001e e e it's gonna be late and since we don't have um a clerk or anything else I guess um I'm GNA go ahead and do this I'm back so um I'm going to call the meeting to order at 502 and I will need to hold please okay I need a motion to adopt the agenda I'll adopt the agenda governing board special board meeting January 22nd 2025 okay I'll take a second I second all in favor I I I motion carries four to zero so we'll do the pledge I pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay so first thing we're gonna do um discussion and uh consideration of approving a board
002president just so you see we we broke out into two different ones this time just because it's easier the way're we're now taking the minutes within um uh board dos it's easier to do two separate than try to cram both agenda it or both president and clerk into one so that's why it's split out it's a little bit different than what's been done in the past okay all right um so before we start this I just want to preface some some things so so in two years the only person that is going to be on this board is Lisa horn everybody else will be up in two years so let's just keep that in mind while we're doing this that's that's the only thing that I'm uh not that you won't be back on the
003board but your your all of ours um terms are up in two years so that's it's not um set in stone that she's the only one that'll be here for four right because her her because she was technically elected even though there's no election her term runs for four because Shelly and and Melissa were appointed yep uh the law states you have to run after two years of the next election Jason and stepen fouryear term is up right so therefore they could all of you could run again or none of you could run again right and that's the issue and kind of scary I mean not scary but like that's that's really um that's hard for on a on a school board so be a feeling of continuing or trying to recruit other people to
004be part of or just someone else being so what I'm saying is think about this when we're when we're nominating people that somehow along the line Lisa has to know what to do that's that's all I'm saying is that like because she's the only one that's she's Last Man Standing so anyway so that's I just want to put that into your head before we move on so anyway um I will take um a nomination for board president I motion to nominate Shelley haras for the position of the Schoolboard president because well I don't know if I have to give up a because but you can if you'd like but you don't have to because looking at Short Term and knowing some different things um there's some expertise and um grit that I think is needed
005at this point and who better to train someone else that could possibly come in and take over or fill in grit AKA for something else grit determination and kindness that you have is a grit right okay um that I would be um thrilled to see you um as the board president okay any other motions any other nomination okay someone uh we need to make a uh a second a second on that no we don't we just have to close nominations so um so we'll just go ahead and close nominations there needs to be a motion to close I will motion to close nominations I guess then we'll need a second by second okay um so then we'll have to um vote on that oh well okay all in favor of Shelly being president say I
006I any any opposed okay I guess I so that's four to zero all right are we good on that one it's so crazy I don't like this process um so now we need to make um a motion a nominations for board clerk I move oh sorry go ahead okay I move to nominate Dr Melissa Valen for the position of board cler okay um I actually am going to to motion to um to nominate Lisa horn only because then I know that if she can learn things and then be able to bring that on to the next uh years that I that we know that she'll be here that's my only that was my only thing does that does it make make sense am I not I don't know okay any other nominations okay um I
007will motion to close the nominations so we will make um we'll all in favor we we'll vote for um Melissa Melissa Dr Valenzuela so um all in all in favor for Melissa Valena Dr Melissa Valenzuela any I hi yeah okay um I'll let's see any opposed did we do opposed okay any opposed I guess I I that's three okay so then all in um those in favor of Lisa horn I I any opposed me I guess okay that's fine yes do it okay okay so that's three three yes one no and then um so that motion carries three to one so um that makes Lisa for clerk we're good oh yeah yeah you have to switch places okay yeah let's just do that we don't have just do that just switch those for now do
008we have to do that right now can we do the next next one I think we can I already have my set up okay so question and consideration of um a board member we usually uh to um represent the board at the comes uh Education Foundation so this is how often do we meet like once a month uh no quarterly we meet quarterly uh Shelly and Bob kind of duoed it last time in the sense that there was both both of them were on it and whoever could make it could make it so it it can be set up to be one person doing it uh you're an ex official so you're not really part of the voting of the meeting so it's really more just an understanding of of what's going to take place
009or what is taking place excuse me with the foundation so it could be one person or if there's two of you that want to do it like what happened with Bob and Shelly last time it can be two people so it's totally up to the board um but again it's ex officios so you're not voting on anything but you at least have an idea of what's taking place the meetings generally run in the morning morning on a quarterly we have two business breakfasts one in the fall and one in the spring and we try to make the business breakfast from like 9 to 10 10:30 or 8:30 to to 10: and then the board meeting is after that the other two board meetings uh may be virtual just because of distance travel and that usually
010runs about 11 o'clock and and mo all the board meetings will be lucky to last um 45 minutes maybe an hour at the most you're saying breakfast is longer than the actual meeting well the breakfast piece what we do with the breakfast piece is in the fall we have all the CTE programs here and so they basically the business breakfast they go around and talk to the kids in the spring in order to make sure we have the elementary schools and middle schools represented uh more thoroughly we have the student governments of each of the schools present and so they talk a little bit about what their school's all about what they're doing as as Student Government so that really takes up the B bulk of the business breakfast and when the business breakfast is
011over just to make it easier because so many of our business partners are out here anyway that're on the board we then run the the meeting as soon as that business breakfast is over just so they don't have to come out at another time so we're trying to put uh limitations on travel and stuff for them um coming all the way out here because many of them live North Phoenix or something like that so so that's why we set it up the way we do but it's quarterly do you need a rundown do either one of you guys need a rundown on on what actually goes over the meetings like what happens in those meetings or you think you got it I think it's okay think you're good yep okay do do you guys do
012either one of you have a desire to do that you do oh yes let's Okay I would tag team with her that's you want to tag team with her yeah oh let's do that okay I nominate that do we have to do this do we nominate or just we disappoint are you sure I think in the foundation uh bylaws it says that the that the board has to approve it so it's more it's more a function of the okay right okay I'll I'll motion um to nominate um Dr Melissa Valenzuela and Jason Beach um for the uh representative to the cones Education Foundation take a second I second all right okay okay all in favor I I I four to one four to zero motion carries four to zero okay the conflict of interest it's
