Gilbert Public Schools District Board Meeting 12/15/2020

001this meeting to order today is Tuesday December 15th there is a need for two executive sessions and I propose that they go in succession item 1.01 and 1.02 and the executive sessions relate to uh ARS 384 31.03 a and 8 for discussion or consideration of matters relating two school safety operations and school safety plans or programs item 1.02 is governing board may vote to discuss this matter in executive session pursuant to ARS 384 31.03 a and3 and 7 to receive legal advice from attorney to discuss and consult with the representatives in order to consider its position and instruct its attorney and representatives regard regarding negotiations for the sale or lease of real property uh those are the two executive sessions in brief is there a motion so moved thank you Miss humph is there a

002second second thank you Miss U jetti any discussion all those in favor of moving to Executive session two in succession please signify by saying I I I all those same motion carries 40 we will recess to Executive session e hello e Char check e yeah we are waiting for one of our board members is here telephonically the room has been set up for maximum capacity we have an overflow room we ask those of you who are standing at the back to please go to that overflow room thank you whatever for good evening like to call this meeting of the Gilbert governing board to order today is Tuesday December 15th we are in a regular business meeting we have just concluded two executive sessions we'll call this portion of the meeting to order it item two

003item 2.02 would be a moment of silence we'll do a pledge led by Mr jetti that's item 2.03 so if you would please join me in a moment of silence to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Music] all thank you that takes us to item 2.04 which is roll call of board members Miss Wilson would you please call the role Dr Charles Santa Cruz here Miss Lori wood here Mr Reed Carr here michila ug jetti here miss Jill humph here Mr President all board members are present you have a quorum thank you M Wilson we at item three the approval of this evening's agenda item 3.01 is there a motion so move thank you Miss

004humph is there a second second thank you Miss ug jetti any discussion seeing none then we will vote on approval of this evening's agenda all those in favor please signify by saying I I I all I all those opposed the same motion carries five zero we are now at item four the superintendent report Dr McCord I'll refer to you thank you Dr Santa Cruz governing board members uh good evening and Welcome to our meeting we've made it through the first semester of this school year and I'm very proud of our students our families our teachers support staff administrators for everything you've done to get us to this moment maneuvering through this pandemic has been a struggle for everyone in many different ways and again all the work that everyone has put in is very much

005appre appreciate I know by myself this governing board and all the district level Administration want to talk about some celebrations um Highland High School football they were our runnerup 6A uh finalist so please give them a hand congratulations to them mosquite High football this is they are returning uh for a second year as 4A state champion so congrat congratulations to mosqu hi football we have some GPS coding League winners during computer science week and I'm just going to please ask for forgiveness if I mess up somebody's name Ben hunter from Highland Ian batia from Gilbert Classical Academy Wuhan Bo Mick from Highland High Connor deska from Gilbert Classical Academy Victoria Wayne from Gilbert Classical Academy Malia burner from Highland High Easton Peterson from Desert Ridge jior High nabia Alam from Gilbert Classical Academy and Cohen

006man from Highland Junior High and Alex Moss from Highland High again our GPS League coding winners congratulations to all of [Applause] them National Merit scholar semi finalist here we go from Camp overie Lauren Brandt from Desert Ridge adelyn da from mosquit high Donovan harp and htau Lou from Gilbert Classical Academy Matthew Hannah from Highland High is it Mary or Maryanne wood Mrs Wood's daughter congratulations Jason kalang and Isaac root congratulations to all of those please give them a hand on National Merit scholar semifinalist and lastly our teachers we have three teachers that became nationally board certified that would be James archino Carrie Glover and Haley mercy and we had a renewal of the national board certification and that is Lori folz so congratulations to all four of them thank you very much Dr Santa Cruz

007that concludes my report for this evening thank you very good thank you Dr McCord Miss Wood are you reading or should we play the recorded message okay if you would please play the recorded message we are at item five 5.01 request to speak 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 those 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

008the 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 Keb and Ked are provided by 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 have uh 20 or so folks who have requested to speak this evening we'll start with our first three Bonnie Hickman and I apologize in advance I do not intend to Massacre names but that may happen uh Cara dods and Amber Franco Miss Hickman you have three minutes hi um first I would uh like to thank

009the school board and Dr McCord and all the GPS families that are here uh my name is Bonnie Hickman and um I am speaking as myself as an individual with the vested interest in our school district um I have been a sixth grade teacher for 30 years 26 of those years in the same classroom I have a lot of stuff and um I've been in the Gilbert District obviously for that same amount of time um I teach sixth grade and I absolutely love my sixth graders and what we what we do their abilities what they are able to do and their sense of humor um when I started off teaching I started off with a chalkboard and a ditto machine that OSHA decided they needed to get rid of because of the fumes and then

010I was so excited when we finally got an overhead projector that I could use and then the idea when they finally put a TV in my room and a telephone I was like I couldn't even believe it it wasn't the wobbly cart anymore um I do still have a film strip projector though because you never know what's going to happen in this world um but I do know that after I earned my K12 online teaching endorsement um it opened up the idea of what technology was going to do for us um I never expected it to turn into what this is um the material that the district has paid for for us with the Florida virtual um it's not ideal but it sure is better than what we tried to wrap together in you know

011last spring and tried to figure out how we were going to do this um it it's definitely teaching our kids I'm learning things along with them um but teachers decided to teach because we wanted to be with kids we wanted to be in a classroom and the idea of having the kids remote is really hard it is really really hard you can't see their faces you can't tell who's talking there's so many glitches and I know the majority of teachers would say they would prefer to be in their classroom working hybrid is more work working virtually is ridiculous amounts of work however we really need to look at at the safety issues we had two special ed teachers out at my school a few weeks ago that both tested positive because of that with the

012contact tracing and the closeness of their populations we had 40 kids that had to be quarantined and so I think we really probably need to consider what are we doing if we are not masking up if we are not doing this in our community because really I don't see that the spread is happening in the classrooms but we can't have things like I I heard that I just one of the high schools had a dance party last week or something so we're just really asking that we stick to wearing masks and we do what we need to to keep our kids safe to keep our schools safe keep our teachers safe and keep the schools open thank you thank you Miss Hickman Cara Dodge actually I passed to speak it was a mistake okay thank

013you Amber Franco good evening members of the governing board and Dr McCord my my name is Amber Franco and I am the gilbertt Education Association president our mission is to advocate for Education professionals our members fulfill the promise of public education for every student by preparing students to to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world today I'm speaking on behalf of GAA members and education professionals over the course of five months members and education professionals have worked tirelessly to ensure students are appropriately educated through an online hybrid or an in-person platform each situation required dedicated certified staff to be flexible and adapt their curriculum and teaching to provide a quality education for GPS students alongside these exceptional Educators were the dedicated educational support staff I.E office staff PA professionals teachers AIDS custodial and transportation all

014of these educa individuals deser to be recognized for their dedication to Ser servicing GPS students since last time I spoke G GAA and GPS Administration have worked together to ensure the safety and Welfare of staff students families and the community by implementing a GPS covid-19 dashboard weekly or bi-weekly discussions and safety mitigation as we move into the second semester of the school year GAA would like to reiterate the commitment of the school board motion on November 4th Gilbert Public Schools governing board will decide to will meet to decide whether students and staff return to Virtual ual learning for 2 weeks should covid-19 cases continue to rise within the school Community or with a wider gilber and Mesa Community should cases decrease during the two weeks of hybrid learning students and staff would return to in-person

015instruction this is the GPS meeting November 4th 2020 at this time GAA is advocating for the district to consider returning returning hybrid for elementary and online for secondary or hybrid for both Elementary and secondary depending upon the Maricopa County dashboard and to make the decision tonight GAA is also requesting the GPS dashboard to be updated twice weekly Monday or Thursday so we Monday and Thursday so we can have a more accurate count we thank you in advance for considering our request as a community we can continue to work in Partnership to provide safe return to school in January to all the parents and Guardians teachers are committed to providing high quality education for all students but they need your help to stop the spread by wearing masks limiting Gatherings and keeping sick students home so

016all students and teachers can safely continue learning in person there is nothing more that we want than to be educating within our own School walls we only can do that when it is safe GAA acknowledges how difficult the pandemic has been for educators including our Administration our governing board members parents Guardians and last but not least our students as we move forward time into the second half of the school year we just want to tell you thank you thanks thank you Miss Bronco you're welcome next three would be TR Trina Jonas someone identified only as Tara and juslyn Crower can I take this off okay it's hard to breathe enough as it is okay first I want to start out by thanking Dr McCord and all of our amazing staff for their hard work and

017diligence to keep our kids safe since going back to school full-time in person they did it they have succeeded in in and ensuring that our kids are not getting covid while being at school full-time our own Gilbert Public Schools data show that even the few kids who have tested positive for covid and by result Forest children who are sitting next to Mid class to quarantine of those kids almost none of them it's been a handful have then tested later positive for covid and most of those have had positive tests in their family so they cannot be sure that it was even traced back to school the mitigation strategies that we heard over many meetings in hours of time are working and we are so appreciative and so grateful and so thrilled about it second I

018want to encourage the board to revise your motion which it was a two-part motion and encourage you to vote to change the motion to only track the schools and determine whether they're hybrid online or in person based upon each individual School data and our own numbers and not on the the community spread when we first started this journey we did not have any data we were all guessing all of us we didn't know exactly what was going to happen if the district mitigation strategies were going to work but we don't have to guess anymore we have so much data that tell us exactly what's happening in a variety of areas one we know that covid cases at almost all schools in gilberg public schools is low today we have 13 schools that have zero cases

019Zero 12 schools with only one active case and not one school on the list qualifies to go to hybrid by your very low very low and arbitrary cuz I don't know how you came up with the numbers low standard of 1% 1.5 and 2% Active cases that's very low number and I feel like it's a really great compromise among our community of all the people that really wanted to close and the people that really want to open I mean that's a very low standard and at that very low standard none of the schools should be closed because our district mitigation strategies are working you are doing it because of the district's efforts we know that the absolute safest place for our kids to be is in schools when they're in school they interact with the

020same people day in and day out when you change your schedules to hybrid or online you're now disrupting an entire chain of safety that comes from only seeing the same people regularly these kids are now thrown into daycare roaming the neighborhoods babysitting facilities like bouncy gyms and everywhere else that's providing full-time care so their parents can go to work cuz what are we all supposed to do so these kids have so much extra time that they're now interacting with so many other people so it would probably help our entire Community numbers by keeping the kids in school because they're going to interact with fewer people than they would be being onlineer in hybrid my kids were my kids were in hybrid and done it like noon and they have nothing to do the CDC and

