001I like to call this board meeting to order and I want to thank Sunrise Middle School let's give them another Right Round of Applause are there parents in the audience please wave your hand if you're a parents of these amazing students here yes thank you so much that was Fab abous to sing and the and dance at the same time is above my pay grade so good job thank you [Music] um please join me in the pledge of alance I pledge allegiance that was just fabulous thank you again may I have roll call please Mrs Baker here Mrs Greenberg here Mrs Christenson here Mrs case here Mr panta here next the on the agenda is approval of agenda Dr Bells thank you president case govering board members cabinet and guest tonight items approved by consent
002will not come up for discussion during the meeting but will be approved when the agenda is adopted this is possible since members of the governing board received the agenda along with 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 card uh blue public comment card prior to the start of the meeting will be recognized to speak on the that agenda item under the items for approval I'd like to offer the agenda as posted thank you does any member of the
003governing board wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda um prior to the meeting we received oh Excuse me yes Mrs Christensen F5 what is it F5 okay thank you um prior to the meeting we received three blue public comment cards and each people will have three minutes to remark on a specific agenda item those individuals will be be will be recognized to speak under the items for approval as a reminder we ask that you please direct your comments to the board um so all those in favor say I I excuse me I apologize okay so then we had one change and then Mr Panter may I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda and the recommended consent aems um agenda items with the change that that was made F5 f five
004so moved all those in favor say I I all those opposed say nay any extensions motion passes um uh unanimously okay next on the agenda is governing board statements Mrs Baker would you like to say anything tonight thank you president case thank you everyone for coming the sunrise students were amazing I love seeing our kids perform um since our last meeting I have been to a pinnacle choir concert and I've been to Fireside twice and um what I saw was children engaged learning asking questions [Music] participating doing the work asking the questions I saw the adults working managing the front office answering phone calls answering kids questions teaching leading and I it was a much needed reminder to me that that's why we're here we're here for these children we're here for these students um
005and sometimes this gets lost with the politics of board meetings and culture wars um but as we go into Thanksgiving we need to remember why we are all here we are here for all the students and for some of our students school is safer than home and I appreciate appreciate each and every educator who prioritizes each and every one of our students each and every day so thank you thank you Mrs Christensen good evening everyone I'm sure um everybody on the Das is going to breathe a collective side of relief because I don't have a printed statement today but I would like to thank everybody for coming here today um and and it was amazing to see the sunrise um performers and I'm hoping that they will be future Horizon husky choir um participants in
006um since they dance so well uh in Broadway Under the Stars either through um now I'm forgetting the names of the choir even though my hus my son has been on in the choir for four years the um show Divas show Divas um I'm just going to leave it at that it's been a long day welcome everybody thank you Mr panta good evening everyone thank you for being here uh big shout out and thank you very much for the patrons of our district who voted to help support us with the bond okay we're really I'm very much appreciative of that it'll help us maintain what we've been doing here and help us to build on the successes we had and and go forward with with that thank you very much I appreciate it and I
007know all the students will too what happened to me uh last week was uh something interesting I thought I walk around my neighborhood because I Liv maybe five streets away from U Boulder Creek Elementary School number one rated school in the state by the way for those those of you keeping the score uh so I'm walking around I walk around the neighborhood and I see a sign how people tape up signs in the neighborhood mow your lawn I'll Mo your lawn um I'll walk your dog those kind of signs so you see them what caught my eye and this was not just the fact that there were several all out all along the Route I took they're handrawn with crayons and colored pencils but they were for beta fish if you have beta fish we
008will babysit your baby fish when you're out of town right beta fish maybe a cats dogs ba who who has betta fish and who's going to see that sign anyways it my interest and I couldn't not stop thinking about it obviously I'm still talking about it right now but I just want to think that that young entrepreneur that young person who made that went goes to Boulder Creek or goes to Mountain Trails because it to me it speaks to what we try and strive and promote here take your skills take what you've learned take these State Standards use your Creative Energy to pursue your passion to pursue what you want to do you see it in our our electives and all the choices you have when you're in our schools throughout the district and it
009just seems to me the student going forth and pushing forth their beta fish uh uh dream and passion exemplifies that so uh I hope you all Embrace that and again thank you for passing the bond if you want to see this the picture that I saw I took a picture see me after the board me I'll show it to you it's cute as heck right thank you thank you Mrs Greenberg thank you yeah I would also like to thank um the community for uh voting yes um for RPV students RPV staff RPV schools and supporting the bond and um extend that out to other communities around um the valley and around Arizona um there were some phenomenal winds for example Tucson unified hasn't passed a bond issue in years and they passed I believe the
010largest one in this ever in the state um Phoenix Union High School District passed the largest one in the valley um and I I think it it uh speaks very highly of how communities view our public schools and um want to protect our our our physical schools by passing such efforts and obviously there were a lot of overrides that passed as well so thank you to voters for supporting education and all I really want to say is um much appreciation for our voters much appreciation for for everyone um and I hope everyone has a very um warm and um and uh thankful Thanksgiving next week thank you um I also want to thank our voters for um passing the bond that is very good for our district and I appreciate everyone's support and belief in
011public education um I attended Legally Blonde at um Shadow Mountain the North Valley Arts Academy at Shadow Mountain and I was so entertained it was amazing it's a musical everything they did was singing and how they learned all of those songs and Inter and they're still going to school while they're practicing for this play and it was so good and I have to just give a shout out to the star who the the gal who played um I can't read without my glasses Ellie Woods was fabulous and Kyle whose name is Kyle um uh the UPS guy oh my goodness he was typed written for that part I it was amazing anyway all of the the students who wonderful the um audience was so engaged it was great to be there and I love seeing
012our students have the opportunity to perform and learn whether they ever do another plan in their life they have learned so much Poise in public speaking in public performing it's really fun um also I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving it's a time to remember and to be thankful for the many many blessings which we enjoy so I want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and um with that next on the agenda is Awards and recognition thank you president case at this time I'd like to invite the governing board to join me in front of the Das good evening president case governing board members Dr Bales members of cabinet and attendees both inperson and virtual tonight we have several recognitions to share with you this evening we'll be inviting our honores to