013not hard it'll be good it's not hard it'll be good just time consuming okay um we have the conflict of interest form are we on now we're on good evening Madame President members of the board colleagues that are here tonight discussion item 5.1 is to comply with governing board policy BCB and Arizona revised statute 38503 on the conflict of interest the conflict of interest states that any board member or employee of the district who has or whose relative has a substantial interest in a contract sale purchase or service to the district shall make known that interest in the official record of the district and shall refrain from voting upon or otherwise participating in any manner as a board member or employee in such contract sale or purchase revised Statute 38502 defines a relative as get
014ready spouse child grandchild parent grandparent any sibling and their spouse and any spouse's parent sibling or child that's a lot of people refrain from participating in any manner is defined as not just refraining from making the final decision it means participating in any way in the process leading up to a decision an employee with a conflict of interest must not make recommendations give advice or otherwise communicate in any manner with anyone involved in the decision-making process the reason we're reviewing this is tonight because as governing board members you do need to review this on an annual basis and we know it's in your handbook but it's also now in the uniform standard of financial records or the usfr questionnaire which is reviewed by our Auditors annually so we have to make sure we review it
015we give you time to ask any questions um do you have any questions about how this works or about the conflict of interest that we need you to sign no okay I do have those form available for you tonight and I'll come to you after the meeting if you come up or think of another question between them just let me know and I will get your designation on whether you have a conflict or there is no conflict okay thank you any questions on that nobody okay um all right discussion information regarding board dates times and structure so usually we do what the second Wednesday of every month yes the second Wednesday of every month is for the meeting date that is in policy so the change for that would require you could do it in
016it's normally two readings you can't there's a way to do it in one reading if if you want to make the change the time starting time 6 5:35 6:36 7 you know just depending is up to you guys uh we would just advertise it accordingly there's nothing in policy that talks about it the structure uh to some degree is dictated by policy BBD um and so depending on what the discussion is it may or may not necessitate a first or second read to the change of the of the structure if you're saying we want to get rid of the superintendent report as an example then in the policy we would have to say we're going to take out the superintendent report because right now the policy dictates that there needs to be a report so
017just depending on on what the discussion is uh there may need to be a change in policy or it may be that you change the structure of the meetings um but it doesn't really impact the overall structure of the meeting in terms of what's in the agenda so we wouldn't have to do any anything in that particular situation I bring this to you just so you know because there's been some conversation about the length of the meetings and so I'm just just bringing it up so that we look at there's is the meeting too long is the meeting not starting early enough and you're going too late so if you started early it's not too long I mean what's the the the concern and then we can kind of tackle it from there so it's
018pretty wide open to have a discussion but but that's why I'm bringing this to you guys uh based on on the conversation with Mr Ray uh uh probably about a month ago so we'll start Jason what are your thoughts I don't have any trouble problem with Wednesday at six o'clock I think there could be things within the meetings up we could consolidate or minimize just a little bit to still celebrate but because I don't think we don't to take away from the celebrations right but if there's a way to minimize some work take a load off of some people and still cele I think that could be a good thing okay do you have any I know you guys are only had one meeting so that's going to be hard do you have any after
019and your one meeting um Melissa did you no I mean we had a situation where we had two schools present so I think it that ran a little longer than normal so it's not usually 9:00 at night you know it ran till but um no and I think it would be nice to move it up a little but then I worry about can the parents get here Pro you know to celebrate their children when they're at working and we don't live in a area that's real close to anything so I just want to make sure that they can what do you think Lisa I agree about um commuting it's it's pretty difficult to get here even at five o'clock and I live on Coyote Road right over there so um I think in an effort
020to make it feasible for families and children um staff to be able to make it here to celebrate um the time is is fine I while that was my first meeting um on this side of the day I have attended and viewed other meetings I do know that the celebrations can tend to linger on the long side of things um I would my opinion would be to maintain them as they are um with a caveat that from a marketing background we use that as material that is already created when the district doesn't have to create content for marketing and they use the heck out of it and they use it in segmented pieces to Market our Sports Market our clubs Market every part of combs that we can so that we're not bleeding out students
021to the other options that are out there we really need to ramp up our marketing and that is an opportunity that I see every time I've seen one of those celebrations why are we not screaming some of these things from the rooftops and we have them here with photo opportunities video opportunities and everything else okay so I'm just going to throw this out here and you guys can tell me why we shouldn't do it or why okay if we had celebrations from 5:30 to 6 um it's not necessarily our meeting but we have the celebrations um that way my thinking was parents and kids and even our um employees know that they're here at 5:30 and they're leaving at 6 um then we have we start the meeting at 6 um then then we're like
022down to business at six o'clock so I don't know if that is we could do superintendent report at 6 though you know yeah man still have it still have it yes content that we'd still want to hear from him right yeah so I'm just saying like the um the schools that present the the the the employees I mean I know the employees stay here a long time so from them to get out at 3 4 o'clock and then have to stay until six hours I'm just saying like if they were if they could be here at 5:30 um board members like know we don't all have to be here but I know that it's hard to get here but then we can we can get it going um I just don't know know if the
0235:30 time is is good for everybody um I don't know if you want to start the meeting at 5:30 and then we we do we keep it the way it is I don't what are your thoughts on that I don't know I and I'm asking you guys too because as PR as principles and um knowing that like your your people coming to get recognized how would they feel about it like if I if they knew oh I only have to be there be there for a half an hour I can make it maybe we'd have more attendance of our of our employees that are being recognized I what do you think I I like it think in just their day how long it goes right on those days think it could shorten it a little
024bit I like the idea I I think it still needs to be part of the board meeting though I mean I think we can start the board meeting at 5:30 have the celebrations in there and then have the okay we're going to take a pause or whatever and do the superintendent's report in five minutes and then let people clear out or let them stay for the superintendent's report but I think it still needs to be part of the meeting Ju Just for uh so everybody's on the same page I've been watching and timing the the whole thing and and it takes somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes to do that so so we move it to to 5:30 then then if it's part of the meeting then it just the meeting runs to whatever so
