001Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Hey, good evening. This is our regular meeting of the Kyrene Governing Board. Today is August 19th, 2025. It is 6 p.m. Item 1.1 is convene regular meeting. I'm convening our regular meeting at 6 p.m. At this time, all blue cards need to be turned into the front desk. If you wish to speak to the board during the call to the public portion of the meeting. Turn your blue card now. It was at that front table right when you came on in. All of our school board meetings are held in public to conduct the business of the district. You can always attend live here in person. If you can't attend live, we live stream our meetings live on the Internet. We also make recordings of our meetings available
002on our very own YouTube channel. They're made available right after the meeting. All agendas for our meeting are posted at least 24 hours in advance of every meeting. Tonight, we have our superintendent, Ms. Laura Tenius, as well as... school leaders, community members, and most importantly, students and families here this evening. So welcome. Item 1.2 is our roll call. Board members, can you please state your name for the record? Cedric Collins. Bunny Davis. Amy Seatree. Trina Nelson. Kevin Walsh. Let the record show we've got five board members present this evening. Item 1.3 is our Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence. I always call on a school leader here, and I'm going to invite Principal of Kyrene De La Estrella, Mr. Matt Martin. If you could please stand up. You don't have to come up
003to the podium, but if you could just please lead us in a moment of silence followed by the pledge, that would be appreciated. Thank you, Principal Martin. Item 1.4 is our Kyrene land acknowledgement. Our school district acknowledges our community of schools is located on the ancestral lands of the Othman Peeposh peoples who have inhabited these lands since time immemorial. And with this land acknowledgement, the district formally recognizes traditional care and keepings by these peoples allows us to be here today. Item 1.5 is our Kyrene promise. This is the promise we make to all of our families and we say it at each of our board meetings. As a district and as Kyrene, we promise to provide welcoming, inclusive learning environments in which every student is honored, valued, and feels a strong sense of belonging and
004purpose. 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 finally, 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 2.1, Board Members, this is Preview and Approval of Agenda. Any changes to tonight's agenda? All right. So you know, would someone like to make a motion to approve the agenda? Motion to approve. I've got a motion by Vice President Nelson. Is there a second? Second. Second by Member Davis. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes five to zero. All right. So community, we've got our superintendent report followed by board member statements and then
005some very exciting recognitions, including our super students. But first, item 3.1 is our superintendent report. Superintendent Tenius. Thank you, President Walsh. Governing board members, staff here either joining us in person or watching and community members, family, students either here in person or joining us virtually this evening. Welcome. Let me. There we go. So I have a little bit of a brief update to share, some exciting stuff going around Kyrene. But before I get into some of the... excitement I would like to share. This will become a pretty standing item for us as we continue to look for drivers for Kyrene. So Kyrene is still seeking bus drivers to help transport kids to and from school safe and on time. Drivers in Kyrene earn $19.28 an hour plus a $2 hour stipend. Drivers with perfect attendance
006also will be provided with an additional $750 stipend each quarter. So a little incentive for some of our bus drivers. There we go. I am so excited to share that Kyrene Apprende Principal Renee Corey has been named the 2025 Middle Grades Administrator of the Year by Arizona Association for Middle-Level Education. Dr. Robert Kaplinger, president of AZAMLE, shared that through her unwavering dedication, innovative leadership, and deep commitment to her students, staff, and families, Renee Corey exemplifies the very best of middle-level education. AZAMLE is honored to recognize her outstanding contributions to Arizona's young adolescents and the educators who serve them. So congratulations, Ms. Corey. I am also happy to share that the Kyrene Finance team has once again been awarded the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for Fiscal Year 24 from the Association of School Business
007Officials International. Kyrene is celebrating three decades of participating in this program and of achieving this national recognition. Congratulations to our finance team. Also excited to share, Kyrene Middle School's, I should say the Kyrene Middle School's very own Mr. Andrew Shapiro was recently interviewed by ABC 15 Arizona as part of their series profiling teachers throughout the valley. Mr. Shapiro gave them a peek into his classroom where he is using things like Minecraft, AI, and music to help his students create new connections to the old world to each other. and most importantly to themselves. You can check out the story posted on KMS's website. Congratulations, Mr. Shapiro. Our first positive parenting event in partnership with the Tempe Coalition is tomorrow on Zoom. Presenter Geronda Montano will teach families about brain development and how to support their children
008in developing resiliency. And the Kyrene Foundation is currently seeking sponsors for their annual Night for Kyrene event on Saturday, September 6th, which helps fund key initiatives such as the Family Resource Center, student sponsorships, educational grants for teachers and principals, and much, much more. If you are interested in sponsoring or providing a donation for the silent auction, you can find more information online at kyrenefoundation.org. And our next board meeting is scheduled for September 2nd. So I just want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that there will be no school and the district will be closed on Monday, September 1st in observance of Labor Day. And that concludes my superintendent's update. Thank you, Superintendent Tanyas. Item 3.2 is our board member statements. Do any board members have statements this evening? Member Collins. I just want to
009say I'm excited for the recognition of the super students tonight. Yes. I'm glad to see everybody here. Thank you, Member Collins. Member Davis. Yes, thank you very much. I have a couple of things to report. The first one is I'm sorry to embarrass him, but my husband has my phone and he's back there. He's trying to deliver it to me. So I apologize. You succeeded in embarrassing him. Thank you, John. I was trying to get people's attention. Nobody was watching. Welcome, everybody. Thanks, Nancy. I want to first give a report. I am the governing board member who's been appointed to participate in the Kyrene Employee Benefit Trust Board. And we had our meeting on August 19th. And I want to read to you my short report about that meeting. As the appointed governing board member
010for the Kyrene Employee Benefit Trust for this school year, I attended their meeting on August 19th, and it just went away. Excuse me. This is typical for me in technology. Okay. KEBT reviews the financial status of the trust at each meeting by reviewing financial and claims reports prepared by outside consultants. I am pleased to report that the trust fund balance remains strong, which resulted in stable district and employee premium contributions for this school year. The upcoming work for KEBT this fall will include two requests for proposals, RFPs, one for dental plans and one for accidental injury or critical illness benefits. If any new vendors are selected, the changes would be implemented July 1, 2026. KEBT is also reviewing benefit plan designs for any possible enhancements for July 1, 2026. KEBT's next meeting will be on
011October 21, 2025. And that concludes the formal report. But I also want to thank Deb Spurgin, our wonderful employee. What do I call her? What is her title? director of this, who incredibly has gotten me excited about employee benefits. And I would have been the last person, I think. But I'm really getting into it. She does a fabulous job, including writing my statement for me. So thank you, Deb, and all the other people who are members of the Trust Board. It was a good meeting. Thank you, Member Davis. Member Seytri, anything this evening? My friend Nelson. All right. Hope everybody's off to a good start to the school year. It's hard to believe we're already like almost a month in. You blink and here we are. It's crazy. I know sports have already started at
012our middle schools. We've already started doing projects. I mean, like we had our first test cramming at home for math this past week. That was a struggle, but we've made it through. I want to thank three schools who have hosted me since our last meeting. Kyrene Montavista, Principal Strickland is amazing. She has a great program over there. Amazing kids. Kyrene. Akimaw, Principal McCarthy. I know you know Principal McCarthy. She's the principal of Akimaw. They do amazing things there. They have their own greenhouse and chickens. Do you know they have chickens there? If you ever want to check out, this might be a deciding factor in where you send your kids to middle school. They have chickens at Akimaw. It's great. You can work with them. And then today I was at Estrella. So Principal Martin,
013thank you. I love being at Estrella. It was fantastic. I love Estrella. I love all of our schools, but it's just so fantastic to get welcomed and see our students. thriving there and all of our dedicated staff. All right. So in my opinion, the best part of the meeting item 4.1 is our Kyrene super students. So we do this every year, but this is a big one because this is our first night of super students. Yes, I've got the awards. I've got the awards right here. We're going to hand them out. All right. We do our first super students of the year here tonight. So if you are a super student, you are here because you've been nominated by either your principal or a teacher as being an exemplary student. So maybe if you're walking
