001I call to order public hearing. First is presentation of the FY26 revised budget. Number three, Mr. Jim Servin, chief financial officer. Information and discussion. Mr. Servin. Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Mesa. Um, as you know, I've been working for the last effectively 7 months on revising several years worth of AFRs and budgets. I'm pleased to announce that that process is now completed. And as a result of that, um, we have we're doing another revised budget to to recognize all of the rest of the carry forwards into the 2026 school year. Um, I've got if you look at um this chart here, what it's essentially showing is where we were at the end of 2025 in the first column, what was the adopted budget for 2026, what was the revised budget in December, and
002what is now basically the hopefully the last of the revisions uh from prior years that are occurring as of this budget um adoption. The M budget has has essentially increased over the December budget five $1.572 million. That's a result of carry forwards coming forward and um the corrections within all of the budget accounts. The classroom site fund went down roughly $255,000. That's for also budget carry forwards and adjustments moving forward from prior years. The grants have basically increased uh essentially on their own as additional grants and carry forward amounts are given to the district and recognized in the books. So therefore we see a a increase of 1.4 million in grants. The good news is is that our enrollment appears at this point in time to be steady. In other words, the initial ro enrollment
003of students for average daily membership was 4,432 when we adopted the budget. We were looking at it from a positive standpoint. However, we knew that there would be a decrease. That decrease took it down to 3,949 students. And actually, as of tonight, the number is sitting at uh 3,948. So that's only a drop in one student, which means for all intents and purposes, it appears that our enrollment ADM has stabilized in the group B weight, which includes special education students and also additional money for K3 learners, ELLL programs, and so forth. That is held steady. that has the same same uh uh weight. It has not gone up since December. Uh it's only down two students which again shows that stability in student counts is actually we're enjoying that benefit. Now there's been no large
004swings. uh additional monies or additional funding such as ELLLK3 uh free and reduced uh paid lunches and one-time monies also increased our weighted student count by 75 students. So overall the district has an additional budget more than we had before in M. That's looking good. And this is pretty much where we'll be um at the end of the at the end of the year for budget purposes would be in that that range. It's of $40 million. On the capital front, that number is has been go has essentially been adjusted all the way through the capital losses and so forth. And with the application of this year's budget against the loss carry forward, uh the district continues to have a deficit in the capital funds account. Um the that fund will slowly uh go away as
005we every year we receive funding of about 2.5 million in capital plus it would also reflect any uh benefits and so forth from the sale of assets um and other savings within the uh the other accounts that affect capital. Is there any questions from the public or from the governing board members? Is there any questions from the public? Any questions from the governing board members? Mr. Surman, I do have a question. So, just to clarify, um, you know, we always get emails and we have gone in the past from the Arizona District Financial Risks Analysis and the last one that we received this in January, well, yeah, in January, um, it told us, you know, that we're still at risk. Um, so are we going to continue getting these emails or or when is that
006going to stop or I mean, now because you say you just revised from from the previous year. So um you did get the email as well. Yes, those have several different categories. One of the risk categories is the the elephant in the room which is receiverhip. The other ones involve uh fiscal stability, overspending budget um and uh overspending capital and weaknesses within the system according to the annual audits. From that standpoint, the dis the district is probably will be expected to probably be in that risk category for some time only because the last pillar that we have to effectively u eliminate is the loss in capital budget because that was so overspent. Um but the district continues to make improvements on all of those areas. They they will be constantly under review. We've got an
007audit going right now that will contain findings as well for 25 um when that audit is completed. So I would expect that the risk category itself would probably go all the way down to capital within the next two two to three years. As long as the district's in receiverhip, you'll always be on the risk an analysis. I don't know why they do that because every receiver, every district that I've been a receiver on, even though we've shown improvement year after year, that automatically almost puts you in a risk category as long as there's a receiverhip applied, you should see improvement on there. I just I just had a battle with them on my other district that I'm in that I'm in the receiver on because of all the improvements that they've made and they've they
008made adjustments. So as years go on you should there should be noticeable re improvement in regards to that but they also look at a fiveyear average. So it even that takes three to years to 40 years to before it goes off because that was one of the arguments I just had with them. Um but because the last two or three years we've been doing well and they said well in fivey year averages because prior to the receiverhip there was all that in there. I said well then that's just a matter of time before you're going to be taken off. So you'll be on there at least another 3 to 5 years. Are are they going to come like they did in the past and and and present to us and kind of scheduled to come
