001I just wanted to go over special education and E Services during this time all special education services such as fed resource which are our special education teachers our speech our otpt and our English language learner Services have continued through the digital writing instruction they will also continue for students who are on kelbert platform we've also continued having IEP meetings and 504 meetings per the dates and deadlines that we need to have them inactive students and behavior inactive students those are students who have not logged in since we started back on January 4th we have a list that's being compiled they have been emailed and called by teachers they have been emailed called by myself as well and Mr Le in has touch Bas as well and we've also sent text messages to all those parents
002as well there are some more that have been added to the list that we need to continue to follow up with teachers have already touched face or try to but we can't haven't touched Bas with all of them we've also done some home visits in fact this evening we're going to be doing one to drop off a kajit for internet access for a student uh we were waiting around Mr lean was here last week due to some behavioral issues that had occurred on the digital platform that that we were dealing with and then Mr Le then jumped in so we could get hold of the parents which we weren't able to initially but then we were and we were able to get a conference call with them on Friday and get things [Music] going Benchmark
003number two testing dates map Benchmark testing number two will take place January 25th through February 5th and we're going to have the map growth professional trainings online which if you would like to take part I will make sure to get you the invitations for that February 3rd from 1: to 3 p.m. is Session 1 and then February 17th from 1 to 3 p.m. will be session are there any questions one question how many inactive students do we have right now we have 19 inactive students but so far we have 13 after we've touched base with with the parents are they dnf students no not all of them what percentage would you say are I would say about 50% 50% of them are D students and the others are because they're having issues probably with internet
004or they're just not logging in so we're trying to get there's some that are not staying with their Guardians so parents have contacted us they're with a different family member at this time that um so we're going back and forth with the teachers and with the parents trying to get a hold of of the people that they are with that's about three of those 13 yeah it's not an easy process so Monday when we first started I had to email Steve because if we couldn't find the link to sign on so we had to call one of the friends and in the sixth grade they're all in different places so part of my problem as a parent is we're used to it now but it's not consistent as to where you click to go sign
005on or get your lessons or upload and share and all that the Google meeting in the Google Classroom yeah they're all different some are you got to scroll down and go back to like it says August that's where the live link is like well why would I click there and the other one's up at the top but then most of those never worked so it's it's it is confusing thank you so who do we have monitoring access I Monitor and I've gone in so when parents have called that they couldn't either Steve gets a hold Mir to Albert and I and we go in because we all have access to their Google classrooms so those parents that were calling and having needing more help with it we were copying and pasting the Google links for
006the meetings mostly it was for six seventh and eighth grade students that were having issues finding but um a lot of them were the same as they had been prior to us going back to digital would it have been possible for the teacher to send the link and many of them many of them did send the links and they sent emails to the them know some did not thank you thank you appreciate it okay moving on now I will move that we approve the consent agenda motion a second second second any discussion yes um so is it to be implied that um this um the two teachers are going to be retiring this and no that um that's been in our governing board um policy of any unused sickly pay has to be submitted to
007the board for potential if they are to Fe or retire but it's no it's not an official retirement so you don't think they're going to retire uh not no not that we have been made aware of that's why yes that's always my initial reaction thank you is this the program for um Builder Club fundraising no this is this is our um C for Washington DC so do they have some for us to sell yes we can get something to sell definitely okay we love anybody that wants to sell so we'll make sure we get some to miss thank you any further discussion I question okay all right let's go Miss K yes Miss Allen yes Mr oy yes I approve and Mr mcken yes pass thank you business see any on there new business Monica
008Molina is Executive Administrative Assistant so we are very happy to report that Miss Molina is going to be joining our team again officially um and you see her um her part there again originally we had hired her under a salar position because of the substitute phone meeting to be used and board meetings the prior admin assistant would um usually not be available on Fridays because of the overtime they had worked during board meetings and we really felt like we needed somebody that could um be more available to us when needed and with I'm having to carry the district cell phone and and answer it in the evenings and on the weekends 247 um that was our rationale for having that person be on salary speaker Nancy called for the res um it really is hard
009to justify to Auditors that we have a classified person on salary so we thought since we were going to be resubmitting Mon's name that we might as well clean it up now um so she will be hourly and her hourly hour hourly salary is just divided by the salary that she was making before but it did translate to seven cents less per hour how many hours is that it's a 40 Hour Week position is it a 9 month or 12 month 12 and so typically what'll happen is reflect the hours of classified employees so for the board meeting if she's here two or three hours then she that um and we do have ourselves on an automated U System now which has limited the amount of work that the person still has to do but
010we need to still talk about the last minute people who call in because obviously there's no time to submit it for Subs to pick up and so it does still take time so that's something as a leadership team we're going to be meeing with Monica on um in her absence Miss Eva did learn how to do it as well and Miss Jenna um so I think there's a way where we could maybe spread the workout um so that it just doesn't become fall on one person every week every night and as far as the salary position goes versus an hourly there are three criteria that the IRS requires for somebody to be on salary position the third one is eluding me I do not remember what it is but all three of these criteria have
011to be met the first one is the salary has to be over $45,000 a year the second piece is they have to actually supervise somebody and since those criteria are not met she does not qualify as a salary position although we do have um the expectation that Miss Molina as the admin assistant Executive Admin assistant does supervise Miss Eva and Miss Jenna in the front and kind of the daily operations of the office is what she has been in charge of also thank you I'll a motion please second any further discussion I'm so happy to see you back you look great well thank you I feel much much better thank you I'm glad to be here just like day J okay Miss Allen yes Miss K yes Mr asley yes Mr Ry yes Mr mck
