001guys got so quiet in here. I think we're ready to go if everybody got so silent here. Um, hello everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today is Tuesday, April 8th, 2025, and this is the regular meeting for the Litfield Elementary School District Governing Board. I hereby call this meeting to order. The first item will be the Pledge of Allegiance. If you could please stand and join us. Next, we're going to take a moment of silent reflection. I do ask that those that are joining us in this moment of silent reflection, please uh keep the Mabel families in your hearts. They lost a custodian uh recently that passed away. And so we want to just keep their families in our hearts and lift them up and Thank you. Next, we are going to move on to
002our recognitions and celebrations. This will be led by Executive Director Nanis. Uh, good evening, Madam President. governing board members, fellow cabinet members, Superintendent Davidson, and our visitors both uh in person and online. It is with great enthusiasm that we celebrate tonight Corte Sierra Elementary School for earning the distinguished designation of model PLC at work school. a national recognition that affirms the school's deep commitment to collaboration, continuous improvement, and most importantly, student success. The professional learning community at work process is proven research-based approach that transforms schools into high-erforming learning environments. Schools that earn the model PLC status demonstrate exceptional dedication to the three big ideas that define the true PLC. A relentless focus on learning for all. A culture of collaborative teamwork. A commitment to using data to drive results and improvement. Corte Sierra under the
003leadership of principal Tanya Rodiger has exemplified these principles by fostering a collaborative culture among educators, aligning instruction with meaningful data, and refining their practices to ensure that every student receives the timely targeted support that they need to thrive and succeed. This achievement is more than just a recognition. It's also a reflection of the heart and hard work of Corte Sierra's leadership, teachers, staff who have embraced and shared the mission to ensure high levels of learning for all of their students. Congratulations to Principal Roger, the dedicated educators at Corte Sierra Elementary, and the students and families who are part of this outstanding learning community. Your efforts uplift not only your school but the entire Lichfield Elementary School District. Let's go. Picture time. Any particular way you want to go? Just standard middle on the other side.
004Good question. All right. Here we go. Right here. Everybody smile. Smile and take three, two, one. All right. All right, continuing on with our next celebration. It is with great pride and excitement that I Oh, this one's a good one for me as well. that we recognize Valenc Elementary School and Verado Middle School for earning the coveted A+ School of Excellence Award from the Arizona Educational Foundation. The A+ School of Excellence program has endured as a hallmark of educational distinction, celebrating the best of the best in Arizona public schools. This award is more than a symbol of academic success. It is a recognition of schools that go above and beyond every facet of education, cultivating safe learner focused environments, fostering innovative teacher-led instruction, and demonstrating an unwavering commitment to every child's success. Under the leadership
005of principal Courtney Frasier at Valencto Elementary and Anthony Paraduano at Verado Middle, these two schools that earned this prestigious designation are shining examples of quality and opportunity for all students. High standards for academic achievement, responsiveness to the evolving educational landscape, holistic care for students social, academic, and intellectual needs, and exceptional service to children, families, and the broader community. Not only does the A+ School of Excellence award validate the hard work of our educators and students, it also serves as a powerful source of pride and confidence for our entire community. It inspires stronger parent engagement, deeper community connections, and can even contribute to a positive economic impact. Congratulations to the leadership, staff, students, and the families of Balencoto Elementary and Verado Middle School for this welldeserved honor. Your excellence uplifts all of Lichfield Elementary School District
006and the communities that you all serve. We'll go storm first and then we'll uh storm first and then we'll The finger sounds. Okay, there we go. All right. That's not bending. Three, two, one. Awesome. Yay. All right, let's bring up those stains. I did follow. All right. There we go. And smiling in three, two, one. Awesome. All right. Congratulations to all of our recipient recognitions tonight. It's just a uh another great example of all the great work that happens here at LD79. Before we move on to the next thing, I just want to congratulate all the schools. Corte Sierra being a title school. That's a really amazing thing that you guys are continuing to work and make sure that your kids are getting what they need every day. So, we appreciate all the work that's
007happening there. And then for our A+ schools, I've been at a couple of schools that have gone through the process and I know it's seriously a lot lot of work and so kudos to you guys for taking that on and doing that. And then even above and beyond that, your schools are amazing and that's what came out of this award and you guys being selected. So, we're very proud to have all three of these schools in our district representing us. So, thank you guys. Okay. So, next up on the agenda is uh our executive session, which I will need someone to make a motion. I'll make a motion to convene into executive session. I'll second. Having a motion from Miss Moran and a second from Mr. Owens, I'll call for the vote. Miss Moran, yay.
