001[Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. [Music] N. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Oh yeah. Yeah. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Yeah. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] N. Heat. Heat. [Music] N. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh, absolutely. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our April regular board meeting. It's really super good to see all the kids here. Thanks for dragging your parents along. We're glad you're here. Uh we always love having you guys come and visit so we can celebrate you. Um before I call this meeting to order as a board, we'd like to express our condolences to Mrs. Jones, our Nicholas Homestead principal. her mother recently passed away and we want to express our love and
002support for her and willingness to help her in any way we can. So, I'll call this meeting to order and we'll have a pledge of allegiance by Miss Angela. Please, please stand. Ready? Begin. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] Thank you. We'll now have a moment of silence. Thank you. First item agenda will uh I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Please I move to approve the agenda. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Item 3.1, approval of April special meeting minutes. I move to approve the April special meeting minutes. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I
003I motion passes. 4.1 Ratification of expenses and payroll vouchers, tax credits and activity accounts. I move to approve as presented. A second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Item 5.1, student and staff recognition. Dr. Farnsworth. Thank you, Mr. Board President. We we want to start off we have several recognitions for tonight and our first uh recognition will be Nicholas Homestead. So, if Karen could come up here with our students and staff, right, I have lots of stuff to go with it. Um, so I am just going to start off by reading what people had to say about each of our honores this evening. So we'll start with Ella. This is Ella Boseman. And you this way too. So Ella is smart, respectful, helpful, and considerate to others.
004She has many friends. She is kind and gentle and loves to participate and is always willing to help out in the classroom. She's a hard worker, works well with others, and volunteers to help her classmates. We love having her at Nicholas Homestead. Levi Levi is smart, respectful, athletic, a leader, and gets along with others. He is known for being very kind. He's always paying attention and asking other students to do the same. He likes to include other students in whatever game is being played and he always tries his very best. We are fortunate to have him in our school. And then our teacher honore is Mrs. Decker. She is our music teacher. Um and she does more than just music. We like I will personally say with the state testing like it couldn't happen without
005her. She is writing sub plans having people cover for her and taking small groups for me like it wouldn't function without her. So personally I thank you. Then what other people had to say is that about the amazing music program that you offer at our school. you're encouraging all of the different musical instruments um and just really getting kids to enjoy music. We know how good music is for the brain, what it does for learning. And without that, I think our school would definitely be a different place. She is always willing to help out no matter what. And she does it without complaint. So, thank you, Miss. So, we have some items here for each of you. Um, this is I took all of the words that people had to say and turned them into
006the word art. So, yours is in the shape. Thank you. And then we have Levi and Ella. And then you get a wonderful little bag of And then Mrs. Steer, thanks to PTSO, I know what you like. The good stuff. That's awesome. Thank you. [Applause] And then don't forget we have certificates for each of you. All the many things are and then this one is for you. I'll do this one. Levi. There you go. Mom and dads, if you guys want to come up and get pictures. It's okay. One more time for your for the principle of the size blocking. You're fine. No, I think I'm tall enough. I'm not some weird guy that just showed up. All right, sounds good. Thank you. [Applause] I'm sorry I sat down. Thank you for all you do.
007Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mrs. Decker, for all you do. Congratulations, Ella. Ella, good job. Congratulations. Thank you for all you do. Levi's parents here, stand up. Thank you so much for all you do. We appreciate you very much. We know they're wonderful cuz you're wonderful. Nobody says that about my kids, but Yeah, they do. We know. We know that that what happens at home is a huge influence on how these littles perform in school. So, we're so grateful for you. Okay, next. Was that it? I think the high school choir is coming up. I think they want to share with us their upcoming maybe a sample of their upcoming performance. What a treat. Hello. Hello. I'm Becky Eagle. I'm the assistant director and choreographer for our spring musical, Crazy for
008You. This is Anukica Cartman. She's our music director. Uh we are opening Crazy for You on April 24th and we run that weekend and into the next. These are some of our amazing cast members and they're going to give you a little sample. There's more of them than there are of you. Sorry. Face that way. It was just wrong note. Sorry, I missed that one. I've got music. I've got Who could ask for anything more? I've got daisies in green pastures. I've got more home and I don't mind. Who could ask for anything more? [Applause] This is a super fun, energetic, and just funny show. A big switch from last year's, right, and all the seriousness with that one. Um, but it's just it's an amazing show. We have an amazing cast. We have over
