001I now call to order the regularly scheduled meeting of the Lakehouse Unified School District, October 16, 2025. Roll call, please. >> Pinsley >> here. >> Lisa, >> here. Houston, >> Here. We'll now have a moment of silent prayer or private reflection. Would you please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. This evening we will start out with item 2.1, human resources, recognition of continuing teachers. Good evening. >> Good evening, President Rose, governing board members, Dr. Stone, LHUSD staff and community members. Before we begin, I would like to apologize. Two teachers were unintentionally left off our honory list last month. So tonight, we are proud to recognize those
002two teachers completing the celebration of all 33 teachers who have reached continuing teacher status. Thank you all for being here tonight as we come together once again to celebrate dedication, hard work, and commitment to one of the most important professions, teaching. Teaching isn't just a job. It's a calling to shape young minds and inspire future generations. This evening, we honor those who have completed three years of teaching, transitioning from probationary status to continuing teacher status. This achievement, while often underestimated, its significance marks a transition from promising noviceses to experienced practitioners in the art of education. We know teaching today comes with many challenges, which makes this accomplishment even more meaningful. Nationally, statistics remind us that only twothirds of those who set out on this path find themselves standing before us tonight, having weathered the storm
003of those critical initial years. The impact of experienced teachers is powerful. Research shows that students learn more, behave better, and attend school more regularly under the guidance of skilled educators. In fact, a seminal study conducted by the learning policy institute revealed that student achievement more than tripled between a teacher's fourth year in the classroom compared to their first. This remarkable growth in student achievement marks a defining moment in any educator's career. A testament to the dedication that each one of our honores has demonstrated. But beyond the numbers, the difference these teachers make is seen in the lives they touch every day. So tonight we celebrate not just the completion of three years but the beginning of many more with the recognition of these two teachers. All 33 of our honores have now been celebrated. This
004is a proud moment that highlights the strength and dedication of our teachers. As I call your names, please come forward and remain standing so we can properly recognize you as the final two honories. >> Lorie Morren [Applause] Mrs. Lauren is the EL teacher for our fourth grade students at Starlane Elementary. She's been recognized by Core Knowledge as a model teacher and invited to a national conference for her purposeful planning and delivery of effective instruction for her students. Mrs. MREN was instrumental in starting our tennis club last year and treats every child who walks into her classroom the way she would her own. She is consistent, professional, and exemplifies our leader in me culture. Thank you, Mrs. MREN. >> Yes, Lori. >> Our other honore tonight is Lorie Murphy, but unfortunately she couldn't be here. So,
005thank you all for attending. >> All right. At this time, item 2.2, governing board monthly awards. If the board members would join it, All right. So for the month of October for administrator of the month, please welcome Ann Taff. [Applause] All right. For >> for teacher of the month for October 2025, Aldrin Antonio [Applause] for community member of the month, Kimberly Fetch. And for staff member of the month, Trayvon Wilson. [Applause] >> Good job. Woo. Good job. [Applause] [Music] This is a moment on item 2.3, a moment none of us thought we would see, but Carol Noacowski has nothing to say this evening. So, she will have an update for us next month. So, we are so thankful for her monthly updates and keeping the board in forum. So, we're still give a big hand
006of applause. Applause for M. [Applause] All right. Item 3.1 at this time called to the public. >> You will have three minutes. Um whenever the the timer goes off, your time will be up. Thank you. >> Good evening, board members. Thank you for granting me this time tonight. I stand before you not as a political representative and a concerned parent of citizen of Mojave and Lake Habitatu City. I am here to address two critical related issues that are profoundly impacting the safety of our students and undermining public trust in our administration. Policy failure. My first concern is the systematic failure to enforce the district's no hands policies. The fundamental rules that prohibit physical aggression and harassment in our schools. Despite these policies being on the books, we continue to see rampant bullying and physical misconduct.
007The responsibility for enforcement is being unfairly pushed down the chain to our teachers who are already overwhelmed. This leads to incidents being overlooked and going unchecked. When there is no swift, decisive enforcement, the children who bully return the to the next day thinking this is okay to do it again. To fix this, we need proper training within the administration at our schools. Enforcement needs to be mandated and driven directly from the principal's office, not simply left up to the classroom teacher. We need to empower principles to enforce the no hands policy uniformly. My second concern is the pattern of parents being excuse me belittled or dismissed by the school administration. When we attempt to report these safety breaches, we come to the administration for help and instead of finding an ally, we are often met
008with apathy or outright dismissal. When an administrator belittles a concerned parent, they silence the reporting system. They create an invisible wall around the problem that allows a school to claim we don't have a problem. While our children suffer, this administrative resistance is as damaging as the bullying itself. The board needs to communicate an uncompromising standard. Administrators must be advocated for students safety and transparent in policy enforcement, not gatekeepers, excuse me, gatekeepers protecting a clean record. We are asking for true accountability. We have the policy. We need to train personnel on the commitment to enforce it. Therefore, I ask this board to do two things today. Maintain mandate proper and immediate training for all schools and administrators and principles on the enforcement of no hansa and bullying policies. Making the principal and the accountable and forth.
