001call to the audience to the appointments 8.1 to 8.6 followed by 9.1 9.2 8.8 >> correct >> and then uh we will skip tonight's uh board member activity reports and save that for the next board meeting. Any objection from the board members? All right, I'll take that as unanimous consent. All right, Dr. Trillo, the I think the meeting continues with you for your awards and recognitions. >> Yes, awards and recognitions. Tonight, uh we're going to kick things off with two um outstanding outstanding uh people that have contributed in their own unique way to the success and the service of our district. Uh first, I'd like to recognize uh the contributions of a community member whose contribute whose service to the district will have a lasting effect. Uh a lot of you know that uh the
002district does have an audit committee and the folks that volunteer their time and they serve on that audit committee they don't get a lot of kudos. They don't get a lot of um highlighting in board meetings except this time you know we have one of the foundational members of the committee that when it was first formed he is one of our earliest members. >> This is the employees benefit trust not the audit. >> I'm sorry the I'm sorry. Employee benefits trust. on the line is on audit, but yes, our employee benefits trust board, which of course manages the employee benefits packages that we recommend to the board every single year. They are amazing stewards of our employee dollars. All of our employees that pay into our benefits plan. Those dollars are pulled into the employee
003benefits trust and it's our employee benefits trust board that makes the recommendations and the decisions on that particular pool of money. So since our employee benefits trust board was established, we've always had the pleasure of relying on the service of Mr. Mark Mansfeld as one of our foundational members. He has served on the committee since it was formed in 2011 and as a founding governing board member uh founding member of the committee. He has helped shape a benefit structure that continues to support the health and well-being of all of our employees and their families. a tireless champion for fair rates and fair premiums for all of our employees and a fair deal for the district and his dealings with employee benefit consultants. Uh although he briefly did step away shortly in 2015, he returned to
004us in 2017 where he has since served and this month uh his service did come to an end. So I want to recognize uh Mr. Mark Mansfeld for all of his outstanding service to the employee benefits trust board and being a foundational member of a board that does such important work for all of our employees. I think we have Mark here. If do we have Mark here? Doesn't look like Mr. Mansfeld made it tonight. Let's give him a round of applause. [applause] And our next recognition um is for an outstanding employee who has dedicated uh four decades of her life to the service of the Tucson unified community. She's a proud graduate of uh Tucson High and her journey were yes absolutely badger and her journey working in TUSD began back in the early 90s
0051992. Over the course of the last 39 years, she has held numerous roles across the district, uh, from clerk typist in human resources to the administrative assistant at Tucson High and then most recently, she's the administrative assistant in the Arcadia region. Through each role, uh, Mary Portillo has ampl exemplified a deep commitment to supporting students and staff. Her institutional knowledge principal part of our district family. Mary's impact cannot be measured simply in years of service. It is reflected in the relationships that she has built and the colleagues that she has supported along the way. Uh I will say that my most cherished memories of Mary are always at graduation time, particularly in the winter and the summer graduations. Mary's always recognized that for those students that graduate at those points of the year, it's a
006very special honor for them for a variety of reasons. they weren't able to graduate in the summer or in the spring along with their classmates. And I think Mary always recognized that and really worked hard to make it extra special for those students. And those are my fondest memories, the kindness, the compassion, the care uh that she always brought to planning those special ceremonies and then watching the joy and happiness of the graduates and their families both in our winter and our summer graduations. And it's going to be those are going to be some big shoes to fill uh when when Mary uh leaves us. But at this time, I want to turn things over to our assistant superintendent for region 4, uh Shauna Rodriguez, who would like to share a few words about her
007soontobe retired administrative assistant. Shauna, >> thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you to our governing board members, President Dr. Shaw, Dr. Thruillo legal council for this opportunity to recognize such an outstanding employee as Dr. Trujillo has just shared. I would like to just take a few more moments to uh go down just a little bit of Mary's journey here in TUSD and also present her with some uh momentos of her time in this journey and that she's you know given herself so selflessly during this time. So Mary began her journey her senior year as a student helper in the Tucson High principal's office in September of 1986 at the age of 16. This job was through cooperative office education COE class and was part-time 12 to4 graduated June of 1987. Following year, Mary attended Puma
008Community College as a full-time student and continued employment at ths in the principal's office every afternoon and summers, meaning working, not in trouble. She maintained a schedule as a temp clerk until the spring of 1989 when she was offered full-time temporary clerk clerk typist, too. In June of 1990, while working for the magnet office, she took some time off for about a year or so to have her first son. However, when she was ready to return to work, Mary returned at Tucson High until she accepted a records clerk position in our human resources department. This was in November of 1992. Because her heart is with Tucson High, Mary returned there in 1995, working in a clerical position supporting many departments. She became an administrative assistant at the age of 26, which at the time was
009the youngest of employees in that same job title. If you ask Mary about her time at Tucson High, she would say she is very proud to have raised four children while supporting the students, parents, and staff at the best high school in Tucson. In October of 2012, Mary was hired by the assistant superintendent of secondary leadership, where she continues her role today, working for the best boss. no bias. I didn't pay her to say that. And uh region and TUSD Arcadia region 4. So that's a little bit about Mary's journey. And if I can just take a few more moments to express my personal gratitude to Miss Bortho. Mary, it's hard to put into words over uh what your 40 years of service in Tucson Unified have meant not only to the district, but to
010me personally. From my time at Tucson High, where I first met you as a young assistant principal, to my current role as a regional assistant superintendent, you have been a great source of wisdom and grace. I would tell Mary all the time that she is a vault of knowledge. No question too small, no task too difficult. You always had the answer, the file, the history, or the perfect color-coded system ready to go. Your organization is unmatched, your thoughtfulness unwavering, and your beautiful flowers are always a reminder that excellence and care can coexist. Wii What has always stood out most though is your kindness and your willingness to help anyone. That quiet quiet, steady help you provide to so many without ever seeking recognition. Your customer service has been top-notch, serving thousands of families and staff
011since 1986 with professionalism, patience, and heart. That kind of dedication is rare. Mary Arcadia is truly indebted to you. You have left an indelible mark on every space you've worked in and on every person fortunate enough to work alongside you. Thank you for your service. Thank you for your collegiality. And thank you for the countless lives you've impacted here in TUSD. Wishing you a retirement filled with joy, rest, and adventure, your beautiful grandkids, and all the beautiful things you so generously gave to others. Happy retirement. >> [applause] >> SO, AT THIS TIME, I have a cute little helper. So, Cruzy, can you come up? >> We're going to give this to your mother. >> And also, we have a book with over 45 different well-wishes to Mary of all the people she's worked for. >>
012Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> GO AHEAD AND COME UP, MARY. [laughter] >> Thank you. You did a wonderful job. >> Such a good job. [snorts] >> You want to say a few words? >> I know I'm supposed to say something, but Oh my goodness. I don't think Dr. Trillo um thank you for the beautiful words. uh TUSD governing board members, thank you for having me here tonight. And Shauna, oh my goodness. But um I did start my journey working for Tucson High School in hopes to be a teacher. I wanted to teach algebra because of an excellent algebra teacher that I had at Tucson High. Um, I chose to stay at Tucson High because I was offered a full-time position, but I feel like I still stayed in education as much as I can.
013And I feel like my work was reflected through, as Dr. Trio mentioned, um, ensuring that the students at Tucson High or again for TUSD would continue their education, never give up. And so I believe that that's where my calling was and where I was supposed to be. Um, I did have a speech, but now I'm so nervous. I don't know what else to say. But I just want to congratulate everybody who also helped me along the way to become who I am today. Yes. Thank you. [applause] Our [applause] final recognition uh this evening, we're going to now highlight some student excellence as our final recognition this evening celebrates an extraordinary student whose achievements inspire all of us. Zoe Sakoro Ambooster. Zoe began her journey at Bonius Elementary, later attending Meyers Ganong where she participated in
014the gate program and served as student body president. She continued to excel at Dodge Traditional Magnet where she was enrolled in an all honors courses and served as a community outreach coordinator for the National Junior Honor Society. Zoe was accepted into University High School where she has maintained a 4.0 0 gradepoint average. It's a standard of excellence that she has upheld since elementary school. Zoe's IEP addresses visual impairment, but she has never allowed that to define her potential. Instead, she continues to redefine expectations and redefine her own excellence with every passing school year. Well, in UHS, Zoe chose to challenge herself by joining the Ringcon University wrestling team. There she found not only competitive success but also a sisterhood teammates who see her not for her disability but for her strength, determination, and her character.
015Under the leadership of coach Mercedes White, Zoe's abilities have flourished. In addition to her academic and athletic accomplishments, Zoe is a seventime Arizona State Regional Braille Champion, competing against blind and low vision students from across the state. Next year, she advances to the varsity division with opportunities to compete nationally and then potentially internationally. Her accomplishments not only speak to her extraordinary drive, but also to the exceptional support of Tucson Unifi's visual impairment team, including her teacher of the visually impaired, Jennifer Fischer, and her orientation and mobility teacher, Cameron Becker. Zoe's aspirations are just as bold as her achievements. She plans to attend the University of Arizona for pre-law and then pursue her degree, her law degree at Yale or Harvard with the ultimate goal of becoming the first blind justice of the United States Supreme
016Court. Wow. That's awesome. Because as Zoe says, because Joey believes that justice truly should be blind. That is what her saying. Zoe, your courage, your resilience, your excellence, and most importantly, your character represent the very best of what we would like to see all of our students in TUSD aspire to. Uh, please join us at the DAS to receive this very special recognition and to take a photo. Everyone else, please join me in in celebrating this outstanding student athlete and competitor. [applause] >> [applause] >> Dr. Those are her team captains. Three, two, three. Thank you. [applause] [applause] Sha, board members, that does conclude uh awards and recognitions. >> Thank you, Dr. T. I forgot to mention only about the overflow and the capacity. Can you >> Yes. um to all of our guests that that
017may be uh waiting outside to come in, we are officially at capacity and because we are always prioritizing safety first. Additional members of the community that may want to view tonight's meeting, we have set up some overflow rooms where you'll be able to watch the meeting uh as it [clears throat] happens tonight uh via liveream. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Trillo, and thank you everyone for being here advocating for our district. Uh we're going to skip over board member activity reports and save that uh for the next meeting. I know you're all in anticipation waiting for what we've done uh at Wizard of Schools, but I have to wait a few more weeks for that one. Uh we're going to go to our consent agenda or excuse me, our call to the audience and
018I'm going to turn over to our board our clerk, Miss Luna Rose, uh to read our lead our call to the audience. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Shaw. Um good evening everybody and thank you for coming. Um, governing board colleagues, we have 19 um, speakers and we have normally a 20-minut session since this is technically a special board meeting. So, would you want to instead of interrupting, would you want to already extend cod to the audience? >> I'll move to extend something to be read too, right? We do have something to do today, but they're all the um exact same um uh subject, which is the one that's for most people are here tonight. So, >> motion to uh extend call to the audience. >> Does that include reading them? >> Um I think we
019could just see where we're at when we get to that point. >> Okay. >> But yes, it would include reading them. Second. >> Second. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh, we have a motion, a second. I'll make an amendment to do the ones in person and um because the ones that are to be read are in the same topic. >> I'll second that motion. >> All right. We have an amendment and a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor for the amendment say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Opposed. >> All right. Passes 41. And we're back to the original motion as amended. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> All right. Passes 4. um continue on the call to the audience for we'll read the or have the 19
020that are here in person. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Members of the public may speak during the call to the audience. The governing board clerk shall be responsible for recognizing speakers and for maintaining order where it may be appropriate. Those who speak in person or want to have their comments read shall email a call to board office or complete a request to address the board form before the meeting. Speakers who have not completed a request form are not permitted to address the board. The speaker must state their full name and topic prior to addressing the board. Speakers are encouraged to be brief with a maximum time of three minutes while more than one speaker may speak together in the time allowed. Speakers are reminded that they are not allowed to speak more than once
021and 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 board this evening shall reserve rules of good conduct. Speakers shall also refrain from inappropriate or slanderous remarks. And because TUSD serves students from preschool through high school, speaker should be aware there may be children present and listening. At the call end of the call of the audience, the governing board president will ask any board member wishes to respond to a criticism, wish staff to review a matter, or wish that a matter be put on a future agenda. No more than two governing board members may address each topic. First person this evening
022is Sylvia Campo. My name is Sylvia Compoy. I addressed the board January of 2025 during the topic at hand, the annual desegregation report. Um, it takes a lot of time to read the report, downloading, reading, studying, analyzing, and preparing notations on the intact report. Last year, it was 1,467 pages. The provided time aotment was 16 work days to prepare for the hearing with comments limited to no more than three minutes. an impossible expectation, which is of course the point. The governing board and the administration don't really desire to hear from the stakeholders. The 2324 report, not the appendices, was posted on the district's desegregation public posting. Weeks later, the appendices were uh posted, allowing for less time to review the bulk of the report. Satie Shaw requested that the administration allow a longer, more reasonable
023timeline in the future, and several of her peers agreed with her at the time. Yet, here we are again with the same short time period for the public to read a 1,500page report, do analysis, take notes, do the downloading, etc., etc. It's a task that is very difficult to accomplish. The only black member of the governing board was ignored because, as I said, here we are again. On your announcement on the front page of the website, you left off the word desegregation in announcing the public report. So the general public doesn't even know the title of the report that you're being invited to come and speak about. It's false advertisement. Unless a member of the public checks for postings daily and knows where to look, there's no way to know that the 2425 annual desegregation
024report was posted on November 21st and months later the appendices on February 2nd were posted. It is a slap in the face to the public to have a hearing where you hide the material that is supposed to be spoken about. [applause] Next person is Paula White. Paula Paula White. Okay. No Paula. Next person, Daniela Adjan. Hello. Um I'm my name is Brienne Butner. I'm a Davis Rometo parent and I'm here to read on behalf of Daniela Atan who is the registar at Davis Romero um attendance tech. Good evening members of the board. My name is Daniela Ayan and I am proud to serve as the attendance technician and registar at Davis Romero Bilingual Magnet School. I am here today not only on my own behalf but on behalf of all attendance technicians and registars across
025the district who would be directly affected by the elimination of this role. In many ways our positions serve as the front line of our schools. We are often the first people parents and students interact with. Whether they are enrolling for the first time, calling with concerns, or seeking guidance in navigating school processes, we help create welcoming, organized environments where families feel supported, informed, and valued from their very first contact. The work of attendance and registration extends far beyond paperwork. Monitoring attendance and communicating with families allows us to identify and address concerns early, directly supporting student success. Maintaining accurate enrollment data and student records is essential for the district's compliance, funding, and ensuring students receive the services and supports they are entitled to. These responsibilities require focused time, careful attention to detail, and ongoing consistent communication.
026Eliminating our positions would not eliminate the work itself. Instead, these responsibilities would be redistributed to staff members who already manage substantial workloads. This shift could impact efficiency, accuracy, and the level of direct support provided to families and students across the district. Equally important is the consistency and connection we provide. Families rely on having familiar, accessible point of contact. Students benefit from seeing trusted faces in the front office each day. These daily interactions build relationships, strengthen communication between home and school, and contribute to a positive and supportive school climate in every building we serve. We respectfully ask the board to consider not only the financial implications of this decision, but also the human and operational impact it would have districtwide. When we remove the individuals who welcome, guide, and support families from their very first interaction
027with our schools, we risk weakening the very foundation that helps our students and school communities thrive. Thank you for your time and consideration. Next person is Alyssa Delgado. [applause] HELLO, MY name is Alyssa Deado for Mr. Advarez today with Van Busker Elementary School. Hello everyone, I am Melissa Deado, parent of four Van Busker students. Mr. Alvarez is a lot [snorts] of parents like me appreciate what he has done and does. He takes time to help parents in all situations, even sensitive ones or even just questions answered that need to be. He is a wonderful person. He cares for the children and his principles, staff and schools and the children's well-being. He listens when no one else does. We need more people like him in the TUSD district. When calling Mr. Alphasis to speak to him,
028he takes his time to listen and help. He always in his school showing support when and for me as a parent I am grateful for him. He has been strong, patient and caring. He's been in the community for a very long time and his students that have became parents now they are more comfortable knowing that he is someone in the TUSD district that the children can look up to and feel safe around. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> All right, [cheering] NEXT PERSON is Nicole Jansen. She's >> okay. After Nicole will be Audrey Connelly, >> right? I'm Nicole Jansen. I'm a school counselor at CE Rose K8. First, I'd like to say that I'm surprised this district would try and make a decision like cutting a whole job family without talking to their staff
029first. their staff being us. This district needs to understand that we are also part of the decision-making process and that we should not have been kept out of the loop. The fact that I knew about this at my site first leads me to believe that TUSD did not want this to come out until tonight. Except that we did find out and we are here. We showed up to stand in solidarity with our fellow staff members. I don't understand who has decided this or who can look at a single job family that works at each site and goes, "Yep, that's where we need to cut it from." I don't understand how whoever made this choice thinks that after not working at a school site, they should make this decision of who to cut at a site
030without asking the people who work at the schools. [applause] >> WE are already lacking in staff at schools and now you want to cut more. Who is going to support these students? Not AI. Not another machine um you want parents to use to call their students out of class or a tablet that will print their tardy pass. These things cannot do the job of the human attendance tech registar. You walk into a school and a human is the first to greet you. Usually someone working in an office, usually the attendance clerk. A student gets sent to the office for whatever reason, it's not a machine that is going to let the admin know they're up there. It's usually not the office manager because they're busy doing office manager stuff. It's the attendance tech registar that
031says, "Hey friend, what's up? What's going on?" And then decides the next step. Who needs to know admin counselor or if they need to write a statement? Our schools would be so inefficient if we didn't have our attendance tech registar. Attendance techs are the ones who see students first. When um they get to school, they comfort students and families with their presence. Um have you ever had to sit in in the front office and really immerse yourself in what attendant techs do? And I don't mean in a chair waiting for an admin in the front. I mean, really in the front office behind the desk who's going um to do we're skipping that part. Attendant texts spend the day doing um all of their job duties while the phone is ringing. The intercom is ringing,
032the doorbell is ringing, students coming up to ask for supplies for their teachers, teachers and other staff coming up to inquire about students, families coming in to register or withdraw their student. so many preschool phone calls that our school isn't supposed to be the ones that they're being called for. It's supposed to be the preschool department. On top of that, attendance texts are the first ones to either let someone into the building or let admin know if there is a problem. >> Time is up. Thank you. [cheering] >> [applause] >> After Audrey is Choice Brown. >> Hi, good evening. I am Audrey Connealy and I'm speaking as an individual. I have I feel I have the right to speak after serving TUSD for 32 years. Having gone through a school closure, many principles, vice principles,
033school board members, superintendent, I feel that we we might need to do is get a new finance manager because just a few short >> because just a few short months ago, we all got $1,200 and even less amount of time, our superintendent got a $10,000 raise. Didn't didn't tea just help the district get an override pass which we are promised a 4% raise and now the sky is falling. Why would we ask why shouldn't we ask for an independent audit? Because we know we're being put in a hole. You are taking hours from our attendance and registars who keep track of our students attendance. They generate the reports where we get our student count and our money from the state and federal government. You're taking away a vice principal away from a school who needs
034them. You're looking at the enrollment of the students, but are you looking at the students in the school because these schools are hard to fill for a reason. I have heard now that our health insurance is also going up. Well, there goes our race. I really am asking for you to do an independent audit and so we know exactly where we're at. Thank you. [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Dr. Joyce Brown will be Jim Burn. This is um about a statement of charges that I received and I wanted to let you know that um this was made after I went to an elementary school and I basically it's it's all made up. I have proof all of that binders in my car, but it's all made up to hush me because I have police report here
035that documents that I saw an individual be abusive to children. Then I also have that another person also reported it. The police went, they were there for 18 seconds because they were told by the um principal and the um TUSD security that the superintendent, the principal advised the superintendent will investigate the incident internally and advise if PD is needed. And I was there and nothing was ever done. There are now two more police reports that I am waiting for on this same individual out of respect that no report no investigations have been done. I'm not mentioning names. However, there are two more reports from the school from staff from the school on this same individual for the same reason. these I was distinguished proficient to distinguish while at Valencia I went to this other school
036suddenly I'm basic suddenly I'm getting all these charges I am a foster parent and now permanent guardian to six children I have like I said all this proof I have letters that one of them was, "I kicked the door in." Yes, I did because the student had a weapon and I have letters saying, "Uh, so and so came to me during recess and started telling me a story about Mrs. Brown kicking the bathroom door." And I asked him why she did that. He answered, "I had a sharp thing in my hands." And then another person who doesn't know me, another adult. Okay. So and so said, "Oh, I had a metal thing in my hand. I had a pointed in." Mrs. Brown, um, where you got it from? It was in the bathroom. Um, did
037I know if you were going to hurt yourself or not? No, I was mad and yelling at everyone. I was trying to protect the individual. Also, the kind of door that was kicked in is a weighted door. You could kick it as hard as you want. If not, >> I'm sorry, your time is up. Okay, thank you. [applause] >> Timber after Jim will be Jerry Schustster. >> Good evening, Mr. Ross, Dr. through governing board members and uh the overflow crowd that's here tonight. Um primarily about the um future of the school communities that our attendance and registration texts serve so proudly every single day. [snorts] I have been over uhwhelmed to see the responses from folks who are saying this is my favorite job I've ever had. I am so proud to serve my school.
