001You guys are Hi everyone. Thanks for joining us. We're going to get started here. It's so exciting to have so many people in the audience for a little bit of time. Today is Tuesday, April 28th, 2026, and this is a special meeting for the Litzfield Elementary School District Governing Board. I hereby call this meeting to order. The first item on the agenda is going to be the Pledge of Allegiance. If you could please stand and join us. Thank you. Next, we will take a moment of silent reflection. Okay, thank you. Next, we are going to move on to recognitions and celebrations. And I will let Dr. Davidson start us off on this. >> Thank you, President Zida and members of the community. Thank you for being here this evening. As you all know, we are
002celebrating volunteer appreciation for the month of April. And tonight, um, Miss Yardley Zamarano, currently our generalists and our public relations team, will be leading this celebration along with Miss Satderfield. And what we're going to be doing is honoring you, uh, volunteers who are here tonight school by school. So, um, as you hear your school name, feel free to rise. Um, Sandy will read the individual names. You will join me and governing board members up front for a family photo. And then when we're all done with our volunteer recognition, please we ask uh our leaders andor those that are here tonight on behalf of volunteers to grab a nice piece of cake from uh Dr. Vinyl. She uh took care of us this evening. So grab a piece of cake for the road. So thank you.
003And that's how we begin. Miss Amarano. Good evening madame president, governing board and our Lichfield community. As April comes to an end, we take a moment to recognize volunteer appreciation month and celebrate those who support our Lichfield learners, our volunteers. While not everyone could be with us this evening, we are honored to recognize those here tonight, including both our parent organization leaders, parents, and community volunteers who give their time to support our schools. Our volunteers play an important role in helping our Lichfield learners believe, belong, and become. This evening we are recognizing volunteers from several of our schools. For our volunteers, Sandy Satisfield, executive director of human resources will be calling each school and volunteer name. When you are called, please come to forward for your photo and then um stay to the side so
004we can get a group picture. Thank you. Recognizing Barbara Roby Elementary School, Julia Boranda, and Amy Bot. Two hands recognizing Berlin Sto Elementary school. Anna Shelinger, Ashley Marie Tranberg, Ashley Smith, and Christina Marovitz. Although our Corte Sierra volunteers weren't able to be with us, we want to recognize and acknowledge their contributions as well. Moving on to Dreaming Summit Elementary School, we have Jane Boose, Jenna Scott, and Michael Mclofflin. Thank you. from Lichfield Elementary School. We'd like to recognize Christine Rodriguez. >> Come on, Alicia. nominated. Our honores from Maple Padet are Carrie Zakaris and Michelle Goss. That would be fun, wouldn't it? She just all >> right. She said it can't hold a case. >> Thank you. from Palm Valley Elementary School. We'd like to recognize Christine Ruiz, Ashley Martin Lee, Christine Oh, we have Christine
005Reese on the list twice. And Janelle Falcon. So, we'll give them all a big hand. Also, we'd like to acknowledge those volunteers who couldn't be with us, but from Rancho Santa Fe and Scott Libby. Moving on to Troy Gilbert, El Thomas Hec Elementary, we have Serita Coleman and Anahi Cruz. from Verado. Oh, sorry. From Verado Elementary School, Mandy Malinowski and Allison Rasmusen. I didn't like you. Thank you. >> From Verado Heritage Elementary School, we have Chelsea DRO and Joss Gold Josh Goldwer. We had a semifinals game. Heroes won over All right. We'd like to recognize volunteerism at Verado Middle as well. They're not with us. But moving on to Western Sky Middle School, we have Sherry Papworth and Stacy Corbin. All right. And then we'd also like to publicly acknowledge the volunteerism at White Tanks
006Learning Center and Wig Guam Creek even though they're participants were not able to be with us. The cake is calling. Everybody, please grab a piece. Thank you. Before everybody runs off, I just wanted to say thank you to all of our volunteers that are here. I'm Yes. One more time, round of applause for our volunteers. Schools cannot do it alone. We need you guys every day to be there helping us out. Thank you guys for taking some time out of your evening to come today. Congrats. No, >> thank you. Okay, now that it has cleared out, we're going to move on to the next Huh. No public comment, so we're skipping that. Okay. So, the next thing we're going to move on to is the adoption of the agenda and consideration of consent agenda. Um,