009Establish clear and confidential reporting channel for parents to submit complaints regarding administrative dismissiveness and ensuring zero tolerance for those who belittle a concern about a child safety. Thank you for your time and more importantly, thank you for the definitive action you must take to protect the students of Lake Hamasu City. >> Thank you so much. >> Next is Daniel. >> Good evening. Last month at this board meeting, we heard an excellent presentation concerning phys physical security of the various school campuses in this district. We learned that dozens of cameras are watching everything, that perimeter fencing is in position, and that entry gates and exits are restricted. This is all to protect the boys and girls from external threats which sadly have been much in the news recently as quite often former students return to their
010campuses intent on killing and maming. Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis in August and Covenant School in Tennessee are but two among many. Then a month ago on September on September 10, Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a school campus for the crime of engaging in conversation with students. Social media erupted with the most disgusting displays of bloodthirsty hatred I have ever seen. Sadly, the worst hate hatred and bile came from very unexpected sources. sources like nurses and yes, school children or school teachers, the very people entrusted for our emergency care and the intellectual growth of the boys and girls. One teacher played the assassination video to her class of 10-year-old students over and over, obviously teaching them that killing is a good thing. Others recorded themselves gleefully dancing and celebrating because Charlie Kirk, they said, got
011what he deserved. After all, Charlie's dangerous message to young people was, "Get married, love your spouse, have children, and live the American dream responsibly." Thousands of hate-filled Americans revealed themselves to have murder in their hearts as they rejoice in the very public murder of Charlie Kirk. With all of this external security technology installed on our local campuses designed to protect our boys and girls from external threats, it is my great hope that every one of our teachers and administrators are as horrified at the death of Charlie Kirk on a school campus as millions of fellow Americans were. We were told last month that any student who exhibits even a hint of violence will be investigated very seriously. But what I saw was not student violence. Instead, it was violence promoted, justified, and glorified in the
012hearts of some of the teachers in this nation. I hope very much that those entrusted with guiding, teaching, and molding the students of Lake Havasu City have better and much more noble hearts within them. Thank you. Thank you. All right. At this time, item 4.1 consented agenda. I need a motion to um approve and a second. >> Move to approve item 4.1 consent agenda. >> I second. >> Evelyn, >> yes. >> Lisa Roland, >> yes. >> Matthew Houston, >> yes. >> David Rose, >> yes. >> All right. At this time, item 5.1, student achievement is also welcome. President Rose, Superintendent Stone, members of the governing board. Arizona's Move On When Reading Law is designed to ensure every child in kindergarten through third grade has a strong foundation in literacy. The law requires schools to deliver
013evidence-based early literacy instruction, screen students multiple times per year, and provide targeted interventions for those who are struggling. Importantly, if a third grader does not meet the state's reading benchmark, MWR more requires consideration of retention unless a student qualifies for a good cause exemption. Tonight I will share with you how our elementary schools are implementing this law through their move on when reading literacy plans. There we go. Um Arizona's move on when reading literacy plan submission comprises of 17 sections that guide schools in developing comprehensive early literacy strategies for kindergarten through third grade. These sections are designed to ensure that schools implement evidence-based practices, monitor student progress, and provide targeted interventions to improve reading outcomes. These sections collectively ensure that schools have a structured and comprehensive approach to improve early literacy, aligning with Arizona's move
014on when reading initiative. On September 16th, the student achievement department facilitated a literacy plan workshop to guide principles through the process and ensure that individual school goals were aligned to the current MTSS plan. Thank you to Jamie Tunaman for designing and facilitating this workshop. Next, I will share with you each elementary site's lofty literacy goals and the area of focus for grades K through three. I will not read each slide to you, but I will. They're pretty >> appreciate that >> hold. >> Okay, I'll just give you a moment to look at each goal. You can see that there is a specific um percentage for each grade, K through three, and then what their literacy focus is at that grade level based on data. Can we ask a question about that? Student achievement. ment is
015supporting schools in meeting these goals by providing professional development that is intentionally designed and tightly aligned to each goal. Our next PLC meeting on October 23rd for grades K through two uh will include these topics to support those teachers in early literacy skills. And then on early release days on October 30th and November 13th, we will be inviting, we've already invited, the Arizona Department of Education to come and help us do professional development for tier one instruction and tier 2 instruction in the primary grades. >> Thank you. >> All right. Do any of the board members have any questions at this time for Miss Olsson? >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. At this time, item 5.2, to special education >> as a short one. I'll lower the mic.
016>> President Rose, Dr. Stone, board members and community. Thank you for joining us tonight. I am just going to share a brief overview of what special education is within our district, the process, and kind of how we make sure that we are meeting the laws and regulations as laid out by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. So, special education is a legal framework um under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDA, which is to provide specialized instruction to students with disabilities focused on individualized learning, ensuring that they meet their um least restrictive environment and have access to a free and appropriate public education. Those are the big tenants that we're going to kind of dive into a little bit closer. Um, I apologize if I speak in acronyms. In special education, we often talk
017about alphabet soup. So, the big ones are IDA, which is the education act, FAPE, free and appropriate public education, and LRE, which is our least restrictive environment. >> So, the process for special education is the same across the nation as far as how it is laid out with ITA. Students are referred through um identification either through a parent teacher concern or through child find or early intervention. For child find and early intervention, we partner with ASIP which is the Arizona early intervention program and head start meetings are held to review concerns within 15 days. So as soon as ASIP the parent or the teacher makes a concern, the team is h com sorry the team convenes to determine what our next steps will be and that must be held within 15 days of that parent
