Governing Board Regular Meeting - February 25, 2025

001e e e convening our meeting thank you for being here tonight this evening the presentation of colors will be led by the Dobson High jroc presenting members tonight are Javan Castillo Vanessa Land Mario Gonzalez and Abby Hurst led by Lieutenant Colonel Anthony kusek senior master sergeant Steven cotch the Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Sophia Gonzalez and the national anthem is recorded and performed by OK Conor Elementary directed by Steven White please stand if you are able for the presentation of colors pledge a national anthem 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 liberty and justice for all [Music] oh say can you see by the DA's early light what so proudly we H and the Twilight

002last leing the and bright stars do the par F all theed we was we so gly streaming and the rocket went theing in air through through the night that our flag was still there oh s stars mle for the land of free and the home of the pr thank you you may be seated we'll begin tonight's meeting with a video on governing board procedures 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

003the 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 the item is discussed the form is located in the lobby members of the public will be given a maximum of three 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

004board 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 or 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 to conduct that is essential to the operation of the district everyone is welcome to express ideas or concerns to the board in accordance with the agenda the poster in the boardroom describes positive behaviors expected and behaviors that cannot be tolerated please speak and act

005respectively and actively listen be kind verbal harassment abusive or foul language intimidation and disruption have no place in a classroom or the boardroom please no side conversations or reactive comments they can be disruptive it is a governing board president's responsibility to maintain proper order so the board can conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner if you're disruptive or interfere with the conduct of this meeting you will be asked to leave so the board can conduct the business of the district um I just want to make a side note uh Mrs Walden is out of town and joining us virtually so we do have her here virtually with us so thank you all for being here tonight um and we are going to continue with our meeting and go on to um our Board

006calendar Dr foress can you review the calendar with us thank you very much Madame President um as we take a look at our calendar we have um I know that a spring break is on many Minds so will be happy to share a bit about that on uh March 10th through the 14th our schools will be closed and we will have limited District services and that is the week of March 10th to the 14th on March 25th is our next governing board meeting that is at 6:30 so in the month of March we only have one governing board meeting on on the 31st of March at 6m is the East Valley School Board Consortium meeting um evit is our host that evening so I'm hopeful that you will uh RSVP and let uh Cameo know

007if you're able to attend so that we can make sure that Mesa Public Schools is well represented and then on April 8th at 5 o'clock we will have a study session we will be hearing from our junior high students who uh were engaged in a activate session talking about cell phones so um Mrs Hutchinson and I had an opportunity to get to know these young people and boy do they have a lot to share with us and then we will uh follow with a 6:30 p.m. governing board meeting I also want to um thank all of you for being here this evening at 5:00 our meeting started at 5 instead of at 6:30 because it is our hope that our meeting will uh be swift so that we can get to the citizen of the

008Year celebration that is honoring our former board president Mrs Jenny Richardson so again thank you very much for those of you who made the accommodation to be here at 5:00 start time instead of 6:30 and that concludes the calendar thank you Dr L um will you go ahead and share your superintendent's update with us at this time are we ready Chad here we go we know that we have a promise that anchors Us in the work that we do in Mesa Public stud schools to know every student by name serve them by strength and need so that they graduate ready for college career and community and to put that promise into action uh we have some stepping stones to meet that promise it begins at the very bottom with our governing board goals focused on

009increasing proficiency and growth in English language arts and Mathematics increasing our graduation rate and uh expanding our College and Career Readiness index points as long as well as Service Learning taking a look at the that well-rounded student when they cross the finish line of graduation we know that we have a graduation plus model that is focused on ensuring our children are ready for college as well as the world of work and that looks like industry certifications work-based learning earn college credit Advanced diploma designations as well as a College and Career action plan we know how important uh post-secondary education is and it making sure that all of our kids are college ready are directly aligned to our governing board goals we know that we have a portrait of a graduate that focuses on the attitudes

010and skills that our community believes is most important when our kids cross that finish line of graduation we have three areas a focus this year that uh superintendency and I dug through lots of data last year and said these are our big areas that we need to focus on and that versus academic and instructional development Community engagement and safety as well as organizational and operational efficiencies so we're going to start off with a celebration of some academic and instructional development our Mountain View Toros recently earned an impressive fourth place finish at the We the People state competition last month under the guidance of social studies teacher Mrs Mr Steven Miner this achievement underscores the valuable impact We the People plays and deepening students understanding of democratic principles as well as their role as engaged citizens

011moving on we know that February is Career and Technical Education Month in Mesa Public Schools students in Career and Technical education programs take what they learn and apply it in real world projects like building robots or extracting ing um DNA we prepare students with the technical skills needed in today's Workforce and the employability skills that make them valuable employees we also know that many of our Career Technical education students um are wrap around all of their knowledge as they pursue uh their passions for college education an inspiring leadership taking an opportunity to give a shout out to Franklin accelerated Academy at the Jordan Campus who celebrated President's Day with an inspiring student-led assembly the firebird choir opened the event with a beautiful rendition of the national anthem students recited poetry presented famous American reports on

012former presidents student council members delivered powerful messages encouraging their peers to lead like George Washington innovate like Thomas Jefferson speak like Abraham Lincoln and Inspire like Franklin D Roosevelt the assembly was a wonderful demonstration of student leadership and patriotism as we celebrate National Public Schools week it is the week of February 24th to the 28th we take a moment to recognize and honor the outstanding contributions of our dedicated teachers staff administrators students and families across our district this week provides an opportunity to reflect on the essential role that public education plays in creating opportunities for every child and fostering a brighter future for our community earlier this month our Communications and engagement team and I attended the Arizona school public relations Association awards ceremony our team earned many honors for marketing social media writing film

013and photography we were joined by the Mesa Police Department and its community relations division which receiv received the outstanding partner and education award from aspra for its commitment to students sucess through the spark youth sports program and their partnership with uh with us here in Mesa Public Schools and speaking of spark Keller and Lindberg elementaries competed last week at Mesa High they had an amazing soccer game where the G the game went back and forth until Keller came through Victorious on penalty kicks it it was great to see Mesa PD and the families of both schools out in the with full support of their students I think we had a couple governing board members stop by as well you can also see the friendly competition between K principal Crystal arbag and Lindberg principal Eric Hedrick

014repping each other's schools true collaboration spark is one of the many wonderful ways that we partner with Mesa uh police department I am continually grateful for our string very very very strong partnership with them during Engineers week krisman Elementary partnered with the city of Mesa engineering department to design design and build popsicle stick uh Bridges when I got this information I'm going to tell you I had to read it three times to make sure I had it correct team Matrix won the structure that held 420 pounds with popsicle sticks and mark your calendars for tomorrow night from 5:30 to 7:30 as we celebrate Public Schools week I want to remind everybody that Mesa Public School's first ever school choice fair is happening tomorrow from 5:30 to 7:30 at Mountain View High School this is a

015great opportunity for families to find out what's inside the many public education options available within our district and on February 10th Governor Hobbs declared March Arizona procurement month to bring recognition to the significant role that procurement plays in the effectiveness of business and government we celebrate the efforts of Michelle Hamilton and her team of professional who combined experience spans over 250 years their efforts ensure we uphold our responsibility as good stewards of taxpayer dollars and you will see that we have some special days in the month ahead National women women's History Month music and our schools month youth art month and then some very special days and some weeks National foreign language week National School Social Work Week National School breakfast week national Pi Day and that's just with a p and an i because

016that's 3.14 and again March 10th to the 14th is spring break and with that I conclude my uh update to our governing board always lots to share about what's happening in Mesa Public Schools thank you Dr foress so many things happening We Appreciate You updating us on what's going on um and I see lots of familiar faces out in our in our crowd tonight from a certain school that we're excited to see spotlighted Z Harris and so uh Dr Fus will you share more about our school Spotlight I can't wait please join me at theas because I know that you're going to want to do some handshakes with these special people hi i' like get on with this our Spotlight recognitions program is designed to provide our community with an inside look at the exceptional

017individuals within Mesa Public Schools and every meeting we celebrate remarkable students and staff members who positively impact our schools inviting everyone to find out what's inside and honor their contributions the school spotlights will feature a video showcase in each school tonight is the Harris Elementary recognition of a distinguished student a certified staff member and a classified staff member so we're going to get on with the celebration for theah Harris Elementary so will Jen Coon's uh principal at zaharis Elementary please join me at the podium where we watch a very special video about your school come on [Music] up at a here is we are taught skills and strategies to Inc career the workshop model and direct instruction to help us to become better readers writers mathematicians and social scientists our teachers provide opportunities to make

018our learning meaningful and authentic inquiry based learning is an approach that emphasizes the students role in the learning process with the help of our teachers we have voice and choice in showing how we demonstrate our learning in math we solve problems in groups and independently our teachers provide us with real life work problems and we enjoy sharing our strategies and solutions welcome to the zbc the zaharis broadcast channel is a student run daily news show fifth and sixth grade students write scripts for News sports weather and what's happening around zaharis and perform them live each morning students behind the scenes learn how to use cameras teleprompters and editing software collaborative classroom rooms bring together two or more teachers with students to create unique learning experiences this allow teachers to meet instructional needs of each student

