001All right. Good evening, everyone. Item 1.1, call to order study session. Our study session is call to order. Today is Tuesday, November 18th, 2025. It is 6, sorry, 5.04 p.m. Item 1.2, long-range planning board question and answer. So boards, you'll recall we did something like this similarly in the past. This is simply an opportunity for us to ask questions. of the board and of our district leadership team on any of the feedback that we've received during our hearing process or otherwise with respect to long-range planning. We are not taking a Q&A at this time from the community. We'll get feedback at the hearing, which is scheduled at 6. So at this point, I will open it up if there's any questions from the board. Member Davis. Yes, thank you very much. In talking to folks
002in the past couple of weeks and so, I've become aware that people are wondering if there might be some information that we can share about the general planning for after we make whatever decision we come to, what the plans are for consolidating kids and equipment and just in general, reconfiguring our room. our district. So I hoped that we might get some information about that to share with folks tonight. So thank you, Board Member Davis. We're not going to get into the nitty gritty of everything because obviously that could take us hours to get into that conversation. But what I can share, I'm going to pass something down for the board and we'll put something up on the long range plan page tomorrow. And I'm going to kind of jump around. My whole team is going
003to share a little bit about this. But we have A dedicated staff member that is leading the project management of the consolidation and what that means. And so what we've done is we've aligned it to our strategic plan under three big categories, future ready schools, optimal operations and resources, highly engaged people and culture. And we have some key initiatives that are going to happen in each of those areas. But overarching is really this organizational strategy and how we're. going about, you know, all of these changes. And so what I would say, I'm going to start with the organizational piece and then I'm going to hand it off. From an organizational piece, we're really looking at making sure we're in alignment with all legal requirements. There's things like contracts that have to change, number of buildings,
004all those types of things. So we're doing legal reviews of everything. And we're also doing policy reviews. So is there going to be any policies that have to be adjusted based on consolidation? So we have groups working on that. We also are having some support in what you would call change management or change leadership, a lot around, if you know, Cotter's work around change management and how we're going to manage this from a leadership perspective, both district leaders and school leaders. So we have a group working on what that sounds and looks like. And what I can tell you with that is it's going to really involve. working with Mr. Bailey, Eric Bailey, we've done some work with him in the past. We're going to be developing a guiding coalition. So these will be people
005within the district that are working on the overarching all of this. And then we're going to have networking committees. And what you're going to hear from the groups that are talking about, they're almost like your implementation groups when you start getting down into the more specifics of what has to be done. And so there will be networking groups working on those very specific things because everybody obviously can't work on everything. And then from an organizational design, right, we do this as part of our budget process every year, but this will look a little different this year when you start thinking about downsizing a district and consolidation. And so we right-size our district staff, as Mr. Herman has always shared, with our timeless spending model. And so that process might just look a little different this
006year. If we have less schools, what does our district also need to downsize? in, in, uh, to be proportionate, right? And so what does that look like? So we have a group from the highest level working on that as well. So I'm going to hand it off. I believe I'm starting with Dr. Osmeyer, who's going to talk about our enrollment networking group. Hi, good evening, President Walsh, members of the board, and our public at large. I'm really going to just give you a high-level organization of two buckets that I'm currently working in under the House of Enrollment. So the first is the heavy lift of really getting right some best estimations for school size. So as we look at school consolidation and where our plans are focused on, what can we expect as far as
007what that student population looks like? by their need as well as their grade assignments. Once I start to have those numbers rolling across different department and leadership spaces, they can then start to plan for the resources that we're going to allocate to each of our schools, as well as the staffing or the material goods that accompany our children and the needs that follow. The second bucket of work that I'm right in the middle of is really setting us up for registration for our families. So as you look at our primary audience of the work related to enrollment, it's the continuation of our families for education. next year. So that work is a different set of partners as far as making certain the system to collect parent preference. We know that as online registration. as well
008as communications. So as we look at families who are matriculating from fifth to sixth grade or moving from one school to the next as we consider consolidation, what type of communications do we have in place? And do my partners in that work have the information they need at the student level in order to really embrace our families through the next steps that will follow? Next. Yes. Sorry. I forgot my microphone. Hi. Hi. When you say evaluate kids, students according to their need as well as grade assignments, I don't know what that means. So that's my partner to the left. I often work with Dr. Lane and Dr. Turner as far as do we have students who are assigned to programs? like special education, so maybe our cross-categorical student assignments related to disability, in which case
009the placement isn't always their home school, but where the program has been placed to provide services. And in those conversations, what Sandra best needs is how many students can she anticipate are going to stay within the program moving forward one year. how many of the students will matriculate from that fifth grade to the sixth grade so that she can start to plan for what does the middle school population look like and where can we anticipate their school assignment to be. And she and Dr. Turner start to work with their teams as far as, okay, do we have capacity in the current placement of those programs? Do we need to look at adding staff to those schools? Do we need to look at creating another section of programs? we matriculate our kids from fifth to sixth,
010but that same matriculation happens in our elementary schools as well. So have we seen an increase in the number of students that were identified with our 40th day count? Do we anticipate a stable or a different population as we look at our kindergarten cohort coming in? We really do start to look at student enrollment based on student demographics. And that demographic would of course be whether or not they've been identified to have a disability and does that create a difference in their assignment for a school? Does it? create a difference in their assignment for a classroom space. Sometimes we can service them right there in their home school or in their school of choice. We just need to know our total numbers in order to backwards design the number of staff that we assign to
011each one of those sites. And Board Member Davis, I do want to point out, so this work that Dr. Ostmeyer is talking about is actually already a process we have in place. The shift will be the consolidation of schools, right? So if it's, you know, right now we do it for 25 schools, we would be doing it for eight less schools. And obviously the numbers shift at the schools that are taking incoming students. So the programs don't change. Right. The staff. We're going to meet the needs of kids. And we're going to talk about staffing towards the end. I know Ms. Gibson is going to talk a little bit about all the stuff we have coming with staffing. But we can't do staffing until all the projections every year are in the books based on
012grade levels and which schools. And so, you know, assuming if the board was to vote and the proposed plan moved forward as is, then Dr. Ostmeyer's numbers get dropped into a system that looks at it by. the new schools that we have, if you will. Currently, we do this again every year for 25 schools. So the process itself is not going to change. It's just which schools and how many schools change. But there's still a lot of work to do to prepare for that and not knowing what the final outcome will be. Our teams are going to be prepared for whatever that outcome is, whether the district was to keep 25, go to 23, go to 20, whatever it was, we will have the systems in place to be able to run that data. quickly.
013Okay, thank you. Thank you. I think Dr. Lane's going to take us just through a couple items then around what has to happen at our schools, and so what networking committees will we have around programming and student services? Yes, thank you. Good evening, everyone. So obviously, one of the things, we've had a lot of questions about this already, but is where will our CCD or our CCB programs go? That also includes preschool, our community ed preschool programs, all of those that are at current sites that may... that are proposed to close. We are looking at and have been reviewing all of our current, all of our sites to make sure that we have capacity for each one of those programs, which we do. But then also, what exactly do we need in those spaces? Might
014we need a changing table or things like that? So all of those are things that we are currently doing and prepared. And so we will be prepared when we know. One of the other things, we're doing is we are working on protocols for moving curriculum, packing curriculum, what curriculum actually should be discarded, etc. all the way down to actually student level equipment in our classrooms. So there might be a special chair for a child in a classroom. When we know where that child actually is moving to, we would make sure that that equipment follows that student. Those are things that might happen with a child that's in resource or a child that's in CCD or even CCB. But it's a, you know, there's a lot in a classroom, as many of you have, you've all
015seen in a classroom. And so there's a lot of equipment that would have to be moved and a lot of curriculum that we would need to pack and possibly even discard. There's probably plenty of things that are out of date in those classrooms. And then I believe Mr. Nichols is going to speak. There's quite a bit under optimal operations and resources, as you can imagine, as you downsize. And so I think you're going to cover the first two around safety, security, and technology. Sure. I'll try to be brief because there is a lot in this section. But as far as technology, what we're doing to prepare for whatever changes may come, there's lots of impacts. on the IT world. So it's the basic stuff like just moving the equipment and making sure that we have
016the right devices. But the more in-depth stuff is making sure our systems work. So a lot of the stuff that staff and students use are driven on where they actually attend. So if we move students from one school to another, there's a lot of behind-the-scenes programming that has to happen. Their laptop has to be allowed to talk on that school's network. They have to have access to the right Synergy courses and the right... instructional materials. They have single sign-on for a lot of the instructional stuff that they use and that's based on where they go to school. And for staff it's very similar. We have to make sure teachers end up in the right place, that support staff end up in the right place. Everything from logging in and out for their time to doing
017their job to getting their emails and being in the right distribution group. So there's a lot of programming that goes on behind the scenes. In addition, we would need to what we call make ready for all the classrooms. This is something we do every summer anyway, as kids are moving around. This will just has the potential to be much larger. But that's making sure that the classrooms that will be occupied have the correct technology in them. So dot cams, projectors, intercoms, clocks, and all the other technology that goes along with that. And then. We also oversee the safety and security department, and a lot of it is very much the same in that there's a lot of devices and technology that supports that, that goes along with the staff members. For example, they need to
018be given access to get into the correct schools and to the correct areas and to disarm certain parts of the building. And they will need training on, you know, what gates and what drop-off lanes and all of the safety and security stuff that they're used to at the current school have to be redone. Probably the most important part here is readdressing the capacity of the school and making sure that our emergency plans are responsive and dynamic enough to account for that. So that's everything from drills, like where do we go, do we have different routes, right down to, all the way down to just traffic flow within the school. And I don't mean cars, although that's part of it, but how do the students move around the building, because it's very different. It has the
019potential to be very different from what it is today. So a lot of the work that my teams are doing, this is stuff that they do every year anyway. Like I said, it just has the potential to be a much larger project. So we're trying to get ahead of it now and just start predicting what could some of the things be that we need to modify. And I think Mr. Herman's going to talk about a few of the other items under operations and resources. Yeah, thank you. I think I have about four main categories that I would put under that grouping. And the first really is the finance and budget impact. So all the things that you're hearing about might have a cost associated with it, either an increase or a decrease. We've talked about
020some projected savings. So just making sure we have really good records to keep track of all the things that are happening, both on the plus and the minus side of what our budgets look like. And then working with schools on how we typically budget and make sure that process, again, continues forward in whatever capacity that would be. The second area really is kind of the logistics and moving aspect of what you've heard about. So when Mr. Nichols and Dr. Lane talked about, you know, materials being moved or technology being moved, we have a warehouse internally that helps to facilitate movement of some larger items within our buildings. So there's a lot of planning and a lot of activities that would take place if you were going to. consolidate a building potentially and so making sure
021we have a good plan and know the timeline of how that would take place and have a warehouse team you know ready for whatever that work might be to get all of the things moved right whether that's like we heard specialized equipment whether that's furniture whether that's curriculum materials whether that's things in the classroom right making sure that happens or could happen in a very smooth transition The third area would really be the facilities and the maintenance of the building itself. You know, remember, we have schools today that may have 400 or so students in them and they might potentially have, you know, hundreds more students. Right. So making sure all the facilities are ready. They may not have been used as much in the past. And so, again, some of those areas might take
022longer with lead times or having to line up certain equipment purchases. So, again, trying to be proactive and look at what facilities. and maintenance may need to happen again. So if there were to be some consolidations or closures, that that would take place in a very seamless and smooth manner. And then the fourth area we talked a little bit about during a previous study session was the impact on transportation. Right. So looking at boundaries, looking at pickup locations, looking at potentially the impact on what your pickup in the morning and drop off times might be for a particular location in school and making sure that that's all understood well. We're also planning independently of a vote. for consolidations or school closures to look at some opt-in technology enhancements for our community to request transportation to
023make that a little bit more transparent for our team on how we plan bus locations and stops. So we're also working on that as well. And that, again, would be part of any changes if that were to take place as well. And then in talent management, very much like Damian mentioned, that a lot of the work that we will do in talent management centered around staffing is work that we do at the end of every year. in the event schools close, it would be at a greater volume. So especially when we're working with staffing. So one of the things that we are working on behind the scenes is creating a survey for employees to identify what their preference would be if, you know, school site wise and then preference of grade level. If it's a
024certified teacher, if it's a support staff, what would be their preference in job? you know, aligned with something that maybe they're qualified to do. So that's currently, you know, what we're working on in talent management, along with how to communicate this information to people, especially at a larger volume, you know, having the communication about what they would be doing next year, where they would be going, where they would be transferring to. So we're working on the communication piece. And then the other piece that we're working on is like all the internal systems. So like technology, we need to make sure that When somebody transfers to another site, they have the correct badge access, that they have the correct access to electronic files, that the frontline system where they report absences and where their evaluations will
025be, that it's all aligned and set up for their current year and at their current site. So those are all the things that we do every year, but we're just kind of gearing up for a higher volume and making sure that we have all of our processes in place. Well, Lisa and a couple other friends mentioned communications, so we'll be supporting them with communications. But we're also working on an overarching high-level transition communication platforms. Who needs information? When do they need it? So building out those timelines and what those messages will be. Also, we're looking at marketing a transition. There's a short-term look at if the district does move forward with open enrollment. only schools? What marketing do we need just around that? And then how might these changes impact our multi-year marketing plan moving
026forward? So those are things we're starting to look at now in anticipation of the changing landscape of the district. That's some of the work in the works as well. If I could ask, when you say the marketing plan, who is it aimed at? Well, so in the short-term marketing plan, that would be generating enrollment for open enrollment only schools. So we're always marketing our schools, but if you have schools without boundaries, we're going to want to give those an extra push for awareness. So this year, if there were changes for next year, we would probably want an infusion of marketing that maybe we hadn't originally budgeted for or planned for. So it'd probably be going bigger and a little bit more targeted. over and above what we would normally do this year. On a longer
027range, what we're looking at is how does this change the landscape of our schools? Which ones maybe need more support? How do we better support individual schools? We've had some great offers from our community and we've actually started talking to some of them just to get some new insights and be inspired. by our community as well as part of that conversation. And maybe part of that is bringing in our community to talk about how does marketing shift in alignment with these changes as well. So that's something we're starting to think about now so that we're ready to go if changes happen. Super. Thank you. And I think Dr. Cupp's going to wrap us up. Yeah. One question. Yes, please. I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, there was a grant, if I'm not mistaken, from
028the Chandler Industrial. development in which I believe from what I read. I didn't hear from you guys. I read this, that that was contributed to to help with that as well. Did we participate in that? Yeah. So that's actually part of the agreement that we entered into with the city of Chandler recently. They contributed. Mr. Herman, correct me if I'm wrong. I think you're talking about they put in one hundred and fifty thousand. We put in 10 Chandler Unified, put in 10 Mesa, put in 10. So generous city. contribution to that. But what it is, is we're going to be working together on not just enrollment, but getting young people to. buy and move in. I mean, cities are challenged economically by houses being not as affordable. So there's shared interest between us growing enrollment
029and them moving young families into their communities. So we'll be partnering with them on that. It's really similar to what we did with the Thrive in Tempe in partnership with the city of Tempe and the Tempe-based school districts. It'll have just a little bit of a different spin, but it's still... early. They haven't done the RFP yet, but I'm sitting on that RFP, so I'll be able to help choose the vendor they're working with, and so much more to come on that. And Dr. Kopp? And to kind of piggyback on what Erin was talking about with that clear and consistent communication, we do want to help make sure that this is a supportive transition as possible. So we've been learning a lot from other districts who have gone through consolidations, through mergers, and really applying
030some of those. thoughts to what our context would be. So really focusing on what those early welcoming activities would be and those opportunities for staff and parents as well to really start to build that community and that culture. And we're also starting to build that repository of those activities to help guide schools through what that transition might look like. So you can see there's a lot going on. And as I said, most of these are going to turn into networking committees going forward. So it's not just going to be like this team can't do it all right. There's no that's not possible. So there's going to be a lot of people across the district working on different areas and helping really bring this to the implementation stage, which is really the work of next semester.
