001e e e start governing board to order let the record reflect that all board members are present and we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance iedge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all thank you our next item is recognitions and celebrations Dr croo thank you Madam president uh tonight we have an amazing choir uh here to perform for us and uh Mr mcy will introduce our guests thank you madam president members of the board Dr Coto and guests uh we're very fortunate tonight to have the simmeron Springs Middle School choir with us you can see it's a very large group and they're here to perform and uh we have uh Mr eron menol
002who is the director and he'll be leading us through this so welcome you up of [Music] May so [Music] [Applause] [Music] rer river river [Music] r shars [Music] and C river river i c River a river river a river [Music] river river [Music] incredible thank you so so much for next we have audience um 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 to AR ARS 38-43 1. 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 to facilitate facilitate accomplishing the business of the district in a
003timely manner a time limit of 3 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 up we have Amy bril hello my name is Amy brell my son is a student at will Canyon High School in the current SDC classroom I saw the meeting notes from last board meeting and that Willow Canyon SDC was moving to Shadow Ridge as parents we were not notified of these changes prior to it being voted on or we would have been at the last meeting the reasons listed for the change made no sense to us bullet point number one was bringing students back to their home schools but you are literally taking an entire classroom of more than 20 students and forcing them
004out of their home school while separating them from their siblings the second bullet point was to create more permanent locations which STC has been a fixture at Willow basically since it opened and bullet point 3 was the efficiency with Transportation but yet you are now transporting students much farther away from their home school and adding more kids to the bus route that would typically walk to school and not depend on Transportation I have a master's degree in special education I'm very familiar with L and fape and all the legalities that go along with special education so I dug and found the real reason was to save money to avoid alternative placements this new stc2 class could start at Shadow Ridge without disloc ating the current class to put this into perspective for those that might
005not understand the consequence of the current plan it would be the same if one day someone came and said you have to leave right now and we're going to drop you off in a foreign country with no house no job no family or friends and you are expected to thrive right away in the meantime someone else gets to move into your home have your career and friends and family and all the success that you built over the years this person deserves all those things but doesn't deserve to take them from you routine and consistency is a driving forc for kids like my son to find success even things such as a field trip take days for me to explain the change in routine so by taking away everything that these kids know will have severe
006consequences to their growth and development that the parents the staff and most importantly the children have fought so hard to achieve not all growth is gained just inside the confines of their STC classroom my son asked every day if he has to go to Shadow and his anxiety is building to where he doesn't even want to go to school do I tell him the truth that the district AED other kids and money as being more important than you and your classmates I invite you to look at any of these students in the eyes and tell them why as parents we have had to advocate for our kids their entire lives and will not stop now if it is money driven what happens if we all decide to remove our kids from the district I also
007was made aware that special education will no longer be able to participate in westm have you checked with your lawyers and how this is discriminating only against kids with disabilities throughout the district and no longer allowing them to participate in vocational training that they desperately need and to blame all this on the Aging bus fleet is a slap in the face to these kids and the intelligence of us as parents I know the bond didn't pass but do our specific kids have to suffer so that a new school can be built when there is availability in room in our current schools update security and new buses when the current buses are still available to run those items were what the bond covered not special education so why are our kids having to pay for the
008bond net thank [Music] you next up we have Sarah Corgan and I apologize if I say someone's name incorrect about that perfect testing okay Sarah Corgan uh I am the proud mother to Isabella Sloan a junior at Willow High School I stand here not just as a parent but as a voice for my child my autistic daughter who has been forced to face an unfair and disruptive change to her final year of high school this isn't just about a school switch it's about the stability fairness and well-being of a young woman who deserves better our daughter will be a senior in high school and for students this is a milestone a time to celebrate of finishing what they've started of preparing for the next chapter but for her it's more than that uh she's autistic
009and for years she's worked harder than most of us can even imagine to adapt to a world that doesn't always understand her her school her routine her teachers her familiar hallways has been her anchor this is where she builds trust where she's learned to navigate challenges where she's finally found a sense of belonging and now with one decision that's being ripped away and I'm being told that it through a voicemail message and being told the reason is due to buses whatever the reason it doesn't justify turning her world upside down in her senior year Isabella that thrives on consistency change isn't just hard it's devastating Studies have shown that disruption in routine for autistic individuals can lead to increased anxiety meltdowns and even regression in their skills that they have worked harder than anyone else
010to build Isabella already suffers from severe anxiety which interferes with her eating sleeping and digestive issues and yet we are here and expected just to accept this I've heard the excuses they will adjust it's just one year but let me ask you would you ever tell a marathon runner and to change their shoes at Mile 25 would you uproot a plant before it decides to bloom this isn't just one year it's her year her accumulation of everything that she's fought for Isabella is not a statistic a checkbox on one of your charts she's a person she's brilliant she's resilient and she's incredible who deserves her F to finish her final high school year where she started I'm here to appeal to your Humanity to imagine your child your niece your neighbor someone you love being
011told that their comfort their progress their pce just doesn't matter this is what it feels like we are not asking for special treatment but asking for fairness let them stay where they started [Music] thank you thank [Music] you next up we have Amy and Caitlyn oh' here good afternoon this is my Caitlyn this is my other daughter Madison who also graduated from Willow Canyon High sorry Amy O'Hare and Caitlyn O'Hare um just I'm going to be short about it the I also only got the voicemail um notifying us before this was even a question we got the voicemail saying that this was already a done deal uh I don't know about you guys but this felt very discriminatory towards my CH my child and the other children in her class why couldn't the the funds
