Dysart Governing Board Meeting - June 22, 2026

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening. I call the Dice Governing Board regular board meeting June 22nd, 2026 to order. Let the record state that all board members are in attendance. Will you please stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence? Thank you. You may be seated. Going to the first item on the agenda, motion to adopt the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Yes. Motion carries. Next item is B, address the governing board. >> This is the time for the public to comment. Members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda. Pursuant to ARS 38-431.01H, action taken as a result of public public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter, responding to any criticism, or scheduling the matter for further consideration

002and decision at a later date. In order to facilitate accomplishing the business of the district in a timely manner, a time limit of 3 minutes will be imposed for each individual or group addressing the board. When you approach the podium, please state your name for the record. Uh Lisa Everett. >> My name is Lisa. My name is Lisa Everett. I'm here this evening to talk with you about technology. I was here last meeting, I believe it was, and you discussed AI a little bit. And I just wanted to say I can't fathom a reason that an elementary student would need AI. Um and if Dysart crafts a policy addressing this, we need to make sure that that policy is able to grow with the growth of AI, because the reality is technology changes lightning speed

003these days. And we want a policy that can change along with that to protect our students. I would also like to speak about Chromebooks. I know that um governing board members Iola requested how much time students are on their Chromebooks by grade. And I agree with that, and we need that information. I know parents need that. I've been speaking with quite a few parents, and they are concerned about the amount of screen time their students get. Other countries are starting to scroll back. They're going to dial it back and say no more one-to-one. We're going to use computer labs. Some districts in the United States are doing that as well. Dysart needs to be having these conversations now, not after the fact. Students learn by writing and turning the page. They don't learn from a

004screen. I know our students can Google just about anything, but do they retain it? We had that opportunity when we were younger. We had the book, our teacher made us look it up. >> [laughter] >> You know, you hated getting up and going to the dictionary, but the reality is you learned that word. If you just Google it, it's not committed to memory, and we're doing a disservice to our students. I'm not saying get rid of Chromebooks. I am saying we need to figure out at what grade level we need to do the one-to-one, but we definitely need to be removing them from our younger grades. And I hear you, the state tests are on computer. Well, create a computer lab. Our older students in elementary can go to that computer lab once a week.

005Let's face it, they get Chromebooks at home. Also, we need to make sure they're only going to approved sites. We need to figure out something to do that. Thank you. >> Next is Sophia Marjanovic. >> Good evening, superintendent, president, and board members. I'm here as a concerned member of the community. The Dysart Unified School District School Board must fire K-12 safety coordinator Kevin Sardar because as far as I know, he has made no plan to protect the children of the Dysart Unified School District from the proposed ICE facility in Surprise. Obviously, the school board has not made a public statement against the proposed ICE facility to uphold the safety of the children within the school district despite the many times over the past months people have come up here from your community to demand that

006statement. On your website, it says the mission of the Dysart Unified School District is to create a safe, diversified, and engaging learning environment where every student attains academic excellence and is empowered to achieve lifelong success. How will the children of Dysart Unified School District have a safe and diversified engaging learning environment when they can see the proposed ICE facility l- less than 1/2 of a mile from the proposed ICE facility? Prisons are not supposed to be 1,000 ft from schools according to Arizona state law. Why aren't you concerned about children in Dysart High School and Dysart Middle School being less than a half of a mile from the proposed ICE facility? Random checkpoints to screen for people for for people with immigration status in Washington, D.C. is already happening and it is terr- terrifying people,

007especially US citizens like me who are indigenous to the USA and to the Americas. >> [snorts] >> As far as families and communities are torn apart in an instant there due to the random checkpoints. Do you have a plan to keep children, parents, guardians, or community members of this school district safe from random checkpoints, um car checkpoints? Do you have a plan if you, the children, parents, guardians, or community members of this school district will be caught in the crossfire of violent ICE officers killing or assaulting people in the streets? Do you have a plan if people who impersonate ICE officers rape, steal, and/or break into the homes of you, the children, the parents, guardians, or community members of this school district? The ICE facility at the corner of Dysart Road and the Cactus Road

008is right across the street from the homes of children in this district, and it will decrease the safety, create chaos, and increase crime without accountability. Walk your talk to create a safe, diverse, divided, and engaging learning environment by making a statement as a board to denounce the proposed ICE facility, as it will endanger Dysart Unified District's students. Walk your talk to create this safe, diverse, divided, and engaging learning environment by firing K-12 safety coordinator Kevin Sartain because he has failed to even come up with plan to keep up the students of this district safe. >> Uh next is Jason Chavez. >> Hello. I'm here to talk about a story with another school that you may have heard about, the Tempe Elementary School, where a student was detained by ICE due to ICE bringing his mother

009to the school and getting the mother to check out the student, and both got detained, and then got sent to the detention center in Texas. There go- there will be an ICE detention center here coming up soon, probably in this fall, due to their the job posting being up and they are actively hiring. So, we need to make a plan to make sure that a story like that does not happen here within the Dysart School District. One thing that could have prevented that tragic incident would have been if instead of getting uh having the mother check out the student and having the student like brought over to her instead, if she had to physically entered the school in order to check him out, that could have prevented it because federal agents cannot enter a school

010building without having a judicial warrant. You can have these safety protocols in place like right now before before the detention center opens, so that incidents like that cannot take place here. Do you want to be on the news as another school district that just allowed a child to get kidnapped and be put into a detention center? Or do you want to be a school that is known for actually protecting both their students and their parents? There are organizations that will train you on this, such as uh Puente and Borderlands, that will offer this for free. I do want to add in this practical advice because I know that there's a lot of people that want to take a stance against the warehouse, but there are protocols that you can take that you can take to

011have actual practical means of protecting all the students. I really do wish you would consider it. Thank you. >> That's all there is. >> Next time on the agenda, uh see Superintendent and Governing Board updates. Superintendent update, Dr. Croto. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, President Guevara. Um couple quick announcements. So, Dysart Communications and Public Relations Department uh recently received four uh awards from the National National School Public Relations Association for their outstanding work of their team. Uh two awards of excellence were received in the writing and special publication categories for the Art for All article they wrote and the spring 2025 uh Community Connect magazine. And additionally, uh two awards awards of merit were given for some unique underwater swimming photos to highlight our student athletes and staff recruiting video titled Why I Cook.

012So, um congratulations. Our uh director of Communications and Public Relations, Renee Ryan, is in the back. So, stand Renee and give her a round of applause along with Ryan Ryan McGinley, one of her teammates. So, great job on that. Uh congratulations on those national awards. And my last piece is uh 2 weeks from today. We welcome all our administrators, directors, TLSs. They start work for next school year, if you can believe it. 2 weeks from today. So, we're off and running. So, that's all I have. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Cotto. Next item is the governing board updates. Member Dustich. >> Uh last Last week, I attended the Arizona School Resource Officers Association conference, uh which covers all things school safety, and it was a pleasure to be a part of that. Um there's

013a really huge focus on prevention, education, and connection with our students. Um and their programs are designed to give to give school resource officers and educate educators practical tools to build trust, foster safe environments, and engage with students in meaningful ways. Um and just wanted to say congratulations to Dr. Croto for earning uh superintendent of the year. Well deserved. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Um I just wanted to let everyone know that on May 13th, I know it's been a while, but um it's been a while since we had a meeting, that I attended our high school graduation ceremonies at uh Desert Diamond. And I just want to say congratulations to all of our our graduates on reaching that milestone, and your hard work has paid off, and we wish you all the best in

014your future endeavors. And also, Dr. Croto, congratulations on superintendent of the year. >> Thank you. >> I third the congratulations, uh Dr. Croto. Um since we don't meet again until after the 4th of July, I just want to wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July, and happy birthday America 250. So. Next item is motion to uh approve the consent agenda items. I make a motion to approve the Sorry. I motion to approve consent agenda items as presented. >> Second. >> Motion carries. Next item on the agenda is uh section F, information and discussion. Information on AI and guidelines. Dr. Croto. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight we have curriculum night, so a continuation of our study session from earlier. We have a lot of information on some curriculum and some outstanding things. And

015so tonight to start off, we have some AI discussion about the committee that took place. And I believe uh Ms. Savarese is going to lead us in this category. Everybody welcome Diana. And her crew. >> Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, President Scavarda, governing board, Dr. Croto and cabinet. Um I, for the record, I'm Diana Hawari. I'm your CIO. And I'm here representing our co-chairs for the AI stakeholder committee. So Dr. Ashley Longoria and Andy Frazier who are not here tonight, so you got me. I also have with me uh two of our committee members who graciously volunteered their evenings um during this process. And you'll be hearing from Natalie and Ava in just a few minutes. So before we talk about the AI stakeholder committee, there's a little uh Right, Karen. Oh, she's putting

016>> Do you need me to call somebody from IT? >> Please call IT. So before we get started, I just want to go through a little history. As you guys know, we did meet with the governing board for three study sessions to talk about everything AI. We talked about some opportunities, the challenges of AI, um, it could uh, be used by staff, how it could be used for student learning, uh, and our main subjects, of course, data privacy and security. Those were the big things that we discussed. So, there's a few things that came out of those, uh, study sessions was first, we were able to develop our AI guidelines for staff and students, um, as well as, uh, deciding to look at a district-approved AI platform as opposed to opening up the free platforms.