031Right. So should the board vote? early in this winter or, you know, December, January, February, then that's the work that these teams will be working on. Not to say that work's not already happening because a lot of work, you've already heard that, is already currently happening. A lot of it is actually just implementing our current practices at just a much larger volume. So being prepared that we're going to have a larger volume. So with that, I will make sure that this is available. Also, we'll put this up on our frequently requested documents just so people can see the big initiatives. As the project management plan really gets set in motion, once we know what the final decision is and what consolidation is actually occurring, then we'll be able to really get into the specifics and
032keep updates going in these bigger areas. But we wanted you to see the big, broad initiatives and see how much work and what's going on already. Thank you. Thank you, Member Davis. Board, any other questions for the team? Vice President Nelson. Yes. One thing we've heard a lot about in the community is around the disparate impact, making sure that we've taken in mind the configuration of each school site. And I know people have talked a lot about Title VI quite a bit. And so I'm wondering if Mr. Allel. has any information about that or any work that maybe we've done or can share with the community in that space? Thank you, Vice President Nelson. Yes, I could take up the rest of our time together talking about Title VI and disparate impact and the various
033case law and history of that. I won't. for everyone's sake just know that um under title six under most of our federal discriminatory practices and lawsuits, there are two general avenues where those cases fall. One is a direct discriminatory intent, and the other is disparate impact, where there might not be a discriminatory intent, but the cumulative effect of the actions taken creates a disparate impact, as the phrase they use, a disproportional hardship on minorities protected classifications. So we have run analysis to ensure that we are considering both at a school by school and as a district overall level that in the decisions between schools that are closing and schools that will remain open, that we don't have severe outliers. And when we look at the recent case law, On these issues, I was actually reading
034a case earlier where the disparate impact, and this is a case where it was rejected as not being disparate impact. You were looking at cases where schools that were 10 to 15% off. of the overall population, so favoring students that were predominantly white, even though the district was predominantly minority. Even in that case, looking at the analysis that was done by the school in making those decisions, the court determined it wasn't a disparate impact. And part of this is based on the services that were being offered, the committee work that was done, the recommendations to find objective analyses. So all of the types of indices that we see in those types of case law are analysis that Susie and her team, Mr. Brammer and his team are doing and have done to make sure we're
035not. creating a situation that we are disproportionately impacting our minority or protected classifications. And Mr. Lowe, I'm sorry if I missed, you did mention it about the home boundary students, correct? Yes. Because I think that's a really important clarification that you can't look at the school's population as it currently is. You have to look at... the resident students that we serve in this district when we're having boundary and closure conversations. That's correct. Because when we're talking about the student population as a whole, if we're talking about out-of-district students who are choosing a school site, those choices we can't necessarily affect in deciding boundaries ourselves. Thank you, Member Nelson. Vice-Chair Nelson. Any other questions? Member Seyfried. Yes. So based on community feedback from our public hearings and from all the notes that I took from those
036public hearings, a lot of the requests that we're seeing are to. delay a year or reduce the number of schools in year one. And I do remember, like right now, we have it broken out by the next two years, where we have four years in the next year, or I'm sorry, four schools in the next year and four schools after that. And at one point, I do kind of remember we had separated that out by three, the next three years, right? I don't remember how many, how many, and how many. But I just had two questions on that. Why did that change? And Can we see what the financial impact is if we can just go back out to that three year model one second where we could do maybe three, three and then two,
037six through eight schools in year three? Right. And then the second question is, if we move forward with the proposed model and what I want to see, I want to know what the impact of each year's consolidation or move, what the financial impact looks like, like what happened after that first year, what happened after, you know, and if we see any improvements in the financial impact more than we would have expected, let's say, could we go back the board? and re-examine those schools that are on the consolidation list. Sorry, that was a lot. I think that, and I'll leave this up to you, President Walsh. I don't think we were. I think that we thought that was going to be part of the December 2nd discussion. So we're going to actually have a tool similar
038to the one that you saw in the earlier study session that kind of showed if you closed seven schools, if you closed one school, what the savings would be. But we're actually going to have a tool Mr. Herman's working on that the board can get into a real in-depth discussion about how many schools and what's the right number and in which year. So I don't know that we have the actual financial impact. per se by three years. The reason it changed was because we reduced the number of schools that were originally proposed. And so when that reduction happened, we are trying to minimize the disruption year after year. That's a lot of disruption three years in a row. And so we tried to minimize that once there was less schools. At one point, if it's
039too many schools, we can't possibly, you've heard the team talk about the volume of work that gets increased. So More schools that close or consolidate becomes more volume of work. And so that's why we said, what can we operationally as a district manage in one year? And then what would it take if we were? So if the district was to close less schools, we could potentially do this all in one year and minimize this disruption and see what the impact is. A little bit of a concern, the longer we spread the implementation plan out, the more likely is that you lose more enrollment. overall because the disruption continues year after year, and you also potentially lose more staff who feel very uncertain. So that was something that was taken into consideration. We actually, nobody was
040thrilled about a three-year rollout, but when it was so many schools operationally looking at that list of initiatives we just talked through, we just couldn't pull off, you know, six or seven schools in one year becomes to be a lot. Six is probably the maximum you could do in one school year. And so if it's more than six, then we recommend two years. If it becomes more than eight, then we would recommend maybe three years. But since we scaled back. that was the reason it changed. But I think December 2nd, we're going to be prepared to really get into the financials with you and have a tool that you can actually manipulate that Mr. Herman will be able to manipulate and show the board different scenarios based on what you'd like to see, whether that's,
041you know, four schools, five schools, seven schools, what that looks like. I think as part of that exercise on December 2nd, Mr. Herman, I wonder if you might be able to come to the board with sort of priorities or where you think you would cut from first. So, for example, if we're going to have to pull levers, you've done a really good job of listing all the potential levers that are out there, and there's many. It'd be helpful, I think, to know that if we are going to do a thing that cut down the cost savings by, call it, $150,000, where do you think the levers that you might look to first are? I wouldn't hold you to it because everything is... dependent on the full budget, but that just might be useful. Would you
042want that? Because we've actually started this conversation. Would you want that? I mean, so we've had the conversation, assuming the board voted to close no schools. The overrides passed, right? So we had to consider the 200 teaching positions, all that. But assuming that board closed no schools, we've started to prioritize the what's at stake list. What would have to go first or what would we prioritize first? Assuming then playing with the tool, the board was to close. I'm just making these numbers up. By no means are these numbers anybody has talked about. Just for the example, if the board was to say we're only going to close two schools, then. Mr. Herman's tool will be able to look at what is that impact in year one, two, three, four, five towards that seven million. And
043so it could be we prioritize then we don't need to do any lever, pull anything else out of lever three yet. But in year two, we might have to look at now. saying this would be the next thing on the list that would need to go if the board wasn't going to revisit closing more. Should the board vote to close five schools, maybe it's enough that we don't need to pull any levers for the next three years. And those are the types of things that we'd be able to really get in deep on December 2nd, once we've had all of the feedback and the rest of the questions from the board today. That's what we're going to be prepared and the team can come prepared to talk about. Again, I would say that it won't
044be an absolute this gets cut for sure, but this would be what the teams and we've had a whole, the whole strategic leadership team has been prioritizing those things already and looking at. Yeah, so if you've already got the list of priorities, it might just be. How far down that list do we have to go if changes were made to the plan? If we, yeah, depending on how many schools, but you'll be able to see depending on how many schools, there's always the one off piece of, right, what do we do with the land or the building, which is always the one little unknown. So depending should the board lease the land, should the board sell the land, should the board repurpose it within a district. facility, right? We don't save the expense, but if
045we repurpose it and go into an IGA or we do something with another city or we lease it, it's okay to keep the building because the cost is getting taken care of at that point. So those are some of the unknowns that, you know, we'll just have to consider when you're looking at that data. But we'll really be able to get down to the personnel costs and the potential building savings that are operational, not capital. Those we can those we'll be able to talk about a little bit more in depth. Does that cover that? You did an amazing job. There's really nothing I can add to that. The only thing I would want to say, though, is I do always get really nervous talking about next year's budget decisions in November. Right. Because, as you
046know, the legislature hasn't even come back yet. Right. So there's a lot of things that could happen outside of what we know today. So I think as long as we can have the understanding that this is a list that could be prioritized and talked about, but we really won't know to the extent. the depth or the impact until our legislature and our budget really starts to take shape in the spring. I think as long as we're okay with that, then I think we can bring all of those things forward in December. Great. I think that would be useful. Member Shade, did that address all the aspects of your question for questions? Yeah, I just wanted to know also for my second question is. If after like the first year we take certain steps and things
047are better than we thought they would be or whatever the projections were, are we able to reexamine the map then? And what? Well, you can. always re-examine, it would require, right, going back to a public hearing. So let's say, and I'm looking to Mr. Allel just to make sure I don't violate any of our statutes around this, but my understanding would be, should the board vote for the plan as is, just say, which is a two-year rollout, and if after year one, something significant changed at our state or, you know, something changed to such a degree. We got this huge influx of kids, whatever it is that would cause the board to pause and say, you know what, maybe we don't want to implement this second phase of this. Then, yes, I believe the board
048could come back. What it would look like is because you've already adopted these maps. It would be redoing the maps again based off, right? So you would have already had year one's closures and the maps are what they are now. Let's say you vote on them as they look today. Then what would happen is we would rebound, re-redo maps again, and you would go through the same process of a public hearing and having feedback on the maps. You'd just be comparing them to your newly adopted map, not to your... previously adopted map. Does that make sense? So from the statute, any time a district makes a boundary change to an existing adopted map, you have to go through the public hearing process again for the boundary. You only are required to do one public hearing,
049but what the public hearing has to do is make sure that you invite, and it has to be in writing. That was the postcard to every home that is in the boundary that's impacted by the change. So because our change, so we wouldn't necessarily need to do everything we did for this process because this was impacting almost the entire district. We just, even the little boundaries that didn't get impacted, we went ahead and included everybody because it was so widespread. But should it be three or four boundaries are only being impacted, then you invite those communities. to the public hearings. Not that other people can't show up to your public hearing. It's just they get a very specific invite. Did I get that right, Mr. Hallel? Did an excellent job. Thank you. I've read a
050lot of statute over the last few months. Any further questions? Member Davis. Yes, I was just thinking, we're talking, we've talked a lot about the financial ifs and maybes. Is there any way that we could maybe have some feedback from our educators about what is a good thing that can come out educationally of a larger school? We talk a lot about the difficulties that face small schools or the benefits of small schools, the social benefits, and I'm very concerned about those, as we all know. We all are. I'd like to hear from our educators about some of the positive things that may come out of a larger school. Yes, what I'll do is we can invite, I wrote a note, we can invite a couple leaders that actually have been in the district when the
051district was at almost full capacity, when we were running middle schools at about 1,200, 1,300 students. And I believe even a couple board members that have gone out to visit schools maybe have had these conversations. I think that's a fabulous idea. We'll invite a few to share. Because I think there's some really good data to show that it actually increases opportunities, not decreases. And that is what was shared with us as well. You know, the small schools, I'll tell you, before we even started the Long Range Plan Committee, we had a lot of talk internally about how did we all feel about small schools? How could we possibly pull that off? One of the issues that we run into is because of the way our campuses were built with the capacity so large. You really
052can't run a small school in a building that's so big that's actually meant to run way more students or the cost just isn't operationally efficient. And I know Mr. Herman has taught me that a lot because, you know, I was very much about could we run some small K-1-2s? Could we do because from an education standpoint, those are fantastic. Right. The problem is you can't do it in the buildings we have. So, you know. Does that mean you tear the buildings down and you put new buildings? Do we build smaller campuses? The reality is it costs more to run a smaller school. It just does. You can't staff quite the same. There's just more costs associated. And I'm interested also in the educational pluses of what we're trying to do. A few questions for me.
