Gilbert Public Schools District Board Meeting 05/18/2021

001well good evening board members members of the public and those of you here in the audience today is may 18th tuesday this is the evening for a regularly scheduled business board meeting and we have a need for an executive session that is why we are beginning at 5 30. the executive session board members is pursuant to ars 38 three 431.03 and one to discuss potential appointment of dr christa cox as the director of curriculum uh is there a motion i move that we move to executive session thank you mr jetty is there a second thank you mrs humphries it's been moved and seconded any discussion no discussion we will vote uh all those in favor of moving to executive session please signify by saying aye aye those pose the same motion carries 5-0 we will

002recess to executive session [Music] thank you okay thank you for that slight delay we are at a call to order for our regularly scheduled board business meeting and we will start with a moment of silence item 2.02 pledge of allegiance led by miss eugetti would you please join us in a moment of silence 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 item 2.04 is roll call miss wilson could you please assist miss laurie wood here mr reed carr here dr charles santa cruz here miss sheila eugetti here ms jill humphries here mr president all board members are present you have a quorum thank you mrs wilson item 3 3.01 is approval of this evening's agenda board members is

003there a motion i move that we approve the agenda as presented thank you mr jetty is there a second second thank you mrs humphries is there any discussion seeing none we will vote on item 3.01 approval of this evening's agenda all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye those oppose the same motion carries five zero item four is the superintendent's recognition award four point zero one dr mccoy thank you dr santa cruz governing board members tonight we have if you can't hear them out in the hall we have a bunch of people we'd like to recognize we haven't been able to do a lot of this this year and so we're going to be playing catch up in some areas and we actually have some very last minute ads that happened last night

004so if you'd like to join me in front of the dice that'd be great thank you good evening everyone how are you just nod your heads say good there you go well thank you for being here tonight um the first person i would like to recognize tonight is a flynn scholar aaron choi from campo verde high school is aaron here there you are come on up [Applause] and we recognized some folks last time and i think you were you had other things going on so what i did is i took about 10 minutes and i embarrassed him for a long time no i want to know where are you going and what are you going to be doing yeah um so i will be going to the university of arizona um so i am going

005to be studying nursing just to get a clinical background but i do want to go into the psychiatric field and go into writing for medicine so yeah give her a hand congratulations please [Applause] [Music] shake one more time for aaron [Applause] tonight we don't have any students present for this but and and we have a few areas where students are present at the end of the school year uh there's a lot of events going on so but we want to recognize them this is these are the winners of our gps sixth grade gifted math challenge the mental math problem winners first place was tire tyler montano montanoya he's from canyon rim elementary then we have second place gavin moyes from highland park elementary and in third place we had a three-way tie sophia mckendrick from

006nealy traditional nevin garland from canyon rim elementary and emmy herzog from canyon rim elementary so please give those mental math winners a hand and then we have the all-star math problem solvers first place carter jones from highland park elementary second place sophia kendrick from neely traditional and in third place a two-way tie was jack pitney from boulder creek elementary and marcus militello from highland park elementary please give them a hand [Applause] and a couple others or one other that we'd like to recognize we've talked about this young man it seems like for the last two years in our athletic side gatorade arizona football player of the year was ty thompson from mesquite high school ty can't attend because he graduated at semester and is up in oregon but if he's watching this please give him

007a hand congratulations ty we have some winter sport recognitions um that we are getting to just now but if we could have the campo verde girls soccer division two coach and some of their team members please come up they're getting them out in the hall come on up guys [Applause] this is right here how are you good to see you again yes sir ma'am is it your aunt where is that 25 year anniversary and there's his lovely wife right there shannon so this was when was this was back around february march okay let's see march 20th so i was i had the pleasure of being at this game who did you guys play against was it castile castile and uh a very exciting game i sat next to the coach's wife and she was a

008little bit nervous but i never seen so many tears of joy these folks won the state championship that day and we're very proud of them the girls stalk the team drew do you want to come up and introduce who we have here [Applause] we've got here alyssa cave with her sister amanda lexi krepke paige morris olivia harris kayla caballero and my assistant dwayne mescal [Applause] perseverance family joy it describes everything that this group was all about they persevered through a lot of things obviously everybody went through the covid protocols and and everything that we had to do this year they never complained we had kids miss for obvious reasons and we just we made do with what we had and they kept plugging away and got the opportunity to get revenge on the one loss

009we had on the year against that rival school over in chandler and so we got to enjoy that enjoy that opportunity when we got it i got to tell you what thank you for everything division 2 5a girls soccer champion congratulations you guys at the board pleasure one last time for soccer there you go guys thank you [Applause] is nina sandoval and coach norton here from campo [Music] campo verde was third in state for division two boys wrestling but coach norton you think you're going to get away that easy come on over here talk a little bit about your season we have some of the winners here but please introduce this young lady and tell us why she's so special like you said i'm coach norton over at campo verde so i'd like to recognize

010nina sandoval for her perseverance hard work and her dedication she's been at this since at a young age and it pays off her hard work has paid off in the classroom and it's paid off on the mat as you can see as as a junior she's plays first at state and she's on her state champion and also on her way to nationals so she's on her way to nationals as well so good job nina so uh some of our boys that placed um was our 106 pounder mitchell jones he placed second along with jake dunham at 120 and then joseph mesutano at 138 he plays third along with josh tucker who also placed third at 152 and then conor calloway um 195 plays second and then miguel morones at and then our state champion nina

011sandoval our first girl state champion [Applause] thank you guys all american for the second time as well nina congratulations [Applause] all right do we have grace norberg caitlyn blackburn and kiana ceo ceo god that's pretty cool two of the three which two come on up coach gracie this is the camp over the division two track and field and here are some of the people that are the folks that placed at the state track meet correct gracie norberg was runner-up for girls discus please give her a hand raise your hand so they know who you are there you go [Applause] and then next caitlyn right caitlyn blackburn third place girls discus congratulations coach do you want to talk a little bit about this is max ragsdale he's the ad at campo verde these two young ladies

012are just uh two good great representations of what uh campbell verde athletics is they're hard workers coach freeman right now who's also the head football coach is finishing up spring football couldn't be here but his work with these two young ladies there's actually a fourth place freshman that he's really excited about that took fourth place in the discs so we were two three four at state it was pretty cool and uh gracie lost by literally an inch to the first place young lady from verado so fantastic year and and once again we couldn't be more proud of these two young ladies great representations of of camp over the athletics my all right next we we don't have any representatives from desert ridge high for track i believe but let me just kind of talk to

013you about what they did this year jaren stevens third in the 400 and setting a school record with a time of 48.59 uh 45 minutes later he finished second and set another record in the 800 with a time of one minute 54.96 seconds and then 45 minutes later he helped the 4x400 relay team finish six by running a 48 second split so congratulations to jaron and desert ridge high track next we have gca division four track and field ah mr frotton and who do you have with us tonight sophia we have sophia byrd you want to talk about sofia real quick all right this is sophia bird she actually placed third in the 100 meter hurdles she's a freshman this year as well as she was ranked number three i believe in both the 100