013the front of the room for their recognition and photo so once I say your name please come to the front of the room our first honory tonight is an AIA division 3 girls swim dive state champion and the division 3 swimmer of the year earning first place in the 200 yard freestyle and first place in the 500 yard free freestyle please help me congratulate from Shadow Mountain High School Danielle Gleason Danielle is supported by coach cosland next up are the AIA Division 1 boys swim dive state champions winning first place in the 200 yard free relay the 400 yard free relay and the 500 yard freestyle please put your hands together uh after I finish calling everyone's name uh from Pinnacle High School Jeremy rosson Lewis esterly Brady holar Eddie Flynn Orion deets sisman garbetts
014ji kermy Hudson MTS Ashton tomes Johnny rankle Alex blea Ethan zitz and Micah Spectre this Pinnacle team is supported by coach Rodriguez for swim and Andrew carway for dive the pvhs robotics team team Paradise competed at the first robotics State Championship last month and came home state champions this competition unites Sport with science and technology where design teams uh design their own robots and put them through difficult challenges that require great precision and attention to detail please hold your applause until the end of the list of names uh where you'll help me recognize from Paradise Valley High School Justin freedlander James Gold Abby Neil Jackson trou Ashton Antilla James Campos Kaden Laughlin Ali andr Bridget Rubble Emily Samuels Abigail Lewis Lucius show Mason Cuchi Michael yagnik Dylan Fletcher Daniel Fletcher AJ Atkins George Harris kayin
015Decker Ariana Decker Nick fbar Manis pun please give a round of applause for team Paradise no and our final Honore who unfortunately is unable to be here this evening uh but we're still proud to recognize her this Honore was named the 5A State girls swim and dive coach of the year as coach of the Horizon High School girls swim wom dive team this impressive leader has demonstrated unwavering commitment and dedication with the ability to bring out the best in each swimmer this coach has led the huskys to State this season where they earned second place overall please join me in congratulating from Horizon High School Sam Kramer and that President case concludes this evening's Awards and recognitions oh there's our coach changed next on the agenda is superintendent comments Dr Bells thank you very much
016president case in PB schools we engage we Inspire and nurture students through highquality instruction meaningful educational opportunities and dynamic learning experiences one of those experiences is Sounds of the Season yes it's that time of the year again and Sounds of the Season is right around the corner join our ka8 choirs as they celebrate the season and show off their incredible Talent with live performances at Desert Ridge Marketplace on Saturday December 2nd this Unforgettable EXP experience is loved by all and provides a full day of free music and entertainment it's one that you won't want to miss and for more information on when those School choirs are performing which stage which time go to our website and search for Sounds of the Season and I looked at the AL Farmer's Almanac and it's going to be
017a dry day this year last year it was pretty wet in PB schools our goal is to elevate school to home engagement and build strong Community relationships and one way we do this is through our new communication platform which provides fast and effective communication to families staff community members and students through newsletters email text messages now and voice messages families won't need to do anything in order to receive messages from the new system but are encouraged to make sure that all the contact information is current and up to date in Infinite Campus in order to receive text messages or phone calls during the times of Crisis or for important announcements we do this in an annual basis but if you change phone numbers or such please make sure that those are uh in updated throughout
018the year as well our new platform is a wonderful compliment to our district website YouTube channel podcast and social media Pages all of our platforms provide a wealth of information to current prospective students families and staff and I want to encourage you to check out all the options that we offer here in Paradise share our district Pride by liking commenting and sharing the many great stories found on the district and school social media accounts and don't forget to check out the Fine Arts calendar and athletic calendars to see some wonderful student performances and athletic competition there's something going on almost every day of the week uh at our school so check it out PB schools has some exciting news the North Valley artsies is partnering with Paradise Valley Community College marking the beginning of a
019fine arts dual enrollment exchange and scholarship program to celebrate this collaboration NVA will host a fine arts celebration and information night at Shadow Mountain high school on November 30th to learn more about this information night visit Shadow mountains website at Shadow mountain. pvschools.net you can also get a uh sneak peek preview by checking out the most recent episode of our district podcast PV beat it's available on Apple and Spotify I my might mention that I had the opportunity to see a preview of the dance show this afternoon at Shadow Mountain High School that show is going on tonight but there's a Repeat Performance tomorrow night everyone is welcome our 5K fund run is coming up it's not too soon to uh uh sign up and register join PB schools for the 14th annual community 5K
020fund run or walk this event encourages active Lifestyles among our staff families and community members and will be held Saturday February 3rd in person at Horizon High School registration is now open participants who register by January 5th will receive a t-shirt for more information uh or to register visit runsignup.com between now and February 3rd more information can also be found on our district website and in closing I'd like to finally send a few shoutouts uh to the following I'd like to send a big thank you to our united parent Council per for providing breakfast to our bus drivers and transportation department recently for their recent safety and staff meeting thank you and to the students and staff of Shadow Mountain for inviting me to attend their jobs for Arizona graduates initiation and installation ceremony it
021was amazing the students planned the whole thing I'd also like to take the opportunity to highlight our amazing High School bands who recently participated in state competitions and the state championships last Saturday in the 1A division congratulations to North Canyon High School for taking second place and Pinnacle high school for taking third and the 2A division congratulations are in order for Horizon High School who took third and Paradise Valley High School who took fourth way to represent Paradise at the state level and those conclude my comments president case thank you Dr Bells um we will move the centage item item FG F5 to after the items of approval that's how it's set up to do next on the agenda is items for for approval Dr Bells thank you president case governing board members cabinet and
022guests and tonight we present for approval the 18 policy revisions that we presented for first reading at our last meeting uh the policy revisions as mentioned at our last meeting and individually presented were the result of legislative action I would like to summarize two minor revisions since the last reading uh since the first reading and then I be available to answer any questions as a group for all 18 items and then I would suggest that we make a motion to approve G1 through 18 but if you look at item G8 uh the IGA policy the one word that changed in that policy was Will to May and then then the final the other policy revision was in number 18 G18 uh that policy uh added the words or legal guardian it was mistakenly omitted from
