001Welcome. I call the March 30th Dysart Governing Board meeting to order. We have all board members in attendance. Would you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? Make a motion to adopt the agenda as presented. Second. Yes. All right. Motion passed. Next item is a Item B, address the Governing Board. This is the time for the public to comment. Members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda. Pursuant to ARS 38-431. 01H, action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter, responding to any criticism, or scheduling the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date. In order to facilitate accomplishing the business of the district in a timely manner, a time limit of 3 minutes will be
002imposed for each individual or group addressing the board. When you approach the podium, please state your name for the record. Uh William Buckingham. Hello. My name is Bill Buckingham. I am a Surprise resident and my kids have moved beyond and grandkids have moved beyond schools at this point, but I do have an interest in the community. I'm a resident and voter here and a taxpayer here. Uh specific issues that I was hoping to address uh was I've attended three or four different meetings and heard from Dysart high school students uh about their concerns about this ICE detention facility that's going in. Uh I tried to get dig in a little bit to see if the uh school district has taken any position on this in that it's uh relatively close within a mile, I think,
003of Dysart High School as well as a junior high school in the vicinity. Uh I know the kids or the students have a heck of a lot of concerns. I think they're uh and I share them, candidly. Uh I think there are some economic issues here and it's debatable, but uh I think the that facility now has paid $200,000 or more a year last year in property taxes that go to Dysart. I think it's paid $341,000 overall. Obviously, some of that goes to Surprise and other jurisdictions. But I guess the bottom line is well, I guess one other question. Somebody has raised the issue, does Dysart schools have any particular plan in place if ICE shows up on the premises? Uh Do they? Does anyone know? Sorry, sir. We can't respond. >> Okay. Well, okay.
004I'd be interested if there is a plan and interested in seeing a copy of it. And I'd like to see uh the uh school district take a stance in this area. I think it's detrimental to the kids. It's detrimental to the community as a whole. It's detrimental to uh certainly Surprise and El Mirage's image and what have you. And I'm just surprised play upon words, but I'm surprised that uh there's been no public stance by members of the of the school board or what have you. I think there I I did attend a meeting today and uh in the city of Surprise is Kevin Sarter uh is he an employee of the district? And you're not answering that? Okay. Uh at any rate, I don't quite understand that, but uh he indicated that uh apparently
005Surprise isn't going to take any legal action. Sir, your time's up. Okay. Thank you. >> And hopefully you can get back to me those questions. Thank you. Next is um Amanda Odin. Good evening. My name is Amanda Odin and thank you for your time. I'm the parent of two children in this district and one of my children has Down syndrome. I'm here to support the use of AI tools for students with IEPs who need grade level modifications. I want to share that I was recently told in a school meeting that the district may be considering limiting the use of AI for curriculum modifications. If that's the case, I would ask for clarification on whether that includes IEP modifications because from a parent perspective that would be a step in the wrong direction for students like
006my son. Access to grade level content when it's modified to meet him where he is is essential. It allows him to engage in the same material as his peers while still receiving the supports he needs. One of AI's biggest strengths here is scaffolding. It can break down content, adjust language, and layer in supports while still aligning to grade level standards. That means students aren't getting different content, they're getting better access to the same content. It also allows for quicker adjustments when something isn't working rather than waiting and seeing as more time passes. It also brings consistency. Right now supports can look very different from classroom to classroom. A structured AI approach helps ensure students are supported in a more consistent and equitable way across the district. This will also support teachers by saving time and
007allowing them to focus on instruction and connection. This isn't about replacing teachers, it's about giving them better tools and a consistent platform to build resources that work. Access to learning for students like my son should not depend on the classroom they walk into. Thank you. Uh next up is Terry Moody. Hi, my name is Terry Moody and I am a retired teacher who happens to live in the Dysart Unified School District boundaries. I also have grandchildren who attend three different Dysart schools. And I'm here tonight to address [clears throat] the ICE detention warehouse much like the gentleman whose first name I got but whose last name I don't recall um that's being developed within the Dysart boundaries. As we're all aware, the building on Sweetwater has been purchased for ICE to use as a human
008warehouse. This has been done without any notice to or input from any city, state, county, local government, school district, or other regulatory entities. I feel that the Dysart Unified School District Board must make a clear and concrete stand on this issue. There are many fiscal reasons why the board should take a stand and I'll name a couple of them, but there's a million. Number one, the warehouse would really necessitate additional cost for student safety both coming and going to school and in the schools themselves and hiring more security officers would stress an already stretched budget. Two, the district would be responsible for schooling any minor within the ICE facility which would also place a financial burden on the district in hiring qualified teachers to handle those students and to educate them. Three, enrollment could potentially
009decrease as families choose to leave the district and the city of Surprise rather than have their children educated near this facility. Decreased enrollment would also push the district's budget to the breaking point and could mean the necessity of eliminating classes and teachers and support staff and possibly even closing schools. However, to me an even more compelling reason for the Dysart School Board to take a stand against this ICE warehouse is to fulfill the district's own mission, power in preparation, excellence in the journey, and success for a lifetime. If the Dysart School District truly intends to prepare students for a lifetime of success, the board needs to show the students that the Constitution, the very laws that should be the anchor of our society, are important and worth fighting for. It would be easy for you
010to say as the board that it's not our job and metaphorically shrug your collective shoulders. But by doing so, you are demonstrating for the very students that your mission says you're supposed to be preparing for a successful life that bullies who ignore the law, ignore the Constitution are immune. You would be teaching our students that if you violate the rules and procedures with enough crust and bravado that good, honest people will just stand idly by and say, "Well, gosh, there's nothing we can do." So, if the Dysart Board truly wants to prepare our students for a successful lifetime with excellence in the journey, they will take a stand. They will make their voices heard and will clearly state that being sneaky and breaking the law just to get your way is wrong. They will stand
011up against this wrong. We cannot and should not That's That's all we have. All right, next we go to item C, Superintendent and Governing Board updates with the first one, student update. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh Mr. Musey will introduce our student this evening. Thank you, Dr. Crotteau. Uh Mr. President, members of the board, and uh our guest tonight, we have uh Mr. Ben Trong from Shadow Ridge High School here to He's a senior there and he's working obviously with the uh the Dysart uh uh student body and uh student uh council and he's got some updates for us. Good evening, President Scovara, Governing Board, Dr. Crotteau, and cabinet. My name is Ben Trong and I am the senior class president at Shadow Ridge High School and president of our District Leadership Council. At our
