001Good afternoon. It's 4 pm and this is the beginning of the director of the board's meeting for ASDB. We're going to do roll call. Are we ready? >> Um, >> Linda Bove, >> I'm here. Brittney Buchanan, >> I'm present. >> Colette Chapman, >> here. >> On the phone. Here. >> Michael Gordon, >> I'm here. Diana Heron not present. Earl Terry, not here. Uh, was supposed to be on the phone. Shaya Tmco, >> I am here. Shauna is here. President Buchanan. Okay, moving on. We have item 1.2, information and discussion item, outreach program cooperative sites presentation. Uh, director of itenerate services, Jason Lily. Hello. And I think that there's a presentation. >> Good evening, Superintendent Wrightman. Assistant Superintendent Cooper, Deputy Superintendent Ketchoff, Board President Buchanan, ASDB board members, and ASDB community. Tonight, I'll be presenting on
002the reorganization of ASDB iter programs to ASDB outreach and cooperative services. With all the changes that have occurred over the past couple of years, I plan to start with uh a law as it relates to regional programs, moving into our regional cooperative agreement that outlines our services and provides some information about itinerate versus cooperative site services. I will summarize each slide as they are text heavy and include quotes from our arena. If you look at the picture um starting with the picture at the center of the slide, the visual is meant to represent the continual services available via ASDB schools and regional programs. The first picture on the left represents a level D placement. This is um where students have a separate school from their typically developing peers. ASB campus would be an example of
003this type of placement. The second picture from the left represents a level C placement. This is where students are mostly in a separate education setting but at a site with typically developing peers. The third picture from the left represents levels B and A placements where students are in and out of general and special education settings. The fourth picture from the left uh represents a vision for cooper for a cooperative site. This is where students are in and out of general and special education settings based on their identified needs. But because students who are um deaf, blind, heart of hearing, low vision or deaf blind are in specific sites regular um regularly teachers, students, staff and families can build community and a sense of belonging at that site location. Next slide. AZ 1530 1302 requires ASUB
004to have regional programs in appropriate locations throughout the state. ASUB currently has two campus site IDs, 10 ELP site IDs and six regional site IDs registered with AD. Slide three. Next slide. ASDB outreach and cooperative services makes its resources available to members which includes research and development to promote and improve educational programs and services. Next slide. Um A151302 does not allow for duplication of services. One rumor that I have heard is that ASDB is uh going to be involved in the specially designed instruction for students who are deaf and heart of hearing in TUSD that go to miles K8. Since that program already exists within TUSD, TUSD will continue to run and operate that program as well as their own uh in district itinerary programs for students who are deaf, heart of hearing or blind
005and low vision. Next slide. with regional cooperators. Um when regional cooperators began, there were five regional directors across the state. As ASB continues to restructure, ASV itinerary programs to outreach uh will include changes from having regional directors to having an an executive director of outreach, a director of deaf and heart of hearing outreach, and a director of blind low vision outreach. Early learning programs, blind programs, and deaf programs, deaf programs will also fall under outreach, but do not have any major structural changes. All three of these programs provide services to all student to all ASDB students and staff, but do provide majority of services to the greater Arizona community. Next outreach continues to focus on an overarching mission of ASV which continues to be commitment to excellence and innovation in education for all children throughout
006Arizona. Leadership and service collaboration with families, school districts, communities, and others. Partnership with other agencies that will enable children who are deaf, blind, heart of hearing, low vision or deaf blind to succeed now and in the future. Next slide. While the agency has its own vision statement as do ELP blind and deaf programs, the overall vision of ASDB outreach is through regional outreach and cooperative sites. ASUB regional programs is building a network across Arizona with expertise where expertise is shared, supported, support is strengthened and no uh community must stand alone when educating its students who are blind, deaf, low vision, heart of hearing or deaf blind. This vision is supported by the ASDB regional cooperative agreement and the background image um which you can't really see on the slides uh here shows that because it
007is the state of Arizona with a bunch of connecting networks. Next slide. Um ASDB uh has regional cooperate agreements and amendments with 78 members in region one, 76 members in region two, and 94 members in region 3, bringing a total of 248 contracts across the state. The agreement outlines the specially uh the specialized services for deaf and blind students by participating in a cooperative program that shares resources among participating schools in the regions. Next slide. This agreement clarifies the allocation and collaboration and and equal equitable responsibilities between members of ASB. But the agreement does not uh reallocate any responsibilities of fate or free appropriate public education. That is still the responsibility of the district of residents. Uh slide 10. Our next slide. Um the district of residents is responsible for the establishment of the IEP
008and adherence to all state and federal laws as well as all special education and related services to students that are in addition to the students hearing and vision loss. Next slide. Each member is responsible for transporting students to the what the what our uh agreement says is instant school or to what our agreement says is other school covered by the regional cooperative as well as cooperating with ASDB providing space non-specialized materials and other special education and related services. Next slide. ASDB outreach and cooperative services services does not include direct instructional services which means we are not the teachers of record for reading, writing, math etc. But we do support the access to the curriculum which can um include direct instruction for things such as braille or individual literacy and or concept development and means. Next
009slide. The agreement does have an addendum A attached to it and this gives examples of instructional opportunities that are available to member students. Next slide. Uh when member districts refer to a stu refer a student to ASV outreach and that student receives itinerant services then the ASV outreach teacher travels to the school where the student is enrolled and will provide the special designed instruction to the student at that school. These services are designed to be intermittent and are typically written in increments of quarterly, monthly or weekly. In addition to SDI, we provide training and consult to school teams. These are typical these are typically only one there are typically only one or two students at a single site that we serve and the teacher travels to multiple sites in a day and that is the
010that's itinerant services. Next slide. Cooperative services. Including cooperative services as part of our services now allows districts to travel to uh transport students who need services from a teacher of the deaf and heart of hearing or a teacher of the visually impaired to a single site. This allows ASDB staff to go to a site and provide services to students more frequently and in groups since the students are at a single location based on their grade levels. This is also this also gives us the opportunity to give more training and support to a single site location and over the years the the site um uh will become adept at providing instruction to our student population. >> They can't they can't hear you on the stream. >> So you have to get as close as possible to
011the stream than what it is here. >> Okay. Thank you. Wow, that's a lot louder. Uh next slide. As we continue to realign our programs, Greer Martin Parish will work with ASB supervising teachers across our state to provide outreach services to students who are blind, low vision, or deafb blind. This includes the newly named TUSD cooperative sites at Morgan Maxwell K8 and PBLO High School. Next slide. the um blind to low vision cooperative will focus on access to the curriculum concept development and the blind low vision ECC's. The cooperative site model is built on partnerships with districts and ASB where students can get access to both sets of resources as well as have social emotional benefits since students will gain access to other students with a visual impairment in addition to their same age peers.
012Next slide. Examples of SDI that ASDB will provide at a single location are orientation and mobility, braille instruction, neoth instruction, and instruction on how to use specific assisted technology devices. Next slide. Um, these are all of the ASDB services students will be able to access at a cooperative site. This does not include the services that the students will be able to access from the district. So all of these services are that are on the screen are the ones that they'll be able to access to include teachers of the visually impaired, orientation mobility specialist, assist of technology specialist, low vision specialist, braille production, um accessible media producers, American printing house materials, assist of technology, low vision equipment and consultation and training services. Next slide. Rosetta Hicks will work with the ASB supervising teachers across the state
013to provide outreach services to students who are deaf, part of hearing or deaf blind. Next slide. Uh the DHH cooperatives will focus on access to the curriculum, support for literacy and language development. Again, cooperative sites are built on partnerships with districts and ASB um where students get access to both sets of resources as well as having social emotional benefits since students will gain access to other students who are who are deaf and heart of hearing as um it also allows us to conserve our resources and give districts opportunities to provide faith to their students in areas of the state where there are limited resources. Next slide. Examples of STI that ASDB will provide at at these site locations are listed and include support to reading and writing instruction, language supports for concept development and um
014content vocabulary as well as DHH um expanded core curriculum which includes transition services. Next slide. These are the these are all the ASDB services students will be able to access at a cooperative site. These do not include again the services that students will be able to access from the district. And those services include teachers of the deaf and heart of hearing, educational interpreters, educational aiologist, hearing assisted technology and consultation and training services. Last slide. As we forge ahead, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to present and allowing me to share the partnerships that we are building across the state to ensure ASDB can provide supports and be uh a resource to local schools and students in Arizona. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. This is Linda B.