012be allocated through several divisions or however you guys do it my point is is that you're picking on the most vulnerable class the most vulnerable vulnerable vulnerable group that is available that is within that school you're taking it away from them um my daughter is also a junior she has one year left and it would be nice to have her graduate from the same school that her sister did uh anyway that's my my point on it she wanted to say something I know it it's just bues and I get it I also I want to graduate from the school be because because I felt like like all home and and before I started um I thought thought that I felt wrong going to the to the school but um but I made a lot of
013new friends and I don't want to lose it and just to reiterate it'd be friends that she has outside of the class they make friends with other people who still go to school there so they have the group of best buddies and things of that and those kids aren't coming with them so I know I have 28 seconds left but um I graduated Willow Canyon 2024 2023 I was involved in theater I was involved in show choir I did all those all four years my sister deserves the same chance that I got to my sister has never felt as at home as she did then coming here I remember remember my last year having to say goodbye to my sister she deserves to thank you next up we have a Leo craft hello my name
014is Leo craft and Caitlyn craf is my daughter she is a special education student at Willow Canyon and we moved from Illinois about two and a half years ago and one of the big reasons was for Arizona programs for people with disabilities and I need to praise Miss Cook and all her staff for doing a tremendous job the last three years with Caitlin and if she starts over with someone else somewhere else I don't think she's going to have the same academic progress I hate to say it but she may regress and as far as Transportation currently she rides the mainstream bus 45 minutes to school 45 minutes home from school and as she goes another 10 miles down the street what's it going to be an hour each way that's crazy and one other
015thing I'm not sure I know you won't be able to answer but I don't understand the funding and I quote [Music] from the Independent posted September 27th it says about 90% comes from state and local 10% comes from federal money which can be used for specific purposes according to Grant requirements stipulated support for Pro programs such as special education services and the learning needs of students from lowincome families using title bond funds so the bond issue I don't understand how that works in with the federal funding for the special act and I I just want to say thank you again to Miss Cook and her staff thank you next up we have Donna craft hello board thank you very much for allowing us to speak I'm really fortunate to be here tonight to be able
016to do this it was unfortunate that we didn't know ahead of time before this vote went out in February but we're here to speak up um I'm Donna craf Caitlyn is our adopted daughter since newborn okay sitting right there with the ginger red hair she's our wild cat daughter so first of all I just want to start with I had I I'm a nurse I graduated from University of Iowa I go around the country to different hospice agencies hospice agencies perform end of life care for patients and families and I just want to say I had the opportunity to go to Hawaii this week where am I I'm right here with her the whole way and my husband and our DDD worker I again would have loved to been in Hawaii but instead I'm right
017here fighting for her again another fight our whole lives as Amy and all the rest of the parents you're hearing the same thing um so Nike has a um a saying just do it my saying and my mantra for my job when I'm out checking to make sure agencies are meeting the Medicare regulations is don't just do it do it right these are human beings that you're dealing with think about it okay diagnosis IQ and a third grade reader is a junior ready to graduate next year as a wildcat left-sided open lip skit andily a Genesis of the septum padum pituitary dwarfism septo optic pituitary dysplasia stroke and utero calcifications on the brain right sided Hemi pris P microa cerebral paly multiple surgeries selective dorsal Rotom of the spinal cord to release the spasticity and
018lower legs right foot reconstruction so she can walk and play please raise your hand if you can explain what each of these diagnosis are that you're making decisions for these specialed kids to not graduate from their home school no and my guess is you don't know what half of those things are we do so you are cutting a special ed program for from human beings that have been through many trials and tribul ations what do we have up here my husband I all of you people we have a driver's license we drive a car we have a house a condo and a livea ma'am your time's [Music] up next up we have Shannon moral can I move this or just pull it down Okay can everybody hear me okay all right my name is shanana
019Morel I am DDD care worker for Caitlyn as her mother just said um I know that she when she found out that she was going to have to go to a different school next year she's absolutely devastated devastated and I am have become very close with her since we've you know been working together and all that every day sorry I'm not used to this I'm really nervous but um I know she it's not always up to what we want I understand that um but she wants to graduate she's going to be a senior next year she doesn't want to leave her friends behind that aren't in her class um and she really is devastated and I know I'm not sure with how the funding goes anymore my kids are all grown um I don't even
020know any of that but my thoughts are there's always a way always whether you can jumble something around take away from you know some little bit from another program um you have fundraising you know anything that can help you monetarily get to where you need to be like I said I've and I've worked with disabled persons and children for almost 20 years now and I know how hard the setback is for them and how far it can set them back when something like this happens in their life so any anything I mean and I feel like the parent should have been told what was happening to begin with I I'm also a member of the community if anybody cares um but with the parents knowing that and knowing that there's this monetary need that needs
021to be happening to help keep these children in these programs and in these schools Reach Out reach out to your community you know reach out to other people because I promise you that there are so many people out there that would be willing to make donations or do fundraising or you know anything to help keep these kids where they're at so you have anything talk about attrition well I have 30 seconds so and that was an idea that some of the parents maybe had that if there is any way it could be considered that the children that are at school right now in Willow Canyon could possibly stay there until that last child graduates and all of the new children that are going to come in with disabilities in the special education program maybe they
