001Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm about to call this meeting of the regular governing board meeting Tuesday, December 9th, 2024 or 2025 to order. It's been that kind of day, let me tell you. First item of business is, actually that was the first item of business. Second item of business is an executive session. Executive Session to evaluate the superintendents pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes 83-431-0381. Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes 38-431-.0381, the governing board may vote to enter Executive Session to review an evaluation. of the superintendent. What is... I move that we move into executive session. It has been properly moved. Seconded. Any discussion? Proceed to vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. We're in executive session. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
002and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. First item of business today would be for one presentation by Great Beginnings Preschool. Great Beginning Preschool students in Miss Kathy Duffy's class will perform for the governing board. So. Hi, guys. Hi. Hello. You're so sad. She took me around. I felt terrible. So we have some cooties going around the classroom. You know, we have the Broadway stars here for you. Forget Elphaba. Forget Glenda. We've got Axel, Arianna Michelle, and Emmanuel. So we're from Great Beginnings Preschool. We're located at Valley Horizon School and we came to spread some Christmas cheer today. And the first song we're going to sing is Where is Santa? Okay, ready guys? One, two, three. Where is Santa? Where is Santa? Here I
003am. Here I am. Merry, merry. Merry Christmas, Merry Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. All right, the next song we're going to sing, I'm going to put some music with it. We're going to sing, no, not that one. Santa Claus is Coming to Town. So it was that one. Ready guys? Go! You better not tell him, you better not tell him, you better not tell him I'm telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town He's making a list, check him in twice Gonna find out who's naughty or nice Santa Claus is coming to town He sees you when you're sleeping He knows when you're awake He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. Oh, you better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout.
004I'm telling you why. Santa Claus is coming. I'm going to be saying Merry Christmas. One, two, three. Thank you. I'm really sorry in their life that I always bring candy canes for these kids. I got tied up this afternoon. Would you please give candy canes and give them? Thank you. I feel guilty. Thank you very much. Next item in business is for to recognition of district athletic champions. The district administration and governing board would like to recognize the following teams for their championships. Yes, if I could have the board go to the front and we will recognize the seventh grade Crane Middle School softball championship from. And I'll call you up one at a time here. As soon as our board members come up, I'll call the players. I know, right? I heard there's a
005whopping two of you that made it up. So I'll go. They have basketballs? Oh, okay. Ariariola? Nope. Olivia? Noelle? Ariana? Caitlin? Ariel? Lily? You're gonna be the last two. Kayla? Oh yeah, Kayla! Kayla Ochoa! Congratulations, Kayla! Alisa? Valeria? Eliza? Annie? Annie Diaz! Congratulations! We also had Sophie Leon, Isabella Silva, and two managers, Ivana Ochoa and Zania Curtin. Congratulations. Congratulations, ladies. Fantastic. Sorry, we had a... Something was going really fast. And Annie. I know another Annie. And parents and anyone else, if you'd like to come take pictures, please feel free to do so. Come on up. Is it in your hand? There we go. Next item of business is 4.3 presentation by exceptional student services department. Connie Connie Jerpsap, Director of Exceptional Student Services will introduce the ESS office staff and explain their duties. Hey, so
006good evening President Moore and board members, Stephanie Moore members. Thanks for having me tonight to present. I'm going to present like President Moore said, the You've met or heard about all the other departments, related services and teachers. They're what they do. But you've not met or heard about the incredible office staff at the district office for the ESS department. You've got some fabulous ladies over there. Oh, maybe I need to turn on. Dale, that's not nice. I don't think I did that. Okay, so. This is Brenda Avila. She is the administrative assistant in our department and she does a lot. She kind of manages the office area and but she maintains and updates the SPED data. For student data, we have a spreadsheet, and we have a Google form, and it comes into a spreadsheet
007on her computer, where any time there's changes, when there's meetings going on, whether they're MET meetings, IP meetings, after every meeting, a data form has to be filled out by the teachers or the psychs or SLPs, and we have to input that. She puts that new data, even if it's not changed. She has to make any changes because the net syncs with Synergy, which then syncs to ADE. So that's how ADE knows what we're doing and where our students lie in their disabilities and least restrictive environment. So it's huge. And it really affects our October 1st census, which is a big report for us. She works with the school registers to ensure that accurate data. She assists in managing the ESS budget and maintains accurate financial and office records and works closely with the payroll
008and Geneva. She does all the reconciliations of any P-cards that the P-cards are used in, and she does POs in iVision. She serves as the IEP pro. That's our... system that we use to house all of our IEPs. It's also the system that the 504 people use. It's in that same system, but she's the administrator of that. She assists in extended school year. She manages office operations. She does the travel and checks references for hiring and does requisitions when we need them and supports any parents. Or use as staff on request. So that's just a little bit of what she does. Rhiannon is funny because this is so Brenda and this is so Rhiannon. I always tell Brenda she takes the most beautiful pictures. And Rhiannon is just fun loving and this picture captures her