017And that's based off of the discussion that security, data privacy is very important. So, um, the what we decided or what we decided at the study session was to create this AI stakeholder committee. So, um, we formed this committee. It was made up of, uh, district leadership, school administration, uh, teachers, parents, and students. We met three times between May 20th and June 4th. And we were charged with two, uh, major responsibilities, um, applying the guidelines, uh, that we developed, uh, to evaluate and recommend a district-approved platform, as well as determining whether K-4 students should even use AI at that grade level. So, this is, uh, kind of tells you what we did at every meeting, but instead of hearing from me, I think we should hear from a parent perspective and a student perspective. So,

018I'm going to let them talk to you. Really short. >> [laughter] >> I know. Uh, good evening. My name is Natalie Smith, for the record. I am a parent. I have a future sixth grader and first grader at Canyon Ridge. Go Cougars. Um, and I've also spent a decade in technology and cybersecurity risk. So, I'm very familiar with this subject. Um, so, I just want to give a brief overview of the slide and kind of what the community committee did over the three sessions. Um, so, beginning on May 1st on the 20th, uh, so, again, we did look at the uh parent survey that was collected at the end of May alongside the preliminary guidelines that were presented for the K or grade bands, which was K through 4, uh 5 through 12, and then

019staff. Um we assessed those guidelines using the rubric that was created, which again, echoing Diane or Diana, was safety and privacy, uh studying pedagogical value, and ease of use. Um and then in conclusion that session, we did decide on a vote whether AI again should be implemented specifically for the K through 4 span of students, and at the end of session recommendations was no. Proceeding to our second meeting on May 28th, um we brought live demos from two of our priority vendors, which was Magic School and School AI. Each of the committee members independently scored both of the platforms against the provided rubric, which was then revised based off the previous feedback from our first session. Initially, um both vendors provided a full demonstration again of tools, safety, preliminary measures, as well as documentation, which

020we all reviewed collectively. At the end, we voted a second time against the K through 4 band access for AI, and after the recommendation still held, which again, it was not advised. On our third and final meeting on June 4th, or yeah, June 4th, sorry, meeting three. Uh we reviewed all of the compiled scores of the committee members and discussed the overall impressions from both platforms and the vendor demonstrations, and reached a final selection. Ultimately, Magic School emerged as the committee's top choice, recognized both for its depth of features and its layered approach to student safety. With community input collected across the three structured sessions, i.e., the guideline review, the vendor eval, and the final selection, the recommendation now rests with district leadership and these final AI committee to determine the next steps on implementation.

021Thank you. Good evening. I'm Ava Newton. I am a senior at Willow Glen High School. Um looking at the slide, it's clear that the question is no longer if AI belongs in our schools, but how we guide its presence. AI is already a lived reality for our students. It's in their pockets and their research habits. Our duty as educators is to move from prohibition to responsible navigation. Beyond the classroom, we are looking at a fundamental shift in workforce readiness. Today's employers expect graduates to treat AI tools as standard equipment by utilizing AI for academic support. Offering differentiated feedback and scaffolding, we aren't replacing effort, we are evaluating it. As our student committee members so poignantly put it, not using AI would set us behind. Our goal today is to build a regulatory framework that ensures

022every student is prepared, protected, and empowered for an AI-driven world. Thank you. >> They're both very awesome. They're just awesome committee members. Um so here's our recommendations from the committee. As we said, Magic School was recommended and no K4 AI for no K4 students. So the next steps is we are going to uh change our guidelines so that for sure that they will say no K4 um for students. So once we do that, then we have to review it for administrators um before we launch it for staff, parents, and students. We want to make sure the administrators are clear on the guidelines. Um once that's all done or in the while we're doing that, too, we're going to be talking to procurement and start the procurement process for Magic School because it's going to be

023it's not a quick process. Um Magic School does have a lot of training available, which is nice, but some of the things that we need to do as a district is we need to find out like our process, what's going to be our data data governance alignment, uh just making sure that all that stuff works and how we're going to roll it out. So, on the slide there is like an example plan, but I think that we decided in the committee it's going to be gradual, it's going to be slow. It's not going to We're not going to jump in it with 100% everybody's using AI tomorrow. We know this this process has been aggressive, which has been great. We've gotten a lot accomplished, I think, in the last couple months between the governing board

024study sessions and the committee, but I think now at this time it needs to be a gradual rollout so that people get comfortable with it. And that's all I have. If you have any questions, ready either or Natalie. >> Can you give some reasons why Magic School was chosen or what good qualities they have or what? >> Uh sure, I'd be happy to answer this both as a parent as well as um a professional. So, speaking as a parent, um Magic School again offers a very secure platform in the way that it is um contained within workspaces. It limits what students have access to and it gives the teachers a lot of ability to dictate what that is. Um from a professional standpoint, Magic AI as a vendor offers their uh SOC 2 certifications. I

025believe they're on the School DPA list as well. Um and just overall, um a lot of their other certifications from a security standpoint are well advanced for where AI are where AI vendors are at this stage in development. So, yeah. Um overall, I think they are definitely a good fit for what this district needs to evolve responsibly and as Ava mentioned in a regulated fashion. Thank you. >> Um as well, uh Magic School AI is more like student um forward. So, it has more tools for the students to use compared to School AI. It only had like one or two things while Magic uh school had more more resources, more things to set up both educators and students up for success. Thank you. >> So, when you say it had more um can you elaborate

026like how did it have more stuff for the students? Elaborate what you're meaning, please. >> So, it had more software programs implemented into it. So, it was it would be like stuff to help them write, to help them process information, to help them research, or how to use tools in workforce setting compared to school AI only had one thing and they were still um working on a student platform for their uh software. >> So, if let's just back up a minute. Let's say that, you know, we have a power outage, right? Power grid goes down for 3 days, and somebody doesn't have a tool to tell them how to do it, how are they going to do the work? Our concern is getting too much screen time and relying on something to tell you how

027to do it instead of enforcing you guys to learn it so that, God forbid, if we don't have the electronic, you can still function. >> Yeah, so school AI is programmed to help students learn how to use like learn learn how to do everything themselves. It's just as like a tool on if they are struggling with figuring out from basic instructions, they can go in more detail, so then a student understands the fundamentals of the skill or curriculum that they're learning because a teacher can't teach each student individually cuz they have so many kids. It will allow teachers and students to be able to learn without taking up too much time out of the day and students will still be able to do it without technology. It's just as a tool to help them understand.

028>> So >> And if And if I can if I can interject here, your answer was great. Um you know, in the event of a 3-day power outage, my husband would be happy cuz we'd save on electric. >> Yeah. >> Um but the But beyond that, our teachers are quite capable of thinking up lessons. I think the point of having an enclosed wall garden in AI is so our kids aren't going off into chat GPT or Claude or some other place that we can't control the walls of that environment. And so it might be what Even on Google, you know, so if they're going to look up something, there's certain things when we were testing both that we would ask it and we couldn't get through. If you ask it a certain question, it would

029say, "No, I'm going to redirect you to this." So it's safer in that respect. Our students are still capable. They're still responsible for their writing. They're still responsible for their brainstorming. They're still responsible for their math and their reading. But it's a tool and speaking to somebody who has kids in college, they're going to I mean, they interact with that AI. So it's a tool to help them learn within a walled garden. >> Right, but they're using AI now, right? I mean, that's what the whole purpose of this is. They're using it, so let's do it. Well, kids are doing a lot of things outside of school. We don't condone and we're certainly not authorizing or providing those means to the students in the school, right? And I hear what you're saying, but at the

