J.O. Combs Regular Board Meeting 4/8/2026

001Hey Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. beautiful. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. feel down. Hey Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, What? Three, two, one. I feel myself. Heat. Heat. Three, two, one. Oh yeah. Woo! backy. Hey All right. I'm going to call the meeting to order at 4:45. I need a motion to adopt the agenda. >> I move to adopt the agenda as presented. >> I second. >> All in favor? I. >> I. Motion carries five to zero. About what? >> No. All right. Um we have uh 3.1 um executive session for EVIT. Um do anybody want to make that motion? It's at the very bottom. >> I move to recommend that the board adjourn to executive session pursuant to ARS 38-431. 3 A3 ARS 38-431. >> Keep going. >> 03 A4.

002>> Keep going. >> To discuss the contract with EVIT. >> I second. All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. >> Five to zero. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Wait. Hey. Hey. Hey. All right. Do it. All right. Three, two, one. Jesus. Heat. Heat. Three, two, one. Woo! Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. That is Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat up here. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Nice. What? 3 2 One. One. I miss you. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Three, two, one. Hey. Hey. Hey. Woo! Hey Happy birthday. Woo! Um, I would like to uh stand to say the

003pledge. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation under God indivisible with >> okay 6.1 we approval of meeting minutes from March 4th >> I move toward the meeting minutes from March 4th 2026 regular board meeting >> I second All in favor? >> I motion carries five to zero. >> 6.2 Approval of meeting minutes for the special board meeting on March 25th. >> I move to approve the meeting the meet of the meeting the minutes from the March 25, 2026 special board meeting. >> I second. All in favor? I >> I motion carries 5 to zero. >> Okay. Uh superintendent report. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh number of things happening as we open up uh the last quarter of the year. I will

004let people know just the way the calendar works this year. This fourth year, normally the fourth quarter is the longest quarter. It is actually the shortest quarter this year. There's uh for the I'm sure there's a few kids in the audience that may be counting. It's like uh about 31 or 32 days left, so there's not much time left. Want to recognize uh Miss Stone and her uh and the and her team in the business services department. They achieved the ASBO certificate of excellence in financial reporting for the fiscal year ending in June 30, 2025. Um this certificate of excellence program uh is a testament to uh our commitment to transparency and high quality financial reporting. there's two different um uh awards that they can receive and and they have uh routinely received those awards

005both of those awards throughout the uh the last decade or so. So, congratulations. High school recently had some success on the math contest. Um the math club sponsor Sonia Buck John Dani um had the kids uh participate in the Pasco Kaye Permit Canada math contest administrated by the University of Wateroo. Um, Drexton Claire uh received a score of 97 in the Kaye contest and a score of 95 by Emma Brighton in the permit contest. Both exceeding the rigorous metal cut uh metal cutoff scores. And so it's just an indication of their success in in math um and the job that she's doing with these kids up at the high school. Uh the robotics club at the high school received a grant. Uh Kyle Young was able to secure the Gene Hos Foundation 2526 compet competition

006team sponsorship grant in amount of $3,000. Um it's uh help it will help uh support the robotics club by covering competition registration fees and purchasing essential uh materials. Uh the marketing department also got recognition. They were recognized by the Arizona Department of Ed for their work highlighting the career and technical education programs throughout the district. Um, as a result, AD will feature the Comb's video reels and alumni highlights uh in their official so social media channels. Um, if you saw in February, there was any number of uh different vignettes and and social media post about different alumni and the success in the different programs that that we performed. So, Mandy and her team did an outstanding job. So, we just want to thank them and let them know about the recognition. The high school choir

007recently traveled to Higgley for the ACA for the aa state coral festival. Um and they earned a overall rating of excellent. Um as a result they were engaged in a clinic with Dr. Frank Watkins, a professor of coral activities at ASU. Um and he provided fantastic um feedback and insight into what they're doing. So, congratulations to the choir. Harmon's back. They did a three-day, their sixth graders were up in PAC on the 3-day science camp. Um, they also uh are supporting or celebrating, excuse me, pair of professionals and librarians uh at the beginning of the month they did um and their annual field day was h hand held just before um fall or spring break and they did a fantastic job and and were able to make meaningful memories. At the middle school, there was

008several outstanding achievement records. A record-breaking 12 students earned perfect score on the state civics test. Um, additionally, six of the students have qualified for the state civics, which will be held at ASU prep uh at the end of this month. Um, and the esports teams continues to excel and is currently ranked eighth out of 82 schools across four states. Uh, and so, and I think it's right, but Laura will know. Is it Riverhouse? Is that how you River House is being named the reigning house champion for the third quarter. I don't know. I can't always pronounce the the name of the houses. Well, that I don't know if it's been rigged then. I'll have to check. Um the Stallions uh out of Simington Read Across America time in March. I know there's a number of

009different uh individuals out there helping them do ReadAcross uh America week. along with I know Mr. Hoggin was there a chance to get to to see and meet some of the the kids um as we come out of spring break. Um they're going to be working on uh uh strengthening student relationships and they'll host their first annual STEM fair on March uh 26. Uh the CHS band traveled to LA uh to compete against 1500 band other band students and the band itself got a gold rating um uh the same as they got last year and also received p first place. Um our 24 member band even beat a band of of from one school with over 120 members and Jacob Buell who's a junior was honored with the maestro awards. So very appreciative of the

010work of the band director Nathan Gibbons and their work there. um over in in uh ranch they are up to bats and there's a whole reading here that I won't read but I would ask you to read that is linked with baseball so we assume that Mr. Quinn is a baseball fanatic. Um I would have read it Mr. Quinn but I'm actually looking forward to the NHL playoffs so I'll pass on baseball at this time. Um uh we also want to thank Mr. Scragam and the high school. They hosted the 26 uh 2026 mock interviews for our CT kids and for seniors. Um and uh we were through Mr. Scragggin's efforts, we had 47 volunteers uh come and interview 237 students. Uh we want to thank the Combmes Education Foundation for the sponsoring of lunch

011and Horn Auto and Uro Auto uh for their contributions uh to volunteer gift bags from Horn Horn Auto and snacks in the hospitality room for Uru Auto. And I will say in talking to the business partners that were there to a person, they were just amazed at the quality of our kids. uh their ability to to articulate who they are and what they wanted, their ability to speak uh coherently, to express themselves. Um I can't tell you the number of business partners said that if they had a job uh that day, they would have gone ahead and hired um our kids on the spot. Uh they just represented kids in general in an outstanding fashion, but obviously CHS uh to the highest degree. So we want to thank John for that. >> Good job, John.

012You always do a great job. >> Yes. We we had 18 students at Combmes Drama uh qualify for nationals. I'm not going to read through the whole list. Um they're in all different sorts uh both in terms of of ensemble, solo work, uh some of the uh behind thescenes stuff. So Corey Lee is doing a fantastic job picking up from Nick Smith. CCS is uh recently took kids to Central Arizona to help them with their Central Arizona College to help them with their future planning. Mrs. Edwards outdoor class um is preparing for a trip to Boyce Thompson Arborium. Uh they held that FASA workshop in addition to the trip to central Arizona to help families prepare for uh the students uh financial needs if they were to go on to a four-year college. Um and

013the art kids are uh leading campus beautifification um projects uh throughout uh throughout the campus. And then uh two other things real quickly, boys volleyball uh ended up second in the EPIC tournament uh going against uh six other teams uh that was played and hosted by ASU. And then just a reminder, tomorrow night is the staff excellence awards at 7 o'clock. A chance for us to honor our employees in a variety of different categories uh from across the district. So invite you to attend that. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Then we have 7.2 school and staff recognition. >> All right. Good evening, Madam President, Madame Clerk, members of the board, Dr. Wyman, and of course, Miss Judy. Um, it is an honor to uh step in tonight and uh present these Blue Apple

014awards on behalf of the transportation department. As I was sitting there waiting for this opportunity, I I was thinking about the notion that as a former building leader, when you walk into a campus, you know that it's really the receptionist and the secretary that holds that place together. They're the ones that know everything and they make sure everything is taken care of. Outside of the building, I think it's our transportation folks. Um, talk about behind the-scenes heroes. These are people who make sure that our kids get there safely every single day. Uh, those details matter so much. Um, so I'm really excited to get to honor a couple of the folks from our transportation team tonight. Um, the first recipient, Karen. Uh, Karen is was chosen to receive the Blue Apple Award for her dedication

