001[Music] I'd like to call this meeting to order and we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance and and I will lead that. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you everybody for coming out this evening. We'll we'll start right in with the uh with the agenda and these are recognitions for the uh student of the month, teacher of the month, and our be our stars. So, Dr. Wright, I'm going to turn these three items over to you. Thank you, Mr. Merrill. We'll start off and and let's go in the order in which they're presented at the high school. Mr. Web, do you want to present yours? Then we'll go to
002junior high and then the elementary school. You bet. Let's have River Rig come forward, please. [Applause] Hey, River. All right, so I want to read a little bit about River Rig. So, River has been an outstanding student and leader throughout his four years at the high school, making him an excellent choice for student of the month for April. River has been actively involved in athletics since his freshman year, excelling in both soccer and wrestling. His leadership and dedication have been evident not only in his athletic performance, but also in the way he supported and inspired his teammates even when sidelined by injury. Whether at practice or in competition, River consistently worked hard and demonstrated his work ethic, resilience, and a positive attitude that lifted those around him. In addition to his success in athletics, River
003has excelled in the classroom. He has consistently challenged himself with a rigorous schedule of honors and AP classes, maintaining straight A's and earning 4.0 unweighted GPA all throughout high school. Although some subject may have come more naturally to him than others, River's commitment to always giving his best effort has been unwavering. He has also been a big part of our fine arts program, singing with harmonies and participating in our drama productions. His humor, talent, and positive spirit made him a joy to be around, and we have all enjoyed watching him shine. His combination of academic excellence, athletic leadership, artistic talent, and outstanding character make us proud to recognize him, and we're excited to see the amazing things that he's going to do in the future. So, congratulations, River. Thanks for letting us have you at
004Blue Ridge. Thank you so much. Picture time, right? I'm going to take liberty and um embarrass River just a little bit. I knew River years ago, you mean many years ago, when he was just a little bitty kid. He used to come jump the fence in our backyard and steal raspberries off our raspberry plants. And he'd try to say he didn't do it, but he'd have raspberry juice stuck all over his face. And then and then he started wanting to play the guitar. And I said, "River, why do you want to play the guitar?" And he said, "Cuz girls love it." All right, I'm looking around. Is Gabriel Hummingbird? I don't see I don't see our junior high recipient here tonight. Um he is uh he is also a track athlete and so my guess
005is he's still out on the track running around the track. But I do want to introduce Gabriel, recognize Gabriel Hummingbird. He is one of our eighth grade students. He's a gifted athlete who works hard on the field, court, and track. His character is equally as impressive. Gabriel is always the first to lend a hand to his teachers or coaches. He's friendly to his fellow students and can be counted on to do the right thing. He is a great leader and a positive role model for all who know him. Um, and we we see it's so great when we see such huge transformation. Students come in kind of shy and not really knowing what they're supposed to be doing in seventh grade and then they become these eighth grade leaders who we know are then going
006to become these great leaders at the high school. And so we're excited to see where his future takes him. Thank you. Good evening. Um, if it is okay with the board, I would like to kind of present a little bit this way so that Kayle's mama can can uh see and video and and do all of that good stuff. Uh, our elementary student of the month is Kaylee Scousson. Come on down, Kaylee. [Applause] I'm let you hold that. Okay. So, Kaylee is a third grader at the elementary school. Um, she's one of the sweetest, kindest kids you'll ever meet. Um, her teacher writes that Kaylee is extremely responsible. She makes everyone around her better. Just this week, I was having trouble with a student and the class told me to move that student next to
007Kaylee. Not closer to me, but closer to Kaylee. Kaylee always finds a challenge for herself, and anytime that her teacher mentions something that is difficult, she gets really excited and won't let it go until she learns it. She is a great sister and considers her siblings to be the most important thing in the world, and she would do anything to help them. Her close friends say that she is kind, respectful, sweet, and loves her friends. Um, Kaylee is friends with with my daughter, and having Kaylee around is a great influence for my kids as well. She exemplifies every single thing that we want out of a BR student. Um, and then she probably knows better than I do, but I pulled a report back in December and Kaylee was already in the million words club
008for million words read this school year. Um, and I think at the time she was reading Toquilla Mockingbird in her spare time um, as a third grader. So that's that's super impressive. Um, Kaylee, she's just super deserving of this and I'm I couldn't be more proud to be able to give this to her. So, Kayleie [Applause] Scson, thank you. Congratulations to all the fantastic students and and to your families as well. Next, Mr. Webb, would you please present the teacher of the month for the high school? All right, Mrs. Reichenbuck, are you? Yes, she is here. Come on forward, please. [Applause] Okay. So, I'm pleased to announce Miss Reichmbbacher as the employee teacher of the month, but I'm also sad to say that she will not be joining us next year because she's going back