012absolutely motion passes welcome back thank you very much sir glad to have you back okay 11b Mr Steve m is transportation director background okay so um you'll see there in the rationale in order to remove some of the Met responsibilities that um Mr Nathan has had um over the years reassigning Mr Lane as a director of transportation is a logical First Step um Mr Lane was already incorporating the duties of Mr Nathan into his routine Mr Lane has also fixed the audit issues within the transportation department and has been transparent with his actions Mr Lane should be compensated for the work that he has already done in transportation as well as these additional duties that he has already been doing and receive a salary that is in line with the position and the duties to
013which he has been assigned so if you remember when we did um propose the position as transportation coordinator we knew that our audit findings were needing a lot of attention in the transportation area which is why we initially had Mr laan U we had to add him as the transportation director because we needed somebody who knew the job who could help us meet the audit findings and expectations and he was the one um that worked well with transportation and knew it and he knows the ins and out of it because he's also been a driver and been in charge of purchasing and maintenance with Transportation so I just want to say um thank you to Mr naan because of his work with Mr Lane and with Mr dzo Sanchez in terms of their collaboration and
014their efforts to fix the audit findings and get systems in place that have helped us to correct the audit findings and working with Mr Schubert um I'm happy to say that we are at this point where we can now turn the Baton completely over to Mr um so that poor Mr Nathan can continue to do um the things all the other things that are on his job description and when we talk about director of student services and you know a kind of a AP position who takes on student services and discipline and Athletics um he's also taken on custodial issues which is not added on his job description that we do need to add we made that change a couple months because with um the intensity of our mitigation plan and having to really ensure
015the cleanliness of our school Mr Nathan has been thre Center and working with the custodians and making sure that um you know they're being diligent about their rounds and and supervising because we really needed someone who was boots on the ground in the past that person had been someone in HR or in Mr Schubert's Place who really is about every single day to see the ins and outs of what's being done or not being done so we appreciate that and uh we really do want Mr Nathan in his um role as student services I when we look at the dnf report and we look at some of these comparisons for him to get a couple of things off his plate so he can really help with um in student relations in terms of what our
016next steps will be and just thank you so much because we couldn't be at this point without you right now and um and Mr n just for your Forward Thinking and for your organization and Mr n also came in as a team player and has taken on a lot of additional things and helped us with our school closure with our lunches with our deliveries working well with with Food Service as well so I can't say enough about how proud I am of our established team because has stepped up and everybody continues to wear multiple hats so thank you thank you entertain a motion Please Mr St is transportation director so move second discussion just a clarification in the rationale says that Mr Lane should be compensated for the work that he has already done in
017transportation as well as the addition he has already uh been doing but looking at the par it appears that the compensation is only on the going forward basis that his salary is being increased on a going forward basis not for payment for whatever duties he may have been accomplishing in the past is that correct yes thank you yes and is that is this going to add to the administrative positions of the school so it it will but and I will have Mr schuber add um in terms of where we are with our Auditors and us being a small rule of school um this is a perfect example of we were notified by the Auditors that we're no longer going to be considered small school status we're in the medium Ro because of the number of
018students that we serve so it's actually going to look very different in the charts and the graphs that are reported in our school in terms of administrative cost and allocations and and just to clarify it's not our auditor it's the auditor General's office that is moving us from a small school to a medium school so now our administrative cost will look more in bline with the rest of the schools that are similar size of so what was the cut off because we're at what 560 the the auditor general just they just move you because of the size have we spoken with our um have we spoken with our legislators no we haven't so we're currently with preschool at 6:41 but I think you're talking smaller schools you're talking you know student population it's 400 and
019less is when you're talking smaller schools um depending on where we are with our student counts they they they try to keep you with the like siiz School District the auditor General's office as their District spending reports go so they try to keep you with so a school our size is now I had the list I forgot it I believe now we're we're similar to to a King district is one of the schools that we're compared to versus some of the smaller um reservation districts that we are currently or have in the past yes we're now a small suburban or small R we are now a medium R medium R and if you'd like I can go ahead and send you the uh the link to the auditor general page that has all the schools
020that we would be compared with I would have likeed to have received that thank you forther discussion okay just one other question so what will be our what will be our administrative cost per student I honestly I haven't calculated I we can add it I can add it to my rep put it un discussion are we talking the added cost for Mr L the added cost of us being medium school well the medium siiz school is just something that the aut General Uses to compare us to other similar size that have the same generalities you know it's it's a rural School District versus an urban School District it's got x amount of kids versus you know so there's a range of students that keep you within these and does a larger School District anticipate higher
021administrative costs yes for like per student because when you're talking a larger School District if you take the largest three districts in the state with Tucson FL staff and Mesa their administrative costs are are huge just because of the sheer size you know when you have 58 School that's 58 principles and then you add in you know another 15 high schools within there there's an extra you know three Vice principles per school so your administrative cost is going up when you're at the larger schools and so the fact that we'll be mixed in with medium schools which are expected to have higher administrative costs will kind of show our metric to be equal to even though we are 600 students AB question okay all right Mr yes Mr yes M SK yes Miss Allen yes