015to the community and district. As one of the trainers, Karen specializes in our special education transportation where her strengths and abilities shine. She has enhanced safety awareness within the transportation team by training new drivers to ensure they have a full understanding of how to serve students with special needs, whether on special education or mainstream routes. Karen adapts quickly to changes without complaint and consistently steps in to assist in any emergency. Her commitment and professionalism make her an invaluable part of the team. Congratulations, Karen. You are truly a shining star in the transportation department. >> All right, Karen. you get this lovely blue apple and then every month we stand here and say don't drop Now, it's impossible to teach people how to be safe on a bus if the bus isn't running. So, fitting. Our

016other recipient is Raul. Raul is our lead mechanic, and he has been chosen to receive the Blue Apple Award. Raul has been recognized for his hard work and dedication in his role as lead mechanic. He's come a long way since joining us in combs and continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to excellence. Raul consistently shows initiative and takes pride in ensuring that all equipment remains in compliance and operating safely. His knowledge, reliability, and work ethic make him an essential part of the transportation team to include his willingness to drive routes to ensure students transportation to and from school. Congratulations Raul on this well-deserved recognition. Thank you very much. >> She's gonna make you take your picture. >> And those are our blue apple. >> Are you doing our student of the month as well? Yes,

017ma'am. >> All right, let's do it. >> All right. >> I won't say good evening to you again because I >> All right. Uh so for our students of the month, our our character trait this month is integrity. So these are all students who have demonstrated a high degree of integrity and we are going to start with Combmes High School and Heather Joe Bush. If Heather's here, come on up. All right, we'll make sure Heather gets recognized at CHS. How about from Comb Center for Success, Brooke Joe? >> All right, Combmes Middle School, Christopher Coronado. You have to stand and smile for just a moment while I say nice. >> All right. Uh Christopher exemplifies integrity. He's the first to speak up to take responsibility for any missteps in behavior. In an attempt to cover

018this space, he often apologizes when he's not done anything wrong just to show respect. He not only holds himself to a high moral standard, but he has consistently encouraged others to do the same, even when it does not seem cool. Others follow him, too, which shows the strong leadership he possesses. Furthermore, Chris is polite and honest, and he always clearly tries to follow the rules. It's evident he sees things through the lens of community as he is always including others in the encouragement of doing the right thing or being helpful. The ethical behavior and sincerity that Chris has displayed are rare, especially at his age. He understands what it means to be fair, another difficult concept for many students his age to grasp. And Chris is not one to have an expectation in return either.

019It's obvious he strives to follow the path of righteousness for righteousness sake. In the future, he will be a part of what it makes this world a better place to live in, especially since he already is. Congratulations. We won't make you do your house cheer. All right. From Col's Traditional Academy, Sophia Northcut, come on up. Sophia, you walk all just a minute. Sophia exemplifies integrity in all that she does. She's always honest, so I know I can trust that what she tells me is true. When she does her work, she completes everything with her own thoughts and ideas. Sophia is also a reliable classmate and friend. She makes sure that she is doing what's right and that those around her are held to the same standard. If needed, she will report any unfairness or unkindness.

020Sophia is a role model for integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness. Congratulations, Sophia. All right. Well, Sophia is getting her award from Ellsworth Elementary, Isa Young. All right, looks like we might be missing her tonight, but we'll make sure she gets recognized from Harmon Elementary, Daisy Martinez. Come on down, Daisy. You can bring a plus one. All good. I mean, if you got those boots on, you got to show them off, right? Daisy Martinez demonstrates integrity in all that she does. She is an honest, kind, and fair student who consistently makes the right choices, serving as a positive role model for her peers. Daisy shows strong moral character by always doing what is right and following school expectations while encouraging others to do the same through her actions. She's a caring and supportive friend who helps others

021without expecting anything in return. Daisy's curiosity and love of learning are evident each day and her positive attitude makes her a joy to have in the classroom. Daisy's commitment to honesty and doing what is right makes her truly deserving of recognition for integrity. Congratulations, Daisy. All right. From Ranch Elementary, we have Alfredo McDonald. Here's what was said about Alfredo. Alfredo is an outstanding example of what it means to demonstrate integrity. He consistently shows a genuine love for learning, always seeking to grow and improve both inside and outside the classroom. Alfredo often comes in for tutoring on his own initiative, showing a strong sense of responsibility and a true commitment to his education. He strives for excellence in everything he does, putting in the effort needed to succeed while maintaining a positive attitude. Alfredo treats everyone

022with respect, creating a welcoming and supportive environment for his peers. His determination sets him apart and he doesn't give up when things get challenging and instead works harder to overcome obstacles. Most importantly, Alfredo is honest and trustworthy. We are proud to recognize him as our portrait of a graduate for integrity. All right, and one more for this evening from Simon Elementary, Maisie Roer. All right. Maisie has made outstanding progress in each of her specials. She has mastered logging in in technology and has been working hard in PE, music, and library. She's been engaged in all of her lessons from each special and has really come a long way since the beginning of the year. We're super proud of her and her work ethic and we're glad to recognize her as our recipient this week from

023Simon, excuse me, this month from Simon. Congratulations, Maisie. >> And those are our students of the month. >> Okay, we're going to go ahead and give you guys a couple minutes for pictures and then if you if you want to leave, you can take that time. All right. Heat. Heat. N. Hey, Happy birthday. Governing board members, do you have any updates? Do you have an update? >> I do. >> Good. All right, let's do it. >> So, I was able to attend the mock interviews and they were fantastic. I was blown away by um the students that I interviewed. They were so top-notch. I when I was talking to them, I'm like, "Wow, you are gonna wow, wow, wow, wow." All over the place. Um, and it was really neat to be able to not

024only interview them, but then have the feedback of, well, what did you think? And they are so insightful and very mature. I I was blown away. But, um, you know, our kids are just like that. So, it was it was awesome. So, thank you, John, for letting me do that. It was awesome. Okay. I had a student that participated in the mock interviews and I think it's really neat to hear um the administration and the district and that different point of view, the compliments that they've given to these students and how amazing they are. Um, but from the opposite end of it, seeing how much self-confidence that it builds in them. Um, because the interviewers were also amazing. And so to have a student that can go in there and leave feeling like I'm pretty

025awesome and the things that Comb's district has instilled in me and prepared me for in my future, I feel really good about myself. I feel really good about my future and I feel really good about being part of the Combmes Unified School District. And so that was really special to me to see it all come full circle. Um so thank you for for putting that on. Well, and just talk talk about full circle. So, I was talking with John and we were talking about some of the kids that had graduated like the first year that Combmes had a graduation and some of them came back and helped our kids and so that blows me away too. I'm so proud of those guys by the way. Um, there are so many students that have graduated from

026Combmes that are just shining stars right now. So, good. Um, so I was at the movies at Harkkins and so sitting there talking to my friend and all of a sudden, oh, J Combmes comes across the, oh, look, that's us. Everybody's looking at me. So, yeah, that was kind of cool. That's all I have. So, anything else? All right. Um, so we have 8.1 some public comments. So, we have a short video, right? This is a time for the public to comment. The board invites the viewpoints of citizens throughout the district and considers the responsible presentation of these viewpoints vital to the efficient operation of the district. Members of the governing board may not discuss items not on the agenda and will be limited to directing staff to study the matter for further consideration and

027possible decision at a later date. The board therefore establishes the following procedures to receive input from citizens of the district. Any individual desiring to address the board shall complete a form and give this form to the superintendent prior to the board meeting. The board president will keep each speaker to a threeminut time limit. Questions or comments on matters under legal review will not receive a response. Members of the governing board may not discuss items not on the agenda. Personal attacks are discouraged. At the conclusion of a call to the public, individual members of the board may respond to any criticism made by an individual who addressed the board. The expectation of the governing board and district is that everyone treats one another with respect and that the speaker presents viewpoints in a civil manner. If

028more than 10 individuals request to speak, the board president reserves the right to limit individual speakers to two minutes and may set a time limit to the call to the public session. We're not going to watch it again. Um, Holly Elena Good evening. I want to start this off by saying that I have a 15-year-old special needs daughter. To be more specific, she has an intellectual cognitive delay and she's also autistic. I want to address a very a very serious issue that I have had with the Combmes High School. My daughter was sexually abused by a 16-year-old general education student. She reported it to the school social worker, Abby Anderson, immediately after it happened. The district determination states that there is no written documentation that my daughter reported that this boy put his hand down

029her pants inside of her underwear and touched her vagina. That is not accurate. As an email from Miss Anderson states that my daughter reported he went down her pants and also touched her breast. The investigation was then narrowed to narrowed to a completely different version of events. something about a belt loop which is not documented anywhere. That is not a difference of interpretation. That is a misstatement of the record. The second concern is the method used during the investigation. The district relied heavily on a physical demonstration from my daughter to define the allegation even though staff should not be asking a child to demonstrate sexual contact. Then they use that demonstration to override her document her documented verbal disclosure. You cannot say that that type of questioning is inappropriate and then rely on it as

