001Zeneck. Present. And Mrs. Stallard. Present. Okay, please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please join me in a moment of silence. Okay, moving on to item four, board member statements. Members, do you have any statements? Yeah, Mrs. Barnett. I do. Um February and March is beginning to be a very robust month as well. Um myself and um Vice President Mrs. Harris had the opportunity to attend the Motown Initiative at Fine Arts. It was such a good time. It was such a blast. In the past, I felt like it was Saturday morning cleaning up the music I heard when my mother knew it was time for us to get the house together. Um I was also able to attend the Valentine's Day dance at Laken, which was so much fun, not just for the students,
002but for the parents as well. Uh initially also I was able to um participate in a really, really good uh opportunity for the kids at Laken, which was for the fourth graders. They had um uh the water company come out and I was able to chaperone that and I learned a lot of things that I did not know about ground water and about how the water is recycled and how we receive the water and just really the importance of us cleaning up after our dogs because if we don't, that water seeps into the ground and then we drink it, which is really a nasty thought. I know. Also, I attended the Farmers Market um at Laken. It was really fun. They had really good vendors. I received a beautiful bracelet I purchased from a student
003at Fine Arts who is in eighth grade and she's rising to ninth grade and it just gave me so much optimism for our future because this young lady was such an entrepreneur. She had a business and thriving company, so I think the future looks pretty bright for us. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Barnett. Um Mrs. Sosinik. Um thank you. I was also able to attend the project wet with our fourth graders um at Alamitos Park. It was great to see science happening and all the collaboration and critical thinking that was going on amongst our fourth graders. Um I want to thank all of the teachers and bus drivers and district staff that supported the change from having it at one of our campuses to Alamitos Park. I think it was a great place to have
004it, a lot more space um and ease for everyone. I was also able to visit or attend Quintin's family fitness night where I was doing squats and seeing um Mrs. Stallard do dancing, so that was really great. I loved seeing how we incorp- how they incorporated physical fitness and healthy eating and healthy choices along with our curriculum. Um and then I was able to attend the meeting for the Lakemont community um to introduce their interim principal, Dr. Manahan, and I it was great to see so many students and families there um learning and being able to express their hopes and dreams for the rest of the year. Lastly, um I would like to say I'm very excited about our Littleton Community Fair, and in fact, I'm loving seeing the yard signs that are now being
005displayed from our students that are participating. I think it's a great way to advertise and also show pride in our students for um their excelling in the arts. Thank you, member Sosinik, member Stallard. Any updates? Okay. Okay. I don't have any updates at the moment, but thank you members for sharing everything all that you've been doing. I'll move on to Dr. Lafitte's report. Good evening governing board, staff, and community. I want to welcome everyone student every student staff and member back for from spring break last week. It was a great opportunity. Hopefully everyone had a great time relaxing and refreshing getting ready for the fourth quarter. We know the fourth quarter is going to be extremely busy. There are a lot of things going on and we'll talk a little bit about that. But so
006let's look back at our last since our last meeting. Our steering committee has met. We've met a couple of times this year. So it's been a great mix of staff, parents, and community partners. We've had great discussion about what they want to see and what they what they want to see currently that's currently in the district as well as starting the process of looking ahead to ways that we can provide growth and success moving forward. Students in the fourth grade from across the district had the opportunity to visit Alamar Park for project wet which is science-based learning that provides a hands-on experience in which students learn about water conservation, quality, and watersheds while aiming to grow stewardship and sustainability with this important natural resource. Our human resources department held a job fair in February and
007we have great news that will be another job fair upcoming this Saturday. So this Saturday at Fine Arts Academy from 9:00 to 12:00 that will take place on Saturday. So if you know anyone that is looking for a job in this fabulous organization, please reach out to them. We have a lot of opportunities available. Also, um just tell them to make sure they are prepared because it is possible that they could interview this week as well. Also, Read Across America took place right before spring break and schools as well as district office got to join in the fun by dressing up as their favorite storybook character along with other spirit days to celebrate the importance of reading. I know as I went around the campuses, you know that that the favorite costume of everyone is
008is either Dr. Seuss somehow somehow Dr. Seuss character so Cat in the Hat was a really big popular character that I saw. Uh staff members from around the district and guests were also invited to read books to students at a number of schools in the district. Uh overall, that was a great way to finish off the third quarter. This past month, we again have a number of celebrations from across the district. So, a few things we want to highlight. Uh Littleton STEM Academy Academy was recognized as an A+ school. So, this is a prestigious award that is um only bestowed upon several schools. We actually have two schools in the district now that are A+ schools. So, um right now that is our goal just to continue supporting our schools in that quest. But also
009for Littleton STEM Academy, they received an A uh the previous month. So, they're back-to-back A's. So, right now their goal is a three-peat. And then, we have Ms. Moran which received Society of Automotive Engineers International Award for STEM for Excellence in STEM Education. Only one of three teachers ever to receive award in the state of Arizona. And what makes this huge is remember I said only one of three. And the second one at Country Place. So, um shout out to Country Place for whatever's in the water that they're leading the pack there. Um and Mr. Navares being recognized as Teach for America Changemaker as well as this past week our newest National Board Certified Teacher, Ms. Ada Womack, as well as Ms. Greg, who recertified, and they both were honored at the K-12 Center for
010this prestigious honor. Before I close out this month's report, I want to remind students and staff, and this was mentioned already up here today, is about the Littleton Elementary School District Community Festival taking place at Alamar Park, Saturday, March 28th, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Feel free to stop by anytime during that window. We'll have a lot of activities going on. Excited to see our students from across across the district show off their talents in performing and visual arts, along with many other activities, community vendors, and so on that will be there. Please share this to as many folks as possible that you know in the community. Once again, congratulations for these much-deserved recognitions and achievements. We look forward to sharing even more great accomplishments at future meetings as we continue to build tomorrow
011together. Thank you, Dr. Lafitte. We'll go ahead and head into the district highlights. So, we'll get started with um both of our Littleton Foundation Awards. So, if you come up, Dr. Manahan, please, and he will announce our Kid at Hope and our Treasure Hunter. And if we could um have the governing board just head over to the backdrop, and we will take pictures over there with those awardees. And let me let me read this first, Dr. Manahan, while they're going and getting ready. Okay. So, uh good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. With the support of the Littleton Education Foundation, we're proud to present this month's Littleton Education Foundation Kid at Hope and Treasure Hunter Awards. The Littleton Education Foundation's mission is to expand opportunities and enhance education for Littleton Elementary students and the
012community in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Their mission is carried out through teacher mini grants and enrichment programs that provide multiple pathways to student success. I'd not loud now like to offer Dr. Manahan the floor so that he could announce those individuals. Thank you, Dr. Lafitte. Thank you, everybody. I'm Rob Manahan. I'm the president of the Littleton Ed Foundation and also now the interim principal for Lake Prairie Academy. It's a great reconnection for me to remember the importance of everything that our educators do, our students contribute, and our community supports. So, I'm really proud to give this award today to two individuals. Our treasure hunter we'll start with and that is Callie Aparicio. If you want to come on up, Callie. >> [applause] >> Congratulations. I'm going to read read nice
013things about you. Somebody wrote that Callie, a second grade teacher at Collier Business and Financial Literacy Academy, exemplifies the spirit of a Kids at Hope Treasure Hunter. Callie is creative, innovative, and deeply responsible, approaching every day with an unwavering passion for teaching and a firm belief that all students are capable of success, no exceptions. She consistently goes above and beyond to ensure decisions are made in the best interest of students, creating engaging learning experiences that build confidence, curiosity, and hope. Like a true treasure hunter, Callie sees the strength and potential in every child and works tireless tirelessly to help them realize it. Her dedication to students, commitment to excellence, and ability to inspire those around her make her highly deserving of recognition as a Littleton District Treasure Hunter for the month of March. Congratulations. There's