038I know all the parents. I know what they need. I know the students. I know what they need. And the competition that we face with the privatization efforts that our state legislature has decided to prioritize uh general fund dollars going to vouchers that are draining our schools of the valuable resources that we need. We need to keep and invest in the human beings that make our schools go. I know we need to prioritize what happens inside the classroom, but we know that learning and education is a door-to-door process. So, we know we need really quality and valuable bus drivers, bus monitors, dispatch controlling, all those things. All those pieces of the TUSD ecosystem are valuable, important, and they are vital. and vital in the sense uh into its root word that they are the lifeblood
039of our school campuses and this district as we worked really really hard inside of TEA to be the deciding and determining factor to win the override that we told we were told would help fulfill the deficit that our district faces. Now we're back and we we're still here talking about a deficit. We're going to have to have some hard conversations because we know that demographics are impactful, that we know the vouchers are impactful, and that we're going to have to have some of those hard conversations to look at what how do we get leaner on things, but how do we keep people how do we keep ratios that are better than what are thrown out there right now so the quality of our public education that we offer every single day beats those charters, beats
040those private voucherbased schools that we can out compete them because what the learning that happens here, the campus life, all the extracurriculars, all the human beings who make our schools go are better than what they got. We got to invest in our people. Thank you, [applause] >> Jerry Schustster. After Jerry is Kim Whitney. >> Good evening, board president, Dr. Ravi Shaw, members of the governing board, Dr. Trillo, Councelor Ross, and staff. Once again, thank you for this opportunity to speak before you. My name is Jerry Schustster. I'm a substitute teacher with TOSD. And tonight, I also want to speak in favor of well, two groups, our attendance technicians and also our exas. First, let me start out by saying how vital our our attendance technicians are. We've heard other speakers give all kinds of information
041about how important they are. Well, let me give you one example. Today, I was subbing at my middle school alma mater Mansfeld and for the first couple of classes a lot of students were taking tests. So, I did my job and marked the students absent who were not physically in the classroom. Well, our hardworking attendance and registar director who happens to be here right now, Rosanna Sodto, give you stand up here. Okay, she's modest, but she did an exemplary job of correcting it and marking them as school business, which of course translates into dollars for our district. And of course, we depend on our take attendance districts to do that. Other example, what I said, but my usual school, my alma mater, Tucson High, our tennis technicians are always right on it. I've lost count
042of how many times I've asked them to make corrections, and I emailed them. Literally within 5 minutes, they've got it corrected. And once again, accurate records are vital for for the funding we get, which of course is the lifeblood of our schools, of our of our whole district. The other group I want to speak in favor of is our exas. They do a very a vital job as well. They they're the ones that interact one-on-one with the with special needs students. And as a district, of course, we pride ourselves in fulfilling our mission in providing educational opportunities for students with special needs. While the exitas are the ones who work directly with them and uh very often they're also called upon to do well, I'll euphemistically say tasks that are not exactly the most fun
043thing in the world to do, but they do it unflinchingly. and uh we depend on them to keep our student enrollment regarding our special needs students and on both counts as was stated with our attendance technicians but although also with our extas who make it possible for our numerous special needs students to attend that helps enrollment and with that along with the attendance text keeping accurate records that translates into dollars and cents and we know of course given our financial situation how vital that is. So, in conclusion, I uh I urge the board to uh keep in mind just how important these people are when taking everything into consideration, whether it be compensation, working conditions, or retention of these job positions. Once again, thank you very much and best wishes. After Kim Whitney is Amber
044Stanbury. >> Um hello board members and Dr. Jillo. Um, I'm a teacher and a parent at Miles ELC and I'm here today to respectfully urge you to reconsider any proposed budget cuts that would eliminate the attendance technician position. This role is not just clerical. It's a critical pillar supporting student safety, legal compliance, family engagement, and the overall efficiency of our campus operation. Accurate registration and attendance records are not optional administrative details. They directly impact state funding allocations, accountability reporting, and our district standing with oversight agencies. Our attendance technician is Sunshine, who true to her name, fosters a warm and welcoming environment for students and their families. Beyond registration support and compliance duties, her daily work of managing attendance is central to student success. Timely tracking of absences allows for early intervention for students at risk
045of chronic absenteeism, supports communication between families and staff, and ensures that we are meeting our duty of care. Without dedicated professionals overseeing these responsibilities, the burden will inevitably fall onto the shoulders of our already underresourced staff. Sunshine along with others are on the front lines in what TUSD has asked us to provide, which is excellent customer service. Eliminating the attendance tech position appears to offer short-term savings, but the long-term costs, financial, legal, and academic, could be far greater. We respectfully ask that you consider the essential nature of this role and the direct impact it has on our students, families, and staff as you make your final budget decisions. Thank you. After [applause] Amber will be Kirsten Cumins. Good evening members of the board. [clears throat] As you are moving into discussing budget reduction and pro
046proposed elimination of 16 positions, including my own, I respectfully ask that you pause and consider the full impact of this decision. Our team at the customer service center plays a vital role in supporting students, families, community members, and staff across the district. While we understand that budget constraints force difficult conversations, I ask that you look beyond the numbers and consider the people behind these positions. We are parents. We are community members and veterans who continue our service here in the district. We are not just line items in a budget. We are the frontline support system families and staff rely on daily, including all of you. Um, I ask you to consider the operational impact. When a child goes missing at the dismissal time, who is going to answer that phone call? Which one of you
047are going to answer that phone call and handle the parent that needs to be centered and needs to calm down, needs help reentering themselves to locate this child, working with school safety, etc. It is time consuming. It is timesensitive. Sometimes you sit there until 8:00 p.m. Well past our time of 6 p.m. dismissal time. [snorts] Without the CSSE, without adequate campus support as well, where will these parents be directed for questions, concerns, etc. Who will answer the help desk calls that you all so desperately need us for? Who will reset passwords, help troubleshoot, and manage facility and transportation emergencies? Here are numbers for you. Here's the workload. In the 2324 school year, there was a total of 46,380 calls, all incoming and outgoing together. In 2425, that was a total of 50,846. And so far
048this year, we're at 19,57 just calls alone. And we are only halfway through the year. And then that's not including the tickets that you deal with on average. We got 13,439 district-wide jur tickets. Those are for technology services. You have 7,919 transportation requests that are submitted, not including the ones that are not tracked. In tracks, you have a total of 18,29 facility work orders in famous and these numbers represent real families, real students, and real emergencies. Eliminating frontline support staff, the people who answer your phone calls and solve problems and calm the distressed parents and community members will not strengthen this district during declined enrollment. It will stren it will strain it further. We understand difficult decisions must be made, but I urge you to ask, is this truly the right place to carry the
049work when we go home? >> Thank you. [applause and cheering] After Kirsten is Richie Smith. >> Good evening board members. Uh Dr. Trillo. My name is Kirsten Cumins. I am a cataloger with the educational material center which is the central library in the district and uh we are under the umbrella of fine arts. Um, I can't say I was too surprised to see multicultural curriculum on the chopping block again. Last time I recall, it was when the district and board were asked to consider moving DEG monies around to save ESSER funded positions. Then the cuts from MC were larger than from their sister program CRPI. Now, one position from MC will be saved, though it has remained vacant for weeks, only to be given to CRPI. This is starting to look like a pattern. I,
050for one, value the work both programs do for our district. Their scope of work and impact vary greatly from one another. with the EMC. I have had the privilege of working with both programs since I started with fine arts 10 years ago tomorrow. One might think simply think merging them is the answer to a budget crisis. Yet they were both separated under the USP as filed in 2014. The USP states on page 36 that the district shall hire both a director of CRPI and a director of MC. Shall is an important word in legal ease. It's bigger than will. And to my understanding, shall is binding. Because I am one of many speakers, I will ask you to look at our DEG page under multicultural curriculum which is near the center bottom and you will
051find documents 2259-3 and 2384-1 both filed with the court in 2019. While we may no longer be under court scrutiny, let me direct you to the wording of tonight's report for item 71 and the two words in particular, accountability plan. That's at the very end of the title, accountability plan. Now, this report and plan spend pages 65 through 70 on the great things MC did just last year only for you to be asked to completely gut it this year. And I wonder why. And while you consider action item 91, I ask you to remember the word shall and accountability. Thank you. [applause] after Richie Smith is that's Putnham Hilddalago. How you all doing tonight? Uh my name is Richie. I just want to thank you all for being here, giving us the opportunity to uh
052speak and I do appreciate that. Um I'm here kind of just to re reiterate a little bit what Amber was talking about with the customer service uh center that we have. I feel that it's probably one of the most overlooked, underappreciated positions in the district. Um, we kind of are the heart and soul of what goes on uh in the district with when it comes to dealing with transportation, technology, and facilities. Um, she she ran the numbers by guys, which is quite a bit of of work. Um, without us, I don't really know who would be going to do that work. um I think it would be very difficult to find replacement for that work um and to be able to get it done in a timely manner like we do. Um I kind of
053wanted to get a little further into um one of the hardest parts of our job which is dealing with missing children um or what we call absson children. Um, in the two years that I've been doing this, I've dealt with uh probably over 150 uh missing students. Uh, that is one of the hardest things to tell a parent is that you don't know where their child is and there's not many people that would want to do that. Um unfortunately our team that that's one of the things we do and it's very difficult to maintain a positive attitude >> while also trying to get descriptions of the children asking the parents to you know reach out to um their friends families u reach out to family members things like that reaching out to u TPD the
054sheriff's office um having school safety involved and it's a very difficult thing when you're having to navigate that. Um, a lot of parents don't understand how it happens and we have to be that person that can basically break down the barriers and get them into a position with where they're trying their hardest to find the student while not getting the emotions too deeply involved. Um we've luckily so far we have a 100% find record u with these students. Um and like she was saying we do spend a lot of our hours after hours. Um because if you get that call that's what you work on and that's what you're going to do until the student is found. Um, and I feel that there aren't many people in the district that would want to do that
055or would be as maybe as good as at it as we are just because of the experience that we have with it. Um, and I definitely know that the parents are incredibly grateful for us when we do assist them and find their children with them. So, I just ask ask you guys to, you know, please take that in consideration. >> Time is up. Thank you. [applause] After pets bets Putin Hildo is Alex Hullman. Thank you. Um I'm really impressed by how everybody starts out with so much respect because um I'm I'm not starting out that way. Here's how I'm starting out. Way to go, TUSD. Way to go. In the times that we are living in right now where students are scared to death to come to school, you figure you'll cut the first person
056their family runs into in the schools. [screaming] Unfaking, if I may say, this is not the time to make this cut. And it is never the time to make this cut. You are making you are making it way too obvious what actually runs this district and that is money and that is not students and it's not families. What I have given you is know your rights with police, ICE, and Border Patrol in English and Spanish. I appreciate very much the fact that you are making up orange cards and sending them out. And now that you have decided that or that you are about to decide and I desperately wish that you would vote against that you're going to cut half of the office staff, which is basically your family outreach, you need these whistles to
057let everybody know that ICE is trying to come into your school and that they need to hide. Way to go, TUSD. Way to show the community how much you love them. [cheering] [applause] After Alex Holman is Cameron Rodriguez. Hi, my name is Alex Holman and I'm a parent of two kids at Laura Banks Elementary. Uh I'm here to express my strong opposition to the proposed layoffs of our front office staff. These individuals are not optional positions. They are essential to the daily functioning, safety, and overall success of all of our schools. Front office staff ensure students are accounted for, attendance is accurate, families are supported, and school operations run smoothly day-to-day. Most importantly, they play a direct role in making sure students are physically present in their seats each day. As you are well aware,
058average daily attendance is directly tied to district funding. Removing the very people who help maintain attendance and family communication will not save you money in the long run. It risks reducing funding even further. Beyond the financial implications, eliminating these positions will negatively impact students, teachers, and families. Teachers will be pulled away from instruction to cover administrative gaps. Communication with families will suffer. Student safety and accountability will be compromised. These are not minor adjustments. They fundamentally affect how schools function. If budget reductions are truly necessary, they should begin at the top. It's difficult for families to understand cuts to essential school level staff when district leadership, including the superintendent, received a pay raise earlier this year. Shared sacrifice should begin with those in the highest paid leadership positions before impacting the staff who directly support students
059every single day. I also want to make it clear that I'm fully prepared to withdraw my children from TUSD if these layoffs continue, and I know other families who feel the same. This would result in even more losses in your funding. I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that as we love our school, but families need to see that student- centered decisions are being made. I urge you to reconsider these proposed layoffs and prioritize protecting the staff members who are critical to student attendance, safety, and daily operations. Thank you. [applause] >> After Mr. Rodriguez is Lilian Fox. My name is Cameron Rodriguez and I want to say first that I do respect this tribunal and try to assume competence unless proven otherwise. I was injured at work on July 30th of last year. I'm a
060Mandarin teacher at TUSD. It's been 7 months. I have not received medical treatment and here's why. TUSD submitted a report of injury back in October after I saw a doctor. a sworn document that lists my base rate of pay as 1 cent per month, a dime per year. This is the document used to deny my claim. This document says I haven't been working all year. My current students beg to differ. This student says I did not injure myself at work. It literally says injury outside talking to construction workers. A full crew observe me. That person that signed this, nobody knows who this is. So, this document used to deny my claim is perjured. It was signed under a sworn attestation that the information is correct and it's a felony. A fraudulent form signed by an
061unknown, unlicensed person full of false statements. That's why I'm limping up here today. Nobody caught this fraud before I did. Not the state, not the insurance company, not TUSDs, no general counsel. I found it myself by pulling my own file and there it was lying to the ICA to save money on claims. Money used to buy a new office building as you will see soon here tonight. Uh on a February 16th I informed the board this fraud as well as the boards of the insurers and over the weekend I provided the board the superintendent and general counsel with annotated evidence. Here I have copies for everybody. Uh, they didn't just ignore it. TUSD asked the judge to throw my case out, not to address the fraud or the perjury. Throw it out. The motion was
062filed in the name of TUSD, and I sincerely hope the board did not authorize it, but it bears the district's name. The district's lawyer signed and filed it. Tonight, the auditors will announce that TUSD raided its own workers comp fund to buy its new office building. They will say that there is extra money in there to pay for it. How much of that money was saved because it committed insurance fraud to deny legitimate claims? I wonder if the board has an answer to this question. We will see. I will say that I didn't plan on speaking tonight and I plan on coming to the next meeting, but the incompetent lawyer that's been harassing me all last week who I think has had a psychotic break uh really didn't help and she needs the help. So,
063I hope she gets better soon. [applause] >> Next is Lillian Fox. After Miss Fox is Polar Ruiz, uh, chairman of the board, Dr. Ravi, members of the board, Dr. Trillo and Yolanda Boa. Um, I gave you this. First of all, I want to say so much of what is wrong in this district is really lousy decisions from 1010 over and over and over again. The problems we have emanate from 1010, not from the schools. Okay. What this chart shows, just look at the little line running across the bars. That shows what's happened to our enrollment over the years. We have lost an incredible number of students just during Dr. Trillo's time, we've lost 11,000 students. That is a lot. Yeah. Now, we um I'm going to skip the next page and go to this one.
