001testing yeah I would like to call this meeting to order please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance led by Andre long followed by a Moment of Silence to honor the memory of our beloved former and superintendent Dr John quikard who sadly passed away this week foreign 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 of agenda Dr Bells thank you 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 to the meeting and have time to review and consider all items prior to the agenda
002being 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 would like to offer the agenda as posted with the following exemption move consent agenda G14 to items for approval H1 thank you does any member of the governing board wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda does any member of the audience wish to have an item removed from the consent agenda seeing none Mrs Greenberg may I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda and the recommended consent agenda items so moved all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is governing board statements Mrs Baker thank you
003president case first of all I would like to thank everyone who showed up tonight to support our school district our students and our educators um since our last meeting I've had the opportunity to tour four different elementary schools and I was able to attend our student voice in PV pulse we have a lot of really amazing things happening in our district and it was great to be able to experience some of it firsthand I want to thank all the principals for taking the time out of their days to show me around so thank you to Missy Martin from North Ranch and furnished from Copper Canyon Donna Alley from Mercury mind and Stacy Oris from Desert Cove I love the culture at North Ranch I'll talk about that one first the space in the library was
004really cool the students were really encouraged to read there was lots of cozy little reading Nooks their love of art was clear and they had a whole wall outside the library that featured all their student artwork um I loved visiting Copper Canyon when it was not election day um it was nice to go inside uh there were several mother-daughter Duos who chose to work together at that school it has a really neat culture um and I could really tell that Mrs furnace truly cared about her dedicated staff what really impressed me though was their community garden the whole school comes together to prepare for their farmer's market event they fundraise they cultivate their community and it Fosters learning Mercury mine was a really neat school when you go down for those of you who've been
005there and not been there it's like you're actually going into a mine there's High open ceilings in the library and a stage um there was really cool artwork also displayed in their Library they partner with local artists and residents and I think that's a really neat way to learn about the diversity in our state um Desert Cove is home to our North Valley Art Academy and it focuses on theater dance and music tech they also house our connections program and their inclusive practices of having their self-contained students join mainstream classes gives them a really neat opportunity to interact with their typical peers um I loved meeting with parents at PV pulse and listening to their concerns a student voice was a really great opportunity to hear our students talk I feel like sometimes as adults
006we don't take the time to truly listen to what our students have to say and so uh it was really important for us to take the time to listen to them without judgment and give them a chance to tell us what's impacting their day-to-day life I look forward to my upcoming School visits and um uh so thank you thank you Mrs Christensen foreign thank you for all in attendance today it has been a busy time since our last board meeting um Mrs Baker so eloquently described all the details so I'm going to shorten my comments on the school visits but I will mention that it's been one of the joys being on this board is going to every single School in the district I was able to tour Boulder Creek Elementary Mountain Trail Middle School
007Mercury mine Desert Cove Elementary Copper Canyon Desert Springs and each one of our schools has just this unique personality and it's just it's been so wonderful to to see and tour and and and be able to to talk to some of the teachers and the students in the classrooms um also attended the 5K Fun Run although I didn't run I woke up late so I just took pictures of people finishing but I was still there that was fun um PV student voice counsel in North County and it was I was so impressed with many of you our parents here the caliber of students that were at student voice and for those of you that don't know is my first time it's where um high school kids get to come students come and they get to
008talk to the cabinet and the board members and it was very enlightening very well spoken kids I was so impressed with all of them um also I attended a horizon High School Horizon honors choir concert which was lovely and also at North Valley Arts Academy the tink show which was um at Shadow Mountain that was fun um so as I mentioned I intend to visit every school in the district because I know it's important to change from once you get on this board from having a parent's perspective to having a more open perspective from a board member because we have to be the voice for the entire Community all the stakeholders students Educators staff and community members in order to do that we must hear all the voices all your voices including those that maybe
009we don't necessarily agree with but we have to hear and comprehend and I think it's important for all of us to to hear those um those voices call to the public is one way that our community can voice their concerns and I love hearing all the perspectives um because I have to first admit that I know that I have strong moral convictions and what I believe but um each and every one of us here up here on the board have those strong convictions as well and and very very different beliefs and and and I enjoy that I think it makes our district stronger the last board meeting community members were kind enough to read some definitions to me of of diversity Equity inclusion so I did appreciate that however um I just would like to
010speak on why I know that they were upset maybe about me calling out diversity Equity inclusion and um I just want to say that when I'm doing my research and looking through that when when I look at equal treatment treating students the same regardless of their immutable characteristics is so important whereas the equity Focus sometimes it's treating different groups differently depending on their membership and historically privileged or oppressed groups students from a press group sort of be given special treatment with the goal of ensuring equal outcomes for all groups regardless of Merit or effort and so just my personal belief is more on equality and equal treatment regardless of your background race um ethnicity gender gender preferences so I feel like we need to set the bar high for all our students and just treat
011everybody and all our teachers the same um and so um I just I just believe that um it was interesting that I was pointed out that I may not be such a diverse voice but I want to point out that I might be one of the most diverse voices on the board not because I'm a Latina but because um I have diverse thoughts and um and I think we all appreciate I've I've had great conversations with Mrs Greenberg and just everybody with with different thoughts and so I that's I'm so sorry my comments were a little long today but um I just wanted to to say that and and explain a little bit why I feel that um equal outcomes are important thank you Mr Pantera thank you good evening everyone glad you're all here
012um I too have been taking the tour seeing all the things that are to be seen here in the district's fantastic things all the schools I've gone to the play um over Shadow Mountain High School the origin of Tinkerbell the students created this and it was a great performance and they hardly had any dialogue and yet the story was was presented was great I love that process my highlight though because I did go to the Paradise Valley 5K Fun Run um one of the first persons to congratulate me was my daughter Heidi who did track herself in high school she was very proud of me and it was a great experience I loved doing it but the thing that hit me the hardest was seeing in that morning there's people there from all over the
013district young people old people really old people um uh they're all there you know from different schools different grade levels everywhere community members people that didn't even didn't even have people in the classroom or in school and they were all there and they had one goal that goal was 5K that was the goal a common goal a good goal they all wanted to get there some people got there like I did I tried to run I did run you know I'm going for my personal best some people ran but they were trying to beat everybody else they wanted to get a medal or something um some people walked they just wanted to walk by themselves some with groups they made a communal thing where everybody's walking together some people started running said whoops I'm gonna
014walk now some other people walk and said well wait a minute I don't know if I like these people past me and they started running the thing is it's a good goal and they all found their own way to enjoy getting to that good goal this diverse group everybody trying to get to that goal but they're all getting there a different way and that's what I love about the how we sponsor this this this this run because it really mirrors our district our goal is the highest education we can have the very highest that's our journey of Excellence but yet everybody here can have fun and get to that goal in a different way and that's what we strive to do here that's what Equity Equity is all that word Equity is all about and
015I'm very proud to be on a board that uh of a school district that does that thank you Mrs Greenberg thank you Mrs case um I'm going to be a little long and so I uh appreciate your Indulgence and I appreciate the generosity of time um it is extremely difficult to say goodbye when someone retires but it's harder still when you know that that farewell is forever and even harder still when that person has a profound effect on the lives of so many and John crecard was such a person the outpouring of tributes from individuals who knew John both personally and professionally underscore that in many many ways when John first came to pvusd already served 30 years in education the previous 23 in the Scottsdale Unified School District where he had been an assistant
016principal a principal and assistant superintendent and in the lateral he oversaw the planting of Desert Mountain high school Mountainside Middle School and then open Mountainside as its first principle and he retired from susd in 2002 and was immediately hired as our first assistant superintendent of instructional Support over secondary schools and it was during that school year I first met John and instantly saw what a gift he was to our district when the board began its search for a new superintendent I was fortunate to be named one of the parents on the community interview committee and it was impressive to hear from all of the candidates but particularly John when John was appointed superintendent one of his first orders of business was to convene strategic planning committee and as a parent member of that committee I
