Littleton Elementary School District - 18MAR2025 Board Meeting

001Mrs Stallard here Mr Nelson here thank you um can we all stand for the pledge of allegiance iedge aliance 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 um we're going to have a moment of silence and if you haven't silenced your cell phone please do so now okay do I have any board member statements Marcus uh no statement I just wanted to say thank you to the um two Educators who are outside of our building um saying hon for public education um just wanted to know that I always support our allowing our teachers to organize um on our campuses or outside of our campuses um and always allow our students to speak and Lead

002so I want to thank them for doing what they're doing yes thank you um I just wanted to say in the past month I have been able to attend um the solution tree PLC and it was so amazing to see that little Littleton was recognized as a PLC District we had our name up on the Bullard and the sign in front of about 3,000 people recognizing the hard work that we do as a district in our professional learning community so I wanted to give another shout out to all the hardwork by our Administration and teachers um working in their plc's and then I was also able to attend Freeman Fine Arts Academy's um black history showcase this past month and it was great to see um second through eighth graders in song dance um they

003had schoolwide auditions um and it was just mixed with a lot of interesting facts so now you know about black history so I wanted to thank all the people who worked hard doing that and bringing that for our students and Community moving on um super intendance report Dr Smith good evening Littleton board members and uh the public March marks March Mark marks my third month in Littleton district and I'm continually amazed at the incredible work and learning that takes place across the district each and every day this past month was no exception as it was filled with memories and moments that will long be remembered by staff and students alike fourth graders from ourmes enjoyed talking taking part in the city of avondale's annual Water Festival that took place at Alam Alamar park it was

004a funville day of exploration and learning about our most precious resource with Community Partners and volunteers we appreciate everyone that contributed to this incredible event and for the partnership we have with the city of Avendale ourmes uh had an active month recognizing Black History Month as was just mentioned with performances and activities specifically the Freeman Fine Arts Academy utiliz their talents by stepping into the shoes of hysterical figures like Rosa Parks I particularly like I and Tina Turner by the way and Martin Luther King Jr and others by presenting a glimpse of the impact that these influential individuals had on our Comm our country and the world it was truly inspiring that they we had and we were fortunate to have experienced it not to be outdone a straya Vista STEM Academy had a whirlwind

005activity take place on its um campus starting with being recognized as a solution tree promising practice this school uh this great achievement recognizes schools that are in the early stages of the model PLC process but have shown the academic promise to soon make the leap into consideration of being a model PLC School we're excited to see the continued growth of australa Vista and for them to achieve that next level of con success so congratulations to estraya Vista the excitement estay of Vista extended to the students as third and fourth graders welcomed ABC 15's weather fast forecaster Mr horor Torres uh students engaged in an informational presentation about weather and weather forecasting uh select students were offered the opportunity to become kid Casters in which they were recorded for the future ABC uh 15 newscast start

006uh stating a variety of high temperature ranges the entire experience was highlighted in a newsworthy news story that was broadcast on the morning of March 3rd we look forward to seeing EV students shine on the TV in the upcoming months this month's memories at Australia Vista didn't end with that experience as they held an engineering Fest on Friday fe uh February 28th along with their Partners at Phoenix Raceway fifth through e8th grade students uh were tasked with using their engineering skills to build balloon race cars that would compete against other students the winners received tickets to the infield and the grand stand for the NASCAR races that took place in March Phoenix Raceway also provided more tickets for the EV Administration administrative team to distribute to students that part who participated we appreciate our partnership

007with Phoenix Raceway for helping our students take part in memorable educational experiences like this so they can make a huge impact in their future goals and dreams also this past month our annual school choice event took place at the district office providing our families with an opportunity to learn about each of ourmes prior to making the decision for their children um for the 25 26 school year families and staff provided positive feedback about how informative and well attended the event was for all participants some of the visitors and staff may have seen Dr lefit that evening as he was able to visit our staff and Community as they explored their choices another District event that took place recently was our annual digital learning day it was another great opportunity for our students to shine by

008providing Community Partners and staff members a glimpse at how technology is used in all of our districtm to further their learning and their uh school focus read cross America week was recognized at Littleton District academ the week before spring break schools had spirit days activities such as having guest readers to celebrate the importance and joy of reading I got a I had the fortunate uh I was fortunate to be invited to visit and be a guest a reader at Country Place Lake and prep and Trace Ros it was an enjoyable and rewarding experience at countryplace Leadership Academy I was able to experience and learn about their partnership with a world in motion um awm for short awm is a free inquiry based learning program sponsored by General Motors and the society for automotive Engineers that

009provides students the opportunity to synergize and develop leadership skills with support of Industry volunteers to explore stem based projects in every K8 uh classroom at Country Place for the most recent project sixth graders were con con constructed a gravity Cruiser if you can see a picture of that it was powered by the weight of 50 pennies uh the goal was to see which Cruiser went the furthest along the gym floor this year's winter traveled 30 11 in which is further than any other school that awm works with in the valley so that was a big wonderful thing as a lead Leadership School Country Place encourages students to advocate for opportunities and and a perfect example this happened recently when a student wanted to have the opportunity to learn how to play golf at school the

010student was encouraged to write a plan by the by his principal and submit the proposal this idea and proposal resulted in golf equipment being donated to Country Place to provide this Newar learning opportunity for this this student along with many others at the campus this exemplifies the Academy's commitment to teaching leadership skills by empowering students to take ownership of their learning goals prior to spring break all teachers held conferences with their student uh parents and students we're so grateful for all families that were able to attend to discuss their child's progress as we move into the last quarter of the Year these discussions were also are also valuable to ensure every child's learning growth is consistently and const ly measured for their long-term success as I close out this month's super report I wanted to

011share one last memorable experience that made an impression on me for sure the students were and the students were part of it um while visiting Littleton STEM Academy before spr break I encountered a number of primary grade staff members dressed in inflatable costumes uh to participate in a race with their students the race was entertaining and capture the students attention the time effort and creativity that these staff members put into providing this opportunity was heartwarming and reminds me that every day um we have staff members that create moments that may not always be seen but they leave positive impacts on each and one each one of our students so in closing I just want to thank every staff member in Littleton uh the district from the district office to each Academy for everything they do

012every day to provide valuable learning resources and care so that each child can reach their future goals the work you are doing is humbling and I'm very proud to be a part of it thank you that cludes my comments for this evening thank you um moving on to item number seven program showcase Miss Garrison thank you madam president governing board A Fine Arts Academy is an excellent place for talented students because it provides an environment where creativity is nurtured skills are refined and opportunities for growth are abundant many of us have had the pleasure of watching at least a performance or two of some type at the Freeman Fine Arts acad and you have likely been impressed I'd like to introduce Mr Steve Rickert from the Freeman Fine Arts Academy I think he was going

013to sing a little bit and do a little dance oh okay or at least he's going to come to the podium and brag about how talented his students are and how impactful the their experience at school has been he will also be recognizing his dedicated volunteer Miss Alma parda and kids at Hope student of the month seventh grader me Laino Mr Rickard all right well good evening evening president soik governing board members Dr Smith the executive team and the Littleton Community this evening I have the great privilege of showcasing the signature programs at Freeman Fine Arts Academy our mission and vision which Drive the work that we do every day clearly illustrate the importance we place on supporting our students love of the Arts students exploring their artistic passions at school have the unique opportunity

