February 17, 2026, Governing Board Meeting

001All right. Hello. Good evening. We wen noes. We're going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. Graan school district understands that our community of schools is located on the ancestral land of the Oamj Jude Ekimo Oam people who descended from the Hokam and have inhabited these lands since time in memorial. The Oam whose name translates to people are a vibrant culture and community spanning countless generations into the past continuing to thrive in the present and carrying a powerful legacy for generations into the future. With this acknowledgement, the Kraton School District formally recognizes that the traditional care and keeping of these lands by indigenous people is an aspirational model of community stewardship that we are committed to honor with practices, policy, and human relations. That brings us to item B, which is the roll

002call. We have Miss Ayes, Miss Gibson McClean, myself, Mr. Jones, and Miss Marquez present. That brings us to two, approval of agenda. I move the governing board approve the agenda and move item B before item 3A. May I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I That brings us to our new 3A, which is the superintendent report. And with that, Mr. Man, I'll turn it over to you. You know, I think I'm I >> I'm gonna keep Oh, sorry. I'm gonna keep my comments short because I know the second part of this is a lot more fun than any comments I have. Um I just wanted to share that it's halfway. >> I don't think we can hear you. Um >> is this Michael? >> I lean into it. All right.

003>> Thank you. Um I'm going to keep this short because I know we've got a performance coming up and I don't I never want to be the person right before a lunch or right before a student performance. So, um, but I just wanted to give a shout of thanks out, um, to our staff. I know this time of year, there's a lot going in in our schools. Things are very, very busy and and, um, and as I've been around the district, I just see people working hard and just wanted to, um, give a shout of appreciation to everybody who's out there, we're in those last five weeks leading up to standardized testing. And so, I know our teachers and staff are really working hard to get our kids ready for those tests. Um and with

004that I am going to shift gears um to introduce that we have students from the Kraton Academy who will be performing this evening. Um we um are very fortunate um as a district and the Kraton Academy in particular as a school to have received a Disney musicals in schools grant which has supported um the instruction and the preparation for performance for our students. And tonight, everyone who is present will um get to enjoy the performance of our students from the Kraton Academy. Apparently, that's all the time I was given. So, I will >> That's amazing. And just so we know, right after the performance, we're going to go into a 15- 20 minute recess. We have drinks. We can take pictures. There's a stand and repeat over there. So, just so you guys know, right

005after the performance, you guys can take your pictures, enjoy some treats, and then we'll convene the rest of the board meeting. >> Yeah. And thank you to all the students and families who came out tonight. >> I'm so excited. >> So with that, I'm sure someone out there is in charge of this because if I was in charge of it, no one would be singing. >> Somebody want to take ownership. Are we missing somebody? >> She might be >> Dorothy. I'm teasing. >> I think Yeah, I think she's letting them know. They might not be ready for us. >> They're ringing third graders out there. Uh, >> if you've ever tried to wrangle that many fifth graders, you'll know why this is going to take a minute. >> When I when my son was in

006fifth grade, I would always remind myself I'm struggling to deal with one. A classroom teacher deals with like 25 to 30 every day. >> I hear them outside. All right, >> here come our stars. So cute. >> Circle. One of us gets in the kingdom of God. I'm tired. President. >> Yay. Thank you guys. You guys did amazing. We're going to take a quick 15 to 20 minute recess um once they get settled if you guys want to take pictures a Lemonada Gayetas. We have cookies and treats for everybody. Okay. So, we'll go into recess now. We'll come back at 6:20. Thank you. All right, >> what a great evening enjoying our students and their special performance. That was great. Thank you to all the parents and everybody who came. That brings us to we

007left off on three now B, which is governing board reports. And Miss Marquez, I will go ahead and start with you. Thank you, President Karia. Um, I wanted to take a quick moment um to recognize that it is Black History Month and today we lost a civil rights icon, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. So, I wanted to um uh state a quote of his that I think um at least I I really resonated with me. So, um I am not a I am not a perfect servant. I'm a public servant doing my best against the odds. As I develop and serve, be patient. God is not finished with me yet. And I think those of us up here and even our teachers and our staff, we are public servants and we're doing God's calling by educating

008our kids. And so, I just wanted to to put that out there and honor the Reverend Jesse Jackson and um especially in in this month. So, um, and then aside from that, as, uh, most of you probably know, we did have ICE, um, show up at one of our in the parking lot of one of our schools, um, a few weeks ago, and they're starting to make appearances more in our communities and a lot of community members, families, even students and staff, you know, they're they're scared, they're worried. Um, so we did, um, thanks to a couple of our board members here, have a a community kind of a community organizing meeting, um, for folks that live in our in our district. And it was really encouraging to see such a big turnout. We a

009lot of our neighbors care very deeply about this community and um, you know, want want to protect it, want to protect our kids and our students. And you know if anybody is is perhaps feeling a little um worried or stressed you know I want to offer encouragement that there are a lot of good people who are coming together and organizing and um you know coming coming up with a plan to to protect our kids and our neighbors and our communities um from a lot of the really terrible injustices that are happening and that unfortunately we will likely be seeing more of in in the coming months. months. Um and um like you saw today, we we did have TCA had their their um Frozen musical. My daughter was part of that. They performed their full

010show earlier today at Kraton Academy and um a lot a lot of work went into that. So I just really want to applaud the teachers and the staff and the students themselves and parents that helped out with that because it really was a heavy lift. So, um, thanks for everybody who supported and if you haven't seen the show on Thursday 5 to 6 will be their second performance and I'm sure it'll be even more grand than today's. So hopefully y'all can make it. Um, and aside from that, that's that's all I have. >> Thank you, Miss Marquez, Mr. Jones. >> Thank you, President Curio. Good evening, everyone. Uh, I'll be real quick. I just had a two things to mention. If you're not going to the Frozen show or you've already seen it, uh we

011have a community council meeting on this Thursday uh at six o'clock at Iron Mount Academy. And the other thing I wanted to mention was uh in the past month since the last board meeting, I don't know the actual date I got it because I didn't bring my computer tonight, but uh we received a uh notification of a report from the Arizona auditor general in the school district financial risk assessment of all schools in the state. And uh I just wanted to give props to Jay Man and Vanessa Shapiro because we did amazing in that assessment and analysis of our school district. Uh the only one thing that was we were flagged for which is declining school enrollment which is a nationwide uh problem in all school districts. But uh I was really happy to see

012that report. Just wanted to bring it up here as well. Thank you. >> Thank you so much M. Mr. Jones, Miss Ays, >> good evening. Um, I just want to thank uh Kraton Academy and um all the the people that put the show on. Um I am part of our Disney musicals and schools at my own school. This is my third year that um I've done it and I'm the stage director and there is so much that goes into it. Um but it it offers such a beautiful way for students to participate in the arts. Um maybe ways where they don't succeed academically all the time, but they do succeed in um you know acting and showcasing their skills. And there's many ways to show um show off things that you know. And um it

013has always been um such an amazing thing for for our for our students at school and I'm sure it is um as well for students there and I hope that other campuses think about applying for that grant. Um ASU um partners with them. Um the first year you get your um whole uh kit for free and then you have to kind of start paying for it after that. So, um hopefully um you know you can support them um in buying that uh program for them because they will have it for the next two years. Um and only four schools in the valley get it every year. So, it is a very special um grant because there's a lot of people applying for it. Um so, I want to thank um the school and the the

014people that run the show because it is a lot of hard work. We're we're working on ours right now and um it it can be a lot especially when you're tired after school. Um the other thing I was going to talk about a little bit about was um we went some of us went to Washington DC um a couple weeks ago um when it was colder than I think I've ever been cold in my life. I don't think I've ever worn as much clothes as I have in my whole life. I'm an Arizona native and I don't like the cold and I think I was wearing like four layers of clothes the entire time. Um but we uh had some meaningful conversations with people. Um normally when I come out of um going to one

015of these, we always go to workshops. Um we did the same thing here. Um but I actually came out kind of more depressed than anything just because of the the continued sad state of um education in our country. Um this was more on a federal level and we already know where our state is at the state level. Um, and so it just kind of compounded and I I was a little bit um disheartened um just that the continued dismantling of public education. Uh it just makes me very um sad because I believe in public education um with my whole heart. Uh I think it offers um everyone a right to an education and um it was tough. It was good meeting with um people uh that would listen to us and um so um that

016part was good. Uh but overall it's just a continued fight um and uh hoping that um we can gain more advocates. Um I've been an advocate for public education for a very long time and I'll continue to fight for it even though sometimes it can get tiring. Um I'll continue to fight for our students um for students in this state um because it's important. So thank you. >> Thank you so much Miss Smith Gibson McQueen. >> Yes. So I too went to the conference in DC. Um there were multiple sessions that kind of had a different lens on the federal law updates, either case law or statute updates, but a a lot of them had the same theme or feeling which Miss Aris just described, which was um troublesome. I will say um if you

017weren't if you know there's a there's a voucher component to the big beautiful bill that will be interesting to see how it plays out or how it's actually how it actually works and if people are going to be able to double dip between the federal and the state system. Um that'll be interesting. There doesn't seem to be an answer quite yet on that and if there's any safeguards in place for that. Um it als I mean there's obviously no oversight built into the big beautiful bill so we already know how that goes here at the state level. Um, another, uh, there were a couple other things that were going on at the federal level as far as cases were concerned that we're just going to have to watch and see. Um, one of the big

018ones though was that the the federal government pulled out or rescended their um, you know, appeal of the ruling in the uh, basically the anti-Dei case that um, we had kind of been watching as well. And so that'll be that was very interesting. And then so for now that's kind of off the table. Um, another session I went to had it I don't know that it was now that I think about it I was trying to figure out how it kind of fit into the theme of the conference the AI thing because now when I was thinking about it in retrospect I'm not quite sure but um it I did hear some interesting things. You know, obviously all districts across the country are trying to figure out how to utilize AI, what softwares they might