017had the great Fortune to work closely with him and really learn what an Innovative and selfless leader he was it was also at that time he and I learned how similarly we tended to look at issues and worked at Solutions and when I was elected to my first term on the board next the following year we were able to continue that relationship and our focus on making TV USD the best District in Arizona and Beyond and I'm not going to talk about all the programs that the district initiating and John's leadership but there were many and they were Mighty and I know that people in this room have benefited from them but even more so in John we had a leader who truly inspired the best in people who got down in the trenches when
018needed who made the tough decisions and stood by them and you understood that education Educators and students are all multifaceted and there is no single solution or answer to every situation he loved education because he loved helping students unlock their potential and he loved the people who were there to teach and motivate and support them because he shared that calling John was a fierce advocate for our schools and for public education and it was under his leadership we created the community legislative Network and he was in constant contact with legislators and political leaders during his tenure in PV and I remember one time we went down the capitol for a meeting with legislators not long after John had announced his retirement and we were meeting with several folks and one was then Senator John hupenthal
019who chaired the Ed committee at that point and Senator hoopenthal is expected to announce a campaign for State superintendent of Public Instruction he asked John what he was planning to do when he left PB and without missing a beat John looked and said well he was thinking of running for State superintendent of Public Instruction and the look on Senator hoop and Falls base was priceless but also telling because he knew that if John Ricard ran he would be a formidable opponent well John did not run John crecard did not run for State superintendent but such was his commitment to students and families that he did Run for the State Legislature before formalizing that decision after he and his wife Janie had had talked about it he and I went to lunch and he said the
020only way he would run is if I managed his campaign I was hesitant but that was the only way he would run and I knew how much the state would benefit from John's service in the legislature and so does his family because they weren't just as committed as he was to his campaign and one time for instance he was scheduled to interview with a group regarding endorsements but that interview could only be scheduled during the day that John's son was getting married in Colorado and as only John could do both the interview and the wedding went off without a hitch although John had a tremendous amount of support both bipartisan nonpartisan he wasn't elected that cycle but I think it's a tribute to his leadership that one of the first calls he got once all
021the results were finalized was that then superintendent elect hoopenthal asked him to join his team at the Department of Education as associate superintendent at that point John decided to try actual retirement he did a little side trip right right after that supporting Deer Valley as it's interim superintendent but but then truly truly went to retirement and he enjoyed it but as you know if you knew John there was always more he could do and he did it and I got a call one day where he told me that he'd given my name as a reference and that seemed odd on many levels but the main one is you know why is somebody asking you for reference I mean why is that even needed well he had been filling in for someone at the Science Foundation
022of Arizona and he'd been urged to step into their director of Education role on a more permanent basis and this was this was their their plan they had to you know get the references and it was their protocol so I actually did get a call from the head of the foundation we had a great chat about what a great catch John would be for the Science Foundation in that role so he stayed in the role for two years and then we had retirement number three in 2015. and by this time his amazing wife Janie had retired from her position as science coordinator in Scottsdale and she was Consulting for districts in schools Countrywide and John often traveled with her as her assistant when they weren't traveling for fun and then John came out of retirement
023again in 2018 going full circle back to Scottsdale unified first as their interim superintendent and then fully a superintendent as he was many believed the only person who could right the ship in a district dealing with a high level of distrust from his community due to actions by their previous administration and when he retired for a fourth and final time in 2020 after achieving a dizzying array of accomplishments in two years he said in an interview that he hoped the community would remember him as a bridge to a greater future for susd John will be remembered for so much more so so many people have described their experiences with John as students as colleagues as both so many considered him a mentor that sometimes I think his picture will be in the dictionary next to
024the word mentor but more than that John Green Card was an amazing person a tireless supporter of people's dreams and a true friend his generosity of spirit Shone through everything he did and was reflected in that infectious smile of his I am sad for all of us that his radiant smile and that constant twinkle in his eye are now dimmed forever please refuse me my friend and thank you all for allowing me to speak thank you Anne for that moving through tribute this week Arizona lost one of the outstanding Educators Dr John creekard and and covered many bases in through all of the things she said did you pick up that he was a superintendent in three different school districts that's quite amazing and he was outstanding superintendent in Arizona he's just did amazing things
025um but I wanted to just tell a little personal story John was a superintendent when I first was elected to the school board which was 19 years ago I I didn't understand truly what a superintendent did or I wouldn't have taken so much of his time but every time there was a school board meeting I came in a couple days before and brought my school we used to have a printed school board book now we just get it online and I would bring my school board book in with me with sticky notes throughout the whole book and I would go through one by one one by one having him answer all my questions and he was so patient with me at one time my daughter was sick and in the hospital and I I had
026a question about something on the board book and I didn't get to him and he goes I've been waiting for your phone call or you're coming to see me and and then we discussed the thing he thought I would have a question about he knew me so well by then but he truly had the patience of Job to listen to me and explain things to me and he never seemed like he was in this great big hurry and I had no idea as a school board member how busy a superintendent truly is and how many things they are in charge of but he always had a ready smile and was hoping someday I'd learned quickly and and I just feel like it was just an honor to serve with him in this District any any
027capacity in the capacity I did so we will miss him and we are grateful especially for the good changes he made in the high schools he really had a love for high school students and um we will miss him um there are no Awards and recognitions this evening next on the agenda is call to the public oh yeah we have yeah we have 23 yellow cards tonight and one blue card which will go on with an I um a agenda item so now we'll have the video call to the public is about to convene this portion of today's meeting allows the public the opportunity to address the governing board although state law does not require that the governing board hold a call to the public The Paradise Valley Unified School District and its board have
028chosen 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 and collaborative way all in attendance are expected to observe meeting rules as well as rules of politeness and decorum so that we may serve as an example to our students that issues can be discussed in
029a respectful and civil manner foreign as I said we have 23 yellow cards and one blue card and because of the high number of cards we're going to allow two minutes for each remark those who asked to speak on agenda items will be recognized at the appropriate time during the meeting please State your first and last name when you come to the podium our first speaker will be Diana Ling followed and the next will be Greg Jackson good evening my name is Diana Lang my husband and I have lived within the Paradise Valley Unified School District for the past 35 years our two sons attended the neighborhood public schools from kindergarten through High School we are grateful to the hard-working caring professionals that provided them with an excellent 21st century education because I value truth
030transparency and human kindness I have decided to speak thank you for that opportunity first off I strongly support board board member Carrie Baker who was elected to her position by community members like me her honest straightforward stance on accurate history education and support of diversity and inclusion is necessary to a functional democracy I'd like to ask what the alternative might be rewriting our nation's past in history is the alternative to not welcome certain children to not respect or value certain students in our schools these are real young people and their families who share our neighborhoods I think most community members and especially parents would say this alternative lacks the core values of Truth and basic human respect and is utterly wrong so to be clear I support the teaching of accurate history the Arts thank
031you your time's up next is Greg Jackson followed by Josh Atkins foreign hello my name is Greg Jackson I've been I've been a resident and the PV uh Unified School District since 1990. my two sons that are in their mid-30s now have gone through uh uh Hidden Hills Shea Middle School and Shadow Mountain wonderful experience I came here this evening with something in mind but I'm going to switch that right now and I want to say that I don't know this person John who has been spoken of this evening but he sounds like a really wonderful human being but aside from John other things that I heard this evening so far from the from the from the school board members lift my heart and in that the words I'm hearing the board members pass around
032of what's important to them I'm really glad to hear so thank you very much each of you that's it next is Josh Atkins followed by Gene castir good evening president case governing board members Dr Bales and cabinet my name is Josh Atkins and I am the proud Secretary of the Paradise Valley Education Association and I'm here in my humble outfit today to bring awareness to pvea's prom boutique the the prom boutiques was started in 2016 and has helped hundreds of our students find their outfit for the big night the boutique will be open to all pvusd students and will be will provide suits dresses shoes accessories and makeup our first public event for 2023 is on Saturday March 25th at Sweetwater Community School from noon to two additional dates can be found on our social
