Regular Governing Board Meeting - April 23rd, 2026

001Good evening. I apologize. We are getting a few minutes late started. I call this meeting to order at 6:07. A quick reminder, any citizen who wishes to speak on an agenda item or at call to the public must complete the sign-in sheet in the lobby prior to the public comment time on the board agenda. Tonight, we have the honor of having the presentation of colors by Mesa High School, JOTC, Mesa High School, JROTC cadetses, Evan Olivas, Daniel, Blanca Mahia, Lesie Mahia, and we will be led in the pledge of allegiance by Sam Negetti. After the pledge, please remain standing for the national anthem. Tonight's national anthem is recorded only be performed by Jefferson Elementary Choir. Please stand. Oh, the face will hurt. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag, United States of America, and to

002the republic for which stands one nation under God, indivisible. Oh, say can you see by the dawn early light we hel through the night for the We watch streaming and the rock is first through the night was still there. Oh, say does our sple for the bra. Spider wheelch. Can we give Mesa High's JROTC a big round of applause? You may be seated. Thank you again, cadets. We will begin tonight's meeting playing a video on the governing board procedures and then I will read a statement. >> Welcome to the Mesa Public Schools governing board meeting. We appreciate your interest in the district. The five elected governing board members served without compensation and volunteer countless hours. The president and the clerk of the board are elected in January. Under state law, the governing board may only

003discuss and vote on matters that are on the agenda for tonight's meeting. Agendas are posted at minimum of 24 hours in advance on the Mesa Public Schools website and in the curriculum services center. Copies of tonight's agenda are located in the lobby. At every regular meeting, the public may speak on any item of business on the agenda that the board discusses or requires the board to take action. During the second regular meeting of each month, the agenda will include a call to the public. This is an opportunity to speak to the governing board about a school district matter that is not on the agenda. If you wish to comment on an agenda item or participate in the call to the public, please complete a request to address the board form before the designated time as

004public comment. The form is located in the lobby. The duration of public comment and call to the public is 15 minutes. Members of the public will be given a maximum of three minutes to speak once recognized by the governing board president. The president may set specific time limits for speakers and the duration to maximize the opportunity for individuals to offer their viewpoints. We ask that all speakers show respect and courtesy to others. Comments must pertain to the matter that is within the jurisdiction of the governing board. This is not an appropriate forum to complain about an employee, student, or others. State law prohibits board members from commenting on or discussing the matters presented at the end of the call to the public. The board may ask the superintendent to review the issue or place it

005in a future agenda. A board member may also briefly respond to criticism of a board member or the governing board. If you would like the board to consider adding an item to a future agenda, you may submit your request in writing and the governing board president and superintendent will consider your request. Thank you for your attendance and involvement in tonight's meeting and for allowing this meeting to be conducted in a peaceful and productive manner. >> This is an official governing board meeting. The board has important business to conduct that is essential to the operation of the district. Everyone is welcome to express ideas or concerns to the board in accordance with the agenda. The poster in the boardroom describes positive behaviors expected and behaviors that cannot be tolerated. Please speak and act respectively and actively

006listen. Be kind. Verbal harassment, abuse of or foul language, intimidation, and disruption have no place in a classroom or the boardroom. Please, no side conversations or reactive comments. They can be disruptive. It is a governing board president's responsibility to maintain proper order so the board can conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner. If you're disruptive or interfere with the conduct of this meeting, you'll be asked to leave so the board can conduct the business of the district. We'll now move to um Dr. Strong, will you please review the governing board calendar with us? >> President Davis, members of the board, April 24th, 2026, which is tomorrow night, we have 5 to 10 p.m. Young at art at his historic Irving. It's a former elementary school in downtown Mesa where you can go see

007the great art of students across Mesa Public Schools who display their work that happened throughout the year. From the visual arts uh uh to ceramics, you can see great pieces uh from students there. Tomorrow night, 5 to 10 p.m. May 6th, 2026, 4 to 6 p.m. district retirement celebration at the post. Uh May 14th, 2026, we have a 5:00 p.m. study session, 6 p.m. regular meeting. May 20th and 21st, a lot of celebration in Mesa public schools, graduations occurring throughout our our our school district. Um, and then May 28th, 2026. We have a board meeting scheduled, a 5:00 p. p.m. regular meeting member. That's because we start meetings in the summer one hour earlier. Uh, that is the board calendar. >> Thank you, Dr. Stro. Lots of exciting things and a big plug for Young

008at Art tomorrow night at historic Irving. Um, we will now call for a public hearing on the Native American Education Program annual programmatic report for governing board procedure 3-106.C. We will have a presentation and an opportunity for public comment. Board members, we will have time for questions and discussion after the presentation and the opportunity for the public to comment. Miss Denet, I'll turn the time over to you. Good evening, Madame President, members of the governing board and superintendency. My name is Yavon Detil and I serve as the Native American education program specialist for the Native American education program where I support all Native American students um and families that attend Mesa Public Schools. I'm here today to present on our Indian policies and procedures or IP which are part of our federal impact aid requirements.

009Impact aid is a federal funding that supports district students living on tribal lands. The IP is grounded in four key areas that guide how we support Native American students across the district. First, it's about making sure native students have full access to opportunities academically and programmatically, ensuring equitable access to all district programs and services. It also requires strong partnerships, working closely with tribal nations, families, and our parent committee to ensure we're not making decisions in isolation. Another important piece is representation. Making sure native perspectives are included in planning and decision-making at all stages of this process. And finally, there's accountability. This includes meeting our federal requirements under impact aid, ensuring our Indian policies and procedures are implemented in alignment with requirements each year. The IP outlines expectations around communication, ensuring that we are consistently sharing

010plans, student data, and updates with tribal partners, families, and the Native American parent committee. It also requires meaningful input and engagement, making sure there are opportunities for feedback and recommendations. In addition, it includes monitoring annually reviewing student participation to ensure natives native students have equal access across district in our programs. The IP also emphasizes continuous improvement using both feedback and data to adjust programs and services over time. It holds us accountable to responding to input and meeting all federal requirements. And finally, it requires transparency through annual updates to our tribal partners. This is how we put those requirements into practice. In terms of communication, we make sure information is easy to access and consistently shared. For example, we maintain our NAP web page and send out regular updates so families and tribal partners are well

011informed about our programs and opportunities. For engagement, we create multiple opportunities for input. This includes our annual public hearing as well as our ser survey and ongoing communication throughout the year. And collaboration is a key part of this work. We meet on a regular basis with tribal partners and our Native American parent committee. Each spring, we meet with all AD required tribal communities through our tribal consultations where we share data and programs our district provides. We also focus on data and accountability by reviewing student participation each year to make sure native students are accessing programs and opportunities. We share that information and use it as a starting point for feedback and discussion. From there, we focus on continuous improvement, using that input to guide change in our programs and better support our students. This also

012includes working with leadership and stakeholders as we review and update the IP. And finally, transparency is key. We make sure all feedback is documented, responded to, and shared, and that reports, meeting minutes, and IP updates are accessible to the public and our tribal partners. We are continuing to strengthen in this area of ensuring reports are completed and provided to the public and to our tribal partners. To understand the impact of this work, we will look at our enrollment and program data as a part of impact aid. This data specifically focused on students who reside on tribal lands. Within our district, there are two tribal nations represented um which I've labeled here as the Salt River Puma Maricopa Indian Community and our Fort McDow Yavapai Nation. This data provides an overview of student enrollment, attendance, and

013program enrollment for these two tribes. Together, this information helps us identify trends, ensure students are accessing programs, and determine where additional support may be needed. Along with participation data, we also examine student achievement and graduation outcomes to get a more complete picture. This slide highlights key academic indicators, including graduation rate and proficiency in ELA, math, and science. You'll notice an asterisk on some data points. This indicates the student count is too low to report. Overall, this data helps us understand how students are performing academically and where additional supports are needed. During our recent tribal consultation with the Salt River Puma Maricopa Indian Community and with the Fort McDow Yavapai Nation, both partners expressed appreciation for the improvements in student outcomes. We will continue collaborating closely to ensure our efforts remain aligned and that we are

014moving in the right direction for student success to address these needs and support student outcomes. This is how impact impact aid funds are used. A portion of the funding goes directly to student support. For example, we're able to cover extracurricular fees so students can participate in activities they may not otherwise have access to. We utilize part-time personnel to support student services and program needs. We also provide additional staffing support, including a certified teacher for our steam summer program, which extends learning opportunities beyond the school year. We also invest in professional learning and support for our Native American parent committee to strengthen overall program effectiveness. Overall, these funds allow us to remove barriers, support students directly, and strengthen our program. As we continue this work, we have identified key next steps to support ongoing improvement. One

015focus is strengthening engagement by expanding outreach to increase particip participation from families and tribal partners while also improving our communication methods based on our feedback. We will continue identifying student and family needs to better target support while also providing ongoing professional learning for staff and for our Native American parent committee. A key focus moving forward is prioritizing compliance by putting clear IP timelines in place to ensure all requirements are consistently met while continuing to use data and feedback to strengthen our work. You may be aware that while this has been a part of MPS procedures that we were not necessarily reporting back to the board in prior years with integrity. We are actively working to improve our processes to ensure accurate and timely reporting. We also want to acknowledge that the survey data originally intended

016for inclusion in today's presentation is not available due to technical issues in compiling the results. We recognize the importance of meeting established timelines and providing complete reports. While the data is not included this evening, we will we are working to finalize it and provide the survey results survey results to the board as soon as they are compiled. Moving forward, strengthening the collection of reporting of survey data will be a key area of improvement for next year. These next steps help us to ensure our work remains focused, compliant, and responsive to the needs of our Native American students and families. For further reference, additional information is provided here. In closing, the Indian policies and procedures are more than a requirement. They are a framework that ensures we are engaging with our tribal partners, supporting our Native

017American students, and remaining accountable for our work. Thank you for this opportunity to share this today. I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. At this time, because this is a public hearing, it's now time for the public to have an opportunity to comment. Mrs. Chaffy, has anyone signed up to speak during the public hearing? >> No one has signed up to speak during the public hearing. >> Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Chaffy, since this is a public hearing, members of the public are able to speak without signing in. Would anyone who has not signed in like to speak on the Native American Education Program annual programmatic report? Okay, I think we will continue on. Um, board members, now is our time. We have 10 minutes for questions and discussion and I will start

018with Miss Hutchinson. >> Thank you, Madam President. Thank you very much Ivon for your presentation and um I certainly have enjoyed the number of activities in which you have engaged um families and and students um with the district but also um in celebrating their um cultural heritage um the sense of belonging um as families to the MPS bigger family um the the many ways in which you have worked in order to make sure that folks feel welcome. Um, I'd like to uh take um a little bit of time talking about the slide that said next steps and continuous improvement. Um, I think these are really um important goals and I was wondering if you have some ideas in mind um or or are you waiting for the parent survey? In other words, um how will

019you uh try to expand engagement and outreach to parents and tribal organizations? Um um the importance of data collection um and datadriven decision making. Um do you have any plans um as a next step? Yes, we want to ensure that we're um clarifying these timelines and expectations and our accountability um our accountab account accountability measures um to be in full compliance for our impact aid um ending policies and procedures. Um Amy, >> one thing that um the NAP department does very well is currently looking at data to identify where our supports will go as well. So for example, there are liaison within the NAP department that are housed at various schools. Those are identified through Ivonne and I really looking at the data every year to determine what schools may need those supports. Um are

020there additional schools? Are they ATSI, CSIT, all of those different factors go into play? So that would be another way in which the data driven decisions for supports. Um I would say also they have they hold parent meetings quite often um at least once a month and there's not always great turnout there. So really that opportunity to a little more outreach and getting families to to join for those meetings would be another area in which we could improve in that. >> Great. Thank you. Um it just so happened that I um I was investigating um some ninth grade opportunities because it with the freshman the freshman year is um is the most critical year and I know we know that in MPS and we have our fasttrack um teams and we are really working um

