001oh it is seven o'clock it is 7 p.m we are calling this meeting to order will you please stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance and to the republic which stands for nation indivisible with liberty may i have roll call please mrs greenberg here mrs bacon is absent tonight mr laney here mrs matura here mrs case next on the agenda is approval agenda dr bales thank you president mature 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 material at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and have time to review and consider all items prior to the agenda being adopted members of the governing board
002or 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 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 mr laney may have a motion to approve the meeting agenda and recommended consent agenda items g1 through g14 so moved all those in favor please say i i any opposed say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is governing board statements uh mr laney thank you so we all had the opportunity to attend the new administration reception and i just wanted to say thank you
003to our new administrators it was a pleasure meeting some of you again and meeting some of you for the first time i appreciate the uh the roles that you're playing and look forward to you being able to help our district bring out the best in our kids so thank you mrs greenberg um to echo what mr laney said the reception as usual was grand fun and in addition to welcoming all of our new administrators although i know for some of them it doesn't seem like it's welcome anymore it's it's been a little bit um i also want to thank um our paradise valley education association for uh sponsoring thank you mrs case throughout the nation there's many comments going on about teachers and whenever i hear something negative about teachers it just hurts me because
004i love teachers that's one of the reasons i even got on the school board is because my teachers my children have had such incredible teachers and administrators in this district but the teachers have meant everything to me and many of them have become my good friends that i still stay in contact with and i just so i just want you teachers to know how much i personally appreciate all that you do and just every year i get a little glimpse in june about the work you go through to prepare for classes and i just want to thank you because i know it's often you don't feel appreciated but i want you to know that i appreciate you thank you well said mrs case thank you and i think you have a a lot of people
005up here who agree with uh with that statement and uh definitely appreciate what our teachers bring to our district and to our students every day so thank you for uh for discussing that this evening next on the agenda is awards and recognitions dr bales president matura it's always a pleasure to highlight staff for success staff or students for appreciation and mr droghi will emcee the honors tonight and at this point i'd like to invite the governing board to join me in front of the diocese good evening president matura governing board members dr bales members of cabinet and attendees both in person and virtual tonight we have two recognitions to share with you the first recognition is the recipient of the paradise valley education association's recognition of professional standards award for teachers ms suzy seep pvea
006president will have the honor of presenting this recognition this evening good evening governing board president matura uh superintendent bailes i forgot this from last year i don't know how it doesn't think cabinet um i'm here to recognize brian minnick and you can tell there are a ton of paradise valley teachers that are here to help recognize him we are so excited to celebrate someone that is the best of us that reminds us all that we have the power to create the world that we want for our students and mr minnick is an excellent example of that he was initially nominated by his colleague art smith but i have so many nominations for him it's hard to narrow it down brian on his own initiative created an environmental adventures class while he continues to teach social
007studies he's got some extraordinary accomplishments the environmental adventures class works with local community groups encourage parent participation hosts a harvest day and an earth day festival for all the students he's working with a professor from arizona state to have his class grow screw bean mesquite which is endangered and he has partnered with urban farmers to set up an irrigation system in the class vegetable and wildflower garden a few months ago he invited his students and families to clean up trash on a saturday at the rio uh rio salado audubon center they grow native sonoran plants and the garden has been certified by the national wildlife federation on his days off he travels around arizona gathering materials for his class for over a decade brian has had his classes planting trees on earth day the annual
008tree planting has grown into a harvest day festival in november and an earth day festival in april with arts and crafts plant giveaways and interactive experiences this year he convinced the following groups to provide interactive displays for the students at mountain trail city of phoenix science tech urban farmers maricopa county mcdowell sonoran spot conservancy sierra club maricopa county city of phoenix zero waste desert willow i could go on and on there are like 20 more i don't have time um it ends with starbucks how about that he got everybody um these festivals provide his class with the opportunity to share what they've learned and help everyone on campus understand the benefits that he brings um i've got parent letters here that say more than all she has learned she's enjoyed you class you're you as