00940 high school kids in our cast, and we have taught all of them how to tap dance in the last couple years. jazz. But they work so hard and I am so proud of all these kids. They've they've really put a lot of work in. So we just asked for the district and community support. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for coming. [Applause] The weekend and that was makes you look forward to those. What were the dates? Do you mind? Okay. Item 5.3. So uh we have a flyer here. So, the dates of the performance are April the 24th through the 25th, May 1st through the 3rd, and then April 26th and May 3rd, and we'll post this flyer on our website and send this out. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, be sure and call call the
010high school or or the district office if you need those dates and times. again. Um, item 5.3, girls and boys wrestling recognition. Mr. Hoffmire, I'd like to bring up Coach Foster and our wrestling wrestlers and coaches along with [Music] them on the whole crew. Let's go. Wow. We won't have a demonstration, doesn't [Laughter] Yeah. Let's see Mr. Hoffmire. Let's see if Mr. Hoffmire wrestle the state champion there. I keep asking her. She won't wrestle me. That's I'll lose anyway. I match up with Cole. Is she here? Richie's here. Where is she? Behind the hiding in the back. There she is. Hi everybody. So, this group I'll tackle the season first. Outstanding group. Uh, every time I saw them, they were improved from the last time I saw them. um quite the story on them this
011year through the tournaments and all the stuff they went through. Um the end of the year with the section, our boys finished second in the section. That's a 18 or 20 team section. Y now and the girls finished third in section which for us is is outstanding. Uh this group the the future is super bright. But I'll let Coach Foster tell us about the state championships and let's go. Yeah. Um first of all, we appreciate you recognizing them. If you know anything about wrestling, you you know that doesn't get uh a whole lot of attention as far as fanfare, but the amount of work they put in, they deserve any attention they do get. So, we really appreciate it. Um, this year the uh the big story I thought was our girls team. Uh, last
012year we didn't take any state uh qualifiers. This year we had five of them. We had three section champs. They were all freshman and we had a state champ and Ruthie Wilhham, freshman state champ. Um, first female state champ our school's ever had. On the boy side, we took 10 uh wrestlers to state. Um, and of those 10, we had four place in state. Um, we had Don Rawlings placed at 50 lbs. He placed fourth. We had Thor Kirkham, a freshman, probably hiding over there somewhere. He placed fourth as as a freshman at 106 lbs. Brody Kluff placed sixth at 132 lbs. And then Ben Frun placed for the second year in a row. He placed last year as a freshman. and he followed it up with placing again here as a sophomore at 126
013pounds. So, really proud of these guys. They're already back at work and uh ready to improve on this year's good good season. Awesome. Great job. That's a great group. We're super proud of them. Congratulations. Excellent. Congratulations, guys. Thanks for coming in. It's great to meet you. That is awesome. Congratulations. Set your record. Good job, you represent us. Good job. There you go. Congratulations. How are you, Missy? Good to see you. Congratulations. Good to see you. Thanks for coming out. Appreciate you guys. Congratulations. Good job. Thank you. Congratulations. All right, girls. Right. Hey, congratulations. Great job. Thank you. How are you? Thank you. Congratulations. Thanks for all you do. You bet. You're welcome. Thank you for all you do. Appreciate it. Picture with the school. Congratulations. Appreciate you. Thank you. Let's get those ladies out front
014so we can see you. Call us to get a quick picture. Hi, guys. Squeeze in a little more. Did all the parents get their photo? Good. All right. Thanks again, Cook. Thank you guys. Congratulations. It is. Oh, thank you. Next up, we have a girls basketball team. We'll get Coach Francis, the coaches, and all our players up here. Come on, David. Come on. Part of my favorite part is she's gonna speak since she's out of supposed to wear that you didn't voice. Okay. Yeah, this group outstanding. Um I don't want to steal their thunder. Three East region winners for the third year in a row. That's how you do it. Playoffs. Um went into the copper division. First time we've had that um in the state and we were semi- finalists there. Um amazing. This
015group is amazing. They seem to get better every day like the wrestlers. Just every time I see them they're better than last time. So that's I'll pass Coach Francis and let her do her J Boyce. Still Jordan. So I met Jay Lee Boyce. Uh yeah. Well, thank you for having us and recogn recognizing us. Um, I think a lot of times people focus on um that we're not winning, you know, the state championship, but what these girls have done uh is is remarkable. And I was just reminded by coach Pierce that it's been 41 years since uh Xolo girls won three years in a row the region. That's a long time, right? And it's a hard task to do. And I hope that people focus on that. We're proud of what we do in the
016in the postseason, but we we are very very proud of winning the region. We're in a very tough region and they work hard every single day. Um, we had six girls that were recognized in the conference andor region for individual awards which is huge. Uh, we're just proud I'm just really proud of them and I want to make them all tell you their name if that's okay. Is this is this the whole team, coach? I'm sorry. Is this the whole team? Is everybody here? Everybody's here. Everybody showed up. That might be the first time. Everybody's got, you know, life going on. all these other sports they play and Raquel's a fire person. I like to embarrass them, but I also really want to point out the coaching staff. Um, Coach Moore, Coach Pierce, Coach Chinkle,
