001we are going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance and I will lead that I pledge allegiance uned States appreciate everybody coming here this evening first off we'd like to excuse Kimberly dugdale who's at a training this evening she won't be with us this evening um Dr wght we're going to turn the time over to you for some uh informational stuff and some awards so time is yours thank you Mr Merill uh Mr Webb could you come up with Mr Archer bet to recognize our character count student awards all right thank you board if we could have the students that were recognize for our the noble character I think you're one of them come on up who else do we have all right Dylan come on up all right so the month of November we
002had a list of students that were want to recognize for the character trait of noble um you can go ahead and stand here and face the board members and get a good look at our Noble students so we do this schoolwide and the our advisory class goes over these character traits and and then we asked the teachers to nominate the students based on these traits so one of the I'm going to read three things of what the noble character is it sets a foundation for a virtuous life and a commitment to Excellence is steadfastly adhering to high moral principles and values to lead your life and consider and observe the one who does what's right the future for that person is peace so these two are we have I'm going to read the names of
003the others as well so we have Nia clung Kaden Edgington Isaiah long Dylan Nez who's here Angie Garrett Alex Jud who is here Maddie Wallen Brooklyn Jones and Tren and tricky all all honored for the Noble Trade of in character of noble so want to recognize these two young men for being here tonight and give them a round of applause thank you guys do these boys know they're have to talk next item on the agenda would be uh Miss Burke horn she is our student body president and we've asked her to give us a report from that perspective all right welcome like you said my name is born and I'm the student body president I'm going to give a super brief recap of what the events and activities that the student body have been able
004to participate at the high school so first we started off with BR day um this was a really awesome event where students faculty members and the community came together to help improve the environment at blidge teams like student council NHS and sports teams all came together to participate so it was really it was an awesome activity and I really enjoyed volunteering at this the next activity was the senior sunrise and so this is annual tradition that student council puts on and it's held at the football field and on the left you can see Senior Grace Macwan and this was really enjoyable and all the seniors had fun waking up at 5:00 a.m. and looking at the Sunrise and at the end of the school year we will do a senior Sunset the next activity was
005the blood drive which was hosted by the National Honor Society so these pictures are from the first blood drive of the year which was in the middle of September and our goal was exceeded by 104% which is really awesome and about6 patients lives were affected by the drive and there is a blood shortage in Arizona so the work that NHS does for the blood drive is really important and actually our next blood drive is tomorrow and all 100 spots have been filled but welcomes or or Walkins are welcome if you guys want to come and donate blood the next activity was homecoming so this was put on by student council and the theme was Super Mario in honor of Michael Smith who absolutely just loved Mario and we wanted to honor him um there is
006a bonfire at Mountain Meadows there's a Spirit Week where students dressed up to show school spirit there was an assembly a football game that was awesome and the homecoming dance at the elementary school next is pickle ball so this is a new team that has started by coach Gary and we are the first 3A pickle ball team in Arizona which is really cool we're making history um last week five pickle ball courts were painted over at the basketball courts over there and so we're able to play Pi pickle ball over there and it's really fun and December 8th and pickleball team is going to compete at state so it's really exciting and I'm really grateful for what coach Gary has done for us and the last thing is the Fall Festival Parade so student council
007was in charge of Designing the float and we actually won the Mayor's Choice Award which is the highest award you can win student council the football team and the volleyball team and other sports team all came together and you can see in that picture and partic participated in the parade and walked for blidge on the right you can see on the bottom right some high school students walked with Miss Montoya to raise awareness for mental health so thank you so much if you guys have any questions let me know and I look forward to briefing you guys about more events in the future thank you Brooke appreciate that Dr W do you want to continue please Brooke come back up here Mr web for we're going to like to announce the students of the month
008all right well perfect opportunity to see Brooke in action um she does amazing job and we're gonna I'm going to read some of the things that other things that Brook does so the high school would like to recognize Brook horn as November student of the month we're proud of Brook Brooke and her leadership here at the high school she has served as sophomore and junior class president NHS president triam president currently our student body president she's also also Super Active volunteering in the community she's on the governor's youth commission mayor's advisory committee volunteers with project I'm going to butcher this Kung ganisha and where she tutors high school students in Kenya in her spare time she takes AP and honor classes sings in our choirs plays in the orchestra participates in theater and FBA and