014to express themselves creatively creatively while honing their skills in a supportive environment whether through Visual Arts Music Theater band or dance our school provides a platform where our students can experiment with different mediums explore new ideas and find their voice this exploration Fosters confidence critical thinking and emotional intelligence as students learn to channel their emotions into their art ultimately we want Freeman Fine Arts to be a place where students cultivate a lifelong learning for the Arts and a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them I would like to share with you a few highlights over the last year from each of our signature programs our choir and Performing Arts programs are under the direction of Miss Eileen liberman this year the Freeman Fine Arts choirs had 33 students participate at choir night with

015the Arizona Diamondbacks our winter choir concert featured over 100 singers with a special final performance by Dr Freeman the deople students also got to share their music with the kids at Hope Community during our kids at hope during the kids at Hope m M's Institute and had special carolling engagements that included stops at the avendelle senior village and the district office the singers are preparing for a busy final few weeks that will include their spring choir concert on Thursday May 15th our collaboration with the Missoula Children's Theater had over 100 students taking part in week-long theater workshops in preparation for students in grades kindergarten through 8th grade this year we presented The Wizard of Oz and Snow White and the seven five dwarfs our groups overcame many obstacles and worked hard during both shows and

016learned the reality behind the phrase The Show Must Go On we also had a team of six Junior producers who learned videography and Camera skills to help support the shows our visual arts program is led by Miss Michelle Walla students create art using a wide variety of materials from oil pastels and painting to papier-mâché and plaster they are always exploring and experimenting with new materials expanding their Crea expanding their creativity and technical skills we also utilize the art Sonia digital portfolio through ART Sonia families can see their child's artwork as soon as it is completed since all student artwork is saved at school until the end of the year art Sonia allows parents to view and celebrate their child's creativity in real time families can also purchase their child's artwork on items like shirts bags

017and mugs making it a wonderful way to Showcase and cherish their students artistic achievements we are proud to have been selected as artists of the week on Artsonia for three consecutive years competing against students from all over the United States out of those three years our students have won twice earning both the student and a teacher a gift card for art supplies we're also proud to have students selected for the prestigious District art show which showcases the best of the best from each grade level this recognition highlights the incredible talent and dedication of our young artists one of our biggest celebrations of student creativity the Freeman Fine Arts event will feature every piece of art created this year that's over 3,000 pieces of art this exhibition provides a platform for all students to see their

018work displayed and appreciated by the community and as you can see we have the dates there for the district art show that opens on April 3rd and our Freeman Fine Arts show on April 30th Miss Gloria Chadwick is our band director band had their very successful Winter concert this year in January students were able to come together on stage to play a variety of songs that showcased different sections of the band there were also students who volunteered to perform student solos and duets for the community at this event which hosted upwards of 250 people we are currently rehearsing for the district superintendent of event which will be hosted on May 16th at tulson Union Performing Arts Center as well as our Spring Concert students are excited to Showcase some movie theme songs such as Star

019Wars and Oompa Loompa from Charlie in the Chocolate Factory band students have also been rehearsing for the school talent show auditions they are excited to Showcase their musical talents on different instruments as some have been learning more than one overall Freeman Fine Arts Academy is the place to be to set the musical stage and foundation for our stakeholders students not only play with their grade level bands but also have opportunities to play with other grade levels and participate in coaching and mentoring other students who play the same instrument the students at Freeman Fine Arts have no limits on their musical abilities and this is prevalent in every grade level as they play music at a high level which really engages them and helps educate the whole child our Dance and Cheer programs are under the

020leadership of Miss Devon Gonzalez Freeman Fine Arts Academy Dance Program oh how we have grown the dance program has elective classes for fifth through 8th grade which are seen three days a week for over 40 minutes or for 40 minutes our dance our dance classes include Jazz at fifth grade ballet at sixth grade hip hop at seventh grade and contemporary at 8th grade we have approximately 110 students in the dance program during the school day our after school dance company programs have approximately 85 students participating first and second graders are participating in fireflies Legacy which is second and third grade imagery which is our third through eth grade group and Elite which is our fifth through e8th grade each group meets one day a week for an hour and a half this year our dance

021companies have participated in the following events the Hispanic Showcase in October the holiday concert in December the duel in the desert cheer and dance competition where our fireflies Legacy imagery and Elite Dance Companies brought home four silver Awards and two gold Awards in January our cheer showcase which are fireflies Legacy imagery and all Elite or Elite all performed and gave excellent performances in January the Arizona State Middle School Dance Festival in February where a middle school elective dance students spent the day taking a variety of dance classes alongside middle school and high school students throughout the State of Arizona our Elite Dance Company performed and brought home a distinguished award for performance and a superior award for technique our dance companies also perform for our Falcon Fest which is at the end of each month

022upcoming events that they'll be performing in include the Falcons Got Talent Showcase in April as well as a spring concert in May students are also encouraged to audition their solos dual and small group choreography for a spotlight in the various concerts throughout the year just last week on Monday March 10th 18 of our dance students headed to Los Angeles California on a dance tour our dance students took various dance classes from two different Studios in addition to the new learning our students had amazing experiences outside the studio they dressed up for an evening out in the town with dinner and a live musical show in Hollywood they were also able to spend a day at Universal Studios this was an amazing experience for our students and we appreciate the support of the district with your

023continued approval we hope to begin planning for next year's trip as the interest level is already very high next year we are also looking to add tap to the list of dance genres that will be offered at Freeman Fine Arts now I would like to invite you to enjoy a brief video capturing some amazing moments of our signature programs in action along with testimonials from students detailing the positive impact these programs have had on their experience at Freeman Fine Arts [Music] if you're looking for a choir program that goes beyond the notes on a page the coup of choir is where the magic happens we don't just sing we create Unforgettable experiences from partnering with major local sports teams for incredible game day performances to recording original pieces that showcase our unique sound to couo

024is all about making music that matters we take pride in sharing our voices with our school and District communities bringing people together through the power of song whether on on the stage in the studio or under the stadium lights the Copa choir is more than a program it's a family a legacy and a once- in a-lifetime Opportunity join us and let's make music that moves people at Freeman Fine Arts we take our art seriously always building into our skills each year we Channel our creativity into amazing projects exploring a variety of artistic techniques from painting and Plastering sculptures to crafting pinatas our students continue to grow and create truly unique and expiring pieces at Freeman find Arts Academy we believe in unlocking creativity and partnership with the Missoula Children's Theater just does that this incredible

025program brings professional directors scripts and costumes and sets right to our school trans forming our kids into stars in just one week it's a whirlwind of excitement teamwork and discovering giving kids K through 8 a students chance to step into the world of theoretical Arts many for the first time from auditions to opening night students build confidence making lasting memories and experience the magic of Life theater at Freeman we're not watching the Arts we're living them I truly enjoy being part of the Falcon Band program for several reasons Freeman fin nights Academy is the only School in our district that offers band I love playing music with my friends the bombs we build while performing are very rewarding the music we play brings us all together additionally being in band allows me to connect with

026friends who I might not see as often it creates a sense of community that makes experience even more enjoyable band is a lot of fun we play new songs and learn different notes and support one another allowing us to improve our skills together at fin nights we get to shine on stage through an exciting dance program I get to perform compete in fun competitions and improve my skill I also have the chance to join an advanced After School dance program to train even more plus I can be a part of the Chia team bringing energy and spirit to every performance dancing here is an amazing experience full of fun Challenge and passion I would like to personally thank you for your continued support of our signature programs our hope is that this brief showcase is

