001she can okay good evening good evening can you hear me good evening I don't know okay he's going to go I feel I okay good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting to order Mrs Richards roll call please yes president Schultz members of the board let the record show that all five board members are present this evening would now join me in a moment of silence in the Pledge of Allegiance iedge Al the United States of America the stand I'd like to make a motion that we approve the agenda all those in favor president before we vote um I would like to ask that we adjust the agenda please and move our board organization um to right after the approval of the agenda I second it which number was that Mr sorry to move
002um 6.4 no uh 9.1 and 9.2 okay to following the approval of the agenda second you second okay all those in favor I I motion carries five 5 Z at this time at this time we have moved on the agenda so we'll now vote for uh the new governing board president for 2024 I'm sorry um I think um we have to make a motion to approve the amended agenda before we get to the okay sorry okay I move to um approve the amended agenda all those in favor I I motion carries 5 Z okay now moving on to 9.1 election of governing board president for 2024 I'd like to make the motion to nominate uh board member Tiffany Schultz to be the president Mrs Anderson um I would like to Nom nominate myself to be
003president forward I nominate um board member Michelle Anderson for president okay um any other nominations so first we'll vote on the first one and then the second one okay um all those in favor of do we want to spend any time talking about anything or I was just asking if people would like an opportunity to say things sure um I'll I'll Advocate I I just think currently the way things are going as far as uh policies and those types of things make sense to what's going on it seemed like a logical fit so um all those in favor of Tiffany Schultz myself being president for the um I all those opposed nay nay all those in favor of Michelle Anderson for the new president I I nay motion carries three to two Mrs Anderson you're
004are now the new president the 20 and then uh for the governing board vice president for 2024 I'd like to nominate myself for VP uh I'll nominate board member Tiffany Schultz Mrs Reese do you have any desire to none this is your okay all those in favor of uh Mrs Van Hook for uh governing board vice president for 2024 I I all those I all those opposed okay motion carries four to one um we will now switch spes we just and okay switch you want it's up to you I sure do you want to switch your name please thanks so yeah than okay thank you everybody and um we're now going to move on to item uh well the superintendent report from Mrs Richard thank you president Anderson members of the board welcome to another
005segment of Higley Adventures I'd like to introduce Mr Len Heiser he has two special announcements president Anderson members of the board tonight it's a very exciting night that we get to recognize two different sports teams for their championships and so our first one we're going to introduce is the Higley High football team you've probably heard them in the lobby but um so I'm going to introduce uh Mr Fields the principal of Higley High School and then we're going to bring the kids in and Mr zubie is going to talk a little bit about the season [Applause] y thr All In [Music] [Applause] Madame President and board members I'm I'm very proud to be here tonight uh with these fine young gentlemen who represented our high school in such a outstanding manner uh I'm going to
006introduce the 5A uh football conference Coach of the Year Mr Eddie zubie who's going to talk about the team and their accomplishments this [Music] [Applause] year first off uh thank you board for having us for a second year in a row we enjoy being here we'll try to come back next year um none of this is possible without a supportive Community without a supportive District without a supportive Administration uh parents we've talked we appreciate everything you do our community has really rallied around us uh sponsorships coming to the games we try to give back as much as we can uh for the community and most importantly uh these guys and we talk about the trophy and what it symbolizes and stuff and yes it is the state championship but it's the journey right it's the
007journey from when we started in January AR getting all the way to go through that the ups and the Downs the Brotherhood the camaraderie this senior class for us is very very special um they never lost in the playoffs so every playoff game they won they had eight opportunities and they went eight and0 in that and that's special so when their back was up against the wall they came through so give them a round of applause for that for [Applause] sure and again just want to say thank you to the board allowing us like to travel and have those types of experiences and doing the things that we're allowed to do with the support of administration uh anything that we need or one I know that uh you guys will help us get to what
008we need so again thank you very much uh backto back 5A state champion Higley [Applause] kns thank you hold on let's let's get a picture with the board members pict oh you take picture hey one more time huge round of applause backto back 5A state champion Higgly [Applause] [Music] Knights all right thanks again Mr fields for introducing the team at this point I would like to recognize the sasman Middle School uh cross country team for their East Valley Conference Championship so uh Mr keing if you want to bring them in please let's give a big round of applause for the EVC Champion cross country team from [Applause] San [Applause] all right we we were going to have them run in here but they're so fast I was worried you wouldn't see them um so I
009just want to say our our coaches are are absolutely fantastic and and um this year with the support of District administration and the governing board um our team traveled to McFarland California to train with um the McFarland team which had a Disney movie made about them and stuff it's very cool story um and I think that the the care and the passion that our coaches put into this program um is why our Our Girls finished third overall their highest finish ever and and our boys won the EVC championship and so enough from me Mr H or M B thank you um this is just an awesome group of young men right here that I want you guys to meet this is our Spartan cross country team um coach Burke and I just have the best
010time coaching these kids so parents thank you so much for your support All Season we had an undefeated season this season for boys and we even got a perfect score meaning that Spartans took fifth fourth third second and first in one of our meets so just a phenomenal job to our boys and to our girls but our boys were our Champions this season so thank you so so [Applause] much all right another big round of applause Spartan cross country Mr keing if you'd like to lead him in a run out go ahead we'll let him run out you you're at the front congratulations good to see oh there you are yes thank you so much thank you Mr lsen Heiser such exciting things to celebrate this evening we also want to celebrate our H 100th
011day of school we were able to visit some schools and I don't know what happened to our children but they grew gray hair they were using Walkers they had hearing aids they had the best time of what they think they might look like when they're a hundred years old all right next we need to celebrate Santan Elementary they have been recognized as a 2023 leader and me Lighthouse academic honor roll School Mr Marcado you're in the audience are you by yourself I'm you should stand up the lighthouse academic honor role recognizes Leader in Me schools that have both met the rigorous requirements necessary to achieve and maintain Lighthouse certification and show exemplary academic growth or proficiency as measured by the state accountability standards it's schools like St san0 that serve as examples for leader and
012me schools throughout the world congratulations to everyone at SanTan Elementary we celebrate this achievement with you in alignment with h usd's portrait of a graduate Higley helps in December the human resources department organized an annual food drive for St Vincent depal 900 lounds of food were collected and will be provided to families and individuals served by St Vincent depal whose mission wouldn't be possible without Community Support we are grateful to our employees who are always ready to provide support for our community and I know uh miss Karen Johnson is here and also Miss Nicole Johnson we call them Johnson and Johnson so they supported this initiative and it was quite amazing so thank you to HR and to all the employees here in Higley [Applause] all right the Arizona Department of Education Career and Technical
013education unit reviewed Higley Unified School District for compliance and we'd like to congratulate the husd CTE department for having all programs compliant each program was also scored for quality and all of our programs met the distinguished rating which is the very top rating possible so congratulations and a thank you to the assistant director of this program Craig [Applause] Pearson in addition higgy's director of Maintenance and construction Gustaf landeras has has recently been accepted into the town of Gilbert citizen Leadership Institute Queen Creek citizen leaders are citizen ambassadors Civic leaders and Community stewards since 1995 the Queen Creek citizen Leadership Institute has graduated over 700 participants and continues to be an integral and valuable part of the Queen Creek experience gustafa is he here tonight all right we want to acknowledge Him when we see him
014it's amazing in addition it's time to acknowledge executive director of secondary education David lsen Heiser Assistant Director of Human Resources Nicole Johnson and Coronado Elementary teacher Jen ignazio they were EX accepted and have been participating in the Gilbert leadership class 32 Gilbert leadership was founded in 1991 and brings together individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences to develop their leadership potential and exposes participants to issues impacting our community we're very proud of these individuals Nicole Davis all right and I don't think Jenna is here this evening all right president Anderson are you ready for points of Pride okay so let's start out with our points of Pride from cooie middle school we need princip principal Chad Cantrell vice principal Louisa Schwarz excuse me and Dean BR Brandenburg all right good evening everybody thank you for being
015here we have lots of people here so thank you guys for coming out to support uh our points of Pride tonight so we're very excited this is my first year as a principal of kolie so this is my very first points of Pride um so I thought since we're all here we're all G to each kind of take a different person in the presentation just so that way um you hear from all of our admin team because you know we make up a team here at kie and that's part of that point of Pride part of why we're here supporting each other so we're very proud of kie so we're all going to take a moment to present somebody tonight so I would like to start by um acknowledging our volunteer point of Pride Jack
016[Applause] engert so this year at kolie middle school we started the year off um short and algebra one teacher uh we had some some substitutes in place and we had a parent reach out that her dad had a background in math um and was willing to come volunteer over at kie um so Jack came in pretty early in the school year and spent every day working with our students voluntary as a co-teacher for the class spending every day making sure the students are ready he think he enjoyed working with them so much that he went and got his substitute certificate so that way he could actually take over the class as a substitute teacher in the second semester um so we were super lucky super fortunate to find Jack the kids really enjoyed working with
017him um he's actually coming back tomorrow to to substitute for the class so he can't get away so we very much appreciate Jack we got very lucky to find him um very lucky that he was willing to volunteer every day um for an entire quarter and then for all intents and purpos volunteer that whole first semester to help our students out even in retirement so we very much appreciate Jack and all the work he did for our students so thank you so much [Applause] Jackie stay up [Laughter] here all right it is my privilege to uh announce our classified staff points of Pride for coie Middle School this year uh she's unfortunately uh unable to be here she's extremely sick I guess the whole household caught the bug so she really wanted to be here
018tonight but was uh unfortunately not able to make it but we do want to recognize her her name is Annie Holden uh she is a custodian on our campus so we lucky enough to get her about halfway through last year and uh ever since day one a friendly attitude um energetic smiles a lot um just just a super hard worker um her work ethic kind of speaks for herself one of those things that we hear every day on the radio is we need assistance somewhere and uh even if it's not her she that's being asked uh she's a first to respond and that just kind of tells you a little bit about Annie and uh we're we're just really fortunate to have her and our campus would not be as successful in such a great
019great place to be without [Applause] her I am very privileged to be able to talk a little bit about our certified staff I want to say some things that her colleagues and we when we're talking about you who should have this award say about her Miss valin's inexhaustible work ethic is one to strive for is instilled among her students and Carries over in all other classrooms clubs and organizations throughout the kie campus her positive and desire to be the best she can is infectious she has worked tirelessly to help build and grow a robotics program at kie Middle School taking time to attend various professional developments meeting with outside organizations and people as well as cultivating relationships with our feeder school programs I have to add in there that Miss Valenzuela had zero experience in
020the robotics field when she took over and decided to make this program her own and has done an incredible job evidence of the role she plays at coie middle includes her Max outout robotics classes everybody wants to get in and there's no room a robust robotics club and all the time and energy she spends being a part of the coie campus by building relationships with her colleagues and students kie would not be the same without her Jennifer [Applause] Valenzuela and then finally uh our points of Pride as a student and so like I said I'm in my first year and that's important for this students specifically because we have a lot of great students at K that we're extremely proud of um and so it's often times when you're new it's it's hard to always
021know who who to choose but sometimes students make it really easy for you they stand out so quickly um and our points of Pride student this this year is one of those students it's Avery Kaiser she's a seventh grade student at Cactus or kly Middle School um so we're we're just really excited to acknowledge her tonight the first thing uh first thing that I got told when I uh announced to our staff who our student was was what a great pick that was the first teacher who found me like ran up to me to find me to make sure I that that we picked the right student with Avery Avery is a member of student council she's in honors classes uh she contributes all around campus she smiles to everybody she's friendly with all of
022our students she just stands out as such a leader on campus and that's exactly what we want to see in all of our kolie students and so we're extraordinarily proud to have Avery as a cougar this year and for next year she's a seventh grade student like I mentioned before so so we're super excited and super proud to see what she'll do not just this year but also next year so Avery congratulations on being the student uh student point [Applause] of principle cantro we usually have um your winners introduce who's here with them this evening so here with you tonight oh with me here tonight is my wife Shayla my daughter Siobhan my grandson Bryce hi Bryce my son-in-law Darren and my grandson Nathan and my granddaughter Margaret tonight I have my whole family well
023almost all my husband Isaac my kids McKenna Kayla Brielle Noel and my mom and [Applause] dad um with me I have my mom my dad and then my stugo teacher and my math teacher oh gosh can I add I'm sorry I was staring at my family sorry guys all back there right there love you all right so congratulations to all our coy surprise winner thank you guys and we're going to take a quick picture next we'd like to introduce principal Dan Fox with his points of Pride from williamsfield high school all right good evening Madam president members of the board uh ladies and gentlemen I am proud to represent williamsfield high school tonight we have such an a great staff such a great uh student body such great volunteers who come in and help out
024on our campus and all of our different programs it makes this process always very difficult to to narrow down uh but we have a really good group of people here tonight to represent williamsfield high school so I'm going to start with our certified staff member here uh Miss Jamie crumbaker uh Jamie crumbaker is one of the most dedicated williamsfield High School teachers we have she finds ways to help multiple departments whether it is her Department of CTE or her surrogate Department of PE jimie frequently volunteers to help for various extracurricular activities and she often fills in as our athletic trainer if we have multiple activities on campus she is of our Tech MERS for the campus helps with PD presentations and is an all-around team player I've got a lot to say about you miss
025crumbaker sorry uh Miss crumbaker started a new practice last year by introducing a partnership with the children's cancer network uh to invite young children with cancer and their families to our campus so we can honor their journey and and their battle with cancer and show them a good time at some of our sporting events this made more work for Jamie but by being selfless she has taught our students in our various athletic progr programs that good deeds transcend high school we could list her dedication to sports medicine her desire to add numerous dual enrollment courses and her willingness to cover classes in a pinch and we would only begin to scratch the surface thank you Miss crumbaker for your dedication to our [Applause] campus yep you got it thank you M Richard we'll move on
026to the next person here hold on let me grab the next one we'll do um our fabulous volunteer who has done so much for our theater and drama program Miss Linda Smith is our volunteer for the evening thank you so Linda is an unsung hero in our arts department and it took me until last year to truly realize her impact on our drama program here at williamsfield high school Linda has been the costume coordinator for our theater program for many years now and she has helped multiple theater teachers achieve greatness many people come to our plays and performances but what they don't realize is that many of the fancy looking cast members don't just get their wardrobe straight off the rack some are created from scratch some need alterations and some get damaged over time
027and need repairs uh this is where Linda steps in to make our students look fabulous however Linda's true impact is not ba based in her wardrobe uh abilities here uh as a volunteer she spends many hours with our theater students and she imparts her extensive knowledge of education and Life to our Blackhawks uh she is like the grandmother of our theater so uh she does a lot for our kids and the kids love her and she just she's incredibly positive influence on our campus here so thank you Linda for being an integral part of our drama program for so long treat from the congratulations all right next up uh I think it's very important that we honor our classified staff Miss Michaela corus so miss Michaela corus came to us um from another District within
028uh within the State of Arizona and uh she had to kind of learn how to go from the paper system that they were running there to all our fancy computer systems here but the good thing is she actually knew a lot about all those systems to begin with and she's just come in and taken off and done a fabulous job here so we selected Michaela not because she is a huge Phoenix Suns fan like Mr Fox but because Michaela is a rock star Michaela has come in as our new bookstore manager this year and she's completely rocked the position we have received so much positive feedback from everybody this school year about how helpful Michaela has been how thorough she is and how she excels in all facets of the the position Michaela has learned
029a lot especially coming from a school district that used like I said used paper frequently in the bookstore any strange obstacle that's thrown at her she has managed to tackle through mental toughness and determination thank you Michaela for making williamsfield a better place couple presents for absolutely and finally last but not least Save The Best For Last here our student uh someone I had the pleasure of meeting uh gosh almost four years ago now right um and and we still got one more year together Natasha but Natasha scow is our points of Pride student for the 2023 2024 school year you right there yeah wherever you want Natasha so Natasha is one of our star stem students at williamsfield high school not only is she heavily involved in our engineering and Robotics program but she