015I am very familiar with the social and emotional support needs in the area of deafness. I'm curious how you are intending to manage all of the variety of programs focusing on those individuals who are deaf and heart of hearing in that that's where my spo focus is. there are specific needs like sign language acquisition um how much immersion they're using what what how is that going to function what is the time frame going to look like to build those abilities so if you can speak to that please and give me some some ideas um I do plan to visit someday I will see it in person but if you could speak to that >> sure so we're planning to have a teacher assigned to each site location so that there will be a teacher of
016the deaf and heart of hearing assigned to a specific site location or any of the site site locations. There will be a teacher assigned to that that can help support those programs. Um students who need interpreting services will also have those interpreting services there. Um we'll have supervisory we have supervising staff that also will be going out. the directors, myself will be going out making sure that that that community is um getting the getting what they need in terms especially the training and supports that that school is going to need because it is going to be very different for a school site. You know, we're used to it through an through in itinerant services, but now you're talking about having kids there on a regular basis. And so that's going to inquire in need a
017lot more intensive training and supports. And that is where we'll definitely want to be reaching out getting other agencies involved. I know when I was in Texas, I had cooperative sites in Texas and we I always reached out and got resources wherever I could to come in and provide. I've already been in contact with Galedet and their programs and seeing they said that they would be happy to come out and train um as well. So uh Paul Saunders helped me get in touch with some people there. So we already have building some of those networks uh throughout national organizations to come help us uh train the site locations and really get a better understanding of what the impacts of deaf deafness is going to be for those students and how we can build support for
018those kids within those within those populations and re within the the regular ed populations within the specialed teachers within that whole community. Right. That's the that's the real goal is building all that within that community. You're right. It is a big task. >> Thank you very much uh for covering those point. But I'm really specifically targeting the access to American Sign Language and how much we need to make sure that the staff who are supporting those kids are able to communicate with the kids who need to communicate with them. >> So that really is the the focus of my question that incidental learning >> Sure. >> factor. So the teachers of the deaf and heart of hearing that will be assigned there will have to have to be SLP taking SLPI testing. So we'll make
019sure that their sign skills are right that their sign skills are able to to to give the kids what they need. And that is you're right that is going to be crucial that we have um teachers that are there that can give that language support that those kids need. >> Thank you very much. >> Sure. Jason, this is Mike Gordon. Um, are there blind kids at PBLO High School right now? >> Yes. >> Do you know how many? >> I do not know how many apparently. >> And they do they have their own TVIS? >> They do have they have a TVI and O andM services already there. >> I'm sorry, say that last part. >> Uh, they have TVI and O andM services already there through TUSD. >> Okay. So, they're familiar with providing
020some blind services already. >> Correct. Okay. I'd be curious to see how how many students they have. >> Yes. I And that's something that I can ask to USC to provide. Uh I wouldn't have those numbers because we don't provide those services, >> okay? >> Question. >> I do have another thing. This is Linda. if you could give me the numbers of students for each region um and how you're deciding placements in terms of deaf and heart of hearing in and the numbers. >> Okay. >> Is that something that you would be able to do? >> I don't have the the numbers directly with me now. I know that um as I we have about 311 blind and low vision students that we're currently serving throughout all three regions and about 638 deaf and heart
021of hearing students that we're serving throughout all three regions and 15 of those are deafb blind that we provide both services to. Now we have some districts in the Phoenix area that will provide one set of services and we provide the other. So there are more than that throughout the state. We just provide we have 15 students that we provide both DHH and VI services to throughout the state. Now that's throughout the state. I don't have it uh memorized by broken down by region. >> That's okay. Thank you. >> Sure. One more. >> Jason, I'm sorry I didn't quite finish my question. Uh, in regards to PBLO High School, >> Mhm. >> do they have their own KVIS through TUSD or is ASDB serving them itinerantly? >> Uh, no. We do not provide any services
022to Tucson Unified School District. So, they have their own itinerant TVs providing those services currently to to that group as well as their own O andM providing services to that group currently. >> So, you just said there's no current ASDB contracts with TUSD. We do have a contract with them. We've had contract with them for years. They've just never um utilized their contract. >> Okay. I thought there was a contract, but I didn't know it wasn't being utilized. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, right now um they're doing it internally. >> They are doing the the itinerant services internally and will continue to do itinerate services internally. However, um they can refer any student with their agreement. They can refer any student of theirs to ASDB programs. Okay. I realize there's some a lot of moving
023pieces. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> I think that concludes questions. Thank you so much, Jason. >> Sure. >> Thank you. >> Moving on, we are moving on to 1.3, which is the call to the public on agendaized items. The first person we have uh she did submit a public comment via the website but also asked to speak. It's Katherine Sinko Thank you. And how much time are we allowing for these? Is it 3 minutes, 5 minutes, four minutes for ASL? >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Good evening, ASDB community. I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for allowing me to come and speak at the last board meeting in Phoenix. It was a very difficult night for many of us, especially those of us who traveled from Tucson and then
024had to make a long journey home after many of our community left that meeting feeling defeated by the decision and direction that was made. And also I recognize that the choices brought to the board were not easy ones. I found myself reflecting on Brandon Decker's public comment and I feel that he said it best. We have to work together. Since that meeting, many in the community have been having conversations about what we can do to support ASDB during this time of uncertainty. Family, alumni, and many in the community care deeply about this school, and we want to see it sustainable for the future of our deaf and blind communities. After these conversations, many have reviewed the materials within the agenda for this today's meeting. One of the proposed changes is to the teachers salary schedule
025for ASDB staff members. What concerns so many of us is that the proposed schedule actually significantly reduces the long-term earning potential for our educators. Under today's proposed salary schedule, the pay would cap at $65,879, only honoring up to 10 years of experience, even for educators with advanced degrees. This is a significant change to its current iteration that honors 25 years of experience and allows for significantly higher pay opportunities for degrees. We have already faced a serious issue in recruiting and retention of highly qualified teachers of the deaf, blind and visually impaired and deafb blind instructors. These are not typical teaching positions. These require specialty certifi certificates, language competency, and indepth understanding of the learning environment that our students need. When you compare the two salary schedules, you cannot compare it to a typical district. It
026raises questions about how ASDB will be able to continue to recruit and ret retain experienced teachers which are essential to student success. Transparent communication is crucial during this time. Many families, alumni, and the community wants to know why the decision or proposed decisions are being made and the rationale behind these decisions that potentially affects the long-term stability of this school. This is a shared responsibility. ASDB does not exist in isolation. It is part of a broader community of students, family, alumni, and educational advocates who care deeply about the future of deaf and blind students here in Arizona. And when the community feels like they are included in this discussion, it strengthens that relationship in order for us to move forward together. We share the same goals and we reaffirm our commitment to deaf and blind
027students and education in ar Arizona having access to an learning environment where they where they can thrive. Thank you for your time and I hope the board continues to engage in transparent communication and shared responsibility with decision-making for the future of ASDB that includes all of us. Thank you, Britney. Next, I have Carrie Hodkinson for Stacy Smith on agenda items 6.1 and 6.14. Thank you members of the board for your time. I'm reading a statement from Stacy Smith. She's a registered otr on the Tucson campus as she was not able to be here tonight due to other commitments. Members of the board, I would like to place several observations into the public record regarding conditions on the Tucson campus and the impact of those conditions have had on staff and campus programming. From the perspective
028of the public, the situation on the Tucson campus raises serious concerns about leadership, accountability, and stewardship of a specialized public institution. Over the past few years, following administrative leadership changes on the Tucson campus, staff have observed noticeable shifts in leadership presence, communication, and administrative support for student programs. The current campus principal is now in his third year of leadership on the Tucson campus. Concerns related to communication, administrative respons responsiveness, and campus morale were already being raised at the beginning of the previous school year when the morale on the Tucson campus was widely perceived to be at a significant low point. Staff attempted to address many of these concerns through internal communication channels prior to raising them publicly. These conditions were present well before later discussions regarding reduction in force and proposed lease changes. At times,
029staff have experienced challenges receiving timely responses to request, limited communication regarding decisions affecting campus programs, and inconsistent leadership presence. These conditions created barriers when educators and service providers are attempting to coordinate program, address operational issues, or respond to student needs in a timely and effective manner. Staff meetings have also reflected challenges with collaborative problem solving and two-way communication. Operational concerns affecting student services or programming have at times been raised during meetings, but received acknowledgement without clear follow-up guidance or resolution. Efforts by staff to support student life and campus culture, including Cubs, clubs, extracurricular activities, and staff team programming has struggled to move forward due to the challenges obtaining administrative coordination or approval despite strong interest from students and staff. When a school serving deaf and blind students struggles to support basic community building activities such
030as clubs or student programming, it raises important questions about leadership priorities. The public expects the leadership of a specialized state school to advocate for students and build a strong campus culture. At the same time, the agency has continued expanding administrative positions and salaries at the upper levels. From a taxpayer perspective, this contrast is difficult to ignore. If program serving students appear to struggle while administrative structures continue to grow, the public is justified in asking whether priorities have become misaligned because camping conditions and administrative support directly influences staff retention, program stability, and the educational environment for students. These observations are relevant as the board considers agenda items 6.1 and 6.14 regarding teacher contracts and staff support. These operational conditions are important context as the board evaluates campus program performance, staffing needs, and the long-term stability of
031services for the deaf, blind, and visually impaired students across Arizona. Leadership accountability should not be treated as a routine administrative matter. I share these observations so they may be reflected in the public record. Thank you for time and consideration. Stacy Smith. >> Thank you. >> Next public comment is Casey Hopper on item 6.2. Good evening. My name is Casey Hopper and I will be Yes, sir. >> Get the microphone closer. They can't hear you on the screen. >> Good evening. My name is Casey Hopper. I will be addressing 6.2 teacher salaries. Good evening members of the board or as we like to say board of directors. Let's stop and think about that word for a second. Director. What does that word mean to you? What does that word inspire you to do? I took it
032upon myself to review the website of the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind Board of Directors web page. And on that web page, it dis distinctly describes the role of a member of the board of directors. Can you honestly stand up in front of us and say, "Yes, I stand by those rules and obligations." Can you honestly stand up and tell us you have gone on that website and can say I have followed them to the tea? I have also looked at every single one of your bios. You are not bad people. You are not evil people. You are individuals who have changed the face of our communities, inspired others to dream big. You are amazing people. All we're asking is to work with us. We are amazing people. We dream big. We
033want our students to thrive and we're asking to work with you, not against you. Changing teachers salaries. I don't understand. I don't get it. This is our future. If you honestly feel anywhere in your body that this is not right, stand up. Be an inspiration that we know you are. Be that person that stands up and says, "I believe in the dreams of the students we serve." Not the administration, not the teachers, the students. I ask again kindly please let us work with you. Let's make something out of nothing cuz that is where I feel we are going right now. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Next for an agenda item, it is, and I'm so sorry if I mispronounce her name, is it Ba Tarsuk? Madame President, members of the board, uh
034my name is Bat Tashuk. known here as Kasha's mom. She's on the poster right there. Um I brought a visual aid with me, but I would like to address my um uh the previous speaker and I would like to say I second everything he said. We want to work with you. We want to support you and I believe you're not bad people. I read your bios as well. And I believe you want to help and you want to be leaders and you want to protect those children. I am here to tell you that I disagree with the whole organization chart of ASDB. I disagree with money being spent on top administration and all of those positions. You don't need that many especially when you cut the whole school of the blind. I am here presenting
035you but birth rates that we heard so much about birth rate in Arizona actually went up from 2003 slightly 0.35% it's not a lot of growth but it is growth but comparing to population growth in Arizona because believe it or not it's not by birth we're Amazonians but also people move here like I did I moved to Arizona and I'm raising my family here in Arizona. My children were born here, but not every single child is born in Arizona. But our population growth goes up year by year significantly about twice as average in United States. In 2020, we only had 334,000 people in Arizona. In 2024, we have 7 thou 7,500,022. When ASDB was established, we had 23 times less people in Arizona. So, how can you say birth rates matter? And how can you
036say birth rates are going down? That's why you're shutting down school for the blind and well really you will shut down school for the deaf pretty soon because the practices enrollment practices in ASDB today are not sustainable. We know it as parents the employees here know it. Everybody knows it. The the people who graduate from here they know it. There's a waiting list in a school for the blind. children are not admitted, there's no public outreach to tell the parents that this is available for their students. So I believe that if you allowed to work with us and if you restructure ASDB in a way that it works for the students and for the people who work here, we can be very successful and we can serve the students and you can matter and you
037can fulfill the mission of ASDB. You you have a power. I read your bios. I I I can't I I refuse to believe you don't want to do right by those children. Today is March 12th. >> I'm sorry. I'll have you know over your time. >> My child does not have a placement yet. We are not scheduled for ADB for for the placement meeting yet. So that's our situation right now. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next public comment is from Paulie Brady Garcia. Good afternoon everyone, members of the board, administration, friends of mine. Hello. I am Paulie Brady Garcia. Thank you for allowing me here to speak. 77 years ago, I was a student here at ASMBB. I was also an instructor for 27 years, now retired 26 years. I've worked as a volunteer
038as a museum curator here for ASDB. In 2015, I wrote a letter to our legislature asking for ASDB to be noted as a historical site. I presented at the legislature and that decision was passed very easily. So, our historical site is our ASB museum. Did you know that between 1897 and 1912, ASDB became the first and oldest school within this area, one of the four oldest public schools. The other ones have since closed. ASDB is the last of the remaining schools. On Monday, I had a meeting with Albert Duff to review our school map, our campus map. I am truly concerned about the status of ASDB in retaining the ASDB bath house, another historical site. and Albert presented three cho choices. The current landmark for the state of Arizona on this site is the ASDB