009in February 26th? February 26th. They will be presenting on the February 26th. We just um they just requested that and we approved that. And did you get any feedback from the Department of Education because I know that you sent that intensive report to them. Did they come back with any questions? Because you had a you had two of course from Oh, the Department of the State. Yeah. No, I just talked to them today, too. Um, no, they didn't have any questions. They seem to understand and be involved in on board with everything. They have asked me, there's a bunch of new bills being proposed and ask me to review them and see how they affect the receiverhip and give them feedback today. So, I will be doing that over the next day or two. I
010just got not all of them but some of the bills that they wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to affect the work that I'm doing here or at any of the anytime schools and receivership. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next, I called to order regular governing board meeting. Mr. Hernandez, can you please lead us in the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and roll call. Governing board president, Miss Patricia Himenez, present. Governing board vice president, Mr. Harry Gerwell is not in attendance tonight. Governing board member Miss Maria Gusman present. Governing board member Miss Maria Hernandez present. And governing board member Mr. Rudy Santa Cruz present. Thank you. Next approval of
011January 29th, 2026 regularly ging board meeting with executive session agenda. Is there a motion? So move. Is there a second? Second. Call for the vote. Motion carries. Next, approve of January 15, 2026 public hearing annual governing board reorganization and regular governing board meeting with executive session uh minutes. Is there a motion? Moved. There a second. Second. Any discussion? Changes? Hearing none. Call for the vote. Motion carries. Next is governing board reports. Uh first is myself. I want to thank all the principles and uh for taking the time to um to uh walk with Dr. Lily Lema Messa and I um in in the classrooms. Um thank you very much. Um it's really nice to see uh our students engaging and learning and that I Ready. Um every classroom that was that that we went was
012using the I Ready. Um, another thing that I got to saw is um the students are receiving um some clothes and shoes over at uh Sutton. I I I that's that's amazing. Um seeing the parents also engage at Butler school and coming up with some great ideas, getting involved with their students. Um what you're doing at Butler, I think it's great and I share that with you. Um we need to share that with every every school the parents it's just amazing how you know nowadays like I always said we the parents are the teacher the teachers we're the first teachers of our students and the school is and and you are there to for that support but seeing how the parents are engaged in taking the initiative of helping uh the student the teachers uh
013you know with their students and and uh raising those test scores I think it's great. Um, also seeing how at UD Doll, um, the students with um, getting involved with with, you know, our special need students getting involved and doing things with regular students, I I think it's great. Everything that I saw at the schools uh, was great. Um, even though, you know, we're under receiverhip and I asked every principal, you know, how how are you doing? How's the food, how's the maintenance, how's um, you guys have really, thank you very much. uh this answers that I got from all of you that you've been helping each other and the schools are clean and even gives me the chills because you care and and I thank you again for being part of this district and
014and just everything that I saw at the schools was was great. So, thank you again for for taking the time to to taking me around. So, um that's all I have. Thank you. Next is Mr. G was not here. Miss Ernnandez, I just want to welcome Thank you, Madam President. I just want to welcome everyone here this evening. Um, just want to let you guys know that there is a lot of uh bugs going out there right now. Everybody's getting sick at this time. Um, people are coming down with really serious coughs and and um leading to, you know, different levels of illnesses. So, take care of yourselves. uh be strong. Use is every productive uh prevention that you can um and with your students as well and in your classrooms to be able to
015continue moving forward. It's quite scary to see um you know a lot of talk that goes around in the community about our school and our district when there's illnesses as well going on on top of it and then that we're like all our students are having to stay home because they're being sick and and it's we have so much going on on the outside around us. So all I ask is for you guys to, you know, take precaution, be careful and continue doing the good work and the goodwill that you guys have and your dedication to the district. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Mr. Santa Cruz, thank you. I don't have any updates right now. I just want to welcome everybody to the meeting. Thank you. Okay, Miss Guzman. Thank you. I don't have any
016report. I just want to same welcome everyone for being here tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Next is superintendent update. Madame President, members of the board and ISA community, uh this evening I would like to share with you our midyear strategic plan uh progress report which you have as part of your packet. Over the past several months, we have made a concerted effort and intentional um effort to streamline our work toward clearly identified priorities, strategies, and goals across the district. We have done this through the revision and the revitalization of our strategic plan which serves as our shared roadmap. Equally important, we have established a cadence for evaluation and reflection and that rhythm for pausing, assessing where we are and making important adjustments as we move forward. This midyear represents that starting point for this cycle.
