001we'll start now we'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance and I forgot to ask anybody so I'm going to lead the Pledge of Allegiance 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 all right Dr Ray we have some recognition Awards and some um some just overall recognition for some different groups in the school and turn the time over to you for that absolutely thank you we'll start we want to recognize our Fine Arts programs and we have a couple of performances um Dr D if you could introduce your group and if Ms only is here can introduce hers and then we'll turn the time over to you thank you thank you Dr
002Wright um I'm informed for our school board and parents that are in attendance it means a lot so this year our students went beyond shining at our local large group Festival all our high school groups we call it as clean sweep because we all got superiors so that would include the band under direction of Miss Olney the mixed choir to the direction of Mr bloomstrand he's back there he's our sound guy and then harmonies and sprezas and the orchestra the chain Orchestra everybody took the superior I do want to give special acknowledgment to my sprezas they were the first group to perform at Festival and absolutely blew the judges away Harmony stick too but in our groups but they are the first group I think that anybody is aware of that got a hundred percent
003and especially at first group in the morning it was an incredible so we're all still like this about it so um our Junior High groups did fabulously we only missed superiors by one or two points and that would be the choir and my Orchestra because you yeah anyways um so we're just really proud of everybody I do want to throw a quick out hoodoo out there we've got a concert coming a couple concerts coming up our Junior High Elementary concert is on the 3rd of May and then our high school concert is on May 8th which is a Monday and we're really looking forward to those because the kids her it's the Fun concert where they can have fun with the music and it's more upbeat things so what we'd like to do we have
004two groups to perform for you today first we're going to have the band they're going to be performing a highlight of Phantom of the Opera which they'll be playing at our showcase concert so I'll turn it over to John okay as Dr D said we will be performing just a little snippet of Phantom of the Opera we wanted to play all of it but we're missing a lot of kids due to softball right now so we're making it work with what we've got um we hope you enjoy [Music] hahaha [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] thank you to our band and to miss only so you're going to go from here to looking over there so if I can have the cast this is a cast from
005Footloose our production starts the last weekend of February Thursday Friday Saturday so I believe it's a 27th 28th and 29th and then the following weekend May 4th 5th and 6th all shows are at 7 pm except the very last show that Saturday will be a matinee at 2PM so we just thought we'd give you a little tip to get you going so we can get you there so I hope the board can see them over there and everybody can foreign and that's all you get so if you want to see the rest come and see the show it's five dollars a ticket no matter who you are cheaper than a movie and then you can go eat dinner after so once again thank you so much for having us thank you Dr Wright for inviting
006us and see you at the show [Applause] before you all leave I I got to say I can speak for the board and saying we're extremely proud of the fine arts program that we have here at Blue Ridge town I think I think there was a time when we couldn't say that we were a little embarrassed but not anymore we're extremely proud of what's going on here and thank you so much for the time and the effort and all the diligence you put into that thank you so much another round of applause it's all of them [Music] there she is you know I I heard there's a rumor floating around that Kevin Bacon is actually going to come and watch this I'll do that next we're going to go ahead and recognize our foreign exchange
007students Marnie Harris has a presentation thank you can you hear me okay all right if my kids would come up here please that makes brings me tears for 19 years I've had the privilege of being the international coordinator for aspect Foundation I did that when I was the counseling department chair and I've done it for nine years since I retired every year I'm so blessed right they're gonna be emotional this might be the last year that I'm doing this as the international coordinator I may be looking for someone to take my place but in the interim I'm so proud of these girls and boys that have come here and they've been so blessed with the families that have decided to host them so we're introducing I'll have them introduce themselves but we've got um we've
008got frederique from Norway and we've got Theo I mean Frederick from the Netherlands Thea from Norway and um Vittorio from you know from Italy and it's Mrs Brimhall has decided he's the Italian Stallion she nicknamed him that within about three days of meeting them so I'd like him to step forward I'm going to have Frederick come first she'll explain you know talk about where she's from introduce her host family and then she'll talk a little bit about classes that she's taken and what has been most meaningful to her having the privilege and opportunity to be here at Blue Ridge then we'll have Thea speak and then we'll have fito speak so come on for okay guess I have the honor of going first okay it feels a bit weird sending this way but okay so
009I've had the honor to live with the Atkinsons and I'll introduce oh I'm free to read by the way okay so that's my host Family come on over people okay we have the beautiful Hattie she's my little host sister and then we have Anna Joe who's my other host sister also beautiful and then we have my host mom Ashen Atkinson and then Rowdy that's my host father I guess and he couldn't be here because he's a pharmacist but he would have loved to be here too and then I have two older host Brothers but there they don't live with us but still really cool okay I guess you can sit down but I'm really grateful for you give me a hand [Music] okay I love them okay so a little bit about me I am