008Miss Wallace, yay. Mr. Mike, yay. Mr. Owens, yay. I'm also a yay. Motion passes. We will be moving locations for us that are going and we will be back when we're done. Okay. So, let's move along because it's been a long night already and we are going to convene back into regular session now. Uh, we have no public comment. Correct, Miss Kim? Okay, that's good. I'm glad we didn't make anybody wait here a long time. Um, next we are going to move on to the adoption of the agenda and approval of consent agenda. I'll go through and see if anybody has anything they wish to pull. Miss Moran, I do not. Miss Wallace? No, I do not. Mr. Mike, no. Mr. Owens, no, I do not. I do not either. So, someone would like to
009make a motion. I move to adopt the agenda as presented. I'll second. Having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Mr. Mike's. I'll call for the vote. Ms. Moran. Yay. Miss Wallace. Yay. Mr. Mike, yay. Mr. Owens, yay. I'm also yay. Motion passes. Uh, next we will move on to our action items. The first one is going to be the approval of construction of modular classroom portables at Palm Valley Elementary. And I believe this is going to be done by CFO vaugh. Madame President, members of the governing board, Superintendent Davidson, colleagues in community, thank you for joining me tonight to discuss the opportunity to expand classroom availability at Palm Valley Elementary School. During our continued planning for Palm Valley to transition into a full K8 campus, we realized additional classroom space will be
010needed to support the expansion into 8th grade for the 2027 2028 school year. Uh we've started early conversations with ESB, the company we engaged with in previous years to build modular classrooms at Verado Elementary and Bolins Sodto primarily so that we could uh bring this item to you with appropriate pricing and and things like that. This project would add nine classrooms uh and associated restrooms at an estimated cost of 3.8 million. We would like to you utilize the 2024 bond and capital resources to support the pro project. Uh Dana Enson, director of construction and I are available to answer any questions you may have. Miss Moran, did you have any questions? I do not. Miss Wallace, did you have any questions? Would this be replacing all of the current portables? Would all of those be
011removed? Not uh in this stage. odds would be that we would come back with a second stage project um after these are added to then uh in the future replace the existing portables. All of these would be additional classrooms uh on top of what's presently at Palm Valley. And would they be located in the same area there? Yeah. Uh my understanding and uh if there's further questions on this I think Dan will be able to speak to it a little bit better. Uh but my understanding is when we built Palm Valley we built uh that entire area to support uh quite a number of modular classrooms and we've just only ever had to build the ones that are presently there. But I believe there's already um some infrastructure there to support it. And Dan, would
012you like to clarify if I've misspoken? You haven't. Uh, President Zida, members of the governing board. Um, we do not have the exact location yet. The intention is to put them in that location, but because we're going to be adding bathrooms and water to these, we need access to sewer, utilities, and some of that. So, once we do our investigations of the site, we may relocate depending on those situations. Okay, thank you. Mr. Mike is so potentially with the reloc with a relocation though, would that possibly exceed the money we're asking for here? Sorry, could you repeat that? So, I'm sorry. So, the projects not to exceed uh three 3.8, right? Okay. And so if we if we have to and that's including all the sewer and all the electric and even if if we're
013not sure if it can go to that place has to go somewhere else. So we're considering all of that. Yes. We're considering that. Yeah. Okay. In that 3.8. Mr. Owens. I'm just going to assume that we have the bond dollars for it. Uh yes. Perfect. [Music] Uh, I don't have any questions, but uh, if there's nothing else, then if someone wants to make a motion. I move to approve the construction of module classroom portables at Palm Valley Elementary School as presented. I second. Having a motion from Miss Moran and a second from Miss Wallace. I'll call for the vote. Miss Moran, yay. Miss Wallace, yay. Mr. Mike, yay. Mr. Owens, yay. I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Good job, guys. You all got the memo. We're going to get this going fast. Okay. Uh the
014next item on the agenda is approval of the master lease agreement between Lichfield Elementary School District and TEQ Lease Education Finance. This will also be by CFO Wong. All right, Madame President, members of the governing board, Superintendent Davidson, colleagues, and community, thank you for joining me tonight to discuss the opportunity to enter into a lease to expediate the roll out of Prometheian boards in our classrooms. This lease looks a lot like the lease we entered into a couple of meetings ago to roll out new teacher devices districtwide. This lease will allow us to get a Prometheian board in each classroom for next year while paying for the deployment over three years. The interest rate is 0% and we anticipate this move will actually save the district money. By entering into this lease now, not only
