Regular School Board Meeting: April 21, 2026

0015:32 Welcome to this evening's regular school board meeting. It's open to you in-person participation. Available to the public via live stream on the Central Consolidated School District's YouTube channel. Item one, routine matters. Call meeting to order and verify quorum present. Do a roll call. Ms. Askey. Mr. So. Secretary Ausmus. Here. Vice President Montoya. Myself, we do have three. We have a quorum. 5:32 again. Item B, pledge of allegiance. Mr. Greco, if would, please. Okay. Thank you. Superintendent, could you do a prayer, please? We thank you so much for this opportunity to discuss the business of the school board and of the district CCSD. We thank you for the presence of all those in attendance, both in person and online, and and especially at at least three board members. We ask that you bless all the

002talk this evening. Make sure it's positive. Um and make sure that the conversations are wise, compassionate, and all about the students. Uh we thank you for this beautiful day and all that all the blessings that we have. In these names we pray. Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. Uh welcome to all the guests, administrators, students, and anybody online watching us. Uh onto item E, presentation approval of the agenda. Everybody take a minute to review the agenda, please. Uh Mr. President, I want to make a motion to approve the agenda as presented. Thank you. Is there a second? President. Yes. Ms. Aspaas, go ahead. Got a question. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. Um I wanted to um I know I'm not there physically, but if Mr. Manning is there, could we have that presentation?

003I feel it's important to um start the meeting off with a a good audience. And to amend the agenda to see if uh we could have this presentation first. Yes. Okay. All right. Let's catch up, Ms. Aspaas. No. Uh apparently Mr. Manning has a prior uh meeting to attend for an audit, and once he's done, then that's why he's um pushed down on the agenda because of that. >> Oh, okay. I I just figured if we, you know, usually people start leaving, and I think this is important to share. Understood. Thank you. And thank you for the question. >> All right. So, I do have a motion and a second. Vote a roll call. Mr. So. To approve. I vote yes. Ms. Aspaas. Yes. Ms. Montoya. Yes. And myself, that's four. The agenda is approved.

004Onto consent agenda review. Consent agenda items. No presentation will be provided for these items. These are routine matters. Applicable documents have been provided in BoardDocs and posted with the agenda for board and public view. Um I would like to someone to make a motion for to pull item B. Uh we do have those students here, so they can do a presentation for us. That's unique trip request. KCHS Educate to Rise in their national leadership conference. So, I'd like to make a motion to pull that. Um I make a motion to pull item 2B. Okay. Second. I second. >> Uh Mr. President, I I I put up Yeah, I with that, I'd like to modify to approve all the items on the consent agenda with the exception of B or item B pulled up for separate

005action. Thank you. All righty. Vote Vote a roll call. Mr. So. I vote yes. Ms. Aspaas. >> [clears throat] >> Oh, sorry. Yes. Ms. Montoya. Yes. And myself, that's four. So, again, item B will be pulled for a presentation. Um item three, possible questions from board of consent agenda items and or discussion of items pulled from consent agenda. And we'll go ahead and again move down on that one. Um that was the only one that we have. So, item four, student staff community recognition. So, item A, NMSBA exemplary award and outstanding leadership award to CCSD board members by Superintendent Steve Crosson. So, I kind of was hoping we'd have uh physically present all of our board members uh because our our board, our school board, tends to show up en masse uh for um all

006the various things that school board members are required to attend. Um and so, every year it seems like they're all those who are still here are granted the exemplary awards um from the New Mexico School Boards Association. So, I'm just going to read you what this says. Um and then I'm going to go ahead and present it to the board. And there are also some pins that go along with it. They can lapel pins, I believe you can wear those. Uh the New Mexico School Boards Association presents this exemplary award to Gary Montoya, to Christina Aspaas, to Suzette Haskie, to Matthew So, uh for exemplary award for Central Consolidated School Boards of Education. This significant certificate acknowledges that this board member earned 20 or more hours of training within the 24-25 program year. And it's

007signed by Joe Gean and Marvin Harameo, the executive director and the president of the NMSBA. Also, there is a separate award, the outstanding leadership award presented for Matthew So. Uh this certificate acknowledges that the board member has successfully completed 36 cumulative hours of training for level two of the leadership development program set by the board of directors of the New Mexico School Boards Association. Um those were given on February 6, 2026. Thank you again, all school school board members. Um if you would all just give them a round of applause. Thank you for that. Uh onto um item five, comments from the audience. Do we have any comments? No comments. Let's move right on to item six, reports from the board and superintendent. Uh Mr. So, do you have any um do you have a

008report? Uh not not not at this time. Thank you. All righty. Ms. Aspaas, do you have a report? Yes, I do. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. Um with the uh the San Antonio conference that we attended, um I thought it was you know, there's something I I was hoping that would never change, which which would have been the Native American caucus. And so, now it's changed to where it's um labeled as rural. And and I and I think um it's it's pretty sad that we just sit back and and allow that. Um it's it's you know, I I know there's a lot of things that within the um school board association, um not only New Mexico, but also national, now that um is pretty laxed. Um you know, a lot of ethics

009and things like that that you know, I once thought that, you know, were upheld and and was was very proud to be a part of. It's it seems like um it's very lenient and and and these these are people that um you know, that represent communities and um and then, you know, represent students. And so, you know, with with um that leaving, and and and I hope as a board that we could come back and and show that um it is needed to have our Native American um caucus back. And and to strive for um a native guest speaker in in the spotlight if were for those general sessions those three three days and um you know other than that you know some of the sessions that I I did attend most of it was

010the um well I I did want to to at least give a fair chance to um one session that talked about going green and about renewables and um and >> [laughter] >> some of the the the the people presenters that they had >> [clears throat] >> they were way in Texas by the border um near uh I believe Laredo and and they talked about you know that they had industry that was thriving at one point and and then um I think it was some type of warehousing and and then all of a sudden it left and so now you know they they are just barely um surviving as a as a school and they have um consolidated most of their schools and um the age range you know they pretty much put them in one

011huge building and and everybody um you know that from bus driving to you know they all share different positions and and I thought you know this is you know we we as we're going through what we're going through here as a district you know I I thought boy these people um they really wanted to keep their schools and they didn't want to send their kids away and to boarding schools and um and I I just really was amazed at how they have um stuck together and you know so I um as they talked about renewable they they only reason why is because of the subsidizing that it brings and so they're just grasping at anything just to stay and because it's free money and and I you know there's situations like that out there and

012and I just thought that was that was really I was glad to attend that session and and then the rest were pretty much on um handicap or IDEA um and I and I think we have a great resource in Albuquerque which is um Ronalda Tome and and and the knowledge that she has about about this topic um I um I'm hoping that as a board that we could get her to come and um educate us on on some of these things because um there's a lot that she knows that we don't so um and that's that's just the bare minimum I other than that it was it was a good conference and um really enjoyed uh being there and um and and I I guess as a side note I did crash on the rental

013motorcycle that that I rented and um but other than that it it it it was good thank you you survived >> [laughter] >> Miss Montoya do you have a report? I do um it is also about NSBA I was able to attend that as a new board member I learned quite a bit but one thing that really impacted me was one of the general sessions the keynote speaker his name was Brandon Fleming he has such an amazing story and it really resonated with me and I think reflects a lot of what our kids go through although his is from an urban aspect um he had been pushed through the system and it just took one good educator to see the potential in him and build him up and then he in turn gave back to

014his community and his story is truly inspiring if anybody has the opportunity to look him up Brandon Fleming um I almost cried it was a really great speech that he gave thank you um I actually reached out to him so I'm going to be putting superintendent in touch with him and see if we can get him here because I think our our staff our educators can certainly um really see and understand the quality of students that we have that are certainly capable because what he had said was that his circumstance and his environment created a human being that the educators would look past they saw his environment they saw his circumstances they didn't see the human being and as board member Montoya said it took one educator to actually look inside his heart and soul

015and and he was told that um he was considered special ed failing but that one individual saw and understood that come to find out he was actually gifted and he did I think it was two years work in eight weeks something like that it was six years of work in two six years of work in two years he ended up going to Harvard become the youngest debate coach in Harvard's history and what he's done absolutely amazing and that's just believing in these kids so hopefully we can get him out here to talk to us one of the things I do I do want to say is that I have set up a trip to Washington D.C. and to be able to do some advocacy because we received a uh letter from NAIFIS which is the

