School Board - Regular Meeting

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Heat. Heat. [music] Good evening everyone. Welcome to our February regular board meeting. We're grateful that you're here. Call this meeting to order. We'll have a pledge of allegiance by Mrs. Stacy Anderson and then we'll have a moment of silence. to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible and justice for all [clears throat] [snorts] Thank you all very much.

I will um ask for approval of the agenda. Uh but we would like to remove item 5.3 due to uh bids not in and other uh items that were missing on that particular uh IFB process. We're going to go ahead and ask that that be removed from the agenda this evening. And if that's okay, I'll entertain a motion. I'll move [snorts] to approve the agenda with item 5.3 removed. I second it.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you very much. Item 3.1, approval of January meeting minutes. I'll move to approve the January meeting minutes. I'll second it. I have a motion, a second. All in favor? I I I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Item 4.1, ratification of expense and payroll vouchers, tax credits, activity accounts. I move to approve the rat ratification of EOP vouchers, tax credits, and activity accounts. I'll second. I'll second it.

I have a motion and two seconds. All in favor? I I I. Thank you. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 5.1, student and staff recognition. Dr. Farnsworth.

Uh, this month would like to have Mrs. Douglas come up to have two students and a teacher recognized at this time. Okay. All right. Good evening. I don't know where everybody is over today. It's just the two of you and Kelly. So, thank you. Look at the good-look one and [snorts] you'll feel a lot better. [laughter]

Thank you for having us tonight. Tonight, I have the pleasure of recognizing Harper Wittan as one of our Whipple Ranch Elementary's legendary students. Harper was selected for this honor because she consistently demonstrates the character and attitude that define excellence at our school. She is kind, thoughtful, sweet, and always eager and excited to learn. Harper brings a wonderful sense of curiosity and joy into the classroom, and her sense of wonder makes learning inspiring for those around her. One of Harper's most special qualities is her smile and her pretty lips today. And she carries it with her throughout the day and it just brightens every room that she enters. She's always willing to help when needed. Whether supporting a classmate, assisting her teacher, or simply offering kindness to others. Through her positive attitude, caring heart, and consistent effort, she upholds the high standards we value at Whipple Ranch Elementary School. Being named a legendary student means demonstrating excellence not only academically but through her character and she does both beautifully. We are so proud of Harper. Tonight is an honor to recognize her for representing Whipple Ranch Elementary with excellence. Congratulations. We are so proud of you. [applause] And so each of my legendary people tonight um get a paw print with all the words that people say um defines them. So and then I have a present for you afterwards. So [laughter]

that's for you. Okay. Okay. My next one is Mr. Blake. Where did your paper go? I'm a hot mess tonight. Just so you know, [snorts] I don't know where it went. Did it fall? No. Is it stuck on yours? I don't know. Look on the back. Look on the back of her certificate. Is that Oh, maybe it's stuck. Yeah, that's it. See, it's a good thing you're here. [laughter]

Okay. So, tonight I'd also like to recognize Blake Ellsworth as one of our Whipple Ranch Elementary's legendary students. He was selected for his honor because he consistently demonstrates the character traits we value most at our school being respectful, responsible, safe, and kind. He's helpful. He is cheerful, kind, funny, and sweet. [snorts] And he's very compassionate. Blake brings positivity with him wherever he goes. as you can tell.

And he um I just lost my spot. And he's a he has such an excitement for learning and and it just makes it's just contagious when he comes around. One of Blake's most admirable qualities is his kindness towards others. He's always willing to help, notices when someone needs support, and treats everyone with respect and care. His compassion makes our school a better place. Blake also carries himself with a kind confidence in all that he does. He believes in himself while remaining humble and considerate of others. This balance of competence and kindness is a true leadership trait. Through his actions, attitude, and daily choices, Blake upholds our school motto of excellence. He models what it means to be a legendary student, not only through academic effort, but through character and integrity. We are proud of Blake and the example he sets for his peers and it's an honor to recognize him and that he represents Whipple Ranch Elementary. Congratulations, Blake. [applause] That's going to be for you. Okay. You want to hold on to that?

Okay. So, I don't know if you heard him when he came in. I did. The [laughter] Who did you hear? Harper.

Mr. Billy. So tonight, I'd like to recognize Mr. Billy. He's actually has a different name than just Mr. Billy. The kids don't know this, but he has a real name, and it is William Gagenheimr, otherwise known as the famous Mr. Billy. Mr. Billy's dependable, dedicated, and an unwavering presence on our campus. Every single morning, he greets our students at parent dropoff with energy, enthusiasm, and genuine care. He sets the tone for the day for our students, making sure they feel safe, welcomed, and valued from the moment they step onto our campus. Safety is something Mr. Billy takes very seriously. He understands that students cannot learn unless they feel secure, and he approaches that responsibility with diligence and consistency. Our families trust him. Our staff relies on him and our students look forward to seeing him each day. Mr. Billy not only teaches reading, but he supports all our classrooms wherever he is needed. And he's willing to step up wherever we need him without any hesitation. He is bold, but never overbearing, energetic, but deeply thoughtful. While he certainly does not have a quiet voice, his enthusiasm fills our campus with positivity and encouragement. His presence is uplifting, and his humor and silliness create connection and joy for all of our students. He is kind, caring, supportive, and helpful. And he's also a great cook, which we appreciate at our staff potlucks. [snorts] At Whipple Ranch Elementary, we jokingly refer to him as a movie star, but the truth is he is loved by all because he leads with his heart. He is a beacon for our school community and a true representation of excellence. His dedication, professionalism, and commitment to students exemplify the

standard we strive for every day. Mr. Billy embodies what it means to serve children with integrity, energy, and compassion, and we are incredibly fortunate to have him at Whipple Ranch Elementary and in our district. Tonight, it's my honor to recognize Mr. Billy for his outstanding service and continued commitment. Thank you very much. [applause] Thank you. Thank you so much. So, now you guys have to get a picture. So, we have to come up and shake our hands and take a picture. Oh, yeah. Come on. I'll come with you.

