001Okay. Good afternoon and I am I call this meeting to order, please. On this Tuesday, June the 24th, 2025 at 5:00 PM in the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District number 35 governing boardroom district office 570 Camino Leto Galindo, Rio Rico, Arizona. May we please stand for the pledge? Mr. Guerrero, would you lead us please? Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You thank you. Thank you. Uh opening items called to order. Miss Alma de Laiva. Uh Mr. Guerrero here. Mr. Ramirez here. We missed you last time. Uh Mr. Beach present and me Miss Vasquez we have a quorum. Okay, moving on. Uh subject B adoption of the agenda. One item to remove
002is the executive session related to treasur matters. If we could remove that please. Okay. The executive session. Do I have any questions? Okay. Recommendation move. Yeah. Motion to approve the agenda as presented removing that number. Okay. Yes. All those in favor say I. I. We get a second on that. A second. Second. We didn't get a second. All those oppos All those in favor say I. Okay. Okay. Say nay. Okay. Um. I know. Tell me about it. Um, motion passes. Thank you very much. I'm sorry. I think I missed something, right? No, it's got it good. I got it good. All righty. Okay. Uh, call to the public. No. Uh there's nothing and presentations. We have a recognition of Daniel L. Uh Woodram uh Mr. Connor Verdugo. Mr. Verdugo. Yes, sir. Thank you, Miss. So,
003uh tonight um we always try to recognize students that uh perform uh with, you know, honors and excellence in our school district. And um this spring we missed um recognizing Daniel for his accomplishment, but I won't tell you what that is. I'll let uh uh Mr. Rugo and Mr. Kumar um explain what that is. So like Mr. Kumar will go you first and then uh Rugo will then. Thank you everyone. So we are recognizing on behalf of Rico High School admitting them. We are recognizing Daniel for his 34 out of 36 on ACT exam which is a pretty comprehensive score and it puts him under the 99th percentile and there's only that's like less than 1% of the students have scored 34 or higher. So that puts him at at an advantage of getting into
004the competitive colleges getting into giving getting all kind of scholarships and that's why we wanted to recognize Daniel Woodburn. So Mr. like to share some words about Daniel because um in the spring we were supposed to recognize Daniel and uh people brought up to my attention that we had not recognized him so I wanted to make sure that he shared a few things about Daniel as yes uh you know I had the great privilege of having Daniel in my weights class I was coach I just want to say you know when you look at his score scoring 34 you know a lot of people compare it to winning like the lottery I would say essentially but the thing is it's Nothing like the lottery because Daniel had zero luck in this process. He earned his
005score because the type of individual he is. He's very resilient, hardworking, tough, ready, and overall just a great human being. So, whatever he decides to do, because I know he's a junior, going to be a senior, and he's getting ready to make big decisions with that score, he's going to continue to have success because he created it, and he'll continue to create it. Whether it's being an engineer, finance, or following his father's footsteps, and being a sports information director, he's going to continue to do great things, not only for himself, but for others because he's a great leader as well. So, I just want to say congratulations, Daniel. You deserve this and much more. [Music] the high schoolation from Hibbit Sports uh to provide a backpack as well as a $50 gift card. And then
006I will let honor also explain that he's he has uh his uh Lobo team that has been sponsoring students and activities and so he also has um that will be donating $50 to Daniel as well as an on top of that internship opportunity so he could begin his uh SID career as sports information director because of his extreme passion for athletics. So congrats Ready? One, two. Yes, we will. We I'll ask him right now. He's not gonna let him go. No. No. I mean, I wouldn't let him go anyway. You know the drill. You've been here before. Um well thank you everyone everyone all teachers who brought this to uh brought this to light and obviously to all my parents and my people in attendance my father listening online and yeah all the teachers at
007school who didn't come but have been huge impact to me um taught me drive you know coach Connor said um just how to be a good person and to try hard on things like these yeah it pays So really appreciate it. Thank you all so much. I know the board is going to have some questions for you. Congratulations. Congratulations from the bottom of my heart. I'm sure your family is very very proud of you and uh your hard work uh paid off and I'm going I'm sure you're going to go great place. Thank you so much, Mr. Congratulations. That's that's pretty amazing. Pretty awesome. And uh I look forward to to hearing what the future has in store for you. It's awesome. Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Ramirez. Well, at first I thought it was going
008to be about the spelling be a right. Oh my god. Okay, I remember him now. My god, you Oh my goodness. That's cool. That's not part of the ACT, unfortunately. I know. I But I bet you it helped you. Yeah. Some way. Sorry. No, I don't I don't want to hear about the 34 points. I want to hear about the two. Did they stick in your craw? And what were the questions, you know? Yeah. Need to pay for the answer key to figure that out. Well, it's it's such a pleasure to see you here in the boardroom after all those years watching you grow up. It's really cool. So, yeah. Thank you so much. You have so many so many accomplishments under the belt. And uh I think I said this, but if I didn't
009before when I saw you the last time doing the spelling be stuff. I used to teach at Rio Rico High School and I was a chess coach. I did other stuff. I coached basketball and some other things. Kind of fell in my lap later, but I coached chess and I always used to look at you and you were you and Wanda spelling me. I could tell you were real analytic analytical kind of guy, you know, and you you you spoke and you're you're pretty funny for a kid, you know. It's it's witty, but really honestly I wish I had would have had a chance to coach somebody like you in chess because that fun you would have learned a lot. But congratulations. You did a fantastic job and thank you for representing our community. Yeah,
010of course. Mr. V. My turn. Yeah. Daniel, I know I've known you since you were kneeh or grasshopper. So, let's see how you matured through the years. I I definitely want to give a shout out to the grandparents, mom, dad. Uh you guys did an amazing job raising him and uh because of what you instilled into him uh this is the product right here. An amazing young man. Uh Santa Cruz County is super uh happy of your all your accomplishments and the amount of work that it takes to score uh that high 99 percentile I believe. Mhm. Uh, and the amount of hours that you studied, you I think you said it started to pay off or it did pay off. And that paycheck is going to come into free ride once you graduate because
011that that equates to about $100,000 uh because you're going to be going to any school that you want for free. Yeah. So, I'm sure the parents are are happy about that. mad. Yeah. So, uh you got some tough decisions coming up on which school uh you want to attend, but uh sky's is the limit for you and uh continue with those trades and you're definitely going to uh go far in life. Yep. Super proud of you. Yeah. Same as everybody said. Everybody took everything out of my mouth. I'm the one that always ends up at the end, but I want to say exactly what everybody says, but congratulations for making I mean for doing what you did. And we can tell you and I remember you like I said when you were smaller okay I
012mean and and the and the spelling being and unbelievable what one or two years will do you know for the you know for students you know you look at you guys and you're like oh my god you know you were like this high you know like he said you know uh just a couple of years ago but you know congratulations also from the bottom of my heart thank you very very much for everything and we expect nothing but good things from you okay and then Rio Rico High School the way you have our community and all of the students. I mean, you a chip on your shoulder. You you you're high up there. Okay. So, congratulations. Thank you so so very much. Okay. I wish you nothing but but good things. Thank you all. You're
013welcome. Thank you, Daniel. Thank you so much. Next thing is the superintendent too. Okay, we're moving on. Uh, subject B, uh, superintendent report, Mr. Verdugo. We can let them sneak out if they would. Oh, all righty. Okay, we will wait. Thank you so much. Also, parents, congratulations to the parents. Congratulations. Pick the best school. Okay, that gives you more. Okay. Thank you, Connor. Bye. Bye. backpack. He can he can trade it in if he'd like. But it's some style. I know. Yeah. Got pinky. You'd be surprised how many boys like pink, you know. My my check. Okay. So, do we go with the super superintendent report? Mr. Verdugal. Thank you. Um wanted to let the board know that Miss Padilla is not here today. Um she is representing our district in Montana. She is presenting
014at knowledge works gathering in Montana. So um wanted to share with the board again all the different things that our our district does including uh sharing us on a national stage and so they're having a convening there and so she's representing us. Um want to uh thank all of the the teachers that participated in summer school. This ended last week. Um so which was uh two sessions. So uh thank you for all that work that they they put in uh to to teach summer school. Uh we got a lot of sports teams working and doing stuff uh this summer. So want to thank them. I know we have cross country going to camp I think pretty soon. And we also have um basketball going to New Mexico all the way to Eastern New Mexico way
015on the eastern side um this weekend. So I know we have a lot of uh other teams traveling and doing other things. But um also want to let the board know that we'll be transitioning with our food service and our um facilities in the next few weeks. And so we're starting that process. Um and so they've been doing the the walkthroughs and getting ready to to do that transition. And so Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on. Subject governing board uh member report. Miss Dearo. Okay. Mr. Guerrero. Nothing to report. Mr. Ramirez. Yes. I'd like to welcome Mela. I just want to say it's so nice to see you here. You're so good-hearted and just a really good person all the way around and a fine lady. and I think you're going to do
