001Interested in GLP-1 >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. >> [snorts] >> Good evening. I would like to call this meeting to order. Mr. Lotzenhiser, may I have the roll call, please? President Wade, members of the board, please let the record show that all members are in attendance today. Thank you. Please join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. >> I motion to approve the agenda. Second. That would be Ms. Jarman seconding. Ms. Huelsmeyer's is loading. Do you want to verbally? Yes. Yay. It went away. Would you also like to verbally? That'd be great. Okay, great. Ms. Zimmerman, is that five yays on your end? Okay, great. Thank you. Motion carries 5-0. Mr. Watsonheiser, you're up. President Wade, members of the board, it's so exciting for the Superintendent's report and the
002Higley Happenings Points of Pride and upcoming events tonight. I would like to remind the audience that there will be a time that we will dismiss the audience after we go through all of this and we would appreciate if you would stay while we recognize all of the different people that are here today for not just Points of Pride but our Higley Happenings. But what an exciting All right, we're a little bit ahead of the game right now. There we go. All right, for Higley Happenings, we have a few different groups that we'd like to recognize today and so if we could go on to the first one, please. All right, let us first welcome up, and if they wouldn't mind coming up here, congratulations to the Sossaman Middle School Spartan Cheer Team. >> [applause] >>
003So, the Spartan cheer team this year won the junior high show cheer state championships. A special thank you to our coaches, Beth Knutsvig and Tristan Kramer, for their leadership commitment to excellence. We're incredibly proud of this outstanding achievement. Way to go, Spartans. And I'm going to turn it over to our athletic director, Mr. Keeling, who's going to say a few words about the about the team. Thank you very much, and that description was very accurate in describing the hard work and effort that these ladies put in all year long. 7:00 a.m. practices multiple days a week, every week up until this point. And so, we are so proud of what they have accomplished, and the scores that they got at each competition improved from competition to competition to competition, which just speaks to the effort
004that you guys put in every single week in practice. So, we are super proud of you, and congratulations on your state championship. >> [applause] >> Mr. Keeling, would you do me a favor? Would you just pass the mic down so everybody can introduce themselves? So, we'd like to know who's here tonight. So, just have them introduce themselves. I am Beth Knutsvig. I'm one of the cheer coaches. I'm Amelia Wait. I'm Quinn Wait. I'm Grayson Rice. I'm Keely Torres. I'm Bailey Burns. I'm Payton Piatt. I'm Teagan Morris. I'm Avery McDevitt. And I'm Avery Gibson. And then, I'm coach Tristan. I'm the second coach for this team. I just want to say I'm super proud of these girls. They worked really hard for this season, so. >> [applause] >> At this time I'd like to recognize and
005congratulate our marketing and public information department. If they wouldn't mind coming down and standing right in the middle, please. >> [applause] >> So we're recognizing the marketing public information department tonight because of the awards that they've won at the 2026 ASPRA Asian awards. That's Arizona School School Public Relations Association. As you can see our awards of excellence and our awards of merit that we got for the different campaigns and the different things that we do. We always like to joke around they prefer to be on the other side of the camera taking the picture. So it's wonderful for us to get to recognize them for all of the hard work and dedication that they have done with their video, multimedia, marketing, graphic design, and writing all of the different awards that they have won. So
006once again, let's give a big round of applause for our [applause] Mr. Fields, where did the microphone go? Would you mind introducing yourselves and your positions, please, within the department? This is their favorite part. I'm Alexa Sanchez. I'm the senior admin assistant. I'm Luz Cabiruel. I'm the marketing specialist. I'm McKenna Mattingly. I'm the graphic designer. I'm Gardner Jordan. I'm the multimedia specialist. And I'm Jessica Bautista. I'm the director of marketing and public information. >> [applause] [applause] [clears throat] >> All right. So, we'd like to say congratulations to Leila at HTA for first prize in the cupcake cook-off. So, if Leila, if you're in attendance, please if you wouldn't mind coming up. >> [applause] >> And I thought I saw Ben from Chartwells. Ben, if you would come on up as well. Thanks, Leila. Right there
007in the middle. So, Chartwells, our food service vendor, recently hosted a cupcake cook-off with our elementary schools. And the competition was uh I didn't write this, "Deliciously impressive." Congratulations to Leila from HTA for earning first place. Students partnered with their cafeteria lead for this competition. So, congratulations go out to Esmeralda Bajit from HTA. Your creativity and baking talent truly stood out. We are so proud of you. And so Ben, if you wouldn't mind describing it for us a little bit. All right. This was our first attempt at a cook-off. We were very excited how it went. It was great partnering with all the schools. We definitely couldn't have done it without the help of all the principals. Of course, our leads as the sous chefs and then of course our executive chefs. All nine did
008an outstanding job. I happen to be one of the judges. I also want to thank President Way for being a judge. We had a sugar rush and it was a hard choice. It came down to the creativity, but overall every cupcake was amazing to eat. So, you really stood out. So, thank you so much for the job you did. >> [applause] >> Um it was a vanilla cupcake with um yellow frosting and like gold edible glitter in the frosting and it had a cookie on the side with strawberry toppings. Excellent. >> [applause] >> All right, now it's come to the time where we're going to do our points of pride. Could I have Mr. Potts and his admin team come on down for the Sussman Spartans? >> [applause] >> Thank you, Superintendent Lotzenhiser. I know
009you were on the the watch with Jessica at the business partner breakfast. Do we have a time limit or can we just brag and brag and brag? Okay. I will thank you, President Wade and the governing board and cabinet for having us. This is one of our favorite times of the year. We try to do a good job all year long and strive to celebrate all the different individuals on our campus that make Spartan Nation the best nation. But tonight we get to pick four individuals to celebrate. And so we again, we try to do that throughout the year. We do a We appreciate Wednesdays. We do Thursday thank yous. We partner with PTSO in some of those and we have last year's volunteer here. Michelle Morris is she's our one of our amazing PTSO
010members. And so we're very excited to talk about these four individuals who do such amazing things on our campus each and every day. And so let's start with our Points of Pride Teacher of the Year, Ms. Dana Gym. Come on up. >> [applause] >> Mrs. Gym is one of the brightest stars on Sussman's campus. Let's start with her contributions in the classroom where you can walk in any day of the week and find her imploring robust and scaffolded discussion questions to help walk students to a correct answer and increase their critical thinking. Um giving them agency, giving them advocacy, giving them skills that they need in order to be successful and be more confident in the classroom, um and working in small groups. She does a tremendous job there. In addition to that, she's also
