001Good evening. At this time, I'll call the meeting of the DART governing board to order. And we'll stand for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Next up, we have audience with individuals. Okay. Looks like we don't have any tonight. That is correct. Okay. Next, we have superintendent update. Dr. Curto. Thank you, Madam President. Um, real quick update. Uh the Daert Unifi School District is going to host a career fair uh for those interested in becoming a K through eight teacher um in the educator preparation program. What's different about this? It's called Ready to Teach is that anybody with a bachelor's degree, a non-educated bachelor's degree, can um receive their teaching certificate by going through this program. So, we teach you all the basics, all the skills you need to know. um we're going to provide
002them everything and just uh come and be willing to be a teacher and learn the tools of the trade. So that's going on soon. I just want to update that Thursday, April 24th from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. uh right at our student services facility on Desert Cove. So we're excited about that program and you can see more on our website about them. And that's all I have this evening. Thank you. Next, we have a governing board update. Nothing for me. On March 26th, um I went to the West Point Elementary School breakfast to congratulate the school for their A rating. Um along with the principal Amy Michaels and assistant principal Jennifer Evans. After that, I went to the Riverside Elementary School for a visit with the staff, administrators, teachers, parents, and students to get their
003feedback about their school. And I want to thank Principal Josephine Toki and Assistant Principal Sarah Casey for doing a great job at their school. On Tuesday, April 1st, I attended the Surprise City Council meeting and listened to a presentation on a possible future partnership with the city of Surprise and the Daart schools for the Vista uh Center for the Arts. On Saturday, March 29th, I went to the Canyon Ridge Elementary Steam Festival and saw many exhibits for the school vendor and food trucks. I met Principal Jill Hop and want to thank all the teachers and students for their hard work in putting on that festival. And that's all I have. I attended and listened in on the bond override committee meeting and it was very enlightening for me. So I was glad to do that.
004And I also attended the Canyon Ridge Steam Festival. I agree with Mary Jane on all the um participation, the teachers, the school, and the students. But I also wanted to throw out a special kudos to the PTA members. They really did a lot of hard work to make that come together. And then I also attended the city of Surprise Council meeting on the Vista Center for Arts. Thank you. I also attended the city of Surprise um city council meeting last week and just want to thank our our current um city council and mayor for their um encouraging discussion around the vista and um just really appreciate you supporting the arts and diceart. Next we have item D1. I'll entertain a motion for the consent agenda. Motion to approve consent agenda items as presented. Can I
005can I ask a one question prior? Um on the uh the recommendation for approval of the job order contract of excess of a million dollars. I just have a question. I call it RFP process, request for purchase. You guys probably call it something different. Um, in that process, do we um do we have to go out and for bids for like multiple um vendors or can we only do like a s sole source is what we call it. I'm going to turn it over to Maryell Spedel for that. Madam President, members, um that's correct. So there is multiple options for procurement. You can do an invitation for bid, a request for a proposal, a soul source procurement, etc. Job order contract is another one of those options, especially as related to these construction related ones.
006And so in this instance, um we did piggyback off of I believe it's a Paradise Valley cooperative. So we did our due diligence to ensure all those terms were appropriate that we can um support. And then um the general contractor then goes out and kind of gets the subcontracted quotes. And so they outline and give all of those specs and they give us all the different backup that shows that they ultimately went with their lowest um vendors that can still support that. So that is just one of the various um purchasing methods that we have available. Job order contract. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Seconded by Mary Jane. motion carries. Moving on to information discussion F1. Dr. Croto. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, tonight we're here to um have a presentation on the Vista Center
007for the Arts. Before we start, introduce our guests. Um a as you know about six years ago uh Daert Unified went into a venture with uh Vista City for the Arts uh which is a facility located on Valley Vista campus uh performing arts center um to provide the community uh a resource to to bring entertainment um into the surprise area. Um through that we held shows for numerous years went through a little thing called COVID which uh challenged us a little bit. um but then emerged and and had some good shows. Um with that at last 18 months um we've really realized that um Daart Unified is about education um not about providing or contracting shows and doing those things. With that said, I approached um uh Councilman Jud who's here tonight. We thank him
008and Bob Wingroth um about the possibility of having a partnership with the city to continue to offer uh shows and and provide a service for our community. Um they were very receptive, very cooperative in listening to us. Um you know, we have the building and we just needed somebody with expertise that could um help us out to provide this for our community and support our community. Uh so we set out on this path. Uh the city decided to uh do a feasibility study. Um they brought to the city council. City council did support that. So they uh brought in a company called Theater DNA who you're going to hear from tonight. But I can't tell you how amazing it is to have a city council, our mayor Sarur. Um as I said, Bob, Chris Kendra's
009here, John Cavalto, um from the nonprofit. Um thank you guys for being here. I can't tell you how um important it is to me to have uh the communication, the collaboration, and the willingness to work together um in order to provide something for this community because it takes all of us to provide an amazing community um and and we cherish that. I cherish that relationship. So, I thank you for that. Um and thank you for coming here to support us tonight. Um with that, a lot of a lot of resources have gone in, a lot of different meetings. I will tell you, Theater DNA has been an amazing company. You're going to hear from Alex here in a minute. D is going to introduce him. Uh they've done an amazing job at um just seeing
010if this will actually work. Is it something that's going to work for the school district, something that's going to work uh for the city? And they've spent a a numerous amount of hours uh digging through interviewing. Uh you'll see in a second some amazing information about uh the Vista and what we can do with it. So um as we go through this uh we kind of want your feedback and your thoughts. Um that was presented to the city as you heard. We had a few board members I I myself was there um this past week or last week on Tuesday um to hear the presentation on the city side and it was a great job. So we want to do that presentation for you tonight on the school district side. So um with that I
