001Good evening. I'm still astonished by that. All right, I'd like to call this governing board meeting to order. It is Wednesday, March 25th at 6:30. Lisa, roll call, please. Pattie Cuchary Present. Carmel Lopez Present. Lisa Garcia Present. Ben Owens Present. Monte Rothschild All right, I have asked Dr. Scott to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance since she will be performing on Saturday at Dancing for Our Stars, so this will be a nice little lead-in. Thank you. All right, first item up, adoption of the agenda. Do I have any amendments or motions? Motion to approve as written. Second. Lisa, we have a motion and a second. Ben Owens Aye. Lisa Garcia Aye. Carmel Lopez Aye. Pattie Cuchary Aye. All right, we'll move on. Superintendent's report, Dr. Lotman. Thank you, President Cuchary. >> [clears throat] >>
002Spring break didn't slow down our students one bit. They stayed busy in all the right ways, learning, practicing, and making the most of every minute. The elementary academic boot camp welcomed 24 students in grades 3 through 5 at Santa Rosa Elementary School. Led by Principal Sopranic, the camp focused on building skills and confidence to so students returned ready for the final stretch of the school year. The Maricopa Rams co-ed youth volleyball camp brought together 31 students in grades 2 through 8. Students worked alongside high school coaches and student athletes building skills and learning what it takes to be a part of a of a team. Eight high school students helped lead the camp stepping into leadership roles and mentoring younger students. After a full week on the court, those popsicles were well earned. Desert Sunrise
003FFA students made their mark at the Pinal County Fair with a strong showing. 10 freshman exhibitors showed animals with several top honors across the program. CJ Smith won the Reserve Grand Champion Novice Dairy Goat Showman and Grand Champion Auctionable Dairy Goat. Clarice Richardson, Grand Champion Novice Beef Showman and Desert Sunrise FFA Chapter Superior Chapter Status. Students sold 10 animals and brought in more than $10,000 at auction. More importantly, they gained hands-on experience in animal care, communication, and responsibility. And I think uh Ms. Markham is here tonight. She was She took our students. Go ahead and stand up. There you go. >> [applause] >> Congratulations to Mr. Nerwin Balilu for Desert of Desert Wind Middle School for being named a >> [applause] >> Heck yeah. for being named 2026 Special Educator Rising Star by the Council
004for Exceptional Children. He was honored at the National Awards Ceremony in Salt Lake City over spring break. This prestigious award recognizes early career special educators who demonstrate strong leadership create inclusive classrooms, and make a meaningful impact on students with disabilities. Mr. Balilu represents Desert Wind and MUSD exceptionally well, and we're so proud of the work he's doing for our students. Congratulations to the Treble Singers at Desert Sunrise High School and Director Micah Braden for earning a gold award at the WorldStrides Performing Arts Heritage Festival in Anaheim. This marks the first award of its kind for Desert Sunrise High School and reflects a year of hard work and preparation. The group was celebrated during a private award ceremony at Disneyland, making this milestone even more memorable. The MUSD Bond Oversight Committee received an exclusive walk-through of
005Al Mifarro Innovation Academy getting a first-hand look at the construction progress as the campus moves toward its July 2026 opening. Principal Elizabeth Allison shared the vision behind the innovative K8 campus highlighting the design features and learning environments that will prepare students for the future. The tour underscored the importance of strong partnerships and a shared commitment to bringing this school to life for Maricopa students and families. Good attendance is essential to success. Tonight, we're celebrating four schools whose extra efforts have literally paid off. Each school will receive a certificate and $250 that we hope will support the strategies that work best to promote good attendance. Principals, when I call your name, please come to the dais to receive your certificate from President Cuchary. Congratulations go to best third quarter attendance, Santa Rosa Elementary School. >> [applause]
006>> Perfect. Most improved third quarter attendance, Desert Wind Middle School. >> [cheering] [applause] >> Yes, don't spend it all in cash. Runner-up for best third quarter attendance, Pima Butte Elementary School. >> [applause] >> Yay! Pictures, yeah. And runner-up for most improved third quarter attendance, Maricopa High School. >> [applause] >> He's not running yet. No, he's not running, but he's walking really fast. >> [laughter] >> Congratulations to Governing Board President Pattie Cuchary on being named the 2025 Sunny Dunn Citizen of the Year by the Greater Maricopa Business Alliance. This recognition speaks to the impact she makes that you make across the Maricopa community. >> [applause] >> For more than 13 years, President Cuchary has served MUSD and been involved in countless efforts across our community. Always keeping students and the future of the City of Maricopa
007at the center. This is a well-deserved recognition um and of the all the time and the energy and the heart that you invest in everything that you do. We are so lucky to have you here on our board. Congratulations, President Cuchary. >> [applause] >> That's my report. I was really kind of hoping you would forget about that. Um there is a reason that I am wearing that ugly pink shirt. Just It was a themed party, so. All right, let's move on to governing board reports. Member Owens. All right, thank you President Cutright. Congratulations um first off. Uh so I have two uh two things here. So as we're into um the beginning of fourth quarter, right? We're we got some sports that are wrapping up from winter and we've got some sports that are kicking
008off for for spring. Um uh just congratulations to all of our uh students that have participated in those uh sports and activities actually because there's a lot of activities that are kind of not well known that uh students really engage and connect with. So um uh I know just my personal experience this weekend, there's Color Guard State and Desert Sunrise and Maricopa High will both be performing on Friday and hopefully Saturday uh at Millennium. So um super excited about that. Um and I just want to kind of piggyback off the off the beginning of the fourth quarter here. Coming off spring break, so give me just a minute here, right? So my daughters are swimmers, okay? Uh anyone that's been to a board meeting has heard me talk about swimming. Um and my old or
009my youngest, she's a distance swimmer. So she swims swims a 500 yd. It's a anywhere from a 5-minute to an 8-minute race. And by the end of it kids are exhausted. That's all there is to it, right? Um and you get me the crazy dad that's over on the on the side yelling, "You can swim faster. Go, go, go." Right? And um um you get to the 400 yd mark in that race. And that's when it becomes really difficult to finish, right? So students, staff, parents we're starting that 400 yd mark right now, right? We're in this final stretch. We're in the final 100 yd. We've got basically 2 months of school left. Finish that race. I always tell my girls, "Swim through the wall. Don't coast the last 50 or 25 yd of that
010race. Finish strong. Take your last stroke right through the wall. So students in particular this is your opportunity to finish super strong and make the mark that you guys want to do. So that's all that I have. Thank you, Mr. Owens. >> [applause] >> Very well said. Very well said. Member Garcia. Thank you, Madam President. And again congratulations to you on your your award. Much deserved. And also to piggyback off of Member Owens' comments to the students and staff, welcome back. Um I know spring break is also hard to recover from, but again as he's iterated just a few minutes ago, push through and finish strong and uh we'll get through this school year together. >> [applause] >> Member Lopez. Vice President Lopez. Um [clears throat] I was busy with spring break. I'm sure just
