001e e e okay uh good evening we're getting ready to start our meeting if you have a request to speak please submit it now thank you thank you I'd like to call this meeting to order we want second no Mrs Mrs Richards may I have the roll call please yes president Anderson let the record show that three board members are present thank you I now motion to convene an executive session pursuant ARS 38-43 3a1 regarding discussion and consideration of possible contract extension second all those in favor I I motion carries 3 to Z we'll be back here in the room after our executive session e e e okay we will now reconvene an open session um next please join me in a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance e okay I motion
002to approve tonight's agenda second all those in favor I I motion carries three to zero okay Mrs Richards what do you have for today for Higley Adventures points of Pride and the upcoming events all right thank you president Anderson members of the board tonight in your next episode of Higley Adventures we want to pause and take a moment to thank all of our teachers if you're a teacher out there raise your [Applause] hand we're so very grateful for each of you and all of your colleagues amazing things are done in Higley because of you we had our Fine Arts Festival and we want to thank the artists the performers the vendors the volunteers attendees and all that contributed to the coordination and success of this year's Fine Arts Festival this was recently held at williamsfield
003high school and I think when of the most popular things is the shirt right Mr lsen Heiser absolutely Miss Richards can you elaborate on some of your leaders that made that possible yes and I would like to thank there's a whole group that puts this event together we start planning it in August to be uh done in April and there's some people that have really stood out that I'd like to give recognition to First any of our art and Fine Arts teachers who have the kids prepare and be a part of that I we appreciate their efforts and energies um we'd like to thank pam pam Simmons and Shaina Las serenza uh Deans at the high schools they helped coordinate our volunteers and so if you were there on that day you saw a lot
004of high school kids uh junior rotz kids as well helping out and supporting I'd like to thank Community Ed and Kim Ohanian uh for helping and support throughout this I'd like to thank Angie Walker who stepped up and helped with one of our booths and got a whole bunch of rocks and they got to sit in their car for a while so thank than you Angie for that um I'd like to thank McKenna pugnetti our admin assistant as she helps organize the event but there's two groups of people I think that really go above and beyond in terms of organizing this first is our PR team there's a lot that goes into the background and helping support not only uh get everything ready for it uh McKenna designed the wonderful shirt this year that was
005very popular and that we had ended up selling at the event but Alexis L McKenna mark thank you so much for all of your work on this and then over the past four years i' I've helped with this event three people have really stood out and continue to be leaders so Katie Atkins John Willard and Ashley Walden do such an outstanding job leading the art part of the Fine Arts Festival and they don't get enough recognition but they're wonderful and they volunteer their time all of this stuff happens after school all the organizations so thank you to everybody who helped prepare the Fine Arts Festival they do a great [Applause] job and and thank you Mr lenh haser for your leadership along with Miss Heidi Lindsay that put it all together all right Miss Richards
006can I ask a quick question Mr liser are there still shirts for purchase or did you sell out I'm sure if there's people who still want shirts we can find a way to make that happen all right we just celebrated our teachers of the Year this was on April 25th awards were given to all of our dedicated Ed Educators for their incredible teaching practices and the impact they have on our students this year husd started a new tradition by honoring one District Teacher of the Year from elementary and one from secondary so we're excited for that addition this year's elementary teacher of the year is from San 10 elementary teacher Adrien Raleigh and our secondary teacher of the year is Higley High Schools David [Applause] nle this slide celebrates every teacher of the year and
007I've said this before but interviewing these individuals was an incredible opportunity for district leadership to hear and see and witness Excellence it was a really difficult choice because they all should they all should have won this is Tyler Bella he's received his appointment to the US Naval Academy [Applause] we are so very proud of him and wanted to share it with the community he will also be recognized by the Air Force J Jor ROTC is their senior Cadet of the Year Tyler is Colonel V's first Cadet to go to a US Military Academy so Colonel Von's going to be bragging for a long time about this as he should um and we're forever grateful for Colonel V's leadership support and guidance Tyler I don't believe this [Applause] here I do believe there are individuals here
008with Miss Mr David nettle is that correct I can't see there's too many people in the room Higley High School's TV broadcasting students attended the journalism Education Association National Convent convention in Kansas City Missouri from April 4th through the six where they earned Superior excellent and honorable mention for their work congratulations to all of these students and a special thank you to Mr David nuttle our secondary Teacher of the Year great job [Applause] guys picture to yes you have to take a picture you know that right so the governing board you want to stand up called governing Bo [Applause] we have amazing kids in the school district and it just keeps going so Mr Len Heiser take this slide so it's with great pride that we want to talk about our uh state champion Winter
009Guard winners from kulie and williamsfield high school [Applause] today under the direction of uh Pam Edgar Beth Carlson Bob Edgar and Jenny huddle we had I think five different state championships between the two schools and I'm going to have Mr Edgar talk about them for a little bit today thank you very little I know you guys have a long night tonight so um real quick we're going to get this over to Beth uh one of our Color Guard instructors super proud of the students achievements this year two groups competing in different levels both of those levels uh they've won the state championship in so I'm gonna let Beth talk about that a little bit more here hey there um so we had our cougar Color Guard purple that is a mouthful by the way um
010they did great they're composed of seventh and eighth graders um and they took first out of nine groups this year their their division has really um expanded um and I believe this is their fourth year in a row winning that division um and they had an undated season and we were very very proud of them [Applause] so um the next group over here is our coie blackard um they are the the in the highest division and they um there is there is not another Junior High group that competes at the level they do and they are very successful every year and they set a very high standard of what junior high should be in um the State of Arizona as far as Color Guard goes um we are missing quite a few members from both
011teams by the way uh there's happens to be a dance showcase going on at the same time for kie that starts in about five minutes so a lot of them had the take off for that um but we are very proud of them this group of kids shows up at 7:30 7:45 every morning every morning before school to practice um and they are very dedicated I see flag bags going home on the bus and um just they are great group of kids and then I can't forget about Ken pots here she's one of my staff members that works with me every morning so thank [Applause] you picture time don't you get no no [Applause] next up we have our percussion Ensemble which is composed of uh our eth graders our eighth grade percussion Ensemble class
012uh these kids are amazing they they perform at a a very high level for middle school students uh compete on the a sheet which is a high school level sheet um so super proud of their achievements every one of them and look forward to having them up at the high school next year so this is the coie per cussion Ensemble state [Applause] champions We need to close down got [Applause] next up we move on to the williamsfield ensembles uh actually this is a a a co- Ensemble it had has uh students eighth grade students from kolie middle school as well as high school students it's our wins group um long line here while they're coming in I need to give in a little little nice plug here for Miss huddle not only did they win
013the state championship in the wins but she just received a superior with distinction rating in the concert Ensemble uh State Festival as well so kudos to miss huddle so a little bit about the season um this group here I know Mr edger just said that this consists of eighth grade through 12th graders um super proud of their hard work they were actually undefeated all season um and they actually were state champions by Five Points so they totally swept the board they did awesome and I'm very proud of their hard work and while I have a second I want to give a little plug shout out to Dr Danny baretti nerland he just got his Doctorate this week at [Applause] ASU e [Applause] all right this is our high school percussion Ensemble Scholastic a Champions we're
014missing quite a few students as well but super proud of all of the students that are involved in this program it's so nice having the vertical piece uh where they come in and and start receiving percussion instruction in seventh grade and go all the way through High School very very for forunate in our district to have ears uh listening to what we ask for and feel supported for the decisions that are made so not only are they hearing it but we're taking actions to support the Arts and we're very grateful for that and that doesn't happen everywhere so very fortunate thank you to our district percussion Ensemble state champions [Applause] thank you we have a lot to brag about so we'll just keep going okay all right the Higley Leadership Academy hit the ground running
015this year thanks to the leadership of Mr James Walker over there members of this group developed their leadership skills by working with mentors attending various professional development sessions as well as volunteered their time on various projects throughout the year you're going to learn more about this group later in Mr Walker's presentation do you want at some point are you going to embarrass them all and make them all stand up or let do it thank [Applause] you e e what an amazing group thank you Mr Walker for your leadership and that concludes higgle Adventures next next we move on to points of Pride thank you everyone for waiting and your patience this evening wait for Mark to first we have Bridges Bobcats I know that we have principal Bickle here and vice principal assistant principal Mr
016Todd BD this no i' love for thank you I would love for you to set on good evening president Anderson members of the board cabinet thank you for allowing us the chance to recognize our best and brightest at this point I would like to invite Trisha Jacobs up to the front with [Applause] me although Trisha Jacobs is new to our campus this year as our school psychologist she has made an incredible widespread impact on our entire School school and Community Trisha is exceptionally knowledgeable proactive systematic collegial and demonstrates a growth mindset day in and day out Trisha has built strong relationships with countless staff members and students this year as she has jumped at every opportunity to support in a myriad of ways although it is a rarity if Trisha encounters downtime she chooses it
017to spend or chooses to spend it in classrooms with our students and teachers as she strives to build relationships and make connections with others Trisha delivers professional development when needed helps build and Implement plans for students as necessary and demonstrates exemplary professionalism at all times our staff knows they can count on Trisha at all times as she is always willing to put in extra effort to ensure our students and staff are taken care of Trisha speaking on behalf of myself and our entire campus Bridges Elementary School is elated to honor you in this capacity as you are so unbelievably deserving of this Accolade congratulations and thank you for all you do for our students and [Applause] staff and Trisha who did you bring tonight I brought my son Alec and my husband [Applause] Corey we'll
018stay here right okay y thank you Stacy vat please join me up front [Applause] Stacy serves our campus as PTO president and let me tell you I've never encountered a more dedicated intelligent creative student and focused parent volunteer in my entire career Stacy has absolutely poured her heart into assuring our pto's clicking on all cylinders actually tell her to write a book like she needs to create a manual now it will sell I promise you um as she supports the entire board takes on extra duties as needed streamlines effective communication with School administration weekly and figures out ways to promote events by keeping the principal looking silly by allowing me to exercise my subpar acting skills while wearing ridiculous outfits I do appreciate these opportunities actually but uh it it is funny uh and ensures
019our campus is always feeling the support of our amazing PTO I can wholeheartedly say Stacy's impact has positively impacted everyone on the bridges campus students staff and parents included congratulations Stacy on being named Bridges is uner point of Pride this year you're so beyond deserving of this award thank you so [Applause] much con and Stacy who did you bring tonight they're watching from afar right yes they're at swim practice tonight by my son Giovanni and my husband Jason [Applause] awesome Liz Jackson please come up [Applause] so Liz is our classified point of Pride Liz Jackson is the epitome of an exemplarily husd employee as she exhibits all of the traits we look for when hiring an individual Liz serves as our campus as a PA Prof PA professional frequently impressing all of the students and
020staff she works with on a daily basis Liz is kind genuine caring intelligent proactive empathetic artistic and Beyond dedicated one of the on top of being a stellar prepared professional Liz is an active member of our PTO and if you've ever driven on her campus she is the artist that develops all of the signs associated with our school activities Bridges would simply not be Bridges without Liz Jackson's presence and influence on behalf of the entire Bridges campus we are honored to have the opportunity to celebrate Liz Jackson in this capacity thank you so and and who did you bring with you my husband stevenh and my girls Laurel Caroline and [Applause] Celia and our point of Pride student Jace [Music] [Applause] Robertson nice job Jay at Bridges Elementary School we teach our students to be