019and provide opportunities for choices and learning there's a Harris maker space is open for all the Harris students we explore many types of materials such as stop motion videos aots Mar runs cardboard construction and much more in maker space we learn to be Risk Takers persevere and make choices these traits help us become [Music] Scholars I know that uh Mrs Coons is ready to um introduce us to our Spotlight uh staff and students mic's all yours thank you good evening um can I have Heather Boward come up to join me up [Applause] here and maybe move that way just a little bit so I can't see [Laughter] you Heather and I have worked together for over 20 years over 20 years so uh tonight I'm so excited to celebrate Heather Bullard it is with great

020admiration and gratitude that we recognize her tonight Heather is not only a master teacher with 28 years of experience but also a beacon of dedication passion and wavering commitment to her students and colleagues Heather is more than an educator she is a mentor an inspiration and a guiding force who shapes the future of every student she encounters at zaharis her deep understanding of inquiry and Innovation makes learning engaging and meaningful igniting curiosity and a love for learning for her students her passion and empathy are unmatched she sees the unique strengths and needs of her students and adapts her teaching styles to ensure that they have every opportunity to succeed she instills confidence resilience and a lifelong passion for learning leaving an imprint on her students that lasts far beyond the classroom Heather's dedication extends well

021beyond her role as a teacher she is a pillar of support for our school Community always willing to go the extra mile to assist students colleagues and families whether serving on com on committees leading professional development or devel or collaborating with her teammates to increase student achievement Heather's leadership and professionalism shines through her contribution as a respected member of the leadership team makes her an invaluable asset to our school we are honored to celebrate her dedication her passion and her incredible impact she continues to make in the lives of students and our school Community congratulations [Applause] tonight I have the honor of recognizing someone who truly makes a difference every single day at zah Harris Miss Susan not will you please come up Susan has been a classified member for the past 20 years and

022has dedicated her time and energy to supporting our school community over the years she has held many roles on her campus but her most important role has been her ability to work alongside our teachers and their students every single day as an instructional assistant whether working in the hallway helping a student with with their math facts or sitting KNE to knee alongside a beginning reader Susan Works tirelessly to support student learning she is also never without a smile on her face and a happy greeting Beyond her direct work with students Susan plays an essential role in keeping our school organized and running efficiently no task is too big or too small she is always willing to lend a helping hand stepping in whenever needed her dedication reliability and selfless service has left a lasting mark

023on our zaharis community our school our school is truly a better place because of you Susan her years of hard work compassion and commitment have not gone gone unnoticed and we are incredibly grateful for all that you have done [Applause] all right I am so excited and thrilled to honor Parker Adams [Applause] [Music] Parker is a student who's made a lasting impression on both his classroom and the saharis school Community Parker is a force to be reckoned with demonstrating determination passion and excellence in everything he does his hard work and attention to detail sets him apart and his enthusiasm for learning is truly inspiring according to his teacher Miss CLM one of Parker's greatest qualities is his steadfast dedication he approaches every task with focus and perseverance but beyond his academic Excellence Parker is also

024a remarkable friend and role model his classmates describe him as someone who sets the example encourages others and always lends a helping hand his leadership shines through in ways he supports those around him guiding his peers in the right direction ensuring that no one is Left Behind Parker's kindness integrity and commitment to Excellence makes him an in valuable part of our school Community we are incredibly proud of his accomplishments and the positive impacts he has had on those around him [Applause] congratulations e [Applause] we know it takes a village to support our our school so if you are here to celebrate as the Harris will you please stand so we can recognize you as well [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that concludes our recognitions this evening so if the zaharis folks and those are here those

025of you that are here to celebrate if you would like to continue outside this room we will get on with our work can congratulations the Harris we're grateful for all they do um we are now at the time in the meeting for public comment and call to the public we'll First Watch a short video on the procedures the governing board welcomes comments from the public on non-agenda items during the call to the public please remember as a general rule public comments will be limited to 3 minutes and the duration of an open call to the public will be 15 minutes the presid president May set specific time limits for speakers and the duration of the call to the public to maximize the opportunity for individuals to offer their viewpoints comments must pertain to a matter

026that is within the jurisdiction of the governing board this is not an appropriate form to complain about an employee student or others please use the procedures established in policy 1-32 for this purpose state law prohibits board board members from commenting on or discussing the matters presented at the end of the call to the public the board may ask the superintendent to review the issue or place it on a future agenda a board member may also briefly respond to criticism of a board member or the governing board thank you for allowing this meeting to be conducted in a peaceful and productive manner Mrs chaffy how many speakers do we have signed up tonight we have five speakers signed up to speak tonight okay since we have five speakers each person will have three minutes to speak

027Mr chaff like to thank you for serving as the clerk and I'd like you to ask us to lead us through this agenda item please thank you so much Madam President we have five speakers tonight I will call up the first three when you come up to the podium please share your first and last name first we have Ed steel then Casey Baxter and Jeff Thompson they will be followed by Bernard Arthur and Chris Hamlet good evening members of the board superintendency my name is Ed steel one of the Prime responsibilities of leadership in any organization including this district is to identify problems as well as uh issues that are having negative effects on the district and then to work diligently to solve those problems or reduce the ne negative effect of those issues I've

028heard a lot lately about how the low birth rate in our community is negatively affecting this District so my question to you is this leadership if there were something you could do to help increase the birth rate in this community would you have the courage to do it so let me offer you a couple of examp exles this leadership continues to allow teachers and staff to promote encourage and celebrate um the most Barren and fruitless Lifestyles and I'm talking about the lgbtq lifestyle it's Barren and fruitless and you allow that to be promoted here in this District you can't walk through a high school without having that shoved in your face seeing signs of this lifestyle you know Mesa used to be a community a generational Community with the lifestyle of an intact nuclear family

029and lots of kids where is that being promoted if you're telling us that low birth rate is negatively impacting this and you're not promoting that but you're promoting the other lifestyle you're doing a terrible job and you're doing that because you don't have courage you know not only the teachers and the staff are promoting that but the teachers union promotes that and the other thing the teachers union promotes is abortion 12,000 children lost their lives in Arizona last year and the year before that more than 12,000 and the year before that those numbers add up how many of those lost lives would have been community members here in Mesa and enroles in this district and then the teachers union turns around and promotes prop 139 as if 15 weeks for abortion wasn't enough we want

030it all the way up to birth and this is an organization you allow to have a voice and a seat at the table in making decisions important decisions in this district and they're proving themselves not to be aligned with the needs and the the mission of this District you guys really need to rethink what's going on here and Dr strm you know I'm glad you're coming on I I wish you the best I good evening um Madame President members of the board Dr foress members of superintendency my name is Casey Baxter um I have the honor of being the principal at Franklin accelerated Academy East campus um and you guys have heard me say it but I'm on a mission to find good because I believe if you look for it you will find it

031so I continue to look and tonight I am here because I am super excited about tomorrow night actually um tomorrow night is our first school choice fair and I've heard it in this meeting lots of times about what are we doing to attract and retain our families so I'm really excited that we are providing a One-Stop shop tomorrow now I would be remiss if I didn't mention that my colleagues and I have been discussing this and it is not a case of one upmanship but we are all chatting about who's going to have what what will be at your booth what kind of literature are you sharing how will you sell your program what are you going to do will my booth be bigger so I want you to know my group will be there

032at 3:00 we'll be setting up we'll be ready for 5:30 come on over visit Franklin we'll all be together we hope you do stop by I wanted to Big shout out to Nina aled um and marketing she our marketing supervisor I think is her title she has been tenacious with this and she has been communicative and recruiting and cheerleading us and advocating left and right for all of us to participate so I do hope you'll stop by I invite all of Mesa Public Schools all of you come on over and check it out it'll be our first one and it's a great it's a great opportunity so thank you for for pushing us encouraging us and supporting us and I can't wait for tomorrow and not that our booth will be the best but it

033probably will come over thank you board for the opportunity to speak I'm a Jeff Thompson I'm a concerned homeowner I've been coming to the these board meetings for the last couple years and I'm hoping that our new president is as radical and off the rails as our last one I hope she she ran on being conservative or republican she's appointed because she was but she was a rubber stamp for the previous president and if you want to get nuggets of information get nuggets of information from the people that left the school because of your [Music] policies and Sharon maybe you'd have got a position on the board if you weren't a part of the squad I mean this thing turned political big time I'm going to back up when I went to school we had

034a shop teacher smoked cigars what do you think happened are the smoking lot to buy cigars with 14 dozens of kids started smoking cigars what the hell do you guys think when these kids see all this gay flags rainbows shov down their throat oh I want that lifestyle you guys need to stop promoting sex in the school and also the political stuff you need to get it out of the school and I hope our new superintendency I've got an email from him from 20123 of what policies were put in place the year before to bring the proficiency rate up I've got it if anybody wants to look at it I'll share it with you you probably got it in your archives what the hell's happened none of the proficiency rates been brought up and I