017What you have in front of you in your board packet is an extended version of the report which includes school level and department level details providing transparency into processes across all of our systems. This evening my goal is not to review every data point in the report. Instead, I would like to provide a highle overview of the key areas where we must measure progress, explain why we measure them, and describe how this information is used to improve our outcomes for students. I will begin with pillar one, our educational excellence. One of our primary and key performance indicators under this pillar is the percentage of students demonstrating growth and proficiency on district bench benchmarks and common summitive assessments. Our long-term targets are ambitious and intentionally so that we increase the percentage of students reading in reading
018and math above um the students that are at or above grade level by 20% annually and decrease the percentage of students performing two or more grade levels below proficiency by 20% annually. At the midpoint year, we aim to see roughly half that progress or about 10% movement toward those goals. As Dr. Lton shared with all of us and expanded upon our at our last meeting, we have met the midpoint target for reducing the [clears throat] number of students who are two or more grade levels below proficiency in math. But we're not there fully on the other measures. This is precisely why midyear progress monitoring matters. It allows us to adjust course rather than wait until the end of the year when we do the state assessments. In addition to benchmarks, site and district leaders must
019rely heavily on common summitive assessments because these assessments allow us to see student progress between the benchmark windows. For example, between August and December. CSAs were a key performance indicator for us. They are embedded in daily instructional practice and used by teachers during data conversations, school leaders and instructional leadership teams and district specialist to adjust professional development and targeted supports. If you see on this side as an example is a dashboard that provides real-time access to this information. The dashboards are not static reports. They are decision-making tools. And here I will also like to highlight that the most important resources for assessment lie with the teachers. They along with their professional learning communities or PLC's have the most precious data points and that is the daily checks for understandings and common sumitive assessments that allow
020teachers to respond in a timely manner to students are learning in the content. This information is readily available on our curriculum maps as well. Another key strategy under pillar one is advancing access to personalized learning. One of the tools we use is the I Ready personalized instruction platforms in reading and math with a researchbased target of 30 to 45 minutes per week. at midyear to fall within this effective and researchbased guideline. Our semester averages should have been ranging between 9.5 hours to 15.5 hours. These measures is important for two reasons. Underuse may suggest that students are not receiving adequate access to personalized supports. Overuse does not equate to better learning. Research shows excessive time on online platforms such as I Ready can lead to diminishing returns on student burnout. We also monitor lesson pass rates
021targeting 70 to 100% success rate and those rates that are below indicate that to the teachers that a need for additional intervention and instruction adjustment is needed within the Ir platforms. teacher have access to those reports with flags for the students that need that um additional support so that they can respond accordingly. Finally, under pillar one, we focus on what happens inside the classroom because instruction is the strongest leveler for student outcomes. Our common walkthrough looks for these three very specific indicators regardless of the grade level or content area. standardsbased curriculum u maps are used for planning and instruction. We want to see that 100% of the time. The reason for that is that this ensures that our students are consistently assessing the grade level academic standards with appropriate rigor. Another target is access to
022academic language in this course strategies. We want to see that 95% of the time because that ensures that our students gain the language acquisition and development to communicate effectively as scholars. Finally, the third target we look for is students being able to carry the cognitive load through effective strategies and content practices. We aim to see that 85% of the time to ensure that our students are actively engaging in high order thinking skills, problem solving u for complex issues and meeting the demands of mastery for the content at their level. I want to emphasize that this walkthrough form is not an evaluation tool. It is a trend monitoring instrument designed to help us anticipate learning outcomes and direct support where it's most needed. The next uh slides show you what the dashboards for this walkthrough uh
023look like. Thank you. If we can scroll to the next one. All right. So, moving on to pillar number two. Attendance. Regular attendance is a foundation for learning. Students need to be in front of us so that they can uh learn. So our district goal to achieve and sustain an a is to achieve and sustain an average daily attendance rate of 93%. We have developed dashboards that allow leaders to monitor attendance, enrollment, and chronic absenteeism. Let's scroll to the next uh slide. We can see that um as well as the next one um additional tools and dashboards that allows us to move from uh reactive responses to early intervention. You can find school specific data uh in your completed report related to attendance. Another key indicator is the reduction of discipline referrals and in school
024suspensions. Leaders have detailed data views again in order to make informed decisions. uh along with their instructional leadership teams to identify perhaps hot spots, trends or disproportionalities and to respond with targeted supports. The next slide shows um some of the data our leaders are able to see and disagregate and it's interactive. They can click on those bars and see specifically who are the students that um uh received such uh discipline uh consequence. Um, with this targeted support paired with positive behavior intervention systems and restorative practice, we aim to reduce the number of inschool and out of school suspensions annually by 35%. Staff and student wellness is also central to our strategic uh plan. Some of the highlights you may find from the reports in in front of you for students implementation and upcoming trainings of
025our PBIS uh which stands for positive behavior intervention systems restorative practice student assemblies and community partnerships are some of the things that uh sites have highlighted for staff wellness. Uh some supports that are highlighted across different schools include recognition events, professional development, access to health and mental health resources paired with an emergent district-wide culture of care strategy which includes um benefit education and mental health supports. We also measure the percentage of students, staff, and families uh reporting satisfaction with climate and culture. This spring, we will administer a streamlined perception survey beginning with the second week in February. A working group has intentionally and adously worked uh to address concerns with spring um survey fatigue while preserving the data quality. Additionally, I conducted a listening tour in December and as I shared trends uh with district
026leadership and as part of my update last uh meeting, if you may recall, data from that listening tour and the surveys uh beginning in February aim to inform what is working and what can be fine-tuned. Some of the recognition highlights from across the district that you will find in the report include for students uh recognition for academic growth, attendance, PBIS, behaviors, leadership, and I already progress for staff. Some of the trends included in the report are recognized uh through shoutouts, lunchons, service awards, attendance incentives, and service excellence uh acknowledgements. And for families, um, our sites recognize them through volunteer appreciation events, PTO celebrations and engagement opportunities such as coffee with the principal and other community festivals. Under pillar three, we track the number and the quantity of decision making opportunities for students, families, and staff.