022and Mr M yes congratulations Mr Lane C revised job descriptions for student services directory and transportation directory so this is to provide to you just the redline copies so you can see what we eliminated from the job descriptions and what we the Kean copies of what was added and like I mentioned for director um of student services on the clean copy we do need to add the custodial responsibilities to Mr um leens so we will do that and just submit a second version of the clean copy for this for meeting with that and I believe there was one area where it still said Transportation on his that will remove as well same section okay is this your standard job description yes when was here so that was prior to Stacy in um reworking them and
023realigning them so they all looked similar okay motion please r job descrition for student servic direct approve second discussion okay Miss Allen yes Miss K I say I and Mr oy yes Mr M yes motion to approve first reading of board policy GC oh good time yes and this is if you notice what was redlined was um the maximum rate of 85 per day for our substitutes and 75 so we've had to change them to match our current sub rates is there aop just the first read okay so that's where we will be and adding um so now it's $85 Under The Substitute rate the maximum what do we pay now 100 so right now so the way it was was we were paying out sickly at a maximum of $85 per day and then
024we and um we actually had classified staff in at $75 P so we're changing it to the current substitute teacher rate so that it's not a hard dollar sign so if our sub rate moves up in the future this would automatically move up with it right because the sub rate is higher than that it's 100 yes yes the current sub rate $100 $120 and then the classified staff would just be $10 under whatever the daily rate for a substitute teacher will be that's what we're moving into so that there are no hard numbers and as times go and we increase our rates or if we decrease our rates our policy follows that and this is the part of the policy on that first paragraph where it says an employee um must have been employed by
025the district fulltime at at or 10mth employee for a period of five consecutive years and this is where and must notify the district in writing of intent to resign or retire before January 15th of the year of resignation retirement in order to be eligible for si le reimbursement so this statement has caused a lot of problems I think since it's in first read um I'd like to kind of get your input and I'll look into what how it's worded for other districts because we''ve had cases where members have had either houses move and relocate um in March or April and they notify us of the resignation but because they didn't submit for this actual um six day reimbursement before January 15th they lost money I think that's discussion because I agree with you I remember
026when that happened a couple times and it not really fair right and and so I just think January 15th is very early and if that's what happens it causes everybody to say oh well I better put it in because if something does transpire and and I understand that a lot of it is for budgeting reasons is what we were told before that it was very hard to budget but I don't know how one thing I can say is in my experience the so was a business manager up in Navajo County prior to coming to and we were actually trying and a lot of the districts in Navajo County we're moving toward a more stricter payouts of si le so this is kind of in line with what Navajo County in the schools there were trying
027to move fors so and I agree with the amount of pay I'm just not sure what we could do about that January 15th date well if they if if they ended up let's say found out that they were going to have a military move or something like that in may they could still indicate this and just not receive the reimbursement until the following year no they wouldn't be able to have it if they don't give it by the 15th that's what I mean I I would fight that if it was me I agree we did no I mean I would fight it and say I'm notifying you now prior to January 15th next year expecting the pay off then in October even though I'm terminating my pay now I'm ter terminating my position and I
028think they'd win well we had that and they lost by we fought well was the board of the attorney it was a similar type thing and we felt sorry for him but we had a stick of of policy so I think that's why this is coming up but this this portion here period of five consecutive years so if there's a gap year there where they on is that because it's no it's because it's a budgeting issue so I get for the existing teachers that I think I'm going to retire they got to get their notice and all that for budgeting issues but if you have somebody that's like let's just stick with a military thing that come April hey I can't make it back next year and they've been here however however many years they've
029got some type of of sickly left they lose it there's something called I don't get ackly myself that's beside the point so that's why I really think that we can just look at this and kind of see how else we can word it um whether it be that there's you know a special maybe an additional paragraph that says special cases may be reviewed that makes sense um you know by the Govern or um at the board's disc something could there be like a step down like if you notify on February 15th they get 80% of their SI March 15% so for me the easiest way to resolve this issue because this is a very strict policy the way it's written if it was me and I was on the board I think I would just
030suggest period after years after five years and delete the rest yeah because they C that yes and they kind of count on that I know they all do I I mean because there are scenarios in which and you bring up you know the military family um and it's just not a military family somebody's working for the mines and they're getting transferred to to Phoenix office you know so there's and what I'm trying to do is trying to help the board trying to get out of a position where they could be seen as showing favoritism towards one employee versus another right so Greg what is common for Arizona this policy is all over the place okay okay where I came from it was uh 25% of your daily rate and no less than $20 hour and
031as long as you had worked for the district for one full year you were eligible for a cly pay off so that's just an example of the district that I have come from well I would suggest we put it on for next month's agenda or discussion or whatever the right form is yeah this is there's no action today no this is the first next mon will be the second read I think the second read and I I I like where you're going because it isn't they recruited and just because you missed a date and something happens like you said it could be subjected well you gave Mary one you didn't give Sue one correct we did run into that year or two ago and because it has um a cap on the days I think
032in terms of budgeting and KN who our employees who have more than five years and if we paid them all out you know 120 days what would that look like what would that do our budget that's bugged me ever since we had that problem a couple years ago thank you so good so if you like to submit some verbage or plans and we'll also get a draft to you in terms of what we're looking at prior to putting it on for second couple of different drafts that we can look at a couple questions do we have um are we keeping good track of the amount of accumulated leave that's there at all times so that we can anticipate it in budgeting we actually have a do a report every year that's part of our audit