011a vital member of our PLC guiding coalition, and her passion and dedication to the needs of students was the catalyst um for one of the most in-depth and robust PDs we've had um for teachers who all said it was the best one we've ever done. All thanks to the advocacy that she pushed forward for students. Um in addition to that, she's also our sped department chair, and so she works all day putting out fires for for students and supports a team of teachers um who have some of the most challenging and unique needs on our campus. In addition to that, she also coaches track for us, and there's several more in additions to that that I could go on for. Mrs. Jim has touched the lives of so many students and teachers on our campus
012in so many different ways, and we are blessed to have her on our campus and and plays a significant part of what makes Spartan Nation so great. Thank you, Mrs. Jim. >> [applause] >> Ms. Jim, who'd you bring with you tonight? Uh the seventh grade math team, a little ELA, and a little science. >> [applause] >> Is she staying? Yeah. Yes, she's staying. Come over here. First time we've done this, apparently. Next up, we'd like to recognize our volunteer of the year, Ms. Soraya Sharp. Come on up, Soraya. Soraya has taken on all kinds of volunteer roles, not only at Sassman, but also at Higley High School. And so, she's an amazing part of Spartan Nation. This goes back to 4 years ago when I when I came into Spartan Nation as a principal. I
013remember sitting in my driveway trying to fill some last-minute holes on our campus as we started the new school year, and I will use the word encouraged, but it was really begged Soraya to help us out in the English department. Do you remember that, Ms. Sharp? And so since then, and even prior to that, Soraya has just taken on so many roles on our campus, whether it's as a chaperone, with winter guard, with band at Higley High School. She's probably taught in every position on our campus. She's absolutely amazing. The kids love her. The campus loves her. We have a We have a wall on our campus that just has different family photos, as we call them, throughout the year, and she's up there with Keaton Jones, for those who know Keaton. So when he
014came to campus, and she was Keaton Jones' teacher, so she is through and through a Spartan, and we appreciate all she does as a volunteer, as as an educator on our campus. Thank you for all you do, Soraya. >> [applause] >> And who did you bring I have to really quick I forgot this part. I really So the other day, Soraya and her son Colin, who's a who's a Spartan, were getting out of the car, and my favorite part of the day to start the day is doing traffic in the morning. They're getting out of the car. I greeted both, and I said, "Hey, Colin, did He's hiding over there embarrassed. I said, "Hey, Colin, did you hear the good news? Your mom has been selected as Points of Pride." And he like took like
015five different steps. I was like, "Wow, he ignored me. That's super rude." And then he stops and goes, "Yeah, it's about time. What took so long?" So yeah. Wait no longer. So who did you bring with you? Well, I brought Colin over there hiding. And my son Parker is here, and my husband Chesley Sharp. And then hopefully my other sons are watching this streaming. I have one in Virginia and one at home. So. All right. Shout out to Ms. Sharp. Thank you, Ms. Sharp. Next up, we have our classified staff member, and this is Mr. Josh Acuña. Come on up, Josh. So, Josh is our classified staff of the Points of Pride, and one thing that Josh is is our campus safety monitor on campus. He is fairly new. We were actually just talking. He
016came in after spring break last year. And he has demonstrated such an integral part of our community as a whole. He's built into the respect and accountability and being there for anything, whether it's a hurt student or let me help our plant foreman put umbrellas up, or let me make sure a staff member gets to the car. Uh one of our favorites right now is Josh treats us to um different cookies. He loves to bake. Um and so his cookies go like wildfire, but Josh is definitely one of those standout people on our campus every single day that just goes above and beyond, and we are so grateful that he fits so well into the puzzle at Osmond. Um we're so proud of his efforts, his work, and ultimately he is well deserving of this
017award. So, congratulations. >> [applause] >> We don't normally see Josh dressed up in this. He uh I think Mr. Lots of noise here today saw him in his full uh campus security gear, and so looking so sharp and dapper. Who did you bring tonight? That would be my wife right there, uh Brittany Acuña, and my two sons, Thomas and Joshua. >> [applause] >> Josh was also helping out Friday night at our band dinner concert. He was grilling, and I don't know if you want me to share this, but he will be in a commercial that will be coming out very soon. So, yeah, he's he's he's a bit famous, right? Uh and and so, congratulations, Josh. And so, as we finalize here, definitely last, but definitely not least, uh the most important people we have
018on our campus, right? Is the students. And so, we'd like to at this time to call up um our student Spartan Points of Pride, which is Kaylin Selvy. Kaylin, come on up. >> [applause and cheering] >> That's for you. Thank you. The downside of being a middle school educator is we only get them for 2 years, right? And Kaylin is one of those that's going to be missed, right? It is with 1,100 students on campus, a huge compliment to Kaylin is like she is seen every single day. Um whether it's offering a fist bump, whether it's uh at lunchtime walking around with peers, just saying hi to people. Uh as a student athlete, she just finished her her basketball season, right? I would go to the basketball games, in warm-up, she's encouraging her teammates, kind
019of just those words of encouragement to get them hyped up. She is everywhere on our campus. She's taken photos of the seventh grade basketball game before playing in her basketball game. At the band dinner concert the other night, she is hustling. I actually had to tell her, Kaylin, the line's long. Can you just slow down just a little bit while we get caught up on the burgers? She is giving orders, she's telling people where to go, she is doing it, right? Kaylin is absolutely amazing on our campus. I can't say enough things about her. Kaylin, thank you for being a Spartan. Thank you for leading by example. Thank you for all you do for the last 2 years. We're going to miss you. Congratulations to Kaylin Selvy. >> [applause] >> And who did you bring
020tonight? See some people filming you over there. Uh I brought my family with me. Thank you so much, guys. I love you so much. Thank you for coming. >> [applause] >> Let's hear it again for our points of pride from Spartan Nation. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Mr. Potts. Now Mr. Bannick, while we're switching the slide, if Mr. Bannick from Higley High and his admin team would come on up, let's give a round of applause for the Higley High points of pride. All right, there we go. Uh thank you, Superintendent Lotsenheiser, um President Wade, members of the board, and thank you all of you for being here tonight. Um we are are celebrating four individuals here tonight for Higley High School um and we could easily celebrate so many more. We have so many people
021that we can thank and honor for being a member of our Higley family. We are super proud to be able to honor these people here tonight. They are well deserved. We are just going to dive right into it. First of all, I'll introduce myself. My name is Brian Bannick. I am the proud Higley principal. With me is Mr. Aaron Dilly. He is our assistant principal and athletic director. And the first person that I'm going to let Mr. Dilly introduce tonight is Colonel David Vaughn. >> [applause] >> All right, it's truly a pleasure to be recognizing this great man. Colonel David Vaughn exemplifies the very best of what Higley's points of pride represents through his unwavering commitment to students, service, and leadership. Through his dedication, Colonel Vaughn has built a highly competitive, disciplined, and values-driven AFJROTC
