Governing Board Study Session and Regular Board Meeting - September 11, 2025

001And just make sure for a moment of silence. Thank you. You may be seated. Call this meeting to order at 5:01. We do have board member Benson attending virtually and I believe she is just getting in now. Um, as we get started with the study session, as a reminder in our efforts to facilitate a timely and efficient meeting, Mr. Wing, I'm going to ask you to help keep us on time. And Miss King, I will turn the time over to you to review for the review of the suggested board policy updates. >> Thank you. Good afternoon, Madame President, members of the board. We are here today to talk about several policies that um will be before you tonight for first reading. Um some requested revisions to our current policy manual in order to align with

002recently adopted statutes and some additional uh cleanups and revisions for clarity and readability and flow. So, let's get started with the first policy, which is policy 132. Um, House Bill 2231 amended Arizona Revised Statute section 38-431.08. And this um amendment to statute uh created an exemption under the open meeting law um that communication between a quorum of a three-member advisory committee um if not more than one member of the committee is a governing board member. So those would be exempt from the open meeting law and we are asking for a revision to policy 132 to reflect that new statutory language. And there are some um additional revisions requested for clarification, including the addition of um some guidelines, some guidance about the general description um on your agenda for um executive sessions. This is a longstanding

003statutory requirement. It just wasn't previously in the policy manual. just a requirement that when you notice an executive session on your agenda that it doesn't the the description can be general um it doesn't need to have so much um information that it it uh defies the purpose of having the executive session. Okay, I think I'm sorry about that. I forgot that I was in control of the clicker. The next policy is 1401. Senate Bill 1383 created a new statute, Arizona Revised Statute section 15-160.03. And this new statute um this is the um parents rights. It now permits parents or legal guardians to request the health care credentials for employees or individuals um who provide health services to students. It also permits parents and legal guardians to request information regarding a school employees emergency response training.

004And then there are some additional um requested revisions in this policy just for clarity. Okay. The next policy is um in chapter 4 101. This is uh this proposed change is not based on any new legislation. It is just a policy revision recommended by the trust and um they're proposing this change to clarify the statutory language regarding the timing of teacher contract renewals to uh clarify that districts are not permitted to offer probationary or continuing teachers who are already employed a new contract prior to March 15th. That was a change to statute last year or two years ago. It's last year. Uh I think that the trust had gotten some feedback from member districts that the language in the policy wasn't clear enough. So this is just to clarify. I'm sorry. Okay. The next policy

005revision is uh 5201 Senate Bill 1225 amended Arizona Revised Statute section 15-710.02 uh to clarify requirements regarding instruction pertaining to terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Uh the trust is recommending uh some additional language regarding this statutory change. Also recommending we add language to include um the establishment of September 25th as Sandra Day Okconor Civics Celebration Day. Um based upon these changes, they are recommending that we also adopt a change to the title um of this uh particular policy to patriotic exercises and observance days. Um, important to note that this uh, particular bill did include an emergency clause and went into effect upon signature by the governor. And today was the first day of that new instructional requirement going into place. Okay. Okay. Policy 5203, House Bill 2170, amended Arizona Revised Statute uh section 15763.

006This is um our big policy on um special education. And so you'll notice there were several revisions recommended for for clarity and readability. Um but the major changes to this policy are based upon the statutory change that requires that um when a student uh is found eligible under the IDA under the category of specific learning disability that their IEP specifically state whether they have been diagnosed with dyslexia. That's the first main change. Also, um the Arizona State Board of Education adopted um some revisions to the Arizona Administrative Code at R7241E4 um on June 23rd of this year. And this requires school districts to publish evaluation procedures for the evaluation of special education eligibility on the district's website and to address the timing of communication regarding the evaluation process. So because of those statutory changes, the

007trust is um recommending some revisions to our policy to incorporate those changes into into our special ed policy. Okay. Uh five. This is a new policy that we're asking the board to adopt. Policy 5216.01. This is based upon House Bill 2540 which revised Arizona revised statute 15741. And this is regarding testing that's prescribed by the Arizona State Board of Education. And this law specifically requires um or or allows high school students to who take a statewide assessment um outside of the school. um that they can they must be allowed to submit that score to us and we are required to then record that score um in their file and report that to the state board of education. Um, and if a student uh does opt to take the statewide assessment from somebody other than the

008school district and they do so before we administer the statewide assessment, we must allow them to opt out of our assessment. >> Okay. Okay. Policy 5401. Um this um arose from House Bill 2779 which amended Arizona revised statutes um section 8303 and uh section 15249.08 08. And this these statutory changes require school districts to immediately notify parents, legal guardians. Um, okay, that's not showing up. And, uh, custodians if law enforcement takes a juvenile into temporary custody uh, after we confirm with law enforcement that the notification doesn't pose a risk to the student or the investigation. So the proposed policy changes just reflect this statutory change. 5402 came from Senate Bill 1493 which amended Arizona revised statute section um 8530.08 and um 15160.03. 03. And this um this law clarified that when a Department of Child

009Safety case worker comes to the school that they may be required to show us their official um DCS identification and a valid driver's license uh when they come for a visit, but um also states that schools are prohibited from keeping a digital or physical copy of the caseworker's personal information. So again, this policy revision is just requested to um incorporate these statutory changes. Policy 5404 came from Senate Bill 1440. And this bill amended many different statutes in Arizona revised statute. And um the the reason for this is that as a state Arizona is replacing the phrase epinephrine auto injector with the term epinephrine delivery system in all of our laws to make the language technology neutral. Um so auto injectors uh refers specifically to Epipens. And since the FDA um in recent years has been

010reviewing and approving different types of epinephrine delivery systems such as needleless pre-filled syringes and nasally administered devices. This new definition would cover um any type of of device. So our um policy is just we're just asking you to re revise it in several places to uh just change that epinephrine auto injector to epinephrine delivery system. And last but not least, policy 5410 uh came from House Bill 2540, which um created a new statute, a Arizona revised statute section 15-120.07. This uh law becomes effective on August 1st, 2026, and it requires school districts that provide athletic instruction in grades 9 through 12 and that sponsor athletic teams or sports programs to have automated external defibrillators on each campus and at each event including all practices, trainings, and comp competitions. Uh so this uh policy revision incorporates

011this uh requirement which will go into effect before we know it. I am done with my presentation and I will open it up to the board for discussion questions. >> Thank you Miss King. and we'll follow with our uh format we've been doing and we'll start with board member Hudson and then move along. And Mrs. Benson is virtual so we will take her after Miss Hutchinson. [Music] >> Thank you, President Davis. Uh I'm sure I'm joined by my colleagues who attended the ASBA law conference that we were glad that we did so and that we understand the policies that much better. And I'm really glad I attended the session on the school board's role in special education. Um since this is a this is a hefty lift here. I have I do have a number

012of questions. Um I'm going to start with policy 1-302. the first one. Um I'm I'm a little um confused as to the idea of of a three member advisory committee where one member is a governing board member. Can you can you provide an example of what that would look like so I have an idea of of what this could possibly be this change in in the in the policy via the legislation. >> Dr. Stum is looking at me as if he has an example because I'm my guess is this is something you would see more typically in a smaller uh school district, maybe a more rural. So, I've seen this in other small school districts uh that don't have as many people to lean on as Mesa Public Schools does to to form committees of

013the governing board. Uh but to to us, it would be like one of you serving on a PADDAC committee, right? And with two other members would be the example here or one of you serving on CCAP. We don't do that here in Mesa Public Schools. So, Mrs. Benson, any questions. >> Okay. Thanks, >> Mrs. Walden. We'll come back to Mrs. Benson. Mrs. Walden. >> Yeah. I've got um a couple of questions on um 5-201. So, I I know there was legislation that said you can't teach about 911, which here we are today until 7th grade. Um does anybody know like is there some backstory on this that that this change came about? U Madame President, Mrs. involved in. It doesn't say that we can't teach um instruction around K through 6 on 911. It just

014um changed the requirement. We used to be required to teach um K through 12 and now the requirement is 7 through 12. But it doesn't preclude us from um providing instruction or information about 911 to K6. As far as why or how it came about, I I can't answer that. >> All right. Um, well, that's good because my my daughter had a really good lesson last year and I thought maybe she wasn't going to get another one till seventh grade. So, thanks for clarifying that. I hope teachers find age appropriate material to find meaningful ways to share that bit of history with their students. And then I see they're adding the standard day Okconor celebration. Uh the board is well at least since I've been on the board probably before we do a proclamation for

015constitution week which I think is excellent but there is no legal requirement to teach on constitution day is there I I didn't see one in our policy right so in in Mesa public schools we've always had um constitution week and we've always shared resources with teachers and absolutely encouraged that and we are um absolutely um having our teachers our principles schools have a plan with their teachers around Constitution Day. So, that's been a practice in Mesa public schools for a long time um and aligns directly as the legislation occur um indicated with our social studies standards. All right, that's great. I'm glad we do that. I was surprised that there's something mandating like standard day Okconor Day, but I was expecting to see something too about constitution, but if it's in the standards, that's that's

016excellent. Um my other one is on 5-203. So, I've had some parents of with students in special ed that have reached out out to me and other board members about a change that's moving, let me get this uh moving from 15 days to 45 days for uh for the review of the IEP. And what's that about? So that um is one of the cleanups that the trust is recommending. Um, Arizona State Board of Education rules have since I believe 2009 had that 45day uh, school day timeline in rule and it was in our previous policy manual and somehow um, the trust lawyers and your lawyer um, did not notice that they had erroneously put 15 days in there. So, this is just cleaning that um time frame up to uh to be consistent with state

017board of education rule. >> Okay. So, it's so it's this it's the state board and it's been that way for a while. >> It has. Yes. >> Okay. Um All right. Thank you. Because that that clears that up. There's, you know, a lot of concern that we're sort of weakening the IEP review process. seems like we're we're not going to be we're not in practice going to be changing anything that we've been doing. Probably see Justin Wings nodding his head. >> I uh I was at the Department of Education when this rule change came about and um it was not something that had um a lot of support from um a lot of people because it's 45 school days is a a quarter. A school quarter. >> Yeah, it's a long time. I can tell

018you I've uh consulted with our special education department and that is certainly not a practice in Mesa public schools. Our practice is to convene IEP meetings when a parent requests one as soon as possible and to not delay be because we can. >> Okay, that's excellent. Thank you so much. And then um the last one I had is on assessments. Did you say it's a 5-216.01 on assessments? I I I didn't write it down. Did you say this one was changed because of a legislative change? >> Yes. >> Okay. Because I think before I always remembered there was an AG opinion that parents couldn't opt out of statewide assessments and now it looks like they can or opt out of the nationally recognized assessment. It says >> yeah they can opt out of uh taking

019the assessment administered by the school but they would still have to submit results of of an assessment that they had been administered by someone else. >> Okay. So the the parent could choose a different assessment if or no not a different assessment. They have to choose one of the assessments offered by the state of Arizona for college readiness. I think it's only actually the ACT and SAT. >> Yes, our our staff attended a webinar last week and the Arizona Department of Education is still working out a lot of the logistics around that. Um, but it will be an approved state assessment, which for us is the ACT. And a caveat around that is there are some other vendors that offer the ACT outside of our school district, but not all students opt in when they

