001Good evening everyone. Excuse me. I'd like to welcome everyone to the uh Clovis Municipal Schools Board of Education meeting. May the clerk please call role. >> Yes, sir. >> President Cordova >> here. >> Vice President Hamilton >> here. >> Secretary Martin >> here. >> Member Osborne >> here. >> Member Edgar >> here. >> We got everybody here. We have a quorum. So, uh, at this time, I'd like to invite everybody to stand with us. Mr. Hamilton, would you lead us in the pledge? Be glad to. >> I pledge allegiance 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. I salute the flag of the state of New Mexico, the Zena symbol of perfect friendship among united
002cultures. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Hamilton. And now I would ask for a motion to consider the approval of the agenda. >> Um Mr. Cordova, um I would like to make a motion to amend the agenda before we approve. Uh item 9B is listed as consider arbitrage rebate review letter. Could we please change that to discussion of the arbitrage rebate review letter? >> Okay. I have a motion. >> Second. >> Okay. And uh and a second. Can we have a a roll call, please? >> Yes, sir. >> President Cordova? >> Yes. >> Vice President Hamilton? >> Yes. >> Secretary Martin? >> Yes. >> Member Osborne? >> Yes. Member Edward. >> Yes. >> Okay. So now uh I would ask for an approval to consider the agenda as amended. >> Amen to approve. >> I
003have a motion by Miss Osborne. >> The amended agenda. >> Sorry. That's all right. Second. >> And a second by Miss Eert. >> Um can I have a roll call, please? >> Yes, sir. President Cordova. >> Yes. >> Vice President Hamilton. >> Yes. Secretary Martin. >> Yes. >> Member Osberg. >> Yes. Member Egg. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And now we'll move down to uh approval of the minutes. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. >> Motion by Mr. Hamilton. >> Second by Mr. Edward. All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. Good. Now we'll move down to uh the consent agenda. Have a motion. >> I move to approve the consent agenda. I >> have a motion by Miss Oslo. A second. Second by Mr. Hamilton. All in
004favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Okay. Uh Miss Russ, superintendent report. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to start by inviting Miss Sarah Williams up. Canon. >> Two in a row. get a little bit of that. >> Good evening, uh, superintendent, board members. Um, so I did bring a few things this week. I want to make sure we knew everything that we've been doing. Um, so as of this time, we have seven squadrons that have docked seven of your schools. Um, and we're currently working on two more. So, we're going to get those taken care of, and they're going pretty well. Mr. Borio has been fabulous with getting them all trained up and making sure that they are good to go to be in the schools. Um, on Friday we had the opportunity to
005help with uh, Mr. Picket and do the art kits and I brought I think it was 12 airmen with me, something like that. Um, I didn't think we were going to finish. I had to leave a little bit early. Um, and then they called me an hour later and said they did all 4,000 kits. So, I thought that was amazing. Um, we were so excited to have that done and taken care of for you guys. And then, uh, Purple Star. So, I know Purple Star was approved June 12th. It was put into session June 24th. Um so what we're doing right now as school leaison in New Mexico is we're putting together a PowerPoint presentation. Um since things did change um we did submit like six pages for the rules and everything and then the
006PED changed it to or condensed it to two pages. Um so what we're doing is we're making a presentation for all school districts so we can come in tell you guys exactly what it entails now what are the rules for it um what are the requirements for it and then we can also talk about um school leaison utilization best practices and then make sure we give you all the training resources that you have to make sure you qualify for all those areas and then I'll give everybody a starting point so they can go ahead and start applying for a purple star recognition which is per campus so not as a districtwide so every campus will have an opportunity to show and um really put out there all the amazing stuff they're doing to be military
007friendly. And then I just want to say thank you for the back to school event. You guys showed up and showed out like you always do. Um we this was our my ninth year planning it. We had 52 agencies and this was the first time in nine years that everyone showed up which was amazing. and we had about $3,000 in school supplies from the spouses club and then we had 1,500 um people come through. So that was phenomenal. We gave away every single school supply we had. It was just was perfect to set families up for the beginning of the school year. So next year is year 10. So we are going big or going home. So think of Friday night lights. And I'll just leave it at that. >> And then I'm working um
008with Mr. Leatherwood right now. uh we're going to go ahead and plan three different field day uh field trips for the freshman academy to get them on base and get through some amazing units and really see what's out there. So, we're working on the scheduling for that. And then tudos, I did send the um invitation to all the principles and to Miss Russ. It's going to be October 4th. We are taking signups right now. Last year we had about I want to say 48 teachers that came. Um, but the ninth SOS has been so amazing this year and they're giving us four flights, which means we can put 20 teachers on each flight. So, we can take 80 teachers this year. So, Portalis has a lot that has signed up already. Clovis, not so many.