014a little gift card for you from the foundation. >> [applause] >> You're You're welcome. THANK YOU. >> [applause] [applause] >> AND AS WE AT THE FOUNDATION LIKE TO SAY, THANK YOU CALLIE for changing the world and creating miracles every day. All right, Kid at Hope, we have Teresa Colonna. Come on up from Country Place. >> [applause] >> Teresa, where are All right, come stand here and look out there and get all embarrassed that I'm going to say nice things about you, too. Uh Teresa from County Place Leadership Academy is being recognized as the March Kid at Hope for being an exceptional student. That shows what leadership truly looks like. She steps up, speaks up, and lifts others up every single day. No matter the challenge, she faces it with determination and a smile. Yes, that's
015what I thought. Always giving her very best. In the classroom, she goes above and beyond in academics, not because she has to, but because she wants to learn, grow, and push herself. She asks thoughtful questions, advocates for herself, and never hesitates to help classmates or teachers. Thank you. Her excitement for school activities is contagious. When she participates, she brings energy, joy, and a can-do attitude that inspires everyone around her. She's a leader, not just in what she does, but how she makes her others feel. She reminds everyone that leadership is about kindness, courage, and showing up with your whole heart. Congratulations. That's [applause] a $25 gift certificate, [cheering] and that is a certificate. Let's get over there and get a picture taken. >> [applause] [applause] >> Next, I would like to bring up Ms. Walla
016for our spring athletics. Good evening, governing board, Dr. Lafitte, and the executive team, and the Littleton community. My name is Michelle Walla. I serve as your LSD district athletic advisor, and I'm excited to share the brief highlight of our quarter three athletic showcase. During uh quarter three, LSD athletics began a new game night partnership with La Joya Community High School. Our teams, including boy soccer, girl soccer, girls basketball, boys basketball, and cheer, along with their coaches, were invited to attend a La Joya home game at no cost, but simply showing their school IDs. Students had a great experience what it's like to attend a high school athletic event and be part of the La Joya community. Many students received La Joya shirts, water bottles. They also had the opportunity to witness senior night celebrations. It
017was especially meaning meaningful to see former Littleton community students being recognized and and see their achievement in their goals at the high school level. Our cheer students had an extra special experience as well. They were able to sit with the La Joya cheer team, take photos together, and even learn a cheer from them. This partnership provided our school with a valuable opportunity to see what their future athletics experience could look like while still strengthening our connection with La Jolla Community High School. We look forward to continuing and expanding this collaboration in the future. Third Third Quarter Athletics uh activate this season. Our sports program included boy soccer, girl softball, and cheer. Families, like normal, register through Activate, our district-wide system that streamlines our eligibility requirements, including the handbook signatures, physicals, concussion certificates. So, all documentations
018are all in one place for our coaches and our administration. We are proud to recognize our softball championship team 2 years in a row from Lincoln Prep Academy. Their player of the season, nominated by Coach Barnes and Coach Thorin, is Allison. Allison was selected as their season's MVP by both her teammates and coaches. A true reflection of their impact she had on the team all year long. In addition to her stellar pitching performance, Allison demonstrated an incredible level of commitment by never missing a single practice. She is consistent. She goes above and beyond by working with other players, helping coach, and supporting them so they could continue to grow and improve. Allison also maintained a positive attitude, a strong presence at all times, both on and off the field, setting the standards for what it
019means to be a great teammate and leader. Her dedic- Her dedication, work ethic, encouragement of others made her an valuable part of this championship team. At this time, I would like to invite the Lincoln softball team to come forward and receive your 2026 softball championship banner. >> [cheering and applause] [applause] >> Congratulations. I just say this is my third year as a coach winning and I've never gotten this trophy, so Let's also remember this team is only made up of sixth and seventh graders. There's not even eighth grader on this team yet. >> [applause and cheering] >> Congratulations. >> [applause] [applause] >> Our next sport, we are proud to recognize our boy soccer championship team from Tracy Rio Service Academy. Their player of the season nominated by coach Payne and coach Valerie is Gabriel from
020the first day of tryouts, Gabriel took the initiative. He organized the team, led warm-ups, became a vocal leader. In the classroom, Gabriel made his grades, his behavior a priority. Throughout the season, he was consistent, proficient teammate. Gabriel is fierce defender and an excellent athlete. As coaches, we never had to worry about his ability to play the position. For these reasons, we are proud to present Gabriel as our student athlete of the year. At this time, we would like to invite the Tres Rios soccer team to come forward and receive your 2026 soccer championship banner. Congratulations. [applause] Congratulations. >> [applause] >> And now we are in quarter four, last season of the year, which includes volleyball, cheer, flag football, and e-sports across all eight schools. The first game is March 31st. We look forward to returning
021later this school year to showcase our next group of student athletes. Thank you for continuing to support our Littleton elementary athletics. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Waller, for continuing to to help lead the way by coordinating our athletics in the district. So, thank you. Okay, at this moment, we'll go ahead and take a 3-minute recess. If anybody needs to go to the bathroom or if any guests need to leave, we'll reconvene at 6:28. Nope, 6:26. Apologies, 2 minutes. >> Okay, I'll go ahead and call the meeting back to order at 6:26. Moving on to the call to the public. I don't believe we have any calls to the public. So, we'll go ahead and move on to the consent agenda. Is there any motions for the consent agenda to approve? Or if
022any members wish to pull any items. I move that we approve the consent agenda. I second. Okay. Um roll call vote. All those in favor say I. I. Okay, moving on to information items. Uh we'll move on to item A, gifted education, Dr. Lafitte. Good evening, uh Mr. Chair, members of the board. So, we're going to start our evening. We have several information items tonight. And so, we'd like to start off. There was a request to get some information on gifted. And as a part of as a part of my entry, one thing that we wanted to do is review all programming as well. And so, I'll hand this over to Dr. Haye. And she'll take it from here. Thank you, Dr. Lafitte. Um Dr. Sue Hiladet, let's just doctor it up today. Um and
023two of our fabulous GATE teachers are going to come forward and give you an update. Um Dr. Ladet came earlier in the fall, uh told you where we were at, and so we're happy to bring you an update now and what we plan to do in the future. Dr. Ladet. Thank you, Dr. Haye. Thank you, Dr. Lafitte. Good evening, um Vice President Sinassatos, Governing Board members, Superintendent Dr. Lafitte, Littleton community. Thank you for your continued support of our schools, students, staff, and our wonderful school district. Tonight, I am pleased to present an informational only update on our district's gifted program with the focus on future processes that will continue to drive academic achievement. Tonight, I am here with two of our gifted specialists, Mrs. Sodat Balagon, the GATE specialist at Estrella Vista STEM Academy, also
024serving Quintin STEM Academy, and Miss L. Fowler, who is the GATE specialist at Countryplace Leadership Academy and also serving students at Estrella Vista Service Academy as well as Lake 'N Prep Academy. Absent this evening due to prior engagement is Miss Michelle Fowler, excuse me, Miss Michelle Noel, who is the GATE specialist at Freeman Fine Arts Academy, serving also Littleton STEM Academy and Collier Business Academy for financial literacy. In November, I presented the history of Arizona Revised Statute 15-779 and its purpose to define key terms for Arizona's gifted education statute, provided the history of our gifted program here in Littleton, provided testing results for gifted testing session one, and listed next steps needed to continue the work in this area. Today, we would like to share and update on our testing and identification journey outlining the
025next steps to creating a robust and inclusive gifted program that will surely attract parents and students, which will ultimately increase student achievement and enrollment. The gifted testing session of the school year focused on using data from students who took the Arizona Academic Standard Assessment AASA, our state assessment. We selected students who earned exceeding ELA, math, or science in the past two consecutive years. This slide presents the results of our first grade of our first gifted testing completed during the first quarter in September 2025. As a result, we identified 11 students. The second quarter gifted testing session focused on current students who were previously identified as flex students, flex gifted students, as well as teacher and parent recommendations. This slide presents the results of our second gifted testing completed during the second quarter in November 2025.