030is also heavily involved in our Solar car team Natasha is a leader within these programs regardless of whether she has a title or not she has communicated with Administration on behalf of these programs she works with other students in the classroom to push them forward on their projects and she has also involved in other aspects of our campus uh this year she is a delegate to our girls state which is a tremendous honor uh and it's a tremendous opportunity for you as well Natasha she's volunteered at elementary schools to help teach students about her exper experiences in robotics and Engineering um and finally Natasha is a bubbly and kind person who helps make williamsfield a more positive place thank you for representing williamsfield high school and as an Exemplar Blackhawk Natasha you I huged everyone
031else I might as well you to for you and and then Natasha if you wouldn't mind uh introduce uh who you have with you here tonight I have my parents and my siblings all right I have my mom Melissa with me and then my son ja well my williamsfield family is um involved in a couple of activities one is in band and currently at some band practice the others the others had dinners to go to so I'm here by myself ton night um my williamsfield family is all at sporting events because that's where all my friends are and unfortunately my parents are sick this week so they could not make [Applause] it conratulations [Applause] thank you m Richards and and congratulations to everyone recognized tonight and thank you for everything you've done for this District
032it's a school night so if you would like to leave this would be a great time to sneak out uh before we put you to bed with our board business no that's not okay okay we're going to be moving on to the uh item 4.1 the request just kidding I'm sorry Richards please thank you yes our upcoming events include Thursday January 18th one pill can kill it's a community event and a presentation here in the boardroom at 6: PM we've gotten really great reviews on this so we hope everyone can join us on Tuesday January 23rd is our husd job fair that will also take place in the boardroom there are two sessions 9 to 11 and 1 to3 next on January 30th is the second citizens committee meeting here in the husd boardroom at
0335:00 p.m. it was very well attended the first round so we're excited for the second meeting also on Tuesday January 30th is Kindergarten roundup at all of our elementary campuses at 5:30 so if you know somebody with a kindergartener get them get them to school because we can't wait to meet them and on Tuesday February 6th is the public forum uh related to the superintendent search people can attend virtually or come to the boardroom at 5:00 p.m. and that concludes upcoming events thank you Miss Richards and now moving on to agenda item 4.1 under the request to speak I'm going to read through the expectations for uh speaking in public or at a public meeting we value input from our constituents this time on our agenda has been set aside for anyone from the audience
034who wishes to address the board those that wish to speak should have filled out speaker cards which are due prior to the start of 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 AR ARS 38-43 .01 action taken as result of public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter responding to any criticism or scheduling the matter for further consideration and decision at a later date also we ask that audience members practice proper public meeting decorum refraining from either negative or positive responses including clapping or verbal Outburst to ensure fairness to All Points of View those that refuse to follow these rules may be asked to leave in accordance with policy BH public
035participation at board meetings if considered necessary the governing board president shall set a time limit on the length of the comment period in order to ensure that each individual has an opportunity to address the board the president may also set a time limit for individual speakers thank you for your cooperation okay first to speak is Heather [Applause] Balch good evening imagine if you would a preschool class filled with young excited students two students would drawn to the same toy truck it was a shiny red fire truck that sparked their imaginations both of them reached for it simultaneously their eyes wide with excitement what do you think might happen a potential conflict over the toy typically young children may react impulsively or argue grabbing for the toy and in extreme cases sometimes physical aggression however we
036see a positive shift in Behavior due to the implementation of skills that promote social and emotional development teaching children self-awareness emotion management and empathy can make a significant difference in their interactions when students are equipped with the ability to recognize and express their feelings it opens up avenues for communication instead of resorting to impulsive actions they begin to use their words and convey their emotions and perspectives this shift Fosters more understanding and Cooperative environment among children by verbalizing their emotions they enable their peers to understand their Viewpoint this communication can lead to finding Equitable solutions that benefit everyone involved this process promotes positive and inclusive learning environment encouraging collaboration and empathy among preschool students this is social emotional learning and it matters thank you thank you next can we please hear from Ali RI good
037evening everyone my name is Ali Ratliff and I'm a member of the power ranch Comm community in October our School's principal Mr Chris reuter disappeared over the last few months I've had many conversations and spoken to many people through my research I've learned that one of the big reasons he disappeared was because of the actions of an individual off- campus an individual who is not even supervised by by Mr reuter Yet Sherry Richards held Mr reuter responsible for this already terminated individual's Behavior right after Mr reiter's investigation an employee at the bridges with a similar position as the individual mentioned above had a meeting about their work schedule come to find out their employee had been creating his own work schedule for years did Mr ble get in any kind of trouble for this did
038Alex erso also know that his employee was creating his own hours was Alex erso held accountable for any of his employees not working within their contracted hours did Mrs Richards protect Mr ble and Mr erso because she does not have the same negative feelings for them as she does for Mr reuter we all know that Bridges is one of Miss Richard's pride and joy I believe she even tried to poach more than the allotted amount of teachers to Bridges Miss Richards inconsistencies don't start or stop there though when asked for clarification as to why Miss Richards did not communicate that our principal was off campus she responded that there was no policy in place the Arizona superintendent office begs to differ on this matter in addition to that she added that she thought Mr reuer
039would only be gone for a day or two it's my understanding that standard protocol is typically around a week why did she say she believed it would only be a day or two later down the line after the matter was settled it was not until it became social media Buzz that our principal that our school did not have a principal that the district felt the need to address it with their vague emails that allowed rumors to fly dragging Mr reuter's name in the mud and creating more anxiety for families and staff the climate culture survey conducted at our school scored Mr reuter's leadership at an 87% the average score for surveys like this is between 70 and 85% this means Mr reuter's leadership exceeded average I would be very curious about the results of a
040culture and climate survey for those under Sher Richards additionally I find it absolutely astounding that all of you have never once set foot on our campus through all the lies that have gone on these secret meetings get togethers whatever you want to call him and miss van Hawk's call to have a look into our school all of which took place over this past summer at least one of you would have decided you wanted to learn learn more about our campus before voting on the fate of the person who headed it let alone take the time to speak with him but you did not you took Miss Richard's word and you still have not stepped foot on our campus to acknowledge us you can ask the majority of parents who attend power ranch not the very
041small minority miss van Hawk and Miss Anderson and we certainly won't ask you to house us privately to tell you our feelings and the majority of us will tell you that Mr ryer was an incredible principal you can also probably ask the majority of our staff but they probably won't gain miss van Hawk's empathy unless they've cheated on a standardized test in August miss van Hawk called for an investigation into the personnel and turnover rate at Power Ranch tonight I'm asking you to look into the personnel and turnover rate under Sher Richards thank you all for your time thank you thank you next will be Taylor Francis Madam president members of the board and cabinet uh I wish to speak on two items this evening first board meetings are an inte integral part of any
042school district for many parents staff and students board meetings are the only opportunity these individuals normally have to see or interact with the school board with the dedication and work hours of many teachers parents and staff a 5:00 p.m. meeting time conflicts with their home and work schedules preventing them from regularly attending having the meetings broadcast online is a wonderful feature allowing these meetings to reach many others around the area even with this technological feat it is no substitution for in-person participation including the ability to request to speak of the unified school districts higgle is the only one meeting at this time Gilbert meets at 600 p.m. Chandler 7 p.m. Paradise Valley 6:30 Scottdale 6 p.m. Deer Valley 700 p.m. Cave Creek 6 p.m. and daart 6 p.m. I respectfully make to request that the
043Board review its meeting time and adjust the regular monthly meeting time and move it back to 600 p.m. or later allowing more teachers parents and community members whom the board represents a better opportunity for in-person attendance second on December 23rd today days before Christmas a fire devastated the home of the assistant principal of one of H usd's elementary schools displacing her and her immediate family for the holidays and months to come almost immediately after words spread throughout the district and dozens of community members rallied together to support one of our own a GoFundMe was organized and the goal was met in under 72 hours in the end the original goal was surpassed by over $1,000 what a testament of our district and the members who reside within it I want to publicly recognize and thank
044everyone who gave to support our assistant principal the outpouring of generosity was both humbling and inspiring there are many great things about our school district and what a blessing it is to witness one firsthand thank you thank you next miss Karen files good evening I wanted to first thank you for this opportunity to speak um I'm going to use this time to highlight some amazing things happening at kie middle school as you heard earlier or saw earlier Miss Jennifer Valenzuela um her robotics team showed up in a huge way at a recent tournament earning third place in a crowded field of 30 plus teams we had a wildly successful open house for incoming sixth grade teachers or sorry excuse me students and parents and chillin with the Cougars is set to begin tomorrow and continue
045on Friday this opportunity to bridge that nerve-wracking time between elementary and middle school is eased by the hard work of our seventh grade staff and the tireless efforts of jod stot and our student council I'm a proud teacher at kolie middle school and I and continue to appreciate the support that we receive from District administration and from this very board now I want to tell you a brief story about my own son we live in a neighboring District I won't mention the name and we had been a student he had been a student at the same Elementary School since kindergarten he spent one single morning at kul's last year's chilling with the c the Cougars and decided that that same day that kie was the place for him he was drawn to the energy and
046he was drawn to the excitement so he left the familiarity of his feeder school and his feeder Middle School uh we open enrolled him and he is now a seventh grade uh student at kie Middle School my son's schedule has six teachers on it five of his six teachers have parents of current or graduated Higley students furthermore I would like to highlight that the decision made with our District administration for student staff and community by the board don't just impact teachers and their students in fact many of our teachers at kolie Middle School are also parents Aunts Uncles grandparents of Higley students and spouses of Higley employees from kul's front office staff Administration countless teachers par professionals and our security officer we have a vested interest in our schools because we are parents and loved
047ones of Higley students and staff I've had the honor and privilege of teaching with kie and with Higley Virtual Academy and have been shaped and made better by my experiences with a handful of students at least one of which has a parent In This Very Room so with that I want to thank the members of the board who trust our schools teachers and staff with their precious assets thank you thank you next Linda Payne president Anderson and members of the board I guess um I'm not very good at knowing how to start this but I just want you to know I'm that was really nice tonight to see so much recognition being done that was really really nice the main thing that I wanted to talk about tonight was like some had mentioned before if
048we could change the time to 6:00 there are so many people I have talked to that would love to come to these meetings but cannot because it's just too early and they would like to come and be part of this and learn what's going on and because the ones that have come have learned a lot on once they've gotten here and seen what's been happening so I would like to ask you to please consider changing this time to six o'clock thank you thank you okay next we are moving on to the consent agenda I move um president Anderson if I may um I'm not sure when we'll be discussing the schedule for this year um but if we can um consider a 6:00 p.m. start time for for the meetings um on that schedule um
049so when we vote on it we can consider it at that time thank you yes we can do that Boardman sorry Vice President Van Hook so are we adding that to a future future discussions or okay all right thank you okay consent agenda items I move that we approve consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.16 second any questions or comments okay all those in favor I I I I motion carries 5 to zero and Miss Johnson you had something you wanted to mention yes thank you president Anderson members of the board and I'd just like to recognize uh Mr Brian Griggs he's here in the audience and he is our interim principal over at power ranch right now and I'd just like if you would stand up Mr Griggs I know thank you thank you Mr
050Griggs thank you and thank you Mr Griggs I also want to take a second um been holding on to uh speaking about Mr Griggs because he there's lots of principles Administration when you have k kids going K through 12 I both have graduated and um I I can't can always say something positive about the administration um that my kids have interacted with but Mr Griggs actually made a difference in our son's life I got a okay so I'm sitting at home and I get a phone call from the principal and that's never good and especially when it came to forgive me for saying my son and our son and um it was Mr Griggs he didn't have to make the this phone call but he was calling to say that something positive that our son
051had done and after many many many years of struggling it that that phone call sent me to my knees um in in moments when you need hope and and hear positive things you're wonderful and good luck and um good luck at Power Ranch I hope that you can really make a difference and they need you thank you Mrs Anderson yes I just want to Echo your your statement as well I've known Mr Griggs for nine years and he's an exceptional administrator and power ranch is lucky to have you and president Anderson I'd like to add something as well um when we got to the spelling be I know you were trying to juggle both schools and I just wanted to thank you for that okay thank you all right now we're we're moving on to
052agenda item or for the information items agenda item 6.1 statement regarding teen violence from District administration and husd governing board uh member um Miss Schultz president Anderson members of the board your District administration wanted to provide a statement to you and to the community the statement regarding teen violence that we're all aware of so higgle Unified School District acknowledges and recognizes the importance of the recent e East Valley discussions regarding the known issue of teen violence it goes without saying that as Educators we care about our community's children we fully support efforts to address the violence that has impacted our surrounding communities and improve circumstances for all teens and young adults in higgle and beyond our district lives by its core values of Integrity connections learning centered and accountability our strategic plan and our portrait
053of a graduate outline our values and stresses that we demonstrate strong ethics for the better of the whole build relationships where all in our school Community feel a sense of belonging and create a community committed to a standard of Excellence across our district there are programs that promote character development and values values for our students as we mentioned earlier this evening Higley helps our most recent Community service initiative encourages our youth to get more involved in helping others each of our schools prioritize culture and character building through initiatives unique to their own campus including leader and me no excuses University ACT 212 and many more districtwide we all agree to standards and behavior through our student and employee handbooks designed to create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone when issues arise we are committed
054to addressing them according to our policies our support includes a safe hotline to bring issues to the district's Attention our SE something say something campaign and School counseling support on each each campus we are reflecting on our programs and recognized the importance of continuous Improvement and we are open to collaborate in community initiatives that may come from current conversations as always we will continue to support our students our families and prioritize a well-rounded education for all students in the bigly Unified School District thank you Miss Schultz wanted to share thank you president Anderson uh before I make the statement I want to just say that our um our open meeting laws and our laws don't uh don't allow us to talk about things before as we've mentioned before and so at the advice of Mrs
055me mlen then um this was how we had to do it in order to to to come up with something as as a board um so as the former president of the Higley School Board I feel compelled to address a matter of utmost concern within our community teen violence and the loss of a young life Preston Lord recent incidents have brought light to horrific dacks against our teens and the need for kids and parents and the entire Community to stand up against teen violence and it is imperative that we as a community unite to denounce such Behavior it is important for us as a district and a member of the community at large to be proactive to look at our current programs that Mrs Richards mentioned and explore new new programs I'm personally deeply Disturbed
056and saddened by the senseless violence and the loss of Preston Lord and the other teens targeted and attacked across our community I know that all our kids and families have been affected in some way and since our agenda policy Arizona laws don't allow for a lot of wiggle room on our agenda it would be at this time that I would seek Fe feedback from the rest of the board regarding this statement as you know Mrs Richards I've been very vocal with cabinet over the past few weeks of my desire to make sure Higley is a part of the community speaking out against teen violence and that we make sure parents our surrounding districts and our community as a whole know that we are here to support them and to be a part of the solution
057I'm hopeful that we can discuss this as a board and look at ways for Higley to be a part of the solution I know that Higley already has programs in place such as the kindness campaign the hotline for reporting but it is possible that we may need more and that our kids need to feel safe to come forward I have an excerpt from Katie mcferson regarding the upstander campaign that she is Champ being in while I consider Katie To Be A Champion for our youth I want to get the rest of the board's ow on the program and if we want to ask District to look into this further I have a copy of the outline of the Campa campaign from her that I'll hand out to all of you District would like to see
