001e e okay good good evening I would like to call this meeting to order uh Mrs Richards may I have the roll call please yes president Anderson let the record show that all five board members are present thank you I motion that the governing board adjourn to Executive session pursuant to ARS 38-43 1.03 A3 and A4 for legal advice second that was Mrs Wade a second all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to zero e e e okay I motion that we reconvene into Open Session second seconded by Mrs Wade all those in favor I I I I motion carries 5 to zero okay um please join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance e okay I motion to approve the agenda Mrs Van Hook got the second
002all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to zero now we have the superintendent Report with Mrs Richards good evening president Anderson members of the board tonight we want to start out and acknowledge our a schools so we've got banners up front here and I'm going to ask Mr lenher and Mr Armstrong to help me as we call schools forward in alphabetical order we need Bridges Elementary Mr Jeff Bickle and Miss Elizabeth melter congratulations we're going to ask that you stay up here all right oh yeah good idea next we have Centennial [Applause] Elementary Miss Amanda day and Mr Eric Rogers chapparel [Applause] Elementary Miss Christine Hansen and Mr Terry pepper okay cornado Elementary [Applause] Mr Brian Griggs and Miss Alice stortini congratulations Cortina Elementary Miss Kelly pfy trade places with you this is
003a problem when we're running out a room right good job Higley all right next Higley Traditional [Applause] Academy miss Karen bacon and Miss Mandy Bali congratulations Power Ranch [Applause] Elementary Miss Michelle McNab and Miss Nicole Mulla saan Elementary just a trick did you hear the sound effects from back here I'm pretty sure we're in Middle School okay yes I just wanted to make sure Mr pots was paying attention saan Middle [Applause] School yeah probably he just looked confused surprise next should I say Higgly high school elementary let's go Higley High School Mr Allan [Applause] Phils Stan corrected the Higley High School how about the williamsfield high [Applause] school principal John Dolan not you're gonna have to do it and this one really is an elementary and I'm not kidding Santan Elementary Mr [Applause] marado I
004think he was running late but he's going to slide in here in a minute and then very importantly we have a school district that is rated an a that is a difficult accomplishment so I need the governing board to come down and acknowledge this rating [Applause] in the middle yeah like very confused well we do have a Elementary yes we do we many of you know the AR Arizona Department of Education ranks school districts and schools and to get a letter a is not an easy accomplishment our problem is we don't have enough room in this board board meeting room to accommodate so congratulations to all schools and the district [Applause] wait principal Ray Marcado is here [Applause] congratulations we're gonna move over all right congratulations everyone e some of the schools may may want
005to leave otherwise we're ready for Higley Adventures think so all all right good evening everyone thanks for being here we have some very exciting acknowledgements this evening uh technology there we go all right this evening we have williamsfield High School freshman recer Ian he's an independent artist drummer producer and EM Emmy nominated actor musician and was nominated for a Grammy for his role in the AL album Solid Rock Revival by Rock for children he's composed and recorded drums for many of the songs on this album created in collaboration with teams from no other than Alice Cooper's Solid Rock teen Sinners with proceeds benefiting these Sinners the gramys will be aired on February 2nd we are so proud of this talented young man and know that he has so many more wonderful things in his future
006on the next slide we get to share a little bit of his talent with you and I believe he's in the audience [Applause] somewhere so recer when we're playing your video will you come forward please now it works too well it's not playing can they play it for me [Music] wow congratulations so very very impressive I wish we had drums in here for you to play for us right can you tell us what the most uh rewarding part of your journey has been um the most rewarding part is having the support system that I've had and um like my parents and the school district like it's just been amazing like just being so Cooperative of what I'm doing and with all the students and it's like pursuing your passions while like missing school and trying
007to keep your grades up so like I just appreciate every single one of you and just thank you for like just being there and supporting me and same with my parents just being surrounded by a great support system and being pushed on the right path is just probably the most like the best thing I could ask for so we're very proud of you I think you have three principles in the room raise your hand if you were one of his principles Mr Armstrong Mr Dolan and Who ah and Louisa good job all right we're ready for a picture aome [Applause] all right next we have the higgle High School thesbian celebration in November Higley High School's thesbian troop 6907 attended the prestigious AR Arizona State Lesbian Festival an annual event that brings together over a
008100 Schools Statewide to celebrate theatrical achievements and showcase students in various acting and Technical competitions during this event Higley High School was selected to present The Outsiders to an audience of over 2,000 students from high schools across the state this exceptional accomplishment highlights the school's commitment to Excellence in theater in Higley High School is thrilled to been have been selected for this prestigious distinction not done yet the school was also recognized for their outstanding contributions during the 2324 school year and earn numerous accolades for the sixth consecutive year the troop achieved gold honors status and for the second year in a row under the direction of Mrs April French they received the coveted Award of Distinction this recognition places higgle High School among only three schools in the state to earn gold in all categories
009so I believe Mrs French and her team are in the audience so we need you up front [Applause] congratulations my guys do you want to say something do you want to say anything sure put on the spot um I'm just so grateful to work with such amazing kids and I I love what I do so thank you for having us here thank you yeah it is it [Applause] is all right now we have the Williams fi High School Marching Band state champions where are they Mr loten [Applause] haiser you need to do this for me yeah you could be [Applause] thank you [Applause] okay all right can barely fit you guys in the room congratulations I'm going to let you speak a little bit and tell us why they're up here thank you all um
010we had a really successful season we got first place uh for the aboda state championship and really this wouldn't have come down we didn't get here on our own just from the hard work it's from the community that we have here in the Higley district from our um the ad Administration to Transportation getting us um all the buses and um trailers and to get to all of our competitions from Finance to be able to help with getting new instruments when we need to repair those and um also bring in new instruments with the HR department with helping our staff for getting the staff to support the all the instruction that we have here and as well as the board members and administration for continued support of the music program and the district and also for
011the students and families that we have here that it is without your dedication and countless hours that we put towards the program we wouldn't have got to this point so thank you for everyone here it takes a community to get to where we got and it is awesome thank you [Applause] I'm on [Applause] [Music] and thank you for the shirt if you need otheres let us yeah okay next Higley Leadership Academy our amazing higgle Leadership Academy District staff came together for a day of giving back they rolled up their sleeves and spent the day cleaning up Gil Gilbert's repair reparan preserve and completing various Landscaping task from picking up litter to Landscaping Maintenance our team work tirelessly to make the community a cleaner and Greener place a huge thank you to everyone who participated and
012made this project a success let's continue to take pride in our community and Inspire others to do the same thing and now with our final meeting of the year it is with mix a mixture of gratitude and admiration that we acknowledge the dedicated service of two members of our governing board board member Christina Reese and board president Michelle Anderson both Mrs Reese and Mrs Anderson have served our district with a level of leadership that is truly commendable Anderson H um excuse me especially considering the roles on the governing board are entirely voluntary right guys their dedication and passion for education has made a great impact on our district and it is my honor to recognize their contributions so if you two will meet Miss Miller and Mr Moore in the middle I'm going to say
013a few more words about you to acknowledge you board member Michelle board member president Michelle Anderson has led our district with pride bringing her expertise as a longtime educator to every decision she makes her commitment to our schools is reflected in in her family's Journey with both of her children attending Higley schools from kindergarten through graduation now she is back in the classroom we know Mrs Anderson's commitment to students will continue through her work and in the student she impacts each and every day we are thankful for your leadership and dedication to the students of Higley let's give her around of [Applause] Applause board member Christina ree has been a pillar of our community serving on the board for over a decade without pay right with three children who attended our schools her commitment to
014Higley is deeply personal she has invested in our community not only through the governing board but as a Gilbert business owner specializing in early childhood education she brought her expertise in servant leadership style to our district and to the countless roles she's played in organizations from Girl Scouts to the Chamber of Commerce while we say goodbye to Christina's time on the the Higley governing board I am sure will cont continue to see her impact in our community thank you so much for your [Applause] service no that's not how it works you know continue to try and in addition I'm going to have cabinet come up here so I don't know who's going to take the picture Jessica hey we're so Curtis good job Curtis they're both going to say something so hang tight uh thank
