001one in here that we can possibly fit. Is there anyone in the hall that hasn't come in yet? I hope everyone who wants to be in here is here. There are still a few seats on the front row. All right. Thank you. Um, welcome to our business meeting this evening. We are super excited that all of you are here. We're assuming most of you are here for the many recognitions we have at the beginning of this meeting and we're excited for those. And we will begin with a roll call beginning with Jared. >> Jared Black, business administrator. >> Jeff Nielsson, board member. >> Kathy Christensen, board member. >> Terry Rhodess, board member. >> Roger Pauler, board member. Todd McKe, superintendent. >> Brian Chambers, board member. >> Randall Baggley, board member. Thank you all. Thank you
002for being here. We have a full quorum. It is uh Thursday the 22nd of January 2026. It is 6:15 and we are starting our beginning our meeting with a pledge and mission statement that will be presented by Superintendent McKe. Please rise. Please join me in the pledge. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> It is our mission to educate students for success in a changing world. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Uh first on our agenda tonight, we have our recognition section and we have four teachers of the year that we get to recognize and we are excited about that. Uh first we have Jill Larson who is a first grade teacher from Birch Creek ELEMENTARY
003[applause] [applause] and her award will be presented by Principal Trudy Wilson. Yeah. [laughter] Hello. It's fun going first. Here we go. >> Thank you. >> It's my honor to rec um recre start over. It's my honor to recognize Joe Larson for our teacher of the year at Birch Creek Elementary. She ha she graduated from USU in Hang on. Here we go. One more thing. Quit filming. In 1999, she stayed home with her four children until she started working at Birch Creek in 2017. Since then, she's been a first grade teacher and she's just been phenomenal. Um, when I first got back to Birch Creek, going into Jill's classroom, and I'll say this throughout my presentation, it was just magic. The kids are engaged. It's really fun. She kind of tricks them into learning. They don't
004have any idea how rigorous her academics are while she's just playing and having fun with these cute little first graders. Um, one thing I really admire about Jill is her ability to make connections with students. She takes kids at any level, wherever they're at, academically, socially, emotionally, and she just becomes their person. Um, I think if you were to ask any of her students or former students, they would say that they were her favorite student because she makes them feel that way. Different colleagues have said, "One thing I love about giving class presentations is seeing each teacher and their interactions with students. Jill is one of the best. She's very empathetic, knowledgeable, and truly loves each of her students. Jill is absolutely wonderful. She cares so much about her students and their successes. She uses
005multiple different strategies to help her students learn and she also knows to help those who are struggling. I can't think of anyone more deserving of teacher of the year than Jill Larson. She teaches with love and makes every student feel valued and safe. No matter the challenge a child brings into the classroom, she meets with patience, companion, com compassion, and belief in their potential. I wanted to share one note I received from a parent. I want to express my gratitude for Jill Larson on how much of a positive impact she has made on my son. We moved into Birch Creek School Boundaries before he started first grade and he was nervous to start. When we had back to school night and met Jill, she instantly made us feel comforted, seen, and supported. Her classroom environment
006is safe, warm, and inviting. It's clear that teaching is something she loves to do and isn't just a job. I am grateful for Jill Jill Larson and truly believe she's a wonderful asset to Birch Creek. Again, my catchphrase, Jill is just magic. Her students are fortunate to have her and we are fortunate to have her at Birch Creek. Congratulations [applause] Thank you, Jill, for being part of our Cash County team. We appreciate you. [applause] Next we have uh Anitra Richie who is a kindergarten teacher at Lincoln Elementary and her award will be presented by principal Audrey McCuel. [applause] Oh, you guys, Anitra is everything. And I think that what I mean when I say that she is everything, it's that she feels the weight of the work she does deeply. She knows that when she's
007teaching a kid to read, she's helping to break the chains of generational poverty. And when she looks at their little faces, she sees world changers. and she shows up every day to equip them with the foundational skills that they need in order to build the world that we all want to live in. And while she undoubtedly sees the bigger picture of it all, she does not miss the small moments. The tiny moments she is all there for. She might be silently celebrating when a shy kindergartner builds up the courage to make their first friend. and she's undoubtedly there for the unforgettable moments like the year that our kindergarten friend was so proud of his boxer shorts and decided that the school assembly was the perfect time and place for the big reveal. [laughter] And when
008she was trying to quietly explain that we don't show our underpants to our classmates, he said, "I've got ones underneath and so it's okay." [laughter] What I want you to know about Anitra is that she believes in the mission and she savors the connection. She's quick to smile and laugh and she truly enjoys the magical, messy, beautiful work of being a kindergarten teacher. And we love you from your students who really love you and their teacher, their parents who really appreciate you and our cash team that values you and appreciates the you work you do every day. from your Lincoln team that we totally believe in you. Thank you and congratulations on being Lincoln Elementary's teacher of the year. [applause] [applause] >> Can you hold it off? I think so. Congratulations and [applause] [applause] thank
