugh she embodies powerful leadership and team building skills contributing to her program success. Her hardworking and dedicated attitude
025is evident in all she does. Cat is knowledgeable consistent and constantly building capacity in her food service team. Thank you Cat for your passion professionalism and positive energy you bring each day. It is truly a blessing to be able to work with you. Principal Kelly Ferguson. West would like to recognize Miss Marianne Amper. I'm sorry Dr. Amper. She's very embarrassed when we call her that so we call her that a lot because she deserves it. So she was nominated by our West School leadership team. Marianne Amper joined our West School team two years ago from the Philippines. We have never met a more hardworking teacher. Any idea or suggestions that are made to her she instantly works to implement them in her classroom. She is always learning and has since completed her doctorate since moving
026to America. Mrs. Amper teaches multiple after school clubs and is always the first person to volunteer to help in any way needed. She also brings us delicious traditional homemade foods. She is thoughtful and generous and always very humble. We are so thankful that Dr. Amper has joined our school and our students are lucky to have her as their teacher. SPEAKER 2 Hey moving on to the consent agenda. SPEAKER 3 Mr. President I move we approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. Motion's been made by Board Member Arredondo, seconded by Board Member Gillespie. All those in favor? Yes. Yes. Motion passes by all. Moving on to business. Discussion and possible action to approve the fiscal year 2024 audit package with a roll call vote. Alyssa, I'm going to let you go ahead and take that one.
027Well, then we have to do a roll call real quick. To approve it, yes. Yeah. Okay, so this is our audit package for FY24 for last year. It includes our CAFR. It's the ACFR now, not called the CAFR anymore. You received paper copies of that a couple months ago, and it's included in this packet. That is our comprehensive financial statements, typically used by investors, right? When we go out for bond issuances, those are required to be uploaded and attached to any bonds outstanding that we have. There's some of those might look like a duplicate. They're different. They're compiled different based on the needs of different parties. So sometimes the government will issue or Gatsby will issue new ways that you have to compile these documents based on requests from other parties. So everything's in there
028compiled by Heinfeld Meech and we do submit that document to two. entities gfoa and asbo for review and we are typically and have been the past 11 years awarded their certificate of excellence meaning we do all the pieces necessary for that document the other document is the single audit and that is for federal programs so if the entity receives over 500 000 in federal dollars they are subject to a single audit they audit the two or three top Federal programs that you have it's typically food service and title one for us Esser gets lumped in there in the past due to its volume We did not have any findings there under the single audit. So that's really good. That's required to be submitted to ade For all federal Awards we have to make sure we
029have that on file The third piece is the USFR and that's the questionnaire that they go through you know the hundreds of questions and kind of audit each piece of the district the business office payroll human resources student activities attendance and I outlined all of those no's that we received there and we will Like we do every year we'll put together some explanations and kind of goals for ourselves on how to address those. Most of them as they're happening we know they're going to happen. There's just not a way around it. So when I talked about clearing some of those negative cash balances there really isn't a rule on how to do that or how to transfer money in between certain funds but we do have to clear them in some way. So while they
030have to write it as an audit finding unfortunately that's just the way it's done. So they just have to note that. Overall, it was a really good audit season. We've already signed the engagement letter to begin the audit of FY25 here this summer. So it just picks right back up and keeps rolling. But you have all three of those documents. And overall, everything was favorable for the district. Any questions? Comments? Thank you. Yeah. Yes, thank you. And just to make sure that... the public knows is the these outside auditors make sure that the uh Items that they're reviewing is meets what the state federal standards or state standards or state standards Yeah, and it's a separate party from our staff. We provide the data they correct Extrapolate and find the reports. Yeah, so every five
031years we go out to bid and we select an auditor They select then a sample size based on kind of every single question that they have in there Nowadays we scan it over to them. They take a look. So, you know, yeah, 50 attendance records, 50 withdrawal forms, and then they kind of look at all of that through like a secure portal. And then every year they like to add to it additional measures that they want you to adhere to or they'll kind of tweak it a little bit. So each summer we look for the changes to the USFR and then we begin to implement them for the next year. Thank you. And when they choose the different things to look at, it's very arbitrary, isn't it? They just give them. You know, sometimes I
032wonder, hmm, that's an interesting one that you choose. Because what they'll do, especially like with my office, right, they take the entire GL. Every single debit credit, they get a large Excel file with all of those. And they always do seem to find the peculiar ones. That's their job, right? And then ask for explanation. But that's just the nature. But yeah, so sometimes I don't believe that it's random. They know how to find the right sample. So they might just... Yeah, I think they take a look they come through they try to see whether it's you know an amount that stands out to them or a date But yeah, that's that's their their forte, right? Thank you Okay, so this will be a roll call vote Move that we approve the FY 24 audit package