016National Association of Federally Impacted Schools of which I am the chair for New Mexico which means I am advocate for the 30 school districts that receive impact aid at the federal level and that's a little bit of a problem in respects to the proposed budget which could directly impact CCSD and so we're setting up some meetings with some of the congressional and senate representatives I'm also trying to create an alliance with Arizona Texas and New Mexico because we're the top three impact aid receiving states in the country to see if we can't nudge our congressmen and senators to fully fund impact aid so I'll be going out there in May May's 10th through the 14th and again that conference that we went to was very very inspiring and got to network with a lot of

017different individuals from around the country so that's my report as well so on to item B reports from the superintendent all right tonight I have five requests for approval of gift or donation um the first the donor is United States Army Recruiting Company from Albuquerque New Mexico and they are donating to Newcomb High School a check for $1500 uh for food for 300 community members that will be attending the first responder day event on May 5th 2026 pretty neat uh the next one is from uh Brooks and this one is for Shiprock High School Athletics it's for the girls track and field program a check of $500 the funding will be used for meet fees snacks and drinks for students at meets traveling costs and any other track program expenses uh the value is $8500

018thank you Brooks from San Juan College Harvest Food Hub and Kitchen in Farmington uh a donation to the safety net program for the family resource center which is the building we have just up the road on 6400 not right here but the next road uh main road um and that one is a value of $5087 it is a commercial grade refrigerator and freezer very nice units um the next one is from Westates Supply and it is donated to Newcomb High School Robotics for the robotics program a check of $250 the donation will be used toward the student travel to compete at the first tech challenge western edge premier event in Long Beach California and the last one is from Winters Construction in Farmington for Newcomb High School Robotics as well also a check for $500

019the donation will be used toward the robotics travel expenses for the first tech challenge western edge premier event in Long Beach California so thank you for all those five and that's all I have for this evening very good on to item seven reports. Uh no board action and we're going to do the addendum to it by pulling that. Item B and allow the students to be able to do their presentation. If you'd be so kind, please. Good afternoon community members, board members, um and as well as our administrators. We are Educators Rising. I am the lead advisor, Brandy Natseway. I am the chapter president, Alexandra Gass. I'm an Ed Rising member, Kaylene Foster Reed. So, what we're going to be going over today is what is Educators Rising, what Educators Rising means to us, our

020accomplishments, our state competition results, um our nationals, and we'll have the ending presentation with the question questions. What is Educators Rising? Educators Rising is your educator. It has been a guiding force in my journey, building up my passions for teaching young children, and providing a goal for my future career. Before joining, I was uncertain about what I was uncertain about what I want to do after high school, but Educators Rising helps me with what I want to accomplish after high school and help me with skills like public speaking and leadership. I've grown more confident in expressing myself and embracing challenges as opportunities for growth. The organization has also allowed me to be creative, whether through developing educational materials or designing posters and making things for community projects. The members are also very supportive and always

021make you feel included. Every Even though we are a small organization and the amount of dedication we have together makes up for it. Ultimately, Educators Rising is a supportive community that helps me my helps my professional and personal development and I'm excited to see where this journey takes me. What I love about Educators Rising is that I feel welcomed to make a powerful impact in the community. The people are very nice and I've never been made to feel excluded. Before I joined Educators Rising, I was unsure about my decision to become a future teacher. Mainly because I didn't know how to interact and socialize and mainly I had difficulty with presenting things on my own. It was the members and my advisor who made me feel confident in my decision and so I attend every

022meeting with So, I attend every meeting when I possibly can to dedicate my show to showcase my dedication to this organization. For our accomplishments, on October 2025, we were able to go to Fall Rally. Fall um which was in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Pyramid. This event allowed us to develop leadership skills and connect with other CTSO members around New Mexico who also shared their goals and experiences. In December 2025, in um we decorated a tree for Festival of Trees. Our tree theme was The Cat in the Hat which emphasized the importance of reading. The members helped create summaries highlighting how essential it is to read to children. Our tree was decorated with these messages and then donated along with children's books. In January 2026, we traveled to Santa Fe to the Roundhouse and went

023to see our representatives. We talked and discussed what they do and how they run the state. We also had pictures taken with them to represent our school. In February 2026, we traveled to Albuquerque and competed and competed at UNM. We competed and walked around the campus. It was a fun experience that was meaningful to us. We got to showcase our talents and abilities to judges, represent our school and our district. We'll go ahead and go over our state competition results that was held at UNM at Albuquerque, New Mexico. What we competed in. Jake Benally and Eli Smiley competed in Children's Literature Pre-K. They created a children's book for ages 3 to 5. Kaylene Foster Reed created a creative lecture on why schools should be more creative and how project-based learning is important. Alexandra Gass, me,

024I created an interactive bulletin board for elementary school students to help kindergarteners learn their colors. Here's what we learned. We learned how to prepare for judging, be professional answering questions and concerns that they have, and to have fun while doing it. For our rewards, all four students who competed all took gold in their designated categories. Because our students took gold in their designated categories, they qualified for the Ed Rising Nationals which will be held in Portland, Oregon. Our plan is to leave on June 19th from Farmington um airport and go to Portland. We approximately leave around 5:30 and arrive in Portland around 9:37. We will arrive back on June 24th by leaving Portland at 2 uh 12:50 p.m. and arrive back in Farmington again at 9:42. The approximate cost for our trip is about $16,000.

025One thing to note is that hotels are filling up quickly. Um we have registration fees that we um provided invoice for, meals which may be three times a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner depending on the hotel, and we need to consider plane tickets and luggage. It's important to note that our students have um some of our students have not flown on planes before. So, this is a great learning experience um to figure out how to communicate with others, provide the travel documents you need, and be organized. So, our goal for this trip is to build our skills with our public speaking and our ability to be future educators, represent our represent our district and our school, and to share our passions for the organization. Some other goals we have is to showcase our abilities in

026competition and improve our presentation skills. Um also, because of this competition and organization, we are able to um we are eligible to earn scholarships such as the Golden Apple. Educators Rising members pursuing education careers can apply for award ranging ranging from $500 to $4,000. The Golden Apple Scholars program is a teachers preparation and tuition assistance program for high school seniors and college students offering up to $23,000. On the topic of competition, I would greatly appreciate having the ability to go to nationals this year. I have worked very hard and my group has as well. As you know, in my state competition, I received a gold medal for my category and interactive bulletin board making me qualified for nationals. Earning a gold medal from an interactive bulletin board at the state level was a significant milestone

027that reinforced my dedication to teaching, especially since it was my first competition ever. And I made sure to put every little detail into my bulletin board that would assist the kindergarteners learning needs. Being able to express my love for teaching in my own creative way not only makes me more passionate, but also gives me the feeling of wanting to share it with others. Supporting this trip not only gives us the chance to compete and showcase our abilities, but also helps us grow, explore potential, and discover our worth. My group and I have worked very hard and plan to continue to do so. Thank you. Thank you everybody. That was the end of our presentation. If you have any questions, go ahead and um ask away. Board member Soderman, questions? I have no question except to

028offer my strong support for this trip and program. Thank you. Board member Aspaas, any questions? Yes. Uh Um you mentioned that you were over at the Marriott and proud to say uh that you guys were well-behaved and you know, I I was very impressed and your chaperones were on the ball and whereas I can't say the same for the other schools. You know, it was it was pretty chaotic. Um But, you know, people are watching. I stayed there and and I was proud that running into um the gentleman from Bon Wilson, I had I don't know his name, but he um said that everybody was in in their rooms and so um hope you you as a group you know that that's the kind of um behavior and you know the professionalism that um that's

029expected. And so I I thank you and and and I hear you guys did really well and um I This is too bad I couldn't go and and um I just saw the opening and that was that and I had to go on to my conference. Thank you. Board member Husky any questions for the students? That's Casey Rising. No. No, I don't have any questions, but it's good It's really good that they're out there representing our school district. Thank you. Board member Montoya. No questions, but I do want to say that was a very lovely presentation. Both of you are very well spoken. Uh I'm just glad that um the two of you hopefully a lot more will follow your footsteps to do the same thing. So I appreciate it. Uh thank you very much