033media sites Facebook Instagram and Twitter by searching Paradise Valley Education Association pvea is proud to offer a wide range of clothing options that celebrate our diverse student population and this has been made possible through generous donations of gently used Formal Wear tonight I am asking that if anyone has dresses suits ties shoes or jewelry that could find a second life as a prom outfit to contact paradise.valley arizonaea.org and we will happily take them furthermore we have an Amazon wishlist on all of our social media Pages where you can donate things like undershirts gift cards hygiene items socks and other necessities that need to be purchased new lastly if you have any connections to a local business that offers Prime related services like hair styling photography manicures or floral arrangements please help us make that connection
034so we can offer raffle prizes to our attendees to help complete the perfect prom I know that the board has supported this since its Inception and we hope to see each one of you at one of our events in the future thank you Gene casteir followed Christine followed by Elijah Watson hi everybody my name is Jeannie Castine governing board members Administration I recently learned that local groups have reached out to their members to submit public comments showing their disdain for programming that promotes diversity equity and inclusion or Dei they will likely tell you that the promotion of these things is harmful despite the fact that countless Studies have shown otherwise you'll probably hear people use the word woke in their opposition to this type of programming and just this week week an elected GOP senator
035from ld27 was asked to Define that term in committee his explanation made the opposition to this kind of programming become crystal clear to me he said that wokeism is a movement to dismantle systems that have been in place for Generations he admitted that our systems are unfair they do not work for everybody every accusation is a confession it seems taking a look at inequities in our systems laws organizations Etc is a good thing including people who haven't been included in the establishment of these systems is a good thing learning about growing and the diversity of our neighbors is a good thing if our children of color are old enough to learn about racism and the inequities lack of lack of diversity and lack of inclusion in our society through their daily existence we as adults
036should stand alongside those children and show empathy to them by trying to understand what their lived experience is like to those who are here in opposition to Dei programming you're not evil and bad because you aren't a member of a marginalized group what we're saying is that marginalized groups still struggle to find diverse Equitable and inclusive spaces in which they can exist and participate I've lived and worked in communities that are very racially and ethnically diverse I've participated in Dei and implicit bias trainings and I'm grateful for it my former students their families the entire communities just want their voices to be heard this program Elijah Watson followed by Julie I don't know how to say this good good niggle you know I don't know how to say it let's run Julie G h thank
037you madam president members of the governing board my name is Elijah Watson I'm a public education Advocate I just wanted to quickly come up and talk about some of the recent attacks that have been coming against one of pvusd's board members as Jeannie previously talked about regarding diversity equity and inclusion this legislative session I've sat in every single education committee at the Capitol and listen to community members from all across the state come in and really bring up this idea that diversity equity and inclusion is dangerous for our Public Schools either in instruction or in General District policies however unlike many of these people I completely disagree with this idea I cannot fathom this idea brought by members of the community mainly through social media that a board that works to prioritize the success of
038our students both in the classroom and in the real world should fight Equity should deny making students of all ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations feel or excluded by their District especially when schools are supposed to serve as Community safe places a school board and every board member like board member Baker should promote what diversity equity and inclusion bring to the table because these are principles that help our students grow in in an ever-changing world a school district is not woke for ensuring that students feel supported regardless of their race ethnicities sexual orientation or gender and identity and any attempt from any school district should show that their motive is not to better this District but instead that their motive is to alienate it thank you next is Julie followed by Hera dubowski thank you governing
039board members my name is Julie gunnigal and I'm here to thank you I am a horizon high school graduate go Huskies and apparent to two kiddos in our district I received a quality public education and I am grateful as a result I went to NAU on a full ride and to Notre Dame law school on a fellowship but when I look at the education they are receiving I'm even more grateful when I graduated world history was taught as only European history and that American history started with the Mayflower when I graduated we had to beg a teacher to step in for a gay student who is being harassed by other students when I graduated I was alarmed at the segregation of our special ed students and I am delighted that that is not my students
040reality I am happy that our schools are diverse and I am thrilled that children are learning that differences make us stronger and that diversity shouldn't just be tolerated it should be celebrated I am however alarmed at the comments taking aim at di d e i and other uh of these heightened rhetoric issues inside our school boards because equality and Equity are two very different things and elected officials ought to know that equality is that all students get the same now I'm a mom to a special ed kiddo equality is that she sits in the same seat as everybody else Equity is that when she's stimming as an autistic child she gets the seat that she needs so she can participate I find it alarming that the idea that students have their needs met is somehow
041controversial in our school boards and that this is being Amplified all over the nation as my student now explores college options I'm alarmed at the reputation Arizona now has because of school boards taking aim at utterly uncontroversial issues of this sort of heightened wild rhetoric and it's not just Hera dubowski followed by Henry Hill good evening president case and governing board Dr Bales and cabinet thank you for allowing me to speak um I have been reading lots of comments online like many of the speakers have already mentioned about Dei and I was worried that some of the comments would make parents think that it's a waste of time and resources and while I can't wrap my head around why someone would think such a thing I thought that maybe people feel that it's just not
042used after high school so I teach it in high school so I went through various uh websites and looked at other schools and companies missions and value statements to see what they say about Dei so I started with some of our state institutions so GCU we welcome and encourage diverse cultures and unique perspectives in all of our classrooms we provide an environment where Learners can openly discuss and debate to gain understanding here's U of A we embed the principles of diversity and Equity into every Wildcat every day practicing both inclusion and compassion and every interaction from every Office Division and College here's NAU at all levels of the institution diversity and inclusion are recognized as institutional strengths and exhibited through a reflection of ideals and participation by all members of the diverse NAU community so
043clearly it's not just in high school that it is in college but what about after college one of the components of a portrait of a PV graduate is that we're preparing them for a career so then I looked at the largest employers in our state to see what their website said and I did look at Health Care since it's ete month and my kids are girls are going to PV high school and I'm hoping they'll take the CNA class so I looked at Healthcare so Banner Health Banner Health values and celebrates Equity diversity and inclusion we promote and cultivate a culturally Rich Workforce two minutes Henry Hill followed by Diane Newman good evening president case superintendent Bales and government board members um I want to start off by saying I support the public positive discussion
044that's been had so far in Dei I'm going to judge judged a little bit how what I was going to talk about since I don't want to repeat things Audrey been said so just a couple things to go over based on things I've heard in the news and heard around the community one I first want to do formal congratulations on the removal of the spending limit I think it takes a lot of pressure off of not only this board but this community so I want to upload that and also note that it was relatively easier I think we all expected so applaud that part as well I do want to note that I'm concerned with some of the statements as state superintendent uh horn has said it appears he's trying to take an education policy
045in a radically different direction by threatening to sue districts I don't think this is right I don't think it's the appropriate way to have a discussion and talk about policy however having not lived here when he was previously had a position you may want to think about looking at your budget and putting a little more in the legal fund because for us to properly educate our students you're probably going to run a foul of some of his radical changes um I am also happy to hear the conversation that the board has had so far I believe having open honest discussions where you think critically about what's going on and take that in is very important it's also what our state curriculum are based on they're based on an approach where students learn how to take
046in diverse information diverse viewpoints synthesize it and come up with an idea of how they see the world and it makes them more productive members of society so I think if you can reflect on that and also be an example Exemplar that it would be very helpful and support our students I think we'll all come to come to an agreement on how we can properly move forward we might always agree on everything but I think if we're working our best to do it PV school district will continue to thrive thank you Diane Newman followed by Bonnie Oaks hello my name is Diane Niemann and I've been a homeowner in the Phoenix area for over 25 years all three of my children graduated from Paradise Valley schools and um you know I haven't heard anything tonight
047about from children or or students and I would call everybody's attention to something I saw earlier and it was a broadcast on and we know on the uh humble brought is a humble broadcast on humble um uh Channel and the student said that he was feeling very uncomfortable in his school and it's it was about um equity and part of his testimony is what I'm going to discuss tonight he said that um Equity encourages students to focus on their differences both skin color and ancestry and it made him feel uncomfortable he feels that we should be looking at the way they are made by God and they should feel comfortable in who they are I say all lives matter equally no child should be made to feel they've done something wrong because of their skin