019use and and and in what ways teachers might utilize it, students, etc. One thing I did hear that that I would like to do if if it's something we can consider is, you know, once we kind of know and I know we're already using some AI platforms in certain regards, but um some of the schools talked about how they had like uh community listening sessions or like maybe we could have a community council where we where we kind of address how AI is being used in our district. Kind of have all of that stuff aired out. there's a lot of different feelings, thoughts, positions on it and it seemed to be at least at some of these other districts helpful for them to have these kinds of conversations out in the open just to maybe

020demystify some of the things as well. Um, just a thought. Uh, lastly, we have a board advisory meeting. So, for the student conduct committee coming up 2:25, that's next Wednesday at 4:30. Am I right? That's next Wednesday, right? Yes. 2:25 at 4:30 p.m. It is virtual, but the meeting link is online. And to hold myself publicly accountable since I saw it in my calendar this week, I did say that I was going to draft an ethics or conflict of interest statement by the end of this week ahead of Was it that meeting or was it for our board study session? No, I think it was for our board study session. session which is Saturday >> which is Saturday. So yes, I am still on that and it is still on my calendar everyone and I

021will be on top of it before Saturday. So I have a rough draft for us on Saturday. And that is all I have. >> Thank you so much, Miss Gibson McLean. And that leads into the only board update that I have right now is that we will be having a study session this Saturday at 8:30 in the morning. Those are on YouTube if you guys are interested in seeing what we're doing. We're going to be spending about 6 hours on Saturday, all of us talking about different topics. Um, and you're also able to come in person as well. So, if you want to give a public comment on any of the issues that are going on because sometimes we do take action, you're able to come those and they will be here in that room

022as well. And I'll wait um for other comments and the other agendas. All right, that brings us to our next agenda item, which is 4A, and it's our student outcomes focused governance update. In the fall of 2023, Kraton School District adopted a student outcomes focused governance framework to ensure a focus on improving student outcomes. This framework is grounded in six research informed competencies. Vision and goals, values and guardrails, monitoring and accountability, communication and collaboration, unity and trust, continuous improvement. Evolution Constante. Guided by the six competencies, the board created a set of goals and guardrails. The goals reflect the community's vision for student success. The guard rails reflect community values and set boundaries for leadership. Progress monitoring. Within this framework, one of the most critical components is progress monitoring. Progress monitoring is structured conversation between the

023board and the superintendent. We ask does the student performance match our goals? Is there evidence of growth towards the goals? And is the strategy strong enough to produce that growth? When done well, monitoring supports the district by modeling reflective leadership, clarifying strategies and next steps, setting clear priorities across the system, and providing continuous feedback for improvement. This is how we hold ourselves accountable to the outcomes our students deserve. This is how governance truly serves its community. medicine. And with that, we will start with our goal one report three. >> Thank you, Madam President, members of the board. Um I'll turn it over to Dr. Pombo. >> Yes. Um, I'd like to invite um Dr. Dods, Karen, and Marie Twist are going to be presenting tonight. We have Oh, we have four of our math coaches

024here tonight. Thank you guys for being here. Um, so tonight we're we're presenting on interim benchmark 2 for goal number one. And we're also presenting our winter screener results. And goal number one is decrease our minimally proficient in math for all eighth graders. And this is the one only one we want to go down um of all of our goals. And this is our data from last year for our um annual target. And so as you can see, we didn't meet our annual target last year. And then we're going to share where we are right now for our annual target for this year. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Dods, Karen, and Marie Twist to go over each interim measure. >> Thank you, Dr. Pombo. Good evening, governing board. We did add

025a few new slides in this evening. Some you'll see are very familiar to you with the sinki graphs and such, but we did add in throughout our presentation for sixth and eighth grade an example of what the cutcore distribution looks like. Um, when we go to all of our slides and we talked to you about the correlation coefficients and how everything was reormed, we wanted to provide a visual for you as well. So when we think about decreasing the um percent of students who are scoring u minimally proficient, we wanted you to see how the bands shift. You will notice the red illustrates the pre-EST um which is specific to minimally proficient for 0 to 28% would be the amount correct you needed to score. Whereas um in interim benchmark one, a student needed to

026score 0 to 25% correct. Interum benchmark 2, 0 to 23% correct. And then ultimately when we get to the post test 0 to 41% correct. So we wanted you to see how it shifts over time. And what is important for us to really think about is that work that Tyson had done with our psychometrician last summer was to really make sure that we can be as closely aligned as a predictor for how students are likely to perform on AASA. Um this slide here, interim um measure 1.1, the percent of sixth grade students who score minimally proficient on the DNA post test will decrease from 65% on the fifth grade DNA post test in May of 25 to 55% on the sixth grade DNA math post test in May of 26. Here you will see that

027we have added in a new score for interim benchmark 2 which shows that our students we have um students 70% of our students are in that range that um again has a correlation coefficient of a.7 which is a high effect size. When we look here minimally proficient rates for sixth grade students it's five points higher than the pre-EST and one point higher than that interim benchmark one. Um when we did a deep dive um with our math coordinator Mariss and our coaches, we noticed that 15 of the sixth grade standards are assessed on this benchmark, 10 of the standards had been taught and sixth grade curriculum maps were not adjusted this year and we wanted to make um reference to that because you know we've spoken with you about how we have made some shifts

028in our curriculum maps and we are noticing um a potential impact with the um decision to not make any changes this year. We are currently >> we did for eighth grade but not sixth grade. >> Correct. >> We are um below target to reach our interim benchmark 1.1. This here is the seni graph that you have seen before. Again this is a graph that represents the fluidity throughout um student achievement and their performance on our assessments. Again this is a tool that can be utilized um in real time. It can highlight specifically who the students are within those bands for some real-time adjustments that teachers can make. But we did want to share with you that as illustrated here, 70 students did increase in proficiency. We're proud of that. Specific to this goal, we see

02946 minimally proficient students increasing their proficiency on this assessment. Um, this graph also shows that 275 students stayed with stayed within that same performance band and 84 students decreased in the performance band. And again, um, this gives us nice talking points, um, for leaders to have with their teachers, for coaches to have with teachers as well when thinking about what can we do to tweak instruction to benefit our learners. This slide here represents interim measure 1.2. The percentage of sixth grade students who will score high risk on FastBr a math will decrease from 50% in May of 2025 to 40% on FastBridge A math in May of 2026. And you will see here in some of the analyses that we were able to complete, fall and winter a math screening remained consistent. That this is

030an adaptive test that will assess um broad math skills. And it does cover the critical domains within sixth grade including as you can see ratios and proportions, the number systems, expressions and equations, geometry and statistics. And you can see here that the score that students are demonstrating um in 25 26 spring is a score of 40. we are near target to reach our interim benchmark um goal for progress monitoring goal for 1.2 too. And again, the Seni graph that illustrates a lot of movement. And as a reminder, when you see a deep dive on the graph, that means that a student did not take the assessment. Didn't mean that they um >> so like these ones right here. >> Yep. >> Or um even looking at the the blue the um highly proficient students who

031um did a dive. But on the flip side, you see some real high growth for some students, too. So, we're grateful to see that. Um, this graph illustrates that 54 students increased in their proficiency, 293 stayed within the same proficiency band, and 70 students did decrease in proficiency. >> This is a similar illustration to what you saw on the initial slide. This >> Sorry, just really quick to go back. Sorry. Um, that little sliver of red at the end means somebody who was at high risk. um also didn't take the exam the second >> sliver of >> see how there's a little yes that means they did not take the test >> again this is um similar to the illustration you saw um specific to the sixth grade um cut scores but here for interim

032measure 1.3 the percentage of eighth grade students who will score minimally proficient on the DNA math post test will decrease from 71% on the seventh grade DNA math post test and may 25 to 57% on the eighth grade DNA post test in May of 26. Again, you can see the um change over time with the proficiency bands. And again, specifically highlighted here in red are percent correct specific to minimally proficient scores. And just to clarify this graph, like if we look at the post test that they take in May, a student would need to get 34% or higher to get adamantly proficient just to for that last test. But this test, they had to get 26% or higher. um here for interim measure 1.3 again that um the prof the decrease um of 71% on

033the seventh grade DNA math post test in May of 25 to 57% on the eighth grade DNA post test in May of 26. You can see here that we have students who um are overall earning a score of 57% of our students. So that is meaning that we are above target to meet our meet our goal. What we notice here is that the proficient rate for eighth grade students is eight points lower than the pretest, 14 points lower than the IBM1. 17 of the eighth grade standards have been assessed. Eight of the eighth grade standards that were assessed have been taught. three of the standards reflect um that we have students who are demonstrating mastery and that the eighth grade curriculum maps were adjusted and we um are seeing perhaps a correlation between the adjustments

034that the team have made and recommended and have been training teachers on to lead us to where we are today. >> I have a quick question. When you talk about adjustments, those are just adjustments that you guys as a team have come together and have decided here in the district to change, not necessarily that you know it's happening other places. Correct. >> It was based the changes were based on the essential standards which are put out by the state. Um but in our last when we adopted our curriculum a few years ago because it's a new curriculum, we just went ahead and went by the way it's ordered, right? Like that is the way that the curriculum writers packaged it. You teach this module first and so on. And then last year over the summer,

035we took a really critical eye to looking at when the essential standards for Arizona are taught. And for example, in 8th grade, we found that there were quite a few essential standards that weren't being introduced to students until third quarter. So until January, and that was a concern. That means that they don't have as much time to practice, to retach. So, we moved a a good number of heavy-hitting standards which meant that module one like module one is now taught in quarter 3. And thank you for clarifying that because at the beginning I I did hear some things about parents like oh my god this is so much harder but this is exactly why because we give students more time in order instead of putting it in last quarter. So, thank you for clarifying that

