001All right, ladies and gentlemen, I want to call this meeting to order. It is Tuesday, September the 9th, 2025. Crane-Ellen, I just, full governing board. First item of business is going to be the work session. Man, technology is amazing, isn't it? Pretty much. I just lost it here. That's one word. Yeah. Delicate convention. The first hour and ten minutes they were trying to figure out how to use the new voting technique and then everybody got fed up. It was terrible. I was sitting in the back of the room and I said, we're just laughing. Why don't they just give me a selection? I don't know what. Let's go. Did they ever get it fixed? No. Finally, some guy. Do you want to go to work session and then mess with the analogy? Yeah, I just
002got to read this. We don't need a book. We don't need a book. And if you guys have something to say, we'll talk about it. All right, we're going to get this technology going. We apologize for that. Basically, we're meeting on the work session here to go over some mandatory reporting. As school board members, we are now mandated by law to become mandatory reporters. And we're going to turn the floor over here to this kind gentleman. If you have the floor. I have a floor. My name is Steve Palak. I used to sit where y'all did. Well, it's at the other building, but I used to sit there for a while, and then they kicked me out. It's my pleasure to come talk to you all. This is going to be a little bit different
003presentation. What you have there at your seats is what I typically give to the schools and their staffs. But since you all are not directly impacting with the kids as such, we're going to tweak it a little bit. But that's the information that I would typically give out to the schools and to the staffs there. So let me see if I can make this thing work. And again, this is about the law, what the law says and how to stay in compliance. So this is ARS 133620 that says who's a mandatory reporter and what that means. And again, to violate that law, that's a plastic felony, which it'll get to tell you here in just a minute. So it's really important to understand what the ramifications are of that and how to make sure that
004you meet the criteria that's necessary to do that. If I go too fast, let me know. I told Lori that if I could do this in a half hour instead of an hour and a half, I typically use. But she knows that I can do that. So the key part here, mandated reporters are anybody that reasonably believes, that's the key phrase right there, reasonably believes that a child is or has been a victim. Okay, and talks about what the physical neglect, whatever the case may be. If it's something that falls under the realm of child abuse or child neglect, it's a mandatory report that needs to be generated. Okay. And again, we'll get to how that affects you guys here in just a little bit. But it says, shall report or cause a report to
005be made to law enforcement or Department of Child Safety. You can do it to either one. However. And you'll see this multiple times in this presentation. Even DCS says call law enforcement first. Always call law enforcement first. And again, we'll get into the reasoning behind that. But the basic premise is it's much faster response. Because what happens if you call law enforcement, then they're already dispatched in the process of sending somebody out to the campus or to wherever to address the issue. If you call DCS, then there's an 800 number that you're calling, which is in Phoenix, which covers the whole state. So Tucson's calling and Flagstaff is calling and Lake Havasu's calling and Show Low's calling and everybody's calling. And depending on what you say and how you say it, they'll classify it either
006as a class one, two, or three. Class one has a response within 24 hours. Class two is 48 hours. Class three is 72 hours. So imagine if you're talking about a kid being in danger or being abused or neglected or whatever, that could be up to three more days of that happening to this kid if you just call DCS. And again, DCS people, when they come out and do this with me sometimes, they say the exact same thing. Follow law enforcement first. Law enforcement is mandated to report to DCS anyway. So the report is still going to get there, and you can make the report to law enforcement and then call DCS and double down on your bet, and you're still in good shape. So even though it says call one or the other, call
007law enforcement first. And there it is, the failure to report can be a class six felony. Okay, so moving forward on that. This doesn't apply to you all quite so much because you don't see the kids every day. When I go to the schools and the staff and talk to them, they do. They see these kids and they can see some of these changes that are occurring in the kid. Maybe they're A students and very attentive and what now all of a sudden they're not, they're late to school, their grades are plummeting, etc., etc. They can see those things. Y'all can't, but you might get that report. Somebody might tell you, hey, I think this kid, you know, what is happening with this kid? Why isn't anybody doing anything? And that's where your mandatory reporting
008would take place. You would have to make that report to law enforcement. Hey, we have this report. We reasonably believe, again, that's the key phrase there, reasonably believe that something is taking place here. Okay. So, and again, the law says so. Not that they ever mean anything with the law saying it, just that they'll nail you with a felony if you don't. Again, here's a list of mandated reporters that are involved here. School board is not listed on here, nor substitute teachers. That was added to the law in April, I believe it was, and becomes official, I think, at the end of this month, something like that. But that's why I'm meeting with you all now. is to give you guys a head start on this. You guys are the first district board that I'm
009meeting with. So kudos to you. But again, these are the different people that are involved. Almost anybody that has anything to do with the school is involved in the course of their employment, it says there. So especially if it's at school and something's taking place as part of their job or whatever, they're a mandated reporter. If they hear something outside of school, they're at the grocery store and they hear something, they still need to make a report. But it's not as mandated as such because it's not part of school. And it's a very slim difference there, but so be it. And again, it encompasses all the different people that have worked for the school, the janitors, the custodians, the grounds crew, cafeteria workers, administrative staff, anybody that's working at the school, it falls under this
010category of mandatory reporter because every one of them can at some point be a mouthpiece for a kid that's in harm's way. Okay. So again, mandated report immunity. Again, your immunity comes in the fact that if you use reasonable belief that there's something that took place. That's all you need to have is a reasonable belief. If you don't, then as I said here, if the report is made in malice, and I use this example for teachers, the teacher next door to you is always messing with your stuff or whatever, whatever, whatever, and you call in a report on them just because you're mad at them. you're still liable for a class six felony. So if there's malice involved, obviously that's not a good thing. So we move forward with that. Oh, look at this one
011now. Hey, how are you doing? So again, moving forward, discretionary reporters. That's what you would be if you came across something. Like I said, if you're at the grocery store and somebody says something to you, you're more of a discretionary reporter than because it's not as part of the employment as such. Although they say you're a board member here, let me tell you this. So discretionary reporters, they reasonably believe still. That's the key phrase all the way through this is reasonably believe that something took place. And immunity applies in here and I'll show you how that you can protect yourself for that as well in just a little bit. So the bottom line is that the legislature wants people to report abuse and neglect. We want to try to protect the kids as they're one