009find finds time to play pickle ball so we are extremely and above all this broe is genuinely a kind person she goes out of way to make people feel to include people and to make kids feel welcome whatever they're doing so we do want to recognize Brook and congratulate her for being November student of the month [Applause] congratulations good job oh and a free cookie to uh which cookie store is it twisted sugar yeah Twisted sugar thank you congratulations Brook Miss hoffmire don't unfortunately I don't see our recipient in here Jack karulo is Junior High yeah does not look like we have him here this evening unfortunately um we jack kukar is an eighth grade student uh and his teachers were super excited to nominate him for student of the month um and just a
010few things that they said about him uh he observes and follows all the classroom rules and routines religiously respectful and kind he takes responsibility of his actions in the classroom by checking on the work he's missing trying to redo work that he doesn't think he did his absolute best on that's a pretty amazing trait at the junior high level um he is courteous positive grateful helpful and happy to learn new things he does not shy away from asking for help or from helping those around him he's an example an excellent example for his peers makes teaching a joy um and also works very well with his peers which also is a fantastic trait to have when you're an eighth grader at the junior high so we're really grateful to have him at the junior high
011with us thank you Mr Grace I think you have the next three so when you're done with that one you have the next two I'm on it all right so our element student of the month is Annabelle Pollock come on up Annabelle Annabelle is a third grader um at brez she was nominated by her teacher Miss wi height she says Annabelle is a very respectful and unbelievably kind person she works hard asks questions to better understand when she needs to and is very helpful in the classroom and has made Miss wilhide's transition from being a junior high teacher to being a third grade teacher very easy so congratulations to Anna [Applause] Bell Mr Grace if you'd like to now announce the November teacher of the month so our November teacher of the month is somebody
012that is incredibly deserving um she deserves teacher of the month plus much more if you ever go to her classroom um it's chaos but it's also magic at the same time um it is she works with some of of the most difficult to reach students that we have that is Miss Kristen halma Christen was nominated by one of our other staff members um and that staff member said that that U Miss H is the embodiment of grit she gives herself each day to her students in unmeasurable ways she can take the most challenging situations and turn them into triumphs she sets her students on an amazing path and she opens her students eyes to a world that many may never see and allows them to bask in its Glory she also puts up with my
013child three afternoons a week which is incredible um cuz I feel that one when she gets home at the end of the day um hands down Miss Tama is is incredible we're lucky to have [Applause] her Mr Grace could you please now award the November BR Star Award our BR star for November is David Butler come on up David David's new to us this year um and it's like he's been here forever uh one day I was in the cafeteria I was working with the rest of the people that are working in the cafeteria and we're taking out the trash and David walked up to me he said why are you taking out the trash I said because it needs to get taken out he said it's not your job to take out the trash
014I said well it's got to be somebody's job so I'm going to take out the trash and then after that he started trying to intentionally beat me in taking out the trash um every day and every way he is he is an asset to our campus he works with students um he works with staff members the relationship he has with with the kiddos that he serves through the Special Needs program the teachers that he works with it's incredible we are absolutely lucky to have him and hopefully he'll make a decision to uh continue down the path of education and become a teacher for us too we're [Applause] trying you want me to take da we now have uh a presentation that we want to give before I I name the next uh award that we're
015going to discuss David minute one more time with him share a cup of coffee with him and hear his voice again I tell him that I love him and he would know how much I CU you can love a Li and [Music] five when I think about college days it's not just the class you take no it's more about the Buddies you make you remember all your life and when we all finished school one did what he was Bor to do serve this country for me and you sacrificed his life and we still miss him all the time I wish I had more minutes one more time with him share a cup of coffee with him again that that was shared with me early this morning when we were at a conference and I thought
016what a wonderful way to remember if you see the picture the handsome guy propped up against the podium is Tom Kean and the auditorium is named after Mr Kean our math teacher late math teacher Frankie gerardi remembering him and then recently Tommy Payne at the age of Tommy Crane at the age of 99 excuse me 88 passed away and so what we want to do is we're going to change the BR Superstar award to be named the Tommy Crane award so all of our BR stars are are reviewed at the end of the year and the team chooses one be our Superstar they'll now choose one Tommy Crane award recipient thank you hard not to get emotional when you watch that little video next item on the agenda is is the consent consent agenda and