012most recent meeting, we reflected on the continued energy, involvement, and leadership shown across our campuses as we move into the final stretch of the school year. At Shadow Ridge, students are building strong momentum with a successful March 27th dodgeball tournament that brought excitement and competition to campus. They also hosted an an ACT assembly on March 23rd to support academic achievement as students prepare to take their ACT next week. Alongside a spirit week and a spring assembly that energized the student body. At Valley Vista, students continue to balance school spirit with meaningful initiatives. They are preparing for positivity day on April 14th and participating in Minute That Matters to give back to their community. In addition, they hosted a dodgeball tournament as well and are excited for their spring carnival on April 4th. At Willow Canyon
013High School, students are demonstrating creativity and leadership through their dedication to decorating for campus events and creating appreciation posters that recognize both students and staff. They are also expanding their leadership skills by attending the Boston Leadership Conference. At Dysart High School, students have remained highly involved with a variety of activities including their winter dance on the 13th and a and a spirited staff versus student volleyball game that brought the community together. They are also preparing for upcoming StuCo elections and recently held a prom assembly on March 13th to generate excitement. Finally, at Sundown, students are continuing to build engagement across campuses with their March 27th field day bringing students together through fun and competition. They are planning a spirit week following spring break to maintain that energy while also participating in the Surprise Founders Day
014parade to stay connected with the community. Looking ahead, they will host a blood drive on April 22nd reinforcing their their commitment to service. Across all of our campuses, students continue to demonstrate leadership, school pride, and a strong commitment to both their communities and one another as we approach the end of the school year. Thank you. All right, thank you. Good job, Ben. Next item, Superintendent update. Thank you, Dr. >> President. Uh couple uh thank yous tonight. So, uh as you know, we had the Festival of Arts on March 7th. Another wonderful event. Uh we want to thank Danae Marinelli on a uh coordinating another super event. She She is fabulous at that and I think we need to publicly thank her for everything that goes into that. It's amazing event and looking forward to next
015year's. Uh this last Saturday, uh we had free physicals, our second uh annual free physicals held on Saturday here at Valley Vista in conjunction with Dignity Health and I want to thank our uh lead athletic trainer, Selena Felton, on uh organizing that along with our assistant superintendent, Mr. Craig Musey. Um about over 250 athletes received free physicals from the doctors in the community getting ready for our sports uh for next year. So, I just want to say shout out to them and great job, and we will continue to expand that. Uh one update tonight, um before you a couple months ago was uh Shadow Ridge High School senior, Nicholas Snyder, who was a um National Merit semi-finalist. Well, I'm happy to tell you he has moved on to the finalist stage. Um so, uh as
016I told you before in in that when we introduced him, that's about 1.3 million high school juniors that get uh in the entire country that get a chance they take that, um and then 16 uh thousand of those 1.3 million are into the semi-finalists. Um he is now into 6,900 of that uh and we are hoping he gets that big money cuz it's a big money, and that's going to come out in the spring. So, congratulations to Nicholas, and I will uh keep you updated if he wins the prize at the end. So, I'm sure he will. He's a wonderful kid. Um and last couple uh heads-ups that are coming, Dysart Hero Award Dinner coming up on April 22nd. Again, uh Renee and her staff has been working extremely hard to put that on where
017we're going to recognize our Dysart Heroes as well as the Dysart Education Foundation Scholarship Night uh where we award all our seniors with some scholarships to move on in education. So, that's coming up on April 23rd. So, it's getting to that time of year, awards season, and uh some wonderful things. So, that's all I have tonight, Mr. President. Thank you very much. Next item up is Governing Board update. Start with Member Destiche. Um I attended uh with um at Willow Canyon High School the JROTC US Marine Corps visit site visit, and that was really exciting. And congratulations to Nicholas. I pray he does well. Thank you. Uh I attended the Dysart Arts Festival, and I just want to also special uh give a special thanks to Danae Marinelli for putting on such an incredible event.
018I know there's so much hard work that goes into that, and also thank you to all of the volunteers. I know we had a a ton of volunteers this year. Um just really appreciate everything that goes into this. That's it. Good evening. Um I attended um on March 2nd the Valley Vista A+ Lunch. Just want to say congratulations to Principal Richards and the the whole uh high school staff, students for um their continuing it um accomplishments. Just want to say congratulations. On the 7th of March, I attended the Festival of Arts also, and a big thank you to Danae and for all your hard work. And then on the 21st of March, I attended Luke Days for the air show, and that was a lot of fun, too. So, that's all I have. I as
019well attended the uh Vista of the Arts um fair. It was a a great day. Was there with my family, spent a little over 3 hours there, and just to see it and hear and witness all the different talents we have when it comes to arts, and drawing, you know, show choirs, bands, orchestra. It was it was pretty cool. Um this was uh probably my second or third year going. Really appreciate all the volunteers who were there, as well as Dysart staff who put in extra time for it as well. We move to the next item, which is motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Motion carries. That leads us to our next item, which is information and discussion, school spotlight. Dr. Crodo. Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight we have our final school spotlight, and
020Dr. Asay will introduce our guests from Thompson Ranch. Good evening. It is my pleasure to present Scott Curran, the dynamic kindergarten team at Thompson Ranch Elementary. You can. You can sit if you want, but you can stand if you want. Good evening. We have a little data book that we're going to hand through. You guys can look at that as we have our discussion. It won't take very long. I appreciate you having us here this evening. Um So, good evening to governing board members, governing board president, um cabinet members, Dr. Crodo. Thank you for having us here. My name is Scott Curran. I'm the principal here at Thompson Ranch. Loving that position. So, um tonight I get to introduce um a great team. Very proud of my kinder team. And um they've they've done a
021great job. Um Yvette Benavidez, come on up. Ramona Eresmendez, come on up. And Andrina Jimenez, come on up. We're missing one member. She could not be here tonight, but um the team as always picks up. If we got it. There we go. I'm a little short, so I'm going to pull this down. Well, good afternoon. I am Yvette Benavidez, and tonight we will show Thompson Ranch's progress using the PLC process and the impact it has had on student achievement by looking at data. Specifically show what happened to student achievement in kindergarten DIBELS Acadience. I want to thank you, board members, for providing me with the opportunity to attend the PLC training in Las Vegas this past summer. Um the knowledge and the experience that I gained has strengthened our team and enhanced our instructional practices,
022which ultimately has benefited all of our students. Because of this, we have seen meaningful growth in our student learning, increased encouragement, and stronger learning outcomes for all of our students, specifically our ELL population. Our beliefs our culture belief is that all students must learn. We ensure this by focusing on student learning. It's always about the students. That is our main focus. We establish professional learning teams that have a collaborative culture. Our team really reflects on viewing all of the students as our own students, not specific classes. They're all of our kids. Um What we One of our bullets is, what should students students know? They need to know their standards, and we do set many goals for them. And how do we know if they have met their goals? We definitely assess them, and we