058if we'd like District to look into this further and possibly have on a future agenda item I know we are all deeply saddened by the loss of Pres and Lord and we're sickened by the additional videos and violence we've all seen in our community and we know that whether a bystander directly involved the students parents and staff at Higley we've all been affected our schools play a crucial role in shaping the future of our students and is our Collective responsibility to provide a safe and nurturing environment for their growth teen violence not only threatens the well-being of those directly involved um at this time I'd like to ask for feedback from the board regarding the statement and possibility of looking into the upstander program thank you president Anderson uh president Anderson and board member Schultz
059uh I first off I wish to extend gratitude for bringing it up because I think it is important that we make um statements for things that impact our community I recognize that not necessarily as far as our understanding students at our school were directly involved but they were most likely at that party or at the very least they receive the media that get shared afterwards as a result um having worked in high school and having spent time you know teaching and being in schools in general I I cannot emphasize enough the importance that I feel these types of social emotional programs do for our students because not only do we have things and one of the things I routinely Express to my students is that they are more responsible for far more information than we
060ever were they are constantly inundated with news and other things that we did not have and as a result you can tell that there is an increased level of anxiety across the board um not to mention the added pressure of making sure that we do good on certain tests or certain programs in order to get into college because the cost of that and everything else is is pretty high so for me I'm super supportive of this program or at the very least looking into it so I'm happy to you know start looking into some of that and seeing how it could impact our our district and ways in which we can incorporate some of these things because um it's valuable and it matters and uh we are impacted on a daily so I I appreciate
061that President Anderson um i' like to read um a statement that I wrote um I want to emphasize my strong stance against all forms of bullying and encourage our students to speak up when they witness such Behavior while I emphasize deeply with what happened I'm sorry while I empathize deeply with what happened to Preston and his family I believe that introducing a new program into our district is not the most effective solution especially when we lack information about it our district already has robust policies addressing bullying and tonight we are voting on an additional measure related to student discipline the focus should be on ensuring that our existing bullying and student discipline policies are well communicated to staff by doing so we can demonstrate our community our commitment to supporting our teachers and staff in
062enforcing these policies effectively introducing another program that diverts time and resources away from academics is not something we can afford to do with our declining or declined academics it's essential to recognize that the issue at hand extends beyond our district and is being addressed by Town Council I've been invited to join the teen violence committee for Town Council which will provide updates as this um which I will provide updates as the situation progresses throughout our community this collaborative effort ensures a broader impact and a more comprehensive approach to addressing the issue of teen violence additionally parents play a pivotal role in addressing this issue parents must take responsibility for their children's actions and ensure that they REI receive proper education at home regarding bullying we must work together with the parents to ensure that this
063is being addressed um because this is a lesson that should be taught at home and reinforced elsewhere thank you president Anderson um I obviously this is a very sad time for our town um and not just our town it obviously it goes to Queen Creek and Chandler and um our community as a whole um I think [Music] everyone besides the shock shock factor of of the death of Preston Lord seeing more and more come out um is very um difficult in our area as we've been one of the safest cities and to see that it's the teen violence that is is the problem at the moment um I would like to get more information on the upstander uh initiative and look at it it see what it is if it's something that needs to uh
064be discussed that would be introduced into our classrooms or is it a program to the point just like one pilk and kill that we can help host um Community meetings I would like to see our district um and this is something as we look at for a new superintendent um our district used to be really involved with the town we used to meet annually with Town Council as a as a district um and not just Town Council but also Gilbert Police we would meet with we would also meet with Gilbert Fire um Power Ranch still does a great Community effort um they do host a quarterly Powell which brings um Coronado Ranch power ranch Trilogy um someone from the police department someone from Queen Creek usually attends um and they have a a PO quarterly
065that they talk about um and it goes to other communities as well from their HOAs that they talk about issues and concerns um and I I think we're still attending that I know as board president I was I was attending those when I could um but we really I'd like to see us get more involved again with with Town Council um as a district with the Gilbert Police Department as a district um for our community so we can help do programs and again it doesn't mean it has to be programs within the school day but for our community uh I I just don't know how many I don't know that much of that's resumed since Co obviously Co stopped all of that um but I would like to see that we try and and get
066that involved because the more Collective people you have together um working together the less likely we are to see this and um I agree it's um it starts at home and it starts with our parents it does need to continue within our schools and we are responsible each and every one of us whether we're teachers in the schools whether we're board members whether we're administrators just members of this community need to help reinforce that um and make sure that we have a safe community and in addition to that that our children are getting the right guidance I I feel for everybody involved here it has ripped numerous families apart between those that are lost those that have um been abused who have been beat up and those who have been arrested and there's more to
067come and it just tears the whole Community apart so I would like to to see about the upstander initiative to see if it is something um for us to be able to do the one pill and kill we have done some other um Community meetings that the social media classes that we do but I would love to just see if we if if we explore this and it does make sense for us president Anderson board member Reese and I um the first um meeting with Town Council is tomorrow and that's def you know that's definitely something I can bring up with them too um and uh you know I I look forward um I didn't hesitate to say yes when I was asked because I think that this is a great opportunity for us to
068work together so um I definitely will bring that up when I meet tomorrow Mrs Van Hook I know that um Mrs mcferson is working with both town councils as well as the other districts um she's reached out to Chandler to Queen Creek as well as panel so I know that she's working she wants the entire Community if if you look at this blurb um everyone to be a part of this because as as Mrs Reese mentioned you know it does take all of us so I know she is already working with Council regarding this as well okay thank you thank you everyone your input um I I'm not going to repeat what you said but I do agree it's it's starts at the home keep it Community together these are the points that I made
069um never asked for our opinion or our our feedback um we should approach and integrate whatever programs or strategies as a whole community and it's stressed in what you said it is stressed um with uh board members so I think we're on board kind not intended with that um and and I I'd like that the idea of having the community meetings and bringing that back um we have lost touch that sounds kind of a little deep but we have lost touch with our community and this would be a great opportunity to to uh re regenerate this um keep the parents involved involve the businesses neighboring schools uh districts emergency responders you everything you guys said I had on my paper I love that um I want to make sure that I think what this will
070do is help us to be transparent and accurate also in information it's great that we'll possibly looks like we may have a leaon to the city with the board members so that we can have information directly bring back those yearly meetings have the community meetings if possible I'm excited to have the discussion and I'm excited to see what information um May Come uh Miss Richards you mentioned leader and me no excuses University ACT 212 um are there any other program in place well ask Williams Phi what theirs is I think it's called dominate right so there are several um that are specific to each of the schools but overall everybody's doing something okay you know those are the ones that um stick out but every single David lsen Hauser can probably say more about secondary
071because I need to put him on the spot right president Anderson members of the board when you look at our secondary schools a lot of times when we look at um how how we support students is not just within the classroom but extracurricular activities and different clubs and and groups that can help and support through that and so many of you have been either a teacher of had high school kids go through and know that there are different things that we do within our Sports and our activities that help support when we look at different specific things uh right now I don't have anything that basically comes to mind as in a tagline other than it is very important that we support our whole whole child as we're experiencing that growth and obviously with the
072team violence that's that's the age group right now that is the most affected by what's happening in here and I know that it is having an impact on our students within our community and uh we have within our counseling department um uh various resources that we can use to help and support students who are struggling with this um and I I do agree that there is a bigger issue that we can help in looking at address how many counselors do we have in our district Mr Walker I know that we have three at the elementary level and of course we have DEA Morgan our assistant director of counseling can you help with the total at secondary yeah sure um Madam president members of the board there's there's four counselors at each high school and then
073there's also two counselors at each Middle School um three counselors at the elementary the director of counseling services and then there's also a counselor that's assigned to special education programming any of those are shared between the schools or those solid numbers the elementary share amongst the schools okay and then the special education counselor divides the time between the best program okay at the at the three School levels okay thank you any other comments or questions president Anderson um Mr Walker um I would like to know um as far as the qualifications for our counselors if you can provide that at a later time um just to know um the certifications I know they they typically have um artists certified through the Arizona Department of Education but they don't necessarily hold a behavioral health license so
074I'd love to know if any of ours actually have that behavior if they're certified through Behavioral Health and we don't need to discuss it it's not on the agenda but at at a f future time if you can provide a list that'd be great sure Madame President members of the board would be happy to compile that information for you thank you so much okay thank you thank you for bringing that forward and thank you for the information M Schultz M rich I appreciate that thank you all right moving on to agenda item 6.2 um HD governing board superintendent district Communications and protocol M Dr Tim oal correct will be joining us this evening and and going through this information thank you Madame President um members of the board and Miss Richard thank you for having
075me here tonight uh to talk about this important topic um I wanted to discuss with you the proposal you have in your board packet with regards to communication protocols for those of you that don't know me I'm a former uh superintendent graduate school faculty State Association executive director I've worked with or for boards um over the last five decades and um I'm currently assisting the Arizona School administrators Association in support of their mission and as a consultant in that capacity we're helping districts U when asked to uh help develop leadership um and good practice at the district level so I understand the board has asked for this document of communication protocols uh to be renewed and brought back for discussion um and possible future action um the document does have some historical precedent here at
076Higley it was originally created in 2021 and is currently linked from your board web page the current version is um and so over the last few weeks um I have worked with your senior staff and asked to to facilitate tonight it's reint uction to you uh really because of um updates from board policy and more importantly the precarious nature of superintendent searches in the Arizona employment market and the timing of your search um I've personally been involved in every facet of uh superintendent searches in multiple States um I know that the quality of the applicant pool is directly related to the perceived effectiveness of the board and the the district and um I've actually talked with representatives from rayan Associates a number of times but also specifically with regards to your search um and I
077know that every viable candidate um has been watching this District since the job was posted um and uh they would be relieved to know that this board is interested in establishing appropriate communication protocols that are current um and and you know agreed to at the board table um as you enter into this phase of your superintendent search which is so important it's important for everyone in this room to know that these candidates will be interviewing the five of you as well as you interviewing them um all nonprofit boards this isn't unique to school boards but all nonprofit boards need to periodically look at their practices and look at themselves to assess how to be better public servants and demonstrate to your constituents your desire to be the best that you can be and develop a
078framework to successfully learn to disagree um and communicate effectively with one another with that all being said the document before you reestablishes some of the Common Sense board norms and commitments that you hopefully make to professionalism at the board table um and Demon straight to your patrons employees students parents and in addition your superintendent candidates that you're interested um in in these protocols so that all being said you have a draft document that has been worked on over the last few weeks and uh so I'd like to highlight a few elements in there that came to my attention um having been in hundreds of board meetings over my tenure um some things that stood out to me as I worked with senior staff in kind of refreshing this document so on the first page um
079you will see um a number of bulleted items and items like six seven and eight as we move down the bulleted items particularly six and seven um really have to do with the role of the board and the role of the superintendent and I want to accentuate because you have you have a great board policy that I have reviewed U with regards to how to handle public complaints um and public comments and tonight you know the board Comm I would commend you on you know having uh you know a call call call to the public and and the way you manage that uh it's also important to the search that um these board policies on public comment and public complaints are adhered to with regard regards to the chain of command because that's really what
080you hire a superintendent to manage for you um also this the the bulleted item one two three four five the seventh one has to do with um executive session protocol um and how I want to accentuate to you how important that is as you enter into the search phase and into the the screening of candidates um you will have very sophisticated professionals that you will be talking to and you will actually have their career in your hands in these confidential meetings and um having been around superintendent searches and Boards over the years I know 100% confident that you and your social interactions will be asked about the candidates about the search about how you're feeling about it and you you know there's there's something we call the administrivia face where you kind of have this
081cold in a friendly way you're able to say you know I really can't talk to you about that as much as I'd love to and um that's just good practice to get used to so I want to accentuate that um moving on down um Communications with the media at the last part of this page Um this can be really really tricky for boards and really tricky uh when difficult challenges come to board meetings it's it's easy when things are going smoothly and it's really difficult when boards and districts face difficult challenges um it's really really important that a board superintendent team have established uh practices and they are dealt within your board policy kdda um with regards to Med relations but it's really important to reinforce as we think about our own practice as school
082leaders that um each of you is responsible uh to adhere to these communication agreements um you cannot speak for the board unless you've been authorized to do so and as an individual board member you're 20% of the board you are not speaking on behalf of the board um and when the media comes around it's important that you notify the district you work with your senior staff uh to make sure that there's coordination um on the next page there is a a chart a graphical representation of the the art form I call it an art form of the interaction between the board and the superintendent and I say it's an art form because this is really about interpersonal communication and interpersonal interaction at a very at a very complicated uh complicated level um ultimately you want
083to hire a superintendent whose number one mission is to help the board be successful and the superintendent that assumes the job um should accept the mission that their job is to help the board be successful and as a result of that um a lot of districts do graphical representations of this board superintendent uh interaction to help everybody understand it U board members and employees and patrons Etc because it is a it's a complicated relationship um so obviously on the second piece there you'll see that the the board's exclusive role is to approve policy but um since the board employs the superintendent um to develop policy that's that person's responsibility and you have a great senior staff team that is that is very capable of developing policy and making recommendations to the superintendent to bring to
084the board um kind of moving along in that same direction you'll see at the bottom you expect um you're going to expect board members to act as Community leaders and provide be providing feedback both positive negative feedback to your superintendent and you're going to expect your superintendent to maintain good uh leadership and Communications um as I said earlier having been in hundreds of board meetings over my career I think it's odd that Higley does not have their Superintendent at the board table um I think that sends a signal that the superintendent is not part of the team and I would encourage you to make that change um sooner rather than later in fact uh kind of a sidebar communication I was contacted by a representative of one of the candidates for the superintendent position who
085said I've been watching board meetings and I noticed that the interim superintendent is not at the board table is that a new development and so I fact checked with the district and learned that that's been practice here so I would encourage you to examine that and put your superintendent next to the board president not only for the symbolism but also as a practical matter matter it helps facilitate good practice as we move to the next page on communication protocols um I just have one qu of course this is discussion that used to be the case do you have history on why that was changed actually Mr M Schultz we've never had the superintendent up here in my 12 years Oh I thought but we did discuss it okay um we discussed it with Dr Thomasson