021but I happened to come across on um the Colorado Center for High School Success and I found out that that we also in Arizona have a center for high school success um where all students all students are to excel academically and and the statement that's on the on the website which I know um this is through let me see stand for children it's one of their programs um that a ninth grader who finishes the year on track that is a stronger predictor of high school graduation than race ethnicity, level of poverty, and test scores. And when I was looking at some of the Colorado high schools that had implemented this program, there was tremendous success. And I'm wondering if possibly as a district and as a part of the MPS family, we might take a

022look at some models. I I might be mistaken, but I believe Scottdale is also engaged in the center um for high school success and because I'm really concerned about the grad rate. I'm concerned about absenteeism. I'm concerned as I know you are about about proficiency and and the board has has expressed this as as a really important goal as well. And I'm wondering could we possibly look at some models which could benefit not only your program but all kids um really giving them access to opportunity because I really saw that as a major theme in your piece. >> Member Hutcherson really quick before I toss this over. uh we know results particularly with the largest group of students the Salt River Puma Indian community students that come to get educated in Mesa public schools and

023we've had a long-standing positive history with that tribal community uh have improved over recent years. We also know we have to get better. I mean if anyone looks at that data we know we have to get better at these outcomes for kids and so I wanted I invited Estrada Mr. Estrada up to uh briefly talk about what we're doing with nth grade successmies next year and what what grant we just recently got. Mr. Dr. Strad and Dr. East recently wrote a grant and so I think it links the story pretty well. >> Thank you Dr. Strong, Madam President, members and members member Hutchinson and board uh members. Yes. So we were awarded the 9th grade on track grant which is a a great sum of money to help us develop further develop the teams that

024we have in place to support students. And so currently as you're aware and you stated we have teaming in in place at the freshman level at five of our high schools. And so with the work of the grant, uh we're going to work to scale that to all of our high schools, um not just uh the ones that are awarded the grant. And we're continuing to meet with different partners that can support the work because it's very important that the partnerships that with which we engage with have the systems and protocols in place to support the work that we need to ensure that our students are on track after the 9th grade year. Um as you mentioned that is the most telling indicator. And so we have met with um Stanford Children. We are also

025meeting with another partner to to shop essentially to see who's the the best one to support our work and what we need here in Mesa public schools. Um the grant that was funded was for a specific um implement implementation to ensure that students weren't slipping through the cracks. But what what what essentially the grant is to help with is to help inform our educators to better identify early warning indicator metrics so that way we can prevent students from being behind before their 9th grade year. So to your to your uh question, we are engaging in that work right now and we're meeting with different partners to see who's best to support us here in Mesa Public Schools. Thank Thank you very much because they're having tremendous success and and we want success for all of

026our kids and and particularly um the students that we are highlighting tonight and and um and I really appreciate any efforts to to to find solid next steps if you will. Thank you. >> Yeah, we'll ensure it's for all of our students. So, >> yes. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Benson. >> Um yes, thank you for your presentation. I have a I have a I I'll try to combine um the two pieces of information that I'm interested in. Uh first is what are you um or is your survey or are you looking at what the barriers are that are keeping um our students that are part of the tribal uh the two tribes that we serve. the barriers that are keeping them from being as successful as they they can be and the

027barriers for parental participation. So, I know that you mentioned that the um you utilize the web and the uh website page and I know just in general our parents get frustrated with our web page um and accessing it and the ease of access and finding information. Um, but I'm also curious, are you looking into is there like a technology deficit perhaps that parents have that they can't access information via the web and is it better snail mail like because I'm very interested in as member Hutchinson making sure that all of our students are set up for success. We are an education um industry and all children should be educated to the full extent that they can be. I love that you focused on equal access. it is up to them to take advantage of it.

028However, uh we as adults want to be able to position them to be as successful as they can. So, can you kind of speak to that? Are there are you looking at that? So, for example, I know uh one of the things that was mentioned to me last year was transportation. So, we'll send a bus out uh and there's spots, you know, different routes. Uh, but if the child's not there at, I don't know, 7 o'clock when the bus is supposed to be there, they get there at 7:15, their parents don't have the availability to get them to school. So, are we looking at using grant funding flexibly that we can go back and get them even if it's a half hour late? Just barriers, if you would. >> Well, you asked several questions. So,

029one of the things that I want to address was um the um talking about engagement with our families and our students mainly about our family families. Um now that we have parent square out, I am having all of our liaison at all of our uh 21 target schools be a part of that and they will um they have talked with all the principles and the administrators to ensure that we have an NAP uh parent square where we can get information out to them and they can also um communicate through parents through the parent square with that. We also do email, we do newsletters, we do our web page, and then we still do the oldfashioned just me going out to the uh community and talking about our program. And then we also collaborate with our

030tribes to get information out. So, I mean, it just all the way around we do that. Um, another question that you asked was about uh barriers and transportation. I do work closely with the Salt River Puma Maricopa Indian Community um with the uh Salt River School and Community Relations. And so some of the things about transportation because they do live far out in the reservation is they have a lot of supports in place. And so by working with them, they also provide u some sort of communic uh some sort of transportation for our students. But yes, I am also looking at how can we support the transportation piece. Um, but that's not all of the barriers that we we are um encompassing right now. >> Well, those were the only two examples that I had.

031So, I'm really more interested in the barrier, you know, are we looking at it so that we can position all of our Native American students to be >> I'm looking at everything. >> Okay. And we want to be able to support you. So, >> Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Board Member Walden. >> I thank you for being here. I don't I don't have questions. I think board member Hutchinson covered it well. Thank you, board member Chaffy. >> I'm taking my screen with me here. I think it's really obvious that we're not living into our promise and meeting the needs of these students and I appreciate Dr. Stum acknowledging it that we have work to do and I really appreciate that you shared like we're improving our processes and we have a plan in place

032and the next steps and areas for improvement. I'm I'm excited about that and and Mr. Estrad, I appreciate that. You know, if you if you read about the on track grant, it talks about the importance of high quality instruction and proactive datadriven interventions. And I I think that that's something that we as a board have been given direction that we want to see um implemented in our schools. And I'm glad to know that we have some funding to help make that happen to especially help these students. Um I think for me, I'd like to better understand the trends that you talked about a little bit, Dr. Strom, over the last four years. And this is not a question to be answered now. I'm just wondering if the board can have access to some historical data

033from the last four years to >> We have that. >> Okay. Alongside the survey results, that'd be great. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. I know we had talked um in check-ins about looking at historical data and even though we still have work to do, we are seeing increase and we are moving in in the right direction. So, we look forward to seeing that. Um and just want to thank you again for being here tonight and going through this with us. And at this time, I will now adjourn the public hearing and reconvene the regular meeting. This is a procedural item and does not require a vote. So now we will move on. Um I'm going to turn the time over to Jen Snider, director of communications, and she will show us some of what's inside

034Mesa Public Schools. Miss Snider. Good evening, President Davis, members of the board, Dr. Stum. I'm here again to talk about the great things that are going around the district. There we go. And I skipped a page. Shepard Junior High students are hitting all the right notes from Arizona to our neighboring state, California. Their show choir is putting Mace Public Schools on the map with an incredible competition season. This included mult this included mult first place and multiple caption awards at the showdown in the desert grand champions at monsoon madness and grand champions at the John Burrow's music showcase in Burbank California where they compete against top programs from across the southwest. Way to go stallions. Yesterday was a very important day in the district. It was administrative professionals day where we honored the dedicated administrative

035professionals across Maine public schools who keep our campuses and departments running so smoothly. Thank you for the care, organization, support that you provide to all of us, our students, staff, families. We appreciate all that you do. We go. All right. Congratulations to Adeline Nina Patterson Elementary for being named a quarterfinalist for the 2027 Arizona Teacher of the Year. going a year ahead. With 14 years of teaching experience, she has made a lasting impact in the classroom and beyond. Selected by the Arizona Education Foundation as one of the top 15 educators in the state, the recognition highlights the differences she continues to make. Doson High's third annual empty bowls fundraiser brought the community together to fight hunger. For $10, guests picked a handmade bowl crafted by Doppson ceramic students and enjoyed a meal prepared and served

036by Doppson culinary students. All while while the Doppson band performed live for the guests. The proceeds supported Matthews Crossing, a local food bank that lends support to several of the schools in our district. Students from Redbird and Roosevelt Elementary had the opportunity to perform the national anthem at at a Diamondbacks game this past weekend. They sang in front of a pack crowd representing Mace Public Schools with pride and doing an outstanding job on the field. All right. Last Friday, students and staff at Kerr Center for Aggra Science came together to celebrate their A+. They were here a couple weeks ago with that celebrating with us here and they had their celebration on campus last Friday. Congratulations to the Kerr community once more for an incredible achievement. Students at Lenda celebrate Earth Day with a morning

037full of learning music and meaningful messages. The school band helped kick off the celebration and first graders performed a special song to honor Earth Day. Students also took to the microphone to share what while treating the earth with care matters. Mace Public Schools student athletes hit the track last week at the Mesa Unified Unified City Track Meet. The day kicked off with a special ceremonial torch run led by the Mesa Police Department alongside our student athletes, setting the tone for a great event. Good luck to all of our athletes that qualify for the AIA Unified Track State Championships on April 30th. Hopefully, we have a few that we can come in and recognize them. Red Mountain students uh recently had a very important training exercise. Representatives from Discount Tire, Core Construction, and the Army National

038Guard came to Red Mountain High School to work directly with our students on interview skills. Juniors and seniors participate in mock interviews and receive real-time feedback from industry professionals. Opportunities like this give students a clear look at real world expectations while helping them build confidence as they prepare for internships and future careers. And then April is volunteer month. And we are want to thank all of the incredible volunteers who support Mace Public Schools every day from our PTOs and student support groups and booster clubs to community partners like ARP with their experience corps. All the time and energy and dedication make a difference to in the lives of our students and staff. Thank you for being an essential part of our schools. And that's all I have. >> Thank you so much. Lots going on

039this time of year. Um I'm going to turn the time back to uh now to you and Dr. strong for tonight's recognition. >> President Davis, members of the board, tonight we have student recognition to celebrate and spotlight and uh opportunity to celebrate and spotlight a school. We'll ask our honores to stand from their seat when their name's called. We will then take a brief break during which all honores will have the opportunity to take a photo with the governing board. So, here we go with some student recognitions. And I'm smiling because I'm praying right now that I'm going to be able to get through this. Will will plea flew uh lia please stand. >> YAY. >> Jula is a Mesa High student who has been named to the9 USA volleyball national team. You're talking about

040one of the most elite volleyball. >> YAY. SHE IS A lobero and she's headed off to one of the most prestigious volleyball uh universities in the nation, University of Nebraska. Uh playing in front of super large crowds. Uh they are top five uh team usually nationally. So congratulations. We're really proud of you representing Mesa, the state of Arizona, and we look forward to seeing your future success at the University of Nebraska. Now on to our school spotlight of the month program. Uh it's designed to provide our community with inside look at our schools. In addition to a video showcasing a spotlight school, we will honor honor a classified staff member, certified staff member and a stu and a student honored from that school at at from that school. Uh Westwood High recently this morning had

041some students also honored in the state of the city video presentation which is really neat. And Chad, could you please roll that video on Westwood High School? >> The teachers are all so great at what they do and they all can do like a little bit more than what they're asked and they're always there for the students and I just think that's wonderful. >> What I appreciate the most, there's like not a lot of anxiety and especially the teachers are too. Their students are all friendly and most of them are nice. One thing I think the school does exceptionally well is trying to build a community and providing safe spaces for people. You can just join a club, join a sport. You're not like the best at a sport, but I feel like you're always

042given that chance. They're very good about having the four pathways that we can go into. There's digital media, public service, biomed, and STEM. Choose like what you want to do after maybe college or before just like what you want to do in college. And it's not easy enough, but also not too hard to switch out of them. just so like you're not totally stuck if you change your mind. >> One activity or extracurricular I'm really passionate about is the agriculture program here at Westwood High School. What I really do like about it is just how much it helped me grow as a person by how much I got experience and know more about agriculture and what FFA truly is about. I really love that we have a lot of benches and outdoor spaces. So that's