027And two-way communication plays that essential uh building block for trust and transparency. Examples of things that you will include that you will be able to find in the report include communication tools that are widely used across sites such as class dojo, text, emails, newsletters, and social media robocalls to communicate with our families as well as engagement structures such as coffee with the principal, site councils, parent advisory council, student council, and of course our very own instructional leadership teams, which I'll talk a little bit more um about that instructional leadership teams are uh a critical component of a positive and results focused leadership engagement structure. I will expand on that like I said in a little bit. A corner stone of pillar four uh is implementation of professional learning communities also known as PLC's across all
028of our schools. PLC's are critical because they focus educators on what students are learning, how they know that students are learning, what how do we respond when the students have learned and how do we respond when the students are not uh mastering the content yet. And I want to pause here in this next slide. I want to uh clarify the relationship um between PLC and instructional uh leadership teams because this is a a common question that comes my way. An instructional leadership team or ILT establishes the schoolwide vision, monitors the impre implementation of that vision throughout the year and ensures alignment with that laser sharp focus on student academic outcomes and well-being. ILT should be meeting weekly to monitor progress on priorities and strategies. They also meet late in the spring and summer to set
029plans in motions for the upcoming year. Those IoT teams are intentional in including a representative um for each of the PLC teams and other support staff also participate as part of those ILT such as counselors, academic coaches, interventionists, par profofessionals and among other staff members that are critical to the team. So now PLC or professional learning communities on the other hand translate that vision into the classroom level strategies. They serve as those learning laboratories for effective practices. Teachers sharing their practice and uh their their strategies with each other. and uh the representation of each um of those PLC's in our ILT ensures that clarity of the goals are met and that coherence of strategies are placed in action where it matters the most in uh the classrooms with our students. Also under pillar four, we
030are advancing the development of a standard operating procedure or procedures I should say in plural. As this work continues to develop, we now have um developed a centralized um standard operating procedure repository so that we can house all of those um procedures and easily be able to search for them as as uh we continue to add to that repository. And we also have um or getting started I should say with a digital training library to ensure that the procedures are not just uh written document but understood and implemented consistently with clear um professional development. Finally on pillar five uh focuses on the compliance with all state and federal operational requirements. Those key factors include audit re readiness, state and federal reporting, accuracy, internal audits, and quality asurances reviews. Each department has uh specific compliance responsibilities
031that are outlined within the report. And the purpose of that internal review is to ensure that we're prepared before any external audits occur and help us reduce the risk and increase confidence within our systems. This mid-year strategic plan progress report represents our efforts to operate through our core values of access, excellence, collaboration, and accountability. It also allows us to celebrate progress, identify gaps, and make informed adjustments. Most importantly, it helps us remain focused on what matters the most, which is our student success. I appreciate the board's continued support as we strengthen our systems and refine our practices and continue to build our momentum um together. Um that concludes my report. However, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Okay. Um we'll just um move on. Kazushu and reports we don't ask questions but
032we'll definitely get with you Dr. Lily. Thank you. Next is new business information, discussion and action. Approval of the FY26 revised budget number three, Mr. Jim Servin, your financial officer. Is there a motion? Is there a second? [clears throat] Second, Mr. Servin. Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Mesa, uh this is basically the point where the board would approve the budget revision number three. uh upon approval and at the end of the meeting, it will be transmitted to the Arizona Department of Education School Finance and will go down officially as the third revision. Does the board have any questions? Hear none. Call for the vote. Okay, motion carries. Next is grants update. Mr. Servin, chief financial officer, information and discussion. President, members of the board, Dr. Mesa, I let uh our grants director, Aaron
033Harris, uh take over at this and discuss our grant update. Thank you, Mr. Serbin. Good evening, Madame President, members of the governing board, Dr. Massimma, members of the Isaac community. Uh this evening, I will be presenting uh on three items. FY26 fiscal year 26 grant updates, our FY26 AD on-site monitoring process and our FY27 uh ESA, Elementary Secondary Education Act grant application, the process for grants titles one, two, and four. So during the December governing board meeting, I presented on the completion reports. Uh we submitted our completion reports in a timely manner. They were approved. We received the carry forward funds and we added those to the current FY26 budgets. Those uh amounts were approved and we began our uh grant reimbursements for all of our grants that have been approved. And here I'm presenting
