2.27.2023 LESD#25 Governing Board Meeting

001[Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign like to call the governing board meeting for Monday January 27th for Liberty Elementary School District to I'm sorry February 27 2023 governing board meeting to order here at the Jerry Roby District facility in Buckeye Arizona all board members are present including board member Parks Board member Aguirre board member Bixler board member Aguirre and myself Michael Todd sorry sorry sorry board member Kenyon my apologies uh next on our agenda will be approve the regular agenda Mr President I move that we approve the regular agenda because this in with board policy bedb and temporarily suspend governing board policy with which this agenda may be inconsistent I think you have a motion do I have a second have a motion in a second when I call your name

002please specify your boat board member Parks aye board member Aguirre yes board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I will show that past five yes zero no next on the agenda's item 1.3 the Pledge of Allegiance board member Bixler could you please lead us flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all our next item on the agenda will be item 2.1 which will be Bond division of school facilities and adjacent ways budget capacity for school number eight Miss stickler uh good evening Mr President members of the board and public thank you for joining us all tonight we would like to provide you with an overview of our bond division of school facilities and

003adjacent waste spending and discussion of possible next steps uh the end I apologize the ending balance rule at the top of the slide represents initial calculations of adjacent ways that I will discuss in a future slide our initial approved funding for school number eight with the division of school facilities was 291.96 a square foot for a total of approximately 21.6 million in funding with the 7.27 percent increase applied as recommended by the jlbc at its meeting on December 13th the square foot amount increased to 313.19 a square foot and was ultimately approved by the division of school facilities on December 15th this is an additional funding amount of 1.5 million the ties went too far this is simply a snapshot of the information from the voter pamphlet for the bond authorization in 2019 of the

00449.8 million dollars that was authorized 42.9 million in non-administrative purposes and 6.9 million in administrative purposes here we have a brief overview of the bond authorization of the 49.8 million authorized 40.4 million for construction remodeling Furniture technology and equipment or safety security projects 2.4 million to Pupil Transportation and 6.9 million for the construction of the transportation facility internally the district set aside funds for technology plan spending and deferred maintenance we have remaining 2.4 million for technology and 3.5 million for deferred maintenance this slide is a representation of the overall plan Bond spending while we are in the construction phase of blue Horizons legislation included an increase in allocation per square foot this reduced the district's responsibility for construction of blue Horizons by 7.9 million and due to a deductive change order for blue the district

005has an additional 308 thousand dollar Bond capacity to assist with the construction of school number eight we also have an additional Bond sale this fall of approximately 3.2 million from the original authorization the total bond funds available for new construction is approximately 11.4 million dollars again the amount of proof from the division of school facilities is 23.1 million a cost of 313.19 per square foot utilizing division of school facilities and District bond funds we have 34.5 million available for school number eight using today's projections and Market comparisons for construction we would need approximately 425 dollars per square foot for construction for a total need of 31.4 million for construction only for school number eight perfect you say no not quite this is a representation for the total funding for school number eight so we have

00631.4 million for construction and utilizing division of school facilities percentages to allocate for soft costs we actually need 37.7 million for completion of school number eight you can see that we are approximately 3.1 million dollars short so the question is how do we make up the difference let's move on to adjacent ways this funding source is used to account for special property tax assessments to be used for constructing maintaining or otherwise improving any public way adjacent to any parcel land owned by the school district or leased for school purposes by the school district due to known upcoming construction projects the district increased the adjacent ways tax levy in fiscal year 2022-2023 to 925 thousand dollars and currently plans to maintain this amount for the upcoming fiscal years the estimated expenses for fiscal year 2023 are

007for the street improvements such as curbs gutters sidewalks Street lighting and power relocation on Liberty Road for fiscal year 2024 the estimated expenses are also for similar Street improvements and Ingress egress for the transportation facility as well as school number eight School number eight is the estimated expenses in the columns for fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025. you can see the amount we have raised in taxes versus the estimated amounts we will need for expenses puts a short funded unfortunately we are not allowed to use bond funds for any of the items that categorize in adjacent ways we can maintain the adjacent waste tax level tax levy at 925 000 for the upcoming years and be creative in Street improvements or we can increase the adjacent waste tax levy to a larger amount with

008a minimal effect to taxpayers a decision that will need to be made soon yeah so what do we do to assist with the 3.1 million shortfall for completion of school number eight at the estimated cost of 425 dollars per square foot we have paid for and are expecting a detailed evaluation of our Capital needs for the upcoming years in March or April some questions to think about do we reallocate the use of funds already planned for deferred maintenance of 3.5 million and Technology renewal of 2.4 million do we postpone the purchase of student transportation vehicles that we have not already issued a purchase order for keeping in mind that manufacturing time frame is 18 to 24 months do we get begin planning for a new school opening for the 2024-2025 school year and build School

009number eight with the funding available from the division of school facilities and fill our new campus with used furniture do we delay the construction of school number eight until the fall of 2025. do we Gear Up in May 2023 to go to our voters for approval in the fall of 2024 for a bond authorization with receipt of funds in the spring of 2025 if the authorization passes do we postpone a bond authorization approval until the fall of 2025 and limit our open enrollment numbers at our Northern schools for a year or all schools keeping our fingers crossed the authorization passes at the same time we need to consider what we are going to do with adjacent waste funding to ensure we have funds available for those items mentioned in the coming years we have many

010questions to answer in the time frame to answer those questions get shorter and shorter thank you you have any questions members any questions I had a question please go what is Administration recommend um to the extent possible if we are able to do the new construction with funding we have without having to go to our voters I mean that's the best stewardship of our dollars we have a nice opportunity with the seven million dollars essentially we got more from school facilities than we were expecting so that helps we have specifically not spent down those funds to give the district the most options right to see what was going to transpire what has happened is the rising construction costs that put us farther away than you know we thought we'd we would be at this point

011the other opportunity you saw in the budget was the three hundred thousand dollars return Chase Building team and coming in below the GMP so we got those dollars back so you put those two things together um I think either way no matter what we're going to have to go out for a new Bond so I think that goes without saying if we were able to defer or postpone the construction of this school by one year it helps us in a couple of ways one is that our maintenance and operations budget to staff the school we're in a much better position of not having to use heavy Reliance on reserve funding for that so that would be one good reason not to open in for the 24 25 school year um with if we were constructing

012right now today given the long lead time on some items um we're told that would be we'd be hard-pressed to open by August 24 anyway so you put those two things together um I think we really are looking probably at an open of August 25. additionally we've been looking at the enrollment and the overall capacity room by room particularly at Blue Horizons if we monitor carefully our open enrollment um and at the at the capacity we have right now if we were to if it came in and filled perfectly evenly we think that there is a way to make it for two more years I do not believe the district can make it three years so I think we have to have a plan in place to open no later than August 25 for that

013so you put all that together if we still have a shortfall in uh overall dollars I think you know Beth laid out a couple of good options one it will be opening is a smaller school so um I think there is an opportunity to spend a little bit less in the first year on furniture and Equipment there are some things that are new for the school you have to have you can't use there's no you know there's no new scoreboard for the multi-purpose room right you that's you've got to buy that new might we have some excess furniture for moving some children from Blue Horizons which is new furniture over there so could we be smart about that yes we could do we have a lot of 25 year old furniture in our warehouse right

014now we do I don't recommend putting that anywhere but public auction can I just ask Australia Mountain about that um uh the bus transportation I think that would be the last thing that I would give up um because of the safety of buses and um in the long lead time we were so far behind what we need for transportation so really what does that leave you uh it leaves you uh short-changing somehow uh deferred maintenance um certainly the most critical things we can do building renewal grants through sfb but it will not take care of asphalt in driveways it will not take care of paint all the things that that need to be repaired that school facilities board will not cover so no matter what I think you're looking at you're looking at a bond

015it really comes down to a decision of whether that is this next November or the following November and talking with our consultant with the override the best recommendation is not to go out here in November that the conditions for an election are probably in the district's best favor by a year from November um but even if you delay the school by a year from what was originally planned you still you know have a shortfall and a stretch so you get a new bond gets approved in November you won't be able to uh the bond sale the soonest that will happen will be March or April of the following in this following spring so we see the funds sometime perhaps between May and June so it's going to be tight much like a miracle it was

016to get blue Horizons in and out the door and Liberty simultaneously all the conditions are going to have to be right on this on top of that the land issues are significant the developers are now they've completely stalled so some of those expenses to get that land to construct on now would be some things that could very well be come at our expense that the developers would have paid for if they were developing it that could add on to your adjacent wage cost Beth I believe you budgeted for 1.5 million dollars which is uh Which is higher than what we did for blue Horizons knowing where we were condition wise um we do not yet have an estimate of what that would be but I suspect that it's going to be much larger than 1.5

017million dollars and if you're there I don't think it's going to be possible to pull all this together um if we don't have a land site so then that puts you in an alternate option of building in the southern part of the district where we do have a piece of land with the developers ready to go in the Montecito area but that is not where our population the greatest need is so there are some complex issues here I just wanted to make sure that the board understood clearly all of both the financial the land the school facilities all those pieces coming together to be fully apprised Mr President I do have a couple quick questions um the estimate for the construction of the school I realize is smaller in scale so it won't be as

018big as some of the schools we have so by virtue of that it would cost less but um if we were to so the estimate that you are giving us as far as the cost of building a school would be building another K-8 school is that correct that is what we're approved by the school facilities board to build is at K-8 school we don't have approval for anything but I see so if we wanted to go for something like a secondary school maybe seventh eighth grade uh High School prep Center I'm guessing in my experience the secondary school costs more to build um typically it does because it requires more specialized facilities so when you add on a classroom Wing a classroom Wing is probably the least expensive part of the construction whereas let's say

019a gymnasium or multi-purpose room or some type of Performing Arts facility those things are more expensive a higher cost per square foot to build a middle school and that's because the expectation is it's going to be used differently than in an elementary or primary setting correct correct and they also typically require more land than a typical Elementary you know because the fields and that sort of thing and you would also be considering location that would be conducive for that and we'd still have to go back and get approval for secondary schools but we've already got one for the K-8 correct members any additional questions okay yeah sorry um looking at what was left over from Blue Horizons on that 308 thousand what happens to that if that doesn't get used is can that be used

020for deferred maintenance or anything else or is that specifically for Construction it fell under the category of construction renovation building new facility so it could be used for that however in our plan we've got it already categorized for school so we have that additional money to help us with that cost my thought with that was if we're going to push the building out a year is there a time frame on that one that expires and if we don't use it we lose it or can we hold on to that and plan on it for the new building we have a timeline timeline for the bond expense to you as all of the expenses in the bond but we're within that window okay thank you just have one question has there been any consideration to and

021I don't even know if it's possible but maybe scale back our what we're talking about with the transportation facility for the time being and change phases of that maybe do a four phase instead of a three-phase or something of that nature So within our within our bond capacity we have 6.9 we don't know how much that Transportation facility is going to cost us at this point we haven't made it that far yet we have the ability from the bond kind of plus or minus 10 percent of what we told our voters we would spend on that so with all things you know to be have integrity with our voters we just need to stay within that range if you will thank you members any other questions okay hearing none will move to our governing board

022report switch it up board member Kenyan would you like to go first Mr Todd before you move on is there any direction you would like to give Administration to begin to pursue um our thinking because we have been kind of holding tight to purse strings if you will on deferred maintenance and future spending so if the board is interested in us hanging on to these dollars for the new construction we would want to know that and also um you know if you wanted to continue to have conversation perhaps for a new bond election in November Administration is going to need some time to prepare and be prepared for that thinking if that's if that's an interest of the board yeah thank you for that I I personally I do think that with all the challenges

023that are out there especially I mean even the land right we don't have any land right now for that I mean we're looking at it but it's not really there um it doesn't look like we're gonna be able to fast track a campus to to open at the beginning of next year um you know I from what I can see it just looks like it's better to hold on prepare we are going to have to build I mean obviously Buckeye is Goodyear it's just exploding in growth so we are going to have to build but we have to do it wisely and really take the time to prepare for it that's my so are you thinking wait till after a bond for full full dollars and continue to use how this remaining bonds dollars were

024originally scheduled or to try to pull back and utilize those for new construction that's that's kind of the question here Dr Seth do we still have some Portable Buildings sitting around we have some um that are no longer good for children to be using and you think if everything falls right we'll be able to house all the children at Blue Horizons it will be tight I think I can't even look Mrs Sanchez in the face right now as I say this because it won't be comfortable how do I look at Miss Sanchez either I would say though I don't think it will be as uncomfortable as it was when they were K-5 waiting for that extra Wing that's about as much discomfort as uh could possibly be she's I think you've lived through the worst

025of it well knowing that we potentially could wait until 25 I agree that that seems like the best plan at this point that will still require saving every single dollar and not spending it on deferred maintenance you know not new technology so some of the expansion you you would see some of the renewal of technology devices for children so nothing goes without consequence so it's just understand if the overall direction from the governing board is try to hang on to what we can and maybe only have a small short file shortfall couple million dollars is that's a short shortfall small shortfall um going into a bond then that you know the district can maintain that course and that is the course we've tried to stay on um so we can maintain that and still try

026to give the board as many options as possible I'm not hearing from anyone a strong interest uh to go after a new Bond this coming November still thinking wait to the following November all right does that help you Mr strickler for what you need so for me I wonder if it might be advantageous for us to really start taking a look at adding on to the current Billings that we have to postpone having to go out right away for a bond that similar to what we did at Las Brisas with the way that construction costs are just for a building itself that we might be able to meet some of our capacity issues if we look into that I know that I know that's not the ideal thing but I think given the way that

