001e for e good evening and welcome we'll rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you everyone uh I'll just mention that all board members are present and first up we have audience with individuals Miss Pritchard we do have several people wishing to speak tonight so I'll go ahead and read the statement this is the time for the public to comment members of the board may not discuss items that were not specifically identified on the agenda pursuant to ARS 38-43 1.01 action taken as result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for future consideration decision
002at 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 and first we have Danielle Mills good evening my name is Daniel M as a mother to six from a Law grad to a fourth grader I know gone are the days of a mother's primarily raising children gone is the illusion that the Educators have our children's best interest in mind gone are the days knowing your child's teacher was raised with the same core values you're instilling so we rely on you our school board to be the checks and balances our education system needs even if our Styles aren't exactly
003the same as long as your intent is positive is pure resolution is possible however if I ask you the personal question what would you as a parent do if this was your child and your comeback is like that of assistant principal Moore at valy Vista High School of don't threaten me it makes me wonder why my our children don't get the same reaction or protection as a parent at valy vda high school for the last four years I have seen the revolving door of Administrators and staff I have encouraged and supported as a volunteer and parent while dodging ducking and embracing those put in place of authority that often only make me wonder and question what the vetting process currently used is that has ultimately brought me to your email and now this platform examples
004valy Vista High School principles present and past have ignored willing and participated as byst standards to staff and student bullying of students including my children blatantly disregarded concerns of health and student safety and have done nothing to provide a true trust in leadership after core character flaws were addressed daart employees also valy Vista High School administrators are operating small businesses than using said small businesses in mandatory for grade fundraisers the Valley Vista High School counselors are requiring all Juniors with no exception to take the armed services vocational aptitude battery test which is not required by any legal entity such as the state or federal government it is however required by the United States Arm Forces to gain entrance into any of the military branches and the only way to excuse your child from the administered
005test is by absence on test Day School athletic directors not only have ignored reports of child abuse but established a level of mistrust with the misappropriation of funds attempted insurance fraud and blatant sexist and discriminatory policies when requesting support of girl Sports violating Title 9 also but not including endangering the community as a whole by not containing and eradicating the infectious disease out of spite School nurses violated parental student rights By admittingly ignoring our signed enrollment form with no accountability the only response I received from Principal Frasier was there would be a change in future wording printing of said policy by the district as to not be held legally liable for when these violations are committed in the future school security Dart and Valley of publicly announced upgrades yet are still operating a failed security
006system with 50 acts of vandalism missed due to known broken Endor inop inoperable cameras verified camera by camera by an assistant principal toi special thank you Mrs Mills thank you Dr curle can we follow up with Mrs Mills on her concerns and I believe she may have more yes okay thank you can you also follow with the governing board on that outcome yes thank you so much next we have Steve Gilliam good evening my name is Steve Gilliam and I've lived in the same home in El Mirage 20 plus years um and I'm here to talk about the bond the upcoming bond that you guys going to try to put through I am against it and I'll tell you why I'm against it um I was raised in Maryvale I went to pral school and
007graduated from St Mary's in 68 I'm the first of 11 children of World War II vets my five children went to public school and they turned out real good the the Catholic school gave me discipline but uh I I went to two years in college but the reason I'm against this is what's happened in the past in this school district and a lot of other ones cartright in mville where I came from Phoenix Union you have a building and all of you drove a car here and if you don't maintain your car and if you have poor tires and you don't put G uh gas and oil in it and it breaks down that's Foo fooo on you that's what's happening in this school district you've had buildings for years the surprise Elementary School on
008Greenway has been there since 1978 the dice art High School's been there probably for longer and they're dilapitated they need all this money that youi get need to fix up what happened to the superintendent and the school boards prior to did you forget to put new tires in your car you put add oil in there when they break down it's on you so whoever is responsible for doing that should be accountable whoever designed Willow Creek the athletic field with no bathrooms that person whoever is the architect should be never allowed to work in this school district again should have a a a a crank going against his credit because now if you want to spend millions of dollars to put bathrooms out there instead of Porta ponies which one of you women in here like
009going to a porta poy or walking the length of a football field to go do your business totally asinine and improper in more we wouldn't do that our children so why are we doing it to the adults to pay pay for this when I moved here when my wife died in ' 03 to El Mirage my house I bought for 173 it's paid for and it's evaluated at 450 so my tax is elevated because it's based on your tax value what am I getting for my dollar I got four neighbors Manuel who's Hispanic has three children Emma's got four children they're white Sam's got two children he's from Iraq and became a good citizen and Daniel's from a mixed family he's got two children that's 11 children I can throw rocks at and hit their
010houses and not one of them goes to public school they all go to Charter School and why discipline and parent involvement and they'll take their kids at school they don't need a silly bus costing thousands of dollars and I found out it cost the last Bond to issue that we voted down cost the district $255,000 that's a lot of money wasted for nothing and if you're doing to put more money into this one that you're going to hit us in November that kind of money could have went to something else you thank you thank you uh next we have is it Tanya sibl hi my name is is Tanya sibl I am the grandparents to four Scholars that go to Thompson Ranch I am concerned that some events that took place that transpired over a