010Friedrich I love to talk so if I go on my own I'll stop okay so I came here nine months ago I think which means that I'm Gonna Leave in one month which is really sad because I've had a great time here and I'm so grateful that I got to come here because it is awesome here I love the nature here I love the people everyone's so nice and I don't know I'm sure there's some people out there who don't like it here but I love a hair and people are just so amazing and I think that's the thing that I love the most the people but I've had the opportunity of following some great classes here at Blue Ridge like let's see apu's history and AP English and sprezas and theater thingy where I
011was just in and I've done soccer here I've been in display where we've been working on for months which is gonna be awesome and to wrap it up it's a great time here and I'm so grateful that you guys let me come here thank you [Applause] okay I'm Thea I'm from Norway on the west coast and that's my host family if you want to come up I'm staying with the flakes so this is Casey flake my host mom and Derek flake this is Canon cubby Coleman and then we have Cooper but he said baseball in that's my whole family [Applause] and my classes I've done a lot of stuff I've done Sports Med and AP English biology right now I'm taking both Financial algebra and contemporary math and it's really fun I really like the
012classes here and sports I'm doing track and field right now and I'm in the sports med club and I did off-season and preseason track so oh yeah in track I do Javelin and discus so that's very exciting I did that in Norway too so it's really fun to get the opportunity to do that here too because the school spirit and the mascot and all the track is very different so I'm very grateful for getting that experience so that's been very fun yeah I'm coming in from which was really fun because we don't have those so I'm really really excited or it was really exciting and really really fun and a really great for that and thank you very much for letting me come here I've been a really really fun experience and I do not
013want to leave it's very scary that it's only one month left but thank you very much hello I'm Vito uh my name is Vittorio but I go from veto here because it's too complicated um my I'm staying with the Brimhall so the brimos are my host family I have four siblings and unfortunately three of those are in college said they don't get to be here today and my host parents are Ian Brimhall and Jennifer Brimhall that lovely lady over there um yeah I love being here and this is my first time in the United States so I was not sure what to what to expect but I'm loving it uh there's there's all differences in school and in sports uh but I'm I'm enjoying it I did soccer then I tried basketball for my first
014time in my life uh I was sitting in bench but it was still fun um and then I'm doing track as you guys can see right now um I'm a long jumper so every time I have to practice I'm covering in sand um but but yeah I'm loving here I had a lot of like new experience and stuff that I would not experience for not coming here so I thank you very much for letting me come um I had I had prom and I had a homecoming and I was so lucky that my host family brought me so on so many trips we went to Las Vegas that was pretty fun um but yeah oh yeah we have been to California I've been in Disneyland that was really fun uh I'm usually kind of scared
015about rides but it was still fun um oh yeah um I'm sorry but I don't like the pizza here uh yeah they they fed me a lot of pizzas different pizzas and but yeah I'm kind of picky on that I'm sorry but yeah oh yeah I forgot about that I I when I came here I was gonna be I was kind of scared to come all the way on the other side of the world so I decided to stay for the semester so I was I was living in December right before Christmas but then I just I just loved it so much I loved my host family and I loved the place and the people that are so nice and kind and so I decided to say this whole year and I kind of grateful
016for Mrs Harris for doing all the paperwork and my host family too but I was able to extend my my period here and I stay the whole entire year so that was that was cool I didn't ask I don't have a question just to comment we're lucky to have you thank you thank you for bringing your culture here and and integrating into our culture I think it's awesome we didn't know you were exchange students because you just fit right in think that when the students apply for asper foundation to be an exchange student they fill out about a 35 page application that I receive once they're vetted and so it's not it's quite a process for for a student to be selected and so I think you know they are excellent ambassadors for themselves for
017their own families for their country and I think they've done a great job of appreciating what we've been able to offer them so I thank you all of you for allowing this program to be in place it's been wonderful for us Marty were any of them shy at the beginning at all because they're certainly not now very outgoing outgoing great Italian guy nobody remembers this name they just go a good time yeah thank you we'll now have our BR star for our students of the month or be our students of the month rather and we'll start with the elementary school with Mr Grace then we'll go to Ms Hoffmeyer and then Mr Webb in that order will proceed as such thank you Mr Grace thank you um it is an honor to be able to
018present our student of the month to Kendall and Cox and we have her teacher Miss catalesi up to say a few words about her [Applause] kennelyn has never said a word to me so if she says something it will be amazing I assure you congratulations I'm thrilled to be here to honor Miss Kendall and she is she checks all the marks for a good human and a good student and she's just a great kid she's outgoing to me not to many other people but I get to see all the good stuff that she offers her classmates in our school She's trustworthy and just works her little tail off and I'm super proud of her so congratulations sweetheart [Applause] if I could have Paige Wieland come forward please I actually had to condense things that her
