HUSD Governing Board Meeting February 4, 2025

001test test Anna can you hear us I can hear you can you hear me we can hear you okay thank you good evening I would like to call this meeting to order Miss Richards may I have roll call please yes let the record show president when that four members are here in person and board member Van Hook is joining us via phone miss van can you hear us I can can you hear me yes perfect thankk you please join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all did you do something no I said it's going to get cold this brings

002us to uh 2.1 I motion to approve the agenda miss jarmin seconded all those in favor I I I I I motion passes 5 Z Miss Richards president Wade members of the board we have another episode of higgle Adventures so this evening we want to recognize the College Board recipients in August of 2024 the College Board awarded thousands of students Nationwide with academic honors through the annual National recognition program the program celebrates underrepresented students who Excel academically on College Board assessments including PSAT [Music] nmsqt psat1 and AP exams the five programs were open to high achieving students from all 50 states and US territory we are so proud to share with our community the recipients of this honor from higgle high and Williamsville I believe some of the students are joining us in person so

003if you're here this evening would you please to the come to the front of the room [Applause] this is simply incredible I'm going to let you introduce yourselves I don't usually do this but I bet you you can do it if you did this you can do anything hello I'm Michael I'm a senior this year I don't know maybe you're doing than and I'm planning to go to ASU next year to learn software development computer science stuff and I want to thank my mom dad and my little brother for joining [Applause] me hi my name is Alexa skro um I'm also a senior from Higley um I'm involved in band I'm the best buddies president and I'm also a member of NHS um After High School I'm planning to go to the University of Arizona

004Honors College for biochemistry um yeah I'm Emma I also am a senior at Higley um I'm an NHS and I'm going to ASU for architecture next year awesome I'm so glad glad you guys came this evening and your partners up there and academic Excellence shine down on Higley Unified School District now stay up here because I'm going to do williamsfield and then have the governing board come down for a picture oops not that quick these are our students from williamsfield high school I'm not not sure if any of these students were able to join us is anybody in the audience all right let's give them a round of applause this is an amazing amazing honor and governing board they would love a picture with you [Applause] all right here We Go Again williamsfield High School

005is the division one small all girl show cheer state champions here to share a little bit more on this is Williamsville athletic director director Daryl stangle so Daryl come on up [Applause] Madame President members of the board superintendent Richards the cabinet thank you for inviting us here to enjoy to celebrate this uh amazing accomplishment by this group of young athletes um this group of athletes truly does understand what it means when we talk about how a Blackhawk dominates in every aspect um this group just to give you an idea of a of a day in the life of a Blackhawk cheerleader 6:00 a.m. practice 7:30 wait 8:30 to 2:30 school and then from 2:30 to 3:00 to 5:30 practice again and then sometimes after that they go and cheer for another one of the teams

006from me the sideline the the the uh the Baseline they've been at the pool cheering they've been at the golf course cheering um they truly support the what we do as as a community as a blackhaw community and they are uh they make me uh very proud they make our school very proud they make our community very proud the whole time they're doing this they maintain a 3.5 team GPA so I am so very proud of this group of young ladies and I want to introduce you to the 2024 2025 AIA division one small group show cheer champions [Applause] are you ready for a picture or are you going to say more couple more things okay so after tonight again the the selfless nature of these ladies they're going to leave here because they just

007finished practice they came here they're going to leave here they're going to go back they're going to cheer for a basketball game they're going to get up tomorrow they're going to go through school they're get on flight they're going to go to Orlando and they're going to compete at the Nationals in both show cheer and game day cheer which they qualified for earlier this year so it uh just uh just just life as they know it and um and again so very proud of [Applause] them Mr stangle should be up here [Applause] your steps your steps they've got quite the reputation and I mean a good one so let's go with our points of Pride let's start with chaperel Elementary principal Chris Hansen and assistant principal Terry [Applause] pepper thank you all right good evening

008Madame President members of the board and cabinet my name is Christine Hansen and I am the proud principal of Chael Elementary School my name is Terry pepper I'm the principal over chel oh thank you thank you it is our extreme pleasure to be here this evening to recognize four very special people in what we call the Shark Tank uh we often say one team one dream and we could not do what we do without every single person in that shark tank so let me kick it off please with our certified staff of the month Mr Robert olette all right Mr O uh Mr O is currently a sixth grade special education teacher um on our campus he's been at cherel for quite some time um he's also our edte lead he facilitates professional learning for

009our staff he is our purple star school point of contact he's a highly decorated uh veteran himself which we're very proud of uh but what is so special about Mr O is he lives by the saying C need fill Andy which we say at chapparel um and whenever we give him a little shout out I will always hear my teachers in the audience say that's our Superman he's our Superman and Mr O you absolutely are because he sees a need he feels a need whether it's literally ding digging trenches in the courtyard to make sure our sidewalks don't get flooded or hanging in a bird feeder to help a student find her genius you name it he's done it I could be up here for a very long time so Mr O please just know

010we appreciate you and thank you so much for representing our Shar tank you get to stand up here uh Mr O who did you bring with you this evening I brought my wife Marty and my oldest son [Applause] Ben all right um I have the honor of introducing our classified points of Pride recipient this year and that is Miss Betty Sanchez so come on up [Applause] Betty so Betty is a Pera in our crosscat program she services and and supports um some of our students with the highest needs um she shows up every day she's been on our campus for years she shows up every day with her patients um and just you can feel the love um emanating from her for her students for her colleagues and just our chapero campus so um we

011love seeing her every day big smile we don't hold it against her she's a Dodgers fan um too much but um we just really appreciate all she does and we couldn't do without her so thank you Betty Miss Betty who did you bring with you this evening I brought my husband Lis and my daughter Biana thank you all right next we would like to honor our points of Pride student Miss Delila palifox come on up [Applause] Delila Mr Lila is currently a fifth grade student in the the Shark Tank and we are so very proud of her she serves on our student Lighthouse team and it has been so much fun to watch her find her Voice this year uh habitate for those of you who who know the habits um a quick just a

012quick example um and Delila certainly leads by example I had asked her and another student to help us prepare for a video um that we were going to use in a presentation and and I gave them late notice right before we went on October break I called called them back after break and was ready to go through kind of what we needed from them well Delila and her friend already had a plan they had it all laid out they were ready to go I said well let me see what you got and they they nailed it they nailed it um so to watch her speak in front of actually I believe it was um Mr Armstrong and our and our superintendent a group that that we were hosting so I was so proud of you

013and it's been so much fun to watch you find your voice and continue to lead and be that light that inspires others all [Applause] right Delila who did you bring this evening I brought my family with um my mom my older brother and my dad job [Music] [Applause] girl thanks Mr all right and last but not least um we'd like to recognize our volunteer uh points of Pride um and that is Miss Rita Baldwin [Applause] so miss Rita is the grandmother of a couple of our sharks in the tank um and over the past couple years she has really um embedded herself in our PTO um she uh comes around campus and just brings her smile and positive energy she's willing to show up um and support um anytime anywhere any need um that there

014is um she brings us little treats and things like that which is always appreciated but um we just really appreciate um her passion for our students in our campus um and appreciate all that you do Miss Rita so thank you all right and she's got a crew with her so Rita who did you bring I have my granddaughters Briana and Nora my son John my daughter Anna and my son-in-law [Applause] Rob job [Applause] congratul than you yes thank you chaperel and next we have power Ranch Elementary with principal Michelle McNab and assistant principal Nicole [Applause] McCulla thank you for having us here Madame President board and cabinet we're happy to be here to recognize some amazing people at Power Ranch I want to start by recognizing our certified staff member Mr William [Applause] cesolini so

015he's known as Mr C at Power Ranch um and he's been a remarkable addition to our staff this year he's dedicated to inclusion and his positive attitude have significantly impacted our students behavior and fostered a respectful environment Mr C's efforts have made Power Ranch a better place through his service in the able classroom and our best buddies program and just helping students understand each other out and about on campus we are incredibly fortunate to have you on our team thank you Mr [Applause] C next up we'd like to recognize our classified staff staff member Mrs Heather paa [Applause] so Heather is a joyful warm and accepting member of our Panther family and she is incredibly loved by all she's creative enthusiastic and it shines through in everything that she does um Mrs P's dedication and

016joyful Spirit make our school a better place for both students and staff and I can't imagine her being anywhere else we appreciate you thank you [Applause] I apologize I'm new at this Mr C who did you bring with you tonight I brought my mom we I we live together and I take care of her and so I'm glad she came today my family wasn't able to come today due to prior engagements but they are here in [Applause] spirit our student that I'd like to recognize was unable to be here this evening but I do want to honor Kai Gallagher he's an exceptional student and human on our campus intelligent hardworking an incredible artist and he consistently always works to lift others up when so much in our world tries to tear our kids down so

017thank you Kai wherever you're at this evening thank you for shine being a shining example of kindness respect and hard work we're so proud to know you and have you at Power Ranch thank you Kai [Applause] and last but not least is our volunteer Miss Ally [Applause] Ratliff so I am honored to recognize Ali Ratliff for her outstanding cont contributions to our school community at Power Ranch Miss Ratliff takes immense pride in her role on the PTO board ensuring staff and students receive the support they need her passion and drive and unwavering focus on student well-being make her an indispensable part of our community and we are truly grateful for everything she does thank you Ally and who did you bring with you I have my handsome husband Greg and my oldest son Nash and

018my sweet friend Jackie here tonight thank you all good job sh e president Wade we have some exciting events coming up in the month of February beginning with next Tuesday um our business partner breakfast will be held at the power ranch Barn we're looking forward to having you guys and very many people in our community join us on that same day and the evening we have a parent event it's a virtual event dangers of Snapchat Wednesday February 12th we will celebrate Johnny's New Year at cornado Elementary this year it's different than what we've done for I don't know how many years board member Schultz you might you might know better than I do a long time so we're excited because it's going to be I say it's going to be more like a carnival atmosphere

019and so Coronado has stepped up to host and we look forward to you guys joining us if possible we also have preschool open houses ky's preschool openhouse is February 19th San's is February 27th and one of our most favorite events of the whole entire year is our best buddies carnal at Higley High School so if it works for your schedules Community to come join us um you will leave with the biggest smile on your face and your heart full that concludes upcoming events thank you so much Miss Richards next on the agenda are the requests to speak can you please play the video I think we we value input from our constituents this time on our agenda has been set aside for anyone from the audience who wishes to address the board those that wish