011as all of you parents were trying to keep the kids busy. Praying that school would hurry up and start back up. Um and just yeah, you you said it very well, Member Owens. Um look forward to for everybody to have a great last quarter and prep for the 8 weeks that we have the kids back and need to pre-occupy them for the 8 weeks of summer. So that was it. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Well, it is great to be back. Um there was a few things that I was able to attend before spring break um since our last board meeting. Um it was I was very honored to throw out the first pitch for the Desert Sunrise softball game. So thank you so very much for inviting me to do that. Um and I
012was able to participate in the Read Across America at Santa Rosa. Uh got to read to fourth graders. It was a lot of fun. Um and then I was able to attend the um National Board Certified Teacher Celebration Dinner um on Saturday a couple Saturdays ago. Um it was it's an awesome uh time just to celebrate these teachers and the the accomplishments. It is not easy to become a national certified board teacher. There is a lot of work involved. Um and for many of these teachers, they were they'd already received it once and they were getting it again. They had to keep it active and that's still a very long process. So I was happy to be able to be there um to celebrate with them and support our teachers in our district. And some
013of you have may have heard and I kind of started out with uh the meeting this evening, um Boys and Girls Club of of the Sun Corridor, which is a partner with MUSD providing before-and-after school programs is having their largest fundraising event this Saturday. It's called Dancing for Our Stars. Um Dr. Lopeman is very familiar with it because she's not only been a dancer but a judge and a winner and a winner. The trophy is in her office if anybody wants to see it. So this year we are honored to have Dr. Scott participating as one of our celebrity dancers. So there are >> [applause] >> There are still tickets for sale and you can support Dr. Scott with your votes and they are $10 each, which could also be applied towards your Arizona tax
014credit for those of you who are still procrastinating about filing your taxes um because they are a qualifying charitable organization. That does not mean that you can you can still participate in the Arizona school tax credit because those are two different credits and you can take advantage of both of them. That is all I have and we'll move on to our spotlight Michelle Terry. Tonight, tonight the Maricopa Unified School District is excited to honor spotlight recipients across four categories: community members, MUSD employees, students, and student athletes. Before we begin, I'd like to thank our sponsors at Freddy's Steakburgers and Frozen Custard Custard, Baskin-Robbins, and Ultra Star Entertainment for making tonight special for our honorees. Our first honorees are community members whose time and support make a real difference for our students and families. Congratulations, community
015members. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate and give a quick fist bump to the governing board members and Dr. Lopeman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Mr. Harmon is standing by the hallway to point you in the right direction. Give us a wave, Mr. Harmon. There he is. All right. Congratulations to Lori Smuda, volunteer from Butterfield Elementary School. Ana Iglesias, volunteer tutor Maricopa Elementary School. Barnett Jacobs, volunteer from Pima Butte Elementary School. And Sue Jump, volunteer from Saddleback Elementary School. >> [applause] >> Daniel Johnson, School Safety Officer Santa Cruz Elementary School. >> [applause] >> And Britney Marquez, PTO Board Member Santa Rosa Elementary School. Natasha Kleinman, PTO Volunteer Desert Wind Middle School. >> And Kathleen Almada, supportive parent at Maricopa Wells Middle School. >> [applause]
016>> Carrie Woodward, business sponsor and FFA volunteer, Desert Sunrise High School. >> [applause] >> Ashley and Robert Barnett, volunteers from Maricopa High School. And Cheryl Sharp, store manager at Arby's, Maricopa Virtual Academy. Congratulations again to these outstanding spotlight community members. >> [applause] >> And next, we're proud to honor our spotlight employees of the month, dedicated staff who go above and beyond to meet the needs of our students and school communities. Congratulations, spotlight employees. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate and give a quick fist bump to the governing board and Dr. Lopeman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Congratulations to Sophia Ruiz, community preschool paraprofessional from Butterfield Elementary School. Diane Street Speck, speech and language pathologist from Maricopa Elementary School. Zo- whoa, hello. Wait, wait, wait,
017wait. We We're doing this again. Zo Redfern, GATE teacher from Pima Butte Elementary School. Rosie Palafox-Salazar, speech language pathologist assistant from Saddleback Elementary School. Jenna Cummings, media arts teacher from Santa Cruz Elementary School. Katie Taft, kindergarten paraprofessional, Santa Rosa Elementary School. Christopher Monclopaz, ELA teacher, Desert Wind Middle School. Heather Zerbel, speech language pathologist and ESS PLT teacher from Maricopa Wells Middle School. Ashley Embry, CTE teacher, EMS from Desert Sunrise High School. >> [applause] >> And Kevin Struble, math teacher, department chair, Maricopa High School. >> [applause] >> Brittany Austin, ESS teacher, Maricopa Virtual Academy. >> [applause] >> And Nancy Powell, purchasing specialist from Business Services. Congratulations again to these outstanding spotlight employees. And now, we are thrilled to honor our spotlight students of the month. Each month, school principals select these remarkable students for their outstanding
018commitment to their education, their school, and their community. These spotlight students exemplify Portrait of a Graduate by being communicators who listen, collaborate, and share ideas clearly, innovators who think creatively and solve problems, resilient achievers who show determination and perseverance, critical thinkers who analyze and challenge the status quo, and principled leaders who act with responsibility and character. These students set the bar high and shine as role models for their peers, their schools, and our entire school district. Congratulations, spotlight students. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate and give a quick fist bump to the governing board and Dr. Lopeman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Mr. Harmon, give us another wave. There he is. Okay, congratulations to Bria McGee, kindergartner from Butterfield Elementary School. Bria shows what
019it means to be a bobcat by treating others with respect and staying committed to learning each day. Jessica Zabala, fifth grade student from Maricopa Elementary School. Jessica brings the Portrait of a Graduate to life through teamwork, responsibility, and thoughtful effort in her work. Lael Sokai, kindergarten student from Pima Butte Elementary School. Lael leads with a big heart, consistently supporting her classmates and creating a welcoming classroom environment for everyone. Allison Mesa, fourth grade student at Saddleback Elementary School. Allison sets the standard by consistently making respectful choices and taking responsibility for herself and her actions. Raven Beamish, preschooler from Santa Cruz Elementary School. Raven stands out as a principled leader who follows expectations and makes thoughtful choices with her peers. Natalie Martina Struckman, preschooler from Santa Rosa Elementary. Natalie takes pride in leading by example through her