086okay um part of it was kind of a logistical issue um I'm trying to remember Mrs Wade is there a monitor next to you okay at at one point it was it was a space like what was available um but we did have that conversation of potentially bringing the superintendent up here um and joining the board and part of that too was also um it was their preference not to that they were wanting to be with their team down there okay so um but it it was discussed um I think that's a a great idea I agree I I've seen other districts and and how they're set up sure um I would I would encourage that um and I think um I love when I work with boards and superintendents um I love to think
087it's a team of six you know certainly the board has one employee and you need to have confidence in that person you need to trust that they're doing their job and certainly the board has ultimate oversight um but it's a team of six to provide really solid leadership so and but thank you thank you Mrs Reese president Anderson um Mr sorry about that that's fine um I personally have have watched other board meetings and I think it's weird to have the superintendent up with the board um considering they're not elected officials and for the board members to be able to see see them um um with the rest of the cabinet members um so I personally don't like the idea of the the superintendent being up here with the board um and think it's weird
088for for other districts to have that like I think Queen Creek is one of them they've got their entire cabinet on the DI yeah that's I I think that's a little different also and like I appreciate your comment and certainly it's a there's somewhat of a style issue but there's also a practicality issue when the board president has questions about policy or procedure that they can actually you know talk to one another or pass a note about you know have you looked at this policy that you know that there's a practical standpoint too but I do think there's a difference my opinion between your employee the one employee you have and the cabinet it's a different responsibility so that's that's Tim's opinion right but thank you uh moving on to communication protocols uh the next
089page um once again uh your your policy on uh on feedback with regards to the chain of command and board policy K and KB are accentuated there um and then it's very appropriate under item four for for board members to follow back with that superintendent to make sure that they have followed up and address concerns that have occurred um that's that's what you hire this person to do um item six I know I saw on the agenda that there is some uh future discussion here on the agenda about um board packet processing um you didn't ask me for my opinion but I'll tell you that um in the district as large and sophisticated as Higley um your uh superintendent and board president need more time not less to get information to the board closer to
090the board meeting uh five days is a long time in the life of a school district and uh so I would encourage you to kind of think through how that works procedurally uh for your staff um on the next page um there's some for president Anderson Mr ogal I'm sorry I'm if you can explain that um you think five days is too long I think my opinion five days is too long things happen Personnel things happen uh there's financial decisions being made there's activities in the district and I my opinion is if you can get that board packet to board members closer to the board meeting it gives your staff more time to more thoroughly prepare go thank you um board meeting protocols um there's some great information here with regards to to uh respect
091of one another following point of order uh kinds of interruptions should that be necessary when there's when there's debate going on um and uh providing the appropriate professional kind of environment that you've demonstrated here tonight so um on the last page there's more information there on post meeting protocols with confidentiality and executive sessions um and I just wanted to accentuate that so all in all um I think the document like I said as developed in 2021 is ready for a refresh um and Folks at these tables have spent some significant time kind of going through this piece by piece to bring you a recommend recomendation that seems to make sense for the culture of Higley unified um and with that being said I'm happy to entertain any questions or to stop here and let the
092board take it from here Madame President your your pleasure I do have questions but I I would like to open it up to other board members if they would like to um ask or give information um president Anderson Mr ogal um so on page two um the first bullet point um and for the for the last year um I believe that this has been an issue and I'm hoping that going forward um that whether we agree or not um that there is a level of respect especially when we're on the dis um and so I'm hoping that um the the side by bar conversations and the ey rolling um is uh eliminated going forward because that's been an issue for the past year um and then also um the last bullet point so as far
093as um talking to the media um we are elected officials and legally uh we do have that right to be able to speak to Media um without having to be um essentially micromanaged by by the superintendent um and obviously when we do speak um to the media we can speak for ourselves and and not the district um but I just wanted to point out that um as elected officials we do have that right um do you have anything on that page before I move on to another page um I do okay board member um you're you're right and however when there are issues of Highly complex and situational all kinds of uh challenges that school districts are now facing um I believe that the district is more Su more is more effective when it speaks
094with a Singleton Voice Even though five board members all have very may have very different opinions about a particular incident or a particular item um you're speaking to tens of thousands of people and for Higley to maintain its Stellar reputation as an excellent District um your public uh needs to have confidence that the board superintendent team is is working together even if there's disagreement because there's bound to be disagreement um and so you're right as an elected official you can can do those things um and the upside downside in my opinion is to coordinate your message because it builds trust with the community I mean that's that's what I think thank you I appreciate that um for uh page page four number 6B um one members request for additional information result in all members receiving
095or having the same access to the information um at our our last board meeting I had brought up uh the ability for all board members to be able to have contact with legal um and I think that that should also include legal advice one of the things mentioned during that meeting was that it could potentially be an open meeting law violation if information is shared with the board um but no one board member should have any Secret convers ations with legal counsel without the rest of the board being able to have that same information um so I so I'd like to be able to see um legal advice added to that verbage as well um because if one board member is asking I think it would be beneficial for all of us to have that
096information yes yes you're absolutely correct and my recommendation would be that you authorize the board president to be the representative to talk to legal counsel right and that is that's the current policy okay um but being being able to share with the rest of the board is what I um I'd like to be able to see in this protocol and that's part kind of as an as an overview that's part of that that team of six we're a team of six right and we want to all have the same information we want to be able to act in good conscious so we know you know kind of where we're going from here with regards to those those things that are highly complicated right and and same would apply um I know there's you know Personnel
097situations where the superintendent would contact legal and obviously that's not our business um but anything that's board related um it would potentially include the superintendent as well to to let us know that information with that excuse me with that information come from the legal Personnel at that point not from the board president how would that best be communicated um different different General councils um and board presidents you know may have different modes of communication so to speak and you have an excellent uh general counsel here tonight and that's an issue that you would want to have coordinated with the superintendent board president and general counsel yeah and there's no one way to do it as long as those three individuals are on the same page and then to our previous Point all all board members
098are included kind of once it's appropriate to to share right she mentioned she said executive session and absolutely that that's one of theen communicated is during executive session correct okay thank you um and going back to page two as far as um confidentiality um there have been several instances where um information has been leaked from executive session and it's ended up on social media um there's at least two instances that I'm aware of um and that's extremely concerning for me um another uh issue I have is um so when it comes to emails that we receive um I don't know what the what would be the protocol I I would assume that any type of information we receive through email or communication with the district that that information isn't just publicly shared um one example
099um I had um submitted a um press release to the media with my phone number on it and a board member shared it with one of their friends and exposed my personal cell phone number to the public and it was posted on social media within 20 minutes of the board receiving that press release um and then I started getting phone calls from parents um and that's absolutely unacceptable um that that was shared because the media wouldn't expose my phone number I put my phone number on there for the media if they needed to contact me um but M Richards share shared that press release with the board at 1101 by 1128 it was on social media um and the I had one parent um I was at work when she called me and I made
100the mistake of answering the phone um and then she just wouldn't get off the phone so um so I want to ensure that there is something thing within our protocol that um information should not be shared publicly um without redactions being made and that um it should probably go through a public records request um versus board members just sharing it with their friends within the community C can you provide clar Dr I'm sorry can you provide clarification um you asked a good question if I recall from public records are we are considered custodians or because we're elected officials we are considered custodians of public records is that correct yes m m mclenon is an expert a Statewide expert on open meeting law okay so thank you Dr Ogle and uh president Anderson um the the
101districts uh as public officers the communications that you create that are about board business business are public records you're not necessarily the custodians of those public records because um they are kept in the course and scope of your District's business on so uh they would be kept on your District server your District email so the documents that are created are public records because you're public officials and it's about board business if it's about your personal lives then they're not considered public records even if they're kept on the district server I hope that answers so that's what I was trying to understand is we don't have the ability to share emails with um anybody else correct that needs to go through the proper channels of the public records request through the district office correct Madam president
102members of the governing board the um there isn't a Prohibition that I'm aware of Legally on you as board members sharing information that you receive unless there is an confidentiality provision that would apply so if you got information about students you could not share it you got information that's protected under Hippa you could not share it but is it is there a state law that prohibits the sharing of information from board members no would it be best to go through those protocols yes it's a risky road because you could potentially be sharing confidential information without being trained or going through the proper channels to redact or not share that information correct yeah members of the board when I'm training young superintendents on this topic I typically kind of in a casual way say I when
103I was in the seat I never put anything in an email that I wasn't comfortable reading on the front page of the newspaper because you just don't know right you just don't know where it might go once it's written and electronically sound I'm president Anderson Mr Ogle and obviously my press release was public it was just my phone number that I was concerned that that was made P you know publicized and that should not have been because that was only meant for the press to be able to contact me um but um Miss mlen can you um remind the board of the uh what are the consequences of violating um open meeting laws when it comes to Executive sessions sure um Madam president miss fin hook the um opening law enforcement team is typically run
104out of the Attorney General's office although it can also be other state agencies that look into concerns uh uh with a first violation they typically would not impose a fine but would impose training um sometimes they have uh items posted other options a second violation a second knowing violation is a $500 fine and that's per violation and then a third would be up to A2 $500 fine and also um the possibility of being unseated correct Madam president miss Van Hook you're correct the Attorney General's office has the ability to request that a court remove a public officer through an enforcement action thank you so much do you have more m v hook okay okay um so president Anderson um and Dr Oak I wish to extend my gratitude I was the one who asked to
105you know start looking at some of these things because I think it matters I think consistency matters um even though we will have disagreements and those types of things how we present that information is important because being united essentially toward some of that thing is is helpful for us to do business in The District in the community and how we're viewed Beyond um I think the only thing that I wish to express is that even though we may have the rights to do certain things with respect to Media I think it's it's very easy for us to get into a position that is difficult if we're commenting on things in a public fashion because it could very quickly become uh an agenda item and then the problem is if one board member makes a comment
106on something and then another board member makes the same comment on something and if other board members can view it I recognize these are great areas and that these laws were written originally before social media's existence but there's a lot of potential problems that exist um I wish to extend gratitude to board member Schultz in the manner with which you brought up something that you cared about in terms of instead of just doing it putting it to the board first so we can have a discussion rather than putting it out there in a way that either a we were aware of or be as if it doesn't matter to check with us because again we are part of a board as a whole and I also think it's important to understand that when we make
107public statements whether that is because we have a desire to clarify what is being misunderstood by the public or to clarify a position that we held or how we feel about something um while that I understand the desire to do so I think the hard part is that how it gets viewed is that we all are in the position to be able to do that and again we can't we can't all make a public statement on something outside of a board meeting that's part of the reason that these board meetings exist and then it puts your fellow board members in a very difficult position because now we have to sit and express to people that I genuinely do care about what's going on or I do have frustrations or I do wish to communicate something
108and either I will at the board meeting when the the issue arises or I already have and I can't speak to that and so so I I think it's important to recognize that sometimes even though we may wish to do certain things or how we wish to go about them that our actions go beyond just us in that moment and it's not necessarily uh in efforts of being a courteous and respectful board to put other people in a position that not only runs the consequence of legal ramifications but of painting a picture that is hard when you're not a part of the conversation president Anderson I'm glad we're having these conversations um and there's a couple things that I try and ask myself as a board member um before doing something saying something um because
109I can doesn't mean I should um and and so you know I have to go through and think about those things because there's a lot I can do but should I what are the like board member Wade was saying what are the consequences not just to me but to my fellow board members to The District to to the staff within the district um and I I think that we'll work on our relationships and our communication um I agree in all aspects of it and I think if there is a need that that we have to put something out publicly I think that conversation needs to be had with the superintendent and say um look I feel very passionate about this this is what I would like to do can we do something together and not
110in a threatening way but this is the information I'm going to put out there so we can work together or um or it's going to ride and so I think that if we work on our relationships um just like we talked about in our our board retreat um I I think that we can avoid some stuff that we fell into this last year um I do Dr Ole I I'm kind of back on number 6A um where you talking about giving the district time uh more time to prepare and and we've had this conversation as a board um and I hear you but as board members we need time to prepare too um and so I don't know what the right answer is um I think most people uh know yes we're elected but these
111are volunteer positions um we were not pay paid for it we're not compensated for it um several of us have uh jobs employment outside of the home um and so trying to as we try and encourage our staff to try and have a work life balance um we're trying you know some board members are trying to have a work life and volunteer balance and and I get we've put ourselves in these positions um and so so I I don't know what the right answer is because part of our five days includes the weekend so it's not like we're asking for it to be on Monday and they have five working days per se and trust me I know you guys work on the weekends I'm not saying you don't um but that um and that
112then we're we're meeting on Friday um we're asking to get them on Thursday so that we can be prep prepared on on our meetings on Wednesday um but part of this is one of our protocols was that we would be if we have questions because we established this back in um if we have questions on our board packet we're needing to submit those to um the governing board secretary by a certain time so they have time to research them and they can get that information back to all board members um as well as then they're prepared for the questions to come up in our meeting so we're we're really trying not to Blindside anybody um so I guess for me my concern and I I'm just looking for some feedback here is um if we're
113already having that really only leaves us three days to review our board packet before we need to get them questions so they have two days to research and provide answers and then that way it gives us hopefully a little bit of time that I you know I find a lot of times the questions when I get the questions and answers then that's created some more questions for me and and so um I mean what would you what has been your experience in that one practice questions and answers or well one practice that I have seen effectively done is to um inter in um into is to intermittently have working sessions so that the board meeting becomes a b just a business meeting and you have your informational kinds of discussions and information presentations at your
114working sessions so that all board members are receiving reports from senior staff you're getting updates on things that are pertinent to decisions that are yet to be made so when they come to the board table on an agenda you've already you're already familiar with it and that's the purpose that that some districts with a lot of complexity like Higley um that's how they kind of sort through to uh incrementally moving boards towards decision making and some of the veteran superintendants will tell you that you you don't want your board voting on things that they haven't seen once or twice before right and so if you do a working session you know once a month to do those kind of things then when the business meeting comes along it's move to approve you know move to
115approve kind of thing and it takes that that pressure off of I got to have if you know if you're a superintendent I got to have this board packet ready you know a week before the board meeting well and you know 10 things are going to happen after I make the board packet um and so there's that stress on your superintendent and the stress at for the board member is I really don't want to vote on things I'm not familiar with right and so there therein lies the art form so once upon a time long long ago um we did used to do um I just lost the word um work studies a work study before the meeting and this kind of goes back to some of the comments regarding our time that we start