035don't know I call you guys the last two people I call it the Deadpool you guys promote people they're non-performers and I hope this person here I hope they get him out of here because maybe they want a proficiency rate 30% less than what you have here because that's what he's been a part of I don't know you guys too damn disgusting hi my name's Bernard Arthur an NPS student or not student I used to be a student and a parent um at our last meeting and was parent now we have had concerns of low birth rates and as a concerned parent myself and you know know apparently they decided that they wanted to bring this up I have an answer to why we have low birth rates the real drivers behind low birth rates

036include stagnant wages that fail to keep up with the rising cost of living an unsustainable housing market crippling Stone student low debts and gouging at price gouging at our grocery stores these economic burdens make it hard for younger people to want to make and have families if we address these issues and focus on those issues then we as a community can be better our time is better served um not attacking our lgbtq community they have been a part of our community since time of Memorial and to suggest that low birth rates can be just simply remedied by traditional marriages not only misguided but uninformed if we really truly want to create a better Community let's focus on on our legislation let's focus on supporting our teachers and let's just focus on store boarding our students

037thank you guys for your time you all have a wonderful day before you start my time Madam president um is this appropriate time to speak on an action item that's what I signed up for okay all right so the action item I'm speaking on is the 250,000 for soul Source or secured Mobility for smart tag okay and let me just preface what I'm about to say with this if any one of us went in here to buy a new $80,000 SUV we took it for a test drive we wanted to buy it but we found out the AC didn't work there's not a person in here that would drive off the lot with it partially working we would make them fix it before we bought it right and that is my problem with this since

038August I have been receiving emails that this smart tag app if we phone that the parents can download so that we can see what the district sees we can see where the but where our child got on the bus when they scan their ID we can see where they got off and since then it has not come up I have talked to Scott on this on numerous occasions I'm asking the board to table the decision on that until you guys get these people to fix the entire system it is not fully functional buying putting 250,000 aside for a program that is not fully functional is unacceptable nobody in here would buy something that partially works we need to get that resolved I I would suggest that Scott go to these people and say hey send

039your people in at no cost to our transportation department and get this resolve so that the parents have access to the app I have the app I checked it again today no matter what you do I set it up in August and we are now in February we're coming up I mean that that's ridiculous and I I even I joked about uh last time we had a a parent group meeting and and Scott was on the call I even joked about it and said is this going to be ready for graduation by next year by the time my son graduates so I would I would recommend that the board not approve that action item for that $250,000 until they get the issue resolved thank you God bless have a good night thank you moving on

040to the next part of our agenda we are um we will now review the consent agenda all items on the consent agenda are approved with one vote with no discussion if a board member would like to pull a consent agenda item please do so now no thank you seeing none thank you we will move down to our Personnel request do I have a motion to approve the personal request including the addendum so moved do I have a second I'll second it thank you it has been moved and seconded to approve the personal request including the um including the addendum do I have any discussion seeing none Miss Kirby we please take our vote with a vote of 5 a we have approved the personal request including the addendum with this approval of personal request Mr

041Wing can can you um share some changes with us that we will see President Davis governing board superintendent the audience um as you're aware it's kind of been mentioned already uh Mesa Public Schools is declining enrollment like other school districts and we're declining in revenue and as a result we need to consider All Staffing uh decisions and that includes superintendency tonight with your approval you will notice that the assistant superintendent of human resource position uh is going to be revised to an executive director level which is a nons superintendency level and at a lower pay grade and we'll begin the hiring of that soon thank you thank you Mr Wing Dr strm president Davis I just want to emphasize one of the things that was tasked of me uh in the interview process was to

042come in and help the district uh move forward with and reenvisioning our mid-level management superintendency positions this is the first step of many um and I look forward to moving Mesa Public Schools in the direction of an executive director model in the long run as as we move into the next uh three years so thank you thank you Dr strm moving into our consent agenda all items listed 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 the vote 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 I'll second Miss Kirby will you please

043take our vote you with a vote of five y we have approved the consent agenda items according to the recommended action for each item we will now move on uh Madame President this is uh Rachel Walden are my votes not coming through you said did you say 41 five I think it came it was unanimous it's it's coming okay okay good they're I thought you said 41 and not 51 sorry about that no you're good thank you for checking we're glad you're there thank you all right we now move into our policies um tonight we have eight policies updated on the agenda for first read we had an executive session earlier this afternoon for legal advice from legal council on these policy updates now is the time for the board um to have a discussion

044with each other on these updates would any board member like to start a discussion on a policy and then please state which policy you would like to discuss and we'll complete all disc discussion on each policy before we move to another policy Madame President yes um I would like to um address policy 4-22 staff student boundaries um I've I've been in contact with a number of employees and um the change on 10c which allows for an additional exception for nursing health services staff uh when privacy or confidentiality is essential for student dignity and well-being um as as um you and I remember um and Mrs Walden as well um we we spent a lot of time on this policy um because of the the very um important nature of it um particularly when it comes

045to um staff and student protection as well as safety and making sure that we're providing Services um at this time I would like to talk about some best practices um it has been it has um come to my attention and certainly we we knew this when we adopted the policy that there would be some exceptions um but the exceptions are not included in tenc we have we have staff for example resource teachers that provide instruction we have health staff that administer medication we have administrators that meet with students maybe for a behavioral issue or a private issue a confidential issue um security Personnel responds to student issues um one-on-one AIDS assist students um maybe perhaps in a tutoring responsibility um students may be in an Alternative Learning Center or in detention with an adult um

046we we talked about how do we best protect students and staff how do we provide essential services and there was suggestions that you know doors could be left open or there would be windows in the room um I got to tell you I was at Mountain View High School on Tuesday for most of the day and I tried to go from room to room to room and guess what the doors are locked as they're supposed to be um we can we for security and safety reasons our classroom doors are locked so to have doors open is really kind of unrealistic um and and yet we know that our Personnel provide essential services to kids but we got to protect students and we got to protect staff so I'm I'm I'm going to ask that perhaps

047we take a look at the policy in its current realities and and maybe not keep coming up with exceptions but maybe do a rewrite of this part of the policy and I would suggest that since I'm getting many suggestions on on ways in which we can solve this issue um that we that we meet with employees that we include employees both certified and classified in the development of perhaps a revised policy and that we we take a look at maybe a team approach to Crisis Intervention that we maybe we take a look at training our staff um better but instead of coming up with exception after exception which would weaken the policy I believe that we take a look at the policy and strengthen it by revising it thank you Miss sson anyone else I

048agree with board member in that when we see that things that we've implemented if they're not working and we're constantly having to create exceptions we need to go back to the drawing board and and look at different options that that meet the needs of our current realities thank you so if I hear you you'd um this would be postponed this one would be pulled from uh the second read next time so that we can get some input because I agree with member Hutchinson the more exceptions you create to a policy the weaker the policy becomes uh we can't possibly consider every single exception that may exist so if we have broad best practices put in place um that support and protect both our staff and students that's to me essential so I would I I

049would not be opposed to doing that thank you I think Mrs Walden did you you have any comments on this policy no thank you for checking with me thank you I think we're in agreeance on this that we um would love to see this go back and have some input from our classified and certified staff to make sure that we are making sure we're safe in all areas and I'd like to thank them for bringing this to our attention agreed it's we appreciate um getting input so we know we're not we're not living the day-to-day that many are so we appreciate the input that we receive so thank you um any other discussion on other policies any Mrs Walden did you have any comments on any other policy uh just if you know people are

050looking at the agenda that the 3-110 indemnification that that policy is covered by other policies so that's the explanation for the red line of that whole policy thank you thank you for addressing that yes Madam president I do actually have uh a quick question as well or possible discussion on 4-21 um so this is our employee code of conduct and if you go down to item number 23 it says dress according to professionally accept Ed standards and as directed uh I've been on numerous different campuses uh in the time that I worked at Mesa and there doesn't seem to be a consistent a consistent policy or consistent profession what would be considered professionally accepted standards so is that something perhaps that we want to at least look at what minimum things would be acceptable standards

051of uh for our professional to where because it it does vary significantly by location any discussion on that I I think I'd like to get some information from superintendency um maybe and from principles as to why there is that variation I've noticed it as as well um and and maybe um if there's a an accepted definition of professional dress and and what that and what that would be perhaps for the second read is that was would that be good for you okay yeah that would be great just because I do think that um we this leaves it very ambiguous what is a professionally accepted standard within Mesa and I know that there's a difference between uh as Any teacher will tell you like what is appropriate for a PE teacher to wear is different than

052it is for you know a high school math teacher a kindergarten teacher that's different than the high school chemistry teacher or whatever but there should be a baseline uh if we as Educators want to be treated as professionals we should have a a baseline acceptability of of dress okay so thank you thank you any any other discussion no thank you okay do we have any other discussion on any other policies okay all right we are going to move on to our action items do I have a motion to approve a contract award for 250,000 for continued purchase of subscription fees maintenance updates and supplies for smart tag so moved do I have a second second it's been moved and seconded um Mr Thompson Will you um tell us more about this item happy to Madam

053president so I smart the the motion in front of you is smart tag that's the parent company's uh Source secured Mobility the we had planned to Out roll out the parent app um this fall and and it has been delayed and I and and I would share with you that that's really in my mind more of a reflection of our priorities uh we have a continuing shortness of drivers and you have to understand that what that means is that the majority and I mean like 98% of the staff including our mechanics are of and out driving buses which delays their ability to do their given job and that might be routing that might be dispatching that might be mechanic work and so I would say that our delay it's probably more of a reflection of

