001e for e good afternoon at this time I'd like to call the meeting to order let the record reflect that all board members are present with the exception of Christine Pritchard and we'll rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand one one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you and first up we have our public hearing uh for fiscal year 2024 2025 proposed budget Dr croo thank you madam president um Miss Marell spadel will take this and open the public hearing thank you Dr CTO um I'm pleased to present the fiscal year 2425 budget this afternoon for the board's review and adoption um now the proposed budget as you recall it was presented
002to the governing board at the June 13th meeting and since then it has also been posted on the ad public website for viewing and allowing time for community and or um input or comments from the board Andor Community um now again as a reminder we are not statutorily allowed to make any changes from the proposed budget to the time of adoption so this will be the same information as was presented to you previously but we'll just do a little a quick review for your information so again according to statute our budgets are required to be uh proposed by July 5th 5 th and we must adopt by July 15th so just a reminder when we did do our budget proposal on June 13th the legislature was still in session uh two days later actually on
003June 15th is when they ended session so we'll review a few of the items that were ultimately approved in that state budget just for your information as well so for the um because the legislative session was still in progress when we did meet um we did make some assumptions at the time for our proposed budget one of those assumptions was that they would be uh funding a 2% base level increase so as you recall um the legislature does have the ability to either fund the inflationary rate which would have been a 3.55% increase or to fund a base level increase of 2% whichever is less so ultimately they did fund the 2% inflation amount or the 2% base level amount not the full inflationary amount so that is what's already been reflected here in the
004M budget for a total budget limit of 23.8 million um this amount will be adjusted as you know we do bring back um throughout the year budget revisions to the board once we have known student accounts known carryover amounts Etc um additionally just a couple things to highlight when the state budget was approved there were a couple other small changes to funding um there was an additional 2% for transportation support limit so we'll see that revision excuse me in the future and there was also an increase to our free and reduced price lunch weights so once we know what that funding amount is and we get that appropriation from the state we'll bring that to you at a later time for our Capital funds the other component that was approved at the state level was
005a one times Statewide appropriation amount for district additional assistance which for our district we use for Capital um because we don't know what our proportionate amount is from ad yet at this time once we do know and we see we receive those state revenue amounts um we'll bring that to the board a later revision so for now our budget limit for the unrestricted capital is a $19.7 million um you see there the next funding source uh largely used for capital is the emergency building renewal grant program so something to note is that this is what the school facilities division receives from the state um they did once again fund it at the $200 million amount appropriation which was the same as last year's in fiscal year 2324 which is great news however um we are
006led to understand that there's quite a few backlogged projects right now at the state level so we anticipate that those that have already been committed they're going to encumber most of that appropriation so what remains from that amount is still left to be seen But as a district we'll do our due diligence and continue to apply as necessary for any projects to see if we can get additional funding from the state classroom site fund um that was was approved at the proposed amount that we expected that went from 758 per pupil to 792 per pupil so that was ultimately approved in the state budget for a total budget limit of 43.4 million for our district and finally um this is just high level again on page six of the attached budget reports you can see
007all the other funding sources that are listed here but just a snapshot highlevel federal grants we see that large decrease from prior year again as we all know eser 3 has come to an end and so that's largely the result of that decrease state grants had about a that $2 million increase primarily related to our school safety Grant programs that we are expecting to see approved and then food service fund will make adjustments throughout the year based on known activity and so again all budget just as a reminder this is our annual Financial Reports website we also posted on our District budget website we've included a link to the proposed budget to the notice of public hearing so that anyone can go to ad's website and view all that information um and so we always
008want to make sure our information is transparent for our community's review and or questions so at this point I'll stand for any questions from the board any questions from the board okay I'll open it up for the audience do we have any public comment on the budget take that as a no okay moving to item B1 at this time I move to establish executive session to be held immediately during a recess and the regular meeting it's not coming up for me but I'll vote Yes motion carries we are recessed for executive session e e e at this time we'll reconvene the regular meeting first up we have audience with individuals miss chapen this is the time for the public to comment members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on
009the agenda pursuant to ARS 38-43 1.01 action taken as a result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date in order to facilitate accomplishing the business of the district in a timely manner a time limit of 3 minutes will be imposed for each individual or group addressing the board when you approach the podium please state your name for the record first we have Nikki Ana encha did I say that again please enf I apologize she told me at the beginning and I was like all right I'm gonna remember this I'm G to remember this so I apologize that's okay I appreciate youy it doesn't bother me at all thank you you're up able