014around Ninos, Principal Perry saw you. and saw some behaviors that you were making. Maybe it was Miss Kirby. Maybe Miss Kirby saw you and saw what you were doing on the playground. If you were at Estrella, it might have been Principal over there, Principal Martin, it might have been any of your staff who saw that you were demonstrating the portrait of a Kyrene kid. And what's that? That's a lot of words. But what it means to us as a district is this is what we hope. When you leave Kyrene, you have these skills. You have these virtues. Parents, if you look up there, you're not going to see anything about standardized test scores or math proficiency. That's important. But what we're looking here is what we want our kids to have leaving Kyrene. An adaptable
015learner, a self-advocate, a community contributor, a communicator, a critical thinker, a problem solver, and a collaborator. And out of the hundreds of kids on your campus. You guys have been chosen because you. among everybody else, shine with these talents. So we are so excited and so proud to celebrate you guys tonight. So when you get called up, here's what's going to happen. There's going to get a certificate that Superintendent Tenius is going to deliver to you. Come on up to the podium and turn around and face your family. You don't have to say anything. We're not going to make a speech, but you turn around and look at your family because they're going to want to take pictures of you. So don't look at us. Look at them. And while you're looking at them, Each
016one of our board members here is actually going to read the nomination form that you have submitted by your teacher or by your principal. We're going to read your nomination form out. After we've had a chance to read your nomination form, just step on off to the side here. We're going to call up our next super student and make sure everybody gets recognized. After everybody's been recognized, we're going to do a big old group picture. Parents are going to get a chance to take photos. We do have some very cool swag. and tokens of appreciation. So students, you are going to get tokens of appreciation from our sponsors, which include Urban Air. If you've ever been to Urban Air, if you've all been to Urban Air, it's a fantastic place. You get an appreciation for
017that, as well as our certificate. So we are so excited to start us off. And I'm going to have, before we jump in right here. I'm going to sign our certificates. And our very first super student who I'm going to read, and I'm going to sign the rest of these, is going to be from the Kyrene De Los Niños School. And that is Armando Córdova. There you go. All right, Armando. So Armando is being recognized here as a critical thinker. He is a fifth grader. Here's his nomination. Armando Cordova is an exceptional fifth grade student who demonstrates outstanding critical thinking skills every day. He leads quietly by example, showing perseverance and determination even when faced with challenging tasks. Armando listens carefully to his teacher's directions and thoughtfully applies them to his work, often finding creative
018ways to solve problems. He consistently goes above and beyond, not only in his own learning, but also in helping his classmates succeed. At Ninos, Armando is a true superhero, using his problem-solving powers to inspire and support those around him, making him a perfect choice for hiring super student. Congratulations, Armando. All right, I am excited to welcome, also from Kyrene de los Niños, Rose Lopez. Rose is a kind and considerate second grade student who is both an adaptable learner and an excellent communicator. She works well with all students, showing patience, empathy, and a willingness to collaborate. When faced with a difficult task, Rose shows persistence and determination to see it through. In kindergarten, after seeing the talent show for the first time, she knew her talent was on the monkey bars and asked if they could
019be moved to the stage. When she learned that they couldn't, she quickly problem solved, figuring out how she and her friends could share their talent through a creative video showing her ability to adapt and find solutions. At Ninos, we focus on showing grit, and Rose is truly a superhero who demonstrates perseverance and determination in everything she does. Rose has been a role model during her three years on the Kyrene De Los Ninos campus. She enters the classroom each day with the biggest smile, the kindest heart, and the hardest work ethic, always ready to participate in class discussions and create amazing work. Rose shows grit and perseverance when faced with challenges, adapting and problem solving to find solutions while encouraging her classmates to do the same. The way she cares for, assists, and uplifts others truly
020sets her apart and makes her shine. Kyrene De Los Ninos is so lucky to have a superhero student like Rose Lopez. Congratulations. All right. And next, from Kyrene De La Paloma, Diego Guerrero. The fourth grade team is proud to nominate Diego Guerrero, an exceptional student, for the Super Student Award. He has been a part of the Paloma Elementary family since kindergarten, and he has grown tremendously, both academically and personally. He is a strong problem solver and critical thinker, approaching challenges with a thoughtful and creative mindset. His adaptability allows him to thrive in new situations, and Diego consistently advocates for himself in a... effective, and respectful manner. He is a shining example of resilience, leadership, and a love of learning. Diego is an exceptional member of our Paloma family. Congratulations, Diego. Okay, I am super excited
021to introduce Kyler Lazard, a fifth grader at Kyrene Dell Millennium. Kyler exemplifies the competency of adaptable learner. Kyler has a positive attitude towards school and learning in all of her classes. She shows perseverance and commitment with everything she does and encourages her classmates as well. She is a leader among her fifth grade peers and a role model for the younger students. Her leadership has a positive influence around our school. I'm also excited to introduce Charlotte DeGro. She's a third grader at Kyrene De La Paloma. Charlotte embodies the portrait of a kind kid. She is an adaptable learner in our classroom who is always excited to try new things and challenge herself academically. Charlotte goes above and beyond on her work each day. Her passion for learning is evident in the positive attitude she displays. She
022is a role model in our classroom. Charlotte is also a positive, kind, and respectful member of our community. She is always polite to others. demonstrating kindness and care towards others in every situation. We are proud to have Charlotte as one of our Paloma Doves. Okay, our next super student is Kaya Batiste from Kyrene de la Estrella. Kaya is a student that I have been lucky to have in my class this year. She is being recognized as a collaborator. She's a hard worker and somebody who is willing to learn and grow. While she enjoys learning, she is a great collaborator with her peers. She is someone who is able to work well with everyone and also includes everyone. Kaya's kindness and teamwork stands out in the classroom and never goes unnoticed. Looking forward to her being
023a shining star in fourth grade from Miss Figueroa. And next, I'm very happy to introduce Luca Vergara. I hope I said that right. Fifth grader at Kyrene Dell Millennium. Luca is being recognized as a community contributor. Luca has a positive impact around millennial. Luca arrives at school every morning with a smile and a positive attitude that is contagious to everyone. He is well-liked by his peers because he treats everyone with kindness and encouragement. He does not need recognition for these actions, but does it because he cares. His positivity sets the tone for building a better community at Millennial. All right. I am presenting from Kyrene, De La Estrella, Reagan Gibson, 5th grade. Reagan is being recognized as a community contributor. Reagan is truly a shining star in our Australia community. She consistently goes above and
024beyond, demonstrating exemplary behavior both inside and outside of the classroom. Her dedication to excellence is evident in everything she does, making her a role model for her peers and a leader in our academic environment. In the classroom, she is an active participant who eagerly engages in discussions, asks thoughtful questions, and consistently strives to reach the highest levels of learning. Her strong work ethic and commitment to personal growth inspired those around her to challenge themselves and aim higher. What sets her apart is not just her academic performance, but her ability to uplift others. She encourages her classmates to push themselves and support them in their efforts. creating a positive and collaborative atmosphere. Her leadership, motivation, and positive attitude make her an invaluable part of our community. Reagan Gibson. All right, so congratulations to our Millennial Falcons,
025our Nuno superheroes, our Astraya Stars, our Paloma Doves. Families, if you're here, a huge shout out to you because we know that this is a huge partnership. We are grateful for you giving us your kids here. as part of our experience in educating your children. So thank you for that. Board members, I'd like to invite us to come down and take a photo. If you are a principal at any of these schools, come on up. If you are a teacher at any of these schools, come on up. If you are a staff member at any of these schools, come on up. We're going to take a big group photo. Families, if you want to get a good angle, you can come on up to the podium too. You don't have to sit in your seat.