030and good luck. Thank you. So item eight, Kirtland Elementary School. Julie Nelson, Ojo Amarillo Intermediate School and Kirtland Central High School, progress and goals report by the principals. Good evening community members, faculty, uh CCSD central office staff, um students. Great presentation by the way, thank you. Board members, Superintendent Carlson, board member Montoya. My name is Jay Boucher. I'm the principal at Kirtland Elementary School and I'm going to give you a quick little snapshot about Kirtland Elementary. All right. So what's working? 81% of our kindergarten students are performing at grade level on their Amira reading. Um I will share a little bit. Those are two teachers that have been teaching for 3 years. They're not 30-year veterans. It It's pretty amazing to watch what they do. In first grade, 74% of the students are performing at

031grade level. And you can see second grade's at 43%, third grade at 52%. Fourth at 48. Fifth grade at 68% and my sixth grade at 36%. Um We'll talk about those numbers, I'm sure as we go. Uh Daily attendance rate's 93%. I do have four teachers who will be completing their micro-credentials at the end of May. Um my two kindergarten teachers will be moving to level two. That's Corey Camarillo and Rochelle Shorty. I have two level two teachers who will be moving to level three. That's Erna Woods and Reshinda Billy. Uh moving on to math, what's working? 94% of our kindergarten students perform at grade level. That is well above the state average. Um in first grade, 91% of our students, which is again well above the state average. In second grade, 45% of the

032students are performing at grade level. Third grade's 33%, fourth grade's 30%. Fifth grade at 41% and sixth grade at 44%. Um all of those are right within the district and state average. Um I do have two teachers that are nationally board certified, but beyond that, they teach classes to nationally board certified candidates um to help them become nationally board certified teachers. And that's Sherman Wheeler and Terry Camarillo. Now what's not working? Well, of course enrollment. Uh unfortunately, it's following the district trend. Um in the last 10 years, we've lost 300 plus students. Um up until today, this was last week, um finding a candidate to fill our financial secretary position. We made a recommendation today. We cross fingers. So hopefully, we've been without one from since February, which has been quite um tumultuous, to say

033the least. Um Which leads to not enough time to get into classrooms to coach teachers on their instructional practices. IEP meetings, student disciplines, covering that role of financial secretary. Um and I will say the finance team has been phenomenal with the coverage and the support that has been needed, but um there's things that you know, on day-to-day just definitely grind at it. Um The third grade data's not moving as I would like to see it, but it is moving in a positive trend. It's It's slowly increasing. Um And having not having an assistant principal or even a dean of students, it would allow more teachers to receive the consistent instructional coaching that they deserve to be better at their craft. Um How will we accomplish those goals? Uh Oh, wait. Did I miss this one?

034Yes, sorry. Missed one. Next slide. There we go. Um the goals, um increase our daily attendance rate to 95%. We were there pre-COVID. We've been there. We can all be there. It's It's educating our families. Um I'd like to see a minimum of our of 60% of the students in second and third grade performing at grade level. Not the and 40, you know, 50%. I 60%. Um I'd also like to have every teacher receive one-on-one coaching from an administrator a minimum of two times a month. And increase the parent support to um foster our um attendance increase. And how would we do that? First thing is is I'm going to implement a team of teachers who will be reaching out to these families. Nothing punitive. Just what can we do to help? They hit five

035and six attendance or absences, what what resources can we help you find? Um we're going to work together as a team to ensure we focus on student learning of the standards being taught in each grade level. We're going to do this through quality PLC meetings that are purposeful and focused on student data. Um getting into classrooms and have the discussions with teachers about student discourse, the teaching of the appropriate standards and the intentional planning that comes with that um drives that. And for the parent piece, also through teacher attendance team contact with families so they understand a better their role in their child's attendance. There is not a kindergartner that can drive themself to school yet. So and if there is, we are definitely doing something wrong. Um what are supports we need? Um for

036attendance, we we definitely need clear direction how to access the attendance. Some of the reports have changed within PowerSchool and they're very difficult to find. It's just the nature of the program. Um a simple way to contact families and we do have that through Kinvo and with um Edify, but getting our teachers trained with that. And we want to make sure that we notify our excellent and substandard attendance families. Um continuing our PLC trainings so that we can focus on student learning and professional development on the use of our educational resources that the district chose. Um another support that would be helpful is an assistant principal or a dean of students. Even this could be shared with my sister school across the river over there at Ojo, who doesn't have an assistant principal. I think

037we could work out something that would help us be able to get to those teachers a little bit more. So with that, I stand for questions. Questions from the board? Mr. So. Uh yes, do you have any results on the math? Uh I didn't see the math test scores or the area we're supposed to improve in. Thank you. Uh NASP or the the NAEP are you talking about? The one that we just We just took >> I I yes, that that's math. Uh your math proficiency rates. I do not have that one from the national average. We do not get anything for the school when we get that. Um if I'm correct, all we get Yeah, we don't We don't have this year's and we don't get anything from the school. We don't even get

038district. I believe we just get the state of New Mexico, which we took 2 years ago, so that's published, but we do not have that, but and New Mexico is where we expect on where we've been traditionally. So. Miss Husky any questions? No, I don't have any questions right now. Thank you. Miss Aspaas. Yes, uh can we go back to screen two? Okay, um there there's some things that you you talked about um about uh better than the 30-year teacher. Um What what do you exactly mean by that? Are there new methods or um Can you can you um explain? I'll do my best. Um I would say part of it, you know, they're they're freshly out of college. They're going through their micro credentials. They're getting the exposure to new strategies that are scientifically

039researched. Uh It's not about a bigger commitment. It's truly about, you know, they're exposed to definitely new learning learning strategy or teaching strategies to reach students. Um And of course, I think that in kindergarten and even in first grade, all those students are in the classrooms all the time. In kindergarten, it's about building relationships. And they build a solid relationship day one. And that relationship they build carries over in the grade levels. As students get older, they don't want the relationships. They want their friendships with their friends. The teacher's there. But in kindergarten, this is These are the adults they spend their day with. And so, I really believe that that relationship building they do the first week of school is a you know, accounts for a lot of this. And they don't like losing.

040Um the competition between the two of them, it's like Well, what do you mean I'm at 81%? You're at 82% and they're upset that they're behind each other. So, that battle, that that internal drive that they have, we don't teach that. That's just something they have. So. And after 30 years, I could I I understand. Sometimes days are tough. You know, I I made it to Tuesday. I got to Wednesday. These guys are thinking May and August. So. Just a a different way. >> I um Okay, I I I more with the um identify, I guess, with the 30-year teachers. Um I think um I I don't know. This It It's just my opinion. I I don't have the kind of educational um prerequisites that you have and um but I I tend to to

041look at experience more. And and then um also with the You mentioned about the um the math for the first the percentages right there, Istation math. Um I I just find it interesting that from first grade, it's 91% and as they get older, it drops. And And that's a national average that we're um okay with. I I never said I was okay with it. It's just that we are at the national average. But I will say this, that the curriculum definitely changes in second and third grade from addition and subtraction and the students are asked to do a large amount of mathematical computations and skill development that it's difficult. I mean, they are They're tasked with a lot more than a kindergartner because the requirements they have in front of them. If If you looked

042farther on, my goal is that my that we're at 60% or better. Not happy with this number. I mean, my teachers aren't happy with these numbers either. They want to do better and we're and they're willing to. We just have to find that magic button and that magic skill of what is it. And we keep plugging away every day to try to find it. Especially in those two areas, um but I I really like what was said by um President Montoya before about reading and and not so much reading, but comprehension. And and then with math, um to me, I feel like they start out solid, you know, with 91% and then as they get go, you know, go to get older, you know, it's dropping. And by second grade, it's almost half. So, um

043you know, I'd like to see the um percentages of, you know, say our neighboring um districts, you know, to to to see where where we're really at because I feel like those are two core um subjects that um that is really needed. And and um and then back to, you know, with the 30-year comparison, um I feel lately, you know, the trend has been and I use this word shake and bake, um where people go through and become whatever profession, career quickly than what it's been before where they um have a 4-year or 5-year or more more uh teaching and more uh prerequisites, um and now it's just a a fast track. So. And then also, um do you have any um percentages or any data on your other than the IEPs, um on IDEA?