011period of time that my grandchildren's mother were trans trespassed off of the campus of Thompson Ranch and withdrawn without her permission from the school but re-enrolled shortly after and all but one child which is the prek because Mom has been trespassed at off she's not able to take the her three-year-old to school and pick up I know that we're not here to overturn anything we just want to see if there's any way that there can be accommodations made for a mom parents right to take her three-year-old to school the other three are re-enrolled back um I have just signed up for volunteering I do work in the area I'm a nurse practitioner um and I'm in the area only two days a week so I could also help I also wanted to make sure that
012policies and procedures are not being breached or V or violated her rights as a mother for her children to make sure that I mean it feels like Injustice she will be speaking so she'll tell you what what the matter is but it feels like Injustice and we all know that Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere and so I just wanted to see if there is any accommodations that can be made for the mother maybe someone come out and bring the three-year-old to the curve since she's not allowed on the property and we don't know indefinitely when that will end so I'm just here just see what can be done because it just feels not right not been in this predicament before I just want to make sure that nothing inequality is taking place
013here thank you thank you next we have Ashley Johnson and Dr Coto are we able to follow up with any accommodations we could possibly make yes thank you yes we thank you greetings to each of you I'm Ashley Johnson I'm a parent of four Scholars who is enrolled in the daart school district grades ranging from prek to 7 today I would like to make awareness about today I would like to bring awareness to the school board about my current situation so before I get into details I would like to give you a little backstory regarding the situation which why I'm here today on March 1st Friday evening while waiting in my car to pick up my children I was approached by El marage Police Department who handed me a letter informing me that the district
014has trespassed to me being that I was trespassed and never were there in a an investigation I just feel like that it was handled inappropriately um saying that I was trespassed at from Thompson Ranch Elementary Monday morning March 4th my children's grandmother who just spoke dropped them off at school um only for my seventh grader to have text me that her teacher made her aware she was dropped then I caught the office spoke to miss Danielle who told me all of my children were withdrawn without my consent my knowledge my signature nothing I then became concerned I also um I then became concerned because I did not withdraw them and wasn't made aware of the withdrawal so I expressed my concerns to miss Danielle um that I was on my way to pick up my
015children being that they were no longer enrolled she um told me she cannot release my kids to me because I was trespassed it about 20 minutes later um El marage Police Department contacted me Jason Vargas mentioning that he can help escort my children to me and that I needed to be at school at 10:05 in order for my kids to be released to me once I made it to the school my kids were escorted by a resource officer as well as a undercover police officer these um situations are a bit extreme and traumatic for my children um so my presence here today is to see if we can get any accommodations for my prek um um the district did make it right they did reenroll my children but if I am trespassed it from a
016situation that wasn't investigated just made the decision um I just feel like that it should be accommodation because my three-year-old he is a scholar he's eager to learn he he cries when his siblings are being dropped off at school it took a toll on him because he was only enrolled for a week so now I'm trying to F figure out how can we get him back in school to where I can be able to pick him up drop him off his dad passed away of colon cancer of 2022 so I'm the only help um my mom my kids grandmother she does help me where she can but she has her own life as well so I'm just looking for an accommodation to see what we can do for my Scholars thank you thank you next
017we have Roslin Akin greetings to each of you and um I'm thankful for this platform just to express my concern I'm the grandmother of the children that were just spoken about and um it is really uh a huge concern for me that the children were disenrolled that Mom was not communicated with in regards to this disenrollment and my um seventh grader was escorted off property um by police and there's some shame around that because she had to contend with classmates now that she's back about why that happened and with mom having no knowledge of this going on there's no signature on this disenrollment um we're not sure what the policies are in regards to this and we absolutely are involved um parents uh we try to support where we can and you know there's just
018a real concern um with the details that surround this entire situation and so it is with much humility that we're asking for you to take a peek at the details of this and in the investigation that Mom referenced the staffer that was at the scene of what is in question is the only staffer that was not interrogated to give Clarity to what happened she advised Mom to get in her car and exit the property and Mom complied and so there's a real concern about the way um the investigation um was conducted but I do think there is room to speak with this staffer it's it's your staff and I think she's on staff because she's integral and that she has the details of what happened and consequentially this makes mom appear as if she has
019a pattern and so I would ask uh respectfully that you revisit the investigation and that again mom is asking for accommodation to have her little one put back in school because being a scholar is what we all strive to have our children to be thank you for listening thank you thank you Dr Coto in addition to uh the information on the accommodations can we also um get a board update for the details around this investigation yes ma'am we can do that thank you okay next we have I believe it's is it Haley Sibly okay hello I'm auntie and I'm an all fairness stepping to ask for accommodations for my sister um my nieces and my nephews have been traumatized by this experience and I am coming to advocate for accommodation so the scholars can continue
020to exercise their intellects and apply themselves in the best way that they can that's what I'm here to advocate for so that's all I have to say thank you and next we have Sarah Rivera good evening Madame President board members Dr croo and cabinet as you know my name is Sarah Rivera and I am the President of the special education PTSA here in daart I'm here to provide an update for you as what we are doing within the district over the last next few months sorry first I'd like to commend Miss da Martinelli on her outstanding coordination of the Festival of the Arts and to Express gratitude to her and Katie McCarthy for their efforts in enhancing accessibility at the festival including the addition of the adapted art experience and other accommodations we had many