030a foundation of your findings. Building a case around that kind of method exposes a flawed process. Finally, I am concerned about whether this process was neutral or fair. All of my questions to Mr. Middleton were excluded, including questions about the investigator's own decisions, even though those decisions shaped the outcome. The investigator interviewed the other student twice before law enforcement was involved, and the final report report includes speculation about my daughter's motives from a third-party student rather than focusing on the reported conduct. This is not a neutral or traumainformed process. For these reasons, I am asking the board to take a close look at whether this process actually met the standards required to protect students and ensure an fair investigation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, is it Kathy McFersonson? Katie McFerson. >> Good evening,

031esteemed board members, Superintendent White Wyman. My name is Katie McFersonson. I'm here tonight to address the safety of young women on your high school campus. Mrs. Oolina's daughter did everything right. She self- advocated. She reported to trusted adults and asked for help. That's exactly what she was supposed to do. And yet, the adults in the district failed her. When Mr. Hill, Mr. Middleton, Dr. Fountain, and Dr. Wyman became aware of the situation on January 6th, they took no immediate steps to remedy it. Dr. Dr. Wyman directed the family to speak only to Dr. Middleton, removing access to the building principal. The principal even asked in an email why no one had contacted her. There were no written student statements taken by any adults in this situation. Under the guise of Title 9, Dr. Middleton became

032the sole point of contact and later stated in writing that the family's questions were too frequent and too troubling. Those are not words of an ally. Secondly, the process itself was flawed, as Mrs. Alena just outlined, interviewing the male student before the detective is not okay. He also stated he wanted to question Mr. Mrs. Alena's daughter about how she was touched, have her demonstrate that, and review a video of the interaction with the boy. Under Arizona law, this is not permitted. School staff are limited to basic questions of who, what, where, when. no demonstrations and no forensic questions. Third, and lastly, the student was sent back to class and left without supportive measures. Staff argued about responsibility and called DCS, who does not handle peer-to-peer abuse. They declined jurisdiction. Miss Anderson contacted them and after

033that, she did not call the police. This reflects a failure to meet mandatory reporting obligations and basic responsibility for student safety under Arizona Education Code R27308. The Title 9 decision maker is your in-house attorney. She concluded there was no violation at all by the student. Yet the record includes multiple admissions by the boy of sexual touching in the hallway in a classroom setting. I myself watched the video. There was forcible fondling and the detective has submitted charges. This is a serious matter. If the above does not meet the standard for a code of conduct violation, then the district owes this community a clear explanation of what does. I respectfully request retraining in person for mandatory reporting. I also want to acknowledge the selection of Dr. Hogan. Based on my experience, he is a student centered

034leader and a strong advocate for special needs students. I'm hopeful his leadership will bring improved care, accountability, and trust moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, we have um consent agenda. Any questions on the consent agenda? >> No. None. >> No. >> Okay. I'll take a motion. >> I move to approve the cons consent agenda as presented. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I motion carries five to zero. >> Okay. So, scroll scroll scroll. All right. We have um 10.1 discussion and consideration approval of designated uh J Joe J Combmes representative for EVIT legislation. So >> I would just go ahead and move forward um based on the conversation that took place in the executive session um with this motion and the motion for the for the next agenda item. Oh, okay.

035Does anybody want to make that motion? >> I move that the governing board designate Dr. Wyman, Miss Julie Stone, and Mr. Scruggum as the board's representatives for negotiations and settlement discussions in Apache Junction at all versus East Valley Institute of Technology CV2025-063885. >> I second. >> All in favor? I >> I motion carries five to zero. >> Somehow >> Thank you for making that motion, >> Judy. Somehow that didn't get to us for the updated. >> I winged it. Hopefully it was okay. No, it's okay. >> It's okay. I'm just letting you know. I don't know how. Yeah. Okay. So, then we have um 10.2 2 discussions consideration of approval to confirm the instructions given to executive se given in executive session. I move that the governing board confirm the direction provided in executive session

036to the board's designated representatives as a mentioned for purposes of negotiations, settlement discussions, and contract discussions in Apache Junction at all the East Valley Institute of Technology CV 2025-063885. >> I second. All in favor? I >> I motion carries 5 to zero. >> All right. Um 10.3 discussion and consideration or approval of agreement for clinical practum with uh Northern Arizona University. >> So this is a an opportunity that we were approached with um with a doctoral student at NAU. um they are in the um medical field. It's basically a a um an opportunity for some instruction related to nutrition. If I remember Christine and I met him, was it third grade? Second grade? Third grade? I thought so. So, it's at the third grade level. Um really, this student from NA would work with our

037third grade teachers, provide them with the instruction and guidance, um help to collect some of the data about what students are learning about nutrition. It's a few small lessons over the course of the year. It's pretty simple and straightforward. We provided you with that overall agreement. Um, we would work with Mr. Hogan as the incoming superintendent as well as the teaching and learning team to provide that supervision. Um, but they're never working with students. They're just interacting with our teachers in third grade. It's pretty straightforward. >> Hopefully using the new food pair food diagram pyramid. So, is it basically just then gathering information for >> No, there's there's some lessons that are provided um through that the kind of some mini lessons that give students some access to some education related to nutrition. Um it's

038a gap that we have right now. So, I think it's kind of a nice opportunity to to see how that goes. Um like I said, they're just working with those third grade teachers to help facilitate those lessons and they're very short in nature. >> Is it going to be all third grade through the whole district or just certain schools? >> That is our desire. Um the bigger the group the better. Um but we would work with our principles and our third grade team if there was a reason for folks to opt out and we would provide that opportunity. But ideally, yeah, it's going to be districtwide in third grade. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> All right. I'll take a motion. >> I motion to approve the agreement for a clinical practicum with Northern Arizona

039University as presented. >> I second. >> All in favor? I >> I motion carries 5 to zero. >> Okay. Um 10.4 discussion consideration of adoption of early literacy supplemental resource. That's second reading. >> I just wanted to walk up again. I don't know why. Good evening again, Madam President, members of the board. Um so this is the uh early literacy supplement. Uh we brought this to you last month. There's nothing new on these slides, but I did put them in again with the updated date. I can find the clicker. Uh so just as a reminder, uh this is the supplemental piece that goes with our core adoption which you approved at the last board meeting. Um the recommendation and you discussed this at the last meeting was to move forward with 95% group. Um that

040was by far the top choice amongst the group. Um in terms of the overall cost, I know I have that on one of these upcoming slides. So, we're looking at $77,926 for the year one adoption. Um, that's a higher cost in year one because of the print materials that are associated with it. And then we're looking at about $27,000 per year moving forward. Um, to give some context to that, we have previously been using foundations. Um, foundations we we have a yearly purchase price as well as some print. We actually print with the Kyne District at the moment. Um, that runs us on an average of about 19,000 a year. So, it is a little more than we've historically been spending. Um, but just to give some context, that $27,000 is not moving from zero

041to 27. It's moving from 19 that we were already spending to 27 for a more updated, more comprehensive approach. Um, again, we get those soft cover student additions and some of those manipulatives uh to support that. And that average yearly cost comes out to be about 34,000. Um, that was the comparison for Wilson Foundations. And then the other piece is Spalding. Um, this is the main supplemental piece at our Combs Traditional Academy. Um, no direct cost for materials there. The $21,000 is probably high. Um, because that's based on training new staff, but I just built it to look at the possibility of two new teachers every year. Um, if we don't have that many new teachers, we don't have to retrain folks. Um, but historically that's been a little bit of a struggle for our

042traditional academy um, and not being able to provide that training to folks. So they're trying to do it in house. We want to make sure that they get adequate training. So we wanted to build that in to the proposed adoption. Questions? >> So when approving this, do we need to approve both curriculums, both the 95% and the Spalding? >> Correct. That's what we're looking for. >> I see. Okay. Any questions? >> And Spalding is really it's really an approval of extending the existing adoption CTA. >> Okay. All right. Okay. I'll make a motion to approve the adoption of the 95% group and the Spalding for an early literacy supplemental resource. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I. Motion carries 5 to zero. Okay. Uh just Oh, >> I guess I better wait to