020to speak should have filled out speaker cards which are due prior to the start of our meeting members of the board may not discuss comment or take action on matters raised that are not specifically identified on the agenda therefore pursuant to ARS 38-4 31.0 1i action taken as a result of public comment will be be limited to directing staff to study the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date also we ask that audience members practice proper public meeting decorum refraining from either negative or positive responses including clapping or verbal outbursts to ensure fairness to All Points of View those that refuse to follow these rules may be asked to leave in accordance with policy bedh public particip ation at board meetings if considered necessary

021the governing board president shall set a time limit on the length of the comment period in order to ensure that each individual has an opportunity to address the board the president may also set a time limit for individual speakers thank you for your cooperation up first we have Stephanie Giddings I'm going to take that that Stephanie was unable to make it so we'll move on to the next one Christina Shope can you hear me now sorry about that members of the school board governing board and cabinet thank you for allowing me to speak today about the importance of maintaining the highly gifted think program the exceptional program is designed for students who qualify in all three areas of giftedness providing them with the exceptional education they need to they need to thrive excuse me cutting

022the think program would worsen could worsen our District's already declining student population as families May seek out other districts that offer similar specialized programs husd must remain competitive with surrounding school districts to attract and retain our talented students neighboring neighboring districts require highly gifted students to attend separate schools which can be challenging for families with multiple children by keeping the think program at Bridges Elementary husd offers a unique Advantage it allows families like mine to have all their children attend the same school regardless of their gifted status this simplifies Logistics and fosters a sense of community and belonging it's also important to recognize that gifted students should not have to wait until third grade to receive Services these students have unique needs that deserve to me met early the district must ensure these students have

023the resources and opportunities to reach their full potential gifted students are entitled to support just like those receiving sped speech and disability services in conclusion maintaining the think program is not just about providing an excellent education for our gifted students it's about supporting our families enhancing our District's appeal and ensuring that husd continues to be where every student can succeed let's work together to keep this invaluable program in place for the benefit of our children and our community thank you next we have Maryanne I know that the board is looking at to at moving the meetings back to 5:00 pm 5:00 pm. will basically disenfranchise most of the Middle School families and the Middle School teachers you want to you all keep claiming to represent the community represent the community and keep the meeting at

0246:00 p.m. so that way the Middle School families can actually make it also if you're going to keep asking the community for budget overrides and for more bonds then we need a fiscal audit before we find ourselves in the same spot that Isaiah is in you are claiming to represent the community now represent the community thank you next we have Suzanne Stanley good evening Higley board members and members of our District administration uh my name is Suzanne Stanley and I've been a teacher at Higley High School for five years all three of my children attend Higley schools and I want to tell you about my youngest son um um this bright and beautiful boy sitting in the front row right here is Nixon um Nixon was born substance exposed and was brought to my home

025through the foster care program at only two days old um I was gifted with the choice of adoption after fostering Nixon for 18 months before he was even two years old I started to realize there was something different about Nixon he could write with nearly perfect handwriting and he recited the alphabet backwards in the car one day um by age three he had taught himself to read and was doing basic math when he was four we had him tested and he was diagnosed with autism and hyperlexia at age six nixen writes short books can do all sorts of math and can tell you so many incredible things about states countries planets and more his brain is magnificent um and needs a school curriculum that pushes him to his full potential um Nixon did not get

026into the think program at Bridges as a kindergartener as disappointed as we were he was blessed to have Miss Dunton at courtine in elementary who went above and beyond for a student who was extremely gifted and made sure he didn't get bored in her class at the end of kindergarten we um went with an IQ test that showed he was highly gifted and he was finally accepted into think the bridges think program has allowed Nixon to use his amazing brain for Learning and growth in a positive environment led by teachers who understand his giftedness these teachers also understand that he has social and emotional challenges that other students in a gened class may not have my son's unique combination of strengths and challenges means that traditional classrooms often do not um provide him with the

027appropriate level of intellectual stimulation or the social and emotional support he needs the think program at Bridges has offered him a safe and nurturing environment where he can Thrive academically while also being understood and supported for his neurodiversity think is a form of special education these students are born gifted and have specific requirements they have to meet in order to qualify just like an IEP or 504 student having looked into the programs Higley offers it concerns me that there are other programs that could have been considered before think um wonderful pro programs that should be offered if Higley has the budget for it but these programs are not special education taking the think program away is a detriment to students like ours and also to the Higley District as a whole the think program shows

028an attractiveness to parents searching schools for their children and is something that other districts do not have I urging the board members in the District administration to please reconsider closing this program for all of The Nixons out there who are in need of the Higgly think program thank you next we have Chase Stanley uh good evening members of the hickley um board and School District administration my name is Chase Stanley and I'm the father of Nixon a first grader enrolled in the bridges think up program I'm here today to express my concern regarding the recent communication we received as parents about the closure of the think program well we feel fortunate that our child is grandfathered into the program and is not directly impacted by the change I am concerned about the future for students

029like Nixon who are going to be impacted by this decision as my wife said my son did not enter the think program when he was in preschool or kindergarten it was it took us until first grade for him to be able to get into the program and his Early Educational experiences were challenging for both us him and his teachers for example Midway through preschool several times Nixon's teacher had to deal with his refusal or uh to participate or move on from a task he enjoyed because the the task he was going to didn't engage him and he was bored fortunately for us this wasn't the case in kindergarten as Miss Dunton quickly recognized Nixon's giftedness and went above and beyond supplementing his regular education and tailoring her approach to meet his unique needs however we

030believe that a teacher in a standard classroom shouldn't be required to make such extensive accommodations and there should be alternative educational environments available to better address the needs of highly gifted students like Nixon many of us parents believe the primary reason the think program is being targeted for closure is due to budgetary issues caused by the failed Bond vote and it appears that to be the most rean since no other explanation has been provided for the shutdown of this program uh given this the Assumption we're left wondering why thinka not being prioritized over other programs remain open uh especially since the these programs are not special classified as special education or even steam based programs such as the Dual language immersion programs the Dual language immersion program also features small class sizes like the think

031program promotes skills like a second language the skill um will have little need for in a future with advancements uh being made in AI where we'll be able to have people the computer translate for us however we need the best and brightest like our kids in the think program to help homeone and expand these new technologies like AI Robotics and Medicine which are the very individuals that this program serves ask you to please reconsider closing the program as this has been a life-changing for our son and his peers and also because it unlike most other specialized programs will continue to positively affect the gifted students of Higley and surrounding districts thank you for your time next we have Alistair power so good evening members of the board um I'm here here to talk to you

032guys about the cancellation of the think program as well um I think it is a great disservice to the community that this particular program is on The Chopping Block uh the reality we've heard the stories already of our kids who are benefiting from this program I am lucky that my son Bennett is also grandfathered into the existing program but I think about things that matter to this District like enrollment and competitiveness and if we're not actually providing a value to the community something distinctive what prevents a parent like myself who lives right around the corner from Legacy TR schools to take my gifted student and put him in that school instead the entire reason my family decided to take him to Bridges was the offering that think provided for us the fact of the matter

033is that we have great phenomenal certified teachers who are specialized in gifted education we've heard of the cancellation of the think program we haven't seen anything put forth as to what the plan is to service those kids from K through three moving forward I looked at the I looked at the operating budget today I saw that there's a budget for gifted education for the Higgly Unified School District of 850k my question to you is even though we are cutting this particular program what are the soft dollar costs going to be to give the guaranteed gifted Services guaranteed by the state to those kids who are no longer in the think program we're going to have to manage separate individual learning programs for each and every one of these kids pull them out of classes for

034various gifted activities instead what we have is a program where these kids can in fact learn amongst their peers develop social emotional bonds with kids who are like them my son Bennett uh is a phenomenon don't don't give him your password I'll tell you that much uh but he can hack into pretty much any computer system at the age of six what we're doing is making sure that these individuals continue to thrive amongst their peers unfortunately what we're setting up is to disenfranchise these very same students because let's face it kids like Nick kids like Bennett kids like the other students in that class will get bored very easily in general education Bennett could read and write his name at 18 months that's not the standard for someone in grade one thank you next is

035Mark scopa good evening I'm here to talk to everyone about indoctrination on January 8th and actually over the last couple years between my daughter who graduated from Higley High and my son who's at saucan I've become increasingly more and more concerned with the curriculum so let's go January 8th just a month ago introduction to social movements this is what my son was being tested on that week things change when people make things change what is a social movement if parents knew what you were teaching the kids just like the 300 other parents who pulled their students everyone would leave and none of you would have jobs it's disgusting so let's go into it what is a social movement organized Collective efforts by relatively powerless groups to affect social or political change operating outside the normal

036political channels so what is that mean people come together to plan and voice a need for change in other ways than lobbying lob uh lobbying in political office examples civil rights movements women's Liberation movement labor movement anti-war movement let's go to the next one let's see these type three types of social movements reform seeks limited changes in some aspect of a nation's political economic or social systems most common the Civil Rights Movement revolutionary Revolution AR so you're teaching the kids to be revolutionaries this is good seeks to overthrow the existing government and to bring about a new one and even a new way of life example American Revolution and the r Russian Revolution you mean the Communist Revolution that killed 30 million people and starve 10 million ukrainians is that the revolution that we're teaching

037Let's uh let's keep going uh let's see oh the people in power control those traditional channels you know and oh let's see what's that one right there let's keep going key characteristics operate primarily outside traditional political systems arise due to a group's exclusion from normal institutional political channels are always resisted by those in positions of power and privilege when it is a movement that threatens said power and privilege people in power prefer protesters go through traditional channels so what's the alternative that you're teaching so if the kids aren't satisfied with something what are you teaching let's figure it out what's what's next goal of social movement and the change they want to accomplish maybe it is to redistribute material resources more equitably that's an interesting one how how do you intend to do that more

038equitably so you talking about more communism is that what we're teaching to kids in e8th grade let's see comply it's a verb act in accordance with a wish or command why is withholding consent or compliance powerful powerful people only have the power we allow them to have when we comply let's see how do powerless people exercise power there's more this is disgusting absolutely disgusting and I'm going to keep going for a second my daughter you guys tried to assign my daughter about that everybody else sir I'm going to ask that you respect the same time you I don't care I don't care sir we can ask that you I'm not happy with the normal political channels Jud I can do this because I'm not happy with the normal political Chan can we I'm I appreciate