017and Coach Carpenter. Uh, it takes a village to do what we do. I certainly couldn't do it alone. So, special recognition to them and Scott for all his support. And also, just real fast, uh, when we played uh, Phoenix Country Day in the semi-finals, um, we had a huge crowd. like we had it was in the valley and Phoenix Country Day is from the valley, but we had way more fans that were way louder and they showed up and they stayed and they loved us like we won when we left and it was it was remarkable. So, I appreciate the community for that. I just want to point that out. Coach, before you before you before they name themselves off, we want you to know that it's about building a program and and building these
018wonderful young people. So, thank you so much all of you that are participating in that. Thanks a ton. Thank you. Thank you very much. Go girls. It's all you. Victoria wants to be I'm Ky Frost. Tell them what what grade. I'm a sophomore. There you go. Come on. Tell you. My name is Pissy Benny and I'm a junior. Yeah. Okay. I know that last name. I'm Reach and I'm a junior also. I am Jaylee Boyce and I am also a junior. She's Jay. I am Jordan Boyce and I am also a junior. Are you guys sisters? Just joking. Just I'm Lacy Peter and I'm also a junior. Wow, a lot of returners. I'm Tia Paxton and I'm a sophomore. I'm Kelsey Romo and I'm a senior. I'm Annayia Paxton and I'm a senior. I'm Reese
019Perkins and I'm a senior. I'm Raquel Wilson. I'm a senior. I'm Victoria Snow and I'm a senior. I'm Tam Moore and I'm a junior. Yay. [Applause] Come on. You know what you got to do. Yeah, let's take a picture. We're sorry to ruin it, but we got to do it. We need them to squeeze together. Squeeze together. Act like you like each other. Like you did with the wrestlers. Yeah. That's the stuff. That's the I said that's a stuff. That's a right stuff. Good job, girls. Yay. Y awesome. Thank you, Jackie. Congratulations. Appreciate all you guys do. Yes. Congratulations. That's right. Thank you. Never give up. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm trying to figure out what family you are. Once you said it, I can tell. Congratulations. You're awesome. Congratulations. Good job,
020Miss Kers. Good job. Good job. Thank you. Congratulations. Thanks for all you do. We appreciate you. Good job. You know, my Miss Shelby loves you, girls. Yeah. Thank you for all you do. You're the best. Thank you, Jackie. Good to see you. Hey, Miss Beth. Good to see you. Yeah, you're the best. Thanks for all you do. Good to see you, Ida. I know I went the wrong way. Thank you, coach. Appreciate you. I have too. It's okay. Thank you. Excuse me, sir. How are you? I'm good. How you doing? That was fun. All right. Thank you very much. Great groups. Yeah, could be more. They are. Thank you. Thanks, Scott. Well, now that the best part's over, we'll move into business. Can we have more? Thank you guys so much. It was so much
021fun. So great to have you guys here. Okay. Item 5.5, first reading of data sharing agreement. Dr. Farnsworth. So, if you've looked at the agenda and the attachments, there's there's a couple things that I just want to draw your attention to. Number one, this is this is a first reading. There's no action, but if you recall earlier in the year, we brought to you an agreement with GCU, and it's a push, not pull type of agreement. We're pushing senior data to GCU instead of them pulling data in from our database. So, we're the ones that dictate the confidentiality, who gets the information, and then when we push it to them. Well, ASU, UOVA, and NAU, they want to do the same thing through the Arizona Board of Regents. And so the two agreements that you
022will see, one is the data sharing, which it is legal ease on like all the different confidentiality systems we need to have in place. And then the other one is by the AORE, Arizona Board of Regents, where they want to get our junior and senior information that we can send acceptance letters to them for college life after high school. So again, this is just a first reading. Um, it's almost identical to what we've already signed with GCU and it's really giving opportunities for our seniors and juniors of potential opportunities of of post-secondary education outside of Xolo. Any questions? When was this last revised was my curious question. What was revised? What when is the last time the documentation that is provided to us was revised for let's say the the most recent revision since it
023was founded since it was started. So I I think this is relatively new for us. This is a first was the first time that we had shared that info and now of course ASU and U of A don't want to be left out. Okay. Uh and it's just basically an opportunity to get the children's achievements absolutely in front of these colleges so that they can recruit them give them more of an opportunity to go. Okay. I'm just wondering how recent the language was. Okay. That that was accurate. The typically what happens is in the old way like when I was in high school, you would have to apply to a university. With this agreement, we're going to be sending periodic information, SAT scores, GPA, and then the universities, they're going to send letters to students
024and saying, "Hey, you've been accepted to NA, U of A, ASU, would you want to come to our school?" So now they're pushing for acceptance instead of waiting for kids to apply. They're being a little bit more proactive. So kids and parents are going to have a little bit more options that they they don't have to take it. they can turn it down, but sometimes kids don't know exactly what they qualify for. So, I think this is a a good move. I move to approve the first reading. Just action. Oh, no action. Got it. Sorry. Okay. All right. 5.6 principal reports. Dr. Farnsworth. So, I just want to again thank the principles for for putting down some of the highlights from each of their campuses and uh just want to publicly thank them for for
025what they're doing on their campuses. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Anybody have any discussion or worries or questions or anything? Well, I was wondering if maybe next uh month since it's the end of the year of the school year if maybe we could get a report from some of our directors as well to kind of see how the year went and you know and things that we'll be working on during the summer and just kind of just a little progress report. That would be absolutely. Thank you. Considering we meet the second Thursday, you want to do it in May or you want them to come in June when the year is actually over. Oh, either way. And even just uh um written report is fine, too. Whichever they prefer. Cool. That's a good