048color or sex I'll point out that the Paradise Valley School test results register Proficiency in math at 38 in reading and art and language arts at 43 my opinion is the low scores in part reflect the curriculum the focus is on activism instead of the basic subjects that prepare our children to excel as adults so I thank you for your time next we have Bonnie Oaks followed by Gina Griffis good evening president case and the rest of you first time I've done this my name is Bonnie Oakes I have three granddaughters that have been through Public School here in Arizona one's a seventh grader at Mountain Trail Middle School when she was in sixth grade she was president of the student council I have a senior at GCU she's going to be a social worker
049I have a Junior at NAU and she wants to be a math professor everything they want to do in their future involves equity and inclusion with the people they'll be working with and the students that they'll be finishing their school with so it's very important and to me the word CRT is the exact opposite of that it's a false Republican agenda propelled by disinformation to confuse the public thank you Gina followed by Carl Stone good evening president case governing board members Dr Bales and cabinet thank you for allowing us this time tonight my name is Gina Griffiths I'm the parent of three wonderful children an 11 year old at Whispering Wind who will go to Sunrise a junior at Paradise Valley high school and a 20 year old who graduated from Paradise Valley High School
050my 20 year old came out as transgender while at pvhs and was affirmed and included and I'm grateful for it and no one told me anything and they shouldn't have I'm really here tonight to Express gratitude I've always been proud to have my kids in pvusd this is a district that's always been inclusive and respectful and worked to educate all children by meeting their needs where they are which is the definition of equity I'm a master's level social worker I would never presume to tell the district how to teach my kids because I'm not trained to do that I would never want anyone else to tell me how to be a social worker who wasn't properly trained to do that you have an excellent cabinet you have an excellent staff excellent teachers I trust them
051to educate our children that's why they're here and they've done it with mine all these years so I really just want to say thank thank you for the rigorous education for the accuracy with which you've taught history to my children and or the inclusive nature for the focus on respecting others for their differences that's made my children better it's going to make future children better and I appreciate that that's what you've done and I hope you continue to do it thank you Carl Stone followed by Lita deem meager I think I'm saying it wrong hi there I'm Carl Stone um I have had four kids attend pbusd schools I thank God every day that they are finished and not have to then they're not subjected to the woke priorities that now exist in this District
052I don't know how parents nowadays do it I'm here tonight to thank Sandra Christian for standing up and defending the values of the 50 plus percent of constituents of pbusd that are conservative um we appreciate you and ask you to continue to be strong and to continue to fight for us we're not as loud as as the people that come up here and stand but trust trust me we're there for you and we're we're out there we see you we appreciate you and we will always have your back always thank you leader leader followed by Lisa Holberg good evening it's Lita defliger I know it's a rough one nobody ever says it right um my name is Lita de bleager um and I am not a Paradise Valley resident although I am born and raised
053in Arizona I grew up in Cottonwood went to NAU um and I do currently live in Gilbert and you might wonder why I'm here um although I don't live in the Paradise Valley District I have family and very close friends that I consider family that live here and have students either graduated or still attend here and some of them couldn't be here tonight so I decided to show up and speak instead um my own kids I have two kids that attend schools in Gilbert and one thing that I think is important to recognize is that we're all connected right this Valley's big and we're all connected I'm up in Paradise Valley all the time so what happens at one school board you often see trickle down I know superintendents talk to each other I'm a
054former educator so I kind of I talk with other Educators it's kind of just how this world works um I've seen these attacks on diversity equity and inclusion spreading around the valley and given that we're all connected I think it's important that we all show up for each other um so that's why I'm here Paradise Valley in the surrounding District should be proud of the diversity in our communities we should all feel compelled to want our kids to learn to be more inclusive more compassionate and more accepted in all of our schools we should applaud Educators and board members like Miss Baker who unapologetically stand with all students including those that are the subject of the fabricated culture wars being spread across the country sorry I had to write it down students and Educators deserve
055to feel safe respected and seen in their schools and communities and I think that it's important to remember that this is about everybody in a school students of course are the core of why people are Educators right but educators are there too and educators are diverse as well and they need to be seen and respected as well and I that's all I had except I heard Miss Christensen Point some things about equity and as an educator and an apparent and an aunt I wanted to bring something up so I have two nephews that graduate oh shoot no more time Lisa followed by Jessica Crane or car I'm not sure good evening everyone I'm going to speak quickly let me start by saying that I'm a mom of a senior who opened in roles at Paradise
056Valley High School we choose to be part of PV schools because of its diversity inclusion and wide range of academic enrichment and extracurricular opportunities not to mention the most amazing teachers and staff I would encourage you to request that every speaker introduced their specific connection to our district tonight and moving forward it might surprise you with that being said it seems like recent controversies in our district and state are all about beliefs as member Christians and so perfectly pointed out so as a white Christian heterosexual registered Republican Mom I wanted to share some of my beliefs and how they have led us to PV schools I believe in school choice and I know there are tons of options even some that will teach students with a specific religious or political slant if a family so
057Jesus they're all around us please don't allow a political agenda to change the PV District that we have chosen I believe in Parental involvement and we have experienced a high level of it in our eight years in PV schools we know exactly what our son has learned in every class and feel that our voice is always heard that doesn't mean that we always get what we want but isn't that what we teach our kids please continue to support a culture of mutual respect and genuine communication between parents teachers principals and staff I believe that through a diverse and fact-based education students can learn to think for themselves while learning to respect and work with those who think differently please don't take the opportunity that PV District gave to our son away from future Learners I
058believe in fact I know that parenting kids who don't fit the mold is hard enough please don't make it harder for us by forcing us to use what if any energy we have left to fight for their freedom to learn in a supportive and engaging environment I believe in Educators like Dr Karen Hudson Mrs Sarah Armistead Mrs Mary apostolas Mr iron Dennis Mr Paul have the big Mr Ryan Defender for Dr Whitney Samuel Dr Bonnie hope and so many others please don't allow political rhetoric to stifle their abilities connect with and support our students or drive them Jessica Jessica followed by Julie blumenreich all right Jessica crane parent in the district president case Dr Bale's governing board members and cabinet thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening in support of the diversity equity
059and inclusion commitment that is a part of the PV school strategic plan inclusion isn't something we should have to make a case for we shouldn't have to convince other people the value of belonging that's author Amanda Morin yet I am here this evening to stand up for my son and any student who is seen as less than fully human because of their disability it is painful to hear the hateful things that people say about my son simply because of this diagnosis I do however understand that I'm not going to change those close Minds in the limited time I have here this evening so I Look to each of you on the governing board Dr Bales the cabinet to continue to support diversity equity and inclusion in PV schools to Foster inclusive classrooms and schools that
060best support the needs of all students in PV schools tonight I would like to use the remainder of my time to think from the bottom of my heart the inclusive minded parents and teachers in the PV schools that I am fortunate to know to all the parents taking deliberate actions to every day to shape caring inclusive children I thank you to the parents raising children who refuse to let a classmate eat alone thank you and for all the parents who model inclusive kind Behavior because you understand your children are watching I appreciate you and to the inclusive teacher shaping the future Generations thank you for wanting to teach all students even when their learning doesn't fit into a standardized box thank you for celebrating all their unique talents each of your students bring to the
061classroom including my son in a general education classroom and celebrating his differences allows his peers to see their own unique assets their own uniqueness as an asset sorry sameness allows somebody to fit in but an appreciation of differences creates a sense of belonging belonging and inclusivity is and should remain the PV way Julie followed by Nicole could work foreign case governing board members Dr Bales Administration parents students and guests my name is Julie blumenreich I am the chair of this year's United parent Council teacher and staff appreciation program I wanted to quickly introduce the program and highlight a few excerpts from some of the nominations since they're so beautiful and uplifting and they also allow us to hear what is important to students and parents who may not communicate their thoughts on education at these
062at these meetings or through the public surveys the program invites students and parents to nominate teachers and staff members including bus drivers instructional assistance cafeteria workers and others who have gone above and beyond this school year some of the comments have been this teacher goes above and beyond to support the students at this Middle School she wants each student to feel their worth and find the best path for them to succeed thank you for providing a safe place for my student to come to school when she needed to get away my daughter has made so much progress academically and is so proud of herself all because of the safe nurturing and fun environment the teacher has created this teacher is responsive supportive and involved in Student Success she works with students both collectively and individually
