001perhaps foreign oh I don't have anybody to Pledge of Allegiance I don't have anybody do the Pledge of Allegiance oh okay excuse me I would like to call this meeting to order shhh it's seven o'clock I'd like to call this meeting to order please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to uh may I have roll call please Mrs Baker here Mrs Greenberg here Mrs Christensen here Mrs case here Mr Pantera here next on the agenda approval agenda Dr Bells thank you president case governing board members cabinet and guests 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 the governing board receive the agenda along with backup materials at least 24 hours prior
002to the meeting and have time to review and consider all items prior to the agenda being adopted members of the governing board or audience 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 I'd like to offer the agenda as posted with the following exception delete item G11 and delete item H6 thank you does any member of the governor board wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda is does any member of the audience wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda seeing none Mrs Christensen may I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda and recommend consent agenda items so moved all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion
003passes unanimously next on the agenda is governing board statements um Mrs Greenberg may we start with you certainly um as we head towards the end of the year there's always many an event and and um uh you know play and performance Etc to go to um I haven't been able to hit everything I'd like to but um this past week I joined um several of our cabinet members and and other folk at the PV school CTE Signing Day at Paradise Valley high school and this is set up similar to um when our student athletes sign their letters of intent for college Etc and it set up very similar to that and these are students who are going on um I think all of them pretty much with with you exceptions are going on to service
004in the military are going on to college but in a a proclaimed profession and it was wonderful we had um there were not everybody was able to make it but the students who were there um you could see their dedication and it just was a tremendous event and I'm really pleased I was able to make it and um yesterday I presume we're going to hear a little bit more about National volunteer week but our VIP program which is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year held its recognition event um it's yesterday and um it was not just fun to see all the volunteers and and reconnect um but because of the 10-year event uh the two Founders Laurie Smith and Julie bacon were there as was Dr James Lee because Dr Lee was superintendent when
005when uh VIP came into place and it's just it's incredible to see how much the program has grown I'm guessing there's going to be more on that later so I will not steal Dr Bale's Thunder and I just want to say thank you I don't think we've seen the room this full in quite some time so welcome to everybody thank you Mr Panter pantero sure uh hello everyone uh good evening this being Earth Day Earth week month Earth Day is a couple days away I uh been focusing on the schools I've been seeing this weekend with that in my mind and I also thought about the schools I have visited and what we've seen in our district and there's so much we do here to show that we're trying to be stewards of the earth
006and instill that with our students we've got you know simple things like carpool parking we've got solar panels okay all these schools I've been to either have are planning to do uh Gardens for the kids to grow and and to see how they can give back to the Earth um over at Hidden Hills even they have a flag it's part of the Arizona Environmental Quality uh program so with the American flag and the state flag there's a flag of the color of the uh environment the air quality you drive by you know what kind of air you're breathing this kind of thing's been instilled in students everywhere even teachers when they get done with our district a friend of mine Dan Graziano she adopted a street up here on Cave Creek okay and every now
007and then I go and help her uh and her group uh take care of that street and and Adopt A Highway and make it clean and look look nice and pick up the litter even the things that we do in our curriculum with the art where they recycle art and do that always instilling that that look into the future making your world better okay not just for um the environment but how we help each other out they're learning how to cooperate at the same time and do things together because me fills me with hope and I really like that about our district oh and by the way if any of your groups are doing any kind of Street cleanups within the boundaries of the district give me a call if I got the time I'll
008put on my calendar I'll come and join you thank you thank you um Mrs Baker thank you president case thank you to everyone who came to our meeting tonight this is quite the packed house um since our last meeting I've been fortunate enough to go on some more School tours they're always a highlight of my week I love seeing the students learning and engaged so thank you to all the principals who took time out of their day to show me around and answer my questions I also got to attend the dapstone presentation at Shadow Mountain which was just incredible um the kids got to choose um their own focus and so it was really a passion project for each student and just their creativity and their dedication to it and their end results were just
009so incredible um I got to visit the PVA prom boutique which is so amazing uh they set it up like a store so the kids feel like they're actually shopping with accessories and makeup and it's just an incredible experience um they even cheer when each kid finds their like perfect prom Ensemble it's amazing um I do just want to mention one thing um as adults we are supposed to model the behavior we want for our children and our students um we set high expectations for how children should speak to each other and how they speak to us as adults we need to hold ourselves to that those same expectations and we need to set the examples the adults in the room as a governing board member I don't I don't bring my children because sometimes
010they hear things that I don't want them to hear um but we do have other children here this amazing artwork we have so many kids for that we have children here to watch their parents be promoted we have kids getting Awards and recognitions um and I just want to encourage everyone to use their positive voice and even if you're voicing a genuine concern you can do it with Civility and I just encourage everyone who comes up to remember who's listening because our children and our students deserve to hear kind words and to have um that modeled for them thank you thank you Mrs Christensen I just want to welcome everybody here today and many of you will be happy to hear that I'm losing my voice so mine is short so welcome thank you I
011have a few comments um I also attended the VIP celebration for 10 years and there were seven the VIPs who had been following volunteering for 10 years that's every week all through the pandemic and doing online whatever it was so amazing you walked in and there was just this positive energy kind of like it is tonight in here I love it when the kids help say the Pledge of Allegiance it's just the best and but the fact that those people are volunteering their time we have week after week and making a difference and then tonight on channel five they uh Esther Kovacs was honored on channel five and it was so cool that she was honored for her service and she doesn't just serve herself she's gotten a whole bunch of her friends to come
012be volunteers too so the VIP program if anybody's here you might want to think about it it's a great program and um it it just helps children individually with math and with reading whatever they need so they can succeed in school and that's what we're all about um I just have a few comments and I it's been on my mind a lot lately and I've thought about it a lot and it it took me back to eighth grade I graduated from Phoenix Elementary School down in Central Phoenix Public School and in eighth grade we used to have an eighth grade graduation we sang Let There Be Peace On Earth that was the name of the song and the words were Let There Be Peace On Earth and let it begin with me and those words
013have just struck my heart I remember singing them as a 13 year old and thinking oh this is interesting so it's I've really taken this to heart and been thinking what can I do to make things better and as Mrs Baker said we model for the students and our word choices and how we treat each other and we can disagree with someone without being disagreeable we can but our words can be kind and we can choose to be civil with each other so I would just ask all of us that we are careful with our words and that we're mindful that we're set in examples for children and I also want to say that when things are messy at school board meetings it doesn't make teachers feel secure in their jobs and that doesn't make
014the students feel secure as students so how we act in our district affects the well-being and the progression of our students so I would just ask that we're all a little bit more careful and you know let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me if you can kind of remember that so thank you and those are our comments tonight now I'll turn the time over to Awards and recognition and recognitions to Dr belts thank you president case discovering board members cabinet and guest it's with my pleasure that we have multiple things to celebrate and highlight tonight as positive awards for staff and students and we will begin with some student recognition so at this time I want to ask that the board stay here the dies and Mr drogy will be
015our MC for this first part recognizing the presentation of the permanent art collection good evening president case governing board members members of cabinet attendees both in person and virtual this evening first we'll kick off Awards and recognitions with a presentation of the permanent art collection pieces presenting this honor is director of Fine Arts Maureen Minnick before you start may I just say if your child is receiving come up a little closer and take your picture don't be afraid take your child's picture thank you um president case governing board members Dr Bale's cabinet and guests art is one of the many ways in which students in PV schools show Excellence not only does it Foster creativity and critical thinking skills it helps students Express themselves in a variety of ways each year the district makes a
016purchase of student artwork from the Showcase held at the annual sights and sounds event which took place this last March these purchased pieces are professionally framed and added to the district permanent collection of artwork displayed throughout the district office and PV schools buildings and the art that you see tonight will Grace the walls behind you all of next year please join me and their parents teachers and principals who are here with them tonight in congratulating these talented young artists students when I call your name you'll come up pick up your art show your art to each of the board members please remember to turn around and share it with everybody else and then we'll take a photo you can put your art back and head back to your seat and my assistant Miss Monroe is
017on hand in case we need any assistance and to present you with your monetary honorarium first step we have fourth grader Viviana broker Vargas from Hidden Hills Elementary School man and then stay right there Viviana and we're going to have a photo right like that oh I want that Walgreens behind me now everybody knows what to do Viviana perfect next we have Grayson gappinger a fourth grader from Boulder Creek Elementary School it's good enough to eat next we have Adriana Hernandez Romero a fourth grader from Indian Bend Elementary School yeah go ahead and walk around there you go oh next we have Micah Smith a fifth grader from Campo Bello Elementary School well done well done great nice next we have Coco emins an 8th grader from in the North Valley arts academies program from
018Shea Middle School oh right on next we have Caitlin Martin an 8th grader from Mountain Trail Middle School oh it's scratching off while Caitlyn's getting her photo taken I wanted to make mention that her original piece was actually damaged when we took it off the art panel and she redid it in two days which is amazing foreign not able to be with us this evening but we still want to recognize Jamie prendeville an 8th grader at Desert Shadows Middle School on the screen is hey yeah hey wait a minute wipers next we have Maya Winburn 8th grader from Desert Shadows Middle School wow get him out next we have Alyssa picarski a 10th grader from Paradise Valley High School whoa that's pretty interesting is that ink or is that ink shrine again next we have
019Tanya Mejia Sierra an 11th grader from Paradise Valley High School foreign also unable to be with us this evening is Cole Kelly a 12th grader from North Canyon High School our nose or moths you've got the shadow the shadowing's a thing right last but not least we have marcelia e show a 12th grader from North Canyon High School look at that the story she's carrying a story Miss isho's piece is Clay which she made in Ceramics class or silly hold on one second thank you a special shout out to Maureen and our art teachers across the district for just let's give them a round of applause yeah yeah we have some truly wonderful wonderful artists and we are blessed with their work that will be part of our permanent collection at this time I'd like
020to invite the board down in front of the dice for the remaining recognitions our next honoree did a stellar job and won first place at the Educators Rising state conference back in March she outperformed over 500 other high school students from around the valley and impressed judges with an unforgettable interview resume and proved herself as a future leader in education her dream is to be a teacher a middle school math right here in Paradise learn more about this amazing student by listening to episode 4 of the new District podcast PV beat on Apple podcast and Spotify but please first help me welcome and congratulate from Pinnacle high school Caroline Mann foreign as with many of our student achievements they're supported by dedicated staff so also Round of Applause for advisor Karen Downs with much effort