033as presented. Motion's been made. I'll second that. By Board Member Arradondo, seconded by Vice President Heath. All those in favor? President Michael Flores? Yes. Vice President Linda Heath? Yes. Governing Member Chris Gillespie? Yes. Governing Member George Arradondo? Yes. Governing Member Victoria Quintero? Yes. All right, motion passes by all. Moving on to Human Resources. Discussion and possible action to formally approve the administrative contracts for the 2025-2026 school year. So earlier in this fiscal year, you guys approved a new salary schedule for administrators that was... a little more aligned with districts and surrounding communities here. So based on that, there wasn't a standard raise like we did for everybody else, a 2%. For some individuals, it was just 2%. From others, because they were lower, we had to raise them a little bit more so that they
034were more aligned with. others that have kind of the same type of job that they have. So looking at still surrounding districts within our county specifically, we're still a little low, unfortunately, but it allowed us to make some increases that were made for teachers over the last five years. And so I believe the... the decisions were fair as we start looking at those positions and kind of just where we go from there. So I don't know if you have any questions about that. Mr. President, I got a few comments. Hope I don't put my foot in my mouth, but see how it comes out. I support what you outlined, and we obviously looked at getting more competitive and not lose people and hopefully maintain people as well as provide opportunities for... those to move up
035and say, hey, yeah, that's something I want to do. So on that venues that, you know, I challenge those of you that in the current positions to continue to strive to maintain your credentials and continue to make that extra charge. So when we look at these salaries, you know, we're confident, comfortable to support those. Secondly, those that are. looking to aspire to be in other positions of these administrative level to work for those challenges. And we as administration, I mean as board, will try to find the funds to help and maintain to be competitive. So at the same time, those that are getting these raises and all that, don't become complacent. there's always somebody else that can fill in and do the job. So expectations are there by position of the authority as well as
036are challenging to do right by you, giving you the raises that you are afforded as well as being competitive. Thank you very much. Any other comments, questions? Then I make a motion to approve the administrative contracts for the 2025-2026 school year. Second. Motion's been made by Vice President Heath and seconded by Board Member Quinteto. All those in favor? Yes. Yes, motion passes by all. Moving on to B, approval and possible discussion of the recommendation of the employee insurance benefits package for the 2025-2026 school year. I'll let Ben go ahead and take this one. I believe he'll probably turn it over to Lisa Weston. Yeah, so I'm actually gonna do that so Don's gonna pass to me and I'll pass it to Lisa Weston makes my job easier I will tell you that there is very
037little change in what we've done There is some movement in some of the plans that they've made but I'll at least kind of speak to that Good evening. Good evening President Flores Superintendent Hodge members of the board administrators. My name's Lisa Weston I'm the account executive with Gallagher and I am the primary consultant that works with your leadership team and your HR team relating to benefits. And thank you for allowing me to come back again this year to present. Like Ben said the buck stops here. So I work with your HR team throughout the year. We had a very active renewal process this year. I am presenting. your renewal, the medical renewal as well as the remaining renewal package relating to non-medical benefits. Ben had made a mention that there were changes relating to the
038medical plan this year. There is an overall 3.7% or roughly about $84,000 increase in the medical, which is actually an... positive, comparative to what we've seen in the past. We've been challenged in the past with the way that the claims experience has run for Coolidge Unified, running roughly around 137 to 140% loss ratio. Putting that into perspective when your medical claims are developed or excuse me your premiums are developed by your insurance carrier Essentially when you take a hundred percent they say eighty five percent of those claims are going to be The premium is going to be paid for claims the other fifteen percent is going to be paid for administrative costs So when I'm saying you're running a hundred and thirty seven percent you should be running at eighty five But essentially you've eaten
039up all of the eighty five everything additional for administrative costs and then beyond that. So essentially you're running quite hot in the hole unfortunately. Overall the trust last year we saw a little bit more of a higher increase last year because the trust had a new administrative team that was kind of handling where they were financially. They came back and said we understand there's going to be a higher increase this year meaning last year with the assumption and the promise that we were going to see a lower increase this year. They delivered on that at a 3.7. But the unfortunate problem is that it also accompanied an increase of deductibles, which on average is about a $300 deductible for employee only and a $600 increase to out-of-pocket maximums for employee only. And I like to