009home be closer to family. So, we definitely going to miss her at the high school. So, we're proud to recognize Maya as our teacher of the month. Maya brings incredible passion, energy, and leadership to everything she does at Blig High School. As science department chair, she has strengthened and collaboration among staff, enriched the curriculum, and inspired students to excel in STEM. Beyond the classroom, her leadership as head soccer coach has helped build a strong, competitive, and inclusive team member culture. Maya's commitment to helping students grow academically, athletic, and personally make a lasting impact every day. Her dedication, professionalism, and connection with students make her an invaluable part of our school community. We're lucky to have you, Maya. We're lucky to have her over the last three years. She's done a great job at Blige. Thank
010you for all you do and good luck in your future, too. [Applause] We'll miss you, coach. Good job. Thank you. She's an outstanding teacher. I was in her class several times. She does a a terrific job and quality human being. We'll miss you. Principal Hoffmeer. I'm 0 for two tonight. Mrs. Rollins. Kimberly Rollins is our teacher of the month at the junior high. Ironically, she is actually over at the junior high um working on home instruction with one of our students. And so that's why she's not able to be here tonight. Um, so she, this is just a testament to her, the many hours that she puts in to make sure she provides daily what our students need. Um, and her dedication to our special education population is just unmatched. It's she is an incredible
011teacher. She's so valuable to our students and to our teachers. When we have new teachers come in, um, she is the mentor teacher. I say go and you need to go into that classroom. Um, and you need to see what she does. her organization, um her passion for education, her patience with students. Um it is just unbelievable and um and Blige is is so lucky to have her. Thank you. Braraw Award will go elementary, junior high, and then high school. Beginning with Mr. Grace. So for the Brar, we have two people that work on our campus and they were uh nominated together as a team. So I think one is here. So Miss Strs, come on up. So Miss Strs and Miss Lois Good are our BR star for the month. They are our occupational
012therapy and physical therapy team. Um, so let me pull this up for what was said about them because there is a lot of great things to say. Miss says she's sorry she can't come. She's in White River doing physical therapy. Correct. Miss Miss Lois is is in White River. She's doing physical therapy um down there. She does that what I think two two days a week. She does that two days a week. Blue Ridge two days a week and then she takes Friday to do all the paperwork. So, um, and then Sarah does the elementary school and the preschool for occupational therapy. Well, and that is news to me. Um, so she does the whole district. So, anyways, the teacher that nominated them wrote, "Our service providers are some of the most amazing unsung heroes
013in our school. Each day, Miss Lois and Miss Sarah work wonders with all of our students that struggle with physical movement and allow these students to know that they are powerful and strong, and that nothing will get in their way of their ability to learn. Each time I have had the privilege to sit in on a parent meeting with each or both of these ladies, I have been blown away by their thoroughess and professionalism. They know their students on such an intense level, and they will jump through every hoop to get each student the services that they need. Beside their professionalism with students and parents, they are amazing co-workers. They are a joy to be around and carry such a positive attitude. They are each so deserving of praise and thanks for their care and
014commitment to our students. And I can echo those all day long. I sit in these meetings and Sarah teaches kids how to button things so that they can learn how to hold pencils and then how they can write letters and then they can write sentences. and she literally goes from preschool up with these students getting them to where they are capable of of expressing themselves and and doing the best they can academically um as well as just in life. So Sarah Shers and Lois Goo [Applause] All right, Sophia. All right. So, our next PR star is Sophia Federico from the district office. So, I'm going to say some words about her. This is Sophia. So, Sophia's uh contributions to Blige extend beyond the typical scope of job descriptions. While her official duties is student accounts
015and food service, she manages such things as success fund, which is an electronic payment system that we implemented so that our families and students can pay with tap to pay or pay with Apple Pay or Venmo or things like that. And Sophia has been instrumental in um getting that up and running and uh doing that. That's crucial for smooth final financial operations in the district. Her involvement in booking hotels and handling money in various for various school um events showcase her dedication to ensuring the comfort and well-being of students and staff involved in extracurricular activities. Managing all of the hotel rooms for our sporting events is no small feat and Sophia does a fabulous job. Furthermore, her active participation in fundraisers highlights her commitment to the broader Blige community and her willingness to invest her
016time and energy in supporting the initiatives that benefit students directly. The hands-on approach, her hands-on approach combined with her inherent hard work and caring nature fosters a positive and supportive environment within the school and the especially the high school where she is constantly involved in all of their things which is fabulous. Sophia is always willing to run anywhere to help anyone. Sophia's love for Blige students and athletics isn't just a sentiment. It translate into tangible actions. Her efforts in logistics, supporting, and fundraising directly contribute to her success and positive experience with students involved in various programs. She is likely she is the likely go-to person for many and I'm sure people can tell you. Someone who can be relied upon to get things done with efficiency and a genuine smile like she is right now.
