05/11/2026 Public Hearing and Regular Board meeting

001I call to order the public hearing. It is 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 11th, 2026. We are located at the Jerry Roie District facility. We have four board members present. Board member Todd, board member Zimmerman, Vice President Sinion, and myself, board member Schmidt. Uh we'll move on to the pledge of allegiance. Vice President Sinion, will you lead us, please? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. >> Okay. Item 1.3, information discussion of fiscal year 2025 2026 annual expenditure budget revision. I believe that Mr. Heggerty is uh going to be providing us with information. Okay, green light means on. All right. Uh, Madame President, members of the board, fellow employees, and honored guests,

002uh, going to take just a brief moment here to discuss the final revision for the current year. I know some of you are not here to see this. Uh, it's by happen stance because you're here to the retirees and other activities. So, I'll go quick because it's uh, very quick and very nice. Uh we are required by May 15th of every year to revise our uh present a final final revised revised budget for the board. Uh the we make any revisions that we know at a point in time. I went through all of our budget data. I went through all of our actual spending to the end of the year at least how we projected it and came up with some additional money in the budget. So we're adding $109,000 in capacity to the current

003year budget. Part of that is from our average daily membership. We actually ended up with more of a student count than was in the last adoption. Plus, we got a little bit extra money in what they call the one-time allocations from the state. >> Closer. So, do I swallow it? Okay, there we go. Okay, you guys didn't really want to hear me anyway, right? Um, so we have the uh and the onetime allocations of 34,000. So, when you add those up, here's a breakdown by the different areas. we get some uh small amounts from the state that was that was allocated to get shorter so I can get down on this thing. Uh but ultimately we still end up with $109,000 extra in our budget and that's what's before you right now. I also went

004through all of the spending patterns that we were exhibiting throughout the year and I adjusted some of the lines within the budget to reflect those changes. So uh there are some changes that um it may look a little different but that is where we're spending the money or project to spend the money between now and the end of the year. Also, as a reminder, we have a upcoming budget. We have to adopt propose a budget uh and then adopt it. We can prop have to propose it no later than July 5th of every year. So, we're thinking on the June 10th board meeting, adopt no later than July 15th. And the state right now is still working on their budget. Uh what does that mean? That means that we're probably going to have to do

005a projection on old forms. I'll have to update for what we believe is going to be happening because the state and the governor uh are not getting together on the budget yet and when they until they do that we will not get final forms when they do that which they did last year also we can always re uh revise the budget again probably in September so we can on the forms that are put out by the auditor general we're also going to do a fi annual annual financial report in October and in December we'll do our first revision it could be the second depending on the forms and again just like we're doing now in May of of next year. We're going to do our final revision. You'll start receiving our monthly budget reports in

006August. And with that, I'll stand for questions from the board and then I believe from the audience. >> Any questions from the board members? >> Uh Mishmitt. >> Yes, please. >> Okay. Um, I have a couple, you know, questions and just, um, things that I, um, notice, I guess, when I, you know, did my own, um, research on the revision. Um, I noticed, um, that, um, you know, it says the additional ADM, but I feel like I saw, um, somewhere else that it really came from special education. Um, the the increase in that ADM. Is that a correct statement? >> Absolutely correct. And to expand on that a little further, >> um our our regular ed ADM went down very slightly. >> So our sped went up by more than that that created this extra

007uh availability of money. Now that sounds good because we get more money, but it could also be bad because sped kids cost more than the state formula typically gives us to provide services. So when your sped population increases faster than your regular ed population, you typically have to um go after other revenues or other places in the budget to be able to provide those supports. >> And um although we do get additional ADM monies, right, we get more than a regular education student. >> We do. >> Okay. Um as you stated, you know, it often costs more to provide those services. And so even though we've seen um I I guess I'm going to use the word a decrease in student enrollment from last year, right? We're just we're about 27 kids up this year

008like from from August. >> Um those additional uh special education students, they could be from new those 27 kids that we enrolled, but they also could be kids that we identified and now classified as special education. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. >> Um so the things that you know that I noticed um are that the planned one of the big things that I noticed is that the planned carry forward from I'm just going to be comparing the December revision to the May revision. So I'm not going back to the you know adopted budget is $361,000 less. Right. So I think this is where I have kind of always struggled with a board as a board member right like it is one of our big responsibilities to manage the budget and so when

009we get the revised budget right the plan is we've we've calculated what we think we're going to spend our incumbrances all of those things and so we think we're going to end up with this and now we've come to May right closer to the end and it's like okay well actually we're not going to we've essentially spent you know 361 or we've encumbered 361 more. So, you know, to me that's I always think what if we get into a real big emergency, right? And we need these funds, right? And we have in my mind very little to compared to what we had about four years ago, which was around $3.5 million. So when I looked at like the different categories, the biggest thing that I noticed is that the amount that we either spent or

010encumbered for salaries from the revision one to revision two went down by $416,000. So my question is why would that occur? Why halfway through the year would we think we're going to spend, you know, $400,000 less on salaries than we thought? And um thank you for the question. It's just one of those things that I'm going to have a difficult time answering only because I don't know what went into the revised one. In other words, they may not have gone through and done the exact same thing that I did. So I didn't have a good baseline to work from. So what I worked from was establishing new budget limits, which is what you can spend to and then what our spending patterns are. And that's what the result you see. So I for me to

011track those back to a document that may have not gone through the same process is going to be really difficult and I don't know if it would provide us with any anything that would be really that useful. But the other thing to note is when you see the salaries down but you see purchase services up that's typically because and it may not necessarily be true here but it's typically because we uh have people that we have not hired so we have open positions but they still have services that need to be provided from those. So we hire outside people to do it and you pay a search charge for that. So when you see salaries down and purchase services up, that's typically what you see is the is the trade-off and we usually don't come

012out on the plus side of that because tur uh purchase services are more expensive. >> Yeah. And you know I I think you know my concern that you know again I apologize because you know you haven't been here but in previous meetings we were told that some of those big um positions that haven't been filled were not encumbered. And so that was kind of my fear here, right? that that that could have happened here. And then to your point, where I noticed then the increase right from the revision one to revision two is purchase services. Um but they weren't in instruction. So to me, I'm not sure that we are paying for people in regular education. I'm speaking about regular education. So the increase in regular education which was $346,000 was in central services and

013then operation and maintenance of the plant. >> Okay. >> Um and so you know my concern you know and this is really something that you know obviously you know you're just here for a temporary amount of time. We're going to hopefully you know hire a new CFO tonight. um is that how do we ensure that you know we kind of set a budget and we adhere to the budget, right? Because um two years ago when we um you know went significantly over budget and it kind of ate up $2 million of reserve, one of the places that went up significantly was operation maintenance of the plant. And so when I saw that again, um, you know, it's just something that, you know, I'm paying attention to, right? And I think I think the goal with

014the monthly budget reports was to try to find that happy medium. And I think we're still kind of struggling with how can we feel like we know what's going the board can feel like they know what's going on with the budget. Um, now special education purchase services went up $325,000. So to me, that makes more sense. you know, we have contracted lots of people at this point for for those services. Um, so I understand that. The other thing that went up was transportation. Um, and that went up about $117, not $17. I would not be bringing that out to $117,000. And you know again my concern it's not you know I guess is that you know a previous board approved the purchase of electric buses right and the idea was that it was going to

015save us money in transportation and that hasn't seemed to come to fruition and so I would you know be curious as to you know is it related to fuel is it related to fixing the older buses that are still on the fleet like again you know thinking This is our first year with electric buses. I think we all thought I'll speak for myself I guess that you know I thought that we would be seeing a decrease right in from the from the prior year. So, um, you know, I just think it's important, you know, again, at this point in the year, we can't really change it, right? Most of the money has been spent or encumbered, but, you know, the board did pass an agenda item a few months ago that the plan was to

016build the carry forward to $2 million by fiscal year 28. And so now, you know, again, I know you were not part of it, but you know, we've kind of set ourselves back again in in my mind. So, um, you know, those are just my thoughts, I guess. Again, you know, I appreciate the work that you've done. Um, you know, coming in so late in the game and being able to give us this information. Um, and I just hope that, you know, we all take this information and, you know, and try to use it going forward. So, >> yeah, thank you for that. And again, I don't know what was done back in December if they had followed the same process, but I can tell you this. I know your new CFO is going to

017follow that process and follow the trend lines and it gives you a better basis to be able to explain those variances as they go through. But the other thing for everybody to Sorry, Minnie, I got to eat this thing I um is that a budget is a living breathing document. It is actually uh things change throughout the year and we have to be able to adapt and then we only adopt or approve revised budgets multiple times during the year but we still have to address issues as they arise. So that's what hopefully you'll see in your monthly report which has been modified to be a year-to-ate. So I think it should give you more accurate information on a on a what's year-to- date by month coming forward. I think each month we'll have a new

018year-to- date number. it'll give you better data to be able to make those kind of uh uh decisions or ask questions. So uh again I'm I'm a little what do we call uh hamstrung to be able to really come up with a reason as to why revised one to revised two spending patterns are different because I don't know how developed it was developed and revised one. So I don't have no baseline to work from uh without recreating the documents. I can do that but I don't know if that's good good uh use of time at this point. I think we we need to look forward to how we're going to close out the year and prepare for the new year. >> Any other questions by board members? >> Madam President, >> yes. >> Would like

019to just uh clarify a little bit. Uh I was a sitting board member when the electric buses uh came to be. Sort of. Um, a grant, which was a federal grant to purchase the electric school buses, had been applied for by this district multiple times prior to me being on the board or prior to going all the way back to Dr. Court Monroe being the superintendent. Uh, anytime you apply for a federal grant and you turn it back, this might be an educational session for some on this board, you will basically be blacklisted and never see a federal grant again. Um, we spoke to them about the idea of turning that grant back and it was made very clear that that would not be a good thing to do. Secondly, in that grant, we were

020trading in buses that were over 20 years old in some instances, others that were less but were broke and inoperable. the cost to repair a 20-y old bus was going to exceed what it was to accept the grant and then put money forth to the buses. The electric buses cost the district no more money uh for sure no more money than just buying a diesel bus outright. So, I think it's important that everybody understand this grant was applied for multiple times back in the days when Dr. Lorie Schuff was the superintendent. Um, it is again extremely dangerous and those who have worked in education for a long time can certainly explain and and and reiterate what I'm saying. When you turn back federal dollars, you're not going to see them again. Um, so that was

021the decision that was made. I recall the day very well we were first asked to come if we were interested in seeing an electric school bus. Uh, we said, "Sure, bring it out before a board meeting. We'll take a look at it." Dr. Monroe and I walked out. Uh, Dr. Maro had been on the board or been in the district for about two weeks at that time when the bus representative cons said congratulations you guys just got a grant and you're getting I don't remember the number however actually a couple more than what we what we ended up taking. Um that was news to me that was news to Dr. Monroe. We both talked about it. There was nothing in any pass logs from the previous superintendent and we inherited that. So that's how the

022electric school buses came to be. It was actually started long before anybody was on this board. But I do feel it's important uh when we actually made the purchase, we just got stuck carrying over what other previous decisions were. That's the story of the electric buses in a nutshell. Any other questions or comments from board members? All right, we can move on to agenda item 1.4, call to the public for revised budget number two. Miss Camarada, do we have any public comment? We do not have any public comment. All right. So, we can move to agenda item 2.1 and adjourn the public hearing and move on to 3.1. Uh oh, sorry. Thank you, Miss Camaretta. We're adjourning the public hearing at 5:47 p.m. Now we can move to 3.1 uh calling to order the regular

023governing board meeting at 5:48 p.m. Um we are still in the Jerry Roie office and we still only have four board members present. Um item 3.2, to approval of regular agenda form. >> I make a motion to approve the regular agenda form consistent with board policy 1-302 and ter temp temporarily suspend governing board policy with which this agenda may be inconsistent. >> Second. >> Right. We have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. Board member Todd >> I. >> Uh board member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Board member Sansion. >> I'm also an I. We will show that that passed for zero. Moving on to item 4.1, the 2026 retirees, Westside Impact Outstanding Principal of the Year, Westside Impact Teachers of the Year, and Classified Pride Award recognition. All right. I don't like

024that. Sorry. Up first are the 2026 retirees. The Liberty Elementary School District proudly recognizes its retirees at the end of each school year. This year, we are honored to recognize the following individuals. uh when I call your name if you would like to come up and then we have your uh gift for you at the end by Miss Zimmerman. Um Amy Applegate from Liberty Elementary when you have your gift, if you would please wait up here because we'll take a group photo at the end. >> Thank you. >> All right. Second, we have Miss Barbara Laflur from Rainbow Valley Elementary. All right. Uh, Miss Deborah Canfield from Rainbow Valley Elementary. Thank you. All right, Miss Deborah Reinhardt from Freedom Elementary. Miss Denise Johnovich from Blue Horizons Elementary. Miss Karen Thomas from Westar Elementary, Miss Monica

025Walchuk from Laspus Academy. Miss Robin Floringer from transportation. Hope I said that correctly. I hope I didn't mess up your name. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> And Miss Robin Moss from transportation. Okay, those are our 2026 retirees. If we could scooch all together so that we could take a group photo. All right, up next we have the Westside Impact Outstanding Principal of the Year. Attributes of an outstanding principal include being a student- centered leader, having a shared vision, communicating clearly, actively listening, motivating positive change, demonstrating sit situational leadership, and empowering others. The outstanding principal of the year is awarded to Megan Hamburgg from Westar Elementary School. I would also I have a little more to say. No, you can come up. We can all look at you while we're saying it. So, this recognition is

026especially meaningful as she was selected by her fellow principles who had wonderful things to say about her leadership, dedication, and the positive Sorry, I got to flip my page impact she's had on her school community as part of the process. Here is I'll just read one. Here's one reflection that they shared. Megan is a truly student- centered leader who consistently puts the needs of students at the heart of every decision. She fosters a positive collaborative culture and is always willing to step in and support her team in meaningful ways. Her dedication, approachability, and commitment to excellence make her an outstanding choice for principal of the year. So, we are grateful for Miss Hamburgg and we would like to award her for being the outstanding principal of the year. And we need a photo. Okay, next

027up, the Westside Impact Teachers of the Year. So, teacher of the year recipients are nominated by their peers. Each campus named one certified employee as its Westside Impact Teacher of the Year. These following recipients along with the outstanding principal of the year received a plaque at the Westside Impact Teacher of the Year breakfast last week on May 5th. The following criteria was considered when nominating. Their master teacher demonstrated teacher leadership, supportive to colleagues, always growing and improving professionally, evidence of continuous student learning. Um, sorry, it's on there twice. So, the following teachers are our teachers of the year. Uh, Hannis Simonus from Blue Horizons. I apologize if I messed up your name. Thank you. Sorry if I messed up your name. All right. Uh, Hannah FKO from Ella Mountain Elementary. Okay, she's not here. Uh,

