001good morning gonna call this meeting to order dr. Thomason roll call please president Kaler members of the board please let the record show that we have all board members attendance mr. roat ovitch is attending telephonically thank you very much we're gonna have a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance well we have a lot to get through today so I move that we approve the agenda second any questions or concerns on the agenda this morning all those in favor aye I heard you mister with ovitch motion passes 5-0 upcoming events dr. Thomason president Kaler members of the board so as this is coming near the end of the school year on Thursday May 21st we do have our virtual graduation for Higley and Williams field those will be available for download after they
002have aired the first time pigley's will start at 9:30 a.m. on May 21st followed by Williams field high school at 2:30 p.m. on May 21st then on Friday June 12th we do have a governing board meeting and superintendent evaluation here at the district office followed by a meeting on Wednesday June 24th the governing board meeting starting at 5:30 here at the district office also so that will be the next month and upcoming graduation events I also think mrs. reach we have June 20th our board retreat scheduled to at 8:00 a.m. I think that's also coming up just to put that on the calendar as well thank you dr. Thomason we're gonna go out to board comments would anybody like to speak to us go ahead mrs. Wilson I just wanted to thank everyone I've been
003able to watch so many things this month because it's not as packed I feel like we've gotten no seat I actually got to see the virtual talent show over at Gateway and that was awesome to see that they're still doing something to keep those kids engaged and I was just really fun to see the talents that maybe couldn't normally happen in a Jim that they were able to you know show us skateboarding and all the things and then I also caught a lot of the morning announcements some of the different campuses Coronado especially they're doing them on Instagram for the kids and just been some fun to see and I just appreciate just the fun like to be able to see people still that we know and we can see that the kids are really
004enjoying it I also would like to ask dr. Thomason I've been asked a couple questions and I have already prepped him for this but I did want to ask him from teachers standpoint how they are coming back next year president Kaler members of the board mrs. Wilson we will be following the CDC recommendations from the federal government and also the recommendations from governor Ducey within the state of Arizona at this time we have opened up under phase one phase one still has gatherings of ten people or less that are recommended and so we're following those those precautions and then phase two would allow for opening up of some school areas with gatherings of 50 individuals or less phase three we imagine them will be happening when school starts up but we'll be following the CDC
005and the guidelines from the state of Arizona we do have an ace-in-the-hole with dr. dan Foley that is on the state committee to help us give us that information and so we know that they'll be changes as a school year starts but we don't know exactly what those will be at this time we are taking a look at the cleaning supplies we have the cleaning requirements for the CDC and those types of things social distancing opportunities and we're taking a look at all those along with several different educational components that may or may not take place when we return in July all of those were running through we've got plan ABC and D and it goes on depending on what is required from the CDC and the state of Arizona but we are continually working
006on that and so will bringing be bringing updates to you on a regular basis thank you president Kaler I just want to thank all of our high school staff our district administration Governor Ducey did come out with his announcement yesterday that he is going to let the stay order expire but like dr. Thomason said we're still in phase one it still limits gatherings just because Governor Ducey is allowing this order to expire does not mean we can hold the full in person graduation it's still not within the guidelines that our state or CDC is recommending so thank you for taking that into consideration we're still following what we're supposed to be doing no matter what's on the news no matter how large people are gathering we are following what our guidance and direction is for
007school districts and I got to see part of the filming of the Williams field virtual graduation yesterday I know mrs. Kaler got to see it on Monday and I think you guys knocked it out of the park I think you guys have done an amazing job to give our students the next best thing they had the opportunity to walk across the stage in their cap and gown and be recognized they will have a little spotlight their name was called everything that we could do next to holding a full in-person graduation I think you guys have done so the team that you've put together the principals with the high school everyone working from hcp a teachers they were really really excited and wanted to make it a special for those kids as they could there were
008teachers outside the hcp a that as the kids came out they cheered and clapped for him so they had some of that feeling and so I just want to thank you guys for pulling that all together it was a lot of work and I think it's gonna be great but I appreciate the actual emotion and thought on it's not just graduation how can how can we make them feel the best we can with what we have so again thank you for pulling all of that together I know it was short a short timeframe and I'm just excited to see these virtual graduations and I think the students really appreciated it so I just wanted to give a shout out to everyone and I know I talked to the assistant principals who are normally in charge
009of graduation and huge graduation Wells Fargo Arena there's usually all right desert financial now there's a lot of logistics that go into that and prep and plan and this was ten times harder for them but they put the work in they made it happen and I just want to say thank you yes mrs. Reese I echo your sentiments it was surreal watching employees with Ghostbuster looking deodorizers and wiping down everything in between but I was so thankful that we took all the precautions that we possibly could I even heard that some of our schools they're not even doing the cap and gown portraits which Lou coupie came and did portraits for us and they've only done a handful of schools already so we have done everything we possibly can in our power safely to honor
010these kids and I know that that's not what every parent can you know wants to hear they might not think we did enough but you know we can still just do the best we can in this crazy world we're in right now so and I just want to shout out too because there's so many unique cool ideas that have come because of these situations we have parent we have teachers doing virtual cheer tryouts and I mean dance places have opened up to have one person at a time do their routines so that they can still have a dance and they've just we've gotten so creative in the educational world to still honor students I know that Sossaman is now I think if they're doing their drive-by I think it's a drive-by excellence or something I
011mean there's just so many things out there I can't even keep track of what's going on at every school to honor the little kindergarteners and the sixth graders and the eighth graders and like I feel like we've gotten so creative and I'm just so grateful so thank you okay we're gonna move on to consent and I move that the governing board approves consent agenda items five point one two five point ten second I just want to point out on five point six we had Barrett financial give a $50,000 donation to wipe out all of our lunch debt and it came to fruition because an employee was just thinking what could we do he had a student here at Higley and they they forego their bonuses as employees so that they could provide that $50,000 and
012so I just want to again thank them so much on behalf of the board and our community and yeah that was a big chunk of change thank you any other questions or comments on consent mr. Glover thank you madam president just two things 5.9 I just have to make this comment that we all have to make in the in the hopes of educating our public so this is a screening testing of students policy I'm not arguing against the fact that vision testing is good for kids but you have the state government mandating something and and again not giving any money to get that task done and furthermore I'm I often hear people to cry you know how much we spend on administration but administration that the notion that that conjures up is that you have
013principles driving mercedes-benz you know and it's not it's all going to those administrative costs but this vision testing is it is it as an administrative cost and so we just have to keep that in mind I think when we talk about administrative costs and continue to help educate the public so I just every time if something like this comes up I will continue to to voice that and then the second thing is item 5.10 and it is a modification for the evaluation process and as you guys alluded to earlier we're finding out that some of the things that we thought were important aren't important or as important as we thought and there's things that we're learning about how we could do better and be more efficient so you know I just want to say a
014couple things about our evaluation process one I think I think we should I think we have agreed to at some point look at them more carefully I think it should be done before contracts are issued I think that should be a goal of any evaluation instrument I'd like to see them simplified I'd like to see them focus their support for young and new to the profession teachers and teachers who are struggling and could improve as opposed to may and and making it easier less work for qualified veteran teachers that we know are doing a good job I think our PLC's help all teachers work to get better and so you have PLC's but then you always had evaluations so how can what what redundancies are there that we can and possibly eliminate I think there's
015an opportunity to offer multi-year contracts for veteran teachers that are that are doing a good job and so we don't have to spend our time and effort and resources on them because we know that they're doing a good job and we can focus on some other people that we need to keep in the classroom that can improve and spend our money where it will move do the most good some of the instruments that exist across this nation are very cumbersome for the the person being evaluated and the person that is the evaluate or so making that more simplified and streamlined would be good I'm not sure that doing full-on or even we have we have something that it's a little bit less but it's not as less as I would like for some of the
