001Good evening. At this time, we'll start the uh governing board meeting. Let the record reflect that all board members are present. And this evening, the pledge of allegiance will be led by kindergarten students from Miss Christina Viega's class at Luke Elementary School. Come up. Here they come. [Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible. Liberty for all. [Applause] >> Good job. >> Wonderful job students. Thank you. As a result of an event that disrupted our most recent board meeting, I will be reciting our recently revised public meeting notice. While we have displayed this notice prior to all board meetings, I felt the need to remind our community of the following. Public meetings are an important component of DAART Unified School District.
002Governing board members sit together on a common platform to exchange views and opinions and reach solutions benefiting the DAART community. The behavior of participants and guests at a governing board meeting is important to the successful governance of the district. Daart respects the first amendment rights of the community members to share their comments with the board through civil discourse. In that vein, the following rules will be followed. All present will demonstrate behavior that reflects respect for self and others. Disorderly conduct that interferes with the education processes of this district is not allowed by Arizona Revised Statute 13-2911 or by board policy. Failure to comply with reasonable requests to cease disruptions from the work of this governing board will not be tolerated. If any person engages in disorderly conduct, an immediate recess of this lawful meeting may
003occur with those behaving in an offensive or abusive manner being identified, warned, and requested to stop all disruptive distractions which have prevented transactions of this lawful meeting. Thank you. And first up, we have our public hearing. Dr. Croto. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh, tonight we begin with a public hearing for our fiscal year 2526 expenditure budget. Um, and that is Miss Mary Del. >> Good evening, Madam President, members of the board, um, cabinet and community. Tonight, we are here to present the first budget revision for our fiscal year 2526 school year. um as required by statutes, we are required to adopt a budget by July 15th, which the district did do. Um and then we usually have a revision by the December 15th time frame. However, as we noted earlier in our previous budget
004presentations, at that time the legislature was still in session. And so, um we are revising it by now a September 15th deadline by the state in order to incorporate those changes that were approved at the legislature. And so also they issued new state budget forms and so we had to ensure that that information is captured there. So tonight we'll briefly go over the the largest changes that were the result of legislation um that are embedded into the budget. So you'll see those three items there. The base level change went up 2%. So that is the per pupil funding we received. So that is now at 5,11326. Um additionally prop 123 came to an end. Um however it was replaced with state supplemental state funding from the state general fund. Um and so our estimated amount
005for this year is approximately one and a half million. And we are we are receiving again that one-time uh free and reduced price lunch that FRPL and their district additional assistance. Those are two state supplemental fundings that come in uh totaling approximately 1.3 million. It is based on actual student counts. So this is our best estimate at this point in time and again in future revisions we will be updating the the projections for that. So those items were added into our maintenance and operations fund. So that's where you see our total budget limit now from our adopted budget to our revised budget is going up to 222.26 million. Um a change that you'll note on there now is on these new state budget forms there is a section of budgeted carry forward that they want
006districts to now include stating what is our estimates that we have embedded. And so we do have our board adopted policy to ensure that we have at least 4% of our budget limit um set aside as reserves. We do as a district have above and beyond that. However, we are just reflecting the minimum amount of our budgeted carry forward. And so you do see that that line item there. So it's a little bit different. So when you do compare it to the adopted budget, it looks as if those programs above have less budget, but that's because the carry forward used to be embedded within those line items. So pulling it out is just um giving it a little a different look. However, all those programs continue to be supported as previously planned. The next two
007items are our capital funds, our unrestricted capital fund. We did have either various projects or just final um equipment items that were not received by fiscal year end that we did carry forward. So that is the largest difference that makes up that $800,000 increase or so. And our emergency building uh renewal grant fund, it reflects projects that are approved through the school facilities division. Um it has an updated amount of 3.6 million which the board is aware we have primarily two large projects that have been approved through the state and that's the Kingswood roofing replacement as well as our Marley Park chillers. So those two projects are expected to be finalized this year and that's what makes up the the largest majority of that amount. Finally, our classroom site fund um it was revised to
008account for actual expenditures that occurred during this incumbrance period of July and August and it was related to performance pay. Um, so we did update that amount because now we have a decreased carry forward amount. So that's really the only change that affected our classroom site fund. And then our special projects funds, those are um the the multiple funds I usually see on page six of our detailed budget reports, which the board does have in advance. Um really the largest change was or the only change was in our federal grants and that's just updating um grant balances and we will be receiving updated or final allocations once the state approves all those grants and we update for carry forward. So you will see that at our December budget revision and as always we have our
009annual financial reports page on our budget website. I try to promote this and I'm hoping to get more viewership there but um everyone's welcome to go see all that information. We update this for all the budgets and our annual comprehensive reports etc. So, at this point, it is a public hearing. Um, but I'm happy to answer any questions. Do we have anyone in our audience at this time that would like to approach the board with a question? Hearing none. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. At this time, I will move to um item B1 and I move to adopt the agenda as presented. A >> second. Motion carries. All right, moving to recognitions. Dr. Cto. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh, tonight we are back. Our students are in action. Our schools are hopping and,
010uh, excuse me, our performances are back. So, tonight we have a special guest. You can see them. And, uh, Mr. Mui will introduce our guests. Thank you uh Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Croto and guests. Uh we are very fortunate tonight to have the Shadow Ridge marching band with us and that's under the direction of Mr. Kerwin Forest. [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] you. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, let's go. That was awesome. Thank you so much, B. Thank you, Mr. Forest. Thank you. All right. Next up, we have audience with individuals. >> 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
011to 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 three minutes will be imposed for each individual or group addressing the board. When you approach the podium, please state your name for the record. First speaker is Michael Planete. Mike Planetta. Okay. Uh good evening, Madam President, members of the board. Dr. Croto. Uh I'm I just want to let you know uh who I am and what I'm part of right now. Uh I have a political committee called Citizens for a Better Surprise. I'm helping out with the two bond initiatives
012that are going to be on the ballot in November. Um things are going really well right now. Now we're probably about halfway through our fundraising and we've done that in a very short period of time. There seems to be a lot of energy uh with people wanting to be involved and help out uh because it's extremely important that we have strong public schools and it's been 19 years since we've had a a uh general bond passed and 19 years ago I was actually serving on the governing board uh when when we passed that but it's it's way overdue. So, I I I came here to really encourage our members of the board to really help get involved and be a part of this because we I feel the momentum and I think the the district
013does, too. We're we're getting a lot of people involved. Um I have Paul Bets as my political consultant. He's uh phenomenal. He's with uh High Ground uh FIN High Ground uh political consultants. And uh I don't know if you noticed if you when you came in, the signs are up already. We already got 100 signs up. the firefighters from Surprise not only have uh been great financial help to us, but they're also whatever we need, they're I you know, they said we'll put all the signs up. So, they're all up right now. Hopefully, they make it through the storms the next couple of days. If not, we'll we'll put them back up again. But, I just wanted to come and introduce myself to you and let you know uh how things are going. And uh
014I hope to see you guys uh in the front of this, too, helping us out because it's going to take all of us to get this passed. And I think we're going to do it. So, uh, that's all I had to say. I just wanted to introduce myself. So, have a good evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next speaker is Amy Houston. Not as not as tall as that guy. My name is Amy Huad. I'm a 23y year resident in the Daart district. And I became a Daart parent in 2004 when Marley Park opened and my oldest daughter started attending there. She was one of the few eighth grade graduates that had spent all eight years there and then she graduated from Valley Vista in 2017. My youngest is a Shadow Ridge graduate, the
015class of 2022. Uh she's now attending ASU and they both and Kelly's a graduate now working in law enforcement. Um, I have sat on PTA boards, booster boards, and continue to have much love and gratitude for all the teachers, coaches, and administrative team members that nurtured and built my children to be the people they are today. I've remained in contact and have friendships with many to this day. I have been an active community member, both in favor and opposed to passage of bonds and overrides. I have followed every superintendent change from Dr. Plutnik to our current Dr. Crudeau. As you can imagine, I'm attentive to each election of a new board member, and this is what brings me here this evening. I'm concerned there seems to be some toxicity in the ranks of our board.