022you can start them at this new school but like like I said you guys are going to do whatever you're going to do thank you thank you next up we have Ian Palmer good good evening members of the governing board families and fellow students my name is Ian Palmer and I am a graduating senior at Willow Canyon High School I am here tonight to express my concern about the upcoming changes in the STC program next year my concern is my friends and classmates moving to a different school and the emotional stress it can cause them as a student with disabilities having to adjust to different environment with different people in a different location is hard for students with disabilities I am hoping that the board will consider the hardship and negative effects that this will
023have on my friends with disabilities and come up with an alternate solution it breaks my heart to see my previous friends not have the same opportunities me and my former friends have had the past couple years being at the school has changed my life a lot the teachers back there have put wonderful impacts My Life as a Willow Canyon student and I want the same for my friends and I just really hope we find the right solution to do what's best for these people because these people deserve what they are in right now these people just can't be moved around these people aren't cargo these people are human beings this isn't fair for them we need what's right for them which is for them to stay at their home campus with the excellent support and
024the excellent teachers and the excellent programs throughout that school that school I guarantee that school will not be the same without this class and for the other school other people within the school will not get to come with them and I find that very heartbreaking I want what's best thank you very much thank you thank [Applause] you any more thank you next we have the student update we have a student update tonight yes we do okay um president members of the board Dr Crono uh we are very much uh excited here to have Amilia Escobar rejoining us tonight and uh she'll be updating us on what's happening with our student councils throughout the district good afternoon staff and board members I hope that everybody had a very relaxing spring break and I just wanted to
025talk about what we did at Freedom Academy this past month for the food bank we hosted an assembly over there where we played a bunch of games and we were able to honor them for their hard work with a plaque it was so fun and amazing to see all the spirit and all of the participation that we had at that school and um for DLC we hope to do it again next year um along with that we talked about the school handbook and our dress code and the changes for next year and we agreed that as a um as the students and representatives for each school they were very necessary changes and that they would be good for the students um we also um talked about our DLC conference which happens at the end of
026next month where it's just a chance that we get to talk about our student bodies Al together within all four high schools and what changes we can do next year and how to partner with different clubs and make our schools better as a whole and try to make daar better as a whole as well and lastly um our individual updates for each school is just finalizing our prom dances and hoping to involve all our students and have a great turnout thank you so much for having me today have a great night thank you next we have superintendent update Dr Coto thank you madam president um dier participated in the fourth annual essay contest with the our partners the city of Al Mirage and the City of Surprise and we've had a lot of winners so
027I'm going to take a few minutes to read some of these winners out and and give them a shout out and congratulations so our city of El Mirage ESS contest winners in grades 3 through five uh we had a first place Emanuel Mason from Elmer fourth grader from El Mirage in Miss sel's class uh second place um Eli rendes from also fourth grader El Mirage Miss sel's class and the third place is Alita or cherbo from El Mirage fourth grader from Miss Johan's class so congratulations to those winners 6 through eth Arya elraf uh Surprise Elementary seventh grader Miss peta's class second is Sophia estrea also seventh grader surprise and miss at his class and um we have a third place winner Camila spor from Thompson Ranch a seventh grader and Miss Beck class so
028congratulations to those winners our 9 through 12s um we have Kyla wall valy Vista 11th grader Miss Roosevelt's class and a second place winner Joseph Watts from 11th grader from Valley Vista also in Miss Roosevelt's class uh congratulations to them and then the city of surprise contest winners um grades three through five we have uh Joselyn Arnold uh Kingswood fourth grader in Miss Richard's class we have a winner in the sixth through eth category and Gavin uh Patria from sonor and Heights Middle School grade eight and Miss Dell principes class and our 9 through 12 winner in the city of surprise is Michelle Barb from Valley Vista 11th grader and Miss Roosevelt's class so congratulations to all those winners they are going to be recognized at a city council meeting um and all the first
029place Award winners they're going to get a gift card from diart Education Foundation so we're very proud of them and thank you for all their efforts um and one last piece uh Saturday evening the district was honored at the 16th annual celebration of accomplished teaching uh the celebration was in honor of all those receiving Andor renewing their national board certification so the district was recognized for their significant commitment uh to national board certification through our process of adding 5% to the base salaries for all board certified teachers in our district we've done that for many years uh additionally we had two teachers honored for achieving national board certified status uh Miss Amanda bradick the band teacher at Willow Canyon High School and Miss chrisa Russ who is a math coach at Kingswood Elementary so uh
030we received this nice plaque we have 59 board certified um employees which we are going to do a reception and about another month we're getting it all set up we're going to do a big reception before the board meeting and recognize all the hard work it is a very rigorous process um they are the Masters in their field and we just appreciate all the efforts so I would like the board to join me this is the plaque we got for district reignition we're going to take a picture up front and then um publish that and all that so if you join me up in the front of the steps Ryan will take a picture e and that is all I have this evening thank you Dr Coto next we have governing board update I'll go
031first um so over the last month I took my son to the stem night at simron Middle School it was a very cool night um he he loved the drones with the police officers uh it was interesting to see that uh City of Surprise uses the same company of drones that uh I bought for him for Christmas obviously the one I bought for him for Christmas is not as great but um it was pretty cool uh then took my daughter over to the Vista Arts day uh my daughter actually had a um some artwork on display this was our second year going um last year she wasn't uh able to submit art because fortunately Freedom did not have a uh art teacher last year but this year they did uh very cool day perfect weather
032I couldn't believe it because it was chilly and rainy the day before uh so I I really appreciated it I seen all the artwork and all the you know the choirs perform and the bands perform pretty cool events um one thing I I would recommend is uh we uh we make sure that the spring training people aren't parking in our parking lot because I saw that happen they were walking over to the game or we start charging them you know we can do one way or another um I did also partake in Reading Across America at Sunset Hills uh I do want to apologize to that school I I did mess up on um the timing that I was supposed to be there I missed an email so it's it's on me so I'm going