027a reminder of the positive impact that the support of each and every one of you is having on the lives of our students at this time I would be happy to answer any questions you may have I don't have a question I just want to say wow that is so impressive I remember when the school first opened and you guys had just grown by Leaps and Bounds and I'm just really impressed great [Applause] job now it is my honor to recognize a student who exemplifies what it means to be a Freeman Fine Arts Falcon she excels in the classroom she is a standout on the stage she sets the standard for Servant leadership and she's just an overall great young lady and we with with a tremendous future ahead of her please join me in

028celebrating the Freeman Fine Arts student of the month Mila Pino [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hi my name is ma and I'm the kids at Hope at Freeman Fine Arts Academy I feel like some of the things that make me special is I am in a lot of programs so the dance programs the choir programs I do a lot of after school things like I'm in njhs so some of my aces are my teachers which are Miss consols in the Sleep room room because they always push me harder and they are my dance and choir teachers and another Ace um in my life are my family because they always um um help me and they're always there for my performances I just want to say thank you for choosing me as the frean Fine Arts Academy

029kids I [Applause] hope e [Applause] you and now it is my honor to recognize our volunteer of the Year miss Alma PDA good evening Lon Community my name is Steve Ricker and I have the privilege of serving as principal of Freeman Fine Arts Academy tonight it is my honor to recognize a truly remarkable member of our school Community our volunteer of the month Miss Alma PDA Miss parda is someone who gives so much of her time energy and passion to make this school a better place for our students teachers and families Miss PDA our PTSA president has consistently gone above and beyond in supporting our school from coordinating events to helping in classrooms to providing enriching opportunities for our students that extend beyond the classroom her dedication is visible in every aspect of our school's

030activities whether it's organizing fundraisers supporting teachers or ensuring that every student has a chance to engage in something special Miss Parada is there often working quietly behind the scenes but always with a heart full of care for our school Community we are so fortunate to have Miss PDA as a leader and a volunteer her energy and commitment inspire all of us to be more involved and to give back in meaningful ways thank you Miss parda for everything you do to make our school a brighter place we truly appreciate your inless support and we are proud to celebrate you as our volunteer of the month [Applause] next up we'll have Mr Kellen thoron he'll be coming up to share highlights from the third quarter athletic season Mr [Applause] thoron hello uh cter three Sports were B

031boys soccer and girls uh softball um this quarter for girls soft well we have the one athletic coordinator which is myself we had eight site coordinators seven assistant principles one Dean and 32 coaches help us out this season this was our flyer uh for softball um first first all six grade girls um over at lak and prep the lake and Prep Academy they went on they won for softball so for and the coach is Kelsey bares all six wait you all went to that side can we like not you're little unbalanced yeah I'll come to the front and then you guys go behind and thank [Music] [Applause] that's amazing ladies can't wait to see what you do in seventh and eighth grade [Laughter] right and for boys soccer we have the Fine Arts Falcons and

032they're coached by Evette Castro and Michelle Waller everyone smile back congratulations to both teams um next we have our athletes of the season for girls softball we have uh I'll read the passage first uh it says from the coach I am choosing two students who showed amazing leadership both on and off the field these girls gave up their free time during recess to help coach their teammates show how to do drills many times L team cheers and also did their best both girls played softball outside of school and they would go from our practices and games straight to more practices their dedication to our team helped us improve in so many ways and led us to having an almost perfect season they took turns doing the essential roles of pitching and catching and had a

033combined total of seven home runs this season we finished in first place as a team because of first first as a team of all sixth graders and it was largely because of these two players being a part of the team I would like to honor Gabriela Chavez and Evelyn Reyes for their outstanding leadership and performance this season [Applause] congratulations yes and for boys soccer their coaches wrote this season one athlete has truly stood out Carlos Ramirez his dedication skill and Leadership have had has made him a deserving athlete of the season a committed me team member for three years Carlos worked tirelessly to improve and Lead earning the role of team captain from day one he set the tone by Leading warm-ups and never missing a practice demonstrating his initiative and commitment his positivity work

034ethic and support for teammates have inspired those around him through challenges he has shown resilience sportsmanship and and the passion for the game we celebrate Carlos for his outstanding achievement and impact on the team congratulations Carlos Ramirez [Applause] uh now we uh quarter 4 Sports will start uh March 27th that's when our first games will start and that will be boys baseball and girls volleyball and that's it for me [Music] I just want to say something really quickly um with regards to um the hard work and determination that you have shown in everyone um Sports en Camp is so much more than academic or athletic ability for all of our students is Brotherhood and Sisterhood it gives them the opportunity to be a part of something that's bigger than themselves so many of our students

035don't naturally do well academically so the ability to participate in sports for them is the motivation that they need so I just want to say thank you to all the students but also to you as the academic or excuse me athletic coordinator all of the site coordinators the assisant principes the dean and the 32 coaches for just volunteering your time and dedicating yourself to go over and beyond for these kids knowing that you will be a part of their life that they'll never forget so thank you so much for all you do okay um I know that we H some students have homework and we have dinner so I'm going to take a few minutes if you need to step out take this time I mean I would we would love to have you stay

036for the rest of the meeting but e all right um I am going to move on to item number nine consent agenda do we have any call to the public I didn't think so okay thank you Rachel um item number nine consent agenda is there anything that needs to be pulled okay it looks like Marcus has something thing apologies we have to use the bathroom um I would like to pull num letter B number 1 a 1 a okay is there a motion to approve the um consent agenda with the exception of item b1a on motion mark is there a second I second Linda all in favor of approving the agenda with the exception of item b1a say I I I any opposed all right consent agenda minus that one item is approved um going

037back to now that item Marcus uh thank you as I was just reviewing the agenda um past couple of days I just had like a question regarding um the traditional use of title 2 funding um I know title 2 funding is traditionally used for Teacher um incentives along with it's personal development that relates to student achievement and so I just had questions as to how this specific funding with the title two guidelines relates to student achievement teacher retention member senos um uh member the rest of the governing board um I probably have the most experience and title federal funds fall in my area so um aaspa actually stands for the American Association of school Personnel administrators and you're exactly right title two covers Recruitment and Retention along with uh professional development for leaders um and

038can be used as incentive this particular boot camp and this organization works with teacher shortages um and a national effort uh to incentivize um people to go into the field of education and so this is an organization um that allows us to keep uh up to date with cuttingedge practices um for not only recruiting but also being efficient and effective um as HR professionals and um is it typical for us to send district office administrators using title two funding to conferences specifically using that title two funding to pay for professional development that relates to certain things for example it says on boarding and orientation and employee engagement and blueprint for Success those are so just some of the titles breaking it down is it common to use tle two funding for that in the district

039memb s great question thanks for allowing us to educate you on this um it's not not educating it on me it's a question I'm asking specifically on that okay yeah so yes we do use that title funding to prepare for professional development we sent we absolutely want to save our M funds that we are not allowed well we're we're allowed to use M funds for that but we choose to send administrators to trainings or teachers to trainings using the funds that are more restricted so that we can keep the funds for our students here in the district any other discussion from the board and is there um thank you for the response is there a certain budget that is set aside do district office administrators have a certain PD budget that they can use for

040conferences member senos yes we have a professional development plan and we actually submit to the state department annually our plan for each of the grants Title One title two title three and four um so that we know exactly how much we're setting aside balancing the needs of the district what we need per some additional training on what we need to maintain our training and um and also it goes to professional development that we provide here within the district because I just think my only concern and I'm not against this person attending this certain conference I think the only concern I have is just with the title two guidelines as it relates to student achievement so with this specific conference because I did some internal digging and asked other districts advice on this as well and