009Um, so if educ principles push it out, please, please, please. um get your teacher signed up for especially if you have teachers who do not know how to work with military kids on the regular or new admin um new teachers to your district, things like that. We want to fill all 80 spots and it'll be entire day on October 4th of them learning the PDF line, mission briefs. Um they'll go through what happens, how do you deploy, we'll put them on an aircraft, which is so much fun. Um and I promise we won't lose anybody this year. We only had five teachers get sick last year and I think that was pretty good compared to how many teachers we had. Um, so we'll get them up there. We'll get them down and then they go
010to a deployed location and they get to do some amazing things. Right now we have an opportunity for the dogs to be out there for dog demonstration. EOD is going to let them press buttons and blow things up. Uh, security forces said we even have an opportunity for anyone to get tased if they'd like to. they have to fill out a permission form >> um in front of them. They have to fill out a permission form, but it's something that we, you know, not something we would have thought would have gotten approved. So, there's a lot of really great things that are going to happen this year. The board is welcome to sign up if you guys want to do it. I saw Mr. Hamilton's face like he wants to be the taste one. I
011think that's a good let us know. Uh I think it's going to be a great opportunity. I mean, how often can you be put in a position like this and be able to do the things that we're offering? So, let's fill up all 80 spots. That's all I have unless you have any questions for me. >> Sounds like Thank you. >> Right. Before moving to our next item, I think there she is. I just wanted to introduce Miss Heather Summers. She is our new high school principal doing wonderful things and I haven't had a chance to introduce you to her yet. So, we're really happy to have you here with us tonight. >> Excellent. >> All right. We have a new crop of students from the high school, a new group that will be repping
012this year. So, I'll let you all come on up and introduce yourselves, tell us what's going on. >> Good evening, board and superintendent breast. My name is Jayla Harris Hinch and I am the student body public relations officer at the high school at same position I was in last year and I have some new people to introduce to y'all. So, >> good evening. My name is Aana Ba and I'm the student body representative of Columbus High School. >> Um, I'm Emily Gibson. I'm the junior class president. >> Good evening board and superintendent. I'm Jefferson and I'm your senior class president. Um, we have plenty of new people, new faces coming into the council all the time. So, I just wanted to introduce a few that y'all will most likely see at meetings. Um, this year,
013as we all know, the beginning of the school year is busy for everybody. Especially busy for us. Normally, we start off strong, planning, homecoming, everything. Um, we started off really strong this year. um planning the first first home game for the season, getting the student section set up for that and beginning our plans for our big homecoming event this year. So, we do have a few things coming up. Jefferson, you want to go ahead and explain this? >> So, we're planning out powder powder puffs game, sorry. Um we're wanting to invite you guys, you know, to show up to some of the events if possible. We want to get more student participation in football games and soccer games. Uh well, basically all fall sports and spring sports. And yeah, >> so uh along with our
014powder puff, we have our bonfire happening on Thursday the 18th following the um homecoming parade that we have set going. Um also we have the homecoming football game as well on the 19th, obviously 7 p.m. Show out for the Wildcats. We are coming off of that great win. So, it'd be nice to see everyone out there wearing your purple, showing your pride. Uh, I think that's all we have for you. So, thank you guys very much and have a good night. >> Thank you. >> And for my next item, I'd like to invite Mr. Garrett Lee forward to recognize our FFA students. Really glad to see all of you in the audience. So, first off, I'd like to thank y'all for having us out here tonight. And I'd really, really like to thank y'all because