016We appear to have some members that clearly have no understanding what their position is intended to provide the community and those they were elected to represent. There are board members attempting to use this position as a means to intimidate not only other board members but also leaders of the Elmarrage and Surprise City Council along with school district employees demanding they choose alliance with them over personality conflicts in backhanded and child fa childish fashion. Some are using fake social media accounts to smear the character of another. This is not a good look. In fact, it's the height of hypocrisy to use a fake profile, accusing another of just of just that while posting pictures of your own kitchen, exposing who you really are. You sit on the dis for nothing more than steering the governance of
017the Daart school district. Your duty is to the voter, the taxpayer, and most importantly, the students and parents in this district who send their children to school to be educated. They're not concerned with your petty personal opinion about each other, your political leanings, or your social media footprint. To know that a member of our community was assaulted physically by a board member spouse at the last minute at the last meeting accidentally on purpose is appalling and shameful. I've seen emails with the words, "Copy and paste this and send it to the superintendent with your name signed at the bottom directing someone else to send it as their own, demanding your agenda be followed." This is egregious and shameful. I read this quote somewhere recently. Elected officials have a solemn duty to represent the will of
018their constituents even when it conflicts with their own personal beliefs. This duty is not optional. It is a cornerstone of representative government. I will close with this. The dual the school district has grown by leaps and bounds over the 23 years I've been here. There have been hiccups and bumps along the way, but the previous board and some members of this current board have done some amazing things in this district. moving it forward while driving the focus to remain on education, fiscal responsibility, and accountability to those you serve while avoiding the pitfalls of political landmines and working toward an open goodworking relationship with the superintendent. A strong >> Thank you. Next speaker is Marray Cop Copeland. I apologize if I said it wrong. For the record, that's Marcy Copelan. No, that's okay. Okay. Uh, I
019apologize. Allergies, so I'm a little congested. Um, so I'm sure this was brought up maybe several weeks ago. I don't know if anybody's uh come up and talked about it or not. Um, I am beyond furious with the school board right now and every parent here should be. Um, your decision to eliminate bus services from my son and nearly 400 other students at Sonoran Heights is an absolute betrayal of this community's trust. And then to add insult to injury, you have the audacity to blow 500,000 on a lavish 3-day conference trip to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas for 197 employees. This is not just a misstep. It is a disgusting display of misplaced priorities and a slap in the face to every family struggling because of your choices. According to the Arizona Family News on
020August 11th, you cut bus routes to save roughly 500,000, forcing kids to navigate dangerous streets in 110°ree heat. while parents scrambled to rearrange work schedules and find rides. Meanwhile, you sent nearly 200 staff to a conference in Vegas, spending the exact same amount you claimed to save by abandoning our kids transportation. Dr. Croto, you defended this and called this fiscally responsible and highly productive. I've worked in the government, the federal government, and I know better. Budgets can be reallocated when the will is there. Don't insult our intelligence with excuses that the money was locked in some untouchable fund. That is nonsense. This isn't just about the dollars and cents. It's about what you value. You chose a glitzy Vegas trip where some staff were even spotted gambling during your breaks over the safety and well-being
021of our children. Even more outrageous, the school transportation department is allowing remaining bus stops to be placed next to houses of registered pedophiles, furthering endangering our children, and potentially violating Arizona's law 13 3727A, which prohibits sex offenders from residing when within 1,000 ft of school or bus stops in certain cases. Yet, your department's negligence allows these dangerous placements, putting our children at risk. How can you justify this reckless oversight? Attempts with the transportation department resulted in the answer of, "Well, if that's the case, we wouldn't have bus stops anywhere." You have defended this trip as highly productive. Where's the evidence? Dr. Kate Barnes, an educated researcher quoted in the report, said, "It's hard to justify expecting drastic student outcomes from a half million dollar 3-day event. Yet you sent 38 employees in 23, 98 in
02224, and nearly 200 this year alone. Each time escalating the costs while our kids lose out. How dare you prioritize this over getting our children to school safely. We demand accountability. Reinstate the bus services and reallocate bus stops. I'm sorry, relocate bus stops away from dangerous locations to comply with Arizona law and protect our children. Explain how this reckless spending and negligence were allowed to happen. Show us you care about our students by reallocating funds to where they belong. our children, not your Vegas vacations. The parents of surprise are enraged and we will not stand for this. >> Thank you. >> Surprise will hold you to the fire. Next up, we have item E one, student update. Dr. Cto, do we have a student update? >> Thank you, Madam President. Yes, we do. Tonight, we
023return with our student update and Mr. Musei will introduce our guest. >> Yes, Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Cronto. Uh tonight we have our first student update of the year and uh we obviously we have a student councils on each of our four high schools. Um they come together and meet as a district council and representatives. And tonight we have we are joined by Ben Trong. He's their speaker. He's a senior at Shadow Ridge High School to share some updates with us. >> Uh good morning madame president, governing board and Dr. Croto and cabinet. My name is Ben Trong and I'm the senior class president of student council at Shadow Ridge High School and president of our district leadership council. We held our first meeting two weeks ago focusing on our collaboration and
024collective planning for the future. During this meeting, members members sorry elected two new leaders um for our future dur um sorry we elected two new members reflected on the successes and the challenges of the past year and began initial preparations for the 2025 through 2026 school year. The school year began with a variety of spirited events throughout the district. Shadow Ridge celebrated its return with the Shadow Ridge Flies back home spirit week and a back to school assembly and shared details for our upcoming September 27th glow themed homecoming. Val Vista hosted a senior sunrise, a Spongebob themed spirit week and a very well attended back to school dance with up to 300 students and a homecoming set for October for 24th under the theme of Ode to Stormcoming. Willow Canyon scheduled its senior sunrise for
025September 5th and will hold its once upon a time homecoming on September 20th. Sundown energized students with spirit week activities, a home room competition, and announced a September blood drive. Daart is keeping momentum high with its chaos curriculum, spirit week this week with a back to school assembly on August 29th. They are also gearing up for homecoming with a parade on October 3rd followed by the dance on October 4th. Together, these efforts highlighted our enthusiasm to be back on our campuses and show and to show the leadership of our Daizart student councils as they set the tone for another great school year. Thank you. >> Great updates. Thank you. >> Good job, Ben. [Applause] >> Next, we have uh item E2, superintendent update. >> Thank you, Madam President. One quick update tonight. Um, I'd just
026like to remind everybody and invite everybody we're doing a um Daart Unified School District community connection tour on uh September 17th. It's going to be from 8 to 12:30. Uh it's for anybody in our community that would like to come in and check out the awesome things going on um in our district. We'll start here at 8:00 in the district office. Uh have a quick overview and a and a breakfast um and learn about the district. And then we will board buses and go uh to three of our schools to check out what's going on the schools, be granted uh be greeted, excuse me, by the principles uh and start touring the campuses, including going inside classrooms um and seeing what's going on in our classrooms and uh wa watch students be uh become really
027smart in our schools. So, um we are looking forward to doing that. It's a great uh opportunity and uh would like anybody in our community, it's open to anybody. We're trying to get the word out. um just a good time to come see what DAER is all about and the great things we're doing. So that's September 17th, 8 o'clock right here. And you can get more information online. And that's it for my update. Thank you, Dr. Croto. Next up, we have governing board update. >> All right. All right. I I want to give a thanks to the staff and community members that supported the uh the day um when the air conditioning went out at Marley Park. I know that you guys uh responded very very well with that. And I know that the staff,
028you know, had to react to it and just the community being able to pick up their children and we also to have the uh the off off-site location available for the children who couldn't get picked up. I really much appreciate it and want to say thank you. um and on conveniently I mean the the new units they're pretty much like right there getting ready to get installed and of course you know it has to happen the year goes out on it. So but thank you. Um also I would like to thank the staff and community members that supported the water leak at the Daart High School. It's been a busy busy august for maintenance and uh very very well done getting everything back turned on. I know there you I was talking to Dr. Froto
029there was a moment that he's like nobody breathe. We don't want this valve to go bad. So, you know, it it it went in and we were able to get place another order for a valve. So, very much appreciative on that. Um, and then that's uh that's all I have. Thank you. >> Um, I attended the Shadow Ridge School visit on August 11th. Um, I just want to say thank you to Principal Hester and her administration team um for a a wonderful welcome and then having the wonderful dialogue with your um with the teachers, the uh classified staff, the the students and the parents. It was a wonderful visit. So, thank you. And then today, um also visited Thompson Ranch. Um, Principal Kerr, I'd like to say thank you for allowing us to be there.
030Uh, another great visit um with his um administration team. Um, got to got to have great dialogue again with staff um teachers, parents, students. Just want to say thank you for the warm welcoming. I enjoy going to them. Learn a lot especially from the students. They're the best part. So, thank you. >> I also attended the um Shadow Ridge school visit and it was great to listen to the teachers, administrators and students and parents and hear about their enthusiasm for their school. And thank you to the principal um Mrs. Esther. Thank you. I just wanted to reiterate what um board member Scavara said, the maintenance of fixing the Marley Park, the families, getting the kids out and then the Daart High School. It was really incredible work to get that turned around so quickly. So,
031we appreciate it. Thank you. >> Uh I had the opportunity to attend the school safety summit. This was a local conference which focused on how Arizona schools can best prepare for critical incidents and the need for emergency operations planning. I just want to say that I am so proud of our district who was also um present for their commitment in keeping up to date with current trends, technology, and just securing vital dollars to ensure we're proper properly staffed and prepared. And that is all I have with that. I will move to item F1. I move to approve consent agenda items as presented. >> Second. Motion carries. Okay, moving to information discussion item H1. Dr. Croto. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh Tonight we start our what we called our CIP reports, our continuous improvement reports,
032which now we are calling school spotlights, which um will uh give you a chance to see the amazing growth that our faculty and staff are making uh with our professional learning communities and everything that we're doing to uh make students successful on our campus. And with that, we have two schools and Dr. Asai will um introduce our schools this evening. >> Good evening, Madam President, members of the board. It is my pleasure to introduce Principal Joey Toki of Riverview Elementary and her fantastic PLT. [Applause] All right. Sorry for those technical difficulties. Um, good evening, Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Croto, and members of the cabinet. My name is Joey Toki, and I have the distinct honor of serving as the proud principal of Riverview School. It is with great pride that I present