020take those assessments to the writing portion. And our state assessment requires the writing portion. So, it will need to require uh the students will need to participate in the writing portion also if they decide to take that outside of our school district. So, um we are still awaiting the information from the Arizona Department of Ed on that process and what that looks like. They're they're working on that. >> Okay. So, they can they can opt out of the school administering it, but they'd have to find a different vendor to do it and still do the writing portion. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. Yeah, those are all my questions. Okay. I just wanted to kind of follow up. I appreciated um board member Walden's questions about policy 5203. So, we have had that policy in

021place of the 45 days for about how long, Miss King? >> Uh since July one of Oh, >> before that before this error. Um, well, the policy originated in 1986, but I would say that my recollection is that the rule was changed in 2009 and became effective in 2010. So then that would have been in Mesa Public Schools policy manual starting in 2010. >> Okay, which I'm sure was like just yesterday, 2010. That feels like it feels like it was, but it's not. Um, so about 15 years and the revision came. We were addressing an error that had been made as we transferred over from the ASBA policies to the trust policy and we're changing it now to align with state statutes. I noticed in the the policy that the trust that we've been following

022for last year said 15 to 30 days. It kind of has this aspirational language of we'd like to do it within 15 but up to 30. Is it possible to include aspirational language in ours to to kind of address this scrier's error where we we understand, you know, as a parent of special needs kids, I understand how important it is that we are addressing this and we know that in practice we really do address it. I would love to see if we can get that put in policy to maybe say there's a window. We're going to really attempt to do it within 15 days and then in accordance to state law, we're going to no later than 45. That is absolutely something the board should should discuss. Um could do that during first reading to

023see if that's uh something that all board members are interested in and I'd be happy to put some language together for you because you can always um do do more than the statute requires just not less. And so, um, I think that kind of language, I mean, I I'm just looking over at Mrs. Baka to see I'm sure she would um be happy with language of that nature as well. >> And then I just had one other quick question. Dr. Strong, what are the implications of not having our students take ACT tests on our campuses? Uh, so there's several. Uh, I'll give you a couple that come to my mind right away. If Dr. Eus wants to give you a couple from her lens, that's great. First, if they choose to take the ACT with

024an outside vendor, uh, and it includes writing, we'll post that on our transcript, but that doesn't mean that that data makes its way all the way up to Arizona Department of Education for accountability purposes. This is something we'll push back with on Arizona Department of Education, I'm sure, in the upcoming meetings and say, "Listen, the kid took the test on their own." And, you know, often times to, not to overgeneralize too much, but oftentimes the kids that are taking it the test on their own happen to be high scorers on exams. They pass, right? That's why they're inspired enough to take it on their own. And so you can imagine pass rates on the state exam that's administered during what they call national testing days uh would may drop from an AD perspective because if

025we have an influx of kids that are posting on the transcript from their own testing experience uh and then so you could have our proficiency rates drop even though they don't really drop the kids are just taking it on an outside uh uh test and then that could affect accountability which is A through athletic grade. So there's several little downstream things uh to this. Those are two that come to the top of my mind. Dr. Eless, >> I just had a clerical on the policy 5-42 down in the first sentence. It says when a DSC instead of a DCS. Anyway, just a typo there. >> Thank you to my Um, and then Miss Benson is having some audio issues. I'm just waiting to see if she has any questions. Um, Miss Hutchinson, I know you

026had some others, so if you want to go ahead. >> Thank you, President Davis. Um on policy 5-203 um it says that the district must publish on its website and make available to parents legal guardians its procedures related to requesting an evaluation for special education including the district's points of contact. Okay. So, I went on the on the website and what I could find was on the special ed page. Um, if I clicked on childfind, I could get the evaluation information. However, not all parents are going to know what childfind means. I know because I went to the ASBA law conference and I I said, "Oh, that's what that means." Okay. So, I'm wondering, can we make that a little bit clearer on our website so that um we are in compliance with state statute?

027>> Yes, after Casey and I um reviewed this, that is our plan. So, that should be shortly. >> Super. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um my second question is really quick, Dr. Stum, I just want to make sure I heard you correctly. Um on 5-216.01, 01 um nationally recognized assessment. You did say SAT. Did you mean to say SAT or is it just the ACT which is the nationally recognized assessment? >> So Dr. E is has been attending the AD meetings and they've been recent and so she said ACT only. I would not be shocked if at meetings there's a development that the SATs also allowed. Uh but uh as you can see the AD is figuring out this whole new state statute uh and how to implement it throughout the course of this

028year. So I don't know if there's was there any feedback from the group when you were in there about the SAT? >> Um not right now. They're actually discussing at AD even what cut scores might look like for the ACT. Um it's also important to note that the Department of Education is going out for a request for proposal for a new state assessment as well. So, I think it's a little bit in flux at the moment, but they um haven't mentioned SAT as of yet. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for the clarification. That's going to impact our half debate process on assessment. So, that's why I asked the question. Thank you. Um and then I have one last question. 5-41. Um and Miss King, I'm going to ask you, would you

029please um define a peace officer? Um, exactly what law enforcement official is considered to be a peace officer? Could you could you define this for us? >> I would have to go look into state statute. >> Okay. >> Um, can we do that on FAQ >> so that it's um that it's um um available to everyone? Um because the the the term peace officer is used quite a bit in 5-41 and yet I'm not quite sure. We have so many different forms of law enforcement. I'm not I'm not quite sure who who this would apply to. Um and and it's of course um impacting parent rights to be notified um who the who the peace officer is and who isn't a peace officer. So, I think it it um reflects our intention to make sure

030that parents are notified before a student is even interviewed. >> Is that a definition that the the board would like included in our our definition uh tab in the in the policy man? >> I I would I would like it. Yes. >> Okay. We Yeah, we can always add definition to that. >> Thank you for that suggestion. I appreciate it. Thank you, President Davis. Thank you. I just got Miss Benson's question. She has one for policy 1-401 on um she said, "Are we offering sex ed on any campuses? If yes, is the opt out optin policy clear for parents?" >> No, Madam President, we do not offer that program anymore. It was um sunseted a couple years ago. >> Thank you. Another one um in from Mrs. been in 5-203 under the evaluation check section

031should this isn't a change however it says that evaluation should be done in their home language does this apply to any cognitive testing which should which would fall under the sped umbrella >> yes we would test in their language >> okay thank you I have another one but Mrs. Walden, do you have any others? >> No. >> Traffy. Okay. There's another one. Mrs. Benson has all um policy 5-410. Can you share the implications of needing an AED at all sporting events? And when does this take effect and are we prepared for this component? >> August 1st, 2026 is when it takes effect. Uh the implications are we're going to have to train a lot of people on how to use the AED components uh and make sure our coaches are trained and our sports medicine

032people are trained. And there's a cost implication. The state uh put away $500,000 in budgetary authority uh to uh apply for a grant. That grant just was released uh on a first come first- serve basis. Whenever you have a first- come first- serve basis grant come out, it means they know they don't have enough money to do this throughout the state. So uh I will tell you right now we are already in the application phase. We got the email on the day of our grant writer was working on the grant to try to make sure the grant resources from the AD are paying for our ads but it will be a first come first- serve basis. So there may be a budgetary impact if we if other people get their grants in first. There may

033be a budgetary impact on the district. So and then operationally these things take time to maintenance and the batteries run out and you have to change everything. So, it's a whole structure of making sure that you have the right people informed on when's the expiration date on the batteries, when's the expiration date on the pads, and all the things that are involved in the AD components. >> Do we currently have these on our campuses now? >> Yes. The issue is not with having these on our campus. The issue is with the uh amount of AEDs that we need on our campus to fit this new state statute. Oh, so we will have to buy more obviously to go with this. Okay, thank you. >> Any other questions, board members? Cameo, did you wave at me?

034>> No. >> Oh, no more. Thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you, Miss King. Appreciate that. >> Um, >> all right. So, this will end our study session. Do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? Second. >> Any discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? I was seconded by Rachel. Cameo, just a note, it was seconded by Rachel Walden. >> With a vote of five, the meeting is adjourned at 5:36 p.m. We will be back at 6 o'clock for the regular meeting. Thank you. [Music] Glores. [Music] Glory. [Music] We [Music] stor [Music] I honest [Music] with you. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] That's [Music] why you [Music] I see [Music] myself. [Music] Are you [Music] ready? [Music] [Applause] [Music] It's all [Music]

035for you. quiet [Music] where I want to be here with you. All of us until I was sad and lonely was hon. tragic joke with you. Oh my [Music] tragic joke. with you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] You see me draw your way. But if you get caught underachior your toes into his sink into the ocean and for you. She's Holy she [Music] will reach the dead. by the warm [Music] exhale and see [Music] To your [Music] You've always singong. [Music] Oh, she's she's [Music] [Applause] Do I have a Oh, there we are. That was absolutely beautiful. We um just give us one second to get set up. They ask you to Okay, we would like to call this meeting to order at 6:03. Um, we do have a board member that is virtually. Board member Benson

036is attending virtually tonight, so we'll hear from her periodically. Uh, quick reminder, any citizen who wishes to speak on an agenda item must complete the sign-in sheet in the lobby prior to the public comment tonight on the board agenda. And we are so thankful for the Mountain View Choir for starting us off tonight. It was absolutely beautiful and I wish we could just have you keep going all night because you are way prettier and way better than what's about to happen. So, um, we also are grateful to have our JOTC from Dobson here to present the colors. And so, tonight we will start off with a present presentation of colors followed by the pledge, a statement read by the Mountain View Choir with a moment of silence to honor those who lost their lives, and

037then the national anthem national anthem. Please join me in standing. And cadets, take it away. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you all for being with us this evening and for giving us the opportunity to share this performance with you. As we close, we recognize the significance of today, September 11th, a date that forever changed our nation. On this day, 2,977 lives were lost in an unimaginable tragedy that touched every corner of our country and beyond. As we gather here tonight in community and service, we hold in our hearts the memory of those who were lost, the bravery of the

038first responders, and the strength of the families and survivors who continue to carry that legacy forward. May we never forget, and may we continue to find unity and purpose in moments like this. Thank you. Please join me in a brief moment of silence. By the [Music] We [Music] rockless. The bones bursting in [Applause] [Music] through the night [Music] of the Home of [Music] Thank you. You may be seated. And thank you again, Dobson, JOTC, and Mountain View Choir. It was wonderful having you here. And thank you to those teachers and parents that helped get your children here tonight. We know it's busy and we appreciate you taking the time to be here. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We will begin tonight's uh meeting with a video on governing board procedures and then I will

039read a statement. Welcome to the Mesa Public Schools governing board meeting. We appreciate your interest in the district. The five elected governing board members serve 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 discuss and vote on matters that are on the agenda for tonight's meeting. Agendas are posted a 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. The public may speak on any item of business on the agenda that the board discusses or requires the board to take action. If you wish to comment on an action or discussion item, please complete a request to address the board form before

040the item is discussed. The form is located in the lobby. Members of the public will be given a maximum of 3 minutes to speak once recognized by the governing board president. Please state your name before you speak. We ask that all speakers show respect and courtesy to others. During the second regular meeting of each month, the agenda will include a call to the public, which is an opportunity to speak to the governing board about a school district matter that is not on the agenda. Please submit a request to address the board form to participate in the call to the public. If you would like the board to consider adding an item to a future agenda, you may submit your request in writing to the board at least five working days before that meeting. The superintendent

