001okay it is 4:00 we can now get started all righty um good afternoon and welcome to the ASB board meeting I will call call the meeting to order at 400 p.m. um Britney you want to do roll call uh Linda B present uh I am present uh Colette Chapman not present uh Lynn Davon do we have the people okay there she is uh Michael Gordon not present uh Suk kifil present Katie Cino present and Earl Terry present thank you moving on to 1.2 call to the public for agendized items I have one request it's from Elizabeth Rouse hello thank you for your time today hello assistant interim interim assistant superintendent jack off assistant superintendent kooper superintendent rikan board president k i board members thank you for having me today or giving me the time to
002speak uh my name is Elizabeth brous I'm a preschool teacher and the president of the Arizona school for the deaf and blind Education Association ASD Bea and I my comment today is related to agenda item 7.6 so going back in a bit of a timeline in October of 2023 um myself and our at the time asdb EA president Ted met with the board and um superintendent rikman in a work study session and the purpose of that session was to review the history of our Education Association and to have kind of an overview of what um an H policy or meet and confer is because our Education Association is requesting um that our board create an approve an age policy so we met in October to discuss that then in December um ASD Bea sent an
003email um to superintendent rikman and president Su and there we shared um documents of other Public Schools age policies as an example of what we were looking for and in that we included our comments on what we thought would be good for our age policy um and maybe what wouldn't work for our age policy we also shared inform about the the California school for the de their Union and then we also sent a draft of a membership interest survey that we were hoping would be shared in January on that same email chain so January 2024 um president Suk indicated that she and superintendent rikman would meet with the attorney general to discuss use of agency resources for these fact finding things um I then also confirmed that um excuse my accent Washington School for the
004Deaf Washington School for the Deaf um in Oregon School for the Deaf also have unions um we don't have their exact policies that's been a little trickier to get but we have confirmed that they also have unions um and then again in March with that same email chain um president Su confirmed that they had met with the attorney general's office office and that they are still reviewing um the use of agency resources for these fact finding things then go to May 9th 2024 at the board meeting at the very end of the meeting President Suk directed asdb staff to work with asdb EA um and there was some discussion during that time that we wanted to pull the members of the agency um through the udman to develop an H to see the interest of
005developing an H policy um a representative from the Attorney General's office was present and was asked about using resources and again at that time um they noted that they would be following up so since really October of last year we've our ASD Bea we've been patiently waiting we've been following up we've been really asking kind of the same question of like what can we do what can't we do and it seems like we don't have an answer yet so um we are here again representatives of ASD Bea um still patiently waiting in the meantime we have been signing up new members um specifically on the Phoenix campus we've been having one-on-one conversations about what asdb is EA is what an H policy is what do we mean by meet and confer um we've actually been
006invited and we've been requested to meet with teams throughout the agency to kind of have these conversations just today I had another member sign up um so we've been working while waiting to get some answers on other things we're excited about what next steps can be in building our relationship with leadership and with the board and we're looking forward to finally receiving clarification on some of these questions that we have been asking since at least last October um so I'm here today to request a meeting with asdb leadership and a work study session to be added to the board calendar again thank you for your time thank you lib that's all that's up okay moving on to 1.3 information item superintendence report good afternoon president kifil members of the asdb board Acting Superintendent katoff assistant
007superintendent Cooper superintendent Cooper and community members welcome we're so glad to have you here at the July 11th 2024 regular board session here in Tucson it's still really hot even in Tucson but we are here and it's a beautiful AC in this building I'd like to start my report with a very brief story and this story is about three fish and the three fishes names are plan for the future plan to think fast and wait and see so one day the three fish were in their Pond and they overheard a rumor that there was a fisherman that was going to come the next day and cast his net so the first one said plan ahead said said I'm going to plan for tomorrow and I am going to swim upstream just away so that I
008don't get caught and the second one said well I'll think fast that's my plan and the third one says H I don't really feel like handling this right now I'll wait and see cuz I'm lazy right now the next morning the fisherman came came in his boat and he cast his net out into the pond and he caught the latter two fish he didn't catch the plan ahead fish because that fish had already escaped but he did catch the other two and think fast immediately thought I'll roll over and show my belly and he'll think I'm dead and the fisherman saw him and said ah this fish is no good I don't want him and picked him up and threw him back in the pond but the third fish was caught and he was brought
009to the market and sold so in times of danger you need to either plan ahead or you have to plan to think fast so this afternoon's theme is going to be planning ahead I want to remind all of you that the last two board sessions we have been discussing the importance of stability in the organization and as you recall that stability in organization gives the staff a sense of predictability continuity and a sense of security because they can predict and know what to expect and what's going to go on in the organization so when we have that stable organization and then our leaders are focused on developing the culture of growth and planning for the future and if you recall I said at the last board meeting that here at asdb we have the foundation
010for stability in our organization we have have the core values and the belief system and we have the goal the vision the mission we have our operating policies that commitment to collaboration and transparency we have the Strategic plan and we'll be expanding a little on that discussion later we have recently invested more effort to bettering and clarifying our transparency of communication and we've been trying to reach out to get more feedback more frequently to make decisions at the agency level the big decisions so as you look at planning for the future I'd like to touch on six things first of all and most important is the Strategic plan and you the board of 2024 you developed last in last in 2021 you developed a strategic plan and we're in the fourth year and we have
011the four pillars it's excellent in commun communication and relationships outstanding student development superb organizational culture and effective Resource Management everything we do is our planning in the future and it includes those four pillars and how we strategically plan that right now so our strategic plan currently we're nearing the end of our fourth year and we've just collected more input for the data the metrics in the Strategic plan a few days ago I sent an email with the details to the updated strategic plan report that includes the 2023 data so that we now have four years worth of data in that report we also have the dashboard where we have a graph that has beautiful colors that represent the different metrics and it also includes that four years worth of data and for those of you
012who are curious and would like to see that all you have to do is check on our web page it's www.db.com dashboard so we are now working on three things currently with the Strategic plan that are our Focus the first is collect collecting the data and inputting it for the four-year report we are also planning for the final and fifth year of the Strategic plan for 2024 25 and we had a steering committee meeting this was last April 8th 2024 and that steering committee meeting we asked the leaders their accomplishments what they had done in their departments over the last year and then we asked them to prioritize their goals for the final fifth year we've collected their pri prioritization and we're putting it together those priorities will become the smart goals for each of