010to Def my time no so I did want to speak on an item on the agenda should I wait or just I don't know good evening board members cabinet and audience my name is Nikki I am a parent to students in the Poria Unified School District and I'm here tonight to express my um support of the resolution that you're putting forth for Title 9 to basically remain in its original intended form um we have been unsuccessfully trying to get our school board to formalize a policy at Pur Unified School District they have a um secret undefined practice that's in place now where they do allow boys to use uh girls restrooms if they insist on it um we had a student who was using the girls bathroom and posting videos on Tik Tok celebrating that
011he was allowed in the girls bathroom also posting videos on Tik Tok that he was um mentally ill heavily medicated in and out of Crisis um had had attempted suicide so he clearly had a lot of emotional issues going on on top of the fact that he was in the restroom with our girls and all of the girls who were going in the restroom with him also saw all of these videos that he was posting on Tik Tok um we could not get our board to pass an official policy or even discuss passing an official policy um so they just have this practice that remains in effect that most parents and students have no idea when they send their children to school that they would allow a student to use the opposite sex bathrooms or
012locker rooms so I just wanted to say I appreciate that you guys are putting forth this effort and we hope that um you pass it and that your courageous act inspires others to do the same and for those of you who um those who may be watching you can text the word Liberty to 53445 to become a member of moms for Liberty and join a lawsuit that will prevent the school that uh your child is going to from enforcing these new regulations that's the word Liberty 253 445 thank you thank you next we have Becky Smith hello um I also am from Pure ified um I just wanted to say I don't know if it's typical but it is a little frustrating that these meetings that are so important for parents occur at times that
013the working parent can't come and voice their concerns or opinions um so that's a little frustrating but um I've been attending PD meetings regularly and um this topic has been brought up quite regularly at those meetings um and with the new title n changes we've had an overwhelming number of people speak in opposition to the changes that are being made they don't like it they're not comfortable with it and if I'm not mistaken I don't think we've had one person speak in support of these drastic changes for title N9 at our board meetings so the majority is speaking at board meetings and we hope that all boards will have the best interest of the majority in mind because ultimately that's what we have to do we can't please everybody all the time um as pii
014would love to do but it's impossible to do um we wanted to come here to support the daart board members who are fighting against these radical changes that would put our students at risk of having sexual harassment charges brought against them or even risk our girls safeties in the restroom or locker room or maybe even lose their Sports and scholarships opportunities um these types of changes are happening to us as adults and we're forced to deal with it but I don't understand why we're putting this on our children minor minors and putting them in situations like this there's an option to make accommodations for the small percentage of people in in each school um if they need it there's staff restrooms there's nurses restrooms I don't know why we're doing this to our our youth
015our minors um thank you for taking a stand for the majority of our youth and specifically the girls since Women rights are women's rights are being infringed upon and we hope that your District could be leaders for the other districts in Arizona thank you thank you that's all we have thank you okay next up we have a superintendent update Dr croo thank you madam president uh just a few updates um we have started the New Year officially our schools are open we have people registering our administrators reported back uh this week and had awesome training on Tuesday and Wednesday so two full days of training they are ready to go uh preparing their schools our our new teachers begin next week believe it or not um with Neo so governing board I know you've been
016invited but you're invited Tuesday to come welcome our new teachers if you're available um and that's at the vista at 8:30 a.m. and uh they will start for two weeks of training um awesome training in this District that they provide to get ready for their classrooms and then shortly right after on the 1 it's time for our students to come and that makes it a great time so we are here and we're open and we're ready to go so that's uh kind of the update for July thank you very much next we have governing board update okay moving ahead uh to consent agenda I move to approve consent agenda items as presented second motion carries moving to action discussion items uh H1 Dr croo thank you madam president uh tonight we uh have a this
017afternoon used to say in tonight it's actually this afternoon so um we have a presentation uh on our educator preparation program so we currently have one for our ESS students but we are asking one for grade um grades K through 8 so our new assistant superintendent who is officially here now will have this presentation so welcome Mr mattingley and the floor is yours uh thank you Dr Coto Madam president governing board members tonight is just an overview of what we've had in place that is similar uh what we're requesting that you approve and that is a teacher education prep program uh as Dr Coto said uh initially right now what we have currently is a teacher prep program for our special education program uh so right now um the opportunities that uh come with this