043vote. >> I got to make sure I'm not 10.5. >> Yeah. 10.5. discussion and possible action to submit policy priorities for inclusion to the Arizona School Boards Association 2027 political agenda. >> So last month you guys had a chance to review the 26 um u agenda and it just becomes a case of what's the top five priorities with the with the uh the district. They will collect the priorities from districts across the state. Uh based on that they go ahead and develop the 27th uh political agenda. I would suggest that the majority of the agendas over time are the same. Um, as I can just give you an example, there's there's probably going to be something about funding of an all day K. There's been discussion of funding of all day K since all day

044AK was taken away. So, so there may be some minor changes based on something that's going on politically. Then what happens is, and I think it's the next agenda item after this, you select a delegate. uh those districts that have delegates that attend the Saturday of the law conference would then vote on the agenda. Um and then the practical part that happens once the uh legislator legislative session starts is if there's a bill they compare what the bill says against the political agenda and then ASBA ASBA would either be for or against or neutral based on what the bill was doing in comparison to what the political agenda was that the majority of school districts voted on. There will be some nuances in that because there may be a bill that's complex. And so then

045I think ASBA like a lot of the other ED organizations would look to see which parts are they for, which parts are they against. And if it's more pro, then you would probably come out in support of that particular bill. If it's more against, then you would probably come out against. If it's a split, you would just probably take a neutral stand. uh they may or may not testify down at the legislature against a bill or for a bill based on the political agenda, but really this first step is just to say so what are our priorities and we move forward from there. >> Okay. So if you guys had a chance to look over these what um give me some things that you guys feel that this is that you want them to um

046address. Do they have all five? And can we come up with our own as well >> or no? If you want one, you can do one for the whole board. So, it's not like you could say um uh you know Diane would have one and Stephen would have a different one. No, the board has to come down and say if we want if you want to add something to it, it's the board agrees in total that we want to add this that's not a priority right now. Um and so you would just have to vote on that if the vote was there. And I just understand that if if we agreed to that um just because you agreed and went down, it may not make it into the overall cycle of of ASBA. >> I

047mean, it looks like most of these are funding um of sorts kind of different than what it's been in the past, I think. Um so, I'm going to open it up to you guys. You guys have what are you thinking? >> So, they haven't essentially changed. I mean, some of the wording may be a little different, but the topics have not changed. >> So, >> do you have this? I mean, there's more than five here, correct? We have to come up with our top five. >> If I were to pick just one, um, for myself, it would be, and I know we can't send just one, but >> throwing this in in the hat, improve opportunities and outcomes for all students. Um, speaking to increasing the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18. Um, fully

048restoring 9th and 12th grade CATED funding. Uh, those are just some of the ones in there. Defending against efforts to limit the free speech rights of school employees. Um, there were some items in there that I thought would be more of a focus that I would prefer as to >> Yeah, we're just approving the topics. Correct. >> Correct. So the one that's in like for me for me that one's on the >> So we have to come up with our top five, right? >> Right. So the blue one >> that you're So you're just saying that one. Yeah, purple. >> I don't know. >> So we would pick that one, right? >> I would pick the purple one. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Adequately and what? >> Improve opportunities and outcomes for all students. >> I

049don't It's on page two at the top. Got you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So that's one. So that's one. >> I think adequately and equitably fund district schools to the national median people per funding. >> I think that's important. Local control is I think also important. >> That too. Um, the transparency one is always good. Obviously, they're all good. >> And then I like school safety and security. Those would be the ones that I would choose. >> Now, just so you know, even though we picked those five, all of them are going to be on the agenda. >> Okay. I have um improve opportunities adequately um adequately adequately um and equitably fund districts, local control, school and safety and security. What am I missing? I need one more. >> Yes. >> Did you get

050the transparency one? >> Transparency. Okay. Um do you have these Judy? Is everybody in agreement on that one? >> Yes. >> Okay. Now I have to get back to my board agenda and this is not going to be easy. No >> I lost everything. >> Yeah. >> I don't like this. Okay. Okay. So that was 10.5, right? >> Okay. So do we need we need to make a motion. Um motion to recommend the submission of Did you have all those? Then you want to improve opportunities adequately and equitably. >> Yep. >> Yes. They're all >> It's pretty long. Adequately and equitably fund district schools to the national median per pupil funding. >> It's in teal on the first page of the attachment if that helps. >> Correct. Correct. as a policy pri priority to inclusion

051in the ASBA 2025 political agenda. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Motion carries five to zero. That's hard to go back and forth. >> Yeah, I got >> Y. Okay. So, two uh 10.6 Six, consideration and possible action to appoint a delegate to serve as the Arizona Schools Sports Association delegate assembly. >> So, this is just held on the Saturday of the law conference. Um, it if nobody wants to, if you want to think about it, we can bring this back next month, but normally I think Mr. Ray has done it several years in a row, most of his tenure. Um, and so either the train can come down and run them over and he can do it again or if someone else would like to experience the opportunity, um, they

052could they could raise their hand. I I think it's what, a morning session, Mr. Ray, it's not it's >> it's about a half day. >> Yeah, about a half day. >> It's getting shorter, >> right? And it would I think they normally host that up at uh um up off of Sheay and uh I'm drawing a blank on on which one it is, but it's basically up in >> But you can also attend online. >> Oh, can you? Okay. So, there's new online. So, just a little bit of time in the morning. Um, but it gives you an idea of of what's going on. Their biggest issue, just so you know, is they just always have a hard time trying to get a quorum because you're talking about um 190 school districts or something like

053that. So, if you are uh looking to do it, we need you to please attend. Otherwise, they have a hard time with some of the stuff because they they can't get the quorum that they need uh within their own bylaws. >> Okay. Does anybody have a desire or am I going to nominate Mr. Ray? Okay, I'll make a motion to appoint Mr. Ray to represent the Jops Unified District as the design the district delegate to the ASBA delegate assembly to be held on September 12th, 2026. >> I second. >> Oh, all in favor? >> I >> Are you voting, Mr. Ray? Are you abstaining? Okay. >> Motion carries five to zero. Okay, that was good. Um, let's see. Are we seven? Employment. Um, okay. 10.7 discussion, consideration, approval of the 2627 renewal of employment contract

054list. >> This would be the list of uh administrative employees and support staff that we talked about last month and they're bringing this month. Um, the uh by law the administrators get 30 calendar days before they have to turn it in. So, it would be due uh essentially uh May 9th. Um it's 30 work days for uh we allow 30 work days for um uh uh support staff. Technically, they're not covered under the law, but we give them the same the same benefit as and time as the um as the classified staff or excuse me, as the certified staff. Um so, I would recommend uh approval uh as presented. I would add one thing and and give authority to HR for any minor changes. If if inadvertently we miss somebody, I don't think we have.

055We've looked it over, but in the case that we inadvertently miss somebody, you would give us permission to go ahead and move forward with that just so we can get the contracts out and not have to come back at another time for that one or two people if we inadvertently miss. >> Okay. Any questions? >> No. All right. I'll take a motion. I move to approve the 2026 2027 renewal of employment as presented and grant uh human resources permission to make adjustments as needed. >> I second. >> All in favor? >> I motion carries five to zero. Okay, we're at um the information. Oh, um information discussion. Oh, >> just coming up like multiple. >> Yes, it just keeps coming up. >> Okay. All right. Information discussion 11.1 discussion and information on student achievement. um

056April report. >> All right. So, um what we're bringing to you tonight is a followup from board members horn requests horn's request at the last board meeting related to um reading and novels particularly in our 612 classrooms. Um so what we discovered in in following up on this was that um when we had the curriculum adoption last year um this is the year one of that adoption um we had a little bit of a miscommunication about the use of novels. So uh the intention in communicating with our 612 teachers was that uh we do not teach novels in isolation. We teach novels as a support to the core concept skills and standards in 612. um somehow or another playing the telephone game that got to don't teach novels. Um so I had a chance to

057sit down with Principal Loftess and the high school ELA team Friday before last feels like a month ago, but it wasn't that long ago. Um and have a conversation with them. So we we've cleared up that miscommunication about how novels should be used. Yes, we want novels used in the classroom. Um, one of the pieces that came up in that conversation and we're bringing to you tonight is some feedback from them about what does that really mean? So, we have um and you approved as part of board member Horn's motion on I think it was May 14th, 18th. I just mumbled. It' be May 17th. Um, the digital text library. So, this is this is the list and you all got this at some point in time, but this is the list of novels that

058are part of that digital text library. It's approximately 80 novels. Um, and there are about 80 to 90 other um, short stories, other texts that are in there via Lexile levels. Um, as it says on here, they do add from time to time. Ironically, I always use Great Gatsby as an example. That's one that they added between May and now. So, Great Gatsby has been added to this list. Um, what's problematic at the moment is that we do want to support the use of novels in the classroom. this list that was approved by the board is limiting that a little bit and I'm going to give you an example of that. So, if we were to look at um the suggested novels and we we talked about those as those um I I refer to

