001foreign at this time I would like to call the meeting to order please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States thank you next we have B1 audience with individuals Ms Densmore thank you this is the time for the public to comment members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on this agenda pursuant to ARS 38431.01 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 three minutes will be imposed for each individual or group addressing the board when you approach the podium
002please state your name for the record and first we have Janet LeBlanc good evening my name is Janet LeBlanc a few months ago the board voted to purchase sava's curriculum for a one-year period with the intent of researching and pursuing other Publishers as part of that research I would like to recommend that the board take a serious look into this curriculum that is put out by Hillsdale College as you will see by their brochure this curriculum is offered free of charge Yes you heard that right it's free Hillsdale College was founded in 1844 with a mission to provide all who wish to learn the education necessary to preserve civil and religious liberty in America they understood like the founders of our great nation that free government requires independent virtuous and knowledgeable citizens who would not
003want that for their children what school would not want sound learning for their students well here it is and it's free of charge and please don't claim that this curriculum is too focused on religious views unlike Savas that has CRT and SEL embedded within their curriculum these courses are a true pick and choose option there is no embedding their curriculum offers courses on politics History Literature philosophy and religion economics and Mathematics and Natural Sciences all are A La Carte choices and again it's free please take a further look into this curriculum as a possible Contender for adoption as a free resource this would not only free up thousands upon thousands of budget dollars it would also allow Dysart to start eliminating the strings that are attached to federal grants federal grants hold Dysart Hostage to
004certain stipulations that don't always live up to Dysart values just like the agreement you are about to enter into in consent agenda item number one this is the time board to make changes for the betterment of Dysart its students and the community as a whole thank you for all you do thank you our next speaker is Mr Larry LeBlanc excuse me good evening my name is Larry LeBlanc the dedicated folks behind me are not the ones that need talking to it is we the people that need to listen to the dedicated moms and dads and qualified Educators and American Patriots who sincerely care about the future of our children and are willing to screen all that is being taught to your very child it's time to come forward in just 20 hours of research of
005only a few grades Janet and I revealed CRT and negative scl in numerous curriculum books from grades four to six imagine what you well-educated folks will reveal if you take part to ensure sound learning occurs all the time for all of our students the tyrannical Behavior you are seeing today in the media is just a self-imploding smoke screen to keep your eyes off the real fire the fire is in a curriculum be part of the solution by stepping forward with your support your ability to discover wrong and your patriotic Duty to keep this great country on course imagine what your great talents will reveal your support towards your school board and staff is strongly encouraged Don't Be Afraid fear is not from God the United States of America is a great Republic and we the
006people are not sure are going to keep it God bless America thank you thank you that was it sorry thank you next we will move to item C1 superintendent update Dr Dean thank you madam president members the governing board cabinet in our community we're very excited to announce some things that have happened this summer um and to provide information to our community about a great kickoff uh to the summer which will lead to a fantastic start of next school year I'm excited to let the board know that summer workshop was a success and all the planning that had gone into summer workshop from I guess about October on really came to fruition during the summer workshop week I know that several of our board members had opportunities to um to go through some of our
007summer workshop sessions and our teachers did a tremendous job not only in working together to refine our curricular standards and to maximize what we do each school day but our teacher leaders did a great job in teaching that as well and so whether it was a second grade math group or a High School PE group or or a high school econ group Middle School social studies group it was great to watch our teachers work together additionally last week our school administrators our principals some of our directors and uh four members of cabinet attended the PLC Institute in Vegas and sessions LED afterwards by Dr croto and just a tremendous way for us to rededicate back to the essence of what plc's are supposed to look like and to really drive that forward for next school
008year and so I'm very excited about the work that's done and very excited about the team as they move forward and look ahead I would like to let the board know that summer school is winding down for our students and that will be over before we knew it know it additionally next week at West Point Elementary School we will have active shooter training with law enforcement that will be led by our Navy Seals I'm not our Navy Seals but our finest military Navy Seals they will be conducting active shooter training one day at West Point information will be provided to West Point Elementary School Mr musee will actually be talking to the businesses that are right next to West Point Elementary School because it will be very active training and so we won't make people
009to understand this is a training it's scheduled and it's not live happening so we're very excited about that it's a great opportunity for our school district and after 18 years of coming to and participating in board meetings in this outstanding School District that is my final superintendent update thank you Dr Dean do we have an update from the incoming superintendent Dr crowto how many times I have a new superintendent update I'd like to thank you all so very much and I hope it didn't get in my hair that's right no sincerely thank you it's been my honor to serve this district for the last 18 years and it's been my pleasure to work with each and every one of you very closely this year and um I look forward to your continued successes there are
010going to be many um Dr Kota will do an exceptional job and um I look forward to being your biggest cheerleader in the community so thank you all very much I mean thank you thank you we will move on to C2 governing board update um I'll start this time Dr Dean sorry Joe I know I'm breaking it up um on behalf of the board in addition to your beautiful confetti that we just gave you we all chipped in and got you another gift thank you you love my wrapping it's beautiful I've got a six month old baby at home sorry well five months almost perfect thank you very much oh goodness um I'll go ahead and finish and then we can all go on I did not make the PLC conference sad face but it
011looks like sounds like everybody else did and got a lot out of it was great I'm so glad that we got that we had people going it's awesome I was able to attend summer workshop just to tour it and see what was going on and it was awesome it was incredible I mean just to see our teachers who chose to be there who chose to be engaged and I think when I went I was on Thursday so it was later in the week so normally you know later in the week people are like tired and they're kind of you know off task whatever but no everybody was on task everybody was engaged everyone all the teachers that we saw were actively participating in everything so it was absolutely wonderful to see that so and good