033our annual audit it's called accumulated absences okay and it's basically taking our most liberal policy which in this case would be our SI L policy and what it would cost to pay out every single employee and we have to hold back that amount of money in case you know if 80 you know 80 employees decided they were going to quit and they all gave their notice by the 15th and they all wanted their their cly pay out that we can actually afford the pay okay so this is an unfunded liability that you're budgeting for yes this is a contingency line in the budget for better terminology and and secondarily isn't the district SLE policy subject to beat and confer and Union negotiations it is and this is what it is uh uh and has been
034negotiated and signed off by the union okay but we've had conversations of we know we need to bring it back it's usually in terms of raises that usually get put in the back burner but how could we make how could we a policy that falls under meet and confirm because it doesn't it a lot of districts don't even have meeting confirmed so it would be going through this process with policies so this could be something that we could work on and and it would be great I think if we took it to our teachers who are typically on mut confer to help them look at it um but the main thing that we wanted to address on the policy was the rate right now but now as we're talking about this date again on the
03515th to be done yes there's more work to be done any further questions discuss okay report back to school 2021 second semester right so I just kind of put together some information um in terms of the meeting that we had with um our superintendent and Pim count Health officials and I I hope you all had a chance to read it and like I mentioned today um after this meeting it came out on Friday where um Dr Garcia and py Health Department stated that they don't feel that we should it's not safe to return to school which is why um Mr drene Sal sent out that that he was until the end of the month so um just wanted to to have a discussion and see where you know where your thoughts are what we're thinking
036um I did speak to him this evening and he said that his plan was to phas in on February 1 Elementary for a week phase in Middle School the following week and then High School the third week of February um that's their plan um so again just open to discussion you saw what we presented earlier scroll down a little bit I did put here um you know our continued recommendation we have been working hard to follow our mitigation plan um teachers have not contracted Co to their students and when we need the peopleon health and they have these conversations there have it been any cases where teachers have contacted students in the classroom um uh the adults are continue to contract Co via outside school social settings or teachers or staff working in close proximity
037to each other where grade level teachers met for a lunch together and then they all Ed up testing positive but it hasn't been student to teacher um we again we never implemented a hybrid model class sizes are small enough and classrooms are large enough to allow to social distancing um and the requirement that everyone wear a mask at all times is still um what we are doing in our plan our current class sizes you can see here and second grade was updated today so I just wanted to note that in those three classes there are 23 students in marsi and fernandz and 22 in Miss shac so they're still under 25 um even with the additional our Middle School classrooms are doubled with students staying in one room so it's two classrooms opened up um
038and the teachers are rotating and the students are staying in place again the vaccination information we um do have a lot of our staff members who have are on a registry waiting for the first vaccine and like I mentioned it's also open to board members as well um the has a 80% efficacy and the second vaccine 28 Days Later provides 93 to 95% efficacy and as we know nothing will ever be 100% we do have how many teachers did I say in the other report three already had right and then there were 40 some who were on the list who wanted to be so some teachers are feeling that once they get the vaccine they feel that they would be safer um they would feel safer coming back toool in the responses of the teachers
039who have said they don't feel it safe to do so now um we're working with UCC and our nurse morine has been amazing and very proactive in setting up testing for us we are going to have another testing on Wednesday it's scheduled right now for 8 to 10 we were trying to change it to 12 to 2 because of teachers who are teaching virtual to allow them to come um at they from their classroom well it's still it's still 8 to 10 yes it's not 8 to 12 but said she was still waiting this afternoon to hear from UCC apparently they only have seven employees working there right now due to people being out so worst case scenario we will have 8 to 10 still scheduled for Wednesday and again you're welcome to come um
040to be tested as well you we have had a number of Staff members who have had Co who have recuperated thankfully um with our food service and with our preschool and um our admin person but I think um you know of course people who have already had Co will be on the second or third wave of getting the vaccine so that we can allow people um who have not vaccinated first as a priority and obviously our priority as soon as the vaccine is available will be for our teachers and our pars that are Frontline every day with the students um so we are going to be working with UCC with Pima County Health and with our local Green Valley Fire Department so I think between those three Avenues we're going to be able to get
041our staff members vaccinated sooner than later so that's just just kind of want to hear what so what's your recommendation going back before we discuss that well I really as of today like I said I'm compiling the data um from the teachers I hear them it's just a tough decision you know we we know all the teachers agree that virtual learning digital learning is not optimal all the teachers are in agreement that inperson learning is the best route to go um but we're also still in that quandry of ensuring the safety of our staff um and our students we know that you know we have a lot of teachers in the last three weeks who have been more affected by loss of family members relatives um Tucson Phoenix Mexico so you know it really has
042H home you know before you know I felt like we were kind of desensitized because it hadn't really affected the the people that it has now so it's just a tough decision because you really don't know how any one person is going to react to the virus when they get it you know and I really do think that now it's not a matter of um if you get it it's when you get it I've been saying so back to my question is is we're schedu go back after next week Ser is already suspended till February what do you want to do well I want to have a discussion with you and I so okay thank you so you want to just start here and go down yeah I think I to go down in here