026idea. I like it. I 7 superintendent report, please. Thank you, Mr. Board President. So, I just wanted to call your attention to a couple highlights. We're we're moving forward on our visions committee and uh I'm pleased that that many of the board members have been able to attend. Our next meeting is April 22nd. Um the director of curriculum and myself, we are continuing to work with our elementary K through five uh teachers to look at our ELA curriculum to bring some alignment and unity in that in that aspect for next year. Um, it's testing season, so every campus is doing some sort of statemandated testing. And a huge shout out, I want to thank Hal and his technology team for for relatively having a few bumps, but nothing major. Um, cuz all the testing now
027is is virtual. It's all online. And so we require heavily on internet and making sure hundreds of kids can log on at the same time and they can test at the same time. And that's a huge undertaking. So, I just want to thank him and his department for that, as well as the principles organizing all of the testing and the schedules and the coverages. It's it's not an easy task. Um, I've met with the high school principal about graduation, so he's he's got that under control and sending out information about high school graduation, which will be indoors. Um, we have been approved for new HVAC units at Whipple Elementary. Now, whether the state has money to fund that, that's a different question, but we've been approved for that project. So, we're waiting to hear from
028the state if they actually have money to pay for that. Will they do it when they have it? That's like if they don't have it this year, that's my understanding that we've been approve approved in the queue, so we're ready for that project to happen. It just comes down to money. Okay. Um, one of the best highlights of my job is reading to kindergarten students and I had a wonderful time doing that. I've attended the Navapache superintendent meeting this past month and met a potential governor who will be running, uh, Karen Taylor Robson. She she showed up at our meeting and so we were able to meet her and talk with her for a little bit. We have an artificial intelligence task force and they've almost completed their proposal which we will be bringing to
029the school board for approval. And so I'm excited for you for you all to see that. And um we're trying to support Nicholas Homestead the best we can since Mrs. Jones is out taking care of her family. And um that's that's kind of where we are. Those are some of the highlights. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Item 6.1, classified compensation salary placement schedule 2526. Dr. Barnes and and the director of business, if you want to chime in on this as well. We did a salary survey as we've shared with you and we've surveyed all the surrounding districts and we found that our classified um employees most most of them are like severely underpaid compared to our our peers. And so I just want to thank the director of business for putting together a compensation
030uh package that we're recommending and with the help of the school board recommending at least 4%. But what we found is most people it's going to be more than that. Um but 4% is going to be a standard across the board um if they're close to the average. Um and so we've adjusted those placements in the salary schedule. So, we we would ask that you would approve what's what we're recommending. I had a question. Yeah. Um the I questioned um I love you know I'm grateful for the 4% and um where we're going with this but I wondering if us not giving the 50 cents um like we've done the previous like probably three years I believe you know to kind of keep up with the mandatory 50 cent to the minimum wage. Is this
031going to put us in a position where next year we're going to be that much further behind because we didn't, you know, give them the 50 cents on top of the 4%. Well, again, a majority of the staff is going to be well over the 4%. And then as we talked in our work session, next year we're going to create the salary schedule and work on looking at where everybody at is at with their experience, their years of service, and place them on a new salary schedule for next year for FY27 and place them properly. So they will be well, most of them will be well over even that and the 4% for FY27. Okay. So, I don't even think we'll be in that situation next year. Okay. And I think we're most of our
032positions, correct me, are are already above the minimum wage. Yes. So, yeah. Okay. No, I I just didn't want to see us get into a position where we've been in the past by not keeping up with the minim minimum wage and those staff members who have been with us for years. Correct. then we start getting, you know, into type situation and they're close to the minimum wage. Yeah. And we don't want them even close to that. Yeah. And at this time with what we've done, the only uh salaries that are minimum wage is the event workers. Okay. Right. It's just those who have been with us for several years. Correct. Right. You know where I'm going with that. I absolutely do. And like I said, after we do our salary schedules next year, everybody should
033be placed exactly where they should be. Again, with years of experience, um, their education, they should all be placed where they should be. Thank you for bringing that up because that is something I wanted our employees to know that we are working. It's kind of a two-year, you know, situation that we're working on and so they know next year what you will be working on for them. And Dr. Farnsworth and I met with each class um on March 7th and we went over that 2-year plan with them so they know that we're working towards making sure everybody's on in proper place on a salary schedule that we'll be creating next year. Excellent. Thank you for your minding. Any other discussion or comments? I was going to make a motion approve. Do it. um classified compensation