021families very thankful for uh those efforts and the additions of those accommodations we are currently in the midst of voting for our 2024 Ginger Leaf Francy Awards and we are delighted at the strong turnout of over 1300 votes so far there's still one week left to vote we have received nominations for 31 individuals across four categories special education teachers par professionals general education teachers and St staff members these nominees represent represent 13 diart schools and two departments ESS and transportation additionally four organizations have been nominated for our community champion award all nominees will be recognized this Saturday on the field of the spring training game and the official award ceremony is scheduled for April 9th and you are all invited to attend the week of the 9th will be a very busy week for us
022as we host the second annual walk-in roll for inclusion on Saturday the 14th this event is held at dreamcatcher Park in Surprise promises to be a fun-filled family day raising awareness for accessibility and inclusion we will feature an inclusive practices poster Fair open to all high school students to enter along with games as silent auction Makers Market exhibitors food trucks and an awareness walk around the pond you can also preorder this amazing t-shirt that I'm wearing so let us Taco about inclusion proceeds from this event will support our accessible playgrounds initiative aiming to provide more accessible playground equipment and surfacing to all school playgrounds in the daart schools districts speaking of which uh we have submitted our first Grant application to install poor in place accessible rubber rubber surfacing to get rid of wood chips
023on our first playground and we're eagerly awaiting the announcement to see if we are awarded that Grant thank you for your time and I do hope to see all of you at the Walk and Roll for inclusion thank you that's everyone all right next we have item C1 superintendent update thank you madam president just uh four quick ones here tonight uh this week we had the opportunity to go out and congratulate our dice Art Heroes so uh we went around to the last three days we have one person yet to hit but congratulations to all our dice Art Heroes that ceremony is coming up on April 18th so we can't wait to celebrate all our dice Art Heroes on on that day uh couple board meetings ago couple months ago we had some National Merit
024semi-finalists that we recognized here um we are happy to announce that those semi-finalists have now become finalists so Shadow Ridge High School lukesh Donovan Lura Troy Orton and Wyatt Wilson are now finalists and in line for some big scholarships so um we are awaiting that but uh great news and congratulations to them um also the Festival of the Arts uh da Marinelli shout out to Da for an amazing job uh and everyone else that helped make this possible uh what a great event again continues to be an awesome environment for our community so thanks to Da and everybody involved uh for that awesome um event and last but not least um we have another award and um our board president uh Don denmore has been awarded the school board member of the year for 2023
025by the Arizona Coalition of school board members so congratulations and uh that's all I have on my update thank you thank you so much Dr Coto uh next we have governing board updates start and actually um just to piggy back off for Dr Coto Miss Densmore I've just always has been inspired by your leadership and it's just such an honor to serve with you and congratulation on such a well-deserved award so thank you for leading our district yeah um and I apologize this is a little lengthy but some of the length of it a lot of it is um just based on inspiration I wanted to share a little bit of it but I did try my best to condense um last month I was thankful to attend the Innovative School Summit conference and I
026attended sessions that focused on community and parental engagement strategies to increase student and staff buyin towards effort to achieve academic goals improving School climate culture concept of collective efficacy and creating teams that with trust in each other the list goes on um but in the interest of time I won't outline every aspect of all the sessions I attended but really wanted to touch on some of the overall themes and takeaways um one of the keynote speak speakers was a former special education student who was an an ed classroom who shares his experiences specifically how the interactions with his teachers and staff helped shape his experience um he spoke of the importance of using language that lifts um being mindful of whether you're speaking to us to a students this is all what they phrased their
027pity like hey they come from a bad home life let's give them a break let them take a nap in the corner um they've had a rough night versus speaking to their power and recognizing um the potential that all students have within them to make students feel U seen and valued um this year the conference focused a lot on the high level trauma that students are carrying with them whether it be linked to the Fallout of covid or the traumatic events that they may have experienced in their lives and it was interesting to learn that when reviewing the results of a functional MRI the insult to the brain due to emotional trauma is greater than what's caused by physical trauma which I did not know that I thought was very interesting um and these students
028are the students that are coming into our classrooms daily so there was a great focus on learning how to create environments that heal and this doesn't mean providing therapy sessions during during the school day it means providing our teachers and staff with tools to recognize and manage the various trauma responses that they may that the students may be exposed to when they come through the door so many district and I talked to Dr crow about this briefly they're providing training to their teachers and staff to help them be more prepared to manage these specific trauma behaviors and give them more tools so it's a way to support our staff because these kids are still coming through their doors and just having ways in in their approach to deescalation strategies perhaps or just how to manage
029and and help a student um get in a place where they're ready to learn for the day um so also more with like the the traar students are facing keynote speaker Dr laquana Nelson used an analogy this is really I really like this um pertaining to boiling water so boiling water can represent life challenges Hard Times trauma Etc and how it can impact everyone differently depending on their makeup their level of resiliency and perception so you put a carrot in boiling water and it becomes soft sometimes turns to Mush you put an egg in boiling water and it becomes hardened but you put a coffee bean in boiling water and it changes the water forever and it can be the best cup of coffee you've ever had the way she phrased it was way better
030than what I just said it but it was really impactful because it's multifaceted it speaks to how trauma and life challenges can impact a student in in different ways but it also speaks to the fact that really good things can come out of hard times and how we as Educators administrators School leaders can play a very important part in that process for our students so Dr Nelson also ended her session with two powerful statements that when you hear them you'll know why they meant so much to me based on how I feel about our title schools um dialect doesn't determine intellect and my personal favorite zip codes don't determine Destinies which goes back to what we always say in daart that all students can learn no exceptions and my final impactful takeaway from this uh