064One of the reasons we lose so many students is we're not competitive. And we're uncompetitive because of really lousy decisions made just like this lousy decision to cut the attendance clerks. Even I know the attending clerks of about 50% of the clerical sport in the elementary schools. What person thought that was smart to cut them? If you need to set save money, cut it in the departments. The departments are eating up 50% of the budget. We're supposed to be educating kids, but you're not putting the money where the kids are. Now, this shows we are the next the worst local district. We're way down here. Every other district except for Sunnyside is much higher performing than we are. The only district we are competitive with is Sunnyside. That's why we're losing enrollment. The east side
065schools have to compete against some really outstanding east side school districts. The westside school districts compete against mediocre school districts or Sunnyside. And they lose due to the sunny side. You can't just close schools. You've got to solve the problems. Why aren't people going to your schools? Because the academic performance is so bad. And it's a result of bad decisions that have been made over the year. Over the years, for example, all the ele all the librarians were laid off in the elementary schools, the middle schools, and the K8 schools. What a stupid decision. That's why your kids can't read. We also have very very few reading recovery teachers. So we've got only 27% of our kids are proficient in reading and we have almost no reading recovery teachers. When you look at the numbers
066compared to the population and it's even worse for math recovery teachers. I think we have under a dozen math recovery teachers for 89 schools. That is a stupid decision. They have reduced reading recovery and math recovery teachers again this year and last year we had a pitiful number. These are decisions made in >> times up please. Thank you. [screaming] [applause] [music] >> Good evening. My name is Para Ruiz, Miss Luna Rose, which I wrote on there very clearly both times in a row. Um, so anyways, uh, thank you Betts for going for it and everybody that spoke tonight. Um, you know, you really need to listen to your constituents. You know, you say that you're pro- union. You say that you care about kids, you say that you care about families, yet you um your
067actions need to speak louder than your words. Um, so, um, the actions that you take have consequences and the people in this community know who you are. When Ricky Hernandez is long gone, nobody's going to know who he is. Nobody's going to remember him. But if you allow him to continue to run this district into the ground, it's you that they're going to remember. It's you that they're going to remember that it fell under you. Um, he is not a CPA. He is not an accountant. The department you need to cut is finance. We are in high risk, which has never I've never seen happen to this district. All under the helm of him. He goes to audit committee meetings and says that he's going to close schools. Who is he? Is he in charge
068of closing schools? I thought you guys were in charge of making decisions. Um it appears by the way that he talks that he runs things. The budget book I know Lillian has talked to you about it has your names on it. yet he says publicly that you don't have to sign it, that he doesn't have to give it to you, but yet your signatures are on it. Um there's just all these weird things that are happening. So, you know, the monies that this district gets need to go to the frontline employees. They need to go to where the to the schools. You all have kids in schools. You all talk about it all the time. You should know how important it is to have people in the schools. We can't keep robbing from the schools
069to pay your friends who have jobs in the district who do not step foot on the campuses. It's not okay. Um people are not dumb. So the other thing I wanted to say really quickly is so you have this external auditor and I don't know if you all don't know your history from this district but uh when Sanchez was the uh superintendent uh the 301 monies uh siphonings was um exposed and the same audit com um was not hired the next year when that scandal happened and yet they're back again and the um rumor is that they're start they're writing some of the stuff because your CFO doesn't know how And um that's a problem. And the rumors, whether they're true or not, like that the workman's comp fund was drained to pay for a
070building, all those things, you either have to get in front of them and be transparent or they're going to come back to bite you in the rear. Um we are not dumb. The community is not dumb. You need to stop being in denial and face the truth. [applause] >> [applause] >> Next is Guadalupe Hinger. >> There she is. >> Um, good evening to everyone. Um, I want you to know, um, I want you to know that in spite of the massive tax cuts from the state and federal government, you all should strive to do what is best for everybody. And to us, the staff, attending [clears throat] staff is important. These are not normal times. And it's by the way we're having elections on November. We should vote in the ones who wants to fully
071fun our education and vote out the one who are wasting our money. These are not normal times and is affecting everybody in TOSD teachers the students and their families causing fear, anxiety and depression which affects our students health. It affects enrollment, attendance, and grades. We need to call the GOPled House and GOPled Senate to put guard rails on the bill finding ICE. ICE should not be allowed, like somebody said, ICE should not be allowed to work in the shadows outside the law and out of the reach of Congress and the courts. using a fleet of planes and a small army of private citizens who are empowered to make arrest. Uh the immigration bill passed by Congress lacks of the basic fund fund fundamentals of due process. Removes immigrants even if their papers had been in
072pipelines for more than 20 years or if they are close to qualified for their citizenship. even if if they haven't been convicted which there are this makes the whole process unconstitutional. More and more people from all parties, all races, all ethnicities, all religions and social levels want our elected officials and our appointed officials and acting officials to abide by the oath they took to protect our constitution. Checks and balance, separation of powers, and due process. It's up to we the people to protect the integrity of our government. War is not what people voted for. We need to call we're going to have elections, midterm elections and to vote for the one who are going to work. >> Miss Hinger, your time is up. >> Thank you. [applause] All right. Next is an uh excuse me
073if I mispronounce your name. Leelu Sierra Leelu. All right. Um next is Philip Fiser. [applause] Hello members of the board. My name is Philip Fischer. I am a resident of Tucson and I am speaking as just a member of the public. I initially drafted a little statement in support of the attendance technicians and I feel that is a bit uh insufficient. My time here tonight has really opened my eyes to the absolute essential nature of these technicians and I believe for reasons that have already been articulated very well by uh previous speakers. So I am just standing up here and mentioning that as a member of the public, not as a as an employee of the district, not as a parent, not as a student, but as just a member of the public, I believe
074that these attendance technicians are absolutely essential. And I encourage you to see the lights and oppose the proposed measures of cutting attendance technicians from TUSD. That's it. >> Thank you. [applause] and Miss Sierra was that. Yes. Okay. >> That's okay. >> Hi. Uh thank you to the people who have spoken before me um and for being here and bringing up these like really important and valid points. I grew up as a a student in this district and now I'm a teacher in TUSD and I love my school and I love my community and I can say with confidence that the people in these schools go above and beyond for their students. I remember what it was like for me as a student. We had specials and PE and now I see teachers and students go
075without every day. We all do our best with what we have to work with. We do so much with so little. We even go as far as reaching into our own pockets to fill the gaps for our students. I get that you have to make cuts for our schools, but our schools and our students cannot and should not have to suffer the costs. If the costs must be cut, they should be cut at the district level. >> Thank you, [applause] >> Dr. Shaw. That concludes the end to call the audience. >> All right. Thank you, Clerk Luna Rose. Uh, thank you everyone who came here to speak tonight and advocate. Uh, this is an opportunity for our governing board to respond to criticism, ask staff to review a matter, or ask that a matter be
076put on a future agenda. Reminder that no more than two members may legally address each topic. Miss uh Extramm followed by Miss Shaw. >> Thank you, Dr. Shaw. I would like to thank everyone who came here today to speak to us about the attendance clerk positions and to everyone who had called me or sent me an email. Um I think starting on Friday night, I started receiving these emails and I have told many many people that I am against this. So I will not be voting in favor of this. UH [applause] I am fortunate to have the opportunity to be in schools um for some time. I was at a school last week and attendance clerks and principles and the office manager are dealing with 18,000 different things and they're apologizing to me when I
077should be apologizing to them uh for all that they have to deal with and we aren't able to give them what they need. So, I stand with you. I will not be uh supporting the removal of these positions and thank you all FOR BEING HERE. >> [applause] >> GOOD EVENING EVERYONE. UM, you know, I love nights like tonight. Um, and although I know that it's very difficult for you all to come out, especially after a workday. Um, it really helps us as a governing board understand the issues that are happening in our school. It keeps us honest. It keeps us accountable. Um, and so I thank you all uh for, you know, speaking tonight, for the letters, for the text messages and so on and so forth. And I echo uh Miss Extramm in that
078I will not be supporting the cuts tonight, [applause] Mr. Romero. So, I know we had a lot going on, but I want to make sure that we didn't uh overlook something that was mentioned today. a gentleman came on up, talked about I think it was missing children or absent children um at some of our buses and I'm not sure what we did before customer service and what we're going to do looking at that moving forward and it resonates with me because I was in second grade at Prica and I was born in 71 so it was a long time ago. uh second day of school took the best that my best friend went on, but we weren't going the same direction. My mom was one of those people that called um I didn't know where
079I was. I was second grade. Um I was walking out on the side of road out in the desert on the west side and uh the next day my mom unenrolled me from TUSD. There's a lot of people that that affects um and it is reality and you know it was a small thing that was mentioned and I don't want to make sure that that does not get overlooked because that's reality we're going to have to deal with. We have a lot of u hard decisions like um someone mentioned hard conversations we're going to be having. I think this is going to be a precursor to some of our future board meetings because we're going to have to do a lot of um make hard decisions. We we're not a heartless people up here. We
080understand the people behind there. There are going to be some good decisions and some bad decisions. There's going to be tough decisions, some tougher than other ones. Um, as we go through this, we appreciate community feedback and involvement and we know all of us up here want to do the best we can, but also be conscious of our financial decisions over here. But I think I can speak for every one of us over here. We do care care about everybody in our district. >> All right. So that'll conclude our call today audience. Uh we'll move on to item 8.1 administrative appointments internal auditor. >> Yes. >> Uh President Sha, I know you represent the board as the governing board's liaison to this board appointed committee. So I'd like to extend you the invitation of uh
081introducing the hiring recommendation to the governing board for internal auditor. Great. >> Thank you, Dr. Trill. So governing board members, uh before us we have uh the recommended appointment of Paul Houston uh as our internal auditor. This position has been open for about 14 months now. Uh the audit committee had an opportunity to uh interview about six to eight candidates in this first round and uh three candidates made it to the final round interview. Uh Paul Houston is a CPA. He comes with a lot of private sector experience working uh over the last uh decade plus at Google and Cisco on different issues of accounting of um mergers acquisitions and and auditing uh and uh he was recommended by the audit committee uh for this role. I think he'll be a great fit for the
082district. I think uh his personality will really help uh work with the departments uh to find uh ways to save money to make sure that uh policies, procedures and finances are uh being appropriately managed in our district. Uh and uh the inter the audit committee recommends Paul Houston. I will move the item. >> I'll second. Any other discussion? Go ahead, Miss Larose. >> Thank you, Dr. Excuse me. Thank you, Dr. Shaw. Um well, I um appreciate um Mr. Houston. I know he's going to be um he's very qualified. I this evening will not be supporting his uh nomination for the fact that um we are um I don't feel like this is the right time to add anybody else to the district administration. So um I will not um and and no slight Mr. Houston
083because I know he's a fine gentleman, but I will not be voting for that this evening. >> Miss Extra, >> um I agree with my colleague, Miss uh Luna Rose. I will not be supporting this item either. >> Miss Bau, can I have a roll call? Oh, wait. Miss, hold on. Before that, Miss Shaw, >> thank you. Um I will be supporting this item and although I am usually um opposed to administrative um hirings especially in times like these um for any of you who have read our uh previous auditor's uh reports they are extremely comprehensive. It's very typical for a district of our size to have an internal auditor in order to make sure that fraud is not happening, in order to make sure that, you know, we're being financially responsible within these departments
084that we you all suggest that we cut um even liability issues. And so I do encourage you to look back at those um reports that our former internal auditor created. um uh this position has been empty for a while and it's we we really do need it and so that is why I'm going to be supporting this. Typically districts of our size will have more than one person in this position. They'll have a team of folks that goes around and does reports that are you know hundreds or you know 40 pages long. It really depends on the department that they're looking at. So it's really important and um so that's why I'm supporting it just uh for your information. Thank you, Miss Shaw, for clarifying that. >> Excuse me. This audience auditor is um mandated.
085>> Uh Miss Probola, can we have a roll call vote? >> Miss Extra, >> no. >> Miss Luna Rose, >> no. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. This item passes 32. Um Paul Houston is not available tonight. He's not here. He had a previous engagement, but we look forward to welcoming him to our district in a few weeks. >> All right. Next, we have item 8. >> Did you want me to read his statement or >> Oh, we'll pass that right now. >> Okay. >> All right. I'll move on to item 8.2, administrative appointments, African-American student services. Dr. Trillo. >> Yes. President. >> Uh, members of the governing board, we're very excited about tonight's, uh, recommendation. and she currently serves as a college and career writing
086as coordinator for TUA um and previously did some work um in Mesa before relocating to uh Tucson but really made her mark uh in working with Rochester public schools. She comes to us from Rochester, New York, where she did some very, very inspiring community engagement work in support of Rochester Public Schools, and she's still getting to know the Tucson Unified School District uh family and community. But we're very, very excited tonight to recommend Mrs. Tanisha Johnson to serve potentially as the next director for African-American student services. [cheering] [applause] >> Thank you, Dr. To. and the Tanisha Johnson fan club >> governing board members. Miss >> Sha. >> Um, I'd like to move the item. >> Moved by Miss Sha. I'll second the item. >> Any further discussion? >> Uh, go ahead, Miss Sha. >> I
087would just like to thank uh Miss Hermaine Fort stepping up and uh leading the department. Um, and I look forward to a new vision for the African-American student services department. Great. >> Thank you. And thank you for Miss for all your work. All those in favor for uh this appointment say I. >> I. Any oppose? Item passes 5-0. M. Johnson. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] >> Good evening and thank you, President Dr. Sha, members of the board, Superintendent Trujillo, and colleagues and community. Thank you for the trust that you have placed in me by affirming my appointment as director of African-American student services. I am deeply honored and humbled to serve in a role that reflects the highest hopes we hold for equitable opportunity and academic success for all of our scholars. In this department, we are guided
088by a simple but powerful vision that African-American students receive a quality education and are prepared to succeed in a global society and by core values of advocacy, empowerment, integrity, and teamwork that shape every decision that we make. I am committed to deepening partnerships between scholars and families and schools and community organizations, the community and district leadership so that our scholars not only achieve academically but feel seen, heard, and valued in every hall, every classroom, and every space across our district. In fulfilling our mission, we will continue to strengthen culturally responsive supports, build meaningful relationships, and work collaboratively to close the opportunity and achievement gaps that hinder our students full flourishing. Together, we will uphold the dignity and promise of every African-American learner by ensuring that the systems meant to support their success are aligned with
089their strengths and their aspirations. We will advocate fiercely, work tirelessly, and lead with integrity so that every student's experience in Tucson Unified School District reflects belonging, excellence, and possibility. I am grateful for this opportunity to serve and I also thank the former leader of this department, Dr. Tanya and as well as Miss Charmaine Fort who um I learned so much about and I'm so grateful. I look forward to learning, growing, stretching, and showing up each and every day with courage, partnership, purpose, joy, and love. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. [applause and cheering] Thank you. And for all those being appointed in person here today, there's a receiving line and we'll be doing photos at the end. So, please stick around for a few moments. Uh, next we have item 8.3, administrative appointments,
090an employee director of employee relations. >> Yes. Uh, President Shaw, members of the governing board, uh, tonight's, uh, hiring recommendation is an amazing leader. uh he's kind of one of those inspirational educators that since the time he became a teacher to now he he's basically served in the same classroom in the same school teaching middle school math. Um and I remember one conversation with him where probably one of his best quotes, hey listen, I'm a middle school math teacher. There's nobody coming for my job, so it might as well be me. Now in between his 25 years uh almost quarter century work serving in I think one of the most important and crucial uh grade level assignments there could be seventh grade math. He took a little bit of a break to serve as the
091TEA president from 2016 to 2020. Um I saw an exceptional leadership skill set uh during that time. I see it here today. And even as he represented with pride his organization, his union, his association, he always made sure that that advocacy always was aligned to what the best interests of students would be in the district. And I think those are the main reasons why I'd like to recommend Mr. Jason Frerieded uh to serve as the next director for employee relations. [applause] >> Dr. Shaw, >> Mr. L Rose, >> I'd like to move the item. >> Moved by Miss Lunar Rose. I will Go ahead, Miss Extramm. >> Seconded by Miss Extramm. Governing board members, any Go ahead, Miss Lin Rose. >> Um, thank you. Um, I have encountered Mr. freed um at uh several levels
092both as a parent um while my daughter was at Veil Middle School um and he was one of the chaperones to the New York trip um that I could not make and they were a week in New York City and it was the first time my daughter had left on a trip without us and she cried and Mr. Freed was her best buddy and kept her um from uh not kind of spiraling out in the middle of Time Square. Um and this is true. And so um I I know, right? Um and so I'm um internally grateful he checked in with me every day as a parent to make sure she, you know, that she was that things were okay. And by the end of the trip, she had some best friends. And um she
093speaks of uh the Mr. Freed and his daughter very fondly. Um and then um I think as a leader um he's well respected uh within not just the TE ranks but within TUSD ranks. So I am happy to support him this evening. >> All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Item passes 5-0. Congratulations Mr. FREED. [applause and cheering] UM, I've spent 39 years of my life in TUSD. There's people here who are not 39 years old. Um, I I truly never imagined that I would be standing here as the uh the new employee relations director, all the twists and turns that I've been able to take in my career. And so I just wanted to say thank you to the governing board, to Dr. Trujill, to TUSD leadership, and then
094the staff of TUSD who've supported me along this journey and uh and I know that will support as I continue to find ways to help my district. Thank you. [applause] Next, we have item 8.4, administrative appointments, director of human resources. Yes. Uh, President Sha, governing board members. Uh, tonight I'm proud to recommend a longtime team member in the, uh, human resources department who's always been passionate about exceptional customer service and responsiveness to our employees and is really passionate about creating an optimal experience for new new applicants that are applying for jobs in the district. Um she is originally a Sunnyside product, but we'll we'll forgive her. Uh she's been with us long enough uh to be team TUSD. Uh she formerly served as a program coordinator inside of human resources and now serves as uh
095our senior HR coordinator and tonight Vanna Reyes is our recommendation to serve as the director for human resources. >> Company [applause] board members, >> Dr. Shaw. >> Miss Extram. >> I'll move the item. Second. >> Right. Moved by Miss Extramm. Second by Miss Shaw. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposition? Item passes 5-0. Miss Ray. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] >> Good evening, Dr. Thail. Um, board president Shaw, board members, TSC community. Thank you for your vote of confidence tonight. Um, I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve as HR director and as I approach my 11th year with TUSD as an employee. Um, and also being a former student. I didn't graduate from TUSD, but I came here K through eight. Um, I'm just very honored and this is
096such a meaningful opportunity for me um to arrive to this point. I understand the critical role that our schools play in our community as well as the challenges that we face. And that's why I'm committed to human resources playing a vital role in our district through attracting and retaining the right individuals to serve our students and supporting our employees during periods of transition with the dignity and respect that they all deserve. By prioritizing staff, we place them and ultimately our students in the best position to succeed. And so tonight, I thank you for the trust that you're pleasing in me and I look forward to getting to work. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you, Miss Reyes. Next, we have item 8.5, administrative appointments, principal, Tucson High Magnet School. >> Uh yes. Uh I want to
097um take a moment to thank uh the Tucson High community, specifically um Miss Hela Bates, I think is a site council coordinator there. she just did a tremendous job helping us coordinate the interview and selection process and representing Badger Nation uh in that process. So, uh, interviewed a lot of of of great candidates, but tonight's hiring recommendation, uh, is a particular point of pride, uh, I think, for our district, you know, for me, uh, she is an absolutely outstanding leader. And I think what sometimes people forget because she's been in administration now for quite a bit, um, she was one of the original architects and teachers of the historic and iconic Mexican-American studies program where she got her start and, um, grew into an absolutely amazing teacher and staff developer and then later under unitary
098status uh, or I'm sorry, under the desegregation uh, consent decree, the the the unitary status plan was on the ground as one of the primary architects of our culturally relevant slate of courses. Um, and was instrumental in that implementation, which now features uh thousands of students now able to take those culturally relevant courses in both social studies and in math. And now in administration, she has really uh been the leader of in very inspirational turnaround in school improvement where she currently serves as the principal of Catalina High School, creating more equitable systems for some of our most underserved communities out there at Catalina where one in four students on that campus is either a refugee English language learner or a student with disabilities. And with that amazing student body, she has taken that campus from