015whenever Mr. Brady first talked to me about coming speaking with you, he said it was last week. And once we got all the dates lined out, I'm really happy that we had a week in between there because county fair was a busy busy week for us. I was very very appreciative to have two extra a teachers to help out because this is the first year in a long time that we've had >> you guys. >> Yeah, that'd be perfect. That way the crowd can see what y'all got, guys. >> As you can see, we had a very very busy uh fair week. Literally everything but the dairy pepper show. Is that right, Blackberry? That's all we didn't compete in this week. So ad mechanics, the swine show, goats, sheep, rabbits, chickens, steers. I mean, we
016we did it all this week and it was it was a full week. So, there's a couple of them in here that I mean, it's you got champion breeds, we've got first and champion of our division. Uh the boys over here on the end, Luke and As they uh represented our metal fabrication class, we built a large scale uh a implement for use out at the farm. It actually got reserved grand overall out of all the a mechanics projects at the fair this year. It's going to state fair and then going on to Roswell Fair to represent us there as well. Uh the next one that that kind of hits a little close to home for me is the one that Mr. Cisco Johnson's holding up right there. It's a county bred uh champion market
017hog. That one right there is special to me because it is a program that we've started here at the high school. Uh last year I I talked to Mr. Frederick's about purchasing some teaching animals to have out at the a farm. That way we actually take our vet science kids out there and we have hands-on experience. We actually aied all them pigs and we raised barreled them out, raised them on the farm and that was one with one of the pigs that we raised from Clovis Fagar. Wow. So it was it was pretty amazing. A lot of these kids, this is Cisco has been showing for a long time, but a lot of these kids, this is their second building. And and to have this kind of growth and and success this early on has
018been just a breath of fresh air for our program. Uh I've talked long enough on the county fair aspect of it. I'd like to let Miss Miss Glancho, she's our uh chapter president right now, talk about our program in general. So guys, if y'all want to go sit down and she can talk, right? >> Good job. Good evening everyone. I just want to start off by saying how extremely proud I am of all of our chapter. Um the ones standing up here were just a glimpse of the whole chapter that we have back at the high school and it's so great to see all of our successes coming through. So over the past three years, the Clovis FA chapter has truly transformed. We started off as a smaller group um and with only a few
019members but um through hard work and all of our dedication we've grown into a strong and active chapter all together. Today Clovis FFA is more than just an organization. It's a place where members can explore opportunities build confidence and grow as leaders. We've expanded our opport our activities, created more chances for involvement, and encouraged every member. This growth is something to be truly proud of and shows what is possible when people all come together with that passion. The future of Clovis FFA is brighter than ever, and I'm so excited to see all of the future success. And as the district would say, we're in it to win it, but as FFA members, we say we're in it to win it. Thank you. M I'd like to to point out something. I was given a a
020message here. Let's see. Uh Kelsey. >> Kelsey, I understand you're related to uh somebody that works for our district. >> Who Who's that? I think I think >> Yeah. >> And and I also would like to recognize I see the parents out there in the in the audience, but uh what do you have a grandson? >> I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but yes. >> Luke Bowman. Luke. Luke, are you out there? >> Oh, yeah. There he is. Thank thank all you kids for your hard work and everything you do for our schools. The hard work that you put in. We really appreciate it. Thank you. >> Uh yeah, this time we'd like to give you a minute or so for those that would like to leave >> or you're welcome. >>