059them as the in the fence um board member Horn referred to them as those enrichment novels. So, those are the novels that are aligned to grade levels standards. Um they're aligned to the core adoption, but that was not part of what you approved back in May. So, if I look at sixth grade as an example and I put those two lists side by side, um there are approximately 15 to 18 novels that align with the six units in sixth grade. The only novel that appears on that novel list is The Jungle Book, and it occurs in unit six. So, we've run into a little bit of an issue that we've narrowed the scope maybe too much to be able to give options and opportunities for teachers to teach those novels to support the standards because

060there there are in some grade levels not enough novels on that list if that makes sense. Um, so what I'd like to do is come to you next month. So, we're kind of giving you that information to start with. Um, I will work on a board memo memo that gives you the information about what you have previously approved and what we have not. uh make sure that you have this information to look at and then we can talk about what direction you want us to to do moving forward. Um, obviously the question is going to become how do we go about or how do you go about approving if you so choose a more comprehensive list of novels and if you do not want to approve a more comprehensive list of novels um let's say

061there's 18 available for sixth grade and you only want to approve 10 what's your process going to be for that so that we can have that direction to know how you want to facilitate that moving forward. Um, so what I will do for the May board meeting is make sure you have those comprehensive lists of what's been historically approved, what was approved in May, and what's still sitting in the not approved, but you could choose to. Um, and then we will develop some potential options of you can approve all of the above. You can approve selected. You know, we'll we'll give you ABCDE. I don't know how many iterations there may be. Um my expectation would be that we would follow that similar to as we do with our other adoption pieces that we would

062bring you some options next month. You can give us some direction and then we could come back in June and you would ideally then vote for however you want us to manage that process moving forward. We do have already in place a novel review process for anything outside the scope of this. So if somewhere along the way I'll use my favorite example Great Gatsby. Uh if somewhere along the way someone said, "Hey, we want to read Gay Great Gatsby. It's not on the list." um we have a process that we would go through um that would involve putting that out to the general public of hey we have an interest in reading Gate Great Gatsby. We have any parents, community members who want to be a part of this. Do we have staff that want

063to be a part of this? We bring those folks to the table. The obvious requirement is you have to read the novel. Um and then we have collaborative conversations about what is the appropriate level to use that novel. Um, and we look at the Lexile level, we look at where it might align with the curriculum, and we look at the content of that novel and what age might be appropriate for that. And then we would come to you and say, "Hey, we had a request for The Great Gatsby." Uh, the committee reviewed it. We think it's appropriate for nth graders to read Great Gatsby. Here's why. Then you as a board say, "Yep, cool. Add that to the list or nope, we don't want it on the list." And then we, you know, adjust accordingly.

064So that's what we're working on um to move forward to make sure that we have a process in place. Um but there was definitely some miscommunication and misunderstanding about don't read novels. Um so we had folks who are not reading novels and that's not what we want. Um but we do want to make sure we have a broad enough choice for them to work with um to give them some options to teach from so that it aligns to those units. It's a lot but questions. And before a question, just the other thing, the reason we're spreading it out over two or three months is to give you an understanding of what's taking place, but more importantly next month when we start to bring some of these together or or bring some of these to you

065is giving you the opportunity where you're going to have basically some homework to say I need to understand either what's the concern with this particular novel or or I really love it and let's say one of the other board members doesn't you know think it's not appropriate then you have an ability to know that this is coming forward and then that way you guys can specifically if it gets down to um hey we have everything's okay except for these three. Now let's have a discussion about these three. So we we we want to give you an idea of the process number one. Then we want to give you an idea of the options in the books so you have a chance to review it. Then we'll come back to make sure that that's approval. But

066that way you all have a chance to to really understand uh what's taking place and and something either doesn't get missed um or cut out that maybe some of you feel should be there. But that's going to require everybody at least have a decent under you don't have to read all 175 novels obviously but at least enough of an understanding um so that if you do have concerns you can express those concerns um and so that we can have a dialogue about it. Um I have a couple of questions just to clarify um in the motion uh that I extended back in May in reference to the enrichment materials um and the digital library. There's more than 175 printable texts and the only ones that were restricted were 11. So that shouldn't be too narrow

067of a scope to allow for creativity for the teachers to be able to utilize novels should they so choose. >> Um under ARS15-341 and 15-721 the board determines both the materials and their role in instructions uh instruction not the state standards. The state standards don't dictate um what we're able to decide at a local level. when HMH into literature was approved um in what appears to be a a fairly um what I would call novel rich program with their uh access to and as part of the lessons many novels available. Um it was my understanding at the time of that motion that novels would remain a part of not secondary to um other curriculum. And while state standards may not require novels, they also do not disallow them. And that was a miscommunication um that

068that some took. Um their value is undeniable. Building vocabulary, comprehension, writing, verbal skills. So much can be learned from reading. Uh students who read more achieve more. Uh reliance on excerpts alone diminishes context, character development, and deeper analysis. Under Joo Comb Unified School District policy, IG curriculum guides and course in accordance with requirements of the state of Arizona, the district will develop its own curriculum guides to reflect local needs. The guide shall be designed to assist users in implementing the district philosophy regarding the teaching of a subject and will when possible suggest a variety of possibilities for instruction patterns of individualization variations of approaches and materials. So they are intended to support not limit the teachers uh their effectiveness by allowing flexibility in the materials and instructional approaches. Um to be very direct and clear

069here because I I know there's been some confusion the use of Hunger Games or McBTH and other previously approved Combmes literature which is separate from the approval of the curriculum. So there are novels that are standalone completely separate from the list of more than 175 um which includes the Hunger Games. It's been used uh at the high school. There's approximately 100 copies physical copies there at the high school to use. Those are so completely separate from the curriculum and any motions that were made that evening um and could have been throughout this year utilized as supplemental materials as long as they align with the intent providing rigorous pathways to meet ELA standards and support student achievement. Um if we could just confirm so that there's absolutely no questions moving moving forward from here um that

070in compliance with curriculum guides and policy that administration department heads and teachers have clear communication, permission, and understanding that they have authority to utilize these currently already approved instructional aids, novels, and texts, including, for example, the Hunger Games and McBTH as they have in past years. Um, and they are separate from the 2025 HMH into literature curriculum adoption, and may in fact be used prior to the end of this school year in alignment with ARS and district policy. Correct. Correct. And then that has been communicated with them. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. Um and then one more comment and request kind of going back to what Dr. Wyman also had chimed in on. Under ARS 15-341, the board shall select all textbooks and instructional aids and prescribe curricula. And under 15-721, the board shall

071prescribe a course of study. This authority is neither advisory nor is it delegated with seven out of 10 students within our district boundaries utilizing school choice and choosing to go elsewhere. Curriculum decisions directly influence enrollment and therefore ADM. Under ARS 15-905, the board shall adopt the budget and under 15-91, the budget is driven by ADM, making enrollment a financial reality for which the sport is accountable. Given the Arizona statute and district policy place responsibility for instructional materials and curriculum squarely with this governing board, it is appropriate that the board guide both the process and final decisions under ARS 15-102 and 15-113, placing a clear responsibility on this board to ensure transparency and thoughtful selection of materials to ensure alignment with ARS requirements regarding education in the state of Arizona, governing board duties, parental rights, and

072combs district policy. while also supporting enrollment and community confidence. As we move forward with additional novel selections and approvals and any other instructional supplemental approval, I'm requesting a clear boardled process in which the governing board determines what is presented for consideration rather than having that scope filtered at the district level, ensuring governance remains properly aligned and the tail does not wag the dog. Number one, that a comprehensive novel list be reviewed first by the board to determine which titles will be presented as options to the committee. Two, that the board approved list is presented for committee and public input. And finally, along with feedback, returning to the board for final approval prior to implementation. Um, while stakeholder input is valuable and it is included in our own policy to do so, this responsibility in the

073end is not delegated. It rests solely with the board and our role is clear. Uphold standards, exercise sound judgment, and ensure our decisions reflect both evidence and the trust of the families we serve. >> And I would just say we've been doing that. And so I'd be very very cautious of what we're going to do with this. And it ain't going to be my fight because I ain't going to be here. But um I would sit and and say the reason why we've brought and we've talked about the the process that we've used for the better part of five or six u months or seven months that we've gone ahead and and and posted and brought forward meetings so that everybody could come and take a look at it. If if we want to switch