099a D to now a B rating from the Arizona Department of Education. So I want everybody to to join me in in really uh welcoming as a hiring recommendation for our flagship school uh Tucson High Magnet School. I'd like to recommend Dr. Norma Gonzalez uh to serve as its next principal. >> Thank you, Dr. Trujillo. I'm going to move the item. Uh, as a parent of a future Badger student in a couple of months, Dr. Gonzalez, I look forward to your really successful tenure uh at Tucson High, I look forward to my oldest daughter walking across that aisle in four years and shaking your hand and getting her diploma from you uh as a successful principal Tucson High. So, I will move this item. >> I have a second. >> Item moved by myself, seconded
100by Miss Len Rose, governing boarding with further comments. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Item passes. 5-0. Dr. Males. There she is. Dr. CONGRATULATIONS. [applause] That was a close call. Felt really stressed back there. Um, good evening, Dr. Trujillo, uh, board president, Dr. Shaw, and members of the governing board. I want to begin by expressing uh my sincere gratitude to the entire Catalina um high community. Our administrative team, faculty, staff, alumni, association, students, and families. What we accomplished together was a product of a community [clears throat] that showed up for one another and for our students every single day. I carry that spirit with me with great pride and gratitude. Dr. [snorts] Dr. Duhillo and members of this board, thank you not just for this honor, but also for the
101trust you have placed in me to lead Tusan High Magnet School. I hold that trust with uh great care. I understand the weight of this responsibility and I want you to know that I am fully committed to upholding the confidence you have shown in me, not just today, but in every decision that I make. >> [snorts] >> To everyone at Tucson High Magnet, students, families, faculty, and staff, I approach this role with respect and hum humility. I will honor and protect the school's tradition of academic excellence and rich culture. As we move forward, as I begin, I will make it a priority to listen and learn from everyone, ensuring all voices are heard. I am committed to strengthening our academic programs and creating opportunities that prepare every student to be a 21st century learner. I
102take this responsibility seriously and look forward to earning your trust. As we look to the future, I am committed to ensuring a smooth, thoughtful transition for all members of our Badger community. Together, I believe our best days are still ahead. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Congratulations again, Dr. Gonzalez. [applause] And last but not least, 8.6 administrative appointments, principal, Lime Weaver Elementary School, >> Dr. Shaw. >> Hold on a second. Can we make the motion? Can we have him say who it is? >> Oh, yeah. [laughter] I was like, I'm ready to go. >> Ready to go. Dr. Trillo and then Miss Extra. So tonight's recommendation uh got her start in middle school uh primarily as a middle school educator and came to TUSD and became a curriculum service provider at Mansfeld and then later over
103at McGee. Then she got into administrative work at McGee and has gone on uh to serve uh the Linew Weaver community as its assistant principal for five years before the opportunity arose to provide stable and consistent leadership this year uh when its longtime principal Emily Walls accepted a leadership opportunity at Miles and she's done a fantastic job uh carrying forward that work. And one of the things I'm most impressed about with tonight's hiring recommendation in our finalist interview is really being able to craft a vision of what she sees as a new era of excellence for Line Weaver uh under her potential leadership. So uh tonight uh I would like to recommend to the governing board the current interim principal for the position of permanent principal at Linew Weaver, uh Christine Georgellos. >> Thank you,
104Dr. Pavil. Miss Astrom. >> Thank you. Um, as the mother of a fifth grader at the line wever at Lime Mover, I would motion to approve uh, Christine Georgellis as the principal of Line Wever Elementary School. >> Thank you. >> Miss Extra, seconded by Miss Shaw. >> Any further comments from the governing board? >> Let's go Lions. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Item passes 5-0. Miss Georgella, congratulations. [applause] Thank you. Good evening, board president Sha, governing board members, and Dr. Trillo. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I've had the pleasure of working at Lineweaver for five and a half years. As we said, five years as assistant principal and this past year as interim principal. It has been an incredible experience to me. What I've learned about Linew Weaver
105is that it is a very special place and I am truly honored and grateful that you trust me with its future and I look forward to leading them moving forward. Thank you so much. GREAT. [applause] >> All right. And then we'll take a quick pause for a photo and then move on to item 9.1. >> All of our uh hiring recommendations are now our appointees. If you want to join us up here in the front for a group photo, that would be appreciated. >> Sorry. We're going to do one group picture. Here we go. Ready? Here we go. Next. Next. Next. Thank you. That's all right. I don't get the same. Can we take a break? >> Okay, then use the restroom. >> Use the restroom. Yeah, Robbiey's going to the restaurant. All right. They're
106hugging. Thank you so much. Oh my god. >> [music] >> works. I don't see I don't see Natalie or Tats. Okay, here's Natalie. Let's get started with the presentation, please, to move on. All right, board member Sha, board member Romero, are you around? There we go. Board member. >> All right, we're going to get started with our next agenda item. We have 9.1. Dr. Trillo, administrative budget reduction recommendation for the 2627 fiscal year. >> Yes. Uh Dr. Shaw, members of the governing board. Uh first of all, I want to thank everybody for coming out. You know, this is several speakers made the point that I think needs to be reiterated is every single adult, no matter where they're at in the organization. You can go administration like a lot of people called for. You can
107go facilities, you could go grounds, you could go payroll, you could go tech support, you could go transportation, you could go assistant superintendent. No matter how distanced the role may be from the classroom, inevitably when you're cutting any of those positions or doing any of those expenditure reductions, it is going to result in diminished services. And that's what makes this moment so difficult and this season so difficult because as board member Romero said, it's actually the start of a very diff difficult season. We had the auditor general here at the last governing board meeting. Tonight, you're also going to hear from your external auditor who's going to say the same thing that a combination of factors, the disappearance of Esser dollars that are no longer flowing into the district, the rise of vouchers that have
108now siphoned off over $30 million that would have been available to TUSD before the universal uh access that was granted by the legislature. the uh dem the generational demographic shifts that we see particularly central city and far east where we see that urban flight folks in search of a cheaper cost of living K12 aed families looking at places like Rio Rico or Morirana just to have a cheaper rent or a cheaper go of things folks waiting longer to have kids folks not having kids and to me the most disturbing stat is 47% of homeowners east of Swan being 55 or over which of course those are the folks that are um in in the best position to be able to buy. None of these are really none of these trends are really good for the
109K12 business and absolutely uh strengthening the academic product, strengthening extracurriculars which the override is thankfully going to be able to do is put the PE and the music teachers back and that's where the override helps. The override is going to help us protect those positions, put those positions in play to make sure that they're not on the chopping block at all whatsoever. But what remains is a deficit. What remains is the fact that the revenue that we have coming in, as you've heard, you're going to hear again from our external auditor. You heard it from the auditor general, the revenue that we have coming in through our enrollment is not matching the rising cost of our ongoing expenditures. We want highly competitive salaries. And as Dr. Shaw stated at the last meeting, we make no
110apologies for investing millions of dollars in the most competitive salaries. That's that that's honorable that we did that with the surplus. We invested those dollars in employee salaries. We invested those dollars in summer school and academic interventions for students. But while doing that, we all acknowledge that we would be dealing with this deficit a little bit further down the road. Further down the road is here. And now we are unfortunately one of nine school districts that has been flagged by the auditor general as being at highest financial risk. Doesn't mean we're insolvent. doesn't mean we're bankrupt, right? We're still we're making payroll. We're doing all that. It means that if we don't start making some decisions um that we could pos potentially be the next Antelopee Union or Isaac, the two schools, the only two
111school districts in the state that are currently in receiverhip. Uh I uh had the unfortunate experience, as most people do, of having to face a very anti-public education, anti-TUSD uh joint legislative audit committee last Monday. uh that wasn't fun uh to have the eyes of the legislature on us asking questions and and you know demanding answers and really not understanding the amazing work or even supporting the amazing work that goes on in our schools. So tonight uh is the first in a series uh we'll be back actually March 10th uh with more budget cuts. Our goal is always whenever we do have to cut any any position we want we try to start as far away from the classroom as possible. We try to start as far away from teaching and learning going on in
112classrooms, teachers and students and TAs and the student support service positions realizing that whatever we are going to put forward as a recommendation is going to be a tremendously difficult decision because again it doesn't matter how far you get from the classroom. School districts and schools they are communities are communities of people and people have relationships and people connect. People connect through teams. They connect with their colleagues. They connect with the schools that they serve. Whether it's that field tech that's from its that's going out and helping a teacher with their printer, or it's the bus driver bringing kids to school, or it's the food service team member that's greeting students in the lunch line, or it's our payroll clerks that work very, very hard to answer questions from our employees about payroll or people
113in benefits. It's a relationship business and and that's really what makes this very very difficult will make the season very very difficult. I think you heard several speakers talk about starting at the top. That's part of our recommendation. I understand that even in these difficult times if I'm going to ask the rest of the district to make cuts, I have to work with a smaller administrative team. So you'll see tonight uh one of our recommendations will be to eliminate one of the regional assistant superintendent positions uh and then also to eliminate two director positions uh and start running a smaller more leaner administration. So uh tonight taking us through the details uh will be our chief financial officer uh Mr. Ricky Hernandez. Mr. Hernandez. >> Ma'am. Ma'am, any outburst you will have to go outside.
114Thank you. >> Good evening board members. Uh as uh I'll just preface this as well as to say that these as you know as your CFO, as the person who is responsible to provide you the the the work that you need to steward along the finances of this district are very difficult. Um I do this from a credential that far exceeds a CPA. I do this from the credential of being a parent of two students in the Tucson Unified School District. So, um, I do these through that lens. Um, so we'll move forward. So, as I've mentioned before, the district [clears throat] has a projected budget deficit that extends through the fiscal year 30 of $27 million. This is a collective budget deficit h that has been ongoing for the last several years. It precedes
115my tenure as your CFO in the district. As Dr. Througho has mentioned the district has been identified as a high financial risk district by the Arizona auditor general. Um and among the uh items that really show that we are in high financial risk are two. One is what's called the operating margin ratio. This means that if our percentage is higher, we are exceeding our revenues through our expenditures. So the dollars that come in are not enough to cover what we're expensing and we're using one-time budget balance carry forward in order to con, you know, to boost and move the budget forward on an ongoing basis. Also, the change in fund balance and the budget limit reserve. So a higher decline in the fund balance, meaning dollars that are left on the table from one fiscal
116year to the next, have been used for ongoing expenses. As Dr. Ravi and Dr. three have mentioned these have gone traditionally to provide increases in salaries to employees across the entire district. Unfortunately, it this is no longer sustainable. Uh for the 2627 school year, the district administration is recommending $10 million in permanent reductions in the nondegregation M budget for the entire school district. This is an updated 5-year projection. This is similar to what I brought to you about a month ago. This has now been updated to show a 2% decline year-over-year in the weighted student count. Now, there is a misconception that the weighted student count and the average daily membership are the same thing, and they are not. So, weighted student count includes increases that we receive for additional weights in students who are
117identified with disabilities, English language learners, or students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch. Those numbers have remained stable and have remained the same, which has offset the overall decrease in the average daily membership. Nevertheless, because we've now exceeded a 3 and 12% decline, I've moved my projection for average daily membership on a year-over-year decline from 1 and a half to 2%. So, this reflects an updated final balance through fiscal year 30 that now exceeds $33 million if this trend continues. Now, this assumes a couple of things. This assumes that there is no new revenue coming from the state. There is no expectation at this point that the state legislature will bail out any school district that is in any financial harm. Moreover, we have ongoing expenditures beyond just payroll. 90% of our
118budget is people and unfortunately at some point people will be touched. Our budget balance carry forward as you can see by the end of fiscal year 27 will be completely wiped out. We will no longer have money to do ongoing things. We will also remove the capital dollars that have been transferred from capital to M after the end of next school year, the 2627 school year. All that being said, we will continue to to bleed dollars unless we maintain our level of enrollment or increase revenues or decrease expenditures. This without the override. As I mentioned previously in presentations to all of you, the override was not ever meant to be a saving grace for the district. The commitments that we made to the voters were everything that the voters have passed and we will put
119into effect in the next school year. It was not meant ever to be a band-aid to cover the deficit. We were going to take care of that on our own. So what are the budget realignments? Number one, currently we are proposing $3.6 million in central budget reductions. The risk management and utilities department will not see a decrease. This is for obvious reasons. We continue to see increases specifically in the utility side. Uh we are expecting at some point a for up to a 14% increase from Tucson Electric Power. As I've mentioned before, we pay the same commercial rates that Caterpillar pays. There is no exemption for school districts. We have to pay the same thing. Now the exceptional education facilities intercolastics and school safety departments will see a decrease of 2%. Their combined amount is
120just under $786,000. All remaining departments will be decreased by 7% to the tune of $2.8 million. Next, the elimination of all regional substitute teacher itinerant positions. So, these are essentially what are called full-time substitute teachers that have become rovers assigned to different schools and they're assigned to different regions. Every region has between two and three positions. We currently have 15 and a half positions. Eight of them are currently filled. By eliminating all 15 and a half, we will reduce the budget by $914,000. Next, the closure of the customer service center within the operations division. There are [clears throat] 17 positions that are currently affected. 16 of them are currently filled. This will save the budget approximately $1.1 million. Next, the elimination of the Santa Cruz region or region 2 office. This is the office of
121the regional assistant superintendent for Santa Cruz. Uh, this will save about $223,000 by eliminating the regional assistant superintendent position, the assigned administrative secretary position, and the entire operating budget for that department. Next, the centralization and the reduction of all attendance and registration texts, approximately $1 million. This affects all schools except high schools. The new formula would be 600 students to one FTE. We currently have just over 90 just under 94 FTE. The new FTE would be about 65 and there would be a loss of under 29 FTE across the district. The new formula sets a minimum of a half-time position at all schools that are impacted. Schools with a 3/4 time or 75 attendance tech would retain their position while schools who have a half-time position would be put into a job sharing model with
122another school. Next, departmental eliminations in the curriculum and instruction division, $426,000. The consolidation of the functions of the multicultural department integrated into the culturally relevant pedigogy and instruction department. This would eliminate the director, the program coordinator, the admin assistant, all of the operating expenses except for the the professional development academic trainer assigned for that department would be transferred to CRPI. So that is the only position that would continue in a new in a new department. The elimination of the senior director of magnet programs with the current oversight of the department managed by the existing program manager for magnet programs. That position has been vacant since Mr. Terravati left. Um there is currently an existing program manager who's carried on the duties with the support of Dr. Hwitt in the curriculum and instruction division. The recommendation
123is to no longer fill the senior director position going forward. The next steps as Dr. Thruio has mentioned we would come back to you on March 10th. Departments are currently working on detail line item detail to present to you on what how they will implement cuts because they will be affecting they will be affecting people and they will be affecting operating expenditures. Uh department heads are putting together those proposed plans. They are due to my department by Monday. Um these will be presented to the board on March 10th and we will publish what every department head is recommending to the board in order to cut to cut. Now this affects only departments that have non desegregation M budgets. So if you're a department that is entirely funded by desegregation dollars you are not affected. If
124you are a department who has some desegregation funding only the portion that is non deseg is affected. The calculation is based on central department level budgets and not allocations to schools. So for example, the exceptional education department has a 2% cut. Their their budget is over $50 million. However, the calculation of their 2% is based only on $18 million in expenditures within their department. so that the actual dollars at the schools remain intact to the in you know to the to the in uh to the extent that those positions and those services are needed for the students at the individual schools. We are currently in the process of finalizing all proposed school budgets for the fiscal year 27th and we expect to have that process completed by the end of next week. Um we will
125determine at that point the savings that will happen from teacher FTE attrition due to enrollment changes. We know that nearly a 4% decline will mean fewer teachers, but our focus is going to be on closing positions that are vacant. So through attrition and not through reduction. And so as we complete that process by the end of next week, we will start compiling that in order to figure out what now is the goal that has come about through teacher attrition. So in summary, these are the recommendations for fiscal year 27. Um, as I, you know, and I'll reiterate them, the elimination of the regional itinerant substitute teachers, the elimination of the customer support center and the associated positions, the centralization and reduction of attendance and registration technicians, the elimination of the one regional assistant superintendence office,
126the merger of the multicultural curriculum and culturally relevant pedigogy and instruction departments, the elimination of the senior director of magnet programs, and last, we would recommend that the Governing board direct the budget advisory committee to begin the process of exploring school consolidations and reconfigurations beginning in the 2728 school year. The savings at this point have not been determined until the factors and the schools have been identified. Once that process is underway, we'll be able to actually identify what those dollars would be. But we are recommending that that process begin now for the 2728 school year. All told, items one through six would generate 3.7 million of the $10 million that we are looking to recoup for the next fiscal year. With that, I will take your questions. Thank you, Mr. Hernand. Just want to clarify
127before turning over to my governing board colleagues with the recommendations. Can you go back a slide? We'll keep it on this slide here. Uh, so the recommendations tonight before us don't include the department level cut. So, it's going to come back to us March 10th. So there you mentioned a number of different cuts and everything that you had mentioned is in this recognition except for the provinial level cuts, >> right? We will bring those back on the 10th when we have the detailed department by department. >> Okay, Miss Oxram, >> thank you Dr. Shaw. Uh so can you explain to me the uh the merge of the multicultural department and CRPI because I was under the impression this was all from DEG budget. So those position the position of the director, the admin assistant and
128the program coordinator are DEG funded. However, the DEG dollars would not disappear. What we would do is find eligible expenses within the M budget that are also eligible for DEG in order to free up M. So we're not using DEG to balance the budget. We're using M to balance it by moving expenses that become eligible. So we have for example language acquisition teachers um EL teachers to dual language teachers that are paid by regular ML that potentially could go in there. We have teachers in GATE and AL that could also go in there. So we would explore other expenses that are eligible to be funded from DEG in order to free up ML. >> What were the two positions that are defunded from DEG again? >> So there are three that are so there are
129four but three of them are the ones being eliminated. There's the director of multicultural >> That's from DEG, the administrative assistant, the program coordinator, and then the PDAT, the professional development academic trainer. But that PDAT would not be uh closed. That PDAT would just be moved along with that person to the CRPI department. And we did get a lot of questions about the elimination of the regional assistant superintendent. I know that I had asked questions about how schools would be um reconfigured in the in a new plan. Um, I just have a real hard time because I feel like principles were not asked how this would affect them, what it looks like. Again, I feel like we're being reactive instead of proactive. I think if we put out everything and are more transparent, we may
130not have all of this upheaval. People would have would know what is going on from the get-go. So, I think putting this out there on Friday and people figuring out what's going to happen to my school and to my region, I think we did a disservice to our community. [applause] Miss Shaw, >> thank you for the presentation and I wholeheartedly agree with Miss Extramm. You know, the information came out um just within the last few days. Of course, we've been getting um information in this executive session, but um it's easier to understand and digest once it's like consolidated in a PowerPoint and we get all the um extra materials that can help us understand. plus um having the community uh speak on the impact that these potential cuts will have on our school sites. Um
131and so I do think we need to do better due diligence and putting out information and like just a study item before um you know we alarm the community. Um what more it should be really in a full package. I know tea spoke about how we need to have like a long scale plan instead of doing these incremental cuts um one board meeting to another. [applause] And so like you know I don't want to have everyone have to come back and keep advocating for things that I think hopefully the majority of us um aren't going to support. But um I hope in the future that we can just have a long-term plan that the community can digest um and provide feedback for and then we can think about it and then come to a vote.
