001Good evening. At this time, I'll call the meeting to order. Let the record reflect that all board members are present. First up, we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance led by kindergarten students from Countryside Elementary School. Thank you so much. Moving to item two is the adoption of the agenda. I motion to adopt the agenda as presented. I second. Motion carries. Okay, next up we have item B1, recognitions. Dr. Crotto. Thank you, Madam President. Tonight we have a great performance and some guests here, and Mr. Mucey will introduce our guests. Thank you, Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Crotto, and guests. We are very privileged tonight to have from Freedom Traditional Academy the choir here to perform, and they are under the direction of Ms. Amanda Mutai. Welcome, and we look forward to
002hearing this performance. That was beautiful. Thank you so much. Great job. Thank you. Next, we have public comment or item C1. Do we have any comments tonight? Thank you. All right. Moving to item D, Dr. Crotto. Thank you, Madam President. Just a couple quick updates tonight. Believe it or not, on November 6th, we have future freshman night at our high school campuses. We are there for another year again. We would like to invite all the parents and students, obviously, coming into high school for the next year to come to our campuses and learn all about their high school experiences. So they will get to see. an overview of the academic programs and explain the process of registering for ninth grade. And we're just excited to have them and that's coming up quickly on November 6th
003at 5.30. So we're excited about that. And then my last piece tonight is a huge celebration for the district and for Shadow Ridge High School. Student Nicholas Snyder is a senior at Shadow Ridge High School and he's been named a National Merit. a semi-finalist for 2026. He's a third year engineering student who inspires to go to MIT. We will have him at an upcoming board meeting so the board can recognize him. the awesomeness of this ward. It's very rare. So there's 1.3 million high school students that take the PSAT, the National Merit Qualifying Tests each year. Only 16,000 of that 1.3 million get named semifinalists, and we have one in this district. So he now has a chance to put in an application and be one of the about 6,900. students that receive big dollars
004in National Merit Scholarships. So we'll be rooting them on. That'll be in the spring. But we will have Nicholas as a guest here in upcoming board meetings so the governing board can congratulate him. So we're happy. And that's all I have, Madam President. Thank you. Moving to governing board update. Yeah, so I just wanted to give the update. So over the past couple weeks, I attended the Freedom Traditional Elementary Fall Festival this last weekend, and I would like to give a special thanks to the volunteers and staff that made the evening fun for all the students. To the staff that spent a lot of time with their creative trunk retreat, a big thank you. The creativity was really awesome. I also attended the City of Surprise G.A.N.E. Night. G.A.N.E. stands for Getting Arizona Involved in
005Neighborhoods. I think this is a great opportunity for our community to come together and interact with police, fire, and all the great city services. This morning I also attended the school visit for Valley Vista High School. It was great to interact with the staff, parents, and students. Always a pleasure to hear straight from the front line on how things are going and how we can help the school and the district. I would also like to thank... I'd like to provide a special recognition to the team there on the great attendance strides they've made at Valley Vista High School. Attendance is a huge thing for me for education. Obviously, if the kid's not in school, they're not learning. So kudos to Valley Vista High School. I would also like to thank all the community members that
006took the time to talk to me about the school board and the district over the past month. These events gave me a great opportunity to reach out and talk to community members. Thank you. Good evening. I just wanted to let everybody know I attended also the Valley Vista school visit this morning. I just want to put a shout out to Principal Richards and her staff. They gave us a very warm welcoming, and we had a lot of fun with the dialogue with the staff, the teachers, the students, and parents. So I just want to say thank you for that opportunity. On October 7th, I went on the El Mirage Community Tour Bus, and we visited Dysart High School, Dysart Middle School, and El Mirage Elementary School. And I also went to the school visit today
007at Valley Vista High School, where we heard from students, parents, teachers, staff, and administration, and visited several classrooms, and all seemed pleased with the administration and principal and all the many opportunities at the school. Thank you. I attended a two-day Maricopa County School Board member training conference which provided valuable knowledge at school budgets, on school budgets, policies, safety, school law, and special education. This experience will strengthen, I believe, my abilities. to make informed and thoughtful decisions to support our teachers, students, families, and the broader community. It was great to have our own superintendent, Dr. Croteau, to present on how we are addressing chronic. absenteeism and to see all the great feedback from the other school board members that attended. I would like to extend my appreciation to the Maricopa County School Superintendent for hosting this
008training that was provided by the Leadership Institute. Thank you. On October 7th, I also attended the Community Connections Tour in our El Mirage schools. With Dysart's deep roots in El Mirage, it was truly inspiring to hear the rich history of Dysart High School, Dysart Middle School, and El Mirage Elementary School. It was also an honor to be accompanied by El Mirage Chief of Police, Paul Marzocca, El Mirage Mayor, Hermosillo, and several El Mirage Council members. Our community partnerships really do matter. And also just a big thank you to all of our staff and students for making this such a remarkable and important event. On October 17th and 18th, I also attended the Maricopa County School Superintendent School Board Leadership Institute, this full two-day conference offered by Superintendent Boggs at no cost to districts and covered
009a wide range of topics including school safety, open meeting law. fiscal integrity and everyone's favorite chronic absenteeism. School board members across Maricopa County got to hear from our very own Dr. Croteau on the district's phenomenal success in bringing down chronic absenteeism rates in our schools. As we know, academic achievement is a tremendous priority in Dysart, and in order to improve these academics, we must focus on the indicators which impact those results. School safety, curriculum, managing attendance, to name a few. And Dysart is leading in all three of these indicators, and I'm very proud of our district under Dr. Croteau's leadership and his holistic focus on academic achievement. On October 22nd, I had the pleasure of attending our Community Drug Information Night. Thank you very much to Kevin Kachat, our school resource officers, and incredible speakers.