043because this is something that okay I thought that such a [Music] the authority to decision but I'm not decision without without coll effort and I really do feel so much changes in a week I even think what we say today it's day to hour to hour yeah may or may not you know be P for us for next I think I can speak for all of us God love you and oh my God it's so hard but um so as We Know said hey let's um take another two weeks um and they published the numbers on Friday the infection rate um I don't know if you guys got this or not but um the infection rate is um per 100, 551 where anything over 100 is bad test positivity rate on January 7 was 19.9
044anything over 10% is bad remember we were looking at the yellow and red and all those little lines should we reopen should we not and then the hospitalization rate isn't as bad or at least mathematically is 15.2 versus anything over 10 so that just was what seren posted and they had a death with one of their security guards that used to run track here health old man you know I mean um so that said and then we have the Friday memo that came out from the um P County Health Department where they recommend that we stay virtual instruction for the next couple weeks and I get the virtual instruction I live it every day it sucks that's a minor I could say a lot worse and the extremes that we have to do to get
045my sixth grader that goes here and and I think it's much better than it was now that we're but to ask a kid to sit in front of a computer for and Kelly has a kindergarten so she'll comment on that how that is you know for an hour five hours a day for five classes you try that we've all done the zoom stuff you know and they and the teachers God bless them they're really doing well they are busting their butts and some days obviously are better than others than in the classroom um but to go outside the box of saying well we're continental and we have smaller classes and we hav any problems and to go back after another week when s is not and the health department is recommending we don't I probably
046have a problem with that um but I understand the other reasoning too because we're I don't know how many teachers are going to get tested um and I won't talk to much longer I'm sorry guys um are going to get tested Wednesday I'm going to come in and get tested um just is because it's a benefit in um well anything can happen and I don't know how many are going to get tested but the other thing if let's just say would they all get the vaccine so let's say everybody are the vaccine probably needs to get staggered and I'll tell you why is apparently and you guys probably know better than me when you get that second shot is when you get sick for a couple days so if we vaccinate majority of the staff
047that's willing to get it you're looking at a a massive sick day sick days possibly um when that second one comes but I'm sure there's plans for that Serita is kind of a little bit ahead of us on that and maybe you know you get half year and half I don't know I just wanted to make sure I brought that out because it's it's a crazy subject and I sympathize with all you guys and appreciate every minute of work and effort that you guys did there's not right or wrong answers it's all so subjective which is is crazy so I'll quit talking and we do have you know the staff concerns of of not knowing enough about the vaccination to to want to get vaccinated right now um you know that's going to always be
048voluntary we can't mandate so um it is for because we know that that second vaccination will probably spark um spike a fever for two days so we are looking at staggering yeah when um the vaccinations are available and where they get them but it will be within those three systems of the fire department and UCC and P County it'll it'll look more like we have 30 vaccinations so tell us what you want and then it'll be or 15 oh I got to come in Mass here say okay it is no that's not well that makes we're not anticipating that that's the way it's going to be okay cool what do you think of how many teachers will come and get tested Wednesday so um that was the I think a lot of our teachers will
049come or there so many of our teachers have already been tested throughout these two weeks because of exposure or um so I think definitely um most of them are planning to come with the intention that that was our quarantine for two weeks let's be tested let's make sure that we're all safe to come back before we come in contact with kids again so Marine has that list but I can send it out to you to let you know but a lot of them are still waiting for the time but I think everybody is doing what needs to be done in terms of being for staying safe and you know but but again the asymptomatic people you know it's just we we just don't know yeah us and breath thank you I think no matter of
050what we decide to do it's going to be bad you just need to pick what's going to be the least bad oos to doing like hybrid classes or something creative there in the middle like um maybe only letting kids with 504 I and and apps come back to keep the classro smaller um I don't know how to do that without doubling the work for the teachers though it's we are putting ourselves out not not do digital so if we do have a lot of cases break out I think respond that I'm not I believe calina calina they are in yes and uh alar Valley they're they started they went back on the fourth hybrid um but they're also still in the discussion of are they going to just go back virtual for these next two
051weeks they have a board meeting this week as well push has like 10 kids in class there's a lot of Charter and private schools that do have kids going full time we we are still the only School in tea County that has all kids coming back every day five days a week the schools that are in um going to school are in hbd and Mrs glas and I have had a lot of conversations with um you know friends in terms of what hybrid looks like and we have the same some teachers are like oh my gosh please no and others say yes it's a good idea so it's the same um it it's the same controversy you know it's more work for teachers again I've talked to some friends who have they're in hybrid and
052maybe they have 12 kids that are supposed to be there you have you know three to five kids who are out because of either quarantine or sick for whatever reason normal absences and they're teaching to six or seven kids in the class and then repeating it again to six to seven so it's better to just have all 14 in the class at the same time you know when you look at our Kinder classes we have one with 20 one with 14 and one with 21 so we did a h those kids and we had 10 kids in the classroom three out or four and then you're having a teacher teach a whole day's lesson to six kids so and then having to repeat it again for the next cohort so either way it's very difficult
053but good points well I think you know where I am on this issue I've stated it before um I frankly publicly proudly state that Continental is the only School in pea County that has inass instruction five days a week I think it's something to be proud of it's a testament to our staff that put together the continuity of operations plan it's a testament to our teachers and and I proudly state that um I think the stats are the stats uh are going through the roof that doesn't necessarily mean that there it's happening in schools and I think the statistics show that it's not happening in this SCH I think what the statistics do prove is that the damage we are doing to our kids academically emotionally and and and mental healthwise is causing far more