018program is a career pathway program for any four-year degree person that has interest in maybe even changing careers a non-education degree uh it also um please know it helps this District create a uh recruiting plan too increases our uh with our limited number of teachers that are available to attract it creates another way to increase uh um our teachers that we uh bring in to teach our awesome kids in this community so it is an ad approved program uh they're excited to be a part of the process of approving it uh it's embedded it's on the job training along with some outside PD that's provid uh with that I will tell you it's a 2-year model the expectation is that there's 150 uh professional development hours uh Dart Unified School District in this program has
019exceeded that by 30 hours uh so it's important to us that we provide every opportunity and resources to make them and maximize their potential to be the best teacher they can be serving our children in this District uh when the a candidate that goes through this program when it's all said and done they receive from on the Department of Education a 12year teaching certificate uh which and they don't and this is free it's no charge to them other than time and effort and we pay them a teacher salary during this entire time and they don't have to go to a university to do it they stay right here on our campuses and the district office where the PD takes place um right here you'll see uh our program has affected a total a a total
020of uh I believe 16 schools right here is uh the first program that we had you can see there's nine schools affected with that the number of candidates and applicants that are at located at those schools um there we go let me do this and I'm going to skip a slide here and then you can see here uh some other schools uh that are are affected by these uh U this program in a good way and and here's the thing uh you know every position right now is a hardto feel position in education uh but we certainly uh as all school districts do not exclusive to this District uh there's a short of special ed teachers and so this is a wonderful program that's going to make a difference and I can see these numbers
021increasing to make a difference so uh our children can have some quality teachers in the classroom uh I will go back one slide here we asked those um candidates that are going through the program how's it going in general just overall it's they feel it's an effective program to prepare them to go into the classroom and be successful in between the walls of instruction as well as outside the walls serving the community and any extra activities that take place um so with that I will end this short presentation being my first and uh answer any questions if I can thank you very much I'll open that up I have a quick question so these are are these teachers that are currently going to the university that want to attend this and not go to the
022university or are they already uh Madam president governing board members this is an opportunity that's not uh unreasonable to think that could take place that's possible but what it really attracts is non-educated four-year degree uh candidates that are in a different career okay and maybe they want a change of a career got uh but it's not it's I've had in my experience in previous uh school with this type of model that somebody has an education degree and they want to sped certificate and they'll go through that career Pathway to get that okay y so so how how does anybody know about this I mean is it geared towards people that already work in the district doing other things or is it a because if I come to a job fair I'm coming to apply for
023a teacher I'm not going to be an engineer and say Hey I want to be a teacher but I'm not qualified uh Madam president governing board members I will share with you it's kind of twofold uh we certainly want to attract any uh employee that we have that is looking for a different Progressive Pathway to get to that teaching it's we do have uh people in our program now that were pair of Pros that during their working time got that degree in whatever they uh got it in and then they jump into our program um so at the same time um we do advertise at a level that attracts those non-education degrees we advertise that one of the focuses and and Dr Cotto will get to this later uh with our goals is we will
024be focusing on that teacher prep program and our recruiting uh models and to participate in this program you have to have a four-year degree from any college or a university right Madam president govern Bo members of an accredited University yes okay thank you and are we putting anything in place so when they go through this program um we hold on to them we don't allow them to leave go to another District that we want them to stay here Madam president governing board members obviously that is the end goal and with the right resources is important place that's exactly what we intend to do and Madam president if I could add on to Steve's presentation a little bit this is just one instance of you know we have discussed many times that um the landscape of
025education and hired and teachers has changed so this is the out of the box thinking of how we get adults in train them we control what we train them and then make our kids successful so um it's very important that we do that because in in reality the universities are not turning out the number of teachers we need they're just not so um again out of the box thinking to try to support and and get the best services for our kids I also think it's important that this is on the job training because when you go through a teacher preparation program even if you're a teaching major at a university they don't teach you all about classroom management no no no no no no you learn all that the hard way the first couple of
026years so if you've got mentors and team members if you've already got that support system in place they're going to be ahead of teachers just coming out of the University I'll entertain a motion on this I move to approve the educ Ator preparation program for grades K through 8 as presented motion Carri moving to item H2 Dr croo thank you madam president uh as we discussed the last meeting uh tonight we're bringing you the handbook the student and parent handbook and uh discipline procedure revisions for your approval for the 2425 school year and Mr muy will uh discuss this a little bit thank you madam president members of the board Dr Coto uh as you'll see uh presented in there um you're going to see the two handbooks both for uh 2425 it's our uh