030same time, I went to school, we didn't have electronics. We didn't have AI. And when I asked the fundamental question during our study session on when the students take those tablets home and they log in to work, do their school work, there was no way that they're logging in through our Dice art that we could track what they were doing. And I was specifically told they don't have that mean to authorize that. And I That's where my concern is. >> When they take home a district device, yes. >> Mhm. >> When they're on a personal device, we have no way of knowing what they're doing. >> Right. So, at the same time, um going back, I also asked the question to Magic School, "What happens in the event that the system gets hacked? Or by

031some means we have PII or FERPA data, who's financially liable? Is it the school district if a family decides to sue because a picture got out and it was used in a terrible way in pornography or something, and we get sued? Is Magic School going to be liable for those costs or is the district? These are my concerns because there companies out there that are literally trying to hack into these AI system. And I mean, I I've got a list of them if you need them. >> They They try to hack into all of our databases. It's everything, not just AI. But we do carry cybersecurity insurance for that reason. So, because of when we do our contracts and all of our um data security agreements, we have deadlines of if you get breached, you

032have this many days to tell us, and we need all the information. So, we make those agreements prior to signing on with any any vendor, any program that's going to require our data. >> Well, when I was looking, um and that's why I was kind of trying to understand some of this because it said if there was a breach, Magic School has 60 days to notify us. 60 days, a lot of damage can happen in today's technology. >> And that's because a lot of times they get breached and they don't know it, and it could go for years because they Whoever's breaching takes their data and sticks it out on the dark web and sells it. So, they can't really limit themselves that or a lot of the companies don't want to limit themselves to

033a couple days cuz a lot of times they don't even know until that breach hits. >> Well, it stated 60 days after they were made aware. So, to me >> Yeah, that's pretty standard. >> I know, I'm just concerned when it comes to our students. >> Right. No. >> And their information. I'm I'm okay, you want to hack my stuff cuz I just got notified again, you know, I'm out there on the dark web again. Somebody hacked me. I can but students, that's where I'm concerned, right? The other thing I had is with regards to this parent survey. It was showing that a total of 591 respondents were received. Question one is not being shown on what I received on any of them. Um how many went out? How many surveys went out to our

034parents? >> I believe Ashley sent one to every email address of every parent. >> And we only had 591 that responded. >> That is correct. >> In the time that it was only for a couple weeks, so I think it was a pretty good That's Ashley's That's Ashley's >> [laughter] >> And and next on question nine, parents most want students learning to think independently and then using AI, there was one it seemed like there were two answers and I think it was question nine. I was trying to understand were these the top two that they answered on the survey cuz I didn't get to see the survey, so I'm just trying to understand. >> We can um when Dr. Langoria is back, we can ask her to get those answers to you since she's does

035she does the surveys and the research, she'll be able to better answer those questions. I'd be guessing. >> Okay. And then on um question three, nearly two in three parents say their student does not currently use generative AI. >> Actually, I want Eva to answer that cuz that came up at our committee. [clears throat] >> Okay. >> So, I know as a student, we use AI and I've also learned that a lot of parents don't know that their students use AI because it's in social media now. It's in Google. It's in literally everything we use. Every single company at this point has probably included AI into their softwares for people to use. >> So, I've talked to about 10 teachers recently on this. And one of the most surprising things that was brought up to

036my attention is how students are taking their cell phones in the classrooms even though they're not supposed to have it unless teacher says it's okay, taking pictures of the questions, putting it in chat GPT, getting the answer, and answering. That I know is happening. Correct? >> Yes. >> So, what even if we do magic school and put this in this environment, what's going to prevent the students from still going in, taking a picture, and using chat GPT? >> That's That's a great question, member De Santis. I think the the main thing there when you say that that is it has to be classroom management. I mean, the rule is no phones. All of our administrators should be should be enforcing that. I know if I walk into a classroom, I redirect. But, if I was

037on a campus and I walked in two or three times, I'd have that teacher sitting in my office. That's It's up to each of us to do our part in enforcing the rules. You know, it's like my my kids You had kids? If you turned your back, my daughter came in told me she got a 100 on a test once. I was curious how she got that. She goes, "Mom, I knew the teacher wasn't going to get up." >> I and I >> That's That's a class It's >> a classroom management issue. It ha- I mean, it's nothing to do with I don't think it has to do with AI. I don't think it has to do with Google. I think back in the day I I looked on Craig's paper. I didn't really look

038on Craig's paper. He'd look on mine just for the record. >> have done well. Just kidding. >> [laughter] >> But but with that I think it I think his a question is all this time and that's why we work with our teachers from the time they're new teachers in Jen's program and her EPP program telling them that you have to have proximity with accountability because if you're just walking the room and not stopping to redirect, that's just good exercise for you. >> Correct. And the way the policy is written for the cell phones, it's at teacher. The teacher can authorize it, right? And that's what I would if we >> difference though between I would contend there's a difference between the teacher authorizing it and saying, "Hey, I want you to find the percent of

039people who have blue eyes quickly." If I'm doing a statistics in math versus "Okay guys, kick back and get out your phones." That's not the intent of the policy so perhaps we need to in our Dicer Essentials or when we're working with administrators work to clarify when we say the teacher may authorize, the teacher may authorize for educational purposes that extend the lesson that supports the standard. >> Okay. I was just bringing up cuz I I have a question to >> I think those are all very valid points and if those are happening in classrooms, like I said, it needs to be addressed because as soon as a kid has the phone out, I don't know what they're doing because they could or could not be on my network. >> Right. And we need to

040definitely hold teachers and schools accountable if these kids are cuz I know they're doing it. I've talked to some kids. I've talked to some teachers. >> Yeah, and and your kids know. Your kids know if you have a substitute, "Okay, I'm going to break this out." And it's creating a classroom culture in a healthy classroom, which is one of the elements in our Dicer Instructional Protocol. >> Okay, then lastly I just wanted to bring up is because uh Clerk Diallo has asked on the screen time for our students by grade and that is an important thing. And I'm not comfortable trying to vote on moving to I know, but it's coming soon. So, I just I'm not comfortable pushing AI to our schools until we know how much current screen time. You've gone through Australia

041has just removed electronics. Uh Sweden has, Finland has, Brazil, Norway, and it's all based on the fact that it has been detrimental to the students in their learning. So, if they do it outside of school, but at school, I had to learn without electronics. I could do a book report. I could read. My teacher could teach me. >> I'm pretty sure all of our kids can, too. That's Like I said, my my kid uh I know some of you have kids that have gone through our system that are that are doing okay. I think it is a balance, and I acknowledge I do share your concern about screen time, and we will be addressing that. That you know, it's it's not something that I want to pull a small group and have kids on the

042computer for 30 minutes. That I have a center rotation going. That I might have 10 minutes of practice there, but then I need 10 minutes, especially in collaborative work, where I'm talking to my partner, and I'm learning those good social skills, like looking someone in the face and having an academic discourse. >> And again, I'm not picking on you guys. I have my concerns, and I think, you know, we need to focus on what's beneficial for the overall school district and all students, and I think it's sad that we only had 591 surveys received, as well as only 16 people sign up and and go on the committee, because this is very important. It is the future of our students. >> And I thank you for your concerns, and I appreciate that. Um remember why

043we started this committee. We started this committee because we have the wild west out there right now and everybody is using AI, the free versions, the versions that they're putting personal information in, the versions that they're doing everything with without digital responsibility. So, we didn't we talked about do we need and I asked the governing board specifically, do we need a platform that will contain that and begin to teach our students, our parents and our teachers digital responsibility. That's what this was all about, not using AI because they're already using AI. If we're going to say nobody's using AI, it's not going to go away. And and we're kidding ourselves if we say they're not using it. It's on every device. So, the whole premise that we started with the governing board of doing the

044guidelines is to introduce digital responsibility to our kids and our teachers and the adults that work in this district in hopes of doing the things that you talked about, teaching responsibility, when to use it, when not to use it, what is appropriate, what's not appropriate, limiting the time on it and a safe platform that's going to protect our kids. So, I understand there's concerns and I appreciate the concerns and that's why we talk about it, but the focus has to be why we did it and we did it to protect the district and protect our kids and protect our employees. And I think that's an important piece that we still need to focus on is that we are doing this to make the process better and teach them the correct things that they need to

045be doing. So, through that we made sure we had the committee. Um we made sure that it's safe. Um I will tell you our district policies and our procedures and everything um bar none you are not going to find a better place for security than what they do already. Um, and they make sure that they're in top line with that. And so I just think it's important to keep that focus. I understand screen time that's coming. I understand all those pieces. Those are valid. But know why we went down this road with the AI guidelines and why we're saying we wanted a walled garden instead of using Cloud or Chat GPT or Suno or there's hundreds of things out there right now and they keep developing by day which we have zero control of. And