012of our most valuable possessions. Okay, subject of the report. Again, there's going to be a lot of different things here. I'm not going to go into detail on a whole lot of them, but you understand most of them, I'm sure. Again, a physical injury, abuse, or child abuse, anything that's associated with neglect, other than by accidental means. So when this is happening and you ask the question, hey, what happened? Why do you have these bruises on your arm? Oh, I fell out of a tree. Well, you fell out of a tree how many times? Because the bruises are purple, then they're yellow, then they're green, and all the different colors that they've been healing, there are different stages of healing. Eh, maybe you didn't fall out of a tree that many times, especially in the
013same place. So things like that, other than by accidental means, that would be the subject of the report. And again, here's some of the things that can involve that. Bruising, red marks, bites, fractures or lacerations, any of those types of things, other than accidental is the key phrase there. Including physical punishment, and that's one of the things that there's always that misconception out there. Can parents spank kids? Yeah, they sure can. I do it all the time, even still probably. No, they're too old now. They beat me up. Then it would be elder abuse. Oh, I never thought about it. Anyway, moving forward here, that yes, physical punishment, as long as it's not excessive. So, you know, whack them a couple times and then moving on. Another thing that you'll see periodically throughout this presentation
014is when it involves another child. Okay, if the abuser includes another child, you might have two victims there. Where did the abuser get the idea to do this? Is this something that they saw what they're watching on TV? Is there something that they saw their parents, one due to the other or something of that nature? So that kid could be a victim also. They need to keep that in mind as well. Let's see. So we're talking about abuse. Causing or allowing physical injury. I think y'all I don't need to get into that too much emotional damage Causing or allowing serious emotional damage. You all know what that is. I don't again I don't need to explain all these things to you. You know, you can figure that out. I'm sure It includes inflicting or allowing
015sexual abuse. You know, again, there's multiple different parts of that. You know, where did the kid get the idea to do this? Is it something they saw their parents do? Is it something they got from a neighbor? Is it something they got from a relative? Or whatever, that might affect the way the report is done. And unreasonable confinement. Okay, you're not going to clean your plate, then go sit in the closet for, you know, four hours. Is that reasonable? That depends on what was for dinner, I guess. But no, unreasonable confinement. That's detrimental to any kid's growth. Child abuse. You see all these different things that are causing the physical injury, permitting the person or health of the child to be injured, causing all these different situations that are involved. And then this last one
016includes reckless acts such as driving while intoxicated with a child in the car. We always read that in the paper. You know, see, it happens all the time. The other one that I like to bring up for this area, especially what happens in the summer. We hear it every summer. Anybody? Anybody? What, swimming? Hot car. Hot car. Absolutely. I'm just going to run in and get 12 beers here, and then I'll be back. In the meantime, the kids are at the windows rolled up, and the door is locked. Yeah, certainly that's abuse and neglect. Something, again, falls into these categories. A reportable offense, any sexual acts involving a child, and or it could be between kids. Okay. And again, where does that originate from? What precipitated that act? Which kid precipitated that? Where did they
017learn to do that? Where did they learn that language, that those actions, whatever? Okay. on sexual acts. And again, I don't need to explain any of these to you. You can look at them at your leisure. But suffice it to say that when I have law enforcement with me and doing one of these presentations, they say that's one of the biggest thing that's increasing in this area right now is sexual abuse of a child, especially towards moving them towards prostitution and or trafficking in some form. Okay, they say that that's increasing. And I couldn't tell you the rate. I probably didn't want to know how fast that's increasing. But that's something to be aware of that when the kid stays up late at night and he's tired in the morning, what's he doing at night
018when he's on his device? What's he watching? What's he seeing? What's he listening to? And I don't understand a lot of these technological terms that they use that, you know, the kids do this and they get some. Roblix, Roblix or some whatever that some kind of locks, whatever. I said, I don't have any kids that small, so I don't know. But they'll get stuff like that. And then, you know, it evolves into some of the tech talk challenges. Hey, if you if you take a picture of yourself or if you do this, this act, because that's what's popular. Hey, you can make you be a tech talk star. you know, and the person they're talking to who they think is eight is actually 70, wait, I'm not 70, I'm okay, 72, then, you know, they're
019asking them to do things that are inappropriate, but guising it in the terms of, hey, you can be a star. Okay, I'm six years old, I can be a star, I'm gonna do this. Well, you know, then they're taking nude pictures of themselves or dancing in some funky way. And that would probably be me anyway. Anyway, I dance is funky, but things like that. So this comes into the neglect stage failure to provide supervision, food, clothing, shelter, medical care, any of these types of things. A lot of this can involve honest circumstances, but just this lack of knowledge. So. Mom or dad may have lost their job for whatever, never in this economy, right? We always have jobs available and the unemployment rate in this area is really low. I said that with a straight
020face. But something might have happened. What do the kids do? The parents maybe have to lose their house because they don't have a job now. And so they're living in wherever, in a car. They don't have a change of clothes. They don't have things that they would normally need, the toiletries, the opportunity to shower, bathe, whatever, whatever. That may seem like neglect, and it should certainly be a reportable thing to do, but also it's not so much to punish them, but get them help. because the police can put them in connection with folks where they can get a place to stay or at Amberley's as an example, if we have victims like that that come in, they can go shop at the thrift store for free. The Amberleaf Thrift Store, everything that's sold there, all
021that money goes to help victims. So they can come and if they get kicked out of their house, they can't bring any of their belongings or whatever house burned down, whatever the case may be, they can go shop there as a victim and it doesn't cost them a cent. You have to have babies and they need formula or they need diapers or they need other clothes for their kids. That's available at Amberley's as an example. There's other entities as well. But, you know, since I work for Amberley's, I'll plug them. Exposing child to sexually inappropriate acts. I don't need to get into that too much, but you understand. Where did that idea come from for that to happen? And that's, again, what's developing that reasonable suspicion that you want to put in your report. So
022you reasonably believe something happened. It can happen. You can find out about it typically in one of these three ways. Disclosure of abuse to a mandated reporter. You're a mandated reporter. Somebody tells you something. And whoever that might be. Okay, the observation, as I said, you see the bruising or you see the kid bend over at the recess and you see these strikes across our lower back. You know, well, who has linear marks across our lower back as a normal course of operation? Typically nobody. Or a third-party report of abuse. Somebody says, hey, next door, Bill Johnny lives next door, and I think they were beating him last night. He was screaming. He was crying. It's crazy. So you get a third-party report. You still make that as part of your report, which you'll see
023in a minute here, what you're going to do. So the bottom line is reasonable is an objective standard. Reasonable belief, that's all you need to have to make a report. The why it happened is not your concern. And they'll say that here in a minute and we'll get into that. But the why doesn't matter to you. The other parts do. The who, what, where, when. And you'll see again, you'll see that as we go forward. Is there a reason to believe we already touched on that? And disclosure, if you're involved in this type of a situation, don't conduct an interview. Why not? Any guesses? It's not your job. That's right, Renna. Thank you. You can speak up next time. It's okay. We're all friends here. They want to make sure you're not leaving the child,