041they said it's not traditional that most districts would send somebody using that pacific title for this specific title conference so if we could potentially find up different ways to send this person to that conference not using title two funding because it was just something I was super super curious about and I just did some myself and asked a lot of my school fellow Schoolboard members through throughout the valley and they said they would not use title two funding they would use PD District funds just given that this certain type of conference doesn't relate to student achievement specifically so member Senate SOS title 2 funds are specifically used for recruitment retention and there are lots of districts that pay incentives like our signing incentives we don't do that but other districts pay signing incentives and so

042it would be appropriate in addition every conference that we list that goes um that we pay for out of here is sent to the State Board in our grants management approval and so we would never send anyone to any conference that wasn't allowable under the guidelines of the grant as it is controlled by the department of Ed and I think as like going forward I think um I would like to use as a lesson for myself to review on the average of how much money we spend in title two and Title One and title three and title four funding regarding PD level trap trips relates to district office administrators I think that would be a good time to review it um because I think it's important to be educated more on it always as relat

043to school Finance because we are the oversights of the money that goes in out of the district so I would appreciate that but I believe that this type type of conference should not be paid out of title two funding it should be paid out of any other type of budget um that is where I stand um because there's we have as ourselves as a board we have a very very strict travel budget very very strict travel budget um so I think I want that to trickle down more as it Lads through district office administrators so um well M sen sarus it's the recommendation of the administration to use title 2 funds for this and so that's what we're bringing before the board okay I have a question just for clarification purposes um with the utilization

044of these funds my concern my only concern really would be more so are they being utilized by the same person or you know by the same group of people I know so often we'll have things that are offered and it'll be the same handful of people who take advantage of it so if these funds are to be used like that I would think just as you know uh for the sake of you know just proprietary engagement that if they're going to be used that way that the everyone is getting an opportunity to use it it's not just maybe a handful of people who every year do something or you know just so that everyone can benefit if that makes sense member Barnett thank you so much for that yes we do spe specifically look at

045different opportunities for people in relation to their job functions um and so we'll definitely make sure and keep that in the Forefront of our thinking um as we continue to plan for that um is there any other discussion or is there a motion on item b1a 9b1 a i motion that we approve item 9 B B1 a is there a second I'll second that Curtis all in favor say I I I any opposed abstain Marcus abstains if we're able to verify that it's not being utilized by a few people I would I don't know how I would vote because I kind of want to make sure it's not being used by the same one so I guess I'll abstain for that reason only okay so um motion passes three yay obstain all right um moving

046on to item number 10 Mr French annual audit and acfr for fiscal year 2324 thank you Madame President members of the governing board Dr Smith Littleton Community this evening I'd like to share information about the FY 2324 annual Financial audit I think Jim's getting a a graphic put up okay go ahead and under two Jim thank you um asrs 15914 requires any governing board of a school district that has an adopted expenditure budget of $2 million or more for the maintenance and operations fund shall contract for an annual financial statements audit in addition any entity that spend $750,000 on more federal assistance must be reviewed by a single audit as dictated by om circular a133 we get to do both um so you'll be hearing about both of those this evening um in Spring of

0472021 the Arizona legislature also passed legislation that requires the governing board to publicly accept these audits through a roll call vote the school districts must also upload these files to the Arizona Department of Education and provide them to the county superintendent's office both the financial statements audit and the single audit are performed each year by an independent audit firm our independent audit firm is hfield and meech the audits were reviewed uh that we are reviewing tonight are for fiscal year beginning July 1st 2023 and ending June 30th 2024 we have three parts to review this evening um to the audit the annual comprehensive financial report also known as the AER the single audit and the usfr compliance review this annual comprehensive uh financial report is the is for the F fiscal year ending June 30th

0482024 the Acer is a set of financial statements that comprise the financial uh report of the district that complies with the accounting requirements um published by the governmental Accounting Standards Board or gby the most descriptive portion of the Acer is on page 17 through 26 if you're following along I've attached all documents to the board packet does anybody want me to wait okay uh it is the management discussion and Analysis also called the mdna this is a narrative overview of the financial activities of the district for this last fiscal year this section reviews the financial highlights of the Year following that on pages 30 through 63 are the actual Financial statements the and the narrative notes of those financial statements and then beginning on page 89 is uh we begin with a statistical section where

049Financial Trends revenues and debt capacity can be evaluated as well as demographic and economic information uh that report on the environment of our district to help make comparisons with other schools the Acer is also the document that the district submits to be considered for financial reporting awards for the past 16 consecutive years Littleton has received both the certificate of excellence and financial reporting as awarded by International asbo um and the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting as awarded by gfoa uh the government Finance Officers Association as quoted by a letter um as a letter of notice from gfoa the certificate of achievement is the highest form of recognition in the the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management I'd like

050to turn to the single audit um now if you're following along so uh if you are looking at the single audit reporting package I would recommend reviewing page eight this is where you'll find the summary of the type of report issued and any non-compliance or weaknesses revealed as well as the specific Federal fund that was reviewed for both financial statements and federal Awards the district was found to have no significant deficiencies identified and no material weaknesses regarding compliance in addition there were no instances of material non-compliance identified the type of the auditor's report is listed as unmodified an auditor issues an unmodified audit opinion when the financial statements give a true and Fair View of the organization and how it has operated in accordance with all appical financial reporting requirements you will also see on

051this page where Littleton Elementary School District is identified as a lowrisk audite the specific federal funds that were reviewed in this fiscal year were the Esser funds the last report to review is the usfr compliance questionnaire to assist the office of the auditor general in determining whether a district has obtained an acceptable degree of compliance with the requirements of the usfr the audit firm must complete a usfr compliance client's questionnaire once the questionnaire is completed it reveals any areas of deficiency as indicated just a moment ago the audit states that there were no material non-compliance items identified therefore the number of deficiencies for this particular audit were minuscule in degree and are still well below the average of the districts as well as the Statewide hfield and meach audited districts the usfr compliance questionnaire is

05231 Pages comprised of 18 sections with a total of 171 questions um that are written so a positive response is desired through the completion of the usfr questionnaire the audit firm identified a total of eight notes for this fiscal year these items are identified as a no answer on the questionnaire usfr deficiencies as noted on the last slide um Littleton received eight deficiencies um from the 171 specific areas that were reviewed this slide you are looking at now shows the average school um District annual deficiencies as recorded for Hein field and meech clients as you can see in compar uh comparison to previous years Littleton continues to be well below the average findings of District Statewide for those um in FY 23 the average was 15 I would really like to acknowledge all the staff

053that are part of this audit and involved in this audit on an annual basis it's not only the staff from the business office but also the staff from it food service The Welcome Center and Human Resources um they all have a huge role in littleton's audit success thank you to everyone involved um I do have uh copies of the audit reports discussed tonight that are available to the board electronically our hard copies are available upon request through the superintendent's office I'm happy to answer any questions that the board has not any questions just to comment the amount of effort work that's gone into this audit as well as all audits is amazing and finding no or no no risks whatsoever is another compliment to the staff and everything they've been done so I just like