We need a picture. Sam,

mom, dad. [applause] Harper's family, would you stand up for us, please? Thank you so much for all you do. [applause] He's tied to you. Blake's family here, too.

Blake's family, stand up. [applause] Thank you. Thank you for what you do at home. We appreciate you. Okay. 5.2 copper apple award. Mr. Roush, how are you, sir? Good. How are you? I'm better than I look, for sure. That's usually my line. Yeah, I stole it. Got to be quick. [laughter]

Well, thank you for having me tonight. Um what I wanted to do was just come and tell you how wonderful things have been going at WMI. Um the department has started this copper apple award for school improvement and what we wanted to do is really embody the whole work that's going on with schools because there's a lot of work going on for school improvement as you know. So the Copper Apple award, excuse me, has just uh begun to be given out to schools who have been identified for um school improvement services. in terms of what's happening. How do I do this? The mouse work? Just roll it down.

Just roll it down. Oh, there it goes. So, the things that that has been happening at WMI include professional development by Elaine Rankin who works with this neurossequential model which basically tells us what happens in the brain when we are trying to learn or unable to learn. There's a lot of things that we know about has happened in research in terms of what the neurossequential model covers but basically in layman's terms it's fight or flight or freeze. Okay. Um what we've been trying to cover with and we have successfully done with WI staff is gone through what the neurossequential model does and they are successfully implementing that work and proven that it works for their students who I see some of them back here and I'm glad that they're here because they are awesome in that it it requires building relationships right we all know that relationships are super important especially for students and teachers But what happens at WMI is beyond. It becomes more like a family and I think it's fantastic. We've also had um support from district leadership and there's been ultimately the dedication from the staff at WI. Okay. So, of course, we have to have some data. So, there's a table there and I want to explain a little bit about the data there because it might not look as good as it should, but I want to explain to you why the numbers are going down a little bit. In order to to exit federal identification for graduation rate, that means that the school did have a low graduation rate. Um, you have to graduate more students. And so, WI superseded for the last 3 years the graduation threshold, which is 66.7. and so has exited. Okay. However, why the numbers are going down is because there are fewer seniors to graduate and so

when you have fewer fewer students, every student weighs more and so this is what their numbers are looking for right now. One of the pride points though is that they have an A score for their state letter grade. All of this has been possible though simply through the the efforts of Mrs. Roach and the other staff that are working with Mrs. Roach and that the kids are showing growth not just academically but in life ski to me in life skills as well. The bottom line is students at WMI are being successful and that's why we're here tonight to celebrate that and to recognize Mrs. Roach for that. So with that, if I could have Mrs. Roach come down. I have the Copper Ample Award here to present to her and it says it all. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to the students of White Mountain Institute and it is unwavering.

Congratulations. [applause]

We need a picture. Ken, you have to be in the picture. I worked more. [laughter] So, I wanted them to be here because they did the work. Uh, I just was the driver of a bus that sometimes just went in circles, but they did all the work. They earned it, so this is for them. Is this everybody? No. Okay. No. No. Come on up here, guys. And taller in the back. [laughter] Less tall in the front. Yes, you do. Wait.

[clears throat]

That's a beautiful picture. Congratulations. [applause] Congratulations, guys. Awesome. Thanks for all you do. Mrs. Roach. Yes. Oh, sorry. I'm right here. We lost you with all the tall people. Thank you for so so much for coming up and seeing us and presenting this means a lot. Thank you so much. Happy to do it. I'm very committed to show them. Thank you. We appreciate that tons.

Yo, Jen Armstrong, pick up your trash. It's so nice to see Mrs. Roach's students support her because of all the support that she gives them throughout the year.

So, congratulations. Welld deserved. Okay, if it's okay, we'll move on to item 5.4, principal eval instrument, Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Dering

as as Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Dering are coming up. I just want to publicly thank Ken Ken. Oh, Ken, you're still here. He he has been instrumental with Nicholas Homestead, with WMI, with a lot of different programs that Miss Cosgrey and I have been looking at. So, I just want to publicly thank the Arizona Department of Education and Ken who is that person representing the the state tonight and just appreciate all that their support to to help our schools and our kids and our teachers. Thank you, Ken. Appreciate that. [applause] Thanks for giving us a minute with some friendly faces. Yeah. No, I'm sorry. I should have I saw you back there. I should have waited. I apologize.

Good for you, though. I love that about Xolo. Yeah. These kids go through our district and all the teachers love them and joy in their success. So, I appreciate some of the special ones just stay on your heart forever. Mhm. Yeah. Well, thanks for having us tonight. We actually are representing the principles as a whole. So we are just the spokespeople for this. So I think we clicked

um Yeah, we clicked this. Okay. So we're here tonight to present um a collective project that we've been working on this year for uh professional growth and refinement uh system for principles. Do do you mind clicking while I talk? Okay. Um so the middle one is the side down arrow. There you go. I don't know what you're saying, but I don't see you. Okay.

Oh. Oh, big kids. Okay. We know how to use technology. Don't worry, your kids are safe with us. Um, okay. So, why the principal evaluation instrument was revisited? Um, since I've been an administrator in the district, we've had uh four superintendents and each superintendent had their own uh system for evaluating us. And so, uh, Dr. Farnsworth had a goal to kind of review and revise the process and get something a little more formal and um, you know, official in place that can kind of stand the test of time. And so, um, I had set a professional goal to do some extra work because who wouldn't have a professional goal for that? And so, Dr. Farnsworth, um, allowed me to kind of pop the top of this project, if you will. So, I met with him in the summer and, um, got better understanding for his goal and, uh, what his purpose was for this project. So, initially we were looking for something more unifying and consistent with how we're evaluating other certified staff members, teachers and counselors and instructional coaches, for example. And so, uh, we looked at this core question, what kind of evaluation actually strengthens leadership and improves student outcomes? Because that's really kind of why we're here. So, um, we set some goals.

