001okay it's 4 o' we can start in 5 4 good afternoon it's 4 o'clock and I'm going to call the um asdb board meeting to order um Leticia could you do roll for us tonight sorry Britney are you on the phone do you have that with you Su I am on phone and I can grab my binder give me one second okay I can do roll thank you perfect um we'll start with Linda B present uh I am present myself ber banan Colette chman here Lynn Davidson present Michael Gordon here uh president Kel here Katie sinko not present and then Earl Terry thank you Britney and this is Katie this is Katie I'm here awesome welcome Katie we'll move on to 1.2 information item asdb death blind project presentation by Lisa yarelli and Amy tlop
002interim assistant superintendent um catchup ready okay good afternoon board president kifl superintendent rikman and assistant superintendent katov thank you so much for inviting us to give you some information about the Arizona death bline project my name is lisan Carelli and I am the director of the def line project and with me today are the two def line Specialists Pat Jung and Amy trup all right the Arizona death bline project is is funded from a grant from the US Department of Education Office of special education programs this grant funding comes from Ida Part D which is the technical assistance and dissemination part of idea each state and several territories of the United States has a death line project and each state administers their def line project Grant differently some are housed at state Departments of Education
003some at state universities and some like ours are lucky enough to be housed at schools for the deaf and the blind All State de line projects are part of a national network that is led by the national Center on De blindness our project is responsible for providing technical assistance and training to all schools and families in Arizona not just those that are part of asdb as the Director of the Arizona de line project my primary role is Administrative I submit the application for the grant every five years I submit the annual child count and the annual performance reports the real work of the de blind project comes from our def blind Specialists Pat and Amy they're the ones that provide the technical assistance and training to the families and staff of students who are de
004lined services from the deathline project are unique we serve families students and their families from birth to age 22 and we remain connected to the family throughout their child's education we are the one constant during each transition of the special education process we remain connected no matter where the student student attends school as long as the student remains in Arizona while we do not provide direct IEP services our support has a direct impact on the educational programming and outcomes for students we have been very fortunate to have the support and encouragement of the asdb administration to collaborate with all areas of the agency Pat and Amy work in partnership with the campuses itinerant services and the Early Learning Program staff they regularly go on home visits with our ELP providers to provide information and support
005to families of infants and toddlers who have been newly diagnosed they provide training to the campuses on De line strategies and also provide targeted and more intensive technical assistance to teams when requested currently we have targeted ta plans open and ongoing to support teams on the pdsd campus and are currently establishing some new ta plans for our newest teachers on the Tucson campus for our itinerant programs Amy and Pat attend region meetings to provide an overview of information on De blindness and the different levels of support that the de blind project has to offer which is is at no cost and available to all districts this connection has led to multiple requests for technical assistance from partnering districts one of our most important initiatives is to provide ongoing training to staff who are serving in
006the role of the intervenor an intervenor is a staff member who works one-on-one with a student and is specially trained to ensure access and inclusive ity they provide a bridge to the world for the student who is De blind the intervener facilitates access to information communication and social emotional well-being this year we are taking a little different approach to our intervenor training program in that we are providing more specific student training so that the intervener is better prepared to support their student communication and learning needs for those who are not working as an intervenor but would like to learn more about death blindness and the role of the intervenor we offer free online training from the national Center on De blindness the open a open hands Open Access training modules are available on their website
007in addition to intervenor training we also provide two series of virtual trainings during the school year that are open and available to all staff our first training for early intervention providers was held on August 30th the topic was play based dep bline strategies other topics that will be covered this year for early intervention are American printing house for the blind materials for birth to three tactial skill development and cortical visual impairment the other virtual series that we offer for our K12 providers we call our virtual drop-ins our first session was held on August 28th and the topic was understanding Usher syndrome in the 21st century over 70 people attended the training which is one of our largest sessions that we have ever held other topics that we're offering this year are orientation and Mobility for
008de blind Family Support Services and tactile symbols as I said all of our trainings are open to anyone if you would like to attend our mailing or at be added to the mailing list to receive notifications of our upcoming opportunities please just let one of us know when we can add you to that list I also want to mention our web page which has General resources and information about death blindness there's also a link for providers or families to make referrals to the def blind project and a contact us feature to request our assistance the web address is azde blind project.org thank you all for your attention and interest in the work of the death bline pro project and we're available to take any questions thank you I do have a question you mentioned the
009child count um can you give us an idea of how many children within that age range have been identified here in Arizona so I believe you were in the web in the website or the database last are we at 230 okay and and that's within the the technical ver to 22 okay thank you approximately 230 like we just got a new referral yesterday um so it's ever changing and we you know of course update it every year take the kids who have left us the kids who have graduated um and no longer receive services from schools we update that information um and try to connect them to the Helen Keller National Center excellent thank you you're welcome does anybody else have any questions I do this is Linda Bo I have a question do you
010have an individual on your team team who is themselves deaf blind or deaf or blind to provide that level of support that personal experience do you have someone on your team or is that a plan that you're trying to incorporate into the future so at the moment we do not but absolutely would welcome a member of the def bline Community to be a staff member on our project um we do have an advisory panel where we do invite uh members of the death Community to be with us we haven't met for a while Co kind of um put it aside but we we I plan on bringing it back I just haven't yet so um we would welcome that anytime there's an opening um anyone is welcome to apply so I would welcome it wonderful