039your time we ask security to please support him back appreciate you thank you thank you sir next we have Kelly mon Kelly mon matano sorry Montano my bad Madame President members of the board thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Kelly Montano U my son Leonardo is a first grader in the think program at Bridges Elementary I'm here to implore the board to continue the think program at Bridges so that future GI gifted children can experience the many benefits that my child has we knew that our son was was gifted early on much like what Suzanne shared um when he began adding subtracting skip counting and reading independently at age three we knew we had our word our work cut out for us we began the search for prek programs that progressed

040faster than the standard one letter a week um we must have toured at least a dozen preschools with no luck and when our son was diagnosed with autism spectum disorder at age 4 we knew he would need a school a class and a teacher as special as him forgive me for getting emotional I can't express to you the relief of this mama when a friend of ours who was a former hgle unified staff member recommended the think program my family lives out of District we drive 25 minutes each way every day and we have for two years and I tell you that every single minute on the road is worth it in the think program my son's benefited from accelerated and rigorous project-based curriculum taught by knowledgeable and effective teachers who specialize in strategies and

041best practices for gifted and twice exceptional Learners a few of them are sitting over my shoulder right over here the think class is smaller than average which gives his teacher the ability to give personalized support to each student it's common for gifted children and especially twice exceptional children like my son to experience loneliness social isolation but the think program has ensured that that is not his experience when I asked him uh before I came here I asked him like did the think program how did it help you like get to know your classmates like make friends he looked at me like I was crazy and he was like I didn't need to get to know them they were in my class last year and I was was reminded that the think students progress through grades

042K through three at Bridges as a cohort as a little team they move through these grade levels together um and so the stability that this consistency has provided for my autistic son has been invaluable now I understand that yours is a tough job you have to decide which programs get priority and which don't and I don't envy you at all but I think we all can agree that every every child deserves to learn something new every time they come to school and that doesn't change if they're operating at two and three grade levels above their age level peers so I implore you to continue the think program at Bridges Elementary so that future gifted children can experience the many benefits that my child has thank you next we have Kim Jackson good evening board members

043I stand before you with a protective concern for our District's commitment to transparency inherence to proper protocols in decisionmaking recently after submitting a proposal for the independent PE for grades 7 through 12 and receiving no follow-up I sent an email to the director of secondary education the reply indicated that the administration would be providing their recommendations this phrasing raises concerns about the process are these recommendations grounded in comprehensive evidence and facts before being presented this isn't an isolated incident or concern last year when I advocated for a town hall to discuss current and future cell phone tower contracts the administration advised against it leading the board to vote accordingly instead of presenting a balanced view of pros and cons and allowing the board to make an informed decision the administration stance seemed to preempt open

044discussion such patterns propped a critical question if policy decisions are handled in this manner how are pivotal choices like hiring a superintendent approached the board is entrusted with making these significant decisions yet it appears Administration influence May overshadow Community input and transparency it's my concern current Administration approach seems misaligned with our District's best interest as I engage more it becomes evident that this methodology May contribute to declining numbers and erode trust board members your duty is to critically evaluate the administration's actions not merely to defend them you represent the community's voice as a new board I urge you to reassess these practices ensuring decisions are made transparently transparently and in the best interest of our students families and staff District administrators I'd like to challenge you to improve as you recommend on topics like independent

045PE options communication by proxy or the hiring of our future District employees please present all and any facts both good and bad to our board so that they can decide accordingly and I just want to close with some positivity um well before I do that I would just like to Echo your community is telling you guys that they want something bored as you advise Administration to take action please implore them to do so with both pros and cons my concern is that they may see a biased approach and not present to you both sides to be able to Advocate properly for the people here talking about getting rid of certain programs that they do not want you to get rid of to end positively I'd like to give a shout out to the entire sixth

046grade staff at cornado Ranch Elementary all three of my children have been blessed to be part of that program and I'm super grateful for them and I want to publicly thank them for all of their efforts with nurturing my children at that school thank you moving on to consent agenda items I'm president wait yes um go ahead Miss vanhook I I'd like to ask um superintendent Richards to look into this assignment because I'd like to know how this fits into State Standards Board member van h yes we can look into it I appreciate it yes I motion to approve consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.11 second Miss Schultz seconded all those in favor I I I I I motion carries five I'd like to um just mention something um that's in the ENT agenda um

047there was a there's an expense on there um for an application fee for certificate of excellence and financial reporting um the only so we're paying almost $1,300 for this application fee the only concern I have here is it it it feels like we're buying an award because we then we we apply for this certificate of excellence and then we advertise that that you know we received the certificate of excellence in in financial reporting but in reality it's like we're we're just buying the award um and then advertising it that we got it um so I I kind of feel like this process seems a bit deceptive um when we're actually paying for it um so I'd like to understand um the point um if we're having to pay for it and it's not necessarily received

048because of truly being excellent Madame President this is Jennifer mcclinon um and uh board member Van Hook if if you'd like to discuss that item the appropriate thing to do is to pull that item from consent so that there can be discussion at the board level I believe we've already had a motion second and a vote on the consent agenda so we would need to move on we would need to move on in the agenda now thank you that's fine I didn't expect an answer now but um I wanted to make that statement regarding that item thank you before we move on I would like to uh say thank you for the gifts and donations I believe we have a slide to put up there we can do that that is thank you to Melinda

049Le Katherine Ortiz School spe School specialty Chase Building team and Gilbert Centennial PTO for their generous donations to the districts and schools this now brings us to our information items we are looking at 6.1 governing board initiatives for 2024 2025 update Miss Richards president Wade members of the board and the community we adopted you guys helped to adopt our strategic plan and 2022 so every year we work together to determine goals and we've committed to Bringing quarterly updates to you guys so you know what kind of progress we're making so that's the purpose of this agenda item this evening you also have some superintendent evaluation forms should you decide you want to make some notes because these are all of our goals but spefic specifically how I am evaluated so we always revisit our vision

050our mission and our values and like I said we went into this strategic plan and pulled out specific goals for this school year as you look at our strategic plan it goes through 2027 so we've systematically been going through um these anchors goals and indicators to ensure we're making progress teaching and learning is strategic anchor number one and I'm a little partial to that one I think that's why we're all here we um work together to ensure our kids are learning at high levels and that they're successful our portrait of The Graduate is Central to everything we do we want our kids to be responsible citizens College and Career ready Scholars and Innovative Learners and as I mentioned before we started a superintendent student advisory Council and you've got some Dynamic kids there 6th through

05112th graders and and I was super impressed with their input and so we made a little video that will tell a story hopefully and then I'll tell you more about this [Music] Council this was the superintendent advisory Council and essentially what they did is they got together a group of students and we all got together and we answered some questions about the district and they really just are looking for our input when they're planning for the future I think it's super cool that students are getting a voice to kind of explain what they see in the schools because I think a lot of times adults have the say in most things which is valid but also students have a say too and it's cool to know that our voices are valid and heard and I

052feel very safe and comfortable expressing my opinions on things even though sometimes it could be harsh to hear I think it's a great opportunity being part of this program is being like a leader for your school it's a very important job we find all the ways every school benefits us and we find like what needs some fixing what doesn't need some fixing what certain programs help you benefit with your learning hle is doing awesome I love that they have so many different programs for every different level they just do an awesome job of having the right curriculums for that and making sure we feel included they just do an awesome job of promoting clubs and different groups of people like there's something for everyone no matter where you [Music] go so we have plans for

053this Council to meet again in February we're going to go to Chandler Gilbert Community College Williams campus we're going to go on a tour and then we're gonna dig deeper into what's going well and Higley and how can we improve so what was interesting to me is when we were talking to these kids a lot of these kids had never been on a college campus so I was like oh opportunity there for us to get their feedback so we're going to cgcc on February 24th and then in May we're going to take them to ASU to the mix Center so we've got some fun things planned I want them to come in May and report back to you guys on what they've learned and where we need to go next because they're always a lot

054smarter than we are okay something else we did this year um the Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce hosted their eighth annual Elevate for tomorrow conference and it's for local high school juniors um it took place on January 10th at the ASU Polytech campus we took close to a hundred Juniors from williamsfield and Higley so during this event they had the opportunity to meet with businesses College instructors and they learned a few things about how do you write a resume how do you interview so we have a little video on that and I'm looking forward forward to these these Juniors getting not these but the new Juniors getting to participate next school year and I will say the president Chris Clark went out of his way to invite us so all right we going to see

055him on this video too today we're holding e4t it's Elevate for tomorrow it's a half-day conference for juniors for career in college explor ation what we do is hope that they get an idea of what they might want to pursue going forward and then they have their senior year to really dig in get more information find out extra details and maybe make those final decisions about where they want to go we're hoping that they gain some experience on planning for their future and what they want to do in either college or career it's nice cuz there's lots of volunteer speakers and guest speakers that are not only affiliated with the college but also with career field so they can Network and really gain a lot of insight into what they want to um do in

056their future today we're learning all about college and your career um people are taking different classes I personally took a class on how to be better at interviews I got to learn about um how to be better at interviews what questions to answer and how to answer them I hope to gain better skills at interviewing my interviewing skills personally aren't all that great so hopefully I'll be able to take away a lot of better skills when I go home there's plenty of opportunities for everybody we just really need to get these kids to take that first step and they'll leave here with a better idea of what they might want to do going [Music] forward so I'm really looking forward to us partnering with these universities because how many people in this country have this

057many universities around them that want to support So Mr L and ozer and I and Mr Armstrong have met with people from cgcc and ASU and I think we're going to learn a lot and our kids are going to get exposed to what's out there so I'm excited about that um as we move into strategic anchor number one teaching and learning I'm going to turn it over to Marcus birkshire to talk a little bit about goal one and I've got the clicker so all right so our first goal is increasing our uh distri by proficiency rate by 2% on both uh aasa Ela and math and act Ela and math so if you want to move forward um this year we've been very intentional in terms of the professional learning that we've done with not

058only administrators and teachers um as well as what's happening at the the site and in trying to to look at our achievement and what we can do to approve so with administrators we've done a lot of work this year uh looking at the intentionality around what resources and instruction our staff are using with students um but now we've branched into looking at next year um so we've worked with our principles on a structured approach towards a comprehensive needs assessment and then that root cause analysis that really dives into what the real true need is on our campuses and we we will be using their work at that they've done at each of our sites to develop a districtwide integrated action plan and A needs assessment um we're very excited about the conversations that I've had