033to say it now I volunteering to do it again next year at Sunset Hills um it was really cool uh the lady who spoke or read the read her book before me was a um Librarian from um the White Tanks library library up there uh she did a phenomenal job um it was unfortunate she had to go before me so because I was like you got a librarian doing reading the kids but she did such a great job it was awesome um and I did want to make sure you guys all got your paintings from my daughter the cabinet members uh she really enjoyed doing them for you guys and uh that's one of her passions so um I appreciate it that's all I have um I attended put my glasses on attended the simmeron
034spring steam night also so I just want to say thank you to principal Richards and Miranda Virgil for allowing us to attend it was a great night um one of the interesting things that I I came across was the um the gifted program um the kids from the gifted program um they were actually learning about cars past and future and what they did which I thought was just phenomenal they invited a car club the one that's always up at Sam's Club they invited them to come and they brought their cars and they did a little brochure and I just thought it was phenomenal that they got the community involved to come so it was really neat to see that the kids were so excited um I grabbed one of their brochures and they just could
035not wait to tell me about it so it was just it was great I was I was so excited um so I just want to say thank you for allowing us to come I had a great time um I also attended a CIP visit at Ashton Ranch so thank you to principal Parini and Dr rero we had a great time um and then I also attended another CIP School VIs at Marley Park so thank you principal Felix and and Joe Martinez for a great time and then from there we went to Dart Heroes we we went to five different schools that was the highlight of my day um seeing the Expressions on their faces that they were nominated by their peers that they're a hero so that was great to see um that that's the
036first year I got to actually participate in it so it was nice so I just want to say thank you to daart for doing that and let's see that's all I have so thank you I also attended the um second year of the simron Springs Middle School it's the science technology engineering arts and Mathematics uh Stam night I met the principal uh Ginger Richards and many of the teachers and students who were at the exhibit tables of the police department was there demonstrating um the use of those Canan dogs for their work and the Luke Air Force based military uh some of them were there demonstrating how drones are made and I met uh math teacher art teacher science teacher and history teacher and they were working with their students demonstrating what they were learning
037it was a very interesting and educational night and then Tuesday March 11th uh Jenna Bowen and I went and each read a book to about I think it was about 50 kindergarten children at the Sunset Hills Elementary School the teachers and kids gave us a warm welcome and it was a lot of fun for us and the kids on Wednesday March 12th I attended a school visit at Marley Park Elementary School and I want to thank principal Jessica Felix and assistant principal Joseph Martinez for an informative morning we met with some parents teachers staff students and the administration who gave us great feedback about what they like about their school and recommendations for improvements for the school they all stress teamwork as very important and we also visited some of the classrooms thank you I
038also attended the festival the Festival of the Arts um also known as the da Marinelli show and had a fantastic time um my college kids actually came down from na just for the festival so that was really exciting that they're still um wanting to stay there all day I left a couple times because I needed a break but they stayed all day um also um joined Dr Coto u in celebrating our um nationally board certified teachers um miss bradrick and miss rust and just congratulations to all of them and um continued congratulations to everyone that's been part of this program um the last thing I have is I attended a training session with couting superintendent um bogs had a fantastic time that um just getting to know other board members across the county um and
039uh sharing best practices and that's all I have next up we have a consent agenda I move to approve consent agenda items as presented I second I vote Yes sorry I'm refreshing now motion carries okay next we have information uh G1 Dr croo thank you madam president uh tonight we're going to present to the board our information from our cell phone committee um that's been um meeting and discussing our cell phone uh procedures and uh Mr muy is going to introduce this item thank you uh Madam president members of the board Dr Coto uh tonight uh we're going to have uh uh our director of student services Kevin kashat who led that committee um and this started about six months ago in October uh where we we knew that we needed to bring a committee
040together of stakeholders and take a look at uh our cell phone and electronic device policy and uh you're going to hear about that work of that committee and he's going to walk you through that and uh what we're proposing moving forward uh of what that policy should look like thank you Mr M good evening uh members of the governing board uh superintendent Coto guests Madam president uh as Mr M just pointed out uh looking at the committee work uh tonight's objective is really kind of to look at that we're going to review the cell phone and the electronic device language within the parent and student handbook um we're going to Pro uh provide you with suggested revisions to the cell phone and electronic device policy and you have that in your in your packet this
041evening and then I want to talk a little bit at the very end about how do we enforce this or or become consistent with our our practice so we're really going to look at those uh three objectives as we go through this presentation I think it's important to point out that we did have a vast um members of community uh students parents High School assistant principles uh and principls K8 teachers support staff and parents all inv involved in this uh as our student representative shared earlier I do take a lot of things through them and discussing the handbook uh this is another uh thing that we did talk about with the students because the students had had a voice uh in this and so we did share that uh with them as well as and
042to hear their their opinions better okay sorry so we went through a timeline uh once again September 25th uh we did we had four meetings our first one September 25 5th we reviewed the uh purpose and goals of the committee once again the purpose was to review our current language that we had in the student in parent handbook uh and then discuss pros and cons of that language uh from there we did another meeting in October 23rd where we reviewed current trends and we looked at other District uh uh policies procedures regarding that and we reviewed what was going on nationally within that uh and then at that point we felt like it was an opportunity for us to to go out to our community uh by surveying the students the parents and staff to