013the leaders and so those leaders will be responsible for focusing on their goals for the last year and that list of goals is also going to transition and become the foundation for the next strategic plan 2.0 as we're calling it for 2025 through 2030 we will this year have several significant meetings and discussions about the Strategic plan including our educational team meetings our steering committee meetings we will have some Town Halls we will actively seek and recruit feedback from the community for the Strategic plan when we have the draft we will share that for the possible plan for that 2025 to 2030 so you will have the opportunity to review the plan make edits and then seek final approval so that will be the first part of the plan for the future for planning ahead
014and then the other things will follow that the second thing that we're doing to plan for the future is that we are trying to get cognia accreditation and if you remember from 2018 we got Advanced accreditation and that helped us to focus on the instructional curriculum and how we were going to provide the best education we could to our students and now is the time that we're reviewing the accreditation at the agency level and so now cognia is changing their name and we are submitting the theory of action it's actually a program evaluation and so that program evaluation is recommending that not only do we collect the data that we do really well at the collection of the data but we still haven't analyzed the data we're still not using the data to make the
015data Guide our decisions so we want to analyze the data and use that to steer our change for the agency here so that's the second part of the cognia accreditation the master facilities plan we're calling it mfp as you remember in on May 2nd you had a work study session and you were able to learn about the concept the redesign of the Tucson campus and the phen Phoenix campus changes and we had discussions and questions on May 9th that were approved for the concept for the Master's facility plan we're not quite sure about the funding as of yet but we still have to have the plan so we do have that now maybe you've noticed maybe you haven't noticed that we've been doing a lot of organization here at asdb within the last year we've
016added a special ed department and that special ed Department uh the roles and responsibilities and the focus on making sure that we are adhering to the idea requirements uh for our students because we haven't had that focus in the past especially the special ed also has the supervising direct responsibilities for our uh related service Personnel like OT [Music] PT to have that Collective effort to make sure that we are providing the best support to our students and we've added the CTE Career Technical education on both campuses they're going to have their own programs on site uh they formally had their own program so we're focusing on providing transition support for our students in middle school and high school so that they would become ready for postgraduation we just recently added a deputy assistant superintendent who
017will be focuses focusing on both campuses again to support the instruction and curriculum and behavior and to analyze all that's involved with providing a great education and support to our students we are now reorganizing our agency um relations we've had had several groups that we are pulling them together now for example we have a media and Communications Department which before were under the assistant superintendent of agency operations and that's assistant superintendent Cooper they've been moved directly under me now and the agency Relations Specialist is now in the media and Communications Group so all of those who are involved with the agency relations activities are now going to be connected directly to me the superintendent the budget is the fifth important part of our plan for the future we have wellestablished budget processes and our budget
018analysis and they work with every department and those leaders to solicit feedback on the budget decisions what they need what we can provide what we can't provide and what resources are available and how can we collaborate and work together to effectively use our resources so that process has been well established for the last four or five years and what's unique in this year is for the first time in our experience we have a budget reduction a shortfall that's coming from the state so our budget for the general funds has been reduced by about $900,000 and we are planning and preparing we have analyzed and we are figuring out how we are going to reduce some of our expenditures the assistant superintendent Cooper has been meeting with the governor's office will meet with them next week
019to propose our budget reduction plan so that is part of our planning for the future as well the last part is the agency Communications if you recall in 20123 our msbd person Donna Williams did a focus group uh it was nine groups that were surveyed about agency communication and she collected the data and then provided recommendations for how we can improve Communications here in the agency and you remember those four recommendations is to develop a communication plan to provide opportunities for imperative um explaining better the board roles and responsibilities and more visibility by the superintendent since the last year we have been actively working trying to improve that and you've seen the monthly Vlogs that um of meetings I do a summary of the board activities on a vlog and that's sent out to the
020agency as a whole we have more regular um Team meetings we have steering committee meetings we have um [Music] newsletters and when something's going on I am trying to be better at getting that out to the agency agency wide if you've taken the time to read over the most recent um work satisfaction survey results um in the board materials you will see that we have had a slight Improvement it is better when you look at the comments it says yes there has been movement in the agency communication and we need to continue improving more I need to be even more visible I need to be going out there to do more events activities I need to take the time to meet with folks and that will be part of an ongoing interest in improving Communications
021here at ASB so we will be monitoring and trying to figure out how within this next year that we are going to continue to improve agency Communications I think one piece is that we will have trainings on the crucial conversations about um you know the other discussions you might uh ask H agency communication plan how is that related to planning for the future well if we are not effectively communicating then we're not accountable we're not collaborative and we're not transparent so we have to continue to do better in our Communications so that's a really critical point in planning for the future so in summary I just want to emphasize that the organization's stability and support and the leaders are actively growing a culture of growth and planning for the future and right now our team
022leaders here are the best ever I have full confidence that they will guide the agency into the future so thank you I will accept any questions now any questions for the superintendent thank you Anette oh y Lyn [Music] yes we can do that and one more thing I would like to suggest if you are interested in our budget please join our finance committee uh the board does have a finance committee and right now it has two members those members are president knel and board member Mike Gordon and we would really like to have one more board member sitting on our finance committee because it is during those finance committee meetings where we have discussions of the current budget where we are planning for the future making changes as necessary and so that will give you
023the opportunity to ask us questions to look over in detail the fiscal data that we have spreadsheets reports um are all provided so we would really appreciate having more involvement within our finance committee great um in our agenda you had included under your superintendent reports of Staff sa sta satisfaction service um I was curious where all the comments that were list there were all the comments that were made on these surveys so the comments that are in the summary are reflective of the staff comments it is not an allinclusive list of every comment that was made we had [Music] 360 staff respond to the survey and most of them did provide comments so we're talking about Pages upon pages of comments if we were to include everything and our agency Relations Specialist did review and
024pull out a representative sample of all of the comments I just wanted to make make sure that it was reflective of all the comments that were made and was curious about how those comments were chosen I did ask for a spreadsheet with all comments and I do have that uh for each year in the past as well and I've included the information for this year so if you would like me me to share that whole spreadsheet with the board I can do that um president can I speaking question I'm not sure about the rest of the board but thank you I appreciate it Linda yes this is board member both me related to Lynn's comment whether I'm sorry one moment for the inter um if you could reach out to each of us and um