116um our work studies used to start at 5: and then our board meeting would start at 6 so we would have an hour that we would get some presentations and information and it would be a rather casual conversation we could ask questions if they didn't know the answers then um and things like that the problem with that and kind of why it got changed is that long long ago is we were being introduced to information for the first time in that work study and then being expected to come out here and vote on it and it was like we that was 12 years ago when I got on the board and it's like I you're asking me to process just like you said you're asking me to process something I'm getting this 20 slide presentation
117on you're asking me to try and go through every scenario and process it and then less than an hour go out here and vote on it so um as we Chang superintendents we kind of changed that structure a little bit and uh and we had the intent on kind of every other meeting that we were having is kind of an informational thing but there is board business that has to be conducted at every meeting and so um that's kind of where we see those informational items on some board Pockets were heavier on informational items than we are on on action items so that might be something going forward that we look at doing again if we're going to do a work study again it's it's where our informational items are um we can ask questions
118and things like that a lot of our presentations and that can be from 5: to 6 and then look at starting our board meetings and doing our board business um after six o'clock that's how we right that's how we used to run them um and then like I said when we ended up changing some things and um they tried to change the work study and kind of Incorporated it in every other meeting um and that's how we got to we were still starting at 5:00 we were are trying to respect the the staff who have been here and worked all day and then have to return the next day as well um you know so things like that so there was a lot of different reasons how that's changed so um thank you for that
119suggestion that perhaps we can look at doing some work studies and then like you said the pressure of us getting that so early to be able to um try and do our own um research and and information so we're prepared and so that they're prepared that might change some of that Dynamic right and complicated issues need soak time and so um and and kind of back to some of the beginning comments that we were talking about when you that that team of six right board superintendent team can be so powerful when you're fitting hand and glove and the board is getting the kind of information they need and the superintendent is getting the feedback that he or she needs and then board meetings become pleasurable business meetings right and you get your work done and
120um that doesn't mean there's not disagreement I mean you know uh differences of opinions are healthy I mean you have a diverse district and people voted for you and so you're representing a wide variety of individuals right and uh differences of opinion at the board table that's that's natural and healthy but when you work as a team you come to a decision and support the decision right president Anderson U Mr ogal um one of the things that we discussed was having a working agenda so that as things are coming you know as they get things that they just add it but they um if if we were to agree to um have the agenda initial agenda released on Wednesday and right now we're getting it on Thursday so it's just the request was just to
121um just to add one more day but that it would be a working agenda and they can add things as they go that gives us the opportunity to at least research the stuff that's already been added um and you know as we go through the week that if they need to add more stuff that they're I mean they're already doing that um for instance we got our our uh agenda on Thursday when I looked on Friday there was all the numbers had been changed and then when we got our Q&A back um they mentioned that several other items had been added so it's already functioning like that um but if we can at least start Wednesday that gives us board members an additional day um to be able to start researching things so that um
122as Miss ree said um we are volunteers and you know I work full-time um and so my weekends are you know my time with my family and to be able to run errands and so that time is very important to me um not that this is is not important to me because I I do put a lot this has become a full time job for me as well um and and I I enjoy that um but so if if that could be an option versus a a Works study um then we can consider that as well um another thing um Miss uh board member Reese had mentioned um was that obviously you know working on on our relationships um and and I hope to do that that um the last year I've I've struggled um
123because uh there's been many requests that have been ignored um I've been lied to um I've I've had to request things three or four times before I finally got an answer um so it's been very frustrating and and then you know the worst is is finding out that that I was lied to about something that I I had questioned and so in order to build that trust um I need to know that um my questions aren't ignored that I'm not being lied to that you know be honest with me um whether I'd like the answer or not um I I expect honesty um and the same treatment um that every board member gets and I feel like I I've been the the odd odd one out and and and the the mistreatment has been pretty
124awful for the last year so I do look forward to building those relationships and and for things to improve going forward um that's all so being a board member is difficult work and it's sometimes very challenging but you're the rewards can be so great and when it works and when it's working it's really rewarding and very important to your community and so you should be very proud of the work you're doing and you should lean in and enjoy it and it should be at the end of the day something that you're very proud of and um you know you've got a great district and you've got a a a great senior staff and you you can do this I appreciate all the information um and sharing um being very candid and and your feelings and
125every and and um ideas board member Wade made a great point I don't want to steal it from her but if steal away she she mentioned when we talking about the work study option possibilities that it should potentially also shorten our actual meetings you already discussed that that would be business based and focus on business so that's another added um um entitle or bonus of it um with this what we're going through this is a something that we have draft on it so are we going to eventually approve this whole document is this what we're looking at because as we discuss the diss dissemination of information that's already on the agenda for today and now we're talking about time change and maybe looking at work study so that would be a a a different item
126later on a future agenda item before we finalize this whole document is that correct president um Anderson I did want to mention that cabinet was looking at potential board board meeting dates and we have been talking about the potential value of work study sessions where there's conversation um and it doesn't feel brushed or so formal so I mean we can bring our thoughts on that and you can add your thoughts to that all of you as well president Anderson I just want to add two more things if I can please one um on Page Six for the after meeting protocols the board members and staff will support uh the decision of the board um like Dr ogal is said you know we don't always have to agree um and supporting the decision doesn't mean you
127voted for um the item but as board members we have to respect that if three board members if at least three board members voted for it and it passes that is what it is is and we have to respect that decision and um so one of our protocols here is that we'll support or stay silent it's not we're not saying you have to go out and be a cheerleader for it um clearly people know how how we voted um but it's important that we we support once that direction has been approved by the board that we support that direction um and and not undermine it uh because it's really easy to to fall in that trap um so I think that that that was really important when we created these it is also part of
128um being a board member that that is the expectation of being a board member um and the last thing I just want to um kind of touch on in here is is that we we just as board members we remember and and how we have respecting our superintendent and um and each other we need to respect our our community and our staff that's presenting to us that they deserve our attention when they're presenting it's not even the people who get up and speak and and we've he heard from multiple people when they come and speak and they said you know oh this is harder than I thought it was that they're not public speakers it is hard to get up there and talk um and so we need to respect our our staff when they're
129giving us their presentations even though we've seen it um and in some cases there are times where um where we've seen the same one multiple times either by law that we have to see it multiple times or that it's just it's information that is important that we've seen it multiple times so I just want to remind each of us that that they deserve our attention um our full attention and um that our phones and and things like that should be kind of silenced put away so um we all have families and if we have something with an emergency you know we can always step out and and handle that so um just a a quick reminder because that was also in our protocols um uh president Anderson um board member ree uh I do you
130know what page that was on um I didn't see it they updated yeah I I would like to um add um any texting or personal Communications during board meetings to the policy um and and I've had concerns all last year um due to um repeated texting during board meetings and um sometimes even um use of laptops and um shopping online or um so I would like to include any personal Communications uh not to happen during board meetings and um I think it didn't help when last year when we had um I forget his name uh the asba attorney that um attended and said well as long as it's you know if it's personal communication it can't be uh P you know people can't do public records request but I think that you know if it's
131happening during a board meeting it should be open to public records request or you should just not be doing it at all and be concentrating on um what's happening at the board meeting it's on page five as our on the original Norms um and it's posted here too so board member ree are you asking potentially to put all those meeting Norms back into this document or Vice President Van Hook I would love it if we can add that verbage into the um new policy protocol you mean oh protocol yeah sorry uh it is listed as one of our meeting Norms um I think our I think our original document um is a good point of reference um do it's on page five do I think that it all needs to necessarily be there I don't
132know um but I do think that we spelled it out a little more um we do have them posted here at the dis as well um for our meeting Norms to be on time be present and participate silence uh cell phones and if Emer emergency calls need to be taken leave the room listen atten ly um with openness and respect to those speaking and voice concerns as we go um be real and authentic with others in a respectful way is what our meeting Norms are I I would I would like to add um aside from just silencing cell phones but um no texting and no personal or personal no personal electronic use during board meetings maybe putting our HD meeting Norms in the protocols in our draft document I don't think there's anything wrong with
133those I think that's reasonable we can do that I think it's a great idea it definitely covers communication um in protocol so I think it's an excellent idea to put that in there it's like with students adults are the same we've going to have to say it this has been sitting in front of me for almost for 3 years now and I forgot that it's even there I've just seen it it's just it's just left so it's good to re and have it in there we have do have any more comments questions or comments we'd like to discuss or or recommend to add if we think of something president Anderson if we think of something later can we uh when do we expect to um bring this back do you know just to kind of
134have a time frame of how long we have to be able to then miss Vice President Van Hook I'm gonna get it in a minute uh I would like for us to bring your suggestions back at the next board meeting so because I think what Dr Ogle said about you know in terms of hiring a superintendent I think that individual might like to have have this put together together with your support so perfect thank you thank you this was excellent I appreciate it and thank you for recommending it that we have this time okay we ready to move on item 6.3 first review of the fiscal year 2024 maintenance and operation budget for Mr Moore please this working uh good evening president Anderson members of the board tonight I will be presenting the first review
135of the 2025 uh school year budget so yes we are already looking at next school year um this has been our practice to bring forth um in January uh the first review looking at projections as you know um it's become a very competitive market in terms of who can get out there first with teacher contracts so what that means is it backs uh you know everybody up in the process so that means HR has to have contracts reviewed I have to have budget projections on and so um that is just the the industry standard right now so um we have adopted our practices to bring forth um the conversations regarding the fiscal 25 budget early in January for anticipated approval attentative approval in March so tonight we'll look at a first review um and I
136do want to give kudos you I get the pleasure of Pres presting this budget but there's a finance team that that assists me every day and and Sharon Rush Camp she's stayed around but I just want to you show my appreciation to Sharon and all the help she does to uh keep this District fiscally uh sound in terms of saying you know positive in the block and then also looking forward with New Year numbers and projections so let me see there we go okay so I have uh continued to bring forth a calendar to try to orient the board and the public on where we are in the budget process and where we're going um so the Arizona school budget timeline um these are the the standardized dates and statute again we kind of operate
137earlier to issue contracts earlier um but we'll be looking at two items today we'll looking at the FY 24 Revis budget which is required by Statute every District Revis the budget revises their current year budget to 100 day ADM numbers we are current year funded that 100 they as Mr Richard mentioned in the superintendent's um report just happened the last Friday um so we have a preliminary look at those numbers and then we're going to be looking at fy2 the proposed and adopted budget that legally happens in June again we bring that tentatively in March to issue contracts um but those are the two dates that we're going to be looking at today and then going into next year um budget revision number one of 25 would happen in December if for some reason we
138were off more than 1% on what we adopted back in June so constantly talking about budget what we know so far about the fy2 budget um is the following item so the agre expens limit um we this is a constant conversation um currently will school districts face this again in 25 there is no permanent fix right now but it has over the last two years seemed to be a practice that the legislators have utilized um the a exemption uh a single year exemption in the budget conversations when either approving bills or in the legislative process so I think I do foresee that being the case again this year um and you know it hopefully doesn't become a bargaining chip um for some of the bills that are being proposed but um I do foresee that
139being approved and there are some legislation out there that have uh permanent fix um to this problem and so we'll we'll monitor those closely as the the process just kicked off in terms of the legislative process so we'll monitor that so in short it's still in statute that we are expected to um cut schools we are currently overe expending 1.3 billion but in sure I I do see an exemption to 25 as is what has been practiced in the last previous year so we'll follow that um known budget implications the estimated budget um inflation amount the state is currently running about 3.4% they minimally have to obligate 2% um and so we anticipate that being the case as it has been the case in the last couple years so that is utilized in these projected
140numbers um and a couple other notes small minor changes Arizon State retirement system while it increased last year now they're decreasing this year I'll be at .02 2% uh that does affect both employees and employers but that is a very small percentage and uh will not be affecting the budget in a large capacity the alternative contribution rate took a bigger decrease that is for retirees uh that have our retired from the state retirement system they pay a lower rate that's just under 10% um that is decreasing 2% and lastly our budget transfer estimates um Higley has utilized the uh ility to transfer M dollars to Capital to fund capital projects um with limited Capital dollars this has been our Avenue in which we have uh utilized to fund those capital projects um currently uh we
141do have a middle school lease obligation of 3.5 million and that's all that we are looking at currently um to transfer um from M to Capital and fiscal 25 um again we'll have a conversation greater conversation at the next board meeting regarding capital projects and our capital budget but that is the number we're using in the estimates tonight um one of the main formulas in the budget in School District budget is ADM right student enrollment that's one of the main multipliers and so when we're looking at projecting 100 day ADM at the time I did this presentation uh we didn't have the exact numbers but these are going to be relatively within a few students um what we're seeing is is what we're seeing around all our neighbors uh is is some declining enrollment mainly
142in the uh the preschool and Kinder in the 8 through e8th grade um this graph represents I've broken out both our kind of preschool through 8th grade and our 9th through 12th grade and so if you look at the top you'll see a trend over the last five years of um well we did have a spike in 22 generally declining uh enrollment in uh K8 on the flip side our secondary has seen an increase in enrollment and that has been trending upwards um over the last 5 years but when you take those two numbers together that is what we're funded on um we adopted a budget at this in June of uh ADM of 12533 474 again average daily membership is not headcount you'll see the district utilizes kind of that interchangeably um often times
143you'll hear we have 13,500 students yes because ADM that doesn't include preschool the preschool numbers here we are only funded for sped preschool students and the state only funds .5 of a kindergarten student so if we have 800 kindergarten students only 400 are included in that ADM number so important to note whenever I'm referencing ADM ple that that does not mean we don't we don't have those students in in physical capacity when we reference student count at 135 so yes we're only funded for5 of a kindergart but we do offer full day kindergarten um and back to the the 100 day so we back in 24 we adopted a budget of 12533 um what we're looking at projecting for ADM is um about 190 um ADM lost which is about uh negative 1.5% of our
144total ADM looking again District wide I said we are not immune to this problem um this has been National Trend in terms of either lower birth rates Arizona is one of the more competitive States in terms of um you private education uh those aren't captured and these numbers they're not required to submit up um ADM so when we look at our surrounding districts um again we're not alone um Benjamin Franklin Queen Creek some of our the Far East um Southeast parts of the valley where growth is still happening um you can see percentage changes in the positive um but more of our kind of you know Central uh school districts that have aging populations are seeing um enrollment decline okay so looking at um our current year budget and revision number one which would occur
145officially in May but again it has budget implications going into next year um again we adopted a budget of 124 million again that was on June 28th um we transferred um from M to Capital 5.6 million part of that to support the lease payment and the other port to support um additional capital projects that we've outlined in that Capital plan um that budget uh did include a onetime state aid adjustment um that we allocated towards Capital again to support our capital projects um and included a estimated budget balance carry forward of 23.7 million looking at our projected revision um again we are projecting ADM loss of 190 um that is the main um multiplier in the budget formula and so you'll see that's going to be one of the main indicators on why we'd be