043where I stay with my friends. I think just being able to be like out there and see everyone. You're able to talk with your friends and have fresh air. I honestly think our arts program is the best thing on campus. Dance, choir, theater, band, orchestra, and fortunate to have the support that they have from both the teachers, the district, our principal. They always make sure to make it fun. Like especially in my core classes, they just make it overall like super interesting to actually do so. I don't get super like bored in class. And I really like it. Westwood is recognizing I'll shorten this up. Gio Hayes as their spotlight student. Gio Hayes is a remark Oh yeah, absolutely. Stand Gio. Stand Gio. Gio Hayes is a remarkable example of what it means to be

044a Westward boy or war eagle with a 4.5 college core GPA in the IBCP program. Uh he has also completed two internships this year. Serves as a leader in the DECA program, the fast peer coach program to complete the fast forms and the wood and is a Woods scholar which is a prestigious honor here in Mesa public schools. We are proud to celebrate you, Gio, and we look forward to seeing your next steps at WP Kerry Business School at Arizona State University. Congratulations. Dar Bray is the classified spotlight honore. Very good. Miss Miss Bray is the kind of person who makes everything work behind the scenes. And tonight, we want to make sure she gets the recognition she deserves. a Westwood graduate herself, which is a theme in the Westwood area. These the Westwood community

045just stays in that Westwood community. A Westwood graduate herself, she has spent more than 20 years as the auditorium manager, overseeing productions, managing Reynolds, supporting our CT stage craft students, and bringing over 40 mainstage sets to life. She is the backbone of our auditorium, and we are incredibly grateful for her dedication, her talent, and the lasting impact she has had on every student staff member lucky enough to work alongside her. Thank you for everything you've done, Miss Bray. And finally, Westwood would like to recognize Chase Cr. >> Am I right? Got lucky. Chase Crerache is a proud Westwood alum. Yep. The theory holds true. who came back to give more uh uh to give even more to the community that shaped her. As a social studies department chair and IB personal project coordinator, she leads

046with trust, clarity, and genuine care for both students and colleges uh and uh students and colleagues. Thank you. From co-sponsoring little warriors to showing up every day with positivity and purpose, Chase truly embodies what it means to be a warrior and we are fortunate to have her on our team. Congratulations to tonight's honores and spotlight school. will now take a brief photo uh with the uh brief baked break to take photos with the governing board. Will you please join us in front of the DAS? Miss Snyder, will you direct the photos? >> HEY. >> All right, we'll do a member of team USA first. Come on up. Welcome Mom, mom. Congratulations. Uh Gio, let's have you come up and we'll have uh Dr. Gilmore, you come up too. Actually, we'll have all the Westwood honores

047come up. Yay. I don't feel I can help you. Those family hurts. Oh yes. Three. One. Great. And then we'll do Miss Bray. And then we'll do uh Miss Bray, you want to do your All right, get together. Hurry up. All right, we're gonna >> All right, you guys are good. All right. And you are welcome to stay and enjoy our meeting or you are welcome to go celebrate outside the boardroom. We just want to give a shout out to uh Dr. Gilmore for the decorations tonight for the great touch of the Westwood balloons. Moving on in our meeting for this agenda item, I'd like to introduce Mr. Rick Palmiter, the Arizona State Chair for ESGR, which stands for employer support for the Garden Reserve. Mr. Pomer would like to tell us a little more

048about this item tonight. >> Thank you. And I I'm I'm going to claim a little honor, too. My wife used to teach at Westwood before she was my wife. So, uh, you know, I >> uh, President Davis, members of the board, Dr. Stro, thank you very much for sharing a bit of your agenda with us. I am with the uh employer support of the garden reserve, a national level organization out of the department of uh of war now uh office that was created back in the early 1970s to help uh facilitate the inevitable friction I suppose between uh service members who are in the reserves and their employers recognizing that both sides of that coin uh needed those individuals. at uh at particular times. Um with that, we've we've learned uh through the the nomination

049process from uh Sam Negretti uh of what a wonderful job and what a wonderful employer Mesa Public Schools is. So, uh, why I'm here tonight on on behalf of the organization, on behalf of all of the reserveists across the country and specifically for Sam tonight is to to thank you for that support and also to uh give you uh the opportunity to sign a statement of support. You know what you do for for the reserveists. We certainly know what you do for the reservists and and this will be a uh a a statement a document that that you can uh frame and and uh and proudly display as far as your recognition of uh of of what the reserveists mean to to our country. Uh the the one thing that that struck me most and

050that I want to want to emphasize before I turn it over to Sam for a few moments is his comment about uh the empathy and the communication that he received not only at his school but but across the district. And I think that truly speaks well uh of Mesa Public Schools. And on behalf of uh of those various organizations, thank you for for what you do. And like I say, I' I'd like to seed a little bit of my time to to Sam to say thank you himself. >> Good evening, Madam President, board members and superintendent. My name is Sam Neete and I'm a security monitor at Red Mountain High School. I am also proud to say that I am a product of the district. I attended Ishikawa Elementary Staple Junior High School and I

051graduated from Mountain View High School. Being able to come back and serve in the same community that helped shaped me means a lot. I just want to take a moment to thank you for the supporting the employer support of the guard and reserve statement of support. As United States Marine Corps reser, this means a lot, not just to me, but to all service members who balance military service with their civilian careers. Mesa public schools has shown what it looks like to truly support those who serve. Leadership here understands the responsibility we carry, and they've created an environment where we don't have to choose between our duty to our country and our commitment to our students. I also want to recognize Mrs. Goya Hernandez, who's also the dean of students at Red Mountain High School, who

052recently received the Employee Support and Guard Reserve Patriot Award. That recognition speaks volumes about the kind of leadership and support that we have within this district. Because of that kind of support, we're able to show up fully in uniform and in our roles here at the schools, ready to serve both our country and our community. Thank you again for your continued support. Dr. Shron, on behalf of of all of us on this side of the podium, I'd like to present the uh statement of support uh document uh already signed by Mr. John Sampa, who is our national chair for the 7,500 or so volunteers across the also Secretary Pete Ha. Department of War. >> Thank you, Mr. Palmiter and Mr. Negette for being here tonight um and presenting this. Board members, do I have a

053motion to approve the res resolution to sign the statement of support for the guard and reserve? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. Any discussion? Seeing none. Oh, go ahead. >> Uh Sam, thank you for your service both to our community and to our nation. And uh I'm honored to be part of a district that honors our military service people. So, thank you for bringing it to our attention. Thank you. Any other comments, discussion? Thank you. Uh Miss Koui, please take our vote. As soon as we vote, then we'll come down for a picture. With a vote of five years, we have approved the resolution to sign statement of support for the garden reserve. Uh board member Chury Chaffy, will you please read that resolution for us? Absolutely. Lots of names,

054lots of words tonight. We're doing great. Got our tech working. Whereas the governing board of Mesa Public Schools recognizes that the Guard and Reserve are essential to the strength of our nation and the well-being of our communities. And whereas the patriotic men and women of the Guard and Reserve serve voluntarily in an honorable and vital profession, training to respond to their community and country in times of need. And whereas the continued service of these volunteer forces requires increased public understanding and the support of every segment of society. And whereas Mesa Public Schools desires to join other employees in pledging formal support for those who serve. Now therefore, be it resolved that the governing board and superintendent of Mesa Public Schools are honored to sign the employer statement of support for the guard and reserve. Thank

055you so much board. We'd like to get a picture al together if we'll meet in front of the DAS. And any guard or reserve members, we would invite you also to join us for the picture. I DON'T Let's moves this into public comment time. Um before we begin public comment, just a quick reminder that policy 1-302 says that no call to the public is limited to issues within the jurisdiction says that call to the public is limited to issues within the jurisdiction of the board and is not appropriate forum for persons to complain about a specific employee, student, or other person. Mrs. Chaffy, do you have anyone signed up to speak? >> We have four people signed up to speak tonight. >> Since we have four speakers, each person will get three minutes to speak.

056And Mrs. Mr. Chaffy, will you lead us through this agenda item? >> Absolutely. We have four speakers, so I'm going to have you all just line up along the side and if you'll introduce yourself. We are going to start with Jason Smithson. Then we have Inger Habar, followed by Marco Paz Galucha Luna and Josh Chilton. >> Dr. Stum, members of the board, my name is Jason Smith and I'm a parent. I'd like to begin by recognizing the Mountain View we the people team for their recent complete or competition at the national level in DC. They performed exceptionally well and represented not only Mountain View but all of Mesa public schools with distinction. So next I'd like to thank the board for your commitment on expanding the K Ready and Beyond initiative with the city of

057Mesa as partners. Programs like the family literacy program have already shown what's possible when we invest in parents as partners. That brings me to my next point, transparency. I am respectfully asking the board going forward to provide more detailed information regarding warrants. Right now, the public sees millions of dollars categorized broadly as services and materials, but that lacks clarity. To a skeptical taxpayer, that raises real concerns about how funds are being allocated. What exactly is included in these warrants? Are superintendent association dues included? How about the school board's association dues? How much of this spending would stand up to public scrutiny if they were broken down line by line? Next, I'm going to ask that all bonuses for executive level positions and above be frozen indefinitely. Bonuses should be tied to performance that improve the

058financial position of the district. From where I stand, an $18 million deficit does not justify additional compensation. We can choose to be f fiscally responsible or we can choose to reward leadership during a deficit, but we cannot credibly do both at the same time. Finally, I want to address inconsistent accountability when it comes to staff discipline and more importantly, student safety. We've seen David Ka and Kirk Thomas terminated. We can say non-renewed, but let's be clear, it was a termination over issues that had already been addressed previously. These men have not been able to secure meaningful employment since the district has taken a hard-headed stance against releasing a simple statement that the city attorney has cleared them of any criminal charges. The district putting out a simple statement hurts nobody. When serious incidences occur on

059campus, incidents involving student safety and no one is placed on leave pending investigation, it raises serious concerns. When leadership is aware of these situations, the question becomes, were proper protocols followed and were they followed in a timely manner? Did either our Linda man or the principal kid at Emerson properly report the student attack on campus? Why was nobody put on leave pending an investigation? Or did an investigation even take place? What about at Porter with the student who attempted to sexually assault another student? Was that properly reported or even investigated? It also comes to the attention of many concerned families that Max Hall has been named Mountain View's new quarterback coach. Serious allegations have come out as to why he was let go from ALA Queen Creek that can't be ignored. Add this to her

060prior felony drug conviction and some wonder if due diligence was made prior to this hire and what will be done moving forward. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. Uh, I want to address a serious health and safety concern at Holmes Elementary. Uh, roof work started several weeks ago. Since then, students, staff, and certain classrooms have been dealing with headaches, nausea, and vomiting. That alone should have triggered immediate action. But what actually I'm here to talk about is the gap. The gap between what's happening at the site level and what's being communed communicated to the district level. Because this is this didn't just stay at the site. The staff went to a trusted board member with concerns. The board member then directed to the superintendent to go out and see what was happening. Let's

061just say I think that the kids stayed and the teachers stayed in that in some of those classes too long considering that on Friday teachers were told to immediately evacuate some situ some of the rooms based on the fact that the levels may have been too high. That's a delay in action. After after that all the people felt that they needed to actually come to me and that's not what should be happening. This is a breakdown in communication and response and it's also a hearing that and and I'm also hearing concerns that staff may felt discouraged from taking issues beyond the site level. This is not happening. this if this is what's really happening, this is a serious problem because no employee should ever feel like raising health concern is a wrong decision and no

062one should be questioning why a concern was elevated when the concern itself is the issue. And let's be very clear about something. Students at this school, their parents have not been informed. No conversations, no emails have been sent out to parents of Holmes Elementary and that is inappropriate. There's no communic There's no cure sorry there is no c clear communication about what's happening in those classrooms. No communication that their children have been sitting in this environment for weeks and now suddenly classrooms have been moved after that fact. parents should not be hearing this from me at a board meeting. They should have been hearing it from you. I hope that you guys take this matter as uh take responsibility and you contact those parents immediately and you speak to the head of that site as