054damage than the risk that they are have to to this virus and the us does not transmit according to the experts from student to teacher I think you've stated that you've done the research on that and I think it's incredibly important that we go back to class on the 19th of January if we wait till the 1st of February we're going to be having the same discussion because the cases are not going to go down until this vaccination campaign starts moving forward and so we're going to be dealing with the same level of sta that uh in in two more weeks than what we're talking about now I absolutely recommend that we go back to class for all the teachers um that we have had in on that situation on the 19th of January well
055I I was very excited to see several of our teachers out in Social environments recently so I know that there must not be a great great deal of concern about them going to work because they're out and about actively engaged in activities that they could just as well have been here the only difference is they with the population that could likely be asymptomatic or whatever so I know I I I really believe that some of our teachers who were concerned um I know they're out and about so I think that that concern has been lifted the only way to manage this is a datadriven approach if you're trying to figure out how to make a a decision I I think that's what you need to do and so if you begin by looking at uh
056the statistics you've already stated that none of our teachers got the co virus as a result of being in a classroom so they're not we're not passing the virus from the children to the teachers I think what Mr erery said regarding the emotional academic social and behavioral uh well-being of children is probably what we should be holding in the utmost of consideration in this decision so if we look at this from a datadriven approach and not using data statistics that we can't apply to this district and to the people that will be at this school so I'm not saying P countywide I'm saying look at the dat here I think that's uh that's the key that's how you do it I share Mr ol's concern and as you may or may not know superintendent I
057had the opportunity to uh interview uh superintendent Williams on the radio and I took great pleasure in saying to him and to everybody who was listening uh that Continental is open five days a week and we are doing our job and I called out the names of each one of you uh and the fine job that you've done and I'm going to continue to stand by that thank you um of course this is very tough I I share I share their desire I think we got to be back in the classroom but on the other hand I also have a very good friend lost his wife 48 hours ago a g that I've known for 25 years so um it hits hard and I'm sure it's every this room I I I understand the concern
058I do have faith however I have incredible faith in the CP plan that would develop in the school I have faith that we have the distancing we need I have faith that we have um the the right protocol in place day in and day out I have faith that that everything on this campus is being done in line with that plan I think it works and I think we ought to be very proud of that the only issue I have is that once this once the lights go off here in the afternoon we can do absolutely nothing to control what happens with parents family friends we can do absolutely nothing about that I suppose that's called life there's nothing we can do um but I I I agree I don't want to be here in
059a month having the same discussion I know I I don't think any of us it's a tough call but I I do have faith in the plan that we developed I have faith that we can we can continue to do it safely I think the testing that happens this week I think is absolutely critical that everybody that's going to be on campus should be tested that was the whole point of this if I recall the two we window that we were that we gave every that we pushed it back and we scheduled that testing specifically for that reason so I please if you're going to be on this campus be tested on the 13th and I think that might paint a picture that would be helpful in making that decision if everyone's clean everyone's ready
060to go I I'm not sure I I see many barriers if there's if it's a different discussion if that's not the case then um I I guess we well we may have no choice but to push back a week or because have the people to to run the the operation and that's always been what our discussion has been as long as we have the healthy staff um to be able to teach the students in the classroom and the staff to be able to help with the supervision and our parent Pros you know we can operate as long as we have happy staff but you're right and if you know we have a lot of teachers test positive on Wednesday then obviously we'll have to look at um continue creative ways to ensure that the classes
061and kids are covered we've also um discussed um I think one of the concerns primarily where large larger groups of students gather is lunchtime so we've had some conversations that of course will solidify in terms of do we send half of the middle school kids to lunch in the cafeteria one day and keep them in their class or do we how do we kind of separate these 23 in the Kinder class because that's usually when they'll be together during lunch time um to add more areas maybe for them to eat or how do we want to work that but that's something that we have talked about in new of going hybrid how do we separate kids to be in smaller groups than what they are right now if I may add that is critical if
062you're not following the CP plan to a TV then this all goes out the window as far as I'm concerned that was the point of it and in my opinion I think it works and if you remember right before Christmas break we had a cafeteria where everyone was gone but everybody pitched in whoever could pitch in did they did their part and I think that's what Continental is about you make it work you have to get a little creative and you put on some gloves and go to work um I I truly truly hope that one else gets sick and certainly no moral harm to anyone here but it may be a while it may be 6 months but I think there's at some point we have to move forward and we have to trust
063the plan we have in place works and we have roughly four months it shows us that it does now like I said there are if something happens with the testing to show otherwise then that might be a different discussion um but I absolutely will support whatever says what if the if the faculty of the school simply are not comfortable coming back and we cannot get enough people to make it happen iose and I think our teachers are very appreciative of the um opportunity to voice their opinions and to let us know what they're thinking and I say you know we value your opinion want to hear from you because we are trying to make an informed decision and um I tell them my job is to also represent them to the board and if they
064don't let you know what they're thinking it's hard for me to let you know where they stand but our teachers again are very they're feeling like we are yes or no we want to keep people safe we know we want to have our kids in school and 90% of our staff you know our leadership appreciates our board and the direction and will do right by students always so I think um our kid you know our teachers whatever decision we make they're going to put their best foot forward and they're going to do their job which is what they've been doing despite some of you know their concerns or things that have happened so I think again our teachers and they're in the front lines so they um are the ones who have to be diligent