054our capacity not the companies smarttech has been very responsive they have sent out individuals at no cost to assist us with our conversion the other piece to this is that our routing system we currently use is 35 years old and when we started down this path of working with smart tag we did not commit to their routing systems um we realized after we got into this that that was a mistake we have now committed to using their routing system and we are converting over to that quickly what all that means is we were concerned that we would not be providing accurate information in the parent app and that was more of a concern than getting it out quickly because inaccurate information could lead to students out at bus stops at the wrong time or parents

055anticipating buses that were were not going to show up because of the information challenges that we had but again this is not a reflection there is a reflection of the different systems and Legacy systems we have and the this vendor I would say you can ask our bus drivers this is a product that was designed by bus drivers and it's been very successful for them on the user side the backend side of it is really on us as a school district to convert that information and make it success uccessful we are at a point where we are now ready and so after spring break we will be making the application available to all parents what that means is They will receive notifications when their student loads onto the bus and gets off the bus and

056and then you can enable that on your phone so you get a push notification if you want to kind of have it in real time and so that information will be going out shortly we will communicate that out through emails and texts and other communication method ology so that parents are aware that the app is now available it has not been active and it will be active after spring break thank you thank you Mr Thompson any discussion Madame President yes so um Mr Thompson if I'm hearing you the issues and concerns that Mr Hamlet brought up um are already in the works of being resolved yes we will and then I have another question for um students that don't typically ride a bus but let's say that they're on a bus for a field trip

057uh is this uh does um Soul Source provide uh access to information um of kids loading on a bus for field trips as well as just day in day out yes any parent that downloads the app and has access uh to the system we can uh provide them if they were on on a field trip we on a regular um but I will say that our emphasis right now is obviously on regular routes um sometimes field trips can get challenging and the only reason I bring that up is think about like uh somebody with a lot of band uniform and a tuba and and having their ID and so we're still working through those challenges but um so it is accessed through the student ID have to have your student ID you have to scan

058it and then that tells you that's the information that goes up to tell us that you you're on the bus I can see that being more for um parents of elementary kids that don't have a tuba they would love to be able to know that their child's loaded on a bus or become an issue with some of the field trips given that they might have costumes on or you know so we we're still uh somebody once said a very intelligent person said that it Mesa it takes about three years for us to get it all worked out because of our size and so I think we're in about to enter year two here and we're working through a lot of those details but yes you have to have the ID has to be scanned on

059the bus that's the information that then gets transmitted to your app to tell you that your your student entered or exerted the bus may ask one more question um is the is there are we keeping data on the number of uh student IDs that are lost are having to be replaced at here yes we're working on especially at an elementary level yes we understand it's been uh a challenge and a it's a change in culture it's a change in behaviors it's a change in a lot of things so yes this has been the first year so it's a little hard to know that this is normal yet uh but we are tracking you know how many students are losing how many must be replaced all that information okay Madam president I just wanted to share

060my experience so one of my five children is eligible to ride the bus and he got on the bus in the morning and then didn't get off the bus in the afternoon at the regular time and I was able to call the bus barn and they were immediately able to look up that he hadn't gotten on the gotten off the bus he was on the bus he just had gone to the next stop and so it was really easy to connect with him and I was really grateful for that rather than having to like follow along the bus and hope that he was there not know if he was on the bus it gave me lot of peace of mind so I had been very critical of the lanyards and what a pain they had

061been for all of my other kids but I had to eat my words a little bit on that day when I was able to find my fourth grader really easily and have that that piece of mind I would love to to have those numbers on what this is cost in replacement how many we've replaced we have schools that don't have access to busing and just kind of look at those Dynamics Madam president member Lacy I would just say that uh member chaffie I'm sorry uh the uh information I'd say give us the year I mean it's just so incomplete right now we're still collecting a lot of information and it is the first year but we we do have some sense of of you know what's going on and we're trying to get a handle

062on best practices for for everybody out there thank you thank you do I have any other discussion on this appreciate the discussion this is Walden sorry I don't I just want to make sure I'm not just skipping over you no problem actually just have a quick question do we have like a time frame or a deadline that we're setting for ourselves to work out some of the The Kinks and the bugs in in in our systems before we uh determine how long we want to commit to it uh Madam president member Walden excellent question um I would say that obviously kind of the first deadline is uh returning from spring break the app will be available uh the second piece I think you're asking isut like when do we think we're going to have uh

063all the other pieces put in place and really we're working towards uh the next school year uh for for um uh the conversion of the routing process and and some of those so yes we have timelines and our timelight right now for full conversion of the system is the beginning of next school year right thank you thank you for the discussion I think we're ready to vote Miss Kirby will you please take our vote with a vote of 5 a you have approved a contract award for 250,000 for continued purchase of subscription fees maintenance updates and supplies for smart tag do I have a motion to approve a contract renewal of 7 million for the return to work retiree program provides experienced staff an opportunity to phase in their retirement so moved do I have

064a second I'll second it thank you it has been moved and seconded Mr Wing will you tell us more about this item certainly president of Davis governing board superintendent the audience to begin with this uh actually saves money for the school district just wanted to point that out right away but ESI is is a in sense a phase retirement program uh this program is available in I think every District that I'm aware of in the state of Arizona sadly I recall uh implementing it probably 20 years ago a long long time ago um uh the government board approved a redesign of our ESI program three years ago and really with the emphasis that it's an employee benefit and it's also employee retention strategy for Mesa Public Schools it allows employees under normal retirement in essence

065to be reemployed with Mesa Public Schools we hire other retirees whether it's law enforcement military Educators from other states even and so we wanted to honor even our internal employees who uh remain committed to us it saves the district uh payroll expenses excuse me by allowing this program I would estimate we we save over a million dollars every year um it'll be depending on how many participate each year um but it does save money nonetheless I just recall bus driver appreciation week last year sitting at table and the whole table were head bus drivers who participated in this program sharing with me that if the board had not made changes uh as the redesign was a couple years ago that they would have been seeking employment elsewhere and uh we need bus drivers not less

066of them so that was just an example that I'm providing of how it was a retention strategy as well thank you Mr Wing any other discussion H this is H Rachel Walden I have a question about how long have we been offering these Services I know since when I was on the board we you know voted for this this is a renewal but uh about how long has this been a practice uh three years ago the governing board approved a redesign to it but it's been in practice does anybody body who's been here much much longer than I it's been a long time we always look at the uh yeah probably around the time I implemented it in a different District 20 years ago okay thank you all right thank you any other discussion I

067will just say that I know that our um teachers who do retire at a relatively young age love this option and their communities love the option that they uh that teachers can come back without um any kind of disruption used to be that they had to be gone for a year right and then so uh teachers love this thank you thank you for the discussion I think we're ready to vote Miss Kirby will you please take our vote with a vote of five a you have approved a contract renewal of 7 million for the return to work retire program provides experienced staff an opportunity to phase in their retirement do I have a motion to approve the Audits and compliance questionnaire so moved do I have a second seconded it has been moved and seconded

068uh Mr Thompson can you tell please tell us more about this action item before we pass it over to miss Shields from hfield Meech for presentation thank you madam president uh before you this evening you know really for me there's two really important times of the year where we bring information that's critical to the public and to you as board members the first is when we bring the AFR which really ref is in October and refers to our expenses and how we've spent the money not how we plan to spend the money so if you're really looking for a critical eye on what we're doing that's the document to look at the second is these documents this evening so this evening you're going to uh have a quick presentation from our audit firm and uh

069a little discussion around what the audit looked like but obviously this is the independent review and the transparency for uh the public on how we spend our money and how we take care of our finances thank you Miss shelds needs a clicker oh we need the clicker Jennifer I'm gonna let you introduce yourself it's more impressive thank you Mr Thompson um I'm Jennifer Shields um Madame President members of the board Dr foress um thank you for allowing me a few minutes of time um this evening to go over the results of the audit report um as you see on the screen um we are talking about the audit um from the the year ended June 30th of 24 so we'll go through there are certain things that um the external Auditors are required to um

070you know alert um what we call those charged with governance so essentially the governing board um so we'll go through a few of the required Communications and then I'll give some highlights about the audit in the process and we will see if I can get this started okay there we go um okay so um audit timeline um as you can tell so I was here actually last February right about the time of this meeting presenting the results from the 23 audit so we're essentially right on schedule so that's good news um the audit timeline itself is actually very long you can see from the screen there um we started this audit essentially right after I did the presentation last year um when we issued the engagement letter so that's kind of like the start of

071the process we do perform procedures um on a number of different occasions you can see from May through October um we're interacting with various District staff members um performing various audit procedures depending upon the time of year so we do actually start um our fieldwork procedures prior to the end of the school year and then a lot of the really heavy um audit like number related Focus um of those types of things happens after the conclusion of the fiscal year and as Mr Thompson stated um after you guys all approve the AFR which that occurs in the October time frame so um there's a lot of work that goes into this both on um you know our side as the external Auditors but also um you know from all of your staff here at the