054to acknowledge the great work that you all have done in making this prepared so we can submit it properly appreciate that I just want to thank you for making sure we stay out of trouble so I at this point Madam President we do need a r roll call vote uh for the governing board to acknowledge the audit can I have a roll call vote Mrs sash I Mr SOS I oh okay sorry is there a motion I motion that we accept the audit report Miss stalard is there a second I'll second Mrs sck I Mr SOS I Mrs Bernett yes Miss Stallard Mr neelson I audit is pass thank you Madame President um at this point I would like to bring up uh roban muel to discuss the job descriptions for FY uh 2025 please

055Adam president members of the board Dr Smith and executive team tonight I bring you a job description for for consideration to support specifically our preschool program with the support of our governing board we've expanded Our Community Preschool this year and with this expans expansion brings increased oversight and responsibilities for the preschool program administrator this administrator plays a crucial role in the success of the program they assist in developing and implementing early interventions for students and ensure continuity of services throughout the preschool program guaranteeing that all students receive the necessary services and instruction that they need this year we are once again offering a summer school program which requires an administrator to support staff and students throughout the month of June currently our preschool program has an 11-month administrator that oversees this program this brings challenges

056especially during the summer months when there is a need to finalize Staffing classroom configurations as well as ensuring resources are ordered and to arrive and prepare for the start of the school year tonight I bring forward to you the director of early learning and the elevation of this position to a 12-month role this 12-month administrator will ensure timely completion of the responsibilities mentioned earlier and support the overall preschool program and hopefully growth during discussions with preschool staff earlier this week staff expressed the need for a designated administrator that was here year round to assist in implementing our District's early learning initiatives the job description is there for your review and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have so I have a question um I absolutely think that um with the growth this

057is going to be necessary um is it a significant my first question significant um higher cost is it going to be so it's about an $18,000 $119,000 cost with benefits for the fiscal year okay and then um this is just something and I saw somewhere on the news and I wanted to think about it I noticed the requirements the licens and everything makes sense but will we be able to add um a valid fingerprints clearance card because we had an issue and another not here in Arizona but somewhere else so maybe I'm just overlooking it is it any it should be in here Barnett if it is not I will make sure that it is before it get posted because it is a requirement for our administrators to have that you don't see because I

058didn't see that it's not there okay I'm sorry for that oversight thank you for bringing that to my attention I'm going to defer to Dr hay she has the numbers for preschool current thank you president snik U members of the board so as you know we brought the request to expand Community Preschool late last year because of the uh late notification of the grant funding the professional development Grant or PDG uh as you'll see um so we designated two additional campuses off of Littleton which was Country Place and Laken Laken has been full since the beginning Country Place we really struggled with um and so we moved the students we only had five at the at the most and so we needed a kindergarten teacher on that campus and so we repurposed that teacher for

059kindergarten moov the students over to Littleton to defay costs um but since that time which we believe will be a huge impact and we've gotten lots of um increased um uh interest thank you Mrs M increased interest uh for next year because just two weeks ago we were finally approved for um uh Dees reimbursement all of these PDG the dees the DHS ad all the alphabet groups finally decided we would um be allowed to do that so even if grant funding um at the state is removed uh as far as PDG because we've had some ups and downs with it we believe that this will help us solidify uh the Early Learning Program and eventually come back to you asking to expand it again hope that answers your question it it does I definitely um

060think that this position is needed I was just curious more of I had heard that we had closed Country Place and I think that you know keeping that an option open as the new school year comes about we might have more interest um so that was my first concern my second concern and maybe I am misunderstanding this this person is also going to be in charge of summer school just for the preschool so we are offering preschool in the summer scho in the summer and so we have only done that last year and this is our second year doing that so they will oversee the summer school preschool program at littleton's campus that's right was confused CU I'm like if they're in charge of Oliver summer school that doesn't necessarily always be early no we

061have another administrator that will oversee Cas thank you madam president I'd also like to tell you that looking at enrollment numbers we have 202 preschoolers on the Littleton campus we've never seen a number like that before so there's a lot of little guys there it's growing and then there's another 1 at lak is that right 19 19 now 19 nice okay any other discussion I just have a quick question um this is not a new job this is like just an extension of the one that they're already doing right correct so it's an elevation of the position currently they're administrator of preschool so they would be the director of early learning okay that's I oops that's what I wanted to make sure of thank you yes is there a motion I um move the governor

062and board approve the staff St as presented for the fiscal year 2025 2026 I'll second is that the wrong one I think it's I start reading out like that doesn't sound right never mind I don't approve that not to that I'll make I mov the governing board approved the reclassification of the previous position of dis preschool administrator to director of early learning I second Miss Barnett second all in favor say I I any oppos all right motion passes all right back to number 12 stiens agenda for 2526 Mr French thank you madam president I hope uh Robie Anne didn't go too far because I'm G to have her take this one as well Madame President members of the board Dr Smith executive team tonight I have two items uh Jim if we can open the

063stien agenda agenda first that would be great thank you so on the Sten schedule um that I am proposing today there are several revisions the revisions are based on market analysis and comparisons to surrounding districts many of these stiens have not been revised in several years and as you know we aim to remain competitive in the market and fairly compensate our employees for their work these revisions have been discussed with various employee groups including the leap committee and they support these recommendations so I have a I have several of them so I'm going to go down you can stop me after each one if you have questions or if you want to wait till the end either one is fine so the first one that I'm going to talk about is our contract signing incentive

064if you see on there we have it designated as a minimum of $450 our recommendation is to go back to what we call a jackpot or a pot of money that is designated for the early in incentive um signing of your contract this would mean that employees that sign within five work days would be eligible for splitting that pot Dr um Mr Dr French Dr French uh Mr French and I uh have looked at several years um of the allocations that we have used to provide this incentive and we will keep in alignment with that allocation but we believe that um if the same number or relatively the same number of employees um uh um sign their in sign their contracts within five days participate in this incentive is what I was going to say

065um they would end up with more than four like $550 instead of $450 we would need almost 575 580 stu um employees to sign in order to meet the minimum of 450 so we're confident that um our employees will receive more than 4 50 if we move back to that jackpot or that pot of money okay okay um the second thing I'd like to talk about is the after school club and the sports coach and I'll um do those together because before they were both around $900 and we've increased those to 1,000 we looked at uh surrounding districts and market for those types of positions and we believe that our we need to be competitive and increase those stiens for those teachers the next one absolutely um I know at our previous meeting when we

066talked about start and end times for schools we also discussed coaches of early start will have more responsibilities if their team is playing a late start and I know in the past we've had a pay differential if you were a coach at an early start is that happening so great question so with the the two start and end times we have worked with um Mr delesio who oversees our Athletics and we are going to change our structure of sports for next year so early start schools will compete against early start schools and so there will be no pay differential and late start schools will compete between late start schools then there'll be a championship game could be on a Saturday or it could be at a designated time so it would only be one time

067for that Championship so that's why there wouldn't be a differential in Pay great question brackets yeah we'll have like a tournament bracket okay um the athletic adviser position uh we have requesting an increase of 1,200 so this individual is responsible for the organization and implementation of each Sports season you've seen um Mr Ken do that for us um this year these individuals coordinate game schedules referees work with coaches and ensur smooth season implementation the in the next increase is the Middle grades math or science this is to 2,000 from a previous 1,000 these um this typen requires that the teacher holds the certification on their certificate and as you can only imagine Math and Science teachers highly qualified appropriately certified are hard to get so we would like to increase the stip in and and

