001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Yes. >> I'm calling this meeting to order. Please stand and join Palomino Intermediate as they lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a moment of silence for Shea Middle School student and Mrs. Jean Coping. Thank you. Let's have a hand another hand for our great performers today. Any parents out there? Raise your hand if you're parent of one of our fine musicians. No parents out there? Oh, I know they must be somewhere. Maybe they're out there waiting for them. It was a great job, y'all. Okay. Uh may I have roll call, please? Mrs. Greenberg. >> Here. Mrs. Christensen. Here. Dr. Lim. Here. President Pantera? Here. Ms. Wani? Here. Um, next on the agenda then would be governing board members comments. Uh, the agenda first? >> Approval of agenda. >>
002No, I want to do the comments first. All right. Next on the agenda is approval of agenda. Dr. Corson. Yeah, thank you President Pantera. Items approved by consent will not come up for discussion during the meeting, but will be approved when the agenda is adopted. This is possible since members of governing board receive the agenda along with the backup materials at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and have had time to review and consider all items. Prior to the agenda being adopted, members of the governing board may ask that an item be removed from the consent agenda and brought to the floor for discussion at the appropriate place on the agenda. Any member of the audience who submitted a blue public comment card prior to the start of the meeting will be recognized to
003speak on that agenda item under items for approval. I'd like to offer the agenda as posted. Uh, thank you. Prior to the meeting we received two blue public comment cards. Each of those speakers will have 3 minutes to remark on a specific agenda item and will be recognized to speak under items of approval. As a reminder, we ask that you please direct your comments to the board. Uh, the one comment from the consent agenda was item three, which will now become G6. Okay? Does any member of the governing board wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda? Mrs. Christensen. Yes. Item F eight will now become G seven. Anyone else? Okay. Okay, seeing no more desires to move any of these, um I need a motion to approve what we do have here.
004Dr. Lim So moved. Uh thank you. Any um all those in favor say I. I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Any abstentions? Most in motion passes with a five yeses and zero nays. Okay. Now we go. Next on the agenda is governing board statements. Would anyone like to go first? Nobody? Uh Dr. Lim? Sure. I'll go first today. Um so, I know it's been a month since Sight and Sound. I can't believe it's been a month, but that, you know, still is sitting in my mind um and something I want to talk about. Um so, fourth grade's a big year, you know, when kids move to fourth grade, they can start strings and band. Um so, our Sight and Sound was very eventful. We ran from space to space, from choir to strings
005to the art uh to the STEAM Symposium awards. So, it was a very busy time, and I was, you know, very emotional during that time, just seeing what was happening. We have, you know, an amazing teacher in Miss Halter who's teaching band and strings. We have an amazing art teacher Miss Brown and we have an amazing music teacher Miss Bontrager which small world me and Miss Bontrager went to school from kindergarten through 12th grade and graduated from Shadow Mountain together. So, you know, it's was a very emotional time but I think the part that makes it so special as a board member is it's emotional for me seeing all the hard work that our teachers are putting in coming out through the work of our students is seeing all the other parents there feeling the
006exact same way. You can see it on people's faces as they take pictures of their kiddos in front of the artwork or clap for them at the choir concert or are in standing room only because their strings performance is absolutely packed. But you can see the joy on every parent's face as they thank their teacher as they're so appreciative. So, seeing all the district come together for sights and sound in this collective focus especially on the arts is just a really special time and it still sits with me as this really special moment and I've been going to sight and sounds for years. This year felt especially pivotal seeing so many families so appreciative of being there. So, I really appreciate PV's work really focusing on growing the arts here. Thank you. Who's Any volunteers?
007Doc Jessica, Bonnie. Yeah. Go ahead. Okay. Um Thank you. I just want to acknowledge um the empty seat here. Um we um lost a cabinet member and I just I would like to just take a moment. I know we had that moment of silence so thank you all for that. Um I just want to acknowledge uh her family and her friends and so many of the people that I know she touched here at PV. I know she was a great mentor and colleague and dear dear friend to so many of you. And I've um had the opportunity here uh some stories over the last couple of days about how she so significantly impacted so just so many of our PV community. So um we will miss her um and we will work every day to
008fulfill her dreams and her passions and um do everything that we can so that she would be very very proud of this community. So um just wanted to acknowledge what a great deep um loss. Mrs. Christiansen Yes, I want to thank everybody for coming here today and as your we are a constitutional republic. So the board is elected to represent your voice. So I have always appreciate when there's people in the audience. Um I want to say thank you to the parents and the students of Palomino who performed for us before the board meeting started. I I was a woodwind player and I I played the clarinet. I think I think we were all in some sort of band or in in grade school. Yes, we're going to perform later as well. Just kidding. Um
009I also wrote some remarks because I didn't think I would could get through it so eloquently like Ms. Wani did about Jean Copeland. Um she was a remarkable leader in this district and she really carried herself with genuine care and class. And um she was just such a positive force in this district and sadly I did not know that she was ill until very recently because she always showed up with a smile, with a strong work ethic, and with just such grace and integrity. And it it just broke me when I found out that she was ill and then we lost her so quickly after that. And so to her family and friends and loved ones, I just extend my deepest condolences. And please know that she made a lasting impact on on me and
010so many in this district. So, um I just wanted to let everybody know that she will certainly be missed. Ms. Greenburg. Thank you. Um I don't think I will be as eloquent as my colleagues, but I'd also like to extend condolences to Jean's friends and family. And I know so many of them are are here now. Um I think the impact she made extends far beyond our district. I know many folks in her previous district who um were as shocked as we are, you know, and in as shocked as we are with her passing. Um Jean was extraordinary and so incredibly dedicated to students, to education, and her impact will be felt far beyond our doors, but I think we all are I am glad that we all have that opportunity to share with her
011in this district. Um and it is tough seeing that empty seat over there. Um I'd also like to thank um fact that we don't have two empty seats over there and welcome back Dr. Sweeney um for a few months. I know many folks in here have worked with Patrick in many capacities over the many years. And um grateful he's here to help uh support Dr. Corson and the rest of us um, in our continuing journey of excellence. Thank you. Um, I too mourn the loss of Jean Copan. She was a professional. Um, always put the students first. And and it was all about the focus of making the district as best it can for our students and she never wavered from that. I was to find out I knew that she liked singing and karaoke.
012I never got to sing karaoke with her, but the next time I do, my first song is going to be dedicated to her. Okay? Just so you know that. You probably don't want to hear that, but be there to hear me sing it, but um, it it'll be heartfelt. Trust me on that. Um, on another topic um, la- last week I was um, grandpa I had to pick up my granddaughter from school. Okay? Do that kind of pick up thing. And we talked about her day and how the testing was going cuz we're in the middle of doing the standardized testing. And I talked about, "Oh boy, yeah, that's uh, that's a tough thing. Isn't it?" She says, "Yeah, it's pretty tough. I you know, but I'm if you if you give me some ice
013cream I'll know I'll do better tomorrow." I said, "Okay, we can work that out. We can do that. Whatever whatever it takes." But uh, I remember a friend of mine a couple years ago when I was still teaching would say to me, "Oh, testing must be a break for you. You don't have to teach, you know, during the testing time." I said, "Oh man, no, you're so wrong about that. First of all, I love teaching. It's not it's it's it's work, but it's the work you love to do. And testing is for a teacher is very boring. Now, you just you just like reading a script or something and and being a proctor. But at the same time you got to keep that level of professionalism. You got to reach out to your students. You
014know, the ones that don't care. Oh, it's not for a grade, I'm not going to put much interest in the in the taking this test. Or the ones that are so um, nervous and anxious about it. You got to try and calm them down. You You never let up on on watching your students and paying attention to how they feel. And it's just as stressful for the staff. You know, you got to rearrange schedules. You got to to try and get these special testing situations set up. Uh when I was teaching gifted, we had to cancel classes sometimes so I could work with special groups that had their own testing sequence to do. Um it can be it can really hardship on the staff and and very stressful. I want you to know I realize
015that and and I appreciate you. Matter of fact, I I don't know if this is even legal, but I'm I'm a certified teacher in the district and the state. And I work here obviously as a board member, but if you need somebody at your school help with the scheduling anything, I can come in maybe and proctor with uh proctoring. So, no, that's a true thing. If you want me to do that, I'll do it. Anyways, do your best people. I know some people are still out there testing and and uh and we look forward to you guys doing great things. Next on the agenda, oh yes, awards and recognitions. President Pantera, I'd like to invite the governing board to the dais for tonight's awards and recognitions. Good evening, President Pantera, governing board members, Dr. Corson,
016members of cabinet, and attendees both in person and virtual. Tonight, we have several recognitions to share with you. This evening, we'll be inviting our honorees to the front of the room for recognition and photo. So, when I say your name, please come to the front of the room. Our first honorees tonight were selected to join the prestigious 2026 Arizona All-State Elementary Orchestra Festival. These elite musicians were nominated by their teachers and chosen from a highly competitive pool of talented students from across the state. Because this is a list of a lengthy list of recognitions, please hold your applause until the end. From Desert Trails Elementary, Ada Carlson. Kendall Pollantan. Jonah Schuman. And Oisin Haggerty. You can clap. Oh my god. From Copper Canyon Elementary, Ethan Burnworth. Sancita Kurthy. Arabella Harvey. From Grayhawk Elementary, Jack Petit.
017From Pinnacle Peak Prep, Blakeley Hoffman. Sydney Kochi. And Helena Ganzer. From North Ranch Elementary, Eden Jacoby. And Felix Noth. From Sonoran Sky Elementary, Eden Hoffman, Taylor Sun, and Grayson Hawksworth. From Elementary, Alyssa French, Mabel Anderson, and Vianne Arya. From Sky Crossing, Adeeb Nafis, Hayden Johnson, and Ezra Siegel. And finally from Wildfire Elementary School, Clara Norgaard, Hannah Belfour, and Emily Barron. Thank you. >> Another round of applause for our 2026 Arizona All-State Elementary Orchestra Festival. Our next honorees tonight were selected to join the prestigious 2026 Arizona All-State Junior High Orchestra Festival. These elite musicians were selected through a very rigorous audition process and are among the best middle school musician musicians in the state. Because we have a long list, please wait until the end of the schools' names being called. From Desert Shadows Middle School,
018Maria Shaw. From Pinnacle Peak Prep, Susanna Nelson. From Sunrise Middle School, Linnea Vandersommen. Nathan Moreno. Molly Brooks and Alexa Rock. From Mountain Trail Middle School, Vikram Thyagaraju. John Schnatz. Vishagan Vijay Anand. Madhavanth Siva. Samprada Lakshmi. Hayden Fort. Elise Warner. Madeleine Acuna Joaquin. And Grace Groenen. >> Come on up, parents. Come on up. No No elbows. No elbows. How about another round of applause for the 2026 Arizona All-State Junior High Orchestra musicians? Our next honorees were named state champions in the fourth annual state Mandarin speech competition held at ASU. Competing against peers from across the state, these students delivered exceptional performances, earning top awards in multiple divisions. This achievement highlights the incredible strength of Whispering Winds Academy's Mandarin immersion program and the unwavering dedication of our students who represented both their school and PV schools with
019excellence. Please join me in welcoming first place winners from Whispering Winds Academy, Donovan Bibi Caramana. Kiara Shaw. Jackson Keen. Addy Lem. Lauralyn Benefield. and Quinn Sedoff. Another round of applause applause for our first place winners. Last tonight, but certainly not least, is the recipient of the Paradise Valley Education Association's Recognition of Professional Standards Award for teachers. The honoree this evening will be introduced by Heather Schmidt, PVEA President. Good evening President Pantera, Dr. Corson, Governing Board and Cabinet. My name is Heather Schmidt and I'm the proud president of the Paradise Valley Education Association. And I get to do props this month because my friend in the back made it to work. He was out sick. We should have been here in March doing this. But I get to recognize my new friend Mr. Leroy Oglesby, the
020computers teacher at Roadrunner School, as a recipient of the April 2026 PVEA Props. He was nominated by his colleague Sunny Judd. Here's what was shared with me about Mr. Oglesby. Leroy has been a great addition to our Roadrunner team. Leroy teaches our students in grades K through 12 and seamlessly adapts from one age group to another. Leroy has a positive supportive relationship across our school community due to not only his positive demeanor and ability to build positive relationships, but also his willingness to help in all situations and settings. He has written and been awarded grants to fund programming and provide new resources here at Roadrunner and helped create a STEAM night program that greatly increased family involvement. I got to see a little bit of that in action as I watched your cardboard city being
021made and I thought it was really cool. And I'd also like to point out that I believe some of these students at Shadow Mountain that he also is a wrestling coach over there and they are also here to cheer him on this evening. Mr. Oglesby, thank you for being amazing member of PVEA and for being an educator that every student in this district deserves. Congratulations. We love you, Leroy. Okay, hopefully one turns out. Thank you. And that, President Pantera, concludes this evening's awards and recognitions. I'm going to give these people a chance to filter out. Next on the agenda is superintendent comments. Dr. Corson, whenever you're ready. Sure, thank you, President Pantera. In PV schools, we engage, inspire, and nurture students through high-quality instruction, meaningful educational opportunities, and dynamic learning experiences. One of those opportunities
022is our high school summer school program. As a reminder to students and families, high school summer school is hosted at Paradise Valley High School with sessions running May 26th through July 2nd and are available to current and incoming high school students. Whether students want to fast-track graduation, explore a new subject, or close learning gaps through accelerated coursework, summer school offers the flexibility and support needed to stay on track and succeed. Registration is now open, so visit pvschools.net and explore our programs page to learn more. We want to remind everybody that your voice matters. As partners in your child's education, PV schools wants to hear about your experience. Each year, PV schools sends out a parent and family satisfaction survey to to understand how families perceive their child's school experience. Don't forget to check out your
023inbox or Parent Square feed for this opportunity to provide your feedback today. The survey closes on April 30th. Your feedback on academic support, communication, and school climate is important in helping PV schools provide a top-tier experience and empower every learner for a lifetime of success. Thank you for helping PV schools maintain a strong school community. And as other governing board mentioned members mentioned tonight, it is with a heavy heart that I reflect on the life and legacy of Jean Coping. As our assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction, Jean was truly a cornerstone of PV schools. Her passing this March after a long and courageous battle with cancer leaves a profound void in our district and in the broader education community. At her core, Jean was a fierce and unwavering advocate for students. She believed deeply in
024their potential and carried that belief into every conversation, every decision, and every action. She worked to ensure that every child was seen, supported, and given the opportunity to thrive. For Jean, the work was always about what mattered most, the journey of excellence for every student and the growth of our staff in service of that purpose. Jean led with both heart and conviction. She understood that leadership is not just about systems or structures, but about people. She built strong, authentic relationships and had a way of bringing out the best in those around her. Her impact wasn't just in the work she did, but in how she made people feel, valued, supported, and inspired. On behalf of our district, I want to extend our deepest condolences to her family, her friends, and all who had the privilege
025of working alongside her. We are stronger, more focused district because of Jean, and we will carry her legacy forward in the work we continue to do each day. And that President Pantera concludes my comments for this evening. Thank you, Dr. Corson. Next on the agenda is items for approval G1 consideration and approval of administrative personnel employment actions. Dr. Holmes. Thank you, Mr. Renteria. Um Mr. President, uh members of the board. Uh first up, Jennifer Penoyer is currently the site coordinator at JPL, uh James P. Lee early learning childhood center. Uh she earned a Bachelor of Arts in elementary education from the University of Florida, a Master of Arts in elementary education also from the University of Florida, and a Master of Arts in educational leadership from ASU. If approved, she'll receive salary and benefits in
026accordance with the COA bargaining agreement and we recommend you approve Ms. Penoyer to be the coordinator of J uh James P. Lee and Sun Kids Preschool. May I have a motion to approve Jennifer Penoyer for the position of coordinator of JPL Sun Kids Preschool as presented? So moved. Any board members wishing to make a comment? Okay. All in favor say I. I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Any abstentions? The motion passes unanimously. >> Congratulations, Ms. Penoyer. Do you have anyone in the audience you'd like to acknowledge and recognize? You got anybody in the My daughter and her daughter. Oh, your daughter. Well, okay. Congratulations. Next up, Daniel Crispin is currently the distribution technician lead for Paradise Valley Unified School District and has been in that position for the past 3 years, and with
027us since 2018. Uh we are very proud to promote one of our own and if approved he will receive salary and benefits consistent with the COA bargaining agreement. We recommend you approve Mr. Crispin to be the next supervisor of the distribution center. May have a motion to approve Daniel Crispin for the position of supervisor of the distribution center as presented? So moved. Any board members wishing to make a comment? Mrs. Christensen. Yes, I would just like to know what that role entails. The the supervisor of the distribution center? Yeah. Ooh. Um So Yeah, I would I would probably need to pull up the the job description. You're probably aware we have a a distribution center that uh for which um uh the goods and the goods that we purchase and many of the goods that
028we service all land at and as a large district uh with a with um many many uh facilities that needs that needs to be distributed out throughout the system. So um that's the fundamental function uh of the distribution center and so he would be the supervisor of that team. Any other comments? Uh comments? Okay, thank you. Um all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Motion passes unanimously. Congratulations, Mr. Crispin. Congratulations, sir. Do you have anyone you'd like to acknowledge that's here with you today? Hi. Gosh, she made sure you got here on time, right? Good. Okay, Matthew Brady is currently an assistant principal at Chaparral High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education at Wartburg College. That, by the way, is in Waverly, Iowa. So, if uh
029Dr. Bales is watching, he definitely might know something about that. I do not. Uh also earned a Master's of Arts in Educational Leadership at ASU. And if approved, he will receive a salary and benefits consistent with the PVP uh bargaining agreement. Uh and if you have additional questions about that position, I was assistant principal. I can answer that one for sure. We recommend you approve Mr. Brady to be an assistant principal at Pinnacle High School. May I have a motion to approve Matthew Brady for the position of assistant principal at Pinnacle High School as presented? So moved. Any members wishing to make a comment? Well, the student uh former student alumni of Saguaro High School, I'm glad we robbed Chaparral of somebody that was good. Okay, our rival. I had to say that. Okay, then.