043get their opinions uh with that so in November we uh discussed survey results and I will share those here in a few minutes with you we discussed possible changes to that language based off of those survey results and then in January we developed the final language that was then shared with cabinet for final review and we're presenting that to you here tonight what's exciting about the uh present ation is that uh we had a great uh participation in our survey we had almost 4,000 participants in that and what's exciting about this too is that 50% of those were parents and Guardians and we had 39% of those being from students so it it is tremendous to see that their their voice is heard within this and so when we look at the questions that we
044asked uh that the committee wanted to to get information on was a number of questions and I want to take you through through those those questions questions because I think it does help to show why the the cell phone procedure language that we have is shaped the way it is uh the cell phones are are are they a distraction and disruption in the learning process that's kind of the trends that we hear out there and so we wanted to look at that component uh and we had 55% agree and strongly agree our students probably pushed that the other way a little bit right uh we wanted to also look at it from a standpoint there was lots of discussions about should it be the same for uh K4 K5 um K8 or what does it
045look like as a high school should they should be they be the same um so they wanted to look at that and 83% of the uh those that participated in the survey said that it should be uh different for High School teaching that that idea of digital literacy with them uh cell phones should be allowed during specific times of the day before school after school and lunch so if it's allowed should it be allowed at certain times of the day uh 81% of those was surveyed said yes to that one the next one we looked at was do do our uh Community do they feel like we should not have cell phones should we do a complete ban of them uh and as you can see 92% of them said no to to having a
046complete band of them and then the last thing we wanted to look at is the when you look at the this this the trends that we're nationally there were uh parents and and students feeling safe with having a device on them made them feel safer and so we wanted to see what of our people what our community feel uh and so 89% of them did say that they do feel they feel safer knowing that their kids have a cellone them cell phone on them and their um and kids felt that way in case of an emergency or something like that be able to get a hold of their kid So based off of those uh survey results we did look at the the final language it is in your um packet there if you you
047want to take a look at the actual language but I wanted to draw attention to the four major points that we really uh emphasized with within that it does look different for k8s in high schools it um the k8s allow it on the campuses um it just needs to be turned off and in their bags in silent High School it does allow for um it to be on campus During certain times before school after school and we wanted to spend time defining what instructional time looked like and so when we do that it when you look at the language in there we Define instructional time as um during a class period so the idea of what our old policy talked about Bell tobell was that before the start of the school to the end of
048the day it really focused on the Bell to Bell uh component where this one is talking about class periods in a high school setting that would include and it's within the in the language that would include um being out of class in the hallways using a restroom or something like that that the that that is still during class time that is still during instructional time and therefore we wouldn't um have that be allowed okay so uh with this the committee did a fantastic job writing this language and putting this language together but now becomes the challenging part the the piece that we will work as a as a district is how do we enforce this right the ideas of we need to be a consistent across the district so what does that look like um
049we need to have conversations with our principles at coming meetings to start having those discussions defining that what does that look like on the campus to ensure that we're being consistent across our practice we need to do training just like we do trainings with safety components on campuses to create consistency we need to work with the trainings whether we're working with our assistant principles and principles on what this looks like how do we enforce that if a student uh is challenges a teacher what is that going to look like the idea that we're going to be working with those High School administrators and those K8 administrators on uh enforcing the practice consistently across the district and then at the start of the school year then then it's the work of our local administrators to have
050those discussions with their teachers and staff um at the start of the school year talking about the expectations not only for students but the expectations of them as as employees of the district and and through that process we will hopefully we will have consistency within in this policy uh and I also want to make sure I just pointed out to you that there is um some Arizona State legislation that is going through that is there's discussions regarding this and it's very broad but it does talk about the impacts of cell phones on instructional time and looking at that school districts need to uh work to to limit that so because if it is a distraction we want to make sure they do that and so there are discussions even at the state legislature regarding this
051as well and so we wanted just to make sure that you guys were aware of that as well and I leave it up to questions I have a question um first do we have time to be able to because I I see that the um the percentage of teachers is 7% which is roughly I would say was like 200 and some odd teachers uh participated in the cell phone survey do we have a do we have the option to take out their data to see where that landed compared to everyone else or can we do a separate survey internally for just staff and teach to see how that go coexists and I ask this because we talk about uh enforcing the policy so we want to make sure that we create a policy that they
052support as well um which I'm sure they you know cell phones I I think it's funny because my my daughter's 13 and she's been asking for a cell phone for a couple years she asked me when I said well when you can pay for one obviously I mean that's what happened when I was young but then again that was long long time ago um so every every parent's going to be different obviously uh when it comes to cell phone and their children every Situation's different um but I I want to see if we can get kind of a standard across with the teachers and the admin the administration and staff um I don't know if that's possible you don't have to answer now uh the other thing I was going to ask is the policy
053itself when I was looking at it um another thing looking at cell phones from my daughter is uh T-mobile offers the free uh wrist watch you know the watch thing that I never you know I don't I don't like it but and and an iPad but uh would the policy go on those as well because technically that watch is technically kind of a cell phone you could do all the same things to it yeah Madam president members of the governing board uh yes uh so when you look at this it is encompassing of cell phones and electronic devices so it would Encompass that and and on your first question uh the survey data is um I reported to you guys tonight overall but we could break it out because it is we do have it