068make sure that we're attracting those teachers to come to Littleton to service our students uh we have an increase in the reading interventionist assignment again this is from $1,000 to $2,000 uh finding individuals with the appropriate reading interventionist certificate to service our students is also a challenge in the increase of teacher shortage so we'd like to increase that in order to attract teachers for that we currently have had a 0 five open for the majority of the year that we're unable to fill quick question I I'm all for giving our staff as much money as we can but we have to be a cognizant this is all with students like so I have a middle school science endorsement but I choose to teach fourth grade I'm not getting that correct you have to be in

069that position okay thank you thank you um the next one is the increase to the National certifications such as our national board certification our National Association of school psychologists um this is from 4,800 to 5,000 these certificates require additional demonstration of knowledge and a passing of a national assessment um and so this is an increase of $200 for all of those and again these are individuals that are either working with our students as psychologists OTS pts or nationally board certified teachers the next two increases um come to our special education stiens um our LD resource and our self-contained special education stien um we previously for an LD resource had a stien of 4300 and we are asking to recruit inre increase that to 7500 for our self-contained special education we had 5,000 and we are

070asking to increase that to 15,000 these teaching positions are increasingly difficult um to fill with appropriately certified staff and for the past several years we've had to work with contracted service providers in order to fill those positions unfortunately what that does for us is it's an increased cost because we're paying an administration fee to that um contracted Service prider as well as you know a salary to that individual that teacher so their cost to us for that position is much higher than what we would pay an own employee it also means that they're not Littleton employees and we can't hold them to the same standards and the same type we don't have the same um ability to work with them in the capacity that we do if they're our own employee so the increase in

071the districts around um many of them are in are trying to do the same types of increases for those positions in hopes to limit our contracted service staff and bring more teachers to us as Littleton employees I talked with Mr French about the impact on our budget and even with paying this increase in the stien it would be less than what we're paying in contracted Services moving forward which would then decrease our contract Service um cost significantly I'll pause for questions on that one if I can just um speak about that I work in another District obviously in the resource department and we have contractors because of this and those contractors alone some of them get paid like $50 an hour and that doesn't count what the district has to pay like to the company

072so if they're hired they're going to get paid $50 an hour but the district is probably going to pay 7 to $75 an hour because the agency has to get their money and working in resource and especially the self-contained there's a lot of work that goes into into that the IEPs alone can take you hours and hours and hours of crying to make sure that everything is in there that is needed so that student receives all the services that they deserve and nothing is left out and so I just I personally think that this is great one of the things I've always loved about Littleton is that they have always tried to stay not just in competition but above everybody else so that we make sure that for our students we have the best qualified

073people for them thank you member stard um the next one is the very last one the Westside impact Award winners this um it was 150 previously on our stipended um schedule but Westside impact has increased their award for these winners to 250 so this just brings us an alignment with what they provide for us to give to those teachers um the last item that I want to talk about is our El classroom assignment that's on here this is a new stien that we bring to you tonight um we have an increase in our number of el students in our district across most schools and the need for having a designated El teacher at each grade level or at least in grade levels kindergarten through fifth grade where that teacher is responsible for both targeted and

074integrated instruction for our El students um provide the dipen would provide those teachers a little of incentive to take that classroom these teachers would have an ESL a bilingual or an uh SEI Endor enement so that they have the credential in order to support our students in their language proficiency these teachers not only have to use our content standards to plan for instruction but they also have to use our English language proficiency standards so it's an additional um expectation for them to provide those differentiated uh pieces yes um you've talked about in our K5 classrooms what exactly would this look like in our 68 classrooms I would love to believe that we have no elud students in 68 but I know that's not the case we do um president soci um and what happens more

075most of the time in our junior high class rooms our sixth through eth class where they're differentiated and they're by subject is our e students have one teacher that does the targeted instruction on eel and then the integrated minutes are split between additional teachers so they're not those students aren't with one teacher all day long we're in the K5 classroom they're with them and that teacher is responsible for both are we compensating those teachers because I've been a middle school teacher who had El students and had to do those minutes are we compensating those teachers for the additional work that they are doing so if they have their um like appropriate stien or certification the ESL bilingual or they get an $800 stien as per schedule and nothing changed to that but they get that

076in addition okay so those are all of the changes to the stien schedule I'm happy any additional questions that you might have and then there's an agend the agenda separate oh it's B okay perfect it's separate so I need a motion please sorry I didn't know if you were going to do the bottom I think the agenda is separate it's separate okay yes is there a motion um I'll move the board approve the staff stiens as presented for the fiscal year 2025 2026 I'll second de um member Bernett and Mr neelon all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes okay staff agenda so on this one there's just one uh revision and it's the summer school daily rate um if you remember our previous agenda schedule had an Esser rate because we

077had Esser Grant funds specific and we use them for summer school so what we've done is we've worked with the director of state and federal programs as well as the Director of cni and we've come up with a summer school daily rate which incorporates both the Esser rate for instruction as well as the additional work outside of contract rate for professional development since our teachers that are engaging in summer school both teach students in the morning and attend professional development in the afternoon by having the summer school daily rate it reduces um the time to to you know cluck in and cluck out or on paper have your lunch uh identified and just makes it streamlined for us as well so if there's any questions um thank you for the how does it work for

078um stiens and bonuses for district office administrators we don't qualify for the stiens schedule for sens not for the S schedule no okay for anything that's on the stien schedule or the agenda schedule that you've seen tonight okay thank is there motion I motion that we approve the addenda schedule Miss stard is there a second I'll second de Mr neelsen all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes thank you thank you miss muel all right moving on to item number 13 internet service RFP award Mr French thank you Madame President as much as I like delegating my items I think I'll keep this one um Madame President in December we came before the board and asked to go out for a request for proposals for internet services at the request of Our

079IT department um those proposals were due back to us January 14th um they were a sealed bid and they are eligible for eate um funds and so it took a little bit longer for us to come back to the board and award this um but we had an evaluation committee we had um the solicitation was viewed by 240 vendors 14 downloaded it um and one vond uh vendor responded to our request um but uh even with that we evaluated uh we are required to evaluate with the RFP to make sure it's in the best interest of the district we did that uh the evaluation committee consisted of our two District Network technicians and Our IT director um and we are bringing it forward this evening to the board to request you a award um the

080RFP to Cox um Cox business I would happy to answer any questions that you have member Barnett I don't have any questions oh sorry any comments questions all right is there a motion I'll recommend the governing board approve a multi-term contract to cover the internet services for fiscal years 2025 to 2026 school year with a option of four annual renewals I'm sorry I me okay I move the governor board approve a multi-term contract with Cox business for districtwide internet services for fiscal year 2025 2026 with the option of four annual renewals m Barnett is there a second I second member stalard all in favor say I I I any opposed motion passes okay moving on to item number 14 um policy recommendation discussions and then I think we're going to go to a first which

081would be Mr French foundations and personal proposed policy revisions thank you madam president I have um three policies uh or two policies with regulations and then a regulation um that I'll be um going over with the board this evening the first policy is AC um which is the non-discrimination Equal Opportunity policy um policy language was expanded to include the words or any other basis prohibited by law um the regulation includes minim edits and a new subheading for clarity there were minimal changes to this policy happy to answer any questions the board has doesn't look like there's any questions thank you madam president um policy ACA uh is our sexual harassment policy this regulation includes minimal edits as well um and includes new subheadings for clarity regulations are approved um by the superintendent includeed on the