025ask us whether we want all of that information or not in on an individual basis that would be appreciated thank you any other questions or comments oh sorry this is uh board member Bo again back to uh the finance and budgetary information um I am still learning the new board duck system I'm not quite used to it and I did see uh a comment in there that caught my attention I don't have a strong intuitive grasp of what happens in the finance committee and what that committee actually does or what their function is I know you've been talking about reductions in areas I couldn't actually find that information just yet um it's some homework for me but I was wondering if anybody um Mike or um Su who are on that finance committee um could
026make a comment about that I'm going to defer that to Shaina or to Kim to see if that's going to be addressed in either of the reports today yes in my verbal report I will be addressing the budget reductions perfect thank you yes so I I wasn't quite able to find that information um in board Ducks but um if we can be directed to that um I will keep an eye out for it next time thank you any other questions for um superintendent rikman okay then we are moving on to 1.5 um ass information item assistant superintendent oh 1.4 sorry is that for um assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction report interim assistant superintendent catch off thank you oh good afternoon board president kifil superintendent reeman assistant superintendent Cooper members of the board and members
027of the Community this afternoon before the board meeting I had an opportunity to meet with my team and before I start my report I do just have to say how I'm just impressed I am with how they continue to collaborate and work with each other not only to better their programs but to better this agency as a whole the conversations aren't always easy but we continue to focus on these conversations as a team and I'm truly in on proud to continue to work with them uh we have so much expertise here at asdb and I'm just truly sound like a broken record but I am truly lucky to work with them uh three of my team members are not here today because they are on vacation with their family so in case they have to
028be in case they're watching Jennifer Paul and Scott stop you're on vacation the meeting's recorded watch it on YouTube when you get back so it is July uh which means back to school in all of our mindsets here in Arizona as mentioned in the board report this summer we did have over 60 agency staff participate in summer projects in preparation for this upcoming school year some of these projects included the sign language proficiency interview training Google boot camp focusing on essential academic standards positive behavior interventions and supports the bilingual grammar curriculum unique Learning Systems thinking maps the six- phase model for student learning that sticks and the impact cycle for instructional coaches for those who did not participate in summer projects July is still here and hopefully all of you are looking forward to returning
029and I'm looking forward to welcoming you back as nette mentioned we are excited to have Rosie De La Cruz joining the agency and she is here with us tonight welcome to the agency this has been her first week with us and I'm sure it's been a whirlwind as she learns not just about asdb but about Arizona and Tucson and all the intricacies here in Maverick Arizona by bringing in Rosie and having this position it ensures that the agency can be hyper focused on teaching learning and behavior again at our two campuses it also allows me to really focus on our Early Learning Program our itinerant programs our deaf programs our blind programs and our sped Department there's a cliche that if everything's a priority then nothing's a priority John Cotter who's a world renowned author
030and consultant for change processes once said that to execute any new or different strategy you need to have a sense of true urgency among as many people as possible I don't think that can happen if everyone is feeling an excessive and ubu urgency all the time as we focus on items like the teacher shortage not just in the day schools but across our Early Learning Program interpreter shortage shortages in the itinerant programs as well as our aging buildings and some of our financial constraints I think it's crucial that as Leaders we prioritize and continue to build genuine relationships articulate our vision and map a a path forward so we can focus on what needs to be a priority by bringing Rosie in this year it'll allow us time to continue to build our collaborations across
031departments while focusing on two things that need to remain an urgent priority no matter what changes within our context and those two items are teaching and learning hopefully it'll also help people feel less excessive urgency in other areas of the agency tonight we also have on the board agenda a contract for Jason Lily to be the director of itinerant Services which is a position that we've gone without this last year the Harvard Business Review states that structural change within an organization works best when it reinforces a company's unique points of differentiation with the addition of Rosie as the deputy assist assistant superintendent and Jason lily as the Director of itinerate services these changes as we plan ahead do reinforce are unique points of differentiation in my personal opinion it also creates an opportunity that for
032the first time in a really long time it allows this position the opportunity to understand what's happening in our ELP as we have supporting leaders in other parts of the agency that can continue to be Innovative during this pivotal time as Anette mentioned by adding some of these changes it provides the agency a different context and structure to take into consideration when planning what to do what to do when addressing this assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction position next year and hopefully all these moves um really do prepare us for the future in closing in looking at the staff satisfaction report I think there's a lot of data there that we can build upon for the satisfaction to continue to increase in the agency and that there's a lot of comments for us to take
033into consideration as we had the highest participation rate in at least four years and I want to reiterate that because I think it's important we had the highest participation rate in at least four years I hope that that higher response rate is a sign that the agency is collectively increasing trust among all employees and I do want to thank all of you that did take that survey one item that caught my attention on that survey was the issue of asdb being topheavy I kind of went down a rabbit hole with that and I I tried to start collecting data on it because I do feel it is something that we should try to quantify as the agency moves forward in the board docs there is a document and it's really just the first attempt to
034compare asdb to other schools for the deaf and the blind in regards to Upper Administration I do want to state that this is just the start of trying to collect this data um and as you all know different schools have different Nam for different positions so it is kind of difficult to do an Apples to Apples comparison uh that said upon the initial look at the data when compared to other schools especially with similar student numbers I would say that the data shows that at this moment we are not topheavy I did exclude some of our upper administrative positions in that report um because the it only included our preschool and Day School numbers so I did pull out the itinerant directors when running those numbers as we look toward the future strategic plan if
035this sort of data is important to the board as well as asdb staff and the constituent this could be something that we add to that plan and come up with a more refined way to collect it in the future uh thank you all you have my board report if you have any questions any questions I appreciate the rabbit hole you went down this go ahead Lyn this is Ln um just a question I appreciate the top heavy data that you got um could we get a could I not speaking for the rest of the board a list it said that there were 22 I believe administrative positions could I get a list of what those upper administrative positions are yes that would that'd be great than yep uh Shaya and I worked in that in
036collaboration uh but we can make that available as thank you um also in your report I saw the maap scores from pdsd were there I couldn't find any from the Tucson campus uh correct we do have those for the Tucson campus um they were not included in the report and we can definitely we can include those in the report for the next board meeting just curious one I want to keep check on the progress of the kids and how we're doing we can do that and you know if you recall prior to covid we used to have a board me a board meeting where the OD director uh would go over the map scores and and talk about all that um I would I I would like us to bring that back um I I