009perfectly. And Rhiannon is the ESS coordinator and so she spends a lot of her time supporting of course the teachers and training. for all teachers, new teachers. She just did a training last week and for all new teachers and returning teachers. She does case management. If we have any teachers that are not ESS certified, then we have to have someone who is ESS certified. So she is one of those people that helps support the non-certified teachers in their meetings. So we have to have someone be at those meetings to represent ESS. The teacher may or may not be taught how to facilitate those meetings or at IEP, but they always have to have somebody with them. So IEP trainings and facilitation of IEP meetings, she helps to teach that to new teachers. And it's at
010the teacher's pace. Some teachers are ready to go on their own in October and others need it until Christmas. And so it's when they're ready to fly on their own. She supports our specialized classrooms. She attends and participates in district ed services and coordinator meetings. And she's data collection and placement recommendations. We work on that together. And she does some consulting with principals. She's a great resource to them regarding our ESS programs and problem solving. And she does behavior consultation with teachers and principals as well. She's been a great addition. This is Heather McEntee. She's not new to our district at all. And she is our teacher who supports teachers. Her job is she is out in the buildings and supporting our teachers. She supports our new teachers, she supports our returning teachers, and she
011helps teach them how to facilitate and write IEP, or facilitate meetings and write IEPs as well. She does more of the resource teacher where Rhiannon does more of the specialized self-routine classrooms. She is a great resource to principals as well. So Cora has been in the ESS department for 25 plus years. I don't know. And so she, we call her preschool. She does everything preschool. She is our preschool wonder woman. Preschool is a beast. It is constantly moving. We do like anywhere from four to eight meetings a month or four a week. And then we add on extra other ones that we do five every other week in addition to that. And she is constantly talking to parents. She's constantly setting up meetings, rescheduling meetings, reminding parents of their meetings. She keeps track of all
012of our students in preschool. She also does child-fine compliance. She does all the review of, she doesn't review for content evaluations, but she reviews for completeness and then pushes those out to parents. And so she also does the intake when a parent is referring a student to preschool. And she manages all the spreadsheets. She does the same thing that Brenda gets from a data form. that have been happening and then she gets the spreadsheet for preschool and she does all everything preschool and synergy that brenda does for all the other students we're at about 900 students right now so it's a big task for everyone and there's lots of meetings happening every week And then we have Valeria Julio, and she is one of our bilingual secretaries. We have two of them. The title of
013bilingual secretary is a little deceiving because they really are doing compliance with IEPs. They both heard the next person do the same job, so I'm going to read Valeria's and then Jasmine's, but they both do it. But they are, like I said, our IEP compliance readers. They read every IEP that comes through. They don't read some areas for content because they're not educators, but they do try and make sure that the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed and that we get IEPs out to, they send them for correction and get them out to parents. So they manage the documentation and communication with ESS teachers and parents. They review IEPs, like I said. They handle all the record transfers. They maintain the electric files and processes, and they process the incoming and outgoing student
014transfers. So we get students who come from Texas, they're the ones that contact the school in Texas to get the records. If we get someone who comes to us from Florida, Florida requests the records, they send them. Our records are separate from the records that the QM folder is at. schools so we have our own schools get their records we get our records um they schedule the school psychologist each one has five they have five schools they schedule the vet meetings they create and send home the meeting notices and they call the parents to remind them of the meetings And they answer parent questions, requests, and ensure clear bilingual communication. And they ensure smooth processes and accurate reference. And she's been with us. She was an instructional aide for a few years in one of
015our classrooms. And she's just joined us three months ago. So she's fairly new. Jasmine's even newer. And she is the same bilingual secretary. So again, she supports. The five schools she works with, she supports those teachers, psychologists and parents and managing the communication. She, of course, does the accuracy completion and compliance with IEPs as well and the transfer of records and keeping up to date on the student files and provides that communication in Spanish and English. So, thank you. Do you have any questions? Any questions from the board? Comments? Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Whoever's next, they should check us off. Next time on Business 4.4 presentation by Information Services Department, Eddie Payanas, Director of Technology and Information Security, will present to the district's new phone system. It's basically, we went from rotary to push
016button. And he's on his way up. Good evening, Green Governing Board and Executive Leadership Team. Just like the President said, we are going to review the project that we have, the district-wide goal. So I'm going to talk about RingCentral and Fusion Connect. So RingCentral, it's a unified communication as a service, so it's cloud-hosted. IP meaning you need the internet to get the service. So what does RingCentral include? So you have your desk phones and your desk extensions, your classroom phones, which are on the wall. You also have the soft phone app, which is on your cell phone. You have vaccine too, Mr. Debra. And you also have web conferencing. So, and then you also have, you can open up your browser and then you have the ability to use us RingSensual browser website and you