026As a result, we identified an additional 29 students. The third quarter gifted testing session focused on students who earned 99% or 100% on the AASA and teacher recommendations following presentations on the characteristics of gifted learners to teachers and staff in schools. The slide presents the The of our third gifted testing completed during the third quarter, late January to early February 2026. As a result, we identified 19 students. This slide shows the increase in the number of students identified as gifted during the past 6 months of testing. As you can see, we almost doubled our student numbers. The systematic testing approach and training our teachers and staff helped us identify many more students, enabling us to serve even more students with different needs. Okay, during the fourth quarter, we will host two rounds of testing immediately
027after the conclusion of AASA for third through eighth graders. The three gifted specialists will be teaming up and administering the CogAT Universal Screener to all second grade students across the district. That is a total of 685 second graders. As a reminder from the November presentation, a universal screener is a component of the Arizona Revised Statute 15-779, and ADE ADE offers it to all school districts as an option at no cost to the district. Our fifth round of gifted testing and the final testing session of the school year will target parent recommendations and students who were absent during the testing sessions 1, 2, or 3. As this testing window is shorter and will take us to the end of the school year. We are excited to report that due to the increase of number of gifted
028students, we will have four gifted teachers serving our eight schools for the 20 26-27 school year. Additionally, we will continue to consider additional programming option district-wide support and collaboration of gifted teachers with Tolleson Union High School District gifted team for advanced content opportunities. We will gather input from parents and students through surveys and create a host create and host annual GATE um parent parent events, parent nights, or showcases to highlight our gifted students and celebrate their learning. We will consider adding an additional universal screening and testing instrument beyond CogAT we currently use. Continue revising and and finalizing our district's gifted scope and sequence and sequence document and explore possible summer enrichment options for gifted learners. In summary, our GATE program continues to grow and evolve with a strong focus on identifying, supporting, and enriching our
029gifted and talented learners as as well as creating gifted programming tailored to match students' abilities. We appreciate your support as we strive to meet the needs of all of our students here in Littleton Elementary School District where we are building together tomorrow. Where we are building tomorrow together. This concludes our presentation on the district's gifted program provided as an informational update. We look forward to providing updates again in the future as we continue to work on our goals to create an inclusive, robust, and varied gifted identification and programming in Littleton. Thank you so much. And I I just like to thank um Dr. Haye, Dr. Ledet, and our our small but mighty gifted team of of three teachers who they actually took the lead and made a lot of recommendations on how to move this
030work forward. So, I'd like to really congratulate the the teachers for for taking that lead and working through this. I know Dr. Ledet has been very passionate about this population, and so we do thank you all for your work and and continued success for our students. Thank you, sir. Um yes, member member Stahler. Sorry, I just have a quick question. First of all, thank you. It was very informative. Um what is flex gifted? The program for flex the flex program were children who came close to meeting the threshold on the CogAT. The state um has a threshold of 97, 98, and 99 percentile on the on the CogAT. So, these children who were tested came close within a couple of scores. Um so, they participated in the programming with the gifted specialist to help enhance
031their already high thinking abilities. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Member member Sosnick. Um I know that one of your last bullet points there was a possible summer program, and I know that that survey went out to gifted parents. Any idea how what percentage of parents have returned or filled out that survey? Thank you for the question, member Sosnick. I am I when I looked at this morning, we had 28 um online test results returned out of 191, and we didn't um we haven't had an opportunity to do the paper count yet. And that was this morning. So, I hope by tomorrow evening we'll have a handful more. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Any other questions members? Um member Barnett. I don't have a question, more so a statement. Um this slide was wonderful. It was
032so refreshing. I think it really highlights the fact that there is no shortage of talent within our community. It's a shortage sometimes of opportunity to um be highlighted and to be tested. And I think that you all are really doing amazing job of bridging the gap and giving all of our students an opportunity to be able to be tested and identified. So many students they they do fall through the you know, just fall through the cracks. And with all this additional testing that's being done and all these things that are happening and these opportunities, I think that that's going to be a thing of the past for Littleton. So thank you so much for all you do. This is so exciting and so refreshing to see that number just jump, but it's not surprising at
033all. Thank you. Member Barnett, thank you so much for recognizing our team's hard work and that we had the children, we just didn't have an opportunity to do the work and identify them. So thank you so much for the comment. Yeah, um thank you so much Dr. Ledet and to our um amazing gifted teachers who are um doing the work at multiple sites. Um you know, I think over the years we've seen our gifted program, you know, slip through the cracks and it's nice to see that we have some sort of plan to fix it and to hopefully one day return to where we have a gifted teacher at every single school. Um I think that is ultimate plan. It's what our community wants. Um so just thank you all so much and you've been
034doing a phenomenal job. So I look forward to seeing the the more results as I move forward cuz our students deserve those opportunities. Thank you so much President Sostaric. Uh Senator Saros, excuse me. Can I ask a question? Um Amy asked and I thought that was really important. So the there being such a slight little number of parents who responded to that, is it just being sent out through survey because I'm really surprised that that number is that low with 191 going out and only 20-something responding, there has to be something there. Is there any follow-up or anything that can be done because a lot of times with emails, things get lost. You know, people don't know that it's in their junk or spam, and I hate for any student to miss out on the
035opportunity that is definitely due unto them. Yes, ma'am. Member Barnett, thank you so much for the question. Um communication sent out a parent square, and um I will ask if they can do a reminder, but our gifted specialist has have also been reaching out to the students and their parents as well if they haven't taken it to encourage them to bring to send back that survey because that information is vital to what might happen in our summer program. Yeah, and I want to also say that the um the parent surveys and the student surveys are I think a great way in the future to get input on the community um and our students, and then having that annual event um is just a great way to build that um long-term culture of making gifted a
036normalized practice with the community and building that with them. But, um is there any other comments or Okay, if not, thank you all so much. Thank you. We'll go ahead and move on to uh the communications plan. Dr. Dr. Lafitte. So, governing board, I'd like to uh bring up Mr. Busbin. Several months ago, there was a request on communication plan and what does communication look like for the district? And so, uh Dan went back to the lab with his team, and they worked through uh what those strategies are and just put it in a in a clear and concise presentable format here. So, I'll give it to you, Mr. Busbin. All right. Good evening, Littleton Governing Board, Dr. Lafitte, and Littleton community. Tonight, I have the pleasure of presenting our district's communication plan. This plan
037encompasses how the communication team currently supports our district and community who we serve both internally and externally, um the projects we focused on this year, and our plans for the upcoming year. Our purpose is to support and grow the Littleton Elementary School District goals and efforts by engaging, supporting, and promoting the students, staff, and families of the district now and into the future. To execute this plan, we strive to provide consistent and transparent communication to all internal and external stakeholders. We utilize a variety of communication tools and avenues to reach stakeholders. We also take time to reflect on those results of each reach with the goal of moving toward continued long-term success. As a communication team, we have a number of tasks that we undertake. As you can see on this slide, they range from
038creating written documents, working with outside entities, supporting our community with resources and opportunities, utilizing digital platforms to market our district, and much more. Uh currently, we communicate with our community using Parent Square, social media, our district's billboard and marquees, submitting newspaper ads, creating fence banners, posters, using the website, and discussing with district communities that involve staff and parents. Uh when we look at our internal stakeholders, internally, our stakeholders include you, the governing board, staff, and students. When we take a closer look at our internal department impact, um we look at the level of um I'll take that back. I apologize. Um when we take a closer look at the department level engagement, the communications team elaborates with all district level departments and schools on a number of different needs that support both students and staff
039priorities. And you can see in there, there's a number of things um that you can look over and see the how we work with them on different tasks that obviously are uh suited towards their their specific needs. Externally, we have a number of stakeholders that we do our best to engage with, including current families, prospective families, other community members and businesses, former students, community members, current and possible partners, news media, and potential employees. Just like with the internal impact, the communication team works to engage our external stakeholders in a number of ways, such as providing safety messages, assisting our community partners, recognizing achievements, and um many others, as you can see on this slide as well. When we move to the next step in identifying what we've currently been doing, on this slide you can
040see um these are some of the initiatives and outreaches that we did um this year. In the blue, you can see those are new ones that we did for this year, um and some of the ongoing ones we've done from previous years that we also continue to do this year. Um what we also wanted to create were materials that would for this year that would provide more information about what our schools and district had to offer. As you can see from this list of events and initiatives from this year, a number of them um are new and helped us to move toward our goal of um creating a higher level of community awareness and engagement within our district. As we look towards uh 20 um school year 2026-2027, um we plan to continue the initiatives