015you thank you everyone for being here and congratulations to all the teams that were recognized in your hard work and parents for your commitment um I just want to say more about Christina than myself uh she she's kind of one that motivated me to run um and to keep supporting this District um I worked nine years in HR in this District I taught for three years in this District um I've done crossing guard in this district and now governing board and um like and it was one of the hardest things but one of the best things and it was a dream to to do this and it was a dream to serve this community and I'm so grateful for everyone the good and the bad I'm grateful for it all helped me grow it helped
016me learn a lot that I did not know already being a teacher you think you know a lot and you know everything because we like to put on that face like we do but there's a lot we don't so um Christina thank you so much for your time I'm trying to make her cry thank you for being such thanks for being such a good friend friend thank you for being an inspiration and a true leader um this district is absolutely honored to have you and for your service now you're the say that stuff and then hand it off that's not fair I just want to say what an honor it's been see you you started it um 12 years who's got the over under I I see it I see it all the bets that
017go on um it's been an honor to serve this district for 12 years um everyone's been great what a great night to go out on with all of our schools I just want to say thank you and thank you to my family congratulations all right we're ready for points of [Applause] Pride all right we need Centennial Elementary up here Amanda day and Eric Rogers [Applause] all right good evening everyone thank you so much for being here tonight um president Anderson and members of the board were really excited to recognize four really special individuals from our campus um this is one of the best nights for us be I wish we could do it every every single board member for our campus because there's a lot of really PE good people to recognize um but without
018our teachers our students our support staff our parents and the community um it wouldn't be possible so we're really excited and we are going to start with our student point of Pride Miss Nora Lacy [Applause] here you go all right so I'd like to share some words that Norah's sixth grade teachers um shared about here and you get to stay up here with me the whole time okay all right so Nora Lacy is a dedicated and enthusiastic sixth grader who brings a positive attitude to everything she does she approaches her schoolwork with care and commitment always striving to do her best her friendly and kind nature makes her a wonderful friend and classmate as she includes others and encourages teamwork she demonstrates Integrity in her actions consistently making choices that reflect honesty and responsibility additionally
019Nora shows great respect towards her teachers listening attentively and always following instructions her positive character dedication and willingness to participate make her a fantastic student to have in class she truly enhances our classroom community [Applause] all right and we're going to have Nora share who she brought with her tonight I brought my mom and my sister with me today you did great good job all right all right next we'd like to recognize our um our volunteer uh Mr Joshua [Applause] bar so we're thrill thrilled to recognize Mr Joshua bar as our points of Pride volunteer Josh currently serves as the communications liaison on our PTO and has recently joined centennials site Council he goes above and beyond to highlight the wonderful things happening on our campus and has been instrumental in supporting our first fundraiser
020of the year his creativity and thoughtful approach to communication helps strengthen the connections within our Centennial family we are incredibly grateful for Josh's willingness to jump in whenever needed whether it's assisting with f fun Friday morning Donuts late night cleanup after a pumpkin lighting managing the pizza to social media and website supporting the Spirit Gear popups shops in the morning and simply being an all around genuine person Josh truly is always ready to lend a helping hand in any way he can thank you Josh for all you [Applause] do all right and Josh will you share who you brought with you definitely got the wife and kids with me here and without them sacrificing time with daddy this wouldn't happen I I would not be able to do all these things so I appreciate the
021opportunity to serve and thank you so much all right next up we have our classified staff member Mr Brendan [Applause] nice job all right so I'd have um something I'd like to read about uh Mr Brendan from myself and Eric and then his lead teacher in the classroom she is out home with her baby she will be back soon um but there is something special she wrote about you too so I will read that after all right so we would like to recognize Mr Brendan as centennial's points of Pride classified staff winner Mr Bryan is a paraprofessional in one of our CR cross categorical classrooms at Centennial Mr Brendan's dedication to his students and colleagues does not go unnoticed his positive mindset flexibility and willingness to support each and every student in his classroom is
022one of the many reasons he is receiving this recognition when you see Mr bryndan working with his students on campus both in the classroom and around the campus you can see firsthand how calm patient and kind he is Mr Brendan is a natural leader in the classroom that makes decision instructionally and behaviorally to support all of his students he builds positive relationships with not only the students in his classroom but also the students in other classes oftentimes we'll hear the students Shouting Out Mr Brendan Mr Brendan so thank you Mr Brendon for all you do for your students and your class and the campus as a whole we're extremely grateful for [Applause] you and then I would like to re a special message from Miss Garcia Mr Brendan's Lead Teacher so she stated I have
023had the privilege of working alongside Brendan for several years and during this time I've witnessed his deep passion for Education his genuine love for what he does Brendan goes beyond helping students achieve their academic goals he's patient and a calm demeer enables him to support students even during those challenging moments he takes the time to understand each student unique needs and preferences using this knowledge to guide his instruction effectively Bryan is a true pleasure to work with each and every day I commend him for his exceptional patience both in and out of the classroom nice [Applause] job all right share with us who you brought sorry a little emotional always uh I brought my beautiful and very very supportive wife [Applause] all right now we would like to recognize our certified staff uh for points
024of Pride U Mrs Susan [Applause] Montenegro for our certified points of Pride recipient we'd like to recognize Miss Susan Montenegro Miss Montenegro is our dedicated second and third grade resource teacher whose unwavering commitment to our students success is truly inspiring she consistently goes above and beyond to ensure that each student's individual needs are met thoughtfully tailoring her approach to provide the best possible support to her students and colleagues her skillful use of data to set goals and inform instructional plan speaks to her professionalism and focus on meaningful and measurable growth for each child her collaboration with grade level plc's is invaluable as she brings brings insights and resources that enrich our entire teaching team and help us create an inclusive and effective learning environment we are incredibly fortunate to have her on our team and
025deeply appreciate the difference that she makes every day who would you bring with you tonight my husband and my friends congratulations Centennial [Applause] get away oh no wow cleared the room out just about I never know I is gonna yep all right we're ready for HTA with Miss Karen bacon and Mandy [Applause] Bali thank you president Anderson members of the board and cabinet we are so proud to be here this evening to honor four amazing members of our HTA family we truly are a family and it shows by the turnout tonight for the love and support that we all have for one another uh we're going to start with our very special student miles would you come up here and also can I have miles's teacher Mrs Gonzalez come up [Applause] too so miles's teacher
026wrote some really nice words that I would like to read for him miles is a wonderful role model in our classroom and all around the school he's a great leader who sets a positive example for his friends by working hard being kind and always trying his best miles has absolutely thrived in second grade and has made tremendous gains in all aspects of school he lights up a room with his big smile funny jokes and awesome dance moves that always makes everybody laugh and have fun miles inspir inspires everyone to do their best and brings so much joy to our classroom every day and I got to see him be a leader in his classroom today when he found the elf that gets up into Mischief every evening he was the first to spot it and
027wrote Amazing sentences and read the letter from the elf to the class so good [Applause] job miles would you tell us who you brought with us with you this evening uh Roman deck and my two brothers very good to take a picture and can you grab those we also have a little special treat for dessert [Music] next we'd like to recognize our amazing volun oh sorry yeah yeah stay up here buddy our amazing volunteer our PTO president miss Kristen Lawson where do I start Kristen you're a point of Pride for so many reasons but you exemplify what it means to selflessly serve our school Community despite working full time you consistently find ways to support our school demonstrating unwaver unwaver in dedication and Care your contributions are vast and impactful from spearheading community events that
028bring families together to organizing fundraisers that directly benefit our students you lead with enthusiasm and a servant's heart you also take great care of our instructional staff by working collaboratively with Community Partners to host staff appreciation celebrations throughout the entire school year your commitment goes well beyond our expectations ensuring that every effort effort you make a CO a positive and Lasting difference we are incredibly fortunate to have someone as passionate and hardworking as Kristen leading our PTO her energy kindness and dedication Inspire us all and we are so grateful for her service to our [Applause] school and would you tell us who you brought with you yeah um I have the Rowdy bunch in the back my husband my three-year-old and our third grader [Applause] all right I am excited and truly honored to be