028Corey now from Freedom, Michelle Wilson from Laspus Academy. Christ Dannis Stein from Liberty Elementary. >> Congratulations, >> Myra Conpion from Loretta Zumbro Elementary. Carissa Low from Rainbow Valley Elementary and Rachel Hughes from Westar Elementary. Yeah, you're good. Congratulations. >> All right. And then we'll all have to scooch together so we can take a photo. I can't get my pages. I'm stuck. Okay. And last but not least, we have the classified pride awards. Each year, schools and district departments recognize a staff member who exemplifies a strong supporter of the Liberty Elementary Schools, demonstrates initiative in the improvement of the individual site and/or district. Displays a genuine concern for and effectively communicates with students, staff, and patrons. Exhibits a high degree of willingness to assist other staff members. Contributes to positive staff morale. maintains a high standard

029of professionalism in all jobreated tasks and strives for personal and professional growth and exemplifies the pride of Liberty School District. So, this year's classified pride recipients are uh Athena Rodriguez from Blue Horizons Elementary, Christian Sprocket from Australia Mountain Elementary, also not here, uh Suzanne Marcado from Freedom Academy Elementary. Congratulations. Uh, Maria Kab Maria Cababayero from Lascess Academy. Janet Gomez from Liberty Elementary. Mariah Garcia from Loretta Zumbro Elementary. Liliana Terrone from Rainbow Valley Elementary. Angela Classen from Westar Elementary. Mini Camarada from the district office. Mariah Griggsby from the LEAP program. Robert Young from the maintenance department. >> Thank you. Thank you, Robert Reinhardt from the technology department and Maria Lloyd from the transportation department. All right, those are all of our classified pride recipients. So, if we could all scooch together to take a picture. All

030right, I think we can uh get back to the meeting as as uh our award recipients and their families cleared out, gave them a few minutes, and now we can get back to the agenda. So, our next agenda item is uh 4.2, attendance and enrollment reports and school newsletters. Um, I don't know that we have anyone to speak to it, but are there any board questions or anything that you would like to call attention to? >> Mishmmet. >> Yes, please go ahead. >> Um, if we could open up the, uh, enrollment count document, please. So, um, you know, I just, again, I say every month, I just do it for transparency purposes. Um but this month um we are down 13 kids. Um and so as we you know prepare for next month um to

031you know work on a proposed budget I think it's important that we continue to pay attention to the enrollment. So, um, again, um, this this month I decided to look at where we started, um, in August and kind of, you know, obviously we have one more month, but the likelihood of us getting kids, you know, in May is, you know, unlikely. It will happen for sure. Um, but we only gained 27 kids all year. And just a comparison number, last year we gained 105 from August to May. and this year it's 27. So I just think it's important for the board to, you know, reflect on that number as we, you know, use that that ADM for, you know, future planning and things like that. Um, it certainly is a a different trend for this

032district, you know, especially with opening a new school. Um, you know, and obviously other districts around the state are are facing, you know, similar issues. So, I'm not saying we're independent of that, but we still need to monitor and adjust based on what is happening. And then, um, from this time last year, we're down 88 kids. So, um, again, we still haven't really recovered. You know, that idea of that you always end up with anger eighth grade class than an incoming kinder. You know, that number uh still hasn't really adjusted. Um and then again um attendance average continues to be up this year compared to last year. So again just grateful to our our principles and our office managers and teachers you know that are continuing to you know do the backend work to you

033know make sure our students are here every day. Emphasize that importance with our parents. Um, and certainly, you know, May is at the end. Sometimes, you know, I think we have a high attendance average because there's a lot of fun things happening at the end of the year and and kids want to come, but then also sometimes, you know, we kind of see the opposite. So hopefully we can finish the year strong and end the year um with a higher attendance average um than we did last year, which um is one of our uh goals. So that's all I have for this agenda item. Thank you. any other comments or um things that you'd like to point out from any other board members? Okay, we can move on to item 4.3, the monthly budget report

034for April 2026. any comments or questions about this meshment? >> Go ahead, please. So um the biggest thing that I notice is that in our M balance and maybe this is reflective of you know that year to date that you had kind of discussed earlier but the the balance in M is down about 400 or um about 500,000 from March of 2026 um you know the last essentially um update we got and so you know to me that's a significant number Right. Um and so again the question for me as a board member is always like okay what happened right in this month that we did not anticipate because in my mind if we've encumbered what we thought we were going to spend you know we established budgets for the different departments. How did we

035end up you know with that big change? Um, and so I kind of dug in a little bit to the purchase services and um, that difference is $459,000 from March to April. Um, and so I don't know if that was a result of the new teachers that are at Rainbow and Liberty from Sierra Schools. I'm not sure if you know either if that that big jump in what we're not necessarily spent yet but encumbered right like I'm adding those numbers together. >> I I don't know because I have not analyzed that. Excuse me. I came in April so uh I that's my starting point. >> Right. >> So uh but I will tell you I do have an early warning system that I put in that I'm analyzing every week all the major categories in

036the M budget. uh and I have the ability to do that in the other funds, but the M is we really monitor this time of year. So, we're looking very closely for any changes that occur on a week- toeek basis and uh that's kind of an early warning if something pops up. Something that wasn't encumbered uh that starts coming in and we usually see spending at the end of the year. So, some things that hey, we got to spend our budget by the end of the year and that's a whole another discussion. I think we can have it another time we stop start talking about how we manage budgets. But um I have not seen anything of that magnitude because my starting point was April. So I wish I had a better answer for you,

037but I do not. Uh but I do know I can when I look at this these numbers compared to the prior year, there are some changes and you'll see that in a presentation that I'm going to be doing uh coming up. But uh there are some things that occurred that explain some of the variances in total. Uh, but we got to do a deep dive on some of those if we want to get down into the u nuts and bolts of how some of those things came about. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions on this agenda item? >> Just say Oh, it's right here. All right, moving on to agenda item 4.4. The Luke Air Force Base School Lazison Program, Purple Star Schools. Miss Stacy Holland presenting from Luke Air Force Base, the

038school liaison program manager. Welcome, Miss Holland. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Stacy Holland and I'm the school lison program manager at Luke Air Force Base. And to hear I'm tonight I'm here to talk to you about not only the purple star schools but what I do as the school lison program manager at Luke Air Force Base. Next slide. So at Luke Air Force Base, my overall responsibility is to advocate. I am also the state lead for all the military connected students in the state of Arizona. We have 46,000 military connected students across the state. And here just in the Phoenix metropolitan area, we have about 21,000. What does that mean? I help with local school navigation, scholarship and grant resources, community and education partnerships, which is why I'm here tonight, deployment workshops, transition support, college

039career readiness, and also providing school districts professional development training and training on the military interstate compact. Next slide, please. So, this just gives you a snapshot of our military connected students worldwide right now. And actually, this has went up over the last couple months. We're now at 1.6 million military connected students worldwide. Here in Arizona, we host about 1% with 8% of those students belonging to retirees, 9.5% belonging to Garden Reserve, and active duty 81%. So, this is what makes up our military connected students worldwide. Next slide, please. So who are military connected students? This is a child with at least one parent or caregiver serving in the US armed services whether they're active reserved or a national guard. Also if a military member discharge or they retire become a veteran they're considered a military

040inter a military connected student as well. Next slide. So one of the biggest things that I deal with is our highly mobile students. These are students that have to deal with transition. On an average, military connected students transition every two to three years. By the time they graduate high school, most have attended at least nine different schools. In addition to moving, they must adapt to tensions at home, adapt to new schools and new environments, and of course, a lack of unfamiliarity. transitions can dramatically impact social, emotional and even academic growth. Military takes a toll on military life takes a toll on children although mill of our children demonstrate strength and resilience and a lot of that is because of things that we have in place both on the installation and in the community and specifically

041in our schools. I am a veteran myself. I did 21 years in the Air Force and when I retired back in 2010, I'm a lot older than what I look. We did not have programs such as Purple Star Schools. We didn't have school laid on program managers as civilians out speaking at school boards and making community partnerships. We just had to figure it out and our children just had to figure it out. So, I'm here to say I really appreciate our schools, our districts, our community partnerships that we have now in place that helps children among these transitions. So, Purple Star School, this is a program that was started by the Arizona Department of Education. I helped work the legislation along with the governor's office and with state representatives. And this is a program that's

042I think we have maybe four states I think left that's still working on adopting the program. But I can say that just in the years this was in 2024 the legislation was signed. But just in the small amount of years it's made a huge difference for our community and specifically for our military connected students. As I stated earlier military children move every two to three years. And this program is designed to help the schools respond to not only the educational needs but also to the social emotional challenges that these children face. I'll tell you a true story over at Luke Elementary. And for those of you that not that are not familiar with the base, Luke Elementary is not on Luke Air Force Base. They just have that name. They're actually part of the Daart

043Unified School District. But they get a lot of favoritism, especially now that they're part of the Purple Star School. They were our first school here in the state that was awarded purple star school status. So they get a lot of community outpour. But a true story, our last our previous wing commander student came in um went to Luke Elementary and just could not state the difference of support that she had from her previous location. at the previous location, first day of school, ate lunch in the bathroom, cried, did not have any friends for weeks, maybe not even months. Here, Purple Star Schools. Again, these schools are making a huge difference um again with our students. Next slide. So, this just gives you an ideal of our Purple Star schools and also just our footprint, which

044I've already covered. Um here for Arizona, we have 46,000 military connected students. We have this slide. We're now up to 600 schools here in this area. We have 10 military installations. Luke Air Force Base is just one. Everyone thinks Luca is just the only base or Davis Mothin down in Tucson or Fort Wuka, but we include our guard and reserve sites. So, we have 10 military installations. And just here, our schools and our military, we make up about 15.5 billion annual economic impact. So, how do you become a purple star school? I'll talk a little bit more about it, but there's five basic criteria to become a purple star school. Professional development to at least 70% of the school's employees. And this professional de development can be taken online or either I go out across

045the valley and I provide that profess professional development training to the staff. It's much quicker, much easier to have it in person. I don't mind. You must have a designated employee at the school as a POC for the purple star program. They also have to take module training through the department of education. Takes about one day to complete that training. Establish a peer mentorship program for military students. That mean you have to have a designated body of students. It can be 10, it can be 20, just depending on the population of the school. And they're the ones that's going to do the work. They're the ones got that's going to partner up with other students. welcome students and really run the program. You have to hold at least one patriotic event during the school year.

046That can be Veterans Day, that can be back to school. Most do it during month of the military child, which we just had here in April. And you have to create and maintain a website and dedicated page with all the resources that's available for the Purple Star School program. Between myself, between Mr. Lee at the Department of Education, we can provide you those resources. So, we've seen many schools become a purple star school less than 30 days if they're really aggressive with meeting the requirements, but I think um you're given a 90-day period to meet all the requirements. Next slide. Again, I've already kind of covered this why. Not going to read the whole slide, but basically schools are better equipped to mitigate the challenges of these frequent moves. That's a picture there on the

047bottom corner there at the bottom right corner. That's when Governor Hobbs was out at Luke Air Force Base when she signed the bill 8 April 2024 making the state a purple star school state. The good thing about purple star schools, once a school becomes a purple star school, you're actually listed out on the Department of Education website. I send about 500 emails per month to our inbound families that's coming in and to our outbound families that's going out. Luca is a very high transitional base. Summer's coming up, so we're going to have a lot of new people coming in and getting ready for the new school year. When I send that email out, one of the things that's included is the purple star school link. Parents are looking for purple star schools. That just kind

048of gives that extra layer of security and especially if they were already in a state where the child attended a purple star school, they want to keep that consistency. Next slide. These are just some of the many resources that we have um both on the installation and off. We have our exceptional family member program. So, if you have special needs in your school or you're dealing with kids with special education and they're a military connected student, know that you have resources back at the installation as well. That's my logo. Um, school lison program. We have military one source. We have family life counselors, of course, our friends the Arizona Department of Ed. We have tutor.com, which a lot of schools are not aware of that. That's a 24-hour 247 tutoring service for military connected students

049in just about any subject. Great resource for teachers in the schools that they are not aware of. We have student to student that helps with the students with the peer-to-peer program helping train them to be great peers. And we have MC 3 anchor for life and military child education. when I come out and do your professional development training or if you decide to take it online, you'll learn even more about these different resources available. Month of the military child. I'm not going to read all this, but the governor um does a proclamation each year. This is where we celebrate. We just talked about the number of military connected students, but this is where we celebrate these children for the sacrifices that they make. I always have a saying military children serve too because they do.

050They're right alongside of their parents providing that support as they transition along. So this is a month of military child. Again, this is a specific month. You'll see purple all over the place. I've worn purple so much during April, but I put it on for you guys tonight. One more time. Um, but why purple? Many people ask why purple and I'll go ahead and tell you that's because that's the color of all the joint services when you put the colors together. So it makes purple and that's why we purple up for month of the military child. Next slide. So these are just some of the great things some of the things you'll see next year if you decide to get purple start ahead of time. Even Amazon's run run out. But we just had Luke

051Days here um for those of you anyone come out for Luke Days? Few of you. But we did a special day on Friday for military um students or basically for all students. We ended up with 2700 students out on March 20th and we started high marketing and had STEM set up the first year which was in 2024. I get it's every two years. And they came to me they said Stacy Davis Moffin which is down in Tucson they got a 100 students. I mean, I'm sorry. I'm like you. A thousand students, not a hundred students. And they said, "Can you beat that?" Of course, we're in we're in the Phoenix metropolitan area. So, we ended up with 1,500 students. So, my goal was to increase that two years later, 2700 students. So, we're growing and

052again, people are more connected to the base than ever before. But there's the school lays on tent. Um, and the children really had a had a great time and it went right into month of the military child. That's me down there playing STEM with some of the kids that were out that day. Okay, next slide. And this is just some of the pictures from April that went right after Luke Day. Um, Waterburger was a community partnership. That's some schools at some of our other Purple Star schools. There's Dreaming Summit, Credit Union West donated funds to some of the schools, purple cookies, and we we just had a fun. That's why I said I'm I'm about done with the color purple. But but it it was a great month. So when when schools become purple star

053schools, there's so many benefits, not only for students finding these schools to support them, but the community outpouring. These are just some of the bags that I brought just to show you. We partnered with Credit Union West. A lot of children got this across the valley. Took it out to various schools. This is another partnership with USAA. There are some books and some audio stuff. So, there's a huge benefit not only for the students but for the school itself and just building the partnerships um of becoming a purple star school. Waterburger again is a good contributor. They're helping us um drastically with our college and career readiness right now. Next slide. I think that's it. So, I'm not going to take up too much your time. Are there any questions? There was a last slide,

054I thought, with my contact information. I don't know if >> we have it in our presentation that we have. There it is. >> There it is. Yeah. But if anyone needs to find me, again, I can stay here all night. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I'm on the base building 1140. That's my phone number. That's my email. And again, I hope you guys learned more about the Purple Star School. And if you have further interest as we go into the next school year, please call me and I'll be more than happy to come out and support the district or any schools in your district. >> Thank you for your presentation. Do we have any questions or comments for Miss Holland? >> It's more of a comment. >> Go

