Gilbert Public Schools Board Meeting 9/23/2025

001All right. Good evening everybody. We're going to go ahead and get started. We're going to call this meeting to order. Our regular board business meeting. Um, sorry, our regular board meeting. Today is September 23rd, 2005. We'd like to welcome everybody that's here with us tonight and the hundreds of thousands of viewers that are watching online. We've got a a good night tonight. We've got orchestra people and we've got national merit and we've got just we're a lot of recognition tonight. We're excited for it. Uh we're going to start with a moment of silence and the pledge of the pledge pledge of allegiance which I will lead. Um before we uh take our moment of silence, I would just like to uh say a word or two. Uh, in light of recent events, I'd like to

002invite everyone to ponder how we as citizens of the United States of America can promote peace and understanding. Please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. >> All right, we'll go ahead and ask Miss Wilson to do roll call. >> Mr. Chad Thompson >> here. >> Miss Shaina Murray >> here. >> Dr. Blake Robersonson >> here. >> Mr. Jesse Brainard >> here. >> Miss Jill Humphre >> here. >> Mr. President, all board members are present. You have a quorum. Thank you, Miss Wilson. Agenda item number two, approval of tonight's agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as outlined? >> So moved. >> Mr. Thompson, I'd like to add something just real quick onto that. Under the, uh, parent organization, uh, one of the parent organizations was inadvertently left off for the

003consent agenda, and that is Gilbert High's band booster. So, just wanted to make that you aware of that so when you go to it, you'll know it's there. Okay. Uh would anybody like to make a motion to approve tonight's agenda as outlined and including uh we can make it 7.15 Gilbert highband boosters. >> You mean 7.11 >> parent support organizations? Yeah. 7.11 I guess. Sub A. Yes. >> No, just 7.11. Gilbert High band boosters. Thank you, Miss Humphre. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Miss Humphre. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brainer. Uh, all those in favor of approving tonight's agenda with the uh addition made by Dr. McCord, say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? >> And that passes. Thank you. Uh we will move on to superintendence recognition

004awards. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members, if you'd join me in front of the DAS for some recognitions for this evening, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. >> Would you mind? >> Because the other thing I'm not good at is pushing my wheelchair. [Music] Good evening everyone. How are you? >> Good. How are you? I mean, we got people's faces plastered up here. This is It's a good night. Well, thank you everyone for being here. We have some people we'd like to recognize. Uh, first of all, if I could have those students that are here tonight for the National Merit Scholar semifinalist. If you could please come up to the front real quick and just stand right here. You're going to do a little work tonight. How are you tonight? >> Good.

005All right. These are just some of our National Merit Scholar semi finalists, and I'll have them introduce themselves and where they're from. Um, students across Gilbert Public Schools been named semi- finalists in this prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program, a highly competitive competition that recognizes the top 1% of high school seniors. These students representing Campo, Gilbert Classical Academy, Gilbert High, and Highland High each took a unique path to becoming a semi-finalist, excelling in a variety of academic disciplines and participating in very diverse extracurricular activities. Um, again, tonight we have some some are had other things going on like concerts and things like that. We'll get the rest of them next time. So, but tonight if you would introduce yourself and tell us what campus you are and then pass the microphone down. >> My name is

006Jacob Black and I'm from Highland High School. >> My My name is Palmat Christobal and I'm from Gilbert Classical Academy. >> My name is Kyle Jones and I am also from Gilbert Classical Academy. My name is Siobhan Perin. I'm also from Gilbert Classical Academy. >> My name is Ryan Donglin. I'm from Campo Verde High School. Give them a hand. So, do you know what you're going to do next year after you graduate? >> All right. Where are you going? What are you doing? >> Uh, currently I'm finishing my application for ASU Barretts for preeterinarian program. >> How about you? Any idea? Currently, I'm working on all my applications for early action for University of Chicago and Stanford. >> I plan on going on a mission for my church and then attending and I'm working on

007my application for BYU right now. >> Great. >> I'm also working on my applications for biomedical engineering. >> Uh working on applications to for data science. >> Where too? >> Anywhere. >> Uh University of Washington ASU. Nice. Okay. Top 1%, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for them. If you guys could shake hands, go through a line, shake hands with the governing board, and stay up here. We'll take your picture. Okay. [Music] Congratulations. Good job. >> Just kind of scoot back and we'll filter in. >> Don, somebody. >> Oh, there she is. >> Scoot up. Scoot back a little bit and we'll we'll form around her. She's got a she's got a wide lens. She's good. >> Well done. Congratulations one more time. Okay, next. If I could have Sarah Deuce from Greenfield Junior

008High come up. Give her a hand. You don't even know why. Right here, right next to me. So, I can really say some great things about you. And I'm now Sarah Sarah sent me this program and I'll explain what it's about here in a second. I'm trying to find you. I had it and then I lost it. While I'm reading about you, find yourself. Okay, we'll talk about it. All right. Sarah is the CMA award music teacher of excellence. Okay, that's Country Music Association. She got to go to Nashville, Tennessee to accept this award, I think on September 10th. That's a huge honor. Um, she was honored again in Nashville. Now it's in its ninth year and the annual program recognizes music educators who demonstrate teaching excellence, create positive learning environments, and make a lasting

009impact in their community. Music teachers from 11 states were recognized. This is a huge award. This is a huge award for Sarah, huge award for Greenfield Junior High, huge award for Gilbert Public Schools, but overall it just says nothing but excellence about our music programs in our school districts. And so Sarah, um, every time I turn around, it seems like you're coming up here or I'm getting some kind of notification about you. I'm getting emails from parents about what a stellar individual she is and how much she cares about kids. And um I I played the violin in fourth grade and be thankful it didn't carry on after that. But I guarantee you and I had a great teacher. Um even though she told me to turn my bow upside down at the concert cuz

010it was so bad. But if I would have probably had someone like you, maybe it would have been a different outcome. But Sarah, you really get these kids coming from the elementary and what you do is you keep them going through junior high and the love of music keeps going. So, we're very proud of you. Thank you. And what's this around your neck? Is this your award? >> A give Sarah a hand. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. hair in the middle after the star. >> Well done. >> So, did you meet any like stars? >> Uh, well, yeah, there were there were some at the event. Um, one of our one of the artists that was performing for us was John Party. Um, but I also was like so impressed that the members of the CMA association

011and CMA foundation board were there and the CEOs were there and just uh hobnobbing with people from the industry and artists and um I think I sat next to Teddy Swims publicist so that was pretty fun too. Lots of people were around. >> Well, I get to sit next to Chad Thompson at the board meeting so it's a close second. One more time for Sarah. Thank you. >> Christina Castle, could you please come up? [Applause] >> Welcome. So this is Christina and that's Christina. When her principal walked in, I see him pulling up this thing and I'm like, "What are you what are you doing?" He's like, "Oh, we got this, you know, at the award symb" And I was like, "I don't think anybody's ever put up in my nine years superintendent a little

012poster of somebody. That's pretty cool. That's going to go in my office." Let me tell you why she's here. Christina is the media specialist at Desert Ridge Junior High School and she has been named a 2025 Arizona Middle Grades Hero of the Year. Congratulations. Give her a hand. The MiddleGrades Hero of the Year Award sponsored by the Arizona Association for Middle Level Education, AAML E recognizes educators who embody values such as responsiveness, challenge, empowerment, equity, and engagement in middle level education. The hero of the year award is awarded to supporting staff who embody and affforementioned the affformentioned characteristics but also go above and beyond in supporting our school staff and students. Miss Castle has had nominations from administrators, counseling department, and former students. She has her finger on the pulse of Desert Ridge Junior High,