012luck well so this being I'm with Dr Dean I just wanted to thank him for the hard work and dedications he's put into our district over the years and say once again how much I have enjoyed working with him in the various roles he has held during his time in Dysart I wish him outstanding success in his future endeavors as he embarks on his easy peasy dream job with AIA they're going to be awesome and you're going to be missed so thank you so much and we will definitely miss you and look forward to your cheerleading debut um also had the opportunity to attend some summer workshop sessions appreciate the opportunity to go along with Dr crota and Dr assai I would agree with what Miss Schaffen said every room that we went in everyone
013was just completely engaged and it was just great to see a lot of good things happening over the summer and it was heartwarming just to see how many people were interested in spending their summer just learning more and of what they can do to help our students succeed in the upcoming year so that was great also last week I had the opportunity to attend the PLC conference put on by solution tree the content was great and I think our district team of Administrators came back with some great strategies that they can share with their School site teams I'd also like to specifically thank Dr crotto for his vision as it pertains to the why behind the multi-faceted benefits in attending this conference while the topics presented provided valuable information our district teams can use on
014their campuses the team building that took place was also a specific goal held by Dr crotto I wasn't sure if I'd be able to attend due to my work schedule but it was very clear that having board members attend and be a part of the collaborative process was very important to him and having attended I can see that he was 100 right Not only was it valuable for me to learn about how plcs would be implemented in our district but it was also refreshing to spend a couple days getting to know our administrators sharing the debriefing that occurred between and after sessions and learn a little more about each other so thank you again Dr crota for Raging this opportunity and seeing the value in positive relationships between the board and administration I sincerely appreciate
015it all I have I also attended a few of the summer workshops and it was just really nice to hear from many of our educators existing and brand new to the district how much they were gaining from the experience I would also like to especially thank Dr crotto for presenting the workshop concept to our district and I really do think that it's Innovation like this that will truly make our students successful I also attended the PLC conference with our district and site leaders this was an incredible experience for me to be able to connect and collaborate with our principals I believe that collectively we gain different strategies in building a really Dynamic and exciting culture and have renew have a renewed sense of purpose in Student Success um I would also just like to thank
016Dr Dean for the last little over a year and any and and Beyond because you have been even not in the superintendent role you have been a great support to me as a board member and you will be dearly missed that's it I also attended the PLC conference in Vegas as a new board member I learned a lot it was a great experience I was extremely excited to be there I met a lot of great um principles staff Administration going to the breakout sessions I learned a lot took a lot of notes still going through all my notes I still have my little green book a lot of a lot of things that they went over stuck out to me especially about they were very focused on Student Success academic achievement and I could tell
017just by coming back in the conference room at the end of the day and collaborating at our at our tables listening to everybody discuss what they've what they listen to and what they learned the enthusiasm in their voice you can hear the dedication on how they want to come back to the district and Implement what they learned so it was very very exciting to hear I was I was very impressed um so I just want to say thank you Dr croto for allowing me to go unfortunately I didn't get to go to any of the workshops but I did take the week off to go to the PLC and it was very worth it so I just want to thank you for allowing me to be there and that opportunity and Dr Dean you are
018going to be missed I'm going to miss your your one to two minute videos [Laughter] so but thank you for everything that you've done you know I only got to work with you a little a little bit but in that little bit I've learned a lot so thank you and thank you for your support um I also attended the summer workshop and I it was really interesting so thank you so much for putting it together I think it's a great idea especially for the new teachers in the district and I just want to say thank you to all the leaders and the teachers who participated in these workshops I know it's summer and that was very encouraging to see but thank you for your service and Dr Dean thank you for your service to to
019dice art and AIA is really lucky to have you all right thank you with that we will move on to item D1 I will entertain emotion I'd like to um move to approve the consent agenda items as presented with exception of item E1 moving that to action discussion could we also move 16 also e16 so motion to approve consent agenda items as presented with exception of E1 and E 16 e16 moving both items to action discussion I will second motion carries oh sorry motion carries no I thought I saw it up there okay so we will move on to item F1 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community this evening Dr crota and Dr assai will introduce these items I would note to the board that due
020to an unexpected issue today West Point Elementary School will I'm sorry Kingswood Elementary School will not be presenting this evening they will present at a later time so with that Dr kroto thank you Dr Dean Madam president members of the board we will begin our CIP presentations tonight with Cimarron Springs and the principal uh Miss Ginger Richards Ginger it's all yours foreign president governing board Dr teen and cabinet my name is ginger Richards and I am the very proud principal of Cimarron Springs Middle School I would like to share with you the latest news coming out of Cimarron Springs this year we celebrate our initial results from aasa with increases in ela for grades 6 and 8 and in math for grades seven and eight this shows that the work we've been putting into increasing
021student proficiency is working in addition to traditional academics we are also celebrating CTE and Spanish in CTE our students enjoyed guest speakers field trips to West Mech and to all the Dysart high schools to visit their CTE programs we are creating a larger room so they have room to grow we are adding different modules that better align with the high schools and support more interest from middle school students in Spanish the Spanish two students went on a real life experience field trip to Rio Mirage where the students were only permitted to speak Spanish once entering the building everyone had a great time they had great food and the staff at Rio Mirage were truly impressed on how well our Spanish two students spoke in addition to academic celebrations we have to acknowledge Athletics and arts