074it, if I'm understanding what you're saying, that's okay. That's your choice as a board. But then there has to be a commitment that says you're going to do all the work that currently that committee is doing. And if there's not a commitment of five people to do the work that that committee is doing, then we're going to put ourselves in a little bit of a pickle when it comes time to it. If I'm reading it right, because I understand I understand what you're saying or maybe I don't, but I just want to be very very cautious is what we're trying to do is be very transparent in what we present and then allow you to make the final decision. But I thought I heard in there and again I could be wrong, but I thought

075I heard in there a much greater role for the board in this process. And I would be caution I would I would place caution on that just because I don't know that the time commitment is available to do all the work that needs to be done to bring forward something that's accurate and and represents what we want to do within the community. >> So I think you're misunderstanding um any of the duties that I mentioned are per Arizona revised statute um and they are part of our scope of duties when we accept whether it's appointment or election to this office. Um the only thing that I am to summarize it and break it down for you is instead of you presenting us with a list and then that list goes you you present the list

076directly to the committee. I would like for us to look at that first and I'll just be real direct here. There is a book that is on that list and it refers to white people as demons and white demons through the entirety of the book that is divisive. It goes against our policy. I could pull it up for you to turn one group of students against another group of students. I think it's inappropriate. That is something that I would bring up for us to discuss as a board before we submit that out to a committee because that is our responsibility when we accept the oath of this office to determine what is appropriate and best for this school district and you're on your way out and I understand that. Um quite frankly that's I you

077will be missed but it's not the superintendent's position either. We give the vision to the superintendent. The superintendent carries that out. >> Right. I understand that. Um and in the case of those books we we had the whole conversation of of in the fence behind the fence behind the wall uh partial full whatever you want to call the different things. And so that opportunity was there in my understanding of the motion that was made a year ago specifically and we had multiple meetings to discuss exactly what it was that people did and did not want and what members of the board did and did not want. And so therefore we are being responsive to the board. We are being responsive to the concerns of the community. In the case this year we brought back any

078number of parents that were part of it. And so we can go ahead and switch the process and that's fine. But I would just say I take umbrage a little bit with the notion that somehow we're filtering what's being brought forward. We had conversations in several meetings with you that talked about some of those textbooks and some of those novels that you didn't want brought and the motion that we brought forward was designed to not put those books in there or novels in there. And my belief is they were not put in there. Correct. That's our intention is to not not pay attention to what the board wants, not pay attention to what the community wants, but to actually provide those novels that are acceptable in this community, which may be different than some other

079community. So that's my only concern is that's what we've been attempting. And that's why we've had I'm going to say this roughly between all the different meetings in the neighborhood of two dozen meetings about the novels to ensure that we're meeting what the board wants. So I just say that cautionary because we've gone overboard and I will thank Tim and his department for the effort they've done to make sure we're meeting exactly what the board is telling us to do. And I thought that's what we did. If I'm wrong, apologies, but I think that's what we're trying to do. And so, you can do it backwards if you want, but I think there's a bunch of professionals out here that are attempting to bring to you guys that which is utilized based on lots of

080different uh school districts. And so, I like I say, I just take a little bit of umbrage because I think we've gone overboard to try to meet the needs of you guys and what you want. Um, and so I I would just stand on that. suggesting would actually lower the amount of meetings that have to take place and work. So if you we the graph that you were working on the grid. >> So if you presented that to the board before we submit it out to the committees kind of like let's look let's look at the curriculum. >> Yeah. In this instance and maybe that's part of the confusion in this instance there is there is no committee. I'm just trying to get the list to you so that we can have clarity about what

081you'veed and what you've not okayed. Um, >> we're kind of jumping we're jumping to next month, but I don't mind doing that. I mean, what I would plan to give you is >> to make sure that you have the list of the 80 novels and the other supplemental text that you have the comprehensive list of enrichment pieces. Those you did not approve in May. It has the 11 that you mentioned plus many more. We interpreted that to be none of those. So, we put none of those in the usable category. What we need direction on moving forward from our board is how do you want to go about that process? Is it going to be a take the novel that that you just mentioned is it going to be a majority vote? Is it going

082to be a you all decide collectively? You can pick that. It doesn't matter to me. >> What you do is you provide us with that graph and the information. What's the Lexile score? >> I just want to make sure we give our teachers clarity about what's okay and what's not okay because I think their fear of not having clarity. Well, I think part of that came from there was an existing Google sheet that was available for them to pick novels from and that vanished. I don't know where that went. So, there is something that is sold and separate apart from this curriculum where it was already approved by any board members that came prior to myself or other individuals that are serving on this board that was taken from them. There was a message sent

083to them that they are not to deviate from a certain mapping and that is in contradiction to our district policy. they should have some freedom to teach as they see fit within some bumper lane of teaching. Um, I do think that there's still some misunderstanding here on what I'm requesting. So, I'm going to try and be a little bit more clear about it here. If you were to present to us that grid of information, okay, everybody here has access to it. Just as we all do our due diligence before we meet for these meetings and we review agenda items, we research information. We can see if there's anything that catches our attention, something that one of the other board members here might find is not savory for a certain grade level or age. We can

084have that discussion here in full transparency during our board meeting from the deis. Um then that would go back to you at that point. Whatever we decide to discuss or approve then would go to the committee. The committee can also chime in and give feedback as they do. The only extra Is it when you have the curriculum and we set everything that was displayed in the back of the room that comes from a certain document? Is it what's the document where you're able to pull those from? >> Well, MAU is the one that has the approve that's the K5. That's what has the approved um state approved resources. >> So, I'm just saying that I would like for us to be the MAU for what goes forth to the community. Okay. Because why would >>

085there's not going to be a committee, right? It might >> we right at the we would not use the committee unless we wanted to add something beyond your original approval. But I think what behooves us is to have some clarity on part of what board member Horn is talking about is in most districts um there's been an honoring of historical approvals. If in 2008 we approved the Great Gatsby got to use it one more time um and and Great Gatsby is not on this list are we operating under the belief that Greg Gatsby was previously approved. there's been no issue with it. So, it stays approved. I think it behooves us to come with a fresh list and say and and provide to you here's the historically approved novels. Here's the ones that you freshly

086approved as part of the new adoption. Here are the other options. Then you can give us the direction on where you want to go with it. Um what I would want some clarity on based on board member Horn's comments are we typically provide guidance through um course guides, pacing guides. And so we might say here are some options that work with that grade level. Um I'm hearing maybe more of a prescriptive approach from the board that is it a you may read the Hunger Games or you shall read the Hunger Games. You're going to have to decide. I think you're giving them options and and what my comment was >> is to make sure that there's no miscommunication in future years where teachers are thought that they are banned from reading novels. That is what

087I don't want to happen. What I want to happen is for them to be able to be teachers. We have a group of professionals that are here that know what they're doing and they should be able to fully >> fully agree with that. >> What I'm working on and I've already shared this with board member horn but I think it's good for you all to be aware what we are working on in teaching and learning. I know you can't see it from the dis but sort of a grid model here. Um this would have then the the suggested or enrichment novels that go with the adopted curriculum. These are ones that have direct ties to the core adoption. It will list the um name of the novel, the author. It gives the Lexile level so

088we have a sense of the complexity of the text. Um our intention is to add to that then some information related to whether or not um where that content may fall, you know. So yes, it's a sixth grade Lexile level, meaning it's simplistic in in the text itself, but it has some mature themes. So maybe it's 10, 11, 12 grade. Um, and then share with you where that's aligned to the core adoption and or the state standards. Um, and then one of the things that I recommend that we add to that is some specific verbiage about we've recommended this for grade band 112 because blah blah blah blah blah. That way when if teachers are going to use that novel, what goes in their syllabi is uniform across the board. So we don't have an

089issue with well this teacher forgot to say that it has this theme and this teacher did and now we have conflict out there. I think we need to come up with a district approved whatever novels we're using at the beginning of the year. We say, "Hey families, we're going to read The Hunger Games and here's the the type of content that it has in it. Here's the opt out process. Let us know." So that we're I'm just trying to be super transparent. I think we're on the same page with you're going to provide that information to us. We decide, >> we approve it, it's done. However, if a committee, which it doesn't look like it would be likely to have, but should that happen, we should know now how we're going to handle it and

090discuss it so we're not caught off guard. Um, if that should happen, we're made aware of what is presented to the committee before it goes. >> Right. And we would use and we have set up in that novel review process. We use that novel review process the same way in reverse. So if an approved text comes up and you say, "Oh, hey, the board already said that Great Gatsby is okay." Now, we got a couple of parents who are saying, "We don't think Great Gatsby's okay." We would follow that same process of, "Okay, we bring the community together. We bring some teachers together. We read it together and we say, "Does this person's complaint have merit? If it does, we bring that to you and say, "We think they're actually right. we probably shouldn't be