017The Brt Star Award is a fitting recognition for someone who consistently demonstrates such dedication and embodies the spirit of the Blige community. Sophia is more than just an employee. She's a vital part of the school's support system, making a real difference in the lives of students in the overall success of Blige. Her multiaceted contributions make her an invaluable asset and truly deserving of this recognition. These recognitions are absolutely my favorite part of the entire board meeting. All that other stuff we just have to do. These recognitions make me proud of our school district and the people that serve here. It's it's an honor to be a part of this. Thank you so much. I think they all deserve another great round of applause. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is u a presentation
018of our district spending report by Miss Doug Dale. Yeah. Let me turn my mic on. Okay. So, this is our district's running report. I know we have a couple new board members, so let me just kind of explain to you what this is before I start. So the auditor general's office every single year takes our annual financial report and they compare it to essentially all the school districts in Arizona. And so this report is representative of that. All right. So so uh just so you know this is just a requirement. It is an ARS statute um that they do every single year. We've been they've been monitoring it since 2001. Um so statewide school district spending reports um are about 13.1 million. So that's what the state um invests in public education in Arizona. Um
019there's a change. It's up five uh 519 million um from the two years that they compared which when you have talk about such big numbers that's really not a lot. It seems like a lot but not. Okay. So on the top of the district spending report, which you all should have got a copy, um you'll see demographic data. I just wanted to show you the state data so that um you could kind of compare. Um some things to look at is um one of the things that's happening in Blige, you can see that um for our 5-year change in student attending, we're down 20%. That's because Blige is a declining enrollment school district. Um and and I just wanted you to see the data from the state. So state overall is 5%. I predict that
020that's going to be a higher number statewide um next year or for this next time for this school year that we're currently in, but ours will be lower because we're not declining as fast as we were, but the state is declining faster um overall. Um and then you can just see the special ed population overall in the state of Arizona is 14%, ours is 13%. Um and you can see the English language um population, ours is 5%. Um it's hard to see on this slide. Uh, I wish you could see it, but they talk our graduation rate is under that and our graduation rate is 82%. I just want to quickly explain it to you. It's very complicated. It's not simple at all. So, that number has to do with cohorts of students. And if
021we have a student, I'm going to give you an example. If we have a student that gets arrested and goes to the Apache County Jail, they are considered a dropout. Even though they're in jail and they're arrested and they can't physically attend school, if that jail does not have an education program and they don't withdraw him from our district, they are counted as a withdrawal. So, or as a dropout. So, that's just one example of what a dropout is. Um, Mr. Grace and Lauren and Megan, they can explain and um Mr. Johnson can explain this intricacies of the dropout rate to you in depth, but it's very complicated. So, I just wanted you to know that and we are actively working on that and we have done a lot of work this year to find
022the students that would be classified as dropouts and try to get them reclassified as another co another code in our attendance system so that we can get that graduation rate or that graduation rate higher. All right. So when you look at this report, you would think that our peer groups are our peer groups on the mountain. They are not. The auditor general's office puts us in a peer group. The districts that are listed on the as I know it's hard to see, but the districts that are listed on here are our peer groups. You can see that Tuba City Unified School District is one of our peer groups. We are not similar to Tuba City Unified School District in many, many ways. One way is they are 100% funded by impact aid. That essentially means
023that they get double the amount of funding that we get because they get 100% impact aid because they're on the Navajo Nation. Um and you can see some other schools in there. They're not in the same um funding situation as Tuba City. But just remember when you're looking at these reports, when the auditor general says it's a peer group, it's this list, not our neighboring districts. So here we go. So, here's our classroom spending report. You can see that um 66% of our um dollars that we get um go into our classrooms. That's instruction, student support, and instructional support. And then so then the other the other part of the pie is our administration, our plant operations, that's our maintenance facilities, our food service, and our transportation. And I would say that that's a really
024good number. Um statewide, I think it's more like 62 to 62. Yeah. Um, so this is just the difference that we had. This just shows the difference we had from uh last year to this year. So when I say last year, I mean 2023 and 2024. Um, and you can see that our uh our our classroom um spending went up a little bit, but our non-classroom spending went down. So that's good. We're putting more dollars in the classroom. All right. So this is just a little graph that the um Auditor General's office puts together. And you can see that peer average column. Remember that's that list that I showed you before that's comparing us to for instance Tuba City. Um so take these numbers and the comparisons a little bit with a grain of salt
025because I don't feel like we're similar to Tuba City at all. Um you can see that on here we are very low in we're low in administration, very low in plant operations. We're comparable in food service. Okay. So on this one, there was a clerical error when we submitted a transportation report. We did not realize the clerical error until I saw this and I'm like that's not right. So we have um submitted the correct numbers. We have done everything that we need to at Arizona Department of Education to correct it. We are actually in the comparable now. But this report once they issue the report it does not change. You can correct your information but they won't change the report. So I just wanted you to be aware of that. So it's completely fixed. Um
026and uh it was just a clerical error with an Excel spreadsheet. Uh all right. So then this is another um just kind of comparison of our years um overall. And you can see that we have increased our student spending at the bottom line. We've increased our student spending $1,600ish dollars. And you can see in all those uh all those little different categories. All right. So, uh you can So, because I know that um people on the mountain want to know about other schools on the mountain, I've just added um Xolo and Snowflake here so that you can kind of have an idea of where they're at with their classroom spending. And you can see that of the school districts um on the mountain and above the state average, we are spending more in the classroom
027than our our mountain friends and in the state overall. All right. Uh per pupil non uh non-operational spending. So that's our land, buildings, equipment, and other stuff. Um you can see uh Xolo's number is huge. I'm not sure why and call them or research it, but their number is huge. Snowflakes is lower than ours. Um we have older buildings. We have some old buildings and it takes a lot to maintain old buildings. And we're constantly fighting with the school facilities board to get more money, but they don't have any money either. So, we're just going to have to do what we have to do to keep our buildings functional and working and the roofs not leaking. Had a flood and a fire in the same year. So, that that could possibly Yeah. All right. So,