041from this past year, as long with including some new ones that we are hoping to start. Some highlights from this list that you're looking at include a website redesign, a bi-weekly video with Dr. Lafitte, and more uh targeted marketing to some of the groups that are very important to continue to have our district grow. We also plan to be at more even more community events. Um our plan is to create a float for two parades, which is going to be um a big undertaking and we're excited about that. Um and obviously we'll be hopefully incorporating our talented students and staff on that as well. Overall, we're excited about where we are and where we are moving with the focus always on the positive impact, supporting the growth and success of our students and staff through
042the awareness of the incredible things that are happening in our district. With that, I'll take any questions that you may have. Yes. >> So So just quickly, Dan, just wanted to thank you for that. A couple slides back, it mentioned some of the new items for next year, the next one up the next one after that. Those parade items, board, we're going to solicit you now to participate in those and be a part of that. So, thank you, Dan. Of course. I thank you so much and we'll have members Husnik. Um thank you so much and I'm very excited to see um a strategic plan and ideas for in the future of what we're going to do. Just kind of a comment. Um I sit on the Avondale Parks and Rec Board and one of
043the things that I'm always stressing there is why are they always communicating with our neighboring district but not as much with Littleton, though that is improving and I'm so happy to see that. One thing I have been told is that um Avondale Elementary has a program or an app that's called Peachjar that allows the city just to post it on there and then it automatically goes out to their family. And I don't know if what we have to do to have that or do that or maybe you could look into it cuz it might help just get the communication flowing to our Avondale students here. That is something that we are in the process of looking at and um hopefully incorporating next year as well. Thank you. Any other comments or Okay. Um thank you
044so much uh Mr. Buzman. No, I I had my I had my comments. Yeah, I'll let let them go and then I'll give my stuff. >> [laughter] >> No, but thank you so much. I'm super super excited to see this plan. Um I think the weekly mailers I I live um on that side of the street and we always would get Tolsen Elementary. Uh we would get um calendars, mailers for their district. I think we still get them. So, um I think it's really really important that we just think of every way to communicate to our families and to market ourselves as a district. So, I'm really really excited um that you're presenting this plan and you can come back to us and let us know how it's going and and if you need any
045extra assistance, of course. And you should be getting a mailer within the next week or so. Perfect. >> is something that I don't believe is on that list, but we just finished the paperwork on that today. So, you should be seeing something in your mailbox. And if you don't see it within next few weeks, please let me know. So, that I can make sure I reach out to the company as well. So. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. >> [snorts] >> Dun dun dun. Okay. Moving on to the compensation study, Dr. Lafitte. Okay, Mr. Chair, governing board. So, um as I was working through my strategic through my entry plan, uh part of the conversation were some of the different studies that we had commissioned. And so, one of those works was our compensation
046study. Um we had presented a few weeks ago when we brought the salary schedules. Some of these recommended changes, it kind of preceded this work just simply because the final product wasn't ready to present even though we had received some of the information. So, what I'd like to do is have uh Ms. Musil come up so that she can introduce the presenters who'll be joining us via Zoom. Littleton Governing Board, Dr. Lafitte, and the Littleton community, thank you for this opportunity. Um tonight I have um the Center for Effective School Operations two representatives, Ryan Stromberg and Megan McAllister, joining us via Zoom to present um the compensation study review uh respo- uh results. Good evening. Can you all hear me? This is Ryan. Yes, we can. Perfect. Um again, Mr. Board President, members of the
047board board Superintendent Lafitte, it is an awesome opportunity for uh what we call CESO, the Center for Effective School Operations, to be at your board um this evening. And fortunate, you know, we can be virtually because right now Minnesota's recovering from about a foot to 16 in of snow at our airport. So, it's great to be here at least virtually. Um and and if we want to move to the next slide as we talk about our total compensation study, I'm going to first turn it over to my colleague who did a majority of the work and the leadership of our team on this project. And um we'll get into the introduction of who we are. So, um Megan, if you want to introduce yourself. Thanks, Ryan. Good evening, everybody. My name is Megan McAllister. I'm
048an employee experience consultant with CESO. Um prior to joining CESO, I spent about 16 years in a school district here in the Twin Cities area in a variety of HR roles and took the lead on this project in partnership with Littleton. Happy to be here tonight. Thank you, Megan. Yes, uh my name is Ryan Stromberg. I am fortunate to be the president of CSD. So, um before coming to CSD full-time, I spent approximately 23 years in public education in two different systems here in Minnesota overseeing um not only human resources, but uh the last 12 years of my career, most of all operations inside a school district. And that's what led me um to the Center for Effective School Operations. Next slide, please. You can see um you know, one and thank you for choosing
049our firm to actually come alongside you and do the work that we've done. Um we are a firm that um we are actually 20 years old this year. Um we started out in just the world of transportation. And when I say just, many of you know all the support works, um but it's logistics to bell studies to boundary studies, um to so much that comes alongside transportation. And that's where our business started over 20 years ago. Um myself and a couple other business partners came alongside in 2014 and started to build the firm to where it is today. Um and we're fortunate if you think of all areas of operation in school district, and this slide now is even a little bit old because we also now work in the area of special education. But
050if you look at our firm, um one um we have over 100 consultants across the country. Um 65 of us um are located in um some part of Minnesota, 35 across the country. We work in about 38 states. If you would have looked at it 5 years ago, we were in about four states. We've now ventured into almost 38 states. Um and the greatest thing about our firm is 90% of our people have once sat in the chair um in public education. Um and that's is is what's probably some of the most rewarding as we've come alongside. And as we just heard the presentation from your own organization around communications, right? We can come alongside any part of an operation in public, private, uh or charter school system and look at your area of operation
051from a consultant role, management role, or a staffing role. Step in and help what we call focusing on from the two E's, how effective, how efficient, and then make sure we're measuring productivity. And again, just some of your previous presentation, great presentation on your marketing strategic plan, right? And what we do similar as we do that for school schools across the country, measure the quantitative analysis, and make sure that your families and your students are continuing to choose your school and for all the reasons why. And they're getting in the information of how great you're doing all the way through the things why we're here tonight on a compensation study in human resources and finance. I'm going to turn this over to Megan and she's going to go over the report. But just to kind
052of set Megan up, Megan is our lead account rep on this project. Behind the scenes, she has access to approximately 30 to 35 experts in the area of either finance and or human resources. Some of them have spent many, many years in compensation and or some level of labor relations. And so we've been fortunate to enter this world probably now four or five years ago and been able to do studies anywhere from California to Maine to Texas to Minnesota. And it's it's exciting for us for seeing school districts such as yours choose us to do this work. Next slide, please. Megan, I'll turn it over to you. All right, thanks Ryan. So we'll go ahead and I will kick it off with general study overview and goals of the project. So our scope was a
053comprehensive review of 77 unique positions within your organization. At the outset of the project, we identified some primary goals or your district identified primary goals. First being to continue to attract and retain high-quality staff. Next, to improve market competitiveness looking at your base compensation for all positions, but expanding that also to look at supplemental pay stipends that your employees receive as well as benefits. We looked at aligning pay with job responsibilities and qualifications, and then improving internal equity and decompression across job families. You can go ahead and next slide. So, our approach to tackle all of those goals was a phased approach. So, I'm going to walk through briefly each phase of the project. The first one was data gathering. So, we collected quantitative data from Littleton including current job descriptions, salary schedules, your organizational
054structure so that we were able to review sort of that base level information. From there in phase two, we moved in the into the classification analysis. That classification analysis really took a deep dive into each of the 77 job descriptions that you provided to us. What were the essential functions of the role? What were the primary or position requirements, certifications? And then we looked at each of those positions and how they fit into your organizational structure. Were they assigned to the correct job family salary placement schedules? Were they correctly identified for for the purposes of FLSA not exempt and exempt? And based off of that review have some recommendations that you'll see coming later in the slide deck. Next was our total compensation analysis. Oh, if you can go back one slide, sorry. Thanks. So,
055phase three was a total compensation analysis and that really dug into the data that we collected from the external comparable school districts that we surveyed in addition to looking at your regional market and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Once those two phases of analysis were complete were complete, we then moved into the recommendations and findings that we provided to Littleton to the district and then a final report and presentation of results which kind of leads us to where we are tonight. Next slide. So, I want to spend a couple minutes just digging a little bit more into data collection because really that is the foundation of this. As much great data as we can collect, the better the recommendations we're able to provide to you. And so, in our internal review, like I mentioned, we
056uh we look take a look at job descriptions, your current salary, your placement schedules, your benefit offerings, supplemental pay, and current employee data. So, we wanted to get a snapshot of your existing employees, what were their position titles, how much experience did they have um in addition to what their current salary or hourly rate was. From there, we moved into the external data collection component. Um and one big piece of that was a comparable market survey that we sent out to your district. So, we sent out a survey to 22 school district elementary school districts within your area, and the survey looked at all of the 77 positions that you have within your organization. We provided summaries of each of the job descriptions, so essential qual- basically essential um position requirements, and had those comparable