063to meet emotionally academically and physically to succeed she is very compassionate and actually cares this teacher has worked hard at every chance she uses an opportunity to impact both her students and their typical peers my son has thrived in this classroom our daughter has learned so much academically but even more so her confidence has been boosted she treats all her students with respect and makes sure everyone feels included she is my favorite teacher and she has left such a positive impact on me in closing I want to thank the district and governing board for always supporting this program and recognizing the importance of showing appreciation for our teachers and staff hiring training and retaining excellent teachers and staff who go above and beyond for students and families every day and for listening to all of
064our voices followed by Mary Beth cynical hi everybody um you know I've been here before talking about um defining our terms and um it was in fact last fall um and then April of 22. I asked have we defined what the word Equity means within this place I was told it's commonly understood everybody knows it and yeah we do have it to find but then by email we later found out no we don't have it defined we have a common understanding we have quote commonly known definitions in terms the under administrators understand um but no written definition um no written definition at all I would have no problem with this if we could find a common definition um I've heard people here today and before Satan it's giving everybody the resources that they need to
065achieve their best I love that definition that's a great definition that's not the definition that I've heard on this board upon occasion I've heard people say everybody graduates that's what Equity means everybody graduates and then they're not alone in saying that because the um Intercultural development research Association National Equity project Center for public education all focus on equal outcomes that's what Equity is so when you search on Google Equity education that's the answer that you get not everybody gets the resources they need to achieve their most if we're gonna and just to highlight that fact Wall Street Journal just published this last Friday the Culver City School District removed all honors classes um because the honor student demographic was not in line with the school demographic and so out of equity they're removing the honors
066classes nobody here is addressing that they're they're addressing Straw Men nobody wants kids to be left behind we all want our kids to be able to have the most to be able to reach their true potential but if we are going to Pat ourselves on the back because everyone graduated meanwhile we have kids proficient only 40 of our kids are proficient in reading and math we're doing everybody a disservice please Mary Beth followed by Michael mulholl I hope this will reach down for it hopefully it does all right hi my name is Marion bastana shawl thank you board and um Dr Bales and cabinet members for allowing me to speak tonight I have lived in the Paradise Valley School District for almost 30 years now and both of my sons attended all four years at
067Pinnacle High School when my sons went to Pinnacle High School there weren't all these distractions from what they were there for which was a quality education um what I'm seeing now is just a ton of distractions for these poor kids that are just trying to make it in life I don't understand where all this has come from um both of our sons have become uh went on to college and have become quite successful and I look now and it saddens me with all the political ideologies that are being forced into schools and even the divisiveness that has grown and even a school board member that has called out white Christians online um that was freaky to see that online that somebody called out white Christians I mean is that part of inclusivity I don't feel
068like it is okay pointing out race pointing out um the color of one's skin and their faith how is that inclusive I don't understand how that's inclusive at all so I like other people here I'm glad that my sons are done with Pinnacle um they went you were there you were their principal and and we loved you you were awesome um but I'm glad they're gone I'm glad they've moved on because it saddens me to see this and I've been told that um enrollment is down 5 000 in this district and that is 15 is according to my math that is 15 of this district is down and that's a huge problem obviously that you guys are dealing with and I know that demographics have something to do with that but I also know their
069parents pulling them their kids out of public school they're putting them in private school the private schools are flourishing I have friends who have kids in private schools they are flourishing people can't they're lining up to get into them so let's look at the whole situation and just put two and two together and just go back to basics of academics and what these kids need to get to college and to have successful recall followed by Kim Miller good evening um I'm a student from Paris Valley high school and I've been in the district my whole life um and to me it's of almost importance to have diversity equity and inclusion and if there wasn't diversity we wouldn't be able to learn about the different cultures or other ways of life besides our own and along
070with this I think everyone needs representation and everyone deserves to be heard minorities deserve to be heard and um if we don't listen to them if we don't hear the other side to the story we can't come to understand other people and we can't come to understand how their experiences have affected them we cannot improve their experiences if we don't even know about them personally I know I've learned a lot from looking at the other side of the story um yeah in addition to that I think specifically the lgbtq community also deserves to be represented and to be supported by schools they need to feel safe and in order to feel safe they also need to be heard and they need to be respected and they deserve to be called by their Pro excuse me
071their pronouns and to just feel safe in classrooms to not worry about being bullied every day and to just feel like they can be who they are without uh being judged by other students or teachers and I also believe that students should feel supported when facing mental or physical health issues I know from personal experience that these issues can wear down very hard on students and to make it hard for them to focus make it hard to keep grades up to keep social relations well and just feel good about life so I think they also need to be supported by teachers and they should be understood for like if they need any assignment extensions to just have that equity for them um yeah thank you Jim Miller followed by Maya Cotter good evening board thank
072you for doing what you do and sacrificing your time and your love and your care for all these students and for the teachers and for public education my name is Kim Miller I have five kids and I have two a niece and a nephew who live in this District I I live in the Scottsville District but I care very much about about families and kids and learning and education and what it really takes to to um encourage and Inspire kids for their future for them to be successful and this is not a political conversation to me as much as it is coming together to understand what is good what is actually the definition of what is good for kids and how to inspire them and I think the I'd like to address the parents too
073like um I don't know if I can do this but I just want to kind of address everybody because thank you for you being here there's a lot of parents who stayed home you know and what I just want to say to all the the parents who've taken this time and who love their kids all of us agree that every single child deserves respect and cherishment and love and it doesn't matter you know who they are where they came from they each deserve respect but the the Dei sounds really good on the surface but really out of Good Intentions what we're doing is we're actually hurting kids because we're dividing them by by a standard or a putting them into a group rather than thinking of them as an individual so a child thinks well
074okay I'm not you know Susie I'm actually a marginalized group you know and so we're focusing so much on that that I think we're stealing away their own sense of working hard and being the person that they want to be in life and we're we're just we're we're labeling them we're making them little tokens and I I feel like that's really the the results and I just want to urge you to think about the results of what we're doing out of Good Intentions so we don't want to Mark we don't want to demoralize them and there's really nothing more paralyzing to following Maya will be Sarah liar my name is Mia Cotter and I'm a High School junior at Arizona School for the Arts but I do live in the PV district and I'm here
075to advocate for a diversity equity and inclusion personally my experience has been solely positive because of diversity Equity inclusion I'm actually able to do better work as I'm in a safe learning environment I've also never felt worried about being bullied or harassed and I've been able to focus in my career as a student because of these policies we can also have Coalition clubs which allow for people's cultures to be celebrated and are open to any person these have helped me and my peers learn about each other and be accepted it's truly been a great way for students to connect additionally because of this program everyone at my school has gotten the opportunity to have their voice heard regardless of their race even at my majority white school I have not heard anyone Express that these
076policies negatively impact them in fact it has been quite the opposite a speaker earlier mentioned that she didn't understand where Dia comes from and in my opinion it comes from the need for students to respect and understand each other it comes from a need of a safe learning environment and it's here for our schools to improve the experience of our students thank you Sarah followed by Emily Wagner hello my name is Tsar Ayer I'm 16 years old and I go to Arizona School for the Arts I'm currently a junior while I'm not in the pvusdu school district I'm here tonight because I'm I believe it's very important for the board to hear student voices a speaker mentioned earlier tonight that they haven't heard from any students at these meetings here we are my school Arizona
077School for the Arts has diversity equity and inclusion policies here are the results from what I've personally seen in my school I've never heard of a white student feeling disenfranchised because of these policies in fact it's quite the opposite Dei policies allow students to feel safe in the classroom they allow them to feel respected heard and celebrated Paradise Valley Unified School District's Dei policies encourage respect and opportunities for all regardless of race or religion the hiring of teachers that meet their students needs and they make sure that sure that their students feel safe in the classroom and that their needs are met I'm here in support of Paradise Valley Unified School Districts Dei policies I know that retaining them will have the same overwhelmingly positive effect it's had on my peers and me thank you