059up to this point um and look forward to seeing where we end up at the um by May with uh elementary teachers we've done a lot of work around uh data and looking at and how what do you do with that data for example this past um Elementary PD day in January we did a lot of work with our teachers on our new fastbridge um Universal Diagnostic and screener platform there are some wonderful reports that look at student growth expected student growth and how do you use that to to look at what we need to do to help kids improve and and grow even more um we continue with secondary looking at formative assessment strategies and then our sites following each of our quarterly benchmarks have engaged in work with their teams looking at those

060results and looking at what they need to do in in the instruction happening in their classrooms to to to better improve results for their students stay all right I am up to talk about um the development of our in instructional maps and how we are working with teachers to implement those so I'm very excited to share that um our team has completed the K5 Ela instructional Maps um jod Walker was in instrumental in getting those up and started and today we started our fourth and fifth grade math instructional Maps um led by Wendy stove and that is going really well I was excited about those conversations that were happening and the K3 Maps will be completed by mid-march so both the ELA and math Maps will be ready for teacher to use to start forward

061planning for next year um and then the other item that we have left to complete are secondary Fine Arts and elective instructional maps and we do have a plan in place for that it is a matter of bringing everybody together to make that happen because there's a lot of Singleton teachers um in figuring out schedules to make that happen but it will get done and then the next is working on um adopting and implementing in a comprehensive um districtwide instructional coach model and I'm really happy to share that we did identify Jim Knight as that instructional framework um instructional coaching framework that we will move forward with um this year into working on planning out how we will train both our district site Administration and our site instructional coaches and our district content specialist in

062the framework so that they are all able to work as one unit together on how to best provide job embedded professional learning and coaching cycles for our teachers um for next year so we don't have a solid timeline on when we will get trained but that it step one was identifying that coaching model which I'm very excited that it's jym night because all of our coaches have been trained in cognitive coaching and those go hand inand really well and I believe oh skipped one back to Marcus so our next one was looking at uh professional learning communities and the multi-tiered systems of support within the district and creating a districtwide framework uh which aligns our practices across the district and and philosophies uh if you want to advance to the next slide I don't have

063a clicker all right um our task teams have for both of those Frameworks have met three times um at this point in time we've developed a vision for both plc's and um mtss for uh the Higley Unified School District we identified a theory of action for both of those and then using that theory of action and the vision we've looked at what the co the practices are across the district uh we want to make sure that we honor what we're currently doing around plc's and the mtss processes and then what's working that we need to keep uh what do we need to introduce um and where do we need to be tight and loose on and and so we've completed that uh component uh and started to to really start building out the framework we

064hope to to meet on February 24th and and finalize that so that we can bring that to our admin team uh for presentation and and ultimately share that with you good evening so I get to talk about my favorite thing highly effective personnel and that is a picture from our um Higley Leadership Academy correct I think so no same room different people oh okay well it it's not moving could you move oh there we go so strategic aner 2 is highly effective personnel and this year continuing to provide meaningful Prof meaningful professional development and support to all employee groups and to continue to evaluate and seek effective means to pass on potential benefit to cost-saving employees all right there we go so our progress so far um due to miss Miller's efforts with our par

065professionals the special education department they continue to train um our par professionals uh and our teachers uh to make them as highly qualified as possible and we continue to have uh PD days on Wednesdays usually and they are doing a great job over there with our par professionals and special education staff next um we talked earlier this year about the classified evaluation tool being turned into electronic tool right now we have um our classified supervisors and employe using that tool new higher evaluations have been done that's the 90day evaluation we had 78 of those done so far this year and then classified self evaluations we find our employees are definitely using the tool that we provided for them 76 have been completed so far with 50 in progress right now our classified annual evaluations are

066ongoing so we should have some statistics coming in towards the end of the um school year when those are due we progress on our training we have the stop the bleed training coming this February and our health services department with uh Miss Jillian Fulton will be uh hosting that along with her staff they've also been trained uh our health services area to do now free first aid and CPR training for our employees who need that either recertification or that initial training so our employees no longer will have to pay for that we have trained three members of the health services staff to be able to provide that that should start this month as well we continue to hire as needed um a little plug we need bus drivers and we need bus AIDS and if

067you know anybody please send them our way new employee orientation continues as needed uh we continue to provide the more than sad training during the new uh employee orientation that is being provided and as well as completion of the vector training while they're here learning about new things about being an employee here we have upcoming recognition which will be the teacher of the year re recognition I apologize for the spelling area up there it's or it's not it's of it's not or so um we will have that announced shortly as well as we look at those applications and the committee reviews that there we go progress uh let let Mr Walker talk about this progress because this is his his specialty thank you Miss Johnson Madam president members of the board the update on indicator

0682.2 we have our Higley Leadership Academy we're about halfway done with the sessions for this year um in addition to that uh our employees are representative of both classified and certified staff have participated in some Community uh bridging uh and building with volunteer opportunities they came out to The riparian Preserve in Gilbert and help prepare it for a a holiday setup and then they've also done Feed My Starving Children uh where they helped uh prepare meal kits and they're going to do that again actually in a week um and so it's it's a thriving program and it continues to attract people from uh all areas of our of our organization thank you Mr Walker okay so progress on our Wellness we have quite a few things coming up um thanks to our benefits Department they're

069putting together a pretty robust wellness program this year we have the mom bus coming a blood drive the Matty bus which is similar to the mom bus but we always fill up the appointments on the bom bus so we brought in another bus um we are just began the Great River Walk challenge to teams formed throughout the district and they will be eligible for prizes if they complete um the walk as well as a $25 gift certificate so there is some prizes with that good participation um many teams were formed throughout the district uh next is the good consumer campaign and that's no that's something to help our employees learn about things that they need to know in order to make good decisions at their open enrollment for not only their health benefits but other

070benefits as well and I think that concludes uh the highly effective Personnel all right thank you president Wade members of the board um as you know I'm Jessica Bautista director of marketing and public information um I've been with the district just over a year and I'm really proud of the work that my team has been able to accomplish so far last year we launched the brand and align those branding standards um and that work continues into this year so talk a little bit about that and it aligns with strategic anchor 3 communication and community relations so this year our goals were to establish systems and processes for site level communication including the website and mass notifications and to establish relationships in our community to enhance student learning opportunities so at the start of this school

071year we launched new websites for the district and all schools and we trained all um of the office managers and school school content managers on the content management system tools to keep those sites updated with course offerings we also implemented some of the um the board directives which include staff directories on each website and prominently displaying board meetings so for several other action items on those new sites we established a subscription option for our district newsletter higgle highlights so the community can keep up to date with the news and activities and upcoming events um and to strengthen Partnerships we also reformatted our business and Community partner breakfast event to include more networking opportunities we're looking forward to our spring event next week and I hope to see you all there um we're also really grateful

072for our venue sponsor The Barn at Power Ranch which is also new this year um that new venue allows us to use their space which gives us an opportunity to include even more Community Partners uh our department is also continuing to curate contact lists for our stakeholder groups including HOAs PTO and local businesses and if you have schoolage children or live near a district you may have noticed some of the marketing content that had started on December 2nd we launched our quarterly marketing campaign to increase Elementary enrollment and we're almost finished producing school specific marketing material for all sites to promote their unique progr programs so you may have noticed in the lobby we have all of those Elementary Flyers out there um those have been distributed out to all sites and they are using

073them for feeder events community events and more so we also run geot targeted digital ads eblasts um to All Families within our boundaries including those who don't currently attend Higley schools distribute Flyers to um local daycare and preschool facilities in and around our boundaries and more so I have a couple stats for the to share um so far Those ads on Facebook and in Instagram The Meta platforms have reached more than 69,000 users and driven more than 750 visits to our enrollment landing pages search ads have resulted in more than 1.8 th000 new users visiting our enrollment pages and digital ads have driven more than 5,000 users to click through to our website and again those um campaigns are on goaling and have uh been tweaked and aligned every quarter we reassess we just finished

074a big push to publicize our Kindergarten Roundup events that have received great feedback from our principls about attendance for those events last week now one more important update to point out this quarter we had previously prepared one of the action items was for a new Mass notification system this is a new platform to share email text message and phone call communication to our families um this service is provided by final site um I had discussed in the previous quarter final site acquired our previous um vendor Blackboard which we used for website and mass notification systems they had paused the roll out of their messaging system so we have also paused our roll out of that um transition and we're reassessing our options for Mass notifications our current system is still suppored we're really proud of

075the resources we're able to provide and we're looking forward to more work this quarter Tyler just a quick update on strategic anchor for finance and operations um We are continuing to work on our 25 goals which again include security enhancements and finding additional Revenue sources for the district a quick update on progress on 4.3 security updates um we have completed um basically half of phase two of our camera um installation so all the middle schools have now been um equipped with our um upgraded camera system um again we're replacing outdated camera equipment that's uh some more than a decade old um that's been well received on the high schools we have all but three cameras left to replace at williamsfield high school and then this remainder of this spring we hope to finish Higley High

076School we are um planning phase three um a project for fiscal year 26 and this would be at the secondary campuses particularly the high schools who have um they had three systems and so with phase three we'll get them all down to one camera system um creating a more efficient system for our administrators and our district office Personnel to use our traffic calming phase um these the picture to the right highlights some of the newly install speed bumps at Coronado um again this was recommended um out of discussions with the town of Gilbert um and some safety measures that we can take um that are easily attainable to help address uh potential um cars or high rates of speed um if there was a seizure or something in in those lines speed bumps are a

077way um to help um reduce the speed coming into those zones where children are either being dropped off or walking across so um that phase we've uh finished about four elementaries um over winter break and we hope to have um some additional speed bumps over summer James Mr Walker you want to talk about the mass communication protocol sure working with um Our IT department and our facilities uh we're we're initiating a piloting of a mass communication uh protocol tool um we're beginning uh at an elementary school and then we're slowly phasing that in to distribute that across all of our uh K12 schools in the upcoming uh months and another uh another nice update is that we were awarded a a mini Grant an 18-month Grant to be able to provide a school safety officer

078on our sassman campus so we've been working to get this accomplished for a couple years uh and through the ad's opportunity the grant was awarded and we have a consistent uh uniform police officer on our saucan campus daily as a result uh it is a minig grant it runs through the conclusion of next school year and so we're already working to find resources to continue funding uh and having uh that resource in the in the midterm and long-term future as well and just wrapping up with uh progress on 4.2 identify and seek additional Revenue sources um we have presented and the board has approved um the review of District fees including the community ed and preschool um both uh before and after school program fees and the preschool tuition fees in addition to the rental