016folks who are well anyway doing an evaluation a comprehensive evaluation for every employee every single year is really not going to have the desired effect we just don't are the people who do the evaluations don't have the time to to really do that effectively so I hope it's something that district administrators school administrators the HEA and our teachers can get together and endeavor to improve as time goes on Thank You mr. Glover I think we've all learned that less is more right now in this pandemic that we have been able to continue to function and do a lot of things but less of them so yes thank you for those comments all those in favor aye aye motion passes 5-0 okay we are going on to our well this is just our monthly six point
017one monthly financial report any questions for mr. Hollin this morning we're gonna be hearing from him in a little bit on another budget item no questions okay dr. Foley is going to update us here on the updated calendar for 2021 school year thank you yes so I have a quick update for you on our calendar committee based on our conversation that our last meeting I took back the governing board's feedback particularly around middle school parent-teacher conferences PD the month of September and October where our end February we're needing to be reevaluated so if you'll slide to the next slide I'm happy to provide some feedback so following our meeting on Wednesday morning met with our middle school advisory group with our administrators to talk through the feedback so that we could bring a recommendation to
018the calendar committee the following week one of the things that we decided was really important looking at the data on the number of parent-teacher conferences we decided that we wanted to recommend to the calendar committee to keep the fall ones because those were utilized really well and that knowing that that that time was something that we felt was really important to have at particularly with that transition obviously moving it back and keeping it so it was at a time was more important where we had more information they wanted to keep it there the other thing we talked about was consistency based on the feedback you had provided on making the Thursday the later evening Friday you'll notice that these no longer backup to a three-day weekend so that there's some consistency between those parent-teacher conferences
019we also decided to for the month of September we kept the early release for the middle schools for this reason the hard part is the way we're doing the professional development elementary and high school there's isn't highlighted out because it's an every Wednesday thing keeping them consistent particularly with a break so that they had that PD we wanted to protect and keep it just so happens that that next year in that month is September with Fall Break falling at the end of it September is going to be an interesting and interesting month but we also decided that moving or taking away that time made middle schools just a little bit less and we thought that was not the best proposal so we decided to bring those recommendations to our calendar committee who then reviewed that
020and felt that that were some good recommendations so next slide so we made those revision updates that was a fabulous feedback in fact it led to some great conversation with both the middle school administration and teacher team and the committee and then we made the adjustments to the following calendars with that feedback so that that's what was updated for those calendars next slide what we did then was updated the instructional minutes because that put back some instructional minutes for middle school so that when we took a look at it it was more accurate so the way the calendar kind of crumbled next line and no change was made to the professional development so the thing we again feel really good about is the equity at the secondary level for professional development for our teachers in
021unique ways but consistently across and something we're proud of next line I just want to tell you again how much I appreciate the members of this committee again multiple perspectives were represented here including mrs. Wilson who was on here representing the governing board and as a parent of an elementary an incoming middle and a high school parent so again we had great conversation and dialogue and I think a lot of difficult conversations that are bringing our proposal to you so we are comfortable today bringing these recommendations to you for consideration for approval thank you dr. Foley are there any questions for dr. Foley on these calendars yeah Kaler just just a comment I'm pleased and I thank the committee as well but the removal of the middle school conferences you have in the spring giving
022the teachers giving teachers the gift of time is one of the best things you can give to a teacher so appreciate the consideration of that thank you for the feedback it led to great dialog again in a great committee representation here so thank you for the feedback to kind of reiterate what mr. Glover said I appreciate the the conversation and the compromise and looking at all the viewpoints and and seeing what what's necessary what really works what do we need to do and I appreciate you putting the minutes out there we do exceed the state minutes but we do have the expectation of our community and our students that we're not about doing the bare minimum we're not about well we do you know we don't need to do this our students need this our
023community needs this and I I appreciate that and giving that springtime back to the teachers to make use of our time wisely if it was necessary I'm open to that conversation as well but I appreciate you guys taking the feedback going back and having a conversation and a good a good compromise I agree September's gonna be a very interesting month but it's a month and we'll get through it so thank you very much yes dr. Foley I'm looking at those minutes to the last two years I'm so grateful we've had those extra minutes because that saved us during the red for IDI movement and not having children still going you know past the end date of school again this year I mean it's just every year we think well we you know we're fine nothing's
024gonna happen and then something happens so it's been very unique to say the least and the other part of this equation that I love is that we're giving out to our community future calendars we're planning people love to plan vacations years in advance in this community from what I've gathered so you know this is this is awesome that people coming to our community can see that we've we've made a plan for years to come so thank you there is one thing in the next year's calendar dr. Foley and I had discussed it we actually discussed it in our committee as well that it does not align with Chandler so we may get a little feedback for that just to let everyone know on the board so you may get some parents asking why it doesn't
025fully align with Chandler Gilbert Queen Creek but that calendar was set forth in what year did we decide dr. Foley do you remember okay over four years ago so just tilt reiterate we just kind of added some we tweaked that calendar we didn't want to switch any vacation times for families who had already planned that spring break out in advance like mrs. Kaler said but we also wanted to just maybe we may get some feedback on that so just so you guys know the history of it so you can kind of help with that if that question comes up thank you for that okay any other comments mr. Witte ovitch anything Oh comment thank you thank you so I'm gonna move to 6.3 and I move that the governing board approves the calendars committee's recommended
026calendars for 2020 through 2021 2021 through 2022 2022 through 2023 2023 through 2024 and finally 2024 through 2025 school years second any other comments all those in favor motion carries 5-0 okay moving on to 6.4 and mr. Holland I believe we owe you a thank you for our treats he sugared us up if I don't know if anybody can see this on the cameras but we are sugared up for the day thank you and we're gonna go over our revised budget it's a good morning president Kaler yes I was not able to find that little money candy that I've given you guys in the past so I had to come up with an alternate plan tried to give everybody a little bit of sample hopefully there's something that you guys like so I do have
027a couple of jokes for you today so we'll see if these are better than so the first one is I told my suitcases that there will be no vacation this year now I'm dealing with emotional baggage exactly and the next one is how do you get straight A's in school use a ruler jokes are hard to find so good morning president Kaler members of the board dr. Thompson cabinet today I have for you a quick highlight of the key changes for our 1920 revised budget for the school year slide please we are doing this presentation and revising our budget today to comply with Arizona revised statute 15 940 301 B next slide so for this year for the 1920 school year I brought you three budgets first I brought you our proposed budget on June
02814th then I came back on June the 26th of 19 and ask you to please adopt that budget and then here we are today on May 13th revising that budget which is the final revision for the 1920 school year next month that will bring you next month but next year's budget so again there are multiple factors that you have to take into consideration next slide please sorry that there are multiple factors that you have to take into consideration when you're developing a budget some of the key things that are factors affecting this year's revised budget is student enrollment so we did have some ADM growth for the year so we were picking that up capital transfers typical as well as our carry-forward from the 1819 school year and also another one that's not the adjustments
029from a te next slide so our ATM for this year as I mentioned we have a little bit of an increase so our when we adopted the budget for the year our group a weight which is the majority of our funding was at 14 for 39 we are revising today at 14 976 which is an increase of five hundred and thirty-seven point to 36 again this is Adm not necessarily studentcount next we have our group B which is our special program some of this is an add-on to a so we adopted at 2601 revising today at 23 85 which is an increase of 234 point 141 bringing you a course to a grand total our adopted ATM for the year 70 no 41 we're revising today at 17 812 so that is an increase of
030771 point 404 for that increase of course mr. Hollin if I remember correctly we were doing flat last year Craig we were not expecting this kind of growth correct so this year's budget was built based on enrollment thank you next slide please okay so our major operating budget is our maintenance and operation budget so we'll start with our revenue control limit so the revenue control iment is based on a formula which is where the ADM comes into play with some other factors you'll see that there are several other categories of there that we're going to talk about this morning but those are all in addition to your so when we adopt the budget we use some budget estimates and of course now we actually know what those prior your expenditures are as well as whether