028this when I saw this, I was like, dang it. So, let me kind of put it in context. So, we have something called the chart of accounts and the auditor general gives us this booklet and says you need to code everything to these certain codes. Well, in 2024, they made a new rule and said that we needed to break out certain types of pay to teachers. Um, for instance, if they're doing um curriculum work, then we needed to code it to a different code. If they were teaching on their prep, we needed to code it to a different code. If we if they were doing, let's say, something non-instructional, taking tickets, we needed to code it to a different code. If they were coaching, we needed to code it to a different code. So, what's
029happened is this this said $64,000 yes last year, and that's why it's down that $7,000. It's because before we were able to code everything in one group. Now we have to code everything in a we have to code all everything separately and they're looking at that one specific code for teacher pay and that's so it's really semantics because we're still doing it but that's just from year to year but it's the same for everybody in the state. Correct. Yes. Yes. So everybody had this problem because everybody had to change their um their chart of accounts to match what the auditor general does. They do this fairly regularly. Um, and so then it makes it difficult to compare year-to-year when they make a change like that. So anyway, you can see though that our average teaching
030experience is 18.5. That's one of the highest averages in the state of Arizona. I'll also add that the average teacher salary is which we wish were higher still $1,400 above the state average. Um, seven, eight years ago, we were way below the state average. So the board has worked hard to move that up and we have been. That's been a large largely due to funding that we had in the teacher retention and also gaining a larger share of the proposition 123 those we're passing virtually all that on now those two adjustments and so that um that Prop 301 money that's that amount that says amount from CSF that's class classroom site fund so that's that 9403 that'll be higher next year um part of that number is the base salary that comes out of um
031Prop 301 so there it's it's not super clear um when you just look at these reports because there's no context. So, I just want to give you some context about where we're at. Um and so here you can see our graph um of how things are going along. We're a little bit higher than the year before um I had to do some finagling with the Auditor General's office um because of the changes that they made on our um annual financial report in 2023. They did want us to pull this data out um but they did not change the chart of accounts. So pulling the data was difficult and every school district in the state of Arizona has experienced this. It just how it works. All right. Per pupil spending um around the mountain. So you
032can see we're there um for teacher salaries. Uh snowflakes just a tad higher than us this time around. Um I can't control how they do their chart of accounts. Um, so it's kind of you just have to take people's word for what they submit. So, oh, uh, so, and you can see here, um, this just kind of goes over just, uh, um, back to 2017. Um, we have a very low to teacher to student student ratio. You can see right there, 14.1. We're still one of the lowest on the mountain. We have one of the highest teacher experiences as well at 18.5. Our turnover here is very low. Um, and you can see here, um, if you compare us to Snowflake and, um, Xolo, we're very high. We retain our teachers and and compared to
033the state of Arizona. All right. And you can, I talked about this earlier, but you can see that our student uh, to studenttoteer ratio is also very low um, here as well. So, that's a good thing. All right. Now, we're going to get into testing data. So, uh remember, um when it says peer group on these reports, that's that list that I showed you at the beginning of all those other school districts that are somewhat related to us. Um you So, we are the gold. Um and you can see uh that on math we're above the state average, which is good. We're a little bit or sorry, we're above our peer average, but a little bit below the state average. Um, same with our ELA and same with our science. And we I can tell
034you that um this current school year that we're in, the principles have been working very hard on this um and making a concerted effort to see why we're not above the state average and they have just been working and working and working on this data and um doing what we need to do to be above the state average. Um, you can see here for math, here's just kind of our scores. Those ones that say not available, that was during COVID. Um, so that they uh they we didn't collect scores. Then we're almost back to where we were pre-COVID. Just remember when you look at the testing data, they change the test all the time just like they change our chart of accounts. So, it's hard to compare data because they changed the test. And I
035believe the test in 2019 was a different test than we are taking today. But I we we are improving year-over-year after COVID. And that's a good sign. And I think I have two math slides in there. I do. All right. Here we go. Uh here's our ELA. And again, we're not quite back to where we were pre-COVID. Again, a different test. Um but we are increasing again. And that's I think to be in be um expected that we would be lower after COVID with kids learning at home and and everything that was happening during CO. Here's our science. Again, we are progressing. Um, we're getting a little bit better each year. We're not back to our 43%. I do not believe that test ch Did that test change? Yes, Ryan's saying that test changed as
036well. So, again, when the test changes, in my experience, um, when the test changes, it's usually harder. The next iteration that comes out, every test is harder. Back when I first started teaching in the late 90s and Ames came out, it was so easy. And so it's just gotten progressively harder. All right. So here you can see where we are compared to um Snowflake and um and Xolo. I I'll say this about Snowflake. Even when I worked in St. John's, they were the school to beat. Like everybody wants to beat Snowflake. So uh that's the goal to beat Snowflake. Um you can see they're very well performing. Yeah. All right. Are there any questions about our classroom spending report? I just I just have a comment. I don't know if it's really a question, but
037um I noticed that on our one of the data points about teachers in their first three years, that number seems very low for us. We're not we're not attracting younger teachers to replace all the all of us old people that are leaving. Um, so I just wanted to kind of throw that out there as something to to consider as we go forward. If I might respond, Mr. President, yes, it is a concern. One of the projects we've been working on is teacher housing. We're working to expand that. We're working with Allison Heapner to try to get 11 additional units next year. Um, we've built, I think, out seven, six or seven districtwide. And we the cost of living is a big barrier for teachers right out of college. We recognize that and that's something the
038next administration will continue to work on too. Mr. Grenell, when you were explaining the numbers on the on uh the schools that we're being compared with, I would imagine that the smaller the school is, the the more jobs are covered by the teachers. So, they go in all these other categories, too. So the schools that are smaller than we are have a harder time comparing themselves too because people have so many hats in those schools. Why did they think that this is a good thing to compare them like that? I I think the legislature at some point back in the early 20ou or 2001 or whatever decided to do this and I I'm not sure that they really comprehend like what they're doing for I bring Tuba City up because Tuba City has a lot
039of money. So those teachers probably the opposite don't have to do a lot of different jobs because they have so much money. They can hire all kinds of um classified staff to do aid jobs or whatever. But if you have a school district like Alpine who only has 53 kids, those teachers do a lot of extra jobs because they just don't have the money um to fund classified positions. They are approximately the same size as us. That's why they're on that list. Yeah. But surely they just to get by. They have teachers doing curriculum work and that puts you in a different category, too. Correct. Any further questions? Yeah. I'm just curious. Who's the poor soul that has to decide what part of what teachers time goes to what category of money? Is that you?