021Oh, you're welcome to stay. Yes, you're welcome to stay. [Music] Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. >> Right. I'd like to next invite Mr. Kevin Summers up to orient you all to updated accreditation procedures in the state of New Mexico. >> Thank you, ma'am. Uh, President Cordova, members of the board, Superintendent Russ, good evening. Uh, I just want to take a few minutes to talk to you today about uh, the new rule that's been uh, promagated by PED regarding accreditation. So, this isn't necessarily a new law, but it's a new regulation. The law has been on the books since 1967, and just now is the rule bring being promulgated to um, really address the peed's responsibility in accreditating accrediting schools, excuse me. Um, I'm happy to report that, uh, all of our schools here in
022Clovis are accredited fully. Uh, and that's a great thing. We'll talk about the consequences of not having accredited schools, uh, here in just a little bit. Um, but there's 10 components to the accreditation process. And I just want to make sure that, uh, we're all aware of what those what those components uh, pertain to and specifically the uh, the role that the board has in one of these components. So, the first component is board training. Um and so this component has actually changed slightly thanks to Senate Bill 137. Um and then it's codified in law uh in statute 225- or 13-5-13. 225-13. Um so effectively the law's been changed so that uh board members in their first year of their first term must require uh must complete a required 10 hours across five different categories
023and then five hours each year after that. Um so I don't think that that's necessarily been a problem uh with this particular board but I want to make sure that it's all out there because the board now has some skin in the game with regard to uh accreditation of schools. Component number two is financial audit. you know that that's not something new. Um that's rooted both in statute and in um regulation, something that's done each year. Uh this particular rule is more of like a deadline submission um type of requirement, making sure that we're submitting our our annual audit to the state auditor's office in a timely manner. Component number three is program plans and budgets. Also a long-standing um uh requirement that's rooted both in statute and uh rule. This encompasses things like 90-day
024plans at campuses, the district ed plan, uh, and our budget submission to peed again in a timely fashion. The fourth component is, uh, NOVA data submissions and validations. This isn't necessarily something new either. Um, but what is particularly interesting is the metric in which the peed selected for evaluating whether a school was in compliance or not. So, um, NOVA submissions, we would probably refer to them as MIM submissions, right? Uh, enrollment and and attendance and things of that sort. Um, and just recently, actually in the last two years, the PED has started using the NOVA system for submission of that. So the thing that's particularly interesting is when they decided to create a metric for evaluating whether or not schools were in compliance, rather than use last year's submission data, which would be a common
025practice, they decided to use school year 2324 submission data. Um, and the reason that's particularly problematic is that was the first year of the NOVA system. And that first year was fraught with technical issues and struggles and communication issues and it was terrible to be quite quite frank. Um so terrible in fact that even the peed was unable to successfully complete the EOI submission. So when the peed can't submit the or can't finalize the EOI submission that means districts can't. So when districts can't do that, because of the metric they used, they set everybody up for the highest rating that they could potentially get in this particular component was partially out of compliance. Uh that happens to be the rating that we received and it's the only rating of its kind that Clovis schools received.
026So again, remember all of our schools are fully accredited though. Um we do know that the PET is committed to changing that metric moving forward, but unfortunately this time we don't know exactly what that's going to look like. Component five uh is uh accountability participation and graduate validation. Um again this is not something that's new. It's something that's been uh long practiced in the state. Effectively it requires a 95% uh minimum threshold in in um student participation on statemandated assessments and then it requires districts to be able to submit and validate their graduation requirement or graduation data. So that's that's not something new. Um, component six, also not something that's brand new. Um, attendance improvement plan. This is effectively the attendance for success act that, uh, was enacted in 2019 and then updated in 2024.