011thank you any other questions thank you very go ahead Katie I'm curious uh thanks for sharing first of all the information is uh very informative but I am kind of curious how can members of the death Line Community join that advisory panel what what's the process or how does that work in order to so to join um please just send me an email email and let me know of your interest like I said we we haven't met in a while and so your interest really uh notes to me that we need to bring it back and I would love to have members of the dep Line Community on our advisory and start that up again do you need me to repeat to uh give you my email address yes that be great sure thank you
012sure so it's Lisa L IA dot Yen Carelli which is spelled y n c a r e l l i at as db. a.gov this is Katie great thank you so much you're welcome okay any any further comments or questions this is Britney I don't I don't have a question I just have a comment um my family has directly benefited from the death line project and I just want to say what a great program this is and I am so thankful that we have been I thankful for the support that they always give to families um in the death line community and I think what their work their work is incredibly important and I'm just really glad to have them around thank you Britney anybody else thank you again we appreciate that thank you so
013before moving on to 1.3 we are going to kind of flip things around a little bit and we are going to move 7 point not yet uh may I interrupt you uh Donna Williams is not here yet uh she appears to be stuck in traffic I'll try it after okay never mind we're not going to flip things quite yet um we're going to go on and move down to 1.3 call to the public for agendized items um the first person I have on my list is Elizabeth br house hello superintendent rikman board president Kel assistant superintendent katov and board members hello my name is Elizabeth Libby Brouse and I'm a preschool teacher at pdsd and the president of the Arizona school for the deaf and blind Education Association asdb EA I am commenting today with
014the support of and on behalf of ASD Bea which we do have some new members at at this board meeting today we're excited to see information and discussion of developing an H policy on the agenda today we noted that there are many H policy examples provided and we hope that those combined with the ones that we shared with board president kifl in December 2023 help begin to demystify what an H policy entails if you need access to the district policies and asb's notes and comments on those policies I'd be happy to share those again members of asdb EA made the choice to work at as DB because we have found community and we believe in the school as well as our students and families working at asdb is our livelihood we are looking for a
015seat at the table where discussions and decisions are happening that will shape the future of our agency not only do our students lives depend on that future but ours as employees do too just a couple of days ago superintendent rikman sent out a vlog update in that email she asked how will asdb continue to offer the best education and support to our students in 2034 with some considerations in mind she asked a second question in order to sustain asb's purpose and giving our students the best education and support possible how does asdb prepare for this future a as dbea believes that we have a responsibility to help be the solution for these challenges our agency faces we want to partner in a formal way with the board and superintendent on improving the working conditions retaining
016and attracting highly qualified staff and offering a unique perspective to the challenges we Face we can do this work in solidarity through a co-created h policy we hope that this is the first step in developing a partnership of supporting our students now and preparing our agency for the future our students depend on it and we depend on it thank you thank you the next person is Christina H hello good afternoon I'm Christina H and I'm a PR school teacher here at pdsd I've been with the agency since 2016 when I started my internship at Region 2 or formerly known as DVR as a young professional what stood out to me and what I remember while interning as an itinerant teacher while getting my master's degree from the University of Arizona's deed program were two things
017one the dedication everyone had to their students their families and the districts and the services we provided was UND deniable two the constant flow and collaboration of knowledge feedback shared responsibilities and expertise that we all partook in between my in between my supervisors Nancy and Patty at the time our director audiologists Sarah and Carol and fellow teachers Libby Trish and Marine to name a few seeing that willingness to collaborate between all of these professionals no matter the Tas task was not only admirable but moving so moving in fact that I said this is a place I want to work and grow in and eight years later I'm still here from an intern in college itinerant teacher at DVR and now at pdsd campus as a preschool teacher I ask the board to please consider helping
018ASD Bea with co-creating an age policy because what better way to continue a collaboration of expertise skills feedback and shared responsibilities then between all those professionals directly and its Union to be a part of thank you thank you moving on to um 1.4 information item superintendent report superintendent Annette rikman good afternoon president kifil board members acting assistant superintendent catch off or in catch off and the asdb community Welcome to our September 24th board meeting here 19th sorry I want to mention that the assistant superintendent Shaya Cooper will not be here she is on medical leave currently you have her written report and so if you have any questions related to her written report we have the executive director of it and HR and business services here here that are able to answer any of your
019questions so I'd like to continue our discussion from the last two board meetings about the importance of stability in the organization to support a culture of growth and of planning for the future especially when there are modifications and changes occurring there are things that we have to do to keep the organization stable first we have to stay true to the roots of our core values and our mission that include our beliefs that every student can learn grow and succeed our mission that says we are committed to Excellence in Innovation and providing education to all students in the state of Arizona who are deaf blind and death blind we are also committing to Excellence of innovation in our leaders ship in our collaboration in our Partnerships the second thing that we have to have as continued
020stability in the organization is clear goals and we have that thanks to you we have a strategic plan that is devised of the four pillars to excellent in communication and relationships to outstanding student devel velopment to superb organizational culture and effective resource management and then the third thing that we have to have for a continued organization of stability is a strong stable leadership team and thankfully again we have that and we have a leadership team that is truly committed to growing a thinking about out the future fostering growth so when we talk about developing a good plan the question is what's a good plan a good plan can survive the reality of the world reality we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow we can't predict the future a good example is in 2020 the
