001All right, we're going to start with our executive session pursuant to ARS .38.431.0383 discussion and consultation for legal advice, the governing board's attorney concerning Apache Junction at Al versus East Valley Institute of East Valley Institute of Technology CV2025-063885. Uh is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Ms. Humphrey. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Murray. All those in favor of moving into executive session, say I. >> I. >> And we are in executive session. >> Mhm. >> Okay, we're going to go ahead and get started. So now you want to keep talking? >> [laughter] >> Hey, we're we're really glad that you're all here tonight. Those of you that are here with us in the room and then also everybody that's joining us online. Hopefully there's lots of friends
002and family watching uh watching tonight's meeting. I can tell it's going to be a fun night and we're excited for the recognitions and and uh excited to hear about all the hard work that our students and staff and families have put into this. So, I'll go ahead and call this meeting to order. We're going to have uh start off with the Pledge of Allegiance uh led by Ms. Shayna Murray. And we will precede that with a moment of silence. So, if you would all please stand and join us in a moment of silence. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Ms. Murray. Thank you, everybody. Uh we
003will I'll ask Ms. Wilson to please do roll call. >> Mr. Chad Thompson. >> Here. >> Ms. Shayna Murray. >> Here. >> Dr. Blake Robison. >> Here. >> Ms. Jill Humphreys. >> Here. >> Mr. Jesse Brener. >> Here. >> Mr. President, [clears throat] all board members are present. You have a quorum. >> Thank you, Ms. Wilson. The uh next thing on our agenda is approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda as outlined? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Brener. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Humphreys. All those in favor of approving tonight's agenda as written, say I. >> I. >> Thank you very much. And moving right into uh the part that most of you are here for, the Superintendent's Recognition Awards. Um I'll turn
004it over to Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President, governing board members. If you'd join me in front of the dais for tonight's recognitions. >> Good evening everyone. How are you? >> Good. Um, this is our last recognitions for the school year. We don't do these in June, and this is my last one as superintendent, my favorite part of a board meeting. If you've ever attended a board meeting in 9 years, and you stayed past tonight, you'd understand why this is my favorite part. No offense to any of you. Um, but uh we got some really great people to recognize tonight. We've got organizations, we've got uh employees, and we have students. And so, let's kick it off with our first place winners from Quartz Hill. If you guys would come up here. Are you
005here? There you are. >> [applause] >> This is the winners of the GPS Battle of the Books. Now, Jane, where are you? Jane Glenn, what grade are you in? >> Sixth grade. And Delaney, hi Delaney. Is it Dowell? Dowell. Congratulations. And then, Kinsley, is it Lawer? Ah, Kinsley Lawer. All All sixth graders? What was the favorite book you read in Battle of the Books? Say that again. >> Pictures of Hollis Woods? Oh, wow. Anybody read that book? >> [laughter] >> Some people are looking at me like, that's a book, huh? Well, let me tell you a little story, and then we'll bring up the next squad. Four teams had perfect scores of 70 after two phases of Battle of the Books. Ashton Ranch, Boulder Creek, Neely Elementary, and Quartz Hill. There There then had to
006be a series of tiebreakers. It took seven rounds of tiebreakers to get to first and second place, and Quartz Hill and Neely represented Gilbert in the regional Battle of Books on May 6th. For the GPS Battle of Books, Quartz Hill took first place. Is that correct? Give them a hand. >> [applause] >> And then slide on down this way a little bit right there. If I could have the students from Neely Traditional Academy, please come up. Give them a hand. >> [applause] >> Again, Quartz Hill and Neely both represented Gilbert in the regional Battle of Books, and Neely Traditional Academy came in second place in regionals, so give them a hand for that. >> [applause] >> And up here I have Now, help me with my pronunciation. Is it Kian? Kian, see. Kian Ding, is
007that correct? What grade? Sixth grade. Bridget Hodges, is that you? Sixth grade. And Anika Johnson, right there. And you're in sixth grade. Congratulations. So, how When you guys went to the regionals, was it a battle like it was here for the district level? Yeah? Was it easy? Let me ask Did you read the books? No, just kidding. Well, we're really, really proud of you. Um I don't So, how many books did you have to read for the battles? >> 12 in total. >> 12 total books. I don't think I've read that many in my life, so I'm We're really proud of you. We know that this type of uh competition is tough. They ask you some really difficult questions, very specific to parts of each book, and it's up to a team to make sure