014and 300 and we are so proud of of her she was also on the 4 what the 4 by 100 as well as also did the 100. so the future's bright she's going to start wearing shades because it's so bright we we also had a a male athlete hiram sawyer who placed first in the 300 as well as he was leading on the last hurdle in the 100 and uh clipped the hurdle and was number one throughout the whole season and clipped that one so he had to wait approximately an hour or two and have that go in his mind before he uh did the 300 but he finished strong and and blocked the that negative out but we are super proud of them and believe it or not the amazing thing about our hurdlers

015at gca is uh they brought home top three rankings and we don't even have a an official track there they've been practicing on the grass typically with one or two hurdles so it's amazing how they put in a lot of hard work and have been able to pull it off and a shout out to hyland for letting us practice the last couple of weeks so we can get the the the pacing on the steps right before states so we're just grateful to be a part of gilbert public schools [Applause] [Music] again one more time sophia and i don't believe anybody from highland high here for uh from track is represented so i'll just say a few things about them congratulations to the lady hawks for finishing runner up at the state track meet laney jones

016was second in the hundred meters and then we also had um and third in the 200 meter the girls four by 100 placed second and camila perez third in the 400 emma bought third in the 1600 and third in the 3200 meter girls long jump alicia ellsworth was the state champ and girls were state champs in the four by four hundred three minutes 51 seconds which is a school record and that was lainey jones alicia ellsworth camila perez and hannah whiting so congratulations to them please give them a hand highland boys track they finished seventh uh jagger i think i said it jagger zolotov fourth in the mile braden dahl second in the 300 hurdles boys 4 by 800 finished third and boys high jump adrian williams took second place so congratulations to the highland

017track gilbert high division two is there anybody here from gilbert high hi mr sullivan how are you sir do you want to come talk about well you're gonna welcome to the meeting good to see you we had a good year this year i brought with me terence keys who's a junior he finished second in the 3200 meter third in the 1600 and then finished off the evening with third in the 800 meter runs and he also participated in a four by eight they finished ninth we've got a young team coming up and everybody did really well congratulations thank you next can i have from track and field from mesquite high coach heather mckendrick and diane owned a bow how bad was that did i pretty bad coach you want to talk about oh absolutely i

018could brag about diane all day long so diana's a junior which is amazing because she has done so much with our track and field team already this year we had a very young team um most of our team in fact were freshmen and sophomores and the freshmen and sophomores had never competed at a high school level because of the circumstances and diane served as one of our captains she jumped in and just helped anyone and everyone she could and led our 4x1 team to state and she took herself for the 100 the 200 and the 400 and she also qualified for long jump for state but had to scratch it because she had qualified for too many events so it was a good problem to have and i'm so proud of her she came out

019to stay in pr'd in the 200 and the 400 and she got third place for the 400 and she is just an amazing amazing person her character is beautiful and she is just a hard worker and i am so honored to have her on our team so yes please round of applause for diane [Applause] love the mask ah you like that there you go wherever you'd like and last but not least uh if we could bring up coach jeff holland i think he has a few baseball players and they have a little hardware they'd like to share with mesquite high baseball team gentlemen so last night at tempe diablo stadium was the 4a state championship baseball game they're already done they're just going to walk through welcome to this school year ladies and gentlemen so

020they played southpointe catholic and they beat them two to one um i think the game got over a little after ten somewhere in there started a little late it was a nail biter pitching duel for a while and then it became a defensive duel and uh mesquite high came out on top what was your record 23 24-1 on the season 23 23-1 on the season i think um another part of last night we made it special i think 30 years ago and if mr houston's around or someone could correct me 30 years ago didn't you do something 30 years ago he went to gilbert high school almost to the exact day mr holland beat south point for the state championship and you were also what were you that year i was a seventh grader now

021he just turned 18. look at him no senior in high school and you won something else that year personally weren't you all state player of the year yeah oh yeah that thing that's the last thing jeff wants me to do is talk about him because it's never about him it's always about his players um i met jeff almost well close to 30 years ago and um i got to tell you what the things that he does with this baseball team these young men respond and what i saw last night was there was no quit in any single person on that team or on that bench and so you worked real hard i'm sure there are teams out there probably with a lot more talent a lot more pitching but there's no team out there with

022more heart and more guts and more determination than the mesquite high wildcats so congratulations on winning the state championship we look for another one next year is that about you're losing four players maybe more starters yeah oh well we're gonna hold a few of them back he's like okay but again congratulations to mesquite high [Applause] mrs rogers hired him 25 years ago as a teacher fifth grade i believe correct fifth grade again give mesquite high another round of applause [Applause] ladies and gentlemen that concludes my recognitions for this evening dr santa cruz thank you dr mccord for those recognitions and on behalf of the board we offer our sincere and strongest congratulations to everyone who was recognized this evening it is an achievement well deserved and well earned so thank you sir we are now

023at item six item five five point zero one is superintendent's report dr mccord thank you dr santa cruz i'll keep this brief after all the recognitions um good evening everyone thank you for being here thank you for being online there are seven more days left to school and summer is almost here it's been a long school year with several ups and downs for our students our staff and our families i sincerely appreciate everyone's effort to make the school year as normal as possible we have learned many things along the way both positive and negative we've laughed we've cried and sometimes we've just scratched our heads over the past school year everyone has made sacrifices either in their personal or professional lives in order to get through each and every day we find out what we're

024made of in difficult times we discover the areas we excel in and the areas we need improvement as difficult as this school year has been it has been humbling and it's been awakening and now we move forward to make sure gps offers the very best education it possibly can for our students to all of our students staff and families we appreciate you and thank you for everything this past month we celebrated campo verde and carol ray ranch elementary a plus recognition awards along with a representative from the arizona education foundation students and staff are recognized for their outstanding work as school as a school and the vital role they play in their community we heard excellent speeches from students and were entertained by beautiful sounds from their bands and orchestras i just want to say

025congratulations to campo and to carol ray on a very well deserved recognition you were you were recognized for something we already knew and that is you are an a plus school dr santa cruz that concludes my report for this evening thank you thank you dr mccord move now to item six and that is request to speak to the governing board we have 17 who have expressed that interest we will go ahead and play the recorded message please the board may make an open call to the public during a public meeting subject to reasonable time place and manner restrictions to allow individuals to address the public body on an issue within the jurisdiction of the public body at the conclusion of the open call to the public individual board members may respond to criticism made by

026those who have addressed the board may ask the staff to review a matter or may ask a matter be to be put on a future agenda however members of the board shall not discuss or take legal action on matters raised during the open call to the public unless the matters are properly noticed for discussion and legal action during the open call the board requests that speakers refrain from voicing complaints against school personnel or any person connected with the district as it may impact due process rights policy k-e k-e-b and k-e-d are provided by the board for disposition of legitimate complaints including those involving individuals forms required for use of these policies can be obtained from the gilbert public schools website thank you we will begin with chris hober wendy finidaka and ava zurilli governing board

027superintendent mccord cabinet members and community thank you for the opportunity to address you this evening i'd like to take this time to discuss the recent rifts the climate that ensued the lack of trust in this district's leadership and request that you investigate what really went on here to ensure that it does not happen again walking into gilbert high on my first day i was greeted very warmly by dr mccord my first year i was awarded as rookie of the year the following summer came the creation of thrive a state and national award-winning college and career website where laurie wood was quoted for saying my mind is blown this is the best thing i've seen i can't even tell you the effect of having this information actually at my fingertips i will be on this my