010Special thanks to Mrs. Vicki Harrison, who happens to be one of our school psychologists, and she shared her journey of raising a child with addiction and the ultimate ending in life of her son. And though we may not all share our individual stories, many of us have felt the impact of addiction in one way or another. So just a reminder to please reach out for help for yourself or for anyone else in your family or life before it might be too late. On October 24th, I attended the Freedom Fall Festival, and this is an event that I look forward to every year, and each year just keeps getting better. Really wish that I could have stayed longer, but I had to leave a little earlier than expected. But I truly appreciate all of the great
011efforts by Freedom Traditional as well as their PTA. And that's all I have. Okay, moving to item E1. I move to approve consent agenda items as presented. A motion to approve the, or a second. Did you motion it? Okay, I second. We talk about F number five, the agreement with the National Center for Education, Research, and Technology. I would like to discuss F number five. the agreement with the National Center for Education Research and Technology and Dysart School Board or school district as There is a motion already on the floor and seconded. I will Withdraw my motion. We're gonna discuss that now. Are we gonna move it? Okay, okay, I know that it's a leadership Conference for the superintendents and I just had a wanted to ask about some of the business leaders that they
012are involving in this. One of them was Bill Gates Foundation and I just have a problem with some of his well he funds a lot of projects to concerning abortion contraception and sterilization throughout the globe and he's also believes in overpopulation is the greatest threat to the planet. And he also owns like 270,000 acres of U.S. farmland for an investment. And I'm just wondering if he's going to be one of the speakers at these leadership conferences, would you have any influence on who would be speaking at these conferences? Madam President, members, I have only been a trial, the last trial I went for membership to see if they would recommend me for membership. So I do not know if they asked their members for that. I can tell you that this district has a practice
013of, I know what our beliefs are and I know what we believe and what the expectations are. So no matter. If somebody speaks or not I know where we stand as a district and and what we bring back and what we believe and I and I stick by that so no matter who speaks and what they speak about I know our district values and beliefs and policies and stick to those regardless When you mentioned that there was a funding aspect of this by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are you saying that it's wholly funded by them or just partially or they contribute? I believe they were a speaker. I don't think it says it's funded. Yeah, they were just listed as previous speakers. They were previous speakers in a past conference. Did they attend
014or speak at the conference that you attended? No, ma'am. Okay, it was just in the in the letter that was sent correct concerning it list of all the speakers if there's no further discussion I'll call for the vote motion carries Okay, moving to item G1, Dr. Croteau. Thank you, Madam President. Come to the point of the meeting, all the items are important, but this is a highlight of our meetings where we do the spotlights of our schools and we have two awesome campuses tonight to share what's happening on their campus and Dr. Asai will introduce them for us. Thank you, Madam President, members of the board, and Dr. Croteau. It is my pleasure tonight to introduce two wonderful teams. The first one is from Countryside Elementary under the leadership of Ms. Chantel McNeese. Good evening,
015Madam President, Governing Board members, and Cabinet members. It is my honor to represent Countryside Elementary School. I am the proud principal, Chantal McNeese. And I want to start off by introducing my strong pack, who's made strong progress. We have Melissa Bowman, who is our writing teacher. We have Maria Ceja, who is our social studies teacher. Heather Polk, who is our science teacher. Mallory Stradley, our reading teacher. And Kylie. Sullivan our math teacher and I want to talk to you about the work that they do for our Dysart students. This team brings a total combined of 77 years experience to Countryside and the data that I'm about to share will highlight just how much we've grown. There are many factors that contribute to the success of this team. but I truly believe that our results did
016not happen by chance. This team is very good at what they do. They set goals with each other and with their kids. They analyze their instruction. They monitor student growth. And something so very important, they build relationships with their students, positive relationships with their students. Each and every day, this team shows up with dedication and heart, and it shows in the growth that you'll see today. So moving right to our next slide, why this PLC PAC? Since joining Countryside three years ago as a first-year principal, I couldn't be more proud of how far that we've come. We have made tremendous growth, not just in our data, but in the positive impact that it's had on our students and our staff and our entire community. And our goal has always been to transform Countryside into a
017high-achieving, heartfelt community school that every family in Dysart deserves. And we are well on our way. And also, I want to give a shout-out. This success has not happened in isolation, so I want to sincerely thank our district leadership team for their incredible partnership and support, especially in the areas of PLC development, RTI, and our ESS department. And their collaboration has been key to our continued growth. So following the trail of success in math, our next two slides show our cohort growth. And that is the same group of students moving from third grade to fourth grade. And the reason that I'd like to share this is because of our high percentage of growth. That did get us 50 out of 50 points for our school. And in math, we grew from 29% all the way
018to 53%, a whopping 24% growth in proficiency. In ELA, you'll see here that we show a 33% growth to 48, 15% growth in proficiency. And our overall proficiency in math puts us 4% above district average and ranked number 7. And then our 92.3 points, 3-4 points awarded by ADE ranked us number 6 in all of our Dysart schools. So we're very proud of that. And a prediction to be in a school for the first time in countryside history is on its way. So with that, I will turn it over to Kylie Sullivan. That A was my goal. When Chantel interviewed me, I told her straight up, give me two years. We did it in one. So I'm very excited. Chantel shared the data. I'm going to talk mostly about backwards design in tier one. instruction
019and then the rest of the team will talk mostly about our PLC structures and our tier two instruction. But the first thing that happens is we have to start with backwards design and I know that you board members have been around education for a while. Some of you know a lot about this but backwards design is really what it sounds like. You start with the end in mind. You know where you want your kids to be at the beginning of the year on day one. You walk in with your And that doesn't start just on day one. We look ahead at every single unit that we do. So we print out our tests. We print out our standards. We pour over the standards. We decide ourselves as a PLC team, does this test actually match
020up with the standard or do we need to go further before AASA? And that is a structure that we've had in place that we do every single time we meet. We are looking at that test and seeing where we need to guide our kids. So taking the tests ourselves reminds us of what steps we need to do. So we print those out, we take them, we go through step by step what we need to do. We break down every single skill. so that when we are teaching it to a student who's never seen this skill before, we really know what they need to do to be able to achieve that mastery. And then we also strive to provide multiple different ways for them to access that skill. So they are not seeing it just one
021way, they're seeing it multiple ways, and they're seeing it in multiple contexts so that we can really achieve that mastery. And then we really make sure that we plan enough practice because students need to practice something. more than two or three times to really master it. We practice multiple times across multiple days to get them ready for the test. And then our solid, you guys have heard of the three tiers of instruction. You hear a lot with PLCs about tier two, but we start with tier one, which is our whole group instruction. And if you start with really intentional first lessons and first exposures to a skill, then we don't have as many kids going to tier two because you planned your lesson, you know your standards, and you've... planned ahead, what misconceptions or mistakes