146decreasing our current year budget um in addition our ml transferred Capital that would be the same um but we're our estimated budget AMS carry forward is coming down um greater than what we estimated back in June um so that is estimated at 22 million so combination of the estimated budget balance carry forward in the loss in ADM um in may we will be looking at decreasing our budget by 2.4 million so that's one part of the equation looking towards 25's budget so this is next school year we take our revised estimated revised budget that we just reviewed that would be again including that ADM loss um and the reduction in budget bounds carry forward uh that total is about 122 million looking at the projected proposed budget um we feel you know talking in cabinet
147uh we feel it's prudent to start to budget for ADM loss it has been a trend um and so if we do not proactively budget for a loss and we assume a greater loss than flat or what we've been practicing it puts us at risk for you know not being able to fund programs staff Etc and so um it is I think at this point in time prudent to start budgeting for um a loss in enrollment um so we can be conservative in our budget estimates and be able to support our programs for the extent of the fiscal year in which we adopt that budget the in addition um I talked about this in the highlights but M Ando transfer to Capital we would be proposing right now um reducing that to just fund the
148lease payment that we're obligated to make U for our two middle schools and currently it's I know it's way far in advance but we're we're currently tracking an estimated budget balance carry forward of 22 million so we take those into consideration um that budget does include the 2% inflation so if you're wondering why that's increasing um that does include the 2% inflation increase that we're anticipating from the state uh we arrive at a budget of 125 million so we take that increase minus the decrease and we get a net budget change of about $1 million um the biggest factors in that again is reducing the M transfer to Capital so we're leaving more money back in M um and then the 2% inflation Factor on 25 looking ahead it is 6 months out before we
149get to June a lot of these conversations um regarding the 25 budget are are currently taking place um in terms of property Casualty Insurance um we did have good news the other day we are eligible this is our third year with the trust so we are eligible for a um a loyalty credit of up to 3% of our total premium obligation so 3% on 800,000 uh so we do anticipate some savings actually in in this category pending um some of our other areas where we've seen increased usage um such as prepaid legal that is a function of prop of the property C insurance so um we're working on those Ral rates we'll have more as we progress in this um budget comp ation workers comp um unfortunately we've seen some some higher claims this year
150in terms of workers compensation but in the same token um the workers comp is uh under paid under the trust and it is also eligible for a loyalty credit so we're hoping um we're um hoping to receive a credit up to 3% of our workers compensation um insurance and so we pay about 450,000 in workers compensation so that 3% is a big um benefit to help offset any increases in that area utility increases um you living in the town of Gilbert I think you've heard about utility rates increasing we are not immune to that uh we will see the same increase and so we're currently projecting out what those increases will mean to hly unified um and then our annual kind of compensation um conversations in terms of FTE addition and reduction and classification so
151we're currently looking at Staffing um with Miss Karen Johnson and cabinet um obviously with Elementary decreasing there may be opportunities right there to reduce sections at elementary on the flip side with secondary increasing we may be adding uh sections on the secondary side and so um we're finalizing that conversation um and those conversations right now um and looking at uh projected enrollment as well as where those reductions or additions will take place so and then after we get all that uh we'll look at potential compensation increases and how that factors into the um into the budget conversation so I know a lot not a lot of information there but um it's a factor of starting this conversation so early um but at the next meeting kind of segueing um we anticipate having some more of
152these uh items filled out and having some numbers to look at so at the February 21st meeting we'll look at the second review of Theo budget as well as the first review of the capital budget and then due in part to the superintendent search this year we do have less board meetings in which to talk budget I know I know we all love to talk budget but uh so it'll be prudent um if you know board members do have questions I would say after the February meeting um if there is additional questions over time you wish you wish to sit with me or or M Richards or Karen Johnson um to to schedule those because we do have one less board meeting this year than in Year's past so um going to March 6 we
153will ask for tentative approval so we can also issue contracts um and get into the swing of things that all other districts are doing at that time which is you know guaranteeing in terms of Staff that's our biggest budget Factor um teachers and staff and so if we do not issue contract smart chicks we will be behind the eightball um and that will consequently hurt us in terms of Staffing retaining teachers Etc and so um at that time we'll also look at the second review of the capital budget um if necessary and then in April 3rd our practice has been tentatively approving the capital budget to allow us to get ahead of those projects in uh the summer um tended approving the capital budget allows us uh time to procure any long lead items that
154may be needed um or may be scheduled for construction during those summer times when there is no students in class we have access to the entire facility without disrupting learning and education so and then as I mentioned in the previous timeline officially we'll bring back the proposed and adopted budget as outlined in statute um a lot of those numbers we foresee not changing from the March 6 meeting but if they will if they do we will highlight those at that time so with that I'll be happy to answer any questions president Anderson um I I'm concerned that so you you mentioned that the expectation is that they're going to lift that AAL again um but what if they don't then um what do we do in that case I think the district has um looking
155at this year's budget we we have worked on uh in terms of obligating Esser dollars to not positions we have used to onetime cost um there there was um opportunities to supplement operational costs in the last couple years with the Esser dollars that is running out in June but we have accumulated a budget balance carry forward of of 23 million and we're estimating coming down slightly but to 22 million so in any instance we are still covered if a were to come to fruition um because the estimated budget reduction would be about 16 to 17 million that we would have to reduce our budget we could easily cover that with our budget balance carry forward and continue operations as planned and how long do we forecast for like how long have far out so currently
156the state funds us on current year funding um so we are constantly looking ahead but then revising current year so we forecast out uh 3 to 5 years but those numbers are constantly being estimated and changed um enrollment can change daily and and then that affects our current year budget which then is a vicious cycle down the road so um we do forecast I person we forecast three to five years out um yeah I'm used forecasting n years out so I I completely understand how that could change um my question then is right now obviously um with birth rate being down um and impacting K through six um looking at the future and those as these kids get older and you know our high schoolers graduate and as these kids move forward you see those
157numbers decreasing in middle school and high school um and hopefully by then we have you know more people having kids to fill our K through six um but are you counting in those future years are you counting that current decrease moving on to middle school and high school that that is one factor we look at uh one issue we have we have very um we have very special programs in our district one being Bridges and then our high school programs attract a number of students outside our district we attract almost 2,000 students outside our boundaries we see a lot of those come in um to our secondary levels um they may not be currently enrolled and then they enroll as freshmen because we offer a number of programs that cannot be met with either um
158neighboring districts or or that is either we see them going from private school or home school to the secondary level then that is nearly impossible to predict we have trending data but it's just a variable that is very hard to predict and with um esas coming into the picture now too it has changed the landscape of enrollment prediction um because not only are we seeing decreases Charters are seeing decreases and so we're assuming those kids are going to private or or some other form of Education or I mean in general the the general student body population of of qualified you know kids K12 is is decreasing too so that is why we're starting to project ADM decrease and in in our budget cycle now um to account to account for some of those instances of
159Aging out you know grading out when we run you know a Kinder class through 12th grade we know when you're bringing in a smaller Kinder class that's going to move up the ladder so that is one factor but there's there's other factors that kind of com that formula it's not one simple formula got it and for um for homeschoolers within our district so I know like homeschool kids have the ability to come and utilize our sports do we get any funding I don't even know if we have any of those students but we we don't get funding for those kids no no but I and I think in sports I would have to refer to Mr lotson Heiser I don't think we currently allow that as a practice so there's two different things that are
160at play here one is the traditional homeschool student who's registered with the county we do not get any funding for those at all they have to pay the uh fees that we have but we do not get any additional funding uh the second part with the uh esas uh students that are on Esa are current practices that we treat them similarly to a home school which is what the AIA Direction was uh there are conversations right now about that possibly changing through through the AIA but that not has not moved any further uh some other districts have um started to charge them uh the true cost of doing a how much it costs to have an athlete participate because it's not just our fees does not cover everything Transportation coaching equipment electricity everything we have
161not brought that forward uh there are two districts that I know of Gilbert and Mesa that do charge students who are on esas if they want to participate in our athletic above and beyond the um the fee that we charge them for example at our meeting today it was discussed that if you uh live in Gilbert uh Gilbert's boundaries and you're on an Esa that you you were charged uh $1,250 to participate in a sport above and beyond their pay to play fee because that's the true cost of what happens for their Athletics so those are some discussions that we can have and I can bring back to Tyler and finance cabinet to propose if that is a situation but currently we are charging them the athletic fee the same way we would do to
162a uh student who's within our boundaries thank you um yeah my understanding was if you're on Esa you can't participate in Local District Sports only actual homeschoolers can do that um but I don't know if that changed the IIA made a recommendation uh last year at the beginning of the year basically that if a a parent can prove that they're on an Esa because the problem is if you're on an Esa you cannot get an affidavit uh for a home school and so we've only had the instance of one student so far within our district and so when we looked at it they had to verify to us that they were not going to a private school because if you attend a private or a chart or any other or an online school that is
163not the same thing as being homeschooled uh those people are not allowed to participate once we had that verification we charge them the fee and we have to verify they live in our boundaries and they have to go to the school have the boundary that they live in in order to participate so we've had that uh happen one time so far this year thank you yeah CU I um once you once you accept Esa you're no longer considered a homeschooler you're considered a home educator um so that definitely changes things um is it possible to get a list of like all the kids that are within our district that are on Esa um or that are out of boundary um just all the different or is that something that I can pull myself from I
164think ad ad makes public the esa but like I haven't been able to pull that information um but they do ad does have a list of showing how many students are coming into higgle unified and how many students are going to other districts such as chander Gilbert Queen Creek Etc that live within our boundaries so and that's the information that you do have yeah that's public on ad we can certainly share that link with the governing board perfect I I can pull it thank you um and I I want to say um Maricopa County superintendent's office could probably provide the esa numbers but I'll find out um and then also I had asked for the totals as far as the the funding per student um and I didn't get those final numbers that included um
165not just base but also with transportation and um Federal funding and um all the other funding that we get per student yeah so U member van we did provide you that information um the we did not provide you information that included federal and state grants as it's not a per pup it doesn't affect um the total population so when you get Federal fun funding for you get that for specific needs such as special education title students it's targeted funding to help support those students who have a higher need or high or need basically more assistance um and so that would not be in my opinion applicable when you include that into the total convers or total budget of the district and and kind of divide that by our total student population now you're taking that
166Federal funding and applying it to other students it may not apply so and I Know It differs for 504 and IEPs and and things like that but um so we have we have state funding but then we also have um property tax local funding um so even if you can't include the federal amount um are are you able to provide at least local and state funding totals cuz all I the the last I saw it was like $4,700 which would be the base and then we have the additional uh all the other funding that's on top of that so I believe we provided I think in one of the last statuses and updated and it included not only all our state our state funding is our property taxes that's those are one and the same
167what we do with our budget is levied by the state to on our property tax base so what we adopt as a as what the board adopts is levied to all our taxpayers so that is State funding like there's no additional State funding we get on top of our Levi budget right but that $4,700 does not include um well so what I was getting to what we did provideed not that included our Capital funding our M override um and th those were the three sources so our our m capital and our M override are the three sources that apply to every single student in our in our district um we ex have to look for that I'm sorry we can I can resend it yeah thank you Mr Moore and board member Van Hook I
168I believe the meeting at the very least that we talked about it is when we talked about the potential of looking at do we do another M override this year and a bond because that's the some of the funding differences and how some of the MOs are are coming up to like laps and those types of things and so I think that was potentially why it got lost in the mix just cuz we were talking about a lot of stuff at that time um but I'm assuming to when we talk more about that in the future meetings because we have to address whether or not we're going to do those this year that that will come up as well yeah and and I can give you those numbers and status but yeah um and president
169Anderson Mr Moore um I do want to mention that I recently um had the opportunity to tour the North Water Treatment in Gilbert which services our entire District because it covers from the 60 all the way to Germain um and one of the um things that I inquired while I was there about was um how that W the rate increase is going to impact our district um and it was interesting to find out that um so the difference between um how the the schools pay for water compared to how we pay for water at home is that schools pay a flat rate um and and but that there's two different flat rates uh one of them is for internal water use and the other one is external um so there's two different rates but they
170are flat rates whether you use 500 gallons or a th000 gallons um it's a flat rate that that's charged to the school I'm sorry did they base that off size is that what the it's just a flat rate for every school so we pay the same as Gilbert and Mesa yeah every individual school yeah it doesn't matter the amount of gallons you use per school yeah so um so that was that was something nice to to be able to tour and also learn um as far as how that funding impacts us that's all I want to share so to clarify you you were saying that it's a flat rate it's the same flat rate for every single School District no matter the size of the school district within within Gilbert town of Gilbert yeah and
171and different versus internal use and external use well and then so well you look at the you look at the the number of schools is where differs right Gilbert has more schools so they pay more where we only pay for the schools that we have so sorry just to make sure I'm understanding and not unjustly getting angry for no reason per District want make so it's per school that we have okay there we go that makes that that makes me feel better that's more egalitarian yeah yeah no it's per schools that's all thank you any other questions or comments from Mr Moore under for under the inflation is that where the um wage the um minimum wage increase is that all under there did we or is that going to be something to consider down
172the road for this school year or anything that we need to be concerned about uh president Anderson the the state does not fund us to um maintain the minimum wage we are just we just held to um that's a kind of unfunded mandate um currently we are we're trending ahead of the minimum wage right now the minimum wage is uh as of January 1 1435 we our current lowest classified hourly salary is 1485 so um the district has been proactive and increasing um all employee groups up to stay ahead of that and avoid um compression as well as um changing midyear and trying to fund that um work to your group to minimum W to meet the minimum wage standard so but that inflation projected in the budget is not meant for that purpose it
173that is not that inflation is a state formula um where the state if the state realizes over 2% inflation they're obligated to inflate the per people student count by 2% so that's the that's the factor there so but to for the district to maintain minimum wage that is an unfunded mandate that every employer in the state has to meet thank you a quick read just some people would put inflation in the minimum wage together so I just wanted information about that thank you we ready to move on yeah all right uh moving on to 6.4 um BDA board organizational meeting policy first read mam president members of the board um on the agenda tonight we have a first read of policy BDA uh board organization meeting um there was some changes Miss Van Hook pointed
174out as well uh ARS 15321 was updated to eliminate the Restriction of having a board meeting between January 1st and 15 so we were able to comply with that tonight by having our board meeting just in January as the language and the law uh prescribed um in addition to that we looked at the policy it hadn't been updated since January of 2011 so in addition to that language we cleaned it up a little bit and made it more concise um added some more um precise legal language and that's what we bring forward tonight as the first read questions or comments for our staff thank you uh moving on to our action items 7.1 I sorry no my bad go ahead okay 7.1 I move to approve the proposed changes to policy JK student discipline second
175any questions or comments regarding what's in front of US president Anderson yes um I guess I have a a legal question um I know we had some discussion about this at our last meeting meeting um it's crossed out that the super superintendent shall recommend policies and I know that there was um some conversation with the ar [Music] ar can it still not indicate that since the superintendent that the board designates the superintendent to do that Madame President Miss ree either sentence is correct legally you can have either sentence you could have the first the sentence as it currently reads which is the superintendent shall recommend policies and develop procedures or you can have the sentence that reads the governing board in consultation shall prescribe rules so the second sentence that is currently added here is