021the American Academy of Pediatrics have all stated that it's the absolute safest place for our kids to be in school third and lastly the unintended consequences of this is a great Mental Health crisis which I know a lot of other people are going to talk about so I encourage you to change the motion and just go school by schoolo Tara so I have a lot to say but I know there are a lot of people tuning in on their TVs too that can they don't see who's sitting here but um I'm actually we've spoken we've yelled we've screamed we've sent emails you know how we voted it's to keep the doors open that is your number one priority is education do your job as the school board members that make those decisions so I'm going

022to spend the remainder of my time because we have only received Silence from all of you we've sent emails asking for why are we doing this why are you doing that nothing that proves to us that you don't care about our students education so I'm going to spend the remainder of my 2 minutes and 15 seconds in silence [Applause] does someone else want my minutes say that Jus excuse me you can't give your minutes to someone else you have three minutes is that a is that a law I'm just curious does anybody want me to say something on their behalf I emailed every one of them multiple times I'm not even aent be at a meeting like this and nobody responded I actually had to call Shan ACC his second executive assistant in order to

023get a hold of him before he actually called me back within 15 minutes unacceptable silent hold account respond why is a Walmart worker required to work but teachers are not acquired why is that why is that even terara has the floor thank you unacceptable the silence is deafening so we'll sit here you know better you need to do better your minds you've told us are made up so it doesn't matter what we say what we do because you're going to go to bed tonight knowing you are not opening our doors come after the semester I'm angry I'm frustrated and you want all of us to surrender like it's okay we're going to make it through this we're in this together you can save it CU we're not buying into this grer hi I think you

024know me my name is jusn cower and I have three School AED kids from high school down to Elementary one of the most disturbing things I've noticed during this Co pandemic is the idea that our elected officials can somehow decide to assume a position for which they were not elected for which they are not qualified experienced or a position that really doesn't even exist unfortunately this has been very prominent among School boards across our country and ours is no exception you were elected by your community to serve as a school board member I know I've said this before but I'm going to say it again you're your sole purpose as it is stated very clearly on your own Gilbert Public School District web page States the board shall act as the general agent for the

025State of Arizona in carrying out the will of the people in this District in matters of public education let's read that again the board shall act as a general agent in carrying out the will of the people in this District notice it does not say the board will make Health decisions for the families in this District it does not say the board will assess health risks in its Community it does not say the board will listen to the loud voices coming from the Teachers Association and it does not say the board will prioritize other agendas above providing a quality education for its students what it does say is the board will carry out the will of the people in this District now I know you're hearing from both sides I know you get hundreds of

026emails saying open schools and close schools and I know you feel that you can't please every one but you can you can continue to offer online learning for those families that feel like they need it and at the same time offer full-time in-person learning to the families that desperately need it right now it may take courage Ingenuity and some creativity but you can do it and you must do it that is your job that is the sole reason you were elected to this position you are not medical doctors you are not epidemiologists you are members of a scho school board and I am here tonight to ask you to do your job and give our kids the education they deserve we are coming up on almost a solid year of subpar lousy education that scares

027me the ramifications of the actions you've taken this year will not go unnoticed they will haunt these kids for years to come I have a junior in high school who's concerned about his future and his career path unfortunately there's not going to be a little box he can Mark when he applies to college or post colle graduate programs that says sorry this was 2020 and my school board didn't care about my education no he just lost a whole year of quality education and we can't get that back so please do your job carry out the will of those who elected you to be here open our schools for full-time in-person learning on January 5th I'm asking you to find the courage to stand with us and say that educating our children is essential next three

028speakers are Steve lwer Corey Charles and Wendy fenda thank you for letting me speak to you today um I am here because I have five kids four of which are in Gilbert public schools and year and a half ago asked me me if I ever would have considered taking my kids out of Gilbert public schools and I would have looked you in the face and I would say you're crazy our schools are awesome there's no reason to go to any other school program um I made fun of people that would go to Ala in places like that because our schools are great but today I have to tell you that would not be what I would tell you if you ask me that question um when this pandemic hit and people were blowing it way

029out of proportion I know people are dying but let's get real businesses are growing out of business and people are suffering and much more horrible ways that are alive than those that are on the other side and uh I would just like to say that the four kids that I have in school I pulled them all out of Gilbert Public Schools put them in a different program where they could Thrive then when schools had the courage to open back up I took three of the four put them back in schools but one of my kids is still not in school because she's an ele Elementary there's no way she can learn on a computer in first grade just doesn't happen so it's easy to make decisions when you have no kids in school but when

030you have kids in school you see the reality of what's actually happening and I know that in in the times that we're in it's it's not easy to make courageous decisions because there's a lot of pressure about what's the right decision but in reality the right decision is to keep our kids in school and open back up January 5th and allow them to thrive and not have them live in a state of fear but in a in a in a state where they can actually Thrive and become better each day in our Great Schools I feel sorry for teachers this teacher that came up I I think their jobs are hard as it is I think it just got way harder this year I think they do an amazing job I think that the schools

031that my kids are in do an amazing job Greenfield Elementary Highland Park Park Greenfield Jr they're full of great teachers that love their job and want to do their job and I hope that we can think of those people that want their kids and their students to be in class like this teacher here who wants to teach the kids I don't think they do it because they're getting paid a million dollars I think they do it because they love to see the kids become better each day and I'm grateful for that I I'm not going to put my my first grader back in school ever if it keeps up the way that it's going um and I just would like to say in closing that uh if this was about safety some people are not

032going to like this there wouldn't be football in high school it's not safe so it would be done for it's not about safety it's about fear and I hope we can overcome it Corey Wendy and then Le hey guys uh I'm Cory Charles uh thanks for hearing me um I'll be honest like this is the last place I want to be and uh I know you guys are getting some pretty uh some pretty tough comments right now and uh I know you get paid nothing for what you do so that like makes it extra crappy but you know really I'm a dad and I got four kids that go to school and I had them in ALA and I took them out and I put them in Gilbert schools and it's been a big blessing

033I got two high schoolers and I got two Elementary AED kids and two of my kids have some some slight special needs this morning we woke up and uh it were a through l so we were at home and uh my two littlest kids you know they got on their laptops and signed in for like 2 minutes and said hi to their teacher and then they sat down to this fat packet of stuff to do and uh my boy who's in fourth grade he he's on the ball and so it works for him but my youngest daughter who has a a little bit of a learning disability but not enough to where she qualifies to be in school all the times um it it was a nightmare I stayed late um she battled with my

034wife uh she decided uh in page one of her packet that she wanted to go outside uh and sit out by the pool because that would be the best place and it was a nightmare I got to I got to I stayed uh tried to you know calm the situation and this is my wife stays at home she able to help the kids it was a nightmare guys it was a nightmare and then I I get the text from my wife of of why this is a real real struggle and you know the data right now when I was at one of the meetings when we set up the hybrid you know the different types of systems and the data right now really says the best place for the kids is is in school they're

035safest in school the the virus isn't transmitting as much in school mentally socially so I talk to my high school girls and they talk about their friends who've left who the about the drug abuse that's happened one of my daughter's very best friends she had to move away um because of drug abuse in her family and on her own and that's really really tough you know ASU they have an in-person Pro Dr Crow he's figured it out evit their full-time in person they' figured it out I'm asking you with a lot of these other parents please please figure out how to keep them in there that's what that's what we're here for and I know you guys are you get paid nothing man you got no vested interest in any other thing and I know

036the school fake Union is trying to you know mess up this and call a sick out so teachers don't show up and that would stink but I'm just saying is it going to take is it is it going to take a couple kids blowing their brains out and maybe your kids know them or my kids know them for us to say hey uh you know maybe we should consider really what what this means and uh I don't want that please keep them open please figure it [Applause] out hi thanks for the opportunity to speak my name is Wendy fanda and I'm a Gilbert taxpayer I'm also the parent of Three Gps students two at Campo birie and one at South Valley I also have a daughter who graduated last year so I'm advocating right now

037for full-time in-person education on the GPS website there's a graphic that claims GPS as a common sense District I'm urging the board to make Common Sense decisions for our district instead of seeding all of your Authority away to other bureaucratic agencies like the Maricopa County Department of Health they make recommendations but you make the policy and their metrics aren't grounded in any scientific data rather they're arbitrary inconsistent they're based their guesses um all three of my kids in GPS have been healthy this semester yet my senior's been quarantined when he wasn't sick during a crucial week in trying to finish his work for the semester my kids are missing out on opportunities like everyone is to perform live with their school bands and what they're really missing out on is live inperson life they feel

038like they're in a prison and it's hard to argue with them and the damage from not being at school is greater than the risks associated with getting this virus actually we don't know the full damage because we've never done this before uh the social and psychological effects will likely prove to be far worse than the protections that we think we're offering with these restrictions so I was told over the summer that I could choose live inperson instruction and I was under the impression that I could choose the risk that I'm willing to accept like when I choose to go on an airplane or across the street but I did not know how little live instruction there would actually be my senior son has been at school a total of 43 days out of 87 days

039this semester that's less than half the days of the semester so as a parent this was not what I asked for and as a taxpayer kind of insulted that I paid for this semester um so now looking to the Future it seems clear that this school board plans on starting second semester all virtual as if it's March again and I have to conclude that the board is complacent with just continuing virtual instruction for the foreseeable future my sons have missed so much instruction in person that I've begun to question the value of the the AP test uh in AP Calculus they started off the semester catching up from last year what they didn't cover in the math class before and they're so far behind this this year that I don't know if the cycle of

040catching up will end in time for taking AP tests this this spring so I want to let parents know you have until the end of February to cancel and get your money refunded and I do want to let the great AP teachers out there know that I do applaud that you what you do and I'm happy you got bonuses for doing it last year but just know there's parents like me considering not doing it this year and right now I would also just put a message out to parents that we just need to thinking right now about what happens at the Maricopa County Department of Health time if I could just say like one more thing about if they issue a mandate for a vaccine um that that is going to be very problematic uh

041because that's when you start to uh you start to require something that we could have personal exemptions for it but I could see an administrator sitting across the desk from me and telling me I'm sorry you can't come to school here unless your child has proof of a covid vaccine and if you do that if you get to that point that's that's when I think I Dr Santa Cruz point of order as much as I appreciate these comments okay so thank you very much for the time Lisa Madison Kathy Waldo and then Dr Allison Wilcock [Music] hello my name is Lisa Madison I've been a Gilbert Public School District Parent for 17 years and I have loved our experience here I'm so grateful for the amazing teachers staff and Schoolboard that have loved and influenced