040How fun. Yeah. Mary and I. Yes. And then I have to, as the principles can attest, I'm like texting them late at night on the weekends. What does this person do exactly? So, I have just one question on salaries. Say for like a teacher teaches full-time and then they coach, they have another they get stipens. Are those stipens included in to that? No. No. Okay. All of those every stipen is a separate num is a separate code in our chart of accounts and the reason for that is that the auditor general wants to be able to compare base salary and not all these extra things. So we actually attract some teachers here with the stipens to to supplement their base salary. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Anything else? We'll move to the consent
041agenda. Board members, are there any items in the board in the consent agenda which are items 2.1 to 2.5 that you'd like to take out independently and vote on for or have questions of right now? I would love to either ask questions or take out 2.5 in order to get some more information on the fundraisers. Why don't we take out 2.5? That's regarding fundraisers. Yep. We'll we'll take that out and vote on it independently. So, can I have a motion to vote to accept the consent agenda from items 2.1 to 2.4? So, move. I have a motion. I have a second. Second from Michael. All in favor say I. I. All right. Let's uh vote on 2.5. Dr. Wright, do you want to explain this or Lauren, would you like to take take on 2.5?
042Mr. Web, I'd love to. High school principal who knows everything. Yes, sir. Mr. Gineal. uh just on the on the talent show. I mean, is that like going to be like a real talent show or is it kind of like a yellow jacket type or That one is actually going to be scrapped. The sophomore class was going to try and put this on and they don't have a planning in place, so they're going to put that off to next year. Well, that made that easy. Which is good because they weren't ready for it. Good plan. Any other questions? No sales pitch or anything. So, we're good to go. All right. So, can we have a motion to vote on item 2.5? I'll move I have a motion from Michael. Second. Second from Margaret. All in
043favor say I. I. Thank you. Those were unanimous. Okay. So, item 3.1. This is a presentation of and well, we've had a presentation. This is different. Another one. This is another presentation. But for this presentation, we do have to vote on it. It will require a roll call. So, Kimberly, if you give us our presentation, then we'll vote on it. So, a roll call vote just means that you will have to audibly say yay or nay. Um, while Aander's pulling my PowerPoint up, um, uh, this came about, um, like five or six years ago. Uh there were some uh discrepancy at a school in a valley in the valley about whether the a board had seen the audit. Um and so the legislature decided that they were going to um enact a law where the
044board would uh have to do a roll call vote saying they did accept the audit. So you're not approving the audit, you're just accepting it. Um it is what it is. Whatever the auditors say, that's what it is. Um so I just present it to you and then you accept it or don't. Either way, the audit stands. It's like purple. So, uh, while they're pulling it up, uh, so you either get a modified audit or an unmodified audit. So, an unmodified audit is good. So, we have an unmodified audit at Blige. Um I just also want to thank our team, the district office team, the principles, their team. This is a um concerted effort when the auditors are here to get them everything they need in a timely manner. They come out twice a year.