034and salary placement schedule. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. 6.2 classified transfers, resignations, terminations. Dr. Farnworth. So, you can see that we we are still getting a variety of different resignations and um I have no further comment. I move to approve the classified personnel employee actions as presented. A second. I have a motion and a second. Any uh discussion? I just want to wish them well in their endeavors. Thank them for their service and their work. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 6.3 classified personnel employment. So, we are bringing to the board all of our hourly uh employees for approval so we can issue them a work agreement for the next 25 26 school year and you can see that the new rates are
035adjusted in there for for their new work agreements and we would ask you to approve those so we can send those out to our hourly employees. Make a motion to approve the classified personnel employee actions as presented. I'll second. I have a motion second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. 6.4 certified transfers, resignations, terminations. Dr. Fer. Well, it's that time of year. We've we've sent out teacher contracts and uh this Friday is the deadline. So, I just want to remind if there's any teacher watching and you haven't turned in your contract, please do so. Uh tomorrow's the deadline, but this is the time of year where we do have a few people switching careers or moving for personal reasons. We want to wish them the very best. Um, but this will allow us
036and our administrative team to hire. Uh, currently this is the prime hiring season to make sure we have qualified candidates for next school. I'd like to move um to approve as presented and I wanted to thank do Mr. Barnes for his years of service and wish him well on his retirement. I'll second. I have a motion to second. Anything else? All in favor? I opposed. We'll surpass the 6.5 certified employment. Dr. Farnsworth. So, to the very point, we're already hiring for next school year, which I'm thankful for the principles for for taking advantage of this time. And so, you will see that the principles have been pretty busy trying to get a jump on the hiring for next school year. I have to approve the hirings as presented. Second. I have a motion, second. All
037in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. 6.6 Chyros. Did I pronounce that? Chyros renewal 2526. M Davis. Yes. So um this is our health insurance with along with our vision and the uh additional life if the employee so chooses. Um we do have a change this year. uh Chyros is getting rid of this uh 1650 high deductible plan and so we were given a choice to add the 1,200 PO plan uh which was recommended by our uh by Chyros which would give us an additional co-pay plan. So it gives the employees two co-pay plans to choose from um which is also a little bit cheaper for us as well. And so that gives the employees two co-pay plans to choose from and two high deductible plans to choose from. Um so that that will be a
038change for us and as um I think we brought that to the board. Maybe not. Um so it is an increase to us this year of 9%. our insurance is going to be 9% and after a discussion we have decided that the district will um absorb that cost this year which is a big cost. It comes to about $160,000. Um but uh we have made it known that this will be the only year that we will be able to do that. Again with what we're going to do with the salaries next year and what we did this year um we will have to probably adjust that next year uh with the staff. But I think um it's a great gesture by the board um to for the district to absorb that cost this year. Didn't
039we talk about that in the study session? We did. That's right. See, I knew we talked about it. I remember the 9%. Yeah. Yes. But it's great that we now have two co-pay plans for the employees to choose from and two high deductible plans. I love it. Yes. Yes. Thank you for doing that and thank you for um helping us to absorb those costs. We do appreciate Absolutely. And I motion and I'd like to thank Nikki for U Pike for she's put a lot of work into this and getting this ready for the board tonight. Thank you. I move to approve as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. 6.7 Cubbyhole preschool teacher job description. So, if you'll remember, we we um changed to
040a certified position instead of a classified position. And I believe it's due to some reporting requirements by the state that we're we are required to have a certified position in there. So, this job description just reflects that change. I move to approve the job description for the cubby hole as presented. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 6.8 Eight, academic testing specialist job description approval. Dr. Iver, we're asking the board to approve this new job description to help out with with all the many dis different testing requirements that we're having with a lot of our new students. Um, this would be a position that would help across the entire district, especially with our special needs students. Um we do have more and more students that are requiring
041testing um for services and this would be a big benefit to our special education department. Where will this be funded from? I believe it will be funded through M. Yes. So we give the special ed department a budget out of M and I believe this will be part of their allocation. Okay. Thank you. I'll make a motion to approve the academic testing specialist job description as presented. Second. I have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. 6.9 6.9 speech language pathologist agreement 2526. So, we're super early on this. This is for the next school year, 2526. Um, and again, we just do not have the expertise up here on the mountain to provide those services for our special needs students. And so, we have to contract out.