018request. Um the T team will then either move forward with testing or refer back for further interventions. Either is appropriate at that time. Um we don't want to just evaluate a student when we know that they could go through our MCSS process that works phenomenally in our district, get the support they need, and never have been labeled as a student with a disability. Um once the testing is done, the team will reconvene. So the team has 60 days to complete any testing once a signed permission form is obtained. So if the parent is there, they agree to the testing, then we have 60 days to do that testing. The parent can choose not to do the testing. Um or if the parent takes a few days to turn it back. Our 60-day timeline starts as
019soon as we get that signature because we cannot start testing until we have that signature. Um so within 60 days the team will reconvene and discuss the results of the testing. Um if the team agrees that the student is a student with a disability and that the disability has an educational impact then an IEP is developed and that must be done within 30 days of that results meeting. So there are times where we do find that a student is a student with a disability but there is no educational impact. meaning they may have a reading disability but it does not impact how they are performing in their education. Happens more frequently as we um than we would think and it does happen a lot at the older ages as we see students adapt to their
020different learning abilities. Um and then once we do have an IEP in place, it is reviewed annually. So every 365 days and a re-evaluation or review of data must be conducted every 3 years. Now, we do not have to complete a full re-evaluation every 3 years. The team just has to meet and say, "Do we have enough data to say, hey, this student still does have a disability, the disability is impacting their education and they still need services." And then if we don't have enough data, that's when we say, "We probably need to reevaluate and see where we're at to best help this student." >> Um, sorry, there's my ADD for you. Um, so once the team agrees to evaluate, they're going to determine which testing is appropriate. Um, if there is a list of
021all of the testing that could be completed in a school setting, such as academics, so focus on reading, writing, and math skills. General intelligence that will tell us a general IQ, but it also tells us things about their executive functioning, whether they are um audio learners, visual learners. Um we can assess for communication needs, social emotional needs. We do a hearing and vision screening, um motor sensory needs, health and physical needs, vocational, occupational or transition needs, adaptive behavior, and functional behavior. Not every student is evaluated in all of these areas. The team determines what's appropriate. And then we have a list of qualifying areas. These are the current qualifying areas within the state of Arizona. autism, developmental delay, which can stay with a student until they are 10 years old. Once they are 10 years
022old, that uh disability no longer qualifies because then it's either some other type of disability or they have outgrown it because they're no longer developing at the same rate. a hearing impairment, emotional disability, mild or severe intellectual disability, orthopedic impairments, preschool severe delays, severe intellectual disability, specific learning disability, traumatic brain injury, um visual impairment, and then our most severe are those multiple disabilities with severe sensory impairments. That would be like a student with a moderate or severe intellectual disability as well as hearing or visual impairment. So you're thinking you're Helen Kellers, your deaf blind, your severe intellectual and deaf or severe intellectual and blind students. Then um so what is an IEP? So once we have determined that a student qualifies, they need special ed services, we develop an individualized education plan or IEP. This
023is the legal document that we use to outline how each student is serviced. Um this will transfer with the student school to school, district to district. How it is implemented district to district is different but school to school within a district should be similar. The components include a review of how the student is doing academically and functionally. Goals aligned to how they are doing. So if we notice a need in a certain area, we're going to create a goal to address that need. Accommodations to help them be supported. any modifications which means we're actually changing what the student is learning. We do a lot more accommodating than modifying. We want them to achieve that actual um goal of the state level standard. So we want to accommodate to get there versus completely changing what we're
024hoping out of that grade level standard. And then it also includes any service minutes. So how often are we meeting with the student? In what setting are we meeting with the student and what specifically are we doing during that time? It includes the timeline, requirements, and review periods. Uh meaning that they do have quarterly progress reporting that is required from them on each of those goals. Um it is a team approach to a development. So it really does take everybody's input. As a school, we tend to come with a draft document, but it is fully um living document in that meeting. So anybody can come in and say, "Hey, you know, I don't think that's appropriate or I think this would be more appropriate." And the team will work to try and find a consensus.
025And then we really truly do try to get parent and guardian participation whenever possible. We will reach out multiple times in multiple method methodologies to um discuss like parent participation. We offer attendance virtually, attendance via phone. Um, provide your input in an email, send it in a note, please come in person. We want that parent to be involved. They are a huge component of that IEP team, but we do still have to follow federal laws as to when things must be reviewed. Um, so our present levels then are the meat of the document. This tells us how the student is doing in their academics. typically gathered from their classroom teachers and classroom data telling us how they're doing in reading, writing, and math. What their behavior and attendance is like, how's their physical development, their
026social development, and their communication skills? Really gives us a big picture of who this student is. So, we should be able to pick up this document, look at it, and have a general idea of what this child looks like, how they function inside a school setting and a classroom setting, and what needs they might have. From that present levels, we then graph um draft, sorry, goals aligned to the state standards. So um these address any needs that we identify in any of that present level areas and they must be crafted to be appropriately ambitious for the student. So we want the student to achieve their goals but we don't want to give them a goal that's so easy they're not making any growth >> and we don't want to give them a goal that is
027so difficult they won't be able to achieve it. Um so it needs to be significantly and appropriately ambitious for the student. Um if a student is to meet one of their goals during the timeline, then we would reconvene and look at another goal. Um then how do we actually meet those goals? And that is through our specially designed instruction and our service minutes. So this varies per student based on their disabilities, their needs, their strengths, their weaknesses, their attention focus. Um it's detailed information on how these special education services are provided to the student. Um it is not and I think the common misconception is that the service minutes are not every minute that child is in class receiving reading instruction. We may have a student with a specific learning disability in the area of