026Come on up and take a photo. Congratulations again to all of our super students. Our board meetings are welcome to the public, but we know it's a school night. So if you got to head on out, thank you. All right. Item 4.2. That's a tough act to follow. Item 4.2. This is an extremely important recognition. This is for our Kyrene Education Association leadership team and the officers for the 25-26 school year. Superintendent Tenius. Thank you, President Walsh. I am so excited and honored to have our KEA officers in the house this evening. We usually recognize our officers at the end of last year as they were elected at that point for this school year, but it was a meeting that we had to move to Zoom due to no air conditioning in the building. And
027so we really wanted to have a chance to do this in person. So this evening, I am very honored. to recognize our KEA officers for the 25-26 school year. Ms. Delia Lighting is our KEA president. Ms. Mariah Monson is vice president. Ms. Christina Ochoa is treasurer. And Ms. Jennifer Pooler-Ledwick is our secretary. So I just want to say I am so fortunate that We sit in a district that has such a great relationship with our KEA Association, and I am so grateful for their guidance and helping me make some decisions, sometimes that are hard decisions, and providing feedback. And just really having that collaborative partnership, not just with me, but with my entire team. They spend a lot of time with a lot of district leaders and they're always very thoughtful. And I just really,
028really appreciate that. So thank you all for that. And I look forward to our 25-26 school year together. So with that, I'm going to let them say a few words. Thank you. Board President Walsh, Vice President Nelson, Board Members Seatree, Davis, and Collins. The Kyrene Education Association is made up of certified educators in Kyrene. We represent the majority of our certified staff. We are honored that this board recognizes KEA as the group of certified educators who sit at the meet and confer table each year and presents priorities for discussion and solution with the team. KA also has a long-standing tradition of having a board contact team member or members for each of you. It is this relationship that we have worked hard to establish and take great pride in. Our successful working relationship with our
029board members and our district leadership is what helps to make Kyrene a place where educators want to come to teach and to stay. I am honored to introduce the 2526KA officer team that you've heard already, but I feel like I need to say just a little bit more about them because it's always the team that you build around you that helps you to be successful. Again, my name is Delia Lighting. I am serving in my third year as KA president. I'm also an academic interventionist at Kalina. This is Mariah Monson. She is serving three years as... vice president? Yes, she came along with me. She's serving three years as vice president, and she also teaches eighth grade science at Altadena. This is Christina Ochoa entering into her fifth year as our KEA treasurer, and she
030is an academic behavioral specialist at the Kyrene Middle School. And this is Jennifer Puller-Ledwick. She serves as our KEA secretary, is a music teacher at Paloma, and is probably one of the founding members of KEA. She's been doing it for so long. Oh, excuse me. She is an art teacher. I don't know why I always say your music. She is a wonderful art teacher. Today we have a KEA shirt for each of you and hope to see you wearing it with pride. We are looking forward to another year of strong, steady, and great leadership. Thank you, Ms. Lottie. Board members, any comments you'd like to make to our KE leaders here? Member Davis. Yes, I congratulate you all, and I'm thankful that you all are in the positions that you all are in. I enjoyed
031a great conversation with my contact teachers, one of whom is standing up there. And you do great work, and I look forward to lots of time working together and collaborating for our kids. Thank you. Thank you, Member Davis. Vice President Nelson. Yes. Also, thank you so much for the time that you put in. Not only are each of you in the classroom, but the way that you advocate for your fellow certified staff here is just really tremendous. I know that you are always out there in the community advocating for Kyrene and the students. And it's in addition to your full time job. I mean, that's just. I just very deeply appreciate the service, and I can't say enough about how happy I am that our relationship with KEA is as strong as it is. So
032thank you. Yeah, I will echo that. Talking to board members in other districts that will remain unnamed, I'm always surprised when I hear that they don't have the strength of a relationship, that they don't have the KEA member liaison program that we do. folks in the community that may not know, every one of our board members gets teamed up with at least one, maybe two members of our education association who are kind of like our hotline for all things that are related to and impacting our certified staff. And it's a two-way street. We hear from them, but we also love to get, you know, our questions answered from you. So I am so grateful for everything that you do. And this is on top of long days that you put in every day. So thank
033you, thank you, thank you. And we look forward to having a great year with you. Oh, you know, I was going to let that go. Given that I'm the union president in my district. Yes, sir. So I appreciate the work you guys put in. A lot of people don't realize we do this for free 99 and we, you know, and the long hours and all the stuff that, you know, you deal with. I understand what you guys deal with, you know, on a personal level, I know what it's like. So I appreciate all the work you put in and all the things you have to balance. with keeping the integrity of your job, the integrity with the administration, the integrity with the board and the cabinet. So appreciate that. Thank you for all that you
034do. Now we can clap. Yes, I just want to say congratulations. And I'm very excited to be working with you all and to continue to work with you all and to thank you for being such amazing advocates and leaders in our community. It's just amazing work. And I'm so proud of who you all are. So thank you. Item 5.1 is our consent agenda. Board members, if there are no changes to the consent agenda, would someone like to make a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Motion by Member Satri. Is there a second to her motion? Second. Second by Vice President Nelson by just a hair. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. All right. Our next item on the agenda is going to be an update from our district
035on the Kyrene de la Sierra roof impact. And then that will be followed by the governing board public comment portion of the meeting. So if you're here for public comment, that will be after the Sierra update. So I'll turn it over to our superintendent, Ms. Laura Tenius. Thank you, President Walsh. I am here this evening. This is our second update that we've provided in a board meeting. I know you've all, the board's been copied on any communications that have gone out to either staff or family. So we just want to give you, provide you a little update on the roof, what's going on with the roof, and also what's going on with the relocation of our Sierra students. So you're going to hear from members of our team tonight that are going to summarize. the
036testing that's been done to date. And then you're going to hear some action steps, a little bit about our relocation activities over the last two weeks. I do just want to reiterate, we've received numerous, several, several questions, either through Let's Talk. governing board inbox, different avenues for communication from our community. That hiring staff obviously doesn't have the expertise to answer some of those questions. So tonight we actually have invited a guest from Dominion Environmental Consultants who's going to help answer some of those questions. So we were able to provide those questions directly. So with that, I'm actually going to start with, I believe Mr. Herman is going to kick us off tonight. And I believe they're going to stay in their seats this evening and present. So he's going to kick us off. And with
037that, Mr. Herman, it's all yours. Thank you. I think the best place maybe to start before we. Get into some of the specifics about the Sierra Roof. Let's talk a little bit about who the vendors are. So if you hear names of companies, you know who they are, what their role typically is. So we have six vendors that have been involved with this project. We'll start with the top. Progressive Roofing is the roofing contractor, and they have performed roofing projects for Kyrene in the last 10 plus years. Trimco is the manufacturer of the main or primary roofing materials that are used by Progressive. Norcon is the vendor who will install the skylights at Sierra once the roof or the main roof work is complete. The Arizona School Risk Retention Trust is also known as The
038Trust, and they are a nonprofit corporation that provides Arizona public school districts and community colleges with their property and liability coverages and related services. The trust was established back in 1986 under state statute, and it operates as a risk retention pool funded and governed by all of its members. And today there are 247 different school districts and community colleges that make it one of the largest public entity pools in the U.S. You'll see Dominion Environmental Consultants listed. They were contracted by Kyrene to perform the air quality and environmental testing that we'll talk a little bit more about. Dominion has done previous air quality work at Kyrene facilities, mostly related to things like remediation or abatement projects. East Valley Disaster Services, the final organization listed. They're a full-service licensed general contractor company that serves the entire