029able to be a part of this what a great organization all around so this next person is our certified staff member the name of the individual being recognized is Kimberly paffenberger affectionately known as Kimmy [Applause] Kimmy is one of our first grade teachers and Mrs paffenbarger exemplifies dedication and Leadership at Higley Traditional Academy as a first grade teacher she inspires a love of learning in her students while consistently going above and beyond to support our school Community her multifaceted role has made a tremendous impact on students staff and families alike Mrs paffenbarger serves as the PTO liaison fostering meaningful collaboration between parents teachers and administration through this role she ensures open communication organizes initiatives and promotes parent involvement in ways that directly benefit our students in addition to her classroom respons possibilities Kimmy coaches our
030elementary cheer team her energy and positivity motivates students not only to Excel and cheerleading but also to build confidence teamwork and school spirit her selflessness and unwavering commitment to the success and well-being of every student and colleague makes Mrs paffenbarger a Cornerstone of our school community [Applause] and who did you bring this evening I brought my husband my well he looks like a one-year-old but my six-month-old son and then my [Applause] family okay and then next I would like to recognize our classified staff member Melody Al Brandy [Applause] welome Melody is the first friendly face that greets our school Community when they enter the office as well as the friendly and efficient person you speak to when you call the school on the phone throughout her 16 years of experience in the role of the
031school receptionist at gley Traditional Academy she has built positive relationships with both internal and external customers to provide excellent service she is kind knowledgeable and efficient and has a memory like no other her level of professionalism is unwavering and we are so lucky to have her and who who did you bring tonight my daughter Aaron and my wonderful HTA [Applause] family thank you so much to all of you and the impact you have on our community e re bring people up here we're going to take a couple of pictures and take a couple of minutes for a break so and I mean like four so if you need to run to the restroom please do and if you're the photographer please don't leave e e e okay thank you Miss Richards um are you ready
032for some upcoming events yes president Anderson we are all looking forward to winter break December 20th through January 3rd School resum resumes on January 6th we have our District spelling be at hcpa at 5:00 p.m. on January 9th and you're all invited to come it's quite impressive we have kids that know words and spell words I've never seen so they're amazing in addition we have a parent event one pill can kill in the district boardroom that same evening at 6 that concludes the district events thank you Mrs Richards okay we will moving on to 5.1 the public hearing public hearing of fiscal year 2025 budget revision revision number two and we will now move to a public hearing for the second revision of fiscal year 2025 budget Mr Moore thank you president Anderson members of
033the board um as you alluded to tonight will'll be presenting the uh second revision for the 2025 budget which is our current year budget um just as a kind of a standing slide in my presentations is just to uh oops is my Arizona School District budget timeline I just kind of continue to put this in there to make sure the board is tracking where we are in our budget process so uh just a quick reminder we proposed and adopted our budget in June we did come back um to the board for a a revision number one and if you recall that was for a small sped adjustment so largely the budget that we're revising to tonight is still the adopted budget uh and utilizing a lot of the um projected ADM numbers um estimated budget
034bounds Carri forward numbers so keep that in mind as I navigate through the presentation uh and then tonight as I as you already alluded to we'll be reviewing the 25 uh revised budget number two some of the major highlights in this budget revision are a lot of the things that we estimated in the adopted budget we are now reconciling and shwing up um to our current year so uh there's a couple reports that ad publishes these are public reports um but the first one is the called the budge 75 essentially what that means is um it gives us a prior your Reconciliation Report to what uh we finally finy on our AFR so where we ended the year last year um we um ad basically reconciles that with our adopted budget and we true up
035our numbers to that report um that report uh basically what we take from that report is our actual budget balance carry fors again for m& Capital um those are two things we estimate in the adopted process but now at this point in time with the AFR being complete we can uh true up in this budget revision one thing I will note and and if you when I get to my next uh segment the reconciled fy4 ADM numbers um were higher than what we adopted on in June and so um annually a lot of our numbers for students in building basically inperson student learning are finalized at 100th day however with an aoi program that is based on average attendance throughout the whole year those numbers came in um a little bit higher than what we
036anticipated which is good it is a net increase but is net increase than what we adopted so um I guess in layman's terms um after all aoi minutes were turned in we had higher ADM than what we anticipated in the year on so that's a net gain from prior year but we adopted a lower year ADM because we didn't have those numbers at the time when we were adopting the budget in June it'll make sense as I get to my next point which is the budget 25 which reconciles current year ADM to what we estimated on our adopted budget so we adopted a budget if you recall estimating 100 ADM loss we looked at trending data we realized we were starting to lose students um at a rate uh it at the as of last
037year it was about 1% so we felt as prudent to start to budget for a loss um so that was a estimated ADM loss of 100 or about 1% of our our total ADM our actual ADM is down 381 that's about just over 3% from prior year but the true budgetary impact is just from the adopted ADM numbers versus um the reconciled 24 numbers the next slide will show the math on that but if you real if if you're trying to calculate this in your head and realize the math doesn't add up it's because we adopted ADM numbers that were not completely finalized from ad at and so a lot of moving targets there and that's the basically why you know school districts are current year budgeting uh this is some of the challenges that
038we face when approving budgets and estimating budgets so our true uh budgeted ADM loss and that what we'll be revising to tonight is 239 .45 which is just under 2% from the adopted Budget on the third bullet point we um all the the November election results so that override phas down will begin in fiscal year 26 so that's July uh 1st 2025 um we anticipate having those discussions starting in January on how we'll address that phase down for fiscal year 26 um that estimated reduction is about 4.8 million dollar for that first year phase down so this is a graph uh trending with some trendline data of our ADM um again this is a projected ADM so as of right now the budget that we're revising to is using ADM numbers as of November 15th
039um when we we'll have to do one more Revision in May once we have our final 100 day ADM numbers but as we're trending right now we've known um Elementary basically uh preschool through eight uh is trending declining enrollment right there's low birth rates our Kinder sections are lower um year after year and so that uh ulation comes up the grades as those Kinder sections are lower the next year the first grade sections lower and so on so that was part of the reason why we started a budget for 100 ADM loss and so um you can see um on the graph that actually was a little bit faster loss than what we anticipated in the elementary section in addition on the secondary side the 912 uh we've been seeing a steady increase in ADM
040um we did not foresee that kind of a leveling off this year but that was uh where we are trending right now at a small uh decline um at current year numbers so how does that factor in with some of our neighboring districts um across the the state and especially East Valley um most districts are seeing decline uh we are not uh in an abnormal situation um you'll see Queen Creek uh Benjamin flanken Charter Schools that's both their Elementary and their secondary campus um are the only two really I guess East Valley districts that are seeing some growth uh Queen Creek still has capacity being built out uh we are landlocked in that sense um but if you look at Gilbert Chandler Mesa um all as well as Higley um all these districts are well
041above 2 and a half% in enrollment decline as of November um some of our neighboring Charters are losing at a faster rate uh The Learning Foundation which is off of Recker and Warner um almost 4% and then Legacy Traditional right across the street is almost 5% loss ADM um I will note um Al a Gilbert I can't pull their numbers because uh they report as under one ctsd number so essentially uh they have multiple campus throughout the state they report all that ADM into one summarized number uh and so that ADM uh numbers are not readly or publicly available in addition Gil with Christian is a private school so that enrollment is not public as well so I can't um pull their numbers so looking at the impacts of the ADM loss to our budget
042again I mentioned the budgetary loss is 239 um that impact if you run it through the state formula is uh the next line the revenue control limit so you can see from Revis to Revis budget number two um basically that straight ADM loss including some of the group b losses so that includes some of our SP um Group B weight um free and reduce percentage all those are kind of summarized into that 91.1 million um that ADM loss equates to $2.3 million in basically um budget capacity um the Eno no transfer to Capital in the legislative process um going into this year they appropriated one time dollars uh for a daa adjustment how they are ad is appropriating that is that prorating it through M so what that additional transfer amount is is basically moving