015are we getting the same model in our classrooms, which will aid in district-wide training from an academic perspective, we will also be benefiting from a discount because a new model is about to come out. Our teachers that have piloted the board uh that we are proposing to purchase have provided positive feedback. So, we do not have concerns with the model. But kind of similar to a car, when the new model is coming out, the the older model becomes a little bit u more affordable. I'm available to answer any questions you may have about the opportunity to implement Prometheian boards districtwide through this lease. Miss Moran, I don't have any questions, but I really am enjoying the fact that we are looking at things in different ways that make them more affordable and help with the
016business that we're in, which is educating kids. So, I appreciate um this work. Miss Wallace, I have no questions. Thank you. Mr. Mike, none for me. Thank you. Mr. I don't want to get too into the weeds about these boards or whatever, but like what's the average lifespan of one? So, when we've talked to other districts that have implemented them, uh I believe what we've been told is like 10 to 15 years. And so, even though they're coming out with a new model, we're not going to be at a disadvantage with um software updates or anything like that or No, I I don't think so. Um, I think they'll continue to support them and and the the teachers, like I said, that have uh piloted this because we have uh outside of the lease bought
017uh entire schools these boards. They've been very pleased with them. So, I don't think we'll feel substantial pressure to upgrade earlier than than that useful life either. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah, I don't have any questions, but I'm glad to see that we'll be able to have these in all our classrooms starting next year. Um, in the schools that we have seen them in, they look really slick, and I think it'll be great for all of our teachers and all of our students to be able to have access to that. Plus, seeing some of the projectors in some of the schools we're in that don't have them yet. This will be very, very much appreciated for those classrooms. Well, and it uh since you mentioned projectors, I just have to uh give a little plug to
018this. So, one of the reasons we initially started looking at these boards was we did want to uh upgrade the technology. But what we also found was that we could buy multiple of these boards for the cost of simply um doing the wiring to mount a projector in the ceiling. So, not only are we getting better technology, um we really are saving quite a bit of resources uh by transitioning from uh ceiling mounted projectors to this better technology. So, it really is an exciting um opportunity and advancement which goes to Miss Moran's point of you guys thinking and trying to always figure out the best way for us to you know move forward. So, thank you very much. If somebody would like to make a motion. I move to approve the master lease agreement between
019LD79 and TEQ Lease Education Finance for the Prometheian boards as presented. I'll second. Having a motion for Miss Moran and a second for Mr. Mike. I'll call for the vote. Miss Moran. Yay. Miss Wallace. Yay. Mr. Mike. Yay. Mr. Owens. Yay. I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Um we are going to move on to the next section of the agenda. Uh we are actually going to table the auditor general school district spending till the next meeting and we're going to just move straight to the Sorry. Sorry, Miss Moran. We're going to move straight into the special education presentation. It'll be the next meeting. Good evening, Madame President, members of the governing board. This evening we have uh director Tassen as well as director Aken who are going to be sharing a little bit about some
020possibilities of special education boundary discussion and they're going to give you a couple of different things that we're considering and that are on the table right now. Had to turn it on first. [Music] I did down. Am I going the right way? Which way is down? There we go. Which button? Down. Okay. It looks the top looks like it's the bottom. All right. All right. Thank you, governing board. Um so this um aligns to several of our pillars our keystone okay I can't see that very well so this aligns to readiness resources and relationships so today the purpose of our discussion is to align the specialized programs with the students neighborhood school as close as possible while still keeping them in their assigned specialized program per their IEP. Um, this would help promote inclusion and
021access to neighborhood peers. This would simplify the transportation logistics for families and the district. Reduce student times on buses, improving their comfort and daily routines. This would improve the continuity of services by reducing the transitions and long commutes and help maintain consistency. And this would also thank you increase operational efficiency by improving the allocation of staffing and resources and potential cost savings to our transportation department. Um so the outcomes of today's meeting we would like to provide clarity and understanding of the specialized program boundary work. Present proposed grid codes for potential specialized program boundaries. support ongoing efforts to improve transportation systems and services and discuss the implementation options and timelines for the potential roll out. So, how would this impact our special education families? There are about 75 families that would be affected by creating
022boundaries for the special um specialized program boundaries. Um the benefits would be shorter bus rides, more consistent routines, closer to their neighborhood peers, closer to home for emergencies or for pickup due to illnesses, uh closer to potential schools of their general education siblings. Some potential barriers could be students might already be established with their current teachers and peer groups. families might have enrolled their general education siblings at the current assigned school um that their student with IEP and a specialized program is at um oh the open enrollment could already be at capacity for the new assigned program uh if their sibling is unable to attend on the same campus. Uh this could impact our special education campuses as well. Some potential benefits to the campuses is the students would be the families would be closer