055ahead. >> Uh thank you for coming out first. >> Yes, sir. um as a military dependent from the day I was born till I turned 18 and then when I left at 19 and did my 20 years um with my multiple like numerous deployments and moves with my children. I can tell you like it it weighs on them. It's hard on the entire family, but it's especially hard on the children. I didn't know about this program when I was still in. So, I like to see it. I think it's a great program cuz it it military children do have a set of difficulties they have to deal with that the normal I say normal population is probably not the right word but um unique set of difficult you know circumstances they have to deal with

056that a lot of people don't understand so having this program available um I think it's great and I appreciate that you're working on this and this is getting out there so thank you >> yes sir thank you for your service one last thing I want to emphasize is Luke right now we're AETC based I'm not sure if you're familiar with that, but we're a training base. We train the world's largest amount of fighter pilots. That's why we have the F-35 there. But we're changing here real soon. We're going to go from a training base to a combat command base, ACC. What does that mean? That mean growth and that means more deployments. We're highly deploying people right now real time. So, not only is transition going to be huge for our military families, but deployment

057is going to be on top of that. So, one of the things I'm doing right now and already gearing up for the next school year is I'll be hosting more workshops. I'll be ordering more resources. So, if you have any children in your district or your schools, especially as more military families are moving out to the Buckeye area and hopefully be attending more of your schools, if you need any resources for deployments, please let me know because it's happening real time now. And we have kids right now real time that's having a difficult time because at Luke, they were used to more so their parents stand steady. It was a training base. Only the pilots transition in and out for training, but now the whole mission is changing. So that's going to put another another

058um perspective on the program as well. >> Any other questions? >> Mm. >> Yes, please go ahead. >> Um just more of a comment. I just want to thank you for coming out and for the presentation. It was very informative and um I can only imagine how beneficial it would be for um military um children of military uh personnel. So, um, you know, I hope that we have the opportunity to move forward. So, thank you so much for your time and and for your work on and your advocacy for them. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> Yeah, I don't think we have any other questions. I would just like to echo what they said. You know, thank you for coming out and explaining to us what the Purple Star School program is. Um, I was

059new to me when it first be was put forth as an uh option for us. And so it's really interesting to hear what it is and and what your mission is in the schools. I love the idea of the peer peer-to-peer, you know, matching up a a student with another student and sort of having a built-in buddy from day one so nobody's in the bathroom eating lunch alone cuz that's heartbreaking. Um, so thank you so much for your time tonight and for this great information and I I look forward to discussing this more and and potentially moving forward. Madam President. >> Oh, sorry. Yes. Go ahead. >> I looked down for a second. You move forward. Um, I too just wanted to thank you also for your service, your military service and then staying in.

060Um, I started looking back at this uh some emails and uh reminds me that of conversation to me and uh former well he's still a general but left Luke Air Force Base Jason Rushoff Ox. Uh he and I met up at the city manager conference in 2023 in Sedona and uh sitting there talking about Liberty School District. He said, "I want you guys to be a part of this." and it was just really coming online at that time. I said, "We've got a school that's going to be opening up. It's going to be really perfect." That's Loretta Zumbro school. Um, and we've actually exchanged some emails over time back and forth about this. So, I'm really glad to see that this is coming together. I we knew it was going to take a little bit

061of time as the program was just getting started, but uh um super super excited to hear about the program more and I can't imagine that this district would not not want to move forward and become a partner with the program. So, district I my goal for one school in each our primary district at least have one and last but not least even though it's military connected focus we don't discriminate I mean when we get community partnerships and outreach tied to funding for the most part. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. >> All right. Our next agenda item are is item 5.1, governing board update. Mr. Todd, would you like to begin? >> Uh, I'll make it easy. I don't have anything to report at this time. >> All right. Thank you. Miss Zimmerman, would you

062like to go, please? >> Yes. Thank you. Um so over the last month I have done a couple things. I went to three plays um which was really fun. I took different each of different one of my children to to them. Um, Estraa and Westar both had, you know, these incredible set designs and costumes and large casts that I'm always impressed that we're able to, you know, these directors and teachers are able to manage all these different kids and and kind of bring it all together and and the parents and and the, you know, volunteers that go into helping with the costumes and the set time. It's just really incredible to see and the talent that we have in our district. Um, and then I went to LBAS and it was very unique and I

063just absolutely loved it. It was one set, one costume. Um, there was never the curtain never came down. It was just such a unique um I don't want to call it a play. I don't even know what to call it, but yeah, it was just so unique. I just enjoyed it so much. And the talent that we have um at our school and you know that was showcased particularly at at Laspres was that at least 10 different kids had to sing a solo or a duet and to have kids as young as second grade. Well, I was just like blown away by this duet by these two second grade Oh, first grade. Oh my goodness. I mean, the confidence, like the the talent, it was just really a fun thing. And I think it was

064just something I really needed after this year to be able to be in our schools and really see the incredible things that are being done. And so that was just really fun and really special. Um, and that I was able to enjoy it with my kids as well was just like icing on the cake for me. Um, I was able to go to the W uh Westside Impact um recognition breakfast last week. Um, it's just um an honor to recognize our teachers and our principal of the year um and be there um as part of their recognition. So, I'm I'm grateful to them um and honored to be able to be able to go. And just as we kind of close out teacher appreciation week, I just want to say thank you. Um teachers are

065the backbone of our district. Um we, you know, could not obviously do it without you and the time and the energy that you put into our students does not go unnoticed by me and I just want to say thank you and I appreciate you, >> Mr. Sinuni. >> Oh yes. So I want to say congratulations again to all the award recipients tonight. Um Mr. Kenyan was unable to be here. He had an emergency had to take care but he asked me to pass along that he congrat congratulations everybody and he wish he was here to be able to uh celebrate with you. Um, my other thing is so being on the board, especially like the president or vice president, you know, there's there's a lot of time you need to be able to dedicate it

066to it and I feel like I haven't been able to do that recently with my job and a bunch of other stuff's going on. So, effective tomorrow, I'm I will no longer be vice president of the board. I'll be stepping down. Um, I would also like to congratulate all of our award winners and due to the unique circumstances that we are currently in, I was lucky enough to be able to hand them out and so that was very fun for me. Um, so I appreciate that I was able to do that this year. Um, I was able to attend only one of the school's musicals, unfortunately, but I got to go see The Little Mermaid at Westar. Um, I took my 12-year-old with me, who I told him he was going, but he enjoyed it

067nonetheless. Um, and he definitely had a favorite because he's still talking about it uh a week later, but it was it was so good. just the talent that we saw in the lead characters, but then the the smaller side characters who were just so funny. The costumes were so imaginative. Um, you know, the angler fish was probably my favorite, but they they just did such an excellent job and I love to see how excited everyone was and the the dedication that these students put into it because they they clearly did because they were so well prepared. So, um I wish I had been able to get out to see more of them. Unfortunately, I had conflicts, but I'm glad I was able to see at least one. And then, um as Miss Zimmerman said, it's

068the last it's the you know, last week was teacher appreciation week, and we appreciate you all. Um, it is it is a a hard and thankless job most days and you're giving up a lot of your time away from your families or your kids in many instances after schools, grading papers, attending things, um, being here. So, thank you for that because I know that it's not easy and often there are no thanks. So, we do appreciate you. All right, moving on to a consent agenda. Item 7.1, approval of the consent agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped public comment. My apologies. Thank you so much. Oh my god, I don't Yeah, don't know my numbers. Sorry. 6.1 public comment. We have how many commenters tonight? We have three commenters. Mr. Serion. >> Yes. First up is

069Megan Cananan. Good evening. My name is Megan Cananan and I reside in district. Today I'm here to speak about something that goes to the very core of effective governance, responsibility, consistency, and accountability to the community you serve. First, board member particip participation matters. When individuals are elected or appointed to this board, they take on the duty of showing up not just physically but mentally and fully engaged. If a board member is unable to attend a meeting, it is still their responsibility to stay informed. That means reviewing meeting recordings, agendas, and supporting documents so they understand what was discussed, what decisions were made, and why those decisions were made. When that doesn't happen, it creates gaps in understanding that can directly impact the quality and continuality of decision-making for the district. This leads to a second

070very serious concern, financial oversight and continuing within business services. The board continues to request clear and reliable budget information from business services, which is appropriate and necessary. However, at the same time, there has been significant disruption in the very support system that provides that information. A consultant who's been assisting the district over the past year was recently released by the interim superintendent. That consultant's role as many understood it was to provide stability and continuity during a financial sensitive time. Removing that support without a clear and trans transparent transition plan rises legitimate legitimate concerns about how the district expects to maintain financial clarity and consistency moving forward. Even more concerning are reports that an individual identified as Kevin Heggerty has been working with the district since approximately April 13th, despite the fact that the board did

071not approve his appointment as interim executive director until April 17th. It has also been stated that his work has been done for free, which raises additional questions about authority, oversight, and compliance with it with proper hiring and governance procedures. Regardless of intent, decisions like this must follow a transparent and board approved process, especially in a district already facing financial and auditing scrutiny. These are not small administrative details. They go directly to trust and trust is built when board operates in alignment with its own procedures, keeps clear record of decisions, and ensures that leadership transitions are not happening in a way that bypass public accountability. Our community deserves stability, transparency, and a governing board that is fully informed and fully engaged in every step of the process. And it seems that the interim superintendent is not

072providing that. Thank you. >> Next speaker is Suzanne Wool. >> Hi everybody. I'm Suzanne Wald. Oh, eat the microphone. Right. That's a quote. So, I live in the district. I chaired the successful bond campaign to build blue horizons and remodel liberty. I worked closely with Miss Zimmerman on the last successful override campaign in this district. Amanda Collins, a Las Besus mom, and I are the incoming officers of the Liberty Elementary School District PAC. I'm here to speak about the board vote to go out for an override in 2026. Fiscal year 2027 begins on July 1st, 2026, and there are many stakeholders who are very hopeful that Dr. Duzy can get our district back on track. In fact, there are many stakeholders who are willing to go all out to help get our district back on

073track. But it takes time and it takes effort. In order to win an override campaign, first you re you produce favorable results. Then you inform voters about those results, which takes even more time. Those of us who have been part of managing past successful campaigns for LED know how important it is to be able to demonstrate to voters that the district is on track and can be trusted with their tax dollars. Can the district get back on track, make meaningful accomplishments that prove me that we are a well-run, responsible, and accountable district, and then get the word out to voters in the 80 days between July 1st and September 18th when ballots are mailed? Can the district even produce and advertise results that inspire voter confidence in the 126 days, a little over four months

074from July 1st to November 3rd? These are important questions. Due to the results of the last successful effort to pass an override, we have a very good idea about the political consultants who could help us be successful in 2026. PAC management has a history of successfully partnering part partnering with a particular consultant who is unfortunately unable to take on a project with us this year, but would likely be available and happy to work with us next year. Here's another question. Why might board members vote to go out for an override this year? Would it be a decision made out of fear or perhaps even a certainty in some cases that an override would not pass this year and the district could go out again next year? I don't know. On the other hand, what if

075we were able to stack the deck for a successful override campaign in 2027? What if the pack went to work this year building our voter base by registering qualified voters who are employees and adults in our LE is Ashley Wright. Good evening. My name is Ashley Wright. I reside within the district. Tonight, I would like to speak about priorities, urgency, and leadership during a time when the district desperately needs stability. Right now, many parents, staff members, and community members feel like this district is a house on fire. There are serious concerns facing our schools. Leadership instability, staff uncertainty, financial concerns, academic challenges, and a growing lack of trust from the community. And now with the resignation of the interim superintendent, that uncertainty only grows larger. This is not the time to get distracted by minute

076details, unnecessary conflict, or issues that pull focus away from the real problems facing this district. Yet, that is exactly what many of us continue to see happening meeting after meeting. When a house is on fire, responsible leaders do not stand in the front yard debating paint colors or other significant insignificant details while flames spread from room to room. They act quickly. They focus on what is critical. They work together to stabilize the situation before more damage is done. That is what this board needs to do right now. One of the most immediate and important actions this board can take is getting the remaining contracts finalized and approved, including the independent contractor agreement for Dr. Dooy. In a moment where leadership is already shifting and uncertainty is growing, delays only create more instability for staff, students,

077and families. People want to know there's a plan. They want to know the district is moving forward. They want confidence that essential work will continue despite challenges in leadership. Every delay sends the opposite message. This community is exhausted from dysfunction and uncertainty. What we need now is decisive leadership focused on solutions, stability, and protecting the future of this district. I urge the board tonight to stop focusing on distractions. Prioritize prioritize the urgent needs in front of you. finalize the remaining contracts, approve the independent contractor agreement, and start addressing the real fires threatening this district before more trust and progress are lost. Our students, teachers, and families deserve nothing less. Thank you. >> Right. Thank you. Uh now we will move on to 7.1 approval of consent agenda. Uh, Mishman, I have a couple things I'd

078like pulled. >> Okay. >> Um, I'd like to pull 7.3, 7.5, 7.6, 7.10, and 7.12. Okay. Anything else? Any other members would like to pull? >> Madam President, >> yes. >> 7.4 and 7.9. >> Okay. So I have 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.9, 7.10, and 7.12. Okay. All right. Then would anybody like to make a motion? I make a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.9, 7.10, and 7.12. >> All right, we have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. Member Todd, >> I. >> Member Zimmerman, >> I. Member Sarinion. >> Hi. >> I'm also an I. We will show that that passed 4 to zero. And we can go

079on to item 7.3, approval of personnel action items. Miss Zimmerman, you asked for it to be pulled. Um I just have a couple things uh for this agenda item. Personnel action items. Um at the top here, we have the approval of two assistant principles. And um you know based on uh you know information that's in the agenda tonight in regards to the budget um I think that it will probably be okay for us to approve them. But my concern that I um you know posed earlier that we have not kind of established a threshold for when schools you know it's not officially I guess like in policy or in a standard operating procedure and we have schools that are likely going to fall under the threshold of where other schools don't have an assistant principal

080and so for equity purposes I still think that needs to be addressed and by hiring ing these um two assistant principles tonight, we're not able to move people around to kind of fill a vacancy with assistant principles we already have. So um you know, I realize again kind of with the lack of leadership that we have currently and with the new superintendent coming in that you know can be addressed in the future. I just want to say that my concern still stands that we um are not, you know, we're having school certain schools have APs and some schools not have them with similar enrollment numbers. Um and then the second thing um is this supplemental com uh compensation for Dr. Ovula. Um, we got an email today uh forwarded to us from uh Miss May,

081but came from somebody else, which is another consultant for HR. So, I guess I'm a little bit confused as to it seems like we're paying two different people. Um, and you know, it stated how the pay was calculated, but it didn't state how the original number came to be the per month number. So, I don't Sorry, I didn't even see you come in. Um, you know, that that original number, the per month number that then gets divided per days. Where did that original number come from? I don't know if you know, I don't know if Miss Rogers shared it with you. She did it. >> Yes. Hi, welcome >> members of the governing board. Um I wasn't um I didn't communicate with Miss um Dr. Rogers during the calculation. Um >> Okay. >> But I

082was aware that she the information was to you. um you know >> in in general um madame president members of the governing board it is I do understand that it's the difference between the current salary using the current salary schedules um the current salary and the um assistance salary the difference between the two and divided in two days. So the difference between an executive d assistance s finding the difference between those two numbers and then divided across days worked. >> Okay. Okay. That that is helpful. Um I I can understand how that number came to be. So I appreciate that. Um my um I guess my only other concern is that you know gives an end date um which is you know the end of the fiscal year but my uh concern would be if