022in athletics our girls basketball went 11 and 1 and were number one seed going into the playoffs our cheer squad received the trophy for being number one in overall in the district boys basketball received the trophy for being number one in the North Valley Athletic Conference which is a makeup of three districts also we had our very first boys volleyball team thanks to our partnership with Willow Canyon and I see you're wearing their shirt this evening Dr Dean their boys volleyball team came over during our lunch and hosted an exhibition game in clinic to get our boys hyped up for this new sport our band went to the aboda regional and state competition at Regional they received a rating of superior with distinction which is the highest score a school band can receive and at
023state competition they received a superior ranking but like all schools we have challenges student attendance is one big challenge we can't teach students who aren't there another challenge was our teachers doing coverage for classes that did not have substitutes this causes them to miss out on common prep weekly prep connects and they miss out on having time for data analysis with their teams in addition having teachers out in general hurt students and this year we did have an unfilled position and positions where the teacher resigned or went out on leave I would like to highlight some academic successes though we celebrate our ESS read 180 Lexile scores with an overall increase of 35 percent we are number one in the district for this 8th grade academics we are specifically noting 8th grade as they are
024the only grade that went up in all subject areas we believe this is because we had a full staff that collaborated well and took ownership of each student and their individual needs to grow in their learning as for academic challenges we need to strengthen our effective intervention time and we need to take a good look in action with our fifth grade academics after speaking with our fifth grade teachers we believe that departmentalizing the fifth grade and having them change classrooms after every class was just too much for our younger students so how are we working on these challenges we are imp we are implementing the PLC structures and collaboration actually we're strengthening those because we have been doing it we know that when teams plan based around the four questions that lessons are more targeted
025and formative assessments are more frequent we noted a lack of formative assessments this year in grades that lost ground and think that PLC is focusing on the correct level of standard assessing this daily and monitoring and adjusting in real time will get the grade levels that lost ground back on track the next thing we will do is I that we are doing is identifying students for Math and Ela Labs based on the 2223 Benchmark and aasa data there is a need to create guaranteed and viable curriculum and while we can't guarantee that students have mastered every single standard we can focus on getting all to Proficiency in the bulkier ones as such we will identify these in tandem with the district share them with students and parents and have students track their proficiency to Mastery
026we will then Zone in on these power standards for our interventions to strengthen our intervention tier 2. the next thing that we have done is that we have sched a new schedule for fifth grade instead of having them rotate every single class we are changing our fifth grade into two pods for teachers two each blocking classes together like science and math and Ela and social studies this lessens the movement of students and gives the teachers more opportunities to know and work with individual students based on their needs and now I will end like I do always at Cimarron Springs after announcements that's the news and go stallions do you have any questions I do um when you said hold on let me find it that your reading went up 35 that is wonderful the Lexile
027scores for read 180 yes so can you give us an Insight on what you did well um one of the first things that we did was hire a very experienced resource teacher for our special education students she came late in the year and she we had a contract teacher before that she took the bull by the horns and just really dug into the read 180 Program and completely did it with complete Fidelity and made sure that the students were tracking and monitoring and celebrating all of the small growth areas that is wonderful thank you I just want to congratulate you I didn't realize that you were the only school that had eighth grade go up in all subject areas that's amazing and I'm sure that your feeder High School is thankful because I know that's
028a that's a concern basically what what who the high schools inherit you know basically that determines how much work they have to do so I'm sure they very much appreciate as do the students and families that you're presenting students that are where they need to be and ready to learn ninth grade so good for you thank you thank you very much I hope Adam Schwartz appreciates that okay thank you so much thank you Madam president members of the board our next presenter is Amy Michaels from West Point good evening Madam president members of the board Dr Dean and members of cabinet my name is Amy Michaels and I am the proud principal of West Point Elementary School and it is my pleasure to be here tonight to share with you the progress that we are
029making towards our continuous Improvement plan so as we talk about celebrations one of those is our K3 reading curriculum rollout we have received positive feedback from teachers on the professional development that was provided and specifically teachers felt supported when they came back to campus our TLS worked very hard with those teachers to understand how to connect the curriculum with the standards we are proud of the progress that we made on strengthening El instructional practices for our English Learners this included training on El standards supporting teachers with integrated and targeted instructional practices providing walk-throughs with feedback to teachers and providing before school tutoring that targeted language acquisition campus approvement projects and beautification of our campus had a or as another celebration as it impacts our climate and culture as you know we had a long construction
030process with our new driveway we have a Fresh coat of paint a new roof and classroom window wraps were installed the last week of school and I do want to sneak in one more celebration that's with our arts and Athletics our campus had Willy Wonka performance at the end of the year and we're working to strengthen our dance band and Orchestra programs our flag football team we're champions of the region our baseball team was a runner-up and our cheer team had first place trophies for small group and two third place trophies as well like all campuses we have challenges our first is Staffing we know that our most important resource is our teachers and our staff some of our challenges this year with Staffing were that we had five teachers resign in the fall after
031the start of the year one of our first grade sections was unfilled all year leaving a class size of 32 first graders if you can even imagine two math interventionists and a social worker also remain unfilled and we are currently still working to fail for this coming year absenteeism was a struggle just like you heard with Miss Richards we had 195 staff absences that did not have sub coverages so when I calculated how many prep coverages that is it's 1 755 missed preps that's a lot student absenteeism is another struggle at West Point it's consistent across the country we had 200 students with 18 or more absences and that's just a lot of learning loss we do have some successes to celebrate the initial third grade aasa data indicated that we have double-digit growth in
