001I will now call to order the regular schedule meeting for the Lake Unified School District on February 12th, 2026. Secretary Ro, please >> here. Here. We'll now have a moment of silent prayer or private reflection. Amen. Would you please stand for the pledge of >> als just with housekeeping rules and then some announcements. Um this evening we just ask that you remain cordial. Um if you're addressing the governing board and the call to the public um we definitely are open to freedom of speech. We just ask that you remain follow the protocol. And then please do not shout out in our meetings or be disruptive. If you are then you will be asked to leave. Um also a couple of other things. The district has been informed that one of the NABT insurance rates was
002calculated incorrectly. The district still intends to cover the cost of this year's increase, but we will need to pull that agenda item this evening and have it presented with correct numbers in a future governing board. So, um also a couple of other things. We understand there's a survey that has come out to parents, teachers, and staff in regards to early release days. Um the governing board will not be addressing that this evening. Um we will need to have meetings and discussions and work sessions in regards to that. We have not seen any of the results of the survey nor has there been a predetermined decision that has been made by this governing board or any administrator. So anything said otherwise is just simply not true. Um and then finally, we understand life touch um has
003been a very serious subject in our community today. Um based on the information that was given to our superintendent, the governing board, um Lakeis Unified School District will be discontinuing our relationship with Life Touch and we will be looking for a new vendor for school pictures. Um that's all the announcements I have at this time. Um we will now move on with the agenda. Um for item 2.1, governing board monthly awards. The board will join me. All right. First this evening we have our community our community member of the month for the month of February is Steve Greley. Steve is the owner of KL uh of KNTR as well as a huge champion and proponent of every bond and override that that this district has done. He is a great partner to Lake Unified School
004District. So Mr. Greley if you would please come at this time. All right. Next is support staff of the month, Coach Carl Thompson. Mr. Thompson has been with Lake Havis Unified School District for 27 years as a PE with he and as a coach and has been the is a P coach and has been the Lake Havsu High School head football coach for 17 of those years. Mr. Thompson has been the head coach for three sports teams in Lake Havsu High School, football 2009 to 2005, softball 2011, and girls basketball 1999 to 2006. Mr. Thompson also was an assistant coach for football from 1999 to 2008. Boys basketball 2006 to 2008, basketball 1999 to 2001 and 2020 to 2026. Thunderbolt Middle School girls basketball from 2014 to 2016 and boys basketball 2018 to 2020 and
0052021 to 2022. He has been an instrumental part of the Lakehouse Unified School District athletic department and we are grateful for all that he has done. His dedication to this district, our students, teachers and staff. Mr. F. Next up is our teacher of the month, Nicole Brown from Royal Grande Elementary School. Miss Brown has been with the Lake Havis Unified School District for 20 years, dedicated to Earl Grande Elementary School. Miss Brown was a third grade teacher for 18 years and then transitioned as a fifth grade teacher where she teaches math and science. Quoted, I love math. She is data driven when it comes to planning instruction, mimic and AASA testing. Her unwavering dedication to the students has included facilitating the gifted enrichment program once a week, 301 site repace club, mentoring her teammates, a
006pilot teacher for big ideas last year, and sat on the panel to approve big ideas for the 2026 2027 school year. Miss Brown was a teacher of the year in 2020 and 2021 and recipient of the Golden Apple in 2023. Principal Barton stated that Miss Brown goes above and beyond for our scholars, supporting them both academically and through extracurricular opportunities, consistently pushing her scholars to the next level in Math by helping them set personal academic goals and by seeing additional intervention to support their growth. We are grateful for Mrs. And then this evening, our February administrator of the month is principal Jamie Hammer, principal of Havsu Pai Elementary School. Miss Hammer is a proud wife and mom of two Lake Habsu High School graduates. She started working here in 2007 and has been with the
007Lake Havis Unified School District for 19 years. Miss Hammer has accomplished so many things with LHUSD, including being a national board certified teacher, a third grade teacher at Jamaica Elementary School, a student success dean at Starline Elementary and most recently the principal of Havsup High. her commitment to high quality instruction, continued growth, continued dedication, and continued work transformation at Havasu High Elementary School by putting all students first every day, every time. Her dedication is undeniable. We are grateful to have Miss Hammer as part of our Lake Unified School District administrative team. All right, this time item 2.2, Lake Capsu City Education Association President Carol Noacowski. Welcome. Good evening, President Rose, members of the board, Superintendent Stone, directors, staff, students, and community. Uh, the 2026 Arizona legislative session has begun and there are a lot of
008activity going on at the cap. The House Education Committee meets on Tuesday, which is one of the committees representative Basuchi sits on as a member. The Senate Education Committee meets on Wednesday where the representative where our representative Angus sits as chair. I am still going through the list of bills that are being reviewed by committees. They range from school gardens, preschool meals to discipline and school safety. As these pass through committee, I will keep you alerted on the ones that will affect our district. Regarding tonight's board agenda, I first want to thank you for working with us on the discussion item 5.1 with the possibility of adding procedures 4.32 C, point F, and point G. Uh these will have a positive impact on all of our staff. And second, as you noted, um we are