011will introduce DA who I also ask to think uh thank she's been involved in this process from the very first step and and you know how DA is with the arts. She's has a passion for the arts and um she's a go-getter. So I thank her for everything that she's done and I will turn over the mic to you D. Thank you. It's already on. Okay. Thank you. Good evening madam president, governing board members and cabinet. This evening we are pleased to present the collaborative efforts of the city of Surprise Daart Unified School District and the Vista Foundation led by theater DNA. We will discuss the findings from the feasibility study conducted by theater DNA for the Vista Center for the Arts. This study aims to guide the city of Surprise in making informed decisions
012about the future investments in arts culture in the arts and culture partnerships programming and facilities. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of a partnership between the city and the district to ensure the sustainable operations of the Vista. This partnership seeks to enrich the cultural landscape and promote economic growth in Surprise while upholding Daart Unified School District's commitment to education. A significant amount of time and effort has gone into this study as Dr. Croto just shared. Um, I would like to extend my gratitude to the Surprise City Council, the City of Surprise Sports and Tourism Department, as well as the City of Surprise Arts and Cultural Department, the Vista Foundation, Dr. Croto Cabinet, and this board, um, as well as my team for their contributions leading up to this presentation. With
013that, I will now turn the podium over to Alex Hargus from Theater DNA. Okay. Uh madame president uh governing board and cabinet, it is a pleasure to present with you tonight and uh also to say to echo the sentiments of everyone else here. It has been a real treat to see how well all of the stakeholders have worked together from the district to the city to the foundation. We do this a lot all over the country and we don't always see that level of camaraderie between groups and so it it was very refreshing and y'all should be commended. So when we first came on board, there were a few questions we had to answer and tasks to solve. Um, one of those was, is the market viable for a presenting program? Presenting being where you
014buy touring product outside, you bring it to your facility and you take on all the risk of selling tickets and uh, and making folks are having a good time. So there was that. There was also evaluating what you have done in the previous three years to see how that performance was as a business case and if those two first two things proved true then it was deciding who was the best stakeholder to take that on. So our first task in terms of evaluating the market conditions overall I can tell you very quickly that yes you have very favorable conditions here in the west valley to support entertainment spending from the population density in the west valley which is getting ready to go through its next boom or spurt I'm sure as you are well aware
015in terms of consumer spending which is 43% above the national benchmark in terms of what people will spend on plays and operas and the performing arts to is your competitive advantage. When we did an analysis of all the venues uh between here all the way to the east valley, you have a little bit of a cushion with that 1300 seat count, which makes you a great venue size to bring in quality entertainment but not be potentially cannibalized by other competitors around you, which we love to see. And then in terms of a demand from the public, that was resounding. From the digital survey that we sent out to the on-site events that we did and the folks that we talked to face to face, everyone just kept saying, "When's it coming back? We love the
016Vista. It's a beautiful cultural jewel. We miss the events. Can you please just bring them back?" So, in terms of does the market provide viability? That was a big green flag as a yes. So, our next question was, "That's good. We're glad that people want this and they're willing to pay money, but how did it work out when you did it for the first three years?" And again, I have to commend you all and the staff that originally did that pilot program. It is not easy to launch a presenting program. any organization, municipality when they first started, they usually have to learn the hard way, whether they have a lot of experience or not. And that that's all the way from um starting to take a bit of a loss and figuring out the audience
017and the market to eventually getting to a point where it's at least break even. So, when we looked at your historic performance metrics from an average profitability per show, you'll see that in the first year it was tough. You know, people took a haircut because they were learning the market, the process. But right in year two, that almost rebounded back to a costneutral. And by the time you got to year three, it was on average profitable per show. And in terms of number of tickets sold, that capacity hitting 60 to 75% that is an industry standard. That is meeting the goal. So when I see that, I see that it is a program that was starting to find its way and show success by year three. And I should also note the average ticket prices,
018they increased, they doubled from year one to year two, showing that the market could bear it. These are all very encouraging signs. So since we figured out the market is viable, we figured out that the program, the presenting model could work at the Vista and here in Surprise, it then came down to who's the best stakeholder to do it if the district is um no longer have a desire to take that on. Well, for us, after evaluating all the stakeholders at play, it quickly came down to the city of Surprise would be the best to be the presenter role. And by presenter, I mean they rent the facility like any other uh client of yours that would come in, but they would be the ones that would hold the artist contract, be responsible for selling
019the tickets, be responsible for day of event operations like concessions and parking and security as well as the fundraising and and covering the cost. The best role for the district is to go back to being that venue manager role and to being good stewards of academics and student education. All the rental programs would still stay with the district. That is key revenue that we don't think you should give up that you need that and uh and that you'd be still in charge of all the school activities. And then in terms of the foundation, they can still play a key role. they can play a key role in enhancing the fundraising capabilities to fund this program as the city creates a new division and to do programming enhancement. We also evaluated the facility just to make
020sure that it could sustain these operations and um overall let me just say that the venue is in very good shape. We were very impressed. Y'all have taken care of it very well. Beautiful facility. There are some things that need to be addressed. Some you could put on a nice to have list. Some are on a need to-do list. Some of that need to do is to replace the performance lighting system. Right now, it's incandescent and it's starting to fail and reach its end of life. And there really are no other systems being made in the incandescent. It's all switching to LED. So, we strongly recommend that be um fixed. Um everything else leans towards either increasing your cost recovery or exposure and then also u making it a better experience for students, faculty and
021for citizens when they come to see these presented shows. Overall, when we did the analysis, um the first phase that we calculated was about $840,000 in those repairs. And those are in those, you know, need to haves. And we'll get to in a second the financials on how those potentially could be covered and addressed in a in a cost neutral offsetting way. One of those is through the rental program. We evaluated um your current rates that you have and is there a way to make more money. So we did an audit on the market in Phoenix. And basically what we found is that when you get to when you get to your commercial rates, your class three rates, they're set at market. You're good. But when you look at your class two rates, which is
