001[Music] Thank you guys. [Music] UAV. [Music] Oh, I'm good, man. How are you been? >> Yeah, >> this week is good. >> Yeah. No sir. >> That's my own doing, right? >> What's that? >> It's my own doing. I can say no sometimes. >> Probably. It's your own fault. It's always a problem. It's just we're too good of people. >> Right. I want to make sure people are happy. >> That's right. Yeah. It'll be the downfall of us, but at least they'll be happy. >> Yeah. Did you go to Miami? Uh yeah, actually I think >> uh yeah, we were there at the uh at the Fiesta Bowl. Yeah, >> trying to go. I I thought I had some tickets locked in, but then I heard cheap because everybody bought them cuz they thought it
002was going to be Georgia or whoever, >> right? >> And then it ended up being Miami. >> Yeah, which is a great matchup, too. I mean, yeah. So, that was good. Yeah. My daughter flew my daughter back out for it cuz we had four tickets. Yeah. Um [Music] there. Yeah. I uh forgot to charge this thing. We always have Okay. All right. Yeah. I'll let you know if it doesn't work. But uh Yeah. No, it was a insane game. It was It was one of the better live games that I've seen. So yeah. So anyway, still >> and then I was shocked Sam's going to go watch Miami. >> He was touring Miami or But is he going to go to AS Landing? >> Isn't that funny? >> Lost Jaden Daniels and Levit to LSU.
003>> How are you? >> Yeah, we'll see. Yeah, >> we'll see. You just come back more talent. >> Yeah. I mean, competitive all around. So, it'll be interesting to see what ASU >> does. Hopefully, they can >> Yeah, I know. Just like as a whole, >> right? You know, you never know what you get out of a fourstar, but we have four. Yeah. In our red zone, >> we need to get better >> cuz we're Yeah. If we had any interception. >> No. No. >> Yeah. They were too used to stat. >> Yes. Yeah. >> All right. We got a live band here. Live performance. [Music] Can [Music] >> we get a new Wi-Fi password again? >> Oh, >> yeah. >> I guess so. >> Hey, Reuben, what's the Wi-Fi? It's not connecting. >> Hold
004on one second. Sure. >> All the mics are on. Oh, we're all good. No worries. Is everyone good to go over there? Our kids all ready for us to get going? Awesome. Well, hello everyone. Thanks for joining us. Today is Wednesday, I almost said Tuesday, January 14th, uh, 2026, and this is the regular and organizational meeting for the Litfield 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 guys could please stand and join us. Thank you. Next, we're going to take a moment of silent reflection. Thank you. Next, we are going to move into the uh first we have to do a couple of organizational things and then we're going to get to what most of
005our people that are here to see our beautiful students perform for us. So, we will get through this organizational stuff quickly so that we can get on to our performance for our students. Uh, the first item on the agenda is the election of the governing board president. And I will open the floor for nominations. And the way this will work is people can make nominations and then someone will make a motion and a second and we would vote. So, if someone wants to start the conversation, Ryan, would you like to start? >> I would like to start. Thank you. Um, so I remember my very first meeting um when I first got elected four years ago and this came up and I was like, well, I know it's not going to be me because I
006don't know what I'm doing. And then year two, um, I felt like again wasn't quite ready. still learning the ropes as being a school board member and all the roles and responsibilities that came with it. Last year I was kind of in a position where I felt like if nobody else wanted it, I would have done it and I would have been happy to do it. And then towards the end of last year, coming up on this year, um knowing it was my fourth year on the school board, I felt like it was kind of my time and I felt like I was um putting myself in a place where I knew the um the commitments that it was going to require. And so what I did is I talked to Superintendent Davidson. Um I
007talked to a couple other board members just to kind of find out, you know, their thoughts. and I met with um current president Zida to find out, you know, kind of what it was like having been board president the last couple years and so I had a better understanding if I was going to put myself in that position. And one of the things we talked about and one of the things I asked her was if she wanted to continue being the board president or if she was kind of over it after two years. and she mentioned to me that she really had a strong interest in maintaining the position because she wanted to see through the completion of Troy Gilbert, right? She was the board president when we um I can't remember if we if
008you were on the if you were the president when we did the bond, but I know when you know we broke ground and all that stuff. And so knowing how well she's served the school board um as this president the last two years, uh I'm completely happy to nominate her to um serve as board president again for a third term just knowing how well she's operated and controlled the board. And so maybe my time will come next year, but for now again, I'm happy to nominate Melissa, >> Mr. Mr. Mike, did you have any comments or nominations or anything you wanted to say? >> Um, nothing additional. I was just uh listening to everything Ryan was saying and I'll second the motion for um for Missa to be board president. >> So, right now it's
009just nominations. So, he's nominated. So, we'll do a a motion in a minute. I wanted to let everybody have a chance to speak first and then we'll we can do uh motions. Miss Wallace, did you have any comments? I support the nomination for you to continue as the president. Um, anyone watching that doesn't know Melissa pours her heart and soul into being a board member and serving this board and I just thank you for everything that you do and being willing to do it again. Miss Moran, >> I agree with everything board member Wallace said and I also would uh support your nomination. >> Wow. I don't like Thank you guys so much. I really do love doing this job. It's not one that I wanted when I first took it on, but um it's
010one that I've grown to really love doing and I do really want to see through Troy Gilbert. I feel like that's the project that's kind of been going through my time here. And so I'm excited to kind of see that to the end and see it open. And so, uh, thank you for all of the support I have for my board members. And I also encourage board members that might be interested in doing this next year. Definitely. Um, let's start talking about what being president looks like and things that you can start doing now and things to be ready so that you're you hit the ground running next year. Um, I'm excited to help anybody who wants to do that in the future. Um, this will be it for me if this year. So, um
011but thank you. With that, if somebody would like to make a motion. >> I move to elect Melissa's item as board president. >> I second. >> Having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Mr. Mike. I'll call Mike, I will call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Okay, with that I have to do this governing board president oath of office office. So um I'm just going to read this statement. I, Melissa Zida, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Arizona, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and defend them against
012all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office of president of the Lichfield Elementary School District governing board according to the best of my ability. So, help me God. With that we can move on to the next thing which is our organizational items. The first item is going to be authorization to use the governing board president signature or electronic signature stamp for employment contracts. Does anybody have any questions? If not, we can make a motion. >> I move to authorize the use of the president's electronic signature stamp for employment contracts as presented. >> I second having a motion from M. and a second for Miss Wallace. I'll call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace, >> yay. >>
013Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I'm also yay. Motion passes. >> See, we're going to be so quick and then we're going to get to the fun stuff. Uh, the next item is authorized use of signature stamp of governing board president for signing of terms and conditions for building renewal grants. Again, if somebody has a question, otherwise we can make a motion. I move to approve the use of signature stamp for the governing board president for signing of terms and conditions for building renewal grants as presented. The terms and conditions for building renewal grants will be brought for ratification at the next board meeting. >> I second. Having a motion from Miss Moran and a second from Miss Wallace, I'll call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace,
014>> yay. >> Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I'm also yay. Motion passes. Next, we are going to do authorization to continue use of hearing officers for employee hearings and student discipline hearings. If anyone has a question, please ask. Otherwise, we can take a motion. >> I'll move to authorize the continued use of a hearing officer for conducting employee hearings and student discipline hearings and approve those listed pursuant to ARS 15341, 15541, and 15843 is presented. I'll second the motion. >> Having a motion from Mr. Mike and a second from Mr. Owens, I'll call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I'm also yay. Motion passes. And finally, we will move on to approval of LED governing board member to
015serve as exeicio non- voting member on the LED educational foundation board for 2026. With this, I actually am going to turn to Mr. mics first because you are the person that's done it this last year to get your thoughts and if you want to share what that is and um we can discuss who would be good to do this for the next year. >> Yeah, the the uh educational foundation that supports our district is a great opportunity to kind of get involved with the the people and parents uh that support our teachers and students. There's a lot of great opportunities where there's a golf tournament fundraiser that they do that raises money to pretty much directly get that money into the hands of the teachers and kids. We do a big uh pride awards at
016the end of the year to rec um to celebrate excellence of various teachers. We do um various grants throughout the year. I believe over $20,000 and many grants has been given out to teachers this past year or the past year for uh for everything that they can apply for. And also there's uh a number of uh graduate uh scholarships that are given out to kids that have promoted from Lichfield Elementary that are seniors in high school and it's open for anybody that has done that and uh just another little piece to support all our kids kind of throughout all the years. So, it's a it's a great chance. They meet monthly um with a great group of people and uh just a chance to do some really, you know, great things and get it direct
017to the classrooms and kids. >> Um so, you served on it this last year. I know that I have been uh on that board before as well as Miss Moran. I don't believe you have done it, Miss Wallace and Mr. Owens. I don't think that you have done it. Um so, what are thoughts? I initially I was thinking maybe Mr. Owens might want to do it this upcoming year if that's uh something you were interested in doing. I know you know a lot of people in the community and I know that's a lot of the work there is kind of you know reaching out to businesses and community members and things like that and bring everybody together. Uh so I thought that might be a good thing for you to do but I'm not sure
018if that's something you're interested in or something you're able to do at the time but just an idea but I'm interested in other people's feedback. Yeah, I'm definitely interested. I know last year it was kind of the same situation where, you know, board member Mike's had already been in a more official role and so he kind of saw that through as well. So unless there's another board member who was was more interested, I'd definitely be willing to serve on the board. I feel like it's a great opportunity for me to get additional insight into the community and the foundation and its and its role and relationship with the school board and the um the staff and how they contribute to supporting our teachers. So, I'd be happy to do it. Uh, Miss Wallace, Miss Moran,
019um, having served on that board for many years as an official member and then multiple years as the board lay on, I am more than happy to support Ryan as the current year exe official member. I also support that. >> Mr. Mike, I'm sorry. you did do it last year. So, I I just just, you know, I'm not sure if that was something you were looking to keep doing. I just thought it might be a great place for >> I I think it's uh would be a great spot for uh board member Owens to be a part of and definitely step back so everybody else can get experience with it. >> Wonderful. If someone would like to make a motion. Actually, I move to I should have the right words. I move to approve uh
020Ryan Owens as the exeicio non- voting member on the LED education foundation board for 2026. I will second. Having a motion from myself and a second from Miss Moran, I will call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> I'm a yay. Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I'm also yay. Motion passes. >> Okay. Next, we are going to move on to recognitions and celebrations. I'm very excited for this for tonight. We've got a bunch of students over here, and this is going to be led by Executive Director Nanis. >> Good evening everybody. uh governing board president Zidama, board members Dr. Davidson, fellow cabinet members, and community members both present and online. This evening, we are proud to recognize National Governing Board Appreciation Month by celebrating one of
021the many ways our governing board supports well-rounded student learning, through the arts. Music plays an integral role in the development of our students, fostering creativity, discipline, and collaboration. We are honored to welcome the Wigwam Creek Middle School String Ensemble, an outstanding group of talented musicians led by their dedicated music teacher, Mr. Jonathan Molina. Ladies and gentlemen, the Wigwam Creek Middle School String Ensemble. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] How about that? Was that not just amazing? Let's let's get get to know some of these. Uh, sure. Uh, hello everyone. My name is Mr. Jonathan Zvada Molina. Students just call me Mr. Molina. Uh, we are representing Wigwam Creek Middle School. In front of you, you have a combination of students. You guys can go ahead. I'm miss you. You go. Sorry. Uh, you have a combination of students
022that represent uh, all the grades in our school. Um, this piece was called the Russian music box and we were able to put it together in two after school rehearsals. The students did an amazing job learning it. They showed up. Um, they were eager to learn it and they did a great job of performing here for today. Um, I told them that I would give them a quick chance to just introduce themselves. I know we have a lot of parents here. So, thank you guys for showing up for your support. I want to make sure that your student gets recognized for their contributions here. So, they're just going to share their name, their instrument, and how many years they've been in the district. >> Okay. Hi, my name is Bella. I play the violin and
023I have been in the district for three years. Um, my name is Emma. Um, I play the violin and I've been in the district for eight years. >> Hi, my name is Bailey. I play the violin and I've been in the district for 5 years. >> Hi, my name is Isabelle. Um, I play violin and I've been in the district since I started school. >> Hello, my name is Reagan. I played a violin and I've been in the district for eight years. My name is Jesse. I play the violin and I've been in the district for three years. >> Hello, my name is Ellie. I've been in the district for eight years and I play the violin. My name is Christa. I play the violin and I've been in the district for four years. >>
024My name is Emma. I play violin and I've been in the district for eight years. >> My name is Jenny. I play the viola and I've been in the district for seven years. >> My name is Austin. I play the viola and I've been here for two years. >> My name is Janelle. I play the viola and I've been in the district for six years. >> My name is Ariana. I play the double bass and this is my first year in the district. >> My name is Gabriella. I play the violin cello. I've been in the district for 10 years. >> My name is Alexis. I play the cello and I've been in the district for eight years. >> My name is Micah. I play the and I've been in the district for seven years.