028kids will be on this and i think it will change our whole district a few months later i presented to the board and community business leaders as part of the ghs ib leadership team at those events it was once again announced that i was a great hire stolen from mesa i was one of the 152 teachers rift over a claim that our enrollment is down with a loss of 10 million dollars had i been told that i was let go purely due to budget i would have understood instead we found out about a secret rubric that for many was a struggle to even get access to their scores i received a score of four which by the rubric's definition says that i have a negative impact on my campus and probably never should have been

029hired how is it exactly that i go from being an award-winning employee with near perfect evaluations to a district liability with no systems of checks and balances warning improvement plans or the opportunity for amendments to be made now i am no lawyer and it is possible that the rubric that was created is technically legal but it certainly wasn't ethically or morally implemented nor student-centered as its title claimed to be two weeks later roughly 60 percent of rift teachers who had just been deemed not suitable for employment were all suddenly highly qualified enough to be employed by the district on another campus in areas they may have never actually taught either otm is functioning in a conniving way trying to offer a way out of paying unemployment and creating placement scenarios where teachers elect to leave

030or they are incompetent in their hiring possibly both there are no other options i'm not here today even for myself i share my story because personal but i am really here to say that what went on here should not and cannot happen again if you ever want to pretend to be people focused i believe that dr mccord wanted us to connect create and care but that message didn't seem to make it past his office walls the decisions that were made through the rift process disrupted people's livelihoods and other families financial stability all without concern for true evaluation or due process the current morale is abysmal on campuses teacher versus teacher versus administrator everyone is wondering if they're next on the chopping block frankly it feels like the hunger games may the odds be ever in

031your favor and you can't throw the principles completely under the bus either you all signed off on these riffs seeming seeing the names on the list some of these teachers you worked with some of these teachers you praised some of these teachers you personally hired governing board i plead with you do what is right investigate what really went on here and make sure that it does not happen again thank you [Applause] excuse me okay uh first i would like to thank mr reed carr for his service to gilbert public schools i have to admit i didn't really know who you were until last summer but it's been obvious to me that you have been working tirelessly and earnestly to represent parents and students in the school district and i personally am very grateful for that

032so i wish you all the best in the future but the other thing that i'm here to talk about is i would like to ask for a mask optional graduation may 27th because since the special meeting on face coverings more things have changed and those changes make it increasingly clear that we're on the other side of this illness almost all of the surrounding schools right now have adopted mass optional policies that includes queen creek higley several charter schools even mesa which i think has been more restrictive this whole year than gilbert public schools they are mass optional so they're going to have graduation ceremonies this next coming week for their students without a mass mandate and i think that gps should do the same and then of course there's the cdc that has changed their

033recommendations again and this time at least they've changed it to the least restrictive it has been for a year so i have a graduate i know that at graduation next week i'm going to hear speeches about how class of 2021 is resilient and has overcome challenges that are unprecedented and they have a bright future ahead of them so if this is true which i do believe it is why are we still forcing these young adults to follow this outdated mitigation measure why are we forcing them to wear a medical device that they may or they may not consent to because graduation is all about launching these seniors into their future but this to me is a symbol of the past so i believe what better way for them to start being contributing members of society

034than for them to decide for themselves whether or not to wear a mask if my son or any other graduate wants to wear a mask at graduation i support that however if some of them which i think there are some out there want to show their unique their beautiful face to the world because they're proud graduates and they should be and they are we should not stand in their way and we shouldn't take that away from them so in my opinion i actually think it's it's cruel to force this class to make that sacrifice when they've already sacrificed so much this year so let's hold a mask optional graduation for this group of kids this year on the 27th [Applause] hi there my name is cadet colonel ava zareli and i'm the core commander at

035the afjrotc unit at gilbert high school i just wanted to speak about some of the best like the experiences i've had at afgrtc at gilbert high school it's the reason why i've stayed in the gilroy public schools district and our drill team is the reason why i've come so far as a as a student and as a person i've learned leadership from our drill team discipline and how to just advance myself as a person drill team is probably the most involved group that we have around the gilroy public schools campus we are always helping the teachers we have done over 1300 hours of community service just this school year for the the campus we have done 35 campus sanctioned community service projects and i believe that we are a truly essential group the drill team

036specifically to our gilbert high school campus also for other schools as well highland high school we have several cadets from there in the mesquite high school we also have several cadets the past couple of days me and the our drill team and the the principal specifically have been having some disparities about the the standing of our program at gilbert high school and i would like to speak about a specific specific event that occurred on monday i was pulled privately into mr winter's office and he closed the doors he shot the blinds and he asked me to betray my leadership and do something hold an event that my leadership was not consenting to do he asked me to do it behind their back and try to get me to host it for them um the power

037imbalance between a principal and a student like that i believe it was highly inappropriate and i believe that they should face some of the repercussions if they decide not to voice any support for our our drill team either monetarily or just explicitly i believe that our drill team is extremely essential to gilbert high school and i also believe that i should not have been asked to do something behind my leadership's back without somebody there to also watch and listen to what mr winter was saying to me privately thank you [Applause] next three speakers are chloe sherwood marcy turnage and ronnie forrest hello my name is cadet lieutenant sherwood and i'm also here to talk about to the drill team and i'd like to start off with talking about the six pillars of character that is

038something that we have been talked to told about i know at least in my experience and i know a lot of other students have since elementary school these are trustworthiness respect responsibility fairness care caring and citizenship as i'm sure you all know and i'd like to say that there is no group that represents this more than the jrotc and specifically our drill team going down the list i'd like to start with trustworthiness the drill team has a list of staffs that we all work together and we have to work and trust each other and meet schedules to prove to each other and to help each other meet deadlines going down to respect it shows on both for the cadet officers and the cadet enlisted we all respect each other and we true we show every

039day that respect is earned not given going down to the third list responsibility going back to the staffs we show that we have to work if you don't meet your bed deadline you're going to hold other people back that gives students so much opportunities to show responsibility which is such an important asset going down next fairness when you are in there is you get your promotions based on your work so if you work more you are going to get to a higher rank you're going to get more ribbons you're going to have something to show for it and what's more fair than that going down again to caring like cadet colonel's rally brought up we've done so much community service this year we do so much around campus we do food stalls to help with

040the football games every single saturday afterwards the drill team especially along with non-drill cadets come in at 6am every single saturday after a football game to clean up the stadium there's a lot of things there going down again to citizenship i don't think i need to explain why a jrotc class helps inspire citizenship i'd like to finish this up with talking about the cadet mission statement which is to develop citizens of character dedicated to serving their nation and community this is such an important thing for us as students to learn english class has taught me how to be a good writer math class has taught me how to be a good mathematician science classes taught me how to balance equations and history has taught me history but jrotc and drill have taught me how to

041be a good person they have taught me how to be a good leader they have taught me how to be a good follower and most importantly they have taught me how to be a good citizen i would like to ask you to reconsider cutting our drill team thank you for your time [Applause] good evening board members my name is miracle turnage and i attend gilbert public high school as a freshman i think i speak for many when i say the actions of the school board this year have been absolutely outrageous from the rift due to a lack of funds and student enrollment to targeting programs in introduction of new programs without proper funding for the current ones it baffles me the amount of borderline legal loopholes this district has blatantly exploited and has yet to