040refer to employee only because of the 228 employees that are enrolled in your medical plan, 224 are enrolled as employee only. You only have four employees who are enrolling with any sort of dependents. So the majority of your population is going to be employee only that's going to be impacted by these adjustments. You do have a high deductible health plan. They actually did increase the deductible and out-of-pocket max greater for that plan. That increase equivalated to about $1,000 for Aetna Network for deductible and $1,800 for the out-of-pocket maximum. When thinking about the fact that we got a 3.2% and considering the option to go to market knowing how your claims experience was running. We didn't feel that financially that there would be a considerable option that would be positively impactful financially to the district to
041go to market. Roughly my financial benefit team would estimate a 25 percent increase if you were on the full market if we were to market. So we maintained and speaking with your administrative team maintain to continue with maintaining the plans with as bait maritime. We did present some additional options for consideration of other plan designs of which were chosen to not move forward with whether they were plans that were not the best design or the best financial impact for the district. In addition to the deductible and the out-of-pocket max adjustment there was an overall $30 copay increase for all copays and this is across the board for every plan. When understanding trying to understand what the reasoning was and the reasoning that the ASBE has passed on to me is number one is they have
042not made any plan changes to any of their plans for over 10 years. This was a move by them to incur that make this the plans that they're offering align with the market. As we know, insurance is adjusting on the daily and they felt that the plans that they planned designs that they were presenting. or putting out there for everybody within the trust were really truly not aligning with the remaining market. You see a lot more higher deductibles out of pocket max and co-pays that you see on the regular market. They also mentioned and communicated to me that the changes ensure longevity and financial health of the trust. And so this move was done for all members of the trust not just Coolidge Unified. This was for every single district. I know I've mentioned a
043lot about the medical plan. I'd like to take a moment and pause and see if you have any questions before I proceed. In addition to the medical adjustments, a couple things that are positive is one thing that we're considering and are proposing is an introduction of what we call International Medical Solutions, or IMS, which is the Mexico Network. We find in Arizona that a lot of individuals are already heading to the border. to seek medical care and going there for prescriptions. There is an alternative option that is being provided by Aspite Maritain as a voluntary benefit. It would cost an employee $6 per employee per month. So if the employee took it it would cost them six dollars a month to accept this benefit and if them or any dependents that they have on the
044plans with them would be able to go and seek care and get prescriptions that would be copayable against that medical plan that is essentially connected to their as-bate plan. So it's not only are they getting the savings just by driving to Mexico but they're getting extensive savings by actually enrolling in the IMS plan. Any additional questions about IMS? The one thing to mention is that the IMS opportunity does not require any level of commitment meaning that if we have one person take advantage of it fantastic but if we have nobody take advantage of it there's no penalty. There's also no cost to the district to offer it. So it's essentially adding to your benefit plans. As I had mentioned regarding, it was a busy, busy season this year relating to marketing. We did market your
045dental and we also marketed your vision. We had a lot of interest in vendors out on the market to seek to have your business. At the end of the day, the outcome of the scoring essentially maintained that your district is keeping those relationships with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona for your dental and also with the visas for the vision plan. So employees are not gonna see an impact to the network, to the plan designs. Now, vision does not have a rate change to it. However, there was a slight increase of about 8.9% to the dental plan that was being offered. I think the... goal of what when the scoring and review was done was again to maintain continuity for the employees and really seek to not have a massive impact to them. We used
046to offer or I want to say currently offer a prepaid dental plan. Employers Dental Services is your who your current vendor is they are exiting the market so at that with that we looked at alternatives and it was decided that it's really not a plan that many of your employees took advantage of. So we're removing that as an alternative option this year. It's just not popular. That's why EDX is actually leaving the market. It just has exited popularity. This is a plan that has very limited network and essentially is... rather difficult to use. It's a lot of hoops and so forth. Another thing is, is Maritain is increasing the telemedicine benefit. I'm very excited to say this. They're increasing the benefit to include primary 360 as well as behavioral health, which means that somebody can
047seek care over the phone or through telephonic visits with a provider that they're going to have a relationship ongoing. So say somebody's having a hard time getting with a primary care physician, they can't get into the doctor's office. but they want care. They can do this now with Teladoc. This is included as a benefit through Maritain for anybody who has the medical benefit. Anytime they see a provider, it's gonna cost them $10 if they're on the PPO plan. So this is a massive increase in the way to give access to care, so I'm very happy about that. The remaining benefits are all remaining the same no plan changes no rate increases to your basic life voluntary life EAP HSA Cobra FSA disability as well as remaining voluntary plans any questions Yes, ma'am, I don't know