025if it takes to 6:05 or 608 let's just say then you just go to the next agenda item if you say we're going to do it before the meeting then we have to account for or what are we going to do in terms of it's now 6:00 are we shutting it down and we're not done um and so there's a way to post this so that we know that I've been in many situations where you you put language but but just just to keep in mind because I've been watching because I knew there was a concern so it's roughly closer to 40 minutes each single time so either way is okay we just have to adjust accordingly could we just ask those that are presenting to tighten it up a little bit and be a
026little bit more mindful of the time but I don't I don't think it I think I think they're told at time anyway but I think that it just I think when you're in in it it just it goes as long as it's gonna go I don't know that I thought that so just on that I thought that we just had to say okay meeting starts at six as long as it's we don't start it before 6 then that's fine yeah it is but my point would be because we normally run about close to 30 to 40 minutes 40 minutes if you only give a half hour then we have to address what we're going to do on the back end because if we're not quite done with let's just say we we do it the
027way we're doing it right now and it's also in student of the month and at six o'clock are we not doing student of the month so we have to just notice people to let them know if if I'm showing up at six o'clock for the meeting and it doesn't start in some districts that's a real issue other districts smaller communities like ours it's not as big an issue but you just have to account for it so that so that when if you get the half hour and you're not quite done how are we going to handle that and as long as we notice it if it's part of the regular meeting starting at 5:30 then it's no problem but if we're going to say this is from this time to this time and then we
028start the regular meeting we just have to put some language in not a big problem but we have to put language in so everybody knows what may happen Okay so I do like the fact I mean Melissa I think that's a great idea can everybody get here at 5:30 that's the thing I think that the only one that might have problem is is Stephen and so I mean we still have a quorum right and I think in the case like today with Stephen when he called he just had a meeting that ran long and that's what just forced him out at at five to five to five and therefore yeah but him driving up here is going to take 25 30 minutes Jason I don't know if you have meetings that run that long with
029with your job but if you don't no I would be yeah you just plan accordingly I think okay is 5:30 an issue for you guys out there okay okay listen I gave you a voice if you if you guys complain about this later I don't care I've seen um I've seen celebrations for students of the month not read the big long paragraph but actually nominate more kids so you have more of a more kids up here and for talking think of marketing if I have more kids up I have more kids having to check out the website or something to see um it can be bigger photo shoot we'd have more people here to celebrate we'd have so if we cut down even the paragraph to say let's tell you I know just this these
030are the people these are all our kids that are being nominated for this incredible characteristic that we have this month and then perhaps the principles or whoever is nominating them can send that paragraph into the marketing department and that go there's your copy there's your content that goes along with your marketing image so then it's already created for them just options I've yeah and I'm gonna ask another question I know Stephen's not here but I'd ask it if Stephen was here prior to Stephen being uh President we tended to have very few discussion items Steph's request was to make sure we brought items twice so bring it to a discussion uh for the first month and bring it to action for the second month true and so so for perspective um that increas es the
031number of items that are there that can also increase the meeting beyond the concern of of just uh recognition of students and celebration of of schools and stuff um so for example because of some things that have that have come up right now we're running um as of today I think it's seven action items and eight a discussion items uh for the upcoming uh February board meeting uh and so and as we get into March and April and May in particular because it's the start of a new school year uh you will see much longer ones there if if there's a discussion on what what you want us to bring twice and so as an example next month some of the things we're bring in twice is is we have uh every year annually you
032have to declare what's going to be your class sizes uh for open enrollment purposes or the number of kids in your school and so we're telling you this is what it's going to be the next month you bring it back uh we have to have a conversation about what are we going to be course fees and then you have to bring it back for course fees what are going to be your convers so there's a lot of these perfunctory things that happen every single year if you still want us to bring them forward we will but but as we talk about length and structure um I would say some of the meetings have gone longer because you never know what the conversation's going to be and so even though it may be perfunctory depending on
033knowledge you may end up getting into a a five minute 6 Minute 10 minut conversation on a bud on an issue that going to bring back the next month so I don't know if that's a consideration for the board or not but I just bring that up because that has changed the length of the meetings too as we've added more into the discussion items um it just automatically means you're depending on what's going on during the school year you may have a a boatload of of agenda items are we saying every item has to be issued or seen twice that's that was what Mr Ray because I know we've had topics or issues that come up we like we need to table it and talk about it again and there's other things no we clearly
034can make a decision right can't we approach them that way if we need a second reading we'll say hey we I don't feel comfortable this yet I need to know more information you can do that what what in talking with Mr Ray with the exception I'm going to give you an example on the agenda next next month we just receive something for a Consortium approval with na relative technology it has to be approved based on what's there and we just got it so there's not a first read on it there's just going to be the second but if we have it ahead of time based on the request I've brought all of them there now if you guys want to sort that out a little bit and say we think this is a Hot Topic
035bring it twice we don't think this is a Hot Topic don't bring it twice we can work our way through that I can work with the meeting with the board president on what the agenda is going to look like for that or or whatever you want to do but I just bring that up because we we do have issues on the front end but we also have issues on the way the structure is relative to agenda items and I think it's a combination of the two that are stretching out the meetings and so I I would be remiss if we didn't at least talk about that and not just deal with with the front end of celebrations and and recognition so I would say I would put out there that our interest in shortening the
036meeting is not to compromise the quality or what we're doing I think all of us have signed up for if we have to go a little bit longer to make sure something is done correct I think all of us have signed up for that but if there's something that doesn't have to go long and we can still have a good quality of it and still celebrate together then I think we we would be okay with that so I I I just want to see a balance with that I guess if something needs to go longer we're going to discuss it longer if it can be shorter then let's just do it is my thought I think one thing that I if we are if we are spending money I think it should come back twice