017log in with your AD credentials and you have access to your extension and all your functionality. There's where you can use your faxing if you don't want to use an old school fax system. And then there you could use web conferencing and you can also actually connect a headset from your desktop or your MacBook and make calls. So why RingCentral, right? So Gardner's Magic Quadrant provides a view of where RingCentral stands. So you have four areas, challengers, leaders, niche players, and visionaries. So all those dots represent different companies, different manufacturers. So RingCentral is on the leaderboard and has been there for the last 10 years. So just like I said, Week Central, we also have Fusion Connect. So Fusion Connect is another service that we went with. So this is for our critical phone lines,
018such as for our alarm panels and also our backup phones in case the internet goes down because it does go down every now and then when someone with a backhoe. So the way this works is you have two connections. So you have a internet connection to this device and then you also it also has a sim card for cell phone service. So regardless, the service is always going to stay up and we prove that. So one system goes down, the other one takes over automatically. So like I said, this is for critical systems like the fire alarm panels and our backup phones. So the goal is obviously this meets or is a district goal on the operations side. So I'm going to go over three little facets of the project. So we first had to
019do a proof of concept. So at Gowan, we tested their phone system. So we went live on Gowan with maybe 20 extensions. And we did everything that we wanted to do on the design. So then we did the scope, what it's going to take to do the whole school district. all the classrooms, all the operational sites. Then we did like an analysis of how much is this really gonna cost on the capital site and the operating site. After that, we went ahead and went with the project. We did a core migration. So that's getting the old functionality, the old system going to the new one, make sure everyone had the same extensions, everything. And then we did the hardware replacement, which is a lot of phones, desk phones and classroom phones. And then we did
020the safety integration and business continuity side, which safety integration was on our lockdown system. So it does connect with our PA system and some other functions. And we also did the business continuity side, which is covered by Fusion Connect. And then at the end, we did some training. Angel, our communications expert, did those videos. Hopefully you like them with his avatar. So the middle picture right here shows our app and our phone lines. So there's over a million phone lines there. And then Pinjo had to pick them one by one. I'm just kidding. Okay, so... What did we focus on? We replaced outdated phone system from Lumen phone lines with RingCentral. We replaced outdated classroom phones, office phones for free. We replaced outdated fax server. We replaced an outdated Lumen Potslite service. We no longer
021maintain these servers. We have about three servers on site. And then the administration and the end user training experience is much easier to maintain. So on the modernization side, like I said, everything's cloud-hosted, right? So it's no longer on-premise, and it's a much better system. So we are compliant with 911 location services. We do follow the Carries Law and Rainbow Mac. We do integrate with the lockdown system. On the business continuity side, so we make sure we cover the critical sites, the critical services, which are the part-alarm panels. the business culinary workaround for in case the internet's down. So what's this cost, right? So before, between all the phone lines, they used to cost around $68,000. For the hardware support, $39,000. This is for the year, right? And the total was $107,000 each year. That's
022what we had to pay. With RingCentral, we reduced it to $100,000. Before a new phone or a replacement phone used to cost $450. Now with this system, the phones cost under $30 each. And so we did do a one-time capital cost for professional services for help. And that was $48,000. Value investment, return on investment, whatever you want to call it. So we did an awesome deal with RingCentral where we got five months of service for the first year. So that was around $32,000. We did negotiate free phones, five of that, and we're $95,000. So we do get web conferencing. Like I mentioned, the last time we paid for Zoom was $11,500 per year. Now it's part of RingCentral. vaccine, we had an outdated fax server that's now not under any type of service. So we
023had to have like, you know, crazy AI help or like call a buddy or a buddy that can help us. And if you would go out and buy the service separately, it would cost around $1,000 per month for the district, averaging how many faxes we do. So now, like I said, we don't have a We don't have server hardware to maintain. We don't have any licenses to maintain. None of that stuff. And the integration compatibility, which was awesome. We made sure it was compatible with all our systems. And I want to thank Mr. Ponder and Lori for bringing this goal, which is pretty awesome. Questions, concerns? I have one question. A few weeks ago, Mr. Ponder and Mrs. Doering and I were supposed to have a very early, very early meeting. And Mr. Ponder was
024responsible for the burritos. And we didn't have burritos. And so the long and short of that was because the system was down. So what? What was that on the internet window? Okay. Yeah. So we do have, like I said, uh, this is cloud posted. So if the internet goes down, um, we will lose our phone system, but we have business continuity lines, like I mentioned. So you would have to use specific phone lines. Um, like each school in the front office, they have an emergency phone line. Uh, each kitchen manager has an emergency phone line. The students have, uh, of all that's not going to go down. That's all part of the Fusion Connect system. One of the problems we had a few years ago was the internet. It was so slow. It was antiquated.