021safe respectful responsible and 21st centur Learners Jace Robertson embodies all of these attributes and more he has been selected as our student point of Pride for this school year Jace is described by his sixth grade teachers as being genuinely genuinely kind to all of his peers and teachers Jace is willing to take academic risks and try new things while always demonstrating a positive can do attitudes at all times Jace is organized responsible and comes to class prepared each and every day on top of all the affir ition attributes Jace brings to the table he also carries a stellar sense of humor on behalf of the bridges staff we can not be more proud to honor Jace in this capacity as he is truly an incredible student with a bright future ahead congratulations Jace ni job
022Jay and Jace who did you bring with you I brought my mom dad and my grandparents [Applause] next we have HTA I know out there right and we have can we advance the slide perfect so here's principal Karen bacon and assistant principal Amanda day [Applause] good evening governing board superintendent Richards cabinet thank you for celebrating with us tonight we have four very important people that we'd like to recognize I'd like to start first with our teacher Michelle [Applause] caragan so we're is a fourth grade teacher at Higley Traditional Academy and she's so loving and compassionate showing her unwavering dedication to our students each and every day she's collaborative and respectful team member and is always considerate of others we are both happy and sad because we're about to lose her she's going to be the
023gifted coach at Gateway point and she's embarking on that new opportunity which is welld deserved and she's GNA do great things over there um she will soon um sorry I already said that the positive impact that she's made on our campus and our students will forever be in our hearts and she's also a celebrity she was just on the Wheel of [Applause] Fortune on Marvel night so it was amazing yeah she's still teaching so she didn't win that big but why don't you share with us your lovely family that you brought here tonight my husband Carlo and my children and my parents mom and [Applause] dad all righty then our next point of pride is our parent volunteer Sarah Anderson [Applause] so Sarah is a parent at our school and amazing at volunteering she helps
024in our classrooms goes on field trips and is excited to help with any opportunity that comes her way she's a member of our PTO and with her time and Leadership she works tirelessly to plan events and fun activities for our students staff in the entire School Community she took on a really big project this year she and her dad who was also here um helped prepare our stage for our phenomenal drama performance we just put on Matilda Jr with Kathleen Richards who's also here another parent volunteer um amazing but she and her dad painted the stage and if you've ever taken a room from stark white to black black matte black and know how many co coats of paint that takes um she was covered from head to toe both her and her dad were
025covered head to toe in black paint but our stage looks phenomenal um so she um we can't oh sorry I lost my train of thought sorry it looks amazing we can't thank her enough for the hard work in supporting our school this year she has two beautiful children that go to our school so why don't you introduce who you brought with you yep Hannah and Luke and then my parents Mike and Don [Applause] all right all right I get the pleasure to introduce our classified staff for points of Pride Miss Cara [Applause] wheeler so miss Cara is what the kiddos call her she is our health aid fabulous health aid um she's kind she's patient she one of her greatest strengths would be her communication she's always reaching out to the families of every kiddo
026that she sees in there but just to hear her welcoming the kids when they come in with a boo boo or not feeling well smiling greeting them a lot of them just stop by for a water and to say hello to miss carara um but she welcomes them she takes care of them she takes care of our staff um our families communicates with them and we cannot thank you enough for all you do even when it is hectic in there she is on her game and ready to go so we appreciate everything you do thank you so much [Applause] right um I get the I didn't get to introduce this is Miss Shing she's one of our third grade teachers and she's going to recognize our student sorry no you're fine um so our third
027grade HDA point of Pride student is going to be F Ahmed so you can come on that [Applause] right f is a wonderful student who exhibits all the attributes of Rage raise each and every single day he shows respect every day by taking care of all his materials and student responsibilities he holds himself in very high esteem and speaks with the utmost maturity for his age he is always accountable for his actions and schoolwork he even goes above and beyond to help other students be accountable for theirs as well F does the right thing even when no one is watching one of his greatest attributes is his Integrity I once heard him say let's not tell them the answer but teach them the answer I don't want to encourage cheating while other while working with
028other groups he is an amazing student a pleasure to have in class and will go very far in the [Applause] future all right F who' you bring with you today I brought my mom and dad to this event [Applause] awesome and I have one more I didn't have Miss Cara introduced who she had and she has a crew here with her tonight to celebrate I do I have my daughter Riley my son Kaden my husband Eric I have her fiance and then my mom and dad as [Applause] well e yeah is this on yeah we missed administrative profess professional day we didn't have a board meeting on that day and uh so we wanted to take this moment to recognize um a very special and hardworking individual that keeps this board running and Beyond the
029board she keeps lotson Heiser quiet during meetings she keeps Sherry on track she keeps everybody smiling and up to date and keeps all the minutes and the agendas out there so Miss Christine zberman you [Applause] you make a difference in our lives and it's not just the board it's the community and the staff and which also affects the students and we're so grateful for you [Applause] Chris Christine doeses do an amazing job you just can't imagine all the bases she covers and she doesn't just take care of me she takes care of cabinet on occasion too so we appreciate her and we're excited that she got acknowledged so president Anderson there are some upcoming events Tuesday May 14th is our next job fair here at the district office so we're excited to have classified in
030the afternoon oh don't know okay come just come all day just come all day morning afternoon and you'll get an interview if you know somebody next on Monday May 20th we have hva graduation that's our pigley Virtual Academy we also have williamsfield high school graduation at 7 p.m. Tuesday or that's at Williams field I'm trying to combine things Tuesday is when we have williamsfield graduation at ASU at 2:30 in the afternoon followed by Higley High School's graduation at ASU at 7:30 on Wednesday May 22nd we have htap graduation at the hcpa that's at 9:45 and then nobody's looking forward to the last last day of school are you if you don't know what day it is it's the 22nd so that concludes upcoming events thank you Miss Richard and congratulations to everyone recognized um tonight
031um you are welcome to leave if you don't want to stick around for the reain of the meeting if you do awesome um thank you we're gonna um go ahead and move into a public hearing to discuss the budget revision for fiscal year 2024 with Mr Moore are you we ready all right good evening board president Anderson members of the board uh tonight I'm presenting the uh first revision of the FY 2024 budget um the board has seen this Arizona Budget timeline uh several times now um we are at the May uh 2024 uh dot on the timeline um we are required to revise our budget uh by Statute uh to the 100th day ADM uh as you know we adopted um our budget back in July or June excuse me and so we have
032not revised our budget uh to reconcile our average sh membership as well as sever of our other accounts that are included within our total budget um as we move forward uh we will look to propose our new budget fy2 in June 5th uh and then adopt that same Budget on June 26 and then we proceed into December uh if we need a budget revision at that time so why are we doing a school budget revision as I said this is required by Statute you can see the statute number right there AR 15- 905 um basically what that says is that uh we are allowed to revise our budget um with a notice uh and so the categories in which we can revise are our M our general budget limit our capital budget classroom site fund
033um and our um unrestricted Capital Outlet fund all those funds that I just mentioned are formula controlled by ADM um so when you revise the budget um those funds are adjusted accordingly so I'll cover those funds here on the next slide uh looking at the maintenance and operations uh budget I kind of switched it up a little bit I spelled out um what where we adopted um in terms of ADM So reading this from left to right I have budget categories our adopted budget again that we adopted in June and then what we're revising to what we're recommending our revised budget go to so as we've discussed um in regard regards to ADM uh we know the district has experienced some losses in ADM um and so at the this point in time we're uh
034down 226 um average that's average daily membership um that's not a student per se um that could be that's why you have Point decimals um it takes the average of the hunt first 100 days so um 226.50 683 uh that is the difference from what we adopted to what we're revising to um you can see how that affects the budget going down the sheet um so if you look to the revenue control limit um that actually increased and there's a couple reasons why um when we adopted the budget we take into consideration estimates with our group b weights kind of our um we get additional funding for students who have um additional needs such as special ed elll um English Learners um language Learners uh gifted free and reduce population and so taking in uh
035estimates in June not knowing where our student population will end up um when reconciling that to the um ADM numbers we experienced um several growths in our group b weight specifically with multiple disabilities autism and severe intellectual disability so those are some of the higher weights um that affected um the increase in funding in the revenue control limit moving down to the m transfer to Capital this has not changed since we've adopted our budget U we still transferred $5.6 million to a capital fund the Amo override we reconciled that slightly uh that increased about 111,000 um again it's just reconciliation to the ADM emo override is funded on prior your ADM um so there were some adjustments to our ADM from last year uh and which is why you see the increase there the budget
036bounds carry forward again back in June we were taking an estimate on where we would end the year um That official number is done uh and finalized on the AFR which is completed in October uh so there's several months of of estimating that we have to do so we I I always estimate conservatively knowing that uh we when it's a lot easier to go up than to go down um so you can see the difference there um we conservatively estimated that we carry forward 23 million uh we in actual carried forward 24.7 million and you can see the difference there being just over a million dollars uh the additional funding uh there's a proposition 123 um again that is uh adjusted based on weighted ADM and ADM num so um and reconciling that number uh
037that came down slightly um and so looking all the way down the sheet to the general budget limit you can see uh on the budget revision tonight that we're proposing uh it's an increase of $1.3 million again majority of that is related to the budget balance carry forward as you can see and the increase in the group b weight students that we are receiving additional funding to support looking at Capital um not uh again reading left to right uh we adopted a budget um again this is at the same time we do the M budget um in June what we're revising to um this evening uh is slightly different um on the first line the district additional assistance this is your formula generated um amount so this is the amount we get from the state
038based on our per student so at 7.4 million we were just off in our estimates so there's a small adjustment down uh for that um if you note on the I didn't put on the bottom but District additional assistance is also funded by prior your ADM um so when you have adjustments to Prior ADM that's where you see the change there um the M transfer to Capital as I mentioned in the previous slide Theo budget transferred 5.6 million to Capital so you see that as an increase on this slide uh that's an increase to the capital budget the budget balance carry forward much like M we budget conservatively we had a lot of summer projects that were taking place um we estimated that those would be more uh expensed or completed um when completing the
039adopted budget um those projects were still in place and still U working through uh delays and so we had carried over excess $2.3 million um again I was conservative with our estimate um and so bringing that up is a lot easier than reducing the capital budget so um the budget balance carry forward of increase of $2.3 million represents the majority of the change to the capital budget here um interest earn one note on the capital budget is you can um acrew um you can add budget capacity with interest earnings on the capital fund only and so um you can see the interest earnings um what we anticipated was 91,000 we actually garnered 128,000 the onetime state aid supplement um this was appropriated in the K12 budget for fiscal year 2024 um districts had the option
040to appropriate that to M or capital or how they see fit um the district uh appropriated that to the capital funds uh to use towards onetime expenses um you can see uh just a small difference in what we adopted to what we are revising to so all in all again majority of the difference uh in the capital budget is related to the budget BS carry forward increase again um a lot of the projects that we anticipated being completed and expensed out uh at the year end uh last year were not and they were carried forward into this year uh due to delays in construction or supplies so um those were not expensed and so therefore we're adding that money that was not expensed back into the budget capacity lastly um as we look towards the