037think that's important information not just for the board but for the community right thank you thank you any other questions okay moving on to 1.5 um information item assistant superintendent of agency operations and Support Services report assistant superintendent Cooper good afternoon board president kifl superintendent rikman acting assistant superintendent katoff members of the board asdb community and staff members in support of asb's priorities most of the work the agency and operations Services team does is tied to pillar three superb organizational culture and pillar four effective Resource Management as superintendent rikman briefly discussed an update on where we are both at on pillars has been included in the board materials before I provideed an overview of the work the operations and support services team has been doing these last couple of months I wanted to mention that
038the six-month followup the auditor General's office has been working on since March 2023 is still ongoing they had many staff changes that delayed them getting our six-month report to us and they continue to work on reviewing the implementation status of the eight audit recommendations presented in the performance audit and sunset review report which was released in September 2022 our educational consultant Melissa D has been doing a great job as our central point of contact and lets the various staff know when a new request has been made from the Auditors and subsequently provides them with the information we hope that the auditor General's office will complete their follow-up work within the next few weeks so that we all can get an update on the efforts to implement those recommendations as it relates specifically to the operations
039and support services team the IT department is actively working on improving our cell phone coverage and planning a full agency-wide Wi-Fi replacement project now that the school year has ended the student information system data team has also been conducting a postmortem analysis of our first year of the CIS rollout the rough draft of our Master facility plan as superintendent rikman has mentioned has been delivered by our contracted vendor Lea and is in the final review process we expect to have that completed by the end of July and it will be released and published in August roughly on our agency website the human resources department continues to work actively on staff Recruitment and as a matter of fact we have recently made an offer for the HR recruiter um which is expected to begin in their
040position within the next couple of weeks and we also have recently hired an employee relations analyst within the HR department as well the department has been working on pushing out the pay increases beginning July 1st for teachers and July 21st for all staff members who are eligible for the 2% increase or a step increase and those approved in the last couple of months in our January and March board meetings the HR team will send each of the staff members who is impacted by the increase a salary increase sheet within the next few weeks the operations and support services team also has been actively working on identifying ongoing cost reduction measures implementing accountability controls and creating operational efficiencies however as a team focuses on how we can better provide the support and resources needed to serve
041our staff and students this year some of the most difficult challenges continue to face the agency with that said concerted efforts have been made to ensure our fiscal position continues to be transparent and as you all are aware the agency's budget is published online and the financial data is presented to the board prior to each meeting additionally prior to each board meeting there is a finance committee meeting as previously mentioned with board members kifil and Gordon and it is open to the public to attend during this meeting the financial data is reviewed and discussed thoroughly and is led by our director of Business Services our processes are continuous inclusive transparent and Progressive similar to the budgeting process and years each department director and principal is expected to provide their input and have active engagement in
042our budget planning processes so it's no different this year for fiscal year 2025 a few years ago we made the process more of a collaborative approach by asking each department to submit their budget requests rather than Business Services telling each of them what they had available to spend this approach has given each of our agency leadership more input and hopefully allows them more flexibility in identifying what their spending needs are for their respective program areas it is expected that each department review and discuss their budget requests with their staff prior to providing the information to the budget team although that may be expected we are aware that the processes may not always trickle down to all staff for them to provide input as you are already aware and we continue to talk about the state's
043deficit is about five excuse me $ 1.5 billion and has impacted our budget Authority we have received initial amounts from the state on our agency operating budget and for this year our total funding sources is roughly about $60.4 million for asdb the budget reduction of about $900,000 which is 3.45% is reducing our 25.1 million general fund so for 2024 our operating budget within our general fund has been roughly 26 million so with that budget reduction of about $900,000 we're down to 25.1 million the business services team has identified reductions to our operating budgets and we'll be using some of our cash reserves from non-appropriated funding sources to help balanced budget most of the expenditure cuts to the general fund that the budget team has initially identified primarily impacts the agency administration department since those areas
044within instruction cannot necessarily be cut because it would undermine some of the educational services that we provide to our students and that's required for the students individualized education program we will be doing across the board cuts for each agency administration department roughly of about 5% and we will be restricting purchases to only essential items we'll also be looking at limiting in and out of state of travel and we will continue to review vacant positions those that are primarily funded through the general eneral fund We are continuing to monitor the agency's headcount to stay within our headcount cap of 864 positions and some of those payroll expenditure reductions will be addressed through attrition we have been reviewing every vacancy before requesting approval to recruit and refill the position and we are also asking for more specific
045justification when a staff member is asking to add a new position position we Alo continue to review where we can further make reductions in contracted services such as for Food Services nursing our related services staff and transportation and we are also reviewing the need to reduce purchases of Capital Equipment as well as whether or not we can make any reductions to any Capital related fac facility projects however we are being mindful that if we cannot resume any of those normal spending as it relates to Capital items or projects that it will cause issues when it comes to deferred maintenance which means more costly Solutions in the future but both spending and revenue issues need to be addressed and regardless of our general fund reduction All State agencies are exper experiencing this so just it's just
046not ASV with that said there contined to be quite a bit of fluctuation in our staffing and resources and some I don't necessarily think understand that some of our resources is tied to student enrollment it's not just general funds that the agency receives so as you may have seen through our student count our reductions it is causing an impact on the amount of Revenue we're generating within the agency on top of that we're also experiencing inflation inflation is impacting all of us um and it's also causing issues for the agency so with that said it's hard to really try and compete when we know staff are asking for increases we try to stay Within and be competitive um when we're looking at inflationary um increases we see utilities increasing purchase services with our vendors have
047also increased as well as supplies and materials at the same time we're also experiencing existing gaps in the special fund um excuse me the special education program funding when it comes to the State of Arizona so it's hard to really kind of compete with other schools for the deaf and the blind that are outside of Arizona for various reasons as you all know we're unique I like to say we're a unicorn um so at a lot of a times we do have students that require one toone needs that has also risen quite a bit in the last couple of years so we do try to make sure we maintain and stay within the available resources to us it's not just our financial resources but our Personnel our facilities um but understanding all of that we