032both in third grade for reading and for Math and our third graders also had higher than expected acadiance growth and we also anticipate that we have nearly all of our grades showing growth in proficiency on aasa so with successes they also can relate to our challenges so while we did show growth we continue to have challenges of large numbers of students who are minimally or partially proficient in both reading and math and two of our grade levels had lower than expected growth on their Dibbles marks so what are we doing the plan that we have in place to address our school challenges is through professional development we will have three focuses refinement of our PLC process school-wide behavior management support and instructional best practices so to refine our PLC practice we really want to put
033a focus on learning collaboration and results our theme for next year is moving learning forward and as we believe that there will be a shift from teaching to learning that we will see our proficiency levels and scores rise our IAP staff survey indicated that we can continue to improve by holding students to high expectations for behavior and academics one Innovative program that we are starting to address this is called zap zeros aren't permitted which will be run by our newly acquired academic interventionist the zap program will start in 5th through 8th grade and it will provide students who have a zero on any assignment time during their lunch before or after school to make sure they're getting support to finish those assignments and complete their work we've found that missing assignments were a consistent struggle
034with our fifth through 8th grade students and resulting in lower than expected number of students earning honor roll or principles list so the zap program is one way that we will work to increase the number of students who earn these honor recognitions and create a culture of learning and with that do you have any questions thank you very much um just quick question about the zap program how are you Staffing your before and after school availability so our academic interventionists which is our newly acquired Position will be in charge of that and so it won't be every day we'll have strategic days that students will be available to come either before or after school we have also set aside budget money where teachers can get paid to do that as well thank you thank you
035next we will move on to F2 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community I'll turn this item over to Dr crota for presentation thank you Dr Dean Madam president members of the board cabinet and guests By Request of the governing governing board member we have a quick presentation on our provisions of waters related to our our Student Activities that are starting In the Heat of the summer so who supplies our water in a nutshell our athletic trainers on our high school campuses they provide water jugs for all our Sports including band if requested and with that the the athletic trainers have sports medicine students who intern with them and they are often the ones who assist on this task so when the athletic trainers are off campus
036obviously the head coach is going to be responsible for preparing water jugs and making sure that our students have plenty of water on why the activities are taking place so it's very important that the head coaches are in constant contact with the athletic trainers or the athletic directors to figure out who's going to be there when they're going to be there just to have that communication so they know that the students have water also as a note on this presentation is the athletic trainers are constantly they have um they have weather bulbs and they're constantly determining the weather conditions on our Fields so when it's time for increased water breaks how much amount of activity or Outdoors those are called wet bulbs that they monitor that comes across their phones we just got brand new
037ones for them so they checked the humidity levels and with that there's heat guidelines that you can see listed there as far as when our students should participate and it's relative to the humidity and the temperature outside so we have a constant a constant watch on that especially as it's starting to get hot now and and this week and next week and we definitely have a plan on who is supplying water and and how students get water so with that I will stop for any questions thank you for putting this presentation together um I just have a couple questions when it comes you mentioned band in here and I really appreciate that because that's where my brain automatically goes just being a band mom but obviously we have the concern with sports but with band
038it's it is this stating that athletic trainers are going to provide water for marching band athletic trainers will provide water um if requested for the band so they again they have to be in communication um and then as long as they're on campus that sometimes they're not on campus so they're not available but they will do it we've been in touch with all the athletic trainers and talk to the athletic trainers so they will be able to do that if requested and that they're there at the same time okay so obviously this is not just for an active game District sponsored game but this would be for practice that's correct and and summer camps correct okay so um I just wanted some clarity at no time well we might accept the offer obviously at no
039time would a parent organization be responsible for providing water for students Madam Madam president member Densmore um they I guess I guess that they can right we don't require them to do that that is obviously the school's responsibility and the head coach or the sponsor of the band right to fulfill that so they can do it we don't tell them they can't but it is not required of a parent's Club to do that that is a school responsibility and obviously the coach or the sponsor's responsibility right um I think with most of our our Sports and Outdoor activities especially over the summer just in the warmer months I know that it's it's common for a coach or a teacher or sponsor for whatever you know however you want to phrase that to request that the
040students bring their own water to the field and that that's practical and it makes sense correct but in the event that a student forgets their water at any time would we not allow a student to go and obtain water would we ever tell a student that they cannot leave the field to go get water absolutely not obviously we tell our coaches and our band teachers they are to build in breaks in their practice schedules we have those meetings with them and more breaks needed as the temperature rises and it gets hotter obviously and it depends on what type of activity um you know if you're in a football practice for instance and you're covered with pads and a helmet you need to pay attention to that because that's a hotter environment but if a student
041needs water a student should be permitted to get water if a student forgets water there should be an Avenue of which a student gets water it's very dangerous in these hot temperatures to not have water and stay hydrated so with that I will add two it's important for our coaches and our athletes to stress that hydration doesn't occur during practice is an all-day thing you can't catch up in a two-hour practice to be hydrated for stuff you haven't not been drinking all day after you drink soda all day and all the stuff where you didn't drink any liquids to think you're going to hydrate during the activity when you're using a lot of liquid so it's important for our athletes and our band members that they're drinking water all day long to keep that hydration