025>> My name is Tessa. I've been in the district for two years after the cello. >> So, those are just some of the students that I have the privilege of seeing every other day on my campus as I uh teach strings. Our campus does also offer band, choir, and general music. So, we are a rich campus that supports the fine arts and we are more than honored to have the opportunity to be here today. Thank you guys for having us. >> Thank you, Jonathan. Amazing. Just amazing. Do you guys have another song? >> Okay, that's fine. Awesome. One more round of applause for these amazing students. >> You guys did amazing. And shout out to the viola players. I played that when I was in school, too. So, that's awesome. But you guys did amazing.
026I am blown away by how great that sounded and only having two days to learn your song was awesome. Just hang tight for a while. We're going to do another quick little celebration. Okay, moving on. The Lichfield Elementary School District proudly recognizes the most recent participants who have successfully completed the two-year future leaders academy. These dedicated educators committed their time and energy to learning, growing, and developing as leaders within LED79, demonstrating a strong desire to serve our district and students at the highest level. Through this rigorous two-year program, participants explored leadership pathways across both the academic and operational sides of the district, gaining a deeper understanding of how LED 79 functions as a whole. These future leaders aspire to serve in roles such as instructional coaches, advisors, behavior coaches, assistant principles, principles, and directors, helping
027to strengthen our schools and support student success. Excuse me. >> The Future Leaders Academy is designed to provide staff members with meaningful professional development that equips them with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to excel in current and future leadership roles. The program reflects our commitment to identifying and cultivating leadership potential within our own organization, an approach that supports long-term excellence across the district. By investing in our staff, we not only expand individual leadership opportunities, but we also strengthen LESD79 as an organization, ensuring that we continue to lead with readiness, resources, and relationships that ultimately benefit our Lichfield learners. Congratulations to our future leaders academy graduates. Please come up. I will ask for some assistance as we have some certificates for you. They're in the right order as we read them. Okay. Please come up as
028you hear your name to receive your certificate. From Barbara Roby Elementary School, Miss Carrie Pritchard. Okay. from Rancho Santa Fe Elementary. Juliana Larson [Applause] from Rancho Santa Fe Elementary. Miriam Wilson [Applause] from Verado Elementary. Samantha Helipico [Applause] from Verado Heritage. Andrea Olsnik from Verado Heritage. Natalie Bush [Applause] also from Verado Heritage. Thomasina Height [Applause] from Verado Middle School, Brittany Matias. And also from Verado Middle School, Rina Rioni. [Applause] Ladies and gentlemen, this is the kind of commitment and dedication to our students that makes student success and achieves high higher level learning for our Lichville learners. We are grateful for your commitment to LSD79 and we look forward to the positive impact that you will continue to make across our district. Congratulations. [Applause] Click good photo. Hallelujah. Here we go. [Applause] Thank you everybody. Congratulations to
029all of our future administrators that are completing this program. And we want to thank you again to our amazing students that performed for us. We are going to take a two-minute break here so we can kind of let maybe it might be a little longer depending how long it takes them to get their instruments out so that we can let them get on their way for their evening. Uh so yeah, with that we're going to take a little break. It looks like we are all cleared out. So now we can get on to the business of the meeting. Uh the next on the agenda, we have no public speakers today. So we are going to move right on to adoption of agenda and consideration of the consent agenda. I'll go through and see if anyone
030has any items they wish to pull from consent. Mr. Owens. >> I I do not. >> Mr. Mike's >> none for me. >> Miss Wallace? >> None for me. Miss Moran. >> As expected, I would like to pull 8.10. Out of state travel request. >> Okay. If someone would like to make a motion minus 8.10. Move to adopt the agenda as presented as to the order of business items and approve the consent agenda as presented with the exception of 8.10. >> I second. Having a motion for Mr. Mike and a second from Miss Wallace. I'll call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I am also a yay. Motion passes. We will now move on to what will now
031be 9.1 which is out of state travel. Miss man, you just want clarification about this, right? Yeah. I mean, I just think it's important as administration knows to carefully consider all out of state travel requests and so I would just like to know more about this opportunity and um the advantages that it brings us as a district. >> Absolutely. Thank you, governing board member of Moran. Um, so this opportunity actually is for for me to expand my development as the deputy superintendent of academic success. As you all know, u much of my job is not only planning for the now of how we can raise student achievement and meet kids' needs, but also planning for the future. So over the last two years, I've been part of a cohort through ASU. It's ASU's um round
032table for superintendent and I have the opportunity to engage in a lot of different professional development and um share the story of what we're doing here at Lichfield and specifically about building our Lichfield learner um so that they're ready for high school and beyond and really looking at those innovative practices for for um high school readiness. And so this opportunity um actually came to me from the leader of that group. Um they sent me the opportunity to actually apply for a scholarship. So this conference is actually a scholarship that I was awarded for um to attend the conference. So the cost of the district is just um the hotel stay as well as um um actually that's it because travel is already included in in my daily my daily function. I travel every day. So
033um and so I'm asking the board to approve this so I can specifically go and get developed myself and bring back expertise. It's a nationally known conference um that focuses on instructional improvement and workforce readiness um and definitely connects with our Lichfield learner traits um to help our kids be better communicators, better team team members through teamwork, problem solving, continuous learning, character, and content expertise. When I was looking at the agenda, there's definitely items that I can bring back to our district and help enhance the work that we're doing to truly make sure that our kids are ready from grade to grade and ready for high school um with the skills that we want them to have in our Lichfield learner traits. So that's why I brought it to the board to ask you um
034to approve the out of state travel um for this event for my position and my continued growth and contribution to Lichfield. >> Mr. Owens, did you have any questions or comments about this item? >> I do not. >> Mr. Mike, >> uh no questions for me. >> Miss Wallace, >> no questions. Miss Moran, >> no. I appreciate the clarification. Thank you. >> I have no questions either. If someone would like to make a motion, >> I move to approve item 9.1 as presented. >> I second. >> Having a motion from Miss Moran and a second from Mr. Owens, I will call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> Mr. Mike, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I'm also a yay. Motion passes. >> We are now going
035to move on to our discussion items, which will be the superintendent evaluation tool. Um, we had had a committee form to work on this which was Mr. Mike's and Miss Wallace and they also worked with Mrs. Benjamin over there and they came up with this draft which now we get to discuss. Um, and also the board was able to without discussion we were able to kind of work through it when we did our evaluation of the superintendent in December to just kind of see how it looked. And so now this is a great opportunity once we've had eyes on it to discuss as a group what did we think about it and so I will turn it over to Miss Benjamin. >> Thank you so much. Um we had a a great time being able
036to dig into the evaluation with board member Mike and board member Wallace. We worked to create the framework that was similar to what the leaders are currently using what we're also developing for our teachers and for our classified staff. uh seeking to find a way to cascade the evaluation system so that Dr. Davidson's evaluation would look very similar to those that are using it across the district or will be using it across the district next year. Um you did have an opportunity to kind of look at it and so this is really just an opportunity for you guys to share your feedback. Is there anything that um our committee can take back to make some adjustments and provide a tool that would really work for everybody? Mr. Owens, did you have any comments or questions?
