001good evening I'm going to call this meeting to order Dr Dr uh Foley good evening I don't know what I'm doing right now president Kaylor members of the board please let the record show that all members are present thank you very much we're going to have a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America and to the republic for to stands one nation under God Our God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right moving on to 2.1 I move that we approved the agenda second any questions or concerns all those in favor aye aye motion carries five zero next up superintendents report Dr Foley president Kaylor members of the board tonight we're going to start with a recognition and a celebration I'm going to ask Mr David
002botzenheiser to help us honor an Arizona athletic director of the year for Middle School president Kayla members of the board we're very proud today to recognize Brandon Keeling the athletic director at sasman middle school last week he was named the 2022 Arizona Middle School athletic director of the Year by the Arizona interscholastic athletic administrators Association the AI Triple A BK come stand up here and so just a little bit uh about Brandon he's been a wonderful administrator at sasman for the last eight years and um there's a certification called a certified athletic administrator and it involves taking a lot of classes and taking a test when you go to our conferences BK has worked on that and last year was able to achieve his CAA which is quite a recognition he's heavily involved in the
003East Valley Conference which is what our middle schools play in he's been the Vice President in the past he puts on the cross-country uh meet and he's a go-to for new administrators around that need to know what to do with middle school and he's been just a great example for the young administrators who are joining those ranks but we're recognized women as an ad and that's the award but he goes above and beyond in everything he does and it's not just about Athletics whether it's running plc's supporting discipline and supporting Mr Potts and so um what other than his Ty he's a wonderful wonderful individual and just a good representative of Higley in the in the community so thank you BK and congratulations on your work [Applause] I don't know foreign oh my God [Applause]
004okay our next celebration we can you can stay once you come on down our next celebration Darlene can you come here thank you [Applause] so tonight is a celebration because this is Darlene's very last board meeting before she retires and earlier this last week we had an opportunity to fill this boardroom with people who love her to celebrate her and surprised her which we surprised her then and we didn't tell her because we knew she wouldn't come and we didn't tell her tonight either so she'd show up for her last meeting but we want to let you know how much we love and appreciate you and all you've done and wouldn't couldn't let you slide out of here without honoring you we have a few cupcake treats here that we figure anyone who would want
005a cupcake can have a cupcake and I know I think if our Duarte of our governing board members want to say a few things about Darlene foreign well I'm gonna cry I don't know how I could have done the last six years without you you are an amazing woman you're an amazing executive secretary sweetest mom Grandma wife and they are so blessed to have you to themselves now and I'm going to be set [Applause] next video is she I don't know I think I saw some tears the other day when we were in this room Darlene you have been excellent and we just really appreciate all you've done for Higley and I can't imagine a Higley without you it's going to be very different next week thank you it's only been a year and a
006half for me so not as long as these ladies but you from the very beginning helped me so much I was out of town you tried to figure you figured out my email for me um you've been so helpful I'm so sorry that after a year and a half I finally figured out my account calendar on my phone but I appreciate [Laughter] you thank you so much and thank you for all you've done for Higley and we're gonna miss you very much foreign how long have you been around here 13 years so I don't know if anybody knows but she has been in so many positions and she has excelled in every position and to get to be to be in this spot takes a lot of integrity and it takes a lot of trust
007for a person to do this job and to do it very well so I thank you for everything and um I think like I said my card that you really are part of the foundation of this District your your heart and soul are in here and it will you will dearly dearly be missed we love you foreign I have poured my heart and soul into this District and I've seen it become an amazing place and so I'm proud to say I worked here I'm proud to leave it in the shape it's in with the administration that's here I think it will just keep getting better and better so thank you foreign [Music] questions itself anyone who'd like anyone who wants thank you thank you so much thank you congratulations okay Curtis if you want to
008put up our upcoming events there we go and as I round out the conclusion of the superintendent's report we have some upcoming events uh we are as we finish this week we will be headed into a fall break I will tell you that are your your District team had all levels of the organization have been working very very hard and I know all of them are looking forward to a fall break I know that there are some who are working over a break but we are looking forward to this time um when we go into October we have a couple boards we have a board meeting and we also have a superintendent visit coming up Cortina that is being painted as we speak so we're hoping it'll be completed and ready by the time we
009show up but there will be lots to see there as well lots of other events happening this is just a glimpse of upcoming meetings that we have but thank you governing board for your support we know there have been a lot of evening activities student events yesterday we had a beautiful miraculous part business partner a community partner breakfast in this room filled the room tremendous support Lots going on this time of year and of course we always appreciate your support thank you thank you Dr Foley going on to board comments and I'll just Echo that our business partner breakfast yesterday was amazing um Full House it was so nice to have everybody back and it was uh Mr chartwell's back there Sam thank you so much for an amazing breakfast fresh pancakes it was awesome
010so thank you so much and I appreciate all those that attended and great presentations from Mr Tyler and Dr Foley and just getting our community more involved back in Higley so we're we were grateful for that for that morning thank you any other comments president kaler um I was able to attend the swim meet from williamsfield and Higley and it was my first ever swim meet in the four years I've been three and a half on the board and I went to the swim meet for williamsfield and Higley it was fabulous and it was hot though I will say that I've been able to go to a football game from both Higley and Williams Field and they're just doing great a baseball game from williamsfield the groundbreaking at Higley High that was within this month
011we also had East Valley Consortium this month because it's been a long time since we've had a board meeting so maybe I should start out that and then a unified game for both Higley and williamsfield last night and then an awesome breakfast with Chartwells yesterday and I heard it was Sam's birthday but that might have been a rumor that it was okay so happy birthday Sam and thank you for serving me on my on your birthday so thank you it was fabulous you guys did a great job Mrs Schultz just really quickly I want to say congratulations to Dylan Lee with Williams Field High School who was the Arizona Cardinals player of the week two weeks ago correct I'm sure people saw that but um he ran for 518 yards correct I think it was
012and so pretty amazing and congratulations to him president Kayla yes Mrs Reese um obviously we've had a lot going on but several of us got the opportunity to attend the asba law conference and there is a lot of different legislation coming and so that was a really good opportunity for school board members from across the state to be able to hear from lawyers to understand some of the um new laws that are going to be taking place how that what that means to us what what do we need to do and then as board members who create policy to understand what these new um statutes and and laws are so that we can ensure that we are our policies are current and up to date and that we're working on them and the asba provides
013their policies to ensure that they are compliant with the laws even as they change so from a board member perspective it was very informational it was um it was good to hear from the lawyers and it's funny because most of them in those conferences it's not lawyer talk you know they're so we can understand it's not the legal jargon and and things like that so um I just want to say I appreciated the opportunity to go and to have time and learn about all these changes that are that are coming through so um it was it was a really good conference yes thank you um and I also know that we had our own employee also present with our udal Shumway Dennis albaugh so that's quite the honor to be able to even just go
014and speak but let alone then all of you that were able to attend it's kind of a fire hose of information during the ASB asba law conference but you can come home and totally re um you know sift through it all and make sure that all of our policies are going to be up to date and attending to those so I appreciate those that took the time to go okay moving on I moved that we approved consent agenda 6.1 through 6.16 second sorry questions concerns I know that under our gifts and donations I always like to give the shout out for the Higley High girls booster volleyball helped pay for the airfare for their upcoming trip to Utah and then the San Santan P PTO raised 27 000 for money for their playground structures which
015is always a huge yeah good for them really nice so thank you for all those that go into all those that pour into our ptos like that and support them it's huge and when they give such a nice item that can be used for so long right yeah quality okay all those in favor aye aye motion carries five zero moving on we have we didn't have anybody to speak correct Chris I'm sorry Mrs Zimmerman I didn't ask you but we didn't have anybody to speak today classroom site fund we are going to move on to our 7.1 and our information items we have three tonight president Kaylor members of the board Tyler and Mum have some information that they'd like to present to you tonight regarding classroom site fund yes good evening president kaler vice