037I think that that's something that we need to talk about in just because being mindful of our budget or whatever um there are some things that are just that we do every year I don't know I think that maybe we we just look at our look at our agenda and make that they make those calls and and you guys you can at any time if you if you just say hey I want to table this that's always an option we can table it till next time we want more information we want it or I just want to think on this I want to do some do some homework or whatever at any time that is you can you can do that as a board member there are things that have actual deadlines right and we
038have to make the decision at that meeting but right there are a lot of things we can say I'm not ready to make a decision yet can we table this let's let's be mindful I'm not and I would think any of us that said can we table this for till next time so we think about a little more I think we'd be supportive of each other at least answer questions or come to you know a good I don't know if that gave you any answers I'll go ahead and start working on some of that and then again I think the conversations uh with the board president when we meet talking about the talking about the board agenda I mean I'm telling you something right now the board agenda is not due for for another couple
039weeks to you guys and two and a half weeks before the meeting and we already have a framework for it so our our ability to meet and talk about it might address some of these some of these issues and so I think between those two kinds of conversation we' be okay okay that's fine any other any other discussion on that you guys have any other ideas comments okay so for clarity we're starting the meeting at 5:30 correct and then we will look to uh uh we're not changing student of the month as of right now even though Mr Beach talked about that we're not changing as right now uh we'll look at at a time frame that tries to keep it at 30 minutes maybe 40 max and then we'll take a look at discussion
040for the actual agenda items be action items or discuss items and I'll try to make sure we adjust those with the help of the board president to utilize our time as efficiently as possible okay and to utilize those celebrations more so on social media okay all right um discussion and information regarding School sight liaison so in the past we've always had um one we each take you got you jumped over two yeah 5. gu cuz I don't want want to do that one no discussion information on policy service option we got to go back up one more 5.3 okay all right doc yeah discussion information on board docs training and online voting so really what this is about and it's up to you guys as to what we're doing is we've taken a look at
041it number one we have the technology to do it number two like last board meeting is an example um something went funky in in bardocks and uh we lost uh some of the notes that that uh Judy took for it um and so in trying to go back and listen to the uh uh the board meeting to see who made motions in second because if you stand too far away and you don't really talk very loud we don't see it so she was commenting that you had to actually look for people's lips to move to see who made the motion in the second and so first of all hug the mic when you're talking it make it like it's your best friend um but more than that is this is a way to get around
042that um but we don't have to do it if you don't want to but we're just bringing it to you because if you go ahead and we got to do a little bit of training and and Judy has put the steps that you need to to put it in but then it just comes up on the screen and what we're really talking about more than the audience out here is the audience that may be online because some people can hear that are sitting in the audience but those online don't necessarily hear all the votes this would go up on the screen and show you like it like it uh does at the bottom of that particular agenda item who voted a who voted nay um and it' be on the screen right as you punched
043in your vote uh and then that way the people on uh online would be able to see how the vote went even if they couldn't hear it um if everybody says we're going to lean in and and talk loud then we don't necessarily need this but we're just trying to give you guys an option as a new board on how you want to deal with it so so that's where this is coming from and what we're trying to address okay do you guys have any questions like is it it pops up automatically is does it take a lot of time so it becomes a motion and a second based on that the moderator the moderator could be in there the moderator could be Judy the moderator opens it you guys hit yay or nay once
044all five or in moderator again depending on where it comes from shuts it down you can take a look at it uh to what uh Mr Ray and and and Mr harus have said in the past okay it's a 50 vote oh wait I didn't invite vote Yes I meant to vote no okay open it back up change it to no it's now 41 vote but either way it shows up on the screen so that's way it's going to be probably will be a little convoluted initially um but over time I think it becomes potentially easier and again it's really more just for our our constituents and their ability to to see what's going on well if you need notes I did take notes on the meanss that I had so if you need that
045yeah no we we got it but because we didn't realize that the that the computer or that the board dos program screwed up but until the next morning she thought well I'll just quickly I don't want to speak for you but I'll just quickly take care of it but that's when we realize sometimes there's a sound issue so um either way we can cover two ways if if if shelle's taking notes as as more president or Steven's taking notes we can use those too but here's another method if if you want to use this method what's the price difference but there's not it's part of yeah it's part of part of what you PID for with bardocks we just haven't used it we just haven't used it but it's part of it's like everything else
046we're in the Lamborghini and we're in second gear we're trying I've seen it used and the way you're describing is already better than the way I've seen it used so I I'm good with it I'd be okay can we can we like try it on a short meeting like where where we meeting where we know the meeting is going to be a shorter meeting when when do you think we'll have a short meeting St that that won't be February um when it when so when you when it says here board do training is that what what is the training that is it for the online voting or yeah what we what we would do is is we're just talking two things I believe from the original agenda number one is we would come back let's
047just pretend it's February so in February this obviously just applies to starting with the motion for adoption of the agenda and the motion for the adoption of the uh the meetings and then the motion for the action item so you might have 10 items in February as an example um the training would then be because Dr Valen and Miss Horn are new is there anything else we need to do that have any concerns relative to board docs that we could do additional trainings that would help everybody out because it's a new board so it's it's covering two the main focus is the voting but if someone said I'm still having problems understanding how board dos works with this whatever this is then we would look to see is there's something we need to do to
048bring in either online or in person I think several years back we brought someone in person from board dos to do to do additional training we would do additional training just to make sure everybody's comfortable with everything within board dos besides just the voting I think we can figure it out yeah Jason what do you think I'm good let's do it what do you think I think if it helps Judy yes let's do it it's all about Judy it is no but it does it help you because if it helps you and it doesn't yeah right right I think it sounds like a great idea doesn't cost anything extra and it's a backup as well as helpful for our constituents that are watching online doesn't require a motion does it we just just need direction