030No other comments? All those in favor say I. I. I. All those in oppose say nay. Motion passes unanimously. >> Welcome home, Mr. Brady. Do you have someone you'd like to acknowledge, sir? That would be Hello. Stand up. Hi. All right, thank you. Good job. Next in that agenda Next on the agenda is items for approval G2, consideration approval of the K-12 science adoption. We do have a blue card for this one um from Heather Schmidt. I can >> Good evening again, President Pantera, governing board, cabinet, and Dr. Corson. Sorry. Um sorry, these remarks are quickly thrown together because I this is something I feel a little bit passionately about in my role as the president of Paradise Valley Education Association. One of the roles that I am tasked with is appointing certified employees to
031serve on a variety of district committees. In the nearly 2 years that I've served as PVEA president, I've had the opportunity to serve and appoint people to dozens of committees. Um and in this particular moment, I just actually want to take a moment and thank both Ms. Hayward and Ms. Perez for all of their work in leading the K-12 science adoption committee over the last year. I want to specifically thank both of you for all the work that you did in keeping me in the loop and receiving minutes directly rather than having to wait for them to end up posted on the website so I could dig and share them with our group. Um but when we had a few original members of the committee leave at the end of the 2024-2025 school year, you
032both immediately reached out to me to make sure that we could fill those openings by people who were passionate and knowledgeable on the topic. I want to thank you both for your collaboration on this committee. And I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the fact that both of you work closely on this massive undertaking along with a million other things with Ms. Copan. As you stand here tonight, I hope that you feel her with you cheering you on as you stand behind the work of the committee. I know the faith that she had in you and in the committee process. Thank you. And now I'd like to turn over to Dr. Corson. Uh thank you, President Pantera, members of the governing board, cabinet, and guests. This evening, our science curriculum specialists, Robin Hayward and Krista
033Perez, are here tonight to provide additional context and clarity in response to questions raised during the first reading. Their presentation will speak to the committee's recommendations of Imagine Learning Twig for kindergarten through eighth grade, including how it supports instruction across both elementary and middle school settings. It's emphasis on hands-on science and its connections to other content areas. They'll also address the rigor and credibility of the high school recommendations along with the plan for ongoing support for teachers and staff. I also want to take a moment to recognize and thank the committee of teachers, parents, and administrators who engaged in a thoughtful, thorough, and transparent process over the past many, many months to bring these recommendations forward. Following the presentation and discussion or questions from the governing board, we are recommending approval. And with that, I'll
034turn it over to Ms. Hayward and Ms. Perez. Hello. Um I'm Robin Hayward. I am the secondary STEAM and science curriculum specialist. Um and I had the great opportunity to shepherd to be one of the shepherds of this committee over the last year. Um so, uh tonight we're going to start by highlighting the reasons that the committee recommended Imagine Learning Twig for kindergarten through eighth grade. Um uh for our Paradise Valley students. Uh then we're going to address the concerns about Twig fitting into the PV elementary and middle school schedules. Um classrooms. Uh we will also discuss how Twig science connects to and supports other content areas. And gives tools for teachers to provide hands-on uh science for our learners. Uh then we will move to onto credibility and rigor for high school uh for
035our high school recommendations. And finally, we will share a plan for ongoing support for our teachers and staff. Um while this presentation is intended to answer the questions and concerns brought up in the first read, uh we are of course will welcome any questions you have at the following this brief um presentation. Good evening. My name is Krista Perez, the elementary STEM and science curriculum specialist. And you guys made me a little bit emotional tonight, but I do feel Jean here with us and um her beautiful thumbprint is all over this. And also, I want to say how timely it is that we get to talk about the science adoption right in the middle of this Artemis launch and they're going to touch down like this time tomorrow, so it's pretty exciting. Um yeah, so
036today I'm honored to share some specific strengths of Imagine Learning Twig and why the elementary and middle curriculum adoption committee strongly recommend this resource for science education. Twig is built directly on the same structure as the 2018 Arizona science standards, which focus on deep conceptual understanding and hands-on science and engineering practice. There is strong research behind this approach. Students develop deeper understanding and build strong connections when they actively engage in investigation and in science discourse. In grades 6 through 8, Twig has earned an ESSA Tier 3 promising evidence rating through a review by Johns Hopkins University. That designation indicates that qualifying studies demonstrated statistically significant positive effects on student science proficiency. And promising evidence is the highest score any comprehensive science curricula has received from them based on our research. Feedback from the 60-day public
037review was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, Twig was unique in that it was the only curriculum reviewed with zero negative feedback. Reviews from teachers, parents, and community members noted strong student engagement, including the use of physical workbooks to record learning by hand, clear lesson progression, and practical classroom usability. While the first read shared the components of the committee's extensive evaluation tool, tonight we'll just highlight two of those components. Assessment alignment is a significant strength for Twig. To support our teachers, Twig embeds formative assessments, so teachers can monitor learning and support students as needed. And also, the summative assessments closely mirror the state assessment format to help students feel and be prepared for success on the state test. Access was also a priority for the committee. The materials include structured supports for multilingual learners, embedded vocabulary development,
038and multiple pathways for students to engage with content through reading, discussion, modeling, and investigation. Then, looking at Twig in real life, um from the start, the committee focused on whether a science curriculum could work in real classrooms, with our time, our space, and our schedules, and Twig fits. Lessons are flexible. Teachers can introduce a phenomenon one day, run an investigation the next day, and focus on analysis after that. Lessons include natural stopping points, so teachers aren't expected to finish everything in a single 30- to 40-minute block. And units always start with a shared phenomenon, a short video, excuse me, an image, or a read-aloud, like kids on swings, a volcanic eruption, or matter changing forms in an industrial kitchen. Beginning with a shared phenomenon ensures all students access the science concept and sets up discussion
039and problem solving. Students work as scientists and engineers through hands-on investigations, primarily with physical materials. When activities are not safe or feasible in the classroom, Twig does provide high-quality digital investigations to ensure students can still explore, gather evidence, and solve problems. Reading and read-alouds also help students collect evidence while supporting literacy development. Committee members praised Twig's strong teacher guidance, as well. Lessons are well-sequenced, scaffolding is clear, and materials are easy to plan, reducing the workload while maintaining the rigor. Teachers also get concise background info and videos to help build their understanding, organize the materials, and prepare for instruction. Twig also highlights connections to math, reading, writing, and careers, and its fast-track option keeps lessons manageable while ensuring standards are met, and students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Finally, adopting Twig is just the beginning.
040Our guaranteed and viable Sorry. It's a lot of talking. One more sentence. Our guaranteed and viable curriculum provides a road map showing what to teach, in what order, and to what depth. Later, you will hear how teachers work together to build this valuable guidance document. Thank you, President Penterra. Thank you. Good to hear from you. Um so now I'll focus on credibility and academic rigor for our high school recommendations. Uh all of our recommended our recommended resources for high school aligned to the content in the Arizona Science Standards. A distinguishing feature Thank you. Um a distinguishing feature of these recommendations noted the first read is that we do have um an an integration of open educational resources um from OpenStax, OpenSciEd, and CK-12, as well as traditional publishers that we have been used to working
041with. Uh I want to note that all of the open educational resource materials uh will be or have been downloaded, so that if something happens in the future, they will continue to be available for our students and staff. Um I will now briefly describe the recommended open educational resources, so you get a little bit of background about those, uh about their development and research support. Uh so one of those open educational resources is OpenStax. OpenStax was developed by Rice University, an R1 research institution, peer-reviewed by faculty to ensure scientific accuracy and college-level uh alignment. Their academic credibility is reflected in adoption in nearly half of US colleges. In Arizona, institutions like Arizona State University participate in OpenStax related research, and these resources are approved by our community college partners for our dual enrollment courses. Um
042the next open educational resource uh is OpenSciEd. OpenSciEd was developed by a consortium of leading research institutions, including Northwestern, Boston College, and UT Austin. It is aligned to the three dimensions of science, uh aligned to our Arizona science standards. Um the curriculum, so OpenSciEd has earned quality ratings from science peer review panel and green marks across all EdReports benchmarks, ensuring rigorous evidence-based curriculum and instruction. And then the third open educational resource uh is CK-12. CK-12 comes is a nonprofit um that develops free customizable STEM resources to reduce costs and increase educational access. Uh it was created in collaboration with subject matter experts, PhDs, and partners like NASA. Uh these materials undergo uh practitioner review to ensure quality and alignment with state and national standards. And CK-12 is widely recognized as a comprehensive resource for high-quality
043flexible instruction. Um in addition to those open educational resources, we are um some of our courses the committee is recommending traditional publishers such as McGraw Hill, HMH, Cengage, and Savvas, depending on the course. Um regardless of whether the course is supported by an open educational resource or a traditional publisher, each high school course is built on students doing hands-on science. In a typical sequence, similar to what Krista described, we have students engaging with phenomena, um investigating questions about the natural world, analyzing and interpreting data, modeling what they're figuring out, um and synthesizing text from adopted resources to build scientific explanations. Um teachers do have the option to provide short readings um either text or digital in that case from the adopted resources. Uh so, and when I address screen time for high school, um really
044within science screen time should be limited to certain data analysis tools that may be necessary. Um obtaining and communicating information, so projects and research. And interacting with simulations that provide virtual laboratory environments. Um, one example I thought of was there is a simulation from one of our um supplements that compares a pendulum on Earth to a pendulum on Jupiter. That is not an experience that we can replicate in the classroom. Um, and then uh based on the board's questions from the first read, we just want to explain a little further implementation, some implementation steps. And that will kind of take us to showing this recommendation again. Um, so support begins before next year. So pending approval, we will have summer training where we'll introduce teachers of K-12 to the materials, routines, and expectations for strong
045science instruction using these uh resources. The support continues with dedicated half day in August, additional sessions throughout the year to ensure consistent classroom guidance, the principles will also be provided with training for what instructional model looks like. Um, and there is virtual and on-demand professional development um that will be available to support the implementation as well. Um, on the high school level um our our high school teachers are content experts. So we So I will be bringing together many different groups of high school teachers to build guaranteed and viable curriculum and pacing guides using these open resources or the traditional publisher resources. And so we will leverage leverage that expertise to do that. Um, so these open educational resources and traditional publishers, we're we're relying on them to provide high-quality academically vetted resources. But our
046district high school uh curriculum will be intentionally built by our teachers. Um, through our guaranteed and viable curriculum process, the high school teachers will map Arizona standards, determine priority learning targets, establish pacing, align selected resources into a co-end align selected resources into a coherent district developed roadmap. Um and then there'll be secondary curriculum guidance documents that they generate will include recommendations for appropriate screen time. Um and for students based on the requirements for the standards mastery and what the resource provides. Um that framework of building our resources is a way that we can leverage the content expertise and um maintain course level rigor and expectations. Um additionally, ongoing coaching and curriculum specialist support uh will continue um at the secondary level. I meet with department leaders um quarterly and you know, I have other opportunities
047to collaborate with them uh based on and also based on the success of what we had high school support tours this year that we are expanding that to middle schools next year. So that will be part of the implementation. Um and then those support tours are really working with that I would work with department leader to support them, collaborative planning, review student work and assessments, and visit classrooms. And so we obviously be looking at implementation. Um Now, we don't want we would be remiss if we didn't talk about monitoring student learning. So that's where I'm going to end with. Uh so equally important is monitoring student learning and we can do some of that through the classroom visits. Um we are well aware of the need to improve science student achievement in science. Um and
048one way that we can ensure curriculum implementation is to that is positively impacting achievement, connect this um investment to achievement is to um continue to monitor using a lot of assessments we already have in addition to the K8 Twig formative assessments. So, I'm just going to list some of those that we can leverage for seeing where we're going with learning. So, we have the K8 Twig formative assessments, we have high school formative assessments, we have high school finals, we have AZ SciTech practice, we have middle school unit tests that common unit tests they all take, and then we do have ACT science. Right, some of those are more of after the fact and some of those are measuring learning as it occurs. Um in addition to coaching, support, and monitoring assessment data, myself and Krista
049will provide structure and resources for school professional learning communities to help them build even smaller little checkpoints so that they can do frequent checks to for understanding and to facilitate classroom level adjustments to instruction. Um and so this this presentation and the approval is just the beginning of our work. Um the goal of all of these efforts is to improve student achievement in in science, and that's why we're here. So. Okay, so we're revisiting the recommendation. So, the final slide is the committee a reminder of the committee's recommendation. Um the committee recommends Imagine Learning Twig for kindergarten through eighth grade. And then as you can see there is a variety of different resources that are recommended for our high school courses that are listed there. Um so you will see those open educational resources as
050well as the traditional publishers depending on the course. Um there are in addition to those resources, there are three supplements listed that the committee took a look at that we would like to add to our supplement list, and those are AP Classroom for science, code.org, and American Modeling Teachers Association materials. Um in summary, the committee asserts these recommendations superior evaluation scores on the rubric, reflect research, professional review, public input, and alignment to Arizona standards. Approving these curriculum resources provides a solid foundation for improving science achievement in PV schools. And with that, I just want to say thank you for your thoughtful engagement and for all for the questions that you've posed in the first read and since. Um and at this time we're happy to answer any additional questions you have. Thank you. May have
051a motion to approve the K-12 science adoption as presented? So moved. Any board members wishing to make comments or questions? I have a comment. That uh good job on on the hard work you've done and and put through the all the hours and hours to do this. We've um we have definitely time in our timeline once we adopt this to make all those things happen, right? Okay, good. Cuz I remember when I taught science, you know, principals would I I the first time well, as at Palomino's last time, Palomino. And the principal says to me, you know, Mr. Pantera, you can modify. You don't have to stick strictly to what they're doing there. It was the first time I'd done this program. And I know that's still true that we have options that that there's
052flexibility built within to the system, and I'm really glad to hear that. I'm glad they have such a rigorous timeline with this as well. Um so having said that, thank you. Um All those in favor say I. What? I thought we moved it. Oh, just discussion. More discussion. Any more? Go ahead. Um I have a few questions that came up during the presentation that I'm just looking for clarity. So that um pre-summer pre-implementation training, is that a required training for our teachers or an optional training? Well, historically they've have been optional. We do provide professional growth for those teachers who attend so they would earn potentially salary increases. But that's one of the reasons why we will offer the same trainings again before school starts and then you know, we will hope to catch everyone
053before school starts. Um Is this a traditional problem we have overall when we adopt curriculums that it is an optional training at that first point? Okay, great. Thank you for that. And then so looking on that same page the high school curriculums. Um so are some of those already developed? So for example, I know there's a PV teacher right now that's currently developing a particular class for the Crest program. Are some of these already existing? We already have a pretty good sense of these and this is kind of codifying what they're already doing or are these brand new curriculum development from the ground up? Uh no, these won't be from the ground up. We there's been a lot of work that's gone into these curriculum maps over the since especially since I've been in this
054position but before. This will be aligning our current resource documents with the new resource. So potentially changing pacing or which which standards are covered in different semesters but also really flushing out what's in those resource documents. Our committee really asked for we want more support for our ELL students and our and our special needs students and so and we and so we've got you know, kind of a vision for what those work groups will look like. Bringing more not only our content specialist but also expertise in gifted and in and in special ed to make sure that the document assists because our classrooms have such varied students in them. So we really need to provide more support. The committee asked for this for new teachers especially um cuz our season teachers can look at that
055and be like, "Yeah, that I get it." Our new teachers need more and we will go as go we will provide what they need through that collaboration with our content experts. Great. Um thank you for that answer and that leads to the kind of follow-up question I have. So, obviously we're going to be using lots of multiple open resources. We are doing some national publishers as well. So, if we as we design these curriculums find that there are gaps in the process of actually implementing this in the classroom, are we going to have to fill that with additional curriculum adoption or do we think we have enough resources out there that we'll be able to slowly fill those gaps over time with either the open resources or the books that we're purchasing? Uh I'm confident
056that you know, I know through the review of the committee, they were very careful and very thoughtful in those high school courses and does this provide as I said, these some of these are really the open educational resources are really online textbooks. So, they looked very carefully and weighed it and thought, "Well, this gives me more than even an AP teacher might need so that we have flexibility so it could be used for multiple grade levels." I'm confident that the resources will give us give us what we need for the content side. I know that we're going to have to build the instructional side um for um beyond what we already have just to make sure that we're supporting the instructional sequence since um since these resources, some of them are just are a textbook.