027student and parent handbook and then also for freedom because there are some obviously some slight variations for freedoms as well but I wanted to uh point out a couple of things one is is that um in in uh putting together any type of changes that we go through the handbook we do SE seek feedback from all of our stakeholders uh there is outlined in there the members of that committee uh and that was under the direction of of our director of student services Kevin kashat with also input from our director of of safety operations Jason jger so uh they're involved uh heavily in in making that happen but I do want to point out uh within the handbook as as you go through you would see really what what happened from the from the previous
028year we saw three three major additions that I want to point out to you um that have been added to uh to next year's 2425 handbook uh for for you for the review and approval uh the first one uh that we've added in there is a Good Neighbor policy um that is under policy 5306 now that's already adopted policy that we have but we wanted to make sure it was outlined a little clearer uh for uh within the handbook so we've included that and one of the one of the things that we did wanted to do was to Define what that looks like for students uh not only on their way to school but going home and that includes uh bus stops Parks things like that so that there's an understanding of that we need
029to make sure that how we're teaching our kids how they come to school and get home so that was outlined a little bit clear uh within the handbook a second uh addition is obviously with uh the adoption of parent Square as a communication resource uh We've outlined that under policy 4-22 uh we wanted to make sure that there is communication clear communication and what is the accepted communication from our staff uh with parents and students uh and uh they're to be using parent Square as a primary communication and not those other types of um apps and other resources that are out there so we want to make sure that that was defined and clear for for the uh um for the parents and students to understand um and obviously there's an education piece for the
030staff on that as well um another addition that I'd like to point out is that we've added in there is the abuse of of staff and what kind of language is being used and we made sure that any disruptive behavior by adult or students may result in the removal from the facility and being trespassed and we made that very clear is that we want to make sure that there's positive interactions between anybody who's visiting our campus and uh and staff members as well um and and that's an important piece that that that that relationship is built but we've got to we we've got to Define that clearly so we've added that also to the handbook finally I would just uh mention that um uh We've updated the electronic information service uh Services user agreement on
031use of technology so that's been updated to include um and making sure that any type of um uh what we talk about that they have to sign off that there's an understanding of you have to use our equipment properly and for what you're doing at school and there's safeguards for that so they have to agree to that and that also goes along with the acknowledgement form that when you receive your handbook at the beginning of the year we work during those first three weeks of school to ensure that all parents have acknowledged the uh the rules and procedures that are in the handbook and so that there's a good partnership there so those were the major uh add I and uh with the handbook uh and I will stand for questions maybe we talked this
032to death last time all right I moved to approve the student and parent handbook and discipline procedure revisions for the 2024 2025 School year motion carries moving to item H3 Dr croo thank you madam president uh tonight we are requesting you adopt the proposed budget that Mary Dell outlined in the um in the public hearing earlier tonight and there are no new presentations so we're turning it back to you um for approval of the proposed budget for the 2425 school year I move to adopt the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 2025 second motion carries moving to item H4 and this is for the adoption of resolution related to Title 9 expansion um I will take this one and what I'm going to be doing is presenting a resolution related to Title 9 expansion and
033recommend uh that we adopt this bear with me as I read through the resolution the resolution is titled responding to President Biden's executive order in the United States Department of Education whereas Title Nine of the education amendments were signed into law in 1972 by President Richard M Nixon Title Nine States no person in the United States shall on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance and whereas Title 9 began its journey through all three branches of government when representative paty mink of Hawaii who is recognized as the major author and sponsor of this legislation introduced it in Congress in 1964 paty mink became the first woman of Asian ancestry to be elected to
034the US House of Representatives in 1972 she became the chief sponsor of Title 9 which honored her many years of tireless work towards equal rights in education for girls and women paty mink was given the medal of freedom after her death whereas for over 50 years Title 9 has protected the educational freedoms of young girls and women it has provided Equitable access in athletic programs for girls and women and requires all educational institutions to meet the compliance requirements of Title 9 for continued federal financial assistance whereas on March 8th 2021 President Joseph R Biden by issuance of an executive order referred to as the order demanded a change to Title 9 language to include protections for our disc discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity it was further ordered that within 100
035days of this executive order the Secretary of Education Miguel Miguel cordona in consult consultation with attal attorney general Merck garland would review all existing regulations orders guidance documents policies and any other agency actions which may be inconsistent with the policy set fourth in the order and whereas on April 6th 2021 the US Department of education's office for civil rights launched a comprehensive review of the Title Nine regulations to fulfill PR President Biden's executive order and its intent to gather public opinion and further insights and whereas on September 30th 2021 education secretary Miguel Cardona said that parents should not be the primary stakeholder and their children's education during his testimony before the senate committee on health education labor and pensions and whereas on July 12th of 2022 the US Department of Education Office for civil rights