027Um, for all intents and purposes, it repealed and replaced the compulsory attendance act and it required schools to create local intervention plans with regard to attendance and uh, Miss Westbrook and her team have been uh, up to their eyeballs in that work for several years. So again, not something that's necessarily new for us. The seventh component is the three-year school safety plan. As the name indicates, every three years by rule, schools are required to submit a safety plan. That's something that Clovis schools have been doing for several years now. Um component eight is the next step plan. So next step plans are statutoily required documents for the planning of effectively the high school career and beyond of eighth grade students all the way through seniors. Um, this is a law that's been on the books
028since 2003. School districts have been engaged in that work since 2003, but peed has never collected that data. So, this is going to be um a pilot submission year for them with regard to nextep plans. They're not going to be getting the entire next step plan for every single student. Rather, what they're really trying to validate is where the applying, excuse me, were the plans signed and on what date. So, that's the kind of data that we'll be submitting there. Um, so we've been working on that in the last few weeks. Component nine is class load, subject of instruction, case load. When we say case load, we're specifically talking about special education case load or gifted case load. Uh, and then also counselor case load. So most of this has been collected by peed for
029years. They will continue to collect it. Um, what's particularly interesting is the counselor case load component. So never before has peed collected information from districts about counselor case loads. Uh and in fact it's not even codified in rule or in statute what a case load would be for a counselor. So as a result of that um we've kind of pushed back a little bit on ped saying like hold on what does this mean? What does this look like? And last week they informed us okay we're not going to actually um collect this data. Now, I I think that it's worth noting that in the 2024 legislative session, there was a piece of legislation that addressed counselor case loads. That was House Bill 70. Ultimately, it died in uh committee, but I would expect in the
030coming legislative sessions, we'll see a revival of legislation that addresses specifically counselor case loads. >> Was that guidance counselor case load or mental health counsel? >> Both. But uh the bill House Bill 70 was specifically guidance counselor but it will be probably around both. Uh and then finally component 10 is tribal consultation tribal education status reports. That's not something that's applicable to many districts but certainly not Clovis schools. So despite the fact that uh the the vast majority of these accreditation requirements are something that's been in place for a long time um as an organization we're putting together kind of a task force or committee to stay a breast of any changes. Uh and and the reason that that's important is because the consequences that potentially come along with not having accredited status or schools
031that are accredited. Um so those consequences can be very lenient. They could be um local locally created action plans to address any deficits within these components. Um but then they can also be pretty egregious and pretty dramatic which could be like the suspension of authority of the principal by peed which is kind of unheard of or the uh suspension of authority of the superintendent or even the board. Um so we want to make sure that that we're keeping our schools in accreditation status that is uh good for everybody. Um, but then there's also some other potential consequences that could be like the um consolidation of school districts and closing of schools altogether. So, I think Clovis is in a good place right now. We're going to continue to do that. Uh, I again want to
032reiterate the board's proverbial skin in the game and making sure that you're uh meeting your annual training requirements so that that's not something that uh jeopardizes accreditation status. With that, I'll stand for any questions you might have. >> Any questions from the board? Yes, ma'am. >> For the guidance counselor in mental health data, what that mental health data, do we have an example of what that would look like? Kind of scrubbed out by grade by >> not necessarily. So, the the template that they were having us try to create within our student information system was tying every student to a counselor. Um, so in the in the elementaryaries that would be pretty tough because we don't have guidance counselors necessarily. We have mental health providers. Um, and at the high school level we obviously do
033have counselors as well as a middle school and and making sure that each student is represented by a case manager of some sort. But since that isn't necessarily codified in law or rule, I think the PET has kind of stepped back a little bit to say, let's get our ducks in a row before we actually ask for what what we're wanting. I agree with that because mental health case load guidance council case load could look a little bit different to ensure that the data is scrubbed and PII is protected. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Of course. My pleasure. Thank you. >> All right. I guess uh we'll move down to academic services. Miss Nagar. Good evening, President Cordova, members of the board, Superintendent Russ. Um, tonight I have several items for you. I'd like