037>> Or would we like to start with our other committee members on the board? We can let them talk first, I suppose. >> Yeah, that's okay. That's kind of what I was. >> Okay. That's right. >> So, Mr. Mike and Miss Wallace, I'll let you guys kind of go with that for now if you guys want to kind of talk about your experience and your thoughts. >> Okay. Yeah, sure. Um yeah, it was a great experience to kind of dive in to see I mean one of the one of the big pieces is we like the the concept and idea of a streamline accountability system across the district and you know uh top to bottom of course. So uh we had a chance to kind of dig in like uh Miss Benjamin said and um
038it gave us an opportunity to really kind of fine-tune some of the the verbiage as far as expectations for Dr. Davidson. It gave us a chance, one of the big things is we were able to um embed uh a rubric with specific uh talking points for it to help kind of narrow down some of those conversations and uh and and that rating system as well. The um the overall uh pieces, you know, or expectations from the old one to the new one, you'll see a lot of similarities for for those pieces um for the most part. Like I said, it just I was able to kind of streamline it into a rubric form to help uh engage us in conversations to really kind of fine-tune what we're trying to say or what we're rating uh
039Dr. Davidson on. And then the the final the final piece, obviously, it's a a big document. It looks it looks bigger than it is because of the rubric piece. Um but the final final thing as well is it it takes it to a four-point system for highly effective effective developing and ineffective and trying to use a point system to give more clarity as we go through with that. So and yeah it was it was a good experience to do it you know and to get more feedback and it's probably you know maybe not perfect of course but um chance to get more feedback from it. Miss Wallace. >> Um, yeah, I agree with what board member Mike's was saying. We, um, we're trying to take this from the same look and feel of what we're
040currently using for our administrators and continue that on. We took the tool that we currently had and we looked at where the areas that we evaluate on currently fell in each of the headings. And it turned out that when we divided them into the headings, it really was fairly equal in each heading. And there we didn't really have to take anything out or add much. Um there was just again adding the examples and um artifact examples that will hopefully help us all be able to be on the same page and to provide maybe some reasoning and evidence for the scores that are given based on the descriptors that we now have. >> Miss Moran, do you have some comments or questions? >> You know I do. Um, okay. So, I kind of want to back
041up a little bit because I know the point of this is to get uh a tool that looks and feels like everyone else is using, which I think is important, and use the same verbiage and that sort of thing. But I guess I'm not clear from this if you could tell me more about which parts are actually cascading because I can tell you know like 1.1 is basically a measurement that we had used in our previous tool. I guess I I would like some help and guidance in mirroring or in ex explaining how this tool cascades and what parts of it are the same or very similar to what our Lichfield leaders tools look like. And I know we've looked at that before, but I didn't have the time to go in and actually look
042at each thing and try to figure that out myself. I thought the people that worked on this tool would be able to better explain that to me. Yeah, great question. So, definitely the rubric going from the four-point scale, highly effective, effective, developing, and ineffective. The domains um are the same. We did choose to combine domains three and five for teamwork and continuous learning. Uh we felt like based on the work of the superintendent, those often went together. So, um that alleviated one of the domains because we allowed for three and five. So, although it is cascading, we still have those present. We put those as one indicator. Um when you're looking through and the 1.1 1.2 if it matched and it was something that we felt the super it was important for the superintendent and
043it was also on the leaders. Those did match. Not all of them do. We did actually um decrease some of the superintendent ones based on the leader. We also will be coming back uh bringing the leaders back this summer because as we're going through it, we know that it's a little long and we're going to need to shorten it. So, we might actually see that aligning again based on getting to use the instrument and being able to um just have that opportunity to to dive in and work with it. So, those will align again, but they might not be perfect. So, you do have the domains, those would be the same. you've got many of the indicators and then um as far as the descriptors, those are based on the superintendent. So, they still may
044align with some of the verbiage, but we're really making sure that that is the superintendent, not necessarily a director or a principal. Okay. So, I guess my thought, which could be a incorrect thought on, you know, hearing the word cascading is that Dr. Davidson would be able to take on his org chart all the reviews of the people that report to him and then roll some of that up to his performance. Is that accurate or that's kind of what I'm looking for is where where do we see that overlap and where are we going to see his the evidence of his direct leadership team and their performance on his performance? >> Thank you, Miss Moran. And that's what we were having a little sidebar conversation. And I think you'll primarily see that in that domain
045six, the content expert piece. Um, as you know, that's where you will find the goals, my specific goals that were established with the governing board earlier, um, this or this past summer. Um, but I'd like to primarily focus on the first part of that, which was all the student achievement piece. So um all of our leaders are supporting the work that um we are doing because as you know that goal isn't just specific to me it's to the team as a whole but the student achievement piece is definitely one that mirrors um what's happening in our schools. Um those data points uh that I'm directly held accountable for as are our team and they realize that it's really their efforts that help establish the outcomes as found in those particular achievement pieces. So um I
046think that's the greatest area is that domain six just to reiterate. >> Okay. So basically the student achievement as evidenced by testing and attendance and then part six which is your specific goals that you're trying to achieve each year. Um let me ask a couple of follow-up questions then on the domains because again I did walk through and see you know this is the tool that we've been using before. These are the standards that we were really measuring against. And then there are a few additional ones for example 1.2.2 um that talks about communication through multiple formats to reach all stakeholders. Is that a cascading type um standard if you will like is that on the principles as well? Okay. Okay. So that's a that's an example of kind of where we're saying we need
047this to be at all levels. So in addition, thank you for the great questions board man. In addition to the content expert that Dr. De Davidson just elaborated on, the domains themselves are also cascading. Um the descriptors for this for those domains and indicators um were the what what was revised um to be able to really tailor it to the superintendent position. So um superintendent will be getting feedback about communication in that role, teamwork, problem solving. So that part is also cascading is we're looking for those same attributes in all of our leaders. If that if that addresses your question and the one you gave as an example is exactly on the leaders instrument as well. I've been practicing it a little bit lately for midy years. So it's absolutely part of the principal and