020commitment to the ABCs and an active role in the classroom. Troy Marshall, sixth grader from Desert Wind Middle School. Troy represents the Tiger Trio by taking ownership of his own learning and showing respect to those around him. Shamara [snorts] Cook-Holmes, [screaming] eighth grade student from Maricopa Wells Middle School. >> [applause] >> Shamara shows it what it means to be a principled leader through her calm presence, involvement, and strong work ethic. Colton Yates, senior from Desert Sunrise High School. Colton makes an impact through his leadership in band and his dedication to guiding others while pursuing music education. Paige Guedea, senior from Maricopa High School. Paige is a resilient achiever and communicator who gives her best in everything she does while lifting up her peers and staying connected to our school community. Hayley Gilson, eighth grader from
021Maricopa Virtual Academy. Hayley advocates for herself while staying motivated and engaged, setting a strong example for others. Isaac Tuck, senior from Ram Academy. Isaac approaches his work with focus and consistency, building a strong foundation for success. Congratulations again to these outstanding spotlight students. >> [applause] >> Tonight, we're also honoring our outstanding student athletes. As I call your name, please come forward to receive your certificate and give a quick fist bump to the governing board and Dr. Lopeman and then head to room 123 for a group photo. Congratulations to Madeline Cypen, eighth grader, basketball and volleyball player from Desert Wind Middle School. Aiden August, eighth grade flag football and basketball player from Maricopa Wells Middle School. Jaylen Hearns, seventh grade cheer and track athlete from Maricopa Wells Middle School. Mason Rogers, junior soccer player, Desert Sunrise
022High School. >> [applause] >> Delaney Palomera Gonzalez, freshman soccer player, Desert Sunrise High School. Addison Newirsky, junior palm performer, Maricopa High School. And Elizabeth Dupree, senior softball player from Maricopa High School. And we have one more recognition for you tonight. In partnership with America Rotary Club, we'd like to honor a deserving group of students. Rotary honors young people who are developing leadership skills and making a difference in their communities. Rotary students, as I call your name, please come forward. And Mr. Wells and President Coutre will present you with a special certificate. And in addition, you'll receive a $50 gift card on behalf of the Rotary. A special thank you goes to John and Mary Lou Smith Education Foundation for their sponsorship that helps make tonight special for our honorees. Congratulations to Sophia Perez, eighth grade
023student, Desert Wind Middle School. >> [applause] [applause] >> And Phoebe Holman, eighth grader from Maricopa Wells Middle School. >> [applause] >> And Elise Vianova, >> [cheering] >> junior from Desert Sunrise High School. >> [applause] >> And Joshua Perez, sophomore, Maricopa High School. Steven Seigman, freshman, Maricopa Virtual Academy. >> [applause] >> And Isaac Tuck, senior from Ram Academy. Congratulations to all of our honorees tonight. We are going to take a 5-minute break to allow everyone who was here for the recognition to make their exit, and then we'll begin the business portion of our meeting. You are all are welcome to stay. >> up in front. So, all the principals, come on up. I got front row seating right here for you. Come on. Set the example. We have to set the example. Heck, yeah. >> [laughter]
024>> I like to see you. It's like the only time I get to see all of you. Look at I shamed them into it. Yes. >> [laughter] >> It's like the students, right? When they Ladies, I'm proud of you. I'm so proud. >> the guys in the back. They get gold star stickers. They do. They do. Come on. You're going to be shown up. That's okay, guys. All right, you guys The boys club. >> [laughter] >> Hey, Ms. Coutré, if you would, just one one moment, please. >> Mr. Owens. >> [applause] [laughter] >> All right. >> my apologies. Just remember this, I will remember where you sit at the next meeting. All right, let's move on. >> [laughter] >> We are going to move on to our work study. Uh we have the elementary tier
025three behavior management work study, Dr. Pastor. Thank you. President Coutré, Dr. Lotman, members of the board, and guests. Uh tonight, I'll be presenting on the results of a year-long study on elementary tier three behavior. Uh we've partnered with New Solutions K-12, and I'm going to walk you through what we've learned, um some areas where they um have identified they are working great well, where we have some gaps, and the system changes that um we are um looking at for next steps to move forward. The goal of all this is to reduce repeat incidents, to strengthen classroom environments, and to support staff and students. So, the study began when our partnership with New Solutions K-12 began in approximately January of 2025. This research group examined MUSD systems, employee engagements, and impacts on work-life harmony. Through this
026work, several recommendations emerged, and in a partnership with NSK12 and with leader MUSD leaders, we made the decision to focus more deeply on elementary student behavior management. In October of this year, we continued the partnership with New Solutions K-12. They did conduct a comprehensive review that included staff interviews, focus groups, a deep dive into our discipline data, and they also looked at some staffing reports. That analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data led to a set of findings, and I'll be sharing those findings with you this evening. We um pulled together a guiding coalition that's met a few times. This is a group of about 20. It consists of administrators and some teachers and some classified, and uh we worked together to um solidify the the findings and to also prioritize some of our areas
027of need. So, before discussing opportunities for improvement, I think it's important to recognize the systems that are working well across the district as recognized by this national firm. So, one of their findings was that as they spoke to different staff, they said that our tier two and tier three behavior staff are highly available and responsive. And they also noted that the district has made a clear investment to prioritizing behavioral staffing and resources. So, we have a strong foundation in place. It centers not only on the trained staff, but they also recognize that we as a system um make a habit of continuous improvement through data-driven decisions. We look at discipline data, for example, frequently. So, we're not starting from scratch. We have these key systems in place. The work ahead is about strengthening and aligning
028these systems. So, then they also um gave us some areas of opportunity, and these areas of opportunity, there were seven in total, they were not given us given to us in any rank order. The guided coalition was facilitated by NSK12 to help prioritize these so that we could narrow narrow our focus. So, when we did that, those two blue bullets that you see up there are what rose to the top. We knew that it was critical to prioritize the focus so that we could work collaboratively and intentionally to address the areas in which we would have the highest impact. So, in the next um slides, I'll be sharing with you how exactly we plan to um strengthen our our certified behavior specialist is has transitioned to a board certified um behavior analyst, also known as