078foreign thank you board for letting me speak tonight my name is Emily Wagner and I am a parent of a child who attends pvusd schools I came to speak today in regards to the extremely divisive and derogatory statements made by Ms Carrie Baker on her public Twitter account Ms Baker tweeted and I quote I'm going to say this again real slow CRT is not taught in our schools it is called history and diversity so which isn't Miss Baker is it not taught in our schools or as you suggest in your Tweet it is taught in our schools just under the guise of history and diversity you make a valid point when you say that CRT is not toddler schools because yes critical race theory is never explicitly called out by name in our curriculum but
079just as you say the concepts and ideas that form CRT are indeed still taught but it's just hidden a little better within history and diversity Ms Baker then continues in her tweet saying quote we are not a society of white Christians our community are full of rich and diverse cultures and families we should all be celebrated not just a certain population putting aside the bigoted portions of this tweet Miss Baker is correct in saying we should all be celebrated I just wonder Miss Baker where exactly in the public school system is Christianity celebrated we've stripped our schools of public prayer The Ten Commandments are not allowed to be displayed and we can't even call Christmas break Christmas break so obviously you have no need to feel the threat of Christians within the public school system
080because we have no home here according to the Arizona School Board Association effective school board members should share some common attributes one of which is quote respect the diversity of perspectives and cultural backgrounds on the board and in the community and serve with tolerance and without prejudice it is for these Reasons I'm asking you Miss Baker to make a public apology or resign from your position all right [Music] next on the agenda is Dr Bells thank you president case governing board members cabinet and guess I'd be remiss if I didn't share just a couple thoughts also on the impact of Dr John creedcart in this district and me he will truly be missed he was certainly a servant leader with a very contagious smile and laugh and I was one of many and I mean
081many who benefited from his decisions his influence and his leadership because of him I received a once in the lifetime opportunity when he selected me to plan an open Wildfire Elementary School his legacy included a commitment to students first to collaboration consensus building transparency and fiscal responsibility earlier today I had the privilege and honor to participate in the ABC 15 Zoom interview as they are developing a story to pay tribute to Dr creekard it should air sometime next week it's well deserved in PB schools we engage we Inspire we nurture students through high quality instruction meaningful educational opportunities and dynamic learning experiences and one of these meaningful educational opportunities is our one-of-a-kind Career and Technical education program which includes culinary arts space force film and photography automotive and so much more we strive to empower
082all of our learners for a lifetime of success and our CTE programs certainly do that I'm excited to announce that our district newsletter has expanded to reach more stakeholders in fact the mailing list grew this week to 35 648 recipients this publication provides important information and celebrations related to PV schools our students staff and Community currently enrolled families as well as staff no longer need to subscribe however if you're a Community member without a student at one of our schools you can visit our district website Newsroom And subscribe by clicking the orange Bell icon our students and staff do amazing things and I look forward to sharing this news with more and more people PB schools is the Hub of creativity and learning and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate our talented
083K-12 Fine Arts students than with our annual Arts Expo on Saturday March 4th the PV schools fine arts department will be hosting the 13th annual sights and sounds of PV school's celebration this event will be held at Shadow Mountain High School and will be a day full of Stellar performances and awe-inspiring art exhibits for the third year in a row PB schools has been named a Forbes best Employers in the mid-size category America's best midsize employers were identified in an independent study taken by approximately 45 000 American employees in total 500 employees Across the Nation were recognized the evaluation was based on direct and indirect recommendations from respondents who are asked to rate their willingness to recommend an employer to friends and family this is a celebration shared by our entire Workforce congratulations and with
084that being said adults like to remind PB schools as a great place to work to find out how to join our team visit jobs.pbschools.net foreign congratulations to our National Merit finalists 15 students from Horizon Paradise Valley and Pinnacle High School have advanced to the finalist stage these impressive high school students must meet strict requirements in order to move on to the finalist stage and as a result of their standing they will be considered for National Merit Scholarships keep up the great work congratulations to two very impressive students eighth grader Psy manvik malready from Explorer middle school and fifth grader aruhi shindi from North Ranch Elementary School who did an exemplary job at the regional spelling bee last week Psy who placed first out of 39 students will proudly represent PV schools as he advances to
085region two state spelling Beyond March 18th good luck it's that time of year again and families across our high schools are filling out their FAFSA forms as many of you know getting prepared to send your child off to the next educational Adventure can be complicated but we are here to help FAFSA is free and you can file it online this important application process should only take about 30 minutes to complete parents or students needing assistance with the process can always reach out to our school counselors or College and Career Specialists we are here to help you and as I briefly mentioned one of our meaningful educational opportunities is within our CTE programs February is CTE month and we want to take the time to celebrate all of our fantastic Career and Technical education teachers students
086and programs with mpb schools PB schools proudly offers 21 individual programs throughout its five excelling high schools our district Prides itself on providing students with a head start on a path towards some of the fastest growing careers in the country Career and Technical education brings top industries into our classrooms and here tonight is Mr long and Sandy Fabian who will continue this Celebration by honoring our Career and Technical student organizations Mr long good evening president case governing board members we do have an incredible and robust CTE program and that's led by an incredible CTE leadership team tonight represented by Sandy Fabian thank you Mr long president case governing board Dr Bales cabinet members and guests good evening my name is Sandy Fabian I'm here on behalf of the Career and Technical education department February is
087National CTE month as Dr Bales mentioned this awareness campaign provides us an opportunity to call attention to some of the amazing CTE classes our District offers and to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our CTE students we have 21 CTE programs throughout the district and each aligns with a designated Career and Technical student organization or ctso these co-curricular clubs provide opportunities for students to develop and enhance leadership skills as well as compete in advance related to the program's Technical and Professional Standards at the state and National level this evening we have invited two students from our Crest program at Paradise Valley High School to talk about their experiences and their respective ctsos for bioscience and Engineering first up will be our bioscience HOSA president Melinda Zhang followed by the skills USA State Treasurer Taj Desai please
088help me in welcoming Melinda and Tage all right good evening governing board superintendent Bales cabinet members and guests we are here tonight to celebrate Career and Technical Education Month and our Career and Technical student organizations my name is Melinda Zhang and I'm the current president of Paradise Valley Crest bioscience HOSA I'm here today to give a brief presentation about our chapter and accomplishments first our team our executive board consists of 11 officers each with their own unique and important role officers are elected through an extensive slating process currently bioscience HOSA has a alumni serving as the Arizona hoses state Secretary and our two wonderful advisors are Miss Cherry and Mrs honorable the purpose of our chapter is to provide our members with the skills necessary to become a successful future health professionals this comes through
089a variety of different activities which are listed here on the slide our chapter attends three major conferences throughout the year the first being the fall leadership conference a one-day event where members attend career professional leadership and networking workshops meeting and learning from Health Healthcare professionals and other HOSA members from across the states competitions lead us into our next two conferences the state and International Leadership conferences HOSA offers members over 60 competitions where a broad range of Knowledge and Skills are tested SLC and ilc allow our members to further Network and connect with like-minded individuals from across the globe and be recognized for their hard works and efforts last year our chapter brought over 20 students to ilc and this year we plan to bring 60 students to the state conference our chapter Prides itself in
090giving back in the form of volunteering and fundraising last semester we held a very successful clothing and hygiene drive for the Paradise Valley Unified School Districts United parent Council which was an amazing opportunity for our members to give back to the local community we also fundraise for be the match a national donor mayoral donor program and the premier hoses service project partner fundraisers we've held this year are listed on the slide thank you hello Governor important my name is Tate Desai and I'm the current skills USA Arizona State Treasurer and it's great to be here again so skillsusa is another ctso just like HOSA and specifically within our Crest chapter we have a total of seven executive officers for amazing advisors and a state treasurer um and essentially something that's pretty unique about our chapter
091is a nice blend of both engineering and computer science students so skills USA is based off of a main framework which emphasizes 17 Essential Elements which are the skills that are recognized by industry leaders as the most important skills for students to have as they enter the industry and these are the skills that we emphasize in skills USA so specifically within our chapter we focus on a variety of different opportunities there's a balanced variety of leadership and Technical based Workshop events like engineering design competitions and computer science workshops as well as guest speakers that come in from industry and kind of talk about their Journey um another great opportunity is collaboration specifically on Hands-On projects where we really emphasize the use of the skills you say Essential Elements and then lastly professionalism and soft skills