013and her presence makes our school and our district a better place. And you received this on the 20th, correct? >> Yeah. >> How was that experience? >> It was really >> And did you sit next to any stars? >> No, I'm just kidding. Like Sarah, >> not no all of my amazing friends and staff at the >> And those are the other heroes that we have here. Look at raise your hand if you're here for Christina. Look at this. That's awesome. That's called impact. That's something that you know you can't buy. You do it with your your personality and your heart and that's what makes you a special person and that's why you receive this award. Please give her another hand. Congratulations. Thank you. Well done. Thank you, [Applause] >> governing board members. That concludes

014my recognitions for this evening. Thank you. >> Go ahead. You I can move. You're good. This is why I hit the gym this morning. Make sure he got good to go. >> I skipped him for a while. So, you know what? He's not going to hurt anymore. [Music] Oh, there you go. I just don't like to sit behind the monitor cuz I can't see. >> All right, we'll give the fan clubs a minute to Mr. Cruz. It's upstairs to the right. Okay. All right, we will continue on. Agenda item number four, superintendent report. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President, governing board members, and thank you for everybody for joining us this evening. This Thursday from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Andredy Indoor Carding and Games located in Chandler, the Gilbert Education Foundation will

015hold their Grand Prix Race for Education event. Uh if you want to come out and you want to attend, please go to their website. All the information will be there. But again, that is Thursday evening from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Fall break begins next Monday, September 29th, and runs through Friday, October 10th. School resume on Monday, October 13th, and we hope everyone finds some time to relax and enjoy each other's company. And lastly, but kind of not lastly, I received this email from one of our teacher teachers, Melanie Vos. Melanie, I believe, lives in the Desert Ridge High community. And this is what she said. She said, "Dr. McCord, our community held a 911 day of service at Desert Ridge High School yesterday. The number of students and community members who came out was inspiring.

016Principal Smith has such an amazing philosophy of community service and we are so grateful to partner with him. Just Serve was able to gather many organizations that we could all support and serve including gathering humanity solely for kids help now a along with beautifying Desert Ridge High's campus. She said I wanted to share a video with you that showcases the day. And Jacob, if you could play the video, I'd like to share it with everybody here. [Music] today. >> I'm Scott Smith. I'm the principal at Desert Ridge High School. >> Awesome. We are so grateful that you're allowing us to come to Desert Ridge to do this community service. >> I just got to thank I just thank you guys to bring the community here because that's one of my biggest goals is for the

017community to see that we're not just a high school that we want to be involved in our community. I am here with the Desert Ridge High School baseball team. When I say just, you say serve. Just >> serve. >> Just serve. >> Thank you for being here today and making a difference. >> Hi, we have Larry Lew here. He's the state president for the Desert Ridge State. We're excited to have you here today. Well, this is incredible. This is year two and I would say it's three times as big as it was last year. Desert Ridge High School does such an amazing job supporting any activity in the community and we're so grateful to their principal. He is a wonderful man. And look at all these people in this community. [Music] What What did you

018do while you were here today? >> Um, we did slap bracelets. >> This is our hazmat response truck. So, that's our regular fire truck that we respond to most of our medical emergencies, uh, fire, uh, response calls. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] This is Pastor John. He's from the Spirit of Hope Church. He's here today with us. How are you feeling about being here today? >> Oh, this is wonderful. like we were here last year for the first time and uh it's just great to see so many young people and so many people helping out. We [Music] And that's just one example. Just Serve does some tremendous things for our community and our school district and I just want to give a big shout out to them and to all those other organizations

019that coupled with them to to make this day possible. Not only happens at Desert Ridge High School, but it happens at several of our schools uh throughout the district. And I just think it it does something to keep and bring a community together. And it shows that it takes everybody to make sure that we're successful as a school district and as a community. So, uh, big shout out to Desert Ridge High and and all those involved. And that concludes my report for this evening. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. McCord. Uh, we will move on to uh request to speak to the governing board. I'll ask Dr. Robersonson to read the admonition. >> Request to speak to the governing board pursuant to ARS 38-431.02H. The governing board may make an open call to the public

020during a public meeting subject to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions to allow individuals to address the public body on any issue with within the juris jurisdiction of the public body. After an open call to the public, individual board members may respond to criticism made by those who have addressed the governing board, may ask staff to review a matter, or may ask that a matter be put on a future agenda. However, members of the governing board shall not discuss or take legal action on the issues raised during an open call to the public if the matters are not properly noticed for discussion and legal action. During an open call, the governing board requests that speakers refrain from voicing complaints against school personnel or anyone connected to the district as it may impact due process rights.

021Please contact the office of talent management if you have specific concerns about any individual employee. >> Thank you, Dr. Robersonson. Uh I want to make mention that we did receive one comment online and wanted to uh thank you for taking the time to uh to write to the board. We have one request to speak to the governing board here tonight. Uh Susie Jackson, if you'll come up to the podium, please. There'll be a clock. You have three minutes and there'll be a clock up here on the screen that will uh will prompt you and let you know how much time you have left. Time is yours. Thank you. I have been a public school advocate since my oldest started kindergarten 21 years ago. I have always been concerned that public charter schools are not held

022under the same legal obligations as public schools. They can cherrypick their students, so to speak. Despite the law not obligating them to educate every special education student who walks through their doors, one would hope they would still choose to do the right thing. And that I think we can all agree this is what has always set GPS apart. That leads me to our dilemma about our son's DNR orders. The law also does not obligate Gilbert to follow these orders. They leave it up to the district to make their own decision. I think we all hope Gilbert will do the right thing and choose to honor a physician's order for a DNR. Even though you aren't obligated to do so, you would choose what is best for that student. A decision that was not made lightly,

023a decision that was made by family and medical professionals who know Rigo best. I want to thank Mr. Robersonson for taking the time to talk to me and for asking thoughtful questions. That is more than I can say that anyone has done so far. Some of you ran for schoolboard on promises about special education and protecting the needs of those students. What happened when Rio wasn't being consistently fed during his sophomore year? You didn't advocate for him then either. You did what you are doing now. You ignored his physician's order, and he missed being fed approximately 72 times. You are part of the problem. Some of you ran to shake up the woke crowds and keep the government out of our health decisions for your child. You were so adamant that your child not wear

024a mask despite them potentially spreading an illness that could have had grave consequences for Rigo. You did not want the school board deciding this for your child. However, now when we are asking you to honor his physician's orders, orders that will only affect him, you are refusing. There is some serious hypocrisy here. You allow for many physicians orders to be followed. Feeding G tubes, oxygen, medication, seizure protocols, and action plans. This is no different. This is simply an action plan. In the case of cardiac arrest, your silence and not advocating for Rigo is noted. A child who grew up in the foster system with few adults advocating for him is now experiencing the trauma of adults failing him all over again. So well done. We choose GPS because we believe in the mission to educate

025all students. The moral and ethical decisions are typically made in the best interest of the students as opposed to some charter schools we have seen until now. Do better. Ask questions. Advocate. Kids like Rigo have been failed by the system their whole life. Be the leader you professed during your campaign and do the right thing now. Follow these physician orders and allow Rio to attend Gilbert High School and graduate with his peers. >> Thank you, Miss Jackson. Uh agenda item agenda item number six, reports. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President, governing board member. I'll turn this over to our associate superintendent, Miss Bonnie Betts, for our monthly financial report. >> Good evening, governing board members, President Thompson, Dr. McCord. This will be a very short uh we're still very a short uh presentation. We're