042my four children's lives my two youngest are at Gilbert High right now and they are in grades 9 and 12 multiple times we've discussed pulling them out of the district to either homeschool them or go to a charter school but we've decided to put our faith in this district and fight for the education that they deserve I'm a very recent nursing school graduate I have been in the hospital multiple times and I've seen the effects of covid we all know it's real we all know it can be SE severe on certain people at this point though there is enough evidence to show that it is not a risk to our children or the staff and with the optional vaccine that is coming up it's even less of a threat those of us parents that are

043speaking out for in-person school are not uncaring we're not uninformed citizens we have weighed the risks and the benefits and we know that our kids need to be in school the CDC recommends that our kids be in school the literal experts on infectious disease are encouraging all states to send our kids to to in-person full-time school one of my children has multiple friends that have contemplated taking their own lives because of the stress and loneliness that this is all caused there are far more cases of suicide in children than there are covid deaths in children I understand that some families feel safer at home doing online school and I completely respect that decision but there is a way to do both we've we've taken the measures we've been safe and there are ways to do

044both don't take away our choice to go back to in-person full-time School four years ago I had a daughter pass away in a car accident and I would never ever ask anyone to stop driving because of it I know people have died because of this virus we know that people live with permanent damage but Mo the majority of people who get it have mild symptoms and then they recover in less than a week we cannot stop we we have to stop living out of fear please send our children back to full-time in-person school on January 5th thank [Music] you Kathy Waldo good evening I am here as a mother of five as well as a local Pediatric Healthcare provider whether or not you choose to acknowledge it the detrimental effects of school closure are very

045real and Lasting rampant depression anxiety new onset tick likee behaviors in normally well-adjusted children and a widening Chasm between typical and atypical Learners are just some of the repercussions I am confronting as a provider because our staff our school staff are living their lives outside of campus and not just leaving their homes to go to school and back the argument that we need to hide behind County benchmarks for Community spread does not hold up in fact we can look to our large neighboring school districts including Higley Queen Creek and Chandler Public Schools who have all mapped out a safe and rational plan to continue the option of in-person learning after break continuing our mitigation strategies continuing our migration strategies recruiting more substitute teachers and Expediting their applications encouraging staff vaccination for those willing adopting a

046campus by campus approach to covid spread and revising our district quarantine policy to align with the County's abbreviated 10 7 to 10day recommendations will allow us to staff to staff our classrooms and maintain a safe full-time in-person learning office option after break the issue of opening schools is not just about our largely Wells supported students in Gilbert it is about the wellfare of children across our state and Nation for whom school is their only safe structured place with consistent meals and people who invest in their lives the issue with about 1,500 plus missing children students in Mesa who are literally lost who never unenrolled but never attended any virtual learning they are watching us this board has been given the complete autonomy to allow the choice for in-person learning regardless of the recommendations of politicians

047or County staff as we do not have control over people living their lives with exposure risk off campus we can't control that each of you can stop our own enrollment hemorrhaging of 4,000 plus students leaving us but a fraction of the funding we need for next year or the year after you tell us to look to the experts and we have have the CDC states open our schools the American Academy of pediatric States open our schools Dr FY himself says open our schools allow families and staff at risk to remain safely at home to learn and open our schools with a choice of full-time in-person learning for those who choose you have nothing to hide behind now not benchmarks not politicians not teachers unions and not fear our children matter open our schools thank you

048Alison Wilcock good evening I'm Dr Allison Wilcock a pediatrician in Gilbert and a mother of three students at Greenfield Elementary School I'd like to speak to you on my medical opinion of the importance of opening our schools to full-time in-person learning this year has been a very difficult year on many families especially those that have teenage students our patients in our office have faced many difficult challenges we've seen several 15 and 16-year-old females become pregnant which in our area typically is not common we've seen two to three times a day patients that need to be referred to mental health for anxiety and depression it's a rare schoolage child that hasn't gained a significant amount of weight this year this is a typical growth chart of an 8-year-old student in our area we see many children

049that are experimenting with drugs I have examined patients who have been abused and are no longer in a classroom where there's mandatory reporters that may have picked it up sooner um and there's many families that are either single parents or two working parents where there's no education happening due to time constraints I've seen many teens who have completely lost their motivation to learn in a classroom I tell parents we're raising a cohort of kids that are going to live in your basement because they've gotten used to hanging out instead of working hard at school and after school activities these are some of the reasons I'm very passionate about um inperson learning as of January 5th I'd like to share quickly two cases with you that the parents have given me permission to share a 17-year-old

050male came into my office with 60lb weight gain he now has high blood pressure is being checked for High um high cholesterol and diabetes he started using substances and was being abused during the pandemic he was hospitalized with suicidal ideations and is now on an ant antidepressant and working with a clinical psychiatrist I also saw a 15-year-old female who was previously a well adjusted very happy female she's now in counseling for anxiety she's been vaping with friends and is sexually active she had thoughts of becoming a medical professional and now doesn't want to finish high school I'm fully aware that teens experiment with drugs and become sexually active during a typical school year but the lack of motivation and boredom has skyrocketed the numbers this year also when our schools closed most schools had no

051Active cases of covid which shows that schools are not the cause of the spiking infection numbers I firmly believe that keeping schools open is the safest place for our children and therefore our community because we don't have children in a variety of community and child care um locations Dr Anthony fouchy and other medical experts agree that schools are the safest place for our children to be as a parent who's a product of public education and has a mother who was a high school principal and a father who was the director of human resources for Austin Independent School District I am a firm believer in public education but this year due to the deficit in education and the disregard to Medical experts my husband and I are rethinking our um our um choices on how we

052will educate our children for the next semester I ask you to follow the medical experts recommendation to commit to in-person learning [Applause] Jillian there's no last name on this Lantana shamway and Nikki mckuin thank you guys for your service obviously uh you guys are here for nothing but at the same time I just want you guys to keep in mind that um it is your ethical duty to keep in mind the children's educational welfare at this point you guys have only considered you know Community metrics arbitrary Community metrics at this point um considering that positive tests are sometimes positive sometimes negative and one nostril it might be positive and the next nostril might be negative um but at this point your job is the ethical or the educational welfare of our children and you guys

053have fallen so short of that in the beginning we all understood nobody really knew anything about what was going on but as you've heard from all these people it's there's so much so much information available that we can keep inperson school open everyone knows that everybody sees that everybody's here to argue that point I don't see see why all these people have to show up to to tell you that when everybody is here clapping the one person who said that they didn't want school open did you hear the deafening Silence of the room not one person clapped because we all want our children to be back in school you can have an online option you can have an in-person option it shouldn't be one or the other it shouldn't be one group forces the other

054group to stay at home there is an option children need to be in school it's emotional it's physical it's everything children don't learn at home they learn in school that's the best place for them it's the safest place what science are you relying on to say that the numbers are up in school because not one of you has provided a study that says that the schools have increased in numbers in and that's the reason that we're we're shutting down the schools because then we might understand because not one of you has produced a study that said that children in kindergarten are are you know spreading the virus that's why we have to put muzzles on them that's why we have to mask them now kindergarteners have to wear masks there was no evidence we're just

055saying we're just doing arbitrary things now yes the numbers go up oh they go up they go down they they do this they do that that not one of you have said anything about schools not being safe in fact last time at the board meeting you guys all said that teacher attendance was up and school Transmissions were down you guys said how great everybody was doing and then you go and close the school what sense does that make to keep our students at home how does that help anybody L Shumway Nikki McKuen and Jimmy lindblum I'm L shamway I'm a mom to four GPS students from first grade to a senior I was hesitant to speak tonight because honestly it feels futile but I won't sit silently by while statistics and our success rates are

056being ignored when I check the dashboard today like many already talked about half of the schools in our district have zero or one case total not a single school had the 1% positivity rate that was discussed based on the logical plan we used to follow no schools would require a shutdown based on that percentage however instead of using a common sense plan of shutting down only when a school case numbers rise we've opted for a blanket full hybrid plan moving rapidly toward full online when school starts again when most of the schools have one or less case why is this the data has proven over the last three months that we're being very successful at mitigating the spread in our Gilbert schools we are doing a good job and I do appreciate the plans that

057we've set out that we are being smart I believe this virus is real I've had it I have friends that have had it we've had sick people in our family I'm not saying it's not and I appreciate that we are being as cautious as we can however we're also seeing that we're not having huge outbreaks and crazy amount of spread in our classrooms now this summer we had no data to go off of we were going in blind and we had to follow County metrics but we no no longer need to rely solely on the county metrics they are myopic we have more science we have data we have a successful track record of 3 months that proves that we are doing a good job and that we can be safe the majority of parents

058and teachers have asked for in-person schooling if there is a subbing and a staffing issue then let's get creative to find some solutions like she mentioned let's have a faster plan for getting people certified as Subs let's take away some of the expense in the red tape I've had covid I'm a mom I could be a sub there are lots of us that are willing to work together to support our community if it means keeping our schools open now Social Circles is where this virus is spreading it is not spreading in clean sanitized controlled socially distanced masked classrooms we have children that are now out of our safe controlled environments and they're roaming free after their 45 minutes of online learning and they're careless and they're spreading it as much as our parents out here

059are trying to stop them and keep them under control it's a much more Lawless situation and it's way less safe than if they were just going to school every day the sad truth is until the school board finally recognizes that in-person schooling is up there in importance with healthcare workers and First Responders our children will continue to suffer their education will suffer four years to come because of this and parents employment will continue to suffer as we struggle to juggle working and teaching our kids please keep the schools open I've come before and I shared that I know some of you on the board and it's kind of disappointing because um when you guys had a choice to have your kids go to school instead of being homeschooled or other options you chose in-person school

060and now that you have a choice for my kids for some reason you think differently and it's disappointing and 100 % I know because of the choices that you made for your own kids Lori's the only one that has kids right now she should be fighting the hardest for them to get in school unless she does not want them to go to in-person school but the rest of you you all had kids go to school and you chose that we're choosing that and you're not you're literally not supporting us in that it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen it's so so odd to me my kids have played sports with your kids I don't understand why you wouldn't be fighting for them to be educated and to get out on that field on that track

061on in that court because you know the lessons that they learn from sports do you think they're going to allow Sports to continue if we don't have school no my daughter missed a track season because of it and Reed car guess what your son would have missed a volleyball season I wonder how hard you would have fought for that it's disappointing and now that's what's sad about this whole thing is when you chose for your kids minus Lori you chose in-person school and for some reason you think it's better for me and everyone else that you choose for us disappointing I hope that you guys see the things that happened to your kids and the experiences that they had were positive and that you want that for my kids and for your neighbors and your