019teachers said about her so that it wouldn't take too much time to read because they said so many wonderful things about her um so I'm going to give you that let me read a few things that that Pages teachers said about her Paige is a wonderful student in PE class she's always willing to help if needed her positive outlook always makes me smile Paige is willing to volunteer to take charge and is a good leader and that I will say is in every Arena of the junior high she leads everywhere Paige is open to suggestions on how to better herself in whatever we are engaged in doing I'm so happy that Paige not only desires to do right in her own personal growth in academics but also in growth in her well-being and fitness page
020epitomizes the spirit of a br student she is not afraid of showing her BR Style on spirit days I really need to bring a picture that I should show a picture she is she is BR all the way for that I oh sorry she is and is only one of the only ones brave enough to do Friday announcements and is always positive and uplifting to everyone Paige is the most spirited of all pert from purple and gold tutus to dressing like Princess Fiona during our Shrek week that was amazing page can be counted on to participate and motivate her peers and finally Paige works hard to be a model student and classmate she's reliable and her joyful attitude toward learning is contagious um she is an an exemplary student an exemplary leader we are super
021lucky to have her on our campus congratulations all right if I could have Stephen Haws come on up Steven Halls is being recognized as student of the month for the high school so as he's uh walking up here I'll uh hand him his award congratulations Stephen let me uh read what was written about you for nominating you for the student of the month so Stephen Haws is being recognized for student of the month at the high school for his dedication grit and tenacity and is overwhelmingly positive attitude on how he approaches everything whether it's a buzzer beater in a basketball game or a nail biting finish at the end of an amazing race or as consistent work on his college and honors level classes that he takes you know you will be getting the very
022best that Stephen has to offer and you will always see him with his huge smile on his face he has also been recognized as a finalist in the AIA scholar athlete in all of the State of Arizona at the upcoming Gala of Champions so we're happy to send him down to the valley for that we're super proud of Stephen and all of his accomplishments and hard work so well deserved he's a great student and I've known Stephen for years and he's an exemplary model of what we want here at Blue Ridge High School and throughout the district so congratulations [Applause] thank you I think Stephen made a three-quarter shot court shot on his birthday right help us beat sholo that team down the road not a boy good job Steve I would just like to
023say these children are reflections of their parents I know their parents and their parents have done an excellent job raising these kids and I think when a kid earns a ward like this when a child earns an award like this I think it's a direct reflection on the parent and we're grateful to have that kind of people in our community thank you so much Dr Wright thank you we'll now go on to our our be our Star Award Denise Hall will uh make a presentation I don't know if Richard is able to be here tonight but she'll still make a few remarks about our BR star recipient our bus driver from transportation department Richard Young with the girls softball so please excuse him Rick is absolutely a valued employee that we have at the transportation
024it comes to us from Show Low as our trip bus driver and sub driver honors but sped buses Rick is always willing to do anything I ask him to do he'll always be the first one to volunteer and everyone that he drives four Falls absolutely head over heels for him he's very kind and he watches over his group that he drives for he drives long hours and still sits and supports the team that he takes I haven't heard one complaint out of him and Rick truly is one of our many assets and our student Transporters thank you thank you I saw Richard in the stands yesterday cheering on the girls at the home game against White River he's he's an impressive person our April be our teacher of the month Ms Hoffmeyer would you make
025a presentation to our Mr Green Wade our recipient this month yes Mr Green Wade just returned a couple weeks ago from a Washington DC trip in which he and Miss Williford took about 30 kids um on a tour of Washington DC they left at 1 30 in the morning met at one o'clock in the morning drove to Phoenix hopped on a plane spent three days in Washington D.C and then came back and returned at 2 30 in the morning I think on Thursday four o'clock so whirlwind trip but he gets so excited about these trips and we're excited to be working with um I think in 2025 start offering them year yearly to our eighth grade students so it's such a great opportunity for all of our kids but not only that Mr Mr Greenway
026teaches math and does a fantastic job with his math program but also teaches Robotics and the kids love that program we have he offers up robotics during lunchtime recesses any day he's not on duty so that the kids can come in and just play and explore in that class one of my favorite things about Mr Green Wade is I always know when he has a great idea for something he wants to try because his beaming smile when he's coming up with a with a great idea and wants to share it it is it's a contagious Smile everybody gets excited about the things that he is doing so we love having him on campus he's such a team team player a great teacher and a supporter of Blue Ridge so thank you chaperoning 30 Junior High
027kids to Washington D.C you deserve a medal Mr Green wait that's amazing that's a lot of hours bless you want to have a presentation of our college and and University going recently over the last couple years Mr Webb will give that to us to thank Mrs Penrod and our counseling department for putting together this presentation it's when we in the year we ask the students what their plans are After High School and a lot of times they'll be able to carry through with those plans sometimes those plans change it even as we are in our adult years plans change all the time so some of the things that we have are listed from when we gathered information at the end of the year when they graduated some of it is updated so but it's just