048directors. Okay, thank you. And then what about 1.3.2 superintendent's presence in the community to understand strengths and needs? Is there something similar to that on the leadership? Yes, there is something similar about community engagement. It's not exactly written the same because our operational leaders engagement with the community to accomplish their job might look a little different. our principal engagement with the community. But yes, there is something in the evaluation system that addresses the way that we engage the community to do our work. >> Okay. And then there's one thing and and I'm we can certainly talk about this as a board. Um under character, there was one specific question that we used to ask which was basically demonstrates ethical and personal integrity. And I know that's not on this current proposed tool. That is really
049important to me because to me the trust between the board and the superintendent while the evidence to support that might be less concrete or really you're looking for a lack of evidence you know in that respect um I would like to see some sort of measure like that reinccorporated even if it's just a 2.1.2 and then you're just saying strong evidence that the superintendent demonstrates ethical and personal integrity. Obviously, ethical leadership is the title of that section, if you will. So, we can go back and look at that. Um, we did feel that there were different areas, but we can look at that through that lens with that question of having that come back in. As we were going through, we were also trying to make sure that we were not overwhelming the different areas.
050And so that may have been one that came off because we felt like that fit in other places. Okay. I just feel like you know what we've seen in other districts, although this is not going to happen in ours, but you see or hear about personal behaviors that would impact the credibility and trustworthiness of a superintendent. And so I feel like that should be part of what we can put into writing. So looking at the 2.1, it's talking about implements rules and regulations and then also keeping the board policy. Is that the one you're thinking that if we just also added ethical to that, it would meet that? >> Well, since 2.1's under ethical leadership, I think if we change the current 2.1 to 2.1 and then add 2.1.2 that says, you know, strong evidence
051that the superintendent demonstrates ethical and personal integrity or even just demonstrates personal integrity because the whole section is ethical. Um, just some somewhere that we can give that sort of feedback I think would be would be appreciated by me. >> Uh Mr. Mike, go ahead. >> Well, actually, I was just uh that's probably not a that's not probably not a bad idea to have it as specific um as uh board member Moran wants it. So, and I was just sitting back wondering, oh, do we want to just embed it in the in the descriptors, I'm sorry, in the in the descriptors within the rubric or do we want to have its own line item? But I think board member Moran is recommending that we have its own line item for it. And I mean that
052makes sense to me and we can word smith something uh to that degree. >> Okay. And then my other question is really about the um student success 5.1. So the um measurements that are in here, for example, the first one that says highly effective as 1.7, effective as 1.69, you know, to 1.6, will that change every year or is that going to be consistently these growth factors? So right now, this does match what our leaders is saying, and we also are rolling this out. It will um it may adjust just a little bit. We've been digging deep into some of this work with director Owens to identify what that looks like for our teachers as we also rule this exact thing out. Um, previously the highly effectives was at 0.95 and so we have adjusted
053this quite drastically and so what we did is we actually looked to see what this would look like for our teachers and our campuses and then as an entire district and what we found we're really trying to make sure that uh we're capturing what is really highly effective, what is effective, what is developing and making sure that that is um consistent where we've got groups of students and how are they performing on the state assessment as well. And so with all of that work, these may change just a little bit, but um the 1.7 was going to stay the same. It was the effective and the developing that might shift just a little bit. >> Okay. Okay. So, what I hear you saying is these measurements for each of the 4 32 and one may
054change slightly, but it will be cascading with what we're holding our teachers. Correct. And campuses accountable to. Yes. Okay. >> Great. Um, >> hold on. Is did you want to speak, Dr. Dy? Go ahead. I was just going to just add just a little more explanation is that we want to make sure that the growth coefficient that we're calling highly effective, effective or developing or ineffective um matches with the performance at year end as well as our ASA our I Ready our Acadians. So when Mrs. Benjamin explained that we've been digging in with Mr. Owens, that's exactly what we've been doing. Okay, this is a growth coefficient based on how they did on the benchmark. But does that align up with how these same kids did on ASA, did on Aadian, and did on I
055Ready because we really want to make sure when we say this number is highly effective, effective or developing that it matches across the board and it lines up with multiple data points. So, so that's the work that we're doing. So we may have iterations that we bring back to you um as we continue to examine the correlation between all those data points if that makes sense. Yes, that makes sense. Thank you. Um I do have some other feedback on the goals and the um and the evidence pieces, but I don't know if anybody wants to talk more about the first sections. Mr. Owens, did you have any comments or s suggestions on this? >> None for me. Thanks. I do like the four points. >> Yeah, I I agree. I think the four points is
056good. And um I appreciate that you guys put in the time to go through and try to make sure that all our stuff that we already had is in here. I will state that when we first got this and it was 30 pages, I was like, there's no way that we can have a 30-page review. That's insane. But Once I was able to see it broken down a little bit differently, I felt much better. So, um, I appreciate the work that the group did. So, um, thank you for giving us the opportunity to give some feedback. I don't really have much at the time. I mean, I think that this probably is going to be another thing that we'll as we use it and get used to it, we'll see areas that we need to
057tweak over time. But, >> well, and we do have options of how this can look when we have the final iteration. We could use our classroom mosaic as a tool to be able to help um utilize this online and being able to have all of that. We could also put this into a Google form for all of you so that you can do drop downs rather than looking at a spreadsheet like this. So there are different ways that we can format this uh for use and not looking at 30 pages. I do have concerns about the classroom mosaic because the way we do it is a little different than how you guys are evaluating administrators and so I don't know if that will particularly >> so we could do a Google forms which might make