022students are going to make ahead of time so that you can almost prevent anybody from getting behind before you've even finished your lesson. It also involves not just looking at our current unit of study, but starting with knowing the standards for the previous grade level and knowing where they start from. So that is something else that we do. We have those standards from third grade printed out so that we're looking at where our kids are coming to us. from we're looking at the fourth grade standards as we are teaching and towards the end of each unit we even look ahead at fifth grade to see what connections can I make to help them be prepared for a smooth transition to fifth grade. So again the best teachers the intentional teachers are not just worrying about
023their grade level they're making connections across the years. And finally, we built a culture where students are not afraid to make mistakes. In fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, this is where students really become aware of their peers. They become a little bit more cautious, a little bit more embarrassed when they're wrong. So we build a culture where making mistakes is okay because that is part of learning. At our school, you could hear almost any fourth grader say, oh, that's okay, mistakes are proof you are, and then everybody finishes it. and they will go over and they will find their mistakes and they know that that is just a step in the process. If we can get them over the fear of taking risks, it really opens up the doors for them to be more
024confident and for them to know that it's okay and that they just need to continue trying. Another thing that we do is when they walk through the door, we have something called our 100% rule and that is not that they have to be 100% right? It's just that everybody in the room needs to be trying 100% of the time. And just like us as grown-ups, everybody's 100% is going to look different and even our 100% isn't going to look the same from day to day. But we're building this expectation that they continue to try, that they continue to show effort. Our number one belief really is is that consistent effort moves mountains and I think we saw that last year. Hi. On our slide here we're going to talk about our simple, very simple three-step
025process as far as with reading and math, those common and formative assessments. We like to use illuminate because that rigor mimics what they're going to perform with with AASA at the end of the year. These tests quickly tell us what skills the students have mastered and what we need to immediately reteach to the whole group or to a small group. This starts with our tier two pretest. It is a quick snapshot of where they're at. We can't track growth if we don't know where they are. The kids are really receptive to looking at those scores and if it's low, they just say, well, this is where I'm starting and how can I move forward? And usually after a two week cycle of teaching that skill in a lot of different ways, we go ahead and
026have a post test and they get real excited about that growth. And we structure, we restructure that group every two weeks. We meet constantly as a PLC to discuss where they're at with math and with reading and who needs to be shuffled around into each group. We make sure that we don't wait until the end of the quarter. We analyze student data every two weeks. And this review helps us to make sure that every student is in the exact best fit for what they need. It's a very responsive process. And that also points us in the direction of who needs to be in what small group and how can we teach these tricky ideas in a new way using different models, different manipulatives, different strategies until we can confidently say that every student fully grasps
027that current concept. Hi. So our approach to improving fourth grade student outcomes centers on two critical practices. One, continuous PLCs and in-depth data digs. We meet regularly in our PLCs, which means our fourth grade team meets every week, not just occasionally. The primary purpose is not only to share what worked in our individual classrooms, but to ensure consistency across the entire grade level. If a teaching strategy is successful in one room, we discuss how to implement it in other classrooms. This continuous collaboration is essential to guaranteeing that every fourth grader receives the same high standard of instruction regardless of their specific teacher. And the data digs. The second is our commitment to data-driven instruction. We dedicate specific protected time, our data digs, to look closely at all assessment scores. This includes everything from informational or
028informal weekly quizzes to our formal tier two pre- and post-tests. The goal isn't just to see the scores, but to dig into the why behind them. By analyzing performance by standard, skill, and student group, we are able to move beyond generic teaching plans and create highly targeted instruction for every student, ensuring we meet the needs of those needing more support as well as those who need intervention or enrichment. So as we look ahead, here's how we'll continue to move countryside forward. We'll start with our most foundational commitment. We will continue to build strong relationships with every student while consistently holding high expectations for their behavior and their academic performance. These high expectations are powered by data-driven instruction and collective problem solving. We will continue to work together to solve complex problems. The core of this
029entire system relies on the common formative assessments. Think of these as our quick checks to see what's stuck and what needs more work. We're using those results to have better, focused discussions, which helps us figure out right away who needs a little extra help and who's ready to move ahead. This all leads to alignment across our content areas. We're working as one team, making sure we share the best teaching tips and strategies that work. Because we're all aligned, we can then confidently and intentionally monitor every student's progress. This guarantees our focus is always sharp, efficient, and ultimately makes the biggest difference for every student. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our presentation. I would now like to invite the board to ask any questions. Yes, I have a couple real quick. In
030the beginning when you were talking, it sounded like you're just teaching the students to pass the test. And I don't think that's what you're doing, but I would like you to elaborate more that that's not what we're doing. Oh, absolutely. So that's why we have the standards printed out next to us too. So we're looking at the standard always examining, okay, in fact, we're actually quite critical of the test. There are times where we will print the district test out and we will look at it and we will go. This is not actually up to the Arizona standard. So that's why we start with, we kind of start with both. And I don't want you to not have faith in our tests. It's once in a while we will find a question where we're like,
031hmm, we're going to need to do a little bit of extra work on that. So it all starts with the standards. Is that? Yes, thank you. I just wanted to elaborate because when you were going, I'm like, oh, that doesn't sound so good. Just wanted to clarify. And next, my next question is, could you please explain more in depth the scaffold daily lessons to predict and address student misconstruction? misconceptions and gaps. Absolutely. So like let me give you an example from last week. The goal by the end of last week was that students would be able to subtract two mixed numbers which are the types of fractions that have the whole number and the fraction next to it. Now at the fourth grade level they have to be able to regroup when they subtract. So
032for old people like me, that would be borrow. We don't use the word regroup when we were growing up. So they would have to be able to go over to the whole number. They would have to know how to add the whole back into the fraction to be able to subtract. So when I'm saying scaffolding, I took that skill, I broke it down into smaller skills. So we did not start on Monday with two mixed numbers. We started on Monday with a whole number just minus a fraction so that they could kind of work on. and master. pulling a whole number out, how they would turn the whole number into a fraction. Then Tuesday, we take it up a step. There's one mixed number and one whole number. So we're just kind of, when we're