045So they come out um the third week of August and then the week um the first week of December. They issue they try to issue our audit by December 31st. That's the goal. Um but legally they have to have the audit issued by March 31st. um we got it, it was um issued and everything was fine. Some of the things that they use our audit for um is our federal funds. So that's our title money, our idea basic, all of those things. Um we also use it for our bond rating. So when you go out for a bond, um one of the things that the bond company looks for is our audit and how well we did on our audit. Um and so that you can it can help you get a better audit rating
046which means you get a better interest rate on your audit. So this year um our audit's great. Uh last year we had a material finding um that was an issue with reconciling with the Navajo County School Superintendent's office that has been rectified. So that material audit finding was removed which is fabulous. So now we have no material audit findings. That means that um if you choose to go out for a bond our bond rating will be higher which is fabulous. Um the other kind the other types of findings that we have are USFR findings and that is essentially a checklist of about 180 questions. The auditors literally just go down the list of questions and it's either a yes or a no. There are no partials, there are no anything. So let's say they want
047to get a sample of our purchase orders and they want to check them to see if they were issued after we purchased something. If one of them out of like let's say the 10 or the 20, if one of them was issued after we purchased something, then we get a no. So there's no um there's no like leeway at all. So one wrong and you essentially failed. Um so we've done we did really good on that. We decreased our USFR findings um last year compared to the year before, which is what you want. You're probably never going to get a perfect audit. just an FYI because the way that it kind of works is that they kind of just keep going until they find something. Um so the two biggest places where we have audit
048findings and this is really traditional at most schools is in student um attendance and the reason why student attendance has so many audit findings is because there's so many moving parts in student attendance and there's so many rules and laws in student attendance. And like I explained just a few seconds ago, it's either yes or no. Either they're all perfect or if you got one wrong, then it's a no. And so things like if the withdrawal date on the piece of paper for the student withdrawing does not match the date in the computer, then that is a no. Um it doesn't really affect anything, but that's just the rule. So that's the rule. Um the other place that we have um or that in that people have audit findings, a lot of it audit findings
049is general fixed assets. And that's all of our items that are over $5,000. So every item this this DIS has to have a tag. And if the auditors go around and they say, "Oh, I want to see the tag for this." And there's no tag on it, it's a no. So everything has to be tagged and the tag that's on the item has to match what is in our financial software. If the tag on the item does not match what's in the financial software, it's a no. It's very precise and so general physical assets is a hard to kind of manage. Um but we're doing better. Uh Karina Knight does a fabulous job on her general fixed assets. And the reason um that they're so particular about them is they're big ticket items for school
050districts and they want to make sure that school districts are using taxpayers money wisely and not um like wrecking equipment or things like that. Um but we've gotten way better at our general fixed assets and uh Karina has done a fabulous job. Uh other than that, we didn't really have any um findings at all. Um we did a great job. We use um a audit firm called Heinfeld Meech. Um they're um the best uh auditing firm in the state. Um they're very hard um and they're very particular. Um but that's good because then that means that when they audit you, you it's reputable. Uh not about our FY24 audit. I just want to bring to your attention every 5 years we have to go out for RFP for audit firm. I've issued that RFP. Um
051the audit firms will be submitting them to us. Um and then they're due on uh April 28th and then we'll pick a audit firm um on the 28th. Um that cost for our audit is actually reimbursed by the state. Oh, here's my PowerPoint. Um so it's not also it's not um all uh a lot of purchases in school finance are just based on cost, but the audit is an exception. It's not based on cost. It's based on auditing reputation. It's based on a bunch of uh different things. Um so I don't initi I don't know but I probably we've been with Heinfeld Meech for a very long time and that's part of the criteria. So um just continuity with your audit auditing firm. So we can we can select that same firm again. Is that
052correct? Yeah. As long as they score on the rubric but yeah um let's see I think I probably talked through all this. Uh oh so I didn't talk through this part. We have essentially three audits. So we have a financial audit where they're just auditing our books and whatever. a single audit that's on all our federal programs. So that's all of our title one, our idea basic um our impact aid, our ESSER, all of that. And then we have a USFR um audit. That's our 180 questions. Um and we just have to it's either yes or no. Uh great news, our audit was unmodified. Um so it doesn't mean we're perfect. It just means that we're pretty good. Uh and then this year uh they specifically um audited Title One and ESSER. They audited just
053the remaining amount of ESSER money that we had um which wasn't significant. Um and Title One is a pretty big audit. There's all kinds of um things that have to be done for Title One that are not just um monetary that are also programmatic. And the principles are shaking their head because we're going through a Ad Title One audit right now. All right. Uh so uh oh so we our USFR findings dropped from 16 to 14 this year. So that's great. Remember that's just a yes or no. Either it's right or it's not. Um and that's uh 16 out of 14. 16 and 14 is very low since there's 180 questions. All right. Are there any questions about the audit? All right. So, are there any questions about the audit? Are there any questions that
054it was presented properly so that we understand it? We're all good then. Okay. So, we have to have a roll call vote. We I'll call your name. You'll say yes for accepting it and no for not accepting it. Not ex viewing it, right? Accepting. Accepting. Okay. Michael Gil. Yes. Bridget Good. Sylvia Stibbons. Yes. Margaret Gobby. Yes. And a yes for me. David Murrell. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate the work you do and we're scared to death that you're going to leave, but we have confidence. We have confidence in the new employ the new hire. And I'll help her. Okay. Next item on the agenda is item 3.2 and that's a recommendation to approve the early graduation for three high school students. U Mr. web. We don't have to have their names. I think we