022program that constantly challenges students to achieve excellence. His leadership has guided the Higley AFJROTC drill team to multiple consecutive state championships. Three. About to be four. A testament to his high standards, meticulous preparation, and belief in his cadets' potential. Beyond the AFJROTC program, Colonel Vaughn extends his impact across the entire campus by supporting a wide range of clubs and organizations and their philanthropic and service initiatives, modeling selflessness and community responsibility. He routinely sacrifices personal and family time to ensure cadets are prepared for practice, competitions, and leadership opportunities, never seeking recognition for his own efforts. Colonel Vaughn carries himself a daily example of integrity, professionalism, and servant leadership. His influence reaches as far beyond awards and trophies. He shapes students into confident leaders and responsible citizens, making him a truly deserving points of pride nominee. >>
023[applause] [cheering] >> Mr. Bannick, who did who did Colonel Vaughn bring with him tonight? That's right. We forgot that part. This doesn't just happen by yourself. So, I need to recognize my amazing wife, Amy. She's in the back there. >> [applause] >> Given up late nights and weekends, um she sacrifices a lot. Not not only on active duty, but still as we do what we do here. But, I can't do it alone. I have an amazing co-conspirator who happens to be here as well tonight. Uh Senior Master Sergeant Jessica McDevitt. >> [applause] >> It It's truly a partnership both at home and in the office. Thank you both. >> [applause] >> All right, well deserved. Our next is going to be our classified staff, uh Ms. Christina Isaacson. >> [applause] [cheering] >> Aaron. Christina is
024a true champion for college and career readiness, consistently demonstrating passion in her area, and has a drive with unwavering commitment to student success beyond graduation that is evident to those around her. Her competitive spirit and strong work ethic push her to gain knowledge, bring impactful opportunities, and hold creative and meaningful events for our students and families. Most importantly, she is willing to help her team wherever there is a need. She creates strong relationships with staff and students, builds a supportive environment with co-workers, and is truly dedicated to her position as our college and career specialist. These attributes make her a point of pride for Higley High and we are thankful she is a part of our team. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> Oh. We've forgotten twice now. Christina, who'd you bring here with you tonight? My
025two kids, Annie and Henry. >> [applause] >> Thank you. All right, Tani, would you do us the honor of coming on down, please? >> [applause] >> All right, I think I spent a lot of time until I realized how much time Tani spends and then I realize I don't. Tani is the president of our football booster club and while that is a full-time job in itself, she still somehow finds the time to support countless other programs on campus. She has helped the football booster club reach new heights in fundraising, team meals, team apparel, team travel, team events and many more. While doing this, she has also become a welcome member of our Higley family. As she spends as much time on campus as almost all of us. She helps make connections to other programs on
026campus and is the first to always offer a helping hand, usually before she's even asked. We have seen her supporting numerous teams and clubs with her time, her efforts, her connection and most importantly her energy. Her spirit of teamwork has helped create a culture where everyone at Higley supports and roots for each other. We have become a closer family because she is a part of our family. We are grateful for her and happy to honor her with this recognition. >> [applause] >> Tani, oh, you don't get away that easy. Who do you want to recognize here with you? I brought my family and I have our booster our football booster board here. All right, last but not least, um our student uh point of pride who unfortunately could not be here tonight because he's doing
027awesome student things. Um he is actually going He's actually competing uh in a tennis match right now, so that is He's on the other side of the valley, so unfortunately that's why he couldn't be here, but fortunately his father will be here to to accept his award in his place. So, uh Mr. Barro Navarro, can you please come up and accept the award for Francisco Navarro? Thank you. All right, a little bit about Francisco. >> [clears throat] >> Francisco exemplifies excellence, dedication, and servant leadership in every area of his involvement on our campus. A varsity tennis player, Francisco demonstrates commitment and discipline both on and off the court. Beyond athletics, he has devoted countless hours to our theater program, playing a significant role in helping the troop achieve honor troop status. Through his diligence and
028leadership, our troop earned honors gold and the prestigious award of distinction, an honor awarded to only four schools. As the historian for Higley High School Theater and Thespian Troupe, Francisco preserves and celebrates the legacy of the program while continuing to elevate its standard of excellence. Francisco also serves as a student Thespian officer for the state of Arizona, repres- representing not only our school, but student artists across the state with integrity and professionalism. His leadership extends beyond titles. He regularly stays after school simply to ask teacher teachers how he can help. He is the embodiment of a true serv- servant leader. An integral part of our Mandarin program, Francisco recently played a major role in hosting and collaborating on a student-led Lunar New Year concert alongside visiting students from China. His cultural awareness, initiative, and commitment
029to building meaningful connections reflect the global mindset we strive to cultivate at Higley High School. How many languages does he speak fluently? Uh fluently three. Three. And which ones? Uh Japanese, Spanish, English. Okay, so not too bad, right? Okay. Francisco Navarro represents the very best of Higley High School. We're incredibly proud to honor him as our Points of Pride nominee. >> [applause] >> And although Francisco couldn't be here, his father is here and Um yeah, my wife, the mother, is right there. Thank you very much for being here. You know what? Before we get to upcoming events, we'll just take a little 5-minute break. If you guys would like to go ahead and head out right now, uh we'll do that. >> President Wade, members of the board, I'll go ahead and finish the superintendent's
030report. Uh when we talk about upcoming events, um I'm sure no one's counting down, but spring break starts March 9th. And so, we know we'll finish this week and then go to 2 weeks of spring break. On Monday, March 23rd, school resumes. Uh the following week, uh Thursday, April 2nd, we do have our uh superintendent governing board visit to Higley High School, and we're looking forward to that. On Friday, April 3rd, there is no school for the spring holiday and then our next boarding is board meeting is not until April 7th. So, we have about a month until we get to our next board meeting. And that concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you, Mr. Lotzenhiser. Uh up next on the agenda is request to speak, but we currently do not have any requests to speak.
031So, this brings us to consent agenda items. I motion to approve consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.12. Second. That would be Ms. Jarman seconding. >> [snorts] [clears throat] >> Uh oh, yeah, we can submit our vote. Please submit your vote via the portal. >> [clears throat] >> Ms. Zimmerman, I don't have the summary report. Is that all five? I just got it in the calendar problem. Sweet, we can do that. So, I can close this is what you're telling me. All right. Excellent. I mean, I till it's fixed, I'll just pull it up after. That's fine. Um so, if we could all verbally vote, that'd be great. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye, motion carries five to zero. This brings us to 6.1 third review of the 2026-2027 maintenance and operation budget. Ms. Rushcamp.