021covid pandemic shut down the world nobody predicted that that would happen so we have to have a plan that's also flexible fle flexible in its thinking flexible in its timelines something that allows for error a good plan has to be frugal very cautious and careful in how we use our resources so when you think about the plan and then you think about the outcome we know that the outcomes are never exactly what we thought they would be so we have to have some flexibility some movement in the outcomes similarly as well so if you keep that in mind how as we have this discussion about developing a plan for the future so the first thing that we have to do is we have to think about the future and in that we have to examine
022the environment we're in we have to scan our environment externally and internally externally what do we need to be looking at one thing that we have to look at is birth rates what's the number of babies being born currently comparative to last year five years ago 10 years ago 20 years ago because it's changing changes are happening and they are happening fast and what does that mean for us for the next 10 years and as it's affected by the birth rate the second thing that we need to look at is our state support the public education my question is the state legislature their priority will they continue at the same level of support for public education including asdb that's in question the third question I have is that the state support for the infrastructure of
023the state including the facilities our state is not funding the maintenance of facilities so what does that mean for asdb those are the three things and another question is qualified teachers professional staff interpreters OT PT when we're looking at our undergraduates and our graduate programs those students who are graduating with degrees that we want the number of those students is continually decreasing so how are we going to compete with the other schools for that reducing of qualified pool of people that are we want to come here and that we want to retain here so those are four questions and there may be other question but those are for that I can think of as we scan the external environment we also need to be looking internally at asdb the internal environment and the first question
024is the enrollment entrance of our students we had this information going all the way back to 1912 we have a lot of data about our enrollment so as I look at our enrollment our Trends what does it mean for our future in 10 years what will our enrollment look like I wonder the second thing another question is our students I just met with about 10 students this morning and I think they were first grade they came to the L building and I was looking at who these young people were and there were two death blind with their canes one was clearly with an intervenor and holding on not letting go to their ey a their instructional assistant our students their needs are changing when we predict 10 years from now what will our students needs
025be how are we how will we meet their needs so a third thing that I think we have to look at is our current staff our teachers our professional staff our staff how many will be retiring how many quitting in the next 10 years and how are we going to replace them and if they're not out there then how are we going to grow our own we need to look look at our facilities too because as you know the Tucson campus our facilities are aging and there's a lot of repairs a lot of Renovations here as well we need a lot of repairs a lot of Renovations and we are it seems every day that something else is breaking down we have the master facilities plan but where exactly are we getting the funding for
026that overall our funding our resources what are we needing support how are we supporting our program all of those internal environmental things that we have to look at looking at our data and figuring out what is it informing us what is it what story is it telling us about here so when we start discussing about our plan for the future we need to check our statutory requirements both federal and state that is the first step we have specific Arizona State statutes that say the purpose of asdb is to provide education to students who are de blind Etc we have to look at those statutes as our purpose they are the requirements we have to follow to comply with IDE EA as well there are other requirements that are we are bound by but we have
027to look those over first and then we are able to look at our own policies the policies that you have reviewed and approved those policies tell us in administration how to operate the agency and how we are going to run the organization so those two build the foundation and then we are able to develop a plan we do already have our strategic plan that you the board developed in 2021 this year is the fifth year of that plan and we are beginning to develop the Strategic plan 2.0 that will span 2025 to 2030 I will bring this plan for board revision and approval but currently it is still at the internal level where we are discussing and figuring out what the next 5 years could potentially look like for us other plans are going on
028other planning is going on as well for example our c re accreditation if you all remember in 2018 we got our first agency level accreditation from Advanced Ed now they've changed their name to cognia we just went through the re accreditation process and we submitted our self assessments our theory of action and then last week cognia interviewed several board members and members of the leadership team in order to collect additional information about our agency cognia has already informed us that we will be issued that reaccreditation they will submit a report to us in the near future January or February with the results of their review but last week Tuesday they did provide some feedback to us the positive feedback here says we have a strong culture of providing support that is aligned with our four
029pillars in our strategic plan our leaders are motivated to move the agency forward in a positive direction and improve services for our students we offer a wide range of services to our students all across the State of Arizona one individual from Utah said that we provide more than what they've seen there for their students who are deaf heart of hearing Blind and Visually Impaired and de blind and the fourth compliment they gave us was when they interviewed two of our board members those board members said that the agency has grown and improved a lot within the past eight years because of my leadership and they noted that things we need to consider um for improvement they suggested to revise and improve our data they want to make us to be more relevant and useful currently
030we are collecting a lot of data five years ago we didn't have enough and now we are overflowing with data but we're still not using it effectively to guide our decisions so we need to revise the data to so that it isef beneficial and helps us and we can all look at the data and use that in guiding our decision-making process they recommended we Implement a formal program of evaluation we have evaluations but we don't formally do program evaluation they said that our teachers need training on how to better Engage The Stu our students in their learning process and they said we need to continue our focus on Recruitment and retention efforts including mentoring opportunities coaching opportunities and certification programs that are under the agency's umbrella so that gives you a sense of cogia perspective
031on us so I just said we have the master facilities plan we have the budget plan that we have submitted to the governor's office and will and do so every year we have other plans but now we are starting the conversation of how can we take all of these plans and integrate them into our next strategic plan 2.0 so right now those conversations have just begun we want our strategic plan to be intentional and have benefit for all of us so again those conversations are happening now I'm going to close with two final thoughts first is that when you add or modify a policy that heavily impacts ASB it impacts how we are able to provide educational support to our students so I ask that you take your time to seriously review and consider and