016really great things for the governing board. So, thank you. Say that. Thank you so much. Thank you. And if there's anything I can do to help you in any way. Feel free to ask. Appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Hitch. Yes. Uh, let's see. I think the principles should begin a little vacay pretty soon. At least a week off. Yeah. Make sure you take that week off and just enjoy. I mean, relax that mental breather away from just work. We don't want to see you on site. So, uh, you guys stay stay out of here and, uh, clear your minds. We got a busy busy year coming up. Uh, pool's back up and running. Thank you, Audra. Uh, your crew is doing an amazing job. My granddaughter, Ava, she's six and, uh,
017she came all excited. She held her breath for 20 seconds. Amazing. Yep. So, she's super super excited on that. Yeah. So proud of her. Yep. But other than that, enjoy your summer and uh, that's all I got. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Same thing with me. Uh principles, please. Yeah. Enjoy, rest, relax. Okay. Everything's coming back to you, you know, like 100fold. And uh you know, uh you guys are doing such a good job and uh and uh we just want you guys to be rested and relaxed when you kind when you guys come back, okay? Full force in a couple of weeks. Okay. Audra, I've heard nothing but good things from the from the from the kids and from everybody there. They just they're having a ball. They're having such a good
018time with uh you know with everybody there with you know the people that you guys have chosen for um lifeguards. Okay. They're going above and beyond because they're really helping you know the little ones, the smaller ones and you know and stuff like that. And the older ones are noticing and they're, you know, they're saying things, you know, like, "Oh my god, you know, this kid, he's a high school. He's in the high school or she's in a high school and and he really was he helping my little sister or my little brother." You know, so all of those things, you know, we we hear them and all that comes back, you know, to you guys are doing. Um, I know we have a um a conference that's coming up in a in a in
019a little bit. So, I can't, you know, we can't I can't wait to see that one. I know that we have a really good time over there. I don't know how many of you guys are going, but I hope all of us go like in the past that we've all been at the same time. So anyway, um thank you very much for everything and that's all I have. Moving on. Um information, discussion, action. Let me see subject fiscal year 26 proposed budget. Mr. Verdugo, thank you. Um so this is our um required time frame to present our budget uh for fiscal year 26. Although the state does not have a budget yet um we are still required digitally to make sure that we follow um our statuto requirements and so tonight is our proposed budget.
020Um so over to Miss Brown. Thank you Mr. Redo. Um good evening madam president members of the board. As Mr. Redu just mentioned and I guess it's starting to become the norm. Um we do not have an approved budget from the state at this time. Um this is probably the third if not the fourth year in a row happens. Um but we need continue with the budget process because we have deadlines are defined in statute for those deadlines are non-negotiable. What does that mean? means that they education with um collaboration from the office of the auditor general. They put together this um that do not really reflect any any changes um for next year. In essence, they are just a copy of our current year's um budget and we're just using them for next year.
021Why why are we doing that? Because without an adopted budget, I process per can startation. That's why it's important to move forward with the process even when we use preliminary forms. Okay. A lot of the information that I'll be sharing with you today is information that the board already actions the compensation package. What does that look like? actions that already took place in prior agendas. Once we um receive the final forms um then I'll come back. The law allows me to come back before September 15th with the first budget revision which in that case I will be doing a revision to move all the data into the new forms. We might screw this up. So what we see on the forms that we have in front of you is the support level. The amounts that
022I'm going to just share with you are identical to our fiscal 25 of our current fiscal year. Okay. So amount per student of 53. the amount of reimbursement for rock $243 and then for a capital fund for the grade levels of preschool through 8th grade 54945 and then for high school 68 nothing new same support levels we used for the current now there were two changes that um AP and the office of the other did incorporate into And that is the elimination of the fields where we could capture one time funding that was given to us because it was it was just that one time funding. So what was that funding? So let's be real. Um they eliminated the place for us to calculate a one-time adjustment for uh free and reduced price lunch students.
023So what does that mean to us? I eliminated from our budget um about a quarter of a million dollars 240,479 that is a reduction to our general fund. That's where we we accounted for that fund for those funds this year. the second um one-time funding that we captured this year. Um and this one there's a lot of talk about this one obviously hearing this and your meetings and your emails from um the associations that you participate in is the elimination of Prop 123 funding. So in this case the adjustment came in at 154 553. this Prop 12, two, three, there were conversations about whether it's going to go back in the ballot this coming November, right? But there's a lot of back and forth of how they're going to restructured the the money that we
024received from from this proposition. Um, you recall there's conversations about well everything should go to increase just teacher salaries, right? And then the argument is well yes but districts are not just made up of teacher salaries. And then they keep defining a teacher as those teachers that are only in the classroom providing direct instruction to the students. So then what happens to all of those that are teachers that hold teaching certificates but are acting outside of the classroom to enhance the experience for the students, right? Those that work to make teachers better teachers. um those that have moved out of that role but they're still teachers and we always get those questions from those individuals but I'm still a teacher that when you left the classroom and the state every year every year they find
025a way to further define who was the teacher and it's they're not basing that definition on whether you hold a teaching certificate. It's more on if you are delivering direct instruction to the students and some people love it, right? If you're that teacher that's in that classroom providing that instruction, but if you're a teacher that moved away from that classroom, all of a sudden you're outside of that. So, a lot of conversations, a lot of a lot of back and forth. There's there's some someone is um some group is saying that we might see this being funded as a a a second one year funding out of the general fund. Um I don't know about that. I have my doubts since the state doesn't have a lot of fun. I can't tell it. All I
026know is that it's if So, how is it that we build a budget? Okay, just a friendly reminder that budgets in school districts are based on enrollment, right? On ADM, not so much enrollment, but the average daily membership, but I like to to tell people it's it's enrollment. It's the number of kids that we have in our district that um generates the funding and pretty much delineates a budget limit for the district. Um, so because we are funded on same year enrollment as I mentioned in the past, I do a enrollment projection for districtlict where I use prior year um I look at prior years, I look at what happens during the summer, I look at what happens during the course of the year and then that's how I that's the projection that I use
027to build the budget. So tonight's budget it's based on 3,390 students. Okay. So how does that compare yourself? That is an overall decrease of 151 students. I'm very conservative and I've said this in the past. We always going to start very conservative. If we gain more students, we'll revise the money and we'll add that money back into the budget without a problem. Okay? But I don't want to inflate the budget and over project on the students and then have to come back and reduce the budget when we issued contracts. That would be very dangerous and it would put the district in a very uncomfortable position. Um so as of June 16th our enrollment as um reported by the welcome center was 3380. You getting that? that just real quick just to remind the board um
028this is a thing that's annually that we process um and last year for fiscal year 25 we were projecting a similar about 136 if I remember correctly um decline but we made up that during the year where we actually so that is always our goal but it's times of low birth rates, high graduation. So, we've been bringing in um right now I think there's 176 um the last count kinder students. Remember, we graduated almost 400. So, so we're looking at that that gap already. So, that's where some of this numbers come from. But, we always, as M. mentioned, we fiscally want to make sure that whatever we commit to when we um give those contracts out in the spring, we are able to meet throughout the year. So, we never want to compromise ourselves and
029say, "Oh, we overbudgeted now we have to cut back during the year." With the goal, we're very confident that we will be able to meet even if we do have a slight decline in enroll. And again the goal is I had a question just before we move on just uh where where the like where you eliminate the one time free and reduced price lunches. Okay we absorb that right? So does that mean that our students are still free? It has nothing to do it has nothing to do with that. Okay. the the fact that this one time funding went away doesn't change our model of how we feed the students in our cafeteria different things. So then all of our students are free. Yes, we continue to have a community in our um school cafeterias