063for her actions have not been in the best interest of the students, kids or other teachers. Thank you. Good evening. I got the iPad working. My name is Marco Paw Galucha Luna and I have children enrolled in Mesa Public Schools. These are three of them. They're here because they are exactly who this district exists to serve. They are the children that your policies are failing. My children have been denied services. Services they need. Services they are entitled to under federal law. Rights that are not being honored. Every time I ask why, I get the same answer. Both parents must agree before services move forward. OEP settled this in 2009. In their letter to Cox, it's unambiguous. One parents consent is sufficient. A district cannot require both parents to agree. That is federal guidance. Your policy

064contradicts this. I raised this in a meeting with district staff. I cited OEP directly. I was told the policy still applied. So, I formally requested that the policy be shown in writing. The district's own attorney responded with a copy of your policy manual. It isn't there. Your staff enforced a policy that contradicts federal law. Your attorney couldn't produce it. And my children sat without services while the district hid behind something that doesn't exist in writing. My children are in this room right now. They are not numbers. They are not data points. They are children who need help and were told no because of a policy nobody can find. So, I'm asking you directly on the record, where is it? Show me in writing. I'm not here to cause problems. I'm just a very concerned father

065for his children. My children deserve answers. I'm asking this board to direct staff to meet with me and show me the policy in writing. That's all I'm asking for. Thank you. Madame President, uh, members of the board, my name is Josh Chilton. I am a father of a seventh grader at Roads Junior High. And I wanted to speak about, uh, item 10 or items 10, C, and D on today's agenda, the lease agreement between the district and Eve, uh, at both the Skyline and Red Mountain uh, locations. Um, we talk a lot about career, uh, college and community that Mesa Public Schools is, uh, one of our goals is to prepare students for life after high school once they leave our doors. And I think that is an extremely admirable goal, um, to have. School

066has changed a lot over hundreds of years. Um, education is not just what's written in the books. It's not reading, writing, arithmetic. It's about preparing students with the skills they need for whatever they want to do to succeed in life. Um, working with EVIT is one of the strengths of Mesa Public Schools because, you know, I went to school for journalism. I thought that that was what I definitely wanted to do because that was pretty much all I knew about. I wasn't exposed to all these different careers. spent one year at uh ASU had lots of money in tuition just to find out that was not the fit for me. Um but with programs like what EVIT does, we are able to uh get students the interests and the skills early. Uh by partnering at

067Red Mountain and at Skyline, we are able to have uh a certified nursing assistant program as well as a welding technologies program. Um, and these are two emerging uh careers that are specific to the needs of Mesa as a whole and the future work develop work uh force development needs that we have here. Um, also according to data collected by center for the future of Arizona, these are two of the more popular CTE programs in the state. Uh, welding technologies is the number 11th uh, most popular CTE program with 6,546 students enrolled just in 2025. And, uh, you know, the nursing services program, 3,261 enrolled students in the state. Mesa needs to be on board with this. And with an aging population and a growing aerospace and engineering industry here in Mesa, we talk about

068wanting to educate our students and keeping the best and the brightest right here in our city. That's where these programs come into play. Um, and these are not just any or uh jobs. These are lifechanging careers that are going to impact Mesa families for generations. So, I uh encourage you to please approve the lease agreements with EVIT at the Red Mountain and Skyline Highlight uh Skyline High School sites. Thank you very much. Oh, and thank you, Mr. Cadera. This is that concludes our public comment for tonight. Thank you. Move on to review of the agenda. We'll now review the consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda are approved with one vote with no discussion. If a board member would like to pull a consent agenda item, please do so now. Seeing none, thank you

069board members. Moving on to um action or personnel. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel request including the addendum? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Seconded. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five, you've approved the personnel request, including the addendum. With the approval of the personnel request, we have new principles to recognize. Dr. Mesa, I'll turn the time over to you. >> Thank you, Madam President. Members of the board, we do have three incoming principles to recognize tonight. Um as just a reminder we will um remain at the dis and introduce all the principles and at the end um we will get together for another quick uh photo photo shoot with the board. Um we're going

070to start with Annie Heitzman. Would you please come to the podium? It's my pleasure to introduce Annie is the incoming interim principal at the K8 STEM Academy at Red Mountain Ranch. Um Annie started in NPS teaching at Lindberg Elementary. She is currently serving as assistant principal at Whitman and Kerr elementary schools. Annie holds a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from ASU and a master's degree in educational leadership from American College of Education. Annie, thank you. Good evening, President Davis, members of the board and um district leadership. I would like to begin by thanking the members of the board for your opport this opportunity and your comm continued commitment to student success. I am truly honored and grateful for your trust. I also want to extend my sincere appreciation to our district leadership. Your

071leadership, vision, and support make a meaningful difference across our district and I'm grateful to be a part of this team. I want to recognize my current school communities, KUR Center for Agriccience and Whitman Elementary. My time at these schools has shaped me in meaningful ways and I am especially grateful for the leadership of Amy and Beth and their friendship. The relationships I've built during this time have become lifelong connections. Thankful for the student, staff, and families who have been a part of. As I look ahead to the exciting and I'm very excited to join the Kate STEM Academy at Red Mountain Ranch. I've had the opportunity to spend a couple days on the campus this week and it's been an incredible experience to see the strong sense of community firsthand and to meet such dedicated

072staff, parents, and community. It's clear that this is a place where people care deeply about their school and I am truly honored to be a part of it. I look forward to building strong relationships with students, staff, and families and to continue a culture of curiosity, innovation, and excellence. one that supports our current students and continues to attract and ret retain families seeking a learning experience. In this new role, I am committed to impacting student outcomes by ensuring high quality engaging instruction that inspires curiosity and rigor, building strong, supportive relationships that foster a sense of belonging and student confidence, and creating a culture where students don't just learn solutions, but design them because learning is stronger when it matters. Thank you again for this opportunity. I'm truly grateful and excited for what's ahead. Congratulations, Annie.

073Thank you. If you're here to support Annie, if you would um please stand so we can give you a round of applause as well. If you're here to support Annie, thank you. Congratulations all of you. All right. Um next, I would like to invite Zachary Cadara to the podium. Zach is the incoming principal at Brenton Elementary. He is currently the assistant principal at Roads Junior High. Zach started his career in education in 2013, teaching third grade at Leair K8 School and joined Mesa Public Schools in 2024. He has a bachelor of arts degree in elementary education and a master's degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University and a master's in curriculum instruction from Marshall University. Zachary. >> Hello everybody. Uh good evening to members of the board and thank you for the opportunity to

074speak to you tonight. I'd like to begin by expressing my appreciation to Dr. Stum, Mr. Wing, Dr. and Dr. Mesa uh for their confidence in me as I transition into the role of principal at Brenton Elementary. Over the past two years in Mesa Public Schools, I've been inspired by the Mesa promise to know every student by name and serve them by strength and need. As an assistant principal at Rose Junior High, I've seen this commitment come to life through the strong partnerships amongst our staff, our students, and our families. Brenton Elementary clearly reflects that same commitment. I'm excited to join a dedicated team that prioritizes both student growth and a meaningful connection with families in the community. I'm honored for the opportunity to be a part of this vibrant school community and to contribute alongside

075others as we continue to grow and support every student. As I transition into the principal role, I wish to learn more about the systems and partnerships that have contributed to the success of our students, as well as the traditions and celebrations that bring our school and the community together. I will be visible and active as a participant in our community as I work to ensure I personally deliver on the Mesa promise, getting to know our students, our staff and our community members on individualized levels. I'm also committed to being present and supportive for our staff as we continue to grow as learners and refine our practices to provide the best possible experiences for our students. Again, thank you for this opportunity and I'm proud to call myself a Brenton Bear. Thank you so much, Zach.

076If you're here to support Zach tonight, please stand and congratulations. Thank you, Zach. There. All right. And our last recognition tonight, um, we'd like to invite Craig Horpedoll. Did I say it right? Woo. All right. To the podium. Craig is the incoming principal at Taylor Junior High School. He is currently the principal at Heather Bray Elementary in the Cartr Wright School District where he started his career in education in 2005, teaching high school social studies. He has a bachelor's of science degree in secondary education, social studies from the University of North Dakota and a master's degree in educational leadership from Arizona State University. Craig, welcome. >> Thank you. Uh board members, district leadership, good evening. Uh and thank you uh first of all to the board for this opportunity and trusting me. Uh I am

077truly honored. Same goes with our district leadership uh for their trust in me, supporting me along this process. I'm grateful for this opportunity and the belief you've shown in me. I would like to recognize the incredible school community at Taylor Junior High, the dedicated teachers and staff, supportive f supportive families, and most importantly, our students. It is a privilege to serve alongside you. I have heard great things about the community and the many generations that have passed through those hallways and cannot wait to continue ensuring our school is entrenched in the community. As I transition into this role, I want to focus on building strong relationships, trusting relationships and with students, staff, and families. I also want to support highquality instruction to ensure every student has access to engaging and meaningful learning. and third, fostering

078a positive and inclusive school culture where everyone feels safe, valued, and empowered to succeed. Thank you again for this opportunity. I look forward to the work ahead and to serving this community with dedication and heart. Thank you. Thank you, Craig. If you're here to support Craig, please um stand. Congratulations. Thank you, Madam President. That's all. >> Thank you. Uh board members I think we want to do a picture in the front dis if you'll join me. Come on. You're out of your way. Okay. All right, family. You all want to get a photo? I'll take Okay. ready. Thanks. One more. Thank you. What is the light? All right, we're All right. Last one. >> I'll find Airrop. Oh yeah. What's the firm? Moving on. For those still with us, >> do I have a motion

079to approve the new SLP, OT, and PT evaluation tools starting in the 202627 school year? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Thank you. Mr. Wing, can you tell us a little bit more about this item? >> Certainly. uh each year over the last at least 5 years, human resources has targeted the review of some of our evaluation instruments. This year happened to be the speech pathologist, the occupational therapist, physical therapist, and then the next item, the transportation hourly employee. We'll continue next year. I know principal and assistant principal evaluations is next on the the docket for review. Just an effort to continue to improve. >> Thank you. Board members, any discussion? I'll start on my left. Any questions, discussion? Thank you. Anyone? >> I just have one

080question. >> Sorry. Um in the evaluation process, who um who evaluates our OTS, PTS and SLPs? Is it somebody instead? Is it their direct um their direct supervisor? We have slowly been transitioning evaluations throughout the school district to be more in alignment with those people that interact with the evaluator more often. As an example, we've moved from preschool teachers being centrally evaluated to preschool teachers being evaluated by the principal. And so I know where we're headed, which is proximity and evaluation matters. And the more you interact with a person, the and see their interactions with others, the easier it is to evaluate. I'm going to defer over to Miss Mesa, Dr. Mesa, and Miss Baka to talk about where we currently have OT, PT, and where we see them heading in the future, >> who

081evaluates them. Well, because my my um like if I had to evaluate a speech path, I would have no idea what if they were doing their job correctly because I'm not a speech path. So, >> so our speech pathologists are evaluated by their site principal. >> Okay. >> Many of our speech therapists are full-time on campus. They are in classrooms. principles observe lessons, co-eing with um teaching staff, instructional staff. Our OT's and PTs agreed their work looks very different and they usually are at multiple schools serving multiple students. So in that case, we have a lead occupational therapist who supervises and evaluates them. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm I just want to make sure that the people that are evaluating them know what they're looking for and the way you teach. There's some basics for

082teaching that sticks together, but there's other things that are specific to uh a uh certain category. So, >> and currently our as our person who oversees our speech therapist because we have so many we have over a hundred in our schools. Um, so one of our staff schedules and hires and does that from the department. They're looking at doing some co-evaluation because you're correct, there are some areas of their professional responsibilities that um maybe aren't as easily known by a principal even the even if they're observing. There are obligations that I think um we have been exploring with human resources to have some co-evaluation from the department level staff um for things that perhaps a principal daytoday would not see. >> Thank you. That's all. >> Thank you. And I just want to thank the

083committee members that worked on putting these evaluations together. So with that, Miss Kirby, I believe we're ready for a vote. With a vote of five yays, we have approved the new SLPOT and PT evaluation tool starting in the 2026 27 school year. Do I have a motion to approve the new transportation evaluation tool starting in the 202627 school year? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Any questions? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of 5 years, you have approved the new transportation evaluation tool starting in the 202627 school year. Down to consent, all items will be considered as a group and will will be approved with one motion. If a board member would like board member would like