023the first reading we added or legal guard Guardian throughout the document those are the only two revisions from the first reading um at that at this point I think we're ready to take some blue cards for any items that people wanted to speak on regarding items G1 through okay I'll put these in order as I can but some of them have multiple on them um we have a comment from Lily Grisham you have three minutes to talk about G7 G18 and G5 um Lily Grisham yeah hi my name is Lily gram and um um items for approval the consider itation and approval of revisions for governing board policy bedb um the um on the agenda um I don't think that 24 hours is really enough time for you guys to have to Accurate to um
024review and research the items sometimes the agenda is short but sometimes it's quite lengthy and um I don't think I mean it's not enough time for the public but but the Public's not as important as you guys having that information even though you're you guys get backup materials and whatnot I just don't think 24 hours is enough time okay so that's G5 um on G7 G7 The Substitute um and professional staff employment um it says that the superintendent will screen all applicants um what is the process exactly for um doing investigations and background checks for teachers um and what is the process and procedure following allegations of sexual misconduct by Educators I mean including notification to parents and students before or after a guilty plea because I was reading um August 31st 2023 that 56
025Arizona Educators face discipline for sexual misconduct with minors just this year and some of those names are from Paradise Valley Unified School District and I would like to know it says that some of these people surrendered their certificate um and we know what happened with the teacher last during the you know the last allegation who committed suicide and I don't think that was handled really well but so I want I mean as far as this G7 part-time and substitute professional staff employment I'd like to know what exactly is the process um what is the investigation and background um checks for these teachers what happens and then when you find out that a teacher has some misconduct whether it's in the state of Arizona because some of them I mean out of these 56 names some
026of them uh don't say where what school they they work at they just say certified in Arizona so that means they came from a different state so I would like to know first of all what kind of Investigation background checks you guys do and then when you find out somebody has some misconduct how what do you do about it do you notify parents teachers uh school students before or after adjudication or um when they after they surrender their license or certificate okay so that's G7 um and then G G18 um G18 you said that um the only thing that was added was legal guardian I guess yeah um my concern is like why does it have podiatrist on here a podiatrist is is has not even gone to like traditional Medical School a podiatrist just
027deals with issues of ankle and feet I mean if you're going to put podiatrist on here why not put like I don't know optometrist why not put like every specialized um medical occupation I would think that Healthcare practitioner and MD Doo and NP would pretty much you know cover the rest of the Gambit but podiatrist really sticks out I don't know it really bothers me I mean just he's just a foot doctor why not have every other kind of a specialty doctor on there okay and that's it thank you next is Ronnie Milburn on G8 good evening president case governing board members Dr Bales and cabinet my name is Ronnie Milburn and I have been an employee of this district for 40 2 years 40 is a teacher and two is a sub I appreciate
028that the wording of governing board policy IG was changed from will to May and I appreciate that governing board members ask that the wording be changed however I would like to address the original wording by sharing a few comments made to me when I shared the original with a couple of teachers former teachers and non-teachers here are some of the responses uh one we may not want every teacher to serve on a curriculum committee because then there will be too many cooks in the kitchen it will be difficult to reach a consensus second comment we may not want brand new teachers decid in curriculum because they may lack the experience needed to make an informed decision I remember working on a textbook adoption during my second year of teaching I didn't know enough to give
029valuable input third thing more free work no thanks many of our teachers are working second jobs to make ends meet many have families that need their attention the first version of this policy would impo impose more uncompensated duties on our already overworked and underpaid employees other districts and States pay for this work to be done over the summer five we are professionals as such we should decide which committees that we choose to serve on a owing your employees to choose their committees rather than being forced generates better results I watched the discussion of this issue at the last board meeting twice and I would like to address the reference to the existing language in the bargaining agreement and this is under 1d6 entitled professional responsibilities and I just highlighted a couple of parts of it
030uh sixa says teachers are expected to assume as part of their professional responsibilities the sponsorship of one student organization or membership on one building level committee teachers May volunteer for other committee assignments 6B says teachers are encouraged to participate in the following areas and uh B3 says systemwide committees and the the key word there is encourage to participate finally I am concerned that there will be more attempts to change governing board policy language that will change working conditions outside negotiations thank you for your time next is Susan wer on G10 evening Dr Bales and board members I'm Susan wer and I'm a taxpayer in your district and I would really appreciate it if all the board members could pay attention um what I'm about to share will address the concern to be shared by Nicole
031later and I'm sure many other parents I will be addressing board policy JJJ before I begin I would like to give you a bit of my background I have what we call an abbd Al but dissertation in curriculum and instruction I have served on review committees in Michigan for the purpose of accreditation of schools and I have chaired numerous curriculum committees to select new material K12 due to my education experience I know there is an identified way to select new curriculum what is outlined in policy ijj does not in any way reflect appropriate process proved through educational research the two sections identified as objectives of selection and criteria of selection are totally based on the opinion of the individual reviewing the curriculum this is a huge no no unless you have been educated in the
032research-based method of curriculum uh selection W would not have the background to develop the policy that you reflect as JJ I don't know when this policy was developed but it was clearly developed veloped by someone who knew nothing about the correct way to select curriculum it is clearly subjective and it must be objectively based Arizona ranks 48 out of 50 in achievement in the US to improve this one should look at the meth of Florida uses as they are ranked number one in the United States they have based a selection of curriculum on state standards and the current research on successful instructional strategies they put they put a call out to Publishers for new curriculum when it comes in review it to ensure there is no social emotional learning included if there is it's thrown
033out which is what should be done with what Nicole's going to address later they then review the curriculum and determine how many of Florida's standards it reflects the process has resulted in Publishers changing their curriculum to meet Florida's standards because they want that money your entire AJ policy needs to be Rewritten by professionals who have the education and background to do so let me ask you this question would you want a surgeon to be operating on you based on his opinion of what works best or on what research has shown to be the most effective and successful method for surgery why should it be any different for education education is the future of our country and this policy greatly undermines that and our students please change it next um Dr Bells that's the end of