036published a notice of proposed rule making and an Avenue for public comment on the proposed Title 9 rules the Department of Education received more than 240,000 comments on the proposed ruling and whereas on April 19th of 2024 the US Department of Education released 1,577 pages of the final Title 9 regulations which include clarification on steps a school must take to protect students employees and applicants from discrimination based on sex stereotypes sexual orientation gender identity and sex characteristics the press release issued by the the US Department of Education states that rul making is still ongoing related to Athletics page 165 out of the 1,577 includes guidance on intentional or unintentional misgendering of students or staff and or using pronouns inconsistent with the gender identity of a person quote the department has long recognized consistent with the
037text and purpose of the statute and Court's interpretations that title 9's prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses harassment based on sex stereotypes C eg2 2001 revised sexual harassment guidance at three noting that acts of verbal non-verbal or physical aggression intimidation or hostility based on sex or sex stereotyping is a form of sex discrimination to which a school must respond if it rises to a level that denies or limits a student's ability to participate in a benefit from the educational program whereas on August 1st 2024 these final regulations will take effect the regulations in part would attempt to protect transgender persons and those who do not conform to gender stereotypes whereas since the final regulation language was released in April of 2024 there have been several State Attorneys General and organizations which have successfully filed lawsuits against
038these new regulations whereas the signing governing board members of the DI art Unified School District were elected to represent the values of the their representative community and to be their their voices to honor our pledge to uphold our Oaths of office we also must consider the laws in place by our United States Constitution the First Amendment and the 14 th Amendment and the constitution of the State of Arizona the parents Bill of Rights and whereas the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws respecting an establishment of religion prohibiting their free EX exercise of religion or abridging the freedom of speech we interpret this to mean that we cannot compel the speech of a student employee nor can we compel the religious or other deeply held beliefs of our students
039or employees that there are two Sexes and whereas as stakeholders in the educational process all parental rights are reserved to a parent of a minor child without obstruction or interference from this state any political subdivision of the state any governmental entity or any other institution ARS 1-62 the parents Bill of Rights we interpret this to mean that we cannot demand that parents or Guardians compel the speech of their minor children in a way that cont contradicts their family values or deeply held religious beliefs whereas the daart Unified School District strategic plan a States every student in all schools will be prepared with the Knowledge and Skills to achieve College and Career Readiness strategic plan goal C States the daart Unified School District culture will consistently be reflective of a safe and secure environment for all
040stakeholders we interpret this to mean that we will provide a safe experience for every student without exception we will prepare every student with Knowledge and Skills without exception and whereas daart Unified School District board policy 5-31 states the district does not discriminate against a student on the base of a religious Viewpoint or religious expression additionally a student shall neither be rewarded nor penalized on the basis of religious content or a religious Viewpoint if such a Viewpoint is expressed in an assignment that requires a student to express the student's Viewpoint this is derived from ARS 15-110 a a public educational institution shall not discriminate against students or parents on the basis of a religious Viewpoint or religious expression and whereas the daer governing board is committed to empowering parental involvement in education and minimizing public Monies
041to be used to promulgate obtuse o overreach into our local school district and criminalizing innocent children or the people of the varying faiths that commonly and firmly believe in truth such as a creator of two two distinct and wonderfully made Sexes and be it resolv that the daart unified governing board has determined the United States Department of Education has created a final regulation which is contrary to the plain language of Title 9 the governing board deriving Authority from the Arizona Constitution Arizona statutes and the regulations of the Arizona Administrative Code strongly urge the Arizona State Legislature to further codify our state statutes to ensure that our children are protected from the political weaponization of government which would infringe on both federal and state constitutional rights daer Unified School District 89 will continue to serve as
042the educational hub for its community and will continue to respect Title 9 as it was intended Dart Unified School District 89 will continue to respect the Dignity of every person it serves be it further resolve that the daer unified governing board will send a copy of this resolution to Arizona's superintendent of Public Instruction uh and it closes with adopted this adopted by the daart Unified School District number 89 at a regular open meeting of the public held on July 11th of okay and I moved to to adopt the resol resolution related to Title 9 expansion as presented second motion carries at this time uh we'll move to i1 request for future agenda items no okay I move to adjourn the meeting everybody has s okay we are adjourned thank you