062friends I literally know through of you and I hope that you understand and care about my kids as much as you care about your [Applause] own Jimmy lindbloom Jennifer Ebert shaver and Sophia mckendrick hi thank you for your time today and allowing you to speak uh Ken brg uh Queen Creek's board president recently said we will work to find e every excuse we can to stay open uh it's an attitude um that I think is a good guide for us as we try to consider what is the right uh thing to do in this District when we have an attitude that recognizes the importance of in school learning for a child and we we won't make decisions like closing an entire School District when there is a school that doesn't have a case in it

063I I think um we're all learning a lot of things here and I I am appreciative of this board for being one of those school districts in the state that has been in school more more than most um Queen Creek uh the East Valley as a matter of fact really has been in in school more than than most in this state but the truth is our children thrive in in school learning and they don't Thrive when they're not and so my ask is that we find a way to keep our schools open that we have that attitude we find every excuse that we can to keep them open because when we look at Matrix that deal with Community spread and we're not looking at spread in the classroom we're not looking at spread um in

064the school we're making a mistake and so I would just ask that of this group that we start looking for every excuse that we can to keep a classroom open if that's what we need to do um and we deal with cases as they come just as I mentioned in another time that I stood here that we did at the Boys and Girls Club we serve 16,000 youth through Co and we've been able to find ways that keep the doors open and and take care of the cases just as we've been able to do in Gilbert public schools and just as we've been uh Queen Creek's been able to do and so I don't think we can uh reiterate the damage that closing the public schools has on the long-term dis uh welfare and being

065of the district we will not be able to get bonds we will not be able to get overrides we will lose well we will continue to lose high quality parents and students and and that takes generations to restore if we deny the public of the trust that they have in in giving our kids the opportunity to to get a highquality public education and so I just ask that you please consider your Matrix and how you make motions because they have impacts especially when you refer back to those motions please just be very careful and just try to find a way to keep our schools open thank [Applause] you Jennifer I apologize oh it's Ebert's Hower it's really thank you fine good evening my name is Jennifer Erberts Houser I know I have spoken to all

066of you before and you may recognize me from a few years back and uh Dr McCord is my old teacher um I'm a product you said old hold on no just kidding well I'm not that old so you can't be that old um but I am here to talk to you as an expert I have a MERS in public health I worked with the heila County Department of Public Health and epidemiology and communicable disease also I'm a PA with Health First Family Medicine I work in family practice and I'm a front line line healthcare worker through covid-19 at an urgent care I you can tell that from my hand how badly they are from being washed I am also here to talk to you as a mother I have children at valasta Lakes Elementary School

067I had a child who was supposed to start kindergarten this year and couldn't because she has a lot of speech issues and online did not work for her I am here to tell you that children are not the Super spreaders that we once thought okay I am also here to tell you what these other Physicians are telling you is true schools and online learning is absolutely as essential as I am working in the front line of covid yes it is so important and the more we learn the better decisions we can make and we've learned more I have seen an amazing um amazing job at Valvista Lakes Elementary School that school is clean that the parents are masked the teacher doing a great job and it shows it it shows it we have no cases

068and the few cases we do have you know it's very hard to do Point contact tracing what I do love to see is that you care that the parents care about our students please advocate for them one of you make a motion to consider changing the metrics maybe we go school by school the schools that have zero cases get to stay open maybe 1% is dug gone low maybe we consider two or 5% especially at our gigantic high schools okay I'm telling you you've done a good job and we can keep doing a good job we need to start changing with the times as we learn more let's change that's what we're doing in medicine right now and that's what I'm asking you to do as a board I can't wait to see which one

069of you decides to make this motion it's going to be great let's make it Sophia mckendrick then looks like Laura o and Eloise Fulmer in online we don't learn I go to nly elementary school and take Alp math the concepts are hard but they're fun however I I have a hard time learning online when I do go to school I don't have much time to ask questions because we have to grade our three lessons of homework from online and we try to do two lessons of notes but we don't have time because of hybrid in social studies and science we have a hard time finding the notes and the answers students and teachers try their best but online learning doesn't help in English we do so much more now that we are off online we

070would lose all of that because WebEx doesn't work as good in real people in person and we can't really see who's talking thank you well it's the last place I'd rather be tonight but um I'm a physician and it appears based on your decisions that you are unwilling to look at the current data based on uh current metrics for schools to stay open and for the overall benefit of keeping kids in school so I guess Physicians have to come and tell you so we have four children at an elementary school at Greenfield and as you can imagine with my wife trying to keep all four kids on the computer when there we have twins six year- olds or seveny olds that you know have to you know Bounce from application to application and they just

071are not Tech you know technolog technologically advanced enough to do this on their own it is impossible for them to gain any sort of education and just stay focused enough to actually learn what you're trying to teach them so I encourage you like everyone else here keep schools open we know that based on epidemiologists based on the risk factors that um Elementary School junior high high school kids have they are not the cause of the community spread and so to base your decisions based on meropa County guidelines or at least uh positivity rate and not look at um what is the current rate of spread or the current positive rate in our actual schools to make these um just arbitrary decisions uh makes no sense at all so we encourage you to stay open we

072encourage you to look at other alternatives for patient or for students that are high risk or they have families that are high risk there's a way to do a hybrid program for those or inh home learning for those students while keeping the rest of the students in school [Applause] so Eloise Fulmer hi hi I'm El former and I don't like online I don't really learn that much and my mom I have three siblings my little sister baby she's in first grade she she needs help with a lot I need help with my math stuff my mom's busy helping her also my little siblings Milo and Jemma they start screaming and running around and crying and I want to go back to school so bad when my mom couldn't help me one time I started crying

073cuz I couldn't understand and yeah [Applause] our last three speakers are Sean jger Blaine cower and Joseph Gardner didn't know I'd be doing this tonight so it's going to be a little unscripted but um Dr Santa Cruz you were my principal at Gilbert High School back in the late ' 80s and I benefited from inspiring teachers like oh Mr Mr fraks um Mr Ashley Mr Everett Mrs Cassel m m mccamon um they give me an incredible education they also taught me a love for that flag and our US Constitution and learned to be a patriot through that so um just an incredible Legacy of learning at gil Public Schools uh I'll just kind of tell you my story so I have nine kids my wife and I five of them biological boys we have uh

074four children adopted from China in point of fact I was in China this year in January we got out just in time so to speak they had to take a a fellow passenger off the plane in Japan as we were coming home so 4 days later they locked down the cities that we were in so we were we were at Ground Zero pretty much and Co raced through our family back in March um back then the virus is actually a little worse than it is today today and uh we got through it uh but not without some pretty pretty serious illness now my you know 80-year-old uncle just got it bounced right back my 78-year-old aunt got it she bounced right back these are both people with serious comorbidities so I do not for one

075second believe the metrics on the adhs website or Maricopa County the pandemic is over we have a case demic that's what we have um as far as our kids we utilize Gilbert public schools for Services related to special needs all the adopted ones are special needs kids especially the one we brought home this year he's 14 he has a CFT brain serious special needs he doesn't know English he needs to learn English he needs daily access to imperson learning uh in elll which is at mosqu they're doing a fantastic job for him that's step one before he can learn anything else he has to get English uh down uh because he's so far behind this is a kid that was institutionalized for 14 years he literally stared at a screen for 14 years that's how

076they they kept them and by the way the Chinese are laughing at us right now they're laughing at our over correction the response that we did and they're off like old normal and the Chinese are laughing at us and we know because we have lots of friends there we have lots of friends of Taiwan and Japan and it's not the same there so you know for this kid to be in front of a screen all the time and then be forcy back in front of screens again it absolutely does not work we're trying to eliminate and try to remove these screens from from our family um because I've seen what screen addiction does to kids and how it takes over their lives and to go online and just have have to force them through that

077it flat out does not work unequivocally does not work so I just encourage you to keep these schools open these kids need it and thank God for my saint of a wife who we gave up last quarter or the quarter of last year in our kids home uh several of them in any case but we still have a couple in the school district I've had all my kids in this school district at one time or another I just encourage you to please keep the schools open [Applause] thank [Music] Blaine thanks for allowing us to come speak tonight my name is Dr bla cower I am a local orthodontist in the gilber community every single day I see 75 kids every single day I see see the depression the anxiety and the mental illness that you

078guys have personally caused these kids in our community these kids I talk to them every single day they don't want to live anymore they were never like that last year ever I I don't know how many kids have died in the Gilbert School District from covid but I know as of last night in Maricopa County 48 kids families kids have taken their lives this is ridiculous they need to be back in school we now have all the National Data we know what this disease is right let's protect our sweet grandparents who are 70 years old yes we know that they should protect themselves for everyone 70 and under and these kids they should be in school they should be learning I'm covered elbow deep in saliva every day we've never closed a day ever in

079the last eight months ever ever these kids I'm inside their mouth these kids salivas all over my face my arms nothing we haven't had a single problem not me or one of my t 10 staff members has ever gotten sick ever that proves to you that the kids aren't spreading the disease so please change your vote and get them back in school when you keep these kids out of school we know that they're failing now it's gone up 600 to 800% Nationwide do you know what it does to a kid when they're failing they're embarrassed they're embarrassed they don't want to live they go into a deep dark hole these were all everyone in this class everyone in this room and everyone in the Gil school district has smart kids that were getting A's now

080they're all failing and they're in a deep dark place because you're keeping them out of school get them back in school they don't want to fail anymore they're tired of failing we can't help them with their math and history and their science now I say this thank you Shane for bringing up the football stuff that was awesome I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with 30,000 people at the Highland football game but as of Monday I can't go to a basketball game or watch my kid cheer that's ridiculous nobody got sick and died at the football game to all the awesome teachers all the awesome teachers at the Gilbert School District we applaud you thanks for coming in and tutoring our kids for helping them for teaching them you are amazing now guess what there's a few of them

081in high school stop threatening our high school kids I'm tired of my kids coming home in tears and saying guess what Johnny 116th of your nostrils hanging out you're going to kill us all every single day they threaten our kids and these kids go home and take their lives stop threatening the last person you want to threaten is a little kid stop threatening them build them up love them and you know what when the free money runs out we we're going to have a $25 to $50 million shortfall cuz four to 10,000 of us are leaving this District the only thing shrinking in Gilbert is the school district so open our schools everybody in this room knows the definition of a hypocrite everybody here wants our schools open everybody wants our businesses open and we

082want Church open right Jill I saw you at church up at the pulpit 400 people preaching to right but you vote to keep us out of school that's a hypocrite open our schools if you guys do what's right if you guys do what's right you'll leave a legacy we will support you do what's right we will support you [Applause] time Joseph Gardner geez really hard to follow that uh thank you all um I appreciate your time uh I'm going to read my thoughts um not quite as free flowing um I'm speaking to you all and I'm I'm going to make the Assumption uh that you all have our students interests well-being uh behind the the driving decision uh decisions that you make I'm also assuming and addressing you all that you're experienced well-educated knowledgeable parents