057school districts then review um what those positions were and try and find if they could the best match within their organization. From there, they took that information and provided us with um pay ranges for each of those so that we could review as it related to the compensation that you currently offer within Littleton. Extending that uh external data review, we also did um go out to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for your regional area and match job descriptions as closely as we could to positions within that website. Um and we also took a look at two larger employers within your area, the Maricopa County um and state of Arizona, and then where we could, we also tried to pull some information from Amazon, knowing that that's a competitor in the area. Um we recognize that
058often times people may move school districts, but for positions maybe in IT or business business office uh human resources that you also have to take into account that those folks could leave and go to other private or public employers. And so we wanted to have a well-rounded data set taking those pieces into consideration. All right, next slide. So our responsive comparable school districts, like I said, we sent out the survey to 22 school districts. We received the following responses back, which was seven. I recognize that that seems a little bit low, but we really try and target between five and 10 to give us what we feel like is a a robust data set. So we were right within that within that number. Avondale was a partner district in this study and so we were
059able to use their data as a part of this process in addition to the school districts Balsz, Buckeye, Creighton, Pendergast, Phoenix, and Union school districts. All right, next slide. So as we look at the job classification process, I'll start there first. Two pieces that we were looking at were FLSA compliance, so ensuring that all positions were appropriately classified based on our job description review as either exempt or non-exempt. And what the study found was that all positions were currently classified appropriately regarding that exemption status. That is a piece that we typically have recommendations for in the reports that we're doing for districts. And so the fact that all of your positions were appropriately classified is a a testament to the work that you're doing, so kudos in that regard. In addition to that, we looked
060at job family alignment. So you currently have your four placement schedules. We wanted to be sure each of those 77 positions were placed appropriately within those placement schedules. And again, we found that all of those positions we agreed with the placement schedule for those. All right, next slide. So as we think about those placement schedules, I know I mentioned that we believed each position fell appropriately within this the placement schedule. Um as we reviewed those job descriptions, however, we did make some recommendations to the district in regard to classification um pay grade adjustments based on what we uh reviewed. And so, there were 11 positions that we made recommendations for either as a pay grade change in that classified hourly group or as a position um reclassification in that administrative support schedule. The basis of
061those reclassifications, how we review that, is the scope and complexity uh scope and complexity of responsibilities, the level of independent judgment and decision-making, required education, certifications, and experience, the supervisory responsibilities, if that's applicable, um accountability and impact on district operations, and internal equity. And so, you will see in this slide and the next, the majority of those position reclassifications, like I mentioned, do fall within that classified hourly group. And for those positions specifically, most of those were driven by the technical skills or certifications that were required for the position. And that was what we um ultimately came to as a a recommendation for an increase in pay grade. As we look at the administrative support schedule, what really drove that was accountability and impact on district operations, and also district-wide strategic reach that those positions
062had. So, I'll just move to this, if you want to move to the next slide. This is the um the remainder of those 11 positions that um recommendations were were made for. And I believe some of these did come to you um in the February meeting as well. All right, go ahead and change it to the next slide. So, compensation findings and recommendations. As we move into this section, I do want to just take a minute to talk about um how we approached these findings because in the state of Arizona, it's a little bit different in terms of salary schedules and how some other school districts work. There really is no true cap. Um you've got your placement schedules that you use and then you're doing those percentage increases um each year. And so what
063we found when the data came back to us is that the max amounts that were being reported from comparable districts varied greatly and likely that's the result of employees in some districts maybe being newer to the position and then in other districts having a long tenure. And so there were there tended to be uh larger gaps between those amounts. And so ultimately what we decided to do was focus on making recommendations for those placement schedules first. So with that being said, we found that 48 positions that were included in this study were identified as at or above market. 29 positions were recommended for market adjustments. Some of those are in um the position reclassifications that we talked about and what I will say is the majority of those market adjustments were um slight adjustments. We
064did not find any positions where we felt like there was a significant need to increase um increase the starting rate. So overall very competitive in the market. Once we reviewed each of those individual positions, we then um made recommendations for placement salary schedules which we provided to the district back in February. And my understanding like I think um was mentioned is that those proposed placement schedules were um were reviewed by the board then. All right, next slide. So for for my financial impact, um what we wanted to do was look at based on those placement schedules that were recommended, where do you do your current employees um fall as it relates to that placement schedule making sure that everybody if we did make recommended adjustments up fall within those placement schedules. And so what we
065found was that 90% 95% of current employees already fall within or above the proposed placement ranges, which is great. We then recommended targeted adjustments for 40 employees that are currently falling below the proposed FY27 minimum placement level. And based on the employee data that was shared with us, our estimated cost to bring those folks up to the minimum is approximately $25,552. Next slide. Perfect. And then we'll move into benefits, placement, and supplemental pay. So, in addition to the base wages, Littleton also requested that we look at what districts are doing as it relates to those items. So, I'll start with the medical plans. We did take a look at all the comparable districts that responded and the medical plans that they offer. The number of plans and the district contribution to health insurance for Littleton
066are consistent with the market. We did not have any recommended changes in that area. You are competitive there. As it relates to placement schedules, Littleton's point-based system for experience and education is does offer a more nuanced approach that we really do think provides an advantage to districts that are using a flat cap. You're offering point values based on education that new individuals are bringing in in addition to the experience. And it's just a little bit different than what we saw in those comparable districts. So, we do encourage that the district continues to do that. As like I said, we do think it is it offers that advantage and doesn't put a cap on people coming into the organization. And then finally, we did also take a look at stipends within the comparable school districts. Stipends
067can vary, you know, across the districts in terms of what what is offered. Some have robust lists, others are a little bit more refined. And so, what I will note is that Littleton leads the market in stipends for self-contained uh special education resource teachers significantly leads the market. Um so my hope is that is also offering a competitive advantage to you and something that I think your surrounding school districts are starting to take a look at. Um in addition, I think we heard earlier tonight about some national board certification teachers and based on the market data that we were able to collect, we also saw that that was an area that you were leading the market in. And that's just a general overview the report provided um more detailed recommendations on any adjustments to those
068stipends. All right, final slide. So in conclusion, I know this was a a high-level overview of the study um but what we feel is that by adopting the recommended classification and compensation strategies that we outlined in the report provided to the district in addition to the presentation here tonight that uh Littleton's well-positioned to continue to attract and and retain top quality talent and we're prepared as an organization to continue to support as you work through um implementing any of the recommendations that we provided. So we really appreciate the time tonight and uh we're open to any questions that you may have. Thank you. And Ms. McAllister and Mr. Stromberg, just wanted to thank you two for the work on this. Ms. Musil for um working with them to get this work completed. So thank you
069all. Yeah, thank you. It was a great partnership. We appreciate it. Um thank you all so much. Um members, do you have any comments or questions or concerns? I do. First of all, I want to say thank you. Um I'm very pleased at the fact that 95% of our employees are already falling within or above the proposed placement ranges. Although coming from the district, I kind of already knew that that was going to happen. Um I did ask some questions earlier when I first read this and I was very glad to see that classified positions were also um part of the survey and that they are above what other districts are paying right now. Um so that as a classified person made me feel really good. Um again, I guess um just thank you. Like
070I really appreciate it. I know that this took a lot of work. I appreciate the comments. Thank you. And yeah, I I um I would echo that in terms of the competitiveness. It seems like there is some real intentional work being done within your district to look at those classified positions and based on what I um I heard as recommendations that went to the board, um my hope is that yes, it does continue to place you in a really competitive spot for attracting and retaining your talent. I guess I have one more thing, too. I should thank everyone else in the district here for all of the work that you do and for um continuing to um be competitive and to provide competitive salaries and medical and everything else in taking care of the staff
071and students that are here. I appreciate you. Thank you, member Stoller. Do any of the members have any comments or questions? Okay, well, um thank you all so much for presenting. Um I had a couple of just questions. Um For the um overview, when did you guys start doing this? Good question. We started all the way back, let's see here. Let me pull up. I've got the report here. We started in November with an introductory call. Okay. And then it went through February. Perfect. And then um Dr. Lefeuvre, I know I mentioned this uh do we have the total number of the cost it was for the compensation study? I don't have that off Do you know offhand? Ms. Misa? Uh I do not have it on hand, however, it was brought to the board
072earlier this year and you approved it. It was with partnership with Avondale. So, we split the cost between the two. So, What was that one? we partnered with Avondale intentionally to reduce the cost for both district both districts, but I can get that amount to you in a future update. Perfect. No, that that's all I just needed to know. It was just just that part right there. >> Okay. Um and then for the job category classification changes, I'm very happy to see the bus mechanics and the warehouse worker increases. And so, just you know, I want to make sure I'm you know, understanding based on the compensation findings and the financial impact the recommendation comes on the placement salary schedule. So, the goal is to get the current employees to this proposed increase number. Correct.