030question. All of our students regardless of their income level will continue to receive a premium. So then this has nothing to do with that. Okay. I was just under the impression that, you know, I was, oh my god, are are kids going to have to, you know, and I've seen the bus, you know, like even in the summer where the families get their, you know, they get their meals and and all that stuff. And I mean, like that's like fantastic for our community and for our students because we know how many kids actually rely on the school lunches, you know, for their meals, right? So, okay. As a side note, only because you mentioned it, it's not in the presentation, but we're serving about 1,200 meals daily with the bus route. Yeah. With the bus
031route. With the bus route. Oh, thank you. I thank you for the clarification and I'm sorry. I just I was going to ask you before, but thank you for stopping. Thank you. The the other thing that I want to add before we leave student counts and the reason why we take a very conservative approach, you're probably seen in the news so and so school district closing one so and so school district closing two schools. And I think that's the combination of two factors. One, a strong presence of charters in their communities. Yeah. um strong access to vouchers program by their community members and not right sizing their operation in a timely manner. So if I ignore the indications indicators that my enrollment is trending down and I don't have those conversations with leadership and I
032say hey we need to adjust we need to adjust and we don't have we don't take those actions in a timely manner. We're not right sizing our operation every year and reviewing you know what we should have then eventually because nobody closes a school from one year to the I mean nobody loses that kind of enrollment from one year to close an entire campus. So it for us it's crucial. It's been part of what I think has put us in a very strong financial position and has allowed us to continue to move forward. It's like a steady pace but in the right direction how we advance in our budgets. Um factor that we take into consider consideration when we build our budget. It's called a teacher experience in this. The department of human resources holds
033together a lot of data on our um on our teachers years of experience. Um and then they report to the state and they the state then generates an index and that index is compared against the state average. And if our index is higher than the state average, then we get an index back that's higher than 1.0. Which means that we get to apply that factor to generate a little bit more revenues to increase our budget because in essence, what it's saying is you have a little more experience than the average in your teachers. Therefore, we recognize that your payroll is going to be more expensive than the average. Here's this factor that you can use in your budget. Okay, that's what that is used for. Moving away from calculating the budgets and just a quick
034um reminder of actual so major highlights in our M for operating fund uh continues to be heavily compromised in salaries and benefits. So we'll directly preview the compensation plan that you approve for last year. Um the board approved a 5% increase to all eligible employees. We also gave an a half adjustment to the certified placement guide. Keep in mind that this measure will only impact new hires and that is to stay competitive with the market. Um there are also funding was allocated to absorb the 4% increased medical insurance premium for the employee only portion. Okay. We we get this question quite often every year for I saw in the presentation and it says that the district is paying for the 4% increase for the employee side only. Yeah. My family increase. We can't afford to
035absorb everything. We're only absorbing for the employee side. Um and then as a result of work put together by the IBB uh we reinstated the leave buyback program and HR presented the change in the board policy. Yeah, a lot of information and I'm so sorry I need my glasses. Um changes in staffing right uh we concentrate in staffing because we our budget is all about the staff. So for Rico High School, um a new instructional coach position, um uh stipens for a new sport, that would be flag football. Uh a new stipen for an assistant golf coach, an assist a second assistant coach for dance, an assistant swim coach, and then um they will be sharing a security guard over. So it's like a little bit of a minus for scope because it's just going
036to be a shared resource. Uh moving to Sankayano, we uh are replacing the 0.5 assistants to the principal position with a full-time behavioral coach. Um suspending the elementary band FTE and replacing it with computers. And then we are consolidating the PE elementary teacher with the K8 athletic coordinator. We see that again card again shared FTE with Rico High School and then a quarter of the K8 athletic coordinator because that position will be will be providing services to Sano Mountain View. So we just like to compliment and we split that position accordingly. Um in Mountain View same change as uh Sankayano replacing that.5 assist behavioral coach uh suspending elementary band and replace with computers consolidating PE elementary teacher with the K athletic coordinator in the area of Calabasas. talking about rice. I see reduction of four
037classroom teachers due to enrollment. Um adding a new pair of professional for dance class. Suspending the elementary band and replacing with computers same as and aligned with the mountain and sanitan. Consolidated P elementary teacher with K8 athletic coordinator again same change. And then suspension of the regular preschool operation which we already had brought to your attentions. So, does this mean I'm sorry, does this mean that the elementary schools will no longer have banned? Correct. And they haven't um for the last, I believe, two years that we have not been able to fill that role. No. And so, we we kept trying to hire somebody and it just uh there was nobody that wanted to take that position. So with those funds, we wanted to make sure we utilize them in some way. So then that's
038we talked to what is the the way we can use them and so that's when we decided to have the computer class and I think that's the technology and I think that that is something just to highlight some of the that the cave coordinator is a reminder of the board that it's something we're excited about that we'll be introducing uh elementary inter murals so having sports for elementary this coming year. So that that's something that we're really excited about um adding that position. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. Moving on to staffing changes for departments. Uh for teaching, learning and assessing department, they will be receiving a new FTE and the title of that position is learning and development coordinator. Um for student services based on student needs for new pair
039of professionals and then we are suspending the instructional specialist special education. I think it has to do with the same thing not finding someone and also the elementaryaries now with a full-time behavior um position that should be able to address that absorbs that um in the area of human resources the part-time office specialist that we had this year it's moving to full-time next year. Um in transportation that's not a change in their total staffing but it is a change in the way we're using the position. Um, we repurpose safety and security trainer position back to dispatcher. We used to have a dispatcher transportation and increase the contract term to 12 months. Another thing that we always look at and try to align to better serve, be better prepared to welcome our students back into our
040buildings is the length of our contracts that we issued to the different positions. Um, so there were four um contracts that were modified where we added dates, right? And four areas is in essence to enhance the onboarding and the training to have those positions better prepared, equipped to get back into their classrooms. So, what are they for long-term subs? We added five additional dates. Okay. So now their start date in the new year it's going to be aligned with new teachers. Then for new teachers we added four additional days to enhance their onboarding um experience. Then five additional days for an alternative ed computer paraprofessionals and in this case the start date was aligned with returning teachers and then two additional days for PE paraprofessionals which aligns them with returning teachers. just to highlight for
041the board. Um so now all of our our new teachers um will come in two weeks early before they receive students which we believe will allow them to I mean those you have been teachers you know how that how many meetings and different things that you have. So now they'll be um a much uh better schedule for them to be able to be in the classroom, get that support from their uh instructional coaches, their uh principles to be able to help them get prepared. And then adding for long-term subs because we haven't treated long-term subs like regular teachers, but we know they're going to continue to be part of our our district. And so the goal is to hopefully transition them into teachers at some point, long-term subs to actually be certified teachers. And so
042that's something that uh we have additional support means we lose funding, right? And that is the case of this um slide that's just highlighting that we have a change in the funding source for this position. Um the office of the county superintendent announced to us that we will no longer receive an allocation from his office for the for the forest fees fund. Um so we were um funding half of the assistant principal at Rico High School out of this um funding source. We're bringing it back to M. Minor adjustments to department allocations. uh human resources as you are aware we are experiencing turnover so we are um allocating some funds to have a successful onboarding for the new HR director and just to uh clarify that it's now HR manager position back HR manager okay
043my bad [Music] that was part of our our changes Another slide, a lot of information, my apologies. Um, in this case, we're moving away from the operating fund, very heavily connected with salaries and benefits. That's why we focus in that area because that accounts over 80% of the budget. Now, we're going to transition to our capital fund, the fund that we can use for furniture, equipment, software, um, curriculum, rotations, all those um, areas. So I'm giving you I'm sharing with you the allocations by area. Um I can read you the amounts or um review them in and your slide that you have in front of you. Um but we provide way at the top you'll always find that curriculum department um strong drive of that um commitment to our curriculum rotation right and instructional um