042own up to their actions the fact that you say you have to lay off 152 teachers due to funding yet we are making so many other expensive purchases and renovating bathrooms on the fact of these 152 teachers that you have opted to get rid of the way this riff was executed was morally wrong on many levels scoring teachers to decide whom to get rid of by things like if they engage in clubs and coaching extracurriculars should not have come into account laying off these teachers should have been judged off the quality of their teaching and what they do for their students instead of whether or not they can participate participate in clubs or coach activities this rubric seemed to be based off of what was comfortable for the district's principals and administrators shouldn't what students

043needed come into play here i and many of my peers have been left and wonder of who's going to be teaching them next year so many students are losing solid rocks and inspiration in their lives based off things that have practically not nothing to do with the students so many teachers were cheated of their jobs mere years before retirement this is unfair to them to have dedicated so many years to this district just to lose their jobs right before retirement which could cause major issues for plans they have made previously made while i understand there was a lack of enrollment this year due to the pandemic i do not understand why two students are being treated this way i know i speak for many when i say this pandemic was hard to endure mentally from

044the constant unknown to the rapid change taking place around us this school year has been hard on many with the online and hybrid learning and what students need most this year is a stable support system many students stable support systems through teachers and through programs are being stripped away from them it seems as though the school board has incentivized the superintendent for with keeping things under budget according to the superintendent's employment agreement his base salary is 210 210 583 dollars and 53 cents he is eligible for a performance bonus a little over ten thousand five hundred dollars per year in a 850 automobile stipend per month i assume that part of this bonus has to do with remaining cost-effective and keeping things under budget it seems as though the care for students that you would

045expect from a school board has flown out the window and the focus is now on what is comfortable for the school board principals and administrators it has been nothing more than proven that this school board does not care about their own students and is more or more focused on what's comfortable for them it seems as though the school board has no problem continuing to bring in new programs although we lack the funds already for the ones that we have for a school board for a district that states that the relationship of the teacher and student is most high to turn around to do things like this is astounding on my behalf [Applause] hi my name is ronnie forrest i'm a second year in afgrtc two years in drill and i i would first off like

046to say there i wish there could be more drill cadets here but they do really this does affect them and they wish they could have been here we all feel impacted and we all slightly feel betrayed by the principal and the school board i've i love drills become a family i've made so many friends through there that i just hang out even after school with it's helping me get a job i'm started working this year i put on my resume afgrtc and that i do drill and the manager said that was a very good look on me helping they actually they just gave me a raise for it because i step up in leadership which i've learned from after rotc but now learning that our drill team is no longer going to be a thing

047i just don't understand why going off like which he said the bathroom renovations and then the building of a pickleball court and a pickleball team like how do we have where do we get the money to fund this brand new sport that i imagine most have not even heard of but we can cut one that is like we we are state champs i i won my freshman year we placed we placed third i placed second as commander and knowing that this all gonna be taken away this kind of hurts because i feel like our voice wasn't really heard in the decision-making process and i feel like maybe we should have been talked to first that's all i have to say thank you next three speakers kevin turnage illama papali and gabriel otero fisher board members

048thank you for your time my daughter spoke quite eloquently and really pointed out some of the issues that i have um i want to talk about the changes i have seen in my daughter since she started jrotc there have been tremendous changes for the better and her self-confidence her willingness to lead and to be in front of people her discipline her communication skills her community service and caring for at others this group of cadets they don't just volunteer at the school they have worked food banks on saturdays they have worked homeless shelters on saturdays that after cleaning up at the school these kids have leadership they care about the community and they're accountable to each other i have seen her receive a national award for americanism and citizenship this year going from a young girl

049who wouldn't talk to you to someone who leads others this board should be focusing on how we can keep programs such as rotc and not how to get rid of them i am not here for anything other than all of our students which is what each and every one of you when you ran for office said that you wanted dr mccord you have received numerous emails from me i know and some of them haven't been the nicest but when you start hurting our children you start to get the wrath of mama bear and papa bear and i personally would give this board dr mccord and the gilbert high school administration a vote of no confidence and asked for resignations if i was able thank you hello my name is lima papalii i'm a 7th grader

050highland junior high school my topic is on pajama pants and shorts students meaning girls and boys have been dress coded for wearing pajama pants we wear pajama bands to be comfortable as students the overload of homework at night can make students stay up late in our pajamas to finish it then be too tired the next morning to wake up early to dress decently for school societies these days want kids to be comfortable at school but also not show too much skin students should come to school being comfortable if they are not comfortable they are less likely to likely to concentrate in class sitting on those hard chairs all day doing the work it gets tiring and sometimes in the winter when the heater doesn't work as well pajamas can keep us warm i asked my

051principal why do staff and teachers care that we wear pajama pants she said that being successful in school takes energy and brain power and wearing pajama pants to school may comprise both now let's talk let's move on to the topic about shorts it could be 90-100 degrees outside and we will be wearing leggings because us girls are too afraid to wear our shorts because we don't want to risk getting dress coded we are not here to complain but we would like you to think on why it is not fair that girls have to follow a certain dress code and boys can wear baggy pants with their underwear showing we are not saying all boys do this we are not sorry for some of the boys mistakes however why is it that boys don't get dress

052coded for sagging their pants so low that it shows their underwear a bare bottom from us girls when you say we aren't allowed to wear shorts it's like you're telling us we should be ashamed of what we wear or what we are wearing why do girls get in trouble for short arm or finger or short arm length or fingertip length but when guys wear sagging shorts they don't get in trouble okay i agree with something showing them that that much then yes you need to go change if girls can't wear shorts to school then boys shouldn't either we are supposed to have equal rights right guys can go swimming with no shirt and girls can't girls didn't have or didn't choose to have more tissue on her chest there are many more things guys can

053wear and get away with the girls can't wear thank you for your time hello i'm gabrielle otero fisher and i'm a seventh grader at highland junior high school and i'm here with lima papa lee and marin o'neil the topic that we are talking about is dress code more specifically shoulders and bare midriffs in arizona temperatures can get up to 110 degrees fahrenheit during the school year so it's understandable for young ladies to want to wear something like a short shirt or spaghetti strap top young ladies get dress coded for showing the tiniest bit of shoulders of bare midriff but when a young man wears a low armpit cut shirt it's not a problem just because young men have different body parts from young ladies doesn't mean that young ladies have to be treated differently i've

054seen plenty of guys at my school i've seen plenty of young men at my school that go for the whole day with their armpits out and have spaghetti shots it's very unfair for young ladies to see this biasedness going on at their own school the dress code in the gps district is strict and sexist towards young ladies and this needs to stop now the dress code was made to restrict young ladies for from wearing what they want because it's distracting from for the young man that said i think that there is a different approach to this the dress code can be mod can be modified to today's style because there has been little to no changes to the dress code i suggest that young ladies be allowed to be allowed to wear a top with