016president Anderson member of the board tonight uh me and Miss Martins are here to present uh information item regarding our classroom site fund um this conversation stems in part from our work with our meet and confer team and and it's a little bit of our response to some of the competition in the um or what our neighbor districts are doing in terms of compensation increases outside of the traditional budget cycle so first a little background what is classroom site phone just for a refresher this is this classroom type fund stems from prop 301 which is passed in uh Arizona in 2000. um the classrooms I found originally uh was provides million millions of dollars to provide um teachers Sellers and benefits uh compensation increases again that proposition is approximately six tenths of a sales tax
017on um educational sales tax on on on Arizona residents so and external businesses that do business within Arizona last year Governor juicy signed a legislative Amendment modifying the distribution of this fund and creating a little more opportunity for different different classified groups or certified groups excuse me we met with our meet and conferred team and Miss Martin's we'll go over a little bit of what we decided to add in terms of our classroom site fund plan thank you Mr Moore good evening president Kayla our vice president Anderson and members of the governing board so our site fund pay plan is something that we address in the meet and far process in Higley every year we talk about a lot of different items that relate to economic issues non-economic issues as well as what we traditionally
018called housekeeping and this is a big portion of that during my time here this is my sixth school year the team has been interested in having that classroom site fund portion of those 301 dollars put onto the base salary and unfortunately we've not been successful in that up until this year if we recall in the spring the board approved the ability to do that for the first time for this school year in which we added 3 500 into that area so as we addressed that more we also worked on the actual pay plan and we have a draft of that I'll talk a little bit more about that here shortly but as we looked into that plan we also then came aware as Tyler Mr Moore mentioned in regards to some of the initial off-cycle
019issues that were coming up in new dollars and individuals across the state wanting to re-meet with their administrative teams or their meat confer process to address some of the new monies that were coming in so in August the mean conferred team the certified side asked for us to meet again and we traditionally start late August or September so it wasn't necessarily off cycle but they wanted to share some of the information that they were hearing across the state with their fellow school districts and colleagues with increased salaries that were coming last year Mr Moore did a great job in our meeting for process sharing how Higley is unique there are dynamics that we have to experience that a lot of other school districts don't experience and a big portion of that being our Middle School
020leases so as they reapproached us this year to talk about what's been happening across the street and pardon me the state and seeing the increases they asked what could Higley do we reaffirmed those same concerns as well as the fact as Mr Tyler has done and talked to us about is our board pardon me our bond presentation and the fact that we're looking at going out for money and until we're until we know what that's going to end up being wanting to be conservative in that process however we were able to discuss that through that the 301 was a great resource in which we could look to increase and we also reminded individuals that we did a good job analyzing the salary data and budget data in the spring into where we were able to
021give High numbers at seven percent where a lot of the districts around us did not they gave two maybe three percent and so when they came back with new proposals this year those proposals increased them then to maybe seven to ten depending on the area so last year when we initially talked we did talk about adding the CSF portion into the base we also talked about increasing it a little bit so it had increased by 300 from the previous year before initially coming into this year as well as the fact that we talked about shifting components of what had traditionally been the pay for performance part versus the classroom site fund part as well as the evaluation component as in the district grade area so I'll talk a little bit more about that so as
022I go into a draft of that um we're still working on some components but the board will see likely in the November meeting a request for an action after the the vote has gone through the hea but they'll see the actual plan and it's going to change quite considerably because of the fact that we've done not only the adding to the base we've separated and changed the pay for performance section but we've added what we've called a retention supplemental in addition to that we've had information related to psychologists specific and that had previously been housed in another document with a little bit different criteria but at the core it's very similar so we thought well why have two different documents why not Encompass it in one especially because we're looking to provide some consistency in
023the overall picture so that's what brings us now um in when I get to a further slide I'll explain a little bit more but as we we thought the process and had some additional discussions we're now coming back to you with additional information um to then increase it and I'll turn it back over to Mr Moore yeah so let's talk about how we can afford this um my expertise here uh I provided some graphs here to show a little bit about this fund and again I mentioned it is sales tax um generated and so when you look at these numbers these are not budget numbers these are budget but numbers that are derived from sales tax revenue and you know how sales tax absence flows so but you'll see here in this graph this is
024a eight year representation with fiscal year 23 being estimates but you know living and being in Arizona sales tax has increased as our residents have our population has grown the number of individuals in our state has increased and so you're going to see sales tax in sales tax increase um it was relatively flat up until 2021 um and FY 22 you'll see husd's expenditures decrease which was our prior fiscal year that was a correction in our classroom site fund plan which should have been previously addressed but we had a number of positions being paid directly from that fund um husd has in our plan has identified that fund being just purposely built for our base pay and performance pay and now it'll include a retention stipend component so that reduction was a reduction in removing
025those positions out of this fund and putting them back in the operational fund where they should have always resided um you'll notice in fiscal year 23 the revenue continues to increase so the estimated amount of sales tax and I'll get that to that on the the other slide um has continued to Grise um and so that fund has continued to grow exponentially whereas our expenditures have grown modestly so we are looking to address that with this proposal um and what we're preparing to propose um in the further slide so moving to slide five this represents the dollar per pupil amount that this fund generates and again I'll repeat the same but sales tax generated so this number is derived and calculated by the state and given to the district and so we take this number
026take it by our ADM our average daily membership at the 100th day and this gives our budget number and so that that's how this number is derived here when you look at Revenue so you again you'll see you'll notice the same thing but you'll also I do want to point out that you'll this fund is um contingent on sales tax and so it can fluctuate um On Any Given notice um you'll see in fiscal 23 we are already seeing a decrease in that pro-pubal amount and so a lot of this proposal and what our plan is is including and why we didn't go and try to spend all this money is because we want to be conscious and be able to provide a sustainable resource for our teachers we've talked about putting this money in
027the teacher's base and so on an annual basis we want to be able to provide this consistently and not have to reduce this as the tax sales tax revenue Ebbs and flows so our proposal this is our pay out a historical payout from this fund and so um over the last eight years it's essentially increased the one blip in 2019 was a plan and Mom can elaborate on this but the district did pay out um what was it longevity correct me from no it was prior to my arrival the previous board had approved uh departmental stipends as well as leadership stipends to potentially come out of this fund so it looks like for that one year it was budgeted and then some of that I think has to do with the transition and finance individuals
028and then as Mr Moore had related to the group that wasn't an appropriate fund for that to be paid out of and so that did get fixed are some of them I'm sorry president Keeler are some of those decisions derived from just what's going on with the school district and economy at the time so they just start pulling other different funds to pay for certain things or those actual mistakes that are being made like with the teachers and these things so as Mr Moore mentioned he's the expert in finance however when I arrived here at the district um I think there was a different philosophy in regards to how those dollars could be funded as Mr Moore arrived he helped to clarify some of those expectations for us in which there were individuals that were
029being funded out of certain accounts that should not have been funded I think what had been relayed um to the group into the team is that there were a certain category of individuals but as we did for the research we discovered it wasn't the right category of individuals um so you could look to pay for new teachers in there to some degree because of the fact that you know it lessens classroom size but what we were discovering is that it wasn't new teachers that were paid out of that fund it was other classified individuals again going forward we've now worked collaboratively with our meet and conferred team and being transparent with this process and so um you know they've have an understanding of two one how this fund is is funded from a revenue standpoint
030and what we're doing on the expenditure side um and so that transparency has helped get us to where we are today in terms of proposing a a nine thousand dollar essentially um expenditure per teacher and other certified staff for um from this fund so with that I will turn it over to miss Martz thank you Mr Moore so you'll see on this chart where Higley is at compared to our neighboring districts um the asterisks are ones that have recently been approved with the new dollars and revisit of salary increase for this year where ours is the double asterisk because we were initially again at the 3500 that we went into the start of the school year with and we are proposing an information item tonight for vote on the next October 12th meeting adding two