072district and then we also um assist management with preparing the actual drafts of the reports that you have before you this evening and we prepare the reports and then we send the drafts it takes us usually a couple of months from the time we're here on site um to be able to finish up the audit procedures and get everything put together in the format that's before you this evening and then the audit report um the financial statements were issued in um December of 2024 which I'll kind of jump a little bit ahead which um the deadline for your audit to be finished um there's a couple of different deadlines but one of the deadlines for um being able to submit your financial statements for um excellence in financial reporting um awards that that deadline is

073December 31st so we um in conjunction with um the District were able to make sure that the district met that deadline in terms of the scope of the audit services that we provide we perform our audit in accordance with um generally accepted auditing standards also with government auditing standards as a governmental um entity you're subject to those standards as well and then last but not least the standards that are required by uniform guidance and so the uniform guidance piece of it is related to all of the federal awards that the district receives and then expends we're also contracted to perform a um uh what's called the uniform system of financial records um usfr compliance questionnaire so you'll have um those documents all in your packet um that we'll talk a little bit about so in

074terms of my responsibilities as they relate to um performance of audit procedures like I said we go through our audit standards we follow all of those fraud is always something that we talk about as part of our audit um so i' like to talk about that with um the board basically our responsibility with um respect to fraud Communications is to make inquiries of board members I know I've spoken to a few of you over the years um with respect to the different programs um in place here at the district we talk to various members of um staff not just in the Finance and Accounting offices but throughout the district just to kind of you know ultimately figure out if there's any um sort of red flag area that need to be addressed um ultimately the

075responsibility for fraud prevention rests with you all um so we we do point that out um so as you can see I I design my audit procedures and my team performs the audit procedures so that we are able to provide reasonable but not absolute assurance that the financial statements are fairly presented um in terms of accounting standards there are always it seems like new accounting standards that we have to implement this year there was something we call gasby statement 100 it was um somewhat of a minor standard um the year before was something much more major you guys did something earlier this evening regarding subscriptions and that was a a much larger lift for the district last year this year um in this audit um there and why I bring this up tonight is because

076there is um a new standard that requires a little bit different change in presentation so if you're like me and you're looking at the finan Cal statements you'll see that there's some some different presentation for um changes in reporting units of the financial statements and so the reason why the format may look a little bit different um this year from prior years is um because of the implementation implementation of this particular accounting standard so no concerns with that implementation um in any financial statement audit there are significant estimates that are um involved management has to essentially make certain estimates um to be able to get the financial statements out in a timely fashion you can see the three bullets on the screen there um those three items are the most significant estimates in the financial

077statements um management makes estimates related to assets so how long we utilize our assets for the assets are depreciated over those estimated useful lives um the estimate of insurance claims so the district is self-insured for um various different claims for employee health Wellness um property liability that kind of thing and so along with any self- insurance plan estimates have to be made with respect to how much do we need to keep in reserves what do we think has been incurred but that we don't know about yet as a financial statement date and then um last but not least the district participates in the state retirement system for the um for for all of your um employees and the state retirement system has a lot of Actuarial valuations and those estimates and the assumptions with respect

078to the state retirement system end up as a part of your financial statements as well so a little it's a little game over here if I can get the clicker to work um we're also required to um let you know whether or not there are any audit adjustments that were required to report so audit adjust are things that we find that may be wrong that need to be corrected in order for the financial statements to be properly prepared we did not have any audit adjustments that we need to let you guys know about there may be sometimes little coding things that get get noted but nothing that rises to the level of concern on the audit itself there are also non- audit services that are provided by heinfeld meech so um as I mentioned we

079assist the district with the preparation of these actual reports and so that's considered a non- audit service so what we do is we we do take the district's um accounting records and we will um gather information from the district as well as other outside sources in order to propose adjustments that will put the financial statements in um in a the format that's required by generally accepted accounting principles so we prepare all of that information and provide that information to management and then management reviews the information accepts responsibility for that and kind of agrees with what we've done um or if they don't agree then we work through any changes that may need to be made and then I mentioned the uniform guidance um report earlier that is related to the federal audit and so we

080assist with the preparation of what's called the sea or the schedule of expenditures of federal Awards and also the data collection form that's required to be submitted to the federal government um that Recaps all of the spending that was um made by the district during the year with the federal programs in terms of other required Communications I'm really happy to report that we had no disagreements with management over Financial Accounting or reporting or other matters so thank you for always working with us on that um at the end of the audit management provides um a list of representations basically saying that as the Auditors we asked them for a lot of a lot of information and they provided us all of the information and then of course as your external Auditors we are required to

081maintain our independence in order to be able to issue the independent auditor report and we had um no um violations with Independence or other ethical requirements on our end um so then there are um there are three different reports that we issued and also a letter the letter is actually a recap of everything I just went over um but the three reports that um we issued I'll go over them quickly um the first one is the annual comprehensive financial report I've taken the liberty of listing out some various page numbers that if you wish to peruse um you know that might be some the page numbers where you want to focus on um I'd like to point out on page um by the way these are PDF page numbers I apologize not print page numbers

082so it depends on which version you're looking at um but um page 20 of the pdf version is the independent auditor report so that's what I'm responsible for and I'm happy to report that the district received an unmodified opinion the um Management's discussion and Analysis I'd also draw your attention to because that's kind of where management gets to write the story about the numbers um why things changed why things went up or went down and it should um if you read it it'll probably reflect a lot of the information that Mr Thompson presents to you throughout the year about the various changes and as you guys look at your budget and where your actuals are and you should be able to correlate that to already known information um Switching gears to the single audit report

083so this is that uniform guidance report that we talked about um again PDF page 10 which in the print version it's actually the last page of that report it's a much smaller report um that is what's called your single audit report and that um on page 10 there is a summary schedule of findings and question costs it's a summary of auditor results and it kind of Recaps all of the information with respect to the audit so during the audit of the financial statements we did not have any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in internal control that were noted and then it switches into the federal Awards and I peaked at it I think the district spent about $142 million in federal Awards a very large portion of that was the close out of the Esser

084funds so that's where a lot of that money was expended um and that's why we looked at that as what we call our major federal program so we audited um essentially it's called the education stabilization fund but you all know it as Esser so Esser um alone in this particular audit year was um it was 44% of your total federal program expense and just for those um maybe listening the um other types of federal programs that you get those are where you see like your title one or your national school lunch or your um idea type special education is what like idea special education cluster is what the federal government calls it so those are some of the other very large programs that you off um offer here um but Esso of course was still

085the large um largest um bucket this this year um Switching gears to the very last document that we have the uniform system of financial records um compliance questionnaire so that document is put out by the auditor General's office for the State of Arizona and it's got you know 30 pages of 18 different content areas and as your external Auditors we go through and we have to design tests that will answer those questions either yes or no and they cover a whole gamut of different um different areas we look at you know governing board meetings and make sure that you're properly posting and you know providing notice and taking minutes and making those minutes available to the public so we look at things like that and we look at things it's National procurement month next month

086so we look at your procurement extensively in accordance with um the school district procurement rules that you're required to follow um and then just a whole host of other things I list student attendance up there because we spend an inordinate amount of time tracking um you know testing that you all at all of your school sites are um you know marking kids as being present or you're enrolling them properly or withdrawing them properly when they move on to another um school system so this is the the area where weend end up getting very far out of um the finance office you know we it covers Transportation records management all sorts of different things so it's um pretty comprehensive and then this is the document that the um auditor General's office will use well they'll use

087all three of them in conjunction but especially the usfr compliance questionnaire and they will ultimately make a determination on whether the district was in substantial compliance with the requirements that are imposed upon you and so that um final comments um just want to thank Mr Thompson of course and everybody under your area as well as um Ken Alexander um and you know we they're the two main people that we interface with but there are a lot of other people that um really help the district um get all of the information it's quite um quite a heavy lift to GA all the information that we need in order to perform the audit procedures and then just as a looking forward to next year I mentioned we implemented a new accounting standard the district will also be

088implementing another new accounting standard for the next audit which is called compensated absences and so I know I talked to Mr Alexander a little bit ago and he's already it's already on his radar to start looking into that but for you all what compensated absences are is um sort of like your vested vacation sickle um all of those types of things so that concludes my presentation and I I am happy to answer any questions you might have for me thank you Miss shelds for your presentation and we're grateful for all those our staff and your staff and for all of the hours that go into preparing this document I know it doesn't happen overnight or in a month lots of months so thank you for that um just a couple questions I have really quick

089with looking at the district um not H going through this there's very few findings that you have found what does that mean for a district our size thank you madam president that's actually a great question um most of board members will ask you know kind of how do we rate compared to other school districts so we do tend to pull some stats together just um so that we can provide some some reference um in that uniform system of financial records compliance questioner there are approximately 400 questions embedded within that document and so on average there are usually anywhere from about maybe 15 to 17 NOS is kind of what we see as the it's probably the average as well as the median um and so um for a district your size what um having a