009you for being part of our team. Uh next we have Georgian Jensen from Cedar Ridge Elementary. She teaches first grade and her award will be presented by Principal Amy Basset. >> [applause] >> I am so blessed to be able to work with George Anne Jensen. Let me tell you, I looked up a poem today that I wanted to share with you guys that reminds me of you. So this is from Pat Moore's OD to teachers and she says, "A kind teacher is a guiding light, patient and wise, shaping minds with care, igniting curiosity and making students feel valued, helping them grow strong and confident, seeing potential and offering support behind lessons, truly changing lives with empathy and encouragement." Every one of those words is Georgian. Oh, I love you so much. I've I've worked with
010I've worked with you for so long and and before that um we were peers in first grade, so I've known you for nearly your whole career. You're just amazing. Um her peers report her as being an intelligent and compassionate first grade teacher. And Georgie goes the extra mile for others, not only her students, but also our Cedar Ridge family. She's a wonderful example of hard work, dedication, and compassion. Georgie's dependable. She puts in a lot of time at school. She spent a number of years taking care of her aging father. And no matter what challenges were placed upon her at school, and there were many, she was always prepared and she stayed positive and showed love to all her students. No parents knew. The kids didn't know. She is a pure professional. And I I
011think everyone at Cedar Ridge would agree that we all love Georgie. And she's taught for over 30 years. and she's retiring this year and we are so so sad. It is such a loss for our community and for our school. But Georgie, we love you and you you absolutely deserve this. So please help me congratulate Georgie in being Cedar Ridge Elementary's teacher of the year. [applause] Congratulations, [applause] Georgie. Thanks for being part of our team for a few more months. Um, ne, last but not least, we have Mindy Brown, who is a resource math teacher at South Cash Middle School, and her award will be presented by Principal Randy Benyan. [applause] It's great to be here. First of all, can we have Mindy's family wave and shout out there? Behind every incredible teacher is an
012incredible family that loves and supports. And so we're appreciative to you this night as we honor Mindy as well. Um we have a at South Cash, we have an amazing staff. Um and and we had about it was about a third of our staff nominated each other uh for this honor. And and Nim Mindy was nominated multiple times. And I had an inkling before we even did the vote. And when we did the vote, the vote was it was just so clear. Everybody was it was just in agreement um that she should be our teacher of the year. And I wanted to say uh share a couple things there uh from from a a fellow teacher. Mindy does such a fantastic job of getting to know all of her students and stay connected with them
013throughout the year. Mindy does a great job at building the connection with her students parents and great and has great communication with them when there is an issue. Mindy is such a fun teacher, always singing and dancing in her lessons so that her students will engage and will always remember what is being taught. And so tonight, we wanted Mindy to sing and dance for you. [laughter] No, just joking. [laughter] But having been in her class and hear her sing, she engages those students. She's phenomenal. They remember she she took a a one year it was only one year, right? >> One year >> a one-year hiatus from uh from special education and and moved into reg regular education. Then we were lucky to have her move back. And I was so grateful when she expressed
014interest in moving back to teach our special education classes because that year the high levels of learning that were happening suddenly the year that she was gone, guess what happened? Unfortunately, we had a dip and guess what happened when she went back in the classroom, shot right back up and and even exceeded prior learning levels. She is incredible and we're so lucky to have her as our teacher of the year. Congratulations, Mindy. >> Thank you. [applause] [applause] Congratulations, MINDY. [applause] Thanks for being a part of our team. And we have one last recognition this evening for five really hardworking teachers that will be presented by uh Britney Foster, who is our executive director of teaching and learning. All right, they're not all here, but we're going to name all the names anyway and have them
015come up those who are here. So, if we can have Cody Scott, Mara Turbridge, Nicole Turbine, Jennifer Athleta, and Britney Amit, those of you that are here, come on up. [applause] [applause] So, I'm just going to say a little bit about National Board. Um, for those of you that don't know, you already only 3% of teachers nationwide nationwide have earned national board certification. It takes about 300 hours of reflection and professional development for teachers to earn the certification. Those who've completed a master's degree and certification say they're pretty much equivalent in work and dedication. Would you guys agree with that statement? Okay. Um and it's a huge accomplishment and we are so excited. Before um this this last um notification period, we had three teachers in our district. And so with these five earning certification
016this year, we've more than doubled the number of teachers in our district who are certified. They've done a lot of work and deserve a lot of recognition. So, let's give them a round of applause. [applause] And before they leave, I forgot to say national board certification indicates they are the best of the best of teachers. So well done and congratulations you all. [applause] Congratulations on that amazing accomplishment. That takes so much effort. Can we have all the people who are here supporting in support of any of the teachers of the year or our newly certified national board teachers? Would you all please stand who are here supporting them? >> WOW. [applause] THANK YOU ALL. It takes a village to keep a teacher teaching and we appreciate you. And we're moving on to the business portion