017board members are there any items that you would like to vote on independently in the consent agenda which includes the vouchers Personnel uh minutes approval from the previous meeting then if there's nothing to vote on independently you can have a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented have a motion from Chuck a second from Margaret all in favor thank you next item on the agenda is 3.1 recommendation to approve the 2023 24 school year proposition 301 performance plan um Dr Wright you want to explain that and what that means to the monies we have sure sure These funds are budgeted and set aside as if everyone would earn it we make that assumption and in most cases a vast do uh in December we pay a third of that award this year we use
018some of the remaining coid funds for a retention actually that's not true this year because of the of the funding from the state level we're paying 7500 for the whole year so the teachers will receive onethird of that if they have achieved their first goal and so the teachers that have achieved their first goal will receive onethird of that payment in December any questions on that or comments do we have a motion then to accept item 3.1 as presented I have a motion from Margaret second from Diana all in favor that looks unanimous also item 3.2 recommendation to approve the hire of the following employees uh Dr rman I have you introduce these if there's anybody here if not just go through that list we've hired a number of people we'll go down the list
019for the junior high Avery Davis I don't believe they are here Heidi Johnson Heidi worked for us a few years ago and she's back thankfully Maddie Matthews is a new sped teacher at the high school I believe helping us out and we're glad to have her Sarah Miller is a preschool Aid that we've hired deian Moya is an office assistant Health Tech and she'll Beal Miss principal hoffm and Dylan Smith a former student of ours that's a graduate is coming back and helping us out as a sped Aid and Jared Wright no relation but I should meet him is a maintenance to any questions or comments regarding those we have a motion to accept these individuals as new hires have a motion from Margaret second from Chuck all in favor that also is unanimous um
020item 3.4 recommendation to approve the November fundraisers um Dr R you want to explain those fundraisers to us and why we have to vote on those did I forget 3 three yes well then let's back up to 3.3 disregard everything I just said item 3.3 is a recommendation for early graduation the board was provided those names any questions anything we need to discuss about those if not we have a motion oh check I just have one question for Lauren I noticed on the forms that they filled out uh near the bottom there's a list list of things they have to complete and for both of those students there were several items that were not checked off that was probably just a lack of checking them off they went through we we had everything completed and
021ran through the checks that we needed to with the counselors and Sierra Sierra's here to she did she's here to plead her compl those things yes yes I did do that are you ready to talk to the group I'm I'm just messing with you no I [Laughter] any questions then Jennifer you had one yeah if you'd like to tell us what your plans are we'd be happy to hear from an early graduate beet you okay hi my name is Sierra um I guess I just want to graduate early to start life a little bit ahead of my peers um not very good at public speaking maybe I'll take a class in college um um I've already been accepted to GCU and I plan to go there um in the fall when everyone else is going
022but I just um I don't know I've been with my counselors we've talked and there's not really a class that would probably further me so I plan to take classes at NPC to kind of just get ahead um do some prerequisites I already have quite a few college credits but it doesn't hurt to do it here and uh yeah work full-time just start I guess um I applied to uh Walmart and I think I have an interview in a few weeks from now so uh NPC um so I already have my freshman English and math prerequisites done so I'd probably would just take the regular freshman uh science and social studies and yeah yeah thank you thank you so can we vote on item 3.2 these two individuals that would like early graduation are there
023any all I have a a motion to accept item 3.3 as presented I have a motion from Jennifer a second from Margaret all in favor that also looks unanimous okay item three 3.4 Dr right you want to explain the why we have to give a board approval and a vote for these uh fundraisers it's a new school Finance requirement I think it's actually about 18 months old now that the school board must approve all fundraisers and I think it's an effort to control that and to understand where the the flow of the monies and so the each of these have a descriptor to be discount cards for boy soccer coach Kirby is running that program the Turkey Trot um Mr Archer bet is helping out with that one present wrapping that's Jennifer old who's not
024here they've done that last year as well and then the the uh BR Team gear Jennifer O's also running that as well any questions about that Jennifer have do we have more information on the Turkey Trot like when is it and um so it'll be this Friday during advisory so from 8:30 to about 9:5 15 um students who want to participate are allowed to to pay $2 to come out to the track run one and a half miles families are welcome to come community members are welcome to come Junior High elementary students and their families are also welcome to come we're just trying to raise money for students and families who may need um food uh for the for Thanksgiving so anyone is welcome to come the more the the better so thank you great
025idea thank you so so any other questions or comments if not can we have an item can we have a motion to accept item 3.4 is presented a motion from Diana second from Chuck all in favor that also looks unanimous all right item 3.5 this is a discussion concerning the moving of girls and boys soccer to the winter season um Dr R you probably ought to start this because I'll probably start with a couple of cuss words okay the uh we were in informed just very recently I think last Thursday or Friday that the state or AIA state of Maricopa AIA is uh contemplating putting our girls League into the winter well we this is an unusual winter month of November normally we have wind and Cold by now and we know certainly by the