008that you get that right answer. And you guys obviously represented Gilbert Public Schools extremely well. So, we're very proud of you. Please give them one more hand. If you guys would shake hands with the board, stay up here, and then we'll take a group picture. All of you, just turn around and go down the line. Right here in the middle. And then, come on down. Perfect. We'll gather around here. There you go. Well done. >> [applause] >> Next up, can I have Dr. Matt Moix up here? >> [applause] >> Wow. You wore a tie. Like, I see this guy almost every day. You're looking sharp. Attaboy, good for you. Well, Matt, you're here because you are the AASPE 2025 Keith Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Dr. Matt Moix was honored with
009this year's Keith Perkins Lifetime Achievement Award. He has made a positive impact on school psychology in Arizona over more than two decades of exceptional service. Dr. Moix is an advocate at both the district and state levels, most recently leveraging his expertise to represent practitioners on the State Board of Education Special Education Evaluation subcommittee, and successfully leading the committee to consider impact of new regulations being proposed. Within our school district, Matt champions best practices for students, families, and colleagues. He is described by colleagues as having strong communication skills, an excellent ethical code, and an exceptional uh domain knowledge. And he's actually a really funny guy if you get to know Matt. We love him. Matt, thank you for everything you do, not just at Gilbert Public Schools, but on a state level. This is a well-deserved
010award. Congratulations again. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Right in the middle. There you go. Hold on, Courtney's coming, too. Thanks again, Matt. >> [applause] >> Next, if I could have Susie Kidane come on up. All right, Susie. >> [applause] >> She's not getting an award. Don't get too happy for her. Sorry. Um but she's here to uh help us honor a group of people called Valley Bloom. If those from Valley Bloom could come on up and stand with us, if you don't mind. >> [applause] >> Hello. Good evening. How are you? Good. All right. I'm going to try to introduce you the best I can. Yes. If I mess up your name, it's Suzy's fault. Um Is it I B I S? >> Ibis. Ibis Vyas? >> Yeah. >> Ah, Ibis Vyas. She is the
011president of Valley Bloom. Then we have Diane Burns. Uh Is that >> Burris. >> Says Burns here. >> No, it doesn't. It says Burris. I just >> I >> [snorts] >> I still haven't mastered the art of reading yet, so Uh she works with the homeless education student support section of Valley Bloom. Kay Glance also homeless education student support. Nancy Craton, Operation School Bell. And then Irma Wine, is that right? Win. Win. See, she looked at me like, you better get it right. I I got you. Remember, we're an educational system. That's all right. >> [laughter] >> Kids are in the room. Uh it's okay. Now, let me tell you about Valley Bloom. Um we want to thank you for your exceptional generosity and dedication of the last several years. Your partnership has made meaningful
012differences in the lives of our students and families. Your contributions provide not only essential resources, but also hope, stability, and opportunity. Valley Bloom exemplifies the power of community action. Thank you for being such an important part of our work. And here's what you've done for the homeless and education support. You've given gift cards, uh groceries, gas, clothing gift cards, school supplies, snack bags for students including summer school, prom tickets, Thanksgiving holiday meals for five families, holiday Angel Tree gift cards, graduation gift cards, 10 youth on their own on their own senior side. Senior youth on their own student scholarships up to $8,000 to two recipients for that. Operation School Bell. Back to school shopping events target 90 preschool through sixth grade students from Title 1 schools receive clothing and and shoes. $100 per student, which
013equals $9,000. And then the GPS district spelling bee. You provide trophies, gift cards, check in with students and families on the night of the event. And more importantly, what you give us is your heart. And we love that. You give us your time, your energy, your devotion to our students. And um that sets the example for our whole community. So we appreciate you. Susie would like to give you guys something here. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when a group of people get together and truly care about kids. You get an organization like Valley Bloom. Please give them a hand. >> [applause] >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you for being such a great honor. >> Come on. Get back in line again. >> Okay. >> Thanks again to Valley View. >> [applause]
014>> And do we have someone from um Dr. Hood, come on up. GCA principal, give him a hand. >> [applause] >> How are you? Good. Is there anybody else you need to bring out? You good? >> Are we talking tennis or are we talking the sportsmanship >> we're talking sportsmanship. You're good? You're good. Attaboy. Just a huge congratulations to Gilbert Classical Academy. Your school has been selected as the recipient of the 2A Glenn Treadaway Sportsmanship Award. An honor recognizing your school's dedication, talent, hard work, and commitment to true sportsmanship. This award was determined by members of the officiating officiating community based on observations from the 2026 school year. I need you guys to know that we honor a lot of people and a lot of teams for winning championships. And GCA has won their share