039bath house which presented our which we presented as an option to sell or to retain. Another option was to relocate the bath house closer to the museum which is also situated on our campus. Another option presented was to relocate the museum or the bath house on another location in the Morirana area. I currently have experienced moving and it's not cheap. So, I can only imagine what it's like to relocate a historical site. So, in our conversation, I suggested that we not relocate our historical sites and consider other options for the bath house and museum. As you know, we've always had financial issues. Did you know that during the Great Depression, schools in the state of Arizona had budget issues along with ours and they decided to actually close campus in March. All the children were
040sent home. teachers were not paid until finally in September they reopened the school. So in my thinking after our meeting, what is the future for ASB and our historical sites? I would hate for our bath house to be involved in our full campus closure. I would hate for a new developer to come in and relocate our historical sites. How are we keeping our bath house in our museum as is? So, I would like to engage in further conversations with Albert. Another concern I have is regarding our sunset audit. As you know, in October 27th, our report will be released. What is the vitality of ASDB? Will we remain for another four, 6, 8, or 10 years? What is the reality? And how does this impact the Phoenix campus? How does this relocation truly impact our
041agency? And I think it's time for everyone to really know the truth. >> Miss Paulie, you're over your time. I'm sorry. I would like to thank you all again for this time. Thank you. Next public comment we have from Elizabeth Smith. >> She had to leave. Okay. Thank you. >> Um in the interest of time, we did receive eight public comments through email. Um, I did see that some of you that submitted through email also spoke already today. If anybody submitted through email, I can read the names really quick and you're here. I would love it if you could come up in public comment. Uh, Kira Johnson, are you here? Kerianne Nicholson, Danielle Wall, uh, BA, I see that you had already spoke. I have Sierra Vincent. I was talking. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah,
042you have to get close if you can hear me. >> Okay. Um, this is on behalf of Sarah Vincent. Members of the board, from the perspective of the public, the situation on the Tucson campus raises serious concerns about leadership, accountability, and stewardship of a specialized public institution. Over the past two years, the Tucson campus has experienced a visible decline in morale, communication, and campus programming. These issues were already present at the beginning of the current school year, well before the more recent discussions about reductions in force and lease changes. This timeline raises an obvious question. Were the conditions of the campus allowed to deteriorate before those decisions were presented as necessary? When a school serving deaf and blind students serves struggles to support basic community building activities such as clubs, student programming or field trips,
043something is fundamentally wrong with leadership priorities. The public expects the leadership of a specialized state school to advocate for its students and build a strong campus culture. Instead, the conditions being described suggest a campus that is undersupported, underled, and increasingly portrayed as unsuccessful. At the same time, the agency Sorry. Okay. Um, at the same time, the agency has continued expanding administrative positions and salaries at the top levels. From a taxpayer perspective, this contrast is difficult to ignore. If programs serving students appear to struggle while administrative structures continue to grow, the public is justified in asking whether priorities have become misaligned. This concern becomes even more significant when families report difficulty accessing taxpayer funded education credits, trust funds, and other public resources intended to support students with disabilities. These funds exist to strengthen educational opportunities for
044students, and the public reasonably expects them to be accessible and used in ways that directly benefit the children they were designed to serve. The concern is heightened by the recent announcement that school-based programming for blind and visually impaired students will not continue next school year and the dorm programs will close. Making it particularly serious because the Tucson campus serves students across Arizona, including many from rural communities who rely on specialized campus-based and residential services that cannot simply be replaced through itinerant models. It is also troubling that leadership contracts affecting the Tucson campus appear on the consent agenda where they may be approved without discussion. Leadership accountability should not be treated as a routine administrative matter. The board has a responsibility not only to approve contracts, but also to ensure that leadership decisions reflect the realities
045experienced by students, families, and staff. The public deserves transparency and honest evaluation of what is happening on the Tucson campus. These concerns are being placed into the public record so they are not ignored as the future of ASDB continues to be evaluated. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> The last one I have is Lisa Fur. Good afternoon members of the board, board president. My name is Lisa Fur. I am an alumni. Thank you all for your service to our students, parents, and staff. I respectfully ask the board to very carefully review superintendent's proposal. That proposal regarding the renewal of administrator contracts and any additions or revisions to administrative positions before approving them. As the governing body of ASDB, the board has an important fiduciary duty to ensure that administrative structures and contracts reflect the most
046responsible and effective use of public resources. At the previous board meeting, the board approved the superintendent's recommendation to lay off approximately 70 employees. In light of that decision, I was concerned to see a proposal that includes adding administrative positions. Before approving these changes, I encourage the board to carefully review the duties of the proposed positions and determine whether those responsibilities could be incorporated into existing administrative roles. and also look at those administrative salaries. The board may also wish to evaluate whether the current chain of command could be streamlined in order to operate more efficiently. From my perspective as an alumni and a former employee in the early 90s, the current administrative structure appears larger than what I recall during my time in the school when we had more students and more frontline staff. At the
047same time, the superintendent has emphasized that student enrollment has declined. Given that reality, I encourage the board to carefully consider whether expanding administrative positions is necessary at this time. ASDB's limited resources should be directed as much as possible towards student programs, instruction, and services that directly support deaf, heart of hearing, blind, and visually impaired students across Arizona. As we invest in our children, they are our tomorrow's leaders. Thank you for your time and consideration. That concludes public comment. The other comments that were not um talked about here today were 50/50 split between teacher salaries, reorganization, and um the relocation of Tuc. Uh those are submitted. They will be on our website for anybody to be able to read. Moving on, we are at 1.4. Superintendent Reichman's report. Good afternoon, board president Buchanan, members of the
048board, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, Deputy Assistant Superintendent Katchov, and members of the ASB community. I'm happy to see all of you here this afternoon. I have been listening to you very carefully and now it is my turn to speak. I'm going to start with the same three questions that I asked at our last board meeting. Those three questions are, how do we make sure that ASDB can continue to provide education and support to students who are deaf, heart of hearing, blind, and visually impaired for the next 50 years. ASDB has a very proud history of serving that group of students for over 100 years. Our goal is to continue to do so. But how do we achieve that? My second question is how can ASDB provide educational supports to fewer students with more limited resources? And
049I will come back to that question later on. My third question I ask you is how do we align our student needs >> with our facilities and our fi our fiscal resources? How do we align all of those things? Those are the three questions that keep me awake at night. I am up all throughout the night thinking about how we might be able to ensure that ASDB is still here 50 years down the road and still providing support and education to our students who are deaf, blind, visually impaired, deafb blind, and low vision. We all want to achieve that goal. My job as a superintendent is to look into the future at what we can do today to make changes and prepare ourselves for the future. The first thing that we have to do is
050look at our current reality. You all know this. We all know this. Birth rates are declining. Student counts are declining. Elementary schools across the state of Arizona are closing. For that reason, it is not just ASDB here. AI school district in Tucson is about to close four elementary schools. They don't want to do that, but they have to because they do not have the same number of elementary students coming in as they had 10 years ago or 20 years ago. Their enrollment numbers are down and AI school district is preparing for the future trying to reallocate resources and ensure that they still exist and are able to provide education for elementary students who come into their district. That's us too. This is our first reality that we have to look at as we project numbers
051of students into the future that we will be educating and serving. That is why we have to think very carefully about how we provide educational services to fewer students. We'll still be here. We'll still provide the education and support. And again then we talk about our facilities. The Tucson campus facilities are 50 years old. We haven't done significant renovations. We have not done proper deferred maintenance. Some of you say that this is because we did not al allocate sufficient resources for facilities and you would be correct. We have not done that. The reason we have not done that is because our resources are 80 to 85% um dedicated to our teachers and staff to payroll and related services or ER benefits. That is where we are spending our money and we don't have the money
052remaining to address our facility and renovation needs. We have tried. We have contracted with an architecture firm three years ago and they came in to look at our Tucson campus as well as our Phoenix campus to try to determine how with the number of students that we have, we might be able to redesign the two campuses to better meet the needs of our current student populations. That became our master facilities plan. We shared that information with the public, with students, parents, staff, and community members. We had multiple town hall opportunities where we invited people to come and give feedback. We had open discussion about how we might be able to make adjustments and update the Tucson campus. understand the architecture. The architecture firm gave us information such that the campus was too big and we
053didn't have enough students here to maintain a campus of this size. Their recommendation was that we establish a new building on the eastern part of the campus property and sell off the remainder of the property. We thought that that idea might be feasible. The community didn't really love it. They weren't very excited about that idea. We have been asking the state for funding for uh about $50 million um so that we would be able to build that new building and we are not getting that money. Every option that we have explored, every avenue that we have gone down, every consideration, all of our research, the master facilities plan, all of that information has led us down a path that has ended in a brick wall. So the decision was we stay here and do nothing
054or we move. We made the decision to move and we are moving forward with that progress very quickly. We will be moving July 1st, 2026 to our new school campus um in Oral Valley. That is going to happen. Our current reality also is such that our budget is tight. For a very long time, we were fortunate. We were able to arrange our budget and allocate our resources such that we were earning more than we were spending. We were able to carry a surplus over from year to year, but three years ago that changed. We started spending more than we were earning. We are now in our third year of a budget deficit. We cannot continue to operate in a deficit. We have to figure out how to reallocate our resources. So again, the decision to
055move to the Oral Valley campus is intended to save the money on operations um which will be comparably less at the new campus. The other decision um we needed to figure out how to change our service model, provide educational services in a different manner. Our current model is our school-based programs and our itinerant services. We needed to change that model to provide more of a continuum of services. You just heard Jason Lily talk about establishing a cooperative um model with sites or hubs in that cooperative model which will provide additional supports to students who are blind and deaf across the state because most of our students are not attending our school-based programs. They are not on our campuses. they are out in their districts. We want to provide more of a continuum of services so
056that um we are prepared for the future. The other part and I know that it has an impact on our staff on our Tucson campus particularly um it is a hard change. It is a hard change for all of us. But we cannot stop. We cannot pause. We have to move forward. We have more challenges that we are going to be facing in the near future and we have to be ready for those challenges. One part of becoming ready is to look at our leadership team. Right now we have 12 educational program leaders 12 and that is total for the agency that includes our directors, principles, deputy assistant superintendent, assistant superintendent that is a total of 12 pro um educational program leaders. When I look into the future, I am trying to figure out how
057we can make the leadership team, our educational leadership team stronger, more collaborative, better able to work together, to have that continuity and the stability to face the future. My proposal to the board is to reorganize those 12 positions. To reorganize them, not to add new positions, not to add new positions. It is the same number of positions, but we are asking to reorganize them. What I proposed are that two of those 12 leaders do bump up to the executive leadership position level. One of them can be the deputy assistant superintendent of education and that would be Dr. Sarah Barbara. She will take that position and work with the five leaders uh including two principles and three directors. the principal of the Tucson campus, Paul Saunders. The principal of the Phoenix campus, Sabra Taylor, the director
058of OD, Mike Olivier, the director of CTE, Scott Madson, and the director of special education. Those would be the five individuals working um with Dr. Barba. The other group would be with Jason Lily who is currently the director of itinerate services. He would be bumped to the executive director of outreach programs and he will work with five directors. That will include the uh current currently Rosetta Hicks who is the current region 2 um itinerate director. She will become the statewide deaf and heart of hearing itinerant director. Elizabeth or Greer Martin Parish. She is currently the region one director. She will become the statewide director for itinerant services for blind and visually impaired students. And then uh Dr. Kendra Benedict, who is our director of early learning programs, will work with Jason um within the outreach
059structure. Jenn Dr. Jennifer Scarro who is our director of deaf programs and Lisa Yankerelli who is the director of blind programs. So altogether we still have those 12 leadership positions but we are reorganizing those roles and preparing ourselves for the future. We will have more challenges ahead of us and we are currently trying to make decisions to prepare us for those challenges. One such decision is our salary schedule. Some of you just mentioned the teacher salary schedule. I am going to leave that to assistant superintendent Cooper to discuss further with you this evening. But some of the information that you have is not the information that we have. So we will share our information this evening. future challenges. One of the public commenters mentioned that we have three audits currently occurring from the Arizona Auditor
060General um currently and we anticipate three reports from those audits that we will have to follow up on. They will present us with their findings and recommendations and we will have to address um and make changes according to their recommendations. We are getting ready for that because we do have some idea, some sense of what that feedback is going to look like. We expect that we will be working with the state legislature next year in 2027 because again the question of the continuity of ASDB our continued operations will be brought before the state legislature again. So we are preparing for that conversation as well and then we have our succession planning to consider. We will be starting that soon because I am currently in my last three-year contract with ASDB and I am doing my
061absolute best to set the agency up for future success. To conclude, I would like to introduce our leaders. Um, one board member asked me who all of these people are, who are our leaders. So I would like to ask um those leaders to come up to the microphone here and introduce yourselves please. So asking for the principles, directors, all of our uh leaders um director of operations as well our executive directors come on up and please take turns introducing yourselves. >> Good evening. Oh, good evening. My name is Albert Duff and I'm the director of operations. >> Good evening. I'm Kim Bitrich, director of business services. >> Good evening again. My name is Jason Lenn. I'm the director of itinerate services currently. >> Good evening, board of directors. I'm Paul Crey. I'm the executive director
062of IT. Good evening, board of directors. My name is Maria Murphy and I'm the director of policy and government relations. Sorry. Hi everybody. I'm Lisa Yankarelli and I'm the director of blind programs. >> Good evening. My name is Anita Payet. I'm the executive director of human resources. Good evening, board of directors. My name is Paul Saunders. I'm principal for the ASDB Tucson campus. Hello. Good evening. My name is Sarah Barbara and I am currently the director for special education here at ASDB. >> Are you hearing or deaf? >> Hello. Good evening. My name is Michael Olivier and I am the organizational development division director. Hello all. My name is Sabra Taylor and I am principal for PDSD campus. Hello. Good evening. My name is Kendra Benedict and I am director of the early learning program.