032look through the impacts of the decision that you have in relation to our policies the second thought is that because of all of this as well as the changing environment there really is time for us to focus on planning for the future so maybe next February the board could have a work study session and have a discussion and analyze our fiscal resources because of course finances uh we have to consider we need finances to do anything I know most of you are not interested or you might feel not competent enough or knowledgeable enough about the financial piece at the same time we really do need our board members to have an understanding of our revenue and our expenses and how we allocate our finance Financial Resources so I do suggest February having a work study
033session so that board members have an opportunity to learn more about our financial resources and then we could continue ongoing work study sessions moving forward thank you for listening and for thinking about these things I've brought to your attention I'm now available for any questions this is board member both Annette I appreciate your comments sorry I forgot to to mention that my name is Linda speaking here um there's a lot of things that we need to take into consideration as we move forward however I would like to have those important things brought to us in work study spe study sessions so that can we can get a closer indepth knowledge I have several questions about several topics that you just mentioned but I think that might be better addressed in a work study session where
034we can come together and analyze and work together to brainstorm our way into the future I do appreciate all of the comments that you've made today I'm sure that President Kel has been taking several notes and I really appreciate the time Annette this is Suk I do have an additional comment or question um I agree I do think we need to sort of roll up our sleeves and dig into the financial aspects of it and really get a better understanding than you know most of us have of the finances with asdb but I'd also like to see some comparison for lack of a better word in how other districts are run because I think that's key for folks to understand um because you know we while we do operate as an Lea we are still
035a state agency and so that does impact us and I think we really need to look at sort of both sides of that coin um but I'm all in favor for a work study session on that I appre appreciate um your comments and I we do have a lot to think about moving forward does anybody else have any questions anybody on the phone no hearing none I'm going to move on do we have Don have Donna not yet not yet okay all right we will move on to um 1.5 information item assistant superintendent of curriculum in and instruction assistant superintendent catch off good afternoon board president kifil member of the board members of the board superintendent rikan and the asdb community it's hard to believe that we're about 1/8 of the way through the school
036year these always go so fast wow both campuses our Early Learning Program and our itinerant programs do continue to have Staffing shortages which includes shortages in interpreters and BR list shortages so similar to last year I want to publicly thank the principals the directors and all the teachers for continuing to be creative and trying to find ways of how we can provide the best education possible while we struggle through these shortages speaking of working together and teamwork in Late July following a foundations framework a training all ASL interpreters at asdb gathered for the second annual interpreter Summit at Phoenix College this was an amazing experience as our interpreters were able to learn together and I commend Dr Jennifer scarber and her team for the hard work in putting that together both superintendent rikman and I
037were able to make it down there and sit through some sessions and it was a quality event in late August our Early Learning Program had their 2024 Statewide conference where they continue to build on their vision and Mission I was able to attend one day and met with many passionate staff some new and some who have been with us for quite a while all of them had great questions and I can't wait to do some ride alongs with them just as superintendent rikman and I have now scheduled to do some rideal alongs with our itinerant teachers in northern Arizona later this fall one more thing about the Early Learning Program the Arizona Early Intervention Program which is referred to as azip and is sort of the counterpart to a they divide the state into three
038cohorts each year a cohort is selected for monitoring but because asdb provides services across the entire State we are monitored every year uh asip started their site visits with us about three years ago and today at azip site visit here they recognize asdb for meeting requirements three out of three years the azip director told me that you know sometimes the term meeting requirement sounds like a c but she said it is close to impossible to meet criteria so the fact that we've done it for three years is really uh quite an an undertaking uh this achievement is an example of the dedication of our ELP providers and I do want to congratulate Dr Kendra Benedict and our ELP team for the hard work I snatched the certificate from them because I wanted a prop for
039the board meeting so Dr Benedict if you want to come on up here and take this yes [Applause] right uh our leaders are also doing a great job promoting asdb across the greater Arizona community since taking the position as the Statewide director in July Jason Lily has been traveling all across the state meeting and presenting with special educate special education directors and staff in places like pintop sholo Window Rock Paige Tuba City nog Galis and Yuma regional directors Rosetta Hicks Greer Martin Parish and Jason Lily were also joined by our ELP director Dr Benedict and sped director Dr saris satilly at ad's Ida conference ni where they present as a team uh for a breakout session that was titled the umbrella of Services Under asdb the session received a great response and there were many
040questions that continued to happen after the presentation ended um one thing that has been made very clear since our last board meeting is that asdb will have some tough decisions to make as we move forward and as superintendent reikan mentioned so eloquently in her latest Vlog uh with the community some of these decisions will be hard I hope we will continue to work through them as a team and continue to show that we can work together and making these decisions Abraham maslo who's famously known for his maso's hierarchy of needs once stated that in any given moment we have two options we can step forward into growth or we can step back into safety in the case of asdb I think maslo is wrong uh stepping back into safety I do not believe is an
041option for us anymore between the Deferred maintenance costs Rising on our two campuses the state Bud budget shortage and the projected decrease in births across Arizona I think asb's only option is really stepping forward into growth luckily I feel we do currently have a team and a board ready to work together on these tough decisions and I look forward to seeing what kind of Amazing Ideas we can create in closure I do want to thank the de blind project today for having a presentation which was uh requested at the board from the board the board also requested two other items at the last meeting and we'll have those ready for the November board meeting the first was a presentation about our ELP program and the second was our academic outcome data so expect both those