079fees going into next year um Commerce Bank if you recall was a solution that uh we implemented this year for alternative paying um payment method for our vendors um if they choose to receive payment via credit card um again we give this option to vendors uh currently our process to pay papercheck but we did have a number of vendors enroll in that uh and there is a kickback for the district and so um we're only three months through the pro progress but we've received over $5,000 and and basically Revenue that we wouldn't have had for paying our same bills that we um were paying previously so um we are still evaluating uh the foreign exchange program and looking at opportunities to increase Revenue in that program um on the uh Food Service side uh we

080are still evaluating uh the Food Service uh contracted versus self op and what solution best fits our district so um that's in progress um and we may have more information in the next update so with that that concludes my comments and I think the presentation so uh Madam president with your permission I just that's a lot of work from a lot of people and uh that stayed here and stayed late to present to us so uh a lot of people that are very dedicated to Higley so I just want to thank you guys for that I'm sure it's some intimidating some of you don't know me or or no Miss jarmin yet we you know but uh we appreciate your time and effort into putting all this stuff together into staying late to uh keep

081us informed about all the good things and the hard work that you're doing so thank you president Wade um Mrs Richard I'm super excited that we are partnering with uh Queen Creek chamber now I know there was a little bit of a disconnect for a while and we made that happen and it's um super important that we're connecting the business community and I know it was a great success and uh the chamber mentioned that you you had said how good of it I know you said it tonight but said how good of it a connection it was um and the speed bumps are helping at at Coronado I think for sure just to let you know um as far as I just had one question um for Miss batist um the ads that we're running

082do you have if the I know you said that elementary schools were happy about the the Kindergarten Roundup do you have numbers to show how those ads have helped us or where people are coming from is there any kind of report that we could see we could have that at a later date okay perfect thank you rounds haven't um the ad Cycles haven't completed yet so okay perfect thank you I appreciate it thank you for everything that you're doing and thank you thank you so much for the presentation I'm grateful that the sro's that were really there's a big push um for Safety and Security in the schools that's very important to the community um yes and also the feedback on how we can adapt um and the finances touch base I love how you

083guys really touch base with the schools it's really hard being in a a sticky spot where we have to choose sometimes wants or needs over wants a little bit so I really appreciate you guys really getting out in the trenches and touching base on that so continue to do that and let's let's continue to work as a team reach out to the principles and everybody who and see what could maybe skirt away as an expense and what can what the children really value and really make sure that we kind of put more of our spending in that area so I commend you all thank you all right with that we're going to move on to item 6.2 do you have a question really fast Mr Walker you said once the grant is done for saan

084then we're going to try for more grants is that I know we've been trying to work with the town of Queen Creek and Queen Creek Police Department it's not the same as our partnership with the town of Gilbert um but I just want to know where we go from there in 18 months and if you don't have the answers now just at a later date no I I I I do have an answer we're not going to wait until the grant expires to seek another Grant we're working on it right now to see what kind of opportunities are out there so we can be prepared for when this grant cycle expires if there's another Grant cycle if it's a budgetary discussion but we're working right now to predict and forecast what we can do uh

085once this grant expires in 2026 and the town of Queen Creek wasn't able to help us with any of the cost at all correct uh this this funding mechanism comes through the ad so it's a grant that we right I just wanted to see there wasn't any um discounts or anything anywhere well we can thank the ad for the discount as we the grant funding through that thank you all right well thank you we're going to move on to item 6.2 second review of the 2025 2026 maintenance and operations budget we'll now hear from Mr Moore on the second review of the 2526 maintenance and operations budget yeah thank you president Wade members of the board uh tonight we're reviewing like you said the second review of the FY 26 M budget just a quick

086recap uh we are working towards uh our June 2025 um adoption um but as you know we have to work backwards into that final date um to one prepare for contracts and um uh get ahead of the school year before it starts so everything tonight is uh presentation with preliminary numbers looking at um that adopted proposed FY 26 budget just filling in the highlights of what we know so far again the AAL the pro the aggregate expenditure limit as you've known that has been an issue um with the state legislature and uh State Statute uh problem as school districts have exceeded the budgetary spending as outlined in state Chachi by over a billion dollars but the State Legislature has Exempted districts and allowed us to utilize our full budget capacity over the last couple years

087again I'm still monitoring um the legislation and looking at um potential exemptions um for the eal in this in this legislative cycle um also I think I didn't include in here but some of the hot topics included uh from from um a legislative perspective and regards to funding um we're closely monitoring prop 123 uh there's been a number of different proposals on Prop 123 um that currently provides the district about uh uh 400 or 800,000 excuse me um that is set to expire at the end of this year and so I know legislators in the state and the governor are all hopeful to come to some solution to continue that funding uh for next year uh but again monitoring that waiting to see how that finalizes and what that means for the district if there's

088any parameters or new gu guard rails on that funding some of the known implic ations that are included into this projected budget again are the estimated 2% inflation adjustment to the base support level so the state is running about 3 and a half% in terms of inflation um minimally the state legislature is obligated to uh match 2% um they can go higher if they choose but um they have not in years past and so um I am including that 2% inflation adjustment to our base level support in our proposed budget for next year the Arizona State retirements system as I mentioned in the last meeting um is decreasing their rates that's a favor for both our employees and the district as both are contribut um contri contributors into that um retirement system so um the

089decrease in the Arizona State Retirement System to 12% that will realize about $200,000 savings for the district uh and employees can calculate uh 27% uh that would be back into their paychecks so not a lot but it is a positive movement um with that rate going down um in addition the alternative contribution rate this is for employees that have retired and then are back into the system they pay a different rate that rate is also decreasing has a minimal uh monetary effect to our district is we have a very few employees that have retired and that we've hired back um on the last column there um are husd kind of special budget estimates um m transfer to Capital this is our Middle School lease payment um I I want to thank Mr Arman for coming

090in and getting a deep dive into the middle school lease uh history um but uh this is our our current obligation is $3.5 million for principal and interest payment and that is for the next 28 years that is that will go down over the years but for the most part we're looking at you know a $3 million plus um for that payment we have continued to fund that from our M uh budget via transfer as we have to pay that statutorily from their capital budget so um as I mentioned the the last the first iteration of this projected budget um we are now being a little more aggressive in our projections for ADM loss uh we are in this budget we're projecting an ADM loss of 300 um now again we hope that is conservative

091and we hope that is uh not the case but as we've saw in December um we underestimated um that enrollment loss to the tune about 250 and so um increasing that ADM loss on the front end will let us uh appropriately budget for the fiscal year and if we have if we come in above that or under that um hopefully under that uh we'll have some budget capacity to add back into the budget to utilize uh in the middle of the year um in addition this is um FIFA 26 our override will now begin its phase down as again it was it was not renewed in November that phase down is estimated approximately a reduction of $5.1 million for FY 26 so just a quick snapshot again of uh same um summary of what I

092presented in the first round um we have no new information so this is still our FY 26 projected proposed budget but uh just to recap our the top section is our current revised budget as of December 10th uh that's 125 million um we are looking at the bottom half FY 26 projected proposed budget again it's taking into consideration everything I just mentioned so the 300 unweighted ADM decrease the M the first year the M phase down and then our M transfer to capital for our lease payment so with all those taken into consideration it also includes the base level adjustment so that 2% adjustment but even with that the decrease outweigh that that 2% increase in in the base level adjustment and we are projecting a m budget of 116 million which uh comparatively to

093what we have our current budget to our projected budget we're looking at a $9.2 million decrease we do have some information that we are starting to fill out as you as a reminder I didn't have any of this information the first iteration so um property insurance uh C insurance and workers compensation um our current carrier the trust is finishing their uh board meeting um in the middle of this week and so we should have those renewal rates um at our March meeting um again every indication is uh the reinsurance market is is going to go up so um even we had we've had low claims but just the reinsurance market for um property and and all the valuables everything's valued at a higher dollar amount and so um we anticipate those numbers to go up

094um we have finalized kind of our utilities uh FY 26 budget projections we are seeing um we are budgeting for $200,000 increase largely in part to the SRP unknown increases that are going to occur mid year uh based on their letters that they've provided us so um SRP has made it known that they are um researching an increase in utility rates um they operate on a calendar year and so they won't have any proposals or any information to us until November uh that is smack dab in the middle of our fiscal year and so we are being prudent and um anticipating an increase um and we are setting aside $200,000 in large part to uh have enough budget capacity to address those utility increases our school and Department budgets um we have had difficult conversations

095in terms of reducing um our department and school budgets across the board our largest contributors are uh from the maintenance operations Department uh we made some large reductions in their M budget in addition to shaa and the sped Department um we've made some large reductions in in that apartment as well while still maintaining our compliance in our obligated standard you know um obligation to service those students um when we take into consideration all those uh budgets we were looking at reducing um getting back maybe is a better way to say it of 750,000 and so we'll see estimated cost savings right now without the insurance um numbers in there of $550,000 in reduction so when we put that into the equation um we currently as a reminder so we we were we're currently realizing a

096decrease a budget decrease into f26 of $9.2 million in the first presentation we talked about the 5.1 million in position reductions for fiscal year 26 um and FY 26 recommended fix cost we now have a little more information and I've included the $550,000 and um net reduction for our department and school budgets in large part and our increases to utilities so we are now looking at a budget decrease of $3.6 million and this is where I I talked to the board about um utilizing some of the budget bounds carry forward to um absorb um basically budget to a deficit next year again this is not a long-term solution but we do have that carry forward um and we can utilize it for this purpose looking at what we would deem phase two so as it

097stands we do not have Au authorization uh for an override continuation and so um me being uh very conservative and and trying to be prudent and get ahead of FY 27 so this would be two years now um we need to look at realistically as it stands right now what that reduction would look like and go through um that process um as early as possible and so this again is the m override phase down timeline so again we are um already planning for a fiscal 26 which is what I just went over um that reduction again is estimated at $5.1 million in FY 27 we're looking at another $5 million so again it comes in the the override phas down is is in thirds and so um we we again would like to start we've

098started a conversation with our leadership um we would like to engage our community and a lot of our stakeholders into this process as we have about a year um to formalize some of those reductions if no resolution is called for the continuation of the override so uh and then in fiscal year 28 there would be the complete reduction of the override funding again which is currently providing about $14 million um in additional M Capa budget capacity for the district so with that I'm going let Miss Richards explain about the steps that we will be utilizing for phase two okay thank you Mr Moore president way members of the board this is what our plan is at the moment we want to be able to collect input from all stakeholder groups that includes all employees our