090lot of yes answers means is that um your staff are really committed to training and educating because remember this document it it's touching you know the it's all the staff out of the school sites it's all the 10,000 employees at the district that have a responsibility so I know that the district puts a lot of effort on training and making sure that everybody understands the rules and then double-checking the rules so to have very few no answers is um a positive thing thank you and just one more is there um from your perspective is there anything more the district can do do to address um the issue of fiscal transparency Madam president that's a stumper um so I think um I think one of the things that um and this is I'm here because the

091legislature a couple of years ago started um they implemented a statute that requires you all to do a roll call vote um and so I think by having presentations by the external Auditors that helps I think by asking questions and providing information to the public um there's a there's a host of information that's available on your website that the public can access um but certainly having um audit you know audit results posted and having um interaction and dialogue with your external Auditors as well as with Management on a routine basis I think is important thank you I appreciate it Madam president just want to highlight that the last five years of these reports are available on the district website under audit services so not only this year but uh which hasn't been posted yet but

092we'll be after tonight uh the past five years are up there as well thank you Mr Thompson um any board members do you have any questions Madame President um I just want to um compliment um both you as as our firm as our auditing firm and our and our um Financial staff I I went through and I I I kept I kept scrolling and I kept scrolling all those questions all those I didn't realize there were 400 of them but it felt like it when I was scrolling and all the yeses and and whether it's cash and revenue accounting record supplies inventory property control procurement um payroll student attendance I mean there was like one small thing in student attendance and there was um one person who didn't sign a conflict of interest form one

093person who didn't fill out the one form on PE cards that was it and I'm like we're a huge organization and and to see so many yeses um I think just um was complete support for that you you saw no need for audit adjustment that you saw um of the required letters that compliance is ured um that the staff was cooperative and helpful um I mean because as I kept scrolling I'm like going yes this affirms your report and so I appre appreciate being able to actually look through and see all the various questions and and I I just want to make everyone know that for 38 years consecutively this district has been noted for excellence by the Ariz the associated School Board um excuse me school business officials and the government Finance Officers Association

094thir 38 years and this report is going to hopefully get us number 39 um it's it's excellent and and I I can't thank you enough for all of the work that you've done to make sure that our public knows that this is transparency and this is good governance thank you thank you Miss Henson any other discussion Mrs Walden thank you I don't I don't have any questions I appreciate the questions that you asked okay thank you um thank you again for your presentation we appreciate it thank you for the discussion I think we're ready to vote since we use electronic voting which includes each board member's name with their vote that satisfies the roll call vote requirements Miss Kirby will you please take our vote thank you very much with a vote of five y

095you have approved the Audits and compliance questionnaire this moves us into us our discussion items for tonight our first presentation tonight is on Early Childhood programming in Mesa Miss Baka can you please introduce your team tonight good evening Madame President members of superintendency um so today we have our director of Early Childhood Lisa gring and her Department specialist Megan Anderson here to share information about our program oh it is now oh sorry the quicker is new to me okay um see this is the agenda that we have for this evening so some may ask why invest in early childhood investing in early childhood closes the achievement gap for children from disadvantaged backgrounds giving them the skills and tools that they need to success need to succeed in kindergarten and Beyond there are long-term economic benefits

096such as higher earnings lower crime rates and a stronger Workforce quality Early Learning sets children up for lifelong academic and personal success sorry um there is a strong correlation between high quality Early Learning and third grade reading proficiency children attending preschool have stronger early literacy skills and higher reading achievement scores in elementary school and quality preschools can help reduce the risk of misidentifying English language learners for education simply early childhood is the best investment that you can make in education we have um many options in um Mesa for um families we have 90 total uh preschool classrooms we have 78 a.m p.m halfday inclusion classrooms we have four full day preschool classrooms on high school campuses we we have two stem full day stem enrichment uh classrooms at um Red Mountain Ranch and zaharis and

097six monor preschools all of our preschools serve children who children who are three four and 5 years old are um in our 78 half-day uh sessions these um these classrooms are inclusion classrooms and they serve 17 students uh 10 students who are who H are typically developing Pairs and seven students with disabilities and all of our classrooms and all of our classrooms we have a focus on early literacy math science and social skills this slide highlights our enrollment beginning in 2122 um to the current year in 22 23 I began as an early learning director and um we were we ended the year with a little over 2,000 students when I started we had many self-contained classrooms and we started to put typically develop Place typically developing pairs into some of these classrooms by 23

09824 we had reached full inclusion across all programs and um across all programs and we did this without adding any FTE so by 2425 here we are um 2,700 students as of 2226 in Arizona um districts are mandated to serve students in special education in their preschools so we do we can't have a wait list we can't turn them down we have to place them right away so we have ongoing enrollment so my prediction is that that 2700 will um surpass the 2,783 by may this is typically where we start to hit our highest enrollment in February and March and ending in May Mesa preschool students receiving ecsc Services is inclusive classrooms um is 96 6% as compared to the Arizona State average of inclusive settings which is 40.3% this data came um straight from

099the Arizona Department of Education and I must say they're very happy with our data um let's see so as I said we have many um inclusive classrooms and we have 76 of them located at 37 Title One elementary schools our Title One estimated allocation for preschools is 6,636 th000 for the 2526 school year located on this slide you will see all of the school all of the title one 37 Title One schools and next to it is a number um uh which is um how many classrooms we have at each site we also have tuition-based sites um currently at zaharis elementary we have a stem enrichment preschool classroom and in 25 26 we are transitioning this classroom to an AM PM inclusion classroom we currently have a one stem uh at K8 STEM Academy at

100Red Mountain Ranch Elementary we have one stem enrichment preschool classroom and one Am Pm preschool inclusion classroom in 2526 we will be transitioning um to just 1 a.m. PM inclusion classroom her mosta Vista Elementary um hosts a Am Pm inclusion classroom and we have four full preschools located at Mesa Dobson Skyline and Red Mountain High School we also have the monory preschools located at sine sine monory Center and Bush Elementary our four full day preschool classrooms um the four full day preschool classrooms located at the high school campuses offer full day preschool to the community and the School District employees our classroom um our class sizes range from 18 to 22 students um we offer the full day preschool um to our employees who receive a discounted rate based on a sliding scale fee our

101preschools are taught by certified teachers and also support our future educational CTE students in providing a learning lab to complement their studies all of our preschool um all of our curriculum and our preschool classrooms have a Core Curriculum which is creative curriculum we also have supplemental supplemental curricula that aligns with our early learning grades so we have sound sensible which is our early literacy uh curricula touchmath supporting early learning math concepts Picture Perfect science which is being um uh implemented in our um stem enrichment programs and then we also have a state assessment tool which is teaching strategies goal for students uh to track the progress for students with disabilities um then this data is what is provided to the office of special education prrs and the Arizona Department of Education um next I want

102to talk about San monor Center um which house and Bush Elementary which houses our um six monasa preschools but first I'd like to introduce Hade Harris she's the coach of sine monor to give you a preview of um the uh monory preschools and their curriculum so in a monory classroom we have a three-year cycle that means that the preschool child is in the same classroom from the ages through from 3 to six so they go from preschool through kindergarten this is um this helps with the high retention rates and the students continuing to enroll throughout the coursework on the campus um the we have in our academics uh both social and academic curriculum working through um the Practical life skills of the preschool child learning how to use their body learning how to function and

103communicate and well as the academics through math language uh sensorial and other um outdoor experiences we have uh High communication rates with our families we allow tours we um have volunteers we provide many opportunities for parents and families to be involved on our campus historically our preschool to kindergarten retention has been strong due to the program structure of that three-year work uh three-year cycle uh if we notice trends of families leaving early We Gather that feedback and helps us address these concerns and re reinforcing the long-term benefits of staying with the primary cycle we have um we've sent surveys out and are uh we have 40 out of 40 preschoolers returning next year with 277 of these preschoolers returning as kindergarten students this is 100% retention as of now um in 2425 we retained 93%

104of our preschoolers moving on to kindergarten three students left um for personal reasons and are moving out of the location um thank you um now that we now that we have covered the variety of preschool programs in Mesa I'd like to take a moment to highlight the strong Partnerships that support our early learning efforts we um partner with the city of Mesa Mesa Public Schools Foundation Arizona State un University bezos's Academy and Head Start Arizona State University um provides an ongoing professional learning for our staff in the areas of interdisciplinary teaming and pushin Services the next partnership that I would like to highlight the next partnership that I would like to highlight is um our partnership with the city of Mesa and Mesa Public Schools Foundation we proudly support the Mesa K ready program which

105provides parent educational workshops and engagement activities these workshops help prepare children for kindergarten by equipping families with the tools and resources to support their child's Learning and Development at home we have B monthly sessions um on Wednesday and the requirement for these families are that they're um that they are in the zip codes of L and Stevenson Elementary and that their children are enrolled in our preschools we have also opened up this program um for surrounding schools nearby um LOL and Stevenson we hold our sessions um by monthly at Stevenson LOL and at the Family Resource Center in the Mesa Public Library we have many different topics I'm not going to go through all of them but just to mention a few of them um we um we offer uh we have offered developmental Milestones