036point and why some of the changes were made and why we're seeing a little bit of difference in the homework that's coming home, right? Because I I've seen it and other parents have seen it. So, great job and thank you for doing that. And again, this is the Seni graph for our eighth grade students. This graph illustrates 130 students increased in proficiency, 262 stayed within the same proficiency band, and 81 students moved down in proficiency. The data shows significantly more upward movement since our second progress monitoring report indicating academic growth by our eighth grade students. This is a comparison of how each school performed on um each indicator. 1.1 on DNA sixth grade, their minimal proficient students. You can see in the different schools, Fastbridge, and then also our eighth grade DNA scores. Something that

037we wanted to highlight on this is the schools that have teachers that are participating in our math cohort, professional development series throughout the entire year. It's been a huge commitment from them. It's been changes for their students, asking them to take risks, um being away from their students occasionally to participate in that professional development. And so something we wanted to highlight particularly when you look at eth grade because eighth grade did have a significant amount of growth um of our eight schools that have eighth grade students because of course Kennedy doesn't have eighth graders yet. Five of those schools have teachers that are participating in the math cohort. Um we also have two seventh grade teachers. So, of course, not only are they getting that development that they'll need to be extra successful with our

038current sixth grade cohort next year when they're the seventh graders, but we know that the work that those seventh grade teachers are doing is going to support the eighth grade teachers as those students roll up next year. Um, we also have two schools with teacher with sixth grade teachers that are in the cohort, although to be transparent at Builtmore, they teach all of the grade levels. So, it's the same two teachers that participate in both eighth grade and sixth grade. >> And we can't determine if this is a correlation, but we do have better results in eighth grade and and the teachers that are uh more like in the cohort, but also that was also where the curriculum was adjusted. So, there's a lot of different inputs that may be affecting eighth grade. >> So,

039some planned adjustments. Um, we really focused our most of our attention for planned adjustments on sixth grade because that's where we have more concern with the data. Um, we know that we know that all of our teachers sixth, seventh, eth kindergarten through eighth grade are working really hard and like Mr. Man alluded to at the very beginning, it's a busy time of year. It's always a busy time of year. Um, but one of some of the things that we learned as we started to analyze what do we think is going on? What is the difference? Um, in eight of our nine schools, sixth grade teachers are off pace by curriculum by at least a couple of weeks, some by three to four weeks. So, that led us to note that maybe we need to take

040a look at pacing adjustments. So, something that we've committed to doing is this summer looking at our curriculum guides and adjusting standards. Whether that means moving essential standards up or conversely whether that means giving a little bit more time in some places for prioritized standards because one of the things we're hearing very loud and clear from our sixth grade teachers is like I'm behind. I'm behind. My students are struggling. We're not quite ready to move on. Um we've already solicited feedback. We sent out a survey to middle school teachers to all teachers in fact asking for their input on the new curriculum maps. they were new for some grade levels and then the ones who did not have an adjusted curriculum map asking for their feedback on things like if you needed a little bit

041more time in one particular area what might it be. So we're looking forward to incorporating their feedback when we try to make those changes this summer. Um, one of the things that our coaches are doing and have been working on since really since benchmark one, but are continuing to lean into is meeting with teachers one-on-one to figure out, okay, we're behind. How can we get back on track? What things are the most important? What do your students already know? What are their strengths? And let's set a calendar um along with some pacing and some deadlines. And then coaches are continuing to follow up particularly with sixth grade teachers weekly to help them plan effectively and figure out when can you move on and continue to retach this standard in small groupoup instruction. Um something else

042that we know we want to be able to do is to provide additional training on Freckle and Waggle which are our adaptive digital tools that can provide additional support for students during small groupoup instruction. Freckle uses their FastBridge diagnostic data to assign standards to students that are at their level. So, everyone should be working right on that edge of their development where it's just enough of a push that they're learning something new, but it's not so hard that they can't do it by themselves. Um, we ran our usage reports and they're quite low for both Freckle and Waggle. So, that tells us that that's something that teachers need additional training or support with. So, coaches are working on that. Um, >> those are all Sorry. Um, >> go ahead. >> Crackle and Waggle. That's something

043that the student would get on their tablet to use. >> Yep. Those are both things that are on their iPads. They also have they can also access them at home tomorrow night at community council. We're going to learn how to access Freckle at home for families and what that would look like. We have a super simple bilingual bookmark to be able to share with families. So, that's something that students could do on their own if they have any device at all. And just one more question just to elaborate on that one. Do we have any textbooks or any stuff that's not um online or an iPad like Freck Freckle or Wiggle or Waggle? I'm sorry. Freckle wiggle um that the kids are using as math or manipulatives in person or how how is that are

044we offsetting that >> for parent night? Tomorrow night? >> No, no, no. Um the kids in general. >> Oh. Um yeah, a big focus this year has been on going concrete and then pictorial and then abstract. And so that's something that we have trained on and reinforced and had coach support. I was just in a meeting today with a coach where the teachers they brought their data and they sorted out what are the strengths of students, what are the things that they're needing. The coach had some strategies and the manipulatives. The teachers practiced the problem together so that they're ready to take it back into their small groups. Thank you. >> Sorry. >> Um, as far as the pacing adjustments go, when you're talking about more time for prioritized standards, how much wiggle room do

045we really have for that? Depending on how many prioritized standards there are, >> I imagine it's pretty tight. >> We don't have a lot. There are a lot of essential standards in sixth grade. >> Okay. But it's going to mean it's going to mean figuring out okay where first of all some things have to be sequenced in a certain order obviously because they build. Um but then also what are things that maybe our students it's an essential standard but we could go back and look at our data and see is this something they're usually pretty successful on. If it's something sixth graders usually do pretty well on maybe it can go a little bit later in the year because we know that they're not going to need as much retach where if it's something that

046they are seeing for the first time. So, for example, the jump from fifth grade to sixth grade, you get whole new clusters of standards. Um, algebra is all all brand new ratios and proportions. They've been learning about ratios and proportions because they've been studying fractions since third grade, but the language is completely different and we're asking them to do much more complex things. So, we know that those two clusters in particular really need to be early and heavy because it takes all year. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Yeah. But unfortunately, we don't have a lot of wiggle room. Yeah, there are many standards and a limited number of days. >> Hopefully, there's some consensus on the responses you get. >> I hope so, too. >> Um, some of our other next steps include using

047Edgeclimber. This Thursday at Leadership Council, the principles and assistant principles are going to be all learning all about how to use Edge Climber to set some thresholds to find out who are their focus students and then how they can communicate that with teachers so that teachers know exactly who are the focus students that they really might want to target for tier three instruction. Um, also we'll be working on creating a math observation tool. not something that is brand new out of the blue, but really just a more focused math specific tool that's aligned to our learning walk. One thing that Dr. Duds Karen and I have committed to is offering to walk classrooms regularly with principles for their middle school teachers. So to go and do math, middle school math specific walkthroughs. Let's go let's

048go during small group time and just see how it's going. Figure out what's going great that we can celebrate and share and where are some areas that they might need some more support. or just feedback. Um, additionally, we need to make sure that everyone is on the same page as far as expectations for that instructional block. So, if it's supposed to be small group time, are small groups happening? And if they're not, how do we support? Um, small group time is a great way to maximize their instructional time so that they can move on when they've gotten behind. Like, okay, we've got 50% of students are showing growth on this. It's really important. I'm going to look at my data and figure out who needs to be in which small group because they all need

049different things depending on why they're not understanding it. And then I can move on with core curriculum. And then part of those walkthroughs is to create a feedback cycle for principles and teachers. One principal that I met with said that she would really like to be able to do real time coaching with teachers so that it's not a meeting next Friday to talk about the observation or one more thing for teachers to stay after school for. Could we go in teams, one of us covers the classroom, the other person, the principal is able to pull that teacher out for 10 minutes and give them quick feedback and suggestions and next steps and then they go back in. Um, for professional development, I know we keep talking about our math cohort. It's because it is our

050biggest and deepest and most longgoing um, form of professional development for teachers. Based on our learning walks and what we've seen in classrooms all year, we know that we really need a big focus on student engagement. So, as teachers have gotten deeper into math cohort, something they've engaged in last couple of sessions is lesson study. Lesson study is where a group of teachers come together and they collaborative collaboratively design one lesson. It's not the type of thing you would do every day. It's not a prep period. They spent three hours and then an additional couple of hours paid on a Saturday um with a coach to come up with one lesson that was really really well thought out and incorporated all of the new things that they've been learning and then they all committed to

051go back to their classrooms and teach it and come back together and reflect on it. So, one of the really exciting things was to see the teachers create their own group chat about it to say like, "I did this in my lesson and this is how it went." Or, "Oh my gosh, I forgot to use the post-it notes that we talked about. I'm going to try it next time." Um, and then to come back together. So, that's something that we had really positive feedback on from teachers and that they would like to continue to engage in. So, we'll be continuing with that. Um, look at these pie charts. The one on the left, the sixth grade engagement and rigor. This is data directly from our learning walks and one of the things that we noticed

052was that particularly in there was a really big difference between engagement in sixth grade and eighth grade. Um it is important to note that not every sixth grade teacher is in that pie. Particular when we go on learning walks sometimes a teacher who teaches sixth grade might have their seventh grade group that day. So every teacher is included between the two but not every sixth grade teacher is in there. Um but we noticed in particular not just that we had a >> Can you remind us the scale for one to four? >> Yes. So one so one would be one would be not meeting the standard. One would be a low rigor >> um compliance-based or students students watching students watching math more than like really doing the math. Um and so or depth of

053knowledge. So um recall versus analysis. Um, and so one of the things that we noticed was not just that we were missing the high end of engagement and rigor, but that we had quite a few scores of a one. So we know that that's something that's a big need. Coaches are working really hard with our sixth grade teachers and with all teachers to increase engagement and rigor. We know that it's part of most schools action plans. Um, and it's about having students not just paying attention and following along, but doing the thinking, making sense of the math on their own, working collaboratively. >> Do you have an example by chance of what that may look like in a classroom >> of a high rigger or a low rigger? >> Well, if it was a low