176an accurate reflection of the law but you but you do p as a matter of fact prescribe the rules because you adopt the student code of conduct okay so if um I mean I like I said I know we had some discussion about this before and it indicates the governing board in consultation what teachers and parents of the school district shall prescribe rules for the discipline suspension and expulsion of pupils to comply with the AR um and you know reviewing this again and we talked a little bit about it tonight in our protocols is that our role is to approve policy um and we employ us superintendent and their role is to um propose policy I guess if you will um policy development and recommendations is the superintendent's role and the board memb role is
177to approve policy and review procedures so um I mean in this instance and we've had even some conversation tonight I for me as a board member um I'm not comfortable with consultation of with teachers and parents of the district to be determining student discipline like that is um I'm not the expert in that area I'm not um I'm not Mr Walker who attends different conferences who's up Tod date on um current practices I I mean those are those are people we employ within the district to rely on to provide that information now is it a reasonable expectation that information that they're finding and and things like that that we are having conversation with our teachers and I think some of our student discipline is talked about in meet and confer um you know I mean
178different things that should we be seeking that feedback should we be seeking some Community forums and some feedback sure but the way this is worded is at the governing board in consultation with teachers and parents I'm not the expert in that and that I don't feel that that should be up to me to gather and create that information I think for me as a board member my role is to rely on our experts and our our staff to formulate appropriate current policies to bring forward to the board um and there's and I don't see why the board can't have conversation we have had conversation not going to bring up the word because the word is a buzzword and it means different things but we've had some conversation about different discipline um methods and um and
179so that is conversation where the board can can participate can give input I'm just that's why I was ask asking from a legal question I get that that's the exact warning out of the ar ar but for me as as a board member we employ and we our superintendent is our design to act in that behalf because that is part of the day-to-day duties so that's why I was asking that clarification um president Anderson board member Reese um whether we like it or not that's state law so um whether we Implement that into the policy or not it's still state law and so we're responsible for It ultimately when it comes to student discipline um well that's why I was asking the legal question is are governing board members expected to do this or are
180governing board members expected to or permitted to have their superintendent as their design to do this Madame President Miss ree there are inherent um difficult faculties in the governing board directly soliciting the input of teachers and parents other than through a public meeting um so again soliciting the input for instance when you have a um there's a statutory requirement that you get input from teachers on definition of an adequate classroom performance but that's Satisfied by you holding public comment when you adopt that board policy I think the same would likely be true here so to answer your question directly can this board designate that statutory duty to the superintendent yes as long as you are receiving public comment when you are considering the adoption of the student quote of conduct or your discipline policies because
181it still comes to the board for approval and I mean we we are still a governing body that that approves the policy I just don't see the governing body creating the policy so I think what what you're saying is that you don't see the governing body being the ones who has to directly solicit that input and I agree with you president Anderson um Miss mclen um so can we maybe add verbage leave the red line as it is but then add some verbage that um once we do have the opportunity to have public comment and hear parents then we direct the superintendent to uh I guess work on the policy and to develop the policy and procedures for board approval because I because it ref the policy references the statute um so I I think
182it's important that the policy reference the language that's within the statute um but we can then add to the policy to say once that's done as our role as governing board according based on the law that we can then designate the superintendent to um to develop the policy based on those conversations I I think that there is a way to put these together I think there is a working relationship um Miss Richard could wrong that's already in place like I've had a meeting meetings with you and Dr Foley where I brought concerns that what came from parents or staff and said hey does this fit the policy we have do we need to change it and in which again correct me if I'm wrong you said and I believe um Karen Sorry Miss Johnson you
183were there um then you would take it to the committee you would take it to legal counsel and then bring it back for the board um I think we have that in place it's just getting that language correct on the on the uh policy um I agree um that legally we we are given this um through statute but I personally one board member feel that it really I I don't want that Burden Burden of creating discipline or any rules um that go to students but I think together we do take into account parents and students and staff and work with the superintendent and make these policy changes is there a better way as as Miss Van Hook was saying and Miss ree was saying that we can verbalize that I wonder if again from a
184legal satisfaction standpoint if the governing board and then whether it's parentheses through the designation of the superintendent you know if that right just follow the governing board through the designation of the superintendent or so Madame President Miss ree perhaps uh you could do two things you could SW you could add back in the first sentence and put it after the added sentence so it would start the governing board in consultation shall prescribe the rules um in compliance with ar ar 15843 the superintendent shall recommend and develop procedures for the discipline of students so just add that sentence back in at after the statutory recitation I'd be good with that do we need a motion for that sentence so you have had a motion so you would need to make an amend motion um to revise
185governing board policy JK as discussed and approve it I'd like oh go ahead um I'd like to make a motion to amend we're amending right am amend the um policy to add back in the um the strikeout um the superintendent shall recommend policies and develop procedures for discipline of students after um ars1 15843 seconded I I'm like I thought we just discussed this okay everything stated accurately correct so we can now that's correct okay so motion and seconded all those in favor I I I now we need to actually vote on the policy with the amendment so do we have to make a second motion I'm sorry what's the question so we approved the amended version now we have to motion to approve again no you had a motion to approve the amended version you
186never voted on the first motion so you made an amended motion so you're fine procedurally thank you all right moving on to action item 7.2 I move that the governing board take action on the proposed changes taking in can you can we put it back so I can read the uh screen I like to pretend like I know how to do this I'm going to learn just read it it was different than what's here I'm sorry did you make a motion nope not yet I move that we approve policy BBA agenda preparation and dissemination the second Read With The Changes brought forward a second any questions or comments on this President Anderson yes um I reading this I want to indicate that the the district is Administration does not support these proposed changes indicating that
187it is a procedure not a policy um on the the preparation U board member uh president Anderson board member Reese um but it's already a policy so do we just completely eliminate be well we can eliminate this because the protocols actually reference bedba we can eliminate the change the policy itself is there um instead of changing the wording in the policy of the five days that that's our expected protocols that the policy itself doesn't need to be changed because the policy does meet the 24-hour requirement that's required by law that the board packet or the board agenda things like that has to be posted um no less than 24 hours so it's referencing that um and that we would get that and essentially 24 hours at the 24-hour Mark they can't make any changes if
188there's changes made it has to be done in the meeting so um so we we never a I mean we had the discussion obviously as far as updating the protocols but we never really agreed on the day I feel like it's still a work in progress because we're still trying to determine if work studies are going to come in or if we're going to modify this that's um constantly you know causing stress um so in that case do we even want to vote this we have to vote there's a motion it doesn't mean we approve it though yeah if we don't if we don't approve it if we deny it then the policy stays as it is and and the policy still there nothing and it just stays as it was prior to okay any
189changes um and as we talked through our protocols and as we talked through potentially making some changes where information's a little um easier to get or there's not such a a Time deadline things like that so and to note it could also be brought up again to be changed later after those discussions and those types of things yeah absolutely it can be brought up at any time I'm sorry did have we actually looked or reached out to other districts um to see exactly how they do it I'm sure there is differences amongst the districts around us or maybe there are some similarities but is this it sounded like Dr Ole said that um it wasn't very similar to what we do in most cases so I didn't know if we'd actually our district reached out
190to other district and say how are you all doing this since this is fairly new and it was a great idea from Miss Reese and her team back in the day to be transparent with information and get the information out there president Anderson now we didn't call and find out or look it up however we were committed to the practice like you see in the communication protocols but for example we felt the need to provide the statement this evening um on team violence and we hadn't had time to talk as leadership to even write that so it would have been pushed till February but we were able to get it in the 24hour time block but not the sorry day that's just an example we're working really hard to get things done on time but
191that's an example and Miss mlon may have input well I I can give you examples from two unified school districts um that I work with so Scottsdale unified they try very hard to get their board members the a draft agenda the Friday before their Tuesday meetings but um they make substantial revisions on Monday and then it's posted within that 24-hour period uh dice art unified has uh board meetings on Thursday um and they my experience has been that they're typically trying to get the information to the board by Monday of that same week and then will publish the final agenda on um the 24-hour within the 24-hour period those are just the two that I work most closely with and president Anders I don't I I don't know how many also have the same procedure
192that go through email their questions to their board secretary um and things like that I know a lot of times they save their questions for the actual board meetings and and there's nothing wrong with that collectively when we did our protocols and things like that is one through our protocols that was an agreement to try and not put our staff on on the spot it doesn't mean we can't ask these same questions in the board meeting it's just if we have questions they may not know the answer right off the top of their head it gives them a little time to research it um so we we were just trying not to put any of our staff members on the spot and give them time to be able to answer them um otherwise during your
193meeting there could be a lot of I don't know I'll have to check into it and get back to you and if it's a voting item well I don't have time for you to check into that and get back to me if we're voting on it um so I I think that's where a little bit of the difference comes in and I think for the most part we've agreed that if if we know the majority of the draft is there that we can start you know that we can be looking at it that if we're just notified that there's been a change there's been an update I think most of that is is fine that we know to to go in and take a look um because I really don't want to me personally I
194wouldn't want to get rid of our little question and answer process because I think it's very helpful um the other thing is too um the amount of questions and stuff like that uh when you have new board members there's a learning curve there's a lot of information that goes on that that people just don't realize um and so as we talked about at the last board meeting too is maybe if there's and depends on if we look at doing work studies and stuff like that that if there is a way that we can prioritize voting questions and non-voting questions you know for information I think that but that's something we're still talking about um because we our board pockets are full of a ton of information and we seek to understand and it may not
195have it may not be on a voting item it the answer may be more informational not determination on how I'm going to vote I would just like to better understand this and and so that would take some of that pressure off too so um if people I think that's where we're dealing with a little bit of different just perspective is because we do have that question and answer period and we're trying to get time for us to go through it because in all actuality really we have three days to go through it which is no different than these other boards words it's just our three days is so that we have time to get the information and questions to our our staff so if we all held our questions until the meeting I mean I
196don't think that that would I think we would fall right in line with what other districts are doing I think the reason we're asking for a little more time is because we we made that agreement previously to try not to to catch anyone off guard so that they can answer it and so that we can have the information ahead of time so president Anderson um also I do know that um many in other districts are actually jealous of our Q&A um because they would love to be able to have that within their District um I also wanted to in order to for future board members that come on board um because these q&as are saved on the website instead of board Docs there's no ability to be able to do word searches for instance within
197those q&as um and I think it would be helpful to be able to um do a word search kind of like what we can do in board docs and we can do keyword searches and things would pop up so for future board members that come on board um it would be helpful if there was that search feature that they can search through those q&as and be able to look up certain words and then be able to get their answer um and and that would prevent that question from coming up again um and so I don't know if that's something that we can maybe move to board docs to allow that search feature keyword search um versus the website because I don't know if the website has that ability mad president I think we're a little
198bit beyond the agenda topic talking about the well I just it just goes along with the whole but I I I understand um so we can move forward uh of the two districts that you mentioned u m mlon were did they have work studies do they I'm sorry could you repeat did they have work studies the two districts that you mentioned they do have work studies okay so that shorter time frame would work for them because they have that conversation correct so it we are not ready and we to approve oh I'm not going to speak for you we have to correct so moving forward and have we have I motion yet anybody we second we did all that Madam president you did make a motion and it was second so write this down and
199I don't have it all right all those in favor all those oppose n Nay Nay Nay I say motion fails or is that the language sure thank you okay moving on to to um agenda item number eight future agenda items no we're on 73 wow I'm sorry everybody discuss the date uh 7.3 action item discuss date for superintendent search first round interviews uh who's hook this was you uh president Anderson um so I asked for this to be put on the agenda um because our last board meeting um I don't remember the date whether it was last one or a retreat prior to that uh we had extensively discussed uh the date and time um for that meeting to do our first round interviews um Everybody acknowledged the fact you know as far as our
200work schedules and um and I think at at that point um I don't I think we had shut the cameras off so I don't think it was recorded um but we discussed that with my work schedule um I I don't get paid for taking the time off um so we had agreed at 1:30 p.m. um to have the meeting um and then we got an email saying there you know a couple board members had a conflict and you know would you be okay to moving the date to February 1st um you know I asked you know what kind of conflict it was that caused the change um because I had already discussed with my boss to take the time off um to be there on January 31st um and ultimately I said you know I
201would prefer for it to remain on the 31st at 1:30 um because it's not easy for me to change my schedule um and then few days later we get an email saying the dates been changed the consensus is um Everybody Wants Fe February 1st um and now it's 8:30 in the morning um and with my job my phone rings all day um even if this call is on Zoom at as I'm sitting in my office um there's no way I can concentrate and be able to work at the same time because my phone is non-stop um so I ask that we come back to have this discussion um and as board member ree um stated there's three of us that work outside of the home um but two are self-employed and and two um that
202as far as I know are not employed um and I'm the only one that out of the board that works for somebody else and not for myself um so it's very difficult for me me to be able to make those changes um and have to go back to my boss and say I I need to change the date but now I need the entire day off um not just two hours so um that's the reason this was placed on the agenda um so that we can have this discussion again and hopefully um consider the fact that it's not easy for me to take that time off Mrs vanan hook oh sorry president Anderson what uh does work for you um the 31st at 1:30 um was the time that I took off um and it's
203easier for me to take two hours off two or three hours off versus an entire day it's it's very hard um to do that because I I don't get paid and it's it's tough sure I so so the 31st um didn't work for me any longer because um I have a my I have a convention and I'll be out of town I did say that I am happy to call in that I would be on a plane at 4:30 I'm happy to do that um whatever works but Mrs Johnson and I was worried about the technology and that being able to happen I'm happy to accommodate that I don't know how much I can do to be there but I can't miss this for my job so you know I don't I don't know if
204I mean it's it is through Zoom but um right and so then I said you know I I have free Wi-Fi on the plane at 4:30 I will be in a convention until 2:30 because that got moved um I was supposed to only be gone till Tuesday and now it's through Wednesday um but I I I don't know what that would look like like I'm willing to do it I wasn't I I I just wanted to make this aware that that's what it was um if there is another day that's later in the day or if something else or I don't know whatever might work then I I'm open to whatever works but I those are my restrictions right now that I will be available till 2:30 which is actually 3:30 our time and then
205uh I will be on a plane at 4:30 which is 5:30 our time president Anderson and the rest of the board I just things I would like to keep in mind is we aren't we all individually have to make accommodation in our schedule and I am more than willing to do what needs to you know be done in order to I agree to this position I will meet for the things that I have to meet for I'm the only one with young kids I'm the so every single time I can't go to certain things because my husband is a physician he can't change his schedule right um I have to get sitters those types of things so I think it's important for all board members in mind that when we make certain kinds of statements