044What data are you asking for, ma'am? Um well, to equal their counterparts, their their classmates. I don't have it in front of me, but it's something that I can definitely get. And I could have that for you in a couple of days. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. What about Montoya? Any questions? Um you've mentioned that the third grade data isn't moving like you would like. Is that something that you're hoping to um resolve with the one-on-one time or the um continued the learning the development um time? Yes. >> What's going on there? Yeah. Yes, [laughter] to both. Um definitely the one-on-one piece. Um just offering suggestions to teachers in in a constructive manner where they get to see it for themselves. You know, what go Oh, I never thought of trying that. You know, something

045like that and they give it an opportunity. Um but the other is is through quality um professional development where they understand why we, you know, we're looking at data, but we have to look at the right data all the time. And sometimes I don't think any of us look at the right data. You know, we look at the data we wish to look at. And so, by being focused on that, I think those two things will definitely help with that grade level. Um are there any issues with the curriculum? Are there additional tools or resources that need to be implemented in those classrooms? I think it just comes down to them becoming familiar with it. You know, it's it's year We're on finishing our second year with our reading resource. Uh and with our math

046resource, the old one, some teachers were very very well versed in using it. Others were not. Um and it just comes from It is a difficult resource at times, but teachers find ways around it and they're resourceful. And that's where the 30-year veteran comes in. They have a toolbox that is as big as this room and they can go, I have a tool for that. And they can go find that quicker than I know where my Phillips screwdriver is. So, their experience helps with that. And we've had some shifts. I've I've moved a teacher in there last This year was her first year in there. Well, of course, it takes a little bit of time to get her feet wet again. Veteran teacher, but when you're in another grade level for 4 or 5 years

047and then you come to this grade level, it's starting over. >> [clears throat] >> So. Thank you. No further questions. Thank you. >> What? I have no questions. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. >> President um Montoya. Yes, ma'am. May I ask another question? Sure. Okay. Um on the absenteeism, the chronic absenteeism, um I just hope that, you know, you you you made a uh comment about we don't know any kindergartners that are driving themselves. Um more and more, you know, the And And it And some may look at it as a cop out. Some may look at it as an excuse. But I think um I myself was a single parent and and at that time, it it wasn't as difficult as it is now. And um There I'm sure there are situations

048out there that and I hope that we um approach in a way that and remember that we are trying um to attract students and keep our students and not trying to drive them away and because a lot of a lot of times um and and I think in our area, um they don't have the means for a private school or to go elsewhere. So, I I really hope that uh whoever you have in that area knows knows our our family, our community well and approaches that in a um responsible way. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Judy Nelson Good evening, President Montoya, Superintendent Carlson, members of the Central Consolidated School Board. Uh my name is Dr. Debbie Tom. I'm the president Excuse me, not the president, >> [laughter] >> the principal of Judy Nelson Elementary.

049So, tonight we are going to look at the heartbeat of our school, Judy Nelson. Our students, our student data, and some of the good things that we have going on over there that what are helping students to thrive and to lean further into areas of need, but also to recognize areas where we are celebrating our hard work and growth that the staff and students have been making all year long. So, our praise report is So, we at the time that I turned this report in, we had 435 students. So, I'm happy to report that we currently are 441 strong with our students. We have two administrators. I have a an assistant principal. And then we have 34 certified teachers, 16 educational assistants, six cafeteria workers, four custodians, two front office staff, one two people in

050the in the health aid in the health office, one health aid, and also one part-time certified registered nurse that we have there. So, to speak a little bit of my staff, um I currently have There's a picture there, the most recently four of them have they were awarded the National Board Certified certification and they this was the renewal of that this year. So, I stay maintained their National Board status and so President Montoya and Superintendent Carlson came to Judy Nelson to give them some recognition and they are Printha Scott in kindergarten, Vicky Mallow in fourth grade, Kira Smith in fourth grade, and Lindsay Hoss in sixth grade. So, to keep keep keep the momentum going, I have I'm really proud to um to say that Judy Nelson is piloting a DARE program. So, we all

051know the DARE from the from the '80s and the '90s. This is more of a of a of a revamped version and we have 73 students 73 of our sixth graders are involved in this program. We are just about ready to complete the program at the end of this month and we are planning a DARE graduation probably the second week of May and there um students will student there will be student winners of a of an essay about things that they've learned in DARE and then students will be given a certificate and a t-shirt and hopefully some other presentations from from various people. Hopefully, we can get them from the DARE program. Deputy Burkhart has been very great with the students. We provided them a place and he's been very faithful in making sure that

052every week the students are receiving their DARE the the DARE curriculum. So, we also celebrated our Rising Stars Assembly of Achievement. So, what we do every year is we test with the with the iMeasures and it's basically the throughout the year we do three three assessments. So, the the BOY, the MOY, and the EOY. So, the beginning of the year, middle of the year, and the end of the year. And so, we had students that made significant gains and growth. So, we celebrated by having a Rising Star Assembly and we awarded over 105 kindergarten through sixth grade students who were showing exemplary growth in reading, ELA, math, or both. So, that was pretty that was a really good experience for them and that if you see the picture there, that's part of the celebration. And

053so, Judy Nelson has also maintained attendance rate with the lowest chronic absenteeism absenteeism in in the district. We we tanked a little bit in March, but I'm happy to report so we started off the month of August, we had a 95.5% average daily attendance. On to September, 94.5, October, 93.9, and then so on. I don't want to go keep going, but it's it's there on on the slide right there, but like I said, we sort of tanked in the month of March we we went as low as a 90.3 and and then we were were rejuvenating that again and currently we are at a currently we're at a 94.4. So, we're we're doing pretty good in that area and we're consistently um like like Mr. Bushy said, we're we're getting word out to to parents.

054I do um a weekly call to parents just giving some friendly reminders, not punitive, but just some friendly reminders. We we love having your student every day at Judy Nelson. Remember our day starts at this time. Please call if you have any questions regarding the attendance. So, so giving some information and a boost to all of our parents to ensure that we're here to help them. So, if you go to the next slide, we're going to be looking at at our data. We're taking the Amira for our kindergarten through second grade and if you see that we had um some some pretty good grades that were exceeding we were looking at kindergarten, first, and second. Kindergarten showed a significant growth of plus 20 27% increase with students meeting their benchmark moving from a 44% at

055the beginning of the year to a 71% at middle middle of the year. So, we're maintaining strong momentum in our kindergarten math. We're very happy we're exceeding the target growth for that middle of the year category. So, we jumped from we're jumping from a 22% to a 40 to a 42%. So, that was pretty significant and we celebrated with the students and staff as well rewarding or giving recognition to not just the students, but also to our teachers that are in those classrooms with those students making the difference. So, first first grade, they exceeded in both reading and math. They they were demonstrating an increase of 12% in proficiency. First grade was exceeding in both reading and math. So, there was a 12% increase in reading and a 27% in our overall math. Second grade,

056we saw some solid growth in um in in in areas reading not well, solid growth, but not not strong growth. So, second grade reading shows steady it's a positive movement up to by 8% from a 40% to a 48% at the middle of the year from and by reaching 48% proficiency nearly half of the second grade class are firmly on target. So, that was a very positive thing. In the area of math, we have some work to do and we are continuing to address those needs looking breaking down the data and making sure that teachers are planning accordingly to those areas of need that students are are showing in in the area of math. So, moving on to third grade through sixth grade, we do the iMeasures iMeasures and so we showed if you look

057across the board, we see plenty of purple, some green, and then some other areas of red and and yellow, some cautionary those cautionary colors, but high performance in the third grade, they they they rocked it. So, we saw third grade demonstrating a very strong foundation for their students. It is only grade level where every subject including reading, language arts, and math that they currently are exceeding in those areas from beginning of the year in reading 11 to 32% and then in language arts 19% at the beginning of the year to 30%. That's a plus 11% growth and then 0% in math at the beginning of the year and at the middle of the year 13% which obviously is 13% growth, but that's exceeding our target. So, exceptional growth in sixth grade. If you look down

058at the bottom of the screen, exceptional growth in sixth grade math. Our sixth grade always hits it out of the park every year. They are an excellent team. This is the first year to kind of give you a makeup. I have two veteran teachers in there. One, this was her one, Mrs. Haws has been at sixth grade. She's been the lead for for many, many years. So, she has great expertise in sixth grade, but Mrs. Manning, this is her second year in sixth grade. And then also I have Miss Miss Mrs. Sedro, and this is her first year. So, that they they've got that team mentality going, keeping keeping the um keeping some really good growth and exceeding. So, for the beginning of the year, they had 16% to a 43% at the middle of

059the year. So, that's a 27% growth. And so, we're ecstatic about that. And we hope that that will continue to carry on for for for the the NWEA MAP test that they just took about a week ago. So, every single grade level is showing every single grade level is showing positive growth. Third grade in reading, like I said, they we saw a 21% jump. Fourth grade, their reading is strong with a 13% increase. And fifth grade showed consistent growth in all three areas on target. The from the beginning of the year to in reading, they were 22% through to 29%. That's a that's a 7% growth. In language arts, 15 to 20, so that's a 5% growth. And then in math, 11 to 17, and that is a 6% growth. So, we've seen we've seen