023keep track of their data. And what do we do if they don't get that? Well, we reteach. And if they do get it, then we provide enrichment for them. We give them that extra challenge. And then we repeat the whole process over again. Um and we focus on our results. We want you to know that Thompson Ranch is 75% free and reduced uh school lunch. 16% of our students are ELL, and 19% of them are ESS students. Kindergarten alone has 19 students that are identified as ELL, including 14 who are monolingual students who speak little to no English at all. The significant popula- This significant population is large enough to have a full classroom, highlighting the need for a targeted language support and the resources, which Ms. Jimenez here addresses during our WIN time. And
024she ensures that students accept we all ensure that our students succeed. Um right now, I'm going to pass it to my teammate. Um good evening. My name's Andrina Jimenez, and I will be presenting our kindergarten Acadience data um that highlights um our effective um work as a PLT. Um if I could bring your attention to the top row of letters, we start with BOY, which is for beginning of the year, MOY will be middle of the year, and EOY is end of the year. Um looking at BOY blue green, our entering average this year for our kindergartners was a very low 15%. Um for comparison, the district average is 50%. So, our average um indicates that our students come in with little to no letter sound knowledge. Um moving over to blue green middle of
025the year, we have seen tremendous growth in a short amount of time of the year at 65%, and then moving along to end of the year blue green, um our um end of the year average has continued to trend upward, starting with 68 on the bottom, 84 the next year, and a high 90 um last year's ending average. The empty box for 25-26 school year is where we um are hoping to put a similar or even higher average than last year for end of the years um data, I guess you could say. Um to further explain and describe how we work effectively as a PLT and obtain these results, I will transfer it to my teammate, Ramona Arizmendez. And hello, governing board. My name is Ramona Arizmendez and I will speak about the process that
026we follow to get the results you heard about earlier. The process always starts with setting goals. Starting at the beginning of the year, we set a variety of goals based on our Acadience data. Those goals serve as a roadmap that we follow for both our whole group and our small group instruction. Our teaching is focused to the goals that we set using the data. All of our students are looked at individually and are placed in intervention groups based on their needs. These groups are always fluid and are based on student growth. We assure that our classrooms are actively engaged. In our classrooms, you will see us using many kinesthetic strategies to keep our young learners engaged and focused on the instruction because after all, they are only five. Our routines and procedures are streamlined so
027no time is wasted and our belief is every minute counts. We also collect and check student progress frequently. We monitor and collect informal data as we teach our daily lessons and discuss that data as a team. We also collect formal data from a variety of assessments. The data we collect and use for our instruction comes from our 95% lessons and unit test, our Acadience progress monitoring, and our own kinder assessment which test letter names and sounds. We have successfully implemented WIN, which stands for what I need. And these groups help students who need remediation. They get that extra support that they need and students who are ready to be challenged get what they need during our tier two time. To support all of our students, we look at our assessment data and plan lessons and
028activities together, always cohesively. Now, you might be asking yourself, where do these lovely ladies keep all the data that they've been collecting? Well, the answer is in our data binders. This is where we keep track of student growth and are prepared for our PLT meetings. At our meetings, we discuss and determine what the next steps are for our students, always looking at the data. We also share the data that we keep in these binders with their students so that they know what their goals are, too. They get super excited to see that they are growing and they beat their score from the last time. Keeping these binders holds everyone accountable for meeting our goals. The process outlined above is repeated all year and helps our students grow. Thank you again for the opportunity to share
029how we work together as a kindergarten team. And now here is Mr. Kerr. Questions for us. Did you say there was 19 students? Is that in the kindergarten or In in our kinder grade level, yes, we have 19 EL students. 19 or 16% of our population is EL overall. Uh but in specifically in kinder, there's 19 students and 14 of them are monolingual, which means they know Spanish. Okay. Thank you for your report. Thank you so much for sharing about the binders. Um that's really just helpful for us to understand how you know, how you're monitoring your progress, but see seeing or hearing how the students are involved in that and seeing that is really exciting, too. Just to see that they're you know, increasing and seeing that um yeah. It's really really nice to
030uh to see that in a presentation and we appreciate it. If you want, you can be in a demonstration. My kinder team is ready. >> [snorts] >> Thank you. Does that mean yes? Yes, yes. >> Okay, perfect. You'll have to stand up for this exercise. >> [laughter] >> All the board members. >> you meant later. We're we're on right now. This has got to be quick. I've been told I need to do this fast. We're just kidding. >> [laughter] >> Thank you very much for the presentation. I enjoyed the humor. Thank you. Thank you. Good great job and awesome results. >> [applause] >> We're on to our second item for information discussion, information regarding uh possible or potential bond. Thank you, Mr. President. Um before you tonight is some discussion for the governing board, some
031materials. Um I I was asked to put on uh some potential bond projects so the board could have a discussion about future uh bond elections. So, what you have on the attachments um are pretty much projects that um we have a study session about a month a month and a half ago um regarding um capital monies and how to plan for the future. What you see in a list is something uh or are the projects that were not able to be funded in the next future over the next 5 years. Um so, you can see that there with the total of about $71.4 million. Um also attached there is a calendar um for this year. So, that that comes from Maricopa County. There are some strict timelines we have to follow um and so I
032put those timelines just so you were aware. So, with that, I will uh let you, Mr. President, have that discussion or lead the discussion and we will stand for questions where needed. Yeah, so thank you very much Dr. Croto. So, I I was the person who asked Dr. Croto to put this together um going off of our study session that we had for capital spend. Uh there are some obviously some items that uh we we can't afford without a bond. Um the bigger one to me would be the elementary in the Asante area. The population has just continued to expand. Um uh I don't know what exact City of Surprise Council meeting it was, but they just approved another thousand homes out in that area. Um which is just going to uh compound the problem
033that we have. Uh there are some other items that um when we had that public session that you know, the word hope kind of came in there and we don't you know, we don't manage with hope. So, I I I want to make sure that we can bring in some safety and security items, which is like if you see if you look at the the PDF, there's the ones for the fire panels. Um something that I'm looking for is feedback, the appetite for something like this and um if you know, if you think that maybe a smaller bond would be easier to pass just because we we're in a tough spot when it when it especially comes to that elementary school. Um every year we don't start the construction on it is another year that