083and that you have diverse backgrounds my background is I'm a dad I'm a dad of two school age kids in elementary school my wife taught high school math in a neighboring district for a number of years before committing to be a full-time mom my concerns tonight Center largely around the transition to hybrid learning I certainly appreciate the complexity of this situation the logistical Financial physical and mental facets of covid-19 are staggering I commend you all for the time the thoughtfulness and attention that you've given it this isn't easy that that said I struggle to see the value in moving to hybrid learning over full-time in person how is hybrid learning any more effective in managing Community spread over addressing things on a school by school basis you have the tools measures and procedures in place

084to understand and to an extent mitigate spread in your own District by addressing things on a caseby casee school by school basis the mcdh benchmarks are largely lagging indicators especially in terms of how they're reported this makes it extremely difficult to make accurate forecasts and isn't any more granular in the nature of its data than what you have in your own District dashboard a broad brushstroke approach of hybrid or online learning is akin to trying to drive forward using only your rearview mirror even if we do look at a graph for cases as an example over time in Maricopa County they increased and fell when school was not in session and they are now increasing and will eventually fall using a similar pattern further analysis illustrates that students and schools aren't the source of super

085spreading in short your Schools staff and students aren't contributing to escalating cases it happened regardless of and not in cause to them at my daughter's first parent teacher conference her teacher told my wife I was very concerned for your daughter at the start of the year every time I looked at her in our virtual class she had tears and had her head down she is a completely different person in the class she is happy helpful and an eager learner I can attest to how true that is again I am grateful for the time you've taken to listen to my concerns this is an involving situation but one thing is becoming increasingly clear you can address situational spreads on a school by school basis and our communities are far better off when our schools are actually

086a part of the community time please reopen our [Applause] schools thank you that concludes our open call to the public there were 23 speakers we will now move to item six reports and presentations item 6.01 is the monthly budget report Dr mcord any introductory remarks no just turn it over to Miss Betts our assistant superintendent of Business Services thank you good evening governing board members uh Dr Santa Cruz Dr McCord this is just a very quick update uh reflecting the revised budget that you all approved a week ago wanted to make sure that you saw how that rised budget would impact our monthly financials so you can see the two highlighted rows on this particular table maintenance and operations the adopted budget was 28.7 Million the revised budget is 22.9 million you can see that

087um now that we are we are comparing the year-to-date expended encumbered to that new revised budget you can see that it has decreased by about 5.7 million we're still at at a normal rate of spend please know that that $15.7 million of available uh balance is still uh completely allocated out to our schools and departments so we expect to see that to continue to go down over time the next highlighted row is under unrestricted Capital outlay again in response to the annual financial report submitt because of uh the um the savings realized after purchase orders were unencumbered we realized additional budget balance carry forward and unrestricted Capital which accounts for that increase of about $1.8 million in budget capacity for unrestricted Capital so before I go any further are there any questions about any of

088those two things okay and then the federal grants we wanted to bring this to your attention uh title two was highlighted because there was some significant additional spend month over month uh where the available balance has uh declined um over $100,000 and then of course again a result of the revised budget that was presented to you and approved by you last week the you can see that the Esser Grant which is the cares act funding where we were allocated a total of about $2.4 million initially if you recall we expected to spend $500,000 of that in the 2020 school year we did not so the revised budget um for the current year has increased by that $500,000 to that $2.4 million and you can see at this point in time we have spent very little

089money out of that Esser Grant the 300 to 399 funds other Federal projects you can see that the adopted budget was 345,000 and it increased substantially up to $18.4 million again just a reminder that $18.4 million you will see a revised budget that brings that down again to $2.4 million due to the request for about $30 million in ESG the enrollment stabilization Grant where we only received a total of 14.3 million so those are just to prepare you um the you can also see that under the revised budget number one column the pen it says pending this uh this report is the year-to-date transactions uh through November 30th where where the revised budget has not been approved yet but we wanted to make sure that we showed you the impact of that revised Budget on

090these monthly financials as early as possible um so that is all I have if you have any questions I am prepared to answer any of them board members Mr Carr anything no thank you anyone else if not then we will move to item 6.02 social emotional supports Dr mcord introduction yes sir thank you Dr Santa Cruz governing board members tonight we have Susie kadana she's coordinator of our K12 prevention programs uh we had a request from a board member to do a little presentation about the social emotional supports that we provide in our school district and Susie is here tonight to talk about some of those things good are you waiting for the clicker do you have that I can go ahead Bonnie's got the clicker okay sorry gentleman in the back you going to

091queue that up drum roll it looks awfully dark in there Jason anybody there very good thank you well once again thank you for the opportunity to be able to come and speak and just update you on the social emotional supports that we have been uh providing since uh the beginning of the school year and actually a lot of our planning act went and started even prior to so over the summer so I want to make sure that okay so don't know what's happening we need our own social emotional supports up here with the clicker no no it's on Jason pop back there and see if one of those guys is brave enough to come out here to figure this out for there it is there you go Tada awesome thank you um so again just

092want to make sure that I do provide you an update so we have uh been fortunate that we have been able to utilize all of our mental health support staff K12 to assess and prioritize the needs throughout the school district again we started our planning back in June July to make sure that we are going to knowing that we were going to be coming into a remote setting and not knowing what that was going to look like we wanted to make sure that we established connections and that we were going to re uh re-engage with those that we need you were disconnected even since the last quarter so what we really focused on was a lot of Outreach family engagement wanted to make sure that we were even conducting welcome uh back to school home

093visits if you will it really looked a lot like just the stri by visits to families and then we made sure that we were going to we knew we were not going to be able to do it by ourselves so we collaborated with not only campus staff District departments but we are grateful that we have a very generous uh Community by which we could rely on to help us support this so what does that look like at our K12 campuses we have Behavioral Health team members so those consists of school psychologists School social workers our nurses as well as our Mental Health Counselors that we are very fortunate to now have at all of our high schools so they will provide support um K12 but we also noticed and realized that we were going to

094need to have a Continuum of Care and access to services that we were are going to be effective so what we try to do is make sure that we were going to implement uh strategies and best practices that we going to be um for each phase regardless of whether we started out remote whether we went into hybrid once we went into an our onsite learning mode and then if we were going to be fully in person so that ended up looking like us providing one-on-one sessions group facilitation um in classroom presentations if you will and we did the these even at the very beginning while we had uh complete learning uh modules that were virtual we had social workers that were trying to engage popping into classrooms again having meet and greets uh that way

095not only with our staff but also with our families uh when necessary and trying to really triage and identify those families and kiddos that we felt that were going to be uh struggling in various areas whether it was academically behaviorally uh socially and emotionally so what we did is we um basically mobilized all of our efforts and what we learned rather quickly is that relationships and connections are everything so we tried to make sure that that was our Focus every time that we did reach out every time that we any regardless of the service that we provided that was always on the Forefront we wanted to make sure that we uh promoted a sense of belonging as well as a support and collaboration again in students learning regardless of the modality that we were providing

096that support and uh that even that did not change even when we made the transition from a remote to on-site supports and then when we went uh hybrid and we have kept our uh support systems going even for those kiddos that are attending Global as well so we triage appropriately regardless of whether again we're uh implementing mitigative uh mitigation strategies or if we need to intervene in various areas or if we unfortunately have to provide any type of Crisis uh intervention supports as well and so some of that um we're what we've worked on is to make sure that not only has our prevention education continued to um be implemented and again if we need to adjust or if we need to Pivot our Focus we will do that so our Suicide Prevention programming our

097bully uh prevention programming as well as our social emotional uh curriculum strategies mindfulness and wellness practices those again while we have had to adjust we continue those and we've really tried to focus on resiliency as well as building up um not only our students in that capacity but also building up uh the capacity within the teachers that are either on the other side of a screen in person uh in person uh on a hybrid level we wanted to make sure that everybody was receiving the t uh same type of support that we felt that was needed at that time uh just to give you an example we have mindfulness centers and spaces that are existing in our school sites we have safe spaces that students and um staff can take a moment if they need

098to throughout the day while they are there even if during on-site learning they were able to visit those we have Wellness days uh for example Wellness Wednesdays we've have mindfulness Mondays that are happening at the school sites we have zenen that have been created at the school sites as well um as well as a creation of Community Gardens for students and uh communities to come together and again to help not only again um to enhance just their safe and supportive learning environments but again to make sure that we're addressing all areas to support their academic achievement and as I mentioned earlier we cannot uh do this work alone so we are very grateful and fortunate that we have a very giving community so a lot of the efforts um have also come into enhancing connections

099and access to resources so that way we limit um the the Gap that we have seen sometimes in accessing resources for families regardless of whether it was meal distribution uh technology school supplies other resources we also have um current igas in place uh with Southwest Behavioral Health as well as Community Bridges in order to provide family counseling um student uh counseling as well and for staff if if need be and we are again very fortunate that we extend that to even the uh city of Mesa and the town of Gilbert being that we cover two municipalities so we utilize as many resources as possible um to make sure that all of our school uh sites are supported and uh we have very many um again coming up on the holidays we feel that this was

100going to be an area we're really going to have to focus on to make sure we connect families to still provide that um communication those resources even when we're not in school so we have worked on establishing those connections even while kiddos and families um are not with us during the break what we also wanted to do just lastly is to make sure that uh we knew it was going to be all Hands-On deck so we've tried to make sure that we utilize all of our mental health professionals in the school district but that we also use every form of communication that we can think of because traditional communication at this time uh we knew was we had to get creative so whether it's an email a phone call a text to our social media

101platforms um home visits like I said are just to make sure that we stay connected but then we also try to make sure that our websites our web pages for our social workers and Mental Health Counselors are current that if there's a link that is attached to a resource that it's a working link it's a current link and it is a resource that is still um active and is useful and then we want to make sure that people can pick up a phone and know who they're calling with the you know if it's a social worker mental health counselor on a campus so we make sure that we share out direct directories and contact information regardless of we have you know whether we have students at our Global sites or at our school sites as

102well well um so it's just again rest assure that our uh behavioral health professionals uh in the district are working as a team to make sure that again it's all hands on deck and that we try to make sure that when we say access to care that we're um helping to provide that as soon as it is needed any that's all that I have unless you all have any questions board members Dr Santa Cruz if I if I can ask um Susie thank you for all that you guys all do I think one of the concerns that I've heard is that um students and families who aren't normally in our radar for needing these kinds of services um with the pandemic and then with the changes of schools and it's not necessarily just School related