033this evening's PLC spotlight along with my fabulous fourth grade team. Tonight, I am excited to highlight the incredible work of our fourth grade team, Mrs. C., Miss Gowens, Mrs. Anders, Mr. Haynes, and Mrs. Hart as they share their journey with the PLC process and the powerful impact it has had on student achievement and their collaborative team culture. For the 2425 school year, our goals were clear. increase overall proficiency on the AASA assessment by 3% and reduce the percentage of students performing at the minim min minimally proficient level by 3%. In the pursuit of these goals, the fourth grade team centered their work around the three big ideas of a PLC. A focus on learning, a focus on collaboration, and a focus on results. Their commitment to this work produced powerful outcomes. a 20% reduction in
034intensive students as measured by the Aadian reading assessment compared to the same cohort's performance in third grade. A reduction in min minimally proficient students on AASA by 11% in ELA and 12% in math. An increase in AASA math proficiency by 6% exceeding the grade level goal. For our students receiving special education services, proficiency was 12% in ELA and 24% in math. a direct result of intentional collaboration between general education and special education teachers. 14% of our students in fourth grade show proficiency on the Azella. This team is a model of what's possible when educators commit to shared goals, intentional planning, and datainformed instruction. Their mindset is not one of simply meeting expectations. They are determined to exceed them with a laser focus on essential standards, targeted interventions, and meaningful enrichment. They also understand that this
035level of impact is only achievable through authentic collaboration and clear structures that protect and support their PLT time, ensuring that their students remain at the center of every decision. It is now my great pleasure to welcome our Riverview fourth grade team to share their story. A story of dedication, growth, and success through the power of PLC's. And I'd like to welcome to the podium, Mrs. C. I'm Mrs. C and I would like to share what we did in fourth grade as a team and how we collaborated. The four PLC questions were the framework for our meetings. What do we want students to learn? How we how will we know if they have learned it? What will we do if they haven't learned it? And what will we do if they already know it? During our
036weekly PLT meetings, our fourth grade team engaged in focused collaborative work to strengthen instruction and improve student learning. We looked at student work and cooldowns and when discrepancies or challenges were found, we worked together to adjust pacing pacing, modify lessons, and share successful strategies. This consistent cycle of collaboration allowed us to refine instruction, maintain alignment, and better support all learners. In January, we became very intentional in backwards planning by looking at the unit test first, then checking lessons and daily cooldowns to make sure everything was aligned to the essential standards. This made sure every standard was taught clearly and nothing was missed. Now, I'd like to welcome Miss Gowens to the podium. Hi everyone, I'm Miss Gowens and I'm going to share what we did to plan common formative assessments. During our PLT time, our
037team created common formative assessments based on essential standards and our backwards planning. We also utilized the data from our weekly cold read assessments and math cooldowns to create our common formative assessments and checks for understanding. As a team, we created these in Illuminate to give our students practice with similar types of questions that they would be seeing on our unit assessments and district benchmarks. By tightly aligning our curriculum, instruction, and assessments, students were already familiar with the assessment items and expectations. This alignment led to better prepared learners and more confident test takers. Now, I'd like to welcome Miss Anders to the podium. >> Thank you. I am Mrs. Anders and I will be sharing what we did in the fourth grade for our enrichment. We started by analyzing the data from multiple sources to identify
038those high achieving and gifted students which that directly addresses the PLC question number four. What do we do when students already know? As a team, we provided enrichment tasks and extension opportunities. These were specially designed assignments that we called math and read that were aligned to a standard that they have mastered. These were used to support lesson extensions during stations or after classwork was already done. Students were able to choose from a group of extension assignments that would help them further their learning on a standard or skill. At this time, I'd like to welcome Mr. Haynes to the podium. Good evening. I'm Mr. Haynes and I'll be sharing what we did in the fourth grade for interventions. We collaborated as a fourth grade team and also in conjunction with our instructional coaches to plan our
039small group interventions. After reviewing the data from Aadian reading unit tests, cooldowns, cold reads, and benchmarks, we found the immediate needs of our students in both math and ELA, which directly correlates to PLC question number three. What do we do when students do not show mastery? Utilizing a variety of resources including SAVIS interventions, illustrious math centers, read 180 and we were able to bridge the learning gaps of our students. Read 180 workbooks. Workbooks were used to teach our small group interventions. Each student had their own individual workbook in front of them while they are working with their teacher. Now I'm going to welcome Miss Mrs. Anders back to the podium along with Mrs. Hart. Mrs. Hart, our ESS teacher, joined my class twice a day, four days a week, and we co-taught the lessons as
040per the pacing guide. On some days, I led instruction while she circulated to monitor and support students with specially designed instruction. She was able to also provide immediate feedback to any student needing help and could step in to clarify concepts to the whole group if multiple students were confused. Other days she would take the lead in instruction and I would be able to circulate. Each week we sat together to go over the lessons that were being taught and the focus of each lesson. We were able to use our co-eing abilities to not only share the instruction but to also pull multiple small groups in our lesson time. Overall in the grade we were able to see growth in both our ELA and math benchmarks for not only the overall grade level but for ESS students
041specifically. At this time, I would like to welcome back Mrs. C. In our fourth grade classrooms, we created opportunities for academic conversations. These are structured discussions where students explain their thinking, they listen to their peers, and they build on one another's ideas. These conversations happen while students solve problems, sort information, or compare strategies. Academic conversations increase engagement because students are active participants rather than passive listeners. They strengthen academic language, deepen understanding, and help students respectfully reach refi respectfully refine each other's reasoning. Talking through ideas clarifies thinking and exposes students to new perspectives by making student talk central to learning. Academic conversations foster collaboration, critical thinking, and confidence in expressing ideas. skills that support both academic success and lifelong learning. The data showed significant growth from benchmark benchmark one to benchmark two specifically in math. We
042started implementing academic conversations in October right before benchmark one. Now I'm going to welcome Miss Gowens back to the podium. In our classrooms, we had students own their learning through interacting with their own data. When students own their learning through data tracking, they actively take responsibility for understanding where they are, where they're going, and how to get there. As a grade level, we implemented this strategy to help increase awareness of their learning, boost motivation, support goal setting, encourage reflection, and to build accountability. It was incredibly rewarding to watch a student recognize their growth over the year and see the excitement on their face as their data graphs grew and they were able to color in more of their data chart because their scores were improving. Students had a sense of pride and ownership in their
043learning and data. Tracking their data also helped them set goals between benchmark one and benchmark 2, which led to the growth of our students in both ELA and math. I would like to welcome Mr. Haynes back to the podium. In our commitment to increasing student achievement through collaboration, we sought the expertise and assistance of our instructional coaches. Together, we devised a robust plan to meet the needs of all learners in the classroom. After a careful analysis of formative assessments, we pulled small groups according to their learning needs. then delivered specific skill oriented lessons from SAVIS and followed up with an immediate five question common formative assessment. This routine was followed with fidelity and resulted in an increase in our student proficiency in ELA and a decrease in our minimally proficient students. Now, I'd like to
044welcome back to the podium Mrs. C. So what we learned through this process, our fourth grade team learned the value of intentional planning by following the PLC framework. We saw how starting with the end in mind, analyzing assessments, identifying essential standards, and aligning instruction resulted in greater clarity, consistency, and student success. This approach kept our focus on the most important learning targets and ensured that every lesson connected directly to our goals. Now I'd like to welcome Miss Gowens to the podium. What we will continue and adjust on our fourth grade team is committed to strengthening student learning by increasing academic conversations in math and ELA. As a team, we will continue to backwards plan around essential standards and open collaboration. We will adjust and build more time for analyzing student misconceptions and designing interventions. As
045a PLT, we will expand and share our process and resources across grade levels to strengthen vertical alignment. We will continue to collaborate with our instructional coaches, ESS teachers, and administration to ensure the needs of all students are met. Now, Miss Toki will come back for any questions. >> All right. Thank you. We will stand for questions at this time. I have one. Um, with regards to the 3% increase and decrease, that's great. How many overall on the students that you guys had, how many did not get to continue to grow that still stayed behind? Was there a percentage there? Did all children excel or move forward? I I honestly um member Destish I don't have the exact numbers at this moment in time but I would say majority of our students did show growth in
046in uh fourth grade um but in terms of the different levels of growth um I don't have that exact number at this moment but I could definitely get that to you. >> Oh thank you. No I was just wondering because it is impressive for the 3% but just wanted to kind of get more in depth on that. Thank you. >> Yes. >> An excellent job to you guys. I appreciate it. >> Thank you for your presentation. I just wondered, have you all attended the PLC conference in the past or >> I have gone um for the last three years, including this last year and um this past year, Mrs. C did go um as well. We brought a team of teachers and um I mean, I think Mrs. can talk to this as well, but
047it was extremely beneficial for our guiding coalition to be there uh to plan together to really set a vision for where we're going for our future um and to then bring that back and and be that guiding force at the campus. >> Um hello. Um I totally agree with Miss Toki. I was very excited to be able to go to the conference and it was very powerful from the first moment that we walked in and the stage was set from by Dr. Croto and it was this is what's happening. This is where we're going. These are the expectations. It set the stage for everybody and as we were sitting there and I think we stayed for like two and a half hours that first night just having that that meeting. It was really powerful to
048have everybody talking and having those conversations and seeing that the whole district was on board with this and the conversations that we had at my table. Um, just coming together and the things that we were able to bring back. Each day we gained more and by the end we were all on the same page with everything. We came back for our leadership meeting in August and we were included in decisions that in the past we would have never been included in. and moving forward with the team. We moved forward with everything that was given to us and I would say for our school it's 100% in with all the leadership team and the teachers are getting on board with it as we roll out the parts of it. So it was very powerful >> and