092so in student CTE classes they focus on the technical skills like design and programming for example and in skillsusa they focus on the more soft skills like communication leadership and collaboration so skills USA has over 15 000 members Statewide and their amazing leadership events that these members can take part in including fall leadership conference and cam champion and one of the biggest takeaways for these events is networking um like I said there's a huge presence of students all around the state from Navajo Nation down to Yuma Arizona so students can really use opportunity to meet with each other collaborate and really Bond over their shared passion for CTE whether that's photography engineering computer science and Beyond um and then another huge emphasis for skills USA is competitions so we have three levels of competitions regionals
093which is actually taking place tomorrow um State and Nationals and there's two main categories which is leadership and Technical events so essentially students take the skills that they learn in their classroom and translate it straight into competition events and get recognized for it so that's a really nice part of skills USA and finally Melinda and I would like to thank the pvusd governing board and Mrs McGowan our CTE director for your continued support in CTE and ctsos so thank you for your time thank you very much and that concludes superintendent comments thank you students for being so impressive that was wonderful next we have items for approval and we'll start with item number G14 I'd like to invite Nicole kudlick to come and address this item of G14 foreign yeah it's just a really quick
094question two questions really um on the um on the memorandum that that has the computer support and software computer software and support it has an amount but it doesn't say and it says we're buying Chromebooks but there's no indication of of quantity that we're buying and I'm sure it's probably reasonable but it seems like we should know so that there's like we know it's reasonable um so that's one thing is just how many Chromebooks are we buying was a question and then the second thing is we buy a lot of Chromebooks so I'm just curious what the useful life is um just as a kind of my own little fiduciary kind of I'm a numbers person so that's it two little questions thank you thank you guys all for your patience you guys are so
095awesome okay now you turn it to me now you turn it to me I'll turn that over you to you Dr Bells uh thank you president uh case governing board members Kevin guess it is our pleasure to recommend the consideration approval of purchase from the current PB contract 2202 PV for computer software and support um for approval this evening uh just for a point of clarification um we have a number uh generally uh 921 843 is going to purchase about how many in this Bergen approximately 2 375 Chromebooks along with the white glove plan which is like a plan for any uh damage that may happen to the Chromebooks for them to be fixed thank you and our generally our life uh service for Chromebooks do we have an answer Dr Corson typically the life
096of the Chromebook runs about six years thank you and with that we recommend approval thank you so around 000 000 and they last about 2 300. 2 300 and they last around six years six years okay sorry may I have a motion to approve G14 so moved all those in favor say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously now we'll move on for the agenda approval uh for items for approval Dr Bells president case company board members cabinet and guest as a result of continued budget reductions and the elimination of an administrative position here at District we are recommending an interim appointment tonight Dr Holmes thank you Dr Bales this is the consolidation of of two current positions director of federal programs therefore is a is a new position for the
097district though a net decrease overall in our central office administrative positions with that is the context Tammy Hall is currently the title one coordinator of PV schools and has served in that role for the last 12 years she has also served as principal and teacher over the course of her career in PV schools she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in education from NAU as well as a master's in educational leadership also from NAU if proved she will receive salary and benefits in accordance with the COA bargaining agreement and we recommend you approve Miss Hall to be the interim director of federal programs and just for a point of clarification that's the combination of the title one coordinator position as well as the uh director of director of language acquisition so those two become the
098director of federal programs may I have a motion to approve the administrative Personnel revision action as presented so moved all those of in favor say aye aye oh I'm sorry are there any questions or comments on this excuse me I said that out of order Mrs Christensen so it's my understanding that it will be a a cost savings is that yes because we're combining right and decreasing one by by one okay any other comments or questions I should have asked if there was questions so may I have a motion to approve the administration Personnel we had a motion okay all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say me motion passes unanimously missing great that we all make mistakes Miss Hall is is not with us in person but I know she is
099watching online so congratulations to you Tammy Hall congratulations Emmy Hall next on the agenda is Dr Bells president case company board members cabinet and guest and tonight Dr Holmes will present for approval a revised certified hard to fill addenda plan for 23-24 Dr Holmes thank you madam president members of the board the hard to fill uh agenda is a is something that we bring to you annually for approval this year we are we are changing the focus of of the dollars that we commit to hard to filled positions and specifically changing the definition of it um as a teacher shortage has become uh has has increased uh the the notion of hard to fill has moved away from being subject specific and is really across all of our positions generally depending on the time of
100year of hire and so through committee work and also through the the bargaining process we've agreed that we're going to redefine hard to fill as uh as connected to the hiring pool and specifically when we have less than 10 qualified candidates uh in in the hiring pool so that's what we're going to be recommending is hard to fill this year it does mean that we'll be set sun setting existing hard to fill addenda so we will not be um providing addenda new addenda going forward except for special education who has agreed upon that we need to maintain that it is also specifically means that those current employees who receive the addenda will continue to receive it in in subsequent years so with that I'll take any questions and we recommend your approval are there any
101questions yes I do have a question so um it's more of a point of understanding and information um as we've discussed before we as as you indicated we are in a um I guess a different point in our district than we were a few years ago and and it is difficult to fill some of these roles um I just want to understand um how how we're what what are we doing to try to fill these difficult roles these hard to fill positions are we doing anything different than we have in the past since it is a different time um well I I would tell you that recruiting is uh is more digital than it used to be so we used to attend more job fairs in in person and I would say across public education
102that was a little bit more common um and it's more of a digital presence these days that we go to attract uh Talent um we of course uh have a tremendous reputation I believe as an employer as indicated by um the Forbes uh one of the best best Employers in the country um and and I believe we're very well known in you know particularly in in the fair Phoenix area as as a great employer uh so there aren't um you know beyond that I wouldn't say that there aren't um ideas that are bubbling up across public education that are um uh recruitment tactics that I would say are particularly effective uh in part because there are there are fewer and fewer people that are choosing to go into the profession so it's it's not about
103a lack of a recruitment effort in insofar as it is about uh a a continuingly decreasing pool of qualified candidates for teaching positions okay I think my question was more for the balance between you know I know we have some um budget considerations but um are there any incentives because I know we want we really as a district want to get dollars into the classroom and and give more to teachers specifically to the heart of Philadelphia what we actually will be doing is uh providing teachers who who apply with uh addition with that are experienced teachers uh with uh with more dollars uh per their years of experience thank you um any other questions or comments may I have a motion to approve the certified harderfield agenda for 2023-24 so moved all those in favor
104say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is Dr Bells president case governing board members cabinet and guest tonight we present for approval revisions to Governor board policy jfabda regarding the admissions of students in foster care there are no changes since the first reading presented at the last governing board meeting and Dr Corson is available if you have any questions we recommend approval thank you are there any questions or comments may I have a motion to approve the certified excuse me uh to to approve revisions to the governing board policy jfa BDA so moved all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is Dr Bells president case government board members cabinet and guest and tonight we
105present a wonderful recommendation to name a baseball field after a long time coach Mr long Mr Dennis and Mr Hague will make the recommendation Mr long good evening president case governing board members and Dr Bells I recommend for your approval this evening the naming of the Paradise Valley High School baseball field to the Roy Muller baseball field in honor of longtime coach Roy Muller the school has adhered to policy regulation ffr which requires them to provide a written rationale for the recommendation and to establish and communicate a period of at least 30 days for members of the community to provide input to the school principal the school principal presented the proposal to the school's site Council on an agenda of a site council meeting as a recommendation to the superintendent the school Community is overwhelmingly
106supportive of the name change this evening Mr iron Dennis principal of Paradise Valley High School will share with you information about Mr Mueller that supports the naming of the baseball field to the Roy Muller baseball field good evening president case governing board Dr Bales and cabinet my name is Zion Dennis I'm the principal of Paradise Valley High School joining me tonight is my athletic director Mr Brock hey coop as Mr long said we're here tonight regarding the request to name the baseball field in honor of former Trojan staff member and Arizona Baseball Hall of Fame coach Mr Roy Muller Roy's career in PV schools spans more than five decades and is filled with stats and accolades he started teaching and coaching at Paradise Valley High School in 1972. I was three time he was the