041or governing board president will consider your request. Thank you for your attendance and involvement in tonight's meeting. >> This is an official governing board meeting. The board has important business 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 listen. Be kind. Verbal harassment, abusive or foul language, intimidation, and disruption have no place in the 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

042with the conduct of this meeting, you will be asked to leave so the board can conduct the business of the district. We'll now move on to our governing board calendar. Dr. Stum, if you'll take us through that. Madame President, the governing board calendar is as follows. September 17th, 2025 at 5:00 pm at the Mesa Arts Center. We'll have a joint meeting with the city of Mesa. You can arrive as governing board members around 4:30 if you desire. September uh September 18th, our high school and junior high students will begin the activate process at MCC. It's the first of three meetings and they'll be activating a lot of assessment issues happening throughout the district, including how to maximize our performance on state standardized test scores. September 24th, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. in the boardroom, first community

043uh we'll have our first community budget meeting. This community budget meeting is uh something led by Mr. more and he will be guiding us through the process of uh uh informing the community about school finances and then that will lead into if we happen to be blessed with the opportunity uh to generate capital dollars from the local public here uh we'll that budget committee meeting will help us uh keep ourselves accountable to spending those capital dollars according to our community needs. September 25th, 2025, 5:00 p.m. study session uh and a 6 p.m. regular board session. October 6th through the 10th in 2025. We have fall break. It is already approaching us that quickly. No meeting on October 9th. And then we had to change the meeting so everyone knows uh or add add a meeting

044on October 14th because our annual financial report is due before October 15th and it's got to be board approved before October 15th. So there will be a special board meeting on October 14th for primarily the annual financial report. October 23rd, 2025, we have a 5 pm study session and 6 pm regular board meeting. That concludes the governing board calendar for the next two months. >> Thank you, Dr. Stum. On to the uh most the best part of the agenda is always our recognition section and updates. So, I'm going to turn the time over to um Miss Snder and she will get us started. Great. Waiting. Are we doing we're doing recognitions first? Okay. At Mace Public Schools, we know our staff and students are the heart of everything we do. It's their dedication and talents

045that truly set our district apart. As a reminder, we have a new process for recognitions. We'll ask honores to stand from their seats to be recognized. We'll then take a brief break during which honores will have the opportunity to take a a photo with the governing board. And just to clarify, this is both Are we doing find out what's inside first? It went to that. Okay. Um and during which honores will have the opportunity to take a photo with the governing board. This includes both recognitions and and school spotlight. So, if you're here for recognitions, you'll wait. And if you're here for school spotlights, you'll wait until the very end and we'll let you know that when. >> President Davis, members of the board, tonight, uh, we're very proud to recognize Mountain View Senior Maddox

046Williams. I have not met this young man. Is Maddox here this evening. All right. [Applause] Matt Maddox and his partner won the North America, Central America, Caribbean, U18 Beach Volleyball qualifier in the Dominican Republic over the summer uh and qualified for the uh FIVB World Championships. Maddox, we're just so proud of you and all you've done in the Beach Volleyball Arena, and we're very proud that you are a Mountain View senior this year and graduating from Mountain View High School. Round of applause for Maddox. Now, if you're hold we do want you to stay for pictures, so just hold on a second. We're going to do our school spotlight uh school spotlight next. >> All right. Our school spotlight of the month program is designed to provide our community with an inside look at our

047schools. In addition to a video showcasing the spotlight school, we will honor a classified staff member, a certified staff member, and a student from that school. This month's spotlight school is the K8 STEM Academy at Red Mountain Ranch. Chad, can you please roll the video? [Music] Well, there's a lot of like good kids that are nice and smart and it's I would say it's pretty easy to make friends. The teachers are awesome. like they're really good at teaching. They're really understanding and we're great listeners. [Music] >> Here is just nice cuz it's smaller. Everyone knows each other by name. I've been here since kindergarten, so I've gotten to know the principal and a lot of different classmates. I really like the music teacher. He's really nice. Really fun. Like we did keyboards. We did some

048guitar. We do really well at partnerships. We are good at working together. Everyone in our school is just so kind to everyone. >> Here we go. >> My favorite place to be when I am there is the thinker space. There's a lot of like cool things and it's just two big rooms. You do your projects there and it's really cool to be in. >> I doll, which is Lego robots is like one of my favorite things to do here. >> Wait, what? There's the space shuttle simulator, like a model of a space shuttle, and it's really cool cuz you can just like go into the room. Last year, there was an SEP capsule transfer project. We had to take this capsule. We had to transfer it from here to Houston, Texas to the space center

049there. And it was really fun cuz there was a lot of important lessons learned. Everyone here is amazing. And I think a lot of people should come here. We we were out at KT ST ST ST ST ST ST ST ST ST ST STEM Academy last week with our academic team, our academic directors and our leaders on the academic side and we saw ph phenomenal learning experiences happening throughout the 24 classrooms that we toured. Uh the K STEM Academy at Red Mountain Ranch wants to recognize some people now. Uh, and the first person we'd like to recognize is music teacher Melissa Mel. If you'd please stand. Melissa, round of applause. [Applause] [Music] Melissa is the only employee who helped open Red Mountain Ranch School that's remaining at the school and teaching still. Her passion for

050teaching and music has a wonderful impact on countless students. She often works hard behind the scenes and her positive attitude leaves a lasting impression on everyone she meets. Next, we'd like to recognize instructional assistant Kathy Adam. [Applause] What makes Kathy so special is her willingness to wear many hats around campus. You can find her supporting students in the cafeteria, on the playground, or in the classroom, always with a smile. She's a true asset to the school, always ready to lend a hand with a positive attitude and a wealth of knowledge. Her colleagues and students see her as an exceptional representative of the school community. Thank you, Kathy, for everything you do. And finally, fifth grade student Roland Pierce. Where's Roland at? [Applause] Roland, keep standing. Keep standing. Roland has been a part of the Kate

051STEM Academy community since first grade. He's incredibly dedicated to his schoolwork, always using the design thinking process, which is out throughout the Kate STEM Academy, to tackle challenges and taking great pride in every project and assignment that he completes. He's an incredible friend to his classmates. That's an important characteristic. And his wonderful sense of humor makes him a joy to be around. Roland truly represents the spirit of our student body. A student who's dedicated and works hard every single day. Thank you, Roland, for everything you do for the kids at Red Mountain. We'd like anyone from K8 STEM uh K8 STEM Academy at Red Mountain Ranch Elementary to please stand right now, including Principal BCOT and anyone else from that community, including people that support the people that we just honored and recognized. Please stand.

052We'd like to give you a round of applause. [Music] [Applause] Thank you for all the work you do to live into the Mesa promise that we know each kid by name, serving by strength, and need, and get her ready for college, career, and community. You're so appreciated, and we need you to hear that over and over again. We are now going to take a brief break. The governing board members going to come up here, uh, governing board members will come up front. Maddox, if you want to come down, members who got honored tonight, if you'd like to come down, we'd love to take photos of you during this brief break. Thank you all for being here. [Applause] Uh, that's awesome. >> Yeah. Stand right here and then we'll get yours. Okay. Oh, did you shake

053their hand? Go shake their hand. I'm sorry. Anyone else? rolling. All right. Don't put danger. You're doing great. >> Yeah, >> you're good. Rolling. All right. Ready? [Applause] Thank you for coming and celebrating. Enjoy your celebrations outside the boardroom. We'll give just a minute and Miss Snder is going to continue on here. Miss Snider, take it away. >> All right. Can I get the the slide deck up for the find out what's inside, please? There we go. All right. Well, I am thrilled to again be given the opportunity to share all the great things that are going around Mace Public Schools and give you a look of what's going on inside. >> I don't have a clicker. I just realized that. >> All right. Today, as as we all know, today is a day of

054remembrance of the horrific attack on our country 24 years ago. I'm going to start by sharing a few of the ways our schools reflected and honored that memory of the memory of that day. This morning at Mesa High, every JOT cadet gathered to raise the flag as the Mesa Choir performed the national anthem. The entire school paused together to honor the lives lost on 911. A powerful moment of unity, respect, and remembrance. Westwood students, staff, and community members came together to honor 911. After the national anthem, in a moment of remembrance, they climbed the 2200 steps in the stadium in tribute to the the courage and sacrifice that that happened that day. Mountain View Mountain View students gathered in the performing arts center to hear firsthand stories of 911 from Chris Woolly, who was working

055in Manhattan on the day of the attacks. On 911, thousands of airline passengers were diverted to Canada for several days. If you've ever seen the play Come From Away, you may be familiar with this story. Leslie Davis, the mother of a fifth grader at Whittier, was or sorry, of a fifth grade teacher at Whittier, was one of these diverted passengers. She spoke to the class about her experience during 911 when her airline was taken to Canada and shared how Unity was embarked on her journey with hundreds of other Americans. All right, now shifting to some celebratory news. Two Skyline High School educators, Miss Marta Connelly, who's an English teacher, and Miss Jessica Moore, who is a counselor, have been honored with Yale's 2025 educator award for their outstanding support in guiding students toward high achievement.

056They were nominated for this award by recent Skyline grad Elizabeth Cuban Mestre, who is currently a freshman at Yale. Collision experts along with community partners generously donated school supplies and treasure box items to LOL Elementary. At the start of the school year, leading the effort was Ruben Valenuela Felix, a business developer, manager at Collision Experts, and a former L student leader, exemplifying the spirit of giving back to Mace Public Schools. Mayor Mark Freeman celebrated the city of Mesa's recent recognition of the 2025 Wand Found Foundation Mayor's Challenge for Water Conver Conservation with the KUR Center for Agra Science fourth graders. Students learned about water conservation from representatives of Wland. Each student received blue light glasses made from recycled plastic water bottles and even got a visit from everyone's favorite mascot, Wayne Drop. Wayne with a

057W. IKEA gracious graciously remodeled Emerson's teachers lounger of the summer. This remodel was actually sparked by a student who years ago was obsessed with IKEA and wrote to them to visit her their school. IKEA visited the campus and now their teachers can enjoy a beautiful and peaceful teachers lounge. I had the privilege of uh being there last week for the business administrators meeting and it is absolutely beautiful and very zen. Great vibes. And that concludes tonight's find out what's inside. [Music] Thank you, Miss Snder. And my legs are filling the 2200 steps this morning at Westwood as I sit here. I was good till I sat down. Um but it was a great morning and I appreciate all the efforts that were made at our schools um today and appreciate again Mountain View and Dobson

058being here with us tonight. Uh at this time we are now into public comment. Um Miss Chaffy, do we have anyone signed up to speak? >> We have one person who has signed up to speak. >> All right, we have one signed up. So you have three minutes and Miss Chaffy will lead us through this agenda item. >> Yes, since we have just one speaker today, we will call Mark Low up to the podium. family of low first name Mark Madame President board members all when I read the 972025 edition of the Mesa Trabune in part we know there's a potential to have some efficiencies within our administration building space as as well as look had options to potentially repurpose, lease or sell some of these buildings and then consolidate, more said, adding that long-term