026end of this month within a couple weeks we will and I'm not sure where the energy came from of our athletic director principal myself Mr Merill the president president of the board along with community members have been communicating our strong uh I I don't animosity and and dislike for this idea bad idea all the way around I think we've done well at making that clear uh and so now I think the AIA is having a meeting on uh the 20th which would be next Monday I believe in executive session to contemplate it well it'll impact every White Mountain School up here that has that hold a girls or boys program and so none of the superintendents up here or athletic directors or principal believe this is a good idea and so I'm not sure where
027the energy is coming from I heard that we were down to 16s it's not true we have 11 or 12 teams and I said we would play with any number of teams that want to play we want to play soccer so we're we're doing what we can to share what I believe is the broader community's view that this is an important program and we intend to to do everything we can to keep it in place as it is without adjustment comments I think Margaret would start out like I would start out maybe Jennifer too um a couple of things one Arizona is very unique in a winter soccer program nationally soccer is always fall so another concern that I think we discussed is um is Title 9 that moving a women's sport to an is
028it is that is that the right one to a time that would prohibit a large group of um women would cause problems with women sports I think that would also conflict with the national Signing Day wouldn't it yes actually which is usually in what November December it yeah I I think that's actually I'm not sure of that but I think the national Signing Day is in December right soccer right for many of these young ladies also play basketball or another activity and would conflict with that too and so it's not just even if they move boys and girls to the fall it's still we still have a title 9 problem because it talks about equality of access to programs as well you're effectively counseling one of the sports that our our female athletes are able
029to participate in so well it's access too and we don't have access to our fields and it's cold enough in November for the end of when we used to have Youth Soccer the end of November or it was more the beginning of November it was cold and October was hot October is perfect weather for soccer but November I mean we're lucky we don't have snow yet it's it's ridiculous to even defend it I mean to even try I think the only um the only way that I would be Pro changing it to Winter is if the state fully funded an indoor soccer Turf facility yeah they would build this one here so if they're will for every school in the White Mountains yeah so if they're willing to give us5 to10 million based on our
030needs per school then I think that would be the only only thing that you can do it's virtually impossible we don't even have t fields to play on so in Europe they do play winter soccer but usually it's indoors or it's a turf field we don't have either one of those as an option and in the past it's been the larger schools that have played winter soccer and they're all in the valley and Tucson um we're already behind because even though we have beautiful Fields up here nobody plans a state tournament for up here and these schools all go to the valley we never get reimbursed for the cost for that hotel rooms buses wear and tear on buses um parents having to drive down for that where we have the facilities probably better facilities
031up here because at the time late fall when they have the tournaments in the valley their fields aren't well watered at that time and we've played on scrubby fields and up here we leave a nice green field three of them so you know they could even have some tournaments up here I have already heard about other small towns up here commenting individuals parents it got out so it's not a happy place up here until they make this decision and and I don't like it that they're having the discussion in a closed session because the superintendents and the ad should be able to be a part of that yeah it's kind of odd that they have an executive session that nobody can give any public input I have a good friend that said they ought to
032put their little soccer shorts on and come up here and play the board themselves ought to put their little soccer shorts on come up here in December and try to play a soccer game janary then they'd understand the situation and the problem that they have created the elevation would kill them yeah on the elevation check well I just had a thought um is there have they given a justification for making this change no no none to the superintendent and in fact uh we were informed a survey went out asking our opinion we never received a survey I remembered a survey of that nature we nevered one and we're we're unaware of any dialogue that's been going along it just and that's why wrot in my communication it felt arbitrary and capricious we weren't involved it
033just thrust on us and it was there was no discussion and so I I I think the group underestimated the popularity and the resolve of our communities and thankfully even Round Valley who has a dome that could pull it off says no we don't want to do that that's bad for our girl Sports it's bad for our boy Sports we're not doing that because they still have other sports in the winter that they have to accommodate it just doesn't make sense and so I think it's they've been getting complaints cuz it's hot well we'll just move it to the winter it's better weather so it is a weather argument they're just on the wrong end of the argument I told them it looks like a solution looking for a problem we're fine been doing it