044aids followed by technology uh which includes copier rotations, licensings and set aside for technology replacement followed by athletics then facilities uh we have the transportation we have an allocation to rotate furniture and equipment for the schools. Um we have an allocation to fund the software that we use at the business office and the HR. Um then we also keep a set aside of 75,000 in case the the principles um need something during the course principles and departments because this is open to departments as well during the course of the school year that probably was not discussed during the budget meetings or it came up as an emergency during the course of the of the school year. I already got an email from one of the principles. Is the budget capital request open already for the
045new year? No. But that that is available. Allocation for student service equipment and software renewals. Allocation for communication equipment and software renewals. Allocation for fine arts equipment and uniforms. And a set aside of $2 million in contingency. You still have that, right? Contingency. Good. That's right. And do know that that contingency we can we can move capital we can move it to M. We can capital I like to keep capital dollars capital dollars. I I' I've share that philosophy of mine as to living within your means instead of borrowing on credit. I like I like that. Very good. One thing that we do know is that the classroom site fund um amount increase for next year. Um so 792 to 842. We went ahead and do the split as per the program that you guys
046already approved. And that puts the money in the base pay of $2.4 $4 million, the performance pay $769,000 and will fund district initiatives $768,000. Um the remaining bond dollars, we only have 524,000 left. We're pretty much done with that. Uh we are looking at um enhancing some of the security um features with some of the cameras, but I I see Mr. Ruga approaching his mic. turn it over really good. All yours. No, I just I got to mention just with the performance pay it's now or most of the majority of 301 is that teachers have always asked for is it is it in their base pay. So I just wanted to make sure we highlight that just to so that you're aware when teachers ask you that they still have to do jump through the
047hoops and all that. There are some things that they still have to do but majority of the money is in their base pay. Um I believe this year was like $12,000 was in their base pay and so um I think this year they earned close to 16,000 and I think that's a projected number is close to 16,000 for next year as well in in 301 monies which is very good. I've heard a lot of good things with teachers. They're like, "Wow." Yeah. Paycheck was like, "Yep." 301. 301's. Yes. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. For that. Um, grants at this time of the year, status quo, right? A lot of the applications the state, but there's still state. So, no changes there. the amounts that are in the budget forms are identical to last year's because we
048don't know, you know, what is going to look like the final one. So once we get those final approvals on our grant applications, then we'll come back and report on those uh and cash accounts are just aligned to ending cash plus projected revenue. Questions? Before we get to questions, I I just want to thank Miss Brown for all of her work. I know it's been very very difficult to continue to put together a budget with all the unknowns. Um so I commend her for all of her hard work. She continues to to make sure that we're fiscally responsible, making sure that we're always um in a positive shape, you know, and as she mentioned, there are districts that are closing schools all across the state. Um and we don't have that issue. Um and we
049always make sure and and there's other districts that are not being able to give raises this year. Um, and we are, you know, very fortunate to be able to to not only give a a constant living raise, but all the way up to 5%. So, that sense. So, I just want to again thank her for all of her continuing hard work. So, thank you. Thank you. Um, any questions from the board? Um, Alma? No. No. Isa, your reports are always so detailed that it just leaves no room for questions. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Guerrero. No questions. Thank you, Mr. A Ramirez, are we uh getting the word out about not paying the what is it? ACR. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, we we will continue to work on that. The ACR that's something that needs I
050know we are starting to to get more people that want to retire and come back or try to come to our district knowing that uh them years of experience and then as well as that they do not have to pay that penalty that district. So, it is something that we need to Should we get help? Yeah, we had mentioned that before, but I was wondering what we had done above and beyond the bar. Yeah. Yeah. Nothing. We'll put together um something u and I'll work with to get that out. Okay. Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Yeah. Well, I have a bunch of questions. I was gonna wait. He's not He's not You're next. Okay. So, um I just this kind of sticks in my craw because I I've been hearing about this and it's just
051it's absurd and because people don't understand what you guys have done with regard to the non-certified physicians I think it is with when it comes to the holidays and you know how the state or the I think it was the auditors who recommended that we we change the way we pay them. So essentially they're not the money is not spread out over this time that goes over the holidays and it gets all crunched up and I try to tell people when they they approach me about it because I see Gary it's all over the place and they they ask me and I tell them look you're you're getting more in your paycheck and it's on you to have to save that so that when you get to the holidays you had you still have that
052same amount but but they just don't understand it. You know, it's hard, Mr. Dominus, but we we can continue to act as their fiduciary agents. They need to manage their own funds. We're in essence pulling money back from them and spreading it over the course of the of the calendar and that's not something that we're allowed to do anymore. So, what we did last year is we had meetings on all the sites. We will do another round of meetings. That's all I really wanted to hear because I'm I'm with you guys. I understand it. I fully understand it. But it's just that these crazy perceptions that people have and you can't you can't get that bug out of their head. You tell them straight out what the what's going on. And as I say, it's
053it's because they were treated as um certified employees or salaried salaried employees and they're hourly and so legally we have to pay them for the hours they work. And so and that's the only what only what we can pay them. What we were doing was technically I don't want to say illegal but it was is it's not the recommended practice from the auditors that we were then holding money back and then paying them later. Yeah. At a different time. So we actually have to pay them for the hours they actually work. And I think that's what they don't understand. Yeah. I was mentioning Mr. Ed earlier before the meeting started about how you know one person starts one falsehood and then it's being in a small town. It's incredible how spread like wildfire and then
054it builds to another one and another one and pretty soon they start saying, "Well, it's the superintendent's fault, you know, and he's trying to hold all this. He's sitting on that pot of gold and, you know, holding all that money from really. It gets to be that absurd." So, I was just wondering what we could do to be clear, but I guess that's all we're doing now. about all we can do. I mean, just you you made a really good point, which is we can't budget their money. We have no control over that. But I was just wondering out of kindness what we could do to try to make it clearer to them. So, two things that we're doing. Um, last year we did those informational meetings. I put up slides, did the presentation in
055English and Spanish, explained to them what their paycheck look like, what it's going to look in the new year using projective numbers, etc. Um, then this year we'll have again those information meetings. But then also one thing that IBB, this concern came to IBB, right? um that IBB thought of is as we are reinstating the leave buyback program. The leave buyback program the old policy will just allow you to cash out leave buyback leave at the end of the school something like 55 bucks. It was only at the end of the school year that you could do that. What we did is we allow the employees with the revision to policy to cash out days before those breaks when they don't get a full paycheck. They choose to exercise that option. Don't have to. Now
056it's on them that if I want to save my days and I know that in the pay period that's approaching the winter break, I'm not going to get a full paycheck, I can cash out days and kind of close that gap a little bit. Yeah. And just to clarify that those are at their hourly rates that they were hired. Then we modified them. Modified those that were been with us for years that were, you know, because minimum wage was like seven or something. Now we modified those to all the way up to minimum wage. So that so they'll get a full minimum wage 14 15 and change. 15 and change. Now um hourly rate for that day. So, so we again we've modified as much as we could to really support them in being financially
057responsible for themselves. There'll be a piece of information that won't for presentations. Okay. I'm just wondering whether there's anything else. I mean, it sounds bad or silly. I'm sure some of my colleagues are thinking they're whipping a dead horse here. It's their responsibility. Just I I just hate to see them feel like that, you know, at that point that just a lot of people don't understand how social security works either. And if if people didn't step in and do something to create that situation, they wouldn't have anything, you know, if they if they were left to budget their money. It's kind of the same going back to Mr. I'm sorry. I just I just feel for them, you know, those that don't seem to be able to budget well, but okay. Um, moving on. The