042up it's very important and we stress that thank you so much okay quick question looking at the heat guidelines I remember many many many years ago and I think Dr Dean you were probably put in charge of this um project at the time we didn't have we I was concerned about heat index and how it's much different than temperatures and how it pertains to students and being hydrated and things like that is that what this is do we still have that in place Madam president member Pritchard yes you are correct it was many years ago yes you are correct I was put in charge of that project and the degrees that you have in front of you are heat index numbers the wet bulb Globe thermometers measure heat index so they take into account both
043heat humidity and any wind factor as well when they measure that and we to this day send out heat alerts in the months of August and September and sometimes October so everybody still follows us you are correct that's great thank you and I do have a question is it up to the individual sponsor or coach to determine what 25 work and 75 rest looks like yes in a way um because they're in charge of building their practice schedule so they know exactly what they're doing when when they're doing that so yes we put the coaches in charge of that because they're in charge of their practices so yes and this information is given to coaches and sponsors okay there's a preseason meeting with every single sport in our district so Elementary wise as well as
044high school-wise I I may add as well that there are times often or there are many times where especially football coaches will push the start of practice back in terms of time cross-country coaches will practice early in the morning or late at night to make sure that our students are in the best environment possible the AIA ironically to reference them in my last meeting the AIA also has heat acclimation requirements that students or student athletes must participate in in order to be active in each season thank you you're welcome okay next we will move on to item G1 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community this evening will bring uh to the board a recommendation to reclassify the uh superintendent uh executive assistant from grade D to
045grade e the board has received information via email on this item previously do we have any questions okay then I will move to approve the job reclassification for the superintendent's office as presented second motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Don Densmore motion carries we will move on to G2 Dr Dean thank you madam president member of the government board cabinet in our community this item is a yearly item that's brought to the board that names those in the district who are able to enter into written agreements contracts purchase orders and property control it consists of cabinet our purchasing administrator and our Director of Finance thank you do we have any questions let me just clarify that for just a moment they're the ones who are able to sign the agreement thank you okay I
046will move to adopt the resolution naming authorized signers for a written agreements contracts purchase orders and property control for the 2023-2024 fiscal year motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Joe Grant foreign motion carries we will move on to G3 thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet and our community this evening I will turn this item over to Dr polling good evening Madam president members of the board cabinet Community Administration is proud to recommend Nestor Felix for the position of assistant principal at Valley Vista High School for the 23-24 school year Mr Felix received a master's degree in education relationship from Capella University he has extensive educational experience as well as five years administrative experience with Glendale Union High School District he will receive salary and benefits commissioned with the position his
047education and experience his resume is attached for Board review a comprehensive selection process was used to identify Mr Felix for this position and with that Mr Felix is with us this evening and with that I'll stand for any questions thank you do we have any questions okay I will move to approve the appointment of Nestor Felix as high school assistant principal motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Christine Pritchard motion carries congratulations [Applause] thank you we will move on to item G4 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet and our community back to Dr crotto you mean Poland I'm sorry Dr polling thank you it's one of the doctors and it's not me thank you madam president members of the board cabinet community we are proud to recommend Angela bonds
048for the position of assistant principal at Sunset Hills Elementary School for the 23-24 school year Miss bonds received a master's degree in educational Administration from Grand Canyon University thank you she has extensive educational experience it is currently the school data Improvement specialist for Dysart she'll receive a salary and benefits commensurate with the position her education and experience her resume is attached for review and a comprehensive selection process was used to identify Miss spawns for this position and Miss bonds is also in attendance tonight and with that I'll stand for any questions thank you do we have any questions all right I will move to approve the appointment of Angela bonds as Elementary School assistant principal motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Don Densmore motion carries congratulations [Applause] next we will move on to G5
049Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community because you've heard from all members of a cabinet this evening except one we felt it was important to give the other one an opportunity to speak as well and so Mr Hicks will be providing information on the 23-24 proposed budget thank you very much good evening Madam president members of the board superintendent Dr Dean um uh thank you very much for this Mr Hicks I don't think your microphone's on it is on my apologies um I guess uh I'll be missing this banter mrex I think your microphone is off again I know we've talked a lot about the budget in the last few months um and and oh my God Renee can you check the lights thank you thank you
050very much Mr Hicks is your office locked oh God never shared that story um so have we've been talking about a lot of the factors going into our budget for Nick oh my God is this for real going on right now I'm sorry we appear to be having some technical issues I think that we're probably good more confetti cannons I know I think we're good though all right thank you very much ah [Laughter] hey they did it to me too so we're good I guess I didn't think of it as abuse until you get it done to yourself sorry I apologize for that okay Mr Hicks we are now ready for your proposed budget all right thank you very much so as we have worked through the budget stuff the last three months a lot
051we actually started back in October November working on student projections we worked on our student benefit package our records retention Stipe in January the benefits in February the IBA recommendations from last month are legislative budget process our legislative budget from last month the projected increases utility rates are inflation impact our minimum wage the with all of that The Marvelous Miss marydale spidel and her amazing team take all of those different inputs and they um take the state budget forms and they put it all together and so we now have our state our actual proposed budget that we are asking for approval the approval of this budget it will allow us to post it it is a two-step process which is a very good thing because what we want to do is be able to post