049from you guys which I have so all right we'll move forward all right let's do it sounds good okay now I'll move on I was trying to get everybody out of here five 5.4 discussion and information on policy service options okay in uh the question was asked of the two different ways that you can get policy services asba or uh the trust the trust came out with policies uh recently for a variety of different reasons um so for interest of everyone just I I did review the trust policies I was asked to review them as the attorneys were writing them so I have an understanding of what the trust policies are um uh I would say that one of the concerns that was raised by different districts was the length of the policy manual that
050asba has and so in some cases there was a reduction of uh regulations and uh exhibits in trust versus asba uh in both cases as I stated in the board backup uh the policy that you're going to get is going to be probably 99.9% exactly the same irrespective of who we used and I say that because the policy is generally related to uh State Statute so there isn't that much difference that you can write on State Statute by the way you have school attorneys it's called kosa Council of school attorneys they're the ones that write the policies and so the same council is writing the policy for both groups the difference will be you will not have as many currently I'm going to use these terms I think they use slightly different terms in in
051the trust you would not have the same number of regulations uh or exhibits if you go to the trust I personally believe that that creates some issues uh especially with new board members and new administrators not understanding that we can put as many regulations and Exhibits into the trust as we want but please understand that that will necessitate some additional dollars as we go ahead and use the attorneys to review everything we do because we're not going to bring regulations and Exhibits without having legal review of them we have some stuff in here that talks about what are the model model policy agreements um probably what you're getting in the biggest difference is is in terms of asba asba is a board member organization and so what asba does is provide training for board members
052so I know some of you did a webinar some of you are talking about going to I think Dr Valu you're talking about a training on the 31st for bolts I think Pinal County is using asba for a training in February um you have the law conference you have uh any number of other trainings the trust does not is not necessarily a board training entity so although we pay just short of $5,000 for the asba and only like5 or $600 if you want to the trust that's because in that $5,000 is all the trainings that take place for board members by board members the trust what you see in their trainings are really things like cyber security they might have a a trust training on uh if you want to do uh something with uh
053training for employees or for student discipline you would get that training if you want addition training as a board then you have to bring them in and pay for them to come in and pay the attorney to come in and do the training so the $500 or $600 I may be off on my number I can't quite remember it off of the trust is is not the final number by the time you get done utilizing the attorneys to go ahead and uh bring forward with the training so just keep in mind policy advisories policy updates um that there's a chart in there if you could bring that up Craig the chart that is do you know which one that is comparison the last one that just kind of gives you we try to give you
054a little bit of a comparison of what was included in each one and so you'll see in the trust side there's things some things that are not included so I just give you that overview because again I think asba right now is providing more than what the trust is if you just do the policy piece and not anything else there are districts that have stepped out of asba completely there's districts that have just used use the trust um uh policies but still use asba we would have to talk to asba to see what the agreement is we have an agreement with them right now but it's a 30 I think it's a 30-day opt out so it's not like we can't get out but I'd have to get the exact quote numbers of what would
055happen if you didn't do uh if you didn't do the policies uh uh with uh asba so there'll be a a a slight reduction I know there's concerns asba I think uh I think Dr Valen and Mr horn were there when we did the the training at ASA and asba they are making some changes to make the policy Services easier to manage and get to uh some slight reduction in regulations and Exhibits but more in the area of redundancy uh I would not expect a massive change um but they're hoping to they have the first couple sections ready to go that they're probably going to release in the Le next couple of uh weeks or month that would say this is what we're trying to do with the policy manual to make it easier for
056people to understand um but but I would just put that preface I'm I'm open to any questions or we can have an open discussion um but do note that the numbers by themselves don't necessarily dictate all that's being provided because asba is a member organization of board members so it's designed to help board members the trust is insurance and so they're responding to school districts that ask for more policies but they don't necessarily have all the uh all the pieces to um train board members uh and that's not what they're set up to do there's is more of an insurance-based and what's the risk to the district and how do we help the district um move away from that risk so they might not have an open meeting law training as an example they would
057be much more into something like cyber security yeah I guess my question is you know when when there's a question on policy would you contact you know someone from the trust or would you contact the lawyer I mean would you contact ASB or would you contact lawyer because I would see you contacting the lawyer that works for the trust you know what I'm saying right you would you would you would initially two different ways depending on what the situation is you would potentially contact asba or you might contact the the the trust that you have on retainer just depending on the the difficulty of the question that's being asked if it's a uh you'll see at the bottom of asba policies in many cases they're saying it's not truly legal advice because in some cases
058like any else in life not all lawyers agree with what's there uh so if it's if it's a a detailed piece uh probably call Denise who's our attorney through the trust through prepaid legal um so you do that in in most likely either situation okay then when it says policy update assistance I was gonna ask oh sorry tell me what that means because I I would imagine that if the Law changes wouldn't the trust update that automatically tell me what that means you when you get into some of the uh uh some of the components of regulations and Exhibits it's not an automatic that the trust would work with you you'd have to pay for that additional piece uh when it comes to a policy advisory and update within the law uh asba calls them
059policy advisers I don't know what the trust calls them that would be automatic that usually happens generally speaking twice a year but if something changes um it may happen more frequently but if you're getting into regulations so for example when we did the T working uh policy um you would end up paying to have that work done because it's not an automatic piece now that one's a little difficult because neither one of the two aent entities have teleworking but if there's one that's there the the trust may say this is already been previewed by attorneys here you go here's some samples uh the the excuse me the asba would do that the trust may or may not do that depending on whether they have the regulation because again um uh I my concern is is