017of our meeting. So, if you want to escape, this is the time to do it. That's fun. I like what they call their presenters really good. >> The one that they want to schools or that they they want to volunteer to put into Um, no. Sue is not I don't know. >> Congratulations. >> And this guy was just introduced to you guys. I think um Sue told me they had a few um USU professors >> on their >> Yes. congratulations. Have a good night. >> Thank you for coming. >> [laughter] >> How are you? Okay, moving on with our meeting. Um, we are excited to have uh Randy Benyan here for our school report this evening. Principal Arandi Ben is going to uh present on South Cash Middle School. >> I added those slides. >>
018I put a virus on it. >> I tried to do this. Did you see the look he just gave me? >> He's going to know how to stop it, [laughter] though. >> There's not. >> Oh, shoot. Well, Kevin's pulling this up. >> Did you just make him change at the last minute? >> No. No. Well, maybe [laughter] >> I wanted to add one slide in there. >> You had some great ideas after you finished it and sent it over. >> Yeah. >> All right. We'll we'll accept that. >> Okay. >> All right. >> I will uh strive to be uh brief. Superintendent told me to take not more than 25 minutes on this presentation. >> I bet he did. [snorts] >> He [laughter] did not. Um yeah, [laughter] there you go. Here's a picture. Great.
019Oh, thank you. >> I really like those um curtains opening at the beginning of that slideshow. >> That's really impressive. >> Okay. Uh South Cash resides at the south end of the valley. Obviously, as as everyone here knows, we have uh 11 currently have 1134 students. Um we have uh some things that you can uh read there. uh Hispanic males 90 total uh females 80 170 total Hispanic population ells and former ELLL's 3458 total ELLL English language learning population of 92 for 8.1%. Her sped total population is 11.64% and I just talked a little bit about uh Mindy Brown. She really is incredible and she gets so much learning out of our special ed students which is amazing and wonderful. Our free and reduced lunch totals are 284 for 25% qualifications. These next two slides
020um and if I'm if anybody wants to ask any questions, please do so. I don't mean to rush, but I know your time is valuable. um school data you will notice that from 2021 to 2425 our 7th grade ELA's have jumped from 45 up to 53 math has jumped from 53 to 62 science has jumped from 51 to 60 ELA 8th grade has stayed stable 54 53 math stable 5960 science uh improving as well 56 to 61 what I'd like to point out in this benchmark uh testing data is look on the far right side there the gaps and what that gap represents is the difference between our scores and state average scores [cough] while some even like eighth grade um uh while while while ours are improving they're improving faster than the state average
021And thus you see that upward slope uh in in most every area and that's a point of pride for us. >> That is a point of pride. Randy, would you I'm interrupting you to ask you to explain to the public what ELA means? >> English language arts. >> Thanks. Okay. Um, so our testing and and challenges, we have some uh ELLL and former ELELLL engagement and achievement issues that we're continuing to work on. We've uh doubled the percent of proficiency in most of those uh student areas over the past 5 years. However, it's not nearly enough. We need to consistently work. And that's a and this is a district-wide issue at most all schools. Our English language learners, we've got to do more to help them. And so there's multiple things that are are that
022that we're working on uh following the SCOP model um to uh uh to increase the level of our tier one instruction for all students, which is especially important for our language English language learners. Our facility is aging. uh we we don't have AC in most of the uh classroom and we have four separate buildings on one campus which means transition times um not extended but it makes transition uh from class to class a little bit more uh a little bit more difficult and we put a lot of effort into uh the past uh five years and with district support done numerous projects um the whole outside has been refaced we had we areas that were were brick, not bricks, but mortar and and part of the outside was literally cracked and falling falling off. And
023it it was embarrassing a little bit to to be quite honest. Um, but the district has been so helpful in in giving us some funds and making it a priority to make South Cash look nicer. And we've done that inside as well as outside of the building opportunities. I've I've already mentioned that our ELELLL population, we need to uh work on student connections, family connections, and learning results uh with our EL English language learners uh learning uh populations. That's a really important priority that we will be focus on, continuing to focus on in our school improvement planning process. Some great things. What does this school do well? Panorama uh did a survey of of our students and the most responses get the biggest letters >> and our number one >> That's awesome. I should come
024to South Cash for lunch. >> Yeah, >> apparently. >> Well, lunch [snorts] and good great teachers. >> That's right. >> Um I was going to focus on the good teachers. [laughter] >> I'm focusing on the good teachers because they're >> I'm not worried about lunch so much. I just want learning. >> Yeah. Lunch doesn't show up very often. [laughter] So, how do you differentiate between good and great? Cuz I can see great teachers up there, but the good teach >> I would say great teachers, right? >> Two different Yeah. two different um two different responses. And some put good teachers and some put great teachers. And it just happens that the majority put good teachers. And I think that's important because kids are recognizing that teachers care about them. They're connected with them. they uh