055already have those, but have they met all the criteria? I do have two of the young men. What are Oh, here he is right here in front. If you had questions for James or Spencer, they would be happy to answer because they both like speaking in public and they'll probably sing a song or two if you ask. if you if you have any questions for them. The other one, um, as it stated in there, just trying to catch up with her her peer group, cohort group. She moved up here and is able to get back on track when she's supposed to graduate. Their peers. Yeah. Any questions with these two young men? Why? Yeah. Why? Why would you want to leave this great experience so early? So, I know the staff that would have them
056next year sad just because they're the kind of students that everyone loves having them in the classroom, part of the programs. Um, but they do have worthy reasons for why they wanting to graduate early and I support them in their reasons and I know that they're going to do very well in their future plans. Yeah. Yeah. Great students. Yeah. Great young men there. So, any questions or comments anybody like to make? Does anybody want to call these young men up and grill them? Why? Looks like you're off the hook. I don't have any question. It was tempting, but All right. So, here all this time. What's that? They sat here all this time. They sat here the whole time. For this to work, you have to stay to the end of the meeting or does
057it get signed and then you have to hug your mom and your dad. I'm just kidding. All right. So, item 3.2 to recommendation to approve the early graduation for the three three students as as presented. I have a motion. Have a motion from Siliana. A second. Second from Michael. All in favor say I. I. All right. That passed unanimously. Item 3.3 recommendation to approve out of state travel for FBLA. Uh Bridget, would you like to come in or would you like to have these folks, young men, young women, whoever? There we go. You know, I guess there was a tragedy this last meet. A bus turned over on uh on the interstate and young man lost his hand in in the process of that happening. So, yeah. So, there there are there are hazards out
058there even for FBLA. So, we uh hope the best for you guys. Yes, thank you. Um yeah, so it was a bus from Kingman. Um and they were they had driven 5 hours and were 20 minutes away from Tucson and then uh an impaired driver hit their bus and they crashed into the median. Um thankfully there were no fatalities, but one teacher and three students were hospitalized. Um, so our our chapters were planning on, you know, sending a card over to Kingman, um, just to support them. And yeah, it was super sad what happened. Um, but we're grateful that no one was killed. Um, for this, we we had a super successful trip to our state competition in Tucson. Um, two freshmen, Audrey Woods and Cooper Flake, both made it to the final round. um
059which is super impressive considering that they're freshman and you know they're they com we competed against 2300 other students in the state at this competition and then we had three fourth place finishes um myself I placed fourth in client service and then two sophomores Berlin Witz and Candace Cabrera placed fourth in intro to social media strategies um and they are also first year FBA students as well so we're super um excited about that. So that would be the three of us going to nationals and that's in Anaheim from June 28th to July 3rd this summer. And um our funding um NAVA is providing $1,000 per student to help cover the cost of that trip. And then we would have about 1,500 um left over that the club would have to cover. And we we have
060sufficient funds to do that and continue all our endeavors from concession stands and our student store fundraiser. You make us proud. Are you going to Disneyland? Thank you. That's the plan for a day. After the competition or before? Uh right. Right in the middle in the middle of the competition. Several days. You know, we have a few days to compete and stuff. So there you go. Yeah. Any other questions? So could we have a motion then to accept item 3.3 out of state travel for the FBLA for June 28th through the July 3rd in Anaheim, California. So moved. Have a motion by Margaret, a second from Sylvian. All in favor say I. I. I. That also is unanimous. You need to come back in the fall and tell us all about that trip. Sounds good.
061I don't care. He needs to come back. We're not going to let him graduate. Sounds good. Thank you. I so enjoy when you come in and stand before us and talk because it's like talking to one of the principles. It It is amazing. Thank you. And remember, you guys can't graduate if you leave. [Laughter] I'm okay. You can leave. You can leave. All right. Okay. Item 3.4. Four. Dr. Wright, would you like to talk to this? Yes. Just before the board considers these contracts for approval, I wanted to note that uh Mrs. Butler is here. Kyla, could you stand please real quick? She's our new elementary school principal. Dr. Chris Johnson. And Dr. Chris Johnson at the junior high. Congratulations to both. Mr. Ryan Graces, you know, is going to be our principal next year
062at the high school. So all three of these are the principal contracts upon which you're considering. We just wonder if you guys are totally uh crazy or what you getting there. No, I have uh I think I know all three of you and I congratulate you and we're excited that you're part of this new direction. not in a new direction, but completely new change in administration in all of the the different schools and a new superintendent. So, we're off on a good path, running start. So, so can we have a motion then to accept the contracts as presented to us in item 3.4? Have a motion from Michael, second from Margaret. All in favor say I. I. I. That also is unanimous. Item 3.4 Four, recommendation to approve three 3.5. That's right. A recommendation to
063approve the memorandum for understanding of Kinder Camp with the United Way of Northern Arizona. We do this every year, right? We we do. We've done it effectively and the the ladies in charge of this have done an exceptional job and it's a good head start for these youngsters. So, I would ask for the board's approval for this important program. It's a good thing. All right. So, any questions, comments about not? We have a motion then to accept item 3.5 for the Kinder Camp with United Way of Northern Arizona. I have a motion from Bridget. Second from Sylviana. All in favor say I. I. That also is unanimous. Okay. Item 3.6 recommendation to approve the intergovernmental agreement the IG for dual enrollment with Talon courses and credit exhibits for the school year 256. Dr. Wright, do