026still very early in the school year, but there's a couple of notable things that um have happened. So, first of all, keep in mind that you did approve the uh budget revision number one last board meeting. So, we thought it would be prudent to update the grid to reflect that new revised budget. Just a reminder, we only moved the same information onto the forms but increased budget capacity based upon the final results of the legislative session. And also there was the one correction that was made regarding the number of weighted student counts. So that's reflected in that budget capacity. So based upon that you can see that the available balance in the maintenance operations fund is now 4.2 which was 1.5 or 1.3 last month and that increase is directly related to the increases in

027budget capacity based upon the legislative process. Uh same thing with unrestricted capital. There was u another supplemental for district additional assistance that was also added in legislative session and so that increased the available balance in unrestricted capital as well. And that's all I have for the district operating funds. Are there any questions on any of that? Okay, great. So on the federal grants just pointing that uh pointing this out. If you recall last uh month, we shared that this was a negative had a negative available balance. And uh the reason that it was a negative available balance is because the adopted budget had a zero budget capacity. After we adopted the budget, we were awarded additional resources and so those were encumbered right away. Is there an issue? Okay. >> Okay. >> Um so we've

028we've corrected that. You can see that the budget revision number one also um increased that that zero budget up to the 78260 to eliminate that negative available balance. And then other funds, the one I wanted to point out is the employee benefit trust fund. Um we did u meet uh this month um the employee benefit trust and I'll allow um Mrs. Humphre to share the results of that. But I wanted to let everyone know that we did update the year-to- date expended encumbered amount to reflect what we really expect will happen um this year based upon the final um the final approval of the stop loss and the fact that we have um about $3.5 million of additional expense. So we increased the expense year-over-year by about $5 million. So, we are expecting that our

029available balance at the end of this year would be in the $20 million range, a draw down of fund balance of about $4 million. And that's the end of my report. Does the board have any questions for Miss Betts? Okay. Thank you very much. Moving on to 6.02, teaching and learning academic spotlight. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members, I'll turn this over to our assistant superintendent of teaching learning, Mr. Jared Ryan. They have a gifted presentation, I believe, this evening. >> That's correct. Dr. McCord, President Thompson, Mr. or governing board, thank you so much for the opportunity this evening to share with you an update related to gifted education and uh the work going on today as well as the planning for the future. Um, one of the highlights of the

030month is the teaching and learning spotlight and the academic spotlight. And, uh, this week we have Jordan Hall and Brent Gardner or this month we have Jordan Hall and Brent Gardner. Jordan is our, uh, advanced learning specialist. So, she's in building. She's doing professional development. She's with our teachers. She's with our administrators. Um Brent Gardner is our um coordinator of advanced learning who who's really tasked with building a vision for the future of advanced learning across all prek to 12 areas. And so they're going to share with you tonight. Um Mr. Robert Burchcher is here in support as well. I want to acknowledge all of his work. Uh he's an amazing director of elementary curriculum instruction and assessment. And honestly, so many of the things we share are the brainchild of of Robert and the

031team that I get to work with. So I'm going to turn it over. Thank you. Thank you and thank you uh Mr. President um Dr. McCord and the board for this opportunity this evening to present to you and honestly for the opportunity to do this work. Um the work we do is pretty exceptional. Um because of what we get to do and who we get to work with. Um and so thank you for that opportunity. Um start with we always try to start with um our purpose. Why is it that we do what we do? Um our goal within the world of gifted learning is to help every student realize and reach their full potential. Uh we have a couple uh three times each year where we do gifted testing at our elementarymentaries. Um we

032do a second grade screener which is all second grade students participate in that gifted test. Um we also do a test by parent request one in the fall and one in the spring um that is also um administered for that gifted testing. The test we use is the cognitive ability test which is designed to to measure a student's potential in the areas of verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal thinking. Uh students that qualify meet that top 3% or the 97th percentile of their peers within one of those three categories. Our goal along with that, what we're trying to do is to find the potential of our students, not just the gifted, but all students to gather that information and to build systems, structures, um, supports to help our students reach their full potential. Our challenge within this

033area, initially when we were looking at this, I I always think start with like a problem. I didn't like to word this as a problem because it's exciting work. It's not a problem. It's a challenge is that in Gilbert public schools, we have a very large gifted population. It's supposed to represent 3% of our peers of peers within that within that those areas of verbal, quantitative, and non-verbal. In Gilbert, about 11% of our students qualify for gifted services. So, they meet that criteria. That's a challenge because it's a very large number of students. So, how do we meet the need of all of these students? So, you can kind of see the charts up there. Our full population, 11.1% of all GPS students are identified as gifted currently. And then that chart, the bar chart

034below shows you a breakdown of by grade level where we see the biggest population, some smaller populations. Obviously, we're not identifying kids as many students in first, second or excuse me, kindergarten, first and second, but along the way, we identify more students. So, how do we meet the needs of all of these students? So, beginning in our elementary world, so we have currently we have 50 teachers who are gifted endorsed across 26 elementaryaries. We are currently working. Last year, I had the opportunity to present in front of the board and I shared with you that we had a goal to endorse an additional 25 teachers across our district this school year. We are currently working with 25 elementary teachers to get them that endorsement this year. Additional secondary teachers as well. I tried to get

035Jordan's in charge of the endorsement. I tried to keep her at 25, but I could not keep her at that number. she kept adding and and and wanting to do more, which is which is amazing. Um it's awesome to have have a teammate that's that's so motivated. Um candidates were chosen at schools based on need. So we looked at our campuses who had um services available already for gifted students, who had the highest populations, where did we have that need and the ability to get more teachers endorsed. So we were strategic in identifying campuses where we could endorse additional elementary teachers. Um and then we will also be working through this process as teachers become endorsed. So there's two steps to be gifted endorsed. You have to do 90 hours of the endorsement course to

036become provisionally endorsed which that provisional endorsement lasts for three years and it's an additional 90 hours for the full endorsement. Once we have people that are endorsed either provisional or fully endorsed, those people can then join us in the effort in mentoring and helping others to become endorsed. So as we grow, we'll be able to further um increase that rate of expansion through those that we endorse. The second question, so that first piece is how do we get more um for the elementaryaries? So by expanding the number of teachers we have that are gift endorsed, we can increase our ability to meet the needs of our gifted population. Additionally, we have to look at that vertical growth. Our current situations, we have four teachers that are gifted endorsed working with us within a specific gifted

037program in secondary and that's a Highland Junior High in the gifted academy. Their capacity within that program is anywhere from 150 to 175 students a year. It fluctuates based on whether those teachers will have a prep hour or not, whether they will work a six-fifth schedule or not. In order to grow the program beyond that 175 cap, we need more teachers and a larger program to be able to accommodate the needs of our students. So changing our thinking from do you meet the cut to how can we make sure and have a program built for the need. So our step now is adding four additional teachers on that campus to that gifted academy to be able to double our capacity. Again, as we add teachers who are gifted endorsed, we'll be able to continue and

038identify more and endorse more teachers and expand the program and continue to look at how we're doing that and how it's working and refine and improve each year. The next step will be expanding that gifted academy through Highland High School. So looking at the high school experience, identifying appropriate advanced placement honors courses that will be appropriate for gifted students and working to endorse those teachers to be able to provide a gifted experience for our students that can extend truly prek through 12. So that's our goal with that vertical alignment. So when we say gifted education, what is it that we mean and how are we preparing teachers for that? So I'm going to turn it over to Jordan Hall to answer those questions. >> Hi. Okay, so like uh Brent mentioned, we have done a

039a better job identifying our gifted students in three areas. Non-verbal, quantitative, and verbal. Um the issue we were seeing kind of tied to his problem is that kids were really only serviced in a quantitative area in math. Um they weren't getting opportunities in enrichment or the teachers weren't getting enough training in in enrichment. And so we took the opportunity to shift the gifted endorsement course to better prepare teachers to streamline what gifted education can look like. Um so there's three areas that we wanted to kind of consolidate what gifted education can be. Um so gifted education should offer opportunities for acceleration. It should have depth and complexity and enrichment and then it should have project-based learning. So what we did with the course is try to tailor it to teach um in application, not just