034to me is we're like 3 years behind already, so. I open it up for discussion. I do agree that the schools are important. I'm just not sure that we have the timeline. We've done two bonds in the last two elections. They've been shot down marginally, I might add, but I just I am concerned on spending money to try to go out with another bond and then have it shot down again. I feel like the public doesn't feel that these schools or the HVAC or the fire panels are a priority. I mean, it's concerning because we need these and I fully support what you're asking, but I just don't know that we have the time or the money to do it this year. Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. Dr. Croto, can you give us a
035little bit more information, remind us where we're at as far as triggering the ADM on a new build for through schools facilities? Well, I believe that them scratching some Maryvale can help me with that. Do you remember exactly where we left? I I I believe the high school would trigger before an elementary school, but if you know specifics. Um Dr. Croto, yes, I don't have it in front of me, but I want to say when we submitted it was about 2032, 2030. So, it's in the early '30s is when it would even um potentially and that would be really at the high school level. Um could be even considered through the SFD. We continue to submit within our annual capital plan for it to be considered with just our estimates, but um the most recent
036feedback it was about 2032. For a high school. Mhm. But I mean, so just hypothetically, where are we at? So, we we're going going to have kids that age in to to school age, but we're also going to have children that age out, that graduate. So, do we know where we're at? I mean, are you still pretty confident that it's the 2032 ish? Currently, that's so that's what they're projecting within the high school. Now, the K-8 still does have some more capacity within there because Okay. there are more K-8 schools and so really when you look at at the entire ADM for the district in that grade level, that wouldn't really trigger for for quite some time. I don't have the date right in front of me, but um that would trigger after the high
037school, which wouldn't be for quite some time. Um and just with the the new talks with the the legislation, um there was a the recent Supreme Court ruling that said that schools were funded um like the process in which schools are funded is illegal. Do we know where that stands as far as a resolution through the legislature? Um at this point there is no uh further conversation. In fact, if anything, there's been conversations of them looking to appeal what that what that was. So that would drag that out several more years. That is correct. Thank you. Um did we receive any specific feedback from the voters after the last bonds? Uh no, not after the vote. Okay. We we have not We have not gone back out to survey or anything. Okay. >> [snorts] >>
038Just want to point out to the last uh two elections, we were told that our survey results uh fared positively for the bond. Um the last survey we did was two bonds ago. We did not do a survey this last time. So I believe um was two times ago that we did that survey, which was a positive outcome. Um which obviously was not when the when the voting happened. So. Yeah. We did not survey the last time. I'm just wondering how much we can even trust a survey if we did one. Um yeah. On this proposed >> [clears throat] >> bond, excuse me, um it looks like there's 68 6 million for new air conditioners for 11 schools. Is that Um Uh yes, there is uh as you see there is for the remaining air
039HVACs 11 schools 6.8 million. So those are the 11 that we are not able to do at this point. Um we do continue to submit to the school SFD, um but that's not guaranteed money. So um we do if they fund a project, we take it off here, but that right as of right now those projects are not funded. Just to get clarification, say um hypothetical, uh we bond out and we ask for this amount and hypothetically when we don't want to manage with hope, but the state comes around and does does uh finance some of our HVAC, can we use those funds for something else or is that just bond money that we're not going to bond out for, which means the burden on the taxpayers is a little bit less? Marydale, you can
040use 10%, but Marydale will explain it. >> So yes, it's depending on how the the bond pamphlet is written, but if it is still something that we're saying mechanical improvements for the school sites or depending on how specific it is, um it can we can either not go out and bond or if it is something that's generally enough, you can still use it um within supporting school school services. What we cannot do is once you say something's not administrative versus administrative, like I can't now say I will now do this now instead for an administrative purpose. You can though repurpose within your um non-administrative so supporting your school sites if your language is broad enough. Um but that is ultimately also the decision of the board if we opted not to because there was funding
041elsewhere, that is something that we can choose not to to go out and sell those additional bonds. So, thank you. Um so in that event, we could use that money to repair elevators if it was written that way within the bond. Correct. Depending on on how the wording would be if it's something mechanical improvements or um if facilities improvements or something like that worded in such a way that it can be used to just kind of encompass just general upgrades at the school site related to mechanical, that could be used in that way. Okay, thank you. And with regards to the tax burden, right? As our original bond is paying down, are we looking at a large burden on the taxpayers because I believe I thought the last one it wasn't really going to be
042an increase in taxes. Um so we did um reach out just for an initial estimate. So just as a reminder, our current existing bonds after this year there's only 38.7 million dollars remaining in principal. So those are paid off entirely in fiscal year 28. So just a couple years left and then we will have no uh bond related debt in this district. Um we received a request um to Sorry, I can't really put that part. So it looks like the um the new rate would be about 17 cents um estimated. Again, this is very preliminary estimate, so about 17 cents on um on a 100,000 assessed home. So when you really look at it, um last year I think the average assessed valuation in Surprise was about 205,000. So based on that, it used to
043be about 547. If you recall, that was at 32 cents average rate. So that would have been about 547 a month. Um running that same estimate and um increasing the assessed valuation by a slight amount, that now comes out to about $3.05 per month. So that is now about 17 cents tax rate on the new bonds. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? What is our plan to engage the community um but if we put this on the ballot? Well, we'd we'd have to get busy real quick. We have to obviously we have a pack. We have to start uh doing all the the uh publicity that um we've done once we call for the election. Again, we have uh those rules that, you know, we have to stay within the rules of 15-5-11. So
044um but we would have to get busy pretty quick because we have to do this, give them the language, tell them we are doing it by May 7th, um which is not very far away, um and then get our some attorneys involved. So there are costs with attorneys to get involved for the ballot language, uh those kind of pieces. We need to get our um pack up and running con you know, ask them again if they're uh going to do that. Um I don't know the situation that the pack's in right now um for the signs and raising money. I know they did a great job last time. I don't know that they can do that kind of job, to be honest with you, again in this short notice um to get going, but we
045would need to get going pretty quickly um in order to have a good campaign. Not saying it can't be done. We just we're going to shift some priorities and get it done. Um and so whatever the board is thinking or or wants to do, um would you know, I would say make a decision within the next month for sure, um and then we'll have to get busy real quick. Any more questions? So what is the cost again for the district to put a bond on the ballot? Um the amount last year that we spent was about $225,000. And that was including the bond and the override election. The year before was about $140,000, that was a bond only. So it varies depending on Maricopa County does give us different rates based on how many voters,