031thousand dollars as Mr Moore said with the increase within this Fund in this budget we believe that this is sustainable not only for our certified teachers but briefly we'll move on to the next slide and show the um the educational professionals on there too but we know that there's been some concern about whether or not we should look at that even more but again we've got lots of factors we have lots of increased individuals and components to pay out of this fund so we think that this is a reasonable amount and when you add this number on average for our existing teachers and they would put them at about a 10 increase for this year and our new teachers in about an 11 increase because we increased the base last year coming into this year
032at that seven percent too if you recall so going on to the next slide you'll see in there that it's important that we also look at our other certified individuals that are non-classroom teachers um ranging from our counselors to our district coaches to our various educational professionals and occupational therapy social Works slps physical therapists in which we also look to propose at two thousand dollars for them again last spring the board approved 300 because these salaries at the base level have traditionally been higher than our classroom site teachers so you'll see there where that matches in terms of just for us at Higley we still lag in some of those areas across the district but when we look internally we feel that that's a reasonable amount an equitable amount to provide slide back one slide
033for half a second I think one of the important things too that that with conversation that happened with meet and confer is what Higley has done for compensation pretty much over the last two years obviously there are a lot of uh conversations as this additional funding came out some districts came out and did large increases and historically they had only done two or three percent either at the end of the year or the year prior when you look at the last two years last year you approved the seven percent the year before you approved five percent so while other districts were doing two or three percent Higley had been working really hard as you know over the last several years at our budget and all of the things that we have to be able to
034provide as much compensation as possible so that we truly had been given when you add it all up over those last two years more than what other districts were trying to give at the time so when you look at that plus what we're proposing here Higley in when we look at where we would end up is is far more competitive than we have ever been in this area and I think that's an important component for us to look at is the work that's happened over the last couple of years in Higley that for Teacher compensation and ensuring that it's sustainable long long term and ongoing thank you Dr Foley that is accurate and something that we have noted in our meet and confer process for our employees to let them know and even when you
035look even beyond that in looking at the governor ducey's 20 by 20 our first year in the Higley District we actually did give 11 versus the 10 so when you really look at the average over the course of the last six years we've made some large strides in this area in addition to many other areas I think we've done some great work um and this is just one piece of that so looking at the October 12th we will be bringing an action item to add that additional 2000 for that CSF allocation in terms of the certified salary base and then the actual pay plan um we initially thought there was a potential of being able to bring that pay plan um to the 12th but in the mean confer process we affirmed with them that
036they are unlikely to be able to get their membership vote prior to them so we're probably looking at either November 2nd or November 16th as they'll start to communicate more information related to this draft plan to their members and hopefully vote after the fall break and then we could look to vote here at the district and bring it to the board at that November meeting with an initial payout of that retention supplemental in December and be able to move forward from there and is the board may or may not recall over the course of the last few years it's been various times in which we've had that pay plan approved just to the nature of other priorities that we've had to establish within the district thank you for your time and um certainly Mr Moore
037and I will entertain any additional questions any questions go ahead Mrs we're not adding this to the base right this will be a separate this is going to be a separate payout right correct so this okay and this is not going to be pro-rated so um upon approval at the October 12th the teachers will get the full 2000 um to the base salary so at that pay period we'll pay it out over the course of the remaining um pay periods throughout the fiscal year before taxes on this I just want to make sure everybody's clear who's listening yes before taxes um and if the economy crashes the reason for this that we won't be adding it to the basis if the economy crashes this money could disappear correct because if sales tax if I'm understanding
038correctly sales tax this is based on sales tax and if people stop buying we will get less money correct well I want to navigate back to this slide too which we we have the revenue to support this increase for several years so um we have a good amount to okay great thank you so much yeah what's my question drastic drop if we drastically drop if they're saying what we're gonna what may happen in the future um I just want to make sure that we're covered thank you president Kayla Boardman member Wilson um additionally just to help clarify for that Mr Moore and I have discussed so once it is board approved Human Resources will actually provide addendas to all of our employees we are not going to issue new contracts because there's other legislation affecting
039that so we'll offer addendas and distribute it and as Mr Moore said we will not be prorating it we'll give them the full two but in future years it will be on the base and then paid out through the rest of the year and you may or may not recall when we moved into this school year um on our contracts they're two different lines there's the base salary that comes out of whatever primary funding and then there's the info the CSF that comes out of the prop 301 fund so if there were to ever be something that we'd have to do it's addressed in a different line and we don't have to impact their base that's paid out of their primary account whether it's m o or another fund and they see that which is
040nice that's great thank you uh Mrs Martins president Mrs Reese this has been an ongoing conversation especially when we've talked about looking at our competitors in the East Valley because we have not had this Fund in our base and so trying to get people to understand the overall compensation package I know has been difficult so I'm hoping with some of this change as our other schools around do put it in their base I'm hoping this will help clarify a little bit of that and not have to do as much explanation um and I mean it's awesome that we have more money and I'm with Mrs Wilson let's let's look very carefully and I would probably ask for you to look at 2008 2009 2010 and kind of see um because I'm pretty sure that's where
041we're headed but who knows um but something to look at um but this is the issue I mean there's a shortage of teachers we need to be more competitive but there's a shortage of everybody so are we if we're looking at making this change this year are we looking at other class of classifications of employees that that we need to make a change for because you know clearly there's a need but there's a need all across so is that something else I I get hea they have Representatives we have meet and confer but not all of our classification employees have that same voice certainly president kaler board member Reese something that Mr Moore and I have addressed as we look at the bigger budget picture as we start those conversations in late fall and early
042early spring pardon me we are going to be looking across the board at some of the other areas um right now when and Mr Moore can certainly chime in but we feel comfortable where we're at in this and we weren't quite sure how minimum wage was going to play out initially now we know what that number is we're very fortunate that right now in the district nobody makes under that amount however we're going to have to look at that salary schedule as a whole and then what we do in that regard because you are correct Miss Reese as we look at what some of the other districts have done in relation to the classified they've been able to do things in those areas also but they also happen to be school districts that are two
043to four times our size so they're funding operations are very different but we will Dialogue on that and continue that as everybody as you said Miss Reese is important to us and everybody has a piece in the in the bigger picture of being successful do you have any questions go ahead please Mysteries thank you for bringing it up because that was my that was my next question is if it can fund outside a certified staff we can we can give this money to stuff that's not considered certified correct so it comes from somewhere else if we if we were to classroom paraprofessionals that are with students all day that contribute to the success of students that that need to be recognized as well I think is that what Mysteries was pointing out in others but
044that would not come from this fund that would come from somewhere else president Kaylor vice president Anderson that is correct we have to look at different um funds because this account doesn't allow for those expenses for that employee group and we want to look at that holistically and so as we said we'll have some conversations we're going to be studying the budget process which uh it's like sometimes I feel like we wish the year away when we start this early on different things but I know it's important for us to be strategic in that process and Mr Moore has got a wonderful timeline that he's started with him as well as Mr Gad when they were here and were able to be very consistent in that but we certainly know those are issues we're going
045to have to address and board member Anderson all the library a little bit but we we did so that that um Senate Bill 1139 which did modify the classroom site fund plan to include more than teachers is is still Limited in scope it's not it doesn't cover all employees so we we did address that with addressing these certified positions which which meet that legislative requirement in that language um they were previously not included in that and so we've been able to address that um at a greater capacity and so we continue to evaluate that and whether we can add more positions or more more groups into this plan and utilize this funding source to provide that that level of income in yeah so salary so any other questions or concerns I know that when a