042presentations at the next board meeting thank you if you have any questions let me know any questions anyone on the phone all right yes Mike go ahead um I don't want to call it a uh open meeting PP but uh I'd like to actually go back to the previous item because what Orin said certainly ties into that um we I think when he said we're already in E of the year into the school year it kind of just made me all of a sudden realize that you said we're going to do a a study group uh in February it seems like we putting that off a little too long particularly when it comes to finances which is going to be really fundamental or foundational to some of the it's not necessarily decisions being made but
043it would be to um to at least including that to some of the decisions making or at least input to it so U I just want to put out there that we may want to at least consider if there's other reasons that we can meet February to have some work I agree with Linda and W and I have talked about this at other work studies that we find them very valuable for us but actually have an opportunity to talk and share ideas and get a understanding of some of the issues because it's not really open to board meetings and we can certainly re report but for us to actually have open dialogue the work study groups are my far that so I'm just wondering if we have that opportunity maybe put one or two in
044between here do you want to say anything to that this is Annette we are now in the process of collecting the data there's a lot of data that we're inputting into a spreadsheet trying to analyze and do what we've been saying that we should have been doing all along is to look at our data analysis to interpret it and then use it to guide our decisions so the most recent educational team meeting executive team meeting the assistant superintendent Shaina Cooper shared some of the spreadsheet with the leadership to provide some ideas of data that we are looking at right now and trying to analyze trying to figure out how we use this information to develop a plan for the future so we are still in the internal analysis portion of our plan and it is
045we're just starting to share our thoughts with the board in Jan we will at the January board meeting and the February work session and then moving forward from there so it's all ready moving quickly is it as quickly as we want no but we need to take some time here to do some of the analysis internally ourselves first okay U so that's also including the uh just the kind of financial information sharing that get people up to speed with with uh how financials are actually reported and understand them so you're doing data analysis that would be included in the financial presentation yes for example we are looking at our staff numbers and we're doing comparisons comparison analysis so back in 2018 we had [Music] 574 full-time equ equivalence we call those FTE in 2024 we
046had 5133 FTE understanding that in 2023 we have 500 which means that 2018 to 2023 we have been successful at reducing the number of Staff just normal progression of analysis for every position that we make sure that is essential and if we need that position or not and we may not rehire automatically some of those positions but every position goes through a review to make sure that it is essential because the mindset has to change for the agency it's already changed so 2018 to 20 574 FTE to currently 500 in 2023 2023 we purposefully added positions several positions I think we added maybe 20 positions because our leaders were saying it's too much stress we're spread too thin we need more help supporting with special education we need support with Career and Technical education we
047need literacy instruction so at that point we had to decide to add those positions but as we added it was 20 and you could see our FTE now we have 513 so we're still less than the 2018 so that still shows the success but the questions becoming can we sustain that can we continue with 513 how much funding do we have to be able to bring in to support the FTE so that's the kind of analysis that we're doing so other analysis that we're looking at is our payroll because we pay salaries every two weeks so we have the historical data that we can compare to from 2018 and we compare it back to 2018 and we can look at how much we paid out in pay rule in every two weeks and we bring
048that forward and we look at our increases that we've extended to staff and I'm surprised from 2018 to 2024 we have increased our salaries all together it equals 10.8 million so we have to provide our staff I mean we've done it we have been providing salary increases and at the same time reducing the number of staff and increasing the salaries so we have to be able to balance and we have been able to balance that until last year and we're no longer able to sustain and balance that so now we have to figure out how we're going to make this sustain how are we going to continue to provide our staff with salary increases while the number of students we serve is decreasing meaning our revenue is decreasing and we are not investing in our
049facilities we're not doing the repairs we're not doing the renovations we haven't been doing this for a long time so this is the kind of analysis that we're doing right now that I don't think the agency has done has ever done so those are the kind of things internally that we're discussing that we're looking at that we're figuring out that the data is informing us of how we're doing and how we're comparing and then the results that end story that I bring to you the board so that you can take the lead and figure a plan for the future with good data with good analysis with a good understanding of the agency and what you have that historical comparison that it's not just finances but the staff the academic a achievement are all part of
050those things that we should be paying attention to that in the past did we pay attention to it I don't know but now we are anything else Mike no no that's that was a pretty thorough answer um I was really just wondering I didn't know was going to be that level of analysis and uh results being presented at the work study but if that's the case in a few months or certainly don't want to push uh push an agenda too quickly so if that's forthcoming for February that's something um we're all looking forward to because that's a a lot of information right there so um and if that's indeed the case then we'll we'll be able to proceed more quickly than maybe we were expecting because we're going to have a lot of on the
051table within just a third of the year so that's good thank you any other questions all right um hearing none I'm going to move on I'm going to move 7.5 um the udman report at this point um if we could have Donna Williams come up good evening thank you so much board chair knel superintendent rikman assistant superintendent cheze off Tire board and asdb family I made it let me tell you it was a feat but I am here and I so appreciate you accommodating my schedule for today all right so I don't know if we're going to be running the PowerPoint but I did have a summary I submitted both slides and a written report the written report is certainly more detailed um but I'm going to take just a few minutes with you this
052evening and talk about the slide presentation so just in summary um in my role I certainly continue to engage staff and the public in an effort to resolve concerns and also streamline processes and my activities during this reporting period have ranged from consultations to mediation to focus groups in fact the last time I was before you my report rep Focus solely on the focus group activities and results and so I won't spend a lot of time on that this evening I'll focus on the other items tonight in terms of the Continuum of services that continue to be available through the UN budsman um I continue to perform the full range of unbd services being a resource um of information all the way to conducting mediations and helping resolve interpersonal conflicts and other conflicts so as