060tremendous growth. Um I I do need to address the two areas where they are needing support, and that is fourth grade language arts, as well as sixth grade. They they didn't lose anything, but they certainly didn't gain as much. And so, um in sixth grade, we maintained a 27% a 23% growth in reading. And then also, um well, if you look at that, their um their their language arts, I would specifically language arts, 22 23% at the beginning of the year, and at the middle of the year, they were testing at a 23%, which was a 0% growth. So, um well, stability is is better than decline. Uh zero growth is not our pattern. It's not our standard at Judy Nelson. And so, our sixth grade sixth grade team and our students are currently outperforming

061in math, which is great. Um I would just like to see that that same um that same ambition to to have such um exceeding growth would also continue on with our with our reading in sixth grade. So, um we're we're working on that. We we attend PLCs every week and planning sessions with our teachers. And so, we are addressing those needs um definitely. Also, another area of concern was our fourth grade language arts. And that at the beginning of the year, they were testing at a 33%, and they decreased to a 27% in the middle of the year. So, obviously there are some needs support in that area. So, we saw a dip, and when we correlate this with our reading success in in this same fourth grade, they have strong reading um success in

062that area. A clear picture emerges. Our students are becoming stronger consumers of the text of the text. However, they are struggling in the production of reading, and we are definitely enjoying that I mean engaging in that specifically in grammar and in structure and evidence building writing. So, um so we do have a plan for our our perform um of our improvement, and that's what I um I basically kind of said those things. What we're doing is we're targeting all of those areas of need and support. Um I I've really struggled with areas because um my my boss, Mr. Mr. Deswood, he has kind of changed my my thinking on how if we if we're seeing these areas of growth, and I can say we can always do better, we can always do better. So, what

063he's done is he's really taught me to really pace myself and to not push in too much in that if you see if you're seeing growth, they're doing something right, Debbie. So, acknowledge the growth, continue that trend going. And that's really hard for me because I want to press on, and I want to say we can always do better. Hey, let's gain another three or four percent. But, what's working, if it's working, don't don't touch it. And I'm and I'm really trying to adopt that understanding, and I'm still not there yet, but but I do vote you know, I do voice that to my teachers, and we're trying to in in tandem really kind of keep our momentum going without um without me stomping too much on on what is what they're doing in the

064classroom and what's been making a positive um outcome for their students. So, so we're targeting those two areas of need. If you look from from third grade and sixth grade, it was fourth grade language arts, as well as sixth grade language arts. So, we are targeting those two areas. The other areas that were in fifth grade and third grade, third grade was exceeding in all areas. So was fifth grade. They were on target in all areas. So, I'm letting them I'm kind of letting them keep that momentum and that pace as they see fit with with some consultation, but really looking at giving them the benefit of doubt and allowing them to continue on with what's what's what's working. And that is the end of my presentation. I'm I would like to take questions if

065anybody would like to ask. Does ask any questions? Um I guess this uh a question that I thought up today. Do you provide any Navajo language in the in your school? We have two Navajo heritage classes and one Spanish heritage class. And students that are receiving those services, they get them for 60 minutes Monday through Friday. Is that one time a week or daily? No, 60 minutes three times I'm sorry. Um Monday through Friday. Oh, okay. All right. Thank you. That's good. Mr. Sew, any questions? Yeah, I just want to say thank you very much to the school, the principal, teachers, and staff. It really shows that the school is making a lot of progress, self-reflected over the past year, and taking careful look at at some of your strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

066I'm I'm I'm definitely looking forward to the the next round of assessment, and I'm I'm I'm pleased to look forward to the results of from Judy Nelson for this upcoming year. Thank you. Does ask any questions? Yes. Um the same thing your special ed and your IDEA um you know, I think that's one one those areas that we tend to um not really focus on, and um and and I don't I don't mean to just we need to start doing that. And and saying their numbers and you know, whatever growth and um start acknowledging those those goals as well. If if I comment on that. So, our special our special students, our EL students, all all students are are included in the data that I just that I just mentioned. We we don't exclude. We

067don't say these are just the regular um the regular education students. They're exceeding that No, all of our students, our entire student population is involved in in is in is included in the data that I just um just represented. So, so they are there is representation of our ELs, our special education students, and and then our regular education students. So, it's all encompassing. Um I don't exactly like like Mr. Bushy said, I don't exactly have the disaggregated numbers of how our um EL students performed, how our special education, but the overall numbers um it is all encompassing all of our students who um have participated in taking these um assessments, they're they're included in this data. Okay. That's that's great. That's great to hear. And also the the fact that um there's reins put on

068you, um is is that something that that is normal, Superintendent Carlson? Uh that's an interesting question. Um, I'd have to reference that what you meant by the reins put on her in terms of uh I guess maybe the comment from her boss about maybe uh if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's not exactly what was said, but um if it's working, don't mess with it, I guess. Um, yeah, um I I think that the comment is just to just guide principles. I don't know about necessarily providing reins like don't do these things. That's more like to help, you know, just guide here's areas of need we've discovered together. Um they look at data together. And when they look at data, they make those decisions. I think that's really what that comment meant. Absolutely. I

069mean, my my reference to that was um as administrators, sometimes we want to implement um or or try to fix even if something is working. And I think that was Mr. Deswood's um message to me all along is it you know, kind of step back. And they're doing a great job. They're exceeding or they're they're functioning at a proficient level. So, what they're doing is working. So, let's not try to tamper too much on that. And let's focus our energies on other areas. And that's exactly what I was trying to to emphasize. Mhm. Okay. Um I guess uh as a board member, I'm I'm looking at um you know, the I wouldn't um well, as a board member, I'm looking at the data. The reason for the data is to is to exceed [clears throat]

070and and not just stay with normal. Um you want to see, you know, that um like you were saying that extra percentage, that extra and um and I'm just that's why I'm asking superintendent is that is that normal? And um not that, you know, uh it's something that's punitive or, you know, um keeping you back. I'm I'm just wondering if um you know, as we take data that you would like to see what's what's you know, really push it and and see what's possible. Thank you. Board member Montoya, any questions? No questions. Thank you for your presentation. I have none either. Thank you very much for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Ojo. Hey everybody. Thanks for having me tonight. Um I'm here to give us a update on Ojo Amarillo Elementary School.

071Um first off, we have the most wonderful kids in the whole world. You have never met more polite, respectful, talented individuals than in the halls of our beautiful little elementary school. Uh not only are the kids amazing, but the community is just incredible. Every single parent and family that I've met, they're so supportive of what we're doing. And they have this incredible level of family values. And um it's truly an honor to serve this community. So, let's go into what's working. The biggest thing that's working for us right now is our enrollment. We are growing quite a bit. We started the year in the 240s. As of today, we're at 280. There's still a number of families moving into our community. We are seeing all kinds of kiddos from Bloomfield, Gallup, and all over the

072area moving into the Ojo community. And uh so, when they do come, we're welcoming them into our school. We're having like a draft type ceremony where we give them a t-shirt and make a big celebration. So, it's really really fun to get new kiddos in the school. Um the other thing that's working is our instruction and the level of rigor. You can see that Ojo Elementary was 76th uh percentile in the state in uh math growth and 62nd overall growth in the state in reading. So, our teachers and staff are doing a really good job. And then on the bottom right, you can see those are our middle of the year EMSIS scores. And uh can't wait to see how the kids did on this latest round of testing that we're just finishing because they're

073achieving really great things. We have a fantastic staff. It's a wonderful school. Um the next slide is what's not working as well as what we want. Um our attendance rate and our chronic absenteeism isn't where we want it to be. And so so that's something that I'm working on, but I believe in a restorative approach to attendance. And so, I'm just trying to reach out to those families with support. And instead of punitive traditional measures, really try to figure out how we can surround those families with everything that they need so that they can get their kiddos to school because these people love their children. And they want their children and so, um they just need some support. There's some infrastructure problems that are working against us as well. We had some really big rain