046staff feels very appreciated and valued especially when we do pour more into their checkbooks I think that's a total given and I just also want to make sure that we're also just making people feel supported and valued no matter what not just in the finance department but that we are using the words today that that our staff is valued just knowing that there is such a shortage of teachers and we need to hold on to them and let them know that we are so grateful that they are continuing in this profession because right now it's kind of rough out there so I appreciate everybody's work in um finding these dollars and I know the teachers are going to be very appreciative and staff okay I think we still have another HR um I called it
047the HR Road show tonight um Mrs Martins is going to present us with 7.2 in a sub rate update president Keeler vice president Anderson members of the board that was a great lead-in for my next conversation in relation to substitute certified rates um we are experiencing a shortage and as Mrs Reese also said too we are struggling across the board when it comes to areas and sometimes I feel like we're consistently competing against one another and every time I think we get ahead we fall back so that's discouraging at times but it's the fact that we acknowledge and we know and as you said we value we're trying to do our best in many other ways to make sure people understand what that value and that commitment from Higley is so if I could hit
048next slide please if you recall some of you that were on the board we approved back in April of 2021 which was effective for the July 2021 um present school year at the time to increase our sub rates from 100 to 125 dollars in our long-term rates from 120 to 145 we also added which was something that was a nice perk was that for anybody who was a Higgly retired employee that they would always get the higher rate at the 145 dollars then last January we came back to the board because we were seeing hard to fill positions um at that substitute on Fridays and Mondays and we had you know large concerns uh certainly during covid but last year we seemed to have a hike and in the months of December January and February
049where we were having very low fill rates when it came to our subs so we increased it to where hard to fill days were Fridays and Mondays and they got the higher rate next slide please so I'm sure as you've seen in the news across the valley as it relates to increases related to teachers and certified or classified there's also been a lot of conversation discussion in regards to increases in the sub rates last bring um my mouth dropped a couple of times when I heard about some of the things that came through with Mesa unified as well as with Kyrene and then just earlier a few months Chandler School District increased their rates and anecdotally we had a few people just about a handful tell us in conversation they called us when we were
050trying to look for subs and fill positions at schools that they were going to sub with us because we were so much lower than some of our neighboring school districts in which we felt as a result of that we would have to address and so just within the last few weeks I gathered new information in relation to what was happening around us I know that some of my corresponding school districts were looking to move some can't move right now now and as I communicated some moved last spring some moved earlier just a couple months ago the difference there that I do want to point out with Mesa unified they do all of their subs internally but in addition to that they identify as certified versus non-certified teacher so if you're a certified teacher who is
051now subbing that's why there's that higher rate for each one of those levels they distinguish that within their group one thing that and when talking with one of my colleagues at the Kyrene School District when they increased their sub rates last spring they saw their fill rate go from the 60 percentile up to the 90 percentile so that is what has led us today here next slide please Mrs Martin we just got confused so they can have a teacher sub and not be certified in Mesa is that what you're saying no um sorry we're confused on what you just said president yeah understandably so you know unified teach so a certified teach substitute a certified teacher is somebody who has an endorsement or certified you know a certificate to actually teach whereas certified substitute has
052a bachelor's degree in non-education prep program so they distinguish the two who sorry they don't have their teaching certificate okay thank you they have their substitute certified certification so that's how they distinguish that and I apologize for the confusion thank you for asking um so what we would like to do is we would like uh for the board to consider increasing our rates and I know typically we do an information item and then an action item at the next board meeting we felt it was pertinent especially because of a number of things that I'm going to go into more detail on but as we go into fall break to be able to have these established since our next board meeting is not until October 12th and I think one of the primary factors in there
053is that we're still seeing concern in relation to our hard to fill days on those Fridays and Mondays we're seeing a less percent actually that is now averaging in the 70 percentile and I just learned from our HR specialist I'm in the seven volunteer area that we're now seeing a little bit more in the 80 percentile for the other days of the week so that's a plus however um and the board knows this they approved it in the consent agenda as well as through other communication over the course of the last few weeks we've seen six teacher resignations um and just like when we were in the heart of covid when we had resignations during the year it was a struggle for us to fill those positions um it is a little bit easier if
054we have those resignations in December and we can look at graduates in December and bring them in in January but when we have these mid-year it is excuse me it's rare to find individuals to fill those positions unless they happen to be moving from out of state coming into Arizona and or um you know different circumstances in which we have people who are available but it's usually filled by long-term Subs who aren't part of teacher programs in some instances in the past we've been able to successfully look at our student teachers who are close to their graduation programs and put them as teacher of record so with that that's why we feel that it's pertinent that we bring it to you now as an info and action item we could prepare for anything these next
055two weeks prior to the start of second quarter next slide please so the district recommendation is to increase our daily rate from 125 to 165 and our long-term rate from 145 to 185 to have better alignment to the surrounding areas and just like the slide that we had had earlier that commented on the issues hust retirees they would be eligible for the higher rate at the 185 as well as those hard to fill days of Fridays and Mondays still being at that higher rate at the 185 just to provide that clarification in discussion with Mr Moore there are a lot of variables that will take place um if you recall I believe it was either the end of last year earlier this year we saw a significant increase in our vendor PO for ESI who
056provides us our subs we do anticipate that we'll likely see approximately 200 000 increase and that's just based on last year's information that could be different but it all is going to depend on how the rest of the year pardon me goes in the bigger picture but we think that that's a pretty conservative number Mr Moore correct and then the last slide is just if the board has any additional questions Mrs Wilson right thank you Mrs Martin's thank you for doing this I know Subs are hard to find I've heard it I've heard it from our teachers they're afraid to be sick because of this they want to make sure they have a sub so I'm glad to be voting on this tonight I'm honestly very thankful to push it through a little faster and
057I'm really glad to see that we are continuing to honor our husd retirees by giving them that higher rate I think that's very important and I'm um excited to vote on this Mrs Schultz first question um when you say we have a shortage of Subs it's because of the rate not a shortage of people I think I asked this back in January so I feel Deja Vu but it is um president kaylar board member Schultz It's a combination of reasons so we currently have in our pool that are identified and have said that they chose Higley to sub in just over 200 individuals on a regular basis approximately just over 100 of them actually take assignments anecdotally this year we've already had about three if not four conversations with Subs who had traditionally subbed in
058our district say sorry thank you but no thank you because I'm going to go down the street and make a little bit more money so we knew we had to address that just from the conversations that we were having with people as we were trying to fill positions um especially when assignments are put in late and we're eager to fill them that morning we're actually calling people we do have to look at a different model something that's nice is ESI does provide an app so we're looking to utilize that app because we're finding more and more individuals who want communication want to be able to do that through the app versus phone calls and emails so that was a good piece of information and feedback that we got from individuals but it's really a combination
059of things that being people who actually are comfortable working want to take assignments to those who in terms of pay recently I'm sure that there's some other Dynamics too we've been doing some campaigns we've been working with the PR department Miss Joseph and her team to do some social media campaigns getting people to come want to to sub in our district we're looking at other avenues we've been sending communication out in our weekly weekly newsletters that go out to the communities at the site level too so we're trying to do our best just to get more people active in the pool but there is a component of people who just for some reason they sign up to sub but they don't actually take any assignments um and trying to figure out the dynamic there and
060um initially at one point we had heard last year they just still didn't feel comfortable being in front of a big group but it's probably time to reassess that because that's I think the last survey we've done through ESI was probably last spring maybe it's just a case of just in case they need more money or something like they're not but um you said ESI so the app is that something we have to pay for we just didn't know it existed so it's fairly new actually okay so um but no it's part of our components with our vendor ESI so it's now it's time to to really just start utilizing it more awesome um so with the increase we'll still be lower than four districts on this list but you feel that that's enough for