084to spotlight or comment on a consent agenda item, please do so after the vote. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda according to the recommended action for each item? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Miss Kirby, please take our vote. With a vote of five years, we have approved the consent agenda items according to the recommended action for each item. Do I have a motion to approve the proclamation recognizing May 4th through 8th as as teacher appreciation week and May 5th as National Teacher Day? >> So moved. >> Ty. >> Take it. Miss >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of

085five yays, you have approved the proclamation recognizing May 4th through 8th as teacher appreciation week and May 5th as National Teacher Day. Mrs. Chaffy as board clerk, will you read the proclamation for us? Whereas teachers open students minds to ideas, knowledge and dreams. And whereas teachers keep democracy alive by laying the foundation for good citizenship. And whereas teachers are listeners, explorers, role models, motivators, and mentors. And whereas teachers continue to influence us long after our school days are only memories. The governing board and superintendent of Mesa public schools do hereby proclaim May 4th through 8th as teacher appreciation week and May 5th as National Teacher Day. Join us in acknowledging the lasting contributions of teachers to our lives, our community, and our country. Let's celebrate and thank our amazing teachers. >> Thank you. Board member

086Hutchinson, you have a comment? >> Yes, thank you. I'd like to make a a a quick comment. Um, you know, um, in the district, educators are those caring adults who live our MPS promise and they are all the employees who model and guide our students in the portrait of the graduate. Um, and seeing that it's volunteer month, I I I would be remiss if I did not mention tonight the efforts of the Mesa Public Schools Foundation. Um, not all schools have their staff recognized during teacher appreciation week. And so we sought out schools that might feel a little neglected. And we found out that 28 schools requested support. And I'm here to tell you that the Mesa Public Schools Foundation is honoring every request. and with the help of 22 individuals and or local businesses,

087we will celebrate all our staff on the week of teacher appreciation week, but but most certainly on teacher appreciation day. And so we thank all of our employees who are truly educators. >> Thank you, >> Madam President. >> Yes. Um, member Hutchinson, I know you're a on the board of the Mesa Foundation, so can you please take back our sincere gratitude for uh the support given to those schools that need a little bit more assistance. That's really awesome. >> Thank you. >> Yes, Dr. Strong. On behalf of uh superintendency, I just want to make sure all the teachers of Mesa public schools understand how valued they are. The magic of education happens in the classroom. And so what I say at the end of most of the speeches I go out and give at school

088sites and departments. We've been on a roving tour to connect with every school and department and district. There's no written word or spoken plea can teach our youth what they should be, nor all the books on all the shelves. That's what the teachers are themselves. So just want to make sure everyone hears from administration how important you are. We know that the more you I taught for 13 years. The more you remove yourself from the classroom, the less effect you have on student outcomes. And while we want to have a big effect on systems and student outcomes from our level, we know the most important factor that's in school that's in school on student outcomes is that teacher. So, thanks for being in Mesa Public Schools and part of our system. >> Thank you. So

089great. Yeah. Big round of applause. We are so grateful. Thank you. We will now move into action items. Do I have a motion to approve a contract renewal of $1,500,000 for shade structures and repairs? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Going to my right. Any discussion? >> I I have a question if I may. >> Yeah. >> Um this is a renewal. I think it's year three of a Is that right? Is it year three? So, um I was at a training this past weekend and uh they the uh CFO that was sharing with us school finance information um provided us with some guidance as or some education as board members to uh be able to more effectively work or oversee the financial piece. So, one of

090the questions that I have is um and I I don't expect necessarily an answer tonight, but if we can get um for us when our RFPs, they require um not the cheapest product be purchased, but the best value. So, does Mesa have a clear set of criteria uh and protocol for determining what the best value is when we select uh people? So, I don't expect an answer necessarily tonight unless you have it, but do we have clear-cut criteria? Uh, and then second, when we enter a contract that is um multi-year, this has to be renewed. So, I'm assuming that maybe that's part of our potential termination language. So, if the board didn't reapprove this tonight, I assume that that terminates the contract. Is that clearly written or are there other termination opportunities if at some

091point we determine wait a minute we're not actually getting the best value? Yeah, I can answer both of those. member Benson. Um the procurement process that we follow and it it was highlighted with uh Miss Hamilton's team in their presentation and the rules and regulations regarding Arizona procurement already embed a lot of the structure and the best practice that we follow within Mason Public Schools in terms of awarding contracts, soliciting for contracts and the committee in the evaluation process in which contracts um or vendors are uh evaluated on. So I can say with confidence that we do have a process in place and I'd be happy to uh bring you in with Miss Hamilton and and show you that process. The the second question um we do bring annual renewals to the board and at

092that point the board can choose to not renew the contract. Also within the contract terms we do have opportunities to hold the uh to terminate if the vendor fails to perform or does not meet our expectations that are outlined within the contract. So, >> I know Mrs. Hamilton and her team do a phenomenal job. Um, the story that the CFO shared was he was asked that question uh his first day at a board meeting and he was like, I don't know. And the number of people that he asked. So, I know that there's rules and regulations that um that guide that, but he got several different answers. So, I was like, that's probably a good question to ask. Does Mesa have a clearcut criteria that we follow? We are pretty fiscally responsible from what I've

093u been able to see with my uh term on the board and I know Mrs. I I think they're uh aren't they getting an award? I don't remember when that was, but so I know they do a phenomenal job. Um and when we have we don't actually have multi-year contracts, right? We have contracts that can be renewed every year. Is that because like if we decided no, we're not going to uh approve this renewal, then that terminates the contract. Correct. >> That's correct. >> Okay. So, we don't actually have any multi-year contracts, do we? Or do we? >> From a purchasing perspective, no. I can speak. We have several MUS or various agreements that may not have financial obligations that are multi-year, but from a purchasing standpoint, uh, no, it's yeartoear. >> Thank you. No

094other questions. Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five yays, we've approved this contract renewal of $1,500,000 for shade structures and repairs. Do I have a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding city of Mesa, Mesa K Ready, and Beyond Initiative First Amendment? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Anything? Am >> I right? Oh, >> sorry. I'll go. >> Right. Any questions, Miss B? >> I would just uh like to say from um again being on the Mesa Public Schools Foundation um the amazing resource that the family resource center is in in the in the main library. Um and expanding Mesa K Ready programs and resources through this center is going to be phenomenal. Um it's where people come. It's where people come

095and we ought to meet people where they're at. We we say that now we're doing it. And um and I'm I'm really happy to support this um because it provides early literacy support, literacy proficiency, and parents being their child's first teacher. Um, it's a partnership with the city, but also with our community, and it's really getting kids ready for kindergarten and making sure that we're all invested in every child. And the more resources we can put, the better. And um, in-person classes, parent workshops, giving parents the tools to make sure that their child has every opportunity to learn. Um, I I couldn't be more supportive of this memorandum. >> Thank you, board member Vincent. Um, I'd like to just ditto member Hutchinson uh after the presentation by uh the family literacy um program in particular

096um was so impactful and the fact that this memorandum is going to just extend that opportunity as well as um provide early literacy. We know that literacy is the key to education. can't actually learn math without literacy either. So, the idea of being able to provide parents with the skills they need to be able to assist their kids, I think it's phenomenal. So, I'm 100% in support of this. >> Thank you. To my left, board member Walden. >> No, no questions or concerns. This is great. I love that we have options for parents to take advantage of and and find things to put their kids in and help direct their education. and parents that want to get in early before kindergarten. I think this is great. >> Thank you. >> I just wanted to thank

097the staff members of the city and at the district for their hard work in making this possible. I really appreciate the proactive approach to making sure that our students have access to these learning opportunities. And if anyone hasn't gone to the basement of the main library and they think that there's still microfish there, I am sorry to tell you there's no microfish. But there are incredible learning and support opportunities for our families. And it's just every time I visit that library, I see families taking advantage of that and then also like leaving with arms fulls of books and it just makes me very hopeful about our future in Mesa. >> I agree with all did all and I'm just grateful for the the relationship we have with the city of Mesa and working together and

098I love what board member Hudson said meeting our families where they're at and so being there and to be available there. So with that, I think we're ready for a vote. Scarby. With a vote of five BAS, we have approved the memorandum of understanding city of Mesa, Mesa K Ready and Beyond Initiative first amendment. Do I have a motion to approve the lease agreement between MPS and the EPIT for the use of facilities at Skyline High School? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? I'll go to my left. Board member Chaffy. Yeah, I am really excited to see us explore these career and technical education opportunities and that we are moving forward with this idea of partnering with ourselves and with our community and I am

099just incredibly grateful to EBIT for the experiences that they provide for our students. We saw at the state of the city address this morning that that our students are learning and benefiting from these experiences and these partnerships and I'm grateful to have them happening at these high school campuses. >> Thank you board member Wald. >> Yeah, thank you. I feel the same and I want to thank the EVAT board for approving approving these because it goes through them first and thank Dr. strong that we were I think first in and best dressed in doing the EVIT IGA and uh the other districts some of the other districts that didn't do it and thought they go one avenue and a judge said nope and told everybody they've got to meet every business day until they come

100up with an agreement cuz the law says you've got to negotiate an agreement and there's no way around that and so I think Dr. strong by getting in there and having a really good relationship with EVIT saved us a lot of time and and money and I think we will be remembered for that down the road is there's more partnership opportunities available with EVIT and then for the community I think it shows that you know we we we can partner we you know we are happy to go out and work and do what's best for students and putting those student outcomes first. So just thank you everybody for this and again thanks to the EVA board. Thank you, Corbin Vincent. >> Um, I also am excited about the uh lease opportunity. I do have a

101just a question or two for clarification purposes. Um, it's going to be a central campus that is open to not just MPS students. Is that correct? So, other other students from Chandler whoever uh they will be able to partake of both this one and the uh next lease. Is that correct? And um before those students come onto our campuses, I know in the lease agreement it says everybody has to abide by Mesa Public Schools policies. So do we proactively make sure that they know what our policies are that may differ from the school campuses that they're coming from? >> Yeah, that'll be a common practice. And even has their own policies and procedures that the kids have to follow that are almost identical to our policies and procedures. So that should be a very easy

102walk through with them. >> Okay, great. Um, I think that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Hutchinson. >> Yeah, I'm I'm thrilled that we have an east side east side opportunity and and it's obvious that there was there was a need because there are already 35 students enrolled for the morning program of welding at Skyline and 42 students in the afternoon. So, I mean it it obvious that um it's it's absolutely needed and and people are seizing the opportunity. >> Agreed. Again, thankful for this collaboration between EVID and public schools. And with that, I think Miss Kirby, ready for a vote? With a vote of 5 years, you have approved the lease agreement between MPS and the EVIT for the use of facilities at Skyline High School. Do I have a

103motion to approve the lease agreement between MPS and the EVIT for the use of facilities at Red Mountain High School? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Now, I just want to I I and I mention I meant to mention it on the welding as well. As Mr. Chilton pointed out, both of these are much sought after um occupations later. And um I know welding in particular, you can make a lot of money as a welder. >> Thank you. Any any other questions? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, we please take our vote. With a vote of 5, we have approved the lease agreement between MPS and the EVA for the use of facilities at Red Mountain High School. Do I have a motion to approve the gift?

104>> Oh, yes. >> Can I make a comment real quick on those things? >> I hope the Mesa public schools community understands that we're dealing with a little bit of declining enrollment in the school district. Uh we can talk competition. We can talk low lower birth rates. Uh but one of the hardest things to do in a school district that's maybe in a de declining enrollment position is to keep programming. >> And this board's putting constant pressure on the superintendency as they should because we report to the governing board to think uniquely about how to keep programming around in Mesa public schools. And when you have less of a student body at a high school, you got to think really uniquely because that's less kids registering for class one or class two or class three.