053Mr. Herman, when we talk about cost savings, In the projected models for school consolidation, one of the things we've looked at is the building savings, like utilities, custodial care, insurance. The numbers I think we've presented so far have been averages. I think 300K-ish for elementary schools, about 500,000 for middle schools because they're bigger. I know not all schools are identical, and at least on the building savings costs, I know there's some variance among those that get you to the average. Would it be possible for you to share with the board and with the community, maybe on the FAQs, what those exact estimated cost savings are for building savings on a school-by-school basis for the eight schools that are proposed for consolidation? Yeah, absolutely yes to all of those questions. We've actually had that modeled when
054we went to the committee back in... the spring as far as what those savings amounts were. They were averages, but they were based on the actual averages of our buildings, right? And so, yes, we have all the utility and facility-related day-to-day operational costs. for all of our buildings. And just so the board knows, and we can make that on our website too, absolutely. Just so the board knows, you know, there would be a difference in the savings potentially for a building, for utilities, based on the square footage of a building, right? Bigger buildings obviously would consume more energy. So you're going to see some variance. Mostly because the size of building or potentially the square footage of the land, right? When you talk about custodial costs and insurance values and things like that, or I
055should say grounds costs, not custodial costs. So yes, there will be some change building the building, but just so the board and community understands out of the five elementary schools that were proposed to not be repurposed. We said about $300,000 was the average. That would be about $1.5 million. And we'll put this on the website too. We can share this. The actual five buildings estimated amount is $1.498 million. $1.499 million. So your estimate's right on the target at the aggregate level. So that's why we were always comfortable saying the average is going to be a good representation. Because remember, the committee wasn't going school by school and picking. So we felt like we would not be misleading them in a financial decision if we used the averages. And also on the middle schools, we set
056around half a million dollars for getting the day-to-day billing costs. So roughly a million dollars between the two middle schools that were proposed. And then those actual estimated amounts come out to be $1.04 million. So again, they're right on the mark. They're right there. We'll make that very, very clear. But, you know, we always felt like using those numbers would not be misguiding our community on making a decision because a building might have such a dramatic change that you might want to. look at it differently. Yeah, I agree completely. And I think the committee was not asked to apply the criteria on a school-by-school basis, right? We were just looking at the criteria aggregate district-wide. But if the board was looking to apply any criteria on a school-by-school basis, I understand that you've got that
057information at your fingertips. You can make that available. And like you said, depending on the size of the school, that cost may vary at least for the building savings. And I know personnel cost. will largely be the same school to school. And some of those fluctuations might be based more on tenure of staff than anything else. But the building savings piece will be actually specific to the school site. That's absolutely correct. Got it. Thank you. Go ahead, Member Davis. Yes, being not that well-versed in spreadsheets, I'm assuming this is yearly. Those would be the annual amounts, correct? Yes. Okay. Correct. Thank you. Superintendent Tenius, one of the things you touched on earlier was ultimate land use. We've heard it in some of the public comments, and I think maybe some board members have heard from
058community about, you know, we're... the land use or potential land use of some of these sites instrumental in which schools were closed and which schools were open. And I wanted to make it clear that as a board, we've not engaged in any discussions about land use. And I think as a district, that's not anything we're doing at this time either, but I wondered you could speak to that. Yeah, that's a great question. And one of the reasons you can't do that ahead of time to some degree is because If the board was to, say, choose one of the locations and wanted to sell the land and say at another location they were going to lease the land. And so they went and said, this is the best one to close because we're going to sell
059this one. And this is the best one to sell to close because we're going to lease. And they and you used that strategy. The issue is you're getting ahead of the voters. And the problem is. You can't make a decision as a board to sell or lease the land until it's actually gone to the voters. So what happens is you have to tell the voters which land that you're talking about selling. So that's why you can't do that decision before you make these decisions. Once the board votes on which buildings are closing. Should the board at some point decide to have a conversation about doing is it I think it's just selling and leasing are the two that have to go to the voters. Then you could make that decision at that point. That is
060why none of those discussions have even occurred. That is not to say that there have not been some discussions about repurposing that we shared publicly, such as. would we want to consider a gifted academy? There's been conversations about, you know, do we want to expand some special ed services? Do we want to look at doing something with early childhood? Those are conversations that happened in the long range plan. When they talked about redesign, you probably heard a lot of notes about, hey, these might be some great ideas. Could we have a sports complex? Could we have a community center? Could we have... A early childhood center. I'm trying to think of those charts. But all those instances, that's Kyrene keeping the land and changing the purpose. Every one of those is Kyrene keeping the land.
061We have not had any conversations about selling land to housing developers or anything of that nature. Absolutely not. And again, it would be very premature because no voters have even decided if Kyrene can sell. or lease any land. Once, and I know Mr. Allel did share this, but just for the public that maybe hasn't paid attention during the long-range plan, should the board at some point decide to take any of this to the voters? And you probably saw some of those on the ballot measures this year. I noticed there were a few districts requesting to sell or lease land. Once the voters approve something like that, the district has 10 years, I believe it is. Is it 20? It's now 20 years. It's now 20. 20 years to actually do it. So, for example, our
062land off of I-10 that the district owns had been voted on years before I came to the district, that the district at some point had gone to the voters and the voters said, yes, you can lease or sell that land. And the district waited up until right about the time the expiration was going to run out. And before I stepped in this seat. right when I stepped in actually was the deal was finalized, but they had been working on a deal to get that land leased. So, and then I know there was a question now that you're on the same topic about if we sell the land, the money cannot go to operating expenses. The money goes to capital expenses. So I just want to be really clear if all the board doesn't understand that.
063Leasing the land, we have a little bit more flexibility in how we use that money. So should we lease a building? or lease the land, we can use some of that money for operational expenses. It's just if the district was ever to sell the land or building, it can only be used for capital. Thank you. Question, Mr. Herman, on the reserves. I know we've talked about this at some length, about it's not appropriate to use reserves for general ongoing expenses because those expenses will still be there and the reserves get dwindled down. One of the questions and comments I think we've heard from our community is, could reserves be used for a recurring expense for a limited duration? So, for example, if you were to say we wanted to extend a school closure by an
064additional year, could you pull from the reserves for that one-year expense, even though it's an ongoing expense, with the understanding that we're doing it in this one instance because this is an extraordinary circumstance relating to school closure? My general comment about reserves is you could use the money for almost any purpose, right? Some of those might have a better short-term or long-term implication. So if you were to use monies for ongoing expenses to try to buy a year or two or whatever the scenario is, sure, legally it's possible, absolutely it's possible, but you would really be... that hole in your budget would continue to be there whenever you decided to stop using your reserve or one-time funding, right? So the implications, whether you want to call that a fiscal cliff or something like that, would
065be much steeper than if you dealt with it in the current period. There's lots of things about reserves. I'm actually going to bring something to the board. I'm hoping to do it as soon as I can here. I usually do it every three years. We can certainly go backwards if anyone wants to see the conversation about reserves on how Kyrene compares to peer districts. We did that about three and a half years ago, I think. So we'll refresh that as soon as I can. But our reserve balances are not excessive or even. at the same level as peer-rated, credit-rated districts are, right? So people think that we have astronomical reserves based on what other peer districts have. We don't, and the data shows that from three years ago. Now, I'm going to update that, but
066I know we keep a close look to make sure we're consistent in seeing things across the state. The other thing is, you know, there are some other really big potential... unknowns in our budget, right? So part of the reason you have reserves are for the things that you can't predict or might not know about. And so one of the things is the aggregate expenditure limit. So we have thankfully been exempted from that from this year. But if that were not to be the case, we would have almost, based on the last calculations, almost $20 million. of monies that we would not be allowed to spend out of our budget, right? That is more money than we have in our reserve balances for our M&O, just that in and of itself. We also had the Quasimire
067lawsuit a year and a half or so ago, and we had to deplete some of our cash reserve balances to cover that, right? So that was about four, I remember four to $5 million. I don't know the exact number, but those are good examples of things that are really big that potentially could impact us. If you don't have anything left, you know, to buffer that, you find yourself in a potentially worse situation have or if some of those things were to occur. So it's fair to say it's possible, but not without its financial risks. Absolutely. It's a fair way to say that. Got it. Thank you. That's helpful. And I would also just like to add, you know. Using one-time money to postpone for a year, in addition to the financial implication that potentially and
068some of the risks there, I do think there's some other risks that the board should also consider. Just be thinking about what that might sound like. I just want to make sure we understood what was allowed versus advisable. If I may, can I just add one more comment towards that question? Please. Because, again, you could use that money to do a lot of things. I just want to say that in the nine years that I've been here, we've never used one-time money to help bridge ongoing expenses. That has not been our practice. So, again, if the community is wondering, like, is that a good idea, not a good idea, we've never done that since I've been here to bridge substantial budget gaps using one-time monies or to postpone situations. We've dealt with them in the
069years that they've needed to be dealt with. Thank you. Ms. Helm, just a quick question for you. One of the things we think we've gotten during the feedback on community is keeping families engaged and sort of our accessibility for inquired families. Are we doing anything on school tours that you might be able to speak to? So we're always coaching our schools on school tours, how to make them more frequent, more accessible, and how to better market them. I think we are looking at some options to help bridge the gap between some of the skill set we have at the district office with the capacity at the schools, because we know our leaders are doing really important work of guiding the educational instruction of children. But we also know that we are competing with entities that
070operate like a business. And so how can we sort of bridge that gap of the important work we're doing inside of our schools? with also the competitive nature that education landscape has become. So it's something we're still working on. Thank you. Superintendent Tanyas, one of the things you touched on about small schools and the challenges of small schools is how our buildings are set up. It's one thing to seal a wing and achieve some cost savings, right? But it's not eliminating the costs for sealing a building. If there's a particular campus that's not set up like... most of our elementaries, which are just one block. But I'm thinking maybe some of our middle schools, particularly one of the middle schools that's proposed for closure that is designed with different buildings. Have we thought about, or
071is there an opportunity to talk about, instead of all or nothing, actually demolishing a building on that campus? And would that be a way to achieve higher cost savings? I'll let Mr. Herman really speak more about the building. And I know we maybe have to get some numbers brought back to run the estimates of what that cost. You know, I think what you run into is you aren't saving the personnel costs now. Right. So this goes back to what I was saying about you're still the positions. You still have your principals. You still have your principals. You still have your same number of teachers. And again, the same number of teachers is going to happen, whether it's at that school or a different location. But you the the what was it, 13? I can't remember
072the FTE on, I just put my paper away, on middle school. It was about 13 FTE. So about 13 FTE it's costing you, which is, you know, a pretty significant cost. It's about $500,000 extra. So you're not saving the personnel and you won't save, you might save some on those operational costs. So where you broke it down by school, that's the piece that I think Mr. Herman will have to have the facilities team go back and maybe run the numbers. How many buildings would we need? How much would have to be torn down? The tearing. down as a one-time cost. So I don't worry about that quite as much long-term, but it's not an ongoing expense. But if your operational costs stay up there, then that could become an issue. And I'm thinking in particular,
073if we were to consider that for one school, would we revisit the 13 FTE, for example, and say, if this school wants to continue in existence as a small school, it's not going to be able to operate at a 13 FTE? And what does that look like? Because it might be that we say no. We think every one of these roles is essential to give a Kyrene experience. And that's one of the things I just want to think about. I've just heard about, we like this small school environment. If it's not an all or nothing where it's keep the whole school open as is or close the entire school, if there's somewhere in between, what does that look like? Whether it's personnel savings, building savings, et cetera. I'd just be interested to hearing that as
074part of that conversation. And there are some districts you've seen that do schools within schools. So they basically take two small schools and put them on one campus. But maybe then there's one. main leader with like two assistant principals. So you might reduce some of those costs. But, you know, the reality is it's still a large campus then. It's still taking, if you took two 500 small schools and put them on one campus, you still have a thousand kids coming and going. You could stagger times. I've seen districts do things such as that and say, well, we're going to have these 500 kids here from this time and try not to have them all there at the same time and try to maximize the use of the facility. It's not done large scale, but it
075is done in some districts. Yeah, I'm certainly not advocating for one thing or another. I just know we've heard from our community to be creative with our problem solving. So I just want to make sure that we are publicly thinking about all the options on the table. And if they make sense, great. And if they don't, we'll have that conversation. Yep, we will bring something back. I have one option. Yes. I still want to see what those numbers look like for a four-day school week. And whether there will be any cost savings for that? Right. There are nine districts in this state that does it out of the 58 districts. Yeah, I know, Mr. Herman, I think you spoke to that a little bit about the balance between cost savings versus staff retention and which
076that deals to. But we don't have to speak to that now, but maybe on December 2nd we could come prepared to talk to that, if that works for you, Member Collins. Fantastic. All right. And then just on the list of things for December 2nd, Mr. Herman, I know we talked. a few meetings ago about transportation and sort of... If the plan were to be adopted in full, what the transportation changes would be in terms of drivers, I think you're going to work on this permanently on those numbers. If you wouldn't mind having that ready for the second, that would be great. And then the other thing maybe for FAQ, Superintendent Tanius, is I've heard from our community, especially at our middle schools, concerns about participation in athletics and the arts like theater and band if
077you have a larger campus. I know those are things that you've been... talking through with our athletics departments and our arts directors to the extent that we can provide some responses on our FAQs about what those programs might look like on a larger middle school campus that would be useful. Like, so for example, right now, our middle school athletics have varsity and JV and that's it. If you were to have a larger campus, potentially you're having more than just two teams per sport. And my understanding, again, I wasn't here back in the days when the district was that big, but our middle schools used to run a JV and a varsity sixth grade team, a JV and a varsity seventh grade team, a JV and a varsity eighth grade team. So there's, you know, that's
078just one example of what they've done in the past. The other thing we're talking about is many of our neighboring districts who are also experiencing declining enrollment and in the same types of conversations we are in are reaching out. We're looking at how do we pool our resources better, right? Like, let's just say the plan did get voted as is and we go to four middle schools. That starts to limit your competition among number of schools. So even if you had that many teams per grade level and there's still the opportunities, it's still only four schools you're competing with. So how do we start? to build that pool. And so some of our other districts that have had to downsize their athletics because of decreased enrollment as well have reached out and we're starting those
079conversations. Because we're going to bring some of that back and maybe have some presenters at December 2nd, I'm wondering if we could put that up right after that with some detailed information. So I'll give them some time to put that together. Just to be responsive to some of those questions we've gotten from our community. Thank you. All right. That's a lot of questions for me. Any other feedback from our board? All right. With that, I have 1.3 conclude study session. Study session is concluded at 6.06 p.m. Let's take an ever so quick break and we will start back up with our public hearing in a few minutes. Oh, my goodness. All right. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, everyone. All right. Item 2.1, call to order public hearing. Our public hearing is called to order. Today
080is November 18th, 2025. It is 6.15 p.m. Item 2.2, proposed school consolidations and boundary changes. So welcome to our public hearing. This is our sixth of seven public hearings that the board is hearing to get feedback on the proposed school closures and boundary changes. We're having one at each of our sixth through eighth grade middle schools. So we've had five already. We have our final one tomorrow at Apprendi Middle School. And this is our seventh hearing here at the district office. Notice of this hearing was actually sent via postcard to every single household in the Kyrene School District boundary. We are glad that you're here today. The purpose of this hearing is to get feedback from you. This is such an important decision and the board values the feedback and perspective from our students, from
081our staff, from our parents, and from our community members. So for those of you who are here tonight to share your time and your thoughts, we're grateful for it. This is going to look a lot like the public comment portion of a board meeting. So for those of you who've been to the hearings before or a board meeting, you're each going to have the opportunity to come up to the podium and address the board. The main difference between tonight, and a public meeting that we normally have. Normally, when you have public comment, we will limit the time for speakers based on the number of people that are here to speak. So typically, if we have more than 30 speakers at a board meeting, we will limit everyone to one minute so they have the opportunity
082to speak. However, tonight... And at all seven of our public hearings on these recommendations, given the magnitude of what the board is considering, everyone is going to have two minutes to address the board, regardless of how many people would like to speak tonight. So if you've been here before, you'll have your name called up and there'll be a timer that's going to show up on your right. There's a timer that's going to show up on your left. And as always, we are going to start with our student speakers first. Another thing that we're going to do tonight for our adults that are here to speak, if you're an adult with a small child here, we also want you to get an early spot to the podium because we know it's a school night. So we'll
083work with you to make sure we're prioritizing that as well. Before we get into the actual public comment portion, we're going to have a very quick presentation from our superintendent to summarize the proposed changes. Are there any board members who wish to make any introductory or welcoming remarks tonight? Member Collins. First of all, thank you. Thank all you guys for being here tonight. I'm mentioning this pretty early because I want people to put it on people's mind. December 8th. Does anyone know what's happening on December 8th? Tom Horn and his crew, they're voting on DEI policies. So I love the energy that I've been seeing the past few weeks coming here. I would love to see that same energy transfer to the Capitol with me and my brothers and sisters in education on that Monday.