054rigger and what adjustments have been done to like have you been in a classroom that had a one rigger move to two, like an example or two? I'm not saying go into death, but what does that look like? >> Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So, for example, um ratios is one of the things that we were talking about. Um and so a low rigger might be I'm going to show you the procedure for how to calculate the ratio 1/2 to 24 to 36. Here's the table. I'm going to draw it. Make sure you copy it and write it down. And then you can go back and review your notes later. Here's your worksheet to practice or here's your worksheet for you and your partner to practice. Um, and then a higher rigor might be something we're all

055very familiar with, right? And and very comfortable with as adults. We're like, "Yep, I love that. I'm going to fill out my table. It's going to be great." Um, >> I was the kid who was like, "I didn't pay attention to the presentation going on, >> right? So if in a classroom with higher rigor you were given a handful of tiles and a problem that said for example three students can sit around a triangle table. This tile represents one table. How many students can sit around two tables? How many students can sit around five tables? How would you and your group record that information? What patterns are you noticing now that you're starting to record and having kids make sense of the ratios? And then okay, how does what does that look like when we

056recorded in a table? What would that look like if we were working with really big numbers and we don't have 300 tiles? What sort of connections can we make from what we just did mathematically? So, how can we make an algorithm make sense? >> Yeah. Then just to be clear, the n equals is the number of classrooms that you visited or the total number of sixth grade. >> Um it's actually the number of visits. Okay. >> So over the course of the year, the number of sixth grade classrooms visited, which is not the same as the number of teachers. So for example, in the sixth grade pie, I can tell you that it represents 10 teachers, but 16 visits because some of the teachers were teaching a different grade level on a different learning walk.

057>> Gotcha. Um, so three of our sixth grade teachers have participated in a professional development cohort cycle with at least two observations and feedback and then we're continuing those throughout the rest of the year. In 8th grade, um, in seven of our eight schools with eighth grade teachers, teachers were consistently using the adopted resources and within two weeks of the calendar. That's information that we have from learning walks and also from coaches planning closely with them and being the coaches know the coaches know exactly where they are. Um and but we're continuing to provide additional training on freckle or waggle because our usage is also low in eighth grade and we know that it's an area where it's a it's a low prep, low teacher burden to have students working on a platform that is

058adapted to meet their needs so that the teacher can pull that small group of students and do more concrete experiences with them. Diving further into Sophia's question a little bit more. >> Um, what would it like what would it take to get from the two to the three considering two is taking up most of these visits at both grade levels? Like how would what does that look like moving the needle from a two to a three when you're observing students? >> Yeah. Um, it has to do with percentage, but the biggest thing that we see is the rigor of the questions. So you could have 75% of your students engaged in doing the work but not engaged in thinking at a high level. So student uh a lot of common twos would be students are

059compliant and they are they're doing their work but we've only asked them maybe to calculate. We haven't asked them to explain their answer. asking students and why >> often um is what gets us to a three more often. >> Okay. >> I was just going to add to it because I just pulled up the learning walk thing being thing in front of me. >> I love that. >> And I would just say just without even being a math class, any classroom. >> Yeah. >> A number one is the teacher is doing all the work and the kids are sitting there. A number two is the kids are copying what the teacher is doing, but they're not doing their own thinking. they're just compliant doing what they what the teacher's asking them to do. A three

060is where the kids are coming up with like new solutions or new answers and they um but they're still like following step by like more teacher directed. And then a four is more like the kids are engaged or coming up with new solutions. They're explaining their answer. They're figuring out other other ways to do the problem. Um and it's also by percentage. So like a one is um less than 60% of the kids are engaged. A two is 80% or less. A three is 80 99 and a four is 100. So it's really hard to get a four to have a hundred of the kids doing that. So that and then it also has to do with them having opportunity to think covertly and overtly. So they have to have opportunity to think on their

061own, not just go straight to working with a partner or straight to talking. And they also have to have overt where you can see what they're thinking or what they're problem solving or what they're what they're doing. Um and then the other thing that Marie is talking about is being at least a DK2 level or higher >> which is just a level of thinking. >> The DK stands for depth of knowledge. >> Yes, depth of knowledge. Thank you. >> I was about to ask. Thank you. >> I wanted to beat you too at this time, madam. >> Thank you. I know this is getting really into Louise, but now that I've heard that from Dr. combo. I see, you know, there's 22% of those 18 visits in 8th grade are at a four. That's roughly

062four visits. Um, do we know if those are all the same teacher? And if so, how do we replicate their instruction or get the other teachers to observe them? >> That's a great question. They could they couldn't all be the same teacher because there's only one eighth grade math teacher at every school except for who has two. Um, when I look at it, I think, okay, 18 teacher, 18 eighth grade visits, eight schools that have eighth grade math teachers, we're going to have a a wide variety. Um, but I think having 44% of our eighth grade math classrooms at that level three or four on engagement. >> That's great. >> Makes me wonder if there's a strong connection to why eighth grade math achievement has gone up. Again, there's so many things, so many changes,

063and so many inputs for eighth grade specifically. Yeah, totally. >> And I had a question. Is there any like correlation with those like three and four those scoring three and four in rigor and the teachers that are in the cohort or all those teachers part of that math cohort? >> All of the eighth grade teachers are not part of the math cohort. Most of them are. Five. Five of our eight eighth grade math teachers are part of the cohort, but not all of them. >> Okay. Have you noticed a correlation between the ones that are in the cohort and th those rigor scores? >> We would have to look into it. We could get back to you in a board report. >> Yay. I >> I can tell you anecdotally that um Dr. Pombo and

064I got to visit a classroom with a teacher who is part of the cohort and is some of the best ma eighth grade math instruction I've ever seen. It was when we there the bell work for the students as they were coming in the classroom was to gather it charts that were around the room and teams and talk and review the work they had done the prior day and have a conversation about how they had you know come to the solutions and the answers that they had. It was definitely a a high level of depth of knowledge, a high level of student collaboration. Um, and one of the things that I walked away from um, that day of classroom visits with was I started to notice when the engagement and rigor scores are higher, the

065classroom misbehaviors are almost non-existent. It's >> correlation. >> It's that every student is always engaged. The question is, what would you like them engaged in? >> Love that. Love that. Thanks. >> Um, and finally, another input that we've implemented this year is monthly content newsletters. So, each team puts out a monthly newsletter. The math team is putting out our second one next week. Um, it's been a really great way to make sure that there's consistency in messaging for all teachers across the entire district. Whether they work really closely with a coach, whether they're part of the cohort, it reinforces what they've learned in Kraton professional learning. Teachers learn so much every every day, every year. And so sometimes to just have those reminders. Remember we learned about how to open up your math lesson, how

066to launch it. Remember we said that we were going to try this. Here's a couple of resources. Um celebrating teachers who are using successful practices and our SOFG updates and goals are right at the top for every content newsletter because we know that we know the goals really, really well. and we want to make sure that everyone knows the goals and where we're at with them. >> I love that. >> One other thing I wanted to share that um Superintendent Man and I talk about, we also talk about as a team all the time that we're looking for in the classroom is that they every student has opportunity to listen, speak, read, and write. And so those ones and twos are a lot of listening and there's not as much time to read, write, and

067speak and collaborate with other students. So, those are like the four things that we're looking for we want our students to be doing in every lesson. >> I've got to give kudos to our principles and and particularly to Dr. Pomo who we probably only a few weeks ago that we had most of our midyear um uh meetings with our principles around their evaluations and the questions the principles had were really good and and some of the advice that Dr. PMPO provided them with around there's like if you can just work with your teachers on a few simple adjustments, it will make all the difference in the world on how they're doing on some of these items that we're walking classrooms for. And you know, obviously if we can make those adjustments, then students learn better

068and that'll help improve our outcomes. >> Um I had kind of a a wondering thought. you'd mentioned that um it seems like the freckle and waggle aren't necessarily being used as much by the teachers at this point. Um, and you know, coming at it from a parents perspective, I know I'm I'm not very fond of the tablets being used much in class. And having spoken to some teachers, I hear that, oh, you know, it takes about 20 minutes. You know, first they take about 10 minutes to all get their tablets out and then another 10 minutes at the end to put them away. And I just my wondering is, you know, I I I could see how like perhaps like manipulatives and paper and pencil could be more efficient at you know getting the kids

069learning the math than than perhaps like uh you know the tablet. But um I'm just I'm interested to see how once you do encourage the teachers to use it more and if they start using it more to see you know what what that outcome is. But I did want to put that out there just, you know, wondering to also see if from those who maybe who have used it what their feedback has been. Um, but I'm sure older kids are sixth and eighth graders are going to be quicker getting their tablets than like, you know, my third grader. So, um, >> yeah, and I think it really depends on the classroom. Some classrooms, even kindergarten and first grade classrooms, have really quick, really clear transitions and procedures for managing their iPads. Um, so the like

070sometimes they're just they're stacked in the center of the table. It's like, okay, it's time to time to move into centers. Grab your iPad and you're going here. Um, ideally we would see a combination of centers, games, manipulatives, collaborative learning, and maybe one station where students are using freckle or waggle. Um, but one of the things that we know is really important is that students have the opportunity for differentiated instruction with the teacher. And a hurdle for some teachers is planning and preparing and managing the centers and the games. And if students aren't quite able to complete an activity or work independently on their own. So this is an option for everyone to be engaged in something that's productive and meeting them at their level for a short period of time. I would not recommend

071that students are spending 30 40 minutes on freckle. But if it's one, if it means that the teacher, if their entry point is, I'm just going to commit to pulling one group per day. I can do 20 minutes a day. Everyone else is going to do freckle for 20 minutes. I'm going to pull my students who need the most support for 20 minutes. The next day, I'm going to pull a different group. That feels okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, moving on to questions. One of the questions we received was there are several important activities outlined in the report such as cohorts, lesson study, learning walks, pacing adjustments, freckle and waggle, newsletter amongst others. Can you walk us through which specific actions are intended to move which specific measures and on what timeline? So