061us to be competitive with the 50 of people in our pool that aren't taking the sub positions we do I had had some lengthy conversations with our sub-specialists and when we look at the districts that were really competing against we are looking at Chandler Gilbert Mesa and Queen Creek um because although Kyrene and Tempe have jumped fairly high it's not likely that our individuals are driving to those districts um so those are our most comparable and we feel as though it's a little bit less we've made some big strides it's forty dollars more in each area in which we think that maybe in terms of the cost of gas the convenient location and because some of these people we've talked to live in our district they have students in our district but they're we're not
062willing to sub in our district as a result of that because I just would hate to in three more months since we're so behind have to do it again I mean I understand but if we can get ahead of it with the amount then better but I do I mean we need it but I would just like to be ahead certainly Michelle Schultz and I think that um given again economies of scale budget size I think that's Equitable and I hope but I knock on wood we're not here in three more months um but I will say when we jumped from the 100 to the 125 and I I believe it was 125 to 145. we saw significant increase in people taking our subs as well as appreciation for that jump and acknowledging it even
063though we were still below some of the surrounding districts did our pool size increase at that time it did increase by a little bit and I more I think we saw was the increase of people actually taking assignments again but that was tough because that was during the heart of covid II um so there were dynamics that played into that perfect thank you president kaler have we thought about potentially um approaching our bus drivers and things like that to sub in a class while they couldn't be there all day because they have other assignments but if they're there the majority of the day then potentially that can a class is covered for the majority of the day that they would only have to have someone cover for maybe the first hour of it and someone
064could be there the majority of the day maybe trying to get some of our bus drivers interested and certified in subbing that gives them something to do because their days are broken up um that this might be an opportunity that we have a pool of people that we could potentially tap into president Keeler board member Reese we've actually dialogued in a lot of different areas and we looked at talking with our Paras and encouraging them to get their substance um at one point we did talk about our bus drivers but we were concerned that Mr Josh Crosby wouldn't like us um as we were experiencing a bus driver shortage also at the time um but I do think that's something that we could look to explore a little bit more to see whether or not
065individuals could qualify for their subsert and then getting that subsert and being able to break up their time recover for certain sections as a result I'd have to look more into that with the team and decipher whether or not that's a reasonable Avenue to pursue okay um took you know subcoordinator for nine years in this district and um to I remember a lot of the problem was you're going to increase the pay you'll get more people to apply and you'll hire more people generally but from experience what I realized is that people step in and then they say oh dear God um this is not quite for me and so they don't really commit to a lot of days or they they slowly start filtering out and it just seems like a constant turnover and
066it is the Hardcore ones the ones that are they'll take the most positions generally are the ones that will travel to Mesa to Kyrene to Chandler and then it's the uh other wonderful people that come in and they're they're they are they're just looking up to pick up positions here and there when they're you know with their kids in school and their kids back in school and working around schedules and I remember bus drivers aides we were I mean we were having the same problems back way back when um and it's just working around schedules especially right now now whenever you get things you want to get things lined up so you can make sure it's covered and so whenever you've got breaks and coverage it it creates creates just a little bit of hardship
067but I mean if it works it works and I'm really hoping that I really believe that raising this pay will definitely make us more competitive I just don't know you know with the shortage everywhere this is really just going to be something that we're going to have to be more reactive and then proactive I mean I don't know if that's saying that right but this will definitely help for sure for sure thank you for doing this thank you Miss Anderson president kayler go ahead Mrs Martin's you said you talked to Perez like you were able to talk to Paris and try to get them okay great something that's wonderful on President Keeler board member Wilson is that we had our administrators um communicate and say some things to some of our parents we've had Paris
068reach out then had to actually continue in that process we've actually had some of our student teachers actually reach out to and say um you know how do I get one could I qualify would you be willing to assist me in getting um in some cases a an emergency subsert and we've only allowed that on a couple of incidents and primarily because we have some student teachers that are December graduates I mean have already seen the impact of the shortage of Pardon Me shortage of Subs that have happened at their site already in which they want to be able to chime in and actually be the person in the room and be certified to be in the room um so we've had some you know lots of conversations and we're continuing to listen and we're
069willing to take feedback in any certainly creative ideas that can help us we have a new HR sub-specialist um and she has been wonderful Miss Erica Marquis um and she's really been working hard to learn the system understand the Dynamics reaching out to people reaching out to ESI and being our liaison and making sure that we're listening to the new next best things one thing vice president Anderson that you mentioned um in which I've tasked Miss Marquees on is looking at how we are intentional and strategic about our onboarding of these Subs I think we've done a fairly good job over the last year for our rescue AKA permanent Subs but I think we have to reevaluate what we do in terms of our daily subs to make sure that they feel welcomed and want
070to consistently return to Higley because of their experiences is there a way that we can do a video or I mean I think you have always done a really good job when you go out in the community I I've heard it many times how great you are when you talk to people face to face and I know there's only one of you so I think a video might I think one um a video could be good from Mrs Martin's or from someone on your staff of how great subbing is but to put in embed into those emails that come out from our schools on Fridays so then the parents know hey it's really great to sub so that could be an idea again I know you guys are doing everything you can and I'm not
071trying to step on toes but just trying to encourage parents to get out there and other people in our community even retired um teachers to come in and retired professionals that may want to enjoy children for a little while during the day how about um to substitute of the month if we're doing teachers and volunteers and um student of the month can we add maybe guest teacher of the month or can we do something to help recognize them and show that we truly appreciate them we really do and just we always want to do something for them just like teachers and just like we do for students but time passes things get busy you know it just kind of falls apart at times but if we could recognize those individuals until we can meet them
072as well we don't get to see them and I would love for them to for the whole District to see that these people are really stepping in and helping out and going above and beyond in many cases whenever teachers lose a prep and we have to cover somebody else they do the exact same thing because whenever there's a vacancy they're leaving during a teacher's prep and they're going and covering somebody else's class and preaching to the choir I just want to put that out there no president Keeler vice president Anderson board member Wilson I think those are all great suggestions I've written them down I think we can Dialogue on those I definitely think we can look to Encompass something where you know I've learned our recorded PowerPoints they're very useful consistent message across the
073district so I think we can um you know take that as an advantage and see what else that we could do in that process but you know now that we have uh permanent subs or rescue Subs I think that might be an Avenue that we could explore there's other things that we've talked about um in terms of incentives from a budget perspective but we're not quite ready to explore that that might be something in the future that could tie along with um something of a recognition of some sort last question um this is just something I saw there was a late question about do we pay the same sub rate on minimum early release days and so yes correct um do we pay the same sub rate on early release days that is correct so
074Wednesdays for the elementary and so if Friday is a hard day to fill have we looked at other districts that do half days on Fridays and if they're easier to fill sub rates because it's a half day does that make sense I hope I said it quickly so if a Friday is a hard day to fill we're still paying the same rate for a full day if they can leave at 1 30 instead maybe it would be easier to fill instead of having to work a full day or one o'clock or whatever you know what I'm saying have we looked at that like what other districts I think if I understand what you're saying is that they come in on Friday and only perform for a half day get a full day rate according to
075this we pay a full day rate for early release days and for fact on Wednesdays yes because the way that I'm sorry no no I thought I was just going to say the way that our um our system works with ESI is that if it's four hours or less it's a half day if it's more than four hours then it's considered a full day great so I'm not disputing that I'm just wondering if we've looked at switching to Fridays since it's a hard to fill date maybe they're okay with working a half day and it would be easier so then if you T if you if you you're talking about actually moving our Wednesday half days yeah Fridays half days because there's some districts that do that so I wonder what their sub rate looks
076like based on if they and then you might want to have to also look Mrs Martin's at how many teachers call in every Friday because it's a half day so we might have more of an issue of filling classes because many teachers would then take that Friday off what right they would never do that but I'm just thinking that I might do that yes but they only have so much time off so then if it's a half day isn't that better to take off a half day than a full day so it's because I don't know it would be interesting to look at I just I'm pretty sure I'm guessing I'm just guessing my thoughts there are districts that do that in the West Valley that have for instance that I know for sure so