028a general idea of where we are with our students and and their paths After High School so first one that we want to note there is we in from 2020 and 2021 we had two students that were placed at West Point on the Air Force Academy huge huge accomplishment for such a small district and and have that back-to-back years was was really great and it's something that those students worked hard for all throughout their their high school years and they had a lot of guidance along way and the class of 2022 you can see listed there some of the higher what more well-known universities we had somebody at Brown University Stanford University Baylor we actually had a couple kids go down to University of Hawaii um we and then you see some of the Yen
029State University kids University of Arizona NAU ASU the another one the Colorado School of Minds on was interesting and I think he's doing great there some of the other out-of-state universities that our students have gone to BYU and you can see them listed there going back to the it's interesting how many students end up at Northern Arizona University trying to understand the the Dynamics of it I think a lot of the kids maybe feel the connection with the environment that we have here and what's up at NAU and a lot of it also is with the Lumberjack scholarship a lot of our students qualify for that Lumberjack Squad scholarship where they're able to have their tuition paid for so I know a lot of our students that end up going to NAU qualify for that
030scholarship so that's a great incentive for those students um quite a few students are and we're seeing this trend pick up where students are going seeing GCU as an opportunity for theirs their After High School path and when that whenever we do a trip down to GC the kids really enjoy seeing their campus and and any of the the ones that we've done they really enjoy that experience some of the junior colleges we have obviously MPC is going to be a um one of the bigger ones that we go we have our students go to and I think that number is actually higher than what's reflected that was what was listed on the the chart but we have some students who weren't able to make connection with and I know that more students actually end
031up going to MPC instead of their that maybe they weren't able to to see their University plans take shape and so we're we're seeing some of those students take that path at MPC to start their college and university experience hopefully with some of the things that NPC is offering with being able to bring in four-year degree programs we're going to be able to see some more of our students to be able to stay here at a cheaper maybe live at home and be able to get their college degrees with those programs and then some of the other community colleges that our students have gone on to um here in last year we had five which is a pretty high number that joined the Marine Corps one that ended up going the Army and then another
032one into Air Force so as of this point it's still early in the game these are some of the ones that we know of already where students have been accepted and and are committing to go to these universities it's so incredible here we have you know a school of 680 650 kids wherever we fluctuate and we and we're sending kids out to these well-known universities and these programs that it's so competitive to get into I mean where you have a three percent acceptance rate to get into those colleges and and universities and we have our students that are doing so well there so Berkeley California Berkeley is one an example the Cornell to have two students there one of the students was receiving a full ride scholarship for the four years of being able to
033go to Cornell um university of Chapel Hill North Carolina same thing having a full ride for actually beyond the four years the students actually having a gap year but is able to have that Gap year paid and she's going to go to South Korea do some experience there and then start up at UNC um super excited about that and we see and these students that that are are going to these these top division Schools they're so involved within the school and they're being recognized with rotary club and and all these other different scholarships that are helping them in their path along the way and then we see some other choices that like the University of Kentucky we have somebody that's going to be going there that's probably going to be a merit scholar as a
034very good chance that we'll be a merit scholar winner she's already a finalist so we're waiting to see what's going to happen there so our students are taking advantage of what's out there and are are being successful at it so far this is the junior college status that we know where kids are going to be going we'll see that number for NPC increase we Al also what's helping with that number that we have quite a few kids that are involved in the Nava program and they only have a couple more classes that they need to take to whether they're going to get their Nursing degree or then they'll they'll finish that outside of high school and then continue and then be able to to move on into a higher degree so we're super grateful for
035that path that we've established with NPC and they're working with us on that one of our soccer players is going to be playing soccer at MCC so she's she's going to represent her as well there here's so far what we know of we have two that have committed to going to the Army one into the Air Force and I think these are going to change as we get closer to the end of the year and then some of the other technical institutes we have one student we and I think there's probably could be at least four or five that could qualify from Mr fenstermaker's auto program that could go into the UTI it's a great program one of the kids that got a scholarship uh to go into their their Institute and so he this