031was it for presentation that emphasized the importance of knowing your why why you're teaching why do I I want to be a superintendent why am am I on this board and the speaker talked about how when you know your why your what becomes more impactful because you know your purpose and they illustrate he Illustrated this wonderfully um by using the song Amazing Grace he had a little clip from when he did this presentation elsewhere and he picked somebody out of the audience and he told them to sing Amazing Grace and the man reluctantly but saying Amazing Grace he's like okay now I want you to sing it as if you're you're singing it at your Brother's funeral who died tragically and this he painted this whole awful picture and the way this man it gives
032me goosebumps just even reference it sang this song was the most beautiful version of Amazing Grace I'd ever heard um and it just really it was a great way of illustrating the importance of never losing sight of your passion and using that as a driving force to continue to put meaning into what we do so I just hope we all remember that and no matter how our individuals roles May differ um it's important for our students that we really never lose sight of our why so like I said that is a very um condensed version of of the conference but I really appreciate the opportunity to attend and it was very meaningful uh moving on uh wonderful attending the diert Festival of the Arts on March 9th um congratulations to miss marelli and her staff
033and all the students that put hours into making that event um as amazing as it was I always say it's a staple in our community it's not a school function it's it's just a staple that just I think more and more people come to every year we put it on so thank you so much to everyone involved in that effort and then the last thing um today had the pleasure of surprising many of our deserving teachers and staff with the Hero Squad to notify them of their Dysert hero status and it's just always a joy to see the smiles and the happy tears all around um and look forward to celebrating them and their upcoming dinner next month and finally have a safe and happy restful spring break that's it sorry my coffee is cold
034now I know I know just kidding no I had the honor of reading to students at Freedom traditional in Rancho Gabriella and I also attended the daer Festival of the Arts which I do agree continues to get bigger and better every year um just in years past knowing that they had stages outside and they had everything outside they've got artwork outside it was great on Friday evening when you hear the thunder you hear the thunder you see the lightning and I just knew the text messages were going to start flying because when once you have everything set up you know and of course Arizona who who thinks you're going to get a thunderstorm you know but but it was wonderful and you couldn't you couldn't even tell you couldn't even tell the performances were great
035the artwork was great it was just a very familyfriendly atmosphere it was positive it was a a be and the weather was gorgeous it was absolutely wonderful so good job to all of our students who performed our teachers and everybody who helped organize it um we are very fortunate to have Miss Marinelli in diart so I just want to say thank you for that and last month we had the opportunity to hear about all of our CTE programs and I just want to take a second to say thank you for everybody involved in that um we just had a study session before so we were a little tired I may not have said thank you very much but thank you to Mr G shabber and all of our CTE and that's just pretty cool that
036the fire department is going to teach our fire science that that is that is super cool I'm so excited about that that's awesome so thank you I also attended read Across America I read to freedom and Canyon Ridge lots of fun uh Freedom was the second graders um and their expressions when you read books to them it's just it makes your day um I also attended the Festival of the Arts the talent that's out there is amazing of our students the the time and effort Dedication that they put into these um performances is just absolutely amazing you can tell that they absolutely love what they do um and then also I just want to tell everyone have a have a very safe and happy spring break I'm ready for a vacation okay um well uh
037last week was National social workers week so I do want to give a shout out to all the social workers that are in the district and I want to thank the city of surprise Mar and Council uh at their last meeting that recognized uh social workers um I also participated in read Across America and I think there was a trend because I only read to first graders so I think they now know I can only do first grade or something I don't know but um it worked but I was at freedom and uh Canyon Ridge and also Rancho Gabriella and I also attended the Festival of the Arts and just a shout out to everybody that participated in poor Danielle I know with the lightning and thunder even I was worried about it um but
038thank you to all the volunteers but most of all um thank you for highlighting these very talented students that are in the daart district that it it's just wonderful for parents and grandparents and other people in the community to actually see what's going on that they normally wouldn't see what's going on at other schools they only see their school so it was was a great opportunity and finally I just want to get this is really cool that Luke Elementary has been nominated for the best school best public school in the best of the daer the Desert Community Choice Awards and so voting is taking place now through the 27th so I hope people will vote for them and good luck to Luke because that's quite an honor for them to get I also attended the
039dice Art Festival of the Arts had a great time um as everyone here has said um D Marinelli is absolutely amazing just so impressed every single year um not just at the artwork and the students but the community really comes together and volunteers and puts um on an just an amazing event so very thankful and grateful for that uh I also read um for read Across America at Freedom traditional and that is always super fun I read at two classes but I always make sure that one of those classes is my son's class um and so it's interesting because I read the same book every single year and it's just fascinating to see the students recognize the book that I've read for the last you know three four years to the same people um but
040they get something out of it uh something new out of it each time and um it's just it's just great to see that and I'm very appreciative of um all of our dier heroes congratulations to all those that were nominated and all those that were awarded and that's my update all right next we have item D1 I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda items second second my coffee didn't work we need more coffee motion carries next we have item F1 Dr crto thank you madam president tonight we bring you uh the monitoring of adopted policy chapter 5 on students um in your materials there are minor changes to wording and if you have any questions Dr asai um has this section I just want to thank thank you for the update to the