041fy2 budget um we are still waiting on the state legislature to approve a K12 budget um there's a lot of different issues that they're working through the K12 budget is not one of their priorities right now um we will I we did get word from the Arizon auditor general that they would approve a temporary budget forms on May 23rd If there is no uh state budget approved so we will have something to bring forth on June 5th uh because our obligation uh we must approve a proposed budget by July 5th that does not change whether the legislature has approved a K2 budget or not so we will have temporary forms if the legislature has not approved a budget and then we will uh go to June 26 and probably bring that same budget forth to
042adopt um again on the adoption you can only decrease from the proposed budget you cannot increase so um there just a point of emphasis typically there's very little change from the proposed to the adopted budget and again that adopted budget must be approved by July 15th regardless of whether the legislature has approved a cave2 budget bill or not so um we will move forward with that and um in years past we had brought forth a budget Revision in early September or August when the legislature has completed their session um to maybe make any changes that will be reflected in their final proposed budget so that is an option um if we were way off or if there's drastic changes in the the final K12 legislation bill so with that I'll be happy to answer any
043questions no I don't have any questions but this would be the opportunity for the public to come up correct so there if there are any members of the public that have comments or questions regarding this Bally 2024 budget revision you're welcome to come up to the podium and ask questions or make comments please not all at once okay oh yes absolutely Linda Payne I do have some questions because I think this budget I think we could really increase our budget if we could change some things in this school that we're going to be talking about later but um we're having a lot of parents wanting to pull their kids from the school because of dress code and all also literature that is being presented and if we can work together and try to get a
044lot of this and resolved and get it back to where what we should be teaching our kids I really think that we can bring a lot of people that would like to come back to the school district because you have a lot of programs that are amazing but you also have a lot of things that are going on that are really need to be addressed and I think with that if you would do that I think we I saw what happened yester yesterday with his volleyball thing and there was such an output from the from the public and thank you for supporting us but it can happen also in this type of situation that's what I have to say thank you anybody else okay with that we will uh reconvene into Open Session are there
045any comments from the board at this point in time Mr Moore thank you I I really appreciate the time you put into this information and and how um you make it EAS easier to understand and and it's got to feel although you we live it and breathe it and you probably talk about it all day it's got to feel good to stand to come up here and just talk about your work and show show the work you do so I appreciate you all right next we're going to move on to the um public comics with the request to speak we value input from our constituents the 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 a
046speaker card which uh which is 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 38-43 1.01 I I believe action takes 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 a further consideration and decision at a later date also we ask the audience members practice proper public meeting to Quorum 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 of board meetings if considered necessary
047the governing board president shall set a time limit on 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 an individual speak speaker thank you for your Co cooperation first to speak will be Bob Parish good evening president Anderson members of the board and cabinet my name is Bob Parish I'm a retired Commander from the marope county sheriff's office I have about 35 years of experience I'm a parent and I'm currently raising my granddaughter who attends williamsfield High School I wanted to warn the audience said in a few moments I'm going to be reading an excerpt out of a novel that was assigned by several English teachers as required reading for Williamsville High School juniors the excert
048is extremely sexually explicit so I would ask you to leave now if you have any minor children present and do not want them to be subjected to such language the assignment required a parent signature but had no content warning for any of the novels if there was a warning stating the books contained sex explicit material obscenities drug and alcohol use sexual acts masturbation suicide abortion and police races and brutality those are all reviews from the internet on these five books I believe parents would have exercised more caution actually reviewed the books before signing a permission slip such warnings are required for movies and we use them to gauge what we allow our kids to watch my wife and I were suspicious we've never had to sign a permission slip for our kids to read a
049book so we took that time to actually review the five books after reviewing we noted four of the five books were banned by numerous school districts we also took note that there were no alternative novels offered due to board imposed time constraints I'm going to read from only one of the five novels the novel's titled 19 minutes by jod Pico and I'm almost embarrassed to read it but I'm going to do it just so people see what the these kids are being asked to read he pinned her hands over her head and ground his hips against hers she could feel his erection hot against her stomach it wasn't the way it normally was but Josie had admit that it was exciting she couldn't remember every feeling so heavy as if her heart was beating between
050her legs she clawed at Matt's back to bring him closer yeah he groaned and he pushed her thighs apart and then suddenly Matt was inside her pumping so hard that she scooted backward on the carpet burning the back of her legs wait Jose he said trying to roll away from beneath him he clamped his hand over her mouth and drove harder and harder till Josie felt him come Seaman sticking hot pulled on the carpet beneath her I believe teaching the sexually exp materials in violation of House Bill 2495 I spoke to principal Fox about the assigned objectional material prior to the consent for him being due I gave Mr Fox an opportunity to prohibit such sexually explicit material in the class room and told him it was his responsibility to stop it after two days
051review refused my request stating there was good messaging in the books and that the students had a choice on what to read I would State there are better books with the same messaging available absent OB objectionable content you may even say well they can find it on the internet recent studies from 2023 conducted by the American psychology Association and yell medicine.org show a decline in youth mental health teens can easily access inappropriate harmful content sex SE such as sexually explicit material suicide and self harm on the internet Studies have found discussing and reading this content can normalize these deviant behaviors introducing introducing this into our schools only exacerbates the moral decline of our youth schools should focus on the basics and keep the content appropriate it doesn't take this type of Highly objectional material to
052teach our youth about the challenges that that may fa they may face in life I want to conclude by urging the board to remove all sexual explic material from the curriculum and align schools and District policies with state law as they relate to approving reading material I would also ask that husd to modify and standardize the parental consent form requiring specific details regarding all objectional content providing non- objectional Alternatives and Implement these changes at all schools within the district Mr I just want you know that I I'm letting him know that the time had ended but thank you if I could I just wanted to thank you um our joint goal should be focused on use Mental Health and I'm confident this board will address my concern seriously and would like to thank you all
053for the opportunity to be heard thank you I appreciate your Your Enthusiasm but if you wouldn't mind let me run this meeting I I would greatly appreciate that all right next we have and forgive me is it Tamara Farah I apologize if I'm saying that incorrectly fa oh thank you good evening president Anderson and board members thank you for your dedicated service to Higley unified my name is Tamara Farah and I direct the smart families Network for Arizona women of action representing over 20,000 parents and community members across Arizona our mission is to protect kids and promote academics in our schools in the state the purpose of my address tonight pertains as well to a significant concern the content of the five books recommended uh for a recent contemporary literature assignment including 19 minutes by
054jod pult which was just mentioned this assignment featured books that contain sexually explicit material which according to ars1 15-120 parents are to be granted the opportunity to evaluate whether that that content possesses serious educational or literary value for minors and that is a quote directly from uh that statute parental notification and consent was Rec was required regarding these books but the school only provided the title and a description that did not include the pornographic content in the permission slip that went home to parents there is no respectable justification for a teacher to present books like this to minors for a reading assignment think about it what is the impact of pornographic mat material on the mind and the body what does it do to the brain what does it do to the emotions let's get
055real the fact that these books will stir up students sexually instead of Awakening them intellectually is obvious pornographic material at minimum delivers a mental emotional and physical distraction from Reading Writing math and higher thoughts related to critical thinking but it's much much worse than that as has been alluded to already according to Sage journals Studies have noted that early intentional exposure to pornography used in children and adolesence can lead to delinquent Behavior high-risk sexual behavior and substance abuse is that what we want for kids shouldn't students Minds remain healthy so they can focus on their future aspirations and proficiencies needed to succeed in their careers as a board will you consider removing this material from student lessons you have the authority to do so let's prioritize students intellectual and moral development thank you thank you
056next we have Taylor franc good evening Madame President and members of the board my name is Taylor Francis and as a dedicated parent of two husd students I come before you today to speak on the topic of mitigating risk in our daily lives we consistently assess risk and take steps to minimize them for example if I want to boy pasta I weigh out the risk of injury against that of feeding myself then deciding that the benefit of a meal outweighs the risk of injury I proceed with the process however while the risk of injury from from making pasta is low it is never zero so to minimize the chance of injury I employ risk mitigation techniques such as using a hot mitt and practice safe cooking I might even set a timer to mitigate the
057risk of over or undercooking my noodles I cannot help but remember back to the October 11th board meeting where Ray and Associates and cabinet members implored you board members to act now with haste to move forward with beginning the selection process for a new superintendent immediately despite your questions and doubts regarding the rapidity of it all however after being pressured you as a board relented the process was then rushed through the holidays and after then a less than perfect process Nate Carman was announced as H usd's new Superintendent at the February 21st board meeting the same Nate Cartman who appears to have been terminated from his former contract as a superintendent has been suspended until the end of his tenor in his current district and is leaving a district facing a $33 million deficit while
058Nate Carman may have the potential to excel as a superintendent here in H USD the uncertainty surrounding his past conduct and the financial troubles of his current District are considerable and must not be overlooked can we afford the risk of gambling with the future of our students and staff by entrusting such a critical position to someone with questionable credentials I earnestly implore you the board to reconsider Nate carman's contract and explore other options to ensure the best leadership for our School's district please resend or terminate Nate carman's contract our students and staff deserve a better superintendent and you owe it to them to mitigate this risk similarly at the last board meeting I heard from two fellow members of the citizens committee who presented the 73 vote of the committee to recommend the board place
059an $83 million Bond alongside the M override on the upcoming November ballot when the survey expert presented us on the committee with the results he indicated that with only 44% of respondents stating they would vote for both the bond and override if both were on the ballot there was a risk that the override would fail if presented alongside the bond rather than Al loone compounded with the fact that six month months ago Gilbert Mesa and Queen Creek bonds all failed and both of the last two Higley bonds overwhelmingly failed is it worth the risk of putting essential school funding at stake by combining the bond with the override on the ballot I do not discredit the merits of the items listed on the bond nor do I think anyone else on the committee would either
060to me however the risk is too great to place the bond on the ballot alongside the M override I urge the bond to elect to mitigate the risk and vote against putting the bond on this November's ballot too much is at stake as elected representatives entrusted with the well-being of our students and Community it is your duty to make decisions that minimize risks and prioritize their Ben best interests therefore I beseech you to take action to mitigate potential risks by eliminating Nate carman's contract and refraining from including the bond on the November 2024 ballot thank you thank you next is Amber fedck good evening govering board president Anderson members of the board and cabinet uh my name is Amber fedck I'm a teacher at Gateway Point Elementary and I just wanted to take a moment