029a BCBA. Um we have uh one. Our BCBA is Elena Quiñones, and we'll be moving that to two certified BCBAs. And then, I'll also be talking about how we plan to strengthen short- and medium-term removal for tier three students um that need some time away from the the regular classroom. So, to address these priorities, um we developed plans for more aligned system for tier three management. At the foundation, we have tier three classroom supports. At the next level, we have more targeted school supports. So, uh part of that is the need for reset or refocus spaces. We have these um to varying degrees in the schools already. Sometimes they're called um a a cooling space or a calming space. Sometimes they're called an ISS room, um but we will have reset refocus across all of
030our elementaries. And at the top is a district-level program for the highest-need students. The key is that each level works together to ensure that students receive the right level of support at the right time. So, um at the school level, as I stated, we'll be implementing reset and refocus spaces. These are structured environments where students can regulate before returning to class. The students will be working with trained personnel who support de-escalation and re-engagement. The goal of these spaces is to support the individual student while returning them to um a learning environment that in the meantime is protected for the other students. So, in our next slide here, um I want to share with you some of the data that the guiding coalition looked at in order to make some of our plans for next year.
031So, what you're looking at here is the number of students in each grade level, kindergarten through fifth grade, that in all of last year had seven or more discipline incidents. So, um roughly a a incident a month is what it averages out to be. For context, and as an example, you see first grade is the highest there with 15 students. So, if in first grade, 15 out of when we ended last year, we had 674 students, were uh the higher need, that equates to 2% of our entire first grade. So, we know that um this is a not a lot of students, but a disproportionate number of disruptions because they can sometimes cause multiple disruptions. So, the data helped us to determine focusing on K-12 or or not K-12, kindergarten through second grade is where
032we're going to see the greatest impact and is part of our priorities. These students are not consistently addressed in a way that's designed to support them effectively. So, part of what the um planning for next year includes is a reset and reintegration classroom. This is an alternative behavior setting for K2 students. And it is a designed to be a medium-term placement where students receive behavioral instruction while also keeping up with their academic instruction receiving that as well. It will be um led by a certified teacher and a registered behavior technician. And we are working with administrators and the guiding coalition to have explicit entry and exit criteria for this program. Um and will ensure fidelity and evaluate its effectiveness as we go through our inaugural year of this program. Students will have a reintegration plan
033to return successfully when they have demonstrated success with their behavioral goals. And this will provide an alternative to repeated removals from the classrooms at the at the site level by addressing some of the root causes. In addition to that reset and reintegration classroom, we also want to strengthen our BCBA support that we're providing to the schools. So by increasing from one to two board-certified behavior analysts, the staff will get more support with case management with these tier three students. And we will also be able to provide more coaching to the RBTs. RBTs are full-time Monday through Friday full full day. They are more able to immediately assist some of these tier three students. Um but we want to continuously provide them with the clinical supervision and the oversight of the certified behavior analyst in order
034to continue to support them. So the BCBAs will focus on tier three case management and um and that is one way that we plan to increase behavior expertise. So there's a few steps that we've taken to make sure that we have system realignment. One is we evaluated job descriptions to make sure that they are specific and consistent in verbage regarding behavior support. We provided some targeted training and are planning for more targeted training to a variety of employee groups. And we also are working with the guided coalition to to distinguish between proactive and reactive supports. In addition, Hanover research probably heard me speak about Hanover research before. They're helping us to do an in-depth analysis of solid tier two and tier three behavior curriculum that we can use not just for the reset and reintegration
035classroom, but also for the tier three and and and tier two students that are at these school sites. Um we will standardize documentation expectations across the district. That's an an important item on our plans list. And all of these adjustments will help us to ensure consistency and sustainability. And then lastly, I wanted to speak about measures of effectiveness. And we plan to measure reductions in the number of these discipline incidents for these tier three students. But it's also important to measure perception data. So this would be from teachers and staff and parents. And we'll be doing that by collecting surveys pre and post. These measures will help us evaluate effectiveness and the consistency of implementation. The goal is to build a system that not only responds to behavior, but improves outcomes for the students that
036are struggling with behaviors and the students in all learning environments and to also support our staff in maintaining those strong learning environments. And I welcome any feedback or questions. Board members? I have a bunch. So part of this may need a separate conversation or another time that's okay. So I'll just go down my list and we'll get to what we can. Um First of all, I'm proud of us for for admitting that we have an issue. Right? That that's huge to me um to see our education is not just reading, writing, math, science, right? It's it's that whole person. Right? Regardless of the age. Um so I'm I'm really proud of us for taking these steps to address this and teach our little ones how to cope with life. This different life that we grew
037up from, right? Um You had said certified behavior specialist is going to you're you're refocusing them. Right? What is that refocus? What was it and what is it now? Or what is it what do you want it to be? So one of the recommendations from New Solutions K12 was to make sure that everyone involved in supporting behaviors had a clear role and expectations and that things that they perhaps did not need to be dedicating their time to to be doing because it would take away from tier three behavior support that we take off their plate. So we there wasn't much in that area being that there was only one person. Um supporting PBIS was one area that we worked sort of collaboratively on. We're we're taking that away from the BCBA role. Um so also
038we sometimes had calls or outreach for support for tier two and tier three students. We're going to come up with a clear definition of what is tier three and narrow the focus of the BCBA to tier three students. So not every student is going to be impacted by the case management of the BCBA. So who handles the tier two then? So great question. It may be the RBT at the school supporting these students. >> That I'm sorry to use acronyms of the registered behavior technician. >> Got you. Yes. And so they have such a formal title because we've proudly taken them through the process of becoming certificated in that area. So Yeah. Um okay. So then underneath that role of the BCBAs, right? Um Are you guys cuz I had seen in the slide FBA/PBIS.