023to the school it would be easier for emergency pickups. The families if they're closer to the school then it could increase parent engagement. Uh bus routes are lessened districtwide making bus arrival and departure times closer to their school start and end times. Some potential barriers of the campuses. Some campuses may have programs fill up more quickly and become overcrowded. Some staff may need to be shuffled across campuses initially due to students with assigned aids being moved or staffing ratios changing due to the projected enrollment. So when we did the um budgeting and the staffing earlier in the year um with Mr. Vaughn and um Miss Satderfield, some of that might be shifting if we change the boundaries now. All right. I also brought along um our assistant director uh Michla Kleinman to help with this
024this evening. So the part that we're going to cover today is how this could impact transportation and essentially overall it's going to impact us positively with the efficiency of routes in several areas. So in the first area we did run some data and based on the routes that we have right now looking at our total miles driven daily for some of our specialized programs and we just took a small sampling. We're looking at about 451 miles driven daily. And with this proposed change, we would be driving about 158 miles um with a cost of about $9,000 overall. Um and I I feel like that's on the low end if we look at the cost for mileage per route. We were averaging about 16.5 miles per bus um per gallon, but it's definitely going to be
025a lot lower than that um as far as that's concerned. So, when it comes to fuel, we would definitely save on that end. Timeliness. I mean, we've done a really good job of trying to streamline our routes this year and making sure that our kiddos get to school on time, but unfortunately with that gap um of 35 minutes or less between some of our tiers, it's really difficult to get from one side of the district and dropping off on one end, going and picking up on the other end, and coming back to the other side of the district. And while we've really streamlined that, we still have about four routes, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, that no matter what, we get them home super late, or we get them to school
026anywhere from about 2 to 10 minutes late. Not ideal, but it's the only thing that we can do. If you guys have traveled from the west side to the east side on Camelback or Indian School, it's rough. It's really rough. So, um, the timeliness would be huge. And with that too, and I think and I would uh Michla agrees, uh we did some data on the average minutes that our kiddos are on the bus. And right now, an average um of of some of our kids, we did about 27 of them in our specialized programs, they're on the bus for 72 minutes a day. Um one of our kiddos uh is up to 128 minutes a day. So that's back to school and home, but that's a lot of time on the bus and we
027really want to try and shorten that. Um the average time that we really target is 30 minutes or less and it would be impossible for us to do that um with the way the boundaries are right now and how we're traveling our kids from one side to the other. Um and then again the overall cost for us um which is important but uh for again again again for us the priority was the the time on the bus and the minutes traveled in a day. Do you have any questions on that piece of it? Miss Moran? No. Miss Wallace? No. Mr. Mike? None for me. Mr. Owens? No. I don't have any questions either, but as a special ed mom that has a kid that takes the bus, I do appreciate all the work that you
028guys have done because it definitely is an improvement, although those numbers are very sad. So, how long those kids are on the bus. So, I'm glad that we are coming up with options to make that be less. Thank you. Um, so moving forward from here, I'm going to let uh Paige cover this piece. Uh we also took two different opportunities for parent feedback. Uh the first was we selected 10 random um parents that would be impacted by this change and we made personal phone calls to those parents just to get their feedback. If this was something that we were to be doing, how would they feel about it? Um we also sent out a survey to all of the impacted parents as well to gather their input. Uh here's the feedback from the randomly selected
029parents. Um overall most of the responses were that yes they'd be interested. Uh they cited some of the similar things that we noticed as well. The time on the bus is very long. Um and they would like those shorter commutes. Um proximity in case of emergencies. Um family convenience. It's very difficult for our families that are needing to be home in time to receive students on the bus with the different tiers. So, if they're attending from Palm Valley, but they live in the Verado area, that could be difficult. Trying to navigate the pickup for all of their students attending different schools. Um, community and belonging, building relationships with neighborhood peers was brought up in the random sampling as well. Uh, and then just um fostering those stronger ties with their local community. A few barriers