061and thank you for approving our sixth grade science camp this year um for the students who were able to go this year they really had a truly amazing time um some of the things that I got to witness were blossoming of the love of Science and uh sorry I'm not used to coming up in front um in embracing uh nature and human connection instead of technology which to their surprise they did not miss at all um and also the friendships that they began to create even though they've been in school with students in their classrooms um that I hope and and know that they're going to have for going into middle school next year I'm really feel lucky and very grateful that I'm one of the few people that get to take these students up
062and give them this experience I have students that come back year after year and reminisce about their sixth grade and always science camp is one of them so I just wanted to take a minute and thank you and I look forward to working with you guys next year thank you next we have Kim Jackson good evening president Anderson and board members um I had seen a message on Facebook from a parent about the Verizon cell tower being installed at San Junior High School she learned of this at the April 3rd husd board meeting this was the first time I had heard about it so I went and watched back the meeting from April 3 prior to the April 3rd meeting I unfortunately have never attended or watched back a meeting nor have I met any
063of you or spoken to any of you I was super surprised to hear the cell tower topic wasn't passed through the board properly I was also surprised it was put into the consent agenda as there wasn't to my knowledge any conversation with us as parents of those students who could be affected by the tower addition to my knowledge there hasn't been a convo with teachers and admin about their feelings on the topic to my knowledge no attempts have made to involve the homeowners or HOA management of saam and Estates where the junior high school presides they will surely be affected by the potential of this tower being installed with all of that being said I share my experience and Thoughts with you with hopes it's not only received well but it's used to improve communication
064between the board and the community of admin teachers parents and students so we can not only be informed by proposed plans that you all are going to be making but you too can get our feedback on how we feel about these plans I would also like to address a concern of mine as I watched back April 3D's meeting I witnessed an unfortunate amount of degrading facials and different expressions from body languages from board member Wade being as you all are in position of power and Leadership representing thousands of us I hope you board member Wade as well as the rest of you will be cognizant of your body language when another board member is speaking or when a Community member is speaking kindness is taught to all ages in this District we look to you
065to set the tone for meetings by setting an example of neutrality with your facial and body language you then create a safe environment for others sharing concerns or thoughts that may vary from yours I hope moving forward each of you will set a positive tone with your body language and facial expressions while conducting board meetings to close I want to thank board member van Hoke for asking for the cell tower to be pulled from the consent aend agenda and bringing the conversation to the community I placed multiple calls to the district super intendent and to the director of secondary education with no calls back but I did call Tyler Moore and he was the only person to return my call and help answer my questions thank you Tyler I am looking forward to the town
066hall meeting that you all agreed to hold to chat about this topic I'd also like to ask the board to consider utilizing social media accounts to invite the community to these meetings I scrolled back months back and I have yet to find those social media accounts being utilized to communicate things like this to include your community I would also like based off of the complaints or concerns about the books for the board to consider creating a committee around this topic to help give the community the opportunity to make change and participate in that change and to help support the board thank you thank you next we have Callie Coons good evening I'm speaking in regards to the required reading assignment at williamsfield high for the 11th grade kids who could potentially be as young as
06715 the book that was most alarming to me was 19 minutes my name is Cali Coons I'm a registered nurse here in Arizona I also have five kids ranging in ages from 23 down to 7 my kids have attended public schools here in Gilbert and most recently they enrolled in charter schools I decided in the middle of this school year after Touring chapparel that we wanted to give Public School System another shot and my kids were very excited however when I was told about the book list it sent me back to the drawing board of what my plans were going to be for my soon to be junior high and Elementary School AED kids I want to send my kids to the public school but these actions leave us with no other choice than to
068pull our kids out and send them to Charter Schools or home schools do you wonder why the enrollment is down a great example of this is out in Santan and Copper Basin there are so many families choosing to leave public school system and homeschool their kids instead homeschooling is becoming so much more popular not but not because these parents necessarily want to they don't trust the s school systems and they don't feel like they have any other options I sent the book list to my daughters who were in their early 20s who also attended williamsfield high and they were appalled as well it was only a few years ago that they were teenagers so they are a great resource for opinions on what kids would benefit from and what is actually relevant for these young
069kids they agreed that the material was extreme and they were actually appalled my daughter said as someone who was exposed osed to pornography for the first time on a school bus in 8th grade and dealt with it almost every single day in my face from classmat to 9th grade at williamsfield High School the last place I needed more porn was in the classroom in fact the last place a child should feel over sexualized or aroused is in a classroom we tell our youth all the time not to send explicit images to one another and use scare tactics when doing so so why are we letting letting books that talk about unhealthy teenage sex lives and classifying it as literature into our English classrooms there is a time and place for children to learn about sex
070and it isn't from a book about school shootings studies suggest that early exposure to pornography often before age 18 can lead to distorted views of relationships and unhealthy attitudes about sex Research indicates that adolescents who consume pornography May begin to see um see it as a realistic representation of sexual relationships which can lead to unrealistic expectations and a distorted sense of what constitutes normal there is evidence that repeated exposure to pornography can have addictive properties for some individuals this can lead to issues such as increased anxiety depression self-esteem for example a study found that among adolescents regular consumption of pornography was correlated with feelings of loneliness and a higher risk of depression another concern is about pornography's role in shaping aggressive attitudes toward sex some studies suggest that exposure to certain types of explicit content
071especially that which involves aggression or non-consent which is what the excerpt in that book was May normalize these behaviors among adolescents leading to misunderstandings about consent and potentially increasing the likelihood of sexual aggression we should be able to send our kids to school confidently knowing that they have their best interest interest at heart that the material they are being encouraged to read and study should be uplifting and thought-provoking it should broaden their minds and stir creativity my gra my background as an RN includes working with adults and young adults at drug and alcohol rehabil rehabilitation facilities behavioral health facilities and I was the director of nursing at one of the facilities well facilities as well I will tell you the disturbing fact four out to five of the women on the facil in the facilities
072report being sexually assaulted in their childhood or teenage years and when they would share this with me it was always difficult for them to address and when I would take do intakes on on patients your time is up are you almost done close okay if you could if you could go ahead and get to the get to we appreciate it just be consistent um when we put these thoughts into our kids Minds we have to remember that they're very impressionable we as adults are also still very impressionable we have to understand that filling their minds with these things and teaching them or or trying to tell them that these are normal teenage behaviors is is not normal for everyone and that it shouldn't be expected um I would at least hope that we would at
073minimum um be able to somehow rate the classes before people sign up for them and also rate the books so that parents have our a little bit more educated on what their kids are being asked to read thank you next we have Kelly Mullins board members I appreciate you letting me come and speak today my name is Debbie Thatcher Kelly Mullins had to attend a another higgle activity over at um the elementary school nope higgle high school so she texted me her comments and these are the things that she would like to say tonight thank you for all your hard work I don't envy your position I have two graduates from williamsfield and currently have two high schoolers so we've been here a while I'd just like to quickly add my concern to a few
074books being shared in the schools it's worth noting that many of the students where where the books are available haven't yet reached puberty so the themes in some of these books are too advanced for their age group we need to ensure that the material we provide aligns with their developmental stage why not save these books for college excuse me when they're adults capable of making their own decisions our priority should be offering educational resources that encourage learning and growth without prematurely exposing our students to adult content it is also important to review our policies to ensure they comply with state laws regarding appropriate reading materials in schools I'd love to see a revision to the parental consent form to give parents a clear understanding of any potential objectionable content and also provide Alternatives this approach
075will help us create an environment conducive to the intellectual and emotional development of our students that's the end of Kelly Mullins as Debbie Thatcher I had kids here in Higley when it was a one school district K through 8 and 200 kids so I've seen it change a little over the years and I have put five kids through school and monitored their reading materials and things there they see I also have worked for and retired from 23 years from a school a neighboring school district and have been in High School classes and have heard the discussions from books like this not like this for sure but books when they're being taught they're discussed and talked about and was appalled when I learned of the book choices that these kids are presented with with no alternative
076choice that wasn't represented on permission slips and told explicitly to parents I would like to see changes in how things are done and with all the literature that is outstanding in the world to uh encourage teachers to be able to present material that is correct for these students to learn in a high school situation I went to a principal and told them of a questionable thing going on on a classroom and changes were made immediately and I don't see this happening here when asking if they could have another book choice to read and to participate with and like Linda Payne said with issues that pull people away from Higley District it would be a shame if this is one of them and things aren't made a point of change so that this is a high
077spot for the district that change can be made thank you very much for hearing my comments thank you next we have Linda Payne this is on the same topic and I'm sure you guys have heard a lot about about it but I really think that we need to get this kind of stuff out of our schools we really need to get people back into our school district instead of running them out and this is going to run the parents out faster than anything because this filth is terrible and I know that most teachers don't even want to teach these sexual things and scen and pornographic things and I don't know if they're being forced to I don't know what the I don't know what the thing is but I think you as a board as
078board members and I think every parent in here would not want their child to be read this kind of garbage that was read today and that's what it was it was literal garbage and I hope and pray that we can come together as a community because this community is all of us and all of us together can make a difference I mentioned the volleyball thing yesterday there were so many people that came together to make that happen and it was good because it should have been that way from the beginning anyway I just wanted to thank you for listening to all of us because I know you I know that you and us together together could make a difference but we need to make a difference for our kids these kids are our future and
079if we don't stop it and stop it now we are doomed anyway thank you thank you next forgive me is it uh Donovan Hansen hey thank you my wife and I are here tonight because it came to our attention that a literature teacher at williamsfield high school gave pornographic material to his students to read as an assignment this is confirmed the principal was consulted he made the decision to support the assignment and the teacher rather than retract it and reprimand the teacher I pay taxes for the Higley School District we have three children who reside in the Higley School District uh they will never attend a Higley school unless and until we can rely on administrators to protect children from pornographic material in school we've removed them and applied their ASA funds Elsewhere for this