084So if you care to come to the Capitol, and stand beside us to voice your opinion against this DEI policy that they're trying to implement. Because don't forget, don't forget, everybody's talking about dual language, right? Well, what does he hate? Dual language. So it would be nice to see you guys out there as well. Might cost you a couple hours of freedom in case it gets crazy, but hey, you know, those of us who come from my lineage and do what we do, you know, sometimes good trouble is necessary. Thank you. Thank you. Wear your shirts if you come. I want everybody to know what we represent. You know, Kyrene Strong. Thank you, Member Collins. Member Davis. Yes, thank you. And an amen to you. I also want to just mention, had a great time
085at Norte at their fall festival. It was lots of fun. And also went to Nino's Guadalupe night and saw everybody having a blast running around and just enjoying each other and eating famous hot dogs that are made every year. So I brought my husband with me. He had a wonderful time, too. So I just wanted to thank everyone for that. And that's it for tonight. Thank you all for being here. Thank you, Member Davis. Member Seytry. Yes. Hello, everyone. I just wanted to apologize that I was not at the last public hearing. And just to clear the air, I did have a medical emergency for a family member who is out of town. So that's why I wasn't there. But I do try to be here as much as I can. So thank you for
086your grace on that. Thank you, Member Seytry. All right. With that, I'll turn it over to Superintendent Tennis to discuss the proposed school consolidations and boundary changes. Thank you, President Walsh, governing board members, staff and community here this evening joining us in person or either online. I want to thank you for your time that you made to be here this evening, whether to speak or to hear from fellow community members regarding the proposed school closure and boundary changes in Kyrene Elementary School District. I am the Kyrene Superintendent, Laura Tenius, and I have just a short introduction this evening. A year ago, the Governing Board voted to form a long-range planning committee to address the projected enrollment trends and maximize the use of the schools and facilities. After seven months of study, the committee presented a
087recommendation to the board in September. Following board review and early community feedback at the guidance of the Governing Board, the plan was modified in late September. Kyrene is now seeking feedback on the modified proposal, which will go to the board for a possible vote in December. Tonight, we will show you maps as well as a proposed implementation timeline. Then, community members who signed up to speak will each have two minutes to address the board. As a reminder, this is not a town hall with questions and answers. This is an opportunity for board members to hear public comment both for and against the proposed changes. Questions can be submitted on the Long Range Planning webpage and may be answered in future communications or in online FAQs. I do want to take a moment to acknowledge how
088difficult this moment is for our community. No district ever wants to have to close schools. By consolidating our resources, Kyrene aims to preserve the excellence that defines our schools and ensures fiscal stability for years to come. I'm going to start with our elementary map, and this will focus on our proposed elementary closures and boundary changes. As you can see, the elementary recommendation is that Colina, Estrella, Millennial, and Menides would close in the 26-27 school year. Mariposa and Kyrene Traditional Academy would close in the 27-28 school year. The boundary changes as a result of those closures. Lagos and Norte would have no boundaries beginning in 26-27, would be open enrollment only. Colina and Lomas would merge boundaries beginning in 26-27. Millennial and Esperanza would merge boundaries beginning in 26-27. The Estrella Lago Super boundary would be
089split between Monta Vista, east of 32nd, and Sierra, west of 32nd, beginning in 26-27. Menides and Morada would merge boundaries beginning in 26-27. Mariposa and Wagner would merge boundaries beginning in 27-28. And Kyrene Traditional Academy would be split between Brises and Paloma beginning in 27-28. For out-of-district, Maricopa Region students would be offered transportation to Monta Vista in 26-27, and Baseline Region students would be offered transportation to Ninos and Lomas in 26-27. There are no boundary changes for Cerritos, Cielo, and Ninos. This next slide is really just the same information, really looking at just the elementaries. So most of the elementary changes would occur next school year, including our out-of-district transportation changes and dual language open enrollment, no boundaries. As for middle school, the proposal would close Ocumal and Pueblo in the 27-28 school year, and
090the boundary changes that would result from those closures include Centennial's boundaries would change to include Lomas, Esperanza, part of Monta Vista south of Chandler Boulevard, and Lagos dual-language open enrollment beginning in 27-28. Altadena boundaries would change to include Cerritos, Sierra, part of Monta Vista north of Chandler Boulevard beginning in 27-28. Apprendes boundaries would change to include Brises, Cielo, Paloma beginning in the 27-28 school year. And Kyrene Middle School boundaries change would include Ninos, Wagner, Murata. and Norte's dual-language open enrollment beginning in 27-28. For out-of-district, our Maricopa Region students would be offered transportation to Centennial in 27-28, and our Baseline Region students would be continued to be offered transportation to Kyrene Middle School and Centennial in 26-27. This slide just shows those same changes in a timeline view for the middle schools. All of the middle
091school changes occur in the 27-28 school year. And with that, I'll hand it back to you, President Walsh. Thank you, Superintendent Denius. Just in terms of next steps, no decisions are being made tonight by the board. We're not voting on anything tonight. We're here to hear your feedback. We actually do have a regular meeting tonight after this hearing. This is the only hearing we actually have a meeting afterwards. Like all of our regularly scheduled meetings, we will have public comment during the regular meeting. But if you want to speak on long-range planning, speak now during the hearing. If you'd like to speak on something entirely unrelated, you're welcome to speak during the regular part of the meeting. But long-range planning is here for the hearing. We will be meeting on December 2nd as regularly scheduled.
092The board already has agenda side. agendized a discussion on this topic. We will also be meeting on December 16th. The board has agendized discussion on this topic. The earliest that the board would take any action would be the December 16th meeting. The board can always propose to change any of the recommendations, in which case it may postpone the vote to comply with statutory hearing notices. But for now, we are just here for you. So I will start us off. with our public comment now. We're going to start as we always do at our hearings with our student speakers. So to our student speakers, some of you may have never done this before and we want to let you know we're really excited that you're here. Our student speakers have been fantastic. We know you're going
093to do a great job. Sometimes it can be a little intimidating to speak in front of a big room, especially full of a bunch of adults, but we know you're going to do great. So at this time, I want to call up our first student speaker, but before we do so, to all of our community here, can we give our student speakers a big round of applause? Oh, and student speakers, if you would need it, there is a smaller microphone off to the side of the podium if it is better for your height. All right, we are going to start off with our very first student speaker, and that is Liviana Clemency. My name is Liviana Clemsey. I am in fourth grade at Kyrene Della Mariposa. I did not like the learning parts of school.
094I much prefer recess and lunch, but when I got to third grade, I had the best teacher ever and everything changed. Ms. Toastburn changed everything. She made me realize that learning can be fun. She taught me to try my best and that reading isn't boring. You can now find me reading a book without complaining that the... that reading is a chore. My testing scores increase from below grade level to on track or above grade level. My teacher believed in me and now I am in NEHS. NEHS is the National Elementary Honor Society. Being an NEHS member requires you to make service a part of your life. I am... Looking forward to serving my school and local community. Mariposa is the only one of three Kyrene Elementary School with NEHS chapter. Closing Mariposa would hurt Kyrene
095and be a huge mistake. Chip the Challenger wants to remain at Mariposa and ensure that all current and future students will be. respectful, be responsible, and be safe. Chip, chip, pervade. Keep Mariposa open. Thank you. Thank you, Liviana. Great job. Our next student speaker is Miles Burton, and Miles is going to be followed by Ceciliana Garcia-Teal. I go to my school to learn new stuff, but I don't want to close. It would break my heart. That's why I wanted to speak. I go to Menides. Thank you, Miles. You did a really good job. Our next speaker is going to be Ceciliana Garcia-Teal, who will be followed by Maddox Buckman. Good evening. My name is Ceciliana, and I am a Mariposa first grader. People say I'm really good with kids. I thought maybe I should want
096my... should be a teacher. I want my school to stay open so I can work here when I grow up. I can work here. I won't have friends I get to see every day. I wanted to see every day. I wanted to graduate from Mariposa with them and go back to the school to teach kinder one day. These things can only happen if Mariposa stays open. Thank you for your time. Well done, Ceciliana. Our next speaker is Maddox Buckman, who will be followed by Karis Clemency. Hi, my name is Maddox. Mariposa is a great school, and there are four reasons why. There are kind teachers, respectful students, fun events, and great PTO members who are sitting in this room trying to save Mariposa. As I said in the beginning, Mariposa is a great school, and
097I hope you know that too. Thank you. Nicely done, Maddox. Our next student speaker is Karis Clemency. Hello, my name is Chris Clemency and I'm in fifth grade at Kyrene Dela Mariposa. I am here tonight to remind you that Mariposa must remain open. Throughout these meetings, many adults have shared facts that prove Mariposa is exactly what you want for a Kyrene school. Mariposa is a thriving community where students of all backgrounds come together to learn. Closing Mariposa doesn't seem to me like it would save Kyrene any money. From what I've heard throughout these meetings, Kyrene would spend more money busing kids to other schools. It could lose money when parents send their kids to school. outside of Kyrene. I've learned so much from my time at Mariposa. We have the best teachers ever. We have
098been taught how to code since preschool. We have a World's Fair yearly to celebrate the different countries that our students come from, our school comes from. In fourth and fifth graders, we move between teachers to protect... to prepare us for middle school. Those teachers have all been teaching at Mariposa for almost as long as I've been alive. Mariposa sets us up for a long-term success. Please do what's right for me, my sisters, and all of Kyrene, and keep Mariposa open. Thank you. Good job, Karis. That is all the student speaker blue cards I have. Are there any other students that are here tonight that would like to speak to the board? Anybody? All right, let's give a great round of applause to our students. All right. Now we're going to move on to our adult
099speakers. As I previewed earlier, I do have about 25 blue cards from adults here tonight. If you are here with a small child because it is a school night and you would like to speak first. please come on up to the podium. I'm actually not going to call your name. Come up to the podium one by one, and I'll pull your card out as we go. I just want to make sure that if you've got small kiddos here, you get a chance to speak, because I know sometimes these hearings can go quite late. So I'll invite any adult who would like to speak to the board to come forward if they've got small kids. Yes, please, Ms. Burton. I'll take care of it. Good evening. My name is Tenille Burton. I don't have like a
100prepared speech, but I'm super proud of my son who got up and spoke. He has a special need. So the fact that he could get up and do this is amazing. That is a testament to the public education, right? I'm a product of public education, the Roosevelt School District, but I never thought I would have children. And when I knew that I was going to have children, Kyrene was a school district for me, right? We border Chandler. I actually live in Chandler. You know, I can go to Chandler Unified. One of the schools is in competition for being an A-plus excellent school. But I stuck with Kyrene, in particular, Monita's, because Monita's represents what my child is going to see in the world, right? They're not going to see just black, brown. whatever you identify,
101however you identify, they're going to see the world. And I really needed him to see that he mattered. And I need to see that he's important. And so it's not just me coming up here speaking about Monitas, but it's about all our schools. I said it at the last meeting, we're one Kyrene, one student, one parent, one district. I truly believe that we can have mascots in all these other things, but we really represent one voice. And if anything resonates with you all, it's just taking a moment to pause. I know when I have to deal with my childhood special needs, the first thing I do is ask him to breathe and pause. We all get a second to think, to realize what's important, to rebalance. I understand it's a fiscal issue. I do affordable
102housing. I work on multimillion dollar budgets every day. But it always comes back to my purpose, the people. And that's what we're asking for, to remember us. Even if you pause, though we have to make a hard decision, just pause and reengage. I got a flyer in the mail. It was only in English. People make assumptions that I don't speak another language. That's an issue for me. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Burton. Any other parents who would like to speak with small kiddos here tonight? Hi, thank you for that opportunity. My name is Nicole Buckman. I'm a parent at Mariposa. Thank you again for being here tonight. It's great to see everybody and appreciate your continued engagement and commitment to this process. Given the community feedback, not just from Mariposa, but our larger Kyrene community,
103we're really hoping that the current map is not the final map. Our hope is that more changes are coming. It feels less and less likely that schools will be taken offline and be swapped. So given that, I just want to ask again, is keeping additional schools open an option? And also the earlier conversation with Mr. Herman looks like we're going to get hopefully those operating costs for school. We're hoping to see what we assumed was true all along, which is that Mariposa is going to be on the lower end of those operating costs. In addition to that, the lower operating costs, we also have the highest home student percentage, nearly eliminating the transportation costs for our school. Our morale is high, as you can see. The representation tonight is kind of blowing me away. Our
104academic performance, probably everyone in this room at this point could recite what I'm about to say, which is our five consecutive A-plus ratings that Mariposa has earned. And again, I want to reiterate that Mariposa's utilization tells a story. It's a story of retention and a strong community at Mariposa. We have second and third generations coming through our school. It's not an accident or a coincidence that Mariposa is the magnet. Please continue gathering the data because we know that the numbers will support keeping Mariposa open. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Buckman. Any other parents with small children would like to speak right now? All right, seeing none, I'll just jump into our blue cards. Our next speaker will be Mr. Mark Wolf, who will be followed by Dale Spate. The Long Range Planning Committee has given