021and enthusiasm PV school's Deca students dominated at the state conference and are officially AZ Deca state champions these students worked hard and prepared by attending after school study sessions taking practice exams and participating in case study role play with their peers it was a long journey to get there but they completed the journey please hold your applause until I call all students up to the diocese and then a huge round of applause please from Horizon High School Kira lachinski oh practice sorry uh from Pinnacle High School Jen Javi meta oh also from Pinnacle High School Landon Stone Sophia salami vinay charm Olivia Lube now Olivia Hirsch London green analog Shaw now is an appropriate time for a big round of applause foreign as mentioned these students are supported by dedicated staff Cheryl Shea and Suzanne
022marsolo kids Pinnacle Deca does a great job but I want to point out I have four Juniors there raise your hand that was their first time in front of the board and I'm extremely proud of that Opera that opportunity they've had this evening but I have four seniors that have been before the board before and I just need to recognize them okay um Sophia salami this is her third first place time in her years this is also her third first place Olivia lubinow who's also her third first place and before I say the next one those these four seniors have been in my program for all four years have really grown with me and I'm so proud of them my last one is a Lok Shah and he has won five first places speaking of
023dedicated staff next is the Paradise Valley education support professional of the month pbsca president Ms Michelle Courtright will make the presentation president case governing board um Dr Bales and cabinet this is one of the highlights of my month this month we are recognizing Nicole Woods she is an administrative assistant at Horizon and if any of you have ever had an administrative assistant you know that they are the ones that really run the school they are the reason that your spouse has flowers on their anniversary and you show up at the right sporting event or dance recital they are the glue that holds everything together and we have a large amount of letters here and the words I see over and over again are kind patient hard-working I'm one of the people writes that Nicole is
024the heart and soul of horizon every teacher and support member at Horizon knows that they can go to Nicole she's there to help them with a kind heart a listening ear and a hug if needed she's patient kind hard working and always willing to help but most of all Nicole is here for the students to many students she's affectionately known as Mama Woods they know she is a safe and trusted adult for all students to go to and they know she will listen and she will help to the best of her ability Nicole is also a product of our district she has never known another career except PV and that's by choice so I it is with my honor that we present this to her this month Nicole ah our next recognition is the recipient
025of the Paradise Valley education association's recognition of Professional Standards award for teachers the honoree this evening will be introduced by Miss Diane seekman pvea president good evening it is my pleasure or excuse me my first time doing this good evening president case governing board Dr Bales and cabinet it is my pleasure to present the props award this evening to Toby loveanduski she is a sixth grade teacher at Hidden Hills Elementary and she's also a 25-year employee with our district she was nominated by her colleague Frank patellio and here's what Frank wrote I am nominating Toby because she is an example of teaching intelligence Toby takes pride in knowing what building and District expectations are required and helps others get there as well her self-awareness and her self-management skills are top of the line many of
026the teachers in our building will seek her opinion on topics knowing that she is a safe place to do so cially and professionally she knows how to challenge you to be a better teacher or administrator and isn't afraid one bit to let you know when you have to do better this is the most this is most evident in our staff data and committee meetings during the school year she's a leader in our PLC group and in her position as our building testing coordinator she has and continues to volunteer her time outside of the school day at Shea Middle School and Shadow Mountain High School with both the PTSA and the booster club for the marching band and matador football one thing that has stuck with me was a discussion that I had with her and
027a desire to leave a positive Legacy for her students the what do I remember most question that past or present students and families Might Recall when thinking about Mrs Lewandowski Frank wrote for me the answer that to that question is simple it's the positive impact that her Legacy has produced for my own children and my own professionalism alike I'm so plowed to and uh to present this award and please join me in congratulating Toby levandeski [Applause] the best wave ever okay and that President case concludes this evening's Awards and recognitions foreign excuse me next on the agenda we're going to start with uh public comment we're going to start with the public comment and we'll start with the video there's a video going call to the public is about to convene this portion of today's
028meeting 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 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
029and 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 thank you tonight we have five people tonight we have five people who have submitted comments cards prior to the start of the meeting each speaker will have three minutes for remarks those who have asked to speak on agenda items will be recognized at the appropriate time during the meeting as a reminder we ask that you please your direct your comments to the board with civility please State your first and last name when you come to the podium our first speaker will be summer Bagley followed by Lily Gresham good evening president case board cabinet
030and fellow parents I wanted to open a discussion this evening about something I think is on a lot of parents Minds these days with the recent shooting and just the continued risk that we face at schools for this and Horn giving out grants for sros ETC um I guess as I unpack it all I have a lot of questions and I would like to follow up afterwards of course but I would like to just start the conversation of who makes the metrics for how many sros are at each School how is that determined is that you is that state how does that work why do we have so little I know there's a shortage in the police force in general but why do we have so little at our schools and how do we change
031that how do we get more Monies to fund that and are we able to look into federal grants that would require or allow retired military retired police officers who would I would think be very um you know on board with something like that to to work at our schools I feel like it's just something that's on my mind and everyone I speak to on their minds I think we would like to know the details and how we just beef up real safety at our schools so we're not sending our kids I have two in public right now my two oldest and they do not feel safe they know that they would be able to take care of themselves but they don't feel safe and it just breaks my heart and I'm sure a lot of
032parents hear their their children have brought that subject up when when you discuss it at home especially after the recent events so just lots of questions I feel like it's just hard to understand how we move forward and how we make that better um recently I did confirm in addition to all the drugs that go on in our bathrooms at the high school I can only really speak for the high school because that's where my two oldest go um so much drugs so much there's only so many bathrooms and they have to go to so many bathrooms just to be able to use one and I just feel like that is just not acceptable I just confirmed today before coming that an SRO walked in onto boys having sex in a bathroom this is unacceptable
033this is totally unacceptable and why do we not have more eyes sros whatever in these bathrooms this is just like a cesspool and kids do not feel comfortable going to the bathroom and that becomes a health problem if they're holding that right all day so safety Health all the above I just hope we can open the conversation and get somewhere and move forward with that um and I just appreciate the time thank you Ms Bagley summer I'll have you connect with Dr osmussen with Chris if you'll raise your hand if you'll connect with her he'll be able to answer a lot of your questions and follow up with you with contact information and just to the point of clarification we do have 14 sros in the most recent Ade Grant award we account for 10
034percent of the state Grant and so we continue to lead and but we're always looking for other opportunities but he'll be able to answer follow with that next is Lily Grisham followed by Raquel can SC hi my name is Lily Gresham thank you um how many people consider themselves woke is that a bad thing um Miriam dictionary Miriam's Webster's Dictionary described defines woke as aware and of and actively attentive to importance societal facts and issues especially of racial and social justice Cambridge in English dictionary defines woke meaning aware especially of social problems such as racism and inequality um so woke is not a bad thing education is not just about learning of facts but also the training of the mind to think um according to Albert Einstein there are some laws or bills that are
035going through our legislature such as the drag show bill um that would criminalize drag in the presence of a minor the bill actually defines drag as singing and dancing while wearing makeup and the punishment is a maximum of 15 years in prison and requires Sex Offender Registration um I wonder if that if that would include going taking your kid to the movies I think we've all enjoyed drag shows we've all watched Tootsie Mrs Doubtfire Medea Bosom Buddies Big Mama's House so let's not all kid ourselves and and make drag shows or lgbtq people out to be the boogeyman um the primary function of education is to teach our students how to think for themselves and the best way to protect our kids is to educate them Banning and censoring books is not about protecting kids
036it's about restricting information simply because someone doesn't like their their ideas and it should be deeply disturbing how much time our lawmakers people that are being paid to represent a community are spending on defining specific sexual acts people's identities sexualizing body parts this is far more disturbing and distasteful than any lgbtq book found in any children's collection in any school library and through all of recorded history no child has ever picked up a loaded book and killed their little sister or their little brother or shot their teacher in the face with it um and there are many new proposals and laws that Outlaw intellectual Freedom criminalize Library workers and Educators just for providing queer and or diverse literature to their communities um and to make being queer or a person of color more difficult than
037it already is and if a parent feels uncomfortable that's a really low bar Rachel followed by Jennifer um Ariza foreign thank you so much for taking the time and and giving us the opportunity to express some of our concerns or excitements or whatever it may be unfortunately tonight I'm here to talk about um I'm a parent of a pbusd students my last student is a senior at Horizon High School and I'd like to address a rather alarming and shocking content that's occurring at our school and particularly in my students classroom that just happened a few weeks ago as you know our English teacher resigned after she was placed on leave for what the school called a lapse of judgment that email went out to parents of students in her class which includes my child at
038that students had read a passage with inappropriate language or content the truth is that that wasn't exactly what had occurred I'm sure you guys know that there was a worksheet that was passed out to the students um that had students answering all kinds of sexuality gender questions including the questions that asked our students what kinds of things turn them on and what do they climax to let that sink in in our High School minor students were asked what turns them on sexually and what brings them orgasm I'm asking you in what planet is this ever appropriate I I'm it's just grossly inappropriate it should not be occurring in our classrooms this is English I don't care what the subject is that's never appropriate in our schools um it's out of bounds the lack of professionalism
039it really challenged emotional safety for the students it was a little disturbing that the students were bothered but what was even more disturbing was that okay let's flip on to the next class because this is not completely unusual and I'm I think that fact alone was a bit shocking to me that that yes this stuff occurs and they're not told our students are not totally shocked that this is happening but this one this particular worksheet went beyond this is not the first incident at Horizon with grossly inappropriate sexual content and behavior that's been tolerated it's been ignored until more light shown on on these problematic areas you know just last year we lost the AP English teacher for the controversial um book that included uh descriptions of rape abortion self-harm and hints at bestiality in
040the same year one of our Math teachers was immediately let go once the fervor of what all the students knew was happening um so next is Jennifer Ariza followed by Emily Wagner hello my name is Jennifer Ariza I want to say thank you for to each of you for the time that you put into your positions I also want to thank you for your professionalism and how you conduct yourselves in these board meetings it's top-notch because I've witnessed some other school board meetings so for that I really thank you too for keeping it professional um I also want to say it's very encouraging to see how you recognize all the students and staff achievements I stand here tonight as a concerned parent in the Paradise Valley School District and I do appreciate the opportunity to