034our blue cards you need to so president case yeah president case yeah you'll need a motion to for the board to have a conversation so um unless there's any objection I would recommend items G1 through 18 as presented um I would like to um ask the board if they want to proceed in this way so we can we have a motion to uh put these all together in one action so moved thank you um after that does any of the board members want to do it as a group do you want to do them separately how do you want to do it we just approve the motion now we're going to have the discussion oh yeah are there any board questions before we vote on it right um any questions from the board so we
035we had the we moved it so then we could discuss it right any I'm I'm just agreeing with what you said okay do anybody want to separate anything out Mrs Christensen um I just have a clarifying question so I know we we discussed many of these last meeting and Dr Bells can you remind me again or we um which ones we changed I know there were some minor wording so I can review before I decide yes they were G8 was the word will to May and in G18 we added the words or legal Guardians those are the only revisions in addition to parents does any want to and does anyone on the board want to separate these out are we good to go ahead with voting as it was moved it's fine if we however
036you want to do it I had to ask you in public how you wanted to do it we're ready to vote then no we're are is there any more comments are you ready to vote all together on them is it everybody okay so um so may I have a single motion to approve the agenda items we already did that g through1 18 so we did that so all those in favor say I I I all those opposed say nay any extensions motion passes unanimously okay next on the agenda is gifts and donations it's very confusing when you change anything on the agenda I apologize okay um we appreciate all gifts given to our district we do not take them for granted and we are so appreciative of the community support support to our schools it
037means everything I would like to mention a few of these that have come to our district at explor Middle School Erica Greenberg um donated $1,000 to the students PBIS Trailblazer Lounge at Larkspur Elementary School the wonderful company donated $1,000 to fifth grade at North High uh North Canyon High School the Thunderbird Foundation donated $1,000 to the girls golf team and $1,000 to the boys golf team at Palomino inter Intermediate School PB schools Education Foundation donated $1,499 to field trips PBIS or steam at Palomino Primary School the PV schools Education Foundation donated $1,400 to fil trip PB PBIS or steam at Shadow Mountain High School was um the Thunderbird Foundation donated $1,000 to the boys golf team and at Sky Crossing Elementary School son n Vu donated $1,000 to the sixth grade field trips at sunet
038Canyon Elementary School PV school's Education Foundation donated 14 $100 to the field trips PBIS or steam we are so grateful for these donations and um may I have a motion for acceptance of gifts and donations please so moved any board members wishing to make a comment all those in favor say I I I all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously now is when we're going to cover F5 so uh Dr Bells F5 it's consideration and approval of resolution number 552 an agreement between ASU loadstar Center experience matters RSVP program and Paradise Valley Unified School District thank you president case govering board members Dr jerus is not here to answer all your questions we'll do the best we can the agreement uh allows uh this partnership with ASU to provide senior citizens retirees to participate
039through our VIP program as volunteers um the volunteers will follow our VIP application process which includes fingerprinting and background check uh the agreement has been reviewed by legal council and we present for approval any questions of the governing board Mrs Christensen yeah I have been reading through all of the detailed documentation I don't understand I still don't understand fully the scope of this partnership we already have an existing VIP program and um states that the Arizona Board of regions on behalf of Arizona State University and ASU load Star Center experience matters will be partnering with Parise Valley Unified School District I I didn't maybe I passed it but I didn't see anything about um any Monetary Exchange is it just this a program and how does it differ from the VIP program as um as
040we have it today president case Mrs G and governing board members uh there there is no monetary exchange for the partnership between ASU and loar they're certainly outlining in their agreement the agency responsibilities uh things that they will do uh and things that we will do uh it's it's not significantly different but as an organization who's actively recruiting a group group uh they sought out the opportunity to to formalize the relationship so uh we didn't object to that uh should should we have a motion before we discuss these items oh yes will you have a motion please yes uh I move that uh we discuss item is it GF approve uh yeah approve item GF is it GF G G5 it's F5 EXC F5 F I move that we approve this item F5 thank you
041now we can discuss it more fully yes any other comments it is is my understanding the difference is is VIP has to do with children in elementary school more it doesn't have no no the the VIP program let it's community members uh grandparents you know things like that so they're just individuals that come to us this is is an organization that wants to work to actively provide volunteers so we just we support their Endeavor and and the efforts that they want to take on their end to to recruit and then they would be we'd have more Volunteers in our schools which have made such a a vital difference in our schools any other comments questions yeah I just I just um thank you for the clarification it um I just get concerned when I see
042a a memorandum of understanding of four and a half pages so I I just wanted to make sure that I understand that I understood the scope and that it's partnering with our current VIP program so they will be going through all of the fingerprint clearance or whatever they have to do to volunteer in our schools and it's just more volunteers okay I'm okay now just want okay thank you get my questions answer we've had it move so all Bs in in favor say I I I all those opposed say nay any exensions motion passes unanimously we are now on public comment um we're now going to have the video for public comment call to the public is about to convene this portion of today's meeting allows the public the opportunity to address the governing board
043although 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 important to hear about concerns and issues from our community while call to the public 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 colle collaborative way all in attendance are expected to
044observe 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 seven people who have submitted comment cards prior to the start of the meeting each speaker will have three minutes for remarks as a reminder we ask that you please direct your comments to the board please State your first and last name when you come to the podium our first speaker will be Jackie Clayton followed by Mariah Reed Brown my name is Jackie Clayton good evening president casee Dr Bales governing board and cinet members often we only hear the negatives in these short few minutes today I would like to share some good news with you about an amazing School counseling
045department at Paradise Valley High School 7 years ago when I received the IDL instructional division leader position in the school counseling department I walked into principal Ian Dennis's office and shared the vision and mission for the school counseling department the vision mission was to implement the American school counselor Association ASA National model with Fidelity and integrity as the national model ASA inform school counselors Nationwide on how to define manage assess and deliver a data informed and driven comprehensive School counseling program I was most excited to share my longterm goal of becoming a recognized ASA model program also known as ramp with an open mind he said absolutely go for it with the support and guidance of an incredible administrative team over the last several years I am proud to say we have implemented the ASA