060is the trust can be a little bit policy light relative to regulations so if they do not have anything then you're on your own or working with them to pay to get it in the case of asba it's more than likely there for most situations but not for all situations so with normal circumstances of contacting the trust if you're thinking how many times we might contact them what is that the way I mean we're only talk we're talking about small amount here but I mean it depends because what the way the trust works is you you we get our prepaid legal through the trust so uh they go ahead and establish based on histo historical Trend data how much you're using the trust and then what your rate is accordingly across the state if you
061exceed that rate then they will increase your amount the next year for what you owe for prepaid Legos so one year I was in another district and due to a lot of different issues going on we were going to the TR to our attorney for quite a bit bit uh and as a result of that the next year our rate went up so it's kind of like insurance if you use insurance and you overuse Insurance then your insurance rate goes up with Prepaid Legal now the reason you still have prepaid legal and the reason we use it in the old days you had a retainer so if you said 80,000 and you hit the 880,000 mark in October then you had to go into your budget and figure out how you're going to come up
062with legal fees for the rest of it they moved to prepaid legal as a way to say we believe for this amount of money you can get this coverage and they have over time uh gotten it down pretty good to say this is what it costs I don't know what the increases are um I'd have to ask them for those increases um but if you exceed uh because you're going there then you will pay a higher rate the next year for the trust legal I I guess I would see that you know as we're talking about policies I would I would imagine that most questions you would have regarding policy regardless of asab or the trust you would I would see you're calling the lawyer right calling the trust to answer those questions right more
063than likely but not in all cases but yeah I agree with that so when you say policy manual reviews it says available does that but is it included or do we pay extra for that no it's no we don't pay extra for it with asba it just say is available right and then but you but then there's a cost through the trust to do that yes based on what we what the information that was provided to us by the two or you know we we asked reached out to them and asked them to to to give us their agreements and then we went back and cross cross reference between the two agreements to to see what were the cost differentials and then you have your employee handbook service what does that mean it's included we
064give them our employee handbooks or what yeah what yes the the issue with that the we did it this year for the first time the issue that was there is the handbooks uh many times with all the changing uh uh regul or excuse me laws and or regulations uh do they always get updated and so in the case of asba we worked with them this year we're not the only ones we worked with them this year and what that agreement entails with them is annually they will review all the legal components that are in our handbook for our employees and make sure if there was any changes whatsoever or during the year when there's a change they will do the update to the handbook because they have a copy of that handbook if it's uh
065not a legal issue and more just a practice that we do in our district then that would be our responsibility but the reason we went with them is because of the constant changing we wanted to make sure that those handbooks had the latest and greatest uh legal uh components in or or or laws in there and so that's what the asba uh piece uh applies to and that way we're sure that anything that goes out to employees in their handbook is uh the latest legal uh uh filings also it was to my understanding like if one of us wanted to go like for example l wants to go to the bolts um conference that we that we still as our as a district pay for her to go yes for Mo I don't I won't
066say for everything so for example if you some things yes um uh there may be a few things you don't pay for I'm trying to think of off that top of my head but I don't um I'm trying to think of as an example um like the county meetings I I think we pay for the meal but not necessarily for the training so there's a few things you don't but in general in general yeah you would pay some uh the bigger difference is when you go to those bolts trainings and stuff is the trust doesn't necessarily have those and so therefore um uh they do have a legal one uh like the law conference that asba and ASA does in September but some of the more training of staff that is not necess or excuse
067me of board members that is not provided by the trust as of now now that may change but as of now we're not aware that they provide those trainings so other districts that have gone to this because there's actually quite a few districts um in the state what do they do they don't necessarily get training I don't I don't know what they do it depends on uh some of the some of the movements not all the movements I don't want to be as taken as all the some of the movements are related to more political issues and so I don't know that they've come to a solution on that but because of their belief of of the political what they believe is political ideology of asba they've decided to move off but there is not
068right now to my knowledge um an organized uh group that provides trainings for boards uh most asba is affiliated with nsba there's some pulling back from that affiliation um but there's part of the affiliation is the training across the country to get boards uh all on the same page relative to how meetings operate in some of those kind of uh those kind of situations there has been some concern about uh uh I'll just say politically IDE political ideology but I think the biggest thing we have to understand is that uh across this state and across this country uh we have a variety of different people with a variety of different opinions and therefore any large organization has to try to meet the needs of the white populations the African-American populations the Native American populations of
069Democrats Independence the Republicans the you know what I'm saying and so they're trying to find a uh uh run a fine line of providing needs for everybody within the organization and the bigger the organization across country across state the tougher it is just because what people are saying on the border is different than what people are saying in Northeast Arizona what people saying in the big city is different than what people are saying in in rural the issues that affect are different so they try to do that balance act uh the best they can but at times it does create issues when people object to what may be said or not said or a group a subgroup within the organization so that's the issue with many of the uh people that have left asba um
070but I don't know of training that they're getting because I'm not aware of something out there that they would that would provide their kind of training maybe there is but I'm not aware of it I have one more question so if we were not if we went to the trust policies and asba had a training do they allow us to pay to go to the training for asbaa can you still can you still go to a bolts training if you were not a member of asbaa I believe so um it is a different cost it's a higher cost because you're a non-member than if you're a member um so I I believe you can um but I I'd have to to honestly I'd have to explore that in more detail and come back to you
071with a better answer to make sure that I'm correct on that assessment but I believe you can pay a non-member fee you have down here discount on board dos fees what's the discount right there board dos has an affiliation with asba so that's where the discount is we'd have to go back and go back in and look into it and I can give it back to you um but there's an affiliation with board docs there's another board books is a different company that does very similar I use that in a different district and so if you use board books you're not going to get the same discount as if you use board docs I will tell you between the two Bard docs is a lot easier to use than the other one but but that's