105And uh what that means is going out and seeking partners like EVIT to say, "Hey, we might not be able to stand up this program on our own. So how do we work with you to help us keep this program at our school for our own students while also inviting other students for economies of scale into the program?" And so I don't think this is the final for this. uh if our high schools continue to get a little bit smaller, a little bit smaller, and we want to keep programming, we're going to have to think differently and uniquely, and the board's going to have to continue to drive superintendency uh to find solution sets like this. So, appreciate the board uh pushing and appreciate the community and Dr. Wilson in particular being very responsive uh

106to our ideas and thoughts uh from our CT department all the way up to our high schools on how we can make these marriages work, to make programs work for kids. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Stum. Moving on to our last action. Do I have a motion to approve the gifted scope and sequence? >> So, moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. Isles. I know your team has a pres presentation with some data about the gifted and talented program as well as the scope and sequence. So, I'll turn the time over to your team. Yes, President Davis, members of the board, I'd like to bring on Eric uh Vonberg, our current teaching and learning director, who's going to share a little bit about um our elementary gifted

107and talented programming, some data that was requested, and then a little bit how the scope and sequence fits into that. >> Perfect. Thank you, Madam President. Members of the governing board and district leadership, the action item in front of you is the approval of the gifted and talented scope and sequence. that act that document is a description of the gifted and talented programming services that we're provided or that we provide here in the district that are legally required. Um it's a compliance-based document and so we're required to turn it in on a periodic basis and it is in front of you right now because we are up in the term and we need to resubmit it. Um when you think about this particular document, it's important to know that this is a description of our

108current services. This is not intended to tell us where we're going and it doesn't preclude us from changing or updating the practices that we have in the district. Um, you have to submit a scope in sequence when one of two events happens. Either you have significant changes to your programming and then you have to submit it or you have to submit it when your time limit is up and we're on a four-year cycle. Previously was five but now is going to be on a four-year cycle. Um it was last oh it's coming to you not because we made significant programmatic changes but because we are just at that due date. The last time it was approved in 2021. Um if you would look and compare the two side by side you're not going to see

109any significant differences. The changes that you will notice are as a result of the AD requiring a little bit different content in there. And so there is it's not only organized a little bit differently to flow to um address the things that the AD is looking for, but it also included um some new content and you're going to see some language differences just for clarity and brevity, but you're going to see no significant changes. Um this particular document was brought before CCAP on March during the March 30th meeting. It was reviewed and unanimously recommended for approval. So we were also asked to talk a little bit about some gifted and talented data specifically in our elementary gifted and talented program. So it was decided that we'd combine these two during this action item. So we're

110going to talk a little bit about the elementary gifted and talented program. The first thing there we go we are going to go over we're going to talk a little bit about the service history. The overview we had some revision of services in the 1920 or the 2019 2020 school year. Um then we'll talk a little bit about how we go about identifying and ensuring access and then we will talk a little bit about some different data and we'll look at it from a a variety of different viewpoints. So the first thing is let's talk about the service. In the 2019 2020 school year we had some revision. One of the things we did is we were trying to make sure that we had equal access of our identified students um to the services that

111they were provided. And so there were some changes there in terms of how we positioned the different service sites at schools, used the transportation routes and ensure that all students had the enrichment pullout services. At the same time, we also increased targeted support to those schools that had historically low and by that I mean year-over-year or decreasing identification rates. And so we leveraged staff and the responsibilities of the elementary gifted and talented teachers to ensure that they provided that support on those campuses. We realigned the way that teach or students attended services to follow along with theater patterns because one of the things that we found is that it was very important to be able to build that cohort. So they went up to junior high and high school together to build those relationships. And

112then where we could, we created teacher teams um to understand that it it was a lonely thing to be an elementary gifted and talented teacher because you were typically on a campus by yourself. But with this realignment, we were able to put teachers together to build teams and that allowed for some teacher collaboration and also um increased opportunities for collaboration with students across grade levels. When you look at the elementary service structure, there's a number of things that we do to provide services. The one that people think about the most when you're talking about um K6 gifted and talented services is the enrichment pullout classes. What that means is that students who are identified um go to a service site for one day out of the week to engage in curriculum and activities that are

113suitably complex and require in-depth thinking um to support the needs their their gifted needs. The second one is the on-ampus enrichment support. That is gifted teachers moving out into the schools to be able to pro provide enrichment support. That could include working with identified students. It could be working with students that are not identified to provide enrichment. Could be test preparation, professional learning um to be able to help teachers recognize and address the needs of gifted students and within talent development. Um the last one is is we have content acceleration and that could be anything from content specific acceleration. An example would be we have the MA10 program um starting in sixth grade that allows students to access an advanced pathway um for mathematics, but we also have whole grade acceleration is also an option

114that we have to be able to move a student up a grade to address the academic needs that they have. When you're looking at the state definition of what a gifted student is, um we have it here. This is pulled straight from law. It is basically telling you that a gifted student is one who requires additional services beyond that is capable of being provided within the regular classroom. And so the question is is then well how do we go about determining then who is that gifted student? And I want to talk a little bit about how we identify them. In state law there are two provisions for being able to identify gifted students. One of them is they score at the 97th percentile or above on national norms on an approved assessment. And the three

115uh categories that are called out are verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal in law. That is going to represent the overwhelming majority of the students who are identified in Mesa public schools. The second one, there is a provision in law that allows us to identify whoever we want for services. Um in Mesa what we do is we still give everyone that identification test and those students who are close uh we collect additional data. That data could be anything from state test, the benchmark test, the fastbridge um even to how quickly students progress on the Isela assessment. Um and we use that information to be able to um determine eligibility for gifted services. talking a little bit about what that gifted assessment looks like. Um, we have the opportunity to choose from a state list. Mesa public schools

116has for a long time used the cognitive abilities test. It's one that aligns really well with the law. It is by far and away the the one that is used most um with our the school districts that we work with. Um what the cognability test looks like is broken down three batteries. So there's big three big categories, a verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal. And in each one of those categories, there are three subtests. Because it is a nationally normmed test um and standardized in that way, there's time limits. And so each subtest takes 10 minutes. So it's a 90 minute uh test in duration just for the testing time. Uh what has the it's reported the scores are reported in multiple ways, but the ones we look at mostly are how they did on each battery.

117And when you're thinking about what identifies a kid for gifted services in the eyes of the state, it is 97 percentile or above on any one of those three. So we have done a lot of work um with the gifted and talented department over the years to be able to identify the best practices to ensure students have equal access to identification opportunities. And these are four of the big ones um that we institute that are documented all throughout the literature. I want to take a little bit of time to talk about this first one because this by far and away is the one that is the biggest lever for ensuring that we have equal opportunity for identification. That is universal screening. Um, this is in comparison to what you would call referral testing, which would

118mean that it requires a parent or a teacher to identify a student to be able to get access to take the identification assessment. That puts up a bunch of different barriers and creates um obstacles for students to be able to have access. And so instead, we institute universal screening, which means that you get screened if you are here in Mesa public schools at a particular grade level. and we'll talk a little bit more about that later. Um, the second one is to use multiple data points for identification. So, we're talking about that in this case, we don't just use the test. We look at a bunch of different points of data to be able to help and see a well-rounded view of the students to be able to determine identification. The third one is we

119have multiple points of entry. In systems that do not have very good equal access, what they do is they have a single entry point. you onramp into the gifted program. At this time in Mesa public schools, we don't do that. We not only have multiple points of entry, but we also have two universal screening events um at the second and the fourth grade, which is you'll see some data here in a little bit, which just shows how important that is to be able to identify those gifted students. And the fourth one, we are calling it onampus enrichment support. If you look in the literature, it's more called something like talent development, which is the idea that we go out and we provide support for schools to be able to help identify, like I said previously,

120that could include um professional learning, that could include working with teachers, working with students to increase enrichment opportunities. But we also go out there and we work with those students who um especially the second grade students prior to their universal screening event to make sure that they're understanding the the format and the type of test questions that they're going to be asked to make sure that that unfamiliarity does not mitigate their chances for identification. Let's jump into some data here. The first thing we're going to look at you're seeing here, this is the identified students. And so each one of these numbers represents a single student. Um we have data for the past four years in bold is the second and fourth grade to represent those are the grades that we universally screen during and

121these numbers it's important to know that these are numbers at the end of the year. So the 2526 these are the numbers we know of right now they can change because we have students coming in and leaving all the time. A couple things I I think are worth noting is you see the huge jump from first grade to second grade that is going to be a result of almost predominantly the universal screening event to see that that's where we capture a huge number of our students. Um the other one is you you will see an increase between third grade and fourth grade and it's probably a little bit more helpful instead of going vertically down to go over down into the right so you maintain the same cohort of students and you can see the

122increase there. Um we you can see that we're roughly getting somewhere in the 200 to 300 student range or both 275 student range in second grade and then in fourth grade we're capturing another 100 students 100 plus students and that's going to be an effect of the universal screening. The other way we can look at this is now that we are talking about the number of students who are identified we also have in what areas are they identified. And I want to make sure that when you're looking at this, these numbers are slightly different than the other numbers because a student can be represented multiple times up here. And what I mean by that is if they qualified in verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal, they're going to be represented three times up here. So these numbers

123represent the number of categories students qualified in over these years. Um a couple of things of note to look at this is you notice that the plurality of students who qualify for gifted and talented services is in that non-verbal category. You also see that qual or quantitative and non-verbal are increasing over the years and verbal is decreasing. This is something we have noticed for a while. Um this is a national trend. Um, and it does have implications in the classroom because these students when you gifted students are not monolithic. And if you walked into a gifted classroom, you are going to see just as much variability within a gifted uh pullout classroom than you would in a regular classroom. And so there are implications when you're thinking about how you serve students um based upon

124their area of identification. Another way we can look at this is we can talk about universal screening events. So you can see how one of these unfolds. We do screen for fourth grade in the fall. Um after that screening event, if they do qualify, they resume or they start services right away. Second grade, we do it in the spring. We just actually finished it up not too long ago. And those students will start services the beginning of their third grade year. One thing to notice is what we do is we give the screener. And so that screener is onethird of the full cognitive abilities test. So that means that every student engages in that. It cuts down the test time a little bit and the burden on the student. And then based upon their performance

125on the screener, certain students are eligible to complete the post screener. The post screener is simply the remaining twothirds of that assessment. Based upon the performance on the postcreener, that's when you can get those scores for verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal and determine the students who are qualified. And those are the students there who have qualified in each year. Couple of things to note. Notice the second grade students uh the qualified students are much higher than the fourth grade. That is expected is when they do universal screening in fourth grade the students who have already were identified do not completed again. So those are additional students. Um it's also we work with cut scores to determine what moves from screener to post screener. So we try and keep around about a 25%. So you notice from

126screener to post screens about 25% of students are invited and then about 25% 20 to 25% of students who take the post screener um eventually get identified for gifted services based upon the state definition. We can also look at the K6 identification across service sites. So there's a couple of things I want to orient you around this particular um chart. On the left side you are going to see the service sites. That is where our gifted and talented classrooms that or our gifted our enrichment pullout classrooms are located. That number in the parentheses tells you how many schools they service. So those are the students from for example ECFI eight schools are serviced at that particular site. Over the four years you see the number of identified students that are served in those cohorts. Um

127a couple of things to note. Uh it is well known that gifted identification typically trends around social economic status lines. We have been working very hard to leverage our onampus support by identifying those school sites that have had low enroll or low identification rates. And I think you're going to see when you look at some of these schools the impact of that work as you see some of as you see the identified rates increase over the four years. So we're really happy about that work. We know we're nowhere near where we want to be and that work continues as we continue to refine what we do and what s what sites we serve. We can also look at um students who are choosing not to participate in services and we call those opt outs. Parents

128have the opportunity um when a student is identified to opt them out of gifted pullout services. Um and you are going to see here those numbers. There's a couple of things that I think is important as you're looking at these numbers to understand. Um, as we started to notice numbers start to increase and tick up over the past couple years, we put in better practices to be able to identify work with those students. So, I would tell you that the 2425 and the 2526 numbers are really accurate. The 22 23 23 24 are roughly accurate. I would say that they have the potential to be under reportported because we put some new practices into place. Um the other thing to note is that students can be rep the same student can be represented over multiple