057Okay, great. Thank you. I'm going to double check I didn't kick the first hand raise. Anybody else want to say something? Call it Mrs. Christiansen. Yes. Um thank you for your incredible work and and please thank the committees cuz I know these take so much time. So, thank you committee people committee members. I have a couple of questions. First, one was a follow-up cuz for Dr. Lim's about teachers. Are Did I didn't understand if they are getting They're getting compensated, right? We're not just It's not volunteer work that they're doing extra work. Correct. So, um generally work around these GVC documents, the guaranteed viable curriculum documents, is through a combination. If we're providing some training with it, then that will be professional growth, which if they earn enough hours gives them additional at certain increments
058gives them additional salary. There will be some work that is paid through timesheet work, especially when we're asking them to dig into a resource and pull out things for our GV for our documents. So, some of it will be a combination of professional growth, but if we're asking individual teachers like outside of the bigger group to you know, pull to download any sort of resources so they're available offline, then that's generally paid through timesheet, so an hourly pay for that work. Okay. And how do we Is Is there a cutoff for how because I'm just thinking about you know, what different people learn at different rates and their strong points like say somebody's really strong with chem Mhm. or biology or whatever and and they're not so they're learning something maybe that is a little
059bit different and they might have to take more time. Are we going to com- I'm just worried that we're asking our educators to come in on during summer and if they have to spend even more time I I just want to make sure that they're fairly compensated. That's Yes, the goal is always to and having been you know, when I was in the classroom having been tasked with doing that work and I I can attest to there was flexibility in that case, and I would often come back to it was the curriculum specialist at the time and said I really need more time to dig into this, and it was always flexible. Obviously, there were limits on how many hours you could earn, but it was it was I felt well compensated for it, and
060if I if I came to that curriculum specialist and said, "Hey, I need I could use another 10 hours to fully finish this." Um that I found that was well received and supported. >> Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure. Regarding Twig, you stated that there's a lot of teacher and staff support. I I'm assuming it's within all of these. I heard you say that Twig has um assessments and alignment with state testing and access. So, is that the support, or what type of support specifically are you were you referring to? Yeah, thank you for that question. Uh so, there is the support with the assessments, but also the support for teachers is it provides a background knowledge of what the students will be learning, and that way teachers can read through it in
061advance. There's also a lot of teacher prep videos that's just teacher facing to help them know what the students will be learning again, also what materials to prepare. Also, there's a lot of supports on this will help your EL students. If your students are struggling with this, um we did have in our committee representatives from gifted, special ed, all of our subgroups, and they were all looking very closely for which curriculum will best help teachers so that they don't have to extend on their own or go find extra help. So, I hope that answers your question. >> Thank you. You also indicated that there is appropriate screen time and I'm just wondering if you have an idea of what appropriate screen time would be for K through 6 versus the middle versus high school. What
062What do you consider appropriate screen time for our students? Is there a a number or Uh yeah. So, for K-6, most days students will not be on their own device. Uh there are like we talked about the phenomenon where teachers will project a video at max that's 2 minutes. So, and they'll have that video and then there are some days where students will complete the investigation online and there's 20% of the Twig investigations that are available online. Not all of So, that would be less than 20% of the days because also many of the days would be discussion on what they did and further investigation. That's for our youngest learners, right? >> through 6th grade. Okay. And Yeah. Um and then I I mean, I'll speak to to 7-8 for Twig. Reasonable within that curriculum
063may be 5 to 10 minutes um on an average day unless they are doing a one of those investigations where they have to do it digitally. Um but again, depending on what a standard they're covering, one of our one of our state standards is obtain and evaluate to obtain, evaluate, and communicate information. And that is the that's our that's a practice in our state standards where students may be doing outside research. They may be doing a project and that is where we would see some technology involved. Um they also are asked at the high school level for that um outside of Twig, that they may be looking that they would likely be looking at scholarly articles and those aren't The teacher could print those, but they might be some that they have to find. Um,
064so that would be a use. But I would say very little time, well, what based on my review of that curriculum, very little time. Um, there's there's no explicit time in the curriculum other than a little bit like the video for Twig, a small video at the beginning, um, and then perhaps that's um, digital simulation where they had to they have to do it that way. Um, because it's not possible to uh, know what a pendulum does on Jupiter. Right. Yeah. Um, as far as high school goes Yeah. Um, is that okay? Yeah, are we good for that? All right. So as far as high school goes, I I would be again, I would echo the same thing I said about that particular science and engineering practice. So any projects would be under that obtain,
065evaluate, and communicate information science and engineering practice. And you know, I'd say an average day, um, still wouldn't would be, you know, 10 minutes, um, maybe if they depending on what the what the learning experience was. And it might be more one day and less another day. And obviously if they're doing a laboratory experiment in a high school chemistry class for example, they likely have zero screen time other than perhaps a screen at the front being used where instructions and safety. Okay, good answer. I like it. Um, the regarding the high school supplements, are the teachers So you have some listed here and Dr. Lim alluded to it a little bit. I know a lot of, um, some of our wonderful educators have been in our district for a very long time and they have
066things that they know are tight, you know, true that they like to use it question is everybody required to use these supplements or are there supplements that are not on here that they are allowed to use like YouTube and things like that. Um so we went through with with Jean Copeland um a few years ago we went through a a complete supplement adoption where we inventoried every we asked every school to provide the supplements they were using and then the curriculum specialist vetted those using a rubric and we had a full committee that um opted for those to be added to a dashboard. So that's just the background. The yes, the teachers have multiple other supplements that they can use that are on a dashboard so they can easily search it and see if it's
067approved if it's a board approved supplement. These three supplements are not required for use although AP Classroom should be required is required for AP teachers cuz that is just um that's one where we realized in our dashboard that AP Classroom was not specifically as approved for science even though we know the teachers have to use it. So we're just we're wrapping that up. We realized that wasn't there. Um yeah. So that So any other questions about the supplements? No, I'm There are plenty of supplements. I appreciate your very thorough answers. Just the the final is not really a question just a comment um about and and we had this conversation a couple months ago about trying to reverse our our really high level of digital strategy because a lot of countries have done 180s on
068that including Sweden, Finland, there's a lot of studies, the Netherlands and just heavy use of technology is it actually brings their achievement scores down and you know, I do understand we're in a very tech environment now, but especially for our youngest learners. So, I do appreciate that they're not going to be on these on screens all day long and and thank you for answering all my questions. Dr. uh Can we just ask one more question? >> You really want to make make it >> Ask Ask one more question. Um so, first of all, thank you and thank you for going back and answering our questions and um really appreciate the presentation tonight. Um it it's very helpful. So, but we recognize it was also a lot of work and so, thank you and thank you
069to the committee members, of course, as well for all of their hard work and dedication. Kind of just want to ask a follow-up question um to some of the questions that uh board member um Christensen was asking with regard really just kind of focusing on the high school students um and the delivery of just most of their material. I guess my question is um you know, if we're not giving textbooks out to all kids, I'm just trying to understand how are they are they reading the materials? I guess on a screen? How is Is it then moved into slides? Is it Is it depends on the class? Depends on the teacher? Um well, that answer really depends on which if we're referring to our traditional publishers versus our open educational resources. So, you're correct. We
070are not purchasing physical textbooks. We are purchasing digital licenses. Although, we will have a limited number of physical textbooks should the need arise if we have a student that, you know, doesn't have access. Um so, as far as um how they will access it, a lot of that is we will provide um guidance in the guidance documents, but we do leave that up to teacher discretion a lot of times. And it it may depend on their instructional priorities at their school. You know, schools may be focusing on close reading, and so they will then that those those schools may be pulling those resources and having students mark them and read them in a particular focused way. Um while others might give small readings. But the idea is these resources, whether they're open educational or traditional
071publishers, if they are not it if they are really a textbook, it's they're meant to provide the connection to the investigation that they've done. So, to solidify the content after the experience. And that's what they're the goal of for them is. >> Okay. So, my So, I So, what I feel like I'm hearing is they're they're not read 30 minutes of this material. It's meant to be these are the instructions. Now, go do the thing. Come back. What did you find? And it's much more hands-on engaging. So, we're not delivering material in that same sort of way. >> Absolutely. And having, you know, I mentioned the the support tours. And having been to every high school for the first three quarters, for the fourth quarter we brought them all together um for a collaboration and
072goal setting. But for the first three quarters, I can say that I did not see a teacher give a long reading, not once. Um I saw little short readings. Um I did not see a teacher lecturing for 30 minutes. I saw little bits of interactive lecture with with discussion. Um and I saw, you know, all sorts of um amazing instructional strategies. So, I just look forward to working with those teachers to, you know, build these documents. Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate that. And I you know, just to give some context, some of my questions come from, you know, I have kids in the district, right? And I know it's been it's fluid, and we're all also learning and growing as technology plays a larger and bigger role in our lives. Um and so, you know, I've
073sort of seen, you know, sometimes where they they're on it they're they're reading material on the computer or on a screen and how and it's like a continuous like PDF or document and it's like having to you're trying to they're trying to answer questions, but then they got to go back to page two to look at the graph or to look at the lab description, right? And then and I'm and I just want to be mindful about, right, just obviously we need to leverage technology. It's not going anywhere. We want our kids to be proficient in it, but also just being thoughtful about sometimes it's not going to work and sometimes things just will need to be printed and I I'm sure teachers are thinking about those kinds of things and we're incorporating all of
074that. And so, I just appreciate as well just the context so that I don't have to sit there at night thinking of any student like doing this all day long on a cuz we're very lucky. We come here and we have all the things printed and I have a pen and I just want to make sure we're, you know, giving students those same opportunities too because I think I would be getting a big fat F in most of my classes if I didn't have the option a lot of times for that. So, thank you. Yeah. Any other comments, questions? Ms. Greenburg? Yeah, I just just a comment because I think the questions have been incredibly thorough, but I also want to thank you for being incredibly thorough and I think um you know, taking the
075big picture look at this. I appreciate the evolution of curriculum adoption having sat here for a long time, having That was the very first committee I ever sat on before I sat on this board was a curriculum adoption and it's looking at the books and seeing what's going on and that was it. There were there were no um online options that we were using, etc. Um what what is fascinating me is is flexible um the the mingling of technology etc. um allows us to be. Um but I also just want to say I just I appreciate how integrated this all is and and how you re- you know, got so much input on on what we have here and just looking at it, I mean I can remember back to when my oldest was in
076high school and there was no physics two AP, but there was a group, you know, he and his friends who wanted to take that physics two test and they went and they, you know, did a little study group and got a little bit of help from their physics teacher and they all did great on it, but that's not you know, that's not the way everybody can do it. So, I really appreciate that we have this and that as as we know, things change year to year and we can't use books that are seven years old anymore. And I appreciate the fact that we are able to move past that with what you've presented, but have presented that mix, so that's what I want to say. Dr. Dr. Lim. Um so, I do have a few
077more questions. I wanted to give people space to ask those questions. I just kind of want to follow up some of the stuff that you guys presented on earlier. So, kind of thinking about how science is taught in the classroom and things like that. Obviously, we have models for how we're teaching them and I want to make sure when we're doing an adoption it's actually going to fit into kind of the framing and how we think about education taught at least in the early childhood learning. So, if right now in the district in K through third we split social studies and science in a 30-minute block. That's a pretty tight window and one of the models that's fallen on a number of schools is teaching one subject in the fall and one subject in the
078spring and splitting them in that type of model. So, our learners aren't always engaging with science throughout the year. Obviously, um this might work for some schools, but in many spaces it it may not be working as those learners are coming in with a science deficit coming into fourth grade when they first start testing in science. So, my question is looking at kind of how we've designed our master schedule and how it's currently functioning as we realize Twig needs more time or there some adjustments are needed, are we going to start to look more systematically on making sure there is success especially for our earliest learners cuz we know historically if we don't get them in in kindergarten, first, second, and third, their interest in science dies off very quickly as they get older because
079there are a lot more exciting things happening in the classroom like hormones and boys and girls. So, how can we really capture them in that early age so that they sustain and are we open to flexibility in how we currently are modeling our minutes to give teachers the time they need? Dr. Lim, I'll take that one um, since I've been heavily involved in looking at our master schedules and how we're using our instructional time. Um, there's so many competing demands across content areas, right? With reading and math and um, our special areas and then um, you know, just the whole gamut. And so, I think we can all agree as educators that we want to invest more time in science. There's so much curiosity, especially with the little ones. They're engaging in these hands-on learning
080experiences and we want to really tap into that. Um, and so it's just all about balance and looking at, you know, the the big scope of how much time we have during the day and how we can allocate that. And so, um, within our framework, we do have allocated minutes and um, Ms. Kobena I spent a lot of time looking and I I I know that I spoke about this a little bit last time, um, about like move on when reading and and and some of those requirements from the state and then we look at um, the recommended minutes from ADE and then the recommended minutes from all of our, you know, different content areas and those those resources and how much time really needs to be invested. So, it's just really um continuing to