074storms that washed out all the roads in Upper Fruitland. And then um you know, a lot of times the buses, they don't come within a mile or two of those houses. And so, number of the people can't get to work, can't get their kids to school when we have big rain storms or significant environmental events. Um they're also real sensitive to uh spreading disease, you know, so um that's something that I'm really working on trying to get our attendance numbers up. Then um our next thing is our goals. Oh, so these are our our amazing royalty. So, we had an incredible pageant this year. That's Hollyanna Paul. She's our queen. And that's little Zoe Seabacu. Uh she's our princess. So, um really really fantastic environment uh to go to school. So, we want to continue

075to increase student enrollment. That's a huge goal. We want to really build a strong Navajo bilingual program. When I got to the school, we actually didn't have any Navajo bilingual teachers. And I'm proud to say that now we have two amazing Navajo bilingual teachers. They're doing an incredible job. Not only is that important to preserve our culture and our traditional language in our community, but it's really helping all of our other instruction. In fact, just yesterday, I was in the bilingual class. And there was a kiddo who is nonverbal. And he's not speaking any English. Well, I couldn't believe it, but he's starting to speak Navajo. And he's saying all kinds of words in Navajo. So, one thing is really helping the other. So, I think it's a really important part, uh foundational piece to

076build our whole school. Um we want to measurably increase uh our ELA and math scores every single year. We're working really hard to become the school of choice for this region, the school of choice for parents and families, and the school of choice for educators so that we can fill our halls with the very best professionals, and really ensure a high quality education and a magical school experience for every single kiddo every single day. Um how do we get there? There's our amazing cross country team. We're actually going to host the Shiprock Marathon this year. So, that's going to be super fun. Um but our instructional priorities are to have a joyful classroom environment, to have a very safe school environment, outstanding attendance, celebration of student achievements, and then of course, really good academic rigor

077and growth. So, for the support we need, we've enjoyed an incredible amount of support. Um can we go to the next slide? Thank you. Um we have had amazing support from Mr. Deswood and Mr. Carson. They have given us every single thing that we've asked for this year. And uh and I think that's a big reason that we're winning. And then we've gotten great support from this amazing Board of Education. So, thank you so much for allowing us to succeed and giving us all the things that we that we've asked for for our kids. Um and then lastly, I just want to say thank you so much. It has just been an honor and a pleasure to serve this community and this school. I'm having a blast every single day. And I'm just so very

078proud of what the teachers and staff and students and community members are doing here. We're we're really doing something special at Ojo. Uh so, thank you for listening to my presentation. And uh I'd entertain any questions you might have. Ms. Husky, any questions? No. job that you're doing. Thank you. Ms. Aspen, any questions? Yes. Um the same question about IDEA special ed is is do you take that as a whole or um as part of your report now? Yeah, that's a fantastic question. So, just like Dr. Tom was saying, of course those kids are included in all of our data and statistics. But more than that, I think beyond just test scores, the important thing to look at with our special education services are all of the wrap-around services and opportunities we can provide to

079support these kiddos. I'll tell you that our high needs classroom is incredible. I've been at a number of different schools and a lot of times high needs classrooms can turn into something that looks like babysitting. Not our high needs classroom. If you walk in there any minute of any day, you're going to see excellent instruction. You're going to see kids working on the skills that they need to succeed in life. And not only just on the remediation end, but on the enrichment end. We have an incredible gifted program. So, we really push those enrichment students as well just to provide every single kid with the education they deserve. Okay. And what are the special measures for um special ed or IDEA? What are the Yeah, I >> I'm sure it's not the same. Exactly. It

080it's completely individualized for each kiddo depending on exactly what they need. And so, we have an incredible special education team and we really pride ourselves on not having a one-size-fits-all approach to kiddos and really looking at each individual kid, what they need, and then understanding what's working for them and how do we do that more to replicate that success. Okay. Well, thank you. And you know, that is my community, Ojo. And we want to to um I mean, I I just think it's great that and it and it really shows how important um housing is to an area. Uh You know, with with the increase in student count and and um and I wish um you know, this is some of the information that could go back to the tribe. So, that and to know

081that this is this is really a plus over here in at Ojo. Thank you. Absolutely. You know, it is such a wonderful community and it's beautiful to see it growing. And it's fantastic to meet the families that moved into those gorgeous new houses. When they walk into the school, they look like they've just won Publisher's Clearing House and it's really fun to welcome them into our community [snorts] and our school. Mr. So, any questions? Uh sure, yes I do. Um one, have you have you been able to dig deeper in into as as far as what's going on with your attendance rate cuz it looks like out of all the schools in our district that Ojo's the one that had the the big drop-off. And number two, going back to the I Mesa data that

082I think was provided in the previous report. Uh it looks like the two school the two grade levels that had the most challenges were issues were third grade and fourth grade, I believe. Uh have you been able to focus and a narrow in about what's going on in third grade and fourth grade? Yes, sir. Yeah, both both excellent questions. Um so, our attendance we're working with uh Tia, our new attendance coordinator, to truly understand what's going on with our attendance. Um you know, our average daily attendance is pretty good. But way that 120-day count, it hit us so hard. I mean, everyone was sick. It the nurse had eight kids in her office throwing up at the same time. It was awful. I'm glad we got the carpet out of there before that happened. >>

083[laughter] >> Um So, certainly that's an that's an area of growth. Also, you know, I'm going to take the waivers. And and so, part of increasing enrollment is taking kids who may have struggled in the past with attendance. That's okay. I'm going to give them another chance. And I also really believe in a restorative approach. So, we had a couple of kids struggling with homelessness, struggling with family tragedy. I didn't want to just 10-day those kids and drop them. I wanted to extend that extra latitude and really work with those families. And so, part of the reason our chronic absenteeism is a little higher is is because I really um I want to keep those kids. I I especially kids that are experiencing hardships. I want them to have a nice safe place to go

084every day when when their parents can bring them. Uh but but I'm going to improve that and you can hold me accountable to that. Um And then the second question about the data, 100% that's correct with the third and fourth grades. Um and so, that's an area for, you know, intensive coaching, uh improvement. We're working with the empower our empower math coach, Rachel Gurr, who's been in our classrooms for 30 days uh recently in the last few months. Really helping to coach those teachers and and then we're having a staff change in fourth grade as well to accompany that growth. So, Okay. And that's another thing I I want to be 100% accountable for all of the things that happen in those hallways. And so, I promise you this time next year we're going to

085see a lot of improvement in those grades. All right. Thank you. Ms. Montoya, any questions? I do have a question. Um I really like that you celebrate your students and I was just wondering if we're providing um adequate funds for that or if that's coming out of teachers' um pockets or things like that to um emphasize those small wins. Yeah, you know, you're you're so right. I mean, my wife's a teacher and when we did our taxes this last year and I was looking at her teaching expenses for our deductions, it was like it's it's amazing how much teachers spend out of their own pockets to provide for kids. Um and that really speaks to how we need to improve our profession. But I'll tell you that this school district and and our administrative team

086has been incredible with with supporting Ojo. And they have said yes to every single thing we've asked for. And I'm going to continue to ask for more cuz these kids deserve it. Uh President Montoya. Yes, ma'am. May I ask another? Yes, you may. So, um I don't know what you what it was called, but they have the after-school um Superintendent Carlson and um and I know that in the data that they showed the last time or last year, um it showed us Ojo not um utilizing and and of course that was under different principal. And and I asked the question about why and it had to do with the classes of cultural training or cultural workshops um why more of that wasn't taking place after school. But other other um schools had had that that

087type of workshop in in their areas and Ojo was I think the lowest on that. Have we changed that? Yeah, I'm I'm really excited to report to you that we have changed that. So, we have an incredible after-school program. It's run by Ms. Chris, who's a phenomenal education leader. And we brought in several elements that really celebrate our culture. So, not only do we have one of our new Navajo bilingual teachers teaching an after-school program and she's done everything from beading to kneel down bread with the students. We also have our amazing sixth grade teacher, Ms. Chester. Um she's a seamstress. I found a bunch of sewing machines that were still in the boxes in one of the portables. So, we got them out and all of the sixth grade kiddos are sewing ribbon skirts

088this year. So, we've got a few pieces in place, but but we want to continue that trend and and we want to have more offerings for our after-school program. In fact, at one point in time this year we had over half of our kids staying for after-school tutoring and after-school programming. So, super super proud about that. The kids just love it. We're going to offer a really strong summer school program that's also going to have a lot of integrated Navajo traditional education as well. I love it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um I really appreciate that. Especially that last part what you were saying. And then again, that's creating that environment that's very important to attract those kids. Be able to educate them. One of the things uh the superintendent and I