043that legislatively approved onetime Capital money from M to Capital because that's how they are making us do it um on the M override there's some small reconciliation um to True up that number so 14.1 to 14.17 there's a 45 $4,000 increase there and as I mentioned previously we estimated our budget balance carry forward and our adopted budget which did not change from our revised one of 23.1 million uh we actually ended up slightly higher at 23.6 million so that's an net increase of 4 191,000 prop 123 there is no change in that dollar amount we we estimated that exactly as to what was appropriated it's a little easier formula based on prior year ADM so no change in that amount but from basically our adopted budget as I mentioned the revised budget number one only
044had a small sped change from our adopted budget what we estimated in June to where we are trending now with ADM uh we are basically over budget $2.1 million so uh with M uh we do have a budget balance carry forward uh so we will not be making any um operational changes to our district at this time will be utilizing the budget BS Carri forward to absorb this loss in the in this fiscal year on the capital side you'll see a little different story um the district additional assistance the first line is a Formula basically much like M&L the the difference with that formula and how it's easier to calculate is actually based off prior year ADM um and so I mentioned earlier that the ADM from prior year was actually a little bit higher
045than what we anticipated so you'll see that difference there but typically we're spot on with that uh estimate because it's it's a prior ADM uh calculation so that increas is based on the ADM difference from what we adopted to what we've Ada recalculated the M transfer to Capital as it just stated the appropriated onetime daa legislative adjustment for this year is being mandated through ml so we are just transferring that to put where uh that was appropriate that should be going for this year the budget balance Carri forward with capital we take a more conservative approach these are our larger projects um most of these projects did not get expensed in Prior year but rather they got expensed in July and August as they were finishing up um cons you know uh whether finishing up
046prior to the school year and some of those payments didn't take place until this current year and the start of the year so um that net increases just strictly on obligations that we anticipated paying in Prior year but we actually paid in this year so we just recapturing the budget capacity um in the tune of 3.5 million that's basically budget balance estimated ending at 4 million but where we finished actually was 7.5 um and interest earnings is just chewing that up um on the capital budget there's one budget where you can actually Capt capture um interest earnings on your uh balance and so we had an additional $18,000 dollar wi which we can capture in the budget so the net change with the capital budget was $3.9 million and that's really it so really looking
047forward um we have as I mentioned previously our in January we intend to have our first discussions on our f26 budget um we have limited budget or board meetings prior to mark in which we typically ask the board for tend of approval um to issue contracts and so um we will get uh on the January 14th meeting we'll have some recommendations for our budget reductions uh not only due to enrollment loss which um you can see we're over budget currently so this would be recommendations for anticipated continue enrollment loss to 26 but also recommendations for our ml override phase down due to that renewal being uh fail failing this last November on February 4th we'll have a second review um we'll look to finalize those recommendations for the budget reductions again to to enrollment loss
048and override renewal failure and then on March 4th we'll ask our board uh for tenative approval so we can issue contracts um contracts are now statutorily um they gave us a date now so all districts are on the same playing field but um all districts now are not cannot issue contracts before March 15th um so that kind of givs us all same playing field but we'll still need some um board approval to issue contracts um or board approval prior to issuing contracts and then in April um we'll bring forth a first review of the capital budget um this year kind of phasing these two conversations um I think they're they're drastically different conversations this year uh with the override not passing so with that I'll be happy to answer any questions no comments from the
049board okay thank you Mr Moore it's going to open up now for me member of the public that would like to come up and give or provide any comments okay all right um president Anderson Mr Moore other than the fact that we don't have any you know we're running out of space for more homes to be built within the district and um obviously competing with esas uh and birth rate but like as far as the drop do we have an idea of just based on like parents who have disenrolled um do we have an idea of like reasons why we dropped so much in ADM like I said we're seeing lower sections at our at our Kinder levels um we started seeing that Trend last year and so as that attritions up our grade levels
050there's not more students to capture if our Kinder grade levels say are at 500 but our first grade sections at 600 you already have a built-in net loss of 100 going into next year so um that is the biggest Trend that we're seeing is that just lower um basically Litt we're seeing um lower enrollment at our uh Elementary levels and that's just now atrica up our grades and uh through our district so right um president Anderson Mr Moore I understand with like kindergarten enrollment uh might be down due to students not enrolling at you know um but as far as the higher grades you know from 1 to 6th if we've had any um students that have left the district is that something that we've been tracking um to understand what the trend is um
051that's causing that to happen yeah president Schultz M um I mean we we have enrollment that fluctuates daily of kids who transfer in and transfer out we do ask for that information but you know sometimes parents aren't truthful or they don't give us a reason we don't mandate it uh nor can we I think mandate if they unenroll that they have to fill out something telling us where they're going um and so it's often times when it's voluntary data we we don't get much feedback in that sense so um but there's nothing that's trending that's screaming out people are this is why people are leaving if okay gr the reason that that our team has seen I mean it would be great if everybody can fill that section out um you know on a exit
052survey um just to be able to understand any trends that are out there but obviously it's love that so we can have some idea of how to address right if they're leaving for a reason yeah okay thank you okay thank you we will now reconvene an open session and next up is 6.1 the request to speak if we could go ahead and play the video 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 to 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
053AR 38-4 31.0 1i action taken as a result of public comment will 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 participation at board meetings if considered necessary the 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
054cooperation okay first up we have Taylor Francis Madame President members of the board my name is Taylor Francis and I am the parent of two kids in Higley schools for the last year and a half I have been a fairly outspoken critic of the district both constructive and positive tonight I wish to highlight one of the least talked about departments within the district plays a very important role Transportation each school day about 3,000 Higgly kids utilize husd buses that is one quarter of our students or enough to fill this room 15 times each school day our buses Traverse about one mile per riding student which is the distance from here to Hawaii and we accomplish this with only 46 buses none of the numbers by the way include field trips or other special activities this
055is simply the regular daily usage in the last 7 years the higgy transportation team has never once had to cancel a day's route busing students to and from school is not required by the state and is a service offered by the district as a convenience the average age of our Fleet is 12 years old and the oldest bus has over 20 years the recommended lifespan of a school bus is five to six years school buses are not built with air conditioning and there is no requirement to have one on board but Higley invests the money to outfit each and every of its buses with air with AC for the safety and comfort of our students something that not every District in the valley does because busing is not mandatory each district is allowed to set
056a walk distance or the distance from a school where buses will not run and force his parents to find their own way to get a child to school Higley is the only School District in the area that has not increased its original walk distances which other districts have done as a mean to cut costs unlike charter schools public districts must account for every single mile driven to receive funding and the cost of driving students to certain activities such as evit for CTE programs are not covered this extra cost is absorbed by our district as a convenience to parents higgle is The Benchmark for school drivers in a record setting four weeks Higley will take an adult with only a driver's license get them their CDL school bus certificate CPR first aidid training complete drug testing
057and get them certified with the state and uher with the state and on the road the quality of our program is so high that Higley is the is the only thirdparty testing site authorized by the State Department of Motor Vehicles to certify bus drivers and other school districts send their own drivers to us to get certified our drivers uh work some of the hardest schedules known as split shifts their day begins early in the morning and once their morning duties are complete they go home for a few hours before having to return for round two and do it all over again they take the abuse from Rowdy students angry parents and aggressive drivers and have nearly no recourse for student misbehavior yet they show up for work ready to go day in and day out