083we don't know what's going to happen between now and then and what if we hire someone that's going to fill the position for FY27 and they would like to start early. you know, I I just want to make sure that we, you know, give us gives ourselves that flexibility because I think, you know, I think it's helpful for if people are able to start earlier and able to start that transition and provide that stability within a department, I think that's very useful. Um, and again, I'm just speaking for myself. >> Go ahead. Yeah, I I believe you need to get paid for the work you did. Um, but with board members Zimmerman, I'm uneasy about the end date being in the future for the for the exact same reason because if we do hire somebody

084or if you get sick for some reason, you know, you don't come in those days and then and I hate to for us to have to figure out how to get that money back. So, I don't know if we need to wait till the end and approve all of it or approve up to this date. I don't know how we do that. Um, but I don't know if we need to bring that portion back after you've you've done up to whatever date. >> I I think in the future the number the the end date has that had TBD um which I think is more appropriate uh my comfort level. So I don't know if we could make the motion with that uh change. >> Madam President, >> yes m of the governing board. If there

085was a change, we would just make the change um effective immediately enter an EAR and that's an easy adjustment in the system and through I visions. >> Okay. >> Um I'll go ahead and make a motion. >> Sounds good. Okay. >> Um, I make a motion to approve 7.3 with the change under supplemental compensation for Dr. Ovula for the end date to be to be determined. >> President Schmidt. >> Yes. >> May I please repeat the motion? Yes, please. >> And fellow board members, the motion will read motion to approve 7 point 7.3 with the change under supplemental compensation under Dr. Avula with the end date TBD to be determined. Is that correct? >> Yes, that sounds correct. Thank you. Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Ask a question. >>

086Um, you can. >> So, how does that work? So, will you get paid up until today for every day you worked and then every board meeting your name will be back on here for the pay for that two weeks? >> Or at the end, does it come back? >> Yeah. The way I've seen it is then when when it come like when the end date is so if it if it ends up being June 30th then we'd see the final calculation you know or if it's before that then it would come to us at the next board meeting with the end you know the actual end date if it's June 17th. I'm just making up a number. >> Yeah. But it wouldn't have to come every board meeting. I guess the moral of the question

087was she wouldn't get paid until there's an end date because we couldn't pay her now for the services if we put an end date on it or TBD, right? >> Madame President, members of the board. So by entering the EAR when you it needs to have a date in there. So by entering the the date, payroll enters it and then it's in the system and it'll pay for pay cycle until there needs to be an adjustment. Then there's another EAR. It's adjusted and then payroll will make the adjustment on payroll side of the house. HR enters the EAR and then payroll makes the adjustment on the payroll side of the house. So it's an easy entry. >> We have >> and then and then you'll see it on the next board meeting that it was

088um that it was ended. So just for clarity, but if we have it as TBD, aren't you going to get paid for the portion every two weeks that you've worked with the end date? Now it would be entered in the payroll cycles per day. That's why it was entered per day. That's why it's calculated per day knowing it might not be until June 30th. That's why there's per day. But you would still get paid up till today for say >> yes >> with the TBD. >> It needs to have an end date. >> Okay. So then in the past when we've done TBD for like over theass max for teachers. So if I'm understanding that they weren't paid for the over theass max every two weeks. they were only paid in at the end when

089they were no longer over the class max. I'm just using that as an example where I've seen the TBD or over the class max is different because since so I'll speak to spread over the class max right because that's something that I calculate. So rosters fluctuate enrollment changes >> we have enrollment and withdrawals. So then you have it's calculated again by day >> right >> it's not TBD but that has >> that is what has been brought to the board is TBD and because as what you spoke to it is fluctuating right with enrollment and it is calculated by day so that's why I think it is very similar because it's per day so again I just want clarify that when we had that situation were those teachers being paid every two weeks for the

090over the class max with the TBD I haven't seen teachers with TBD when we enter it on our side we always have dates we don't enter and I'm only speaking to the data that we've entered we don't enter TBD we enter dates Madame President. >> Yes, please. >> I'm a little confused. I might be looking at the wrong uh form here, but on this form, it shows Erikica Aila, executive director of special services, acting assistant superv HR and student services. Start date 323, end date 6:30. >> Where is the TBD coming from? And it would seem to me that we do this through 6:30 through the end of the year. This is an acting role with no contract per se to carry on, which we're going to talk about later with another another situation. Um,

091if for some reason she's no longer in the acting role, wouldn't she just go back to her regular pay and this would not be an issue? We would take that $138.89 89 and HR would know that she's out of that role. She no longer gets that and the board would be notified that she's been adjusted back to her normal rate of pay when she's not acting out of class. >> That's the discussion. >> So, >> because I made the motion to change it to TBD, that's where the TBD came from because I made the motion. >> I mean, we wouldn't carry on past this school year at this point. Um, and so what would be the problem with having this date? I I don't understand if she leaves this position early because we fill it.

092She knows she's acting. There's been no promises. Correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Aila, but there's been no promises, no assurances that you'll remain acting in this position. It's just until we find somebody. We're talking a month and a half away. We're going to be moving pretty quick if we're going to make any changes. I don't understand why we need to change this to TBD. at the end of 6:30 if we still need her, then we'd come back and update it again and maybe push it out for another 3 months or something of that nature. But, but I don't see any reason to change this to a DVD, especially when we have one coming up later that's talking about 22 days out that's uh to me looks like a loose cannon contract. and you're saying

093that the software needs to have a date in there anyway for payment. I don't want to make her wait until 6:30 if she fills out the whole time to get paid. So, we got to put a date in there. So, 6:30 makes a a perfectly good sense to do. It's the end of the year. It's 6 weeks away. It's maybe 7. Um, it seems like this is this is fine. I don't think we've ever done that anywhere else. And all these other positions have end dates in them. So, I see no reason to change it to TBD. When you're acting, you're always in that position. TBD. That's just general common knowledge. >> Okay. We currently have a motion with TBD in it. >> Not had a second yet. >> I don't know that ears would

094even allow for TPD. So, are you aware, Miss Aila? Yeah, we have to have a date. >> Yeah, that's what we were saying, >> right? So, you can't do a TBD. That's what I'm saying. We We're making a motion to change it to TBD, but we have a date of 6:30. So, why we have to have a date? Why don't we leave it at 6:30? We can always end early. >> Did you second the motion? >> No. Then the motion has not been second, so it can be changed still. >> Okay. I'll amend my motion. I think you have to amend it. I think you're just changing it because we haven't gotten to a second. >> Okay. >> You're just changing it. >> I'll make a new motion. >> There you go. >> Thank you.

095>> Motion to approve 7.3. >> All right. We have a motion to approve 7.3. >> Second. >> And a second. We can take a vote on that. Member Todd >> I. >> Member Zimmerman. >> Nay. >> Member Sarinion. Hi. >> I'm also an I will show it passed 3 to one. Right. The next item that was pulled was item 7.4. Mr. Todd, I believe you asked for that to be pulled. >> Yeah, I would just ask that we consider this towards the end of the meeting after we come back out of executive session. Um not asking for it to be stopped, but I think we should hold this until we're out of executive session and until such time that we've made action on um 8.3 and 8.4. for >> I do not think that uh

096I'll just speak for myself. I don't I don't think that that is useful. The interimm superintendent has said that she wants to resign. I don't think we can force people to work. I don't think that's helpful or useful to the district. So, >> I never said to force her to work. I said I think we need to hold this until we're done with the rest of it. It's not stopping anything. It's not holding her. It's asking to delay this until we come back out of executive session and look at the other two, 8.3 and 8.4. >> I make a motion to approve 7.4. >> All right, we have a motion. Second. >> Second. All right, we have a motion and a second to approve 7.4. We can take a vote. Member Todd, >> nay. >>

097Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Sarinion. >> I like to make a comment. >> I'm also an I will show that it passed 3 to one. Um, board member Sarinion, you can make your comment. >> Uh, is it appropriate? I also like to just thank Miss May for the work she did. It was a lot to take on when she got here. Um, so I appreciate that. Um I she's the one that requested this. It was her wish. So I'm following her wishes by approving this. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Next item is um 7.5 approval of plant manager job description. Excuse me. Um Miss Zimmerman, I think you asked for this one. >> I did. Yes. Okay. Yes. Um I was just wondering if you could give us some background as to

098you know um why I just want to make I guess I want to make clear that this is not necessarily a new it is a new job but it would be replacing the custodians at the school and just if you could give a background of you know the decision making to bring this to the board. >> Yes. Uh, Madame President, members of the board, uh, what what we're trying to do is is, uh, replace the custodians with a plant manager that can do some of the, uh, maintenance work on the school because the people that are on site know the school better than anyone. So, they know, you know, what needs to be taken care of. We have an extensive DSF, preventive maintenance log that we have to keep, uh, changing belts, greasing motors, uh,

099flushing, uh, hot water tanks, those kind of things. This would not be looking at replacing anybody or getting rid of anybody. If there's a custodian that doesn't fit that, they going to remain a custodian and just keep working as a custodian. But like the open positions that come open, we we have one at Los Besas right now, one coming up at Estustralia at the end of the we would we would want to put in somebody with a little more uh maintenance experience that can go in and help because we got a small maintenance crew, but just help with the preventative maintenance, keeping things done, you know, repair them before they break, those kind of things so we're not having, you know, breakdowns at the schools. They can, you know, help with a lot of different

100items up there. So just uh just a little bit more skill level. Uh currently, you know, like we have some people that they can't change a urinal cartridge in the urinal. We got to send people over there to change those and stuff. So uh we just want to make sure and again we're not trying to get rid of anybody. We won't hey, you know, you're fired. You don't know how to do this or you're gone. If the people in the position think we'll have a what we do is a hands-on test. Show us how you can do this. Show us how you change your balance to switch or whatever. And when they apply for these jobs, they have to do a hands-on test to show us they have those skills and what to do. And

101uh if any of the current ones think they can pass that, then you know, we would obviously look to change their position from custodian to plant manager. >> Um thank you for that. I appreciate that. Um, I just pulled the job description from the level one maintenance to just kind of compare, you know, what they're doing versus what we're now asking the plant managers to do. And, you know, a lot of what the level one maintenance like their responsibilities is the preventative maintenance. So, I'm just curious how you see that working. you know, our, you know, I want to make sure that we are paying people, you know, that we are employing them and they have enough to do isn't really the right word, but I'm not grasping the right words right now, but do

102you know what I'm saying? If we're asking the custodians to now kind of take some of that on, what will the level one maintenance kind of focus on? >> They would do the heavier preventive maintenance like opening up the switch gear boxes, the electrical. Uh we don't usually let the plant managers unless they really have extensive background in electrical because you get electrocuted in there. But they go in and check the check the connections, the fittings, uh work on the air conditioning units as far as replacing parts and motors would be the level one maintenance people. Uh helping change belts, greasing motors, flushing hot water tanks, uh changing urinal cartridges, those kind of things would fall on the plant manager. >> Okay. And um you know do you feel like the custodians have time to

103kind of fit this in their day? I don't know you know how busy they are at the schools and how much you know they're assisting their sites. Like do you think you know it's plausible I guess for them to have enough time to complete the pre preventative maintenance that you're looking for them to do? >> Yeah. And my previous district we did this same plant manager and it worked out very well. We kept the books up and like I said the skilled maintenance went in and and did the other preventive maintenance checks that needed to be done. Uh principles always worked with them. You know, they work they work under the maintenance supervisor with input from the principal as far as uh evaluations, those kind of things. But obviously the principal's kind of over them

104firsthand because they're on site with them. So, I mean, we wouldn't try to take anything away from what they're doing or helping the schools with, but we would make them responsible that make sure those schools are maintained and kept up so they'll keep running full time. >> Okay. Um, and then have you calculated the budget impact because the plant managers like where it is saying to place them on the salary schedule is essentially $2 higher than the custodian where they're placed on the salary schedule. So, have we kind of calculated that budget impact? We we we looked at it not with Kevin. Kevin wasn't here at the time, but we checked it and if even if we did four like this year and if you know we get a four the next year or whatever,

105it it was uh it was I I can't remember the exact what it was. It obviously it's an impact to the budget because it's going to be more money, but it wasn't a huge impact for what the the worth we're going to get out of it. >> Okay. I mean, do you think can you give me like a ballpark number like 10,000 30,000. >> Yeah. Well, well, say like 2,80 hours times $2 is, you know, $4,000 a piece somewhere around there. >> Okay. >> A year. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions for Mr. Young on this agenda item? >> Okay. Then would anybody like to make a motion? >> I make a motion to approve 7.5. And do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right, we

106have a motion to approve uh 7.5 with a second. Can take a vote. Member Todd >> I. >> Member Kenyon. Member Kenyon. Sorry, I'm reading my list. Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Uh member Sarinion. >> Hi. >> And I'm also an I will show that passed 4 to zero. >> Thank you. >> Uh next item is 7.6 Six, approval to award cleaning contract for 2026 2027 school year. Um, Mr. Young and Miss Zimmerman, you asked for this one to be pulled. >> I did. Um, I know that we need to award a cleaning contract. I So, I just want to state that I know that we need to do that, but as the board, it's it feels difficult for me personally to do it without a contract in front of me. Um, I just feel

107like um it's it's been um I feel like we've gotten in, you know, the board, you know, because ultimately we're responsible, right? And so having not seen the contract, you know, is there a reason why it's not for us to look at the actual contract? Uh, Madame President, members of the board, the contract was sent to the attorneys for review and they sent back a list of things that they'd like to see addressed on it and we sent that back to CCS and they were revising it with their attorney. We're just waiting for it to come back at that time. Uh, they are on the one GPA contract and so they're contracted under one GPA to, you know, come out to schools and do the work. That's how we're using them right now because uh

108as you know has pulled out of the district and uh CCS has come in and and taken over and I I believe they're doing pretty decent job already even on the short notice of leaving on Thursday and CCS coming in on Friday. Uh they've made a I think a big impact on what's what's going on. But the the uh as soon as we get the full contract I can bring that back to you. I mean, we're running off the one GPA contract for the rest of this year, but uh hopefully we get it. If you want to bring it back in June with the with the contract, we can do that. I mean, it's, you know, whatever you want to do. >> Are we going to modify the contract from one GPA for the following

109year or is it going to stay on the one GPA contract? >> It's going to stay on the one GPA contract. >> So, there's not much that we're going to be able to change on that because that's a negotiated contract that's been done. So, we're not going to be able to modify or do much to it. >> Right. Yeah. What uh Madame President, members of the board, what what the uh what the attorney had put in there is just some language like if if uh CCS leaves the district, you know, they need to give us notice and and those kind of things. Uh so it wasn't a lot of I mean it wasn't anything to do with the funding or anything like that, but more protecting the district in case the vendor leaves that the

110district's protected and we're not going to be holding the bag. But you did state that that legal did say send some modifications to the contract. Okay. >> Just make sure that we weren't holding them back. So >> it's not the exact contract that Okay. Thank you. >> Uh just a curiosity. So they're supplying all their the supplies, correct? And then is are they doing like day pores and stuff also or is this only night cleaning? the the contract price that we're looking at with the three is for the night uh for yes for the night cleaning of the schools. They do supply day porters at an additional cost. That's why we said this, you know, there'll be other additional costs if we use them. Like at Los Breezes right now, we're using a CCS day

111porter because we don't have a custodian up there. >> Okay, that's where I was going next because we just talked about custodians and then I was like, are we getting dayorters too? That doesn't make sense. >> Yeah. No, we just we we just use them like at Los Breezes when the when the custodian quit and we didn't have anybody to fill in. >> Okay. >> So, we use uh you know, we would have used OMX, but OMX always had problems getting a day, they'd you know, bring different people in, but CCS assign somebody and they're there all the time. And so, that's just until we hire somebody, then they would be pulled out of there. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Anybody like to make a motion? >> I make a motion to

112table 7.6 till the June meeting. >> Right. We have a motion to table. And do we have a second? >> Second. >> Right. We have a motion and a second to table until the June meeting. Um we can take a vote. Member Todd >> I. >> Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Sarion. >> I'm also an I. We will show that it passed 40 to table until the June meeting when the contract is available. All right. The next item is 7.9 approval of outofstate travel to the Synergy Connect 2026 conference for November 10th and 11th, 2026. Um Lane Man is our district point person and Mr. Todd, you asked for this to be pulled. Yeah, I'm just uh curious. We seem to go to this thing every year. We never hear anything back from it.