034the financials for uh current month January year 2026. Uh cumulative year-to- date uh we have drawn down $1,618,149.54. We are current with our draw downs. Uh now we will move into the final allocations. Ad each year they reconcile our grant financials based on our student enrollment counts, our poverty counts, uh, Department of Education counts, census data, and again, local student enrollment. And so with that, we had a period where our grants uh were closed at the Department of Education from the 20th through the 27th of January because of the reallocation of funds. So, we have been notified that we will have additional funds, but we are waiting until January 30th for the final amounts before we report out because there are still changes within our grants. Uh these changes again are out of our control
035because these are formula grants that we have no control over here in the district. So, again, this matters because we will receive uh either increases or decreases in our funding. So, we'll have to adjust our budgets accordingly at the district level and working with our principles to adjust their budgets in the current fiscal year because we're in second semester and we want to make sure that our site leaders have what they need for the second semester and summer. And again, that's based on the uh middleofar data that was presented by Dr. Lton. And so we'll use that to guide our revisions for fiscal year 26. The next uh part of the presentation will be to discuss the programmatic monitoring uh by department of education. Each year we're monitored by the department of education through desktop
036audits where they ask us to send information uh to them uh through the desktop computer. But this year we're selected for on-site programmatic monitoring. And so this is conducted by the Department of Education. Uh this is to basically see evidence that we're using the funds to support student outcomes. And so we've started this process uh with site leaders to collect information and also at the district level with the teaching and learning department. There are several areas within the programmatic monitoring that we're responsible for providing evidence. The next slide here shows the key timeline and the dates of the monitoring process. And again, as I said, there's a desktop monitoring review where they've asked that we provide documents to send through uh the computer through the desktop where they will review and provide feedback to us.
037They'll give us a period of time, as you can see, to make any adjustments, to add any additional information, and then they'll schedule the on-site audit. So, we'll have several sites. Uh site leaders will host uh walkthroughs uh with the Department of Education. There'll be an interview process with staff who are paid through the grant to ensure alignment between what has been submitted and how we're actually utilizing the grant. So each site and the district create uh their action plans to show how they'll use the funds in order to improve student achievement in English and in math. And again, this meeting will be scheduled. We'll prep uh the district and the site leaders so that everyone is on board and prepared so that there is no surprises during AD's uh on-site audit. And then at
038the end there will be a determination meeting uh in April where the department of education will review all of the documents that have been submitted and give us uh a determination letter which uh could have findings. Uh it could result u in areas of growth of opportunity or it could be a standard uh determination letter where they check and show that we are in compliance in all areas. But we are planning for that. It's January, so we have four months for that. And then last, this is our fiscal year 27 uh budget process. So, as you can see, we during the school year, we're working in three fiscal years. We're in the previous year closing out the completion reports. We're in the current year and then we're planning for the next school year. And so
039right now our school leaders uh will are working they'll come together next week and we will take a look at their budgets. We'll take a look at their uh integrated action plans. We'll look at their goals. Look at how monies were spent in the current school year uh to determine our course of action, our planning for the budget for next school year at the district level and at the site level. And so as you can see here's a process here. And uh last the district we will submit the budget based on the needs of the district and the sites and we'll have AD review that our goal is to submit our application uh by the end of March early April. Uh it is due to the department of education by May 1st. So we want
040to submit early timely so that we can engage with the department uh for a review process or a timely submission and approval. So this ends the presentation. I'm happy to address any questions or concerns Dr. Laden is here can answer as well from the programmatic uh side and teaching and learning. Does the board have any questions? I do. Madam President, um Mr. Mr. Harris, I'd like to ask what with the Title One and all those uh programs that we have, what are they looking for indefinite to to see if we're in compliance? Yes, thank you, uh, board member Hernandez. Uh, as you saw before, Dr. Laden presented data. So, we have set goals in English and math in order to improve the outcomes in those subject areas. And so the district and the site, we've
041hired staff members uh in order to address those uh areas of concern uh through the academic coach, the parent educators, the pair of professionals. Uh there are uh monies uh for before and after school uh tutoring. So they're going to come and they're going to look at those areas in the budget and look at it on the programmatic side in action to see if it is really uh carried out as stated uh on the paper in the plans and ultimately will it ultimately lead to uh the gains that we established in our goals. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? I have a question. Yes. So in your FY2680 grant programmatic monitoring I noticed that um in slide 13 and and it mentions school may host walkthroughs and I know that in Dr.