058next thing, let's see here, the safety videos. Um, are they are the new teachers being given the safety videos ahead of time in those two weeks? Yes. So, they knock them out then? Yep. And what about the veteran teachers? Are they get them? They get them early as well. I I'm They go out before they return. Yeah, they go out before they even come back so they can start the That's awesome. As soon as they can. And again, they're required by the trust, right? because you touch a real raw nerve upon a raw nerve with teachers which is you know they come to school and they want to get going like you said and then they have meetings and meetings after meetings and they feel like they can never go in their room and get
059ready do the things to really start the school year. So, I was happy to hear that. I mean, they're not going to be too thrilled about coming in two weeks early, but there are some some good points there. But I I like to see that as many things given to the veteran teachers early. So, I mean, many of us here taught, we know how that is, the pressure. You always feel like you're in the squeeze plate, you know, to get school start. You know, you want to take care of all the the bureaucratic stuff, but at the same time, you want to get going in. So, uh, what else? Oh, a recap of the facilities. Mr. I was wondering how you went about that. I I remember you mentioning in a meeting how we went
060about the new facilities with because of the replacement of Sedexo. I was wondering how we went about everything so that how you moved everything around. I was wondering if you could just give me a recap of foot facility as far as I you took care of because we we switched we we didn't have a director for everything. We didn't have a sitexo for everything. Some of it we managed locally, didn't we? Yeah. Dr. Lendville was the the one that really oversaw that because um and they did have somebody that was remote and I believe Billy was he was here. He was here occasionally, but Dr. Lville was the one that oversaw all of the and and to be honest, it was actually better. Um they they did a much better job the last two months
061trying to maintain the contract, I believe. Um but that was really I would have to commend and you'll see during my presentation and I'll talk about facilities and and uh the role that Dr. Lunderville played in in making sure that they continue to wait for that. But was there any savings at all? No. I mean because the contract was the contract. Yeah. And so there was nothing that we could pull back from from them at that point. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right, Mr. Beach. Yeah. Uh, Mr. Ridus, I never worried about those videos. My student aid always did it for me. So, I did score 100 on all of them. Oh my god. I had student aids. They're real good. And my fellow humans, you know, with a low birth rate, uh,
062chickens are also experiencing a low birth. So, the price of eggs are way up there. But other than that, you know what? Uh, you're doing an outstanding job. You're very conservative. Uh, but I think that's the way way to be. You know, like you say, other other districts in Phoenix that are shutting down schools. How could you not see that for that you know? So uh uh not only your your current vision of this year but I know you're looking five years 10 years down the road uh looking at those birth rates in our kindergarten up and that sort of projects uh that so appreciate all you do and your team. I know you have behind you. So uh good job on the budget. Yep. Yeah. Uh same thing. I'm I'm you know that I'm
063always said you know that um I'm so happy that you're with us because you know I mean you know you dot your eyes you cross your tees you got I mean you know you know what's going on you see the vision you know of of later on and you know you and your team are just so so well prepared and you know all of the questions that we have or that anybody else has you know we come in now going back to what Mr. uh Ramirez was saying you know it's like you know how much can we you know we cannot you know provide that that service that our that our community wants or you know that our people want you know because we can't they have to learn on their own but the more
064we try to educate them I think you know the better it you know it has to get a lot better you know they don't understand you know that when they had it that before it was stretched okay so they were used to knowing that even whether they worked worked or not worked, okay, they still were going to get the same paycheck, okay, and stuff. And you know, and teachers and I think administrators and everybody does that, okay? Because we don't want to not get a check, you know, at a certain amount at a certain time, you know, and that's what's happening to them. And that's why they're like, you know, because they have asked me a lot too, you know, that, you know, buy and it's like, you need to budget. You need to, you
065know, save that money that you're getting extra. Okay, that's the money you need to put aside because when this time comes around, you know, and again, you know, you you've done a lot of other things, you know, to make sure that, you know, that they again, but they have to, you know, do the the process, you know, they have to have enough days, they have to be here, they have to be present or else they don't get that days. If they're already absent, you know, five times during that month and they want to get more days, it's like, hello, you don't have that money. You know what I'm saying? So, as long as we educate them, I think that's what we that's what we really need. And I think maybe in the schools, you know,
066the principles or something, they can have somebody with not the principles cuz you guys have too much to do already, but you know, but somebody, you know, that you know, uh, like I don't know that will explain it to them because a lot of times, you know, you know, there's a lot of people that you have to not just say it once or twice or three times that it has to go in, I mean, so many times and yet they still don't understand. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, so, but anyway, thank you. Thank you for I mean a great presentation as always. Fantastic. Thank you. And thank you to your team too. Kudos to you guys. You guys are going to be like in a little seal ball. You got you got
067some splaining to do. You got some splaining to do. Okay. And nothing with the chocolates. And no playing with the chocolates. All right. And it is an action item. Huh? It is an action item. That one is an action. Okay. So then recommended action motion to approve the fiscal 2025 2026 proposed budget as presented. moved. Okay. Second. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, nay. Eyes have it. Motion passes. All righty. We move on. Subject B, 2024 2025 superintendent performancebased pay goals uh determination, Mr. Verdugo. And that one we do have this. Thank you. Yes, you do. That's presentation. The presentation as we get started. um just to remind the the new board members um that this is something that we could do in executive session, but I choose to do
068it publicly um because I think it's important for the public to to know what I think I've done throughout this year um and have that discussion with the board because I think it's something um that I think for transparency also um it's again it's important to to share what we're working on as a district um And what I would uh like to continue to to um also um as we get started tonight, I want to thank the board for their continued support. Um and even when we agree, disagree, Mr. May always brings that up. Um that it's it's it's positive. I think we have those conversations and and I don't think anybody wants to be a yesmen or things of that nature. We want to have those conversations and do what's best for our school
069district. Exactly. Um is the same thing. Um you know given this presentation it talks a lot about what our team does and that's the other thing I wanted to mention is I'm very fortunate to have great principles great uh team brownville that support um not only me but the district in moving our district forward. Um like I said mentioned even you know with Mia being gone today presenting on what's happening in our district. we are um in the vanguard of of always trying to to be the best district in Arizona and really to try to be the best the country that we possibly can be. Um and just like uh tonight uh Daniel Woodburn, it's it's an exemplary just of of the kind of students we have with somebody that's um in the top 1%
070of the entire country taking and recognizing students like that with the things that we've been able to do with our district. So with that start again, you know, we talk about we have the bar, you know, that it's always trying to get better um every day. Um and I I always want to make sure that we uh look at our values and and try to make sure that our goals that that I have um align with our values and making sure that we're really um living those values with all the work that we do as a district. Um so goal number one um is our food achievement. This is probably the one that we spend obviously most of our time as a district and probably the most difficult one to attain. Um because um you
071know our our students you know and I share this when I speak um at a lot of different things that our students come in you know not only they're I wouldn't say they're behind because being a dual language student doesn't mean that you're behind. It just means that you have some some growth that you need to do from a language development standpoint. Um, and 90% of our students come in speaking Spanish as their first language. And so they have to have that language acquisition. And so it takes them a little bit extra time by the time they get to third grade. But our our and then they still have that test that they need to take. And so it's really our student achievement. And I always brag about our students being uh smarter than everybody
072because they can speak two languages. Um, and there's a lot of science behind that. And people, you're just saying, and I'm like, no, it's there's actual science behind that. Our students, even though they may not score as high as Daniel on every test, um, but from an actual intellect, being able to speak to dual language is is very important for our not only our students, but just um, all students in general. Um, so with that, uh, student achievement and accountability um, will demonstrate growth. And this year, um, we haven't been able to share the the scores yet. Um, but we did show growth in all of our our scores, which we're looking we'll see what that equates to on the grade, uh, from the state. Uh, we won't know that until November. Um, but they