041gifted um student uh section of the policies um I don't have any content suggestions or changes but I would like to see when the the next read comes through or when we're finally approving this if we could just do a double check on grammar and spelling and formatting I did see some minor things but the content was good anybody have anything else okay moving along to item F2 Dr croo thank you madam president tonight we have our bond override committee presentation and Mr muy will introduce this item Madame President members of the board Dr Coto uh tonight we're uh uh very thankful to uh our spokespeople for being here this evening to provide that presentation and and obviously a a summary and and bring forth uh the information and and how to how they're recommending
042to proceed so I'd like to introduce uh Mr Patrick Campbell uh Mr Johnny Melton and Dr Shannon Frasier uh our three spokespeople that have put in a tremendous amount of work and very much appreciated it's on good evening Madame President distinguished board members Dr CAU cabinet and guests um I said my name is Patrick Campbell I'm one of the co-chairs uh three for the bond override committee um we have a presentation for you here tonight so we'll be using the slideshow uh this is a wrap-up for everything that we've done for the last six months at the request and direction of the governing board um so the purpose um this whole started back as you know in September 14th 2023 the board meeting they were directed uh the superintendent to form a committee um which
043has been done of Representatives of various stakeholders um and representatives from each of the schools um initially um they put out um there was 132 interest forms that were submitted total uh for people that were interested in being part of the committee um this is the history and the background of it 35 members were selected all School Representatives um all schools were representatives and community members at large were selected um as it started the um the first meeting official meeting was October 24th um 2023 um they were held in discussing open meetings the first one was uh law survey development School Finance District spending um the bond the sales the tax and we basically went through no stone was left unturned um in this along with this um the process itself it should be noted
044that besides the seven meetings that you see we did a facility tour which was was fabulous to see on on board I do have a few pictures of things that actually really hit home with us once we got out and got to see some of the needs of the district in more depth um in addition to those seven meetings there were seven governing board briefings and there were countless hours of research and interviews and other information gathering by the committee members behind the scenes that really doesn't represent on the slide I can't tell how many hours there were it was a lot um bring it all together um but the facility tour in particular was very eye openening so what we came up with was as you can see on on the slide here the
045the actual needs of the district and they were divided into the categories and I'm going to briefly touch on each of these as we as we move forward um the bus replacement and the age of the buses I'll go into those in a minute um the new K8 elementary school and you can see the Ms um the high school land and we do have some photos and some Aerials of the growth of the Assante area which is which is incredible to look at facility Renovations um Safety and Security and the total approximate cost which right now we came in at17 million total um first up was the buses um when it came through I wanted to uh we wanted to take a look at some of those um there was a replacement need for 78
046total buses purchased from 2008 until prior um 70% of the fleet is 15 years or older and that what we've been told by mechanics and other people that keep these buses running and they do a phenomenal job uh doing that is that once you hit that Mark a lot of things come into play and it's not just the age of the bus but it's being able to buy parts and all the things that go with it similar as what you would with one of your own cars you can do it but then it becomes more expensive and then you have to start weighing that out um 46 regular education buses total um the cost was at 11.4 million and 32 Special Education buses or sped buses at a cost of 5.6 million total cost being
04717 million just on the buses um next was the growth of the high school land in the K8 Elementary School um I'm told I have a laser pointer but I don't want to make you guys have to turn around but you can just see if you look at the slide on your left you can see the 2004 that's an aerial shot of the Assante area um there's not a whole lot there lower right hand corner of that that's what is now the 303 Loop and you can see the area around there and if you look to the right you can see the slide and you can see the growth um one of the things that should be mentioned here is that and there was a really good briefing done and I'm going to give special
048thanks to all the people that came out the subject matter experts if you will um and one of the things that they had pointed out to us was the expectation and or potential for growth out there was additional 26,000 new homes projected in the next 10 years bless you so if you look at what's there 2004 you look at the growth that's already exist now and you look at the additional need for 26,000 the next slide will show you um where the schools are and you can look at the area from Grand Avenue around the 303 Loop and you can see we've got a total of one Elementary School out there for what is potentially additional 26,000 projected new homes families Etc um in that time and so obviously there's a there's a large need
049for that um before I move on though I wanted I did want to give special thanks at this moment right here to each of the people that came out um Todd bler um from maintenance maintenance director he came out uh Jason jger Karma Valente and Kevin Shipman did an excellent job at educating the board um or not excuse me the board the committee and the members for all of the details and stuff they took a lot of time to be accessible to us answer questions give us detail and a lot of information so I just wanted to give special thanks to each of those individuals for coming out um and helping us okay so moving on one of the other needs was the k through eight Elementary and high school land estimated cost for the
050elementary school is around 35 million and the cost for the high school land was around 10 million um we did on our facilities tour actually take a bus ride several people U including some of the cabinet members and governing board yourselves were on that bus and it was fascinating to actually go out and see some of the projected areas where we could potentially build uh new high school and stuff and it was it was very interesting to see um next uh Todd lutter as as I said he came in and he gave us a really incredible briefing on exactly what the state of uh diart facilities and some of the things that are in need and as you can see on the on the list in no particular order mechanical the HVAC system uh plumbing