041speak my concern as a parent in the district is the education and Welfare of the students as I stand here tonight I want to declare that pornography should not be allowed in our schools I am hopeful that 2023 will be the year that we as a community take a stand against approving any additional sexualized and pornographic material for our schools our community is very concerned about this and about the sexualization of our students particularly as it is being pushed to lower and lower grades I want to ask each of our board members if you have researched the effects of pornography on children if not I encourage you to do so you can take a look at organizations such as our operation Underground Railroad or the Nazarene fund they have a lot of information and I'm
042very concerned because pornography is used to train and desensitize people and it increases the demand for human trafficking porn users often seek to act out what they've seen or read in pornography and porn users demand a constant stream of new increasingly violent and fetishized content in order to keep up with this demand more women and children become prostituted and trafficked have anybody on the board ever known somebody who's been a victim of human trafficking do you know that Arizona is home to the largest human sex trafficking recovery program and that we are taking Elementary age children into this program I wanted to highlight this for you and ask each of you to consider if increasing the sexualization materials in our schools is helping to protect our students or is it something that we should consider
043not doing starting in 2023 in this world there are Protectors of children and there are predators of children as a member of the board I ask each of you how will you be remembered I would encourage you to give this serious thought as you review material to approve this year thank you Emily Wagner hello my name is Emily Wagner in light of the 2023-2024 teacher contract negotiations I fear we have lost our Financial Focus when it comes to the district's pet projects unnecessary curriculum changes facility upgrades travel and other boondoggles the money somehow always seems to materialize yet teachers continue to get the short end of the stick that stick dangles a carrot every election year in the form of yet another bond an override and the voters approve the monies every time yet somehow
044the teachers are never granted the pay increase they so desperately deserve low teacher pay is always used as a get out the vote talking point yet in the end the piper leading the voters to the polls never pays out what he promises I want the teachers and supports staff in this room or listening online to know that we the parents and voters in pvusd fully support a pay increase commensurate with the values and strategic goals claimed by the district in 2022 we had a special election where pvusd voters approved a 15 Eminem budget override in the information pamphlet distributed to voters on page three which you can find online it was promised approving the that ballot measure was critical to provide competitive salaries to retain and attract highly qualified teachers and staff the voters already
045did their part now please do yours and stop shorting teachers pay thank you next on the agenda um Dr Bells thank you president case governing board members cabinet and guests in tonight's Mission moment a reminder that in PB schools we engage Inspire nurture students through high quality instruction meaningful educational opportunities and dynamic learning experiences those experiences include a variety of different journeys of excellence and for example the PV robotics team and District Band and Orchestra students who are embarking on travel this week that honors their dedication to well-rounded education The Paradise Valley High School robotics team team Paradise after an impressive Regional win traveled to Houston Texas they are there right now where they're competing in the 2023 first robotics World Championship competition it's not just Houston now that PB schools is showing up at
046150 band and Orchestra students from all four from four of our five high schools made their way to New York City they're there right now and their trip includes a clinic with a world-renowned conductor who works with the New York Philharmonic youth programs and they will also be performing a concert on Friday afternoon at the church of the Incarnation a historical landmark on the national register of historic places right down from the street right down the street from the Empire State Building let's give those students a warm welcome congratulations bus driver Appreciation Day April 25th just coming up let us take a moment to thank the PV Schools bus drivers for all that they do PB Schools bus drivers are the unsung heroes of our everyday lives and they work early in the morning late
047into the evening on weekends to ensure that our students arrive at School extracurricular events safely and on time and furthermore each driver undergoes extensive training and safety procedures first aid and emergency response to prepare them for any situation that may arise on the road their dedication and commitment to safety make them an essential part of our school Community I think it's around 6 500 miles a day they drive and we have a little over 50 almost 60 drivers in the district but we do need more Heroes to help transport our kids so if you're interested please join our team let's give our bus drivers a warm a round of appreciation foreign I too had the opportunity to visit Shadow Mountain High School recently at their Digital Academy advanced placement Scholars as they showcased their Capstone
048projects and during that celebration I was thoroughly impressed I walked in and listened to one young man talk about the growth mindset and he had props and he was so engaged and enthusiastic and I walked over to principal Appleman I said I think that young man is going to be a Ted speaker sensation he's going to go viral well he reminded me that he's also a Flynn scholar it Illustrated the importance of programs like dapps in preparing students for success in college and Beyond so congratulations to the Saddle Mountain dapp seniors on their amazing achievements foreign as Mrs Greenberg pointed out we had a CTE Signing Day here's the golden Power every learner for a lifetime makes success and I'm very proud of their great success stories within our district that have come from CTE
049programs that's Career and Technical education programs and certainly as a way to honor them we were so proud to host this 10th Annual Signing Day second year in PV I might add but this special day is meant to emphasize the importance of students who are signing a letter of intent and making a commitment to a Career and Technical education and one of the young men that was up here earlier being recognized was very proudly I don't see him if he's still here very proudly here at his University of Texas had up to the table signed and put his hat on because that's where he's headed was fun State science and engineering Fair uh Finley Allen Caroline Beatty sixth grader from great Hawk Elementary made waves at the Paradise Valley Junior science and engineering fair with
050their impressive project plants and light their hard work and dedication paid off as they won first place in the plant Sciences category these impressive students went on to earn third place at the state competition and this dynamic duo is an inspiration to students and young scientists throughout our district congratulations Finley and Caroline Horizon Winter Guard has earned a reputation as an outstanding and Innovative group with their incredible displays of talent and Technical skill they have mesmerized audiences and impressed judges alike on April 1st The Horizon Pride regiment once again made a tremendous impact on the exciting and dynamic world of winter guard by placing first Arizona state championship congratulations huskies and keep up the great work summer school I know it's hard to believe five weeks from today is the last day of school for
051this Academic Year but summer school is a great opportunity for students to get ahead in their academic journey and whether students need to make up credits get ahead or dive deeper into their favorite subjects summer school can offer some unparalleled opportunities and with PV online students can complete the work anywhere this summer 9 through 12th graders have the opportunity to take a free PV online summer school course earning another half a credit for a six-week class registration has begun and sign up through Infinite Campus for more information contact your school counselor as well I'd also like to recognize Jalen Wilson uh she's a student at Horizon High School she's a senior and she was named the 2023 Boys and Girls Club of Greater Scottsdale Youth Of The Year congratulations Jalen as the Youth of the
052year Jalen was awarded 25 000 in post-secondary education scholarship funds which will help her pursue her dream of attending Arizona State University her dedication to achieving goals commitment to making and positive impact an Exemplar character are Hallmarks of this true leader Jalen thank you for being an inspiration to others all right and we have mentioned the wonderful volunteers and the volunteer in Paradise program that we have award-winning Stellar uh program and I am so happy to be a part of celebrating their 10-year work uh to the founders uh Julie bake and Lori Smith and uh James Lee uh I am so happy that uh Marissa and Linda continue to leave this wonderful wonderful program and we have a goal of getting a thousand uh volunteers and we're on our way to do that so if
053you know people that want to join us please do so it's a great way to give back and this is our national volunteer week and so it cultivates and respects meaningful relationships I know our volunteers frequently tell me that they get more out of it than they think the kids are getting from them but it's amazing reciprocation so I'd like to take the opportunity to show a brief uh celebration of this very important program that recognizes our volunteers will watch just half of it and the rest you can see online so let's roll the video thank you [Music] we're so happy to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of volunteer in Paradise volunteer in Paradise is really a unique program we started in two schools in 2013-14 and this year we are in 28 schools we're
054so excited to be able to celebrate this program for many years we knew that community members wanted to volunteer in our schools and my friend and co-founder of volunteer in Paradise Laurie Smith had moved to the east coast and gotten involved in some volunteer programs there and when they moved back to Arizona she called me one day and said I really think we can do something about Volunteers in the school district what do you think and I was like let's go let's do it and so that was really one of The Inspirations was let's get people in the community who are really committed to our students get them in classrooms helping out students and helping out teachers I was our school in North Ranch at the time and we were very excited to Pilot it
055so to be able to have people who uh you know had been out in the workforce or had been teaching and were willing to come it it just sounded like a great thing to do and to be a part of and then we were gonna reap the benefits When I joined about five years ago as volunteer coordinator we had about 70 volunteers we're now closer in the range of about 150 volunteers before I became a VIP I had taught school for 30 years retired after public education teaching in K to five and after I was done and retired I just needed more and I have to say and this is the tip of the hat to Paradise Valley and how they do it no one has anything close to putting volunteers together in a place
056that they can be useful than the VIP program at Paradise Valley is tremendous they are well trained volunteers they get training prior to starting in classrooms Cornerstone of our program is really focused on training them so they can be prepared and confident once they reach the classroom the impact she has on the classroom is she really helps improve our classroom family she brings in so much love and outside experience she is not a teacher by trade but over the four years I've had her she's turned into a teacher and it's really been awesome to see how she's helped my students grow you know working with students the emotional pieces are just tremendous right you work with them for a year an entire school year or you work with small groups some students I've worked with
057for two years so you really form these bonds you know you get to know them you become invested in them in 2013-14 we also launched volunteer in Paradise with a program called College Corps we partnered with Paradise Valley Community College it's a great program and a great way to get young college students excited and interested in education as a career to become a teacher I want to extend a special thank you to our VIPs you make such a positive impact on student achievement our school community and our district thank you for giving generously of your time and effort we appreciate you let's give our VIPs a round of applause and concluding my comments tonight I'd like to encourage our community to connect with PB schools on social media support Student Success by liking commenting and
058sharing all the great things that put Paradise in PV schools and you can find PB schools on Twitter Facebook Instagram or YouTube those conclude my comments tonight president case thank you um so we had put some things that were on the consent agenda to the um items for approval and then we pulled them today because some information was lacking so the one I'm speaking about is geology um G11 had been put on the consent agenda and we're not going to do that tonight there was someone who was going to comment on that but we're not going to talk about G11 tonight the other one is H6 the traffic easement on 40th Street we're not going to talk about that tonight either there were some Hang-Ups in the paperwork with the city so those two things
059we're not going to do um so next on the agenda Dr Bells items for approval thank you president case governing board members Captain guest uh tonight we present for approval recommendations for seven candidates for new leadership roles we are excited about the mix of both internal and external people stepping up for the next level of leadership Dr Holmes would you please lead us thank you Dr Bales Madam president members of the board uh Mark Smith is currently the assistant principal at Campobello and Fireside elementary schools with 16 years of experience in education including seven years in leadership he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from NAU and his master of arts degree in educational leadership also from Nam I've proved he will received salary and benefits in accordance with the PVP bargaining