055spaghetti straps and have a skin tone bra underneath so people don't see the strap as much young ladies should be allowed to wear shirts that show no more than two inches of their bare midriffs i hope these suggestions helped hi everyone i'm erin o'neill and i'm a 7th grader at highland junior high as gabrielle said earlier the dress code is very strict and especially targets us young women i'm here to talk about the bra stripe rule i've seen students be called out for their bra strap showing and i get embarrassed for them even though it's nothing to be ashamed of because we are becoming women it's not fun to be called out in front of your entire class us girls shouldn't have to go buy different browsers different shirts because someone can see the straps

056to our bras at our school the dress code is taken very seriously but when it comes to undergarments on girls maybe too seriously have you ever thought about undergarments on the males at our school i see colorful patterned boxers on a daily basis and it doesn't make me uncomfortable so why should a mirror strap make the males uncomfortable i haven't once seen a boy told to pull his shorts down or to go go to the office for a dress code check but i've seen it done to girls and that's what bothers me we get treated differently because we have different body parts and it's unfair we cannot control how boys think or react to our clothing we are here to learn not to impress anyone overall please do not call us women out on our

057clothing it makes us self-conscious and insecure over something we can't control i hope you understand that we are not here to complain but share our concerns and solutions thank you for your time [Applause] next three speakers mary conley alana mortensen and jennifer miller first of all thank you for allowing me to address the board and the community on this topic as we all know there was an incident of racism at highland high school last month that was all over the news and all over social media on multiple platforms i'm curious what the history of this specifically in our district over the years more than any other district in the valley what is the plan to address this moving forward we're doing something wrong here something is broken and we all know it think about that

058we deserve to know what the strategy is moving forward this is an urgent matter and just because it's not making the news every other night it needs to be addressed with a specific plan like the fortune 500 companies in america have adopted new ideas and practices just within this last year we need to do our part as educators to educate the staff and students with policies and procedures to counter this culture that's being found in our schools and that's being very very publicly loud i just hope that that's something that everybody can think about thank you [Applause] hello my name is alana mortensen and i'm here today to talk about sexual assault at highland high school going dismissed without consequence i'm going to explain this situation quickly and straight to the point my freshman year

059of high school i was raped on highland high school campus during school hours i was 14 years old when i came out to my parents about what had happened their first response was to address the school when they asked for the rapist to receive any sort of punishment my school did nothing i can understand the ties the school may have with the legal system but i know there was much more that could have been done to help me i see my attacker every single day at school highland high school willingly lets a rapist roam free on their campus preying on innocent girls gilbert public school district willingly lets a rapist roam on their campus preying on innocent girls i know for a fact that i was not the first victim and i know for a

060fact that i was not the last please why aren't people being punished accordingly is this how you want your district to respond to assault claims is this how you uphold a good reputation [Applause] thank you for your time hello my name is jenny miller i am the owner of rhythm and motion dance center we are a small business that provides dance education for children in our community our studio is located within gilbert public schools boundary and most of our students attend gps my husband and i were born and raised in arizona and both grew up attending gilbert public schools highland high alumni class of 2000. we also have several staff members who are also employed by gps we are scheduled to have our dance recital at highland high school on june 12th and i am

061here today to ask you ask you to consider raising the capacity limit for a private event since our small business was allowed to open back up last year after being forced to close for three months we have seen joy and confidence brought back to our students after such a scary time we are proud to be a safe place for them amidst the pandemic the dancers can't wait to have a real recital again and the families want to watch them perform more than anything our last recital in a real auditorium was december of 2019 covid has impacted our small business just as it has for many others i do not want to jeopardize anyone's health many arizonans are already fully vaccinated with the recent cdc announcement as of may 13th it is now safe for vaccinated

062people to return to normal activities and gather indoors with almost four weeks left until our event this means more people will be fully vaccinated by that time as well i will do anything i can to make my customers feel safe and do my due diligence for gps this includes asking everyone to wear a mask distance themselves from others and having families sign a waiver prior to attending we will also have the waiver printed on the back of the ticket they are using to get into our event we can make sure our event is a private event for our customers only by ensuring tickets are sold pre-sale and at our studio only and not at the event our recitals greatly impact the success of our business financially as we want to keep students and parents happy

063having our recital at 25 percent capacity means that our dancers wouldn't even have two of their family members president present in the audience my staff member kids will have no one to watch them perform because i am asking my staff to sacrifice their own tickets so that we have more room for customers to watch when our dancers and perform are performing on stage they should have the opportunity to look out and see their family cheering them on our kids have been through a lot this past year and we hope to bring some normal back into their lives also we fear that the negative impact on not allowing the family thank you time [Applause] next three speakers i believe it's carl mitchell and i apologize i know i'm going to massacre this individual's name and i

064apologize hanan abdul and michael baudenza this um good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the board my name is carl mitchell and i came here to speak on accountability on ones actions fosters trust and safety within environment whether it be through divine commandment or personal moral code accountabilities at the center or the foundation of an equitable society currently at highland high school and throughout gps accountability is something that we lack in regards to discrimination whether it be by race sexual orientation gender or etc this mark on the district is excessive aggressively apparent in events such as the george flord reenactment that happened at my school earlier this month and in regards to the use of the n-word in instances of discrimination minority students have been told time and time again to tell a teacher an administrator

065or parent and as black students we have taken this route and met with nothing but empty promises and blanket statements too much time is spent on saving the reputation of the school or schools rather than selling the new seeds of love and unity we as a community are wasting our own time at the expense of our colored students more energy is spent towards cuddling the privilege rather than aiding the oppressed long story short i came here to ask the gilbert public school district to be more accountable for their actions no matter who the offender may be even if it is you they they must be held accountable and that all starts from you established as the standard thank you [Applause] hi my name is hannah abdul and i am a senior at highland high school

066and also the president of the bsu last summer i and other members of the bsu were fortunate enough to have a meeting with our principal and the superintendent to share our experiences at highland we shared our stories with the naive hope that through impacting our leaders that they would see the emergent need of action to protect their students of color we were met with a lackluster sense of progression and ultimately put our concerns on the back burner in favor of a slow brooding alleged progress they heard us they saw our pain and they defaulted on false promises when we pretend that racism and racist acts are not as impactful and pervasive as they are when we pretend that we can close our eyes and cross our fingers and that the issues are only relatively existent

067the events we witnessed some thursdays ago are the direct aftermath of that when we create a space for the sickness of oppression to plant its plague it too will grow until it goes this whole insist incidents like these remind us of where we are in our struggle for true equality those students and many others are not edgy teens who went too far these are home bred races who intentionally hate crime students for their own enjoyment for most students they are the projections of their parents they are the summation of their consumption when disciplined when when we discipline traditionally through a suspension they are put back into the homes that made them who they are we must be proactive in our engagement with eradicating ideologies of hate from the protected status through our education system we

068go to school not to simply learn how to count or how to read we go to school to learn how to be a contributing member of civil society as district board members you decide who the next leaders are i only hope that they are leaders of quality thank you [Applause] hello my name is michael i am also part of the bsu at highland high school and at highland high school there are times where i felt unsafe whether that be because i'm openly trans and queer or because i am black i've experienced racism in other schools but nothing like the event a few weeks ago i was scared to go to school since i had already been harassed by students because i'm queer it hurts knowing the hard work the bsu put into every event didn't