063>> Are you hearing? Thank you. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Rosetta Hicks and I am the director for region two. Good evening. My name is Greer Martin Parish and I am the director for itinerant programs region one. Hello, good evening. My name is Scott Madson and I am the director of career and technical education. Hello, my name is Jennifer Scarboro and I'm director of deaf programs. Thank you. That is our ASDB leadership team and I recommend that you vote to approve their contracts for the next year. I would not ra make that recommendation if I did not have complete confidence in every single one of them. These leaders have the knowledge, the expertise, the skill, the experience, and they are a strong leadership team. We need them. We need them to lead this
064agency into the future. So, I will take any questions that you may have at this time. I see no questions. Thank you so much. >> I think right now is a good time to take about a 15minute break and we will come back here at 5:30. 5:30. There we go. Sorry. All right. It's 5:30 now. We're returning from our brief break and we are at 1.5 information item. Assistant Superintendent of Agency Operations and Support Services, Assistant Superintendent Cooper. Oh, I'm I'm just my brain. I'm so sorry. But before her report, um I was informed that Jason Lily, um board member both was able to pull up the numbers that you had previously asked for. And I'd like to bring him up so he can share the numbers with you. >> Uh thank you for letting
065me come back up. Um in in region one uh which is northern Arizona we have 110 deaf and heart of hearing students that we're currently serving 74 blind and low vision students that we're currently serving. um to a to a total of 182. Um in region two in Maricopa County, um we are serving 270 DHH students, 128 blind and low vision students to total 392. In region three, southern Arizona, we're serving 254 deaf and heart of hearing students, 111 blind and low vision students currently with a total of 358, bringing our complete total to 932 students as of uh end of business today. >> Thank you so much, Assistant Superintendent Cooper. Good evening, Board President Buchanan, Superintendent Reichman, Deputy Assistant Superintendent Catchoff, members of the board, ASDB staff, students, families, and community. Following the February
0665th meeting, the board's recent decision regarding our Tucson campus and how we continue to address our budgetary shortfalls. The operations and support services team has been working on executing the operational path forward. Specifically, how we are managing the shortfalls this year and the logistics of our transition to the new site in Oral Valley. By the end of the fiscal year, we will have completed the first major phase of our staffing realignment through natural attrition and the reduction in force. With the board's approval to move forward within the reduction of force of about 80 teachers and staff, the human resources team the past few weeks has been working on providing letters to impacted staff informing them of their employment status for the new school year. While the reduction of almost 80 positions is a heavy loss,
067it is actually one of our steps to try and bring our staffing ratios in line with our current and projected enrollment of students. As you are already aware, the agency has not had enough funding to continue providing annual salary increases for staff. To address our current budget constraints, we are moving away from the previous model where salary schedules allowed for an annual step increase. We recognize the value of the annual step increases that many of our staff had relied on. However, due to a lack of available funding, the agency can no longer sustain the model of our current salary schedules. We are currently and continue to work through recruitment and retention strategies and included in consent agenda item 6.2 are proposed changes to the teaching staff salary schedule. The modifications to the teaching staff salary
068schedule are being brought forth this month prior to issuance of teacher contracts so that when staff sign their contracts, they are aware of the changes. Similar modifications for other salary schedules will be brought forth to the board in our May meeting. Our current teaching salary schedule is capped at 25 years. However, with the proposed changes, it will be based on a placement structure capped at 10 years strictly on earned degrees, certification requirements, and years of experience. The annual step increase is being discontinued to ensure long-term sustainable fiscal and financial resources. Future increases for teaching staff will be contingent on funding and limited to two pathways. Educational advancement where they move to a higher degree. For example, moving from a bachelor's to a master's or if the board approves a general increase for all staff, which
069traditionally has been about 2%. The new teaching salary schedule will be for new teaching staff and upon board approval would become effective July 1st. The current teaching staff salary schedule remains active until August 1st, specifically to honor approved grade advancements. On August 1st, all staff will officially shift to the new teaching salary schedule where their pay will remain the same because they will be grandfathered into their hourly rates. They will not be losing any pay. We me recommend the approval of the changes to the teaching staff salary schedule as presented in consent agenda item 6.2 2 to eliminate the annual growth of the 2% allowing the agency to operate within its current funding realities. Following board approval from February 5th, our director of operations, Albert Duff, has been leading our logistics of finalizing the lease
070and our transition plans. And as previously mentioned, we project about a 45% reduction in annual utility and maintenance cost. And those back office savings will be able to redirect towards instructional spending and protecting our Tucson campus educational programs and support services. Our current focus is currently the Tucson campus operations. However, we continue to review efficiencies across the agency in all of our departments and educational programs. Last but not least, as it pertains to our three ongoing external audits, no new updates have been received from the auditing entities at this time, and all three audits appear to remain on track for completion within the next six months. That wraps up my report as there are no other important updates to provide at this time and I'm able to answer any questions you may have. >> Shaina,
071this is Mike. Um, have there been projections? I'm sure there have been, but uh, are you able to share projections of the administrative changes? what what the fiscal effect will will be from that >> specifically to the relocation or >> no specifically to uh the the new roles of uh of the assistant superintendence of the the the movement that's been that's occurred in the restructure. Yes, the with the deputy assistant superintendent of education there will be a minimal increase of um and with the executive director of outreach programs combined it'll be less than roughly I believe 15 to $20,000 increase between the two and we will have operational savings through the salary of uh the deputy assistant superintendent catch off. >> Okay. And there has been a vacancy that's longstanding vacancy also. >> Yes. >>
072Okay. >> I'd like to see that that data please if we can. I'm sure we all >> other questions. I see no other questions. Thank you, Shaya. >> Thank you. >> Moving on, we will move on to agenda item 1.6, Six, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instructions Report. Interimm Deputy Assistant Superintendent Choff. All right. Good afternoon, Board President Buchanan, members of the board, Superintendent Reichman, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, and the ASDB community. As Superintendent Reichman discussed, ASDB is currently moving ahead to prepare for the 2627 school year and for the future, be it at the two campuses or through our statewide programming. As ASDB moves forward, important decisions will continue to be needed by this board. There have been many tough decisions made this year, many cuts which have taken place, but if we remain just
073in survival mode indefinitely, it will lead to the burnout of all of us. If we focus solely on what we have removed, we risk losing this agency's relevance in Arizona as well as it its importance in the future. The staff and community need a narrative of hope and a clear understanding of what is the new northstar for us to follow. I believe that this can be the ASDB strategic plan which was approved by this board on July 10th, 2025. Pillar two in the strategic plan focuses on outstanding student development, which is where I'm going to have my focus for this evening. Under pillar two, there are three priorities. The first priority is to capitalize on a child's first five years when brain development is still at its peak. The second priority is to expect high
074academic achievement. And the third is to graduate our students ready for life. As ASDB pivots from a defensive posture to a proactive strategy that ensures this institution's future relevance and as the board discusses topics for future work study sessions, what to do with the aging infrastructure both in Phoenix and here at the 100year-old Tucson campus. Please remember that we do have a strategic plan to help guide decisions on locations, programming, and staffing. Our itinerate outreach programs will continue to evolve. Jason Lily's presentation was a great example of that. But as we discuss a spectrum of services that also will be including the campus programming as well as our birth to five programming. In the 11 years that I've been in this agency in different roles, we have added multiple resources to increase language access, not
075just for our little infants, but through grade 12. We've also spent the last few years really focused on bringing our CTE programs onto the campuses and the amount of time that our future ASDB graduates spend in work exploration programs. These are embedded in the ASDB strategic plan as the ASD board and the ASDB leadership continue to go through tough decisions um some that are behind us from January and February and starting to look into the future. Let's remember again that we have a road map in the strategic plan. ASDB can let it be our GPS to remind us where we align our resources, how to foster communication, and how to provide a framework for measuring performance. Thank you so much. Moving on, we're moving to 2.1, which is an action item, approval of the consent
076agenda consistent with board policy to include 3.2, 3.3, 5.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 610 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 616 6.17 618 6.19 7.2 7.3 and 7.4 Four. I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda item. >> Perney, this is Mike. Um, I'd like to remove 62 from the consent agenda. >> Okay. >> Would you like to make a movement to approve the entire agenda item with the removal of 6.2? you. >> So moved. >> Um I'll take a second for the movement. >> This is Linda. I second. I >> Okay, we'll go um we'll go with a roll call vote since we do have some board members on the phone. >> All right, starting roll call first. Linda Bove here. >> Brittney Buchanan. >> Nope. Uh
077it's a roll call vote. So once you say the board member's name, um they'll say their vote. Oh, pardon. Um I This is Linda Bo. I Britney Buchanan. >> I All right. >> Colette Chapman. >> I Okay. Michael Gordon. >> I vote I. >> I. Okay. Diana Heron is not present, I believe. Earl Terry also not present. Shauna Tamiko. I vote I. I. Okay. Uh the action. Um so carries. Vote. So carries. Moving down. We are at right large 3.1. Nope. Just kidding. I'm If I'm counting right, we are at 4.1 information item finance report. Kim Bitrich, director of business services. Nope, just kidding. >> 3.1 >> I meant 3.1. Sorry, that's such a large agenda item and scrolling gets a little crazy. All right, so we're at 3.1 action item, approval of new district
078agreements. Interm deputy assistant superintendent shack off board President Buchanan and members of the board. We do have um as an action item the approval of a new district agreement. This would be in region one with the Mohawk Valley Elementary School District. I'll make a movement to um approve this agreement. >> This is Linda. Second. >> Uh all in favor I >> I I >> I. >> Perfect. So moved. Now we're at 4.1. Finance report with Kimbitrich. No, >> Jack. Check. >> Okay, it's on. Okay, thank you. Okay, third time's a charm. Good afternoon, Board President Buchanan, Superintendent Reichman, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, Deputy Assistant Superintendent Catchoff, members of the board and ASDB community. You have been provided with our most recent board report that covers financial data from January 2026 and 2025. The finance committee was