052that this is our approved proposed budget that will be considered and July 13th so that our community has a chance to look at it so once uh tonight's done we will post it on our website we'll get it done posted on ade's website all the appropriate postings so that our community can take a look at it I know that I stated during our IBA recommendations that our Arizona legislature did an amazing job for school districts this is the second year in a row that they've gone above and beyond with funding beyond what my projections were and where I was hearing we were going so we were very appreciative of that and we're very appreciative of the support of our community that provides to our budget as well so we're very thankful the additional funds there
053were additional funds that came out of it out of the budget process with the legislature as discussed during our IBA recommendations our IBA process was to not commit those funds and just to hold them for the future for next year's budget and so this has all those additional Revenue but we really just put it into our reserves and not committing it to Future expenses so with that I will wrap up the proposed budget and stand for any questions thank you Mr Hicks thank you very much do we have any questions Dr Dean do you have any questions I do not have any questions at this time okay with that I will move to approve the 2023-2024 proposed budget motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Joe Grant oh Jenny Drake motion carries thank you next
054we will move on to G6 Dr Dean Madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community this item was pulled from consent for discussion and I will turn it over to the board thank you very much hold on just a second we're not sure this is actually is a real technology glitch okay we're good now okay um we're doing the um right yeah six more days can can you um you share where in the budget the funding for this comes from Madam president officer um are you asking exactly what page it's on page one of eight and line sorry um line four under purchase services it's for the greater Phoenix management council is that what we're talking about okay so I'm sorry which bucket uh page one of eight on the budget you
055said where in the budget does it come out I believe that the question is the code fund Eminem sorry ml fund sorry you're welcome but thank you when you said where in the budget and I got the whole budget here perhaps we could go over the revised budget or the proposed budget again it's over from every page if we'd like to go through page he got all excited I asked a budget question what was what was the answer to that question Eminem Dr Dean since you have had have attended these events can you speak to the benefit of this Madam president member Densmore I can speak to the advantages that we've had in being part of guppy Mac so Dysart school district has been part of guppy MEC for as long as I've been at
056the district office which has been 15 years perhaps earlier than that we are one of the larger districts in guppy Mac as a matter of fact I believe the largest districts consists of us Scottsdale Chandler and I believe Deer Valley are the largest school districts that are involved in guppy MEC the benefits come from a couple of areas guppy Mac provides workshops throughout the course of the school year that are attended by our educational services staff so our director of curriculum instruction and assessment are curriculum Specialists attend these meetings and there are opportunities to engage in collaborative work with school districts across the county to work to really share stories of successes look for instructional strategies that are being beneficial in various School populations and to to refine our instructional approaches as it comes as
057it relates to what we bring back and and discuss and share with our staff additionally guppy Mech holds workshops for superintendents and those workshops consist of some similar opportunities conversations related state board the State Board of Education guppy Mac serves as a as a liaison between school districts and the State Board of Education as well as opportunities for legislative pieces as well guppy Mac was one of the groups that was instrumental in working with the legislature both last year and this year one of many groups that worked with the legislature increasing funding to education from a purely personal perspective guppy Mech was an opportunity this year for me as a new superintendent to collaborate with 59 other superintendents and and really focus conversation on what was best for students not only in our district but
058for the valley as well and while there are at times differing views in terms of what that is it's great conversation that leads to opportunities to bring back to to our piece it's a great for a new superintendent it's a great opportunity um for collaboration with a large number of other superintendents that you would not typically have as well as the Education Services benefits those are the pieces that I would say that we benefit from thank you and I know that you mentioned um some other staff attending these meetings but this specific item for this specific IGA is that just for the superintendent attendance um Madam president member Densmore this specific item is for the entire guppy Mech package so our yes our I believe it's a three-year agreement that we enter into with guppy
059MEC um is it is it five I'm sorry yeah a five-year agreement and um I believe unless I've misread and someone can clarify for me that this is an agreement that is for the whole package the amount that we pay as a district is or that all districts pay is based upon your student enrollment and we are as we are one of the larger districts in guppy Mac we are in the the highest tier and I believe the amount for the district per year is ten thousand forty nine dollars or ninety four I may have had a little bit of a dyslexic moment there would you say as far as like what as far as new superintendent goes ASA do they provide a lot of that guidance and mentoring and education Madam president uh member
060Pritchard I think the answer to your question are these are two different um two different organizations the the biggest piece from a mentoring perspective that's provided to superintendents in the state now is through Grand Canyon University and their superintendent collaborative Network I was part of that Dr crota was signed up to be part of that as well and that is free of charge to uh to school districts you're provided a mentor the Grand Canyon University works with you work not only with your Mentor but with Grand Canyon University four times during the course of the year that's great mentorship ASA and guppy Mech have different uh different missions and different approaches in terms of what they're doing guppy Mech is focused substantially more on the educational end of of schools ASA is focused more on
061the school administration and um and administrative type tax tasks correctly just in looking at their budget am I reading it correctly where it looks like the majority of that of their revenue goes toward the salary of the executive director and the advocacy coordinator salary of like 260 000 of the four hundred and five thousand Madam president member Pritchard according to this document that would be correct I would note that in just looking at this uh quickly that um it states that that is salary and benefits for both of those pieces so that would be a total package for the two staff that are listed there with guppy MEC but still the majority of their revenue that goes to that it would appear to be more than 50 percent and I just saying Peoria I don't