027um the economy is right now I don't see um I don't see construction inflation coming down at all I'm looking to the gc's and they're nodding their head too because we both understand what's happening right now but um but I think that helps with not making or with making things a little less uncomfortable by doing that that impacts how the district might or might not qualify for a new facility but if you don't think you're going to be able to pull it off in time anyway that does provide the needed attention as long as we don't over build a school for an area that will be potentially declining within four to five years but uh Ms strickler will follow up with school facilities to just as an option of what that impact would be and

028consideration for yeah what is that what does this look like if we build a wing here versus don't build a wing over in this as far as for the sfb square footage population thank you I have just one quick question I was looking at CFR it looks like we have some carryover funds that might be available if we looked into using any of those as an option can you see more of what that is like there's what this carryover is pretty significant in payroll so I was just looking at the budgeting on the governor on the state side and it doesn't give a value of dollars but it looks like there's a percentage in there that might be available I know we need to keep some funds but my question is is there anything in

029there that we can the risk of using Rob but is there anything that we could we can use as we continue to carry those over year over year there's certainly an opportunity I don't know that there's three million dollars worth of opportunity but there's there's some um as you know there needs to be some in there for um use of when you aren't getting funds and you have to be able to care you have to be able to carry the district so you're aware of that and the inter interest for your ratings on bonds to be able to qualify for new loans um or sales sale of bonds not loans I'm thinking like a homeowner here so yes we'll list that down as as a consideration to bring back thank you some options just I

030have one question could you perhaps update the board in a future board update on the Deferred maintenance list what we have deferred and what we're looking at because much to uh board member aguirre's comment in the shaking of our contractors the cost of construction as a whole is going up and pretty much everything in deferred maintenance is there so um sometimes putting that off costs more you hear a little clunk in your car you keep driving before long you're replacing an engine versus an oil pumps I think you can expect probably I would guess in April um the district has contracted to have a complete facilities overview of the district to provide us what the needs are and with within that would tell us five ten years out also what we can expect year over

031year of what some of those maintenance issues may need to be so that would be a full report for the governing board and that would probably be the the best um best analysis of that with costs associated with it thank you throw one more in there I apologize um along kind of with what board member Aguirre was saying thinking about if we're gonna hold off on building for another year knowing that Miss Sanchez has a lot of kids in that school and she may have a lot more has the district thought about redistricting again and kind of seeing maybe I know a lot of students from Liberty moved up to Blue Horizons maybe that line just moves a little bit just brainstorming how we manage if we get a whole bunch of you know young

032families moving in the district so Dr Sloat and I and primarily Dr Sloat has looked extensively at that and what some of the options are if we had to move past this two-year Mark we do have some options as laid out as kind of an option A and option b that could support that model but if this at the two up to the two years unless things drastically change you know right now we're expected around a two percent growth for this year and you know is it four to six percent in future years if that was to change you know within a year's time we could go into some of those backup plans so um yes there's some some on the table remembers anything else you're hearing none now we can move over to our

033governing board report and board member Canyon will let you start it off um on February 15th I got to go over to the Estrella Mountain Kinder first grade performance the cuckoo and that was a lot of fun uh mislandish did an excellent job it was probably 60 70 kids out there dancing on the floor just kindergarten first graders one person leading them she had her work cut out for her but it turned out amazing I was surprised at how well all those kids were synced and coordinated and she had them rotating through so every kid got a chance to be at the front it was just really really good performance um and then after that I ended up leaving over and going over to make teacher night for the west star over at the McDonald's

034there and that was really nice seeing how many staff were there how many parents came through with their kids it was just a really good evening the next day February February is all about you know Valentine's Day right so February 16th um I got to take my three little girls to Liberty's daddy daughter dance and that was wonderful as well anytime I can get especially my seventh grader to come be near her dad that's always a good thing and so we had a lot of fun me and a couple of their dads you know we just made a night of it embarrassing our kids and that's what we do so it was a really good time so that's what I have I also had a good opportunity to go over to the uh first in

035Kinder musical performance I agree it was amazing just to watch the orchestration of how everything went uh moving the kids in a specific pattern and making sure they all got a chance to move around with it was incredible to watch these the movement that was going on there but what really struck me was those were the littlest people I'd ever seen standing up in front of a large group of people reading out loud and they did it with total confidence what that tells you is that those kids trust this program they trust the school and more importantly they trust that teacher that was really well done second place I gotta go to was to the uh uh we did a a walking tour of uh Las Brisas and first of all I want to thank

036our tour guides Maggie and Dawson great job I do need to apologize to Dawson uh when they first introduced themselves at the beginning of this adventure I thought that he said his name was Johnson so I called him Johnson the entire time and he was kind enough to this very old person and didn't correct me so Dawson I'm sorry I I uh gave your name wrong so from now on I will remember is Dawson but we had I I can't thank Monsieur enough for letting us go into some secondary classrooms we went into some seventh eighth grade classrooms and more specifically we went into an eighth grade history classroom these are my peeps this is my thing and oh it was exciting it was so good to be in there they were talking about the

037Monroe Doctrine the building of the Panama Canal Teddy Roosevelt oh really cool things you know malaria oh it was great and more than that what happened in that room was first of all the teacher asked the students to predict predict that is a very high level thinking skill and then later on she used a primary source and what the primary source was was a political cartoon you've probably all seen I was in the New Yorker and it was Teddy Roosevelt with a big club and it says trust Buster on it this is a classic political cartoon what she was asking the students to do was to analyze this cartoon primary source analyze this is all really really good stuff going on in that classroom it was amazing now there's a lot of you here I'm

038going to tell you a joke and this is a this is for our our Educators you probably have heard this one before but there was a group of Administrators and they were they were looking to hire a coach to teach social studies and so they were interviewing this coach and they asked the coach says how much did you Penn on primary sources and the coach said well primary sources I only do high school all the Educators got that anyway it was an exciting trip over there we saw a lot of good things but as good as everything I saw the thing that really really really impressed me the most was watching Dr suff engaging with the students whether it was primary she got on the floor with him whether it was secondary she sat next

039to him and in a very meaningful way engaged those students in an academic conversation I am going to miss that [Applause] tough act to follow so mine what I did is I followed through with what I talked about last year that I hope my fellow governing board members voluntarily do and I went ahead and got fingerprinted and my background check is on its way so that I am just like all the Educators and volunteers that you know that I've gone through the same thing that you have thank you well I also got to tour Las Brisas and enjoyed Dawson and Maggie's they were wonderful tour guides you know Maggie's a little soft-spoken I had to kind of you know pick up or you know go up to her a little bit but she was a

040great guide um but I'm just gonna leave it to one thing because you know Paul kind of covered most of it um the new science program that this board just approved I got to watch the pilot program we're in good hands this is a good program so thank you well no matter what side of this bench I sit on I have to follow board member Bixler and board member aguir I said what I say all the time it's a tough act to follow but uh um I too got to enjoy the cuckoo over at Estrella and uh Miss landash once again if you've got tickets to a performance on Broadway save the money come to the school should probably would accept the tip I don't know but she deserves it that's for sure um I

041can't really say anything more than what what board member Bixler said about it phenomenal fun you walk out of there and you're just impressed with what's happening and we're thankful that the override passed because those programs would have been cut without so what a great job I did get to head over to the mcteacher night and I feel like maybe I should file a police report because they got me they they drained my pocket I bought a lot of apple pies but it was for a good cause and we passed those out freely to to people that were there so it was uh it was fun um I guess I'll need to bring more money next time but uh um but it was a great event and then uh also got to attend the Lost

042Priestess tour and Maggie and Dawson what a great job um Dawson has uh performed we've seen him in a lot of events over the years at the school and and just a great great performance so um and and I would agree with with board member Bixler the Spanish Immersion that we saw they're teaching math in Spanish I have a hard enough time doing math in English with with somebody else doing it for me and um and they do that in Spanish so it's phenomenal the eighth grade history board member Bixler uh touched on as well what I thought was most impressed of that too was they were piloting new materials so it's new to the teacher as well and so imagine standing before a bunch of curious uh 8th graders who are not afraid to

043ask questions and um and then trying to get through the pilot material no matter how many preps you've done there's not enough prep time and it is it's new all the way through so it was great to see that moving and and it seemed um we'll wait for feedback but it seemed like it was pretty approachable it was pretty it flowed well and uh and what a great job the the staff did there so thank you to the administration over that campus and the students and staff will let us into their classrooms it was it was a very very beneficial time that concludes our public comment next will be item 4.1 which which will be guidelines for public comment um we will just take these in order I will ask if you have submitted one

044please stand up and just get in line and we'll call your name in the order that they were given to me and we'll ask you to keep it to three minutes three minutes please step away we've got a lot of business to do tonight and we've got a lot of agendas our first person up will be Allison Ryan Bagley sorry rile y you can start whenever you're ready thank you Ms Allison Ryle Bagley I this is my fifth year at Westar Elementary School as a sixth grade mathematics teacher struggling with math come to my room we have a lot of critical thinking problem solve skills that we work on daily I am highly concerned at the actions of some of our board members as I feel that you are following um I don't know if

045it's some sort of power play if it is some sort of Salem winch Witch Hunt but critical thinking is not taking place and I am highly concerned I brought with me a copy of my uh returning offer to come back as a mathematics teacher for Westar I also brought with me my resignation letter and I am yet to figure out which one I'm going to do if you know me you know I love my students or students um I'm seeing on social media floating around all sorts of crazy I've also seen from the Freedom of Information Act emails of really sneaky sounding things and if you think I'm not a conservative you have me wrong some of what is being said about what staff is doing or teaching what teachers are doing is so far

046wrong what you have taken away from this District by removing Dr Chef or allowing her to resign so you took her away and now I'm reading the bogart issue if he is not at Westar I'm not either that is all I have to say our next next speaker will be Denise Murphy good evening governing board my name is Denise Murphy I have been in education for 28 years 10 in this district and never have I been more embarrassed ashamed or insulted by a governing board in the past several weeks we've learned some more that some board members have been engaged in this imaginary war against woke culture in our district the casualties of this war unfortunately the most talented and dedicated Administration we've ever had the much-needed professional development of us the teachers and ultimately

047the students first were accused of indoctrinating children by some social media influencer whose only motivation is likes and followers thread a single shred of evidence the baseless accusation only fueled these board members believe that they're doing the right thing the board members then told us they are changing the vision to be focused on teachers first and then almost immediately started undermining them when teachers started figuring out what was happening we started speaking up we were then told we were misinformed or spreading information misinformation Etc and it was only through the foia requests that we realized we had been lied to repeatedly and the hits just keep coming as I have received messages where a board member said and I quote educators are the worst at getting facts and instead pop off like a bunch of

048fools who know nothing and nothing worse than a bunch of uneducated educators really nice um your delusion lies misguided attacks and clear incompetence as it relates to education has only hurt this district and its students when all of you when all of you have when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail and Mr Bogart is the next one on their list Mr Bogart has already announced his retirement effective the end of next year but some of these members can't think of anything more important than making sure this man who has dedicated 30 years of his life to this District isn't able to work one more to be clear I agree that woke ideology critical race Theory and gender affirming curriculum have no place in education and the second you tell me

049I have to teach it peace out not doing it but political partisans motivated by ideology and Dogma they're the real threat if the distrust and hostile work environment created by these board members is not enough to Warrant their resignation or recall the sheer magnitude of lies and insults to teachers fellow board members in the community should be diversity of thought is a good thing we need next will be Vicki Johnson my name is Vicki Johnson this is my 21st year as a teacher at Rainbow Valley Elementary which is a Leadership School Dr Stephen Covey an expert in that field defines leadership as communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves that's an explanation of servant leadership which is said to begin with a natural feeling that

050one wants to serve to serve first and then the conscious Choice brings one to Aspire to lead to expand your circle of influence that person is sharply different from one who is the leader first perhaps because of their need to satisfy an unusually strong drive for power or self-importance one would hope that in a Civic organization such as a school board servant leadership would dominate in contrast though let me share the writings of some of our school board members in an email dated January 26th Mr Park stated that quote we flipped the board this election we just got the superintendent to resign when this message was made public and posted online he responded that his language is inappropriate that he was boasting and that his ego got the best of him quote I deeply apologize

051for my language those of us who have worked with children for a while recognize his words for what they are an explanation not an apology he's not sorry for what he said he's sorry that he got called out in an email exchange between Miss Benson of Turning Point USA Mr Parks and Mr Todd in which Mr Todd's resignation was brought forth he said that quote this isn't good enough I'm done this is actually worse than having a profile my name and Faith still appear on the bad list as does yours leadership mindset let's look at words after last week's shameful board meeting Mr Tai took the time to speak with a small group of teachers which we greatly appreciated addressing our concerns at one point a question regarding relationships with former staff members came up

052he smiled and response was if the rumors of all the people I've slept with in this District were true some of you ladies might be on the list not an appropriate response at the February 13th board meeting Mr Kenyon voted yes on a motion to provide assistant principals and a needed coach of blue Horizons only to request last week that it be brought back for review tonight why would he bring it back for discussion unless he plans to change his vote it makes one wonder if he's voting what he believes or someone else is pulling his streams now I know that if I was to use the blanket statement to describe the board as ignorant uninformed self-important that would be unfair untrue and statistically unlikely in the same way to say that the principles as

053a group are lazy and don't work nearly as hard as teachers is statistically unlikely as well especially since last year the board removed two principles so one would think the quality would be even higher as their Replacements would better meet their criteria as I walked onto a campus this morning I saw Mrs Cagle emptying the trash cans I know that she sweeps our gym every weekend after the church rents our facility I saw Miss Sanchez's leadership in the third and fourth grade math challenge students that they did there is leadership going on I ask you to think about the children and not yourselves [Applause] text will be Kelly Zimmerman foreign as a taxpayer and parent in this District I have some concerns about the new board leadership that took over as of January 2nd 2023