081look at that, get feedback from our teachers and our staff. Um and this framework really allows principals a starting point to work with their teachers. Because we also have some unique academic programming in our district with DLI, as you know, um IB, core knowledge. And so, there is flexibility within that to attend to those programs. And so, it does look different. You know, the the framework is just that, it's a framework, it's a starting point um to help our principals really um be compliant where we need to be and then also just be really thoughtful about how we're using our instructional time. Yeah, so I think my follow-up question there is really kind of how we're messaging that to teachers. So, we can imagine some of our schools are going to have learners that maybe
082don't need as many minutes in, you know, math and reading cuz they're a little more proficient for whatever reason in that classroom. And they may have more space for science, which is a great opportunity to expand those minutes. So, do we have the flexibility that existed like when I went to school where, you know, the class is doing really well in one area, so we're going to spend a little extra time on another subject that the class is really excited about cuz we're we're really already meeting our demands in those other spaces. So, are we going to allow kind of that flexibility that might be needed school-to-school that is not purposely aligned with a master schedule because all of our schools function slightly different down to a one second grade classroom might function differently than
083the one right next to it in the same building. So, are we going to message to our teachers that there is flexibility that they can work with their classes and make that those adjustments as they needed year-to-year, or are we going to be very strict, you must follow this and it must always be this way kind of model? The the culture in PV with master schedule development has has always been at the local level. And this framework gives them a starting point to have those conversations and build that shell. But of course, you know, with principals meet with teams of teachers through PLCs and they look at data and what needs are and how to respond to those, then they will be having those conversations at the site level. And you know, when And we
084support that. We also want to be able to be intentional about, you know, the implementation of these resources cuz we're spending a lot of money on that. And so, you know, we have to weigh all of that out and and you know, and obviously keep kids at at the center of that. Yeah. Um and I think my follow-up question to that is obviously we we adopted many years ago what we thought was going to be a successful tool and the FOSS kits really weren't used at the capacity we would hope they would be used. Are we going to be doing incremental assessments just to make sure that if adoption is not going as planned, what pivot and what changes we can make, whether it's master schedule, whether it's how we roll them out, whether it's
085other additional PD for educators to try and make sure that we do get robust adoption of these tools and that we don't actually see them sitting on the shelves collecting dust cuz unfortunately many schools have those FOSS kits just sitting collecting dust sadly even though they were once an amazing curriculum and we thought that was the next step for us. So Yes, and I'm going to ask these two ladies cuz I can tell that they're they're wanting to respond to that one. So Chrystal Robin Yeah, thank you for that question. We are going to be continuing a lot like Robin talked about with secondary bringing together teams of teachers working on the guaranteed viable curriculum and then checking how is that going because teaching science is also a science. You know, we won't fully know
086what works until we do it and we will monitor and adjust as the real teacher experts say we need to. Speak to kids the FOSS kits. Okay. >> Would it be helpful if Krista talked about the kits themselves and how they compare to the FOSS materials? I I think that would probably be helpful. I have seen some of the resources in the back and stuff, but it would be great to have the comparison cuz obviously we did that adoption, we expected the FOSS kits to go well and and they haven't been utilized at the capacity we'd hoped. So, maybe why these kits are going to be different and easier for our teachers to utilize would be great to unpack a little bit more for me. Yeah, for sure. So, one thing right away is just
087the aesthetics of a clear tote. You can see what's in there versus something that looks like an old composition book, but if you open the drawers, you do see treasures inside. So, with this one you can see right off the bat what is there. Um, there's also very clear and color-coded inventory sheets. So, that'll be on I haven't fully decided yet, probably right on the side of the box. So, that will be very quick and easy to see in grades kindergarten through second grade. Yes, through kinder through second grade, they have one box per unit and each of those grades have four units. So, that's four boxes total. And then in third through sixth grade, same thing, but they also have what they call the essentials kit and that includes things I always use beakers
088for example, but you know beakers you will use in unit one as well as unit three. So, those kinds of things are just very easily easily organized in that one area and then you pull out the stuff for the others. Does that help? Yes, thank you for that clarity. Yeah, thank you. I mean, if no one else, I do have one more question. Okay. Um, I think my final question is thinking about this adoption all the way down to kind of the specific classrooms. So I think my question is when we're looking at our special education classrooms, especially when they're teaching multiple grades, what is that going to look like for them having access to resources and what type of material are special education classrooms getting because they may need materials below grade level because
089their students aren't at grade level, but they might have learners that are actually above grade level but have special needs for being in that classroom for other reasons that might need material above grade level on top of them teaching multiple grades typically in those special education classrooms. Yeah, thank you. That's a really good question and when we've been talking to the people who are experts in that, I just get so overwhelmed thinking they have to plan three lessons for math, three for ELA, three for science. That's a lot. So kudos to them for sure. For a kindergarten through sixth grade in the like we'll say the structured one two class, they will have the teacher editions for both first and second grade because they will know what needs to be taught. So they'll have the
090physical teacher editions and then they will have access same access as every student to the physical materials and the notebooks in the grades that that's appropriate. Great. So I think my follow-up question is if they need above or below grade level, will they have access beyond say first and second, say they need the kindergarten material or they need the third grade material cuz our special education learners could be double exceptional. They could be there for very specific reasons that are not So they may be above or below grade level technically. Yeah, so that'll be a learning process for me and all the people that work on on too and we'll work on that. There are digital um teacher editions that all teachers will have access to all grade levels and if they need additional support
091with the physical books, we'll make that happen and the materials they need. Okay, great. Thank you. >> Yeah, it seemed to me when I was looking over the materials, there were tiered sections for different levels of students in in in each grade level on the way up. Unless I was Is that correct, right? It's right in there, right? Okay, thank you. With the scaffolding. And then I would just note um that these materials are downloadable and that is very unusual for a curriculum company. So we could but if we needed to, if we couldn't purchase books, we could download them and print them for individual students or teachers. So yes, as she said, they'll be have access to all of the teachers editions, all of the student digital materials even offline. Um so they will
092have access. It's just a matter of how many of the physical books will be purchased. Any other comments? Questions? All right, I'll call for the question now then. Um all those in favor of adopting this science curriculum as presented, say I. I. I. All those opposed, say nay. Motion Any abstentions? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, ladies. Thank you for your hard work. Yay! Oh my gosh. All right, next on the agenda is items for approval G3, consideration and approval of Cobra administration health, life, and employee paid dental, vision, flexible spending account, short-term disability insurance providers and premiums for 2026-2027. Dr. Holmes. Well, first I want to say I am ready for that level of enthusiasm ABOUT INSURANCE. THANK YOU. IT'S A FANTASTIC EFFORT. MR. PRESIDENT, members of the board, we have for your consideration our
093employee benefits offerings including Cobra administration, health, life, employee employee paid dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, short-term disability insurance providers and all associated premiums and we recommend your approval. May I have a motion to approve the Cobra administration, health, life and employee paid dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, short-term disability insurance providers and premiums for 2026-27 as presented. So moved. Any board members wishing to make a comment? All right then, all those in favor say I. I. I. I. All those opposed say nay. Any abstentions? Abstain. So motion passes four yeses, zero nays and one abstention. Sure is. Yeah, man. Next on the agenda, items for approval G4, discussion and possible action to submit policy priorities for inclusion in the Arizona School Boards Association 2027 political agenda. At this time review the agenda items asked for the
094board discussion of priorities. Are you Are you reviewing them? I'm looking at you. >> You remember the last time we talked about this, right? It's basically approving what we approved before. Okay, any anybody want to talk about this? Or are we ready to take action? Yes, go ahead. Okay, I don't think it's a necessarily approving what we approved before. I mean I think it's what we approved as a group last time. Well, but we're allowed to go through and Yeah, we can revisit all these things. That's correct. Yeah, okay. Well That's what we're doing. I did. I I can give you my top five priorities if you would like them. I don't know if any Sure. >> body wants to take notes, but um So, going through the 2026 political agenda, um what I found
095interesting and I won't take a lot of time, but if you went to ASBA's website, they actually have put up the political agendas for the past 10 years and I found it fascinating. I sat on some of these committees and quite honestly, I chaired the committee that the 2016 agenda came out of. Um just to sort of see the evolution of the agenda over the last 10 years. Um it's grown a little bit more. It's also become more um focused in terms of putting things under topics as opposed it used to be uh on a timeline. We we basically had session specific, short-term, long-term and how that built, but that changed a couple years later. Um so, it's just I I have found it interesting to see what has kind of stayed over the last
09610 years um and what perhaps has been worked on. But, with that in mind, the five that I picked as priority um is under adequate and equitably funded districts district schools to national median per pupil spending was the second one second bullet point which is provide consistent dedicated source of base funding based on the most recent cost study that equips all Arizona public schools with adequate support to address the academic social emotional needs of its students including and then there's a very long list of items that are there. I actually wrote rationales if we want to use them and I think this you know helps ensure that we do have consistent sources of funding and allows districts to budget more effectively and improve fiscal sustainability stewardship and transparency and there's more to my rationale. The
097other one on excuse me the second one is still under this and it's the ninth bullet point which is in the second column which is eliminated unfunded mandates and administrative burdens because I think they add you know additional budgetary stress to districts and other governmental entities and they deplete deplete other resources including staff time. The third one I felt was appropriate was under the next category which is preserve respect and strengthen the local control and that would be uh It is the eighth bullet it's the second one in the second column which is oppose any legislation that intends to lessen or curtail the legal authority of locally elected school boards including their authority to approve curriculum and basically I think ASBA kind of pulled this one out as an example and I like the rationale
098so I won't repeat it cuz it's 8:00. The next one I thought would be good is under require public account Oh, no, excuse me. Is under improve outcomes and opportunities and outcomes for all students. It's second bullet point, second column, which is oppose regulations, policies, and restrictions that overburden or unreasonably penalize educators and support staff as they educate and care for students. Um our educators and staff are professionals and they work tirelessly and um we need to support them and not overburden or put, you know, restrictions in how their classrooms and schools function. Um and particularly as I knowing what's uh some of the pieces going on in the legislature right now, some of what's being considered, I also think that we should be opposing things that um for example, uh potentially target um uh
099our educators and staff when um they may be, for example, exercising their first amendment rights on personal time. Um another one I thought we should prioritize is the first bullet point under required public accountability and transparency for tax paid dollars spent on education, which is establish financial and academic transparency for all institutions, individuals who accept public funds, and I won't read more into that, but I that one may be one we've talked about before. Those are my five. I'm sorry, Ms. Greenberg, but I I got the the last four, but it took me a while to find my paper. What was the first one? The first one is the one Sorry, the first one is the second bullet point under the first category. So, it's the provide consistent dedicated source of base funding. The Which
100The first one? >> Under adequately and equitably fund the >> The district. >> The very first one there. The the second bullet point, which is the provide consistent dedicated source of base >> Yeah. Okay, thank you. Those are my five. All right. What else we got here? Who wants to go next? >> Anyone? Anyone? No. No. Cuz I like those, too. Especially the ones about local control and not penalizing our staff and and going after uh people in the district for this or that. Oops. Yes, go ahead. I do have one that I would like to add and I expect it might not go down with everyone else very well, but I'd happily put it out there and support something like this. So, under improve opportunities and outcome for student, um I actually very much
101like redefine the role and purpose of standardized tests and develop but develop meaningful assessments and other measurable outcomes. Um I you know, standardized tests don't work for every learner. Um and some of our students are are not doing well well because they don't fit a standardized testing model. I was one of those students, so to have us start to rethink um not only how we teach students, which we're already doing, but reconsidering how we might uh you know, do testing and things like that. I think that would be something I I would happily get behind and support, but I might be the only one. So. Well, thank you. And I believe we get we can have five and then two other additional ones, right? Well, the additional ones are supposed to be new. Supposedly, but
102we we could rework them. Yeah, reword and make it new. Yeah. You know. Rebranding. Any other input, Tara? I mean, I'll just say I support what my colleagues have put on the table, and I do not feel the need to add more. I always have trouble with this because I like all these things, right? But we have to prioritize them in Okay. Mhm. So, we could just agree on these five and make and rebrand the one about testing or rebrand a different one. What are your thoughts on that? Well, last year the the new ones from us did talk about standardized testing, so maybe we want to expand on it to kind of incorporate Yeah, I I think I'd be for something like that. I just think, you know, we we have a focus on