042Lily's presentation she also mentioned um um you could clarify do those percentage that you also mentioned on the walkthroughs is that related also? So what you're telling me they have these have to happen in order for us to continue getting the grants. Correct. Is that's what that's what you're trying when they come in and they do that we have to literally meet all these guidelines in order for us to start continuing. So what was the percentage on the walkthroughs that you you told us? So, Madame President, the um the percentage that I spoke to and that speaks closely to the SEI and title one have a lot to do with our SEI classroom. So, um academic language and those indicators related to that are um encompassed within that. Um when the auditors come and do
043classroom walkthroughs, they have their own little checklist. Um, in the past I have seen uh them um checking to see if there's an objective posted. Sometimes they look to see if there's vocabulary up. They also check to see if the teacher knows who the um SEI students are. Uh but that's just one one example of what they may be looking for. um for title one, they may be visiting after school programming and ensuring that the plans that were set out that we're receiving um uh funding for are playing out in our schools and our classrooms. So, usually for monitoring, they bring their own checklist. Um and and how often do do they come and and and do the do this? Well, we have cycles in federal programs and each year there's different requirements and as
044I said earlier there are desktop requirements but this year we are in monitoring and that is a cycle that's established by the department of education. So each year they tell us if it's going to be desktop or if they're going to come out and audit us in person. They don't just show up surprised, they usually let us know. uh they can surprise they can show up but as you uh can see here in the schedule uh this was sent out sorry this was sent out and it was shared uh to us and so we have uh ample amount of time in order to uh prepare for this okay I'm just making sure that they show up and we don't want to lose any of the grants making sure that we're doing everything well we've already
045started the process internally with our own walkthroughs and as Dr. Mema has stated and you were there. So we have walkthroughs but we've also have interviews. So everyone who is paid in the grant we are working to ask if you're an academic coach paid through the grant what do you do outside of an academic coach. And so that is how we can target and work to ensure that everyone is performing uh their duties within the uh job descriptions that were board approved. I just want to, like I said, just making sure that we're all working together and making sure that, you know, because we're already tight as it is and making sure that we just continue keeping that money. So, Okay. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Next, we have approval of
046the 2026 2027 proposed school calendar. Miss Sylvia Karisa, executive director of employee relations and Miss Andrea Valencia, IDA president, teacher information discussion and action. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Second. Okay. Miss Scotta. Good evening, Madame President, governing board members, Dr. Lily and Isaac, community members. This evening, Miss Andrea Valencia and I will co-present. Uh we will be reviewing the calendar committee work, share the results from stakeholder input for the 20 26 2027 school year academic calendar. Okay. School year academic calendar. So I'm going to pass it on to Miss Valente who will kick us off and then I will also support. Yep. Good evening everyone. So um here we have is those who were a part of the committee. Um, our goal was to create a calendar that balances instructional requirements um
047with the well-being of our students and staff. Um, we have a wide collective um that [snorts] represented the committee as you see right there in front of you. Um, focusing on two viable options that from the start and end dates and staff return windows. Our common ground for both options provide the mandated 180 instructional um days and include the identical fall, Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks within uh both. The difference is in option A, the August start date is um on the 3rd and ends May uh 25th. Option B, we start earlier on the 30th, a Thursday, and then ends on May 21st. Um the impact was that option B requires staff to return uh 4 days earlier than than we would have to in July than we normally do from July 23rd for versus
048July 27th. Here you have we did have a high participation rate um within the district. We received over um 200 responses from a diverse cross-section of parents, staff and students. Um we which is really rare um that we actually had this uh high amount of participation which is great because now um we had about as you see 85 preferred option A within staff parents 85% of them preferred option A as well as students 65%. And then you can see the breakdown within the next couple of slides as to this is the participation engagement between um teacher staff and parent which is we had a high rate no you're fine a high uh engagement within the parents and then the next slide shows the breakdown within each site and I will continue uh with sharing a