060agreement we recommend you approve Mr Smith to be the next principal at Desert Cove Elementary School may I have a motion so moved sorry we're taking care of some paperwork up here um all those in favor please say aye aye [Music] all those opposed say nay motion passage unanimously congratulations Mr Smith foreign is there family here do you have family you'd like to introduce or oh okay oh [Music] how wonderful congratulations next up uh Jacqueline Woods is currently the teacher on assignment at Hidden Hills Elementary School with 22 years of experience in education including four in leadership shared her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado and her master of arts degree in educational leadership from the American College of Education if approved she will receive salary and benefits in accordance
061with PVP parking agreement we recommend you approve Miss Woods to be the next principal at Hidden Hills Elementary School may I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Jacqueline Woods for the position of principle of Hidden Hills Elementary School as presented so moved any board members wishing to make a comment all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passage United congratulations do you have family here okay or introduce whoever you'd like oh that's wonderful thank you thank you next up Emma Ortiz is currently the interim principal at Pueblo Del Sol K-8 in Isaac School District with 26 years of experience in public education including six in leadership roles and this is a homecoming for Emma as she formally taught at Palo Palomino intermediate sharing our Bachelor of Arts
062degree in elementary education from Northeastern Illinois University a master of arts degree in bilingual education from NAU and her master of arts degree in leadership from Concordia University if approved she'll receive salary benefits in accordance with PVP parting great bargaining agreement and we recommend that you approve Miss Ortiz to be the next principal at Sunset Canyon Elementary School thank you may I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Emma Ortiz for the position of principal at Sunset Canyon Elementary School as presented so moved any board members wishing to make a comment all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passage congratulations Miss Ortiz do you have any family to present to us oh thank you so much we're so happy to have you in our district okay
063um oh yes I'm not done I know you're not I got a lot I got plenty to go uh Rebecca uh Rebecca Rodriguez is currently an administrative intern at uh Whispering Wind Academy and Larkspur Elementary School with 24 years of experience in education including 14 in leadership roles she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from Ottawa University and her master of arts degree in educational leadership from NAU if approved she'll receive salary and benefits in accordance with the PVP bargaining agreement we recommend you approve Miss Rodriguez to be the next principal at Whispering Wind Academy okay any board members wishing to make a comment all those papers say oh excuse me may have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Rebecca Rodriguez for the position of principal of Whispering Wind Academy
064as presented so moved all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously congratulations congratulations do you have family to introduce oh that's wonderful thank you so much Katrina Deke is currently the principal at Eagle Ridge Elementary School 26 years of experience in education including seven in leadership roles shared a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education from NAU and master of arts degree in educational studies from Mary Grove College in Detroit if approved she'll receive salary and benefits in accordance with the COA bargaining agreement and we recommend you approve Mystique to be the project momentum coordinator may I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Katrina dick for the position of coordinator or project momentum as presented so moved any board members wishing to make a
065comment all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously congratulations Misty do you have family here with you congratulations Melissa molzon is currently the principal at North Canyon High School 20 years experience in education including 12 leadership roles sharing her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from ASU and her master of arts degree in educational leadership from NAU for proof she will receive salary and benefits in court in accordance with the COA bargaining agreement and we recommend you approve Miss moleson to be the next director of Career and Technical education thank you may I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Melissa mulzone for the position position of director of Career and Technical education known as CTE as presented so moved all those in favor
066say aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimous congratulations congratulations do you have family here to introduce thank you welcome to your new position last but not least Gene copen is currently the director of assessment with the 27 years experience in education including 18 leadership roles she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English as a second language from ASU and her master of arts degree in educational Administration also from ASU if proved she will receive salary and benefits in accordance with the cabinet bringing agreement and we recommend you approve Ms copen to be the next assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction thank you um may I have a motion to approve the recommendation to hire Dean Copeland for the position of assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction as presented so moved any
067board member wishing to make a comment all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously congratulations president case I'm just really thrilled to welcome Gene to the cabinet level she's demonstrated Excellence you've seen her present on data most recently in this role as a director assessment and I think she's going to help us get to the next level again so real excited about having her join our team that's agree can't agree more do you have anyone to introduce laughs oh congratulations okay so we're next on the agenda Dr Bells item H2 consideration approval changes are under additions to the contracts for continuing probationary teachers ESP essent principals and administrators for the 23-24 school year you have some public cards yes we have a public card Lily Gresham yeah
068she said yes she is but Lily was at a no thank you okay um so with with that um uh just Dr Holmes will frame this for us these are the templates that have the language for all employees uh later in the agenda there's uh an item for approval regarding the content that would be filled in uh so these are the templates that have been reviewed by legal console I hope I didn't take too much of your thunder but Dr Holmes would you please tell us a little bit about the contract templates thank you Dr Bales uh Madam president members of the board we have for your consideration employment contracts for the 2023-2024 school year uh other than day changes the contracts are the same as this current year with the following three exceptions a
069section has been added to establish that the contracts are subject to federal and state law as well as District policies rules and regulations a section has been added to the two specifically to the two certified contracts requiring teachers to maintain a good good standing if they're in a teacher preparation program uh and finally contingency languages change this year to reflect that in if additional monies are provided by the state the first priority will be to eliminate furlough days and the trigger language for one-time payouts based on budget balance carry forward is reduced to uh 14 from 15 percent I have reviewed these changes with the association presidents and we recommend your approval thank you may have a motion to approve the changes and or additions to the contracts for continuing probationary certified teachers ESP essent
070principles and administration for the 2023-24 as presented so moved does any board member wish to make a comment this is just a template right it can be it can be changed as far as the numbers are going to be plugged in based on other things down below right yeah that's correct all right thank you any other comments I would like to make a comment we what we value we we put time and money into things we value and I it I know that we've had a few years that are a little bit we've we've been struggling financially but um I I hope that in the future we can really take a look at maybe cutting out other things and really give teachers and staff a a significant increase whether they be stipends or salary I
071know it's tough um I know it's tough out there um but a lot of the things that when when we have discussions and we're talking about bonds and overrides and things like that sometimes I don't always vote with with the board and I think in in times like this we have to make some tough decisions on Financial items and just be fully transparent and really really put put our money um where we value things like safety for teachers and children and teacher pay the bathroom updates that are not just put a new mirror in that will make safe bathrooms for all our children regardless of you know their gender or race or whatever I I just um I know this isn't we're not making a decision on those things right now but I just it's
072been on my heart that we really need to have some serious discussions in the future on how we can make salaries more competitive in our district any other comments um as we've had to make hard hard decisions this past eight months or ten months since we found out about found out about the 14 million I just the reason I'm on the board is because I've had these most wonderful teachers in my children's lives that's the reason I'm on the board and teachers are near and dear to me and I want to make sure that we do the best we can I'm sure hoping that this legislature gives us more money that we change and by the way we can't pay teachers with Bond money I just want to remind everyone with that there's different buckets
073for different things and again that's against the law in Arizona they have statutes that we are bound to follow and so we try to make things and and we do things like put solar panels up so that the money that comes in Alabama oh that we have a less electricity bills they're not for show they're not for shade they are so that we have more monies for teachers and I know through the years they've regulated the water when they water the grass so we spend less on water and grass so we have more money for teachers and that is where my heart is and I hope that we can do things the best we can and I'm not saying this has been an easy process for anyone but I appreciate teachers and all the support
074groups for education in our district more than I can say are there any other comments um all those in favor say I I all those opposed say nay any abstentions I vote I okay motion passes unanimously thank you number three Dr Bells president case County board members Captain guests and tonight we present for approval the performance-based pay plan for certified teacher bargaining group one for the 23-24 school year Dr Holmes thank you Dr Bales Madam president members of the board we have for your consideration the 2023 2024 performance-based plan a pay plan there are no changes other than dates clarifying language cleanup and the new addenda which will be 4 925 the plan connects performance paid teacher engagement professional Learning Community communities and we recommend your approval thank you um we have one public comic
075comment Lily Grisham did you want to make a comment okay um may I have a motion to approve the 2023 performance-based pay plan as presented so moved does any board member wish to make a comment seeing none all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay any abstentions motion passes unanimously we're on four consideration approval of changes in our additions to the bargaining agreements Dr Bells yes I have three so president case governing board members captain and guess um tonight we do present for approval bargain agreements for our six employee groups it has not been an easy year financially for the district uh in June of last year we talked at the board meeting publicly about a budget shortfall and I accepted responsibility for former employees coding mistake and those monies were
076not spent frivolously they were spent on people and they were spent on raises each of the last three years and that's evident in the ABC 15 report that gave credit to the district for having the most dollars spent in the classroom how does that happen because we spent more money in the classroom direct classroom support than we probably should have we should have started these Cuts three years ago and we didn't it's not been easy for anybody when we acknowledged that air we worked with the voices of our stakeholders through the summer through a budget task force and in November we presented some recommendations we added a cabinet thought for consideration and in December the board made a decision after listening to stakeholders that was not an easy decision either because of the voices some
077of the decisions were not completely made at that time to resolve the issue there was a request and an interest by stakeholder leaders to take that conversation to the bargaining process this spring that has happened and in PV we really value our stakeholder input we value the interest-based negotiation process it is not easy either hindsight's 2020 but when we look at the values that we have to collaboration and consensus the bargaining teams sat down in good faith they brainstormed ideas they made recommendations they discussed they evaluated they came to consensus and they sent their plans to their membership for ratification and for a two of the six bargaining groups that's an official voting process and I know that we have some people that will speak on that none of this is easy but I value