082agenda for your information happy to answer any questions what was the change in this one I think it's let me pull this up Madam president I do do not see any red lines in this one to to have to who has okay oh did members and SOS find it okay legis has else to do all right any discussion about these few words that were changed all right thank you um Madam president regulation ACAA um which is our Title Nine sexual sex discrimination um policy is uh reverting back to the 2020 uh legis uh policy uh due to the executive um changes in the White House okay thank you any questions comments okay you explained them so amazingly well all right this that item was um for discussion only moving it on to B um Miss

083Garrison students proposed policy revisions Madame President governing board on this policy you'll see three minor language changes the first change struck the words one or more and added any I'm not sure that it changed the content at all one or more to any the next change adds the words any other basis considered by law similar to the one Mr French just talked about and the third one is found at the very end under the legal reference these revisions are result of recent changes to Title 9 and are presented as recommended by asba any questions thank you that as well was for discussion um moving on to item number 15 student uniforms and dress code Miss Garris Madame President governing board thank you Jim we have compiled information about our uniform practices to help your discussion

084tonight I'll start with the current governing board policy jca which I have attached for your reference policy jica gives you insight as to what the board was thinking as to why to implement uniforms some 20 years ago the process to develop this included committee meetings with stakeholders weighing in it was the desired to make the uniforms easy to access and affordable in contrast to some of the more formal uniforms like you know with like Blazers and crests and ties the group wanted families to be able to not to to be able to go to not only uniform shops which seemed to be more common back then but also stores like Target or Walmart and Amazon was not yet a thing yet when this was first done so that wasn't a consideration they also wanted to

085adopt practices of handing down and reducing waste as elementary school kids grow quickly and over the years schools and their ptas have been involved in recycling gently used uniforms whether students outgrew were leaving the district or were headed off to high school the policy states that based on careful and extensive research and Community input the board believes the dress code isn't the best interest for at least the reasons on this slide and that's outlined in the policy that I put up there for you they were looking you know to support the climate for learning campus Safety and Security School unity and pride um reduce some of the label competition to be more economical they also did consider back then um opportunities for self-expression so they acknowledge the fact that when you take away kids's ability

086to dress individually it does um reduce some of those opportunities for self-expression they were interested in mod modesty sandard and simplification of getting dressed in the morning this next slide outlines our current uniform practice now if I remember correctly we started out with three colors for Tops and two for bottoms after some years in 2021 we added Navy for Tops to make shopping more convenient for the families the request to do so came through likely came through our parent advisory group and then was taken to committee and then discussed and then added um because each year our parents student handbook is reviewed and that's what's happening right now so occasionally tweaks to the dress code are made through that process some more examples of things that have been adjusted over the years were um sizes

087of the clothing so when things got really baggy and saggy we passed some that they couldn't be a size too small or too big um adjustments to Footwear were're add it along the years at the request of parents a white and black T-shirt shirt was approved to go underneath or a turtleneck to go underneath um the the shirts and you may recall when we implemented license to learn we made a big effort to connect the student ID in the badge to the uniform policy so that the kids would wear that as part of it you may or may not know that a dress code has been developed for casual dress days in principles have the authority to call for casual days or spirit days during which students are allowed to dress out of uniform following

088agreed upon guidelines that are also outlined in the parent student handbook school ptas have been partners with Spirit Gear and what a bonus when proceeds from swag from what the PTL PTA cell goes back to the school and I also wanted you to know that uniform tops and bottoms are stocked at our family welcome center and in our health offices schools Andor PTA sponsor uniform drives and collect and redistribute gently used pieces and families can hand down uniforms to younger siblings when students outgrow before the uniforms wear out next slide Jim I anticipated that you might want to be interested to know what other schools are doing so here's the list that we gathered for you um shows you the district whether they wear uniforms or not so fer was a yes Pendergast was a

089yes and no they have 12 schools three of them I believe can out of wearing uniforms tson L is a yes Union is a yes Avendale L is a yes Legacy Traditional is a yes Academy of math and science is a yes and tson Union High School is a No so at this time we'll be listening to the board discussion to see if further information is requested or directions given so I'll turn it back to you Miss oek so um last spring we had a conversation as a board and we did make the change with jackets are being any solid color and we did say that we wanted to further investigate uniforms um and so that's and then Mr ceris brought it back up that's something he wanted to discuss this year I wanted to

090bring It Forward um and have a conversation and kind of have a plan for looking into what we want to do with uniforms or a dress code I feel that it it's been 20 years I think that we need to go back to our community and find out what is needed what is wanted um but I want to do this in a very methodical way and like make sure everyone's voice is heard so that we are not making a snap decision and then trying to back step or go back or change our opinion or decision um so I wanted to hear from the board kind of what your thoughts are what you want to see as we discuss this moving forward or if it isn't a discussion at all as a board we don't we

091want to keep uniforms I don't know I just wanted to hear you guys' opinions yeah no thank you um for all the work and research that went into this um I think reviewing it I think the biggest step going forward based on what Amy has stated is opening it up to surveys I think specifically surveys just specifically focused on uniforms um and I think the board could play it I think the board should play the role in making those questions and sending them out to the community and I think it should come from the board not just the district but it should be like the governing board is asking your input on this because I think it also gets parents an opportunity to get more involved and to know what is the board I think

092a lot of parents and students teachers don't know why they have uniforms and they don't know why they exist and they don't know who the people are that make those decisions so I think this could be a really good opportunity for us as we go out and do our Outreach to kind of spearhead the board into this and kind of be like well how can we rally people to be more involved in the district and be a part of this process to see if they want to keep them modify them get rid of them um and I think that that's what I think I see from the perspective of just like community outreach um I think possibly going forward the school year starts in July next year that gives us what two or three months

093in between to kind of do some planning if we want to make a decision before the next school year um I would like to see possibly like two or three plans like one plan that's no uniform and then how that how that just code works out and then one plan that's like super modified renewed uniform policy and then one that's R slowly redact modified but still is basically the same thing but just a little more loop-d-loop around um and that could be like presented to the board with feedback based on the surveys from the student groups um all the students I think all the students should get the surveys to respond to it all the teachers should get a survey responding to it not just certain groups should be districtwide effort um and parents as

094as well um just a simply yes or no question do you think uniforms are helpful do you not think they're helpful do you think they're financially beneficial to your household um questions like that I think are like really questions I think we should know to help us make our decision on this issue so it's kind of where my thinking is um but yeah that's me yes I really agree um I think that we need to even possibly consider a town hall and I think that that would allow parents an opportunity to come and and express their VAR perspectives I've heard the argument one way or the other where some parents have such a valid um you know reason for being in full supportive uniforms and then I've heard the complete opposite and both have been

095so completely valid like okay that's that's that's you know so I think the opportunity to really incorporate and Loop in our community and let the parents feel as if they're being um heard and given perspective and um I'll will be very excited to see what comes out of it and um as you know as as member um sen said I really feel like that would be beneficial and I think that we might end up with something that is pleasing to everyone even if it's just a change I was so happy we were able to make that modification with regards to even just the outerwear because so many students do not have the ability to get a very specific color sweater and that means they they can't be warm that's crazy so I I definitely think

096that we need to you know see what's out there and then make an adjustment I agree with both of you um I actually sat on the pack committee um Miss Lucy from Trace Rios and I had several discussions with Dr Freeman so we could get blue shirts um that was very important to us and I am also really big on the jacket as a parent from this district and as a grandparent I personally am not a fan of uniforms but I do understand why and for a lot of people it is easier I agree with sending out a survey I do think it should be a united front like from the board and the district you know together I really love the town hall like I think that's really important to find out because times