022your nonprofit rates in the playhouse, the lecture hall, they're good. They're at market rate. But at the main stage, you're a little bit below the market. And so we think there's an opportunity for you to increase that to get to market level which will bring in additional revenue. We also found that your nonprofit organizations are currently being build at the class three commercial rates. There is no other competitor that you have in this market that does that. Typically the nonprofit pays the nonprofit rate. So we do recommend reclassifying nonprofits to the class two rate. And if everyone's held to the same standard, you actually end up making more money, which is where we get to this slide here. If we take the same event volume that you did last fiscal year and we apply the
023new rates, the old the current rates being up above, the new rates are the ones that are highlighted in yellow, the increases, that at your volume from last year alone, you could potentially see about a 26% revenue increase, which results into $124,000 in additional revenue. So, as we start to pull this together and how this new partnership would work with the city, we do think feel that the city does have to be charged a rental rate just like any other rental client. And if we do that based upon the new recommended rates, a base daily rental rate for the city would be $6,830. By the city's year five, when they're at full capacity of doing about 20 plus events, that could yield about $136,000 in rental fees alone. And if you do that across all
024the years of this 5-year trial program, it's about $614,700. So in terms of what would be expected from the district in order to make this work, our recommendation is that all stakeholders, the foundation, the city, the district, that they um take a five-year commitment to this because we saw what you could do in three, and you really have to give it the full five. That's what most organizations need. Of course, an IGA will need to be established between the two organizations to set up the legal underpinnings. Um, the city will create a new division under sports and tourism just for this presenting with its own dedicated full-time and part-time staff. We do recommend that the district fund a one full-time theater manager position because that is one of the things that the city needs as
025its security is that when they show up to the venue to do the events the day of, everything is set. the systems are ready to go and uh and right now the staff is wearing a lot of hats like everybody does, but this position would ensure that the venue is ready to go every day. And then by reclassifying those rates, you get your revenue to cover that position and then also to conduct the phase one capital improvements, which the way that those are going to be funded potentially is the city would cover the initial investment of those capital improvements of that $840,000 or whatever that ends up shaking out being. And that that is offset through a combination of two sources. one, the rental fees that the district would charge the city could be waved
026for the first five to six years, and that could go towards that amount. And then the city will be applying a $3 facility, like a capital maintenance fee on every ticket that they sell for their shows. That money that that they save, that would also be applied to this capital improvements. So that way it offsets at the end. And then finally, as far as a transition timeline, uh what you see here is kind of best case scenario. Um it's not going to get shorter. If anything, maybe it could get longer because you know how hard it is to write the IGAs and to get things set up. But best case scenario, by next spring, there could be the the Vista could be back open for presenting and doing shows. Certainly going into the summer into
027the fall of 27, it would then be full boore. a lot of exciting possibilities and we are very glad to do the research and hopefully find an outcome that meets everybody's needs. Thank Thank you, Alex. And um thank you again for the time you've spent and your company has spent on this. I know um it's been a lot of work and some great information. So I thank you. This time we'd take any questions or comments that you have on this process. I have a question with regards to when you're saying, you know, this is going to be additional revenue that we can get in, but based on the 800,000 and you're saying if we wave the daily the rental rates and add that $3, it that would be like the first five years or until
028that's paid off. When will the school district start seeing the return on investment into the additional revenue? Well, you potentially would start seeing additional revenue just from increasing the rental rates and the reclassification of all your other rental clients. That capital improvement investment number offset that really just applies to the transaction between the district and the city. For the city's events, the Vista, you still do a lot of other rental events. So, those are going to make even more money on their own just by the rental rate increase. All right. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. I I just have a comment. I I like this bullet point. Residents do not want to drive to Phoenix or East Valley for professional entertainment, which is kind of true. I had to drive to Gilbert twice last year for
029um Gilbert has a nice theater downtown. Um well, it's like their new downtown area, but just by driving, you know, taking the 202, it's like an hour. Um my family spent well over $200 just on tickets. Then we had dinner in the city. So, I mean, if you look at it, um, I appreciate the fact that we're, you know, we're having this coordination between us and the city because it's a it's a win-win scenario. Um, to me, I, you know, if we can have really good, you know, theater acts here, or even just shows, bands, um, bringing like AC/DC back or something, I don't know, maybe can get the city to bring Disturb, you know, I'm just joking. But um you say that but there were so many people that said we want heavy metal
030and we want all those that those genres. You would not expect that. Yeah. Well, I wouldn't recommend Disturbed. I heard that they at the concert in Chicago, they burned the uh Chicago Bulls uh that no pyrochnics on this one. Um but yeah, I I do very much appreciate the presentation and that bullet point struck me because I was like, "Yeah, I remember those trips to the East Valley. Nice shows, but I'd rather have it 10 minutes away from my house." So, yes, sir. just want to thank you for all the work that you've put into this. Um I I do have a question though about the the city events. Um and I don't know if that's been brought up in any conversation, but will the district have the ability to say no. Um I personally
031like AC/DC, but so I wouldn't have an issue with that. But if there was something that the district felt was in poor taste um to be affiliated with, is that something that we as a district could opt out of? Agreed. Um what I would offer for that is that in part of the frame framework of the IGA, there is a setup called a joint management advisory team that is basically dis director representatives from the district and the city. Okay, they're at that high level and they would meet to coordinate on some of those high level conflicts whether it's date conflicts, sponsorship conflicts and that also includes content of programming. Right. Okay. But at the end of the day, the the city will be charge of presenting, but of course they want to be good partners.