007I would like to pull 6.1 from consent and see if anybody else has anything they want to pull. >> Miss Wallace, >> none for me. >> Mr. Mike, >> none for me. >> Mr. Owens, >> none for me. Thanks. >> Okay, then I will make a motion to move 6.1 from consent. And then also I would like to move 8.1 to be the final of the administrative hiring parts if to no to the end of the so okay motion for myself a second for Mr. Owens I'll call for Miss Wallace. >> Yay. >> Mr. Mike's >> yay. >> Mr. Owens >> yay. I'm also yay. Motion passes. With that, we'll now move on to what's now going to be 7.1. And I'm going to turn this over to Miss Satderfield. Madame President, members of the
008governing board, uh, and my esteemed colleagues, it's my honor to share with you that, um, the process that was followed for the assistant director of special education. Uh, we had 14 applicants. We had 11 who passed the paper screening and met the criteria to receive the in basket activities. We had five candidates that we interviewed in the first round of the process and we brought two um candidates forward for the second round. With that being said, I'd like to bring forward um I'd like to defer to Dr. Davidson >> and governing board. before Miss Outfield makes the administrative recommendation. Our candidate Megan is here in the audience and we just want to welcome her and and friends and guests tonight uh on behalf of this administrative recommendation. Um it's just great to have quality applicants
009willing and desirous of joining our team. So, thank you for the consideration tonight. And I'll let Miss Satderfield finish the administrative recommendation. And our candidate that we're bringing forward for your consideration is Megan Johnston. >> Miss Wallace, did you have any questions or comments? >> I do not have any questions, but I look forward to welcoming you to the Lichfield family, >> Mr. Mike. >> No questions for me. Look forward for you to join us. This is a great family to be a part of. >> Mr. Owens. >> Uh, no questions. Thanks. >> I have no questions. So, if someone would like to make a motion. >> I move to approve consent agenda item 7.1 as present. >> Second. >> Having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Mr. Mike. I'll call for
010the vote. Miss Wallace. >> Yay. >> Mr. Mike. >> Yay. >> Mr. Owens. >> Yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Megan, would you please rise just so everybody knows who Megan is? So, thank you and congratulations. >> Welcome to the Lichfield District. We're excited to have you. Okay, we are going to move on now to 8.1, formerly 8.2. This will be by executive director Satderfield. Okay. Thank you, Madame President, members of the governing board and colleagues. Um I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the process we followed for the director of communications. Um we had 17 applicants for that position. We had four who received the inbasket activities and the difference is a result of uh lack of experiences, similar experience and educational level and knowledge. Uh we brought
011one candidate forward for the uh final round of interviews. And with that said, um, I'd like to present for your consideration Yardley Zamarano for the director of communications. And Madame President, before we vote on that administrative recommendation, allow you to say a few words as well. Um, as as you all know, this uh process, as Miss Satderfield described, was uh had to be put into place based on our our budget cuts and the work behind our budget. And uh, Mr. Nuanis has joined us here tonight in celebration uh and tonight hopefully in celebration of Miss Amirano's appointment. And I bring up his name because one of the things we talked about early on was an opportunity to grow the next person to take his seat. And uh uh what Yardley demonstrated through the process is
012that not only one did she respond to quality coaching, but number two that she outshined and outdid every single other candidate. she is prepared and that was definitely seen throughout the entire process which is why I only had one other candidate to bring to the final piece to that process. So, um just excited for the board to consider her appointment and um well done Miss Amirano. >> Miss Wallace, did you have any questions or comments? I do not have any questions, but we have loved working with you and we are so glad that we can hopefully continue to work with you in the future. So, thank you for being willing to step into the role and we look forward to what's to come, >> Mr. Mike. >> Uh, no questions for me. Very excited for
013hopefully Yardley to move into this next role and position for her life. So, thank you, >> Mr. Owens. Like we mentioned um last board meeting, Sam did a great job of creating a culture and um those are big shoes to fill, but um we're excited to have you and like I've discussed with you privately, just make sure I look good in all the photos. >> Uh I don't have any questions. Uh I'm very excited for this. I get nothing but positive feedback about you all the time, Yardley. It's a big job, but I'm excited that you're going to be able to do that and I have full faith in your ability to take that on. So, with that, if someone would like to make a motion move to approve administrative Oops, sorry. Oh, there it