058it look a little bit easier than you would have access to all of that. >> Gotcha. >> Okay. Uh Miss Moran you said you had some other things. >> Yes. So I guess from a functionality standpoint I'm curious about for example content expert. So, we normally sit down in the summer and have our retreat and we talk about what those goals are going to look like, what we think the top priorities should be for the district and that translates into Dr. Davidson's goals. Um, will when we get this, will we work together to say, you know, what are the pieces of that? You know, I I just wondering how much detail we're going to get up front because we can look now that we know what these are and we've been given that kind of,
059you know, we've already gone through the midyear, so we have the final coming up. Are we going to establish really clearly what success looks like in the detailed standpoint or are we going to be more agile as we go through the year to say, "Well, we thought we were going to do this, but now we're really going to do this." I mean, I think agile makes sense to me, but I also like things to be really black and white. So, tell me what you think. >> Great question. So, when you look at the definition of evidence, you've got strong evidence and it lists the indicators. you've got evidence, some evidence, and then limited evidence. Um, when we're looking at those specific things, I think that that's where that midyear comes in. Is he adopting it?
060Is he adapting it? Or is he abandoning that goal? So, you could have that conversation by midyear to know um, hey, we started this and we kind of tweaked it a little bit and this is working better for us. And so you could look at that midyear more as an opportunity to discuss those goals and are they going to stay the same for the end of the year or have you pivoted and made some adjustments. Um and then for that meeting I know we always try to get you all of the information ahead of time so that you can look through all the different evidence and artifacts and we would continue to do that based on these goals. >> Yes. And Miss Moran, I would just simply add to that if there was a specific
061goal with a very specific measure that we set early on. Um, that certainly would make it easy for us to have that conversation whether it's mid year or end of year, at least what I've experienced today. Most of the goals are are open-ended, allowing us to have conversation and to um get to those final outcomes in May and June. But I think so I I think it could go either way, but I think the way it's written now, it's meant to be able to kind of be a um just like we said with our teachers and administrators, more of a coaching tool, conversation piece that leads to that expected and desired outcome versus this is this is hard and fast throughout the year. So I think it kind of depends, but I could certainly go
062either way as we work to work together through that. >> Okay, that that makes sense to me. I guess just as an example, you know, we have like 6.1 which is um you know the special education uh impact and budget and then we have you know things listed there as you know what things that you're going to do, you know, future action steps to positively impact students with disabilities. Um I'm just trying to think through the realistic kind of process of this, right? Um, maybe I don't have a question. Maybe I'm just thinking out loud. So, I I'll think about that. >> I think that the whole the point in some of these things is just to help all of us in our conversations be able to maybe rationalize and think through why we're giving
063the scores that we're giving. So, I think like these bullet points here are really just to get us on the same page as far as what we're looking as highly effective effective developing based on those. But I think these are fairly fluid as our artifacts. Okay. Do you agree, Mr. Banks? >> Yeah, I I agree with that. I know like in the end, I mean, uh, board member Moran, you're trying to figure out if all of these, you know, just like they're laid out right now, whether or not these will all be teased out in the beginning of the beginning of the year, if I'm hearing you correctly. >> Yeah. I'm just I guess I just want to make sure that the board gets an opportunity for feedback because we do give feedback when we
064have the initial goals. You know, we might have 10 things we want to accomplish and we kind of whittle that down to five. these are going to be our top five priorities for the year and we do that during the retreat. But I guess then once the administration decides this is what I think those action steps are going to look like. I would love for the board to be able to have another conversation to say we agree, proceed or no, you're off base here because I wouldn't want us to get to the midyear review and then be like we're on different pages. So maybe that's just more the process of really what should be happening with any evaluation. But, um, you know, I really want to get this one right as much as we can
065and make sure that we're starting off on the best foot possible. >> Well, and that brings a really good point. So, we just copied and pasted these exactly from what was provided at the very beginning of the year and put them in here. Um, when you're looking at these specific items, these are the key performance indicators or the action steps that we're thinking that could be around that goal. It's not necessarily the goal itself. Uh, but do we need to make that look a little bit different? Is that and and we could I could see a goal sheet of here's the goal, here's the possible key performance indicators, and maybe we're separating that out a little bit. >> I'm just processing and speaking out loud because I do think that would be easier for the
066evidence part because that's the whole thing is we're trying to be data driven, right? And sometimes I have felt in the past that we come in and we have opinions that may or may not be based in fact. And so I would like to be able to do this evaluation based on as much facts and evidence as possible. And I think that would work in our favor and I think that would work in the superintendent's favor. Okay, that's great feedback. and we can develop something that still keeps this uh goal the way that you guys have approved it to be written and then allowing for um the different evidence and artifacts and key performance indicators separately so that we can add tweak and change throughout the year and it's not necessarily a part of the
067goal. >> Okay. >> Does that Yes, that sounds good to me. Thank you. That is all my questions. >> Mr. Mr. Owens, did you have any more thoughts, questions, anything? This is just discussion right now. We don't actually have to vote to approve this, correct? But just discussion so that the committee could come back and make any tweaks or changes that we want or need. And then this the thought is that this would be used for next year. I don't think it's going to be used this year or are we using it this year? And I guess Miss Ida, maybe we can land on that conversation. I'm perfectly comfortable with us using it this year. We used it for the midyear conversation. Um to Miss Moran's point, if we need to tighten up some of
068the um the pieces of evidence and artifact the board would like to see, we can definitely do that in an open meeting and and vote upon that. I do think if we want this to be the tool this year, knowing that it incorporated the previous tool, I'm fine with that. But I do think it would be best for us to agendaize it and and vote it as the tool that we're going to use for the end of the end of this school year. >> Okay. Um with that, did you have any questions or comments, Mr. Owens? >> Yeah, I'd be fine with it if if that's the plan to implement it and then that way we're ready for next year, I guess. Uh, Mr. Mike. >> Uh, yeah, I'd also be open for implementation. I