079held on Wednesday, March 4th with board president Buchanan, and board member Gordon. Also in attendance were Superintendent Reichman, Assistant Superintendent Cooper. During this meeting, we reviewed these reports in more detail. The total student count provided in the board report for February 2nd, 2026 shows 1,859 compared to 1,94 as of February 1st, 2025. A total decrease of 45 students. All areas have a decrease. When comparing the student count to January 6, 2026, a total of 1,875 students, we have a decrease of 16 students, mostly in birth to three, while preschool has shown a increase. As of February 2nd, we had 581 full-time equivalent positions, which includes 8.5 at FBC. At that time, we employed 653 staff. At this time last year, we employed 713 staff. The reduction of 60 staff is from not filling positions when
080they became vacant from resignations or retirements. In addition, the hiring freeze remains in effect for the agency. The highlights of the January 2026 financial report shows the total revenue of 21.3 million was 7.2 2 million higher than January 2025, the revenues of 14 million. The major difference is the increase in institutional vouchers by 5.6 million, federal grants by 729,000, and classroom site fund revenues of 787,000. The budget fiscal year 26 obligated expenses of 37.8 8 million were 2.3 million less than budget fiscal year 2025 obligated expenses of 40.1 million. The decreases are in salaries and professional and outside services. The decrease in professional and outside service is caused by a decrease in contracted transportation for students offset by an increase in contracted staff due to filling due to not filling positions when they became vacant
081and the hiring freeze. The financial report shows an increase in fund balance of 6.2 million due to the increase in cash received from the institutional vouchers. The voucher reimbursements provided to the districts at the end of the school year will utilize approximately 5.5 million of that increased fund balance. This concludes my report of the agency financial status and I'm available to answer any questions. I see no questions. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on. Um, we are at 6.2 since um, prior to this, this has all been already approved on our consent agenda item, but we did pull 6.2 off for discussion. Who Who do you need for questions? I think I just want to clarify. >> Okay. >> Who would >> Hi, this is board member Shauna Tomo. I'm just
082asking just a little bit of clarification on the two salary schedules. I understand that you did some explanation already. Um, we would just like some clarification on that. Who might be the best person that be? I would defer to our executive director of human resources, Anita Payet. >> Good afternoon, board president Buchanan, members of the board, Superintendent Reichman, Assistant Superintendent Cooper, and Deputy Assistant Super Catch Off. Hi, Anita. Thank you. This is board member Shauna Tmico. So in looking at these two again I I understood um the things that you had shared earlier. I just want to make sure that I fully understand the two documents that we're looking at. Um stop me at any time that I'm heading down the wrong or jump in. Um, so the one that has the salary schedule sunset
083on August 1st, 2026 is the current active salary schedule that the school has been utilizing. >> That is correct. Which Okay. Um, and so the proposal is to replace this with the other one that shows the years ending at 10 effective July 1st, 2026. It will be replacing this salary schedule. >> That is correct. >> Anita, this is Mike. Um, can you just kind of give us some the rationale around it? I mean, going from a 20-year uh capped and stepped um professional development type of uh salary range or or program to one that's capped at 10 years. And how's that supposed to work, you know, for you know, if Annette's talking about a 50-year plan here? So what do you do in uh 2037 when somebody's been here and I mean there how's that
084work and what's the rationale behind behind this besides the initial savings that which won't occur immediately because you got a whole slew of folks who are grandfathered. So just just give me an idea of what the what the uh thought process was on this please. >> Sure. So, for those of you who may not know, I've been here for 25 years. And during the time here, our classification or compensation package for teachers has fluctuated just like other school districts in terms of um allowing years of service where you see in this current schedule 25 years and then you see it now us recommending the 10 years. Typically that's done for budgetary reasons because we can no longer sustain those amount or that type of increase or those type of hires. So in the current schedule
085um while previously to moving to the 25 years we used to only cap at uh 8. So um that changed which is why you see the 25 years for now. Now we're moving to or we'd like to recommend to move to the 10 years. What this schedule means is that new teachers coming in would be placed at their um based on first of all certification. So currently we have three buckets for certification how teachers come in. One is the temporarys those that are um emergency or alternatively certified. Then the second bucket is those who have partial certification. So they may have partial certification in terms of maybe they have a standard elementary or standard secondary but they still need the HI or VI certification. And then the third bucket is those that are fully certified.
086So that is one component of the schedule we have not done in the past. The second piece to that is obviously the degrees. Um, so we've consolidated that to the three degrees for bachelor's, master, and doctorate. In this model, the as um, assistant super cooper stated prior, the only way staff can move across this model would be through degrees certification. Now teachers coming in um who do not hold all of the required certifications will be placed at the bachelor's level upon completion of the certification requirements for the position. Then they would be able to be moved to and credited the years of experience. So right now looking I mean not right now but looking into the fall there's one there's one salary for temporarys for new hire and it's like 425 and that would be
087anybody who has partials or not I mean what is that just ongoing that and when you have that you'd stay until you had additional then you wouldn't move >> until you obtain the full certification. So temporarys are the emergency or alternative certifications that new hires obtain in order to be employed with ASDB on a professional development plan. >> And what would the salary be for those folks that have the the second certification? >> The second certification would or you mean partial? >> Well, no. Once they actually achieve the certification, >> once they actually achieve that certification, they would move into the bachelor's, masters or doctorate depending on where they are at at the time of um the requirement of the certifications. >> So the certifications are separate from advanced uh advanced degrees >> could be.
088Yes. >> So literally somebody who's has a doctorate who's been there 10 years is going to make 66 grand. Well, we've already talked about the problem with recruitment and incentive. So, >> I mean, I I don't I I can't understand that as being realistic to expect to have not only qualified, but anyone be interested in that. >> So, I mean, that's the rationalization to it. I get it. that that I mean it seems somebody with a doctorate should be starting at the least with 66 not a 10-year achievement. So I'm I'm just looking at this and I just that's why we're asking it and and Katie made good points and she's well respected. So, you know, we certainly uh start to uh to be even at least myself be even more curious as to what
089kind of real stepped incentives these are because that again, you know, I understand better than most I understand when it comes to to budget and riffs and the importance when you have deficit uh deficit operations how drastic that can be. I've been on this board for years and I I frankly and I haven't said this publicly. I'll say it now though. This isn't a secret. When you look at 70 acres on the campus and a couple hundred kids, this is something that was was was looking to be ominous for years. And you know that's not that's not anyone you know Albert can talk to that you know and then we have like an $80 million renovation we're going to do you know where is that supposed to come from you know so I mean what
090we're doing is survival that's that's simple you know the roll out was rough no doubt about that and still is and we're you know people are saying you're not bad people you're not evil Well, what the hell is that supposed to mean? Nobody's up here with bad intentions. We're trying to do what we think is best, particularly because we don't know the personnel. And that lined up a dozen people here for directors. I've been here 12 plus years or more than that. I don't even know how many were. I probably know a third of them. So, and we're vote, you know, please vote on their on their uh on their increases, their contracts. I'm okay with that because we trust the administration to run the operations. That's the way board of directors generally work. here
091it's a little harder because we don't have opportunities to discuss these things in in regular types of uh of uh meetings or or scenarios but you know these I mean it's hard enough as it is you know that and just when you think you're kind of getting somewhere or it's hit bottom one or the other oddly enough something else gets piled on and you're like what and this is I got to admit this is part of that so after everything the community is enduring ing. >> Mhm. >> And I'm saying this as as uh unbiasedly as possible, and it's been a lot. All of a sudden, you say you're you're getting a stepped salary tears that puts a doctorate level professional at 10 years that's going to be making 66,000 in the year 2036. I
092mean, nobody would. No, no. I don't that's not what I'm talking about. I mean, I get you, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just saying that that's not And then we're asked to vote on this. >> How can we, you know, it's I'm telling you, it's freaking rough what we're dealing with here, you know, on an aging campus that has an $80 million renovation tag, which obviously nobody's given us $80 million to rebuild. That's that's impossible. Nobody's given us five million. Nobody's given us a million to even fix the air conditioners because that's not how it works. So, you know, this is an institution which gives it its strange status. It h it is a school. It's also an agency. All those things, but at the same time, none of the of the
093above. So, it puts us in this awkward situation where a relocation was inevitable. you know, now when you're talking to the cooperatives and the clusters and all that, you know, that's that's probably aptly named, but you know, we're we're we're uh you know, we're hopefully be able to work through that and these resource rooms and the IEPs and all. I mean, it's a ton of work yet and a ton of ambiguity, but there's also like 20 35 35 blind students, you know, 20 next year or something. So, you know that that's that is a whole different topic, but I'm hearing it also that the community wants input. So, you know, this isn't a regular business. This isn't a corporation where you just make decisions. It has to be part of the community. We're trying to
094do that and it's not easy. So, anyway, my question was a doctorate get 66. So, so anyway, I'm sorry. I just uh >> um >> I've been on medical leave for six weeks and I think I just had a lot stirred up. So >> that's okay. No worries. But any feedback we get here today, we can obviously go back and look at that. Um there's no that's the process, right? We recommend and the board reviews it and determines from there what >> correct >> action we'll take. >> I just have a simple question really quick. Who who came up with this salary schedule? Where where do any of these numbers come from? >> So the salary schedule the base for the um bachelors is from the original salary schedule and then from there there's a
095calculation across um 10% between each of the degrees. >> Okay. Okay. But these are numbers that um our agency has already decided has decided on. It's not like the the state of Arizona has stepped in and said this is the salary ranges and we've just picked from that. >> No, all of the um classific classification and compensation for ASDB is done in-house. We are not because we're a non-system agency. Um they don't develop our classification system. >> Thank you Shauna. >> Um this is board member Shauna. Thank you, Anita, for clarifying the two and answering those questions. I I appreciate that. Um, I just have a question. You had said a word that kind of triggered another question for myself. You mentioned grandfathered in. Can you explain that a little bit more to us, please?