064you want to explain that also? or Lauren, would you like to explain that? We've had I'll say before Mr. Webb has his part, we've done this very effectively for the last I think about eight years. It's an opportunity for our students to get college credit. Nordland biner college and uh Mr. Webb will have the details, but I would say that we've this has been a very effective program for our kids. Mr. Web. So the first part is the dual enrollment. We have, let me count them up, six teachers that currently are certified to be dual enrollment teachers with MPC. We're trying to get a seventh teacher, our construction trades program. He has everything that he needs to to be qualified. It's just paperwork on the college side. So, all those programs, the students get high
065school credit, they get also get college credit as well. So, it's great for our kids to be able to take those classes and then increase their it's it's basically a scholarship with this and also the talent program. They're getting a scholarship of not having to pay for these classes and getting the college credit or getting a head start. So, we're super grateful that we have so many teachers and and classes at the high school where kids do not have to leave to get that college credit and participate here on campus, which is doesn't happen at every school. And so, so that's the dual enrollment side. The um talent side, we have quite a few of our students that participate in talent. Talent is our classroom that we have where we have a TV u professors
066in their various locations. We'll broadcast to our site here on campus. And then we have students throughout the day that will go to our classroom and then take those in-person classes with the instructors for for wherever they are. Um, and same thing the the kids no matter what class they're they're doing, they're getting the high school and college credit for that. So, a lot of great opportunities for the there's definitely more um options. If you look at the list, the talent classes, it's a big list. Um, we're hoping to to get um science included in that list. That's the one class that our kids that are are taking mostly our NAVIT kids, if they're taking those off-site classes, um they're missing a science to be able to get their associates degree. And so that's one
067that we've been trying to work with NPC to be able to to have that as an option for our kids. And we've got a way that we've worked around it this this year where um kids can take uh biology or something offered through MPC. we still count them as a student, but they're actually going to Xolo campus or to take that class. So, we're going to encourage more kids to do that in their schedule so we can get more of our students coming away with the associates degree. So, it's another both of them in in combination give our students so many opportunities and we're grateful that they they can do that. Any questions on either one? Do you go ahead do you guys have Oh, I was do you know how many students are doing
068the talent? Is it been increasing every year or staying the same? It's probably it's probably pretty level. I would I don't know offhand. I would think um what you say maybe 80 probably 80 kids that are taking at least one talent class or dual it's actually dual enrollment is going to be higher because you know the pre-appet but talent classes there's probably around 80 or so. For whatever it's worth, I would re I mean I I like the idea of kids going to the Xolo campus if they can sit in on the class rather than the I just know from experience that talent class has been a little tough sometimes in the math. I don't know about the other ones but for sure. Thank you. Thank you Lauren. Thank you. Thank you Michael. So we
069have a motion then to accept item 3.6 6 which is the intergo the IGA with for dual enrollment and talent courses for the year 25 and 26. So have a motion from Michael a second from Sylvian. All in favor say I. I. I. All right. Next item on the agenda is 3.7. This is a superintendent report. Dr. Wright would like to hear. Thank thank you. I think the most important and I don't want to cover anything else because of the magnitude of this adjustment. It was recently brought to my attention that we have a conflict between the graduation date on Friday and the state track meet. And so essentially our kids are placed in an impossible position. Either you decide to compete in the track track meet or participate in graduation. To me it's not
070fair. Adults make changes. This for as long as I've been here the state track meet was always a week later. Our schedule has been in place for two years. But I failed to recognize the change and so I take that responsibility. But I'm not prepared to ask any of our athletes, even if it's only one or two, to say, "Well, you have to make a choice to either compete or graduate with your peers." So, I'm going to move graduation, and it will come with some frustration. I assure you, I will get phone calls to Thursday rather than Friday. I believe that date is May 15. We will do our best to immediately get a communication out from my office, social media, text messages, the marquee announcements to the kids recognizing fully this will cause frustration.
071Um, however, my view even if it were only one student, I I would not I would not be able to explain to that parent while why their child couldn't either compete or participate in. So, I'm just giving the board that information. I'd be glad to discuss it. Actually, I can't discuss it because it's not on the agenda, but I'd glad to see if you want to come individually. I'd be glad to provide more perspective. Will that change? Uh, no. Nothing else changes but graduation. We could school will still be out on that day. What it does is create an incredible amount of work for Mr. Webb and Mrs. Penrod and their staff members. It creates a bunch of work for them. And I don't take that lightly. Uh, again, I think it's a classic dilemma,
072two bad choices, but if we're putting kids first, I think we put kids first. And, and that's really my report, Mr. President. All right. Any other questions that you might have of the superintendent? We We had We probably need to work something out a little bit. We were going to have a open open meeting on teacher retention on the 22nd. the new superintendent, John, can't be here. So, we need to push that down the road a little bit some other time. Maybe we'll get him to set the date at his convenience and then we'll try to meet with that. Since it's an open meeting, the public will be invited. So, and we want to make sure the public gets an opportunity to say something. So, we won't push that item any any further until we
073hear from Jonathan. Okay. Next item on the agenda is call to the public. If there's anyone here that would like to address the board, we'd invite you to do that now. Uh, invite you to just use three minutes or so and not yield your time to anybody else. And, uh, I don't see anybody that would really like to do call to the public here right now. So, everybody's shaking their heads. All right. So, we don't have any items for call to the public. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, May 6th. Tuesday, I mean Tuesday, May 6th. Um, other than that, we have nothing else on the agenda to cover. So, can we have a motion to adjurnn? I have a motion from Michael, second from Sylviana. All in favor of adjournment, say I. All right,
074we are officially ajourned. Thank you.