009moving it to the next board meeting, but the agenda item 6.4 When this agenda agenda item was posted, staff had heavy concerns on how the increase in the annual benefit premiums would impact them. We are all we were all pleased to read, LHUSD will continue to cover 100% of the employee premiums for the EPO and HSP plans and subsidized dependent premiums. So, all employees will continue to pay the same rate as they do in the current year. There are many who have remained in our district because of this around 9 to 10 years ago. We had a possibility of this disappearing as well and it was a room full and some people here know that would have felt that impact heavily and we would have lost a lot of staff. So, we appreciate the decision
010then and the continued commitment to our LHC staff. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, we will have item 3.1 call to the public. Ellis side. Okay. Potter. >> Good evening. >> Hello, my name is Porter. Um, I'm just here to talk about on the property. I know you guys are looking at the paper um and I do believe that previously but um I do want to ask and I know we can't answer any questions tonight but one was Mojave College considered and that they have over 60 associate programs and they just are now offering for um undergrad degrees as well um which I believe they're going to continue to try and build that program up as well. I do have um another student that went to ASU here. Um the programs that
011they offer not many um after the first year she wound up having to go online or move to Tempe. Um secondly that's at GCU right now. Um and she's taking four classes this semester and she is doing online. So my concern would be if we do bring in university here. How much of the students are we really keeping here? Is it going to be strictly online as it has been for ASU? Not strictly online, but several degrees online. And so I just want to bring that into consideration too. I think that should be something that we're looking at as well. Thank you for your time. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Good evening. You have three minutes. >> So, um I wanted to bring up a few topics tonight, but on this kind of survey
012law is are getting the same portions as graders and I don't think that's really suffice but I understand like oh this is understand lot of concerned entirely purpose is a new topic you guys mentioned. I always suggest local photographers. We have a lot of really good local photographers. Maybe you can make a contract with three of them, four of them and be like, "Hey, you know, this school, these two schools are yours this year. Let's bring up the people that are local if you can maybe see what they even maybe bring up our local businesses and work with a few of them to make that But that was my talking point. Welcome baby. I'm so excited for you. >> Thank you. All right, we will now move to item five 4.1, our consent agenda. I
013need a motion and a second. >> Please move to approve item 4.1 consent agenda. >> I'll second. >> The secretary will do. >> Yes. Yes. Item 5.1, human resources, first reading of new policy and procedures. >> Good evening, President Rose, members of the board, Dr. Stone, staff, and community. This is the first reading of three procedures regarding these benefits that if adopted during the second reading will go into effect for the 26th 27th school year. Procedure 302G paid parental leave. This is a new procedure which allows for six weeks of paid parental leave for qualifying events. Qualifying events include birth, still birth, miscarriage of employees child, be a spouse or committed partner of an employee who has given birth to a child, have adopted a child, been pleased with a foster child with the goal
014of adoption or have guardianship placement of a child to the age of 17. Adoption of of a new spouse's child is excluded from his policy and then also their surrogacy. The six weeks of pay leave you must run concurrently with any family medical leave taken. Then there's procedure 4-302C personal leave. This procedure is being updated to include three additional days of personal leave for all employees. If personal days are not used, they convert to sick days for the following week. Procedure 4-302L brament leave. This procedure is being updated to include 5k days of bereavement leave for all employees per year for an endstate death of immediate family. Employees are also eligible to use earned paid sick time, personal leave, or vacation leave for up to five additional days of brement per year for out of
015state death of an immediate family member. All right. At this time, I will open up for questions from our governing board. >> So, right now, you get up to 12 weeks and you have to use your sick personal vacation time. So, you'll get the first six weeks paid and then you can use your six additional weeks. My question was on the bereavement out between. So right now um I I just think if you're traveling out of state, you might need a little bit longer time. And that's how that's how it reads right now is you get you're allowed five days of leave and state and that I don't know when that came around, but that's what it currently is. But at least we give you five. >> And could you share with the governing board
016the financial impact? >> I believe I believe that was report >> I believe the the cost that this was given in our report. >> So the cost for the payroll right now if we were to do that right about $48,000 for this school year. So for that is there any more comments or questions from the governing board? >> All right. Thank you so much at this time. Um I actually would like to make a motion to wave second reading. >> Can we not do that? Oh, it's not actually I would like to at this time open for call to the public for employees if there's anything any questions that you would have in regards or comments future staff anybody Christina, I just wanted to say thank you for approving this because we have had two