028reading and they might receive anywhere between 20 and 120 minutes of service for reading per month. However, they're getting a lot more instruction in reading than just that 20 to 120. When we talk about service minutes, we're talking specifically the amount of time we work on those goals that are ambitiously drafted for that student. Um, and like I said, they're both um individualized to each student needs. So, this truly is an individualized document. Once we see those service minutes and the needs of the student, we can talk about their placement and least restrictive environment. um idea states that students must be educated with their general education peers as much as possible and these are the common levels of placement that we have within our school district. There are many more options available. I did not
029include the list of preschool options um because they vary based on the hours of service. And then there are also options such as placement for um residential treatment for behavioral. there are private day schools for behavior. Um we don't have that within the Lake Habitat Unified School District. We have not identified a need for that placement within our district to open that type of a program. Um so these are the placements that we will see within our district. So we have high service level A which is offered on every single campus across our district. This means that the student is educated with their non-disabled peers for 80% or more of their day. meaning they may be pulled out here and there, but 80% of the time they're with their gened peers interacting in a regular
030classroom with their gened teacher. We have a service level B um which means that the student is getting support more. This is typically what we think of as a resource placement which is also available at every single one of our campuses um with service between 41 and 79% of the time. uh meaning that they may need, you know, they might be a grade level or two behind in reading or math and they might need that extra intense support to catch them up. So, they're going to get their grade level instruction, but then we're probably going to pull them out and get them extra instruction to help them catch up to what they're missing and build on those skills that they have. And then we have our service level C placement um which is our self-contained
031classrooms which exist um currently in the elementary setting at Jamaica and at Havasupi. And then we do have a self-contained program both at the middle school and the high school as well. And this means that the students are participating with their general education peers less than 40% of their day. We want to get them out participating with their general education peers as much as possible. So, we really truly try to include them in specials, in lunch, in recess, in whatever way we can with their general education peers, but they really truly need that intense academic intervention that if we didn't provide that to them, it would be a disservice and we would not see the growth we're hoping to see for them. Um, and then our most restrictive placement in which we have in the
032district and um within the idea is a service level H. And this um can be either due to home placement, which is an IEP team decision, typically for extreme behaviors or extreme needs that cannot be met in a traditional school setting, or homebound, which is due to medical needs. And um based on a doctor's note that says, hey, this kiddo has something going on. They can't come to school for a while, for example. They have these health things that if they're exposed to all of the illnesses, they could they could be severely impacted or they are going to have surgery and not be able to move for three months. We don't want them not to have any services during that time frame. So, we offer services at home for them with the hope of reintegrating
033them back into the school system. If a student is placed at home due to an IEP team decision, at that time we're also developing a plan of these are the goals you have to meet in order for you to come back because our goal is success to get them successfully transition back into our school system. We know that home instruction is not what's best for students. It's not where we see the most growth, but we also recognize sometimes it's what we have to do. So, um, talking a little bit about that, we do have the continuum of placement options. Um I briefly touched on each of them. All schools house a minimum of two resource teachers though the support may vary sight by sight. Um so some sites choose some elementary sites choose to break
034their teachers down by grade level. So sometimes the teachers might serve as K2 and then 36. Sometimes we have a teacher that's stronger in English and one that's stronger in math and they might separate by grade level. I mean by subject level. And sometimes we have teachers that just love working together and want to support all of the kids across the campus and they create a schedule and they see all the kids and they work together. And we have that model at some of our schools as well. Um we do have support in the form of both pushing into the classroom and pulling out of the classroom to see student support and growth. Um Jamaica and Havupi elementaryaries offer self-contained programs. Uh Jamaica Elementary supports students with more intense academic and behavioral needs. Focuses a
035lot more on life skill development and those basic academic skills that typically a student is developing in the prek to first or second grade. Um Havasupi supports students with academic needs um that are greater than a traditional resource student but not as severe as those students at Jamaica. We're still focusing heavily on academics. We do season behaviors in that that program and the placement of each student is truly based on the needs of each student. Um Thunderbolt offers both resource classes, pushin support and self-contained classes based upon the needs of the student. Um our high school offers resource classes, learning lab support, push-in support, self-contained classrooms, a transition class with community and job experience focus. So, we really try to make sure that we are meeting all of the needs of all of the students
036across our district. Um, when we do have an IEP team, we do have a group that must come together. Our mandatory participants are that special education teacher, a general education teacher, the parent, a school district representative or LEA, which is typically our building administrator, somebody that can speak to and allocate district resources. um somebody who can interpret any results. In a typical IEP meeting, that's the same person as your special education teacher. In an evaluation meeting, that's typically the school psychologist. Um the child, if appropriate, we especially try to get them involved as they get into high school or are 16 or older. IDEIDA regulates that um at age 16, we create a transition plan of how we can support them to prepare for life after high school. Arizona has gone further than that and
037said that by the time they are finished with their freshman year or by the time they turn um we must have that plan in place. Uh we can include an interpreter if needed. We must provide information in the parents native language to them. So if they are Spanish speaking or French speaking, we have interpreters, related service providers such as speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, uh physical therapy, all of the things we offer in addition to academic and behavioral supports and the parent can invite anybody they wish to invite to the meeting. So that's where we see advocates or outside agencies such as DDD, mile markers or my kid come in and we create that whole wraparound support for the child. Um student progress is monitored periodically through uh out the IEP. IDEIDA says periodically but