032So that's why there's that coordination there. Right. Okay. I I may add to that, Madam President, that throughout this whole process, um I think I've been and these guys can attest that um I've really emphasized that this is an educational facility and it will be an educational facility first. So, when it comes to booking the dates, uh the school district will calendar, DA will work with all of her people to calendar our events um for the things that we need in that theater. So, we will not be turning um students away from using their theater. Uh then we will allow the district or the city to once we have all our dates booked, they will have a choice that okay, here's here's the dates that are available. Um what would you like? They'll make their
033picks and then we will continue to rent that after their picks are made. We have a lot of renters as you know, dance companies, church, uh there's a a lot of renters that still go in there, but we've discussed that process um that the kids will get that venue first. I just want to say thank you for your presentation, too. Um I've been to the Vista several times. The last one was Jeff Foxworthy. Nice. So, I just want to say thank you. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you again. Thank you everybody. It's my pleasure. All right. Next up we have item F2. Dr. Cordau. Thank you, Madam President. Uh tonight we also have a National School Lunch Program uh review summary. So Mary Del Spidel will be doing this. Good evening,
034Madam President, members of the board, cabinet, and community. Tonight, we are going to review briefly our nutrition administrative audit that we've recently been undergoing um and the results of that. And so, overall tonight, just briefly go over the National School Lunch Program overview, just a reminder kind of what that entails. Um also the administrative the purpose of an administrative review, how often does that happen, what's the process over it, and then we will go over what the results of those audits were as well as our next steps on any corrective action necessary. So, um, the National School Lunch Program or NSLP, it is a federally funded program that provides free or reduced cost meals to our students. Um, obviously our goal is to ensure that all students have that access to meals that are going
035to help and support them in their health and academic success. And as with any um federal funding or just grant funding that you that um we receive, there are program requirements and specific strict requirements that we must follow. And so obviously want to adhere those to those and so they come and review um our compliance and ultimately Arizona Department of Education is our grtor that those monies flow through. So they are responsible to monitor and ensure school districts are using them appropriately. So again the the purpose as I mentioned it is to ensure that we are um compliant with federal and state regulations. And so that process includes assessing our meal compliance. They look at financial management, our staff training. Do we have appropriate recordkeeping in place? And then ultimately the purpose is just to
036help identify any areas for improvement just so we can ensure we continue to provide that high quality accountable meal service for our students. So administrative reviews they are scheduled every 5 years at a minimum. Um, as part of that process, our team, we received all the list of documented items and requests from AD, including the meal records, financial reports, all the training documentation that we provide to them. And then AD, I'm sorry, AD auditors then conduct site visits at a minimum of four facilities um to observe their meal services and also the interview staff. And so this year, the four sites selected were Daart High School, Riverview, Freedom Traditional, and Rancho Gabriella. Um and then after completing the review, AD provided us a list outlining any compliance areas for improvements, necessary corrections and which we
037then implement and follow up with them on what our process was. So the results proud to share our team did an outstanding job. Um we had five total findings. I will in context typically what our auditor said that they see sometimes is about 15 to 25 findings um for school districts. So to have five in those areas and we'll just highlight briefly what those were. um really proud of all the hard work that they did to ensure that we meet those requirements. There were findings um across three of 24 possible categories. So we know that there are significant areas that that they look into. So the first one was related to resource management. So AD identified that the meal prices for adults um including teachers, administrators, visitors, they were set below the required rates at
038certain um sites, our community eligibility eligibility provision sites. Um, and so there we see what we are currently charging $2 and $4 their required$ 284 4.84. Um, and so really to correct this, we will be required to adjust our pricing to meet those required minimums. Um, and so ultimately we'll be bringing those to the governing board at a later date for your review and and approval. The next item was related to professional standards that was um related to compliance uh training that was necessary. So our nutrition liaison had not completed the necessary food safety training. she um typically resides in the office and so that wasn't one that um kind of stood out to us to ensure that that was done. So since then um she has now completed the training and we've provided 80
039documentation of that compliance. And then um this one it's you know it this just highlights the level of detail that they go into. Um this there were two findings um related to grain crediting on our burger buns and our corn chips. Um, and really as part of the National School Lunch Program, all of our schools are required to have a specific meal pattern um when we're planning and and coordinating our menus. Um, for high school that includes in um having 2 ounces of grain. And so while we said in our records that it was 2 oz grain requirement, we were actually using 3 ounces of grain. So even though it was above the requirement, it was still not in line with what we had stated it should be. And so we have now gone back
040and um corrected that. And so our records have been updated to show the proper green crediting. Um and then the final finding was related to a discrepancy in the sponsor application letter that we used. While we are able to use a customized form, we had um inadvertently stated we were using the standard template. We've now gone back and updated that um information on AD. So that was just a brief overview, but obviously as you can see these programs that we receive funding for, we they go through extensive reviews constantly being monitored. In fact, we're still undergoing other ones here within the district. But I really did want to highlight we have Ally Alli Gear here. She's our director of of nutrition services. And so her team does an outstanding job of making sure that we