049you bring back the information to the other teachers that did not attend. Is that >> Yes. So we had our leadership team meeting in August and that was or in July sorry and that was all of instructional cabinet. we came up together, went over everything. Um, kind of talked about like the things that we want to bring out right away as an instructional cabinet. We brought it back to our our team. So, like I'm instructional cabinet for fourth grade. I brought it back to my team. I explained the things that we did. I showed them some of the slides. We talked about things and every instructional cabinet member K8 did the same thing if they were there. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. And members I if I can just add to that um it
050it's not bringing everything that we learned back just for that one meeting and then on. We the way that our leadership team meetings run is it's professional development for our team members to then continue to build that capacity within our teams. So um it it's an ongoing professional development and cycle that we're in and um then provide individualized or differentiated professional development to those teams that maybe need a little bit more support. Um but we have a wealth of information and knowledge on our campus and again we're continuing to build that capacity on our campus with all of our teachers. >> Thank you so much for the presentation. It really sounds like it's a it's a shift in mindset, you know, for our staff, but also for our students. Just hearing, you know, how you're
051drilling down on the data with with students. I know we've done that in the past, maybe with dibbles and things like that, but I'm not sure that we've really done it as a as a district. Um, so that was really interesting to hear that. I had one question. You mentioned about co-eing. Is that something specific for um that classroom because maybe they had a high population or is that something you that you normally do at your site? >> Madame President uh Desour, um so that is something across the board that we do at Riverview. Um and we've gotten a lot of professional development on the different models. Um it is still ongoing professional development and learning together and really focusing on that uh planning, collaboration, implementation, looking at the data together as well. Um, but
052it is something we do K8, K through eight. >> I think it's awesome. Thank you. >> I have a couple questions. Um, under your data and evidence impact where it says having students vocalize their thinking through academic conversations. I absolutely love this. The picture that you have the kids up at the um the board doing the math. That's how I learned growing up. You'd run up there and they would give you a math problem and you would have to figure it out on the board and then if you needed help your the kids in the background would help you. >> So you worked as a team. I absolutely love this. So good job on that. And then when you talked about that the students own their own learning through the interacting um with their own
053data, are you doing stuff like um student le conferences? Oh good. I love those. Um I love them. My son has done them gosh since kindergarten. and it really shows ownership of their work and they love to be out there and presenting it whether you know whether they're doing good or they have improvements. So I absolutely love this. So good job. >> Thank you member Drake. >> Just want to congratulate Riverview. Good job. You were the first group to go in this new experiment and you did a really good job. So thank you for uh >> Thank you. Thank you for what you do and thank you for making a difference. We appreciate you a lot. Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to our second school, Dr. Asai. >> And our second school, even though
054that's a hard act to follow, is our very own Tigers, led by Rick Haney at Elm Mrage. That was really good. So, uh, good evening, mad, uh, madame president, governing board members, Dr. Croto, cabinet. Um, my name is Rick Haney. This is my 22nd year in Daart, and I've been at many schools, and I'm the proud principal at Elmarrage Elementary School. And this is my team. I have Amarie Johannes joining me, Kendra Wayne, Brianna Fragala, Melissa Gibson, Julie Selby, and our focus is cohort growth. As a K4 school, we only have one chance and one opportunity to show growth, and that's fourth grade. Third grade cohort to fourth grade cohort. Three years in a row, we got all 50 points, which is really hard to do. Um, and this is the team that got it
055done. >> Okay. Sorry. Uh we ch once again we chose this group because they are very adverse adverse at uh the state testing and and the formula HF formula. Um so we're very proud of them. Once again, uh, our goals are to increase, um, by 3% ELA from 43 to 46, from math from 54 to 57%. Decrease the number of minimally proficient students in ELA by 3% as well to 50%, increase reading achievement for all K2 school uh, students from uh, to 80%. So, they're going to be proficient for the end of year's dibble composite score. Now from Miss Johannes. >> Good evening. My name is Miss Johannes. I'm going to go over just some of our team actions and collaboration that we do here at Elarrage Elementary School. Uh so what we do, we
056have continuous PLC's. We've been at the PLC game for a while. If you don't know what a PLC is, it is a professional learning community. We are part of a PLT, which is we are a professional learning team within our own community. So our continuous PLC's, especially for fourth grade, we have them before school. We have them during our lunchtime. We have them on Mondays when we're meeting. So, we're constantly talking data. We're constantly talking kids all the time. Uh, this team is really good of our data digs. Our administration team gives us all the time to do these data digs. our math coach, our TLS, which is our teaching and learning specialist, also helps us identify those areas of strengths and our areas of weaknesses to help us on those data digs and gives
057us a time to meet in order to go through that data to help students. Our strategies and formative assessments, so we do do a reading CFA, which is a common formative assessment, and a math CFA every week. Our team has it so that we all stay on the same plan, if you will. We're on the same page. Um, being able to look at those CFAs and seeing where we are individually and as a team helps us decide where we put kids in small group. It helps us decide how to move forward. It helps us decide if maybe that backwards dying didn't work the first way we wanted to. We need to change it up or hey, this strategy was awesome and we're going to keep going. We also do have our tier two. We do
058a math and reading tier two. Um, we recently had our tier two down from twice. We have it once uh we have two days of reading and two days of math. So where we work on that and the kids are grouped in similar uh items that they need. It's called their win time. So it's their what I need time. So you have students grouped in that area. We do our response to intervention which is our RTI. We have monthly RTI meetings to discuss students who uh need maybe some extra support. We need to bring in uh some of our interventionists like our reading interventionists or our math interventionists to help. We also restructure those groups every three weeks, especially our tier 2 groups because once a kid understands their multiplication, they don't need to sit
059in that group longer. Let's move them up. Let's keep building them. Um, we always do our small group and retach after we look through all of our lessons. Thank you. Thanks. Hello, my name is Mrs. Wayne. Um, I'm going to talk about some of the data and evidence we've seen over the last couple years. Um, as they were saying, we've been a team for the last three years. Um, we did have a sixth for the last two years previously and so it's now the fabulous five of us. Um, if you look at the data, uh, the last three years we've continually gone up in our letter grade points. Um, 50 of those points come directly from fourth grade. um as they were saying in the K4 model um 50 points are given to growth and
060so we only have one opportunity to show that growth from third to fourth um this year or from last year hopefully we get that A again um we've grown at least five points according to what we believe our score will be um then looking at the overall proficiency we get 30 points from the proficiency which is third and fourth combined um we've grown continuously with that by earning three extra points this last year in proficiency um with our ELA data, we're at the same level as the state, so at 41% passing. And our school um data for math is well above the state, we're at 52% passing. And we grew by 11% from the previous year as an overall um third and fourth grade combined. Then looking more specifically at our math data, um just
061for fourth grade, we are above the district average for fifth uh for math, we were at 51% um as a fourth grade. And then continually we've grown um we have third and fourth grade side by side. The two green highlighted ones, the 2024, that's a cohort that we had last year. So they were in third grade, they were 36% passing in math, and then when they left us last year, we had 51% passing in math. Um, and we've just continually grown over the last several years. There was one year where we kind of dipped from third to fourth. Um, and I was actually on the third grade team and then I looped up to fourth grade and that group had gone from seven teachers in third grade down to five. Um, so just kind of
062the class sizes increasing. Um, we did notice that and that's when we really dove into what do these kids need specifically in those um, tier 2 groups and that intervention time. All right. Hello. So, here you will see um our data dig protocol. Um this is a form we use to help us dive deeper into our data and see where um what our students need. So, this helps us determine things like intervention and which students need um enrichment as well as identifying standards that we do well on or are struggling in. Um, this does help us drive instruction. And we can see some more of our data dig here. This is where we identify patterns and setting our goals. Um, so when we're in our PLC's, we're thinking a lot about our guiding questions. Two
063of the main ones we use during our data digs are what do we want students to know and how will they learn it? Um, and by looking at the standards and asking these questions, we are able to guide our instruction to do so. Okay. Good evening. I'm Melissa Gibson. Um I too have been in the district for a while like Haney. I'm 16 years ill and I can't imagine teaching anywhere else. I've been at Elmarrage all those years. So here we're looking at um proficient partially proficient proficient and highly proficient. And these are some math standards that we have here in fourth grade. So we look at what's the end goal? The end goal obviously is the highly proficient. So, how are we going to get those g kids there? That's where our rigor comes
064in and our differentiation. Um, we break down the the the standards to determine where students are and how we can move them up within the standard to be more successful. The higher the proficiency level, the more points we get. So, when we're reflecting, we have continuous growth. Uh, we're making adjustments as needed. Students are focused and driven data driven. And so everyone can learn. Can I talk about Kavon? Kavon. >> Yeah. >> So everyone can learn. Kavon is a student that started in the STC program at Elmarrage in >> Second grade. And he last year was in regular ed with us. Still, you know, one of our ESS kids. Uh didn't really struggle, but he's on the spectrum. So Kendra, you can explain it more. You had them. >> Oh, so Kavon was a student
065of mine who had um tested out of STC halfway through third grade. Um so he came up to me in fourth grade and he was pulled out for resource for math and reading. Um and he was just a student who wanted to do well. Every day he would ask um after benchmarks um Mr. Haney and Miss Ireland, our um administration team, they come around and give out medals to anyone who's passed benchmarks. and we really hype up that proficiency and highly proficient. Um, and he wanted a medal so bad and he had worked so hard for it. Um, and he we gave him one on like the second to last day of school. He went around and he was telling everyone about it. We got the data back the day after school and he had
066passed both math and reading proficiently. Um, so it was just a really big thing to see because we really do push for these ESS kids. Um, we work really closely with the ESS teacher. um about their goals and then also supporting fourth grade goals so that they're not falling behind while they're still filling in those gaps that they need. So it cave on is just our like story that we tell everyone. >> Thank you. Thank you, Kendra. Um again, she had him. So, uh I got to experience him in tier two time. So, he is a fun kid to have around. What we're continuing is our tier 2 math practice. We divide them up based on skill-based uh starting with addition with regrouping all the way to long division. So where they place on our