032President Wade, members of the board, tonight we will take our third review of the M&O budget. Um this will look very similar to the previous two um presentations that we looked at. So, this slide we have seen again. This is the third time. There are no changes made to this slide. We again we speak a little about AEL. Um our known budget implications. And then as a reminder for our budget transfer from M&O to capital, we are reducing that a little going into next year down to 3.25 million. And again, that's to pay for our middle school leases. This slide has changed slightly. The top portion is still when we came in December and revised the budget for this current year 26, we were just under 119 million. Now going into 27, so July 1st,
033we will start that budget cycle. This has increased by $450,000 up to 111 million 400 and just about 43 thousand. Uh 200 of that is additional one-time funding for the former prop 123, which is now a supplemental and that's just increased and it it's still conservative, but just based on the different meetings I attend and additional information that has been received, um feel pretty confident we will get be getting a little more than what had previously been projected. And then also looking at our budget balance carry forward for this current year that we're in, um we'd been projecting 19 million thinking it will come in slightly higher than that just based on where we were at last week. So, that makes up the 450,000. Also new to this slide is the knowns from our January
034budget meeting where or our board meeting where we had the 3% compensation increase for the salary exempt and the 4% compensation increase for the classified hourly. Those are coming from M&O. Uh the certified staff again will come from classroom site funds. So, taking where we were in December, projecting where we'll be July 1st, it's a $7.4 million deficit. The fixed cost increases, a few of these have been trued up. We've heard from the trust for our property and then our work workers comp, um what our rate increase should be. So, those have been changed to those estimates. Health insurance, we're still working on health insurance. Um we know we will have an increase. Right now, we're projecting the 600,000 out of M&O. But again, um by the end of this week, we will have a
035firm number on that. And as I've mentioned before, the schools and departments, we are holding them um we did not take any funds away and we did not give any M&O funds going into next year because they did have a larger reduction this year. So, the total of that is just under a million dollars, 980,000. So, we take the 111 million dollars we were looking at and knowing we had a about a 7.4 deficit um from the January 20 27th governing board meeting that we had and we had looked at uh position reductions. It was voted on the 3.5 million. So, that reducing our budget by that is going to take away from the negative. And then we had the pay increases for um salary exempt and classified hourly that I just mentioned. That was
036about 1.1 when um mandatory payroll taxes were added to it. And then the estimated fixed cost that we just spoke about. So, right now it's looking that there will be about a $6 million use of fund balance um because we are budgeting to a deficit. So, this uh for the next meeting April 7th, that will be our first look at the capital budget. So, and we will bring that twice, whereas M&O came three times, capital we will do twice in hopes to get an approval in May so that we can start ordering long lead time items that maintenance will need and IT for the next school year. And then on May 5th, we will also do our final budget revision for this current year 2026. Um see where our numbers are there. And then June
0372nd, we will have our proposed '27 budget. And June 23rd, our adopted '27 budget. And with that, I will take any questions. President Wade, um I just had a question about the uh I know last time we discussed a possible refi. I don't know if you'd had a chance to look into that. We have We have We have been talking with Stifel about that. Um that won't affect M&O. It It will affect our debt accounts, but yes, we have been looking into that. But we have nothing's been finalized yet. Okay. Yes. Mhm. All right, thank you. You're welcome. President Wade, I was kind of uh what board member Van Hook just mentioned. I was wondering the same things. So, but also be cognizant of Usually if there's refis and stuff like that, there's potential add-on
038fees and stuff like that. So, hopefully we can be mindful of that. Um we really want to do what's best. It's kind of This is really mentally challenging for me to like look at these numbers. So, I'm grateful that, you know, we're being really cognizant of these numbers. Really meeting the rubber where meets the road, trying to get those resources to the teachers, and trying to really be strategic for that. M&O fund. And um so, just keep it going. Keep as true to these numbers as you can. Um and be mindful. I've had multiple conversations where the schools and all that kind of stuff, they're they're really kind of uh reaching out as they always do, but just really being mindful of making sure that the schools and admin have all the resources and the
039teachers that they need, but also being very zealous and forthright in um and uh conscious of their spendings, if that makes sense. Yes. Thank you, Ms. Rushcamp. This brings us to uh 6.2 K through 5 ELA instructional materials adoption recommendation. Ms. Davis. Good evening. >> Thank you. All right. So, I'm going to go over our recommendation for the K-5 ELA um curriculum adoption. And I just want to go over and highlight our adoption process. It was quite a lengthy process that we started over a year ago. Um with the goal of ensuring a thoughtful, research-based process that honored stakeholder feedback. Our timeline was intentionally designed to bring a recommendation to you all by March with the hope of getting the materials into our teachers' hands before the school year is over. As well as um
040a timeline to explore and kind of play with those materials and even maybe um build in some professional learning before the school year is out depending on the timeline with the vendor. Um I also want to highlight that the steering committee um which is made up of HCEA reps, um instructional coaches, site admin, as well as district leadership, worked together last year to develop a robust scope and sequence for our RFP to ensure it would meet all of our district needs and priorities. Um so, it was a pretty tight um list of needs and priorities. And we also were um working hard to ensure that teacher um administration, instructional coach, and parent and community voice were heard throughout the entire process. So, we also had a district review committee um that came into play to
041review all of the vendor materials that were submitted. Our members participated in a um in three different orientation sessions that reviewed all of our ELA state standards. We reviewed the science of learning or I'm sorry, science of reading. And we also went over what does solid research-affirmed ELA instruction look like, and what how would that show up in a instructional program. And then they also had three full days to review each of the different materials. Um we broke that up across a few weeks. And then we did have the budget constraints that came in so that we reduced or narrowed our adoption scope to K5. And we moved seven finalists forward for that 60-day public review. And from there, we had vendors present to our steering committee, and we brought forward some best and final
042offers from that group. And throughout that process, discussions focused on um the instructional quality, the district fit, teacher planning demands, as well as the impact on student learning. Which brings us to today, which is our final recommendation. So I just want to take a quick second to highlight the full steering committee, and take a moment to thank them for the significant time and commitment they dedicated to the adopt I'm sorry, the adoption over the past year. Their willingness to engage in hard and sometimes difficult conversations while consistently keeping our students and teachers at the center of the work um it was critical to our process. And I don't have a slide with all of our um district review committee names, but I also really want to take a moment to thank them um for their
043time, their expertise, their thoughtful input throughout the process. Their feedback and perspective were invaluable in shaping our recommendations and our work that we've done. So with that, as you can see on our screen, our recommendation is CKLA by Amprif- Amplify. And we didn't come to that decision lightly. Following vendor presentations, the steering committee ranked each program based on quality, effectiveness, and fit for HUSD. The team reviewed best and final offers to determine the most cost-effective adoption design. I'm sorry, design aligned to district needs, priority, and budget. The district initially anticipated selecting separate K-3 phonics program and a K-5 program. But based on stakeholder feedback and our vendor learning, the steering committee explored a comprehensive K-5 core program that has embedded systematic and explicit phonics instruction. This approach provides a more cohesive program, eliminates the need
044to crosswalk multiple curricula to ensure alignment to standards and instructional time requirements. It also promotes consistent use of materials across campuses, improves coherence in teacher planning, and supports stronger and more equitable student learning outcomes. So based on that criteria and feedback, I'm going to repeat it again, the district is recommending a K-5 comprehensive core adoption with embedded phonics and selecting Amplify CKLA as our finalist. I just want to highlight some of the key takeaways that make CKLA the strongest um curriculum for HUSD. We had overwhelmingly strong stakeholder support both from our district review committee, our steering committee, and our public review. Um it came out top. It is very tightly aligned to um all of the research, to science of reading, and to our state standards. Um it is on the MOA approved list um
045both for as a complete core. Um there are just a ton of instructional supports in there. A lot of teachable moments for teachers if they aren't sure how to teach a certain phonics skill or how to teach a certain um standard, there are um some teaching moments in there for teachers and specific to literacy skills only. Um that K-2 embedded systematic and explicit phonics is robust. Um I know an embedded phonics can be scary, but this one is actually a full phonics curriculum. It has a rich knowledge base um so students are reading um with any topic and building their um knowledge on that topic through engaging with multiple different um texts and articles on that topic and really building their knowledge on that. Um there is writing and research and grammar and um language