049little bit more of the breakdown in regards to the input that we received from stakeholders as Miss Valencia mentioned we did have input from both staff, parents and guardians and then this year new would be a small cohort of scholars and I will get into more details u in the upcoming slides. So first and foremost uh the input from our teacher or staff really there was overwhelmingly um opt they staff wanted option A excuse me um as this ensures that they get mental reset which they believe will improve teacher retention and decrease uh early year absences. Teachers also advocated for a Monday start day uh in option A to establish immediate consistent weekly routines with their scholars. And then finally, our teacher and staff community members expressed a clear mandate to protect the end of
050July for family time and also preferring that August 3rd for start even when it's it it will have implications on ending slightly later in May. In regards to our input from let me change the slide here for par oh parents maybe I did that one first but uh now in regards to the parents uh parents strongly preferred starting on Monday to establish a clear weekly routine again for their families for their children. They did make some comments about the significant excuse me sign significant concern about the heat that we obviously face in July, the extreme weather concerns and so they also viewed August 3rd as an option for them that they feel would warrant what what is best for them and their family all things considered. Also me many parents noted that the late start
051in July uh respectfully quote unquote threw things off for them and their family members. So they wanted to stick to a more traditional calendar as they are accustomed to. Okay, I think I shared that one. Um, so I apologize for the slides kind of being out of order, but I shared the staff analysis of parents. And so key takeaways from both um, obviously as Miss Valencia mentioned, this is rare, but there was a high alignment between staff and parents, both groups wanting and favoring option A, which starts on August 3rd. And then of course they also shared that they wanted to uh keep to the traditional calendar start on a Monday and realizing that we would have a later end date in May. Here you have the breakdown of the participation uh and their votes
052accordingly. And so wait I'll that ends there. So here you see our student data. student data as I shared earlier it's our first time that we were allowed to excuse me not allowed but provided the opportunity for our student superintendent student advisory council and thanks to Miss uh Preston who led this effort along our support with Mr. uh Mr. Jose who allowed our scholars during one of their monthly meetings to engage in the voting. Although we realize this is a small subgroup of our scholars, we did we do know that they represent and this is part of their role in this council. So here you see what they voted for. Again, it's a limited amount of subgroups. 20 students were there that day. Um out of the 20, you see the breakdown of which options
053they preferred. And as I mentioned, you'll only see three schools here because our council is made out of our middle school scholars. And the students also shared their uh input in regards to which calendar they preferred. Again, the majority of them preferred option A. Um they also noted that that's probably what their families and parents wanted. They shared that that's what they're used to and uh they wanted to stick to what they said quote unquote the normal schedule. Again, just some key takeaways there that I've already shared. Overall, there was a the option A is what most actually the majority of the three subgroups elected. And so, respectfully, this evening, we end this presentation by recommending that the board approves option A. And we're happy to entertain any questions you may have of us. Thank
054you. Does the board have any questions? Uh, yes, Madame President. I do. Um, Miss Karisa and, um, Miss Valencia. Valencia. Um, was there ever the jump start on our calendar at all prior? That's a good question, um, board member, uh, Miss Hernandez. So, jump start isn't indicated because it's not part of our calendar, our academic calendar. However, we do plan for it, but that is not typically something that we have added to our academic calendar. Okay. But I will say we do plan for it. Okay. Yes. Okay. All right. Any further questions? Call for the vote for um option A. Okay, motion carries. Okay, next we have adoption of second reading of policy section F and possible adoption of policy of section F. Dr. Mesa, Dr. Messma, interim superintendent. Is there a motion? Is there
055a second? Second. Dr. Mesa LMA. Madame President, members of the board, ISA community, the moment you have been waiting for. I continue to our process to update our policy manual to align with the model policies uh by the Arizona School Board Association consultation with our district legal council. For this agenda item, I bring the second reading of section F in our policy book titled facilities development. The second reading encompasses the revisions outlined during the first reading and is now presented to you followed by discussion and possible approval. Um section F has uh the following policies with clarifying language updates FA and FF and no changes to policies FCB and policy FEA. And that concludes my reading of section F. Okay, any questions? If not, call for the vote to approve. Okay. Motion carries. Next. E.