009a teacher it's not just the content but your character and acceptance of students he recognizes students with special eagle feathers what makes him a magnificent teacher is not only that he shares eagle feathers with special students but he strives to give all students the knowledge that they need to soar in life another teacher says he's been extremely supportive of the special education students goes above and beyond as a coach and an innovator brian works with students with special needs seamlessly with patience and positive guidance his gardens and tree paintings have transformed mountain trail into oasis of nature his new administrator says that a few months ago brian walked into his office and asked if he had a few minutes to chat he wanted to ask if he had permission to investigate opportunities for field trips
010that would reinforce concepts since then he's talked about arranging trips to montezuma well welling castle tuzagoots world national park spur cross boyce thompson historic jerome um the most important nugget i've learned from brian is this when a teacher walks into my office and asks permission to be awesome say yes and get out of the way that's what makes mr clancy such a great principal he says my admiration and gratitude and appreciation for mr minnick which was already strong increased brian is among the most passionate teachers i've ever known passion alone fades without preparation and action his passion is what inspires people and then when his expertise begins to show we see how special he is but when he puts in the hard work and long hours he makes the difference that positively impacts people forever
011i am so proud to be part of a district that allows amazing teachers like this to create something out of their own heads find the funding and find the support to give our kids these incredible experiences especially if it transforms our campuses and all of these people here in blue and that includes your administrators who are almost entirely in blue are here to help remind you that it's the people of this district that make paradise paradise i thank you for all that you do and i am so proud to have mr minnick here as my colleague thank you mr minnick next is the paradise valley education support professional of the month pvsca president ms michelle courtright is here tonight to make the presentation president matura governing board dr bales and cabinet this is one of
012the highlights of what i get to do this month we are recognizing liz who is a registrar for pv online and although our jobs aren't all glamorous they'll all they're all essential and important to our district and we often forget it's not the position but the human the person that sits in that role that actually makes a difference liz was one of the first people that we trained to do our paperless online registration and that didn't always go real well but she embraced it and she knew that going paperless was a great thing for our district um it would make us go green it made it easier and eventually people are starting to like this part um when she left elementary school and she went to pd online she took that skill with her she
013now has many more abilities and things that she does she's also bilingual which makes a huge difference when a parent walks in and someone can speak to them in their native language i have letters here from people that say that liz always goes the extra mile she is always smiling when she makes a mistake she takes responsibility but i hear she doesn't make that many of them but no matter what's happening she smiles and she makes everyone feel like what she's doing right now for them is the most important thing in this district and those are the kind of people that we want so it is with pleasure that i recognize liz cejudo and she is here tonight and i'd like to invite her up [Applause] thank you oh and that madam president uh concludes
014awards and recognitions next on the agenda is call to the public call to the public is about to convene this portion of today's meeting allows the public the opportunity to address the governing board although state law does not require that the governing board hold a call to the public the paradise valley unified school district and its board have chosen to do so because we believe it's important to hear about concerns and issues from our community while call to the 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
015point of this and every board meeting is to accomplish the business at hand and to be able to do so in an open and collaborative way all in attendance are expected to observe meeting rules as well as rules of politeness and decorum so that we may serve as an example to our students that issues can be discussed in a respectful and civil manner [Music] tonight we have six people who have submitted comment cards prior to the start of the meeting each speaker will have three minutes for remarks those who have requested 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 is jennifer ariza and next will be jenna dawson hi my name is
016jennifer ariza and i just want to say thank you to each board member for the time that you put into your positions i know personally it's difficult to make make each of these meetings and i know that it does take a lot of time to do what you do for our district so for that i thank you i stand here tonight as a concerned parent in the paradise valley school district and i appreciate the opportunity to speak my concern as a parent in the district is the education and welfare of paradise valley unified school district students as i stand here tonight i want to declare that pornography should not be allowed in our schools i want to ask each of our board members if they have had a chance to take some time to research
017the effects of pornography on children pornography is most often thought to be pictures or videos of nudity or sexual acts but the depiction of those sexual acts in literature is also pornography the american bar association states that exposure to pornography harms children and youth by normalizing sexual violence creating unrealistic expectations for intimate partners and relationships and increases the risk of addiction that happens whether it's a graphic video or an explicit passage in a book pornography is also used to train and desensitize people and increase demand for human trafficking porn users often seek to act out what they have seen and read in pornography the national center on sexual exploitation states that a wide array of harms from pornography use have been objectively identified by research it also states that converging evidence from peer-reviewed research finds