046National model with Fidelity and integrity on October 11th 2023 the pvhs counseling crew as we call oursel submitted the application to be reviewed and to become a ramp school in the state of Arizona there are currently only three schools that actually hold this honor with high hopes we wait to hear back from ASA and in early February we plan to return to the board and share more great news with you in closing I want to recognize and thank all the team members that have been a critical part of this journey this is a task that cannot be accomplished alone counselors Stacy Chambers Jackie Clayton Mariah Reed Brown Carlos Monterosa and Ted scowen our social worker Jessica Vargas our counseling administrative support team Janice Meyers Jory Jones Robin Reed Stephanie Chavez Mariam Manas and Blanca Lieberman
047and finally our administrative team Ian Dennis Moren Minik Paul havlovic Jennifer jerus Mariah Barber and Christian Allen thank you for your time next is Mariah Reed Brown followed by uh I can't read this W waterer wood is Berg rodenberg okay Mariah good evening president case Dr bills governing board and cabinet members my name is Mariah Reed Brown and I have the pleasure of being one of the counselors jackly Clayton works with at PB high school as a first year counselor I was beyond excited to work with the Department that followed the ASA National model and was planning to planning to apply for ramp regardless of the results I wanted to take this opportunity to shine a light on the approach and impact of our counseling department following the as ASA National model a comprehensive School
048counseling program is designed to make data informed decisions which Drive the goals of the school counseling department for example last year we focused on decreasing the total number of FS freshman received during their first semester of high school during freshman advisement we focused on study skills to help with passing classes as a result we saw a 26% decrease in the total number of failed classes during the first semester a total of 235 to 17 three compared to students from the previous school year while we saw some improvements we still wanted to find a way to add additional interventions and further impact a successful transition to high school so this year we reviewed the district strategic plan the portrait of a graduate our schools Improvement plan put in place by our administrative team and CCRI data
049that would impact our over overall School letter grade to continue with improving the success rate of all nth grade students students on campus we are proud to say we have implemented a program called Pride strong a PBS model program that delivers a structured curriculum to all nth graders over the course of their entire school year embedded in our English classrooms the goals of Pride strong is to increase student engagement with their peers campus activities challenging coursework and advocating for themselves on and off campus to conclude I would like to recognize and thank all of the stakeholders that have played a supportive role in the work our school counseling department continues to do to my fellow counselors Stacy Chambers Jackie Jackie Clayton Carlos mon Roa Ted scarin and myself our social worker Jessica Vargas and our
050amazing administrative team Ian de Dennis Mariah Barber and Christian Allen and a big thank you of course goes to our freshman English teachers for sharing their classroom in time with the counseling crew as well as our advisory Council who provide substantial feedback on how our school counseling department is doing I want to end with a personal kudos for Jackie lat in myself on Tu on Tuesday November 14th Pro proposals that we submitted to the AZ ASA conference which will occur in February we selected and we look forward to representing both py high school and our py district thank [Music] you next is woter rudenberg followed by Lily Grisham sorry good evening uh dear council members uh Dr bills um I just wanted to um bring to your attention um that we have a proposal to
051um get a commercial center right next to and north of Pinnacle High School um I'm a original firesight resident both of my sons have gone through elementary middle school and high school and it's been fantastic um but by the time I got to high school with my first son I encountered the chaos that is the traffic around Pinnacle high school and um that immediately deeply concerned me um that so many kids have to go through and cross uh Black Mountain Boulevard and um you know risking their lives almost every day um and you know obviously next to education um you know I definitely feel student safety is another big responsibility that that that you carry um and um so our desert if if those and even in the public don't know the there's a desert
052ridge master plan that has has zoned that residential which you know is a fantastic idea um uh and that should remain in place especially since it's so close to high school um and it also has language about like commercial centers having just a negative impact in general to neighborhoods and schools and it specifically mentions that um so even to the point that I emailed uh the city about it uh about the traffic situation about the um uh you know traffic lights being on green while everybody's crossing the street it's getting people are crossing everywhere now you know uh initially it was according to the rules now it's just everywhere people uh and students Crossing everywhere um so if commercial centers are allowed kind of so close near the high school and an elementary school and
053and we we enjoy our kids walking to school as well and biking to school it's fantastic but this commercial center is just going to completely ruin that with uh more traffic more non-residential traffic that want to shop uh there more trucks gas station trucks refilling um trucks um you know we we we don't see any of that um as a good sign for um the safety of the of the students um so I wanted to bring that kind of to the to your attention um although I know the developer has reached out to Dr bills and and there has been a conversation I just wanted to make sure um you put a face to um all the commons that you may have seen or heard um and so we have a fantastic group of residents
054in the neighborhood and parents frankly that are just concerned um kind of where this is going um the alcohol sales and and and tobacco sales you know will be prominent right there and and the current perimeter is a is a quarter mile only uh near schools um so so perhaps something to to consider as a school board would be to look at that perimeter and expand it to maybe to um to five minutes or five five miles sorry um thank you your time is up sir yep um there is there will be a board meeting and I sincerely hope you you your your time is up sir thank you Lily Grisham followed by Gina griffus hi my name is Lil Gresham thank you everyone um my I have a question about um what ever happened
055with the resolution regarding the executive director appointed to um um asba didn't get any followup on that um I'd like to know what happened um and I would like to talk about book Banning all students deserve the freedom to read and learn about the truth the world and themselves book Banning in schools is a really bad idea for several reasons it suppresses knowledge Banning books limits students access to diverse ideas cultures and perspectives and hinders their ability to learn about the world it uh inhibits critical thinking it discourages critical thinking and the development of students ability to analyze and question and form their own opinions it stifles creativity restricting access to literature can stifle creativity and prevent exploration of complex and controversial issues it promotes ignorance Banning books can lead to ignorance about important historical
056events social issues and diverse cultures and has a chilling effect and can discourage authors from addressing sensitive topics and dissuade teachers from using certain materials ultimately limiting intellectual growth instead of banning books Educators and experts should should advocate for open discussions and textualizing materials however some people think that schools um teach pornography or there's too much pornography in schools and they would like to have more scripture Bible in school so I pulled out some Bible uh verses um about Old Testament Ezekiel 23 two adulterous sisters the Lord the word of the Lord came to me son of man there were two women Daughters of the same mother they became prostitutes in Egypt engaging in prostitution from their youth in that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed uh therefore I delivered her