046um how many questions there will be on the ballot, etc. But over the last um four election cycles from 19, 20, 24, and 25, it averaged um usually about in the $200,000 range or so. All right, thank you. All right, hearing no further questions, I go to item G, action discussion. Financial and compliance audit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025. Yep. Thank you, Mr. President. Tonight we have our our audit report um and Ms. Bedell will introduce this topic. Thank you, Dr. Cotto, President Guevara, members of the board, cabinet community. I'm pleased to be presenting um and introducing our two uh our our stellar auditor and our director of finance. We know this is an ongoing process. Um really the audit process lasts for pretty much an entire year. The for this related
047to this June 30th of '25, the auditors were out here last May, um and then they came back out again in October for final fieldwork. And it's really gathering a lot of the compliance requirements, questions, going out to school sites, doing a lot of standard test work, interviews with various staff members. Um and then when they come back in October, they review all of our financials to ensure that those are um booked properly and according to financial statement standards. So tonight um I do have with us Ms. Jennifer Shields, she's our partner with Heinfeld and Meech, and Francie Wolf Bauman, our director of finance, and I will have them take it away. Good evening, uh President Guevara, Governing Board, Dr. Cotto, cabinet, and community members. I'm going to go ahead and turn over the first
048part of the presentation to Jennifer Shields to review the audit test work and their process. Thank you, Francie. Uh good evening. Um thank you for allowing us a few minutes of time. Hopefully um I hopefully I can make them um useful minutes and make good use of my time. Um In terms of >> [sighs] >> So we come we come before you guys every year to do what we call required communications to governance. So, there are certain standards that we're required to follow. Um Ms. Bidel already went through a lot of the timeline. She uh she speaks uh the truth when she says this is a year-long process because we did start the 2025 audit back last April and here it is the last almost day of March and we're um or next to the
049last day of March and we're just now doing the presentation to the board. A lot of work goes into um you know, the entire audit. Um we're not on-site the entire year. I'm sure you ladies are thankful for that. Um but um we they do prepare an awful lot of information for us that allow us to do procedures both remotely as well as on-site. Um in terms of other required communications just to outline the scope of our audit services. So, we're hired by the board to perform the audit in accordance with um US generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards and uniform guidance standards. So, there's three different sets of standards that we audit you all under. We're also hired to um complete the procedures necessary to um complete the USFR, the uniform system
050of financial records compliance questionnaire, which that is the document that the office of the auditor general issues. Um they do the ultimate review of the compliance requirement and make a determination whether the district is substantially compliant with the rules and regulations set forth by their office. Um our responsibilities as auditors um related to fraud um you know, a lot of people have a misconception that that is what our job is is to find fraud. That is not what the auditor's job is. Our job is to make inquiries of personnel including governing board members. We always speak with at least one of you every year as part of the audit procedures. Um we conduct a lot of interviews. Ultimately, the responsibility for um fraud and prevention measures rests with you all in this room at the
051dais and um you know, the members of the the district's um staff as well. Um we ultimately are hired to issue an opinion on the financial statements. So, that's what our goal is. Um in terms of other required communications, you did have to implement a new accounting standard this year. I think every year lately there has been at least one new accounting standard that was implemented. This year it was statement number 101. Um that it was called compensated absences and it changed the nature of how the district's um vacation and sick leave type policies that you all um implement here at the at the board level um for time off for employees and there was a huge lift that had to be done by district staff. Um this was definitely not one of the easier
052standards to implement, but um it changed the definition of what's considered a liability to the district with respect to the amount of paid time off that your employees are allowed to either use or will get upon termination. So, separation of employment. So, we did um there was like I said, a a huge lift and um kudos to the staff here at the district for um to you know, putting putting in place all of the measures in order to implement that complicated standard. So, um that's that's that was a big um a big undertaking this year. Um every year in financial statements, there are significant estimates that occur. The two most significant estimates that are reflected in Dysart Unified's financial statements are the useful lives of depreciable assets. So, when you talk about a bond earlier
053and you're talking about, you know, purchasing you know, like HVAC equipment or replacing HVAC equipment, those you know those things have a finite life and so that is what we're talking about when we mean the estimated useful depreciable life is how long do we think something like an HVAC is going to um last. And then the other um significant estimate is the assumptions used in the actuarial valuations for the state retirement pension plan. So, every employee of the district um that qualifies participates in that plan and that plan provides estimates for the district that then ultimately end up in your financial statements as well. Um we are required to indicate whether or not there were any significant audit adjustments that were required to tell the board about. We had no such um no such audit
054adjustments that require disclosure to you this evening. We do also as external auditors um perform some non-audit services. Those involve the assistance with the preparation of the actual financial statements, the schedule of expenditures of federal awards, the related notes to those documents, and then also um assist with the preparation of what's called the data collection form, which that is related to your uniform guidance. It's an online portal system to the federal government that kind of recaps how much federal dollars you spent by which individual federal program. Um in terms of other required communications, I'm happy to report that we had no disagreements with management over financial accounting, reporting, or other matters. Um management did in fact provide the required representations at the conclusion of our audit, which um it's about a nine-page letter that's included
055in um a written correspondence to you all, so you can see those as well. And then as your independent auditors, we are required to maintain our own um standards of ethics, meet our profession's requirements, and one of those things has us um we we do a a constant assessment to make sure that we don't have any violations of ethical or independence um issues that we would need to report to you this evening. So, no no issues to report there. Um you have three different reports that we issued, so those are listed for you on the screen. The largest being the annual comprehensive financial report, that's your financial statements. And then those other items. Um for you um if you're looking at a PDF version of any of the reports tonight, I've I've pulled out a
056few different page numbers for um what I think you might be interested in. Um I'm most interested in of course page 20, that is my letter to you. It is the independent auditor's report, which does in fact have an unmodified opinion. That's the best opinion that you can get. Um and then there's some other um page numbers that I highlight for you that will help um direct your attention. The um annual comprehensive financial report is over like 120 pages long, so it it can get a little uh it's a little wordy at times, a little bit like me. So, those um those uh page numbers will help kind of zero zero in for you um some different places where you might um you know, pay a little bit of attention. Related to the single audit.