018that pornography consumption especially of violent pornography is associated with a broad array of sexually hostile attitudes and violent behaviors i also want to ask each of the board members if anyone has known a victim of human sex trafficking are you aware that arizona is home to the largest human sex trafficking recovery program and that we are taking elementary age children into this program i also challenge everyone that if we know that pornography and literature is harmful to children and if we know that pornography is a gateway to human trafficking then why would we ever approve any pornographic material to be in our schools while on our watch in closing i would just encourage each of the board members to do some research into the effects of pornography on children and i hope that everyone knows
019that as citizens we are called to stand up to ensure the welfare of our community and when the citizens see that the school board may be harming our children that all the parents would continue to stand up and fight for them thank you next up is jenna dawson followed by lauren godfrey good evening governing board superintendent dr bales and cabinet members my name is jenna dawson and i have been a proud employee of our district for six years now this is year seven for me at pinnacle peak prep and i have been in a variety of roles from mascot to preschool assistant student teacher and now in a classroom of my own i also grew up in our district i attended sunset canyon mountain trail where mr minnick was my social studies teacher and pinnacle
020high school as a long-standing community member i am so passionate about public education our school district and my school last thursday i was informed that my classroom would be collapsing and i was being moved to an open position in our district the emotions i went through that afternoon were everything from shocked sad angry hurt and in disbelief i had poured my heart into my classroom getting it ready for the school year and now i had to put it into boxes i meticulously studied the second grade curriculum and now i need to learn a new one our numbers in second grade have not changed since the first day of school i was told that i have to move to a new school and a new grade level after spending the most important three weeks with my
021students this decision could have been made sooner i gave my students everything for the past three weeks we practice routines expectations now they have to learn new ones i was making a difference in their lives and now i have to leave their parents had come to trust me and appreciate all the love i gave their children if at any point you walked into our classroom it would have felt like a family it would have felt like home when we told my students that i was needed at a different school they had a lot of questions most of which i didn't have the answers to i was incredibly grateful for our principal and reading specialists they were there to support me in the hardest moment of my teaching career i've poured my heart sweat and tears
022into pinnacle peak over the last six years when i graduated last december i took over a third grade classroom the teacher had left mid-year i spent every day of winter break getting that room ready for those third graders this summer i spent weeks putting together my room and prepping the curriculum so my second graders could learn in a fun and engaging way i've built relationships with our community students and staff over the past six years and even though it may seem like 13 days is not a lot my students and i were already a classroom family while this decision may look like it makes sense on paper when you take into account the people that you are disrupting and the lives that have been turned upside down it does not make sense this decision is
023not just affecting me it's affecting my 18 students who are going from a class of 18 to 28. my heart is broken for them it's also affecting the other 38 second graders at my school as well it's affecting my two teammates they're wonderful and capable but it's going to be hard there comes a point thank you i'm sorry that is time thank you very much um we have lauren godfrey next and then followed by trevor nelson good evening governing board madam president my name is lauren godfrey i'm the spouse of an educator in paradise valley district um given that the board is in the end responsible for oversight and approval of the budget i'd like to hear from you all soon since i know you can't respond to me here as to what your plans
024are to take accountability for what i understand to be a 14 million dollar budgeting error and what avenues you have or are planning to explore that do not place burden on teachers to pay for this mistake for which they have zero power influence or even knowledge to have prevented from taking place i find it reprehensible that an easy way out would even be considered to take funds that should be geared towards improving the rate of teacher pay rather than making significant effort to avoid making teachers make up for this oversight factor in the current rate of inflation in my opinion this is highway robbery of our most valuable assets educators to protect the future of this community and the future of this state to be clear i understand that deficits have to be addressed what
025i hope you will consider ponder on and provide information regarding soon is a clear explanation of what is the plan and what has been done or are you planning to do to go to every length possible to find alternative methods to deal with this issue thank you we have trevor nelson followed by dalton noonan six years ago i stood up here for the first time full of anger because the hr director or whoever had taken my kindergartners teacher away on the second week of school sound familiar i sat in a conference room right over there and was told just short of a promise that there would be policies put in place to prevent this from happening i have four kids in the district a junior a freshman the sixth grader and a fourth grader sorry