014is. Motion to approve the administrative recommendation for Yardly Amirano as the director of communications. >> I'll second. >> He beat you to the bunch. A motion from Mr. mics and a second for Mr. Owens. I'll call for the vote. Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Okay, we're going to move on. This is a lot of hiring of a lot of awesome people tonight. Uh, we're going to move on to 8.2, previously 8.3. >> Madam President, oh, I'm excuse me. >> Yep. You're next. >> Madame President, members of the governing board and colleagues, um, I'd like to share the process for the assistant principal uh, recommendation at Verado Middle. Uh, we had 17 applicants for that position as well. We had
01515 who actually met the criteria through the paper screening and we provided each of them with the inbasket activities. And I think one thing I forgot to mention is the inbasket activities are reviewed by several members of cabinet as well as the principal in this case. Um, and out of that we had five candidates that were interviewed in the first round and we had two candidates that we took forward to the second round. With that being said, we're happy to bring forward the name of a veteran administrator, Marcenne Hesler, for your consideration. >> And of course, Miss Zadim, I'm going to butt in real quick. Uh, Miss Satderfield described the process. We went through a very rigorous process. I just wanted to highlight uh and thank Miss Hler for considering Lichfield. Miss Hler has um
016was in administration for a long time, chose to reenter the classroom, get her feet back uh get them wet with the students of today. She's coming back to us as an administrator. and uh the connection as well as she was once Miss Hills our current principal of Dreaming Summit's principal when uh Miss Hill was administrator and training. So, Miss Hler, welcome and I'll certainly um stand for the vote. >> Miss Wallace, any questions or comments? >> No questions or comments. Welcome back hopefully. >> Mr. Mike, >> no questions or comments from me. >> Mr. Owens, >> none from me. Thanks. Uh, I don't have any questions. If someone would like to make a motion, >> I'll move to approve the administrative recommendation for Marcen Hler as the assistant principal at Verado Middle School. >> I
017second. >> Having a motion for Mr. Owens, a second from Miss Wallace. I'll call for the vote. Miss Wallace. >> Yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> I'm also yay. Motion passes. Welcome to Richmond. Okay, next we're going to do 8.4, which was previously 8.1. And I will let Miss Satderfield start us off there. Madame President, members of the governing board and colleagues, um I uh would like to share a very important uh role that we're trying to fill in the process that we followed in doing so. Once again, we had 17 applicants for the position. We actually through the paper screening process narrowed that to five candidates. There we saw a number of candidates who came forward who uh had not had district level experience and a number who
018had not had uh preparatory experience to step into the significant role of the deputy superintendent. So five received the inbasket activities. Two candidates were interviewed both in the uh first round and again in the second round. So, we are most happy to bring forward for your consideration our very own Dr. Jennifer Benjamin. >> Dr. Davidson, >> I don't know if I should say anything on this one. No, but uh President's item, I thank you for just giving us the chance to recommend a internal candidate, Dr. Jen Benjamin, for this role. Um, you know, I had one of the, um, people on one of the interview panels that joined us, uh, say to me, you know, Carter, it's a no-brainer. And, uh, that was after the interviews had happened. And, uh, for me bringing Jennifer tonight
019as the applicant, it is a no-brainer. Um, Jen Ben has prepared. Um, she's ready to take that seat, which is often a hot seat. um and um she is trusted, loved, and valued across the entire organization. So, it's an easy one. Thank you, >> Miss Wallace. Did you have any questions or comments? >> It's probably not a very PC comment, but I don't think that anyone else would have been able to be voted in. I think we all would have revolted. So, I feel bad for all the other applicants because they did not stand a chance. Mr. Mike's >> um I am absolutely not surprised and u I think trusted, loved and valued is an excellent way to put it because that is what it feels like when we step onto any campus or any