024and they also sometimes tape those or record those. As an example here, you'll see here, child interviews and investigations will be conducted by trained forensic interviewers. How many of you are trained in forensic interviewing? Okay. You don't know what the appropriate questions to ask in order to get the information. So, yes, if you ask the things the wrong way, then the defense attorney is going to say, you put the words in their mouth. Boom, there goes the case. Now we've probably set a perpetrator loose on the community again. Okay. Child interviews are recorded. When they come in to Amberley's, as an example, again, they're taken into an interview room. The forensic interviewer will sit down and start talking to them, asking them questions the way that they were taught to do. That's all recorded. And
025there's typically law enforcement is watching this interview from another room or whoever needs to be. And then so they'll have that tape or that whatever form of media they use these days. I'm dating myself when I say tape. but they'll be able to look at that at any time. Why is it important to record that? Anybody? Well, the sooner you do it, the better you don't forget stuff. Jim, when you ask your kid to tell a story and you ask them to tell it more than once, what happens? Normally I don't. Well, it changes a little bit. It changes, exactly. The story will change a little bit, and if it changes, again, that leaves it out for a defense attorney to say, okay, well. These stories are not the same. You know, he said it
026here and he said, so maybe he's making this whole thing up and it makes it a lot more difficult to develop a prosecution. Okay, so if they do it to a forensic interviewer and they do it just once, then it can lead to a successful prosecution of the offenders, which is obviously the goal to get these people off the street, off away from our kids. Okay. How am I doing on time here, Lori? Seven minutes, but you can go over. I have seven minutes left? I'm almost done. Okay, disclosure. If a child discloses to you, if anybody discloses to you, the first thing that's important to understand is don't make promises. There's always a tendency, and especially with teachers, but y'all just as well, we're going to make sure this never happens again. Can you
027guarantee that? And if you can't, don't say it. Because as soon as you say it, and you can't back it up, now you've lost all credibility with the kid, and maybe other kids. Oh, yeah, they said they'd protect me, too. It could happen. So make no promises to the child. Be supportive, not judgmental. Again, very important. It's about the kid's mental well-being right now. How can we bolster that up? We're not making judgment because we're not asking why it happened. There's that next one. Do not ask a why question. To you, that's not important. It's really immaterial to you why it happened. It's just that it did happen. And is it wrong? Okay. The who, what, where, when. Listen and don't make assumptions. And another important thing, this last line right here is really important,
028again, for the same reason as before. Document exact quotes provided by the child. There's always a tendency with educators, especially, to say, well, this is what he meant. This is the language that he meant to write, you know, using this term for the anatomy, whatever, whatever. As soon as you start changing words, now you've left open that door of, is it credible? Okay. Write whatever the kid says, however they say it, using the slang or whatever, whatever. That's what you're going to turn in. Okay. Let's see what we've got next here observations again things that you see that give you root cause to believe that there's something that took place the Red flags are bruises in uncommon places in different stages of healing we talked about the different bruising on the arm or Difficulty walking
029all these different things are Red flags that could cause you to question. Hey, okay. I don't know. I don't care why this happened, but what happened? Okay, and again, here's the poor hygiene, inappropriate clothing. These types of things are more to the neglect side of things. And again, there may be logical reasons why this is taking place, but they just don't know what to do. They're at a loss. They don't know who to turn to. And there's lots of different resources here in the community. But again, the report needs to be made so we can avail ourselves of those opportunities. Sometimes you can observe acts of child abuse, but what about acts that don't lead to bruises or easily observe physical signs? These are some of the red flags. None of these necessarily prove that
030there is abuse or neglect. It's always important to remember that. The idea is to get the investigation going, somebody to look into it to make sure. If there's nothing that comes of it, so be it. That's good. There's obviously another reason and you will find out what the logical reason is, but to make sure that it's not a negative reason, we want to at least have the opportunity to investigate that. Okay? What does this one say here? When we see these, we need to know more of the child's circumstances. Just because there's no red flag doesn't mean everything is okay. Do you see something wrong? Don't be afraid to ask. Hey, you look like you're not feeling too well. What's going on? Okay, observations, changes in behavior, mood, and attitudes. Again, not so much things
031that you all will see, but they'll see at the campus level more. Again, a kid that was a good student now is not. Things like that, those are the easy ones to catch. But changes in attitude, changes in moods. Why? Depression or suicidal gestures. Again, self-explanatory. All these different things, I think you know what they are, but they can be clues. that you need to be aware of. Academic or behavioral issues. Avoiding home. Arrives early and stays late. Now, I don't know, in my brief 38-year history of being an educator, not a whole lot of kids wanted to come early and stay late. There were some, and they had logical reasons, but that might be a clue, especially with someone that hasn't done that on a normal basis. Okay, if you're an adult contact, all
032these different things that can trigger the questions that you need to ask. Again, you can read those for yourself. Third-party informants are important. This is like I gave the example of the neighbor. Something happened and you heard next door that screaming, whatever, the kid's getting beaten or whatever. That's something that would come as a third-party report. Still your responsibility. Now, if you hear something from a kid at school and you go to the school as a board member to the principal and say, hey, what's going on here? And the principal says, okay, I'll take care of this. Are you done? I'd say no. Until that report is made, you're still on the hook. Okay? The principal's not the one that got this information first. You did. So you need to make sure that report is
033made. Either you talk to the principal, hey, did this report get made? Whatever, whatever. And there's some things coming up here in a minute to help you verify that. Let's see. Okay. This is always my fun ones here. What if it happened out of state? Why would that make a difference? I'm asking you. It wouldn't make a difference. Is there any of you all from Michigan? Oh, I'm sorry. I am too, but I have to pick on Michigan. Go for it. Believe me, I do. We don't like Michigan. I don't have any interest in going. But anyway, I wasn't abused to get out of there, but I would have accepted that to get out of there. So what if it happened somewhere else? What do you do? Call back to Michigan and say, hey, I
034think that this happened in your community back there. What do you do? I think you follow the same action, right? Report it. Report it to law enforcement. You're going to report to law enforcement in whatever jurisdiction that this, wherever the kid is, if it's YPD, if it's SO, wherever. You know, at Emory's place, we deal with every law enforcement agency from the border to Dayton. So we've got all the different police departments, the sheriff's office, the DPS, the border patrol, the COCOPA, everybody and their brother, and then some. So we deal with them all and listen to them all, and they all get reports like this at some time or another. So you report it to whoever is in the jurisdiction or the kid is. And then it's much easier for them to contact folks