062see them on the list as being members we probably don't have any information as to why Madam president Pritchard I've never worked in the Peoria School District okay I was curious if you knew why they weren't on here I do have a question so when you have these professional developments who designs the workshops and the programs how has that decided what is going to be presented to the superintendents and the people attending these sessions Madam president the answer is uh to that question is that guppy Meck also holds uh boards for each area uh so there is a working board for the education end there's a working board for the superintendent end as well we have had we have had our staff serve as presidents of those boards in the educational services end or or
063working components in that board as they work to design that so we've had a really big hand in that in the past in terms of that piece as a new superintendent I felt it was inappropriate for me to be part of that board even though I've been parts of other boards before and then how closely does the guppy Mech how closely do they work with the Ade Madam president I'm not certain how closely they work with Ade I do know that that they as well as ASA asbo other alphabet organizations you know seek out opportunities to work with both the legislature the State Board of Education and Ade as well in terms of their frequency I don't know the answer to that question and then do you know having attended some of these what types
064of subjects what types of professional developments what are some session topics that are presented to a superintendent or anybody else Madam presidents are some of the items that they discuss are ways to work successfully with the State Board of Education legislative um Connections in how to work with your local legislators which is a very important thing to do to communicate with our local legislators I know Mr Hicks wears out his computer every year in turn you know emailing information and providing that and and it's important that our legislators hear from education leaders in their communities so that they understand the issues that are faced there those are a couple of the big projects additionally you've seen in many CIP presentations that absenteeism is an issue it's an issue not only in the state it's an
065issue in the country so timely topics such as that would be items that are discussed and you know sharing of ideas of how people are being successful or seeking out ways not those are just some small examples of of things that happen in guppy neck thank you sure I have a question um when you talked about the legislative part if if we weren't if the district wasn't part of this could you still contact the legislators and discuss Madam president member Drake anyone can contact a legislator at any time um you know this is like okay and then since we've attended over the years and obviously we've benefited from it what have we brought back to Dysart that's been a positive influence from this from participating in this for so many years what have we benefited
066from it Madam president member Drake I will tell you that up until this year of the last 15 I have not been involved in the education side of the district office my piece has been more related to support services Athletics overseeing High School components that weren't education based and so from the last several years I can't answer that question I will tell you that as a new superintendent I found it to be incredibly valued valuable and I would state that it would be the same for Dr crotto the value that he would receive in in going into this agreement would be it would be very beneficial as a brand new superintendent and I believe that there's an out clause in the guppy Mech agreement with a 90-day notice I believe there's an out clause as
067well I did notice the out clause um so with that said we would have to do this if we were to approve tonight and if we found that it was not being beneficial we would need to cancel 90 days prior to the next renewal is that am I understanding that correctly Madam president member Densmore the out clause asks that or requires that um that the cancellation be 90 days prior to the end of a fiscal year okay so it could be as early I would say February probably is your safest bet March that's probably the March timeline is what you would be looking at if you were to enter in and then consider terminating the agreement April May June March would be the time that you would that conversation would would need to happen my
068math was a little off there with February and do you have any insight what kinds of things does this coordinator do the the coordinator that they pay in the guppy Mech Madam president the um from my understanding um the coordinator not only works with the various boards sorry executive director I'm sorry is that what it means I'm sorry that's the correct um yeah the my understanding the executive director uh works with the various boards in leading the board for Education Services and the board for the superintendent uh planning workshops works with them to plan those pieces he facilitates all of the company meetings throughout the course of the year he is he is the liaison between the State Board of Education and the 60 school districts um he's the one who would seek out opportunities
069to meet with the governor's education staff Ade uh as well as the State Board of Education and then would also facilitate conversations as it relates to guppy mix um concerns and or support interest to the legislature as well so if I'm looking thank you so much thank you for that thank you if I'm looking at the budget the executive director salary full-time is 160 Grand 930 for the whole package and then is is this how it's broken down the contract it looks like it's got 160 930 dollars for salary benefits and then it's got Consultants another eight thousand um then we're paying indirect costs and dues and fees I'm not quite sure do we know what the dues and fees are or is this are these memberships for the executive directory and the and the
070advocacy coordinator or these memberships for our superintendents and staff who are part of this Madam president uh I'm going to assume um that it's the first part of what you discussed it is not related to benefits for our staff however one piece I might add is that um there's nothing timely to tonight's agenda with this and we could actually seek out additional information from guppy Mac and or have their executive director come to the next meeting in July and answer questions directly to the board or provide information directly to the board as it relates specifically to their budget I'm I'm not involved in their budget enough to answer those questions okay because it looks it looks like he's getting a base salary but then they're getting all this other money I don't know if it
071looks like does it look like this is stuff we're paying or yeah understand that you know I their their membership or their their budget is based upon membership dues um I believe that they are again I'm going off my own understanding and not knowing their budget but I believe that I know that the vast majority of their budget comes from membership dues uh in terms of exactly what that breakdown is and where it goes I don't know the answer to that question but we can get that for you thank you and I'm just curious because there's a lot of mention about another school district in the IGA document are the meetings located at that school district Madam president member Densmore I believe you're referring to the albuqueria school district so um the the handling of
072the budget for guppy met goes through the Iowa Fria School District however the meetings are held throughout the county and the they could be anywhere from there was one held in the southwest Valley recently earlier in the year there was one held in jail Combs School District which is a really long way away from here right they're held in the North Valley and they're held all over the place yes they thank you they rotate I'm feeling like we probably have overwhelmed you with a lot of questions about this and I'm sorry I just don't know the answers to some of them no no that's okay yeah but I um I like the idea of maybe tabling this until the July meeting how everyone else feels and we can certainly reach out to um to Mr