017teachers in the last year that took off unexpected um time for their babies longer than they expected and they got no pay. And so they are still working from home doing the best that they can, but they would not be paid because of the how long they've been in the district. And I remember as a new teacher myself seeing every single day coming to school sounding like this because we wanted to save days to our babies. So we just appreciate this because I know our younger teachers. This is going to help us retain them. They're not losing. So thank you. We got >> Hi, my name is Michaela Young. I'm one of those teachers that Christina was talking about. Um, I just had a baby in June. Um, and I ended up taking off the
018first quarter and I had to use all of my six days. So, every time that my baby gets sick or I get sick, they don't have any time. So, I get to leave without pay. So having this be approved would be significant and so helpful especially considering like I want to grow my family. So next baby hopefully that will be a thing. So thank you guys so much for considering it. I really appreciate it. >> Hi Sarah and I would say just hearing that is a relief. I sometimes come to school thinking do I do I save the day? How many days do I add and thinking of the future this this Thank you. >> I had the pleasure of having a niku baby. My husband and I both worked in the district. He had
019to stay and work while I stayed in the hospital by myself in Phoenix. I love that this includes parental leave for both parties so that I wouldn't have had to be isolated from my family. And as as much as I appreciate the printing, I also appreciate the briement. Ever since we put it back, um we changed it um several years ago and um it was hard for me to um encouraged people to take bereavement and um because they had to choose sick um and so is know I want you to be able to go and grieve and not have to come back. So I really do appreciate that you have reversed this policy to back to where it was because we've had staff members this year that had to choose to work or go in
020greed. So thank you know It seems like you might just want somebody. Oh yeah. So I know I resources for a little more but if you are out of state I was so basically what I'm talking unless they use vacation for five additional work. But I we can discuss I was just going to say thank you for letting me speak for Marcy. Uh her question was as a one of our wonderful bus drivers that helps get these kids to school. Does this window to them as well or is this strictly a policy that's changing for the teachers alone? >> No, this will be for all staff. >> Oh, that is awesome. Okay, thank you. >> All right. Is there any further discussion question? You know, I just want to say that I'm thankful for this
021governing board working together to make this happen. Um, we are a school district that talks about we support families. Um, but so often it is the families that work for this district that are overlooked. And this is a board that doesn't just want to support the families that their students attend our district, but we also want to support the families that work for the district. So, we're very excited to be able to bring this for our second reading. >> Yes, Miss Williams. >> Question where it says um immediate family. Um a couple years ago, I lost my father, my stepmother, my 15-year-old nephew, and my sister, all within a four-year time period. When you say immediate family, what is that going to include? You might want to specify what that is. Um, immediate family is
022defined as spouse or domestic partner, children, parents, legal guardians, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, aunt or uncle, parents of spouse or your domestic partner, brother or sister of your spouse or domestic partner, sons-in-law or daughters-in-law, any individual permanently residing an employes household. That covers almost the whole >> and then the only thing I wanted to say our education association working with directors and our superintendent and a lot of behind the scenes a lot of times as a board member to not consider how policies impact your actual daily lives. And so I do appreciate the advocacy coming from our staff and making sure that they draw our attention to things that we can do. So I app item 6.1 assistant superintendent recommendation. So before I read this, as some of you are sitting wondering, well, who is that
023going to be? One of the things that we spoke about in a few months ago in a board meeting as I talked to you about grow our own. Um, this district um has a lot of great leaders that have an opportunity through the years to advance the greater opportunities of leadership and we want to be able to develop those leaders here in the district. and tonight we were able to begin that process. So tonight it is my pleasure to present the recommendation of Mr. Scott Becker for the assistant superintendent. Mr. Becker has dedicated the past 24 years to the Lake His Unified School District, serving as a physical education teacher, assistant principal and principal of the Lake Absu High School since 2014. As principal, Mr. Becker has led Lake Absu High School's instructional administrative programs,
024overseeing curriculum, instruction, personal management, student services, finance, business operations, and community relations. Under his leadership, the high school has earned an A school letter grade from the Arizona Department of Education for the last three consecutive years and successfully renewed its accreditation. Throughout his his tenure, Mr. Becker has demonstrated consistent leadership, loyalty to this district, and a strong commitment to student centered decisionmaking. His extensive experience across classrooms, athletic and and administrative roles provides him with a comprehensive understanding of district operations and school leadership. Mr. Becker holds a bachelor of science from the University of Wisconsin Lacrosse and a master's degree in education administration from Grand Canyon University. His depth of experience, proven record of academic success, and long-standing commitment to the Lake Unified School District position him well to ser in the role of assistant superintendent.