034for over two decades just like we have it so no Mr wal they have not provideed rationale what is the best way for us to express an opinion I think to be assured of having some measure of hearing is to directly Emil the AI director David Hines he's a fair man he's a smart guy and I think if the board were to directly email him and members of the community it might have an impact hopefully he's just hearing the other side I mean it could be maybe some maybe somebody besides Mr Hines suggested it and didn't even take into account the mountain schools I I would almost be assured that it bubbled up somewhere but that was our question as Regional for our our region and Conference who brought this up who thinks this is
035a good idea no one's raising their hand none of us that are impacted believe it's a good idea so there hasn't been any rationale provided to us so I have a question for you there's those large schools that they just started that special division for football right and there was six to eight total schools that participated they had a huge state playoffs and they paid for um like collec filled at the end and so if they say it's a it's an expense one they actually um shrunk our season and had games that were local we used to actually go to the valley for the quarterfinal semifinals and the state finals but now it is at a high school not a college and um it's at a and it's only the state finals that are to
036pay for the field so that's one so that would be one concern that I have is how could you create a full new state tournament and create a league just because of large Metropolitan schools and then deny 12 plus schools in that and the second thing is we talked about scholarships and opportunities so my um one of my children played collegate soccer and received $24,000 scholarship per year of her play so Envision and we average at least one or two of our girls on our team gets full ride scholarships to continue on to play soccer which would equate to between in twoyear Period of time or per year about $50,000 worth of Education benefit coming from just our small school not including all the other schools so it is a financial problem for a a
037already impoverished School District number one and also the boys teams I think they receive three to four scholarships annually um and then two how can you justify you don't have enough teams if they're they just created a league with even less teams that were a metropolitan area and last thing is if they said well Round Valley you have a dome so you have to move to Winter it would increase the risk of Round Valley having to drive in the snow for their games because they would have no one to play against and um it would reduce their revenues coming in for games also another thing that I you know that nobody's saying anything about Blue Ridge has historically made a good showing at the state tournaments and soccer both girls and boys and that it
038just feels kind of like they're shoving us aside a little bit um in the past and at the beginning of soccer we were at the top all the time you know and it and it does change and it depends on how many schools but we've had Mountain teams in the finals several times I'm a little confused until this evening I thought this was just affecting the girls but it sounds like it may include the boys I that was the response I got back from David Hines was that it it it would affect the boys too and that was the first I heard of it affecting the boys team and I said I just said you still have a title 9 issue it's not just about our boys are being it's a girls it's a female
039program that's going away we're denying him access and there's no basis other the only ration I've heard is there in the other league that that plays in the winter there's 60 teams and we have 12 teams and I said well it doesn't matter to us how many teams we compete against they just want to play even if it were possible do they really want school buses out on Snowy roads for no reason at all I and you know that they hav thought about snow obviously where do we practice you know no and when the winds bow in 40 and 50 mph we might develop a whole different sport snow soccer we might be the leaders in that you can't even find this the soccer field in the winter time no it's it's not I I
040I it's like I told in my email besides uh hunting skiing and you know hiking there's there's no reason to be outside it's not safe ice fishing it doesn't make sense ice fishing there you go I mean there's been a few times at the end of football season that we've had to clear the football field of snow to do a a postseason game but that's you know that happens once every five years maybe they have clothes on yeah they have clothes on I'm still trying to get the image of the board and soccer shorts out their board not our board I think that ought to be a real challenge I mean I would even be on the opposing team if it if they would come up and I've never played soccer in my life but
041you know they might red card me and kick me out I don't know but after they saw my legs who knows we've all sat at really cold soccer games before even having it in the fall right and baseball's the same you say baseball up here it snows at least one more time during baseball season and it's it's like move baseball to winter you know and how could somebody obviously doesn't know that we have winter up here yeah how often does the track team have to run in the Halls yeah you know or baseball set up the Nets in the gyms you know so so yeah it's it's toally ridiculous but it's real to somebody so we need to either write letters I'm wondering is there any way in who would contact the Phoenix media because