026scratch that seventh grader they're gonna kill me and a fifth grader i don't want my girls to grow up sorry and i'm forever haunted by the fact that she had the perfect placement in kindergarten because i was a teacher i recognized it i know what it was going to be for her now is she falling behind is she failing no her test scores were amazing should she be tested for gifted probably is it a big deal to me no because she'll do fine but here we are again six years later and my freshman's first hour math class his special placement because he has an iep because he has tbi traumatic brain injury he received on campus he has an iep and his teacher was called in the middle of class and he left luckily there's
027another teacher in the room because again it's a special placement he did not come back a sub came back to finish the class period and in fact the rest of the day now some might say oh that's the principle he did that wrong he should have probably talked to him at the end of the day i say no the principal should have never been put in that position to move teachers around because again there should be a way and there are ways to identify budget shortfalls and to plan accordingly so i'm not mad i'm just really really disappointed because this is paradise valley and we should be better we should support the people who support our customers and that's your staff now you might think oh the customers are the parents they're not the kids
028are your customers but they're also the product because they come out of here either prepared for what's left in life or they're not they can reflect back on it and make decisions just like customers would i send my kid there did i have a good experience do i feel prepared for life so we have a special sacred duty to make sure that they're ready and we do that by making sure our staff are supported and our principles are supported and our teachers are supported and that the rug is not ripped out from underneath them on the third week of school you all had all summer to figure this out dalton noonan and followed by tracy ranka hi my name is dalton noon and i'm a parent in the school district i have two children in
029the school district my son is in third grade my daughter's in first grade um they've been having a great school year they have good class sizes they have been enjoying it they love their teachers i personally love their teachers i've known them through friends of friends and different relationships my son's a third grader so you know what experiences he's gone through the past few years he had first grade was a nightmare because of kovid he was online for half the year i actually ended up taking him out of school teaching him online because i thought i would be able to do it he's great in math and science and social studies he was terrible in reading at the point because i wasn't prepared to teach him reading because he didn't really we didn't have any
030build up for it kindergarten he was cut off halfway through as you know then second grade comes around he ends up getting into second grade he has a reading specialist to help him out he catches up in maybe i don't know two weeks three weeks does great he has that extra one-on-one time to give him that extra help to really push him forward and bring him back up to speed he's advanced in math and everything and that reading caught up this week or i guess i should say last friday i found out that his class is being collapsed so now he is no longer in a class size which is wonderful of 21 and now he's in a class size of i think 28 29 30 something along those lines there were 17 kids that
031had to be divvied up so i'm assuming between two it's somewhere around that i honestly don't know what i expect or what i want but i just wanted to say that i'm disappointed that i'm upset that i mean we all know how great large class sizes are for kids to learn it's wonderful right um i just i just wanted it to be known that there's parents out there that are really upset and care and are disappointed with the decisions that have been made and the way they've been gone about so thank you hello and good evening president matura governing boarding cabinet just in case you forgot who i am my name is tracy ronka and for those who haven't met me yet i'm a teacher over at sunset canyon now and i'm teaching some extraordinary
032kinder friends and the purpose that i'm here speaking to tonight is i am so fortunate to have volunteers in my my classroom once again i have vips helping me out with success in academics 18 days in i already am uh have start i started zern today and i've already got small groups going we've already finished the assessments we're on target for a wonderful year um and i just want to say thank you for your support because without your support my volunteers they wouldn't um have that feeling of being valued in our district um and that's good it's important because they work for free and they give freely and the kids make a connection and they feel loved and they want to feel like they belong they feel um successful and that they can you know
033that open mindset of yes they can i also don't want to forget and i'm not going to forget um marisha and linda who run the program for vips they brought me great people like dan mcnamara and lyndon nelson johnson that have worked with me for like three years now four years and i just i think i attribute a lot of their success to support from my guidance too in the classroom um they just help me make a better place for my kids so as a quote from one of my students a couple days ago he said to me he goes mrs ranka we are going to be the best readers and i said the best readers in the world he goes oh no we are the best readers in the university yeah from a five-year-old
034next on the agenda is dr bales thank you president matura and good evening i'd like to congratulate andrea cunningham andrew would you please stand and it should be dr cunningham congratulations andrea is our director of professional development and she successfully defended her dissertation this week in leadership with the concentration on curriculum instruction and we congratulate you dr cunningham i'm proud to announce that the district has once again received a certificate of achievement and excellence and financial reporting from the government finance officers association of the united states and canada the award is for our annual financial report fiscal year ending june 30 21. pb schools has received this award every year since 1989 demonstrating a commitment to fiscal responsibility i'd like to recognize the business operations and finance departments teams led by ms berrigan and miss