025and and that our teachers want learning want high levels of learning in their classrooms. So that that's that's the slide that I added and threw Kevin off. Sorry Kevin, thank you for being so patient. >> Well, the interesting thing if you go back to that slide, Kevin >> is the number of times the word teacher shows up. >> Yeah. Um, not just good teachers, but you have good teach great teachers, you have teachers, you have kind teachers, you have nice teachers. Teachers show up a lot on that slide more than any other word. >> Yeah, >> that's awesome. >> It is awesome. >> We're proud of them. Uh, points of pride. You've seen the increase in learning that's happening, improved uh climate and culture with parents and and students and that's been mentioned to me
026uh by teachers as well. Uh we we had a teacher that uh a couple years back decided he wanted a shorter commute so he left and went to another school. He he wrote me this long letter saying that the school has never looked so good and kids have never been cared for as well as they currently are at South Cash Middle School. And so he was sad to leave that but happy for a shorter commute. >> But I it matters to teachers >> that we care about kids and we set the standard and we set the example about uh caring for kids. We focus on having safe school emotionally and physically safe. Caring school caring everybody caring for everybody. It's it's not just teachers caring for students or students caring for students. It's it's teachers
027caring for parents. It's students caring for parents. It's students caring for teachers. It's it's principles caring for students. It's principles caring for teachers. It's teachers caring for teachers. Everybody caring for each other. So that when you get those two intact, you can then up the game and focus on high levels of learning and embed that um culture culture of caring with um with the high levels of learning uh uh process. and it just makes for a great great results and a great school. Also, the points of pride we just again are so appreciative to the board, to the district office for there's been serious amount of resources put towards South Cash to make it a better school um facilities wise, individual classrooms wise, each and every classroom, the hallways, the lunchroom, every single room has
028been touched and made better um in the past 5 years. and we we appreciate the the ability to do that and the support that we've had to do that. >> Questions? I hope I wasn't too long. I didn't take 25 minutes to [laughter] I don't have a question, but I just want to say Randy is awesome. you get a chance to go to some of the community council meetings and he's just always a bundle of energy, always smiling and I know the kids feel that, the teachers feel it and he's just done a great job at South Cash. So, we'll miss him there, but I know the new school will love to have him, but I just really respect him and I'm grateful for what he does. [snorts] >> Likewise. Thank you, Brian. Brian was
029our um community council chair for a year and and spent multiple years with us and did a great job as well. Thank you, Brian. Thank you for your presentation. Goodbye. >> Thanks, Randy. We appreciate you being here and bringing so many of your uh staff with you. Wow, that's pretty exciting. >> Mindy's Mindy's an incredible incredible teacher. We are so lucky to have her. >> We love incredible teachers. Uh next on our agenda, we are moving on and we will move on to um public input and we have three um distinguished guests here to give some public input about um information literacy project. So we'll start with um Susan Jealous. And when you come to the podium, please make sure you speak into the microphone and um state what you're speaking about and you'll have
0303 minutes each. Hi. Um, I'm Sue Jealous. Uh, I've been a citizen of Newton since 2008, and I thank you for, uh, giving me a chance to speak here. I'm here representing the Cash Valley Information Literacy Group. We are a nonpartisan group of 10 Cash Valley citizens with expertise in various areas. Some are USU professors, some are retired USU professors in the fields of communication, science, and AI. others are training and educational specialists. What brought us together was a common concern about misinformation in our world today. We've been working on the issue of improving critical literacy, critical thinking, critical literacy and we are creating resources to help people be less susceptible to the misinformation which is rampant in our world today. We have produced a 45minute presentation to help adults understand this problem. And now
031we are turning our attention to young people with the knowledge that 80% of people under the age of 30 rely on social media for news and that news on social media is accurate less than 50% of the time. [clears throat] As helpful as it can be, AI information is accurate only 40% of the time. and yet adults and and uh students are leaning on it uh heavily. Basically, we'd like to offer our services to assist the schools uh from our group. Um I'd like to show you a prototype of a portable freestanding exhibit called information is power we have been working on. You can um maybe take a closer look at it later, but um it has, as you can see, it has lots of appeal for students. Um, it's not a boring presentation at
032all. It's a comic book, right? Um, and so, uh, the person who designed this also designed the, um, uh, 150th anniversary exhibit that rotated among the county schools for the 150th, um, anniversary of women uh, gaining the right to vote. So, I imagine some of the people in this room have have witnessed that presentation. It's the same designer. Uh, I've also brought some bookmarks which are a part of this project which I'll pass out if I may so you can see the quality of the content up close. Um, we need the input of the schools on this uh so that it fits into the curriculum the way it should. So with appreciation for the blessing of education and the good work of the schools, we're interested in helping young people who have developing minds learn
033how to find good information to handle AI intelligently, thoughtfully to develop critical thinking skills and become great citizens here. Um this is such an important and difficult and a constantly changing problem. Um, so I'm asking, how can we help you give give our children important skills in this area? What can you do to help us reach our goal of contributing to the future of this beautiful valley? And who can we work with on this? Great. Thank you, Sue. Um, you're out of time, but I see that Elona, uh, Jeepanin, >> yay, you got it right. first try. You got a gold stuff. >> Is up next and she's going to continue with part of this presentation. >> Okay. So, um my name is Elona Japan and thanks for pronouncing it right. And um I came