069sink in with many students at highland i hear slurs every day and other black students telling me things that go on in their classrooms unnoticed if everything was recorded maybe there would be a difference but that is impractical i am done having my hair be the one thing that defines me i am a human being who deserves the same amount of respect as any other student that's all [Applause] our last two speakers are christian johnson and jessica gillespie good evening folks um i'm here to represent my granddaughter kaya a very intelligent young woman um i'm proud to be her grandfather ever since uh the mass mandate came down and every time i visited her at my son's house she complained that she cannot breathe very well wearing this mask and being a very intelligent young

070woman she and i have had conversation after conversation about mass and covid and stuff and the one thing that basically continues to be a problem is the constant flip-flopping that she sees from the cdc from dr foshi from local officials about wear a mask we at first were supposed to wear masks wear gloves not shake hands rub elbows but even tonight as we're all wearing masks everybody who got up here shook the hands of the board members which basically makes the mask null and void as the gal before spoke she said she said that there are many many schools in this area that are very becoming very uh masked optional and so what my granddaughter would like is she would like the ability the freedom to wear a mask if she chooses to we live

071in a democracy i mean even the schools they want children to be thinkers and so why don't we let the students decide whether they want to wear a mask or not why don't we let them choose on freedom why do we have to dictate to them you must wear a mask we've heard about dress codes these children are given options on what to wear every day so why do we mandate a mask when the cdc dr faushi have flip-flopped time and time again on wearing a mask and you see again my granddaughter she sees football players sweating bleeding breathing on one another but yet they're not out there on the football field wearing a mask so how is it that students have to wear masks but yet football players don't have to athletes don't have

072to who bleed and bully and breed lead and breathe and spit and sweat on each other it's very confusing for this young woman to see this and so what i'm asking the board is let give this give the students a lesson in democracy give them the freedom to choose what they want to do thank you good evening i'm glad that we could be together again tonight and i'm here because i care about this community and i represent the interests of my children it has been clear to me that throughout this pandemic there have been irrevocable consequences for the lack of concern for the kids it is my duty as an adult to stand up for their well-being and growth if i don't do this then they will be overlooked and abused the decisions you have

073made as a board were not in the interests of the children you were supposed to have represented you cannot honestly say that it was a benefit to have kept them in webex meetings every day for months on end it is irrational and unrealistic to have expected this to not have resulted in severe repercussions it was the wrong decision for many reasons that i cannot articulate in a few minutes many kids are resilient as we've seen tonight and it bounced back from this exhausting year but a devastating price has been paid teen suicide is on the rise abuse addiction neglect and disconnection at home have never been more clearly evident you've been witness to the reduction in force to many hard-working and well-respected teachers as a direct result of your lack of leadership poor decisions have

074consequences you have catered to the small voices of fear and descent rather than heeding a rational and balanced interpretation of the facts you had numerous physicians and epidemiologists who took time at these meetings to explain the absolute necessity of having a plan for in-person learning and yet you continue to refuse to listen i hope you are listening now i want to remind you that we have options when it comes to our children are educated well many of my associates have chosen to leave the gilbert public school system for charter schools i would like to find a way to keep my kids in their neighborhood school rather than becoming bitter i'm here tonight to ensure that the lessons learned from this exhausting year will not be forgotten please remember why you are serving on the board

075as a parent i am an advocate for my children i want to work together with teachers to provide an engaging environment where my kids can grow and understand the world around them i do not appreciate that parents have been pitted against teachers this year i love and value every one of my kids teachers i know that they have worked harder this year than ever before i can say with full gratitude that i love them i love my principles i love the people who have served in my kids schools and i love my kids please remember them as you move forward into the next school year thank you [Applause] thank you that was our last speaker we'll now move to item seven reports item seven point zero one is the monthly budget report dr mccord i

076believe ms matlin is going to do that before before we move to that can we just clarify that i know there were many issues brought up tonight that are not on our agenda it's not for lack of interest by this board but it's because of open meeting laws that we're not responding to those issues that are brought before the board that are not on the agenda we cannot legally discuss so please know that it's not for lack of concern or caring to to some of these issues that are brought up and i think many of us will probably have private discussions with dr mccord as to how to proceed and outside of this meeting so please know that thank you mr carr i appreciate that comment and please know that the superintendent as people were

077speaking was feverishly taking notes and there is at least a certainty that he will have that conversation with staff and subsequently with us in some form and the outgrowth of that is typically some kind of decision some kind of policy some kind of procedure so while we do not respond because of as mr carr has indicated legal matters that does not mean that we are deaf to the words that are spoken dr mccord thank you dr santa cruz gary board members as you know jackie mattinen is here this evening to present the monthly budget report good evening dr mccourt dr santa cruz members of the governing board i am here tonight to talk about the april 2021 monthly financial report next slide please thank you district operating funds year-to-date ending april 30th 2021 a couple

078of funds to highlight here uh the first one is the m o operate maintenance and operations you'll see an increase of 3.2 million dollars that is a result of the adjustment to the distance learning adjustment so we saw an increase of 3.2 it was about half so that's good um keep in mind that revised budget number three pending that column is pending because this is the monthly report for april the third budget was revised last board meeting on may 4th the next fund to highlight here is unrestricted capital we did see an increase in spend from prior month of about five hundred and fifty thousand dollars next slide please there we go wait can you repeat that yes there we go the unrestricted capital outlay fund 610 highlighted toward the bottom the available balance has

079decreased by about five hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the march report this is due to an increase in spend at year end you typically see this i don't i don't see the 550 000 i'm so sorry no that's okay under available balance you'll see the 5.9 million it was about 550 000 higher in march yeah okay thank you you're welcome um operating funds highlight again keep in mind this is a pending revision at this point in time but it does match the budget capacity from the third revision and you will see the 3.2 million dollar increase between the pending budget revision 3 and the revised budget number 2. unrestricted capital financial highlights again pending revision in april year to date spent and on uh and encumbered again this is uh 550 000 higher than

080it was last month i think is it 5 million dollars from last month i'm so sorry that i'm struggling with this number show me this last month's figures aren't on here we're just showing i'm just showing you a month kind of month over month you're not going crazy i'm just like oh my gosh i'm so sorry i'm just i'm not okay okay i have marches here and i can bring it to you okay thank you i appreciate that that's okay so the um this the increase in spend is primarily technology and operations in this area same slide from last month just uh different different figures are there any questions before we move on to federal grants okay federal grants we wanted to highlight sr3 we do not know at this time what our allocation will

081be we're hoping that we receive that next week we are anticipating it is approximately two times s or two or about twenty million dollars we did add two million dollars of sr3 funds in the final revision in the pending three revision column that is to address learning loss in fy21 state grants not a lot of change here but we did want to highlight a new grant this year it is the cte arizona industry credentials incentive this is a reimbursement grant from the state when students earn certificates in certain cte programs we are very excited about this opportunity actually i spoke with mr doug daly about this it is two years in arrears so these are fy 19 graduates that we receive this money for he does anticipate that we will receive more money in fy