035shapiro for their amazing achievements so thank you next i'd like to take a few moments for a cause that's near and dear to my heart while i was principal at pinnacle high school i became involved with teen lifeline and served on the board of directors for several years and i'm still involved during this time i worked with stakeholders on the student id initiative a program that has placed teen lifeline's hotline information and message of hope on the back of student ids across arizona september is national suicide prevention month and september 10th is world suicide prevention day if you or someone you know is strongly and needs help please reach out to the national suicide prevention lifeline at 988 or the teen lifeline number at 602 2418 and that's 8336 so thank you labor day and
036labor shortage many americans will enjoy a three-day weekend as we celebrate labor day on monday labor day is a federal holiday in the united states celebrated on the first monday in september to honor and recognize the american workers and their contributions to the development and achievements of the united states but i'd be remiss if i did not address the labor shortages impacting pb schools just as it is in many schools across the country and in many different industries the lack of teachers is specifically challenging this year and as a result we've made many difficult decisions not always popular and very tough on everybody we've had to move some existing staff to fill vacancies we started the year with more than 50 certified vacancies alone hundreds of students did not and some still do not have
037a highly qualified teacher this is why we will continue to make decisions that maximize our existing staff to meet the needs of all students thank you in advance for your understanding and support during these unprecedented times if you or someone you know is interested in working in paradise please visit the careers website at jobs.pbschools.net pv pulse is coming to paradise starting in september pv pulse formerly known as bagels with the board provides an opportunity for parents guardians and community members to interact with me cabinet members and governing board members in an informal setting throughout the school district this reimagined event supporting the new pb school strategic plan is part of a new strategy strategy that promotes community strength and collaboration within the district pv pulse will be held at different locations each quarter to make
038it as convenient as possible for the community to attend our first event will be held at mountain trail middle school on thursday september 29th 2022 from nine o'clock from excuse me 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock am and finally our mission moment in pv schools we engage inspire and nurture students through high quality instruction meaningful educational opportunities and dynamic learning experiences as we venture into the world of implementing our new strategic plan let me highlight just one of the things that is already being done to support our efforts for tonight's mission moment let's highlight the innovation in the classroom the special area engineering class at copper canyon elementary is unique enriching and challenging real world educational experiences like the school's other special areas art music and pe students participate in this engineering class once a week
039last spring copper canyon applied for and was awarded a grant for the teacher to receive training and curricular materials through project lead the way copper canyon's desire is to build an interest in engineering at the elementary level and grow the students inquiry skills through project based learning in a fun environment as we work to launch and grow district initiatives over the next three years you'll see more innovative ways that steem is integrated into the journey of excellence for many of our students and those are my comments for tonight next on the agenda is under items for approval endorsement of nomination for the arizona school boards association honor roll award the honor roll award recognizes retiring board members who were nominated by their boards for outstanding service the recipients have either retired since the last annual
040conference or are planning to do so after serving at least two consecutive terms at least eight years of service on their boards all individuals nominated for this award who meet the criteria will receive this award the award is presented at the arizona school board association asba asba asa annual conference does anyone have a nomination mrs greenberg mrs matura we have one member of our board who meets the criteria because she will be retiring shall we say in december and i would like to nominate julie bacon for this award may i please have a motion to endorse the nomination of julie bacon for the arizona school boards association honor roll award and direct mrs greenberg to work with myself to complete the nomination form move the governing board approve the endorsement for the nomination of julie
041bacon as the recipient of the arizona school board's association honor roll award and direct ann greenberg to complete the nomination form uh any member of the board have any questions uh all those in favor please say aye any pose say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is under items for approval endorsement of nomination for the arizona school board association all arizona school board member award program the alls arizona school board member award is asba's highest individual board member honor this award is bestowed on on up to five arizona school board members who exemplify best practices in boardsmanship understand their roles and follow through on their responsibilities the honor is awarded for proven records of active service on the governing board leadership at local state and federal levels contributions to asba and or nsba