015of championships as well. But one of the most prestigious awards in my mind is this sportsmanship award. It is about how those students and those coaches conduct themselves when they're on the field or on the court and they're in the midst of competition. And parents as well. That's exactly right. If you haven't been to uh uh any kind of competition, I don't care if it's 5-year-old soccer all the way up through, you know, professional. There's always some bad behavior going on somewhere. Well, this award says that doesn't occur when it comes to GCA. They are true student athletes who care about their sport, who care about their school, and they care about the reputation that's out there about them in the community. And I think that exemplifies exactly what GCA is. So, please let's give
016GCA a hand. Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> Now, we're going to go to athletics. For tennis, GCA. Gilbert Classical Academy, Aiden Bielson. Is that correct? Are you there? Oh, that's you, right there. Hi Aiden, how are you? Good. >> [applause] >> Aiden won the Division Three Tennis Singles State Championship for Gilbert Classical Academy, Gilbert Public Schools. >> [applause] >> Aiden, how many years have you been playing tennis? Eight? What grade are you? You're a 10th grader. So, you've got two more years to bring home state championships after this one. Is that right? Hopefully. No, that's the Yes, just the answer is yes. Well, I I I didn't play tennis for a reason because I'm I'm not very good at it. But, um I know that it's a very, very difficult sport, very disciplined sport, and
017uh we just want to congratulate you on becoming state championship state champion in 2A tennis. Congratulations, and thank you for being here. >> [applause] [applause] >> And now we come to athletics. Um this is the portion we have junior high athletics and they run seasons the you know basically four seasons throughout the year and um there's a ton of participation at all of our junior highs and they travel back and forth and it seems like all the time we recognize high school sports. So we decided a couple years ago to make sure that we recognize uh some junior high athletes and so we created the junior high athletes of the year. And this year on the female side of it uh McKenna Shumway from Mesquite Junior High is female athlete of the year. >> [applause]
018>> How are you? >> I'm good. >> Good. Are you Are you in eighth grade? >> Yeah, I'm in eighth grade. >> She's um what's your favorite sport? >> Track. Do you play any other sports? >> Yes. >> And name them. >> Soccer, softball, basketball, track, swim. >> Wow, that's a lot. When do you sleep? >> I I sleep >> That's the best answer I've ever heard from somebody up here. Thank Thank you for not saying in class. We appreciate that. Um Why do you think they named you athlete of the year? >> I don't know. >> Administrators. Oh, there you are. Oh. Yeah. You look good though. You got a tie on, too. Mr. Stegall, come on up. I want you to say a few words about McKenna. This is current assistant principal of
019Mesquite Junior High, but taking over as principal next year, Mr. Johnny Stegall. >> So, how we chose McKenna is not only McKenna is our athlete of the year at Mesquite Junior, but what was awesome is as the district part other athletic directors had recognized McKenna, what she did on the field as well as off the field from when she would help clean up. She'd be there to support. She was always uplifting other players, even players that weren't even on her own team that other athletic directors noticed when she was visiting. So, not only was she representing Mesquite Junior well, she was showing what it means to be an athlete in Gilbert Public Schools, which was awesome. And so, that's why all athletic directors unanimously voted for McKenna. Her name came up right away for female
020athlete of the year, and we're very proud of what she's done. >> Well done. Give her a hand. Congratulations. [applause] If you'd shake hands. Mr. Stegall, why don't you stand up and get in the picture. >> Congratulations, Mr. Stegall. [applause] >> And last but not least, and I don't believe they're here from Desert Ridge Junior High. He's got a Come on up then, Mr. Cruz, the principal of Desert Ridge Junior High. So, from Desert Ridge Junior High, the male junior high athlete of the year, and how do you say his first name? >> Tage. Tage Farnsworth. So, please give him a hand. He might watch this later. >> [applause] >> You want to say a few words about Tage? >> Well, I think every kid should just want to be like Tage. I mean, he
021is a five-sport athlete. Sometimes in the first the first quarter sports, he would have to go to practice in the morning for one sport and the afternoon for the other. And he played throughout, held a 4.6 GPA throughout the throughout his 2 years there. He's involved in student council. He's on the sports leadership council. The the kid is just a wonder. So, he's just an amazing young man and and we just we're real proud of him. >> Thank you, Mr. Cruz. Thank you. Thank you. If you shake hands with the board and his honor. Where are you going? You've been watching this whole thing? Congratulations, Tage. [applause] And Mr. Cruz. >> Thank you so much. Governing board members, that concludes my recognitions for this evening. Thank you. >> [applause] [clears throat] >> All right. Congratulations