077I wonder what that looks like and what their rate is and if they have a teachers that call in or if that's even a thing or maybe teachers are happy that they're out early on Fridays so that's something that we can um through my network and connections uh definitely explore and and find out but thank you for clarifying I didn't quite understand initially I know I'm sorry I'm just kind of a long way around any other questions comments good good great discussion lots of good information we appreciate this and um yes absolutely that we are going to vote on this in just a few minutes and I think that's imperative as well so we will move on to 7.3 and now we have Mrs Sherry Richards presenting and Dr Foley and Mom and type no
078okay here we go president Gaylor members of the board this is something we've been talking about for a while and as you know you approved earlier this year you had a presentation about this conversation in the transition to the Danielson framework and you've been hearing about us talk about this for quite a while because the transition of a tool comes with a lot of additional professional development for administrators for the staff and tonight we're going to do an overview for you to better understand the tool and uh the tool and the instrument and the professional development that we have done for our teachers and administrators thus far um so we have Sherry Richards and Mom Martins who are we will tag team this a little bit to share with you what we've done and what
079we are doing and why we're doing it that way once again president Keeler vice president Anderson members of the board Ms Richardson myself will be presenting you a date in terms of the Danielson framework for teaching so some of you may remember we did this about a year ago in which we talked generally about where we were moving and what we were doing in some of the background so some of these slides will actually look somewhat familiar at least the portion that I present in this Miss Richards will then present some of the items that we've identified since our training so if you recall as we moved into this year we changed our performance teacher tool and this was based on years of data and work into moving into this direction and just to clarify
080we have moved to the Danielson framework for teaching also known as the fft evaluation instrument and it is Charlotte Danielson so you'll hear kind of different references throughout a lot of times it's Danielson sometimes it's fft but we started this journey as I move on to the next slide um quite a while ago as part of the initial strategic plan when I came to The District in 2017 there had been information that had been shared with the community both internal and external in the spring of 2017 about needing to reevaluate the assessment tool that we had had for employee evaluations particularly certified there was conversation about classified but the focus was on the certified evaluation specifically feedback that we had received seeds related to the strong evaluation tool and how it wasn't a tool or
081an existing instrument that lended itself to specific or meaningful feedback to our teachers so as a result of that we looked to kind of a charge of a committee to be brought together to discuss where should we go and what should we do so in the 1819 school year the committee was formed it was made up of various stakeholders a fairly large group of individuals made up of Administrators and certified employees however dynamics of covid as well as other priorities that took place kept delaying the process which finally led us to the initiation of this school year and I'll talk a little bit more about that here but the committee members in which we had represented are listed on the slide we have some of these individuals who are no longer here with the district
082or they're in different roles within the district but it was important that we still continue to recognize the work that they gave and the time in relation to this process and the contributions but if you'll see there there was a number of certified employees along with District administration at the site level as well as at the district office level to make sure that we got everybody's feedback and information and this was actually a smaller group from the large group that initially was identified but we found wasn't productive in our process and so we did have to narrow down to be able to effectively move forward and work well to figure out what we needed to do in our next steps related to that thank you so a couple of things that we prioritized before leading
083to our conclusions one thing when we re-initiated that smaller group of individuals was that what did we want to do and how did we want to do it and what would be our priorities so some of those items that came up was the fact that we had x amount of money and have that x amount of money could we afford to look to go do something more or do something Less in terms of licensures in addition to that we also wanted to look at the fact that everyone liked using Frontline as the um the platform in which the evaluation took place and we have multiple things in which we use Frontline four we actually use it for our substitute area in terms of teachers putting in whether they have absences and we use it for
084a professional development and our evaluation so there was a big press to not leave that platform because of the fact that people were just starting to get used to that platform and then looking to switch a whole new tool and platform might be concerning so with that at our base we said okay well we then have to look at who partners with Frontline um because if there are other evacuation tools that don't partner with Frontline because we said that that was a priority then we weren't going to be able to do the work that we needed to do or fall within the parameters that we had identified um and so Danielson was one of those that fit as well as strong so we did reevaluate whether or not we wanted to stay with strong and
085then we also talked about looking to do a hybrid model where it might be something that we we do ourselves and add inclusions in specific parts to other things that we've seen but there would still be the the expectation of the licensures that's involved with that for example we had had a group of employees Ms Richards is one of them as well as two administrators one that's no longer here and one that is still currently here visit Gilbert public schools because they had created a hybrid plan that was of Danielson and their own internal information and feedback so that was something that we could look into too so what we ultimately ended just ended up deciding to do was that we felt that the Danielson model was a fit that we were looking for in
086terms of supporting our teachers through the specific feedback that we had heard we felt that the four domains that the Danielson model had were very similar to the strong model in terms of the look fors however the Danielson model broke it down more and and we'll talk a little bit more about that in later part of the presentation in terms of their four domains and the 22 components so with all of that the instruments and the fact that this tool was a naturally recognized validated instrument used worldwide as well as there was an opportunity to be able to utilize that instrument for our educational Professionals in terms of our slps or OTS and our psychologists and that we could have that meaningful feedback as well as use the same online platform the group decided on
087moving forward and learning more about the Danielson product foreign so one thing that you've heard us talk about a lot as we've evaluated and updated our strategic plan is how does that guide the work that we do um so specifically this evaluation tool fits within anchor 1 and anchor two and again Mr Richards will provide some more information in the connections of those anchors but you'll see that naturally it is effective in the pardon me naturally it correlates with teaching and learning Student Success and highly effective personnel in addition to that it aligns with our core values when we look at information and we look at data and we look at feedback and where we could look at Integrity connections learning centered as well as accountability foreign so from our training this was a quote
088that resonated with us and so I wanted to include it here but essentially that the framework for teaching is a common language for instructional practice that is grounded in a philosophical approach to an understanding of great teaching and the nature of learning it's in its visions of Excellence as well as a set of discrete practices and that comes from Miss Danielson herself so at a high level what is the framework for teaching fft so it's really designed as a coaching tool to enhance professional practice it's one of the first of its kind and has stood the test of time over the last two and a half decades again as I mentioned earlier use countless Educators not only nationally but worldwide it's power to accelerate teacher growth and improve student outcomes and create more rewarding and
089sustaining professional environment and it supports teacher reflection collaboration inquiry and Innovation and has a direct impact on certain pardon me Student Learning and Development as I said earlier it partners and supports Educators in 49 states and territories and 15 other countries when you talk about teacher evaluation it's where that you don't hear the Danielson product something that aligns again with the fft who we are the Dynamics that resonated with us is that they have three core beliefs and that is that each and every student deserves access to Quality teaching learning is done by the learner through an active intellectual process and teaching is incredibly complex work and I'm going to hand it over to miss Richards thank you Mrs Martins president Kaylor members of the board once again we tie this back to our strategic
090plan Acres one and two we understand the importance of using data and of course research-based practices along with the value of professional development resources and training for all employees we have chosen to use a structured approach to roll out danielson's framework for teaching this began with three full days of professional development for our administrators before this school year even started one of those occurred last spring and the other two occurred at our admin retreat in July in addition each month at our principals meetings Dr Chris treat provides training aligned to one of the domains and some of the 22 components also included are examples of the specific indicators this is provided through a detailed three-dimensional approach to look at the model and what it should and can look like in the classrooms principles are provided