089were over there at the school and as you remember, there was a little bit of an incident. And I am absolutely glad that you allowed that school to be truly a safe place for that community. And and I certainly give credence to and kudos to Miss Hospice for making the comment one time years ago about the school being the hub of the community. And in that instance, it was a safe place and safe hub for that individual. Um so I I I truly appreciate that and it would be nice again in respects to the other outlying areas where you have no such area or new come that were able to do those things that you did. So, I just want to thank you for that. I appreciate it. Hey, thank you, sir. Appreciate it. >>

090your time. Uh just lastly, um because the third grade and fourth grade are only reflected in your data, do you have anything more like for like pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, second grade? As far as like where those kids they all feed into the succeeding grade levels. Mhm. Mhm. And how are those grades doing? Our strongest parts are in our lowest grades and our and our upper grades. So, that's where we're getting all the strongest data out of. I have a whole whole bunch of layers of data. So, I would love to send that send that on your way. Um so, you can kind of see, but I mean, you nailed it. You know, you hit the nail on the head is that's that's our biggest area for up for growth is um in in those

091middle grades right there. Um but seeing kindergarten do spectacularly well, you just know that those kiddos as they filter through the school and we get consistency of leadership and advocacy, which I'm definitely going to bring. Um it's going to lift up all of those kids. Okay, thank you. So, if you would, just go ahead and pass that information on to the superintendent and they can disseminate that to the board, please. Okay, fantastic. Thanks. Kirtland Middle School? Good evening, board members, superintendent, um district staff, and principals, community members, and guests. My name is Sherilyn Lee. I'm the principal at Kirtland Middle School. Um I just want to run a couple of numbers by you real quickly. Our current enrollment is 380 students. We have 209 seventh graders. We have 181 eighth graders, 29 teachers, 42 staff

092members total. Just wanted to put that out there. We are the community school in Kirtland. So, what is working? Um what is working school-wide? We had some really strong professional development this first semester and then of course into second semester. We had the PED come in and do training on MLSS layers 1 through 3. We also had um a refresh of our Capturing Kids' Hearts, which is um our social emotional program. And then we also had some very intense data-driven instruction with Rachel Nance. Our attendance improvement plan, I felt is very strong. It's moving in the right direction. So, for March, Kirtland Middle School was able to win the March Madness challenge that was put up um by TEA from our district office. So, great job, KMS. Then um I just want to give a

093huge shout-out to our teachers who um have a 100% teacher attendance submitted submitting They submit their attendance every single day. Um and my um staff my office staff in Kirtland um at the middle school, they do a great job in encouraging and reminding teachers to make sure that attendance is taken every single day cuz that's part of our one of our root causes that were that were that we identified in our attendance plan. So, um the next thing we want to acknowledge is celebrations. We take pride in making sure that we honor our students who make AB honor roll, all honor roll, all A honor rolls, um perfect attendance, um and of of course, you know, recognizing our our athletes and their accomplishments through their athletic seasons. And then our teachers are encouraged to do

094classroom recognitions as well. I really want to say thank you to Sandra and her team at KCHS. I felt like when I stepped into this role at KMS, we had no cooperation and over the last year and a half, we have been able to establish a communication system um that is working effectively between both schools. Um I feel like we have a great alignment as far as goals. We want our kids from KMS to move up to Kirtland High School. So, we're we're looking for ways to keep our kids here in the district and then also um you know, support them academically and through athletics um and their activities and clubs. We all I also want to give a shout-out to Mr. Isaiah Valdez. He has done an amazing program um amazing job at um

095revamping our athletic programs and you know, it's thriving. We have kids lots of kids coming out. And so, when we have more student athletes, we have students who are taking care of their grades and being in school as well. So, that was my my big shout-outs to KCHS and thank you for always taking my calls and listening to me. So, thanks, Sandra. Okay, next slide. All right. As I mentioned before, we are a community school. So, what is working at KMS? We do have a site facilitator um that we do share with Oho. His name is Danny James. He's amazing. Um he is um a member of our community, lives across the river, and knows what our students needs. And then he reaches out to different resources. He is building his toolbox to make sure

096that he can help any situation that we have that come across um either at Oho or KMS. Our parent engagement and pack um yeah, we have lots. Um our parent engagement at our pack meetings and our SBLT meetings are increasing. Um it's involving staff, parents, guardians, students, stakeholders from our community. The biggest um parent engagement events that happen are when we are talking about our eighth grade promotion ceremony. And like I said, we have been building relationships with Kirtland High and they have um given us the um Bronco Arena to host that. So, it's just kind of our way of introducing our students into Kirtland High and getting them excited about moving up to the next level. All right, what's not working? Some of the things that we've identified is our chronic absenteeism. Um a

097lot of our students, as you know, can't drive yet. Um so, a lot of our students come in late. Um you know, they're ill or they're at home taking care of um family members. And then we do have a lot of housing instability um that occurs. You know, those are the common um excuses that we're receiving. We also have um an MLSS layer 3 issue. Um what we were taught from the PED is not necessarily what's working at our district level. So, once we're all on the same page, I'm hoping that the layer 3 intensive support um will be more fluid and we can help each other. Um Other things that are happening are student behaviors are increasing. Um we have a lot of outside um factors um over the weekend, you know, evenings. We

098have a lot of social media drama that comes into our school with bullying and different types of um harassment. So, we're having to play the social media police when we're supposed to be working on focusing on instructions. So, um I'm working with Mr. James um next year as we um start the beginning of the school year, we're going to empower our parents to you know, um learn how to set time limits on phones and use PowerSchool. We're going to do a interactive session on on how to use phones properly and um you know, identify if your um students are being bullied and bring those issues up to us. Um and then another thing we need to work on is our district discipline matrix. There's things on there about um need to be addressed. As we're

099moving along in the school year, we're finding some of the topics are not on the matrix and so, we're having to um you know, just really depend on Mr. Deswood for his input. Um I know we have a revamping meeting coming up. So, I I like to share some ideas along with my assistant who hand handles a lot of the behavior issues. Um we want to make some adjustments to that. Um one of the other things that we lack at KMS is the professional development time, but that has been corrected with the new calendar um in the upcoming school year. Um our PLCs are going to take more um work next year. We're we're going to revamp them and make them stronger and better. So, that way um we have those spaces and times designated

100to teachers and it's it's going to be a non-negotiable next this coming school year. And the other thing that I would like to really reach out um and talk about is the communication between KMS and the elementary schools. I feel like we need some vertical alignment, some vertical understanding of when um we have four feeder schools that come into KMS. And each school, there's different trends. They come in really strong with some [snorts] schools are real strong in math, some schools are real strong in ELA. Um we just want to kind of start building those communication lines so that when our sped students come in, um their transition meetings are happening, they're effective, there's um things that we can offer at KMS that aren't not necessarily available at elementary and vice versa. So I feel

101like our sped department needs um um more streamlined communication. We do have students in SAT at the elementary level and then when they get to us, we're not alerted um a lot of times that hey, this kid is in SAT. You know, we do need to continue special services for this kid or get them tested. So we we want more communication from the elementary schools. Also, our sixth grade recommendation lists the majority of them as of last week have been completed, but I'm still my counselor still reaching out to some of our schools and teachers who need to complete those. Um so that way we can do the correct placements for them for the incoming school year. We just don't want to throw kids in you know, um various classes. We we really need those

102recommendations from our sixth grade teachers. And last but not least, um this year our as you will see in the next slide, our um students are coming in as real low readers. Um there's a select handful of them that are really low and we are not informed from our teachers sixth grade teachers that hey, you know, they these kids need extra support. Um the only reports that I get is if I ask Amy Conley to run the i-Ready reports and that doesn't really tell me, you know, they're a low reader. So I would I would like to um I'll have my counselor reach back out to our sixth grade schools and teachers and ask for identifying those low readers because we're working at KMS to implement a reading program um supportive reading program so that

103we can help bring our readers back up to speed and up to grade level. Okay, next slide. All right. So attendance goals, some of our goals is um our chronic absentee rate um we we're hoping to bring that down. We're hoping for a um you know, a 92% daily rate of attendance. Like I said, we only have we have 390 kids, so 92% is pretty it's it's a overarching goal, but I feel like we can do it and the ways that we can do this is to encourage our students to come to school and you know, let them know that attendance matters. We want to be able to celebrate our students and making making sure that we are recognizing them for their efforts by offering awards and incentives. Um our daily attendance reporting reminders to