072we made this graphic to show how how things overlap because obviously some things really most things are going to impact most areas but some of them are more targeted towards specific interim measures. So for example the pacing adjustments are targeted specifically towards sixth grade because most eighth grade teachers are within a couple of weeks of pacing. Um and they coaches have set up checkpoints before spring break. Okay, let's make sure that you're here by spring break. let's make sure you're here before April 1st because that is when our testing window opens. And then they'll continue to help teachers focus on making sure that everything essential has been taught by the end of the year because learning does not end when testing ends in April. Not only do we have our post test coming up, but

073now we're getting students ready for whatever is next, whether that's moving on to high school or moving into the next grade level. Um, use of high quality materials is a daily priority. So that is addressing all three of our interim measures. It's something that coaches, principles, everyone is working on making sure that teachers are using our core materials first and supplementing later. Um leader learning walks that we spoke about, Dr. Dods, Karen and I are committed to having our observation tool created next week and some visits available for principles to sign up for by February 27th. We know that their schedules are very busy. Um, but again, really focused visits. On most campuses, we are talking about two or three teachers in middle school math. That's it. So, that's something that feels very doable in

074a 45 minute or hourong period. >> Yeah. And I appreciate that too because I believe that at the end of the day, it helps the whole school as a whole, you know, bring up their student outcomes or their data. So, the more support the teachers can get, the higher the outcomes or the data will move the needle for that specific school. So, I'm hoping the principles can be very graceful in in this interaction. >> Well, it was an idea that came from them. So, we're hoping so, too. >> Um, the monthly math newsletter, again, it goes out next week from us and then we'll continue once a month through the end of the school year. >> Key standards on Freckle, that's something that will really target sixth grade interim measure 1.2 specifically because Freckle is

075tied to FastBridge. the FastBridge diagnostic, that winter not diagnostic, the FastBridge winter screener the students took in December set them on their freckle path and as they continue to work, they continue to pass skills. So, we're hoping that continuing to spend a little bit more time on Freckle, working on skills that they are missing will lead to lowering risk levels for our students. And then finally, lesson study, increasing student engagement and effective math teaching practices. They will have two cycles completed by March 24th. That's the last date of our math cohort professional learning and observations. And that one is targeted to all grade levels, but we believe it will have the greatest impact on 1.3 because we have the most teachers participating. >> The only wondering that I have is going back to the pace

076um pacing adjustments and standards by April 1st. What happens if we're not meeting those targets, right? what pivots or what what happens then? Do we just continue saying oh we didn't meet it we move on to the next and hopefully we get it next year or what is it that we have set in place to make sure that there's some corrective a not corrective action but you know some other things moving along so we're making sure that they're not just being stuck in that same routine or that same cycle I mean >> um thank you president Ko I think there's a few layers to this so with the team really working closely with the teachers to think about that curriculum compacting because that's what they've been doing um if by chance at different with different

077teachers we see patterns because I don't think it's going to be a oneoff it's going to be a pattern that emerges so perhaps in design studio we can be looking at those patterns and how can we adjust our curriculum maps but I think we also need to be looking carefully at our um common formative assessments the team has been doing a deep dive into the CFAs we um relaunched CFAs to make it real clear that they were not an end check for understanding they were a progress monitor truly to see how are kids doing along the way. We found that some of our teachers felt like they couldn't give their CFAs because they hadn't finished teaching everything yet. So that was a a relaunch for us to clarify that these were checkpoints so that you

078can plan your instruction differently. So when we're thinking about what Marie shared with that ideal situation of differentiation where a teacher does whole group instruction and then pulls a small group and then is doing something where kids are at centers which could be teacher created very hands-on or they could be directly connected with freckle or waggle when we're looking at that the patterns that we also see emerge out of the CFAs are there consistent standards that students are not grasping and what can we do differently for our bell work when kids walk into the classroom like Mr. Man mentioned a really authentic and credible DK4 experience or is it something that might be more procedural because we think about the different types of instruction for mathematics. So there is an important layer of procedural learning

079for kids. So I I think it needs to be a pattern that we notice and then based on the observations that our coaches have by being in classrooms daily, their input in how we could reshape our curriculum maps. >> Awesome. Thank you so much for that. >> All right. And finally, with high quality instructional materials, what are the issues causing teachers to get off pace? And what can the coaches do besides compacting and adjusting pacing? Um, one of the the biggest factors is student readiness for the sixth grade math that's impacting their pacing. Um, teachers feel like they're not ready for the content. So, I have to build a lot of background ahead of time or it's taking a long time to teach it. Um, so some of the things that our coaches can do

080at the site level are some things they've already done because of course we've had this data since December, um, is adjusting case loads to meet weekly with sixth grade teachers. The only exceptions to that are some of a couple of our sixth grade teachers who teach both math and science. And so they alternate meeting with a coach, but also our science coach works very, very tightly with the math team and math content to make sure that that's integrated. um helping teachers focus on essential standards, engaging them in committing to prioritizing those essential standards and following up and then helping teachers to choose highquality practice problems to foster mastery. So, one of the things that teachers have learned a lot about this year and that coaches have supported is there might be 20 problems on a

081workbook page and they are not they do not all have the same value. Um, there are some things that are really procedural and kids just need some practice. But when we're building understanding, practicing many problems when you don't fully understand how to do it is not is not helpful and can actually be harmful to students. So helping teachers to choose fewer problems and helping students to really engage deeply with them so that they can build understanding. And thank you for sharing that because I think that's a constant concern that um maybe parents or individuals have that we just keep throwing the same thing over and over and more and more and more doesn't mean necessarily that it's effective. So, thank you for really looking at that and making sure that we're not just swarming not

082only our teachers but our students with all these extra stuff and we're really being strategic about what we're putting out there. So, thank you. I also want to share and uh superintendent man brought it up is in the month of January I think a little bit of February we met with each principal and they each have action plans that they've developed at the beginning of the year and so with all of our goals and especially um this one in our sixth grade each principal u monitored and adjusted their action plans to address like what we're seeing at the you know at the midyear point in December with our data um and they're all working really hard to like meet with their teams and look at data and have um team meetings with their teachers. And

083so all of them are a little bit different, their action plans, but they all are doing what's best for their campus and what where they're at with their teachers. I mean, the fact that our print our schools even have action plans and by December they're pivoting and changing because of the feedback that you guys are giving me is amazing. I I haven't heard that happened before. So, I am I'm really thankful for this team and for actually, you know, going out there and making sure that not only you guys as coaches are supported, but the principles and having all these action plans. Like, this just makes me so happy. So, I'm I'm really appreciative for all the hard work. >> Um, real quick, I just wanted to go back to something that was mentioned on

084slides 13 and 14, Edgue Climber. So, it sounds like you're going to have a meeting with the principles to kind of go over using that more. H have teachers been trained already in like using Edgue Climber? Um because, you know, I I understand I know very little bit about it, but it seems like it's going to be a really awesome tool once everyone's tapped into it. Um so, I'm just curious to see where where we're at on getting everybody using it. >> Uh Edu Climber is a tool that we are currently using with administration. So, every month at our leadership councils or our leadership seminars, um either myself or Tyson or together, we are able to provide additional training. We've been kind of doing a little drip method, if you will, introducing new um features

085within Edu Climber for our leaders. When we meet on Thursday, we will talk about thresholds. And what's really neat about the thresholds is they autopop populate. So, anytime there's changes, if there's changes in enrollment, the thresholds, the number of students will change. Um so that'll be their their latest and greatest uh learning this week. But then um in terms of teachers, teachers are more familiar with um DNA. We do expect that we will be able to begin introducing Edge Climber to our teachers next year. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Well, that's all of the questions. They were really good questions this time. >> Board members, do we have any other comments or questions? All right. Awesome. Thank you so much for the presentation. I appreciate you guys. >> Thank you all for being here. >>

086And with that, I move the governing board adopt progress mon report for goal one report three. May I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I Any hearing? None. Motion passes. Thank you guys so much. That brings us to item 4B. Um this is just a discussion um on our governing board guard rails. I would like for us just to go over them a bit um again and if anybody has any questions on them. I know that we focus a lot on our student outcomes. We sometimes talk about even our district guard rails, but we as board members up here also have our own guard rails that we need to adhere to. So, I just think it's an important thing for us to go over them. And on Saturday, we we're

087going to be having a deeper conversation on guardrails as uh as well. But for right now, I just want us um to go over our board guard rails. Our first one is the board will spend no less than 50% of its meeting time monitoring progress on student outcome goals starting at zero today, which was in 2023. And oh, we we need to update one because this has 2024 on it. but um that we would go up from zero um in 2023 to 50% by the end of 2024. We have been meeting that goal. Um we haven't got fully to 80 90% but one of the discussions that we've had before is that what's going to help us keep getting our 50%. Is that we submit more questions and that we're all contributing to the questions

088and and the back and forth conversation. Um, do we have any questions or any wonderings or any comments on that specific guard rail? >> You want me to put them up? I have them. >> Yes, please. >> Do we um I know this is a document that doesn't it's not like something that gets updated frequently. So, I'm wondering is there a way to like word that so we can make it at the end of our fiveyear thing so that it doesn't have to keep getting updated every year? >> Yeah. Or maybe we just put it in um just regular language that every board meeting can't have less than >> Yeah. Or Yeah, we could either change the percentage or take off that whole last part of the sentence either way. >> Yeah. And I think

089we should do do that. We should just leave it at the board will spend no less than 50% of its meeting time honoring progress on student outcome goals each board meeting. >> And you don't have to worry about updating it, >> right? Um Mahilda, would we have to make a motion if we want to change the language? Okay. >> So, we'll we'll do that as a future agenda item or on Saturday when we're discussing guard rails. >> Yeah. We haven't posted the agenda yet, we'll be doing that. So, perfect. Um, and if I could make a recommendation, it might it might be worth taking a look at what our percentage stamp is in the board self-evaluation because I think it's 50%, but it'd be worth double checking it to make sure that we're setting that