041are fiscally responsible, federally compliant. And so just definitely wanted to um give her a shout out for all the hard work that that they do. And with that, I'll answer any questions. I have a question. And I just want to understand on the resource management finding um the meals for adults, why do they care if we charge less than what they well evidently they require it so of course they care but um what impact is that? I guess I'm asking. Sorry. A little bit more on that. And actually well I'm going to have our our our expert here provide a little bit of information. Sure. Don't mind. Madame President, members of the board. Um, the reason for that is we can technically charge less than. So, we can keep it the $2 and the $4,
042but basically we have to pull non-federal funds from somewhere else to cover those costs. So, basically they are saying that with labor, food costs, paper costs, literally everything that goes into um that meal, it's not covering that 2 that 284 and that 484 should be what is actually feasible for the district to cover those costs. And it's only at those C sites. And and Madam President, members, just also we want to be consistent. So really, even though they identify those C sites, we really wanted to have that consistent pricing across the district. And so I think we will be looking at implementing that really that same standard pricing across all of our schools, both um those that are universally free and non um just to ensure that just to kind of keep it standardized for
043for all the adult pricing. Thank you. Welcome. Go ahead. So, I have a question with regards to the training. Is this a oneandone or is it something that you have to go back every five years and reertify or anything like that? Madame President, members of the board, yes, it is um it's a oneandone as long as we do not hire a new nutrition liaison. So, anytime a new nutrition liaison would come in, then they would have to um do that training again. Thank you. Just to clarify that on that question. So that that's why this audit review was um appropriate this time was because we had a new liaison. Madam President, no as mentioned we do have to go through the audit at least once every five years. I I think in that time we've
044actually had the new nutrition liaison. So we just didn't have that. Um our previous one had been had gone through the training. So just in those five years she's actually started in this position. So, she just hadn't completed the training at that during that time. Got it. Got it. Um, okay. That was the only question I had. Thank you. Thank you. Right. All right. Next up, we have item F3. Dr. Croto. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, tonight, uh, continuing our information discussion, uh, we will have an update on our bond override committee. As you know, we've had bond override committee meetings going on and um plan on bringing a question to you on 428. So, our next governing board meeting. So, tonight we have an update and that has a little time and and gap
045for you to have uh discussion and ask questions and go from there. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Mui to introduce this topic. Thank you, Madam President, members of the board. Dr. proto. Uh tonight we have with us uh one of u our members who's actually was chosen by as the spokesperson by the committee uh and uh we had our last meeting on March 27th. And so I'm going to invite Patrick Campbell to come forward and he's going to be able to provide a summary uh from that meeting uh in preparation for what's going to be brought to the board on April 28th. And I know Patrick was uh coming here from he puts in time working with the Shadow Ridge baseball team as well. So I could see him running in
046the door as well. So, thank you for being here, Patrick. Thank you, Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Croto, cabinet, and guest. Um, so my name is Patrick Campbell. A little history real quick for those of you who don't know me. I was uh the chair spokesman for the first bond override committee, which obviously failed. Uh, we had presented a bond in $127 million to go forward um last goound, for lack of a better term. Um, this time we're doing a little bit We're still taking the evidence and the information that we have and need, but we're taking it on a little bit shorter compact schedule. So, as Mr. Moosey mentioned, we met March 20 or excuse me, February 27th. Uh, it's a little bit smaller group, not as large as the one we
047had before, but it's a very informative group, and it's a very opinionated group. Some of the things I'll share with you tonight are going to be facts, things that have been presented to us, needs, and things like that. Some of the stuff is going to be opinions from the committee and I speak freely about those opinions that come from the committee. Um and then to wrap up at the end obviously I'll stand for questions but I will I want to um make sure that we understand like uh Mr. Moosey said we'll be coming back on the 28th for a formal recommendation to the school board. Um so that said we started we met in this room on the 27th. First thing we did was go over meeting objecting objectives review of the previous meeting. Um,
048we looked at the five-year history of multiple questions in election review. So, as you know, last time we had the decision, do we want to go for bond? Do we want to go for override? Do we want to go for both? Um, so last time we chose to go for a bond. It was an overwhelming 16 to no 160 vote. Um, this time, um, we're not formal in a committee, meaning we do not have the same, we don't have to actually have a quorum and voting and that kind of stuff. But that said, it's still important that we be on the same page and that we be lock step with each other. Um, so we did look at the five-year history. It was one of the questions that got brought up on the 27th of
049February. If both of these go out, what's the history? What happens? Um, some of the reviews for you districts and these are comparable districts to Daizard. So this is not us comparing that somebody that doesn't matter. This is somebody that actually is very comparable to us. So in 2020, the history was districts with multiple questions. questions meaning multiple things went out being a bond and an override in this case there were six um the passing rate was 100% um on all questions uh in 2021 uh similar 2022 it went up 2023 it was 12 um with a passing rate of 75% in 2024 there were multiple there were 12 that went out with a passing rate of 75 so that's just a little bit of history on that um if if I would love I
050would remind you that on the first one we did we had a um company that went out and actually did a survey if you will. These are in my opinion with my history working with bonds and packs and things like this. Those have been very accurate. It had a 60% success rate from the public when it was first submitted. That was the last bond. So we were in a good position. Those have a plus or minus uh success rate of 4.9%. So even at a at a 60 with a 4.9 negative, it would have put us in a good position. But as we know, it didn't pass. Um, Mr. Moosey and Miss Meridel, she went um went over the tax rates. Um, the current bond is going to be paid off in 2028, as you