042demonstrated concern for the district's children rapport with fellow board members commitment to boardmanship and training and support of asba with its activities this award is presented in conjunction with the asba asa annual conference does anyone have a nomination mrs greenberg uh mrs matura um i've been trying to do this for several years it's somewhat ironic that mrs baker isn't here because she'd probably be over there throwing things at me but um i know no one who deserves it more than julie and i'd like us to nominate julie may i please have a motion to endorse the nomination of julie bacon for the arizona school boards association all arizona school board member award program and direct mrs greenberg to work with myself to complete the nomination form so moved all those in favor please say aye
043aye any opposed say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is consideration to approve the purchase from uh current mojave cooperative contract 18f rwc-0904 for transit buses dr bales thank you president mature governing board members cabinet and guests tonight we recommend purchase only made possible because of the generous support of local voters through bond dollars ms berrigan will explain and recommend thank you dr bales president mature and governing board uh it is time for us to replace some of our older buses that process is done through a combination of determining what the cost to repair the buses would be the mileage on the bus the condition of the bus overall physical internal and external and after that evaluation they make a determination of which ones to uh circulate out of use and purchase new
044ones i'm happy to answer any other questions you may have does anyone have any questions mrs case as you were stating that mrs barrigan i was just thinking the wheels on the bus and it was going over and over in my head sorry okay are you going to sing it okay mr laney sure i just want to make a comment that brandon george and his staff work miracles every day with getting our transportation system to work and so i just wanted to publicly thank them i don't know if everybody realizes what they go through every day um but they do a great job they do um i pulled up next to one of our buses today on their route home and and i kind of was like peeking over and i was so excited i
045wanted to tell them thank you for being a bus driver because it's so exciting that we have some bus drivers in our district and we still need more um i did want to point out i appreciated uh knowing that we are receiving some trade-in values for our no longer useful buses and so i appreciate that that is part of the uh plan to reduce the um the payments by by a little bit so thank you very much for uh working that through thank you uh may i please have a motion to approve the purchase from current mojave cooperative contract 18 f rwc0904 for transit buses as presented so moved all those in favor say aye aye any opposed say nay motion passes unanimously next on the agenda is gifts and donations and we appreciate all
046gifts and donations we have a very supportive community for our schools and i wanted to highlight a few this evening first we have the ebrazo central campus and scottsdale campus donated to greenway middle school cash of a thousand dollars for school supplies for our students and and teachers uh paradise valley high school booster club donated five thousand dollars to the school for school use and site centers uh i'll come back to them actually because do we have show and tell um okay i'm gonna come back to that one uh pinnacle peak uh prep school pto donated uh just over nine thousand dollars for a law enforcement education program in their uh in their school and wildfire elementary school donated uh uh just about twenty four thousand dollars for outdoor shade structure towards their outdoor classroom
047and going back to site centers they made a donation to paradise valley unified school district the entire district of 2532 cases of hand sanitizer valued at 455 760 dollars to be utilized at all of our school sites and as a school parent i know how many times we get those emails please send in hand sanitizer we really need hand sanitizer and i know over the past few years that demand has definitely gone up um so this was exciting bales did you want to share a little bit clarify i mean it was a palette to every site and uh i see a few people shaking their heads they recognize uh i'm about two or three i mean it was overwhelming wasn't it how many uh we're in that palette and they went to each site so
048kudos to our distribution center for going and retrieving uh those palettes and and sending them out to the sites i know that they are appreciated i know those will be put to great use and i am intrigued to know how long that lasts with our students uh how long does 2532 cases of hand sanitizer last so we'll have to get a follow-up from that later uh may i please have a motion to approve uh to accept the gifts and donations as presented so moved all those in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion passes unanimously there is one item for discussion dr bales and we do have a blue card on this would you like to uh present first or blue card first um i'll introduce it and then we'll perfect the card so
049president mature governing board members captain guest tonight dr corson and his team will present the first reading of the committee's recommendation for the adoption of 712 english language arts curriculum resources dr corson do the presentation first well good evening president mature governing board members dr bales cabinet and guests tonight is the first reading of the 712 ela english language arts curriculum adoption committee recommendation our facilitator of this committee jennifer young our secondary english language arts curriculum specialist is here this evening to present to you the committee's process and recommendations and answer any questions you might have good evening tonight i'll be sharing with you the 7 through 12 english language arts adoption committee's curriculum recommendations this presentation will include our committee membership our timeline and process considerations and rationale for studysync including several benefits of