059goal is to use these facilities as efficiency efficiently as possible and keep money in the classrooms. Because details matter and to achieve transparency and clarity, I have authored two public records requests to examine the purchase sale agreement or leasing agreement for Mesa Public Schools District Office located at 63 East Main Street, Mesa, Arizona 85201 and Mesa Public Schools District Office located at 1025 North Country Club Mesa, Arizona 85201 to determine those whether those offices ought to be given up and relocated to conserve resources that could then be spent on keeping money in the classrooms. I have a couple of questions regarding the efforts to remove the portable classrooms. One, how do these units how will these units be disposed of exactly and in detail? Details matter most. Two, has there been any effort made to

060locate willing buyers? If yes, what are they? When one man's ceiling is another man's floor, it's entirely possible, if not probable, that the taxpayer funded portable units being considered for removal will have value to someone. And a fearless search for a buyer or other worthy recipient before contractors who feed at the taxpayer funded trough begin their march to remove portable units would be best and the highest use of taxpayers resources. If there is work product that addresses my questions, please provide it publicly on your website forth with. If there is no such work product regarding the highest and best use of taxpayer funds, why not? Why do taxpayer funded employees at Mesa Public Schools have a history of not answering thoughtful requests for information? I'm still waiting for a detailed explanation of how exactly federal

061CO 19 funds were spent. More recently, the identity of the Mesa Public Schools architect and project manager for the office security upgrade at Hail Elementary School. Unanswered questions addressed to public servants demonstrate a belligerance that is unacceptable to thinking men, women, and children. That is something elected volunteer board members ought to think long and hard about. The truth always comes out in the end. Thank you. Madam President, that concludes our public comment for today. >> Thank you. We will now um 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. Thank you. Um, do I have a a motion to approve the personnel request including the addendum? >> So moved. >>

062Do I have a second? >> Second. >> 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. Tonight, we do have one staff member to recognize in memoriam. Dr. Stum, I'll turn it over to you. >> Davis. >> President Davis. Mr. Bryant. Members of the board, Mr. Brian Bennett drove a bus for Mesa Public Schools for a short time, just over a year, but had a big impact on our students and staff. He had a ready smile for everyone, every child that came onto his bus and would always strive to wish each person he came into contact with a good day. He will be extremely missed. >> Thank you. And our thoughts are with the Bennett family at this time.

063I just want to do a sound check really quick on Mrs. Benson. Can you or is your voice Can we hear you? >> Yes, I can hear you. >> Oh, yay. Okay. We were having technical difficulties during our study session, so I just wanted to make sure we were good to go for tonight. Thank you. >> Yeah, that was actually my my technological ineptitude. >> No problem. We're glad we got it going. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve the qualified evaluators for Mesa Public Schools for the 202526 school year? >> 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 yays, we have approved the qualified evaluators for Mesa Public Schools for

064the 202526 school year. Moving on now to our consent agenda. All items will be considered as a group and will be approved with one motion. If a board member would like to spotlight or comment on a consent agenda item, please do so after 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. Will you please take our vote? With a vote of five days, we have approved the consent agenda items according to the recommended action for each item. Do I have a motion to approve the proclamation citizenship citizenship day and constitution week? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Seeing none,

065Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five yays, we have approved the proclamation citizenship day and constitution week. Mrs. Traffy, board clerk, will you please read the proclamation for us? >> Absolutely. Proclamation citizenship day and constitution week. Convention delegates ratified the US Constitution on September 17th, 1787. This remarkable document bears witness to the wisdom of our nation's founders. To continue this legacy, we honor the Constitution and promote its principles. Whereas the United States celebrates the oldest written Constitution in the world, and whereas Mesa Public Schools teaches students to respect and uphold the Constitution, civil rights, and responsibilities. And whereas the Constitution's promise of freedom and opportunity has been a steadfast rock of national strength and stability, the governing board and superintendent of Mesa Public Schools do hereby proclaim September 17th

066as Citizenship Day and September 17th through 23rd as Constitution Week. Thank you so much. We'll now move into our action items. Do I have a motion to approve the resolutions to to approve to making square footage adjustments naming and SFOB record corrections? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? And we'll start with if uh board member Hudson has anything and go to then Mrs. Benson. I don't have anything at this time, Madame President. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Benson. Do you have any questions, comments? >> Um, I not have any questions either. Um, most of these portables have been removed already. Correct. We're just updating the >> Sorry, I was shaking my head. That is correct. I forgot you were on uh uh remote uh access today.

067I was shaking my head. Yes. Oh, thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Walden. Any questions? >> Yes. I was just going to comment as well that the reason why there's so many, I think, is a kind of a compliance issue where there's up things that have been reduced, but the updates weren't made and voted on by the board. Um, I did have a a quick question uh about about the portables because I know that uh I remember when we started removing them, there's multiple layers of government in removing the portables and it took a lot longer than I would have thought to uh remove those portables, but because of all the sort of onion layers of government involved, it's not really up to the district in the disposal of those necessarily. Is is that correct?

068Or can someone speak to that? >> That is correct. And Mr. Kramer is the local expert on that. member Walden. Absolutely. There are multiple permits that we have to receive. There's multiple processes that we have to follow. Um, you know, doing environmental testing and make sure the work site is safe, making sure that we disconnect all of the we call dry and wet utilities, things like um domestic water, sewer, electrical, um fire hydrants, um your your all of your different building systems all have to be um turned off, so to speak, prior to that work activity. So it's it is a very uh processoriented task and it does take time. >> Right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> This is Jaffy. Not a question. Just a statement that I've appreciated the acknowledgement um by the

069current superintendency that our previous superintendents have made smart decisions and expanding the square footage that we needed when we needed it. as someone who went to school in the 90s and 2000s here in Mace public schools and to know that we're setting ourselves up for success and I appreciate that we've been proactive and all the work that's gone into this. >> Thank you. And I just echo that and also just I appreciate cleaning things up and getting it all organized and I know that's quite the task in keeping us all up to date. So, thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five, we have approved the resolutions to approve to making square footage adjustments naming an SFOB record corrections. Do I have a

070motion to approve formally changing the name of Red Mountain Center for Early Education to Sun Valley Complex? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? I'll second. >> Any discussion? Starting with uh Miss Hutchinson. >> Yes. I have I have one question. Um it is now a district administrative space. Who is being housed at this facility? >> Mr. Kramer, uh we'll have more details. It's it's it's served a variety of purposes over the last several years since moving preschools to sites. I believe at the current point in time we're currently shifting a custodial training center correct over to the Sun Valley Complex. I think a little bit of storage is there at Sun Valley Complex. Do you want to add anything else? >> We do have one portable that is being um under a

071facility use agreement. I'm not sure who the the the tenant is, so to speak, but we are getting income from one of those portables as well >> because it it is a portable campus. I mean, there isn't there really isn't any brick and mortar. It's it's it that was a that was a school that was completely built around portables. So, um at this point, we're still using those portables. That's correct. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mrs. Benson. Any questions? >> Just a real quick one. Will there be a um plan to eliminate these if we're not actually effective using them? I heard I heard um we're using them for training. Uh one tenant is um renting one of the portables. Is there a thought to and part of our plan to eliminate

072these portables in their entirety at some point? >> Mrs. Benson, everything depends on enrollment. Our number one goal with partnerships is to partner with ourselves. And so if enrollment happens to open up space on school campuses where the custodial uh training center could move under brick and mortar and we could eliminate portables, we certainly will explore that option. But as of right now, there's not enough space on a single campus underneath roof underneath within brick and mortar to to house that. So uh we will play that as it comes. And then our first step always with these portables in these types of situations, it's harder on a school campus because they're difficult to lease because you don't want to give access to third party people during a school day, safety and security issues. But on

073this campus, we'll try to lease these things out and make make revenue from them because this is not on a school campus. It's its own entity. So, we'll explore all those options as we move forward. Yes. >> Thank you, Mrs. Walden. Thank you. Yeah, I'm glad that we're being creative and and reconfiguring spaces needed to be financially effective. Are there any costs that would be associated like a marquee change that might come to the board for approval for costs or a contract? >> We we think we can solve there there's a concrete monument sign um you know low to the ground made of concrete along Sun Valley Parkway at that facility. So we think we can change that from reading on the Red Mountain um center for early ed to Sun Valley with our in-house

074staff. Okay, great. >> Thank you. That was all my questions. >> Thank you, Mrs. Chaffy. >> Thank you. And I know we use this term um partnering partnering with ourselves. Dr. Stum, can you give us an example of what that means for those that don't quite understand what that is? >> Yes. Uh some examples in the current is uh our research and evaluation department used to be housed on the fourth floor of the bank building that's on Main Street. We call the bank bending area. It's our building. Uh it's the administrative services center on Main Street, but it used to be an old bank building. That's why we often call it the bank building. And so we've taken that R& department and we've taken a space at Dobson High School that became available and we've

075housed the R& department there and now we're exploring taking the fourth floor space and leasing it. Mr. Moore is working on a lease component with a with a third party to come in and lease that space to generate revenue off that. That's an example. Partner with ourselves. Partner with ourselves. get our people to into school sites so we can open up other district office space to explore leasing components. Uh and maybe at some point asking the voters if if we should be open to selling land. We have to go out to the voters to sell our properties. It's required in state statute. I'll give you one in the future uh as well. Uh we're standing up these learning communities is the term I think we're starting to trans uh move to. Uh, and with these

076learning communities, we want them to be housed proximal to the communities that they oversee. So, a Skyline learning community, we're going to partner with ourselves and open up space at Skyline who's down in enrollment a little bit uh at in some classroom spaces to office that regional learning community team. And then that also has a big advantage. We don't pay for what we call in in the transportation world as much windshield time. in windshield time is you have someone centralized over on Country Club and they need help out at Brenton Elementary School and you're essentially paying someone an hour to drive there and an hour to drive back to their office. So, uh partnering with ourselves is about taking space that becomes available and looking at our district departments and saying where do these departments

077fit within our school system to get them approximately located to administrative teams at the school sites and students. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Any other discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, please take our vote. With a vote of five years, we have approved formally changing the name of Red Mountain Center for Early Education to Sun Valley Complex. Do I have a motion to approve the age discrepancy students listed? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? Uh this is >> Madame President. Um I have a I have a question. Um so when we approve if if we should approve this um request, could parents actually request early admission? >> They they can request early admission with or without you approving approving this. Okay. >> This is

078just if we early admit them according to our policies and guidelines of early admittance. the state's not going to fund them unless a governing board action occurs. >> Uh so this is just about getting funding from the state for these kids. >> Okay. But how how do we assure that we get the funding from the state for these children that are coming to kindergarten early? Yeah, we we submit we take this board resolution, we submit it to the Arizona school department uh Arizona Department of Education School Finance Division and we say these these students who whose safe numbers you have an executive content were approved by the governing board for early admittance. Uh, one of the this is an issue the AD is trying to clean up because what's happening is there's a lot of

079parents nowadays, not just in Mesa public schools across the state who are early admitting their kids and then asking for the kid to be uh retained uh so they could do a second kindergarten year and the state simply does not want to fund two two kindergarters years in a row at the discretion of the parents. Now, if the educators decide to the teacher and school principal and the governing board, those who have the power to retain students to retain the kid, that's one thing. But uh you know they want to make sure that the boards approve these early admittance so that we understand these kids are getting funded for kindergarten this year and they're not going to get funded for kindergarten again the next year. >> So the approval of the resolution allows us to