113Um I'm wondering if we should continue to put this into the contract every year for for pay, but um I I feel like we've got some stuff on this audit that needs to get addressed. My understanding is and just somebody told me a couple days ago that this turned into a extended vacation for a couple folks previously. And I think we need to we've got things here in the home front that need to happen. So I'm okay with people going, but I definitely think our IT director should probably uh stay back and we should have have the boots on the ground attending this important training if it's if it is indeed that important. Again, I've never heard a single thing, never heard a presentation back or anything about what's new this year from previous years.

114What did we learn? What do we do different from previous? That would be my my thoughts on it. We've already paid for it, but I think we just need to send the right appropriate people. >> Mr. Man, do you have any response or comments? >> Um, Madame President, uh, board member Todd, I'd be more than happy to stay back from this and uh, we'll make sure that we send uh, some folks that'll get the most out of it. >> All right. Thank you. And you know, maybe we can have a short presentation afterward with just an update of, you know, the highlights of what you learned from the conference and the biggest takeaways. >> Yeah, absolutely. This is our CIS system. Um, all our teachers use it for the grade books. They roll out new

115features and then we get with our teachers and our office managers and and uh we try to >> make the most out of it every year. But, uh, point well taken. It would be it would be nice to stay back this year. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. >> Yes, please go ahead. >> Just for transparency purposes, I just want to be clear for the public that that part of our contract with Synergy pays for employees to go. So, this isn't an additional cost that the district is incurring. So, I just think that's important. >> Well, it is an additional cost because we pay extra in that contract. If we were to tell Synergy we weren't sending anybody, they would not put that into the contract. That's an extra fee we pay in

116the contract. So, yes, it is coming out of our pocket. >> Okay. But we already approved the contract. >> I understand. I simply said I think we need to be sending the right people. I never said we shouldn't send people. I said we need to send the right people this year. With that, I'd make a motion that we send uh three people from it. We approve three people from IT to attend this conference. Mr. man has agreed he would stay back and we'll get a presentation upon their return as to this conference and the value of it moving forward in future years, future contracts. >> Miss Camarada, do you have that? President Schmidt Todd, can you please repeat your motion to approve to send three people to ascend to attend the conference? >> Attend the

117Synergy Connect 2026 conference November 10th through 11th, 2026. It will be three it can figure out who the most appropriate people are, but Mr. Man has agreed that he will stay back this year and send more of our operational people that are are in these programs every day. and then they'll make a presentation upon their return from the conference to the board. President Schmidt, governing board members, the motion will read motion to approve to send three people to attend the conference and that Mr. Man will stay behind and have a presentation upon their return to the governing board. >> That sounds correct. >> Okay, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. We'll take a vote. Member Todd, >> member Zimmerman. >> I. Member

118Senion. >> I'm also an I. We'll show that passed 4 zero. Moving on to agenda item 7.10. Approval of support state support staff wage schedule for FY 2627. Miss Zimmerman, you asked for this one. you. Um I just want to clarify that the schedule in in you know attached doesn't include the 2% that we gave because we don't want to hire people in at the same rate that employees that have worked for us for a year would be getting. Is that correct? Sorry. Just so >> Madam President. >> Yes, please. Sorry. Yeah. >> Yes. So for employees hired after December 31st, they did not qualify for the 2%. So even if they were hired in January, they don't qualify. >> Is is that a a policy? Um is that part of their contract? I guess

119that's not something I've heard before. >> Madam President, members of the >> Is the mic on? >> I know. Maybe. There you go. >> There you go. You got to act like you like it. >> Madame President, members of the board. There the calculation that we made in human resources. Um there there's um the protocol if you're hired this year um spring 2026, you don't qualify for the raise. It was for those who were hired in at the beginning of the year. That's who qualifies for the raise. Okay. Um, I also just think, you know, future thinking that we need to we'll need to come back to the support staff because of the the notep increase and to make sure that we don't have employees coming in that are new to the district that are

120going to be making more than our current staff. So, just for the record, Thank you. Any other comments or questions about uh the support staff wage schedule? >> I have a question. >> Yes, please. >> I'm sorry that confused me. Um, so this one in front of us for the 2627 support wage that is this does this would almost mirror the 2526 to guarantee that our 2526 employees would be getting more this year than the people coming in. Correct? Did I say that right? So just want to clarify, Madam President, members of the governing board, this support staff wage schedule 2627, just to clarify in the executive summary, we had an administrative error that this salary um hiring schedule was attached when it was tabled and then brought back. The incorrect staff salary um staff

121wage schedule was attached. So, this one that you see in front of you, um, for example, level one A is 1515. That puts us in compliance with minimum wage. The one that was attached the second time reads $1512. So, we're making a correction. So, just to be clear, we're we're correcting an item that was tabled and an incorrect wage schedule that was attached. Um, and then also you'll see the details. There was also um other errors that were correcting on the version that was presented. There were some positions that were omitted. For example, food service manager, Medicaid billing clerk, food service assistant, and food services specialist. So, this specific wage schedule, um it doesn't have a 2% in this wage schedule. for this we're we are correcting an item that was tabled and then the

122incorrect wage um schedule presented for the second time. So this is just a correction. >> With that I'll make a motion to approve 7.10. >> All right we have a motion. Do we have a second? >> A second. >> We have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. U member Todd >> I. >> Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Sereni. >> I'm also an I. We'll show that that passed four to zero. >> And then moving on to item 7.12, approval of gifts and donations for the month of months of March and April 2026. Um Miss Zimmerman, you asked for this one to be pulled as well. >> Yeah. I just wanted to um kind of highlight that you know we are getting you know a pretty significant donation from APS um

123which is awesome and it says that it's from you know description of the donation is the very project so can you just explain um kind of why we're getting the donation how it relates to to the vari project if you know >> yes madam president members of the board this is where I started looking at where some of the revenants that came in and this was something that was posted to our Mino account as a revenue. It did not increase our budget capacity uh because it just created dead cash because you can't can't spend more money than you have in the budget formula. However, when I checked into this, I called the uh Bob Young, some other folks and found out that this truly was a donation. What APS was doing is that they were

124giving us money uh because we did the Verigy project, not as part of the savings or anything else. We were taking load off the grid. And so this is kind of a I don't know how else to describe it. They didn't say it this way, but it's more of a thank you. Hey, you did this. We we appreciate you doing this. Uh and they gave us money as a result. So the Very project generated money as a donation for us from APS for taking load off the grid for doing this project. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Uh with that I make a motion to approve 7.12. >> Great. Thank you. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. We can take a vote.

125Um board member Todd. >> I. >> Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Sarinion. >> I. I'm also an I. We'll show that passed four to zero. All right. Item 8.1. The governing board may vote to retire into executive session pursuant to ARS431.03 A3 and 4 for the following purpose. discussion or consultation for legal advice with the attorney or attorneys of the public body or to consider its position regarding superintendent's contract amendment, independent contractor agreement, and related legal issues. Do we have a motion? I make a motion to convene an executive session pursuant to ARS 431- 03 A3 and 4 for the following purpose. discussion or consultation for legal advice with the attorney or the attorneys of the public body or to consider its position regarding superintendent's contract amendment, independent contractor agreement, and related legal issues.

126>> Okay. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. Member Todd. >> Madam President, I'd first like to ask some questions. I'm not really unsure what legal advice we need on this. The contract was put before us. We're not not looking anything. I think in the eyes of transparency, as many times as this contract has come back forward, we just keep rewriting it or I don't even know what what you guys are trying to do. I got a good idea, but um I'm against this going into executive session. I think this should be held right in the public. >> Can I um >> Yes, go for it. >> Did the attorney suggest that we do this in executive session? >> Yes.

127>> Thank you. Okay. Well, we have a motion and a second that we can vote. >> Member Todd, >> I'll be voting no. >> Okay. >> Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Sarini. >> Hi. >> I'm also an I. We'll show that passed 3 to 1 and we will enter executive session at 7:30 p.m. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Happy man. I want to heat. Heat. Heat. A little baby. Hey, I want to know. Heat. Heat. Heat. All right. Dr. Here again. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. down. Heat. Beauty. Down. I want you. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. I want to see. See you. Hey, Heat. Heat. pepper. Heat. Hey, hey,

128hey. Oh, hey. I'm going to Keep it up. Down. Heat. Heat. N. Are you Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey. Heat. Heat. I think John Heat. Heat. Baby, Lou. Hey, Hey, hey, hey. I told you. I feel I want to be Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Down. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, skip it. Jesus. All right, we can um sorry that was very loud. Um agenda item 8.2, two, we can reconvene the regular meeting at 8:33 p.m. And then moving on to agenda item 8.3, governing board will discuss and consider action to approve an amendment to the employment contract for superintendent uh Dr. Bridget Dooy Mishment. Yes, please. I make a motion to approve the amendment to the employment contract for Superintendent Dr. Bridget Dooy with the change to

129paragraph 10 to read, "The district shall reimburse the superintendent up to $2,400 per fiscal year for her discretionary use to pay for expenses incurred while performing the civic responsibilities associated with her position incurred while performing the civic responsibilities associated with her position. District shall reimburse superintendent upon submission of receipts or civic expenses. Upon submission of receipts for civic expenses, >> President Schmidt, >> yes. >> Can I please read the motion? >> Yes, please. >> The motion will read, "Motion to approve an amendment to the employment contract for Superintendent Dr. Bridget Duzy with the change to paragraph 10 to read. The district shall reimburse the superintendent up to $2,400 per fiscal year for her discretion >> discretionary okay use to pay for expenses incurred while performing the civic responsibilities associated with her position. District shall reimburse

130superintendent upon upon submission of receipts for civic expenses. >> That is correct. >> Thank you. Thank you. Right. We have a motion. We have a second. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. Um board member Todd. >> No. >> Members Zimmerman >> I. >> Vice President. >> I'm also an I. We'll show that it passed 3 to one. Agenda item 8.4. The governing board will discuss and consider action to approve the independent contractor agreement for Dr. Bridget Dusi. Uh, okay. I make a motion to approve the independent contractor agreement for Dr. Bridget Ducey with the change to paragraph number one adding the date April 30th, 2026. Change to paragraph five to for the date to read April 30th, 2026. and the change to paragraph 11

131to remove the interim superintendent and the words if possible. >> President Schmidt. >> Yes. >> May I please read the motion? >> Yes, please. The motion will read, "Motion to approve the independent contract contractor agreement, excuse me, for Dr. Bridget Dooy with the change to paragraph 1, adding the date April 30th, 2026. Change to paragraph 5 for the date to read April 30th, 2026. And change paragraph 11 to remove the interim superintendent and the words if possible." >> Yes, that's correct. And just for clarity, in paragraph one, we're adding the date April 30th to both places where it is currently blank. In paragraph number one, do you want me to add to both places? Sure. Okay. So it will read motion to approve the independent contractor agreement for Dr. Bridget Ducey with the change to

132paragraph one adding the date April 30th 2026 in both places. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. All right. We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. >> Madam President, I have many questions, discussion. All right, go for it. >> Hey, looking at this, it's my understanding that there was an RFQ released by the district for this. Correct. Miss O'Brien is going to come to speak. Madame President, um members of the board, Mr. Todd, I believe the district obtained three quotes as required um by the procurement code. >> As I'm looking at my emails, there was a RFQ that was sent out that had a close date of what? >> I don't have a copy. And neither do any

133of the board members. So, I'd like to know how you obtained the emails. >> They were handed to me >> by who? >> That's not important. I have >> Oh, it is important because the board is entitled to all the same information. >> They're public records, so ask for them. >> Um, we don't just get to ask for random emails. That's not how this works. So, I'd like to know who at the district handed you the emails. >> They're public records. >> Did you request them through a foyer? >> I don't have to request through a foyer. I can request through staff. >> I'm sorry. I don't believe that that is uh correct. >> It is absolutely correct. It's part of us being educated on what's happening here just like any other document we request

134>> and it is required that the board be given all the same information. So the staff member that gave you those documents needed to give them to every single board member then because if you notice when we get an email from somebody when a board member asks a question it's sent to all the board members. >> I think you're a little off topic. >> I'm asking we sent out an RFQ. Okay. We know we sent out an RFQ. We're well aware of that. We're >> not trying to find out who authorized that RFQ to be sent out. Did our interim superintendent >> the president appoint order? I think the information he's sharing is not I guess the word is legal. Um because he obtained it incorrectly. >> That's not correct. >> So it doesn't need

135to be shared. >> That's that's not correct. >> So you did request your information. >> I can ask staff to provide copies of this stuff. It's also available publicly. You can get it from the people who got this RF this >> show everybody. My word is so if it's public record and we don't need to fill out a foyer. We could just pull the cameras right now and see who left the files for you. Then we'll know who gave you that information. >> The envelopes that I carried in in my bag. >> It was on the desk >> ones that are on the table. >> That had nothing to do with it. These this one is there. >> Okay. So if it's >> The point remains I'm asking questions. We issued an RFQ. >> No

136reason to get loud. You're the one. We don't have to do a foyer. And then you're you're saying you got emails from people. Are they directly from you into that? >> What if they came from a vendor? >> Did they? Yes. >> How? >> Cuz they called me and asked and said we got >> and share them with us. >> I don't have to share them with >> because you do. >> Oh, you can get >> Okay, >> Madam President. Yes, I'm just wanting to make sure that we comply with the >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Please. >> Again, we issued an RFQ. There was a date on that RFQ of a close date of May 5th. We closed it early. We also issued a purchase order to somebody with our signer's name on

137it. Mr. Young, were you aware that your name was on the purchase order for this already? >> Madam President, members of the board, as an authorized signer, my name's on all the POS. So, >> right. But it's just electronically added there. >> Correct. >> I want to know legal before we assign this. I'm asking questions. Who authorized the RFQ? who authorized to close the RFQ early after we said May 5th. Why don't we have copies of all of the responses because I don't have them. >> Madame President, >> we have a a person. >> Yes, Mr. O'Brien. >> Um Madame President, Mr. Todd. Um, I after the concerns that were raised about pro procurement compliance at the last board meeting, I worked with business services staff members and provided them with advice to obtain the

138three quotes because um the total cost for the services um may exceed $10,000. So, I I was not copied on every email that went out with business services. Um but my understanding is that they received the three quotes on April 29th, 2026. Um with regard to the purchase order that was issued, I advised um business services to cancel that until the board approved this agreement. >> Thank you. >> So we have somebody who is put in for this position. They've been given full access to a district email, to district resources, and I think we're treading on some very dangerous, very dangerous territory to award a contract to one person who was given more access than anybody else. I also think that this person is under contract still with Lichfield. As of earlier today, they were.