046and um speaking and listening all built in there. So, it is a full comprehensive um program. It is rigorous and engaging. It is developmentally appropriate so that all the texts that they are reading are the right for their age and their development. Um and the last one I uh there's a lot of teacher supports in there. Um >> [snorts] >> both for um student access. So, if they need um English language supports in there, if a student is on an IEP, supports for them there, as well as engagement and skill development. And then the last one I'll name is it is cost-effective for us. It is a one-time purchase, um and there's also digital access that comes with this as well. So, that takes us to our next steps. Um we will be creating our
047professional learning plan to onboard our teachers and our instructional coaches, literacy coaches, to all the materials, um once we move past our um vote. Tonight, we are able to move forward with um working with the vendor for that. And then also to schedule the ordering and delivery of the materials. With that, I will turn it back over. Do we have any questions or comments for the board? President Wade. Um thank you so much, Ms. Davis. Um I just like to kind of emphasize it Thank you so much for that explanation. It really seems that this is a really thought-out process, and so I really appreciate the time that you all have taken on this. Um in addition to kind of some of the questions, what's lucky being board members is we get to kind of
048ask some extra questions. Um so, I'm so grateful for your answers on that, but I just want the community to know like I love political neutrality in these kind of situations, so I just want to ensure that overall Core Knowledge is what this curriculum focuses on. I'm going to Before I answer, I would like to for you to clarify what you mean by Core Knowledge. Oh, the core >> [sighs] >> Good question. Um not principles, what is it? What were uh from the state requirements. And then the standards from Our standards, yes, sorry. No, you're fine. Um yes, that is what um what the whole program would focus on is our state standards and literacy skills. Okay, fantastic. And I love like when I heard the idea of the phonics being enriched in this You
049know what I mean? So, I'm so grateful that we're mindful of that and that in a way this will be such a financially conservative to the district. So, thank you so much for thinking about that and and being thorough that it actually will cross those tees and dot the eyes when it comes to the phonics. So, thank you so much. Um And thank you so much for reaching out uh and getting the feedback from everybody who, you know, or who want took the time actually is probably what I should say to let the district know what what they wanted. So, thank you so much everybody for letting us know. I love how you put it on the website. We've got the times exactly and I came in and you guys were available. So, any question
050I had, you guys were there. So, thank you so much. >> [clears throat] >> Go ahead, Ms. Van Hook. Okay. Um So, I know we currently pay for 95% will we stop using them going forward? 95% was one of our vendors um through the RFP and that was not selected to be a finalist. Um So, no, it would not be repurchased for use. Okay. Thank you. And then um >> do you want to step in now? We do have 95% their tier two resources that schools will continue to be able to use and then all of the purchased materials that we have for 95% can it continue to be used as an intervention for additional supports for students. So, even though we may not be purchasing it as a our core phonics program, we will
051still have available those resources that we currently already have available to continue using with students that have those additional needs. That's That's what I was asking. Thank you. And then as far as lessons are concerned, if there happens to be a lesson that is outside of the scope of literacy or state standards, at what point would we be able to manage those modules and and specific lessons to be able to disable them and will that be done at the publisher level or are they going to allow us to do it here? Um as my you know, my expectation is that ELA just remains focused on literacy instruction. Each grade level has one choice unit that we are able to swap out um at the district level and if I do recall correctly and I will
052fact check myself on this one. Um at the district level, we are able to um go through each um text I wouldn't say each unit necessary or each lesson necessarily, but be able to say we're going to skip this one. Um I know we can also do that with the digital library. Okay. And And some of those details, because we haven't been able to have those conversations at that depth with the vendor, will will be having once once the the recommendations approved. Perfect. And then speaking of libraries, do you know if there's like an online library where students have access to be able to look through independently or will they only be able to access assigned material? Um the text that they would be able to access digitally are for their grade level. Um and
053then the teacher can also push out the text to them. So the teacher can My understanding at this point is that they can either push them all out or hold them and push them out as they're going to assign them, but that is one of our top questions to ask them when we once we get past um the approval of the adoption. Okay. Um but from all my research that I have found, it is there is control from the district and control from the teachers. Okay. Um and then uh I I guess that applies to like digi you know, other digital components aside from like books that they would have to read. Um and then um contractually, like what safeguards do we have in place if any of the content changes during the term that
054we have this? I don't remember the specific contract language within the RFP, um but we can definitely share that. Uh there is there is specific language in the RFP related to changes in the content, um that kind of thing, that has to be the district has to be notified prior, um and could nullify the the purchase if they they do things without telling us kind of things. But again, the the specific language within the RFP, I don't have um off the top of my head. Um but we can certainly share that with you. Thank you. And then um what happens financially if let's say that the program does not produce measurable results or measurable gains. Hypothetically speaking. Approving this recommendation, we are purchasing the materials for 5-year contract. But again, looking at other districts that
055have implemented this, they they actually saw Usually with a new adoption, you're going to see what's called an implementation dip. So so you would see that the the scores of students actually go down in the first year. The Scottsdale recently adopted CKLA. They did not see any noticeable implementation dip in their first year of using CKLA. That's the only other district in the East Valley that I'm aware of that's using this program. But but again, just knowing their demographics and ours are very similar. When we look at our scores versus their scores, we we are pretty close at the elementary level. So I anticipate based on their based on the what we've seen in terms of the research, I don't anticipate that that would be an issue. But obviously at the end of our 5-year
056term, we would be going out for an RFP and if it's not showing results, then we would be looking at a new resource. And is it possible for the board to be able to see like quarterly outcomes updates as far as um you know, just the literacy outcomes when it comes to you know, how it's going. We right now benchmark our students at the end of first, second, and third quarter. It's aligned to AASA. We can certainly share with you the results of those benchmark assessments. They are broad scale assessments so they they they look like what the students take the ASA. And we we track that longitudinally as well. So certainly that is something that we can share with the board at the end at following our benchmark testing at the end of each
057quarter. Yeah, and and just specifically to this curriculum is and I don't know if you do specifically for reading It's an It's an ELA test. So so it's third, fourth, fifth and we we do it third through eighth grade. But we can again at the skills that and standards that are assessed on the state test. So that we would be able to share. We also do our screener beginning of the year, middle of the year, end of the year in both reading and math and that's K 6. So we can certainly share the screening results as well. That's really identifying our kids at risk not being able to to to learn at grade level. And and that the phonics piece really addresses that. So so certainly we can share some of those results as we
058we get them. A metric specific to the resource, we would be using the publisher created test and in my opinion the the independent benchmark test and the independent screener would be a better reflection of how students are actually performing. Got it. And then are there annual renewal costs that are tied just to the digital access or it's all included? No, that is all included in the one-time adoption cost. We did it for 5 years. Perfect. Few more questions, sorry. And then what's the training timeline for teachers? We haven't been able to discuss that without having an approval to be able to talk with the vendor about it. But we do have professional learning built in from the vendor. It is gratis that's the word I want right? It's 24 half days that we can use
059within the first year. And then will there will the vendor provide any type of support for like the first year of implementation? That's the 24 half days. >> Oh got it. Okay. And then how will you measure like teacher feedback and any type of implementation challenges? I'm a big fan of providing surveys to our teachers so that we can collect feedback on a regular basis. So we would implement a feedback cycle in that way. Perfect. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. Oh were you going to say? Go ahead Mr. Glover. Sure. Okay, thanks. Just a couple things I wanted to thank you both and hopefully congratulate you that this will be over. I know what a relief it is to kind of get through these things. It is a it is a very long