025At this time, I will open it up for discussion and questions to the governing board. >> This is a wonderful recommendation, Mr. Becker. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and work with you. Everything that you have provided to this board here and I look forward to superend questions. I will I will say this that um I've had a great opportunity to build a relationship with Mr. Becker. He has become a sounding board uh for advice as I work through decisions and um his wealth of knowledge and history of the district and I'm looking forward to him working with the governing board in this new role. So at this time I call there's no other questions. Um I ask for a motion and a second to make Mr. the assistant superintend at the lake.
026>> Second secretary. >> Yes. Yes. Congratulations, Mr. Becker. Now, for those of you wondering what is going to happen with the high school, so Mr. Becker will be um completing his year as principal at Lakeu High School. Um that position will actually be posted by HR tomorrow um as we begin the search for a new principal and I can tell you Mr. Becker is going to be heavily involved in that process and we are very thankful for that. All right. At this time, item 6.2, maintenance, approval of a contract award for Thunderbolt Middle School. >> Good evening, Dr. Stone, Assistant Superintendent, Mr. Becker, awesome governing board and community. Um, I'm here for to present the motion to approve the uh rebuilding of the cooling towers at Thunderbolt Middle School. So, as promised to the voters
027in November 2016 bond pamphlet, the governing board will consider the approval of a proposal from PBLO mechanical controls for Thunderbolt Middle School to rebuild two towers. Uh the project is in the amount of $224,938. The cooling towers at Thunderbolt Middle School require comprehensive mechanical refurbishment to ensure operational efficiency and climate control for the facility. Following a professional assessment, a scope of work has been developed to address the corrosion, mechanical wear and component failure. Um, so basically we got to do a full removal of all the scale filled. Well, we got to remove all the scaled fill. So fill is like what the water goes down. Um and comprehensive power washing of the tower and the bases. Uh application of a premium epoxy coating to address the corrosion and the failing surfaces. Installation of new fans,
028new shafts and bearings and bushings, mechanical floats and valves, replacement of internal components with OE OEM Baltimore air coil replacement fill kits and new stainless steel internal walkways. And that comes with a 2-year warranty. Uh the project is estimated to take about 16 days and will be conducted during normal business hours. It will not impact the staff and students. Um the project is being procured under the 1GPA contract 2214PV-05 uh utilization of the cooperative purchasing contract ensures compliance with Arizona procurement statute while providing the district with competitive pre-negotiated pricing. Uh total project 224,938. Uh it also includes a 1.5% performance bonding. funding source will be bond or allowable capital funds. Uh proposal pricing is valid for 90 days of the day it was issued. Um it is recommended that the governing board approve this proposal
029from federal mechanical controls uh for the rebuilding of the two cooling towers for middle school to prevent any equipment failure and extend the life of the HBAC infrastructure. Um reference documents they have a unified district. I think it might be up there. I don't know if you guys are actually going to open up the proposal. You can totally um but that is what's in there. Uh the project will be funded under using a couple of funds. >> No, just >> if anyone has any question the following is the total price including the estimations on what those might be. That was the pool. It won't be a >> jobable require questions for Thomas comics. I just want to commend Thomas on has been and his team have been working diligently to keep the middle school uh
030cool because if you could see the systems it is a nightmare and so I just want to commend you for your work and your success in that and this is something that's definitely needed. He took me on a tour of these systems and they defin that that is definitely us covering it. That's what they hear. Yeah. So, the school facilities division 100% out of money right now. Uh they should be getting some work coming and there's been a lot of talk about a $ 1.5 billion over three years. It has not been approved. Um I have about $50 million in the queue with roofing weatherization and they are not funding anything. So right now that is definitely coming out of our >> correct. >> You you can totally try to find somebody in this town
031that could rebuild those towers. You have to get three competitive bids. You have to use a procurement company like uh Sunny Path and they have to put it in the paper. This is all pre-negotiated. This is which is government procurement. >> No, they they apply for it. >> Correct. Correct. They pre-negotiate the price of government. So they're basically part of a cooperative. >> So there's Mojave, one GPA, there's there's a lot of different New ones would be probably about five million. >> And honestly, this isn't at that price. Just think of the cost of labor now for what they are doing. Two separate towers, multiple days of labor, 16 days of labor. I mean, >> and hotels. >> So, we we actually have a 36y old chiller there. So, we have two chillers and the