139And it's very clear from my understanding in statute that talks that you can't be under contract under two under two districts at the same time. So how do we have a contract with somebody? Secondly, as we read this, it talks very specifically that this person shall be solely responsible for the timing, location, and process of providing the services. We have no control over this. It could be an hour a day. It could be less than that except for set forth the district shall not control providers hours which will be set by provider in provider sole discretion. Seems very peculiar and not very transparent that we allow that to happen. We there are so many things in this that I have problems with. It's again before we issue an RF a contract for consulting services, we

140need to make sure that it was properly authorized. Need to find out who decided to cancel it early because somebody replied and that vendor called to say they told closed it, but it said May 5th. So, who made that decision? It seems very peculiar. Um, have we seen the copies of everybody that did respond to it? Are we sure that we're getting the most efficient bid? Who decided that this was the person that we were going with? What staff decided that? Because otherwise, I don't think that we've properly vetted the the responses. So, what staff was involved in determining that this is who is going to be issued this consulting services agreement? Is that is that a question for me >> for any I guess anybody that wants to answer it maybe who knows I

141don't know who who can answer it >> what staff that's the simple question what staff decided to close the the response period early and what staff decided that this was the way to go when we don't even know if we have anything a better offer out a a better response. We we know nothing in this. Usually when you have something awarded, it says staff recommends staff has reviewed all con all responses that didn't happen and nobody can step forward and say it was this group that did it. So how are we at this point now where that happens? Secondly, throughout this, it talks about meeting with the board president. There was a time not so long ago that this board would have a fit that the president was getting involved in that direction. Now all

142of a sudden it seems to be fine. >> We also directed that the last superintendent had to talk to you. So you were also the president at that time. So that's not unusual >> to communicate. But this isn't awarding contracts. This isn't doing any of the stuff that seems to be happening here. But again, let's go back to who who authorized the RFQ, who authorized it to close early after we said May 5th, and who uh and where are the copies of all the responses so that we can see what this is because we don't even have a staff member recommending this. It's just on the agenda. >> Okay. So, can I just ask a question? Um because one of the expectations is that you send your questions ahead of time so that the staff

143can be prepared to answer them. So, did you send these questions? asked the questions and I've been told by the superintendent I knew nothing about this, the interim superintendent at the time. I was not a part of this. >> Well, >> so I'm trying to figure out who was because I asked, well, who was Well, I can't quite get an answer on that. Madame President, board members, if I could, um it is very common for um a new superintendent to spend some time ramping up with the district that they're about to come in and lead. Um so I will say in the last five or so years, um my office and my partners have probably drafted 20 of these similar independent contractor agreements. And that's to really help with the seamless transition. the time of

144the year is really critical, right, as as you're um bringing a new superintendent on board. Um so this is common. There's no conflict with um the superintendent's current um legal obligations under the contract and um also performing um these independent contractor duties. Um the incoming superintendent would take leave um from her other job and um come work at the district. So there's no legal problem with um both um things happening at the same time. Um I was not I I spoke with business services about obtaining the three quotes. I wasn't copied on kind of the day-to-day correspondence on how they were doing that. So I can't answer any of those other questions. >> And those are questions we need to have answered to make sure that we've done this properly because you can't vote on

145something that could potentially be illegal. And we we don't have any answers to say that this RFQ was published properly, was handled properly. Who chose this person? Who chose this person that we're supposed to award a contract to? >> Madame President, >> yes, please >> call for the vote. >> Okay. All right. Vote has been called for. Member Todd, >> no. >> Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Serenion. >> I'm also an I. We'll show that pass 3 to one. Okay. Moving on to agenda item 8.5. Discussion consideration to approve fiscal year 2526 annual expenditure budget revision number two. So we've already had the presentation on this and questions were asked. Are there any additional questions at this time? I I just have one. It goes back to a lot of the other updates we

146had about like encumbrance and and if you already answered, I'm sorry, but with encumbrance and then the open positions. So, when you calculated it because you said you started off, did you account for all those open positions as if we were going to fill them or did you say we're not going to fill them? >> My bad. >> Vision for this year. >> Sorry. Sorry. >> Hold that question for the next agenda item. Um, it's okay. Are there questions for this agenda item before we take a vote or get a motion? Okay. Would somebody like to make a motion? >> I make a motion to approve the fiscal year 2526 annual expenditure budget revision number two. Okay. Second. >> Yep. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. Member

147Todd >> I. >> Member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Sarini. Hi. >> I'm also an I. We'll show that. That passed 40. >> All right. Now we're moving on to 8.6 discussion of projected revenues and expenses for FY2627. And this is Mr. Hagerty again. I think I have to take it out of here to make it work right. Anyway, uh good evening again, Madam President, members of the board, fellow employees, and honored guests. Uh I'm going to go through where we stand based on what I could analyze for the current year and then make projections for the new year. I think we have uh there we go objectives of the of this for this evening. So let's look where we are uh the steps I took to get there and then making the projections based

148on what we know at a point in time. Obviously the state is not done with its budget. So uh no matter what we have there are opportunities and also potential uh items going the other way but uh we'll talk about those. there's possibilities and probabilities and sometimes those are really far apart. Uh then we'll go through the next steps that we expect to see and then a budget timeline. You've seen it already, but we'll do it again just because I think it's really important to stay on top of where we are with the budget. So, we'll start off with where we went this year. And uh I know you question about the uh how how we dealt with some of the vacancy positions. And I'll I'll show you on a spreadsheet here. Uh I did

149a line item. I've got a whole ton of backup data to this that I had to distill down into these for presentation purposes, but we'll go through whatever whatever you need to see. So, when I looked at the potential budget opportunities for the current year, I started also looking at where can we glean extra budget capacity. The first thing I grabbed was that uh APS uh we got two checks from APS that were deposited into the M fund. Uh based on your action tonight, we've moved those into a donation appropriately. Now we have the ability to spend that because we could not have spent that money in M. So that added money that was available for us. And the next thing is I started looking at our interest. I found actually, believe it or not,

150negative interest for three years in our capital fund and it's got to do with how we post revenues and when we post revenues between M and capital and I believe we have the opportunity to go back and recover from those the two prior years and the current year over $200,000 in interest that adds capacity to our capital budget. So, uh that's one I'm going to be working on. Also, uh the year 24 is going to be really critical because you can only go back two years and life as we know it ends every June 30th. So that means I can't go back to 24 after June 30th. So this is going to be a priority. I will get that to the the state with a request. It's called a 915 915. It's a uh Arizona

151state. Excuse me. See the later I get the more my voice fades and unfortunately my brain too. Um but the 15915 that's an article in the statute um that allows us to go back into prior years. We file that with the state and the state opens the system back up and we can then restate those prior year numbers. So basically I'm rebuilding financial data from two years ago at this point. So that's why it takes such an investment of time and then when I'm done with that and they accept it then I can roll into the fiscal year 25 because that'll affect the balance forwards going into the following year. It'll also affect all the interest calculations in that subsequent year. And the same would be true for the current year. So I got to

152build it sequentially. And again, think of this as one-time money because that's what it is. But it's interest that's coming in. It's how it got to do with how we post our revenues and split it between M and capital. The other thing we're doing is we're analyzing our our accounting records to make sure as we're posting revenues, miscellaneous revenues and things of that nature that they are going into the proper fund because as I mentioned before, the M budget is is driven by formula. If you get extra money in there and you you can't spend it, you can put cash in there, but you cannot spend it. So, it's most important to get the cash into the funds, appropriate funds, so you can create that budget capacity. So um some of the things I observed

153as I was looking at the prior year data uh onetime impact for the current year uh severance pay for uh a superintendent that we had this year $111,000. I looked back in the prior two years so over the last three years we've had severance payouts for superintendents of $325,000. Um, so that that that again I'm looking for anomalies and I'm also looking for one-time things because these are things that we shouldn't see going forward. Um, so I that's why I put it up here. The other thing is I noticed that we had uh our uh casualty and liability insurance. We moved $350,000 in the prior year into other funds. Now those funds could take those expenses, but it helped build up the the carryover in the M fund. But this year, right now, we're pushing

154about a $500,000 M carryover after your action today to adopt this budget because your your revised budget is going to go from a 400,000 carryover to 500,000 based on those numbers. But right now, we are taking the entire 622 out of M. So that's a good thing. That means we've made other changes to be able to accommodate that within the M budget. So that's where I am for the current year. So we have opportunities. It's going to take some real digging. It's going to take some uh agreement by state officials. Uh I've done it in some other districts. It's been successful. Hopefully, we can get the same result here. That's what I'm looking forward to. Anyway, now uh as we project into the new year, again, we we don't have anything solid, but some of

155the things that we do know in both the legislative and governor budget is a 2% increase to the base funding level. That should raise about $642,000 right there. Now, because we have an active 10% M override, we'll get another 10% on top. So, we'll take that, too. Um, we have two competing presentations on our enrollment. You received one from staff here, by the way. Both were um uh good presentations. The one we have done by staff was simply rolling over our cohort movement and then adding Kinder at the same level. That's always a really good start, but it does not do a regression analysis on other variables. We had a consultant come in that presented to this board that said, "By the way, I did do that regression analysis and I believe you're going to

156grow by 108. I'm looking at both of these and given that our current year did not go up as much as expected last time uh for the current year 26 256, I went ahead and kind of uh split the the baby on this one. I said, I believe we're going to grow because we've got the growth out there. I believe our demographer did a great job identifying what that looked like. It's just it may not be quite 108 that he was looking at. So I came down to 45 and when I weighted it in the ADM formula, it comes up with 41. That's $266,000. We should be able to add to the budget. Again, ongoing revenues. Our classroom site fund also went up from 842 per excuse me, per pupil up to 883. That should

157generate another $186,000. The other issue we have is our if you looked on page seven of our budget at the very bottom, we have some one-time monies that have come in. And this year, you can see these numbers. They called them one-time. The governor put some of these back into her budget. The legislature did not. The other thing that's missing is the Prop 123 uh money that was in the prior year budget. I believe we're going to get something because I think the governor and the and the legislature are just have to get together and compromise on some of this. But I for just to be conservative, I took it out of the budget. I said we're not getting this money. We got it this year. I'm saying we're not getting it next year based

158on what I'm doing right now. And we still have the opportunity to get more. The possibility is there. As a matter of fact, when you talk about probability, I think in in that realm, we're going to get something. I just couldn't quantify it at this point in time. So, we're being real conservative in these estimates. When you add those all up, our net incremental ongoing revenues is about 611,000. That's the what we when we add and subtract all those numbers. And then the other numbers were onetime potential revenues and that's that uh donation from APS and the three years of interest. I believe that we can recapture if um depending on how those numbers go. We it could actually go up a little bit from that as long as as long as we get the

159state to agree with us. And I believe they will. I look at these when you look at one-time monies as your safety net. You know, we have to make a lot of assumptions based on data we have at a point in time. But you also have to say what's going to happen if some of these things don't happen for us. Well, there's your safety net right there. We get this money in the bank. Then we have a place we can go to and rely on if something blows up on us. We got someplace to go. We've got bridge money. Bridge uses over the tough time. The next thing would be to look at the incremental expenses. So, uh, we the board's already approved a 2% salary increase. I only took into consideration what we're charging

160to M and the classroom site fund. That's at $537,000. That includes the benefit rollup cost as well. Of that, uh, 225,000 would be coming out of M. The rest would be coming out of the classroom site fund for our teaching staff. So, the classroom site fund is going to be even with the incremental increase it's going to get is going to go down a little bit, but that fund has $3.2 million of carry forward in it. We're in a really good place. We can maintain this on into the future for a period of time and uh and not bat an eye and we know things change over time. Uh the next thing is the medical insurance almost $178,000 of that. M will take $173,000 hit on it and the classroom site fund another400. Uh the

161casualty and liability insurance we got their estimate or their proposal moving forward 78,771 going up that's 11.8% increase kind of steep but I also looked at the components of it and the largest component was prepaid legal and that prepaid legal was more than half of the entire increase. Uh so when you look at that, well those go up because of usage. So I guess in in certain terms you could say we're kind of a frequent flyer in this area utilizing those services. The uh next thing is I looked at um positions that um were not filled but will be filled in the future. So I did plug in 150,000 for an assistant soup position that was not filled this year that we're anticipating doing that for next year. And then we had some other positions

162that had vacancy savings. Vacancy savings are we budget for a position. Somebody's in, somebody's out. We may use consulting services for a period of time. And I put 75,000 in there as a placeholder because I didn't go line by line, unit by unit, piece by piece because I wasn't even sure all these things were coming back and when they would come back. But I do believe we need to recognize it's going to happen. So I plugged in 75,000 to recognize that. The other is we're going to have an increase in diesel fuel. We don't know what that is yet. If you can tell me when the straight or her muso puts up, I'll tell you what the number's going to be. Um, but right now, the bottom line is we know the fuel costs are

163going up and it is going to impact us. So, I put a $25,000 placeholder in there to recognize that's going to be happening. Now, the board's already taken some action here. What they've done, and you've done in your in prior meetings, you have reduced uh four FTE teaching positions for 288,000. That was done in the April uh 13th meeting. um put on the agenda and approved a $60,000 removal of June benefits, but we're pending legal advice. I have not heard back on that one yet. And then the other thing that was discussed but not decided was eliminating an H a health savings account incentive and that's 80 86,250. And to show you what that is just to give it better definition, if you this is the these are the medical numbers for next year. Now,

164when you take the silver plan, the value silver plan, we're going to be paying $9,240. The first level HDHP, the high uh deductible health plan, plan A, we're going to pay $85.62. And if we go to the plan C, which is a higher deductible on it, 7962. As a district, we true those up. In other words, we pay the same for every employee. So, we put as a contribution to each employees health savings account the delta on those. So, if you pick plan A, we're going to give you $678 into your health savings account. And then if you pick plan C, it'll be $1,278. But we have taken that a step further because well I'm not sure exactly because I wasn't here but I'm assuming the incentive was added because when you introduce these kinds