096>> Sure. So, our current staff members, as assistant superintendent Cooper had mentioned, the reason we are wanting the current salary schedule to sunset on August 1st is so that the current staff members that are employed with us will receive their salary grade advancements that they would happen in this coming July. If we move to the other the new salary schedule, some people would not be able to advance. So, we wanted to respect that and keep that in place. Then beginning on August 1st, all of our current staff members on this salary schedule would be moved to the new one. However, there would be no change in their hourly rate. Um, so they would all be moved to this salary schedule, but they wouldn't be placed again because they're already working for ASDB. This is board
097member Buchanan. I understand that grandfathering means that if they are at 25 years on this new salary schedule or let's say 20 24 years so they can get that increase. I understand that to be that on the 25 year salary schedule we currently have that will sunset August 1st our staff will have their new contracts. They'll be able to move from their 24th to their 25th year. Is that correct? >> No, that is not correct. So the way teachers can move on the salary schedule each year is if the board approves the step increase. It's all contingent on budget. >> Okay. So they will stay at their 24 the 24 on that salary schedule that will sunset August 1st and they will be at their 24. Then the new one comes August 1st. You said
098they move but there's nothing past 10 years on the new one. >> Correct. So this salary schedule is for placement. So this is for new staff coming in. Okay? >> Anytime we have salary schedule changes or movements, there will be situations where staff move to that salary schedule, but they're not going to be able to find themselves on that salary schedule because it exceeds what the salary schedule um displays. Thank you for that point of clarification. Do you have a question? >> Britney, can I make a motion that we table this and uh for further study and uh even if we do an emergency vote next month? or further information. You know, I don't I'd be interested to see how many people are in this grandfathered category. What the, you know, what kind of savings
099are being achieved. Just there's the these these this chart, you know, offers a lot of information, but or a lot of data, but not as much information as far as what kind of savings are projected or how how that works. I'm noticing that the 10-year doctorate on the new on the new uh plan is is only at the uh the 66,000 is only at the master's uh 10-year plan at the current one master 45. Um >> so there is an actual decrease for the for the people with the more advanced degrees after even the 10 years from what it is now. >> So it is an actual projection of a of a decrease. >> But before we do your motion I just I want to make a point of uh ask a question of clarification.
100We've already approved teacher or the contracts. If we do not approve this teacher schedule tonight, how is that going to affect the approval of the contracts? >> It won't affect the approval of the contracts. The purpose is so that staff signing their contracts understand that if this salary schedule was to be approved, that the change in salary grade advancement would be different the following year and that there's no longer a step to move to. It's now if the board if we recommend and the board approves an increase it would be by percentage so it doesn't affect their current contract but we would want them to know before they sign. >> What is their last date that they can sign their contracts? So, the board contracts will be um sent out tomorrow and so it' be
10130 days from tomorrow. So, that would be April 12th. Yes. So Mike, to your point then what I understand for with that information is if we table this um seeking more information in order to do a our due diligence for our teachers understanding their pay going into their next contract. We have less we have less than 30 days, you know, if we're talking calendar day or uh business week days to have that information given to us, make a and be able to pull together an emergency board meeting to make a decision. >> Okay. >> Yep, that's fine. >> All right. Um would you please restate for the record just your your motion? Um, I propose that uh we table the the vote on the new salary schedules till we can obtain additional information um including
102the number of people that this grandfathered um the grandfathered uh option will also include. So Shannon, we're just going to need a some additional stats. Okay. as to what we're talking about. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um so I have a motion on the table to table this um vote um for it to happen in the next 30 days with the additional information that we are requesting. Do I have a second? >> This is board member Shauna. I second that motion. >> We'll do a roll call vote. Linda Boveve I Britney Buchanan I >> Colette Chapman Michael Gordon >> Oh yes >> no Diana Heron Earl Terry Shauna Tamiko. >> I vote I. Motion passes. All right. Following that, we will have 7.1. This is information, discussion, and possible action item, legislative update. Maria Murphy, director
103of policy and government relations. Good evening, uh, President Buchanan, members of the board, Superintendent Reichman, assistant superintendent, staff, parents, and members of the community. >> Go right ahead. Thank you, Albert. Okay. Um, for the record, my name is Maria Murphy and I'm the director of policy and government relations and I am here to give you an update on the state legislative session. So, first I would like to get started to give you a status update on um Senate Bill 1760 and mirror bill um house 4077. These are the bills that uh you as a board um recommended the introduction of to give um additional thirdparty financing authority to the ASDB board. Um unfortunately as of today uh both of these bills have not proceeded through the legislative process. Uh neither of the um chairpeople of
104the committees that the bills were assigned to agreed to hear the bills in committee. So at this point they are no longer proceeding. Do we have any questions about that before I proceed to the next? >> This is Linda. >> I have a question. What happens then when does that means that it's completely gone or is it something that can be reintroduced in another legislative session or is there more um need more time to find interest in sponsorship or what is the trajectory? Can you help us have some idea of what the life cycle is and how that works? >> Certainly that's an excellent question. Um, board member Bove. Um, at this point for in all practicality, the bills are no longer live. Um the only way for them to proceed would be to find
105a person who has some kind of a strike everything bill and we would have to convince them to go ahead strike everything on their bill and replace it with the third party financing language to try to resurrect the process. Um, in all likelihood, the uh finding a Republican sponsor who would be willing to uh sacrifice a strike a striker is it's not likely. Uh that having been said, we can certainly try again next year. So, I I think it's a good bill. I think it makes a lot of sense. I think we just need to try and and wait again and reintroduce it next year and hopefully we'll be more successful then. >> Thank you. >> Excuse me, Marius. Mike, what? >> Yes. >> Which bill was this? I mean, as far as because we
106had three of them that we tried to go forward with the uh license plates and the other which which was this? >> Yes. So, um, board member Gordon, uh, this bill actually ended up being a combination of the third party financing bill, right, >> and the lease to own and lease purchase bills. We were advised that uh, the license plate bill was not really a good bill because we just were not going to be able to get the amount of capital that we needed from it. So, we were encouraged to just set it aside. >> Okay. So, what uh our bill sponsor ended up recommending and what legislative council ended up recommending was that the lease to own, lease purchase, and third-party financing were all similar enough that it could be combined into one bill.
107So, it was it it became kind of I don't want to call it like a Frankenstein bill, but um it it was all combined into into one subject, one bill. Got >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, since there aren't any further questions, I would like to um talk to all of you about House Bill 2188. I've been getting a lot of questions about this bill from members of the community and from um board members individually reaching out to me. Uh this is a bill that is being sponsored by um House Whip Willoughby and it is in regards to a language acquisition grant program. Uh I did attach to all of you the the language of the bill as long along with the fact sheets. Um what this bill is purporting to do is establishing
108a grant program um that would appropriate monies to ASIP, the early intervention program, um and require the Department of Economic Security to contract for listening and spoken language providers. Um, and with this particular bill, uh, I have been trying to work with Whip Willoughby since she introduced the bill. Uh, I've had discussions with her and I have sent her emails in regards to um, concerns and things that we think that Whip Willoughby needs to know as she's proceeding through um, the legislative process. She has um amended the bill two times. Um the first time she did a strike everything language and it passed out of the health and human services committee with the strike everything language. And then for a while the bill really did not move at all. And usually when a bill is
109staying still for that long that means that the bill sponsor realizes that the language needs additional work. So, we had been hoping that she was continuing to work on the bill and that she was taking some of our concerns uh under advisement. And then uh earlier um last week she went ahead and it moved over to the floor and she did a floor amendment um which made some additional changes but didn't really address a lot of the concerns that I had been raising uh with her. So uh at this point the bill passed out of the house. It is getting ready to move over to the Senate. Uh, I continue to have some concerns about the bill and at this point I think what I would like is for the board to uh be able
110to allow us to take an official position on the bill so that we can continue to work with Whough and so that we can continue to advocate with members of the Senate to hopefully see some continued changes. Um, I have Dr. Kendra Benedict here to discuss some of the reasons why uh we have concerns. If you would like me to bring Dr. Benedict up, >> I would like to hear this. >> Okay. Dr. Benedict, >> do you have a question? This is board member Buchanan. Actually, before Kendra gets up here, Maria, um obviously you said that there's concerns that Kendra Benedict is going to address. Um would it be should we ask what your recommendation would be before this and then we can hear the information supporting from >> Certainly. Um so most state agencies
111do not file official positions unless it is one of their own bills that they are trying to advocate for. So like obviously if um our third party financing bills had had preceded we would be filing a position on that um because this is something that really affects dees more than um necessarily ASDB. were were sort of affected adjacent. Um my recommendation would be that we file a neutral position and filing a neutral position means that we are not advocating for it. We are not advocating against it but it would allow us to say hey we have some concerns and we can put those concerns on the record in the request to speak system and we can share those concerns with individual legislators. So that would be my recommendation is neutral with concerns. >> Okay. Thank