078the process and honor the process and while maybe the outcome isn't what everybody wants the process is what we want because we do sit down we do listen and nowhere better in this in this state does that happen in PV and so um with that we will ask Dr Holmes to provide some short summaries to each of the present recommendations for bargaining agreements and um and then we would ask that you vote on those separately thank you card yeah let's have him go first Madam president members of the board we have for your consideration this evening The 2023-2024 Paradise Valley Education Association certified bargaining agreement changes are reflected in the memorandums of agreement and were developed through the interest-based negotiations process additionally language cleanups such as dates and minor clarifications are highlighted throughout the agreement
079PVA members have ratified the agreement we recommend your approval thank you we have some cards on H4 the first one will be Michelle love it followed by Michelle Cartwright H4 good evening my name is Michelle Lovett and I'm a Pre-K teacher in this District I'm here tonight to ask you to vote no on the bargaining agreement and ask you to go back to the table I am a proud PBA member and I am one that voted no to ratify and I would like to explain why if you remember red for Ed and the 20 by 20 I was one of those teachers who did not receive their first installment of that money because of the way the state considered my role in the in the schools when this happened I felt not valued I was
080angry and I was looking at changing positions because I was not going to stay in a position that was not going to get raises and was not going to be treated the same what makes a school function is each person in it with different roles one doesn't work with the other without the other one person's job is not more important than the other it works because of each of us with that said the school board this cabinet and PVA changed the language during red-fed to make sure that this would not happen again they made sure that any new money from the state would go to each person in the district because each of us were valued with this bargaining agreement we are now asking only certain groups in our district to take two additional furlough
081days this is not who we are we are not a district that targets certain groups to receive less if these groups are feeling the way I felt during red for Ed I can promise you they are feeling angry not valued and are going to be looking for new positions because they feel that they will always be on the chopping block this is not who we are we are supposed to be a district of equity please vote no and send us back to the table thank you Michelle Cartwright followed by Diane Sigmund um my name is Michelle Courtright and I speak for the ESP group The Paradise Valley support employee Association president case governing board Dr bells and cabinet I would like to thank the board for allowing esps to see it at the table this
082is not the norm in many districts but collaboration is part of the culture MPV I also need to thank my members because without them there is no one to sit at the table and be their voice and I appreciate the fact that they trusted our team and ratified our agreement and I'm asking you to do the same thing I need to thank both the pdsea team and the district bargaining teams for their time and effort budget cuts are never easy nor are they taken lightly and we did have employees that were directly impacted by these Cuts we're fortunate to have bargain language that assisted many of these employees in finding new positions in our transfer process that wasn't the case for all of them some are not returning next year and a few took substantial
083pay cuts but for our group the bigger picture is that we were able to minimize the impact for thousands of our employees many of our people took very little hits in this and that's because of the work that we did at that table um we increased tuition and reimbursement we added new opportunities for increased compensation to our pay chart this gives employees opportunities to add money to their paychecks I'm aware that this does not address the main issue that esps have and that's compensation or lack of it um but that's why we have contingency language there was a word that we kind of bantered back and forth but it wasn't a die on the health word for us because I trust this board to always do what is fiscally responsible and in the best interest
084of our employees for now contingency language arts is just words on a paper but I believe the governor and the legislators will come together and increase funds for public education we have strong contingency language that allows those funds to be used for employee compensation and although we don't know if it's ongoing or one time it's my hope that when they figure it out downtown this board will give direction for us to come together and get as much of those funds into the hands of our employees so that we can continue to retain and recruit the best employees of the state thank you thank you Diane sequin good evening president case governing board Dr Bales and cabinet my name is Diane siegman and I am here as the president of the Paradise Valley Education Association thank
085you for the opportunity to speak to you this evening PVA would like to thank the board in the district for providing the opportunity to participate in interest-based negotiations again this year the long history of this process is a Hallmark of this District and one that we do not take for granted we've ratified our agreement this year at 57 percent this is much lower than in previous years even with the record number of members voting during bargaining the decisions made for the consensus agreement were very difficult and all options were considered there was nothing easy about this year I acknowledge that 43 of our voting members are upset with this outcome some members of the certified group have clearly expressed to me they don't know if they can continue to afford to teach or if they
086want to continue in this District it is heartbreaking to hear from people that love their jobs their schools in this District and I do understand their need to make the certain decisions so that they are able to provide for their families while faced with challenges this year we were able to find some solutions to support employees to lessen the impact of inflation and budget reductions another positive component of this year's agreement is contingency language that will be enacted if additional funding is provided from the state we acknowledge that the lack of funding from the legislature continues to affect our ability to provide additional compensation and improved working conditions for everyone there is a multi-billion dollar Surplus at the state and yet our schools remain underfunded my belief is that the legislature will finally agree to
087a to additional funding to schools to move us closer to be fully funded so that we will be able to remove the reductions in this agreement and provide additional compensation to the amazing Educators in our district thank you president case governing board members cabinet guess just a couple points of clarification as well I wanted to emphasize and thank our speakers um you know when I mentioned earlier that we provided raises you know over the last three years those were those were tough decisions too but I'm glad that we did it and it's never enough sadly we are making decisions on a budget next year and the proposed budget that you'll see a revision on May 18th for this year's budget and uh the May 4th I'm sorry and then a proposed budget on June 1st
088is is predicated on the Assumption of only two percent inflation from the state you and I both know that that's not our reality that is not our reality even in the latest CPI numbers it's running around almost six percent but we felt it harder than that and I look at the gas prices right down the road here at five dollars a gallon it's outrageous and uh to Michelle's Point Diane's point you know there is 2.5 billion that's a b billion dollars Surplus available for one-time money at the state that is a lot of money they can and I do believe I'm maybe a little Pollyanna here but I do believe they're going to do a little bit better and I want you to know that the contingency language is solid the very first item on
089that is restoring furlough days and the very first furlough days will be the groups that have the third and fourth a day as the money if it comes in greater than that then we'll get down to moving everybody from two to one and one to zero that's clearly been committed discussed with leadership the language that is there it's solid and I do believe it's going to happen it might not be until June 31st yes I said 31st because they sometimes take the clock off the wall until they get it done but we can influence that voice down at the legislature and we have to continue because two percent from the legislature is not sufficient we budgeted for five percent on utilities right and uh and we have other expenses that are going up as well
090so um you know when I talk about the enrollment in the district our kindergarten through sixth grade cohorts are running around 1800 plus or minus students per grade level our 9th through 12th are running around 2 300. so just on the promoted enrollment there's a difference in our total enrollment when we do that that's fewer students just on promoted enrollment it has an impact on budget and so I I know there are still difficult decisions yet to make we're still going to have some difficult decisions to make but I believe we're going to continue to put the dollars in the classroom and work on building our compensation to to be competitive for recruiting and retaining and so we do recommend approval thank you may I have a motion to approve the changes and or additions
091to the certified bargaining agreement for the 2023-24 as presented so moved are there any board members wishing to make a comment I would um a year ago I Was A Gifted specialist sitting out there okay I remember 2007 to 2009 the Great Recession that really hit districts hard remember that yeah and we made Cuts we made sacrifices it was district-wide everybody the same every committee every Department had to do something to make it but everybody took a hit and gifted was a change of um uh third class ratios and when things started getting better and we got through the recession some of these recession these sacrifices were reinstated were came back what didn't come back was the ratio for gifted class sizes that stayed the same um I can't tell you as a specialist how
092many times were passed over this time or that time um at faculty meetings at uh events they all we forgot to give to teacher we forgot the math specialist got the reading specialist um this tiered furlough idea does not sit with me our Specialists are take the same training we've got the same education they are teachers and I would really like to see if we could and I value this process this is the process right now me speaking to you you know listening um you all worked hard PVA you all worked hard bargaining team but I can't stomach this tiered furlough system I'm I'm I'm all the rest of the things we the rest of the cuts is painful they are I can deal with but that I cannot stand thank you are there any
093other comments yes yeah um I um strongly agree with what Mr Pantera said I've asked a lot of questions about these furlough days and they have not sat well with me either um I've gotten emails I've talked to people and Equity is valued in our district and if we are giving a certain subset of teachers extra furlough days that is not equity how do those people feel like I understand that if I was sitting in that amongst you and I had two extra furlough days and the person sitting next to me I would not feel valued I would feel like my position maybe wasn't as important or maybe I wasn't as important that's not true we can't run this District without each and every person and Educators do take the brunt of things and I
094know that if gifted Specialists and speech language Pathologists and all these other Educators have less days at the beginning of the school year they're still going to teach I may not teach they're still going to work unpaid because that's who we are as teachers and as human beings and I just I want us to remain Paradise I do value this process I do I've asked a lot of questions about the process but if we lose some of these people if we are marked as a district that doesn't value our employees equally then who are we and I agree with I agree with Mr pancera I agree with everything else just not the extra furlough days or any other yes Mrs Christensen it's part of this process I I do understand that salaries and expenses are
095in mno which is maintenance and operation and then we have bonds we have overrides we have District additional systems so it's it's a very archaic system just the different buckets that has nothing to do with us here that's how the legislature and the state funds education but my frustration is I feel that we keep making the same bad decisions over and over again and we're still where we were several years ago our teachers are still not paid well I think another way to get money into the district is to focus on things that will bring families back to our district and making decisions that will um help people come back I know a lot of people have gone to other districts and um I I would like to see those families come back and in
096order to do that parents and teachers have to partner with one another um to to support because the most important thing is our children and we need dollars in the classroom we need we need um more money in the pockets of of teachers and that that is why I know that I'm really nitpicky about the finances and not everything's in mno but when when my family hit hard times we had to we had to cut out things and and you know districts have to do that and we just really need to take a hard look at it as to how we are um we are making these decisions and like I said earlier we what we value we put time and money in and um I really wish in the future we would show um
097show our teacher short students that we do value them by putting more in the pockets of the teachers and um I I understand that um the funds are not there right now but it may take several years but we have to make start making difficult decisions now in order to bring some of those students back in order to you know make make some hard decisions and and um for instance travel I you know that that is a little pet peeve of mine with you know and I get that it's it's a benefit from travel and we spend you know just recently hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel where um I value continuing education and I get that it's a perk but you know all those things add up all of them add up some