099parents Community leadership meet confer and I would like for our students on the superintendent advisory Council to participate as well so our goal is to come back on March 4th with some recommendations that we've gathered both through surveys that will go to these groups and our community meeting that we have schedule for Wednesday February 19th at 5: that is when Wednesday is it okay uh my brain is Tuesday Wednesday anyway I think it's super important as we move through this we're listening to kids like Miss jarmin mentioned our employees the community and our parents specifically so we've started on this survey our goal is to send it out on Monday with a TW we window so send it out on the 10th and have it come back on the 24th so we can compile the

100data and report back so you wouldn't think it would be tricky to put together a survey like that so it makes sense so we've spent quite a bit of time working on that to ensure that it's clear so it'll be the phase two plan if there is no voter approval for the continuation so I think I think what we are doing is trying to be really thoughtful because anytime you reduce people programs it's tough right so I think we went through that last meeting too so um I'm interested to get the feedback from our parents employees and the community and then then let's see what the students have to say as well so that's our plan moving forward um and I think if you guys have questions or input on that process let us know

101because we haven't done this before or I haven't it's a new procedure so Mr Moore do you want to finish up with the budget calendar yeah just finalizing again we we hope to bring those results back to the March 3rd excuse me March 4th board meeting as well as the third and final review of the M budget and I hope to have those insurance rates so you guys can get the final full picture of of what we're looking at in terms of a proposed f26 budget um in hopes of you the board tentatively approving that so we can issue contracts for teachers um which would go out on March 15 once uh March is completed we'll kind of shift our Focus to the capital budget um and start those discussions on April 1st um and

102and continue through April 22nd so with that I'll be happy to answer any questions thank you Mr Moore um I don't necessarily have a question I just given some of the the comments that we've had today and the chart that we have where we look at what phase two looks like what phase three looks like um I'm appreciative for the members of the community who talked about one of the programs that's getting hurt now which would be think um and the idea behind that for those of you who have not been here the last time our M did not pass and those types of things we are seeing similar hardships to what we have had in the past and so I hope as we can continue to go forward over the course of the next

103year we can work with the community and get people to see kind of how these changes impact because they have a direct impact on our students and our students are the ones who are harmed at the end of the day um and it's hard decisions that we have to make and it's not something that we want and we routinely talk about how you know we're competing for students with other schools and everything else and this is common throughout our state this is the way our state structures funding and so you have a lot of districts who are in similar positions for example Mesa has to cut 144 uh positions which is a lot and I recognize that Mesa is larger than us that that's that's a lot um and so I think think when we

104see how these impacts can happen and when we feel these things hopefully we can make it a point to talk about the importance of going forward and so when Community gets these surveys and you see things and go oh God I don't want this to go away I can't do that yes we agree we agree we don't want these programs to go away and so I think it is important for us to kind of keep in mind the hardships that could come as a result Mr Moore as always I'm appreciative of the way in which you do your job I'm appreciative of how this Administration recognizes that these dollars are attached to human persons and that there is hardship in that and so I'm always appreciative of creative ways to try to figure out how

105we can look forward and I am always appreciative of looking to prepare rather than being responsive to some of these problems and I think that's the best that we can do so I appreciate apprciate it president Wade president Wade go ahead Miss vanhook thank you um I want to just mention yes you know obviously the the override and bond didn't pass but at the same time um we do I will remind every we we have a 20% M carryover um and so we're not in a bad position and for me it's a bit frustrating pulling at parents heartstrings saying it impacts this yes obviously it impacts this but our main concern should be to do what it takes to ensure that we're attracting families and when we have a upset parents because there's a lack

106of transparency and and parents aren't being heard or things that are happening in classrooms that's upsetting parents that's causing them to pull their children that is the direct impact where students are leaving our district which means we're losing the funding so we really have to think hard what can we do to to change this so that we are attracting families instead of pushing families out that should be our main priority instead of making parents feel bad and say oh you didn't pass the bond so now you're going to feel the impact of losing a program that was benefiting your child and and that needs to be the number one priority in in all of it how do we what shall we do in our district that's going to attract parents um and I mean I've

107I've talked about several things over the last two years and um sometimes I feel like it falls on deaf ears but it truly is impactful and I hear from these parents all the time um another question I have uh for Mr Moore is I noticed that um the projected budget the 9 million that number changed a little bit um but it's not reflected in the numbers above um can you explain what that's from I mean it's not a big change but there is definitely a change from the last presentation yeah uh president Wade member Van Hook yeah we continue to update these based on current enrollment numbers so as we uh finish out our our fiscal year we are continuing to update them as our ADM uh continues to fluctuate based on um aoi aoi

108does not function um we still get funding and counts change past the 100 day so that changes um our current budget projections for next year again we're projecting out about four or five months out um we want to update this as much as we can to the most accurate information so as our ADM fluctuates we modify that and present that to the board as the most C current and recent numbers thank you that's all I have President Wade um I have as a community member I just want to say what kind of in my general opinion and you guys can counter this either way but the things that kind of pull people from the district is the lack of curriculum transparency and um Safety and Security um sometimes people really have rough experiences with the

109district and sadly they feel like that's not addressed and there isn't kind of a swift change so I just I hopeful because we're you know we're working together and we've got some years going on but ultimately that is kind of the strings that I see that pull people sadly from the district so I think there's room for improvement so maybe we can touch base with that in the future um and again I just want to say I am a very big advocate of family and so I was thinking about these programs and stuff and I I don't know if some of them pull extra time away from the family that is unnecessary sometimes but maybe those are the ones that we just kind of reassess and look at um in any business the left hand

110needs to know what the right hand's doing and in a way we need to all kind of just cooperate and help Mr Moore do his job better you know but it's hard for him sometimes but if we can help figure out ways where we can perhaps pull some funding from if it's not efficient for families and um additional time or just distractions and the students are not really enjoying it so much then those are things again that we can kind of Swift away and just touch base on what they really love and then just get those wants kind of a little bit away if they're distracting and aren't very prod productive um when it comes to focusing on academics and just really give families and parents what they um what they want they really just

111want a good wholesome um education and just thank you madam president um well I just I just want to I don't want to counter anything that anyone has said because that you're you know you guys are all entitled to your your opinions but there are enrollment challenges is really everywhere across throughout Arizona um and it's not because um the curriculum uh I teach in a different District I teach science and I teach social studies the Social Studies books I'm using uh were adopted in 2007 um the standards may have changed a bit but the materials that we still have are the same materials um the the re what is not being mentioned here at all is the fact that our state legislature has decided to give public money to private schools and that's why we're

112all struggling with our funding and I just want to point that out as another Counterpoint uh to you know something to think about President Wade um I'd like to say um something about that so everybody's blaming esas um it's not esa's fault parents wouldn't utilize esas if they were happy with the school obviously if a parent is choosing to pull their child and uses Esa dollars then there's a reason for that a parent can pull their child out completely from a district and not use Esa and the district would get absolutely no money but when a parent pulls their child out and uses Esa the district still gets half the money so in a way es a parent being on Esa is still benefiting the district um we have to keep that in mind and

113and it's not the fact that the legislatur decided to give money to uh private schools it's giving parents a choice to make the best decision for their child's education and that's why I'm saying we have to make that decision on you know constant negative news and inappropriate sexual books given to our students um such as the father spoke tonight assignments like that uh those are the kinds of things that are pulling parents out of our district putting pulling students out of our district I hear it weekly Madam president Madam president miss Van Hook I think I think we're getting away from the topic at hand which is your maintenance and override budget while some of the discussion among the board members has been about reasons for student uh decline in enrollment which is directly related

114to budget I think we are straying from the topic and so I'd ask that we reconnect to the the presentation that Mr Moore gave and questions related to that please thank you all right this takes us takes us to item 6.3 uh fiscal year 2025 2026 employee contracts uh we're going to go to Miss Johnson for employee contracts president Wade members of the board um before you you have of the um employee contracts for fiscal year 2526 uh we did move this to an information item as there were some questions regarding the contracts and some possible changes to them based on the contract questions so um I don't know if you want me to get into the questions would you like me to go there you gu ask Miss Johnson do what feels great okay

115so we did have a a question in regards to to gender identity and now that there has been an executive order um that is being asked to be removed uh I wasn't uh we are at the point of with legal council making the recommendation to remove that but we have a few policies that may affect so we would have to bring the policies back to the board as well if we remove that language from the contract so I'm working with with legal counsel U Mr Haw and of course our legal counsel here this evening um also another question was asked about um adding language to contracts in regards to um and District policies and so I'm checking into that as well and I'll be happy to update the board members through status this week on

116some of these questions that you've had that one I will be able to answer and then um we do have something new that was put in the contract and it's according to a statute that if there is a um if an employee specifically a certified employee uh has some type of offense or has been arrested for some type of offense that they would immediately need to uh refer that to the superintendent so we're double-checking if that's for every employee or just certified employees will look into that again that would that would mean that we would have to change a policy gbb states currently that they must report to a supervisor we want to be specific with our contracts and then there was some discussion to in regards to liquidated damages and we're looking into that

117as well and we I will report in status this week about liquidated damages and what that would look like again again if a change is needed we would need to bring the policy um GCB back to the board as well to be updated so a lot of the changes or questions that we had definitely reflect policy as well as the contracts so um I should have more information for the board our plan is to bring that to a status and then um bring the contracts back for approval and if any policy needs to be changed or updated uh revision would happen at the March 4th along with the approval of the contract language questions yes president Wade sorry I can't see anybody so it's hard for me to know who's speaking go ahead Miss Van

118Hook and then we'll go after you so it because it's easier thank you um um I just lost my question here oh yes um Miss Johnson one of the questions I had was about uh the background checks um I know there's a portion in the contracts that mentions that um but I wanted to know if there's a a policy related to background checks yes that's then tied to the contract and if for instance um I know with like uh like Mandarin um if we ever hire uh you know a for a foreign teacher to come in and teach uh a foreign language for instance um do we only do background checks within the states or do we also do interpole background checks for those those types of situations and um if if we don't is

119that something that we can consider doing um and including as part of the language and the policy and in the contract for any type of um employee like that um to ensure that you know obviously if they're coming from a foreign country they're local record would be clear um so just something to sorry go ahead oh member Van Hook yes um we do background checks on every employee um uh as far back as we need to uh that is seven years and also every employee that works for us must have a fingerprint card and that goes back 99 years so that um I wasn't aware of a background question coming in so I'll I'll check check into that as well but yes we're covered with a policy and we're covered in uh when we hire