046and they're not responsible. So, um, you know, I I hope that we can keep that focus. I hope those 10 teachers you talked to will learn from this focus cuz their behaviors are not beneficial to our district. What you described are 10 teachers that are renegades that are letting >> kids do >> the ones. They have seen it in other classrooms. >> Oh, okay. >> No. >> Um, but that's exactly >> all 10 of them said it. I just had several, but I've been talking to teachers and hearing what's going on as well as I've talked to several students as well on how they felt. So my concern again and I hear what you're saying. But again, when we did the study sessions, I had asked for specific data. Like how often are they doing

047their cybersecurity scan? What are the vulnerabilities? Do they have a company that they're trying to hack into the system that they can track so that they can address the vulnerabilities before they get hit. And I never got any of that information. >> we do hire a third party that tries to does a penetration test every quarter to try to get into our network and then they tell us either they got in or they didn't and how do we remediate that. So we do have that checked off as well. >> And I'm not again trying to be the Debbie Downer Denise, whatever. I'm just I have my strong concerns. I am very concerned. And I'm scared for the students that are going to become reliant on something to tell them how to think. Thank you. >>

048I I really appreciate the presentation and everyone's comments. Um I I just want to I think we all had some level of concern going into this and we all shared that, you know, during during our our study sessions and I felt I felt heard. Um but I I think some of these concerns are best Um they're more appropriate for that vote on the procurement end. Are we going to have a vote on that procurement end? Can you clarify that for us? >> Um it won't vote on this item. It'll be through our procurement process. So, as you as we procure it as we do anything else um to purchase this, you you vote on those vouchers. Correct? >> When would that purchase be happening? >> So, this um particular vendor um again, we can go

049at various methods. Um this one has been found to be on a cooperative. So, we would um the purchasing department would just ensure that cooperative and that contract does meet all of the district's procurement requirements as if we were the one to to do the um purchase. Um so, that is one that has that specific cooperative has been board approved. I believe at the May board meeting, the governing board did approve the the use of that cooperative itself. Um and so, this would be one of those contracts that we would review under that cooperative. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um [snorts] and I know that we have this committee with the community students, parents. Are we And I know that it was mentioned there's going to be another committee maybe at the district

050level or administrative level. Did I hear that right? >> No. >> I may have heard it wrong. >> Yeah, no. There is already a kind of an oversight committee of all the planning that happened with the study sessions and all that. So, they will continue that committee will continue to plan the rollout and the pieces and what we're going to do with that. >> team that's been working on that. Okay. >> That did all the planning for everything that occurred. >> Will we have another presentation from them at at some point before school >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Yeah, as the plan start to roll out we're we're um we are a ways from that I think for for a while. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I I have a question. Where does say Magic

051School get their AI information? I mean, how how do we know what AI information is in in the program or is it >> They They pull from the regular AI like where the regular AI the open source but it's filtered through their system. So, they're still getting the same information but they're filtering it before it gets to the students or the staff. That's the great part of having your own What did you call it? Garden walls wall garden so that we can control what's actually getting through and what's not. >> Okay, when when you say we who's who's who is we I guess? Okay. >> Me. >> Like the like the teachers and >> Dr. Seig. Well, we would as we set it up with for the security from the district level that's where that

052decision would be made. Teachers can also I have access to do things like that but I think the overall is the dice is the district's decision on what gets through and what doesn't. And it's already pretty much filtered just out of the box. But >> Okay, thank you. >> How did you come up with the conclusion of not having K through 4 utilize AI? Cuz I know the board has been extremely concerned about that and I'm just wondering what you guys came up with to come to that conclusion. >> So, the first meeting was just a general tell us how you feel, you know, from your gut. Like, tell us as you, you know, write it down. It was kind >> of um just stick a sticker on which side yes or no. After the

053second meeting, after seeing the presentations from Magic School and School AI, and having those conversations with the vendors about grade level and seeing what is available to the K-4 and to the 5-12, I think that as a committee it was decided then, again, that K-4 it's they're just too young. There's a lot of things it does, but you know, they're little and they're they're trying to learn other things before they get to this point. So, it was totally understood and I think uh the committee really did correctly. So. >> Other questions? All right, thank you very much for the presentation. >> Thank you. >> Thanks to the committee, too, for your time and efforts and everything you did. Thank you. >> Thank you for letting us present. >> Yes, thank you. >> Okay, next item

054for information and discussion is information on US history. Dr. Croto? >> Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight we have our information as requested as a board um item and uh Connie was here to um give us some information on US history and civics education in Dicer. Connie? >> All right. Good evening, President Escobar members of the board, Dr. Croto and cabinet. Tonight I'm going to be providing an overview of how American history and civics education is taught throughout Dysart. Our goal is to ensure students develop a strong understanding of the nation's history, founding principles, democratic institutions, and civic responsibilities. We intentionally build this learning from kindergarten through high school so that our students um graduate prepared to participate thoughtfully and responsib- responsibly in our country. So, at history and civics education, um it revolves around three

055interconnected areas, which is knowledge, civics skills, and citizenship. For at knowledge, uh that's where students build historical and civics knowledge by learning American history, uh looking at founding documents, constitutional principles, and the story of our country. Civics skills is where students will develop those those um analytical skills, looking at primary sources, thinking critically, um engaging in civil discourse, um evaluating evidence, and communicating ideas effectively. And then in citizenship, that's finally that's where uh students practice citizenship in age-appropriate ways. This begins with understanding rules, Sorry. Understanding rules and responsibilities in the classroom, and it progresses towards examining elections, public policy, constitutional laws, and civic participation. So, in elementary school, we focus on laying the foundations of American identity and democratic values. Uh before reviewing the content taught in each grade level, it's important to note that

056the Arizona social studies standards are intentionally designed to build progressively from year to year in a developmentally appropriate way. Each grade level has a distinct focus, and together they create a cohesive progression of learning that deepens students' understanding of history, government, citizenship, and civic engagement. So, in kindergarten through second grade, students will learn about American symbols, national holidays, community leaders, government roles, and why societies established rules and laws. Then, when you go to third grade, the students will explore Arizona government, the Arizona Constitution, tribal governments, and state and local governance. Fourth grade introduces colonial America. They Mayflower Compact and foundational concepts such as liberty, justice, religious freedom, and individual rights. And then, fifth grade, as students will learn about major historical events and documents including the American Revolution, Constitutional Convention, Bill of Rights, Civil War,

057and Reconstruction. I don't have sixth grade up there because the standards revolve around the world regions and cultures. And then, we jump to middle school. So, middle school students will begin taking a deeper look into both American history and civics participation. In seventh grade, students study significant historical periods including the American Revolution, industrialism, immigration, World War I and II, and the Cold War. They also examine economic systems and America's role within global events. And then, in eighth grade, the shift the focus shifts heavily towards government and civics. Some of what students study is the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the structure of government, political parties, elections, and Supreme Court cases. Then, at the high school level, students engage in a comprehensive study of US history and government. In US history, students study major eras from

058pre-colonial America through modern events including American Revolution, Civil War, Industrial Revolution, the World Wars, Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, and Contemporary America. And then in government, the focus is on the structure and function of federal, state, tribal, and local governments. Students learn how laws are made, examine constitutional rights and responsibilities, and study elections, public policy, and civil civic engagement. So, US history is also embedded in language arts through the texts that our students read. Students read about important historical figures and events such as um Benjamin Franklin, the Revolutionary War, World War I and II, the Dust Bowl, and American space exploration. They also study foundational documents and influential speeches including the Declaration of Independence, uh the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Patrick Henry's Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death, and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. So,

059in the next few slides, I wanted to highlight some examples of the how our schools honor American traditions, recognize public service, celebrate constitutional principles, and provide students with the authentic opportunities to engage as citizens. These experiences help students see that civics is not simply something that they study, it is something that they practice and experience within their schools and their communities. This is Patriots' Day. And then Constitution Day. We also have Veterans Day. This is the Daughters of American Revolution um history essay contest, and then the I Love America City of Surprise contest, and the Sandra Day O'Connor Celebrating Law. Does anybody have questions? >> No, just thank you. Very well done. >> Thank you. >> I I would like to know where um where this information originates from or where um what kind of