042there's like three on our side on your side or stuff like that that they could look into the Injustice of that maybe put a lot of pressure on the AIA from the public standpoint because it doesn't make sense doesn't make sense for anybody to do it run some footage from when they go up for the first weekend of ski season this month and then what they always show that reporter standing blowing with the snow around them president Merill I think Mr Webb has a comment so so coach Hamlin actually reached out to abc5 and did a short interview with them and so I'll forward that interview so it's actually out there in the media and she's invited him to be at the hearing on the 20th so hopefully there'll be a good showing and and
043we'll have some more media exposure so it's a good it's a quick it's like two minutes not even two minutes but it was a good representation of what we experience up here good I think we should make the recommendation of just moving soccer to a fall sport throughout the state instead if there's not enough teams in Fall then they need to move the 60 teams to fall um and then they will be in alignment with national you know the national soccer program exactly any other discussion on that that doesn't require a vote Dr Wright we're going to turn the time over to the rest of this meeting to you for a general update you you bet we have uh I believe it is where's Courtney she's my calendar next Tuesday is it's a short week
044Monday and Tuesday next week and then the Thanksgiving break is open if you remember uh four or five years ago we started giving the day before Thanksgiving off so our staff would have time to get prepared and to travel they love that and it gives them another day and so we're very much in favor of their hard work and appreciative their hard work and we'll continue with that um we're all aware that the bond didn't pass we fell short last count about 360 votes uh I I sent an all district communication letting people know there will be no immediate staff layoffs and anything as a result of this we're not looking to layoff a ton of people what will happen is theer maintenance which means a bus that we we bought 17 brand new buses
045if yall remember in 2016 we actually purchased them the end of that year with the approval of the bond the beginning of 2017 17 new ones at that time you can get a new cargo bus that's something Halls the bends in the bottom no air conditioning just a new bus for 135,000 now a new bus depending on the accessories is 290,000 a diesel engine bus went from 135 to 290,000 our buses are getting old like Margaret said we go back and forth we don't get extra miles or any type of H consideration for all the miles that we put on those buses and if you recall we contemplated an18 million Bond we went ahead and went with 16 because we felt we could get through with that that means three or four of those buses
046were older but they were serviceable still they're getting fairly old now so it won't be have an impact this year but but I have a little bit next a lot more than next and by 3 years we'll have a ton of old buses and so that at some point the community have to make a de decision do you want to have buses to take your kid to school if you do you got to pass it Bond otherwise we don't have buses I mean those are the decisions the board's going to be faced with in two to 3 to four years uh thankfully the infrastructure for our buildings the interior the envelope and the is fine but their infrastructure pipes we've been without water we've had lines break in our in both water and gas we've
047cancelled school at least four or five times in as many years because of those types of situations so we'll continue to do the best we can we're not going to throw our hands up we're going to work with the sfb the state facilities board and push as many of those grants through as we can but as you know they're slow going but uh I did want to give a shout out to miss aoy and also Sarah bramy for putting in an inordinate amount of effort and time time they really did a wonderful job I I believe if they had not if it had not been for their efforts we wouldn't have had even a chance so they did a great job I appreciate what they've done uh there were over uh close to 750 doors
048were knocked on 5,000 mailers a a pack was formed with donations from the public to to help out so it wasn't from a lack of trying folks tried really hard uh but there I want to send the message there's no immediate like overnight problem but there is a problem that will continue to compound year after year so I think in 25 or 26 that Community will have to make a decision and you know those will be tough problems but it is uh it's I don't know what else to say other than I I'm sorry it didn't pass I know there are those that worked very hard and were very appreciative of their efforts we have uh end of the semester comes up I think finals are on the 16th or 18th of this this next
049month uh we have uh and the winter break we'll we'll have follow that and I think that's a twoe period and we've made fin just a couple of basic adjustments to the current not the current calendar the calendar for 24 we've got to look at it one more time we'll circulate that around and then post that on the website nothing drastic we're staying going forward um with the board's approval to have one week fall one week spring now people are used to it the first year was unbelievable and then people are really glad when we were out in the middle of May so it has its pros and cons but we're we're staying with the schedule we don't want to change anything uh I don't have any other major things that the board have any
050questions or any directions for us we're glad to uh you I I know the letter grades came out would you mind just uh updating everybody on our letter grades for our schools yes sir absolutely and and by the way this is not an Apples to Apples comparison in fact of all the arbitrary things the state and labels they've created it's not a Level Playing Field when it comes to school letter grades and what I mean by that is socio economics family status none of that is taken to consideration just numbers we have about 40% of our students now that live at or below poverty 40% that means 60% are somewhere in between average you know middle class and upper middle we have a handful in the higher incomes so our elementary school narrowly missed an