022to all the students and families and faculty that were were recognized tonight. We're going to move on to agenda item number five, the superintendent's report, Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President, governing board members. Before I get going, I'd like to recognize a couple people that are with us this evening from our Aspire program. Again, if you've watched this before, our Aspire program is for individuals who are employees who are interested in possibly being administrators one day, and so we put them through this Aspire program and they do a phenomenal job. If Ashton Lee and Amanda Hamilton could please stand up. Give them a hand for being here. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Again, good evening everybody and thank you for joining us and seeing us online. The end of the school year is fast
023approaching. We have 6 and 1/2 days left of school for the 2025-2026 school year to be completed. We're very proud of our students, teachers, support staff, and administrators for all that they have accomplished this school year. What our students have achieved this year is remarkable, both academically and in the extracurricular realm. And to our families, thank you for sharing your children with us. We are very thankful for all that you do for our schools and our community. This year, we'll be graduating approximately 3,000 seniors. 13 years of hard work will pay off in the coming days. Our first two high school graduation ceremonies are on Wednesday of next week for the students of Canyon Valley and Gilbert Classical Academy. This week, we have two other graduation ceremonies. On Thursday evening, we will have our Pathways
024graduation ceremony. Pathways is a teacher preparation program developed by Gilbert Public Schools, and the program is for people who hold a bachelor's degree outside of education and want to become teachers. This year, we'll have 19 graduates of the program. And this Friday evening, we will have our adult education program graduation. This graduation is for adults who are earning their GED and those who are attending the English for speakers of other languages. To all of our seniors and adult education learners and their family members, congratulations. We are so very proud of you and can't wait to see and hear about the great things that you will accomplish. And lastly, this year we have 81 employees retiring. On behalf of myself and the governing board, we thank you for your years of dedication and devotion to our
025students and Gilbert Public Schools. We hope nothing but the best for you and please know that you may be gone, but we are always here for you. Mr. President, that concludes my report for this evening. >> Thank you very much, Dr. McCord. >> Um, are you going to present first or are they going to start? She's going to introduce them. So, we're going to turn it over to Dr. Coleman. >> All right, this is uh agenda item number seven, our teaching and learning spotlight. >> Good evening, Dr. McCord, governing board members, cabinet, and community members. Thank you for allowing me I'm a little bit nervous. I'm used to public speaking, but it's a little intimidating being in front of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to present information on our outstanding music program. I
026would like to introduce Mr. Chip Durham, our instructional music specialist. Mr. Durham was the long-time band director at Highland Junior High and is an incredible asset to our music program. I'm honored to support our passionate and dedicated music educators. I know all of you have had personal experiences with our wonderful music programs in Gilbert. But before I begin the presentation, I would like to share some music with you because I think it's better to hear our fantastic music students and rather than listen to me talk about it. First, I'd like to introduce Ms. Sarah Deuce, orchestra teacher from Greenfield Junior High, who was honored in Nashville last fall as a music teacher of the year. She's brought some orchestra students to play tonight, and you probably heard them in the hallway playing. And then second
027will be Mrs. Angela Denison, music teacher from Bella Vista with her choir. So, I'm going to invite up some orchestra students. >> [music] [applause] >> Thank you so much Greenfield Junior High. Beautiful. Thank you Miss Deuce. Thank you so much. Mhm. >> Swing low, sweet [singing] chariot, coming for to carry me home. Swing low, >> [singing] >> sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home. There's a chariot see it coming. Swing low, [singing and music] sweet chariot, there's a chariot see it coming, coming for to carry me home. I looked over [singing] Jordan and what did I see? I looked over Jordan and what did I see? I looked [singing] over Jordan and what did I see? A band [music] of angels coming after me. Swing low, sweet chariot. See it coming. Coming for to
028carry us sweet chariot. Swing low, sweet There's a chariot. >> [music] >> See it coming. Coming for to carry me home. Swing low, sweet There's a chariot. >> [singing] >> See it coming. Coming for to carry me. Coming for to carry me home. Swing [singing] low. >> [applause] >> And we have two solos at the beginning of this. We have um Luke and Noah Clark. >> Hakuna Matata. What a wonderful phrase. >> Hakuna Matata. Ain't no passing craze. >> It means no worries for the rest of your [singing] days. It's our problem-free philosophy. Hakuna [singing] Matata. Hakuna Matata. What a wonderful [singing] phrase. Hakuna Matata. >> [music] >> Ain't no passing [singing] craze. It means It's worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem-free [music and singing] philosophy. Hakuna Matata. [singing] It means