051might know. Um, we compared tax rates um different ways of comparing the tax rates for 90 million, 95 million, and 90 million. This was a thought that got put out there and I don't know where it came from but we addressed it and we looked at okay instead of 127 million could we possibly go for something less 90 95 something that I guess in theory would look a little less intimidating um at the end of the day we we did discuss it we had very spirited discussion um as some of you know because you were here um there's no shortage of opinions at the table that said there are they're set in good faith and The bond scenarios were discussed. The previous bond summary, we went back over the identified needs. And real quick, as
052we went through the identified needs, uh bus replacements are sitting at 17 million. Now, these are conservative numbers in Pat's opinion, so this is just my opinion. Uh the new K elementary school 35 million, high school land 10, facility repairs 48 million. And as the current facilities and enrichment program manager for the district, I see these firsthand. I met last week with a lot of the city directors and stuff to speak to Countryside because it was one of the issues that came up on that. So, that's just one example, but we're looking at serious concerns about having to possibly shut some of that stuff down, their programs or our programs for the summer because the bond didn't pass and we don't have the funds appropriate to address it. That said, our maintenance department, my opinion,
053is doing a phenomenal job at addressing keeping these operational as we speak. Continuing safety and security was 17 million for a total cost of 127 million. That's what the last bond went out for. Uh currently this committee um was adamant across the board 100% lock step that we should continue with that because those needs have not disappeared. Uh just because we want to go out for less of a bond doesn't mean those other needs are going to disappear. So that was the recommendation moving forward. Now, that said, there'll be a formal recommendation to you on the 28th of April, but at the moment, that was something that went out. Um, of those, one of the number one concerns from the public, if you will, was safety and security, as it should be. Um, from there,
054we moved into um we moved into the override um information on that, the impact and achievement it would have. The override currently is going into year five. Uh, Miss Maridell, please, if I say anything out of line, please correct me, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. We're going into year five, which means in the fifth year, we'll be fully staffed and funded at the 15% rate. Um, we did do some some discussion about possibly going at a 13% rate or a 10% rate and some different options about how we make this happen. I do believe that the the 2025 the M adopted it was about 25.5 million is what we were being told. It allows us to retain approximately 135 teachers to help maintain current class sizes. It keeps teacher salaries competitive, keeps extra instructional
055and reading support in place, as well as maintains arts, PE, athletic programs, and allows DART to continue to offer all day kindergarten. um last time that the override um phased out, for lack of a better term, it may not be the correct terminology, but phased out because in year six and year 7, it goes down 33% 33% and then it finally fades out completely. Um so right now that's what we're facing. So coming up fiscal year 2526 fully funded, but as you know, if we do nothing right now and we do not go out for an override, those if the following year it will go down by 33%. you're looking at, you know, hard decisions as a board and as a cabinet. What do we do? Um, historically, we've had those in the past and
056then the following year all of a sudden it kind of jumped up. Um, a little history with our peer groups. So, this is looking at 10 very competitive, very comparative competitive districts that are very similar to us as far as where do they stand right now and what's the percentages of bonds they run. So, Chandler Unified, Deer Valley, obviously Daart, Gilbert, Glendale, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Poria, Phoenix, and Scottdale. All but two of those are currently running at 15% overrides. Um, Glendale is running at 10 and Poria is running at 13%. So, those are the the history numbers of what we're looking at. We did look at how much budgeting wise it would matter to us. How would it affect us? The 15% would still run at the 26.4 million. 13 would be at 22.9. 10%
057would run at 77.6 million, but again, that would equal more cuts. At the end of the review, if you will, the committee, small but mighty, put our heads together and we had very spirited discussion on what what's the need, um what should we do? And I can tell you right now, the formal recommendation will come in a couple of weeks, but right now the the consensus from the committee is very strongly DARE needs both. Um it's it's no secret. I mean, school districts don't love the idea that have we have to operate, but it's business. It's the way we do business, meaning we meaning the district. It's how we operate bonds and overrides, unfortunately. But it is what it is. Um, that said, I'll bring my formal recommendations in a couple of weeks, but as
058of now, I stand for questions. Hi, thank you. I have a couple questions for you. First is, how many times has the Daart Unified School District gone out with both a bond and an override? Uh, Madame President, members of the board, I would have to defer to Miss Spino for that. I don't know the number of times. Yes. I I would have to also look at the history because I know I did have a slide of that. I know the most recent one was in 2020. We went out for a bond and an override. And how did we do on the bond? The bond lost by 365 votes. The override um loss was a little bit higher. Um and then the following year the district went back out um just for an override alone. And
059that's when it passed um in year five. The reason I'm asking is I understand the importance of the override, adding for the operation maintenance, increasing teachers pay, trying to maintain small classrooms. Our community is growing and if we don't have schools and we don't have buses and we don't have HVAC, I'm more concerned. Doesn't matter how much that override, our classrooms are still going to ex expand in size because we don't have rooms and we don't have any buildings to add more kids into and reduce class sizes. So, I was just wondering how that was going to play out if we go out with both and we lose the bond. I mean, we've already lost it once and the bond is really important. I pulled up some scenarios. The average school bus life cycle is
06012 to 15 years. Our last bond was 19 years ago. And I know a lot of the public says, "Well, we can repair them." But I don't think they understand the older they get, the higher the cost to repair if you can get the parts right. The average HVAC system in Phoenix, Arizona is uh 12 to 15 years as well. 29 we've got 19 years that we haven't had a bond and on top of that when you look at the fact that the HVAC systems 19 years ago or 15 years ago when they installed the energy efficiency of those now today would be higher in the energy efficiency which would reduce our operating cost as well. So, these are just things in my mind going between the bond and the override is I'm more concerned