060process. Before I start on any other comments, I just want to uh point out that we're spending $1.3 million because somebody at the state of the state of Arizona decided that the materials we had which we were successful with and our kids were literate and reading decided that that no longer met the needs of the state of Arizona. So this is why we are here doing that. I would prefer not to have spent that money and spent it on some other other areas but um here we are. I did talk to Mr. Lotzenhiser yesterday and I had a bunch of bunch of questions which he answered for me and I appreciate it. I was interested and wanted to make sure about the training piece getting that done before the start of the school year. So,
061I'm I'm pleased to hear that. And also, I heard you mention that you're trying to get the materials into the hands of teachers as soon as you can, and I applaud you for that because um the good ones will want that and will want to get ahead and providing them uh the materials to be better at their job the sooner they can be as great. Um I was a little surprised at about the granularity that that we don't know about some of the functions, but I just had one little tip. I think for future adoption, it's not a criticism of this one, but in my conversations with Mr. Lotzenhiser, um and you know, maybe it's been a while since I've done I did adoptions when I was younger younger in my career. Um what I
062did in in the area of social studies is I got an entire set of everything and I put one at each school. So, like sixth grade might have been at school A, fifth grade set, and I think that's a handy thing. And I just asked the vendors and they provided them. And uh so, to to to have that for future adoptions so that teachers can be there because it's hard for them to get here during the school day, obviously, and and really look through the materials, but if they're kind of sitting around uh the campus, that would be uh thing uh you know, a good a good idea for future future adoptions. So, I think that was Let me just check my notes. That was everything, but hopefully we'll have a sigh of relief for
063you guys. First, I wish to uh express my gratitude to all folks who participated in the process cuz as Mr. Glover said, it is a a laborious process. Um and I also to all of our teachers who are impacted by the change in this curriculum as well, I am appreciative of all of the work with which you are going to be doing uh over the course of the coming months because not only do you prep for the coming year, but having to change your curriculum is really hard. Uh and I don't think people are always aware of what that means. Um To Mr. Berkshire's point, the idea of that that slips, part of that happens is because sometimes we don't always really know what the best way to teach these things are until after you
064look at the data and go, "Oh, that wasn't, you know, the best. How can we do better?" You seem to do better have those things as far as PLC. Um and so really I'm just I'm just informing folks who may not be a part of the education process to recognize that these things are done with intention. They're done uh in a way that kind of leads to where Higley is and why Higley is doing as well as we are is because at the end of the day teachers are doing the best they can with the things that they have and we take the time to look at it. So I'm appreciative of that. Um I think all of the questions that we've had up forward I'm grateful for because I have similar ones in terms
065of when can we get access to these things and all of that. Um >> [clears throat] >> And so maybe after you have some of these conversations, you can just let us know in a status and all that jazz. Um so at the very least we know when to, you know, maybe bring an extra coffee for our kids' teachers and those types of things because the work gets it gets rough and laborious. So I appreciate that. Thank you, Ms. Davis. Go ahead. Yeah. Um and I just want to mention um one of the questions I asked is how many parents came in to review the material and um there was only two parents and that that's unfortunate because I think this is a great opportunity for parents to be able to be engaged in the
066curriculum process uh as we want to be proactive versus reactive. Um and I don't know if any other board member went, but um I took time off work and I I went in to review the material and I walked in and it was very overwhelming. We [clears throat] had seven publishers uh and each grade for each publisher and that was a lot of information and it took me about two hours to go through just second grade for one publisher. And I understand the whole process is is extremely complex. One of the recommendations I I made is having like a map or a guide for you know parents to be able to go through like know where to even start and I kind of went through and like organize the books in order before I even
067started just so it made sense to me. But I get it. It's overwhelming. But I do hope that you know parents understand how important it is to be engaged in what children are learning and you know take the time to clearly staff took all this time to and effort to put into this and I think parents need to be as equally engaged in the process. To be able to understand what it is that their kids are going to be learning. So hopefully you know future adoptions even when we put you know books out for 60-day reviews that are purchased, it's important that parents they take the time to review the material and bring concerns ahead of time instead of uh possibly reacting to something that they might find later. Thank you so much. President Wade.
068I agree with you on parent involvement but maybe also parents might you said it was very overwhelming as it was and a lot for them that maybe they also defer to the experts because it is a lot of curriculum that I I defer to them as experts too because I don't know all of the ins and outs of curriculum and I mean we have two teachers on the board so you do but I think as a parent I always trust the instincts of our district and the experts on the board that look at all of those things and I appreciate all your time and everything that went into this so thank you. Yeah no I agree also to I I went in as well Miss Van Hook to any parent who is is you know
069listening and and taking that recommendation I think it does two things not only you can be aware of what it is that your kids are experiencing and going through but I think it does a good job of showing the care and the thought and the consideration and the work that gets done for your child because it takes so many people and so many steps and it is a lot of information and the idea of knowing what to look at and how this fits with specific things understanding the appropriate steps of scaffolding to ensure that there is understanding all of that is part of what your kids teacher does so when you see that and you come in and you go oh this is overwhelming because it is at the end of the day and that.
070This brings us to 6.3 supplemental material recommendations Miss Davis that's still you. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Okay great. All right so I'm back with the pre-K through 12th grade supplemental materials committee. And just to remind of the is a committee that was established last year. Um So, I'm back with this year's recommendations. And just want to remind of our goals. Um so, it is um sticking with um our state statutes that guide the committee and our board board policies. I do have a district um definition of supplemental materials. And I'll go through our um process for how we select and use the materials. And then I will share our recommendations. So, first are our statutes and board policies that guide our work. I'm not going to read through all of them, but just
071to kind of highlight the ones that um stand out the most are 15721. And then IJJ are the other is the board policy that really guides the work. Our definition of supplementary materials, um instructional materials outside of our district adopted curriculum that the district, site, department, or grade level require um use for all students. And on our committee, we had seven members this year. One district office staff, three teachers or instructional coach, and three parents or community members. And they were fantastic. They worked really hard on reviewing all the materials. We had quite a lot this year. Um and they dug in to the research behind it all. So, what we do for reviewing the materials, um a teacher can propose a material for us to review. They submit a form um after they've talked
072with their administrator about it. Um also, parents can make a request of um having us review one that may already be on the list. And then we come together in our group. Um They are in small groups as they review the material. They review the material prior to coming and they each submit an individual rubric. In their small groups, they discuss um their review and their recommendation from that rubric. Um that rubric includes information on the standards, grade grade appropriateness, instructional value, and any sensitive content. And then they make a recommendation as a whole group for that material. And then they create um a two-slide PowerPoint that includes a summary of the material, um the positives for the material, and any concerns. And then they state if they recommend it or not. And then we
073do a whole group share out. They make their little presentation to the group. And then as a group, we come to consensus on whether or not that material should be recommended and brought forward to you all. So, here is our list of materials for this year. For grades 4 through 12, we have Morphun Magic. Um it is a uh tool for word study. Um kind of an intervention for word study for our um intermediate grades. And that was recommended for use. Um I am going to do my best to pronounce this correctly. Um "Ma Hay Nina" um is a textbook for our Spanish um four class. And that was recommended for use as well. Um with a permission slip for our videos. Um In reviewing some of the videos with the translation on, um there
074was some good casting going on in there. So, they um the parents and the teachers wanted to flag that with permission slip. Um otherwise they were very happy with what was in the textbook. And then grades K through 8 we have practicing success um language for essentials and that would be a tool for our students um that are multi-language learners. So students that are in our ELD and that was recommended for use as well. And then we have Freckle for math grades um K through 12 and ELA K 8. Um it's a great digital tool um to support our students and that is also recommended. Um FET simulations for science and that's out of the University of Colorado Boulder. Um grades K 12 it's a great um digital tool for our students to go to