058I had planned to highlight a transportation team back in October was but was unable my original intent was to highlight that despite our bus drivers cargo being far more precious than working uh and working worse hours our drivers are paid $5 less than garbage truck drivers and gravel truck drivers and to ask the district consider pay increas uh specifically for those in transportation however with the failure I just wanted to highlight the wonderful job that our amazing team does and I don't believe that they receive nearly recognition that they should thank you thank you next up is Sarah German thank you for the opportunity to speak today as a newly elected board member I feel a strong responsibility to address a concerning Trend I observe recently the unwarranted attacks on parents and community members on
059social media these actions parly when perpetrated by individuals within our educational Community are deeply troubling and hypocritical during my campaign both my account and marks were unfairly suspended and removed as apparently we were perceived as threats by some just two weeks before the election our Facebook pages were also terminated and taken down an account that I've had for many years it was very disheartening to witness attempts to silence voices especially through such hostility from adults as role models for our students and children it is crucial for us to demonstrate respectful and constructive Behavior I've noticed some of these individuals proclaiming that children are watching if they truly believe this then they should embody the M maturity and integrity expected of adults rather than engaging in hypocrisy this Behavior exemplifies bullying a practice I firmly stand
060against we would never tolerate such conduct from students so why should we accept this double standard among ourselves our shared goal should be to foster a positive and productive educational environment for all students imagine the possibilities if we focused on collaboration and support instead of division and hostility it is essential that we find Common Ground come together and move Beyond pettiness I think we all can agree on that thank you thank you I motion to approve the consent agenda items from 7.1 to 7.14 second that was Miss Schultz for the second all those in favor all those in favor I hi hi motion carries 5 to zero fast um with that um I want to thank uh thank the organizations for their gifts and donations um it was sasman Middle School I believe that received
061a pretty large donation and then um Mr Walker would like to make an introduction thank you president members of the board uh with the approval of the consent agenda I just wanted to acknowledge that we are welcoming uh Mr Kenny de laora to the district office to serve as the assistant director of student services uh Mr Deora has uh a long history of campus and District administration and we're excited to have him come on board to help support uh student safety in our [Applause] campuses all right thank you next are information items with 8.1 information relating to proposed engagement agreement with the France Law Group and Mrs Richards uh would you please introduce yes president Anderson members of the board I would like to introduce Mr William shanoff he's going to share information related to
062thiso proposed engagement thank you very much Mr President and members of the board my name is William shinoff and I'm attorney with with the France Law Group out of San Diego California I'm here to discuss with you a litigation that I've been working on for the past 2 years in which I represent over a thousand school districts across the country in federal litigation against a number of social media companies uh specifically meta which is the parent company to Facebook and Instagram Tik Tok Snapchat and YouTube what we're alleging in in this litigation is that these companies have intentionally addicted children to their platform which have resulted in increased uh emotional health issues uh what we have seen and what our experts have found is that we over the past 10 years in which these platforms
063have been around we've seen an increase in anxiety depression Eating Disorders suicidal ideation and sadly even suicide as well in this case we are trying to hold these companies accountable specifically for the impact we've seen on our campuses what we've seen is that districts had to go and increase their mental health budgets hire more staff what we're also trying to do is be able to provide the financial resources for the school districts we represent to be able to provide those services in the future in addition to the monetary compensation that we are trying to receive in this case we are also trying to go and obtain injunctive relief uh from the court specifically we are requesting from the court uh better parental supervision on these platforms give give parents the access to go and understand
064who their children are speaking with how much time their children are spending on it in addition to that we are also going to try to get better communication uh between the public entities and these platforms to go and deal with when there's threats or posts on these platforms that are causing U mental distress to the children um finally we we want changes to the algorithm uh their algorithm has been created in a way to go and ensure that those that are using it are on it at at a very excessive amount of time which has been found to be correlated to the mental health issues we're focused on um this is not a class action uh this is a multi-district litigation in which we are filing these individual lawsuits um in in federal court in
065the Northern District of California uh as I said we have been litigating this case for two years uh procedurally we are passed the motion to dismiss stage and we are preparing for our first trial in October of 2025 um two things I want to um make sure is clear um right now we do have the school districts that are going to be our first 12 trial so at this time we're not looking to go and have and your District at this point be one of the trials but in the future uh that may be something that needs to be discussed in addition to that there there is no Financial Risk for the district to join um that's because we do work on this case on a contingency fee basis which means that if there is
066no financial recovery then the district will be not paying any uh attorney's fees or reimbursing any costs um in addition to that we have uh reduced our rate for our contingency fee normally that could be up to 40% of the recovery uh we have reduced that to 25% to make sure that if there is recovery that a majority of those funds ends up going to the school so thank you very much for the time thank you any questions or comments from the board no no I think we're good thank you president Anderson I do have one quick question sorry is there a uh like a stipulation as far as what those funds from the lawsuit can be used on if there is a recovery yes uh that does happen from time to time obviously we're
067not there yet we haven't discussed a settlement uh or whether you know right now we're focused on going to trial there are times where there will be stipulations to how those funds could be used um but in this case even if there was a stipulation obviously one of our main focuses is on Staffing um so if there was that type of situation I could see there being many ways that those funds could be used by the district great thank you so much thank you very member vook too there's also on that's one side of it then on the accounting side we have rules and regulations with the uniform system of financial records in which we have to account for those funds too which put them in a a restrictive fund um so there there's two
068parts to that so just want to point that out thank you thank you very much thank you that was a good question okay uh 8.2 the superintendent search survey feedback we'll be hearing from Mr Walker good evening Madame President members of the board uh tonight presenting a summary and recap of our superintendent search survey Miss Johnson's uh out under the weather tonight so I'm I'm helping to present that information to you all tonight um where we're at uh on our timeline uh November 19th through the 30th the survey was open to our community um parents staff uh and students to be able to respond uh for what uh characteristics that they're they're seeking in in our new superintendent and so if we go to the can you pass me the clicker sorry I guess I'll
069go to the next slide um well we're at the Timeline again today uh you know we've begun the process and November um as as a human resources department we are gracious that the board has trusted us to conduct an an in-house search for our superintendent uh with the goal to uh execute that final uh hiring at the March 4th 2025 board meeting to on board a new superintendent for July 1st 2025 um the next important date on that timeline is December 19th which would be a week from Thursday is that posting is going to close it's been live um online and it was been advertised in various uh places and so if people are interested uh that that's that posting does close in a week um where we're at with the survey uh again the
070survey went out and it was based on the key responsibilities of the superintendent and those are outlined in the uh the job rack and so leadership and vision uh operational management student achievement Community engagement fiscal responsibility and policy development and implementation implementation uh consists of the the responsibilities that superintendent uh is charged with taking on as they oversee uh the school district so the first question was basically um to identify your role within the community and you can see on the results we had 678 responses to the survey um 66% of that made up of parents or Guardians who are self-identified um another 30% uh were were School staff or teachers uh with one student um shot out to that student maybe a future president of the United States had responded and then uh community
071members and other uh were the rounding out the 678 um then the next question was to identify the affiliation within the school district and so Higley High School you see is indicated with the red circle uh they had the biggest representation with out of the 600 and uh 78 187 of the responses came from somebody who identified with with that campus directly um question number three was asked uh to rank order uh most important least important uh the following areas that the superintendent should prioritize um the most important coming in is academic achievement and Student Success uh with the least important uh identified as equity and inclusion initiatives and then from from that number two fiscal responsibility and budget management three facility and infrastructure improvements and four communication and Community engagement and then question number