090goal to align with the board achieving um highly on the on the south. >> If my memory was better this evening, I could tell you what it is. And at the moment, >> I can tell you right now But it probably is 50%. >> Yeah, it it is 50%. >> Um, so we'll have a further discussion on that on Saturday and maybe take some action to change the wording. Our next board guard rail is the board will not allow five years to pass without an equity audit, a policy review, and sped review. Um, do we have any questions or any comments on that one? >> My question and comment is that we are in year three. Have we done any one of those yet? >> I know we've done the sped review and I think

091we've done an equity audit as well. And you're currently going to be working on policy review on Saturday. >> Yeah, policy review is going to be probably be ongoing. So, I think we'll be good for the next five years because we'll be reviewing it very frequently. Um and maybe we we can find out about the equity audit when we had a last one. >> Yeah, we had handover did one for us um two years ago. >> Yeah, I want to say it was two years ago. So >> So we might be getting close on that mark of redoing something. So I'll I'll make that >> I would say is for that I would hope that those would be like I know I say I I know it's annoying when I say we shouldn't I mean

092we pay for diligent or whatever but like there might be some way to link it more easily or visibly from the school from the website from the district website >> the the results of the audit. >> Yeah. Like directly from the website rather than going through like and finding the meeting where it maybe was discussed and trying to find >> Yeah. We're we're in the process of reviewing some new um platforms for the web and one of the intentions behind it is to be able to stand something up that would have basically a student outcomes focused governance, you know, portal >> that would be included. >> Okay. Because I was going to say if we're going to be doing this then it would just be like we're going to have these posted at all. So

093the most recent one would all available it feels like would be the best thing. >> Yeah. But I think um well this the equity audit policy re not policy review sorry sped review per that might have occurred prior to to us newbies getting on the board. I don't recall having seen that but I would like to see that. So if there's a way to >> yeah I think >> email that to us or >> I trying to remember when we did it >> that was probably also about two years ago. So, >> cuz I was trying to remember if it was Gretchen that did that or somebody else. >> No, it was somebody else. It was not Gretchen. >> Yeah, it was a third party that they brought up. >> Okay. That's where I was

094like, if I can't remember or we can't remember, then I want us to be able to remember is my thing. >> Yeah. I mean, I I remember us doing it. I just don't remember exact date that. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, but I I would say it was a can't have quite been two years ago because I initiated it when I started and so it happened sometime during my time as superintendent. Okay. Currently at two and a half years. So, Gotcha. >> probably a year year and a half ago somewhere in that range. >> Yeah. And we'll double check on that um on those as well. Any other questions or comments on that one? Perfect. Our next one. The board will not conduct its duties without including students, families, teachers, staff, and community members, inclusive

095of those that speak languages other than English in a manner that inspires broad community ownership of board policy. Um, I think we do a fantastic job at this one. I am so happy that this board takes huge pride on listening to their community and the values of the community. So, I don't have much more to say than this other than let's keep what we're doing in this area. >> I missed this in my superintendence update, but as an evidence item for that, the board will be receiving an award tomorrow for their two-way communication with the community around policy and SOFG and all of those other things. >> Yay. That's exciting. Um, and the last one is the board will not perform or appear to perform in any of the responsibilities delegated to the superintendent. This

096one can can kind of get wishy-washy. Um, it goes back to our conversation of customer versus owner. Sometimes we do have direct board me um community members, teachers, students even that we have a personal close relationship to them. However, we do have more than 650 staff. We do have over 4,000 students. So when we start advocating on behalf of those individuals without you know going through the proper channels of the teacher first and if the teacher there's nothing there and redirecting them to talk to the teacher or whoever where the situation is or the principal and we start taking responsibility on herself because you know I may know the superintendent or I may know the principal at Mackin you know um we have to understand on our position and we can't take ownership when there's

097other individuals that need to be reached out first. So, that's just one of the ones that we really I myself um need to make sure that we're following thoroughly and we're not bleeding into that. And if we ever have questions, it's okay to ask. Hey, sometimes I do that myself. I'll ask um our other board president, Miss Hilda Huades or Mr. man, you know, um, am I overstepping my boundaries if I'm doing XYZ? And it's okay to ask. I don't have all the answers. I don't believe we all do. We just want to make sure that we're not sending the wrong message. Yes, we are elected officials and we advocate our for our communities, but it's also our job to educate our families and our parents and our students on the proper channels and how

098to advocate for themselves. We can't save everybody and we can't keep everybody happy. and we don't know the story of everything that goes around because we uh here at the board I personally believe that we're furthest away from what's going on inside the classrooms. So, um I just wanted to bring that up and if we have any questions or comments, we can go ahead and discuss that here as well. Any wonderings? Yeah. >> Oh, myself because I know like reading that I was like, "Oh, I totally fall in that category because it's easy for me, especially I think last week working on the on the musical and there were some issues with sound. I was like, "Let me just email these people real quick for the teacher." And then and so I recognize how it's

099easy like especially as an involved parent to be like, "Let me just take it to the the fastest route." Um, so and for anyone I may have sent an email to, I know you're sitting out here. Um, you know, apologies if I did overstep. Um, but, you know, I I know at least from everyone that I've met here, we're all in it for the right reasons. We're supporting our kids, our schools, our community, and, you know, I I also want, you know, folks to feel that, you know, if they can come to me and ask questions, but also, you know, I'm learning I'm learning the ropes here, and I'm hopefully not stepping on toes or hurting feelings or anything. um you know just trying to get it done but obviously working within the system um

100you know just need to set the example and uh go about doing things the right way. >> Yeah. And I don't think it's a wrong way and it's or it's a right way, right? I think it's just um some procedural stuff that we all have to follow and it's hard because I want to the moment I hear something from somebody I want to go up there and be like I'mma change it for you. I am your Wonder Woman. But I'm not. And I would hate for my 4,000 plus students to think I'm Wonder Woman to every single issue they have, too. So, I cannot do that. I can only be Wonder Woman to my son and my daughter for right now. Um, so, but I appreciate that. Um, and yeah, we're all learning and we're

101all going this together, but this is why I think it's also important for us to ask and that's okay. And I think we have a wonderful cabinet team and superintendent that when we do ask those questions, they can also respectfully let us know, hey, maybe this is an XYZ better way to do it. And that's how collaboration and communication and that's how we work together to move other things along. Um, but yeah, I appreciate that, Miss Marquez. Any other comments or questions on these? All right, that wraps up our board guard rails. And I just think it's important um probably every quarter or maybe once every time we're doing our selfie eval, we'll start start with our board guard rails and then we'll go into our selfie eval just so we can continue um honoring

102what we set our own standards to. All right, hearing no more discussion on that, I'm going to move over to five, which is public comments. We did have one public comment, Mr. Anel Palasios. Okay. I don't believe he's here any longer. So, we'll move on to six, which is approval of consent. I move the governing board approve consent agenda items A through S in accordance with policy 1-302. >> Sorry. Um, and I'd like to pull item S off of consent for quick discussion and question. >> Okay. Um, so I made a motion first. Do we have a second to my motion? And what what item did you say? >> Uh s approval of the same. >> Okay, we have one motion on the floor right now which was for me to approve the full consent.

103Do we have a second on that? >> Okay, so we have a second. Now your motion to pull S. You said >> yes. >> Okay. Do we have a second on that motion? Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Jones. All right. All those in favor for the original to just approve everything in consent agenda item, >> I say I. >> I n >> okay. Um, so Hilda, since the motion passed for everything to go through consent, but she got a second, does that motion just die because we three to two? Okay. >> Okay. And then for the second motion that Miss Marquez had was to pull item S, um, I say nay. Any other nays? Nay. Nay. All right. So, Tristan, Mr. Jones, >> hi. >> And Miss Marquez. Hi. >> All right. So, three yays,

104too. So, your motion fails. We move the consent agenda as is. That brings us over to item 10, which is business and plant. And I will go ahead and turn that over to Miss Shapiro. Um, Madame President and governing board members, I'm happy to present um, Mr. Josh Jumper, who will be uh, presenting our audit findings tonight as required by statute. >> Thank you so much for your patience. >> No problem. It's I didn't know I was getting a show this evening. That was great. Uh, I do have slides, I believe, >> but I don't need them. I can go off the cuff. I >> We would prefer to have the slides so the public can see them at the same time. Whoever wants to go back and watch this. >> We can probably accommodate

105slides. We can't always promise a musical number, >> right? I wonder if I can get to it. >> Oh, here we go. >> Russell, if if you put it back to Apple TV, I have it up. I could go ahead and share it. It's spinning. So, I think I'm doing it. Woohoo. Look at me. >> All right. Good evening, uh, board. It's great to be back uh, again with you all to present, uh, the audit results for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025. looking backwards to last fiscal year. Uh go ahead. Next slide. Uh so just to summarize, so I'm with Heinfeld Meech, a partner at the firm. Uh we're the district's external auditors. Uh so our audit contract is procured through the district's competitive procurement process. So uh that's how we're procured as

106the external audit firm. Uh and this past fiscal year was the second year of the audit contract. Uh so our audit timeline so our timeline goes all the way back to last April. Uh that's when the engagement letter was issued which uh signifies the beginning of the audit. Uh we came on site in May performed some preliminary audit procedures. Uh came back out after the fiscal year end and the AFR were completed in November uh to perform additional audit procedures. uh and then the audit report draft was sent to management for their review in December and was also issued in December. So when we talk about the annual audit, what is actually issued by us? Uh the external auditors. So four different uh documents. First one, communication to governance. So that's a uh communication directly