025We had all kinds of problems. Is that an anomaly that just happened? Yeah, so occasionally, you know, we have fiber optics, and if somebody hits a pole that fiber optics are connected to that's outside of our control, Eddie, it sounded like a joke where a shark at the Pacific Ocean, it happened too. So there are things that happen that are beyond the defense control where we do have that, which is why Eddie and his team also implemented Fusion Connect to offset some of those things so we can maintain that connectivity, because ultimately we want parents to be able to make sure they can reach. their school in the event that they need to reach their child and at the same time the students able to report out. So part of those business continuity plans include
026those types of fail-safes. So there are, we have the ability to do high availability services, fault-tolerant services, but we cannot afford it. Okay. Mr. Gipondo? Sir? If that were to happen again? It's only a mild Arizona donut and they have great brewers. I know. I told them. All right. Any other questions, concerns? We'll move on. Thank you. 5.1 Superintendent's Current Events Summary. The superintendent needs to provide members of the governing board and residents of the Crane School District with monthly statements of current happenings and pending events, including information about student academic achievement. So Ms. Dorian, you have the floor. All right, winter break. Winter break will be from December 15th through January 2nd this year. Staff and students are looking forward to this much needed rejuvenation. School news. Numerous schools are hosting their annual winter
027programs. Check with your child's school for their Christmas extravaganza schedules. Gary Knox Elementary's news. Gary Knox Elementary joined schools across the country honoring Ruby Bridges and her bravery on November 14th during Ruby Bridges' walk to school day. Students enjoyed a surprise visit from a hot air balloon pilot who landed nearby and invited everyone to see the balloon up close and ask questions. Up next, they are preparing for their annual farmer's market. Students have been working diligently in the garden, caring for their vegetables as they grow. Sixth grade students are even documenting the process by creating a digital garden notebook on their iPads. They look forward to sharing their harvest with everyone. The 2025 AASA 8th grade math proficiency. We're incredibly proud of the collective efforts of our students, teachers, and families. Ensuring that our 8th
028grade students are well prepared in mathematics is a critical goal. And the results from the 2025 AASA math assessment reflect this commitment. This year, our 8th graders outperformed neighboring districts, achieving the highest percentage of students proficient in math among the comparison group. in fact when measured against the group's median proficiency rate crane's eighth grade students demonstrated nearly double the percentage of students reaching proficiency in math keep up the hard work arizona Superintendent visit. Arizona Superintendent Horn visited Gowan Science Academy to recognize student achievement. Gowan Science Academy's math rate is 56%, nearly double the state average of 31. For language arts, their average is 66% compared to the state average of 40%. Horne presented the school with an exemplary academic achievement award plaque recognizing progress, resilience, and the pursuit of excellence. Congratulations, Gowan Gators. Mr. President
029and members of the board, this is my report for this month. Thank you very much. Next item of business 5.2, Superintendent's Update on Legislative and Other Governmental Actions. Sometimes issues that could impact crane schools are considered by various legislative and or administrative bodies in the state or federal government. Members of the governing board need to be aware of those issues and provide appropriate direction to initiate or respond to them. Mr. Ponder. Thank you, Mr. President, members of the board. Session has not yet begun. However, there's already 63 bills that have been pre-filed and some resolutions as well. Some of those geared around public education, some around K-3 literacy, some about the assessment window, others about... Trying to think, there's a couple of budget items in there too. There's also been some discussion about some term
030limits for legislators that you can only have four years in any one chamber, I'm sorry, four terms in any one chamber within their lifetime. So previously you could bounce back and forth between the chambers and be able to. to continue to serve in that capacity. And so there's some discussion about having some term limits. I believe, you know, the State Board of Education also reviewing some of the concerns that were brought by Superintendent Horn to the board about maybe some of the standards are not compliant with the federal order. It's primarily regard to DEI. And so those things are also under consideration as well. So a lot of things happening. And during this interim session, there's a library bill that's been dropped too. So just some interesting pieces of legislation and policy that could be
031headed our way as well. So the session will begin that. second Monday in January, which I believe is the 12th. And then that's when things will kind of get kicked off. So with that, I'll pause for any questions. Why don't you talk about our meeting with Senator Dunn? Yes, so Mr. Moore was able to coordinate a meeting with Senator Dunn. Actually, I reached out to all of our legislators about coming and touring our campuses, meeting with the district, and letting them know that the challenges that some of their policies might have on the district and what we're doing to address some of those needs. Due to scheduling, Senator Dunn was the only one who was able to attend that meeting, and so it was Superintendent Doering, myself, and then President Moore. He also had a
032staffer who attended virtually as an education advisor. And so had a really great conversation. I think there was a felt very encouraged by that, that he thought there were areas where they could change policy or address the needs. We did touch on the capital funding lawsuit. What can we do to start working towards bringing a resolution to that? And we felt. that necessary to not just come with issues, but also what are some of those solutions that we could bring forward to help address those long term. And so he was open to some of those conversations and in fact engaged with his staff member and asked if they would do further research and asked, is this a legislative change? Is this a regulatory change? He really wanted to learn more about that. So he felt