034to this valley to teach at Utah State University for two years, but I stayed for 44 years because I fell in love with this place and these people. Uh nowadays, an army of information media entices all of us with a smorgus board of messages. They claim to represent reality, but they are often deceptive and misleading. Untangling truth from fiction is more difficult now than ever. I ask your help, not now or here, but at your convenience, to look at the civics's curriculum. A government by and for the people requires a populace that is accurately and amply perfor uh informed about public aff public affairs. I want to see if there are ways we can help our school kids of today, the citizens of tomorrow cope with a barrage of media input. We all have a
035stake in creating the best possible curriculum. But the the curriculum here is probably already excellent, but perhaps it couldn't be made better. Um, in 2001, Norman Leer, the creator of All in the Family and Golden Girls and People for the American Way, learned that only 5% of American school kids study the US Constitution. He went on a tour of high school kids to encourage students to learn more about our founding documents. How do they learn their rights and responsibilities as citizens? Why does the Declaration of Independence say, "Quote, governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed?" The preamble to the Constitution is its statement of motivating principles. Why does it say that governments must promote the general welfare? Why is the right to petition the government for redress of grievances in the
036first amendment? If the government is not promoting the general welfare, the people must call it out. And to do this, they must know the facts. How does students learn to tell facts from fiction, opinion, or propaganda? Headline: Soviet horse second place in race. Missing information. There were only two horses in the race. Um, [sighs] was the reporter did the reporter actually attend the race? Was the reporter trained to detect bias in his or herself? Did they confirm the reliability of their sources? Do students learn how to fact check information? Can they seek out the broadest possible range of reliable sources? Can they recognize dis distortions and lies? The first amendment protects speech and press because an informed public is key to the government promoting the general welfare. These are the reasons I would like to
037look at the curriculum for courses such as government, history, civics and English language in the high schools. Uh thank you very much for your attention. >> Thank you for coming. Uh last but not least, we have Bruce Copeland. Hi, my name is Bruce Copeland. Um, and I'm going to try to talk about the AI information component that is uh part of the cash valley literacy group effort. Um, AI has actually been around for many years. That's not something that everybody knows. Um there are literally dozens of successful applications of AI in science, engineering, technology, um [cough] variety of different areas. But today, most of the AI that you hear about is based on large language models. Um, and it's generally regarded as generative AI because it actually generates text or language uh in response to
038a question or a prompt. Um, this is very powerful technology. It has especially impressive language capabilities. Um, and the very fact that it is possible to train an AI to have those kinds of language capabilities is especially interesting and should be very interesting to to educators. Nevertheless, at this point in time, this technology is very errorprone. It's controversial. Um there are a variety of reasons for for the controversy but uh two of the main ones are the privacy and the accuracy issue. Um AI particularly this type of AI has huge potential for education but at this particular point in time it needs to be used very carefully and the people who use it need to have good training in how best to use it. So our group is basically available as a resource to help
039uh navigate the use of AI in K12 education. And that's one of the things that that we're basically hoping to uh offer to the school district as u a collaboration. Any questions? >> Anyone have a question? Would you like to visit with Oh, who has a question? >> Derek. >> Okay. Um Derek Bear, our elementary um director of elementary education would like to visit with you. >> Okay. >> Um three out in the hall right now so that you don't have to wait till the end of the meeting. Thanks so much for coming. We appreciate you coming and being proactive and a at helping us educate students for success in a changing world. Appreciate you being here. Thank you. >> Thank you. [sighs] >> Okay. Next on our agenda, we have the consent agenda. And
040I will take a motion to approve or amend the consent agenda. I move that we approve the consent agenda. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda as printed. Uh any discussion to this motion? All right. Seeing none, we'll vote electronically. Okay. Voting is closed and the motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you, Emily. Uh, moving on to our action agenda. First on that agenda is a request for approval of the Spanish DLI program boundary changes to uh for Ridgeline High School. And I will take a motion to uh approve or amend that motion. >> I make a motion to approve of the Spanish DLI program boundary changes to Ridgelane High School. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that we uh approve the Spanish DLI program boundary changes