054by teachers staff um students and parents so we can look at that data to see what that 7% I think or or 10% between those two groups uh what that shows yeah because I would like to see how bad that's that skewed some of those higher numbers of 83% and you know because they were such a smaller you know group within the survey um because that's one thing where we have they you know it's been stated that they want something different between K through 8 to high school you know is that the truth maybe we stay more consistent and we just have the same sell phone policy from K to 12 I you know I don't know but um I would just like to see a little bit more data behind it absolutely thank you
055I have a question um looking at the write up you have it says during instructional time when we're talking about the high schoolers cell phones and other electronic devices must be turned off or set to silent and stored out of sight in a backpack and then at the end of that it says phones are not to be used for texting calling social media gaming or other non-educational purpos during lessons why do we have that in there if they're not to have them uh Madam president member of the discovering board there would be times where a teacher may make a a educational decision uh within their class that they may say hey I need you to take a picture of this if you have a cell phone take a picture of it or if there was
056a situation where a student's Chromebook died or something like that then a teacher would make that decision obviously it's not a free-for-all but the there are times where a teacher would make that professional judgment decision um that that it would be a ask for permission first not just have your phone out and available and and on your desk it's stored away hey my Chromebook just died do I have another solution to that there may not be an extra charger and so a teacher may use that as an opportunity to do a workaround so my recommendation would be make that a separate bullet and say in instances so that it's aware because it kind of contradicts in the same paragraph absolutely I have a question about um the lunch break it says students may use their
057cell phones and other electronic devices during lunch either inside the cafeteria or in designated outdoor areas when we made um School visits with more of the um elementary schools the teacher said sometimes um when the kids were not allowed to have their cell phones during lunch or recess is it it allowed the kids to interact more with each other instead of you know just looking at their phones all the time during their off times or when they're not in class so I'm just concerned about what teachers might think about allowing the kids to have them during say maybe they could just have them part of the lunchtime or mad president I I'll answer this one the use is for high schoolers only Elementary will not be able to take their phones out of lunchtime Elementary
058is for the entire day so when that's referred to that's referred to high schoolers only okay so K8 will not be able to take them at lunch okay thank you um I I know that board members cavara asked about the the teacher perspective on this and I know you know we are limited to the data that's in front of us right now but generally speaking teachers do support something some sort of policy on this correct some limitation yes okay okay the other piece I wanted to mention I know that there are um medical exceptions uh maybe for a student that has a chronic health conditions such as diabetes that needs to monitor their blood sugar um do do we are we fairly confident that we have all of those students documented or do you think
059that there might be some that are not for for some some unknown reason uh Madam president members of the government board I would say that if there is a a health plan for for that then yes it would be documented for the um the hsas uh and nurses to be able to work with that plan uh and then also I know that when you're doing uh annual student updates and things like that if there's changes to any health or anything like that to communicate that with the school okay but if it was found out after the fact maybe it hadn't been reported yet if it was a change in health condition then we would make exceptions for that correct yes thank you yes need them on the path to documentation yes and I think that's
060the big thing is is asking that permission and getting with an Administration to say hey I have this situation and then it's administrative uh decision to allow for those exceptions when needed okay all right and in looking at the I mean in looking at the policy and no of the upcoming potential uh there's a Senate bill I think it's 1226 um but it seems to be in alignment with our policy I don't see anything that um that that concerns me with this policy so um as it is is something that I would support thank you thank you madam president if I could um I want to thank Mr Kat and the committee for their hard work on this this is not an easy topic iPic um as as everyone knows that goes to the school
061visits this is one of my U magic questions that I ask and um there is no right or wrong answer and it's 5050 split across the board on how people feel about cell phones whether they want to ban them um but I I believe this is in line with everything that we've discussed and I know I've had some board members join me at the visits um and I think this policy fits in line um without that committee knowing those questions that we as ask and the data we gathered I think it fits in line pretty well so I just want to say thank you to Mr Kat leading that committee and to their hard work um over the past few months so very much needed thank you okay up next we have item G2 Dr
062Coto thank you Madame President uh tonight we have an update for you on our bond override committee um and Mr mcy is going to take this item thank you uh Madam president members of the board Dr Coto uh I'm actually going to get some help as well from Miss medel uh I have the fortune of um uh working and facilitating uh this group and the with the bond override committee and we've been doing this uh we did this last year and again um we've just had this meeting recently but normally we have a spokesperson that's with us uh Patrick Campbell had volunteered to come tonight and to speak but he's busy coaching baseball this evening uh for Shadow Ridge so uh we're going to fill in and provide an update on what was covered in
063that last meeting uh and and really uh the information that was covered back on February 27th uh was a was a chance to summarize the work that had been done previously and then talk about what we're you know what we're looking at here again when it involves a bonded and override and coming forward to speak to the board so that's the intention of this uh if any decisions are made by the board to pursue either bonder and override so that that particular piece uh we did have we used the committee members that were in place last year uh because they had they had the history of it it was it was a committee that was made up of members of the entire Community um not all were able to attend but those that were able
064and willing to attend did come to the meeting uh those six months of work that we did last year uh we' walked through those pieces of what we did um in those meetings to really study and break down the needs of where the district's at and a lot of those are spent on the financial side which which uh Miss padel could could outline for you but we spent a lot of time looking at the elements of what our what our budgets look like and then it was specific needs uh related to that as we you know as we look at as a district um related to when we talk about both Bond and override you have to Define both those terms you know a bond is really dealing with capital and then when we saw