056Adoption of second reading of policy section GA through GB and possible adoption of policy book section GA through GEB. Dr. Lily Mesma interim superintendent. Is there a motion? There a second. Miss me Messma. Madame President, members of the Boran is community for this second reading the initial part of section G. Section G is one of our longest sections in our policy book titled Personnel Policies GA through GBE D. The second reading encompasses the revisions outlined during my first reading of this policy section and is now presented to you um for possible approval. There a motion I mean is there a motion? Any discussion? I'm gonna Oh, you're not let my summary here policies and regulations and exhibits with clarifying language include policy GBA uh policy GBE, policy GB. The policies and exhibits with administrative updates
057or NAS substantive um changes include policy GB AE which updates um the our address and that's it. The rest of the policies have no changes made to them. Okay, any questions? Call for the vote. Okay, motion carries. Next, adoption of first reading of policy book section H. Dr. Lely Messma, interim superintendent. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Dr. Messma. Madame President, members of the board, the first reading of section H is meet and confer which has one policy and there are no recommended changes to this one policy. Since we're doing a whole um uh policy review, this one policy section must be brought to you for your review and in alignment with the process that we have been following for this first reading. Uh and um I request your approval for this first
058reading of section H. um policy HD which has no changes. Okay, any questions? Okay, call for the vote. Motion carries. Next adoption of first reading of policy book section I through IH AMD Dr. Lily Mesalemma in terms of superintendent is there a motion is there a second Dr. Messma. Madame President, members of the board is community. In this agenda item, I bring to you the first reading of section I, which is another long one. So, we're going to be doing a section for uh the section titled instructional programs and we're focusing on policies IA through IHAMD. As was the case for the previous sessions, this first reading I will present uh the summary of all changes followed by the uh board's discussion and request to approve this first reading of this particular subsection. Policy I
059A maintains the current policy. Policy IB maintains that current policy. There are no changes. Policy IC also no changes. Policy ID maintain the current policy. Policy IE adopts the clarifying language from the model policy and maintains all other previously adopted language. Policy IGA adop updates the legal references, adopts clarifying language from the model policy and keeps the previous adopted language text. Policy IGD adopts the language from the model policy, adds the subheadings for clarity and maintains all other previously adopted language. Policy IG maintains the current policy. Regulation IGER maintains the current uh regulation with no changes. Policy IHA adds a literacy course, expands social studies to include civics and the Holocaust instructions and adjusts the grade levels from 7 through 12 to those that we service grades 7th and 8. Remove the minimum course of
060study requirements for high school. keep clarification that it is not a legal holiday for Sandra de O' Connor and adopts the updates to legal references. Policy I H Ae the exhibit adopts the language from the model policy to clarify literacy coach as being added. Policy I HA maintains the current policy. Policy IH A no changes. Policy IH A there are no changes. Policy IH MA updates to the legal references, remove references to specific grade levels 9 through 12, and maintains all other previously adopted language. Policy IH MB updates to legal references, removes references to specific grade levels 9 through 12, maintain all other previously adopted language. Policy IH A MBR adopts the recommended language from the model policy, removes references to specific grade levels 9 through 12 and maintains all other previously adopted language. Policy
061IH AMC update updates the title of this policy from HIV AIDS education to instruction and training in cardopulmonary resuscitation. adopts the recommended language from the model policy. Policy IHMD adopts the recommended language from the model policy by adding a subheading student ident and identification cards and removes the references to specific grade levels 9 through 12. And that concludes my first reading of uh the subsection of uh policy section I. Does the board have any questions? Dr. Lily, I I do have a question. Um, I'm reading the policy of IH MBR, which is family life education. Um, this is probably one that um I'll probably get with you. I'm just curious. Uh, it's I'm not going to read it all. Um, but I'm just curious to know as a governing board because it mentions us here
062several times of uh things that we should be doing and not be doing regarding to um the instruction and sex education. So I I'll just since this is the first reading that's probably something that um I would love to discuss with you on that. I can definitely clarify. Can you uh please repeat the It is uh IH Ab-R Family Life Education. It's uh very lengthy. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Call for the vote. Okay, motion carries. Next, do I have a motion to approve the whole consent agenda? So move. Is there a second? Second. Okay, call for the vote. motion carries. Next is called to the public. Do we have any call to the public? Madame President, this evening we do not have any requests to address the governing board. Thank you. Next enrollment,
063average daily membership and average daily attendance. Our enrollment is 4,453. Average daily membership 3,890 and average daily attendance 3,796. Calendar parent teacher conferences is going to be February 11th through the 13th. And our next governing uh regular board meeting will be held Thursday, February 12th here at the district office. Now we move on to um a motion and possible action to convene to executive session pursuant to ARS 38431-0383 discussion and consultation with legal advice with attorney of the public body data system update. Is there a motion? Moved. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Call for the vote. Motion carries. The other one is B. uh motion and possible action to convene to executive session pursuit to ARS 3843103A7 and A3 discussion and consultation with designated representative of the PL public body in order to consider
064its position and instruct the representatives regarding the negotiations of a purchase sale or lease of a real property and discussion and consultation for legal advice with the attorney of public body sale or lease a real property update from the receiver. Is there a motion? Is there a second? Second. Call for the vote. Thank you. So now we go to executive session. Have a good evening. I just need a motion to adjourn the meeting. Oh, no. You know what? I'm sorry. I don't need a motion. A motion to reconvene the meeting from executive session. So move. Is there a second? Second. Okay. All in fa All in favor say I. I'm sorry. Second. Second. Motion. So all in favor say I. I. I. Okay. Now we are and there's no objections. meeting adjourn.