035back in Michigan or wherever. I used to pick on Texas. I don't like them either. But they've had a tough time this year, so I gave them a pass. What if it happened a long time ago? What's the statute of limitations on child abuse? There is one. There's no statute of limitations on child abuse. Is that what you think? Well, that's what the law says. Are you sure? I've read it many times. Okay, well, here's what the deal is. Until the report is made, there's no time limit. Once the report is made, then the clock starts ticking. Then I believe it's seven years. Read that again. Well, that's what the law enforcement guys say, so that's all I'm going on. But anyway, that's what he says. Once the report is made is when the clock
036starts ticking. Use that how you would. What if it was done by another child? Does it matter how old the person is? No, it doesn't. But again, that might incorporate two victims because where did they get the idea to do whatever it is they did? Okay. So let's see. Make a report again to law enforcement or DCS. And what do you use first? Law enforcement. Call law enforcement first. Hey, how about that? Call law enforcement immediately, as Jim said. Faster response time, greater resources. They'll always be in compliance. And again, joint reporting. Again, as I said, law enforcement is required to report this to DCS as well. That's part of their, when I do their trainings, that's what we go over with them. You can also report to DCS after. Just because you've reported to
037law enforcement doesn't mean you can't also report it to DCS. And they appreciate that because that helps them work on their process. If it gets reported to DCS and they don't respond right away and law enforcement calls them, then they're looking at, okay, why did this get dropped down to maybe the Class 3 level instead of the Class 1 level? Or whatever. So they're always looking to refine their operation as well. Make a report to wherever you need to make a report to. Again, this is what I tell the school. Some of them say report their principal, some of them to a lead counselor, whatever the case may be. You guys, I'm not sure how you would prefer that handled, Lori. If they have something to report, should they run it through? Yes, they should
038make sure the principal knows, but they have to make sure the report was made. So a lot of times they'll sit in the room when the principal makes the report, because let's give an example. Let's say a counselor heard something, told the principal, if the principal didn't report, they're both on the hook. They both violated the law. And again, make a call to law enforcement or assist in the report and to the investigating agency in the jurisdiction, which we already talked about. Okay. Here's the important parts, the parts to include in the report. The name and address of the child or the end of the people having custody. May not be parents, may be somebody, a man, uncle, grandpa, grandma, whatever, whatever, whoever has custody of the child. How old is the kid? What is
039the nature and extent of the injury? What happens as the gist of this report? Any other information that might be helpful? And again, you don't see a why here. It's not important to you in making this report. That's for the law enforcement to figure out and handle appropriately. Okay, when you make a report, this is the part that's your protection. Okay, when you report a document, who you spoke with at the agency you called. So you're calling in the law enforcement, you get the dispatch. I talked to dispatch on this date at such and such a time. Okay, they said they're sending out Officer Colby. And so he's coming out. He comes out, you get his name and badge number or whatever. And you get the case number. Okay, so you have all that information.
040That's your protection. So if something happens and somehow that case gets lost in the shuffle, which we all know can happen, then they say, hey, why didn't you report this thing of child abuse? I said, well, I did. I did it here. I called dispatch on this day and time. I talked to so-and-so and so-and-so, and here's the case number. And you're golden. You're golden. Okay? Another important part here in the red, that do not notify the parent or caretaker you contacted law enforcement. So there's a couple of different reasons for that. If you call somebody, dad's the perpetrator. Mom comes to pick up the kid. You tell mom, hey, I had to report this to law enforcement. And she goes back to dad and say, what the heck's going on here? You know, we're
041going to end up losing our house now because you're going to get fired and blah, blah, blah. So we need to get rid of this evidence. OK, so there's one reason right there. You don't notify that law enforcement to any notification. That's what they get paid the big bucks for. Okay. Maintain confidentiality of all information. And it's one thing I like to tell the teachers because I know how teachers are. They like to sit in the teacher's lounge on their break and say, hey, hey, why were all the police around? Or why was that police? So why were you talking to that police officer? And you start telling them and somebody else that's sitting in the lounge is a friend of whoever was the perpetrator here. And they say, hey, did you know law enforcement
042is this? Again, evidence might go missing or whatever, whatever. Before all inquiries to law enforcement or DCS, they're the ones that handle the parent notification. Let them do their jobs. That takes you out of the picture. And again, premature or inappropriate notifications can hinder investigations. Again, the evidence could be lost. A lot of different things that could happen that could jeopardize that investigation. And the whole idea is to make a case to get somebody who's doing these things, get them out of circulation. Okay. And same with the non-offending parent here. Don't contact the non-offending parent. Once you make a report, then you don't need to make any more reports. Okay. Let law enforcement handle all that. They can tell the non-offending parent. They can tell anybody else that's asking. They'll do their part of the
043job. You could, again, jeopardize the investigation and evidence could be lost. You could be putting people in danger. If the parent's already aware, you can tell them that the child is safe because they're with law enforcement. And then that's it. Then let the law enforcement folks do the rest. Okay? Again, it might not even result in a case. Maybe they get this report and they do the little investigation. They say, hey, it's kind of kind of hinky, but it's nothing that we can take forward. There's no case to be made here. Some investigations stop as soon as they start. But again, as long as you have reasonable belief, that's all you need to worry about. You're not concerned if you can actually make a case or not. If it doesn't make a case, then that's
044a good thing. Hopefully. You never know. Okay. So, in review, it's the law. Again, class six felony. If you don't report when you're supposed to. Reason to believe is the standard that you need to follow. Use common sense reporting. Don't conduct a child interview. That gets mentioned multiple times. Who, what, when, and where. That's all you need to ask and call law enforcement first. Those are all the key parts that you need to know about this when you're involved with this. Okay, questions that you have. How's my time? Very good. Any questions? No questions? Come on. You're my first board I'm dealing with here. If you were that very old, did you notice? And if you did ever have a situation, you could call Mike or myself. We'd help you with reporting, et cetera. And
045she knows that you all can always call Amberley's place if you have questions about if something comes to mind, call for me, call any of the advocates. We have law enforcement that actually has their offices there at Amberley's now, not just the forensic interviewers. We have nurses that are forensically trained that come in and do investigations as part of their examinations and whatnot. There's a lot of things that Amberleys can help with. I know it's the same with a lot of other places around the state. So no other questions? Man, this QR code is a survey. If you have the opportunity to take that, then I know if I have a job tomorrow or not. You'll be all right. And real honestly, it won't matter either way to me. I've been retired three times already.