048do not get fully reimbursed for all of our services so while the reductions this year may not be pleasant regardless of the specific circumstances it is more difficult and challenging for all of us to stay within our budgetary limits so we need to be mindful of the new program and service initiatives and take a step back and gain a better understanding of what current programs and services we offer in order for us to continue to be more effective for our students I've mentioned on several occasions we're going to be forced to make those hard decisions however we need to make sure that we're minimizing the direct impact for our students and we are trying to do just that the new fiscal year began on July 1st um the team is actually working to finalize those
049budgets so hopefully each department will get their budgets and may see some budget reductions as we work on finalizing that which is due to the state on September 1st um actually September 3rd um given the days we have not yet identified whether we will submit any specific decision packages um we are currently having those ongoing conversations to determine if we needing addition additional assistance with funding um and I know that staff are concerned about the agency budget reductions and that's understandable um but I do want to reiterate that our commitment is to mitigate the impact on our student learning and although the financial condition of our agency may not be as favorable as it has been in the past we're making every effort to support all of our strategic priorities and we will make every
050effort to be Collective and be more transparent um and at this time I don't have any additional information to share any questions I just want to say that when I started on this board we did not even get a like a a cash budget sheet anything so it is far more transparent than it has ever been and I would encourage anyone one um who wants to learn more to participate and observe the finance committee meetings and I'm going to put in another plug for um board members to join the finance committee um thank you I appreciate it I know that this is a struggle being in a state agency I'm right there with you all right moving on to 2.1 action item approval of the consent agenda consistent with board board policy to include items
0513.2 3.3 4.2 5.1 5.2 6.1 6.2 6.3 7.3 7.4 and 7.7 I will entertain a motion this is Lynn I'd like to pull I 6.2 okay I will entertain a motion um for all others without 6.2 so moved excuse me this is um board member Terry I'm looking over that list and I'm not sure if that includes um policy H we don't have a drafted policy H at this point okay okay thank you so I have a motion do I have a second to to approve the consent agenda items as listed except for 6.2 I'll second all those in favor say i i opposed board member senko I oppose motion carries um president Kel just a moment yes this is board member Terry may I make a suggestion in terms of how the meeting is
052run um when you're asking for a vote um can you make eye contact with us over here so that we have a moment to catch up and make sure we know that the vote is coming yes of course absolutely okay so moving on then to 6.2 um that was pulled from the consent agenda president can I full 3.1 oh I'm sorry totally missed that 3.1 oh I missed two of them thank you um action item approval of new District agreements interim assistant superintend of catch off so we do have a potentially a new agreement if you have any questions please let me know any question on the approval of new District agreements if none I would entertain a a motion to approve or not approve this this is board member Terry i' would like to
053make a motion to approve 3.1 board member Terry has um move to approve do I hear a second this is board member Senco I second Lind did you have a comment I just had a question laen um do we have the staff I know that we put a lot on hold and just want to make sure we have the staff who provide these Services yes so at at this point um we do have our waiting list which we started last year um as the three regional directors look over that and look at Staffing um they do decide who to have new contracts with um and I defer to them that when they say that we can take on a contract that they have identified the staff to be able to provide the services great thank
054you okay I have a motion and a second all those in favor say I I I I opposed motion carries moving on to 4.1 information item Finance report Kim bitr director shouldn't have touched it good afternoon board president kifo superintendent rikman assistant superintendent Cooper acting assistant superintendent techch members of the board and ASB community you have been provided with our most recent board report that covers the financial data for May 2023 excuse me I apologize for interrupting this is board member B can we ask the speaker to speak at a more moderate pace for the benefit of the interpretation please slow it down a bit for us Kim absolutely thanks thank you when it goes that fast it's hard to track gets a little bit over my head there we don't want that to happen
055thank you Kim sure so you've been provided our most recent board report that covers the financial data for May 2023 2024 that data was covered in more detail at our most recent finance committee meeting held on Thursday June 27th with board president kifil and board member Gordon also in attendance with superintendent rikan and assistant superintendent Cooper the total student account provided in the board report for June 1st 2024 shows 2,27 students compared to 2173 students at this time last year the total decrease of 146 students the locations where the students student count has decreased are pdsd of 32 students Regional cooperatives by 74 students preschool by 50 students which includes a decrease of 11 students at the foundation for blind children and this is all offset by an increase at the Tucson Campus of seven
056students and an increase in birth to three by three students as of June 1st we had 501 full-time equivalents which includes 8.5 full-time equivalents at foundation for blind children at the time we employ 75 staff only 152 are full-time 12mth staff there are currently 167 vacancies across the agency that we are actively recruiting for the highlights of the May 2024 financial report showed the total revenue of 500 55.1 million was 500,000 lower than May 2023 revenue of 55.6 million the major difference is in the decrease in the receipts of the fee for service Revenue the invoices were sent to the districts for the services provided to students through the itinerate program at the end of May we started receiving those payments in June for these invoices the budget fiscal year 2023 obligated expenses of 59.2
057million were 3 million l less than the budget fiscal year 2024 obligated expenses of 62.2 million the increase in payroll of 1.5 million is due to the salary justments and minimum wage the professional and outside Services increase of 1.4 million is the contracted nurses and related services staff and contracted transportation services travel increased 221,000 that includes increased student travel professional development for staff and an increase in other operating expenses of 600,000 from increases in the fee for vehicle maintenance if there are no questions on any of the information provided this concludes my report of the agency's financial status Kim I do have a question if my math is right um with the vacancies and the FTE at um foundation for blind children I'm counting um but I I heard that the cap is 864 um
058are we looking to hold that at the 774 so the vacancies of 167 and the 715 that's eight actually it's over the 86 64 head count how did I get the sorry we have 51 FTE those are FTE but the head count is actual staff count okay gotcha so that's for the differences yes gotcha okay thank you no problem that clarified for me are there any other questions for Kim yes this is board member both thank you president kifo I'm not much of a math person myself I'm not super Adept at numbers they make me a little nervous so I'll just go ahead and ask we've talked about a decrease in number of students a decrease in enrollment and that is impacting the overall budget um I hopefully you know uh what I'm getting at
059here so we have these positions to fill but do we need to fill these positions as our student numbers are decreasing I'm trying to Envision how this is the student enrollment is impacting budget and vice versa we're depending on enrollment numbers to increase our Revenue um but our enrollment numbers are decreasing so do you understand what I'm getting at here hopefully I'm clear enough yeah I do and I believe the HR department is working with the departments at their vacancies to make sure that those vacancies are still needed positions and if not they will no longer be posted and they're also reducing if they have six vacancies of one position they're going to be reducing the number of postings for that position until they're filled and then they'll post them again yes I'm also um