103standardized testing. I think that's something we all want to see done well in our district and done well with our learners. So, um I think, you know, finding a way to say that we we might just need to be a little creative or at least start thinking again about our standardized testing and how we begin to do that. I think would be an important thing, especially if we're trying to not be so standard in the classroom. So. So, my question is maybe this point let's rebrand that one and rewrite it at this if you have a specific verbage we could put to make it new, then we could vote on the whole package. Any ideas? Well, the one that we said and the one that we had last year that came in as new, we
104had written ensure standardized testing and assessment assessments are aligned with other states for improved national comparisons. So, maybe we want to I don't know. I mean, I'd be happy to put something like that forward again. Did it get accepted by them? Did they add it to their Obviously, it's not here. >> I don't see it. I don't >> Okay. Cuz yeah, I I mean, I'm >> you were the the delegate last year, right? Oh, yeah. I Whatever you guys put out, that's what I vote for and put forward. >> Yeah, cuz I would be up from for learning from other states and trying to figure out how we do this a bit better here and and try and take steps forward cuz we know other states have taken steps forward, so how do we begin
105to learn from those states and what they're doing and how might we align better with them? I'm just making some notes. Excuse me for a second here. I mean the other I mean we, you know, if we want to maybe expand on this last one when we, you know, talking about improved national comparisons and maybe Right, that's what I was down into what you were talking about. That's what I'm hearing like expand upon it so compare so ours fits in with other states and there's a border-to-border um consistency with standardized testing. Is that what you're saying? I think so and potentially learning from other states that are are changing in the positive direction and what are they doing different either in their standardized testing or their, you know, more expansive in the education in their
106classroom and how might we begin to think about how we might make changes here in Arizona. Not that this is going to happen overnight. This is, you know, thing that's going to take a very long time, but how can we begin to learn from other models out there? Okay, thank More us learning. A policy about us learning more. Right. Yeah, okay, I think I got what you're saying there. Any other comments about what we should be putting forward? Mrs. Christensen. It's more of a question. What >> All the governing boards do this and provide input and it's my understanding that they lobby to the legislature. Does I mean I'm going to ask a basic question. Does it make a difference? I mean, do does the legislature listen to the lobbyists for ASBA? I I just
107feel like we all the governing boards spend a lot of time doing this and then it's words and then the delegates meet and is it I mean I I I do understand the exercise, but um I I don't know. I mean maybe Mrs. Greenberg, if you have more experience and and President Pantera, cuz I've never been a delegate. Does it make a difference? Go ahead, Mrs. Greenberg. >> Well, I am actually back on the legislative committee and um we have been meeting uh kind of bi-weekly and ASBA's government relations director who just started in in December um has been keeping us updated on what he and and uh Lube have been doing. I would say yeah. Um it may not be as apparent um as but yes, I mean there there is like specific legislation
108that we've talked about. Um They're not I don't want to say they're doing this exactly, but in many ways they're kind of shaping how the government relations actions are working kind of like to what we used to have with CLN. So, there's definitely more input from folks and there's definitely and and you know, Jimmy was talking about a couple of things and you know talked to this senator, talked to that rep. You know, we managed to get this change. So, yeah, I actually do think you know, it it is that's art of lobbying um that that I and I I Do I I I couldn't tell you how successful, but it does sound like there are successes definitely. And And you know, this provides a blueprint. It doesn't provide everything. Um but it it has
109always served to give uh the government relations uh team direction. So, um Is it very important that legislature hears from hundreds of school boards about these issues? Uh if if they don't hear from us, they don't know about it. And that they may not make decisions that are always the way we want, but there's probably a lot of decisions they don't make that we don't hear about because they do know how we feel. It's hard to prove a negative is what I'm trying to say, and they're not going to make improvements in legislation unless they hear how all the school boards feel about what the needs are for the state. Yeah. So, just for me personally, I never feel that my voice is ever heard in any of these because I I don't really align
110with a lot of the what ASBA pushes, so it just for me it's kind of a moot point, and I I feel like it's an exercise in futility, but I I do understand what you're saying, and and school boards tend to align more with with ASBA and their beliefs, but yeah. Thank you. All right, then. I've got I've got these notes. Um Are we ready to take action is what I'm asking here. Yes. May have a motion to submit the priority issues for consideration for the 2027 Arizona School Board Association 2027 political agenda, and does a Mr. Miller to enter the mission on behalf of the governing board as discussed. So moved. Any more comments people would like to make on this? No. All All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say
111nay. Nay. Any abstentions? Motion passed with four yeses and one nay. One of my favorite parts. Next down the agenda is items for approval G5, acceptance of gifts and donations. At this time I'd like to thank all of donors and call out a few of our generous donors. Got this right here. For example, we've got um Suntech Concrete which donated $1,500 um to Boulder Creek Elementary School. Those are for items for Mrs. Kuby's classroom. La Casa de Cristo had $573.25 for incentive foods, folders, and field trips for the students at Chaparral Elementary School. Uh Dorito part de- it sounds like Doritos, but no, Dayrito Partners Incorporated uh $2,000 uh was donated in regard uh giving rewards for students at uh Echo Mountain Intermediate School. Shadow Mountain Red Cape Boosters um donated $2,005 for athletic trainer
112program supplies at North Canyon High School. What else we got here? These are just some of these. Uh Bashes, $1,000 for Paradise Valley High School for athletics program, their red zone tickets. Um Shh. Raise Team for College. $2,500 for student testing. That's for Pinnacle High School. Project Lead the Way Incorporated $15,000 at Pinnacle High School for STEM programming and engineering. Okay. Um Brown Brothers Harriman and Company um okay, helped out Shadow Mountain High School with $10,000 for the North Star Charitable Fund donation for the students and staff. Uh The Thunderbirds $1,500 for the boys golf program at Shadow Mountain High School. And $1,000 from Odas- Odyssey Operations Incorporated that was a school salute winner for band program, $1,000 at Shadow Mountain High School. These are just a few of the things our um community members
113are doing to help our schools and I we really appreciate them. Again, I would like to thank our donors for their generosity. May I have a motion for the acceptance of gifts and donations as presented? So moved. Any board members wishing to make a comment? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. All those opposed say nay. Any abstentions? Motion passes unanimously. Now we're at G6, consideration approval of administrative personnel actions. And we have a one blue card. Uh Tiffany Ruiz Ruiz Ruez, I'm sorry. Uh who would like to speak to this? Sorry, it's Ruiz, but you're fine. You're close enough. Um good evening board members and cabinet members as well. My name is J. Tiffany Ruiz and I am here tonight to discuss um I guess it'd be a creation of a
114new position as director of bond and construction. Uh I'm here today to I guess show concern um for the person who's being recommended for this position, Dr. Davis. Um the reason for my concern is because during my time at the district, I witnessed his failure of leadership in his department. Um not just through one school year, but through two at the Indian Bend now no longer existing campus that was basically destroyed because it was not kept up due to lack of I guess training and knowledge of his staff. Um to now the current Arrowhead or where the students are being placed at while the Indian Bend campus is being built. Um for months we reported to his department that we had brown water that we were serving our children with. His department said that it
115was okay to serve with that water um until it was decided what it was. We didn't take the proper steps to not serve them the water until it was tested that it could be contaminated um because I mean it was brown. I can I've sent you guys all pictures. You guys are all aware of this. Um I guess my concern is is that with him now being in charge of construction and bonds um he's going to now be able to I mean demolition ready. I mean that's basically what he's done to all the majority of our older schools. They're demolition ready and with bond money that I mean I I'm not sure what his background in general education is a doctorate in general education administration where that leads into this and the knowledge that comes
116with that to lead construction and bonds for us as taxpayers because currently his current leadership shows us that he's not prepared for that. Thank you guys. Thank you. Um Do we need a motion before we discuss it or you want to talk about it now, Dr. would you like me to present it? I would like it, Dr. Holmes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Pantera, Mr. President, members of the board, we have here consideration tonight in the um uh administrator employment actions that include resignations, a transfer, and administrative support. Uh we do understand from the public's perspective that four out of five of these requests would appear to be routine, but we we also um understand that the approval of Dr. Davis and the director uh the new director position uh is one that the um
117you know, we have obviously uh provided information to you last month about that. The public has not been privy to that. Uh so, I would like to make a few comments about that uh both as a reminder for the board uh and for the public's awareness. Uh number one, uh this is not an M&O position. Um but if approved, it will actually positively impact the M&O budget. Uh and second, this does not represent an additional administrative position. Uh this is effectively a reclassification of an existing uh COA administration uh administrative position uh from supervisor to director. Uh and we'd like to do that for a couple of reasons. Uh one, uh we want to elevate uh this position to have greater decision-making authority. Uh especially um that it is the largest budget that any director
118um would manage. Uh and second, I would share with you that we actually do have a gift uh in Dr. Davis in that um uh he he's a little bit more specific to his experience. He has a uh he has been a school principal at uh four different schools in two different districts. Uh and then most recently uh before coming back to uh Paradise Valley, uh he was the assistant superintendent of operations uh in Buckeye Elementary uh before coming to his current position as director of maintenance operations here. So, he has quite a bit of experience in this area and I will also share with you this would not be something that the public would be privy to but I will tell you that within our organization he is highly respected as an exceptional exceptional
119leader. And you can know specific to this role, he's quite frankly a bit of a unicorn in that he has the operational side experience paired with the school level experience. So, if you can imagine the day-to-day of of of a principal is not just instructional leadership. We like that to be their primary focus. But they do spend quite a bit of time walking walking the school with their custodial staff and and having to you know, be a part of you know, understanding what needs to be done physically on their campuses. So, he's he's had that experience in addition you know, to leading at at the district level. So, it really is um a unique set of experiences that he that he has that would be very difficult to find. So And by the way, on
120your experience Dr. Davis cuz I know you're just 25 years over there. Did I get that right? Is that I got it right. Okay. I was winging that a little bit. Um So So, I I want to say thank you Dr. Davis for for your for your leadership. I know especially among our leaders you're very appreciated for the work that you do. And then finally, I would also share that um in a presentation a little bit later this evening that I think is probably important for the board's consideration. We still are low in in overall administrative spending compared to our our peer districts and that's something that Miss Berrigan will share in her presentation in just a little bit. Thank you. So we need a motion before we can discuss this. Um I have moved
121that we approve consideration approval of administrative personnel actions. Do I have a So moved. >> Thank you. Any comments or questions from the board members? Dr. Lim. Yeah, so thinking about you know by no means any of the conversation I'm about to have is any indication about Dr. Davis. We know he is an excellent person. All of this is around questions around the change in this administration role and and kind of why we're doing this. So um so that being said, my question leads to the comment into question. So as kind of our enrollment numbers drop and we have are in a budget deficit and we are no longer in a growing continuous housing growth district. We really aren't in that space. Do we really have more bond and construction projects than we did 5
122or 10 years ago to really just justify this change at the administrative level? I I would tell you um the you know the amount of administration that we're we're committing is is not is not higher than other areas uh in our operational areas. Um but we certainly do have to have um you know as I stated earlier this this is would be the largest single budget that a that a director would manage. We really do need somebody um that that can manage um with foresight uh the expenditures of those dollars. We are very very fortunate uh to have taxpayer take that support our bonds. Um and so if we're going to be good stewards uh of of the monies that they are providing us to improve our schools and create better learning environments for our
123our students, it's our belief um that we have to uh have quality leadership in place uh to do that work. And and that is the the role that we are proposing. I mean, I'm I'm not sure you actually answered the question I asked. Let me, I guess, rephrase it a little bit. Um I see if I can we can get there. Um so, kind of thinking about this kind of in the role that Dr. Davis is doing right now. So, where is this role sitting and who is doing this right now? Are we on an island where no one's doing this work or is Dr. Davis doing this work right now as we speak under his current director role? >> We currently have a supervisor of bond and construction that supports to him uh reports
124to him as the director of um maintenance and operations. So, that person is currently making all our our bond and construction decisions, not >> No, he's he is not. He's he he is he is managing quite a bit of that work, but he does report to Dr. Davis. But Dr. Davis is currently doing that work under his director role. We're just adding another Like I'm I'm just trying to understand why we need this additional director position when he is already in a director's position. Go ahead. So, um we in some of the information we had shared with the board, first of all, we talked a little bit about the fact that this is a similar structure to what other districts are putting in place who have bond programs that are similar in size to ours
125and and in some cases even smaller than ours. When um when we can focus somebody at a director level over this type of work rather than a supervisor level, we can add additional responsibilities, additional expectations in terms of um the management or the oversight of projects rather than sourcing that out to third party, or sourcing that out um and and actually having a uh contractor oversee the work. So, for example, sometimes now, if we have to do um an HVAC project, uh Dr. Dr. Davis doesn't have the time to oversee that project, and so sometimes there's a contractor over that overseeing that. That's an additional cost to the district. So, part of it will be in that Dr. Davis will be able to do that work if we free him up from the other responsibilities
126under the current position. So, what you're saying is that that there's that a savings in the M&O right off the bat, but there's additional savings in that we don't have to hire these other subcontractors to do some of this work. There would be some additional savings at a bond. >> Uh thank you. Any other comments? Mrs. Christensen. So, that doesn't make sense to me if he's already doing the role, and we're not you're saying we're not adding a role, and the question from Dr. Lim was, who's who's doing it now? So, I'm hearing that nobody's doing it now, and we need it because I didn't hear the justification. We Are we going to increase enrollment by 10,000 students, and we're going to have to build new buildings and construction? I don't I I'm not following.