036is somebody who maybe not be College University bound but has a path to further his education and do something that he loves and he loves that auto program so we're going to see great things from him at this point it's in so in 2022 this the amount that we and this is like a ballpark that's not exact although you get down to 28 cents it seems like it's exact so this was the number that we have where students had reported to us of scholarships that they have applied for they may have had different offers from different universities but then they chose to go to one University where maybe that scholarship wouldn't apply to them but we wanted to include that full number because it gives a big picture of what those students have worked for
037and and the Merit of what they've earned and has achieved so it's a pretty pretty big amount of money that our our students are are being able to help them in the next phase of their life so up to this point just knowing the ones of the colleges that we have were already up to 2 million in those offers and I'm sure that number yeah I'm pause that number will grow so hopefully by the end of this this school year we'll have an updated presentation to give you and we can give you some more numbers but we are very excited for our kids and what they do after high school and even what they're doing in high school already on their college path and and I thank the board for the support in allowing us
038to have the dual enrollment the CTE classes the work the partnership with Talon and NPC to allow these kids to have trade to follow a trade follow their their four-year degrees whatever they want to do they get that broad experience here so thank you any questions up there so I know it's going to be adding up fast well I know but this is another girl that got up um that I know that got a full ride academic full-right academic and full ride track double at Abilene Christian so that added on to that is something to change too yeah four years it's a lot of money all right thank you Dr Wright thank you everyone that participated up to this point the next item on the agenda is a presentation of the audit report and at
039the at the end of this presentation we have to vote but it's a roll call vote so I'll call your name and you can say yay or nay and when we do that so snugged out good evening governor for president governor we're members so I'm here to present the FY 22 audit so this is last year not the Year we're in but the year before so we're going back in time of year before I was here um those books were audited so uh it's part of state law that we um present the audit to you for your acceptance um heinfeld nietzsch does the audit you accept it um hopefully um and uh they do three audits for us they do a financial audit they do a single audit and that single audit is on our
040federal programs and you only need to get that audit if you get over 750 000 in federal program money which we get a lot more than that so we do get a single audit and then um they do a usfr audit compliance questionnaire and that's just a list of questions and they either answer yes or no on those questions so great news we received an unmodified opinion which is the opinion that you want to get from your Auditors so it's not a statement of perfection like it says but it's just a statement of we did a great job they're happy with us and uh we get to keep them rolling so they um audited our two Federal programs there's a mistake up there that should say impact Aid so they auditor impact a program and
041our education stabilization fund you will never see that education stabilization fund again that was a program that was um through Governor ducey's office during covid and it was just one-time money that he had given out during his tenure as Governor during covid we did have a finding um for our reconciliation that was Prior that didn't happen prior to when I got here we have rectified that it's totally fixed and the Auditors are happy with our resolution um the there was some um findings were noted in the usfr this is common the usfr is a long checklist of items that they go through um from transportation to student um accounts to technology to the finances it's a whole big long list of questions and they're either yes or no and just to give you a picture
042of how this works they pull a sample let's say 20 items let's say they pull 20 journal entries right they look at only those 20 journal entries and you either have them perfect or you don't so it's either a yes or a no on that usfr finding and that's in your backup information and we did fine it there was no nothing um that I felt like was um egregious or anything like that our biggest findings were in student attendance on the usfr which is normal there's a lot of working parts when it comes to student attendance it's very intricate so that's not surprising that we would have the most findings in that that's normal are there any questions we like it when you're happy I'm very happy um so it is a roll call vote
043and you're just um voting on accepting accepting how to find the audit okay poor acceptance would be yay for non-acceptance would be an A okay so a yay for me David Merrill Margaret Gabby yay Jennifer bimhall Diana Butler Chuck Waldo yay yay it's all done thank you Kimberly okay the next item on the agenda is the uh consent agenda items 2.1 through 2.8 in reviewing your agenda board members are there any items that you would like to bring out and recognize independently go not independently or just keep it together personally I would like to go over 2.5 just to list the names of those that are retiring and perhaps returning to teach this next year uh 2.5 oh tonight yep 2.7 is what we want to no 2.6 you would like 2.7 I'm sorry I'm
044getting confused so you like 2.7 I'd like 2.5 so I don't know yeah are the out-of-state people here so 2.8 which would be recommendation to prove out of state travel request for Denise Hall and Justin Bernardo so I would like to make a motion to accept item 2.5 and 2.7 have a second from Diana all in favor right for a separate vote I'm sorry okay that looked unanimous thank you okay so the items on the consent agenda with the exception of 2.5 and 2.7 and I have a motion to accept those items I'm a segment from Chuck all in favor okay okay item 2.5 recommendation to approve the retirement of the following employees Dr Wright I'd just like to list and recognize them for the years that they've done and perhaps if they're coming back