033very encouraged by that conversation with him. They did request additional documentation and a follow-up, which I did provide that next day. And so they have all the information that they have requested in order to continue to have those conversations moving forward. So I would say it was an opportunity to plant a seed and then kind of work over time to see what we could do to make that change. He was interested in some of the Title 15 reform work that we had worked on. in 24 with then Senator Bennett and what are some of those things that may still be applicable today that we could reinstitute. So I shared some of our thoughts on that as well. I found the meeting to be encouraging. He was very complimentary on the safety and security protocols that
034we have throughout our district and even commented that that could be a model for others across the state. to be able to have those types of resources. And at that time, it reminds him that all of those were locally funded. So our support from our communities is what made that happen through bonds and overrides in order to provide those secure environments in our lockdown system, the command center, those types of things that we hadn't been able to. So again, just very complimentary of the work that we're doing. And I felt encouraged by the meeting. I don't know if Superintendent Dorian or others had any comments. Yeah, I, you know, at first I wanted to have a small meeting between our four legislators and the three of us. We didn't want them to feel outnumbered. And
035we wanted them to feel like you're not. at a news conference. It's not necessarily closed doors, but it was in our office. It was very laid back. And my intention was to create something so we can have a dialogue back and forth, but not go with problems. This whole thing was, we've got to, we have solutions. We have solutions to the problems that you guys feel that we have and that we know we have. But the fact that it just some could and one day we had to change it because we had the audit. And so at that point, we lost just about everyone. I feel very confident I've spoken to him and others. I really do think that there's a really good chance that we'll get some legislation coming out of Crane District. So
036it'd be like we're the ones that spearheaded this legislation. And I've been talking to some and they they they're willing to. to drop bills and I'm like, well, we'll write them, but we'll have people write them for you if we have to. But I feel pretty confident that we'll have some legislation coming out of Crane in the next session. He was very impressed with security. Really like, wow. Like really we took him into the... What's that room? Command Center. He was like, wow. He's like, maybe this is something we need to look at with all the, he goes, there are two instances. I think he said two, maybe at least one instance the week before that, where something happened in Phoenix. They had nothing like this. And so he was really impressed. He went to
037Gowan. He saw Gowan. He liked what he saw. He liked the. He's been there before, but he really enjoyed it. And so I'm very optimistic. And it's a little more than cautiously optimistic. I really feel like we are gaining ground. In the past, we kind of went with like omnibus bills, which were huge. And now... no, I'm not going to vote for it because of this. And if you get rid of that, a lot of negotiating into where you get to the point where we got out of the Senate last year and it was fine. And we're like, oh my God, we're at third base. And then it just like, well, we need to drop this. We need to drop that. But now I think we're going to go with individual policies or individual legislation
038and they don't have anything to put up against it. So it's like, these are the facts. And it's going to, I feel. optimistic. So there will be some follow up meetings to those and we'll keep you apprised of the developments. So that's that's it. Anybody else? Okay. Next item of business, government board business. 6.1, oral reports, oral conferences, workshops, and school visitations. Periodically, members of the governing board attend various conferences, seminars, workshops, district schools, and so forth, and have information to share with other members. So I'll open it up to the floor. Go ahead. I can share. I got to go to Green Middle School's lemonade competition, which was... one super cute um but I got to hear a little bit of the work that went into it and I was really impressed so they
039did a lot of really like life skills development and so the students were completely in charge of like developing their brand they all had to get their food handlers card and actual business licenses uh and so it was super impressive just from a educational standpoint the skills that the kids were working on and then Something that I think surprised me, but I was also impressed in an adjacent thing, is they had some of their classes also participating and doing other events. And they had their RC car class, which I did not know was a thing, but that was super cool. And they had those students outside, you know, playing around. And, of course, my ridiculous children went out there and were allowed to control the RC cars. And I was just impressed by the maturity
040of the students. They had like big brother vibes. And it was both very cute, but also impressive because I think sometimes teenagers get a bad rap. And I think the overall students were very impressive. Very good. Anyone else? Good. I had also a couple of opportunities. I was one of the judges for the Mesquite Spelling Bee, and it was great. I was really, really impressed with the level of spellers that there were there. It's also very emotional. when you have to hit that bell and see the looks on their faces. Oh, you were the ringer? I was the ringer. I didn't want to be the ringer. Somebody asked me to be the ringer. Anyway, it was very impressive and I enjoyed it. I also went to the Yuma County LEGO presentation on Saturday. Full disclosure,