065the mitigation plan about keeping students safe keeping you know their their mask on students mask on and I think our parents appreciate that too but I I just I have to add again I have to stress that it's more than the coup plant here at school you have to be you have to be very strict with with what you do outside of the school because it's all an extension of what happens here whether that's going to Walmart or restaurant or whatever you do that's critical and so we have to have that discipline uh to make this work and we can continue to message that out to our parents like please you know we've tried to say don't go to birthday parties don't have birthday parties things need to look different um so that we can
066ensure the safety of the students and staff so what do you do with the teacher that says I I or a family member has a compromised Community system and I do not feel comfortable com so we'll continue to address those on a Case by case but I also do understand that the co funds um are running out in terms of St of in terms of uh staff members quarantining and we were going to we need to research that because from what I understand is the funds are depleting and moving forward if a person needs to quarantine or not come to school it's not going to be a paid expense it's going to be out of their own personal either leave without pay or but they would lose their job right now there has not been
067any um cases when people have had to quarantine they haven't had to use their own Personnel sbit that has been accumulated but at some point that's going to end and so we do need people back at school so there may be some tough decisions that some stff members to make in terms of taking a leave of absence for the rest of the school year well that's what I meant to be a leave of absence not was your job right because of circumstances out of control right and so with with the appropriate doctors notes and following up with HR and following protocol that may occur where we may be seeing in the next couple I'm sure to be right want to add anything thought thank you all for yourist support your feedback and um I know
068all of us want to be back at school that's we're all we all know that being here and on site is important and it's the most effective for our students and for all of us and um thank you I thank you for your thank you to the teachers who given their feedback and answer you superintendent ref your emails whatever whatever is decided we're going to go forth and we're going to do it as best as we can do it that's very much appreciate I'll take so I I considered it in evit ability that everybody in this room will at one point come down with this virus and in my opinion of that is that we cannot live in fear of this virus if it's something that's going to happen it's going to happen we've seen
069what happened when we came back from the Thanksgiving break with the number of cases that we that we had via student we've taken the appropriate measures to try and to at least contain that by taking this two weeks during the reports we've seen the number of students with D's and Fs and and the most horrible thing about that was the number of kids that we've had to send off for additional mental health issues my alsoo humble opinion is that these kids need to be back here on the not just for their mental health but for their education right now is the groundwork that we are learing for the rest of their lives and in order to have that solid foundation they need to be here they are losing out on not just their education but
070they're missing out on developing interpersonal skills because you can only talk to somebody over a computer without having that personal interaction for so long completely lost so in my also humble opinion I would like to see everybody here on the oh go um my opinion is there's never going to be a good or a comfortable time to go back to school um during the pandemic and so now is as good as time as any um I work with the students who have a hard time in school um I have a I work with the students who have a hard time in life um I've been busier with the hard time in life more than I ever have you know in the first quarter that we've been back versus like an entire school year of the
071past previous years um the and some of the information that Miss Rico shared she asked me to provide that for her um a lot of those cases the parents actually came and said we chose the online learning we need to bring them back now tomorrow these kids can't be in their rooms um locked up any longer um and we as a school said this is what we need to do and got them in touch with the resources for the CRC the the mental health aspect of these children right now the research shows that the children are not as susceptible but they are suceptible it's a depression and it's a real monster out there that is not getting the Limelight um and that's what Miss quoss and I have been dealing with and the kids if
072you talk to the kids when they're here our campus is buzzing with joy and happiness and learning and I feel like I've done more disciplinary stuff over the last couple days trying to K kids to get on their computers and try to log in we don't have those issues because our teachers are great at they do um and they're doing the best they can digital but that's not what they're trained for they're trained to to be there um in person working with our kids and I know there's risk in that um I to watch the P County's numbers I watch the State numbers um and really to me I watch Continentals numbers and we are not trying to run the county we're trying to run a school and the service that we bring to these
073kids kids you know you talk about how far we've been behind education the students in Arizona are um I honestly feel at the end of this Continental may have actually jumped up already on some of the other kids in the state um because of us going five days a week and I think we need to continue with that Trend um I think it will be um beneficial to our students academically in the long run um who who knows what will happen but so far you look at what the coupe has done um which was built by a team of people but how we've been able to keep our numbers very low um someone was I was talking to about our success and they said at some point we may become a case study just because
074other schools aren't having that as much success and we're talking to those administrators about what the differences are um and so I think it's in my opinion um yes do I foresee more people getting sick here absolutely um it's a pandemic you can't run from it um and I don't think we should hide from it but we should do the best we can to educate our kiddos and that's what we do best is a public school system and so that's my two cents thank you gent like to I'm not on the education side of things so I don't have a problem coming back to work you tell me to work I'll be here I do have drivers work extremely concerned I have a driver who's on a bus that's bringing 60 kids on that bus
075every single day because parents don't want to wait in line drop off their kids so I have buses that are fully maxed out right now and today had one driver who said he's not coming back until the pandemic is under control I already have one driver sitting at home waiting for the vaccine to become available and won't come back until his mother has the vaccine as well I'll figure it out if you guys say be here on the 19 you want kids trans transported there be buses moving have drivers of my seven drivers on campus for the elementary portion are ready to go but they do have concerns and they're working through their own concerns but they've all said they're going to come back I mean we'll be back on campus on Thursday to get