072four also asked to rank order uh leadership qualities and so the the highest ranks uh so the the result that had the highest number one um so C uh people who fill out the survey were asked to then rank so what's your first uh Choice what's your second choice third choice and then basically repeat that so the one and this is listed is uh in order of highest to lowest as the most important leadership quality being sought so the most important one came in as transparency and accountability um followed by strong communication skills then decision-making ability Under Pressure familiarity with Arizona education policies experience with diverse students and then the lowest ranked number one was Visionary leadership uh question five uh asks for preference of Prior experiences and so 227 responses or 33% was a
073combination of both teaching administrative experience was the was the highest uh sought-after uh experience for the candidate um Then followed by uh some experience as a superintendent uh one to four years identified and then next was experience as a school principal or other leadership roles and then finally extensive experience as a superintendent with more than five years of experience was the least uh desirable for the choices question six asked of how important it was for the superintendent to have experience within our school district or community and of the responses essentially 85% thought it was at least somewhat important um with the most uh being with the somewhat important category or important and then very important as 22% with not important at all uh came in with 14% of the results um question number seven was
074an open-ended question and this is just a summary of of themes that were reoccurring throughout and it asked for challenges that were identified um and it summarized within categories so finances the overriding bond and then within that salaries and wages uh keeping quality employees paying teachers more infrastructure replacement of buildings maintenance and preventative maintenance another challenge identified was academics uh including things like curriculum and improving test scores um school safety was identified as a challenge with violence bullying and student Mental Health enrollment another challenge with the declining enrollment uh the competition with school choice as well as the voucher programming in our state um the governing board uh is a challenge in supporting public education and then challenges within the community of divisiveness and and the lack of trust uh question number eight again that's
075an open ended question as well about what qualities and skills uh and this is just basically a summary of reoccurring themes identified from those responses and so they're listed as such classroom experience administrative and finance experience public education experience strong leadership a good listener value people people focused Visionary innovator Progressive ideas creative thinker Dependable humble honest supportive of employees data driven ability to work with all understanding Problem Solver openminded accountable sincere respectful and respected Common Sense hard hardworking strategic goal Setter resilience Open Door High emotional intelligence Integrity dignity authentic Champion for students trustworthy positive pedagogical knowledge reasonable rational open to collaboration service-minded uh legal knowledge policy knowledge transparent and then question number nine again another open-ended question was anything that uh the board would like to consider uh for the um uh the superintendent so
076current issues cell phones books Bond override special education the vision for husd challenges within public education competitive enrollment school choice uh managing employee retention Recruitment and wages make decisions based on student outcomes a down toe individual superintendent that will rally with other superintendents for more State comprehensive funding superintendent that will support uh stakeholders res serve stakeholders and a superintendent that value safety for all children and then question number 10 which is was not shared tonight but that was soliciting uh potential questions uh that would like to be asked of the superintendent and it's not shared purposely because those questions May uh go into the the application process and so in order to maintain confidentiality with the employment process they're not they're not revealed for tonight so that was question number 10 and that's just the
077summary of the of the survey um president Anderson um is it possible to get a the all the results survey results yes it's possible okay that'd be great sure thank you any other questions or comments thank you thank you all right next we'll move on to 8.3 the rental price increase uh Mr Moore has information for us good evening president andon members of the board I'll also invite Gustavo Landeros who's our director of Maintenance and construction to help us review uh the facility rentals uh proposed rates so just a little back uh little background um our rental rates were last updated uh fiscal year 2020 2021 uh so they're over uh 3 years old um rental prices along with everything um are are now well below market rate in several areas and um a part
078of this uh recommendation tonight and bringing forth um these facility rentals is to the need to realign some of the rental class classifications to better support our facilities team and and try to manage these um as well as uh being more transparent with our community and where they fall on the classification so uh we are proposing uh basically two classes we are currently operating under four different rental classes uh one being teachers staff student groups we have another students related to nonprofit organizations such as PTO boosters youth organizations we have another that's even in the middle of that nonprofit organizations and so we're trying to streamline this classification process to give us a little more um clarification on where uh people fall and as well as just simplify the process uh and so you'll see
079that throughout this presentation um just a little quick plug more so for our community but we utilize fmx uh as the facilities management um company to uh uh register and rent our facilities um we have some directions there really not intended for the Board review but really just a plug if anybody's looking to rent from our district um this process is highlighted on our website and um we have various protections when an in renter does rent from us um we have a liability insurance requirement as well as an agreement um that has has been bed by legal that kind of supports um if there was anything to happen with that rental that we have some coverage in terms of liability reducing liability um some rental revenue for the past two years uh We've steadly increased
080our rental revenue and a lot of that is just um sharing what spaces are open to rent um kind of cleaning up um some I wouldn't say handshake agreements that were not exactly on our books um and so a lot of those has has transpired into um formalizing this process making sure these renters are registered in our system um we have their rates as accounted for and we're capturing that money via invoice process or not renting to these renters who are not paying I think we've seen a lot of that of we continue to rent to people who are have outstanding invoices so we've establish some processes to improve our Collections and hold our renters accountable um but you can see from 22 to 23 um the rental Revenue was just under 250,000 and just
081this last year uh we were just over 500,000 and so um a lot of this revenue is is money that can be used interchangeably between M and capital uh we do provide uh 30% of the rental fee back to the site to use as they see fit and then we utilize all this Revenue to improve those areas that are heavily rented um as well as offset some salaries um for custodial rentals Etc and so um as this increases we are better we're leveraging it in a a fashion that is supporting our district and freeing up M dollars gu was going to highlight the two main changes uh that we have in this proposal good evening so the two main proposals that we have um is to change uh what we do with our Ballfield lighting
082um so we increase that rate um some of the things that we were seeing is the increase of utility bills and the increase of the rate that we being charged and so we just don't want to take that cost on as a school district we want to um try to maybe pass that along to the people that are renting our sites if you know um if the if we can um so those are those are very simple rates that that we we felt very necessary to increase and the other the other part that we're not really increasing we're initiating is um labor rates that we want to start charging people for extra Services when it comes to rentals so for example if you're wanting to rent a soccer field and you want lines painted on
083it we feel like that's an extra charge it takes extra labor extra material and time and so we wanted to just make sure we're capturing that um and having some some fee to to offset some of those costs um I feel like what we did was look at other districts around us and look at what they're charging and um we obviously didn't want to go over any of those but we wanted to make sure we were in line with everybody else and still competitive but maximizing our profit so just elaborating on kind of those to specific areas we've we looked at Gilbert Public Schools Mesa Public Schools Queen Creek and you can see our old we used the class two rate as an example on the far left of the category so it's our our
084current rate as it stands and you you can see how uh well below we are our neighboring School District but as Gustavo alluded to we are exp experiencing not only higher costs when we're turning on those lights with utilities Etc and so on the far right is the new propos rate for those two specific areas um and then on the bottom um how G alluded to we are not currently charging now this is if a a field is already lined we would not charge a fee for that but if uh somebody wanted to line that field that is not currently lined right we would ask our facilities crew to go out line that and that cost is not being accommodated in a rental and so any ask it's really in addition to the using the
085facility is when we would um ask to include this other rate um you see this a lot for example in uh tournaments right if um a sports league is hosting a tournament or softball field they'll like clean lines right if they're just practicing they're fine with the facility as is but if they're asking for that additional um chocked lines painted lines um we are feel it's reasonable to charge a fee to to go and uh use our facilities Department to line those um areas and and incur that extra work moving forward so looking at our elementary proposal um I want to emphasize the class one rate is currently just our teacher staff and student groups so I couldn't put all four classes or else we wouldn't be able to read this presentation um but this