080be funded by the state. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Mrs. Benson. >> Um yeah. Uh two real quick questions. Um if we approve this resolution, the kinders that are coming in, we are only funded at um the half day rate for kindergarten. Correct, not full day. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um and then second, I think you might have kind of answered this already, but are we following these um fouryear-olds that are coming in? Uh and the number that we wouldn't they were kindergarten would not recommend for moving on to first grade because we have a whole list of first graders as well. So are they the same? So like the first graders that we see now, are they the kinders that that were on a list last year? And are we seeing that they

081are effectively moving through their kinder year without having to be retained? >> Madame President, member Benson, um this is Dr. East. Yes, we do um follow the progress of those students that enter um kindergarten early. This resolution is also about students who don't turn six by January 1 of their first grade year as well. Um, but we do track progress of early entrance kindergarteners that are following um the screening process. We have a 30-day waiting period when they enroll early as well, so that the team at the school can really um determine if it's in their best interest to remain. Um and so we we do follow along and for the most part we have been really successful in our screening um practices when they do want to enter kindergarten early and they move on

082to first grade. >> Okay. So we are screening along with the parent request. >> Yes, that's correct. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Walden. >> Yes, I have a financial question. So, were we not getting funding before for early students? >> We we were. This is the AD uh adjusting their policies to match state statute and saying, "Hey, we're going to need districts to start following this process." So, yeah, we were getting funded and then LA here's what happened last year. The AD circle back and said, "We need these kids to go to governing board. Uh otherwise, you're not going to get funded next year." So, we've never missed a year of funding. let's put it that way. But the AD is getting better with their processes. >> Okay, that's that makes

083sense. Thank you. And just to um follow up on Mrs. Benson's comments. So you you screen to make sure that it's acceptable for for early admittance and then try to move them on to the next grade. So it's not just like parents taking advantage of skipping preschool and having two years of kindergarten or something. Yes. per our governing board policy and procedures, we have to have a screening process in place um and we review that process um annually and actually made some revisions to it over the past couple of years um in alignment with how our students were as we track their progress. We want to make sure that they're they're ready, prepared, and that our parents really understand um what kindergarten looks like and the standards that that they have to be prepared for.

084And that's good because that was going to be kind of my next question was making sure that parents were informed that if they start early, the expectation is that they move on to the next grade the next year even though they're starting early. >> Yes, that's correct. >> Right. Thank you, >> Mrs. Chaffy. >> No questions. I think that answered all mine. >> Thank you. And I have none either. So, if I see no other questions, um I think we're ready to vote. With a vote of 5 years, we have approved the age discrepancy students listed. Do I have a motion to approve the contract award for $997,236 for Roads Junior High Remodel? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Seconded. >> Thank you, Miss Sedon. Any discussion? >> I um I

085do have I do have a question about the remodel. Um we are remodeling two science classrooms, one art room and one maker space. This is not happening currently. Is that correct? >> What's the timeline, Mr. Kramer? >> We we anticipate being complete with the project by November. um presuming it's that the project is approved tonight. >> Okay. Thank you very much. So my then my second question is my follow-up question is where are our science teachers and our and our art teacher teaching at roads if there if because we gave their space to the Polaris Academy and their space is not ready yet. >> Correct. The uh Polaris team has been extremely gracious uh to allow us to use the existing classrooms until we're complete with our project and then they'll go ahead and switch

086and move into the the brand new modernized um science, art, and m maker space like you said. >> Excellent. Um that's that's good news to hear that that we honor the the learning environment, the learning space, and the the work of those teachers. So I thank you very much. That those are my questions. >> Thank you, Mrs. Benson. I have no questions, Madam President. >> Thank you, Mrs. Walden. Um, >> I don't have questions. I just want to remind the public that we did have a discussion on Polaris and the lease and and that space was previously approved by the board. So, >> thank you, Mr. Chaffy. >> Yeah, just along those same lines, I appreciate that we're looking at proactive ways partnering with ourselves, partnering with community partners to keep our schools open as

087long as we can. >> Agreed. Any other questions, discussion? Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five yays, we have approved the contract award for $997,236 for the Roads Junior High remodel. This next section, we are going into our policies. Um, we will now have a first read of the recommended updates to the policies listed. Miss King was able to go over these with us in the study session. Board members, does anyone have any further questions or comments for the first read of these policies? And I feel bad I always pick on you, Mrs. Hutchinson, but are you okay to start us off? I'm looking through my questions and I believe all my questions have been answered. So, thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity during the

088study session to ask those questions and the followup that you're willing to do as far as definitions are concerned. Thank you. >> Thank you. I do feel like I have lots of extra paperwork up here tonight. So, I apologize if we're a little scattered or I'm scattered. Um, the rest are got it together. Uh, Mrs. Benson, any questions, comments? >> Yes, Madame President. So, um, during the study session, uh, for the I think it's is it 5-speed? Hold on one second. 5-203. Um there was concern with parents uh regarding the 15 days switched to 45 days and in the study session I believe either Dr. Eless or uh Mrs. Baka indicated that um that's been law since I don't remember what they said 88 or 98 uh yet it's not M's practice. So could you

089for clarity sake uh and for um the benefit of our parents that are concerned about this l this uh massive length of time um expansion can you kind of give them an idea of what our typical time frame is uh for reabals I know every case is unique but >> so I believe it's about requesting an IEP meeting is was the the timeline. So when our parents call and reach out to their school and request an IEP, our guidance in our schools are really great about scheduling as soon as possible. So I would say parents would not expect to wait longer than a week to get an IEP meeting scheduled upon their request. We rarely rarely if ever would go 45 days unless there was an extraordinary circumstance. So our teams are very responsive to

090parent requests for meetings. Okay, great. Now is that Mrs. Baka, is that the same if a parent has an issue with their child's IEP or 504 plan being um followed with fidelity? >> Yes. So if a parent wanted to convene the team to raise concerns or issues, again I think our teams are very responsive and providing great customer service and meeting as soon as possible with our families to address their concerns. >> Okay, great. That's good to hear because we we just I think parents when they saw a switch from 15 to 45 um that's a a huge amount of time in a school base. So, I think that they were just pretty concerned with that. Um, and let me think. Uh, I think that is the only additional uh I think that's the only

091additional question that I had as well. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Vincent. Mrs. Walden, >> I don't have any questions. >> Thank you, Mrs. Chaffy. Yeah, I just wanted to clarify in that statement, Miss Baka, that it does say in the this is referring to the review of the IEP. That's where it says in our current policy 15 school days, but not to exceed 30 school days. And as we brought up that that's an error when we when we transferred over the policies. So I would just like to have a brief discussion with board members if we would like to add that aspirational language there given Miss Baka's um confirmation that we often do it within like a week that maybe we can add language that we you know endeavor to review the

092IEP within 14 days not to exceed 45 days. I I would not have a problem with that. I think that is what our team strive to meet and so I would say that would be appropriate >> and I I think that if we say not to exceed 45 days we might want to add a reference that something like as per the Arizona Department of Education that's their time frame that's not our time frame so people don't think that we're trying to make it 45 days and it wouldn't be anyway. >> I think that's a really good clarification. I always like it when we can cite back to the state statute. I think it makes it really clear for our parents. >> I agree. I think anytime we can make sure that it's not our I,

093you know, that it is a state statute and um and so this because this is a first read, this will change and then as we come back for the second read, we will see it again with um the change language. Any other discussion on any of the other policies >> when we um add the definitions? Because I know in the one policy that Mrs. Hutchinson brought up about the definition of a peace officer. Will the will will the definitions document need a vote to for uh or is that something you can just update? Like will that have to be added to an agenda to add a definition? It is attached to the policy manual. So I would you like that brought before the board? Your policy manual does give superintendency the authority to make nonsubstantial

094changes to the policy manual without bringing it back to the board. >> Could you include it in status and then could we have the opportunity to say actually we'd like to have a discussion about this individually as board members? >> That's perfect. Yeah, >> that's fair. Yeah, >> good plan. Thank you. feel like I'm doing stump the lawyer that we just had at um at law conference. We were trying to come up with some good >> I just wanted I wanted to make sure we didn't like miss checking a box or something to get updated. >> Perfect. And I also had a thought like when we have these upstate updates to procedures, how do our staff are how are they informed about these? Did they go out in leadership matters or somehow like that >>

095in several modalities? Yes, that's one modality. Another place that we do it is in management team meetings. We've restructured and retoled all our management team meetings. So, every department has an opportunity in every management team meeting every month to to put in content and that would include student services from Miss Baka's point of view to include that to make sure they're trained. And then I'm sure the coaches and the uh directors at the uh student services level are constantly training people they interact with in the field. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Mrs. Jaffy, >> sorry, I just had one question that made me think of it. Um, Dr. Stum, when we have these types of policies, do the the district staff over these areas like the assistant superintendents right now review the policies? >>

096We're making sign Miss Jeff Chvy, president Davis, members of the board, we're making significant changes in policy review with tight expectations with the executive team that uh, you know, Mrs. King is an exemplary lawyer. uh came to us from Arizona Department of Education with high recommendations. But the people that implement policy is not are not Mrs. Mrs. King. The people that implement policy are all the people at the executive level all the way down to the principal level. And so when we get new policies, our new expectation, Miss King has got a new has a new process involved for this is that those policies go out to the people in charge of those areas. So as an example, uh the sections on procurement would go to Mr. Moore, the sections on student services would go

097to Mrs. Baka the the sections on students and student behaviors would probably come over to the area superintendents right now in our current structure and they are expected to review the documents and advise Miss King on what is our what will match our practice in Mesa public schools and if it doesn't match our practice in Mesa public schools then what in our practice we have to adjust if the board votes on this policy in this manner and so then after they review it it goes back up to Mrs. Mrs. King is how this new proc is going to go and then it comes to the governing board that then puts the onus of these policies and policy revisions in the right place which is on the people that use the policies not on the district

098lawyer. She's just here to make sure that the polic final policy written about is guaranteed to match Arizona administrative code guaranteed to match Arizona department uh sorry Arizona state statute and those and and federal law. So we're we're working on that process this year and I think the executive team understands that it is going to be the expectation that they are the ones uh reviewing these policies. >> Thank you. Any other discussion comments? Thank you all for your help and thank you again for the study session. I we appreciate it. We will now move into ourformational items. Um, tonight our first presentation is on career and technical education, otherwise known as CTE. We're going to follow through our established format with up to 10 minutes 10 minutes for the presentation and up to 10 minutes

099for discussion. Mr. Wing, you're on duty. Thank you for being our timekeeper. And Dr. Eastless, over to you. >> Madam President, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Marlo Lauria, our director of career and technical education. All right. Good evening, Madame President Davis and governing board members. It's my pleasure to come to you and talk to you about career and technical education, otherwise known as one of the many acronyms we have, CTE. Uh this way. Okay, there we go. uh CTE, you know, Mesa has a long history of CTE and some of you might have remember it, but those of us are a little bit older as the roots were in vocational education and um CLA clear back into the early 1900s here in Mesa public schools. But now the new and improved version