165of plans that you want to make sure because it those uh those plans are typically better utilized that by people that really take care of and monitor their own health. Uh but given them incentive to move into it because it's scary when you walk into a high high deductible plan. But doing it initially makes a lot of sense in this situation. you usually stop it once you get people in. And that's what this does. So what this is showing you is that all of those people that are in those plans get an additional $750 into their HSA. So when you look at across the board, what are we paying for employees? We are actually paying more for the high deductible plans. So that's why it's on here. I think you guys had that discussion. You

166guys, the board had that discussion in a prior meeting, but no decision was made. But I just wanted to make sure there was clarity on what that is. is we're not getting rid of all of the district contribution for HSA, only those that are over and above the values that are being assigned to the value server plan. I'm going to stop there for a second. I want to make sure we're is does anybody have any questions on that? Okay. So, when you add up all the revenues and expenses in the M uh that are projected, we should gain about 130,000. uh the classroom site fund again we'll lose about 131,000 but given that beginning cash balance in the current year of the budget capacity uh we can go 25 years at this level and not

167run out we're in a pretty good spot so I think we need to tap into this especially as we move forward uh making sure our teachers uh get properly compensated next steps um you've got the HSA incentive on the on the board agenda to approve there are al alternatives you don't have to take the whole thing if you You can, but if you choose not to, you could phase it out over time. Also, you could make a motion to say, "Hey, we'll knock it down by 250 a year for the next three years." Uh, you could take half and half or you could take the whole thing. Up to the board discretion. My analysis is showing that it all goes out right now. But again, we can always adjust that. The these numbers are flexible

168based upon decisions that get made by the board. And the other thing which I think is very very very important is that we get those staff work agreements out. our classified staff need to know that uh we're supporting them and that uh they got a place to come to work when we start the new year and getting those out I think is really important. Uh like I said, here are our numbers. Again, I don't want to beat the dead horse too much, but I'll beat it a little bit. We do need to make sure that we get our proposed budget, adopted budget in the next couple of months, our annual financial report, and our revisions. So, with that, I will stand for questions. >> Thank you. questions from the board. >> Uh, Miss Schmidt. >>

169Yes, please. >> Okay. If we could go uh first, thank you so much. I should say thank you so much for the presentation. Um, I think it's going to be a relief to the board and uh to the public that, you know, we are not in a position that maybe we originally thought we were. So, thank you for the work that you've done to kind of help us get to this point. Um, the 2% increase to the base funding, it's on slide five, just so that everybody knows where I'm at. Um, oh, maybe sorry. Um, maybe one more. Okay. >> Sorry. I don't know. >> Those are revenues. >> Um, I'm looking for projections for the um salary increase. Okay, >> it's ongoing incremental revenues that >> you're going to revenues. My apologies. >> Not

170>> one down. >> That one. Is that the one? >> Yes. >> Base funding, not Okay. I was I was thinking salaries. My apologies. >> Is the the 2% increase to base funding, is that dependent on the legislature um passing the budget? like um is that do they have to include that or is that uh like an automatic? >> Well, it's actually statutoily driven because we do have they they are required uh to make it um whatever inflation is or 2% whichever is less. So if it's more than 2% inflation then we still get 2%. If it's less then we get whatever the less number is. We know it's clearly over 2%. So they this is in both the legislative and the governor budget because it is required statutoily. >> Okay. So it's like a

171for sure we're going to get that money. >> I think we can pretty much guarantee that's happening. >> Okay. >> It's in both their budgets too. So there's nothing to negotiate there. >> Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Um yeah I um you know I think this was just you know like I said just uh in a better position. I still, you know, think that there are always ways that we can, you know, refine our efficiencies and things that, you know, the board and the new superintendent can look at in the future, but in order for us to move forward and be able to issue contracts, I think this is, you know, great information and super helpful. Um, you know, and I think transparently it's important, you know, for the board and the public to see, you know,

172over the last couple years where those kind of like oneoff purchases and things that have impacted the budget, like the severance payouts and things like that, like that is impacting, you know, um, our budget. And so, you know, hopefully that is done right and we can move forward. Um but um you know I just uh again I really appreciate this and uh grateful that we're in a better position than we thought we were. Thank you for that. And if I could add you know we're we're in a good spot. We're basically at a break even revenues and expenses but we've also got more backup money in here. So uh we we know projections are what they are. Things can change but at least we are situated to be able to address them. Any other questions?

173I would also like to thank you for putting this together and explaining it in such a clear way so we know exactly where we are. Um, I see heads nodding. So, I'm not the only one who thought that it was it was like finally laid out in a way that just makes sense and and walked us through it so so well. Um, and you know, we have to know where the money is going. so we know what to do and what we can fix. So laying out the places where maybe wasn't the best spent, we need to know that as well moving forward. So I appreciate all of that. Um, and I really did uh appreciate your um uh clearing up the HSA incentive piece because I think when it came up initially before the

174board, it was I was concerned that we were removing their HSA contribution entirely, which is why people use the high deductible plan in the first place, right? they know that they're paying less, but they do get some money from their employer to cover their bills when they have to go because you get a larger bill. Um, but to realize that we were already making sure everyone was getting the same amount of benefit coverage cost for us, the 9240, and then we were giving an additional 750. So, these individuals taking those plans are actually getting $750 more than the individual that takes the value silver plan, the other the other employee. Um, was just very clarifying for me. And I think I'm sure that the public also when we talked about it was like, "Oh my

175gosh, you're going to take that away." But didn't realize that we were already giving them, you know, I mean, a significant amount more than than the the person who takes the value silver. So, I think that's just helping make decisions and knowing how we're potentially impacting employees. So, thank you. Anybody else? All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Hagerty. Um, we can move on to agenda item 8.7, discussion consideration of the elimination of the supplementary supplementary HSA contribution provided by the district. Um, any comments or questions about this? Or are we ready to make a motion on this one? >> Oh, sorry. We're waiting one second. You're okay. Oh, thank you for that. Okay. comments, questions, ready to make a motion. >> Um, can we just have a little discussion? Of course. Okay. Um, you

176know, when I saw this presented, um, you know, I am always looking at how it's going to impact our employees, right? Um, and, um, you know, I'm grateful that we were able to give them the 2%. But, you know, I kind of like the idea of maybe not taking it all away initially, especially based on, you know, your projection that there is a little bit. Um, but, you know, I'm open to having a discussion about what uh the rest of the board thinks and maybe, you know, I kind of like the idea of phasing it down because again, we're kind of doing it late in the game, right? And not to anybody's fault, but that's just where we are in the budget process. Um, but I would also be okay with the understanding that essentially

177they are getting more money than our other employees. So I can also respect that maybe it it is time to to do that. So >> if I may, Madam President, um, one element that I forgot to bring up is that that 750 was not we're in open enrollment right now. It not included in any of the material that went out to employees. Uh but again, if I'm getting something, whether I see it in the open enroll or not, I still may assume I'm getting it. So, you know, you can see both sides of that. But I will tell you because there was no decision made, uh human resources said we're just not putting it in there at this point because we're not going to promise something if it's going to go away. >> Yeah, thank

178you. I was um that was going to be my question if it had been promised to employees for this year um in in the benefit packages. So, I do I do understand where you're coming from and that, you know, it it's a significant amount of money that would that they got last year and, you know, might just assume is also going to come again next year because they're in the same plans and it's going to be the same thing. Um, and to just pull the whole thing at once could be, you know, I mean, pretty shocking to certain families. Um, and then I also look at the like, but are we being equitable and actually equal to all of our employees because the ones taking the value silver plan are actually getting less paid out

179by the district than the others. Um, so I see both sides of it. It's it's one of those where I you know so maybe maybe the compromise the split the difference is to phase it out over two years take half away this year and then next year it's just gone um so that it's not a whole thing but we're we're trying to move toward being equal for all of our employees. I don't I don't know >> person >> yeah go ahead. >> So I'll be that person. I'm okay with it going away only because we didn't prompt it to anybody this year and the intent of it was to get people to switch and so if they did that switch already then that's not what that money was for again it just to keep getting

180it every year. >> Understood. All right. I will open it up for a motion if anybody has one. Okay. >> Motion to approve the elimination of the HSA contribution. >> All right. We have a motion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. We'll take our vote. Um, member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Members. >> I'm also an I. We will show that that pass three to zero. Yes, ma'am. 8.7. Oh. No. Okay. Thank you. 30. Yep. Thank you. All right. Moving on to agenda. >> Sorry, M. Real quick, go ahead. >> Just make sure because I because I thought I heard the motion and many of you may have to help me with this that eliminating the HSA contribution. Yes. >> I just want to make

181sure it is that it's the supplemental portion if I if I could get that clarification if that's okay. You know what I'm saying? It's just because we're still going to do the other HSA. >> Yes. >> But which is an HSA contribution, but this will be the supplemental one. So the incentive part. >> Yes. >> I think when I made the motion, I was talking about the $750. >> Yes. Yep. >> Wanted to make sure the intent was the I knew what the intent was, but I just wanted to make sure the minutes reflected. >> Yes. Thank you. Yes, definitely. Okay. Um, agenda item 8.8, approve the issuance of support staff contract uh/work agreements for FY2627. Do we have any questions from board members on this? I think we've seen these a few times and

182can I just make a quick comment? >> Yes, please. >> Um, I just want to thank these employees who I know have been anxious to receive these and um, you know, just want them to know that we appreciate them and that, you know, I'm grateful that we're able to do this tonight. Um, and I know that, you know, it's been difficult to wait. So, I just want to acknowledge that that has been difficult. So with that, I will make a motion to approve the issue is issuance of support staff contractwork agreements for FY2627. >> All right, we have a motion. Do we have a second? >> I second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. We will take a vote. Are you ready, Miss Kama? Um, member Zimmerman. >> I. >> Member Sarini.

183I >> I'm also an I. We will show that that pass three to zero. Again, thank you to the support staff for hanging in there with us. Agenda Agenda item 8.9, discussion consideration of student extracurricular activity fees for FY2627. Um, are there any questions about this agenda item? So, just to just to note, there were no changes to the schedule from the current year with the exception of the family maximum per school um not including extracurricular field trips and it was on an earlier agenda and I actually asked for it to be cleared up a little bit. There was a few places where it was the wording was slightly confusing and I when I was reading it I wasn't sure what I would have been paying. So I assume that there were also other parents

184who might have felt the same way and so they took it back and just cleaned up the wording um and made it pretty clear I think now but otherwise it's the same as it has been in previous years. Um just for transparency for everybody. Uh, Miss Schmidt. >> Yes, please. >> So, um, my only thing is these, um, extracurricular field trips, and I I know it's later and so our principles left. Um, and so it's it's these like bigger eighth grade field trips. And I'm only bringing this up because I, you know, there's there's a question as like inflation happens and fuel costs go up, like does that number, you know, need to go up in order for us to be able to take the field trips, right? I'm just going to use like uh

185several of our schools, at least three of them go to Catalina, right? and we like rent a bus and the fuel and the fuel for the ferry and things like that. So, it's exactly the same as last year. And so, my concern is if >> because we're sending the letter out to, you know, we have to let the parents preview it has to come back before us. Um, do you think that we should up it by $50, let's say, just to cover it because it's an annual >> approval? President, >> go ahead, please. I >> understand completely what you're saying. I think the only thing that covers though, it says other fees may be charged pursuing student determined on the exact cost right after the field trip. it on. >> Yeah, on the next page

186where it says I was looking at that and wondering the same if that would cover the other fees may be charged per student to determine to be determined based on exact cost of costumes, supplies, and then it says entrance fees, transportation, etc. So, I wonder if that's like a wiggle room or not. I don't know. But it also I could I would also agree to change the number. I think that's fine because if you up the limit, it it just gives the everybody more ability to do to work within the number. It doesn't say you have to go to the max. It just says this is the max. So I think yeah, >> I just know that last year this was like a big point of discussion. This this maximum field trip number. I feel

187like we talked about it for a very long time unnecessarily. Um, and I just don't know if when you go to pay for it if you'd have to like separate out the transportation costs. >> I understand what you're saying. I think that just changing the max and increasing it is fine. Cuz again, nothing says that you have to pay up to the max. It just says that this is the most we'll be able to to charge you. And and as you're saying, if we limit ourselves at 550, but it really costs $650 per student, well, we can't charge them more than 550. So now that extra $100 is being picked up by the the district, and we can't really we can't really afford to do that either, right? Consistently for every student. So I think

188for our own purposes, we should um move it. >> President Schmidt, can I please say something? Oh, yes, please. and board members. Um I know when I was at um at at at Estraa, that's exactly why um you know, Caitlyn the accountant, that's exactly why the fifth bullet point was added in case you do go over the 550. But I do understand if you make it, you know, a dollar to 600 or, you know, whatever the board sees fit, but that's exactly why the fifth bullet was added. >> Okay. I I mean I don't think there's any harm in increasing the extracurricular field trip high-end limit and then still having that other bullet point for um I'm guessing that's probably used more on the not big ticket trips, but um you know it's there just

189in case. But I would be fine with I mean I would be fine probably with adjusting it up even more than $50 if we wanted to, but I'm fine with 50 as well. So, I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the student activity extracurricular fees for fiscal year with the change to extracurricular field trips from 1 to $600 and authorize distribution of the parent letter with the change. >> Second. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. We'll take a vote. Members Zimmerman >> I. >> Members. >> I'm also an I. We'll show that pass three to zero. >> Agenda item 8.10. discussion consideration to approve Miss Anita Pcell as the executive director of business services. Um, so I don't know if anybody is going to speak to this, but um, our

190summary is that district administration recommends approval of Miss Anita Purscell for the position of executive director of business services for the 2627 school year. Um, she'll be provided salary and benefit package commensurate with her position, educational background, and experience. A thorough selection process was carried out, including interviews conducted by a panel of district stakeholders. And she would be starting with an effective date of July 1st, 2026. Any questions from board members? I don't know if we can get the answers, but we will try. >> Just a comment. Um just really excited to see somebody with experience in the CFO position come before us and um you know just looking forward to you know moving the district forward with some financial stability. >> Yeah, I second that. >> So I'll go ahead and make a motion

191to approve Miss Anita PCEL as the executive director of business services for the 2627 school year. >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. We can take a vote. Member Zimmerman >> I. >> Member Sarion >> I'm also an I. We will show that that pass 30. Welcome. >> Welcome, >> Miss Purcell. Thank you for being here with us tonight. And uh I think we're all very excited um to have you. I'm I mean the floor is open. If you want to say something, go for it. Either way, any microphone you want to find. >> So, I say good evening um madam president, governing board members, staff and like of course I talk loud anyway. So, no, I just want to thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm very excited

192to come join the team and I do come my whole career has been in school finance and public schools. I've been a public servant for my whole career. So, I'm very excited about um joining our our new superintendent and um just serving our community here. So, I'm very excited and I'm ready. I'm very number oriented. >> Probably helps probably helps in your position to be number oriented. >> I do come from majority of school finance. I do have some my current position at Talison Elementary doing over operations, but business is my passion. >> Yeah. And so I'm excited about this and I I like to do um presentations too. A lot of data driven. >> Very nice. Well, welcome so much. >> We're very excited. >> Welcome. Thank you so much. We are very excited