I don't mind. Thank you, son. So, our design goals um were to have a high impact focus with high complexity that would support growth. That was kind of the the purpose for where we were heading. Oh, it's off. Keep going. Sorry. Okay. Um on the next slide, I think we're ready.

So, um how the tool was developed. um in the summer um I did some research but like I said this whole time it's been a collaborative process. So there was some research done over the summer that um I then put together and uh Dr. Farnsworth led our principal group in a discussion of that research. Um we set a timeline for ourselves and um that's kind of what you're seeing tonight is the fruit of that labor. So our idea that we were focused on then is that great schools stay great when principles lead with clarity, coherence and a focus on the highest impact practices. So where is the foundation in the research? Um Arizona has a model for me measuring educator effectiveness that includes a principal piece. Um also we drew on evaluation systems from other states. In some states, there's like an approved document. For example, Illinois and Washington have pretty robust um systems for evaluating principles based on the professional standards for educational leaders. And um so we kind of had this understanding that uh tying ourselves to those uh professional standards for educational leaders was where we wanted to be rooted. And so um some things that the research consistently showed and this is what we looked at in our first session as principles um there was goal setting there was alignment to um the leadership standards as we talked about and the vision and mission of the district of the schools um there was evidence that was presented and a balance between um growth and accountability. What we noticed is in systems where there was a checklist type evaluation as opposed to something rooted in goal setting, there was a ceiling set then and uh the level that a principal would

rise to was kind of dictated for them. So no room for growth, no incentive to push yourself as an educational leader. there were finite limits and um those systems that had um emphas emphasis in goal setting and reflection were more desirable because we felt like that opened it up to uh the sky's the limit. And so rather than a checklist, we wanted to look at a rubric that described best practices to know what the expected standard is but um without a cap to limit professional growth. So, we put together um a timeline for ourselves and I'm happy to say that we are in step with our timeline. We're here um you know putting this before you tonight for your review. And um we also want to make sure that we're clear that um the proposal is aligned to district policy and state law which outlines an annual evaluation instrument for principles. That that process includes quantitative student achievement data. Um and that student achievement data we understand can be multiaceted. It's not just about test scores. It's about attendance behavior. Um we're looking at uh you know maybe graduation rates in a high school, something like that. Um growth versus achievement, but both of those things. And also um all those components that go into our school labels. And that we needed to look at um the four categories for rating, highly effective, effective, and so forth. We um wanted to we wanted to see that student achievement component twice. It's seen in the needs assessment portion and also in the goal setting port portion where uh progress monitoring then can take place as well. So we have uh communication from our community as well through our vision,

mission and guiding principles statement. Um this helped us as a team understand what the community expects from us and what we should expect from ourselves. Um that we want to really exceed this standard in our performance. And so because also we've been working under Dr. Farnsworth's leadership this year, we've been introduced to the four leadership pillars from his research and his book. Um we knew we wanted to include those. And so we spent some time uh defining those pillars through the lens of a building principle. What did that look like and [clears throat] so forth? So as we moved um from philosophy to actual the to the actual instrument development um Alex and I partnered together to meet with the principal team, get the vision and philosophy and all the the kind of meat from them and then we would go back and um partner with each other with you know AI tools that would help us develop language and such and then we would bring those versions back to the team for revision and um really at the heart of the instrument. We felt um all of us that student achievement was the foundation and then we also wanted to look at um this notion of goal setting and um progress monitoring and um you know like a cyclical approach for ourselves. So I'm going to turn some time over to Alex and let her talk about um goal setting at the center. Okay. So, um, it was there was a lot of ideas and there's a lot of things and there's a lot of tools, right? And like Becky said, we use some AI to help us really take Dr. Farnsworth's the the four pillars in his book and his research, but also what the mission and vision committee did um with community partnership because that was an

important piece. So um when we're taking a look at that that goal setting and um each principal is uh creating prof develops professional goals um and they're sitting down with the superintendent and these goals are grounded in student data, school needs and aligned to our four leadership um pillars. So the intent of the evaluation is just to, you know, to drive improvement. Um because we're not just trying to improve ourselves, but we're trying to improve our schools, right? So probably higher than 40% proficiency rate in reading we would like. Right? So we're looking at things and and we're um driving it uh through that goal setting. Got my notes here. Um, so this is not a once a year event. It is an ongoing process and throughout the year principles and the superintendent will engage in collaborative coaching conversations and there'll be checkpoints. Um, part of the my thought process um when I started working with Becky was we need to make sure that we build a tool um that a brand new principal could understand, right? and to also have coaching along the way. Um because I think it's important to grow and have that self-reflection piece. Um at the end of the year, as you can see, it's one overall performance classification is assigned. The rating is based on rubric rubric aligned evidence and multiple sources of data. So in the evaluation tool that um you probably have in front of you, you there's the rubrics and how it connects to the four pillars within. Okay. So the key scoring principles, it's pretty simple, comprehensive, holistic, and growthminded. And it's about that reflection piece, right?

being reflective and to be able to grow your craft along um with uh your leader. Go ahead. And then um a strong principal leadership influences instructional quality, professional culture and ultimately student outcomes. Um when the evaluation is clear and aligned and growth oriented, it strengthens leadership and practice across the district. So that's why it matters. We we need something strong that we are going to work towards. I think sometimes um this job you have a lot of things coming at you at the same time. So, it's nice to have something um that you know, okay, I'm working on this. We're going to grow this because it will all come together um with with students, right? And I'm going to have Becky wrap it up for us.