039state of Arizona and provides expertise in things like remediation and facility repairs. And I do want to spend a little bit more time talking about the procurement process and the selection process. And so all the contracts for Progressive, Norcon, Dominion, and East Valley were all awarded through the one GPA governmental purchasing cooperative. And so that probably needs a little bit of explanation. A purchasing cooperation allows public entities, so it's things like school districts, cities, counties, or nonprofits, to consolidate their purchasing power for better pricing. And it also reduces the administrative burden that is placed on those organizations by having to run an independent RFP process. The actual process for 1GPA in this case was they would undertake the competitive solicitation process along with another lead agency, which is typically another school district liaison or school
040district member. And that group would follow all state statutes, procurement laws, and regulations. And then any public entity that we talked about earlier would be able to utilize that contract award under the pricing. the terms and the conditions that were established and negotiated. So 1GPA, along with several other cooperating purchasing agreements, they were approved during the June 11th board meeting as a cooperative purchasing agreement that was available to be used this year, along with a handful of other cooperatives across the state and the nation. So with that little background, now I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Mason Mead, our director of facilities. Good evening, Superintendent Tenius, President Walsh, and distinguished board members. I would like to discuss Sierra's roof activities since our last meeting. Roofing production has been on hold since Friday, August
0411st. I have met with Maricopa Air Quality regarding a complaint and conducted a roof walk with them on Tuesday, August 5th, and again today to look at Skylight Scope. Maricopa County requested asbestos-containing material, ACM, testing results, and Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act AHERA documentation. I have provided ACM testing analysis confirming non-detect for ACM from Progressive Roofing and Dominion. I provided Sierra's 2025 AHERA Management Plan update. I am awaiting the official response from Maricopa Air Quality regarding the complaint. I met with the state fire marshal and walked Progressive Roofing's laydown yard on Thursday, August 7th. State fire marshal advised me that any requests from them would be submitted via email. To date, Kyrene has yet to receive any direct correspondence from the state fire marshal. However, I learned this afternoon that Progressive was notified today through
042other channels. On Wednesday, August 13th, the roof was sealed as a precaution to prevent potential leaks. from forecasted rain. We are continuing mitigation and additional testing in accordance with Dominion's recommendations. Testing. August 4th, indoor air quality testing by Dominion, which focused on total volatile organic compounds, TVOCs. Results received August 12th, shared with the Sierra community. Dr. Ryan Kuhn from Dominion will discuss the TVOCs later, results later in the presentation. August 5th, roofing asbestos survey report from Progressive. Testing conducted on August 5th. Results were shared with Maricopa County Air Quality. Findings are non-detect for ACM. August 8th, roofing asbestos survey report from Dominion. Report received August 11th and shared with Maricopa Air Quality and Sierra Community. Findings are non-detect for ACM. August 9th, indoor air quality testing at Cerritos and Altadena. Report received August 10th and
043shared with the Sierra community. At this time, I'd like to introduce Dr. Ryan Kuhn from Dominion Environmental Consultants, who will provide additional information regarding the testing results. Hello, everybody. Thanks for having me here tonight. So, yeah, I'm going to give you a quick summary through how we've been involved with the project, maybe fill in some of the gaps. So initially, Dominion was called in. I believe our first day on the site was August 1st, Friday, January 1st. During that time, we went out and, you know, there was an air quality complaint. We took a handheld meter that looks for total volatile organic compounds. And volatile organic compounds are groups of organic chemicals that typically are released from various, you know, components into the air. When we were out there, we found that There were a
044large area of the school was above what we would consider normal for indoor air quality. So the total volatile organic compound levels were elevated in the building. Primarily in room three was probably the highest, and it kind of worked its way out from there. The odor that was detected was associated with the roofing of products, and so there was a strong odor at the time of our inspection. So based on that, we did recommend, because the issue with total vaults of organic compounds is that you don't know specifically what components are there. I mean, it just detects everything. And so you can have a lot of small things that maybe aren't harmful, or you can have a lot of something that could be harmful. So we really need to look at where the individual constituents
045in the air at the time. So we were asked to go back on August 5th, and we did one sample in room three, which was the highest, to see what are the main constituents that made up that air quality issue. The reason we did one, I mean, it's a laboratory test. The laboratory is out of state. We have to order media in, which you get, you know, usually a couple days to actually receive it, and then we have to ship it back and go through analysis. Fortunately, we had one tube from a previous project we just did a few weeks ago left over in our office, so we were able to mobilize and actually do the one sample right away so we could see what was going on. When the results came back from the
046lab, the lab indicated that the total levels, again, were above green building standards. Well, above green building standards. And the green building is, I'm not sure if you're familiar with LEED. I don't know if some of your schools participate in LEED accreditation, but LEED is a group. They're trying to make healthier buildings, green buildings. And so they set a criteria of this is what would be an average building for a green building. Not all buildings fall within that, but they were still well above, which we would expect because we saw that on our handheld. We saw that on our, you know, just walking through the building. I mean, the building should not smell like a roofing product. So as we looked at all of the individual compounds. The majority of the significant contributors in the
047lab listed off the list of about 25 chemicals that were the significant contributors to that total volume of gases. In that, they determined, we went through and we looked at, you know, which ones have exposure limits. And that's kind of a first start, you know. Look at, you know, does OSHA, American College of Governmental and Adjusted Hygiene, NIOSH, you know, various governmental agencies that have studied it, they've evaluated it, what are those exposure assessments or what are those exposure levels? So that's the first thing we look at. Then, you know, again, this isn't workers on the roof actually doing the work. These are children in the school. So we have to look at, you know, there's ways, there's not... OSHA or NIOSH, they don't publish specific guidance for children, you know, that this chemical, there's
048an exposure limit for a five-year-old. So as a hygienist, we need to then look at a few other ways of determining, you know, how to figure that out. And one of the more common ways of doing that is to use a protection factor or safety factor where you divide the exposure limit for adults by a value, either 10 or 30. And we did that, both 10 and 30, and we're still below the levels that we're detecting in the school. The other thing we can do is because there's a lot of little components, you always are concerned that maybe one of those components has an additive effect where you have multiple things attacking. So we do what's called a hazard index. And the hazard index kind of classifies the scores based on the chemical has its
049own value. And it allows you to determine whether or not, you know, there's an accumulable effect. And so a hazard index of one means that you're right at a threshold. Less than one, you're below a threshold. And greater than one, you have the overexposure that those chemicals could be creating an additive effect in the target. And again, those hazard indexes are designed for adults. So when we look at... you know, the same sort of safety factor. We look at a 10x and a 30x. And the hazard index for those chemicals, for the whole group of chemicals that were listed by the lab, were at 0.01. So well below 1. Even if you multiply that by 10, you're at 0.1. And if you multiply it by 30, you're at 0.3. So, you know, basically you've got
050a lot of little components that are below thresholds. One of the problems with roofing, and you know roofing there's a lot of complaints. I mean this is not the first building that we've received a complaint for roofing. With roofing products there are a lot of materials that have a very strong odor at a very low level. So they have very low odor threshold. There's sulfur products, there's some tri-methylbenzene, those all smell very strongly at a low dose. And it's similar to, you know, if you're in a building, say, it smelled of sewer, right? You know, sewer gas itself, when you smell it, it's at such a low dose, it doesn't really cause any harm to the individuals, but it's just so off-putting, you don't want to be in the building, right? And so that's the