054there are many important qualities for board members I'm just going to discuss a few tonight due to time constraints the first is transparency I believe the board has failed to be transparent in the last two months in several ways emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that the board what the board said in regard to the superintendent's resignation was very different in public versus what they said behind closed doors emails also show that at least two board members have met with a company to assist in the hiring of an assistant superintendent however the procurement of companies to assist in such shirts search are not even being discussed until tonight and in executive session no less the new board leadership has met in executive session counting tonight's sessions 12 times in the last two

055months why does the sport feel the need to go into executive sessions so much and not discuss things in front of the stakeholders of this community as they should the last time the school district saw a change of superintendents the board only went into executive session as eight times in a span of three months let's talk about another quality creating good work environment for staff the board has created fear among teachers and administrators that their jobs are not secure when the board's only employees the superintendent and therefore no teacher should or administrator should be concerned that the board would overstep their Authority and not follow the recommendation of District leadership for renewals as they are their evaluators not the board this board has also publicly criticized the teacher's lesson on social media this does not

056create a sense of trust between the board and the teachers finally fiscal responsibility to taxpayers this board has failed at being fiscally responsible in several ways one by getting the superintendent to resign and facilitating an expedited separation agreement due to the board's wishes this means we would have to pay out the superintendent's contract as well as pay an interim superintendent once they are hired taxpayers are now paying a superintendent twice for the same time period when Dr Shuff was willing to finish out the school year and help with a smooth transition to the next superintendent secondly by going into executive session excessively and unnecessarily over the past two months the board's attorney must be present in these sessions and the taxpayers end up paying for the attorney's time she is an executive session with the

057board finally the board continues to go in executive session over the procurement of the new Transportation facility even though the process and choosing of a company is outlined in State statue which the board has no authority to change again wasting taxpayer dollars spending time talking about something they cannot change all of this wasted money by the board affects our children I am calling on Brian Parks and Michael Todd to resign as they have not demonstrated the characteristics necessary for a board member and they do not represent Liberty our next will be Julie halt Julie Hout while she's coming to the front there are seats folks if you want to sit down please Mr President and members of the board you all know that those special board meeting last Tuesday was contentious amongst the five of

058you however regardless of your differences in opinion it does not warrant Mr gwire's verbal attack and threats on me and a teacher in this District it also does not warrant another teacher's verbal attack on me for the way you voted last Tuesday as I repeatedly said that night and I will say it again I have I had nothing to do with Dr shuff's resignation I didn't even know the special meeting was scheduled until an administrator in the district reached out to me to let me know I attended the meeting in support of Dr Shuff she has turned our district around from where it was just five years ago under Dr Rogers leadership Mr Aguirre your verbal attack and threats directed toward me were unwarranted and unprofessional as an elected public official I expect you to

059conduct yourself professionally and without verbal attacks and threats on your constituents as a board member your job one of your jobs is to set policy for the district that is in the best interest for all students and while you may disagree with your fellow board members you should not let your anger spill out over to your constituents or teachers in this District every time I write to the board to provide input on new ideas or feedback on board agenda items I provide you all with my phone number for you all to call and discuss the subject matter of my emails while I receive thoughtful feedback from most of you I receive quote I received your email unquote from Mr McGuire Mr Aguirre in the last five years that you have been on this board have

060you ever reached out to me to discuss anything the answer would be no as an involved parent in this District why is it that you ignore me as a board member it is your responsibility to obtain as much input as possible from your stakeholders to help guide you in setting policy but for some reason you choose to engage with only a few of those stakeholders I trust that going forward you will start to engage with all of your stakeholders and that you will never again verbally attack a parent or teacher in this District next up will be Lucia peace win Ginter I hope I got that right good evening everyone my name is Lucia peace mcenter and I go to the same church as Ms Bixler I'm a high school senior and I will be

061majoring in elementary education next year I therefore have a great interest in what will be happening in this District I may even be in a play here eventually I have always loved Paul's generosity kindness service to community and calm demeanor I would just like to respond to the comments against Miss Bixler and I would like to point out that many other speakers in the last few months that have been hostile towards his Bixler has said that they are trying to protect protect children in doing so they seem to conflate being trans to pedophilia which is not accurate according to psychological science these two are totally are two totally different concepts the Merriam-Webster Dictionary States the definition of being transgender is of relating to or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the

062person had or was identified as having at Birth the same dictionary defines that pedophiles exhibit sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object being trans doesn't affect anyone else by contrast pedophiles are known to be Predators who harm children due to the children being sexualized based on this it is obvious that pedophiles and transgender people are not the same at all and cannot be conflated most pedophilic behavior is actually perpetrated by cisgender men not trans people statistically trans people are more likely to be victims of violent of violence rather than perpetrators an article from the UCLA school of law states that transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to experience violent victimization including rape sexual assault and aggravated or simple assault Ms Bixler has always been and will always

063be an amazing person and our church is lucky to have her as part of our community there's nothing scary about Ms Bixler and the children at our church have never seemed frightened by her as a career educator with three decades of experience this district is lucky to have MS Bixler volunteering her time on the Discovery and board she is an inspirational public servant and a hero who is a good role model for the lgbtq plus youth in this community thank you for your time [Applause] next will be Tony Reynolds [Applause] [Music] good evening I'm Tony Reynolds principal of Freedom my comments this evening only represent my own thoughts and should not be attributed to anyone else as you were shocked to learn the last time I talked to you I've been in this business 45

064years in that time I've known two superintendents who were true instructional Leaders with vision and courage one of the two is Dr Laurie sheff Dr Chef's knowledge wisdom and Graves has made me a more effective principal and I'm privileged to have worked with her thank you Lori I wish you well and thank you for all you've done I was encouraged to read Dr Mr Todd's letter that the board would be conducting a national search and would involve stakeholders Dr Chef's shoes will be difficult to feel I was disappointed when the email that Mr Park sent to Eric twist president of the Arcadia group on January 26 was shared with me in part it reads we just got the superintendent to resign we're looking for a more conservative superintendent that has experience that will support the

065classic traditional education model we need to get rid of SEL restorative justice and New Age curriculum that is not working I have some questions regarding this is Mr Parks representing the board in his letter did the board intend to get the superintendent to resign was this discussed in a public meeting executive session or was it a private conversation is it the intent of this board to implement a classic traditional educational model how do you define that are we looking at deaths and rows blackboards when you're referring to New Age curriculum are you intending as a board to get rid of The Curriculum maps that teachers have spent hundreds of hours creating what does it mean regarding the new science adoption as well as the pilots for Math and social studies in talking about getting rid

066of SEL what does that mean regarding the Second Step curriculum that the board has approved we've identified that our fifth grade students have a problem with physical aggression and need tools and strategies for conflict resolution does this mean we will not be allowed to address this need regarding restorative justice we have implemented re-entry conferences with a plan to support the students in making better choices so the behavior that causes suspicion will not reoccur in fact two of the three guides during your last board visit to our school had benefited from this and have turned around negative behaviors and getting rid of restorative justice is it your intent to eliminate strategies which have proven to be effective as a board I hope you will consider that you represent the entire district and all stakeholders and not

067just the people who may be the loudest and may you be contacting you outside of public forums as I encouraged you to do when I was here last I want you to have processes that allow for all voices to be heard and to respect the process and the recommendations that result it's soda okay hi my name is Bridget Soto and I have had the pleasure of being an educator for the past 18 years in my experience as an educator I have had the opportunity to teach hundreds of students at multiple age levels across different states through my extensive education I have developed and continue to better my craft as an educator to provide all my students with equal opportunities to learn and grow this means that I am continuing continually looking at evidence-based research to

068do what is best for my students a meta-analysis of 213 rigorous SEL studies found on azed.gov shows that students who receive quality SEL demonstrate better academic performance greater motivation to learn and more positive behaviors in the classroom these are qualities that we want for all of our students you see I'm not just a teacher who teaches for today but a teacher who prepares her students for a lifetime of learning and achievements I am a teacher who connects with her students on such a vast social and emotional level that they genuinely feel and respect that I want what is best for them whatever their decisions in life may be additionally I understand that it is not one person in One classroom but a team of parents teachers administrators community and board members who come together for

069the betterment of our students based on Research state and federal laws and not personal opinions I am a teacher who understands that there is not just one process of learning a board member recently stated on their Facebook page that students process of learning is in all the same way but I am that teacher who disagrees with this statement not based on my personal opinion but based on years of educational research I invite you to come into my classroom of five and six-year-olds who are developing their language skills learning how to be respectful responsible citizens and discovering how to work as individuals and as a team I am a general education kindergarten teacher who has students with various needs and learning disabilities some of which prevent them from learning in all one way does a child

070who is partially deaf learn phonics in the same way that an able hearing child does what about a child with a severe speech delay while research on this topic is available it does not take research to understand that the answer is no I bring up these points because as a general education teacher it is my job to discover my students strengths and weaknesses so that I with a team of my peers can develop educational plans that affords a student all the opportunities possible for them to be working to the best of their abilities these are students who have educational rights under state and federal laws to be in a general education classroom with a group of their peers I am pleading with you do not make my job more difficult by taking away our team

071of support including instructional coaches interventionists assistant principals as I continue to thank you [Music] next will be Suzanne McAvoy hi my name is Suzanne McAvoy I'm a concerned taxpayer teacher and parent of children in this District I am compelled to ask two questions of this board tonight the first is to the Triad of Michael Todd Chris Kenyon and Brian Parks what are you up to it's the question that I asked but my dogs have spent too much time silent in the side yard my intuition says that you're making bad decisions and nosing through the garbage Decision One pushing out Dr Chef we've all seen the Facebook's claiming it didn't happen that didn't happen that way acting like you asked her reconsider to only be thwarted by the email Mr Park sent to Eric Twist of

072Arcadia education saying we got the superintendent to resign this was the first Domino of chaos you drop that is now being felt by teachers and administrators who already signed their contracts for next year under the assumption that our fearless leader Dr Chef would be captain of the ship and given Mr Park's intention to enlist the assistance of a charter school company in finding our next superintendent superintendent we parents teachers and administrators are blindsided and rattled by this uncertainty during a time when we should be focused on getting the kids ready for State Testing we have no idea what the new vision of this district is and therefore no means for reconciling it with our professional and personal values nine years ago my husband and I chose the Litchfield District over Liberty because of the poor

073District leadership under Dr chef and Lindsey Boris as principal of stream Elementary School we decided to bring our children back to this or their community school but now we are at Crossroads we've went from a leadership that was transparent to a board that conducts their business behind closed doors since January 1st this board including tonight has 12 agenda items in executive session last year under Mark McGuire's leadership the board went into executive session only nine I'm sorry six times for the whole year you have not opened the floor to for teachers parents or community members to seek the values and qualities they would like to have in our next superintendent you've done quite the opposite search before Dr Chef's resignation was approved and shown in Mr Parts January 26 email in which he reached out

074to the Arcadia education to assist the search for our next superintendent they were founded by the director of the company that ran Great Hearts Charter Schools Charter School leaders are not experienced in the laws and rules guiding District Public Schools like I said bad decisions and nosing through garbage seeking the love and affection of potential campaign funding resources like Goldwater Institute and freedom Works groups I'm sure my second question is Mr Parks who are you I mean today right now as you sit across from me who are you not who you pretended to be during the election the empathetic man who wrote that you what you see on Facebook on September 25th when he shows kindness towards Miss Bixler and then as we've seen in the next picture down on January 18th you claim Mr

075Anonymous Bixler created a circus around a political stance and he not she should resign and that the board is no place for asserting one's political agenda well that last point is the one thing we agree on Mr Parks it's not a place for a political agenda and you should take your own advice and resign [Applause] thank you [Applause] next should be Carrie Wilmot your name's not on here but your email address the C Wilmot liberty25.org so I'm guessing that's you good evening governing board I'm unfortunately here again but this time I'm speaking for myself and all of the Educators in this District I emailed each of you on the board asking you to rethink your positions on Dr Shuff s you were the first one to get back to me in his email to me

076I quote we presented Dr Chef the vision and the direction the new leadership was taking the district and she decided she did not want to participate end quote however in an email obtained by foia to a charter school advocate he said I quote we just got the superintendent to resign end quote further in his email to me he stated that I quote I assure you this is not politically driven end quote in the same email to the Charter School advocate he stated I quote we are looking for a more conservative superintendent that has experience and will support the classic slash traditional education model end quote Mr Todd also shares in his politically driven agenda in an email also obtained by foia from Mr Todd to Turning Point USA a conservative political group and I quote

077in January our board turned over a new leaf and has a new Direction which your organization should like I would like to speak to you about this before you publish anything end quote then on social media Mr Parks Mr Kenyon and Mr Todd all said that we are misinformed as to the information we had shared and continue to share I beg to differ as the quotes above are clear and concise as to the direction that at the very least Mr Parks and Mr Todd are after for our district the reason I am here is that none of you three have shared your vision with any staff you have asked us to blindly sign our contracts giving us a four day work week in hopes that we fall to your feet and ignore your deception I

078call upon you to provide all staff with an outline of your plans for the next two years step by step so we can all be informed in our decisions for ourselves our families and our students otherwise your word holds no value as we have caught you in several Lies over the past couple of weeks have transparency with the staff that you claim to appreciate and value and I might remind you your contracts have no liquidated damages thank you next speaker will be Whitney Brandon foreign like a lot of teachers are I'm sorry like a lot of people at Westar and teachers specifically I wear two hats I'm a teacher and a parent a lot of Westar staff has what RT our kids lovingly call teacher kids uh my kids have been enrolled at Westar since