075and actually do um different science um simulations that they might not otherwise be able to do. Um a lot of the committee members said that they um got lost in doing it cuz they had so much fun um that they ended up spending like an hour or two on there. Um said it was very engaging um so they recommended that one as well. And then MindPlay Reading um for special education resource ELA grade 7 and 8 um as another um tool for them to utilize was recommended. We did have um All Things Algebra um from Teachers Pay Teachers come through for Algebra 1 that was not recommended as it was a full curriculum not something to supplement. Um and as noted these are all site-based purchases. Um so this will go forward from here. This
076is our first read of it. And then I have it all ready to go to open up a 60-day review um for the public. That will go out um in newsletters. It will be posted on our website under announcements. And I can also um we did this last year put paper copies up with Arlene at the front desk. Um because these are all digital reviews, um our community members, parents, teachers, admin can all complete this from home um and because they have access to all of that um open source. And then after that 60-day review, um I would come back for the second read and then have you guys vote to approve um the recommendations. Any questions? President Wade, um Ms. Davis, so yeah, can you kind of repeat kind of where the community and
077parents and etc. can can find that on the district website etc. Just repeat that real quick. Gladly. So on the HUSD homepage, um you scroll down just a little bit and you'll see the announcements on the left-hand side and um a link will be posted there with how to get to um the form to provide um the feedback and the list of materials. Okay, thank you for putting up there. And it will also be in the newsletters as well. Um I missed the part you said there was one of them where there was a cussing. Um yes, in the Let me go back to it. Sorry. Oh, it won't let me go back. Um in the second one, a Me llamo Nina, it is a Spanish um honors four textbook. They have videos. They are
078not required videos, but they are um referenced in the textbook. And when two of our reviewers um were able to find them and put on the translation of it. The translation came back with some cussing. So, not being native Spanish speakers, we were not able to sh- parse out whether or not that was because of the translation or actually within the video. So, they wanted to err on the side of safety and say we can put it with a permission slip because it doesn't take away from the um academic integrity um of the or the instructional merit of um the textbook. Okay. [snorts] Yeah, I I have a concern with that. I mean, um if there is in fact cussing, like I there was no other option instead of having to request permission slips for
079um It was not every video. It was like maybe one or two of them and it the cussing maybe occurred once or twice. It was not a video full of swear words. um But if But if students use those words in a classroom, they would get in trouble. Because I I I'm going to say this was raised by a parent and she said I would have I don't have personally have an issue of with it and another parent also agreed with that. So, that's coming from parent feedback. Yeah. I mean my 20-year-old doesn't doesn't curse. So, like some parents might be okay with it, but ultimately, it's an educational setting and that's that's not this the resource that we should be utilizing that has curse words when especially when if children repeated those in a
080classroom, they would get in trouble. Um just my two cents. Um but one of my concerns, so when you look at the policies that um for adoption of material >> [clears throat] >> um talks about you know, ensuring continuity and I'm curious how we ensure that I and policy IJJ when these purchases are site-based. Um and in the time that I've been on the board uh we've never voted to remove material. Uh we've just we just keep approving it. So I'd like to know like when's the last time that we've deleted any supplemental material from the approved list? Um is there a sunset review cycle like every 3 to 5 years? Uh you know are we utilizing the entire supplemental list that we currently have? Um and if not, how do we go about weeding
081out what we're no longer using and is there material that we're, you know, continuing to pay for that's not being utilized? Um so this is only the second year of having this um committee in place. So we have not gone through a process of reviewing to remove because this is only our second go at it. Um and we are not paying for things that aren't being used because they are site-based purchases. Um if they are being purchased, they are being utilized and most of the things on our supplemental list are free. Um for a sunset process, we don't have that in place yet, but that is something that we have discussed because our supplemental list is quite large. Huge. Um and I Sorry, I just lost my words. It's okay. Wow. Go ahead. We've had
082the discussions around that that that, but at this point in time we haven't been able haven't sat down to to to determine what that process would look like and and what that timeline would look like in terms of how long would a at what point do we review supplementals to say, are they are they being used number one by teachers? Um number two, are they still effective supplemental resources? Um those are all criteria that and there's other criteria, but that is certainly a process that we we believe needs to begin, but again, we we wanted to get this process solidified and ensure that that that we're identifying the correct supplementals. That's the reason why it's only a yearly process now um to bring forward to the board. Moving forward as we develop those those processes
083to read, uh we'll also be bringing up bringing those to the board as well. And do we have a way to um to show that you know, to demonstrate like the materials that are being used are helping improve student outcomes? Supplemental materials are a choice that that teachers and sites make to to to use with students based on their professional judgment of what students need and will this material in addition to our our district adopted materials provide additional support for students in their learning. As such we do not track the the use of those supplemental materials and and and and really do not have a solid that there would not be a solid way for us to identify the impact that it has on learning because it is a professional judgment. A lot of these
084you'll find our teachers that that what we have just isn't cutting it and they've gone online and they found an open education resource that that they believe meets the need. And that's where our committee comes in to to identify is this genuinely going to meet the need that they've identified and is it a is it appropriate for students to be engaged with and so that being able to identify metrics and track that would be very difficult for us to do. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate the time and effort in this as well especially for those folks who volunteered their time to come and do this. I'm also appreciative that you guys are thinking about ways in which you know to maybe tackle how long that supplement supplemental material list is. I would also argue again
085from a teacher perspective and I can only speak for myself but what tends to happen a lot of times as well is that after a couple of years things feel old and that it doesn't keep the kids engaged in the same way or it doesn't do the same things as as technology constantly changes or especially if we have new curriculum coming out you might find there are different supplemental materials that are better for that specific curriculum and so you know when it comes to the sunsetting of some of these things maybe we don't use some of them anymore because they were best for certain types of curriculum and everything else and that again is labor and time and effort and we already put a lot of labor and time and effort into all of these
086things. And so, I appreciate I also appreciate the explanation of each one. That was helpful um in terms of, you know, going forward. I'm I'm I want to play around with the science one, so that sounds awesome. I appreciate it. We good for everybody else? This will bring us Thank you, Ms. Davis, for your time and Mr. Berkshire as well. Um we have action item 7.1, tentative approval of fiscal year 2027 maintenance and operation budget. Any questions or comments from the board before I motion? I motion to tentatively tentatively approve the fiscal year 2027 maintenance and operation budget to allow for the issuance of contracts for employees for the 2026-2027 school year. Second. That would be Ms. Schultz seconding. Please vote via our thing, maybe. Oh, there it is. Um that was fast. Yeah, motion
087carries five to zero, it seemed. Is that I saw correctly? All right, great. I must have put in my the five. This brings us to item 7.2, approval of 2026-2027 salary schedules. Any questions or comments from the board before I motion? Yes, Madam President. May I Okay, thanks. I just I wanted to make a motion. Uh I'll explain it, we can discuss it, um but uh for the certified teacher salary schedule, in the contract language, it's it suggests that uh we can offer up to uh $350 a year for up to 10 years experience. Um I wanted to propose to to move that to 15. I'd make it 20 if I could, but I think 15's a good compromise. Um the reason being that $350 a year, if you if you get teachers that have
088been around for 15 years, I think we're at a disadvantage when we don't people end up in in school districts and they and they never want to leave. Even though we're losing enrollment, we're also losing teachers. And that's a national problem. So I think to give us an advantage to hire people, pay them for their experience. When you you know, when you're in your first 10 years, a lot of it is is survival. I mean, once you get the year seven, you know, used to be year seven. I think it's probably higher now. You were with us for till retirement. So I would say that somebody that has 15 years experience, we should pay them. And it's not that much. So in other words, for that extra five years of experience, it's another 700 $1,750.