103it's our whole lives have changed this last year you know in so many ways and I've heard many families and I know that's part of the anxiousness that we hear from our parents is that their students are acting differently than they ever had before and do students know where to go I've heard like I know some students don't know where to go like high school students especially do we how can we talk about this how can we make sure that our students are being supported and know that there's help for them and our parents some these are even families who are trying to be supportive they don't know what to do and how to help and it's there's a huge huge concerns going on so what can we like what are some steps that we

104can really take and how can we help support each other and help our parents and students great question and and a great point and you're absolutely right there's families that we find have now found themselves in a position of need where prior to everything happening there was no need and so it's really um having to learn how to access those resources but then the responsibility is on us to make sure that we are communicating to uh if we need to enhance that at our school sites to make sure again whether it's through our newsletters whether it's through email blast whether it's to personal phone calls when we do come across uh students or in those classroom visits to make sure that again we're introducing our mental health uh counselors at the high schools that is

105a new position so again that's something that um not everybody may still realize that we have that support available so that is great to hear because we can enhance those efforts to make sure that we're communica who is available how to reach them you know what would that support look like and uh to make sure that we're also extending that to our teachers as well because sometimes teachers may not always know what is available and then especially our families also and uh I think that comes with raising awareness our own um make sure that we're communicating in the right areas but then I think also that personal Outreach as well will be huge to make sure that again we're coming face to face with students in their classrooms to let them know that that support

106is available to them and that's something that we can continue to do so just a quick followup if I was a parent and had a concern I could call there is a mental health counselor at the high school and there's a social worker at the junior high and there's social work at the elementary I could call the school and ask for help or I could tell my student to and then is it confidential how does that work is it are parents involved or not involved or or do they have to be or how does that work no absolutely again um good question yes our what we let students know anytime we do engage in a conversation with them if for example there is a crisis situation we're able to um become engaged and uh find

107out what is the current situation again it has to rise the level of being a crisis situation or something that is um impeding that kiddo safety at that time followup is that communication to families to let them know that we have interacted with their kiddo to make sure again because that's what our practic is but also to make sure that we are covering um all support systems that need to be accessed and then again it's it's just triaging what is needed say for example of a DCS call we also to have to be made as well but then for our other students say for example if we do interact with a student and we feel that it would be in their best interest for a social worker mental health counselor to continue to engage with

108them whether it's group facilitation or possible referral outside or a one-on-one session they are to contact families to let them know that we would like to engage with their kiddo kind of discuss what the situation is if we and what part of that conversation should be if the student does disclose uh whether there's uh harm to themselves harm to someone else or someone is harming them that is the only time that we uh based on our code of ethics and then licensure by different behavioral health professionals that they will disclose that information to families but if it does come up and there is a situation that is sensitive that a kiddo was talking about with um the social worker or mental health counselor what we try to do is try to help the student to

109engage in that conversation with the family see I don't know if you have this information or not but um with some of the issues that have gone on and in our society and everything that's going on right now um and with kids not being in in school full-time have we seen a rise or anything in like just um Child Protective Service reports that has been one of the hardest uh that's been hard for us to capture um because we don't have kiddos in front of us as we did before um so what we've had to rely on a lot is through those interactions and connections with students that we knew were already possibly at risk if you will but then trying to make sure that again when we do um visit with families when we

110do visit with students when we're watching them on the screen or when they do come to us um and we're trying to build those connections is that we're trying to figure out again not only where they're coming from but then working with those agencies that but I will be honest and that is one of the hardest data to capture right now because they've even seen a decrease uh but we also know that we're we're basing it on information that uh we know is probably not accurate that's been difficult but it's a good question and also with during the and I know you've explained this to it to us before um how is food being distributed the the the breakfast and lunch oh we work together with food services and Bonnie if I if there's anything

111that I miss but so we do have food that is available um even now that we're in our hybrid learning mode that uh School sites can uh collaborate with the elementary schools to make sure that students are receiving breakfast and lunch um so it's being distributed in that way but we're also very fortunate where we are working together with Matthew's food Crossing we work together with um Cliff ma who is a great uh Community organizer and works through the living Ward which is literally right south of us in food distribution boxes as well um we've been provided with uh food pantry items that we keep on a regular basis in the uh Family Resource Center as well as the Elks Lodge where we have pantries at various elementary schools as well so we're able to

112coordinate with Food Services um on districtwide distribution and then we offer that additional supplemental support for the weekends and then for any other families that may be in need through those other community agencies Dr Santa Cruz I go ahead so um Miss ktina what would be some things that parents should look for to know that they need to reach out for help with their student um what would be some signs that they might want to look for well we I've heard a lot today and and it's um all on point is where you look at those Behavior changes in your kiddos parents are going to know their kiddos best and they're going to know again to look for signs and symptoms of withdrawal that is uncommon in their particular kiddo what makes it hard sometimes

113is at developmental stages when you look at what a teenager typically might go through might fall under that category of being withdrawn not wanting to be with a family you know and wanting a little bit more privacy than before versus when does that become problematic and are they um you know where they were once out going are they now completely withdrawn and isolated and it's it's um again we we try to refer and really focus on helping parents identify those signs and symptoms again where maybe they're it's difficult for them to wake up in the morning because again there's the lack of motivation or the feeling of isolation from their social um Circle as well lack of hygiene you know not wanting to bathe and again some of these might be typical behavior for some

114junior high high school students but but again where it becomes atypical is where it becomes problematic it's affecting again their learning it's affecting their affect it's affecting again their um relationships with the rest of the family uh so in in just some of those signs and symptoms can be early signs to have conversations with their kiddo but then also to reach out to us at the school sites and see if we can also kind of help in uh communicating in that way as well okay thank you and another question I don't that you'll have the answer for this but maybe Mrs Newman would um what can what can we do to help struggling students what advice do we have for parents when students are struggling academically that is a huge question and I think um

115accessibility to care uh knowing who to be able to reach out to um I think supporting those the services that are available um by communicating what we do have available by letting uh families know that we are here to support them and to physically be present when they do reach out to us um I think that accessibility um and then I try to encourage whenever I'm working with a student um and their family is I try to make sure that I build a relationship where we're open to that feedback on the other side you know how can we help you because again they're they know their kiddos best okay thank you Miss kadna just to refresh my memory here is the information regarding social and emotional supports I.E phone numbers contacts that kind of thing

116is that a standing feature on our website and our newsletter as well it is a standing feature on our district website there is a tile that is uh titled GPS Wellness Resources and that will also once that is clicked on uh once you scroll down there is other links to the GPS support programs uh web page as well and in both of those areas we have links to all the resources available inhouse and then those out in the community which include the names um and the locations of the school social workers and Mental Health Counselors both their phone numbers as well as their email addresses so that that information is included on the district website yeah I would only be concerned that uh it isn't readily obvious to our parent communities or community members or

117students that that is support for them their social well-being their emotional well-being uh perhaps taking a look at the verbiage in in those announcements uh to to Really Target the idea that there is help available absolutely we can certainly do that and always increase our um visibility as well thank you yes absolutely very good board members any additional comments or questions oh thank you for the presentation thank you thank you Miss Kad thank you Susie we move to item seven consent agenda before I entertain a motion I would like to pull for the moment and table item 7.06 for this evening that is the cell tower lease Amendment information otherwise we are available for motion on the consent agenda I move that we approve the consent agenda item as presented omitting 7.06 omitting 7 omitting

1187.06 thank you Miss jety is there a second a second thank you Mrs humph any discussion Dr Santa Cruz is a clarification 7.06 that you're pulling are you pulling that for the evening or for further discussion pulling that for the evening thank you thank you just for clarification we received some last minute information that we'll need to adjust some things on that so we want to make it sure it's appropriate before it goes through to you is that a clarifier enough all right yes thank you any other discussion seeing none then we will vote on the consent agenda all those in favor of approving the consent agenda as printed omitting item 7.06 please signify by saying I I all those opposed the same motion carries item8 is action items items for consideration discussion direction or

119possible approval item 8.01 is approval of instruction given in executive session Dr McCord any introduction no sir just uh as the action item is written very good we are ready to entertain a motion on item 8.01 I move that we um ask our attorney to act as instructed in the executive session thank you Miss humph is there a second a second thank you Miss Wood any discussion I'm sorry I said ask I should have said authorize our attorney to ask act as discuss in executive session all right we'll accept that editorial change yep yep I'll no additional discussion all right all those in favor of approval of item 8.01 please signify by saying I I I all those oppos the same motion carries 5 we're now at item 8.02 discussion and possible action regarding the

120type of learning mode we will be in when students return from winter break Dr McCord any commentary no just um I think this is obviously an important topic to discuss uh this evening and for a lot of different reasons um one our families want to know uh what our learning mode will look like when we come back on January 5th uh also our staff would like to know and of course our students and so I think making a decision tonight uh to determine that will be beneficial to all so that is why this exists this evening on this agenda we'll give all parties concerned then an opportunity to prepare for uh the return from winter break uh we entertain a motion on item 8.02 uh Dr Santa Cruz I would like to put forward a

121motion and I I would appreciate it if everyone would listen to the um motion and and it's been somewhat changed so be patient with me in trying to read my chicken scratch Gilbert Public Schools govern spren board has the responsibility to ensure the well-being of students and staff during the covid-19 pandemic when strong mitigation controls are in place and the school community supports these strategies schools can be a safe haven for both students and staff even when Co is spreading outside of school in returning to school on January 5th 2020 following winter break Gilbert Public Schools will continue and hybrid Al M through Z Model for instruction for weeks gilber Public Schools will then return to in-person instruction for those so enrolled school closures due to covid-19 cases then will be determined on a school

122by school basis as outlined in the motion passed November 4th the superintendant will make this determination based on the co based on the Gilbert Public School covid-19 dashboard and notify families and staff that is the end of my motion okay is there a need for a repeat of the motion no is there a second I will second the motion for purposes of discussion we're open for discussion board members we have a couple of of questions if that's okay sure um Mr Macintosh I know that that last week I think it was I asked you some questions about substitutes and I was wondering if you could give us a little you know a little little of the history I mean I know there's been some questions about that tonight and I think we're we you're doing

123everything you can to get as many substitutes as possible correct that is correct we have streamlined the hiring process so we continue to recruit and try to obtain substitutes as quickly as possible when we get an applicant and uh new graduates are coming out so we're reaching out to the universities trying to get them on board as quickly as possible as well so if someone wants to substitute they just have to get their fingerprint clearance card and and an do you do the emergency certific sub certification we have in the past we try not to do that the requirement minimally is to have a four-year degree in something and anything and then you can apply for your substitute certificate with the state but you can do emergency in in terms of when when you need