069I know we're trying to fine-tune some things as well, just kind of depending on where the board as a whole wants to go, but I think it's it's in a comfortable enough spot to be able to move forward with it with it. But >> well, and we would Yeah. So basically we would have you guys go back make whatever tweaks you want to make based on the conversation here and then it could come forward as us to vote on it. And I mean that I don't think that that changes any work that Dr. Davidson is doing right now. So I would be comfortable for us to talk about that too but >> correct >> Miss Wallace. >> I don't have any other questions or comments. I am comfortable to use it and see how it
070goes. Um I was was under the impression that tools did not need to be voted on, but I'm fine to vote on it if not tonight. Obviously, it's not the agenda, but at some point if that's what we need to do, >> Miss Maria. >> Um, yeah, I'm fine if we decide we want to use this tool because it really isn't changing. It's not It's only the tool. We're not changing the goals. We're not changing the criteria. All of the criteria from the previous if we add the personal integrity all of the criteria from the previous tool are it is embedded in this tool um as it is. So yeah I'm fine um if at some point we want to bring this back and and get final approval um and we want to use it
071this year that works for me. >> I think you're correct. We don't have to uh vote on it. However, if you guys are going to go back and work on it and make the tweaks or whatever, I'd rather just have us bring it forward and then have the board approve that this is what we are going to use so that we're all on the same page and we're being very transparent with our community, with ourselves, with Dr. Davidson on what exactly we're going to be using to evaluate him. So, I think that would be helpful. But, um, thank you very much for all of the work that you all put into doing this. I know it took some time and you guys spent one day a very long time working on it to get it
072wrapped up. So you could do it a little less days, but we appreciate the work that you put in. Thank you. I think that it looks great. Okay, with that, we're going to move on to reports. We will start with the report from Dr. Davidson. >> Thank you, President Zidum, and happy new year to each of you. Um we are certainly off and running um this January as we move through the remainder of the school year. Um starting just thank you for your service and uh to each of you on behalf of your work as a governing board member. Um obviously as uh Mr. Nan has shared it is National School Board appreciation month and hopefully you had a chance just to reflect a little bit and um think about the choices that you also
073make as board members and how it impacts our kids and that was a just a great showing of how the the support of the Lichfield learner, the well-rounded student. Uh I was just in awe. They did a great job and hopefully you had a chance to enjoy that. Uh as well, um just wanted to share some highlights and some upcoming initiatives that are happening here in the district over the the next few months. Um as of this evening, we started our third cohort of the future leader academy as Mr. Nana spoke about. Um had a great um turnout tonight. Um I think there was probably about 15 16 individuals in the room um ready to continue to learn and and develop in leadership. So, it was great to meet with him. Tomorrow at the city
074of Aenddale, we do have our district spelling bee. Uh so hopefully uh maybe have a chance to join or you can I think watch online perhaps as well. Um this Friday we do have no school with our students. Um yet it is a teacher full day staff development day and I know that Miss Benjamin and her team have great uh plans ready for our staff um as we move into the spring. And this is more of a message not just for us as a whole here, but our families. Um, Mr. Coin and Miss Benjamin have started our special district and our schools to join that and and help continue to promote positive practices on behalf of students with disabilities. So, we're excited for that work. Um, we do have some communications being prepared to go
075out to our district and to our um residents of our district. Um, Mr. Juan is and his team have been helping me build postcards to just highlight the success and efforts of our district. And so those will be going out very soon and certainly always directing people back to our website just to learn about us um as we um just move through this school year. And lastly, in regards to celebration, I want to give a congratulations to Mr. Noanis and Miss Amarano from the communications and public relations team. uh they were most recently um given a variety of awards uh on behalf of their work with the Arizona School Public Relations Association. So Sam, if you wouldn't mind taking a second and sharing with the governing board the uh the information on the awards and
076um president's item after that I've concluded. So thank you uh for tonight's meeting. Sam >> um being part of the ASPAR organization uh which we collaborate with our other uh contemporaries in the public relations school public relations uh they have the annual awards uh that we submit and are judged by other PR professionals across the country. Um this year we were awarded eight um awards of excellence and one of merit all within the video storytelling realm. um this cannot be done without the amazing work that our teachers are doing in their classroom and that's what exemplifies um what we do. So um we're able to to let our communities know what's really going on in our classrooms and I think it really brings our community together because we need to control our narrative, right? We
077need to be the ones telling our story, not anybody else. So, that's just kind of a um just a little reminder that uh we're we're hitting the target. Uh we want to make sure that we're able to expand and uh continue to tell those great stories. Um just a little uh fact that I was sharing with Dr. Davidson as um um we've been amping up in our mighty team of two. Um so with these eight uh over the last three years that now makes 24 awards of excellence over the last three years uh which prior to that um I believe we had prior to the last three years before I got here we had none. So uh we are we are excelling and uh we continue plan to continue to do so. Okay. Uh, next
078we are going to move on to reports from governing board members and I will start with Mr. Owens. >> Yeah, I don't I don't think I have anything to report. So, >> Mr. Mike's >> um nothing much to report. However, I'm trying to look back at the calendar and I think um we didn't uh we had a chance to we had great holiday and had a chance to sit through a uh did the Lichfield and Park parade um with a couple of the other board members. Um I do believe we went to Cord Sierra to do a site visit. We haven't had a chance to give a shout out to that uh piece yet with it, but that was a great visit um to see all the great things that are happening there. and then
079uh went to the ASBA uh conference which was great chance to see our um leadership team actually do a presentation um on Northern Lights um and you know fine-tuning the mission and vision of of the school and it was great to see um them verbalize that to another group of professionals um and I thought you know not to be biased or anything but probably the best presentation of the uh of the conference Um, so anyways, I appreciate you guys on the hard work on that. It was great to see that those pieces there and just looking forward to the, you know, the next second semester of the of the year here. >> Miss Wallace. >> Yes, we went to Sierra and we were treated to a amazing concert performed by their kindergarteners. So definitely holiday