105us a short-term solution to address the declining budget and not a long-term solution to address the cause of the issue. The budget shortfall is caused by declining enrollment and not a single criterion of the Long Range Plan addresses the issue of declining enrollment. We need to consider which schools are bringing students into the district, either by attracting families to move into the district boundaries or attracting students who live outside the boundary and choose a Kyrene school. Mariposa, the school in the district with the highest occupancy or utility rate, 75%, has among the highest number of inboundary students, 66%. Mariposa is a school that attracts families like mine to move into the district boundaries. Closing Mariposa means that less families will move into the district. Closing Mariposa means makes the problem of declining enrollment worse. It
106passes the problem of declining enrollment onto future leaders and gives them less options to address the growing problem. We lose the only computer science academy in the district. This is a program that has been built over a decade and it's not easily adopted by another school. The signature program allows our principal, Mr. Fallgetter, to promote Mariposa at STEM events such as Geeks Night Out run by the City of Tempe and events run by the Arizona SciTech Festival at which he is the only representative from the entire district. Mr. Fallgetter attracts families into the district. This is the type of solution families in the district are looking for, not a temporary solution to increase the budget. We want a plan that addresses declining enrollment. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wolf. Our next speaker is Dale Spate,
107who will be followed by Angela Fox. Hi, good evening. I'm here as a Kyrene parent, alumni, and community member to encourage the board to consider less closures, a longer phased approach, and of course, to keep Mariposa open. I believe the community as a whole understands the challenge we face with today's enrollment numbers. No doubt some level of consolidation is necessary. But like many, I was shocked to see such a high number of closures proposed. Eight schools, nearly a third of the entire district. Having no experience with closures going from zero to eight and to accomplish this all in a short two-year period seems pretty extreme. Do we really think we can solve the problem in one fell swoop without causing more damage than good to the district? The board has mentioned we don't want to
108be back here again in a couple years to consider closures. I disagree, as I think that is the reality of responsibly managing enrollment numbers. Similar to a growing district that organically grows its footprint over decades, a measured gradual approach should be taken with closures and consolidation. This limits the shock to the district. It will be more palatable to the community. And considering the future sale and lease of closed facilities, having seven in a short period to repurpose will severely impact their value. Schools are unique assets in the commercial real estate world, and these closed properties will all compete for the same limited number of users or potential buyers. We have also heard the board say we want to limit the impact to the community. The best way to do this is by prioritizing the current
109utilization and home boundary percentage and deciding which schools remain open. Mariposa at 75% has the highest utilization of all elementaries and the second highest in boundary at 66%. Not only would closing Mariposa displace students like any closure, but because of its high in boundary enrollment, it concentrates that impact to the immediate neighborhood and community. Please consider closing fewer schools, taking a longer-phase approach, and absolutely keep Mariposa open. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Spate. Our next speaker is Angela Fox, who will be followed by Delia Lighting. Good evening. We are here tonight because we face a painful, monumental decision, one that will reshape our community and affect the lives of children for years to come. I have had concerns during this process because I don't believe it is right to put the fate of Kyrene on
110the board's shoulders while simultaneously putting constraints on how they can make this decision without clear parameters and data. For example, we saw that multiple options could achieve the same financial goal, and yet the board was presented with only one option. Our board members were elected by us to be our voice. We trusted the board with this hardship, and I am deeply troubled when seeing the district limit their ability to do their jobs and requires them to do it hastily. This decision cannot be forced through a funnel of limited information. We are being asked to trust a conclusion while restricting the very process of reaching it. Despite the flaws at the beginning of this process, I know we can end it with focusing on clear data. I urge the board to consider closing six instead of
111eight schools. keep schools that have high enrollment and inboundary students like Mariposa, and request to see a map and financials of what that would look like from the district. If the goal is to displace the least number of children, then we cannot close schools with high utilization and inboundary students like Mariposa. Utilization shows which schools families are actively choosing. If low enrollment is causing this problem, then keeping the schools with high enrollment can help solve it. Additionally, keeping schools with high in-boundary percentages demonstrates strong community support. The district needs to empower our board with the data to navigate this difficult transition and keep Kyrene strong for another century. Thanks. Thank you, Ms. Fox. Our next speaker is Delia Lighting, who will be followed by Catherine Peters. Good evening, Kyrene Board. Firstly, I'd like to just
112thank the Kyrene community of voters for overwhelmingly supporting our override this last election cycle. It means a whole lot to the educators in Kyrene. My name is Delia Lighting, and I am the K-A president. This statement has been made in collaboration with our officer and executive board teams. K-A leadership has had conversations with you, multiple conversations about how our teachers are doing through all of this. While no one wants to see their school have to go through consolidation, many of us understand the reality that we're faced with in Kyrene. What is becoming more and more impossible for educators to deal with are the ever-increasing responsibilities that fall on us when we have to operate at the same high level of expectation with less resources. We are being stretched to our limit. When our schools operate
113at less than full capacity, more is put on that staff to run the school. This means more duty, more meetings, less time to plan and prepare for the diverse needs of our students, less collaboration, or opportunities to collaborate with our colleagues because many of us are operating on very small teams. That is not a recipe for success. We mention these issues because they will only exasperate if the choice is made to keep more of our schools open because we have to cut that funding from somewhere. We would like to remind you of the lever that gets pulled should the choice be made to keep schools open. When you have to cut $7 million from the budget and people get cut, we will have to have a RIF, which will result in higher class sizes, affect
114our special area programs, our assistant principals, our academic interventionists, full-day kindergarten. This would lessen the hiring experience for all students and make teaching for educators even more difficult. We regard you with so much respect and we are very sad that this is the decision you have to make this year. We would like you to do so with accurate information and anytime you need to talk, we're here. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Leiting. Our next speaker is Catherine Peters, who will be followed by Sandy Lau. Good evening. My name is Catherine Peters and I'm here representing the fabulous Falcons of Kyrene Del Millenio. We are nearing the end of these public hearings and it's hard to believe the final vote is almost here. Tonight, I just want to summarize all the reasons I have provided over
115these last couple of months as to why Millennials should stay open and not be repurposed as a gifted academy. One. Of course, there is the emotional attachment. My husband was part of the first class when Millennia opened in 2000 and even has his artwork along with other students from that class permanently a part of the building structure. Now, 25 years later, my daughter is attending Millennia as a kindergartner and attended as a preschooler last year. She loves her school, her classmates, her teachers, and her administration. And honestly, I couldn't imagine her in another atmosphere. We plan for our now 11-month-old to attend Millennium one day and keep the tradition going in the Peters household. Two, Millennial is the newest, biggest elementary school within the Kyrene School District and has the room to hold approximately 832
116students. Along with the new roof, updated HVAC system, and huge playground with enormous field, Millennial is ideal for adding students and not taking them away. Also, the late start and location of the campus traffic for pickup and drop-off moves quickly and smoothly and definitely has room for more families. Three. The famous Falcon's Nest. This is our indoor resource alternative ran by a former self-contained autism teacher with advanced skill set to help students develop skills to improve their social interaction with peers. It's open to all students and allows students with the outdoor restrictions to have indoor fun with their peers. The feedback from the gifted families at these public hearings has shown that a gifted academy is not just ideal for our caring community. It separates the gifted students from their friends and alienates them from
117their peers. Once again, I want to ask, what if the gifted academy does not work out? Thank you, and go Falcons. Thank you, Ms. Peters. Our next speaker will be Sandy Lau, who will be followed by Jeremiah Gutierrez-Jensen. Good evening, Superintendent Tonjes, Kyrene School board members, and the community at large. My name is Sandy Lau, and I've lived in the Kyrene School District for over 40 years. Our sons received an outstanding education from Mariposa, Pueblo, and Corona. Tonight, I'm asking you to delay the decision of the school closures based on the incredible amount of input you have received over the last six to eight weeks. I believe you have a genuine interest in listening to what incredible parents, community members, and especially your current students have shared with you. Many took their personal time to
118speak with you, so in the end, I do hope that there will be some adjustments to your list. If nothing is done, I believe that this community will lose faith in this process. I also hate to see schools pitied against each other. But I would be remiss not to point out the strengths of Kyrene Dillon-Mariposa. While it is the smallest school in Kyrene, this attribute truly makes it a very attractive choice for parents. Many families are seeking out this characteristic when they choose to leave a public school district. And thus, this characteristic alone is an easy selling point to families. And given the smaller campus, Costs are naturally lower as opposed to the costs of larger school districts. Mariposa has been a school of excellence for over 35 years, beginning with the outstanding leadership of
119Dr. Pawney and followed by Dr. Mary Ann Lesher, both who I knew personally. Today under the leadership of Mr. Spencer Paulgetter is known as the Computer Science Academy. It also has an A-plus school. It's been an A-plus school for many years. Our schools in this district are fortunate to have such a supportive community as witnessed by the strong passage of the M&O override. And with that support in mind, I am asking you to please consider changes to this list. Thank you. And thank you for pronouncing my last name correctly. Thank you, Ms. Lau. Our next speaker is Jeremiah Gutierrez-Jensen, who will be followed by Karen Lowell. We have a first grader at Manitas. We chose Manitas over any other Kyrene school for a number of factors, including the central location, the bell schedule, and the
120studio learning model. These factors together are unique to Manitas. The consolidation as currently planned will eliminate these as an opportunity for our son. With the late bell schedule, my wife and I are able to take our son to all five of his weekly therapies and pick him up or drop him off without missing a minute of school. That is only possible because of the centralized location and the late bell start that only Monitas can provide. Current plan would mean that there is only one other school that would fit this even closely. The central location of Monitas is in the heart of the district and is incredibly important to us. There's no other school that has the late schedule and the geographic advantage that Monitas has. The most unique thing about Monitas, however, is the studio
121learning model. This has been very effective in my son's education. Having multiple teachers able to offer their unique experiences and perspectives coupled with a small group model is very effective at reaching my son. Please reconsider the current plan to close Manitas. Closing Manitas means that the best educational opportunity is closed for him, and those options that Kyrene is proposing do not work for us. We had seven months of study with an objective fact-based plan and strategy that was set aside after one meeting. Ironically, the modified plan was a knee-jerk reaction to the first comments prior to full public feedback that we are doing now. Since the change was so abrupt and without thought, the community in the geographic center is now most effective. The new plan will leave a large hole in the district, not
122just geographically, but culturally as well. That culture is one of support and belonging. Monitas has been a wonderful place of belonging for my son and for our family. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gutierrez-Jensen. Our next speaker is Karen Lowell, who will be followed by Dr. Judy Aldrich. Thank you for the opportunity to speak, pardon my voice, and for your consideration of the community feedback in this decision-making process. My name is Karen Lowell. I've lived in Warner Ranch and the Merritt-Powell boundary since 2008. Unlike many people here, I don't have a child in those Kyrene districts yet. I'm here to express how much this school means to the larger community. My husband and I are both products of public education, and it's something that we value deeply. Mariposa was a significant factor in our decision-making when
123we moved to the area. Being in a neighborhood with an A-plus elementary school was very appealing, contributing to our decision to purchase in Warner Range. We look forward to sending our future children to an excellent school in our community. Starting our family took longer than we hoped, and I feel very sharply that I am part of the changing demographics that is precipitating this change. My son Peter is two, and we still hope to send him to Mariposa. I wonder if the statistics are capturing families like mine, couples who became parents later in life. I know we are not the only ones. Our son attends a lovely daycare right here in the neighborhood. One of the best things about it is its relationship with Mariposa. Just last week, they participated in the Ruby Bridges Walk to
124School Day. If Mariposa is closed, as a parent, I fear that relationship and community go away. Closing Mariposa has the risk of changing the character of the Warner Ranch neighborhood as well. Mariposa sits between two Tempe parks used by children and adults alike. As a homeowner, I fear vacant property between those parks will be detrimental to the community. Nearly every single classroom in our daycare has a wait list, which indicates to me that there are children here in our community and families that want to be in this district and at Mariposa. Some come from outside the Warner Ranch footprint, and their families look like mine. So please consider our families, the future Mariposa challengers, in your decision. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Lowell. Our next speaker will be Judy Aldrich. Thank you very much for