041to Ridgeline High School. Any discussion to this motion? >> Seeing none, we will vote electronically. >> It doesn't have that option for this item, so we will have to vote. >> Okay. >> Otherwise, >> we will vote by roll call then. Randall. >> Yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> No. >> Thank you. Is that Are you good, Emily? >> Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, thank you for that vote. Uh, next on the action agenda is a request for approval of the Spanish DLI program boundary changes to Mountainrest High School. I move that we adopt to propose a Spanish DLI boundary changes to Mountain Crest High School beginning with the 2627 school year. >> I second it. >> It's been moved and seconded that we adopt the proposed Savvish DLI boundary changes to Mountain
042Crest High School beginning with the 2627 school year. And it's been seconded. Anyone have discussion to this motion? Seeing none, we will vote. Is this need to be by voice also? All right, Randall. >> Yes. >> No. >> Thank you. Have you recorded those? >> Yes. The vote is closed. >> Thanks, Emily. Uh, next we have a request for approval of the Heritage and Wellsville school boundary adjustments. I'll take a motion to either approve or amend this request. >> I move that we approve the Heritage and Wellsville boundary adjustment. >> I second it. >> It's been moved and seconded that we adopt the amended changes to Heritage and Wellsville elementary boundaries beginning with the 2627 school year. Any discussion to this motion? >> All right, we'll vote electronically. >> Yes. All right. Voting is closed
043and the motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you. Uh, next on the action agenda is a request for adoption of a new elementary math curriculum. And I will take a motion to amend or approve this request. >> I make a motion to approve the adoption of the new elementary math curriculum. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the adoption of this new elementary math curriculum. Any discussion to this motion? Seeing none, we'll vote electronically. Voting is closed and the vote passes unanimously. >> Thank you, Emily. Uh last on our action agenda is a request for approval of the positive behavior plans that you should have al received a copy of the Google drive to read the um sometimes it's called PBIS but um the positive behavior plan folder. Um I'll take a motion
044to approve or amend these positive behaviors. I make a motion to approve the positive behavior plans. >> I second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve the positive behavior plans for each school. Uh any discussion to this motion? Thanks to all of our teachers and principles and counselors who have done so much work on that to make those available and make those happen. Uh we will vote electronically seeing no discussion. >> Can we vote verbally please? >> Verbally. >> Yes. >> Voting is closed and recorded and the motion passes unanimously. >> Thanks Emily. Uh next up we have our reports agenda monthly financial report. Are you giving that Emily? [laughter] No. >> All right. You all should have a copy of that um pre uh presented by Jared Black in our board docs
045uh uh supplemental materials. So, board member reports. Uh I requested that each of you come to board meeting last week and we I forgot last week. So this week, tell us in 2 minutes or less um what your takeaways were from the Utah School Board Association conference that we attended uh the first week, second first week in January. Are you ready to go? >> Sure. >> Okay, go Jeff. >> Well, first of all, thank you very much for all the planning and everything that went into that. I thought it was phenomenal. So appreciate that. Um so the one um class about uh reducing the ways to reduce the costs in the district uh I can't remember uh the the per presenter but talking about utilizing um like one plan to build several schools with and
046that I thought a lot of what they talked about I believe that we've implemented which is good uh there's probably other opportunities out there uh and I look forward to exp- exploring those with all of you to see what we can do. But um you know I think that uh many of the things that were presented there were were done very well. I appreciated Jared's um reminder about everything that goes into the taxation side and explaining all of that and I thought that um he did a really good job with that. The the cahoot effort on that I thought was really good and it's a good reminder uh each time to do that. So, and then the legislative priorities. Uh, that one is always one of my favorite ones because it kind of gives us
047a precursor of what's what's going to be going on. So, >> great. Thanks, Jeff. Kathy. Okay. So, um, the workshop that I really liked was the one on AI and it was presented by Matt, don't know his last name, from the Utah School Board and, um, from Adam from Ogden, both of [clears throat] whom have been working quite a bit on putting together some, uh, curriculum for AI. Matt. Um, and I'm I'll give this information to um you Todd and then you can look at it and see if you want to look at any of these websites, but they've got a couple of websites that um we can go to to get some information and some help. Um Matt, not Matt, um >> Adam, >> yes, Matt said that, um the LA's in Utah can
048purchase really inexpensive, secure AI tools for schools. And there's four tools. Three of them I couldn't get them written down fast enough, but uh the last one is Brisk, which is their fourth tool. He said it's a a grant-f funed program on AI literacy teacher development and using AI curriculum and it's funded by Inter Mountain Health. So far, 7,000 teachers in Utah have taken the training. There's also a portrait of an AI learner educator and teachers have been 1,5 teachers have um taken the training on this and they will affect 33,000 students who will benefit from it. Um Adam is over the technology training in Ogden and it is aligned to their mission statement. He used the EAB organization which is their playbook and they have a framework and document that's available for any school
049district who would like to look at it and use it if they would like. So um Matt did say [clears throat] that Utah right now is the top state in IIA development for education which was kind of surprising to me and also very um interesting. I'm not I guess I'm not surprised. I'm just more interested in um in it. But they've been working on it for several years and he's done tons of research trying to find out what would work best and how they can incorporate it into our schools. >> Thanks Kathy. That was excellent. Um I especially liked Jared's presentation on school finance. I thought it was uh well put together and especially good for as a review like you said Jeff but for new board members is super school finance is super hard