061that people tend to focus more on the override and if we do both and we lose that bond, we're going to be really hurting. So, that's my two cents. Anyone want to add? Just a a question. You you mentioned the comparable districts and I know I've seen those slides before as well. Um, but have we also done a comparison with comparable communities like with a comparable um ratio of um certain political parties that tend to vote certain ways, things like that? Madam President, I will say just for that purpose, um we just pulled our operational peer groups from the auditor general. And so that's those those uh the kind of the 10 um school districts. So they're all throughout the region in Maricopa County. So um we haven't drilled to that extent, but I will
062say within this operational peer group, there is a lot of our westside um you know districts like Deer Valley and Peoria, Glendel Union, ourselves. So we're at least kind of in the same geographical area. So that gives a general context for local community at least. Okay. Thank you. And then um and I don't know if maybe I'm missing something, but you mentioned you know the arts and and kinder um you know for the override you also mentioned PE but it was my understanding that PE at least for K through eight maybe freshman year was a requirement. It's not something that we have as an option as a district to provide or not. Madam President that that's correct. So P is yes, those that are truly instructional required. A lot of these athletics would be um
063they're really the above and beyond athletic items that we offer within the district above those PE requirements. So when we see the music, arts, and athletics, it's really those additional above and beyond what our what our requirements are for instruction. So madam madam president, one an example of that would be like my son wy it's in baseball PE. Right. So, it's above and beyond regular PE, but it's a very competitive class. And it, at least at Shadow Ridge, I'm sure a lot of the high schools are similar, they have programs set up where they can cater to the needs of those athletes and those programs. Understood. I just wanted to make sure I understood the difference. Um, and I I know that we are are going to have future talks about this and you're going
064to present this in April. Um, I am wondering if we I I'm not sure if the question I asked originally about a comparable community is that um data that that we could obtain without running out and paying for a political consultant. Is that something that we have access to? Uh, Madame President, so if the question is, do we have access to their most recent election history or what their break a breakdown of what that really looks like? I think we'd be able to to access that information. We do have provided we we have at least what the passing rate was. Um, I'd have to look by political party, by precinct. Do we have I I can I personally don't know where that what that would be. But that being said, we do have consultants and
065professional we can reach out to them. I'm sure they have um faster access to that. That was the and and I would I would say to that, Madam President, is that there was some specific information right after the election. We started to look at by precinct to see the breakdown. We have been told that you can look at it by you can get breakdowns by political party, by gender, and some other things. So that can be that information can be found. Okay. I have a question. Um so we have 17 million for buses. How many how many buses do we actually have in our fleet right now running? I want to start there. Madam President, um members, I believe we have 121. Is that correct? I believe it's 121 that are running. We have I
066believe the fleet might be a total ofund might be 128 um total and then 134 is the actual all of them but some of those are not working. They're used for parts or other things like that and then some don't run very well but they're used as backups. Okay. What's um the average price of a new school bus? the top of the line uh uh Madame President uh members Kavara, the average price of a brand new uh school bus ranges from 200 to 250,000. Uh the last time that we did our research on this, we were we were right in that range is what we were seeing. You can buy a little bit smaller on the number of seats in the larger buses and you can reduce that by, you know, certain number of rows
067of seats and get it down to about 200,000 if if you're trying to go on the low end. All right. So, if we proceed with that number, we're asking to pretty much replace half of our working buses. So, I want to make sure we understand and I asked um that we go back to the committee with this and we we think about what the average taxpayer would, you know, consider looking at as well. um make sure that we know um we get the mindset that we there's also there's there's got to be a mindset of I can I can understand the the the argument that we need all of this but you got to understand that when people look at something when it be it starts to look like a wish list that's that's where
068you get the negativity and sometimes um even if you can sit down with someone and you can convince them um like I could sit with my neighbors and I can convince them to go one way or when it comes to a bond override or just sports or whatever. Um, but I want to make sure I mean if something like this ends up going out, we need to pass it. Um, so we need to be smart and strategic with what's going to come back to the board, please. That's all I ask for. Thank you. I'm going to add on to that because Steve brings up a good point. Um with regards to the school buses, right? How we have 121 operational right now. What is the average age of those? You know, can we make sure
069that we get that kind of information to understand because we don't want to go out and get a bond for 17 million, replace half of the fleet, and then in another three years the other half has to be looked at, right? So, let's that would be kind of nice to know. So, when we're talking to people, we could give them that information to help them out. And we do have that information. Um, if Craig, you do you have that in front of you or you want to get it to them after? I the the numbers I was going to refer to, Madam President, member Destitch, uh, Dr. Cronto. Um I the numbers I'm looking at when we talk about those those 120 plus buses you're you've got to uh 75% of those buses within that
070number is 15 years or older. So you're going to have and you gave a statistic earlier on that. So when you start to talk about those particular buses um when we when we looked at those and we said which ones were bought within less than that so less than 15 years old. Well, some of those are in the 10 to 15 year range and we do have those items for you, but they're all they're all aging to that point and I and I, you know, I understand the information that the board needs if you want each year broken down of each by bus, but I can tell you that yeah, 75% of them are 15 years or older, which is 91 buses out of the 121. That's what I So, we can get you all