065override we're talking about an M Ando um and that's a very General uh summary of it but that's really what we discussed as well so um with that it was an opportunity also to summarize election history so we went all the way back to around 2006 5 six and talked about this the success and failures of bonds and overrides and the last Bond that passed for example was in 2006 believe that expires in 27 roughly 28 and and so we wanted to make sure that everybody was aware of that as well so understand what the history was also overrides when the last override so that there was an understanding of what that meant as well um and how much money is attached to that so specifically with Bond I will tell you that um we
066did summarize those key areas again of what were those specific uh areas of discussion last year and that were studied and that was related to uh safety uh within the district um also talking about Maintenance and Facilities which obviously we talk about the the uh elements of what our buildings are at we spent time on transportation again obviously with buses um and and discussing where we're at with the fleet um talked about also the growth and some updates with growth as well within the community how that's still expanding um and also the you know when we say that you know that that need when it comes to a very sprawled District as well as what that would be for the needs for schools and some of those areas that are out there so we just
067T we we wanted to make sure the committee got that information again that's what they asked for um and that was the specific sides of the bond I'm going to turn it over to miss Mell she's going to talk a little bit about the override side to you madam president members of the board yes as Mr mcy mentioned we did um tackle both Pro both both areas both the bonds and the overrides and again as I mentioned just kind of discussed the differences and really um and I know we had a study session with the board at the beginning of February too just to kind of help reiterate what those two different funding sources do look like um so we went with the committee just explain to them again that we do currently have an
068M override in place and that covers the programs that's really what covers more people and programs and additional things that we would be able to support above and beyond what the state provides um we discussed again the duration that they are approved for a total of seven years and discussed where we are in the timeline here for daart um at last year's uh Bond and override committee the the consensus really from the group at the time was that they were going to really look at the um at the Bond as really just going out for the election to table the over override but to look at it again for the coming year and potentially make that recommendation to the board and so um that was discussed with them again because really we are going into
069next fiscal year of 2526 is the final full year of funding for the override um unless it is approved for continuation by the voters um beyond that it does start phasing out by a third every year um and really by fiscal year 20 um 28 29 it fully goes away and so uh we discussed the various programs again we reiterated what all those programs are that are currently funded um through the override um discussing the um the reading math U Music Arts Athletics additional programs um interventions uh full day kindergarten so just uh discussed those those pieces that are supported um the other thing that was helpful to them and we did it as well on the on the bond side compared what our other uh peer group our school districts that are in our
070operational peer groups as looked at by the Arizona auditor general what their outstanding bonds amounts were just to kind of get a little bit comparison and then we also looked at it for the override and really all the 10 peer group districts that um we are compared to by the auditor general all do have um overrides in place um eight of them are at the full 15% a couple are at the 133% and one is at a 10% and so um they're really all within um comparison or comparable to what we have in place um and then really we finalized the discussion on the override with just the the tax impact the estimated so we are still looking at at what the estimate would be but just initial initial estimates at this point in time
071until we get everything um finalized through assessed valuation is that it would be very um comparable to what we have in place currently with the override um and so those were um really the discussions and then we are meeting again this coming Thursday with them for another um committee update we are providing them um for their request they wanted to look at a couple different amounts of bonds and and just see what the tax rate impact would be at two different Bond sizes um so they can just have that conversation um they also wanted us to go back and revisit um knowing that our override had failed back in 2015 and we did have to phase out full day kindergarten for that year just kind of what has been the the student achievement impact um
072if we're seeing kind of the trickle down effect um up to this point in time and so those are some of the outstanding items that we have um that we'll be discussing at this coming um Thursday's committee um update so if any other information Mr M that that was perfect and and uh you know as as we facilitate this next meeting then uh Mr Campbell who is a spokesperson uh the intention is for for to provide another update to all of you on April 7th um and then any type of uh suggestions of recommendation would come from that committee it would come at uh a little bit later probably at the April 28th meeting as well so um they'll be able to and and their their job really they are charged with really looking at
073it and and making those decisions of what to bring forward to all of you and we will stand for any questions I have I have one question um you stated that they were looking at different Bond sizes are they or amounts are they Al also are they also looking at different um override amounts because we do have some that have 10 or 13% compared to the 15 at this time I I believe um Madam president um M Scara they had only really looked into that at the full 15% amount um we can provide a different kind of tax rate impacts on what those different percentages would be but at this point I haven't received any indication from the committee of looking at other other portions the one thing though that Miss padel did was she
074provided some some what was going on throughout the valley of of what districts had asked for ranging from you know anywhere from that 10 to 15% most districts are doing the you know go for 15 at that 15% Mark but that was presented to the committee so that they had they did understand that there was an option there okay so they were aware of it um I know it was mentioned that you were going over the effects of um when we lost the override and then we uh eliminated the all day kindergarten option I I just want to clarify I mean up It ultimately though it is up to the board if we were to go out for an override if the override then failed all hypothetical it's still up to the board on what
075we're cutting if if anything Madam president that is correct ultimately these are the programs that are supported through the override but ultimately that is the board decision on what programs um we'd be looking at to to get to that reduced funding amount okay um which really at the first year of funding for us we are at about $25.5 million of an override and so really we'd be looking about an8 and a half million dollar reduction in that first year following um a potential loss or non-continuation okay and to kind of piggy back off of what board members cavara mentioned um with a 133% or a different different amount other than 15 um I believe the 133% is in Poria unified um and I could be wrong but I believe that that was after multiple failed