050the program and our official recommendation the members of the committee included myself as facilitator teachers from middle schools and high schools our special education mentor administrators and parents i'd like to thank the committee members for their dedication i appreciate their investment in making a recommendation that is best for our students families and teachers our current curriculum resource for grades 7 through 12 is studyc a product from mcgraw-hill and we have been using this resource for the past seven years it continues to be a highly regarded resource for english language arts so we decided to survey teachers about study using before we began the committee process we asked about their experience with studysync and whether or not they would support extending our current adoption rather than adopting new curriculum resources there was a great amount of
051positive feedback and 85 percent of teachers voted to support extending the study sync adoption in february and march we formed a committee and met to discuss the teacher survey and review the curriculum resource the committee discussed the pros and cons of extending the current study sync adoption and they decided to recommend studysync for a 60-day community review study sync curriculum resources were made available to the public for a 60-day viewing window from april 5th until july 12th after the viewing window closed the committee met in august to review and discuss the community feedback once all feedback was discussed thoroughly the committee voted unanimously to recommend studysync i would like to take a few minutes of your time to talk about why the committee recommended that we extend the current study sync adoption to start 85.5
052percent of teachers indicated that they would like to extend our current adoption the committee members wanted to honor teachers high satisfaction with this resource that has been used for the last seven years in addition studysync receives top scores on ed reports for text quality building knowledge and usability study sync is aligned with arizona academic standards and there is a vertical alignment between grade levels study sync is also aligned with our district curriculum maps unit plans teacher resources and assessments which is which have all been updated in the last two years another important factor was that teachers have received study sync training for the last seven years new teachers are trained trained yearly but many teachers are already familiar with the text and know how how to use the components and features of study sync those
053teachers now have the opportunity to continue their growth in professional development on blended learning techniques and engagement strategies one of the benefits of this curriculum is that it has both digital and print platforms allowing teachers and students to experience both formats of learning the majority of community feedback about study sync was positive there were 21 comments total mostly positive and we carefully considered all of the comments in our committee discussions studysync is updated with new features and continues to improve usability as they learn what will make the platform more user friendly for students and for teachers studysync has added new features such as re-teach assignments and video feedback to give students personalized feedback besides teacher preference and the alignment with district resources there are many additional benefits to using studysync curriculum materials it provides a
054multimedia experience based on research about effective 21st century learning strategies the platform provides multi-sensory support such as audio video instant instantaneous feedback peer interaction simulations that model critical thinking and a diverse selection of texts it provides support and different differentiation for all students teachers can assign scaffolds to individual students in addition to teacher supports texts can be assigned at different lexile levels and there are el resources available in every unit it offers a scope and sequence that builds knowledge and skills in a logical and organized format it includes paper companions as well as online and printable resources that can be accessed from school or home the studysync library has a large number of excerpts from literature and non-fiction texts from classic pieces of literature to more modern works the core the core ela unit is
055essentially the textbook but teachers also have the option to supplement with text and skill lessons from the study sync library the text in the choreo la are chosen based on grade level topics or themes and lexile levels appropriate for each grade it offers a variety of materials such as close reads text dependent questions quiz questions writing prompts independent reading extended writing prompts skill lessons audio video etc there are many different ways to deliver and assess the content in study sync it provides lesson plans that encourage best practices and evidence-based instructional strategies after significant review and discussion the committee voted unanimously to recommend studysync for the ela adoption the duration of the adoption would be for seven years at this time i'll take any questions that you have first we are going to um have a
056question for or comment from the public i have jennifer ariza and you'll have three minutes thank you my name is jennifer ariza and again i just want to thank everybody for the time you put into each of your positions and i appreciate the opportunity to speak um one of the comments that i've heard in the past is just about curriculum transparency so i'm hoping that by leveraging tools like this with online curriculums that it will allow us to give more transparency to parents and even actually to people in the community i think if we're more transparent and we show people what we're teaching the kids in the schools that it's going to be better for us overall and i also wanted to just ask for our district like my personal goal is for us to