038doesn't identify what periodically is. Um we have identified that that is three times per quarter that we are requesting our we get updated progress on how our students are doing on their goals and that progress is reported to this uh parents at the same time traditional progress reports or report cards go home. So, at the end of each quarter, these progress reports are going home to the parents. Um, the IEP is meant to be written in a way that any school or district could implement it. It occasionally varies when we meet a student with um that has a need of high level support um in a self-contained setting because self-contained settings, districtto district to district, look differently and function differently. Um, so sometimes we get those students, it's harder to recognize and identify where we
039best support them. Um, but the hope is that you can pick up the document and read it and get an idea of how we support this child. Um, each student is assigned a case manager, which is that special education teacher at their school to oversee the implementation of the IEP. Um, our case loads tend to be 30 or less, but they do sometimes get larger than that. Um and we have different staffing regulations that we look at when we realize those numbers are getting a bit high. Um federal guidelines for IDA require consistency in the implementation for all students and we we comply with um IDEIDA regulations and guidelines. Training and support is super important for our teachers. So just as much as we have a teacher shortage in the nation, the special education teacher
040shortage is that much far beyond and more severe. Um the burnout that we see in special education is more intense. So we want to make sure that we provide extra support to our special education teachers so that we can help ensure they're able to keep doing what they do best. Um all of the teachers attend a monthly PD. Um, and during those monthly PDs, we talk about all of the legislative changes. Um, we talk about how we can support students. We provide guidance on where we maybe need to focus for um, paperwork compliance and ensuring student success. Um, and then our special education teachers work with the general education teacher at each building to support um, on how they can implement accommodations and modifications. We do try to make sure it's really easy for every
041teacher to know if a student in their classroom is a student identified with a disability. There's an icon in their synergy, which is our SIS system that indicates the student has an IEP um with a link in the notification to our IEP platform, where if they click on that link and type in their password, they have access to the students full IEP, which includes a list of their accommodations and modifications that they need to provide. Um, case managers maintain communication with parents frequently throughout the school year. Um, they're able to use whichever form of communication works best for them and the parent. So that might be email, it might be a phone call, it might be class dojo or Remind. They participate in parent teacher conferences and back to school nights. And that parent communication
042is tied to their special education stipend. So they they really do have to do that to because we want to encourage that. Um, case managers are responsible for completing an audit checklist after each meeting. Um, which helps us identify any compliance issues within the paperwork. Um, they have to fill out a form that notifies us that they've completed the meeting and finalized their paperwork within 5 days of that meeting. The district conducts random audits of IEPs after they've been completed. So when we get notified, we'll just go in and look at them, look for compliance. Um, we use the same forms that AD, the Arizona Department of Education, uses when they come to do compliance monitoring so that we can be consistent in the feedback that we provide our teachers. So when the state comes
043in, we should know what they're going to tell us. Um, and then AD conducts monitoring annually to different degrees. Um it is a five-year monitoring cycle in Arizona and we are currently on year cycle three. Um AT is coming again here in about a month to do our monitoring. Um and then we will undergo a full exhaustive audit in year four. So next year they will come in with a team of auditors of about four or five look at however many files they decide to look at and whichever ones they want to look at. Um, and they tell you that every district across the state comes out of that with a corrective action plan that you have a year to complete. So, in a year, we'll figure out where we really need to grow. And
044I we look at it as a a pathway for growth and a greater understanding of how we can support our students. Um, this is a breakdown of each school site and the number of students with disabilities at each site. Um, these numbers are a few days old. Um, my notes didn't print. They're about a week old, week and a half. Um, we had about 770 students identified with disabilities. That does not include our students that are currently undergoing testing, which we have a lot right now. I know our school psychologists are very busy. Um staffing changes throughout the year based upon student needs and district population. Um as of a couple weeks ago, we had 35 special education teachers, 63 PAR educators, and four e-helpers. That does not include the um I believe two or
045three open teacher positions we have. We had about five open para educator positions when I looked and one open e-helper position which has been filled. So these numbers are a little bit old and six staff members at the district office supporting this team of educators. That includes somebody scheduling all of the IEP meetings. Um our school psychology interns since our psychologist is our psychologists are virtual providers. um they help get the student in the te in the testing area and complete testing. We have a staff member solely dedicated to um Medicaid reimbursement. There are some services we can build Medicaid for um which really helps keep our funding going in um special education. um a special education coach part-time and just um and then myself and our administrative assistant that helps keep our office running.
046Um staffing is added or removed based on case by case basis with various considerations. We will look at student population service minutes for each student and individual student needs. Um staffing audits are conducted pretty frequently. I'm looking at staffing numbers, saying, "Hey, we need this person here. We don't need this position here." Um, and just ensuring that we can truly meet the needs of all of our students. As far as our related service providers, we do have one SLP and one SLPA. So, one speech language pathologist and one speech language pathologist assistant. It does say in process, but she started with us right before fall break. Um, employed an inerson with LHUSD. Our inperson speech language pathologist is housed at the preschool because I don't know how we get three-year-olds to sit in front of
047a computer. Um, and then and we know that early communication development is key to communication development as we go. And then our speech language pathologist does support across all of our remaining campuses. um five virtual speech language pathologists with one pending set to start on Monday actually um and they are all contracted through Vocision one occupational therapist and one certified occupational therapist within the district and a part-time occupational therapist contracted through ProAre one physical therapist and one physical therapy assistant employed by LHUSD four full-time and one part-time psychologist ologist contracted through ProAre hearing and vision support through Arizona school for the deaf and blind. uh behavior board certified behavior analyst contracted through essential behavior um that is here two to three days per week supporting across our campuses and two registered behavior technician positions open