107to you the board. Uh it's about a three-page letter uh with different attachments uh that's directly to the board uh for all audits that we do. Uh, additionally, the big one is the annual comprehensive financial report. Uh, that's the district's audited financial statements. Uh, pleased to report that the financial statements received an unmodified audit opinion. Unmodified is the technical accounting term. Uh, the non-technical accounting term is a clean audit opinion uh on the financial statements. So, please report that. Uh, additionally, the single audit reporting package is issued. So, that is required under federal laws and regulations to be issued to the federal government reporting on the district spending of federal grants that it receives each year. And then finally, uh, the USFR, the uniform system of financial records compliance questionnaire. That is a requirement of

108all Arizona school districts. Each one has to submit this. their auditors submit this on their behalf. Uh so the Arizona auditor general creates this questionnaire each year uh for the external auditors to perform procedures on and answer all the questions and submit them for the district. So that's a quick summary but I'll get into a little bit more details in a few slides. Uh so just the scope of audit services. So uh we're engaged to perform an audit in accordance with government auditing standards uniform guidance uh and then also complete that questionnaire that I mentioned previously previously. Go ahead. Uh this slide just signifies that there are a lot of standards that guide the annual audit. So there are federal standards that guide a lot of compliance related items, governmental accounting standards uh that guide

109financial reporting for the district, uh auditing standards that we follow and then more specifically there's government auditing standards that we follow. So just a lot of standards. Uh additionally uh just as part of the external audit just notating uh responsibilities of us the auditors uh and district management. So uh just knowing that as part of the audit we do have fraud uh inquiries and uh uh uh discussions with different levels of management just inquiring of knowledge of those types of items. um but that ultimately the responsibility for fraud rests with management and the board of the district. Uh additionally auditors responsibilities. So we provide reasonable uh but not absolute assurance as with all things in life. Uh but with the audit as well and that the financial statements that are audited and issued each year

110those are ultimately the responsibility of management. Uh so as well uh within the letter to governance so the letter that's directed directly to the board uh we have notated that we have not had any significant audit adjustments uh that were necessary this year to the financial statement. So uh if there were any they'd be notated in this letter and they usually would result in an audit finding. Uh so none of uh nothing came rose to that level this past year. other required communications. So these are also included in the letter. Uh but we had no disagreements with management over financial accounting reporting or other audit matters. Uh the management uh representation letter that's signed at the end of the audit that signifies their approval of uh the report that is attached to uh the letter

111to governance as well. uh and that we just uh are continually assessing uh compliance and ethical requirements and independence in relation to the audit in general. Okay. So, digging into the annual comprehensive financial report. So, again, that is the district's audited financial statements. not going to have you open up the report and dig into any pages specifically, but just notating some key pages here. Uh if you do want to reference them, uh page 13 is that independent auditor's reports or audit opinion. Go ahead to the next one. Uh single audit reporting package. So no material weaknesses, no material weaknesses were noted. There was one significant deficiency reported this year over federal procurement. Uh so within the single audit reporting package there is that finding noted. Uh as part of that uh management puts together a

112corrective action that then is included in there and included in the report when it is submitted. Uh the major federal programs we tested uh so the federal grants we tested were the child nutrition clusters. So the federal food service dollars that flow in and then the coronavirus state and local fiscal reach recovery funds. So the WIFA monies that flowed to the district for various projects. So we tested those two specifically this past year. And then finally the USFR questionnaire. So uniform system of financial records. So again, this is a questionnaire all school districts have and are required to complete by their external auditors. It includes us looking at a host of different departments and areas of uh district operations and we're required to answer about 170 questions in that questionnaire. Uh next slide. There were

113uh approximately 20 no answers and so these questions are black or white. So if we sample uh uh transactions if we find one error or one mistake uh the answer is a no. It's black or white yes or no. So 20 no answers and the minor items noted were just related to the areas notated on this slide but uh uh in general I would say that's the number of nos is not out of the ordinary. Um, and uh, I think just this past year, typically when we come across no answers in the questionnaire, it's due to turnover or just human error. Um, but if they were to rise to a a greater issue, uh, they would, uh, be reported in the single audit as well. So, those are my prepared remarks, but if you have

114any questions on any of the reports, I'm happy to answer them if you have any >> board members. Any questions, comments, or wonderings that we may have. >> Good to see you. Thanks for coming again. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. It doesn't look like we have any. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it, Josh. Oh my god. >> I just throw a finance like zinger out there. >> Do you have questions for Josh? >> No, I think they did they did as always an excellent job. Um I do really want to give a shout out to um uh Mr. Dominic Ruth and his team. Um they do lead the interactions with the audit. While the audit does uh go in its oversight over multiple departments, uh

115Mr. Ruth is the one who directly ensures that all items get to the auditors in a timely basis and I I want to um really congratulate him this year because it it was one of the fastest audits I think we've had for the last few years. Um everything went very smoothly and we just couldn't be happier uh with the process of of um the identification of the areas that we already knew uh due to staff turnover. So it wasn't surprising and we've already taken so many steps to ensure that having just people sitting in the seats who are trained and ready to go make a big difference. So um really happy uh with our team and then with our audit team as always great to work with them uh to partner and look for tools

116to help improve our efficiencies. It's kind of like you, this is interesting because I never had this frame of reference before, but this is our classroom walkthrough for >> our business operations area, right? >> There's the success criteria. >> Success criteria. Yeah. >> Yeah. Exactly. They're like a a little less engagement and a little bit more making sure these deposits get in in a timely. >> Always those deposits. >> Thank you guys so much. And thank you, Miss Shapiro, to you and your team. We appreciate it. Okay. >> All right. And with that, I move the governing board accept the audit reports for fiscal year 2425 in compliance with ARS15-914.H. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. This is a roll call. Miss Ays, >> I. >> Miss Gibson McClean, >> I.

117>> Myself, I. Mr. Jones, I >> and Miss Marquez I. >> Thank you. Nays. Motion passes. That brings us to 11A. Um board members, we're going to have a quick discussion and then we will have a vote if we want to adopt this Black History Month resolution. In the past years before the new board, this new makeup of the board, we have passed different resolutions. We had a Black Lives Matter one during the George Floyd institutions and we had a few um of those before. this new board has not made collectively a resolution and what a perfect time um to do it during Black History Month. So, I will go ahead and read. And we want to thank um Copper Shade Education Alliance, which is um our advocacy um and membership um nonprofit that we

118work with, who helped us um create this resolution to really honor um you know, the the black magic that we have not only across the United States, but here in Arizona specifically. So, I will go ahead and read it and then we can have a discussion. Whereas, Black History Month is observed each February to honor the achievements, resilience, and lasting contributions of black Americans to our nation's history, culture, democracy, and educational advancement. And whereas black Americans have made profound contributions in education, public service, science, literature, civil rights, business, and community leadership, including leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Thood Marshall. And whereas Arizona is home to trailblazing black leaders whose work has shaped our state and nation, including Dr. Lincoln J. Ragdale, Senior, Tusky Gman, and Phoenix civil rights pioneer

119Calvin C. Good. Phoenix first black city council member and longtime advocate for civil rights and community development. Errol Barnett, national journalist whose work informs and elevates public discourse. Michael Bell, former NFL player and Arizona native who has represented the state at the national level, and Justice Maria Elena Cruz, the first person of African and Hispanic descent to serve on the Arizona Supreme Court appointed by Governor Katie Katie Hobbes in January of 2025 and countless educators, public servants, entrepreneurs, and students whose contributions continue to strengthen Arizona's communities and public instit institutions. And whereas public education plays a vital role in teaching students an inclusive and accurate understanding of American history, fostering respect, civic responsibility, and appreciation for diverse perspectives. And whereas the Kraton Elementary School District is committed to ensuring that all students see themselves reflected

120in the curriculum, are valued for who they are, and are empowered to achieve academic excellence. And whereas recognizing Black History Month affirms the district's dedication to equity, opportunity, and the belief that understanding our shared history strengthens our collective future. Now therefore, be it resolved that the governing board of the Kraton Elementary School District hereby recognizes February as Black History Month, and that the governing board encourages schools throughout the district to celebrate Black History Month through age appropriate educational activities, classroom instruction, assemblies, student projects, and community engagement opportunities that highlight the contributions of black Americans, including leaders from Arizona and that the governing board reaffirms its commitment to priv providing a safe, inclusive and academically rigorous environment where every student has the opportunity to thrive. That is um the resolution in itself and I will leave

121it up for comments, questions or anything it is that you we want to add. And Miss Gibson McLean, it looks like you have something. Go ahead. Um, so I went to school originally to be a high school history teacher and I grew up in Phoenix and um, my parents grew up here as well. And one of the people that my parents that my father grew up with on the southside and went to South Mountain High School with was a woman named Carolyn Warren. Her father was Morrison Warren. And Dr. Morrison Warren was actually the first city council member in Phoenix. Um, and so I just want to make a correction. Calvin Good is a fantastic public servant who served our city for years. He actually is just the longest serving city council member. And Dr.