067placement test, we put them there. We restructure that every 3 weeks. Um if they don't pass, they stay in there again. If they do pass, we move them on. And then the teachers, we change up who is teaching those types of skill-based um things. We do the same thing with tier 2 reading. We use Achieve 3000. As their Lexile grows, obviously the rigor is increased for those kiddos. Um, we have expanded opportunities for enrichment. We currently have gifted, math challenge, and STEM club. Hi, I'm Julie Selby. Um, so, um, we That didn't go. Okay, so um, obviously we need to sustain this and keep this going. We constantly want the growth going and our kids to learn more and more. So, we are very thankful for our time for collaboration. We, as the girls mentioned,
068not only do we meet in the hallway, we usually eat lunch together. Um, we have common preps now, um, which we didn't always with six teachers. Three teachers were on one prep, three teachers were on another prep. So, now that we're down to five teachers, we have all of the same prep time. So it gives us an extra time to sit, go over data, um look at what where we need to go um with these kiddos and do the data digs at those times. Um in the past, we also had paid tutoring opt opportunities through 21 or 21st century grant which we no longer have. Um, we're constantly finding other ways to use funds to, um, get teachers paid to stay after school, come in before school, um, and do as much as we can
069for our students, you know, from 7:30 in the morning till 5:00 at night. Um, continued small class sizes definitely makes it easier. As Kendra had mentioned, having the larger classes, sometimes 30, 32, makes it hard to pull a group of six or group of five because you have to do several groups to meet all of the children. So, by having 20 25 students, um, or, you know, 26 as most of us are now, it's, you know, a matter of pulling four to five groups instead of six to seven. Um, it's much easier to differentiate, to meet all of their needs, to push them. Um obviously they look at their data, we look at their data, we all want them to grow. Um and we want to fill those gaps where they are struggling. Um sometimes
070it's a big jump for some of them and other times it's just little things that we have to fill in and then all of a sudden things click. We have a great um intervention time which is tier 2 and our tier three. Um, we have intervention which comes in through our soft start. So the teachers can pull small groups but we also have our specials teachers which are art teachers, music, I explore and PE. Those teachers step out of their comfort zone and come up and teach groups. Um they sometimes come in on their prep time and work with um groups. We have an amazing um e or English language teacher that grew so many students last year. Um as well as you know through our targeted instruction um that those that population grew drastically
071um and we have our math and reading interventionists that help us with a tier three after we're doing our tier 2 groups. So it's they get three levels of instruction. They get us for tier one, us for tier two in smaller groups and tier one for small groups. and then they go to an intervention um group sometimes which is our tier three. Then we have ESS support that pushes in and pulls out students um for with special needs. And we also have a gifted program where our um math coach is also helping us along um as well as myself. And we're pushing the kids to work on projects. Um not only the kids labeled gifted, but the higher percentage of students. So when they're done with their work, they can always improve and focus on,
072you know, getting up closer to the fifth grade or sixth grade level as well. So, just again, our school theme this year is going beyond our comfort zone, expanding our teacher horizons. Uh, we want all of our teachers on our campus to know that we want a growth. Doesn't matter where they came in, doesn't matter. We want to move them up and get them as far as we can. So, and that also goes along with our students. We want our students to know not just to settle, you know, okay, you got a 90%, so show me a hundred, you know, let's really work at it. So letting the students know that we need to also keep pushing forward. >> And then this is our team for the last couple years um in 2023 2024 which
073is the start of our um the growth that we kind of saw. Um so we had six teachers which five out of the six are still here. Then last year we did have six that was our um Halloween theme. And then this year was the start of our um year and we have our um a pair professional in there with us for our picture. But that's the dream team. But again, it does take everyone at our school, the interventionists, the specialists teachers. Um they're constantly the admin team, the leadership team is constantly giving us that time to really reflect so that we can grow our students and use all those resources around us. Um just for that to help grow them and get that success there. >> So at this time, we'd like to welcome
074you for questions. You can direct those to Mr. Haney if you'd like or we would love to answer your questions as well. Good job. Good job. >> It it is my dream team. So, one of the things they do really good really well is uh they get the best effort out of the kids. You know, you can go in a classroom and it classroom management is good and the kids look busy and they're working, but they'll give the work back and say you can do better. Miss Johannes was just saying you got a 90 let's get to 95, let's get to 100. So, they they're really good at getting best effort and that's part of our evalu evaluation system. It's called uh culture of learning. It's 2B and so they score really well in 2B
075because they get the best out of kids. Questions? >> I don't have a question, but I have a comment. I really like this slide, needs for sustainability. Um, because that's one of the things I I when I have my one-on- ones with my team members is one of the last things I ask them is like, okay, what's what's your impediment? What's stopping you? How can I help you? and for you guys to show the you know how you guys are working hard and then also say hey these are the things that help us succeed and we need to make sure that we continue it. So I very much appreciate that slide. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So excellent. Um bravo Zulu to you guys for the math scores. That's really impressive especially K34.
076My only concern was the ELA, right? And we've only seen in the last from a 39 up to a 41. Have you guys put in um more of a plan for this year to try to bring that ELA up for the students? >> Yeah, that is our our big target is the ELA. So for math, they have an accommodation in text to speech. So if you're not a good reader, if you can't read well, it'll read the question to the learner. And so there there's not an equal accommodation for the reading. So, but we do identify kids uh we work with them at their level and we try to level up as much as we can. We talked about a soft start group. So, my I explore teacher has a reading endorsement. Um and I
077have two reading uh interventionists and they meet with kids instead of doing duty in the morning. They're pulling kids for se 15 minutes a day, 75 minutes a week to try to get those kids reading scores increased. We also incorporate ELA standards into the social studies classes. So we can read about history, we can read about science, and then we can write about it. So that is a focus area for us. Uh going back to the math, we just had our first unit assessment for uh fourth grade, and we came in second in the district. >> Excellent. Well, thank you guys very much. I appreciate everything you're doing. So bravo, Zulu. >> Ditto. Ditto. Excellent presentation. Really loved everyone's energy as well. um with the just kind of piggyback off of what um board member
078Destish was saying. Do do you typically have a higher population of EL students? >> Yes. Um Madame President, we were second we were like two behind Thompson Ranch. >> Okay. >> Uh we were second lowest soio economic in the district >> as well. Uh so we had we came in first as far as title one schools. We came in fifth overall in the district as far as A to F scores. One point away from third place. >> I saw that. Congratulations. >> I am proud of that. Third place is our goal this year. >> Yeah. Just really impressive just based on everything, you know, you're already up against. So, I just appreciate all the work that you do there. >> Thank you. >> I just have a quick question. Are you seeing an increase from
079third grade to fourth grade coming in from for ELA and math to where you're pulling a lot of a lot more small small groups? um an increase in ELA could >> just in the students coming from third grade to fourth because it sounds like they're pulling a lot more um small groups. >> Is that >> um is it >> so this year in general we've noticed um in particular um that this year I mean I'm I'll just be very blunt. So we have a lot of really high readers this year that came in their dibbles. just did dibbles assessments and we have a lot of blue and green readers so they're highly proficient and proficient and then we were noticing that that AESA data didn't really reflect that. We have like I think 53% that
080were minimally proficient so they're not even at that partially proficient. So that's what we've really actually as a team been diving into more is we feel really strongly about our math tier 2 time um and how we move kids there. So we've truly tried to focus on our reading um tier 2 time. So we actually have um we've been given special teachers during an extra time. So we've now been able to take a lot of those red who are intensive readers and really need to get that fluency. So that allows us now to not have to work with them in a small group and we can really focus on pushing that comprehension because fourth grade is really that time where they have to start >> like okay I can read but like what did I
081just read about, >> right? >> So we're now we can actually focus on that comprehension where before we didn't have as many teachers to kind of spread out those small groups. So we were taking on a lot of that during that time. um we had like the resources and the tools and stuff like that but we couldn't do it in the classroom or now we can spread out those small groups and hopefully push that comprehension. >> Okay. Now, are you noticing with the lower grades too, the K through three, are are they utilizing the same program as the FAB 5 to >> So, this year, I think I believe our K3 is focusing a lot on reading because that's one thing we do go to them a lot and say everything we need because it
082does rely on us, but we can't do it if they don't give us these, you know, these kids that we can help grow, right? >> Um, so no, we they we work with all the instructional cabinet. We talk to them all the time at our staff meetings about how they can get there and they're focusing a lot, I know, this year on tier 2 for reading, >> okay, >> so that we can get them up there. >> Great. Thank you. >> Here we go. >> I just want to say that's great news. Thank you. >> Thank you. And so at our school, we have a couple catchphrases. So one of them is tigers >> roar. >> Kids say it all the time. And then we say when you miss school, >> you miss out. because
083the kids that don't grow are the ones that aren't coming and we know that. So, we need them to come to school. So, thank you very much. Appreciate it. I >> I just want to say thank you. Um you you continue to do amazing things. You have a great culture and a great learning environment over there. And um thank you for stepping up and and doing the re uh the board report. So, like Riverview, you guys are the first to go and you did a great job. So, I know it's not easy, but thank you and thank you for what you do. You're magical. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'd also like to thank you, Dr. Croto, for bringing this new uh format to the boardroom. Um, I'm really excited about the next the next
084ones. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Uh the next information item we have is information on Spalding. Dr. Cotto. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh tonight we continue with um information on Spalding um as the board has asked um and just a quick update by Dr. Asai on where we're at with the uh Spalding process. Dr. Assai. >> Good evening again, Madam President, Dr. Cto, members of the board. Um my presentation I just feel is going to be lackluster compared to that. But we'll uh but here we go. Uh this is your update on Spalding. Uh the objective of our presentation really is to update the board on the status of Spalding and DAERT. To remind you, we did a presentation in I believe May and we talked about that we're using the Dibbles tool
085uh which measures reading composite score percent of students at or above benchmark. You just heard Elmarrage refer to that. It's really dibbles is a measure of can students read. It doesn't go into how does the author move the plot along those standards that they were talking about on AASA. It's can I can I retell a story? Can I read fluently? How many words can I say per minute? We measure this three times a year at the beginning of the year, the midyear and the end of year. Uh Spalding is currently used to teach phonics at Freedom and at Countryside. It is not used as our sole tier one. Our tier one that really gets to those doubleASSA standards is our HMH series. Uh Spalding is used to teach our phonics um at Freedom and Countryside.