073And some because they have they are and feel free to jump in, too, but because they are longer-term employees, even they may already fall within in the range. So, um but yes, that is the goal is that everybody would at least get to the minimum. Okay. Yes, members and Ceros, we our Vice President members and Ceros. Yes, all the um pay grade changes that you approved in February will be put into effect for all our current employees and then the employees that fall below the FY27 column one, those adjustments will be made as well. Okay. Perfect. No, that's um that's pretty much all I had. Thank you all so much for the work. And then I'm assuming all of the the other positions will come back at a future board meeting for job job descriptions.
074That would be our recommendation, yes, to That would be our our our desire to bring those forward at a future board meeting. Yes. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Lafitte. Thank you all. Thanks so much. Have a good night. Have a good night. >> Have a good We'll go ahead and move on to There is no discussion on this, so we'll move on to action items, the annual audit report. Okay, Chair Senasac Governing Board. So, our next item is our annual audit, and you know, it's interesting going through some of these things with with with Ms. Peña and hearing some of this information, but I'll turn it over to Ms. Peña to make this presentation. All right. Um Vice President Senasac members of the Governing Board, this evening I would like to present our annual financial audit
075for the fiscal year of 2024, 2025. Our audit is going to be focused from July 1st through June 30th of that first fiscal year. The regulation for our audit is through the Arizona Revised Statute, and that requires all school districts who have adopted an an expenditure budget of $2 million or more in the maintenance and operation fund shall contract with an annual financial statement audit. In addition to the statute, this was amended in 2021, which requires the Governing Board to publicly accept all audits and compliance questionnaires by a roll call vote. As well as providing electronic copies of these reports to the Arizona Department of Education and County Superintendent's Office. For the federal requirement, we are also required to comply with the Office Management of Budget, which we refer to as the OMB. The OMB
076Circular A-133 requires any government entity that expends more than $750,000 or more of federal funds in one fiscal year must be reviewed by a single audit. This slide represents our annual timeline and process that we follow each year. We contract with an independent audit firm known as Heinfield Meech to begin This work begins in August for the prior fiscal year. Auditors from Heinfield Meech are on site working with the business office and other team members to gather as much data as possible. We refer to this as the preliminary audit since the full financial year has not been completed at that moment in time. In October, it is our last opportunity to finalize all financial details, which allows us to file the annual financial report with the state. Once this report is completed, all of our
077financial numbers are finalized and that data is provided to our auditors. Moving forward, in November, auditors are back on site to complete the final request and details. For both on site visits both auditor by the auditors, these there are multiple departments involved in this. This includes information technology, food services, student information, payroll, transportation, human resources, special education, and federal programs. All departments coordinate through the business office to complete all requests. Once we have this time completed in December, we finalize we get the final compliance and financial reports are provided to us. These reports allow us to file file with the state agencies and apply for financial awards. In the board attachments, you have the annual comprehensive financial report referred to as the ACFR. This is a detailed audited set of governmental financial statements prepared in
078compliance with the governmental accounting standards board, also known as GASB. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the district's financial health. I'm going to go over some highlights of this report. It is 112 pages, um but we're just going to discuss some of the highlights. We won't go through every page. Um some of those highlights >> [laughter] >> include the independent auditor's report. It is stated on this report, the auditors has stated Littleton as present fairly. What What that means is that we have a clean opinion. In addition to this, there is a management's discussion and analysis, the MD&A. It is a comprehensive narrative of the financial activity of the district at a high level. Furthermore, governmental-wide financial statements are also provided. This is the net position and statement of the activities on a cruel
079basis of the finance financial data. Moreover, there is notes to the financial statements section and it provides more details of the account balances, pension liabilities, and capital assets of the district. At the end of this report, you'll see statistical section that provides trends over 10 years of our financial data, net position, as well as demographics data, and our debt that the district has incurred. The ACFR report is also used for the district to submit and be considered for financial reporting awards. For the past 17 consecutive years, Littleton has received two awards. The first is the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award by the Government Finance Finance Officers Association. The second award that we received is a Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting Award awarded by the Association of School Business Officials Internationally.
080These are the highest form of recognitions in governmental accounting and financial reporting. Receiving these awards represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management. We are very excited and very proud of these two awards. Moving on to the single audit reporting package that is also an attachment on this aboard agenda on this aboard agenda. This report is a federal regulation to the audit to the audit of our federal funds for both financial statements and federal awards, the district was found to have no significant deficiencies and no material weaknesses regarding compliance. In addition, there were no instances of material non-compliance identified. The audit opinion was issued as unmodified. An auditor's An auditor issues an unmodified opinion when the financial statement is given true and fair view of the organization and has operated in accordance with
081the applicable financial reporting requirements. Littleton is also identified as a low-risk auditee. The specific federal funds that were reviewed this past year were Title 1 and Special Education IDEA. In addition to those two reports, our last um report that we have is the uh Uniform System of Financial Records Compliance Questionnaire. We also refer to this as a USFR. The USFR was has been developed by the Office of the Auditor General's Office and the Arizona Department of Education pursuant to ARS 15-271. This is to assist the Office of the Auditor General's Office to determine whether a school district has attained an acceptable degree of compliance with the requirements of the USFR. The independent audit firm must complete the USFR compliance questionnaire. Once this questionnaire is completed, it discloses all areas of deficiencies. The USFR questionnaire is
082about 33 pages which it has 18 sections with a total of compliance questions. The USFR compliance results for Littleton are listed here. I have listed all 18 sections that we um have to uh comply with. And so of these, the total number of questions findings that we received are 11. So we received a total of 11 of 171 questions. Or in terms of percentages, this is a 94% rate that we are compliant of the USFR compliance questionnaire. In comparison to other school districts in the state, Heimdall meets clients average about 15 findings in FY23-24. Unfortunately, at this moment, we do not have all of the complete um Heimfeld ISD did not have all of their districts finalized, so we don't know what the average number for all districts for FY 2024-25. However, historically, Little Tin
083continues to be below the average findings for districts statewide. In closing, I want to express my deepest appreciation for Rochelle Corey, who is our director of finance, and the business office team for their tireless work coordinating this entire audit process. I also want to thank the various departments involved. This is a significant undertaking for everyone. Every single person remained dedicated to ensuring a successful audit and upholding our commitment to transparency. Thank you all. And there are copies available electronic copies available through the board agenda um for you guys to review if you like. And thank you, Mrs. Peña. I know this work is it's it's a lot of work going into this. Um I know they sit in that room for for an entire week just going through our items, just looking for things. And
084you know, that's not my style to go looking for what's wrong, but that's what they do. They just look for what's wrong, but um you guys did an amazing job and and all of all of our predecessors who had really done this work, so thank you. Thank you so much um for your presentation, member Susanic. Um just a really quick question. From what I can understand, in this year, we had 11 deficiencies, right? >> Yes, correct. And so, if we look at our little graph, um that's really low compared to previous years in competitive districts. So, I think that that is a huge testament to all the work that you guys have done. I love I normally I like seeing graphs going up, meaning that we're growing, but I like that this graph is going
085down. >> Yes. Yes. We want a balance, and so this is our balance. Yeah, member Sollard. I just want to thank you for keeping us out of trouble. So, thank you. And then there's me. Thank thank you so much. I did have just two questions about the um How do you say USFR? USFR, yes. Yes. Okay. Um as you pull up the document of the item Um I'm I had a question on the budgeting part. Cuz it says that the district did not post the notice of public hearing. I'm assuming is that because it gets approved by the governing board, and we usually we only give uh 24-hour notice, I'm assuming. Um Thank you, Vice President. Um Senator Serratos, um unfortunately, we uh missed that requirement in our previous fiscal years. Um it was noted