100of this is called career and technical education. And really it is about preparing students um beyond just the vocation but really that academic um knowledge, technical skills and employability skills so that our kids um can graduate truly in alignment with our promise right for to be prepared for college career and community. Uh we also know that or what we also do in CTE is that we prepare kids for that future after high school through career exploration, preparation, industry certifications. We have college credit. A lot of our courses can actually be offered for college credit. Um, and one of the most important things that you'll hear within the CTE world and CTE community is that all of our programs are really to lead towards either those livable wages, which parents really like to hear, that their

101students will be economically independent one day, which means they're going to graduate and be on their own. Um, but really all our programs for from the federal uh government down should be leading towards um high wage, high demand, in demand um occupations. um sometimes some of the old CTE programs aren't in necessary alignment with what workforce needs are. And so we um to be responsive to that, we're we're always looking at how do we improve on our programs to be in alignment with uh where the workforce is. And one of the most important things within career and technical education is that there is a lot of federal and state statute that regulates it. And I would per say that it's probably one of the most regulated departments in public education in the state of Arizona

102is career and technical education. So part of what we're going to go through today is to kind of talk through some of those data pieces. I'm not going to read you this slide. Um, I know you guys have had access to it, but the foundation for CTE is through the federal uh Perkins Act. And it's been it's actually one of the first, if not the first federal acts um that actually put federal uh money into local schools um back in the early 1900s that um has been renewed years and years and is now this uh the Carl D. Perkins Act and that regulates all those things that are on your screen. And it also aligns with the data that we actually collect report to the department of education that then reports it to the US

103Department of Education. I just highlighted postsecary in there because there seems to be a misperception that CTE doesn't lead to postsecary but it does. All of our CTE programs align to post-secary options whether that be welding or engineering and etc. Um and then on top of the federal we have um Arizona revised statute that also um regulates CTE programs and that's through the East Valley Institute of Technology which is considered a CED. So we have our federal requirements and we have our CTED requirements that every single one of our program has to meet and we have I think around 95 individual programs between 96 comprehensive campuses. So to give some context to uh the data pieces of this, this is actually from the department of education. We have these performance measures that come out every

104summer. They look at predominantly our graduates of 2025 and how they performed on these various metrics. All of these metrics are negotiated with the federal government um when they go through a reauthorization plan of CTE state plan. So you can see our graduation rates um have always have always been high um in the 90s to 95%. The denominator of these metrics are our graduates. So, I just want to give a quick context because you could have a freshman who started welding one, completed welding two their sophomore year. We would not have their um performance metrics until that cohort, that kid, um graduated in their graduating year. So, some of these metrics are a little bit lagging until they actually leave our high schools and graduate. So those um academic proficiency rates for the 2025 graduates

105were um for how they performed on their state assessments their junior year because that is when they took the assessment and then it's captured through AD and then put through this um uh these metrics on top of all of those requirements. uh those are the statutory requirements that uh CTE programs have to meet and as you can see there is quite a few of them. If our programs don't meet this it it could jeopardize our programs to generate additional funding through the state. One of the things that CTE does is that we um students are able to earn a quarter ADM on top of the 1.0 ADM that the district collects. but we only are able to capture that ADM as long as these uh requirements are met. So that's uh what a lot of

106the CTE staff does is working with our teachers to ensure that they have the resources that they need to ensure their program gets approved so that we can ensure we always have that additional funding. On top of that, we have our EVIT quality metrics which is new this year. Um and there's been a lot of conversation about that within the East Valley. So per statute, uh, EVIT is allowed to set additional metrics that they and in statute says quality. Through the last couple years, the East Valley, uh, districts, including myself, have worked on what those quality metrics should be. And last year, we started, uh, we started collecting some baseline data on those metrics. So, here is where we landed. And it's all over the place, and I'm going to tell you, it's a little

107bit messy. And it's messy. Data can be messy, right? And it's not always the number doesn't always necessarily tell the whole story. So when you look at the quality metrics, um 30% persistent rate, they were collecting data from 22 to 24. And our average persistent rate from a student going from a firstear class to a secondyear class in one program is about 21%. EVIT is expecting that to be 30%. Now, some of the data that EVIT collected through that 22 to 24 were for programs that we don't even offer anymore. So, when you add the zero to that denominator, it starts to skew things. So, we've taken the last year to really start cleaning that up to say really what is our data and how does that look with our persistent rate. Same thing with

108our certifications. um our I'm going to see the TSA data is is another one where their denominator and our denominator were a little different. So, we've been going through and trying to validate that data to make sure that everything is clean so that we can make sure that when we set that baseline data and we work with our teachers to improve on those metrics um that it's clean data and that we can really set um goals that can be attained. Gosh, this is fast. 10 minutes. You guys know I need uh um and then the last thing we've been collecting is work-based learning data through our partnership Elevate Ed a who is through the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Foundation. So all of our career coaches that we have on each of our campuses in

109conjunction with we have a workforce kind of development or career coach coordinator in my office work to collect this um work-based learning data. So every interaction they have with a student that aligns with one of these categories, they actually report through or to Elevate Ed and then they push out their own kind of dashboard of where we're at with this. Some of the data, for example, career awareness is duplicated. So when you see Elevate Ed's data, it shows there were 19,000 um student engagements. Well, some of those could be duplicated and some of them are like we do career fairs where there might be 900 to a,000 kids that attend a career fair that would be part of that denominator for that data, right? So, but if they meet with kids for resume writing, if

110they meet with kids on interviewing or job shadows, they're collecting that. We're working with research and evaluation because we want to actually in-house all of that data and then send it to um Elevate Ed so we can create maybe our own dashboard in the future so we could really see where we're at in real time um versus waiting for Elevate Ed to then push that back out to us. And one of the most important data points that nobody collects is the partnerships that we have. Um we have over 200 businesses that were currently working to ensure that we can meet all of these metrics. Um placements is about students getting jobs or going to college. So we need to have our college partners. We need to have our employer partners. Um EVIT we are expanding

111and going to open up a CNA program um next year at at the Red Mountain campus. And so all of these partnerships really coincide to support all of those metrics that we need to ensure that our students are college, career, and community ready. Just in the nick of time. >> Sorry, I know that was really fast. >> Oh, that's great. Thank you so much. Um, we'll start with Miss Hutchinson. Any questions, comments? Yes, I have I have one in slide number four. Um there is mention of nontraditional participation. Could you explain what non-traditional participation means? >> Absolutely. So non-traditional participation is looking at certain genders and their enrollment in certain programs. So if you think about welding is a predominantly male workforce and to help encourage to get more females into maybe the welding industry

112uh the department of education through the US department of education have set those non-traditional goals. So uh AD has said certain programs should have um certain percentage of non-traditional. It's sometimes we meet it sometimes we don't. Uh we used to be able to count females in culinary which then we'd always exceeded uh that uh metric but AD removed that for some reason. Never really got a reason why. Um and so since then we've we've struggled with that. Um it could be uh uh males in nursing is non-traditional uh females in automotive and engineering. So just it's determined by the department of education and that participation of that gender in that program. >> Great. Thank you. That's that's really really helpful to understand. Um and then the second question I have, my last question is um

113there's a a heightened um sense of career awareness >> and particularly because we now have themmies and I know that in talking with high school principles, they're they're really looking back over their shoulder to junior highs folks and going how are you preparing us for these for these newmies? So, um, can you give me some examples of career awareness perhaps in our elementary schools? In other words, getting kids prepared to make those decisions of their careers while they're in high school. Um, I know we've got a great example with Red Mountain Ranch Elementary, obviously, but can you give me some other examples of career awareness as I'm talking to principles? how how can I formulate that question? Are there such programs? >> Yes. So, a couple years ago, we developed the college career and community

114readiness framework and where we really um had a group of stakeholders, teachers, community members, colleges, um district staff come together and really look at uh what that uh work-based learning continuum, which includes career awareness, would look like from preK all the way up to high school and post high school. I would say with themies, we're working a little bit backwards. Right now that we have ourmies, we those are set. Now, what does that look like to help support into our junior high? And then what does that look like to support it into our elementary school? But we do have the framework that gives some options for students to be and principles, parents, teachers of how do we talk about career awareness in those early ages exploration in that middle school all the way to preparation

115into our high school and what does that continuum look like and how do students build upon that? President Davis. Uh just to forward build a little bit here in the redesign that we're doing because we're trying to be efficient and keep as many schools open as we possibly can from a financial perspective. Uh we have a line for an executive director of college career and community readiness. Uh, one of the things that was pretty neat last year was going to Helios Foundation, watching six Westwood High School students work through a Helios Foundation uh, activity led by Dr. Foley over there. And uh one of the things that I reflected on afterwards and I'm sure others reflected on as well is some of those it it broke my heart a little bit because some of the

116kids came to the conclusion that hey I I I want to get trained in welding while I'm here at Westwood, but I'm also realizing like that's a first skill and I need a next skill after and a next skill after and to I really maybe want to own my own welding business someday, but that's going to take some post-secary like maybe going to an associates degree. degree or get my bachelor's degree and things along those lines. And so that line in the new design executive director of college career and community is specifically designed at how do we get down in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade level because these decisions have to be made well prior to their ninth grade year because if you really want to get kids college ready to supplement that

117career skill they're building, it it does not happen just when you show up in high school. So, uh, just know that everything Miss Lauria is saying marries with where we're headed in 2627 as well. >> Thank you, Mrs. Benson. >> Um, yeah, I have a quick question, Mrs. Um, so when I look at I don't know what slide this is, I guess four four, pardon me. Um the reading proficiency math science um we are doing we're slamming it with certifications and graduation what are we doing within those CTE programs to bring up reading math and science are we integrating it more do you see if it's more integrated uh are we going to see those um percentages increase do you think Thank you, board member Benson. Um, one of the things I just want to

118address in meeting the state level performance is they did increase those levels significantly in one year. So, they did go from 2024 for reading to uh 20 uh 25% to 40%. So, there was a huge jump. Not making excuses, we want I mean I want every student to be proficient in uh reading, ELA, mathematics and science. I think one of the advantages of our college and careermies and specific those that have the CTE programs embedded within that is that interdisciplinary team working collaboratively um to uh start integrating some of those academic competencies and skills. Um today I was with uh our end our entrepreneurship and business teachers um with our ELA and science teachers and that was part of that conversation is how are we looking at data uh the fastbridge came up um understanding

119that we're below proficiency in reading and how could that team really work collaboratively so it's not just on the shoulders of the ELA teacher it's on everybody taking responsibility for that student because if they are not proficient in reading it's going to be really hard for them to succeed in college or career and they're all taking ownership of that with their cohort of students. And so, um, I'm not going to predict anything, but I do what I saw today makes me very hopeful of what opportunities will come with this new type of collaboration happening. >> Okay, thank you. Um, and I'm reading this correct, right? the MPS uh results are on the left hand column and the uh state are on the right. Correct? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Then my other question because there's

120been a lot of controversy and this applies not just to me but um can you uh give us some clarity um on the funding for CTE with the 0.25 25 and the um inter the IGA that we signed with uh EBIT um and why that's beneficial for MESA. Um >> um >> does that make sense? >> Yeah. Yeah. I I think um you know there is a lot of stuff happening in the East Valley regarding the IG and negotiations between EVIT and the other school districts. us in Scottsdale have signed our IGAs and we are moving forward with um a very collaborative partnership um as it has been for the last several years. Um it's important because uh without that IGA intact uh EVIT doesn't feel they have from what I understand the statutory authority