045sure we you bet the two that we have that are coming back that are listed are Mr Peterson and Mr rice and they'll be returning after they retire from Mr rice in 2024 and also Mr Peterson of for those 24 25 school year and the others we have a couple here the shimmels are retiring and really retiring they're here they've been with us a long time Greg is not here he's also retiring and then Jackie Densmore has been with us for about seven years Michelle Gannon who's been with us about 10 or 11 years and Doris Murphy has been a custodian here for quite a while as well and they're all retiring sad to see you go jimbles they're my neighbors so I can say that no that's a mean it doesn't mean I'm sad
046to see you staying at home more you know because you're great neighbors but uh you've been a big influence in this school district so thank you for what you've done all of these have been big interests I mean these are these are common names when you think Blue Ridge uses the names you think of so thank you for your service so can we have a recommendation to approve the retirement of the following employees chuck and a second from Diana all in favor all right thank you item 2.7 recommendation to approve teacher retention bonuses salary increases for two thousand twenty three two thousand twenty four school year Dr right you want to just explain that sure each year by Statute we're supposed to receive about two percent to our base level support from the state we
047anticipate that happening but it's never guaranteed especially in Arizona with Arizona school funding it's right down to the wire we are fairly confident that they're going to make good on that and the two percent increase for our teachers is about the exact amount of money we get from the state they're anticipating the two per the two thousand dollars that we're getting a retention bonus will come from our remaining Esser funds that must be spent out by September of 24. and so these where the funds are being derived any questions I'm happy to answer no questions I I did have a question about the 2000 but that you answered that so all right so can we have a recommendation to approve item 2.7 Chuck a second from Margaret all in favor that looks a lot unanimous
048okay item 3.1 this superintendent recommends it's a government board approve the proposed resolution to receive financial assistance under disaster The Disaster Relief act you want to explain you explained to me what this is absolutely important for those that are listening and we've applied for some covid funding um last year and is it in the amount of about thirty thousand dollars where it it's probably a long shot to get it but we still want to try and so in order for us to be considered we have to have this resolution posted and passed it by the board as it is reflected on this agenda any questions in regard to that so can we have a motion for item 3.1 to reflect this resolution I have a second from Diana all in favor at two's unanimous all
049right all right item 3.2 recommendation to approve Junior Leadership Academy the GLA um Dr Wright there again I'm turning it over to you and Jackie Solomon Vick he's here and I think shimles help us out with that Michael and Beth we'll turn the time over too the three of you thank you very much for having us Vicki Solomon with Nexus Coalition for drug prevention executive director and something really cool about this program this will be the 15th year for Blue Ridge for the junior Leadership Academy we also do one in White River and we have taught snowflake into their third year so we're trying to expand the program for the for those of you who don't know what Junior Leadership Academy is it's just a short-term program and we did a pilot program two years
050ago in Blue Ridge to do an after-school program and we met with the schimmels and we as a group decided that the after school program was actually more beneficial and easier on the students and the parents and so we have switched the summer program for Blue Ridge to to an after-school program so we've been doing the after school program for the last two years and we plan on doing that again in May first through 12th right May 1 through 12th and so we just wanted to come and the schimmels have created a short three-minute video for you to watch what went on last year for the after school program and if you don't mind we'll take that three minutes and watch that and then I'll have the channel speak for just a minute foreign [Music]
051super serious programs you can tell we don't have a whole lot of fun with this at all we're watching those I'm just going to read some things that the kids are getting out of the program it's self-awareness through social skills and learning style and development self-advocacy physical fitness Community collaboration life skills leadership responsibility choices positive decision making and problem solving team building and collaborating and networking goal setting life skills and career exposures drug abuse prevention and awareness including a parent education components community service integrating career and life tasks foreign [Music] foreign [Music] excellent so you know the last several years have been really hard on everybody and it's been especially hard on our youth and we've got a lot of mental health challenges and I feel that Junior Leadership Academy addresses some of those and
052what brings more joy than laughter for these kids and I believe that these kids that go through the program this is something that 40 years from now they're going to remember the junior Leadership Academy and they're going to remember the shimmels so I'm going to turn some time over to them oh hi everybody hey Diana I haven't seen you in a while good senior um you know all I'll say is looking back over the video I was just thinking about how much easier that has made this teaching year a lot of those kids were fourth graders uh last year when we had them and then we get them after having spent those two weeks with them and the relationship that's already there it was easy to build on this year and then watching some of