125the opportunity to speak to you. It's very open and transparent, and I appreciate that. I have lived in Warner Ranch for decades, like Sandy Lau, and I also spent 50-plus years in public education from pre-K through college. And I would tell you that I have listened to the conversation that you all had at your study session four or five times as an administrator. It's always very interesting. very difficult for board members, and I understand that. I think because of my background, I have a slightly different perspective on this, although I appreciate all the factual data that's coming through. When I was in education and I started in administration, it was so wonderful to hear about a school. that was doing everything the board and the upper staff wanted that school to do. It was a
126delight. It made our days easier, and we were so appreciative. Mariposa is that kind of a school. Why? I would tell you that through the years that I've watched that school, There have been administrators who inspire and enable teachers to teach. And the teachers teach those kids subject matter to a high degree, and they teach it to all kids. That's something that some schools have a little difficulty with. I've never seen Mariposa have trouble with that. Also, Mariposa, you owe all the facts. Oh, okay. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Aldrich. Our next speaker will be Randall Nice, followed by Melanie Zimmer. Hello. Randall Nice here. This is a little bit redundant because I submitted it online and also wrote an email, but I wanted to be present too. As a dual working family, we oppose
127a start time of 9 a.m. For Monta Vista, since it won't allow for drop-off and getting to work on time, we're a family who has paid property, income, and sales tax in this community for over 20 years, even longer, 50 years, with extended family. To change the start time to accommodate students who live outside our boundaries would lead us and many Monta Vista families to find alternate schooling. leading to a change in the culture and dynamics of this community. If a change must be made, a sensible compromise would be to offer a Tier 2 start time around 8 a.m. My children wake up at 6 a.m. so we can be out of the house by 7 a.m. to be on time for the first bell. You know, 6-7. Surely, students who are bussed in can
128adjust to that same timeline if they want to attend Monta Vista. My children are well-behaved, have excellent attendance, and are academically strong achievers. We only take vacations around scheduled breaks. This is an administrator's dream to build a student body around one that places minimal strain on the school system, which in turn provides consistent funding. 9 a.m. start would cut out any option for outside recess during hot months. As a former Pinal County school teacher, I can tell you from experience how students behave when they get off a lengthy bus ride with all that pent-up energy. After school activities will need to start at 4 p.m., conflicting with family schedules. Making a change to 9 a.m. would be too much. My preference is to maintain a 7.25 a.m. start time to continue to accommodate the taxpayer,
129working members of those who reside within community boundaries. Thank you, Mr. Nice. We need to get to work in the morning so we can continue to provide. Our next speaker this evening will be Melanie Zimmer, who will be followed by Cameron Houghton. Good evening, esteemed board members, fellow parents, and community members. My name is Melanie Zimmer, and I am here tonight as a parent of two grown children who attended Mariposa and Pueblo Middle School. I am deeply concerned of Warner Ranch as not only a parent, but as board president of Warner Ranch Homeowners Association, phase one, covering 803 homes. Closing our neighborhood school would have profound impact on our entire community. Our community is not just a building, it is the center of our children's lives, a hub for students, parents, and staff. I understand
130the lack of enrollment and the financial decisions needed for financial help. Mariposa has always thrived. Why would we consider closing a school that is thriving? Please consider that during your vote in December. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Zimmer. Our next speaker is Cameron Houghton, who will be followed by Jason Scher. Good evening. My name is Cameron. I'm a proud Kyrene kid. I've been with Kyrene since 2009. Eleven years ago, I stood in the same room asking to keep our sixth grade camp in the budget. I went to KTA, then Apprendi, and later I worked as a resource IA at Menides. Now I'm at the district office. Over the years, I've seen how public education continues to be impacted by state officials. Government leaders do not value education. For a time, Kyrene's funding was held because
131state leaders like Tom Horn decided Kyrene was DEI. As in valuing every student is something to punish. When our district is put through challenges and our government places conditions on the funding our students rely on, we are reminded that the strength we can truly count on is the people in our own community. In the coming months, many people will disagree with each other, and that's expected. What matters is that we stay united. Please think before posting comments or rumors, especially about employees. Lastly, every employee from our resource center team, bus drivers, principals, lunch staff, psychologists, governing board members, nurses, office assistants, custodians, teachers, educational support staff, talent management, payroll, and anybody else I could be missing will continue to fight for this community no matter the challenge. That's the Kyrene promise. I'm grateful to have
132spent much of my life in Kyrene, and I want to thank this community for its continued passion and commitment. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Auten. Our next speaker is Jason Scher, who will be followed by Meredith Rosenthal. All right. I'm Jason Scher. 30 years ago, I was at Pueblo Middle School. The teachers and the coaches there gave me the confidence and the encouragement to not only take an advanced math class, but also join the wrestling team, which I was able to be a part of getting one of those many banners that are in the gym. which there's been a lot more of those since then. So closing that school, I think, would really hurt the community and the children in the neighborhood from having that same kind of opportunity that I had. My stepson, also,
133who is a junior currently at Corona del Sol, went through the special education program at Pueblo Middle School, which gave him that same type of opportunity in just a different way. I'm also worried about what would happen to the neighborhood and that small-knit community if that school wasn't there. What's going to happen to the kids that have to cross a main road at Channel Boulevard? There's a safety hazard there. There's a busing issue there. But the opportunity and the safety issue, that's what I'm worried about. I want those kids to have the same opportunity that I had to add another 30 banners to that gym. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Scherer. Our next speaker is Meredith Rosenthal, who will be followed by Mary Axelson. Is Ms. Rosenthal here? All right, we'll come back to her.
134Our next speaker will be Mary Axelson, who will be followed by Jordan Benesch. Is Ms. Axelson here? Is Mr. Benesch here? All right, we got one. Our next speaker will be Jordan Benesch, who will be followed by Matt Young. Good evening. Thank you to the governing board and everyone here tonight. My name is Jordan Benesch, parent of a Mariposa kindergartner and two hopeful Mariposa students. We're here because the Kyrene District is facing challenges, declining enrollment, chief among them, that will affect funding over the coming years. We know that. Declining enrollment is projected to result in a $7 million budget shortfall in five years. We've heard the closing of school saves, on average, $800,000 per year. On the surface, the math is simple. Close eight or nine schools to make up the difference. But what has
135been said repeatedly since the September 19th governing board retreat is that we don't need to solve for $7 million in years one or two. That was not the stated objective. Yet, the current proposal moves as if it is. Closing eight schools in the short term front loads the impact on students and families while chasing savings we don't immediately need in years one and two. Beyond those estimates, the proposal does not consider the unintended consequences or downstream effects of closing a third of the district schools. What happens to enrollment when eight schools close and families lose trust? What about service levels, utilization? How do we confidently market a district that just closed eight schools, including an eight-plus rated choice school like Mariposa that is well-positioned to compete with other schools in the area? The estimated enrollment
136changes, funding losses, and cost savings from school closures are just that, they're estimates. It would be wise to consider a measured approach. Close fewer schools, take time to understand the actual impacts of consolidation and other changes before going further. Look, no one wants to be in the same position in two or three years realizing we should have acted differently, but urgency does not make this the right solution. We need a plan that is fiscally responsible, but also educationally responsible, community-minded, and deeply strategic over the years to come. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Benesch. Our next speaker is Matt Young, who will be followed by Sang-Hee Kim. Thank you so much. My name is Matt Young. I'm a parent of two at Kyrene Benditas. I just want to reiterate the call to pause and ultimately greatly
137reduce the number of schools for closure. A couple weeks ago during the public meeting, we had a family actually coming from Phoenix that warned the district on their own situation. I just want you to remember what happened to their district. They closed two schools with the assumption that they were going to be losing about 200 students, when in fact that they ultimately lost over 500. I feel that the number that we're trying to close with our schools is going to have unintended consequences and that we're not just cutting to the bone. We're going to be lopping off a limb. And I want you to really look at the data and really reconsider, you know, is this really the best approach with this being the first time that we're having to close a school? I also
138want to just highlight from a marketing standpoint. I'm an early millennial, so I still use Facebook. And I can't help but notice probably eight to ten ads from different schools. whether it's private or charter, that are like pinging my, you know, my feeds or whatever. Yet I see nothing from Kyrene. I really ask that you think about reinvesting in marketing and trying to get additional students to learn about the great things that Kyrene, you know, has to offer. So that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Young. Our next speaker is Sunghee Kim, who will be followed by Emily Yen. Good evening. I'm here as a parent and educator and someone whose own child, a first grader at Monitas, is thriving because of the very learning model this district celebrates publicly. Our son is growing in
139confidence, curiosity, and connection precisely because he's surrounded by a team of teachers who know him, support him, and push him. That is why this school matters for our family and why this decision matters to so many others. I want to make note in May of 2024, Superintendent Tenias published an article in AESA praising Menendez and Kyrene's innovative learning model. She wrote, Menendez stands as a testament to the power of reimagining traditional educational models, enhancing the educational experience. and creating a sustainable, rewarding teaching profession. And by surrounding students with teachers in dynamic and flexible environments, we're watching children grow in ways that might not have been possible in a traditional model. Then in March of 2025, Superintendent Dennis presented at the National Conference on Education, again representing Kyrene's work and the learning models at Monitas. So
140the question is pretty simple to me. If this learning model is strong enough to publish nationally to other educators, to other school districts, if it's strong enough to present on a national stage, then why are we closing the very school that demonstrates what's working? In addition, taxpayer-invested money to renovate Monegas with flexible learning studios designed specifically to support this type of model. I believe closing it shows that there is a waste of taxpayer dollars and requires new spending elsewhere. So tonight I urge you to align your actions with your own words that you share publicly and nationally and the values that you share in general within the district by pausing and keeping many of us open. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Kim. Our next speaker is Emily Yen, who will be followed by Chris Whalen.
141Hello, my name is Emily Yen. I'm a Meninas parent. I didn't prepare any remarks for tonight because, frankly, I'm extremely tired. I think we all are. I think one thing that I wanted to call out is that regardless of what transpires at the end of this, you will have a lot of unhappy people. That's just the reality of it. I would like to say, though, that if we get through about 24 straight hours of these public hearings, and you make absolutely no changes to what you are showing now, you will have a lot of very unhappy people who feel like we have wasted our time. So just going to put that out there. My husband, Matt, spoke earlier. He is a Kyrene kid. And when we moved back to Arizona, we decided that Kyrene was
142the school district for us. My worry is that by cutting eight schools, that when future families and other people who grew up in the district look at... What's happening now? They won't look at it as a place of, oh, I'm moving back or I'm starting a family. I want to put my kids in Kyrene. They're going to look at it as the district that cut deep, cut too deep, while all of the other schools were sort of cutting one or two and seeing what happens. A lot of people have said that demographics and trends can change very quickly and reverse themselves. What happens when all of these schools close locations and then there's a contraction in capacity? what schools will be able to take the overflow of those kids. I'm also concerned that, you know,
143I've learned so much about all of these wonderful schools that are, quote, on the chopping block or at risk of closing. But where are all the other schools in the district? I don't know actually about anything about what school I would be sending my child to if Menides was closed. And so I think the tone of these meetings has also been very somber because we're mourning what we could potentially loss, but we have nothing to look forward to on the other side because nothing has been communicated about what programming is going to look like, what models are going to look like at these various campuses. And so I would stress the importance of also showing what is the light at the end of this tunnel. And again, thank you for your time. Tom Horn should
144resign. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Yen. Our next speaker is Chris Whalen, who will be followed by Angela Foutenola. Hello, my name is Chris Whalen, a parent of one current and one hopefully incoming Murata monarch. You heard directly from my daughter, Nyla, a couple weeks ago at the Pueblo hearing. So first, I just wanted to state for the official record how proud I am of her for overcoming her fears and standing up to speak in support of her school. That was a very hard thing for her to do, but she found the courage to overcome her own doubts, and that should tell you everything you need to know about the way she's been encouraged and built up by the special community of support we've found at Murata. As for myself, I last spoke
145to you one very late night months ago in the same room at the time, asking that you consider taking more time to evaluate all the available data before making this monumental decision. As you heard from my daughter, she's very happy that since that night Murata was removed from the list of potential closures and now she can instead be excited to welcome new friends to her school. I would be lying if I said I did not feel immense relief myself when the adjustment to the initial proposal was announced. However, I also felt almost equally uneasy because as much as I would like to believe our united voices of support for our school made a difference, it felt much more like we just got lucky because our building could now fit all the students from another school.