091this training to take back to their sites and they can personalize it as well that we're getting a consistent message out there by providing the training and supporting them to take it to their sites the most recent principal meetings for elementary and secondary focused on domain 2 which is classroom environment within that there was a dialed in focus on component C D and E where Mr not Mr Dr treat provided examples of what a well-managed classroom could look like outline and modeled effective strategies for managing student behavior and provided examples of ways to actually organize the classroom to maximize student achievement in front of you governing board you have what we call our fft smart card every certified teacher received a copy of this card at the beginning of the school year and as you
092will see Charlotte danielson's framework for teaching is organized into four domains and 22 components the four domains are planning and preparation classroom environment instruction and professional responsibilities in addition teachers have access to this card online with our performance evaluation system handbook and the complete fft evaluation instrument from Danielson as we just previously mentioned how important PD is we started with domain two like I mentioned before classroom environment the PD for August and September has focused on domain 2. in October and November we're going to shift to domain 3 which is instruction focus on both of these domains and the components within each will continue all year along with some examples feedback and instruction to help teachers understand what is needed and domain one and domain four walkthroughs have always been important here in Higley this
093is for administrators can visit classrooms and become very familiar with teaching strategies and all of these components walkthroughs typically last 5 to 10 minutes there will be a focus and is a focus on domains two and three during these walkthroughs and feedback is provided in a timely manner through Frontline or what we still like to call MLP so our teachers get immediate feedback and it dials into profound conversations it's important to know that not every walk through will result in feedback on all of those components because it's not possible in five or ten minutes okay one component that's extremely important is a pre-observation conference this allows the administrator and the educator to sit and Converse teachers can highlight specific look fors within their lessons share their lists and plans and even share some potential successes
094the administrator may see or even some challenges after the formal of servation administrator sit in a face-to-face conference with the teacher this is important because specific And Timely feedback is provided which is designed to facilitate an Educator's professional growth it's Mrs Martin's already shared this is a coaching tool what do we do why are we here we're here to support and develop our teachers which turns around and improves academic outcomes for our students this next slide highlights the levels of performance you will see there is a satisfa unsatisfactory category a basic category a proficient category and even a distinguished category we are working and striving for proficient so when you look at the terms under each of these columns it's going to name attributes or describe each of these levels of performance so you might
095be thinking why aren't we just shooting for distinguished straight down the board Okay so we've provided you an example you should have a big big legal size flown up um representation here so this is looking at domain three and component B using questioning and discussion techniques as you read through those you're going to see a difference between the ratings of unsatisfactory basic proficient and distinguished as we mentioned on the previous slide proficient is our Target look under proficient and great things are being described here in terms of instruction and supporting students look at the highlighted areas critical attributes section where you see the use of open-ended questions the effective use of wait time discussion between students participation and active engagement of most students and many students actively justifying their reasoning that all sounds pretty great
096to me I love to see that when I'm in a classroom if you move over to the distinguished column you're going to see a difference in who is quote doing the work under the distinguished area of critical attributes you will notice that students are actually initiating higher order questions extending the discussions inviting comments from classmates and ensuring that virtually all students are engaged in the discussion there seems to be a shift from the teacher orchestrating the learning to the students taking ownership of their own learning and even learning of their classmates these specific descriptions help both teachers and administrators set goals for continued professional growth student engagement is the heart of the Danielson framework our evaluation schedules have not changed this year we're excited about this school year with the addition of this evaluation coaching
097tool and look forward to the positive impact it's going to have on teaching and learning and student achievement I've had the opportunity to speak with a few administrators as they've been been doing walk-throughs and some formals and the feedback I've gotten is Rich deep discussions support for teachers at a deeper level than that strong tool provided for us in the past so changes change and we understand it takes time but we're being really thoughtful to support not only the teachers but the administrators through this process so thank you for listening to us and if you have questions we're happy to answer president kaler thank you that was good information to have um how is there going to be any reliability checks for the administrators is there going to be someone who will sit in with
098them on a few um assessments and then that way they can talk about it to make sure that the tools being used properly so is that okay you can start okay okay that's board member Reese that's been part of our discussion all along because it is new and we need to make sure that we're all understanding it and using it consistently so that's one reason for the training component with Dr treat plus Mr lotzenhauser and Miss Lindsay are working hand in hand with our principals going to be doing walk-throughs and having conversations after formal observations as well because that's so important that we all understand and Implement consistently president Kayla Boardman varice one of the other things that is part of the initial training is sort of that iterator reliability you go into a deep
099dive with it and you're big you're given some samples or examples in your uh to observe and then it utilize the tool and then you check for calibration and it also helps us make sure all of us are understanding what we're looking at and how we're utilizing it interpreting and documenting it so part of the reason that the training is much more intense and longer for your administrators as part of that integrated reliability understanding how to use the tool it also allows us to to go back into and work with the language as you saw on the smart card there's there's practically the like if you will the evaluation interpretation dialogue book that's pretty deep and so what does it look like how do we you know it it takes time but that is one
100of the components that's part of the training thank you I would also like to see since we change also presents opportunity and perhaps that not just because this is a new tool but I know as a board member teacher evaluations is something that I hear about a lot and have in the past that perhaps we have the opportunity to implement reliability checks just going forward not just to make sure because it's a new tool and we want to make sure but part of our strategic plan and what we've talked about is accountability accountability accountability and so potentially that might be an opportunity for us to go we start because it's a new tool but that it's continued that the principles have reliability checks as well because like I said as a board member that's something
101I hear you always know when assessment or when observations have been done because we will there's Ebbs and flows of of what we hear from our community and and everything the other thing is um I know you said the teachers have access to this card and and all of that information is there a way that if the teachers want more information on this tool that they can seek out additional training than what maybe their principles providing is there somewhere that they can get that obviously Dr treats doing that for the administrators but maybe a teacher's looking they they just need more one great thing board member Reese is that Danielson has videos online that we used when we were going through the training that are available for teachers as well our instructional coaches all went
102through this training not to be evaluators but to be the support Personnel on campus to help teachers when they have questions or provide specific examples so I'm excited we've included them because they're on site all the time meeting in PLC meetings and individually with teachers that's really good because when we speak the same language with our instructional coaches if they're working with a teacher and they can refer to you know so this area here would hit the Danielson tool classroom environment 2D so that it can connect with the teachers so when we speak the same language and it's relative to them then that makes it more important I'm only gonna just throw this out there because it's a concern I've heard on and off is I don't think we have a consistent message right now
103I have heard from different campuses this isn't sticking around I was told we don't need to worry about it it's not real and others are like oh my gosh we live and die by Danielson so um so I I think there is some mixed messages out there based on campus and when I've been asked it's no this is real this is live this is your evaluation tool and it is now and it is here um and so uh I I just don't want any of our teachers to be cut off guard because they weren't expecting like you said our evaluation schedules are the same and I just don't want them to think that it's not um and so maybe that's something for your next principals meeting to have that discussion and maybe check in and
104see how they're they're filtering the information on their campuses so um I'm excited about it it's very similar to what I'm used to so I understand it so I'm just like oh yeah there's domains and components and everything else so I'm excited I think it's very clear so thank you thank you board member Reese for sharing that and it just reiterates you know consistency over time and right it's we can't leave it and I see the instructional coaches and our principals embedding it in their their PD opportunities not just what's coming from Dr tree but there so we just have to keep saying the same things over and over and stick to it so to follow up oh I'm sorry to follow up with what Mrs Reese said um maybe even mentioning it to meet