041I went because my granddaughter was on the Centennial Lego team, but I lucked out because there were teams from Gowan there too. So I got a twofer out of it. I don't know who has been or hasn't been to those. In my head, Lego is a toy. In the competitions, it is not a toy. It is serious business and very impressive about just the things that those students did and the intensity. I just wanted to send kudos to Mrs. Jones from Centennial and Ms. Van Sickle at Gowan. are so great with the kids and really did a super job. And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that there's at least one of the gallantines going to the state competition. So good for them. That was really fun. Anyone else? Mr. Covey? Yes. He wasn't the
042bell ringer. Well, being the old person that was at the spelling bee, I just said, well, I guess one of the younger people, that'd be you, Miss Bowen, will be the ringer of the bell. And she did a wonderful job. The kids were great. I was a little concerned when they had the first practice word was age. And I thought, geez, I hope we get through the spelling bee before the weekend. But I don't know how many, what, 15 rounds or something? It was great. And the kids did a wonderful job. And the kids watching did a wonderful job. There wasn't a bunch of commotion out there and they'd fall in a structure. That was pretty fun. I spent a little bit of time talking to a couple of principals over the week about some
043of the things, but nothing that, nothing I need to really report in. Just getting, excuse me, getting some ideas. Boyfriend, I got those peppermint candy sticks. I've been able to take one. Yeah. Thank you. Garcia, did you have? I was at Gowan a couple of times this week. One was for the superintendent to visit. Dale was with me and he looked like security. He's walking around in his Ray-Bans, right? And the suit and just walking around. I was like his little shadow. I was like, I look cool too, you know? But so we were there for that. And then the day before that, it was with... Senator Dunn. And so I was doing that. Tomorrow, I will be doing a science fair. And Jim's going to be doing that too. I need to speak to
044you before you leave, please. The science fair is tomorrow. And so we'll be there. I don't know which one I have, but I'm sure I have something to do with math. Anyways, so that's it for us. Anything else? All right. Well, we shall move on to 6-2, discussion of board officer succession. Within the month of January, the district's governing board may elect new officers, which for Crane Elementary School District consists of the president and the clerk. The duties of the president shall be as follows, which are pursuant to the governing board policy 1-103, governing board organization. One sets the board meeting agendas with the superintendent and input from other board members. Convenes, presides over, and maintains order during the meetings. Makes motion and votes on any motion made during the meeting, unless otherwise prohibited by
045law due to conflict of interest. At the organizational meeting in January, the board may elect a clerk whose duty it shall be to assume the duties of the president at the board meetings in the absence of the president. In the advance or in the absence of an elected officer at board meetings, the board members present at the meetings may designate a board member to assume the duties of the president for that meeting. If so desired, each member of the governing board will be permitted to speak for three minutes. I'm going to make that two. I'm just three minutes to either advocate for themselves or another member. to serve at the capacity of the president or the clerk or and clerk. For clarification, this agenda item is provided to give governing board members the opportunity to
046discuss who may be interested in serving in these capacities for the 2026 calendar year, which will be determined and acted upon at the regular governing board meeting in January of 26. So if any of you want to be president, You don't have to decide tonight. You can decide that night if you want, right? Or if you want to be clerk, you can do that. I think other board members would like to know what your intentions are. So do any of you want to be that or one or the other or all contemplating it? I mean, I have no interest in being president. I think that we have an excellent president already. If you want to not deal with being clerk, I'm happy to take up being clerk, unless you're attached to it. All right. Anybody
047else? Yes, I would be willing, interested in serving as president. I think my argument for that is anyone who has read ahead on the agenda knows that we may be looking at some big changes next year. where I feel I can make a contribution is because I have been involved in three superintendent hirings and also the transition that's involved between the two. So I think I have some institutional knowledge, not back to the Stone Age like Jim, which can be helpful at times. So I'll just throw that out for whatever it's worth. Anyone else? I'm... I love serving as president. I think I do a lot of work, but I'm not going to, I don't think I'm going to be standing in someone else's way if they would like to do it. I just do
048a lot. I'm doing a lot of stuff that's above and beyond what I normally would do as president, but I don't want to. It's a great role. I talk to them regularly, trying to get some of the stuff done at the 30,000 foot level. So I do have a lot of experience in executive leadership, executive management, and all of that. But I feel like I'd love to do this, but I feel like I don't want to hog it up. So I'm willing to let it rotate. And I don't intend to stop doing the things that I do. And so if that's not an objection of the president, whoever that may be, then I'll continue doing that stuff. Let's go on to unless there's any other discussion on this. I'll move on. The 7-1 call to