132>> Mr. Romero, >> so excuse me a couple things. Uh first of all, it was mentioned Dr. Ravi mentioned like so the other departments for their cuts is not on this list. One of the things that I know we had last time and it really I guess maybe we didn't give them the assignment correctly. We are asking for a 7% reduction, not asking for more money. I want to make sure that none of the departments come back saying we're so important but we need more money. That's not the assignment. If you do that again, you get an F. It's kind of like we do in our schools. We need to make sure that these departments cut 7% minimum. That's just not acceptable. Last go around was terrible. One of the issues on here, again, we're
133going to have to make some cuts. We understand people are behind these things. I had the great opportunity to read at one of our elementary schools um for level reading. Um the principal was busy doing principal things. The office manager was also busy. I rang the doorbell. We had our uh attendance clerk who uh who buzzed me in. Um because nobody else was available. This isn't the first time this has happened. This happened to I went to another school where it was on the south side and uh same type of thing. Principal was doing their thing, office manager doing their thing because they had this extra body in there. They were able to do these things. Yes, maybe not so much at the high schools where they have a lot more bodies. But when you
134start shifting some of these responsibilities, especially when these these these kids and families are coming in and that's the first person they see. And when I've been waiting for principles when I do my school visits, um, these attendance people know these kids by name. >> They they they know they know the parents by name. >> They're not just a body taking numbers. to build relationships with everybody that comes in that door, whether it be someone that's there or wants their kid to come to these schools. I couldn't mentioned it before during the call to the audience because we could only do two at one time. I understand we want to keep money, you know, keep uh things away from our classrooms, but I think things that take direct uh impact on our schools like that
135position um should be kind of hands off first until we can find other things. One one of the great things I think by having this even though it came up out of the blue maybe to some I got so much positive impact from principles saying hey let's talk about this hey let's look at these other areas where we can save some money. They're coming up with solutions. Yes, they want to keep their people that they have at their schools. A lot of them realize we need to start looking at consolidating schools, closing some of these things down where it makes sense. Again, these are all going to be hard decisions that we're going to have here. I want to thank all those that reached out to all of us to advocate. And the nice thing
136is we're not just saying, "Hey, don't touch this." It says, "Hey, let's have a have a discussion. Let's have a conversation. let us keep these people. Let's look at other areas where we're willing to sacrifice things, but we don't want to sacrifice inside of our schools. So, again, looking at some of these things, I know one of them is a regional, and that's going to be difficult. You know, uh most of us know him personally. He's got a great relationship with a lot of our schools. Unfortunately, our enrollment's down. We're we're not the same district. can afford all these positions that we had 5 10 years ago. We've we've not downsized. We've not made these tough decisions back then. Um we're going to have to make some of these cuts. Um but I know one
137of the ones that I'm going to have a hard time even bending a little bit on would be our uh registration and attendance section. [applause] Thank you, Dr. Shaw. Um, and thank you for everybody coming and thank you, Mr. None. So, I'm uh one question, well, two questions really. Uh I'm assuming because the liaison to the budget advisory committee and know we we just went through a huge exercise of what we're uh the board wanted the budget committee to oversee. So what were your thoughts and and maybe perhaps this is a bigger conversation also with Dr. Trillo on wanting to see what the BAC would um what's the future for them in terms of what what kind of items they would be looking at. >> No, that's a great question. In when you talk about
138the long-term plan, there was only one long-term plan. We have to reimagine our physical footprint. This district is not a declining enrollment district. We're a declining enrollment district on the east. There's population growth on the southwest where we're not. And the question of what to do over in a sector of the district that's not growing is going to be the challenge of our times. That's the long-term plan. Otherwise, you will be in a series of budget seasons. And we can have budget hearing after budget hearing. I've been in TUSD for almost 10 years. When you get in front of a group of parents and employees in a community forum or a budget study session and you say, "I'm going to even take a half of a resource away from this school, you will get the
139advocacy that you get tonight." And rightly so. That's that's just we can make the process longer. We can have listening sessions. We can continue to do that. When you start taking resources, even if they're distanced, if it results in the diminishment of service to schools, you're going to get advocacy. This is why these moments are so difficult. And the way that you start to deal with those moments is you have a long-term plan for growing revenue in the district. And that involves reimagining our footprint and starting to shift the district over to areas where housing is going up, where housing is cheaper, where the K12 families are starting to move. and that's over in the south and the southwest. Um, and budget advisory committee is a governing board appointed committee. It's already been tasked with
140looking at financial recommendations for the district. It's already been appointed by governing board members. It's already a well seasoned group that I think could be in the position uh board member Luna Rose to really start looking at proposals and doing cost projections before uh they're coming to the governing board or before we're presenting publicly uh in all of the required pieces that would have to happen through public transparency before any final decisions are made. >> Okay. Actually, that's the only question I had. Thank you, >> Mr. Romero. And kind of going back to something that was mentioned earlier regarding the customer uh support center and I know the gentleman was talking about of our you know our missing kids on the bus and things of that nature. I know the customer support center was something
141that was newly put together in that space you know at 1010 for these things combining some things but we had a system in place before I'm guessing or or you know what does the again like I said we know so many people's positions are important even you don't think maybe the janitor is as important but if you have a toilet that's not working at a school everybody's friend is that guy who's going to fix, you know, the toilet over there. As far as things of that nature, where they're at, what is our vision for some of these things? >> Well, with the customer service, which was the original question, we would revert back to the older structure, which was the help desk. And so, those of us that have been around, remember the help desks
142in various departments, that's where you would go. So instead of going to one a one-stop shop situation by cover by calling into the customer service center, it's now I'm going to call into operations, I'm going to talk to Jana, she's going to give me an update on what's going on if I'm a principal with something related to HVAC or I'm going to call into transportation if I have uh questions on a route. We used to have precuss customer service center, we used to have staff members inside of transportation that worked exclusively for transportation and that would continue. they would have to have some customer assistance over there uh for route question. So that's the big difference between the older structure and the new structure that was created a few years ago. >> And are there
143positions available for some of these positions that we're talking about reducing? Again, I don't I think our registration one, you know, that's a whole different topic, but like on our customer support center, what do we have as far as other areas where those people that in those positions might be able to move to? Well, we do have um a soft hiring freeze right now to keep uh vacancies open for any employees that might be displaced by tonight's decisions so that we can get them into the district initiated transfer process into some of those open positions. Our process, we work really hard at making sure that um a position that might be available to an employee affected matches their same pay grade. Sometimes we can do that, sometimes it's lower and sometimes the employee has multiple
144opportunities to choose. Sometimes it's just a single opportunity. So, um, making sure that currently open positions uh, in district sort of classified positions remain open. We made that call a few weeks back just to try to make sure that we had plenty of opportunities if if we were going to have some of our employees affected tonight. >> Yeah. And I I think that would also again just want to reiterate to them. It's like it's not like we just want to be done. There is other spaces that are available um if you're willing uh to to to do to do to do those positions because we do know you are of value uh to our district. Um but just knowing that um helps helps soften it. Again, everybody's job is important. We just have to make
145some tough calls right now. [clears throat] Thank you, Mr. Romero. So, um, say a couple of things. You know, I really appreciate all the work that's gone into this. Uh, and I think, uh, everyone here, I think most of you were out there knocking on doors for the override. Uh, and thank you for all of your advocacy uh, last fall and getting this override passed. uh we would be having very different conversations if the override didn't pass. That that couple year runway we have to make cuts would have been all this year. We would have to make $25 million of cuts like tomorrow if the override didn't pass. And I'm really glad we have the override. We're able to keep so many positions in our district uh expand some that are really going to be
146meaningful uh to our district. I know that you know my my I've been a Line and Weaver parent for eight years now uh with my oldest and now my twins uh in second grade at Linew Weaver. uh and every year it comes up how we're going to keep our PE teacher uh and now we have a mechanism with the override to do so. Are we going to be able to maintain music in art programs? How are we able to keep all the reading interventionists and math interventionist positions uh that we have in our district counselors and social workers and so many more uh that are directly working with our students? And so I'm very just thankful for all of your hard work and the community for supporting the override and giving us this runway uh
147to really not make all the cuts in one year, but to make some decisions over the course of the next couple of years to address some of the financial strains of our district. Uh and I said this last board meeting and I'll say it again. You know, I we we the reason that we are a high-risisk district is because we had $45 million in savings and we use those savings to keep programs and services in place for our students. We kept positions. We kept uh giving salary increases year after year even with the deficit budget uh thanks to the savings that we were able to uh acrewue over the pandemic. And so I make no apologies for using the savings we had to meet the needs of our students and schools uh and staff around
148our district. Uh and yes, that means that we're a high-risisk district. And I think this is a first step in terms of making sure that we uh start making some budget cuts, moving capital money back into capital. Uh making sure we address some of these positions tonight. Uh often times when uh folks come out here to our meetings, I I talk about the sea of red and how thankful I am for the sea of red of TEA members uh and others to come in advocating for issues in our schools. um making sure that you know you're on the ground seeing what's going on you know and and coming to our schools day in day out uh for all of our students here with you know four parents on the dis uh you know shout out
149to Miss Belvadier the attendance clerk at linew weaver who has been opening the door for me whenever I'm there to pick up my kids and I'll be there tomorrow pick up kids a few minutes early to take them out to rodeo weekend um and you know I really appreciate all the advocacy I think I think tonight would have been very different uh if it wasn't for all the emails and phone calls and everyone out here tonight advocating for your schools and positions. Uh that really makes a difference in terms of the work that we're doing here on the governing board. >> Miss Shaw, when items like these come back, uh Mr. Mr. Hernandez, I would like, you know, before we start at the school level at things like uh the attendance clerks that we really
150put on the chopping block the non-essential parts of our budget, like travel, like staff going to conferences. That should just be eliminated across the board, including our governing board, [applause] like the dues and memberships that are 200,000 a year. get rid of it, you know, before we consider um cutting staff. Um I mean, there's a lot that we've done that I've even voted for, like the $1 million contract for the landscapers. I think it was Bright View, like let the grass grow wild if we can keep positions in our schools. [applause] So, I really don't want to vote on this tonight, but I think we may uh divide the question and and vote on specific things that we know some of us aren't going to support. Um so that you know we can uh calm
151the nerves of the people. Um >> of course, not yet. So there's no reason to invite a question. We have no motion on the table right now. Uh and so um you know what we can decide. We have a we have a menu here of seven items uh to to vote on potentially tonight. Uh and so I'll make the first motion to approve the recommendations as recommended minus um item number three which is the attendance and registration clerks. >> So I'm sorry taking out all of them or voting on all of them with the exception of taking out three. >> Correct. I will move the item. >> Okay. Well, I moved in. So, >> Oh, I will second. Sorry. >> Okay. So, we have a motion on the floor with a second. So, the motion
152is to approve the recommendations as presented minus the centralization reduction of attendance and registration texts. >> Um, I'd like to make a substitute motion. Okay. >> Um, and please uh guide me if I'm doing this incorrectly. Um, I would like to remove that was number number two. Sorry, I'm trying to find it on which I'll wait this slide. Sorry, I can't see that very well. Um, yes. >> Well, thank you. [laughter] Um, I don't think that we should eliminate the uh customer service center now that I've heard everything that they do, all of the calls that they get like 50,000 calls, 20,000 just in this school year. Like, come on. Helping to find lost kids like Val Romero. Um, [laughter] >> it it is really important. So, I appreciate you all uh talking about what
153you do and and guiding us in these uh difficult moments. Um you know, and I'm also having some issues with um the removal of the uh regional assistant superintendent. Like what's going to happen to that region if he's gone? Like who's going to take it over? There's just a lot of questions that we have not been given the answer to and it is a high need area. [applause] So I I would like to also remove so number four the number three four and two. Yeah. And even five like I'm still unsure. I'm sorry. like I'm just not sure, you know, cuz we just don't have the full information. So, I would like to to remove five for now as well. So, that's my motion in a very strange way. >> SECOND. [applause] SO, it looks
154like there's a lot of unanswered questions tonight and I think we're eliminating uh like twothirds of any budget cuts. Um, and so what I'll do, I'll do a substitute motion. This is a study action item for this uh to come back to us, the entire package to come back to us along with the departmental cuts. Um, so I don't think we're really making any difference on like actually addressing addressing the budget issues here. Can can we at least to vote on the customer or I'm sorry the attendance and registration tax on >> we have a second attendance >> you don't have a second Dr. shop for your third one. >> Number three, >> your second motion. >> I'm I'm sorry. What's that? >> I don't think anyone seconded your motion to table it, right? >>
155Well, there was it was So, what what is the role the board tonight? I didn't understand your um comment, Jennifer, and what you wanted to do. >> I mean, if we want to come back and get more information, I'm all for that. But I think we need to just take off the table right now the attendance and REGISTRATION TAX. AND THE customer service center and the REGIONAL [laughter] just a quick question. Is it again I don't not looking at this as one full thing I don't think is realistic. I think if we're going to vote on things, we [music] need to look at it line item by line item um and address it that way because each line item affects a certain part of our, you know, of our district versus saying one and three
156and two and four nothing D. I think to make some movement on here and then also close some concerns we have from our community And I don't know if I need to do this as a motion or not. I think a good way for us to approach this would look at it line item by line item. For those that want to vote on some of these things, we can do it that way. If we need some more information, um I think like uh uh um Miss Shaw was mentioning, you know, regional assistant, what does that look like if this person leaves? Um, again, I know we need to make these cuts, but at the same time, she has some questions and so do our principles in that region when he's gone, if he's gone, what
157that future looks like. So, I would be in favor of looking at some of these things so we have movement moving forward, closure on some other things that we don't want to touch, and then coming back with those that we need more information on. >> [applause] >> Dr. Jill. >> Yeah, I think it's it's my responsibility just really to bring as much clarity as I possibly can. These are permanent reductions. There is no comprehensive plan. For example, number one, that's a permanent reduction. Those regional itinerant subs, the plan is they can call every day and get jobs. That that that's it. it that the regional sub exists right now as an in-house option that we have on retainer that we can assign jobs every single day. If that position ceases to exist, they go back
158into the daily subpool. So there is no plan that's just it just goes there and they're free to call in and take daily jobs. uh when you look at the consolidation of multicultural and culturally relevant pedagogy and instruction, it will then become the culturally relevant pedigogy instruction department and they will absorb the responsibilities of the multicultural department as it was in its major functions. That one of course involves a PIA that's out there and it's posted publicly. So we're we're more than happy to come back. When you look at four, that's just downsizing administration, which is what we've heard for three years that it's too bloated and we're trying to cut and there is no plan there because it's a permanent reduction. It just means that the remaining schools in that region, they would be
159assigned three or four at a time to the remaining assistant superintendent, the four that we have. So, their case loads would go up, but it's administration. We're supposed to set the example. We're supposed to work harder with less. So the regional assistant superintendent that have a case load of like 16 schools absorbing the Santa Cruz region, it would probably go up to like 20 or 21. And that's just a function of administrative reduction. So we're happy to come back, but there's not going to be sort of a comprehensive plan just because the nature of of the recommendation is permanent reduction. It means start at administration, cut, work with less and reimagine your workflow. So that's that's really what we'll come back with. >> And if I could clarify, number one, uh the regional itinerant substitute
160teachers are fully certified teachers. I mean, we just call them regional itinerant subs because they are essentially itinerant in a region. If those positions don't exist, they go into the teacher pool. They're fully eligible, depending on their certification, to jump into a vacant teacher position at any one of the schools. Right? So, it's not even about them wanting to go back to being a temporary sub. These are full-time, fully certified that are eligible for classroom positions tomorrow if that's what they want to be. And we have had that. If you look at some of the HR listings that you've approved, there are regional itinerary subs who have moved into permanent jobs throughout the year. So, with number one, it it's a savings, but ultimately they be they stay teachers wherever they want to go. >>
161So, uh I want to ask two questions. Uh first of all, so there's proposal of $3.7 million in cuts tonight. If uh if less is made and a significant less is made, um what would be the plan in terms of how to make cuts in the district? We would then propose that instead of 7% reductions to departments that we go to and we'll be doing exactly what the community said go straight into district administr um we'll go straight down every administrative department uh finance HR uh transportation but what I've said a lot of times and I know it's people like to say admin well admin encompasses all your outside of the school spending so even when you're starting starting at the furthest distances of the classroom and you're cutting district administration, you're still ultimately affecting
162services to schools, you're still ultimately displacing individuals in some of those positions. So, it would just be a different group of individuals that we would have to consider. Um because a lot of those departments have school and employee facing services. It would be very hard to go to our IT leader Robbie Hamadi and say you need to do another 3% on top of the 7% and him not touching school-f facing positions like IT techs that are out there helping with classroom technology. And we would see that in grounds, we would see that in transportation. So it it just moved me in a deeper cut uh into administration and the different administrative departments. >> And just back of the napkin math, if you will, um based on uh Miss Shaw's substitute motion of 2, three, and
163four, the cuts would actually have to go up to 12 or 13%. Um and and the cuts for the 2% departments would have to go up to three or four. So, because that's the only way to balance out the fact that I no longer have about $2.5 million out of a $3.7 million cut. Um, so it it' be anywhere between 12 and 14 for the 7% anywhere between two and three for the two or any anywhere between three and four for the 2%. Xed, fine arts, intercolastic, school safety, and facilities. >> And my second question, um, can you talk more about the customer service support center? Can you mention earlier about what how we would substitute that or what what's your plan? What's their plan with all the work that they're doing? >> The plan
164is then every department would then have its own designated position that would field inquiries and concerns from parents or employees which was the former structure. The former structure was that transportation had its own in-house customer service team that they would field transportation related calls. We would go back to that model. operations department would have their own help desk. We would have to set up the help desk there and they would be taking uh operations related inquiries and concerns, following up on work orders, anything that was generated, it would be the same thing uh over in HR in our other divisions. The concept behind the customer service center was instead of doing all that and having an employee try to contact six or seven different places, why not just house it all at 1010, reconfigure the
165basement, get a team of people in there that could be a one-stop shop for all of these different areas and that could move the levers of the district. So how life will change is that uh employees now will have to know five or six different points of contact for different departments to try to get the assistance. And that was the former structure that we had. One one structure that we didn't have that we do have now with the implementation of the bond is the dashboards. So the work order dashboards that every principal now has access to not only includes bond work orders but includes non-bond work orders and those are fed through the ticketing systems that are currently in existence that supplement the customer support center. So there would be other sources of information to
166inform sites about the progress of their work. So my substitute motion uh failed for lack of a second. I'll make a another motion to divide the question so that we vote on all seven items separately. >> Okay. So item is um moved by myself, seconded by Miss Extramm. So all those in favor of dividing the question say I >> I. Any opposed? Right. That passes 5-0. Uh any further discussion before we start voting each item? >> I have one more question. So with the multicultural department, um I'm and then the elimination of the magnet director, I'm assuming curriculum and instruction is reconfiguring how they're doing their department, correct? >> Yes, they are. >> So when will we see that? >> Uh March 10th when we get into departments. >> Okay. And my other my concern
167with the elimination of this uh the regional superintendent, I understand that it's a cut, but these schools that are under this umbrella don't know who is going where they're going. So, I imagined, and I may be incorrect, that it would all be broken up again and schools would be in different regions, but that's not what you're saying. You're saying that um Linarchas could go to the Arcadia region and um Van Busker would go to AO Chico. So, they would be divied up that way. No, they would just simply be assigned different supervisors. So all of your regional assistant superintendent carry out the same essential functions. >> I understand. >> They're just going to be assigned a different supervisor. Okay, that's that's that's all that's going to happen. Nothing. There's no going to be no geographical
168shift of that nature. >> Okay, I just want to >> Okay. Um let's start. I'm going to do a roll call vote on all seven of these items. We'll start with number one. Elimination of the regional itinerant substitute teachers, a saving of about $900,000. Mr. Po, we'll do roll calls on each of these. >> Miss Extramm, >> yes. >> Miss Luna Rose, >> yes. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item passes 5-0. On number two, elimination of the customer service support center and associated position savings about $1.1 million. >> Miss Extramm. >> Yes. >> Miss Luna Rose. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item passes 40. Uh, next is uh centralization and reduction of attendance and registration
169tax a savings about $1 million. >> Her mic. >> There we go. >> Go. Um, I voted no on. >> Yes, I said four 41. Did I say 4? >> 4. Okay, it's 41. Excuse me. >> Miss Bad number three. >> Miss, >> no. >> Miss Luna Rose, >> no. >> Mr. Rometos, >> no. >> Miss Shaw, >> no. >> Dr. Ravi, >> no. Item pass fails 05. Uh number four. >> Item four, eliminate one regional superintendent uh office savings of about $200,000. >> Miss Extramm. >> No. >> Miss Una Rose, >> yes. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> no. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item pass is 32. Uh, next is number five. Merge multicultural curriculum and culturally relevant pedigogy and instruction savings about 300,000. >> Miss Extra, >> no. >>
170Miss Luna Rose, >> yes. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> no. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item passes 32 and final. Oh, second to last, we have eliminate senior director of magnet programs position savings about 130,000. >> Miss Extram, >> no. >> Miss Rose, >> yes. >> Mr. Romeos. >> Yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item passes 41. And finally, direct the budget advisory committee to begin the process to explore school consolidations and reconfigurations for the 2728 school year. >> Miss Extram, >> no. >> Miss Rose, >> yes. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Sha, >> yes. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item passes 41. Uh thanks again everyone for all your advocacy for your schools. Uh and a lot of tough decisions were made tonight.