040theory. So teachers understand who their kids are in the room. They know how to better identify them, but how do they shift their tier one instruction or their core instruction to really meet the needs of these gifted learners? Um so the course goes through 90 hours like he mentioned for their provisional that walks them through better steps to identify students. Um how to recognize beyond just data and testing characteristics of gifted learners, how to handle behaviors that come with gifted education and then also how to take general curriculum in all four con core content areas and enrich it and stretch it. Um, the other part of this course that's unique is that they are given an on-site mentor. So, they're going through the course, but they are also given somebody who's there in the field

041with them on the campus who they can meet with weekly to talk about application of the new learning. So, as they're learning, how are they applying it to their kids? How are they applying it to their classroom? Are they doing planning meetings? Um, and it's so it's building a whole community on their campus where the gifted kids aren't in isolation. and they're not somebody else's problem. They're shared by the grade level and everybody's committed to meeting the needs and it being an equitable um process for every single kid. Okay, we do offer acceleration. This really applies for math uh for those qualitative or quantitative learners. So, they're just going faster through um the curriculum than typical peers at their age. So, we already offer this on most campuses and we're trying to figure out on

042campuses where there are no opportunities for acceleration. How are they doing that within the gifted teachers? How are they getting kids to either a year above in math or in some cases two years above on our traditional campuses? So, math has already been in the works through acceleration, but how are we making sure that the kids who test quantitatively are in those accelerated programs? The second part is connected to the verbal and the non-verbal gifted kids. Um, so if they're not gifted in a quantitative math area, how are we taking our English, social studies, and science curriculum and bringing application to it? So there's five different um training modules. So it's about 50 of the 90 hours that teachers will go through that walk them through how to apply depth and complexity and interest based

043learning into their curriculum. And so teachers will have ideas for how to stretch whatever their normal curriculum is by adding cross-curricular connections, um, questioning assumptions, making connections between science and math, English and social studies, and getting them into more of a research mindset at a very young age so that they can apply it in different areas. Um, this is huge for teachers because this is the one site that they know the word enrichment, but they're not being taught how to actually do that with the curriculum. So that's the goal of this portion of it is to give them tools to take their curriculum to the next level. And then project-based learning um needs to be a part of gifted because it's tying into their interests. So giving teachers tools to relate to the standards a

044project that is going to not only enrich the kids but have them put concrete information to their content areas. So instead of just having um memorization, they're looking at application of learning. Um so in some of our schools they're doing projects based through um teacher development. Some of them are through systems that we're piloting. Um but it's trying to challenge kids on how to take their learning from all of their four core areas and apply them together and see that they're not in isolation. Thank you. Any questions at this point? [Music] Go ahead. >> Thank you so much uh for that uh information. Excited about all the things we're doing and accomplishing with our students. I'm just curious about what what changes do we envision extending the gifted program into the high school um will

045result in versus the the current honors and AP courses that students can take. So, we're definitely going to be leveraging those advanced placement courses and honors courses to be able to provide those gifted services. Um, we want to make sure that those gifted services are truly tied to learning and the progression of students. So, not just um you know, in the past we've done things maybe provide um you know, a gifted counselor or something like that on the campus that can work with students. So, we really need to bring it into the classroom. So what that will look like is identifying specific advanced placement honors courses that we can get teachers gifted endorsed and then grouping those gifted students into those classes into those sections to be able to elevate that um learning to that

046gifted need. So particularly um some courses that really already exist that really lean into that are AP seminar and AP research courses um that push students to identify areas that they want to explore and do real high academic research in those courses. But we want to make sure and tie those with other courses and find ways to um create some crosscurriculum opportunities um where students are connecting maybe English skills with those research skills and then combining um those teachers together to be able to support each other so that learning kind of connects between those two classes. So it's really cohorting those students and then identifying a pathway. What what we want to balance as we move forward with that is in high school students really need to have choice within their schedule to identify areas

047of interest um to be able to pursue athletics to be able to pursue performing arts to be able to pursue agriculture whatever it is that they choose to do. So we don't want to tie it up too much but be able to identify some specific progression. Um, so in that freshman year, it might look like AP human geography and connect that to an honors freshman English and then move them into the sophomore year with AP seminar and then from there on kind of progress forward. But it's really exploring that and to and first and kind of seeing what's going to work within our capacity to be able to serve. >> And then I guess there'd be specific qualifiers for students to be in those classes. Does that mean is this students who are just in

048the junior high program or or how are students enrolled in these classes? >> So, it would be they would be specifically gifted courses. Those courses would be available to students that aren't gifted, but the specific section or cohort would be for students that qualify as gifted, whether they participated. The gifted academy will really run um from elementary Town Meadows, the gift current gifted academy, then into Highland Junior and then at Highland. But at any point that a student wants to join into the academy, that will be open. So we want don't want to close it up where they can't join in 9th grade um but still have it open to them. Um but that qualifier would continue to be um that gifted identification >> and and that would continue to be test based. Correct. Like

049so if they hadn't tested into it previously, they could test into it in nth grade. And that's something honestly that we will as we move forward we'll need to explore is um is how long do we extend. Currently we do the gifted testing up through sixth grade. So there's the option to test kids up to sixth grade. So a question in the future may be would that test be valid and appropriate for students in at the secondary level to enter in at that point. Um that's something we haven't gone to quite yet but may be something we explore in the future. Yeah. And then if I can ask just just one more, we may want to continue this offline later, but I I'm just I don't know if this is a a pedigogy question or

050a philosophical question, but if if making these changes we think are going to improve the courses, right? Uh or add enrichment. Is that really enrichment just for gifted students? So, if other students are taking AP human geography and they're not they're not qualifying or meeting the the test, would they not still benefit from the same changes you're going to make? So, why not just make those changes for all the AP human geography courses? >> That's a great question. Um I think we def so at the elementary level where we currently have these gifted programs um not quite as much in the gifted academy because that's that's a specific programming but whenever we're adding gifted services on a campus um and I would say any services if there is a student that would benefit from those

051services it's worth looking at and saying and to see if that's something that we can provide whether there's capacity ability to be able to do so and to be able to get the team together the educators, the parents and get them together and talk about is this appropriate for this child. Um we we do want to be thoughtful in that process um to not um to to provide services that are appropriate based on the data that we have the performance achievement of a student as well as the the cognitive ability test. Um so we want to take all that into consideration. um where we might want to be careful with that cohorting at the high school, at least initially, is capacity in those in those sections to be able to first serve the students. It's

052specifically designed for. But those same kinds of learning environments that we can create as we endorse more teachers, whether they're specifically in a gifted section or not, can definitely be applied to any classroom and be successful strategies throughout. So, we're not going to stop at endorsing teachers that are only working with gifted teachers, but any teacher that wants to be able to learn new strategies and take education further can definitely participate and use those strategies as well. >> I had one question. Um, when it comes to students who are really close to the cusp of, you know, being designated gifted, is there any probation period or is it just kind of waiting for the next year to see if they test into it? We do have um we really again leave that to the educational

053team to determine do we have the space in the program um looking at the full picture of the child and say if we have space can this child participate on a probationary kind of status um to be able to see if it's a good fit for them. Um we we do have those parent requests twice a year. We we allow students to repeat testing. So if parents request, we will test. The challenge there there are some challenges with that that I would point out. One is because it's a a a test that's designed to identify potential of a student, it's not likely to see vast changes. Now it is a test and kids perform different on different days. So there could be changes but I also would be cautious in exposing the child to an