049the public. Consideration and discussion of comments and concerns from the. from the public. Those wishing to address the Governing Board on items not on the agenda may do so at this time. Speakers are requested to hold their comments to three minutes. Individuals addressing the Governing Board may not yield any portion of their allotted time to any other individual wishing to address the Governing Board. In accordance with the Arizona Open Meeting Law, board members may not or may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the board, may ask staff to review a matter, or may ask that the matter be put on a future agenda. However, board members shall not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during an open call to the public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and
050legal action. acknowledgement of well, I don't that's the next item. So, Ms. Encinas, is there anyone? Oh, it's under my computer. That was a quiz and I failed. And I can't really read this really well because I don't have my C goods. Yeah, if you would. We'll hear from the Sunrise Optimist Club essay and oratorio contest. Youth Appreciation nominations. Ms. Davis, would you please take the floor? Three minutes is it. I don't need that. I am the president of the Sunrise Optimist Club. I'm also the essay and oratorical chair. The Optimist Clubs of Yuma have been around for over 50 years. The Sunrise Optimist Club has sponsored the essay and oratorical contest on behalf of Optimist International for almost all of those 50 years, probably closer to 70. So today, I am taking a different
051approach. I have sent flyers to schools. I have put it in the newspaper. And this year I decided I was going to go straight to the school boards and say, if you guys know about it, then you'll tell your staff and maybe then they'll share that with their teachers. So that's why I'm here this evening. So I appreciate the time. I did send Mr. Colby this flashy flyer that explains the essay and oratorical concept. So he can share that with all of you. I have a plain black and white, which I will give you all. I put the right date on the black and white one, so that was not good. The essay is for anyone under the age of 19. So we encourage the junior high students more than anything to participate. Although, again,
052anyone can be involved. It is a seven to 800 word essay. So it's a little complicated. The topic is there in front of you. It has to do with how acts of service. Help you understand what your community means to you. I'm actually in the midst of writing my own essay on that topic. We're having a contest for the adults, for the members of the Arizona district. And so last night I started writing my essay, but anyway, so that's what I wanted to bring you. The essay contest is due or the essay applications are due January 15th. Although that black and white copy says the 12th, I screwed up on that. It is the 15th. The oratorical is a totally different topic, and it is on the black and red flyer, not on the black
053and white one, but I can send a black and white one if you want it. It is due just a... The application and a rough draft of the speech is due in February, and the actual contest will probably be in March. I don't set a contest until I know I have contestants, so I kind of wait until I see what I have for individuals that are interested in the contest themselves. That's it. Wanted to let you guys know about that again, if you will encourage our schools to participate. I will ask, though, that if a teacher decides to make it a classroom thing, which it's not meant to be, but if a teacher decides to make it a classroom assignment. I would appreciate only getting the top three to five, otherwise I lose my judges
054when I hand them 35 essays to grade or to judge. So if you guys can maybe limit that to three to five from a class or three to five from a school, that would help me a little bit with regard to my judges and what they have to do as judging those essays. Last thing. Optimists of Amel County have a youth appreciation edition in the spring. I will hand this to you as well. I will send a copy to Mr. Colby. It is just a dinner. It is not meant for the top students in the school. It is actually meant for those students that are surprises. You know, the kids that are in there, hanging in there, but are overcoming some type of... adversity, maybe giving back to the community in some way, doing something
055fantastic. And so we try to recognize those. It's up to the community to nominate those students. We have all the criteria on that sheet I just gave you. So again, if you could hand that out to your schools and that's for anybody. up to well we again junior high and high school age but um encourage your teachers to nominate kids that are worthy so thank you what was the due date on this again did you change that i'm sorry okay thank you ma'am my god thank you thank you miss davis all right we'll go on to the next item of business which is 8-1 consent agenda. That was a quiz and I'll let you pass. 7-2. I had it circled. All right. Acknowledgement of public request to speak. Anyone wishing to address the board on
056items on tonight's agenda may do so at this time or at the chair's discretion at the time of the item appeared when the item appears. on the agenda. Comments should be restricted to three minutes and not including board questions and comments and responses by the speaker individuals addressing the governing board may not yield any portion of their allotted time to any other individual wishing. In accordance to the open meeting law, board members may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the board, may ask staff to review a matter, or may ask that the matter be put on a future agenda. However, board members shall not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during an open call to the public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action. It's a
057good thing I've said that a lot because I can't really read right now. But anyways, is there anyone else here? There's no one not. So let's go to 8.1, consent agenda, consideration of approval of consent agenda items. The consent agenda conserves time by eliminating the items of those of a routine nature, which normally do not require deliberation on the part of the governing board. The items will be accepted and approved in one action unless the board members wish to have an item separated from the consent agenda and specifically discussed. The vote or action on any item removed from the consent agenda will be taken separately. What is the pleasure of the board? Mr. President? Yes, ma'am. I'd like to pull agenda item 8.6, which is the personnel report. 8? What was that again? 8.6. 8.6.