124to mhm okay what's the turnaround time for fingerprint cards right now do you know for the ivp card it's probably two weeks additional questions or comments pan I would uh go ahead I appreciate Miss Humphrey's thank you I appreciate Miss Humphrey's motion um I have a slight variation that I put together together and and I think it with with has some similarity and and a slight difference I guess not as I shouldn't call it slight difference it does have difference um that I would propose and and I would just say with an introduction to the motion and then the motion and my introduction is more to put in light where I'm coming from um and I'll read it as follows given the more current statements following on November 4th meeting and guidance from the CDC

125the director of the National Institute of Health the Arizona State Department of Health and the amopa county department of health that Community spread is unlikely to occur at school schools and in fact the County Public Health Council directly to our school district indicates that quote when strong mitigation controls are in place and the school community supports those strategies schools can be a safe haven for both students and staff when the co is spreading out outside of school close quote given that background I would propose an alternative motion as follows on November 4th this governing board instructed the superintendent to utilize school by school covid cases and GPS boundary specific metrics published by the county for determining when a school or the entire school district will meet in a hybrid or inperson manner this board updates

126its instruction to the superintendent as follows classes will be held in person 5 days a week except where previously established covid case limits are exceeded with some school specific exceptions as previously determined those limits are 1% at high schools 1 and a half% at junior high schools and 2% at elementary schools very similar in in nature but I would suggest that as an alternative so um Mr Cari I have a question between your motion and mine just because I am a visual learner and um so the difference that I understand from having listened to you read that is that instead of going back to school two weeks of hybrid you're proposing that we go back to school um 5 days in person after winter break is that the correct conclusion I've drawn I I I

127yes I would clarify that the substantial change between yours in mind is is coming back directly versus the two weeks but yes that is a point of discussion um are you offering that as a substitute motion Mr Carr yes that is my intent okay so there is a substitute motion is there a second I'll second [Applause] that don't vote that's what I se you but where does that put the first are we still discuss we would have to vote on Mr Carr's motion and if Mr Carr's motion passed then that would would be the end of it if it fails then we would go back to vote on the original motion okay so now with the second we are open for discussion um I I I would like to say some words um I know

128and I think one of the things that has made this pandemic has made really obvious that in class with a wonderful teacher is the best way to learn um the relationships the ability of the teacher to work with the students um the opportunities that are in the classroom are absolutely Beyond Compare and um I was recently listening to NPR and their Morning Show and they were interviewing someone in the state who said well now we can just videotape a great teacher and you know that will work and we've learned that doesn't work it needs to be the teacher student connection and I really think that everyone on this board supports that that's why we serve on a school board the challenge is that we are in a worldwide pandemic and we just want to be

129extremely careful that when the pandemic is over we're all here to be able to continue you that wonderful opportunity and um it's difficult because this pandemic is such that someone who is healthy 32 years old with no um comodities um no health problems can get this virus and die someone who's 80 years old and has lots of health problems can get this virus and survive and it seems very random I'm sure there'll be lots and lots of studies um but to ensure safety to me is really important for students and for staff and to have both of those feel like that we are committed to that now it is true that Dr fouchy and others have said school should be open it is also true that Dr Fouch has said close the bars the gyms

130the nightclubs and keep the schools open and that is what we're not doing right now we're not closing anything um so I am concerned about our community spread and I'm concerned when we ask teachers to teach in the classroom and yet online there are advertisements for kids to join this dance to go to this dance event with no mention of masking social distancing I think it's up to as a us as a community to support our teachers and support our staff by doing those things that bring the virus under control wearing a mask social distancing washing our hands you know keeping those social things for later we're we're so close to a vaccine and some resolution to what's been a very difficult and challenging year but we're not there there yet um I felt that

131the two weeks of hybrid gave an opportunity for some of that um Christmas and New Year's socializing to um if there was a spike in the virus and we know that the the metrics will be worse in the next couple weeks um for those to be uh able to to get past those and so that we can establish a baseline in our schools of how we're doing to look at after the holidays um in comparison to um not having anything and and providing that because the one difference between hybrid and five-day imperson learning is that in hybrid we are able to social distance in a much better way we try really hard when everyone's on on campus but um we schools are not made to social distance schools are made to be cost effective um

132and they have more in common with nursing homes meat packing plants and prisons than retail outlets so I want to be extremely careful that in a congregate setting we keep everyone safe and that's why I felt the two weeks of hybrid was um a beneficial idea that it kind of doesn't make those who want 5day in person right away happy and it certainly doesn't make those who want to continue on hybd happy because we go back to the five-day in person but it's kind of a compromise and that's why I put forward that motion why I I believe I still support that motion as the best compromise for um our board and our dist and our community Mr Carr are you uh in a position to send that motion to Miss Wilson oh you already

133have I did send it I did already Dr mord Dr mcord already has it uh for my own edification would you please restate it just a second let me as it reads on November 4th this governing board instructed the superintendent to utilize school by school covid cases and GPS boundaries public GPS boundary as published by the county specific metrics determining when a school or the entire district will meet in a hybrid or an in-person manner this board updates his instruction to the superintendent as follows classes will be held in person 5 days a week except where previously established covid case limits are exceeded with some school specific exceptions as previously determined those limits are 1% at high schools one and a half% junior high schools and 2% elementary schools okay so embedded in your motion

134is that we would be utilizing the individual school by school metric that we established if when we return on winter during winter break the numbers are higher at a particular location am I hearing that correctly that that is correct and if if I could just comment I share many of the concerns that I share all of the concerns that Miss humph expressed I think we're all concerned about the Health and Welfare of our entire community of student staff and and at Large where I guess I come down on this is that as I watch the community in and and what we're seeing in hybrid our education is not as rigorous as it is with five day uh instruction it simply can't be when we're only in school two days it's not because of lack of

135effort by our teaching teachers however as I observe and watch the community our kids our students are actually interacting in a manner that is less consistent with the safe behaviors being proposed by our health experts than they are when they're in school in 5 days a person so in my mind returning the 5-day person actually increases the safety of our community increas inrees the safety of our students and as indicated by the letter from Dr Sun and shine uh at the county is a safe haven even for our teachers Dr Sant yes go ahead there oh you're still go ahead I I apologize I uh there are some who seem to think this is an All or Nothing approach um I will share that I was probably the most offended tonight that I've ever been

136in the school board meeting um I'm sure it was not intentional but for those who think that it's not spread uh it just simply isn't true uh I know that my fellow school board members are aware of this but in the last three days I lost a dear beloved father to this terrible disease who had no comorbidities other than age and was in perfect health as far as determined by his doctor only 10 days ago so for those of you who think that it doesn't have an effect yes I've had kids who have had it who it's been nothing more than I sniffly knows I've had kids who have had it who had a fever for one or two days I hope that that's the case for every single person in this room but quite

137honestly some of those who referred to themselves as my friends I did not feel friendship tonight nevertheless in spite of those feelings I still feel like it's the right thing to do and that's the motion that I'm proposing thank you Mr Carr Mr Jetty did you have something yes I would I would like to say that I um probably I absolutely believe that in-person learning is the very best way for our children to learn and I think that um we have been put place in a position to make decisions that I've said this before that I don't feel that I'm I have the knowledge to be able to make the decision um I am very concerned about the community spread but I'm also concerned about our teachers um they have been nothing but supportive uh

138throughout this whole time uh we have not had a sick out to my knowledge um I know some of the other districts around us have had teachers you know call in 150 200 teachers call in sick our teachers have not done this and our Teachers Association has been not a union it's been behind us and worked with us and tonight they asked us to please either go uh if I can remember Amber I apologize um online for secondary or a hybrid for both correct and I feel that we should acknowledge what they have asked us because they're in the trenches and they're the ones that every day and I understand what everybody else says I you know I get it but we're in a pandemic thank you Miss edti I would like to add a

139couple of thoughts and that is that uh the community at large has come to the realization through this pandemic issue uh that that whole person that we call the student is a significant entity and someone we care for on a daily basis as Educators come to the realization that the interaction is not only academic or intellectual the interaction is social it's emotional it's psychological it's a relationship kind of building issue and for anyone who believes for one moment that Educators in general and or any member of this board is UNA where unfamiliar with that would be sadly mistaken Educators devote their lives to kids and they're doing that on a daily basis so do First Responders so do doctors and nurses it's children on a day-to-day basis who may or may not be susceptible to

140Contracting this disease who nonetheless show up every day and do their work so I liken it to the fire that's going on all around us and for whatever reason and the mitigation strategies that have been put in place in terms of the classroom and the issues related to going on a school by school calculus was put in place by this Administration and this board and has been utilized by many of the districts around us so there was Forward Thinking and creativity as well involved in all of that so we're not unmindful of any of the commentary or any of the concerns that have been expressed tonight and in the multitude of emails we've received we understand we're simply looking for a path forward and while while my path may not be the best path neither

141is anyone else's we are all struggling to find the answer and so as we work through this keep in mind that utmost in all of it is the teacher and the student not necessarily in that order there is no priority there because they're equally important and we have neither one with without the other so we're working and we're working hard to try to get there board members anything else I I had a go ahead Miss humre let Miss U wood go first okay thank you I also just wanted to add my thanks to our teachers to our staff each day who come and I do think I would add to Dr Santa Cruz what he said that we what we've realized as parents is we need them every day we need we need their guidance

142our students need that each day in the classroom we rely on that we are grateful for it it's a it's a Cornerstone of our community and we are grateful for every day for the work that is put in for the sacrifices that are made for our students for the Excellence that each of our teachers bring and the care that they bring to our students and to our students lives and the stability and social and emotional all of the things as Dr Santa Cruz mentioned I I appreciate and want to thank our teachers and I hope that we can all do that in the little ways that we can and hope that we show that I thank um our families and parents for words that they've shared in emails and feelings expressed I you know again

143just even if things if we don't always agree it doesn't mean that we don't hear or care we care I care about our students every single one of them that's the only reason why I'm here and I feel the same way with my board members is um we want the best for each one of them it matters to me that they have success that they have the supports that they need that they that they have a chance and I feel like our schools are the best way to give that chance to our students and this has been this has been this has been an interesting year and I think we've tried with the the um information that we have at each different time to make a decision go forward then we've made adjustments and it's

144been difficult for everybody I do not doubt that and I I know that um I'm I also think as we've seen um I appreciate and I think that those mitigation Strate iies that we have in place are important and that's that we need to continue those strongly going forward that we are in the middle still of a high Community spread at this point and no matter what we decide this is going to be important these mitigation strategies as we go forward um please I'm asking that we be committed to that and do our best to to help out with that I also think that um we've seen that these do help and work in our schools that we see although it's not perfect accounting for it as people have mentioned and there's different things that