031we have an increase or decrease in our enrollment so our revenue control limit was 73 million nine hundred ninety three thousand three thirty five we're revising today two seventy seven point two which is a little over three point two million dollar increase our override that is our maintenance and operation override we estimated it to be a little over 11 million 11.11 11 whereas after a te did their final calculation it's 11 o 92 which is a $19,000 decrease our capital transfer so every year we have to transfer a portion of our operating budget over to our capital budget to meet all the growing capital needs for the district this year we chose to move 7 million dollars which we did at the beginning of the year but because of the state of the economy and
032everything right now you know normally we would move a portion of our increase over to help meet the growing capital needs but because of the economy right now we're not moving anything more our carryover we automatically budget for 3.5 million dollars and we hope for more so last year we did in the year little over three point six so we are picking up a little over one hundred eighty nine thousand dollars from carryover from last school year next we have our prop one two three we estimated it to be around five hundred and thirty two thousand and it actually came out to around five hundred forty one so that's a little over nine thousand dollar increase so as a grand total of course we adopted at 82 million 137 to 91 and we're revising today
033at 85 million five five five six thirty nine which is a three point four million dollar increase in our operating budget for this year next slide next we have our unrestricted capital so again same sort of concept we build this budget and adopt it based off of projections and now we we have final numbers so today we adopted at 12 million 732 she's me seven million million 723 we're revising today a little over 13 million so it's a three hundred fifty six thousand dollar increase to our capital budget we gained some interest over the year so a little over one hundred eighty six thousand dollars that we're adding for the interest there's our capital transfer we're not moving anything more so that's zero we have our district additional assistance again we calculated estimated over four
034eighty eight came back with three point nine so that's a ninety six thousand dollar decrease so for a total of twenty three point seven million we're revising to twenty four point two million so we're adding four hundred forty five thousand eight twenty to our capital budget and of course these capital though it's a small amount but every penny is will help especially with our middle school lease payment our science curriculum adoption that we're planning for next year RIT refresh additional pupil transportation etc next the third highlight for this particular budget next please it's an additional funding that is just becoming available now with the district has not received these funds as of yet but we know that they are coming this is the federal cares act grant monies this funding how you would determine your
035allocation of your pot of money if you use your nineteen twenty title one allocation so you'll notice on the screen or allocation for this year was eight hundred and sixty eight thousand seven forty three you take seventy percent of that that's how you arrived at the 608 120 again as I mentioned that the district has not even received these funds as of yet so of course not all of these monies will be spent in the nineteen twenty school year so there will be a carryover going into 2021 of President Kaler members of the board we've also got some new information from the federal government that there are other opportunities for individuals to apply for those funds too and so we will watch this very carefully to know exactly what the higly Unified School District's portion
036of those funds will be because there's other opportunities for some other entities to request those funds also it's an estimate and actually the directive from the Auditor General came out the night after I had already finished this budget and sent it to Darlene so we had to go back and revise it nonetheless it is here and we will see how it goes from there waiting for final numbers next slide so as I said it was kind of quick three major highlights to our budget there were some other areas there were slight increases these are the key things to keep in mind with this budget does anybody have any questions Thank You doc mr. Hall I always want to call you dr. fallin just keep your knockers already okay please Kristina I'm sorry mrs. Reese just
037a quick question with the cares Act money that we are anticipating can you give a brief description as to what we plan to use that money for it's additional money it's not something we had allocated before what is our intention for that six hundred and eight thousand so mrs. Reese we do have a meeting that we are scheduling to kind of go over and evaluate exactly what those funds will be utilized for I can't tell you the allowable type of expenses for this funds or anything that is allowable to your federal program right now would be an allowable expense so for example maybe we use a portion of these for some additional curriculum or we use it for some additional technology kind of depends on whatever the committee kind of comes up with correct dr.
038Foley so I know that there's the cares act is huge and it has so many different bullet points and I know that there's also other discussion on that money for school districts and I believe part of that is to ensure that were appropriately prepared for whatever our schools will look like in the future we don't know we haven't gotten there yet so is that this money or is that separate money because I know that there is part of for educational institutions if we have to have hand washing sinks at every entrance I mean there's a cost to that if we have to somehow put hand sanitizer at every interest entrance there's a cost to that is that this money is that other monies because that cares package is huge so these funds could be used
039for that of course I mean we haven't had this meeting so I don't necessarily speak for like the group as a whole but I would think that we would of course take all of that into consideration it's true we don't know what nexor is going to look like and so we would be setting aside a portion of that or any of these types of other expenses plus we are continuously looking for additional funding that may become available to help with any unforeseen type of expenses going forward thank you any other comments or questions go ahead so mr. Honda or we the actual student count were up about is it around 500 students that sounds about right right correct that is correct okay so it's about 500 students and I will tell you that unexpectedly our
040neighbor Gilbert Public Schools also is up 500 they did not anticipate going up at all so what you have in the Gilbert area are a thousand kids who have decided that the public education that we provide is better than some of the other choices that are out there and I hope that trend continues it I'm happy to see it you know Gilbert Public Schools is built out so you know there's no there's not new housing new families necessarily so it's a good it's a good thing I hope that trend continues because I think we are the best game in town yes Thank You mr. Glover I agreed seeing those numbers when we were expecting a flat it's very exciting for higly Unified School District and I think that's hats off to the like you say
041dr. mr. Glover the the product that we provide here it's it's top-notch and so I'm grateful for those that choose higly for their home schools absolutely I also appreciate just again helping me to understand a 70-80 it's just such a massive amount of numbers that come at us and thank you for making it clear to me and I can understand it and comprehend it I also appreciate mr. Glover you talking about the different pots of money because some so many people don't understand what our administrative costs what this pot of money and the M&O and it's just so vast in education and so any chance that we can to try to clarify things thank you for that and we're fully transparent you can find our budgets all over online all our monies are for everybody
042to see and yeah so it the very good news thank you thank you mr. Holland yes ma'am mr. with tow any questions no questions thank you so I move that the governing board approve the 2019 2020 revised budget number one in accordance with the ARS 15-9 zero 5g as presented second all those in favor aye motion carries 5-0 Thank You mr. Hollin thank you and now we are going to go to I'm sorry it is 6.5 I move that the board approves payment of both our CH invoice for the 2018 to 2019 fiscal year okay mr. Fowler going to talk to this for the next one this is just a payment that school's facilities board project it required a final sign-off from the architect it took a little bit longer so we had to go
043into the next fiscal year so again it's from last year if you wanted to clarify that president Kaler yes you are correct as we work with the state facilities board sometimes there's some challenges that that come with individual architects each one has their own personality in this case there was some disagreement between the state facilities board in this architect and which caused a delay and pushed us into the next fiscal year but we were just following up the practice and because it lapsed over to this fiscal year that project is completed and they're just looking for final payment so that's all this is being rectified here yes this has happened a few times so nothing new that we haven't seen before okay all those or any other questions or concerns president Taylor yes just a
044quick question I see the date and that it was revised May 26th of 2019 yes so has it been can has there been a concern or conflicts since May of 2019 it's taken almost to you the conflict has been getting the architect to finalize the sign-off and so there's just been some delay with that process so project had being completed on at 2019 but the sign-off there's a disagreement between the specs that the state wrote and in the architect and so that's what the delay had been okay so this project was completed based on architectural plans but there was a disagreement on something on the plans between the state and the architect but that project was completed and we're getting it had to do with the warranty disputing the warranty and and so the plans
045were follow the perspect was really the architect that was disputing that so it took a while for them to agree and that's what the delay was okay thank you okay so all those in favor aye motion passes 5-0 next up we are going to go to our food service that is six point six I move that the Governing Board approves the food service meal price changes for the 2020 to 21 school year ii dr. Thomason and I had a good conversation about our food service and this is a five cent increase for next year for our food service if you want to kind of clarify what we had talked about and why we're bringing this forth today yes president Kaler members of the board so taking a look at our average monthly paid lunches across