072the Affiliated I can give you I can get you that I'll send you guys an email on what that cost savings is I mean I think we'd be remiss not to look into it because I mean we're we're talking $5,000 versus maybe almost um I think we I this I think we really need to look into it and see I'm not saying that I one is better than the other um that's just it's a huge cost difference um I do agree that everybody has their own political ideology I just I just think that we are up here to do what's best for our students um and I don't think they need to I don't know I just don't think ideology needs to go into it just tell us what we need to know like give
073us give us the down and dirty and let us make that decision um and I and I would say this much I spoke with the asba uh executive director today I think they're trying to move to that particular I mean there's been some turnover there with Wy different I'm sure there is if everybody start no but but I mean but I mean turnover relative to who was in charge um and so if if you want me to bring this back at the February board meeting or even the March board meeting I'd be more than happy to do that um what I would do in that particular meeting because this was just a discussion is I would ask both the trust uh and asba to be present to go ahead and and make a a quotee
074unquote pitch but also to be there to to to make sure that whatever I'm saying is I'm not misrepresenting anybody so so whether it's February or March um I would uh uh I would ask that they that they were present to go ahead and have a unability to explain so that I don't misrepresent anything that's been there by both I think this is more than just a board meeting thing I mean this is a big move and I think we need to keep it like what what do you guys think about like doing a study session at some point that we and then we have them come in at different times I I don't think they both need to sit at the table right like we could have one come in and then the other
075come in I think this is something that we need to take a deeper look at not just one meeting not just one quick vote um looking at the train the trainings just as somebody that is new um I went to the in-person training um I also did a virtual training last week and we have a couple more that we're going to um in February the ones that I have been privy to I felt them to be lacking um just for somebody that's new I I I didn't feel like there was a lot of meat and potatoes it was um something that I probably could have just you know found elsewhere um or through previous experience on other boards um so that's not a huge draw for me for somebody that's new um that's just me
076personally but looking at like the discount on board docs fees if that's a huge discount um that outweighs the $496 versus the other one it you know how big is this discount is it shocking um so I just think that we need a more information presentations a study session before we I I I do want to save money I think um there's news articles that are coming out about um the state of finances for school districts and so I I definitely think if there's a way for us to cut costs we definitely want to um make the move to do that um but we need a little more information what did you think about the the training um the training was okay u i mean it wasn't anything spectacular but it's you know um I
077have a little bit I'm familiar with the way schools run I've been in schools for 30 years but um I think we just need to be really careful about this I I I understand that money is tight and we need to look at that of course we do um but we also need to make sure that we're being very very thorough about our policies because like you said you're looking out for students you're looking out for our staff that's in these policies and so we want to be careful not to have those gaps where we could um potentially run into some issues so we want to make sure that we're covered it's really difficult because things are happening so quickly um just like with Co it just hit us all at once and there were
078tons of policies that needed to be um revised and relooked at and and um if you don't have the right people doing that and helping you through that it can be really tough and you can get yourself in a pickle where um you know you you can't get out of so and it costs even more when you when that happens on the back end of things so we just need to be careful but I understand what you're saying about money and we do need to look at things but I think we need to be really careful about um you know making sure that we're it's being looked at very thoroughly so so that you based on what you're saying we can go and run a special meeting on the 26th of February which would be
079the 2 uh or the 4th um uh Wednesday in the month now we are scheduled to be up in Reno in a conference that gets back I don't I'll talk with Dr Fountain after today to see about plane tickets and what time people are getting back in so that we can make it but so tentatively let's put the 26th down and I will reach out to both entities and and we'll figure out we'll start figuring out how to structure uh the particular meeting uh I'll talk with board president president on on this too in the next uh couple weeks as we go forward with this but why don't we tentatively look for the 26th um and then uh you'll get more information so that's it's tentative um but but that would fall in line with
080what our policy says which is says this the fourth Wednesday of each month you can have a special meeting so we would look to have that as a as a special meeting how long has the trust been doing this think this might be an is Jen here what's three or third year yeah it's just come up in the last couple years yeah I think well I mean I think asba had the Monopoly on that whole thing so I think that it's like people are dipping their toe into to to it as well so yeah okay yeah let okay I'll move forward with that okay now we can go to Sly ason so in the past you guys we've everybody every uh board member has taken either one or two schools and like you're their liaison
081so you go to their school you can talk to their go to their PTO meetings or booster meetings or I don't know whatever you can talk to the principle that sort of thing um if they need a board member there they can call you and so um not going to lie it's probably hasn't been um hasn't we've we've had the leaz on but and probably hasn't been practiced a lot in the last couple years um so um and and I did include the just the one pager from this the the governance team handbook that talks about site visitation so if you want to get a flavor for what the expectations are when you come on to the site to visit or participation in in in School site in meetings on school sites that's attached just
082just as an FYI for you guys more than anything else okay so that being said I guess um does anybody have a school that they would like to sometimes if your kids are there or whatever I know I don't know know that that is going to pertain to anybody here that that they're like oh I'm always on that campus anyway so I'll just be that liaison that was my idea like I was always there because I was at or and I get that and I understand that but I it also talks about you know you're there as a parent or are you there as a board member so sometimes there might be a conflict of I mean I get it though that and and what I'm handing out is Judy talked with the principles and
083so they have the different schools and some different upcoming activities so that might give you a flavor of what's happening in the schools if that's something that that you feel like you want to go see and visit okay so I'm just going to go down the line I guess Jason what would you like to do Simington Simington neighborhood school and I have okay invested interest there as well all right I like the high school okay how about the center for Success yes there you go feel like we're picking teams at the playground or something um if if we end up shuffling this around at all I also don't mind uh the high school have two children that attend um and just in the past couple weeks I've attended multiple basketball games soccer games booster meetings