046No other time would make any difference. All right. It's a little different. All right. So we're going to, I'm going to, are you done, sir? I'm done. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Here's the sign-in sheet. I don't know if you need it. Yes, I do. There's two different things. And so I'm going to have a five-minute recess right now. I need to get some technology fixed on this computer by IT. And then. Sorry about that. We're having some technical issues. We're going to stand for the pledge in a moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Technical issues. We're
047going to stand for the pledge in a moment of silence. All right, let's go. So much for the silence. All right. First item of business. Turn this off. Yeah. Okay. We'll have a presentation by the Gowan Science Academy. Gowan Science Academy students and staff will be sharing some of the exciting middle school opportunities they have, including robotics, AG, and digital media electives. I was getting tired already. All right. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board and executive team. Thank you for having us here tonight. At Gallant Science Academy, we believe all students deserve opportunities to explore their interests and talents. With me tonight, I have two of our amazing middle school students, Gabriel Gaston and Haston Jusek, who not only helped with our video presentation tonight, but will also tell us a little bit
048about our life opportunities here at Gallant. Our electives classroom gives students a chance to grow in creativity, leadership, collaboration, and real-world skills. We hope you enjoy our quick video detailing our electives for grades 6 through 8. In media production, students work together to create our school's morning news broadcast. Each broadcast requires a variety of jobs, such as interviewing classmates for segments like Question on the Street or serving as the camera operator who films the anchors. This elective gives students the chance to learn teamwork, communication, and technical skills while helping keep the school community informed and connected. FFA is an elective where leadership in agriculture blossoms. In FFA, we are taught about plants, animals, and farm life and how it affects our day-to-day lives. We also discuss future careers in agriculture. FFA is an important and
049an amazing elective as it teaches young, aspiring students how to be leaders and how to be successful in an agricultural career. Legally Robotics is a spirited opportunity and challenge to put your core values like teamwork and innovation to the test. We test these core values using both robotic challenges that require creative solutions and innovative ideas to solve real-world problems. Together, our electives help create all-around students who are prepared for the future. Thank you for having us tonight. Do you have any questions? So time-wise, what are we looking at? Is it every day? How frequently? Basically, when we do our electives, it's Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Because Wednesday we get early hours. So every day you have, and how many minutes or how long is that? Is it after school? No, it's during the day. Some
050electives are after school, for example, robotics. You have the option to join a competitive team, which will last until 4.30. Any other questions? I'm impressed with the variety. A lot of high schools don't have that many options. That's great. Good job. Do you guys enjoy it? Really much. Good job. That's great. Thank you for sharing with us. Thank you. Now we'll have the superintendent's current event summary along with an update on legislative or other government action. Thank you. Parent-teacher conferences. All parent-teacher conferences will take place from Tuesday, October 7th to Friday, October 10th this year. We've shortened days from Wednesday, October 8th through the Friday, October 10th, as well as evening options to allow parents who work the flexibility to attend these. Staff look forward to the opportunity to collaboratively work with parents to enhance
051their child's school experiences. Fall break this year will be from October 13th through the 17th. The schools will be closed for fall break. We wish everyone a restful and somewhat cool break, hopefully. Gary Knox Elementary School. Ann Ogram, the agriculture science teacher, attended the Ag in the Classroom National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota this summer. This was part of the prize for winning Farm Bureau's Arizona Agriculture Educator of the Year last school year. Mrs. Ogram made many connections with other educators of agriculture from all over the United States. She said it was an amazing experience and she was so excited to share all that she learned with her students. Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting. You might recognize this because we've been seeing it every year, which is good. Congratulations! Last week, the Association of School
052Business Officials, International, ASBO, informed us that our district has received the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for our fiscal year 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Participation in this program highlights a school district's dedication to financial accountability. Submissions are rigorously reviewed by a panel of experienced financial professionals who provide constructive feedback to further enhance the quality of future reports. Districts that meet the program's stringent requirements are awarded the Certificate of Excellence, a distinction that also supports bond rating and continuing bond disclosure processes. This marks the 32nd year in a row that our district received this honor. Thank you to Jennifer Bosch, Director of Finance, and the entire team for the high standards that you achieve. Congratulations, Mr. President, members of the board. That's my report for this month. Thank you very much. The next item
053of business is 5.2, Superintendent's Update on Legislative or Other Governmental Actions. Sometimes issues that could impact crane schools are considered by various legislative and or administrative bodies in the state or the 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. Ponderitz. thank you mr president members of the board uh i'll start with the general effectiveness date of all of the bills that were signed by the governor is september 26th uh mr pallock indicated that in his presentation so the requirement for you to be mandatory reporters isn't until that time as well as anything else that did not include a emergency clause within the bill other than that it's you know somewhat of a quiet interim there's some discussion about
054uh really the next steps and as far as the capital funding lawsuit goes and how we've worked to address that so uh as you all know the the district was one of four plaintiffs along with education association advocates and a local taxpayer who brought a suit before the state of arizona 2017 went to trial last year and we just received that verdict towards the middle of august and they ruled in the favor of the plaintiffs meaning that the current system is unconstitutional So there's some discussion about how the legislature might be able to remedy that. Really, our position is, can we get everyone together, the governor, the leaders in the legislature? Can we work to address this issue rather than continuously paying lawyers? Can we actually put the money into the schools and into our
055classrooms? So that's an area of focus. I will share that Governor Hobbs has... indicated that she is going to be asking for a 2% reduction of all agencies within the state government. So that kind of signals what it looks like for a of revenue type of program or system within the state. So she's anticipating a loss of revenue and then in turn, we're needing to cut back on that. So not yet sure what that means for K-12 education. There are a lot of statutory requirements that are included in there, but there are also some protections or some funds that aren't protected, which could be vulnerable for the district and other K-12 institutions within Arizona. Mr. President, with that, I'll stand for any questions. Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? So we're still
056having some technical issues up here, but we'll get through it. All right. That being the case, no questions for Mr. Ponder. Next item of business is 6-1 oral reports on 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 of the board. Any visitations? I know that a couple of us went to the SBA conference, but you guys want to speak on any of that? I didn't go to the ASBA conference, but I was able to get out to GSA and got to hang out with Mrs. Guevara and chase some kindreds in the hallway. And that was so much fun. It's just fantastic to see the libraries and the books just everywhere. And so that was
057fun. And then I also got to hang out at Reagan. So that was also fantastic. And yeah, so. That's good. Great things happening. Anything else? Yes, this may not exactly fall in this category, but a couple of weeks ago, I received a notice that I've been selected for an audit regarding the financial audit. And I thought, did they pull my name out of my hat? Because I've been gone for a while. But anyway, so I did participate in that. And it was a lot of general questions and things about fraud and that kind of stuff that I said, well. If you know Dale and Jennifer, you know that they are flaky. And she got a huge laugh out of that and said, we wish we could clone them. That would be the best scenario. So