046the district if we keep the the meal prices the same we would go in approximately in the hall each month one thousand eight hundred and forty three dollars and ten cents with the increase of five cents per lunch across all grade levels that would still make us about even so we're not looking to make money but we're not looking to lose money either and so with the new revised cost for Mills at each grade level it would be a break-even point or if you take the average numbers a loss of five dollars and fifty cents per month over the average of the year and so increasing it by five cents also flattens out too did the curve and so the next time we have an increase we wouldn't have to go for a 10 cent
047increase we would just do a 5 cent increase and so that's also more palatable for our community so the average cost of a student that eats our lunch every single day would be 9 dollars extra for the entire year from the start to the end of the school year and so that would be our recommendation is just the increase to flatten up the curve and to make sure the district does not go in a hole for school lunches and to make it more palatable for the next increase yes I agree with you dr. Thomason that 5 cents now is easier for a lot of families than maybe ten cents later so I'm all for that are there any questions or concerns that you have or mr. Petrovic bill questions thank you all those in favor
048aye motion carries 5-0 president Kaler members of the board I also wanted to let the governing board to as I did take a look at our cost compared to our surrounding districts and we would be less than gilbert public schools Chandler Unified School District it would be higher than Queen Creek and we'd be higher than Mesa just so we're in the ballpark we're right in the middle of the southeast Valley school districts thank you for that dr. Thomason and with that we are going to move on to 6.7 I move that the governing board approves a renewal of the food service contract with Compass Group USA Inc by and through its Chartwells division second comments questions and concerns dr. Thomason or perhaps mr. Holland just what has been the feedback for Chartwells as far as
049their service the product the taste the I just want to hear what what we're hearing from the community president Kaler if you take a look at mill numbers our mill numbers and our servings are up this year including our ala carte service and so across the board from from elementary to high school we are serving more lunches this year which is give us a good indication that our community and our family do prefer to lunches there are there a higher quality and a higher caliber than they had been in the past also to the Chartwells company has been very easy to work with we have gone to them on a couple of occasions and made recommendations for changes in service changes for elementary through high school and they are working with our student populations at
050the high school levels to give those kids an opportunity to come together and collaborate for meals that they enjoy and so I'm very happy with the Chartwells service and in the their product that they're putting out for our school district so I think it's a much better increase than we have had in the past so I'm very pleased with Carlos we were fortunate enough to have them come to a board meeting not too too long ago while it seems so long ago what I appreciate about Chartwells is that they have a mobile cooking station and they'll take that into our classrooms into our sped classrooms and work with those students on how they can learn to cook and make something and so they're very educational focused as well and they've provided a lot of opportunities
051for our students and and not just serving our meals but teaching kids teaching kids about nutrition and kitchen safety and everything so I really appreciate that they take a much larger interest and look at what they do and it's not just a meal service so I I've been very pleased on what they've done in our district beyond just our meal service so and I've heard it is much better mrs. Wilson I actually got to work with Chartwells I volunteered one day they needed some help preparing all these meals that we've been handing out they're the company who's doing that for kids this last two months and I went over and got to work with them and it was just a fantastic staff that they have on staff over there I was at HT a that
052day and they just did a marvelous job and they had to prepare for the whole weekend and they were the ladies over there were just excited to work and we're excited to be working for Chartwells I kind of tried to keep my low-profile not I didn't quite want them to know who I was and so they were very talkative and super nice and friendly to me and just we're really excited to serve the kids still and excited to like be helping the community which was a great piece to see that their employees are feeling very valued so I just appreciate Chartwells in that thank you and mr. Holland they work well with you too I know there was like that financial piece and the the supervisor piece from our previous food service how's that all
053going president Kaler yes we've had a much much more positive experience this year which art was than we had in our previous food service company Sam and his team is very they're very good to work with we do have regular meetings to try to stay connected informed and and like miss Reece said the feedback that we've received on the food has been so yeah so it's been a it's been a good year good to hear good to know I know even the adults at the high schools like the lunches too so must be doing something right over there president Kaler members the board I would also like to remind our community that we will be having the pickup mill surface at least through June 30th Chartwells has agreed to do that and we are serving
054about six thousand meals a day three thousand breakfast three thousand lunch and that is seven days a week and that is available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. different sites across the district yes I see in when I'm sitting on my patio I see the Cortina line going for their their breakfast and gathering so yes it's been a great blessing to our community and I'm thankful that Chartwells has been so great to work with this past year any comments mr. wit ovitch no thank you thank you so with that said all those in favor aye aye motion carries 5-0 thank you mr. Hollin and now it's going to be the dr. Fowler show with me get there 6.8 I would move that the Governing Board approves the contract 18 - 15 - PV - 1
0551 was job order contract a1gp a contract or right right riten am I saying that properly right - in construction second ok dr. Fowler is going to give us a presentation looked at call those pictures up if we can we would I bring to the board today is the the request to move forward with the architectures work - to revitalize the media centers and really bring them into the 21st century I think the a couple themes that that I would like to highlight first of all is we're able to do this at really reasonable cost what we're looking at is creating media centers that really attract students draw students in a couple the the key pieces to the remodel that would do that number one is the cafe idea a grab and grow grab-and-go station
056a place for kids to get the types of things that they want in the morning or during breaks in and a place to gather - or take of those things and then this the second piece is is updating the design of the of the media center with flexible shelving in in bookshelves that can be configured and moved and to draw the kids in while they're there to stay for the media part and then the third piece is the piece that allows for students to to engage in some activity that is just kind of new and starting which is the esports and and we know that that's very popular probably more so now than ever just with fuel being sequestered at home and so that that will allow for that also we're incorporating some new meeting
057spaces collaboration spaces and and at Higley high a space that would allow for for staff conferences and meetings which is similar to what Wayne's field already has that we when we built the new building so I apologize I was hoping to have a video but they the architect told me it would take them 30 hours to put that together and so so I don't have that but the pictures timeline me as you can see we were able to get this work done in time for the start of school would be great for those students to come back and interestingly just on a side note my wife is an English Lit major and so she would kind of be in my school of thought in terms of what a media center looks like and interestingly with
058my 14 year old who's entering into high school and having some of the comments about what its gonna be in this media center well as soon as he heard video gaming and what where's this place oh I you know so it was interesting but it certainly pinged peaked my 14 year olds interest certainly my wife expressed some concerns about the traditional library and I was reassuring her that that's still going to be part of this design as well but it's something really that we're excited about and creating a space that that brings the students in to the media center and still provides the services that we've provided but but adding to that and I know dr. Thomason has spent spent a lot of time working with with this particular architectural company as well to to
059get that vision and so please dr. Thompson speak as well whatever else you'd want to add president Kaler members of the board this has been a two years and making this process to get something going we have also included some of our media personnel in the conversations along with our administrators from each of the high school campuses to get things moving in the right direction and it also some of the students that we have had involved in the concepts of what we would like to do we know that the space that we are utilizing is not as big as we would like it to be and so some of the things that we would like to add just cannot be physically put in there and that would be some of the other opportunities for especially
060Williamsville high school for some of the counseling and the the Career Center and that aspect too but we'll be bringing those individuals in to work with them and have spaces for them there's individualized work rooms so you can bring small group kids in for Higley high school we will have the training room that is equal to what we have at we know of high school that was built with their addition and so trying to keep both high schools at an equal footing in all areas there's a difficult process but we're moving forward and making great progress in that aspect to the opportunities for guidance counselor's to come in and work with groups of kids and for our career counselor to come in and work with a group of the kids to will also be there
061at both of the high schools and so we look forward to having that opportunity to share this space with with many other groups of individuals that come into our media centers at both of our high schools dr. Fowler on the williams can we have the william or the Higley slide please Bryan so the back office is that maybe the previous one shows the number 613 614 615 is 616 those offices are going to be designated for whom we know that information president Kaler members of the board that would be a site decision but at this time we do know that the career counselor is scheduled to be back there along with I believe one of the special education Eva coordinators that is also there working with our students that are looking at different career opportunities