112you. And I'm sure is Kendra going to be sharing the concerns >> specific specific questions or >> um >> can I explain anything for you? I mean, I don't want to speak for my fellow board members, but um specifically looking over this bill, I mean, Maria, I kind of outlined exactly what you know, this is dees mostly, but obviously we have a 0 to3 and 0 to five ASIP that kind of thing. So this is so I guess like what what specifically would this bill as written compel us to do currently? So and that's my concern because it's not very clear. The way it's written right now does not follow IDEIDA part C um processes that we have currently set up in Arizona. Currently, anyone can make a referral for any child, a neighbor, a
113parent, a doctor, makes a referral to ASIP and then if there's a concern that there is a hearing or vision concern with that child, then all of those referrals come to ASDB. We determine it's in our intergovernmental agreement with ASP and in our six state agency intergovernmental agreement with DHS DCS all of them that that we decide ASDB decides eligibility and eligibility for part C is much simpler than part B. It is simply is there the presence of a hearing issue or a vision issue there. There's nothing else. Okay. So typically, unless it was just a an error in the referral, children qualify. And then this is so this is what the language the way it reads now is confusing because it says that all referrals that come in would be given to the sent
114to the listening spoken language providers for listening and spoken language and ASDB for visual language. So my question is then who's determining eligibility? Because it doesn't clarify that. It doesn't say after it comes to us for eligibility then that those that referral goes out. Also as ASDB we do have providers that do listening and spoken language. We as ASDB have a responsibility to teach parents all of their options and support them in whatever it is that they are wanting to whatever approach to language acquisition they are wanting to take with their child. And so my concern is once the a referral comes in the path just isn't clear. I I I don't know what what what the path would would be and so therefore I I can't comment on that. Do I think this is
115good or not? I I have concerns. >> So, but out outside of the path of eligibility, um what other concerns would we have as a birth to three provider? My concern would be that when a parent hears that their child is deaf for the first time, when the child is a few days or weeks or months old and they are told they can go to the school for the deaf or somebody who can teach them to listen and speak, 99% of them are going to go to the people who say they can teach them to listen and speak. That is my biased concern. I'll be very honest. My that is my my concern where we as an agency have like I said an obligation to tell parents about all of their choices. And then there
116will be some children, this is in the research now, this isn't news, children who do start out trying to learn listening and spoken language and not ASL. And by the time they're five years old and that window closes and they haven't been able to develop those skills, now we're starting all over again and that window's closed. We can still teach them, of course, but they're not going to have the outcomes that they would have had they developed a full language foundation during birth to five. Um I I appreciate your you sharing your you say biased opinion but as um I mean I myself am a hearing person and I did have a deaf blind child um and so I know intricately how that does work through the ASIP referral and through doctor's offices and things
117like that and that some doctors absolutely do push for listening only. So I do share that biased as you stated concern but as someone that sits on this board that is a concern. Language acquisition is our job here. >> Yeah. Like communication we need to have a language and communication. I have no bias toward either one. Correct. >> Families need need the option. >> Yes. They need the option for sure. But language acquisition is very it's that's what we do. Yeah. >> So absolutely. Uh thank you. My questioning is over. Um anybody else? This is Linda. I have a question for information for some of us. Um, what what is LSL? >> Listening spoken language. Um, this is Linda Bose speaking by the way. Um, LSL is that um, >> that's a good question. >>
118I just want to clarify that one concept. Yes, I'm glad you asked that question because people use ASL and LSL in the same sentence which I think is misleading because ASL is not a language. ASL is a language. Listening to spoken language is an approach to learning language and literacy. It's not a language. It is a method of teaching children how to listen and speak if they have the auditory capabilities and the um support to do so. But it's not a language. It's an approach to learning. >> So you would call it maybe a tool. >> Yes. >> Or a mechanism. >> Perfect. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. So then they can't really be fully compared. ASL is a language. Listening and spoken in language is a an approach to language. So for
119birth to five that language acquisition piece is very important. Um a person has to be qualified to provide all the whole suite of services including speech all etc. So a a provider needs to be qualified. Here we need to make clear that ASL is a language that they would be acquiring and then English is a language that they would be acquiring through reading and writing. So they're still acquiring English rather than all of the the confusion and and the way people are talking about modalities etc. It tends to the the message tends to get lost to the public and to legislators how to explain that very critical difference. And to me it's really important to have that birth to five window um be focused on language language acquisition to be kindergarten ready. It of course
120speech services we want we the agency offers that we have experts who definitely do support that. So that's what I have to say about that. Um I feel like I needed to stand up for that. And uh if if I may jump in, board member Boove, um that is actually another concern that we have is it talks about qualified providers, but it doesn't define what a qualified provider is. So here at ASDB, we have certificated providers, but um there is no actual legal definition in this language of what constitutes qualified for the people who would be um applying for these grants. And in followup to Linda, what what you had to say, you couldn't have explained it better. This this bill, what it's doing is asking um to support a method against another one. Not
121against because they are saying to refer to both. So I don't want to misspeak. But it makes it really muddy. I I I think it there could be the perception of a preference for one method over a over another for lack of a better term. So um and I and I think that we here at ASDB feel that it is very important to make sure that we are supporting the parent and supporting the whole child and making sure that the parents have um all of the information rather than um trying to steer parents towards one option or the other. >> Not that that would happen. Not, >> but it's a concern. >> It's a concern. >> Not and for what it's worth, I agree with Maria on the filing neutral. Um, but with concerns, I
122think that's the overall best for the whole agency, too. And this is board member boat. Oh, are you done? >> Um, I was just I want looked like Mike had Okay, my turn. So, you're saying file is neutral. What's the plan because of the things do you is there something you want to add to the bill? Um concerns adding to the record? um things you're going to include not just from ASDB but from the community. What is kind of your plan if we file as neutral then what happens from there? Just if I could hear a little bit more about that. >> Thank you. Um that's a great question. So when you're filing neutral that would give us the ability to put our concerns on the record um in the uh request to speak system.
123We could do it in writing. We could also testify at committee hearings to say, "Hey, the these are some of the things that we think you should be considering with this bill." Um, it would also allow us to go ahead and meet one-on-one with people in the it who are members of the committee to say, "Here's some things that we think that you need to think about before the bill is heard." And of course, uh, that would not stop members of the ASDB community from going out and advocating for or against, um, the bill. But what I'm saying is is that ASDB as an agency is saying we're we're staying neutral, but this is what you legislators need to know about. These are things that you need to be thinking about. And then hopefully um
124the bill will get amended to address some of these concerns that we have. >> Uh do you want to go ahead Mike >> Maria? Is there um is there funding allocated with this with the grants? I mean the providers are kind of loosely uh defined or mentioned but most of these bills have something attached. >> So there is no fiscal note attached to this bill. Uh what I would presume is going to happen is that Whip Willoughby will advocate in her budget ask for funding for this grant program. Now whether she is going to request it as one-time funding or as ongoing funding I do not know. Um because if it's just one-time funding then we're back here again having the same discussion next year. So we we will see >> and it would be
125offered through RFP processing. >> Uh it would be uh so dees would have to go out to RFP and then people would have to um apply. >> Gotcha. But it's facilitated by dees >> but it would be facilitated by dees. Yeah. Okay. So and and dees I did speak to my counterpart in dees. DEES has not filed an official position but they are taking the unofficial position again of neutral with concerns. So we are we are trying to um work with the department of economic security and make sure that we're all on the um on the same page here with this bill. >> And this is board member Bob. I did have a question um to clarification on what you just said Mike uh regarding the fiscal piece from the grant. Um so the money
126is that open to different bids and then see which one receives it? Is it that kind of process? >> Yes, board member both it would be that kind of a a process. So dees would issue a request for proposals and then um individual uh agencies or other um care providers would apply for listening and spoken language. Okay. And then I have a follow-up question. Yes. >> To ask. Um is Is ASDB able to apply at that point? Um I just I don't know if that's a clear question, but >> no, it's a very crystal clear question and um as of right now, yes, we could apply. Um so if the if the bill goes through, I would certainly encourage ASDB to be applying for that grant funding because we do have um certified teachers. >>
127Yeah. Again, there's so many unknowns about how it would work with dees. Intergovernmental agreements would need to be reviewed. Policy procedures would need to be reviewed. It's it just doesn't Yeah, it's very >> any other further. >> Okay. So, Maria, you need a um you would like us to make a position. I I'm I'm respectfully requesting that the board um permit me to enter a position on this bill. >> Perfect. I will make a motion um to direct um you, Maria Murphy, to make a position on behalf of ASDB um on House Bill 2188 as a neutral with concerns. >> That would be my recommendation. as a neutral with concerns. Board member Bo, I second. Uh, we have a second. All in favor? I >> I. Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank
128you. Uh, that takes us down to 8.1. A call to the public on the non-aggenda items. We're remember both. You have them. Okay, it looks like we do have quite a few Um, it looks like the first one we have is Christine Hodgekin on the non-aggenda item of the move in closure. Hello. Hello, good evening members of the board. My name is Christine Hodkinson. I am an alumni of ASDB. ASDB is my home. I'm a former employee and student. I am sad I made all my friends here. We need to protect my blind friends. >> I will miss all my blind and deaf blind friends. I'm feeling sad. >> Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next we have Crystal Allen on the cluster sites and closing of the school. >> It's a little loose.