042And so, this agreement is with the county, I believe. Um, so they we're we're asking the board to approve this contract for the 2526 school year. I move to approve the speech language pathologist position for the 2526 school year as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. You're opposed. Yeah. Okay. I apologize. I went quick there. Sorry. Will you Will you make sure you note that for any Thanks. 6.10 ESI contract renewal fiscal year 2526. Miss Davis. So, um ESI is um those employees that retire and go on ESI for a year and then usually come back. Um, we currently do not have anybody going on ESI next year, but we do renew the contract just in case somebody does decide to go on
043ESI um throughout the year. So, this is just our normal renewal with ESI. We have no one going on ESI next year. Not at this time really. Okay. I was surprised that it's 17% now for somebody to go on to a ESI that is high. Yes, it is crazy. I'll move to approve the ESI contract renewal for FY 2526. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. 6.11 Athletic Handbook approval. Dr. Farnsworth and Mr. Hoffmire. Again, if Mr. Hoffmire could come back up to the podium. Um, if you want to give the board a quick synopsis, readers digest version of the handbook and where where we are. Absolutely. So, what led this particular handbook is Missy Townsen from Prescuit Unified School District. She did a bunch of
044research. She met with a couple of attorneys through the trust and it took her probably three or four months to put this together and through the AIA which is our the athletic association the professional thing separate from the AIA the rural schools are going to start to use this model so we're all the same uh so to speak with policies procedures and whatnot um when I saw what she had put together it it beat what I put together two years ago um so it shows do, you know, intelligence, but I adjusted it to our community. We had changed just a few things in it. Um, I did update the transportation stuff. What we talked about, uh, I think the big ticket items were no more out of state, summer travel. Uh, but instate, local, we
045had a a circle, the north, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson in in summer, we'd still provide the minis. Uh, so I adjusted that in there. Everything else is pretty pretty open. I I love it. I think it's a fantastic handbook and I I do have to admit again I I did not write it. Yes. But it's it's awesome. It covers everything that we could want to cover in there. Yeah. I thought it was very well written. Absolutely. Very comprehensive. Exactly. Inclusive of everything you could think of. Yes, she did. Amazing. It's a long read, but I was I was just visiting with her. I was going to say I was like I I really like it. I'm going to try to match it. And she's like just copy it. Yeah. It's like, oho, okay. Thank you. Right.
046Thank you. I didn't want to say it, but yeah. Copy. Yeah, it's a great document. Yeah, it really was. And I'll move to approve it as prescended. I'll second. I have a motion in a second. All in favor? I opposed. Thank you, Scott. Motion passes. Thank you. 6.12. Superintendent to hire hourly staff. Dr. Farnworth. So I would like the board's permission if we we have noticed a trend that when we hire our hourly folks in particularly sometimes it takes three to four weeks before they get board approved and then the onboarding process and that when we call them to come in and start their onboarding process they've already filled they've already hire got hired with another institution and so what what I'm asking is that I have permission to hire to streamline our hourly just
047our hourly um hiring process so we can start them. Um, and then of course bring their name for ratification as long as the background check is clear, they have the accurate fingerprint cards. Um, that will really help out a lot of our school sites because they're they're they're waiting and waiting until people get approved to go help in the classroom and then sometimes they don't even show up and then we're back at ground zero. And so that would be my request of the board if if you would allow me to do that. Does everybody understand this and have any questions or anything? I'll entertain a motion then. Make a motion to approve the superintendent to hire hourly staff as presented. I'll second. Motion is second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 6.13 model policy
048program update 2425 number three. So, thank you. I may take a little bit more time on this cuz there there's there's been a lot of conversation on social media about Title 9 and so I just want to I I put out an FAQ on this policy. Um so just if you can bear with me if I read a few things here. So what is Title 9? Title 9 is a landmark federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part of the education amendments of 1972. It prohibits sexbased discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government. And it's not only just sex-based discrimination for students, it's sexbased discrimination for adults. So why is the Xolo school board evaluating their Title 9 policy? So on
049January 9th, 2025, the Eastern District of Kentucky vacated the Title 9 2024 regulations. In addition, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled Defending Women from Gender Ideology, Extremis, and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, which ordered the Secretary of the United States Department of Education to provide clear guidance on sex-based definitions. Under the US Department of Education, they issued a dear colleague letter on January 31st, 2025 confirming that public entities are to use the federal regulations from May 2020. So, in essence, we're reverting back to the 2020 regulations to interpret Title 9. School districts are advised to revert to the use of the 2020 Title 9 regulations, which is what we are doing at the school board meeting tonight. And if you look and read through the policy, it's really centered around sex
050discrimination both for students and for employees. That if there is any claim of a sex sexual harassment or discrimination, we are obligated to investigate to see if there if that's indeed factual. Um the policy outlines that there has to be a title 9 coordinator, which we have. there's certain practices and policies and procedures that we are required to follow. Um, oftentimes we contact our legal counsel and they help us walk through the timelines and the investigative methods and they in fact help us in some of the the investigations and this is something that we're required to do. So, I just want to share that with the public. Um, it's it's all about equal opportunity and making sure that Xolo School District is enforcing and and living up to the civil rights expectations of 1972, making