105and confer that we will be sticking with this so they can get the message out from them as well um I didn't hear I haven't heard that so um that's a new piece to me but maybe meet and confer can put that out to its members that this is the new method and we will be using it thank you president kaler I'm a board member Wilson I think one of the things too is we've been putting like for instance when we talked about it do these go on our board summaries that go to all of our all of our employees I think one of the things too is part of this change is we're also trying to not scare people as well going there's this whole new instrument and everything you ever thought you ever
106knew throw it out but rather we're trying to embrace this in a way that is that that is that launches it correctly but anytime you have change there is there is concern animosity about what it is so I I think sometimes some people downplay it to try and say don't worry we're gonna we're gonna take our time we're gonna do this well that may be construed that this isn't really that important I think one of the things is that our goal is to make this very important our goal is to do this well I think that any feedback that you hear or receive is important for us you to share with us because that allows us to then help make sure that it's interpreted correctly and that we're supporting it appropriately our instructional coaches is
107are even in their professional development when they're talking about a particular strategy for engagement I think you've read about this are pointing out this is an example of of this component and this is what it looks like different when and how do teachers get students more involved in because remember our theme this year is part of our strategic plan is student engagement so focusing our professional development and the new evaluation instrument all honing in on the same topic is an ongoing theme you hear but we appreciate you hearing questions concerns and feedback because it allows us to make sure that it is being interpreted and shared consistently appropriately as we all Embrace new and and I think there is always there is always challenges when you start with something new um and I think we're
108we're trying to navigate that so we appreciate your help in that process go ahead Mrs Anderson go ahead I'll do the last thank you um the evals always come in as the Doom and Gloom time right because it it's received as um feedback but sometimes it's not welcomed as feedback um I I just want to make sure that these tools take into account um or are aware of that although the tool is going to be passed along and it's it's very thorough and very cumbersome and that's kind of why it took me so long to get back on some of the questions I was truly trying to understand this but it's really sometimes just differences in your evaluators and and their subjective approach I don't know how many different evaluers I've had and all my
109evaluations have been different um and I finally had an evaluator that has a science background um and finally got the evaluation that I thought that you know I deserved or at least an observation you know that met recognizing the approach to students to ignite that interaction and even student-led great questions so I just want to I just want to put that out there to be mindful of that and I know there's no way we can match administrator to teacher based on class but if we could definitely say keep that in mind as you approach these teachers they're obviously you're not going to walk into a history class and a chemistry class and see the exact same things and you certainly cannot evaluate them the same in my opinion also there's also this rumor that has
110followed among the different districts I've been in is with the um the previous tool the strong tool is you will never the the admins can never give you exceeds because they want you to grow and they just can't give you exceeds and and you know people would get exceeds but you know and you're like geez so is that a real thing that teachers can never reach that maximum level absolutely not okay okay that that's one reason why we walked you through the differences here on 3B because when you you hear it and you dial in on it deeper you kind of go oh that may look different um in a classroom than on a piece of paper so what does it look like and that does facilitate training and discussions between Miss Lindsay and Mr
111lautzenheiser um with the the principles because it's absolutely teachers are going to get distinguished but the reasonable Target like I said when I read what proficient sounded like I would be like oh this is fantastic it's an AP class yeah so we don't want them this message to be no people will never get that but we do want to assure people that proficient is great you know if you go in above and beyond that fantastic but it is attainable because there really are teachers out there that meet those requirements very well and maybe not in all parts the other question I or another point is so domain two the classroom environment is that going to look different for the hva teachers some of those points don't hit the HBA is that what your channel Academy
112yes okay yes we have to take all that into consideration because I've seen some incredible things going on with those teachers and sure and so I know Mr Lawson Hazard is working directly with Mr Dolan to make sure that it may not look exactly the same but you create a classroom environment it's more challenging online the couple of times I tried to teach a lesson I was like oh this is this is challenging so so in the videos that they would have to look at for training would they have do they have trainings for I mean because virtual teaching has become a thing you know we need to work for those because specifically during training they didn't show us that but that's something we absolutely can look for and if not then we could create
113some of our own that would be wonderful right because I think it's great to continue the last thing thing is a tool like this like I said it's very thorough um how I just be mindful of taking into account the excess duties and the growing class sizes and the changes that come to the teacher to be mindful of that in the absences not just t-trap but the student absences you know Finding Subs is a whole other thing for Teacher absences but student absences I don't know if you're tracking that or at least where I I am are just phenomenal it's almost like we went through a stage where absences just really aren't that big of a deal we come very lenient so classrooms look and feel different now with the way how timing is when
114works turned in and getting caught up and I look at some of the evaluations for feedback to students student self-assessment monitoring I mean activities and assignments some of these kids are coming in they've missed a couple days you're trying to give feedback to them it gets behind it gets overwhelming and I wouldn't want any teachers to be held accountable for something that is truly out of their control so I don't know if admins are being trained on that if that's something that has been discussed but I would really hate for that to be something that pull that separates them from proficient or distinguished or keeping them from reaching to that proficient rating just wanted to put my two absolutely vice president Anderson these are all things that are powerful discussions with our with our teachers
115and our administrators because I think our attendance continues to improve and kids are excited about being here but hopefully we don't have another covid blast but if we do I think we're better equipped now with the use of canvas and helping kids stay on track so they we they do have opportunities but their teenagers or young you know students so it doesn't always go as we as we've set it up for it to go so I just wanted that to and I know preaching to the choir again thank you thank you another great discussion and questions concerns um I too just um I'm excited for this and I also am um not I don't want to use the word concern because that's not the right word but just be aware and attentive that our senior
116teachers that have had um you know exceed exceed exceed exceed or whatever those are for years and years and years and years and now we bring in this new tool and now maybe they're going to be proficient and I just know that that change is going to be very very hard for some of our long-term teachers that have mastered the strong evaluation tool year after year year after year and so again just being sensitive to those um it changes hard period so I Echo the sentiments of this board and appreciate the time to help us better understand what it is so that if a teacher does come to us for any reason especially when you stop into Safeway and they grab your ear you're able to um you know have a legitimate conversation and we
117know exactly where we stand when it comes to this tool so I appreciate the time and the presentation tonight all right we're going to move on to an action item and again normally just to reiterate what Mrs Martin said normally we don't do an information item and a voting item all in the same night but tonight we felt it was imperative that we do so I moved that the governing board 8.1 I move that the governing board approves the sub rate to be increased from 125 to 165 for the daily rate and from 145 to 185 for the long-term rate which also includes our Monday and Friday hard to fill days and our Higley retirees second any other questions concerns comment all those in favor aye motion carries five zero items for the future agenda
118we have a preschool update coming up that's going to be fun um course guide is always a work in Project Mr Lawson Heiser shaking his head over there he loves he loves a course guide update special education program coming which are we including our h-tap in that great um CTE update coming and of course always our strategic plan anything else the board would like to see at an upcoming board meeting Mrs Anderson um it's I put this in the email but I don't know if that's something you know something that can be made public or if this is something the board we can receive but any information and updates are just understanding of House Bill 2161 I know it's the Talk Amongst teachers and it's coming down the lines to admins and admins to teachers
119as the governing board and for policy sake and revised statutes that are coming is there any way we can get some formal presentation or information on that president Caleb vice president Anderson absolutely yes we bring the policies to you that we are working through we will go into that deeply okay so we are going to um we're going to adjourn this meeting in our executive session so I move that the governing board moved to Executive session um for legal advice with our governing board attorney pursuant to ARS 38-431.03 A3 regarding a former employee and related issues second all those in favor aye aye motion carries sorry that was cut you off so we will adjourn our formal um board meeting in that meeting so good night and enjoy fall break to the maximum thank you