091reading this in sixth grade or we probably shouldn't be reading it at all, whatever the case may be and we remove it from the approved list or we say no, we did the review and it's one person or two people's personal viewpoint and we leave it alone. I think the big thing is that we just need direction from you as a board as to how you want to make that decision because I'm willing to bet that amongst the five of you one of you, some of you has zero complaints, somebody has 15, somebody has three, and we just need you to get on the same page about what we're okay with just so we don't create any confusion for teachers. Other than that, I got no investment in it. I think as long as each

092of us have ample and fair opportunity to review the list so that if there are any concerns um we can think about them, discuss them, figure out is this something that is just one person has a problem with it and then we can go from there and decide just like anything else that we would decide as a board tonight when we decided that there were five things from ASBA that we are moving forward with. So, so do you guys have any comments? >> One. >> Go ahead. >> So, just to make sure we are going to get a list of all the stuff and then we say yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. And then we give that to you and then you guys take that list from there. Correct. >> So, I will seek

093some clarity on that because that was the direction I was going. I hear possibly a different direction. >> So it would be like giving them this list, >> right? So giving you the list is the easy part. I can share with you >> what's connected to the adoption, what was historically approved. >> Um my intent was to come to you in May and say, "Okay, board, here's five options. We can approve all of the above. We can approve just these. We can approve what you want minus five. I mean, we can approve five of each grade. I we could have 19 different iterations of that. Um, but if you want to drive that instead, that's fine, too. But the first step is just to give you the here's what's in HMH that you already approved

094in May. Here's the enrichment list that is sitting currently, to use my old terminology, behind the fence. We didn't bring it out. We didn't buy it, but we could. >> Um, and then here's the historically approved. It has nothing to do with this. >> I would like you to do. >> So, we will I will give you that. My question is, do you want some suggestions on what to do with that comprehensive list or do you want me just to bring that next month? >> Sure. >> Um, I think that we need to be really careful. I think my feeling is is that we are that we're representing the entire public, not just certain people. So, as a parent, if there's a book that's being read and somebody else doesn't think it's appropriate, that's my

095decision. And if my child wants to read it, fine. If I don't want my child to read it, fine, too. Um, I think that banning any book, banning books is not okay. I mean, that's just my opinion. So, I think that you give us the list, then we approve it as a board. And I think we also need to be very mindful and careful. Um, one of the books that was in what was the top tier beyond the most restricted beyond the fence. >> Uh, yeah, the most restricted was our behind the wall ones. >> So, anyone that took the time to research some of those novels that were included in the curriculum that we recently passed. Um, there is one book that is very descriptive about what a gentleman would like to do to

096a woman's nether regions and it uses the cword. It's very descriptive multiple times. Um, those are the things that you need to be aware of. And while I don't believe in banning books either, I also don't believe in using the taxpayer dollar to provide pornography in the classroom. These aren't ones that we buy, correct? >> Right. So that's that's part of >> do you purchase access to it through a curriculum provider online in a digital format? >> That's part of what the ongoing conversation will be. So to fully answer board member Horn's question, those that were the behindthe-wall ones, those we would have to explicitly seek out. They're not they don't they're not contained anywhere in the adoption. >> They are not there's not even um segments of it. They're not referenced. We would have

097to physically say, "Oh, we want to bring this in and go get it." Um, those that are in that enrichment piece, and I will make sure I delineate when I share that list with you. Those that are more in that enrichment piece are ones that we you would potentially as the board approve usage of. We have not yet purchased it. So, for example, I'm just going to pull one off this list um in sixth grade unit 3, the bread winner by Deborah Ellis. I don't know about the bread winner, but um that is on this enrichment list. So, if you as a board said, "We're good with what's on the enrichment list," we haven't bought it anyway because we didn't have the funds to do it. But, we would then open up access to a

098sixth grade teacher to say, "Hey, we're going to read The Bread Winner and our PTO is going to fund it. The the book fair is going to give us money. We're going to ask parents to buy a copy for their kid." >> There's a bazillion different ways we could get access to those books. Um, but we would do any of that through a parental permission slip process and make sure the parents are aware. And as is always the case, we always have an opt out. So if somebody has an objection to the bread winner >> and then there's also plenty of other options for them. So should they choose the parent choose that that's not appropriate for their child, we're just doing our due diligence um in this office that we have taken um to

099make sure that we're just following the law with parental rights and so forth. So we're all on the same page, >> right? So what you'll see on these lists um for example, the the book that board member Horn is referencing is in unit three of sixth grade, the one that she mentioned earlier. Um there are three different novels that are part of unit three and sixth grade with Lexile levels of 610, 710, and 870. So if the collective board said we don't want that book used, no biggie. We got two other options in there. You know, what I think we have to be careful of is if we say we don't like any of them, and then we have this dichotomy of we're saying we're not happy the kids aren't reading, but we took everything

100away that was aligned to the to the text. You got to decide as a board what you want to do with it. >> Also, I just want to make sure that so we approve these novels. >> Then the teachers, they can use these as they they so choose in their in their thing. We're not telling them how to use this. And what's really >> I think that's a little different than what you were kind of saying you were when you're doing your >> telling them what they can do. No. >> And how they shall use it. >> I can read it back to you back. Um, so I just want to make sure that that's exactly that that's what we're doing. >> Point of order to make clarity on an accusation that is actually not

101true. Um, what I'm actually asking for is for them to be able to have the freedom to choose novels. That's right. >> And for them to >> for school policy to be able to not be stifled into a lane that they have no choices. So I'm saying the opposite of what you are >> saying. Um >> we would always provide it as recommendation and guidance. Um again taking into account those key factors of where does it align to the core adoption. What is the Lexile level? What is the appropriateness of the content? We do typically provide guidance on that. So we might say I'll go back to my example one more time. We might say Great Gatsby is a perfect novel for 10th grade, 10th 11th grade. We give grade bands. Um I know we

102have a couple at least one you know a couple teachers in the audience. What I will tell you with especially high school English teachers and I will you know I'll bet money on this they are very possessive when it comes to their novels. So if you know if we say here's the recommendation and Great Gatsby aligns with 11th grade and 11th grade loves teaching the Great Gatsby they're going to be really peeved if anybody else teaches Great Gatsby like that's ours you know and so we do try to massage that a little bit so that but they have something that's appropriate for them. Now, they may have Great Gatsby and four other options and they may rotate. Great Gatsby may be historically the one we read every single year or we may do Gatsby one

103year of Men another year because we want to keep it fresh for kids. I mean, there's lots of options. >> It looks really neat to further um them being able to have that freedom as a teacher to select which books that they're using. there is an AI bot on HMH into literature that you can go in there and so if there is a book the Great Gatsby and you're a seventh grade eighth grade nth grade teacher and you want to find out how can I have this align to the standards for this grade level and you're picking a book that's not necessarily from the three options you can input that and say can you help me create lesson plans for this book so it's actually giving them more freedom and less restriction >> we can

104and we can give a lot of autonomy in that. I think what we try to do as a department um and is really important to the overall goals of the district is uh we try to keep things in that love this phrase that zone of proximal development right we try to keep it in that appropriate level of rigor for kids so that we are we don't want kids in 12th grade reading a sixth grade novel can I align that to the standards absolutely I can teach character traits I can teach um story development I can teach plot development I can teach all of that out of any novel but we definitely want to have an appropriate novel both for content and Lexile level. So that's why we would typically recommend it in kind of a

105grade band fashion like this is a great book for sixth, seventh grade, sixth through eighth grade, whatever that might be. Um, and then we give them that autonomy and choice in there, but we do want to make sure that we don't have folks going too far down in simplicity and teaching something that might be cool and fun, but really not challenging our students. So there is a little bit of nuance to that. >> Okay. So then next week, next month, you'll bring us you're bringing us the list. >> So before next month, I'm going to get you the list. We don't have to wait for the board meeting. So I will get you that comprehensive list to consider >> and then we'll come in May with some options for you to consider and then in

106June you'll let us know which direction you want us to go >> and and just as a reminder as a result result those you were here for when we went through a situation regarding the color purple uh the teachers have gone ahead and provided in the syllabi a little bit more information relative so there's still choice. So, if there was four books that the people could ch the kids could choose, they've attempted to put more uh a little bit more into each of the books so when a parent and or the child takes a look at whatever the four choices are, if there's some that has violence or sexual content or inappropriate language, that that is communicated enough in the syllabi so if I as a parent are looking at it or my child comes