057So, I mentioned a uniform guidance audit. That is your essentially what's called your federal audit and um we on page 10 of that report, it's it's a much smaller report but equally wordy. Um there is what's called a schedule of findings and questioned costs and that recaps all of the findings that we had within the district if they were significant and also tells um the reader and the federal government what federal programs we tested. So, I'm happy to report that we had no deficiencies in that report, so you'll see no deficiencies. And um then it the two federal programs that we looked at this past audit cycle were the Title I grant and what's called the supporting effective instruction instruction grant and that's um it's it's a it's it used to be called improving teacher
058quality. So, it's a lot of your um learning opportunities for your teachers. So, professional development for teachers. So, we looked at those two federal programs and also had no non-compliance issues to report there. Um so, lastly, the uniform system of financial records um this is the document I mentioned earlier that the state auditor will look at to determine compliance. I point out that there are quite a number of pages of compliance requirements that we have to design audit procedures for to test and they range they run the whole gamut. You know, we look at things like did your board meetings were they properly noticed um in terms of agendas and that type of thing. Um we look at things like procurement, student attendance, um uh you know, did you like your payroll? Are you Are
059you paying your people in accordance with the contracts and the policies that the board established? So, it covers quite a number of different areas. So, lastly before I turn it back over to Francy, I just want to give a huge, you know, shout out to everybody at the district, Ms. Bidel, um Lisa's in the back back there, and Francy. Um they do uh a lot of work in getting everything to us in a very timely fashion so that we're able to issue the reports on time. And then one more time, we're looking forward to new accounting standards that have to be implemented. They should not be I've been told by, you know, the GASB people that they don't expect these to be as heavy of a lift, but we'll we'll let you know next year
060how heavy of a lift they are. But the district um does have two more um two more um audits or accounting standards rather to implement this coming year. And so with that, I'll turn it over to Francy. Thank you, Jennifer. Uh so, this is a summary of those questions from the uniform system of financial records compliance questionnaire. Uh there's about 171 questions and uh you can see that as a district, we have five audit findings. Um I think that that is something very to be be very proud of for especially for the size of district that we are. Um of those findings, uh we had one that was related to a conflict of interest audit finding. And so, uh we have put some uh provisions in place to ensure that we can uh monitor that
061a little more closely. We've worked uh with our HR team and with the finance team to accomplish that. We had two in property control, and so uh we you can see there the district action taken to be able to address uh those two audit findings under property control. And then we had two in student attendance, and uh we also covered the district action taken in order to be able to address those audit findings. Um all of those items have been put in place. We do have one more outstanding item that hasn't been put in place yet related to student attendance, but we are anticipating that as a system enhancement uh that's been created uh that has been asked of of our provider for the July 1 uh start date. Um with that, I would like
062to say a uh thank you um to the finance team for the hard work that they do, all of those individuals out at school sites who do finance work um as far as cash handling and things like that, but I'd also like to take a moment to thank our governing board and our cabinet for your support in financial compliance. Without your support, we certainly um can't do the work that we do and would not have the audit results that we have. So, thank you. I will stand for any questions. Thank you very much for all your guys' work. Uh very much appreciated, and here's looking forward to the new accounting standards, right? Mr. President, I just want to thank our our business department, our our accounting team, everybody involved, Francy, Marydel, um everybody over there.
063They do a wonderful job, and um you know, you hear a lot of stories, and those stories are not true in Dysart, and that's uh obvious when we get an audit like this, and and they work hard to do that. So, I appreciate all your efforts, and I just want to say thank you. I'd like to say thank you, for all your hard work. Thanks. Thanks so much. All right, motion to accept the financial audit and compliance questionnaire from Heinfield, Meech and Company, P.C., Certified Public Accounts for fiscal year ended June 30, 2025. Second. Motion carries. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yep, motion carries. Thank you very much. >> [snorts] >> Next item on the agenda is recommendation to approve the Grand Canyon Education, Grand Canyon University, and Dysart Unified School District Number 89 memorandum
064of understanding. Thank you, Mr. President. Dr. Asai will take us through this uh topic. Good evening again, Mr. President, members of the board. It's my pleasure tonight to present on the opportunity we have with Grand Canyon University and Rise 360. Rise 360 continues to build our education pipeline of people going into classrooms in Dysart. It is an learn, earn, and return pathway for our current high school students. It is a structured program, really kind of bridging kids from being classroom students to classroom teachers, and it is designed, it says here, to be completed in two to 2.5 years. Um that is correct. That's how much time it could take. However, the way we have it mapped, if students earn their associates in high school, they would the next year uh be learning at GCU, and
065the next year they would return to us, and they could opt to get paid for student teaching. Rise 360 is a way to grow our teachers uh from the time they're really in high school. It addresses the teacher shortage that we know we continue to have. It gives them mentorship uh from GCU uh comes out and helps them with all kinds of things. We have opportunities to go to GCU's campus and to see their teaching program in action. They help with our dual enrollment and early exposure. There's also some financial incentives. GCU does have things like the President's Scholarship and things like that. This also adds to that, and they can get up to $2,000 a year uh for entering into the Rise 360 program. Uh this is kind of repetitive in nature. I apologize
066for that, but it does address the teacher shortage, uh and we keep going there because our universities continue to graduate less and less uh students coming out of programs. We have mitigated that in Dysart some with our EPP program, but we know it's better to go through a full 4 years if we can. We know uh our preference would be for them to have an idea of what they're doing and really focus on those education classes all the way through. I reduces financial barriers through tuition support and other incentives. GCU representatives would work with our students on financial aid and other scholarships available to them. Uh they have the opportunity in this program to build leadership capacity from within the school system both with and our clubs. Uh we would have a future educators club.
067We already have a campus that has that, but we would do it on other campuses for students who are interested in exploring more about what it means to teach. Uh finally, we would continue working with GCU, who's already a partner of ours, with our dual enrollment. The process is fairly straightforward. Um our counselors, teachers, administrators would share this opportunity uh with people who are coming into our high schools, with parents, with students. Hey, have you ever thought about teaching? We have a program for you where 2 years after, at the age of 20, you can be in a classroom teaching, uh getting paid, getting invested in the Arizona State Retirement System. Uh it encourages kids to take dual enrollment classes. We know that kids who do dual enrollment classes have a higher attendance uh rate