097have changed you know we're 20 years down the road and um I think students need to have an input when like you know Legacy brought up you know that they do and Legacy does wear uniforms you have to wear either a college shirt or like they have like a t-shirt with their logo on it and either blue pants khaki pants or blue jeans I personally love the idea of blue jeans simply because they are easier to find um than uniforms and like right now when your kid has that growth spurt you struggle as a parent to find uniforms for them that you can afford um I remember when we started the buyback program of the gently used uniforms it was amazing and it is caught on and like it just grows bigger and bigger every

098year and it's such a good thing for our community because we are a title one district and I think kids should be able to wear any kind of jacket they want as long as it isn't disrupting to the class or to their learning a ligh note I think it's so funny because when you say the buyback with the gently used I've never had any gently used uniforms my I maybe it's just my kids they dog them so when they say we can buy a bag I said buy bag Rags nothing I guess just what I'd like to say is I've talked to a number of mothers in the last last little while about uniforms and just some of the things that have come up Sun Valley Academy is another one that you can put on

099your list right there they do have it but they only have two colors and evidently Legacy only has two colors and they were both envious of Littleton because we have four colors to choose from however those four colors the gray I don't know if any of the gray is a very difficult color to find for whatever reason it might be and it's what I don't want you to say that it's not attractive okay but but but if we're going to do this we need to get parents involved with that the other thing that I found out with everybody I had talked to is that when it comes time to get dressed in the morning the kids get up they get dressed and they're out to school on Saturdays and Sundays they have to decide what

100they're going to do on moms and dad they're always ask Mom what am I'm supposed to wear so with a uniform at least they know and it's it takes a little bit of the heat off mom and dad in the mornings at home trying to get the kids up and out and ready to go and I think the other ones I think you've all I just we want to do this we need to get input from teachers from students as well as from parents and must make that all all together whatever the survey goes to all of them need to be part of that because we're going to essentially agree to what they say or to massages we need to but we need input from each and every one of them from students to teachers

101to to parents um another thing as you were saying and what you were saying I'm sorry I think um the survey we need to make a decision what we're going to do by the May board meeting because we lose a lot of parents over the summer like not checking their emails or forgetting their password to get into like you know parent view and stuff like that and so I don't want new parents going out and you know buying all these uniforms if the majority says no we're not going to do them or they're going to be modified so I think by may we should at the May meeting we should be able to you know have a vote and that way we can get stuff out to parents before the end of the school year

102um so I'm just going to say as a parent of a student who is she's a very tall girl she's she resembles her mother a lot um and she has sensory issues I cannot buy her uniforms at Target Walmart or Amazon I just can't they don't fit her or they don't fit her sensory needs so I struggle to get her un UNS and I know that there are days that she shows up at school and that uniform looks a little small on her but you know what she wore it and she's fitting it so I'm very interested in finding out from our community um about uniforms one thing that in talking to people I had a PTA president come up to me and they had an interesting perspective one that I had never thought of

103um they said you're killing our funding if you get rid of UN uniforms because they collect those dollars every month not something I would have thought of but I do think that reaching out to PT is taking in that input not that you know I think no it's true though as a past PTA President we took in easily $600 a month right um and so I think that that is something to take into consideration reaching out to our ptas and seeing where this goes I know that there's a lot of challenges that happen at schools if you do this challenge if you sign up for school choice within the first five days you get a dress down day so I think that this is a multifaceted um thing that we're addressing I I personally would

104love to make a make a decision by may but I don't want to rush this because the idea of if we take away uniforms and then decide we want to go back that's not something I want to fight or go back to so um I am while I don't love the idea I'm open to one more year of uniforms and really looking at all the discussion and looking at it um because I don't want to try to back step really um that's just my two cents I wonder and that's so valid and I think I just um saw a survey this approximately 16% of students have sensory um issues so that's not an uncommon thing that your daughter is experiencing and I think they're probably even higher percentage if they were really assessed because they're

105you know uh you know given a different diagnosis that may not be appropriate where it might be that I wonder if we could even present an option um you know as you stated where it might be an option for this upcoming school year where it's an you know they can wear uniforms if it's convenient and some students may not because some parents do enjoy it some parents have not the not the ability to get them we also be mindful of the fact that within our district the only one we can only get what is it Target sells the uniforms maybe Walmart sells them and Kohl's but Kohl's are super duper expensive $40 for a pair of khaki pants JC Pennies as well but they do as well yeah place's on yeah tin name like said

106super expensive whereas some parents you know we think about that element of and that's something we can look more into but I want to be mindful of the fact that you can go to Old Navy and get some T-shirts for two and three and then you know rotate those you know so that's that's another option so we can see what we can do and be get creative I've stopped you a few times no I'll I'll add that um any opportunity that I get to visit the schools um this is the number one thing that comes up no matter what I ask a teacher student staff um not an administrator not to put anybody on spline um but this is the number one thing that comes up um I think we we've had it so long

107I think there's been like a lack of um discussion and understanding for to our teachers and to our students as to why we have this policy um and I'll admit I spoke to students at Fine Arts I think last school year and they they didn't know who I was they like some young guys coming in here what was he doing um and I talked about uniforms and they jumped out of their chairs like and they really got them engaged they wanted to know what how why why do we have these and they had no idea governing board existed so they learned about it and so um I think it's I really see it as a more of a learning process for students and teachers and parents as well to see who makes these decisions um

108so yeah no I I will say when I shop around the sixth grade trip this fall in the cabin with um eight sixth grade girls that was one of the first conversations they had was about uniforms and I do not believe most of those girls knew who I was other than I was my daughter's mom but it was something because we had students from different campuses in the cabin and they were comparing how uniforms was addressed at the different campuses and what they could get away at this school as AAR compared to this school um so I do know it's something students talk about and they initiate themselves one thing I would like to see is even Town Halls at the different schools I would love to go to different schools and say hey parents

109we want to hear from you admin Community whoever like come talk to us about this topic and go to them as opposed to always expecting them to come to us do you have enough information now uh yes uh governing board so I would uh at this point with only uh I believe nine weeks left in the school year we could definitely do some survey questions get some information for the board and then you could take that information to decide how you want to uh or how Dr lefit might want to approach this to set up town hall and different committees and different kinds of input for that decision making uh next year okay any conversations any I think I think we're all say the same thing we want that we want people to be involved

110and get them involved so we know what's going on Family Partnership whatever else that we get everyone involved I think I think we all see that and we just need to know and find out what the parents want what the families want what's good for the school as well as the kids yeah I agree I just want to make sure it doesn't get put on the back burner and we like forget about it again and if if it takes an extra summer to do it or whatever that we want the data to make a good choice and I would say that excuse me but I would say that we can set we can definitely survey and I think member sanero said something about the questions so we could maybe get those out to the board

111board to review let's say and give input and then we can work on surveying between now and the end of the year and get that data before they leave for the summer app yeah and I think that in talks with planning our um work our study session as a board we have talked about moving that to the summer um instead of in April so that Mr LEF Dr Le can be a part with us that can be something we discuss and look at that data and have that conversation so and that way it won't fall by the wayside if we make that one of our topics there we'll take care of that thank you thank you all right um moving on to item number 16 um we are going to recess into executive session um

112we are going to recess an executive session for the discussion or consultation of legal advice with the attorney or attorneys of the P public body regarding an investigation of concerns raised by the former interm superintendent I'll second you'll second okay there is no action planned for after we come back all in favor of adjourning into executive session say I I I we're adjourned at 7:45 for