032redundant there's no redundancy. It needs all two all of the chillers for capacity during the summer. We have a BRG in 36y old children. Right now, we're waiting for the state to fund that. That'll be a half a million dollars. So, hopefully they fund that, but right now there is no money. They're funding little things like stage for the high school that just got funded. So, that's going in. >> Yes. Yeah. But we have a lot of projects >> and and obviously that that price is not worth the amount of labor, parts, services. Yeah. >> Yeah. And if anyone ever wants to walk that school in the central plant, you'll see it's an industrial cleaning system. It's not a package unit. It's not a split system. >> It's waterproof chillers. >> So during co we
033got money one, two, and three. We used three for all ventilation. We did packages throughout the district. We've done a lot for the entire district. >> All right. Is there any further questions? >> All right. At this time, Thomas, thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. At this time, I call for a motion and a second on item 6.2. >> I move to approve item 6.2. >> Second. Secretary, if you call, please. >> Yes. All right. At this time, item 6.3, human resources of the 2627 administrative staff compensation. Good evening. >> Hello again. So, as you were talking earlier about growing our own, LHUSD works to build leadership capacity within our district deans, assistant principles, principles, and directors serve as a vital function with the district as they work to support our
034staff, students, and families. Staff who have been with the district or more years often do not apply for these positions because it would have a pay cut. The governing board will consider the following changes to the current salary schedule for administrative uh positions. Okay. Um this is just a quick look at our 2526 salary schedule for those administrative positions currently. Tonight, we're proposing adjustments to make leadership a realistic and viable option for our staff. Currently, a teacher in our district with 10 years of experience makes $59,250 as a base salary. Another one with 20 plus years makes 675 as their base. And a teacher with 30 plus years has a base salary of 74. So the teachers are receiving 301. These are just a couple examples we've pulled off of our stacking grids, stipens, 301
035performance pay all kind of wrapped into that. And so what happens in some cases this result results in experienced teachers earning more than our current starting base salary um of an assistant principal which is 80,750. Elementary school principal starts at and our middle school principal starts at 88250. So they're already making more than our base. So um we don't want this to continue. So, we're proposing the following new admin administrative starting salary in the next school year. The total cost for next school year to move everyone to this new starting schedule will be $43,000. Um, this proposal gets us to a place where experienced teachers can reasonably consider administration as a path and hopefully help us keep leaders in our district a little longer. >> All right. Thank you. Is there any questions um or
036discussion from the governing work on this? >> I just want to say this does correct an existing uh problem that we have and we have a lot of experienced teachers who stay in the classroom multiple decades and if that's what they really want to do then that's actually wonderful. But what we don't want is people staying in the classroom because it would cost them to transition to an administrative role. As we said before with especially with this approval of our assistant superintendent, one of our goals is to have homegrown leadership and a policy like this raising the base salaries for help support >> and it incentivizes leaders from moving from class to leadership positions where they get to share that experience with new teachers. So the quality of our school about leaders stepping up these
037roles instead of bringing somebody through these people who know the culture people who know them are are promoted and able to improve the district and then I would just like to say we have a lot of teachers that are interested in progressing into administr administration and so this will allow that to happen opportunities in our district open And so I'm very thankful um of you working on this with the governing board so that we can fix this issue. A lot of times administrative pay is way too high in in some of our districts and I can tell you that is not the problem here. It is way under and um given the reason that some of you who would love to be a principal are still serving in our classrooms and we're thankful that you
038stayed and you did not move to another district um that gave would have given you a better opportunity. So, thank you for staying and allowing this governing board to fix this issue so that you can be promoted into the position that you want to be in and serve in in other leadership roles. So, thank you for presenting this. Is there any other comments or questions before I call for >> I just want to reay what I said a little more clearly. Like if you are in a long time teacher and you are in your classroom because you love being there, we want you to stay there. Like I don't want to get angry emails from people saying you took away our best teachers. If you love being there, please stay there. But if you're there