171Um and a lot of tough decisions are are ahead. Uh and uh we'll take a quick fivem minute break. Yeah, thank you. Robert I think we're all connecting you guys. I'm buying your hair from like far away. I was like, who is that? I love her hair. [laughter] >> Looks great. Oh, I mean you are you're like always This is the problem with the this is on. If this closed is going to make it so we have to just leave it like this if nobody's here for him. He need to turn off if he doesn't. Yeah. And so I think probably we can cut it here. So he remind him it's so middle school. >> It's going to take some Oh my god. Thank you. I forgot. And I said this is [laughter] >> Yeah,
172that's what I've been doing this whole time. I was texting my sister. Yeah. Well, we've got one stud. >> Good evening, >> Polar. >> No, it's gonna happen um All right, we're going to get started back with our meeting. Mr. Romero, if you're can hearing distance, uh we're going to make a I'm going to propose an agenda adjustment uh as we continue on. Uh 8.7 approval on the American policy and procedures should be very quick. Is there any objection? Seeing none, I take announcement consent for that objection. Uh agenda, take a second to talk here. Uh I'll take that as unanimous consent for that agenda adjustment. Uh so next on our agenda will be 8.7 approval of the Native American policies and procedures for TUSD, Dr. Trillo. >> Welcome our director for Native American student
173services, uh Roxan Bay James, and our assistant superintendent, Mr. Amenta, for this item. Governing Roy, President Shaw, thank you for the opportunity to come back. I know last time we were here, there's several questions that you had. Um, and I wanted to make sure that we had the expert, uh, especially in this area. So, I wanted to bring back Rox, Miss Roxan Deay, who oversees the Native American Department. I also want to inform the governing board that I did reach out personally to, um, uh, the director of, uh, of the educational department at, um, Basuayaki tribe, Mr. Romero. So he is aware that we are here doing this tonight. Um so I do want to let you know that I have been in correspondence with him to ensure that there is true collaboration and continued
174transparency of what we're doing uh with the board. I will turn it over to Miss Roxan Beay to give you the uh update on the policies and procedures of Native American. >> Good evening governing board members. Dr. Trio, um legal council was thank you. Um from the last governing board meeting, I know there were some questions that came about um regarding specifically the plan getting feedback from our um Yaki parents, our community partners. And so what I did was I went ahead and shared with you governing board um the process that we take. I know that tribal consultation will be coming up. We are preparing the data to be released to our Yaki families and of course they're going to provide us with feedback. In addition to that um as a part of my program,
175the Native American student student services program, we also get to be uh have feedback from all of our families as well. And so that's something that we do in addition to getting feedback from our Yaki families. And so that is something that we are currently um going to be preparing for. Um, in addition to that, there were some questions regarding the Native American Education Advisory Committee. Um, we I spoke with the uh committee members. Um, and I appreciate your questions, Miss Shaw, regarding the location of the advisory committee on our website. So, we worked um internally and we were able to get them right front and center. They have their own tab. We have our meeting agenda and we have our meeting minutes. They're located as well. And then finally, um there was a a
176discussion regarding um the KPYT, the Pascoyaki Tribes radio uh station. In the past, we've been able to partner with them. Um they have come to our opening house um every year at the beginning of the year. Um and I believe they may be experiencing some turnover. So, we haven't heard from them, but definitely we will continue to be able to partner with them. Um, and so, um, at this time I wanna if there's some questions you might have regarding, um, the Native American policies and procedures. >> Thank you, Miss Beay. Miss Sha, >> thank you so much for um, coming here with those um, answers to [snorts] my questions. I know we spoke on Monday um, and you gave me some background information about the change in leadership over at the tribe. Um, >> Michelle,
177I'm having trouble hearing you. I'm not sure. No, my mic is Do I have to sit next to restaurant? [snorts] >> I'll be normal. >> Is anyone's mic working? Okay. Well, >> hello. >> Hi. Um, so thank you for answering the questions that I had. So, you said that um the plan is out and you're still getting feedback. So the Native American policies and procedures, we have to engage in this uh sharing of data every single year, right? Um and so currently I'm working with assessment and evaluation. They're getting the data together. Um and then we're going to be sharing the data with our families. So that's currently in the works. We'll be sharing that with our families within the next two weeks. >> Okay. So it seems like we're not ready to vote on
178this item yet then. >> Oh, no. You can go ahead and vote. What you're voting on is just the process. I see. Okay. Well, I appreciate you making those modifications to the website so that the information is front and center. Um, and then when you do get that feedback, please do, you know, send it to us so that we can review it. Um, because, you know, I certainly want to be able to better serve those students and understand their needs and, you know, pivot if if we need to. So, um, I'll move the item. >> I'll second. Um, I would just like to say that um I'm glad that this is coming forward to um to be able to work together with the tribe. I think it's a really great opportunity for us. >> Our
179item is moved by Miss Shaw, second by Miss Extra. Any further comments? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Item passes 5-0. Thank you. >> Are we moving on to um 8.8 or 9.2 first? Which one do we decide was going next? I believe it was the employee benefits. >> Yeah, because we're going up to Phoenix after this, right? >> Yes. >> All right, we'll do 9.2 next. Uh, approval of employees benefits for the 2627 school year. Yes, President uh Shaw, members of the governing board, uh last board meeting we did a study session on what the employee benefits trust recommendations would be uh to you uh in terms of a an employee benefits package uh had an opportunity the last two weeks um to uh hear from employees I think
180through the um the healthcare forum that was hosted by Dr. Shaw and some of you did attend here to walk us through uh tonight's recommendations again. Uh John Fernandez, chief human capital officer and I do believe we have Mr. Pedra. Are you here from uh Valley Schools? Right. Here we are. Okay. All right. Mr. Fernandez. >> All right. So join joined of course by CFO Ricky Hernandez, Rosie Liddesa from our benefits office, uh Mr. Ken Hicks and Elvis Betta from Valley Schools. Um so the presentation we gave this is the same presentation as last time but in the but in the interim had an opportunity to attend and hear from employees through a forum um hosted by our employee groups. So TEA, ASME, Eli CWA uh and their members Dr. Shaw and several of you
181as well were there. So we want to thank you for listening in. Um, and ultimately, you know, I think the we have a lot of work to do going forward, but the presentation you're seeing before you kind of restates what the employee benefits trust uh recommended when it met earlier in February, and that is to again approve the three current medical plans uh that we currently offer for employees. Uh the estimated costs of benefits projected to increase by 12.3%. So that's another 5.8 million. Um and the you know the board has been able to support um and the trust able to support subsidies. So employee premiums have remained flat for the last five years. Um but this year due to the requirement to maintain at least a six a minimum of a sixmonth uh reserve
182to cover anticipated claims um for that six-month period. the EBT did not approve um any reserves to be available for subsidies given that the projection was to have at least maybe $400,000 in excess of the minimum level. But at the same time, that's just a projection and we still have to get through the rest of the year to see whether we are above or below uh that reserve level. So at the end of the day, in a conservative fashion to meet that requirement, the EBT did not approve any available subsidies. So that's the general uh renewal proposal. Um ultimately it comes down to how this plays out in terms of premiums. So these are the premium changes. Uh the top table is current and the the the blue table is projected. And so you'll see
183there are increases that employees will see uh from you know this year to next. Um again it's it'll it'll catch it'll catch employees up to a fully unsubsidized rate. Um which means um again for the for they haven't seen the increase the employees haven't seen increases since you know for the past 5 years but now this will be sort of the true unsubsidized rate. Um and again the district will continue to contribute its share of that total premium based on the chart that you see at. So I'm going to go ahead and stop there because that just was those are the summary uh in general the summary points from the proposal and see if you have any questions. Uh I did I know last time it was a study act study info. Uh I think
184this you know this um meeting we're we're requesting uh approval because April is our open enrollment period. And so the time between now and April we have to kind of prepare to ensure that employees are offered the opportunity to elect benefits for the coming school year. So with that I'll close and see if there are any questions. Um, so it's been a really like tough couple of weeks looking at this. Um, and u my thanks to our our board leaison to the DBT, Miss Luna Rose for all of her work behind the scenes um on this thing. Um, you know, I I was proud the last five years we've been able to eliminate any increases to the insurance uh using ESER money uh in in a way that made an impact for our employees and
185staff. Uh and then being a member of the the board leaison to the employees benefits trust really looking at that reserves the six-month reserves and how much over and under we were and being able to advocate to use the reserves that we had to continue supporting the increase in costs. Uh but the costs are going up so much 8 10 12 16% some years uh over the last couple of years. Um and um you know I I just I'm proud of this governing board for really figuring out how to how to meet these needs. I think one of our first meetings uh that I was in in 2021 uh in the pandemic we were still on Zoom uh fighting to make sure that we eliminate cost increase for our employees and I'm glad we've been
186able to do that the last couple of years uh before uh before tonight's uh uh proposal. >> This one arose. >> Thank you Dr. Shaw. Hi Mr. Fernandez. um more of a comment. Um I just wanted to thank your work and the work of the EBT because you guys really hashed it out and I know this is not going to this is a challenge. Um and uh I know like for me personally, I'm I'm going to be seeing an increase in our own personal family uh health insurance. So I I think this is across the board in any agency or anywhere you are right now in the United States. So, um I'm uh I know that the vote needs to be made, but I just wanted to uh make those who are listening um known
187that this was not made lightly, these changes. Um and there was I think 10 different ways this Sunday to try to see if there was a way to keep it from uh increasing, but this is where we are. So, uh again, I just wanted to thank everybody for their work. Thank you, Miss Extra. >> Uh, thank you for the information and being the new liaison to the EBT. I was at the last meeting and basically, you know, employees have to eat this cost because of what of, you know, there's no other funds to fund our insurance. Um, but I do think as a district we need to do better. um and find something that's more affordable. Um and I just I just can't support this tonight. Um it's just it's just too much of a
188huge jump uh for me to support. So I'm going to vote no. >> So can we just also add like how So this is a cost increase for our staff, but the district is also increasing its cost to the tune of over $4 million. >> Yes. So, we had a very long conversation about the budget um just a few minutes ago and built into our budget and one of the reasons why we had to cut even more this year going into next year was because of all these things that we had to build into our budget for the 2627 school year including a $4 million plus increase onto our is it just m $4 million are throughout our budget. So that includes DSA, Title One, all of our budgets are are seeing this $4 million
189increase uh coming in for for TUSD and the more we do on TUSD. I mean, it's all it's all a balance, right? How much are we going to do on on TUSD? How much are we going to do uh on the employees? What other cuts are we going to make uh and we saw how difficult it is to make any cuts tonight? Uh what are we going to do as a district to mitigate this? And there isn't another option. I don't and Valley Schools can attest to this. I don't see anybody else in our region [clears throat] anywhere else doing anything different in terms of finding things don't exist as someone who works in the field there's like I see different insurance programs come in through my own patients there really isn't anything right now
190that exists um beyond the major carriers to manage this everyone when I was EEO safe we were dealing with you know huge double digit increases there for our 120 employees and let alone our 7,000 or you know 6500 members that are on this insurance right now and and this is just the healthcare world we we live in right now until we get a singlepayer system or something that's better and different than what we have right now in this private system that we have. >> I appreciate your insight and I do understand that you work in the field. Um but we have three different healthcare plans. I just feel like there could be a way to look at maybe taking one away or, you know, something like that. I just feel like we're just towing the
191line. Um, and then just, you know, passing this on to our employees. And I understand what you're saying because I am seeing an increase in my insurance, but this coming, you know, just off an override, giving a, you know, a raise to our employees, I'm not sure what's going to be left after this. So, it's it's a very hard pill to swallow and I just cannot support it. >> So, that said, I'll move the item as presented tonight. >> I'll second. All right. Um, Miss Pablo, there's a roll call on this one. >> Miss Extra, >> no. >> Miss Luna Rose, >> yes. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> no. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item passes 32. And again, I appreciate your advocacy. This is not a good place. We don't
192want to increase costs for our employees, but you know, the costs are going up millions upon millions of dollars every single year. And you know, we had a forum last week. Uh thank you TEA for uh leading that forum along with our other union members. Uh we'll be looking for something different. You know, we're trying to reinvent the wheel or find something outside the box that could potentially mitigate some of these costs uh over time. Right. Thank you, Mr. Fernandez and Dicki Valley School for being here tonight. Our next on our agenda is item 8.8, acceptance of the 2425 fiscal year annual comprehensive financial report. caffer for the Tucson Unified School District. Mr. Hernand or Dr. Trio, Mr. Hernandez. >> Yes. So, it's good to see the the good folks from Heinfield Beach. There he
193is. Chris, hello. Good seeing you again. Want to welcome them. Um, and I want to welcome uh Mr. Hernandez to kick us off. This is our annual comprehensive u comprehensive annual financial report. As I mentioned during budget reduction, I think you're going to see a lot of the same information that was communicated by the auditor general um which is a lot of the same financials that were reviewed by our external auditors. So with that, I'll I'll turn it over to Mr. Hernandez. >> Thank you. Uh good evening again, board members. So yeah, uh this is the annual update to you, the governing board, uh on the uh annual comprehensive financial report or audited financial statements. Um I have uh Christopher Heinfeld who uh leads the audit for TUSD and then with him is uh Jill
194Shai. She is the managing partner uh one of the managing partners at Heinfield meets as well. And so they will um take it from here and then I've got a separate presentation right after they're done. Thank you. >> All right. Good evening governing board members. Dr. Trujillo. Thank you for having us here this evening to present on the annual comprehensive financial report um as well as the related audit. As mentioned, my name is Christopher Heinfeld and I'm with Heinfeld Meion Company and I'm joined here this evening by Jill Shaw, the managing partner of our firm. First, just a brief introduction of your engagement team and this was in a slide previously presented last year. I am the engagement partner. Um, I've got about 20 years of experience with this firm and have worked on over
195265 financial and compliance audits. The main liaison between our firm and the district personnel is Cara Curtis. She's a audit manager out of our off our Tucson office and she's also the engagement manager on the TUSD audit. She's got about 15 years of experience and worked on or supervised over 245 um compliance and financial audits. The next slide just presents the standards that guide the audits and specifically the financial reporting in the annual comprehensive financial report or ACER. Um there's the statement of auditing standards as well as government auditing standards and then the financial reporting is under the government um accounting standard board statements. Just some brief information about the audit. We began the audit this year in April of 2025 with the issuance of the engagement letter. [snorts] From May through December of 2025,
196we conducted various fieldwork weeks and performed various test works over those weeks as information became available to us. And then we provided a draft of the annual comprehensive financial report to management on February 10th, which was then subsequently reviewed by the audit committee. Some of the sensitive estimates that are included in this report include the assumptions used in the actuarial valuations for the pension plans as well as the assumptions used in the valuation of the incurred but not yet reported or IBNR claims. Uh some of the new pronouncements that were applicable this fiscal year related to Gatsby statement 101 and 102. Uh none of those standards though had a significant impact on the financial statements or note disclosures. Some of the non- audit services that we do perform for the district though include assisting with
197the preparation of the financial statements as well as the notes to the financial statements and this includes adjusting journal entries to take the district's records and convert them to the appropriate uh basis of accounting according to GAP. Um if we had any adjustments related to errors or misstatements, we'd let you know about those items. But um we've had no disagreements with management on the financial transactions or no disclosures that are included in this report. A brief summary of this comprehensive report. Page one starts the introductory section includes the transmitter letter, awards received by the district for financial reporting um the org chart and a list of principal officials. The following pa page, page 19 is our independent auditor's report in which we're issuing what we call an unmodified or clean audit opinion. Page 25 starts
198the management discussion and analysis section. This section is a year-to-year analysis of the district's financial statements. And we've got a few slides on that subsequent to this one. Really analyzing the district as a whole, but also on an individual fund level. That's an unodudited section, but we do perform limited procedures over it. Um, page 37 starts the basic financial statements. There's two different sets of financial statements, your governmentwide as well as your fund financial statements, followed by your note disclosures on page 54, which provide a lot of more detailed information about the financial statements. Both those are audited sections. Page 81 starts your required supplementary information section. This is required under Gazsby reporting but is not audited. Um it includes uh specific budget taxual statements for your general fund as well as your special revenue
199funds as well as some of the pension schedules. Page 89 is some other supplementary information on your maybe less significant funds that have lower fund balances or lower activity or balances that aren't required to be reported with your basic financial statements. And then page 109 is your statistical section. It's a 10-year trend. A lot of good information in there, but again unodudited. So, as I mentioned, we had a few slides here on management's discussion in analysis and specifically some changes at the district. A slight decrease in total assets from the prior year, 11.2 million or 1%, but overall a pretty significant decrease in liabilities. And that was driven by just the payment of debt over the past fiscal year as well as a decrease in the pension liability. And then overall there was an increase
200in your overall net position by about 7.2 million. On the revenue and expense side, overall revenues decreased by about 21.3 million or 3% and this was primarily due to just the lapse of COVID funding in those grants. You see that on the expenditure side as well. some of those related expenditures lapsed. Um, however, the decrease in expenditures was primarily driven by the decrease in the pension liability and that decrease in revenues from the COVID funding was really offset by some increases in in property taxes collected. We're aware obviously that the auditor general was here last month to discuss about financial stresses and specifically the district's high-risisk designation. I've got on here some of the significant items that they they pointed to. Two of them really relate to your financial statements, the financial position for the
201general fund and the operating margin and the change in fund balance. Those can be seen in the financial statements. I did want to add that the auditor general will update their analysis with the release of this report. The numbers they presented to you were were somewhat based on some a unodudited figures for 25 versus audited figures for 24, but they should just be slight slight adjustments. So here are the financial statements and here are where you see some of these financial stresses that the auditor general discussed with you. The general fund's fund balance decreased from 88.7 million to 76.8 million. And specifically, if you look at the M fund in the schedule of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance budget to actual, the M fund fund balance decreased from 21.9 million to an actual
202deficit of 3.9 million. Our responsibilities for the district when it comes to some financial stress factors like this are to evaluate whether there's significant or substantial doubt about the entity to continue as a going concern. And so we'll conclude through our audit procedures whether there's conditions or events that we feel cause substantial doubt about the district's ability to continue as a going concern. And some of that that information from specifically Gatsby statement 56 indicates that it's a very high level of financial stress. It would be the inability for the district to continue to pay its obligations, to pay its debt payments for bonds, to pay its payroll, to pay its employees. It would require the district to have to start restructuring its debt. And there could be the submission to the oversight agency for a
203separate fiscal assistance authority or financial review board. What we often re see in in Arizona as a a receiverhip type thing. Um but none of these events have occurred at the district and so there was no substantial doubt about the entities to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time. Um and at this point I believe Mr. Hernandez has a few slides that he'll be presenting after us. >> Thank you. >> Governing board members, are we awake? [laughter] >> We all love financial presentations. >> You know you do. >> This is fantastic. >> Jean's just gonna have to pull it up real quick. Okay. So this is um I won't go through you know line you know detail by detail in terms of the presentation just these were questions that came up
204during the audit committee meeting that I addressed with them. Some of these questions have been laid out in the kind of in the public sphere if you will. Um and and we wanted to make sure to clarify these kind of on a you know on a less kind of Christopher level if you will. Um she's a lot smarter than I am. Um so first of all the the one of the concerns that the audit committee presented with that was that there was a there's an ongoing deficit right as as was presented to you the fund balance declined from 88.7 million to 76.8 million and and the drivers in those in the general fund is that the general fund itself in the district is made up of multiple funds. Right? We call it the general fund
205um but it is and is treated as such but it is made up of multiple funds. the primary one being M. So in the non-budget controlled funds which are part of the general fund that are running on cash there you know we exceeded so the expenditures may exceed the current revenues without creating a structural imbalance. In other words there are sufficient prior year cash in order to continue to fund operations within that fund. The biggest one that you know you've taken action on is litigation recovery. Right? We're no longer well we we've received basically the majority of the revenues from the um uh from one of our settlements from the Juul settlement I apologize from the Juul settlement um and that cash is sitting in there we continue to spend so there are no revenues
206coming in but we have sufficient cash in order to use them based on the the authority that we've got so there is a true structural deficit only when there are recurring expenses that exceed revenues in budget control funds which we've talked about you know in M. So overall the general budget deficit is you know both a combination of operating pressures planned uses of available cash but it's not really a uniform imbalance across the general fund because it's comprised of more than just M. the fact that there's, you know, the certain major operating and capital funds have this temporary deficit balance. Um there's this concern that essentially we're not getting reimbursed on time. And so number one is federal and state grants. We have to incur expenses. We have to pay out of our own bank
207account before we can actually go to the departments of education at the state or at the federal level to ask for reimbursement. So because of that, the timing difference, I mean, it it's always going to be there. Federal regulations only allow us to ask for cash advances in very limited circumstances, especially if we have extenduating needs, which is not the case. So, we submit a reimbursement every 30 days. The Department of Ed in Phoenix reimbures us every 30 days. So, there's always going to be a catch-up period where there is going to be an imbalance um at June 30th because we have not submitted a reimbursement at that time. the fund balance deficit in the capital projects. The majority of that has to do with the fact that building renewal grants as part of the
208other uh pro capital projects expenditure funds. So like federal grants, we have to incur expenditures. We have to pay them. We actually have to provide proof to the school facilities board before they will reimburse us for that cost. So the fact that there is a timing difference is not really a structural shortfall. It is a fact that this is an operation that we have no control over. We have to spend a million before we get a million. That's just the rules of of the department of uh of administration where BRG lives. Um this is just kind of showing you cash balances. You can read that at your own leisure. Um just to show you what our cash balances are at the county treasur through June 30th. You can see that basically the average balance at
209the end of fiscal year 30 was over $132 million in available cash at the Puma County Treasur. So we are not out of cash by any means. Uh the negative unrestricted net position or pension liability. So there are requirements that we have to report our portion of the Arizona state's retirement's pension liability. This is the state retirement system is comprised of a lot of entities. Every single school district is required to participate including to USD. But there is an unfunded liability that these pension funds have. We're required to report our share based on a calculation that they provide to our auditors and we have to report that on our books but it is not necessarily our unfunded liability is the unfunded liability of the state retirement system is just saying this is your portion of
210the overall unfunded liability. Overall the state retirement system is fairly well funded. Um so it is one of the strongest retirement systems in Arizona. So, um, if you're a member of it, you're we're very lucky to be in it. Uh, high debt load and heavy near-term debt. Uh, obviously, there was a significant jump from one year to the next in terms of debt because we issued bonds in, uh, in April of 2024, right? This was right after the November 2023 bond election. We issued bonds and we had debt that we had to pay immediately in the 2425 school year. Um, so those bonds are paid through a dedicated property tax levy. So there is no use of operating funds in order to pay for our bond debt. This is why we issue taxes and collect
211those in order to pay for that. Um approximately one-third of our bond debt will be paid or retired by 2030 because this is outstanding debt that goes back to the th 2004 issue. Now we do have finance purchases in the district. Um a lot of those are around things that you know one textbooks. We finance our textbook purchases. We in order to maintain cash and capital, we want to make sure that we spread those payments over 5 years to in order in order for us to provide current adoptions to our classrooms. We've done that with vehicles, school buses, with operating software licenses and some of those obligations are paid from restricted capital sources which have very limited impact on the operational funds. So, we're not really competing with classroom spending because we're using dollars that
212would not be used in the classroom to begin with. the volatility of of non-recurring funds um essentially commitments from the state structural deficits and the fact that we've had one-time funding coming through. This is a and kind of an ongoing conversation that we've had. Um this was a concern of the audit committee and you know why are we using this? This is exactly what we've talked about you know openly in the past interventionist counselors esser uh one-time funds uh to pay for ongoing expenses. um this idea of budget discipline and transparency red flags, right? So the fact that we bring um one that we bring uh adjustments to the budget, we bring revisions in December and May. Um and so there's this question that are we being fully transparent and do we have the right
213proper budget discipline in order to uh for the fact that we continue to bring these budget adjustments to you for your approval. Unfortunately, some of it is an operation of the statute. Some of this happens outside of our control and we are required to amend our budgets in order to match what the Department of Education is telling us are our new budget limits. Cash controlled funds on on the other hand are not budget adopted. So long as there is cash available, there is spending capacity. Um and and a lot of it is these amendments reflect statutory timing and compliance. This is not really a weakness around budgeting, forecasting or internal controls. This is a big one. Interfund borrowing. So, there obviously has been a concern in regards to the fact that the district recorded a
214$16.7 million interfer loan to finance the purchase of a new administration building. So, as you recall, you authorized the purchase of a building from the University of Arizona last summer. Um, that acquisition, as was discussed with you, would be financed through uninter loans, one from the unemployment insurance fund and one from the workers compensation fund, both of which maintain cash balances that exceed their projected liabilities. So the inner fund loans are expected to be paid by the end of next fiscal year through the planned sales of the Marorrow Ed Center, Carson Middle School, and Lions Middle School. One thing that needs to be clarified is both that the unemployment insurance fund and the workers compensation fund are custodial pass through accounts that collect premiums from operating budgets to then be remitted to the proper locations.