054expectation that they be gifted um and and not want to communicate that to a child that like if you don't make it then you're not. So I think there's some tough things to consider there and that are worth that consideration. Um but we can certainly test a child if we feel like you know what that wasn't good performance let's try again. But we can also use other metrics and say, you know what, gifted test said you're 95th percentile, but looking at your state test, looking at all the other performance, you do really well. So why don't we put you in the program on a probationary period and see if it works. See if it's it's good for you. >> That makes sense. Um, and another question kind of different area, but do you know what

055are the incentives for teachers to get the certification? And is there a lot of teachers who who want to get into it? We've had no shortage of teachers wanting to currently. We had to put a cut off. I I did have to put like my foot down and say Jordan can't take more than 40 this year. Um because she's one teacher and having to, you know, run around to several different campuses every week. Um so we did have to put a cap on it this year. Um as we get more people, we'll be able to expand that. Um the incentive for teachers is additional learning. Um, and we are providing essentially a learning opportunity that will be once they have the full endorsement, it's an endorsement that will be on their teaching certificate for the

056life of that certificate. Um, we want people that are motivated and want to do this work. Um, so we don't really have an incentive other than the passion of our teachers to do the work and the passion of our schools to be able to do it and embedding the course as much as we can within the existing work so it's not a heavy workload outside of their current day. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> I I have a question. So, um, I really appreciate all the hard work that you put into this. It's very exciting. It's for me kind of seeing a dream come true. something I've worked on before I was on the school board. Um my question though is I feel like as we work on these strategies with our gifted students um

057that they then kind of multiply at the school and other students get to use them as well because I would say projectbased learning is really great for gifted students but it's good for every student to get something hands-on that they can really create with their interests in mind. I I couldn't agree more. I I've always like the analogy of when we build a ramp at a facility, it's intended to allow people who need the ramp for wheelchair access or whatever else, but it's not limited to them. All those that might benefit have access to that. Um so it's something we always want to look at and say if a strategy is good, if an instructional um technique is good, then we can find ways so that students can access that and be successful. That's why

058our goal is to identify the potential of all students and help them to achieve that potential. Um and while we are focusing this specific program for gifted students, we do believe that this um the way that we are thinking, the way that we are approaching this can change um the way we look at all of our students in the classroom and build um build programs and systems of support that meet their needs rather than um making them meet our our current program. >> All right. Thank you. I do appreciate all the work that's been put in. It's very exciting. >> Thank you. >> So, I've got a few questions and I'm not gifted like my fellow board members, so I need a little more uh a little more help. Um, so help me understand the

059structure of our of our gifted program currently. And if I understand it right, we have in gifted endorsed teachers at multiple elementary schools across the district. And then if a student wants to continue on in the gifted program, they have to go to the gifted academy at Highland Junior and then the gifted academy at Highland High School. Is that correct? >> Yes. So currently as it exists, the only programs that we have um we do have a gifted teacher um at most of our elementarymentaries um where students work with that gifted teacher once they're identified. Um but that is part of the challenge we're currently working on is that we only have one gifted program at the secondary level, which is currently at Highland Junior High. Um, but if we can expand that program, um,

060and then also add the vertical alignment at Highland High School and have it continue through graduation, then we'll be able to better meet those needs and then grow from there. >> Okay. The endorsement. So, how many teachers do we currently have endorsed? >> We currently have 50 teachers across the district that are that are endorsed. And we're we're there's how many more are in the process of getting endorsed? >> We're nearly doubling that this year. So we're at 40 teachers participating in the program. >> Okay. So the the 90 hours that a teacher needs to be to get the provisional endorsement and then the additional 90 hours to get the actual endorsement. Are those hours in addition to their regular working hours or are some of those hours overlapping with their regular working hours? >>

061We've done everything we can so that some of those hours do are embedded within their working hours. So if you are working with a for example, if you're working with gifted students and developing um individual learner plans for those gifted students, that's a learning process. You're showing and demonstrating that and that can count toward your hours. Okay? But the course is embedded as much as we can do within the workday. Um because we have a lot of teachers currently that are working with gifted students um that aren't the gifted teacher on their campus. So we can leverage that to be able to help them um work towards that endorsement. >> Okay. Thank you. And then you mentioned wanting four additional teachers where Okay. So my question sub a are those new are you are you

062requesting new personnel or these are four teachers that are already >> with GPS that will be designated as >> yes >> and and where where will they where will they be? >> So those teachers we identified four additional teachers at Highland Junior High. Okay. um so that we can exp double the capacity at that school within that program. >> So their existing teachers, we're just adding the endorsement. All the teachers we're endorsing are existing GPS teachers that we're endorsing within within their work. >> Okay. And then my the last thing is just kind of a a a comment. I'm I'm kind of with Dr. Robison where if if making a an AP teacher or an honors teacher, endorsing an AP teacher or an honors teacher will improve the experience for the gifted students in their

063classes. that should improve the experience for all of the kids in those classes. And so I guess I'm just I'm not quite understanding is not the right word. not quite um grasping, I guess, the the the benefit of the gifted program beyond elementary school where honors classes and AP classes are available. It it just seems like and I and maybe I don't want to misquote you or or misrepresent what you said, but >> you haven't yet. >> Okay, good. Then maybe I should just stop. So, but why wouldn't we just have all of the students in those classes receive those benefits? and and I think you had said that all of the students would. So then I guess the maybe there's a question in there. Why are we continuing on with an with a with

064a a gifted program in junior high and high school when they're already they're they could potentially already be getting the benefits of a gifted program in their honors and AP classes that they're already taking. And I I think that's a great question and honestly I couldn't agree more that we could expand and have more um options. You know, like I said, gifted endorsed teachers that aren't even particularly working with gifted teachers or gifted students, excuse me, because those strategies, those teaching techniques are good for all kids. What we're specifically looking at for the gifted academy that runs through Town Meadows, Highland Junior, and Highland High School is a continuum of services for those students that eventually will run kindergarten through graduation. So really knowing where those students are coming from and the experiences they've had

065and building on those. If we know that this gifted program will look like this in 12th grade and we build it down, then that experience for those students makes a lot more sense because it's designed for them to run through that continuum of services. Those teachers know what the teachers are doing at the previous level, how those students are participating, and they can build upon that learning. The other part of this that's really important for gifted and and maybe we missed this in our presentation and I apologize for that is it's really important that whenever we talk about gifted we are not necessarily talking about achievers. >> Yes, I was going to say the right word isn't I was going to say exceptional students. They are exceptional but they're they also sometimes have behaviors that

066are challenging. Um, in elementary level, our gifted students often struggle sitting still. Um, they they learn very quickly and they move quickly. And so really making sure that we have the strategies and the structures in place for a student that has a particular set of needs is the other reason for the specific programming. Um so that is a really important part is a gifted student is really the the term that gets used a lot more that we hear as neurodyiver neurodeiverse students. Um they have a different way of thinking and understanding this different way of thinking is really helpful in helping them achieve their full potential. So now I now I think I'm understanding better because my ne my my my last question after my last question was what is what is what does it

067look what is the difference in how a student's track through high school looks for those students that are gifted and those students that are just participating in honors and AP classes. And it sounds like the tracks are no different. They're the same. But by having these teachers that have this have these skills to teach these gifted students will better will help those gifted students. If there are behavioral challenges or accommodations that need to be made, those teachers will be better equipped to handle those students. But as far as the as far as the the course that each that each student can take, it's not like a uh it's not like a an AP or honor students that that's not labeled as gifted isn't going to be able to take the same courses. Correct. Does >>