039So are they going to be the ones to develop the FBAs per each tier three child? And then train everyone who interacts with that child on how to actually implement each FBA? That's a great example of something that precisely may end up happening. A FBA is currently also sometimes written by our school psychologist. Um may also support, but these individuals are really highly trained in that. Yes. So yes, you've described it very well. Okay. I would prefer that that the BCBAs write the FBAs. I love our school psychs. But they have the whole school and IEPs and file like they have a full plate already, I think. Um and I think if my my personal opinion is that they should stay on the special education side of the FBA and leave the behavior side or
040I'm sorry, special education side of the IEPs and 504s and leave the behavior side of that to the FBAs. Cuz they are the ones trained on how to implement and how to train others on how to implement those FBAs. I've seen really good at you can have a really good FBA and not have the people trained very well on implementing them and it it just falls apart. So um When you say reset and refocus, is that is there a time limit on that? Or is that based on that individual's need? What I what I'm referring to what I don't want to see happen is we pull a child out for 5 minutes, give them a spinner and send them back to class and they end up having three or four episodes in a day cuz
041they only got a 5 or 10-minute break. That to me is not reset. Just because the child says they're okay to go back, we are the adults and should be able to look at them and if we're pulling them out a second time because of another episode in that same day, okay, this child is not okay. They may say they're okay, but what's what's going on? So, do you have a time frame in that within your new policy that you're going to be writing or is it just is that something you're going to be looking at? What are What are the parameters of that reset refocus? So, first step was to make sure we had dedicated space and trained individuals because that sometimes was something that was holding us up from making sure that we
042did more than 5 minutes. Is making sure that we had adequate staffing and making sure that those individuals that are helping the students that need to de-escalate feel as though they have the time to do it and the training to be able to do it. >> And part of that training is to recognize this is going to take more than 5 minutes. Yeah. This is not something that most of of students that need the removal need more than that. Um what it looks like does vary based on the kid and the situation and we do have some limitations because of statute that we do need to work with within the K-4 range. But we're in a good place by making sure that we have enough staff because we have RBTs, we have counselors, we have
043TOSAs, we have and adding the BCBAs, we have all of these individuals, that's a place to start and then making sure that everyone has the training in the de-escalation and then what it really looks like to successfully reintegrate and to not bounce back >> Right. Um in a couple of >> Using those skills that we should be teaching in those moments. Um at at my house we we refer to them as a as a redo. Right? Something happens and we don't like how that all turned out, well we can stop right now. We can just stop and let's just redo it. Right? I'm going to give you permission, you're not in trouble, I'm going to give myself permission, I'm not going to be angry, let's redo this how we would like to see it happen
044so that we get those practicing the cell memory of practicing that new way to help lessen that anxiety. So, I like I like that. Um Uh okay, got that one. If you could go. Is there any point once we get this implemented and we're seeing what's working, what's not working and we're we're able to where we can say, "Okay, this this is going to take that behavior curriculum and pick out things that could be taught in our preschool. So that we don't get to these these points of tier one, tier two and tier three other than PBIS. And I'm I'm I know we're PBIS. Um and it's okay and it's with there's that tons of models and I'm I'm whatever works, I'm for it. But I also think there could be room to pull out
045some of those things and maybe teach our kids some of these skills prior to even you know, getting to to have to be tier two or tier three. So, just a just a thought that I had as you were talking. >> [cough] >> Um Two last questions, BCBAs parenting with or partnering with therapists, psychs, docs, families. You can have a great team at the school and a great FBA. But if the parents aren't following through at home and you don't have the support from the docs or the psychs or that team integrated effort right? This becomes a huge uphill battle. So, while we're sitting here and this sounds great, I'm loving this. I got goosebumps cuz I'm loving this. And for you those of you that don't know, this is somebody told me a couple
046weeks ago that the behaviors was their jam and it reminded me of what my jam is and it's behavior health and special education. In my past I dealt with dual diagnosis. So, the the child and the family I worked with uh I was a behavior tech and I did both. But I tell you I am at a loss these days because what worked 20 years ago, right? When I was in it, no longer works. And so, I'm excited about this, but I also know regardless of how long it is things don't work unless you have that partnership. So, do we have a partnership? Do we have supports where our nurse could call and get those closer relationships with pediatricians or psychs or and say, "Hey, so-and-so had a really bad day today. This is what's
047going on." You can't always count on having a proactive involved parent to help bridge that. And that's just an idea. I I'm not saying that we have to, but I think it would help. >> What comes to mind is some pieces we put in place in planning for sustainability knowing that Project AWARE was ending. That ends on September 30th, but we've put some things in place that won't be ending with Project AWARE. We have MOUs with two behavioral health groups. >> Okay. Um Horizon Health and Impact La Frontera. Okay. Um and so, what that might look like for tier three parents is an invitation um to consider an outside counseling referral or to take advantage of some parenting behavioral workshops that we can bring because we have this partnership. Um we also have a a