076our buses ready fourth for Tuesday but my drivers have said they're coming back they do all have concerns because they are as I've said before they they're a little small incubator for 30 minutes with these kids some of them for an hour and a half because of the distance they have to go I don't have the distance anymore like we had originally planed we've had to make adjustments on the transportation side for that but our buses are clean our drivers are washing their hands the buses are being disinfected morning and afternoon it is what it is so you guys temperature check correct they go on the bus so we haven't had any problems with that again it's I agree with what saying on these four in the four walls of the fences of of our
077campus it's not the it's outside once everybody gets picked up you can you watch it you walk out this door Master off and here I go I was at Walmart this morning same thing I see parents like you're saying parents and teachers out I see families that are not wearing mask and they're walking through Walmart like it's no big deal it's outside of these four walls we can only we can only control so much so here I think we do a fantastic job cleaning distancing the and stuff are great but we can only do so much here so from the Transportation side you say be here you be here on Tuesday it's not an easy decision um but I think ultimately we just have to decide what's best for the students uh what we think
078you know best serves them so it it for me it's it doesn't it doesn't really go either way I think I'm more busy these last week than I have been just dealing with the the online the Cal learning side but uh it just we just have to make a determination of what we think is best for our students I just got confirmation from Mor that Wednesday from 10 to 12:30 so that'll help our teachers Who Um can either take their lunch break a little bit earlier from their classroom so we'll get that out to ensure that they come at that time and there is an assign you just come in uh between 10 and 12:30 and it is a rapid test so we'll have results right away that's confirmed 10 to 12:30 yes confirmed off
079the press something yeah and I think that that'll be the message mrsas to the teachers we really want to emphasize the importance of everybody that's going to be on campus to come be tested on Wednesday to Ure that to go for Tuesday and that if they have to assign a class or get out of the Google Classroom early to be able to be here definitely I'm sure parents and kids will understand i' appreciate the fact that how many teachers are coming here to teach they everybody except for our virtual the ones for are remaining virtual we have three virtual teachers and oh but the other ones are coming here on campus and doing it from their room no not right now we for these two weeks everybody's home quarantining so we are actually the first
080ones who have been on campus oh so for some of them it's a good drive to come down yes there's only been a few that I've had to come and let in to get supplies that they had forgotten right but they've not been in contact with one lives in right so she'll come she's used to daging it every day for the last 20 years she's had a break oh I know she'll be happy to so then she misses three hours every day oh yeah well and I think that's probably the least of our worries because I think she she can assign the kids an assignment and log off and they'll be they'll be they've got such a good team they yes yes I I think that they'll be able to figure it out okay so
081we thank you for everyone's info appreciate yes thank you yep thank you um thanks very much board it's schol events [Music] um we did make a change um originally Earnie dismissal was set for uh the 20th the 20th on that Wednesday but we felt the kids coming back on Tuesday why would we go and dismiss the very next day just back a week okay other than that everything Still Remains the Same and the next board meeting our next board meeting is February 1st at 6 PM February 1 February 1 is it is that a TI we sorry sorry February 8th sorry correction yes February 8 and while we're here looking at at dates folks can you write down some dates for me please of potential uh Retreat dates and if you would please go through
082these days and um get back to um Miss R about what they work for you the 16th of February the 17th of February 22nd of and March 1 you please uh get back to miss about which days may work for you and any potential discussion items for the retreat time open usually 8 or something like that so if you would just take those dates home chew on for a day or two figure out what works for you apprciate it so because that gives us the chance to get kids in class get them going and then the team that needs to be present for 9:00 and then um we'll do a working lunch and then end by one okay so Tuesday February 16th or Wednesday February 17th Monday February 22nd or Monday March 1st okay governing
083board information Mr OS you're up I think um thank you all for the great discussion support any wisdom for the rest of us first of all welcome thank you way yes I I just really appreciate how much heart this school has in their kids I you can tell you guys have done app thank you so just by the way if you guys don't know Kelly's had two kids go through both in high school now and now she has a kidy Lear so problem online school is the teenagers um I just you know again I I did get the opportunity to spend 30 minutes on the radio with superintendent Williams over the O over the holidays and um I I think uh he is well aware and to uh to Echo Mr L's point I do
084believe that they are looking at Continental as a model to use as best practices I I can't remember what he said but he said something thank you um let's have a good good year folks there might be a rocky road but I have faith that everyone in this room will make it happen whatever the decision is made whatever the decision is it'll be the right decision and we move forward do everything we can to get these skids back and um look forward to working with you thanks and I also just to um reiterate that pami Health although they do not recommend iners learning at this time they make it very clear that they're here to support our decision and what we decide to do and they want to make sure that we have the PPE
085that we need that you know we have whatever we need so they keep reiterating if there's additional supplies and materials that we need at any time that to let them know are they providing yes if we need it we'll get it okay so um you know they've been very supportive and Mr will as well you know we speed dial just have conversations all the time and nobody is going to force us to do anything whatever decision we make whatever we do they're there to support our decision and our students and our families and they have been very good with responding in terms of contact tracing in terms of and through the phone in terms of guiding us and um being there so I do truly feel that we do have a lot support um of
086people in Green Valley and in Pima County who are um you know here to help us with whatever we need to continue to move forward okay thank you um we will recess to sign