057be the district of choice for parents and i hope that well i'm sure it's everybody's goal here too but what can we all do together especially when we're reviewing new curriculums like this to make sure that we are leading the pack here in arizona so thank you does any board member have any questions about the presentation mrs case um you didn't mention this i don't i think i can answer my own question but does ap use this at all ap classes um ap teachers have the option to use study sync but generally they use um and like ap curriculum from the college board website okay i thought that's how it was so it's available it's available yeah and many ap teachers teach other subjects as well but okay so oh that's true so a teacher
058teaches different classes but um do the materials um so there's books for the students as their workbooks for the students how much is consumable how does that work so the the platform is primarily online there are consumable books that can be ordered um there are also novels that can be ordered um with the digital platform so it's mainly a digital plant platform but it then are is that extra to get the print well it's figured into our budget it's figured in so it's included in that and so the cost of it would in and be all 712 classes it i mean it covers the district yes but they don't necessarily get textbooks for every student is that correct the teachers are that each school has the option to order a consumable companion which would be
059a book for every student that they can actually write and annotate in or they can order two novels um with the digital so it's one or the other okay yes okay thank you um i just wanted to thank you for such a thorough presentation it was really interesting to learn to learn about the entirety of the program um and so i wanted to say thank you for that and appreciate the time and hard work that the committee put in because i can tell that there's a lot of although it's like one resource it was a lot of resources to go through just for study sync and so um appreciate that the teachers who have been using it supported it and then that we went through the entire process and involved everyone to get feedback um
060so i know that's a lot of work and appreciate that um and just a question about vertical alignment because you mentioned that and i was wondering if you could explain that a little more does that mean that from 7 to 12 that it kind of each year builds upon each other or can you explain what you what that portion was about vertical alignment yeah so um the study sync curriculum um ensures that all standards are taught throughout the course of the year um certain standards are highlighted in ninth grade and then those standards are built upon and um and other complementary standards are added in for 10th grade and then 11th grade and 12th grade so they're not there are certain you know power standards that kind of stand out but they're not just highlighting
061certain standards every single year they're progressing and adding different standards on each year does that make sense does that answer your question yes thank you very much and this is this uh mapped over with our guaranteed viable curriculum does it have a mapping portion process as part of it so our guaranteed and viable curriculum map is already aligned with study sync since it's the resource that we've been using and that process was just completed two years ago so i think teachers are excited to continue on with the maps and keep using the same program great thank you very much oh and mrs greenberg um just a comment and a question um i too want to thank the committee and you know 85.5 positive writing from teachers who are using it uh i think speaks well
062of the choice you know the recommendation seven years ago and the recommendation now um i appreciate that you know we feel positively about it because i don't think this would be a good year to throw yet something else you know if a new recommendation was coming and so um i i am excited that um you know in the time i've served on this board we've moved from mostly paper to now mostly digital but that allows everybody to be leaner meaner quicker in being able to handle changes as needed and updates as needed and um and you know adapting uh and differentiating as needed so i'm i'm just happy that this was a unanimous recommendation by the committee and obviously has a lot of support throughout the district and the one question i have is um
063the budget for 2 million is that annually ms greenberg no that budget is for the entirety of this seven year adoption even better thank you mr laney um pretty much all of my questions were answered and like to echo the same thank you so i appreciate it thank you thank you okay thank you very much uh next on our agenda is call for executive session may i please have a motion to call for executive session move the governing board call for an executive session in accordance with arizona revised statute 38-431.03.a5 which reads as follows discussions or consultations with designated representatives of the public body in order to consider its position and instruct its representatives regarding negotiations with employee organizations regarding the salaries salary schedules or compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits of employees
064of the public body purpose meet for instruction slash direction all those in favor please say aye aye any opposed say nay motion passes unanimously it is 7 59 pm and we are recessing our regular meeting to go into executive session we will reconvene at our our regular meeting after the executive session is over thank you it is 8 33 p.m and we are rejoining our reconvening our regular meeting next on the agenda is direction to administration may i please have a motion move the governing board and struck the administration regarding negotiations with employee groups as directed in executive session all those in favor please say aye aye any opposed motion passes unanimously before we adjourn i would like to remind you that our next regular board meeting will be held on thursday september 22nd 2022
065at 7 pm may i have a motion to adjourn so moved all those in favor please say aye aye aye motion passes unanimously thank you very much