048um that are both right now contracted through Voco Vision and we do have one additional case manager at the high school contracted through Voco Vision so that we could keep those numbers lower so our teachers could really focus on supporting their students. Um, all of the positions that are contracted are open positions on our website. Um, and we're always hoping to fill those positions internally, but where we can't fill them internally, we do contract to make sure those services are provided. Um, as we've kind of as I've stated earlier, we really truly encourage parent involvement at every step of the process. We want them to know how we are supporting their student, that we want to support their student. um they do have to give permission for special education services and for any testing and
049at any time they can revoke that permission. So at any time if a parent changes their mind they can come in and say their student doesn't get special ed anymore. Um we do everything pos everything we can to get that parent to participate. We call we email we text. Um we're calling multiple times, emailing multiple times, texting multiple times. um when we have a meeting and the parent doesn't show up, the school picks up the phone and calls the parent. Um and then AD does require that our district complete a parent satisfaction survey annually. For the 2024 2025 school year, parents reported that they had an 84.13% satisfaction as far as with the level of engagement within our district. Do you guys have any questions? Good presentation. Um I know this so this is the
050first year you've taken over. How do you obviously we've given a lot of information here. Just on your personal level, how do you feel that the program's growing? Obviously there's needs for more support just taking over the role. So I just kind of want to hear >> I honestly feel like we're making so much positive progress and impact. I've seen a lot of growth within our employees. um a lot of growth from when I came in and started doing internal audits for compliance with paperwork. Um and that like our paperwork is getting more compliant. We get more questions on how do we service students. Um we know that the amount of students with disabilities is growing daily. Um so our team is really doing everything they can to adapt to those changes. I'm very very
051proud of each and every one of our educators. Um, I feel like I've gotten to see each of them in their element and I love all of the work that they're doing for our students and I couldn't do what I do without them. So, without each teacher, without each PAR educator, without each e-helper, we could not do what we do to support our students. And I think all of our teachers really are truly here to do what's best for kids. And we're seeing a lot of growth and improvement as far as that goes. >> Okay. Thank you. I absolutely wanted you to be able to do this just because I know as a parent I've gone through the system a little bit and it was just it was super educating for me and I know
052the process now and having you here made it very easy compared to in the past. So that's nice. Um there are a few things that some teachers did bring up. Um let's see here. Sorry I lost my spot. Um there's a few special education teachers that did mention um timely manner and getting questions answered. So when they have questions, who do they reach out to? It depends on the question. >> Um so if they have questions regarding testing or evaluations, um they talk to our school psychology intern. If they have questions regarding any related services, they reach out to the related service provider themselves. general questions. Um, my team and I kind of divvy those up based on needs. We really do try to get back to them as quick as we can. I am
053one human. >> I know. I know. Um, and then there was a few other things. Um, they there was, like I said, there's a few that reached out and it's easier saying it in front of everybody because we don't all get to talk. So >> um so training is not meeting like the requirements that we're trying to reach and I get it this is the first year but that's something I said that I would bring up. Um um I would just encourage that whoever like I hope that they would feel confident enough to reach out to me and tell me they don't feel like they're getting the training they need to meet these requirements because we have offered extensive training. So, if they maybe missed a training or didn't catch something, I'm happy to meet
054with them or my team's happy to meet. >> And with the monthly meetings, um maybe some of that training isn't happening 100% for there. Um I know you guys are going over a lot of the state statues and stuff, but the few that did reach out felt like that wasn't meeting their needs. So, I'm not really sure how we can get some of the feedback from teachers to be able to bring more strength. Lisa. Um, >> so part of their stipend requirement this year because I really did want to tailor those monthly trainings to them >> was that um at the end of each quarter that they I'm sorry, at the end of each semester that they send me just a list of two things they want covered in the next couple of monthly meetings.
055>> Um, and I always ask at the end of each training, hey, is there something you guys want next month? Um, so I because I get it. I've been the teacher that sat in a meeting that like this meeting was pointless for me. I get it. I've been there. I don't ever want those meetings to be that way because I know as a special education teacher, you have a million things you could be doing. You have this IEP that's due in a couple of days. You have this behavior you're trying to solve. How do you support this kid? You have these emails from this teacher asking for support. So, my goal is never that those meetings are pointless or meaningless to the teachers. So, I do truly solicit feedback from them. So, if they sent
056you any feedback that you're willing to share with me, like anonymously, I'm happy to take that. >> No, I hear you. Yeah, I know. I'll totally get with you, especially with those. Um, see if there's anything else here. Another thing, we talked about this before, but like I don't I may say it wrong for how it comes out, but standard teachers still having trouble with implementing IEPs and educating the standard. So, so there's like two sides between the like the IEP kids and then the other ones are having regular education and they brought it up again and how they're having trouble >> educating both. That's fair. Like as a gened teacher, it's hard. I've been that gened teacher in that classroom of how do I reach this student while also reaching this? How do I
057reach my low learners while I reach my high learners, too? Um, and that really just boils down to differentiation. We've tried to like reach out and provide tools. There's lots of new tools out there um that help with differentiation and support for teachers that I'm learning about and happy to share. Um I just haven't fully vetted them and I'm not ready tonight to tell you all of the ones that I have learned about in the last couple of weeks. >> Um is there anything else we could do to be able to reach out to teachers so where they can maybe give more feedback without just I don't know. >> Well, we have our emails. >> Yeah, they can email us. >> Yeah, they can email. Absolutely. That's the best way to communicate >> and sometimes
058it is hard stuff doesn't roll uphill. So sometimes obviously talking to the head is is difficult. So thank you everyone for being a person that can talk. But again we recognize that you're one person. >> Exactly. >> With with what 5,000 kids roughly in the district 700 plus almost 800 so just a little under a fifth of our students are in some way shape or form involved with you. That is a huge amount of energy and what I went around 60 to 70 active staff members to >> 80 staff members. I was writing things notes I counted. >> So for each one 10 roughly 10 kids to one staff member. I mean it's spread pretty thin. So >> you know I I I think you're doing a great job. We It's wonderful that we now