215We do not pay claims through these funds. So when somebody files for uninsurance or unemployment insurance rather, we don't pay for an unemployment insurance claim. They filed that with the Department of Economic Security. We pay our premiums that we collect from payroll through that fund to dees. Same thing with workers compensation. We collect premiums through payroll, allocate them to this fund. We pay that directly to the alliance. The alliance is the one that handles the claims. They manage the entire workers compensation. So, at no point in time is this cash something that is preventing us from paying claims to people who may have submitted claims against the district for things like workers compensation. So, these do not pay claims. These essentially have more cash than the current and projected liabilities are are that are in
216there. Custodial risk policy, the fact that we don't have one. So, um essentially our bank is the Puma County Treasurer. uh his office is the official custodian of all of our district funding, all of our district money, I should say. That is a that is set in statute. Statute also sets how his office is required to uh say, you know, safeguard our dollars, collateralize our dollars, and invest our dollars for all of us. So that that happens for us, that happens for fire districts, that happens for the county, for example, in every one of the 15 counties. We do not perform our own investments. We don't invest the cash that we hold. The Puma County Treasur invests the cash. TU we are required to oversee the funds through monthly reconciliation through cash flows and by
217understanding the county treasures investment policy. So that's what our responsibility is to say that if our books say that we have X millions of dollars that that same number exists at the Puma County Treasur, but ultimately he is the custodian of our dollars. He maintains the custodial risk policy. This is why TUSD does not have one questions. I know. Thank you, Jean. >> Thank you, Mr. Hernandez. And, uh, thank you to our external auditors for the presentation earlier. I think, you know, a couple of things. Um, all the stressors of everything we're doing tonight, we forgot to kind of take a step back and just thank everyone. I forgot to thank um really the audit committee uh when we were presenting the internal audit candidate. I'll thank them now uh for this uh piece because
218uh they did spend some time at our February 13th meeting before we went into the final round of interviews for the internal auditor uh reviewing this asking questions with our external auditors uh and with our our CFO. Uh this was about what gosh 20 hours of meetings and uh work behind the scenes by our uh volunteer uh intern excuse me volunteer audit committee. So I want to thank uh all five members of our audit committee, one of them who zoomed in from across the seas uh to be part of this and so a lot of hard work and so thank you to the audit committee if any of you are are listening tonight. Um couple of things that came up uh during the internal audit uh committee or excuse me the audit committee meeting uh
219that stood out to me. Uh there was a lot of talk about some of the issues with the finances in general. Uh but some of the new things that stood out to me there was some time talked about uh the length of the audit uh how long it took to do this audit. So about nine months uh people are saying that's very long and but our external auditors were talking about how they do a lot of live work the first couple of months while the school year that the audit is for is still happening to check on controls uh and and a test uh what do they say includes field work end of school year being audited to test internal controls. So that's one of the reasons why it's such a long process with this
220audit is because a lot of the uh work in the in the school year that's being audited which was the prior school year being presented tonight. The other issue that came up and I don't know if our external auditor wants to comment on this was the adjustment issues that came up. Uh and so uh our external auditor um is doing some adjustments to our books to help support the district. Um and this is part of the contract that we have with them as part of this audit. So there were some concerns raised by our audit committee on whether um this brought into issue with uh the independence of our external auditor um doing this audit if they're doing some adjustments to our accounts uh as part of this. Um and the response was uh that
221this is done by uh a common practice among school districts and the cost is then built into this external audit which then is reimbursed by the state and so actually is a way to get some free uh work for our financial department without occurring cost onto our district. And so I'll leave it to our our external auditors to comment more upon this concern that was raised uh during the audit committee meeting. >> Sure. Uh Dr. Shaw, members of the board, um Dr. Trujillo, thank you for having us here this evening. Um the adjustments that Dr. Shaw is referring to are adjustments made to the audited financial statements to convert them from a cash basis which is recorded in the trial balance to a modified acrruel and an acrruel basis. So the modified acrruel statements end
222up being the fund level statements in the acter that you've re reviewed and then the full acral end up being the governmentwide statements and um as mentioned this is a very common process. Um in fact in Arizona I'm not aware of any other districts that um prepare these adjustments. They they have the auditors prepare these adjustments as we have done. But how we regulate the independence of that uh which we take very seriously um you know as a profession and as a firm is beginning with the engagement letter when the audit starts it highlights any non- audit services that we prepare. So including preparing those um acrruel and modified acral adjusting entries and within that process in the in the letter it explains that that's a non- audit service um and it also identifies the
223person within the district who is going to oversee us providing those service. Um and thus review those entries and take responsibility for those and that acts as the internal control that makes sure that independence isn't impaired. And so within the engagement letter and within our files, we have documented that those controls need to exist and that they do exist and who the district is taking responsibility for those so that we have in fact determined that independence is not impaired. >> Thank you for addressing that. Governing board members, any questions about this or any other items presented tonight in this topic? Seeing none, I think tonight we have to accept the caffer. Is that correct? Can you tell me about what are what we're voting on exactly? >> Yeah. So, uh the statute requires that you
224accept the caffer. You're not necessarily agreeing to the contents of it and the vote has to be a roll call vote. >> Okay. >> Miss Shaw. >> Hello. >> Microphones are not your friend today. >> Shout. >> Okay. Can you hear me now? >> Yes. if you can speak to like I'm looking up a USFR uh uniform system of finance records um and the questionnaire like in my email and I'm seeing from like 2024, 2025 and even 2026 non-compliance uh from the auditor general. Can you speak to that? like I'm worried if we're always out of compliance, just hesitant to even uh approve this because I fear it's just not accurate and it's just going to keep us in non-compliance. >> Right. So, I I will tell you there there are two separate things. The
225audited financial statements um are one component. They it's a review. It's an audit of our actual controls. It's actually a review of our financials um and our books. the USFR compliance questionnaire, which is which is what you're asking about, that does talk about specific controls, internal controls, and certain weaknesses that we may have had. There was at one point in time a uh a non-compliance letter issued by the auditor general in regards to the USFR compliance questionnaire for the fiscal year that ended in June 30 of 2024. We created a corrective action plan in September. The auditor general's team actually spent a week uh in early December here at the district and uh early last month uh they essentially declared us to be in compliance. So they determined that every all of the complied to
226that non-compliance had already had already been addressed and those are now clean. Now Heinfield Meech will issue another USFR compliance questionnaire for the current fiscal year that ended June 30 of 25. those may have certain components that will still say that they're non-compliant. The timing issue is going to be that they looked at everything through June 30 of 2025. When the auditor general's team visited uh in early December, they looked at all of our activity from July 1 of 25 through November of 25. So, they looked at everything in fiscal year 26. So, because they wanted to see, are we currently now in this fiscal year in compliance? They determined in a letter that they issued, which is posted on the auditor general's website, that we are um so there are they're two separate things.
227The audited financial statements do inform some of that USFR CQ, but the CQ itself is a is an independent review that is separate from the audited financial statements also conducted by Huntfield Beach. Right. I'll move the item as presented. >> I'll second it move by myself and second by Miss Luna Rose. Uh, Miss PBOA. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Miss Luna Rose, >> yes. >> Mr. Rometo, >> yes. >> Miss Shaw, >> no. >> Dr. Robbie, >> yes. Item passes 41. Thank you. Uh, thank you for being here so late. >> Okay, let's see where we are in our agenda now. So, I think we'll go to consent. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> All right, Dr. Tia, we have a consent agenda. Item six. Item six. >> Yes. Uh, President Shaw, governing board members,
228I recommend um passage of the consent agenda as arranged. Item 6.2 to 6.6. >> Governing board members, are there any items that you'd like to have some clarifying questions? Mr. Romero, >> I'd like to actually have more of a discussion on 62, clarification on 6.3, and a separate vote on 6.4, please. >> Uh, item 6.3. I know we can we can uh take care of that one. I know you and I talked a little bit earlier. So, >> yeah. So, I just wanted to double check on here just kind of the way it was confusing to me on here how we're, you know, based looking at it to now create a couple different schools or non-schools to schools. Can you help me understand what the purpose of this uh resolution is please on 6.3? >>
229Yeah, the resolution is going to be a largely a financial benefit to the district because now BDA and Shoemaker are two infant and early learning centers. Now with the designation and recognition by the state facilities board as schools, they'll now qualify for state facilities board funding. So if the roof goes domestic water line problems before this designation, they would have been ineligible to submit projects for building renewal grants. Now being designated as a school, they're also going to be able to collect tax credits, gifts, and donations. And of course, the big win is school facilities board funding that will come their way. >> But it's not looking at any other additional type of grade levels, K through five, through three. No, that's not No, it's it's the recognition that the students, our youngest learners are
230an actual in an educational program. >> Uh that is a result of the amazing work that the director Miss Keid has done with her team in actually implementing a standardized curriculum which helps it establish itself as a as a as an actual educational program which now we will get those benefits of being able to submit for capital assistance with U school facilities board. >> Okay. I appreciate the clarification. Thank you. >> And then for 6.2, did you want to have a separate vote or just some discussion on that? >> I have discussion on that one. >> All right. Go ahead, Mr. Romero. >> So on this uh reagreement for senior singular wireless AT&T, I guess is what it was. So they want to extend this for 30 years. Um and um from what I understand,
231it's been going on for a lot longer, you know. And I know my biggest thing and I've mentioned that before so it's not really a secret the health risk the microwave radiation you know emitted by these things at our schools um you know and then it has a a number that's associated with it and I see we have escalator uh uh charges that we're getting every 5 years and things of that nature. So, I was just doing a little bit of studying if we're going to continue to keep putting this, you know, this micro radiation at our schools, are we really getting the proper amount of money for these things that are at our school? I I'm just doing a little search and there was a company called Vertical Consultants who do things for, you
232know, organizations and I know we do consulting and other aspects of it. are we actually getting enough money for what they're you know what they're getting for and another question I have is they want to do this for another 30 years so um technology is improving um you know there's other things like Starlink where you don't need a tower I believe this technology is on its way to being obsolete um what why a 30 years from what I understand it was 30 years that we've been doing this so this will a total of 60 years. Why would we want to be locked in on a 30-year an additional 30-year lease versus maybe look at it 5 years? And again, another thing is selling of a property also comes to mind. What problems are we going
233to have with selling a property that has a cell phone or cell tower on that we're stuck in a contract with? I know there's a lot. Okay. Uh, member Romero, um, President Shaw, members of the board, um, I'll start with the last one because that's the one I remember. The, uh, [laughter] the question of how long how long we're going to be willing to move forward with it. Um, really that's up to us. Um, we don't have to move forward more than five years. We can move forward 10 years. um we can go back to them and and make a proposal and and they can decide whether they whether it's worth it for them to continue. My guess is they'll they'll continue. So, uh we're not locked into that 30 years. That's just what they
234want for security. >> And has has there been any looking forward as far as this old technology? It's been out there for a while. Well, you know, and and from what I understand, they're in charge. If there's something that's wrong with it, they have to take care of the the the property itself, the tower. >> Yes. They have to do all the maintenance on the tower. They pay for all the utilities. >> So, I guess again, one of my biggest things, and I don't know, and maybe you know, um, Mr. Hermotti would know more of this, is that technology still going to be is that something we're still going to be needing on our high schools? And I understand we're getting some money for those types of things. But to what you know I guess
235been extending it for 30 years you know I could be you know like I said when you have different technologies like said Starlink where they're just coming down you know from from the satellites versus radiating out in in our community. I guess it just doesn't make sense to me unless there's something I'm missing with technology and I see Thank you. Um, good question. In technology with Starling in specific, uh, it will not necessarily replace old technology or medium level technology. It's all, let me give you another example. It's like electric cars, right? Electric cars are here. People who don't want to use gas may buy electric car or hybrid, but you still have car running on gasoline. Same thing with technology. the wireless system um that we have right now for the towers will at
236least be here for 5 10 or more years at least. I see your point about 30 years that can be negotiable but five or 10 years or anywhere in in there uh the technology will be here even if it's replaced by Starlink or something else uh some AI component and also remember Starlink will not be free. So if you have to replace a tower with a Starling component you still have to have routers and switches and and and things like receivers to receive that technology as well. So there will be some financial component as well. that helps me understand a little bit more. Um I guess and and I'm sure a lot of other people out there that might have had that same type of question. Um, as far as um, this this kind of
237goes back to Modí again back on like if we have it for a long period of time selling a property and I know we kind of talked about earlier today the potential of consolidating schools and you know what I see here we need to be looking forward thinking on a lot of these types of things and I know one of our lower enrolled schools out on the east side of town a couple years back had a cell tower proposed on that property and for say 30 years or whatever the case may be we'll just say it was 20 I don't recall it was a couple years back if that school ends up being closed and we were able to sell that property and we're stuck in the 20-year link you know lease because of a
238sale tower that we have on there um and then other properties that we might have to sell that we might have some this things that were locked in the contract. I want us to be forward thinking of the possibility of what it's going to cost us. Like I said, if we were to put a cell phone on this other school that was on the east side, try to sell that property, we wouldn't be getting full value for that property if that ever were to happen. So that being said, and I don't see say that ringcon's going to be sold, but I think a lower time frame like Mr. May was saying 5 10 years if we know the technology is going to be around there. What would be the benefit of us if we do
23930 years? Um, uh, you know, are they locked in if they don't use that service anymore? Are they still going to be paying us for that over that 30 years would be the only think benefit for us? >> The uh they still have to pay us if they keep the tower, but they have the right to remove the tower. So at any point they can cancel the lease as long as they restore the grounds to its original condition. >> Okay. So even if we give them its extension that they decided to move it >> Yeah. take it out. They have that clause in their contract. >> Yeah. >> Now, another question. If say that same tower, it says AT&T and they say, "Hey, we want to invite T-Mobile to be on that tower." Do you
240get any extra money on that when they share a tower? >> Depends on the lease. Some of the leases have a collocation provision. Um, this one doesn't have a collocation provision, but it has a provision where um, we look at things as being significant changes. Any significant changes, we want to renegotiate the lease. >> Okay. Well, I guess my biggest concern would be that 30-year amount uh, length of time. you know, I again, I I'm gonna let the other board members um you know, hash that on out. Again, I'm not a big fan of, you know, the micro radiation on any of our school campuses. Yes, we're more developed when we're in high school, uh versus a grade school. Um, but I just wanted to bring out some other things that are issues that I
241know people have brought up to me. So, I appreciate, you know, you answering the questions and Dr. Mr. Marty for coming on up out of the out of the audience to help me out, too. Okay. Thank you, >> Michelle. >> Thank you for uh your line of questioning, Mr. Romero. Um I I do agree. I don't think this is appropriate on our school campuses. Uh for the amount of money we're getting annually, 26,000 uh split between two high schools, um it just doesn't make sense. It's a blight on the campus and it does have uh potential health impacts, I feel. Um, and as you said, Mr. Romero, it's it's difficult to sell a property if we ever need to um with an existing cell tower on it. It's one of the issues we're having with
2421010. Um, and so I will not be supporting this item. >> All right. So, I will u make uh So, looks like we're we're going to pull this item from the consent agenda. So, I'll move the consent agenda um minus items uh is it 6.2 2 and 6.4 that you wanted to pull as well, right? >> Is there a second? >> Second. All right. Item moved by myself, seconded by Mr. Romero. All those in favor say I. >> Any oppose? Item passes 50. >> Um well, let's vote on um item 6.2. Now, I'll make a motion to accept 6.2 as uh proposed. >> Uh second. >> Item moved by myself and seconded by Miss Larose. Uh all those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed? >> No. All right. Item passes 32. Uh
243next we have uh 6.4 approval to award request for proposal custodial paper products and services. Mr. Romero, you pull that item. >> Yes. I just want to do a separate vote on that please. >> All right. I will move the item. >> I'll second. >> Item moved by myself, seconded by Miss Extramm. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Opposed. Item passes 41. All right. Next, we'll move on to our public hearing 7.1. Public hearing for the Tucson Unified School District annual report for the 2425 school year. [snorts] Thank you. Okay. Public participation at board meetings. Uh members of the public may speak during the annual report public hearing portion of the agenda. The board president shall be responsible for recognizing speakers and for maintaining proper order by setting such
244limitations as may be appropriate. Speakers during the public hearing should restrict their remarks to topics related to the annual report. Speakers are encouraged to be brief with a maximum of three minutes. Individuals speaking between before the board shall observe rules of propriety and good conduct and refrain from impertinent or slanderous remarks. Contents of this card are public information. We'll start with Miss Sylvia Campo followed by Bilar Aosta Ruiz. In general, the 202425 1,373 page desegregation report is a significant contradiction between what is outlined in the desegregation court order and what is currently being rolled out. The court and the fisherman plaintiffs demanded research-based programs and databased accountability. Yet, the report lacks viable, statistically sound outcome data and suitable corresponding recommendations. No evidence is shown that the governing board has read, commented on, and or voted