121to pay uh the additional ADM because there's no IGA to say that they have to pay that additional um ADM. we are not going to be in that uh position because we've signed the IGA and it clearly lays out as you all well know um what that funding formula looks like for this year going into next year and years after aligned to quality metrics attainment. So, um, we're in a very good financial position, um, and we're working very collaboratively with them, um, to ensure that, uh, our students have opportunities not only within our own CTE programs in Mesa, but also making sure our students know what those opportunities are at EVIT as well. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. And we're going to go ahead and add 10 more minutes timekeeper since

122we are ahead of schedule. So I can just in 10 minutes 31 seconds. Thank you. Thank you Mrs. Vincent. Any other questions? >> No. If I have any all you will type them up. >> Thank you. And the spreadsheet board members there is a spreadsheet again attached. So if you have other questions is we can put those in there also. Mrs. Walden. >> Thank you. I don't have any questions. I just wanted to thank the district again for the IGA that you did uh with Eva that the board approved. I feel like we came in like we were, you know, first in best dressed and just wanted to remind everybody about that and thank you for it. And I I think it's great the way that you are uh explaining CTE and I'm glad that

123we have additional information on you know federal and state laws that that guide it. like everything in government, there's a ton of other government that's involved in it that people aren't always aware of. And I think too with with EVIT and people just need to sort of remember that really it's a it's a starting point like we're not pigeonholing into careers, but it gives you that like platform and people that have done well in their careers that have found success, they you know usually start somewhere, they build on it and they build on it and find a niche for themselves. And especially with the crisis that we have with college tuition. I feel like we have a student loan crisis in this in this country right now. It's been really controversial. There's always that option

124to to go to EVIT to find a career that will pay you better than minimum wage. Make some money and most employers will pay for college. You can do both. You can go to EVIT and still be collegebound. Even QT pays for college now. They do tuition reimbursement. They they no quick trip. They they have a management program. I don't work there. I've never worked there. But I was at one of the stores and I'm like, "Oh, wow. They even do tuition reimbursement." And I think those are all different options that maybe some of our students that are part of that student loan crisis. I just think, did they have districts that were explaining all these different options? You know, it's not one or the other. It's really it's a career and college. It's it's

125a lifetime pursuit. We have principles that are going to college right now, getting PhDs, getting higher education. So you're learning and career advancement never has to stop. So I feel like with themies and with EVIT, we're providing all of those options for our kids. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. And if if it's okay for me to respond, I'd love to show an example where the world of college and career have definitely have intersected. We um I have somebody in my office whose son's going to BYU. He's a premed student. um and he to have a um a competitive advantage into getting to med school, they um the the students in his program are working and get and earning clinical hours. Well, he um can't earn those clinical hours like his other cohorts because he

126does not have his CNA certificate and they do. So, our future doctors are starting off with CNA certificates because it's getting their foot in the door and working in the hospitals or working into the assisted living centers because now they're starting to start to rack up their clinical hours that gives them that competitive advantage and edge to get into medical school. So, the lines are blurred. It's not or, it's an and. And we need to make sure that our students and our parents understand that. >> That's a really interesting data point. Okay. I'm glad you shared that with us. >> That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Chaffy. >> I echo what board member Walden said. When we were at the asthma con um law conference, I had several other districts come

127up to me and say, "What is the secret in Mesa? How did you get your IGA signed with EVID?" And so, I just have to put some gratitude out there to everyone who worked on that and made that happen for our students because it is a really valuable opportunity for our students to be able to participate in that. And I appreciate you bringing this data to us early and having these conversations. so that we as a board can help support these student outcomes with the updated EVIC quality metrics. What are your team's goals and key performance indicators for this next year? >> Uh the two areas that well the one of the top areas we're looking at is industry certifications. So that you know it's interesting because the department of education um has their own

128metric. Well, they actually haven't even set a metric. So, in industry certifications on the AD performance measure, it looks really good for Mesa because I think we're almost like 100%. Because ADE we're supposed to put how many attempts go in for a certification, but we deal with 30 different vendors. There's a lot of complexity to getting how many times a kid attempts to take a certification and then and so we don't report it because a lot of vendors don't actually give us that data. Um, so I appreciate EVA instead of looking at how many attempts does it take, they're really looking at how many students that complete a program also earn that industry certification and that's at 70%. Um, and some of our programs are really struggling. So for the CTE staff and program specialists,

129part of their KPIs this year is working at increasing that certification attainment to ensure that all of our students have opportunities. And there's various reasons why a teacher may or may not um give that opportunity to a student and that is part of our staff's um um like I said KPI to go in and work with them. And some of it could just be the complexity of it. Some of these certifications with computers I mean there's not a lot that are performance-based. A lot of them are like just an assessment base um through an online assessment whether that be through SER report or ASC for automotive or I mean there's so many of them um but it's every student should have the opportunity to attempt the certification and so that is one area that we

130are definitely focusing on the other area is that persistence uh and so um and that's something that I would say I probably work more collaboratively with our principles on and meet with them annually to really look at uh how many students start in a first year and then complete that. I think is what is probably the biggest shift in CTE um in in the state is that um kids love culinary but they don't necessarily love culinary because they want to be a sue chef. They love culinary and I can speak on behalf of my own daughter who took culinary. She wanted to be with her friends and she just kind of wanted to learn how to cook and make cookies and eat during the day. And that's great except for culinary is a very expensive

131program and it's not the intention of career and technical education. We really want our programs to um be that kind of entry point into uh and and aligning with what those students interests are especially if that is their career path one day. So that is an area where we could have hundreds of kids in a culinary one but very few that complete a culinary 2. And that is a concern not just with Mesa, but the entire East Valley that EVIT has. And so we're actively looking and um working with our principles on ensuring we have that secondyear class offered, but that how are we ensuring at least 30% of those students are persisting? And if they're not, is that a program we really should be offering? >> Piggy backing on that really quick. Sorry. >>

132Just a question. Are we if when we're not seeing those go to like the second course of that sequence, are we asking students why? >> I don't have any formal data collection on that. I think, you know, there's a lot of very I've been doing this a long time. So, I I would say a lot of um factors could be teacher, right? Kids love teachers and sometimes it's just the teacher that sells the program to get kids to complete. I do think we've not had until this year a robust career interest inventory system like we have with launching Naviance where now we could really start connecting students interest and aptitudes to those programs and not just CTE. I mean, we're talking the arts and other areas because we know when kids have an interest and

133an aptitude, they tend to want to stay with it because that's something that that feeds them, right? It makes it they're successful at it and then they start seeing themsel in that um in maybe that future. And so I think there's a lot of variance to that. Um and but we continue to work with our principles to also identify why and our teachers why they aren't persisting um at that 30%. >> Thank you. And I think with the why also seeing um how it's relevant like you gave the with this BYU student seeing that if if you have a CNA if these if our students can see that if they take these completer courses it will give them possibly a leg up as they go into these other um you know different getting degrees. Mr.

134Chaffy did you have anything else? >> Oh Dr. Strong >> just three three things. It is so important uh what Miss Lauria shared in that story uh as a husband to a person who has family members that graduated from another district. Uh this the CNA can't be the end journey. >> And you know, it's it's it's a it's a job that is needed, but you have to tell kids that that in order to get into the high wage sectors of that job, your skills have to be stackable and you've got to pursue the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. And then the other two things I want to uh just be really clear. Persistence rates will increase this year and they will increase because we have college and careermies. And so

135there's it's a high expectation that persistence rates increase. Uh and then three and final uh we have a pretty strong demand on the research and evaluation department and the CTE department to stand up. We need our community to know that if our kids are attending Mountain View High School, here's how many internships we accomplished this year. Here's how many kids were involved in workbased learning. And we need the community to know these are the numbers year over year over year. So we're really working on the data architecture and data engineering behind CTE so we can display to the public, right? Not student names, not all that stuff, right? Nothing to violate FERPA, but in aggregate here's what we're doing on each campus in terms of the outcomes for kids in the college and career academy.

136So uh we have a June timeline for in my head and in Dr. East's head. She has a January timeline and we'll see which one we make. She's a little more stringent than I am on this one, but we're hoping to get this done uh by June of 26. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Lauria and Dr. Eastless. Um we have hit our time limit. Um if we have any other questions, if you'll please put them in the spreadsheet and again for our public that will be available in um online with those questions, the minutes we are now. Thank you so much. >> Appreciate it. We will now our next presentation is a review of data towards last year's governing board goals, trends in college and career readiness indicators, which are also known as CCRI.

137We're going to continue to follow our established format with our 10 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for discussion. And Mr. Wing, you got your timer set. Thank you. And Dr. Glass Meer, it's all yours. >> Excellent. Thank you so much, President Davis, members of the board, members of district leadership, and the public. Um we are headed into college and career readiness indicators and I am going to sort of jump pretty quickly through the beginning part of this only because we once again have a partner in this presentation. So there are two there's an alternative and a traditional 9 through 12 accountability A throughF letter grade model. Um both of those get college and career readiness points. So you'll notice that they are the light blue section. So for traditional schools they get 20%

138of their letter grade is made up of this and for alternative schools 35% is made up of it and that includes a whole bunch of indicators. So all of the almost all of the traditional indicators are in the alternative indicators. The alternative indicators also include a little bit of a suite more beyond that which we'll go into in a moment. The numbering and the scoring is a little different. Every student earns points. Depending upon what points they get, they earn a CCRI score. The school's points that they earn is based on the average of all of those scores together based on who's on their list. So, that's a little bit different. Um, for our traditional schools, they can either have zero points or a zero score, a 10 score, a 20 score, or a 22

139score because there are categories of points, college points and career points. And then there's purple points that either go college or career depending upon where you want the points. Um, so those are super bonus scores and they get a score of 22. So ultimately your school can get an average CCRI score of over 20 and they're only allotted 20 points. So we had several schools that did that this year. Um in the alternative they're an all or nothing. They are a zero or a 35. If they get one CCRI point they get 35 for that student's score. So these are the traditional and alternative, but I've added these ones on this specific field because this includes the college career and those college or career points by column. So there's a lot of acronyms in there,

140but I believe Cameo was amazing and got a sheet out to you. Um, so there's a description of almost all of those on there. The ones I did not include, like Cambridge, we don't really do. Um, yeah, exactly. So um, but they are on your list. Most of them are assessments in some way, shape or form or their coursework. In some cases, they're work-based learning, which is a little bit different um in that it can be coursework, but can also be working. These are additional indicators that the alternative schools can also pull from because if you think about their population, it is different and that's wonderful that they can go ahead and pull in these additional indicators of postsecary success, post-secondary movement because the whole point of those schools is to get those kids who

141are not necessarily on the traditional trajectory through a high school diploma and with the skill set out to be college or career or whatever is the next step in their pathway. way. So, this includes a few different things and we rely heavily on the alternative schools to track some of these because they are unique and the closeness that they have to their students, it is much easier for them to understand that relationship with that student and what that student needs. So, overall, our schools have been increasing over the past few years. Part of this is data cleanup. Part of this is them being aware of what's actually all involved in this and a lot of it is the actions that they are strategizing at their campuses to make sure that we really have these across