098of them are anemone some of them are bonds and override so you can't change it it just it's just frustrating and and sometimes I feel like we're up here not part of the process because and I'm happy that there's bargaining and committees and things like that because you know everybody all you teachers um the students the parents they need they need a voice and we need to listen to that but um maybe we need to start doing things a little bit different to find a way to make those changes any any other comments Mrs crimper um you know having sat here through the recession having walked downtown during Redford um it is it's difficult to [Music] figure out how we have to keep cutting um when we are sitting on a surplus of over two
099billion dollars which unfortunately will not likely be there given the actions of the legislature during the last session that has put more less dollars into the general fund through the um the flat tax and has put more dollars into private schools through vouchers and we in public district schools are feeling all of that and we have all of the time we have keep electing individuals downtown who at least as far as it seems most of the majority does not value public education and we keep having to make do with quite honestly the scraps I mean I advocated for public education for at least a couple decades now more and for example you'll have it you know we'll have a discussion of oh you know well it's never enough money so what's enough well we're what
100five thousand dollars below the national average on a per pupil basis so you say okay we'd like to at least get to the national average and that's poo pooed by the individuals who can make the decision to get us there so it's difficult to then have to come back and look at what we have try and figure out what we can do not knowing what the legislature is doing not knowing when they're gonna you know whether it's going to hit June 31 because yeah I remember when they closed the door and basically pull the batteries out of the clock or whatever it was and pretended that it was still June 30th before they came up with a budget um and none of us are happy with this I I don't see anybody in this room
101who's you know doing cartwheels over this we are asked to trust the process and we are asked to make decisions based on the information we have um I I agree that it would be preferable to be given something to vote on that does not appear to um create division because of what some positions or some employees are being asked to accept in their contracts but we're not in the room and I don't know what else was discussed um I don't know what other options were presented so part of me says if this this isn't a great one but perhaps it's just the best of the bad that were the options um and what disturbs me most is the 57 percent ratification vote it is still a majority vote it's not a great majority and it's
102the the smallest I believe since Mrs case and I have been on the board if ever someone said um it's true so I'm not happy with this um but I don't know what else and I don't know if I'm allowed to ask what else I mean well we could ask the teams maybe to go back and look at the one issue of the of the uh of the furloughs that's that one if maybe spread that out more evenly leave everything else in chapter look maybe a different way of doing those furloughs that'd be something I would consider I guess the question I would ask is was that considered the bargaining teams have brought to you a recommendation if you choose to vote no contracts will not go out tomorrow so what is the time frame
103in which contracts must go out uh Dr Holmes we have a statutory contract the date of May 1st and we have 15 15 days to get it back we are one of the later districts if to get contracts out and it's always preferable as an employer to get those out and back before teachers leave for summer thank you but there there is still time if it's May 1st if you have to go buy a next week we would have to we would have to come back to to the board for approval so so the next board meeting would be May 4th so assuming we could do it on that kind of a timeline we would we would definitely be into the summer before the the 15 days on contracts but there are not and it
104would and it would be Beyond May 1st go ahead Mrs Christensen um so I wanted to correct a couple of things that Mrs Greenberg said um we don't have vouchers in the state we have that empowerment scholarship account and that's one of the things that um one of the things that you a lot of people talk about equity in this District I'm a Latina right those scholarship accounts are going to all types of all types of individuals and they are they are because of some of the decisions that the districts are making and that that was what one of the things I was alluding to is getting back to academic achievement Merit um when I was last year when I was running I talked to Everett I knocked everybody's door I didn't just knock certain
105people then everybody what the number one thing that they wanted is academic achievement to see our test scores go it didn't matter what their political background was everybody wanted to see that and that was why some of the people have left our district the other thing that I would like to point out is that uh superintendent Tom Horn and Matt Gross had a bill and I guess it wasn't perfect ten thousand dollar teacher raise across no questions asked and not one Democrat voted for that and so it's not just it's not a bipartisan thing it and so I I think that I think that ever everybody wants to see teachers teacher salaries be increased in this District but again it has to be multi-faceted we have to make make changes to some of the things
106that we're doing and we have to um you know maybe cut back on other things that are maybe not essential um I'd like to make a comment um there's been some things said that I'd like to make a different differ from one word was said there was there was an error by giving teachers more money let me let me preface that it's more money was given to teachers than we had for the future so there was an accounting error it wasn't an error to give more teachers we want to give more teacher money to teachers that is not anybody up here that is our goal but because of covet money it got confused so I wanted to just preface out a little bit so in other words when we thought we had more funds we
107gave it to the teachers that is what we did because that is where our heart lies my heart is like there for a year it has been there for years um but with that being said do we disagree with the process that we have been committed to do we not go with the process that this District has bragged about for years do we not go with them coming together and and bargaining and representing their groups all of those words I'm not saying I agree with the end results I'm not saying that at all but I agree with the process of reaching it and so I'm going to call for a vote but I want to say that my goal and my hope is that we will take all of those things away in the bargaining
108it is there we all voted for those that the the four days rooster three the rooster two to taken to one to zero we don't want teachers to have that I promise none of us do and I but do we disagree disregard the process that everyone has loved for years and the problem is if we don't settle this now we push into the summer with contracts there's not time to change it it's it's hard to change things that takes so long to get there I'm sorry I'm going to call for a vote and um and then we'll go from there we have a real problem yeah we all want to discuss more okay yeah I agree with you about the process and I very much believe in the process but this is the process it's
109not ended until both sides ratify the agreement and here we're talking about ratifying it in our side of it okay you have their vote now it's time for us to have our vote so I believe in the process a hundred percent okay all I'm talking about all I'm talking about is one thing instead of this tiered for those furlough make it even so everybody's furloughed the same amount somehow that's what I'm saying that's all I'm saying another comment Mrs Christensen I just also wanted to correct one of your statements Mrs Green president Greenberg that the um the who the reason I'm sorry me or yeah you said case I apologize um president case um so the reason we have we had a 14 million dollar budget deficit was because we took temporary funds that were
110from the federal government when we had an influx of Esser and then that was from federal and then the um the governor's office Governor Ducey also had some employee stabilization Grant and we weren't anticipating people to come back to our district that did not happen we also failed to move that in those temporary funds into maintenance and operation that's why we had the issue and and so that's why I'm saying we you know there's a lot there's a lot of things there was a lot of moving Parts as to how we got here and and we just need to do a better job of managing things in the future thank you yes um I'm sorry man I I when I spoke earlier I left one thing out that I wanted to say and that was
111the reason we're all really here is the students and when we have our best teachers and our teachers feel valued we have the best student outcomes and I just I just want to remind everyone that that's why we're here and we need the best of the best to stay here and not leave because they don't feel valued because we will have better student outcomes that way okay this is Greenberg yes I'd like to just point out a couple things in regard to what Mrs Christians had said the bill that was um intending to provide teachers with uh ten thousand dollars was doing exactly what we are being asked not to do which was differentiating among teachers that did not go to Every certified teacher and if I recall it was one-time money so it was
112not going to go to the base it was basically a 10K bonus for a certain number of teachers in the state which yay that would have been great but it was still not Equitable um in the empowerment scholarship accounts we sure will call them esas but I do want to remind people that when they became basically Universal um there was quite a bit of data that showed that the individuals who received them who started applying for them were already individuals who had their students in private schools for the most part and it was not at that point taking students from public schools primarily um so I just wanted to to point those two pieces out we need to have the vote because we're going off the subject here this is important we sit here and
113rubber stamp everything that comes through all the time and this is an important discussion for our teachers and for our students so we're going to take the time to discuss this and I'm sorry Mrs case but um we we these are difficult decisions and we don't always agree on everything but we have to have these difficult decisions discussions in order to get to where we need to go for our students for our teachers so um I wanted to make a point about the the Esser funds because I've been doing research on that and now if you look at the data most currently they are going to people in either going to Hispanics and Latinos if you just need to take a look at the new stuff because um there there are other other individuals that
114are being helped by this and and that's that helps with equality for all children are there any other comments foreign may I have a roll call vote please Mrs Baker nay Mrs Greenberg I'm going to abstain for the moment Mrs Christensen nay Mrs case I'm going to vote I because of the process and I I with reservation Mr Pantera nay the motion fails laughs yes yes Dr Holmes Madam president members of the board we have for your consideration the 2023-24 education support professional bargaining agreement changes are reflected in the memorandums of agreement and were developed through the interest-based negotiations process additionally language cleanups such as dates and minor clarifications are highlighted throughout the agreement pvsa pvsea members have ratified the agreement and we recommend your approval may I have a motion to approve the changes
115and our additions to the ASP bargaining agreement for 2023 as presented so moved any board members wishing to make a comment may I please have a roll call vote Mrs Baker yay Mrs Greenberg aye Mrs Christensen hi this is case aye Mr Pantera hi the motion passes unanimously Dr Holmes Madam president members of the board we have for your consideration the 2023-2024 executive support staff bargaining agreement changes are reflected in the memorandum of agreement and developed with the input of the group additionally there is one minor change highlighted on page eight related to retirement we recommend your approval thank you may I have a motion to approve the changes and our addition to the executive assistant bargaining agreement for the 2024 as presented it's all moved any board member wishing to make a comment may
116I have a roll call please Mrs Baker aye Mrs Greenberg aye Mrs Christensen hi Mrs case aye Mr Pantera aye motion passes unanimously Dr Holmes Madam president members of the board we have for your consideration The 2023-2024 Paradise Valley principles bargaining agreement changes are reflected in the memorandum of agreement and developed uh and were developed with the input of the group we recommend your approval thank you may I have a motion to approve the changes and our additions to the PVP bargaining agreement for the 2023-24 as presented so moved any board member wishing to make a comment may I have a may I please have a roll call vote Mrs Baker aye Mrs Greenberg aye Mrs Christensen hi Mrs case aye Mr Pantera aye motion passes unanimously Dr Holmes Madam president members of the board
117we have for your consideration the 2023-2024 central office administrators bargaining agreement changes are reflected in the memorandum of agreement and developed with the input of the group also the addition of the director of federal grants position is noted on page three as a result of collapsing Title One coordinator and director of language acquisition positions and we recommend your approval thank you may I have a motion to approve the changes and or additions to the COA bargaining agreement for the 2023-24 as presented so moved any board member wishing to make a comment may I have please have a roll call vote Mrs Baker aye Mrs Greenberg aye Mrs Christensen aye Mrs case aye Mr Pantera aye motion passes unanimously Dr Holmes Madam president members of the board we have for your consideration the 2023-2024 cabinet level