104teachers has been very helpful. Um that is something we don't leave the school unless it's 100% at the end of the day. And also, we want to make sure that we're recognizing build student relationships with um with families so that they understand our tardy policy and our absent policy. All right. Academic improvement goals. So from our beginning of year i-Ready scores to MOY, we have growth in every single category except for seventh grade reading. We actually regressed. Um and that's when when when we looked at the data as a team, we said okay, we have these kids who are not um moving um forward in reading, they're struggling. Um the majority of them are sped students. Um so we are trying to look at ways for next year to improve our reading scores and um

105making sure that we identify those students early on so that they can receive the support they need um to be successful at middle school level. Okay, next slide. All right. The supports we need are um addressing absenteeism and I think with the help of Tia and her programs as well as, you know, just making sure that teachers are knowing that PowerSchool is live every single day that gets reported. We're accountable for making sure we take correct attendance and accurate attendance. That has been our drive this school year. Making sure that we're utilizing our CELL program, which is Capturing Kids Hearts. Um we got a quick little refresher, but I feel like our staff still needs more. Um we want to make sure that KMS is welcoming and we want to make sure that we're building

106a culture of, you know, kids wanting to be at the school. Also, professional development. We're going to continued with our professional development support for all content areas and we're looking forward with um planning ahead for next year with the help of Mr. Deswood and just making sure that these are in alignment with um district goals. And then of course, we want to continue um building relationships with um KCHS. Um we want to take our athletic program, our academic program, activities, clubs to bigger and better and you know, better bigger and better. Um we also want to make sure that we're um not just working with the high school, but we want to establish those communication lines with our elementary school um to make sure that we're giving our sped students, our ELL students um the

107best KMS middle school experience that our families deserve. So. That's it. Any questions? Uh Ms. Haskey, you got any questions? Ms. Aspel any questions? Yes. So on the um on the one slide that you talked about having more support. Um I believe it's four maybe. As far as sped and um the list of low level readers and um and would that support also be with um um Joel? I don't know how you say his last name. Balisuit? Mr. Balisuit. I believe that Joel can offer his support by possibly um encouraging the schools to get us those those pieces of information that we need for for those sped students and low low readers so we can address those, especially if we have a low reader who is a sped student. We want to make sure that

108we have all the supports in place for them. But yeah, he can if he can [clears throat] assist with getting us reports or any other um cuz a lot of times the middle school does not have we're not using the same programs as the elementaries to um send reports home. We have something totally different. We don't have a mirror um at least at KMS we don't. And so anything any reports that can be provided by the sped department would be appreciated. Okay, and also I'm I'm very concerned about the matrix that you're referring to. I can't believe we're still working with that. Um um Superintendent Carlson, um I I don't know what the quick fix are, but I I have some concerns about that and um especially when it was concerning to um our board

109attorney as well. Um but I I really appreciate your your your presentation. I I feel this um I appreciate the honesty, Ms. Lee, and um you know, everybody wants to sugarcoat and or you know, just um speed right through and but I really appreciate your honesty and and and some of these and um we all want a great school and um but you know, I I think you're on your way to to achieving that and um the chronic absenteeism, I have no I mean, it's been an ongoing um different sessions, different conferences I've gone to. It's been an ongoing issue and and all I can say is that before COVID happened um we we I I I I can't say we were in perfect numbers, but it wasn't as bad and what happened since then

110um I think maybe you know, this is just my opinion, maybe because school was um closed and maybe that that just showed um students or families as well that um education wasn't important to keep going. I don't know. And but thank you for your presentation. Thank you. Mr. So. Uh yes, going going back to your test scores and data. Have you been able to dig deeper or drill deeper into what's going on with seventh grade uh reading? Uh I was actually just looking at their your beginning of year middle of year and it looks like you've actually had some pretty good results in terms of uh looks like eighth grade language arts had a big jump as well as math and also reading. Um yes, our eighth grade ELA team is very strong. Um and

111we do a lot of encouraging from There's a lot of growth that happens in the second semester of seventh grade. So, I'm excited to see what that result looks like May 5th. That's when we're going to take our EOYs. Um but yeah, it was very troubling to see that our reading scores were that low and that it had regressed. I don't think I've ever seen it go backwards. Um but that's what alerted us to look at individual scores and look into their IEPs and look at ways to start addressing this because we'll have those seventh graders as eighth graders next year. And I don't want to send them to Sandra you know, with those issues. We want to make sure that they're caught up and they're ready to start excelling in high school cuz there's

112so many programs available to them that we don't want that to be a hindrance. Uh so, what is the current current enrollment at Kurt Middle School? 390 Okay, well. Because I'm I'm actually looking at the next of this is it's it says last year your enrollment was 368. So, you you've had an increase. Yes, um and much like Seth said, Oho is increasing. So, as students are enrolling there, older siblings are coming over to Kurt Middle School. Um so, we we thought we were going to stay around 340 320 last year, but we actually had an influx of kids. We had about 60 kids just come to Kurt Middle and the majority of them that do come, about a third of them I should say, are about um they do have IEPs. They Our sped

113team is amazing. Um and so, you know, they they wanted a place where their student can get services, be heard, and valued. And so, um we do have those numbers from the register that people come in. As I have a with your pre- Do you have any school in terms of student relationships with teachers? As students feel valued program We're waiting on um I'll be honest. We were waiting on the district to bring that program back and they were going to do a district um training on new staff, but that fell by the wayside. So, um I was given permission to go ahead and do that training in February and that was That was really helpful for our staff even though they They feel very refreshed, recharged, um got motivated to continue doing the work

114and making sure that our place was welcoming. Uh as far as the chronic absenteeism, is there anything else that our district can do to help improve that at least while we have 12 in terms of like like chances or some something of that sort? I really feel like to tell me We are so busy in front office like make a list things that parents and I'm calling them up for the 2:30 clock. I'm going to contact them and just let them know, you know, hey, you know, your haven't been here. Is there something wrong? If I'm not doing my counselor duty, there's different But I really like um with the competitive parents between the schools, I know my whole office is very competitive. So, we get on intercom, we, you know, to take And we

115don't want those two at CBA and New Hope, you know. And we we try to make it competitive and want to be there. Um our secretary is so good at recognizing the kids that come in late. She You know, we're in this challenge. I need you here on time. You make an effort to come. And then if they do, she's so happy. So, you know, she makes a very special effort to get them a treat or just, you know, tell them, "Thank you for being here on time. That's going to harm us, but not only that, we want you here on time so that way you can get the most benefit for your education." So, it's just those extra little things that we're doing I'm hoping is making a difference. Mhm. But I mean, anything

116will help. Great. Uh again, thank you. I just I'm definitely going to be looking forward to what the results are on the next We do have a couple questions. Um one with the social behaviors and bullying, are the kids getting any sort of um assemblies and things like that addressing cyberbullying and, you know, just trying to mitigate all that behavior cuz I know with teens Yeah. So, in our trinket hearts, they do have they do go over the values, you know, respect, um just you know, how to be a good student, be respectful to others, and building those relationships not only with your teachers, but with students. Um so, in there are little portions of um how to dress properly. But of course, you know, a lot of times our parents are just handing over

117phone and not making sure that there's limitations or um you know, educating their own child on how to be You're not allowed to do that. That's bullying. So, we have a lot of incidents regarding bullying and so, we're going to make a conscious effort next year. That's already in one of our plans to bring in assemblies and presenters. We do have Um I think it's May 14th. We do have a We're collaborating with Kurt Resource Center to to bring speakers to the kids. We've arranged it to where the speakers will in the assembly and in the afternoon we'll be in our KMS courtyard with the an outdoor picnic. And we'll have different resource tables talking to parents on, you know, making sure that you know, just encouraging parents to be mindful of their kids' activities

118and to help them be good students. Definitely. And then I did just want to make a comment and say thank you. I do have a student at your school and we moved her from the Kurt or the Farming district and the growth in her academics and her the leadership that you have there and the drive that the teachers have at your school. I mean, it's a night and day difference with my student and I just wanted to say thank you for your efforts. I appreciate it and I thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Kurt High School Are you not in there? No. I already did it. Yeah, all right. Some of >> [laughter] >> I I was only reading off the script. My my apologies. Steve We'll We'll blame this guy. Well,

119they they do have a state championship, so. Oh, yeah. Kudos to the championship girls basketball multi That's the acknowledgement. There you go. All right, on to item B, CCSD attendance and chronic absenteeism. Update by Tia Johnson. our numbers. So,