120somebody uh they have to go through that process we do not allow anyone to work until those two things are completed can I can I also have Johnson too Miss Van Hook members of the board we do have a background check service provider that we do utilize and we do pay for an additional International check so if they're coming from Asia or from Europe uh or anywhere else in the world that is a supplemental that we ensured that we have as part of our package so it does do International checks as needed wonderful thank you that was my main concern other questions oh sorry thank you Miss Johnson did you want me to talk about my the conversation that we had yes you're welcome to yes okay so um just for the rest of you

121guys policy GCB is talks about the liquidated damages um and it just has come to my there's a couple of things that have come to my attention um but one is the is the I saw the language in the certified teacher contract so in U well it's a different number but in line 21 of the teacher contracts it says the district res re uh reserves the right to wave or reduce the amount of uh the amount owed of liquid damages liquidated damages if certificated teachers failure to perform the entire term of the contract is due to circumstances Beyond his or her control and that's great and there are situations where that does happen there are uh there have been occasion uh everywhere I've worked that sometimes you have an employee that is you know unhappy

122making everybody unhappy and you just sometimes have to have a conversation with them that like is this really what you want to do and so um one of the fastest ways to get them on their way um would be to remove or just to add the language that if it was deemed in the best interest of the district by the superintendent uh that gives them some discretion because otherwise you're either dragging it out and they're going to wait till the end of the year and make everybody even more miserable um or you know they have to wait like a month and hope that it goes through to the board and then it passes sometimes there are situations where you know it's really best if people parted ways and uh that's just a little speed bump

123that gets in the way and I also would you know I've been thinking about you know as we sign contracts we sign them very early um I think teachers should be able to go out and look for other jobs I mean job abandonment fine that collect the liquidated damages criminal stuff collect the liquidated damages but like if you have an example like a teacher you know that I know you know her two people in her family died and uh it was just becoming too much and uh you know to to charge them $1,000 when they just you know mentally need a break um it just takes a long time but as we you know start to downsize some of these things there will be people that are going to have to be moved locations and

124sometimes maybe you just don't want to you know you don't want to move but if they've already signed the contract then they have to pay and uh I just think we should be a little more flexible um I I would like to give the superintendent the flexibility so just to add that line you know if it's deemed in the best interest of the district by the superintendent that they they have the authority on occasion to uh to wave that just to speed things up uh for people um and so that would require us to look at policy GCB as well so that was my concern just to make it a little bit easier in those rare instances where you have somebody um that we all kind of agree probably just need to move on Miss

125Johnson um just so I can understand what we're supposed to do at the present moment in time based off of some of these things so am I to understand it that you will go through talking to legal and finishing up your queries at the present moment and then depending on what your outcome is at our next meeting March 4th is where for example Mr Glover's policy would be where we vote on whether or not to include that language or is that a discussion you want us to have at the present no we would bring it back um you were right and saying that I'm checking with legal okay getting legal advice based on the contracts the language that's been um asked to be added whether that should or not and then if it is going

126if we make a recommendation to add that language to the contract then policy would need to be changed as well they have to match right the contract and the policy needs to match so we would make those recommendations both of the policy and if you don't approve the policy then obviously the language would stay the same okay so right now we don't need to do anything on any of the the request or all of that until the next I just want to make sure I understood that that is correct perfect thank you thank you president do we have any further comments Anderson I mean I can't stop doing that President wait um okay one issue I've had with liquidated damages um is the fact that uh we have in the past um had an employee

127who was uh who resigned um due to uh inappropriate conduct um the the employee was allowed to resign and then we allowed the individual we we voted to allow this person out of their contract um and I don't find that to be right if if an employee has done something wrong and they're being asked to resign instead of being terminated which I don't agree with to be you know to begin with if if an employee has violated District policy or state laws um I think it should be termination instead of uh being allowed to resign and then just go to a different District um but I think in this situation too if we're going to have such policy that we should have verbiage in there um that in those situations first we as a board

128need to know who that individual is so that when we see them um um in the documents we know who they are and then also be able to uh not have liquidated damages waved if they're having to leave due to inappropriate conduct and or violation of law or policy so I'd like to be able to see that um and I I mean I understand that it sucks to you know have to pay that but is a contract and that they have to sign um and just like any other contract if you sign it you have to be responsible for it and to just leave it at the discretion of um you know is this benefiting the district if this person just leaves but then the district then takes on the burden of covering their uh

129fees for breaking their contract and now having to spend money to hire a new staff member uh that's an impact that uh obviously impacts our taxpayers and uh us as a board we're here to ensure that our district is spending money wisely um that's benefiting our taxpayers and we need to be cognizant of that as well thank you okay so to clarify Miss Johnson next meeting is when we can talk about what legal advises per this correct can we also include in that because uh I as far as I understand it having worked here in all of that um should I break my contract the fees are to me there is no fee to us as a district should somebody decide to leave and no longer do their contract whether we collect the ,000 or

130not there is no cost to us it's either we're collecting the Thousand from them or we are not as far as liquidated damages correct well no because there's um to rehire somebody and is that what you're talking about presid I'm just the the rehiring is separate to what I'm I'm talking about specifically I just mean contractually if we lose an employee no matter what we're going to have to do that regardless whether they sign their contract and not at all that jazz that's the same across the board I just wanted to make sure that there is no additional fees that are part of the contract itself the the cost to us would be having to replace that individual not that that I'm aware of okay that was all this moves us to action item 7.1

131we are looking at approval of special warranty deed with town of Gilbert for Gateway Point Elementary um before I make a motion on this I'm going to have Mr Moore clarify some things just to make sure we understand it before we go on yeah president Wade members of the board just to uh explain this agenda item briefly before for you vot on it um as they stated in the issue U we've been working with the development of The Villages of bellastoria which is a property south of Gateway um Point Elementary um this has been going on for a year now um part of their requirements in order to continue their development of that land is to uh the town of govern is requiring them to put in a roundabout at the intersection of blue jay

132um this roundabout will uh take uh a portion of our property and convert it into easement approximately 343 Square ft um we view this um warranty deed as beneficial for the district as that roundabout will include now two student crosswalks um and obviously with a roundabout there's some slowing to traffic so um there's some benefits for the district which is why you see a monetary dollar Domin nomination U denomination in the warranty deed uh with us um moving this 343 Square ft to the town of Gilbert and deeming it now easement so I'll be happy to answer any questions if the board has any but that's my explanation of this agenda item awesome this is this is my kids school in my neighborhood so I'm I'm looking forward to the the easement of traffic in

133some of those areas I think might be beneficial um so if nobody has anything I motion that the governing board approve special warranty deed with town of Gilbert for Gateway Point easement second that's Mr Glover seconded all those in favor I I I I I was that an I from his okay great motion passes 5 Z I don't know don't know where that was all right we are on to 7.2 approval of fiscal year 2024 audit reports again I'm going to give uh Mr Moore a minute before I motion on this one thank you president way members of the board I just wanted to take a brief moment to mention two things these audit reports um one firstly uh we had a unmodified um audit with no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses again um this

134is the culmination of of not just me of my team and and really in part the whole District right a lot of our procedures that we put in place that maybe teachers or other classified staff and coaches uh feel are overburdening them um they're not procedures that we put in place um discretionary right we have those procedures in place to meet these large compliance uh rules that we must follow and so I also want to say thank you to all those teachers staff and anybody who uh is involved in some sort of a procurement process with the school district uh for one helping us by following those procedures that we put in place again we don't try to overburden stuff but um it's really a whole District culmination of of having an audit that's that's

135clean um and to um I think this is opportunity to address the consent item agenda regarding the Sher exence award um that is a fee we pay to send this audit to get additional um basically review so we go above and beyond our state audit standards and we send our audit to the N A National Review team to have it reviewed um and we um that is called the certific certif certificate of excellence award um but that fee is to pay for the fee to have our audit reviewed so thank you I just want President W oh sorry Mr Mo the fee is to pay to have the review not for the actual award itself correct okay thank you president can you hear me go ahead Miss vanhook thank you um the only uh issue

136I have with the audit um report being as an action item is the fact that we didn't have an opportunity for this to be presented to the board as an information item and for the numbers to be explained to everybody and I'm not sure that um everybody on the board has a full understanding of the data that's in the audit in order to approve it um I think items like this uh should be brought to the board as an informational item and explained uh so that we understand all the details that are in it um especially you know all the financial information um and so that's my only concern uh here five of us do all five of us have a full understanding of what's in this audit and what we're about to approve um

137and I I'm not confident that that is the case and so um with that said um I'd like to move to table this item and bring it back as an informational item first before we actually approve it so um I guess I I can make them a second if you didn't hear I oh sorry go ahead we have a motion uh to table uh item 7.2 approval of fiscal year 2024 all those in favor of tbling I I all those opposed Nay Nay Nay as well that was Sarah okay and and this and president way this is the problem uh we as a board continue to rubber stamp information without the full understanding of what is being presented to us for approval board member Van Hook I'm going to ask that we move on from

138the the table has not passed I recognize the frustration with that if you have anything more specifically to this specific agenda item that is totally fine I will let you continue with that um but I I recognize and understand where your position may be it's just not the position held by everybody on the board in that process and and I understand that um but again as and I have the right to State the board continues to rubber stamp information without asking questions and expecting answers and this is a major problem and so you have a right to to proceed to approve something that you don't have you might not have a full understanding of um so yeah let's proceed let's vote thank you I do wish to express as far as the statement of rubber

139stamping where I may choose or other individuals may choose our understanding of the process or our understanding of what's in front of us may differ and again that is part of of governance and I recognize the frustration with that um hopefully as we go forward you know we can continue or there are other opport unities for those of us on the board who still struggle to understand to make meetings with Mr Moore if we wish to have more information on that um so with that I motion that the governing board approve the fiscal year 2024 audit reports as presented second that would be Miss Schultz second all those in favor I I I okay I didn't hear I will abstain okay so motion passes 4 to Z with exstension moving on to discussion or sorry

1407.3 discussion of board meetings start time president Wade um we have got some feedback from the community and one of them had to do with uh or some of it had to do with points of Pride um and so I would like to make a proposal of moving points of Pride to 5:30 um and then with the board business start starting at 6:00 which I think might help everyone um and then also allowing for public comment to for people to sign up for public comment up until 6 o'clock I'm going to ask for legal guidance on how you want us to do that make a motion you like make right right so right now Madam president M you are just I'm sorry I forgot to say Mo I said propose and I apologize so you're