142all of our students. So we have gradually transitioned up. There is a typo on this one. Just want to point it out. The number of students in the cohort this past year that we had total is 3808 and there is original typo on probably what's available in the public. I caught it today. I apologize for that. Um, but you'll notice that it's very much up at the top and this puts us in line with other districts across the state in performance of CCRI. And this is the difference that we're making across our schools. So you'll notice that our number of zero students, the percentage has gone down to 3.4%. We've decreased the percentage of our tens. We've decreased the percentage of our 20s. We're maintaining a low percentage of about that 10 11% and then

143we're increasing the number of our students who are scoring a 22 and overall in our traditional schools these opportunities then it's tracking it it's opportunities being available we are really heading in the opport in the that what the CCRI score is representing is that we are preparing it's measuring that we're preparing our students for college and career which is amazing. Okay, data highlights. Wanted to spotlight a few things. We are increasing the number of seals that are earned by our students. There are four seals recognized by the Arizona Department of Education. Seal of biiteracy. A student can actually if they are literate in more than one language, they can actually get more than one seal of biiteracy. Um, so we do have some of those students as well across the district. CTE college courses we

144are continuously increasing that over the past three years our CTE out of sequence so sometimes this is the not continuing the pathway um part it's also students who come into an internship as a regular internship and not having gone through the program too so the internship opportunities that we have are also included in that um and then our CTE complete sequence is also increasing this also requires them to have a TSA four of a passing which is amazing and then I am going to hand this over to our alt school that has done a remarkable job. Good evening ma um President Davis, the superintendency and the board. I'm excited to talk anytime I can have a microphone and present myself and talk about our team here. I'm excited to talk about East Valley Academy. I

145do have some of my team members here, our instructional coach and our amazing counselor to talk about what we've done. Um, at East Valley Academy, we did receive 35 out of 35 points for our CCRI, a perfect score. And so, some of the things that we did specifically starting last year, we did a comprehensive review of all of our data. So, we looked at all of our students, what points they did make, receive, what points they didn't receive, and we started talking about and identifying areas of growth and areas of concern. We shifted from asynchronous testing days like the comprehensive schools do and now all of our students are on campus during those testing days so that we can provide college and career prep days. And so typically when those grade levels are not testing,

146those students are actually off campus. The third bullet says they're doing college visits to local and community colleges. We also have increased our MCC registration and ed ready exams. We actually provide that opportunity for all of our juniors and seniors. Again, all of these opportunities are increasing our CCR points for our campus. We have um ASVAB testing now for all of our juniors and seniors. We've partnered with MCC for on-site colleges for on-site workshops like FASA. Um they come in and do those workshops for us. We're intentionally scheduling students through Mr. Poland's office for our CT and service learning courses. And so again, looking at those students who do not have opportunities or have not had opportunities yet to receive some CCR points. We're very intentional on getting those students into those courses. Again, as

147I've said, we host FASA nights that um include MCC. We also have the opportunity to have EVIT on our campus to talk about the opportunities that our students um are able to do while they're on our campus. And then the next slide. So what are we going to do next? Um because the 35 out of 35 is a lofty goal. So now now that you're high, now you got to stay there. So what are we going to do? So intentionally we are looking at how we design and focus around testing and the fact that um Madam Hutchinson is doing um her activate around testing. Those are the same things conversations that we're having on campus. How can we get our students um more invested in the testing? And um again for a compre for an

148alternative school we actually get points for students who are proficient who are partially proficient in ACT. So how can we increase their awareness about their own score their own standing and um get those points for them as well. We also just learned about our work keys data that comes from our ACT that also has points for us. We're expanding our prep days with more opportunities for um post-graduate exposure. We're using Naviance in two of our classes um on campus um to start with for planning and goal setting. We also are going um looking at our freshman, our sophomore and how we can support them in their long-term college and career planning opportunities. We're continuing to conference with students who have zero points to develop their individualized plan. And then lastly, we're looking at outside agencies

149to connect them so that we can also get CCRI points um for opportunities that they're provided um for post-graduate life. Wow. Amazing. >> That that was impressive. >> Wow. So, thank you very much. Any questions? >> Thank you so much. We will start with questions. Um Mrs. Hutchinson, any questions, comments? >> I I just want to say that um I met with the East Valley Academy team last year at the end of the year and on fire. >> You're right. and um and the um the dedication to to making sure that our our seventh high school is servicing our kids by strength and need and um and and doing everything they can to ready kids for college and career. Um can you talk specifically about the um enrollment in opportunities that maybe some of your

150students wouldn't have been um seizing? for example, EVIT. Did has your EVIT enrollment gone up? Have you seen um um students maybe graduating um quicker? Can you can you give us some indication about um how the students are responding academically to all of these efforts of the faculty as well as the admin team? >> Sure. We've done an amazing job over this past year. Not only have we increased our acceptance of students into MCC, also increased our acceptance of students into EVID and graduating from those programs. Um, I think really just providing them the opportunity and again living in and leaning into the promise that these students on this campus at East Valley Academy will also graduate college career and ready for the next step past high school. The conversation is no longer here's just

151your high school diploma. The conversation is what are you doing afterwards and how can we help prepare you for that? >> Love it. Love it. Thank you. >> So the seventh high school is also living into that promise and helping um the letter grade for Mesa Community Ma public schools. >> Mrs. Mrs. West, Miss Hudson brought up like probably three months ago, we need to recognize we have a seventh high school and then you're going to look at we're listen we understand we have a seventh high school in Mesa public schools and in fact I think within the next couple years we'll have even more than that. But yes, you are the seventh high school in Mesa public schools. >> Thank you. >> And we are grateful for all you are doing. Please know that.

152Um Mrs. Benson, any questions? >> Uh no, no questions. I just wanted to also commend um Mrs. West. I met with you at the beginning of the school year. Uh, and I think it's exciting to see that kids uh, who don't necessarily fit into the peg of a traditional high school are finding success um, with you and your team at EVA. And hopefully you're getting that um, site recognition so the students actually go, "Hey, I go to EVA." Um, it you know your your walls and your lettering and everything. um can show that they also have pride in the the high school they attend. So, I just thought your team was very energetic. Um, I I loved seeing the purpose that you are attempting to instill in these uh students who quite honestly may not

153have had um historically that person or team of people that were instilling in them the fact that they can be and will be successful. So, I just want to commend you and your team for doing that. and I will be back visit again as soon as I'm, you know, not in a neck brace anymore. >> Thank you, Miss Bz. We'll definitely have you back out on campus. >> Thank you, Mrs. Walden. I'm glad it's confirmed we have seven high schools because that's what I tell people. So, I'm glad I was right about that. Um, so I really appreciate u this slide, the East Valley Academy story. um all of the things that you've you've done uh to to improve the CCRI scores. Uh the the fast night inviting MCC and EVA is is awesome. There's

154just so many good things here. So, I don't have any questions about it, but I just want to thank you and and commend your school for for these efforts and and really, you know, giving that extra time to put uh these kinds of workshops together for the students and and have all of those additional um opportunities for them to really think about think about their education and their future and what happens after high school. And I'm looking forward to being at your graduation again. I've I've done two uh EVA graduations and I look forward to doing more. >> Thank you. We're changing lives. We're changing families, communities, and the world over at East Valley Academy. So, thank you very much for all of your support. >> Thank you, Mrs. Chaffy. You're doing wonderful work. I

155have questions for superintendency but not for you. So take a breath. >> Thank you. >> Um a a recent article in the Tribune Dr. Isa showed that FAFSA applications are down across the state and Mace public schools numbers were included in that and they were low. What are we doing to maybe learn from some of these things that our seventh high school are doing or what are we implementing to help these students across our district realize they can access college and get it paid for in many cases? Yes, Madame President, member Taffy, um we are continuing to work with our principles and counseling teams on how we can continue to increase um FASA access applications, working with our MCC embedded advisors. Um I know in the past we've done a lot of competitive um kinds

156of um competitions for students to, you know, get the most at this school or get the most in this department. And so we're relooking at some of those types of activities as well. And certainly I know the high school principles are working um with Mr. Estrada on all the different kinds of opportunities and access um to ensure that we increase those rates. The past um couple of years there have been some changes in that process um to access the FASA. So that also was a contribution to some of some of the decreasing numbers. Um, but I know our counselors are working um, like I said um, diligently to figure out how we can continue to increase those. It's definitely a goal. Um, I don't know if you want to add anything. >> I just want

157to add that to Dr. um, um, Isles. One of the things we're also doing, we're realizing we're having earlier conversations around FASA. Our students are typically and their families are typically nervous about information they're supposed to present or how this process actually goes. And so we're actually starting the conversations earlier with our students um, as we move into that FASA um, deadline. Also to let you know the CCRI points we had um we increased back again. So we went declined when the new application rolled out in very weird bad timeline. Um but we went back up 160 kids. So we're back in line with where we were for what was actually in CCRI this past year. So we were actually above where we were two years ago for CCRI. Um, so we're back in trends.

158There's always obviously an increase and a consistent push and hopefully their version number two of this roll out is supposed to be easier. Fingers crossed. So hopefully that'll make it even more accessible for our families. >> Member Hutchkins and I were at the Mesa Education Workforce Council probably two weeks ago. It's all blending together. uh and and they they said to us that they have had trial runs in places and communities and it's 15 minutes or less to complete the fast now at this point in time. So the good news is it's 15 minutes or less. Bad news is that means that Mesa public schools has no excuses and we need to increase and we need to increase the number of kids that are completing FASAs and that's on a serious note and you know

159we just have a straw to guide in that and then eventually an executive director of college and career community who that's just going to be the flat expectation is that we complete our FAS in this district. >> Yeah. And I think educating our families is going to be important as well. So we continue to to figure out ways to support them through that process and really um identify campaigns that we can um bring awareness to it as well. >> Dr. Glass Myers had quick one quick question. Is dual enrollment are those courses included in the CCRI? >> They are. Um they are under college courses um college level courses. they are a college point um for well they are in both they are in college level courses if they are a core content area so

160you have your math your four content areas as well as world world languages um so any one of those that can earn college level um credit are in there and then some of our CTE courses are in our career section and they are college level um and we also also understand where some of those actually come from. It's not just offerings within Mesa Public Schools, but it's also courses that our students take at Mesa Community College in their partnership or at EVIT. So, there's there's dual enrollment options across several different different opportunities for our students, too. >> Thank you. I just want to appreciate um all those that presented tonight. Um, I think an underlying EVA and MCC came up quite a few times between both presentations and I think we are grateful for our

161partnership we have with them and the working relationship and want to continue having that because I think we see a huge benefit to our students because of that relationship and we're grateful for these opportunities our students have to to move forward. And so, thank you. Thank you all for being here tonight and we appreciate all the information. That brings us to our next order of business. Do I have a motion to move into an executive session pursuant to ARS 38-431 03A3 discussion or consultation for legal advice with the attorney or attorneys of the public body on po policy matters and ARS15-843 legal advice facility use. >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Seeing none, Miss Kirby, will you please take our vote? With a vote of five

162yays, the board will now move into an executive session. After completing the executive session, the board will resume the regular meeting and adjourn it. No additional business will be conducted. Thank you all for being here tonight. Have a wonderful evening. [Music]