129>> I'll fix it when she gets here. to see. Okay, hold on. My bad. I'm recording for my parents. Okay, I'm fine. Sorry. Um, so hi, my name is Crystal Allen. I am a student. I am a junior here at ASDB. I am visually impaired and I would like to tell you how it was for me at public school. I was not born visually impaired. I became visually impaired when I was 12 years old. Um, which I was in elementary during the time and um, they did not know how to help me whatsoever. I was going to tell you how I was for middle school cuz that was when I was getting the help but not the full help I was getting. But when I was freshly becoming visually impaired in elementary school, I did
130not get help whatsoever. I did not have a on andm director. I did not have a braille teacher. I had nothing. The teachers would not give me work or help me with anything. I had to sit there and do absolutely nothing. Um, people would look at me like I was a weird person. People would talk and whisper about me behind my back. They would go to my siblings and talk trash about me in elementary school. Then I went to middle school and I was all by myself. I did not have my siblings to support me or anything. Um, I got the&m I needed and the brow t-shirt that I needed, but I only saw them an hour every other week and only for one day. Um, I would not use my cane, nor would I
131use brow because I thought that being visually impaired was something embarrassing. You shouldn't show it. So, I try to hit hide it as much as I possibly can cuz it was a insecurity for me. I would um hide inside the bathrooms. I would not like to go to class and show people that I had a disability. Then I finally got in trouble for that. Anyways, that's not important. Um, I would also have an aid inside every class, but they did not know how to help me, nor did they ask me what did I need to get my work done. They would just sit there beside me embarrassing me even further. Um, I would get looked at differently and it just got to the point that I would go home and start crying honestly. Then I
132got told about ASB and my parents talked to me and they're like, "Hey, you going to be living in the dorms?" Cuz I lived in I live in Maricopa, which is really far and they told me that I was going to live in the dorms and I was just like, "Oh, okay." At first I was scared cuz I was not going to be with my family or anything like that. So I again didn't have the support. So I was scared and new school. So um but I came here and my first report card came and I was I had A's and B's. I was passing and I cried in front of my dad because I was so happy cuz at my old school I was failing all my classes. And then when I came here,
133I was finally passing. I got the full help that I need. Now I am really good with my cane and I would try to go and use my cane publicly even though I am still scared. But I am more proud to be visually impaired than I was at public school. This school isn't just a school. These teachers aren't just teachers. These students aren't just students. They are a family. This school is a home. I learned sign language and I talked to um dev students here and staffs. Um so yeah um I am I was happy when I came here. I go home and I tell my mom everything and I tell my mom I'm excited to go back to school and I'm ready to go back to the dorm. Every single summer I'm like, "When
134are we going to school? When are we going to school? I'm ready." But now this summer, I can't really say that no more. Now I have to go to a private school because my mama refused to take Well, my parents, both for my mom and my dad, refuses to take me back to p public school because it was not for me. I did not get the help whatsoever. >> Crystal, I'm sorry. We're >> Well, I was done anyway, so Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. Next I have Monroe Stockton. >> What's up, girl? You got it? >> Yeah. Thank you. right in front of it. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, hi. Uh, I'm Monroe Stockton. I'm a junior here at ASB. Public school has failed me my whole life and and until now ASDB has
135not. Here I have support and accommodations all day long. My service time was to meet with a TVI once a week for maybe 50 minutes, but I was lucky enough to meet with them once a month. All my teachers here support my visual condition through lesson accommodations. In public school, the general class teachers who do not know how to accom do not know how to accommodate my condition. Here I get working experiences. I have orientation and mobility once a week. I have braille and um sorry um for maybe an hour and a half um which is more than public school could ever give me. I use my skills every day and I'm doing really well. This is like a second home for me. And now you're going to close and send me back to the
136same district that failed to provide me equal services. Um, I'm disturbed that you guys are separating us not only from the school but from our peers, firing most of our teachers and M instructors and saying that we're going to get the same amount of accommodations there when we aren't because our teachers will be gone and we won't get the services that we get all day every day making it seem like you have tried everything when you haven't thinking this is going to benefit us. You have no consideration for what this is what this is like for us and to go through this and we are people and we have feelings and it sucks that some of us are going to have to leave our homes and move to other states in order to get the
137education that we need the way we need it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next I have Max Davalos. your mic. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Hello. Hello. and good evening members of the board. My name is Max and I am a senior with an asterisk. We'll get to that. Um um I well first off I was not born with a visual impairment. I became visually impaired when I was 14 in my freshman year of high school. And obviously um for that would be traumatic for any person, but particularly for someone like me who at that point was fairly late in my traditional education, that being K through 12. Um and my my teachers at my public school, try as they might to accommodate me, um just weren't um providing adequate enough services for someone
138who had such a massive uh life shakeup in that sense. So, when I first heard about ASDB in the end of my sophomore year and finally came here during my senior year in 2024, I was uh I didn't realize how being visually impaired could uh um go, what's the word? I could still leave an impact on people because when I beforehand when I was incredibly depressed and thought I would just be nothing and no one uh that wouldn't that wasn't even a thought in my mind. So in the 2 years that I've been here it feels like I have grown so much not only in terms of accepting my visual impairment but just as a decent person. I feel like I'm better socially. I have an actual social circle of friends that I don't feel
139uh self-conscious about going to about anything. It's great. Um, but about that asterisk, I did technically graduate last year in 2025, but um did through a post-graduation program called Lead Your Life that ASB provided, I was able to come back for an extra year and brush up on some more of my skills that I just wouldn't have been able to if I had only come for one year and one year alone. alone and I am so grateful for the opportunity that was even presented to me uh in the first place. And I know that for all these other kids that once they are sent back to their public school districts, they're not going to have something like that. They're not It's not a conventional thing for conventional quote unquote public schools to do. Um, so
140it it really is just something like little and simple like that that leaves a massive impact on someone especially who uh becomes visually impaired through uh un unorthodox circumstances like myself. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next I have Sher Brown. Good evening everyone. Uh thank you for letting me speak this evening. Um it's very difficult. You all spoke of difficult situations and you can see why this particular issue really is impactful here to all of us here on the Tucson campus. We are heartbroken because as you heard from just a few students, every student has a story and I've written to the board, I've written six emails to to you all and I've spoken to every director administrator st on the stage so they know where I'm coming from and where I feel. But I
141I'm speaking to you as the board of directors because you you make decisions for us for all of us and it has a huge impact. And I I know change is in in the air. We have to do something. But I think what was the most painful for all of us is not being a part of that discussion. not being part of the planning and the op operating principles of ACT, accountability, collaboration, transparency is what our agency stands for. We were not included in that and we're an intricral part of what what happens here. We know these students better than anybody and you're put in a position to hear information. I have three minutes. I don't have your ear. I reached out and say, "Please contact me. We would We'd like to give you another
142perspective. Our students have a voice. Their lives change. We change lives. I've been here for 32 years. I don't even think I introduced myself. I'm Sher Brown, the counselor. Um, we change lives. We I love my job because I see it every day. And now every day I have to see an extraordinary amount of pain and suffering and we're we're having to fend for ourselves. A decision was made but there was no plan on rolling this out and how to do it in a respectful, kind, and supportive way. And one of ASDB's vision is we're committed to respect, support, and the well-being of all. And I'm telling you, we're not we don't have the support. Parents are going to two-hour placement IEP meetings and they're shared how their child's succeeding and growing and thriving and
143yet we don't have we don't know where you're going. There is not a placement decision because we are eliminating a a level D campus program. There is nothing like what we provide. And yes, I commend I commend the agency creating an alternative. I'm all for an alternative. More options the better because kids don't fit into a cookie cutter mold. But we're forcing a round peg into a square hole right now because of our budget. And I get it. These are tough decisions. But I've spoken to Shaina Cooper, too. That's willing to go from 25 years to 20. That would save us $3 million. I'm asking the board to start investigating other ways. There's other ways to look at saving money. But sadly, it's the students who have had the biggest impact on these cuts. Something
144is wrong here because the whole reason we exist is for these stu these children. And I've seen them change and grow. It's astonishing what we do. And we are dismantling this program. It is it I'm heartbroken. and angry. Um, and it's embarrassing going to these meetings and not supporting parents who have trust us with their child. Some of them have grown up here and we're like, "Nope, we closed the dorms. Your school district needs to fill it out." Thank you very much. >> Next, I have Mary Rim. Um, thanks for t thanks for letting me have some time tonight. Um, I'm not well spoken like all the other people that have been up here today, so I may be really all over the place, but I have something to say. And first of all, Michael
145Gordon, thank you for being being vulnerable to us with your comments earlier. That was >> Can you move over to the mic? Thank you. >> That was refreshing. Michael Gordon, to hear you be vulnerable with us. That was refreshing. Um, it seems that transparency is not occurring here. I get the impression that you guys are moving and in 5 years you're letting the the the cooperative programs get all up and running and then in five years Copper Creek is gone and then magically all the kids are going to be uh mainstreamed and supported by uh the cooperative programs. Um, it doesn't work that way. This week, a student had an IEP and the student is a dorm student and the student is deaf. And this is the choices that the parents were given. You can
146go back to your home school district and be on a waiting list for an interpreter. The student uses ASL. Or the second choice is that you can have a 2hour transport to Copper Creek. The public school district will take the student to a dropoff point. ASDB will pick them up there, come to school at AS Copper Creek, and then and then two hours back to home. That's not a choice. That's not a choice. So, in reality, the vision that you guys have planning moving forward, it's kind of hard to see how it's going to work. There aren't enough teachers of the deaf. There not enough teachers of the blind. There aren't enough interpreters. You know, you're going to have one kid here, one kid there. How are you going to provide services? This is what
147needs to stay alive right here where they can all be together, right? and learn from each other and have a core number. Um, what else did I want to say? I don't know. I heard se several people ask you work together, work with us, work, listen to what these people are saying. That's that's your responsibility. Please listen to what they have to say. Listen to everybody. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Next, I have Stephen Dwaku. >> Dwaku, I'm sorry. >> It's all right. >> Good evening, board, chairman of the board, directors. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight. I went to school here from 78 to 80 and then came back and went from 84 to 92. I graduated from this place. It's been a while since I've been
148in here. Many memories. My parents went to school here. My dad graduated in 73. My mom, well, no, she didn't graduate, but she had me. So you know my uh my family half of us were we were diagnosed with albinism. Almatism is a um it's a condition which happens when you when one of the parents has a recessive gene. You can't really go around it and that's probably why I never decided to reproduce. But anyway, you know when I went to school here we did activities. We, you know, we were on I was on the bicycle club. I met Miss Mabberry way back in the 80s. You know, we did things together. We collaborated. This whole let's hurry up and move. What is the rush? Where is the human equation in all of this? We
149are people. We may be disabled. However, it's not about disability. It is about ability. We are taxpayers and most importantly, we are voters. So I ask again, please rec re re please reconsider your decision to keep everything here instead of setting everything with the what is it called? Clusters. We're not we're not clusters. That's a cereal. I you know without the education I wouldn't have been able to achieve being a retail clerk for 35 years working for Fry Food and Drugstores. I'm also a union shop stewart. I've been um my side hustles I was a KUI Opie broadcaster for 20 years. I sat on a few boards myself. So I understand how the decisions can impact other people. We are humans but we are aluminum. This was my home for a long time. Thank you.
150That's all. >> Thank you. I have Richard Brady. >> Richard Brady. >> They left. Okay. And then we had two non-aggenda eyes public comments via email. They will be also posted on the website. And that brings us to uh 8.2 two discussion possible action item agenda for the next regular board meeting scheduled for May 7th in Phoenix. Um but it sounds like with the tableabling of the salary schedule, we might be doing a board meeting prior to that. Um is there anything that needs to go on the agenda currently? Okay. Uh and now we're arrived at 9.1 adjournment. I'll make a motion to adjourn the meeting. Do I have a second? >> This is board member Tamiko. I second that motion. >> All in favor? I. >> Oh, >> I'm sorry. >> Testing Lisa Fur
151here. I did send a non-aggendaized item online. Can I have a moment to speak? >> Um Yes, you will have four minutes. >> I'm so sorry. >> Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. Hello, Lisa Fur again. Um, again, I am an alumni of ASDB. The ASDB alumni association has been resurrected. Um, we have met with assistant superintendent Cooper. Um, I asked how the alumni association can be of assistance to ASDB and she gave me a list of different priorities and funds. Um, so we do have plans on doing fundraisers for those priorities because we cherish ASDB's student population. As you heard from members of the community, not just tonight, but at prior board meetings and nationwide, people have ASDB's ear and we need to save our school. And so I would respectfully
152request the board to please ask Superintendent Reichman to set up a feasibility study. That feasibility study would be to figure out a long-term strategic plan for the ASDB campus and future student services. The purpose of that feasibility study group would be to help ensure that future decisions made about campus programming and student services are analyzed using data and include stakeholder input as well as considering the needs of deaf, heart of hearing, blind and visually impaired students. I ask that you would ask Superintendent Reichman to invite representatives from different communities, including parents, families, alumni, and community stakeholder groups. Together, we can look at the study to do long-term vision planning for ASDB. I also believe that any discussions related to the future of the campus, the parcels here should be discussed with a planning committee and
153then that committee could bring recommendations to the board for a final decision. In addition, I asked the board to please reconsider the decisions that had you've recently made. The community is quite upset about the impending move. the principles of accepting a position of ninet of the law. Once we don't use the land and we move, it is very easy for anyone to claim the land that we currently own and potentially repurpose or just completely disengage the ASDB community from the land. For that reason, it's important to carefully consider the long-term consequences of these decisions and make sure that we are keeping our students front of mind when we're thinking about where we're going. I've heard it said that we are really only focusing on a five-year plan. And while short-term planning is essential, long-term planning
154is even more crucial for our future. decisions are being made that affect campus programming should also include considerations for community impact and long-term ramifications of those decisions. The community motto is nothing for us without us and I ask you to please consider that. Thank you for your time. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry again about that. All right. Motion to adjourn the board meeting at 9.1. Uh, I may a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? >> This is board member Bove. I second. All in favor? I >> I. >> None opposed. Board meeting adjourned. Thank you so much public for coming.