034to start with some information about our student performance from last year. Starting with IStation information. This is a program that we use in our elementary schools, grades K through five, in both reading and math. Uh, it serves both as an adaptive computer assisted learning program as well as an interim benchmark. And in addition to monthly benchmark assessments, students are working in the instructional component of the program on a weekly basis. And then this year, students will start working with AI driven tutoring for reading. And so we're looking forward to seeing how that pans out. Some specific celebrations that we have from last year include the performance of our littlest ones, um, our kindergarten and second graders in reading, and then our K1 and two in math. This is evidenced by the decrease in the red
035sections of the bars that represent students in the lowest percentiles compared with the gains in the green portions of the bars representing the higher percentile rankings. Next, uh we'll take a look at our standardized assessment scores in the NESA and SAT for language arts and math as well as the NMASR which is our science assessment. Um, as you can see in language arts, we saw an increase in proficiency in all grade lo levels over the previous year. Uh, in math, we saw gains in all but 8th grade. And we've already had some conversation with middle schools about the root cause analysis that they did over their math data and the um identification of the need for greater depth of knowledge focus in questioning to really ensure a deeper understanding of concepts. Um, we have science
036next and in science is only tested in grades 5, 8, and 11. And while we saw gains in 11th grade, we did not see an increase in grades five or eight. Uh, we do have a new science adoption this year. We have a newly integrated curriculum for language arts, science, and social studies. And as part of that new revision, all grade levels now have weekly science instruction that has a real focus on hands-on instruction. um we really want to be sure that we're working toward the nextG science standards that really build upon each grade band uh of mastery up to the tested grades. So, as an example, fifth grade takes the test in science, but that test is over science concepts from grades three, four, and five. And so we've really worked to ensure that
037there's a vertical alignment of those concepts across all those grade levels as well as the addition of weekly science tests that mimic the structure from the NMASR assessment. So those are some of the things that we have um in the works this year to address the science data. Before I move on, any questions about >> just a copy performance? Yes. You know, there still is something magic about sixth grade academy, right? like our are consistently. >> Yes, their performance has been strong the first couple of years. Absolutely. >> So many changes it's hard to pinpoint, right? >> So, next I have updates to our discipline matrices for the new school year. Typically, uh, the updates from these documents come either from conversations that I'm having with parents throughout the year about the need for clarity
038or from incidents maybe that occur in our schools that may not be clearly outlined in these documents. And so, I'm really looking to bring some additional clarity when I bring updates to you in these documents. Um, there are just a few revisions from this year and they are highlighted in both the 3rd through 6th and the 7th through 12th grade document. though the changes are identical in both of those. Um, I do want to point out we didn't add anything about the cell phone policy because we already had that addressed in our discipline matrices. So, I I've highlighted that in that document, but that's not anything new. We did add some language in the level one category of disorderly conduct to specify that false allegations would refer to anything other than the false allegations that
039occur in the sexual harassment section that occurs in the level two offense. Unfortunately, we have had some instances with students who have intentionally submitted false Title 9 claims. Um, and we take that very seriously. We investigate all of those concerns. And so we really want to be sure that we have addressed that behavior in our matrices as well. Also under section um the level two section for sexual harassment, we added the possession of or accessing any materials of a sexual nature with technology as part of that offense description. And then finally, we added a level two offense for robbery or theft for those incidents that are not quite severe enough to require a police report. We wanted to have a little bit of um difference there between stealing an eraser from the book fair and
040stealing an iPhone on a field trip. Those kind of fall into different categories. Um so updates this year are fairly minor, but I'm happy to stand for any questions. This is just an introduction item uh this month. We'll bring it back to you next month for consideration, but if you have any questions, I'm happy to address those now. >> Any questions from the board? >> No sense. >> Okay. Um, finally, I have an update for you on the credit requirements for graduation as well as the recommendations that we're bringing to you for required coursework. Um, in your packet, you have this document. It lies out it lays out side by side the current course requirements for our 10th, 11th, and 12th graders on the left side of the page. And then, uh, the requirements for