086um it was an oversight between uh transition. Um we look at these as opportunities to grow and improve, and so this is another area where we will improve. Okay. Perfect. I I just wanted to understand. You know, I don't know if that has to go get approved by the state, or if that's like it gets presented to the governing board since we're the ones who approved the budget. So, uh Chair Senator Serratos, this is actually a two-part process, and what happened is there has to be 10 days in between, and the 10 days didn't occur in between. And so, just what we have to do moving forward is make sure uh prior to that final approval having to go in, we communicate the other piece at least a meeting ahead of time. This time it
087didn't. Actually, the previous 2 years it hadn't. And so, that deficiency will exist until not after this year not it'll be for the 20 6 27 year once we finally correct that deficiency. Okay. Perfect. That's all I had. Thank you. I just wanted to understand that process. Thank you. Thank you. And then this is an action item, uh members, so there is a motion in the description if anybody would like to make a motion to approve. I just wanted to say real quick before we approve it, there's a bit of a typo. I don't I don't think that's going to be an issue, but just just because I'm thorough, it says um Littleton move the governing board to accept the Littleton, but Littleton's spelled wrong. So, maybe we can make a modification to that. You
088see that? I don't know. It's just aggravating me. Um I'll move that the governing board accept the Littleton District Audit and Compliance Questionnaire for fiscal year 25. I'll second. Okay, member Stahler, made by made by member Sossaman, and then second by member Stahler, and then is it a roll call vote? Mr. Saticeros? Yes. Mrs. Barnett? >> Yes. Mr. Sossaman? >> Yes. And Ms. Stahler? Yes. Okay, thank you all so much. Um then we'll move on to item B, second reading of policy JICA, student dress code model policy. Dr. LaFitte, if you have any information. Okay, uh Mr. Chair, governing board. So, this is the final step of uh what I believe is what a year and a half or 2 year process uh since the request of changing the student dress code policy so that
089there's not the requirement for uniforms. Um typically in most model at most policy readings, the second policy the second reading would typically move to consent, but because this had been the way this process had worked through, I wanted to just ensure you guys had the opportunity to to discuss if that was a position that needed to be taken in this process. So, I'll go ahead and for me um the governing with the administration will I'm on the wrong part. The governing board or the If I get my words right. The administration would just like to recommend that the governing board approve the second reading of policy JICA uh for changes to the district's dress code policy. Okay, thank you, Dr. Lafitte. Um I know we've had a lot of discussion, but um this is second
090read, so if members do have any other further discussion on this policy or concerns or comments you would like to make. I have a comment. So, um I've had an opportunity as have all the other board members within the community as we all are part of this community have parents come to us and express concerns one way or another. Some in great support, some who are a bit reluctant. Um so, I just felt compelled to say um why I you know, feel this is important and why I support it. I know that some parents have conveyed that um you know, maybe it's a money aspect of it is easier to just have everyone wear the same thing. There's no classism, but I think about all the students who this is an issue for them. There's
091one little girl in particular um I think of. I see her often. And it's very obvious she's Mr. Natt up here just driving us crazy, but um in in particular this little girl and she's very very uncomfortable and as soon as school lets out I watch her run to her mother or her grandmother, whoever comes and gets her on whatever day. And I asked the grandmother one day, I said, "Is it just that she's really shy?" She says, "Well, she can't get wait to get out of these clothes." And I look at the little girl and I think I understand completely. This little girl is a bit heavier. These clothes don't fit her. We have students who maybe have some issues with textile. The clothes don't feel good on them and they're forced to sit
092in a classroom for 8 hours a day to spend the bulk of their day in something that they're very uncomfortable. We constantly preach about our kids having good attendance, which is so important, is imperative. But kids come to school every day when they're comfortable. And though we have a wonderful environment for our students, they should be comfortable with they have on. I think back and reflective of how when I was a little girl we were very poor, very poor. And I think about having an opportunity to just go even to the Goodwill and I'll buy clothes. And I would pick up these different things that were representative of who I was, things that made me feel good, things that were sometimes a quarter, $1. And I could modify them, I could sew them. And that
093encouraged me to become a a person who was more multifaceted. Unfortunately, we're in a day and time where we don't have opportunity for our kids to have music like we had when we were younger. We don't have an opportunity for them to go to art and do all the things that everybody in this room had an opportunity to do cuz we're all pretty much in the same generation. That was something that was afforded to us. We had every opportunity to express ourselves. So, I think that having an opportunity for our children to have even this, this little thing, to be able to put on clothes that make them feel good about themselves, that are reflective of who they are and what they choose to be and what they want to be and how they want
094to present themselves to the world. This is something we can give them. And so, this is something I feel confident about. So, that's that's just my thought on it and that's why I support this. Thank you, Mrs. Barnett. Um any other members have comments or Um yeah, members Sosnick, yeah, please. >> Um we've just got like has been mentioned, we've just discussed this for 2 years and we've gone back and forth and there are points of view that everyone has and I know that many people have reached out to me, staff parents um my own children's middle school friends have reached out to me to express their opinion and my daughter, I've said it before, she struggles with the uniform. Um she is a lot like her mother in body frame and she also has
095sensory needs and so I know that she is so excited to maybe not have to wear her uniforms and I know that she's excited because the uniform she does wear, while it fits the uniform, it's not what the other kids are wearing. Um and so she's excited that she might be able to fit in better with wearing the clothes that she's comfortable with and so I'm excited about this. I am still very cautious about the effect that this will have on our staff and on how much time that they are going to spend, if this passes, on dress code cuz I know that it becomes very easy to not have to manage a dress code so much, but I'm excited to see in the conversations I have heard um that with free dress down, the
096dress code violations and things like that aren't happening um to the extent that they used to when I first um put my kids in the district. So, I think that this is a positive move um and I'm excited for it. And I'm excited for our students. Thank you, member Sosnick. Member Stallings, you have no choice now. >> [laughter] >> No choice. Um those of you that know me um as a parent, my child went through the Littleton district. Um I've always been against uniforms per se. Um I agree with everything that uh member Barnett and member Cisneros has said. We have gone round and round with this for a couple of years now, myself just a year being on the board. I think we need to give it a try. I think we need to
097see if it does work. I mean, we have options if for some reason it doesn't. I have talked to admin at schools and parents and students at different events that I have gone to and I have also spoke with several PTA members and being a former PTA member myself, I do understand the amount of revenue that comes in from the dollar dress down. Um but I also know that we, me personally, um and um vice president um I'm sorry, Cisneros, we're more than happy to um pursue alternatives for fundraising to help you guys um because that is important. I think yeah, I I just I think we need to try it. I mean, kids do need to express themselves and a lot of people, a lot of kids do have body shame. I tried to
098wear the uniform for a week. I I couldn't do it. This shirt itched me. The It's hard to find the It's hard to find like comfortable pants like that to wear and stuff. And like member Barnett said, I mean, it's a way to express themselves in in a positive way of, you know, who they are, what they want to be, and their creative side. And I think we should I think we should go ahead and try it. Thank you, member Stallard. Um Thank you, all members. I um as you can see, we are uh unified on this um decision, more or less, based on our comments. Um one of the first times I ever visited a classroom, um it was at Trace Rios for career day, and um I cannot tell you out of all
099the things our kids talked about and staff and and um parents that were there, it was uniforms. Um you know, and I never thought that like you elected to a school board, I would talk more about what kids wear to school than actual policy. Um and I feel like that's a major major um concern for me, and I saw it. And so, we've been having this conversation for over 2 years now, and um we've been preparing for this um final step in our um journey to the where we are now, and I get a little emotional because um you know, just thinking about all the kids that I spoke to in all of our family and our community and giving them that opportunity. It's not going to be the first year may not be that
100fun. Um and I do agree with member Soosaniek that we really need to create guidelines in place for in training for our staff over the summer to make sure that they are properly communicated to in a timely manner about this um decision if it passes. But I'm I'm super excited um about this, and I am I am think it'll be a very positive thing for our community. And um I'm hoping it'll even decrease our um discipline for dress code violations. So, um with that being said, if there's no further discussion, um I will go ahead and move the governing board um approve the second reading of policy JICA, student dress code policy pol- policy as presented. I second. I second. And then all those in favor say I. I. I. Any against? Abstentions? The motion