053those kids are sitting there looking at the Roseman kid zip and a class and the kids amazing but I don't know if I would have guessed on that last year but the time we spent with the kids getting them to interact with each other that I don't know the last couple years of covet I think smashed some kids really hard and it was really sad to see so getting the kids to work together getting them in front of some old people no you guys uh but we're going to take them down to soltera and see some people even older than you own and uh and uh you know have them interview these these folks and talk to them about their life we're going to have people come in and talk to them about making good
054choices you know of course super important and and you know the thing that blows me away every year is these kids after these simple two weeks together and some of them say it's the best thing I ever did and it just blows my mind and even even to the point of they they can't wait for the food we give them but it's it's helpful how tough it is for some of these kids so um anyways let's thank you very very much the shimmels are fantastic I told them I wish I had a coffee machine so we can put them throughout the whole Navajo County because we we need more shimbals to do what they do so thank you very much if you guys have any questions we're happy to answer anything about the junior Leadership
055Academy yeah I guess could you elaborate on the criteria you use to select kids for this program absolutely so most importantly our teachers are with those kids every single day so it's a combination of the teachers the principals and the parents and we look for kids that are struggling could be academically it could be emotionally could be some physical whatever the struggles are that they just need just a little bit of TLC and those are the kids that we're looking for those aren't the only ones in the program we we have found through trial and error we want to have mentors that are in the program as well so that we have kiddos that are sending example for those that are struggling and it seems to work very well when we have that combination and
056even if you're a breathing human being right now you're gonna you're having struggles so any you that get into the program I think it's going to help and just move them up a level thank you I just my only regret is Mike and Beth didn't have 12 kids yeah that'd have been nice and Greg and Amy too if he'd had 24 schimel kids and we still had them in school it'd be awesome yeah year two of your your youngest one of your youngest sons and your nephew moved me in almost nine years ago and they were gentlemen and so they're a great reflection of both of you thank you for what you do gonna miss you oh [Laughter] [Music] maybe with all your free time you can cut my grass I'm just kidding thank you
057thank you can we have a recommendation for item 3.2 which is to approve the junior Leadership Academy for another year I have a motion and a second all in favor that again unanimous Dr Wright we're going to turn some time over to you for a district update absolutely the first thing I want to do is just highlight a couple of things that was shared with the board that I don't know if I know I know the board knows I know most the people in the audience know but I don't think you can say it enough do you recognize the regret the gravity of having two young women accepted into Elite military academies two years in a row from 650 kids we have amazing students outstanding teachers and we do that this is not Xavier or
058Brophy prep we're not in the middle of ala and a bunch of wealthy kids most of our kids are Middle America in fact 40 percent of our kids live below poverty it doesn't stop them it doesn't it doesn't reduce any of the efforts of our staff and faculty they pour themselves into helping these kids one of the kids that one of the students that received a full ride to Cornell his his brothers at Columbia it's not an accident schools that were were getting these kids into are tough schools to get into and so I'm very proud of these results I'm proud of our teachers I'm proud of our support staff or Administration it's not an accident it's hard work and in many cases it's years of hard work so the board should be proud of
059the product that we're putting out our community should be very proud we'll have our banners up on the fence again this year announcing the accomplishments of this class and the past and we we just we can't say enough good about what these kids are doing our young lady last year that is about Victorian she's at Brown University in the full ride getting into University at Berkeley you know University of California Berkeley and Stanford the year before that we had a full ride to Stanford these are really amazing kids and and we're we're loving we're proud of them thank you I'll get into the other report I want to announce this and make sure we have this on Facebook we only have two social media Outlets that's Blue Ridge that is branded and approved and authorized
060and that's Facebook and Twitter anything else irrespective of what you see is not ours if we do not do Tick Tock we don't have anything on Tick Tock we don't have anything on anything else but Facebook and Twitter we can't not be responsible for everything our kids post all 24 7. however when they use our likeness or our logo that gives us some room and when they when they despair it make disparaging marks about other students if they're bullying them we do call them on that and we take whatever action we can our Authority stops at the school doors for most of this you need to understand that but we also take it very seriously however sometimes that Authority can extend out into the law enforcement if threats are made and we don't take any
061of the threats slightly but just remember it's not us if it's not Facebook it's not Twitter and so we want to make sure that we're doing that we have an Instagram too that's just it we do have an Instagram we don't have Tick Tock though I know that so thank you for that late night news the uh I want to make a couple announcements one is April 17th will be at 5 PM the district boardroom here for a work study to consider potentially a four-day school schedule for the 24-25 school year there if you remember how long it took for the sex ed this is just as long it takes about a nine month period to get through and uh well that has been created so the community and staff and people can you know