084and so forth um so I'm there anyway um the middle school I'll switch with you if you want I can do middle school and you can do high school if it's yeah either way whatever okay let's do that okay so we have um Sim so um I don't really care it doesn't matter to me we're all going to have to take more than one so um I could take Ranch Elementary as well okay I can do Ellsworth all right CTA on the same they are that's good look at you okay so is this just Harmon left is it I I I I'll do Harmon that what how you've already they said CTA okay all right so Harmon's my stomping grounds all my peeps went through okay um so is that it did I get them
085all okay all right perfect um do you need a list of that Judy you got it okay okay so then we we're going to go down to request for future agenda items anybody have anything I guess I have a question tomorrow's meeting there's a bond meeting right yes what what no there's we're we're starting the process of a bond committee and so we have a committee that's a parents community members uh Administration teachers students and all it is is is uh the presentations quite frankly that you received from steel right and so that will be the first meeting and then there will be a there's a series of five meetings between now and the end of March do you we have those like what yeah I can give you I can give you the dates
086and then based on that the committee will come back with the idea right now is there will be a presentation to the board in April of what the committee looked at and what the committee's recommendation is uh if it's positive then the board would take all that information in uh and necessary we'd have a study session in April or May and then we come back either in May or June to decide if you wanted to call for an election uh you will be uh uh receiving information over the next couple months so as an example steif will made the presentation now they won't make the presentation I have to speak for Mike because he's not going to be at the bond committee but I'll use his same slideshow that you guys used uh in February
087you're scheduled we had two um political Consultants that put in bids for the political Consulting so you will get uh that move forward to you as a recommendation for the selection uh they will do a a survey of our community in March and so part of the presentation in April will be the results of the survey to say hey if if the what was the last survey that was done that was done in in 21 the difference the differential for this um and you were at that meeting the differential for this is is the question that comes up is are you going to go out for a bond um as one question but the the reason we're even doing this is because um you can go out without having to raise the taxes and so
088if you ask that question to people they may answer it differently than if you just said you want to go out for a bond and it means taxes are going to go up so those are the kinds of questions that would be answered by that for by the survey and then we've done a needs analysis across the district so that's part of what the committee will look at so I may have jumped the gun and you may have a different question but I just want to give you some process what time what time is that where is that meeting it's here in the boardroom it's from 4 to 5:30 no I I guess my question was I when you go to the governing board it pops up on there is that a requirement or to
089post in that way or there there seems to be some questions on that and so what we've decided to do is that if we have some of these issues that are big both the commit the the curriculum you will see if you go on the board agenda now you will see both curriculum adoption committees that are being posted as well as the bond committee depending on who you talk to they say no you don't yes you do uh I of an abundance of caution because of the topic we are now placing them on the on the uh the website for board dos um and uh so that people can take a look at what we're communicating uh and what the meetings are how the meetings are being held there's a question as to whether it's
090a superintendent meeting or Bond committee meeting um there's probably some legislation that some legislators would believe that superintendents are trying to circumvent what the requirements are so out of an abundance of caution we've just decided to put them all up on board Ducks I I wasn't planning on going like if if three of us happen to show up don't you then what we would end up we would end up doing is is soft post we have to do a soft post so please I'll get I'll send you the uh the calendar of meetings uh and if you're planning to attend let me know um uh I would be cautionary because uh very similar to any other situ sitation if you have a committee that's trying to make an independent decision uh your attendance or comments
091or views may as we speak about you going to sites and being in site committees you may push without your intention a direction for what the committee wants to do one way or another just based on a comment that was made about it and that's why we're trying to do a representative for knowledge I don't know that everybody will show up but we have a committee that roughly runs someone in the neighborhood of 40 to 45 people so this is not just a small committee um but you're more than welcome to come but just keep that in mind that that uh we want to see what the committee and the community and our our employees think uh and then we then we bring you back something the intention would be for the committee I don't
092know what that means but for the committee to do the presentation I do have a co-chair some of you know guy Shoemaker out of uh ananta does a lot of work he's my co he's a co-chair that committee and so there's a very good chance that he will be leading the presentation just so it's a chance for you guys to understand what the committee felt who's the chairperson you it's co-chair me and him but but I would have him do the a presentation just I was just making make sure that because I was a little surprised to see there and I just want to make sure I mean I'm not planning on going but yeah now we we just out of abundance caution because of the topic uh and there's some issues about curriculum we
093put both of them on and we'll continue to put them on in the future there may be other things that come on before for right now those are the two uh uh and we can add more but we just felt those were two we ought to do it out abundance caution can can we go back really quick to the to the liaison piece of it so how are these principles going to know that where their leasons and then do we have are we gonna like come up with some things to do with the schools or we just go to their events because I'm new so here here's what I've done in the past okay um I've just gone and said hey can we just talk can we chat yep okay so we just go we
094just sit down and chat if um sometimes I go to PTO meetings or booster meetings you learn a lot with body language right um uh if if they want somebody there well we're going to do Awards or we're going to do this then you know you can come um nothing too crazy as board president I actually did go to every one of the principles and talk to them and I asked them all the same questions just to get a feel that's all it's nothing crazy but I mean I would just go and talk to the principles and see what they want to do okay and and in terms of knowledge um obviously there's many of them sitting out here but there's a form that we have that that has all of our meeting dates and
095down at the bottom of it it has the Liaisons on one of the pages we will update it based on the new board and so they have access to that document uh and so that'll be that'll be part of it too I'll also share with them the same thing I shared with you in terms of what's in the governor's team handbook for expectations for how this uh how a meeting goes um and if necessary I can be at meetings too depending on on what what's going on and and what concerns are okay thank you anybody else have a future agenda [Music] item okay I'll make a motion to adjourn at 6:15 second all in favor I I I motion carries five to zero I okay