Yeah. So just in summary, um this statement, great schools stay great when principles lead with clarity, coherence, and a focus on the highest impact practices. You can kind of see how um the instrument has the requirements met is aligned to the district uh vision, mission, and guiding principles. But I think um one of the value points that we came away from as a team is this idea that um we can participate in that as I described like a cyclical approach. So you can meet some goals and maybe you have one that you want to expand on the next year. Um, it's just an opportunity to continue to always be growing and developing and working on something to support your teachers, your support staff, your students, and your families. So, um, the instrument that's before you tonight, um, that's kind of just an overview of that. I don't know, are we doing questions or this is just a presentation?

Okay. So, if you had any questions about it,

I don't have any questions. I really like it. I appreciate it. I appreciate mostly [clears throat] I don't know if I should say this and get in trouble, but at my work there's not that cyclical or or that contact where you're I mean it just seems like we do our evaluation at a certain time. Once it's done, we never talk about it again till the next year, right? And I would really like this spoken about. I would like this at the forefront of minds so that I mean you can't grow and you can't develop without it being a constant thing. So I appreciate that part of it.

I appreciate the fact that everybody collaborated together in unifying a document that gives everybody the opportunity to move forward and have something to work towards. So thank you very much. It looks great. I think to Kelly's point, it was an interesting process. I don't know what the rest of you felt, but there we pretty much were aligned from the get-go. There was very little um you know, discourse. We were all kind of in agreement the whole time. So, that made it easy to kind of just take all of that summary of thoughts and put it on paper. So, that's exciting.

Looks great. Angela, you have anything?

What this demonstrates to me is that when you have a group of people with a shared interest and developmental goals will only result in having giving everyone a voice and setting your missions to um to bring a stronger leadership. And that's what each of you principles do after all. And again, this we'd have to recognize Dr. Farnsworth who in turn uh is your leader. So I appreciate everyone both of you for bringing this together and Farnsworth. Thank you. This is such a great thing and can only make our district stronger. If if I could just publicly say thank you to all the principles number one for being part of this and a special thank you Jackie and Alex who who led this and it was a lot of extra work on top of their busy hectic lives already. [snorts] What I love about the instrument that was created is there's probably close to 100 professional standards for principles that have been adopted across the country that are national recognized standards. And what we did as a group is we looked at what are the standards that apply to culture, what are the standards that apply to academics, what apply to continuous improvement and identity. And it was a robust list and and then we kind of used them and their AI expertise to kind of see which ones floated to the top which are the highest leverage practices that impact schools. And that's the document that we have which so I'm super proud of the group. I'm super proud of what we developed. Um I hope it stays here for a long time after I'm gone. We Becky was super nice. We didn't have anything

before. Um but she said it so diplomatically and I'm I'm going to say we didn't have anything of substance and so we we created something very substantive and I'm super proud of the group. Great. So, going back to your timeline, you're going to uh make any corrections or any I don't know, flesh it out a little bit and then bring it to us next month.

Yeah, we were really looking for any feedback that you all had or anything. I do want to just point out I kind of touched on it because I'm a little nervous and also for the for time but I do want to say that um in the teacher evaluation instrument cuz a while ago I was able to serve on that committee that developed that instrument and one of the things that that group really valued was um it's rubric based instead of a checklist but also the teachers on that committee uh for the teacher evaluation instrument uh developed some um kind of exemplars So this particular indicator, what would be somebody who's highly effective? What would they do? And that was something that we were able to mirror with this instrument. And to Alex's point about for new principles, I think um it's good for all of us to look at those exemplars and say, you know, here's what it needs to look like if you are a highly uh efficient leader, highly effective leader. And so I think setting the bar really high for ourselves as principles is maybe while we talked about students, I think the heart of this is that we just really want to be great for our kids and our families and our staff. And so um any feedback that you have, we're happy to kind of fold that in because we want it to be something timeless but also something that holds us accountable um as well. Yeah, I felt like you did a good job all that.

Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, guys. [applause] Thanks all the time you put in on that. I know it was a lot. Moving on to 5.5 finance report, Miss Davis.

So, this is the financial [laughter] presentation through um January of 20 January 29th. Um so we have 22% of the budget left at this point. Um we have given a deadline to the staff uh for procurement purchases um as of April 1st. So that will be the last time that they can put in requisitions. Um that does not include emergency type purchases um if there are any. But then that will give us a time to figure out how much we will have left over to carry forward into the next year and give us a better idea of how much we'll have for next year along with what we find out from the state on how much money they're going to give us next year which again will be very tentative um until the budget is passed. But that will at least help us to determine what kind of raises we'll be able to give and that type of thing. So at this point we have 22% left over in the M budget. In capital we have 59% left over which is great because of the things that we have. Um we're working on the septic system at Lynen which hopefully we'll be able to get SFD to uh pay for which um they have accepted the terms and conditions or which we'll be bringing to you. So luckily that hopefully that will get paid by SFD. We'll be discussing that later. So we're in good shape with capital. And then I wanted to bring to you the um winter uh break food service program that we did this year. Did an excellent job. Thank you to Stephanie Joiner and Lisa Gerberry for heading spearheading that up. Uh we had a total meal served of 9,940 um which was fabulous and we actually had a a revenue of $11,000 that we made over the winter break. And the main

purpose was that we were able to serve our community um over winter break where a lot of the students in our district and even those that are not in school yet were able to have food over the winter break. and that was the whole purpose of that program. So, we're um very excited. I'm very proud of what our food service program did. Um so, that was really what I wanted to showcase tonight was the food service program. Any questions? Thank you. That is awesome. Thank you, Shaye.