051sure there's no sexual discrimination or harassment. Do you Are there any questions I could I hopefully I can try to answer? Thank you. I don't have any questions, but um I wanted to say thanks for giving us all that information. Um, there's a three-page section that's pretty indepth about that whole thing. And if anybody's interested in that, you're more than welcome to hit folks up at the district office. Uh, they've got all that paperwork that you're welcome to read, welcome to take a look at. And and you just reminded me, Mr. President, all of our policies for the public, if if you don't know, they're on our website for free. So, if you go to the governing board section and you scroll down, it will say governing board policy. You can look up all these
052policies. You can print them off. You can read them. They're transparent. They're open to the public. Um, so they're there for everybody to read and evaluate if they have any questions. Perfect. Don't have to waste any gas to go to the district office even. So, with that, I'll uh if there's no other comments or discussion, I'll entertain a motion to approve. I move to approve the model policy program update for the 20 242 number three as presented. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Item 6.14 NPC dual enrollment and Talon IGAs 24 through 27. Miss Davis. So every year we have to renew the um IGA with NPC for the Talon and the dual enrollment with NPC. Um, so the contract, the IGA itself is good until
0532027, but the talent classes and the dual enrollment is always updated every year. And so attached to the agenda are those um talent classes and the dual enrollment classes. So this is up for renewal. And so this is what we're approving here tonight. And that's just because the classes will change yearly, right? They may have one one year and off the next year depending on enrollment and that sort of thing. Right. Exactly. I move to approve the IGAs between MPC for the fiscal year 25 through 26 as presented 27. These are just for next year. Okay. So we're just going to do just for Okay. Just do the one year. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. That's okay. So the contract is through 27 when we do this yearly because the classes change. Okay. So I have a
054motion seconded. I have a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. 6.15 Xolo uh school district meal change policy. Miss Davis. So, last month I brought this meal change policy to you regarding um how we would handle student accounts in the cafeteria with their uh meal balances. Um we're currently going through an audit with the AD for our cafeteria program and it was brought to my attention that we needed to have a part of this policy deal with um those students that are graduating. So when a student graduates, if they do not pay for their outstanding balance, how would we handle that? So uh we added to the policy that if they do not pay for their balance because we cannot let a student graduate just because they haven't paid their balance. So I
055added to the policy that we would take any outstanding balances from graduated students to the board to write those balances off. So that was the change to this policy. So if you don't write them off, what happens? They sit there. You just sit there. Unless somebody graciously wants to pay those balances, which we've had happen, right? Yeah. Women's organization. Yeah. This year, they did an amazing job. Yeah. I move to approve the um updated meal change policy as presented. I'll second. Motion a second. All in favor? Post. Motion passes. 6.16 update procedure 5-213.8 A Shirley, Miss Davis, sorry. Thank you. So, this PO procedure is part of our policies and it has a a numerous pieces to this and after consulting with um Miss Karen Smith um regarding our meal money policy and procedure for
056when we go on trips, whether it be athletics or field trips or competitions. Our current pro policy and procedure is they get $6 a day for meals and we've talked about this Mr. Hoffmire and I superintendent and you can't eat on $6 a day. And so after consulting with uh Miss Smith, um it was she recommended that and a lot of districts do this that um we go by the Arizona Department of Administration guidelines and they update this yearly and the current rate is $17. So if we put the language that we just always follow the Arizona Department of Administration that when we don't have to change this policy every year to change the dollar amount, we just every time it changes then our policy would change. So I'm asking that we add this P
057uh piece to this procedure so that we can update our meal money amount to 17. It's currently $17 a day. Um effective immediately. Uh because we have lots of things going on and it's just it's just hard on these kids and the and the coaches because a lot of times the coaches will fork up the additional money so that they can have a decent meal when they're on the road. I love this. Thank you very much. And I move to approve the updated procedure 5-213- as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. I I thought that uh the high school principal was gonna pay all those lunches while the kids were gone. I I don't know how we missed that. But those kids eat Yes,
058that's what I mean. I as far as that goes, um you know, $6 for the entire day. 17. I'm not sure how you not a whole lot get those meals. Not better than six. Exactly. President, can I make a call that as well? I just want to public publicly thank Shaylee for I came to her at the very last minute and go we've we've got to we've got to do something cuz there are a lot of end of the year trips. Um and so I just want to publicly thank her for getting that written on the boards for your approval because there's a lot of end of the year field trips that $6 per kid is not going to do it. And so thank you Miss Davis for getting that done. Well, and to if
059I may, you know, Miss Smith has been she's, you know, as we know, she's no longer, you know, in the districts, but she's a great consultant for me. And and the other piece on there is when it comes to student activity monies. Um, we don't have to follow this rule. Um, it's for the kids raise their own money. They can do what they want with it. It So, that's the nice piece. we don't have to follow that policy for that money and none of it hits Most. It's all either auxiliary tax credit or student activity. So, it's great that we can do this. That's a great thing to point out. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Okay. 6.17 facility use agreement. Miss Davis. So, anytime we make a change to this uh facility use agreement, we