127So. We So, maybe to clarify, we currently recognize it as um 1.5 FTE that support bond currently. And with this change, it will still be 1.5 FTE. Okay. So, we're not adding a we're not adding a additional role. Correct. >> We're reorganizing. We're reorganizing, but >> Yes. So, I still don't understand who's doing the work now. So, between Dr. Davis and then when sometimes when we have a project like I gave the example of an HVAC project, but we have probably any like last summer for example, we had 350 projects throughout the summer and throughout the year. Some of those a third party has to manage those because Dr. Davis doesn't have the ability or the time to do that. If we can free him up as a director level, we should be able to
128achieve some of savings from not having to hire someone to necessarily oversee those projects. >> So, why would changing his title free somebody else up? Because then the other position then we will have two director positions and one supervisor position instead of two supervisor positions, one director position along with the level of responsibility that it takes to manage multi-million dollars. I think the current amount for bond is about 90 million dollars for the year. So, it's a significant budget amount. Okay, maybe I'm I'm just not smart enough to understand this, but if we have X number of work and we have two individuals doing the work but and then we change a title of another of one individual and then the work is going to be easier because somehow some work is going to be
129removed. I I the math isn't adding up for me. I I I don't understand. We we are reorganizing how the work is being done. It's the same number of people managing the work. And it sounds like we're re-capturing some currently third-party outsourced work and bringing it in house. We expect to do that. Okay, and so I just have a couple of questions. Um cuz we're talking about enrollment and we're tying it to this and maybe I'm missing something, but I actually don't think that enrollment has anything at all to do with this topic. I mean, we have the buildings that we have. We have the And this isn't just new construction, correct? This is oversight of all the bond money, which means everything that we vote on all the time, from roofs to asphalt to
130concrete to carpeting to I mean, literally paint, literally everything that is potentially coming out of a bond. Correct. bucket, so to speak, right? So, um that's part of the challenge, right? We lose We we lose enrollment. We all know that that's happening, unfortunately. That doesn't reduce necessarily the cost to operate a very large school district. That's the challenges that we continue to have. This is why we're having the conversations ongoing, right, about repurposing certain buildings and doing those kinds of things. Again, that said, I we we we know just even from this current agenda, right, how many items would fall potentially under that bond, right, dollars. Um we're not seeing necessarily a reduction in that because we're seeing a decline in enrollment. So, if we don't want to lose more students, I think we need
131to be very, um on top of it, and making sure that we have safe facilities, and we have the ability to plan ahead. So, um if you So, to kind of maybe give a little bit more clarity for me around, again, like the this this role, um it Would there then maybe also be the opportunity for And what's the the title again? Director of Bond and Construction. >> Director of Bond and Construction to um even kind of be like plan ahead in maybe a way that we haven't necessarily been able to under a Director of Facilities position, cuz it seems to me, I would imagine, like as a Director of Facilities, you're running around all the time trying to address emerging HVAC's not working here. You need to come check that out. So, he's not
132having to be physically going around to do those kinds of things. Is that part of what >> That's correct. And we've given the Miss Wani, we've given the board a little bit of a preview of an agenda item coming in the second April meeting related to master capital planning. And you know, one of the things I most appreciate about Dr. Davis is his forward thinking and I think that comes from his time spent on school campuses and understanding the importance of a well-maintained building and how that can just make the day run more successfully for the staff and students that are located in in our schools. And that master capital planning will help ensure that moving forward the schools that we have remaining are in the best possible shape. So So that would be an
133additional >> Correct. >> thing that we don't have right now. Correct. >> And I just also want to highlight I've heard at least I think this board in a lot of different areas and spaces ask for proactive Correct. >> thinking um right? Like long-term so we don't feel like we're having to react all the time. So I actually want to say thank you because I feel like this very much addresses for me an ongoing um concern, right? That I that I recognize is is not not anybody's fault, right? At the end of the day we have the resources that we have and people are spread very, very thin and I think this is a very great solution um and and I really appreciate the solution and I really do feel like it's it addresses something
134that maybe not necessarily specific to the operation of our buildings that we've talked about, but to me that's a huge piece of this puzzle as we move forward to talk about master planning you know, school designated purposes, programs, all of these other things. So um that I think that that helps me really sort of understand a lot more the the roles and so we would have director of Sorry, bond >> construction. Bond and construction, director of facilities. >> Director of maintenance and operation. Maintenance and thank you very much for correcting me. And then do we also we keep the supervisor? No. >> One one supervisor. >> One supervisor. So there's two supervisors, Yes. We have We have one in for facilities and one for bond. Okay, so that So, now the supervisor does both of
135those and reports. >> The The supervisor will continue to have responsibilities in the facilities area. And there will There will not be a supervisor of bonded construction because we are effectively elevating that um to a director position. Because ultimately what we see here, if I'm trying to make it very simple for the board, uh is that we are seeing an opportunity to reorganize the way we manage uh that we believe will be more effective for the overall operation without adding additional FTE. And paid through bond dollars. Yes. Mr. Greenberg. Yeah, that last piece was the other piece I wanted to bring in, which is, you know, we have continually asked Dr. Corson and cabinet to come up with ways to uh you know, save money and and you know, bring down the red. Um this
136is one of those ways by um creating this position, it will be paid by bond dollars and that And what is that savings that we're looking at? Yeah, 90 95? I believe it's $93,000. >> $93,000. $92,719. Thank you. I think that's um by simply reorganizing in the way we are. So, I appreciate that. Um I appreciate that another piece of this is that it opens up um a new administrative position. Um as much as I enjoy that Dr. Davis is back, he's not going to stay forever. Um and I appreciate that this provides yet another opportunity to um bring somebody in at a director level and and train them and have that that uh administrative capacity. Um So to me this is a win-win and I want to thank everybody for coming up with this
137you know this piece of the solution to help reduce the red as well as um you know continue to have Dr. Davis provide his expertise and and oversight and potentially increase savings in other areas if we are not using uh third-party vendors to the extent we've had to. Thank you. Yes, I too think it seems like a fiscally responsible thing to do to get our help our budget move along. Um any other comments here any any more want to It's any more comments questions? Dr. Lim. Yeah, I guess uh I mean maybe any other year this might be something I would probably be supportive but given the cuts we're asking for our schools to do right now as they constantly are asking to strip back their specialist their certified staff and work at the bare
138minimum and do so many extra things feels kind of disappointing that we're changing our administrative footprint at all at this moment given that we're asking our schools to do so much. So at any other time this might be something I'd be interested in considering but given the cuts that we're asking our schools to do at the deficit that we currently have it's just not something I feel good about or a change that I really can stand behind. Mrs. Christiansen. Yes, and we are we need to really concentrate on dollars in the classroom and focusing on how we can increase achievement. We're losing reading specialists in title one schools. We are we're losing um families because they're complaining that the teacher ratios are too high at schools like Sandpiper. We just we spent multiple millions of
139dollars on a school that that has fallen under 500 enrollment and it seems like we're still governing 20 like we were 20 years ago when we were growing. And um the other thing I want to mention, it does not matter what bucket it comes. I do understand that there's different buckets and while we're not using it for M&O, it's all taxpayer dollars. So, whether it comes from bond, whether it comes from M&O, it's still taxpayer dollars and I do understand that the overall budget that we look at concentrates on um what what comes out of that other bucket, but it you know, it it's kind of a little bit um a slap in the face to taxpayers to say that well, it's it's a savings because it's an increase in um the dollar amount, but
140it's coming from this dollar this bucket versus this bucket. So, I I'm having a hard time with that. And then doc um Ms. Greenberg mentioned something about freeing up to bring somebody else in. So, maybe I misunderstood you, but it's my understanding that we're not adding any staff. So, >> That's correct. >> explain what you said about freeing somebody else up to do a different role? Maybe I misunderstood you. >> Well, I'm just saying that in creating a director position, we are creating um you know, I think we're expanding our administrative capacity um and bringing you know, whether whether the ultimate candidate brought forward is is internal or external, that's a that's a different level than a supervisor and and you know, who knows where, you know, folks go on from there, but I think
141that's a leader's, you know, expanding leadership capacity by creating by moving this into a director position. That's I don't know if I explained it. I think I'd want to um you know, say that one of one of part of what we're trying to do is give the board confidence that we are constantly thinking creatively uh about, you know, how we can spend our dollars in the most efficient ways. And you're right, Mrs. Christensen, we we do have um you know, different pots of of money and and they have different uses and different um uh legal uses. And so, it is a a bit of a challenge for us to, you know, think about how we can uh you know, use those in ways that are in fact uh most beneficial um you know, for you
142know, doing what we primarily do, which is instruct students. So, you know, in in in this particular case, uh in this particular year, um you know, we're we're not making uh changes to uh to our staffing at our sites. We are reducing a couple of um uh positions that represent administrative cost. Um uh but we are otherwise not cutting staff uh in the district. Mrs. Warning. So, um just a question. So, if So, if it's we're no longer utilizing $90,000 worth in of M&O funds. And so, could the are those funds, I'm going to assume, will be real reallocated in some way, shape, or fashion directly into the classroom in a way that bond dollars simply cannot. So, I do think it is sort of relevant, right? Because M&O dollars could be used for teacher
143salary, for example. Is that correct? Uh yes, and you know, you know, specifically one of the things that we're trying to achieve that that you know, uh is that we were were trying to achieve the conversion of uh nine of our TOA positions to assistant principal positions. Um because we one of the things we recognize is the the importance of school leadership. Uh you ask any teacher, um the importance of of good leadership cannot be understated. Uh and this is a place in our structure where we feel like we uh need to do um a better job in terms of providing a career structure that that uh helps us get our uh you know, gets gets people prepared to be uh quality leaders in our school district. So, we we view that as an as
144an incredible positive uh for what we're doing in PV schools. Seeing no further comments, I guess we'll Well, I didn't see a hand go. I'm sorry. >> this position be a a bond dollars? Because bonds go to buildings and technology, not for people. So, how are you classifying You can absolutely use bond dollars for somebody who works solely on bond projects, or if they have a portion of their job that they work on bond projects, you can code a portion of their salary to it. It is completely allowable. >> So, are we coding 100% of his salary >> 100% will be to bond. So, he's he will be solely on bond and construction. >> He will be solely bond and construction. So, going back to the original question that Dr. Lim had, he was wearing
145many hats, and somebody else is going to be doing that, but I feel like it's creating a hole if he's not allowed to do any of the other responsibilities that he had because he has to Well, we If we're If we're going to abide by the law We not Go ahead. Sorry, I was just saying we we currently the supervisor that we've mentioned currently only works in bond and construction. So, we we have we have one person in the district right now whose entire job is in bond and construction. That job is being eliminated. Pardon me. And this job will take its place. So, we will continue to have a one person whose sole job is bond and construction. Are there any other comments or questions? All right, then I'll call for the the the
146the item consideration approval of administrator of personnel actions. Uh it's already been moved, so all those in favor say I. I. All those opposed say nay. Nay. So, it looks sounded to me like three I's and two nays. And the motion passes. Next we have G7 which is consideration approval of secondary leadership professional travel request. Um would um Dr. Corson or Dr. Somebody like to speak? What I'll turn that over to Dr. Sweeney. President Pantera, members of the governing board, guests, um this item seeks approval for uh a PVI school teacher, Mr. Troug, to attend a Jostens uh university workshop for yearbook and um this individual is experienced in yearbook, but he has used a different platform than Jostens in previous uh assignments he's had. So, it's a multi-day in-depth training. Um as you probably
147are aware, yearbook is aligned with CTE curriculum. Uh it's a class for students to earn credit in. It's a big job. It's a lot of work and uh God bless the people who take it on. Uh we are recommending approval of it. It is in July. He's not missing any work time. Um it is a trip to uh Texas, I believe. And um when he comes back, he'll be able to not only teach the class well and work with the kids and create a great yearbook, but be a resource to his peers. Uh that's a pretty uh tight group of people who do these yearbooks. And so, we do recommend approval. Thank you. I need a motion to uh to approve the consideration approval of secondary leadership professional travel request. So moved. Discussion? Questions? Mrs.
148Christiansen? Yeah. Kind of a follow-up on the last discussion. We are losing students in our district. And uh to me, out-of-state travel is a luxury. I have I I don't understand why we would send anybody for a yearbook conference for out-of-state travel. And I do understand that we're changing, but he's very well experienced. And I've worked on yearbook, too, as and it I think that somebody that has worked on yearbook for that many years can kind of figure it out. We also have Jostens local, and I'm sure there's a rep that can help guide us if we have issues, but maybe I'm just a little bit naive on on this matter, but to me that seems like an excessive a three-day trip for one person to go to a yearbook conference. Yes, I'm I'm glad
149to respond to that. So, yearbook has probably changed since you did it. It's uh it's pretty complicated, pretty sophisticated. The platforms that they use are very specialized. Uh we did inquire if there were online training opportunities available for this or even the opportunity for us to host it. And the answer to both of those is no. Uh this is the only opportunity for him. And I would also suggest in uh terms of enrollment um for many students, yearbook is like the biggest thing they have. I mean, it's great. That's they live, breathe, and uh that's their thing for at least a year. So, uh for for many kids, it's a multi-year experience for them. So, uh having a sponsor who knows what they're doing and is is skilled at it and familiar with the platform,
150yeah, I believe is money well spent. Yeah, it was the same platform that he's familiar with, Balfour, that I did. So, it wasn't that long ago, so I did help out with that. Um so, thank you for that explanation. I still think that he's probably resourceful enough to figure it out without having to go to on out-of-state travel to Texas for three days, but thank you for the explanation. And again, where are these funds coming from? Uh PBHS is using their dual enrollment funds, which is money they generate um through their partnership with the community college in the dual enrollment classes that uh they offer on their campus. So, they basically raise this money for this purpose. There's quite a bit of flexibility on how they can use their dual enrollment funds to support their
151academic programs. Thank you. Dr. Lim. Um I I think I have two questions. First, is this a new teacher to our district? Are they or are they a long-standing I do not believe he's new to the district, but he's new to uh this assignment and using this platform. Okay. And is Jostens the typical platform we've been using in PV for our yearbooks or is this a transition of what is the I believe most all of our high schools use Jostens. The information we I'm sorry, may I speak? Mrs. Christensen. Yeah, the um information that was provided to the board says that he was not new yearbooks, but new to Jostens after working with Balfour for years. So, it's just a different platform and it'll help familiarize him with a new Jostens system. It's still yearbook.
152I guess I'm trying to just wrap my mind around this. It like are we adopting a new platform or is this a platform we've used in the past? I guess I'm trying to understand what the need for this particular change is and why we're making this change to this new platform or is this a platform we have and it's a new teacher going in to learn it. Like I guess I just don't understand those pieces and I don't think the material we had clarified that enough. So, if someone has the answer, that would be so helpful. I do not have that answer, but we could get that for you. Yeah, that that was my same sort of question was I just wanted to try to understand. So, obviously he's very well he's been here. He's
153well versed in this other platform. He's going to learn this platform. Is that because there are classes that teach both and he wants to be able to do both or are we moving away from the other one? I had that same sort of thought and question. The only and the only other thing, since I'm talking anyway, that I'll just get out really quick is it seems from the information that we got that it is not just limited to yearbook. It also is um to support classes in journalism and other CTE special classes. Is that I think that that's helpful if if that is the case to sort of understand the scope of the district or the >> a connection there that uh it's believed he will be a resource for um these other teachers in
154the in those areas that are CTE aligned. Thank you. Mrs. Greenburg. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but if um PV is using is is requesting the that this be paid for through their dual enrollment funds, then this is something that PV High School would like to have happen to improve instruction. Correct? That is correct. This request came from the principal and was approved by the principal and the principal makes that decision of the willingness to use dual enrollment funds to pay for that. Okay, thank you. Any other comments? And let's put to the vote. All those in favor in favor of consideration and approval of secondary leadership professional travel request, say I. I. Opposed, say nay. Nay. Any abstentions? I abstain. So, that's three eyes and one nay and one abstention. Motion passes. Thank
155you. Okay, that takes care of all those items. Let me get back in my script. Like state testing. I did that, did that. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. I was call the public, I believe, right? All right. It's time for call the call to the pub Next on the agenda is call to the public. Please turn your attention to the video monitors for the next section. Call to the public is about to convene. This portion of today's meeting allows the public the opportunity to address the governing board. Although state law does not require that the governing board hold a call to the public, the Paradise Valley Unified School District and its board have chosen to do so because we believe it's important to hear about concerns and issues from our community. While call to the
156public is not designed to be a discussion, the board is here to listen. Due to Arizona Open Meeting Law, the governing board cannot respond to, discuss, or take any action on items brought up during this time. However, staff members may be directed to get back to you and address individual concerns. As a reminder, the point of this and every board meeting is to accomplish the business at hand and to be able to do so in an open and collaborative way. All in attendance are expected to observe meeting rules as well as rules of politeness and decorum so that we may serve as an example to our students that issues can be discussed in a respectful and civil manner. Tonight we have three people who have submitted comment cards prior to the start of the meeting.
