School Board - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. We'd like to welcome out to our July 9th regular board meeting. We'll go ahead and get this meeting going. We'll go ahead and start with a Pledge of Allegiance and just a moment of silence, please.

Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Thank you, everyone. Let's go ahead and start with the approval of the agenda.

Can I move to approve the agenda? I'll second.

A motion and a second to approve the agenda as presented. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Consent agenda, consent items. We've kind of changed that up a little bit since our last meetings. A lot of stuff in there. Dr. Farnsworth, have you got anything to say on that or?

No, I just wanted to let the public know that this is a procedural item that you can institute in your Robert's Rules of running a board meeting. And so the consent agenda, it's pretty common in many other school districts. There's certain things that you can or cannot put on the consent agenda. And so what you have before you, again, this is a working relationship that we have with the school board on what we want on the consent, what we don't want on the consent. And so tonight you have a variety of items from vouchers to handbooks to technology use agreements to transportation policies all on the consent agenda.

A lot of stuff. Does anybody have any questions on the consent agenda? I'll entertain a motion then.

I move to approve all consent agenda items as presented. I'll second.

Motion is second to approve the consent agenda items as presented. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. 5.1, principal reports. Dr. Farnsworth.

Our principals have been very busy this summer, and I am pleased to report I believe that all of our positions are filled across the district. A few of our paraprofessionals need to be filled. But, you know, I just want to thank the principals publicly for not only being here, but also for their hard work in filling the vacancies across their campuses and preparing for this upcoming school year. They've been hard at work.

Thank you. Does anybody have any questions on the principal report? Okay. Let's go down to 5.2, superintendent report, Dr. Farnsworth.

Just a couple items of note. We hosted some safety trainings that normally are in Phoenix area, and they're called the DEMA safety trainings. We had a week full of trainings, which we hosted the district office. Many of the principals went all week. I attended two days. So we were thankful that we were able to host those trainings. I've been able to meet with all the principals regarding their student achievement data with Sharla Cosgrave, and we've kind of worked out what kind of plans they're going to have with their guiding coalition this summer. So I'm very excited for the work that the principals have been doing and all the hard work and thought they've been putting into this. their summer retreats. I, again, want to thank the City of Show Low. We've been partnering with them to do the Freedom Fest across our district facilities. And once again, I thought we had a great turnout, great partnership, and I think the community loved it. And so I just want to thank the City of Show Low for just being great partners with that. Just a few items if you want to put on your calendar. We have our new teacher orientation that will start Monday, July the 27th. All of you are welcome to attend that morning when we have our introductions with our new teachers. I've also included in my report all the different open houses for all the different campuses to start the school year. And so again, everyone's heart getting the school year ready to go.

Thank you very much for that. Any comment on his report? I would just like to make one thing. I was very impressed this year with our high school graduation. Thank you very much. I thought it went really, really well.

Appreciate all the hard work.

OK. I guess we'll turn some time over to Shaylee for the budget. How much time are we turning over to you?

Just a minute.

A minute?

So I ask that you approve the adopted budget for 26-27. Again, this was based off of all proposed information from the legislature. We will bring back to you in December a revised budget that will have more accurate numbers. This was all proposed information. So it will have our final carry forward after the annual financial report comes out in October. So the December one will have more accurate budget numbers. But this is a good budget until then. So I ask that you approve the adopted budget.

So we'll know where we're at really in December then?

What's that?

We'll know where we're at really in December then?

Correct.

Okay.

I move to adopt the fiscal year 26-27 budget as presented. Second.

Motion and a second to adopt the fiscal year 26-27 budget as presented. All in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion carries. Dean of Students, job description, Dr. Farnsmore.

I missed that one?

Oh, excuse me. 6.2, cell phone stipends and auto allowances.

Every year we come to the board and ask permission. So we have a lot of workers that do not typically have a desk where they can just sit there and do work. Maintenance, IT, they're spread across the district. And we would ask that you would approve the cell phone and auto allowance just so we can... compensate them for just always being in the field, and if we need to get a hold of them, we can call them on their cell phone, and it makes life much easier for us.

Is there any difference between this year and last year, or any raises on that?

No.

No. And that's still adequate for everybody? Okay, very good.

I move to adopt the cell phone stipends and auto allowances as presented. I'll second.

And a motion is second to adopt the cell phone stipends and auto allowances as presented. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Now let's go to 6.3, Dean of Students, Dr. Farnsworth. So we've talked about this for a couple of months.