029no worries for the [singing] rest of your days. It's our problem-free [singing] philosophy. Hakuna [singing] Matata. >> [singing] >> Hakuna Matata. >> [applause] >> Yeah, awesome. That's great. >> Good job. Hey, hey, hey. Good job. >> Thank you, Andrew. >> You're welcome. >> Well, if that doesn't put you in a great mood, I don't know what does. And right now I get to hear stuff like that every day. I've been at three concerts already today. [laughter] I don't know about you, Chip, but every night, every day. It's It's awesome. It's just part of the job. But I do love data, so I'm going to share some with you, and I think you've had this in your board packet, so I'm just going to kind of skim over some really cool stuff. I love data. I
030love music. So, we've combined the two things, so we're going to hope this clicker works. >> Yay. >> So, big news, 7 years in a row, big accomplishment, best communities in music education. Only five districts in the state of Arizona have won that award this year. And that's in large part to Mr. Durham. He and Mrs. Nichols before him um filled out the application. So, thank you, Mr. That's a big honor. Not many districts in the country get that. Another thing that I'm really proud of um is the diploma seal. The state of Arizona recognizes four diploma seals that can be placed on our high school diplomas. That's the seal of the arts, biliteracy, civics literacy, and personal finance. Our growth, as you can see since we started in 2021, has been tremendous, and our
031music program is a large part of that. Last year, orchestra um was the largest group of students earning the arts seal. In 2026, drama edged them out just a little bit, but band was a close second. So, you can see the breakdown there and I'm really proud of the work that all of our teachers have done in that. We also have a strong music leadership in our district. We are well represented in state associations by our music teachers. As you can see from the AMEA a ABODA, AZMBA, and even in Thespians and Art Ed, we have a lot of leaders in our district. We also receive a grant every year from the Musical Instrument Museum and I think this provides kind of a basis for our kids to get really interested in music. As you
032can see since 2018 we've sent over 17,000 kids. It pays for their admission to the museum and that's a lot of kids that have gone through that museum. And last year we added a night at the museum and that pays admission um to go to the museum for all our GPS families and employees. And so, between the two years we've had over 400 people go to the night at the museum and this year South Valley Chamber Orchestra performed and we had two board members go this year and I was really pleased to see that. Here's some great data, 15 years of data thanks to Mr. Brad Seagroves, our elementary department chair for band um from 2009 to the present year um showing all the way back to the oh, six-day cycle that we used to
033be on through the changeover to the five-day cycle through COVID um our enrollment in fifth and sixth grade band and strings and you can see the strong upward projection or that we've had. And we had the COVID dip but now we are firmly on the rise which leads into our secondary program. Um these are some of our high schools. As you can see, Highland High is our largest program. Band, orchestra, and choir there. And you can see the numbers there. I'm not going to read them to you because I'm sure you have them in your packet. But secondary enrollment is very strong with all of our feeder schools. Our pipelines are strong leading into our high schools. So, early access access with our MEM grant leads to our junior and our junior high and high
034school feeder programs. We have an amazing music program in GPS. And I thank you for this opportunity to present some great music, to show you some data. Do you have any questions? I just stunned you with all my [laughter] brilliance. >> You did. That was fan- That was That was fantastic. I don't I don't have any questions. I just wanted just say thank you. I mean, music is a in my family, uh at our home, music uh plays a big part in the the atmosphere of our home, whether it's my my wife that plays piano, my son that is is trying to play the drums, and my daughter who plays the violin, uh my both my daughters that play the violin, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the MEM for
035the GPS uh for the the GPS night, and um that was an amazing experience, and I just want to say thank you. And I hope that our music program continues to grow, continues to earn awards, and and continues to thrive and becomes a part of every GPS family. >> Amazing. Thank you. >> Well, I I do want to say a few words. I also was able to go to the MIM. That was very very outstanding to listen to the orchestra play and um then be able to see the exhibits for a little bit was wonderful. So, thank you for that. I would say that your position was on my wish list when I started that we would have someone over performing arts to help our um and our instructional leadership to help them as they