039because you feel like you're stuck there, that's a different story. We want to give you the opportunity to grow. >> Um, and I I think this builds on to what this governing board has done for administrators, the offer even for our principles. Um, me and Mr. Becker were just having this conversation the other day. the three year contract that we now give um principles, it gives them the opportunity to feel comfortable that um they can build vision for their school and they know that they have a district that is thankful they're here and support growth and work together as a team. So um this is just an extension of that and I'm very thankful for that. >> All right, there's no further discussion or questions. I'll call for a motion in a second on item
0406.3. I move to approve item 6.3. >> All right. Uh, secretary, if you will call the RO, please. >> Yes. Yes. All right. Item 6 uh 6.4, human resources, employee benefits. >> Oh, never mind. That's right. Sorry. All right. It's been a long night. All right. At this time, item 7.1. Good evening, Dr. Smith. Thank you to the board. I just first want to congratulate Mr. Becker. I'm so excited to have him take on this role. I think that will be an amazing thing for the district. Um, and I do want to echo the things that you all talked about tonight and just thank the board for your focus on those things that matter for our staff to make their lives better in terms of the benefits that you looked at tonight. You looked at
041salaries before last year. Um, this is a way to build on that and the staff compensation. I will echo what all of you said. There are amazing leaders that are in our schools and now they have the opportunity to consider stepping up when we have those vacancies and that will be a game changer. often when we sit in our principal interviews and even assistant principal interview sometimes we're looking at people um when we know we have that facing jobs so I hope this is a right direction for them to consider as available >> at this time item 7.2 governing board members um I've got a few announcements first I ask Chris if you look him up here. Um, as you can see, we all look like we're at school right now. Um, and I just
042want to commend you for your hard work. As many of you know, we were one of the first school districts in the nation to ban harsh chemicals and food dyes in school lunches. And our team um with our has done an amazing job of making that happen. And right now we have Doritos that have no food dyes or artificial flavors in them. um that are now being sold in our schools for our students. And then we have pure fruit punch with u no added sugar. And so not only have they accomplished this, but they are being contacted by other school districts saying, "How did you do this so quickly?" And he was able, Chef Chris and Miss Antap were able to work directly with Representative Vasuchi to help set the standard for the entire state
043of Arizona. and I'm very thankful that our district got to be involved in that. So, thank you so much for your hard work. We appreciate you very much. Um, a few other things I want to break up, bring up because our football team, some of our players are here dying for an announcement that we have for them this evening. But first, um, couple couple of business items. Um, in a previous board meeting, um, this governing board had been had, um, some questions brought to us in regards to our relationship and contracts with Concord. And so, I've asked Dr. Stone to look into that. I want you to know that, um, she was able to meet with Concord. They have answered all of our questions. Um, they have been a great partner with the Lake Unified
044School District for several years and have done amazing work and they were able to provide everything that that we needed to answer those questions. we were able to provide that information back to the community members that had concerns and we will be continuing that relationship with uh with Concord and we look forward to many more projects with them. So, um I just wanted to address that and update the community. Uh the next thing I want to bring up is a bond and override. Since Mr. Greley is here this evening, uh Mr. Greley has agreed to chair the bond and override committee for the 2027 election cycle and we will be working together to go out for a bond and override um in next year's election. It will be the only thing on the ballot and
045um we had a great meeting, Mr. Julie and myself, and talked about unity and we want to see that in this community. We need to work unified together despite our political ideology differences. We can work together to do what is best for kids and the future of Lake Unified School District and this governing board is going to partner with people that want to do that. And so, Mr. truly thank you for being willing to chair another committee and we are looking forward to working with everyone uh to hopefully get a bond and override next year. So, and then without further further ado, we're excited to introduce and announce the Lake Habsu High School's new football coach, Tanner Kelly. Mr. Kelly has been a valued member of our district since 2011, serving as a social studies
046teacher at the high school. A former collegiate quarterback and Hall of Fame inductee, he brings nine years of football coaching experience at the high school and college levels, including rose as a quarterback coach, defensive coordinator, and special teams coordinator. His leadership, instructional background, and commitment to student development makes him exceptionally well suited to lead our football program. Um, Mr. Kelly is not here this evening because he is coaching. Um and uh but we will have him in our next board meeting to give an official introduction. And I want to thank the committee um that work very hard to interview. We had several candidates and I would just like Mr. Becker didn't know I was going to do this, but if you would just come and share with the board um and the community your experience.