206or suggestions we aren't the only ones that have to make accommodations and that's hard that's costly that does a lot of things and so again as I expressed at the last meeting I I don't have a work obligation but to suggest that I just have free time in order to be able to do anything so because it was a new day I'm the one who asked for an earlier time because then the hope is I can be home to not have to get a sitter um because that's costly it's costly in multiple ways not only paying for the sitter paying for food for the sitter to get because I'm not the one who's cooking so I think these things are important to keep in mind again I am more than willing to make adjustments but
207we also have however many other meetings that start at 1:30 in those types of things as well so that was part of the reason why I asked to see if it could be made earlier in the day so I recognize the difficulty all around and I'm not saying we just move on but I I think it's important to note that you aren't the only one impacted and I think that matters um president Anderson I'm sorry board member Wade um and I understand that um my concern was because of her schedule changed that now the other four were were having to accommodate our schedule um and I mean as far as like events uh I I do take a lot of time away from work to attend events to attend school visits um and so uh
208and and that's part of my concern is because I am requesting so much time off work to be able to be there because I it is important to me to attend school visits and to attend performances and whatever it is and and to attend meetings um but this situation is a bit different because I had already requested that time off and so um you know that's the difference and then having to then move it to 8: a.m. um and so now I I have to take the entire day off versus just 3 hours um so if we can come up with another date um with a similar time I just know that we're very limited on on the dates which is why we were trying to you know work all the dates in um but
209what other date would work for everybody else that may president Anderson so I understand everyone's situation um and I guess my concern um we spoke at length to determine and come up we that conversation was pretty detailed and and spent some time um to try and figure out what we could make with schedules how we could make it work um and like she said we're we're very short in time from our first from our first round interviews to our second round interviews so we don't really um we don't really have a lot of leeway there um we did spend a lot of time talking about if they are an out ofate candidate that while we were starting at 1:30 we would start with them earlier so it was less imp act F because of time
210zones and and things like that so um for me I can make myself available it because unlike that I do have that flexibility but it does create some issues again it's a lot easier for me to not be available for half a day than to not be available for a full day um and everything so I kind kind of back with our communication protocols I I and this is not on anyone but I personally um didn't really like how it was handled because we were we were asked could we move it to the first and then we were asked you know starting at the same time and then it was well how early can you start I so we spent a lot of time coming up with the date and time that tried to work
211I get some things change um and everyone handles their their own schedules differently um but we did spend a lot of time determining what what could work for everybody um and then the communication just wasn't really great that was coming out and it changed and then I could start earlier I have that flexibility and then to see it was an all day thing and it was like oh that's not what I was expecting you know I mean so I guess we need to work on some communication and and be maybe a little more detailed when we're trying to ask about this but we also need to be aware like you said you're not the only one we're not the only one I'm not the only one one one person is impacting for people's schedule whether
212whether you had anything scheduled that day or not it's still impacting for people's schedule so I just want to get that out there with the relevance of what we end up doing it has none but I think that's something we need to consider for the future I these are really important it's really hard doing a superintendent search and the interviews this takes up a whole lot more time right now than we regularly have to give and and it's hard so um I'm going to leave it at that for me can I and I guess it kind of goes back to my earlier statement because I can should I can I yes does it make things difficult yes so um I had in my mind planned my this is what I do and so because I
213schedule things out too so so I'm flexible I can do I can do whatever but um I think that we need to look at in the future when some of these things not a superintendent search but things like this that if they were to come up we need to try and handle a little differently okay um so at this point well to make the point also is once that date was secured I I built schedules around that date right so now something now that we change the date something's going to hopefully be able to get canceled or moved um but everybody has a valid reason um for this so Miss Johnson do we have other options is that what we want to do tonight is actually settle on a date um or are we I'm
214sorry we have we have to okay so is that something we can do tonight or do you need to get back to us with the availabilities um I think your president Anderson I think the availabilities are the Wednesday that was previous ly selected that Thursday or Friday we really don't have many other choices if we're going to continue with the other schedule that is bringing that means that if we did it on Friday a candidate would have to make reservations that day to fly if they're coming from a state just kind of the scenarios we would be facing right so they would make reservations to come to Arizona for the forums that start the following Tuesday at 5:00 so we have to take that into consideration and I know the timeline was very tight because
215we wanted to get ahead of the curve correct we wanted to select our superintendent before the other 34 select theirs so we're at a point where it would have to be that sometime that week of um either that Wednesday January uh Jan January 31st February 1st or February 2nd we made a commitment to put out um the information about the finalist on February 2nd and we can still do that but that would be very tight timeline within hours um and so that people could read about who those finalists are before they come to the forums on the 6th of February my suggestion was what about the first at 1:30 this leaves a lot of people unhappy and then if we're all unhappy look at that compromise the only thing that I could do I could
216see is I I am tied up till 2:30 no matter what like I'm part of the convention and so um on the 31st right the Wednesday if I move my flight then I could call in I would just need to see what that looks like in the amount of time but it would have to be like 230 I wouldn't be available until 2:30 five on the 31st yeah I would just need to see what the flights look like your avail your availability would be broken up and you could I mean if we're doing interviews we we pretty much figured one per hour at 45 minutes with 15 minute intervals and if you're leaving the convention and then you're checking in at the airport and then there what I'm saying like I would figure out if
217oh to move your flight later to come home after okay I was like that's a lot of breaking up no no I okay I'm with you now and members of the board please keep in mind that the number of First interviews we will be doing has not been determined yet and if we need additional time we need to keep that in mind we have no idea as to how many interviews first interviews will take place we were estimating an amount but we weren't locked into that so was the estimation to lock in number okay well because it was dependent on the candidates that we received that we felt were viable I I appreciate the difficulty that is there with board member Van Hook in order to move a day I also appreciate the difficulty with
218which board member Schultz is trying to accommodate the schedule I think there's a lot of potential risk with saying you do it on a day that you're also traveling and what I mean by risk is there's just a lot of things that could put potentially happen that we have no control over that could impact your ability to be there that could lead to us waiting to hear from you waiting for you to call in which then makes us later for other types of of appointments with potential superintendant and I I just don't like necessarily the look of that for individuals who are trying to you know shop for us as much as we're shopping for them I I understand I just was trying to to figure out a compromise in here um I got the
219same emails you know saying 8:30 and so I I had no idea that there was even anything just 8:30 and I thought oh earlier that's all was the the time um board member Anderson my my problem with the first initially when I got the email I said the the first um if we had the meeting at 1:30 I I have to leave at 3:30 to be at an appointment at 4: um which was the problem with the first so I that would only give me two hours um to it would be diff your Mrs Anderson I don't think your microphone wasn't on but I the second she was saying would be too much of a time constraint if we started at 1:30 so if it was Friday it would have to be in the morning
220or we could start at 1:30 you think on the second Mrs Johnson president Anderson board members um we could do the second just remember the decision will have to be made it's going to be made anyway to who we move to finalist um again there would be no flexibility if we had more than five candidates unless you want to go into late evening if we start at 1:30 the first gave us a little more opportunity to have flexibility if there is more than five if there's less than five fine but if there's more more than five we want to be prepared to have some extra time there to be able to not go into a eight or nine o00 at night interview um I that would be my recommendation is either the 31st or the
221First with the second being or if we were to start on the second that we start in the morning yeah we couldn't start at 1:30 on the second CU if we are dealing with people people on the East Coast even if we only did the five and we finished at 7:00 our time with the intervals and then had our conversation if we're not making a decision let's just say it was pretty easy decision I don't I'm just saying that that we could be contacting people at 900 p.m. East Coast time and that's just not an hour and a half each that could go to about 10 10 p.m. um and or do we have or can we um if there is somebody on the East Coast schedule them first yes and that was a ray
222and Associates intent was to schedule anyone with a time difference at the beginning um when we had the 1:30 start time so that was already in play but again not knowing who the candidates are not knowing how many we will have there's a lot of variables here and so it would be you know it has to remain somewhat flexible the scheduling of the candidates yeah because I mean even if we even if we have [Music] to let's say we had to do the first February 1st does that still give us enough time you mean at 1:30 on the 1 is that we you're talking about like no I'm just trying to understand your question let's say we we did move it to February 1st at 8:30 um would that give us enough time um considering
223like I'd have to leave by 3:30 latest to like Miss Johnson said it would just depend on how many people we have I mean if we kept it to five um that would put us at about 2 o'l I think I mean if we had five yes we could do up to 7 between 8:30 and 2:30 and and I don't know 330 back to back to back to back and with 15 minute intervals intervals in between and then that would restrict us to an hour of conversation to for determination if we had seven barely an hour um you'd probably only have about 30 minutes to have conversation and I don't know if earlier is possible on the first like I don't know what your schedule what time you start work or like yeah I mean
224I start anywhere yeah I don't I don't know what or if that works for Mrs if earlier than 8:30 is is is a possibility too and then that would give you that makes my life easier and that my husband works evenings cuz he's urgent care so that's why all of the evening events are ridiculously hard for me so if it was s is that better and give us more time or Mrs Reese either way I'd still have to take the time off yeah I mean I I can I can make it work 90 99 99% of the time I can also make it work but um it's that 1% that messes me up thoughts Miss Anderson Bo member you're awfully quiet share your thoughts remind me the so the 29th and 30th were not options
225correct yes because of other board member you were out of town those two days okay and then we have committed to the second of February to make to to make our decision for the finals finalist correct and pushing that out of week the 5ifth or sixth can you please remind me of the consequences of that okay so as per the schedule that was set um the first interviews were to take place on the 31st the announcement of the finalist was to take place on February 2nd which is a Friday and the BIOS would be available on our website on February the 6th we would have the forums for the finalist that will start at 5:00 in this room on February 7th the candidates will attend a tour of uh three of our schools and also
226meet and greet with the cabinet members in the afternoon at 1:30 on February 7th the candidates will then meet with the board members for their second and final interview thank you it was the Forum I didn't have on my calendar that's the that's the big the big date okay thank you president Anderson um Miss Johnson so the second round of interviews would eliminate some from the first round or that's up to us so the second round of interviews is actually your finalist okay and you'll have information based on a survey that will be available when the forums take place and so you'll have the Forum information the feedback from the forums from the public um you'll also uh be able to meet with them for the second interview ask some more detailed questions and then
227after that Ray and Associates will guide you through a process to come to a final decision um president Anderson Miss Johnson uh so if we were to meet on the second at what point do we then meet just as a board to be able to discuss which candidates we like before you have to have it posted on the 6th you would be meeting that day we have to after you're done on the second so yes once we finish our first round interviews that's where we have to have conversation and figure out who's going to who who we're doing second interviews on who will be attending the Forum um on the 6th that is correct on the same day that you do the first interviews the board will move forward their finals remember you'll have information
228about all the candidates you'll be able to see everything this Saturday you're going to be able to start your research and then when we meet in executive session on the 24th you're going to come together as a group and decide your first round candidates and let's keep in mind I I'm just saying it's ground doogs day yeah um well and the 31st that's only two weeks from now yeah and so um obviously if we did it prior to the second I think the second's Too Close um if however if we were so inundated if you will on the first like we we've talked about it but couldn't we could come back and second yes make our decision I mean so I'm I'm just saying that when you don't run as close to the deadline it
229gives you a little more but that's just so your recommendation is I will be here when I am told to be here literally like the 31st is like my empty day if I look at my calendar that's like my empty oops wrong yeah my empty day and then not again till the 23rd um if if we decide on the second I I just have to get approval from my boss so um and first or uh I first I got to leave by 3 30 latest so I'm just concerned about that if we're not done then that I can't change but the second if we start early I have no choice but to take time off so I'm going to have to just get that confirmed with my manager um so I mean right now I
230could say the second and just hope and pray that I was going to say my recommendation in that situation and I know you're saying the second my recommendation would be to to try and do the first then with the commitment that we'll be either a done by the time you need to leave when we know how many candidates we're interviewing we'll have a better pulse on that if for and correct me if for some reason on the first we have the need to interview more candidates than we can allow time for we could look to roll to the second in the morning if we have to and I know that's not it's more time that you don't want to take I understand that I'm just saying if that's what we ran into um I would
231really rather give ourselves that time on the first and perhaps start a little earlier if we can again looking at the candidates um that if we do have some East Coast people maybe we can start it 7:00 or something in the morning to give more time um we can after again it's it's hard after we know I would I'm sorry I'm just personally not comfortable running up against the second that that we're leaving everything in a day um get it I'm hoping we're getting everything done in a day that's the plan I'm just not the type of person who given this situation and so much unknown and things like that and I wouldn't want to be a candidate notified Friday night um because the intent would be we said we would notify them ahead of
232time or like by the second but I think the intent is in the morning if when we talked about the 31st if we made our decision they would be notified on the 1 yeah you know so um I'm not I am not comfortable running up against the second while I could could I make it work in my schedule I could make it work in my schedule that's just not something I'm comfortable because we're running too close to a deadline so um um so if we were to do it on the first recommendation is to start like at a.m. yeah if everyone could do that if we're worried about the the time frame that if everyone could start at 7 AM because if we're starting if again if we have east coast people because then that's
2339 o'cl their time it we could start at 7:00 a.m. if we don't have east coast people I would not do West Coast people at 7 a.m. because it's 6:00 a.m. their time but local if we do have West Coast or east coast people then we can start at 7 and if we happen to not then we can start at 8 8 okay I'm I'm good with that just said a lot of days thanks we're talking about the first yes at okay I just want to make sure I put it in my calendar appropriately that's all and are we still discussing rolling the decision to finishing that day or keeping Friday open oh we we'll try to we'll try to finish we're the intent would be the int would be to finish that day but
234yes yes I think a lot of this will become a lot easier after our executive session next week when we know exactly how many candidates we have and then it makes it a little bit easier for us to make sure that we're keeping your your schedule so you can go to your appointment those types of things so at the very least we still have and I'm hoping just I'm just going to throw this out there I'm hoping it's not more than five that if it's more than five that Ray and Associates weeds weeds that out so we're not interviewing like 10 people well because we're getting all of the candidates this weekend is it and then we're we're choosing the five from the candidates that are provided to us right so we'll or whatever number
235we the whole process in the executive session um next week yes and you'll have all the candidates that are available right and have been uh vetted through Ray and Associates it is your re well it's your job to basically select the people that you would like to do first interviews with that you would believe would be the best candidates for this District okay and it will become a lot more apparent once we once you see them and then once we meet and you all discuss that together in executive session okay although this was painfully long and and and tough I appreciate everybody really caring about this really focusing on um having the time to make the right decision this is a huge decision this scares the heck out of me um as far as the
236turnover that we've had in a short amount of time for as long as I've been here but we really H are you kidding me thank you everybody all right there's so do we need yeah is there this is an action item so are we voting on anything we're voting on the date again are we G to do anything we got vote on the date agreed upon because it's an action item I'd like to make a motion that we move the date from January AR 31st to February 1st for the virtual search 7 a.m. 7: a.m. superintendent search first round any Bruce second all those in favor I I I I I motion carries 5 to zero oh we did it team well done well done all right 8.1 future agenda items um president yes absolutely
237president Anderson I know we discussed this in the information item but I would just like to formally ask for a future agenda item to discuss the upstander program and um The District's role in the community regarding teen violence thank you and we're also um putting on for discussion about time uh board meeting time change and and looking into work studies dates and future dates thank you sure okay any other recommendations or anything we need to go over okay I move that we adjourn second all those in favor I I motion carries 5 Z thank you everybody have a great evening thank you for those stuck it through