053we look at the aggregate data from the reporting period which is January 2024 to June 2024 um there were so typically we have the form right that's been circulating for folks to use folks aren't using it but that's fine um two people did and uh of those two requests one was from a staff person and the other was from a parent um one of those was an informal complaint and the other was a policy concern the remaining approximately 18 users contacted the UN buds person via phone text or email I also responded to um 200 email during the same reporting period between the two email accounts so I have a Donna Williams account and I have a um busperson account and both were utilized probably equally as much um in most of those instances those
054matters were result olved with either subsequent email replies um in some cases um others required more detailed um uh resolutions that could include some research on my part or directing parties to other services or even setting up um consultations um most of the email contacts were information Seekers um people asking questions who what when where why how um and I was able to answer those questions and certainly once a user's questions are researched and answered or the user is directed to the appropriate resource for their answer the matter is considered closed and addressing user concerns via email appears to be the preferred method of communicating with me um that said um of the 200 or so email and the dozen or so phone calls that I received mostly related to policy or procedure inquiries or
055in a personal conflict um the matters were typically resolved through email again phone calls or subsequent consultations um the reasons um have varied um and the pie chart will show you that um the breakdown is approximately um the majority of them were uh process or procedure questions and that represented the the largest segment of inquiries and that would be followed by interpersonal conflict and then informal complaints and then policy questions I would say that during the same reporting period um I also participated in the planning sessions for the newly developed online complaint filing system and we're now live with that system um it's a little too early to report on the progress of the new automated system or the impact that the new service might have on unud Services overall but I do anticipate being
056able to share more on this topic during my next report which will cover July to December so look for that um again just to um reiterate um my last report regarding the um focus groups um I I I wanted to just reiterate kind of the opportunities that those follow-up focus groups presented um in an effort to just kind of solidify kind of the messaging around um what people were thinking during those sessions and so some of the opportunities included um instituting some level of accountability measures for example to track our communication efforts as you know we're working tirelessly to improve that at the agency um in the way of formulating a comprehensive uh communication strategy um and certainly what came out of those discussions was the need to um have some level of accountability for
057how well we're doing in that effort also implementing some Anonymous feedback options folks still want opportunities to share their concerns um with some degree of anonymity um and I think that um it it's appropriate to accommodate them in some respect um to being able to do that and also creating more opportunities to interact with you the board um in informal um environments and then finally connecting with more staff in the outlying areas um you know we're a large agency we're not like most school districts we have um facilities and staff all throughout the state and so what I heard over and over again is sometimes they feel left out and so um more efforts probably should be garnered um towards reaching those folks in addressing their needs and then finally just to talk about the
058uh comprehensive communication plan and that's ongoing we continue to make progress in this regard um all of the efforts that I mentioned previously from the focus groups are in an effort to add and bolster the communication strategy and as we continue to receive feedback from staff we'll continue to add to the pl framework one of the things that came out of the focus groups was the need to equip leadership with more Tools in their toolbox around having the very difficult conversations that um assistant superintendent cze talked about um and that you have talked about um and that we'll talk about in the coming um meetings and so one of the ways to do that is through training and one of my suggestions was crucial conversations and it's really um an opportunity to give staff some
059skills around having these really high stakes conversations because we're going to be having a lot of those um in the coming months and so I think it will help um facilitate those conversations and make them more engaging and more productive and so the first introduction to this training happened last week at the steering committee meeting and as we meet um as a leadership team um that training will be ongoing and so I'll have more to report on this training and how it's going um during my next report and one of the things I um emphasized in my last report and I will reiterate for this report is um underutilization um of the unbd services by the public maybe they don't need me I don't know but one of the things that we can do is
060certainly reach out to parents um in various ways such as using parents Square um we can utilize social media more um more of the web page advertising and marketing and then we also considered video shorts um including ASL um just to get them messaging out and so I look forward to working with media and other departments in the agency to get some of that work done in conclusion um I logged in approximately 148 hours during the reporting period that's consistent um six months over six months for the last two years I would say um and really I think the volume and tener continues to be enough for the amount of hours that I'm able to devote to this work again the most prevalent concern um con shared by users continues to be in a personal
061conflict no surprises there but I do think that as we improve upon our communication strategy as we build skill in the area of having crucial conversations um that need too will also decrease over time um and we'll continue to have focus groups so that we can kind of get a pulse on where staff is on the important issues that impact their uh daily jobs and that will also be um food for us to use to make improvements in the agency so with that my next report from this office will be in 2025 I believe it will be in the January board meeting and I'll cover the reporting period again from July 2024 to December 20124 that concludes my report I'm happy to take any questions thank you any questions yes this is Linda thank you
062very much for your presentation it was very comprehensive I appreciated it and it did give me some thoughts what I'm considering right now is as you said a family um engagement is not high I'm wondering about the deaf Community as well um in and the interpreting communities um how is engagement there is that something to um consider how can we bring the communities on board because of our pillars our four pillars we want to be engaged with those community members um and we do seem to see some distance so how do we make that connection and bring those folks in is that something worth um contemplating for in your role for your next uh plans your next session plans absolutely I think anytime that we can incorporate uh Greater Community engagement especially with the umut