071that information broken down. As a parent, I just know if my kids were riding the bus, I want to make sure that they're on a safe bus that's not going to break down. So, thank you, Madame President, board members. If I may, um this is this information we're presenting, the the findings and things that we're bringing to you for briefings and stuff. This is not something that the committee has taken lightly. We've spent, and I say months, months deep diving into this, multiple meetings, lots of information to the point of almost information overload. uh the the the the cabinet has been incredible um and Jenna uh at getting us all this information. I forgot her last time, so I had to make sure I said said hi to Jenna this time and I heard about
072it. Anyways, but I want to this is not something we don't just randomly come up here. These are needs and I and I hear what you're saying me. I do. That said, my opinion is how this information was put out, how it was handled after we made the decision, after the decision was made by the by the governing board to go out was what was the difference maker. Um, it's just it it there was misinformation. People were voting on things that weren't true. And that's the key is getting that information out there, getting the actual what we need. It does sound a little bit like a wish list. Truthfully, there's a lot of things on here that are needs that are not on here. We tried to find things to take off of here. We
073just can't. Everything's important. So, that said, we will bring back um I'll bring as much detail and information as I have. I want to make sure that it's a good presentation and then put it in your hands and then uh trust that you guys are going to do the right thing with that information. But the the due diligence on our side has been there from day one. Mr. Campbell, I just want to say thank you on behalf of the district to you and the committee. I know you've taken out a lot of time and um efforts and we appreciate everything you guys are doing. Thank you, sir. Ditto. And thanks for being a trooper tonight standing up there. Appreciate you. I left in the seventh inning. I don't know who won or lost. So that
074I've never done that as a coach in 38 years. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Good. Thank you. All right. Next, we have item G1. Dr. Croto. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, tonight we are going to have a recommendation for a retention stipen. Mr. Mattingley will take this item. U, Madam President, governing board members. Uh just briefly, this is just a recommendation again as from the interestbased uh committee uh to approve the uh retention stipen of 3% for the 25 26 school years for all employees that uh qualify for that retention stipen. And just to reiterate to add on that, it's employees who returned their contracts by the deadline or NOE by the deadline and are employed continuously through October 31st. Thank you. I move to approve the retention statement of 3% for the
0752526 fiscal year for current employees. I second. Motion carries. Next we have item G2. Dr. Curto. Thank you, Madam President. Continuing on with employee compensation, uh I turn this over to Mr. Manley once again. Madame President, governing board members, uh this is a recommendation from the uh IBN committee uh to uh request approval on a 2% salary increase for all uh current staff that return next year uh which pertains to your certified, licensed, administrative, and classified employees for the 2526 school year. I move to approve a 2% salary increase for certified, licensed, administrative, and classified employees for the 2526 school year. I second. Motion carries. All right. Next, we have item G3. Dr. Croto. Thank you, Madam President. Our last action and discussion item tonight. We bring you the student and parent handbook. And the
076action, a little clarification. This is to approve the discipline matrix only. We don't approve all the procedures and operations in the handbook, just the discipline matrix. We bring that to you for information, all the other things, but we're asking the governing board um to approve the discipline matrix and I will turn it over to Mr. Mui um for any other any other information. Thank you, Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Croto. uh as you will see in uh attached uh tonight for approval um the handbook the parent student parent handbook is contained in there along with uh both the the one we use for all schools and then freedom traditional as well contained within there you'll find the discipline matrix um and it's listed and the actual pages in the handbook is pages 69
077through 79 um you will find the governing board policies listed on page 80 so uh there is really uh very small minor revision that's list that is more logistical within the discipline matrix from this year to next year. Uh explanation of procedures and practices is contained in those pages from 49 to 68. Um and that helps for providing procedures definition and information on on how how we carry out the discipline matrix. So um with that I I will stand for questions uh related to that. All right. Um, as Dr. Cto mentioned, um, I am going to deviate just a little bit from the recommended action, um, as there was an error in the agenda. Uh, I move to approve the revisions to the student discipline procedures. I second. Motion carries. Next, we have item H1,
078request for future agenda items. I would like to request a future studies session prior to April 28th um to discuss the bond and the override potential um elections. We don't do we have any other requests for agenda items? Yes, I would like to add for future um not necessarily within the next two months, but a future agenda item to look at raising the grade requirements for school clubs, activities, and athletics to a C or above. I would like to ask for I don't know if it's called a study or on um adding cursive writing class as a required class in all the schools. I saw it on the freedom traditional um handbook but I didn't see it in the regular one. And I would also like to request um an update or information item on
079our pilot program for the Spalding at Countryside. How's that going? You want me to make one up for you? Okay. You did last time. I know. All right. Um All right. At this time, um I motion to convene to an executive session. Second. I vote yes. Maybe motion carries. Okay. meeting and we'll move to item J1 with the approval of superintendent contract of employment. Are you telling me to hit refresh? Hold on. I motion to approve a three-year contract for Dr. John Croto commencing July 1st 2025 under the terms presented to the governing board. Second. Third Yes. Motion carries. Congratulations, Dr. Cotto. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all that you do for DAEART. Do we have to get I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I motion to adjourn the governing school board meeting.
080Second. [Music] Yes. I vote yes. Motion carries. We are adjourned.