08222 for the 2020 graduates any questions on those again sr-3 funds currently allocation is unknown we anticipate we will spend about two million dollars for learning loss in the current year the remaining balance will be spent through fy 2024 and new grant this year cte arizona industry credentials incentive so i i do have a couple questions about the um cte grants is this a grant that goes to the teachers as the re the results be the ap testing goes to the teachers or does it go to the program or does it go to the school where exactly does the grant go great question that's one of my bullets that i didn't address here um the money needs to go back to the programs for the um that were in which the certificates were earned so

083if someone earned a certificate say culinary art that money would go into the program to enable them to buy materials and correct equipment that sort of thing correct okay thank you and they're quite specific um clusters of cte programs um and it was my impression from mr daley that they are um somewhat hard to fill positions out in the out in the workforce so it's really truly an incentive okay all right thank you and finally we want to talk about bond fund this is 631 this is the 2015 authorization you'll see the 7.3 million dollars through technology and security that figure does include the million dollars set aside for security for the current year facilities renewal their balance of nine hundred thousand dollars we anticipate that that will be spent through june 30. and the

084remaining balance or the remaining amount in technology um will be for the refresh through 2023. and 630 bond fund this is the 2019 authorization again you can see the security increase there the 7.6 million for the security cameras technology for audio visual and the facilities renewal we do have most of the projects that were presented last board meeting most of those have been encumbered you'll see that 14.9 million dollars leaving a balance of 4.4 million this is a good indicator of the age of our schools and the and the high need for these projects to be completed and this slide is a summary of both bond funds both authorizations and the debt service fund any questions board members any questions no please continue miss matt that's all i have that's all you have that's it

085thank you very good thank you thank you very much let miss betts know that you were quite thorough okay we are at item 8 8.01 brings us to the consent agenda items and we are open for consideration of emotion i move that we approve the consent agenda items thank you miss wood is there a second second thank you miss humphries is there any discussion seeing that there is none then we will vote on the consent agenda and seek approval for that agenda as printed and presented all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye those opposed the same motion carries five zero we are now at item nine action items nine point zero one dr mccord i'll defer to you thank you dr santa cruz governing board members it is my pleasure to ask

086for your approval of dr christa cox as the next director of curriculum for the 2021-2022 school year currently dr cox is the principal at campo verde high school and we are very pleased to make this recommendation to you thank you dr mccord is there a motion dr santa cruz i move that we approve the appointment of dr christa cox as the director of curriculum for the 21 22 school year thank you mr eugetti is there a second oh second thank you mr carr it's been moved and seconded that we approve item 9.01 approval and appointment of dr christa cox as director of curriculum is there any discussion seeing that there is none then we will vote all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed the same motion carries congratulations dr

087cox so i come up say a few words good evening president santa cruz members of the board dr mccord members of the community to my family and admin team for being here i just want to take a moment to thank you all for this opportunity i absolutely love gilbert public schools so much that all three of my children attend at different levels campbell family has been amazing for the past five years but i am excited and look forward to moving on to the next level to support all schools within gilbert public schools and cannot thank you enough for trusting in me and giving me this opportunity thank you [Applause] thank you dr cox and congratulations and we wish you well item 9.02 is asba proposed 2022 political agenda and dr mccord is there anything you

088wish to add i know you supplied last year's submission it is in your packet i have not received any other suggestions moving forward but we did briefly review this at our last work study and so we're ready to move forward the submission date is on may 21st so i just need your approval moving forward as a result of that and knowing that there have been no submissions uh i did bring submissions tonight i did bring um some thoughts tonight okay sorry i was not aware i needed to submit them in advance so let's make a motion and then we can add to or discuss as we need to so my in initial and original motion is simply that we approve the agenda as presented by asba uh it is quite comprehensive and does include those

089items that i have seen be of interest to the gilbert district so that would be my motion a second and then we'll open to discussion all second thank you mr carr it's open to discussion i'll defer to miss humphries you had some things that you wanted to add well i um unfortunately we didn't have the five um top priorities earlier or i would have probably done a little differently um just some things five were from last year yes yes i understand and that i had hoped to see them uh previously so that i could have used them in ranking my own priorities so i think the first one i put down i'll just share the five priorities i put down which some of them are already covered in what we submitted last year so i

090i talked about maximizing state funding that's obviously always and we already have that number one here um i mentioned change override budget increased language that's something that's been on the agenda for quite a few years um i did look at it's under improved outcomes for all students and they have worded it as defend against efforts to chill the free speech rights of school employees i just i think that when we have to deal with controversy we're very good at working with our teachers and training them to handle those situations and um if there comes a misunderstanding that we deal with that um there are some efforts going forward in the legislature at this time that might make that more difficult so i wanted to put that as one of our priorities i put down increased

091compulsory age from 16 to 18. i think that helps students stay in school longer support local control for student suspensions and open enrollment that's definitely been an issue in the legislature this year and then i added two additional things which was provide sufficient funding for nurses librarians special teachers etc and fully fund special ed and gifted education as you know those are item students that have unique needs and of course they are not fully funded at this time so those are just the things that i had um looked at the the agenda and and set from bringing it to the meeting tonight to talk about our priorities and question ms humphreys except for the new items that you suggested in terms of funding for nurses and funding for gifted education the areas that you have

092a concern about or an interest in are they currently they are currently on the agenda so they are on the agenda okay just that i understood it that um and this is just me that we would want to put our top our top five priorities so i was just not having had our previous years priorities i just put some together looking through board members anything else well i i brought some as well so i guess i can share mine go ahead okay okay fully fund they were all from the the list dr santa cruz that's on there okay they're all from not this list the um the asthma agenda fully fund full day kindergarten include kindergarten students in the override calculations i just did one from each of the sections that there was ensure local

093control and flexibility in managing funds and programs when possible given the arizona constitutional requirements of a general and uniform public school system support policy that recognizes respects and promotes teaching as a profession establish financial and academic transparency for all institutions and individuals that accept public funds and then this one this was in the coved part i don't know if that's still applicable but protect public schools from liability if community member contracts cover 19 while engaged in school-sponsored activities i think that is already in place did they actually put that yes that's what i thought i thought a lot of those actually had been so yeah that i think that one's already in place but i will say mrs wood those were some i certainly considered so i think we're certainly thinking along the same lines

094okay so if i'm understanding miss wood's position miss humphrey's position is those items that you have just suggested you would like on top of endorsing the current political agenda to add those as our priorities is that what you're saying i would prefer to my preference is to this would be my priorities i don't agree with all of the things that are on the agenda but well i think that's why we're supposed to turn in our priorities to yeah okay so these would be the priorities that i would agree with and be you know see so yes and typically what occurs is all districts all member districts submit their priorities and in the legislative council meeting which is to occur in june or thereabouts there is a discussion of each of those items as they are

095reviewed and ruminated by that committee group and that there in is how this is constructed so yeah i believe the legislative committee meets in june and then in september there is a the delegate assembly where where it's voted it's voted upon and certainly uh sometimes reworded and definitely it can it's kind of an interesting process the process is open for debate at the delegate assembly but the question becomes then we defer if if there are no other board members who have any priorities that they are at this point passionate about we have a deadline of next week the 21st yes we should work it out today and those should be submitted so that we can review them individually and affirm and ask superintendent to send them in on our behalf otherwise we would vote somehow