086Our other schools use 95%. Spalding um is supplemented with 95% for tier 2 at Freedom. Uh the board had asked to see everyone's scores for 2425. So, and the board's had this packet. So, I'm thinking that you had time to win go over it. we can go over it more in detail. Uh it displays the beginning of the year, the midyear and end of year data for each school. Um our focus for Spalding as we said is Countryside and Freedom. Countryside this was the second year um of implementation at their site for kindergarten and they finished at 68 which was just below the average. Uh Freedom finished at 91 which was our top school or our second school I'm sorry. Canyon Ridge was first and Freedom was second. In first grade, you can see the
087beginning year, midyear, and end of year data. Uh when looking at this, you'll notice our endofear data for first, and you'll see this pattern with second is lower than it is in kinder and uh kinder and third. We have a new reading coordinator, Rebecca Willie, who has some ideas around this in regards to explicit instruction and phonics and getting kids into books sooner. It is important to note in first grade the ORF is introduced as a as a measure of how well kids do. What the ORF does is it measures fluency. How many words can I call in a minute? And then in second grade the maze is introduced and the maze is retell. So it doesn't necessarily measure the same components from kinder to first to second to third. we add things on as
088kids should be reading more fluently as should they should be able to retell versus kindergarten where it's more phonmic seg uh what's the letter sound the letter names can I read nonsense words um and then our third grade we're back up to 68% by the end of the year um for this um countryside was not using Spalding Freedom was using Spalding uh we did have the opportunity to meet with the Spalding rep um her story is phenomenal um if you've heard her story, she did use Spalding to get great achievement at both a um a more traditional school and then she replicated that at a title school. Uh so we were really uh excited to meet with her as we had heard that they Spalding has new tier 2 resources. Tier 2 again is important
089to us because you heard them talk about the small groups they're forming based on deficits. That's tier 2. Uh when we met with her uh she explained to us in the Spalding resource center there are tier 2 resources uh which we were unaware of. Um I think Freedom was a little bit aware of those. They're not as direct as the resources we use now. Uh with the resources we have now it's a very if then if a kid is having trouble with short a then you teach this lesson. If a kid is having trouble with CBC words then you teach this lesson. This is more there's a bank of resources to use for tier 2 and the teacher kind of has to go in and find it. Uh we did have it listed questions after
090we met with her. Um she did offer to take us on learning walks. They've done some great work in Alhhamra that their white papers came out on. Um so we are interested to go and see how Spalding is working in Alhhamra. How do they implement that? and she did offer to come and walk with our sites to walk with both Freedom and Countryside and um Connie, our director of curriculum and with Rebecca, our literacy coordinator. We do have some pending questions that we posed to her. Unfortunately, she was traveling uh for the last week and a half. So, these are still outstanding questions. I was hoping to have some of these answers for you tonight. Uh but these are some things we want to continue and explore. So, I can't tell you we're to a
091place where we can say, "Hey, you know, these resources are great. Here we go. It answered all our questions." Uh so one was how does Spalding ensure that daily lessons align directly with the state ELA standards at each grade level including both foundational skills and grade level comprehension. Um she was talking about some schools are using it as a tier one. It's the way we use it is just for phonics. They do have an anthology. Um the stories are a little bit dated. I believe the anthology was from the 60s or 70s. Uh and some of the stories they recommend are out of print. So, if we did go in this direction, at some point in time, we would have to find some stories to supplement with, but I feel like we have to supplement
092with almost everything. So, not the end of our world. Um, our second question was, "What tools, rubrics, and processes does Spalding provide to help teachers track mastery of individual standards, not just overall reading proficiency." Um, and this was one of the things that they really grappled with at Freedom, is it wasn't necessarily aligned to a grade level comprehension standard or something like that. and you know how did how do we track those individual standards? It's kind of like, hey, you're reading fluently. That's great. You can recognize the CBC words. So, it wasn't um digging down as much perhaps. Uh she did say they're developing some new tools. So, we are interested in seeing what those come out to be. Uh how does the programs support diverse learners such as English learners, students below grade levels,
093and those with dyslexia while still keeping them engaged in grade level content? uh when you get the more comprehensive curriculums, they tend to have here's what to do with your ESS kids. Here's some additional support for your EEL kids to scaffold up so teachers don't have to go out and find their own resources. Um our elementary teachers plan so much a day that it's hard to plan for those four or five areas at three different levels. So when those um things happen in a curriculum, it makes it a lot easier. Uh what guidance does Spalding offer for identifying skills gap quickly and adjusted instruction? Currently our teachers are accustomed to using something called the paci. So when kids take the paci the first things they do is they name the letters and then they go
094and they name the letter sounds then they go and they read like CBC words then they read long a words and when they start missing things we that tool tells us exactly where that deficit is. In Spalding we it's my understanding we have a spelling test and what was the other one Connie? >> Huh? >> And a phonogram test. I'm sorry. So, it doesn't go as in-depth as our teachers are used to. Um, it could be a good thing, it could be a bad thing. It just it has a teacher bring more to the table with how am I going to go out and find the interventions without them being prescribed. Uh, the skill deficits again, how are they diagnosed with Spalding? Uh, we ask, can you provide a diagnostic tool that would help us
095identify something similar to the PASIS? That's really easy, especially for our our teachers who are EP teachers who haven't been to school. You know, this is what they're learning. uh they aren't necessarily reading experts yet, our first year teachers. So, is there a tool that would really help them just here's the problem and here's I know what to do. And then what specific aligned resources are available? Uh she is planning to answer these questions this week. I do believe she has um some answers for many of them, but like I said, we don't have them at this time. So, we kind of thought, what are our next steps? Regardless, we definitely are going to go and visit the Spalding classes uh with their representatives in Alhamra. We want to see what's Alhamra doing, you know,
096what can we learn from that? And she's going to walk our rooms at both Freedom and Countryside. Uh because why we've had internal observers, why Connie has been over to Countryside and Chantel has been to Freedom. We want those outside eyes because it always helps to have an outside perspective, especially from the company. Uh when all data is gathered, we'll reconvene to assess the resources provided. And by that, I mean, when she talked about the tier 2, we haven't seen the tier 2 resources. Are they going to be something that our teachers can just kind of go okay here's what I need or is it going to be I have these five things which one should I use um because we really almost need that if then uh we will which we could also create
097if we know the resources you know how easy might it be for my department to align them in an if then way. Uh will we continue we'll continue to evaluate Spalding in our district as our countryside kids roll up and we bring more people on board. And then we do want to we have not yet surveyed our staff. Uh now that we have all our staff back and they're kind of in the groove of things. Uh we do want to curve curve we do want to survey current Spalding teachers regarding their use of Spalding. Uh working with research. How easy is it for them to implement? Do they feel it's beneficial to their students? What does that look like? And also survey all K3 teachers about their interest in Spalding. Do Elmarrage teachers have an
098interest in transitioning over? Do Thompson Ranch teachers have an interest in transitioning over? So we can look at that and see are there places that we can expand it next year uh based on teacher interest because we know when teachers are interested they tend to expend more effort um when they want to do those things. So I will open it to discussions and questions from the board. I want to thank you for uh coming back to us with this valuable information um with uh with some of those questions that you had uh with the tier one because I'm under the perception that Spalding does now meet our state standards. I don't know if that's true or not. Um >> Spalding I believe meets the state standard. It meets some of the state standards, right? in
099terms of it doesn't have there in the state standards it talks about the six syllable types which it doesn't cover which we would have to make something to supplement um so we could take what's there and we would supplement the rest >> okay >> that's what we're doing at freedom right now >> yeah um I thought I thought that they this year that they actually like um got accredited to match our state standards >> they do have so they are approved as a what is it a tier one they do have the anthology it's We we still that's one of our questions still. Can you give us a map? We haven't seen a map to say okay this is exactly how it aligns. Um I think I'm turning to Connie to see. No, you can't.
100Yeah, we haven't seen it yet. We're waiting to see that. Um because we do want to make sure things are aligned because you're you passed it doesn't mean that everything's perfectly there, you know. I don't know if anything is in any curriculum though to be honest. >> Okay. Thank you. When you mentioned the visits with Alhhamra, um have you had conversations with them to see how they're using it? >> I have not in Alhhamra. I have in Maricopa. Okay. >> Uh she state uh I was under the impression that Maricopa was looking to adopt them for all of tier one. Uh I do not believe that they are. Uh they're out for bid for something else and they're supplementing um they're using it for their phonics like we are. So they're not using it for
101their reading standards. They're using it for phonics right now and they are supplementing for some other things. Um, so she said it works well when they're supplementing right now. >> And you know, is it there a potential partner if we were to go down this road more that maybe we could work on aligning those resources and kind of like with the tier 2 things, how do we make that work? >> And do you know if they're using it districtwide or do they have like a similar traditional school? >> I believe Maricopa is using it districtwide. with Alhhamra. I believe half their schools are using it and I do believe that half of their schools I would have to go back and look at the white paper so I don't want to I don't want to
102misspeak but that they did well. >> Okay. And do you have dates for those visits yet? >> We do not. We're waiting to hear from the representative to set those up. >> Okay. Will you please share those with the board? >> I will share them in my update. Yes. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Quick sorry. Quick question. Um, currently Freedom, we're using a lot of supplementals for the tier one. Is that true? >> No. For Freedom, we use I'm going to turn to Connie. We use HMH for our tier one. And so HMH is our tier one. We use Spalding for our tier one phonics, but then we supplement with our 95%. Okay. For tier two. >> Thank you. And the same with Canyon. >> A countryside. >> Countryside. >> Yes. Countryside mimicked mimicked freedom.