060have to bring it to the board. Um there was one change made to the uh athletics. Yes, the fee schedule. So in the fee schedule, it had a dollar amount for camps and that amount is usually dictated by the uh athletic director. So we removed that dollar amount and it now just reads um see the athletic contact the athletic director. So, it was just two lines and that's the only piece that's changed on the um facility use agreement at this time. I'll move to approve the updated procedure five dash sorry 6.17 facility use agreement. Motion to approve facility use agreement. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Opposed? Motion passes. I had a question. Shoot. What what was our schedule last year, Scott? Uh when they summer camps? Yeah, when they updated
061it this year and had like $60 a day, like $8 for food. We pay 2250 a day for food. We're at between 125 165 for school. They want as many meals as they want. Typical one is like three nights. eight meals about 145 that pays our food bills that our district enough money we made we made last summer $150,000 for the summer I think 70,000 for food the benefits of that team with uniforms and supplies maint Is our summer enrollment up or down from what it has been in the past few years? Excuse me. I got no front teeth. Last last year we were up and this summer we're going to be down a little bit. We had a issue. Um I think we solved the issue. So this summer we'll reestablish our our food
062program and I think next summer we'll be back. We will be a little lower this summer. Thank you. Okay, moving on to 6.18 school properties disposal, Miss Davis. This is um just another disposal. There's only one item on this one, but it's the normal disposals that I ask you to approve. I move to approve the school properties disposal as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. 6.19 out of state travel. Thank you, Mr. President. We have a request from the junior high principal and her assistant principal to go to a professional development conference, innovative school summit, um in Las Vegas. Uh I should have checked to see if the Killers were playing in Las Vegas, right? But I wasn't. I I'll do some work
063to see if they're actually in concert. Um, but I would recommend that you would approve approve this out of state conference. I move to approve the out ofstate travel. Um, second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. Item 6.20, gifts and donations. We have two donations. um one from the city of Xolo again who is a fantastic partner of all the stuff that they donate. They they donated nearly $10,000 in new microphones and sound equipment to the theater department. And so want to publicly thank them for doing that. Also, we have a donation of some new instruments um drumsticks um which which are almost $2,500. And so we're excited to ask our music teachers if they know what a drumstick is and how if they can teach
064kids to use drumsticks. So we just want to publicly thank both of those uh individuals. Move to approve gifts and donations as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. 6.21 student fundraising and activities. We've got three fundraisers there. Um, you know, prom tickets are going to go on sale anytime. Um, reimbursement for an FBA and then the FBA media fundraiser. I make to approve as presented. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. 6.22. Future agenda items. Okay, looks like we're good there. Uh item 7.1 we have the uh call to the public and we have one person Shay Sturm if you would come up. Remember you've got about 3 minutes and if you'd state your name I'd
065appreciate it. Um hello. Hello. Um, my name is Shay Wood Sturm and I'm here to speak on the Title N projections. I wanted to let you know that the difference between the 2020 um, Title 9 and the 2024 that was left out is that you guys just voted on pregnant people rights protections and queer and trans kids rights protections. You guys left those out from the 2020 to the 2024 one. Um, I'm here to speak on the town. Um, I want you to recognize I need you to recognize that that was a rule that was put into place to protect kids because the schools weren't doing it on their own. Schools across the nation had to be forced to protect kids as they have since Ruby Bridges had to walk by all those hateful white
066adults on her way to school. Are you and you are trying to water down that protection? Why are you afraid of someone different than you? A kid different than you? Trans people have always existed. This isn't a new concept. The only change that they The only change is that they are less afraid to be themsself around hateful people. Change is inevitable. You can either be excited by it or scared by it. I choose to be excited by it. But let's talk about the source of fear. Uh since 2017, there have been exactly 16 transgender athletes who have competed in school athletic programs in Arizona. 16 in eight years. Contrast to the ratio, and this is not a perfect number because you have to work off of convictions um of 16 Mormons who have raped um
067children in 2024 alone. For those of you who are keeping count, that is 16 Mormon abusers in one year. It seems that if this board wanted to protect children that they should be keeping Mormons away from our kids, not monitoring the genitals of children that are trying to navigate life. Where does it stop? When are you going to stop taking away rights? just the trans kids? How about the queer kids? Um, uh, bipok kids. This is a dangerous precedent and that you are just going to whittle away rights until only white or the right religious kids are safe. You say that you are afraid of the federal government or federal funding being taken away. It is already being taken away. The school has stopped giving away snacks to kids in school because of funding has
068been taken away. These violations are brought into sharp relief when it is pointed out that each and every member of this board began the rear the year by violating their constitutional oath by directly woefully uh by direct and woefully ignorant actions. Our first amendment rights precede your comfort. Miller v. California found that profanity and obscene material is protected speech. You guys can't take that away. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to remind everybody that when you have concerns, feel free to go to the site uh and principles and you can go to the district, the superintendent. Uh and of course, the big thing when we're talking federal stuff, feel free to call your legislators. they're the they're the ones that we really need to to uh get the message and change things for the better.
069With that said, um our next meeting will be May will be May 9th, 2025. And I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. So I have 30 Do we need to was May 8th? Is it May 8th? It is the 8th. Sorry, the 9th's Friday. I won't be here. So, let's make it to May 8th, 2025. Sorry about that. I apologize. And I have a motion and a second to adjurnn. All in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Thanks for coming, folks. Yep. Thank you. Appreciate all you do. [Music] Heat. Heat.