051needs flooring needs Roofing needs weatherization uh freezer Walkin High School Community restroom facilities that's very specifically at Shadow Ridge High School and Willow camp and then the dart High School auditorium so to Total renovation cost on that was around 48 million and there's some pictures here that just kind of send it home so if you take a look at this and I'm I I'm not a maintenance person by any means but when you could see this in person and honestly I don't think the picture does it as much justice but on our tours we were able to go behind the scenes if you will things that most people wouldn't see and actually look at um the state of some of these things and just how hard some of this is on the the Ariz on
052a climate is to the facilities our maintenance department and the people that operate and keep us moving and grooving if you will do an incredible job behind the scenes but um at some points you know they need they need some help um and these pictures can uh can do don't do the justice that we saw in person we walked around but it does give you a little bit um of a of a an idea of what we're what we're dealing with um next was Safety and Security um Jason Jer came in and gave us an EXT excellent briefing and a list of things it should be noted that at several times throughout our committee meetings we sat down we did tabletops we did whiteboards we did you know um just basically what are the needs
053what do we think we went out into the communities we talked with principles we talked with other people from our um Dart Community um as much as we could and the feedback that we got overwhelmingly not that all of these things aren't important because I believe they all are there's no one thing I would point out and say that's that's you know that can wait um but Safety and Security time and time again came out on top it was the number one item of concern from just committee members and people that we had talked to so during that you can look at um some of the things that um Jason and um and um Kevin have identified as needs um some of the automatic gate openers and these are things that if you worked on
054site I obviously work security at Shadow Ridge so I see the need for some of these things firsthand um the building access needs including potential key cards and stuff checking in and out of bus management standardized lockdown systems um fencing gate repairs um the the first layer of security if you will um the Tactical diagramming safety related communication systems fire panel upgrades Etc and the list goes on this is really just a short list but these are all needs um things that have been identified and you can obviously see the cost for those right now that's and I I think it's conservative estimated was right at $17 million so the committee tools that we utilized the survey conducted was an external consulting company I gave that in my last briefing about um how that was
055how that was done and the numbers how they came back in as far as the support from the community Through the surveys um the district facility tour as I spoke to we use those um we got to go see not just the bus yard the entire fleet um I should give um I I should give a shout out to some of the mechanics and people other people that were there um to actually help us walk us through answer questions how things work and and Etc that was really nice and the bus driver I'm not going to lie I forgot his name but big shout out because he was nice enough on a Saturday to drive us all around um but we went to the daart high school auditorium we went to Countryside Elementary which is
056where you just saw the picture of the chillers that we um that we just had in the presentation went to Willow Canyon High School for some of the safety and outdoor facilities or lack thereof and then the last leg of that was the um Asante Preparatory Academy and the observation of the growth in the area including looking at land for where we would uh potentially build a new high school um that said the the committee recom recommendation um the initial M the override because obviously we had options it could be none it could be one it could be the other it could be both um so there was an initial recommendation um from the committee for an M override which we currently are in year three three um and that that was put to a
057vote that emotion failed um 11 to5 reasoning from the from the committee was basically we have time with the with the m override because we are only in year three and we still have time to work on that um the recommendation from the committee formally is to wait until year five of 2025 for an ml override election if the governing board Andor the um cabinet would see fit next we there was a recommendation uh formal recommendation from the bond election um in the amount of 127 million the number that we that I've spoke to earlier um there was a lot of discussion about this very intelligent back and forth what do we think what's the best move for the district what's the best move um for recommendation from the committee based on six months of
058research and a ton of time put into thought and preparation and exactly what this would consist of that motion passed unanimously 16 and0 um I think there's a um the thought that that was from the committee members themselves and we respectfully just like everybody else in life we disagree with each other from time to time but at the end of the day after six months of research to come up with a 16-0 unanimous vote from the committee for the bond for 127 million is a powerful statement and I do not think that that should be taken lightly so that said um I want to give special thanks to Dr Coto um Mr musy meridel spido Dr Shel asai for and the production people who were here every step of the way to put us live
059record everything that we needed this none of this could have happened without them um The Clarity the openness the ability to give us anything and everything that we asked for um goes a long ways and the committee it does not go unnoticed that that is something that is a strong statement in relation and trust that is built um with the committee and ultimately into the public um I also want to give a special thanks to all the governing board members who attended meetings and were there to go with us on bus rides and you know listen and hear what we had had to say um I do need to give special thanks to the co-chairs Shannon Frasier and Johnny Melton sitting over here um obviously we couldn't have done it without him and it's been
060an honor and an overwhelming pleasure to serve as a committee chair for the last six months and with that said I'll stand for questions thank you very much for all your hard work I really appreciate it um couple questions for clarification so and probably Dr Coto might be able to help with this um so the bond if we were to I know the school facility board isn't quick to fund a lot of things right now because of the budget but if they were to come forward and say we're going to cover the cost of the children or or whatever Roofing whatever um we just wouldn't sell those bonds we would we would use their money we wouldn't use money that we would potentially get from the bond and then if you don't sell those bonds