057into the hands of her lovers the Assyrians for whom she lusted they stripped her naked took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword Ezekiel 23:1 19-21 yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth when she was a prostitute in Egypt there she lusted after her lovers whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emissions was like that of horses now to me that's pretty pornographic and there's more uh more porn in the Bible than I I think they I don't think there's any pornography in school I think it's literature I think it's um it's it's been literature for the last I don't Century so when people say that there's porn in school I would like them to give an example just like I
058did from the Bible thank you Gina griffes followed by Nicole clut tot good evening president case governing board members Dr Bales and members of the cabinet my name is Gina Griffiths I live in the district foundaries and I'm the proud mom of a pvhs graduate a pvhs senior and a sunrise seventh grader and tonight I want to talk about gratitude some of you talked about this in the beginning because this is the time of year when we start thinking about gratitude and I think you all recognize that I'm very grateful that I am in this district and my children are educated in this District because I try to come and tell you that at every governing board meeting um and and so I keep wanting to reiterate that I'm also grateful as some of you
059mentioned that the bond passed that was so huge for our district to be able to have the bond money to pay for those things and Reserve not use our regular budget for those extra expenses so that we can direct it where it needs to be directed so I'm grateful for the voters that did that for all the volunteers that were out there making it happen I wasn't one of them I'm I'm a appreciative of them I'm also grateful as um Miss Greenberg said that overwhelmingly most of the bonds passed across the state because I don't only want my kids to have a good education I want all kids to have a good education and I think it says a lot about where we are with public education and community support for public education when so
060many bonds have passed across the state I think we can also look at those elections to see kind of feeding off of what said that there's there's been a big rejection of book Banning of the culture wars of attacking students who are different and and we're we're the community is not accepting that that's why I keep coming up to try to talk I think most people are happy with the way pvhs works with our diversity equity and inclusion Focus most folks understand how important that is and then they don't come out and they don't say anything because they're content because it's going well and and then there are a few folks who are unhappy and they come out and they're the ones that talk so that's why I keep doing this um I just think
061it's important that we continue that focus on diversity Equity inclusion that we don't ban books that we do what's right for students that we focus on the learning the children thriving and getting the resources and tools that they need social emotional learning is important and that's part of what contributes to Student Success and our district is doing a fantastic job so I'm grateful to all of you for continuing to support that thank you very much Nicole clut Wick followed by April Justman hello board um thank you president case board members Dr Bales um I'm here to talk about the social studies curriculum that is currently being discussed and looked at um I realize it's in initial stages but someone lets the Publishers in the door right like it's not anybody can just come and have
062committee time and present curriculum to our our committee members I don't know who is responsible but somebody in administration here um has let svas come and and I've been told before that there is a no need for a definition for a culturally responsive definition for Education because it's just commonly known so in the beginning of every single one of the teachers guides we're talking kindergarten kindergarten teachers teaching social studies saas has instructed the teachers three times in the first paragraph that they should really be paying attention to the sexuality of their kindergarteners it goes on to say when talking about making a culturally inclusive classroom consider the pictures hung on the wall are there children with various sexual identities this is a quote why would we possibly want to distract teachers from teaching kindergarteners and
063have them focus on the sexual identity of K through fifth grade I do not understand it now maybe you would say well it's just an initial you know grouping we didn't really but somebody let them in the door somebody decided this is appropriate for kindergarten or kindergarten teachers to consider when teaching social studies um the only topic on here about socially um a culturally responsive classroom that's discussed more is is language origin your first language we don't and it doesn't discuss whether you're an only child or child of many siblings or a divorced family or many other things that could also impact a child's education and where they're coming from um I just find it completely inappropriate and I really wonder why it was included in the first place why did we include this so
064I can think of like three reasons one it's a sales technique if you want somebody to pick something that's not a great choice you show them the awful Choice first and so maybe you're trying I don't I don't know maybe there's something else in here that you're trying to get us to get maybe it's purposeful a year and a half ago like I said I asked specifically for a definition of cultural responsiveness and I was told it's just commonly understood so maybe you already knew it was social identity or maybe it's negl I'm not sure thank you thank you next is April jman oh jeez I dropped good evening my name is April jman and I am here to follow up on what wer rudenberg already discussed the commercial resoning application that was submitted for
065the vacant parcel of land immediately adjacent to Pinnacle high school and also near Fireside Elementary School there is a significant contingency of residents who believe that this commercial development poses a serious threat to student safety the threat that we see is twofold one the developers traffic impact analysis report estimates an additional 11,320 new weekday daily trips to an already dangerous intersection for our students and two the commercial development would easily mask anyone who intended to do harm to the school or to the students from typical neighborhood watch type tactics because our neighboring residents would no longer be able to identify who or what belongs in that area versus what might actually be a threat to our students as a mother of four children including one with a heart transplant I'm very concerned about the safety
066of the students at Pinnacle and Fireside each of us who are already acutely aware of these dangers have a responsibility to keep these children safe I am all too familiar with the loss of a child in a traffic accident as that was how my child received their transplant reactive thoughts and prayers are Reckless when we can be proactive now we would ask that you consider sending a representative from the PV District to attend the January 4th Planning Commission meeting and speak to these concerns so that our children can remain safe thank you thank you next on the agenda um items for discussion Dr Bells thank you president case governing board members cabinet and guests um tonight U Miss copen will present for first reading the proposed new courses and revisions for the 20242 High School
067course catalog good evening president case members of the board Dr Bale's cabinet and guests we are excited tonight to present the first reading of the high school course recommendations and revisions for the 2020 4 2025 School Year Connie Withers and Jackie Clayton our lead District counselors are here to guide this presentation and address questions the team of counselors High School leaders and teachers working together to make these suggestions had a clear Mission this year they wanted to create opportunities for students to connect with their future the group watched a video about generation Alpha those born 2010 or later our older kids from generation Alpha are now in our middle schools and they'll soon be joining our high schools these students are growing up in a world filled with technology including a career World filled with