086class one rate is going to look really low across the board that's because it's just currently our teacher staff student groups um our new proposal would be those groups be included in the the new class one but it would also encumber Encompass um our boosters pto's Etc and so this is part of our reclassification kind of streamline this rental uh fees into two classifications um we still feel the class one rates are reasonable um and I'm not going to go line by line but um you can see the the fee increases from uh the class one old rates the class one new rates and then vice versa class two being that's going to be our people um for profit sports leagues um that are not associated with our district in any means um these organizations
087could be um commercial business again for profit um that would fall under the class two category yeah we also have a lot of club soccer a lot of leagues that use our fields that are not associated with our school district these are kids from other districts and other towns around us that come in and use our facilities and so that's kind of where that where that lands as well so I'm if there's any questions Elementary if you look at um some of the spaces that are commonly rented um would be our practice fields HTA considering that's our only Elementary with the lied field uh is is heavily rented um our atal brass courts are are not but occasionally when a PTO does a carnival right they utilize that space and so that as well as
088the parking lot that's where that would come into um into play we wouldn't just rent our parking lot to park in our parking lot so uh some of these are self-explanitory us but I want to make sure that's um prevalent to everybody reviewing this if we look at our Middle School there's a a few more areas that are rented um but again across the board uh we were low in pretty much every single area um the bigger increases uh coming in U our lighted areas or Middle School softball fields with lights um and some of our field usage and then on our high school look like some of the bottom is cut off um but again a lot more spaces at our high school um we do work with our our schools um with fmx
089that's also the the system that's used for um our Sports programs when they go for enter their practices so we would never double book in that sense right so if a outside renter wants to use the varsity baseball field but the school already has in the system their practices we would not book that right and so often times at the high school it is very we barely barely rent our facilities because our Sports programs run you know 24/7 it seems like um and so really these are are often rented in the offseason over breaks Etc if there is any rental here um one thing we will be adding is our tennis courts currently um we do have a rental fee for those but is not currently charged um there is some difficulty right now with
090how they currently are operated because there is no lock on the gate so the tennis cores are frequently used by the public um at this current time so going into next year uh we would make some facility modifications to lock those tennis courts and then unless they're rented then we would have somebody there to open those um but they are being used at a rate that is increasingly High because they are free essentially right now um which is calling where where wear and tear um Nets are being abused trashes being left um and so that is costing us money and so to formalize a process um and put those facilities essentially have a formal process to rent those facilities um we would Implement that in a more stricter fashion by making some accommodations to uh
091lock those facilities um but also have a rental fee that's established and then the last little change we've already highlighted the other rates which would be um associated with the ball fields um but the custodial fee um so any facility that is utilized where we have to open a bathroom where we have to pick up trash um we do have a codian that um is there for the entirety of that rental um on the class one side that is typically waved because when an employee rents they typically have a key for that space um and there is some uh agreement that the employee picks up after themselves they leave the space as they found it um I do want to note though there there hasn't been a case yet but we do have um uh
092in our agreement language that if if that space is abused say that employee rents it and they don't clean up right we we do have um we'll have that conversation and the next time you know they'll recuse their right to have that fee waved if they can't maintain that space or keep it back put it back to where it was originally so there's a lot of information there but uh if there's any questions myself or Gustavo and then we also have our Rental specialist Chris good here we'll be happy to answer any questions president Anderson um Mr Moore can you clarify for me because it's things we've run into in the past um the difference for an employee if they are also a club coach and they're running their club team out of our schools
093that are obviously not they may have some of our students but not all of our students it's not a district um where would that fall under so that would be a class to right under the proposed schedule here um we have yeah experienced that in the past where um an employee would rent and it would be for their own for-profit program um with our facilities management or fmx scheduling um if the site administrator doesn't improve that practice so if this is not practice that with an AIA team or something that is District approved um that will notify us that hey this is this is a not an a practice rental right this is not a um District approved group so they would be then treated as a class two rental and that's um at a
094higher rate and so yeah we wouldn't be in a situation where we'd be having a gift of public funds or put oursel in a situation where the employee is is profiting off of the district's space okay and I was going to ask the same in certain circumstances sometimes private lessons are are given from in dance specific um other things even coaching uh basketball they'll do one-on-one lessons and they use our facility to do so yeah and I think relying on um our athletic directors and our site administrators to making sure those spaces are um used appropriately um is is some of the emphasis of this but I think a reference back to our our fmx system and and if that is not in the system and somebody comes across that right I think that raises
095a red flag or if we book a rental over that say somebody's from the gym we book a rental over that then I think we you know there's ways we can catch some of these things um but we do rely heavily on communication from our schools to ensure that you they are following you know our processes and um allowing our spaces to be either used for practice or if there is a for profit that we are renting and and following that Rental process okay thank you can you please remind me when this is going to take place if if it were to get approved July 1 so it follow a lot of the other increases that we are um currently bringing forth in front of the board um we've already made some implications into um
096in regards to the tenants courts we already planning on um not only signing those because I think several people have gotten used to these using these facilities um but notifying those individuals like hey this is going to be a rented facility not a free space um but we would have a leeway from now until July to for those people to find new spaces or to formally register with us and and and rent the space okay and what was the the thought process uh between class one and class two I'm looking at the high school right now where it look like you know with the old rate um our employee PTO booster enrichment groups comparably um they were they they were significantly Less in some cases and it looks like now with the new rates on
097both ends that the class ones are trying to get a little bit closer to the class twos but it that seems like and that has put a significant increase on our class ones bigger change than for the class twos I'm just curious of the thought process for that because it wasn't that that bad before I'll like youself answer too but I'll point out too the the class one that I'm that that's up here that's being advertised is the basically the teacher staff and student group rate there there is a class two for our p2os and boosters that's higher than that that we currently have I just couldn't put all these up there and there's also a class three for nonprofits and so I would say how many rentals are being rented by employees right now
098we do have several um but ultimately I think the old rates didn't really cover the cost that it takes to run the facility and so really that rate is set to just offset the cost of facilities it's not really meant to for the district to profit on it and so that we just wanted to make sure that they're we're not losing money as a school district right that we're still able to cover the cost that it takes just to run operate the facility during that rental president Anderson Mr B um I think it's great that we're charging because to cover costs and um wear and tear as you mentioned I just have a question on the tennis courts why aren't they locked or why haven't they been locked for this time is are there no
099Gates and do we have no trespassing signs or anything I've never been to them so I'm sorry yeah right now currently there is a gate but that's not it's not able to be locked um we have current practices where they've modified lighting to have a switch just publicly available so we have to undo some of these things that been basically in place and so um one thing is is we're going to be addressing some of those so um but these are practices as as we we're reviewing this we found to be concerning and so um part of this process is to review these and and address these going forward so some of the is there is that when they when they're not setting up a schedule for us to know when people are going to
100be out there and the school wants to use it for their kids and their clubs then it creates this huge conflict between the community and our site and so we're just trying to ensure that where you're collecting money as far as whoever is using the facility but we also want to make sure that we have a schedule in place and that the school has the option to approve or deny those requests as they come in depending on if they're using the facility or not and I know they have some new initiatives over there um that they're trying to use that facility more so we're trying to get it up to speed for them and get it updated and get it fixed up for them but we also want to make sure that it lasts for