129years. What I mean by that is if a student in 2023 and 2024 was a third grade student and they opted out and they continued to stay opted out, they would be represented in each of the subsequent columns. So these are not unique numbers and added each year. When you when when we do have a student opt out, uh we have an entire process to work with the parent to try and convince them to stay in services and or do an exit interview to have an understanding of why they are exiting services at that time. Um we also at the beginning of each year we go out and we contact those students and their parents to try and entice them and invite them back to services. So once they opt out, it doesn't mean they're

130off our radar completely. We kind of take it a year at a time. If we look at the identification rates by different subgroup categories, so the first one we're going to look at is here. I do want to note that you see the asterisks there. Those are representative of numbers 10 or less. We're following federal reporting guidelines. when you have an incount of 10 or less um because of the ability to potentially personally identify students. That's what that asterk means. So you can just kind of substitute those numbers there. What you're going to see here is we recognize there's there's over representation here, there's under representation here. That is I want to make it clear that this is not just a MESA problem. This is a national problem that is well understood in uh gifted

131literature and gifted studies. What we do is as we're always trying to do better um we review that gifted literature and what they come up with is routinely is the four best practices are the ones we have in place about the universal screening multiple points of identification multiple entry points and then that talent development or onampus enrichment. We can also look at it from a different lens of subgroups um with male and female and you can see there is um a pretty discrepant number there. We're not exactly sure why that is and that's why we continue to refine our onampus support focus to be able to um help support that. This is also males are over represented nationally when you're talking about gifted identification as well. Um when you look at the bottom one we're

132talking about students who receive specialized services in addition to be ident in addition to being identified as gifted. I want to kind of help you understand the context. those English language learners, those numbers represent students who are actively in English language services. Students who are reclassified and exit out are not identified there. So, these are students who are attending both services simultaneously. We're actually really happy with our work with ELAD to be able to um I we think that partnership is helping us increase that and our on-ampus support is is helping move those numbers. So then you see the numbers with students with disabilities um those twice exceptional students that are served in our program. The last bit of data I have for you is looking at the continued enrollment. Uh what this is intended

133to show is like the number is the the percent number is the percent of students who are in the program who enrolled in the subsequent school year. You'll notice we do not have stuff for this year because the enrollment numbers haven't rolled for next year yet because we are actually looking at when they when they attend. So, kindergarten first grade is going to be a little bit funky because we are talking about incounts of zero to one or two students and that's why they're so high because we don't start identifying through universal screening until that second grade. But then what you're noticing is that when we look at these numbers, we are not only trying to increase them, but we feel there's a pretty good retention rate there. That when the students are in our

134services, they tend to stay in Mesa public schools. And with that, questions, comments? >> Thank you very much for that. I appreciate it. I'm going to start uh to my left. Board member Chaffy. Any questions? >> Yes. Sorry, throw things. I realize that this is not the time to dig into the details of the gifted and talented program. I appreciate that you clarified this is a document to ensure that we are in alignment and in accordance with state statute. I do think we know that we have a lot of work to do for the gifted and talented program and I appreciate you recognizing that. I know that we are not we are not articulating and I don't think we are always meeting the needs of the gifted and talented students in our district. Um but

135I really appreciated seeing the ways that we have improved like identification and access and I love seeing the data and seeing you know what is following national trends and what is not going forward. I would like some articulation on how we are making improvements in these different areas. I want us to seek parent input for what is working and what is not working. I love that you're doing exit surveys because I think that gives us some important things to talk about and and why things aren't working. And I'd like to to have more discussions about how we are actively making those improvements. So, I'm going to share some of those now. Well, recognizing I don't want questions or responses just so we can kind of make a note of them. I'd like us to examine

136some of the root causes of why students student numbers drop off at certain sites or at certain ages. I'd like the district to reevaluate the GT grading rubric and curriculum. And then I want to look at how we are meeting the needs of our gifted and talented students in middle school and in high school. My I do have one question tonight and I'm going to keep it focused on the data that we had tonight. Um it also was at the request of my daughter who's in GT. She said she would watch and and make sure that I ask the question. So I'm going to make sure I do. One of the slides showed that there is a a big drop off in sixth grade. And it it doesn't surprise me having kids do the program.

137it becomes really difficult to balance the school course load in sixth grade and the state standards that we have to meet in sixth grade as well as um doing the pullout model and driving and leaving campus. We also have those students who often participate in MA10 and it becomes a lot to manage. So this is my question. Um we know that our gifted and talented students are getting you know learning experiences in their gifted and talented classrooms but they do miss coursework in their home sites. um in this pull out model creates kind of a difficulty there. Are gifted and talented students required to make up the work that they miss when they miss that like homesite classroom time? >> This is a little bit more nuanced answer than than just a yes or no.

138And typically the guidance is given that should you just hand everything to a student who missed a day's worth of instruction? The answer is no. That's not what should be happening. The guidance is is that these students are pulled out because of intellectual capabilities that may not be address. That does not mean that they don't need that instruction that happens on that day. And so the intent would be is if there's something new, then yeah, they may be asked to do something, but it's not necessarily handing home go doing the homework. It's how do we catch those students up? How do we make sure that we're addressing those needs? um within the confines and construct of the class. The last thing we want to do and and you're absolutely correct, some of the exit interviews

139do talk about we're opting out because of this conflict between, you know, of of the workload. Um and so the intent is is to make that not a problem. We should not have an obstacle for getting these services because we feel like we have to have them do everything that's in the regular classroom. Did I dance around your answer or your question a little bit? >> I'll I'll let you know when she watches the YouTube and let you know if her question got answered. I >> I got real nervous once she heard said that she was watching. >> Thank you. Yeah, I think we're moving in in good directions. I don't I just don't want to see us wait four years. So, I appreciate the proactive approach. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you, board member Walden.

140Thank you. Good questions. So, are you are you looking at students that are in the K through eight schools compared to students that move on to a junior high? So, like in that the sixth grade drop off, is there any data you can look at that looks at how gifted students in a K through 8 school are doing versus the ones that move on to a junior high? Does that make sense? >> I can I can I ask you a clarifying question? >> Yeah. >> When you say how they're doing, what do you mean? Oh, so like do I'm assuming you know we've got gifted students at at various schools and so some of the schools move to a K through eight model and I'm wondering if some of the gifted students in elementary school

141are they going to fare better staying at their their elementary school for seventh and eighth grade versus students that move on to junior high? Because when we were voting on moving schools to K through 8, there was national data that said that students actually perform better when they stay at their elementary school. I wondered if you saw that in in data with gifted students, too. If some of those students are actually showing that they're staying in their gifted programs or are performing better staying at their elementary school compared to kids that are not in gifted programs or kids that are gifted that go from sixth grade to a junior high model. What I would say is this number one is did we look at that and disagregate the data specifically along those lines? No, we

142have not. uh one of the difficulties is going to be is the incount given the number of K schools we have is low that it may be hard to be able to point and verify a hypothesis or not but what I can say is when you're looking at anything from whole class whole grade acceleration um to serving students there is it is somewhat disruptive to move a student from one building to another and that that that is something that students do have to get used to. I think you're seeing that in some of the cases when you have the students uh retention rate or the uh the the capture rate from sixth grade to 7th grade a little bit lower. Um but that's just that's a hypothesis and it's not something that I have hard

143data to be able to talk about at this moment. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you. And then you said that males were over represented nationally. Can can you go into that a little bit? Um um and what did you say that you looked at like the national data has reasons for that or they just don't know what the reasons are for that? >> I I'm not sure that anyone can I think if anyone is going to tell you here's exactly why that is that that that is ignoring how complex the issue is. >> Um it is something that you see >> after identification. Does that make sense? So >> one of the things that's arising in literature right now and I think this is uh really interesting is some of the discrepancy is seen before the

144moment of identification and that and what they mean by that is is students need to have access to appropriately rigorous enriched differentiated instruction prior to them being identified. And there's a there's a great synergy here to the last time I was up in front talking to you guys about tier one instruction. And so all of our movement and work with schools around their continuous improvement plans to be able to improve tier one instruction, making sure it's appropriately rigorous, it dovetales perfectly in with this to ensure that we give that um the access to that to that will eventually lead hopefully to changing some of those identification rates or at least removing an obstacle to that. I can't tell you that it's going to be a direct causal factor. >> Yeah. No, that's that's good information.

145This is a learning moment for me. Uh, do we use age-based or grade based norms? >> age based. The reason I'm asking that one of the premises is of why males get overidentified and I agree with uh, Eric in that it's really complex when you read the research. Super complex. But one of the premises is typically young boys are held back at a higher rate. they're not held back in terms of, you know, they go to kindergarten and then retained, but they literally just start kindergarten later. And so when you don't use the right norming process, then you have an older kid taking a test. And that's why I was asking the first question. And that's why sometimes boys get identified at a higher rate uh is because of the fact that they're older taking

146the test as opposed to females who are gen generally enroll in school at a younger age. and this whole kindergarten red shirting thing's affecting all that that's occurring. So interesting. I I had I needed a learning moment there. So I appreciate you clarifying we use age-based norms. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Benson. >> Um thank you. Thank you for the presentation, Mr. Von Vonberg. Pardon me. Um so this is a little bit of my wheelhouse as I'm sure we're all aware. Um, I have some questions about the document and I want to make sure that what we're providing with the state while this is a compliance piece is actually accurate. So when we say that the programs or pathways include the um IB program or the Franklin models are those are we are

147we saying uh in that the IB programs and the Franklin models in particular there were a couple of other um pieces in the document. Are we saying to the state that those are gifted programming? I wouldn't I I would parse the language a little bit differently because what they're asking for is what programs do we have to serve the needs of gifted students? And so what the idea is is once you get in and this is this is everywhere, well not everywhere but this is nationally basically what the the solution is is once you get in the secondary school honors pathways, IB programming, AP, um dual enrollment, uh the other Franklin Accelerated Academy, those are options that parents of gifted students can choose to be able to address the needs of the gifted students. Does

148it address every single one of them? Maybe not. Um, but they are they're not we would never say, hey, that that's a gifted program. It is a program that is intended to serve the needs of gifted students, which does talk about when we go back to that definition of the state is saying that there are needs that can't be met in the general education classroom and so we need to have specific programming. >> So again, for clarity sake, so do the Franklin parents know. So my understanding is that the Franklin model and the IB program um we can test those kids at their parent request. However, those students cannot actually participate in the uh enrichment program, the pullout program. >> Currently, we do not have gifted enrichment pull out at our Franklin choice sites. That

149is correct. So, can you explain how the Franklin I I understand the Franklin model is um an an accelerated model. >> Um but I I don't other than the acceleration piece. I'm not sure how are are we just attempting to cover every single possible base. I >> I know you know Lawson Donald, she was the cricket. She I think she would have some perhaps some debate on whether or not the Franklin model and the IV program uh actually meet the needs of gifted kids. >> Well, I would I wouldn't disagree. The the needs of gifted kids is not like it's not a one thing. It is the needs of each particular gifted student. And that's why what we're doing is is we're saying that once we get into the secondary schools, we have a bunch

150of different opportunities that can address the academic needs of students. And it's up to you to choose which is going to fulfill them as best as possible. >> Correct. At the at the secondary uh piece, I totally I totally get that piece, but we are inc we're including the Franklin model and the IB uh young learners program uh for the elementary piece as well in the document. >> Right. I mean, those are those are choice opportunities that that it's I think we're not we're conflating between it's gifted program versus it's a program that that can help support the needs of gifted students. >> So, are we letting our parents know then that of students that qualify for gifted servicesing that hey, the IB program might be something that you want to check out? Um, I

151know the academy is a an application uh uh campus. you you have to be invited to participate at or to enroll at the academy. Oftent times they look for gifted kids which is why Lawson Donald and I had a discussion way back when. So, are we suggest are we letting parents know, hey, if your child needs acceleration, the Franklin model might be something that you want to look at or maybe the IB program is I want to make sure that when when we're when we have a gifted education scope and sequence that it's actually focused in on gifted education, which is in my in my mind, this is not focused in specifically on gifted ed. Uh what I can tell you is from this the lens of AD what they're asking us for is a