068after of going to college. We also know that those classes tend to be more rigorous in nature and getting our kids where we want them to be academically. There is help with the formal admission process to GCU. Um if you've ever had a kid go to college, you know that the admissions process can be very confusing. It gives us some extra support with GCU representatives kind of shepherding our kids from our um our system to GCU. However, they have assured me, because we also have a similar program with Glendale Community, that it doesn't compete, uh that their goal is to just promote education within our ecosystem, whether they go to GCC or GCU. And there's also an accelerated progression through coursework, a kind of that goes at their pace. In essence, um the earn, learn,
069and return program is just a way to get more exposure uh to our students of really what it's like to be a teacher, the opportunities and the pathways to get there. It formalizes that. That's all I got. >> [snorts] >> Thank you very much. Are there any questions? So, I was reading the memorandum of agreement, and the students are going to be paying for that dual enrollment on the GCU part, correct? >> Yes. Is there any guarantee, are we going to have an agreement with them that they're going to come back and do that teacher training here to try to boost our teachers or >> Um GCU, the whole idea is that kids can live at home and go to school, so they avoid that having to pay to pay for housing on campus. So,
070they don't sign an agreement. Um they're obviously paying their own tuition, so they can choose wherever they go. Okay. Thank you. I think it's a great great program to you know, just to get new teachers and which we always need. We always need teachers, members. I Yes, we do. I move to approve the Grand Canyon Education, Grand Canyon University, and Dysart Unified School District 89 memoran- memorandum of understanding. I second. >> [snorts] >> Motion carries. Next item is the 2026 summer school and summer learning staff compensation structure. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh tonight, Dr. Asai will outline our summer learning for this summer, and as you know, uh the governing board has to approve our compensation structure, so our employees um can work summer school. Um that is outside their normal contract. So, with that,
071I will turn it over to Dr. Asai. Thank you. Um presenting again. Uh summer workshop, summer learning, and summer school. We titled these uh very specifically uh to delineate between the three programs. It's kind of ironic. My husband asked why I was presenting on this, because summer should be a time of rest, and I tell him it's my busy season. So, going into First, we have summer workshop. Uh summer workshop occurs the week after school. It is 4 days of adult learning, and it's really focused around the PLC process. Um in the past, we've gone to Las Vegas. Uh this year, we're doing it at home. Uh we are bringing in some experts, but we also have internal experts. Our principals and teachers have developed a range of expertise uh in the PLC model. Day
072one will be PLC uh PLC focus. I think we have about 22 sessions lined out for the PLC focus day. The second one is best instructional practices. Day three, we will focus on our curriculum at revisions and assessment. And day four, teachers all go back to their sites and start putting that together into their school plans. So, how can we talk take what we've learned the last 3 days and really put it into action for next year? That way when they go back, they do take their vacation, they come back really well planned. Uh we're excited for this opportunity. I think we had over about 50 people put in applications for best instructional practices and it's neat to see our teachers that we took to Vegas last year really come into their own and say,
073"Okay, now I'm ready to present to my peers." which was really our overarching goal was to build capacity. Uh so, we are excited for summer workshop. Teachers are paid at a per diem rate. That means everybody's paid differently depending on what pay you get per year divided by your number of days. Uh so, it is lucrative to teachers to attend summer workshop. It also benefits them. I will add um as usual, all the governing board members are invited to any of those days as you were the the PLC conference. It's it'll be a great great time to see our our employees in action. So, you're all invited. Uh secondly, we are trying something new the week after the 2 weeks after and it is called summer learning. As opposed to summer workshop, which we really
074expect for about 80% of our staff to attend, these are smaller sections uh sessions really focused on our needs for next year and building adult adult learning. Uh it is paid hourly and our sessions will be on June 1 through 4 called the math behind the standards targeted at teachers in grades 6 through 8. We know some of our lowest math scores occur in grades 6, 7, and 8. Uh sometimes we don't have teachers that that do as well as we can in 7th and 8th grade probably with the standards and the depth of complexity of the standards. So, we really wanted to provide some scaffolds for them and some learning for them so they really understand what is the math that goes into that. Uh an example would be when I taught math uh
075to 9th graders and I taught uh square roots, I taught it with nine, we got a three and a three, the two became one, and they went out of the house. And I had a teacher who was a grade level above me who told me if I ever did that again that we would have problems because there's a reason things work square. So, we really want them to know that it's a 3 by 3 squared and that's why it is the square root. Uh so, we will be teaching what is the real math behind the standards and not just tips and tricks to get kids through the test. On June 8th through the 11th, we are doing two different sections on direct instruction and active engagement. As you know, our models for next year, we
076are moving to a more I do, we do, you do a guided practice direct instruction model. We want to get part of our staff create really like experts in this field that are going back to their campus. Uh we will do it in grade bands. So, what does good direct instruction look like in K2? What does it look like in 3-5 math, 3-5 ELA, 6-8 math, uh 6-8 ELA and at high school. The other component to that is active engagement and what does good active engagement look like because we know students need to be active in their learning. Uh some students don't get as much active engagement as they need to and it's a lot of sit and get. So, we want to make sure we're equipping teachers with putting the cognitive load on the
077students and having the students do the work with those active engagements. Uh we are limiting capacity because we want it to be really cool and the thing to do in the future. Uh so, we're trying to do a limited number that way we make sure our training's effective, but we also create some excitement around it. Finally, for our students, we have the ever popular summer school. Uh high school summer school will be at Valley Vista. The target audience for summer school are credit deficient students. So, if I failed algebra one, I get the pleasure of paying for it in the summer and taking algebra one again. Uh it's good for the student because they don't have to take it during the year and it opens up their elective. Uh high school iSchool, it actually starts
078very soon in April. So, we do offer uh high iSchool to our incoming 9th graders if they want to clear PE, algebra honors, geometry honors, or Spanish one two. There are criteria. The kids that take that have to have been in the highest level of the state testing. We don't want to set them up for failure. We want to set them up for success as far as the math goes. Uh they can't take PE and they can't take Spanish one two. Our success rate with the 9th graders taking those classes has not only been good in the class, but we've actually looked at the next level. If they took honors algebra, we've looked at how they've done in honors geo and our results have been good. So, we want to continue that practice. Uh we
079also allow iSchool for students who are working to get ahead with the core or in need of elective credits. We do not allow iSchool for repeaters. Uh we just don't think it's a good practice. If I failed algebra one face-to-face, the chances of me passing it online, um that data is not very good for us. So, we're not going to do something that we're not having success with. The third version of summer school we have is we call it senior completers. So, we might have a senior that's a credit or two shy of graduating and instead of bringing them back the entire next year, we work to help them make up those two credits in a summer school version. New this year uh through federal projects is 7th and 8th grade math at Dysart High.