118administrators bargaining agreement changes are reflected in the minimum random agreement and developed with the input of the group we recommend your approval thank you mayor I have a motion to approve the changes and our additions to the cabinet bargaining agreement for the 2023-24 as presented so moved any board members wishing to make a comment may I please have a roll call vote Mrs Baker aye Mrs Greenberg aye Mrs Christensen aye Mrs case aye Mr Pantera aye motion passes unanimously next on the agenda Dr Bells president case government members cabinet guest and tonight we present for approval of credit card in marcom including the purpose parameters into checks and balances Ms Bergen will explain the recommendation thank you Dr Bales president case and governing board our marketing department utilizes a number of vendors that manage our
119district website and social media most of these or many of these vendors do not accept POS and so while the vendors may not accept a PO the PO process is still followed when using a credit card and it goes through the proper workflow with budget approval and submission of an internal po the credit card would only be used for pre-authorized purchases and will be reconciled monthly by Finance the district's credit card process is rigorous and highly audited I'd be happy to answer any questions for you may I have a motion to approve the new credit card to be issued to the director of marketing and Communications Matt Dodge for fiscal year 2023. it's all moved any board members wishing to make a comment all those in favor say aye all those will pose say nay
120any absent tensions abstain abstentions uh motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is six and we couldn't do that tonight because there had to be some paperwork changes um next is consideration to approval to renew existing PBA contract 2209 PB for Employee Staffing and Lease back president thank you my apologies for interrupting you um tonight we present for approval and existing contract for Employee Staffing at least by Dr Holmes will explain thank you Miss American I'm going to start that one Dr Bales thank you president uh case and governing board members this contract was originally awarded by the board a year ago it's the second annual renewal for a potential five-year contract the awarded list of vendors provide similar Services associated with recruiting and hiring qualified employees uh vendor these vendors are available for the
121use of the district as well as other entities that are current members of the one GPA cooperative uh the district currently contracts with two of the firms ESI and International uh Alliance Group thank you Alliance Group it's written wrong on here the estimated annual spend for these Services is three million dollars should the board approve the renewal of the contract the district will have the option to continue working with these firms and I think Dr Holmes has a little bit more on the actual uh use of these Services all right I was just going to add that the uh specifically ESI is uh is the is the contract agency that we use to manage our phase retirement so that is approximately I believe it's 35 6 employees that we hire through them and then the
122International Alliance Group is is the company that we use to manage our our J-1 Visa our teachers who are here on J-1 visas thank you it used to go by a different name yes and that name was uh it actually used to be a part of ESI ESI yes um may I have a motion to approve the renewal of existing PV contract 2209 PV for Employee Staffing and Lease back so moved are there any questions or anybody that wants to make a comment from the Ward can you explain a little bit more about this this one Mrs either Mr Holmes or Mr sure do you have a specific question it's more on um How We Do How We Do contracts I know we've gone rounded round on I'm not a fan of job order contracts
123we don't get requests for proposals um anything under 3 million can just be slid in and um I also would like to know how we how we picked this these vendors I know that with one GPA PV is the lead on this Consortium and some of the smaller districts help I mean they some of the smaller districts will be able to come on board where the we're the lead and we we pick the vendors but um for instance one of the the vendors that um seems like it's always on there we I feel like the the roofing has a monopoly we have that progress Progressive Roofing and we don't I mean it's just job under contrasts and so I want more information on the just how we how we pick those vendors and and when
124are they going to be up for Renewal Ms Bergen yeah Dr Bales and president case um this isn't a job order contract this is for Staffing Services I'm we're on seven my apologies I was looking at the wrong agenda okay this was previously known as spart smart schools that was the name I was trying to get you to say I left my brain yeah sorry that's correct it was previously known as spark schools and this actually saves US money in doing this so okay any other comments no all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay any abstentions motion passes unanimously now we are on eight uh gifts and donations no no [Music] no no they switched up here restroom upgrades yeah but they she switched it okay so excuse me consideration
125to approve purchase from current PB contract 18-15 PV jlc for restroom upgrades for Cactus View ES Dr Mills thank you president case governing board members cabinet and guests a couple of times this spring we have presented refresh projects for restroom Renovations through the 2019 voter approved Bond dollars tonight we present for approval such a project at Cactus Zoo Elementary as an opportunity to inform the board with answers to questions that were recently posed by the boarding Community Ms Berrigan thank you Dr Bales president case and governing board the scope of this project is an upgrade and bringing up to code all student and staff restrooms at Cactus View Elementary School this will include Millwork with solid surface countertops ceiling of tile epoxy flooring painting clocking installing new toilet partitions and accessories accessories and upgrading the
126plumbing and electrical systems current restroom facilities are over 10 years old the procurement use for this project is the current general contractor Joc 18-15 PV and the proposal was generated using open Book pricing the fees and soft costs include insurance Insurance warranties payments and performance bond building excuse me Builders risk taxes and construction fee and I'm happy to answer any questions you have may I have a motion to approve purchase from current PB contract 18-15 PV Joc for restroom upgrades at Cactus View Elementary so moved are there any board members wishing to make a comment Mrs Christensen yes and um I know I know that this is just refresh in the future we really and I feel like a broken record we really need to start making some major changes in the restroom situation to
127make sure all of our children are safe and I know that this this is not what this is but um it's it's it's some it's one of those things that that I was talking about before was the decisions that the district makes to make all our children feel safe regardless of who they are things like that would go a long way to Bringing kids and families back to our district president case yes this is Christensen just wanted to follow up we've had a nice rich discussion recently about this and um we are planning to offer that opportunity for the board to receive more information about um a different restroom footprint um we have that on the agenda for May 4th uh tentatively to have that so our next board meeting so we'll give you some
128more information both prior to that and an opportunity for the board to talk about that because I did want to follow up with you on that thank you any other comments all those in favor say aye aye aye although suppose say nay any abstentions I abstain motion passes with of four eyes and one abstention next on the agenda is gifts and donations we have many donations made to the district we are grateful for each and every one and I'd like to mention a few tonight at Copper Canyon the PTO there gave a thousand dollars for copy paper at Desert Shadows Middle School or Greg progression marketing gave three thousand dollars for school use in Furnitures Etc at Desert Trails Elementary School the PTO gave eighteen hundred dollars for trash cans at Echo Mountain Intermediate School
129Dorito Partners gave a thousand dollars to the school store being caught being kind store at Grayhawk Elementary School the PTO there gave fifteen hundred dollars for the fifth grade field trip at Horizon High School Raquel Kimball gave a thousand dollars for the person of character scholarship at quill Run Elementary School their PTA gave fifty six hundred dollars for a ball pit for the playground at Paradise Valley Unified School District Yvonne Adam gave a red gates trainer Mustang by r82 ten thousand dollars for uh PT use and a sky Crossing Elementary the PTO gave thirty thousand dollars for an outdoor classroom shade structure we think all of these people and companies for giving these donations and all and many others that I did not mention may I have a motion for the acceptance of gifts and
130donations please so moved any board Mission member wishing to make a comment all those in favor say aye aye although suppose say nay motion passage unanimously next on the agenda is items for discussion Dr Bells thank you president case government members cabinet and guests tonight Dr Corson and his team will present for first reading the recommended gifted curriculum resource adoption there will be no vote necessary as it's just a first reading Dr Corson well good evening president case governing board members Dr Bales cabinet and guess as Dr Bales mentioned tonight is a first reading for the k-6 gifted curriculum resource adoption as a reminder this adoption results from a committee process of teachers administrators and parents evaluating multiple curriculum resources and considering Community feedback from a 60-day public viewing the curriculum being recommended tonight or
131for all k-6 Ela and math comprehensive content replacement gifted classrooms our gifted education director Karen Brown and our gifted program Mentor Elizabeth Warner are here to present their proposed adoption and answer your questions thank you for the opportunity to share with you this evening we'll be walking through the process followed in recommending a renewal of current curriculum resources and the adoption of a new resource to support gifted learners it has been a number of years since the curriculum utilized by the gifted Department was reviewed it was time for us to revisit the materials to ensure that they continue to meet the needs of our Learners this was done using the adoption committee process tonight is the first reading of the proposed adoption a strong stakeholder group was identified to vet the curriculum and resources as
132part of this vetting process the committee viewed the material through several lenses how the materials aligned to the Arizona State Standards the skill set that gifted Learners bring to the learning environment as well as the level of cognitive demand these Learners take and make on the curriculum it was the recommendation of the committee to recommit to these materials and to adopt the math curriculum currently used in 6th through 8th grade for the gifted Learners K5 the identified materials will be utilized with our content replacement students in grades 4 through 6 both in reading and in mathematics as well as students in the comprehensive gifted program formerly known as self-contained k6 students in these programs are taught by A Gifted specialist during the 60-day community review materials were available electronically and in hard copy in the
133lobby of the district office the lobby was open from 6 to 7 30 before the board meetings during the months of February and March QR codes were used to gather input from community members we received six comments during the 60-day committee review four comments were submitted by teachers and two comments were provided by a Community member this feedback was reviewed by the committee the concerns were addressed and clarifications made we are aware that a number of our gifted families looked at the materials but did not leave feedback as they are familiar with and pleased with our current curriculum choices our gifted program Mentor Mrs Warner will will share details about each of the materials up for review good evening the gifted curriculum adoption committee utilized a rubric to focus the materials on a vetting process
134to vet the process in the following key areas alignment to the Arizona State Ela standards comprehensiveness of the materials and supplemental resources ease of differentiation and Scaffolding to address student need and rate reading selections that were appropriate for gifted Learners and a quality professional development for our teachers the PV gifted reading curriculum provides a multi-faceted approach that includes literature vocabulary and grammar the curriculum is aligned with the Arizona State and National Association of gifted children standards ensuring that students are learning skills and knowledge they need for their individual Readiness and pace via the ELA curriculum is used in hard copy format only the reading curriculum utilizes complex text that are age-appropriate while challenging students to engage in critical thinking and literature analysis in addition to literature the curriculum also focuses on vocabulary and grammar providing
135students with the tools they need to communicate effectively and articulate their ideas clearly the interconnectedness of the reading curriculum is designed to challenge and engage our students preparing these students for success in middle school high school college and Beyond Junior great books is a highly regarded gifted reading curriculum Junior great books provides an increased level of reading complexity through short stories that are developmentally appropriate for our gifted learners Junior grade books is built on a shared inquiry approach to literary analysis the shared inquiry model encourages students to think deeply about the text they read and participate in meaningful discussions with their peers Junior great books provides a rigorous and engaging approach to literary analysis while promoting critical thinking the College of William and Mary language arts curriculum equips our Learners with enhance or equips our