122Morrison Warren was the first black city council member and vice mayor who served from 1965 to 1970. The other reason I know this is because Carolyn Warren's daughter was my eighth grade English teacher at at BPA. And so um I just wanted to acknowledge that. And then also his grandson is a graduate of BPA as well. And so I've known about this family. I've my family has known them for decades and it's like such a small town here in Phoenix. So, if you know um if you're from here, it's like a small big city, right? Um but I just wanted to say also another thing that would be that's great to know about Dr. Morrison Warren is that he's like one of the early pioneers of the Head Start program here um in the state

123and was on like the very first Head Start uh committee. And so I just wanted to bring his name into the room um even though I know we can't be listing everybody here, but just know that their family has Kraton connections and um there's other families as well. I I know that I personally have spoken to um Miss Jennifer Ragdale who is in I believe the Washington school district now but used to work at Monav Vista and is also part of the Ragsdale family. And so there's lots of connections to some of these um trailblazing families who whether or not the persons before them did such and such work. Um their their family members are still in our communities doing great work um today. And so I think that's just a testament to these folks

124and and who they raised and and brought into this world as well. So I would have been remiss if I let Miss Joya Pittz go and find out that I didn't bring up her father and correct the record on the resolution because she's the reason why I went to school to be a teacher. So um just wanted to bring that up so that we could correct it. >> Um Hilda, thank you so much for that. at MS since we wanted to vote on this and we need to make that correction. Can we make it now so then we can >> do you mind >> I was just going to put Phoenix's longest serving city council member >> and then just add >> Oh, we can add if we want to put if we want to

125put Dr. Warren in there. >> Oh, we absolutely are going to put Dr. Warren in there. Especially having Kraton ties and starting Head Start. Yes, we definitely are. >> Sure. the motion. You can say as corrected >> as amended. Okay. Sure. >> Yeah. >> Perfect. >> Other board members, do we have any other comments or questions? Yes, Mr. Jones. Go ahead. >> Just in the second paragraph, looking at the national contributions. Would we want to include President Obama? >> Yes. Um considering you have a Supreme Court justice. >> Okay, perfect. Katanji, anybody? I'm just kidding. We're going to be adding to the list all night. >> Perfect. And then we'll send those corrections over to Miss Huarees and we can add that. Um, any other comments or wonderings? All right, perfect. So, I'll go ahead

126and make the motion. Um, I move the governing board approve item LA L A I mean 11A I keep saying L as amended. May I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I any naysay hearing? None. Motion passes. Thank you guys. And just so the public knows, resolutions are not policies. They're not binding. But what resolutions do is send a statement or sentiment of the board where policies will and can be changed based off of the values of the board. And this is how we show out our values is through resolutions here at this um at the governing board. All right, with that brings us to 11B, which is legislative political report. Um board members, do we have any legislative or political reports? >> Um yeah, I know that there's a

127lot of happening. Um one of the things that I will say is with a lot of the public education bills that are coming down the house, um thankfully we have a lobbyist through Copper State Education Alliance, so we have been staying on top of those and figuring what's going on. I know that we partner up with other lobbying groups too when it comes to the finances or we we have the district covered and we want to make sure that our voices are being heard at the legislature. Um regarding those bills, um I I could sit all day and talk about all the interesting bills that are going around, but I'm not going to doing that. Um, this polit this legislative session has been interesting because usually we have numbers, you know, HB or SB depending

128if it's in the House or in the Senate of the 1,000s, 2000s. This year we're up to 4,000. So, you can only imagine how many bills are being come back and forth through the House and the Senate. So, there's a lot happening. Um, one of the things that I do want to add is that on President's Day, there was an early childhood day at the Capitol and usually we get to go talk to legislators. Over 500 individuals made up of early childhood agencies, parents, community members showed up to advocate on bills that support early childhood from education, early literacy, um, postpartum, maternal um, health. It It's been great. And this year, um, we weren't able to have so many conversations with legislators because they were all stuck in committees listening to the endless amount of

129bills that they have. So, I know that they're they're working and um, just know that we are being represented at the capital. And I also want to bring up um, early childhood in Arizona is facing great challenges. So you guys have the opportunity to come speak to any of us and let you know what bills are going to be impacting either in a positive or a negative way because we know early childhood not only sustains our education here from kindergarten on, but it's a workforce issue now and it's an economic development issue. Um, if we don't have affordability, then we don't have people that can come and stay at work and then our economy stays at a standstill. And the last thing I'll say on the political report is that yes, we did go to

130Washington DC. Washington DC we go every year and we do the advocacy and we were at Capito Hill, Capitol Hill and we were advocating basically for bipartisan support. We were able to meet with one Republican and we met with different Congress individuals. We were able to meet with Congresswoman Grialva. We were with Yasam Ansari. Um, and we had a lot of different conversations and we ensured that the budget need needed to stay the same and that our block grants did not get spent out in different block grants just so we can sustain funding. Um, so that was a good time. Just know that we're actively having conversations with city council members, legislators to improve not only what it looks like here in Kraton, but our neighboring districts and public education as a whole. I don't

131know if anybody has any specific um political reports. >> I was just going to say that um you know, one of the volunteer things that I do is that I'm on the legislative committee for Arizona attorneys for criminal justice and we spend a bunch of time every Friday going over the coming week's agendas and the overlap that has been happening between education and criminal justice bills is a little troubling. Um, and so just, you know, I I've talked about the school to prison pipeline before and so just something to be cognizant of that that's not something that goes away or that seems to be like a thing that people think I don't know like just more punitive measures seem to be what the legislature is interested in. Um, and so that's been disheartening to see.

132There's even one right now that's like the most annoying one, which is basically if you've been adjudicated or convicted, uh it doesn't even say as an adult, uh of a felony offense, which can happen in the juvenile court or in the adult court if you're over 15. Um you would be banned from participating in any school activities or sports from that point forward. So, which is just wild because we already know that it's like antithetical to the idea of them being able to like improve themselves and like kids do so much better when they're in activities and sports. So, it's just wild to think that that's like on the table as a solution for something. I'm not quite sure what it is. It feels just pretty punitive to me. Um and and would probably push

133the kids to maybe recidivate. So, I don't know. Um I'm hoping that doesn't get signed by the governor. Um, but yeah, so that's that stuff's been kind of troubling to me and seeing all of that. But the problem is is that you're getting bombarded with all these things. So, it's hard to like adequately advocate against some of these things, especially in a system where we're not sure what the governor's going to sign. We're not sure how desperate she is for reelection and what it is that she's willing to sign this session. And honestly, it's up in the air, folks. And I'm just being real with you. So, you might see some very interesting things get signed into law um this year. It is an election year and so just it's a lot to pay attention

134to and I think that's also part of how these years go is people are trying to get everything through because they're trying to campaign on something but it just results in just this crazy whirlwind of well we already know how things go here so it's wild. Um, and so that in combination with kind of the other things Miss and I already spoke about at the federal level, um, it's easy to get, uh, a little disheartened and, uh, bogged down with the idea that like there's all these things moving around you that you're going to have no control over. But I will say that there's still good people fighting the good fight every day trying to to to to fight back to these things. It's not even through just public comment. There's so many people that

135meet with these legislators at the state level even individually. There's also people that, you know, inform the governor's office, write memos. Um, and and so there's all these different ways that people are trying to advocate. And so I would hope that people also don't like lose faith in in everything potentially because it is easy to do when we're in these situations. Um, but knowing that I I just know that we're doing the best that we can with the political landscape that we're dealing with and trying to anticipate things as as proactively as we can. Sometimes that's a hard to do, but >> yeah. And one of the most powerful tools that we have and that's available to every single one of us, we don't have to be an expert on any type of civic engagement

136is called RTS, which is the request to speak. It gives everybody an ability to sign up at the legislature and I we can give you guys more information, but any bill that comes on, you have the opportunity to say thumbs up, yes, I like it, neutral, thumbs down, or have an opportunity to speak in person. And legislators actually look at that. They're I think they're tired of seeing other elected officials or CEOs or business people putting their names on, yes, I like this. But if they start hearing directly from their constituents and they start seeing yes to certain bills or no to certain bills, they pay attention because I've heard them in committee say, "Well, I don't have anybody on this bill, so nobody must care. So yes, we're going to pass it." And that's

137sometimes how things get passed. So >> same names over and over and over again. And it's really going to take all of us um to really really start advocating every single um one of us, even our parents and all of us. Um but with that being said, do we have any other >> um just one other um coming across the state legislature. I believe it was at the house today. It's going to senate tomorrow. HB2313. So, this really affects um our teachers, especially any that are part of the union. Um essentially this one if if I trying to understand it correctly, but if like two teachers decide to like walk out during a protest or something of that nature, then the district could be penalized. Um you know, they could the it could affect their

138reemployment rights, benefits. Um, so and especially right now with excuse me with today's climate, you know, obviously there's been some protests, there's been some strikes and um, you know, and there's I'm sure there's there's more to come. And, you know, I personally believe in, you know, and everyone, whether it's our students or teachers, their right to protest or or, you know, make make their voices heard. So, I think this is this is kind of a preemptive punishment that they're trying to put down to quash any any um you know, I think public public outcry against what's happening. So, that's something to watch. And you know, again, if if you're signed up for the request to speak, I think there's still time tomorrow to give your thumbs down on this one. Um and like echoing what

139Katie and Sophia said, there's a lot going on. Um that that affects education. So if you if you need to kill some time, you can look those up. >> Also, the the education committee is still going right now where that striker was sent to. So like they're still in committee. They started at 2 p.m. >> Um they have a lot of stuff on the agenda, but and I just pulled it up and interesting person is talking right now. But um yeah, so that's how long these committee meetings are also taking. It really discourages the public from participating if the committee meeting starts at 2 and it's still going at 8:10 p.m. Like who's going to be able to stay for 6 hours or more to comment on something? It's wild. >> Yeah, it's it's really

140unfortunate, but you know, Jesse Jackson said it best. Hold your head high. Stick your chest out. It gets dark sometimes, but morning comes. Keep hope alive. So, make sure that we're keeping that hope alive because I believe that when Jesse Jackson was saying this, it was his form of an act of resistance, right? Is hope and knowing that there is something out there and eventually things will get better, but it's going to take all of us um collectively to do that. Um, hearing no other comments or anything on legislative political reports, I'll move over to 12, which is future agenda items. Board members, do we have any future agenda items? The only two that I'm going to add on there so we can kind of figure out is the equity audit and the sped review

141audit as well, just so we can keep track of when the last one is and if something needs to happen, we can put a date on it so we know when to expect it. >> Sounds good. And we can also push them back out via the board update as well. >> Perfect. All right. And with that, we move over to 13A, which is I move the governing board adjourn. May I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I any naysay? All right. Hearing none. Muenas no, have a great night everybody. I >> have two things we want to talk to you about.