060looking at the enrollment numbers as well that youve mentioned mentioned are decreasing um students have left for various reasons both in Campus based programs as well as itinerant programs slight increase in Tucson programming how is that impacting the budget so that reduces our voucher income and our fee for service income based on the students and their needs so it does not impact the general fund but it does impact those other two appropriated funds right and in addition it also impacts our classroom site fund because that is based on the student count as well and any other questions thank you Kim thank you now I think we're on 6.2 yes um if you the board would like to have a discussion about Jason Lily you can go into executive session uh this is Lyn I pulled
061this item I have no issues with Jason I just was unaware that we were reestablishing that director of itinerant Services um we decided here two years ago to eliminate that position and now it's back so it was just more clarification on the position not statement assistant superintendent catch off uh can you speak to that please I can uh so in this last year we have not had that position the three regional directors have been uh just wonderful as far as working together and collaborating as we try to continue to move toward a Statewide model while honoring the differences that we have in northern Arizona Southern Arizona and kind of central AR on Maricopa um some of the bigger items that need to be discussed in some of those tougher conversations they have had to table
062um because if if they're reaching a point that's talking about itinerant services and what the design can look like things like tracking travel um if it gets complicated in all honesty they're then relying on somebody like me to come in and to be that um that decision maker on it itinerant Services is complicated and have asking somebody who doesn't have granular detail on that to make a decision um I think is problematic I I think in the past we've seen that when somebody makes a a decision about a program be it itinerant program or another program that they're not fully aware of that it can lead to to issues Within in that program within Staffing so after a year of analysis and as we look toward the future um and looking more toward a Statewide
063model the discussion was bringing back the director uh and for the at least the short term uh we would still have three regional directors just one would be the lead of the three thank you any other questions or um further discussion needed I would entertain a motion just give me a second this is board member CCO give me one second I need toix technology issue my battery's dead any motion or even to go into executive session to discuss further um this is board member Bri Canon I'll make a motion to accept uh consent agenda item 6.2 this is board member Bo I'll second that all those in favor say I I I I I any opposed motion carries moving on to agenda item 6.4 information and discussion item regarding the lawsuit filed by George Martin
064all right for 6.4 we'll be going into executive session pursuant to ARS have to get a motion oh sorry I need a motion to go into executive session so moved um this is board member B I'll move to have H go into EX executive session to discuss 6.4 do I have a second this is board member zco I second that all right all those in favor I I any opposition I'm sorry Lynn I cut you off okay thank you all right um now you get to read your pursu to ARS 38-4 431 1.03 A3 and 38.4 31.03 A4 the board may go into executive session which will not be open to the public for discussion consultation for legal advice with the board's attorneys and to consider its position and instruct its attorneys regarding to the
065public body's position and pending or contemplated litigation as it refers to this item okay so we will go into executive session as of 519 um if we'd like to take a quick 10-minute break at this point before beginning executive session we can do so and can you direct us where we will be poos to having this that way over there thank you sorry I'm G to bring that I figured it would but you didn't e e e do we have the people back do we have the folks on the phone col Lyn yep I'm here I'm here awesome okay we are um back in session moving on to agenda item 7.1 information item on buds person report Donna Williams Esquire hopefully this will be okay good evening everyone board president kifl board members superintendent rikman
066assistant superintendent Cooper and Acting Superintendent catch off and the entire asdb Community I'm Donna Williams your asdb umds person as many of you may recall last year about this time I was before you reporting on the results from the first round of focus groups convene to elicit feedback from staff on how we can improve agency Communications over the past year superintendent rikman and the leadership team have been using these findings from the first round and working diligently to develop a comprehensive communication plan for asdb with almost a year engaging in this work we wanted to get a pulse on how it's going so earlier this year we invited prior participants back to share their feedback my report this evening represents a summary of the 60 pages of raw data received from participants during this second
067round and some recommendations for next steps the participants during this round of focus groups shared their impressions of both the successes and opportunities over the past year these outcomes can be used as a basis to implement additional strategies aimed at improving asb's overall communication posture just a reminder of kind of the four areas that we were focused on um last time and then um making improvements in over the past year those would include um developing a comprehensive communication strategy also providing meaningful opportunities for feedback uh providing additional information regarding the board and then increasing visibility for our superintendents so first up is comprehensive communication strategy so the overall sentiment that was communicated um is that communication has improved um and that's good news participants frequently pointed to the increased email traffic the board meeting summaries
068newsletters blogs and content videos as examples most agreed there has been an improvement with the overall timely sharing of relevant information some areas of opportunity teachers and itinerant staff in particular feel um still feel uninformed and left out of the overall communication strategy um they do have unique communication needs that they believe are not being fully addressed receiving timely responses back from email Communications continues to be an ongoing issue participa participants agreed that more information is being shared but also felt that there's still a lack of transparency about how and why decisions are being made there were indications from participants that communicating with HR and it is still challenging in terms of knowing exactly who to contact and being able to get consistent and accurate information back the next category meaningful opportunities for feedback overall
069most participants were very happy with their immediate supervisors and team meeting and team members supervisors are meeting more regularly with staff and maintaining an open door policy some areas of opportunity include um teachers Shar that they feel that there's no direct path to get their concerns heard and addressed they feel isolated in their classrooms participants also felt a disconnect between decision-making at the leadership level and what their needs actually are participants expressed more interest in having meaningful opportunities to provide feedback before major decisions are made that impact their work expressing that providing feedback after the decision is not very meaningful and then for the board most participants share that they are not as familiar with the board and its function as they would like to be some expressed concerns about the board's knowledge of asdv
070operations and the various components many would like to see more information about individual board members and their role on the board some participants pointed out that the website is not kept up to date with the latest information about board members including their pictures and bios many participants want information about board dos and don'ts especially as it pertains to contacting board members and open meeting laws participants also expressed a desire to see board members interacting more with staff students and parents in more informal settings and then finally uh superintendents and their visibility some participants agreed that superintendent reichman has been more visible but did question the nature of her visibility at times some participants have even expressed that acting superintendent uh catch off's visibility has been appreciated his commitment to checking in on staff on both