073Carlson their executive director uh and and gather more information and um make sure that Dr croto has that for you for the next meeting uh does anybody else have thoughts I'm fine with tabling it um I moved to table the IGA with guppy Mac bringing that back into in the July meeting motion made by Don Densmore seconded by Christine Pritchard I believe it's John the 13th good to get who made the motion done done seconded by Christine motion carries next we will move on to G7 Dr Dean thank you madam president members of the governing board cabinet in our community um this item was requested to move from consent to action discussion I'll turn it back to the board thank you did you do it again did we do it again oh yeah I got
074it I do have a question on this um is there a way that I could get what the process for this is the correct process um Madam President we members of the board we advertised pushed it out on Facebook we had a Google form that they submitted a letter of interest we collected all the names some of them sent in resumes took all the eligible candidates that met the criteria could not be an employee that you know live within our district took it to Cabinet discussed everybody and brought those three recommend the ones an incumbent but talked about the names for recommendation because I know that one of them currently served as a chairperson so they didn't have to reapply they didn't have to submit anything they were just just reappointed nope they submitted a
075letter of interest and so they did send us an email saying yes they're willing to continue to serve okay okay so there wasn't an interview process it was yep is that unusual interview process um Madam president I don't I think this started around 2009 2010 so I wasn't here at the very beginning the last six years we've just had vacancies when we promote we don't get anybody sometimes we just take whoever we can get um and so really we're just looking for letter of interest there's not a lot of qualifications we're looking at an overview we're looking at making sure there's an oversight reviewing recommendations and making sure that we're looking out for the wellness and well-being of our employees through the benefits plan so really there's only three criteria there's no job description that
076you need to do any of that you just have to be present and pay attention and give us your honest feedback how many people did we have apply we're trying to decipher the exact amount my assistance out what is it um Madam president member Pritchard uh we believe we had 11 people that actually started the process to show interest of which six actually continued moving forward we had a couple of employees who were interested they are not eligible to be part of this board who provides recommendations back to our governing board our rigorous interview process and if they're we're looking for two people and we had 11 and then down to six I was just curious as to why we wouldn't have give those people the opportunity to speak to their talent or experience rather
077than just having it be a subjective conversation Madam president member Pritchard the questions are valid we are using a process that was developed in 2009 when we started the employee trust board and we've just Contin been continuing with that process to the best of my knowledge and can I ask can you just kind of give us an overview what exactly does the the board of the trust what exactly is their role for our district can you just kind of clarify that for everybody um Madam president members of the board because we have a self-insured trust we're required to have a board and that required to be four times a year that is the legal requirement we have bylaws um that I give a little bit more definition and really they just listen to presentations they
078vote to support recommendations but all the power rests with our governing board so they do not have authority to change our benefits plans or packages normally before not normally every time before I brought any benefit decision before the board I make sure I run it by far by them but first just to make sure they're on board sometimes they'll frame just uh inquiries and questions about how and what we're doing and that will frame what and how we're doing and how we're presenting different benefit packages to the board and then do you feel like um the benefits trust the board has been successful and accomplished all of its goals in the past years Madam president members of the board the only legal requirement is they meet so that yes they meet that requirement so we
079are in compliance from that standpoint we have actually there's a couple of our benefit Wellness items that have come out of members on there really it was through their own experience of their own employees said hey we do this can we look at it and and then we looked at it and we have implemented it so there has been some successes but the biggest thing we want is we don't operate in a vacuum they represent our community and we want to know what we're doing and what we're providing and they just listen and give us their feedback thank you and these these meetings happened just once per quarter um Madam president members aboard we do it a little bit more but yes a minimum once per quarter okay they're in board docs so you can
080go back and see we post all of ours we follow the open meeting law we have recognize if there's any guests there I think there's been one in six years or two in six years but we do the same thing and we have follow-all open meeting law who who all is present normally outside of like the one-time visitor but who's who's President so it would be the the Board of Trustees yourself and then who else Madam president members of the board I am a member so I am on the board or um and then we have my assistant who takes all the notes to make sure our meeting goes well we have our benefits manager Miss Janice peel and our Director of Finance Mary Dell will be there sometimes we'll have our benefit consultants and
081sometimes we'll bring in Blue Cross Blue Shield people or different benefit providers um that may happen once probably once a year on those type of things do we have any other questions okay all right with that I will move to appoint the trustees to the employee benefits trust board motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Joe Joe Grant thank you motion carries next we will move on to H1 request for future agenda items Madam president I'm not sure if it's proper but I have about a three-page list that I would like to encourage for future agenda items uh timer where's the timer when Renee how about them lights do we have any requests I yeah in lieu of the the recent conversation I would like to request a an item to discuss the process to
082appoint future Trustees for the benefits trust board are we able to include like just in general like all appointed boards how the district does that or do you just went specific to trust I like your idea all boards committees whatever we want to call that Madam president member Densmore Miss Pritchard you can ask for any agenda items you'd like after July 1st but yes um the the all kidding aside um cabinet would be happy to provide that presentation do we have any others all right with that that leads us to i1 another confetti cannon for Dr Dean just kidding motion to adjourn the meeting I move that we adjourn the meeting motion made by Crystal Chapman seconded by Don or Joe Jenny pick one Jennifer Drake it's hard to hear like I hear a voice
083down there but no I didn't I did not vote no I didn't thought about it I always think about it motion carries we're adjourned