136Learners to enhance their literary analysis interpretation of text and reasoning skills the curriculum is designed to engage students in the exploration of carefully selected and challenging literary Works encouraging Learners to reflect on their reading through writing and discussion this curriculum provides gifted Learners with opportunities to explore interdisciplinary connections where students can deepen their understanding of various subjects and broaden their perspectives the elementary document-based mini question curriculum offers our five fifth and sixth grade comprehensive gifted classrooms with the opportunity to interact with text in a way that resembles the skills the students will need in middle school high school and Beyond these School these skills include citing evidence to support their arguments and analyze text in a form to form a well-reasoned and well supported opinion in addition the document based question format is imperative for
137students who plan to take multiple AP courses in high school this curriculum format is the same that they will encounter in AP coursework and AP exams the Michael Clay Thompson vocabulary and grammar materials offer several benefits to gifted Learners students develop a deeper understanding of the English language and its Origins by studying Greek and Latin roots this knowledge is essential for students who plan to pursue to pursue careers in academic and scientific fields and allows for exponential vocabulary growth these vocabulary and grammar materials are designed to challenge students who have mastered basic reading skills and are ready for more advanced linguistic and vocabulary development the Michael Clay Thompson curriculum supports differentiated experiences allowing students to engage with materials at their own pace and rate the inquiry-based model encourages students to ask questions and explore grammar
138and vocabulary in great depth Wordly Wise is an effective vocabulary program used in our comprehensive gift comprehensive gifted k-6 classrooms Wordly Wise provides direct academic vocabulary instruction to develop the critical link between vocabulary and reading comprehension Wordly Wise offers a robust differentiated reading activities that meet the varying needs of our gifted learners the differentiated activities include student analysis of writing selection word choice examination and word roots to promote a deeper understanding of academic academic vocabulary the adoption committee also used a rubric to focus on vetting the process on the following carrier key areas in in regard to the proposed math curriculum alignment to the Arizona State math standards quality and comprehensiveness of the materials and the supplemental resources the ease of differentiation allowing for scaffolding to address student need pace and pacing options more specifically
139we looked at how the curriculums address mathematical gaps that are often caused by the intuitive jumps of gifted children and of course the quality professional development available to our teachers the gifted curriculum adoption committee recognized that it is essential for gifted Learners to have access to a high quality math curriculum that is aligned with their individual learning needs the committee is recommending open up resource mathematics as a single K-8 math curriculum for gifted Learners in our district the open up Mathematics Curriculum offers a consistent and coherent learning experience that builds on our child's Builds on a children's previous knowledge and prepares them for more advanced mathematical skills open up K5 mathematics stands out in several ways it challenges students by helping them see themselves as capable math Learners the curriculum promotes rigor and perseverance through
140mathematical discourse it is designed to tell a coherent mathematical story that builds across units and grade levels the coherence guides students to see the connections between the mathematical Concepts and encourages the development of deeper understanding of mathematics overall it is also rooted in the eight mathematical practices ensuring a comprehensive approach to mathematical instruction more importantly this math curriculum balances problem solving with the development of conceptual understanding units are driven by inquiry-based and investigations with a focus on developing strong reasoning skills the recommended Ela curricular materials are not new to our gifted programming and therefore no additional expense for these materials will be incurred open up mathematics is currently approved for use in grades six through eight based on the committee's recommendation we would like to extend the open up curriculum to include our gifted students
141in grades K5 the cost of Sixteen thousand five hundred forty four dollars will be incurred to allow the purchase of teachers editions for grades K5 this number reflects the number of gifted Specialists and K3 comprehensive gifted teachers who would need who would need this material gifted Specialists had the opportunity to explore the open up materials over the past few months a training utilizing the open up curriculum specifically the differentiated Learning Centers was provided on February 28th our early release day targeted professional learning opportunities have been planned in collaboration with open up resource training teams for our gifted specialist this summer thank you for your support as we seek to provide the best and most appropriate learning materials for our gifted Learners we would be happy to answer any questions that you have at this time
142thank you I do we have two blue cards we'll hear hear from Lily oh she she left okay then we will hear from Nick Nicole klutman clutewick closer hi this is Nicole klitwick um I know most of you um thank you so much for your patience and listening to me I know it's been a very long and hard night um so I also reviewed the gifted information um I did not submit a comment card because I was assured that um one of the pieces which I was really surprised is back on here uh the elementary document based questions I don't know if you recall but document based questions also referred to as dbqs um that curriculum had been rejected just a couple years ago because it had presented a lot of subject matter that was
143extremely political and it was kind of a trojan horse for sensitive um controversial political topics um and it it was rejected because of that this is the same publisher not the same curriculum um it's not currently being used in um which is noted here you know previously used but withdrawn in 2021. um anyway when the information the dpqs was out for us to look at it um they specifically I was specifically told that two lessons were removed because they were they didn't pass the vetting and what I'm noticing here is nobody's removing those from what's being approved it's it's a blanket approval nobody's saying lessons one through five or anything else and so I'm a little concerned that we are being asked as a board you are being asked as a board to pass something
144that has not been looked at by parents or vetted by parents because it was specifically removed from the books that were set out on the tables um so it either that's because it's just not appropriate and shouldn't be recommended at all or it should be notated here that that's not an approved lesson and should not be used I don't know what the disconnect is but there's something disconnected and um I I am a parent of three boys who all went through the gifted and let me just say most of this curriculum here is phenomenal it's just phenomenal great books um Caesar's English all of these are just I'm like literally getting Goosebumps thinking about what an asset and what a benefit they were to my children and how much I love them and how much
145I love the gifted teachers who taught my children but I don't believe that a blanket approval of these dbqs which we've previously rejected is appropriate here thank you um and I'm happy to clarify we purposely removed two particular pieces that we did not feel would meet the vetting process um we are happy to there is no intent to have those materials in any of our classrooms those two um particular units have been removed from all of the materials that would be accessed by our students and we are happy to identify those specific units for you but there is no intent to include those in any of the materials that we share and utilize within our classrooms so just to clarify Karen the materials that were on display are the materials only available to teachers should
146it be approved correct thank you um also there is nothing online I'd ask you that question but I'll ask that again for the public there's nothing online in in any of this so the there's nothing online in the ELA curriculum open up resources does have for the math for the math okay but nothing in these social studies there's there's nothing we don't our students don't get social studies from the gifted department so all of our materials are English language materials so even the document-based questions the um non-fiction test is all utilized as reading materials to support the Learners and understanding how to read critically how to do literary analysis okay I'm gonna have some more questions later does any board member want to make a comment clarifying question it I'm I was hearing you say
147that it's not online is that just not online for review how do you remove it if it's in a book it's these lessons online no no um it is in a binder okay and each unit can be removed from the binder so it's not in a book per se any other comments well I've used these myself as a teacher and I love I love the Caesars English and all these other ones some of them are a little new that I haven't used but um if they're the same as we've used before I'm 100 and the ones I've seen you know in the office here were great so thank you okay I have some comments um or and did you have a comment go ahead I just want to say that I I um my heart
148sang when I heard the term coherent mathematical story and I really appreciate the verbiage thank you um so much of our curriculum is comes to be because of the Arizona State Standards so so my beef is really with them and not with this District it's also with Publishers and not with this District okay so I'm going to ask some hard questions here um but I do want to ask about math is it done so it's one year ahead that's how it was when my kids went through is it one year ahead of what the classroom is doing is that how it happens so in content replacement the students work a year ahead in our comprehensive gifted classrooms which previously called self-contained students may be two years ahead of grade level oh okay so it can
149vary there depending on the student on the student okay so um okay and so it was once called uh formerly called self-contained it's called what now now we just refer to it as a comprehensive program comprehensive program okay so let me ask my questions because oops I just think can you still hear me now I'll pick that up later sorry my glasses okay so let me just the classes where the kids are in the same classroom with the same teacher all day for everything okay how many class schools do we have involved in that now that at five different sites right now okay so five different sites so that's a chunk of kids in it used to be called self-contained and now it's not I'll call it self-contained not a problem this is too hard
150to remember the new Okay so they have to have some form of social studies and and and that's what the dbqs are to take care of no no um their social studies aligns with the Arizona state standards for social studies they are learning um what is lined on grade level um and is taught in all of the other gen Ed classrooms they just go much deeper into that content so so those paper newspaper things the these self-contained would be using those okay because I just I I did not vote for that when we had that okay so as I was going through the um I said DBQ is that what they're called document-based questions yes I it so what part of the classroom time would they use with those those are utilized during their reading
151um as they're looking at evaluating text and then being able to write um pulling out evidence to support an opinion to be able to support a question that they might have been asked so it's really used more in their Ela their English language arts time it there may be a correlation between potentially something that is referenced in that and something that they're doing in social studies but they aren't designed to be aligned together okay okay because I I have those books at home right now and I've been going through them and and yes there were sections I kept counting the number of pictures on the front and what sections and they were taken out so the teachers will never receive them they will not receive them okay and and how do the students see they
152don't receive the notebook only the teacher does only the teacher receives the notebook the students have specific elements and and basically they are graphic organizers for the students to use to organize the information that's presented to them they may receive a primary document that they're going to look at so but they don't receive the notebook doesn't belong to the students it's only used by the teacher and then she xeroxes things that she wants them because I read all of Valley Forge today and I read all about it was very interesting okay so um but as I read to them I thought wait a minute if this is the only history they're getting not it's it's just picking little Parts out and that's what my concern was because history should be taught as a story it
153should go from beginning to the next step to the next step to the next step it's not that's not doing this it's not a science it is not a social studies curriculum it is not designed as a social studies curriculum and it is used as part of our English language arts they are used as non-fiction reading type materials okay for students to explore and then be able to write based on okay because some of these are really fascinating so thank you are there any other questions comments thank you for your presentation that was we really appreciate it before we adjourn I would like to remind you that the next regular board meeting will be held Thursday May 4th at 7 pm may I have a motion to adjourn so moved all those in favor say
154aye aye aye motion passes unanimously I didn't say name