245on the report. Yet, board member names are printed on the document as if the board owns the work product. I don't believe you do. the uh the authenticity of the compliance document is minimal because there's no data to prove that most of what is being reported is actually taking place. There's no oversight internally for desegregation at this time. From what I've heard tonight, and I ongoing impromptu, piece by piece, the desegregation order is being changed for fiscal reasons, not for outcomes, not for black children, not for Latino children. You are putting $64 million which you receive every year at risk by allowing your staff to play with a desegregation court order. Um, I will send you the entire statement because I think it's also very important to point out that when you host a public
246meeting for residents, taxpayers, homeowners, longtime committed former employees, board members, when you invite them into your household, almost at the top of your agenda, and then ask them to speak at 10:00, It's simply rude. We're not paid consultants. We're not on your payroll. We're here because we are committed to this district and you treat us like dirt. >> Next we have Pila A Costa Ris followed by Lillian Fox. Good evening. I'm Pilara Costa Ruiz. Thank you uh President Shaw for getting my name correct. Um so yes, I agree with Sylvia. It is almost 10:00 at night and I I think that my history of coming to these kind of things is that the public hearings are always pushed as late as possible because then everybody's gone. The house was packed earlier and and I couldn't
247even find it on the website till I looked it up tonight here and it was here. So, I don't think we do a good job of letting the public know that there was a hearing. Um, but I wanted to just talk a little bit about, you know, we're not dumb, right? And trust is lacking in this district. And, you know, when people come up here and kind of just do their song and dance, um, it doesn't increase the trust. I I thought I heard the CFO say that, you know, the AG website had been updated. I just looked it up. It still says we're in high risk. That didn't look any different to me. Um it's still got a bunch of red little things on it. And it's very interesting to me how the audit
248report says it's unmodified, like there's no concerns with it. Yet, you have the state coming in here and telling us a totally different story. And maybe there's some minutia things in there that make some sense as to why, but like I said earlier, whether the things are true or not, the perception is important, right? And um yeah, so you know what? I'm tired of coming up here and talking just as much as you all are tired of most of us coming up here and talking, which is hence why you don't pay any attention, some of you. But if you want us to quit coming, then maybe like start working for the people that uh pay taxes in this district and the people that care about the kids. And we would all, I'm sure, love to
249not have to be here on Tuesday nights advocating for um the role of the governing board. I looked up the role of the governing board the other day to you guys are the oversight for the district. It is your job to pay attention to what is happening in this district. It is your job to pay attention to what the administrators are doing or not doing. It is not our job to come up here and ask you to do it. Um so the unmodified piece of this um report that came out from the external auditors, I'll say it again, they were hired when Sanchez was here. they uh did not apply the next year because of all the controversy yet of somehow we've hired them again and they you're paying them to do the work um
250that they explained that you should have a CFO that knows how to do a cruel accounting. I mean it's a million half a billion dollar budget and uh I don't know hopefully if you guys want to get rid of us and please do a better job. Next we have Lillian Fox followed by Bets Putnham Hill. >> My name's Lillian Fox. Dr. Ravi, you are so brilliant scheduling the public hearing after the board has already voted on the financial statements. The district has never been smart enough to do that before. You are to be commended for your brilliance. And by the way, I'm complaining to the state of Arizona about it. That's not legal. Okay. You really got taken for a ride tonight. Your CFO added $66 million to the department's budgets this year. And then
251he's telling you, you got to cut this stuff for next year. He should get rid of the $66 million he added to the budget this year. Go back to last year's budget. Furthermore, when he cut $66 million from the department or added $66 million to the department's budgets and this year's budget, he cut the elementary schools, that's the K through5 ones, by $6 million. And he got you to vote to close to cut stuff tonight. Furthermore, Heinfield Meech, they for five years, Sanchez misappropriated teachers performance money and used it to cover Sanchez's overspending of the of his other funds. That came out after five years because you had to read five years footnotes. Heinfield Meech never told the board about it, never pointed out to the audit committee. So, nobody knew until somebody sent an
252anonymous note and I worked out the damn math. Now, the TOSD ended up having to pay $17 million retroactively to the teachers and teachers who'd retired more than a year before the payout, they got nothing. Now, the other thing in the audit committee meeting, the a new member of the audit committee said to Heinfield Mech, "How long have you been auditing TUSD's books?" They said, "Oh, three years." It's 20 years plus three years. When I walked out the door with the accountant's boss who was here tonight, I said, "It wasn't three years." And she said, "Oh, but there was a break between the 20 years and the three years. You cannot trudge this accounting firm as far as you can throw them. They should have been sued for what they did to TOD with the
253$17 million of of retroactive pay." Now, furthermore, another problem with this statement, your CFO is saying we're going to lose 30% fewer um people in the WSC for this coming year. So, in other words, we're not going to continue on our same downward slope. We're going to get a little better. That makes a huge difference in your funding. That means that what you approved tonight and the way the financial statement is overestimating how much money you're going to have. And that's bad because you don't just lose M when your WSC numbers go down. You lose grant money, use Title One money because almost everything except the DEG fund is based on enrollment. So when he overestimates your enrollment, you're getting screwed. All right. Next we have BP algo. Hi, with all due respect, it's Hidalgo.
254Hidalgo was a very famous, very famous person in Mexico. And so it makes me kind of crazy when people call me Hilago, which happens all the time. Um, back to the desegregation issue. boy, when the district lost outside supervision, the district really lost interest in desegregation. Every time Hernandez talks about it, it sounds like a shell game. Every time district desegregation funds do not end up going where they are supposed to go, they end up covering for other monies that you want that he wants to move around. It's it's incredibly worrisome if you care at all about desegregation. I tried to read the report. The report is like bureaucratic gobbledygook. It I think AI might have written it. Um it it has many words and says very little. But one of the things that it
255does say kind of repeatedly is that the um is that the for hiring and for number of principles and for um other things the the numbers for African-Americans are not as high as the rest of the country but they're not as low as the rest of the state. My question is, is the rest of the state getting $64 million to keep those numbers higher? They are not. We are. And and our as as best I could tell because like I said, I I don't think it's very well written. Um we are not fulfilling our commitment to desegregation. And at some point, particularly in a state like this, um taxpayers are going to get really, really angry about that and they're going to say, "Forget it. You know, you keep using this money as a slush
256fund. You keep moving it around in order to use ML funds where you want to, and you keep not having results. At some point, you're going to lose it. You're risking $64 million if you don't put some oversight onto this issue. Thank you. >> Thank you for everyone who spoke. Mr. Ross, is there is this a public is this for the board now to respond to criticism or what is there was no script on this piece. >> Uh the the board can have a discussion, but I this is really action. >> No, no, there's no action on it. If the board wants to have a later agenda item at another meeting, certainly take up details of the report. But yeah, this is just the public hearing, not an action. >> Governing board member, any questions,
257comments? >> Misha, >> I just want to thank um everyone who spoke today. I apologize sincerely that this was pushed to the end of the agenda. uh uh that is not okay and um next time I'll do better to try to advocate for it to be um at the top of the agenda and I appreciate your continued advocacy. Um I would like for this to be on a future agenda item for us to discuss. All right. Next we have item 8.9 approval to procure goods and services for quarter 3 and quarter 4 fiscal year 2526 bond project priorities. Dr. Truill, >> Dr. Carter, our bond program manager. Um, I'm excited because we're finally to flooring, which I've been excited about since we won. And I'm excited to see Mission View that flooring is been long
258waiting to be redone and replaced. So, uh, without further ado, we've got a couple of projects, uh, up for consideration. Dr. Carter, >> thank you. Uh, to Dr. Shaw the president and governing board members. I am here to uh present the approval to procure goods and services for quarter three and four, but also want to honor Black History Month. And I'm wearing my African attire. So, the bond oversight uh committee approved the project request and determine the priorities for implementation. The upcoming priority bond projects include the purchase of Miller Elementary School summer renovations, which includes concrete flooring, modular improvements, portable demolition, also Mission View uh elementary school summer renovations flooring and uh Wheeler Elementary School fencing gates, which is a emergency. This will require procurement of goods and services which will need to be done
259in a timely manner to keep within the time frames established by the bond program department. Uh vendor quotes are currently being collected begin work. I want to uh draw your attention to the project list for quarter three and four where I have these various projects. uh as we stated the Miller Elementary School and the description kind of gives a little bit more detail without doing a full scope of work. But for Miller Elementary School and what we're doing is uh on these first two on one A and 1B, these are schools that we already have uh temporarily shut down for domestic waterline. So this is our attempt to be able to do some other building renovations while the school doesn't have students and doesn't have uh faculty there. So with the Miller um center renovations
260is going to be concrete to remove the um asphalt and can you make that just a little bit bigger? I'm I'm a little bit old. So, uh, and repour the concrete to allow for American for ADA access to the portable and then also flooring. And we did, I do want to mention, work directly with the principal and that staff asking them the things that are most important to them. And these are the things that were identified. uh the vinyl tile, uh the walk-off car, the walk-off carpet towel, the rubber covering base for the modulars, and then in particular mod modular um 112, some improvements, and then the demolition of portable 123 for the Mission View summer renovations. We wanted to remove the floor um from nine classrooms in the library. And then we want to
261do the LVT, which is the luxury vinyl, tile, and carpet. And then um lastly, we had under the health, security, and safety category of the bond the Wheeler uh fencing rep prioritization for as an emergency. We wanted to It wasn't part of the original 32 that we had uh gotten approved. It's about almost a year ago. So, what we're asking on that is to rep prioritize that for immediate installation of that security fence at that campus. And if we can go to the detail of of that, it'll show yes exactly how much those costs are. So you can look at that for yourself. For the uh Miller summer renovation, it's a estimate of uh and we do actually have the quotes on these is $105,426. Um the mission view for the flooring is u estimate
262is 157,000 and then um for the security gates and fencing 98,900 and it is super exciting because as you know we're working with the various schools and finding out what their needs are. Uh as Dr. said that, you know, flooring is a a concern and it is, you know, really we're really proud to be able to start doing some of the projects based on the needs of the school. So what we would like for tonight is a motion to grant authority to the purchasing director in conjunction with the bond program manager myself to procure goods and services using approved to USD and cooperative contracts for the new wave of bond projects not to exceed 20% contingency where single purchase may exceed 250,000 or for the cumulative purchase with the cooperative contract vendors in excess of
263250,000. Are there any questions? >> Thank you, Dr. Carter, and thank you for coming with us festive gear tonight. It's so great to see the bright colors. Um, and thank you for bringing some uh great feel-good items from our bond. You one of the big issues was trying to get more cosmetic things and make our our uh school buildings be more inviting for students and families as well as our teachers and staff that are in them day in and day out. So, glad to have some some things like these uh to be able to approve tonight. Governing board members, any questions? Go ahead. First, >> Miss Shaw, followed by Mr. Romero, >> followed by Miss Luna Rose. >> Um, thank you for the presentation. I do want to say you look fabulous. Um, for the
264vinyl flooring, is that Well, can you describe it? It like the luxury vinyl flooring, is that like the wood vinyl? cuz I'm concerned >> that it has like limited lifespan. Like I there's some like that vinyl wood that if you like chip one edge of it, it just all starts coming up. You know what I mean? So like what's the longevity of this new flooring? >> I'll have Damon Balisurus, our construction manager, speak on that. But I do know what you're talking about. But this is not that. >> Yes. [snorts] Good evening, um, President, Dr. Robbie, governing board members. So, the LVT that's going to be used, it's it's, uh, consistent. It's not what you're envisioning. They're uh, 24x 24. Um, it's a luxury v uh, vinyl tile, which is a little thicker uh, than
265your standard vinyl composition tile like you see here. uh your the advantages of LVT are they come with an automatic wear layer on top and they already come with uh on that wear layer sheen layer also the warranties are anywhere between 15 to 20 years and the it reduces the overall maintenance that's required. Um, and what we're looking at doing is the tiles that we presented to the sites were uh they looked like a polished concrete uh look. So, they'll be 24 by 24 uh with a polished concrete look when they when they're finished on the on the floors. >> All right. Um I guess um David, maybe don't go too far. Um, so I see we have the LBT and I love the LBT um that we have going for Mission View, but I
266see over here at Miller, we're just doing the standard flooring. I'm guessing that's just a standard vinyl like we have over here. Is there uh other than cost reasons, is there a reason why we have one for the other one for one and one for the other? >> Yeah. So, what we took a look at is again the application uh and where we're putting it in uh in these locations. A lot of the classrooms uh are going to get done at Miller and then the portable uh what happens in the portables because it's a flexible floor, it's a lot easier to use that uh type of surface on that. >> Okay, that makes sense as far as on that goes. Now, you kind of mentioned this type of L uh VT we're getting over there
267at uh Mission View. Where are we at in discussions of getting pricing for polished concrete flooring pulling up? We we have what we have existing in doing that because warrantywise again with this with LVT 15 20 year low maintenance but with polished concrete uh flooring I'm sure the warranty on that is stronger with a lot less maintenance. Have we had more of these discussions? I know I brought it up before because I know everybody loves me talking about flooring and I do too. But uh anyways, can you give us any updates on that? >> Yes, most definitely. So, we've taken a look at the cost benefit for both um polished concrete as well as use utilizing a luxury vinyl tile. Um and it depends again on the applicability and where it's being used. Uh some
268of the areas that you have, especially in your older elementaryaries, when you start picking it up, you you have uh what's called a ghosting effect. So it doesn't matter how much you grind the floor, you're going to have that ghosting effect. And when we take a look at, we provide that visual to the principles. And when you take a look at it, the polished concrete will look nice, but you still have that ghosting. So when you look down a corridor, it still looks like you have um VCT uh tile down. And they didn't like that look. So when we provided then the alternative of we can go with an LVT that's a little bigger uh 24 inch by 24 in you get that same look as polish concrete with utilizing a LVT tile to go
269on top. So again it just depends on the applicability and really what it looks like uh moving forward. Um some of the spots that we are utilizing um the polished concrete because it did come out really good is the governing board approved um the vocational building at Tucson High the renovations of the second and third floor east wings um and we just presented um on the third floor to the site administration two different um polished concrete looks and we are going to utilize uh that piece because that ghosting is not prevalent in the corridors. >> Okay. So, it sounds like based on what we're running across both from a aesthetics point as well as functionality type of a point, we're going to be adjusting the type of tiles we're using for that. Is that a
270good >> Yes, that that's right on. And again, it goes back to the applicability and what's the best use and a costbenefit ratio that we take a look at when >> so just looking at other things maintenance is always a part of any of these different types of things. So now because just like this situation and of course I understand portables like I know you know we have that limited options when it comes to portables not pouring concrete in those maintenance for like miller's floors are now going to be more than well the same because that's what they're replacing but mission view that's going to be less expensive for them for maintenance and the labor to polish and buff and do all those things but is on mission view. It's not all the flooring. It's
271flooring in certain areas like their cafeteria and other areas. So, it's not the full area. It's in specific areas. Correct. That >> is correct. And that was as Dr. Carter mentioned earlier when we did a sitewalk with the administration, they identified their priority areas that they wanted done. >> Got it. And before I move on to Wheeler, I just want to again say to u facilities or for the maintenance there at Mission View, she does a phenomenal job. She is one of the best in our district. And I just want to make sure that she knows or or principal's listening, she can tell her. Wheeler, I know we had that urgency where we had the car running over to the fence. What are we doing rod iron in certain areas? What are we how does
272this what's what are we doing at Wheeler with this fencing? I know and understand the urgency of it. Are we just getting chain link like that or are we getting partial kind of like we did at um uh Henry or do you know? >> One second. Give me one second. >> Oh, by the way, while you're looking for that, um I'm surprised someone didn't roll up the red carpet for you today. you know, you look marvelous and you're set in a new a level of fashion. [laughter] >> And if I could just say, I'm glad Mission View is not doing the hallway flooring because it makes that little noise. [laughter] >> I remember that from from when I was little. We would go vote and [laughter] so yeah, it was just side >> I lived
273across this I you know, my dad lives across the street. So at at Wheeler it is going to be a combination of the 8 ft uh chain link fence as well as the ornamental rod iron. >> Fantastic. Um so and I know it was an urgency that kind of came on up and I am very grateful for the uh bond um uh department for bringing this up quicker to our attention to address that and not just putting a band-aid on it. Just throwing up another chain link in that area. spending good money at just fixing a problem versus let's say hey let's spend they're on our bond list let's spend this money now to give them what they need because of this situation for that I want to just applaud the bond committee or bond
274uh uh department for that uh Dr. Carter for taking those things in consideration because the le last thing voters want to see is us spending good money at a bad situation that's going to have to be repaired later on. So, thank you uh for myself and a lot of the constituents that reached out to me on that, too. With that said, Mr. Amar, you want to move the item? >> Uh, no. Yes, I'll move the item. All right, I'll second. >> Oh, very quickly. >> Go ahead, Miss Luna. Sorry, I forgot you had >> Oh, that's great. I just wanted to say you look fabulous. That's the only thing I wanted to tell you. >> You like have stood out all night in the sea of red, so appreciate you. Thank you. >> All those
275in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Item passes 5-0. Thank you for all your work and thank you for our bond oversight committee for all its work as well. >> Thank you. >> Okay, Dr. Trillo, future agenda items. >> Meetings. >> We've got two. Uh we're going to be back with departmental recommendations uh coming up on March 10th. And then in our second governing board meeting in March, uh we're going to be looking at the preschool implementation plan with override funds that have been targeted for the expansion. We're excited to have Mrs. Keid and her team uh bring that forward for uh all of you. >> And we still have our executive session only scheduled for next week. >> Executive session for March 3rd. Yes. >> That's at 5 p.m. Or is it 4:30?
276What time? >> At least at 5 p.m., right, Miss Barbboa? Okay. >> All right. And that be Zoom only. Okay. >> All right. I'll conclude this meeting. Thank you everyone.