061then your taxes aren't going to be as high correct yeah that's it thank you so much for the presentation all your work going into this greatly appreciate it Madam president you're welcome Madam president if I could anybody else um I just want to personally thank on behalf of the district um Patrick Johnny and Shannon um for your hard work and effort it's been a long six months uh you guys were there uh you you went through all the stuff and you ran that Community or that committee so thank you for your time um the district appreciates that more than you know and thanks to the committee too everybody involved so thank you good okay next we have item G1 Dr croo thank you Madame President uh Dr polling will take this item good evening Madam
062president members of the board cabinet and Community Administration is proud to present the following administrative recommendations for the 2425 school year richel matus is being recommended for the assignment of assistant principal at dyser High School Jessica Brun has been recommended for the assignment of assistant principal at Ashton Ranch Jackie older has been recommended for the assignment of assistant principal at Canyon Ridge Amy Crow is being recommended for the assignment of assistant principal at Freedom Traditional Academy Holly Johnson is being recommended for the assignment of assistant principal at Sor Heights and Lupe Leos has been recommended for the assignment of assistant principal at Western Peaks all candidates will receive a salary and benefits for the position education and experience they have and all rums are attached for Board review and we used our comprehensive selection process
063so with that I'll stand for any questions thank you I just have to say that I always review the resumés of all the applicants or who's being brought forward for recommendation um and everyone is is very qualified and I'm just it's a pleasure to um be able to recog recommend these individuals and I know she's probably going to kill me but I do have to say in reviewing one particular resume um for Rachel matus on the resume there was uh she said she has multiple coaching Awards and recognitions for girls basketball this individual has been a coach for a six-time state championship girls basketball team at Valley Vista High School Arizona High School uh coaches association Hall of Fame in 2022 National High School coaches association Hall of Fame in 2023 and with multiple Coach
064of the Year Regional Coach of the Year Awards so to say I just I'm sorry I just couldn't move forward just having she has multiple coaching Awards and recognitions for girls basketball I just couldn't do that so I apologize if I put you on the spot but that couldn't happen long long long overdue and with that it brings me great pleasure to move that the governing board approved the appointment of Rachel matus Jessica Bron Jackie older Amy Crow Holly Johnston and Guadalupe alos at assistant principles for the 2024 2025 school year second motion carries congratulations Madam president they are all present in the audience so if we could have them stand to be recognized that would be [Applause] great all right going moving on to item G2 Dr croo thank you madam president uh tonight
065we bring to you the governing board meeting schedule uh for uh the following year and the monitoring policy for uh next year this is a yearly item um and these are for 2425 so with that I will stand for any questions or or the Motions so all yours I move to approve the 2024 2025 governing board meeting schedule and the 2024 2025 policy monitoring cycle as presented second did you catch who seconded okay motion carries okay next we have item G3 Dr croo thank you madam president uh tonight we bring to you um our final action discussion item and administration is recommending to consider uh discuss uh amend deemed uh advisable adopt a resolution ordering for special bond election uh for November of this year thank you um I'd like to start just by sharing
066my deep appreciation for the bond and override committee it has been an honor to witness the Deep commitment of each member it's also been a privilege to observe our District's leadership um just really hard at work throughout this entire process answering of any uh questions from the committee presenting factual unbiased materials throughout the process offering full transparency with an open meeting law and taking um taking my suggestion for live streaming I can't tell you how much I appreciate that as far as it goes with transparency with our community and I'm truly just so proud of our district our board and this committee um again for all the hard work in creating the most transparent process that I have ever been a part of uh in my time of Jer uh with all of that said
067we have some very big needs that have been identified I stress needs versus wants um there have been some mentions and and comments that pieces of this may have been rushed or perhaps um we didn't survey enough people um being representative of our community um I just want to make a statement that you know we are a five member board and we we represent this community um and this five- member board appointed a 35 member committee to represent this community in this decision um so with that said I move to adopt the resolution ordering and calling for a bond election in the amount of 127 million do I get to ask a question sure okay the motion is out there but we can still talk okay yeah so my question is um I feel like
068this bond is fixing a lot of things that have gone it's things of you're asking for a bond to fix things that we've let go over time the daart High School auditorium has been ignored my question is is how are we making sure that we're not in the same boat in 10 years from now we're not I I feel like we're always being reactive instead of proactive I feel like with this Bond you're asking to be proactive with a lot of the Safety and Security which is good but a lot of the maintenance and the buildings it feels like we let things go so long and then oh my goodness the only way we're going to we're only way we're going to fix it is if we get a bond and then and so what
069are we doing to make sure that we are not in this same place again in 10 years are we being are are we addressing needs as they arise instead of just ignoring them until we have this gigantic snowball of a bond um Madam president member Chaffin uh we are doing the best we can to identify the needs and not be in this situation unfortunately we are in this situation some of it maybe oversight as you said but we also need to remember that um the district has been shorted a lot of money by the state of Arizona a lot in the millions Miss badell how many millions have we have we've not received in capital funding since um since 2014 we provided to the committee the summary that the district had had a shortfall reduction
070of our state aid of about 65 a little over in the in the mid-60s million dollars that we did not receive so we continue to do the best job we can uh we do not want to be in these situations but um we are up against some real factors that um cause us to ask for these type of things in in state of Arizona and funding so uh we work hard we we try we do not want to do this but we also want to provide the best for our community and for our kids so I understand the severity of this um as long as I'm sitting in this chair we will be proactive and do the best we can uh with the money I can't answer for the past and obviously can't answer for