033saying scaffolding, we're just taking that larger standard, we're breaking it down into the smaller pieces to be able to get them up to the level. I mean, each of these standards, if you've read any of them, a lot of them are very long. A lot of them contain like four, five, 10 skills each. So when we're teaching a standard, we really do have to break it down into smaller pieces before the student can actually achieve that whole larger piece. Does that make sense? I love that approach. Oh, wonderful. So thank you. I was just wondering, what is the difference between third grade math and fourth grade math? A lot of the third grade standards will kind of build the foundation. So they're still learning to add. They're still learning to subtract. They're learning multiplication and
034division for the first time in third grade. But by fourth grade, we're taking it up a notch. It's no longer that we're learning those foundational skills. It's now that we're using those foundational skills to do larger, more complex problems. Does that make sense? So because it looks like there was a big increase from third grade to fourth grade so which is great. That's my relentless pursuit for excellence. We use every single minute when they walk into my classroom we have tight routines we have tight structures in place. and we are sitting down and push, push, pushing. So I look at where they're at, and a lot of times our students do not come to us on level for our level. So a lot of the growth that I'm able to achieve in math is because
035I look at where they're at, and I will go back into previous grade levels and fill in the gaps that they might have because they missed something in. first grade or second grade or third grade or even right now we have a few students who missed multiple years of school. I am teaching kindergarten and first grade math to some of my students. So those growth percentages, a lot of that comes from not that they were necessarily on level but that we were able to move them a large amount. Great, thank you. I just want to thank you for such a well-organized presentation. All of the data that you presented, it's just really refreshing to see that. I know that you've worked really hard there at Countryside. I'm a former Countryside parent before you were there,
036Mrs. McNeese. So I'm really loving the changes that we've seen under your leadership, and I really appreciate you. Thank you, Madam President. Madam president if I could yeah, first of all excellent job a very well-spoken I love listen to you break break down the process You had a conjecture in your presentation About being in a label based on last year's cut score. So the labels haven't officially come out yet, but I can tell you this afternoon, and this is public information, that the State Board of Education has adopted the same cut scores as last year. So with that, you can make any conjecture you want, and you know your points, and the labels will be out soon. So congratulations. It's amazing, so appreciate that. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you, Madam President. Now we
037have our second school. Dr. Asai. And it was with great pleasure that I now present Ms. Amy Mykos and Team West Point. They are very excited to present. Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Croteau, cabinet, and community, my name is Amy Mykos. I'm the proud principal of West Point Elementary School, and it is my pleasure to introduce to you our kindergarten team. We have Leslie Espinoza, Sean Murray, Susan Wetzel, and Stephanie Check. The kindergarten team was selected to present at tonight's governing board meeting because of their strong example of how collaborative professional learning communities drive student growth. Now in year two of their PLC journey, the kindergarten team has demonstrated consistency and progress in implementing data-driven practices. While many grade level teams on campus are navigating transitions with new members, the kindergarten team benefited
038from continuity, allowing them to build upon the foundation they established last year and refine their collaborative processes. Their experience and commitment to professional growth were further enhanced when two members attended the district's PLC training in June, bringing back strategies and structures that have strengthened their team's focus on student learning. At the site level, our early literacy data indicated a continued need to improve reading readiness and foundational fluency skills. In response, the kindergarten team has aligned their work to our school's continuous improvement plan and instructional action plan goals by concentrating on these priority areas. This evening, the team will share their journey in improving students' reading fluency and core early literacy skills using a and the Acadian's data to monitor progress throughout the year. They will also outline their plan for the current school year, including
039both long-term and short-term SMART goals. Their long-term goals focus on increasing the percentage of students performing at or above benchmark, while their short-term goals ensure that progress is monitored and instructional adjustments are made in real time. Through intentional collaboration, data analysis, and goal setting, the kindergarten team exemplifies how the PLC process supports continuous improvement and measurable student achievement. I would like to introduce Shawn Murray. Good evening, members of the governing board, and thank you. For the opportunity to share an overview of our instructional planning and teaching process our team has been working diligently to ensure that every lesson is purposeful Aligned with standards and designed to support measurable student growth the team meets with in weekly PLT's collaborative meetings and Dedicated team planning time with a focus on the four. Thank you on the four
040targeted guideline questions in mind What do we want students to learn? How will we know they have if they have learned it? What will we do if they don't learn it? And what will we do if they already know it? These driving questions are a path to effective teaching, analyzing current assessment data, reflect on instructional effectiveness, and plan next steps for instruction, reteaching, and enrichment for the students to master the essential standards in kindergarten. The intentional focus on student learning outcomes ensures ongoing data-driven decision-making and instructional alignment across the team. What do we want students to learn? We begin each instructional cycle by reviewing the essential standards in both English, language arts, and mathematics. This ensures clarity around the most critical learning outcomes for our grade level. We identify the specific knowledge and skills students
041must master and unpack what proficiency looks like. For ELA, our students Our current goal focuses on students correctly producing six out of seven letters taught so far, which are O, L, R, C, F, J, W, for the initial sounds in a given word. For math, our goal emphasizes on students' ability to correctly identify shapes, positional words, and compare links as shorter or longer with 80% accuracy. How will we know if they learned it? To measure student learning, we use a variety of formative and summative assessments, including exit tickets, performance tasks, and common assessments developed collaboratively by our grade team. During our PLC meetings, we review the data together, compare results, and discuss patterns in student performance. This helps us evaluate the effectiveness of our instruction and identify which students need additional support or enrichment. What
042will we do if they don't learn it? When students struggle to meet their learning target, we provide targeted intervention. This might include small group instruction, reteaching with a different strategy, additional practice with manipulatives or visuals, or differentiated assignments that reinforce foundational skills. We ensure that no student is left behind by planning intentional support during and after core instruction. What will we do if they already know it? For students who have already demonstrated mastery of learning targets, we provide enrichment opportunities designed to extend and deepen their thinking. These may include standards-based next level math or ELA stations that broaden students' exposure to advanced concepts and higher order skills. The goal is to challenge students through rigorous, purposeful activities that promote critical thinking, creativity, and a deeper understanding of the content. Our lesson plans are created collaboratively
043and aligned with the adopted curriculum. We choose activities, resources, and discussion prompts that directly support our SMART goals and essential standards. Differentiation is built into our planning so we can meet the needs of all learners. Each lesson begins by introducing the learning target to students in clear, student-friendly language. We explain what success looks like and how they can demonstrate their understanding by the end of the lesson. This transparency helps students take ownership of their learning and track their progress. And now Leslie Espinoza will explain more. Hello. The team has developed a range of common formative assessments to monitor student progress and guide instruction. Math CFA's are used to track student mastery of unit objectives. By incorporating the use of CFA's, our team has been able to identify students' weaknesses and strengths. The data received from