047We did have another um there was several candidates and some of the feedback you heard from some of those candidates. >> Mr. Assistant Superintendent with the correct height microphone. President Rose, thank you. Um hiring a new football coach is a a large task. Um yes, I would love to that I'm the face of the high school, but the face of the high school is not the principal and and I'm smart enough to understand that um football season kicks off how successful that your school year is going to go at a high school level and that position is extremely important. Um that guy back there 17 years 2014 I was the principal made my job really easy because he was extremely successful. Um so it is a very important process. We took a process that lasted
048four weeks. It was the five days the job was posted. That's the minimum we can do. Um there were many applicants. Then we took a week to go through paper screenings. Um and then we narrowed that down to who are we going to interview? We interviewed quite a few applicants all over the United States, not just locally. And that was a change from what we're used to in the past. Um, I can tell you two of them were disappointed. Um, another individual when we were talking to him also kind of pulled his name from it, but I considered that as as a victory even when he pulled his name from being able to be offered a position because his statement was it wasn't the pay that kept him away from coming to Lake Hy Unified
049School District. So, I felt like as the principal that we arrived in the arena where we a point where we have competitive pay for teachers to attract them to our community. And not only that, we have plenty of viable candidates to apply for the position. So, did that answer all of it? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Is there any further discussion or comments from >> So, I think I was able to take part in a couple of student activities over the last was this morning I went to Starline and was able to be a part of their student science fair. I was really impressed with the project and I also thought it was um very apparent that the projects were studentled like when they were talking about it they knew what they had done. It
050wasn't um overly I'm not saying that their parents didn't help them put some polish on it but it was very much it didn't look like it was something that an adult had done for them or something where they were just um reading something that an adult had written for them. So, I really appreciated that. And then the other event took place at the high school. I was invited by a student um she's part of the future I'm probably not going to get the exact name right, but it's it's within the CT program as part of future business leaders. Um and she put on an event that highlighted early education, early childhood development, the skills that are necessary and the ways that we can partner um between schools and businesses and develop some of those activities
051for young kids. Um, again, this was all student led. Um, we often, you know, we approve these programs or we approve travel for the different conferences that students go to. But then being able to actually see the projects that the students put on and the work that they do is really eye opening because it is adult level work that they are doing in high school. >> Anyone else? >> And I just want to brag on the governing board and our administrative team, not not just here at the DO, but in all of our schools. Um, there's great things happening. So, I was at the state capital this week and there were some other school board presidents there and some of our our districts in the state are making really tough decisions right now. They're laying
052off teachers. Um, they're closing schools while at Lake Absu High School, we're working on things like giving teachers benefits and looking how to give smaller classroom sizes and just building vision. And that takes an an entire team to to make that happen and community support. And um while I was there, I even had a conversation with someone from the Arizona Education Association who said, "Wow, your district really is doing great things." And so we're very thankful for that, that we get to lead um as an example of what the entire state could look like when we come together and work in unity and put kids first. And so I just want to thank every principal, every administrator, every teacher in the classroom for putting kids first and helping achieve the goal and we are going
053to keep building this district and doing amazing things. All right, that's all I have. Is there anything else? All right, then I call for a motion to adjourn on item 8.1 and a second. >> Move to secretary. >> Yes. Have a great evening.