152list of the different things that provide services that are beyond the the general education classroom that could serve the academic needs of gifted students. And so there may be a little bit of discrepancy between how we're looking at what the the document is intended to do. Um to your previous question, do we go out and explicitly tell every student who's been identified for gifted services, these are all the opportunities? No. But we do have all of that stuff publicized and we're working better to be able to make sure parents know their choices here in Mesa Public Schools and to be able to choose what is best for them and their student. >> Okay. And we're actively pursuing that hopefully. Mhm. >> So the um other questions that I have um I assume Dr. Stum because

153we we know that I I appreciate the fact that member Chappie addressed that we have work to do with our gifted students. I see com I I see a bit of a correlation or a connection between the fact that our Native American population is not adequately served. I personally 100% believe that our gifted our gifted population is not served adequately either. I looked we're the only district in the East Valley that does not offer all day everyday programming for gifted students. So that's a little bit disappointing. Well, maybe AJ doesn't either. I don't know. >> Yeah, I don't I I I couldn't ver I don't think that that's 100% correct. >> Well, I checked with Higgley, Queen Creek, Chandler, Gilbert, >> Tempe. Did I miss a city in the East Valley? Um, so sorry. Um,

154so I do appreciate that we have work to do and um, we are we going to be tackling this at in greater depth at a later date. >> You know what we're trying to do, what Mr. Wing and myself and Dr. Mason, Dr. Eis are trying to determine right now is what are our key initiatives for next year. a system can only take so many changes in a given year. Um, and you know, if we're going to work in Mesa public schools to become more efficient at the district office level, we also need to dial in the initiatives for what is humanly capable in a given year. And so, uh, we're dialed in, uh, with Mr. Wing on a few things. Uh, as an example, we we know we need a long range planning committee

155next year to start talking about school repurposing, school closure. You'll see where I'm linking these together. Uh and and so, you know, I'm not saying that's going to happen next year or the year after the year after. We just need to get a committee together to start talking about kind of what our gu guidelines and guard rails are for these types of situations. The reason I'm linking it together is as that committee runs, if one of the educational things that we think is the most pressing is gifted education, then that's an initiative for next year. And we probably need to put together a design team and committee of parents with a committee of students with a committee of uh teachers and teacher practitioners as well as principles because it can interact with long-range planning, right?

156and it then can interact with the regional executive uh learning community uh directors and that what in every region do we need to have to support programming in that region for spec specific parent choice options that are needed. Uh there are regions where we look out and we go well it's kind of absent of any gifted like services. is whether you believe in acceleration as a gifted model or creative thinking as a gifted model. The fact of the matter is is are we weak in those areas in that region and then can we work through a stakeholder group to design something that interacts with school purpose and school closure to open up maybe an all day every day because push in and push out and gifted services has been a conversation for decades. What works,

157what doesn't work, push in versus push out. So if I'm if we're hearing from the board this needs to be a top initiative in the next year, I think it's something that Dr. Eastless and Dr. Mesa can task their teams with to circle up because it interacts really well with what we're trying to do in the learning communities. >> Well, and I know I personally as a board member um want that as a focus and I am curious, Mr. Vonberg if you can also uh give us data on uh the number of high school kids per so identified elementary um that don't actually make it to an area by high schools because the other there are other options um that are suited to their needs in other districts. So now I have a question or

158two regarding identification. Um the you've addressed in the um scope and sequence the fact that we we are um we are looking at twice exceptional groups of students um or we we're we we actively are trying to find them. I I'm not going to word >> say it word for word from here. So we have rise and soarses sore um campuses. I believe that's our autism and I don't know which which rise is which sore what which I don't I don't know the difference between the two fully however they I know that they're um they are our autistic programs. Uh oftent times autism uh and gifted kind of go hand in hand. So, are we making sure I know when I uh was in the gifted department frequently, I would not have gotten a list

159of the autism courses or autism classes on the satellite campuses that I supported. So, I would not have known to go in there and provide enrichment to those students and then and make sure that they uh were had some test preparation. Is that actively being um being targeted? Are are we are you are is the department making sure every rise and every campus that has rise and sore we're making sure when we do our universal screening if there's a second grade class there fourth grade are we making sure that those students are being tested. So what I can tell you is this. When we as a gifted department, we work very closely with special education um to be able to remove any barriers that are that are there to for identification. One of the things

160that is unique about a gifted set or a special education setting is the students who um go through that process to be identified. We are working with the special education department that the psychometric measures that they use can be used for gifted identification. >> Right. as you should. >> And so we go through and work with them to be able to look at those test scores to be able to potentially maybe we don't even have to go through the gifted screening process because we already have information. Um the intent is is that all students should be uh part of the universal screening. I I can check on I mean the intent and the expectation is that is the case. Can I stand up here and say that every single one I don't have those numbers

161in front of me so I'm I'm not going to say that but I will go back and check and make sure >> that that is the expectation. >> Okay, one final question about uh um testing is the COGAT we give uh via a computer now correct still? >> Yes. >> Um that's available in Spanish, right? >> I don't know. I maybe I mean we don't leverage it in Spanish and so I would assume it would be >> member Benson the more common test that's given in Spanish is the nagliier test and uh if we wanted to give a different form of test that could also run through the committee to talk about different testing options outside coat >> that that is I I know the NNAT is an option that's not a computer-based it's and

162actually the NNAT is much better at finding our tortoise thinkers than the COGAT because the cogat's timed. Cogat's great at finding our hair thinkers and our computer thinkers, but our to slow tortoise thinkers, it's not very good at it. So the Kogat, at least when I was in the department, the computer version is available to be done in Spanish. >> So we are a majority minority district. We have several ELELLL kids uh students that are there that um I've spoken to a couple of adults that are were English language learners as students and they uh shared with me that even as adults their brain has to do like this quick switch from their native Spanish to English. So that's detrimental if it's on a time test. So, I would like to um I would like

163to see the GT department leverage the Spanish version with our ELLL kids. It shouldn't we should be looking to find intellectual ability regardless of language >> is that I that's my personal perspective. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, language is a barrier for our ELLL kids. um we assume that they can do it the co the quantitative and um the non-verbal but that directions are still in English. >> Uh we also see oftent times this happened to me my last year in the department I had an ELLL student that scored in the 95th percentile. Um when I was there doing enrichment he was in ELLL so I didn't have exposure to him all year. um he wasn't allowed or and I penned him. It was an automatic pen because it was a 95th, but because he

164scored low in in uh English, he was not placed. So, I would argue that that is an an that's not an equitable uh it's not an equitable piece. He would have done very very well. And we we know I I'm sorry. I'm I'm not I'm not going to as long as we will commit to having a deeper conversation about this because this is one of my passions. >> We don't find our our intellectually capable children on the west side and I think that's immoral. >> So I would like to see the GT department leverage the Spanish version for our ELLL kids. And with that I will >> we can definitely explore that. Thank you, Board Member Hutchinson. >> Thank you, President Davis. Um, I I want to thank uh board member Chaffy for her um

165great questions, and I'm hoping that all of the board um receives the answers to the questions that she asked, that the information is accessible to us all. um she had so many that I couldn't write them down, but I sure was interested in learning what the answers to those questions were. Um secondly, um board member Benson, I share your concern, um about the non-equitable piece of gifted education, particularly when I look at the addendum and I look at the number of children who are in gifted education at our various schools. Um, it it is a moral issue and I I frankly I don't care if it's a national trend. I want Mesa to buck the trend and and what I want to do is to encourage superintendent strong to form a design team with a

166sense of urgency. Um, and if access to quality instruction is what helps us make sure that all kids are met by strength and need, let's do it. If it means taking that test in Spanish or in Arabic or in Turk, I don't care. But th these kids are not being served like they should be. And I'm I'm looking forward to that deep conversation, a robust conversation where we get information from kids, from parents, from teachers, from principles. They have ideas. It's this is not right that the high socioeconomic schools have the highest number of gifted kids. And having been a teacher of gifted kids at the secondary level, I know a lot of kids got missed because they were in my regular classes, regular classes, and they were completely capable. And I said, "Come with

167me next year. We're stepping it up a notch." And they were capable. So, I'm I'm I'm encouraging us to do some real deep thinking about how we're going to buck the trend. And I want this board to learn of ways in which Mesa is going to do that cuz this is unacceptable. I I I I can't I can't state that strongly enough. And one thing I want to make sure and I I agree with everything you've said and I and I want to make sure that it doesn't come across that when we say it's a national trend that we've accepted that that is the reality. And so when we talk about those reviewing the literature, we're always working on those things. One of the things that may not uh that does not come out in

168the data we were sharing given that we only talked about the last three or four years. If you would go back before we instituted universal screening, which was a huge change for us, which took a big lift and and and a large financial commitment to make that happen, you would see those numbers skewed in a way that was even worse. And so every year when we are looking at that, um, please know that when we talk about onampus enrichment support, when I talk about that, that is those gifted teachers going to those campuses and those campuses with the lower identification rates get more of that time. the campuses that have the higher traditionally they get less time and what you're seeing is is that we agree with you and this has been a problem and

169I can't tell you how many hours of discussion we've had to try and figure out how do we do this um one of the what what happens is when you start looking at the the research and the trends around the country to be able to borrow from best practices you still see that everyone is wrestling with this problem. So it's a big within the gifted community problem. How do how do we solve this? There's there's there's a number of things but we we are using the highest leverage best practices. Um and we are seeing movement in the positive direction but not in this with the speed and amount that we would hope to. So I want to make sure that if anything came across that it felt like we were comfortable with those numbers that's

170that's not the case at all. >> Thank you. I think as we look as going into these regional learning communities that we can use those as a bridge to help maybe form committees within those to come up with ideas as they serve certain areas um of our district and looking to make it um that they know the needs of their communities. I think sometimes our communication families that don't understand what gifted and talent it is. Um, being a mom, I remember going in with my oldest. I didn't know I I didn't know exactly what it was. It was a different name then, but it's changed. But I think part of it is some of our communities don't understand exactly what that is. And so, how do we break down those barriers? And I believe that

171going in our regional communities, we will have those that are aware and know the needs of those serving that will know how to break into those communities and help them understand what this is. It is my hope at least is that we can work that. Um, I also would be so interested to know why our sixth grade does drop off and maybe meeting with our sixth graders. Like why are we dropping out and what's our incentive to staying in as they go into junior high? Is there an incentive to staying in gifted and talented for sixth grade and then as they go to junior high? Um, and with that, what is our gifted and talented look like in our junior high? um in our junior highs right now. >> Once you start to get into

172junior high, then you're talking about there's several different options. There's honors courses, there's content acceleration, then you start getting into advanced coursework. That's predominantly what it is right now. >> Thank you. Um but I do I do think let's leverage our students and I I think that they're wise. I love hearing from our students and hearing what they have to say. And so maybe we see why are we why do we decide to drop off at sixth grade? Cuz I think we need these kids and we want them to go in our junior highs and flourish and and help. Um and so I would love to see this be I think the board is in agreeance that we we there's an urgency here um to move forward and again I'm putting a lot of a

173lot of balls in this bucket of these regional communities. But I do think that there's a lot of um wise things that can happen with all of those pieces to the puzzle as we move into these communities. So, um thank you for being here tonight. Um thank you for your information. >> President Davis. >> Yes. >> May I I Member Hutchinson sparked something because because we have an urgency. Um, I know a couple of years ago I I um made a presentation to the uh gifted cabinet. If you still have access to that, perhaps if you revisit that um and if it requires board approval to move in the direction that uh uh of the information that I shared with you or the strategy I shared with you, I I believe because it's an urgent

174we've all determined it's an urgency issue. perhaps you can bring that to us uh and see if or if it just requires district approval. Perhaps that's a way to help with the equity piece uh at a quicker pace and also acknowledging that it's a special ed program is going to be vitally important as well. These kids need different instruction to be successful. Thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you board members. Thank you. And with that, Miss Kirby, I believe you're ready to vote. With a vote of five yays, you have approved the gifted scope and sequence. Do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? >> None. Well,

175it's not right. >> With a vote of five yays, the meeting is adjourned at 8:50. Thank you. Have a wonderful evening. >> They are there. They are there.