079kindergarten and I've taught there now for four years when I saw emails circulating on Facebook that there may be a desire to not renew Mr Bogart's contract I was deeply concerned as an employee and as a client working for Mr Bogart is easy his expectations are clear he leads by example and he understands the struggles of being a classroom teacher and a parent I have stayed at Liberty and specifically at Westar because I enjoy working for Mr Bogart but I'm only one person and we don't always get to choose our boss so I decided to ask the people at Westar that really matter I asked my 27 students what they like about Mr Bowman so let me read a couple to you [Applause] he makes our school a great place he makes our teachers work

080hard to teach us he's also great at keeping kids from breaking the rules he is nice he makes it fair he is respectful I like my principle he is super and my favorite he is handsome I had quite a few of those handsome um notes by the way now being handsome may not qualify you to be a principal but I think the other statements in there by my students do so when I put my parent hat on for a second we have school choice here in Arizona my kids are at Westar because I believe my colleagues in my Administration provide the best place for my students to learn if you change our administration at Westar you will lose amazing certified teachers which are hard to come by these days they will leave they will go

081to nearby districts they will make more money we teach at Westar because we like the community that Westar has built so as you can see Mr Bogart is well loved respected and as my second graders would agree a very handsome man let us not forget that Mr Bogart is coming off a year where he was principal of the year for this District his results and westar's results they're not a fluke they come because staff wants to work for him we work our tails off because he leads us by example so please take that into consideration tonight when you review administrative contracts foreign hi I'm the second piecewing enter tonight and I trust I will not be able to uh you know reach the same height as my daughter she was amazing thank you for letting

082me comment um I have known Miss Bixler for many years we've attended the same church St Peters in Litchfield Park I know her to be a gentle optimistic altruistic woman and no one who actually knows Ms Bixler could possibly be afraid of her I don't want to offend anyone or push my religion on anybody else but I would like to share a few relevant passages from scripture from the Christian New Testament the Epistle of James chapter 1 verses 19-20 my beloved Brothers understand this everyone should be quick to listen slow to speak and slow to anger for man's anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires from The Gospel according to Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 through 11. when Jesus saw the crowds he went up to the mountain and sat down his

083disciples came to him and he began to teach them saying blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled blessed are the merciful for for they will be shown Mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God and blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and blessed are you when you when people in Soul 2 persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me from The Gospel according to John

084chapter 13 verses 34-35 Jesus says a new commandment I give you love one another as I have loved you so you also must love one another by this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another and finally Paul's first letter to the Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 7 love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it is not rude it is not self-seeking it is not easily angered it keeps no account of wrongs Love Takes no pleasure and evil but rejoices in the truth it Bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things Love Never Fails thank you very much thank you next is Terry Smith apparently that was supposed to be for Wendy Merkel just so

085you know my name is Terry Smith I have three children in the district and I'm a parent um I was going to talk today about our need for honesty integrity and transparency amongst the board um sorry I don't do this very often um and about the importance for following protocol knowledge of how the public school district works and why it sometimes seems like things are not going the way that parents want them to mostly because we don't actually have the right to information about other people's children and how we can work together to find solutions that might not be perfect for everybody but that could be satisfactorily satisfactory if we all work together and compromise now and again that's what I should have been talking about everybody else seems to have covered that what I'm

086actually gonna do is call for the resignation of Mr Parks Mr Kenyon and Mr Todd based on what everybody else in this room has said tonight you have proved that you cannot be trusted you do not know how the public school system works and nobody here really wants you we want Mr Aguirre we want Miss bexler and we want Dr Shuff thanks for your time [Applause] next speaker is Meg and I cannot read the last name galante Meg galante hello everyone Meg galante here um I am going to read a very precious uh letter from Lily Smith who's a fifth grader at West Star and uh I think that we it's very important that we we listen to the children and keep them first and foremost and uh please let's do away with all this

087political crap in our schools and everything I mean it's just these are the most precious gifts we have and let's keep them a priority anyway uh Lily says Mr Bogart is an amazing principal and if he was replaced or moved to a different job everyone would be devastated Mr Bogart makes this school happy he makes us laugh in the mornings with his funny hats and he is kind to everybody he comes across and wow can he pick amazing teachers he helps everybody learn because he has made an amazing environment for all the kids here he has made a place where kids can feel safe and loved every moment of every day of every week he makes sure that every kid gets the education they need and he is not the only one that makes this

088school amazing the teachers here are fun kind happy and they do not judge you for who you are or what you do everybody here knows the teachers Mr Bogart Miss Loveless and everyone else works and everyone else who works here are amazing thank you Lily fifth grade thank you our next speaker is Elwood councilor superintendent chef president Todd and board members members of the public members of the press um I came here tonight to speak about Mr aguirre's outrageous out blast after the special meeting on the 22nd when he stormed out after pushing his microphone out of the way stormed out at one side of the Deus and came up and uh got within three feet of a couple teachers put his finger in their face and virtually said you should be ashamed of yourself

089you will get yours and it'll be the hard way uh and I believe there's a tape of that uh you know I'm thinking that for as many people that want people to resign tonight and to be recalled um you should have been at the top of the list after that performance sir uh and and then I heard an amount of words Witch Hunt took her away pushing out imaginary War Church hostile closed doors politics transparent lgbtq and uh let me tell you something a couple of meetings ago there was two strong leadership representatives from lgbtq here who said and stated that Mr Bixler had no business being around children okay just for your information to know that's who they supported lgbtq okay lgbtq that is true I it's my time yeah yeah quiet please always

090yeah I'm always wrong uh lgbtq okay was supported by these two people and I am not wrong now we had some lady up here quoting gospel okay well I'm a fairly religious person I consider myself a Jesus follower okay yeah I know and uh I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says um bless them that get their genitals cut off so they can use little girls bathrooms Mr President please where where where [Music] ladies and gentlemen please continue on Miss L'Oreal you know I I'm probably not going to get to you and the secrecy of your contract and the uh in transparent way that you've been performing and the teachers that you have chased out of the school I could haul them in here I could haul kids in here that are afraid

091of Mr Bixler every time he goes to an event or a school okay I can bring them all in here but no I don't keep God out of anything girl obviously and God is my life Mr Consular please Mr Consular please ladies and gentlemen please give order to our speaker Mr Paul Jones good evening Mr President governing board members and Dr chef in 2008 I joined the Liberty Family and when I asked a now good friend which district was the best and as I saw the struggles in the governing board I decided to join and worked tirelessly to try and make Liberty a district that I would be proud of because I'm not a really good politician I tried to gather some friends and get on the board to make changes and was unsuccessful to

092do so at that time and so I had to go through the difficult route a few years later and it was tough and it was hard to make those changes and through that process reached out for a superintendent and we were so lucky to have Dr Chef come and join us my personal worry and issue with her was that she was too good for us that there was no way she would come to this district and stay for any amount of time because everybody would see how wonderful she was and they would rip her away from us unfortunately we have done the opposite to her but we are so grateful for Dr Chef me personally as you probably knew as I talked about my family needs and now she was very supportive that despite her

093probably knowing that it would be to her detriment which to me and my family well as we pursued what we wanted to do now I hope Dr Shuff that your family will get you now this stress and turmoil that you have gone through these last five years will be rewarded by your family because that is truly where it is those kids that we love we are so grateful for your five years of service and I apologize for the emotion but this is the only way that it can be given we are so grateful Dr Shuff governing board you have changed the direction of this district and gone through differences of norms and caused a lot of turmoil in this District please specify what your plans are operate in transparency as Dr Chef first came on

094she was willing to have her performance evaluation done in public why are we now turning to closed doors unfortunately I didn't write out my text so I can't give it to someone [Music] our next speaker is Paul Paula Bixler sorry Paula Hoffman my apologies next speaker will be Connie Crowley [Applause] good evening governing board members president Todd Dr Chef today I'm coming to you is not only a teacher within this District but I am also a Community member today I'm coming before you to speak on our current District climate and it's hard to focus with all of this current state of affairs that is going on and there should be no hidden agendas things should be transparent and if you have questions or if you wonder about something you should ask I invite people to

095ask questions I think that's how we learn and grow we should become coming together as adults in the sandbox to have these discussions it's okay to be open it's okay to be honest it's okay to give your opinion we might not agree and it's okay however what we do at those disagreements are just the most important thing stop making assumptions stop making assumptions that I was not here last week to support Dr Shuff because I it was and I did and I had heartfelt spoken words with Dr chef after the board meeting teachers were yelling at me as was Mr Aguirre you know first thing about me most of you what you might know about me is that I want what's best for students what you might not know about me is that I'm willing

096to do whatever it takes to get there when I have teachers yelling and screaming at me they violated our um handbook our policies our staff conduct and ethics and yet it was allowed this is not the environment that I want to work in and I will not tolerate this Behavior as I look at the information that is being spread in our community I'm sad to see that people sometimes react and they spread information and not only do they spread it but rather they should be asking and clarifying and making sure that information is correct before they push it I am here tonight also as in the concern of Mr Bogart I wanted to share with the board that I worked with him for the last 20 years at the end of my first year of

097teaching with Mr bogert he asked me if I like teaching in the Liberty district and I replied I loved it and I plan to retire here I think Mr Bogart has given us all I think that even though sometimes Mr Bogart and I do not agree we can play nice in the sandbox we can have conversations and we are adults who work through our differences and we have a mutual exp respect for each other what I love most about Mr Bogart is that he allows teachers to do what it is they need to do in their classrooms and that's teach students foreign our next speaker will be Jennifer Crandall good evening Liberty board members my name is Jennifer Crandall and I'm a first grade teacher at Westar I am here tonight because it is my

098understanding that Mr Bogart's contract may not be renewed for next year I think it's important to highlight some of the reasons I stay at Westar of course like most teachers the number one reason is my love for my students and my community but there's another reason and that is Mr Bogart despite higher paying districts in the area I choose to stay at Westar in large part because of Mr Bogart and the environment that he Fosters Westar is not simply a school we are a community and we are a family Mr Bogart is a remarkable leader and those under his leadership benefit greatly this is evidenced by the fact that over the past few years two of his assistant principals have become principals as a teacher Mr Bogart's expectations are high and this has pushed me

099to be a better teacher I have grown an immeasurable amount during my time at Westar and a big part of that is because of this man back here Mr Bogart is loved by teachers staff and especially our students if you spend any time at Westar you will see the love that those children have for him he is dedicated committed and fair he advocates for students teachers and staff as you probably already know last year Mr Bogart was named principal of the year without Mr Bogart Westar would not be the same and I believe that you would be losing a valuable leader and asset to the Liberty School District I just ask you to please consider that this evening thank you our final speaker is Ann Hansen good evening board my name is Anne Hansen and

100I am a special education teacher at West Star Elementary first I would like to thank the board for supporting our special education staff and recognizing the unique challenges to our job we do appreciate that support the support of the school board is vital to the success of our special education students the responsibility does not stop there it is also critical to have the support of our site administrators on a day-to-day basis I would just like to say a few words in support of principal Bogart who has been instrumental in the growth of our program our teachers and our students Mr Bogart was the main reason that I came to work at Wester my son attended Westar from kindergarten through eighth grade and I began subbing when he was in sixth grade because I liked the

101sense of community that he fostered at Westar Mr Bogart always treated me like staff even though I was just a sub for our district he never looked at me that way I eventually took a full-time position as a special education teacher and I've been teaching at Westar for six years Mr Bogart has always supported our special education department and students and has tried to create an inclusive environment for all of our special education students as a teacher Mr Bogart has mentored me challenged me really challenged me and pushed me out of my comfort zone I don't like change to grow as a new teacher and then later as a teacher leader he has had a great impact on me as an educator and as a role model there's no job that he is above doing

102he picks up trash around the school he chases eloping students and he sits on the floor with distressed and aggressive students for as long as it takes to get them calm he doesn't care about all the other things that he has to do he sits there and he works that out with all the turmoil of the past few years Mr Bogart has managed to maintain extremely low teacher turnover including in the special education department in spite of the current climate you all know a special education teachers being hard to recruit and retain our full team which consists of six special education teachers plans to return next year and this is largely due to principal Bogart please consider my words during contract renewal discussions I appreciate your time and consideration and I do want to give

103one shout out to Dr chef and I just want to say that a rising tide lifts all boats and you have been that Rising tide for our district and for all of our teachers foreign members any comments [Applause] I do believe I called that name I I do have your four ma'am and I did call your name I have it evidence did you not somebody else stood up okay I'm not nobody pointed that out at the time I did not hear that you can speak ma'am I will let you speak my name is Wendy Merkel I'm a fifth grade teacher at West Star Elementary I come to you as a parent of two children in the elementary school district I continue to be appalled at the behaviors of three of the board members who have

104continued to attack teachers admin and parents through social social media in this District you are using District resources funded by taxpayers being used to attempt to dismantle our Public School System make no mistakes the words you use the conspiracy theories you post and above all the language you use in no way supports public education teachers Mr Todd your board is running Rogue and you know it in January you submitted your resignation and yet in February continued to vote as part of this board to irrevocably change how our district maintains I am calling to the public and to you to resign there is no way for you to convince educational professionals you have any intention other than spreading misinformation about the intention and the work of public schools your work in just the last month includes

105social media usage and your public school email shows grotesque incompetence simply not understanding that social emotional learning is research-backed pedagogy and not a curriculum is an example of this social emotional learning SEL means that we teach about sharing communication collaboration working together as a team it is a necessary skill for adulthood make no mistake saying you want to remove SEL from the classroom is literally saying you want to dismantle The Human Experience of learning that leads to the success of our entire species I was asked to clarify my statements from the last born meeting when I said that I was disheartened by the repugnant Behavior towards teachers I mean watching email after email after email sent from Liberty District address is touting decisions and schemes to dismantle are constitutionally guaranteed public education you are attacking