Yeah, thank you to them. They're fabulous. Thank you very much. Item 5.6, principal reports. Dr. Farnsworth, as you can see, we have the principal reports. I just want to thank them for for the fantastic job they're doing in the reports and ask if you have any questions. Thank you. Thank you for the information. Thank you for the reports. Certainly appreciate that. Item 5.6. We already did. Sorry. 5.7 superintendent report. Dr. Farnsworth,

you know, nothing really is jumping out for January. We had the school board appreciation dinner cuz January was the national schoolboard appreciation month. So, um, I thought that went well with Mr. Crawford. Um, you know, the we're in the legislative season, so I'm passing on a lot of information not only to the district, but also to the school board about upcoming legislation, proposed legislation. um trying to be as involved as I can with the community. Um we are officially members of the Xolo Chamber of Commerce. So, thank you, Mr. Board President, for that. And um you know, we just got a lot of projects and things that we're working towards and obviously the budget's going to be a big issue as we get closer to May. And um that's I do want to say I attended the the science fair the county science no the the science fair at NHE in preparation for the county. What a fantastic turnout. Um tremendous amount of science projects. Many students got qualified. I think Chris Jones has the exact number of how many are going on to the county level. But a great community event and I know every school is doing something like that. I know Whipple has their literacy night coming up uh this coming week and uh Lyndon has some special things uh planned. I'm not going to give it away for Lyndon because they've got some pretty cool stuff. But every campus is doing some kind of community outreach and the community that comes into the schools just a fantastic turnout. So very appreciative to them for that. [clears throat]

Thank you so much. I wonder Dr. Farnsworth, if we know that we are um in association with the Chamber of Commerce, if we could advertise uh each of the clubs, I just give highlight some of the um wonderful aspects of each of the clubs at each of the schools maybe. Um, I mean, we have such great opportunities and I think that'd be a great way to uh let the community know all of what the district does and what the each of the schools offer.

I think that's a great idea. I know I'm I'm uh I've only been to one meeting and so they may not give me speaking rights just yet. So, I hope in the future that they they'll give us a platform where we can talk about the school district. Yeah, highlighting the clubs at the schools. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Moving on to 6.1, classified personnel employment. Dr. Farnsworth, please.

Um, as you can see, there's there's several hirings. Um, I think the one thing that I'm most excited about is as Mr. Clug, our new IT director. He finally has a full team of people to support the IT needs of the district. So, super excited about that. They've been doing amazing and we're excited about all these new employees. So, I I would recommend that you would um approve this recommendation. I move to approve classified personnel employment as presented. I'll second. I have a motion, a second. All in favor? I I I I

opposed. Motion passes. 6.2 classified transfers, resignations, and terminations. Dr. Farnsworth, just you know, a few transfers and resignations. Um, and if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer those. I'll move a motion to approve as presented. I'll second. I have a motion, a second. All in favor? I I I opposed. Motion passes [sighs] 6.3 certified transfers, resignations, and terminations.

It's it's getting that time of year where we're getting ready to do contracts and and people are moving for different situations or moving on to different bigger and better things. And so we have two resignations. Just want to thank them for their their time with with Xolo and wish them the very best in their future endeavors. I move to approve certified resignations as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. 6.4. Adoption of the principal evaluation instrument.

You you the board has the option if you want to adopt what was presented earlier by Becky and Alex, you certainly can. If you want to table that for next month if you had any feedback u they would be happy to take it and we can make any revisions. It's it's totally up to the board on your on your comfort level. I didn't hear any feedback or criticisms or things. I mean it's up to the board but we can bring it back next month. Not an issue. Angela, do you have any issues with the um uh Eval instrument that would want you to push this off to next month or Kelly? No, I do not. I think it's a wonderful instrument. Thank you.

I believe it was hard work and very well earned for approval this evening. Stacy, you okay? Yeah. Okay. I'll move to adopt the principal evaluation instrument as presented. A second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes 6.5. Thank you again very much. 6.5 reclassify AP specialist HR and payroll assistant positions. Miss Davis.

So, this is currently a position that we've had um was an AP specialist/HR payroll assistant. Um we're just asking, again, this is a position we already have. We're just asking to reclassify it to an HR um payroll specialist and we're going to reclassify the AP piece to our current AP person. So, this is just changing the job description and just making it an HR payroll specialist to help support HR and then having that back up for the payroll specialist as well. So, it's not an additional position. It's just reclassifying the current position.

I move to approve the HR and payroll position as presented. I'll second. Motion and a second. Any discussion at all? All in favor? I I I opposed. [clears throat] Motion passes. Thank you.

Give me just a second. I lost a pen here. All right. Okay. 66. Presentation and possible approval of a new medical insurance provider, Miss Davis. So, we've asked um our representatives from Asbait to come and give you a presentation on possibly changing our current insurance provider to Asbait. And so, we've got uh Rick and Chuck here to give you a presentation. Good evening. Hi. Thanks for coming out. Board members, Miss Davis, you fix this one. Thank you so much for having us. Are you doing it? No, just give me one second. Okay. Okay. Now you can control.

Now I got control. I was like, that looks weird. My name is Chuck Nelson. I am the representative with Asbait. This is my uh colleague Rick Syaml. He is also a representative for uh Asbait. We will talk to you a little bit about uh some of the benefits that we have and and really highlight um some of the innovative programs that we have. Uh and then talk a little bit about savings because I know when we ran the numbers, we're looking at a significant savings for the school district which is really good. Um, if you're not familiar with ASBA, we are the largest medical pool program in Arizona. We've been doing this since 1981 and we have over 50% of all the school districts in Arizona that utilize ASBA. So, we have a large pool. So, you have the buying power of 20,000 employees to be able to go out and make sure that we're giving you the richest, most robust benefit program at an affordable price for the employees. If you look at our governing board, they're all board members. They're all uh uh superintendent, um HR directors, business managers, they all have skin in the game. So, the decisions that they're making because these are the folks that are deciding the direction that ASP goes in. They have a population of employees that they have to answer to. So when they're making those decisions, they know that if they don't make a good decision, they're never going to hear the end of it, right? So I believe having board members like this directing which way as base going um I think I think I think I think it really kind of keeps it um on the right on the right path. We talk about wellness and I like to focus on wellness a little bit but not just the preventive care because again preventive care is going to be co