058Uh-huh. 8.6. 8.6 has been removed. Any others? With that, I would move that we adopt the... The consent agenda is presented with that exception. I second that. Is there a properly moved and seconded discussion? I see the vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed the same sign. Motion passes unanimously. A6. Brenna, would you like to speak about that? Yes, let me get there. I just, maybe Dale could speak to this. I'm just curious about the class size overage. Could you just talk about that a little bit? Sure. So a few years ago, we implemented this as a way to acknowledge that we had some higher class sizes than what we had budgeted for across the district. And so to compensate for that, we do a study. The first of every month. Jennifer, if
059you could probably help me with that, too. But take a look at specific benchmarks during the school year and determine what are those thresholds at. If they exceed those established thresholds as established by the board, then they receive compensation of $250, $300, and $350. Is that correct? Yeah. So there's those different levels that are there. So those individuals on this report exceeded that at December 1st. Is that correct? Yes. It's an average of the first of the month for September. That's correct. Thank you. Yes. So August, September, September, October, November, December. That's the first of each of those. So the difference in the amounts is as the student numbers increase? Okay, okay, all right, okay. And I, you know, I looked up first at Gowan, but that's because they cap at 30, is that correct?
060Yes. Okay, and do they go over 30? They do. They do, okay. So what kind of numbers? They have some that are at 35. I believe they have a couple classrooms at 37. Yes, the middle school is correct. Middle school is capped at 30. Oh, okay, okay. All right, that's all. Thank you. I would move that we approve agenda item 8.6. Second. It's properly been moved and seconded to approve such item. Any discussion? Shall I proceed to vote? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is way over here. Personnel. Personnel. 9-1 consideration. of adopting the updated compensation packet for 25-26 school year. The board approved board approval is needed to update the compensation packet for the 2025-2026 school year. The updated compensation packet has been
061developed to provide current and prospective employees with a clear and comprehensive overview of the district's salary schedule benefits, including health insurance, retirement contributions, leave, and work schedules. The revised packet now includes detailed information on the regular and early retirement plans, additionally language regarding eligibility requirements for referral and longevity stipends. has been added or updated. Language has also been incorporated to allow the district to issue a compensation packet without requiring further board approval as the district will act in accordance with approval packet. To align with the district's current practices, the administration recommends approval of the revised 2025-2026 comprehensive. packet as presented. What is the pleasure of the board? We've all received the packet. So I think the motion is we check it as presented. And then properly moved and seconded to approve the action item. All
062in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is consideration to accept the retirement notice of Superintendent Lori Doering. Superintendent Lori Doering has notified the Governing Board of her intent to retire effective June 30, 2026 and formal acceptance by the Governing Board is recommended. After 43 years of service to the Crane Elementary School District and the last nine years as a district superintendent, Superintendent Lori Doering has notified the governing board of her intent to retire effective June 30, 2026. In accordance with the contractual requirements, the governing board is requested. To formally acknowledge and accept this notice, acceptance will enable the administration to initiate appropriate succession planning with the governing board to ensure continued stability and operational continuity. It is recommended that the governing board formally accept the retirement
063of Superintendent Lurie during effective June 30, 2026. No other comments will be allowed. What is the pleasure of the board? I moved it. We accept Ms. Doering's intent to retire. Thanking her for everything she's ever done. It's probably moved. Is there a second? Does it die? We get an illegal second. I'll second. It has been properly moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? I'd like to add a little something. One of the difficult things is to figure out when it is that you should retire. And a lot of people are like, what made you decide? And I'm thinking about it. And I think I know the time that I realized this should be my last year. I told my kids that when I pass away, I'd like to be cremated. And they all said, oh,
064mother, you're going to want us to spread your ashes around Crane District. That's what you're going to want. So I'm realizing. that I probably need to leave and show them I enjoy other things. I don't want to stay here so long that my ashes are spreading on the desk. That was great. That was not obvious, Jim. I think it's always good to leave when people are sad to see you go. You know, I've gotten to work with you in different capacities. I didn't know this when I came back or I don't know. I don't know if that would have changed my mind or coming back, but you know how much I admire you. And I know you leave us in a good place, at least not the outside noise, right? But, but inside our community,
065it was in a very good place. And I just appreciate your dedication. I appreciate your heart. I appreciate your honesty and I've been able to learn from you as a leader. So. Yes. Well, Lori, I'm going to miss the chapoodle lunches and dirt burgers. And we don't do dirt burgers. It was, it's been a great ride. You're leaving things in a good spot. And so I'm sure we're going to be able to. pick up right where you left off and we'll be doing well. So thank you. I'll talk more about that with you. Anyways, I need a, so it's been properly moved. It's been discussed. You seconded. Yeah, I mean. So it's been seconded. So this is not going to end debate. All right. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same
066sign. All right, motion passes unanimously. Next item of business. I think that's the adjournment, right? Adjournment. I move that we adjourn this meeting. Second. All right, we are adjourned. Alyssa.