060a I'm not asking the right Somebody said it comes from Savas. Is that what >> Oh, no. Everything what that we that I took up there, that's from the standards. Arizona dictates what we teach. >> Okay. Do they ever look at like Hillsdale or say WallBuilders? I just went to hear David Barton at WallBuilders he's has a lot of information on the American founders the US you know and constitution just I just wondered do they ever take any information from groups like that or >> We take information from various from various parties. I can't cite doing anything in our social studies curriculum. We do have ELA that's approved some that draws on Hillsdale. So we do look for you know what fits the needs of the standard, what does that look like? Our social studies

061was adopted I think 5 years ago. It's up next year. So we will continue to look at the best fit to teach the standards. >> Okay. And I also went to see the movie The Revolutionary War that was put out by Hillsdale. It was like 2-hour movie and it to me it it was very it just had a lot of information in it. And I just wondered if they could ever include that into our curriculum somehow or >> We tend I'll answer that coming. So we tend generally not to have full length movies. Our philosophy has always been for a full length movie the kids can watch it at home. We do take parts of movies from different places especially if it helps kids visualize something like lots of our kids my kids at Valley

062lots of them had never been to an English manner. So when we read Pride and Prejudice we would show a clip from Pride and Prejudice that was probably 8 to 10 minutes because the philosophy has always been that we have we have things to teach. You know does that always play out on field day? It might not. But for the most part, I mean, there are very few movies in our schools. >> Okay. It was like a documentary though. I mean, it wasn't But anyway, I'm just give putting it out there. Just Yeah. Any other questions? >> Um, just to confirm, Dr. Asay, um, you said that we have Hillsdale um, approved. I believe we had that approved a couple years back as a supplemental. >> They're supplementals and they are I mean, they're books

063that like what Hillsdale teaches is not unique. Little Women is not necessarily unique to Hillsdale. >> Right. >> Um, so we do have and I think we in our English list that we have presented tonight, we do have some, you know, we have things that we drew on from Common Lit that are open source. We have some things that were open source from Hillsdale that we used. Um, so we have We have a myriad of resources that we continue to look and we don't necessarily follow one thing because Hillsdale's not in Arizona, obviously. So, it We don't know if it's the Arizona standards and we do try to do We just try to keep a good collection of reading. So, I would be remiss to say that we would ever rely on one one vendor.

064>> Okay. Thank you. And I just wanted to compliment. I've gone to the schools when they've had that Constitution Day and it was very very good. The kids would, you know, dress up in costume or And the lower grades would ask them questions and they would answer them. So, I thought it was very educational. So. >> It's one of their favorite things to do. >> Those are great days. >> Mhm. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right, I see you're not going very far. So, uh, next item for information and discussion is information on the Spalding program. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to provide an update on our pilot implementation of the Spalding program at Countryside tonight and our plans moving forward to strengthen the foundational literacy instruction across Dysart.

065Okay. So, Countryside is currently in its third year of implementing or of piloting Spalding. Throughout the implementation process, teachers received formal Spalding training, participated in coaching cycles, and engaged in classroom observations conducted both internally and alongside by Spalding coaches. Additional follow-up professional development was provided this year to support instructional consistency and implementation fidelity. It's also important to note that Countryside implemented the full Spalding model, including the oral and written phonogram review, spelling dictation, word analysis, sentence construction, and comprehension instruction. So, this slide shows kindergarten and K-8 end-of-year benchmark results across the district. Overall, the district experienced a 5% gain compared to the previous year, but because Countryside was our uh our Spalding pilot site, I wanted to briefly highlight the results. In kindergarten, Countryside increased from 19% at the beginning of the year to 63%

066at the end of the year. While that is a slightly below last year's end-of-year performance of 68, it still represents growth for these students over the course of the year. First grade data also reflects a 5% district um wide gain over the previous year, but looking at specifically at Countryside, first grade results remained relatively stable, moving from 38% to last year to 39% this year. While we did not see the level of growth we were hoping for, the data prompted us to take a closer look at how students were responding to instruction and whether adjustments could better support reading automaticity and fluency. This was one of the several indicators that led us to further examine the balance between phonics instruction, reading practice, and opportunities for students to build automaticity. In second grade, the results show

067a district gain of 2%. By second grade, students are expected to move beyond learning to read to using reading as a tool to learn. Because of that, automaticity and fluency become increasingly important. At Countryside, second grade results were 63% compared to 69% last year. We looked at these results alongside classroom observations, teacher and principal feedback, and other student performance measures to better understand both the strengths of the model and the areas where students need additional support. Taken together, those findings helped us identify several implementation challenges and areas for refinement, which are outlined in this next slide. So, as we evaluated the pilot, we identified and identified several challenges that emerged, particularly for students who struggle with foundational literacy skills. One challenge was cognitive load. So, students were often required to simultaneously manage their handwriting, spelling

068rules, phonogram recall, and encoding tasks, which could be very overwhelming for some learners. We also observed pacing concerns. Spalding is a very fast-paced program. However, many students need additional repetition and practice opportunities before moving on to new concepts. Additionally, we found that some students needed more opportunities to immediately apply newly learned skills that connected reading and fluency practice. While students were learning important coding skills, many needed more opportunities to learn these skills directly to reading. These findings helped us identify opportunities to better align instruction with the needs of our students and support stronger literacy outcomes. So, based on our findings, we've decided to implement an auditory visual review or ABR. It's a targeted support within our literacy block. ABR is a brief, structured daily routine that provides cumulative review of phonograms and sound symbol relationships.

069The routine is highly interactive, provides immediate feedback, and requires active participation from the students. This is what Spalding does with the with the phonogram cards, but we have chunked the phonograms and have aligned it with the reading passage and required spelling words in 95%. Because it can be implemented in 10 minutes each day, ABR provides an efficient way to reinforce foundational skills while while preserving time for comprehensive literacy instruction. So, this slide highlights the primary differences between ABR and the Spalding process. Both approaches are grounded in structured literacy principles and emphasize explicit instruction. ABR focuses on decoding fluency, rapid retrieval, spelling and reading automaticity, and spell and Spalding focuses on phonogram mastery, spelling accuracy, rule recall, and written encoding production. The disinquant distinction is important because our data suggests that some students may benefit from

070increased opportunities to build automatic word word recognition and reading fluency while developing while continuing to develop strong spelling skills. Okay, this slide illustrates the literacy block differs that differs under the two instructional models. The ABR model includes a dedicated 10-minute review routine followed by instruction through the 95% Group Structured Literacy Program and HMH comprehension and writing instruction. Students receive explicit instruction in in phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, uh fluency, sentence dictation, and connected reading practice. The Spalding model incorporates phonogram review and word analysis as part of broader instructional sequence. The key takeaway is that we are seeking the most effective balance between explicit phonics instruction, practice opportunities, and reading application. So, moving forward, the schools listed above will participate in the AVR pilot while continuing to use the HMH for comprehension instruction. And I if I

071remember right, um Western Peaks and I thought Mountain View and I think Rebecca was here. >> Is that correct? >> They have chosen to try that as well. Um as we move forward, data collection that will be uh will be a critical component of our evaluation process. We're going to monitor student performance through monthly phonogram assessments, sp- uh weekly spelling tests, and Acadience progress monitoring. In addition, district and campus teams will meet regularly with these pilot schools to review their implementation, analyze student outcomes, and determine appropriate action steps. These ongoing review cycles will help us make informed decisions, identify successful practices, and ensure that we continue refining instruction to meet the needs of all learners. Does anybody have any questions? >> I do. Um when when we were doing the original um part of Spalding

072that included all of the all of the sections of it. Do we know about what the percentage of students that weren't able to follow along and and is that where we were doing going to tier two and tier three? Was there a large amount? >> You know, I don't have that on me right now, but I could get it for you, but it was um it was 80% around the 80% mark that um it's just there was it was just too fast. >> volume. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you very much for spearheading the Spalding program. Um I like the fact that we've had a lot of movement on it within the last year, year and a half. Um the other thing that's very exciting is spelling tests. I I know

073you and I have had several conversations about this and I have I love the fact that we're including that into other schools now and it's a basic even though everyone has spell check these days, learning to spell is actually a good thing. Thank you very much. >> And I did forget that we are working on handwriting as well. So, cursive is going to be also in there as well. So, they'll be ready for when they get into third and fourth grade. They'll be able to do it easily. >> That's awesome because they need to read the Constitution, which is in cursive. That's right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, no further questions. Thank you very much. >> He's not going anywhere. I know. >> [laughter] >> So, we're going to go move to