106teachers and admin and community members with your literal role is to build us up and support us you forced out a doctor of Education with no experience but one human on your board you've forced her out and then celebrated that to non-district humans the three board members Kenyan parks and including yourself Mr Todd dismissed public and Professional Knowledge repeatedly direct for your personal gain you are facing a crisis where you do not have certified teachers willing to work in our district you have classrooms to this day that do not have a teacher in them it is February almost March and that is on you you are asking teachers to sign contracts while backhandling working to fire competent principles and the symbiotic relationship required with admin I call on parents to not allow this board to

107dismantle your Children's Schools do not lose admin and teachers for [Applause] board board members any comments yeah I need to I'd like to correct the record Mr Kunstler stated that superintendent Chef's contract has been super secret the record needs to be created sir uh corrected sir that has always been a matter of public record the only thing that is not a matter of public record is executive meeting minutes I also like to make a correction I just want to make sure everybody knows who was speaking at the board meeting last time that we had to call the public not snipe the last time the two individuals that were referenced by one of the speakers earlier tonight are paid representatives for an anti-transgendered group they are nationally known they are coming to your district and they

108are telling you what to do they have nothing to do with you so understand what is happening here they are being asked to come to talk to you [Applause] any other comments hearing none will move to item five the consent agenda 5.1 will be approval of consent agenda make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented second have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented I call your name please specify your boat board member Bixler I'm sorry let me start at the end board member Parks aye board member Aguirre yes board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I we will show that proof 5 yes zero knows the Mr President can I make a motion to bring 613 to the top I have no objections

109out of the rest of the board concurs however I think there is some executive uh there may be some executive session working in that as well okay I withdrawal okay next up we have some executive sessions uh first one is item 6.1 possible action can be executive session pursuant to ARS 38431-03 a3n4 for discussion or consultation discussion or consultation with the governing board's attorney and or to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney regarding its position on procurement requirements and options regarding vendor selection for construction and other contracts including RFQ number 22-11-22 which is the construction manager at risk for Transportation Hub members we can take each of these executive sessions and make an individual motion on them and then convene and handle all that are approved for executive session at that at one

110time but we will need a motion for each one to move forward so with that we can take a motion for 6.1 uh Mr President I'll make a motion for 6.1 6.265.1 motion at a time please we're just going to do something to go into executive session for item 6.1 okay I have a motion for item 6.1 which is the executive session uh to hear from the governing board's attorney and or to discuss in consultation with the governing board's attorney and or consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney regarding its position on procurement requirements and options regarding vendor selection for construction and other contracts including RFQ number 22-1122 which is the construction manager at risk for Transportation Hub do I have a second second okay I have a motion and a second for 6.1

111when I call your name please specify your boat board member Parks all right sorry sir we have so I just had a question yes sir so and I hope this is on the record please it's the last board meeting you stated that it was okay to do them all at once and now all of a sudden it's not okay to do them once because one of these has been denied has been requested not to so we can't do them all at one time and legal asks that we do these separately this time which one's been denied it's an executive session for the communications director I think it's 6.5 I'm looking at 6.5 so she has the option to request that her session be in in General Session not an executive session she I've been advised

112by legal she's requested that so understood but also I believe uh let's see 6.4 additional responsibilities of compensation of District level administrators pretending hiring in terms superintendent that that also would need to have the people who were going to talk about for them to agree to have it in executive session or in public was that done yes and who are those people because they're not actually not listed in the executive summary District level administrators and Dr Shuff provided their notification you can Beth strickler Jason Nuttall and Natasha Camp because I guess the issue that I have with is that that wasn't presented to the public so the public didn't have a idea of what was going to be talked about or who the who was going to be talked about and then the other one

113okay right now sir we have a motion for just 6.1 and we need to stick to 6.1 and then we can take each one independently okay probably another good reason we're doing these separately so with that I have a motion for 6.1 I have a second for 6.1 I call your name please specify your vote board member Parks aye board member Aguirre no board member Bixler nay board member Kenyon I I'm also and I will show that that was a proof 3S to no our next one will be a motion for 6.2 possible action to convene an executive session pursuant to eres 38431.03 A3 and 4 for discussion or consultation with the governing board's attorney and or to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney regarding its position on selecting and retaining a consulting

114firm to conduct interim superintendent search and related contract negotiations I'll make a motion to go into executive session for item 6.2 have a motion for 6.2 do I have a second I'll second have a motion as second for item 6.2 which is possible action to convene an executive session pursuant to RS 38 431.03 A3 and 4 for discussion or consultation with the governing board's attorney and or to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney regarding its position on selecting and retaining a consulting firm to conduct interim superintendent search and related potential contract negotiations I had a question on this one too yes sir so again I'll just say that there hasn't been any public discussion about the selection and that the only thing that can actually happen in executive session the way I read

115this is to talk about the contract also I'd like to bring caution to my fellow board members open meeting law ARS 38-431.07 violations enforcement civil penalty removal from office in camera view and there's I'd really like to bring the attention of one part of that if the court determines that a public officer with intent to deprive the public of information knowingly violated any provision of this article the court May remove the public officer from office and shall assess the public officer or person who knowingly aided agreed to Aid or attempted to Aid the public officer in violating this office article or both with all the costs and attorney fees awarded to the plaintiff pursuant to this section thank you board member uh Aguirre this was a suggestion from legal counsel to do this and it

116specifies that we are getting and I appreciate legal's opinion but I think the opinion that actually matters the most is the Attorney General's opinion and also a court of law so with that I want to make sure that I am on record as saying that this is not okay [Applause] okay I have a motion and a second for item 6.2 to convene to Executive session for discussion or consultation with the governing board's attorney and or to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney regarding its position on selecting and retaining a consulting firm to conduct interim superintendent search and related potential contract negotiations call your name please specify your boat board member Parks okay board member Aguirre no board member Bixler name board member Canyon aye I'm also an i at past 3S to know

117next on the executive is 6.3 possible action to convene an executive session pursuant to ARS 38-431.03 A3 and 4 for discussion or consultation with governing board's attorney and or to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney on transition issues pending the hiring of an interim superintendent members I will clarify that this is strictly to gain any legal information that we need that's covered under executive it is not a discussion of of anything else pursuant to that topic Mr President I make a motion to go into executive convene executive session in item 6.3 do I have a second have a motion for 6.3 I also have a second for possible action convene to an executive session pursuant to ARS 38 43103 A3 and 4 for discussion or consultation with the governing board's attorney and or

118to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney on transition issues pending the hiring of an interim superintendent call your name please specify your vote board member question on this one also yes sir for discussion the question I have is are we discuss will contracts be discussed so we're not allowed to speak of that in Open session at any time we can we our legal advice who is here Mr Decker still here somewhere probably waiting for us can consult us and stop if somebody gets into a situation situation not covered by the executive session so again according to this I'm seeing that we are not talking about any employee within the district we're not talking about a contract we're not talking about negotiations sir I I believe we're actually just it says transition issues pending

119the hiring of an interim superintendent that's correct so I guess if it's none of those that's why you can actually go into executive session I don't and again I want to make sure that I'm on the record as saying that this is not right just because this is a painful conversation to have doesn't mean that we should go into executive session and hide this from the public and and we don't have to if you have no legal uh no interest in legal advice then we don't need to do it and if we get into there and there is no legal questions it's a moot point Mr Todd I believe that you're the one who sets the agenda is in consultation with Council and I believe the council would have told you if Council actually needs

120to give legal advice on that particular agenda I see Council sitting here and the agenda was created by Council and Mr Todd yes it was Mr Decker sorry you're representing the district in Your Capacity right now Sir Mr Decker please come to the microphone the question is whether or not there's going to be anything to talk about in legal issues and legal advice on this issue yes there are things that that we as counsel want to give advice on on this issue it will not be a discussion of the contracts of the proposals that's for you to discuss it for you to review and make a decision once you've made a decision in general in general meeting there'll need to be some instructions to somebody to negotiate a contract that somebody is typically your lawyer

121again Council has the opportunity to give legal advice in a public setting it's happened before in this District many times where lawyers lawyers have come up and given legal advice to the governing board so that the governing board has a greater understanding of a particular topic this is not about negotiating a contract this is not about any type of discipline this is not about any type of discipline with an employee this is an uncomfortable conversation that it seems that Council and the board does not want to have in public and I'd really caution with everything that I just reported on the first one that if a judge thinks that a governing board is trying to keep things from the public that that's where the violation starts and I personally feel that in this instance along

122with the others and many others in previous meetings that that has taken place is there a question you want me to respond to no thank you thank you for your education [Music] members we have a motion and a second for 6.3 to convene to Executive session under ARS 3843103 A3 and 4 for discussion our consultation with the governing board's attorney and or to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney on transition issues pending the hiring of an interim superintendent I call your name you can specify your vote board member Parts aye board member Aguirre no board member Pixlr name board member Canyon yes will also be a yes we will show that approved three votes to two next up is item 6.4 possible action to convene an executive session pursuant to ARS 3843103 A1

123for discussion or consideration of additional responsibilities and compensation for district level administrators pending the hiring of an interim superintendent uh Mr President I make a motion to go into executive session for item 6.4 have a motion for 6.4 do I have a second I will second have a motion in a second for 6.4 I call your name please specify your vote board member Parks aye board member Aguirre no board member Bixler no board member Kenyon yes I'm also and yes you will show that that was approved three votes to two remember item 6.5 is listed as an executive session the employee does have the right to have it in open my understanding is that she has requested that so we will not need a motion for 6.5 we will pick that up when we come

124back out of executive session number 6.6 will be possible we're actually we'll be done at that point for executive session so at this time we will show we are convene into executive session foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] YouTube [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music]

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127foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign

128[Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] show that we are back into Open session at 9 49 pm all board members are still present our next item on the agenda is item 6.5 with respect to this item the employee who has noticed requested any discussion take place in public open session does any board member wish to have any discussion regarding this agenda item yes I won okay please go ahead so let's hoping to do this in typically when we deal with these kind of things I think it's best done in executive session so we're dealing with the individual um this position I believe the district didn't have it for a long time was created last year um out of the need for somebody to be

129the face of the district to help capture a lot of the good things that happen in the district and a lot of good things do happen in this district from every um school campus and all the different plays Productions events that happen during school hours after school hours there's a lot that does happen and my priority and I believe the priority of the board has always been to bring the good things that the district does to the community and so I this um When Miss Belson was was hired on I asked that night when we voted to hire her if the district had supports for her if she needed help I was told that yes there were supports given um I don't want this to be taken out of context because I really do feel

130like I haven't seen the quality I guess for the compensation um of what we're looking at to approve tonight for a future contract and I really don't feel that she's been given the proper tools or um help to be the best she could be for what what's you know especially for the compensation it is a high paying level um so I guess I would like to know if the employee herself has the opportunity to say anything she does I I think the preference is to have the board any comments and then we can have her okay have dialogue with us yeah I I got one just one item here um when this came up Dr chef and I had a conversation about this and actually I was really concerned about the qualifications for the amount

131of money we were paying um I was promised at that time we would that it would be six months and we'd have time to evaluate before we extended the contract what I'd like to do because we haven't had time in my opinion to evaluate um my opinion is I'd like to just hold off for 90 days and readdress the the next year's contract because again this is a significant amount of money um I just we just haven't had time to really evaluate go ahead Mr I had a question for legal does public record come into are we allowed to talk about public record in this forum also yes sir yeah okay I just want to make sure so there's public record that shows between Miss Mr Todd and Mr parks in my opinion that they've

132had it out for communications director from the get-go with the hiring process that Dr Shuff used uh the only other thing that I had and I think that uh in my own opinion that that opens up the district for um litigation with the employee question I had for Mr Kenyon what good things haven't been brought forward because you stated good things some good things haven't been brought forward I'm just curious what they are I didn't State some good things have been brought forward I've stated that there's a lot of good things that happen in this district and we want all those good things to be out in the community and that so okay so what of all those good things out in the district I'm not going to nitpick I'm just saying I I would

133like to I would like to give her a chance to give her the opportunity and the the help um the guidance the resources to be as successful as she possibly can so I think this is a very valid question and I would imagine the employee is going to probably ask the same thing of that what are those things that are good with the district that haven't been brought forward that she has not done Mr President I'm sorry board member Pixlr old habits um I I will say that there is uh some concern with this we had a newsletter come out in February that talked about a bus rodeo and several other things and I made a request to staff for press releases because those were all very easy things to get coverage on um none

134of that was provided we have had almost no um we've had a student who was top in the nation I believe in a reading event there's been very little positive coverage I have seen very little social media activity that isn't very canned and when I lobbied for this position over two years ago when I got on the board I said we have to tell our story we have to be out doing everything in the community we need to be at events we need to be meeting with the public the other public information officer slash communication directors meet routinely with the mayor of Goodyear and the mayor has reminded me more than once that he never hears from our district and doesn't meet so again I agree with Mr Kenyon that sometimes this these are those

135times where it's easier to have an executive session the goal here for me is not to eliminate employment of this employee but to see what they can really do and and there's been a settle in time but before I lock into a very highly paid contract um based off of what I saw on the resume and I have been a public information officer for a number of years I'm FEMA certified public information officer I know a little bit about this the resume really didn't meet the communications director position it's more than a social media spot and that's what we've seen mostly and and that's been pretty thin so again I'm not sure that the employee has been given the right direction or the right tools it's perfectly fine for people to discuss concerns that's legal

136that's allowed and so anytime you would like to call me and discuss something as long as we haven't done an open meeting violation of connecting a third board member you're also more than welcome to do that you've yet to do that other board members have called me and at times we've had to even say prior to now last year oh somebody else already mentioned something to me can't talk about this however back to my point here I'm concerned that for the dollars there's a problem and and if we go back to the way this position was originally hired we got told this is the person except them we don't rubber stamp things that's dangerous for a board to do and we were forced into a situation where if we didn't approve it this employee had