048budding relationship with Molina Healthcare. There's There's all sorts of ways that we can make sure that those parents have connections to the the many community resources that can support them. Okay. And I'll look, too. I I've I I will also reach out to my network cuz I know that there's a lot of people doing a lot of great things right now around this area because it's such a big need nationwide. Um And then as far as our staff and our teachers are concerned, right? Our admins, our principals, our TOSAs, everybody that we've mentioned in this how are they feeling about this? Are they on board? Do they like it? Are they excited about what what we're bringing in? Do they have any concerns about it? I think have very positive feedback so far. Uh we've
049had the BCBA that we have for this year and what I most frequently hear is that there's not enough of her to go around. I I need another one of of Elena. So, we're working on it. We're working on it. So, that's a big part of the feedback from the principals is more. And I began just today to visit elementary schools. I went to three schools and spoke to staff and give them giving them a mini version of this presentation. And also um promoting the opportunity to apply for this position should they if that's their jam as you describe it cuz you know there are those people. And um as I presented to the three schools today, the teachers' feedback was very positive, appreciative of the recognition that this is an area that causes a
050lot of challenges for us. Stress. Yes. Stress. Teachers can't teach if if they are stressed out the way that they have been in dealing with behaviors. So, Yeah. >> So, what I'm hearing is an appreciation of us recognizing that and wanting to put some solid plans in place. Thank you. And sorry I had so many questions. I >> [laughter] >> Anybody else you'd like to go? Uh so, you answered or asked one the one question I had about the family integration of the family support cuz that's obviously a pretty major key component in in my um my thought process and I kind of feel I'm pretty right on on that. Um So, I guess let's just take a step back real quick, right? Is this a pilot program? Is this currently already rolled out at
051every school site? What does this thing look like cuz I I feel like I'm missing a piece on this puzzle somewhere. So, the pieces that are currently in place and that have been in place um for um depending on the the part of it a good amount of time is having the classified positions. Um they were initially um called behavior specialists and they've worked their way through um most of them through becoming registered behavior technicians. So, we have that in place that's been in place for a few years. Um the part that is um new as of this school year is having a BCBA. Two years. A a BCBA um assisting the schools and then, um, what we're looking forward to implementing and having in place are uh positions that, um, were brought to the
052board, I believe, on the February 25th. And that is the addition of the second BCBA. And then, um, the, um, approval of the teacher for the elementary behavior program and the RBT for that classroom. Can you speak on on cuz I think the piece that Mr. Owens is missing is the new placement for tier two, tier three, and that 12 till tier three in that >> Yeah. that time frame of being in there and what that it cuz I think that's what you're missing is how is this implemented. So, the new piece is that Alma Farrell. Can you speak on that? Well, the we will find a a an identified location. It won't be at Alma, yeah. Um, and that's probably the most significant change to the pieces that we've been building over the past
053year and a half, 2 years. Um, we'll is that we will have a dedicated classroom located most likely at Santa Cruz because that's where there there is space available. With the addition of Alma Farrell, that's, you know, that's where most of the classrooms will be available. So, um, we'll have a dedicated teacher, a dedicated staff, and that's where students from other schools will be assigned after they go, you know, as we I they are identified, as they make themselves known, and as the staff responds to the needs that they present. And I think the slides said it's like a 12-week placement. That's kind of our, uh, vision. That's kind of our starting point. And in that classroom, they'll have an a teacher, a certified teacher, and dedicated specialized behavior support and instruction to learn to,
054um, you know, to regulate responses cuz that's usually, you know, dysregulation when things don't go their way. So, um, and again, Ms. Pastor indicated Dr. Pastor indicated that they're, um, finding research-based curriculum, uh, that between the behavior, the RBT, and the teacher that that these students can, you know, they can be helped, they can be instructed because so many of our, especially at these younger grades, having consistent instruction and reinforcement, um, for the child when they're out of the out of a what could be a stressful environment or something that that is a triggering or provocative environment with lots of other students that becomes very disruptive, they can be, um, in a space that's, uh, dedicated and, um, designed for their academic continuity and for their behavioral growth. Gotcha. That's what I was missing. >>
055it's a big piece. I wasn't sure if this, like I said, if this was at each individual elementary or just what the what the whole deal was cuz one one person to get around to each of those schools, if that's the way it was, just wasn't going to work out long term. So, perfect. Thank you. Yeah. I will emphasize that there will be a dedicated space at each school as well that's not for a 12-week placement. It is for a a shorter-term placement, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, depending on the age of the student, you know, up to 7 or 8 or 9 days. Now, if that occurs over time, occurs repeatedly over time, that's an indicator that, um, we need to change some of the circumstances. So, that's why we have this other