036um are coming into these roles and you know, new teachers and learning how to to manage children in a band classroom is a little different than maybe other places and and I really appreciate the hard work. I I think it's um really important. I'm not a musician, but I know that music education is beneficial to every student. Actually, if you study music and um become a musician, you'll actually have the same hearing loss as everybody else when you age, but you will hear better because you're used to picking up those different tones. So, it's amazing to me that when I go into a classroom and for example, watching a band director and then they'll correct a couple of students that they can hear how those students are playing and um just give them some help
037and guidance in their in their playing. It's just amazing to me and to watch um all of our and and I would say this is one of the benefits I would say for um our community is that most of these programs are free. So, if you want to go to a wonderful orchestra concert or the Campo Verde band concert what I which I went to the other night, you know, community members, our seniors, citizens, they can come in and participate in that and know that um their tax dollars are being well used and gain a benefit from it. So, thank you very much for all of your hard work and for um everyone that works on the music program. There's a There's a lot of people involved and it's it's really wonderful to see that.
038Um it's just really good physically, mentally, neurologically for the children. It's academically, music's a great thing. Thank you. >> I I don't have any questions, but I just want to say thank you for the presentation as well as the student performances were amazing. And if you go to any program at Gilbert Public Schools, it's it's just unparalleled and you know, I think it's so exciting to help students find that love for music. I was one of those students at Gilbert Public Schools. And so, I just know that there's a lot of people who work to do that including parents, directors, you all, and you know, I just appreciate all the work you do. >> Yeah, I'll just I'll echo that as well and and thank our our leaders and our our directors at each campus
039and teachers um for the fabulous job they do for our parents and families for supporting their their kids, our students, and and for the hours that all of our students pour into it as well. I mean, a lot a lot of hard dedicated work and um I'm so impressed with the the outcome. As many have mentioned, just the concerts are amazing. Um I feel like I mean, really professional level music, which is so so amazing to hear, but uh as some of the other board members alluded to, beyond that, just the the way that that um im- improves other aspects of of people's lives and when their studies and everything else. I think music is a is a huge part of Gilbert Public Schools and we do it really well. I do have one question.
040>> Yes. >> Um so, I think Sustaining the Tempo is awesome and seven times winning that award is incredible. Are there any goals that we have um of areas where we want to grow this part or or things we're looking for in the in the next couple years and maybe any way that uh we as a board can support that. >> Well, I always am trying to increase the diploma seals because that I think is really super important. Um because the kids I think gain so much out of it plus the U of A offers a scholarship for kids that earn the diploma seal. So, that does them nothing but help them. So, I'm continually trying to grow that as you can see. Um and with two junior highs, so I I said I'd try
041to slip this in. South Valley Junior High and Highland Junior High were just recognized for What was the award, Chip? Yeah, Chip's going to tell you. >> It's Evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for allowing us to speak tonight. Um the award all of the excuse me, the award she's referring to is a relatively new one through the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association. It's the William E. Richardson Program of Distinction Award, which very much off the cuff right now includes uh a number of data and criteria that each school has to actually qualify for including uh superior ratings or higher at festivals, numbers of students in the program, number of students on at the secondary level that made it into all region band or all region orchestra and into high junior high all state
042as well as all state, a number of things like that. And we know of at least two junior highs that are qualifying for it for this next two years. And it's the it's the two that she mentioned. So. >> He just slipped that in to me yesterday at the last minute after I did my presentation. >> be more coming. We just don't know yet. >> Okay. >> If I may share, these two, Dr. Coleman and and Mr. Durham, the energy these three years ago when I started in this position, I I knew of Dr. Coleman, I knew of Mr. Durham, but in terms of our work together, the energy we meet once a quarter right in this room with 80, 90 people. They bring an energy that that's unmatched for what they do, for the