137already given their two weeks notice because they were told they were going to start the day after the board meeting and it puts us into a really bad spot I did not want to make this person unemployed because they the district kind of jumped the gun in this I wanted to make sure that we did everything to give this employee chance to Shine the chance to do good the chance to be successful here so instead of putting them out of a job which could have easily happened had the board not approve that which has additional ramifications because perhaps her employee had already hired somebody her previous employer had hired somebody to take her spot there could be a ripple effect and I didn't want that to happen because I want to take care of everybody

138but now we're in this spot where at the pay rate that it is there's a significant concern and so again I feel like we should hold off on this and give this employee the chance to move forward and then before the new contracts start we can bring this forward and hopefully get it approved Mr President I have not had the same experience that some of the members of this board have I saw the candidate's resume when she applied I was very impressed by it uh I have not seen anything that has not occurred that I wasn't impressed by that she has done uh I agree I think that we need to get for more tools to work with I think that's our responsibility but I am not in agreement with what's being said here as

139far as waiting on approving this contract I just have a real concern about a statement that you made Mr Todd you said that you asked the employee to do something no it is not the governing board's job to direct employees of this District I do think I didn't ask the employees it is Mr Todd it's the superintendent's job to do that I did not the governing board you we can ask the employee if I've asked her to do anything you just said it on the mic Mr Todd no you just said it on the mic that there were things that you thought she should cover but I didn't tell her that didn't cover it but I didn't tell her that I didn't ask her to cover that I said there were things that should have

140been covered that were not that was not a directive to her Miss Blossom have I ever asked you to do anything wow this is a little intimidating um I actually prepared something is it okay if I just go ahead and read it yes ma'am sorry a really bad vision so good evening um I would like to start by just telling you a little bit about myself because I'm new and you really haven't had a chance to get to know me exactly my name is Courtney uh personally I would like you to know that I am from this West Valley Community I grew up in Goodyear and went to Millennium where I joined the FFA and I made connections where I also worked for the FFA in college as an intern at their National um conventions

141two years so agriculture does have a very special place in my heart um I did not go to Liberty but my wonderful fiance who's here with me did he both and his sister went to Liberty back in the day and his parents still live just right down the street so this community means a lot to me um I also built a house in this District just a couple years ago we don't have any kids yet but we do have a dog who will be our flower girl on our wedding just in June if that counts for anything and Community has always meant a lot to me and my family my dad leads by example he currently serves as the chairman of self-insurance medical trust board for the City of Goodyear and was an elder in

142a church for several years professionally and going into some of my qualifications I'm a journalist who turned into a Communications professional while I was a full-time college student I started as a reporter at the West Valley View I was my first reporter job here and that was before was purchased by the new or owners who had reorganized that company and has let that staff go so that was my reason for leaving working for the West Valley View was when I first fell in love with being involved in this community and ever since it's been my goal to be able to pursue a career here locally so you can imagine how excited I was when the district called me in December asking me to interview for this position because it was open again I am a

143bachelor's degree in journalism from ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism mass communication where I also earned my master's degree in Business journalism that master's degree provided me the opportunity to take MBA classes while taking additional journalism classes to help me find the stories that lie within the numbers while completing my Master's Degree I realized I wanted to transition into Communications so I took a position as communication specialist and later promoted to senior communication specialist Forrest Nolan Wilmer they're the largest corporate law firm in the southwest with over with almost 500 attorneys in 16 locations they're headquartered and have deep historical routes in Phoenix during my time I helped them navigate and open four new offices a total Rebrand including rebranding their social media which led to massive growth in followers and engagement I rolled out

144several new software I helped with Award nominations and managing several crisis communication issues during my time one of our attorneys was elected president of the American Bar Association and she was only the second attorney from Arizona and one of 10 females to ever hold that position I collaborated with her closely and with the ABA also to help her navigate marketing and social media during her presidency to me that was a beautiful and historic experience and I'm so grateful to have her in my corner I don't have time to speak through everything I've done at the law firm but I can tell you I really valued my time there seven weeks ago I joined Liberty Elementary School District as your communications director I've really enjoyed getting to know our staff our teachers and our students of

145course if I'm being honest I did walk into a little bit of a fire um a good portion of my job is managing the district's brand which has been extraordinarily difficult I might add with recent events so I really am hoping that we can work together to build and improve this District's Grant but I would like to walk you through some numbers through the past seven weeks 104 that's the number of social media posts I published across platforms for Instagram I posted 36 stories in seven weeks in comparison to the nine stories that were posted all last year 436.8 percent that's the percentage that our Instagram reach has increased in the last 90 days and I'm using 90 days for this percentage because it compares to the thought the previous 90 days so that we're

146able to compare my strategy so far to my predecessors 652 up 174.7 percent that is our Facebook page reach from the last 90 days again in comparison to the 90 days prior 300 percent increase engagement in LinkedIn simply put all engagement analytics on social media or on an upward trajectory I've created 21 videos I filmed and edit those 72 Graphics I've designed nearly 1 000 photos taken 18 articles written 17 posts and other updates made to the website a crisis Communications messages to parents via School messenger one being today two monthly newsletters one product press release so far part of media strategy is also knowing when to publicize and use those connections not everything is going to make the front page leveraging those connections and that pressure release was for a festival of the arts

147arts March 8th at Estrella everyone be there oh one liberty bulletin newsletter which should be arriving in everybody's mailboxes very soon and one of my favorite numbers is 15 that's the amount of hugs I gotten from students who when they found out I was new welcomed me literally with open arms and again seven is the number of weeks I've been with this District so I also helped with recruitment efforts um marketing the job fair was the most well attended job fair the district had I created a media list for press release distribution that took some time that includes local media local pios and also city council by from both Buckeye and Gojira this list was not something I found the district had already in place just outlining some of my goals um I'd like to

148strengthen the communication strategy and focus on building our social media reach and building the district brand as we highlight the amazing things that our district does have to offer of course my goal is to highlighter wins our teachers and our students I would like to revitalize our LinkedIn specifically for recruiting um you know it's it's a platform that has more than 49 million users on it who search for jobs I think right now that that platform's underutilized so I'd like to change that here I like to refresh our Marquis make them more visually engaging I'd like to make updates to the website um Vlogs have a habitat for Vlogs because my predecessor created amazing videos but they are not easily found on the website and working with Dr Sloat to add a page for data

149so those are just some of the few ideas I have so in conclusion I am the same person you voted for in this role seven weeks ago although I have now have seven more weeks of worth of experience with this District board member Kenyon when you voted for me you mentioned you'd hope I would stay with the district at least 20 years and that's by my that's been my attention since I walked through those doors and I'm excited for the next 19 and a half years at least thank you thank you for that that was well put together um and to be completely Frank I'm glad to hear everything you just said I wish I would have heard that about a month ago but because to be honest I don't seven weeks right you've been

150with us for seven weeks yeah okay the Kenyan I shared some of the reach State data with charts in the board update um this past week I did see some of that before I did see some of the reach data I mean specifically in regards to you your your schooling that kind of stuff I didn't know we had the resume but knowing learning about you because you are the face of this District right so that's my next question is B what can we do to really help you be successful even more than you have been as the future progresses right and if there's something I don't I don't mean to put you on the spot right now but if there's something that you can think of that you know what I really couldn't you know

151tidy up this area or maybe somebody does know some something that much better in this area that can help me be a better person in this job it's just my concern honestly is the the compensation because I mean if anybody looks at it it's more than any assistant principal makes in our district um and I don't I want to make sure that we are giving you the opportunity right because I've been told not by anybody on the board but I've been told by a couple people I haven't seen much from that person I would rather them just go I said well I don't feel that we've given them enough chance and that's what I said so I want I want to give you that chance sure a lot of different kinds of different support I

152say my top what would help me the most stability support um as far as compensation I'll say it um my predecessor didn't have Direct Communications experience although it's to my knowledge that he made the same if not more he comes from a new station members any other call questions comments thoughts I haven't seen a change from what your predecessor did to what you did the transition to me has just been seamless I get all the same stuff I look at the website all the time Instagram I didn't obviously the statistics that you just threw out there for the Instagram the Facebook obviously shows that you've stepped up the game of communications director from what your predecessor did right in the short time that he was here also thank you right it's been my goal to

153just pick up where you left off as best I can Within These short weeks right and what I'll say is this is I think that the difference is that you were hired by Dr chef that's why you're in front of us now that's my opinion and I apologize about that and there is public record to support what I'm telling you I'm just gonna make a comment here because I think there's some misdirection the reason that we get colon we're the board we have to approve every every contract that comes through we approve every resignation everything that comes through that's our job we do take it seriously we do go through everything ultimately it's up to us we're we're responsible to the taxpayers no we're responsible to the taxpayers so when I see something here that's

154ninety five thousand dollars with low experience I have the right and we have the response members of the public this is a board meeting I ask that you remain quiet we do have the authority to move anyway I have the responsibility to review it and we have ultimately approve it here's the problem this was thrown at us two days before we had to vote somebody was already told they were hired I walked into Dr shuff's office and said I wasn't going to vote for this she promised that we'd give her 60 days I'm sorry six months that's all I'm asking for I don't want to get rid of her I just want to have a few more months to evaluate it and I don't think that's out of the question here and you know what

155if we if we sit and watch and she's doing a great job bookkeeper I'd also like to point out Mr Parks that we hire uh teachers that don't have teaching certificates uh I would love to I would love to pay 94 000 or 95 000 to teachers without certificates Mark and also also we don't we don't have a trial with them with their employment unfortunately sometimes when you want something good you got to spend some money because when you don't spend money the proof is in the pudding nobody's going to work for free you're not going to get quality for free and for nothing and I don't think that you would actually in your employment would accept low compensation either I'd like to clarify that I never made the promise of six months because statutorily

156we cannot do that there are requirements about when administrative contracts must be given and if we aren't um if it if we don't notice them that they're not going to then they are automatically required to be given one I did say there's a period of time and we would review and I would take the opportunity to review the progress so far before contracts came out and that is yet another opportunity before another season came up but I would say that I stand behind the decision to hire her I stand behind the work that she's done and if she's exceeded what you all thought did somebody did a good job this last year and if she has exceeded that in seven weeks time my belief is that she will continue to improve and expand on what

157she can bring to the district [Applause] remember there's any other questions or comments hearing none I will take a motion on item 6.5 make a motion to approve item 6.5 foreign responsibilities employment and assignments of communications director with no changes for the executive session for 6.5 I'm sorry right not members part of that though however is the second discussion and that is what are the job responsibilities and if you want to Define that um and employment and or assignments so that is the second part of this that technically is an executive session that that the employee asked to be an open so you we can discuss job responsibilities and or assignments of the communications director for one I would like to see the communications director become the custodian of records for the district I think

158they're far more suited for that position and moving forward I think we're going to need that secondly I think we need to have a much larger media presence and and not just social media and also a larger presence from the communications director into the community attending attending Community meetings and sharing presentations and getting our our word out to various organizations in the district come on so we have a motion have the second um I would ask for the consideration of the job responsibilities Mr Todd the action is to convene an executive session is the action Associated but the employee requested this to be an open session that was her request so that brings this entire session so I'm just not clearing what the action item is that's agendasized here for this there isn't it's going

159to come up it will actually come up I understand your point okay um so this will come up this can come up separately actually members in six point because this came out of executive session it changed things a little bit this will actually come up um in item 6.2 6.13 is actually where it will come up we can however continue to discuss any job responsibilities or assignments that we would like to see changed I've noted mine is there a motion we have to make well we have a motion but there's no action for 6.5 actually so okay uh it got because this was originally gonna be executive session it would have come up later and it still should this just session is open because the employee requested that so is there any other discussion regarding

160this uh I've already stated my thoughts on some of the job responsibilities anybody else hearing none we'll move on to 6.6 which is possible action regarding RFQ 22-11-22 the communication or sorry construction manager at risk for Transportation Hub uh Mr President I moved to the governing board Council Association pursuant to the state procurement rules I'll second okay I have a motion and a second to cancel RFQ number 22-11-22 when I call your name please specify your vote another question there so we're canceling and we're starting all over is that the way I understand it that is what would take place that's what the motion's on right if this RFQ was canceled then it would start the process over okay I just had another question Dr Chef how long did this process take I'll defer to

161miss strickler she was more closely involved sorry Miss strickler the process typically takes about four weeks a month we're looking at a good month for this by the time we get the RFQ board approved and then back out with advertisements that we need to do and out to our vendors they're on our vendor list so just on our end is four weeks we're looking another four weeks and then for board approval once we go through the process again so four to six weeks okay and then but we also okay and then we're in just forgive me for just a second I apologize realistically we're looking end of March possibly at least probably the middle of April okay and then there's the environmental side did that that took place in January and that's when right correct

162that's when we had to be done done done right to satisfy that requirement correct for the underground storage tank so that's so eight months at best okay thank you I appreciate it thank you Mr President you're welcome any more discussion having a motion in a second I'll call you vote for the possible action uh for our approval or in this case it will be the cancellation of RFQ number 22-11-22 I want to call your name please specify your vote Mr Parks aye Mr Aguirre no it's Bixler nay Mr Kenyon aye I'm also and I will show without a proof three quotes yes two votes no and if I could I'd like to explain my vote as to why I voted not cancel it um giving the time constraints that the district is under and the