103We wanted it to be because our philosophy was, hey, Freedom's doing really well with it. Can this be replicated in other places? So, and that's why Connie and Chantel worked really well together on that. >> All right. Thank you. >> When I got on the website of Spalding, the gal who origin or got it going, she said that it was specifically for uh it would help kids with dis dyslexia. >> Dyslexia and that. So, I guess I'm not understanding why you're making it sound like it's not you're questioning how >> I'm not questioning. I'm I'm looking at the results we have. Members, like when I look at Thompson or I Thompson, Thompson has a 91% pass rate. You know, it would be hard for me to tell them I'm going to change you based on
104not seeing those same results somewhere else. And I think with vendors, we always want to be cautious with vendors. You know, we have at all site, we're having a conversation up in Asante where they say, "Oh, we're going to build a school." The realators do. The realators don't build the school. They promise that. A vendor is a vendor. And while I'm sure some things help with dyslexia and other and other things, you know, it depends on it. I'm not saying it doesn't. I'm not saying it does. I'm saying based on our results right now, I can't tell you that it's going to be a silver bullet. Okay. Because on some of these percentages, some look good in our district, but some don't. You're exactly You're exactly right. We have room to grow. And that's, you
105know, that's been one of my questions when we've been in groups is that if two of my highest title schools can produce 91 and 89% respectively, having 13% come in at the beginning of the year passing reading, you know, according to Dibbles, why can't we do that at all of our schools? I think that's a very valid question that you have and it's a great question. Why are we not producing 90% across the board? I guess what I can't tell you right now is I would like to tell you um I liked the vendor when we met with her. She she was very nice and I would like to tell you, hey, it'll work. It worked at Freedom. It hasn't worked at Countryside to the degree it's worked at Freedom yet. And Thompson Ranch in
106Riverview stand in contradiction to their data with that. Did Did you look at the videos they have on the website of Spalding? They just kind of show how they teach it to the kids. And >> I've seen >> I was kind of impressed by it. >> Yeah, it looks it looks really good. They're using explicit instruction and it's exactly what we should be doing in classes. With any phonics program, you want to use explicit instruction. I think we saw some of that today when we were at Thompson Ranch. We saw explicit instruction in kindergarten. When you follow a program and you follow it the way it's supposed to be, a multi-million dollar program, you're going to get results if you do it with fidelity. >> Thank you, >> Madame President. We will continue to update
107you. Obviously, we are looking into it as we promised and trying to gather all the data. Um, you know, this is not a quick decision. Um there is a lot of professional development that goes with this and anything we do. This is a three to fiveyear decision. It would take that long to process this through that district. And we want to make sure we're doing the right thing and providing the governing board um with the resources to finally make that decision. But you're looking at something, you know, should you do this and should we move that way? you're talking 3 to five years before you really get a foundation set and everybody just the training itself is two full years for teachers um of training. So um it's quite a process and we want to
108gather the data and make sure we're making a very good decision um about what we're going to do. >> How is that training handled or managed now? >> Um it's measured. They go uh in the summer I believe. Connie, you want to address that? You sent them. >> Okay. >> We did discuss having trainers of trainers with the district, but they have to meet certain requirements before Spalding will let them train. Right now, we have a very, very few that actually meet their requirements. We did have that discussion with the rep about how we could expedite that. The training is very expensive. Um but in order to send it, that would be every teacher that K3 that would need to do this. So um like I said, it's a very extensive process. Um and we
109just want to make sure we're gathering the data and presenting that to the governing board accordingly. >> I do think it's very important to note that we do need to give it time. We've had we saw better results in countryside the second year for kindergarten than we did the first year. And I do think having both those summers of training is going to be really important. You know, my question is I think that first grade at Countryside will do better this year than they did last year because they had that extra training. So that's why it so complex. You have so many different factors going into it. So I do think we do need to continue to give it time and look. And the last question is in regards to members's question about the the
110ASA standards. Do these kids with a firm phonics base do better on AASA when they take it? Because we know that fluency, we know that phonics produces fluency. Fluency is the biggest predictor of comprehension, which is really the AASA. And that was really our ultimate goal when we did it to see does this increase that. And we won't know that for another year, but I do think those are those are things that we're really going to want to look and study. Um I I'm excited to see what it what it does. Can I ask how many schools use it now in Maricopa County? Did you already >> I'm not sure. Maricopa County. I know when we talked to the rep that like I said the Alhamra schools are using it. Maricopa is Maricopa and Panel
111County or Maricopa County. I think Maricopa County. Um I know they do. Lots of your traditional schools use it. So like Gilbert Classical Academy uses it. Um it's very widely used in all of our traditional schools. >> I can find out for you though. She provided us those two schools. Um she provided those examples. So that's where she said she would um take us to look to see what's going on. >> Are we planning on going having it done in some more of our schools besides countryside? >> Um can't answer that right now. Okay. >> Um it depends on uh the commitment to to what we want to do and if it's truly working. I like I said, it takes a lot to make this work and if we're going to commit, we need to
112commit. We're going to commit um a lot of resources. Um and we need to make sure it's the correct decision before we do that. Um so, we are looking into that. We will continue. Hopefully, um she gets us the answers to those questions and she sets up our visits pretty soon and we will come back with another update once we do that. Um, just some things to think about maybe for the next update and and you might be able to answer these now. I'm not sure. Um, just hearing that, you know, we're using 95% for like the tier 2, right? But maybe is there something that's maybe better compatible with Spalding than 95%? like, you know, I'm just curious what other maybe traditional schools, the ones that are using Spalding now, um, how they what
113what kind of combination they're using. >> I can definitely call around. I think we can call our friends in Gilbert and I believe in Deer Valley and those districts and we can ask if they are number one, are they supplementing, right? And number two, if so, what are they supplementing with? >> Okay. Um in in addition to the survey for Spalding, the interest in Spalding or you know the um experience with it for that matter um I'm also interested in a survey on 95% just to see how teach those teachers are feeling about that program. Um because >> and this just you know anecdotal but you know teachers that I've talked to aren't aren't thrilled with it but you know I I don't know what that means. So >> yeah, I think that I think
114that's a great idea if we're going to do one, it would make sense to do another. And you know, I'm not sure if they'll be thrilled with any scripted program. However, we do know that explicit phonics instruction when it's scripted regardless of if it's spalding in places where it's working or if it's a 95 that scripted, very precise explicit instruction like members referred to on the videos. That's what makes a big difference in anything. >> Okay. >> And we will include the 95 into that survey. Okay. Um, one reason it's important to do the survey is, um, that's our staff. There's going to be buyin. There's going to be a lot of time commitment on their part. Um, and if they're not willing to do that, then that's we we need to know that upfront
115also of their time, their time commitment in the summer, there's going to be um, time commitment to professional development in order to get the program off the ground. So, we need to gauge that and see where we are. That's an important piece for us. in addition to the cost of the program. Right. Okay. And we'll maybe get a little bit more next time. >> Okay. >> Is there anything else the board would like included in the next report out? >> What about including the HR? >> HMH. >> The What's the other supplement? I'm sorry. It's getting late. >> Oh, it's our it's our tier one. It's not a supplement. Yeah. Yeah. That would be different. It would >> Okay. Thank you, >> Dr. When you were talking about the ASA results, aren't we getting anything
116from Freedom Right now? >> We do have we do have great great results at Freedom Right Now. Uh the original research question was does implementing does implementing uh Spalding at Countryside raise their does it raise theirs? >> Oh, okay. >> So, you are absolutely you are absolutely right in what you say though that Freedom is getting fantastic third grade scores. Yes. because I'm just noticing with these results, freedom is consistent every every year >> from Ka kindergarten first, you know, there was a little dip in the second, but then these other schools are all over the board >> and I'm just I'm very concerned >> and uh we we both are very concerned about that because the question is why do we dip in first and second grade, right? is why do we not stay
117up is it seems to happen in a lot of places and that's what Rebecca's working on this year is she said she she shared literacy progressions and better targets for the schools about here's where your target should be to stay on task or to say stay where you need to. She's also working with schools on making sure that all kids get into books earlier. Uh kids at Freedom tend to get into books a lot earlier. Uh you know whether you want to say because it's pushed down or it's just good practice. So, one of our things districtwide is a big push in first and second grade to not have the teacher doing the reading because if the teacher's doing the reading and the kids are answering, it's listening comprehension and not reading comprehension. So, we
118do have a problem there. >> Okay. And then also with the schools, I know that on the um Spalding website, they have a ton well I can't say a ton here in Arizona of schools that are accredited. you could probably contact and excuse me and see what they're utilizing too, which is another thing I've always wondered too. Why isn't Freedom accredited? >> I I'll turn to Connie since she's here. >> That was a trainer on campus. >> I'm not sure because a lot of them that utilize Spalding are accredited. They got the accreditation through them. So, I don't know if that's something we can look into for Freedom. >> Yeah, because it's on their >> We can look into Spalding accreditation. I don't think we knew it existed. So, >> yeah, on their website they
119I think they have like four or five schools here that are that are accredited. >> I'm wondering if one of them is in Alhamra and that's why she wants to take us Telera. >> Oh, I think it is if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, there's not a whole lot here in Arizona and the majority of them are traditional schools. So, >> yeah. and in Alhamra, one of her sources of pride in Alhamra and like I said, um >> the representative's name is Rebecca and she went and she she taught in a traditional school and then she transferred that to a title school, >> right? >> You know, so she uh it's they it seems like they've done some of that in Alhamra and that's one of the reasons we were really interested. She goes, "We expanded
120it beyond the traditional schools to other schools, which is really what we want to see. Does that work?" So, we're very interested to especially go to Alhamra. >> Okay. All right. Please keep us posted. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Thank you. Moving to information item three. Dr. Croto. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um per request from the governing board. Again, we um have some information on Canyon Ridge Elementary School STEM and that is Dr. Sai with this presentation. Good evening again, Madam President, members of the board. Now, we will talk about STEM at Canyon Ridge. I wanted to start with a brief overview of what STEM is. Uh because at one time I thought it was science, technology, education and math. Um it is not science, educa, uh teaching or education. It