107to me and says, "I'm not sure by looking at the syllabi." And that was uh coming out of Color Purple where we were doing not a bad job, but we could do a little bit better. So the teachers did step up to say we're going to put more information in just so people feel comfortable. So to your point, Miss Argus, is is if there's something that you're okay with, but you're not okay with or vice versa, the choice in in the syllabi allows for parents uh if if they're engaged to go ahead and and look and say, "Well, I think based on these four choices, I don't have a problem with these two, but by God, you're not going to read this one or whatever." So just do know that our teachers are working on

108that piece. >> And you will also note which ones um there are selected books that it would be near impossible for a student that was going into AP classes to properly prepare and read the entire list of books that are recommended for AP level. So if you can also provide for us the entire list so that we can make sure that that's something that we are able to approve to give them that advantage and that opportunity to have those available for >> the case with any of these lists. Um I always I refer to it as being like a menu like I use the Cheesecake Factory as an example and we go to the Cheesecake Factory. Yeah, that menu is insane. So like >> in in all of these instances there's no way the teachers

109are reading every one of these novels over the course of the year. It's not happening. It's just the menu that's available to them to supplement and support what they're doing. And so what we're going to try to work with you on is making sure we're clear on what's what you're you're good with being on the menu so that we can give that to our teachers and say anything you want to order off this list, go for it. It's good. Doc, >> Dr. F, thank you very much and your team. You guys work really hard and we appreciate you. Thanks. Thank you. >> Okay. 11.2 discussion information on 2526 district student enrollment number. >> You got that uh report whatever it was a couple weeks ago. So, if there's any particular questions that you have, uh,

110we're following the same trend we've followed all year long. I don't think there's anything different. So, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions if you have any questions. >> No questions, but thank you for continuing to provide that. >> Yes. >> Okay. 11.3 discussion information regarding budget items. >> So, just a couple things with that. Um, so what we're going to do when we come back on um, uh, the next meeting on the I think it's 13th of May, we will have a study session uh, 4:45. The study session will be recommend final recommendations for the budget. Uh the purpose of the study session at 4:45 is so you have a chance to understand um some of the recommendations and why the recommendations are being made and then when we go into uh

111uh the board meeting if there's a specific agenda item it's not like whoa I didn't know where this is coming from. Um at the same time we will also uh Miss Stone will also go ahead and do a uh uh prepare for the budget revision that has to take place um uh by May if I'm correct on that. Right. And so this is just there's nothing to tell you other than there might be a budget revision and it'll be a few line items here and there that are that are changed. Terms of the budget itself just so no surprises and people know what's what's going on. Obviously, teachers uh had their um uh contracts due back by midnight on Monday. So, we have a better idea. I will tell you that uh a little surprised

112that the number of teachers that are not coming back a little bit higher than we thought uh would not be coming back. I think it's approximately 30. Uh there's not a pattern. I know Mrs. Horn asked me if there was a pattern. You know, I would say no. There's several people, half a dozen that might be retiring. Uh I know of a couple that are moving out of state due to uh uh changes in family obligations or or um a spouse getting a better job somewhere else. There are some cases where uh it's just a mutually agreeable that this isn't working out. So I wouldn't say there's a a pattern that says this is people are dissatisfied with the district or something like that. It's just a I would say just a natural attrition type

113piece that occurs. What I would tell you is there was conversation early and it is in all of our contracts um as a safety net um and that is that there will not be a riff process based on the number of teachers that are leaving as well as other positions. Um there will not be the necessity for a riff. there will be enough attrition that um individuals uh if we choose to to uh get rid of a a program, there would be opportunities for those people based on their certification to take a job somewhere else in the district. Now, don't get me wrong, they may not want that choice and therefore they may leave afterwards, but they will have an opportunity to to work with us um or to work in our in our district.

114Um, we are having a conversation and I think some people will question, my god, this is taking forever. When are you going to get the budget done? Could just give me the flipping budget. Um, what I can tell you is if we' done the budget in January, there would have been rifts because what happened in January and what we knew as the as to be the truth in January is not the truth as we know it today. And so the two things in particular that have swung this budget in a different direction, we're still a shortfall, but it's a different shortfall is when the uh uh health insurance came in and a swing of a half a million dollars and then Dr. Fountain worked with the ELA and the cost of the ELA was uh

115curriculum for K6 or K5, excuse me, was spread out a little bit differently than we have in the past. That swing has put us in a situation where again we still have to make uh uh some cuts. Um, but we now are having a conversation as an example of do we freeze on a uh increase or do we go 1%. Don't know what the final recommendation is going to be, but we're in a much healthier position. I will tell you there is some right sizing that still needs to take place in this district. We're sitting on a district that's about 36 3500 kids. Um, and that looks different than a district that's 4,500 kids or 5,000. And so we also have to take a look at um what do people want? And so you will

116probably see some recommendations coming out of the high school for the reduction in some of the sports and activities that we pres that we provide. We're fully aware of title N. I will have a chart that talks to Title 9. Uh the interesting piece is we look at the data just so everybody's very clear because we've added sports in the last couple years between 19 and the post potential proposal there are actually more women's sports than men's sports and there's more actual women's teams than men teams in this district because you got flag football in badminton that are female only not male. So, when you really count up the numbers, uh, as a title N issue, we're okay with a title N issue because we're not, um, disproportionate for for male versus female. Um, but

117why would we bring those to you? The same reason we brought swimming to you before. Is it cost effective to run a program that three kids come out for? And so, we're looking at those numbers depending on what the sport is. There's cost of the coaches, there's cost of equipment, there's cost of travel. So, I just give you a heads up. We're working on what that looks like. We're looking at as some of our schools get smaller. What's the number of stipens that are needed for department chairs, as an example, or grade level leaders? Um, and the reason we're doing that is because we're trying to to rightsize the district to the best of our ability without necessarily going to a wholesale change of a closing of a school as an example. Um, so you

118might you will see some things based on that. um a lion share of the reductions will come from attrition of staff. Um with the terms of classified support uh and administrator um obviously we're going to have to play that a little bit by ear by the 13th we will have those contracts back. Um as of right now I can just tell you I know what what the rumor mill is and I've talked to some people. um as those rejections come in just like with the teachers then we'll start to have more detailed conversations and so you may get a proposal that's radically different in 3 weeks than I would have presented two months ago or I would even present tonight because I just don't know who might or might not be coming by or coming

119back. So just keep that in mind but the lion share will be based on that. The other pieces that we'll look at is how much money can we pull out of Medicaid? Um, I will tell you the cautionary tale will be depending on where the federal budget goes, um, there are some potential cuts to a number of the title programs. So, we have to be very careful that we don't, uh, move over people into a title program and then that gets cut and we can no longer support that. So, a year from now, we have a different a different problem. We will probably not know just based on what the federal steps that are supposed to be taken and have already been missed. I would be surprised if we have a federal budget in no

120or in in October like we're supposed to. I think we'll be playing like we're doing right now the continuing resolution game, but that creates some problems in terms of what does it look like for some of these title programs. I also do not anticipate that we will have a state budget until mid June which may also play a little bit role. So we'll give you the best we have based on in May. And so the recommendation would be here's what we're presenting and then if there's specific agenda items that have to take place they will then be in the um in the agenda on the agenda. Um, if there aren't any, then it'll just be a recommendation so you understand how we're going to build the budget for next year. Uh, and it will be

121back to the goals we talked about, which is a balanced budget and built off a loss of 608mm and then we'll go from there. So, just to give you heads up, that's what what will happen next month relative to the budget in total. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh, 12.1 requests for future agenda items. Anybody have anything? I I don't have a request for future items, but I do have a comment that I want all of you guys to know. And I you may know this already because I know everybody sitting out there already knows this, but there is um training for sexual abuse and and all everyone gets it. Um Dr. Middleton when they did the training at the beginning of the year, I asked if I could have permission to all of

122the trainings just because I was curious because in Mesa we had just a huge list of trainings and and um the through the vector training there is a title n and it is specifically for sexual abuse with students. Um there's always been sexual abuse um in the workplace, but this one is specific to students and there is a training and every staff member goes through it. So um I just wanted you guys to know that because I'm not sure that you had access to it, but I'm sure >> we're all required to take it for >> you should have gotten it email. >> That one we were only required to do one training and it was No, it wasn't the sexual abuse one. was the um um reporting the mandatory reporting. So >> um but

123anyways, I just wanted you guys to know that there's there's more trainings if you want and Dr. Middleton can or whoever can can open it up for you. >> So they're really good. >> Okay. All right. Um so I'm going to make a motion to adjourn at 709. >> I second. >> All in favor? I I motion carries.