106introducing literacy into your home strategies for decreasing challenging behaviors and friendship skills we have partnered with computat to provide free laptops for families we had about 25 or 30 families that came to this free giveaway um of computers there was a tutorial and every family received a flash drive that had um math and literacy activities that they could work with their children at home um we um just recently we provided a dental checkup that was provided by Dignity Health and first things first and we had about 25 families attend that as well we have some really fun family um engagement activities I won't go through them all but we have a really fun one coming up in May which is going to be at Mesa High School where we're giving away bikes Trikes and helmets

107and there's like um there's a safety bike safety training that will happen and they we'll have a little race on the track so just a activity for families and I here in the next few weeks um we have um Family Day at the zoo uh another partnership I would like to highlight is Bezos Academy the Bezos Academy preschools will be located at Poston Junior High Fremont Junior High and O Conor and O Conor Elementary School um Bezos Academy preschools will operate um will offer full day yearound preschool for 180 students and the academy will cover all the expenses so no charge to the families and families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level will be eligible for this program oops I was trying to finish early um so Head Start is another key

108partner um and so we have our key partners are Head Start and we work with Maricopa Head Start and Salt River Head Start we have we serve about a hundred students for the LA every year for about the last four years and our we have MPS itinerate staff um who go in and work with the general education Head Start teachers to serve our children with disabilities um we offer um many different um professional learning um activities for Head Start staff and we also um offer parent um activities for um the parents of the children at head starts the locations are you can see are below the table and those are the locations for Maricopa Head Start that has sites and some of the sites are um are at our Mesa locations once again finishing early

109um to summarize uh to summarize our Mesa preschools are laying a strong foundation for future success through inclusive practices and high quality instruction we are ensuring that all children regardless of ability or background are prepared for kindergarten and Beyond I want to leave you with oops well I don't know where it is but there's a parent testimonial somehow I think it must have got deleted one more yes I really am trying to leave early okay so I want to leave you with a really strong uh parent Testament and I'm not going to read it to you but I hope that you will just take a moment to read it um this story is just one example of how high expectations inclusion and the right support can change a child's trajectory it's a really strong um

110Testament to the work that we do in our preschool classrooms every day so I just want to thank members of the board superintendency and superintendent foress for your time and continued support of early childhood education thank you so much questions for me yes thank you so much for this presentation do we have any questions for Madam president so um we have a lot of Partnerships with um providing preschool for low-income families uh across the district correct are is it possible to be looking for um Partnerships to provide monu preschool for low income that I know that that does not currently exist uh however that programming is really really beneficial especially that three-year cycle I I do think is just fabulous for those kids and the philosophy uh but I know that there is not currently

111any financial assistance for families that want to that would like that as an option for their child so are we going to be pursuing that in any way is that a possibility are you talking about monory yeah monory preschool providing fin yeah Basil's Academy though would be um providing I mean it's you have to apply but it is still a free it's still a free preschool experience and it's yearound five days a week no I'm saying is there any thought to pursuing Partnerships that would allow for financial like through D de or uh any of the organizations that provide funding for yeah our low-income families that um can't afford preschool well no having monor as an option yeah no we have not we have not explored that um but I think that that's something as

112we are expanding in preschool that we could certainly look at I think it would be really beneficial it is um the the philosophy of education is just it really is very beneficial for kids it's very developmentally appropriate they're not being pushed um academically before they're ready to be pushed academically so I mean if we I I think there's a lot of families that um if that were uh even if it's a a tuition assistance type situation um because many families can't afford it that would benefit from a monory right foundation so I would love to see us pursue that as a district Dr F yeah yeah M Madam president and members of the board and board member um Benson uh the Bezos Academy is their curriculum is a monor inspired curriculum and so they are

113following much of the teachings and philosophy of monor and they're very committed to having a Hol experience for students and that is free full day yearr round preschool three meals a day and it will be uh partnering in three of the schools that Mrs gring uh shared with us Poston Fremont as well as OK Conor and they will be opening in September and their their criteria is families that are at 400% of the poverty rate so that means that some of our um own employees will qualify because they cannot they meet the finan requirement well and I think that I think that's great but I don't think that Bezos is going to have the three-year cycle like our Bush and our sine monor campuses have are they could you uh explain to me wait your

114definition of the three-year cycle so I make sure I answer your question well the threee can you I know what the three-year cycle is but I mean there are you talking about the the three grade band level in monor okay yeah it's a three-year cycle typically not only in preschool but in in their I always get it wrong it's lower right so they um so I'm not super familiar um I just know enough to be dangerous about monory but um there are three the B there's three grade band levels um so it's pre it's preschool K it's preschool three four and five year olds and kindergarten and sort of that first cohort and then there's the next three grade levels and then the next three grade levels so um I'm assuming that's what you're speaking

115to yes but I have a feeling I'm not being clear on my question so I understand the basos they may have a monory feel but they're not going to have the three-year cycle that bush and sine have correct it it's strictly a preschool program it's multi-age for children three four and then you know some kids turn five by the end of before they're able to go into kindergarten so it will be multi-age so then what I'm what I'm asking is can we um can we as a district put in the idea that we should be looking at are there ways we can help to financially assist families who would like the monory option but can't afford the $750 a month for preschool so as a we we have lots of other tuition assistant program Assistance

116programs that's what I'm asking for yeah I think Dr stm's ready to jump in member Benson uh we certainly would be willing to bring back back to you a complete financial analysis of all preschool programming throughout the district so that you can gain a perspective on exactly what revenues are coming in from preschool and expenses are going out upon upon looking at that you will quickly realize and understand exactly the preschool position we're in and if that's something the board wants to explore I also want to remind you uh that public schools in the state of Arizona are on limited discretionary funds 90% of the funds that we get in the state of Arizona go out to employees um because we are people business and so on The Limited discretionary funds Mesa Public Schools has

117got to uh live into the fact that we can only invest certain dollars in certain things because there's not discretionary dollars to invest in everything we're doing so we have programming that we invest in from a music perspective let's say and we have program that we invest in from a uh electives uh option at the high school level let's say and we have programming we invest in at the preschool level now preschool education is near and dear to my heart right I write about it in my my in my dissertation and we know that preschool education has a 13% Roi year-over-year return on long-term span things from from the perspective of student outcomes you can read JJ heckman's work you wanton a Nobel Prize for it Heckman and kuna University of Chicago like we can

118go down the route of understanding how important these Investments are so please don't hear me say that we don't value preschool education but what we're going to have to do to work with the governing board in the future is we're going to have to bring a holistic view of all Investments we make throughout the district understand the revenues and expenses and then make thoughtful decisions on where we're investing our dollars because what's going to happen in the future three to five years as we continue to deal with declining enrollment and yes we're going to work to attract students back into the Mesa Public School System but as we're continuing doing deal with declining enrollment and revenues being flat we're going to have to make tough and thoughtful decisions across the board so in short to

119your answer we can explore all options and what we'd love to do is explore options with our local municipalities like has happened in other in other municipalities and they have been a great partner so far but if if there's options for us to work with our municipality to find preschool funding like happened in Tempe that's happened at Tempe Elementary School District we're certainly open to any and every partnership to try to expand but preschool education is an expensive Venture um and and so I I know I went a little long-winded there but we need to start to realize in Meson Public Schools there's only so much discretionary money and you can't make investments and everything and it's going to have to end up being picking and choosing what we make investments in Madam president and

120I totally appreciate that uh I'm glad you mentioned outside entities I'm not saying Mesa Public Schools funds and supplements I'm saying let's get some Partnerships um I mean if we have a 100% or 93% retention rate from our um our uh monitory preschoolers going on to kindergarten and then going into lower L that's keeping our kids here so thank thank you any other discussion I just wanted to say that I have two kids that have benefited directly from the district programming as special needs students and it made for such a nice transition having done preschool at the elementary school to then feel confident and comfortable going to an elementary school so I love that we are spending efforts that we're being strategic and that we're providing these services for students and I think that maybe

121this idea of how are we going to prioritize things as a board would be a good thing to put on our upcoming Retreat like let's look at these things and kind of figure out what our priorities are thank you any other discussion all right thank you so much for your presentation and for being here tonight we are moving on to our next presentation Dr Gibbs floor is yours for uh progress monitoring toward um on student ah what's happening to my computer college credits it's all you thank you um members of the board and superintendency it's good to be with you tonight for a brief snapshot on college credit uh student engagement in course taking so in this brief presentation I'll be looking at mps's students engagement in MPS offerings that are designed to help them

122earn credit for college and reduce the time to spend in college and with that the amount of money it cost to go to college so at Mesa there are three primary means of earning college credit one is by exam either through the AP or through the international baloria program that we currently have at Westwood or through dual enrollment and our dual enrollment programs are with Mesa Community College and in those programs our teachers at Mesa register as faculty members at Mesa Community College and students who enroll in their classes may also then enroll at Mesa Community College to get credit for college for that course okay so we begin looking at by looking at student engagement so this is how many students we have reached with these course offerings uh how many individual students so

123in this chart we see the percent of students enrolled at the end of the year who have engaged in one or more of our College course offerings so you can see the AP uptake has been fairly stable at 12% I'm talking in a minute um about that when we talk about the change that's happened at Westwood from AP to IB but that has remained stable H if you take Westwood out as you'll see in a moment that has actually gone up slightly and then we also offer International baloria you see that there's been an increase at in international baloria at Westwood where that is offered and uh sharp increase at that doubled in several years and then we have uh growing program with a dual enrollment as well increasing up to 28% of students having