073did improve as well as our Zela scores uh, for the most part improved across the the district. We did have um, one site that went uh, was stagnant and went down, but we think that's uh, because we had long-term sub in that situation. Um but for the most part, all of our our schools improved their their scores. Um and this last year, um when we did receive letter grades, um again, you you saw the district presentations from each of the school sites. We had an A, B, and C for all the district uh schools. Our district letter grade was a B. And so that's something that um is good, but again, we want all these. Yes. And and that's always our our goal. um other student achievement accomp accomplishments that we've been able to to
074do. Um again, we continue to to have our technology and one of the things that we're working on again as I mentioned with new positions, we're always looking at what is working, what is not working and how can we u improve. So with our technology we know that having onetoone is is a good thing but with the principles and how can we improve that experience for our students is we threw at the technology but we didn't provide the support or how to use it especially in the early growth. So that's why we're adding that elementary technology back and now that we have those tools that we want to make sure that they know how to use those tools correctly. Uh, dual enrollment continues to be a positive for our district. Um, we've been working with
075with Puma. We met with them, Mr. Lopez and I met with them a few weeks ago to talk about, um, how we can continue to grow our dual enrollment because we still have that goal of our students um, graduating with an associates degree. And so, um, we still lead Santa Cruz County in dual enrollment. It's not even close. I think uh the next closest was about half of what our dual enrollment has been with enrollment wise. So um we're we're very happy to to have that. Um also the middle school, we added some courses down to the middle school level to have middle school, high school, what we call dual enrollment. Um, and so we're uh continuing working with that and the possibility of adding additional courses like uh some history as well as science
076down at the the middle school level that will receive high school credit um so that they can get even more college credit when they get to high school. So we're we're looking at those expansions. Um personalized learning implementation continues. Um students are starting to to use that language. um when we met with the students um with the some of the board members especially like when they were talking about how personalized learning has started to affect a positive way as well as the standardsbased grading how they're understanding and and they like the new grading system which was was great to hear from many of our student um and our graduation rate continues to be uh above 90 but we wanted to get 96 to 100% um and that's our goal is is to be at at
077that 100% you know and So, it's obviously very difficult to deal with, but I think it's something that eventually before I retire, that's that's the the goal we want 100%. Yeah. Um, and again, continue with the student achievement and accountability. Again, this is our biggest um area. Uh, one of the things I just wanted to highlight, the IEP process, we continue to do that. We just at the beginning of June, we had our our meetings uh with the school sites. they're out of school and then they come right back and and teachers uh working and we've shared that with the board already. But the two things I wanted to that I put in bold down there I think is one of the things that we committed to during the welcome back that I was going
078to have some some site visits and um all the the lunch and learning with the with the board. I appreciate the board uh that were able to attend um and I think the teachers and students appreciated that having the conversations and giving feedback um and we'll continue those and and I talked to Miss Vasquez about it that we would actually add um either a fall and a spring or possibly one each quarter um and meet with different students and different teachers um so we can get as many of them and get some more feedback because I think it was very positive to hear the good and the bad uh from them and I think we learned a lot during that time. Um and then again uh one of the things that we're also doing um
079is revisiting our strategic plan with Miss Pia. She's the head of that committee. Um and we have a group um including Mr. Beach as a board member. We have parents, we have student on there um and it's been very positive. She's doing a great job. And one of the things that we are working on with the strategic plan is that we know it's going to take at least a year uh to get there. We'll start to have some subcommittees in the fall where we'll speak with actual subgroups out in the in the community uh to get feedback from them about the direction that we're moving because we want to have a really strong strategic plan even though we do now want to continue to revisit it and even get better of what we're community. as
080one of the things that we've talked about especially with that that group that we're we're getting to is is what does it mean uh to actually get a diploma from high school and what does it mean to be a graduate of RA High School? What does the that portrait of a graduate truly mean and how does the strategic plan fit into that? Um and so we're working on that uh from the student achievement and accountability standpoint. So with that, and I I'll pause there if there's any questions, comments about that that goal one, but my recommendation is approaches um just because um we dropped from an A-rated district to a B-rated district. And so I I feel that we're um still on track, but I again I'm always my own worst critic when it comes
081to these things. Um and so I I put approaches. So any questions about goals? No, I just couldn't help it flashing back to when I told you the first time you did this out in the open public that I was nice that you didn't conduct your dealings like Gregor Samson. And Steve died laughing because he understood the illusion that I was just flashing back. I kind of miss you being around for those literary illusions, but I think it's great that you do it allly open, commendable, all I'm very proud of you for being so transparent with you. Thank you. So, goal number two, the high quality staff. And this is one of the things that we continually work I know um during the budget presentation was talking about Kyres, and that's one of the things
082you'll see that I highlighted in in here was that it's something for our district that separates us. Um I think we're starting the we're starting to get out because I think we're getting people internally like, "Oh, I can retire and come back and still be where I left off." Um and receive my retirement. I think that that's something that is keeping our high quality staff in place that we have and then rewarding them for their years of service within our district. um because I I know that obviously you as a retiree I think it's something that you would really appreciate u you know having the ability to do that. Um and one of the things that I put on here when you're part of our team um we know again I I I always share
083that that you're part of a special team. we're all on the same page trying to work hard and the values that I think our district truly represents is that relentless work ethic that we're always committed to being as working above the bar trying to get better and quest for excellence every day um trying to just get as as good as we can be um every day that we're not settling and I think it's easy for many people to settle um and and people always ask me you know I can relax I can I can settle but that that's not one who I am, but and I believe that that's not who our district represents because Daniel's a perfect example of of our kids that we serve. Um, and you know, he is exceptional kid, but
084we have a lot of Daniels out there. Um, and a lot of kids that that aren't on that that same level still need our support, and we we work hard to to meet the needs of every student in our district. So with that um high quality staff again more to encourage retire retiring retirees um u we'll experience u more teachers taking advantage of that we continue our longevity stipens for all employees um our electronic application making it easier to to get a job within our district. Um one of the things that is very very positive is again the 5% salary increase uh continue to provide the insurance coverage um including uh Mexico which is about it we absorb that 4% which is about 7,100 per employee um and then grow our own model and I
085know we have uh three of them here tonight but this next year we're going to have all five of our principles be Rio High School graduates. Oh yeah. Which is I know. I always when I I I shared that um at a conference that I was recently at, they're like, "How did it happen?" I was like, "We just we have great people that want to be back in our community and they are committed to our community and grow our own." Um, and so seeing them come up from being teachers in our district to assistant principles and now principles, it's it's really an amazing feat for us and I think in a positive way to be able to have all of our principles be rego high school graduates. So it's I think it's it's great. Um,
086and so again, the new TLA position providing support for our new teachers, um, you leadership um, professional development opportunities for not only our certified but our classified individuals. Um we have uh I think four of our teaching staff that will be u principal certified that we actually assisted them uh with. So I think there's a lot of positive that we're we're utilizing to maintain and keep our high quality staff. And then the last one there which I think is is the board probably hears a lot of class size always class size and we've been able to to meet or exceed that with a lot of our school sites have some of the smallest class sizes in southern Arizona. So which is a positive. So with that the recommendation is to met this goal. Any questions
087that that answer about today? Questions? Questions? Mr. Yeah. For those guys are my students, but which is awesome. Yeah. What they don't realize is that they still owe me detention. No, you just I I think with uh you're doing everything possible to maintain that that high quality staff that we have here and entice people from other districts to come here uh because of the the things that you implemented. So on that Yeah. Yeah. When we went with me when we went to the to the I was up in Flagstaff and and you know people were we were together and we were talking and you know and some of the stuff that we offered and you'd be surprised. I mean, it's like we go above and beyond. And this is because of you because I mean,