076attempts at um getting that approved is why that was negotiated down um with the voters basically um so I I think it would be I think it would be more responsible to kind of go over some of those options just considering uh what we might be facing that was all I had anyone else okay moving to item H1 Dr CTO thank you madam president um tonight we are um bringing to you a recommendation to add two um board meetings to our schedule as you know we switched the morning or the board meetings to Mondays uh a few meetings ago and with that we switched out to one per month on the Mondays for the remain year of the year um we do have a lot of business building up in April and May so we
077are recommending that we add April 7th and May 5th to the governing board meeting to handle the business of the district they are also Mondays um and that'll enable us to uh spread out all the information that we have I motion to approve the revisions so the 2024 2025 governing board meeting schedule to reflect additional meetings as presented second e I vote Yes I don't know what's going on motion carries thank you all right is that item two thank you all right moving to item H2 Dr curo thank you madam president tonight we also bring you the board meeting for next school year the calendar for next school year all on Mondays uh we do and we did go through and anticipate some of the months where we will need two board meetings ahead of
078time this time so we don't have to keep bringing you to the revisions so um in that it reflects U two meetings in uh let's start in July October um and April of next year those a lot of those align with um timelines for budget and approval and things that we need to do by law so with that I'll stand for any questions or um recommend the governing board meeting schedule for the 25 26 school [Music] year I'm probably wrong but February 23rd of 26 that's not um president State correct no it's the 16th okay I'm good a motion to approve the 2025 2026 governing board meeting schedule as presented I second the motion motion carries now it's the fun stuff all right moving to item H3 Dr croo thank thank you madam president for
079the next six items we are going to welcome some new uh recommend some new and welcome new administrative appointments uh to our ranks and with that Mr mattingley will introduce the recommendations all right uh Madam president governing board members uh uh like Dr Coto said there's uh six proud announcements we're going to recommend to you tonight so I'll just take one at a time and so uh Mr Matthew Clark If I can invite you up to the podium please uh Mr Clark has been in education for 18 years um eight years of that was administrative experience and comes from wiinberg uh Unified School District we're proud to have him uh recommended as the assistant principal at Shadow Ridge High School so I will remind the board of our extensive um recruiting and uh interview process
080it's numerous stages I've always said this and I mean that I'm glad I do not have to go through that interview stage but we're proud announce Mr Clark is our candidate we're recommending for Shadow Ridge I move to approve the appointment of Matthew Clark as high school assistant principal May second hang in there Mr Clark motion carries congratulations congratulations yeah gotta lighten it up a little bit right so uh next uh I will request Kevin Ortiz Mr Kevin Ortiz to the podium uh again uh the extensive process and recruiting proc process uh an interview process I mean uh was extensive for all six of these victims I mean assistant principls uh so uh Mr Ortiz has seven years um in education six of those has been with daart working his way up uh in the
081classroom as well as Adena students helping out over at Valley Vista and he is being recommended as assistant principal for Valley Vista High School thank you all right I move to approve the appointment of Kevin Ortiz as high school assistant principal yes I vote Yes I vote Yes yes yes congratulations motion carries Madam president governing board members I would like now to request Mr John Jack Hastings to uh join the uh Podium here uh Mr hings uh has nine years in education uh nine of those years have been with us the entire time uh uh Mr Hy also has worked his way up and he was acting Dean and students uh at not the school he's recommended at but uh at West Point no West yeah I was right I was testing you I was
082testing you uh but uh he's been recommended for simron Springs assistant principal uh so Mr Hastings voice well I have have to make the motion [Laughter] first I move to approve the appointment I second of Jack Hastings I'm so sorry and now my computer's Frozen yeah it's okay I move to approve the appointment of John Hastings as Elementary assistant principal I second okay and I just want to say I'm so glad you finally applied for this do you want voice ahead I vote yes yes yes yes yes all right congratulations Mr Hastings congratulations Madame President governing board members I would now like to invite Miss Dana Thomas up to the podium Miss Thomas has been in education for approximately 13 years and out of those 13 years 10 years with the daart Unified School District
083uh and those 10 years have been uh progressively worked her way up from the classroom all the way up to a TLS position which is a it's not true what I apologize what are you doing dude I apologize um so she has been recommended for the assistant principal at Sunset Hills I do know that is correct so we're excited to ask the board to consider that as our recommendation thank you I move to approve the appointment of Dana Thomas as Elementary assistant principal I vote Yes yes [Music] yes came mine's not either way motion carries congratulations refresh and next uh Madam president governing board members uh Miranda Virgil if she could join us at the uh Podium here we're excited to share with you that she has 14 years uh in daart education all in
084daer UniFi school district and uh she did serve one year as a Dean as well working her way up prior to this recommendation tonight to the governing board as the assistant principal at Marley Park thank you very much I move to approve the appointment of Miranda Virgil as Elementary assistant principal second it's working motion carries congratulations congratulations yes and uh Madame President governing board members uh want to thank you for allowing me to bring these recommendations in front of you to put a face in a name that that is important the last uh recommendation was not able to be here tonight that is Rhonda coo uh cerman and she uh Miss cerman has been in education for 14 years all 14 years here in the daart Unified School District and so we will be recommending
085her to daart middle school as their assistant principal thank you for that I move to approve the appointment of Ronda cerman as Elementary assistant principal motion carries congratulations if she's watching [Applause] okay this time I'll move to item i1 request for future agenda items I would like to uh have a discussion topic on the future agenda of um how we select the Committees and if it's done randomly how do we track that is it any committee that you are looking for like are you looking for like cell phone or Bond or any of them any of okay anybody else okay at this time I move to convene to Executive session I second yeah motion carries we are convened e