058anyway, congratulations on that. Both of you guys, that's great. You did a good job. Okay, Margaret and I and Lori and Mike and Dale all went to the ball conference, which... is always an interesting time and time well spent. The laws for schools and things change so much. I did mention to our superintendent that when they gave some of the cases and told some things to some of the administrators, I said, well, when you say that, you might as well have your car back and out of the parking lot. We don't have a superintendent who's going to say things like that. Our superintendent is very, very sharp, and she understands the laws pretty well. Could I say something about the bus drivers? Yes. There were several things that were very interesting. This reporting thing that
059Steve Pallack just did, there was time spent on that, and it was very interesting. One of the speakers said, The people that might see changes in children the most are bus drivers because they see them from kindergarten all the way up to when they start driving a car. I never thought of that. I thought that was a very, very interesting comment. The delegate convention of which I was delegate. The first hour and 10 or 15 minutes, we tried to practice questions to use our electronic voting system, which never worked. So later on, we did something different and we finally got out of there. I believe that everything that we were in favor of went fine. But it was, I don't know. I just think they just need to give you a ballot, just vote yes
060or no and pop the thing up. But it was, that was, that was not the best part of the conference, but the conference itself, there's so much to learn and there's so much good networking that can you do with other schools. The other thing I've, I've spent some time with two of the principals. Yesterday I met with Ms. Mendoza. I gave her an idea last year about a project. I don't know if she's already excited about it, but I think she is. And we'll tell you more about that when we have our next meeting with some of the teachers. But I'm pretty excited about doing it. I think it'd be fun. So anyway, that's it. Yes, I went to the same conference. The pre-conference, I think, was okay. I think that they've had better. And
061I don't mean that. in a bad way, I guess. But what it was is a lot about security and student safety. And I think that it could have been better is because where the advice that they were getting or giving is like Lori is like 10 steps ahead of them on that. Right. And so it's like, have... you know, I don't, I can't even remember the ideas that they had, but it's like, okay, we did that like five years ago. And we're like six stages of us, like how they're using the technology versus how we're using the technology. We're getting like 98% of it. They're only using like 10% of it. And so it's like, I think that when they do round tables like that, they might want to. research like okay what districts in
062the state really are ahead of the game as it comes to security and have those up there as opposed to having someone that has like 30,000 students and I'm he's an arbitrary but you know I mean some huge district right so I thought I thought that the I like the fact that the pre-conference basically had to deal with security and and student safety and faculty safety and staff and all of that so that was good um on the conference day I I had an emergency and had to leave Friday morning, but all of the conferences and all the breakout sessions that we had on Thursday were pretty good. I went to the, which one was it? Auditor General. Auditor General. And this was the authority. This was the guy up there, right? He runs the
063whole department all about spending and where your conference tables are at and where you're, I mean, all of that. And so he went on and talked about this is how we do it and this is what we're looking for and, you know, efficiencies and all of this. And so I asked, well, where can we find that for all of the charters and all of the ESAs? And it's like, we're not statutorily obligated to those. So ask someone who cares, I guess. So I found that meeting to be very entertaining or interesting. But all in all, I recommend the board participate in some of those when they can. I think of the two conferences that they have, this is the better one. And so that's all I have. And so we'll go on to 6.2, consideration
064of adoption of proposed amendments. The Arizona legislature adjourned on, let me give you a little bit of background on this, okay? The Arizona legislature adjourned on June 27, 2025. During the session, 1,724 bills were introduced. 439 passed the legislature and 265 were signed by the governor and 174 were vetoed. The general effective date for the legislative effective date, I think you went over all of this stuff like that, right? So the trust, the trustees advised that our district update that attached suggested edits to the model policies so as to be compliant with the legislation. The trust has identified changes and policies and procedures based on new legislation, proposed federal regulation and member input. The executive, executive administration. has reviewed and recommendations pertaining to the policies listed below and are presenting the policies for adoption. So
065at this time, what is the pleasure of the board? I'd like to request that we pull out 5-203 for discussion. So I'll move that we amend as presented. I'll accept 5-203. 5- it's been properly moved and seconded to do that. All in favor of. Is there any further discussion on that? Okay, so now we'll proceed to vote on the balance of the budget item. No, we have to vote on moving to approve all except for 5-203. Right. So we moved. You didn't vote. No, I moved. Right. That's set aside. So we're not voting on that. So set aside for later. Right. It's set aside. So if there's any other discussion, there isn't none. We'll proceed to vote. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. We will
066now entertain 5203. So I can chime in on kind of my thoughts on it. This was one of the ones where there. So most of these policies, there was very little change. It's mostly if there were significant changes, there were things that had to be in line with legislation. This was one specifically where there was one very significant change that as far as I can tell, is not specifically directed by legislation. So under There's a section for when IEPs must be in effect. So it's for students who have an IEP. Could you start telling us like what page or what letter so I can find it? Yeah, so it's weird because it doesn't give us like a number. It's its own. There's like the subtitles when IEPs must be in effect. Okay, so if you
067pull out the 5203 link and then what page? What page number? That would be great. The page is on the right so I could find it. I can't find it at all. Oh, here. Yeah, it's a little bit further down. Yeah. So it starts on page 34. Where would you like to start? I think we're looking at different things because mine's got 28 pages. No, right. But page number one is 30. Oh, okay. Yeah. So 18 out of 28 is the page number that I've got. And then of those sections, it's technically... Page 51. Yeah. Hold on. Oh, okay. There we go. You are looking at different page numbers that I've got. Yeah, it should, it starts on page. Does it say when IEPs must be in effect? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, so
068that's page 51 of the total document. Okay. And then the section is on page 53. So there's not a number, it's just a paragraph in here. Okay, 53. Yeah. All right, I see you. The part that's crossed out the private placement by the district? No, so that one's not an issue. And there's something similar that's still in place on page 54. So that one doesn't concern me. The section, that paragraph, a parent legal guardian or the district may request in writing a review of the IEP. Such review shall take place within. So the previous policy was 15 school days. This is proposed to change it to 45 of receipt of the request. As a parent of a kid in special education, that would be devastating, honestly. My kid struggled significantly when we started kindergarten, and
069it still took until, with that 15-day rule, it took until one week before the end of the entire first semester to get him. the needed changes to his IEP to get him the support that he needed. If this was in place, At that time, we would have been looking at losing, honestly, two thirds of the school year. And that's in terms of all the academic expectations that we have and trying to get our students numbers up. And we do know that we have an increased number of kids with IEPs. If we have that big of a delay, I think that's going to have a huge impact on our academic standards. I do know that there are times that we can be inundated with parent requests. So let's say people are saying, oh, just write, put