062through CTE and so they will also be in one of those offices at this time the other two offices at this time I do not know what the plans are for those with our cGCC possibly be in one of those offices yes I believe that's that's what it's scheduled for but I do not want to speak for the school but at both of the media centers I believe our new advisor from chandler-gilbert Community College would be scheduled to be in those media centers I personally would appreciate if that person could be in the media centers just because I believe that they would be instrumental in talking to kids about college and career and all those opportunities so I know that at Williams field it's a little bit configured a little bit differently and they don't
063have those little office spaces so I think our college and career person is very close to the media centers and still available and could pop over and like you say do presentations and things like that but definitely I think that the college and career person needs definitely some space Thank You mrs. Keeler also to what the Williams folk center we did have one larger collaboration room to take an advantage of some of those opportunities for bringing more kids together so it wouldn't be as small with some of the collaboration rooms we have at to the higly High School because they have more space and more opportunities especially with the training room being right next door and so one of the collaboration rooms at Williams club high school will be larger than the one at yes
064mrs. Reese so I guess I'm a little confused initially when we were talking about these cafes the Student Union I was told that that was being done by Chartwells and that was not any cost to the district and now I'm seeing a cost to the district so when the conversation of cafe Student Union it was that was presented by Chartwells they had done it at other schools they wanted to turn our media centers into these Student Union's so now we're presented with additional cost to the district how did that change president Kaler mrs. Reese so the the staffing of the the area for food service would be Chartwells responsibility they would be taking care of that a lot of the equipment and everything just like our regular kitchens within the district the district pays for
065those so Chartwells is paying for a portion up front but we do pay them back over four years for the improvements to the cafeteria food service areas within the media centers I'm not sure I know that we talked about them giving us money up front but it was never a gift from Chartwells it was a loan from start Wells and we still have that loan still being carried out to be paid back over the four years of their contract well that wasn't the conversation we had the conversation was Chartwells wanted to create these student unions and and everything so I guess my concern is that was my understanding as Chartwells was going to turn our media centers into these student unions and this is the first time it's coming to the board for any type
066of conversation when they want to start demolition next week and so the conversation that we have had was Chartwells wanted to turn our media centers into Student Union's Chartwells one to do all that and so now I'm being presented with a change that's going to cost the district money and then the other thing is our two schools are very different and Williams field can only enter through their hallways so I know that through some conversations with between students and different faculty is how is that going to work at Williams field because the lunch times those hallways are closed because class is still going on and you can't I don't want to say heard but have a lot of students coming in and out because class is happening and so Williams field is set up very
067differently than higley pigley has outside entrances there there is no class disruption so I know there was a lot of concern with the Student Union discussion at Williams field on how utilized it's going to be because are we gonna unlock those hallways for the lunchtime so our students can use that and if so how disruptive is that to classes that are happening because it's its way in the corner there's no way to get to it without disrupting class so the question and concern was what access will they have and how utilized would it be since where is essentially changing the entire media center model and the books are all gone and where's that gonna be and what's that gonna look like president Kaler mrs. Reese the books are still going to be there we all
068still have the same opportunities for students that we currently have within within the media centers will still have books will still have computers for students to use will still have charging stations and opportunities this would be an enhancement also at Williamsville high school when I've had conversations with the administration the concern of the hallways has not come up with it within conversation I will definitely work closely with mr. Tannenbaum to figure out those solutions we do also have three exits and entries for the Williams field a high school media center too that we can utilize one is from the outside and to us from the inside hallway and so I will work closely with mr. Tannenbaum to figure those those operational issues out before before we move forward can we talk about just the funding
069for a few minutes and where's this million dollars coming from for both of these a president Kaler members of the board this was one of the the funding options we had last November we had an election to realloc and so this would be coming from our bond funds that we have that have already been paid for by our community in our district that we have within the accounts and so the bond funds are already there and we did go to our voters last November so we could utilize these funds in different areas and this is one of the areas that we were looking at utilizing thank you Thank You mr. Witte ovitch you're next after mr. Glover I heard you I can yield might like mr. with Toby to go ahead he'll yield mr. Petrova
070Chara okay I would just like to I have some comments in reference to this working in a Student Union Building for a number of years I've watched the national trend and what the national trend is is to consolidate the student services on a campus and bring them to one location for all students to have access to and as board member Risa myself have said over the years it's so important for that average student to be seen and have services to as well the more times that the students see the services they have the opportunity to take a look at them the words that they're using nowadays is game changer bring a new life to campus who hates the culture on campus those type of things I'm not seeing that in this drawing with your creating
071when you're creating a Student Union Building you're you're bringing the student store you're bringing the learning center you're picking the Career Center I don't like the thing we're going to pop down and do a presentation no it needs to be the Hobbit all needs to be there it needs to be the pulse of our school this is an opportunity for us to move on I think president Kaler I shared with you a two-minute video is it possible to the other board members to take a look at that so they understand where I'm coming from in this thought process yes mr. moto which we have the video prepared I'll be ok I'll just go on in reference to to my thoughts and reference to creating the hub I'll start with the the physical layout that you
072see in front of you between the two schools the first one is the take a look at what we have the so called game rooms game rooms are off to the side where I don't see how that is going to be properly monitored because it's off to the side off in a corner your Student Union Buildings nowadays they have a welcome station in the middle so when you first walk into the facility's building you have a person who oversees the building that can direct you to what you need be at the college advisors or any other student services who's going to be watching this game room I mean what you see you see over at Williams field I don't I can't even see where the central location is for the media specialist assets and who
073how can they watch this from that location that's that's a major concern that I have to and reference to that and reference to the the when the difference I do have some concerns and reference to the difference between the two schools I feel there's a huge disparity when you take a look at what higly has to offer and then you took a look at Williams field layout oh okay where's the computers okay where where are when the college advisors are there on campus where are they going to work with the students to take the Accuplacer test and anything else that's going to be taking place where our door moment when somebody tells me we have a computer lab down the hallway we're not getting it okay if we need to bring these resources together towards
074home to one location and to help our students all the records of that I'm just going to say in closing and reference to the setup it's so important on this staffing you've got to have the staffing that that know what they're doing in this location the person who's working that central location I don't want to see an entry level person located in there and I don't know if president Kaler least when you were on the board how many times our library was empty for weeks at a time and that person was absent so are we going to have enough staffing to cover in absences and also if you're only going to have one person in this huge groom if they're absent you bring a substitute in there the substitutes going to watch the gaming room
075and everything else like that we got to give some thought to this this is this is an opportunity for us to do things for the future and to make something a room that were proud of them as I look at this room I just see it as another classroom edition okay it's it's nothing when I walk into the room I want to see that this is the pulse of this school I want to see the enthusiasm I'm gonna see something when I walk in and you know what when I walk in this I see these drawings like I said it's just another just another hallway right so the video that I sent to President Kaler that perhaps you can show the other board members you can change share that one it's a school in California
076and I'll tell you it will you look at this promotional video for the Student Union Building you go wow you know it's just a positive positive I realize that school districts spend a great deal of money but it's the concept that they have it's the concept that they get it that this is where we're bringing the counseling office for bringing the Career Center we're bringing a student store but bringing the offices for the street clubs I mean this this is what we're and this is an opportunity that we should move forward and and I just felt comfortable with us and I'm just not pleased with belief area and I believe we should go back to the drawing board to see how we could utilize these services and make a new media Student Union Center that