146And every parent of every child at every chair school in this district deserves for their community to be treated like more than a box with a certain numerical capacity to be optimized on an opaque demographic spreadsheet. So in the spirit of intellectual honesty and logical consistency at the bare minimum, I am here again tonight to ask you for the exact same thing I did originally. Please take more time to consider absolutely every factor, both quantitative and qualitative, before making this one decision that has the potential to seal the fate of this entire district for decades to come, for better or hopefully not for worse. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Whalen. Our next speaker is Angela Fautnola, who will be followed by Carolyn Morris. Hello, friends. I wasn't going to come tonight. I was saving my
147thunder for tomorrow, but I was watching and I grabbed my kid and grabbed my purse and here I am because I just can't stay away. And that's because I love Kyrene so much. And that is just the truth. So I'll come in here with fire and brimstone, but it was really from a place of love. And I say that as a parent of a child in Kyrene and one on ESA because there is not a model that exists for him in the school district. So, as a special needs parent, I am trained not just to look at the emergency in front of me, but the antecedent to said emergency. And right now we're talking about closing schools as if it's the only option. It's like the turkey isn't cooked. Oh, maybe we should put it
148in the oven first and turn it on. And right now, to me, our lagging enrollment problem is the problem that closing schools doesn't fix. Not closing eight schools. doesn't fix. It sends us on a death spiral. And this is exactly what our friends who came to visit from Phoenix were talking about. They expected to lose 200 from two schools, and they lost five. What do you think is going to happen with eight? So at the Pueblo meeting, some people shared their experience there. Also, there was a lot of talk about marketing. And Aaron, I just want to say thank you. I received my first marketing from Kyrene this week, and I was giddy. So thank you. I think it's an amazing first step to get the word out. And I'd like to talk about a
149lot more of those in the future and how we can do that. But if we spend even a fraction of this energy on solutions, like we're doing here, instead of talking about how we're going to close our schools, which are our families. We all love our schools, all of them. I'm not wearing my Murata or Pueblo shirts tonight. I'm speaking as a Kyrene person. Everyone here is because they love their schools and they're going to go down fighting for them. And I think we should. We should be fighting for our schools. We should be fighting for enrollment. That is our problem. And until we fix it. No matter how many schools you close, we're going to keep coming back here. Thank you, Ms. Fontenot. Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow night. Our next speaker is
150Carolyn Morris, who will be followed by Christy Wolford. Hi. As parents, educators, and concerned community members, I'm just asking that you keep our concerns in mind as we try to be hopeful for the future. The East Boundaries, which originally split my community across six schools, was overlooked by the demographer, yet it was stated that the proposal only changed because of Norte staying open. We need to make intentional choices that will result in trust, communities coming together, and enhanced retention. Big decisions should be intentional, well-researched, and focus on educational success. Closing eight schools is a major risk, and many things, in addition to enrollment, have been overlooked in this process. Boundaries, transportation, elective choices, staffing, even core curriculum requirements differ across your middle schools. Gifted programs, dual language, and leadership all differ across your elementaries. inconsistencies
151are visible in the district in enrollment, quality, utilization of grant funding, programs, staffing, turnover, clubs, events, and an overall sense of community. I hope you find that further research needs to be conducted as this regional approach overlooked and threatens many successful thriving aspects within your community. The long-range planning committee had seven months. I've been able to tour 20 schools in two. And I'm just a parent, individually scheduling each one of them. You have access anytime. I hope you conclude that further research needs to be conducted and then actually assess these schools with long-term success in mind. Like Erin Helm said earlier tonight, our schools are absolutely functioning as businesses and tours and accessibility needs to be enhanced as well as choice programming need to be looked at. And we are absolutely in need of being
152competitive in our future. Thank you for continuing to listen and reach out to better education for all these kids. Your long days and nights are really appreciated. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Morris. Our next speaker is Christy Wolford, who will be followed by James Rivera. Hey guys, good news, bad news. Bad news is we are all exhausted. And I completely understand that. The good news is we have been able, we have been afforded the opportunity to learn so much through this process. And now I can hear you guys applying that in your questioning and I greatly appreciate it. And don't worry, Tom Horne's going down on December 8th. Let's just kind of put that in there right now. But one thing I, well, you know what, actually I'm just going to reference a guy that
153I really like, Don Henley. And he sings, the more I know, the less I understand. And that's been coming up to me over and over again the last couple of days when it comes to closing any middle schools. Something that I brought up in last week's meeting and I want to hammer at home is that there are two new complexes going up on the west side with 600 additional single family residencies going up in addition to the 1200 on the far west side. These 600 new families that will be coming in as soon as next year will directly affect Aki Malin Centennial. I'm just further going on. I don't want to close any middle schools. I put that information in with Occamaw. We had a great meeting with Laura and Aaron just last week, and
154they brought up some things that were pretty eye-opening, not the least of which was Laura saying that essentially middle schools right now are carrying this Kyrene district. I just had to sit back in my seat when she said that because it's like, okay, I get it. We need middle schools. You can't pluck out that central part of your family's feeder system going from elementary to middle to high school. You can't pluck out that crucial time in a kid's life. We need the middle schools. It's an elementary-heavy district, Kyrene School District is, and I understand that schools must be closed, but let's start in a slower process. Let's close a handful of elementary schools. I hate even saying that, but let's do that. Let's find out what works, and let's find out what doesn't work. Then
155a couple years down the road, let's take that opportunity to then reevaluate middle schools. And then we can also maybe align with Tempe Union and see what they're doing with high schools, again, to keep the middle schools and high schools together. So I'll close again with Don Henley, that same song, Heart of the Matter. He also sings about... forgiveness. I truly believe that if our input is heard, we as families in the entire district will be forgiving of this process that has been crazy. Thank you. Our next speaker this evening will be James Rivera. Before I begin, I want to recognize my wife and all the other mama bears, neighbors, and educators behind the Monethas Matters movement. Their relentless work through social media, text groups, sharing of data, analyzing district documents, and speaking to the
156media has kept families informed in ways the district has not. They are doing the work that should have been done by all of you from the start. My wife always reminds me and our children that words matter, and I want to focus on that. Families have shown up to these sessions, shared honest stories, tears, concerns, data, ideas, and solutions, and yet we still don't know what or how you are capturing tonight's information or how our feedback is being used. You say this process is transparent, equitable, and community-driven, but those words feel empty. To be very direct, when I see Board Member Collins sit in these meetings drawing on napkins, taking no notes, and appearing to be completely disconnected, it sends a clear message to our community that our words don't matter. It's disrespectful to everyone
157here who has sacrificed time, child care, money, emotional energy to participate in good faith. Our words matter. This week in my home, We started researching other schools outside of Kyrene because many of us are preparing for what happens if Manitas closes. And what I've learned is that Manitas offers something special. My wife already shared this, but again, to quote our superintendent, by surrounding students with teachers in dynamic and flexible learning environments, we are watching children grow in ways that might not have been possible in a traditional model. The team teaching model is innovation that other districts are trying to build. And Manitas, Kylene already has it. At my son's Scholar of the Month celebration, I saw a room full of diverse families united by pride and community. The words that help guide Manitas, impact, initiate,
158inspire, and ignite. So prove that your words matter tonight. What has our community been saying and how are you using our information? Our words matter. Our kids matter. Manitas matters. Thank you, Mr. Rivera. We're going to return to Meredith Rosenthal. Is Ms. Rosenthal here? And is Mary Axelson here? All right. That concludes all the blue cards I have this evening. Does anybody else wish to speak to the board this evening? Yes, please. Come on up to the podium, please. My name is Sharon Holman, and it's been a number of years since I've been outside of Los Angeles City Unified School District. However, the one thing I can tell you from all my years, from kindergarten to 12th grade, was to think outside the box. You just passed a bond issue to help pay off whatever.
159I did not get all the fine points. In addition, you have a lot of busing. I can tell you I've never been bused to school, even when I didn't live anywhere near school. You need to think about the workbooks that every year you get workbooks that then go in the trash. What are things that can be reused rather than expired every single year. I spent 13 years both volunteering at Menides and then subbing at Menides. And there was great collegiance between the teachers, the students. I was in the health office as well as in classrooms. And what you also don't realize for all of these schools you're talking about closing is you are looking at decimating huge residential areas. Because as you pull the schools out, people who have children don't want to move into
160an area that has no local school. They don't want to think about where should they go. So they're all going to relocate where they can go and find a school local. Menidas is central, as is Mariposa, I've also subbed there, to those areas. And that applies to almost every school district. You didn't spend your time just building schools without reference to what's around them. What are the builders building? What are you going to leave all these communities with when you close the schools and the kids don't have friends in the schools because they're bused or taken five, six miles from where they go to school? Thank you. Are there any other individuals who wish to speak to the board this evening? Yes, please. I wasn't going to speak because I spoke last time, but I
161had something new to add. So my name is Laura Flores. I have children at Paloma and at Pueblo. I have heard a few times that it's either closures or rifts, but... There's going to be rifts if there are closures. That's the way we're saving money. So maybe it's not teachers, but it's assistant principals and principals, maybe specials teachers, maybe the staff in the office. So either way, people are going to lose their jobs. That's how the money savings happen. from talking to some of my teacher friends and from hearing KEA's comments each time, I feel like that message might not be getting across that there still would be closures if, or there would still be rifts if there were closures. So thank you again for all of your time. You guys have been amazing putting
162so much effort and energy into listening to us and other districts are not doing nearly this much. So I truly appreciate it. And I echo the comments that please, we've, We've taken this time, so now use this time and reflect on some great solutions. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Juarez. Yes, would you like to speak to the board as well? Please. Hello, everyone. I do not have anything planned. I am here in support of in the representation of our school. I do have students at Kyrene Day Kalina. I have attended a couple of meetings and I am an active member of the PTO. And I just want to thank everybody for their support and thank the Kyrene District. I am a part of the big family who have students at KTA, my daughter has started
163their kindergarten. I want to shout out, you know, Ms. Mills, Dr. Lesher. We then moved into Ahwatukee. We did reach out to Lomas full capacity. We weren't able to do that. We've reached out to other schools also at capacity at the time. Thankfully, a lot of family friends and people who are at Lomas and different schools in the area all have amazing things to say about the staff, the support, etc. We currently... are obsessed with our school. We are very, very happy to be able to also have had the opportunity to have our children ride the bus. We aren't far, but we are busy moms. Me and my partner have the luxury of me being a stay-at-home mom. Again, it is not easy. We also try to be as involved as we can. And I
164just want to go shout out to all of the staff at Kalina. even people who are at the crosswalk and everything. So we appreciate all the support. And we continue to build together as a community stronger with all these changes because life is going to be full of changes, and our kids do need to realize that things may not go as planned, and we need to prepare and come together strongly at the end of the day. So I appreciate everyone in our district, and shout out to Kalina for the amazing community they've built. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other speakers this evening? Oh, yes. Mr. Inouye, come on up. Hi, I'm Cole Inouye. Please don't close my proposal. My kindergarten. teacher was Miss Adrian. In first grade, it was kind of a swift
165swap. I was in Miss Wilson, and then I had to go to Miss Shirtlands. And now I have Miss Oliver, which is a new teacher to our school. Thank you. Good job, Mr. Nolay. Thank you. Any other speakers this evening? Yes, please. And if you could just state your name for the record, that'd be great. Thank you. Hi, everybody. My name is Viviana Alvarado, and this is the first time I've ever come to anything of this sort. But I just wanted to say that I have a four and a two-year-old, and the only reason we moved to Tempe three years ago was because our big plan was for them to join Kyrene. Not any school. specifically, but just listening to everybody. And now that I've moved to Tempe, I have acquaintances that have children in
166different schools. We were so excited about it. And the first thing when I saw everything that's going on that my husband said, which was scary, was like, maybe we should look at moving. So it definitely impacts the family as far as, you know, people getting scared with all these closures. I know that everybody understands budget and allocation of funds, but I do think it's a drastic measure to close so many schools at once because it does create panic, my husband being one of them, obviously. So I appreciate everybody coming up here, you know, giving their stories, the children speaking. I look forward to seeing what happens, and I look forward to staying at Tempe and my kids attending. Kyrene, thank you. Thank you. Are there any other speakers this evening? All right. Well, that will
167conclude tonight's hearing. We will have another and our final public hearing tomorrow at Apprendi Middle School. And then again, the board will be meeting and discussing all of this feedback at our coming meetings. The next one is scheduled for December 2nd, where we'll be talking about the feedback we've received, how we're collecting it, and how we would be applying it potentially to any decision. So thank you all for being here. We're going to take a quick recess and then start back up with our regular meeting. All right, we are going to convene our regular meeting. Item 3.1 is convene regular meeting. Our regular meeting is called to order. It is 7.44 p.m. This time, if you do wish to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting on something other than long range, now
168is your time to turn in the blue card to our board secretary, Ms. Nancy Mosier, who's seated just to my right here. All of our board meetings are held live and open to the public to conduct the business of the district. A live stream is made available during the meeting, and if you can't watch it live, it'll be made available on our YouTube channel right afterwards. All of our board agendas are posted on our website as well as our district office at least 24 hours in advance of each meeting. Our superintendent, Ms. Laura Tenhas, as well as community members are here with us this evening. Item 3.2 is roll call. Will board members please state their name for the record? Cedric Collins. Bunny Davis. Amy Seatree. Trina Nelson. Kevin Walsh. Let the record show we
169have five board members here this evening. Item 3.3 is our moment of silence and pledge of allegiance. I'm going to invite one of our favorite Kyrene teachers, Ms. Kenora Hernandez. If you could please lead us in a moment of silence followed by the pledge. Thank you, Ms. Hernandez. Item 3.4 is our land acknowledgement. The Kyrene School District acknowledges our community of schools as looking on the ancestral lands of the O'odham and Peeposh peoples who have inhabited these lands since time immemorial. And with this land acknowledgement, the district formally recognizes traditional keeping and care of these lands by Native peoples allows us to be here today. Item 3.5 is our Kyrene Promise. We say this at all of our board meetings. We promise to provide welcoming, inclusive learning environments in which every student is honored, valued,
170and feels a strong sense of belonging and purpose. We promise to provide rigorous, responsive learning environments in which every student is given what they need to develop knowledge, skills, confidence, and a passion for learning. And we promise to provide vibrant, world-class learning environments in which every student believes they are empowered and prepared to make a meaningful impact. on a rapidly changing world. Item 4.1 is preview and approval of agenda. Board members, would anyone like to make any changes to tonight's agenda? Member Chaudhry? Yes, I would. Can we move from the consent agenda the presentation about the gifted academy or the gifted research that we're going to be doing? Can we move that to presentation? Great. So you're referring to item 7.10, which is the purchasing authorization for the designation of sole source vendor district management
171group. We'll pull that off of the consent agenda and we'll move it for discussion, if that works for you. That's what I meant. Okay. Yep. Thank you. All right. Any other changes to the agenda? All right. Would someone like to make a motion to approve the agenda as amended? So move. I have a motion by Member Davis. Is there a second? Second. Second by Vice President Nelson. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes five to zero. Item 5.1 is our superintendent report. Superintendent Tenius. Thank you, President Walsh, governing board members, staff here this evening and watching and community members that have stayed for the regular meeting and hopefully some still watching online. I just have a very brief superintendent report this evening, and we're going to play a short
172video here in just a minute. On Friday, this past Friday, thousands of Kyrene students, staff, and families walked to school together in honor of Ruby Bridges, a brave young girl whose courage opened doors for generations of students. On November 14, 1960, at just six years old, Ruby was the first African-American child to attend William France, a formerly whites-only elementary school in Louisiana. Ruby Bridges' walk to school day commemorates the bravery shown by both Ruby and her mother, Lucille Bridges, as they navigated through hostile crowds escorted by federal marshals. It also commemorates Ruby's teacher, Barbara Henry, who was the only teacher willing to teach young Ruby. I had the honor of attending the fourth annual walk put on by Kyrene Apprende and Kyrene De Las Brisas. We heard from many student speakers who expressed a desire
173for kindness and recognition that there is still much work to be done. As one of the most diverse districts in Arizona, Kyrene is home to a community that brings countless cultures, stories, and perspectives to our schools. That morning, those differences moved together in the same direction, side by side, showing what it means to build a community where everybody belongs. Across our schools, Kyrene families, classrooms, and entire school communities turned an ordinary morning into something deeply meaningful. Each step reflected the values Ruby Bridges continues to inspire, courage, unity, and a hope for a more inclusive future. We are tremendously proud and grateful for all who came together to honor her legacy in such a beautiful and powerful way. Thank you to our communities across Kyrene who walked with purpose, and with heart. We're going to play
174a quick little video so you can get a feel of what the day was like. Today we're honoring Ruby Bridges. She was so brave. She had courage to lead the path. She went into a school where no one looked like her. So today we honor that message. Where students are finding a way to make a difference. You're never too young. In this seed on the grass here, we have our future doctors, our future engineers, our future leaders, business leaders. We're going to spread kindness and inclusivity throughout our entire world. I'm asking you not only as Coyotes, but as citizens. Without Ruby Bridges, I wouldn't have been able to meet all of my friends, different color, and just have just such a good time. Especially because now, like, when you walk in a classroom, you see
175so many diverse cultures and different people from different backgrounds. And it's really cool to see that. Especially because of how young Ruby was, how big of an impact she made to everyone. That just motivates me that with my mind and my mindset, what type of change can I make to double her age? Ruby Bridges showed many different acts of kindness in different ways. She was only a little girl when she helped end segregation. I'm currently 10. That makes me think, wow, if a 6-year-old can do that while screaming people. For yelling and throwing things at her, I can certainly change the world, too. And that concludes my superintendent's update this evening. Thank you, Superintendent Tenius. There were some fantastic student speakers in that video. All right. Our next item is item 5.2, board member statements.