068AI our high school teams understand the task at hand and this evening we're making efforts to introduce courses that can assist students in acquiring qualifications that hold genuine value in the job market and during their college applications with that thank you Miss copen good evening president case members of the board Dr bales cinet and guests I am Connie Withers this is my 26th year in the district and 10th year as the district lead counselor our purpose this evening is to share with the governing board the process and recommendations regarding new and revised High School courses for the 2024 2025 school year we are excited about the ideas Behind these new course recommendations as Miss copen said our intentions are to build strong connections to the students postsecondary lives the video that Miss copen mentioned encouraged
069the group to plan for the day after the student graduates with that inspiration the group made the recommendations that you will review tonight I'll begin tonight with the process we followed introduce the recommendations for new courses explain some slight changes to existing courses and then end with questions and discussions early in the school year high school teams and departments submitted course addition and revision recommendations this year the school teams were looking for opportunities to assist students in achieving postsecondary credentials increase connections to workbase learning and open opportunities for more honors class experiences teams submit courses and rationale via Google Docs these recommendations are initially reviewed by myself Jackie Clayton and Jean copen the course recommendations are then brought to the APC team a team composed of League counselors curriculum assistant principles from each high school
070and other department Representatives at our October meeting we facilitated a discussion of each of these course recommendations and add justification for the course we asked our team to look at the course through the lens of the following five questions what is the rationale for the new course what is the pathway for the new course we encourage our schools to look at opportunities that will allow students to complete credentials what impact will this new course have on other courses on your campus if the course has a fee what is the purpose of the fee and will this new course have impact on your Staffing each course was reviewed and discussed and the team reached agreement on the following course additions and changes presented to you this evening I am Jackie Clayton and I am the lead
071counselor at PB high school and join Connie this year as a district lead counselor the first set of courses are currently available to our students as non-honors courses Crest students currently apply for one of three strands of CTE focused either on bioscience computer science or engineering each strand requires six electives currently the only strand that has all six electives with honors opportunity is bioscience in order to make all strands equal in Opportunity we need to add the Honor's designation to these courses if approved all students no matter what strand they choose will have equal opportunities to achieve the same weight to GPA additionally these courses offer students opportunities for dual enroll rment and certification exams and prepare students for careers in this growing industry the course recommendation is to add the honors designation to these
072courses yearbook production one two initially began as an English credit some campuses began offering this course embedded into another CTE course and some offered it as an elective by offering these four yearbook uction courses as a sequence through CTE students can earn a credential that is recognized by the industry the recommendation is to create a four-year pathway for yearbook production with a CTE designation we currently offer a theater production and Stage craft one two as a fine arts elective course these courses will remain as an option for campuses by creating an additional 2-year course sequence titled stagecraft and moving these courses to CTE we will open up an opportunity for an industry credential and dual enrollment as a CTE course students may take a technical skills assessment TSA at the end of the 2-year sequence
073stagecraft one and stagecraft 2 to earn an industry credential the industry credential specific to stagecraft is OSHA 10 construction industry the recommendation is to create a 2-year path way for stagecraft with the CTE designation the First new course recommendation is honors algebra one two we currently do not offer an honors algebra one2 course that has a weighted opportunity we currently offer accelerated algebra one two which is unweighted honors algebra one2 would allow us to offer many high achieving math students an opportunity to take honors Algebra 1 12 as a weighted course with the opportunity to finish at the AP level during their senior year currently this is not an opportunity we are recommending that honors algebra 12 replace accelerated algebra2 the second set of new courses is algebra ls12 and geometry ls12 we currently offer
074algebra ls12 and geometry essential ls12 course for students with math needs written into their IEPs however the team is recommending that we update these classes to align better with the Arizona State math standards and create sustainable Pathways that are consistently used at all high school campuses these are a part of a math Continuum for students with an IEP who need increased support we are recommending that algebra ls12 and geometry ls12 math courses become the New Path way for students who have math needs documented within their IEP the third new course is Sweetwater Community schoolwork experience on the job Sweetwater is considered an alternative school and therefore earns their school letter grade using the ad alternative letter grade formula the traditional High School formula is comprised of 20% related to CC college career Readiness indicators however
075Alternative High School formula is comprised of 35% related to CC last year the principal of Sweetwater and director of assessment with met with ad to discuss opportunities to increase Sweetwater's CCRI opportunities the state advised that we create a course that would allow students who have outside employment to earn high school credit through a formal collaboration between the school and the students employer the course that is being recom recommended would also create a credit recovery option since there are limited elective offerings at Sweetwater on accountability side the school will receive points for each student meeting the required hours we are recommending Sweetwater community school work experience on the job course be added to the course catalog for Sweetwater only the fourth course being recommended is PV online mobile media the addition of this course will open
076up a photography elective course opportunity for PV online students this course will allow students to submit photography projects using their cell phones this course will help us build a more robust fine arts program for our remote students we are recommending the addition of PV online mobile media for PV online students only the fifth course being recommended is AP Chinese language and culture this course will provide students in the Dual language and Emer program to complete an AP junior level course students will prepare to take the AP Chinese language and culture AP exam as well as the sealed by literacy in Mandarin we are recommending the addition of AP Chinese language and culture as the completion course for Mandarin dual language and emergence students in addition to new courses our APC team is also recommending changes