048if this question for you. Mr. Armstrong as well as yourself but Do you guys do a customer service complaint process? I mean evaluation or of anything of the complaint processing? I'm not complaint, but claims processing if there's you know issues with that or has anybody reported from our side that The claims are not being processed tiny or within what's expected of the plan obviously So they do have a benefits advocacy team that anytime somebody has some issues with anything like that, which you know in insurance sometimes it doesn't matter who you go with as a vendor, that could be a problem. So typically we send them that way. And I can also tell you as it relates specifically to Aspate. Those that are assigned to us directly are okay with us sending our employees directly
049to them to help process those I'd love to say that it's zero that I've never spoken to anybody that ever said I had a problem You know making a claim and and and getting a response there, but it's very minimal How about that? I mean I can think it over the last what three years with our partnership with them I can think of two or three That's about it. Hopefully that answers your question. No. Yes. Thank you any other questions comments i hear a motion oh no well i had a question so did you say that our raise was about two percent generally across the board but the insurance is 3.7 advance increase but the raise does cover the increase plus plus some so it's two percent on their salary right the increase in premium,
050which isn't the same as what their salaries are, was 3.7%. Their bring home should still be more. Yeah, their take home pay should still be more. If they are maintaining the same plans. Like Dawn said, she's the math person, and so is Alyssa, but to be able to understand how a percentage is just a percentage, it doesn't typically work out that way, but to answer your question, what I think matters the most is they should still bring home more if they maintain the same policies. Okay, I guess, you know, I'm coming from the time when I was teaching where it was paid for. Yeah. Your insurance was paid for. Your dependents were paid for. So this just seems so. You know, we would love. Every year. We would love to do that. In fact, you
051know, I would say when I started teaching, and I know now, like, okay, that was a long time ago now, but. It was very affordable for myself and my dependents, right? It is not anymore. And it doesn't matter what plan you're with or what company you're with. It's just not. It's very expensive. I had something else I was going to say, and now it just left my brain. But, you know, it's correct. Right and we know several people have done that and not insured them through us They have found other plans through the marketplace for their children or spouses and when I sit and talk with a new employee That's honestly one of the first things we discuss is do you have dependents that you would need to add to a plan? Because the last
052thing we need is for them to get their first paycheck add people and be like I can't even afford to do this So it is one of the most important things that I share with people when they get on board The other thing is, you know, when I look at surrounding districts and what they contribute to employee insurance, we're one of the top as far as what we contribute. The problem is that we have had some exorbitant claims. And so when you're running at 137% and the company's not making any money off of you, we're grateful that we only got a less than 4% increase. You know because because our claims are so high. It is. And I'm going to be I work with a lot of districts. I'm an executive for nine districts myself
053within my book of business and. what most other districts are continuing with the same challenges which is your employees have the right to use the benefit to its fullest extent. And once and we've run into a lot of health issues post-COVID that a lot of districts are still picking up the pieces from long big diseases things that went years uncaught. And these these hundred thirty seven percent. I hate to say it but it's becoming I'm seeing it. Very commonly in a lot of other districts. I know it's nothing against you. I'm not saying anything No, I don't think anybody's taking that but but it's just across the board. Everything is costing more So we're not overly high with our claims when you look at other districts. You're you're considered the norm Yeah that's kind of
054sad. It is. It's it's tough. It's a tough market for districts right now. It really is. One thing I wanted to add. We had talked about the 3.7 percent that actually equates to about eighty four thousand dollars in total increase based upon your entire premium. So when you're balancing that of an eighty four thousand dollar increase that you're sharing among 224 employees is a much smaller lift versus looking at their 2 percent. salary increase, if that makes sense. Any other questions or comments? No, okay. Mr. President, I move that we approve the employee insurance benefit package for the 2025-2026 school year. Motions are made by Board Member Arredondo, seconded by Board Member Quinteto. All those in favor? Yes. Yes, motion passes by all. Moving on to the governing board, superintendent's report and update. Well I
055think in the last week I've inundated you with a bunch of stuff so I apologize for that. But you know as as things continue to shift within our legislature we do not currently have a state budget yet. We probably will not see one until sometime hopefully May maybe. mid-May maybe hopefully prop 1 2 3 is still a big thing right now and we've got advocates out there lobbying for school districts public school districts specifically on that because the big thing is they want to add private schools to that. So we just are continuing to keep an eye on it. It probably will go to the voters in 26 is my understanding. The state budget is going to backfill, so we won't lose any money right now because it is expiring. So the state budget will