056location. Thank you so very much. I am, um, board members have asked all the questions that I would have thought of, um, and I am so glad that we are moving forward and that this will be in place for next school year. Um, my only question is when we call a discipline incident for an elementary school, is that very clearly defined so that it is understood at every elementary school that that's a definition of it? Because I know there's sometimes what we might think is a discipline incident, maybe someone else doesn't. So, I just want to make sure that are those clearly defined? Because even on this data that we had from uh, the data slide where it said students of had seven or more discipline incidents, what what was what qualified it as a
057discipline incident? That That's a great question. Um, our code of conduct is very specific in the student handbook. I think it's about 17 pages long. Um, and in addition to having those matrices in writing, I also work with the TOSAs and the deans to do training so that we do some calibration. Uh, aggression, for example, is one that can sometimes be, um, somewhat subjective what is a disruptive incident versus, um, a minor aggressive act. So, we talk through those sorts of things and we'll continue to refine and make sure that we all have, um, shared understanding of of what is a major incident. In addition to the number of major incidents, you also look at the types of disruption in order to define a tier three student. A tier three student is not someone who
058has seven incidents of an attendance violation. This is someone who has some aggressive acts, might have some elopement. Um, we sadly have some students that have, um, led to crisis calls or might have some self-harm conversation. So, those are the students that there are very few of across our district, but they do, um, require quite a bit of our time and our support. And those are the students we want to be more clearly defining who is tier three. Okay. Thank you so very much. All right. Uh, next would be called to the public. We don't have any cards, so we'll skip over that and go to the consent agenda. Do I have any motions? Motion to approve as written. Second. Lisa, I have a motion and a second. Ben Owens. Aye. Lisa Garcia. Aye. Carolyn
059Lopez. Aye. Patty Cuchran. Aye. All right. First action item is discussion and possible approval of the personnel schedule. So, Mr. Beckett's not here, so Dr. Lotman. What can I answer if you have any questions that I can answer? It's so much different not having Mr. Beckett there. Not as much fun. No, not as much fun for me. Uh, do you So, contracts went out over spring break. Mhm. Uh, I'm assuming that we've started to receive some of those back. Can you speak to that? I wish I could. I cannot. What I can can do is I can we can check into the system and see how many, um, have been returned. They went out on the 16th. Okay. Do you do recall when they're due cuz I don't right offhand. I want to say it
060was like 2 weeks. April 2nd. April 2nd. >> They They got a little bit longer because they came out at spring break. >> Yep. Okay. Uh, that was just certified classified. They already got theirs and administered it. Didn't Yeah. >> Yep. So, uh, I guess here would be my ask is if, like, Friday afternoon I'll give you a >> if if you all could update us and then next Friday after No, never mind. That's April 2nd is Good Friday, so then the following Monday after Easter. If you could just kind of give us a snapshot. Give you, uh, how the returns are coming in? >> Yep. Absolutely. And And we will probably see on the next HR agenda, um, at the next meeting, those that did not turn them in. Cuz they would be up
061in the resignation part that the contracts didn't come back. >> I'm just curious then what the what that data looks like, right? Do we have I'd love to see 100%, right? 90 99%, you know, whatever, right? Yeah. But, um, so, yeah, if you if you could just provide us with some of that, that would be great. Absolutely. Great. Thank you. Mhm. Are there any additional questions? All right. Do I have a motion? Motion. I'll [snorts] second. Lisa, I have a motion and a second. Ben Owens. Aye. Lisa Garcia. Aye. Carolyn Lopez. Aye. Patty Cuchran. Aye. Uh, President Cuchran, uh, board members, with your approval of the personnel agenda, I wanted to introduce our, um, assistant superintendent for administrative services. She's here in the, um, audience tonight. That's Dr. Amy Cram. >> [applause] >> Welcome to
062MUSD. Thank you so much for this opportunity. All right. All right. Our next action item is discussion and possible approval of the district benefit plan for school year 2026-2027. Mr. Beckett was supposed to do this one, too. He's really missing out on a lot of fun. >> [snorts] >> Well, I can I can help field questions. I I know that Mr. Harmon has also been involved in negotiations as well. And so he can help field questions as well. So I do know that for this one it's We do this every year and as we had discussed in our previous budget discussions. This plan The district does not We're absorbing the cost instead of sending it to the employees. So Is that my understanding correctly? Yes, it's some good news at our budget projections. We set
063aside 14% as a high mark. Our our actual rate increase is 9%. Still isn't great, but the the national trends in health care health insurance are never great. So But yes, we are uh absorbing those costs on all of the employee plans. The the dependent plans will feel that 9% impact. But the employee plans will not. Happy to happy to answer any questions you may have. Any questions or a motion? I'll motion. I'll second. Lisa, I have a motion and a second. Ben Owens I. Lisa Garcia I. Carla Lopez I. Patty Cutri I. Discussion and possible approval of the school year 2026-2027 transportation and health service work calendars. Dr. Lotman Yes, these are revisions to the recently approved work calendars. Had a couple of changes that need to be made. Transportation needed to be changed.
064It's the same number of days, but we needed to change the actual start date. And then the health services calendar needed to be changed to accommodate some training dates as well. So those are the modifications. I have one question. With the transportation calendar, did we leave room for if we're adding Alma Farrell and the new routes that we're going to is there time for training and all of that getting all that done prior to starting school? Absolutely. All of that is will be encompassed in the training days that are allocated. Have these calendars been the revisions been reviewed by staff that are impacted by these? You know That's why they're being revised. Yeah, that's where that's that's where they originated um was in that analysis and thinking about what the needs were in the department.