101passes unanimously. Okay, moving on to our last agenda item is the NSBA conference. Dr. Lafi give us a little background and then I'll chime in. Yep. So, item C was added at the request of a board member request to attend the NSBA conference. So, just per policy, that needs to be approved by board. And so, the items attached to this, you'll see the conference itself information added and the cost per person to attend this. So, right now the the motion would be for either an individual attendee or multiple attendees to this conference. I have a question. I'm sorry, just for clarification. Um and maybe things have changed. I know a lot of times they do. I was under the impression that each board member was allotted kind of a pool of money that they were
102able to utilize for travel. Has that changed? Um Chair Cisneros Cisneros and um member Barnett. So, in our last meeting in December, in December I brought forward uh Was it December? October. I brought up kind of a a pallet of all conferences that were available. And the intent during that time was to try to identify not just a pool of money, but what conferences would would make sense and individuals to schedule get selected or scheduled to go to those. For me, I like it for budgeting purposes because it allows us to set that up and then it allows us as in if you notice in this case to make sure we hit those early registration dates to make sure we don't have any additional fees that we wouldn't. And so, part of the conversation was
103that um not each individual necessarily has money, but money can be pulled so that if individuals do not want to attend out-of-state travel, um others can utilize those dollars as well. Okay, cuz um >> Cuz I think this year I think we've only had one out-of-state travel by board member. Uh board member sent to Sarah's went to a conference in February? January? January. January. So, that's the only conference that's been out of state. All others, I believe, have been in state, uh to Flagstaff or other places. Cuz I guess I guess that's a different shift only because my only concern with that is based on what you just stated. If let's say um let's say Melinda decides she wants to go somewhere and she finds out that something's going on and it is the the
104she just found out about it, but she has a week before the early bird tickets go up. I don't feel it it would be beneficial to us as a board for her to wait until next month for us to approve it if she hasn't utilized her travel allotment. So, if she's utilized her and have not used it, then shouldn't we capitalize on that right then and there and have Ada go ahead and and solidify that so we can make sure she gets that before waiting until next month to say, "Okay, uh yeah, you can go. That's cool. We like that. That's a good idea for you to go." But now you got we're going to have to pay a higher amount for her to go. So, per policy, the board has to approve out-of-state travel.
105So, it has to come here. That's That's where the difference is. We don't do it beforehand because board has to approve it. So, even if I were to go, if anyone goes out-of-state out-of-state travel, and typically per policy, it's it's technically board myself, it has to be approved by the board before those arrangements should be made. And that's why I attached the policy to it as well for that. That and that was why I brought the entire list earlier to say these are the possible conferences who would like to go to these conferences. I tried to do it in a way so that they were all there. My intent moving forward is to every possibly possibly June-ish June-July-ish to bring forward all conferences that we're aware of. Obviously, there are going to be some things
106that we're not aware of and they'll come up as needed. But to try to bring those common things forward and then have the board make recommendations on who can go because part of it also is for a strategic purposes. For example, if you go to a conference where you want multiple board members to get certain training or knowledge to bring that back to the organization. It's for strategic purposes. Similar to what we do when we go to conferences is for specific purposes. So. Um yeah, I know we we did we did um that was the prior practice I think and we at our October meeting we just agreed that if members wanted to go obviously being um you know mindful of other board members want to go to conferences. I know we have the NSBA
107the ASBA Flagstaff conference which is usually our more hefty pricey conference that we usually go to um and the and the school year. So um I requested that this just be brought forward um cuz I had seek interest in attending and just wanted to make sure that the rest of the board could have the opportunity. But I know um in prior practice usually if a board member wants to go to a conference, we usually just have let Ada know and then it gets in a consent agenda item instead of being on a regular board agenda item. But because it was a last minute request um we wanted to make sure that the whole board could have the opportunity to go if they wanted to go as well. Um, more or less, um, I myself have
108never been to the NSBA conference, the annual conference. So, I've been to Cube and the, uh, advocacy conference. So, I wanted to attend this one, um, to be able to experience all the different, um, options that NSBA has to offer for board members. And so, more or less it's just an open discussion for all members to just give input on, um, and the the avail- availability to attend the conference. So, while obviously cuz it's about money, I'm not a fan of last minute, um, things because it did it did increase the price. I do understand, um, Vice President S- Marcus S- Senceseros. I will get it right, Marcus. Um, why you want to go, um, and the benefits look good. My only concern and my only question is, I want to make sure that you
109bring back something that you can share with all of us. Um, I know you went to DC and you met with some people, um, but we like we require, which we should, like Dr. Defeat said, you know, when other people go on these conferences, it's to bring stuff back to, you know, their colleagues and stuff like that. I do not have a problem on my vote with you going. I just want to make sure that you, um, soak up everything you can and bring back what you've learned to us, so we will know if it's something that maybe we all should pre-plan for and attend next year. No, I would 100% agree. And And when I um went to DC in January, I had um privately brought some things to Dr. Lafitte's attention of some
110uh people that I meet in some initiatives. Um actually, the Grow Green initiative, who's actually a diamond sponsor, that was actually um an organization that I connected. So, um yeah, I I agree. When any board member goes and travels, it's always to get professional development and to share that information with the staff. Um but also recognizing, you know, open meeting laws that you can't, you know, just talk about random, you know, things you want to do as a board member during your board member update. Um so, I think that um I always make sure that I share those privately with the with the superintendent. But, you know, giving a brief summary during the board member statement is um something I will always do. Um but, I really appreciate that. So, um I am willing to
111go. Um I don't know if any other members have the availability to go. Um Okay, member Member Stallworth can't go. So, Member Sasanik, Member Barnett? Um well, I was able to attend NSBA's conference 2021, I believe. Um I think that there can be some benefits there, and I'm excited for anyone who wants to attend. That is in the middle of state testing for me, so that's That's not possible for me to be able to go. Um but, I encourage you to go. I'm not against you going. Just Mhm. I definitely think you should go. It'll be good for you to go. Member Member Barnett, do you want to go? No. Okay. Okay. Okay, well, um, action motion. I move the governing board approve attendance for board member Mr. Ceniceros to the 2026 NSBA annual conference
112to be held in San Antonio, Texas April 10th through the 12th, 2026 at a cost consistent with the estimated and in accordance with board policy B I B A. I second. Okay, member uh, Stallworth made the motion, member Barnett, um, second. Uh, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed or against? Thank you all so much and, um, the motion did carry. So, moving on to future agenda items. Um, I have to read this. Oh. Oh, yeah. I have to read her bold statement here. Could Dr. LaFee, um, could we, could I get an opinion from our attorney on this if this is required to read? Just moving forward. Okay. I just want to make sure. Um, cuz it's not attached in our in our Recommended by the attorney. Okay. Okay. Um, I would
113like to remind everyone that under the Arizona Open Meeting Law, this portion of the agenda is limited to briefly suggesting topics for a future agenda. Discussion, debate, or direction to staff of matters not listed on the agenda is not permissible. We stay within these legal boundaries to ensure transparency and compliance with Arizona statutes. Thank you. Members, any requests? Um. So, last year I was able to attend Okay. Never mind. I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep this within open meeting laws. It's just coming back. So, I would like to have a discussion of our plan to improve our national board certification. Um be it stipends, be it stipends for our mentors. I was able to attend the um an awards dinner last year and I came back and expressed that I wanted to do something and
114I wanted someone to tell me how we could make this better. And I don't feel like in the year that I've gotten that. And so now I'm taking the next step and saying I'd like it to be a discussion that we have. Any other? Yeah, member Stahley. I would like to bring back and discuss more on the organizational chart that we had based on the information that we received tonight. Okay. Um Dr. Lafi, did you have any other requests? Okay. Any other requests at the moment? Okay, hearing none. Um is there a motion to adjourn? I motion we adjourn. I'll second. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Anybody want to stay? Okay, motion carries. Meeting is adjourned at 7:49. Thank you all.