056backfill. It'll probably go to the voters in 26 for that. And then the latest assurances that I sent you, we had until April 14th to get those signed. They've now extended that to April 24th. It really doesn't matter. We're not going to have another board meeting before that. So we have been encouraged to go ahead and sign those because we do not want to lose any federal funding. We're already our current allocations. I sent that to you is about $270,000 less than what we received last year across all of those grants. Title I alone is about $400,000 less in the last two years. And so, you know, based on that and still trying to raise salaries across the board, continuing to provide services and the things that kids need, we're being again asked to do
057more with less. I'm hoping this is an initial allocation and maybe there'll be additional funding somewhere. Maybe they see, well, she signed our assurances and yeah, let's give Coolidge more money. I don't know. I'm sure it doesn't work like that, but just trying to be compliant at this point. But so that's going to be our struggle. We're fine. We have enough carry forward to sustain us over the next year. But if we get another hit like that, especially in Title I, the potential is that we would look at either restructuring or, eliminating certain staff or programs or things like that. So, you know, it's one of those things. If the money's not there, I don't know what you do. You know, unless we get a huge influx of kids, you know, so you have the
058opportunity then to, I mean, that's the way we generate income, right, is by having students. And so going out and trying to market ourselves a little bit to Coolidge and keep those kids with us. Last thing I have for you is you might notice that we have a table here with some books and projects that our early childhood education students created as part of their early literacy unit. They were required to research various types of children's books and then select a target age range from birth to third grade. And from there, they created their own original books, which included writing the text, developing an original story concept, and illustrating all of the images themselves. The felt box and other toy items were created by their first year early childhood education students following their unit on
059developmentally appropriate toys and students research specific age ranges and design toys that best fit the developmental needs of children in that stage. Each student followed a rubric and applied what they had learned about safety, engagement, and educational value in early childhood toys. And one student even took her felt toy to the FCCLA state competition in the toys that teach category and earn first place with a perfect score. And so Danielle Tucker is our... teacher for early childhood education and these are her students and they just wanted to share those with you and so after the meeting if you have some time to maybe look at those a little bit we'd love to share them with you well i've already looked at them and they're fabulous i mean i can't wait to see what these students
060do when they actually get in the classroom yeah really good yeah um i had a few things i wanted to mention First of all, to our administrators, I am so pleased that we were able to give you a well-deserved raise. We want to keep our excellent administrative team, so keep doing that good work. I got to go and see the Mr. Bear competition. It was fabulous. I cannot tell you how fun it was and enjoyable. I was so impressed with the performances and the personalities of these young men, and everyone needs to go and see it next year. Really good. And what's the date of the Olympics at West School? May 1st. Okay, thank you. That's it. Anyone else? Yes, Ms. President. Just wanna make sure that we're getting graduation plans information out to the
061community, especially with the high school reconfiguration there so everybody can manage some expectations and things of that nature. We actually met today. Those plans are being finalized and we will be sending out some communication to families next week. We will post stuff on our social media about that reconfiguration of that stadium and changing the orientation of the stage and all that so we can utilize both sides. We met with grounds, with maintenance, with IT, and the high school administration counselor. And so, I mean, it was a really fairly easy meeting. I think we'll have a great plan in place, but we'll make sure that we communicate that. You know, there will be some changes, right? We do have that new field out there. And so, you know. there will be some restrictions on that as
062far as after the ceremony, but we have plans so that we still have photo opportunities galore for people to take advantage of after the ceremony and things like that. But we will make sure we get that out. And coordinating with the city police and unsafe. Absolutely, yes. And my last thing, appreciate you sharing the information about our student success and all our teachers are doing things and all of you guys are posting that on Facebook. it's nice to see that and kudos to all of you and your staffs and and especially our students thank you yeah i just want to make sure that we make sure while i know our principals relay that to you i want you to know when you guys send that stuff out i do share that with the governing board
063so they know how well our students and staff are doing and just across all facets of the district they're they're just kids are rising to the occasion anything else All right, do we hear a motion to adjourn? So moved. Motion is made by Vice President Heath and seconded by Board Member Gillespie. All those in favor? Yes. Have a good night, everyone.