063um umut person's office that's a great thing and so I am interested in having those conversations and trying different Strat strategies to bring those communities on board um in case there's a need for my services and even if there isn't just for my own awareness um of those communities and their needs so thank you for bringing that to my attention I appreciate it thank you any other questions anyone on the phone all right thank you so much I appreciate that thank you okay we're going to jump back up to 1.6 which is an information item um and since assistant superintendent of agency operation and support services is not here um you have the report in front of you do you have any questions there are staff here that could address them all right hearing none
064I'm going to move on to 2.1 um approval of the consent agenda items um which would be 3.2 5.1 6.1 7.2 7.3 and 7.4 I mov is it working yeah oh I move to approve the consent AG agenda items 3.2 5.1 6.1 7.2 7.3 and 7.4 I have a motion do I have a sec I second I'll second okay we have two seconds thank you all those in favor say I I I I I any opposition the consent agenda items pass moving on to action item 3.1 approval of new District agreements and that would be assistant super attended um catch off good afternoon uh we do have three new contracts uh if you have any questions please let me know any questions regarding the new agreements I am open to a motion I move this
065is Lynn I move to approve the new District agreements I have a motion do I have a second I'll second second thank you Britany um all those in favor of accepting um the motion say I I I I any opposition hearing none motion passes okay I can move this up a little bit okay moving on to action item um number 3.3 approval of 301 per performance um hold on things are popping up at me thank you extion item um 3.3 approval of 301 performance-based plan for um 2024 to 2025 assistant superintendent catch off good afternoon board president and members of the board every year we come forth to you on the 301 checklist uh for your approval if you have any questions about it I have Michael Olivier in the audience who can come up
066and clarify that for you I have a question this is Lynn um is this the same as we did last year let me see if I can get it looks familiar I believe a lot of it is the same but as this checklist goes through the organizational development Division I do uh ask that the director can clarify anything for you sure good thing hello good afternoon everyone can everyone see me okay okay thank you my name is Michael Olivier I am the director of the organization Development Division OD and the process this year is more collaborative we're asking for more feedback from our teachers for the 301 process when we're talking about the selection we've narrowed it down previously each department had their own items for example ELP the campuses we've now created one draft
067where individuals can select from an option of three and they can also select a specific goal they would like to work on based on their interest so after polling our teachers many agree that they would like to keep the form as is or revised based on some feedback than thank you thank you you're welcome thank you thank you any other questions or discussions otherwise I will entertain a motion this is Lynn I move that we approve the performance-based plan for the 301 monies for school year 2425 this is Linda I'll second that motion I have a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I any opposition hearing none motion passes moving on to 4 um 4.1 information item Finance report Kim bitr director good afternoon board president kifo superintendent rikman assistant
068superintendent chakov members of the board asdb Community I will try to keep this slower just shout if I'm going too fast you have been provided our most recent board report that covers the financial data for June 2023 and 2024 this data was covered in more detail at our most recent Finance commit meeting held on Thursday September 5th with board president kif and board member Gordon also in attendance were superintendent rikman and assistant superintendent Cooper in addition to the June Financial reports we discussed the budget that was submitted to ospb the office of strategic planning and budgeting on September 3rd in this budget proposal we included two funding issues one was for transportation and one was for related Services both of these costs have increased since becoming an Lea and the agency has not been funded
069as an Lea the full budget submission is available for your perview on our website the total student count provided in the board report for August 1st 2024 shows 1,922 students compared to 2,1 178 students as of July 1st 2023 a total decrease of 256 students registration was still occurring at the time this Report was generated however we have been seeing a decrease in the student count in all areas campus students have decreased by 35 Regional cooperatives have decreased by 106 preschool by 113 and birth to three by two students When comparing the student count to June 1st of 2024 there was 2,27 students that's a decrease of 105 compared to the August Camp the decrease in student count will impact our funding for Budget fiscal year 2025 since the instit institutional voucher the fee for
070service and the classroom site fund are all based on student count as of June 1st we had about 504 full-time equivalent which includes 8.5 full-time equivalent instructions at FBC foundation for blind children at that time we emplo employed 79 staff there are currently 164 vacancies across the agency that we were recruiting for the highlights of the June 2024 financial report show a total revenue of 62.2 million which was 700,000 lower than the June 2023 revenue of 62.9 million the major difference is the decrease in the general fund and the receipt of the fee for service Revenue The General fund is lower since we received 1.1 million in one-time funding for transportation and $866,000 in capital Improvement funds during budget fiscal year 2023 the fee for service Revenue was lower because of the delay in get
071getting the invoices out to the districts this is all offset by an increase in the federal grants and the classroom site fund the budget fiscal year 2023 obligated expenses of 64 million were 4.2 million less than budget fiscal year 2024 obligated expenditures of 68.2 million the increases were in payroll of 2 million professional and outside Services of 2.6 million offsite offset by a decrease in equipment and transfers out the the overall picture for Budget fiscal year 2024 shows that we will be using about 1.6 million of our cash balance to meet our obligations for the year for Budget fiscal year 2023 our revenues exceeded our expenditures by 2.6 million if there are no questions this concludes my report for our financial data for June Kim this is Linda I have two questions for you first
072of all um you mentioned enrollment numbers um and I'm I have some questions especially with the decrease in the 0o to three and in preschool you mentioned over 100 students decreased um so I have questions about that but then also because of these decreases how will that impact the funding for our next year and for for years into the future what does the picture look like um I don't know if now is the appropriate time to ask those percentages or what does the potential decrease of our budget look like as we see these enrollment Trends continue into the future and how can we manage this fiscally I know that we need more work as far as data and Analysis but if you have something off off hand to uh recommend that'd be great so first