068that make sense? >> Correct. Okay. >> You are you are spot on. And and also thank you for the questions. Um, as you ask questions to me, it signals we appreciate the support in this work because it is very, very important. Um, because we have kids that fall through the cracks because we don't see their potential, because they don't fit a traditional classroom mold. And so, we have to work to find ways to help them to achieve that potential. And as we do that, we'll actually improve the experience for all of our students. Good. Thank you. I I don't have any other questions. Are there any Did I >> have one more round? >> Yeah, just >> go ahead. >> Um >> well, no, this first of all, yes, thank you guys very much. And

069a lot of your conversations kind of tracked my thinking, too, so it was good. Um, while I was listening to you speak, I actually had one particular student in mind that I have currently and I think about the training and I'm going, man, well, that sounds like something that would be really beneficial right now. Um, so when you're when you're thinking about that backwards design, are you tracking those students and making sure that they're being placed with the teachers that have been trained? And so you have like a specific line from each elementary school to the junior highs to the high school so that they don't end up, you know, because I just think about how kids get placed generally when it comes to splitting classes and all of that. I was just wondering if

070you had a plan as far as that was concerned. >> Yeah, definitely. Um, and I think I'm going to kind of address the other secondary part of that. Um, just because it was kind of talked about earlier. Um, we do need to expand that as well where where kids are going next cuz we can't all send them to Highland Junior. Um, so the other side of that is that all the junior high coaches are also getting endorsed their instructional coaches right now so they can be mentors and they can take on honors teachers next year as we expand this. And so the current sixth grade teachers who have gifted students are creating um essentially a learning plan of their gifted students. So it talks about how they're doing academically, how they're doing with their achievement,

071if there's any behavior things and strategies they're using, and they will be sending them off to the junior high so that those teachers don't have to start with a blank slate. And then they will be in classes where the teacher is currently going through endorsement. They will understand how to read the information about that student and the information isn't lost between elementary to secondary. So, we really want it to be a K12 experience where these kids aren't going from school to school and teachers are having to start over with information on the kid. >> Well, that's my concern. I'm actually on the opposite end cuz I I my world is elementary. So, I'm thinking about all the kids when they get to me. I fight the battle of keeping them in the program. They don't

072want to do it anymore. So it's like if we're identifying kids in the second grade, making sure that we have a plan in place to keep them on that track so when they get to fifth and sixth grade, they're not fighting because they my kids go, you know, so they're they fight me to go every week. I mean, I have to go find this one particular student in the hallways and bring her to the front office cuz she doesn't, you know, and it's kind of it's disheartening to see that. So I love that you guys are going through the elementary, but just I cuz the other question I had was the second grade. So you have the second grade screener. Is there any other benchmark? Is it fourth grade? When else do you test like

073everybody to make sure that we >> Yeah, we only have the second grade as like an entire class blanket screener, but parent request is open kinder through six twice a year the entire length of the time that they're in elementary. So as a as a grade level band, it's just the second grade one because that's what the state of Arizona will pay for. Mhm. >> And then after that, we have additional licenses through Kogat that we can test twice a year. And that's open to any grade level if they want to. >> And it's and it many times it's a conversation between the teacher and the parent about, hey, I think maybe your kid should test for gifted. >> And we're working on that with the with the course is giving them more opportunities so

074that they understand what are things besides just achievement testing. So, what are some behaviors, some characteristics to better identify these kids? And then have conferences with parents, invite them to do testing, and then speak to their um group of teachers in the same grade level and talk about those characteristics and see if those teachers are noticing any so that they can get more parent referrals. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, so just two things. Um, I think one thing that I'd appreciate, I don't know if if everyone else would like, but just maybe more information on what we feel these students aren't currently getting in our high school experience that that cohorting them will accomplish. Um, because I I I mean, I know you agree. I think we provide an amazing opportunity uh for

075level learners at all different levels. Um, and I I've been super impressed with the honors and AP classes that my um, kids and other kids have been able to take and and share. So, I I just would maybe kind of the vision of hey, what cohorting them, what the advantages of doing that and I think maybe I I think there's maybe some disadvantages to cohorting them together as well, right? I think there would be some advantages to having them together with all the students that are taking honors and AP class. So, so I think I think there's pluses and minuses to that. But I'd love to talk not right now. We don't need to talk about that. But but right now and then um and then the other thing I just I think it's clear,

076but I just want to make sure is clear that I we think this is great. Like all of our comments are not restrictive. It's more expanding what you're doing. And so um like I I think what is working in the gifted academy at Highland Jr. um in those classes like let's do that at South Valley and let's do that and let's do that at every junior high and what's going to work great to do it at the high school at human AP human geography like let's do that in all the AP human geography classes so really would be more expansive in our ambition and and maybe uh we need to do some cloning or something as far as the the the training or maybe someone else can help with the training because it's great we're

077doubling it for this here. I would love to double it again next year. Um, and so whatever support is needed to to accomplish that, um, would love to get you that support. >> Thank you for that. And I I just just a a little addition there is there is a lot more that we're working on and working towards within the gifted and advanced learning world that we just we don't have the ability to go over all of it but we would love any opportunity formally, informally, whatever is whatever you would like to um talk in more detail to answer all the questions um because it is not a problem. It's an exciting challenge that we have um that we're getting to do and uh being at the schools that are really taking this and running

078with it is incredibly invigorating um to see the passion of our educators and working with students to help them achieve. Um so thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for the questions. Thank you for the support. And anytime that you have additional questions or want to talk more, we're happy to do that. >> Uh Mr. Thompson, I just I had one comment just about what you were talking about. Okay. >> Um, with your questions and I feel like one of the things we need to recognize is a lot of these students, they learn quickly and easily. So, in elementary school, it may not be that hard for them and they need to be challenged. So, then when they get to the level that it becomes hard, it doesn't blow them out of the water that

079they actually have to study and learn because they finally been challenged. And that is a really key um I think difference sometimes between gifted students and other students. And so just um they do they can easily get bored and they need to be challenged so that they know that learning can be hard for them and then they don't get that shock of oh no I actually have to study. I must not be as smart as I thought I was. And that's that's kind of sometimes the challenge. Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you both very much. That was a very great presentation and answered all our questions and and appreciate the work you do. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving on to our consent agenda items. Uh, is there a motion to approve

080tonight's consent agenda items as outlined with the uh addition of Gilbert High band boosters to 7.11. Going once, going twice. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Dr. Robersonson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brainer. All those in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda as outlined with the addition of Gilbert highband boosters to 7.11 say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you very much. And moving on to our action items. Calling them action items makes them sound a lot more exciting than it does. >> Maybe they are especially when it's a whole list of policies. Okay. Just call them items. All right. Uh 8.01 policy development first read of policy 5-410 intercolastic athletics. Is there a motion uh to approve the first read of this policy? >> So moved. >>

081Thank you, Miss Humphre. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Murray. I Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members policy 5-410 interscolastic athletics. Um in this policy just a little um addition says intercolastic athletic activity means an intercolastic extracurricular activity consisting of a sport or other athletic competition including all practice sessions, games and other activities for intercolastic athletics. and it red lines what you see there and then did some grammatical changes added which and then going down to basically the middle of the policy the big addition is automated external defibrills beginning on August 1st 2026 if the district provides instruction to students in grades 9 through 12 and sponsors an athletic team or sports program the district shall provide an automated external defibrill AED on each school campus and

082At each school sponsored athletic event, including all practices, trainings, and competitions, the district shall maintain a display. The AED is required by ARS15-120.07. And then again, some references. And those are the changes. I'd like to add that all of these first reads have already gone through the policy committee once. After tonight, they will go back for a second read. and then they will be placed on the consent agenda at our next meeting for their second read and approval. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion or questions from the board? All right. All those in favor of approving uh the first read of policy 5-410 intercolastic athletics say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Thank you very much. 8.02 02 policy development first read of policy 5-216.01 assessments. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >>

083Thank you, Dr. Robersonson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Humphre. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members. Uh, assessments 5-216.01. This is basically all new. It says, "The district shall administer all tests prescribed by the state board of education pursuant to ARS 15-741. The district shall survey staff on achievement related non-EST indicator data as required as permitted by ARS 15-741E. A district that provides high school education shall accept the official score report of a nationally recognized assessment and allow the student to opt out of state board prescribed testing if the parent/legal guardian submits before the date of the requisite state board testing. Upon submission by the parent or legal guardian of the official score report, the district shall record the score in the students file and report the

084score to the state board of the state board in Arizona department of education. The district shall use the official score report as the students achievement test data. District sha staff shall adhere to all testing protocols for any proctored examination required by either the district or state board and may be subject to discipline andor termination for failure to do so. So I've got a a question and this is maybe this isn't I I guess it doesn't have anything to do with the policy but maybe it does. Um >> let's hope so. What are you doing tonight? Um, so with these national tests, are those scores valid indefinitely or are they only valid for a specific period of time? Can can a student only submit a national score in lie of a district or state exam for

085a specific period of time? >> I think it would be their most recent. And then if that student retests somewhere down the line, correct me if I'm wrong, and they improve their score, they can resubmit that. But that's that's my understanding. >> Okay. The example we were given most recently was a student opting to take SAT as a requirement from their particular university of choice versus taking the mandated state ACT and then submitting that score of the SAT to the state for them to then uh place under is a record for the student. >> And do we do we when I was in high school a thousand years ago >> that's too long ago to count. I know >> just yesterday. >> Hey, no making fun of the president. Um, we always had to come

086in on a Saturday to do the SATs and the ACTs, but I don't think it's We do that. Don't we provide time during the school day for students to take those exams? >> What grade level is it again? When it's coming up, actually 11th grade. >> 11th grade. So, yes, it's built in. Now that it's a portion of the state assessment suite, now it's built into the framework of our school day. So, we'll have um specific testing dates for that within the school week for students, all juniors to to take the exam, >> but there are opportunities for them to take it other places at other times because >> people miss for whatever reason. >> There are Saturdays. Yeah, there are Saturdays >> throughout the East Valley. Hamilton High has a few testing options. >>

087Um, so there are other opportunities for students to go and assess as well. So, if there's a student that submitted their SAT score in lie of their ACT score, what do they do while the rest of their peers are taking the ACT during the school day? >> They would well in that particular case, they would be home. They would >> Well, we don't really know yet because we haven't had to do this yet. >> So, up up until now, everybody's just taken the ACT. every junior >> or they decided not to come to school and take the test that day. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Those are all my questions. >> Yeah. >> Dr. Robersonson. >> So, is this new this opt out and is this just in relation to the ACT or like

088can they take the when they take the PSAT if they score certain can they opt out of spring testing? Like what are all the >> optouts? >> We don't have a list of approved. Uh we've requested that and we have not received that from the state yet. >> Okay. >> Because it's so new. >> Yeah. One more question. Sorry. So these testing so the the school gets a report and I don't know if our rankings are a right word but but there's test scores per school, right? So it shows that hey at this high school our average score was this or our range was this. the ACT composite >> ACT. Right. >> Correct. >> So, if students are taking the SAT and they're performing really well >> and then they're using that to opt out

089of the ACT, does that SAT score figure into those scores or are scores going to be lower then because some of our students who performed higher on the SAT are not going to be taking. >> Great questions. So there are a number of questions that we still have including do they count in our denominator when we are required to test 95%. So do they fall out of that number or do they count now as tested even though it's a different assessment. Um we see it sometimes with advanced placement assessments as well when students opt out from taking the exam at the end of the year because potentially their university of choice or senior year doesn't take the score right or it doesn't equate to a college credit. So some of our top test takers actually

090don't enter enter the room and take the assessment. So we try to find ways to encourage them to do that if there's anything that we can do um to assist. Some students are taking five or six exams and opt out of a few of them. We want to know the results of our students so we can improve our instruction in the classroom. So the more students who take it, the better it is for us academically and educationally to be able to to hone in on the things we need to improve. So it it will be encouraged. our our hope is that um this is something that helps students who are in need for some reason and we can have a discussion with them um and if at all possible still encouraging them to take part

091in the the state ACT. >> That was a that was a really good question Dr. Robersonson. So it seems like we've got a few questions for the state in regard to this statute. Should we wait until we have some of these answers? It it seems like it it might there could be reason to include some of this stuff in a policy. For example, if a student's national uh test score is going to be averaged into our our school our our school test scores. I mean that is that >> is that something that could possibly go into this policy? In relation to your question, I I I I wouldn't say that you would add that to a policy anyway because if you look at if you if you look at uh many things like the state

092when it comes to testing like they're not approving the cut scores until the end of October then they're releasing from last year from last year. So they haven't even determined what that cut score is yet. And here we are already working on this school year. And so I think what you'll see from the state as time goes on they'll they'll make one rule and then all of a sudden they'll tweak it going down and going down. I think ours is generic enough to be able to accommodate those types of things and those changes. So that's why I probably would not mess with it. But unless they come out with some concrete information later on down the road. But this is pretty typical when things uh new statutes are passed and approved and uh the trust

093puts together policies. They put them as succinct as enough and and they probably reflect what the statute is, but then there's a lot of things left open to interpretation down at um ad in terms of how we need to do that. So there might be an opportunity later on to make a procedure out of that that we can outline some things which we can change on the fly. >> Okay. >> Well, plus this is already in statute. So >> correct, >> we are obligated to put it into policy. >> All right. Is there any other discussion in regard to this policy that we probably didn't anticipate any discussion on? >> No, it's good. >> Okay, then I'll call for the vote. All those in favor of approving the first read of policy 5-216.01 assessments say

094I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Thank you very much. 8.03 first read of policy 4-101 governing board authority to employ. Is there a motion to approve this? >> So moved. >> Thank you Mr. Briner. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you Miss Humphre. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you Mr. President. Governing board members um governing board authority to employ 4-101 in blue here um it says pursuant to ARS 15-536 and ARS 15-30 538.01 01. The governing board shall not issue contracts of employment to certified teachers prior to March 15th if the teacher is a probationary or continuing teacher employed by the district under an existing employment contract. And that is the addition. This is something we've already practiced starting last year. Okay. So, can we issue contracts or solicit teachers that are not currently

095probationary or continuing teachers in the district before March 15th? >> Yeah. Can we give a contract to somebody that's not employed by Gilbert Public Schools? Yes. >> Anytime. >> Okay. >> Because they're not employed by us yet. >> Right. >> That's all. >> Okay. But if they are, then we have to wait till the 15th. And this puts, again, like it did last year, I think they tweaked the language a little bit. This puts every district on the same playing field because there were some districts issuing contracts in January, beginning of February. We've issued them before March 15th in the past because everybody kept upping the game and then you'd lose teachers or um but now that everybody's on the same playing field, it it kind of makes it better for everybody. >> And this

096specific >> this specifically says teacher, >> but this extends to admin as well. >> No, anybody that's Oh, no. Admin does admin you can issue contracts beforehand. Support staff you can issue contracts beforehand. >> Yep. >> All right. Thank you. Any other questions by the board? >> So this this doesn't really level the playing field for everyone though. I thought I thought so you can you can poach ahead of time. >> Yeah. Okay. >> We like to call it recruiting. >> Yes. Yes. You can recruit ahead of time. Yes. Thank Thank you. That was a much more blunt version of my question. Yes. >> Yeah. I thought the whole point was was >> existing current teachers in your employee. You can't issue a contract to them beforehand. >> That almost seems like it puts the