051biggest problem with roofing. And if you kind of go through and look at, you know, in general... roofing projects and you know like the University of Minnesota their environmental safety risk management division has a page on roofing materials and roofing projects in New York I mean there's a number of different entities because this happens all the time and we go to commercial buildings and government buildings and you know there's a lot of complaints about roofing odors what they say is you know in general roofing projects and roofing materials are not High hazard. I mean you can have headaches. You can have some irritation. You could have you know few minor symptoms If you're exposed to higher levels those typically go away once you leave the roof and that's pretty evident I mean if you go
052and you see roofers, I mean they're not wearing respirators and you know protection I mean and they're right in the middle of that so they can inhale a lot of those fumes and not be impacted They may have you know Periodic sure So you might have some periodic irritation, depending on the individual. But for the most part, that's kind of the general consensus in roofing. It's the same with roads. I mean, asphalt, laying roads, workers are exposed to a lot of the same things. You're exposed to some of the same chemicals at gas stations where you're pumping gas. There are a lot of these little things that are more or can be more of an odorant than an actual hazard. And so that's what we did. We looked at that. We determined that, you know,
053because of the odor, you don't want to be in a smelly building. It's too distracting, too hard on people. So we want to try to ventilate the building, try to clear the air throughout the roofing project. And then, you know, before people move back in, make sure that, you know, all those vapors have dissipated properly. And then the second part of, I guess, the summary is, yeah, part two is the asbestos, because that's one question that keeps coming up. You know, there was some confusion that's concerning whether or not asbestos was present in the building. And one of the issues that we see and what causes some of that confusion is that the way that the asbestos regulations are written, materials in a building If it's not, wood, steel, or glass are assumed to have
054asbestos, especially in schools. So for the AHERA regulation, that's what's required. Anything that's not, you know, and it doesn't matter if it's a new building, old building. If it's not wood, steel, or glass, it's assumed to have asbestos. And so when a management plan is put together for a school, like all of yours are, you can assume that they have asbestos. The only way to prove that they don't have asbestos is to actually conduct tests. So you have to test to prove negative. Because testing can be very expensive, especially when you have a lot of schools, and if you just look around the room, the number of materials that we have to test, carpet, ceiling tile, drywall, and there's multiple types in each building, you could be hundreds and hundreds of samples, which could be
055thousands of dollars. So to develop those management plans, And very expensive. So a lot of schools will, and districts will, elect to maybe sample some of the more high-touch things, like drywall, floor tile, things like that. In the case of Sierra, the roofing materials were assumed by the company that did the management plan. So they were assumed to have asbestos because they weren't tested. So then that's progressive roofing tested, came back negative. We've tested. Again, no asbestos found. I mean, it was a fairly new roof, from what I understand. And so that would fit the testing results as well. So that was kind of the second part of what we were involved with. And then the third part is that when things were moved out of Sierra to Cerritos and Altadena, there was some concern
056about, you know. the items that were taken, if they're going to contain an odor or carry over some of those contaminants. So we did do some handheld VOC monitoring in the schools as well, and we were right around the 500, is where we wanted to be. Now, there were some areas that had, you know, 600, 700, but in those rooms, there were teachers that were cleaning. with cleaning products, they had air fresheners and diffusers going, and all of those will significantly impact your readings. And that's something that people understand. I mean, you put the PIE up to a can of Lysol and it read 120,000 parts per billion. So things like that, you know, that people are introducing also contribute to those total levels. But in general, all levels were within the green building. So
057that's what I got. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Kuhn. I just wanted to go over some of the logistical activities that our team took just to prepare and to get students and staff and the schools ready. When we first made the call that students would not be coming back to Sierra for that first couple days, we did offer a laptop distribution. We had about 30 families take us up on that, and we had staff that brought laptops from this campus out and distributed those to the students that needed them. After that, once we started making more plans for actually moving everything, we delivered all the technology materials like the LSUs, which contain the Chromebooks and the teacher's computers, over to... Cerritos and Altadena, along with the learning materials that were identified that needed to be
058brought as well. The teachers let us know what they wanted us to get in those first couple days, and that was brought over for them as well. At the same time that that was being put together, our facilities and custodial teams were clearing out the rooms that had previously been not being used at Cerritos and Altadena. So basically, a lot of these rooms were being used as storage. So they went in and cleared those out, set them up as classrooms, got the furniture ready, and basically deep cleaned the rooms. And I just wanted to read a couple bullets that we got from our custodial manager, just so that you understand what they actually did in those rooms. They did things like removing trash. They disinfected all furniture, chairs, desks, countertops, cubicles. basically any furniture that
059was in the room. They did the normal sweeping, mopping, and dusting all the classrooms. Because these things, these rooms had been closed for months, they were dusty. So they wanted to get all of that out of there. All sinks, doors, restrooms, toilets, walls of the restrooms, they were all sanitized using our normal process that we use every day in schools that align with OSHA compliance. All carpets were vacuumed to remove dust, dirt, and allergens, and all high-touch areas like door handles, light switches, faucets were also disinfected. Once that was done, that team constructed a system conducted an inspection of all the areas to ensure that they met the requirements that they had set and they modified anything that didn't. So that's what they did to clean that school. Also, while that was going on, over
060here at the district office, some members of the team were purchasing supplies and getting those delivered to Sierra. We also worked directly with food services. There was a lot of stuff that had to be rearranged and moved over to those campuses to basically accommodate the additional students on campus. So that was going on at the same time. And then additionally, our community ed programs, our before and after school programs were also relocated over there. So those staff members were preparing to accept after school students as well. During that first week before students got to the new campus, they were not able to attend the community ed programs. So community ed proactively refunded all students that were registered for those programs. So all families should have received a refund for that automatically. And then right... As
061school was going, the first day on campus, Cerritos and Altadena graciously hosted some tours for families to show them around campus and let them see where their students would be. And then just one final thing, there are a handful of families who elected not to go to Altadena and Cerritos for a multitude of reasons, but because of the situation, we did offer the instructional time model to those families to ensure that they're able to continue learning. So that's just a little bit of our logistical activities that we want to go over. I'm going to turn it over to Erin now who's going to go over our communications. Good evening. So since the last time the board met, Kyrene continued the daily updates through August 8th. That was email, text, and phone calls. Then we did
062additional updates on August 10th, 11th, and 12th, as well as yesterday, the 18th. In addition to messaging, we've been cataloging and responding to community messages. As Superintendent Tenya shared at the beginning of the presentation, a lot of those questions were scientific in nature or specific testing questions that Kyrene staff don't have the expertise or the qualifications to answer. We did respond just to acknowledge receipt of that communication, and we made sure multiple staff read all of those so that we had a good grasp of what the community wanted to know in preparation for tonight's presentation and having experts present to speak to that. We've had almost daily engagement with news media. We've been working with a dozen local broadcast and print media outlets. We have declined further interviews since the board last met on advice
063of legal counsel in light of any potential litigation. However, we continue to answer questions and share updates. As of last Wednesday, there had already been more than 100 individual news reports, mostly local media. On our website, all of the committee... Communications we've sent out have been posted. That's kyrene.org slash Sierra Roof. Also, that's where you will find test results, the SDS sheets, and a list of our ongoing mitigation efforts. And there have also been some in-person communications in addition to internal meetings with the emergency management team and Sierra staff. There was also a meeting on August 8th with representatives from Kyrene and Progressive Roofing. And on August 12th, the superintendent met with PTO leaders from Sierra Cerritos and the Altadena PTSO. So I will pass it back to Superintendent Tenias to talk about next steps.