080reason parents should be able to rely on Higley schools to protect their children from pornographic material as stated before it is a violation of Arizona law to give pornographic material to a minor it's in fact a class 4 felony the teacher uh in question here should be terminated and the principle at least reprimanded more importantly Higley schools should have a policy prevent V ing students from being given pornographic material again thank you thank you okay moving on to consent oh I'm sorry yes Miss Van Hook um just as a as a direction to admin um I would like to um further dis I'm sorry I can't see you um I would just like to further discuss um what we we would do in these situations whether it's I don't know if we have a current
081policy I mean at a state law but if we can maybe look into a policy um and and look at what would happen in situations where state law is violated um and and how we would approach that um that would be wonderful we've already got some things going on and we'll be happy to report back thank you thank you Miss Van Hook okay now we're going to move on to the consent agenda I motion to approve consent agenda items 7.1 through 7.17 second that was Tiffany s my Tiffany all uh all those in favor I I I I motion carries 4 to zero Dr Lindsay do you have some introductions to make this evening yes I do president Anderson I have a couple of new administrators that I'd like to um share with the community
082um first up I would like to recognize Nicole mola she's standing right over [Applause] here Nicole Nicole is our current dean of students at San middle school and next year she will be serving as power ranch's new assistant principal as our current assistant principal Michelle Kota is going to start her well-deserved retirement um before Nicole was at San she was an assistant principal at Desert Wind Middle School in Maricopa um District she's been in education for more than 17 years serving in many roles including teacher instructional coach and administrator and we're really excited to have Nicole join the power ranch team and and I know she's looking forward to building relationships with the Power Ranch Community and looking forward to having you work alongside them so [Applause] congratulations additionally I'd also like to welcome and
083introduce to all of you Marsha hofstad Marsha's here she's right over there Mara is joining husd as our new assistant director at kolie and SAS and Early Childhood Development Centers as Stacy Utley is beginning her retirement at the end of this year Mara comes to us with 25 years of experience in education she has served as a special education case manager for grades k through eight and a reading instructor on special assignment for Gilbert public schools and Mesa Public Schools and currently she serves as the network 504 coordinator for ASU Preparatory Academy where she also served as an academic coach and an academic Dean so welcome to husd Marsh show we're so excited to have you join our little Spartan and our little cougar [Applause] communities thank you congratulations and welcome thank you Dr Lindsay
084um next we're going to move on to the information items and next we're going to receive aort on the Higley Leadership Academy from Mr Walker thank you madam president uh if I could ask our our four presenters to come on up to the podium um I'm I'm offering up the opportunity to present jointly with some participants from the Higley Leadership Academy tonight so like to introduce uh Miss Jennifer Kaiser Miss Maggie boury uh Miss Rachel vill NOA and Miss Elizabeth melter who's coming to help present on their experiences and uh their their in uh insight to the higly leadership academy so um before I turn it over to them I just wanted to give a little bit of a background on this year's Academy we had our largest um participant group ever we had 42
085participants um and we expanded it to include five people from the certified uh I mean from the classified uh Staffing division from us as well um they're going to come and share about some of the goals and experiences they had U but another thing to highlight is this year we had this as a prior participant Le program so we had 23 previous members come back can help plan and Lead uh the various sessions throughout the year and so I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Miss Kaiser uh and if she could go ahead and introduce yourself and and share some information about Hig Leadership Academy hello my name is Jennifer Kaiser um I've been a district employee for 12 years uh I uh worked in Community Education for nine of those and
086then recently I've switched over to certified world I'm uh the CTE Early Childhood educator at uh Higley High School so I'm thrilled to be here this is one of my favorite programs I've been a part of while I've been at Higley so I am here to share a little bit about the history of HLA uh hlaa started in 2014 um it was the inaugural year it had um two goals one was to help develop leadership skills and individuals ready to assume the role of a school leader in the future and the second goal was to apply curriculum Knowledge and Skills within their school context to improve student learning um this kind of became known as a principal Academy lots of great leaders were a part of this um program Through The Years um it's then
087moved into the year 201920 um it uh had to be paused for a little bit because of our season of covid and then it resumed back in 200 20 um to 22 um and that was kind of a very important year because before um there was always an opportunity with this program to uh Shadow with a principal but um when this resumed in 20120 they added the mentorship component so that was a really great um piece that they put into place um for HOA and at this point um participants had kind of graduated year after year um or not graduated I'm sorry participated year after year um because they always want to be a part of it um and learn new leadership skills but um they actually we graduated official graduation was 2022 so um
088the year had it the program has a start and an end and then it started up again uh reset this year from 2 the 23 24 school year um where they surveyed past participants um figured out what this was really going to be about and this was the first year um that it was uh developed and it was leader Le um so a little bit about my journey um I started in 2018 um I was excited to be a part of it at first I was like I don't want to be a principal I just really want to gain the knowledge I worked in Community Education um I said can I just audit it can I just take it I don't want to be go into further Administration I just want to learn about leadership
089um and so I was a part of that uh class participated in that year and then when they added the mentorship component I thought that was great because then you actually paired with a mentor and um because I was kind of like who who should I Shadow what should I do um and I was able to get paired with uh assistant principal todber over at Bridges learned so much from him and then that following year that's when I entered the classified world so um I'm sorry the certified world and um that was quite exciting for me because I learned a lot from there as well um one of my favorite Parts about HLA is no matter um what the session is you're always able to put more Tools in your tool leadership tool belt so
090I think that was great I'm always able to take something away from every single session I've attended thank you Miss Kaiser and then I'm going to go ahead and introduce Miss Rachel Ville and AA to talk about how the Higgly Leadership Academy aligns with our strategic plan all right good evening president Anderson and governing board members thank you for allowing us to speak today about the Higley Leadership Academy my name is Rachel vioa and I'm a proud teacher at SanTan Elementary this is my ninth year in the district I started my student teaching Journey at SanTan in a fourth grade classroom with an amazing Mentor named Jen bout upon graduating from Arizona State University I had the opportunity to take a position as a fifth teacher at SanTan where I taught for six years currently
091I'm a sixth grade ELA and socialized teacher and I've been in that position for 2 years not only have I had the opportunity to serve as an educator at Sant Elementary but I also serve in a leadership position on the staff Lighthouse action team in my position I collaborate alongside a small group of educational leaders on my campus to develop the school environment and culture using the eight habits of Stephen kovi within my role I work on the culture action team team to promote and improve student voice on campus I work directly with students to find ways to engage the entire student population to bring a sense of belonging and purpose additionally I spent the past two years earning my gifted endorsement which included 180 hours of coursework under my school gifted specialist shaa stingle
092and also the amazing District gifted and talent talented coordinator Kelly McLean although there are many wonderful opportunities I've been able to participate um during my educational Journey today I'll be talking specifically about HLA to start H hegley Unified School District's mission is to empower students to be responsible citizens with the knowledge skills and work ethic required for success in their future endeavors our district follows his mission statement by directly aligning our strategic anchors to our mission statement the Higley Leadership Academy aligns with anchor 2 which is the highly effective Personnel the goal of this anchor is to establish a culture and climate that sustains excellence and retains high quality employees anchor 2.1 reads recruit hire and retain exemplary administrators teachers and support staff districtwide anchor 2.2 reads provide the necessary professional development resources and training
093to support all employees the HLA program had three specific goals to ensure these anchors were met first one was to make sure that participants were able to get together collaboratively and come up with creative ideas secondly to demon rate integrity and empathy through Global awareness and also possess Knowledge and Skills needed to be good Community leaders to start as an HLA participant we strengthen our skills of working collaboratively and communicating effectively to accomplish our HLA service project this took an innovation creativity and teamwork to ensure that all HLA participants were well informed of community events and how to support these events throughout the year we also work collaboratively on tasks in our monthly meetings an example example of this is when we were discussing finance and budget and were tasked and teams to think like
094a building administrator and how to hypothetically allocate School funds the HLA program also focused on responsible citizenship each month we engaged with leadership topics to support our understanding of the Higley District topics included marketing and branding Finance human resource policy and governance and school operations we were also encouraged to stay informed about our district by listening to or attending governor board meetings finally the HLA program prepared us with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful leaders in our community by learning about the district and participating in two Shadow Days with our Mentor we learned more about the challenges that leaders face on a regular basis and how to navigate through those difficulties to support our students being a participant of the HLA program has helped me develop a sense of community I no longer
095just recognize the names and faces of educational leaders in my district but I also feel a sense of belonging and connection by hearing their educ leadership Journey stories for our Mentor Shadow days I was matched with a wonderful Mentor principal Broadley at Centennial who gladly answered all the questions I had about the roles and responsibilities of being a principal and gave and she gave me positive words of encouragement when discussing my own career goals and Visions furthermore I had the opportunity to receive support with resume and interview prep this benefited me as I learned how to tailor my resume to Future leadership positions that I apply for next year I will remain in my six grade teaching position but because of the HL program I'll be switching from role on my school's Lighthouse action team
096from culture to leadership as a leadership action team coordinator I'll be working directly with students to prepare them for public speaking tours that we have to do with students staffs and visitors and I will also develop ways to increase Community awareness and Vol and volunteerism within our school so I just want to say thank you today for letting us um share with you how the Higley Leadership Academy has developed me as a leader in our school district and how to continually improve our exemplary District employees thank you next I'd like to introduce Miss Elizabeth melter who's going to share some statistics about our our enrollments and some of the trends that we've discovered over the years with the HLA good evening president Anderson members of the board and cabinet my name is Elizabeth melter and
097I've been with the Higley school district for seven years in the capacity of third grade teacher for four years and a fifth grade teacher for three years as an a leader on campus I am the sponsor of the steam Club I am a student council sponsor and I'm also a PTO teacher liaison I serve as a administrator design when our admin team is off campus and I've had the pleasure of being the administrator for the summer school program last year when it was held at Bridges um I have participated in HLA for three years from 2017 to 2019 and again this year uh from 23 to 24 I'm going to share with uh you some numbers um about HLA uh referencing the slide you see above um HLA has seen continued growth over the years
098and this year was the largest enrollment to date the total participants over the years have been 249 in uh participants since the beginning 162 of those were one-year participants and 87 of those have participated through more than one year which is where you see the one uh excuse me the 87 um plus uh the individual of one six one I'm sorry my eyes are terrible 162 okay of all the participants of the Higley leadership academy uh husd has retained 78% of those individuals and of those uh that 78% um 36 uh individuals or 22% have seen advancement in their positions within husd um changes going from teacher to coach sometimes coach from to administrator but lots of different trajectories for individuals who participated in the academy and of those lead ERS that um have seen
099that advancement in their careers there have been uh 78% that have been have stayed with husd uh Through The Years um I want to wrap up with how HLA has been beneficial to me um it has allowed participants to develop a broader understanding of all the intricate uh aspects of creating and maintaining a successful District um has allowed all of us to network and create connections within the district um all of these leaders who are able and willing to help in the development of current and future Higley leaders it has provided opportunities for discussions and scenarios and an aim to tackle problem solving from the various perspectiv of the various husd stakeholders and it has also allowed us the chance to Shadow Higley administrators which has been absolutely invaluable as it allowed for observations discussions