074the section G action and discussion, approval of curriculum revision of math grades 6 through 12, ELA English language arts grades 4 through 8 and supplemental resources for grades 6 through 12. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight we bring to you um some curriculum revisions. I know the board has spent numerous hours, so I thank you for your time and efforts on looking at this. And tonight we're going to have Connie uh uh present our math and Dr. Sai is going to do the ELA portion of this for us. So, take it away, Connie. >> All right. Okay, so today I'm going to do an update on the revisions that we have made to our math curriculum since the last presentation to you. During our last update, we shared several instructional shifts designed to improve student

075achievement in math at the elementary level. I want to make sure I'm on the right slide. We added spiral review and fluency practice to ensure students consistently revisit and strengthen previously learned skills. At the high school level, we added ACT review to help students strengthen these skills needed for success on the ACT assessment. Daily checks for understanding were incorporated into the scope and sequence to provide teachers with the immediate feedback on student learning and allow instructional adjustments in real time. We also adjusted our scope and sequence to ensure highly tested standards are introduced earlier in the school year giving students additional opportunities to master those concepts before the state assessment. Based on feedback from our highest performing teachers, we created common common lesson templates around the I do, we do, you do model ensuring students

076are taught math concepts with a clear step-by-step instructional process before working independently. Overall, these revisions were done to create greater alignment and improve instructional effectiveness across the district. So, one of the major accomplishments since our last update has been the development of the lesson plans and guided notes for units one and two across kindergarten through eighth grade. This work provides teachers with consistent instructional resources that are aligned to district expectations and best practices in math instruction. The lesson plans incorporate the instructional elements we discussed discussed previously, including direct instruction, modeling, fluency, checks for understanding, and opportunities for guided and independent practice. The guided notes also help students organize their thinking, capture key concepts, and engage more actively during instruction. And the lesson plans have been linked for your reference. As revisions continue, we continue to

077gather feedback from both teachers and administrators to ensure that the resources remain practical, effective, and responsive to classroom needs. As I mentioned before, checks for understanding and processing checks have been intentionally built into the lesson to help teachers monitor student learning through instruction rather than just waiting until the end of the lesson or the unit. We have also incorporated an AASA review period approximately 3 weeks prior to testing. And we also are focusing on the last 2 weeks of school. We're We're focusing on strengthening current grade level fluency skills while also introducing key concepts for the the next grade level to help prepare them for going into the next the school year. And then lastly, assessment questions were are being distributed to align with the revised scope and sequence, ensuring assessments better reflect when standards

078are taught throughout the year. Um as we move forward, our focus will be on continuous improvement and measuring the impact of these instructional changes. Throughout the next school year, we will closely analyze student performance data and instructional trends to determine the effectiveness of our efforts. We will also begin developing pre-assessments that can be used to identify student needs early and drive targeted intervention. These assessments are expected to be implemented during the 2027-2028 school year. In addition, we're going to be designing remediation lessons so that teachers have immediate access to instructional support when students require additional assistance. And finally, we're planning to create a district math screener that will help identify students who may need intervention or also may need acceleration opportunities. Do you have any questions? All righty. >> Thank you for this. I Will

079there be more, I guess, when when you were describing this to me, there'd be more, um, worksheets for the students >> Yes. >> to to do the math problems and >> Absolutely. So, every student will have their own guided notes. Um, so, whenever they go home, if they have homework, um, the parents trying to help them out, they'll be able to see the model portion of it. Um, and it'll all be on paper, so they can show their work and work through all the problems. Nothing will be on computers. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> All righty. Moving on to ELA. Uh, then I do want to acknowledge the great work of Connie and her team. Uh, Jenna White's with us in the audience, Cammie Bernard, our math specialist. Um, I don't know a lot

080of other departments who could have pulled off, uh, doing so much in such a little time in such a quality manner. So, it's definitely going to be a great example for districts around us. Going in, uh, for ELA, we used very much the same process. Um, in ELA, we know how we're above the state, that we're not where we want to be, especially in sixth and seventh grade with only small gains above the state. Uh, so, we really looked at our ELA curriculum. We looked at the Savvas units that we use, and we noticed they don't always fit the Arizona standards. Like, we're kind of trying to force the fit of the standard instead of them naturally flowing. We also considered that, uh, online license continued to cost us more and more. So, we pay

081more each year for the same product and at some point we want to be free of that cost. So, our solution to raise our scores and to get away from online and who dictates what we do was to in-house our curriculum with open source materials. Uh we have a lot with CommonLit uh with some of their pieces that we can use to print. We wrote some of our own pieces using technology and we drew from other open source places. Uh one of the advantages of doing our own is we were able to put them in notes very similar to math and we were we're going to be able to print them. So, kids will actually be able to read on paper. It'll be great and they can annotate and they can write as they go.

082Uh doing this ensures that we can really address each standard. Like I said, with the textbook companies make it, they make it for the standards in Florida or Texas usually. We were able to actually write some of our own pieces doing, "Okay, we want to address um RL.9 and RL.4 and write a story for that." Which makes it really nice. Uh we can have more responsive lessons and we ensure we're not paying the high price for online renewals. It would help if I clicked it here. Uh for our revision process, we pulled some of our best teachers together and they worked with our curriculum specialist. We were very fortunate that our curriculum specialist um in K-5 reading and our upper grade ELA curriculum specialist were on a committee with the state to help pick the

083essential standards. Uh so, they really have an in-depth knowledge of the standards. We mapped out what the year would look like focusing on all standards the first semester. So, we're really spiraling like we talked about with the math concepts. It's not just we teach RL.1 here and we never teach it again. We consistently come back to it, which is good because the language arts standards spiral and get deeper as they go each time. Um we worked with our really high-performing teachers and said, "What are you doing?" Uh it should come to no surprise uh to any of us that they are embedding lots of direct instruction like Connie talked about with math. They model a skill, they go and look at it, they have checks for understanding. Uh but what we noticed was missing that

084we really wanted to embed was more writing. Our kids aren't doing enough writing, and so in this um in our own curriculum, they're writing a lot more. There's some examples of selected text here. The board also has the stories that we ran off. Uh we made minor revisions to them, so I printed off um a new Jenna, do they have uh you have the new uh the new layout with some of the text revised. Uh these are just a sampling of them. We have everything from Robert Frost, uh Paul Revere's Ride, The Star-Spangled Banner, The Wright Brothers to pieces on Tony Hawk and Michael Jordan. We really tried to mix some classical literature. You heard me talk a minute ago in the social studies presentation. We try and do a myriad of things. So, we

085have very contemporary things to please pieces that are classics. As we went through this process, we put each unit out. We sent them to campuses. Uh for example, Riverview might have got fourth grade unit one, Canyon Ridge might have got fourth grade unit two, and we asked the teachers and principals for feedback as we went. We also really drew heavily on our teaching learning and specialists because they're some of our they were our great teachers, and so we wanted their opinion. Uh Danielle and Jessica Felix, our social studies specialists who also helped author the ELA curriculum, held virtual meetings to present the curriculum and to get more feedback. We did do some initial training on May 4th through the 6th through 8th grade teachers. Uh in that also, we got to train them, but we

086also got feedback. We offered training at summer workshop in in July when administrators come back. I believe July 7th, we will be going through what should it look like when I walk into your new language arts classroom. Um and I it's very little computers, we'll be happy, very little screen time, a lot of writing, a lot of reading. For next steps, uh we know with anything new uh that we continue to have to do PD, and I think God we have PD Mondays, so we will be able to pull teachers and say, "Okay, fourth grade teachers, let's come and talk about, you know, what's working, what's not? How can we get the best results? How did you teach How did you teach your writing lessons? You got great writing samples over there. What are you

087doing that maybe I'm not doing?" You going through that process. Um, these content specialists will offer online virtual micro PD sessions. And then this is one of my favorites that the specialist really thought outside the box on is they're doing little video introductions before each lesson. And they really talk about the standard in that lesson and how maybe the fifth grade standard is different from the sixth grade standard and fourth grade standards. And I really think this is going to be beneficial to our newer teachers who are just learning about the depths of the ELA standards. At the same time, we'll be doing walk-throughs and providing feedback, and also that'll serve to let us know if we need to adjust anything. And our assessments, we're using the same assessments, but we're reordering them so they

088meet the new scope and sequence standards. And I will take any questions. >> I just want to thank you for all the help you gave us and um, cooperation in with with this whole thing. Okay. Thank you. >> What type of feedback are you getting from the teachers or regarding the new process? >> Um, with anything, it's mixed feedback. Um, primarily, it's very positive. You know, we did have a couple teachers that were like, "Oh, well, this was written with with the help of AI." You know, and one of the passages actually many of the passages were. However, when you read them, you would be hard-pressed to figure out which ones were and weren't. Uh, they do to align directly to the standards, so some teachers did have concerns about that. Um, but we feel