covered at 100%. You know your biometric screenings, your annual physicals, your mammograms. We have the mom bus that comes out to do the the mammograms every year. Um the flu shot clinics. Those are all great wellness programs that you currently have and then you're also going to have with ASBY. You're not losing that. Some of the things that we do uh that that are innovative is we have a program called Vertel which is type two diabetes reversal. So type type two diabetes is is rampid in not just in Arizona but also in the United States and it's also a gateway into kidney disease um cardiac disease and also liver disease. So, um, if we can help attack that and make sure we get folks that are healthy, um, it's going to improve the health of all of your employees, which is really good. So, Verta Health Skin IO is early dete early detection of skin cancer. We're really excited about that one. Hinge Health is the next one, which is physical therapy at home. So, you're not going to a physical therapist three times a week and paying a copay. And then at the same time, we also have the 365 wellness program. It's a newsletter that comes out to everybody which talks a little bit about um health, talks a little bit about um recipes, challenges, walking challenges, stuff like that, which again we want to make sure that your employees are engaged in their health because engaged employees are healthy employees.

Would you mind just pulling the microphone over so that our online viewers can Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Or move Rick out of the way. Yeah, look at the brick and mort. Well, I was wondering why he went over there. I don't know why he did that.

I don't like standing too close to you. Anyway, um when we look at our medical plans, um not only are we talking brick and mortar, but we have the TEDoc programs. You have Teddoc 247 right now, which you will have that with ASB as well at no cost, but we also have Teddoc Primary 360. There are folks out there that do not want to see a different doctor every single time they call Teddoc. they're not comfortable with several different doctors. They want to see the same doctor. If they want to do that, they can almost use Primary 360 as their primary care provider. Um, when they're looking at virtual care, it's a $10 copay for them to use and they schedule a doctor's appointment just like they would with their brick-andmortar doctor, but they can get in a lot quicker. The next one is our behavioral health. Again, you have that with your Chyros program. Um, we have that as well. Again, we want to make sure that we're covering everybody's needs in regards to not only your your health care, but also your um your behavioral health care. And then our asbait programs, we have eight different medical programs that the district is going to pick and choose from. When we look at apples to apples programs that you currently have to what we're proposing, you're going to save anywhere between $82,000 for the year up to almost $160,000 by switching over to ASBAN. So, I mean, that's a that's a huge benefit for the district and you're increasing benefits to the employees. And by approval of these rates today, um it also includes access to CatFy Consulting, which is a broker that would be the broker of record for uh Xolo as well to help them with their alternative benefits and things of that right nature. These are just some of the extra

benefits that we uh that we did talk about a little bit. The mom bus talked about Hinge Health, but we also have some voluntary benefits like international medical solutions. We actually have a medical uh network out in Mexico that if folks want to go over the border for treatment, they absolutely can. It is a network just like an Etna or anything else. It's very stringent in regards to um being in network and they can go get their uh prescriptions and get their prescriptions at a much lower cost. Um and then also dental work, vision work, or if they're hospitalized or if they need a surgery or anything like that. Um, I know I kind of did the reader digest version of everything. So,

we we already went over this with administration and we didn't want to like waste your time. Your time is very valuable. So, we did the quick version of this. Do you have any questions on anything that we've talked about right now? You said you had eight different plan designs to choose from. To choose from.

Do we as a district choose one of those and go with it or are those eight available to all employees? Typically, typically, I mean, districts can really choose one. They can choose, typically they'll choose three. They'll do a base plan, a buy up, and then a lower plan. Um, you can pick one if you want. We don't recommend going over three because you really, it's almost overkill to do that. So, but you do have that option. You can go up to a maximum of four, which is what you have right now. Right. So, we're looking at the four currently that are in in alignment with we with what we had, right? Anything else?

Any other questions? Angela, do you have any questions? No questions. I just appreciate their presentation and allowing our uh online viewers and uh members of the district to view the options and uh hopefully this will help give them some insight into um what is proposed to them. So, thank you gentlemen for coming. Thank you for having us for Thank you. Kelly, [clears throat] do you have anything? Uh no. Um the questions I did have were answered through the presentation. So thank you very much for that.

There there's two things certain in life. Death taxes. Well, there's a third. Rising insurance premiums from medical insurance. That [clears throat] happens almost every year. You can just count on medical insurance rates going up every year. We're super excited with Asbait because for our initial year it looks like as as they reported we we could generate some savings anywhere from 80,000 to plus plus of that. So, we're we're super excited that we're again, we're trying to be fiscally responsible, but provide a great benefit to our employees and and try to look into the future and see how can we give good benefits but sustain all the fiscal responsibility that we're that we're facing as a district. So, super excited about this.

Good move. Yes. I move to approve the change in medical providers to ASB as presented. I'll second it. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you very much for coming to see us.

Um at this point, we're moving to item 6.7 uh through 6.13. There's been some discussion among the board members as to whether we want to continue with this this evening or if we would like to table this, have another work session uh to visit about this, get some more information, get some more uh um data and whatnot on that. Keeping in mind that um our next board meeting would be March 19th. Uh that's what we're working towards anyways. And that would require that between now and then we're going to have to have a work study session in order to go over these and visit more about them. If not, we can continue on. [snorts]

I I would like to propose um that we table these items regarding all of the leave um policy revisions until we can get together. I kind of feel like um we're rushing through this a little bit and I would like for us to have more board discussion and maybe a little bit more direction um on it from our superintendent with some concerns that have been placed by um board members and staff. I would also like to propose that we have a work session in the near future where us board members can uh discuss it further.