100about topics that include maintaining positive culture climate uh student discipline and leadership styles a special thank you to Bruce Potts this year who um allowed to Shadow him and ask all the questions that I had and finally I would like to share that I do truly believe that HLA has been absolutely instrumental in helping me prepare uh for my new role that I take on next year as assistant principal at Bridges Elementary alongside fellow HLA graduate Jeff Beckle thank you and then I'd like to also introduce uh Miss Maggie boury she's going to talk about our leadership project that we uh implemented into the program this year good evening my name is Maggie boury this is my sixth year as the secondary English language arts instructional coach I work with all the 6th through 12th
101grade English teachers by providing professional learning during scheduled PD days and upon Administration request Mentor new teachers and provide support in curriculum instruction and assessment data analysis as an aspiring husd administrator what better way to gain leadership experience than in my home district and to learn from our own district and school leaders HLA provided us the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of what makes a school district efficient and successful uccessful from understanding the complexities of Finance to maintenance and operations one of my favorite parts of HLA was the opportunity to Shadow School leaders for a day I would like to extend a quick thank you to Brian banck the assistant principal at Higley High School and Terry pepper the assistant principal at chaal elementary for showing me all the intricacies of administration the
102HLA community service project was originally designed as a service project for the entire group to create HLA member Karen files to a initiative to create a Microsoft teams group for us to share our ideas and post discussions it was then decided that members would vote on their favorite project and the top three projects would be presented to District leadership Jessica D ambrosio's idea was for us to provide support at a senior living community with visits from not only us but with students Shannon Alexander had a great idea of having a day of many projects like campus cleanups and clothing drives I presented on a Higgly beautification day where we would divide and conquer to the various schools and beautify them to support our Higley helps initiative a merging of ideas occurred I became the contact
103person for schools to reach out and solicit help from HLA members to support various school projects for example a group of Academy members volunteered at Higley High School for their best buddies Carnival an event that made Statewide news one member Leslie cook took the initiative to be an extra chaperon at a middle school dance power ranch hosted a book drive at their literacy night HTA Academy members held donation drives for the House of Refuge and the military assistance Mission with their staff members volunteered at the Fine Arts Festival and this past Saturday a group of us supported Santan Elementary at their family hearing impairment picnic for the community if it wasn't for HLA I personally would not have known about all these amazing events except for the Fine Arts Festival the HLA community service project
104allowed us to be reflective of our core values to take initiative to collaborate as a team and overall to learn what all our schools have to offer I plan to use the Knowledge and Skills Acquired and apply them to my position as instructional coach and continue in HLA next year thank you thank you for that information and and just to conclude the where we're headed with the HLA moving forward is it has really three foundations that we've decided to to to work with uh in the future and and and the big one is it's going to be focused on staff development so what was said before initiated as a principal uh preparation academy uh we find much more value in the opportunity to develop leadership capacity amongst all of our employees uh whether you're you're
105in the custodial department or you're at the district office or if you're in it it doesn't matter we want to build capacity across our school district and so that aligns with the Strategic plan we want to have an opportunity for all employees and so we want to grow leaders in in all of our divisions and we want to promote this uh across the board so it's been in existence since 2014 uh this is the first time that I can recall we've brought it to the governing board and had a presentation about it to share with the public um I've Had The Good Fortune of being part of the program every year since its Inception I I began as a teacher uh and I have the the the the the Good Fortune again to come back
106and lead the program so it means a lot to me I've seen a lot of great success uh connected to the program and we want to continue to keep aligning it with the needs of our district uh we wanted to be a self-sustainable program so one thing I just want to commend everybody for um everybody's here tonight on their own accord um these individ ual these 42 people that have participated go above and beyond their workday and come back in the evening to take part in this and so they've they've reached out they want to be part of this they participated in projects um outside of their already busy schedules and I commend everybody for for taking the time to to learn more about our school district and to build their leadership capacity and we
107want that to continue we wanted the planning and development to be done by the past participants and we we look forward to having data driven decisions to improve the program moving forward so a new a new component of it this year as we surveyed the group after every single session rather than wait till the end of the year to get survey feedback this way it's fresh it's accurate and it's pertinent to the time of the session and we're going to take that information to better our sessions and that will be led by past participants moving forward so in the future one of the things also referenced earlier in the presentation is that for several years it became stale it was a great opportunity it grew leaders but it was really focused on that principal preparation
108and people felt obligated to continue to be part of it um and there really was no out so to speak and so we we created the ability to graduate out of the program but we don't want people to then be done completely so there's opportunities to come back as a mentor um to help with the community project and then to assist our candidates with resume and interview uh review sessions and so it's something that um I want to give credit to school district leaders who have taken time out of their uh busy days as well to help support the program and uh I appreciate it again thank you for your ladies tonight for for presenting it from your perspective these are four individuals who have different positions within the school district but they've they've all
109shared some valuable takeaways from the program so thank you everybody tonight for for sharing out and being here and I'll turn it back over to the board if you have any [Applause] questions board member Anderson Mr Walker um I just wanted to ask um so membership um I'm assuming it's optional anybody can join or not join it's evolved into that it's open for anybody uh we do ask that they they consult with their their supervisor to make sure it's a good fit um in the past it had more stricter criteria uh that's it goes back to the principal preparation Academy there was the request to have a master's degree or in a program for Ed leadership um and we've we've eliminated that because we want it to be available to everybody within our school district
110and are there dues or or is it free no it's it's free there there's no dues perfect thank you good questions outstanding outstanding I'm so so excited it's it's good to to good to hear that there are teachers or staff that want to move up into leadership positions but I was floored by tonight saying I just wanted to be a better leader like that's fantastic thank you ladies for sharing thank you for everybody attending tonight I do have one question um is this something can the board watch this in action can we be invited to to any of the events or meetings or anything just to see you guys at work uh board member Anderson absolutely um that's part of that data driven decision-making we we'll take that into consideration as we plan our sessions
111for next year absolutely thank you anyone else all right moving on to item 8.2 the special education private Day School report for fiscal year 24 third quarter we will be hearing from Mr Moore I'm so sorry yeah president Anderson members of the board uh presented is the uh thirdd quarter report from Miss Miller um the uh expenditures are trending uh below the approved budget that was approved at the beginning of the year so um no further comments no under budget sounds good thank you okay thank you Mr Moore next we're going to move on to the action items beginning with 9.1 second read for policy JKD student suspension are there any questions or comments before we motion okay I motion that the governing board approve policy JKD student suspicion suspension second all those in favor
112I I motion carries for to zero moving on to 9.2 second read for policy EBC emergencies do we have any questions or discussion I motion that the governing board approve policy EBC emergencies second is that y all those in favor I I I motion carries four to zero moving on to 9.3 second read jke expulsion of students questions or statements I motion that the governing board approve policy jke expulsion of students second okay all those in favor I I motion carries 4 to zero 9.4 second read of policy jlh missing students any questions comments uh president Anderson I will just Express just in case there are some people we all of these are just updating legal from the state legislature that we had to include in our policy that's why probably we're not making comments
113I just for those who were not here previously yes thank you uh do I I motion that the governing board approved policy jlh missing students second all those in favor I I I all those all those opposed um we're on 95 correct we are 94 sorry I motion carries 4 to zero explanation threw me off oh gotcha okay 9.5 approval to adopt a resolution calling for a special maintenance and operation budget override election questions and comments president Anderson um as I've as I said at the last meeting um we do have uh seven schools that are under 60% capacity um it's easy to go out to the community and say we want more money um it's always easy to spend other people's money um but we need to look at all the options that we
114have um and our enrollment is down um the funding from the state is some people might not like where it is but it's the highest that's ever been um and yet our expenses continue to grow um we need to look at all the options available to us um before we go out and ask the community for more money um so did you call for a vote no not yet okay um but that's my statement um we want to be um fiscally conservative um and I I know Mr Moore does a great job um as far as budgeting conser conservatively um but we need to um look within before we do that especially in the current clim um Financial climate that we're in thank you president Anderson um I would like to express again gratitude to
115the members of the committee that came together to discuss what was in our District's best interest they were presented with you know the status of our buildings I think uh for a lot of individuals who only drop off their kids or drive by they don't necessarily always go inside and see some of the status of the way things are I also wish to express uh gratitude and further elaborate with respect to Mr Moore um I feel like the the nature with which you present our budget and how you talk to the community and how you express what it is that we need going forward and what is in our best interest um has rely served this District well over the course of your tenure here and I'm very appreciative to all that you have done
116for that and I think as we go forward and looking at the things that we can do to improve and continue to make Higley a competitive District that people wish to go to and I recognize that there is enrollment at elementary schools that has some difficulty there are state things at play there for some of that um but we continue to see them come back in in middle school and high school and so looking for what that longterm is as well as the general growth in our area I'm very appreciative to the time that you have done with the community the committee members that gave up their time to do that I'm also very appreciative for what you put forward and how you not only presented that to the board but to Higley as a
117whole uh and it is greatly appreciated thanks thank you I motion that the governing board can consider discuss amend if desired and if deemed advisable to adopt a resolution ordering and calling a special budget over right election to be held in and for the district and declaring the deadline for submitting Arguments for and against the election to the Maricopa County school superintendent school Elections office as of August 9th 2024 at 5:00 p.m. second okay all those in favor I I I all those oppose nay motion carries 3: one item 9.6 approval to adopt a resolution calling for a special bond election on November 5th 2024 any questions or comments um oh no go for um I recognize that uh there's always a difficulty as a district to ask the community uh you know to to
118go to go for these things to vote on them um and we have seen in other districts them not be successful uh We've also seen it in our own District uh when these things are not successful uh as somebody who worked here during that time frame as somebody who neighbors Mesa as they are going through some of the difficulty I think things sometimes are beneficial to keep in mind what happens when these things don't pass uh and that is class sizes and the like for example Mesa which is one of our largest districts had to let go 400 staff that means there are electives that don't get done there are larger class sizes there are clubs that get cut there are things that you feel and I recognize and understand that it is difficult sometimes