089they're quality pieces. If any specific issues arise, we'll address those, but I don't anticipate there will be after they get into it. Uh, lots of the teachers did like the writing a lot. They like the breakdown of the standards within any standard there's there's complexity like I will pull out the central idea and write an objective summary. So we really made sure to break that down into components and what that looks like so they can pull specific stories to go with specific standards and the components there in. >> I just want to say thank you to Dr. Tsai, Connie, the whole CNI staff, you you the board for all the hours over the last month that you've poured into reviewing this. It is a huge task. Not an easy task and something they did and

090made it look super easy. So thank you for all your involvement and everything and then this is going to be some great stuff. Um and we'll like Dr. Tsai said, we'll we'll monitor and adjust as we need to. So but thank you to everybody involved in this process. All right, with no further questions I'm going to make the motion to approve the curriculum revision of math grades 6 through 12, English language arts grades 4 through 8 and the supplementary resources for GATE grades K through 12 as presented. >> Any other >> Second. >> With the edited list as given I would say. Sorry. >> I second it. >> No. >> Yes. >> No. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Next item for the action and discussion is recommendation to approve the 2026-2027 proposed budget. >>

091Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight um we are going to go off of curriculum now and go to a little budget, which you can see Mary Dell smiling over there. So, Ms. Spedale will take us through the proposed budget. >> Thank you, Dr. Croda. I'm sure Connie Wolford would love to present this, but I'll take it tonight. >> [laughter] >> President Scavira, members of the board, Dr. Croda, cabinet, community, I am pleased here present the proposed budget for our 2026-2027 fiscal year. It is always an exciting time of the year to start with a clean slate and a brand new budget for the upcoming year. Um as you know, this is an ongoing process. We don't just put the numbers together off of one meeting and we're done. This is an ongoing process that as you

092know, it starts really in the late fall. Um interest-based approach group meets to start identifying needs and and specific items to address. Uh we then review the benefits package with our benefits trust board throughout the year. Um we bring that to the board in February for your approval. Um the IBA recommendations are brought to you around that same time. Um our finance department meets with every individual department um through the months of January all the way through the end of March. So, this is a multi-month process, and so this is just really the culmination of gathering all that information to provide to you to the board. So, I'd be remiss if I did not acknowledge all the hard work of our finance department under the direction of Ms. Francie Wolf Bauman, um the budget team,

093and just everyone that pours over all the details. So, I'll be providing that information for you tonight. So, something to note is this initial FY27 budget was um presented on preliminary budget forms. Um as has been the case the last few years, the legislation was still in session, um and so there wasn't a finalized state budget at the time that these budget forms were prepared. And so the auditor general did provide us these uh preliminary forms so that districts could provide an initial proposed budget to their boards. Um, since drafting this, the state has now adopted a budget. Um, so we will be reflecting that in a future budget revision to the board. Um, but for now, really the only item that's reflected in these revenue assumptions is the known base support level increase of

0942%, um, which we will continue to receive from the state. Um, you brings that amount from 5,113.26 to 52,153. So, in this budget budget proposal, there were no other changes again as the legislature was still in session. So, we'll be providing those to the board at a later time. Um, the classroom site fund, we did have a known amount from the state, so that is increasing a $41 per weighted, um, average daily membership from 842 to 883. And so we'll go over what that means in terms of the budget limit. And we were conservative with our average daily membership because again, as you know, we are funded on current year counts. So, at this time in June, we are going to be funded with the students that we have as of January of 2027. So,

095we're I wish I had that great crystal ball to tell you exactly where we'll be, but we're going to be conservative at this point and make adjustments throughout the year in in future budget revisions. So, expenditure factors, as I mentioned at the onset, these were all previously presented IBA recommendations that the board has already approved throughout. So, basically, all the items that we're presenting in the budget have been brought to the board in one way or another. Um, you did approve the 2% base pay increase for all of our current employees. Um, the 3% retention stipend is embedded within a few of these funds that uh we will review tonight for those employees who remain continuously employed. And the board approved the benefits package in February amounting to about the $1.7 million increase, um, that

096the district fully absorbed not passing that premium increase onto employees. So, this is the budget limit for our maintenance and operations fund. Once we combine all of those revenue assumptions that I mentioned and then embed all of the expenditure factors that we have known, we then derive the budget limit. So, it is going from 222.5 million to 224.4 million, again based off of the estimated average daily membership and the known base level amounts. We do um have uh accounted there in that bottom line, the budgeted carry forward. We do, as you know, have the governing board policy to ensure we reflect about 4% of our uh base lit or our budget limit to ensure that we do have reserves. Um we always strive to have more than that, but we do um ensure that we

097have that separated aside as per board policy. Our capital funds for this coming year, the majority uh the main one that we have is unrestricted capital. That is the one that is state funded. Um we do anticipate it about at this point 26.3 million. What that does not reflect, again as mentioned, the legislature was still in session, so the budget forms do not reflect that additional state aid supplement that we receive. Um it's about 1 and 1/2 million is what we've been getting based on student counts. So, um expect to see that at a future budget revision, uh which is why you see a little bit of a dip is we don't have that about 1 and 1/2 million reflected at this point. The emergency building renewal grant program, again that is the program through

098the school facilities division. At the time that this proposed budget was put together, um we don't have approved projects. We have quite a few pending applications into them. Um what we were a little concerned is we were hearing that that program typically gets about 16.6 million from the state. There was talks uh and then they've been getting about 200 million dollars the last few years in additional supplemental funds. We were concerned that that was going to be going away. Fortunately, in the state budget that has been renewed. So, the school facilities division will continue to get 200 million this year, so we're hopeful that that means that some of those pending applications are approved, and if so, we'll be providing those updated amounts to the board in future revisions. Classroom site fund, as mentioned, that

099did have an increase in the per weighted student count, and so that does bring the total for 45.4 million to 47.9 million. Again, this primarily focuses on a lot of our um base salary um base salary increase for some uh for our teachers, professional development, performance pay, um and we've really been focusing quite a lot on professional development um across the district that we're utilizing this funding source to ensure we we allocate those resources for that purpose. And then we have our special projects funds. This I just combined our grants and our food service fund, but we have a number of other cash uh funds on page six of that um budget worksheets. So, total federal and state grants, again, these are just estimates at this point in time. We um have expected allocations from

100the state. We estimate carry forwards, um and so really by the time we get those grants approved and final carry forwards done, we'll be this number will be changing to the board, and will be brought to you at a future revision. Food service fund is everything. We do see that those food service program um supplies costs are going up. Labor costs do continue to drive, so we do expect to see a uptick in that food service fund for this upcoming year. So, that is just a brief overview. Um as always, I always like to plug this page. I'm still waiting for the uh website counts to continue to go up on this page. Unfortunately, I checked with PR, and they're still pretty flat. Um so, if anyone can take a look at that, it'd be

101great. But, in the meantime, we will be posting this on our website. We also post it on the Department of Education website as required. Um we are required to post it at least 10 days prior to the meeting to adopt, which will be occurring at at the July 13th board meeting. Um so, no changes are to be done to the budget from the time that we have now proposed to the time that it comes to the board for final adoption. And that is all I have for you tonight. >> Can you explain to me on the capital funds, and you probably already said it, but on the how come it's the proposed uh 2027 budget is so much lower than the 2026 budget. It It must be because of the emergency building. >> Members, I

102will say yes, the total right there you see the 27.8 million, which is made up of the unrestricted capital and the state um program of building renewal. It has gone down because we don't know what that uh amounts, if any of our the applications we have in with the state will be approved. We're kind of putting a placeholder of 1 and 1/2 million. I'm putting wishful thinking that they at least will get those funds approved. Um, I would I would anticipate that that number will go up as we have revisions to the board throughout the year. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I just wanted to say thank you for all the time and explaining. >> You're very welcome. >> hit your website more. >> I hope so, too. >> There are no more

103questions. Motion to approve the 2026-2027 proposed budget. >> Second. >> Yes. >> All right, motion carries. Thank you. We'll move on to our next item, recommendation to approve appointment of director of student services. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight for the next few items, we are going to shift around some current family members in Dicer to new positions and recommend some new family members. So, Mr. Mattingly will take this over for us. >> Mr. President, governing board members, let the fun begin with me now. That I know it's exciting, but the fun recommendations. This next action discussion item for the director of student services is for Sedricka Hester. I just want to share a little bit about Ms. Hester. Uh, she's been in education approximately 30 years, and 17 of those years has been as