064Thank you, Mrs. Helm. So, you know, as we shared, the roof work was paused during mitigation and additional testing that had been occurring. And at this time, work has not yet resumed, but hopefully will be soon. When work does resume, we are anticipating it will take several months to complete. So to minimize disruption, Kyrene remains committed to the decision to not bring students and staff back until the work is complete. families and staff. At this point, we sent a message. I believe that was yesterday. that at this point we're probably asking people to be prepared that it could take through winter break. But if we get notice that it's done sooner and we can get back in the building sooner, we will do so as quickly as we can. And we will communicate that with
065families. But we just wanted to at least give a heads up that based on the time, if there's any rain delays that could also back this up, we just want to be prepared that the soonest might be. when we come back from winter break. And again, if it's sooner, I will reach out as quickly as possible and let people know. So with that, we just have, if the board has any questions for either our guest presenter here this evening or any of the district staff. Thank you, Superintendent, and yes, and to our presenters. Board members, any comments or questions? I have a question, uh, more for our presenter. Thank you so much for being here. Um, it, it's really helpful to have your expertise in the room. I just want to make sure I'm understanding
066what you said. So you indicated that you go and you take the air sample and, but then you kind of, the air sample has a total number, but what we're looking at is what makes up that total number. Like, so what's the equation there? And then based on that, determining the values for children. And based on that, those individual values with the projection for potential children was still lower than the hazard index would recommend. Is that, am I understanding correctly? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that it made sense in my head. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any other questions or feedback? Thank you for the presentation. I also do want to take the opportunity to thank, of course, our Sierra families and our staff for being so gracious with
067this change and this transition. I also want to thank our leaders and our staff at both Altadena and Cerritos. Dr. Mark Ely at Cerritos. Principal Rachel Chandler at Altadena. and all of their teams have, from every account I've heard, welcomed our Sierra families with open arms. And to imagine bringing in 100 kids into your school that you didn't expect were coming that week, that they were able to do that, I think is a testament to the Ahwatukee and the Chandler. Tempe and the Kyrene communities have come together and really helped in this. So I want to really thank our Cerritos and Altadena families for being there for us. So thank you for that. With that, I have no questions. I appreciate the presentation. Any comments? I would just like to ditto what you said and
068the community cooperation too. Welcome our Sierra kids to Cerritos and Altadena was really outstanding. And our amazing PTO organizations at each one of those three schools. They came together like that. It was fantastic. So to our PTO leaders and volunteers, a huge hats off goes off to them. Yes, I especially liked the Chalk the Walk on Sunday night to welcome the kids on Monday morning. Yes. It was fun. All right, that concludes the Kyrene de la Sierra update. Thank you to our presenters. Item 7.1, this is our request to speak to our governing boards. This is the public comment portion of our meeting. So at every one of our regular board meetings, we do, as per our board policy 1302, invite viewpoints from citizens throughout our district. If you're here in person, you can speak
069to the board by filling out a blue card. It looks like this. It's on the sign-in table. We just ask that you turn that in at the start of every meeting. In addition to in-person public comments, we also have something called electronic public comment. You may have seen that with the meeting notification. There's a link. Anybody can complete that. The board gets every single one of those electronic public comments in full. They are also read into the public record, so just like you were here in person. So we get those. I know we actually got a lot of in-person public comments tonight. We also had a lot of electronic public comments today, board members. So we'll get those as well. Our state statute does prohibit the governing board from discussing anything that's not on the
070agenda. But we always listen. We can ask that our staff follow up. We do value transparency, just to make sure everybody has a chance to talk. So we set a time limit based on the number of in-person speakers. If we've got one to 15 in-person speakers, everybody's got. three minutes to address the board. If we've got 16 to 30, two minutes. And if we've got 31 or more in-person speakers, each person will have one minute. Tonight we have seven. We have seven in-person public comments. That means everyone will have three minutes to address the board. If you've not done it before, it's coming up to the podium when I call your name. There's a timer. Looks just like that. It'll start ticking down when you start speaking and it turns red. right around the end.
071So please just state your name for the record. And I will call up our first speaker. And that is Miss Caitlin Murphy, who's indicated that she is a current Kyrene parent. Miss Murphy will be followed by Heidi Halverson. Good evening. Thank you for your time tonight. I really appreciate it. My name is Caitlin Murphy, and I'm a parent of two daughters at Kyrene De Los Lagos. I'm here today to speak on behalf of the many families in our community who are deeply committed to Lagos School and its dual language program. My family, along with many others, chose Kyrene because of the incredible opportunity that Lagos provides. Its dual language curriculum, the success of this program is a testament to its ability to help students thrive, not only academically, but also culturally, personally. This success is
072a direct result of the unique environment that Lagos offers, and the environment is closely tied to its location in Ahwatukee. However, if this location of Lagos is moved to a centralized location, this decision would severely impact family like ours. Many parents in Ahwatukee chose Kyrene because of the proximity of Lagos and the strong sense of community it fosters. Moving the school outside of Ahwatukee or limiting its dual language program would leave families with difficult choices. We might have to choose between staying within the Kyrene district or leaving for other schools that offer similar programs. It's a choice that none of us want to make, but one that could become unavoidable. I urge you to keep Lagos where it is in Ahwatukee and to continue supporting the dual language program that has been so successful in
073fostering academic achievement and building community. This is what families like mine want, and this is what our children need. Thank you for your time and for considering the future of Lagos. and the families who are so proud to be a part of it. I truly want my two daughters to stay in Kyrene and to be able to finish their education there. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Murphy. Our next speaker is Heidi Halverson, who engaged. She's a current Kyrene parent and a community member. She will be followed by Kenny Wolford. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. I am a Kyrene De Los Lagos parent. I have a third grader, and I have a sixth grader at Occemo who just finished up at Lagos. And something you said, President Walsh, last week really resonated with
074me. And so I kind of, I'll circle to that. But to start off, Lagos is our homeschool. So we are down the block. My kiddos rode their bikes, planned their playdates with other friends. And so it's not just like the dual language brought us in. This is a huge part of our Lakewood and Ahwatukee community. Also, I wanted to mention the magic that is Lagos. I've had the opportunity to go to a lot of schools, be involved, and the culture there, the administration, the quality of educators that they attract. the parents, the community, it's next level. So when considering statistics and numbers, like, please look at that too. Like, what's going on there? In the big picture, it's like in the infancy stages of dual language, essentially. And so it's pretty remarkable what they built
075in such a short amount of time. And so to risk that by moving it to a different location. Also, while Mr. Jones at Aki Mall is building something else great, another Kyrene treasure, which our kiddos feed into. I just feel like it would gut the program and the magic that is there would be gone. So again, from my heart, I encourage you to think about those things and keeping Lagos or the dual language program not only going, but at its location in Lagos. And just to brag about my kids, which is a testament to the teachers at Lagos, my kids come home and they hear some pretty bad Minnesota Spanglish. That's the support I'm giving them. My third grader is constantly correcting my accent when I try and help, which I love. And my now