157Each speaker will have 3 minutes for remarks. As a reminder, we ask that you please direct your comments to the board. And when you come up, please state your first and last name when you come to the podium. Our first speaker is Kira Quo. And that will be followed by Tiffany Ruiz. Oh, did I say it right? I Ruiz? Okay. President Fincher, good evening. I'm Dr. Kira Quo. I'm here because the district is narrowing my formal complaint into a parent communication issue. It is not. My complaints document manager reporting issues, falsified records, administrative fraud, retaliation, suppression of evidence, and violations of a court decree. These are statutory violations. On February 17th, my son was intentionally poisoned. The school waited 13 days to notify me and 40 days to notify law enforcement. Under ARS 13-3620, harm
158to a child must be reported immediately. On body cam, the principal asked police why would we when asked by police why it was not reported to CPS. That is a failure to report. I notified this board on March 5th. Under SB 1437, every board member became a mandatory reporter at that moment. Yet, no one reported it. That is a district-wide failure. I repeatedly requested the February 17th investigation documents. The principal refused. Withholding public records violates ARS 38-421, 13-2407, and 13-2409, especially under a litigation hold. These were also withheld from Phoenix PD on March 27th. April 2nd, my son reported physical handling by his teacher. Instead of calling police, the principal handled it internally, allegedly listing a witness who wasn't there, and telling the nurse the injury was from recess. This is a pattern. April 8th,
159the principal violated a family court order by reinserting the other parent into a private email thread. The decree requires the school to remain neutral territory. Staff cannot act as messengers between parents. Despite this, the principal all of this, the principal remains on campus questioning my son and influencing staff. This constitutes negligent retention under ARS 12-820.02 and undermines investigation. I do not object to being investigated. I object to who is investigating. Assigning colleagues like Heidi Lindsey, Diana Elise, Christopher Asmusson, Shawn Holmes is a conflict of interest. A peer cannot investigate a peer. It is not credible. Tonight I am requesting a neutral external third party investigator, immediate administrative leave for Principal Maynard, production of the February 13th, uh February 17th, and April 2nd records as required by law, a safety plan ensuring my son is never
160alone with the principal or involved teacher, confirmation the investigation includes all listed misconduct, not just communication issues. If it applied to Todd Cummings, it applies to all. I ask this board to uphold its duty under Arizona law and district policy. My son deserves to be safe. Every child does. Thank you. Next to speak is Tiffany She just stepped out, not here. Oh. Then no. The next will be William Snyder. Good evening. Thank you for allowing this opportunity for me to speak. Uh my name is William Snyder. I am the owner of a business that recruit school bus drivers for school districts nationwide. I'm aware that uh PV is in a situation where it has a need, like so many other districts, to find school bus drivers. I would like to take this opportunity to provide
161learnings, findings, tips, and tricks from my years doing this that you may find useful and help you in your quest. The One of the keys to our success has been to kind of segregate and look for certain types of people who we think end up making excellent candidates for school bus drivers and are not necessarily the people you might think. One of them is executives and white level white-collar people who are out of work. This is a perfect opportunity for a person who was looking for a job because this person can work for 4 hours in the morning and then have the hours of, let's say, 9:00 to 1:00 to go out and try and find his or herself a job, interviews, what have you, and then they come back and finish the job in
162the afternoon. This is a wonderful place to look for people who are uh who might be very interested in this position. Empty nesters who miss the opportunity to be with children all day. Many of them enjoy an opportunity like this and welcome it. Uh retired public service officials, safety officials, such as policemen, uh firefighters, and also ex-military are individuals who chose their who chose their professions because they wished to help people. It's what they wanted to do. So, this is something that is in their blood. Additionally, having an ex-cop as your driver can help a lot with discipline and the students. Uh and there are many other things that uh I have found during my time. I would be happy to share with you, but of course I have a 3-minute limit, and that is
163what I wanted to provide, and I wish you luck. Thank you. That concludes our calls from the public. Next is items for discussion. Uh Is it I one consideration of proposed calendar recommendations for school year 2027-2028, 2028-2029, 2029-2030 and 2030-2031. Uh Dr. Lindsey. Thank you. Good evening again, President Pantera, governing board members, Superintendent Corson, cabinet and guests. Tonight I am excited to share the district calendar committee's recommend- recommendation for the 2027 through 2031 district calendars. If you recall at our study session back in February, I provided an overview of the scope of the committee, the parameters we were working within and the processes used to develop calendar drafts and obtain community feedback. Tonight I will provide an update about those items, the feedback from our community on the draft options and the final recommendation on
164a set of calendars for your consideration. I would like to Oh, and I need to click at the same time, so. I would like to begin by recognizing our fantastic committee members. A call to committee was sent back in fall um to each of the PB stakeholders- PB school stakeholder groups. Each group provided three representatives that made up our 15-member committee and I want to sincerely thank them for stepping up and dedicating their time to this work. They were a fantastic group to work with and I also want to thank our executive administrator um assistant Becky Carson for all her hard work behind the scenes. This was no small feat and I certainly appreciate her efforts on this project. And I know some of the folks from the committee are here today and they're wrapping
165their calendar committee buttons, so thank you for being here. The As the district embarked on the process of creating the school calendars every 4 years or we do that every 4 years, as the facilitator I am grateful to have the resources and connections from previous committees to both married the tradition and also with the perspectives of today. The charge of our committee is outlined in governing board policy regulation IC-R calendar design parameters. We created calendar draft calendar design drafts that adhere to state law requirements and legal holidays. And over the course of 3 months the committee met to create these drafts while also considering religious observances, past experiences of our district, and current feedback from our community and stakeholder groups. This led us to tonight a final recommendation presented to all of you for your
166consideration and approval. During our first meeting the committee established several guiding principles for our work. While our members in committee bring diverse perspectives, calendars are a hot topic, we agreed that students must be at the center. Our priority is to is to support student learning, ensure access to learning, and promote their well-being. We also set shared expectations for how we would work together throughout the process with respect, collaboration, and open dialogue. Not only did we want to deliver on the outcome of a recommended set of calendars, we wanted to be sure this was a positive experience for our committee members. We are very grateful for their time and dedication to our district and the diverse perspectives. And a positive committee experience strength- strengthens the relationships and reflects the collaborative culture we value so much in
167our district. Our work is guided by several state requirements and district priorities. First, the state requires 180 instructional days and the observance of federal holidays. In addition, our district parameters include ending semester one before winter break, so there is a natural break between semesters and high school students do not have to take their finals two weeks after after two weeks away from school. Um also scheduling spring break after quarter three. We want to make sure we have a unified K-12 calendar with the exception of parent-teacher conferences between element elementary and secondary and then the high school finals. Um we also want to prioritize balanced semesters and maximize instructional days before students participate in those high stake assessments that are happening right now in late March and in April. We also um are charged to consider
168starting the school year as late as possible in the summer while avoiding a Monday start date. Nobody likes to start school on a Monday. Finally, it's important to note that this committee does not determine early release professional development days. That work occurs after the primary calendar is approved. Parent-teacher conferences will be included to align with quarter schedules, but those final details will be confirmed after approval. In addition to those parameters, you may recall the slide from our February study session. This highlights the additional context the committee considered as part of draft calendar development. We received feedback from stakeholders in previous calendar cycles. We spent time looking at attendance implications. For example, we know that short weeks have higher absenteeism and we aim for continuous learning in full weeks as much as possible. While we know
169that several in the community want to start school as late in the summer as possible, we have to balance that with getting in our 100 required our required 180 days and also ensuring that our students have as much instructional time again before they take their state assessments. At our first meeting, our committee reviewed district calendar across district calendars across the valley. We compared them to our own and identify the positives and the negatives. And finally, the committee incorporated current state holder feedback to guide the work. It was important to us to obtain feedback from our families and staff before calendar draft development. An initial stakeholder feedback survey was conducted from January 23rd through February 3rd. Surveys were sent through Parent Square and email notification to families and staff. These were sent per our student information
170system using language preferences set by families. We used our new survey platform Qualtrics and reminders were posted on social media and through school newsletters. This preliminary survey was was used to gauge feedback primarily about fall and winter break as well as spring break preferences. Surveys were sent to over 34,000 people with 3,155 responses resulting in a 9.23% participation rate. As you can see, the majority of respondents favored a full break full fall break near or at the end of the first quarter and a spring break that is the same week in March each year. This feedback was then used by the committee to guide the calendar draft development and weigh various options. As a result of the February 19th Governing Board study session, three primary considerations were identified. Those high summer temperatures in late July
171and early August, the community's preference for a later start to the school year, and ensuring continued alignment with AIA sports schedules and and season for student athletes. United Parent Council was also updated on the calendar committee's progress by their community representatives on February 18th. As part of that feedback, they also asked the committee to consider the extreme heat at the start of the school year resulting in those heat advisories and dreaded indoor recesses. Um and try to begin the school year as late as possible in August. While those need these needs had already been a part of our the committee's discussion, we did do some additional research on the issue of heat. You will see that information on the next slide. We also consulted with the district's athletic director, Mr. Newland, and confirmed that the
172drafts the committee had been working on aligned with AIA. It goes without saying that Arizona summer heat is a challenge, especially when school typically starts in August. This was an important consideration in our calendar planning. As part of the committee's work, we reviewed average weekly high temperatures for July and August over the past 2 years and also reviewed 6 years of August temperature data, which is indicated on the slide. As you can see, the extreme heat largely persists through the entire month of August with a little fluctuation depending on the year. Waiting to start to start school until temperatures consistently drop below 105 or even 100°, as some have suggested, would require a a a September start date, pushing the end of the school year to mid-June, which it does have negative implications. Two of
173those implications include a a potential later high school graduation and also decreased instructional time before state testing. This is an unfortunate trade-off we had to consider when developing the draft calendar sets. Our committee then continued to work on calendar draft options while keeping all of the context in mind. Because many major holidays occur in the fall semester, we determined the number of days PV schools must observe. From there, we developed calendar options that balance semesters, attend to student instructional time before testing, honor major religious holidays, and end the school year before Memorial Day in May to allow both for high school graduation and summer school opportunities in June. This work resulted in three drafts represented on this slide. Option one offers one full week for fall break after quarter one, three days observed for Thanksgiving,
174and one fall full week for spring break in the second week of March. The school ends midweek in late May. This is considered our {quote} traditional approach and it is the it is the most familiar to our stakeholders. A drawback is is that it does not allow for a consistent midweek start each of the four years. School year 2030-31 would begin on Monday, August 5th. Option two offers one full week for fall break after quarter one, one full week during the week of Thanksgiving, which would be a new practice for the district, and one full week for spring break in the second full week of March. School consistently ends at on a Thursday in late May. While the three of the four school years do provide for a full week of Thanksgiving off, the 29-30
175school year cannot accommodate the accommodate this due to multiple midweek fall holidays. Therefore, the 29-30 school year would observe the traditional three days of Thanksgiving. This is important to note because if you recall this year, we did not have a full week fall break. Rather, we had a couple of long weekends. And again, this was due to our district's commitment to honor major religious holidays. Finally, option three offers no fall break in October, provides one full week for Thanksgiving, and one full week for spring break in the second full week of March. School consistently ends on a Thursday in late May. While this option does provide the latest start date, it does not provide the fall break or long weekends in October that the district has become accustomed to. These three options all adhere to
176Arizona's required 180 instructional days, align with federally observed holidays, and conclude before Memorial Day. After draft development, we then sent a second survey to families and staff on March 4th. This survey was open through March 13th. Surveys were sent again through Parent Square and email notification to families and staff. These were sent per student information system using language preferences set by families, just like the first one. This time we received 2,800 responses, which is an overall overall percentage participation rate of 8.39%. The graph on this slide shows the stakeholder response break breakdown. Of the 2,868 responses, 60% of those were parents and guardians, 22% from our certified staff, 8% from ESPs, 8% from administrators, and 2% from parents that are also employees. Now for the results. For the results, 48% of our community selected option
177two, the full week fall break and the full week Thanksgiving break as the preferred option. This was followed by 33% favoring what we've called the traditional calendar. And then finally, 19% of respondents favored no fall break in October, but rather the week of Thanksgiving as the break. In addition to these percentages, many respondents included rationale for their preferences in open-ended comments, and this feedback was was reviewed as well. To further break down the survey outcomes, we reviewed the results by stakeholder group. The light blue bar represents option one, option two is in orange, and option three is in dark blue. As you can see, 62% of administrators that completed the survey selected option two, as well as 64% of certified staff, 57% of ESPs, 41% of parents and guardians, and 54% of of parents and
178guardians that also work within the district. Therefore, based on all of the context reviewed, including the stakeholder feedback, the district calendar committee recommends option two, the full-week fall break and full-week Thanksgiving break, along with the full-week and and for spring break for the 2027-2031 school years. Cabinet supports this recommendation for governing board consideration and possible approval. While these calendars are hard to read in this um presentation, they are available for the public as part of this agenda within Diligent, and if the board uh approves and for this after the second read, we will distribute these in multiple ways. So, these are just some screenshots of those calendars for the uh 4 years. This brings me to the end of the presentation, and at this time I'm happy to answer your questions and listen to your
179feedback. Uh thank you for that thorough report and all the work that was done in a committee that I never want to serve on because it sounds like a real nightmare. Um thank you. Don't call me when I'm off the board. I'm not going to serve. >> The committee >> would not agree with that. Yeah. President Cantero. uh comments uh Who would like to go first? I heard from a lot of committee members that it was fun. That it was engaging and it was fun and you had all kinds of materials and movement and so thank you and the work this this is I think so comprehensive and helpful and so all around thank you so much and thank you for making it a nice experience because I would have thought the same like I
180don't want anything to do with that committee but everybody was like they want they're ready to sign up again for the next the next iteration. So, thank you and thank you to the committee members. Thank you. Um Any other comments? Somebody? Anybody? Dr. Juan? Uh Dr. Lim? Yeah, so I have a comment and then I do have two questions. Um more just clarification questions. Um so I've known people who sit on this committee before and they've said they imagine they're going to come in and make the perfect calendar and then they arrive and they realize it's nearly impossible to make the perfect calendar. So, props to all the hard work you guys have put in especially bringing us a calendar that doesn't follow the traditional pattern we've done in PV and we see significant support
181at least uh from the individuals that did the surveys which leads to my first question. Is our participation participation rate being 9% and 8% are normal for PV for people participating in our surveys? So, I went back and thank you for the question Dr. Lim. I went we went back and looked at the um survey percentage completion the last time we did this and we used um Google Forms. So, this is a much robust platform so we were able to like just look at duplicate responses and just have more sophistication in looking at that. Um just a quick glance showed a higher percent participation rate last time as compared to this time but I I think that there was some nuances with the data um because of what I just said. And yeah, we would
182have liked to have more to be honest, you know, in in terms of participation. Yeah, and I think my hope just there is now that we have such a robust system that can help clean up the data is what measures can we take next to try and get more engagement from our parents just more generally which kind of leads to my looking at the results. I do have one question there really more for clarification and how we're going to support families. So obviously if we look at the results parents and guardian we do have 37% that would prefer a traditional fall schedule and we can predict why that's happening and I bet you have qualitative data that indicates why some of those families are but some of those might be families that don't know how
183they're going to accommodate three full weeks plus winter break either it's going to be an additional cost cuz they're going to need to take part in some sort of camp or they may be from a low-income school and the meals are being provided by the school and they may have have a food scarcity. So that having whole weeks off maybe challenging for those families and for reasons they would like more days in in the classroom with less big breaks off. So are we going to kind of be kind of testing the water with our schools to make sure we're meeting the needs of say those families that that extra week off means an extra week without meals for those families to try and bridge those gaps either in resources that we already have or partnering