104a site administrator. Uh, four of the her last years have been here in Dysart and the last three as a principal of Shadow Ridge High School. Uh, I would like to take this opportunity as one last chance before she moves on uh, to the recommendation that you're going to be considering tonight to recognize uh, Ms. Hester. Now, she'll because she's a great leader, she won't accept the acknowledgements because she'll say it's for the other people that she surrounded herself with. Her family support along with the other staff at Shadow Ridge. But we have to uh, thank her and her staff for rated A rated school. Uh, we have to thank her for the Purple Star School that Shadow Ridge has uh, got awarded as well as the National Blue Ribbon award. So, pretty impressive uh,

105track record for 3 years and so I just wanted to make sure take this last opportunity uh, to recognize her before I bring this recommendation to the governing board as Cedrica Hester uh, been recommended for the Director of Student Services. Uh, you must stand now, please and thank you. >> [laughter] >> I motion to approve the appointment of Cedrica Hester as Director of Student Services. >> Second. >> Yes. >> Motion Motion carries. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> All right, recommendation to approve the appointment of high school principal for the 2026-2027 school year. >> Uh, Mr. Mattingly will uh, proceed with the item of filling the principal that he just vacated. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Mr. President, uh, governing board members and uh, the next recommendation is for the the principal at Shadow Ridge High School

106and that is Mr. Antonio Vining. He goes by Tony, but formerly Antonio and sorry for that big introduction Tony about Sedrick and everything she's done cuz you have some big shoes to fill my friend. So and we don't doubt that. Mr. President governing board members, this was an extensive interview process. It's a thorough process to find the best and brightest available candidates that we have out there and with committee involvement as well as cabinet involvement and sorry to put you through to all those interviews and in-baskets, but well done. I'd like to just briefly just share with you Mr. Vining has approximately give or take 28 years in education. And 12 of those have been as a site administrator and all of his site administration experience is at the high school level. I call those

107cities. So he's been a part of high schools for 12 years. So with that I'm proud to represent cabinet and administration to recommend Mr. Tony Vining as the uh principal of Shadow Ridge High School and if I you want him to stand, I'll make him stand. Yeah, you have to stand too. >> Motion to approve the appointment of Mr. Antonio Vining as high school principal for the 2026-2027 school year. >> Second. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> All right, next item recommendation to approve appointment of elementary school principal. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight we are earlier tonight you had accept the resignation of Miss Mrs. Carissa the Luke principal who is moving on to a director position in another district. So congratulations to her and we have some great news because

108I'm here to recommend a current principal who has not left yet, but planned on retiring, and then so graciously said uh she will stay for another year. So, we are very thankful. She is amazing lady, uh does a great job, um and you know her. Um she's done an amazing job and will continue to do that now at a different site at Luke Elementary. So, um Mrs. Charlene Mattingly, will you please stand? Um Char is going to has agreed to stay for a year, um since uh to take over Luke, and we are very excited about that. Obviously, she's done a great job in our district. Um she's has extensive administrative experience, um currently the principal um at Rancho, and uh now will recommend her to be the principal at Luke. So, thank you, and

109I turn it over to Gilbert. >> I motion to approve the appointment of Charlene Mattingly as elementary school principal for the 2026-2027 school year. >> Second. >> Yes. >> An enthusiastic yes. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Next item is recommendation to approve the district goals. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh tonight, as we do every year, uh these are the district goals, the governing board goals, of which I align uh once approved and once we uh figure out the goals. Um the current goals you see listed in the agenda, academics, culture and leadership, safety, and resources, uh those are the very uh broad goals for the district and the governing board that you set every year. Uh will follow on the July 27th meeting very closely with my goals aligned to

110this of which I will have the administrators start aligning their goals to my goals which align to your goals. So, with that I stand for any discussion on approving the district goals. >> So, we didn't have a study session on this unfortunately. I kind of wish we did. So, what I'm what I'm going to do is I'm going to make a motion for a revised goals and see if the board would agree with them. If if not, you know, we can go back to the original goals. >> Sure. >> So, let me what I'm going to do is I'm going to share them so everyone has them in front of them. Take one pass it down. Thank you. And I'll wait. And just a little pre-preemptive on it is they're literally kind of the same

111goals but re-re-rewritten a little bit differently. So, um Goal A would be academic and student success. We believe in the potential of every student in in every Dice or school. We cultivate the skills and character necessary for students to conquer their personal goals and excel in their future careers. Culture and leadership. Through supportive leadership and a collaborative culture, we inspire a premier team dedicated to student and growth. Safety. Our commitment to safety is absolute. We build peace of mind by prioritizing secure campuses and shared accountability. Community and financial stewardship. Through rigorous financial oversight and collaborative community engagement, we will maximize funding to enrich the student experience. So, I make a motion that these revised goals become our new goals. >> I have a question. What do you mean by under the academic and student success

112we cultivate the skills and character necessary for students to conquer their personal goals. How do you I mean, how are we going to assess their personal goals? I'm trying to understand that. >> Yeah, so the original goal was literally dedicated it seemed like it was more dedicated towards career and college. Um obviously not every kid is going to go to college. They they will go to go on and have a career. Um part of their personal goals would be a career not college. So it's it's more broadening the goal. And um the cultivate is just to grow the skills. >> I I felt like I felt like the career and college success was kind of an all-encompassing goal already. I mean, personal goals could be anything not even related to, you know, their academic success

113or career success at that. >> Which is true, yeah. Now to to have further discussion I we will need a second per Robert's rules. >> Second. >> All right, so we can continue discussion. >> I'm sorry. >> That's okay. >> Yeah, my concern is that personal goal cuz it could it's not necessarily I I I I like how it's career or um college success something to where I mean, a personal goal could be I want to be the coolest kid in on campus. I mean, that's not necessarily going to make them academically successful in life. They might be cool and they might look good on I I just think that that verbage needs to be reassessed on how we say it. Does that make sense? >> No, I don't understand. >> Is there a time

114constraint in approving these goals tonight? Is there a time constraint in approving these goals tonight? >> Yes, ma'am, there is. Because we align everything else to them. >> Yeah, I So, we normally do have a study session. Was that Why was that not agendaized? >> Well, we just ran out of time with the other study sessions and everything we had with all the other pieces, so kind of ran out of time with that. I apologize. >> Well, it says excel in their future careers, so >> Personal goals and excel is not the same as personal goals excelling. >> Well, maybe their personal goal is not just to go to college, though. Maybe that's >> Right. No, that's why we have to come >> No, I I'm fine with revamping, but I just think the personal

115goals needs to be a little bit more clarified. I'm not against. I think academic and student success is important. I do wish we could have had the study session. I do wish that um cuz I I you know, I've looked at these and I've haven't had a chance to really look and assess these, so that's >> I mean, this is literally the entire direction of the district and we're asking them to pivot and this board hasn't had time to really deep dive into this. And that pivot's not just temporary. I mean, that's for an entire year. Oh. >> All right, I call for a vote. >> No. For me right now, no. >> Yes. >> I'm going to say no for right now. >> I'll say yes. >> Motion fails. Question, Dr. Crotta, what does

116that leave us leave us now? >> Um to the original motion and the original goals. If there's a motion for the original goals I might add we can work towards the future. I don't I don't mind revamping them all. And if we want time, I just it's kind of timely and we need some direction so I can align that to the administrators coming and my goals to them and they're coming July 6th. So um I can work towards the future and and maybe these can be our district goals. Whatever we decide next year I don't know where you want to go. I'll take direction on that, but certainly not opposed to revamping them and want everybody to feel comfortable, too. >> I mean, it's all I mean, basically the the goals themselves I mean by

117name are the same. Um it's just defined a little bit differently. I mean, perhaps we could do I don't know. Like a steering committee type meeting with the with the board and to help guide you know, what we mean by this, what we mean by that. >> Right. >> Yeah. Like we've done in the past, but I mean, the goals are still the same. But we can maybe help hopefully define how our vision clarifies >> Right. But I mean but it is what it is. >> Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and make a motion to approve the district rules as presented in the agenda. >> I'll second. >> Yes, I did second. Yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you very much. Next item is a request for future agenda items. >> This may be more

118of a question, but we do have an executive session for safety coming up. Is that correct? >> Yes, ma'am. Um I believe July 27th will be our before-school safety in executive session. Yes. >> Okay. And I can talk to you offline about some things I want included. Okay. >> Yes. >> If If they're not already. Thank you. That's all I had. >> All right. Hearing no other agenda items, I make the motion to adjourn the meeting. >> I second. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Meeting adjourned. Thank you very much.