030that were addressed um was program availability, just concerns that nearby schools might not offer the same specialized program that their child needs. Um loss of connections. Um our specialized program teachers and staff are fantastic and our families love their current placement. So there were a few concerns about just losing those connections with the staff, the teachers, the administrators and their peers. Um there were some perceptions of some schools um being older and maybe not wanting to be on campuses that don't have access to as many of the things that our newer schools do. And then just that satisfaction with the current placement. So some families are very happy with their child's current school. They're making great growth. Um so just some concerns about that um current placement. We have three approaches. I'll let Director Tass
031in. So there are three ideas that we've looked at as a way to roll this out to families. And the first one would be that all students would attend their boundary school starting next school year. Um the second approach would be more of a um a phased in approach for our current fourth graders going into fifth grade and then our current seventh graders going into eighth grade. Um, so all students would begin at their new boundary school with the exception of those kiddos going into fifth and eighth grade. So they could remain um there at their campus and finish out their time uh for promotion purposes. And then the third approach would be another phased in approach beginning with just our kindergarten students um and then newly enrolled students. So any of those kids coming
032in would then go to their boundary school and then families of current students may choose to remain at their current site um or or they could choose to transition to their new boundary school with the full imple implementation and roll out in the 2627 school year. So from here, um, the recommendation for timeline and next steps is we're going to make sure that everybody has ample time to plan for next year. Um, but before we made any decisions, we're going to make sure we review the data. So, I know that we want to sit down and look at the results of the surveys that went out, um, contact all the affected families by phone and via email with next steps. And then obviously uh working on the transportation side of it with the idea that
033we begin routing in May to ensure that if we are making this major change that we have the routes efficient and ready to roll out to families. It'll probably take us the whole month of of May June to be ready by July. Questions? Miss Moran? Um, I don't have any questions, but I have some feedback on the possible approaches. Is that something that you're looking for? Okay. So, um, I'm not a big fan of approach one. That seems a little abrupt. Um, to just say here you go, take it or leave it. Um, approach two I like. um because you are making exceptions which we've done historically on some of our regular boundary changes we've done when we're talking actual full school boundary changes allowing those fifth and eighth graders to continue and remain approach
034three to me seems like we're just kicking the can down the road an extra year and so um I would be in support of approach two um based on these being the three options I would like to see more of that feedback though, the general the all 75 families the survey information. I would like to see that at some point. Yes, we can definitely get that in a Friday update. Up until today, um when I reviewed the survey, we had 57% uh yes, 43% no. Um but it was interesting because not all of the families that would be affected by the boundary change necessarily receive transportation. So, of the yeses, 75% receive transportation and 25% do not. Of the 43% no, 17% of those receive transportation and 83% do not. So, they would be um
035in favor of continuing at their current school and transporting, but we will definitely continue to look at that data and then we'll get that in a Friday update for you. And so, would that be an option if they're opting out of transportation? they can go more of an open enrollment type versus boundaries. That's one thing that we could discuss. Um they would have to fill out the open enrollment and if there was capacity, okay, then they potentially could stay. Okay, that seems reasonable to me because it's the same as other classroom. Like if we have space, we want to have students in that classroom, but I don't know what that all entails. So, absolutely. Yes, we're looking into that. So, okay. Okay. Thanks. Miss Wallace. So, does this mean that every campus is going to
036have the programs that they maybe don't have now? No, the campuses would remain with their current programs aside from next year we're opening up at Verado Middle School Stride and then we're opening up at Wigwam Creek Labs because uh as of right now the only middle school that has labs is Verado Middle School and the only middle school that has Stride is Wigwam Creek. So we're having to transport all the way students that live in Verado all the way to Wigwam Creek and then vice versa if they need access to those programs. So, those are going to be the only two schools that have program changes. Um, but when we were looking at the grid codes, we sat down with a map and we mapped out, okay, if you're in these grid codes, this is
037the stride program that you would go to. If you're in these grid codes, this is the labs program that you would go to. And we did that for all of our specialized programs. So, if you'd like to see that, we can get that in the Friday update as well. That'd be great. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mike. No additional questions for me. Thank you, Mr. Owens. Um, yeah. So, the these boundaries are different than like our traditional boundaries, right? So, they're boundary for a school. They may live right by a school, but they still don't have the program, so they're going to get Okay. Um, does the new does the change in the new school hours is that help alleviate some of this, too? Right. like if you were if we were going to