077we can be proud of I think you mr. Novakovich can I show the video now okay mr. Otto Vettori watched the video do you have anything else you'd like to add there say is there specific questions over your answered from dr. Fowler a lot of money on this building and it's beautiful and but I well I'm doing atlases it's the concept it's the concept of creating the pulse of this school and creating a place where the services can be they get it as you can see and I want us to get it and and to bring forward to all the students opportunities for students on our campus thank you thank you mr. Glover did you have something you wanted to say well I do but maybe you guys could answer the eSports room question because
078I dunno I don't wanna take your time but these are higher end computers so I don't it's not an open it's not a rumpus room all right president Kaler means the board the eSports Center would not be open for students all day long the students come in and start playing games or in the middle of the day the in sport center would be a special opportunity for our eSports team at our eSports program to utilize that after school before school than in different opportunities when they had an instructor or their coach that was there with them to utilize that area so I mean it would be the same as a different sport or a different activity so it's not gonna be open to students to come in and play games all day long okay thanks
079you know and I I think I'm tired but I see a lot of the same elements of these things it's hard to look at a piece of paper and then picture what it looks like and I think president Kaler for talking about the funding source because that was all my thing to talk about but it's something that we you and I have been talking about for a long time so I'm glad to see it's moving forward you know things evolve when things change and providing flexibility you know historically it's kind of funny if you go to any library you know that hasn't been redesigned since the 70s it's like the heaviest most under a gable furniture you can have in a room that that screams for a need for flexible seating moveable bookshelves I saw
080bookshelves the verticals with wheels so all those things will be big improvements and allow a lot of creative things for the space I think you'll start to see it be a real hub you know I guess you know hearing the criticism I wasn't aware of that of the criticism but I guess future projects may be keeping us you know so it's not here's the vote and you know they're not seeing it I guess I guess we you know there's we can probably do better but I'm I'm excited for the prospect of this and and the timeline and being able to get it to done done and it can evolve and and matriculate into the needs of the campus so I'm I'm pleased I didn't know we weren't pleased Thank You mr. Glover yeah I did
081want to address some of mr. OHS concerns number one first and foremost I I don't disagree with what mr. Petrovic says I would love to be able to have our career counselors there I'd love to have all of our guidance counselors there I would love to have that opportunity to bring everyone I do understand that but even in the you're gonna video that you do have to go down the hall I have looked at those online and seen that you do have to travel a little bit to see some of those those areas for some of those specialty needs I do believe the the concept and the drawers there we're trying to create that excitement that enthusiasm I wish I had forty million dollars to build that building in Arizona the cost of the building
082in California was almost twenty million dollars so we're looking at approximately five hundred thousand dollars per school and so that there's a big discrepancy I wish that Arizona schools were funded the same way as other states but we are working on that we're trying to create the excitement we're trying to create the the vibe that's there I I did have an opportunity when I was back in Maryland to to go to the University of Maryland to go to Harvard to go to MIT and look at their areas and so on a much smaller scale because we are limited to the space that we have we are creating that vibe we're creating that experience as best as we can this is the first time that I'm hearing from from mrs. Reese that there was a concern
083about the hallway I wish that had been brought to my attention earlier I would have better answers for you this is the first time I'm hearing it today and so I will check in to that I will get those answers and I do apologize to you mrs. Reese about the funding issue I didn't know that that that was unclear and so we will do a better job of talking about that as we move forward it is Chartwells we'll be bringing some of their equipment in but it's not the actual physical remodeling of the area is paid for by the district there are some of the the elements of the food service like our own schools and that they will bring in that will not be a cost to us but there are other elements and
084the remodeling of the school that that is a cost to us and so I do apologize to you for not being clear and upfront on that that is something that that I didn't know was it was an issue dr. Thomas and I think - I need to do better as far as you know what gets on a work study - and asking to make sure that these kind of things get into a work study presentation and not just straight to a vote I know it's been odd times for us as a board and getting together I - just didn't know that this was coming right away so I apologize - that it wasn't us working closer together and getting a work study in having those conversations just a couple things on something that Mister what
085ovitch had mentioned on the staffing and the availability I have huge concerns with that and I can only speak to Williamsfield my daughter provides tutoring once a week through in and I can tell you and that would be done in the library for them and from the time they returned after winter break before we went on spring break she's supposed to tutor every Thursday the library was open twice she was only able to provide tutoring to others twice during that timeframe when they would show up after school the library would be closed for whatever reason and so going to something like this we need to be very very careful that we have it appropriately staffed to mr. Witter point and mr. Glover you know this could be a great thing but if it's always closed
086because we don't have the staffing for it then it's not a great thing and it just becomes and quite frankly very irritating to these kids that they they are only going to have limited times to utilize it they'll have before school they'll have lunch and they'll have after school those are the only times that it can be fully utilized without being sent there by a teacher without doing their in class otherwise I mean we don't have it's not like a college we have a break in class periods we do have some who get out earlier our seniors may have release times but again it comes to appropriately staffed and making sure that that's available to them so we need to really be very very careful on how we staff this to ensure it has the
087right person that it's inviting that it's not go be quiet we're trying to get away from your typical library a Media Center be quiet go sit down you're making too much noise we're asking students to interact with each other not an appropriate volume but we're asking them to interact with each other we're asking them to to do other things and if we don't have the right person there and if it's not open then this what are we doing this for you know we want to make sure that our students get out of it what what the intention there is and well you had mentioned that Chartwells is doing a four hundred thousand dollar loan am I to assume that four hundred thousand is in addition to this nine ninety five for the total cost that
088is not correct that is the total cost so the total cost so the total cost is the nine ninety five and that includes the four hundred thousand dollar loan from Chartwells I believe it's a two hundred thousand dollar loan I would have to work with mr. Holland on that aspect but I believe that is correct but it's not to exceed the the amount that you have the other than my 95 okay mrs. Wilson all right I've heard about this since I think I began the board they've been there's been conversation about the media centers how we're gonna you know I was over in Higley high and I believe dr. Thomason I had asked what smells in here and he said it's definitely the carpet it needs to be replaced so I'm actually really excited to
089see this I think it could feel like a hub I'm looking at both drawings I do see a discrepancy but I think it's just based on space from people I've read enough architectural drawings to notice that I think that Williams field also has that new wing where they get to utilize that one large room that we've I remember talking about in depth Lee I would have loved to see this in work study as everyone has said but this is how it's brought to us because of the times and that stinks sometimes but we know that sometimes we just work with what we have staffing dr. Thomason and I had the same question as all of you and I asked him our weekly phone call on Monday about it and I would like to hand it
090over to him to answer what he had told me about the staffing because I was concerned as well about that staffing piece because sometimes from my understanding the one higley hi from my son only which I know I'm taking with a grain of salt isn't really utilized now so I'm sure that person probably has a very different job now than they would in the future if we're gonna have this bust robust you know room that we're expecting students to go to we need to make sure that waitstaff person is is and so I'm gonna give you the floor just for a second and I would like it back if I can now to demand but just to finish my thought yes president Kaler mrs. Wilson first and foremost we are moving the stations for the
091media center specialist to the scent of the room so they all be able to view the entire room from one location so there's not going to be hidden corners in that aspect so they can they can view the whole room I hope that more access to all students is an issue and that we will have to add more staffing to it I hope that's a problem that I would like to to take on and enjoy and so this should this this area be more utilized and and more popular with all the students definitely more staffing will be will be allocated to there but we also have to know that we will have Chartwells employees in there too they'll be running the the kitchen area and so regardless of the current staffing there will be more
092staffing when this is complete even though they'll be Chartwells and individuals but yes I hope that the problem is is that we have too many kids that want to go in there and we have to add extra staffing that is something that we've talked about that is something that we're prepared to move forward with should those issues be necessary and should we have such popularity with those areas that we have to add more staffing that is something we're prepared to do we also talked about Wednesday mornings what that would look like this might be an area that they could hang out before school starts since there is that extra PD time for the teachers depending on how we're gonna use that space also the collaboration space looks great to me in both rooms it looks