Okay. So, I have a motion to uh table items 6.7 through 6.13. Do I have a second? A second. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I

opposed. Motion passes and um if you would please within the next few days probably get with each of us. Let's throw out a few different dates that we can meet and have a work session over this and visit. And in the meantime, I know you've collected a lot of uh information from staff and and whatnot. compile all that and so we can go over it and visit [snorts] and also ask staff that if they have any concerns whatsoever, please get that out uh to the district. Make sure that we don't have anything left on the table that concerns anybody and we can uh we can get this taken care of. The big issue here is we want to get we want to get uh uh contracts out. want to have this taken care of so that we can have these finalized in contracts so we can get them out. You guys can sign them and uh we don't lose anybody. We don't have to over something that we can fix. Okay.

If if I could just add one thing, Mr. President, [snorts] like the chain of command is pretty important and and we don't know the concerns if the concerns don't come to the district. And so I've been very clear that the chain of command is to email HR because HR is the one that helped draft all these policies with legal. So if if individuals are not following the chain of command and going outside the chain of command, we don't know what those possible solutions are or concerns. So, um, I would invite all people to follow the chain of command and email Nikki Nicole Pike in HR so we can accurately collect all the responses and bring that to the board for discussion.

Perfect. Thank you. We just threw you under the bus. [snorts] [laughter] [gasps]

Yeah, that would be great knowing knowing that um board members are always um available and interested in your concerns. um obviously, but um I'm not as smart as Nikki and uh you know, I kind of become a middleman, which I'm I'm okay with, but you can cut right to the chase and get with Nikki and [snorts] take care of anything you might need. Okay, if there's nothing else, we'll move on to 6.14, an adoption of undated compensation placement charts. So in our work session we are proposing because right now all we have is a teacher placement chart. That's all we have. We do not have an admin placement chart um that accounts for previous years of experience or degrees or credentials classified. We just had a starting pay which is what the previous person had. um that doesn't account for years of experience or credentiing or any like if I was a diesel mechanic and I'm hiring there was no credentiing or or benefit given to that. So what we're proposing is that there's three placement charts up for re review and possible adoption. The classified placement chart and these are all for when you get hired [snorts] initially. um the related service provider placement chart which would uh take into account for our counselors and other unique professionals and then the admin salary placement chart. We are not proposing raises at this time. We are not proposing any salary adjustments at this time. We are just merely proposing that we adopt the frame adopt the framework of how we would place a brand new employee that would account for their work experience, their degrees,

their credentials or any special certifications for those specific job categories. And if you'd like to roll this into the work session, we can do that, too. I move to approve the administration administration's recommending recommendations for classified staff administrators and related related service providers as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion on this at all?

I I just have a question on Jay. uh between uh zero and one there is a dollar difference whereas on everybody else you know and then from then on it's a 50 cent um increase uh with each uh step. I was just wondering is that a um is that a mistake or is that intentional? It's just a column J. I don't notice it on any other uh placement

on column J. It's it specifically categorizes that level of employee as special skills, HR, mechanic, and SLPA with no degree. So, the reason why it's a dollar more, and I think I mean HR could probably answer that better, is that it's a different skill set than column I, for example. Right? But that has a 40 cent in increment increase each year. Do you see what I'm saying? Whereas Jay But is a dollar increase each year.

50 to 2250 and then to 23 then it's 50 cent increments. So it's like a dollar for that f the first two top uh steps, but from then on it's 50 cents. see what you So that's like the only place where I noticed that there's you know [snorts] any uh differentiation compared to the other columns. So I didn't know if it was a it was an error or if it was intentional. I guess that's all I'm asking. It it was it was intentional. Nikki saying it's intentional. You don't explain why. Explain it. And and if you look at you actually look at all Nikki come on up. come on up to the

You want to look at my laptop? No, you're fine. So, it's intentional. Um, if you actually look at the lowest one, I think the increment is quite a bit significantly smaller and then they go up in each column ever so slightly. So, it it's based on skill set. Um, it's a standard practice for these types of placement charts um or salary schedules, however you want to look at them. um depending on skill set they get different increases. You look at the administrative one, it also has different increases for the different columns. Um it's a pretty standard thing. Okay. Mhm.

Thank you, Nikki. Okay. So, item 6.14. I have a motion and a second. If there's no further discussion or question, all in favor? I I I opposed. Kelly, I missed you. Did you? Yay or nay? She's muted herself. No, I I had said I I'm sorry. Maybe I didn't press a mute button fast enough. Okay. So, uh

this is this is something we could always bring back to the table and once we are in better standing uh financially and maybe you know in a couple years time we could readress this and increase those areas. Uh I imagine we could change the numbers and and readress this at that time. Yes, Nikki is shaking her head. Yes. As well as But

for now, it provides clarity. It provides transparency. People will know what to expect and uh and it gives us something to work towards. Thank you. With all said and done, four eyes, zero nazs. Motion passes unanimously. Item 6.15, adoption of 2627 teacher placement chart. Dr. Farnsworth.

So, what we did was we actually had a committee uh a teacher compensation committee that that had some great ideas about how to make this a better teacher placement chart. It's not a salary schedule, but what we use this for is to calculate how we start their salary when they get hired the first time. So, we cleaned up some items. We put the benefits on here, which before the benefits were not listed on the salary placement chart. We feel that that's important because this is this is going to be a document that's going to be on our website. So as teachers look at Xolo, they're going to want to know, for example, classroom site fund that I think was added. So they know, hey, I'm going to get $13,000 in the classroom site fund. Hey, I know this is the kind of benefits that I'm going to get. Um, and so we felt it was important to add those pieces into the placement chart and clean up a few things. So again, transparency. We want to recruit good teachers. We want to keep top talent. And so this is uh this is the document we're proposing.

I move to approve the teacher placement chart as presented. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I I. Motion passes. Item 6.16, adoption of 2728 school calendar. Miss Marsh,

Miss Miss Marsh is she's chairing she chaired the calendar committee. Um it's there's not a lot of wiggle room on the calendar if if you if we're doing a 4-day week with students and you factor in, you know, fall break, spring break, what what schedule NPC is following, what schedule NAV is following. Um there's not a whole lot of wiggle room. Snow day makeups. Um, but I I think the committee did a great job emailing this out to the district asking for feedback. They had a committee, they had a representative from every school. And so, again, trying to be transparent, get feedback, but I would recommend that we would approve the school calendar um so we can keep a two-year two-year head start on our calendars for our community. I move to approve the 2728 school calendar as presented.