041our 9th graders, the cohort, excuse me, the graduating cohort of 2029, that's on the right side. The text in red are requirements from the PED. And you can see um in some content areas you see a reduction in the specific courses that are required. Not necessarily in the total of credits required, but in the specific courses that the peed is requiring as opposed to the ones that can be offered by the district for the remaining credit. Couple of things that I would like to draw your attention to. Um under the on the right side of that document under math you'll see that we have added financial literacy as a CMS math requirement. This is a course that has really gained importance in recent years. It prioritizes concepts that are really relevant to independent life after
042graduation. Credit cards, um taxes, personal income, mortgages, investments, things like that. And so we really want to prioritize setting our kids up for success. Also, what you'll notice on the bottom right corner of the second page, there's a new requirement that every LEA put forth a two credit requirement that's specific to their diploma. And so, what we would like to propose is a menu from which students can select areas of personal interest to meet that two credit requirement. This would include fine arts, a language other than English, AP courses, dual credit courses, um CTE courses, as well as a dual uh digital citizenship course. Um again, this is something that is on the agenda just as an introduction item, but we did want to give you an opportunity to ask any questions before it's considered
043next month. >> Any questions? So on the new one that's coming, kids get less opportunity for electives. Is that of health and >> essentially? Yes. Because a couple of those credits then have moved to the LEA requirement, which is another reason we would like to recommend a menu option because that allows kids to really focus on what it is that they're interested in or it allows them an opportunity to dabble in some different things if they're not really sure what they're interested in. similar to an elective. >> Correct. So, it could be electives for some, maybe fine arts or um or other CTE courses like that, but if they really want to take advanced courses or dual credit courses, those are options as well. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Okay, then the
044last thing that we have is consideration for curriculum and I'll ask Miss Morris for that. Good evening, >> President Cordova, members of the board board, and Superintendent Russ. Tonight, you are considering the um K through five integrated curriculum. As Miss Nigerville stated earlier, we adopted a new science curriculum and that is what you will see in the um new outlined uh documents that you received. We are focusing on ensuring that K through five are working weekly with hands-on science. We we did adopt a very well um a very broad well well-aligned and I mean broad in that it's not just in the book. It allows them to have uh activities, science experiments, build on that knowledge. Um, and so what you're doing tonight is saying if you approve of it or not. >> Well, I
045think it's genius to do it that way and I can't imagine how hard work was. So, congratulations to you and your team. >> Thank you for all your hard work. >> This is a consideration item like we said. So I would entertain a motion. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Miss Edbert. >> A second. >> Second by Miss Osborne. All in favor? >> I oppose. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you, MD. >> Okay. Now we'll move down to uh Mr. Strickland with uh employee service matters. President Cordova, members of the board, Superintendent Russ, we have our employee services report and our open positions report. So I stand for any questions. We've had good success in moving the numbers. >> It's pretty impressive considering what it was just a month ago. So congratulations. Our international
046teachers are starting to have their stuff processed and arriving in town and they have a really good um system to help support them finding housing and transportation and banking and all the things that they need to get settled in for. >> How many do we have now that have arrived? >> We we are under contract for 10 and I think two have arrived in town so far. >> Gotcha. every every one of them's on their own cycle with the Department of State in their process for applying for the visa. So, >> yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> No, sir. >> Uh we do have tonight two leave of absence for employees that have um been vetted by our office. And so if you they are consideration items. If you want to take
047them both together, one at a time, that would be your choice. Let's uh let's take them together. >> Together. So, I'll have a motion. >> I I move to approve uh consideration of leave of absence number 2526 00002 and the number 25260000003. >> I have a motion by Miss Osborne. >> I'll second by Mr. Hamilton. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. >> Awesome. Thank you. At this time, I have Mr. Pickicket here, our director of fine arts to give a presentation about art and uh the year of the arts. >> Good evening. >> The board superintendent Russ. Uh tonight I'm here to share the proclamation signed by Governor uh Andrissa on February 14th proclaiming this academic year year of the arts. And this proclamation is supported by data collected by the state showing
048that um students enrolled in art courses are more likely to attend school. Students who take multiple art courses show greater overall academic success. And almost half of students are being missed by only funding uh athletics in our schools. Also uh though the art students gain confidence in their achievements today businesses demand creative thinking and arts foster and enhance creativity. expanding the arts in schools has educator, public and parental support and the state they have recommendations far as what districts should do and uh I can say that really u does a lot and I want to thank cabinet and the board for supporting arts um we're funded very well um we have a lot of support and um anytime I need anything. I can just go to Joe or Jay and whoever and they always say,