076sixth grader, when he was a fifth grader, went on a work trip with me to Guatemala. And not only was he the translator, but he was interacting. Oh, my gosh, I'm going to cry. Interacting with a woman, sharing her story about how the Civil War there affected her family and about how the floods took away her or the mudslide took away her home. And just hearing him before consulting me or telling me what was going on, like sharing with her, like, I'm so sorry for your loss. I like my mom heart was proud beyond belief. So, two seconds. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Mr. Halverson. Our next speaker is Mr. Kenny Wolford, who is a current Kyrene Parenting Community member. He will be followed by Christy Wolford. How do I follow
077that, Heidi? And I will say this. She is the best mascot on the planet. Oh, that's Marty. I'm just here for the free pizza. Oh, sorry. Again, my name is Kenny Wolford, and my 11-year-old daughter has spent her first six years at public school, specifically the Kyrene School District, and in particular, Lagos Elementary. And that's my daughter, not my granddaughter. I know I look old. And it's been some of the best six years of her life. Well, it's the best six years of her life and the best six years of mine. And I'm here, surprisingly enough, to... back up those young women that went ahead of me regarding Lagos and merging, potential merger with Norte. And with me being in Arizona since 2013, I've paid particular attention to school, public school education, the ups and
078downs, those that are in favor of this or that, and in particular, for the second time, those that are not in favor of dual language. Arizona's superintendent of public education or instruction is holding on to outdated beliefs. No names are stated there. That dual language program somehow holds students back. Kyrene School District, its superintendent, its school board, and Lagos Elementary in particular have proven him completely wrong. At Lagos, kids aren't just learning in two languages, they're freaking thriving, man. Test scores, graduation rates, critical thinking skills. They all climb the education ladder with those. I've seen it firsthand for five years as a watchdog's dad. I sit in class and look at these young girls and young boys from kindergartners solving math and English and Spanish to fifth graders reading and writing with confidence in both.
079These aren't setbacks, man. These are freaking superpowers. All of you should be proud of this. The Kyrene School Board understands what the state superintendent does not. In today's global economy, bilingual students have the edge. They think faster, adapt better, and more culturally aware. Taking that opportunity away would rob Ahwatukee of one of its greatest assets. Kyrene is moving forward, and moving forward with education. A merger risks that progress and bows to the outdated thinking. On this, the data, the results, and the future are all on the side of the school board, the parents, and our children. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Mr. Wolford. Our next speaker is Ms. Christy Wolford, who is a current Kyrene parent and community member. Ms. Wolford will be followed by Emily Harris. I have to follow my husband. Why? Could
080you reverse those cards? I mean, come on. I know you guys have all heard the phrase, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Let's bring that phrase into this room right now because that is a truth that resonates deeply with both Kyrene de los Lagos and Kyrene del Norte. These are thriving schools. They're not broken. They are stupendous. They are amazing academies, each of them contributing immensely to the diverse fabric of our district, Lagos, in the beloved Ahwatukee, and Norte in vibrant Tempe. To maintain Kyrene itself as an elite school district, it is imperative that we keep both schools in their current locations. Neither one of them is struggling with enrollment. Yeah, there are some declines in numbers. Every school is going through that, as we all know, throughout the entire state. But even with
081the five-year projections, neither Lagos nor Norte are in the bottom half of numbers going down in all of the elementary school district. So that needs to be taken into consideration. When we keep both of these schools, both fostering unique cultures, that alone helps Kyrene thrive. It elevates Kyrene. So let's just talk real quick about merging, potentially, Lagos and Norte. It produces quite a few challenges. The two-hour difference at first, this is... Arguably the hardest one. There's a difference in start time. Lagos starting at 7.30, Norte starting at 9.10. Combining all of those families into some sort of a compromise is nearly impossible. Because right now what we have is a value of choice in which families can choose an earlier time that fits their work schedules or later that fits their work schedules. We really
082need to keep that. Having a central location, so to speak, no matter how central it is, it's just going to provide challenges. and transportation. I argue that families from either side are not going to want to travel or send their kids on a longer school bus ride to a central location. So moreover, merging these programs, it just risks also diluting the already rich and vibrant cultures that both Lagos and Norte have. We need them on both sides of the 10. We need them because the competition is tough out there. Both sides of the 10 provides us those choices. On the flip side, there's minimal obstacles to actually keeping them both open. With several general education programs arguably declining in enrollment, let's find a way to merge some of them over into both of the dual
083language academies. Our neighbors over at Chandler are doing that quite successfully. Their Spanish language programs, dual language programs are thriving. Let's copy them. Let's go with what they know is working and let's do one of those as well. We cannot consolidate our two dual language programs when our neighbors have three, three successful Spanish programs and they do it by consolidating with English. speaking students, English speaking only curricula as well. We could do this, guys. This is what's easy. It gives parents a choice under two separate roofs on either side of the freeway. So having said all of that together, we can learn from others' triumphs. Let's please not learn the hard way from a mistake and a merger. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Wolford. Our next speaker is Emily Harris, who has indicated she's a
084current Kyrene parent. Ms. Harris will be followed by Courtney Maxidon. All right. Good evening, board members. My name is Emily Harris. I'm an Arizona native born and raised in Chandler. My husband and I live in Chandler. We have two sons, one who currently attends Kyrene de los Lagos and the other one a future Mustang. And I'm here tonight as an advocate for the students who currently attend and will attend a dual language program in the Kyrene School District, specifically at Kyrene de los Lagos. We reside in Chandler and we actively choose to drive over 250 miles per week to attend Lagos. We are among countless other families who willingly make similar sacrifices because we know our child's best interest in education is at Lagos. Our children are the future leaders of our local and global
085community and it's our responsibility to support them. and their education so they continue to develop their academic, cognitive, and cultural skills to succeed in their future. Diversity, inclusion, academic excellence, connection, belonging. All these attributes describe the Lagos community. The established DLI program at Lagos is worth saving. Kyrene is known for its innovative leadership in education. This restructuring opportunity allows the district to continue to be esteemed visionaries of our community and set the example of prioritizing the necessity of dual language education. Please, we urge you to find solutions that protect what's best for our children. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Ms. Harris. Our next speaker is Ms. Courtney Maxton, who's a current Kyrene parent. She'll be followed by Krista Truxler. Good evening. I'm here again tonight with three core concerns regarding Sierra. The recent
086asbestos testing conducted at Sierra used PLM testing only, a method known to miss asbestos over 50% of the time. On page 79 of the 2008 asbestos report posted to the Kyrene website, identified the 70,000 square foot roofing system as assumed asbestos containing materials. This designation required the district to treat those materials with caution during any renovation or disturbance, yet roofing work began before testing. And that information that Meade provided to Maricopa County was supposed to be done prior to the roofing work. EPA guidance, along with the Dominion report, recommends TEM testing, which is a more accurate method. So in my opinion, previous asbestos exposure risk remains unverified. So I ask, will the district order TEM testing? And will there be asbestos testing conducted inside the building before children and staff return? Next, VOC exposure and
087misleading communication. The VOC report for classroom three, which was a kindergarten classroom, showed a level of 14,000, which is a severe classification and nearly 30 times higher than the recommended safe limit. Yet in communication with parents, Laura stated all compounds published with published exposure limits were below the established exposure limits. That statement might sound reassuring, but it's misleading. These exposure limits are for adult workers in industrial settings, not children sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day. Comparing a child's exposure to an adult factory worker's exposure is both scientifically invalid and ethically unacceptable and inappropriate. A quick Google search will tell you that VOC exposure for children is lower than limits for adults due to their developing bodies and higher respiratory rates. And to say there were no reported health issues at Sierra is