050to wrap your head around because it's so convoluted. So he did an excellent job there. Um I also appreciated the opportunity to um present with uh Marcus Chen [clears throat] who is the schooland trust um training uh person at the state board and he has been super fun for me to work with and he is a wealth of knowledge and has created so many learning and training opportunities for board members, principles, um districts, everyone on the and it's posted on the state board website under school land trust training and the the presentation about how to get squeezed more out of your budget when you're remodeling or building um buildings. I I found excellent pre uh it was presented by Jordan School. >> That's right, Jordan. >> And um uh the one thing there are two
051takeaways there for me. Um because I went to Bingham High School when it was a new school. I didn't realize it was so old because I am in denial about how old I am. And but it was fun to see how because I have actually walked in that been in that school to see the changes they made with things as simple as paint and fixtures. >> Um the change the the complete makeover of a of different parts of that school. Um so that was really interesting to me too. Um and the other takeaway was that um they stated that the tipping point is about 50%. >> If if improvements are going to cost about 50% then it's more economical in the long run to just build a new building. So that's what I learned. >>
052And they said they'd built 27 elementary schools off of that one plan or a variation on that plan. That was amazing honestly. But I agree with what's already been said. Uh just a side note, Brian and I were on the winning team, but Jared's [laughter] presentation, we got suckers. >> Not only winning, we dominated. >> Yeah. So, >> but only because we had a bunch of BAS in our group >> and because Terry and Kathy were on the other team. So, we did well. But I second about the AI uh mainly because I'm interested in what's going on with it in the schools and Ogden district had some good ideas. Uh, but I listen to my daughter who's using parts of AI in her teaching of fourth grade and the way she uses it is
053interesting to me because it's kind of over my head, but I'm beginning to see the full picture of what it can do for us. Another one I went to was uh Mr. Farnsworth on helping uh burned out teachers get a new life. And I think we can all work on that because so many times in a teacher's life, we get burned out and we need to have something new to get us going. And uh he gave some really good ideas on that. So those are the ones I enjoyed. >> Okay. Um well, just a couple of things that I would add. I I I too enjoyed the conference and many of the things and support the things that have been said. Um, it may be of interest to the board to know that we're in
054our second year of a an AI uh implementation in our district working with our teachers specifically and we hope to provide a report at the end of the year for you on that. Uh, we have been also in contact with Ogden and uh really like some of the documentation they've put in place for guidance around AI and we're unpacking that at this time. Um couple of couple of takeaways specifically from the sessions I attended. I attended one um around school leadership and de and school leadership development. It was put on by a group um school leadership alliance. It's a group that we are familiar with and have been working with over the last couple of years. Um there's nothing I think next to the teachers nothing more important than having a highly qualified leader in
055every school. and uh we continue to look at ways to support our leaders and help them continue to grow and develop. The other takeaway that I'll share with the board u wasn't necessarily a session but I spent a lot of my time um there because we had the opportunity I was u been pulled into the conversations at the state level around literacy and the literacy bill. So, it was an opportunity to connect with our superintendent, the governor's adviser for education, as well as legislators on the the forthcoming legislation. It hasn't been released yet, but we're optimistic. I'm very optimistic that it will be very supportive of our efforts. Um, literacy is if not the top one of the very top priorities for us in terms of teaching and learning. We have a strong literacy model
056and we want to continue to to uh support and grow that and so um anxious for that legislation to come forward and see what actually gets into the bill. I attended a a meeting that was great and I passed on some notes I think to John and it has to do with um virtual reality in helping our kids recognize different career paths that they can take. So, the Department of Workforce Services has some really amazing resources and development that they've built these virtual reality goggles. So, kids can choose what career they're interested in and then they have a virtual reality tour almost like a game that they can go in and they can see exactly what this career is going to be like. So, they showed us a surgery. There was somebody that been stuck
057with a bow and arrow and so the kids had to go in like they were a doctor and have to you know perform a surgery and they have 50s something different careers but DWS said we have these resources all throughout the state and we want to help the schools. So when the schools are struggling with resources to provide that for our kids, they said, "Please use us." And so I hope we, you know, use our local DWS for that. And then I would second what Roger uh shared. I really, probably my favorite session was um Shane Farnsworth, remmoralizing the demoralized. And just thinking about how it's hard being a teacher sometimes and it can be very demoralizing. And so how how do we go about remmoralizing those teachers that are striving for creativity? They want