193to have you. Like a All right. Moving on to agenda agenda item 8.11. consideration to approve disposal auction of old primary and supplemental resources. Um, I don't know who's bringing this forward, so I will just read it. The district administration is recommending the disposal of old, unused primary and supplemental resources that are no longer on the approved resource list. Our first attempt to dispose of these items will be to auction them off as seen on the attached request for authorization to dispose. Um yeah, each item is listed and then yeah, so we don't really need all those extra details and they are there and you can read them if you would like them. But questions from anyone I make a motion to approve the disposal auction of old primary and supplemental resources. >> Second. All

194right, we have a motion and a second and we'll take a vote. Members Zimmerman >> I. >> Members >> I am also an I will show that pass three to zero. All right. 8 point. Agenda item 8.12 to consider, discuss, amend if desired, and if deemed advisable to adopt a resolution ordering and calling a special budget override election to be held in and for the district and declaring the deadline for submitting arguments for and against the election to the Maricopa County School Superintendent as August 7th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. We'll open this for discussion. Madam >> President, >> yes. I am against this at this time. Let's come out and say it. I I think I don't want to rush it because I think it's a lot more that goes into it as you know

195than trying to rush this. And I also want to show that we're good stewards of the money before we go and ask for extra money. And with the way the economy is right now and it hits everybody hard, I don't want to just go willy-nilly and rush into something. >> Mh. >> Yes, please. Okay. So, I'm gonna I'm gonna uh you know, use my experience um as the pack chair. So, in 2022, we had to the override had failed for several years and we had to phase it down. Okay. So, we had to run with it with the word increase, which makes it I think substantially harder than word um using the word continuation. And so overrides start to the last year you can get it before it phases down is year five in fis

196in FY or not FY November 26 would be year four if we went for it. And so typically districts go out in year four to give yourself two years to pass it before you um phase down because it's like a $3 million budget. So if we lose and it phases down in third so you'd lose like a million at a time. And for those of us that were here during that time, it was a very painful experience. And I think we all know now because we phased down a lot of the budget last year. Um, I completely hear what you're saying and I have thought and thought and thought about what we should do because I also know that a consultant would probably say you have to consider the the election year. And so this

197coming November is a year where people are going to be at the polls. Okay? So there's, you know, we're voting for the governor versus a mail-in ballot in an off year. And so you're going to have more people coming, you know, voting than when you have a mail-in ballot. And and sometimes that works to your advantage, right? Um and when you have a a mail-in ballot, you you're not getting as many, right? You're you really have to educate the community. not only do you have to get them to vote, but then you have to get them to mail it in and it just is more cumbersome. The year that we won it um you know was an actual election um with the word increase. So my fear with waiting this year and we only get

198one chance. We only get one chance to pass it in year five before it phases down. And as somebody who has gone through elections and lost them, right, that feels scary to have like all of our eggs in one basket. But I also know the way that this district has been in the news and and all of those things. And we do lack, you know, whether we want to admit or not, we lack trust in the community. Um, and I recognize that. And that is a tall order for our new superintendent. And as Miss Wool pointed out, there are very limited amount of days, you know. Um, but I also feel like do we do it and kind of see where we're at, right? But it is time consuming, right? And and it is an

199ask. So it if it it feels like a very big decision. Um but it for me I guess it feels really scary having run an election, have been the pack chair and have lost elections to to wait for it in year five. So that and I'm not I I don't disagree with anything that you said like I'm just stating the other side of it I guess. Yeah. This is it is a hard decision because I I think we all see both sides of this like that there has been so much turmoil that our view from from the public right now like how they view us is not great. So asking them to give us more money when they can turn around and say, "Well, you spent $325,000 paying out superintendents you decided to fire. Why

200should we give you more money?" And they're not wrong. And that's that's what makes this really hard. But the money that we would get from the override is impacting students, you know, but like to explain that that it really affects the actual classroom. And you know, we love the we just talked about the musicals that we got to see and the the you know, fine arts that the schools are doing and those are the things that are going to be first impacted because when we lose money, we're not getting rid of math and science and English, but we're getting rid of those other things. Like those are the stuff. And you know, we all know that and we can explain it to the public, but they're still going to ask why we spent $325,000 paying

201off superintendent. So, we're not in a great place, you know, and with Dr. doozy coming in in next year. Like I have high hopes for turning everything around, but like you said, waiting till next year and then if it doesn't pass in a mail-in year because you don't get as many people voting and the do the people who are voting are the older people who don't want to spend money on schools. They're the ones that are going to be sending in those mail and ballots, not your moms and dads of the students because we're all busy. And it it's just much harder. They're more likely to go vote at the polls for the governor this year, though. You get more people to show up that aren't just the retirement communities that don't want to pay

202money for schools cuz they don't have kids in schools anymore. So, it's all of these things that we have to weigh. And I will say that I was I was on the call with um the people from Stifel that came and spoke with us. And then we had we've had a couple of phone calls And they did talk about being able to run it as a continuation almost always turns out better than whenever you have to say an increase. So, you know, people already are paying it and truly it's not huge amounts of money, right? But it's it's more money. Um, and nobody wants to pay more money out even if it isn't a lot. But, um, being able to say we're just continuing what's already happening. nothing is actually going to change for you

203always goes better than saying well now we have to increase it you know so I I get it I do and if we do it this year and it fails at least we have another year to try before it does phase out because like like board member Zimmerman said if we lose like a million dollars from that that's huge that is a huge cut I mean that's a lot of Champ's teachers and things like that that we would be losing. I will say there we did we did also put on here just for all the options and and not that it is all the options because you can do any sort of override number that you want but we currently have a 10% override and that is historically what has passed in this district. Um,

204looking at the historical records, there were 15%s that we tried for and none of them have ever passed. And there were years where we tried for a 15 and it failed and the next year tried for 10 and that passed. But the 15 has never passed. But we did put the info on here for a 15. um you know, swing for the fences. But I the 15 has never passed in this in this district just for full information for everybody. >> And and to that point, I wouldn't I wouldn't want to go for a 15. I would only want to go for a 10. >> And the 15 would require us to then call it an increase. >> Yes. So yeah. So there's that that piece of it, too, because we are only at a

20510. But it was included. So I just wanted to share that we included it so that everybody could kind of get the full picture of what what was there. I I do think though that what has you know what a consultant would say is that you know knocking on doors like that face tof face interaction is the most important thing and that was always a struggle to get people to do and now we have people who know how to knock on doors that we did not have before. People I mean consultants like they would come to us and be like you have got to knock on the doors. You've got to get people to do it. And so >> because we have people in the district that have done that for different reasons, right? But

206that is a key skill that's hard to convince people to do. Yeah. >> And it is, you know, a consultant will die on that hill that the doors is the way to do it. um because it's making a personal connection um and and so I only bring that up because you know there is you know some sort of momentum and >> but it is key you know you know teachers have to participate there's you know the district is a is a big you know it's about 8,000 doors I think that you know we had um when I ran it so it's probably more than that now but Um, I just wonder if it if it could be a learning experience, you know, for if it doesn't pass, right, at least we have a pulse, right?

207How far are we from it? Are we 10 percentage points? because when when they ran the bond in 2023, it lost by the biggest margin that we had ever lost by in recent years for an override or a bond after I had just passed an increase in the override the year before. >> And so, and that was, you know, three years ago and a a lot has changed in the last three years. Um, I'm not sure that there's like a right decision unfortunately. I think but uh to my knowledge we have to make it tonight because we have to call for it by May 15th. That's correct. Right. >> Yes, I believe so. >> It's a very short time frame statutoily. Um, you actually have more time, but that doesn't work for the county because

208they've got so much they've got to do. So they've pushed the date back for them so they can process everything appropriately. So we're we're at the >> the short end of everything. And and if I could add just a little bit to make it more confusing. One >> one of the things that uh I've I've seen done where a district committed to an increase but they committed to a certain tax rate. In other words, we will not allow your tax rate to go above where it is today. So if that means I only get 1% next year on top. So instead of 10%, we go to 11. But I'm maintaining your tax rate. Why would we do that? Because you may have more of a tax base every year. You're adding homes and businesses to

209the tax roles that m that helps keep the tax that will help keep the tax rate down. So if you commit to a a flat tax rate for your override, you could then adjust how much you go into that extra money every year based upon where where it would impact that uh the taxes. So if the tax base goes up by a certain amount and you can take another percent, maybe one year it's 11%. Maybe the next year it's 13, but you commit to that rate uh and stick to it. You don't you may have the authority to go to 15 but you never go above what will impact the tax rate in an upward fashion. Just a thought that is confusing and I apologize for that but but I have uh seen that around

210and discussed that it's pretty rare but it's happened. >> Okay. So I have not heard that before. Um so would you run it as an increase though? you would have to run it as an increase with a caveat that your rate will not increase. So, if our tax base doesn't go up enough to get that next percent, you're at 10%. because you've committed as a board that we will not raise taxes above that 10% threshold um on the tax rate. But if the tax base goes up the following year, we've homes, we add businesses that the tax base goes up that the rate then can take uh will stay the same but it produce more revenues based upon now we're going to put in another 1% or 2%. But maintain the tax rate because the

211base is now higher. If that >> Yeah, that makes >> it makes sense. But on the ballot, is the word increase going to have to be there? >> I'm I'm suggesting yes, it absolutely has to be there. >> Okay, that's what I >> absolutely has to be there. But what I'm saying is a board could you could commit to >> it's going to be an increase, but your rate can be maintained based upon that strategy. >> It's tough. It's hard. It just it is confusing, too. And I was just going to say, well, it makes sense and we'd be committing to not costing people more essentially explaining that to somebody and getting them to understand it seems like, you know, trying to Yeah. No, it just because people already are confused about the override and

212thinking that they're paying, you know, this exorbitant amount of money when if you really look on your tax bill, it's like $60 a year for most houses in this district. Um, so really they don't even know it's there cuz it's the smallest thing that's coming off. Um, but nobody really understands that. They think it's this huge number. They think it's on it's based off of what they paid for their house, not you know, not the tax rate of the house and all of all of those kinds of things. So then trying to then explain the tax rate is not going to change, but like the money could change for us but not for you. I just feel like that's asking for more trouble. But that's just my thought. >> And and you're right, it is

213confusing. It is a little tough. I've been able to do that with bonds because bonds you don't issue bonds and how you structure the issuance itself over you know maybe it's over five years more now maybe it's over seven so that I can maintain the tax rate but that's I think a lot easier to say we're not going to raise your tax rate in bonds we'll issue them >> in a manner that will never increase your rate that's a lot different than saying oh now we're going to get more money yeah in the m so that's a tougher cell and I agree I agree >> all right any other thoughts Is anybody ready to make a motion? This is our last agenda item two. Somebody are we allowed to ask our inter incoming superintendent a

214question? And I just what's holding me back is knowing that it's like all in in one year and and that feels hard, right, to put on this entire district, right? We only get one shot at a continuation, >> but it also gives if we wait, it gives our superintendent an entire year to build those relationships. Um and and hopefully it will look really different. Um and I think I would feel better if the second year was a regular election, too. I think it's like the mail in is really hard. Um, since we have we're going to ask somebody, Mr. Hagerty, what's your feeling about the mail-in part of waiting till year five and it being a mail-in? >> I have done a lot of elections. >> Okay. >> And I agree that the mailin is

215probably your single toughest one to do in an off year. >> You find more people going to the polls typically. Again, it's not true in every single district, but typically when they're going to the polls uh in a in a regular election, you get more of a base. Not a base, but you get more of a spread in there of people coming out and I think it increases your odds. >> So, I've seen a lot of data thrown out there for districts statewide over the years, and it does look more favorable in an even numbered year. Now, some districts only go in presidential years because their base always votes that support school districts and so they have a really big success rate. But again, I'm not familiar. You guys are much more familiar than than

216I about this district. But generally speaking, even numbered years are the way to go because you get a lot more people out. The old the old rule is you'll never change a no vote, but you got that means you got to get out the yes vote. And how do you do that in a mail-in ballot year is very difficult. >> And you know, I will just say, you know, one of the things that the consultant always said to to the pack was that you know, you have to get the vote that you know you're going to get. So, like you have to target your registered voters and your registered voters are typically older voters. Like chasing a voter that's not even registered, you know, is like doubling your work. And so when I think about

217that and a mailin, that's that's what gives me a lot of pause. So, because of that, I'm going to make a motion to adopt a resolution ordering and calling a special 10% budget override election to be held and for the district and declaring the deadline for submitting arguments for and against the election to the Maricopa County School Superintendent as August 7th, 2026 at 5:00 pm. President Schmidt. >> Yes. >> Can you please repeat that? >> Yeah. Okay. So, okay. >> Okay. Sorry. Motion to adopt a resolution >> ordering and calling a special 10% budget override election. >> Okay. to be held in and for the district >> and declaring the deadline for submitting arguments for and against. >> Okay, hold on. I'm taking some of this out. >> District and declaring Hold on one moment.

218and declaring >> the deadline for submitting arguments >> for and against the election >> to the Maricopa County su school superintendent. >> Okay. >> As August 7th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. >> Okay. President, can I please repeat the motion? >> Yes, please. Motion to adopt a resolution ordering and calling a special 10% budget override election to be held in and for the district and declaring and declaring the deadline for submitting arguments for and against the election to the Maricopa County School Superintendent as August 7, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. >> Yes, that sounds correct. >> Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. We can take our vote. Member Zimmerman >> I. >> Member Sarion. >> No. >> Uh I am also an I will show that it passed two to one. All right.

2199.1 board comments or agenda topic requests. Commissionment. >> Yes. Um, I'd like to see um the the administration bring back um professional growth compensation and what that number, you know, bring us back a number to um or those employees who have completed professional growth because we froze that last year. Um, I think we it's just kind of a reminder to come back to stipens and in particular stipens that were paid by project momentum because we didn't approve all of them. Um, just again to, you know, start looking at the sped programming for the level D and the potentially level C where we are with that. Um, if we could just get an update, a board update about there was a discussion about tax credits going out and there was like this whole soul I don't

220know but the tax credits for the varene there was this whole it was a whole board agenda about like not sole procurement I can't think of the right word but did we ever soul source thank you like did we get the tax credits. Did we >> Oh. Oh, no. The electric buses. It was for the electric buses. Okay. So, anyway, if that could just be a board update, like whatever happened with any of it and then as we approach the um year, I think on the Verigy project, could we just get an update about, you know, potential savings and where we are with that? just a reminder to put them on the spreadsheet. And also um just to comment that we are working our way through the things on the spreadsheet. There have been things

221that have been um assigned out to different members of the district staff to try to get the information together to get it back for us. So um things are being worked on, not ignored. They're just, you know, we have to have somebody to do it. So that's where we are on those things that are already on that list. Um any other update anything? Okay. All right. Moving on to 10.1 upcoming board meetings. Um we have a board meeting. Is that the right date? Because Monday is not June 11th. June 11th is a Thursday, I believe. So it should be Monday, June 8th um for the board meeting and then is Tuesday, July 14th. Correct? Okay, perfect. Okay, so Monday, June 8th, not Monday, June 11th, and then Tuesday, July 14th, and we can adjourn at

2229:58. Few minutes before 10 o'clock. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. Heat. Heat.