176Do any board members have statements they'd like to make this evening? Member Satri. I'm going first. It has been a busy couple of weeks around the Kyrene community, and I just wanted to mention a few events that I attended and all the wonderful folks that I've met. I was able to do a tour of Mariposa. I went to the Apprende Ruby Bridges Walk, and it was really nice to visit that school because that's the school my daughter went to just last year. So brought back a lot of memories, a lot of happy memories. I attended the Norte Fall Festival as well. And Pueblo had a Veterans Day event. So I've just I've been all over the place. And then I know this isn't Kyrene, but I was invited to a musical at Desert Vista. So
177I hadn't been to that school yet. So it was nice to see the high school that some of our students will be going to. And my daughter and I were invited to see there. their musical Once Upon a One More Time. And it was really fun. It was a great musical. So I know our community has mentioned that they didn't know about events or things that are going on in our Kyrene community. And one way that I know about all these events is, yes, I'm old school. I follow every single Kyrene school. on Facebook, every single one. So I have 25 messages plus from the Kyrene School District. I get the messages on that level as well. So there's always a great resource to find this information, attend these events, learn about our schools. That's
178just one tip, one way of being able to do that and find out what even enrollment, what's going on. So yeah, I just wanted to call that out. That's how I hear about most of this stuff. So, and that's it. So thank you so much. Thank you, Member Seytri. Any other member? Vice President Nelson. Yes, I'll second what Amy said. It's been a busy couple of weeks. So one of the first things I was able to do, President Walsh, you were there with me. We were with the Tempe Coalition with their Champions of Youth Award. And we had a few. We had. current Kyrene kid receive an award and several former Kyrene kids receive awards as well as the SRO from KMS was recognized. It was just a really nice evening to hear some of
179the challenges that these individuals have overcome and the ways they are supporting their communities. It was really lovely. Also spent some time. I was able to meet the infamous chickens of Akima last week. So I made their acquaintance. It was a really wonderful time. Mr. Norman put me through the paces with one of his STEM classes, played some video games with the kids. They were impressed. I didn't lose the first round. So that always makes me feel good. And then. spending time at Pueblo with our friends in the CCB room there. I was introduced to their wonderful garden. Um, they've done a couple of new things this year, so they're very excited for, uh, their squash, a lot of tomatoes, a lot of, a lot of herbs. It was really cool. Um, and then, uh,
180KMS. rounding off my visits with KMS. And, you know, it was really interesting. I met KMS News. You probably know. But, you know, the studio was lovely and all the teachers, you know, every campus that we go to is really just so unique. My husband always jokes because I always leave a visit. I'm just like, man, what a great school. It's so enchanting. I wish I could send my kid here. every school. I'm always like, oh, he's not in elementary school anymore. But every school, I'm always like, I'm just so impressed with X. And just, you know, just tremendous work for the communities that we have. So that's my report. Thank you, Vice President Nelson. Member Davis. Thank you. Well, I apparently jumped the gun when I mentioned that I was. I was at the
181wrong meeting, but whatever. I want to say again that Norte and Ninos, my visits with those groups of people was absolutely delightful. And I also went to the Alta Dania Ruby Bridges Walk event. It's just incredibly inspiring. You know, I'm a little bit older and was very aware. I watched that on TV, on my black and white television. So, it's real, it's part of my lived experience, my really aware lived experience. And I'm just so glad that we take time to honor the tremendous courage. And Ruby Bridges is still around and is very active in talking all over the country. Maybe we could get her here someday to talk to us. Yeah, it was a great event. And one of the things I just want to take a minute to just say, overall, how impressed
182I am with the dedication and love that our community has shown for this school district. And I'm hearing as we go through this, you know, it's a wrenching thing for all of us. All of us and the hours and dedication that the administration has given to this, that our superintendent has given to this, that all of us volunteers up here who have spent enormous amount of time and dedication. And I'm relatively new to this part of the world, but involved in education for a lot of years. have never seen a school district that is just quality from end to end with staff and community involvement like I've seen in Kyrene. So I'm really honored that. Everybody who voted for me decided to do so and that I have the opportunity to serve on this board.
183And I just congratulate all of you because it's just a wonderful thing to see. With that having been said, I'd like to just take a minute and ask if we could please maybe consider having an admonition that I think personal attacks are inappropriate. during the public hearings. And I would love that if we made some sort of statement at the beginning when we give directions about public comment, if something like that could be said. I don't know if it has to go through a process, but I just want to make that because I think it's highly inappropriate and it doesn't happen very often. But when it does, it's something I would prefer not to hear. Otherwise, great. Thank you. Thank you, Member Davis. Any other Board Member statements this evening? All right. Item 6.1 is
184request to speak to Governing Board. You guys know how this works. Would anybody wish to speak to the Governing Board who has not spoken on the long-range planning? All right. Hearing none. Item 7.1 is our consent agenda. This is the consent agenda as amended with the removal of item 7.10 for discussion. Unless there's any other comments, would someone like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended? Motion to approve. A motion by Vice President Nelson. Is there a second? Second. Second by Member Satri. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The motion passes 5-0. All right. The next item is going to be the item 7.10 that was pulled off for discussion. 7.10 is purchasing authorization, designation of sole source vendor for district management group. So board members, just
185by way of background, this is what's on our board docs. It's publicly available. In accordance with our school district procurement rules, sole source procurement, which is a contract that can be awarded for a material, service, or construction items without competition, we can do this if the governing board determines in writing that there's only one source for the required material, service, or item. Our hiring leadership team, along with the Academic Equity and Excellence Department, is recommending the use of the consulting services from District Management Group, which is sometimes called DM Group. And they will conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current gifted services model in order to recommend and establish a sustainable, fiscally responsible, and competitive program. So with that background, we can open it up for any discussions or questions. President Walsh, do you want
186me to give a little background on the connection to the other group? Yeah, I would just say, if Member Sate, since you asked to pull it off, how would you like to address this? Yeah, I just wanted to hear some additional information about what that all entails and what we expect to see and what. Sure. And I believe, is there an attachment in there with the scope of work? And if not, we'll make sure it's attached. It should be in there so you can actually see the details of the scope of work. But if for some reason it's not, we'll make sure it gets attached. So the district management group is the same group. that did our special education opportunity review. So earlier, right around the time you guys came onto the board, the new
187members came onto the board, I believe we gave you the opportunity review, I believe was already in process, and we gave you the final report so you can get an idea of what a report looks like. I just wanted you to know that you can go back and look at that to get some examples. So that was very specific to the special ed programming that we have within the district, and they did a very in-depth dive with focus groups and interviews and going through our policies, going through all of our data and really looking at what of our special ed programs. So after, I don't remember which board retreat it was, but we had a discussion about maybe pausing on the Gifted Academy for a minute to do a deeper dive on understanding and having
188a better picture of all of our gifted programs as they currently are now. And making decisions based on maybe that review, if you will, opportunity review. So we had talked about modeling it after the same type of review we did with special education. So I'm going to hand it over to Dr. Lane, who can get into more of the nitty gritty about that. And we'll make sure the scope of work is attached in board docs, because that can be a public document as well. Yes. Thank you. Good evening again. So I think Superintendent Tenia has actually pretty thoroughly explained it, but I will add a few more things. When we did this with special education, we also came back with some recommendations for next steps. And so those are the things that we are working
189through now with the Special Education Opportunity Review, which has been very helpful to us to have that outside feedback and to allow us that information to work through improvement. In regards to the gifted study, the goal is to really look at what is working in gifted education, what are those recommended steps moving forward to improve gifted education in Kyrene, what are those things that we could be doing, and to have that outside review of our outcomes, the amount of the resources we... dedicate to gifted, not just gifted education, gifted assessment, gifted programming, all of that. So it really is a comprehensive review of not just, you know, our eight self-contained gifted classrooms. It is our other models of gifted education, our gate courses at the middle school. how we staff those models, our identification rates
190for students. This is a large group of kids. We talked about this number in the past. It's about 1,000 children within Kyrene. not quite as large as our special ed population, but still a good-sized group of children, and what are we doing that works for them, and what are some things that we might be able to improve? And that's really the goal of this opportunity review, is to identify those things that we are either doing well or that we could, like I said, improve. And I believe the other... Because part of the planning call, we also talked about, as you know, one of the reasons the district made the recommendation that we look at doing a gifted academy is that we lose about a thousand students outside this district that live in our boundaries that
191are choosing to go elsewhere. So our gifted population could be closer to about fifteen hundred, eighteen hundred, because maybe not all thousand of those are actually, you know, are gifted identified. gifted identified. So one of the things that DM group is going to be able to do is they're going to do outreach outside of just even our own, um, in current, because it's, yes, it's about retention, but it's also about getting kids back when you think about our service rate, because again, it's about how do we keep the kids that. would have chosen Kyrene from the very beginning had we had what it was they were looking for. There's something we didn't have that they were looking for that they chose to go to another gifted academy, if you will. So we're also going to
192have them dig into that data as well and try to unpack that. to see if there's some missed opportunities. And I think you mentioned they're going to look at, you know, how we staff our programs. I think there's some data that's going to be pretty, pretty interesting. You know, just because it's called gifted doesn't necessarily mean it's being taught by a gifted endorsed teacher. And so we need to look at some of that data. And is that something the district wants to keep doing? Or, you know, does that change? Do we have the right number of programs? Do we need more programs? Do we need less? Do we need it spread out more? I mean, it's all of that data will be able to come back. And once we have the data, then they help
193us build the implementation plan to say, here's how you could address that. That's when we'll start bringing the committee together. So we want the, you know, we talked about a gifted advisory committee, if you will, to come together and talk about programming. They need this data to be able to start that conversation. So this is nice when you have an outside. When we did our strategic plan, we also brought an outside agency. It really takes a lot of the bias out. You don't want your own staff necessarily doing all those focus groups. And so this really helps give us that neutral lens of what's really going on with gifted. Just to say, I'm really, I was really excited to see this on consent agenda as way of kind of. making actionable some of the feedback
194we've gotten from the community about really exploring our gifted offerings. I was involved with the special education opportunity review and I just wanted to more sharing for the community. They really do a great job of meeting with a lot of different stakeholder groups outside of like I had, gosh, it was like about a 45 minute interview about. you know, my family's experience is not my family's experiences with special education, but also my experiences sitting on this side of the dais as well. And so, um, and I know they, they did the same thing with your team, Dr. Lane and several of our, you know, resource classroom teachers and things like that. So I'm excited that we are taking that same level of depth, um, to this, to this particular population. process and it won't be
195done like in two days. I mean, it takes a little bit of time to get all that data, which gives us time to start working on that the sooner we can get working with them so that we can start the Gifted Advisory Committee with the data in hand once we do. I'm grateful to hear that this is not intended to be in lieu of the Gifted Advisory Committee. To the contrary, it's going to be a resource that will be given in addition to the Gifted Advisory Committee. Yeah, it will give them the starting point for really understanding what is really being experienced in our system. And so I anticipate probably some of the people that will serve on this committee will also be some of the people that have been interviewed by the DM group
196for information. And I think based on one of our prior retreats, while this process is happening, while DM Group is doing their study, while the Gifted Advisory Committee is being formed and doing work, no changes are proposed to be made to our existing gifted models and our gifted self-contained and at our sites other than as staffing may require. But we're going to keep our gifted self-contained models at our two sites as presently proposed while this work is ongoing. Correct, as they presently operate, yes. Thank you. Other than I do think the one caveat we mentioned is if the classrooms don't fill up, and we do that in some cases now, we may put some high achieving children that haven't been identified yet in the class. I know we've been hearing from our community to look
197into this, to get more research, to get feedback. This is exactly that. So thank you. Any other feedback? All right. Would someone like to make a motion to approve the designation of sole source determination for item 710? Motion to approve. Motion by Vice President Nelson. Is there a second? Second. Second by Member Davis. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Item 8.1, Board, Committee, or Conference Reports. Does anybody have an update on committees or conferences? Seeing none, item 9.1, Items for Future Consideration. Would anyone like to list an item for future consideration? All right. I'm 10.1. Meeting dates. Our next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025. But don't worry, we'll all see each other tomorrow, which will be our next and final hearing at 6 p.m.
198at Apprende Middle School. Item 11.1 is adjournment. Would someone like to make a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Motion by Vice President Nelson. I will second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0. We're adjourned at 8.10 p.m. Have a good night, everyone.