062I've been meeting with people that have come to me and asked for meetings on it we'll uh we'll Reserve any opinions until we've had time to do that and then we'll also look at a bond and override election we're going to reduce our current Year's budget next year for the 23-24 school year by over eight hundred thousand dollars we have about a 1.4 million dollar Gap doesn't get us all the way there it gets us mostly there and then we'll talk about and make a strong case for an override or a bond and do the best we can in 2023 hopefully to achieve additional resources as we had mentioned before the Esser dollars the last three years over 5.4 million dollars has kept us from having to make any of these hard choices or reductions
063that money has been largely put into classrooms the Footloose production you saw here earlier a little preview of that April 27th to 29th at 7 pm again at May 4th and 5th at 7 pm and there's a matinee on May 6th at 2 p.m you can see the quality of the production we're really proud of our kids and we do have a brand new stage we have brand new lights that won't be done in time and and mounted but we're working with the lights that are there but our stage is nice I've had a lot of compliments and I think I've shared that with the board before the Baccalaureate for the class of 2023 is May 16th at 7 pm at that time we show the the video of the kids and the kids organize
064and run this and it has it has been gaining populated the last several years and we hope that you can make it there we'll notice a possible Quorum for all these events for the board to enable you to attend whatever you want without having to worry about creating the corn without notice scholarship night is May 17th we'll have an update to what Mr web presented if you saw that 4.2 almost 4.3 million dollars for a school of District of our size it's pretty amazing our guidance counselors administrators and teachers write a lot of letters of recommendation and do a lot of work to help out our kids and we're very proud of those results graduation is on May 19th at palmoral Stadium at 7 pm and then I also want to just take a little
065more time to recognize Miss Carey vest a National Merit scholar is no small thing that would you could have a school of 2500 and 3 500 students and not have one not have and certainly not have a finalist but to have one of a school of 650s is pretty remarkable and so if you know her parents she's she's got a great family she's worked hard she's a great kid and we're very proud of her I believe she's the one going to University of Kentucky so congratulations Miss Kerry for that our lock-in event 2023 if anybody is watching this feed wants to donate time product food prizes Talent anything please get in touch with the front officer Mr Webb indicate that you're willing to help and we would be glad to take that on I think
066it starts at about 10 p.m graduation Night 10 or 11 and they stay the entire time that that's for the I think this is my ninth lock-in that I've gone to I've never made it the entire time Mr Webb made it every time and so it's it's a fun event it's a great event for kids on our facilities side briefly the weatherproof weather proofing project is a mouthful it's more than just painting the school it's caulking it's it's doing a lot of other exterior and interior work to the walls that begins May 1st that's taken five years of the facilities team financing everybody and a lot of trips to the sfb to get this done so we're very thankful that's happening and that's we've got a lot of issues at that building the first step
067is to get it waterproofed that'll be done by the middle of June no later than the end of June and then we have the flooring the roofs a number of things that we're going to stay on a long and growing list I think we've we've submitted over and have achieved in Grants over 3.2 million dollars The Last Five Years and we're going to still keep pushing we got the full court press on that still have a number of AC units need to be replaced a couple of boilers roofing issues that res on top of everything else and so we'll stay after that the teacher teach contracts will be issued before close of business this Friday and they'll be issued to everybody that is committed to coming back if they're not certain they won't get a
068contract yet and they'll have 10 days to return it 15 days to sign and return those contracts and that is concludes my report unless there are any questions from the board Mr President I don't think he he's keeping this up to date on what's going on next item on the agenda is call to the public and we would open up this uh this time period for anybody that would like to come and address the board we'd ask you to kind of keep it to three minutes not be personal and not seed it to anybody else your time so we would offer that right now we'd ask you to um state your name your address South America could put that on the record Mary Ford can put that on record so anybody that would like to
069address the word right now we're happy to hear it guess not okay the next next item on the agenda is announcements and we've already heard that we're going to have a work study on April 17th at 5 pm at this building and this location and the items that will be on that for that work study for the public and for the board next regularly scheduled board meeting will be May 9th at 5 pm at this location we now [Music] will excuse and to uh executive session um discuss the possible action regarding the annual performance review of superintendent's contract the governing Barney may vote to condemn convenient executive session which shall not be open to the public is extremely confidential so do I have a motion to um move to Executive session I have a motion
070from Chuck second from Diane all in favor all right we will now go into executive session and that is private we'll go into this reference room the conference room right behind those windows right there and once executive session over we'll come back in here and state the results of that that executive session so thank you [Applause]