020place in this district and the response that she gets from the employees around us and it's it's uh felt and uh well welld deserved. >> Mr. Owens. >> I mean, I guess I was the only one that was completely shocked by this recommendation. Didn't see Didn't see it coming. Didn't see it coming. Um, obviously that's a lie. So, no comments for me. >> I don't have any questions. I adore Dr. Benjamin and think she is one of the greatest gifts that this district has ever had. And so, we are extremely blessed to have had her grow within our district throughout this time and now move up to this role. and I hope you'll stay with us for a long time and not try to leave us. So with that, if somebody would like to make
021a motion, >> I will move to approve the administrative recommendation that Dr. Jennifer Benjamin as the deputy superintendent of academic success. >> Second. Having a motion from Mr. Owens and a second from Miss Wallace. I'll call for the vote. Miss Wallace, very big yes. Mr. Mike's >> yay. >> Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Not to put anybody on the spot, but we did hire a lot of people. Could yardly like take a picture of all of our amazing people we hired right now? Would that be okay? Is that like breaking some rules or something? >> I know. So Sam is right there. He's going to do it for us. He's going to take it for the team. Okay, let's move on because I think that it's not going to
022be a late night tonight. So that's another gift for all of us. So let's uh move on here to 8 five, right? No, 8.4. Sorry. Okay. To 8.4. And this is going to be by Michael Vaughn over there. I hate this agenda. Madame President, members of the governing board, Superintendent Davidson, colleagues and community, thank you for joining me tonight to discuss the possibility of calling for an M override continuation election for this November. We discussed this possibility last board meeting, but I'd like to bring your attention to one change we've made since our last discussion. This resolution calls for an M override continuation election with the following categories. Coordination of existing school safety efforts. Recruit and retain effective teachers and staff. A nurse at each school. Teacher and staff pay. Special area programs such as
023physical education, music, band, art, athletic programs, and focused intervention programs such as reading specialists, intervention specialists, instructional coaches, behavior coaches, student adviserss. These categories support the removal of the word maintain as we discussed and also incorporate school safety which we have found are important to our community and our adviserss recommend to include. I'm available to answer any questions you may have at this time. >> Miss Wallace, >> no questions. Thank you. >> Mr. Mike, >> no questions. >> Mr. Owens. >> Yeah, I don't have any questions about the language. Is that all? And then we're just going to vote. Uh I just I think it's important to remember the why we need these M um overrides and bonds, right? They're separate, but they're both very important. I think when you talk about taxation, right? Like
024nobody likes to pay taxes necessarily, but it's how we fund education. It's how we fund a lot of things. And I think when you really look at taxes and where your dollars go, how many of your tax dollars do you give to the federal government, to the state government, to city that you have no control over? You go and you hope that they get spent appropriately. When you look at M tax dollars, you know exactly where they're going. We are just like that list of things that was that um was listed, right? Those you have direct control over that. So, it's so important that you don't lose sight of that and think this is more government waste because it's not. This is investing in our children for those of people who don't have children in
025the in the public education system. Somebody funded your education, right? That was paid for. You are investing in your community, its growth, and its future. So please remember that when you're casting your vote that this isn't just and it's not I yeah it's it's money right those that can go someplace else but this is money that you're investing into the children in in your neighborhood. So that's that's all I wanted to emphasize and stress that the value of the this um vote is is a lot bigger than just some additional tax. But no questions on the language. >> I don't have any questions and Mr. Owens basically stole my thunder that I think it's very important. This is a great way for local money to stay in our local communities. And like he said, this
026is us knowing exactly where our tax dollars are going. So, we're not asking you for any more money than you are already giving to our schools, but we are asking that you continue to support this district that is number three in the state of Arizona and we are an A-rated district and we have many A schools and we know that this is the best school district out there. So, we hope that people will continue to support us. If someone would like to make a motion. >> I'll move to approve the resolution calling for the LSD79 immino override election as presented. >> A second. >> Having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Mr. Mike. I'll call for the vote. Miss Wallace. >> Yay. >> Mr. Mike. >> Yay. >> Mr. Owens. >> Yay.