141in discussion on that item I I would understand the motion to mean that you were moving to move the start time of the board meeting to 5:30 essentially um and that would allow the points of Pride to occur um you have the option to um as a governing board to require the administration to accept to request for public comment up until 6: p.m. that's not illegal you can set your Rules of Order about that issue okay perfect thank you for any discussion motion yeah absolutely disc there is not miss Van Hook if you would like to say something go ahead yes please um so at the last meeting uh board member Glover asked for Community feedback and we got community feedback um and the majority of the feedback that we got was asking us not

142to move the meeting time um and I if you know if we're going to listen to the community they're asking not to move the time and we need to consider that uh Mi uh we had um Taylor emailed in um great information regarding other District we are the earliest District uh around us and that hasn't changed anything um and so I would like to keep it um at 6 o'clock because that allows more Community involvement um and whether it's online or it's in person we might not have seen a drastic increase uh of in-person attendance um but that that doesn't mean that these people aren't involved after work or on their way home um and we need to ensure that our board meetings reflect our commitment to our family values and our our community engagement

143that's why we're here we're here to serve the community and the earlier our meetings are the more we limit our community members and we as a board it's our job to be here for the community and give them the opportunity to come in after work if they if they have something to say um you know they might not attend on a regular basis but if they have something to say one day that they have the opportunity to come in um with a six o'clock meeting um so I my recommendation would be to keep it at six o'clock one thing I would like to say is once it's online it's online and so you can watch it at any time and so that's the great thing about putting it online is that you could watch meetings

144from I think four years ago if you wanted to if you wanted to go back so I don't think that start time affects you because you can watch it at at any time online uh president board member president Wade um president Wade oh sorry there's a delay I'm sorry president Wade um I I also like the current time schedule I really think that it's helpful for families buttoning down everything at home and getting everything and all the homework kind of settled if need be in dinner um Gilbert Queen Creek and scottd they have a similar time currently 6:00 p.m. and these are other uh school districts mesa's at 6:30 Deer Valley and Chandler at 7: p.m. so I think six keeping it the same is the good balance around so thank you president Wade um

145one of the things that um Mr Francis mentioned in his email uh was the fact that yes people can watch at home um but it's it's when and they want the opportunity to be able to come in um and speak uh and and because of work they're unable to do that uh that eliminates them uh that eliminates the ability for them to be able to to do that uh so if this is you know for just to be able to change the time um I I don't even know why uh it was init recommended to bring this back because we voted to move the time less than six months ago and here we're asking to change it back um and we wanted to hear from the community we heard from the community the majority of

146the community wants to keep it at six o'clock thank you madam president so um so I was back and forth on this issue and I know that the staff stays very late and has to get up and all work in the morning as do I um I was comfortable because the dates had already been through June 24th for 6 p.m. living with that I don't you know I'm not I'm like you know babe Lincoln Changing Horses Midstream um I think your proposal I think what I heard and let me just say that I heard from only about like a dozen maybe a little slightly more than a dozen less than two dozen certainly people out of the th tens of thousands that live here um so you know I don't know that that was enough

147feedback um you like your proposal um what I really heard from that and what I've taken away from some of the reasonable um well-written uh input that I received is that our meetings are running long and uh an example was just previously um if I have problems with anything Mr Moore presented or or uh Miss Richards presented I me I like to just talk to you guys ahead of time so uh I will call you know call you first thing Monday some of you know and uh and get things in in the work so that I can understand everything that I have to vote on I feel like that's my responsibility that's the way I approach approach the job um and I think that can help contribute to uh shorter meetings I also noticed that

148the points of Pride were a little bit shorter I don't think that was an accident um so that also helps but I I like your proposal of 5:30 for points of Pride then we can take a a break and still start at 6 that seems like a reasonable solution to me and uh I was thinking that I was I wasn't sure how it was going to go but that seems reasonable to me I also um would like to say that doing the points of Pride I I recognize a lot of times we have a lot of elementary schools and so part of me is I feel like the littles and getting them home for bedtime and all of that jazz seems delightful we also had cheer in here today who had to come here just

149to then turn around and go back and so I I do think I do think that is a a a Best of Both Worlds in terms of we allow for the opportunity of points of Pride the benefit of that is the individuals who are in points of Pride they know ahead of time right you know who's going so you get the the email notice at your school and site and all that jazz and it gives us opportunities to you know honor the the many lishments of all the different groups and programs and things that we have and still giving people an opportunity to get here by 6 you can still do the the public comments and all of that until 6 I think that's a reasonable solution um to meet all things I guess in

150that our meetings still as far as the the things and the decisions that the community cares about that people are here for all of that would still start at 6 and so that seems you know like a a rational solution I'm at least willing to vote on it then I would like to motion that um we start the meeting at 5:30 with points of Pride can I say allowing for public okay allowing for public comment to um be taken I think that's not the request request thank you allowing for request to speak to happen until 6: pm. um and should we yeah that's it I will second that um so all those in favor just a recap uh this would move the the points of Pride essentially the start of our thing uh to 5:30

151and then board business will start at 6:00 with keeping public comments uh available until 6: pm. all those in favor I I I all those opposed nay nay motion carries four or sorry three to two math is mathing this moves us to 7.4 approval of the 2025 2026 board meeting dates are there any uh questions or comments before we vote on this um I would like to move um to change one date um and well I first I'd like to ask um if there's any issues with moving July 15th to July 8th no Mr Moore does not president Wade Mr Moore has no concerns with that date change because we usually defer to him okay budget report so you're saying it's okay okay I will comment because thank you board member Van Hook is that

152because you're unable to attend on the 15th um that's correct then I'd like to be able to be present so um so that's why I'm asking if we can just move that one single date because I have um I have already a that date set for something that I have to be at so um so with that said um I mve to change July 15th to July 8th Madame President Miss Van Hook do you think you could withdraw that motion and move to approve the item as presented with the exception of the moving of the date from uh July 8th to July 15th uh board member Van Hook before you make that motion uh it's just hard because of the delay uh board member or sorry vice president Schultz wanted to make a comment before

153the vote or motion I would just not be able to attend on July 8th I I believe that's a holiday weekend as well it's part of Fourth of July or week so 4th of July this is the 8th Fourth of July would be the week before correct it's the the weekend of travel for most folks is is what I take it board member sorry vice president Schultz was meaning and this would be the Tuesday after 4th of July correct we understand that that's that part is clear um I can call my phone you can call in on that one sweet awesome could you please express the motion again and then board member Van Hook I'm I'll just do the motion so you know this is easier go ahead uh mad Madame vice president the uh

154board should move to approve the board meeting dates for 2526 as presented with the exception of moving the board business meeting on July 15th to July 8th 2026 second wait no can can you motion uh no I can't I was like well goodness this is delightful please go ahead all right you can say so one second Sarah we'll get you in there all right you one of you can say so moved as presented o I like that so moved as presented second sorry I'm writing on the wrong spot so that was Sarah jarmin with the second okay so I don't need to motion again that was what we just did all those in favor I uh I I all those opposed motion carries 5 thanks for that one thank you all right item 7.5 approval

155of overnight Andor outof State tra uh staff travel questions or comments board member Wade I asked to pull this item because this conference is set to um for Miss Richards to attend uh three months before retirement um and I'm not sure I know so it looks like almost $9,000 um was paid in September of 2024 um and that money covered um registration flights and lodging and three other um conferences uh what I'd like to know is were the other conferences already attended or are remaining to attend um and was this paid in September so if if we didn't attend the other two conferen say uh so was this paid in September knowing that this conference was going to be in um March of this year board member Van Hook I hope I can answer your

156questions this insert is a organization it's the national Center for Education and Research it's these conferences are national executive leadership conferences in the fall of 2022 Higley was invited to join insert there are three districts in the state of Arizona that are invited to participate um I did attend the Conference in October I did know that this conference was in March and it's my understanding they will have one in July and my hopes would be that the new new superintendent especially with our start date being adjusted would be able to participate and there are about 900 superintendents from across the country that attend these conferences and I found it very valuable so I would love for the next superintendent to be able to participate did I answer everything board member Van Hook yes thank you

157and um it's it's good to know that there was one in October so you've been able to to take advantage of the um for all you know the conferences um but so you're saying that this is transferable it's not just to specific individual yes okay my main concern was just that three months before um you know the cart contract ending um and then just the value of that for the community and the district well I with permission president L just I found it very valuable in October and I did bring back and I if you you might remember we went to the Naval Academy and I shared some of things we've learned and we've also so honestly that Superintendent at biserie Council was part of that Vision as well so my intention is not to

158go and not bring it back my intention is I have to go and bring it back to cabinet and report back to you guys as well thank you thank you thank you Miss Richards I also would like to say I'm appreciative of the fact that yes we know we only have you for so long before you're no longer with us it is also part of your contractual obligations and part of our evaluation of you these PDS so I mean I'm appreciative at least that you're looking at it in terms of ways in which you can set that your whoever comes after you up for Success here in hickley as well so I appreciate that I'm going to motion that the governing board approves the overnight and out of state staff travel requests as presented that'

159be Miss jarm with a second all those in favor I I I I all right motion passes 5 Z items for future agenda do we have any future agenda items or requests for future agenda items I was going to uh recommend a policy but um it sounds like uh from Miss Johnson that they'll be bringing in that policy back anyway so I'm good I mentioned this earlier to miss Batista but a a marketing report on what our numbers and where our money was spent and and how it affected our Kindergarten Roundup I know we still have all the other outside issues um birth rate and everything but just like to see those numbers thank you and the athletic kind of optin thing or opt out that one was in our our status last Friday that

160and so I don't know what date that's coming but that was it was mentioned in our status last week when District's going to come to us with that or at least that they will be president way we plan on coming March 4th with that inform there you go we've been getting information from our surrounding districts compiling and we'll bring a recommendation to you on that date I also appreciate the quick turnaround on that cuz that's a that's a large task and that was a large ask and so when the community asked you did the work for that and so I'm appreciative on the timetable for that sound I'm appreciative of the work don't take credit over there all right thank you yes please give credit to Mr bur he's helped leading that charge for us

161thank you I appreciate it all right with that there's no more I'm going to I motion that the governing board adjourn to Executive session pursuant to ARS 38-43 1.03 uh A1 for discussion or consideration of employment assignment appointment promotion demotion dismissal salaries disciplin or disciplining or resignation of a public officer appointee or employee of any public body second Mr Arman seconded all those in favor I I I motion passes five to zero e