089It's really not much. In the old days, when we had salary schedules with cells, it was hundreds, sometimes even maybe over a thousand dollars when they were moving cells. And when we give a teacher a raise for 3%, that's not even it doesn't even equal $350. So that might entice some really good qualified teachers who are going to have, you know, a lot of experience in the classroom. Maybe that we don't have to train for things again because they would have already they already know a lot of those those things. So moving that from 10 years I I'm going to make a motion that we just change that contract language in the certified teacher salary schedule, but I'm open to anyone. I hope I get the second, but we can discuss it. So thank you.
090>> [clears throat] >> Before a second, since we can still ask clarification. You're talking about if I am a teacher who is looking to apply into this district and I come here with let's say 13 years of experience or even 18 years of experience. When I get hired here, they cap it at 10 years currently of experience. Uh this would be they would recognize you for 15 years of your time or up to 15 years of your time as a previous uh teacher. Is that correct? So, three Yes, that's what I'm saying. So, in other words, uh it's $3,500 for 10 years experience. So, instead of the teacher starting teacher salary, you would add $3,500 onto that. To move to 15, it would go from 3,500 to 5,250. Cuz you're talking about adding onto the
091base, correct? >> Yes. Okay. Um does anybody have any other questions before a second or anything happens? Do you have a question? I just >> [clears throat] >> I'm already concerned with the >> [snorts] >> increases as far as the 4% that was done at the last meeting and I shared my concerns. And it might I mean, you say it's only this much, but it adds up and I have I have a big concern what the impact of that would be financially um overall. And again, we're already dealing with a deficit and adding more to that. Financially is a problem. Um so I personally don't think it's it's a good idea um to do that. President Wade, I um I think uh fiscally it's not really responsible to do it this year. Um maybe if
092I just it especially doesn't make sense right now that we are working on the deficit. So, I see kind of your motivating factor, but I really do not think it's wise, especially now. President Wade, oh, go ahead. Did you I was going to ask Ms. Johnson Yes, she looks like she's >> [laughter] >> I I would like ex- President May Um [snorts] members of the board, um that would cause a couple of difficulties because we have other salary schedules that we base years of experience on. So, just adjusting that one schedule could cause some wage compression from people we just hired this year because we only count it up to 10 years of experience. Um we have other salary schedules that only go up to 12 years of experience. Um we also use years of
093experience for when uh calculating administrative salaries as well and we cap it there, too, at 10. So, this could cause some financial um concerns and we haven't analyzed what that could look like in the future. Just my comment at this point. President Mr. Glover, so maybe it's something we can look at next year. Sure. Yeah, and I mean you have to consider also Sorry, I didn't Oh no, you're fine. I was just going to say I agree paying people for their expertise and having good teachers is important for our students. Um but if it doesn't financially make sense right now, maybe we could bring it up at add it to next year's discussions. Yeah. Well, you know, they the greatest you know, the most beautiful waterfall starts with a drop of water, so >> [laughter]
094>> got to plant the seed. But sometimes when you have somebody, for example, like myself, I was at the top end of the salary schedule when I retired. So, to replace me with a first-year teacher, you're still saving a tremendous amount of money, probably. Um so, anyway, I that's fine if there's not a second, but maybe it's something we can talk about in the future. Thank you. I I am interested in in at least getting some some language or verbage as to what those changes could look like, what things we could look forward to in terms of the financial impact and all of that. Obviously, we have time considering contracts are in this moment because the the the teacher in me looks at the crisis that we all see in front of us, which is
095a teacher shortage outright. And so, I think it would be beneficial for all districts to figure out ways in which that they are the lucrative place for experienced teachers to go. I recognize that everybody needs to start in their career someplace, and I found mine at Higley. I came to Higley because they were offering things that other places weren't. And I think there is there is some some benefit to that. So, I appreciate at least getting the the ball started, Mr. Glover. Any other questions or comment? Okay, yeah. >> Sorry, President um Ms. Johnson. You probably you might not know this, but I just have a question. Do you know if other districts what theirs looks like? Or I know Mr. Glover mentioned, I believe Gilbert Gilbert is 10. So, I just some feedback if
096you know. I can look into that for sure. Okay. Thank you. Uh I motion to approve the 2026-2027 fiscal year salary schedules as presented effective for the new fiscal year July 1 of 2026. Second. That would be Ms. Schultz seconding. Please take the time to vote on the thing. >> [snorts] >> Ms. Oberman, mine is overwhelmingly delayed on this side. Do we have We have five years. Okay. Motion carries five to zero. Yeah, mine showed up like the last one about 30 seconds ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, good talk. 7.3 approval of the 2026-2027 employee contracts. Do we have any questions or comments from the board before I motion? President Wade, I just wanted thank everyone who went through all the stuff that I sent in for corrections. Um it took me a long
097time to to read through it and I know there was you know, minor stuff like the word been. Um but I appreciate the time taken to fix those. Thank you. President Wade, I I apologize. I I didn't I forgot my glasses. So all that conversation that we just had I meant to have right on 7.3. I'm embarrassed. It was about the employee contracts that was my motion. So I apologize to everybody for that confusion. I just uh I think I just made a Well, good news. >> place, but We've created no problems because we just discussed. I >> you're I think you're right. The employee contracts is what I was talking about, but it's okay. All right, great. >> that. I motion to approve the 2026-2027 contracts as presented. Second. Was that you, Mr. Harmon?
098Okay, thank you. Sorry. I Please vote. Yes, please. All right, all those in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries five zero for 7.3. This brings us to 7.4, approval of RFP number 26-02-31, the adoption of the Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts or CKLA as the K-5 comprehensive core high-quality instructional material. Do I have any questions or comments from the board before I motion? Okay, great. I motion to approve RFP number 26-02-31, the adoption of Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts, CKLA, as the K-5 comprehensive core high-quality instructional material at a total cost of $1,302,022.40 over 5 years. Second. >> All right, great. Um I'm You tied. I was staring eye contact at you, Mr. Glover, so that's going to be That's going to get the nod. Um do we have to verbally Mr. Glover got
099the second on that one, Ms. Zimmerman. Um all those in favor? I. I. I. All those opposed? Um Oh. Sorry. Okay, great. I just want to explain my vote. Um I just want to say that you know, I I support um the curriculum, but I want to ensure that um that it is tightly aligned with Arizona standards, with Arizona um with the foundational skills, um and that the foundational skills time is protected, um and then any content outside the scope of ELA standards um is blocked, um and that you know, we we monitor to make sure that um students can't go outside of what is assigned. And with that, um I'll vote. Oh, I don't I can't vote. No, it was verbal. Oh, verbal. Okay. Uh with that, I vote I. Okay, so then correction.
100Motion carries 5 to 0. >> [clears throat] >> Does anyone have any uh requests for future agenda items? Oops. Um so in regards to the conversation earlier, I would like to see a um update made to policy IJJ um to add a um approving of deleting items and um also maybe like a 3 to 5 year sunset um doing, you know, complete inventory and and things like that. Uh I'd like to be able to update this policy um with that information. That's all. All right, I motion to adjourn this meeting. Second. That would be Ms. Schultz seconding. Uh all those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries 5-0. Everybody drive safe and have a wonderful spring break, everybody. >> Mhm.