027>> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Are we done? Are we done? >> Okay, thank you. With that, we are going to move on to item 8.5, which is going to be by Dr. Benjamin. Sorry. >> That's all right. >> I do not like this new agenda. Thank you. I know it's it's different looking at it this way. Good evening, Madam President, members of the governing board. This evening I am excited to bring forward the classified evaluation instrument. This has been a long time coming. We did do the presentation at the last meeting two weeks ago. Uh there was no questions or feedback so we didn't change anything and I stand for any questions or sit for any questions. If there's any additional things that you'd like to discuss otherwise we are hopeful that you
028will approve the classified evaluation this evening. Miss Wallace, >> I just again want to say thank you for your work with this, especially with creating the individualized evaluation for every employee that's specific to them. It's a huge document if you look through it. And I'm sure it was very lengthy and timeconuming, but I appreciate the work that went into that to then give feedback specifically to every position. >> Mr. Mr. Mike, >> no questions, but I ditto owe everything that Miss Wallace just said, >> Mr. Owens. >> Yeah, I'm glad that it's 153 pages of combined evaluations and not one evaluation, but no questions. >> Uh, no questions. I've said it a bunch like I can't believe how much work this has taken and I don't think again any of us knew how much it
029was going to be but it was very much needed and we're very much appreciative of all the work that everybody has put into making this happen. It's going to be something that is meaningful and that we can actually use it to have real conversations with people that will then have real effective change in what's happening. So thank you and if somebody would like to make a motion. >> I move to approve the classified evaluation framework as presented. A second. >> Having a motion from Miss Wallace and a second from Mr. Mike. I'll call for vote. Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. And that's everybody. Right now, we are done. All of our employees. Woohoo. That's celebration. Woohoo. We're going to
030move on now to 8.6. I have the privilege of one more item this evening and I believe that this is the final item before we are adjourning our meeting. Um I have come this evening um bringing back the approval of the special education boundary changes for sales uh from Palm Valley to Troy Gilbert. There are um 30 C from Palm Valley, 40 A, B, C and D from Palm Valley to Troy Gilbert and 41 A and C. Those um boundary changes will help alleviate a tiny bit of the overcrowding at Palm Valley. Right now, families are aware that they can um try open enrollment if there's room available. It will also help for um additional students that might be moving into those areas in the future. And I stand for or sit for any questions.
031And hopefully this will be approved this evening. >> Miss Wallace, >> I don't have any questions. And as a parent that has had boundary changes happen to them before, I understand that it's never comfortable, but in all cases, it's what is necessary. They're not just for fun. They are for what is the best interest of growing schools and districts. So, um, thank you for your work with us. And to the three families that are disrupted, we're sorry. >> Mr. mics. >> Uh, no questions for me, >> Mr. Owens. >> No questions. Thank you. >> I don't have any questions either. I appreciate the thought that went into this and the fact that you did have conversations with those families that were impacted and we didn't hear from them, so obviously those went okay. So, thank
032you for that. With that, if somebody would like to make a motion. >> I move to approve the sales specialized program boundary changes as presented. >> I second. Having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Miss Wallace. I'll call for the vote. Miss Wallace. >> Yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. And that we are done except for one more motion. >> Um, perfect timing. Dr. Dooy, I move to I move to adjourn the meeting. >> I second. >> Having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Mr. Mike. Miss Wallace, your vote. >> Yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> I am a yay. Motion passes. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you for joining us, everyone.