145people are concerned about we've noticed the Weak by week um numbers in our schools and we're we have a consistent way to track that and watch it and that that is that is a data point that we definitely need to look at as we're making decisions going forward which I think we've all acknowledged so I I had a couple thoughts I wanted to share and I um I uh have Rewritten this motion several times so um I would be interested Mr Carr if you can offer some sort of compromise because I think most important coming out of this meeting is that we have a 50 vote I'm very big on 50 votes that we have consensus and that we can come to something we agree on um I thought I had captured that but um

146I I guess is there a compromise you can offer Mr Carr because I I do feel that um coming back January 5th we don't really have a database to judge where things are in our schools and our Maricopa accounting metrics are going to be higher there's just no getting past that we're probably going to be all three categories in red which means on the County Board it's going to tell us to go virtual so I think that it's important um as we make this difficult decision and I don't really have a compromise to offer because I um I felt that I had offered that with two weeks of hybrid and then be willing to go in person and do it school by school so so if you have something that you can offer Mr Carr

147that we can because I sometimes know how my fellow board members are going to vote after listening to them speak but tonight I do not I do not know whether Mr Carr's motion will pass or whether my motion will pass but I do believe I would like to try and have a 5 vote for whatever we choose to do Miss Hum I appreciate that that and I would love to had a 5 vote I that that's never concerned me as much as it has you to me the fact that we farit all of the ideas and that we come to a decision and that we all back the decision regardless of whether we voted for it or against it is much more important than the um but uh you know I I understand and you

148make a very valid point as to to the need to reestablish a metric after we''re not get not been in school and not been receiving reports uh from from parents obviously we will continue to get reports from the county if people go in and get positive tested but that that's delayed compared to the reports we get from parents and students um I I would think and suggest that even with with a week of of hybrid we should be able to establish that my real intent of my motions I feel like we need to keep students in the classroom as much as possible and to those who have criticized this I would point out as uh did one of the speakers I did some back of the napkin I won't hold this up for complete scrutiny

149because I didn't analyze as close as we should but based on my analysis there's only one school District through the end of last week there's only one school district in all Maricopa County that has had more in-person instruction than Gilbert public schools and that is Queen Creek uh I believe that this week Higley will pass Us by one or two days of imperson instruction so for those who think that we don't value imperson instruction I would counter that I think we've done a great effort to keep inperson instruction uh but that's beside the point of what you ask Miss Humphrey so so if we really feel like we need to reestablish that metric uh I think it's fair to to do that but I would ask if there's any way that we can do it

150in one week and get back to iners instruction as quickly as possible I I would also point out the fact we've had two weeks of hybrid followed by the break and then followed by another it disrupts that learning process even more uh so that's my feeling that I'd rather get back in person sooner than later do you would you like to amend your motion and then maybe we could discuss whether one week of hybrid is enough or maybe we could have board members comment or give their thoughts because um I still would like to have a 50 vote um I'd be willing to I'd be willing to amend the the the motion to State one week hybrid in order to secure the data to make school-based decisions um if we just updated that uh the

151second paragraph of that motion and I'm just going to read this as without actually putting something in writing so hopefully I make sense this board updates it instruction to the superintendent as follows classes will be held in a hybrid fashion for the first week of school followed by in person five days a week except for previously established Co limits are exceeded with some school specific exceptions that previously determined those limits are 1% at high schools but one and a half at junior high schools and 2% elementary schools go for that it is a friendly Amendment if the second accepts accept the second accepts that as a friendly Amendment any additional discussion one one point is that we come back on a Tuesday I have a solution for that okay we would just rerun it as

152a through L Tuesday M through Z Wednesday and then repeat Thursday and Friday 8 through 11 through Z that way nobody misses a day so Wednesday so Wednesday would not be the PD day right we' talked about this possibility in cabinet just working all the scenarios moving down so that's something that we could uh Implement if that's the route we go so in effect Tuesday is Monday a through a through l sound like a Dr Seuss book yes yeah that would be it a through L Tuesday M through Z Wednesday and then a through L Thursday M through Z Friday evaluate and move to iners the following week if based on based on Mr Carr's motion yes that's what it would look like is that your understanding Mr Carr I think that's a reasonable compromise

153and solution if all are willing uh your amendment has been accepted and the second accepted so the motion is as you've stated it could I add something just a concern could we have could we update our reporting to be Mondays and Thursdays as requested by the by Amber by m Franco I would I would yes or two days a week whatever would make so I would probably move it to Tuesday in the reason why Wednesday was a good date at this point in time is because it gave people prepare time to prepare uh if we went hybrid that next Monday okay um moving it to like a Monday Wednesday is kind of not really worth it just because we don't get those reports until Monday so um we could leave it as a a Wednesday

154the the week we come back and then switch it to Monday Thursday just knowing that um that Thursday uh we'd be reporting out first thing in the morning if someone had to go hybrid it just cuts it down by a day I think that would be important if if that would if that's been asked of us I do want to accommodate and work to make that if that's important I think that would be a way to GAA about the dates I just want to I don't want to have a Monday when you know that's when that's one of our highest reporting days so okay that Monday morning it could look really really low uh but that afternoon it could be a lot higher so we'll have to work on those specific times to get so

155just just so I understand Miss Wood that's what you're suggesting is not a part of the motion part motion simply asking the superintendent to increase the number of reporting times during a week yes is that right thank you okay I I would like to hear Miss eetti and see if how you feel about this amended motion I don't feel very good about it you you wouldn't support it my my uh final comment before I yield to the board see if they have any additional comment is uh I don't believe that just as parents and students uh don't find the hybrid or virtual modality efficient uh good in any way most of the teachers with whom I've had conversation don't like it either so let's acknowledge that but it's a stop Gap to try to get

156us to a point that really was why it was even utilized as a part of it it is actually a ton more work for those in the classroom along with those at home it is not an easy task and when we don't have the kind of infrastructure that one would need to truly teach electronically makes it even more difficult so that's my comment board any additional comments or concerns questions before we move to a vote on Mr Carr's motion Amendment amended motion rather well I I feel like um I feel like the two weeks was a a good compromise and I think that personally I will stick with that I'm I'm sorry I I know it's really hard and these are very hard decisions um it's it's hard on teachers it's hard on students um

157but I again I don't know how what will pass because I haven't been able to decipher that from what my board members have said so I will um we can go ahead and vote okay any additional see seeing none we will take a vote all those in favor of the motion as expressed by Mr Carr and seconded by Miss Wood and Dr McCord has a written copy of that motion please signify by saying I I I those opposed the same nay nay motion carries 30 I would like to take a moment just to explain my vote I am highly in favor of the two-e transition to from regular to hybrid and then moving into inperson learning but in light of the passion and all that we have heard not just this evening and I concur

158with Mr car uh some of the commentary was highly insulting and uh that's just unfortunate however that's what we signed on for I suppose and the pay is great so we'll work through that the motion does carry 3 two and we are moving to hybrid for one week upon return or actually the 4 days and then reviewing the data and moving to inperson learning as the data dictates on a school by school basis is that correct that's how I understand it sir thank you we'll move to item 8.3 development first read of policy gcqa Dr McCord thank you Dr Santa Cruz govering board members before you we have policy gcqa professional staff reduction in force this is a policy that we have reviewed and we have uh made some minor changes to the policy that

159are before you right now and we took this to the policy meeting and um the first time and so uh whatever changes or if it stands as is we'll take it another time for one more look and then we'll bring it back for final approval board members this is the first read of policy gcqa is there a motion so moved thank you Miss humph is there a second second thank you Miss ug jetti any comments questions or concerns related to 8.03 I I just want to say that the way we have changed this SP policy I think improves it and this is um this will be a difficult challenge I hope that we don't have to use these two policies but um you know people say we care about money but um it's not the

160money it's what money pays for and it pays for teachers and classrooms and curriculum and all kinds of things so um I think this is a the way we've improved these is important but I hope that we are able to do mitigation strategies and not be a have to use this use attrition and other things to be able to keep our staff as much as possible board members anything else no additional commentary we vote on item 8.03 all those in favor please signify by saying I I I I all those oppose the same motion carries 5 item 8.04 policy development first read policy gdqa Dr McCord thank you Dr Santa Cruz governing board members this is policy gdqa support staff reduction force uh we did the um something similar to this policy in terms of

161cleaning it up and uh bringing it up to date so those changes are before you thank you is there a motion so moved thank you Miss jetti is there a second I'll second thank you Miss Wood any discussion very similar to the previous policy seeing none we will vote on item 8.04 policy development first read gdqa all those in favor please signify by saying I I all those oppos the same I motion carries 5 item nine is request for future agenda items those of you who have those please uh submit them to Miss Wilson should you desire if there is nothing you want to communicate this evening moving to item 10 board committee reports item 10.01 Gilbert Education Foundation Miss humph uh yes I would like to report that we've been working um on the

162classroom grants and are are getting those in order to fund as many as we can and I'll just say um we won't be able to fund them all but they all deserve to be funded there's many wonderful ideas in there for teachers um or social workers to improve their schools and um I I was lucky to be able to read the applications we had a committee that did that and and we're working through funding so if anyone anyone wants to make a d a donation to The Gilbert Education Foundation and help some of those grants get funded uh we' appreciate it because they were they'll probably be announced um in January when we come back to school we'll be announcing who receives those grants but it's just amazing the ideas that um people people come

163up with just $11,000 can do a lot for um improving or adding on to something so anyway it was it was a I I don't envy the person our uh executive director who has to put together all the scores and and figure it out so thank you thank you Miss Humphrey is item 10.02 city of Mesa liaison Miss Wood I corresponded with uh council member Thompson today and he said he doesn't have anything that he would share with me that pertains to the schools thank you Miss Wood item 10.03 10.04 uh Gilbert town of Gilbert lay on Mr Carr and finance and audit committee Mr Carr I have nothing to report from either committee this evening thank you thank you Mr Carr item 10.05 Insurance trust representative Miss ug jetti our meeting was cancelled this

164month so I nothing to report thank you thank you Mr jetti item 10.06 legislative representative of to be me and I have nothing additional to report this evening moving to item 11 meeting dates Dr mord Dr Santa Cruz governing board members our next meeting is Tuesday January 5th that is the date that students start back it's an organizational meeting as well as a board work study and brief board business meeting begins at 6 uh January 12th board policy meeting committee at 11:30 a.m. and uh January 26 is another board business meeting at 6: p.m. thank you Dr McCord item 12 item 12.01 and retain a motion to adjourn so moved thank you Miss humph is there a second second thank you Miss ug jetti as I've said before typically there isn't a lot of discussion

165all those in favor please signify by saying I I all those oppos the same we are adjourned