088there's a lot of people they're like, "What? Are you kidding?" You know, the absorption absorption of the of the money once they retire, you know, and then they come back, okay, they've never heard of that. And I'm saying I told them, "Go to my website, go to our website, you know, check us out, you know, see what we've got, see what we have to offer." And they say, "Well, how many years are they going to allow me?" And I said, "All of your years." No, you know, in other places that they've gone, they only allow them like, you know, 10 years. a maximum or whatever. I said, "No, if you've been a teacher for 25, 30, whatever the years that you have, we will give you those years." So, you know, and that again, that's
089your vision and that's your, you know, and I really And again, again, it's it's if they're quality, that's the other thing. I mean, No, definitely. We want to make sure that if they're highly qualified and they're quality people. Yes, definitely. Uhuh. Definitely. But I mean, if they've been a teacher at the same place for 25 years, then I think something's good about, you know, that's a kind of like a good vibe. But if they've been at 25 schools in 25 years and you got to go, uh, something's wrong with you, you know. But but like I said, you know, I I I was telling them, you know, to look at to look into our website and see, you know, and make contact and, you know, so that you can see everything that we offer. Also,
090one of the really positive was the Mexico, you know, insurance. Oh my god, they were like, "No way." And I said, "Oh, yeah, the insurance." I said, "That's our, you know, that's our that's Missy Cell Brown." I said, "You know, she made sure, you know, that we had that and you know, and you get, you know, it's much better for us because I mean, in the insuranceances, they would accept that and in instead of another one because it's so much cheaper, you know, and stuff." And in in two then we're saving money for the district, for the teachers, you know, for their families and stuff. So again, thank you very much. Thank you. And again, it's it's I think we're very teacher staff driven that we try to support and and that another example of
091of our IBB. I don't think many districts also have IBB where it's everybody has a voice and so I think that's been a positive for our district. Exactly. It's school district climate. Um and so again provide early vibrant uh respectful campuses including efficient well facilities. Um, we had to change our service group. Um, I think Mr. Ramirez was adding that as well our budget conversation. Um, because they weren't meeting our expectations. Um, and I want to thank Dr. Lville for stepping up and taking over at the end of the contract to really push them to to meet our expectations. And I think if they would have been working as hard as they were the last few months, we would have ever ended that contract because they were finally meeting our expectations. Presentation, too. Yeah, it
092was awesome. Yeah, Mr. Beach. And I think all I think that they understood that we were not happy and so they tried to to meet that expectation, but again, at that point, it was it was a little bit late, but they did finally get to where we wanted them to be. Um, so the appearance again was not where we wanted, but improved as the year progressed due to uh the contract being sent out for bid. Um, some of the highlights with our our facilities, the fieldhouse completion, which is a great facility. Um, and we still need to get the board down there to to take a a tour, but I was hoping to have the equipment in there before we so hopefully that'll be in July. So, we'll schedule a meeting for that uh to
093to actually go down and take a tour because I think you'll be really impressed with that the size of the building um having the locker room and and just the way that uh it looks inside to be able to utilize that for many different educational opportunities. Uh the swimming pool um I had to revise this um a couple times because the number of students signed up for swim lessons is now 440 as of Oh no, no. Yeah. Oh, that is awesome. Yes. And you know and and if you the board remembers way back when we were going through the bond and everything and everybody's questioning that was one of the things are people going to use the pool? Why? And I can definitely say oh yes emphatically they they are using the pool. We have,
094you know, uh throughout the day, not only the the the students that are in swim lessons, but you know, up to 200 students or community members using the pool on a daily basis, you know, throughout the day. So, it's um definitely being used. And then once we complete the fieldhouse with the exercise facility, that'll be the other um community use area that we'll be able to allow community to use that. So, we'll have the pool, tennis courts, um the track, the the walking path around it, the the the district there. So, I mean, a lot of the hub that we've always wanted, I think is what we're we're actually getting towards. And so, but again, I want to thank Audra for and her team, the lifeguards and doing all of that work and with the
095pool. Uh again, 440 when she told me today, I was like, "Wow, I guess we revisited the presentation because I was at 370 the last time." And so we're all the way up to 440. Um and then just some of the other things that we're we're working on, um the smartboard technology using overlays, but I think we're going to now switch to the actual smartboards to try to have some some pilot this year with some technology and try to provide some more tools for our our teachers to be able to use. Um and again, the the district welcome back continues to grow and we have a lot of positive there. Um we'll find it in some of the opportunities for students which is on this goal as well. Um again expansion of alternative including enrichment
096opportunities for our middle schools um Spanish one to algebra and we're already adding the ELA looking at geometry and adding science and some history to that as well. um CTE support transportation to Tucson uh continues to grow. And one of the things that I want to share with the board, we're we're in discussions uh to look at how we can create our own CTE program. Um you know, we haven't really announced that uh to them yet because we have some process that we need to go through. Uh because that would entail leaving the the JTAD and creating our own. Um, and that's u something that we'll be looking at because we want to have our own local um programs because it is great that we're able to go to Tucson, but the transportation uh the
097board as you saw during the budget we added another uh transportation for them to be able to drive back and forth, but it is difficult on our students uh to be able to have to go where they're here in the morning and then they go and then they get back at 8 o'clock at night and it limits them for some of the the student athletes. They are now able to participate in their in their athletic programs if they're committed to the the JTE programs. So, in the future, we want to be able to to have our our own. Um so, we're looking at ways to to do that. Um but in the meantime, we do have a lot of support for our CT program as it continues to grow. Um as I mentioned there, um
098we continue to push our dual enrollment. We want all of our students to to have currently the requirement is to have one to three college courses or we're trying to push them until we can get to that associates degree level. Um elementary uh science continues um and we're adding again the technology counseling grant. We still have all of our sites with um a counselor which many districts do not. So we still have counselors at every school site. Um uh again all of our stakeholders uh making sure that they're part of of our conversations. Um thank the board for reviewing the discipline and expectations uh this last year with the change in dress code. I I think the board would be very happy to to see what it did um and cell phone uh focus improved
099discipline 23% um less discipline referrals at high school. So, so it had a a big impact at Rio High School for the number of referrals. Um, so I think uh commend the board for taking that on and having the the will to to make sure that we follow through as a district. Um, again, camera and safety measures. We're we're still working on all of those, adding some cameras now that we have what we thought everything was in place. We realized there's some blind spots and so we're adding a few more cameras. Um but overall it's really helped um enhance all of the school sites uh discipline-wise. Uh the keyless entry is beginning. We started the process in the spring with a few of them including the district office which I will tell you has made
100our district office staff feel very safe. Um before if people could just walk in and out of the the doors and now they're locked automatically and you have to have your ID wrist u entry to get in. So, I think it makes them feel safe. Um, and then security coordinator, we add that position and has been very positive to be able to help with security guards training as well as having uh all of our safety plans reviewed and being able to make sure that they're being followed. Recommendation is met that goal. Any questions that I can answer about? No, no questions. I just wanted to mention how we got attacked pretty fiercely by the critics pool and uh they went even so far as to say that we wouldn't be able to maintain it and
101they they even compared us to Patagonia which was a another fractured fairy tale. They said that we would we would be like them and have an empty pool in the future which is absurd when you think of the use and the demand for it. So yeah, tough. Yeah, it I again thank the the board for their support in doing that because I think it's, you know, from the swim team, I think it's going to grow. I think that the swim lessons um just the the use um teams, uh private parties, all the different things that we'll be able to utilize that for. I think one of the the coolest events that I think happened this year was uh the senior sunset where they were able to sit in the pool um an entire senior class