163taxpayers are going to have to pay with a possible fine coming from the Department of Economic Environmental I can tell you after 26 years of being in an industrial construction eight months it's never going to happen it's not going to happen I look to the gentleman my GCS we may not agree on everything but I think we can agree on this this will be all on the three members that voted yes for those of you who care about taxpayer money thank you Mr Todd you're welcome item 6.7 possible action regarding the interim superintendent search process and steps to select consulting firm to conduct interim superintendent search and related matters I'll make a motion to approve Ray and Associates as the intern superintendent search firm that we use oh second have a motion and a second

164to approve Ray and Associates when I call your name please specify your vote I have a question yes sir um I find it egregious that this is happening knowing what's out in public record that the board is willing to take a chance that other vendors are going to bring litigation against this District due to two board members who met in private and we're not given that direction by this board it doesn't matter amount for what amount it is it matters that a meeting took place to seek a service members got caught it's out in public and hopefully the other five do not bring a lawsuit against this District costing taxpayers more money and taking money away from children and by the way one last thing this is an open meeting law violation I also have

165a comment here Mr President um for me what made sense was we needed to get an interim superintendent into our building as soon as possible going with a national search firm would not do that we needed something local and we have two good candidates here that get did give us bids for just the interim search I think we should separate that out I think we should do an intern make sure that they know that they're not going to be a candidate for the long term we get that person in the building as soon as possible by using local support and then we do a long search nationally for a permanent superintendent I think by going with rain Associates which is by the way the most expensive one on here they guarantee that you will not

166pay more than twenty four thousand five hundred which is four thousand dollars more than the next highest one but if we do it by interim first and then a more long-term superintendent we could spend the time that we need without spending all the money there are other firms here they do have National searches that are not that expensive I think this is a mistake and also if I could comment one more thing that I was part of the interim for the last superintendent before Dr Chef graced us and came here and if I remember correctly we had an interim in place within three weeks by not using a search firm and actually I think it was actually sooner than that to miss bixler's point we use the local firm and they gave us somebody members

167if I may I I hear your concerns I personally as I looked at uh the responses um I don't think we could compare them all um well and I certainly do hear your desire um when we have a national search form we we can still limit that um we will give them the limitations but to be honest I would prefer to hear from all of these vendors um as a board so that we can make sure we're making the right the right decision um so I would not be opposed to having all six come in for for an interview process and learn learn more a little bit about them a bunch of photocopies in a book don't um with all respect everybody on the board it doesn't really suit my needs and as we've questioned

168many other things at this point we would just be taking some photocopies and making a decision so um my preference would be that we do all of them and um and even consider opening this up to have a few members of the public sit on this panel with us to help interview and score all of them now the caveat to that is we need to move fast so these people would have to be if we if we open up additional screeners to sit with us in the review process which we would I expect to do in an open session they would have to be available and and have to work under the board's schedule and the schedule of those that are coming to present but I would I would encourage that we look at that

169and and that gives us both local and National approach and those National firms may have somebody local as well I know there's some other districts who have used National forums and they've ended up finding somebody local uh to do that job and I'm a districts I would like to speak to why I brought this one forth um I probably have some nasty bags under my eyes I've been dealing with this stuff for a while and looking into these and making calls and trying to figure out what would be the best um this firm has actually represented Alhambra District which most of you know is here in the valley um and I reached out to some of their board members to just ask you know what kind of experience they've had and they said they've had

170nothing but great experience they had a lot of diverse candidates come in from some came in from Florida some from Wisconsin many from here in the state they ended up getting a superintendent that was out of the Cartwright District um and they absolutely love her I said do they lean one side to the other side said no they brought in every different option and it seemed to be the perfect thing that what we want for our district that way the the public can see that way us as a board we can invite excuse me evaluate those that are brought forth um and I was told yes they are a couple thousand dollars more but they felt it was very well worth it the the firm handled themselves very well and it was a very quick

171process for them I just had a question Mr came you stated that you contacted this vendor no I have not okay what you said I stated I can't contacted another board member of a different District what district Alhambra District says it's it's in your packet alongra Alhambra oh Alhambra thank you Amber District Alhambra and it's actually in your materials you received as well in this one yeah in your package it was in their bid so okay so how is it in the bid packet if we weren't authorized because we just did the bid we just did that uh last week I'm not mistaken we've had a lot of these so how did it make it into the bid packet it's not a bit packet it's an it's a yes thank you okay how did it

172make it into the references it's what was provided by the agency by the by the company right but again but you're making the reference it's it's in the it's in the first page top paragraph So I provided it but you said you said that you can't that you made calls not to the not to the companies no I I re I let myself be out to everybody I've reached out to everybody that anybody has an issue they can contact me I expect them to hopefully see that I'm doing my due diligence when I am making a decision a district matter so I don't just I look into things one thing I did notice about rain Associates that did cause me to concern we had a number of of the uh proposals that showed us who

173we would be working with their local Associates or they had some other name for it and Ray and Associates only had two out of all the ones that they listed there were only two that were local here in Arizona whereas we have well there's one of them that has pretty much every single person that we would consult with that we would work with are local I don't know it just this does not seem like a good fit or if I can add um personally I took Arcadia off the list um so I also was looking at Ray and Associates as somebody who looked like a competent firm this wasn't planned out it was just one of my top three outside of Arcadia um I also concerned about just honestly taking too much time right now

174we're losing a doctor Chef in in a week um you know Mr nuttall's not going to be with us for four weeks those things come into mind I'd like to expedite this as quickly as possible members we have a motion and a second to approve rain Associates we've had discussion if there's no more also like also like to point out that the previous uh interim superintendent that firm that we used was asba and that brought us Dr Rong how and I'd also like to point out that there was a lot of support for Mr Wrong how in the community and that if we're what I'm hearing is we're more interested in making it expedite it a little bit faster that would be the fastest way he remembers I I go back to I think we

175should interview these I I don't know that that statement would be correct because any one of these potential respondent or any of these respondents potential bid winners potentially have local people so we're making assumptions that we don't know for sure also the way this pricing Matrix has worked out is one has a price for the interim search and then the long-term search is included we don't even know if we wanted to change what that would be so again I feel it's in our best interest to do the due diligence to interview each one of these um organizations and find out what's really there the other thing they talk about in a lot of this is plus expenses I want to know what expenses are before I sign on a blank check that says expenses so

176that that's my feeling with regards to a board member pointing out that one is more expensive than the other not five minutes before you said that Mr Aguirre you also said you get what you pay for so I would just remind you that you can't pick and choose when you want to use that line when you can't I'm going to add as well when it when it comes to yes we do want to make a decision quick uh we're we're unlimited time with our Administration and there's some things that we really need to do as much as we can to support them right now and talking about taxpayer dollars if we and I I don't disagree with Mr Todd I would like to see every one of these come in and do interviews the problem

177is that takes time it takes a lot of time and I don't think we have the luxury of time right now and I'm not saying we push through to get some mediocre thing but what I am saying is board members have had these packets and have been able to prepare themselves to the best of our ability for a number of days and really we should be at the point where we want to do is as good of a job as we can if we decide to go the route of having interviews that's gonna we're gonna give more direction to legal and legal's not cheap legal costs money there's going to be more things that fall into this and it's going to drag things out I really want to do this as quick and seamless as

178possible um but still get the quality that we're looking for as a district and I might maybe are you finished I'm sorry I'm done um but also let's keep in mind this is interim I think we need to spend our resources and time on who we're looking at permanently um I think that Mr Todd has an absolute perfect point on this but I would rather use that time as we're looking for a permanent uh superintendent and that's exactly my suggestion we get our intern in place right now with some of the local asba is fine with me we get that done locally then we have time I don't know why we have to do this all what we're talking about with rain Associates is a permanent long-term superintendent no it's not it's interim no it's

179not it is an intro not if we approach it not to be one we are I mean why would we spending this much money and have an intern they're going to do a national search well all they'll do it but our direction is Paul they aren't set up for local they've got two local Associates we got people here that's got a dozen I'd also like to point out that I keep hearing time and we're up against it I'd also like to point out that the board took action and put themselves and back themselves into a corner on this foreign and now what I'm afraid of is that the board is going to rush it again I have no further comments I remember sharing no further comments we have a motion and a second to approve

180Reign Associates as the search coordinator for an interim superintendent when I call your name please specify your vote board member Parks aye board member Aguirre no board member Pixar nay board member Kenyon aye I'm also a no we will show that that failed two votes to the no three votes to the s Mr President I move that we contract with gr recruiting for an intern superintendent and then later discuss the Contracting with the term for a long term or with a a firm for a long-term superintendent have a motion to approve gr recruiting for an interim and then we'll reconsider down the road for a long-term search but right now this will be an interim search for GR recruiting I have a motion do I have a second a second have a motion and a

181second is there any discussion hearing none I will call for the vote board member Parks nope board member McGuire no board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also a no we will show that failed as well let's try this one I'll make a motion to invite all of the consulting firms to interview with the board um I have a motion for us to interview all of the respondents do I have a second I will second that so with that I will call for the vote it's the time frame we can specify that do you have a suggestion you'd like to include in that in that motion is it in public we do it at an executive session I believe it should be in public and I would like to include members of the

182community to be a part of it and and take part in the scoring process and what does that look like I would suggest that each board member identify one person that they would like to have on the uh on the committee and I would ask that we work together to get a cross-section of teachers staff and Community member we have a motion for that we seconded it I think we could probably clean up the motion a little bit if we need to do so and then we can call it on it since we've had a second yes I seconded it I know but we have to vote on it we can vote on it and then bring it back if we put a cleaner until we get our our rules changed up to allow amendments

183okay all those in favor uh or pose my call your name specify your vote point of clarity here yes um what are we voting for well your your motion was to approve gr actually now your motion was to approve all six to come in and give presentations to the board do we need to modify the motion we we will need to our Rules of Order don't allow for amendments okay if you want to make the amendment to the suggestions I had we would need to vote no and then bring it back up with a motion with the language in there to include the community teachers and and uh and uh staff the name okay we're calling for the vote board member Parks nay board member Aguirre no board member Bixler hey board member Kenyon no

184I also know we'll show that field five zero remember as I'll take another motion I'll give it a shot here um Mr President make a motion to invite all six consulting firms to interview with the board and include a selection process that includes um community members teachers and create a committee that has a scoring system okay the motion is to invite all six in for an interview with the board and uh are you suggesting each board member pick a a Community member or staff member yes sir okay so there'll be five additional people added to the board or added to the the board to review these um I'll take a second on second okay members we have a motion a second to invite all six firms in for a presentation the board panel will consist

185of the board and then each board member will select one member from the community to be a part of that process and scoring the meetings as I understand previously in Mr Parks you can confirm but I think we want that in Open Session as well correct yes sir okay with that motion we have a second correct Mr Kenyon yes okay I have a motion in a second now I'll call for the vote Mr Parks aye board member Aguirre no board member Bixler nay board member Kenyon all right I'm also and I we will show that past three votes to two yeah can I explain why I voted no you may it's already been discussed about Dr Shuff leaving in April and that the additional responsibilities of where those would land and by going through this

186process we just increased the length of those responsibilities that's why I voted no thank you next up will be item 6.8 possible action to approve Elizabeth strickler and Natasha Camp as temporary authorized signatories for the district Mr President I have a move that we approve Elizabeth strickler and Natasha campus temporary authorized signatories for the district second have a motion and a second to approve Elizabeth strickler Natasha campus temporary authorized signers for the district I call your name please specify your vote question yes sir um both Elizabeth strickler and Natasha Kemp do they have superintendent certificates they do not they're not required by state law do we know everything that they can sign for not having superintendent certificates my understanding in Arizona is you're not required to have a superintendent certification so they can sign for

187everything I we could entertain legal counselor Dr Shuff in the audit whoever is responsibility authorized by the governing board so there's no the district's not being put in any legal situation nor are Mrs strickler Mrs Camp being put in any type of legal situation by the governing board authorizing them to sign possibly things that they're not able to sign I don't know if I'm saying that right with without having a superintendent certificate um Mr Todd is correct that school boards do hire superintendents without superintendent certificates thank you any more questions okay hearing none the motion and second is to approve Elizabeth strickler and Natasha campus temporary authorized signatories for the district call your name please specify your vote Mr Kenyon aye Ms Bixler aye Mr Aguirre yes Mr Parks aye I'm also yes we'll show

188the approved five yes zero no next up is item 6.9 possible action to approve the authorization of the board president to communicate and collaborate as needed with the district's assistant superintendents District's Executive Director of Business Services and other District level Personnel pending the hiring of an interim superintendent Mr President I move that we approve the authorization of the board president to communicate and collaborate as needed with the district's assistant superintendent District's Executive Director of Business Services or other District level Personnel pending the hiring of an interim super superintendent uh second a motion and a second to approve the authorization of the board president communicate and collaborate as needed with District assistant superintendents District's Executive Director of Business Services or other District level Personnel pending the hiring of an interim superintendent I call your name please

189specify your vote are we going to discuss it at all you can discuss it if you'd like so I had a couple questions to the one to the legal counsel is there another school districts that's done this before authorize the president to communicate and collaborate as needed with the district's assistant superintendents District's Executive Director of Business Services or other District level Personnel pending the hiring of an interim superintendent okay so no one has so this uh lohow um little Brit did say that this is common in districts she works a little more more with the school districts outside of procurement and we need somebody that can communicate with the district from the board perspective to create agendas and and do all that that needs to happen I think it's been happening without the superintendent now

190no if she's involved in putting the agendas together is that true doctor chef I'm not sure what you're asking he just made a statement that you're involved with putting the agendas together it's my understanding that legal counsel has been putting those together and communicating those two that part is that it's it's yes I have been on some agenda items and many of the agenda items have been put together between the board president and legal counsel okay thank you and their part has been the legal language it's required what is the date this will end the hiring of an interim superintendent that's when it ends okay in this new role does the president have discipline Authority I don't believe that that's specified in here has the president undergone fingerprinting and background as re as is required