059have a a director specifically targeting these goals. So, I just encourage anybody who's talking to you, encourage them to push and be able to I believe you have an open door policy. I hope you >> always have an open door policy. >> I I encourage anybody who feels they can't go and talk to her. Buck up. Gloins, get in that room and have that conversation. I know she is is willing and able to talk to you and will resolve those issues the best she can. But again, let's remember, we got to give our teachers and the people who are supporting us grace as well. They are one human. they are, you know, an individual who is working for the district. So, keep up the good work. >> I mean, if they're not willing to come
060talk to me in person, put an anonymous note in district district mail. Like, I won't even know what school it came from or what teacher it came from. I I promise I don't bite. I'm not scary. I feel like I've tried to make really good connections. So, >> Ally, I want to thank you for being here this evening and thank you for your presentation. I do have a few questions for you. Um and and Evelyn kind of brought this up when it comes back to um our IEP students that are in our gened population. One of the things that you said that kind of triggered a question in my mind is we're communicating to the general ed teachers that they have an IEP student in their classroom just by an icon. And I think that
061that seems like a very uh not not a proper way of communication. you when we look at our middle school and high school teachers who have numerous classes throughout the day, numerous rosters of of different students in their classroom, you know, there's a likelihood of of not purposely them missing an icon if that is our only way of communication. >> Okay. So, I might not have been super clear on that and that's >> I will if you could just clarify. Um, so there is an icon there. >> Okay. >> But they are also invited and attend every single IEP meeting for a student in their classroom. Okay. >> So, they are that voice in the classroom. Um, I know Mr. Becker has done a fantastic job of setting the expectation that every single teacher is
062in that meeting. So, IDEIDA says we have to have one general education teacher. If that student has six teachers, they ensure all six teachers are there. Mrs. Barney does the exact same thing. It is a requirement for their teachers to be there. Um, I've never seen that in any other district I've worked in. So, that to me is really refreshing. Um, and I do know that our special education teachers are reaching out to those gened teachers, um, saying, "Hey, we've got this kid. What support do you need?" >> Um, and and then 80%, and correct me if I'm wrong, so 80% of our of our students are in gen classes that are uh in your department, correct? On level A. >> Level A means that they're pret they're participating with 80% or more of their
063day in that gener setting. I don't have those numbers off the top of my head. I could run them and send you an email. I'd be happy to do that. >> Okay. >> Um >> but I don't have those numbers. >> And I would be curious if there there are teachers who uh would communicate with the governing board and with yourself and and Dr. Stone what that is like if they feel unsupported, if they feel um I mean there is a major difference between trying to serve a child who has an IEP and and requires more attention. Um, and I just want to make sure that our board is supporting student achievement and the success of every child in this district, including those with IEPs. And if there's something that we as a board need
064to do to give our teachers extra support, then we need to make that happen. Um, it's a lot for one person in a classroom to have to give their undivided attention to 30 students and some of them be on IEP. A lot of the tools I'm learning about that are developing rapidly are um AI based where you can take your lesson plan, put it into this like they have AI platforms specifically for teachers. You put your lesson plan in there and say differentiate this. Give me this at this level and give me this at this level and it will give it to you so that you can kind of you're not spending hours differentiating it. I remember my first couple years teaching in chemistry. chemistry is a hard subject for anyone. And then I get
065those students who are coming into my class with a learning disability or an intellectual disability and I'm in my honors class and I'm how do I teach to my high learners and my low learners and the hours you spend differentiating. So it's really cool the tools that are out there but I I I empathize with them because I've been in their shoes. >> Now let me ask you this for do we have parapros in the classrooms um for those teachers that have IEP students? Um, so we do have kindergarten paras at each school. Um, at the elementary schools there's typically two teachers and two parapros. So at least four adults. Some schools have more parapros, some schools have more teachers. Um, >> and do you think that and that that's definitely not enough? >> I
066don't I we um see Miss Olson going absolutely no. >> Yeah. as a district. I I mean and that's where I will professionally disagree. I'm pushing you ask us for more pair if I hear what that's what I want to know like if we need to open up positions for more parapros and that we need to get with our new CFO and say hey uh Mr. Manson what is our budget for more parapros. I just want to make sure our teachers are supported in the classroom and they're not overworked trying to divide their attention between these students who require way more attention than some of the other students. So >> if we were fully staffed, I would tell you we do not need more parapros. >> We do not have the applicants to be fully
067staffed. So we could open up a million more positions say we won't have the applicants to fill it. And that's my struggle. And because I feel like we truly do have the correct amount of staffing. I've done really indepth dives of our staffing analysis. If we're fully staffed, we are set in the place to encourage and support student growth and teacher growth. Yeah, >> that is something that did come up at one of the schools and they did mention that their times were shortened even between trying to get to that next thing there. It there was like from 05 to05 I'm like how am I supposed to change it to one thing to the next? >> Okay. So, we have an issue. We need to fix it and we can do that together as a
068team. And I think we pull student achievement in as well um for that conversation um as well as Dr. Stone. we need we need to fix this and you're doing a great job. You're one person. So, >> I am one person. >> You've been in this position for a very short period of time and um and so thank you for all the effort that you have put into this, but we want to support you and make sure that you're able to be successful in your endeavors in this district and that you feel supported by this board. But most importantly, we want our students and our teachers to be supported. And if that means coming up with solutions for more parapros, whatever that looks like, then that this governing board, I want to to just say
069we need to make that happen. Thank you so much. Any other questions? Lisa, do you have any questions? >> No, I don't. >> Okay. All right. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item 6.1, maintenance department. Thomas, welcome. President Rose, Superintendent Stone, members of the governing board and guests. Uh, as committed to voters in the November 2016 bomb pamphlet, the district is recommending site renovations at Thunderbolt Middle School. The primary focus of this project is the asphalt renovations for the entire school parking lot, drives, fire lanes, bus lanes, and all adjacent ways. The scope of work includes but not limited to grading, demo, paving, coding, parking lot drives, park installs, directional signage, ADA striping. Uh, Concord general contracting will be procured for this project using the JAC or job order contracting