107head coach at PV for 36 years he's one of just a few Arizona baseball coaches to amass over 700 wins he's uh he was the coaches association coach of the year in 1991. he coached two Arizona players of the year and the list goes on many of his former players went on to play in college and in the major leagues and a few of them even have World Series rings it goes without saying that Roy has had a positive impact on thousands of players over the years you were all given copies of the input that we received and had a chance to read specifically how he impacted his players not just on the field but in their lives both during and after high school the outpouring of support was overwhelming his former players and coaching
108colleagues believe there's no better name for the field at Paradise Valley High School than Roy Muller field Brock and I both agree we thank you for your time and consideration we're here tonight to answer any questions before you vote I would just like to add that on a personal Mr Mohler stepped up and served Pinnacle high school at a request that I made on a very short notice many years ago and so his impact is lasting at more than just Paradise Valley High School it is a tremendous honor he's given back above and beyond and so it is with great pleasure that I support the recommendation thank you may I have a motion to approve the naming of the Paradise Valley High School baseball field to the Roy Moeller baseball field so moved any comments
109yes I have a comment why can't we have more items like this for approval this is amazing we love this kind of stuff any other comments although some favors say aye aye although suppose say nay motion passes unanimously Mr Dennis if there is a celebration please invite us that's wonderful acceptance of gifts and donations let me re review a few of the donations desert Trails Elementary Schools PTO donated eight thousand and seventy one dollars for playground equipment to Desert trails um the Rito partners donated uh one thousand dollars for the items for the school store at caught being kind at Echo Mountain the junior hero donated one thousand dollars to the Garden Club at Horizon High School at North Ranch Elementary School the PT parent teacher Association donated two thousand dollars to the sixth grade
110a field trip and also at North Ranch the teacher Association parent teacher Association donated a thousand dollars for the fifth grade field trip and the teacher Association parent teacher Association at North Canyon at North Ranch excuse me also donated one thousand dollars to the kindergarten field trip another item here is um the Sun Valley Builders donated upper and lower cabinets valued at seventeen thousand dollars to the finance department to the Paradise Valley Unified School District there are many other donations and we want to recognize anyone here who has been participatory in these donations and we appreciate all donations in our district and we couldn't do what we do in our district without them so may I have a motion for acceptance of gifts and donations please so moved all those in favor say aye aye
111all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is items for discussion Dr Bells thank you president case governing board members cabinet and guest and tonight Dr Corson and Mr long will provide an update on dual enrollment in PV this is exciting and another opportunity to celebrate some growth and success Dr Corson good evening president case members of the governing board Dr Bales cabinet and guests Mr long and I are pleased to provide an update to the governing board on dual enrollment in our district the purpose of tonight's presentation is to provide an overview of our dual enrollment programming along with our current status to that end Mr long and I will present an overview of dual enrollment our current student participation in dual enrollment courses how we market and provide information
112to students and families about these opportunities a sample of the course offerings across multiple content areas the tuition assistance that has provided our students and a few celebrations from this program as a review dual enrollment courses are college level classes offered by the Maricopa community college system where a student can earn credit for both a college and high school course these classes are taught by a PV school's High School teachers who have met the credentials required to teach a college course these credentials often include a master's degree or equivalent in the teachers content area the High School courses including the course syllabus textbooks and content outcomes are vetted by the Maricopa Community College systems review process to ensure that the High School courses meet college level academic standards at the district level we also review
113these dual enrollment courses to ensure that students who are exposed to Arizona state standards for the course they are taking therefore these courses include both college and high school standards while it is typically recommended that students begin taking dual enrollment enrollment courses beginning in a student's 10th grade year all high school students are eligible to take a dual enrollment course all students Desiring college credit for the course must apply to the Maricopa community college system must have a high school GPA of 2.6 meet Arizona residency requirements and must pay the tuition and fees to attend the college system currently a credit hour is 85 dollars and most courses are three credit hours these courses are recognized by over 40 universities both in-state and out of state as transferable credits to their programs sometimes parents and
114students wonder about the considerations in taking a dual enrollment versus an advanced placement course oftentimes more AP classes can be offered at a school because teachers do not have to meet the college certification requirements and therefore there are more opportunities for students to take rigorous courses another consideration is that while dual enrollment courses transfer to a large number of colleges and universities AP courses tend to be accepted at more colleges and universities especially the more competitive ones parents and students just need to research the colleges and universities they wish to attend also college credit for dual enrollment courses is based on the grade the student receives in the course for AP classes college credit is awarded based on the score that the student receives on the advanced placement test those are a few of the
115consideration students and parents should keep in mind When selecting the best pathway I would like to briefly share some data with you regarding individual School participation as you can see all of our high schools participate in dual enrollment our smallest programs are at PV online in Shadow Mountain while our largest programs are at Horizon and Pinnacle kudos to Pinnacle for such an incredible growth in their program increasing participation from 236 students to 473. Horizon continues their strong participation in the program even when faced with the challenge of finding qualified instructors from Fall 2021 until fall of 2022 there has been an overall increase of 31 percent in the number of students who elect to take a dual enrollment class this amounts to an additional 340 students taking courses for college credit how do students learn
116about classes that are available for dual credit counselors begin with classroom visitations to describe course offerings along with lunchtime sessions where students can ask additional questions students and families can learn about dual enrollment through participation in scheduled financial aid nights as well as district and school websites through a partnership with pvcc students also have access to navigator Specialists provided by pvcc who are assigned to our high schools to also share information regarding dual enrollment currently we offer a variety of courses in academic core classes as well as electives this slide gives you an example of what a student and family would see from the school website regarding dual enrollment this happens to be an example from Shadow Mountain High School foreign students can apply for tuition assistance if they are interested in dual enrollment but
117may need financial support to make that happen this slide indicates the amounts that were awarded to our students and schools in the fall of 2022 PB students received over 27 000 in financial aid to participate in dual enrollment courses our incredible PB schools Education Foundation also provided assistance for 2022 the foundation provided thirty thousand dollars to our most at-risk high schools to use for dual enrollment and other fees such as AP foreign a few of our celebrations uh participation has increased by 340 students this school year four high schools increased the number of courses and sections being offered and Pinnacle high school and North Canyon High School nearly doubled their student enrollment in dual courses this year and Dr Corson and I will be happy to answer any questions I have a question hey oh
118yes Mr Pantera would you have a question yes so on this dual enrollment um the students are taking these classes um strictly at the high school Mr Pantera that is correct these courses are taught by High School teachers in the regular students course schedule okay my experience was when I was in high school we would take classes at high school then I would go to SCC and take classes there but this is all at the high school location dual Aroma courses are at the high school locations we also have opportunities for students to take concurrent enrollment which is the example that you shared okay where a student actually travels to the Community College and takes the course there well thank you for that information I appreciate it and then Mrs Christensen yes um I just
119have a comment from firsthand experience my my son has been participating and he's taken a few classes with dual enrollment and it I just um I appreciate the fact that he doesn't have to go he doesn't have to go across town he can take it in his at Horizon High School and um and also point to know for parents it saves you money because it does those college credits do count and so it counts as if you get it you get an A or B that's an A or B in high school and in college too so I'm just singing it to praises and I think it's a great program any other comments or questions I have a comment I have students who have done dual enrollment classes and AP courses and it really helped
120them to graduate and get through college and save them time and money and save me time I mean save me money so I appreciate the diversity and the encouragement of many students to take this and I appreciate that students who don't have the funding to do it because it can be expensive I remember paying those fees there's ways for them to also do it so I so appreciate us helping our students in all the ways safe that we can foreign before we adjourn I would like to remind you that the next regular board meeting will be held on Thursday March 9th 2023 at 7 pm may I have a motion to adjourn so moved although some favor say aye aye aye all those opposed say nay motion passes unanimously thank you