A second. I have a motion, a second. All in favor? I I

opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. 6.17 uh high school 2627 course description book approval. Mr. Martin, as Mr. March's coming up to the podium. Just if you open up that one document, there's about five changes for this year. Um, and this is critical because, and I appreciate what he and his counselors and staff have done, we have to get this approved because they start going out to the students to start getting schedule requests. They'll need to go down to the junior high and eighth grade to get the eighth grader schedule requests so they can start building the master schedule. um in [clears throat] a timely and effective manner. So, I don't know, Ben, if you want to come up. Do you guys have any questions for Mr. Marchin?

Kelly, do you have any questions?

I I don't have any questions, but I would just like to say I'm just so excited about these changes. There are many positive things added to the course description book. I hope that it can be some of these can be highlighted maybe on the district page. Um, these are all good things. Uh, Mrs. Whipple offering a new fine arts course called musical theater and drama. I mean, as if she doesn't do enough, she's going to do this. And in addition to um, again, so many things that I would love to just highlight and I appreciate all of the uh, effort put into this and I approve of these changes. [laughter]

I love the new offerings. Thank you, Ben. Is that a motion or Yeah. Was that a motion, Angela? I'll motion to approve the course description book changes for 27, excuse me, 2627 um year, school year. I'll second. I have a motion, a second. All in favor? I I I opposed. Motion passes 6.18. fiscal year 26 27 food services meal prices, Miss Davis.

So, um last year we did not increase the meal prices. Um so, this year we definitely need to increase the prices. We are doing better this year, but um to be in alignment with the other districts and with um the meal prices with AD, we definitely need to increase our prices. So, we're recommending that we increase the prices uh by 10 cents and then the um uh junior high by 20 cents for lunch. Um so, it's a small increase. It's only 10 cents. I mean, that is it's enough, but um we definitely need to increase the prices. So, I'm asking that the board increase the meal prices for next year. FY2627. I'll move to approve the 2627 food service meal prices as presented.

I'll second the motion. Thank you for keeping the increases as minimal as possible. Shay app. Absolutely. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. 6.19 school properties disposal, Miss Davis. So, we [snorts] only have a couple items. Um, we have a ice machine at Lynen in the Lynen kitchen and then a couple a few printers um at the high school CTE that need to be disposed of. Move to approve all school properties disposals as presented. A second. I have a motion, a second. All in favor? I I

opposed. Motion passes 6.20 gifts and donations. Dr. Farnsworth,

as as you can see, we again, it's just humbling to work in a community that is so giving uh back to the school district. Um APS mobile STEM carts to Nicholas, $2,500. Um the White Mountain Women's Club, uh donated $2,500 to pay off lunch debt at Xolo High School. Uh the Xolo Police Department, toys and gifts to the RISE program for $500. The White Mountain United Methodist Church, uh snacks, hygiene supplies, tissues, $50 to the Rise program. Uh we've we've get the high school gets the vending royalties. Um Davis and Mary Antoninini, the fine arts program. They donated $400 for the high school. Um, Disneyland Resort complimentary staff tickets $1,089. I don't think that's for the board members. I think that's for uh senior trip.

That's okay.

I wish I could go. Um, CTE Culinary, Arizona Beef Council, $125. Um, at the junior high, they the donors choose rewards for PBIS, $1,16. Again, donors choose classroom headphones for testing, $227 for the junior high. Um, a huge donation from the junior high PTSO where they they brought in sand for their outdoor volleyball court in the amount of $3,000. They did they just did that over winter break. Uh, the Darren Reed Foundation athletic wear, $211. So, just a big thank you to all the community partners. Um, and and I think if I could just make a special request to the high school. I know uh it would be nice if the high school students that got their debt paid off at the cafeteria, if we could somehow get a a thank you card sent out to the White Mountain Women's Club, if you could help me out with that. Um, just very thankful.

Yeah. I make a motion to approve all gifts and donations as presented. A second. I'll second. I have a motion and second. All in favor? I. I.

Motion passes. Thank you so very much to our community. I'm not sure there's a better community out there. Thank you all so much. Item 6.21, March meeting date. Because our typical meeting is on the is during spring break in March, we're proposing that we move it back to March 19th. If the board is able to do that, um that would help us out uh make the proper preparations, have our work session, do some other things that we need to get ready for. Um but again, that's going to be a tight timeline for teacher contracts. The first date we can legally give teacher contracts is March 15th. And so we we we desperately want to bring to the board the contracts on March 19th for approval if that's agreeable.

March 19th is good with me. May I make a motion? Please. I move to approve moving our March meeting to March 19th. We second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. Item 6.22, future agenda items. Does anybody have anything? I don't at this time. Okay. No, I do not. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, before we move on, uh, I failed earlier to let everybody know that Angela Campbell and Kelly Boy were on phone. Um, they're [snorts] not invisible. They're on phone under a mic there. I apologize. I should have said that earlier and I didn't. Um, item 7.1, [clears throat] public comment. Did you get anybody that signed a sheet? Okay, there will be no public addressed to the board. Thank you. Um item 8.1, we I would like to entertain a motion to move into executive session to adopt uh for the adoption of the EOP changes that will be presented to us.

I'll move to enter into executive session. I'll second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes. Folks, we're going to go into executive session. You're welcome to hang out here and and we'll come back and close the meeting or go home and have dinner. Either way, if if it's okay, Mr. President, Shaylee, if we could invite her back to take minutes and then Brandon Clark, our safety coordinator, he's going to be presenting to the board the changes, proposed changes.