080Uh these are it is funded by title. So, 7th and 8th grade math is available to students in title one schools who did not show proficiency on AASA or had very low growth. Uh while we can't make them come, it's highly encouraged. Uh it's at no cost to them. Transportation is provided. And finally, we have a ESY. It's usually called extended school year for students at Kingswood and this is for students in special education that we owe services to or who can benefit from it and that's a team decision. The first two um high school um high school summer school and iSchool are fee-based for students. And I'll take any questions. Hearing no questions, I motion to approve the 2026 summer learning and staff compensation structure as presented. I second. Motion carries. Next item, board
081uh monitoring and adoption of policy chapter five, students. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh tonight we bring you our last policy or our chapter five. Uh tonight we do have four changes into policy 5207, 5214, 5215, and 5305. Um the rest remain um as presented and you had the redline version of the additions or subtractions from those policies. So, with that, I will stand for any questions. I have a question on um 5-305. And it's >> 305, okay. Um that last paragraph that's in red, I was just wondering why that was removed. It's kind of a long I'm sorry. I opened the wrong one. Excuse me. 5-305? Uh yes. So, that that one is um inappropriate use of technology. So, what uh we did on that one is refer back to district policy 3403 um and
082it's uh form 3403A, the procedure, where it exactly the the uh technology um the improper use of technology um switches all the time and that paragraph did not cover all of it. So, we refer back to the policy that has all the outline of acceptable use for students and not just a highlight in the paragraph. So, if you notice the green piece, "Students shall use district technology resources in accordance with district policy 3403 and form 3403A, technology use for students." That's where it ends. The rest of it was a summary of that policy and it did not cover everything. So, what we were doing is referring them back to the actual policy so it covers all of the acceptable use. Okay. So, you're not eliminating this, you're just No, we're not eliminating we're making it
083uh >> Okay. um more robust. Thank you. Not hearing any more questions, motion to approve policy chapter five as presented. Second. Motion carries. Next item is approval of policy revision. Thank you, Mayor Mr. President. I was asked to put this uh policy review on. It is not chapter five, that's why it's separate, it's chapter one. Uh this is an addition uh to a board member background check and the addition's in green where it reads, "Each board member may submit to fingerprinting and a background check on a voluntary basis." The district administration will follow as protocols for fingerprinting volunteers for submitting board members. Uh with that, I will stand for question or discussion. Yeah, I do have a question. I'm curious about why we've added to um the governing board's authority, responsibility, and immunity policy a
084volunteer um function. It's, you know, and on top of that, what was the intent and the benefit of including this? Um I was asked to get legal opinion on uh presenting this. So, uh the legal opinion was it had to be on a voluntary basis that the board did not have statutory authority to impose that on the rest of the board members. So, that had to be at a voluntary basis. And then with that, if you wants to be further discussion with the board, um that's how it wound up on a voluntary basis. So, the policies reading, each board member may submit fingerprinting and a background check on a voluntary basis. The district administration will follow its protocol for fingerprinting voluntary for submitting board members. So, are we what what are we saying with the
085district administration will follow protocols? What Cur- currently we fingerprint all volunteers that volunteer for this district that are going to volunteer more than 5 hours. They must go through a fingerprint and a background check. Uh, the district does pay for those background checks. Um, we always have. We continue to do that for our volunteers. So, that is stating that we will follow that same process should the board member want to be fingerprinted and get a background check, we'll follow those same processes. Just want to mention that, um, as a volunteer in the district, I have already submitted my fingerprints, um, through the volunteer process. And that's, uh, policy 3 tech 401, correct? That guy is the governing policy. for background, uh, fingerprints and background checks for volunteers. I would have to verify that. I don't
086have that up, but possibly yes. So, why would we not just recommend, you know, like we did the previous redline where we just refer back to the current policy for volunteers? That is a good question. This was written by our legal team. So, um, if 3401 is for volunteers, I'd have to go back and look at that. Um, we could do that. I could seek further input on that or if if that's for employees, I do not have that up. I can look at it real quick. Also want to mention that as a volunteer for the school district, you're typically, um, you might be assigned to like a small group of of students. As a board member, anytime that we're entering a school as in our capacity as a board member, we're not just let
087on the loose to go run over wherever we want. Um, we are usually you know, uh, accompanied by cabinet, uh, Dr. Croto as we tour schools, interact with staff, interact with students in a very public way. Um, I have no interest in governing other school board members in my capacity as board member, I will not be supporting this. I think holding the school board accountable just like we do visitors is to me is a is a good good idea. I mean, we set the standard. Let's set let's set the standard high. So, if I'm hearing you correctly and if I'm not, please correct me. You're saying we should be doing this because other people are doing it, but you've put in a policy that it's voluntary. Well, it's basically be what Dr. Croto said is
088because we can't force anyone. I would have actually wrote this that it's highly recommended that board members follow this. But legal wouldn't do that, correct? I don't know. I didn't talk to legal. Because we got the email in February that legal did not confer concur with mandatory. And that's the legal's opinion. Oh, okay. So, did we also want to recommend, if we're going to do this, the ARS 512 requirement for background checks? This is what I was provided when I went to the legal resource, so she did not provide any ARS statute with that. I think she's saying to should we also mention that, you know, how we link back to different statutes? Correct. >> within our policy. I think that's what member Dusto just saying. Correct. Thank you. Did legal ever say if, um,
089if the background or the fingerprinting came back with that was questionable, what does the board do or the district do? They did not. I believe it's in that brief that um, I I do not know that. I do I do not have authority over you to um, to to do anything with the information, really. So, I I do not know that. This is entering in a territory that's, um, not [snorts] been done, so um, I I'm new with this with just with you all, so going based on uh, finding out the information and and, um, you know, a- figuring out if we'd like to do this or not. I can certainly go back with more questions and should you have more questions, I I can do that. I I have a question that may you
090maybe you could add to that because I know that there was recent legislation where convicted, um, I I don't know if I'm getting the language right, but like a convicted pedophile or maybe somebody who's subject to the sex registry cannot serve on a school board. So, hypothetically, if somebody ever sat on this board that somebody, hey, there's there's a sex offender, what do you do? How do you how do you enforce that? I assume you don't. I assume that you go somewhere else to the county superintendent or something. >> That's correct. >> That's not something you're going to do. That is correct. >> come up come get my boss off the board. >> [laughter] >> I I do not have statutory authority to >> neither do we. But neither do we. You don't, we don't.
091So, why are we setting this policy? It just seems Right. And I mean, I I'm not against, but the voters vote for who they want, right? We're a elected position. So, to me, if we're trying to look at doing this and, you know, I agree, we don't want sex offenders or pedophiles or anybody like that, then go to the legislature and make them put in a requirement that if someone's running for school board, they have to have this done prior to and make it a state regulation and a requirement before we get put on the ballot. But to me, to govern and and per the legal letter we received in February, she said it's non-enforceable. So, to me, that why are we doing something that we can't even enforce? Once again, that's a legal opinion.
092Not all legal opinions are fact. So, just want you to remember that. >> [snorts] >> Are we saying that we don't trust our current attorneys? I'm saying that she's been wrong before. Not hearing any more questions. Motion to approve policy 1-102 revision as presented. Second. Motion failed. Next item is request for future agenda items. I would like to request a future agenda item to discuss the school board members' position on the ice facility. Okay. Thank you. Next six, uh, item I, executive session. Motion to convene to an executive session. Second. Motion carries. >> I will reconvene the regular meeting. Next item is action and discussion continued. Action regarding the recommendation for compensation increase through salary increase for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. I second. Yeah, I'm sorry. Not I'm my motion. I said action. I'm a
093yes. I closed voting. Yeah. Motion carries. Next item is action regarding the recommendation for compensation increase through a rep retention stipend for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Motion to approve the retention stipend of 3% for the 2026-2027 fiscal year for current year or for current employees. Second. Yes. Motion carries. Next item, motion to adjourn the meeting. Second. No. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned. >> I did.