071campuses and out in the regions and attending staff meetings and school events the participants who know assistant uh superintendent Cooper find her to be very knowledgeable and personable they agree she needs greater visibility in Tucson and in the outlying regions some areas for opportunity greater visibility with teachers students and parents um attending more school events performances and activities and then spending more time in the outlying regions So based on the feedback shared by participants um in the follow-up sessions I'm making some recommendations that represent potential next steps that can be taken to address the concerns that were shared I've also taken into count that asdb is continuing to develop and establish a comprehensive communication plan to address many of the concerns that have been identified through this process decisions about which recommendations to explore may
072depend on the required amount of time and resources for implementation as well as what is already being planned Downstream so with that in mind and looking again at the communication strategy which um will be designed to include protocols responsibilities and frequency for agency communication to ensure greater trans transparency um inclusiveness accessibility and accountability so first and foremost continue building upon the communication plan consider providing guidance to managers and supervisors on what to share and when ensuring accuracy and consistency across the agency include opportunities for training and skills development in areas such as facilitation and crucial conversations engage teachers and itinerant staff about their unique communication needs build in accountability measures for when staff fall short meet or exceed expectations consider creating performance metrics consider creating instant feedback opportunities for staff following interactions with asdb departments
073such as how did we do um and those types of instant surveys ensure the community ation methods are accessible to all staff with a focus on the DEA heart of hearing and Visually Impaired and then regarding meaningful opportunities for feedback um these include major operational or policy changes impacting staff jobs before those changes are contemplated we talked before about creating a feedback culture while staff will not weigh in on every decision being made creating space for dial dialogue and collaboration can build trust for the times when they're not involved in the decision- making provide feedback training and resources to staff and supervisors like crucial conversations training create opportunities for staff to provide feedback on major changes in policy or operations before those changes are contemplated and certainly before they're implemented and then create opportunities for
074anonymous oneon-one and 36 performance review feedback processes and regarding the board we talked about creating a one pager Andor a video about the board its members its role and purpose um talk about open meeting laws eligib eligibility requirements and the appointment process provide greater Clarity on how staff can communicate with the board outside of board meetings keep the website current with information about the board and its members create opportunities for board members to engage with staff students and parents in more informal environments when appropriate and then finally visibility for our superintendant ensure that visibility is Meaningful and creates opportunities for engagement and connection with staff and students um managing by walking around is a strategy that aims to bring managers and employees together breaking down boundaries improving communication and giving leaders an accurate picture of
075daily operations this produces better informed decision-making as well as greater productivity and employee morale connect with staff in the outlying regions more regularly plan to visit and support more student performances and events and just a side note um on visibility asdb as a school is a little different from traditional schools um District superintendents are rarely seen on uh school campuses that's just not a thing um mainly because they're usually housed somewhere else they're they're not even on school campuses they're at a district office and so that may not be a distinction that we want to make for this agency but if it is is then we should probably set some expectations around what visibility looks like because the work of visibility on traditional schools is really relegated to principles and we do have those here
076as well so just um throwing that out there as food for thought all right so overall the feedback received from participants about the process was very positive this time as well they are encouraged by the progress the agency has made since the last round of focus groups and believe we are moving in the right direction several also shared that progress has been slow as progress tends to be along with progress participants also identified a few setbacks highlighting the need to strive for greater consistency and accountability that concludes my report happy to answer any questions thank you any questions yes this is board member Terry can can you talk a little bit more about the anonymity and or you mentioned Anonymous and one-on-one um evaluations can you talk more about that in terms of being able
077to offer feedback oh yes yes that is that is what that was about yes so both during the first round of focus groups and this round there is still this perception that when staff offer feedback it's not Anonymous that even in the employee surveys there's somehow a way for people to identify who submitted the comment and so one of the things we tossed around was having a separate um computer or a bank of computers where people could come in and voice their opinions on an IP address that's not associated with them personally for example we also talked about suggestion boxes right just something centrally located where you write something down on a piece of paper Fold It Up Put It In The Box um and that creates a layer of safety as well from being
078identified so those are the kinds of things that we've been tossing around um and we'll see what sticks thank you my pleasure any other comments or questions uh yes this is for R Canon D I just wanted to say thank you so much for doing all of this like work for us and um I appreciate knowing what everybody out there wants from us what they need from us um I like your comment about you know how District superintendant are never seen but our agency is asking not only for ours to be seen but they want that position present within daily operations I think that's speaks to our agency even though we are large and we're quite spread out over this entire state that we still feel small and we still feel you know engaged enough
079that we we want that and we want to be next to our leaders and we want our leaders to understand well I guess I say we as I like I'm like I'm them I don't I don't mean that but like understand I just um I think that that speaks a lot to what kind of family that we have here at asdb and I know I'm happy be a part of it and I'm happy to give of myself as a board member to be a part of that thank you for your service and I wanted to add a thanks as well I I really appreciate first of all the depth of this and I really hope that in some way these types of focus groups can be ongoing um I really like the fact that um
080they're comfortable um and are opening up and and having these kind kind of discussions and um I I would I love some of these ideas i' I hope that we can make them come to fruition especially with like the board and stuff like that I'm I'm all I'm all for it so thank you again absolutely my presure all right moving on to um agenda item 7.2 information and discussion item introduction and possible discussion of policies ACB and gbab Maria Murphy director of policy and government relations good evening Madame President members of the board superintendent rikman assistant superintendent staff and members of the asdb community you have before you the redlines of uh policies ACB AC b-r which is a regulation for your information only gbab and GB B AB again a regulation for your information
081only um these policies were revised uh in close contact and at the advice of the Arizona attorney general's office they were presented to the board for your review they have also been posted to the public website at this time I have not received any comments or questions from the public but I'd like to make myself available for any questions at this time any questions and this is first read we'll see this again yes okay anybody on the phone okay thank you so much thank you very much moving on to agenda item 7.5 Pro proposed date change of the September 12th 2024 regular board meeting to September 19th 2024 for superintendent rikan this request is to move the board meeting by one week in September for the regular board meeting the reason that we are asking