093like these tables possibly could be even able to move around correct dr. Fowler yeah yes that is correct so they're gonna be able to roll a lot more easily than say other tables so honestly that looks great to me as well and I like the flexible seating so much so that I think even in the video they had one of the similar seats as big Lehi with the I don't know what you would call it the little wavy s looking thing that was in the video so I'm actually really excited about it I think it looks very similar with a to the video one with a stricter budget and using the space that we have so I want to thank you because I think it looks great thank you mrs. Wilson yes I have looked
094at this very carefully and it's so much better than what we have right now our libraries were literally like ghost towns to be very honest they were used for testing here and there and I do know that we have a new staff at Hagley high who's so excited for this very very excited to be a part of this and again what I guess we should talk a little bit about staffing mrs. Martin's and just what is that role I mean if this is this gonna change the role of a media specialist with having all of this going on I guess that that is definitely a conversation that we should be having and I guess again my apologies for not working closer to get a work-study on this and if the board feels that we still
095need a work-study on this I'm not opposed to that I'm excited for the timeline though and any delay that we have at this end will delay moving forward so that's also something that we need to consider president Kaler members of the board the duties and responsibilities of the mediator nurse specialists should not change at this time they would still be responsible for some technology check-in/check-out they will be responsible for the books and and the reference materials that are in there and so some of the responsibilities that we currently have would still be there so those would be all those responsibilities I think that may be an additional responsibilities if we start taking a look at some of the laptop carts that will be available there and students to check in and check those out we're
096looking at many different things right now because our world of code has changed so many things that we may we we don't know exactly what it's going to look like when we turn in July and so some of those things I do not have the answers for but I do know that the current roles and responsibilities for the media center specialists would be the same ones that they're expected to to utilize with the new media center remodels and dr. Thomas and I just my own experience with libraries that have transitioned to this having a media specialist is good but they do they do they do get a working lunch so a classified staff titled sort of position that's dedicated to the library would be would be wise so certified unclassified working together so they can
097each make the appropriate breaks and all that I think you'll see over time that's probably what will happen yes I agree we don't want it closed at lunch that would be the last part of the day that we would want to have this closed and and I agree I know that that has been an issue at Higley having the library closed or whatnot I do believe moving forward there's an excitement about this that I haven't heard before coming from Higley I don't know how it is over at Williams field but I do feel like feel like the the snack shack for the kids has been you know talk of the town so I know there's a lot of excitement over this but again I want to hear from my board if this is something that
098you feel we should not move forward with then speak now or forever hold your peace president Kaler members of the board - I do want to let mr. thovex know that I did hear him loud and clear and we'll we'll be taking as many opportunities as we can to get counselors in there to get our career specialists in there to get our our liaison from chandler-gilbert Community College in there - and utilize that as much as possible I do agree I do wish I had 40 million dollars to build two buildings that at each campus but unfortunately we're restricted with space and and funding and so I believe this does bring the concept and the feeling to both of our campuses and the other I know from the higly standpoint and the Williams field there's
099only so much space for our bookstore there's only so much space for deca to have they're like you know their sales and their kind of gear Higley gear Williams field gear so I know it's more spaced out it doesn't mean that deca can't come in to the media you know centers and have like a little booth and do some cell sales of t-shirts and paraphernalia so there's there's lots of things that can be utilized I think throughout this media center that will get create creative with president Kaler members of the board both deca groups at the high schools have their carts too that can be wheeled in and wheeled out also to be utilized in that area okay so we're going to go for a vote it looks like so unless there's any other comments
100questions or concerns all those in favor aye those opposed nay mr. watt ovitch but most motion passes for one motion passes for one okay moving on to 6.9 I move that the Governing Board approves of res less resolution to ratify the payment of longevity pay for 2017 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019 second mrs. Martin's I know that this is again just something coming back to us because of compliance with the Auditor General so if you could just kind of speak to that for certainly president Kaler members of the board so prior to my arrival the board at the time through my predecessor discussed and approved a longevity stipend for if you will for all of our employees and that year that approval happened for the 2016-2017 academic year since then there's been some controversy
101surrounded about that in regards to should have that been continued to be approved was that only a one-time thing how was it paid out that first time you know we've had some additional discussion in relation to some of that and ultimately the guidance that we received was that we should continue to approve it every year and it be presented to the board every year so as you just stated president Kaler we're going back and approving the payments that were made for 2017-2018 school year in the 2018-2019 school year and then subsequently later this summer we will then present to you a list of employees who qualify based on the criteria of tenure five years 10 years 15 years 20 years and bringing that to June maybe July in terms of authorization of payment moving forward
102to payout for the 2019 2020 school year for those who met that criteria yes thank you mrs. Martin's these were paid out it's not that it's that we were just making sure that it gets approved every year moving forward are there any comments or questions president Kaler yes mrs. Reese just to speak briefly on that because I was on the board at the time and the intention of the board at the time was that those would continue and like Miss Martin said that it was the way it was written and going back and looking at it provide and created some confusion and the intention and when that came before the board was simply as it was indicating longevity we wanted to reward those who continued to stay with higly at certain milestones so I appreciate
103that we're looking at that and we're going to continue that yes it will come before the board because also at that point every year always depends on can we put it in our budget do we have the money for that so while the intention is there that we would like to continue this that conversations also happened is as long as we can fund it we would like to do it so looking as our budget changes every year to bring that before the board that we review those who have completed their milestones not entering so once they've completed their fifth year is when we would look at that and I know that that was some confusion people are like well I'm I'm starting my fifth year and it's the intention was once you complete your fifth
104year so so I appreciate you going back and and really doing I had to dig back for that and and doing research and I'm glad that we will continue to look at that and monitor it each and every year because we do want to thank those staff members that have been with us and continue to stay with us so thank you for for that information miss Martin's yes I too just want to reiterate that longevity pay it's it's an awesome thing to be able to write that check so I appreciate those that stay with us and deserve it so we're going to vote all those in favor aye aye all right motion carries 5-0 okay 6.10 are almost done we need to review our political agenda and reaffirm our top five priorities so that we
105can send this to the 8th ASB a legislative committee by Friday at May 29th and so Darlene has put this forth torque to us and it's coming up for me slowly Thank You Ryan my iPads not loading it so these are our political agenda priority issues for 2020 it was adequately and equitably fun district schools to at least the national median per pupil funding preserve and strengthen local control improve outcomes for all students and require public accountability for taxpayer dollars spent on education now according to the ASB a we can actually add two more I believe it is correct darling it was two more things or we can just agree with this I know dr. C dr. Glover I know mr. Glover this is his favorite event of the year and I've already confirmed he's
106already signed up to go again but anywho he's he's a great representation of us on these issues and I appreciate mr. Glover's insight so if there's anything different anything you'd like to add it asked us to pick out five and I picked out like ten but I don't know you mean like full-day K I think is a you know recognized as as one of the most sound investments you can make in education the rest' restoration of district district additional assistance slowly we've been promised it I would like to still see that happen there's a whole bunch of things the only thing I didn't see in there and we don't have to add it but but if you do happen to send me and it's in person I may mention this I don't think we've dedicated
107enough resources to pay raises for support staff I mean we've piecemealed it and it hasn't been a top priority I know in Higley we we have done everything we can but as a state I feel like our bus drivers or peres so the people that are handed out lunches have not been compensated evenly with teachers and I understand so that was one thing the other thing I think is is a real way we can put more back in the classroom that no one ever wants to talk about because it's uncomfortable but like a statewide pool for health insurance would really save us a lot of money that we could dump back in you know as it is now we're all competing against one another and and you know it's it's you only negotiate so much