121is science, technology, engineering and math. And what STEM seeks to do is really to create real life problems to blur these disciplines together. Because very few times in real life does technology just stay technology. Most of the time anybody who is in that technology field also has to have an idea of the science behind it and the math. In regards to STEM at Canyon Ridge, uh STEM is focused on the integration of course of science, technology, engineering, and math um as aligned to the state standards. However, they do place a strong emphasis on reading, writing, and civics. And I think that's really important to note because some schools when they say we're doing STEM, they leave reading and writing behind. I don't know how they do that because kids should be readingformational text to acquire
122information on what they're studying. They should also be writing reports and reporting out on what they learned. Uh STEM, a philosophy of STEM is hands-on learning and real life application. So there's problems posed to students. Um, it might be it might be mimicking something that happened in nature and they have to create a solution. It could be a problem based thing. Electricity's gone down. What are we going to do for the day and engineering a problem? But it has to do with the engineering design process of identifying a problem, looking at our resources, what do we have, working our way through that. And almost all the STEM projects involve teamwork. Students are not given group grades. However, they are expected to work in teams because they'll be working in teams most likely when they go
123out into the real world and we know that sometimes our engineers or other people uh you know they would need those communication skills. So we foster those they projects seek to integrate technology uh it could be 3D printing, it could be coding, robotics or other technologies and they really work to highlight pathways and trade uh to trades and education in these areas. uh some things that uh they've done they work with the society of automotive engineers those are retired engineers um from a car company I can't remember which one they come in and really work with the students uh Canyon Ridge has guest speakers that come in they have done zoom sessions with scientists from NASA they have had APS come in with their infrared technology and uh introduce them to the field I guess
124infrared technology is a whole field I had no idea um and they were to go on field trips to places like TJ where they might be employed in the future and to universities. Uh the specific request on this item was the STEM festival at Canyon Ridge and the sixth grade sustainable housing project. So we'll narrow in a little bit. Uh for the STEM festival at the Canyon Ridge, you can see what each grade did. I can go into these a little bit more in detail, but all of them are based on engineering. Uh I think the most interesting one is in second grade. Second graders were studying the concept of biomeicry and they had to design a helicopter that dispersed seeds. Um, which I thought was pretty cool for second graders. Uh, we did they
125did uh bouncing bubbles. They had to design a wand that would put out the most bubbles. Uh, coding gliders, the sustainable housing project, which we'll talk about in more detail, a sparrow. So, they had to design this little ball they have to program on their phone and it has to work its way through a maze. So, there was a multitude of different things that they did. I did put the Arizona state standards up here for renewable energy and human impact. Uh you'll see that these standards uh come in fourth grade, sixth grade, and eighth grade. Uh they're also embedded in some of our high school standards. Uh to remind you, we do not choose the standards. Uh those are chosen by the state of Arizona. We are charged with teaching the standards. So, we went
126into uh the unit and we really looked at the unit. Uh it was aligned to L2U311 of life standards and to 12. Uh the unit so the unit was aligned to the Arizona standards. Uh students did have options for this project. So in the project I needed to the first thing I had to do was I had to choose a location for my house. They were given six locations. Uh I think the team has is re-engineering that so they can pick any place in the country. We're not going to limit them to Oregon and California. they can build anywhere they want in Arizona and Texas. But the next thing they have to do is they have to research the environment there. So in Arizona, one of the biggest problems we deal with is heat. Uh
127you know, so how can I build a house that is going to withstand the heat? In some places, it might be flooding. In some places, it might be a tornado. So they have to really uh research what um source from the environment can can help or hurt their house. I'm sorry, I lost my thought there. uh they had to look at the energy sources that would be best for that region. Uh for the purpose of this assignment, they looked at solar. I think they looked at hydro and they looked at wind. Uh they're going to expand that in the future. And if they want to use coal, they can use coal. Um but they can use an energy source within their region. For example, in Alaska, they probably wouldn't get a good grade if they
128said, "I'm using solar power in Alaska." That just wouldn't make sense. Um so they had to match the energy source with their region. Uh they had to select energy efficient appliances most likely because they're young and they're broke. Uh they want to save some money, but they had to price out how much would that be? You know, how much is it going to cost me to run this refrigerator for a year? How much will it cost me to do my oven for a year? Uh they had to get sustainable building materials. A list was given. The school is going to expand that next year so they can also use um resources like timber or something like that. That wasn't counted in this project. uh because we're making it anything. Um you know, how can you
129build a house that best sustain assist uh how can you build a a house that is best suited for your environment? And then they had to choose echofriendly landscaping and gardening. Students were asked to integrate math as you can see by pricing the items out. They had to measure their house. They had to say according to measurement, for example, how much would my solar panels cost me? They had to look at the science of how humans interact with the environment and how our their footprint uh in language arts they did have to write about this. So all of these things after they did them they had to turn them into Jane Schaefer paragraphs and say I chose these energy or I chose these appliances because and they would write about it. The project was anchored
130in the context of reducing building impact on the environment as aligned with the standard. We did look at the videos which were from discovery learning and they were approved. Um, and I put the highlights of the videos up there. So, there was an video on renewable energy. It stated that renewable energy helps to combat climate change, that these are a reliable source of power, that they're call they term them as fuel friendly um as compared to fossil fuels. They did site downsides such as scaling and need leading to ecological destruction. Uh, and they they could be intermittent power sources. It stated that fossil fuels in the fossil fuel video was from a non-renewable source. how they came to be, what they can be used for. They claimed that they contributed to climate change and cited
131them as creating the majority of human cause greenhouse emissions. Actually, I'm going to go back to the slide. So, in the future, uh, what they, Kenya Ridge will be doing is they will omit both of these videos and they're going to present it from more of a here's wind power, here are the pros and cons associated with wind power, here's coal, here are the pros and cons of getting an energy source from coal, you know, here is the pros and cons of building something with bamboo, here's the pros and cons of building something with timber. So, it's going to take any reference to friendly friendly non-friendly uh the causes of climate change that'll be removed. uh standards on what will we do to safeguard anything like this in the future. So standards of the environment
132and human impact are really going to work to be taught from the lens of pros and cons for each source and and factually outlined and explored. They're going to use this information to use using this information students will determine which source is best for the given criteria and constraints. They will continue to always be grounded in the requirements of the Arizona standards. Additionally, students will be graded on their ability to substantiate their choice based on evidence, not on the source they choose. So, if my child were to say, "Hey, I don't want to do I don't want to do wind. I'm going to continue with a traditional energy source." That child will not be graded down as long as they can explain their answer and justify their answer. Some things we've already put in place,
133uh, Tiffany, our science specialist who is here, is doing PD with science teachers to ensure information does not lead students to favor one energy source o over the other. It's our job to teach the pros and cons and not to teach them what to favor. A science content specialist is reviewing the scope and sequence and projects to ensure they're free of bias and align directly to the state standards. And Canyon is review uh reviewing this unit. I already outlined some of the changes that they're going to make uh to ensure that re resources such as coal, natural gas, and oil are included as viable options as well as the house could be built from traditional building material such as concrete, steel, and lumber. In closing, um, as a district, we'll continue to equip students with
134the critical thinking skills to evaluate complex real world issues through examining multiple perspectives. Um, and topics like renewable energy will be continued to be approached with care and balance, especially if they they become part of the larger broader uh public conversation. >> I really appreciate this. Thank you. Um, just one of the things and I know I've brought it up to you before when I went and saw I mean the the little presentations they had the houses and that they were really cute. But what it would have been really nice was to have a report, right? Why did they choose this over this? Even if they're within that environment, I mean, they're sixth graders. this is that whole I'm choosing this for this reason, for this environment, for this um region or whatever. It would
135be nice to be able to see that and pros and cons of each of the items that they researched because in life they're going to have to make decisions and that's going to be looking at pros and cons every day. And this is a really good foundation to help them look at both pros, cons of everything and then make a decision based on what they think is best. And it would be nice to see that when you're coming out and you're looking at these events to kind of get an idea how to >> get an idea of their thought they had going into the project. >> Right. Thank you. And I really appreciate you putting this together. I do. Thank you. >> Thank you. I guess I just wondered when I was sent the curriculum
136for the sixth grade science classes, they had other things like solar system, nuclear energy, and there were just other topics. And I I it just I was just wondering why all it seemed like there were I thought maybe 40 exhibits or whatever that they were all exactly the same. It seemed like I don't that's >> Oh, for for this that's because that that was the problem they were given. So in contrast to maybe like we used to do science fairs when I was younger and you picked your own topic and it could be any topic you'd learned about through the year and this in the STEM focus the way they're doing it it was grounded in a given problem. So the given problem was within that idea of the sustainable house and then they had
137choice within that. >> And I appreciate that you are getting a variety of with the coal and I I guess I didn't realize they were just talking about Arizona housing. I mean because if you're going to talk about the whole country, you're going to have a lot of different >> and there there are options all all out there. And that's part of, you know, is when this was brought, I think it gives us a really good opportunity to examine like when we do our document based questions for social studies, we say here's this side and this side. What do you believe? You know, and what what does it tell you? So, I think adding that to that with the pros and cons is going to make the assignment even more robust. >> Okay. Thank you.
138Hearing no further discussion, um we are going to move to uh action discussion. My computer would like to work. Can you see that? >> Yours isn't working either. Hold on. I move to approve the 2025 2026 revised expenditure budget. >> I second. motion carries. Moving to item J1. Do we have any requests for future agenda items? >> Yeah, I got a I actually have three requests for uh future agenda items. Um, the first one would be a discussion on um, President Densmore, you you claim there was an event that interrupted our meeting last time. Um, I would like to have a discussion about what what event that was because I disagree the meeting was not interrupted. The next one would be a board discussion on policy 1-102, board authority, responsibilities, and immunities. 1-102. And then
139I would also like a board discussion and possible vote on the implementation of uh a measure that the Puria school board did on the seating arrangement on the dis. >> Yes. Um so the pure school board they they actually on the das is only the elected officials. The superintendent no longer sits with the uh school board on the dis. Any other requests for future agenda items? I move to adjourn the meeting. Second. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank