001All All right, everyone. Good evening for our past Memorial Day governing board meeting. Today is Tuesday, May 26. Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. On this day in 1896, Charles Dao p uh published the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average with 12 industrial stocks followed one year later in 19 in 1897 when Bram Stroker Stracular was published, a book that I had to read with my oldest daughter uh recently. Uh today we celebrate the birthdays of two iconic music legends, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and Lenny Kravitz. And today is National Paper Airplane Day and National Blueberry Cheesecake Day. Uh with that, Miss AI, may I please have a roll call, >> Miss Luna Rose >> here, >> Mr. Romero >> here, >> Miss Shaw, Miss Extramm Dr. Ravi >> here.
002So we have three of us here this evening. Miss Shaw maybe join us a little bit later in our meeting. But we have quorum and we're going to get uh going here with let me get to our start here with our land acknowledgement statement. We don't have a student this evening for either land acknowledgement statement or the pledge of allegiance. Uh but I will go ahead and read the land acknowledgement statement once it's up on the screen. On behalf of the governing board of the Tucson Unified School District, I Ravi Sha acknowledge that the schools, buildings, and facilities of the Tucson Unified School District reside on the ancestral homeland of the Tonom Nation and the federally recognized tribal land of the Pascoyaki tribe. And can everyone who is able to please stand for the pledge
003of allegiance? All right. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, >> to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right, >> Dr. Trillo, our agenda adjustments for the evening. Uh, President Shaw, board members, uh, I'd like to request that we pull item 7.3. [laughter] We will be back with a recommendation at our June 9th meeting for that. And then I'd also request that we move up um, items 7.1, 7.2, 7.4 through 7.9. All of the appointments move them up to follow the call to the audience. And then I would like to request item 9.1 to follow the appointments. >> Okay. Any objection, governing board? And I'll take unanimous consent for those changes. And Dr. Trill, back to
004you for awards and recognitions. >> Yes. Uh this is definitely the most festive part of the school year. Uh all of us, I think, are still coming down off of the thrill of graduation week. It's always amazing to see all of our graduates uh dressed up and walking across graduation stages across the school district. Uh I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the class of 2026. Last week uh our district successfully graduated 2585 seniors from all of our 10 comprehensive high schools. I had the privilege at 1:00 in the afternoon to see our very first member of the graduating class of 2026 graduate from Mary Meredith uh and of course the opportunity to attend Choya their graduation and to attend Sabino and all of the graduations were extremely poignant uh Choya I don't think
005there was a dry eye in the house uh when the father of the recently deceased 12th grade student uh Camila Salana who tragically lost her life uh in an accident on the I 10 with her mother. Uh her father did receive an honorary diploma in memory of his daughter. Uh and then I don't think there was a dry eye in the house at Sabino when the student body president dedicated her speech to her mother and a book that her mother had read about dreaming big when she was in kindergarten. So, it was just amazing to see such amazing young people, especially when they speak about their parents and they speak about how important their families are in their success, uh, tugged on the heartstrings a little bit. Uh, we're incredibly proud of all of our
006graduates and grateful to the families and educators and the staff members that supported them all along the way. It's not over because summer school does kick off tomorrow. And of course, we will be culminating the summer school season with our summer graduation ceremony coming up a little bit later this month. I am pleased to recognize the PBLO Dental Center for its commitment to the students of TUSD. Through the Grey Line program, a network of volunteer dental professionals, PBLO Dental Center provides essential dental services at no cost to students who otherwise would have limited or no access to urgent dental care. These services include treatment for severe tooth pain, infections, and other pressing dental needs. The program serves qualifying K12 students who are not eligible for other assistance programs and whose families meet income requirements. Through
007the generosity of volunteer dentists and dental hygienists, students receive care that not only addresses immediate health concerns, but also helps ensure that they can remain focused on learning and thriving and doing their best in school. PBLO Dental C Center's dedication reflects the very best of community partnership and we're deeply grateful for its ongoing support of our students and families. At this time, I would like to invite the representatives of PBLO Dental Center. I'd like to invite them forward to accept this recognition and I want to thank them for all of the work that they do. I believe we don't have any representatives here, so we will certainly uh hold their award for them, but please give them a round of applause. [applause] And I want to conclude tonight's recognitions by honoring an exceptional Tucson Unified
008School District employee. We are a district full of amazing people that do amazing things every day uh to serve our families and our students. And tonight's uh recognition is no exception. Christy Olbert is a proud member of our family and community engagement department. And for many families across our district, she has truly been the face of one of our most valuable resources right here, the Duffy Clothing Bank. Since 2019, Christy has faithfully served countless students and families by helping to provide clothing, shoes, shoe essent school essentials, and connections to critical community resources and services. Her compassion and dedication to serving others have made a lasting impact on our district and the community that we serve. While we are saddened to see her leave Tucson Unified, we're excited for the next chapter of her life as
009she devotes more time to one of her most important roles, that of being a grandmother. Her legacy of service and kindness will continue to be felt long after her retirement. Christy, thank you for your years of dedicated service and for the many lives you have touched. As Christie comes forward to receive this recognition, please join me in giving her a welldeserved round of applause for all of these wonderful years of service to the Tucson Unified community. >> [applause] >> board members. That concludes tonight's awards and recognition. >> Thank you, Dr. Trillo. Next, we have board member activity reports. Who would like to start us off this evening? I will let go. >> Oh, hey, Mr. Romero. >> All right. Um, just going down the list real quick. Gidley Middle School with principal Rosanna. Kellen Elementary
010with principal Angela. Gail with principal Kathy. And got to see Chicken School, [clears throat] which was fantastic. Uh, Steel Elementary, principal Jessica. Mccoral Academy of Excellence with Principal Deanna in Rodzilla. Oyama with principal Kyle. Ghalva with principal Megan. Dylan with principal Natalie and assistant principal Michelle. Project more with Izzy. Uh PBLO with principal Frank. Morgan Maxwell with principal Carissa. Marshall with principal Emily for the fifth grade promotion. Spent the last day of school at the same school. I spent the first day of school at Soling Tom with me Hermono, Principal Oscar. got to address the graduating students at PBLO prior to their graduation and then left there to go address the graduating students at Innovation Tech and celebrated graduation with the class of 2026 there and principal Patricia Hurley's uh graduation of of that school
011as well and then address the graduating students at Catalina and celebrated graduation with the class of 2026 and principal Norma Gonzalez congratulating uh them as Thank you, Mr. Romero. Go ahead, Miss Lunar Rose. >> Or Michelle, you ready? >> Sure. >> Good evening. Oops. >> Can you guys hear me? This one. Okay. Uh, good evening everyone. Sorry I'm late. I had to drop my daughter off at the airport. She's going to DC with her school and to do all the touristy stuff. So, uh, please forgive me. Uh during this period I was able to uh attend the penguin launch at UHS. My daughter was recently accepted into um University High School and so thank you. They start early. She's only well she's going into 8th grade now. So um yeah, they you know told them
012what to expect. So that was really great for me as a parent to see um everything that they would be doing through the four years. Um, and that coincided with the um, art under your stars day at ringcon uhs. So I saw all of the fine arts uh, celebrated um, and so that was wonderful. Um, I also uh, attended the alternative education advisory committee meeting. I'm the board liazison for that and so um, next month they'll be presenting um, a report for the board and a recommendation. So do look forward to that. Um I met via Zoom with members of the dev community to talk about um some of their concerns for our um contract with ASDB. Um and so they just wanted to, you know, meet with me to u um to express those
013concerns um again and you know potentially I know at the last board meeting I mentioned to look into um TUSD uh leasing the ASDB campus for um our deaf and visually impaired students that are incoming. Um and so they wanted to know more about that. Uh, last but not least, I attended the uh, teenage parent high school graduation ceremony. If um, you haven't attended that before, board members, I highly recommend. Miss Luna Rose, I think you were at it last year and it's so lively. The kids were on the stage. Um, you know, uh, it was really their ceremony, so it was great to see all the graduates and their children. Um, and I also attended the Catalina High School graduation ceremony with Mr. Romero. Mr. Romero, I don't think you mentioned that you were
014in full Elvis gear and so, you know, the the kids really love that. Thank you. >> Ready? >> All right. Go ahead, Miss Lose. >> Thank you. And good evening. Thank you for joining us. Um, so, um, I'll start kind of in sort of an order here. Uh I was invited to listen to some uh student presentations from the collaborative research and action student symposium which was held on the UVA UVA campus in the now defunct Cesar Chavez building um from our culturally relevant um uh culturally responsive pedigogy and instruction department here in TUSD. And I saw several um students from around the districts um PBLO uh Tucson High and I do believe I sat in on Pister um giving their presentations, excuse me, on how um what is going on in the world and
015how does that affect them as students um and wanting to see changes at their schools. And um I if um highly encourage my colleagues to try to attend that if they haven't um next year into seeing what our students are doing and what they're learning in their classes and how bright and um wonderful they are um I will always be a champion for them. So uh I wanted to say thank you to Dr. uh Jessica Bernal Mahia for the invitation. and it was a really fun time. Uh, next, um, I attended the second semester PBLO counseling department advisory council meeting. Um, thank you to Dr. Toro for inviting me to be part of this group. And so I just um, listen to what they're doing at their counseling and the amazing things they're doing at
016PBLO. So um, I appreciate the updates. And lastly, I'm going to put this all under the RingCon High School banner. Um, as a parent, my daughter just graduated from RingCon and so she will be attending the University of Arizona and um is going to be part of the UVA marching band come uh in the fall. So, I'm very proud of her and um her classmates. So, I did um have the privilege to be able to give her her diploma and um I didn't cry till the next day at all. I was I I was very surprised and I think it just kind of hit me but um it was an amazing event. Um and so I also attended the RingCon Awards band night which I do believe you were there, Miss Shawn. I missed you.
017I kept hearing that you were there and um and that's a wonderful night of all the different arts of uh Ringcon University, not just band but orchestra, choir, um the digital arts, uh drawing, painting, ceramics. It's just such a wonderful event and they do it just highlights again the work that our students are doing. Um, I also attended the Ringcon honors ceremony, uh, as well as the Ringcon University band awards night. Um, I also, um, did some work for the teacher appreciation week. Um, I helped with the nacho bar. But, uh, and I say that because these little things matter. These little things matter to our teachers. They've worked hard all year. And so if you can help as a parent or a community member or a friend or you're just wanting to get involved,
018call the principal, call the school to say, "How can I help?" Because they really are are are looking for the help. And um I will still try to help as much as I can even though I'm technically not for the first time in 12 years [clears throat] will be not a parent of this district anymore. >> 13 years, I'm sorry. That's right. >> With preschool. So, oh, and I should I would be a remiss if I did not mention that I also attended the Mexican-American Student Services recognition uh at the University of Arizona. Um, thank you to um Maria Federico Brahmer and her team. It was a wonderful event. It always is. And um they were very proud of themselves that they got it done under two hours. So, good job. Um we just seeing
019the again the the amazing students that we have here in our district and I wanted to give a quick shout out to now graduated senior um from Ringcon. She was the val Victorian Aul Banghel. Um she gave a beautiful speech on um being a child of immigrants and um thanked her parents in the crowd. And then she went a little bit slightly rogue and pulled out a side speech talking about how the current immigration um issues we're having in this nation right now are are horrible. that immigrants are not demons, they're not Satan, and that um they're just people trying to live. And um she was very brave and I commend her for uh for doing that because uh she could have just ended it there. But she chose to also uh make note that
020a lot of her classmates uh are also um scared for their parents, those in the district that might be undocumented. So kudos to Hassul for um her bravery and um I wish her well. I do believe she's going to the University of Arizona as well. So with that, Dr. Shaw, I'm done. Thank you. Great. >> Thank you, Miss Luna Rose. So from my uh board member activity report uh early in May, I was able to attend the AOA Fiesta. Uh Choa Community School is uh in South Tucson uh and they have a spring fiesta every year. And thank you, Principal Dwarte Rob, for the invitation. I think the highlight for me was meeting a lot of the namesake Achoa family and attendance at that festival. So it was great meeting all the folks uh from
021that family. Uh the next day I attended the showcase at Pala High School. Uh the theme was uh meet your neighbor um a Mr. Rogers reference and uh got to see Dr. Trillo up there on this big screen wearing a Mr. Rogers sweater uh as our uh keynote there. Uh but great seeing all the students from around the district performing uh that afternoon. Uh later that night I attended a legacy of excellence event uh with uh Miss Shaw in attendance as well. I don't think you mentioned that in yours. Uh but as Legacy of Excellence uh raises money for uh individuals um from the African-American community for college scholarships. And so it was a night to raise funding for the scholarship program as well as honor uh the soon to be now graduates uh who
022received the scholarships for the next year. So, it was great to hear their stories and celebrate them. Uh, during the month of May, I got to finally see all the electric school bus infrastructure that we installed uh thanks to uh funding from TE and from grants uh as well as uh bond money for the purchase of our electric school buses. I got to ride in one of the electric school buses uh that afternoon. Uh, and uh, lo and behold, it was the same electric school bus that uh, my my twins uh, from second grade used to get to uh, Kidco. So, I got to surprise them on the electric bus and got to see that in action. Uh, last week uh, the high school that I was able to attend for graduation was PBLO High
023School. My first time attending that graduation. Uh, the graduation was bilingual for all the parents and family in the audience that spoke Spanish. which was great to see uh it in a bilingual format and excited to be able to speak uh to the students and families there. And most meaning uh meaningful for me this past month uh I got to attend the Aliceville Middle School promotion. My daughter uh promoted from 8th grade and about a month or two ago when I proposed it to her about uh speaking at it, she didn't veto it right away. So, I jumped out of the opportunity uh to be there on stage uh speak to the class, some of the students I've known since preschool, since they were in preschool uh and shake the hands uh and a lot
024of hugs for uh the kids being promoted on to high school. So, that was a really meaningful moment for me uh this past month. Uh with that, that'll conclude our board memory board member activity reports and we'll head to our call to the audience. Miss Luna Rose, >> are you okay? Little froggy. >> Okay. Members of the public may speak during call to the audience. The governing board clerk shall be responsible. Thank you for recognizing speakers and for maintaining order where may be appropriate. Those who speak in person or want to have their comments read shall email a call to board office or complete your request to address the board form before the meeting. Speakers have not speakers who have not completed a request form are not permitted to address the board. Speakers must state
025their full name and topic prior to addressing the board. Speakers are encouraged to be brief for the maximum time of three minutes. While more than one speaker may speak together in the time allowed, speakers are reminded they are not allowed to speak more than once and they may not transfer or delegate their time to others. If there are documents for the board, please give them to the board office staff and they will ensure each board member receives a copy. Those attending the meeting and or speaking before the governing board shall observe rules and good conduct. Speakers shall also refrain from inappropriate or defamatory remarks. Defamation includes false statements presented as facts about identifiable identifiable persons that could harm their reputation. Please note that making defamatory statements at a public meeting may expose the speaker to
026personal legal viability. Because TUSD serves students from preschool through high school, speakers should be aware that children may be present and listening. At the end of the call, the audience, the governing board president will ask any board member if they would like to respond to criticism, ask staff to review a matter, or ask that a matter be put forth on a future a future agenda. No more than two board members may address each topic. Okay, first person is Scott Rodman. Mr. Rod. Okay. Uh, next is Karen or Karen Bernal. Okay. >> Don't start my time yet. Wait, is it there? Okay. Wait, start over. Okay. Good evening, Superintendent Trujillo, uh, board chair, Dr. Shaw, members of the board. Uh, my name is Karen Bernal and I am a state certified school library media specialist at
027Catalina High School. I would like to request your serious consideration regarding the following two items. I toned it down. Um on behalf of the few current state certified librarians in our district. Um first we would like to see TUSD return to having highly qualified teacher librarian as stated in TUSD policy JK which reads quote the library is staffed by a highly qualified teacher librarian who collaborates with classroom teachers to set instructional goals and implement instructional practices. end of quote. Um, we do as librarians teach research digital literacy skills, provide book talks, curate book lists for our libraries to keep students engaged, informed, and excited about reading. According to policy NDJ, the district is also supposed to provide guidance to students on responsible AI use as part of the digital citizenship digital digital citizenship curriculum. This
028includes AI literacy, data privacy awareness, and I'm wondering who exactly the district has in mind to provide this guidance. Well, I would like to point out that the guidance is specifically in the realm of school librarians. Um, teaching digital literacy, including ethical use of AI, is one of our main jobs. Um, we currently have only 11 schools that are actually staffed by a state certified librarian, which really hurts the vertical alignment of our programs. We understand that some of the override monies are supposed to be earmarked for hiring more librarians in the district and we hope you can help make this happen. We also need to maintain that library assistants um have a separate job managing the space, shelving books, checking in and out materials, assisting with display, repairing books, and countless number of tasks
029and activities needed to run a vibrant library. They are indeed just as important. Our assistants though should not be asked to teach classes, run programs, select and curate a collection, fix Chromebooks. That is above their pay grade and entirely unfair to ask them to perform duties that should be the job of a school librarian. Second, libraries need a budget dedicated to replenishing weeded and lost books. This should be a number of books per pupil formula, which is very common throughout many districts all over. um that needs to be a clear line item budget where that money um exists. We can't rely on going after students and squeezing money out of them for every lost book. That's no way to budget for a library. Um there will be loss. We know especially at the elementary level
030when students are learning how to be responsible for things. Most of the money any of us get for books is through grants we apply for um not district money at this point. Uh many of us work for school at schools that are 100% free and reduced lunch. Um, and currently our TUSD policy code JQ states students will be responsible and accountable for loss or damage, but we have a number of nonmonetary and creative ways to still hold students [music] accountable and responsible if we need to. >> Thank you so much. I had a few more paragraphs, but okay. Thanks. Thank you. Next is Judy Morelian. Good evening, Dr. Truillo, board president Shaw, and members of the board. My name is Judy Merillian. I am here tonight to speak regarding the digital citizenship curriculum and to
031share my research and expertise as a retired associate professor in the school of library and information science at Texas Women's University. I taught graduate students in library science for 25 years. The vast majority of the courses I taught were exclusively for students preparing to prepare to serve as statecertified school librarians. My research focused on the leadership and instructional partnership roles of school librarians. There is a strong connection between hiring state certified school librarians with budget override funds and the adoption of an AI use and education curriculum. These new as well as current TUSD librarians must be experts in information resources, digital literacy, and critical thinking at a time when the district commits to educating staff, teachers, and students with regard to the complimentary use of generative AI. When the updated digital citizenship curriculum has been
032approved, TOSD's principles and technology specialists will be charged with ensuring that it is implemented effectively throughout the district for the benefit of all students. state certified school librarians who are charged with collaborating with every other educator in their buildings and teaching or co-eing all of their school students. Our partners with administrators and specialists in spreading innovation and best practices in every classroom. The new certified school librarian position should be provided for administrators and school faculty who seek to collaborate to ensure that learners continue to understand how information is created and disseminated, how bias and point of view are determined, how copyright applies in the digital age and to apply critical thinking in their complimentary use of generative AI. School librarians cannot lead if their daily work is relegated to tasks that can be effectively accomplished
033by library assist assistance. Principles and faculty that qualify for the addition of library professionals must provide certified school librarians with the support they need as instructional leaders on their school faculty. Please thoughtfully place these new hires and support existing state certified school librarians in helping administrators, classroom teachers, and specialists successfully implicate implement the updated digital citizenship curriculum. Thank you. Next is Lillian Fox. uh Dr. Trillo, uh board president Robbie Shaw, board members. Um this is the policy she's talking about. It's right into USD policy and it's ignored. It's really not right. Um, on my little thing, on my little thing that I gave you up there, TUSD is the guilty of the racism of low expectations. I don't know how in the world anybody can look in the mirror and think that only having only
03427% of the kids proficient English language arts and only 17% proficient in math is okay. Our kids are intelligent. The district is failing them because it's not doing what it should have done. I listed four strategies here that help low-income kids exceed even what highincome kids do. If you do things right, everybody benefits. First one is the library policy. If you actually did this, it has been proved by research that this helps low-income and highincome kids. If you have a well stocked, appropriately staffed library, everybody benefits. Uh, next thing on the list, small class sizes. State of Tennessee spent 10 years studying small class size. Their attitude was small classes are really expensive. So, we're not going to do it unless it really pays off. And what they proved is it really pays off. If
035you have small class sizes for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade, those kids will be high achievers for the rest of their educational strate because they've gotten the right bass and uh basis in reading and the right basis in math. You're not doing it. You have huge classes in those first three grades. It's no wonder the proficiency rates in this district are horrible. Um, next thing, if you engage student in activities, any activity in school, whether it's the chess club or the swimming team or whatever it is, those kids are more likely to graduate. They're more likely to succeed because they have a reason to come for school to school even if things are hard for them. You need to fund that. Sadi has tried to do that. She hasn't been completely successful because what
036she asked for hasn't been budgeted in some cases. Uh, next thing Arizona Department of Education got really concerned about the rate of absences in Arizona schools, particularly after COVID. They put down a procedure using experts to do it for how to reduce truency. TUSD ignored it. Veil does it. Veil succeeding. You could succeed, too. These the secrets of success. Now, the story is TUSD doesn't have the money. You squander so much money on an overpaid, overstaffed central administration. The auditor general has rated TUSD for years as having extremely high administrative costs. It is not your schools. It's central administration. You have an agenda item on tonight 713 that they want you to approve. They didn't tell you. >> Thank you. Time is up. >> Okay. Next is Orelia Morales. Hello school board members, superintendent. My
037name is Brian Butner. I'm reading this comment on behalf of Oralia Morales who could not be here tonight. Oralia has been a bus driver for TUSD for three years. um in quotes, I have a chronic illness. My daughter has medical needs as well. We both need medical care, but our bene our health benefits through TUSD are expensive and they're only mediocre. We pay way too much for what we get. Right now, I stay on a cheaper medication even though it's slowly killing me because the drug that would help me tremendously cost too much out of pocket. I can't afford both rent and the expensive medication. So, I choose rent. I choose to keep working and my health gets worse. I've had to think about getting major surgeries just to hit my deductible so that my
038medications become free and my doctor visits become cheaper. That is not a real choice. That is a broken system. Meanwhile, some of the top administrators in this district have gotten much bigger raises than we have from the latest budget override money. We see that and we're tired. I've missed work because of my health. My manager has been supportive and I appreciate that. But the rest of the district, the district makes it nearly impossible for someone like me to stay healthy and keep driving our students safely. If we want to talk about a bus driver shortage, look at our health benefits. Look at our pay. Many people who are leaving do so out of necessity. I ask for two things tonight. One, raise our wages, especially for the lowest paid workers like bus monitors and custodians.
039And two, give us better health benefits that we don't have to bankrupt ourselves to use. We help take care of the children in TUSD. We deserve care ourselves. Thank you. Next is Anthony Peters. Hello, my name is uh Luis Caldera. I'm a 2A employee from Catalina High. I'll be speaking on behalf of Anthony. I'll be reading on behalf of Anthony who had a very early night um um since he gets up at 4:30 a.m. to work in summer. Uh school board members and superintendent. My name is Anthony. I've been a custodian for TUSD for two years. I'm lucky I have a family in town with extra rooms, so I I uh rent a cheap room. I'm not choosing between rent and food like some of my co-workers. Even then, I still have people tell me
040I should go to college to get a better job. I can afford the classes. Why shouldn't we be able to make a living doing what our school communities need from us to do? It's not right that a custodian who shows up every day and cleans our schools still can't afford one step forward. If I'm struggling with the luck I have, what does that say about my co-workers who don't have family to lean on? For everyone who is on one emerging away from losing everything, we're asking for wages that cover what we need. Wages that let a person breathe. We deserve it. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you. Next is Nick Bruna. >> Good evening, members of the board, superintendent. My name is Nick. I'm here with ASME49. I'm a school bus driver. Um, so yeah,
041just to get to it, um, you know, working for TUSD, I have to take side jobs, random things that I can do to make ends meet. I live with family because I can't afford the rent on my own. Um, I don't know how I'm going to make it through this summer because July work isn't guaranteed. Luckily, I was able to get some uh work in the facilities in the summer, but I know a lot of my co-workers who are actually leaving the district because it was um not available for them. Um I've been looking at the district's financials um as a member on the ask me bargaining team and also just because everybody's been talking about it, right? other groups in the district, and I'm not even talking about our highest paid administrators, are getting
042raises with the override monies equivalent to somewhere between seven and 16% of what our lowest paid bluecollar workers are making, depending on which one you look at. And there's also groups um in other bargaining units getting commitments to two to four percent of annual step increases compared to what ASME is getting. Um while our blue collar workers are staying at 1% steps per year. Um, and this, you know, the 4% override what we've been hearing about getting, um, isn't even being told yet, um, how it's going to be distributed, but, you know, that's not to say that these folks don't deserve that because I absolutely believe that everybody deserves to have a living wage. Um but now to look at some of the higher um levels of administration and kind of put it more in
043perspective. If bluecollar workers were given the same percentage rates that for example the top administrators are getting we'd be looking at for like a bus monitor a 40 to 50% increase in their wage. That's life-changing. I mean straight up we we can't go past that. And that disparity is really crushing for a lot of folks. It's it's a huge blow to morale. We're constantly being told that there's no money and that more cuts are coming. We were not threatened but worried by, you know, saying that we had to pick up cuts from each of our departments, but we weren't asked what we wanted to do with the override monies. So, we were looking at the negative rather than looking at the positive together. And so I want to just say with what time I have
044left that spending millions on again the highest when we need to really be investing in the folks that keep our schools running physically, our students safe and cared for is not special treatment. We want to be treated like we matter. So please find the money. >> Thank you. Next is Eve Mazize. Hello. Good evening, school board. My name is Eve Maize. I'm a school bus driver at East Side Transportation. Uh here to represent ASNEY 449. Oh, thanks. Um, bus drivers, bus uh, our bus drivers, our bus monitors, custodial and facilities that ask me. I'm here to ask the board where our tax money from Prop 414 is for our blue collars. It feels like blue collars are afterthoughts to y'all. We were told that ask me workers are to get a 4% raise from Prop
045414. Yet nothing has been done. We've seen no money, have seen no raises. Many of our custodial bus monitors and bus drivers such as myself love working with the students of TUSD. Ask any of us and will praise them how much we love driving them, taking them to school, cleaning after them, watching them get big. It's the pay that kills our drive to work here. Promises are made but not being followed through. For ASME members, yearly raises or going up a step as per our not being delivered. So, what hope do we have that our Prop 414 promise is going to be fulfilled by all? I beg the board to stop the wage compression and give us the raise raises we deserve. To me, these kids are everything. But I cannot give them everything if
046you can't help me give it our all. If you don't support I can't give it all. I can't give it my all if you can't give it your all in supporting your workers. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next we have Angela Yogles Bor Bor. I'm sorry. Angela, I'm going to butcher your name, so I do not want to. Borquez. Obviously, I am not Angela. I am Chanetta Peek. I am a bus driver, bus monitor, excuse me. I'm not that crazy. Um, and I've been a bus monitor for over 30 years. Thoroughly enjoy my job. Love my job. And I am here on behalf of my friend and sister, Angela. My name is Angela. I'm not even going to attempt her last name. I am a bus monitor at the Westside facility. I have been with
047transportation for 16 years. I am asking you to hear my story because I cannot be here in person due to having to work my second job. When I started in 2010, I earned $10 an hour. For the first six years, I worked for this district. That was my ra wage, $10 an hour. In 2014, we were given a five- cent raise. Five cents. And then right after that, the district raised the cost of our health insurance. So that 5 cents disappeared before I ever saw it. In 2015, I was part of the negotiating team. At that time, the workers and the district wanted to bring everyone up to $15 an hour as a new minimum wage. But how they went about raising them the wage was not fair to workers like me who have already
048been here for years and not been compensated for our compressed wages. After six years at $10 an hour, being moved to $15 didn't feel like a raise. It felt like the district finally catched up to where we should have been all along. while newer workers were starting at the same rate as someone with my experience. 16 years and I still feel like I have not yet had a real raise. Not one that kept up with the cost of living. Not one that honored my loyalty or my work. I am a bus monitor. I keep the children safe on the road. I have given this district almost two decades of my life. and I have to live with poverty wages and rising insurance cost. To me, that is disrespect. I am asking you tonight, give us
049a real raise. Not a few cents, not just catching up to the bare minimum, especially after years of service. Do not take with one hand that what you give with the other. Do not raise our insurance right after you give us a tiny raise. Respect our loyalty and service. Bus monitors have the same some of the highest turnover rates for a reason. I've stuck with TUSD for 16 years. But will TUSD help? >> Thank you. [applause] >> Next we have Cameron Rodriguez. Natalie. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Time is up. >> Okay. All >> right. We have four more uh in person and none to be read. I'll move to we extend call to the audience. >> I'll second. >> All right. Item moved by myself and extended uh second by Miss Lun. All those
050in favor say I. >> I. All right. It passes 4 Z. >> All right. Mr. Rodriguez. >> Good evening, Cameron Rodriguez, Ringcon High School. Sorry to come on such a rough night. I'm here about item 6.5, the $6.8 8 million uh dollars insurance renewal, including a $350,000 increase in workers compensation contributions. The memo says the increase is due to lost data. That means TOSD is paying twice. First, the district pays to defend individual claims by paying paying the premium surveillance, depositions, motions, hearings, legal bills. Sorry. Then those costs flow into the retrospective workers compensation data that sets next year's contributions and you lost most of the loyalty credit too. So the district funds the fight than the district funds the increase the fight produced. This is public money mind you. More cost less return no
051gain. The judge in my case has asked your lawyer to ask Alliance and ask you the question, who is helped by continuing this? Are what are you doing? Are you settling or what? And if I can speak with my whole heart for a moment, why would you pay lawyers to keep a teacher from getting medical treatment? Just why? Why pay lawyers instead of treating a teacher's knee? What kind of person is okay with this? It's one thing when you thought I was making it up and now it's about whether the sidewalk counts as the school or not. Talk about shifting the goalposts. You don't just refuse to settle with the teacher. You just give the money to lawyers instead. I stay hurt. You and admin have to get embarrassed and annoyed for months. And the
052only people that get paid and walk away are private corporations and lawyers. How much more bad behavior do I have to put into pictures? I like this district. I defend it. I love my job even though it doesn't love me. So, at least we have the fondness of the district in common at the very least. So, that's something to think about. Please answer the judge. Thank you. >> Hello, next is Crystalella Sana Buckner. Hello, good evening. My name is Crisabel Salvana Buckner. I am a teacher at PBLO High School as well as a TUSD parent and I am reading a letter from my former colleague. This letter was sent by SOA Weiss to Mayor Romero after the mayor made an appearance at PBLO grad PBLO's graduation last year. Miss Weiss was granted has granted me
053permission to read an excerpt from this letter tonight on her behalf. It was an honor to meet you during the PBLO graduation ceremony. When you asked why I was leaving, I hesitated to share my reasons in person. But I feel it is important to let you know I am leaving Pueblo High School due to ongoing challenges with our administration. specifically principal Rosson Hler and Vice Principal Mayerson. Unfortunately, I am not alone. Many good, qualified, and experienced teachers are leaving this year. The core issues stem from a lack of support, trust, and appreciation from the administration. They have demanded extra work without fully understanding the teaching and learning process or considering teachers additional responsibilities. They often blame teachers for school performance and dismiss our concerns, beliting our professional experiences and abilities. An administration that understands what
054it meant it is meant to be a teacher can provide support for their teachers and in turn help their teachers support their students. This is not something seen at PBLO. Unfortunately, as department head for science, I have tried to advocate for my colleagues and students. I voiced our concerns about the recent curriculum changes, team planning, and workload, but they were dismissed. Instead, I was told I must fully support their directives publicly, even when I disagreed. Both Mr. R and Miss Mayerson demanded I also not question their directives in public as well. Their response to my concerns was dis disheartening. Mr. R told me he only considers our performance scores and his aggressive attitude caused me to feel undervalued and emotional. This happened in a public area, the library, where my fellow team members and teachers
055witnessed me in tears, doing my best to try and get admin to understand us. After that difficult week, I realized I could no longer stay at PBLO. Well, I will miss my students. I have accepted a position at St. Agine. >> I'm sorry, your time is up. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Next is Ben Kohler. Hello. Good evening board and superintendent. I am also a teacher at Pablo High School. uh coming to talk to you this evening about our administration and principles specifically. Um today I'll be presenting data from a staff survey that we took in the month of April. Um as you all know teachers in this district are evaluated on the Danielson framework and so we created an Danielson framework equivalent to evaluate our administration. The four categories include or there
056were five categories four of them mirroring the student or the teacher evaluation. Those categories are planning and preparation, the school environment, instruction, professional responsibilities, and we included a fifth category as well. This fifth category relates to an anonymous letter that was sent to the governing board back in March, and it has to do with specific concerns in this anonymous letter, including retaliation, gender issues, and safety and misconduct from our administration. The result of this staffwide survey, and I say staff because not only was this teachers, this was also custodians, cafeteria workers, janitorial staff, and front office, was including 72% of the entire staff of PBLO High School and resulted in the following scores. Uh the uh the most common results were the lowest score possible all ones uh which would be an unsatisfactory score and
057the this tied with the second most common result of a basic score a 1.6 in this four-point scale. One being unsatisfactory, two being basic, three being proficient, and four being distinguished. Mr. our our principal received an average of as I mentioned that 1.6. Um the median and means uh were slightly higher but still in the basic and low proficiency ratings. Um we bring this data forward with you as part of our ongoing effort to change the culture at PBLO High School. We as teachers believe it's our responsibility to provide the best learning environment for the students and also a safe learning environment for the students and our colleagues. So by presenting this data we hope to uh bring your attention to the troubling situation of the culture, safety and learning environment at Pablo High School
058and invite you to participate in our process to help improve that culture. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next we have Janette Ruple. Hello, my name is Janette Ruple and I'm an English teacher at PBLO High School. The purpose of an elected school board is not to decide criminality. The purpose is to decide if community standards are being upheld. In this case, with respect to the actions of principal Rosenhauser, that's the bar. Anything below the bar requires the TUSD school board to take action. Principal Rosenhauser has often across many different contacts implied and stated the behavior of others, sometimes make him crazy. He wouldn't act this way if others, usually women, didn't push him. An instructional coach told others that Principal Rosenhauser stood over her and shouted at her, even ridiculing her recently failed engagement. Did
059she push him? Did she make him crazy? The next year, Principal Rosenhauser stated that PBLO had a fantastic strides based on its PLC work. The science department chair genuinely enthusiastically stated, "I'd like to hear about them." Principal Rosenhauser and an AP walked the woman out of the meeting for a private conversation. When she returned, she looked like she had been crying and was visibly shaken. Principal Rosenhauser gets humiliated very easily, especially when he perceives that his constant lying is being challenged. It's time for the board to act. This year, Principal Rosenhauser has developed a strategy of holding meetings with two APs and then separating the meeting with a the AP that he blames for sending the recently anonymous letter to the board. The day after graduation, Principal Rosenhauser called all three APs into his office
060to berate them for humil humiliating him in at graduation. Two questions for the board. Is Principal Rosenhauser's professional conduct appropriate? And is it improving over time? And is there any possible TUSD intervention that can accommodate an individual who blames others for making him crazy? what community standards the bar that t school board has to consider when taking action with respect to principal Rosenhauser when he brings some cookies anonymous uh unannounced during lunch to the room of a newly hired Spanish teacher. Does that feel like the authority of an administrative certificate is being used for the benefit of PBLO's mission statement? Can the new teacher reject this overture? As principal, he could argue that he has the right to go into any classroom at any time. This is why school boards have oversight powers and responsibilities.
061When 2SD legal is all over the school because of principal secretary incident and then they return because of the texting an underage student issue, where is the board? What about male administration and coaching staff always having to be in spaces occupied by young female athletes? Why must male administration and coaching staff work out shirtless in the company of young female athletes? TSD board, please enforce community standards of behavior with the respect of principal Rosenhauser. Thank you. >> Thank you. And Dr. Shaw, that concludes call to the audience. >> Thank you, Miss Luna Rose. Now, our governing board has the opportunity to respond to criticism, ask staff to review a matter, or ask that a matter be put on a future agenda. Remember that no more than two members may legally address each topic. Michelle, thank
062you everyone for speaking tonight. Uh, first I want to thank uh Miss Bernal and Miss Melion for your continued advocacy for our uh school librarians. I'd like to ask that we put on a future agenda a presentation of how we will be reinstating the librarian position across the district using override funds while also maintaining the librarian assistant positions. Um for all the ask me folks who came to speak today, thank you and also the tea folks, uh thank you for advocating for better wages for your union. um and uh better health care costs. I totally agree. I want to find a way that we can do that. Um and I think one way to do that is chopping from the top. Um so I will be um thanks. Thank you. And yeah, it's it's a
063tough, you know, we do have issues in our district as far as our budget. Um and like the only way that I could foresee that we are able to uh do right by everyone is to chop from the top. So I do encourage my uh board colleagues to do the same. Um last but not least for all the folks who came from PBLO to speak um you know I don't think it's a big surprise that I was the person who requested a um culture and climate review at PBLO um due to some of the things that have been expressed. And so it's my understanding that you're still able to participate in that culture and climate review um virtually um so if you haven't already, please do uh meet with Mr. Frerieded to express your concerns.
064Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Shaw. Anybody else? All right. Thank you. That'll conclude our call to the audience. Uh next we'll move on to item 7.1, administrative appointments. Uh Deputy Superintendent Yes, President Sha, members of the governing board. Um, it's always a wonderful event when we can welcome new members to the administration. Um, so we're going to start with our uh candidate for deputy superintendent. has a long history in the district um as a uh not only as a teacher but as a campus principal where she impressively ran and led the district's largest high school Tucson Magnet High School for seven years uh before stepping in to become an exceptional regional assistant superintendent for the last 5 years. uh has taken on some tough challenges, built great relationships, and provided amazing leadership, and I
065know will make an absolutely amazing deputy superintendent. So, I'd like to recommend for your consideration, Miss Shauna Rodriguez. [applause and cheering] >> Thank you, Dr. Jill, Miss Larose. >> Dr. Excuse me, Dr. Shaw. I'd like to um move the item to uh uh nominate uh Sha Rodriguez as a deputy superintendent for Tucson Unified School District. >> I'll second the item. Governing board members. >> All those in favor. >> Thank you. Um I've expressed this opinion in the past. I do not um agree with the creation of a new administrative position in these troubled times. And so although I do love uh Shauna Rodriguez and I um very much appreciate her vision um as our potential new deputy superintendent, I'm going to have to vote no on this item, but I wish you all the best,
066Shauna. >> All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Opposed. >> Item passes 3-1. And I want to congratulate Miss Rodriguez. [applause] >> And as you're coming up to the podium, I remind this is uh not new funds. We're able to remove an administrative position, the assistant superintendent of student success, and create this new position, deputy superintendent. So, I'm really excited what we're going to bring to this role. Uh Mr. Rodriguez. >> Thank you so much. Good evening, President Shaw, Clerk Luna Rose, members of the governing board, Superintendent Dr. He Trillo, and legal council. Thank you for your leadership this year, and I am deeply honored and humbled by your vote of confidence in appointing me for this [clears throat] position. I do not take this responsibility lightly, and I
067am grateful for the trust you have placed in me to continue serving students, staff, and our community. What makes this moment especially meaningful for me is that I am a proud product of this district. It has helped shape who I am both professionally and personally. And it has been a privilege to serve our community for the past 25 years. I carry tremendous pride in this work by giving back to the schools and our community that has invested so much in me, especially the most unforgettable teachers and coaches. I want to first thank my family and friends for their love, patience, and encouragement. I love you guys. To my fellow regional assistant, superintendent, and district colleagues, thank you for the teamwork and collegiality. I have learned so much from each of you, and I look forward
068to doing this work together. Finally, to the amazing Arcadians of Region 4. You are incredible principles and assistant principles, and it has been an honor to serve alongside you, celebrate your successes, and navigate challenges together. Your dedication, resilience, and leadership are commendable. The work happening in our schools belongs to you and your teams, and I thank each of you for how hard you work. Finally, as I step into this new role, I do so with excitement to innovate, expand relationships, and the support and support the success of our students, our departments, and our TUSD community. Thank you so much. [applause] Congratul Congratulations again, Miss Rodriguez. And so what we'll do tonight uh just to preview before I continue on, we'll do we have a number of uh other administrative appointments including principles uh interim principles.
069We'll do those. Uh we have a group of assistant principles and then we'll pause for uh pictures for all the uh administration and interim principles. We'll be having a chance to speak and then we'll do all the assistant principles together and we'll pause for pictures and a break after that. Uh next we have item 7.2 uh ministry of appointment interim assistant superintendent. >> Yes. Yes, >> board members. So, with the appointment of Mrs. [clears throat] uh Rodriguez now to deputy superintendent, we have an existing vacancy in the Arcadia region, one of our remaining four. Uh remember, we already did eliminate uh the fifth regional assistant superintendent position. We have four remaining and uh Mrs. Rodriguez's appointment tonight leaves a vacancy there in the Arcadia region. So tonight, uh, I'm proud to recommend an outstanding educational
070leader, had a nine-year run at Amphitheater High School and really guided that school to amazing academic heights before coming and joining us as our senior director for grants and federal programs. His stewardship and tracking of ESSER era dollars really helped us remain on point, make sure that every dollar was spent responsibly. Most recently, he was a muchneeded voice of stability and calm and confidence and composure at Tucson High as a school that for the last couple of years had struggled with some interim leadership challenges. And at least for this year, uh, Mr. Lansa brought some peace and some confidence back to Badger Nation until we were able to find its forever leader. Now, we would like to recommend Mr. Lansa, Mr. John Lansa to serve as the interim regional assistant superintendent for region 4. [applause]
071>> Thank you, Dr. Trio. Governing board. >> Dr. Shaw, I'd like to move the item. >> I moved by Miss Len Rose and I'll second. I'm seconded by myself. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Item passes 40. Congratulations, Mr. Alano. [applause] President Shaw, Clerk Luna Rose, governing board members, Dr. Trillo, and Council Ross. I'm honored to be appointed as the new assistant superintendent for our activity region, region 4. And I thank you for your belief in the work that I've done and will do for us. I look forward to serving the educators in this region. The many principles, assistant principles, teachers, support staff, parents, and the community members that are the foundation of the exceptional schools and programs in this region. To the principles in this region, you can expect
072my unwavering support and my push to excellence. Many of you have worked with me over the years and know that I believe in growth. I believe in being creative and in finding a way to be successful. I will be there to support you in our work together. And finally, I look forward to the collaborative work and combined effort that I will be part of with the other district leaders and assistant superintendent. In this new position, you will see my unwavering belief in our schools and dedication to making TUSD the premier district in Arizona. Thank you. [applause] >> Congratulations, Mr. Lonza. Uh, next we have item 7.4, administrative appointment, interim director of language acquisition. Yes. [clears throat] Yes. >> Proceed with our next recommendation. I want to take a moment and really uh reflect and and
073give thanks to Patricia Sandival Taylor for over 30 years of service uh in the service of uh English language learners as well as two-way dual language and those students seeking uh to become uh bilingual learners. uh under Miss Sandival Taylor's leadership both the two-way dual language program here in TUSD particularly its magnet programs uh led by Davis the mission view and some other place Bloom uh throughout the region have become nationally renowned uh as well as her wavering commitment to uh serving our English language learners through highquality ELD instruction. So let's please give Pat Sandival Taylor a round of applause. >> [applause] >> And we want to wish Pat all the best, all the happiness and joy in her retirement. Uh and celebrating I believe a granddaughter who's or a grandchild grandson who's on the
074way. Absolutely. Uh but a testament to Miss Sandival Taylor's leadership. We have a leader in the department who had the pleasure of working with Pat all these years and uh received that mentorship, that leadership coaching and is now ready to step in. Uh Anna Manzano is a longtime dual language program coordinator working in the language acquisition department with Miss Sandival Taylor. She was also a language acquisition specialist for a number of years and of course came into the classroom uh at the turn of the century and served as a classroom teacher for almost 20 years uh working with two-way dual language students. Uh Anna Manzano has uh my every confidence that she will continue the legacy and the excellence that Miss Sandival Taylor has set for the department and our program here in TUSD. Anamanssano
075is the recommendation for uh interim director for language acquisition services here in TUSD. >> Thank you Dr. T. I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> Item moved by myself and seconded by Miss Luna Rose. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Item passes 40. Congratulations with Monzano. There she is. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, board president Shaw, Dr. Thrujillo, board members. I'm deeply honored and grateful for this opportunity to continue to serve linguistically gifted students and families in our district and to further my work alongside teachers, administrators, and staff in the support of emerging bilingual. It's a privilege to work with some of the most talented, dedicated, and hardworking professionals in the language acquisition department. and I don't take this privilege lightly. Their expertise, passion, and unwavering commitment to
076students is the foundation that this of this department's success. And I'm fortunate to continue learning and leading alongside them. I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to recognize Pat Sandoval Taylor for her exceptional leadership and fierce advocacy on behalf of English learners. Pat built this team and led this work for many years with deep commitment, passion, and a sound belief that it's our moral imperative to ensure the success of bilingual students throughout TUSD and not only TUSD, but throughout our greater community. Her impact on students, families, and educators will be felt for many, many years to come. Those are undoubtedly big shoes to fill, but I'm excited about this opportunity and confident in our ability to continue moving this important work forward. Together with an extraordinary team in the language acquisition department,
077our school leaders, teachers, families, and our community partners, we will remain focused on ensuring that multilingual learners have access to opportunities, support, and highquality educational experiences. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Miss Manzano. Congratulations. Next, we have item 7.5, administrative appointments uh for interim principal, Innovation Tech High School. governing board members, members of the public, um the principal ship at Innovation Tech High School right now is some pretty large shoes to fill as we welcomed at our last meeting outgoing principal Patricia Hurley into the district administration. So, we're proud to recommend tonight uh a great leader who uh previously served as assistant principal at Pister and for last school year served as the interim principal at the district's largest high school. uh Tucson High where he had an opportunity uh to lead with distinction, great relationships
078with families, colleagues in the community. We know that he'll provide wonderful uh and exceptional interim leadership during this time of transition uh over at Innovation Tech High School. So, we'd like to recommend Mr. Margarito Casillas uh to serve as the interim principal at Innovation Tech High School. >> Great. Thank you, Dr. Trio. Miss Luna Rose. >> Yes. Um, I'd like to move uh that Mr. Margarita Casillas uh for the interim principal at Innovation Tech High School. >> I'll second. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Item passes 4 Z. Congratulations. [applause] Good evening, governing board president Dr. Sha, distinguished board members, superintendent, legal counsel and all administrators here present today and to my family who's watching which my son here who just graduated this year. Um, I feel honored and blessed to assume
079the anram principal position at innovation tech. I'd like to credit uh my predecessor Miss Patricia Hurley for laying the foundation and legacy she has left behind the night community. Those uh are some very big shoes to fill, but I'm committed to working 110% to make sure that the foundation and legacy continues. To the innovation tech community, staff, parents, and students, I'm super excited to work alongside you to continue to provide the best educational setting for our student success. I'm also truly excited to work handinhand with our JTA administration, instructors, teachers, and staff in order to asssure that every student is academically and career ready for higher education or industry. Once again, I'm honored to for your vote of confidence. Thank you. Congratulations. [applause] All right. Next we have administrative appointments for interim principal of CE
080Rose K8 school. Dr. Trill. >> Yes. Along with Miss Hurley at the last meeting, we also welcomed another outstanding principal uh into the ranks of district leadership with the appointment of Miss Alma Carmona Alai. But luckily uh for the last two years she has been coaching and mentoring and building the leadership capacity of assistant principal Chantal Ralz who's been working with her for the last couple of years uh as assistant principal since 2024. She got her start at Rosbridge uh where she served as an MTSS coordinator facilitator uh for a few years and then worked before that for over a decade as a student success specialist uh in a community that I know is going to miss uh Miss Carmona Aldai every single day and the steadiness of her leadership and her vision. I know
081that they're going to be comforted and optimistic and excited to see uh somebody else that they believe in and another key member of that leadership team that will be able to guide them uh through this year of transition. So uh with that governing board members I proudly recommend uh Miss Chantal Aal to serve as the interim principal for CEO. >> Thank you Dr. T. I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> I do move by myself and second by Miss Lar Rose. All those in favor say I. >> I. Item passes 40. Congratulations, Miss Ross. [applause] >> Thank you. Good evening, President Sha, members of the board, Dr. Thruhill, council, and community members. I first want to sincerely thank the governing board, and Dr. Thruillo for trusting me with the opportunity to serve as interim
082principal of CE Rose. It is truly an honor. Over the past two years at CE Rose, I have experienced what makes this school so special. It has been such a blessing to be part of this community. Our students, families, staff are passionate, resilient, and deeply committed to each other. CA Rose is more than just a school. It is a family. I also want to take a moment to recognize and thank Alma Carmona Alai for her leadership, mentorship, and trust. Alma dedicated 10 years to CE Rose and helped build the strong culture, systems, expectations, and traditions that make our school what it is today. I have learned so much from her example as a leader, the importance of relationships, high expectations, and always putting students first. She leaves behind an incredible legacy. I have definitely have
083some big shoes to fill, but I step into this role with excitement, humility, and a commitment to continue building on the strong foundation she has created. Lastly, I want to take a moment to thank my family, my village, for their constant love and support throughout this journey, especially my husband, Fernando, who has supported me every step of the way. This work requires sacrifice, long hours, and dedication, and I could not do it without him and my family beside me. I am excited for what is ahead for C. grows and I look forward to continuing to serve our students, staff, and community with pride and dedication. Thank you. [cheering and applause] >> Congratulations. [applause] Next, we have item 7.7, administrative appointment. We have interim principal Bonius Traditional Elementary Magna School. Dr. Tilliel. >> Yes. And uh
084Bonius, another school that lost a truly elite and exceptional principal as Mr. Frankie Shioone will begin the next step of his leadership journey at Mccoral K8. There are also big shoes to fill over there at Bonias. So tonight, we're very proud to recommend one of our most outstanding assistant principles for the last four years. She has served with distinction at Ross Rouge uh K8 uh magnet 2A dual language school. prior to that strong background in professional development as a curriculum service provider uh both at Pister and Booth thicket. Uh but tonight uh Claudia Pettis is our recommendation to serve as the interim principal at Bonas Magnet. >> Thank you Dr. Trio. I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> Item moved by myself and seconded by Miss Aluna Rose. All those in favor say I.
085I. I. Item passes 4. Congratulations. Well, thank you to everyone who is here tonight. And talk about big shoes to fill. Uh Frankie Shioone has really set up Bonius to be a school of excellence and I want to thank him for for that and I'm deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as principal of Bonas Elementary School. I want to thank district leadership staff families and community for placing your trust in me and you Dr. Thruhill. I am excited to work alongside such dedicated teachers and staff who make a difference in the lives of children every single day. Together, we will continue creating a safe, supportive, and inspiring environment where every student can learn, grow, and succeed. Most importantly, I look forward to building strong relationships with our students and families. It is
086truly a privilege to serve this community, and I am excited for all that we will accomplish together. and thank you again for this incredible opportunity. [applause] Congratulations, Miss Perez. Uh next we have item uh 7.8, administrative appointment, interim principal of Dunham Elementary School. >> Yes. uh governing board members, we are very very blessed uh to have coming out of retirement to accept this assignment easily one of the one of the most highly decorated principles we've seen in this district uh for 26 years from 96 all the way to like 2021. Mary Anderson has been an instructional change agent everywhere she's been. whether it was at Miller guiding that school and leading it from a D to a B or her nine-year stint at Lineweaver, really laying the foundation for the excellence we see at Linew
087Weaver here today uh or most recently uh the leadership that she provided over at Fruendler, really establishing Fruendler as the preeeminent choice uh for education on the east side and guiding it to to an A-rated school of excellence. Uh we're proud to have Mary Anderson accept this assignment. Uh, and so I'd like to uh recommend for board consideration Mary Anderson to serve as the interim principal at Dunham. >> Thank you, Dr. Trill. I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> Item moved by myself and second by Miss Lar Rose. All those in favor say I. >> I. Item passes 40. Miss Anderson, thank you for coming back into service with our district. Are you here this evening? [applause] >> She's not. Okay. Well, we're great to have you back in our district as a a
088principal for this next year. And then Dr. Trillo, we have item uh 7.9, administrative appointments, assistant principles. >> Yes. So, our next appointment, uh we do have um a couple of assistant principles that we will be uh recommending this evening. Our first recommendation is for assistant principal at the Tucson Unified uh virtual academy. Uh, we would like the present for governing board consideration, Katherine McDonald. >> Oh, we're gonna do all these together, Dr. Trio. >> Oh, we can read them together. >> They're on one item. >> So, first, yeah, they're one item. First, we have Katherine McDonald for Tuba. And then we are we have princip assistant principal of Catalina, Andrea Ayella. And then we've got the assistant principal for CE Rose, interim assistant principal there, uh, McKenzie Garcia. And we have finally we have
089our um interim assistant principal for Ross Scrooge Bilingual K8, Ricky Torres. And I believe we have one more. >> We have two more from Tucson High. >> We have two more for Tucson High. The first of our final two for Tucson High. We have Mr. Christopher Lambert. And then we have all the the second of two assistant principal recommendations at Tucson High. Mr. Brian Aldai. >> Right. Thank you, Dr. J. I'll move the item. >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Item passes 40. Congratulations to all of our new assistant principles. [applause and cheering] All right. Unless there's any objection by the governing board, we will take a break uh for photos and congratulations and really excited about the incoming leadership we'll bring into our district for the next school year.
090All right, if we can get our new administrators up front for a quick picture with the governing board, that would be greatly appreciated. One more time, new administrators, if we can get you up front for a picture with our governing board, that would be greatly appreciated. Yes, new administrators, if we can get you up front for a quick photo with our governing board, that would be great. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Nobody. All right, let's get our principles stepping in. Any newly appointed principles, come on up. Picture with our governing board. >> Check. Check. Check, check, check. >> And now, assistant principles. Any of our inter our assistant principles, come on up. Come on up, Miss Montzano. I think you missed the district the district photo op, but we'll get you in this one. There
091>> we go. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> We know each other from like you worked at the TV station long long ago. Yes. Awesome. >> See Are you Ready? Governing board members, we're going to get started once we have quorum. Wherever our governing board members are still outside, we got one. All right. area. >> Oh, that's why I thought you should go there. I didn't. All right, we're back with COR and we're going to get started with item 9.1 QSD enrollment stabilization campaign school year 2627. Dr. Trillo. >> Yes, President Shaw, members of the governing board. Uh before we we turn it over to our team, uh we want to kind of set the stage uh a little bit about attendance and enrollment. And what you're going to see tonight is the breaking of the ice,
092the introduction of a change in mentality. What we struggle with here in TUSD is not unlike what other public school districts struggle with with regard to a mentality around enrollment. Meaning enrollment is a transaction. It's a parent coming into a school office, submitting an application or maybe bringing in some utilities receipts to verify their address and then it's on to the next family. But in an era of school choice and in an era of competition with private schools, with ESAs, and what we've known from families that have left the district, we know that relationships are our strongest currency. And that enrollment isn't simply a transaction. Enrollment is an experience. And it's an experience that is rooted in a relationship, the relationship that the parent has with the school. So when we talk about enrollment, we're
093not only talking about when a parent and when a student signs up to the school. We're also talking about their ongoing experience in that school. When grades aren't going well, when there's a disciplinary situation, and what we'll talk about tonight, when students start struggling with their attendance, what we know is not working is 86 different ways to intervene on absenteeism. What we know isn't working are roocalls and form letters to communicate with families about kids that are missing school. What we know does work is person-toperson communication, person-toperson connections. And that's really when you look at students that are missing school and when you look at parents that need help sometimes with getting their kids to school, they need a relationship in the school. And that's what we're going to be talking about as one of
094our strongest pivot points heading into the school year as we take on the struggle of excessive absenteeism and how we can effectively intervene on absenteeism early and often. We put a team together early in the spring led by our senior director for student relations on how we can lead this pivot and how we can do it fast. What are the resources? What are the points of strength that we have? what are some of the leverage points that we have to really affectuate this change coming up. So, I'm very excited about uh what they've put together and I'm very excited to get started on this work. So, with that, I'd like to turn it over to our senior director for student relations, uh Anna Warbrand. Good evening, school board president Dr. Shaw, esteemed school board members,
095Dr. Trillo, and we'll give a shout out to Mr. Ross, our legal as well this evening. It's an absolute pleasure to be here. I do have our team, our leadership team from student relations here, both of my program coordinators, program specialists, our program manager for Aspire, and wonderful community health workers because the department of student relations is all in on this initiative, and we're ready to get to work. I will acknowledge members of the committee a few slides in. I'm going to have Jules O'Harren who's been project managing this do our first two data slides. >> Good evening, President Shaw, governing board members, Dr. Trillo. Um I'm so honored to be here tonight. You may know project management in the context of construction, but project management can also be used to solve problems and harness
096opportunities. So, I'm excited to be here to talk about attendance and enrollment as an opportunity for this district to improve and to help with um Dr. or uh Miss Warmbbrand lead this team. So, enrollment matters. Enrollment matters not just as a transaction to come in and fill out an application, but it's that first touch point of the family with the school. It's the school's opportunity to bring in that family and start that family engagement just with the student and with the family together to build a relationship. And we want to s um study this and build upon the existing work of other schools, how they've done excellent work in enrollment, but are there opportunities to improve? Yes. And can we harness that and build consistency of practice across our district? We believe yes. Attendance also
097matters. It doesn't matter just to the student. Of course, we want to have ac academic excellence for that student and the student needs to attend school in order to improve their academics, but it also impacts their emotional um improvement and learning and it also impacts the school community. It really is important when students can come together as a learning community and we want every student present to take advantage of that learning. And so now I'd like to hand it over to Miss Warmbbrand to talk about the framework to build upon the importance of enrollment and attendance and how we hope to improve upon those practices across the district. Thank you. Yes, I've already started looking into the data. I have numbers, many numbers. So I'll be ready for some numbers questions when you are. But
098do know that we have many, many MTSS plans. We have high-risk attendance data that indicates that 5,826 students meet the criteria for an attendance focused MTSS plan. Of those 5,826, 3,297 have exclusive plans for attendance. The other students to make up the rest, the remaining kiddos have MTSS plans that include attendance and behavior or attendance and academics or they have IEPs or they have 504 plans or they are coming off of long-term suspension and they have a specific behavior plan as an obeyance contract. So, I don't want the board to think that of those 5,826 kids, we only have plans for part of them. All of those students have plans and uh Michael Blunt and Michelle Merrick have been great in supplying that data. So just be rest assured. Why are we here today? Well,
099student relations is here with another initiative um with attendance and enrollment. Something near and dear to our heart as we manage the behavior for the district. We often see that truency and attendance overlaps with all of our high-risisk youth that we serve in the department of student relations. So we know that this initiative although we will manage it from this department we absolutely cannot do it alone. We have a stakeholder committee that Dr. Trillo convened that we will be expanding this year. We have Dr. Nunes in this space and I just like to acknowledge her building the foundations of this work this past year with this initiative. We have Jules who just spoke to us. We have Lacy Graava who's the director of faith who she and I are going to work very closely together.
100We already do. We've been under the same leadership for many, many years. And so, thank you, Lacy, for being here. Super appreciated. We have the wonderful Chris Anderson with the Synergy team. He leads a mighty team. And without them, we really can't do what we need to do in that data space. So, we've been really blessed. I mentioned Michelle and Michael. We had a regional superintendent, but she's a deputy superintendent coming in now. So, Miss Shauna Rodriguez is also on our committee. and we will have TEA and Eli joining us as well in rotation. I've already spoken to that leadership. So, we're in good shape and we have our enrollment ambassadors well as well represented and our CFO is there as well. So, we're in really good shape. We're going to just go over our
101preliminary plans for this year um to address attendance, enrollment, and truency. So we're going to talk about these community leaison positions first. As Dr. Trillo mentioned, a letter, an email, a touch point that isn't personal hasn't been our most successful strategy. Although those components can be helpful and supplement a human voice, a human site visit, somebody who loves that family and has taken them under their wing. And that really is what a community leaison is. I've had many in my career as a site principal and they've been absolute blessings when we've had families struggling in any capacity. Currently we have 37 community liaison. So moving into July 1, those community liaison will report to the department of student relations under shared supervision of the sites that they're currently at. We are not making any personnel
102movements. We will be splitting the financing of those positions. So for the school, it's this great opportunity. They get to keep their wonderful professional and they get some of that title money back into their budget to use for their sites. And we're going ahead and we're taking that financial responsibility into student relations. We will also evaluate jointly. So we will evaluate with one of my program coordinators overseeing this and we will have an input point for the site administrators. This is very common for the employees that you've met from student relations. So our community health workers as well as our restoative practice facilitators are housed with student relations placed at sites and shared in responsibility and oversight. So this is a rhythm we're very familiar with. Why are we doing some consolidation in terms of
103leadership? Because we need to have consistency of vision and we need to refocus that light to attendance or enrollment and truency. And we know when we have employees that are getting the same directive in the same way, the same supports, the same action items, then we can really track consistency much more effectively. So this summer, our summer got busier in student relations, but I have a great team. So blessed there. We're going to be transitioning those folks under student relations, and we will have another program coordinator that will come in. um we did lose one of our our leadership team members and so we have that open position. So that's not costing the district any more money. We're not building the leadership team with a new position. That's something that existed and so we're just
104repurposing what their function is uh to manage this initiative with everyone's support. We're going to be working and we already do quite frankly. I mean Chris Chris and I are in meetings today, last week, the week before. We meet with the synergy team on a ro rotating basis every other week as well as the MTSS team. So those two folks, those departments have been amazing and just supporting us in building the data systems that we need. I actually just spoke to Dr. Fredus um and we looked at the dashboards. I know that's something that's going to be critical for articulation of data. So we are going to weave those data systems together and we're going to make sure that these community lison and our site administration, our regional superintendents, our deputy superintendent, Dr. Trillo, school
105safety, I could go on and on. Everyone gets data reports from student relations, even all of you. So you will start to see a focus for attendance and enrollment um this next year. So please know that we've been working on this for the past two months to roll out comprehensive data systems that are usable and easy. The other part that we'd like to do and this is something the synergy team is supporting us on is building our back-end data compliance analysis for our community leaison. It's really important that like our wonderful community health workers that are here that they're able to track student by student name by name their parent contact, the intervention that they're working on, the date that they did so what the supports were, what the narrative was, so that as our
106program coordinator pulls data. Every other week we do a 10-day cycle. We're able to monitor that all of the students that are high-risisk and are struggling in this space are getting that support and that parents have had a direct personal contact. So that's another back-end system that the synergy department is supporting us with. Yes, busy summer. [laughter] So what else are we going to do? Well, we need to provide for these community lison role clarity. They have done so many things. I mean, walking kids home in the rain, handing out uniforms, doing cafesitoss. They're everywhere all at once. Community lison are critical positions. And so now, how do we look at their day-to-day existence and work with their site administrator to ensure that they're able to do those wonderful community outreach pieces that we know
107and love and that are so important and also focus on those kids that are struggling with attendance and enrollment if enrollment is dropping at that site. And so we did extend their day. So instead of a six-h hour, they're eighthour employees now because if I was a community, I would say to my new director, hey, when am I supposed to do this synergy reporting or make these extra phone calls? We've added additional hours in their day so that they're able to focus in this space. And that would include home visits, not alone, of course, but home visits and whatever else we would need to do in that space. So just know that we're thinking about that on the front end. and then training them on how they track that data. Working with the amazing attendance
108clerks and the office staff and the site administrator with their behavior management team. We will continue and will partner really closely with Lacy Grahava to make sure that they're still having their wonderful community liaison professional development on a quarterly basis if not more frequently data decisions and just making sure that they're customer service trained. So, as we move into the fall, we're going to start to integrate these folks into the department. I will be doing site visits like I do with all of our employees and checking in on them. Um, principles will have their first meeting within the next two weeks with me so we can talk about vision and plan. The systems will be built out for them. All of their data will be ready. They'll be receiving um welcome letters from the department
109so that when July 1 hits, everyone's on the same page in terms of what we're going to be doing moving forward. And we're going to start to really target pretty quickly into that first quarter are students that are struggling with truency and attendance issues. And lucky for me, we're student relations. So we have that data name by name, school by school, region by region, everything is broken out. And so that's where the collaborative approach comes. Do they have MTSS plans? What how can we support the MTSS folks to be able to analyze that data? Are these kids that are under Diana Dan, one of my program coordinators here tonight who manages the IG for us for our core involved students? Is there overlap with our community health workers with the Aspire program for students that
110have substance abuse and misuse? Where does dropout prevention fit? And I've already spoken to Mr. Figurero, so he's aware that we're going to be in that space working with him as well. Where do our enrollment ambassadors fit in? Whose kids are those? How are we going to support those students? So, with a triage supportive approach, student services under Shauna Rodriguez. These are all folks that we work with consistently and we will be utilizing their support as well as our internal department to work with those tier three students first and foremost. Um come come right away I would say we'll get August rolling get everyone in their schools make sure everyone has food uniforms the normal community lays on and then we're going to start to work on those lists. So that's the space we're in
111and that will go all the way into the winter and spring and we won't stop just as the Aspire team did not until every student has been reached and every parent has been contacted and we have a plan and resources for each one. So that's our beginning starting point for this next year. We will of course continue to analyze programmatically is this working? What do we need to change and shift? And then what can we refine? And of course I'll be back. I'll be back with data and numbers and maybe some asks I just want to preview that. So tier three response model all students we're going to look at enrollment pathways our proactive attendance communication building that climate and culture. This is the bread and butter of our community liaison and something our whole
112department will begin to engage in in that training as well. So, all restore to practice facilitators, community health workers. Um, we're going to look at our character strong match with BJ Medicine's leadership. So, we're we're going to really build some comprehensive pieces. Andrea Martinez is ready with our PBIS systems and how we build that climate and culture. And then we're going to look at those high-risisk students that I just spoke of. I looked at their names today. In fact, I started doing numbers. So just know that when we get into that really high need intensive space, we will be utilizing our alternative education programs with Dr. Nunees and our dropout prevention programming as well. So we're hoping that this is going to respond directly to what stakeholder priorities are as in our community, the school
113board. As a parent myself, I know it's critical. What our kids need, they want to be engaged in school. We need to figure out how to assist them to do that. We're going to have a lot more consistency than we've had before. We're going to leverage who we have and then build that capacity out. And then again, we will look for future programmatic refinements based upon results. And this is the team and folks that have been involved in this space. And I'll just give you all a moment to take a look. I think I mentioned pretty much everyone HR has been absolute joy to work with as well. Those ladies are on top of it. Dr. Hwitt and Mr. Ross have come as well and sit in this committee space and we're we're always lucky
114to have them there. And of course, Mr. David Scott who I spoke in length with today who's who's just an amazing data wizard. I'd also like to add Dr. freed us into this appreciation is um we'll be looking at the IB dashboard and I previewed it earlier today. Okay, questions. All right, thank you for their presentation, Miss Warren Brand. I'll get us started with some questions. Can you first I know you brought a lot of staff with you. Can you I know you mentioned a couple positions. Can you introduce your staff and their roles uh by name so we know who's uh here with us spending their evening? >> Yes, sir. It's my favorite part. And thank you for moving this up. You know, I never come quite alone. So, we have our Aspire team
115here. I'll go with all those folks first. Um, we have Michelle Orduna. She is with Tucson High. She's our community health worker. We have Myra Rodriguez who's housed at PBLO. She's our another one of our wonderful community health workers. We have Melanie Ramirez. She is out of Catalina, one of our community health workers. We have Diana Duran who manages both the IG for the district as well as the program co coordinator for Aspire. And we have Noel VA who is our program manager for Aspire. And we're missing a couple of members. They're taking a well-deserved vacation. We have BJ Medson. She's our character education program coordinator for the district and she oversees all of our character strong programming. Oh, and a variety of many, many other things. We have Melanie Shiaini. She's our compliance liaison
116for the district. And we have Andrea Martinez, our program coordinator in charge of PBIS and restorative practice facilitators. >> Thank you. >> Oh, and we have Raquel Garcia. She is our one remaining program specialist. There used to be more, but you know, hard times and such, but she's hanging in. She's doing a great job. >> Great. Thank you everyone for being here tonight. One uh position I don't see are any community leazison here. And so one concern I have is how we've been engaging community leaison these last couple of weeks and months. Um from my understanding is that all the things that the community leans will be doing next school year that they're not doing now are all in the job description. But are we going to lose all of them? Are they are they
117the right fit for the roles that we're going to have them do now with this change? And so just want to address the concerns I've had about having all these uh roles that are in their job description but are really new to them uh going into this next school year. >> That's a legitimate concern. Integrating 37 people into a new department with a different type of a focus can may be clunky for some of the employees. um they may very much enjoy doing the community outreach and the cafesitos and the data portion of it which is going to be important and we worked with human resources to ensure that that can be part of the existing position so that we did not have to build a whole new type position for this and then have
118to rehire all these wonderful dedicated individuals. So I do anticipate that it's possible that some people after this year may say you know what this part isn't for me and then we will we will rehire into that space. Um I think that our communication and collaboration with site administrators in having that land in a much softer way will be important and um they will hear from me in the next couple of weeks as well with a welcome letter. Thus far there have been some community lison that have already reached out and I've worked with human resources and you know some folks say I really can only work half time or can I still say a six or how do we maneuver that and so I've been going one by one through those folks that have
119reached out and we've been able to reach really good conclusions and the schools have been able to keep their community liaison and so that that process of integration and change has already begun um and and I hope that we're able to keep most of the folks folks. Um I do know that that data component sometimes for folks is not their bliss. They want to be with the kids and with the people and so we can honor and respect that. But I assure you we will support them in that integration. There's there they will have someone side by side. Um this team never lets their people fail. >> Well, thank you for for addressing that. And we have 37 positions, right? >> Yes, sir. >> And are all those filled right now going ending the school
120year? Um there's some that are going to have some openings and some folks that like I said are looking at their hours and their times. We have some retired folks that 8 hours is too much. Um so actually our CFO Mr. Hernandez has been really helpful with HR in managing that is those folks won't roll into my DACK until July 1st. Um but yes there are a few and also I will say that Lacy Graava has worked with them quite consistently and so she's provided lists and we're going to work hand inand that's someone that these folks work very closely with and so like I said we'll be we'll be in joint training and supports of them >> one more question before I turn over to my governing board member. So with the the can
121you speak to uh the current funding for uh these community leaison the 37 we have and then as we increase from 6 to 8 hours how are we funding that and I'll and I'll caveat that saying like I'm hoping that this will pay for itself uh as we increase attendance increase enrollment uh we'll be able to uh make up the the any any changes with revenue uh coming in from students in our ADM. Yeah, I think we'll we'll bring up Ricky to kind of get a little bit more detail, but the good news is you have a funding source from the override had about $900,000 that the voters approved for school-based uh attendance initiatives. And I think Anna did a really good job kind of talking conceptually that the goal is to move in a
122portion of those override dollars so that we would fund 50% of every school community liaison position, relieve the sites so they can get some of their title one money back and spend it in other places. Ricky, if you want to go ahead and add. >> Yeah. So, as uh Dr. 3 mentioned, the majority of the school committee leaison are funded through title one. Um title one requires every school to spend at least 1% of their budget on parent involvement. And so, or family engagement, I should say. And so, the way these schools have done it is by funding a school community leazison. And and that that kind of meets the requirements. So, what we're going to do is we're going to take the existing positions as uh Anna mentioned and we're going to split them
123actually 60/40. So 60% is going to be funded by the schools and 40% is going to be funded through the override. So the override has as Dr. mentioned about $900,000 towards attendance initiatives. Um so right now based on that estimate we're going to spend about $563,000 um on that. So we'll be returning about $227,000 back to the schools. uh those schools that have those existing positions that are funded through title one, they get to keep those dollars and repurpose them for whatever they want to do. Um by doing this split, it still allows them to use title one. It still allows them to meet the family engagement requirement and allows Anna's department to then provide the initiative for attendance. >> Thank you, Miss Shaw. Go ahead. >> Thank you for the presentation. Um I'm glad
124that you mentioned that uh some folks from dropout prevention were spoken to. Um I would love to have um one of them a part of the stakeholder committee. Um you know Dory's been working in that department for so long and I I love her and I love everyone in the department and so um it would be great to you know include them >> um a part of that as a part of that committee. And so with that, could you um talk a bit about how um this I guess added duty would complement the work already happening in dropout prevention. So I've been really lucky to work with um dropout prevention and Debbie under Miss Armenta over these past years like dropout prevention and student relations and all ed. we've all been together in that space
125and so um I'm really comfortable working with the outgoing program coordinator and also have started conversations um with our incoming program coordinator and I work really closely with Dr. Nunees, who my understanding is going to be overseeing dropout prevention. And so she is on the committee and I will absolutely speak to her about having a representative. And so I know that their mission is to look at those kids that are dealing with truency. And we have approximately 200 students any given year for the past three years that sit in a truency space where they are already receiving consequences for that. not out of school suspension, but phone calls home, interventions, detentions, those types of things that you see in our pro progression in the code of conduct. And I know that they're out knocking on
126doors, finding kids, going here and there and everywhere to make sure that these kids come back. And so making sure that their lists are comprehensive, that they're broken up by school, that they're categorized highest to lowest in terms of need is the first commitment we've made. Melan Shiaini, our compliance liaison, just sent him his first set of high-risisk reports. We focused them on the 8th to 9th grade transition students so that they know going into high school who they need to support right away. And I told him that after this board presentation and once the school year ended because everyone was running really hard that we would have a meeting and go through where his mission and where he sees his people and how they're broken up because that may have changed from where Debbie
127left off. um and what regions they're going to support or what sites they're going to be at so that we can support them with those comprehensive lists and I also said that any training that we provide in that community leaison space we will always include them and now we will be including them with our deans and ISI training so that we have a really comprehensive training cycle that they're involved in and then we'd like to learn from them their strategies as well because they've been doing it a minute to your point Dory remembers me when I was a kid at Tucson High. She knows how to knock on doors and get kids back in school. So, they have a wealth of knowledge and depth in that department that we're happy to learn from them in
128that space as well. >> Thank you for mentioning that. Um, also my notes on this. Um, oh well, Dory mentioned when I met with her and another staff member a few weeks ago that uh Dropout Prevention used to have a program called like steps to success and I guess they worked with the city of Tucson local businesses uh Goodwill um and others. And I I forget exactly what that program was about, but I know it's not a thing anymore. And so I'm wondering if we can also partner up with the city or others like to to make it a collective effort. Like when I'm after I drop my daughter off to school, I'm always seeing like I go down uh Puma >> and I always see some students, usually a high school student walking away
129from the high school in the morning. >> And so like I I wonder like what what do we do? What do community members do when we see a possible true in child? Like I don't want to of course get them in trouble, but like it's pretty obvious sometimes that people are leaving school when they probably should be there. So is there >> like a strategy for that? >> So I think that um as a Tucson High parent, I also see um in that space kids where I know the bell rang and they're not there. And so I'll speak to the steps to success first because when I was a principal here, I participated in that. And that was a really beautiful day. A lot of organization, but a beautiful day. And if that's something that
130Dr. Nunees and Mr. Figureroa would like to engage with again, we are all hands in. Um, for my team, I don't know if they remember, some of them were not, they were in school at the time, but I remember it and knocking on doors and it was really a beautiful day. And so I'm very open to those types of very visible hands-on TUSD in the space engaging with community. In terms of protocols um for what we do if we see Truman kids, I'm really lucky to be transitioning under Mr. Ross this next year beginning in July 1 with our legal counsel. And so that's definitely something that we can look at where our portaltoportal starts and ends and what our obligation could be in that space. I agree with you. I I I have that
131moment of like, do I roll down the window and be like, "Go to class. What do you do?" No, that's not appropriate. So, yes, I think every parent here who drops their kids off has had that moment. >> Thank you. >> Go, Mr. Romero. >> Thank you again, Anna, for you and your team always coming with the numbers. I know you guys do really hard work. I've seen it firsthand. So, thank you. >> Thank you. So, a bunch of questions of course um kind of going back to what Dr. Sha was mentioning about um the roles of these uh uh the people that are going to be having to do the you know go out and and meet with people and that's not currently what's in their uh job description and I'm sure there is
132going to be people that are be leaving uh that position to accomplish this. Are we giving them a new uh I guess their their responsibilities? Um what uh levels are we going to go in and see if they're achieving these new expectations? Are we having like a 30-day, 60-day, 90-day expectation evaluation with them to make sure that they're doing what they're saying they're doing? Um, I I guess I don't want to just have somebody come in thinking that they're going to do it and we just we're we're not getting the results because they're not all in. They're going to start off in but then go back to what they're comfortable doing, which as you know with any type of employees, it's easy to do, especially if there's no accountability to keep them on task with
133the focus. So, I'm going to just turn to our community health workers because when they joined into student relations, uh Diana Noel did a great job working with Hank from the Synergy team and Chris and Kim to build a compliance component, that back-end reporting where every touch point that they have with students is documented. And so every single month, Noel sends me a full report of exactly how many students have been served, how many interventions have been done. Every single one has a parent contact initially for service or consistent contact if they're coming out of a disciplinary action and receiving support. And so we are looking at replicating that back-end compliance piece and that reporting to that program coordinator. They will be managing all of that data entry to ensure that they're doing what they
134need to be doing. And we absolutely have folks that sometimes that's a daunting challenge. And so we will always take a supportive sideby-side approach with employees that are struggling in that space. But part of our obligation to our students is to ensure that when we do our evaluations in the spring when everyone is evaluated in our department, we all have classified employees, every single person, every time, fall and spring. And so that will be true for our 37 folks. They'll be evaluated through the department with a component of the additional three questions that will be sent to their site administrators. And so through that process um we're going to be able to support them to give the best quality care for students because we are student relations their priority and the effectiveness is what is
135happening will come first but it is also our obligation to teach them and support them in that way and we're not going to have long data entry processes. We'll have click boxes to ensure that these things are happening because to your point, if we're using funding for this, we also need to have results. And if we're not, then we need to show the data so that we can pivot and see where we need to change. So, we will have a compliance system for each of these employees that they do need to enter their data in so that we can track how they're serving students. >> Can I clarify really quick? So you were saying the the things that we're going to have the community leazison do is in their current job description, but we're not
136enforcing that job. >> Yes, sir. It's not new. >> Yeah, we're we're in a unique situation and and it happens in big organizations where over time the actual duties being carried out from the ground drift away from the original job description. I think part of it was we were so compliance driven under the old USP and then yes we have inconsistent expectations from school to school to school and we actually do have some school committee liaison that probably don't know that a lot of these are the core duties in the original description and clarity is kindness which is why clarity of expectations have to be the first order of business when they're back on contract. We have to give them all of the tools that they need to be successful. And Miss Warbrand is going
137to do a wonderful job with that and we have to support them along the way. And we understand that at the end of all this, there may be folks that say, you know what, uh, getting in a school van and doing a home visit, looking at synergy reports, uh, sitting in MTSS meetings, maybe that's not what I want to do. Maybe I don't want to do the home visits. But I think as an organization, you know, our commitment is always let's meet people where they're at. Let's meet our employees where they're at. We we want to give them a chance. We don't want to displace them. We don't want to be interviewing for a bunch of new people. We trust our principles. Our principles have hired good people. Let's give this a run. Let's be
138very clear about what the new expectations are and then go forward from there. >> Thank you. Go ahead. I know you have more questions >> and um and I might jump back and forth so please excuse me on on this, Anna. So on the title of this um presentation, attendance and enrollment initiative and I guess to me I think this should it it I don't see that those really connect well. This looks more like a an attendance initiative. I know there was one mention in here about enrollment in here, one of the phases at the end, but it seems like with the attendance, what we have with our, you know, um community uh um people going out to to the community with these schools, they're already enrolled at our schools. We're looking to keep them
139attending, eliminating the tardiness and things of that nature. Does this really relate into enrollment? Am I missing something or how is it relating to enrollment? >> So, a couple things >> I'll ask Anna, you know, if you want to talk a little bit about the liaison's work with families that are new, right? So, there's another aspect of that work. It's just that the truency and the absenteeism interruption is probably the biggest part of the job. And so what happens uh board member Romero is when we have thousands of students that that miss so much throughout the school year, we're not able to get paid on them. We're not able to collect membership money on them at the 40th and the 100th. The district takes that same kind of loss as we do when a student
140leaves the district. So when you get more students attending school more often, you do increase your revenue as well as your academic outcome. So in that sense, the pursuit of more students that currently aren't attending enough across a 40-day span or a 100 day span for the district to actually collect the membership money. If we're able to do that through person-toperson contact, we're now able to increase the revenue and increase the enrollment, overall enrollment in the district. So that's where you get into the excessive absenteeism. When you have students that miss 18 days, which is how AD measures it, 9 days per semester, you're not getting the 53 $5400 in membership money that otherwise the district would receive if they were attend if they were actually in full attendance, but the student remains enrolled in
141the district because they haven't missed 10 consecutive days. That's where absenteeism interruption can play a big factor. Uh if you have a school where you've got 30 students that have missed 18 days of school, they hit that excessive absenteeism mark. Those are 30 students that the district does not see any revenue coming in. But maybe through this initiative, maybe of those 30 students, 10 actually show up every single day. Those are 10 more students that now the district would actually have back. They would be perform better academically and of course the revenue piece would join it as well. If you can talk a little bit about their the liaison's interactions with new families. >> Yeah. And so I think that um it's strategic and placing the attendance to Dr. Trillo's point first and foremost for
142the fall and the beginning of the spring because those are our kids that are with us right now. And so I I used an analogy with the synergy team today. It's like if you have a landslide, what we're trying to do is stop that landslide and start to rebuild that mountain side back up. I also know that there are other pieces that are at play in terms of enrollment, potential restructurings, and so it's more advantageous for us to guarantee to the best of our ability that the kids that are with us that we're getting that ADM and that they're in school learning first and foremost. And there's a couple of hundred of them. And so it's not a small task to undertake. Now, once we have a good working system this year where we're monitoring,
143we're seeing results, we're seeing that ADM come back in, we're seeing our kids learning first and foremost and back engaged with school. At that point in time, we can look at the same type of triaged enrollment strategy. However, simultaneously, our community liaison will work in that community space to do recruitment to meet with families to keep those families who are considering leaving to not leave. And that's where our enrollment ambassadors and communications comes into play. And so those are two other collaborators in that space. But first and foremost, right as we hit the new school year, I want to make sure that those kids that are struggling right now have someone. So, you're not incorrect in saying, "Wait, this looks a little bit lopsided, but it's by design initially because those are the kids that
144are right in front of us." Now, not to say that enrollment will be on the back burner, but those kids in the fall that we know are struggling, those students need to have triage support immediately. >> So, would it be better to explain that as more as enrollment retention? because we have the enrollment. We're not increasing enrollment, but we're retaining these people that are enrolled, so we're getting credit for them. >> Yes, that would be for this next year what we can look at capacitywise and support-wise because I don't want to come in front of the board and overpromise like we will magically get these 3,400 students back. I'm realistic. But what we can do is we can work with 400 students and assist them and then another 300 and then another 300. And so
145any um initiative that I've managed or seen successful, I'm a state turnaround principal trained. It's a 3 to fiveyear process. And so for us and for the department and for the committee, it was really important to look at those names of those kids, those hundreds of kids we have right now. So yes, enrollment attainment and not hemorrhage those kids out first, but it's not like, oh well, and then we're done. Not by any means, but it's just important that those those kids that I see their names in my head right now that they get supports right away. And as far as were we having issues with um the absenteeism, what I'm I I I think I know, but for the public knowledge, what grade levels are we having those issues mostly? >> Well, when it
146comes to absenteeism, we do have our higher rates of tardies and truency in our middle and high schools. That's where we have those higher rates of kids potentially making strategic choices or tardies which sometimes and oftentimes may not be their fault but sometimes it is um to Mich's point earlier they got to school proximity and then they made a strategic choice. So it's in our secondary space. Now when you look at chronic absenteeism though that isn't just unique to our secondary spaces. We have a lot of elementary kiddos that are struggling to come to school and parents that are a loss how to get them to get out the door and that's real. I've been an elementary principal. We've talked to quite a few elementary principles as well. I've been to every school. I hear
147it. And so for that, those community liaison are critical bridges from the school to that home piece. How are we going to get that kid in? Are they sick 50 days this year? Oh my goodness. How can we help you get some health resources? We're going to reach out to Lacy and her team right away. What do we need? How are we going to work? Is this child in foster care? Whatever it may be. And so, when it comes to chronic absenteeism, we do have certain pockets throughout elementary schools that are that are more chronic than some of our secondary spaces. And as far as the 37 uh current community leaison that we have, are they spread evenly through the different levels or are they focused in certain grade levels or >> Oh, it's it's
148all over the place to be quite honest. Um we have three at high schools and everyone else is spread throughout an elementary K8 space and a few at middle schools. So there isn't a consistent triage or placement of those folks at this time. We're going to leave everyone [clears throat] where they're at. Um but either the expansion of the position if it's successful into all schools or a relook in the future may be important. Um as you know we place our community health workers and our restorative practice facilitators strategically every year based upon data for the area that they support. And so strategic placement does work. Our data shows that at this time though with this much transition with 37 employees. Um we did not feel it wise to throw up the deck of cards
149and replace all of these people. I think they need to be trained and supported first. But that's not to say in the future there wouldn't be the potential for strategic movement. And as far as measuring our goals when we know we're winning this battle or, you know, making progress to be successful, what we're looking to do, and I know you use the analogy of um, you know, rebuilding the side of a mountain. And when you do that, whatever's on your base foundation, you pull one piece out, it's going to reslide on down. So, I know it's very hard. You got to make sure that that this foundation is there. But what are our measurable goals? I think you mentioned at least 3 to 5 years is what we're looking at to see some real results
150based on something new. But how are we going to monitor our successes? Well, I think that um there's a testament to the Aspire team because I gave them their own mountain to climb in that they had almost the equivalent number of tier three students engaging in substance abuse and misuse districtwide and by the end of that first semester before then, but we'll just be generous. All of those kids have been met with and receiving services. We see our substance abuse um and misuse numbers for suspension dropping drastically. That's for another presentation, but we're hundreds down districtwide. And so when I talk about those tier three students in that truency space and the collaboration we need, it's almost the same amount of kids that Noel Vier's team took on in the Aspire team. And there was
151what, five of you at first? Four. and then we grew to six and there's 37 folks in this space now. And so this next year, what our plan is and the results and the financial investment that um we're going to engage in is that those kids to the best of our ability are engaging in school. I I anticipate that we will see results of hundreds of kids this year. So that's the very beginning of this because I know it can be done with a much smaller team albeit they are magicians but [laughter] but that said I think that our community leaison and whoever our incoming program coordinator will be as well and so I just I have a lot of hope that if we do a kid bykid bykid approach as we have other initiatives
152that we should see a lot of success this year. And one more thing, well, I hope it's just one more thing. Do you think to accomplish these goals um that we [clears throat] are going to need to revisit and improve our code of conduct to be successful? Are there other needs that might be keeping our hands tied because of our code of conduct? Well, there are some stakeholders in the space that um do believe in a sort of a velvet hammer approach, right? A wonderful community leaison doing all the reachout and then in other districts, for example, a truency officer who also works in that space or dropout prevention person. Um this is things that I've heard. I'm not saying this is what student relations endorses one way or another, but one thing I've learned
153in working in that code of conduct process with the district behavior management team, and we'll see you on the 9th of June, we'll be back, is that stakeholders who make up these committees, if that's a space that they want to be in, then that's definitely something we can discuss in terms of how that overlaps with the code of conduct, what other types of discipline or intervention ions would be appropriate and how do we support community lison um in that space. So I can't speak to what that would look like because we're just a conduit for our stakeholders in that space to make that determination. >> Well then I guess just on a followup I would just if you see things out there where again you guys are on the front lines and see it every
154day. we're not there on the front lines seeing it every day. if there are concerns um that come out of a bit more that the board should relook at certain things on our code of conduct that um we would be able to be brave enough to bring those issues up to our board um and have those discussions um to to again to achieve uh success in these things because as we've know we're you know uh low as far as in our enrollment and decreased you know a proficiency disease and things of that nature. Again, how do we become better? We need to hear from the people on the ground. So, thank you, Anna, for you and your team. >> Oh, you're welcome. And TEA and Eli are very clear in these spaces. And so, we're
155really blessed to have them. They will they they are not shy. >> Go ahead, Miss Lose. >> Thank you. Thank you, Miss Formbrand. >> Mr. Romero took like two of my questions. >> Oh, here. So, [laughter] Um but and I appreciate the the dialogue. Um I guess more of just a comment um that um I'm hopeful for this, you know, and what success will look like once it's implemented and um you know I I know there's there's just so many layers and I appreciate the work of your team. my notes. This has been an ongoing thing and it will be an ongoing thing and obviously would love to see those you know not just numbers stabilized but to rise. So I I just want to ex say thank you to everybody and uh for working
156on this and I I know it's it is a labor of love to do this. So um thank you for everything and and Dr. Nunes as well for >> for spearheading. Thank you. So, this is just an information item tonight. No actions required by the board tonight. I want to just close with a couple of questions um really quickly before we close this topic. Uh on slide three, can you go to slide three? >> Jean. >> Who's Oh, you have control over it. >> I do. >> So, you' mentioned 5800 students and I know Dr. Tri has mentioned that uh the way we measure chronic absenteeism and we're only looking at unexcused absences but the state and how we probably should be looking at excused is this 1500 just the unexcused absences chronic unexcused absences.
157>> So when we pull for the high-risk data for the MTSS plans um we don't include the excused absences those do not come up >> just unexcused none. >> Yes sir. And do we know how many students would fit this criteria if we include the excused absences as well? >> I am sure that Chris could get us that information. >> Yeah, because just with the unexcused, we're at like 13 14% of our kids. >> Yes, sir. >> With chronically absenteeism unexcused, let alone those with illnesses and other excused absences. And that's terrifying in terms of how many students we're talking about here, how much percentage of our kids. And you know, every time I'm reading any articles like we've we've gotten a big study that came out about a month ago was talking about the
15810-year uh learning loss, you know, pre- pandemic uh learning loss that we've seen across the country. uh and look at any article or any um any news reporter or any any interview of anybody talking about this uh one of the two or three things that are consistently mentioned in terms of trying to describe the reasons why 75% of our school districts in this country have English and uh math uh um learning loss over the last decade. Uh chronic absenteeism is is often cited pretty regularly. And so I think this might be one of our most important initiatives next year because not only are we addressing the enrollment and financial issues in the ADM of our district, but when these kids are not in our classrooms, they're not probably learning. >> Mhm. >> And you know,
159as as we're talking about the measurements and what we're trying to do, you know, we have 37 schools that have the community leazison, 50 schools that don't. And I'm assuming that the 37 schools are are lowest income and the most um schools are probably higher rates of of some of this chronic absenteeism. I'd love to see, you know, if Holly's listening out there in the Nether world somewhere u and we're looking at data down the road, you looking at, you know, our our 37 schools versus those that don't have this, maybe those that have unfilled positions as a control group and seeing whether this work is really making that impact on absenteeism and then looking further at the academic achievement piece. are we seeing then, you know, coming into April, uh the learning loss or
160the the learning issues, proficiency growth, um with those schools that are achieving some some goals with chronic absenteeism and seeing whether we're actually moving the needle on the learning piece, which is ultimately what our district needs to do. Uh so, thank you for the presentation and looking forward to seeing what we uh get in terms of data over these next couple of uh months and semesters ahead. So, thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you, Dr. Trillo for entrusting student relations with this and the committee, the collaboration districtwide. All hands on deck. >> Thank you. >> All right, governing board, we're going to move back to our consent agenda item six. Uh Dr. Trujillo, >> President Shaw, board members, uh the administration recommends approval of the consent agenda item 6.2 through 6.6. Going board members.
161I'll move the items 6.2 to 6.6. >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Item passes 5 4 Z. Excuse me. Next we go on to item 7.10 approval of the fiscal year 2627 override funded compensation increases and salary schedules for tea consensus and substitute teachers. Dr. Jillo. >> Yes. I'd like to welcome our chief financial officer, uh, Ricky Arnandez, as well as our student or student employee relations director, Mr. Jason Frerieded. Uh, tonight we're proudly presenting the, uh, revised salary schedule, if you will, that will be inclusive of the 4% increase to our teachers, well, all of our TDR and TDRB employees uh, for the upcoming school year. Mr. Hernandez. >> Yeah. Uh, thank you. Good [clears throat] evening, board members. So yeah, um about a month ago, uh
162we were I was here before you to have uh the salary schedules approved for all other employee groups. So just um kind of digging into the presentation here on April 14th, you approved the salary schedules with the 4% override increases for everybody including ASME um and TA consensus excluding the TDR, TDRB, EXET teachers, and the substitutes in the non-bargaining units. Uh so tonight we're here to present all of those that weren't uh presented to you on the 14th. Uh so the override committed to providing uh teachers uh in the TDR, TDRB, and exit salary schedules with a $3,000 increase to their salaries for uh substitute teachers uh in particular, but also other employee groups. The commitment was to provide a 4% raise. And so we're here to talk about those salary schedules for the TA
163consensus and for substitute teachers. So uh like before the implementation process is going to go like this. This is going to apply to all regular positions in TD, TDRB, XED and substitute. Um it will also apply to the least and the return to work employees in those specific groups. Now for least and return to work employees, their salaries are capped at 80% of whatever a regular teacher would would make, for example. Um so instead of a $3,000 increase, they would get a $2,400 increase. And that's just to ensure that our regular uh teachers essentially remain competitive compared to our least and return to work employees. The implementation is going to be that all employees uh in those uh salary schedules, they're going to move ahead two steps, $500 a step, $1,000. Then they will receive
164an additional supplemental pay of $2,000 on top of those two steps. Um and I'll show you an example of what that looks like in the next slide. For substitute teachers specifically, they're just going to receive a 4% increase to whatever their assigned daily rate is. Uh so whatever the rate is that they're being paid for, we're just going to bump it up by 4%. And all of those salary schedules that are written in kind of Sanscript because it's really hard to kind of put those in a nice looking chart, are all attached to the board agenda item. Uh but the cost of these inclusive of all benefits is just over $12.3 million. uh which is by far and away the brunt of the impact of the override. Uh so one about one-third of the override
165is going toward teacher compensation uh which was originally the commitment. So here are I I put on several examples here just because I know that there are several positions that are part of TDR and TDRB. Um but I'll point out a couple on here. Uh so teacher TDR step one this is a brand new out of college teacher you know who wants to join TUSD. So right now if they're right on that step one in TDR they make 48,400 once this goes into effect that brand new teacher will now make 51,400. So essentially the starting salary for teachers in TUSD uh once we talk about the classroom siphood supplemental base pay and a separate agenda item will now be $51,000. Uh that will be the starting base pay for a regular teacher. Now we cap
166experience at 15 years. So if teachers coming with a with up to 15 years of experience, we move you up to step 15. So if you're currently on step 15, you'll be moved to step 17. You'll be given 2,000 bucks. you'll be given the additional $1,000 for supplemental base. So, you'll go from making 55400 to and so on. So, there are several examples including the couple of examples for least and return to work. Um, and then there's a certified substitute for somebody who is a certified sub for more than 20 days. They currently make $160 per day. A 4% increase will mean that they will make $166.40 per day. And so, these are all there. Uh and again the charts are all available in the BAI if if anybody wants to kind of read them
167in a little bit more detail. Additional considerations to take into account similar to the ones that we did about a month ago. Um no increases are being provided for things like coaches, extra duty positions or supplemental roles like summer school. So those rates of pay remain unchanged. They are not affected by the override. This does not increase other uh compensation items. So for example, payouts in sickly, vacation, and severance are not changed. So for example, right now a teacher with more than 10 years experience can take up to 90% um can take us well not 90% but they can take up to a certain amount of their sick leave uh is paid out to them. It's paid out at the substitute daily rate. It'll be paid out at the sub daily rate not including the
168override. Okay? Because it is is really just to be the the daily rate. the override is really as a compensation item for current employees. Other things like educational stipens, supplemental pay rates, those also remain unchanged that are part of the consensus. This will go into effect July 1 of 2026. Um or the first contract day of that position, whichever is later since most of our teachers uh don't actually start until July 30 uh contractually. Some of these will, you know, these will go into effect on July 30. Now, as part of all of this, and this is something that that Mr. free can speak speak to if you have questions on this is that the district is committing to working with TEA to increase the steps be from $500 to $750 for future TD and
169exit salary schedules and those costs and sources are going to be determined at a future date. So right now the salary schedule will have a a step difference of 500 like it currently is but we're committing to working with TA to increase those step differences to 750. Um, and we will be back to you or employee relations will be back to you at some point to figure out like what that looks like, what that cost is, and how we will move forward. But at this point, what we're doing is moving everybody steps and giving everybody 2,000 for a total of $3,000 to their s to their contract. Uh, if you approve tonight, uh, finance and HR are going to work to implement the new salary schedules for 2627. As I mentioned previously, employee relations will
170continue to work with TEA to look at implementing a salary schedule change uh of steps between from 500 to 750 and we will notify employees of their respective increases once everything is finalized by human resources. Any questions? All right. Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. Thank you, Mr. Freed, for being here. Governing board, any questions? I just want to say, you know, this I'm glad we're in this position. It's a much better position than we would have been otherwise if the override hadn't passed. So, I want to thank just the scores upon scores of folks from all of our bargaining groups, uh, some of them here tonight, who knocked on doors, talked to voters, and got us through this override last year so that we have that 4% and even more for our teachers that we can
171do. So, thank you everyone who who worked on this and thank you to our community for supporting uh TUSD and our teachers and staff and all of our kids uh with the override passage. And with that, I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> I item moved by myself and seconded by Miss Lunar Rose. All those in favor say I. >> I. Item passes 40. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. And next we have item 7.11, approval to approve the classroom site fund supplemental base pay for the 2627 fiscal year. Mr. Freed, you can go ahead. >> Uh, thank you. Was waiting for this slide to come up. >> Yeah. with uh more good news for our teachers approval for the usage of classroom site fund dollars for an increase to supplemental based
172pay. >> Thank you. Um you'll see the MOA the memorandum of agreement that TEA and TUSD has um joined into the classroom site fund um some called 301 fund is um supposed to be used and expended annually and so when we looked at the the projections for next year were able to add to the um supplemental base component that is part of TDA salary schedule for teachers and so you'll see that $1,000 increase. So, that would be on top of the increases that Mr. Hernandez was just talking about. So, anybody who's TDR will not just see a 3,000, they actually see a $4,000 raise um with the approval of this agenda item. >> All right, I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> Governing board, all those in favor say I. >> I. Item passes
17340. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Y All right. Next, we have approval for contracts for return to work teachers, return to work counselors, and second semester teacher hires of the Tucson Unified School District for next school year. >> Yes, I'll turn this over to to our uh director for human resources, Diana Reyes. Um, as we mentioned previously, there are three positions in the school district that we incentivize uh to fill hard to fill positions or uh high needs positions. One of those incentives is coming back to work directly for the district through retirement. The board took action first with teachers to deal with the teacher vacancy issue and that has been wildly successful getting teachers out of retirement. Come work directly for the district. Then we took action, the governing board took action for
174counselors a few years ago to help fill those critical needs. Most recently, you took actions for psychologists. So that's what's on the docket this evening. And I'll turn it over to uh Diana for any more uh details or questions you may have. >> And Diana, this is your first presentation to the governing board in this role. >> It is. Welcome. >> Thank you. So, good evening governing board uh president Dr. Shaw, governing board members, Dr. Thrujillo, superintendent and legal counsel. So, I'm bringing to you today uh oh, it was up there, but it's not. I'll start with the first group which is the non-bargaining and SLT members. So I'm bringing for your consideration this group for renewal of contracts today of SLT and non-bargaining employees. So this includes our exempt administrators and central leadership positions.
175It's the other attachment. Jean, >> we're on item 7.12 right now. >> 7.12, but you can stay up and do 7.13. So right now it's return to work. >> Okay. I'm sorry. Okay. So, I'm bringing the return to work uh teacher contracts, counselors, social workers, and se second semester. So, you approved earlier this spring the first round of TEA contracts. This is going to be like Dr. Tho mentioned the return to work group and any semester uh second semester hires that we've made. So, we submitted the list for you to review of about 150 contract renewals and so we're just seeking your approval tonight of those. >> Right. Great. Thank you. All right. I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> Item moved by myself and second by Miss Luna Rose. All those in favor
176say I. >> I. Item passes 40. Thank you. Thank you. And then we move on to you can say up there for item 7.13 approval of contracts for non-bargaining administrative employees and members of the superintendent's leadership team. >> Right. So what what I was saying earlier so this group is our central leadership positions SLT members and so we have um 34 contracts for your consideration tonight for approval. Uh so tonight we're just seeking your approval so we can begin issuing those contracts for next year. Great. >> I'll move the item. >> I'll second. >> Moved by myself and second by Miss Lunar Rose. All those go ahead. >> Um, as I stated earlier in uh the meeting, you know, we are going through very troubled times in our district. There's a lot of need um
177in the lower employee ranks, those who um earn the least amount of money. Um there's a lot of need everywhere in our district and I believe that we need to um chop from the top as I said earlier so that we can redistribute the money where it is needed most. Um all of the people before us um are fine people. They do good work. Um, but as a governing board member, I would like to make sure that we are putting the money where it's needed most, whether that is funding um staff so that they have a living wage, are able to um pay for um employee benefits, or maybe we can subsidize better benefits for our staff. Um, and so I I would like to cut positions that are furthest from the classroom. And um,
178to me, these are farthest from the classroom. And so I'll be voting no on this item. >> All those go ahead, Mr. Romero. >> Um, [clears throat] I guess, uh, I I understand what Miss Shaw is mentioning. Um, I don't know what options we kind of have to look at those types of things. Um, um, as far as other, I guess, concerns that you have on there, is there anything in particular that you think we need to look at or address, or is this something that you think we should look at um, position by position to have discussion? Good question. Um, I mean, I certainly think there's some positions here that, um, could be, um, parcelled out. Um, however, at this moment, um, I feel like I just have to say no as a group.
179Is there any position that you're thinking of just right now? >> Well, I guess just to look at this um so it doesn't just kind of come and then we have to because there may be something on here that we don't look at and vote as a whole know on here. Is this something as a board you feel we should be looking before this comes to us and being more of a u of a say in um these positions being put on here? Again, your your comment comes to a surprise to me, but at the same time, we've had people talk about, you know, you know, mentioning cut from the top and and we hear that um in a lot of, you know, calls to the audience, how were administration topheavy um in in a
180lot of people's uh view. I would just like to see if this is something that's a concern to you. I'm sure it's a concern to a lot of people. So I don't want to dismiss your concern, but I just also want to be able to be respectful of them and I guess of our district how moving forward in the future we can maybe look at those as a board so we can look at trimming the fat or consolidations and things of that nature. I don't think I have the right answer. I don't know if Rob Ross could give any guidance on on protocol. I'm sure this hasn't happened before. But again, like I said, I know your concern is shared by many people um in in our in our community. So, I want to give
181that respect >> for sure. I mean, I think, you know, in the future, maybe we can do that in executive session. Um there's certainly some positions here that I think would be easier to cut or eliminate than others. Um however, you know, everyone here has folks below them. Um, and you know, the work must continue of course and so I think in the future if we have an issue with a certain position or an employee um it would be great to um have that conversation in executive session. >> Mr. Mr. Ross, a quick question. Is it possible if we do have something as a board if there's a particular person to suggest or recommend request that to be brought up in executive session? How does that work? Uh, Mr. Romero, that Miss Shaw is correct.
182That would be the appropriate place to raise that. In addition to conversations one-on-one with the super superintendent, um, just keep in mind also that some of the folks on the list here have um, you know, basically rights of timing for non-renewal. So, um, when you have those discussions in the future, you may want to have them >> prior to tonight. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Bye, Dr. Trio. Every board has the right to bring forward concerns at any time, but every superintendent also has a responsibility to remind the board of where it's been procedurally. We spent a couple of months going department by department through a very painful season of administrative downsizing. We heard chop from the top, but I could barely cut the fifth regional assistant superintendent because that was a 3-2 vote. So, it's
183chop from the top, but it's vote to keep the fifth regional assistant super. So, I So, we went department by department and we heard department by department recommendations for cuts that ended up to be a $10 million package, close to $10 million once we probably factor in the vacancy savings. What we also saw is that when we did eliminate vacant positions largely, we also had concerns from other employees saying that their workload doubled or that they were going to have increased amounts of work. Throughout that season, pretty much every administrator knew that administrative positions were going to be an open discussion. So, they were always open. They were open that whole season. I think it's always important to note that this list encompasses descended administrators. So if you cut there, that's a desegregation cut. So
184we have to talk about that. Some of these administrators in non-bargaining unit, they're funded, they're self-funded. So you look at the food services director, they're self-funded from food service revenue. You look at our director for prek in community schools, she's self-funded from tuition. So they also have like different funding sources that are at play that we can certainly have those discussions as we're doing budget cuts overall. >> Dr. Shaw, go ahead. >> M Rose. >> Oh, that was me. >> You raise your hand, too. >> Oh, sorry. Okay. Um, thanks for that information, Dr. Trillo. I think it would be really helpful to the board to have that information per each employee of where it's going to go. um and like what funding source they're they're paid from, whether it's grant digg or otherwise. Um
185and you know, this item didn't really have a budget number listed on it. I know we had a community member who um said it was $5.5 million uh for these employees. And so I'm going to have to just take her word for it because it's not on the agenda. So that would be helpful for us as well. Uh Mr. Ross, you said that uh these employees have like timing rights for their renewal of contract. Can you talk a little bit more about that? >> Not all of them do, Miss Shaw, but some of them might. I haven't looked at every single contract. Um but if they're covered under certain um employee non-bargaining you know if they're licensed or for example we may have to look at the timing of non-renewal which would have been back
186>> May 15th >> May what May 18th >> May 15th for some and and April 15th for others. >> So a as far back as April. So if the board is going to entertain that kind of discussion my recommendation would be to have it you know like Dr. Yo said at the time the board was having discussions of budget cuts that that seems to be then people get the right notice and and and such and we don't have to worry about any contract issues there. So right now it's basically executing the budget cut. What what was left after the budget cuts, right? Issuing these contracts. Those conversations can safely be made so there's notification time if you do them prior to the middle of April, >> right? Um moving forward, I would love to see
187like in future years these lists come to us in executive session as a whole. um so that we can review it, look at you know the funding source and then discuss it um privately as a group. >> Go ahead, Mr. Nose. >> Um thank you Dr. Shaw. I just want to remind my colleagues that you know if you don't pay people competitive rates, they will go somewhere else and we're trying to raise this district to be a better district and that's our job here. So, um, yes, we're all going through tough times that eventually people are going to leave because they're they're not going to feel supported by the governing board or their supervisors. So, um, I I understand of wanting to look at it and we now have a we just added somebody to
188admin as an internal auditor. Um, which um I have met Mr. Houston and he's perfectly lovely and I know he's going to do a good job. But I voted no simply for that fact and I didn't think we were at that point to do so. But now that we have him, we have an internal auditor that perhaps could look at that and maybe answer some questions. But I just feel that um by doing so all all these people that are sitting here and all these people that we uh approve tonight are going to sit back and say, "Well, why am I here?" if you're not supporting me because I do the job because our job is is um it's not only to be good stewards of the district and the budget but to also I
189think sometimes we always lose fact of the of our of the children that we are serving because that's my number one goal as a gold board member. So um I will be happy to vote yes on the side. >> Right. Yeah. I appreciate the sentiment and you know I think we'd be hardressed to find one person on this list who has two jobs like our bus drivers and our custodians and teachers. So, you know, that's where I'm coming from here. I know I love these people before us and I know they do good work, but I'm trying to think holistically as a district how we can spread the wealth and that's where I'm coming from tonight. Thank you. >> Right. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Opposed. >> Item
190passes 31. >> Thank you. >> Next we have 7.14 approval to procure goods and services for quarter 4. I believe this is our bond projects. Yep. Bond project. Dr. Carter is coming up to the dis. Great. Dr. Tillo, floor is yours. >> Dr. Carter, welcome back. We're certainly always excited to hear about the next slate of bond projects. Take it away. >> Yes. to um the governing board president uh Dr. Sha and govern board members. I have before you some additional projects. The bond oversight committee approved the project request and determine the priorities for implementation. The upcoming priority bond projects include the purchase of Sarro High School summer renovations, the football field electrical and audio, and the Gridley Middle School stage curtains. This will require procurement of goods and service, which will need to be
191done in a timely manner to keep within the time frames established by the bond program. vendor quotes are currently being collected to begin work and place these orders. So, let's take a look at if you see on the screen we have um Sarro in each of the domestic waterline schools were able to pick some projects that you know were on the bond that that we could do while the school was shut down. And one of them is for Sarro the football field electrical and audio. That's for $31,340. Um this will remove the electrical pads on the football field and pull back wire provide necessary raceway for the audiovisisual cabinet to be installed at the front of the bleachers. In addition, Gley MS stage curtains is a priority for the bond because one um it has
192been recommended by risk management based on the state of the current curtains and it also has been flagged by the fire marshall. So I wanted to make sure I presented that item to you for your consideration. On the next sheet is pretty much similar and the same. It uh shows if you could go to the next um document, the detailed document, it shows again the amount of the $31,340 plus the uh Gridly curtains, which is $29,236 for with the contingency equaling $72,691. $1. So those uh two items if we would support we would like to motion to grant authority to the purchasing director in conjunction in conjunction with me the bond program manager to procure goods and services using the approved TUSD and cooperative contracts for the next wave of projects for $72,691 for purchase
193exceeding the $250,000 limit. These are the projects I have for you and [snorts] this is getting close to the end for the summer. >> Great. Thank you, Dr. Carter. Governing board, any questions? Go ahead, Mr. Romero. >> Aloha, Dr. Carter. >> Hi. >> So, I am grateful that you're ringing up the uh Gridly curtains on here. I was just there a few weeks back and um uh to say there are ill repair or ill um and and tagged by the fire marshall. Um I'm glad to see this happening. Now as far as I've seen this and you have too and I commend you for visiting these schools on a one-toone basis. I don't think enough people know that you are doing that and you are being visible uh to these schools. So, first of all,
194I want to make sure that you know that from me that I see you doing the hard work and all your peers in this organization realize that you're taking this very seriously and the principles appreciate that a lot. I've seen some other curtains in a lot of our schools and I know we fix those and replace those. Um, and I know we have some in our bomb book that are that are doing that. in other ones that are coming on up. Do we have a certain criteria of where they're at? Because as I know, you know, some are in worse situations than others. Do we have kind of a plan for those moving forward just because again it is an indoor thing that is a fire issue that could possibly happen? When I first came
195on board, which has been a little bit over two years, there was a list that I had gotten from Miss um or accumulated list between projects and Dr. Ashcraft of um fine arts uh projects including curtains that were priorities. We initially I think we've done five already and then um as I go out to sites I found out about these also another one that came up as you might remember we did mission view this summer. So uh as I I have talked to Dr. Ashcraft or mentioned to her, you know, I rather it come from fine arts the priorities because there are a lot of needs obviously in the district including the curtains and so I would say at this point especially now this two years old and you know the bond book was done
196about three years ago to take another look so I can get a more refreshed list and then that way we can um have visibility on what might be needed like moving forward. I haven't done a lot of curtains recently when I found out about this. Definitely wanted to make that a priority. But I think between uh Dr. Ashcraft, the old list we have and risk management, those would be the the ways we can find out in a broader way of how many schools that might need for us to step in based on safety. Fantastic. Thank you. And I'd like to move the item, please. >> I'll second because everyone's too slow to turn on their mics. [laughter] >> I have a question. >> All right. Go ahead, Michelle. >> Um, thanks for your presentation. As
197far as the uh curtains that um will be um uh replaced and and other things, are these items that um you know, gently used or like really messed up, do those all go to auction? Um, like so like community theaters may want to utilize them or like do the old curtains just go straight to the dumpster. >> Well, I I would say this. The curtains that I'm replacing are not reusable. They are flagged as being a hazard. So, those are not the ones that we're dealing right now. It's the ones that really need to be because one of the things I with the bond, you don't do repairs. So, I can't go back and have them do the fire and all that stuff. So, these curtains you're not going to want to use somewhere else.
198>> I see. Okay. Thank you. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Item passes 4 zero. Thank you, Dr. Carter. >> All right. We're on to study action. We have uh a first read for a policy revision 8.1 AI use in education. Dr. Trillo. Yes. Uh board members, governing board policy JND does require an annual review. That was a condition that you set uh when you first approved this. So our senior director for edtech educational technology, Tracy Metaf, is here to walk us through the recommended the recommended firstear revisions. Tracy, >> thank you. Good evening. Board President Dr. Shaw, governing board members Dr. Trillo and all the people watching us online uh in person and later on the recording. My name is Tracy Metaf and I am here tonight with Chris
199Anderson, Jules O'Harren, Robbie Hamadi, Rob Ross, Anna Schwarz and Anna Schwarz Warbrand to speak about the TUSD artificial intelligence policy. Almost exactly one year ago tonight, the governing board approved an AI policy for TUSD and included a stipulation for a yearly review of the policy, which is why I am here tonight. Last year, we were the first school district in southern Arizona to adopt an AI policy. And since that time, we've been presenting at conferences and meeting with other school districts around the state. And what has made our policy distinctive is that our policy covers the use of AI not just by students, but also by teachers, administrators, and district level staff. And our policies even be serving as a model for other districts. and and oh there we go. Um so um my agenda
200is I'm going to be talking briefly about the uh current use of AI in the district. Um we will be talking about the three proposed revisions to the AI policy that I would like to propose and then our next steps. So a key priority has been to continue upskilling our TUSD workforce. The education technology department and the curriculum and instruction department is committed to providing high quality training opportunities for teachers, staff, and district level personnel to ensure they are equipped to effectively and responsibly integrate AI into their work and support student learning. We have differentiated our trainings to meet the changing needs of our teachers and staff. We have also provided a comprehensive SharePoint site for our teachers to provide them with sample syllabus language. And we have also included a stoplight visual um which
201is provided by AI for learning. And this visual is being used by many schools and other school districts to provide a familiar and conventional image regarding the use of AI in classrooms. To ensure academic rigor, our policy is anchored in teacher autonomy. Our policy defines establishes a default off stance meaning student AI use is prohibited unless explicitly authorized by the educator. This protects instructional leadership ensuring the teacher not the technology dictates the learning environment. Our current AI implementation is defined by purposeful educator-led integration. By utilizing only district approved platforms, teachers are creating personalized learning experiences that are directly linked to TUSD curriculum and learning standards. Central to this work is modeling ethical behavior. Teachers have been guiding students in identifying AI and using it responsibly, preparing them for how these tools function in the professional
202community. To ensure a safe environment, we prioritize platforms with built-in monitoring and oversight, giving teachers visibility into student work. And ultimately, we are ensuring that all students, regardless of their learning style, develop the college and career ready skills necessary for a digital workforce. Currently, the AI application review committee has approved four AI online platforms which are currently available for high school use uh high school teachers and their students. CodeHS is a comprehensive computer science platform to support specialized technical instruction. It provides a secure web-based environment where students learn to write, test, and debug code. Canva is a graphic um graphic creativity and design platform that allows students to demonstrate learning using built-in AI tools to assist rather than to replace the creative process. Magic School is an educator support platform designed to streamline instructional planning.
203It provides teachers with AI assisted tools for lesson planning, activity creation, and differentiated instruction which they can use with their students. It's been purchased by our CTE department and its use by students is available only to those on our CTE classes. And then finally, this governing board approved the use of Conigo a few months ago, which is an AI powered teaching assistant and student tutoring platform. So the AI policy committee would like to propose three policy revisions for your consideration to um for the current AI policy and I will explain each one for you in more detail and the proposal before you is for a first read. So we are um proposing an expansion of our formal definition of artificial intelligence because AI technology has moved beyond text generation. While our current policy reflects AI
204as a digital assistant, the landscape is rapidly shifting towards other subg genres of generative AI, including agentic AI, which are systems capable of planning and executing multi-step actions across different platforms. By expanding this definition, we are modernizing our governance to stay ahead of the curve. This ensures that as AI capabilities change, our oversight remains relevant and our guard rails remain firm. our district remains proactive in managing both the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence. So this is the first um propo or first change that I am asking for. The second one I'm asking for is to uh propose a secondary access expansion to ensure our middle school students are afforded the same foundational opportunities as our high schoolers particular by our this request is coming from eighth grade algebra teachers that have asked for their
205students to be able to use conigo as their classes mirror high school algebra classes. Middle school computer skills teachers have asked for the opportunity to teach coding and web design. So this is not a t top-down mandate is a direct response to our educators who see an immediate need for tools like code HS, conigo and canva to maintain instructional parody um and foster essential computer related skills. By expanding access to grades 6 through 12, we are not providing shortcuts but rather providing educational opportunities for our middle school students in a controlled age appropriate environment to so to ensure the highest safety standards. This expansion is built on what they're calling what's called a walled garden approach. Unlike the open web AI available to the public, these platforms are education specific versions follow strict furpa and
206copa compliance to ensure data student data privacy. But teacher oversight is our primary safeguard. The teacher acts as the essential filter dictating how, when, and if these tools are to be used are available. This balanced framework ensures that our middle school expansion is safe, monitored, and aligned with our policy. And then finally, we are proposing a policy revision regarding what we are calling embedded AI tool AI, which acknowledges the technical reality that AI is now inherent and non removable within some core productivity suites and search platforms. We do have a robust web security umbrella that allows us to block unauthorized tools such as AI mode in Chrome's search engine. We are constantly adapting to this rapidly changing online environment. However, we have to acknowledge the technical reality that in certain productivity suites and search engines,
207AI is inherent non removable feature. However, this expansion is most critical in a support for exceptional education for our students with speech difficulties, including those as young as five. AI powered augmentive and alternative communication, they call it AAC, such as eye gaze technology and speech generation apps is providing these students and helping them with being able to fully express themselves. These AI models grow along with the user um learning their personal communication styles to make expression feel natural and equitable. But our pedagogical goal remains clear. These integrated features supplement rather than replace original student thought and educator-led instruction. From a governance reality standpoint, we are clarifying that the presence of these inherent tools is not a violation of the policy. However, students must remain responsible for their ethical application and any misuse of these integrated
208features will continue to be addressed by the student code of conduct. So, our next steps as we move forward is to continuous upskill the TUSD workforce through highquality training and the provision of curated AI resources for staff. Our AI review committee will maintain our rigorous vetting process to approve or disapprove of platforms for student use, ensuring every tool meets our established standard. Our true priority is shifting towards the students themselves. And we are going to finalize and update a digital citizen curriculum. And we're moving beyond the question of if students are using AI to cheat to teaching our students how to use ethically how to use AI ethically and responsibly in this rapidly changing landscape. Our mission is also to ensure TUSD students can not only navigate and identify AI but leverage it to be
209truly college and career ready. We are not just adopting new technology. We are empowering our students to be informed and responsible members in a rapidly changing world. So, I'm here with those three proposed changes to our AI policy for uh for an for a first read and then um we would go to public comment and come back based on that. I'm prepared for um any questions that you may have. >> All right. to work. All right, go ahead. Miss Lunaro, thank you for the presentation this evening. I really appreciate not just jumping to the changes, but actually having that really good description of of what the committee has come up with and and why we were making those changes. Go ahead, Miss Lunar Rose. >> Um, yeah, thank you for your presentation. So, um I
210do appreciate the changes, uh because I've been approached from several parents asking, you know, how is AI, you know, the district going to work with because we can't escape it. >> So, how are we um bringing this head on? So, um, is this, um, I see that, you know, this is addressed in addressed in the student code of conduct, right, Miss Warren Brand? Sorry. >> Can I can I bring her up because I >> that's why she's here. C can you explain to those maybe right now um just brief overview of what exactly it does it look like right now for students concerning AI and the student code of conduct. So within the student code of conduct, we have a level three violation that talks about misuse of technology and networking. And so that particular
211level three violation which carries with it exclusion, ISI, OSS has been what we've utilized in instances um where there have been issues, but it typically partners with the behavior that the misuse creates. So yes, there are instances sometimes where a kid is doing something they shouldn't be doing and there's no implication whatever except to their own loss of learning. But more often than not, what they're doing on the computer leads to a secondary violation like cheating, like plagiarism, like bullying. Sometimes there's sexual offenses. So, we have within the code of conduct all of these different violations that could happen in person, via social media, via anything in the telecommunication area, which would cover AI. And so, it's not often that you just see a plain telecommunication or network misuse. If that happens, it's because they're
212doing something they shouldn't be doing. and the content is not offensive and it hurts no one. So, it happens occasionally, but mostly it partners with whatever the action is that's the secondary violation that's covered within the code. >> Okay. So, do you feel comfortable with these changes if we as we put these out for a first read? >> I do. I've been on the committee since it started and um Michael Arnoff is also on the committee as well and so um we definitely you know as we look at JK policies and as we look at the code of conduct and we look at the revisions in the code and I take back my knowledge from this committee to our district stakeholders on the district behavior management team and then come back to the AI committee
213um we have that rotating conversation. I do I don't feel that in our disciplinary actions that we've missed students misusing AI and there's been no way to consequence them. Not at all. We have that level three violation right there in the code. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you for the presentation. I agree with Dr. Shaw. It was really helpful to conceptualize uh the policy. Um so while I do support the uh use of AI for exit students uh who need assist of technology uh to communicate as well I support the digital citizenship curriculum. Um hopefully that will be taught by our librarians sometime in the future. Do you have an idea of who will be teaching that in the event that our librarians don't? I I really think it's going to
214depend on the the the age and also on the school. I know we've had many social studies based teachers that are teaching it as you know a lot of teachers are using it because it is so relevant and current that they're making it part of their their daily lessons because it does it is so applicable for them. So I know a lot of government teachers are using it in uh English teachers are using it. So, it's um computer science teachers and I think that's a wonderful idea to look at librarians as well and I was very in listening very intently to the call to the audience today about that. >> Yeah. Um I'm glad they mentioned it because I >> it's been a while since I've looked at that policy so I wasn't completely aware
215that it is totally in their purview. So it'd be nice if it was kind of a team effort as well. Um, and so while I do support the fact that we have a policy regarding the use of AI by students and staff, um, and I do, uh, appreciate the revisions that we have here today. >> Um, philosophically, I'm, you know, still against the use of AI by students and staff. I think students have ample opportunity uh to self-educate outside of the classroom and I really think it's a slippery slope for for everyone and anyone. Um and I would like to see just the traditional education used within our schools. Um so I will be voting no on this policy uh because I don't think it's, you know, strict enough. I'd rather have like no AI
216than AI. But um but I wanted to talk real quick about um something that was brought to my attention uh by a parent recently. Um and I believe I I reached out to you about it. Um >> and if you could just kind of give me the information if it's like okay in our policy or not. So, a parent said that in her um child's yearbook, I believe it's elementary school, um the use of generative AI was used for a uh classroom photo. Um she said she thought it was a photo because uh her daughter had features seemingly from like her hair color basically um was shown up in this generative AI photo. And so I noticed that, you know, generative AI is pretty much prohibited for students. Can you talk about it being okay
217for staff if it's okay? And if let me pull up my notes. If because I know our uh policy reads that like personally identifiable information, I assume that would be a photograph. it wouldn't [laughter] >> um if that is a violation of our policy and if parents do need to give be given consent if their child's likeness is put through a generative AI program. >> The I'm going to call it the cartoonization has become a very um popular social media. Um you see it in people's social media all the time. Um PII personalized and identifiable information does include photographs. we do in our trainings remind teachers of the policy and remind people about not putting PII information into the AI um tools. We are we are doing trainings tomorrow for our language acquisition team and
218I directed my staff to include more detailed about what is PII and how it should not be included and we will incl you know put this into all of our trainings going forward so that we're just really clear for people. I feel like our policy is very clear. You must vet your responses that you get from AI. must look over is for for staffs and that's what I think makes our AI policy so good. A lot of districts are only doing it for staff or for students. They're not doing a policy for staff. We have um so being more clear and upfront with our staff during our trainings to to vet your responses and number two to not put PII into that which includes pictures. >> Okay. And I know we talked a bit about
219the consequence for students who violate our policy and I know the policy is very new and staff are still learning and you know it's a ever changing like technology. So can you talk about like um what happens when staff violate our policy? Um I believe that in the if you can scroll down for me Junior Maria for it does actually have we do have a place in our policy that there can be a consequence for people who for staff and teachers who do not um follow the policy. So we don't dictate what that would be. I would have to look at Mr. Ross for that. But we it is in the AI policy. >> Mr. for us. >> I I'll just say that, you know, every employee group has uh due process rights. So you
220don't you don't say that this violation makes this this reprimand or reprimand too. you know, the district follows progressive discipline after investigation and and would implement um you know, appropriate consequences based on the employee um bargaining unit and also uh for due process and also whatever the the kind of equitable discipline is happening for similar consequences for other employees. So, it's it's not going to be this violation equals this consequence. It's going to be the usual progressive discipline approach that the district has for employees. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. I do appreciate your concerns. Um, Miss Shaw like I' I've been the one railing against technology for a couple months now behind the scenes and I brought it to our attention with that consent agenda item like a meeting or two ago and
221appreciate hearing from all of us in the DAS about our concerns about this as well. And I I do want to say I'm going to support this and the revisions to this policy uh because we don't have a policy that means anyone can use NI for anything. And so what this policy does is limits AI use uh and without the policy we have no limitation. And so I appreciate all the work that's going behind updating this policy to make sure that this is changing like you said constantly uh with different platforms and different uh how we're using AI and so so I think we need to keep this updated and and keep on changing definitions keep on changing what applications we are going to allow because we allow we have don't have a policy allowing
222some applications that means any applications allowed and so this is I think a regulation this is a limitation as opposed to a free-for-all. if I may. >> Yeah. >> Um, yeah, I I totally agree. We need a policy. I just feel that our policy should be more restrictive. >> Well, you want to stick to the M. Can I move that? >> So, moving the bar from high school to middle school is also a concern. I think you had mentioned that um math, you know, in 8th grade teachers in that algebra and things of that nature were kind of help pushing towards that again bringing the bar from high school, middle school, when does it go down to grade school. We keep moving that uh a little bit lower. So that it's not a question. It's
223just more of a public concern of mine. They're using it already. We might as well teach her how to do it right. I mean, my middle schooler, now former middle schooler. I mean, every time she searches anything, you know, she takes my phone and let me search this up and it's the first thing that comes up is the AI generated responses and uh it's ubiquitous and either we have no policy uh and then there's a free-for-all uh with everything or we can have a regulated policy expanded to middle school so they can have access to certain tools that are useful like every and AI is like ubiquitous like every time I take the person out of my background on my family photo that's AI generated like this is everywhere. Um and and I think having
224a policy that teaches people how to use it correctly and and regulates it I think is better than not having any policy at all. And I am curious to see what the community as we this is a first read only goes to the community like we always do and comes back in a July meeting with responses from comments from the community addressing these changes. So this is passes tonight. I'm curious to see what the community thinks about some of these changes. >> With that I'll move that item. >> I'll second. >> All right. Item moved by myself and second amendments len. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Opposed. >> All right. Item doesn't pass then. >> Okay. >> Because it needs a majority, right? So tie doesn't pass. All right.
225Item fails. Two two. >> It's a status quo. So I'll I'll turn it over procedurally to Mr. Ross. I don't think we have a failed vote. I think we just have a status. We have a an impass and we're able to Are we eligible procedurally to bring this back? >> Well, that that was a failed vote, but there's there's no bar to bringing an item back. >> Okay. >> So, we'll bring it back. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, we have uh last but not least, we have a 9.2 review process for naming TUSC facilities under governing board policy FF. >> Yes. Yes. I'd like to turn this over to our general counsel, Rob Ross. Um ju we had a request uh a few governing board meetings ago just to review for
226the public what the process is if any community member, any community group or any stakeholder wanted to initiate a process to rename a TUSD facility. We actually invoked part of that process a few weeks ago uh as one of the provisions of this policy is to allow the transfer of an of a previously approved governing board governing board approved name of a facility to another facility. But we didn't get full on into the whole part of that process. So I've asked uh Mr. Ross to give a general overview of our policy here uh for the naming of TUSD facilities. >> Thank you Dr. Trujillo and good evening governing board members. I'm trying to do my impression of Mr. Aronoff since uh he he uh he actually is was slated to do this a couple meetings
227ago. Um I'll just do a quick overview of the policy and the regulation for naming facilities. Help me, Jean. I guess Maria can do. Okay. So the policy FF and the regulation I've kind of combined some of the concepts for these but as is typical with most of your policies the policy is pretty much high level and then the regulation gets into the nitty-gritty details of implementation. So um what can be named pretty much any of your property all or parts of it an entire school other property a section of a school um you've done this before with fields with libraries um with with ext you know additions to buildings can be named um so that's something you I think you've all had experience with it it's happened half a dozen times in the last
228few years. Next slide please. So the policy says what uh what you the board would like to see when you uh propose a name change or naming a new facility. Um and what you and you see examples of this. We have significant geographic locations um with or items win Rencon Sarro Catalina. Um, historical events. I'm not sure we have one of those in this district. I'm trying to think of a of a of a field that has or a building that has a historical event, but you know, for example, Centennial Hall could be an example of that. Um, events of community significance. Again, I can't think of an example in our that these are in your policy. And then the individuals who have made contributions to the district. Um, and we have this policy that
229was brought up before that names of from sold or closed facilities can be retired or reused for future buildings. You just did that with the new um, Morrow building. I'm trying to start a campaign of calling the new Morrow building, but it's not getting a lot of traction. People want to say 220 now instead of 10. Next slide, please. So there is a a preferred process and you know the expectations that the board has for when you're going to nominate a name change there should be wide publicity to the entire community students parents staff and and other interested folks and uh uh the board expects community involvement with meetings surveys consultations and other means of gathering community input. So um the expectation is this is not just uh staff or one little group um presenting
230to the board. This is a community effort. Next slide please. So now we get into the nitty-gritty details um and what the expectation is for process. So uh the school principal if it's a school for example will will uh provide the process to the super this process to the superintendent. what are they going to do to do that community outreach? Who are they going to talk to? What meetings are they going to have? Um then the next step is p, you know, publicity to make sure that you get input from the stakeholders in the community. Once you have that um that uh basis for public information, then you do a final nomination um which could be alternatives, right? You could say we could name it this or this and then have have uh you know
231opportunities for options and you submit that to the superintendent and then there's this nomination process has to contains all that specific information um you know the name what if it's named after a person what is that nominees contribution to the community um who is asking for the nomination to be made and then uh kind of following up on what the process was to get that the board would know what was the level of community involvement that brought this recommendation to the board and then as always the nomination is presented to the governing board who has final say in all of this. Next slide please. So if you look at the overall structure of the policy and regulation it's a transparent process. There's community input that is required and critical and then the board has the
232final say. And of course with any policy the board can um can on its own uh make its make its own naming u uh decision if it wants to. But when when it's the [snorts] expectation is if it's coming to you from kind of a a grassroots this is the process that policy and the regulation um sets forth before it gets to you for a vote. Okay, that's the quick overview of two policies that are kind of old. but they still seem to work. >> Thank you, Mr. Ross. Governing board, any questions? >> Go ahead, Miss Sh. >> Uh, thank you for the presentation. Um, and I do have new Maro Center in my notes. So, >> Oh, thank you. >> One vote from me. Um, >> an M. >> Yes. Um, so, you know,
233I'm I'm glad that this is being reviewed tonight. Um, I know the community um has been calling for some of our schools to be renamed. Um, that was a student project of course that came to the governing board about a year ago. Um, and so I know our policy talks about a school principal outlining the process for nomination and submitting that plan to the superintendent for approval. But in the event that it's a student who has started the conversation and possibly wants to continue that conversation, what would you recommend that they reach out to that principal, tell them their name, their idea, um, or so on and so forth? Like, does it have to officially come from the school principal? because you know I don't want to particularly burden a school principal with all of
234this work. Maybe they're not, you know, for this plan. Like is it like do they have to uh be involved in such a way or are they like a pastor or can we as governing board members uh help initiate the process if it's like youthled? So the policy does put you know if it's if it's the principal's building that's being um you know suggested for a name change the policy says that the principal is the one who who runs that process. If it's you know if there's community support for it then that process will you know that that's the obligation of the principal. Let's create the process that's compliant with the policy before a recommendation is made to the board. So my first recommendation to someone coming forward doing that would be start with the
235principal. However, as I said at the end, there's always the ability for the board to act independently and say we're waving the policy. Um that's always an option for the board because it's your policy, right? But my recommendation to anyone requesting this is start with the principal. They they have an obligation under the policy to create a process whether they personally agree with it or not. That's what the policy says. >> I see. So, um you know, Dr. Shaw and I have had some conversations with the parents of those youth who have um you came to the board uh a year ago. Um, and it seems like they may be interested in continuing that conversation and and really following through with renaming uh certain schools, particularly Sam Hughes and Miles uh for the um you
236know, atrocities committed by those gentlemen. So, um yeah, I guess you know, Dr. Shaw, maybe we can reach out again and and see uh what their interest is. Um, I certainly hope our principles are open to the conversation. I know, you know, it's another another u added duty for them. Um, so, you know, if if they don't want to support um some of this work for whatever reason, then I would um as a governing board member, I'd like to um have us uh do some of that work as well. >> All right. Thank you for the presentation this evening. >> Thank you. >> All right, Dr. Tri, our last item is future men future agenda items and meetings. >> Yes. Yes. >> We will be busy with future meeting and agenda items uh coming up.
237Um June 9th, uh we're going to have revisions for the code of conduct that'll be before you. Uh I think uh Anna Warbrand did mention give a little bit of a a preview of that. We also will have the uh override proposal for the funding of librarians. Uh that will be available for governing board uh review and potential action uh coming up. Also uh we will also see the let's see got some notes here. Uh I'll have an update. Uh by June 9th, we will have our first formal uh community advisory committee meeting on the consolidation and and possible reconfiguration of TUSD schools. That's going to be taking place on June 4th. So I'll be able to have an update uh as well as review committee composition on June 9th. And then speak of what
238we just talked about, uh, we will have the formal request to transfer the existing name of the summer's building known as building B at old 1010. Transferring that name over to the second building at 220 West 6. So, uh, we're hoping to have Deb Summers, Herb Summer's daughter, longtime Mansfeld principal in the house that night. So, we'll be busy on June 9th. >> Great. Thank you and good night everyone and enjoy your summer vacation as started this week. >> Oh, nice. Yeah. I mean, you could argue for anything, but