108when you only have you know a few thousand people but if you have tens of thousands of people you could really save some money and you know I'm old enough to remember in the 90s and the 80s people took government jobs because you had a pension and you had decent insurance and we're trying to unravel both of those things right now and as an organization they would be wise to start talking about that as a way to save money and then put more money subsequently into the classroom but that's not on there I don't expect you guys to get on board but you know a waterfall starts with the drop of water so mister mr. Glover I know that even like the screen actor guild if you are part of that in in California you
109are part of their insurance policies and so there's big groups that get together and do collaborate for better insurance policy so I I understand your concern mrs. Wilson I like the idea of the pay raises for support staff and I like that I do I want to call you dr. Glover all the time I mean just please get the doctorate already I appreciate that mr. Glover brought that up I think that's a great point that we could add to it if we can add to our list I like our list I like that it's asking the first one that I the one that I think is the most is making sure that everyone's being where is it the transparency the last one establish like financial and academic transparency for all institutions that accept public funds
110that one to me is for all yeah I'm gonna make that a very thing call me I'm gonna read that going again hold on for all that take tax public funds I think that's the most important in my world I think that the PAC what mr. Glover said about the support staff it would be a great ad if we can add one more if Darlene says that's okay Darlene's only giving us two more then she's gonna cut us off yeah I'm good with adding that if that's something that the board would like to put forth how would you word that I might say to advocate for dedicated funding source for pay raises for support staff Darlene was typing that perfectly but I agree mr. Glover some of those some of those positions are not sustainable
111for living wages for our staff and so I agree I think I think we can add that one mr. with tobits do you have anything that you'd like to add no thank you Thank You mr. Glover I'm very surprised you didn't bring up about testing it was on my list I didn't want to bore you I I was waiting for that because I think you have really good points on you know are we over testing these kids and and what what outcomes are we getting and what's the purpose and what are we doing to our teachers because they're consistently evaluating and like you said that even that's an uncomfortable conversation because we we want that checks and balance we want that to feel valid in what we're doing but I agree I think we are
112over evaluating our students and not giving them time to soak in the information and putting that on our teachers so I was waiting for you to say that and because I think like you said I mean a waterfall stop starts with a drop of water and and a lot of people don't want to say that we test too much and I think that that's something we can should consider bringing forward like we really do need to look what testing we're doing if it's state testing local testing what is it what should we be doing so I would like to since you didn't I was waiting I'm sure he has it written down I'm sure if eclis so let's I I would like to see us start seeing you know presenting that to the ASBA and
113seeing if they can if it's something they're interested in supporting from a political standpoint well mrs. Reese I adore you for saying that thank you we are it does there is one in there that says limit the use of state standardized testing data but as you were as you were so eloquently saying you know we're talk about all the things the kids are missing graduation all that you will not just please call me if anyone tells you we really miss taking our state tests let me know if someone says that because I don't think anyone is going to say that they've missed the stress and the preparation and the time taken away from other more productive things and now is a great year to to recognize and I thank you for calling that to everyone's
114attention I would police support adding that as well so do you have that eloquently written as well mr. Glover well they President Kaler they have limit the use of state standardized testing I think I think we should let's take the word I would like worded differently I don't love the wording that they have because it's just using the data and I think that they still want a state test yes I want to limit state testing more because of the anxiety it's causing for our kids our teachers our staff we're singing in record numbers so I just think that that would be a better word but I know mr. Glover has a better wording than us so I leave it to him and we are moving these kids through and they all didn't take their finals
115and our college kids are going off to college and I'm sure many are going to be absolutely just fine so I agree mr. Glover if we can add would totally be in support so we need some wording for Darlene yeah I'm struggling with the verb here but you rethink the role and purpose of standardized state standardized testing but rethink is not it it's not to help me miss dr. Foley reevaluate reevaluate microphone I actually liked your rethinking because I'm not sure that that's the right word but I think that obviously assessment serves a purpose but what kind of assessment and how frequent and meaningful versus plentiful I think the idea of rethinking re-evaluating or redefining the use of meaningful instruction or assessment we redesign redesigning evaluating redefining the role and purpose of state standardized testing
116of meaningful meaningful testing I like that I liked how you said meaningful testing because we do still want some tests but they need to be meaningful and they need to serve a purpose I agree I think some evaluation some testing some checks and balance like okay are we want to make sure that they are getting what's being taught and everything so there is a purpose for some of it but as mr. Glover lets us know any chance he gets we over test our kids and so I think that that's a really good phrase oh all right how's this rethink and redefine the role and purpose of state standardized testing and meaningful assessment because they don't have to be the same thing Darlene would you like him to say that again she's so good thank you
117okay - all done but I still know that mr. Glover if we nominate you which we will to go to the the delegate if there is one then I know you still speak too many things on our behalf and we do appreciate what you bring forth to that assembly every year and thank you for going because after law conference it's exhausting to think to drive up there one more day so thank you for taking one for us and we do not have to vote on that do we missus reach we just have to submit those so okay future agenda items we still have some things coming up our H pal our technology update how we prepare students athletes and athletic eligibility I would like to see perhaps dr. Thomas it and this can either be
118a future work study and probably not work study it would probably be better in your superintendents report but the work organizational chart for next year I would like to see who is in charge of whom moving forward for and and what their duties are going to be looking like I know that we've we're adding some staff sooner than later dr. Foley could not be more thrilled that two I believe are starting June 1st now instead of July ok ok sooner sooner yes thank you so I just want to see that breakdown for the board and I suppose that could be in your superintendents report and then I guess to just keep us really informed as dr. Foley and you know here's state it's going to be very important for us as a board to be
119aware of how schools are going to be looking possibly for July I don't want any surprises for anybody I want us to all be you know behind the behind our district and supporting whatever those decisions are so I would just love to do that information president Kaler members of the board we know that we've entered phase 1 now of the governor's we to normalcy and so at this time for the next couple of weeks we'll be working on the Phase two plans and what that will look like for the Higley Unified School District for our summer and for our community education programs and for our schools and so we're already on top of that and making sure that we're prepared when Phase two does come about can we find out what our plan will be
120moving forward with kids club because I know I've had a couple of parents ask me if we are gonna have a kids club how we're gonna handle that and I haven't really known so I just said you know we're following the governor's orders but if we could just have an update on that in the superintendent's report would be great president Kaler mrs. Wilson absolutely we'll have that in there but that will be a phase two components can I ask also when we get to the athletic piece the student athletic eligibility and the clearance requirements dr. Thomason can we get when we get to that in our work study can we be provided information what our membership is with AIA what do they provide obviously I know that they oversee the Arizona Sports but what is
121our membership mean what do they provide what what do we have access to their financials what do they cover I have to tell you because I am very concerned that the AIA took part in the paycheck protection program that was federally funded and as a member of that organization I don't know if we have the right to their financials what would the purpose of them taking that and then what does that mean to their membership so because obviously their membership supports their association so what does that mean to the membership and so I think just that we're better informed when we get to that it ties all in with our athletics so when we that we're better informed when we get to that piece that we can understand that full circle even outside of what
122our district does what limitations do we have what what does our membership mean they've had some legal issues lately what does that mean to membership so if we can kind of tie all that together when we get to that work study I would like to be more informed on what we're paying for what does that mean how does that affect our athletes financials things like that president Kaler vice president Reese we will definitely at that I know that dr. Fowler is part of the executive board although we can't talk about it during this meeting because it was not part of our board agenda we will definitely get that information to you I do believe it's a great work-study topic and I hope that we're able to go back to work studies sooner than later because
123of the Cova 19 situation I think that would be a great opportunity to have some some dialogue back and forth so I look forward to that thank you and I mean even moving forward worst case can scenario we could do a work study here with spaced apart so moving forward we can definitely make those happen mr. roat ovitch do you have anything do I do not did he say no okay thank you all right I move that we adjourn all those in favor aye she carries 5-0 stay well