043work, their ideas. They came forward, uh we need to build up our choir programs, we bring back the elementary uh festivals that are going on. Um we're connecting to all the high schools, elementary's performing at the high school campuses. Um there's so much energy right now um and has been, but our community, our parents, our students, and it's been mentioned a couple times, we share monthly the academic progress completely tied to our performing arts. I mean, we're naive if we don't believe our performing arts lead directly to our academic outcomes and vice versa. And so, um just thank you both. And And your ideas are incredible. You keep them coming. It was the two of them that wanted to bring the kids tonight. You know, we can come and talk, but everybody wants to see
044the kids perform. That's what we want, right? And so, um yeah, you I'm really proud of the work that you guys are doing and will continue to do. So, thank you both very much. >> Thank you. >> Um yeah, I can echo everything that they all said. Um my family is very big into music. My dad was a professional trumpet player. And um he >> [laughter] >> Yeah, that's how he paid his way through college. He was the first one to go to college and he came from a very interesting background in music. Basically, it's kind of what set him on his path of success. So, um growing up in a household like that, firm believer in it. And I don't remember the statistic, but Dr. Ryan's right. I don't remember exactly what it is,
045but the percentage is so much higher if they're involved in music. So, I love that we have such a strong music program and um it's all really awesome. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. >> I heard earlier that uh uh Mr. Brainard is an accomplished saxophone player and Dr. Robison is a is a semi-professional clarinet player and they're going to be putting on a concert in the parking lot after the meeting tonight. So, >> [laughter] >> thank you again. All right, uh moving on to the consent agenda uh for tonight. Uh is there a motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Dr. Robison. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brainard. All those in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda
046items as listed, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you very much. And agenda item number nine, our action items. 9.01, fiscal year 2026 budget revision number three. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President, governing board member. Ms. Betts and her crew are going to set up shop and uh give you a presentation and then ask for your approval of budget revision number three. >> Hi. Can you hear me okay? Oh, good. It sounds like it's on. Shock. So, I'm here to introduce Jackie Matinen and Amber Morgan to make the final revised budget number three presentation to you. And I'm just going to sit back and watch. Here you go. >> Good evening, Dr. McCord, governing board members. Um we are here to present the final budget revision for FY 2026. And both Amber
047and I grew up um playing instruments, so I think we should set all the budget presentations to music next time. >> [laughter] >> For '27, we'll do that. >> I don't know. >> Play something. >> So, today's report will include updates on student counts in ADM, the revised number three M&O budget unrestricted capital, and remember just a reminder that signatures are required, so and So student count comparison, we are comparing um the 26 adopted to this revision here, and you can see that the ADM we initially projected a 1300 student loss. We really only lost 768 students, so we've gained 532 from the adopted numbers, which is a huge celebration for us. We're really happy to report that. The weighted student count um also increased by 1033 weighted students, um which also impacted our revenue
048control limit. So here is our M&O budget capacity. You can see that we have a $4.97 million difference from adopted to revised number three. Part of the $3 million was because we removed the transfer from um capital to M&O, and the 1.97 remaining is from the weighted student count. There was a slight adjustment to the override. The budget balance carry forward we have adjusted now based on what we believe will be final spend. Tuition in with a slight adjustment based on current revenue that we've received. And then prop 123 and the free and reduced price lunch add-on, uh we did we didn't know at the time when we adopted um what it was going to be, so we were conservative and um adopted zero. So we can see that we added another 2.9 million there,
049resulting in a $7.6 million increase from adopted to this budget. Any questions there? >> It is a lovely increase. >> So unrestricted capital, again we have the $3 million transfer that we've removed. The one-time state aid DAA was about $50,000. Now, we realized that it is um closer to 800,000, so a $750,000 increase there. The budget balance carry forward again adjusted based on what we anticipate to be final spend. And interest earned, which is also a huge celebration because we can spend this, 1.74 million um an increase from 0.4 increase of 0.44 over adopted. And we have an animation here. So, just remember that um DAA is based on prior year student count. We do have an increase um based on the removal of the transfer. And the one-time state aid addition of 750,000 and
050the interest. Any questions on capital? Action item 901, which is where we're at, so it will will require a vote and signatures on the hard copy. And that is our presentation. Any questions? >> Any questions from the board? >> I think you've made it pretty transparent, so thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right, I'll call for a motion. Is there a motion to approve the fiscal year 2026 budget revision number three? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Ms. Humphreys. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Murray. Is there any discussion? Seeing that there is none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor of approving the fiscal year 2026 budget revision number three, say I. >> I. Any opposed? Thank you very much. And agenda item number 10,