080cheer. That was very, very cute and well done. Uh we were able to uh ride in the Lichfield Park parade and pass out lots and lots of sugar to all of the children along um all in that week. So, it was a good week leading up to our Christmas break. had some great relaxing time off and are excited about 2026 and all that it has to bring coming forward. That's it for me. Miss Maria, >> yes, I was able to attend a couple of our holiday events in December. The Kowanas special ed party with guest of honor Santa Claus. always a really fun time of celebration with our very special students and staff. I also got to ride in the Lichfield Park holiday parade, which is truly one of my favorite events of the year
081because it showcases our community support and involvement so well. And I love to see all the smiling faces and enthusiastic waves from all ages in the crowd. That's really the good stuff right there. Uh I also attended the Corte Sierra showcase. Thank you to Principal Roger for highlighting the excellent work being done by question for the board and the superintendent on progress toward goals and the health of the systems we have in place. It went quite well and I look forward to seeing the year- end results of LED's continuous improvement plans. I also had the privilege of doing a sitewalk uh to see the progress of construction at Troy Gilbert Elementary. Very exciting to see the campus take shape. It is going to be safe, beautiful, and functional when it opens in the fall. And
082I cannot wait to see it completed and see students and staff on that campus. Finally, tonight, as I enter my ninth year as an LED governing board member, it feels bittersweet to let you know that I will not run for reelection this fall. The top priorities I joined this board to help LED accomplish have been or are actively being achieved. Capable people as well as systemic application of sound policy and procedures are in place. It's time for a different voice and a different set of experience to have a seat at this table. I encourage anyone eligible to shoot your shot, get involved, and run for election. It is a challenging and very rewarding experience. Myself, as well as all my other fellow board members here, um, our email addresses and contact information are readily available
083at led79.org. reach out to any of us. We would be happy to help explain the process, answer questions, and point you in the right direction. As Uncle Sam would say, I want you to run for LED governing board. I will close tonight with lyrics by Chris Stapleton, his song, Starting Over. But nobody wins afraid of losing. And the hard roads are the ones worth choosing. Someday we'll look back and smile and know it was worth every mile. Thank you. >> Okay. I'm very glad I get to have a whole year to process how we're going to survive next year without an accountant on the board, but maybe an accountant will come and take your place. Um, as for me, this past month was a lot and a short amount of time that we were actually
084here. Uh, I also attended the Kuanas Christmas party which was super fun. I really appreciate the partnership we have with Kuanas. It's a really great event that they put on for our special education kids that are in the self-contained classes. They enjoy getting to have some time with Santa and getting a present and it's it's a really fun event that they put on for them. I also enjoyed seeing Buddy the Elf. Shout out to Buddy the Elf for also showing up and being there for us. Uh we did our review for Dr. Davidson which went I think very well. I am encouraged every time that we have those meetings at the direction we're headed. I appreciate him and all of his hard work and all of his staff for everything that they do every day
085to make this district be the great place that it is for all our students. We were able to do the Christmas in the park parade which has become a fun tradition for this board and I was excited to get to do that again this year. I did run out of candy but only at the very end. I was so close. Thank you to uh Mr. Mike's over here for hooking me up with a little bit of extra candy so that we could pass it out. But I also throw it to some grown-ups so because I feel like they get missed out. Um, we had the Corte School Showcase which was awesome to see all the great work that they're doing there and to see the program that she has in place for her new staff
086because she had pretty high turnover last year and she knew she needed to do something about that. And so I I like seeing how that progress is coming on making sure that the staff feels they're supported and that they have the resources that they need. I also appreciated the little concert from our kindergarteners. I love the little babies. So, it was a very adorable way to get into the holiday season. And uh lastly, as far as my volunteering, I got to go back to my roots of PTAing days. And I volunteered the entire last week of school running the holiday shop at Rancho Santa Fe. It was so fun to do. I love working with all the kids and getting to see them all week and getting to help them pick out fun prizes and
087try to convince the littles that either yes, your mom really does want slime or maybe they don't want slime. I don't know. My daughter came home from college and also helped me all week and she was very pro- yes, your mom wants slime. I was a little less so, but uh it was a fun time. All the kids had a great time getting presents for their family and kind of getting into that holiday spirit of giving and not just receiving. Um, but beyond that, I enjoyed a lot of quality time with my family. My son was able to come home and I was able to have all of my kiddos under one roof for almost two weeks, which was amazing. And so, I hope that everyone is excited to kick off this 2026 year. I
088think it's going to be a fantastic year. And I am excited to see all that we are able to accomplish. I want to thank all of my board members for their support and their belief in me in doing this job so that I can do it one more year and we can see Troy Gilbert open up. It will be an exciting time. But with that, I'm going to end my report. We thank all the administrators for sending in their reports. Uh shout out to Laura Combmes and the work that she's done to get this science fair going. We're excited to be able some of us to be judging that next week and see how that comes out. Uh that's something I've missed over the last couple years. We had a district one for a while
089and it has not been here. So I'm excited to have that come back. Uh and also I'm excited to see the work that happens with the group they're putting together for the career exploration and being able to kind of start that thought now with our kids when they're littleer because we know that that's going to be a big thing when they get to high school. So they can kind of start exploring now and seeing all the things they're interested in and I think it'll be a great experience for them. So, thank you to everybody and all the work that you do. With that, if someone would like to make a motion, >> I will move to adjourn the meeting. >> Second. >> Having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Mr. Mics, I'll
090call for the vote. Mr. Owens, >> yay. >> Mr. Mikes, >> yay. >> Miss Wallace, >> yay. >> Miss Moran, >> yay. >> I am also yay. Motion approved. Thank you guys for joining us. We hope you have a great rest of your night.