184with our local food clinic or food pantries to make sure those families are bridged during that time cuz maybe they can find the care but they can't find the resources for the food. So like are we going to be making sure to listen to the schools and kind of try and help bridge this gap that's probably created by sheer accident of making this change. Yeah, that's a really good point and something that we'll definitely have to pay attention to, especially with the change with Thanksgiving. Um luckily, we have a lot of um activities already in place around Thanksgiving with food boxes, and our schools do a lot of things with, you know, um trying to support families that are in need of food around that holiday. So, you know, that would support that during that
185week. But, we can certainly explore um you know, more support through our partnerships with the food bank and, you know, our our meal program and extra resources um that come through nutrition. Yeah, I think just helping make sure that it's getting to our schools cuz not all of our our low-income families are going to be at our Title 1 schools. They might actually be at some of our other schools. So, just making sure this information makes its way down through all of our schools so that they can find resources as well as promoting that we have MASCOT during all of that time for the families that are like, "Oh, no, what am I going to do during those days off?" that we actually have a facility, which leads probably to my final question. Do we
186expect to see an increased enrollment in our MASCOT programs given that we're going to have full weeks off for Thanksgiving and things like that and cuz I know we offer it for the first Are we going to offer it for the first couple days leading up to Thanksgiving given that families traditionally didn't have those days off? Yes, that's a great question. So, Ms. Wilcox and I spent some time um reviewing that and it seems like the last couple years our participation on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we just didn't get the need, so we didn't offer it. But, you know, if this option is approved by the board, we uh community ed will provide MASCOT for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the week of Thanksgiving um you know, when this calendar goes into effect. Great. And then if
187we see an increase in uptake and use of our MASCOT cuz we're doing a good job promoting it, but also families are now having to bridge bigger breaks, so they may be using MASCOT more regularly. Are we going to be able to staff the site or are we at a Have we been reaching our cap every time at those camps? We have not been reaching our camp and Mr. Wilcox did not indicate any concerns about being able to staff it. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. In regards to the Thanksgiving issue, you know, I know organizations that help people during that time, they don't just give them for 1 or 2 days. I know the Elks for sure, 335 over here, they do a food basket. It's a a week's worth of worth of food. So,
188whether it's 2 days or 3 or the whole week, they're going to get food for the whole thing. Mrs. Greenberg. Um so, currently, we aren't offering the full Thanksgiving week. Correct. >> But, we are offering some of the Thanksgiving week. Haven't we grown that to be a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday? Well, for Thanksgiving week? Yeah. In the past, my understanding in the past is that we've offered the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a a day for mascot for families that needed it. No, I'm just I'm just saying in terms of days off, Oh. I mean, literally, it used to just be Thursday, Friday, but we've grown it to be Wednesday, Thursday, Friday for the most part. In doing that, and maybe this is not a question, it's just hitting me now, are we seeing reduced attendance on
189the Tuesday and Monday given I mean, in in that sense of doesn't it make sense to to potentially go to the full week off because we are seeing reduced attendance that week anyway? Thank you for the question and sorry for not comprehending what you were saying there, but >> talking about it, so it's cool. Um yes, we did look at attendance and that's why I heard the voices from the committee um because we noticed that in where we don't offer it we don't have school for a full continuous weeks our attendance is down. So, we looked at Thanksgiving week in particular um for the last 2 years and they're in the '80s, which is low. So, the reality is is we're reacting to that as well by >> Yes. Okay, thanks. I'm sorry. Any more
190comments? All right, thank you again for that video. Thank you. I I was kind of surprised about option two. I you know, I I was looking at how many looks like we're in school for 10 months and that would mean a a full week in month three, full week in month four, two weeks in month five, and then another full week in month six for the 10 weeks. It it doesn't seem very balanced to me and the other thing I was concerned about the first time around was the start dates and it's So, having three full weeks pushes the start date even further and I know I have sound like a broken record, but when I was working at the Department of Ed, that was one of the most um angry calls that I used
191to get of why are we starting school so early? Kids are it's hot. Kids are walking to the bus. Kids are, you know, walking to school and um I would just say, "Well, it's up to the districts. It's local control." And And so, I I just I'm I'm kind of surprised by by that option two one. Do So, did the parents the people that filled out the survey, they realize that you had to start much earlier to get all those three full weeks off? Did they realize that? Thank you, Mrs. Hutchinson. You know, we tried to be very explicit in the survey about the context of each option and lay that out for them, you know, in terms of when we would start and also the parameters with the 180 days. And so all of
192we we we really looked at that pretty deeply as a committee to ensure that we were communicating that as thoroughly as possible. We did receive feedback from parents expressing that concern and we had a lot of discussion about that. Um and also as a result of, you know, conversations from the UPC group and what they had heard from um from their meeting. And um while it is hot, um pushing it back just meant later into um June. And so looking at those average temperatures, um you know, it it really didn't it didn't the trade-off of um not having the instructional time before testing um did not uh really support that for the committee. If you use option three, it does not push it out into June. Option three uh it defers the full week to
193Thanksgiving. So no, I don't I disagree with your assessment because I I think it's excessive to have that many full weeks, especially first first semester. Um cuz typically the second semester is a little bit more work intensive with after testing and the projects and end of school and graduations and things like that. So I don't I don't know. I just I'm surprised by the data. That is all I'm saying. Okay. Yeah. And and yes, so is true. There is more instructional days and without the full week fall break and having that just the Thanksgiving week. Um, we also heard with and had conversations with in our committee that it was a long time to go without a fall break um, or uh, long weekends both for staff and for students um, because traditionally we've had
194that time in October. So that was some of the conversation we had as well. Mrs. Greenberg. Um, yeah, I forgot to mention this before. I want to thank you for providing the average August weekly high temperature slide as well. Um, because it really does sort of point to the fact that there is probably no good time in August no matter what we do. Um, and I would also just point out I I think we're this is going to fall uh, you know, the the temperatures are going to be even higher. We you know, we've already had our triple digits and record setting heat in Phoenix. So it'll be interesting to see what 2026 adds to this, but um, I you know, I to me it just show it's just going to be hot and you
195know, 1°, 2°, 3°. I mean, we're going to take care of our kids in the heat no matter what, but these temperatures are so outrageous that there's little we can do. Um, even if we push it. So as much as you know, it would be great to start later. I don't think that's going to you know, the the heat part of this I don't think is is going to be ameliorated by doing that. So thank thank you for this. Dr. Lim. Yeah, and I just want to follow up that with like some anecdotal evidence is I know this is the indoors time is really hard on our teachers is probably where the biggest concerns are. Weirdly, the kids love it. Um until they reach the point where they want to be outside, but for for
196a certain time that novelty of being inside or doing something different than being outside actually is the first thing I get told about when my kids get home. It is not what they did in school or what they learned. It's that they got to stay inside and do whatever it was that was the inside activity. So, I know it's very hard on the staff for that time, but there are some kids that really love that that time indoors and the difference from being outside. And then when they get the chance to finally go outdoors are absolutely uh elated in that transition. And it's just a weirdly special time for my kids to make that transition from inside to outside that it's the only thing I hear about for the month of August, even though I'd
197love to hear what's happening in the classroom. Any other comments? Mrs. Christiansen. Yes, thank you. I just did the math on the days off first semester versus second. It's 25 first part of the year versus from January to May, eight. That's not very well balanced in days off because even in that we have a full week in October and then another day in October and then November has two days and then a full week in Thanksgiving. It's just to me it just seems excessive, but Yeah, when we um thank you for that. And when we looked at um our previous year calendars and we looked at other districts, um they aren't balanced um as you know, as as much as we would want them to be between semester one and semester two because a lot
198of the religious major holidays fall in semester one. And you also have like the federally observed holidays as well. And so that makes it really difficult to have that balance and you know, to be able to have that natural break um before winter break. Um and so with the added um Thanksgiving break with an option to that does add an additional two days of, you know, of not having instruction. Mrs. Greenberg. Um how many how much time, I know it's not time off, but how much time do we devote to testing? Because although we have more instructional days in semester two, obviously some of that is absolutely dedicated towards testing. So approximately what does that look like? I really wish our director of assessment was here to help me answer that question. Um because every
199school has a little bit of a different testing schedule um and grades, too. So it it depends, you know, um some grades have to take English language arts um for two days, math for two days. I think I'm getting this right. Um science and writing assessments and I'm talking about the AASA for um 3 through 8th grade. And then um with respect to secondary, ACT and AZ aspire. Anybody know? Those are the primary assessments at the high school level. >> how many instructional days does that take? Right. I mean I I wasn't expecting an actual number, but the reality is even though it's not time off, there are days that are not devoted to instructional time because we have to test and so and and obviously, you know, the conversation has always been to have
200you know more days in the second semester to devote to instructional time to prepare for tests. So Yes, that's correct. >> Yeah. And those number of testing days go up at our DLI sites as well. Mrs. Wani. Just a quick you mentioned um like looking at other districts. Can you give us a sense of like you know Scottsdale and Deer Valley like in comparison? Like what what are what are their calendars sort of look like? Uh for for like are they looking similar to the what came out of the recommendations here? Thank you, Mrs. Wani. More or less, yes. Um some of the districts, particularly in the Southeast Valley, have moved to like a a modified year-round where they're starting in July, actually, and then they're doing 2 weeks in um October, 2 weeks at
201winter break, and then 2 weeks in March, and they but they still end um before Memorial Day. Um so, we did look at that. Um with respect to like our neighboring districts, everybody starts around the same time within a few days in early August um and ends before Memorial Day. And do do do you do you recall like does does like Scottsdale do a full week for Thanksgiving? I don't believe they do. >> Typically, no, they don't. >> Okay. But they typically do have a full week for fall break. Yes, ma'am. That I know for sure cuz I I was always jealous about that when we didn't have it. Okay, thank you. Any other comments? Okay, then let's move on on the agenda here. Next is the items for discussion I2, Paradise Valley Unified School
202District Classroom Spending Report Fiscal Year 2025. I'll turn this over to Mrs. Barrigan. Thank you, President Pantera, Dr. Corson, and Governing Board. Oh, somebody's excited about it. Uh it is good information. I'm just waiting for it to pop up. There we go. Uh so, I know it sounds like a long time ago, but just in uh March, the audit Arizona Auditor General provided us with the comparison of the school district spending report. And so, tonight's uh presentation is a summary of that information. Uh that email goes directly to the governing board. You all receive that at that time directly from the office of the auditor general. And this is what our pie chart looked like for fiscal year '25, last fiscal year. It's broken up into two separate main section of sections of classroom spending
203and non-classroom spending. And under classroom spending, uh we're at 72.9% of our spending is spent in classroom, which includes instruction at 55.5%, student support at 12.6% and instructional support at 4.8%. The non-classroom spending's at 27.1%, which includes administration at 7.4, plant operations at 14.1, food service at 2.2, and transportation at 3.4. And you'll note that uh while those things aren't necessarily classroom spending, they are certainly critical and integral to the work that we need to do in a school district. Just as a reminder of um briefly some of the definitions of the difference between instructional and non-instructional expense. Instructional expense obviously includes personnel such as teachers, paraprofessionals, and substitute teachers. Instructional supplies, instructional aids, activities like field trips and athletics, and then tuition we pay to private institutions for students who um need support from
204private institutions. Non-instructional expenses include plant operations, which is essentially our facilities, our repair and maintenance of our equipment and buildings, our custodial, security, uh our uh utilities, our property insurance, and things of that nature. Student support includes counselors, nurses, speech language pathologists, as well as other therapists. And then instructional support includes things like our curriculum director, special education director, master teachers, librarians. Um and that's not a comprehensive list. Those are just some of the items to give you a picture. Uh food service is anything related to food service costs that we have. and then transportation is obviously our bus drivers, bus aides, our maintenance, and our gas. So, we like to take what we have and compare that not just to our peer average. So, we have our PVUSD numbers in that first column, our
205peer average in the second, state average next, and then followed finally by the national average. Uh with classroom dollars in that top section, so the instructional only portion, uh which was that 55.5% for us, then the classroom dollars, which is inclusive of the instructional as well as student uh support, and then administrative costs uh down below. So, for PVUSD, you can see that we um compare favorably to our classroom dollars in both instruction and with student support, uh both higher than our peer average, higher by $398 for classroom dollars and $623 for the classroom dollars including student instructional support. We are also higher than the state average by $542 and $767 respectively. Then, when you compare us to the national average, you'll note that the national average is significantly higher as a total to us
206overall. Um as a reminder, we're at about 48 right now in comparison to the national average. We would need about another 5,500 to 6,000 dollars just to get us to the national average, just to get us to the middle of the pack. That's about what we receive per student. So, uh those numbers are higher there. With administrative costs at $934 per pupil for PVUSD, with our peer average at $114 per pupil more than PVUSD, and with our state average at $375 more per pupil. National average at $256 more per pupil. Uh Uh, in terms of comparing to some specific districts that we typically tend to compare to and these are most of the districts that are in our office of the auditor general peer group as well. Um, you'll note that we did have a
207decrease in our classroom spending from fiscal year, um, 24 to fiscal year 25. It's primarily noted on two things and you see that lots of other districts had, uh, negative numbers there, too, though not necessarily as high as ours. Uh, we had a large one-time payment that year, uh, that we didn't have in a subsequent year in fiscal year 25. So, that's a large, uh, one-time payment that we paid out to staff in that year. Additionally, the office of the auditor general changed the coding of, um, some of the what were previously instructional expenditures in in the, uh, salaries for staff. And they changed what we could code some of those teachers to and they are non-instructional. That has happened a number of times over just in my time in education, but I know even
208prior to my time in education. And that makes it really hard when you're trying to compare from year to year that that be an apples-to-apples comparison. Because when you're taking things out that used to be expenditures that were considered instruction and are no longer considered instruction, you're artificially deflating the amount of money that we spend in the classroom. Uh, so, uh, you know what? And I just the I don't There's the focus maybe on the increase or the decrease in that final column, but you can still see that we do, um, spend favorably in comparison to our peer districts at about the middle of the pack for instructional spending. Um, for classroom spending as a total that includes the student support and the instructional support, uh, similar decrease for the same reasons really cuz that's
209part of the largest part of that, uh, 72.9% for us. Uh, but you will still note that overall we have the second highest behind Peoria Unified in our classroom spending. Then when we look at administrative spending from fiscal year 24 to fiscal year 25, we did increase by 0.2%. Um and you will see that we are at 7.4% for fiscal year 25 and the lowest by uh quite a bit with the next closest district being Mesa Unified who's significantly larger than us, about twice our size. And their administrative spending is 8.1%. So, know that administrative spending tends to be an area of consternation for some people and and a place where people focus, but we uh believe we do an excellent job about watching our administrative spending here in this district. We know that the
210focus is in the classroom. It has been, you can see that in our numbers, and we continue to keep that as a focus in our district. Um and then some interesting information related to charter schools. These are all charter schools within our area or just outside of our boundaries, and um I don't know if you know this, but the office of the auditor general does not do a classroom spending report on charter schools. They only do that for district schools. And nevertheless, the uh charters still do have some financial reporting requirements and the superintendent's annual financial report is put together at the Arizona Department of Education, and we can pull from them what their administrative costs are. And you will note that for fiscal year 24-25, the average administrative cost for uh charters in our
211area is 17.6% and the average in fiscal year 24 was 15.5%. Uh and we've included Paradise Valley Unified School District up there at the top at uh less than half of what charter schools spend in the area on administration. With that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. Okay, who's first? Nobody? Thank you very much for that a very thorough explanation. I liked it that you included those charter schools and how much they're heavy on the administration level. That's um actually not surprising to me. Any other comments? Okay, then. Next on the agenda is adjourned. But before we adjourn, I would like to remind everyone that our next regular board regular meeting will be held on Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. May I have a motion to adjourn? So moved.
212All those in favor say I. I. All opposed nay. Any abstentions? We are adjourned.