191by other District employees through Public Safety yes through the district I have not through the district can you name the communication and collaboration that is needed that is currently not being used I think that's a little bit language that allows for collaboration if something comes up you collaborate when you put together an agenda item you collaborate if you're trying to solve problems we've collaborated throughout this entire night as a board and there are times where you would need to collaborate with with staff to continue with moving the district forward otherwise we're required to have a special meeting every time there's a single question that comes up so I believe that the collaboration usually takes place or has been taking place with legal counsel say that legal counsel has provided legal consult but that's all they've

192done well in creating the agendas no they have not created the agendas they've provided the language that's necessary to keep us compliant because the way I read this Michael is that you're going to be roaming the halls of this building you're going to have the authority to tell people what their job is and what they can and can't do Mr President can we ask the question you may the question's been called so we'll go through the vote and so call your name has been called so we discussion is over with Mr Todd when they call for that I know that this may be an uncomfortable question session that we have here in a discussion session I don't think we're right that sir the tough questions this governing board certain members of this governing board seem

193to be running from I don't believe anybody's running so I have some questions and I'm still waiting on answers on summer we've we've given you the answer sir because what I'm afraid of there is no authority of the board president to go authorizing this that we're going to risk actually having District level employees leave and has the board president been trained and signed off through HR of all the different nuances when it comes to employment with the district in fact that can easily be accomplished if you would like that it's not ordinary no has it been done for anybody and is there any compensation for the president there is no compensation that's not part of the motion we heard legal counsel say that it hasn't been done I've never heard of this being done I

194think this is an overreach I think that this is an overreach legal counsel is correcting your statement Mr Aguirre legal counselor please I think this is an overreach buy this board and I don't think that legally it's going to stand for serious litigation here and that's what makes board members Parks how do you vote hi board member Aguirre no board member Bixler nay board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I we will show that proof three votes to two here you go next I'd like to explain my voice for some reason some board members like to nitpick at every little thing this is something we have to have as a board unless we want to come here every night of the week we've been doing it no we have not been doing it Mr 12

195times we need we need we need somebody in our board we're delegating the president to do this it's his job to touch bases with the necessary district and superintendent people that need to be talked to when we don't have Dr Chef here we need that collaboration between the board and the district we have to have somebody so I'm voting yes moving on to item 6.10 possible action to approve the direction given to the governing board's attorney during executive session listed in item 6.1 above refresh the memory of everyone for 6.1 that was action to convenient executive session pursuant to ARS 38 431-03 A3 and 4 for discussion or consultation with the governing board's attorney and or to consider its position and possibly instruct its attorney regarding its position on procurement requirements and options regarding vendor

196selection for construction and other contacts members given that the um there's correct so I was just calling it out and I was going to clarify that but there is no Direction given in that so we can ultimately move forward past that 6.11 possible action to approve the direction given to the governing board's attorney during the executive session listed as item 6.2 and again I believe that there was no Direction given in that is that correct yep that one's just right right so members what probably needs to happen is we need to reconvene to Executive session if if so chosen to do that we also need to identify our candidates of who we will pick so I believe the motion would be to reconvene the same executive session to discuss that and give any direction to

197legal counsel uh Mr President I make a motion to reconvene executive session uh on 611 listed as item 6.2 it would be executive session 6.2 we're reconvening uh yeah that I said I'm sorry hang on uh yeah 6.2 right that's what that's what I said okay can you just specify it so it's cleared up uh Mr President and make a motion to go into executive session um to give possible action to approve the direction on item 6.2 okay I have a motion to reconvene executive session 6.2 for discussion or consultation with governing board's attorney and or to consider its position possibly instruct its attorney regarding its position on selecting and retaining a consulting firm to conduct interim superintendent search and related potential contract negotiations second have a motion and a second all those in favor

198of call your name I'm sorry uh first board member Bixler correction board member Parks hi board member Aguirre no board member Bixler May board member Kenyon hi I'm also and I we will show that proof 3-2 and we will reconvene to Executive session item 6.2 [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music]

199foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] back to item 6.11 possible action to approve the direction given to the governing board's attorney during the executive session listed as item 6.2 Mr President I move that we approve the direction given to the governing board's attorney during the executive session listed item 0.6.2 I have a motion to approve the action interaction given to the governing board's attorney during the executive session list is 6.2 have a second one second have a motion and a second for item 6.11 when I call your name please specify your boat board member Parks aye board member Aguirre no board member Bixler nay board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I will show that approved three votes yes two votes

200no next on the agendas item 6.12 possible action to approve the direction given to the governing board's attorney during the executive session listed as item 6.3 above foreign take a motion if anybody has one Mr President I'll prove the direction given to the governing board's attorney during the executive session listed as item 6.3 above second have a motion and a second to approve the direction given to the governing board's attorney during the executive session this is item 6.3 above call your name please specify your vote board member Parks hi board member Aguirre no board member Bixler Nick board member Canyon aye I'm also and I will show that proof three votes to two next is item 6.13 discussion consideration to approve issuance of administrator contracts for fiscal year 24. Mr President I move to approve

201the issuance of administrator contracts for year 24 as presented to the governing board tonight with one exception that I moved to table the issuance of contract communications director for 60 days I'll second that okay thank you can you please confirm that motion to approve issuance of administrator contractors for fy24 move to uh with the emotion to move to table the communications director for 60 days okay I have a motion and a second to approve the issuance of administrator contracts for fiscal year 24 at the table the communications director contract for 60 days members I will call your name please specify your vote board member Parks aye board member Maguire yes board member Bixler it was a tough one I think our Administration should get their contracts I don't think we should pull the other I

202vote I board member Kenyon yes I'm also and I will show that those approved five to zero five yeses zero knows and I just throw something out there too I believe this was the one that we heard a lot of discussion tonight from the public about say quote unquote a Witch Hunt um I haven't heard any of that I don't know where that comes from all I've heard is good things about Mr Bogart back there and I had zero intent on not renewing his contract so I don't know where that stuff has come from so if and I make myself I I make myself available I don't know that many of you in this room have ever reached out to me to ask me personally but just that's where I am I have one comment

203here um there was the the original retirement had an ESI contract which was re the retire rehire program um there was some question that I had some questions as to the legality of dumping that and then moving to the next year that's what the emails were about and when it came up for a vote I asked a number of times for clarity I didn't get it however my other board members fixed the issue so I apologize if that didn't come through clearly but we were I Mr Bogart's a great principal I had no intention of ever not renewing his contract foreign moving on to 6.14 discussion consideration to prove issues of contracts for exempt support and related services for fiscal year 2024. Mr President I move we approve the issuance of contracts for exempt support

204and related services for fiscal year 2024. I'll second have a motion and a second to approve item 6.14 approval inch they approve the issuance of contracts for exempt support and related services for fiscal year 2024. call your name please specify your boat board member Parks aye board member Aguirre yes board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I will show that approved five yeses zero no's item 6.15 discussion consideration to approve priorities for administrative and or instructional support programs for budgets for school year 2024. order yes sir is this the one that Mr Kenyon brought back I believe it is so Mr Kenyon stated he wanted to revisit the February 13th item 6.6 agenda item for February 13th item 6.6 is possible action to approve the direction given in the governing board's

205attorney during executive session held on February 9 2023 which executive session was listed as 2.2 on the February 9th governing board agenda if you read the rest of what my recommendation was I actually spelled it all out so maybe I got the number wrong but I said everything that the agenda item was Mr Deckard you see any problems with us moving on with that there was a reference to an agenda item that was wrong but the language is all correct in this pretty clear here I think the public and the board can understand what the discussion is about thank you and I appreciate a lot of the community and the staff coming tonight I brought this back and I know I upset some people by bringing it back for those of you who have reached

206out to me thank you you've made me understand a little bit more which I'm brand new in this I can't be expected to know every little thing but some things I need to know some more about it um and so I wanted to find out more in specific to the special Aid coordination uh Corey I can't even speak it's late tonight thank you coordination position um and that's really what I was looking at I don't like voting on something especially creating a brand new position if I don't understand it the reason why it's there what's going on because I have little things on both sides saying do this do this and no I want to vote and I want to make it my vote and so I have had reached out to a number of

207people and some of you have responded to me gave me some clarity I've reached out to teachers who have given me good Insight on what happens in the classroom and I am thankful I'm very grateful for those of you who have taken the time to educate a board member um it kind of sads me that a number of Staff when I talked to them thought that they would be in trouble for talking to me that saddens me how am I supposed to make a decision just being pulled one way or another and I don't like Mr Kenny I caution you on an open meeting thank you I appreciate the topic at hand um this topic in particular I was I did get a lot of my questions answered and a lot of the need that

208the district has I do know last time we had spoken the big concern was and still is staff touching reaching into the classroom being in the classroom being able to actually sit down with kids and help in the classrooms that still is a concern um however I do see that as our district is growing that these four items brought before us again a lot of my questions have been answered by talking to people who are willing to talk so thank you and I'm willing to go ahead and vote for this again you can take a motion if anybody wants to speak or else I'll make a motion and then we'll have discussion process do we need to vote against and we've already voted once it is on the agenda so everybody has the option to

209vote differently if they wanted to because it was brought back the concern is that the public wasn't notified properly on this agenda item but the agenda item spells out exactly what the emotion is worry about that there is there is an action item as long as the as long as the board understands it we don't have to worry about what the public understands Kenya would you like to make a motion yes I'll make a motion um I do motion to approve the four positions the HR specialist moving from level four to level seven to eliminate a special ed instructional coach and add the special education coordinator add an instructional coach at Blue Horizons and the two full-time assistant principals is that not five positioned that's four well with the two principles that I guess would

210be five but there's four points okay I have a motion do I have a second second I have a motion and a second to approve the positions listed this agenda item I call your name please specify your vote board member Parks all right board member Aguirre present board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I we will show that passes four votes yes zero votes no and one present uh just for clarification Mr Aguirre our Rules of Order do not I believe call for the ability to vote present do you wish to modify your vote we don't actually have Rules of Order we actually do um I voted the way that I voted because number one I am in support of it but I can tell you right now that this is

211an open meeting law violation it's very clear this board approved meeting minutes in the consent agenda Mr goire the vote I don't nothing are you able to record a present vote in Bordeaux so um it'll be covered in the meeting minutes okay okay item 6.16 discussion consideration to approve job descriptions for director of student services special education coordinator accountant human resource specialist and revised organizational chart Mr President I move that we approve the job descriptions for director of student services special education coordinator accountant Human Resources specialist and the revised organizational chart have a motion do I have a second second have a motion and a second to approve job descriptions for director of student services special education coordinator accountant Human Resources specialist and revised organizational chart remember if I call your name please specify your

212vote board member Parks aye board member Aguirre yes board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I will show that past five votes yes zero votes no our next agenda item is 6.17 discussion consideration to approve increase to approve increase in guest teacher rates of pay for school year 2023-2024. uh Mr President I uh move that we approve the increase in guest teacher rates and pay for school year 2023 and 24. do I have a second second a motion and a second I do have a question let's finish this and then we'll go to discussion question I just want to specify the motion the motion was to approve item 6.17 discussion consideration to approve increase in guest teacher pay rates of pay for school year 2023 2024 Mr Bixler you had a

213question yes uh dark silver with this increase where does that put us in competition with everybody else right now um we would have to come back and provide that information I don't have that readily available in my apologies yeah I'm assuming it would get us close if not check um HR team do you do you have that information readily available should we just put that in the board update okay thank you okay any other questions all right members we have a motion a second for 6.17 to approve increase in guest teacher pay rates of pay for 2023 2024 school year when I call your name please specify your boat board member Parks aye board member Aguirre yes board member Bixler aye board member Canyon aye I'm also and I will show that proved five votes

214yes zero votes no our next item is 6.18 discussion consideration to approve revised fiscal year 2024 office manager fiscal year 2024 psychologists fiscal year 24 related services and fiscal year 24 preschool teacher work calendars Mr President I moved we approved the revised fiscal year 24 office manager fiscal year 24 psychologists physical year 24 related services and fiscal year preschool teacher work calendar oh second have a motion and a second to approve the fiscal year 24 office manager psychologist related services and preschool teacher work calendars call your name please specify your vote board member Parks hi board member Aguirre yes board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I will show that proof five votes yes zero votes no item 6.19 discussion consideration to remove the limit of 1 500 maximum compromisation for

215above class max and or above caseload comma make a motion to approve the removal of fifteen hundred dollar limit for maximum compensation for above class max and or above caseload second have a motion and a second to remove the limit of fifteen hundred dollars maximum compensation for above class max and or above caseload call your name please specify your vote board member Parks aye board member Aguirre yes board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon hi I'm also and I will show that proof five votes yes zero votes no next up will be governing board comments on agenda topics or recommended agenda topic Editions Mr President I received an email from I believe it's Bethany drame or dreamy about a Nathan in Scarborough and the bullying incidents that are happening um I'd like a to better

216understand what is being and what action is taken to resolve this okay anything else yeah I'd uh I'd like to have an agenda topic um specifically talking about Michael Todd's resignation and that which he handed to Brian Parks as stated in an email okay anything else members we have an upcoming boarding meetings um March 13th March 27th and April 10th we also have some that were discussed in executive session that will be noticed publicly as well um does anybody have any conflicts with any of these okay hearing none our final item on the agenda is the adjournment of the meeting Mr President I make a motion to adjourn the meeting have a motion to adjourn the meeting do I have a second second of a motion and a second when I call your name specify

217your vote board member Parks aye board member acquire yes board member Bixler aye board member Kenyon aye I'm also and I will show that proof five yes zero no votes the meeting is adjourned [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music]