044the CFA's allows the team to collaborate and refine teaching strategies to ensure students' continued high level of success. The team has also developed a range of common formative assessments to monitor student progress and guide instruction. The ELA CFAs focus on high frequency words, letter names and sounds, and current 95% phonics unit. The ELA CFAs also help the team identify students' weaknesses and strengths. The data received from the CFA's allow the team to collaborate and refine teaching strategies and or create small groups for intervention to ensure students' continued success. The individual student midterm progress reports are prepared in parent-friendly language to inform each student's parents of the current progress. These assessments are administered and reviewed as part of the team's instructional cycle to ensure consistency and alignment across the classrooms. Students requiring extra help are assigned
045to a Tier 2 intervention group targeted to the specific skill needed. Students that demonstrate a significant gap in a specific learning skill are assigned to a tier three group with a reading interventionist to receive more intensive support. The team's response to the data ensures all students receive timely and appropriate support while also allowing the opportunity for enrichment opportunities for students that have mastered the targeted skill. Next I have Susan Wetzel. Good evening. Our PLT, which is our professional learning team, discussions are positively impacting student outcomes. Throughout the school year, we will see a reduction in the number of students requiring intensive support, along with an increase in students performing at or above benchmark levels. During our meetings, we focus on student success. and identifying areas for improvement. We regularly exchange strategies that have effectively supported
046student growth, allowing us to refine our instructional approaches. We have also observed that more students are entering school with fewer kindergarten readiness skills. In response, we've implemented additional supports aimed at closing early learning gaps. One key area of focus in ELA has been letter name and sound recognition, where we provide targeted... targeted instruction through small group work. In mathematics, we are providing additional targeted support to strengthen student skills in one-to-one correspondence and accurate number formation. Sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. It happens. You're good. I am not the technology person. Thank you. Okay. So throughout our PLC process, our kindergarten team learned how powerful collaborative inquiry can be when focused on student learning. We became more intentional about analyzing student data, identifying learning gaps, and adjusting instruction based on our evidence. Our key takeaway was that by
047working together to develop common assessments and sharing strategies, we could better support all students and not just those in our own classrooms. The process also helped us develop shared responsibility for student success and a culture of continuous improvement. Our kindergarten PLT could continue focusing on aligning instruction with early learning standards, especially in foundational learning and math skills. One area that we expanded on is using student work samples and formative assessments systematically to track progress and guide instruction. We have designed, we have, sorry, we have, we have, sorry. We have deepened our collaborations around interventions by sharing strategies to expand conversations by data instructions, shared planning, and early intervention strategies. So when we're meeting as a team and we're discussing data or data instructions, we're using common formative assessments, and we're using them more effectively to
048inform our next steps. So we're helping them plan our next steps for instruction. Shared planning, co-creating, engaging, and developmentally appropriate. lesson plans, sharing materials, and using best teaching practices, collaborations on the RTI process, and developing tiered supports for math, literacy, and behaviors. The kindergarten PLT reflects on previous cycles by discussing what strategies worked and what challenges arose, analyzing student data, and setting new goals. The kindergarten PLC collaboratively plans to ensure consistency across classrooms and promote a shared ownership of all outcomes. And I would like to introduce Ms. Stephanie Check. One of West Point's CIP goals is that 100% of our PLTs will move along the continuum to the expert level, focusing on formative data, guiding conversations, and grade-level teams reflecting on instructional practices that focus on student learning. Our next steps will be to continue
049to support our students and their learning in various ways. For one, we will continue to meet weekly with our PLTs to engage in beneficial conversations, providing data and student work to drive our discussions. We will create small groups that meet three to four times a week based on the data to make sure all learning gaps are minimized. We will also collaborate with our school interventionists if students are not making the expected growth. West Point's kindergarten beginning of the year Acadian's data shows that 24% of our kindergarten students are at or above benchmark and 76% are below or well below benchmark. With this in mind, we will use a plethora of strategies as previously mentioned to enhance student growth. As shown in our previous school year's data, our team is able to grow our students and
050make sure they level up to their full potential and master their essential learning. In order to sustain these practices we have established, we will continue to reassess students as we progress along the letters and sounds using the phonics curriculum. We will group students fluidly where students are able to move in and out once they have mastered the essential learning. And as a PLT, we will continue to set goals for each unit or module in order to know where we are headed. With these practices our team has put in place, high rigorous expectations are set in place for all students. In summary, our team's work is guided by both the PLC framework and our commitment to continuous improvement. By consistently asking and answering the four essential questions, what do we want students to learn? How will
051we know if they learned it? What will they do if they don't learn it? And what will we do if they already know it? We ensure that every decision we make is focused on improving student outcomes. Our school theme this year is Level Up. Not only are we leveling up student learning, but each team has taken the challenge to level up their collaboration to the benefit of our students. Thank you for the opportunity to share how our PLT collaborates to elevate our teaching practices and student learning outcomes. Thank you also for your continued support as we work together to provide a high quality educational experience for every student. We welcome your questions. Thank you. That was really impressive. And I can only imagine with kindergartens, it's really hard to assess sometimes because where they're coming
052in. I was really interested when it says the West Point Kindergarten Boya Cadence Data shows that 24% of our kindergarten students are at or above. benchmark. Is that an average every year or is that just based on this year and that 76% are below or well below? So that is the current data as on the previous slide. Okay. It has So we have the data from 2023 to 2024 school year. It has, as you can see, the red indicates the well below. The yellow indicates below. So in the past, you have seen 2023 to 2024 at the beginning of the year. That's that first rainbow. It is... significantly a little smaller as we ink as we go through each year 2024 to 2025 you see that there is definitely more students in that well below
053benchmark as well as a little more in the below and then as you can see this year we do have a significant amount so it It has been increasing. We see that trend. If I can add something, the beginning of the year for kindergarten is really where parents send us their kids. I used to have a privilege. I had parents that really sent their kids with a lot, and my kindergarten team would be like, oh, 80% of our kids are at benchmark. I was like, their parents did a really good job then because we test our kindergartners within the first two weeks. So this is not, the team hasn't really instructed at all. prior to giving the B.O.Y. in kindergarten. So I just want to make sure we're all on the same page with that.