073I want to say that these numbers were before registration was completed and I have talked to Dr kend Kendra Benedict and the numbers for like FBC those were higher than what I originally reported by another 20 students she said she had some extra enrollments so the October 1 numbers that I'll report on in November should have a more accurate count since all the students should be entered and those are the numbers that we report to ad Arizona Department of Education um I did mention that our student count does affect our funding as far as the institutional voucher the fee for service and the classroom site fund one thing that I do know is the classroom site fund per pupil account the cost has going up we were getting $758 per student in 2024 that's going
074to so even though our student count is going down that's going to increase but I don't think that's enough to offset the difference in the number of students so yes we will definitely be in that analyzing that right so put okay just wanting to know not enough if you have a quantifiable how much not enough but no thank you and and this is Suk I will add this is some of the things that we will be looking at they will have the data for us in the February work study meeting any other questions for Deb this is Lynn hopefully this is an easier question um just looking at the actual expenditures I was just wondering what personal services that's salaries okay yeah that's I saw that in a number of places was curious yes thank
075you anybody on the phone have any questions or comments no thank you this is Su again I'm going to make a a plug here again to say we could use another board member on the finance committee and even if you don't feel competent in this area it's a great way to learn um they go through things very specifically and in detail we have time to ask questions so I'm just putting that out there again if you want to learn more about this before we move into a work study joining the finance committee would be a way to do that that was my PSA for tonight okay thank you thank you okay we're going to move on to 6.2 information um discussion and possible action item um education organiz ganizations at asdb and we do have
076the option to go into executive session um for any consultation or legal advice with our board's attorney as it relates to this item yeah this is Linda I would move that we go into executive session to discuss this issue with the attorney I have a motion do I have a second thank you Britney I have a motion in a second all those in favor say h i i any opposition okay we will move into executive session um pursuant to ARS 38 43103 A3 the board may vote to go into executive session which will not be open to the public for discuss consultation for legal advice with the board's attorney as it relates to this item and we will um go into it move to go into executive session at at I'm going to say 5:40
077to give people a break before and get everything reconnected Deb did I do something wrong oh she's okay nope I think we're good okay so let's say um 5:40 we will begin executive session that way we can give folks a break I'm bringing yeah I am I'm bringing it because I do want to look at you I can do it I I will have lots of questions I'm sure e e e oh so we don't have to worry about it okay AC okay cool y on the motion to go into executive session Lind was the one that made the motion who second Britney Britney I miss that it wasney do it it's okay it doesn't it doesn't bother me I just was like I didn't know it did that so I'm still kind of learning
078I wanted to let you guys know because I know then said she didn't really like this one they're phasing out more dos it's going away this is kind of the redoing with some things that it does have I there's still things in there that I don't really like that I brought up at the conference and I said I like this better over here well it's hard because it like this is so big that on these screens I feel like I keep going 125 130 14 you used to be able to yeah yeah and I I do like being able to have the different tabs open but I I need to bring my own Mouse I brought mine because I can't do this thing either makes me crazy me too yeah it must be it must
079be our generation I I do the same you want to make your screen bigger you can go up here make it bigger well I can do it here too they have a little plus and minus here but every time you move to another page it goes back to 100% And what I didn't like about the when you open to try and do the minutes that's why I had attach them the other way because you go in here and it brings all this and still shows the all the attachments and I'm like that's just taking too much room but I get why they do it because that way you're somebody's reading the minute you can just click on what was approved you know but and I get it but even though I'm just picking all right
080okay what do we have here do you do you want to read my motion testing okay okay do we have everybody do we have everybody on the phone I'm here I've got Mike is Britney there I'm here okay I'm here um give me one second [Music] are yours thank you got old school pen okay all right I think we're ready to resume um we'll start back up into the open meeting at 6:25 p.m. and for wait I got to find my for agenda item 6.2 um I'm open to any discussion or action I would like to make a motion this is Lynn based on our executive session discussion I move that we ask the aag's office to conduct further research on the legalities of the H policy for asdb I have a motion do I
081have a second I second all those in favor say I I I I any opposition or exstension so this will continue to be an information and possible action item on the agenda moving forward thank you okay 7.1 information and discussion item for uh and and possible discussion of policies it should be ACB ACAA GB K G GCB GCC i n j DB and j i i Maria Murphy director of policy and government relations I feel like there should be music behind that good evening Madame President superintendent rikman assistant superintendent members of the board and the asdb community for the record my name is Maria Murphy I'm the director of policy and government relations you have the red lines of the aforementioned policies before you I'm not going to repeat all the titles again no public
082comment was received in regards to these policies what I can tell you is that um most most of the G policies were actually driven by Governor hobbs' um executive order regarding paid parental leave and so we were required to create a paid parental leave policy and because paid parental leave affects the other leave policies it only made sense to go ahead and make those changes at that time so do you have any questions for me in the meantime though and I'm assuming that those are first reads yes ma'am they are first reads okay so no action on those tonight okay no ma'am any questions for Maria anybody on the phone have any questions or comments no thank you no all right thank you very much thank you all right then moving down to agenda item
083number eight call for agenda items for the next meeting um 8.1 call to the public I have not received any calls to the public for non-agenda items so it would be 8.2 agenda items for the next regular board meeting for um which is scheduled for November 14th of 2024 in Tucson um I would consider I would please continue to put the H policy as a information and possible action um any other ideas for the next um agenda if not you can always reach out to Annette or myself prior to the next board meeting hearing none moving on to agenda item 9.1 adjournment that's me this is Lynn I move that we adjourn this meeting I have somebody second second all those in favor say I I I I I okay um motion passes the meeting
084is adjourned at 6:29 p.m. thank you to the community um for being here we appreciate you okay thank you thank you Mike thank you Britney have a good evening thank you have a good evening I it always pops back up