101a long time so um I think these are just old policies that were put in place from Administration from before and so we're just taking this opportunity to try to rectify some of those things thank you president Anderson Mr Moore do we not rent out our indoor basketball courts they're listed on there oh I did a search on the whole document it didn't pop up it just says um outdoor gy or Ox gym on on this current slide which slide I'm sorry on the current slide this is the high school it's called main gym in Ox so those are oh main gym okay and then on the um Middle School is called Middle School gym got it okay thank you any other questions or comments all right thank you thank you for your time thank
102you okay that concludes our information items we're going to move on now to our action items with 9.1 the discussion and possible action relating to proposed engagement agreement with the France Law Group second wait yeah any questions or comments never mind okay I motion to approve the proposed inre engagement agreement with the France Law Group for the France Law Group to represent the district and make making claims for damages associated with social media litigation second nice give it to Amanda I said it prematurely you know Fair we don't have time for this all those in favor I motion carries 5 Z did you give that to me or give it okay I just want car moving on to 9.2 the approval of the fiscal year 2025 budget revision number two is there any questions or
103comments I motion that the governing board approve the revised expenditure budget number two for fiscal year 2025 as presented second I that one Mrs Ben hook all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to Z 9.3 is the second read in the approval of policy DJ bidding and purchasing procedures are there any questions or comments president Anderson um the only thing I would like is um one of the answers was that the district can add this to the regulations if we can just get a copy once the um the regulations have been updated um that's all okay wonderful thank you I motion that the governing board approve the changes to policy DJ bidding purchasing procedures Miss Reese for the second all those in favor I I motion carries 5 to zero uh 9.4 is
104the approval of rental rate increase are there any questions or comments for this one no I motion that the governing board approve the rental rate increase as presented in the attached document for fiscal year 2025 2026 second that was Miss man hook again all those in favor I motion carries 5 to zero moving on to 9.5 the approval of the 2025 2026 course guides for high school middle school special education and the Higley Virtual Academy are there any questions or comments I motion that the governing board approve the 2025 2026 course guides for high school middle school special education and the Higley Virtual Academy second Miss Wade no that's sure oh I apologize all those in favor I I I all those oppose president Anderson I'd like to explain my vote um I did ask
105for um the uh sped course guide and the high school course guide to be listed separately and they were not removed um and separated and unfortunately due to um my opposition to the castle framework um I am voting no um on the sped um due to the castle um and then regarding the high school um course guide I I'm really disappointed that we can't um add some sort of an asteris by the courses that would apply to sensitive explicit material um and I'm not I didn't say explicit just referencing sexually explicit but just any explicit material as most of these books um do contain several different types of explicit material um so due to those reasons I vote no okay thank you motion carries 4 to one next is 9.6 the approval of preschool rates
106are there any questions or comments Mrs Anderson as I have in the past I am going to abstain from this vote no other comments or questions no okay I motion the governing board approve the proposed rates for preschool as attached second that was me thank you all those in favor I I and one abstention motion carries four with one abstention okay moving on to 9.7 approval of Community Education kids club rates any questions or comments on this one yes sorry was very forceful sorry M I know that at our last meeting we had discussed the changes for uh employees and since our meeting there have been some changes for that and so I'm told that Mr Armstrong has the information yes ma'am on that uh president Anderson board member Schultz we community and I are
107working together with our billing company to go ahead and figure out the best way to support this change we know that there this change is is substantial for our employees and it's a big change for them so we are working on that change and we will be communicating that tomorrow um as we send a letter out to our entire staff notifying them do we not so the change as currently presented to us previously or the the change for the rate in the rate okay I think that I thought that there was some differences on how we were going to be able to work with employees to not change it so drastically but I'm guessing I misunderstood that so the rate the rate change is going from do we have a slide sorry I can't find
108thank you so the rate change is going to be a 20% discount as Mr Moore was describing last week or last month in regards to the IRS compliance piece and to continue living fiscally responsible and we understand that that is is a big shift so that 20% 20% discount is based on the current rate that is there um but as a district we know that we are that's a huge jump for our for our staff and so what we're looking at is how to support them in terms of billing and what that will look like to go ahead and take some of that ease off of off of them so board member Schultz they're talking specifically about providing an hourly rate for employees only so okay rather than a chunk of time okay like it's
109X it's if you're there an hour right there an hour but it is an employee it is an employee discount that's so if a teacher has to stay a little bit longer we're not going to charge them the amount to try to work with them on those fees I mean to try to work with them because of the rate increase being so high yes so it won't be what's the normal it's going to take it's going to take that rate that we have for an employee and it's going to divide it by the time that they're using it throughout the day so it's going to be a rate of an hour right so if they're electing to use that hour we're going to you we're going to be looking at how we can charge them
110for only an hour so instead of their whatever their employee rate is it's going to be divided by the time that they're going to contract with to go ahead and reduce and only you pay for they use as a benefit to being an husd employee okay you said that this was going out tomorrow to employees are you communicating that portion of it is that been flesh fleshed out okay I just wasn't sure that it board member Schultz we can share that letter with you guys this evening as well okay thank you president Anderson to just to make sure I understand this let's pretend hypothetically speaking that I was a high school teacher and on Wednesday my kid gets out of school at 1:00 which is normally okay for me I can get there a little
111bit after on regular days but on Wednesdays I would need let's say 3 hours instead of if I my kid stay still five then obviously I will pay that full rate at the 20% but if I am only using an hour or two then that's what I'm paying for is that so the the time that you use is what based off of your employee rate the time that you use is what you'll be charge thank you pres and um Miss Mullen this question's for you because of that difference would that require a separate vote because the rate is going to be different for employees and it's not included in our vote technically with this document Madam I'm sorry that's okay Mr Armstrong um if you'd like to answer to give some factual information please feel
112free well the the rate the the employee is being charged the same amount they're being charged their employee rate which is that 20% okay so their hourly rate is just taking the 20% and dividing it by the three hours that they're or the four hours that they're going to be using it per day so they're still being charged their actual rate but it's going to be charged hourly instead of it being an entire the entire 1480 for the entire day so that's the 1480 is for the length of time that it's open so let's say it runs from 3:10 to what is it like 6:00 oh look at me I didn't um so for the whole time that's the normal time yeah so then that way if I as a teacher can get there by
113four instead of paying for the whole day that I'm not using I'm only paying what I'm using got it okay never mind thank you thank you for clarifying that was a fair question M re did you have something I am also abstaining from this gr sorry president Anderson real quick one thing I just really would like to say is gratitude for that I think it is really really hard being up here especially knowing that we have difficult decisions to make as things progress knowing that our override didn't pass and going forward I am greatly appreciative of the fact that we do what we can here to try to help employees and that genuinely matters especially considering we're not the only District that is experiencing a failure in passing bonds or override and so there are
114going to be a lot of things that are changing and we need reasons to keep people here and this shows that we care so I'm appreciative of that yes and I guess to to go along that line um I was a teacher back in the day at Chandler high with our first kid that that's why I quit because I'd be bringing home I think a little over $100 little back in that day but um so I appreciate you working and putting together um assistance for staff in this manner okay um I motion that the governing board approved the propos proposed RS for Community Education kids clubs as attached second that to miss Schultz all those in favor I I I and we have one exstension motion carries for with one exstension all right what we
115are on future agenda items does anyone have any requests yeah Miss Rees yes what would you like no all right I motion to adjourn this meeting second oh miss W got it all those in [Music] favor did that to me motion carries 5 to zero good night everyone have a great break and thank you for being a great community