070it in writing. So then we have a psychologist that would have to be able to do that, call the meeting, et cetera. What I suggest is that maybe we pull this one out as we have now, let us talk to legal, find out more. I could talk to Connie a little bit more, find out a little bit more history about it, what that does to us, bring it back to the board in October. Are you comfortable with doing that? Yeah, I think that, and I think especially because this is. you know, nuance policy, right? Our job is to represent the community. I don't know that the community is aware of this level of change and it would be good, I think, if there are community members who want to kind of share in it, that
071we have an opportunity for that. Very good. Of course. So you can make a motion to... Brenna, go ahead and speak. Yes, I just wanted to support Kelly in that as a parent of a child also who had an IEP. I think the difference between 15 and 45 days can be devastating to families. I mean, parents are on pins and needles, not to mention the time lost. So I do think it would be appropriate. So what we'll do is we'll look at two things. We'll consult the attorney, find out a little bit more background, as well as talking to Connie, find out a little bit more about what that looks like. And then I will bring it back in October. Very well. I'll move that we table 5-203 for the October board meeting. I'll second
072that. So properly moved. Any discussion? We shall proceed to vote. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is, let me see if I can bring this back up. That's a good question. 7-1, I believe. Is that correct? That's correct. Right. I just need to find it up here. It is called to the public consideration and discussion and of comments and concerns 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 individuals wishing to address the Governing Board. In accordance with Arizona Open Meeting Law, board
073members may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the board. May I ask staff to receive... 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 or discussion and legal action. We have next item of business, 7-2, acknowledgement of public requests to speak. Board President, anyone wishing to address the board? On items on tonight's agenda may do so at this time or at the chair's discretion at the time the item appears on the agenda. Comments should be restricted to three minutes, not including board questions and comments and responses by the speaker. Individuals addressing the governing board may not yield any portion
074of their allotted time to any other individuals wishing to address the governing board. In accordance with the open meeting law, board members may respond to criticisms made by those. who have addressed the board may ask staff to review a matter or may ask that the matter be placed 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. We have no. Next item of business, consent agenda. The consent agenda. Conserves time and limited by limiting the items to those of routine nature, which normally do not require deliberation on part of the governing board. The items will be accepted and approved in one action unless the board member wishes to have any
075item separated from the consent agenda and specifically discussed. The vote or action on any items removed from the consent agenda will be taken separately. Adopt consent agenda. Items are presented to you. What is the pleasure of the board? Make a motion that we accept a consent agenda as presented. Any discussion? I would like to pull. Absolutely. What items would you like to pull? I would like to pull 8, 4, 8, 12, and 9, 1. 8-4, 8-12, and 9-1. 9-1. And with that, I would second Jim's motion that we adopt. I'm sorry, you don't have an 8-12. I'm sorry, 8-12. Okay. Sorry, sorry. No, it's an 8-4. 8-4, 8-12, 9-1, right? Yep. Okay. Thank you, ma'am. 9-1 is the different. 9-1 is part of the next agenda item. Oh, it's not considered. Oh, okay. Sorry, you
076guys. It's those two. Okay. I'm wondering about. No, it's the, there's, yeah. Anyways, that being said, is there a motion? It's been seconded with those exceptions with the aforementioned. I move that we approve the consent agenda with the exception of items 8-4 and 8-12. Okay. It's properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Let's proceed to vote. All in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed, same sign. motion passes unanimously let's talk um we'll bring up item eight four four okay you have the floor ma'am thank you very much i would like to um I think in times that we find ourselves with political issues and education issues and all of those things, it's really important to have celebrations when we have them. And I'd like to draw your attention to the second item on there, which
077is soccer goals for H.L. Suvercrux Elementary School. My grandchildren go to that school and we have been. It's been something we've needed and hoped to have for a long, long time. And so I wanted to just celebrate that because I think when our kids see those four soccer goals out there, they're going to lose their minds and it's going to be so great. And I want to appreciate Trish and Dale for making that happen. People have asked me why I came back on this board. And I want to say that. Dale and I did not make a deal that I would come back and he would get four soccer football games. Nothing wrong with that. I think it's four sets, right? It's April 4th set. Thank you for that clarification. Anyway, with that, I would
078like to make a motion that we approve consent agenda item E. It's probably moved and seconded. All in favor of 8-4, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. 8-4 passes unanimously. Next item of business is going to be the 8-12. Let me find that one. Okay, this is the one about the equipment that we're trading in. And I wanted to pull that specifically, Dale, because of the three electric buses that are not very old. So could you maybe enlighten us a bit about that? Absolutely, members of the board. Yes, the district is seeking to trade in. three electric buses. These were granted to us through the transportation initiative from AFER Arizona as part of Governor Ducey's program. And these have not served our district community well. We've had challenges with them, both in
079distance as well as just overall repairs. When one of these buses have to be serviced, it has to be towed on a flatbed truck and taken all the way to Phoenix, which then requires us to use one of our spares, and that happens with great frequency. In addition to that, the charging time for them to be able to cover the entire route is quite extensive. So for them to reach full capacity, it takes about four hours. When that bus returns from the morning run, comes into the yard, there's not four hours for that bus to charge before it has to go back out for the afternoon run. And a couple of times it's left drivers stranded. Luckily, no students were on board that I'm aware of in the cases that I know of. But Mike,
080Lori, and I were on our way to Phoenix and happened to see one on the side of the road. So it doesn't work well within our environment. We are seeing some challenges in being able to keep those operational. and reaching back out to the vendor that we purchased them from saying, these aren't working for us, so there are other options. And so it has taken some time, but they did provide us with a quote that they would take them back at $85,000 each, which they purchased for $400,000. So it's a pretty significant loss, so to speak, but they were all grant funded through that particular grant. And in turn, we'd be able to purchase. three new buses in its place that are more reliable, still more efficient, but allow us to meet the needs of
081our community. Can you give us an idea of the purchase value for the replacement buses? Yes. The new buses are about 172,000 each. So that'll pay a chunk of that. Correct. Yes. Great. These are all discussions I think that we had when we got the grant, right? It's like we can buy five school buses or we can buy one of these. And to be fair, when the governor's office reached out and asked, because in the grant application we requested six diesel buses, and when they reached out, they said, would you entertain considering electric buses? And I said, sure, I'm happy to have that discussion. Well, actually, Rosie comes to me and says, we were awarded three electric buses. Well, wait a minute. What happened to the discussion? We didn't get to share? Because my concern
082was, if we have a fleet of electric buses, we can't get all the way to Phoenix if necessary. The idea behind that was, well, they could charge in Gila Bend. Well, our experience is we wouldn't even be able to get to Spot Road at the county line, basically getting all the way to Gila Bend. And so I don't know that rural Arizona has the infrastructure set up yet for electric buses. And they, to Gabby's credit, our director of transportation, and thanks to Rosie, they were able to secure these. And it's time for us to look at alternatives that we can provide safe and reliable transportation for our students. That helped answer the question. Thank you very much. Yes, I appreciate that. That being said, I move that we adopt agenda, accept agenda item 812. Second.
083Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Shall proceed to vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is, where did it go? nine one nine consideration of the gifts report why don't you read that off then okay brain school governing board uh um these are donations consideration of adoption and gifts from the public and we certainly appreciate people still writing those checks so I don't see any accounting of it. I don't either. Here it is. So here it is. Crane School Governing Board Procedure 3-106B, federal grants and other funds, acceptance gifts and donations require that the gifts made to the district by individuals or organizations be reviewed and officially accepted by the governing board. What is the pleasure of the board? I move that we accept
084the guesses listed. Second. Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Comment, please. Yes, ma'am. I just, in the spirit of celebration, I think it's really important for us to be sure and acknowledge these people. We all know that we have... finite discretionary funds and that these folks choose to help our schools out with their funds, I think is significant and important. And I would love for them to understand that how much we appreciate that. Craig Middle School cleaned up. So that's all. Very well. We shall proceed to vote. Any other discussion? All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is 9-2, I believe. I'm sorry, guys. It's just, it's bouncing back. Consideration of adoption of parent school satisfaction survey. And for you, Dad, when it comes
085up. We welcome comments about our schools. Please circle whether you strongly agree. And I don't know how many of those we got. I can speak a little bit about this. So we had yearly given out a survey for parents. And then we switched to Panorama. And that was a nationally normed survey, which was nice because we could compare it nationally. But it did cost money. And so as we're looking at our budget, we decided not to pay that fee and instead go back to the survey that we had used in the past with some minor edits, a little bit more in communication. So that's what's brought before you. The new legislature says that every year the board needs to be able to approve the survey before we do send it out. We'd like to send
086it out during parent-teacher conferences in the fall, ideally. We shall now entertain a motion. It's the pleasure of the board. I move that we accept the survey as listed. I second that. Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? Shall we proceed to vote? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is 9-3, consideration of adoption of classroom site fund teacher performance pay plan for 2025-2026. The governing board must set the criteria by which teachers may qualify to receive performance pay under the classroom site fund for 2025-2026. In November 2000, Arizona voters approved Proposition 301, which established a 0.6% transaction privilege tax, a TPT, and use tax that was set to expire in mid-2021. Through laws in 2018, Chapter 20, excuse me, 74, the Arizona legislature extended this
0870.6% tax beginning in July of 1 of 2021. Mr. Ponder, do you have anything to add to that? I will actually. One of the things that every year the teachers have to vote on this, and we need at least a 70% approval rating. We did have a 93% approval rating, so we feel like they overwhelmingly support this plan. Ms. Noren, there's nothing that's changed in... Very minor. I think, what did we add, $2 to one of the... I mean, we have the same basic... Yes, same basic plan, exactly. What is the pleasure of the board? I move that we accept the class site fund as teacher performance pay as listed. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. I continue having issues here. So,
088Mr. Clerk, if you could do the next one, I'd appreciate it. Are we done by now? I hope we're talking about number 10, personnel. Oh, here we go. Yeah, consideration of adoption of superintendent's evaluation instrument. The board shall evaluate the superintendent at least once annually. Unless otherwise mutually agreed between July 1 and September 30, the board and consultation with the superintendent shall adopt standards or goals on which the superintendent shall be evaluated. Board discussions concerning evaluation standards or goals shall occur in public meeting. Okay, so I'll speak a little bit to this. So a few years ago, we had ASBA come down and go through a new evaluation instrument. And if you remember, it was like long. And by the end, our heads were kind of spinning. And what we did is have like five
089overarching areas. And of those areas, we basically weighted those that we felt like should have more of a percentage. But we must have been really tired because when we added up the percentage, Mike realized it only added up to 93% instead of 100%. So we need to look at those five overarching areas, which I'll discuss and decide what those weights are. And I brought my calculator so we can double check that we get to 100%. So the areas are leadership and district culture, which in the past we had at 24%. Instructional leadership, we had at 24%. Organizational management, we had at 20%. Equity, diversity, and inclusion, we had at 10%. And communications and community relationship relations we had at 15%, but when we add them, they're only adding up to 93%. So we need to
090decide as a board, which ones you want, what percentage, and I'll double check that we get to 100 before we vote on. Thank you. By looking at it just from what I think, I think I would say you put 7% on the communications and community relations, especially because. I think it's really, really important that we reach out to families and make sure that our numbers don't continue to come down. I mean, they're coming down simply because of other issues, and we don't need to get into that. But I think that we should weigh that a little heavier. And it'll bring it up on par with like the district culture and leadership and stuff like that. That's just my perspective, but I'll entertain the rest of the boards. You did have to move to 22%. So
091what he's suggesting is if we move that from 15 to 22, we'd add up to 100 because we're 7% short or we'd vary the percentages. You can either do that or we're going to be adding fractions to the rest, right? So I make a motion that we... We change the 15% to 22% so we can show our students that we understand our math skills. Second. It has been properly moved and seconded. Any further discussion? We shall proceed to vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is 10-2, consideration of adoption of updated compensation package 2024-25 school year. The board approval is needed to update the compensation package for the 2025-2026 school year. The compensation package was created to provide employees and prospective employees with a
092clear and comprehensive view of the district's salary schedules, benefits, and such as health insurance, retirement contributions. leave and other work schedules. A long time practice of the district has been to provide a cell phone allowance to recognize the additional responsibilities of information technology services, facilities, maintenance, transportation and school nutrition and communication staff, members who may be required to respond to events on emergency occurring. emergencies occurring outside of the standard workday. During the compilation of the compensation packet, the cell phone allowance was erroneously omitted from the packet. To align with the district's current practice, the administration recommends that the approval of the revised compensation packet for 2025-2026 be presented and approved. What is the pleasure of the board? I move that we accept the updated compensation package. I'll second that. It has been properly moved and
093seconded to approve the action item. Is there any discussion? I have one quick question. And this is just historical loss of memory, I'm going to say that. Are substitutes, do permanent substitutes receive benefits? Are they considered a full-time employee or? Lupe will come explain. It doesn't have to be lengthy. I'm just not sure how that works. So actually we scroll to page 11 on that. Question. You can find that in bullet one, two, three, four. And so in the notes right under permanent substitute with a bachelor's degree, they are health benefit, leave, and holiday eligible. Okay. And so that's really where we define all of the differences because we have so many types of substitutes. Right. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. And I do want to commend Lupe for putting together this document so
094that things aren't all over the place and all in one nice place. So thank you. Good job. Any other discussion? Seeing none, we shall proceed to vote. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next item of business is adjourned. In honor of my best friend, I move we adjourn. It's been properly moved and seconded. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? We shall proceed to vote. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Adjourned.