102at the swimming pool. um before graduation. So I think that I mean there's just a lot of uses for that community entity to be able to to so so thank you Mr. Beach. I walked around every single classroom, every school earlier on in the year. Uh our students are amazing. Our our staff are amazing. Uh you know, you could ask a kid a question. They're very respectful. Uh when we went to the high school, you're not wearing that shirt. I'm sorry, miss. You know, they're just so respectful. Yeah. So, and that's a testament to to our principles and the staff because they they model that. So, uh overall school climate uh was outstanding. Dave, when we walked around the schools, uh and had our little discussions with the teachers and the students, I'd say 90%
103of it was positive and was just ways that we could improve on stuff that we're already doing. Yeah. Yeah. I think uh what's going to be huge is those Smartboards. You know, we can get those in the classrooms. You know, just from my personal experience, all my curriculum was on that Smartboard. I could come in year after year, modify it, enhance it, small group instructions. You can throw videos on it. They're they're so amazing. What you can do on the computer, you can do on that Smartboard. So, I think that'll be a game changer once we start getting them in our classroom. But overall uh uh school climate outstanding. Y same thing 100% what he said and every everything else. I think one of the other things that is going to be uh very very
104beneficial for our students is that one-on-one for the elementary kids. I think that right now you know a lot of the elementary kids I mean they push the buttons here and there or whatever but they don't know exact you know what I'm saying? I mean it's going to be like a deeper uh you know uh learning process for them to know their you know their their their computers much better and that way get them more involved in the school get them more involved in their you know in in what they're doing you know in their in their daily you know uh stuff that they have to do but um fantastic job is to what can I say thank you the whole goal um it's community moments so it it takes a team to do all
105of the community involvement. We got a lot of our our staff. Um I know Dr. Lville is in numerous boards and other things. Uh Miss Brown is on the trust board and involved with ASBO. All of our principles are involved in different things. Um as well as the numerous boards that I am involved with um you know not only locally but statewide and then nationally with with Wested. Um, so you know, the one thing that I really tried to to focus on this year was attendance participation in schoolside events and I need to do continue to do a better job of that. Um, but trying to get to as many of the events as possible. Um, I did watch a lot of our live streams for for sports, but I couldn't get to some. Found
106a lot of uh, you know, watching our our teams and doing those type of things. Um, but we're the community and civic group presentations, getting out. Miss Brown and I are going to to get out um and talk about the treasure issues with a lot of our community uh what that means for us in the in the fall. Um because we still get a lot of questions, you know, how is it affecting you? Why are you not shutting down because of the loss of those funds? What does it really mean? So explaining and educating just like we're talking about educating staff about their use of their funds. um educating the community about how we're using our district funds because I think it's important for them to to know. Um so having a lot of district
107uh community presentations on sharing what we're doing is is important and we've done that always. We've always done that and I think that's why we've been able to pass our bond and override is because we we always go out and we share again transparently all of our information of what we're doing, what are we using our how is affecting this this community and our school district. Um just uh also now wanted to highlight a couple of my um memberships on the the AALIS. I am now uh elected the treasurer which is a good thing be relying on on Miss Brown for that. You didn't know you were going to have more know an extra job. I was like I was like I was like like I can do any other position but treasure and of
108course what do I get elected as treasure if you could be a CFO? Yeah. No want to do that. Um and then um on Weststead I was elected as the vice chair. So um so which is another I think positive thing for our district have that u representation and so and then also um continue to be on the AIA executive board has been something that I had to spend a lot of time. I didn't realize how that was but it's it's been a positive to be able to be part of that and and represent um our community. Um, and many of the folks that I've I've taken have represented uh Hispanic culture for representation that that needs to be represented in a lot of different ways for um students that are in hardships and transfer
109issues and things like that. So, it's been very positive to be able to to do that um and represent um our community as well. So, um again, there's just a lot of community um thing that that we're part of. Also wanted to uh commend Audra for her work um as the the new communications person um and outreach, you know, taking over for Shannon and Mr. Fanning, you know, filling two roles in a woman. Uh she has done an outstanding job transitioning into that. Our newsletters continue to to be a positive. Um, one of the things that we're going to continue to work on is is press releases and then um, getting back to I know it's been a a question and I didn't put it on here, but I will commit to it because I
110get this question constantly. When are you going to start doing videos again? When are you going to start doing videos? And I'm like, well, you can read the newsletter, but they like, well, you just give us a a a video of what's in the newsletter. And they like that for whatever reason. And so, I've had a ton of requests to to do the the videos. So, We'll work on that this fall to to get working on the video again. But uh yeah, I think this is one of probably our greatest strengths or my greatest strength is really being involved and uh representing our district on a local, state, and national. So uh my my recommendation is uh meets the goal. River Mr. No questions, sir. All right, Mr. Ramirez, I just no questions. I just
111think he's done a really good job and I've seen you even as you had mentioned earlier, you know, when you had mentioned disagree and I thought, yeah, when we would talk about I used to say, yeah, we can disagree and it doesn't mean that we have dissent or disloyalty. I got I got to see you in action and you under the heat, you know, and really heated moments during CO especially was really tough, but you guys always managed to take the ship and good waters. And so I want to commend uh Dr. Lunderville, too, because I I got to know her better, too, over the years, even though we were colleagues at the high school. at least to talk about basketball. But it's it's kind of cool when you get to know people better and
112you understand that even though you have these differences, you're still trying to shoot for the same thing. So, at any rate, I think you've done a really good job. Good job, Mr. Beach. Yeah, community involvement day. Uh doing an outstanding job. I know uh anytime the community has a question I remember they came in why is our taxes being uh you know and you just winged it you know impromptu can you get up there and explain the tax base you know you're very uh transparent in that way working with two back working with the different organizations around here and uh letting him know your vision our school vision uh I don't know how you talked to superintendent uh school superintendent Alfredo Velasquez but all of a sudden we have $30,000 So, oh yeah, that's to
113you getting out there and hustling. So, uh yeah, you're doing a good job. I have to give credit to Dr. Lindville for that. Worked that magic. All right. You're the one that worked the magic with this. Yeah. Again, what can I say, Mr. Well, I'm very, very proud of everything that both of you have done. All three of you. I mean, you know, all of the um the community knows that they all they have to do is ask, you know, ask the question and you'll give them the answers, you know, because why? Because they're there. Because that's what we're doing. Okay? That's what you're doing. That's what you guys are doing. You know, you're doing what's best for our students, our teachers, and our community. And it shows. So, thank you. Thank you. And thank
114you very much. And and it is an action item. This is my recommendation. again the board in change or you know anything they would like to but it's the recommendation is okay do we ask any questions does anybody have any questions about this okay are we ready to make the motion okay recommended action uh motion to approve the 2024 2025 superintendent performancebased pay goal deter determination deter deter permination. Okay. Uh pres as presented. Second motion. I know he's second. Okay. He didn't give me a chance to pull Mr. Beach off here. I know stalled. Yeah, we're okay. All those in favor say I. All those opposed? Nay. Motion passes. Thank you very much. My god, he he threw me off. Okay, because I was expecting Mr. Beach to say it, okay? And then he says
115it. I apologize. Anyway, uh subject Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District. Uh policies. Uh Mr. Verdoo, no policies. Nothing. Oh, okay. So, we don't even have to do a motion, right? Okay. Next one. Okay. Subject D. Propose and prioritize topics as possible uh dates and times for future board meetings. Mr. I just uh the next governing board meeting is July 8th. Then also we'll be attending ASBO is July 16th or 19th through the 19th. Yeah. So and and then uh future topics any um that the board would like is not on the list. Okay. Well then I'll ask author does anybody want to put anything on the list? Mr. No. Mr. Ramirez? No. No. Mr. Beach? No. I don't either. Okay. Moving on. Uh the consent agenda. Uh approval of the consent agenda. Uh Mr.
116Verdugo matter. There's nothing. Yeah. No, it's hold on. Okay. Consent agenda. Okay. Any member on the consent agenda will be uh removed from the consent agenda and discussed as regular agenda item or items upon the request of any board member. Does any board member have any Mr. Guerrero? Mr. No, Mr. Beach. Nope. Nope. I don't either. Okay. So, recommending recommended action motion to approve, accept, and ratify the consent agenda as presented. So, move. Second. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed, nay. Eyes have it. Recommendation. Oh my god. Okay. throwing you off. They are. It's horrible. The sense of humor over there. I know. It's horrible. Okay. But anyway, and I will adjourn this meeting at 6:37.