096or another to accept whatever motions or priorities you submit tonight and wait for the language to be grafted by i have a suggestion could we have a five minute break so mrs wood and i can talk and come up with a set of five or with maybe two additional items and then we could all vote on that or we could accept like you said and we could talk after and then send it in if you guys are well we we have to vote on it as a board so it would be ideal if we could do it tonight so if we just had a few minutes you and i to confer i think we could come up with something it may be of some value to take that five minutes and put those i think

097i counted probably four that you four or five that you came up with list a rough language and then we will vote on those in five minutes so okay i'll call for a recess for five minutes and then when we come back we'll review what you have crafted and vote yay or nay so we will recess for five minutes faster okay we will call us back to order miss humphries miss wood you have come to a decision about items that you wish this board to endorse as priority yes and those items are we were going to kind of tag team in our motion is that okay yes okay thanks dr santa cruz i move that our priorities let me look at the exact thing here i've moved that our priorities so to be clear this

098is a substitute motion because we made a motion and seconded okay so this is a subsequence okay i'd like to substitute so if i may i'd like to substitute the motion for the priorities for the asba agenda um 20 20 22 political 22 22 political agenda okay as follows fully fund full day kindergarten and include kindergarten students in the override calculations ensure local control flexibility in managing funds and programs when possible given the arizona constitutional requirements of a general and uniform public school system support policy that recognizes respects and promotes teaching as a profession establish financial and academic transparency for all institutions and individuals that accept public funds okay support local control for student suspensions and open enrollment so those are our five and then the two alternate priorities and then we have two additional

099items for consideration provide sufficient funding for nurses librarians special teachers etc and fully fund special education and gifted education board members any confusion about what has been proposed as a substitute motion and we'll ask for a second here in a little bit but well let's ask for the second now because i didn't hear us i'll second thank you miss humphries so we'll vote on the substitute motion first if that passes the other if if do we want discussion before we yes yes so just one i was getting there you were just ahead of me okay so just one question on the fully fund the nurses librarians etc and may maybe we don't have to decide this but what does that look like i mean how do we identify if that's been fully funded are we

100suggesting that they fund it in a separate bucket for that um no i'm i'm just saying provide sufficient funding um i can reword it and send it to dr mccord i'm just saying that a lot of schools the way they've been able to give raises is they have cut some of these positions librarians nurses etc and i would like to have this legislature look at being able to provide that high quality of education for students so that we're not cutting those positions to fundraises ms humphries i'm not disagreeing with you at all in this question i'm just trying to understand how we i mean if if if the uh legislature were to magically double the funding per per student it's still up to the school board to say oh yeah we double everybody's salaries or

101we don't so how do we determine whether they've whether we've met that objective that's that's a good question i i would just um i don't have an answer for that i i guess i mean that's fair again i'm not i'm not against the suggestion that i would you know we we have prioritized that and you could argue we've done so by not giving bigger raises and eliminating those positions other districts have made other decisions but had it you know so that was my only question is how do we determine whether that's been met or not is and i don't have an answer for that either unless we were to suggest a separate bucket that they were to fund those positions i think my idea was maybe a cost study to see what those what those

102would cost so that there they have an idea of what the cost is for a high quality education and i'm not trying to link from the discussion i just was curious if there was an idea to it and it that that's kind of i guess what my thinking was mrs go ahead mr jenny i'm sorry um what i just have a clarification to make for the special education one because that is federal money and we have to come up with our own money so our is are you asking the state then to start funding it in a different way because we well some of it is federal money but some of it is but it's our own am i correct in that i mean we have to figure out a way to pay for it

103in our overall budget we don't get extra state money for special ed do we well the weight we have the weights yeah but the weights that doesn't yeah they're not giving us any extra so what i think is we asking them to start giving us money for special ed i'm i'm talking about fully funding the weighted okay according to the cost right but that would be i'm just clarifying it because i agree with you but it would be asking them to give us more money for special ed because they don't give us anything right now we just get federal money and then we they give we it all comes in a big pot i'm pretty sure i'm right about we have federal money but we we get weighted money for special education i don't think

104we get it separately do we no it's it's part of the calculation yeah but it's all part of our overall budget yeah and i support that i think they should be giving us more money for special ed because it it it does hurt our overall budget when they don't they give us x amount of dollars but cost it costs us more to have special education than what we're given from the federal government any more discussion is there enough clarity for you to vote we will vote on the substitute motion if it passes we will vote on the original motion and we will reject the original motion well if if the substitute motion passes then we don't need to vote again if the substitute motion fails we would go back to the original motion of vote

105all right then you have priorities established and what i would suggest is once the language is firmed up and crafted completely that they the superintendent will just send it on out not that we have anything to do with it but that you have a firm grasp on what your priorities are and then they will be submitted with this vote you are authorizing all of that to occur is that understood okay all those in favor of the substitute motion as stated by miss wood and miss humphries please signify by saying aye aye all those opposed the same motion carries and we will not vote on the original motion since the substitute motion has carried 5-0 i will i will craft my language a little bit better and then maybe uh dr santa cruz or sorry dr

106mccord could put it in the friday memo so that you can see the actual language that'll be fine okay we are now at item 10 which is request for future agenda items if you have something this evening we would love to hear it if not and you have something that is burning in your heart that you wish to submit to mrs wilson please do that and we will see when we put it on a future agenda item 11 board committee reports item 11.0 is education foundation gilbert education foundation ms humphrey um we had a meeting last week but we i already talked about our scholarship reception and there's not too much else to report okay 11.02 city of mesa liaison ms wood nothing to report thank you 11.03 11.04 town of gilbert liaison and finance

107audit committee mr carr nothing reported this time thank you insurance committee 11.05 miss eugetti uh we met this afternoon at four and just want to say that the insurance trust is probably in the best place it's been in many many years very good and item 11.06 nothing additional to report the exercise we just engaged in we'll move forward to the legislative council in june and i will represent us there we'll move to item 12 meeting dates of 12.01 meeting dates for the future thank you dr santa cruz governing board members we have a board work study meeting and a brief board business meeting on june 8th a policy committee meeting on june 15th and currently we're scheduled for a board business meeting on june 22nd i'll be requesting i'll confer with miss betts a little

108bit more but moving that to june 29th if possible for the submission of the 2122 budget just to ensure that all of the documents that they give us are as accurate as possible sometimes the state will change up those documents a little bit and make last-minute changes and so uh but i'll send you some information regarding that thank you so instead of june 22nd it would be june 29th okay present santa cruz just so you're aware i will uh be out of town and out of uh service on that june 8th date so i will not be at that meeting thank you anything else well um if that's what we're talking about um i will probably have to call in for the policy meeting okay 15. on the 15th okay calling in the month of

109june okay we have reached that season of the year where maximum flexibility is going to be considered and important so we'll work with that anything else before i move to item 13. item 13 is adjournment item 13.01 is a motion to adjourn is there a motion so moved thank you mrs humphries is there a second i'll second thank you mr carr it's been moved and seconded that we adjourn all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye all those posed the same motion carries 5-0 thank you for your attendance those of you on live stream and those of you who stayed with us through this meeting here in the meeting room have a good evening we are adjourned