065Got you. So in the future we going to bring some of these groups in a little bit earlier to kind of have some of these discussions as well. So so we're not going back and doing a revision. That would be ideal. Perfect. Thank you. >> [snorts] >> If there's no other questions, I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Lisa, I have a motion and a second. Ben Owens I. Lisa Garcia I. Carla Lopez I. Patty Cutri I. All right. Discussion and possible approval to accept the fiscal year 2025 audits and compliance questionnaire. Mr. Harmon Thank you, President Cutri, members of the board, Dr. Lotman. The purpose of this action item is to formally accept the audits and compliance questionnaire conducted on the district for fiscal year 2025. The audit was conducted by Heinfeld Meech, an
066independent audit firm. They conducted the required single audit and compliance questionnaire. They also completed the voluntary annual comprehensive financial report that's required for two applications we make for esteemed certifications of excellence in financial reporting. One to the Association of School Business Officials International and the other to the Government Finance Officers Association GFOA. The rules for public school districts come from the Arizona Constitution and Title 15 of the Arizona Revised Statutes. These rules change every year through legislation and voter approved initiatives. The Department of Education and the Auditor General of the State of Arizona are responsible for interpreting these rules and enforcing them with school districts. This is done through the Uniform System of Financial Records or the USFR and the USFR or audit compliance questionnaire. The current version of the USFR is 406 pages. The
067annual audit contains 171 questions in the compliance questionnaire that cover the 18 categories listed on the slide. I'm trying to tell you how hard it is. The auditor spent two separate weeks on site as well as additional offsite work to determine if sufficient evidence is obtained for each question in the USFR compliance questionnaire. Evidence is obtained through test work, observation, examination, and client assertion. We're pleased with the audit process and the results for fiscal year 2025. This slide shows the fiscal year 2025 compliance questionnaire. The blue bars are the total questions for each section. And the orange bars show the findings in each section. We had a total of 14 findings in eight areas. On the bottom right hand corner you can see our 5-year history of findings. And 14 findings for fiscal year 2025
068means that we were approximately 91% compliant to the 171 questions in the questionnaire. Out of the 85 districts that our our audit firm Heinfeld Meech audited last year, the average number of findings was 15. For the 14 findings on our compliance questionnaire, we we will work with each of the finding areas to develop corrective action plans and continue education on the USFR. I would like to praise our MUSD staff for continuing to work hard on training and practices to improve overall compliance. It's not necessarily the number of findings that matter the most. It's really the severity of findings. A guide to understand the severity of findings is in our single audit report. Paying attention to the findings or lack of findings on the single audit will reveal will reveal the severity of findings on our
069compliance questionnaire. Our single audit for fiscal year 2025's summary of auditor's results answered no to all of the following areas: significant deficiencies, material weaknesses, non-compliance, findings that are not that are required to be reported, and findings related to federal awards. And they also state that we are that we qualify as low risk. That concludes my report. Happy to answer any questions you may have. We are seeking a action to approve our our and accept our audits for fiscal year 2025. Any questions? I have um Mr. Harmon, so were there repeat issues from last year to this year that weren't that you found that weren't addressed last year and we're going to tidy those up? Yeah, we have a few yes, sir. We have a few areas that are that are difficult that tend to have
070similar findings every year. Some of our some of them are in our student attendance because of how many records there are. So part of our our work with those other departments is to see how we can develop corrective action plans to nip this in the bud and not have this this repeat. Another area that we have findings that are very similar are in our our our our capital assets because inventory is difficult to manage and you know, we'll dispose of an item that might not get removed from our from our books. And so when we go do an inventory with our auditors and they can't find an item that could be a similar finding that we might have year over year. But again, we're continuing to try to refine our systems and upgrade our inventories
071to prevent that. But those corrective plans is really that that action. How can we look at this again and and try to prevent this from happening in the future? There's a number of records that that tend to make it difficult in some of these areas. Yeah, I know I totally I totally get that especially with the with the attendance. Having what 9,000 students different classes, all that. I totally understand that. So um I know there's a ton of work that goes into this and there is a component if I remember correctly that goes into this and talking with board members as well and Dr. Lotman and and that kind of thing. Is that right, Dr. Lotman? Or no? Yes, I mean >> Okay, yeah. And I I also think that each year there are advancements.
072And we have a we have a consistently excellent rating regarding our our financial and fiscal management. And like you said, it's a lot of people and a lot of data, a lot of things. So we strive for 100%. We don't we you know, and so in that in that process we're constantly working on our internal controls and the processes that are in place, the redundancies, so that we can catch the errors. Yep, great. So thank you for to everyone for getting us to no major deficiencies. I I like that and low risk. I do, too. Um my question is do is it hard for us because laws change every year. So, as part of our our marks, the 14 that we got, right? Is part of that not knowing what laws will be changed this
073next year and then trying to play catch up to those changes? Is that is that part of the equation or Sometimes either we'll have a new law or uh GASB, the government accounting um board, will make a change that might lead to um a non-compliance that we weren't kind of ready for. One of our findings this year is related to a rule that changed around or or really good about mileage and use for our student vehicles, but our white fleet, we never had to keep similar records and there was a a rule that changed that we we didn't realize impacted our white fleet. So, we have a finding on this year, but we've now made changes so we don't have a finding next year, but that's a perfect example of a rule that changed that
074we weren't quite ready to absorb that. If it's material, we're going to know. We we we're we're part of all the groups, but sometimes things do slip through the cracks. That are kind of catches us. >> not even slipping like you can't even control that one. Cuz you don't know what's going to be asked of you next year. Thank you. Thank you. If there's no other questions, I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Lisa, I have a motion and a second. Ben Owens. I. Lisa Garcia. I. Carolyn Lopez. I. Patty Catray. I. Our last action item, approve the curriculum adoption for ELA advanced placement Spalding. Dr. Scott. Good evening, President Catray, members of the board, Dr. Loveland, and community. At our last governing board meeting, you saw presentation by Mr. Watson and Dr. Berry regarding
075the work of our ELA adoption committee. Um there was some recommendations about some additional information and um some additional time for parents to review. We posted and sent out that additional information, posted that up front, and today we are here to ask that we move forward with the recommendation of the ELA adoption committee for our McGraw-Hill, Savvas um Spalding, and then the publications for AP. Dr. Scott, did we get um people coming in to review it after our last meeting? We had one. And we did? Okay. Good. Yes. Great job. >> [laughter] >> We had one. Vindicated, right? Yes, we got it. Thank you. For your time. >> [laughter] >> 100% increase. 100% And and it was great. We had a wonderful conversation with the parent and it it was really heartfelt and she was
076super appreciative. So, thank you all. We really appreciate your support. Any other questions or motions? I have one question. Sorry. Sorry, Patty. It's okay. We can be here all night long, Carolyn. >> [laughter] >> The Spalding, just because I loved this as a parent and I don't know if it's included in our purchase, the cards, the Spalding cards. Do we get those? Do we get more of those? We do and we order we order them on a regular basis. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yep. Yep. I think last week or our last meeting, we put Mr. Watson uh through the ringer with lots of uh lots of questions. Um so, I personally don't have any questions, so uh I'll make a motion to approve. Second. Lisa, I have a motion Ben Owens. I. Lisa Garcia. I. Carolyn
077Lopez. >> I. Patty Catray. I. All right, our last item. You're welcome. Adjournment. Motion to adjourn. Are you sure you don't want to have a discussion about it? >> [laughter] >> I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Lisa, I have a motion and a second. >> Ben Owens. I. Lisa Garcia. I. Carolyn Lopez. I. Patty Catray. I. Meeting's adjourned at 8:02. Thank you.