058to use their mind. They love the these kids. And when we make things so complicated and convoluted and policydriven, which I know we sometimes have to, but you know these teachers, we need to think about strategies to remmoralize them when they are demoralized. I really enjoyed that session. Okay. I have actually uh an additional thing to report. Uh the sex education committee met on Tuesday. We met for almost two hours and uh we had 11 members there. A couple were online but we reviewed the uh new material that's being brought in this uh coming year. So we went through and the very knowledgeable uh committee made a few changes and adjustments and so that will be brought to the board in a coming meeting to approve here. So that happened and I enjoyed the conference
059very much. Also uh one that uh I kind of stood out for me was the truth in taxation one. We had the business administrator from Davis School District report and told about as we all know about the changes that the Utah State Tax Commission is making and how much more stringent they are and uh what we need to do. uh he had a list of all the things but uh some of the things he mentioned was to make uh that he suggested having this meeting on a night that didn't interfere with any other meetings a standalone meeting. Uh making sure that it didn't interfere with other meetings that night. Uh making sure that everything is well documented that you've posted even in every school. Uh just totally covering your bases. And uh the last one,
060what I thought was interesting is he went through each step and he would uh uh call the state tax commission just to make sure that he was in line. He would say, "Hey, is this right? Am I is this okay?" So he would just go through the whole process and doublech checkck every step. So he said the guy got tired of hearing from him, but he just wanted to make sure he got everything right. So u I thought that was some good advice. So that's what I have. >> Great. Thank you all for sharing your takeaways. It was good to be there with all each of you and um professional development should never end. Um since I already gave my board president report, we'll move on to the superintendent report. >> Okay. Just two additional
061items for the board that I'd like to report on this evening. Uh first uh the district received from the state from USB um the state report cards for each of our schools this week on their performance last year on state assessments. Those report cards will be made public on January 27th. So up to this point they're embargoed. Uh but I can share a little bit with you. Um the schools are e are um assessed on two primary areas. One is overall achievement of students in reading, math and science and then u growth student growth in those three areas. And they rate the school um on a a five uh point scale ranging from critical to developing to typical progress. And then if you're beyond typical, it's commended or exemplary. And so to be at the
062top is where we would want to be. I will share with you that looking at our 17 elementary schools, uh 12 of the 15 were commendable or exemplary in both areas. Um none of our schools were below typical. So that I think speaks well to the performance of our elementary schools. In our secondary schools, uh six of the seven were commended in both areas. Uh the the other was typical. So again, strong performance from our secondary schools. Our high schools have one additional category to report and that's on post-secary uh preparedness. How how well are we preparing students postsecary? Three of our four were exemplary and the the fourth was commended. So they're doing a very uh excellent job, I would say, preparing students for se success in a changing world and we're proud of
063them. Again, that information will be made public. Um, and you can see each individual school on the 27th. >> Okay. >> Uh, second, I would like to share with the the board, as you're aware, this has been um a change year. We've been going through a lot of change and trying to organize and get ready for next year when we open the three schools. I want to report that uh today and tomorrow notifications will be going out to over 400 I believe teachers on placement for next year. Just over 200 of them actually will be changing schools. To give you a sense of that, I think what is remarkable is that 93% of those teachers are receiving one of their preferred assignments. And so that we're able to honor their preference in this whole process
064as we are trying to adjust with grade level change, moving sixth grade into the middle school, with the opening of the three other schools, the realignment of DLI. Uh we've worked really hard, the team, our school administrators have worked really hard to make sure that teacher voice was captured and that we're doing our best to honor uh their preferences and all that. Unfortunately, we can't it's almost an impossibility to think that we could uh satisfy 100% but 93 is a pretty um excellent mark. Last, I'll share with you it is board appreciation month and we do appreciate you and so the team has assigned a card and there's a little box of Bluebird chocolates for you just to show our appreciation for your efforts. Um I don't know that people understand behind the scenes what
065it go what board members go through the time the effort the meetings consideration of of all the proposals taking in public input to do what's best for children. Um, we're grateful for your efforts. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Anyone else? >> I do. I have something. >> Okay. >> First of all, thanks to Tim for all of the work you've done in making the transition happen and your team and the administrators who have helped and all all who's been involved in that. It's pretty amazing actually that all of that is done right now. And second, I just feel like we should congratulate Terry on what a great job you've done serving at USBA and representing our district so well and [laughter] really being um a great leader. Um we we just
066really are lucky to have you on our board. Thank you very much. That's very kind. Seeing we have arrived at the end of our agenda, we will adjourn until February. >> Hang on. 5th. Thursday, February 5th. We will adjourn until then.