038do like option two or option three the kind of the transition would that also helps alleviate some of the so we're hoping right so obviously the time in between is going to be helpful to getting kids to school on time that travel between one side of the district to the other we're still unsure but we're definitely hoping that the added minutes in between tiers should help with that and hopefully by the new school year the Indian school and camelback construction's done because that's a nightmare Indian school um and then I had uh Similar to board member Moran's point, just the idea of open enrollment, right? If if you want to continue to take your child there and you they have space, opt out of the the busing service and say it's on you. And if
039you do want the busing service, then they have to go to their school, right? That's Yep. Yes, that's correct. That's how it would work. So awesome. Okay. So, I'm pretty sure we just approved some open enrollment numbers. And in our open enrollment stuff, it says we've got no openings at any campus for our specialized programs. So that's what we have listed on our website everywhere. So a family that is considering file like applying for open enrollment is going to see that on our website. We don't have that. So my concern would be for these students, these are the students that have the hardest time with change and with all of these things that we're trying to do. How are we taking that into account that they're going to have to adjust to totally new everything
040and they're possibly not going to get an open enrollment because right now we're saying we can't accept any. Now maybe that's going to be different when we have the two programs open, but I can't ever remember a time that it said we had availability for open enrollments that said we could take special education like kids on IEPs at our campus. So we do have a few students currently on open enrollment in our specialized programs. That's a case by case basis that um CFO von and I work on um so we can look at if we need to update those numbers to be more accurate with which campuses do have capacity and put on our website. Can I speak to that for a second? Uh so what's difficult is capacity changes every single day. Um, and
041so when we get the board to to approve uh open enrollment numbers, it really is a snapshot in time that then changes the next instant because we either enroll a student or they leave or and so every time we review open enrollment, we review it fresh. And what I mean by that is we we look at the numbers and we see if there's capacity. Uh we typically do not have excess capacity in these specialized programs um for outofd district students. But we do uh look at requests from ind district students and really have a conversation with the director of special ed on every single one to really discuss with the other movement that could potentially happen. Is there capacity? Would this work out? Because we want to make sure that we're doing what what really
042is best for for that student. I I hope that makes sense. It does. But I'm just for what it's worth going to throw this out there of you guys to consider figuring out a way. We I mean we grandfathered whole lots of kids when we did big boundary changes recently and said you can stay at your school if you want even to the point that it has some of our campuses over capacity. So I would like you guys to find a way that if you want to stay at your school and you're willing to provide your transportation, we will let that happen. That's what I'd like to see for the families that want that. Let me ask. Yeah, go ahead. Um, so you've presented three scenarios and I don't want to make you, you know,
043paint you in a corner and make you make a decision, but as the right the director of special education, in your opinion, right, starting a new school year after a summer off, do you think these, you know, what majority or what percentage of these 75 students do you think would be able to transition to a new school? I mean, is that even answerable? Right. Like I understand that these are the the most vulnerable like the most sensitive to sub to changes like that but coming off a two and a half month summer break that's probably would be the best time to transition them to a new campus anyway right yes we do typically look at the longer breaks when we are looking at transitions uh it just depends student to student uh how they're going
044to transition but it's not just campuses that we see transitions after summer breaks to um some students might have different teachers um different peers different classroom spaces. So, there definitely will be a timeline that they'll need for transitioning um before they get accustomed to their new campus and their new teacher. Um however, I think that once they're given time, they'll they'll adjust. It'll it'll be longer than if it would be a general education student, but hopefully getting them at a school closer to their house and grandfathering in if we do approach to the fifth graders and eighth graders, that would minimize the transitions as well, so they could remain there the next year before they transition again into either middle school or high school. So, we are looking at trying to minimize those transitions and