119to ask the community to you know Step Up in ways that they feel are already stepping up and I understand that the nature of our state structure makes that very very difficult and so I'm appreciative of the weight of that uh I just think it is beneficial for us as we move forward and progress to look at the things that we hope to do with these bonds specifically um you know making expansion to areas that we have right now we've already had in past board meetings where we have to look at alternative parking options for some of our high school students because we are running out of space the bond addresses some of these needs that we have and so I recognize that when outwardly we look at you know student retention and how these
120things are some of that also comes down to the things that we have a failure to provide and part of the reason we have to you know tighten that belt is when these types of things do not happen and so as we go forward as a community I would advise community members to look at what happens to districts when these things don't uh end well when they don't go through or they don't pass because what you see routinely is just a year or two later they turn around and then pass them because they have to make up for the hardship that they experienc during that time frame and so I appreciate again the community and the work that people put forth and their recommendations to try to avoid having to go back up and try
121to make for some of the hardships as a result president Anderson board member Wade um I also want to throw in there um you brought up Mesa and we also have to consider the amount of students that Mesa lost as well that made an impact in that that's all uh this one um made me think a little bit couple of issues or a couple things that um I toggled with mentally and emotionally um i i attended a couple of the committee um a few of the committee meetings and there was concern about putting both on the ballot and they were concerned you put both on the ballot there's risk that both won't pass instead of having one pass over the other so that that one made me think um I I believe in a democratic
122voice I believe putting it out to the voters and let them speak and let them vote for what they want in this District um but I now I go back to the other side what I witnessed um in sitting in the last meeting put a lot of fearing me um about the people that um are for it and those that are against it because it got very very heated and um I don't I don't want Behavior like that out in the district swaying people or making people fearful or feeling like they don't have they can't express their opinion um because that reflects our district and that that will hinder the vote as well um and I those are my viewpoints on that okay I motion that the governing board consider discuss amend if desired and
123if deemed advisable to adopt a resolution ordering and calling for a special bond election to be held in and for the district and authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to comply with certain sections of the Internal Revenue code second all those in favor I I I all those oppose nay motion carries 3 to one president Anderson yes I just want to say that um you all made good points um and it is hard to ask for money but we asked a committee to come together um and that committee gave us a recommendation to to um for both of the override and the bond and so that's why I voted yes tonight because the committee spent weeks on this and they came together and and voted and also Mr Moore presented that we can't look within anymore
124we have so long that we can look within and what we can cut and I want our kids to have the best and our teachers and I want to have the best leaders and that's the most important and I don't want to have aging schools in our neighborhoods and I don't think anybody else does and we want our kids to have a great future so that's why I voted yes on both of those thank you next is 9.7 request for proposal no number 24-3 d29 Child Nutrition Food Services management company F fsmc president Anderson members of the board I just wanted to give a little context to this because it is just an action item but um the district is up for Renewal we had a five-year RFP request for proposal for a contracted Food
125Service uh Services um the district went through a full um RFP process uh considered the on the agenda item you can see the members that it consisted of um several site leaders um myself um and other individuals um the uh committee received two proposals um and the reason um we're just bringing an action recommendation because the committee the evaluation team um found it unanimous um to um recommend chart Wells uh as the option for uh this RFP so uh if there's any questions I happen to answer him um but that is the recommendation from the evaluation committee president Anderson um sorry Mr Mor can you correct me just because there's been a lot of information in the last week since we got this I just want to make sure the chart Wass one that's the
126one is that the width or without the high school the one that you're recommending I apologize president Anderson member Wade the committee did include in the red Cris for proposal um the option to look at um continuing to keep uh the high school on the national school lunch and breakfast program or take them off um some of the items that we looked at before submitting this bid out for proposal we looking at our demographics and um the national school lunch and breakfast program um inherently benefits students who have low social economical status and so with our district being about 21% free and reduced percentage um we were looking at options to help um provider families with uh different Avenues in which to um offer food and so um this uh proposal that recommendation we bring
127tonight does not includes leaving them on the program as of now but because it was included in the bid we do have the future option to go forth and and um bring them off the program um if we see fit so uh obviously we bring that back to the board um but this current this next year is with them on the program as is uh as we are currently offering does that um opportunity to decide or reevaluate that's During the fiveyear period that we have with this with them at okay I just want to make sure thank you a motion of the governing board award RFP number 24-3 d29 to Compass to Compass Group or Chartwells as the Food Service management company for fiscal year 2024 2025 second all those in favor I I I
128I motion carries four to zero president and they are in attendance of it maybe I'll embarrass them uh if they ask them to stand since they've sat through this meeting um so if chart Wills can stand please be acknowledge [Applause] so thank you thank you and thank you for helping me carry stuff in when I was coming to the for meeting president Anderson I would just like to add that um every event that that we've had the food has been amazing so I just want to thank you guys um you you've done an amazing job and all of it literally like I tried to have a little bit of everything just to taste it and it's been great thank you thank you for mentioning that 100% true are we good just kidding 9.8 approval of
129the fiscally year 2024 budget revision number one any questions or comments I motion that the governing board approve the revised expenditure budget number one for fiscal year 2023 2024 as presented second all those in favor I I I motion carries for zero moving on to action item 9.9 ratifying payroll and expense vouchers 1087 1090 1091 and 1093 questions or comments um I will address I have three items that I had asked to be pulled so I'll address all of them in a row um the first first one I had asked to be pulled is the American School Counselors Association um and I'll just read what I wrote um we are investing taxpayer funds into training um and the people attending this as school counselors and the assistant director of counseling um we are investing taxpayer
130funds in training for staff members who are legally restricted from providing mental health services to our students as they lack the required licenses by the Board of Behavioral Health this practice without a license is a class six felony aside from that the American counselors association's policy mandates counselors to affirm a child's gender dysphoria without parental consent or awareness and PR prioritizing the emotions of boys identifying as girls over the right um over the rights and safety of actual girls these practices not only violate legal and ethical boundaries but also disregard the important role of parents in their child's in their child's well-being and development the content of um asca's training material I've watched several um revealed concerning ideologies and strategies in um including decisions on topics like oppressed and privileged dismantling white people endless pronoun
131variations stonewalling parents concealing transgender issues critical race theory circumventing state laws this focus on divisive and controversial subjects along with tactics that undermine parental rights and student confidentiality is deeply troubling a recent conference hosted by the Arizona School Counselors Association featuring Dr Carolyn Stone you look gr up um who chairs the ASCA Ethics Committee openly advocated for providing contraceptives to a minor against her mother's wishes showcasing a disregard for Parental Authority and ethical boundaries given these concerns about legal compliance ethical standards parental lack of Parental involvement um and the promotion of controversial ideologies I would Oppo I I oppose further funding or support support for organizations like ASCA that exhibit such problematic practices within their training and policies thank you um actually I'll just go into the next one because it's all in one vote
132so are you in um it's we're on 99 no no I'm sorry which voucher are you ref I don't have the voucher number but I'm just going to ask you what if you could go back you were referencing what in the voucher then I'm sorry um the American School Counselors Association oh I'm sorry it's voucher 1091 American school counselor association yes these are thank you okay I got thank you um the next one is the um Arizona mathematics leaders and mind you these um these are expenses um this has already happened um so this is just the expense and I wish I would have caught it initially um but as far as the um Arizona mathematics leaders conference um the reason why I oppose this is because of the association with the um the book
133was given um building thinking classrooms in mathematics um and its association with Corwin publishing um I don't have a copy of the book um but I am aware that um Corwin promotes controversial IND divisive ideologies through their material um Corwin is known for um pushing um a racist critical theory math textbook that aims to dismantle what they perceive as white privilege this philosophy which emphasizes developing racial competency in white students is viewed by many as promoting a biased and discriminatory approach under the guise of equity furthermore one of Corwin's publishing co-founders um of the youth Equity stewardship program Wade sandal um provided a testimony testimonial for White Privilege Conference this connection raises concerns about the under Ling agenda and values promoted by this publishing company that this um conference uses um or the book that
134they use for the conference um indirectly they endorse and legitimize um these um ideologies and practices there's a need for educational resources and initiatives that promote genuine critical thinking skills without dis um divisive and discrim atory narratives um and I would hope that we utilize those options versus organizations that um use companies to push I such awful ideologies and um divide our youth that is absolutely unnecessary um the last one is um and that one had a couple uh vouchers 1087 and 1091 and 1093 um the last one is near pods um nearpod um I mentioned this um back at our May 10th meeting of 2023 and I just want to um bring it up again in case people weren't paying attention then um but near pod has a lot of um controversial ideologies as
135well it's an application that's used by students um last May I made it clear that um I cannot support nearpod due to these um ideologies um and I understand that it's assigned by teachers um and not chosen by students however despite this I had a parent that contacted me um last year conc concerning an assignment that was given to their child um centered around race um if we're going to continue to use near pods um I would like to request that we do what we did with PebbleGo and go in and and be able to block those modules um that don't align with our state standards um if that's possible um and I want to encourage parents um that they need to be vigilant um even though it's an online assignment an online application that's
136School approved um parents still need to pay attention um because you know just because it's it's used by schools does not guarantee um its safety or appropriateness um as we've witnessed tonight um it's essential for parents to Monitor and review the content their CH children are exposed to through all of these platforms I also want to remind parents that um you do have the ability to opt out of these applications and any um curriculum that you don't see fit for your children that's all thank Youk you so Vice President Van Hook and members of the board it's my understanding we don't have the capability to block components Within nearpod so we have looked at that um so we are relying on our teachers and their teaching of the standards but I wanted you to know
137we checked and so with near pod um as I asked with Pebble go with nearpod kids do have the ability to to go in and and play around with the app or they can just access the teachers are assigning components within nearpod so they they can't just wander around in there okay and so because of this one assignment that was I know that was addressed last year um we've had conversations with teachers that they need to ensure that when they are assigning that they are staying within standards yes thank you that is correct president Anderson um some things I wish to address uh that board member Van Hook uh talked about and there's a few things um I'll just kind of go in reverse order um I agree with you that I think parents should
138pay attention to the things that their kids are uh seeking or how they you know have access to stuff for example we have access to the internet in school and those types of things and we do the best that we can obviously while we are here at school but once they leave our classrooms and and go beyond those assignments it's really difficult for us to curb Free Will um and so I appreciate all of the things that our staff do routinely to notify parents of this is how you log in this is what I've specifically assigned to the students and those types of things because as long as you are going through what your teacher assigns in that process then that's kind of where we keep everything grade level appropriate because nearpod is for all