082for this change is because Leticia Cruz and other uh Debbie Lorenzo will be going to a training on the new database system digent Community diligent Community excuse me um and that information is a new system that will be replacing board docs so they would like to have the opportunity to attend this training however it does conflict with the regularly scheduled board meeting so that is the purpose of the request do you need a motion in order to make this change yes okay this is board member Bo I would move then to change the date from September 12th to the 19th I have a motion do I have a second this is board member CCO I second all those in favor say I I I all opposed hearing none motion carries okay then moving on to
083agenda item 7.6 information discussion and possible action setting the calendar for the 2025 regular board meetings so you have um in diligent the um proposed board meeting dates we're open to discussion and or action this is board member both I would move to accept the calendar as proposed for 20125 I have a motion do I have a second I'll second that Mrs Board memb inco I have a motion in a second all those in favor say I I I I I opposed hearing none motion carries okay moving on to agenda item 8.1 call to the public for non-agenda items I have two calls to the public for non-agenda items first one is uh poly Brady Garcia don't need that cold it is cold right before this meeting my teeth were chattering I thought it might
084be beneficial to bring blankets to pass out to the folks who are also chattering I am a bit Frozen anyways hello board president and superintendent and administration and other members of the board friends parents hi I just have some comments um that I would like to share with you all my my name is Paulie I picked that name when I was a little little girl and I was a member a student of asdb 76 years ago yes I'm old anyways oh these are the worst glasses ever okay I would like to share with you two things regarding the sunset report and then also the master facility plan as you may know I have been looking into the sunset report starting in September of 2022 and then March and then June of 2023 April of 2005
085October 1st of 1987 I've been looking back into even in October of 1972 and all the way back to 1912 the reason being is I want to see what has happened in Prior sunsets and why we have the sunset review um that the auditor general is so to speak the Watchdog um and things that we need to think about for how to improve the school things that we may need to change I haven't looked into all of the details but rather I've chosen some of the most important things for us to consider for the sunset review and then the school buildings that I have some concerns about personally I think that the superintendent and Board needs to be very careful in their analysis and decisions on which boards which buildings rather need to be renovated
086shut down repurposed or rebuilt I've also looked into the facilities at our schools I think that the board should do that as well you know that our classrooms need to be comfortable and accommodating for children if students are over cramped in their classrooms it will have a direct impact on students emotions and behaviors and can cause frustration in the classroom and other problems we need to make sure that the size of our classroom is appropriate so that our teachers are not struggling with students in their opportunities to learn people who are planning for the future and our future classrooms need to take into account the behaviors and emotions that may be triggered from a small classroom that is overcrowded I know what I'm speaking of as someone who struggled in a overcrowded classroom and we
087need to make sure that we reduce that emotional disregulation in order to help them succeed when our children start having emotional disregulation and they can't control themselves learning will stop in the class classroom likewise with our facilities when we're planning for the future for renovations or building new buildings or repurposing buildings I think that it's crucial that our children get out of the classroom in in order to reduce the level of frustration or exhaustion our students should be learning in other buildings or other places that are separate from their classroom and not just one long build big building which is what the master facilities plan has proposed both plan A and B I would prefer Plan B Because when we have one long connected building it feels like one space that you're stuck in um
088we have buildings around the campus and it's important that our students get out of the classroom breathe in the fresh air and travel to the gym to the library to different spots on campus whether it be to eat or to learn because teachers as well as our students need some vitamin D that's important for students I have carefully read the sunset review and one thing that I that struck me was the amount of vacant buildings and what we should do with those vacant buildings and one point that a legislator make that I I don't like this particular legislator but she had a valid point that we have a lot of vacant buildings on the campus that we need to think about what we are doing with those buildings on campus I don't like the idea
089of having land blocked off of what Albert showed us that we reduce the acreages to match what pdsd is doing I don't care about pdsd I know they're small I've been there at the last meeting and holy smokes you guys I couldn't believe that they had a two-story building um the sunset review said that our fire drills potentially that wouldn't work I don't know how kids would be able to get out of a two story building safely well just like here at ASB I was informed by security that our fire drills when they get out of the building they said oh well you don't have to come out during a fire drill and I said well that's just silly it's a school policy I have to exit the building for reasons of safety during a
090fire drill I took a look and our blind students were happily walking down the path and Albert said well this is a new path for our blind students who are going to the gym and Albert walked along with them is that a school rule that students are allowed to just walk wherever on campus I was taught explicitly how to get out of a building and the appropriate place to go during a fire drill where to stand quietly during a fire drill and I think that it's important for our students to know and follow those rules during fire drills I am concerned about the future planning for the facilities and I know that our budget has been cut or is decreasing we need to think about what the future plan is for our school buildings and
091also look into the sunset review and there are five or six buildings that are vacant that they want to know what we're doing with that's something that we need to think about please look into it thank you one more thing that's important is if we make the wrong decision now then the future of the school will blame each and every board member for making the wrong decision so please be cautious and considerate about what's most important for our children's needs thank you okay sorry next I have um Casey hatet well you need somebody voicing thank you everyone my name is Casey hasset um I identify as death lined I have two roles I am the death bline coordinator for the de line Retreat of Arizona and the southern representative for the Arizona Association of the
092deaf for the past year I have been watching your meetings and have not seen a whole lot of discussion on or about the death blind project I have heard that we have more death blind youth with most of them being served at pdsd I have a question for the board what is your vision and plan for the death blind project for your support of the death blind project I'm looking forward to knowing more thank you okay moving on to agenda item 8.2 discuss discussion and possible action item agenda items for the next regular board meeting scheduled for September 19th 2024 in Phoenix this is board member both here I also would like to know more about the ELP The Early Learning Program and their focus and their work this is board member Cino uh for
093the next board meeting I would like to hear more about what Casey just talked about um what the on a death death line project has been doing and it's been quiet you're right this is board member Terry I would like to continue the dialogue with staff and hear their feedback I don't know if we can continue with a polic with an age policy thank you anybody else you can always reach out to anet or I if there's anything else you'd like to see moving on to agenda item 9.1 action item adjournment this ly yes Lyn I have a I'll second that I have a motion and a second all those in favor say I I I I meeting is now adjourned at 6:29 p.m. I want to thank everybody for coming out thank you so
094much guess we drive yeah sorry with this new wireless mic well that's that's not