045make it the most effective for our students. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else have any questions? Thank you guys for this information. This is just information, right? Yes. Okay. Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate you guys waiting for so long to give your presentation. Miss, may I add to this real quick? You sure can. I just want to tell um our team up here. Thank you for the the work and the creative thought. I mean, we continue to look for ways to um maximize our resources, but also support children. And when you look at this data, and we can include it as as um Paige spoke to in a Friday report, but um depending upon how we go, you're sha shaving almost 300 miles a day on our fleet um for our
046students. And on average, you're reducing a student's time on a bus by almost 40 minutes per child. And I just have to think for our students, as Mr. Owen spoke about the, you know, those with significant need, those that might struggle with transition or change, just the fact that they would have more time with their families, uh, and less time on a bus. That really excites me just from a parents perspective. So, I know we'll continue to to look at the data, but I just want to applaud you all. Thank you for taking the time to just find ways to try to support our students and and listen to our families who have also been sharing. Hey, please look at this because it is it is impactful. So, thank you. Thank you. Can I add
047something to that as well? I I am very appreciative that we as a district and this comes I think from the top down are trying act proactively trying to look at things a different way. I think we have done so many things and most organizations are this way where you do things because you've always done it that way. But I am really excited that when people have new ideas or they want to look at something differently that you all are open to hearing about that and then bringing it to us so that then we can digest that and trying to problem solve and figure out how we can make these positive changes happen rather than saying well that's just how we do it. So I appreciate that and I really am excited by so many
048things. It's not just this, this is exciting, but so much of our meetings now are changes in a positive way and it's just really refreshing. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay, we are going to move on to reports so we can try to get out of here before 10:00 tonight. Um, our first report will be from Dr. Davidson. All right. Thank you, President Zida, members of the board. I'll stick to just a couple of comments to honor everybody's time tonight, but um I'll start with, as I often say, we're in this all together, and I want to highlight the efforts of our foundation members, our LED79 foundation members as we prepare for our annual golf fundraiser this coming Friday. Um the money raised support staff awards and student scholarships. And it's a it's a big
049big endeavor. So, I just want to do a public um shout out to all of our people that are supporting it and also participating. And in closing, um it is April and one could say we're on the downhill side of the 2425 school year. Um I just really wanted to close by encouraging our staff to not just keep up the good work, um but to really consider the work it's going to take to engage our students over the next month and a half. um and that um I really encourage them to uh stay strong and get our kids to that strong finish that we want for this school year. So, thank you. Thank you. We will move on to reports from governing board members. Miss Moran, yes. Due to my chosen profession and its seasonal
050demands and deadlines, I have not attended any district events outside of our governing board meeting it since the last regular governing board meeting. But I am greatly looking forward to my schedule freeing up on April 16th. And I can see the light. So I will close with lyrics from the Beatles classic. Here comes the sun. Sun. Sun. Sun. Here it comes. Miss Wallace. Um yeah, we are way way before 10. So unless somebody's got a 20 minute report coming, I think we're good. Um, I was able to attend the Lichfield Elementary School showcase here in this at this campus, which was lovely. And then this just yesterday, we were able to attend the Mabel Elementary School Showcase, which was also great. Um, my nephews all go to school there, so I got some extra hugs
051and kisses there. So, that was um, super super fun for me as well. So, both were great visits and great schools. Mr. Mike, yeah, to piggyback off that, I was also at the Lichfield and the Mabel showcases and once again just uh exemplar on showing just some of the great people that work for this district. Uh the great leadership, the the all the hard work that the teachers put into the classrooms every single day. Um, you can see it when you walk through the classes and seeing the kids engaged and the teachers care. And, uh, once again, I've said it before, it's just something you just want to make sure you plaster all over the place for, um, just the just the public in our district to know that there's just amazing things going on
052every second every second of the day. So, um, it was just another uh, two outstanding showcases that we had. So, thank you, Mr. Owens. Uh yeah, since last meeting I also attended the um showcase here at Lville Elementary. Always love those. I apologize I wasn't able to attend Mabel Pageantss yesterday. Um I was a mystery reader at Verado L for a kindergarten class. That was pretty fun. And then um I do want to give a quick shout out to Principal Fantasia at um Verado L because a student approached her and wanted to do a fundraiser or a um drive to collect clothes and toys for um victims of the fire in California still. And so she said, "All right, let's do it." And so they started accepting donations and then soon realized they didn't know