054I did understand that. And what I was liking about the chart is if you look each year, even though 23, 24 came in at 67, you look at that percentage when they're going out of the kindergarten grades. And that's what I was kind of trying to get at as the average. We are making such an improvement and hats off to you guys because I'm sure it's quite challenging at times to see that development that you guys are actually having these kids come out of kindergarten going into first grade at such lower numbers. So that's what I was trying to get at and thank you. Thank you. I just have a quick question. I know when you get the kindergartners in and you really don't have data, what are you using to get them started? Like
055what type of data? Well, at our school, we actually really right away, this testing is done within like two or three days into the school year. So it's really nice that our reading interventionists and support. staff are able to help us by creating the schedule for the Acadians testing and actually scheduling our students to be tested right away. That way we can right from the get go set those goals, have those students, okay this is where these students are at, where are we going to get them to? And so it's really, it is with the support of our staff. that we can get that data right away. So that's how we get most of the data. We also do informal observations or we do our teacher created assessments right away. Our kindergarten team has, our
056team lead has created a wonderful beginning, middle and end of year assessment that we have the students, we pull them. even right from the first days of school and test them on their letter names, their shapes, their colors, all of those essential standards, having them write their names right from the get-go as well. So with that as well, we have that teacher-created resource. Thanks to Leslie Espinoza for that, that we can also gather that data and make action right there. Thank you. This might be more of a question for Dr. Asai, but do we have data on the differences of our own preschool, like when they're coming into kinder and how that might differ? I don't think we've collected formal data on that. It's definitely something we could explore. Our anecdotal data says that those
057kids socialize much better and most of them are at that level. It'd be interesting because we could almost compare growing minds, our developmental preschool and our role models, obviously, and then kids that don't. And maybe use that as a marketing. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Just God bless you all. I mean, I can't imagine a classroom full of kinders. It's probably like herding cats. I don't know. But thank you for all you do. Great job. Thank you. Okay, next up we have H1, Board Monitoring of Adopted Policy. Do we have any discussion on this? I would like to discuss something on policy 2-201, but I'll open it up. We are not recommending any changes, Madam President, so you know, to 2-101 or to 2-201. This is our normal monitoring of policies on a yearly basis, so we
058have no recommended changes, but I am open to discussion that you may have. I will open it up then for policy 2-201. I would like, you can ask a question, sure. Do you want to turn your mic on? On 2-101, one of the sentences says about the board delegates to the superintendent the authority to procure goods, services, or construction in an amount not to exceed $100,000 without prior approval of the board. So what would that consist of? I guess what it says, right? I'm sorry, I'm not following your question. Okay. What gives us policy? I see the paragraph. Okay. It just says you can spend $100,000 without board approval. The procurement, which goes through Mary Dell's office, correct. So up to $100,000 that we can authorize to procure goods. up to 100,000, that's the limit
059on that. Mary Dell. Madam President, members, I like correct. So there in that Arizona Administrative Code, it specifies the different procurement thresholds. So we do still have to meet, once we hit a certain threshold, we do have to obtain written quotes, verbal quotes, et cetera. So we are still within that, have to get either quotes or bids, et cetera. Where we then formally have to get governing board approval is at that $100,000 mark, which is through either an invitation for bid or a request for proposal, and those are the ones that you see come to the board for authorization to release, and ultimately the board approves those. The rest are awarded through various individual quotes once they reach those audit thresholds that are reviewed annually. Thank you. You're welcome. And just for clarity, all of
060the Arizona revised statutes are cited in the board policy, correct? That is correct. As well as Arizona Administrative Code you will see in that one. Okay, I'm going to go back to policy 2-201, evaluation of the superintendent. I would like to see the last paragraph different, where the evaluation may be in writing or verbal. I would like to change that to the evaluation will be in writing. All right, you're suggesting to put the evaluation will be in writing and take out or verbal? Correct. I would remove if written. Yeah, put the written evaluation shall reflect. Correct. Take out striking if verbal, striking that last sentence. Correct. Okay. We would need a motion for that, to amend that, and a second. I motion to amend policy 2-201 section with regards to evaluation may be in writing.