077to three existing courses AP French 910 and photography 1 12 and 34 were courses that were brought to the committee for discussion the recommendation was to add a dual enrollment option to the course descriptions this led the team to discuss the fact that there are many courses in our catalog that could also qualify as a dual enrollment class if the instructor has the proper credentials and the community college or university offers the course we are always striving to provide students the opportunity to earn college credit during High School in addition to adding a designation that indicates an opportunity for dual enrollment and college credit to these three classes we would also recommend that this be added to all courses that have this potential annually the community colleges collaborate with PV high schools to decide which
078courses are eligible for dual enrollment for the following school year that concludes the APC team's recommend ations and we are happy to answer any questions you might have thank you so much are there any questions or comments from the board Mrs is thank you so much for your presentation um I have a question about the um geometry and the algebra the ls how is it different from the essentials or is it different like the geometry LS compared to the geometry Essentials there's like a description in the ls description is for students with IEPs which is different you know they they have special needs so we follow the standards for those students they they follow the same standards they just get additional support okay and that's is it more than the essential than the essentials that
079they have right now uh it would be the same it would just better align to the state stand okay thank you any other questions yes I have go ahead Mr great Mrs Greenberg you could have called on him um no I just want to say thanks for the presentation uh I found it fascinating um or I don't know serendipitous that there was an article on a central or possibly in the Republic but I only see it online about the dir of computer science courses in Ariz IA and how far down the list we are so it's great to see that we you know have such a robust program at crust and that we continue to um open our offerings particularly in this area but I was very excited when when we first saw uh we
080first got the the course descriptions to see everything that was being proposed but having seen that today it's like all right go computer side thank you Mr paner thank you I have a question regarding the honors algebra one two now it says it's a new course but then didn't you say then you're eliminating The Accelerated algebra the honors algebra one2 would replace accelerated because accelerated right now is a non-weighted course um we've never had an honors algebra one to weighted level but would so it's replacing so there won't be accelerated correct okay um so what's are there prerequisites to become uh student in those classes in that class like right now are there prerequisites to get into the accelerated algebra there are in the Middle School recommendations they'll come from those Math teachers and that
081will be something that um they will decide for us to put the students in that honors so you think that the these um prerequisits probably would change I don't think your ically they're the same students that's just giving them the weighted opportunity right now so that they can get the 5.0 GPA opportunity and by eliminating The Accelerated version that's not leaving anybody out that couldn't handle the honors one anybody out no right thank you yeah thank you any questions Mrs Christensen yeah I have six questions so um thank you for putting this together this is all very exciting um you mentioned Staffing at the beginning I was wondering what considerations you made with with our current um Staffing shortage and do we have the sufficient staff to be able to um teach these classes in
082particular the CTE courses on it cyber security routing those are very specific and it takes a very specific skill set and I can't imagine there would be a somebody certified in our just there I mean there may be but um yeah sure currently we are actually offering those courses so we do have a teacher that is certified and qualified to teach the course we're just asking for it to now be an honors level so so it's just one teacher and is this only offered at one school or currently that is only offered at the crest program right now P high school thank you the um my second question given AI Technologies is so very new and um and I do have a technology background in it and veterinary medicine so I do understand the tech
083a little bit it was many years ago but I know technology is not inherently evil but there's so much Unknown about the current um AI that is coming out and what kind of protections and Fa safes are we putting in place um I know there's some Integrity concerns right now with chat GPT on um some of the um some essays Etc also how do we control it if it takes off with a mind of its own president case and M Chris I'll take I'll take this one so um the AI mentioned was not of in reference to any of the courses specifically that was just to illustrate um the generation Alpha and that that's kind of how they're being characterized is this will be the generation that doesn't know life without AI um and so
084as adults are planning for young people's future we keep that in mind of what they're going to be facing currently we do have some parameters for AI just to mention we have 10 um approved AI sites for teachers only um and we do have a pilot running in our high school English classrooms to use AI with student students with parent permission thank you my third question is in terms of it's regarding the yearbook production what type of CTE do we have for a four-year you you indicated a four-year pathway and CTE for yearbook production is that for a job as a yearbook producer I don't I didn't understand that or maybe I misunderstood what you indicated necessarily be a job for yourbook production but it would be for for like magazine production um it's just
085fulfilling the need that's in the in the schools in the high schools to create um a yearbook and learning all of the technical skills required to create a publication I'm gonna skip my fourth question because Tony asked that one um my fifth question is um in regards to the Sweet waterer work experience on the job what what is CC you mentioned it a couple times and I probably just missed it when you were talking there's a CCRI opportunities um between the collaboration between the schools president case Mrs Christ um yes uh cc is um it's one of our accountability measures in our letter grade formula and it's um indicators that we collect throughout a high school career for a student um that is showing that they're taking College opportunities or work opportunities work base would
086be part of that um and as we mentioned in the presentation sweetwaters formula um has a larger percentage of their letter grade um dedicated to that part of um the formula the CCI thank you my final question um in regards to pvo Mobile Media is it's a two-part question is this only for pvo online students okay and the second part is um again in terms of student safety our self phones aren't necessarily protected by the district policies on um you know with firewalls Etc what are we doing to ensure that that everything is safe if they're going to be utilizing their own cell phones to do this modal Mobile Media online um project project curriculum will actually follow the same as the high school's photography class but PV online does not have the ability to
087purchase a bunch of um um High digital cameras so we just using the cameras for the picture taking but it's going to be more of about explor exploring how to take good pictures what um art is out there that actually uses photography and how you can make your pictures even on a cell phone look like that so okay thank you thank you any other questions from the board comments um I just want to say how excited I am about these offerings I really get excited when we give more students the opportunity to get certifications and to get honors classes I just want to give our students every leg up that we possibly can my children excelled in this District because of all their opportuni and I want all of our students to Excel and have
088the opportunities and I'd love the diversity of all the different choices so thank you for all of your work on this I really appreciate it great job thank you before we adjourn I would like to remind you that the next regular board meeting will be held on Thursday December 7th at 6:30 p.m. may I have a motion to adjourn I move that we adjourn all those in favor say I I all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously thank you so much