053how to get the stuff over to California or who to even take it to. So, she reached out, made a contact, and then um actually rented a U-Haul herself and her and her husband, I think her husband drove it over all the way from here to to California. So, um it's just a prime example of what, you know, our administrators, our principles do. It's just way beyond classroom, right? That's way beyond running a school. they um are really part just pivotal in our community and supporting our students, right? This is just one little kid that had an idea and she made it happen. So, huge shout out to her and and and all the principles that that go above and beyond and do those things. And um I'm unfortunately going to miss the foundation golf
054tournament. I know it's a great event. I probably would have won it this year, but I'll have to try to get it next year. That's why I really don't golf because I would win. Just kidding. Just kidding. Okay, so um this month I was able to attend the celebration of accomplish teaching. I was very excited to be able to be invited to this event by the organization that handles this. This is through where our national board certified teachers, the program that they go through. And um well, I got asked to go because Dr. Davidson and I got asked to go cuz our district was selected as the 2025 District of Distinction and I didn't really know what that meant until I got there. Um, but it was really exciting to go. I was like, "Yeah,
055I get to dress up and go to this fun event." And Dr. Davidson was still coming back from Spain, so he didn't get to join us. So, I got to hang out with Miss Jennifer Benjamin and some other fun people, the principal from Maple. So, it was a great night. But when they call us districts up that are getting these awards, being recognized for the work that they do for national boards, um, our name wasn't on the list, and I was not I didn't understand, but I had been told like last year when they were there and they saw this list of districts that do all this work for national board certified teachers, uh, that they were like, "We need to be on that list." Well, Lfield doesn't do anything halfway. So, the reason we
056weren't on the list when they went through all of the schools was because we weren't like one of the many schools that has done all this work for national board certified teachers, it's because we were the district of distinction. And so, we got to get a special award. They played a video. It was like a whole big thing. And I was like, "Wow, of course." Cuz I would expect nothing less from this district than for us to be 110% in in whatever we do. But it was very exciting night. It was super fun. Thanks for hanging out with me, Miss Jennifer Benjamin, and everyone that was there. Um, I also attended the Lichfield School Showcase and the Mabel School Showcase. These schools are amazing. I I I can't rave about our schools enough. And if
057anybody, again, I say this every time, but if you want to know what's happening in our schools, you just need to walk through them and your mind will be blown at the amount of work and care and love that goes into everything that every staff member on our campus does. from the custodian that's saying hi to us while we're walking by to the ladies in the office to the aids that are working with the students to the teachers in the I mean everyone everywhere is all hands in and everybody cares about students. So I really appreciate us getting to see that because it's a good reminder of what we're here and what we're doing that these kids are more than just a name and a number on a piece of paper but they're human beings
058and that the work that we do matters and that the work that everybody in this district does at every level matters. Um and then just wanted to quickly uh talk about two important things that are this this month of April. Uh two important things that are actually both very near and dear to my heart. Um it's the month of the military child. So as a mother of a Navy sailor that's currently deployed and also grew up as a Navy brat myself. Um this is a good time for us to recognize that while our service members definitely are making sacrifices, so are their families. And so we appreciate them and everything that they do and the time that they give up with their parents so that they can go and make sure that our country is
059safe. Um it's also autism acceptance month which is near and dear to my heart as well. And I want to give a shout out to all our stride teachers and all our stride pairs that work with our kids every day. Um the work that you do is so important and these kids are so much better off because they get to work with the amazing staff that we have here in this district and and everybody every level people are working with our kids with autism. But those teachers are going above and beyond. Especially, shout out to the teacher at Mabel. And I'm sorry I didn't write her name down, but she's literally handling two classes right now because they lost a teacher and they couldn't find another one. So, that teacher even more. God bless you
060for everything that you're doing to work with two classes cuz that is a lot. And so, we super appreciate you so much. Um, but with that, uh, I'll end my report so we can try to get out of here. Thank you to the administrators that send in all of your reports for us. We appreciate them. community members that are still watching this meeting, please, please, please go and read them. That's a great way to know all the things that are happening in our district. Um, and with that, if somebody like to make a motion to adjurnn. I move to the meeting. I second. Cool. For uh having a motion for Mr. Owens and a second for Mr. Mike, I'll call for the vote. Miss Moran, yay. Miss Wallace, yay. Mr. Mike, yay. Mr. Owens, yay.
061I'm also a yay. Motion passes. Thank you guys for joining us tonight. You all have a great evening.