049"We got it. Don't worry about it." And um and then Mr. Brady, we always go back and forth about the arts and athletics and always win. So, >> but one of the recommendations is that uh we applied for the FAEA grant, which we always do. And um last week I got an email saying that we were awarded one point over 1.4 million in that grant. So >> and that's also the grant that um Miss Sarah Williams was talking about the art kits. Um, we create art kits for every elementary student and I want to thank uh Sarah Williams and Miss Eggert for facilitating those airmen to come volunteer and help us out. Um, uh, we we create kits, they get art supplies, we go out and give it to every student, every elementary student, and
050so they always have their art supplies. And so, um, I want to thank it for that. And like I said, I I always have good support from uh um cabinet and the board. So I stand for any questions on you spot connection. >> Any questions from the board? >> Just doing what you're doing. Great. I'd also like to add, you know, uh, you mentioned that, uh, you have a lot of support, but it's important to note that, excuse me, our community, you know, I just want to say that, you know, we have a lot of businesses that support, uh, kids, whatever they're doing. So, I'd like to to thank the community, all the business owners >> and our fellow board. >> Yes. >> Oh, no. Miss Williams did all that. There was one ask and
051she took that. She ran with it and she got all your volunteers to complete that 4K. So she deserves all those kudos. >> They don't do it. >> Yeah. Every year those >> thought I thought her could be there for a couple weeks. >> Yeah. Every year those uh teachers are like, "Hey, we need help." And I try to find help. I was like, "Well, at one time I was doing all that by myself, so we'll get you some help, but you can do it. >> You can do it." Yeah. But it shows that when we pull together as a community, we we can get things done, great things done for our kids. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Guess we'll now move over to uh financial matters. Miss Heather. >> Good evening, President Cordova,
052members of the board, and Superintendent Russ. The first item that I'm bringing forward tonight is a consideration item. Um, it's the resolution for dual signature authority. The only change that's being requested is to add Mr. Lauren Hill, the senior director of operations as a signer um, when we sell property and to have that additional signature if we need bank signatures when we do transfers or wires. >> Okay. And I stand for any >> Does anybody have any questions? If not, ask for a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> Motion by Mr. Hamilton, >> second by Miss Edberg. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. >> The next item I have is the arbitrage re re, excuse me, I can't even speak this evening. Rebate uh review letter for our general obligation
053school refunding bonds. It's the series 2020 and the letter is just confirming that we are in compliance with all yield restrictions and are are not earning any any more interest than is allowed and I stand for any questions. >> Are there any questions? If not, I will ask for a motion. >> Not changed it to discussion. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't I'm looking at my computer. I apologize for that. I wasn't looking at my notes down here. Sorry. It's a lot. It's a lot. >> The third item I bring is the final year-end cash report. And this report provides a complete snapshot of our cash inflows, outflows, and ending balances at year end June 30th. And I stand for any questions. >> Pretty straightforward. So >> no questions. >> No, sir. Okay,
054the last item I have is the audit engagement letter. It serves as our master service agreement with our auditors and it outlines both the auditor's responsibilities and the district responsibilities as well as the overall scope and objectives of the um audit this year. And I stand for any questions. >> Questions, sir. Okay. >> That's all that I have. Thank you. >> Well, thank you. And now we'll move over to uh move down to open forum. We have >> I have no comment cards today. >> Okay. So this point we'll go down to announcements. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh September 1st we will be no school for students and all district offices will be closed for Labor Day holiday September 12th. And I just want to reiterate here that we push for 100% participation in
055our parent teacher conferences in the fall. and then we'll reconvene here for our next regular board of education meeting on September 23rd at 5:30 p.m. That's all I have. >> Okay. Well, uh before I ask for a motion, I'd just like to to uh uh have a little comment uh make a little comment. Uh this year's uh convocation, it was really really nice. Uh Marshall Auditorium is really really nice. Um, so I want to thank you guys for your hard work. Um, again, the football team, it was great to see them kids after working so hard. Um, you know, come off. Uh, I think it's important to to remind people last year, this time they were, you know, they lost to Farmington by 43 points. And it shows what one year can do. you know,
056we just have a little bit of patience and can move forward together, you know, and support our kids in whatever they do. So, thank you for everybody working behind the scenes. Um, and thank you, Mr. Russ, for leading us. >> I appreciate that. >> And now I'd ask for a motion to >> I'll make a motion to adjurnn, sir. >> Motion by Mr. Hamilton, a second by Miss Osborne. All in favor? I >> oppose. Motion carries. It