139of education and it is used throughout the United States so there are different areas that have different requirements um and so I think that is a very beneficial thing to express to parents to just keep it a reminder of you know what goes on at home and how your kids are using some of the devices that they are there for uh the second thing I'd like to express or address rather is the a math leaders um a lot of the issues that you brought up is with a Publishing Company um a publishing company is going to publish books and they would have a varying level of content so I think it is important to keep in mind that we are sending our Math teachers to go to a conference specifically about math we don't have
140control over the materials that they give we as a district and as a state have a curriculum that is assigned to us and within our district we have control over what our curriculum is and so they may be exposed to a book that might have something that is not valuable for our specific curriculum and then we just ignore it and move on with our lives but to express that because they are giving out a book that is dealing with a publishing company that also deals with some of these other things I think that's a pretty slippery slope for us to be concerned about because again we can't control the nature of a company operating in a capitalist market and making multiple types of books um beyond that this again serves multiple districts and so some
141of the content may not be valuable for our specific District but it might be valuable for districts that have demographics that look different from ours so again we are offering something as a state and as a state you have Math teachers from all over the state that come to be able to do this and I would argue you probably have some people from other states that also can come and get some of that so I think it's important again to keep in mind for those who might have concerns on some of the things that you've addressed here today that again we have a curriculum that our teachers are beholden to and how that process is and so just because they may have exposure to some of these things at you know differing trainings that they
142get doesn't necessarily mean that that's what comes back here in our class classrooms because again we're still beholding to that curriculum the final thing I wish to address is the counseling um first off counselors are not therapist but sometimes kids come in expressing pretty heavy stuff stuff that requires us to contact Social Services stuff that requires us to uh make sure that we provide for parents what this student may need going forward so for example I've had several students that uh I had inquired how are you doing today because things didn't look like they normally did and come to find out this kid was suicidal had a plan our first responsibility legally as a teacher is to contact counseling and have counseling go forward and contact and take the steps from there that requires conversation
143that requires some of these things but asking about that or inquiring about that is not therapy um beyond that some of the topics again that you addressed this is a national uh Association so again we're going to deal with differing States differing issues and states have different uh beliefs with respect to some of these topics and how they address them our teachers here at our district are held accountable to the laws of the state whether we agree with them or not that is the situation that we are in and they are also again held accountable to our standards the same is true for our counseling staff that we hire um there were periods of time in which we had counselors that were shared amongst campuses and I think families and students alike felt the pressure
144of that so I'm very grateful that we have been able to hire more counselors so our staff has these needs we've had over and over again parents come in during comment we've even mentioned it up here kids today are experiencing a lot and there's a lot of things coming at them so having counselors on campus to hear and receive some of this information and then take the next steps of providing what is best for this specific situation is not therapy it might get them to therapy and it might lead them to that and I I believe all persons can benefit from therapy so I think that's a a positive here but I also think it's important for us as we listen and receive some of this information that a counselor providing next steps to parents
145because they also don't do it without parents involvement when it comes to this information we are beholden to that we have to so for example if a kid's suicidal or if a kid talks about some of these things we provide that information with parents we often create meetings with the teacher who notified the counselor and the parents and the student themselves are sometimes separate from the student and then bring the student student in depending on on what that situation calls for and it's associations like this and it is the material that they provide that help guide our counselors in these difficult situations so I'm very grateful that we have managed to create more counseling opportunities for our schools so schools can have these instead of sharing because sometimes that can lead to things that are
146real hard because the student may feel like they don't have anywhere to go president Anderson um I understand what you're saying um but we also have state laws that need to be followed um and because of the recent change in the in the Board of Behavioral Health um they had a rule where they weren't monitoring school counselors and they were petitioned and they ended up withdrawing that rule um which no it specifically says like no Psychotherapy and when you look up Psychotherapy it lists all these things um that are considered Psychotherapy um and in my mind a parent should be contacted before a counselor un unless the parent is the problem and CPS needs to be called a parent needs to be contacted before um there's any type of intervention um but the purpose of
147me pulling this is to explain why I don't support them we also have a state law that says we can't use taxpayer funds to pay for any race-based training and um whether it's um a book I mean the the book is part of the course for for the math thing so um if we're using taxpayer funds to fund organizations that do race-based training and ideological training um we have a state law that says we can't um and yes our district has created an agreement that they have teachers sign um that they won't attend you know if there's several breakout sessions um the teacher signs a forum saying I won't attend this portion of the training that's you know based on Dei or whatever um bottom line is we're still funding it with taxpayer money um
148when state law says we shouldn't so um that's pretty much it I just wanted to explain why I won't I don't support um these expenses thank you I apologize president Anderson this will be my last thing um for those who who may not be in a classroom situation or work with students there is not always an opportunity that is in the safety of that student's mind for us to be able to contact the parent first before we talk to that student um there are literally a plethora of things in which a student could express um that is harm to them harm to somebody else not necessarily harm from a parent obviously in those cases we still have things that we have to follow with DPS and all of that um I I hear your concerns
149and again I think it's important to understand that counselors do not proceed without parent involvement especially in every Avenue that they are legally required to my knowledge there have not been any instances of our counselors Flatout breaking the law um in in these specific scenarios um and as far as being a member of an association that might do Dei training it doesn't necessarily mean that this specific thing is Dei training so I think keeping in mind the fact that again we have responsible individuals who are great at their job and are capable of recognizing what is and is not content appropriate and what is and is not within the scope of law that we are required to uh is one of the reasons why we have uh such great programs and and student outcomes here
150in hickley last comment um president Anderson um I'm sure the parents uh whose children were assigned these inappropriate books thought that um the specific teacher was great at his job and wouldn't violate state law yet it happened so it does happen unfortunately um and which is why I'm bringing it up and I want parents to be aware um and we need to ensure that our staff there's clear communication that these are the lines you can't cross it and if you cross it this is what happens that's all M was there anything you wanted to add or State regarding any of the information or I think that Mary Davis our director of PD looked into the thinking maps training and and what resources they used I don't know if you want to make a comment on
151that um in terms of that potential book or book study um this conference is actually organized um by the Arizona Department of Education in um managed by them so it is supported by our Department of Education um this is an instructional model that a lot of our teachers are utilizing and have found great success for our students to get them up and moving as they are interacting not only with math but other content areas to get them not just solving a problem but thinking through the problem and talking about um the math practice and how they can um solve it in multiple ways and have that conversation and talk about the learning and not just wrote memorize how to solve and allows the teacher to go through and engage with the students um on the
152various different ways that they are solving it and have those conversations so it's not just a one andone and move on um so we're excited for our teachers to be able to go and interact with other teachers across Arizona um on this topic um president Anderson and I'm sorry I didn't catch your Davis m Davis um did you attend the training yes I have attended and would you say that there was anything um ideological during the training that you would find concerning not at all um it it's all about how do you take a problem I I'll stick with math um and how do you talk through it through different solutions I'm working on saying I'm not math person because I am a math person um and T taking a risk and you don't have
153to actually take a risk you can solve it in um 25 different ways and how would you cut a square cake um so that everybody gets an equal slice when you have an odd number of people um and everybody can take a different um approach to how you would solve it and it's not there's nothing ideological about it it's giving students a chance to approach um how they're going to learn and how they're going to share their learning and it's giving the teachers um a different way to mix up their students and how they will interact with the learning as well thank you yeah I just um I mean recently you hear people say you know math is racist so um I don't know how that could be but um so I I just want
154to make sure that when when we have these types of trainings that there's no teachings that I mean that would cover the fact like math is race I don't know how I don't even know how to explain it um but I I appreciate your input thank you thank you everyone for your questions and and information and input on this um we are on item 9.9 correct okay I motion that the governing board ratifies the payroll and expense vouchers for 1087 1090 1091 and second all those in favor I I I all those opposed nay motion carries 3 to one moving on to 9.10 employment agreement between the hgle Unified School District and Dr Carmen I'd like to read a statement from the governing board during the superintendent hiring process that we recently went through applicants
155were asked to provide true correct and complete applications including disclosing ongoing reviews of possible misconduct they were specifically asked to explain any current or past situations that might impact their application the candidates were notified that misrepresenting or omitting facts could result in rejection of or dismissal from employment Dr Carmen faed to disclose material facts during the hiring process the search firm we used also failed to bring these facts to our attention had Dr Carmen provided us with correct and complete information we would have made a different decision and in our view his actions constitute just cause to resend the employment agreement and it's now open for discussion questions comments okay I motion that we resend the employment agreement between Higley Unified School District and Dr Carmen for Just Cause effective June 30th 2024 and authorized
156legal councel to provide notice to Dr Carmen second I'm that one to Anna just heard her all those in favor I I I motion carries board to zero okay thank you moving on to 9.11 selection of the superintendent for the 2024 2025 school year open this up for discussion would do you want to do you want to read yeah I think that's better oh who yes gotcha that would be I mean I didn't want to steal it from you it's all right I motion that the governing board select just kidding Sher Richards as the superintendent for 2024 2025 and interent contract negotiations with the selected candidate second all those in favor I I I motion carries four to zero thank you Miss Richards for and congratulations on moving into our superintendent not interim superintendent position
157for thank [Applause] you president Anderson I just want to say again thank you Miss Richards for all you have done over the course of the last year uh I said this last year we didn't really give you much of an option and I appreciate uh your willingness to take this option with us um your love for Higley clearly knows no bounds uh and we are very grateful for another year with you thank you I appreciate it I I just want to Echo uh the comments I know you attended the retirement ceremony and already had your your Beach vacation picked out and everything but uh we can get you um some beach music playing in your your office thank you very much all right moving on to um item 10.1 items for future agenda um I
158I would like to put on there um I should have I meant to look and I yes put back on there our communication protocols because we had a lot of things kind of tabled and we're expecting a different superintendant and then also our board meeting dates and times needs thank you needs to be put back put on ASAP absolutely thank you anyone else have any item add not currently not currently yep no I just uh want to say congratulations to the class of 20124 since we will um this is our last meeting and good luck to them yeah see you guys at graduation all right I motion that we adjourn this meeting second all those in favor I I motion carries 4 to zero good night everyone thank you for attending for