070agreement through the 1GPA cooperative contract uh 23-15PV-3. Uh, the submitted total was 528,440. Uh the adjacent ways funding portion of that is 377,237 and the district's portion of that is going to be $151,202. So total will be 528,440. I'm asking for a not to exceed of $600,000. Um the request aligns with the board's policy 3-109 which authorizes individual job construction services up to 2 million without specific board authorization. Uh the project will be funded using bond and or other allowable capital funds including adjacent waste funds if approved by the department of school facilities. This item has been reviewed and approved by the pursing department. >> All right. And uh this is a project that is desperately desperately needed. If you've not been to the middle school parking lot for a while, I encourage you to
071go drive. So um governing board, do you have any questions for Thomas at this time? >> All right. All right. I I do like that as a local contractor that you're recommending. Um I like to keep that local as good. >> Perfect. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. At this time, I need a motion. Um and a second on item 6.1. Move to approve the contract as directed in 6.1. And I second. >> Evelyn, >> yes. >> Lisa, >> yes. >> Houston, >> yes. David. >> Yes. All right. At this time, item 7.1, Superintendent Dr. Stone. Good evening. >> Good evening. I just want to congratulate our continuing teachers. Um, and really thank Ally for that presentation tonight. I think that is great information for our community. Um, as Mrs. Tinsley
072said, you know, lots of people have questions about special education and that was a wonderful amount of information for them to be able to go back and access. um they will be able to see that. And also wanted to thank Thomas. Um he has done a spectacular job since taking over as our maintenance supervisor and this was actually his first presentation ever to the board. So he was [Applause] >> all right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Stone. All right. This time, governing board members, >> just looking at some of the board requested information, the elementary security guards, it looks like the the cost for six additional security guards. Just see if we could look at kind of a budget analysis on that. Uh looks like the annual 351,000 uh for that. I want to
073see how that impacts where we got the funds because um employing additional security is absolutely a top priority for me. Um, thank you for providing that information, Dr. Sto. >> And, um, Scott, just so you're aware, there are, um, currently, I believe, uh, bonds and grants available through the Arizona Department of Education, Tom Horn's office for those as well. Um, all right. Anything else? just at the next board meeting roughly within 90 days from our initial goal setting from the principles I kind of want to get that that update with student achievement kind of where we are are we implementing what's the push back where do we need to improve and how can we go forward because I I definitely want this alignment uh to the curriculum to the state standards to be taking place
074um it's a team effort and uh so I'd like to hear back from you next month >> yeah and I just want to congrat you know thank our principles for the work that they have put forth thus far in in doing this. And so, if you would just give all of our principles a a um for me, first of all, we have a new director here this evening that we would like to introduce um to you. Please welcome Scott Scott Manson, who is our new district CFO. [Applause] >> Thank you. Thank you for the warm welcome. Uh, just like to thank the governing board for hiring me and just glad to be here and hope to be able to answer all your questions as time goes by and make sure we're spending all our money
075efficiently and for the kids because it's in the long run that's all it's for. Money is for them. >> That's right. >> All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Man. Welcome. [Applause] Also this evening, um, Coach Carl Thomas is in the room and at this time I would like to congratulate him on his 100th win. [Applause] >> Congratulations, coach. And also our football, some of our football players are here. They have had an amazing season this year. Would you give it up for the Lake Asteris High School [Applause] So on our next agenda um item something that we would like to begin to just discuss. Um I had a conversation with student achievement. As we know, AI is very prominent in in everything that we do now. And we are seeing countries like Japan and
076China who are just dredging their students in learning how to create AI, learning how to operate it. And um so in speaking with student achievement with Christy Olsen, that is something um her and I both were thinking along the same ways of creating in our district AI labs um to be able to teach our students how to create AI, how to be proficient in it. And we understand it is the future of where this nation and the world is headed. And we either have two options. We can either encourage our students to be successful in that or we can cause them to be um falling behind. And um in pushing forward, we always want to be the district that is ahead of the game. And so that is something that um we are going to
077begin to have conversations about. Um I know that um Mr. Becker, there is a team, a committee already at the high school um that has come together in AI committee. So I would love for them, Miss Olsson, to partner and be a part of these conversations as well as we move forward to make this district successful every day. >> That's all I have. just in that and also one part of that conversation is the overutilization of AI by students. So they're not there there's been studies coming out showing that it does somewhat hamper u development of the brain or or areas of the brain when you only are using a AI to generate writing and reading things. So there needs to be a balance of of concern and utiliz utilization. I remember they said oh
078you don't use the calculator that you not be able to have it now we all have our phones we don't do math without it. Same thing with a AI, but we need to use it responsibly. So, yeah, that should be part of the conversation. >> Yeah, absolutely. All right. Anything else from the governing board? Dr. Stone. Yes, >> I see. >> Not an announcement. I was just going to share in yourformational item. There's information in there about the hand foot and mouth disease. Yes, there was a conversation about that in the district. Um, as you know, all of our kids are come from different homes and they all come together in school and they are going to share germs. Um, so we do get our common cold, the flu, we do get hand, foot and
079mouth disease. Um, this is not something that's required to be reported to the county. It is a normal occurrence. Um, and in talking to our nurses, we did have 10 cases across the district. Um, there was some concern that that was a bigger number. It was not. Uh there were about 10 cases across the district and our nurses really wanted to know our comm wanted our community to know that the best thing our kids can do is learn how to wash their hands with soap and water often and to keep them away from their eyes and their mouth. >> I just wanted to make sure we shared that with the board. I know that was a concern in general in the community but also wanted to share with the board. >> We needed that especially
080for bringing up those numbers too. >> All right. Thank you Dr. accept. All right. If there's no other announcements from the governing board um at this time, we will need a motion to adjurnn. >> Move to adjourn. >> 9 seconds. >> Yes. Have a wonderful evening.