051A and so that's an extraordinary feat when you consider that we have at that grade level I'd probably say 50% of our students are at or below poverty after having set at the drop off and pickup just making some anecdotal observations we we have uh it's not a wealthy community any longer this is not bluid 10 15 20 years ago these kids are just as viable they are just as capable learning and they work just as hard and the teachers are amazing that work with our kids so those the letter grade the elementary it's exceptional the same with the junior high the junior high earned a high B and the junior high has probably the highest level of single parent families and also kids that are living with grandparents and their Junior High kids it's
052a very tough time and the teachers and principal hoffmire they're amazing people they do a great job they earned a solid be as did the high School the administration team under Mr web with with Miss Megan and and Jake they do an outstanding job for their kids so these letter grades I'm proud of them I'm not proud of the label the state puts on us because I'm thinking from my view they're all A+ people the kids are doing an exceptional job we're very proud of them question it's awesome we that I mean all of every school went up a letter grade correct we maintained them and then but Elementary which one was the one that was struggling no element we we were all elementary went up to be the year before right but it was
053close it made it by a few points this year they missed an A so they grew a ton yeah and so there was a lot of growth I remember if I'm correct the sixth grade math alone grew 35% year over-year that's exceptional I give it two things one Mr Grace and his team working with the teachers and providing him the support and also the board approv being a half a million dollar districtwide curriculum if it's if implemented with Fidelity and supported we can move it and we have we've moved the bar and so Mr Grace has done a great job of of helping in the right way lead that push and we're getting better at it and the teachers are becoming more comfortable with the information so I think that's part of it but yes
054it they did make it be it was close though this time it wasn't close they just narrowly missed an a yeah I I think just a matter of time but I I'm telling you I I really would like to see look at all of our demographics and then look at all the Ala demographics and in the wealthy areas you're you're talking apples and oranges about 18% of our kids live with their grandparents I'm a grandpa 10 times over I'm old I don't need little ones at home it'd be hard it's very hard and so these are it's not an Apples to Apples comparison these babies are just as important our teachers do a wonderful job of supporting them and and the these I put these three principles up against any in the state they're wonderful
055is there any way to look at your letter grade based on your demographics that's a discussion that has always been in play but it's never been discussed I mean it's never been seriously contemplated yeah okay they should pardon they should sure yeah oh yeah I think if you're looking at an act actual picture demographics out to be a big part of that Soo economics and the home setting number one driver number one driver and so it takes a tremendous effort from our our teachers and our support staff to maintain that I mean that we get students that move in we have we still and this is another characteristic that has changed I've been here nine days nine years yesterday and one of the things that have changed we have a more transient population I would
056say from the 1st of August until the middle of December we'll shift and have about 150 kids come and go get them take them we're just going back and forth we'll get another group leave in December and come back in the in the spring and so that's a Transit a lot of it's driven by weather it's severe here so they go to the valley and have to come back those students need an inordinate amount of attention and so it is just it it surely should be part of that that equation I and I'm glad the board aware of it we have people that have a lot of knowledge and experience in education and know about it and been here for a long time I we there's nothing I would say that we're not doing that
057we should be doing from the principal's perspective we could give them more resources that would be nice what a blessing it would be if they actually had a person dedicated uh or two or three more so they do they do a lot with very little from a financial perspective they they work all the time and then when they're not working they're sleeping and dreaming about it I bet they're wonderful people I think there's a lot of Volunteers in the community that help with reading and stuff like that and I think they need they need recognition to the people that volunteer to come into the elementary school and the junior high and help that that goes a long ways so those PE those people are angels appreciate them uh anything else Dr right no sir anything
058board that you'd like to ask nothing else we have this section of the agenda as a call to the public we would open up the microphone to anybody that' like to address the board we'd like to have your comments um if you're willing to limit them to about three minutes um going going gone that opportunity is over the uh the announcement that we have have at the end of this meeting is that our next meeting will be December 12th at 5:00 p.m. that's the second Tuesday of the month at 5:00 pm at this location if there's nothing further can I get a a motion to adjourn a motion of a second from Chuck all in favor that's unanimous also thank you very much