088also concerning. I know several children personally who have experienced nosebleeds, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. Lastly, I want to be very clear, Laura. There are no safe levels of the chemicals detected as some of them are classified carcinogens. If you feel differently, I encourage you to set up your office in the Sierra building when roofing work resumes. Lastly, accountability. I do want to thank Mr. Walsh for continuing to respond to my questions. Your follow-up has been appreciated. But I have to ask, where is the accountability? Why is the facilities director still overseeing this project and testing despite being involved in the decisions that got us here? Why does the principal remain in his role after reassuring families and staff that the building was safe without supporting data? We are acting like this is business as usual, but
089children and staff were exposed to harmful conditions. The only way this district can rebuild trust is by showing that accountability still exists, and that starts at the top. Thank you, Ms. Maxidon. Our final in-person speaker this evening is Ms. Krista Trexler, who has indicated she's a current Kyrene parent and a community member who lives in the district. Hi, thank you for your time. I'm Krista Trexler. My son is a kindergartner at Sierra. I'm not going to pretend like I wasn't frustrated with the situation, especially since it was a roof project that had been planned for quite some time. It led to the school being closed. Obviously... Safety is a high priority for any parent, right? And I have, my husband and I both work full time. So the pivot was pretty tough, especially on Sunday
090at 3 p.m. Not going to lie. But after watching how the administration's responded, I'm hopeful that lessons have been learned. And I think it's clear that the community will hold the district accountable for student safety. I wanted to comment on how amazing the staff and the teachers have handled the situation. Even while their whole professional world had been turned upside down, the teachers and staff managed to provide virtual resources and set up classrooms in record time. It's also been extremely heartening to see the support from the Cerritos and the Altadena communities, and it's been greatly appreciated. I was worried there might be a large or maybe a loud contingent of voices telling you what wasn't working during this time, but your staff and teachers, that is working, and I wanted to highlight that. I'm a
091little concerned about the current timeline of the roof completion. I know the district sent an email yesterday saying that now we're not expected to come back until after. winter break. So I wasn't surprised about this since construction hasn't resumed. But I think some clarity on that situation would be really helpful. Is it because they can't work in heat? Obviously, it's insanely hot. So can they only, obviously, they can probably only work at night. But is that what's going on? Has the team, has the construction team been moved to another job since this one? was paused? Is it because of ongoing potential litigation? I think that'd be nice because months seems kind of insane for a long, like. for a roofing project. I mean, December seems really far away. So I just think that clarity would
092be helpful. Also, a lot of people have a lot of opinions about this issue, but I just want to trust the district will seek out actual experts to make best decisions for our children. And I wanted to end by thanking all of the Sierra, Cerritos, and Altadino staff and PTO. Hopefully this community can keep supporting each other to make sure the students continue to have a smooth school year. Thank you. We have a late blue card. Is that right? Late blue card. Yes. I will tell you, typically we do not accept late blue cards, but because we have less, we don't have more than 15 speakers. I'm happy to give you additional three minutes this evening. Well, thank you very much for your time and thank you for making the exception. Yes. And it's Mr.
093Juan Lucio, correct? Yes. Thank you. Go ahead. And I'm speaking about logos and the potential merger. I am. I am also an educator. I've been in education for eight years teaching and then five years as a behavior coach for a district. During my time working in another school district, I realized all of the factors that contribute into making the most ideal learning environment for a student. And I feel like a lot goes. Felicia, Ms. Williams and her staff provide that to the students there. I feel like it's a great learning environment for the students. As many as the other parents have mentioned, if you guys have never had the opportunity to visit Lagos, I encourage you to visit Lagos during one of their presentations. You'll see all kinds of kids. from different backgrounds speaking fluent
094Spanish. Some of them speak better than my son. Some of them speak better than me. And that is a testament to what they are learning at Kailin de los Lagos. As some of the other parents have mentioned, a centralized location, not only does it cause problems for people that live, or attend Lagos, but it also causes problems for people that attend Carina del Norte. And I am currently at the school for financial issues and low attendance rates. And the district believes, well, We'll close the school, we'll bust the kids to the other school, we'll save the money from closing the school, and then we'll keep the money from all the kids that are attending. However, they lost more than 50% of the enrollment from that school by merging to the other school. And then not
095only that, I know it's a different, well, you guys don't know, but it's a different school district, different dynamics. But then also on top of that, Some of the families didn't like the merger, and some of the families from the school that was already in place also left the school district. So not only did they lose 50% of enrollment from the school that was moved, but then they also lost enrollment from the other school where the kids were moved into. So I encourage you to find different... options, explore all the options. We know that they're building 2,000 homes, 1,500 homes. Thank you, Mr. Lucio. And off of Chandler. So thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you. So that does conclude all of our in-person public comments this evening. Board members, again, we did
096have many electronic public comments. Those will be made available to us and they're all part of the electronic record as well. So thank you everybody for their public comment this evening. The next item on the agenda is 8.1, which is board committee and conference reports. Do any board members have updates on this item? Vice President Nelson. Not so much. Well, kind of an update. So next week is the final long, long. Find a long range planning committee meeting. I think this is really important. Something that I have seen going around is, you know, news media starts to pick up the work of this committee is a lot of misinformation starts to disseminate. But I really want to encourage the community. Everything, the meeting minutes, old videos are available online to watch the work of the
097committee. I know I report in it every time we come back to do a little recap for my fellow board members. But I do want to reiterate one of the things that I've seen is that there is a secret list of schools. There is not. The work of the committee has been really intentional not to list any school names as we go through this process, really talking about the trajectory of the district, understanding financial implications and all of those. pieces with enrollment trends. This upcoming meeting that will happen next week is when the demographer will come back to us. And this will be the first time that school names will actually be attached to anything that the committee is doing. So if the community is interested, those are live streamed as well on YouTube. We're
098all subject to open meeting law as well. So, I mean, please pay attention to that. But again, you can find all of that information online. Thank you, Vice President Nelson. And that's Wednesday, August 27th, correct? Yes, sir. 4 p.m. 4 to who knows when. Any other updates on this item? All right. Item 7.1, meeting dates. We have our 9.1, items for future consideration. Do any members want to list items for future consideration? Okay, now item 10.1. Future meeting dates. So we have our long-range planning committee meeting on August 27th. Our next regular meeting, September 2nd, 2025, right here in this room. Item 11.1, convening to executive session. I'll make a motion to convene to executive session. Is there a second to the motion? Second. Second by Member Davis. All those in favor, please say aye.
099Aye. Opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Board will now convene into executive session. Thank you all. Item 11.3, conclude executive session. I'll make a motion to conclude executive session. Is there a second to the motion? Second. Second by Member Collins. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 3-0. Item 12.1, adjournment. I'll make a motion to adjourn the evening's meeting. Is there a second to the motion? Second. Second by Vice President Nelson. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 3-0. Our meeting is adjourned at 8.10 p.m. Have a good night, everyone.