051uh request for future agenda items. Are there any agenda items that any board member would like to put on a future agenda? Okay. As always, if anything comes up or if you'd like to discuss a future agenda item, feel free to reach out to myself or Dr. McCord and we'll make sure that that we get those put on the appropriate agendas. Board reports. Uh I don't have anything to report from the audit committee tonight. City of Mesa liaison, Ms. Murray? >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you very much. Employee Benefit Trust Trust Board member, Mr. Jesse Brainard? >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you, Mr. Brainard. Gilbert Education Foundation and Town of Gilbert liaison, Ms. Jill Humphreys? >> There are couple things coming up in the town, so I would check their website. They have
052some collaborative and um feedback type situations that that community members can attend and give their feedback on future um planning. So, I would I would check that. I just wanted to report on a couple things that I was able to attend and about a week ago Thursday, I think it was April 30th, I attended the uh School Connect breakfast for School Champions in which they gave their awards. And I wanted to give a special shout-out to Bob Allen of Highland High School, a teacher that does the service uh learning classes. He and I talked um at the breakfast. He was a finalist for the um for the I don't remember the one that honors teachers. I'm sorry, I don't remember the title of the award, but uh we were talking and um we share the
053same philosophy. This is your last chance for free education. Stay all day your junior year and senior year. That was our advice to students that um anyway, he he runs the service learning class and so helps uh students get out in the community and into our schools volunteering and so was recognized as one of the finalist. Um the other person that I went to see recognized was uh uh Mitzi Kazi, who is a school board member in the Madison school district, and she won the collaborative leadership award for school board members. And since I nominated her for that award, I felt pretty great that um I was able to write well enough to for her to receive that. She's an awesome person and has done a lot. She's served three terms on the Madison school
054board and is currently the president of the Arizona School Board Association. So, I want to report on that, and then um the other thing I wanted to report on Oh, the other part of the breakfast. It's just It was just such a positive uplifting experience of seeing our public schools being uh applauded for all the hard work that we do across the state. It was really amazing. Uh the other thing I wanted to report on was just that um I personally have gone to get some training on finances. One was through the Arizona School Board Association for which I paid, and um I took six sessions there, and then the county superintendent offered some training, and there was a session there on finances. And I'll just say that sitting through that I felt very good
055about what we're doing as a district and how transparent and how um we share with our community about how we're spending our money. And there's you know, there's a never a question that we're making those dollars work to their maximum effect in in the choices that we make. And I just wanted to appreciate um Ms. Batson, her team, and Superintendent McCord for all that hard work and and his team because it it really was just going through those classes. I was just like you know, there's just no question that we're doing a really, really great job. So, thank you. And that's the end of my report. >> Thank you, Ms. Humphreys. Legislative Representative, Dr. Blake Robison. >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you, Dr. Robison. Um meeting dates, Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President,
056governing board members. We have two meetings left in this fiscal year. June 9th is uh we're going to have a board policy committee meeting uh before at 5:00 p.m. and then at 6:00 p.m. we will have our work study and brief board business meeting. And then on June 23rd uh is at 6:00 p.m. is our board business meeting. >> Thank you, Dr. McCord. We have uh agenda item number 13 and an executive session pursuant to ARS 15-843A and ARS 38-431.0382 to discuss confidential student discipline information /records and to consider readmission for expelled student number 2425 1234. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Mr. Brainard. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Ms. Humphreys. Uh all those in favor of moving into executive session, say I. >> I. >> All
057right. We will move into executive session in the first floor conference room and then we will likely adjourn our board business meeting from that uh from there. So, we'll open the door up and we expect everybody here to come pouring in to make sure to uh be there for our adjournment. So, thank you very much. We're in executive session. >> Mhm.