061Or verbal to the evaluation will be in writing. I think we need to do the whole motion. Hold on one second. Yes, to include the others. So you would need to wrap the others into the motion. I move to approve the policy 2-101 as presented and modify policy 2-201 as discussed. I'll need a second. I voted yes. Sorry. I was just waiting for the result. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay, moving to item H2, Dr. Crotto. Thank you, Madam President. Tonight we bring you the middle school and high school course selection guides, which is a yearly governing board item for approval. And Dr. Asai will present on this item. Good evening again, Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Cordo. We will be quickly going through the course selection guide process. We will be starting with
062high school. So the course selection guide is a rather thick book. It looks like this and its audience is multifaceted for parents, for teachers, for students, and it has our procedures in there. It serves as a reference for understanding for programs, seals, and credit options, preparing for college and making course selections. What it is not, it's not the approval of courses, those you have already approved. We approved some of those last meetings, so before we can even put them in, all the courses go to the board for approval. It is updated yearly and there is a committee that comes together. They work with Mr. Frazier who's sitting right back there. He got the pleasure of hosting that committee this year. It's comprised of curriculum and instruction team members, campus administration, counselors and department leads. And
063it's based on feedback they've gotten from parents throughout the year, maybe what's unclear, feedback from teachers, if some of our regulations change and we update it accordingly. He receives feedback from the committee both digitally and in person. This year's revisions fell into three categories to provide clarity and or additional explanations based on feedback, to list the new courses that we approved last time we met, and to move iSchool courses to their own. Before we mixed iSchool in with like English or math and some things, it was just easier to go and list under iSchool. That was the feedback we had. So clarity, there was some clarity, things we added around school counselors really being academic counselors. ESS, we talked about the team and being able to repeat a credit. Sometimes in general ed credits are
064non-repeatable, but for ESS students, the team can convene and say we are going to allow that repeat for credit. Dual enrollment, athletics, we're updated with AIA and Mr. Moussi, and extracurricular activities. We did define some opportunities. So we now do all four SEALs. Before only two were mentioned, our SEALs are great for our kids. It gives them an opportunity to explore personal finance, the SEAL of biliteracy, the SEAL of the arts, which we continue to lead in. We clarified diplomas. Valley has an AP diploma now. And really the reason we're doing the SEALs on the diploma like that is to just really encourage kids to take all the AP classes that they need for that. We have different diplomas like that. And then for our signature programs, some of the verbiage was changed. which the
065board had in the red line version that they were provided. The courses that we added were the two we approved last time with TV Broadcasting 7-8 and Coding 5-6. And that's all for our high school. Our middle school changes were a lot fewer. We had the addition of the marketing class, which was approved last meeting. And we clarified the Spanish credit. We do offer Spanish 1 and 2 at the middle schools. It's Spanish 1. kind of extends over the course of the year and some parents didn't understand it wasn't one two all the time and so they were like wait my kid can take three four now when really they only had the Spanish one credited at the time so we sought to clarify that just for more clarity for our parents and I will
066stand for any questions. I move to approve the middle school and high school course selection guides for the 26-27 school year. Second. Motion carries. All right the next item we have Item G3, Dr. Croteau. Thank you, Madam President. Tonight we bring you another yearly item. Staffing agreement with ESI. Sorry, with ESI. And Mr. Mattingly will present this item to you. Madam President, Governing Board members, like Dr. Crotto was saying, this is an annual requirement that takes place with a vendor that we do business with to ensure that we can continue staffing experienced staff. It's a tool that definitely allows our best and brightest to continue working beyond their retirement. and that's in accordance to the state law, et cetera. So this is a recommendation we'd like to bring to the board for approval. Thank you.
067I just have a question. What specific workers are being employed by ESI? kind of employees. Madam President, government board members, it's any staff member that we employ that wants to go through the phased retirement system. So there's over 200 titles in this district, well over 200 titles in this district that we employ, that employees have. And so it's anybody who qualifies to go into that phased retirement, retire, rehire process. So how many, do you know about how many Dysart employees are working under this? Yes, ma'am. Madam President, government board members, prior to this year, we were averaging about 16 employees qualifying or putting in an application to request to do that. This year alone, we're well into 40 people requesting that. Ms. Magney, you might want to add to the ESI staffing meeting or retirement
068meeting that you had. How many showed up to that? Madam President, Governor Board members, Dr. Croteau, thank you for that question and clarification to celebrate that. We've averaged a very low number of attendees for this annual meeting that we have. We actually had to change the venue and bring it over to the Vista. We had well over 150 staff members attend that. And so the retire-rehire program is actually gaining traction and keeping our good employees. And so we're building a lot of momentum. We're really excited about that. And just to provide clarity, our retirees would go into an ESI contract, is it just for the one year, and then they have the opportunity to come back? Madam President, Governing Board members, that is correct. Okay. Thank you. Do they make the same pay as they
069would as a regular employee? Madam President, Governing Board members, yes. But they're not being provided benefits, correct? Madam President, Governing Board members. Under federal law we have to offer them certain coverage when they've worked for us That's called Cobra and so they have the opportunity to purchase Cobra benefits or Go independently on their own or ESI actually has some opportunities as well as the state of Arizona retirement system. So there's plenty of opportunities to continue some type of insurance. But not as a Dysart employee with our benefits. I mean, Cobra is pretty astronomical normally. But yeah, they have other private options or ESI, like you said. Madam President, governing board members, I will share with you when you start collecting your benefits in retirement. The company that pays into it, like us, the district, the
070law is very clear that we cannot have that kind of connection monetarily, whether it's insurance, payroll, et cetera. There are minimum exceptions out there, but I will tell you we cannot allow them on our benefits, et cetera. But we make sure we provide them resources and guidance on what to do. I guess my broader point was that we are saving money in this process. Madam President, governing board members, yes. Thank you. Thank you. Any other discussion? I move to approve the employee staffing agreement with educational services incorporated together with exhibits A through C and authorize the assistant superintendent for human resources to sign the agreement and any affiliated documents. I second. Motion carries. Moving to action discussion item four. I will start with this one. Over the last several months, I have been reading up
071on the potential for the BNSF railway to build a facility near Whitman. And it was just a few weeks ago that I fully grasped how much of a serious safety concern it poses to our school communities. Before reading the resolution, I would like to stress the significance of how this may impact our board and district goals, which we have all helped in crafting. And wherein goal C states that the Dysart Unified School District culture will be beyond reproach for a safe and secure environment for all stakeholders. And this is a resolution of the Dysart Governing Board opposing a request of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, or BNSF, to rezone and repurpose approximately 4,300 acres of vacant land to build an intermodal facility adjacent to US 60. Whereas the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors
072plans to hear and vote on BNSF railways request to rezone approximately 4,300 acres adjacent to the northwest boundary of the city of Surprise to allow an intermodal facility, logistics park, and center adjacent to US 60. And, whereas BNSF's proposed rail complex will transform approximately 4,300 acres of vacant land into an intermodal facility for the delivery and transfer of freight from trains and trucks, as well as a logistics park and center for warehouse and manufacturing. Whereas BNSF's proposed rail complex will generate and merge a large amount of traffic into the already overburdened city and state transportation network, disrupting already burdensome traffic for the communities that we serve, including our parents, students, staff, and Dysart's transportation fleet. Whereas at least two of the intersections along us 60 in and around the proposed rail complex at times Currently
073operates at an unacceptable level of service the proposed rail complex will further burden the transportation network causing intolerable and unsafe levels including unstable traffic flow significant delays gridlock traffic with the potential to delay emergency response to our schools through multiple traffic signal cycles Whereas, citing the National Center for Healthy Housing publication, Baltimore Washington Rail Intermodal Facility Health Impact Assessment, one of the six critical areas of study was neighborhood resources, or property values, tax revenue, and community resources, such as schools, emergency services, and parks. BNSF has not consulted with nor provided a plan to mitigate emergency service impacts to Dysart schools. If a plan is not developed The facility would create a school safety concern impacting our current emergency operating procedures or EOPs which are required by Arizona revised statute 15-341 by diverting critical resources out
074of our partnering jurisdictions and impacting critical response times. Whereas again fighting the National Center for Healthy Housing publication Baltimore Washington real intermodal facility health impact assessment the introduction of the intermodal facility at the Mount Clair in Baltimore site would increase the frequency of freight transport moving through the surrounding residential areas. resulting in emissions of numerous hazardous chemicals. These include particulate matter or PM greater than 2.5 microns, increasing by 0.8 micrograms per meter cubed, nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds or VOCs, and carbon monoxide. These increases correlate to 10 or more excess deaths per 100,000 residents annually from chronic exposure to air pollution near the facility. The impacted area also would have a catastrophic rate of asthma, bronchitis, chronic lower respiratory disease than non-impacted communities. Whereas Dysart schools including district-owned land for potential future schools
075along US 60 and just south of the proposed site. This creates an extremely high risk for exposure via outdoor activities, including recess, sports, physical education, as well as arrival and dismissal. Long-term exposure to pollutants in children due to smaller airways and more rapid respiration rates increases impaired lung development and presents long-term risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer. In addition to airborne pollutants, the integrity of the groundwater, surface water, and drinking water utilized by our schools may regularly be impacted. Whereas Dysart's existing and potential future facilities would be within close proximity to the proposed site, these existing facilities are near or at maximum capacity, making the risk to our students, staff, and community even greater. Whereas transportation of hazardous and lethal chemicals are commonly carried and transferred in intermodal rail and truck hubs. They may include
076chlorine gas, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid. In the event of a derailment, rupture, or spill, this would result in serious and permanent injury and in some cases cause fatalities within minutes. Whereas after the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio trail derailment, schools were forced to close due to the hazardous chemical spills after a violent explosion. At least one school was used as the incident command center. Closures of schools impacting, including transformation of schools to command centers have documented long-term impacts to communities, including interruption of education and devastating economic impacts to all residents. Intermodal transportation facilities have an increased risk of accidents which can lead to these explosions, fires, and toxic releases. Whereas the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors agreed to BNSF's request to consider this project at its November 5th, 2025 meeting. Whereas the signing governing board members
077of the Dysart Unified School District were elected to represent the values of their representative community and to be their voices. Be it resolved that the Dysart Unified School Governing Board holds a paramount concentration on school safety and opposes the proposed BNSF intermodal facility and logistics park and center due to considerable imposition to the quality of life of our community. and the substantial unmitigated risks to our students, staff, facilities, and district assets. Be it further resolved that the Dysart governing board deriving authority from the Arizona Constitution Arizona States and the regulations of the Arizona Administrative Code Strongly urged Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to oppose the proposal set forth by BNSF in its current form Be it further resolved that the Dysart Unified School governing board will send a copy of this resolution to the Maricopa
078Board of Supervisors And with that, I move to adopt the resolution related to BNSF Railway as presented. I will second it. I'd like to have some discussion about this matter. Who authored this resolution? I crafted the resolution. Okay, thank you. So I'm not going to go and reread each whereas, so I'm going to use what number they are. The third whereas statement is more of a city of surprise problem where they have been approving hundreds and thousands of homes in an area being spoken to with little to no traffic solution in the future. The county and state also take burden in this situation as well. I do not find this is a valid excuse for the governing board to make this statement. On October 22nd at 8.01, there was a press release titled BNSF Commits
079to Road Improvements. landmark chamber-led rail meeting stating BNSF was actively working with ADOT, MCDOT, and the City of Surprise on traffic mitigation. The fourth whereas is basically the same statement as the third whereas statement. There is also no documentation in the resolution that supports this statement. The specific intersections are not listed in the resolution. This statement is very general and should be more specific. The fifth whereas statement claims that the BNSF Railroad must work with the Dysart District. Although the intermodal hub is not being built in the district territory, I fail to see why they would be forced to work with the Dysart School District. In my opinion, they would need to work with the school district in which they are building. The ARS stated in this resolution clearly does not state BNSF has to
080work with the school district on EOPs. The ARS stated, says school districts must work with local law enforcement agencies and emergency response agencies. The sixth through the tenth whereas statements, in my opinion, are fear-mongering and gaslighting the situation. The train tracks exist today, they are used daily, and they already transport these goods. I will not support a resolution that lists hypotheticals. I'm against this resolution, and in my opinion, this is political and does not deserve the attention of the governing board. I will not let the board of supervisors use the Dysart governing board as a bargaining chip. So, for Clerk Skavar, a question. Are you saying that you do not believe that there's any potential for any trail, train derailment, that there's no potential for accidents with toxics? I'm trying to understand why you're saying
081it's fear-mongering, because we've had incidences throughout the U.S. on this. The train tracks exist today, so there's the potential today, no matter what. So this wasn't really about the train tracks. This is about the transfer stations for the intermodal logistics facility. This is transferring of goods and chemicals from the trains onto 18-wheelers. So there's going to be an increase of traffic of these 18-wheelers potentially carrying. toxic chemicals at times, not always obviously, but there's going to be an increase of activity. of transferring these from the trains onto these 18 wheelers, increasing the risk to our communities. That was the broader point. I also do want to make sure that I just recognize that some of this material was borrowed from the City of Surprise resolution. There was also a resolution from PORA, as well as
082Sun City HOA. And Nottaberg School District, you mentioned that it's not in our school district, but our neighbors to the north, Nottaberg, they actually have something posted right on their homepage where they are in opposition to this potential BNSF. So it really is a community effort. This was not done for political reasons. I really and truly felt that it was the right thing to do. I'll call for the vote. Mine is not coming up. Yes, obviously. Okay. Motion fails. Thank you. So glad we're not being political. Okay. Requests for future agenda items. Not hearing any, I motion to adjourn the meeting. Second. Motion carries. We are adjourned.