097the district currently employing at a disadvantage. >> It does. >> Which which I didn't think was the point. >> Disadvantage. >> Well, everyone is at the same disadvantage. >> Seems like that seems like a bad policy. I think the policy that should be >> that a teacher can't sign a new contract anywhere until March 15th. >> Yeah. >> That would really level the playing field. >> Yeah. >> But it's also hard to issue a contract if you don't know who's staying and who's leaving. So, you have to know what your >> point. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> All right. Any other questions or discussions? >> You guys want to sign some contracts? It's a little early. Sorry. All right. >> Don't get poached. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh then I'll call for a vote. Uh all

098those in favor of approving the first read of policy 4-101, governing board authority to employ say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Thank you very much. 8.04 first read of policy 5-402 Department of Child Safety Interview and Custody. Is there a motion? So moved. >> Thank you, Miss Murray. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Dr. Robersonson. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members, policy 5-402, Department of Child Safety Interview and Custody. Uh the addition basically is identification requirements. Says when a DCS case worker visits a school for the purpose of an interview, the district shall require the DCS case worker to present their DCS identification. The district may also request the DCS case worker to present a valid driver's license or nonoperating identification license. The district shall not keep

099a digital or physical record of the DCS caseworker's personal identification work information, but may keep a record of the DCS identification. If the DCS case worker does not provide the forms of identification listed above, the district shall contact DCS and verify the case worker's identification and employment. >> Did we have is there a concern of people coming in posing as DCS and trying to interview? >> No, I I'm sure this came out of something somewhere or somebody took identif identifiable information from a DCS worker that was personal. I think it's just more to probably protect the DCS case worker more than anything. And we've always required identification and generally it's just been their DCS identification. So, all right. Any other any questions or discussion from the board? Okay. Then I'll call for the vote. All

100those in favor of approving the first read of policy 5-402, Department of Child Safety Interview and Custody, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Thank you. Uh 8.05, first read of policy 5-401, police interview notification. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Miss Humphre. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brainer. Dr. record. >> Thank you. Policy 5-401, police interview notification. The addition is down at the bottom. It says notification of temporary custody. If a peace officer takes a juvenile offender into temporary custody on district property, the district shall notify the students parents/legal guardian custo custodian immediately after consulting with the law enforcement agency to ensure that the notification will not pose a risk to the juvenile or the investigation. If the juvenile is awarded the state,

101the district shall notify the department of child safety. So if a student is taken into custody on district property, the the district will notify the students parents, legal guardian, custodian immediately. Does the does the officer have to wait for a response from the parent or can they do whatever they were going to >> do with that student? Can they >> put them in the car and take them to the police station or >> it it the big part of that is the consulting with the law enforcement. Okay. Um, like I said, the district shall notify the student's parent legal guardian after consulting with law enforcement agency to ensure that the notification will not pose a risk to the juvenile or the investigation. That's the important piece. There's there are times when a child has been

102taken into a into custody and the police request we not contact the parents because it could infringe on the investigation. maybe there's an abuse case or something to that effect and so they're protecting the child and and all around it. So, um I this normally happens and even before this came in, we would always talk with the the police department and say, well, because we're we're mindful like we don't want a kid taken away by police and nobody has notified the parents about that. And so we will ask and and we'll we'll do what the police officer instructs us to do. Um but if they're like, "No, it's okay." Uh you can identify them and you can talk talk to the parents about it. And but sometimes there are those situations where they're like, "No,

103do not." Because it could infringe on that investigation. So if law enforcement confirms that parent, legal, guardian, custodian should not be contacted, then is the district not under obligation to contact them at this at that point? >> Correct. Because it's an active police investigation. >> Okay. >> And a lot of times the police officer will make contact with that parent uh even in coordination. we might sit on the phone together with the SRO or the uh patrol officer to have this conversation. We have a very good working relationship when it comes to that and but we are we're very mindful. We don't want a student taken away and the parent not know unless it's absolutely necessary and the police would let us know if that's the case. Okay. >> Is there any other questions or

104discussion about this policy from the board? All right, then I'll call for the vote. All those in favor of approving the first read of policy 5-401, police interview notification, say I. >> I. Any opposed? Thank you very much. Agenda item number nine, future or request for future agenda items. Is there anything that any of the board members would like to uh add to a future agenda? Okay. Of course, as always, if anything comes up, let myself or Dr. McCord know. Uh, and we'll make sure that that happens. Moving on to board reports. Uh, Town of Gilbert liaison, Dr. Blake Roberson. >> Yeah, nothing to report on the town of Gilbert. I I did just want to again say I've had opportunity to go to uh a few concerts and athletic events the past month or

105or different events at the schools and I'm just Every time I step on campus, I'm just so impressed by um the the talents and the achievements of of our students and all the hard work they put in and that our teachers and staff and everyone does to help maximize their talents and help our students grow. and it it's just really so impressive and so um so just thank you and congratulations to to everyone and and had went to an alumni basketball game against like the current basketball team at Highland too and that was super fun and love events like that that really just building community our schools and and just uh really excited for the things we're doing. Thanks. >> Thank you Dr. Robersonson. Uh 10.02 02 audit committee. I don't have anything to report.

10610.03 Gilbert Education Foundation, Mr. Brainer. >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you very much. City of Mesa leaison, Miss Shaina Murray. >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you very much. Legislative representative and employee benefit trust. Uh, Miss Humphre. >> Um, so I wanted to share uh something uh that I read in the National School Board Association journal. That's an email that comes to us and it was Dr. Holly Guyire who uh is a internal medicine and addiction medicine specialist with Mayo Clinic Arizona and um you know we hear a lot about Arizona. This is sharing that um in Arizona we've done an amazing job of working to help stop um o opioid addiction and they put together a task force. They call it the stop it task force. It stands for Arizona school training and

107Overdose Preparedness Intelligence Task Force. It's an initiative that's a partnership between the Arizona Department of Education and more than 60 volunteer members from the medical behavioral health government and educational systems. And it is the first first of its kind model and they've worked really hard and has helped us get things into our school that help us work with uh those challenges in our community and with our students. So, I wanted to share that because I think pointing out something that we're doing really well in Arizona is a positive. And then, um, I also attended the employee benefit trust meeting. Um, we're in a better position than we were last year due to an increase in pharmacy rebates and an increase in investment earnings, but we do have um some stop-loss claims that are are very

108high. And so we're going to be drawing down the balance uh about $4 million as Miss Bats pointed out earlier. So those are the two things. And I just wanted to add um because of my foot condition, I haven't been out as much as usual, but we did get out to the 911 day of service. We saw what they did at Desert uh Ridge High School. Um I had the opportunity to go with my husband to Harris Elementary. We chose gardening because he's a gardener, but I did find I could pull some weeds in the grow box. So, I did a little bit, but in one hour with all the um people we had helping it, it it really improved the school garden, and it was just a really fun day to see so many

109out in the community willing to serve. >> Thank you, Miss Humphre. All right, let's talk meeting dates. Dr. McCord. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members, our next meeting is the Tuesday after fall break, which is a board work study and brief board business meeting. October 20th, which is a Monday, a board policy committee meeting at 4:30 p.m. And October 28th, uh, a regular board business meeting. >> What was the date of the brief board business meeting and work study? >> October 14th. >> Okay. All right. Thank you very much. And now for the time that we all hate, adjournment. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Dr. Robersonson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Murray. All those in favor of adjournment, say I. >>

110I. >> Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you very much.