071the future but as long as I'm sitting here we will try to make the best of the entire situation thank you and then also on this PowerPoint I noticed that we have money to buy High School land but we don't have money to build a high school on that where would the money to build the high school come from Madam president member Chaffin uh that will need to uh hopefully down the road when we trigger the um square footage need for our high school students that will have to partially come from the state of Arizona but as you know and as I have alerted uh the governing board on T on Wednesday uh school facilities division has shut down for the year they have no funding through June 30th um for the remainder of the
072year so the projects and everything that they've agreed to do will not happen so I don't know in the future where that money high schools continue to gr go up um they are in excess of More Than This Bond uh it's my understanding and they in the range to build one high school in the state of Arizona right now is $150 to $200 million just for the facility um so that is something we are going to have to work with the state um because we do not have that money and we do not get funded for high schools fully so if they decide to fund a high school it could be a partial funding so we will have to work on that in the future so would we be potentially calling for another bond to
073build the rest of the high school we could but that's not going to be anytime soon um we we for seee hitting those numbers possibly um in the next 3 four years but we would have to look at that and again like I said that is a huge amount so we will need to um try to think out of the box and figure out how that's going to happen thank you and then it just also blows my mind that when building Willow Canyon the Athletic Facility we didn't have the forethought to build the restrooms I I I would hope that whoever is making those decisions in the future does better because that just blows me away at at the sheer ignorance of that and I as I said I can't answer I do not know
074why that decision was made but as I said in the study session this district has worldclass ath atic facilities they need to be brought up to world class athletic facilities and they are not they are lacking some things right now for our guests that come and use our facilities so and I agree when we build that High School we're going to have restrooms we will have restrooms and plumbing plumbing and restrooms are will be included in the building okay that way we don't have to use the porta potty during the band jam and I I went on record and said that so plumbing and restrooms will be included yes yes indoor so um I stated at the study session if what was the motion was the motion for 127 if we pass a bond for
075127 million that's about $168 extra we are estimating for each household in taxes was that correct Miss pedel yeah yes that is correct I was on about a $200,000 limited assess valuation home okay so that's $168 in taxes which to a dual income household who does fine might not be that much but my concern is what about those single parents out there what about the the the retiree freed on a fixed income what you know I feel like I feel like it's never enough more money isn't always the answer you know I it's just and I don't I I don't mean to diminish any of the work of the committee because you're there because you care you care about our students you care about our communities you care about our schools and you're recommending that
076we fix everything that we need to fix it's just a difficult situation because we need buses but when some of our families are struggling to buy food you can't buy bread milk and eggs for under 20 bucks it seems like it's difficult you know I just want to make sure that we are looking at the very reality of we've got we I mean inflation is very high right now and and it just seems like it it's not stopping so as as a taxpayer if this Bond goes to the ballot how can I know that my money is going exactly to where we say it is U Madame President member cha and that is great question as we had with the bond committee um you will have uh updates uh at least yearly updates if not
077more yearly are required but you will have updates um on showing you exactly where the money's being spent and how it's being spent so that there's a guarantee this this board will stay informed in this process um and we will uh come before you and show you what we are doing with the money thank you for your answers excuse me but just for clarification that $168 figure that's an annual figure not a month that is correct that is an average estimated annual payment so estimate monthly would be an increase of well so just to clarify we do already have with our current existing bonds as a current estimated annual payment of about the based on the 200,000 assessed valuation home from about 160 to 170 so um layering on these bonds now the continued annual
078payment would be about $80 or so um with those Bond payments so um it' really be an increase of yeah correct can I make a recommendation also if this Bond sorry if it goes to the the ballot and the community um accepts it says yes I want it I would like the district going forward like meeting with our transportation and our maintenance people and say okay we have 78 buses that need be replaced starting today let's look at the rest of those buses going forward the ones that are going to be needing maintenance or replacement down the line that we start budgeting now for for this stuff um so that way we're not in this predicament 10 15 20 years down the line and have to go back to the taxpayers again wanting more money
079I think if we're being proactive like she said and like Mr Gillard who came and spoke earlier um I think I think um the district would be pretty good down the line that's just my recommendation that's how I I run my household you know I live within my means um so that's just my recommendation Madame President um member Drake that's a great recommendation thank you um just a note about transparency even with our our our last Bond that was nearly 20 years ago passed in this community um it's a requirement I believe that we house all that that all of that information about how it was used um on our website and I know I've seen it multiple times I've gone through it just for comparison um that Bond 20 years ago was was much
080more than we're recommending tonight that I've recommended tonight um but I'm assuming that going forward if the community were to pass this we would be required to house that information on our website what it's going towards what we've done progress made Madam president that is correct thank you if there's no other discussion we'll we'll have a vote oh it was seconded sorry seconded by Joe gramp and I believe this needs to be a verbal vote right yes I I no I I thank you motion carries okay next we have item H1 do we have any requests for future agenda items I guess not okay all right and at this time I'll motion to convene to an executive session second second seconded by Miss Pritchard it's okay motion carries