124engaged in this program okay so uh in this slide we see the breakdown by school and you can see that across all of our high schools uh the uh numbers have been solid in some cases growing uh when it comes to AP engagement um and the Westwood engagement has decreased down you can see the numbers are very small that is because they have replaced that AP with those AP courses with IB courses so that's not a decrease necessarily in the number of college credits taken it's just a transition from depending on AP to moving toward IB and I we'll take a look at dual enrollment you can see that in dual enrollment uh has seen stady growth at some of our schools especially at Dobson uh a significant increase in student engagement at Dobson uh

125and study enrollment elsewhere in the district as well um so these slides do show uh kind of consistent engagement across these programs with IB showing in the first program in the first slide as well so now we'll take a look at this same subject through the lens of through the lens of course taking uh or course taking it refers to the number of AP IB or dual enrollment classes students have taken out of the total number of courses in their course load so here we see about 3% of High School courses that our students take uh are AP about 5% of the classes at Westwood are IB and about 12% of our classes are dual enrollment so um around putting put together around 15% of our classes our students are taking are classes in which

126students have the opportunity to to earn college credit this is up over the last few years we'll take a look at AP Pi school and course taking once again these numbers reflect the the the trends you saw in the initial slide and then we move on to and with the decline at Westwood as I said that has been replaced by IB and looking at dual enrollment by school um at Dobson High you can see the proportion of students taking classes at Dobson High the proportion of their classes has regularly increased uh as well as at Mountain View some increases at SK line and consistent across the others as well so I hope this has been a brief um kind of snapshot into one of our uh pieces of one of our key pieces of programming

127here at Mesa Public Schools thank you thank you Dr Gibbs um Bard any questions yes Dr Gibbs I I do have a question maybe it's um maybe for superintendency as well um is there any um hindrance any obstacles for our students taking dual enrollment classes uh there are always obstacles for students in taking dual enrollment classes uh I will tell you one of them is the prerequisite skills needed and so uh when you see the culmination of experiences that kids have in College Bound classes at the high school level please know there's a lot of work that goes into that at the kindergarten through 10th grade level so that's one right obstacles of prior knowledge Second One Financial obstacles continue to be uh something that students need to have help overcoming uh in the district

128there's been multiple attempts from the state legislature to get dual enrollment money to uh community colleges so that they can support scholarships that are available and Dr E's team has worked uh diligently with the community colleges and maybe Dr isus wants to comment a little bit on the financial obstacles we're trying to overcome here in Mesa Public Schools but my question was specifically dual enrollment um in that um dual enrollment um enrollments sorry happens happens to be going up but I'm but what I'm hearing is is that it's that it is difficult for teachers to get certified to be I'm asking a dual enrollment question not not College Bound so that there's and and there's some some issues with the Mesa College promise and and can that be applied at high school those are those

129issues that I'm that I'm asking asking about and and and is the district able to address them so I took it from a student perspective Dr eess will certainly be able to talk about uh The Higher Learning commission hlc and their requirements on teachers getting certified yes so they changed the requirements to the um higher learning credit requirements I want to say two or three years ago and so that has made it more difficult for our our high school teachers to become certified and we have been working diligently with um CCD and ASU to figure out how we can best service our teachers to get those higher level um credits that are required but there just is not a lot of courses right now that are available and we continue to work with them and

130their advisory boards as well on figuring out how we can um change the legislation around that and the requirements as well um but in terms of professional learning support and tuition and those kinds of things we have set aside um the footsie money that we receed back from our community college and have worked diligently the last couple of years to strengthen those agreements so that our schools can help support our teachers to take those I was thinking that probably the financial obligation to get those that high credit substantial for a teacher not to be able to do that and that the district is supporting that's that's that's that's that's that's key okay what about the Mesa College promise um I know that I'm working with um Selena Selenas from mccd okay MCC specifically around some

131of those requirements I I'd have to go back and take a look specifically at what our needs here are our Mesa Public Schools but I know there are there are some barriers there so I can bring back that information for you and I would certainly think that the MCC counselors that are on each high school campus help a lot for sure and that's why we've seen dual enrollment go up so high yeah thank Miss hes can I add one more thing please note that the hlc solution sets for higher and learning commission and certification have resulted in ASU offering these Universal learning courses and that's another way for us to get around the certification process for our own internal teachers and have that certification lie on ASU professors as opposed to our own professors and

132we do have High School principles including Westwood that are uh trying to embed Universal learning courses Into The Learning Experience through theems and so there's a whole another option and the kids actually in Universal learning courses R you get to take the course for free and then if they're successful at the end get to pay for the credit so we're exploring any and all opportunities with all universities and Community College uh areas to increase College uh access for kids may ask one question Madam president so um I you you said that um Westwood in particular has moved from AP to Interac laate that just happened this year no they've been in international back for a while the migration from AP has been ongoing so have they had has it just has it been a continual

133movement away from offering AP courses to strictly having an IB because ib's been around at Westwood for a while yeah the the biggest push is starting to happen right now this year's been the biggest push towards that you if you go over to Westwood and watch youry I had a great experience over there about a week and a half ago watching these teachers function in a teaming fashion and watching students across all levels of learning interact with a same similar type of project at much different levels their learning targets and goals were just a little bit different and it's created a culture at Westwood Dr Gilmore can speak better to this but it's created a culture at Westwood where there's there's not any longer necessarily the Hales and the have kns it's much more a

134culture of we're all in this and we want students to try to test out IB to see if they can be successful at a much more rigorous level and we're very appreciative that that inclusive nature at Westwood is starting to thrive but this year's been the major this year's been he's been working on it for since he's been there but this year's been a major push at Westwood mam president I just have a followup question are IB classes at Westwood going to be open are all IB classes at Westwood going to be open to all students the way I understand Dr Gilmore and we we had lunch yesterday to talk through a few of these Concepts what what their desire is is that if students want to have the experience of the rigor of an

135IB class that in a class that they're taking sophomore year junior year they will be able to opt into the learning experiences needed and get that IB level of rigor in in that teaming environment so the I think the goal would be eventually that for all students who want that learning experience at that level rigor it'll be available to them may I add to that I met with a ninth grade team uh last week and that's precisely what they're attempting to do is that all Learners are uh and uh I have a sample of a um Ela activity that's scaffolded so an IB genad inclusive so um I have another real quick question on the statistics from why are we why are we doing 9th through 12th grade when I think AP dual enrollment and

136IB that's only well I know IB you could have it at nth grade but um isn't it only 10th and 11th or 11th and 12th sorry oh AP courses are available beginning in n9th grade actually okay thank you yeah the courses in this particular slide deck refer to the ones that would be college credit bearing so uh this would be actually if you looked at all IB classes you'd see even larger numbers I because this is only this is focusing mainly on the ones for earning college credit thank you um just quick and I don't know if anyone can answer this do we know why the increase at Dobson so high Paul do you want to talk to the paper written by invested we have Kelly back there too Mrs Berg's back there too but

137can you speak to a little in the uh Elevate Ed helos um a couple years ago um the district partnered with an organization to strengthen our engagement with college uh College Bound students as uh as our said today and the um wasn't wasn't just Mesa it was also Phoenix Phoenix Public Phoenix Union and uh in the first year I think the first year of the program or 21 to 22 there was a 20% increase about 18% in just one year in our engagement and um Phoenix Union had a had a larger had a larger um increase but we had a substantial increase in just one year which uh has been attributed to that particular program's engagement and part of that engagement process uh was making just simple registration easier for kids um one one of

138the choices back 20 years ago when the dual enrollment started around 1994 in the state of Arizona and even as far back as 2000 one of the reasons you would choose to go with Rio solato Community College as opposed to Chandler Gilbert Community College as opposed to Mesa Community College your choice as a system was often centered around how easy did they make registration for you and your kids and so what this elevated Ed project with Phoenix Union and Mesa ended up doing is particularly at Dobson High School focus on how easy is registration now they make the local school mccd makes the local school district go with the local community college and so the process with MCC and the registration process has become infinitely easier through this Elevate Ed and uh uh heos work

139just to get registered that's one of the reasons for the increase thank you and I'll say as a parent even in the last from six years ago five years ago to now it's I've seen it it's gotten a lot easier too um so thank you um any other discussion I just had a quick question the dual enrollment numbers is this the number of students who enrolled in the classes or the number of students who earned the credit from enrollment this is the class enrollment here at Mesa right and the numers of students who have enrolled at Mesa Community College has continued to go up too so both of those numbers have gone up do we have data on how many students actually earn credit from any of these three yeah this particular slid deack doesn't

140doesn't that have that dat we do have the data yeah okay and it's beneficial I would hope thank you any other discussion thank you so much Dr Gibbs and those that have um helped with that presentation um thank you for the conversation do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so moved do I have a second I'll second it any discussion seeing done Miss Kirby will you please take our vote how how fast can we drive [Music] one of the reasons why with the vote of five y the meeting has adjourned have a wonderful spring break we will see you at the end of March