We discussed this and presented information at our last work session. And so I'm bringing this forward to the school board. You can see the job description, the salary impact. And I'm just opening it up to the board if you have questions or or what comments or questions you may have at this time.

Is this only one position or will there be two openings?

So that would kind of be the recommendation from the board. We put a maximum of two so that if the board were to approve this, we could potentially see a dean of students at Whipple Elementary and a dean of students at Nicholas. I've talked with both the principals and I think we're all unanimous if the board chooses to adopt it, we would like to see if we get anybody, but we don't want to, for example, pull a third grade teacher out of the classroom, because then we're just robbing Peter to pay Paul at this point. And so we may get somebody from out of state, we may get somebody from the Valley, we may get somebody from another school district, But we won't know unless we post, if the board approves it. But it's worth a shot. But we don't want to cannibalize ourselves from internal when we leave other vacancies open. That would be hard for us to fill with just three to four weeks before school starts.

Move to adopt the dean of students job description as presented. I'll second.

Got a motion and a second to adopt the Dean of Students' job as descriptive. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Are we going to... We'll open it up and see how many people apply.

So I would appreciate counsel from the school board if you would like me to do two positions and see what we get. We can always potentially go down to one. There's a lot of different scenarios that this could play out. We could get one really good person from another surrounding district and we could potentially do part-time two days at Whipple, two days at Nicholas. So we have options on the table. We won't know those options unless we post for the job and see what's out there. And in consultation with the two principals, we may end up just like, you know, maybe now's not the right time because it's so close to the start of the school year. Maybe we push this back until March and then really be aggressive and see if we can get these filled. But I think at a minimum, we need to post to see what we get, to see what's out there.

And then you'll come back later on.

If we find somebody, then we will bring that person back to the board for official approval. Make a decision then.

Okay, thank you very much. 6.4, classified transfers, resignations, terminations. Dr. Farnsworth.

So we do have a few people that are being transferred and a few resignations, actually one person being transferred. And I would entertain a motion to accept these as outlined by administration.

I move to approve all classified transfers, resignations, and terminations as presented. I'll second.

Got a motion and a second to approve all classified transfers, resignations, terminations as presented. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Moving right along. 6.5, classified personnel employment. Dr. Farnsworth.

So as unfortunately, we're always trying to fill some of our hourly positions and you can see there, we have a custodian that we're trying to fill, a junior high receptionist that we're filling and a district office position. And so we would ask that you would approve these. We do have some unfortunate news. We just found out that our district office PR HR specialist it has resigned uh after a week on the job so we're back at ground zero so wonderful yeah okay uh who who did we just lose i'm sorry our hr director no it wasn't the hr director it was the hr pr hr payroll specialist that first name on the list did you get that john

Do we need to mention it?

I would prefer not to mention it. We're not going to mention a name.

I'll go back and look when I can.

Okay. Did we get a motion on that?

I move to approve all classified personnel employment actions as presented.

Got a motion and a second to approve all certified classified contracts as presented. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Motion carries. John, did you have something on that?

Nope, I'm good, thank you.

Okay, 6.8, placement chart corrections. Shaylee?

We're on 6.6. 6.6.

I thought we just did that one.

That was classified.

Excuse me.

Dr. Farnsworth. So we do have a few certified transfers. As you can see there, we would ask that you would approve those. And all the principals involved at all those campuses are aware of those. And unfortunately, we have had two teachers that have had to resign due to family circumstances. And number one, these are fantastic individuals. We really are gonna miss their presence. We would also ask the board that you would waive the liquidated damages because they're moving due to family circumstances and medical issues that are kind of out of their control. And so the administration's recommendation is that you would approve this and waive the liquidated damages for those two teachers.

Any discussion on that?

I move to approve the certified transfers, resignations, termination actions, and waive liquidated damages as presented. I'll second.

I got a motion to approve the certified transfers, resignations, termination actions, and waive liquidation damages as presented. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Okay, 6.7, certified employment contracts, Dr. Farnsworth.

Again, I just wanna thank our principals for just always on the lookout for hiring top talent to come to the district. And we've got a few people that we're gonna recommend to bring on board. We've got some counselors that we're very happy and excited about. and a few reading specialists and a junior high social studies teacher. So again, I just want to publicly thank our principals for getting committees together over the summer and looking for good talent to bring to SHOLO. So I would recommend that you would accept these recommendations.

Okay, we're pretty much filled up in that category then?

We are, if you approve everything, but we're fully staffed except for a few paraprofessional positions. Okay, very good.

I move to approve all certified employment contracts as presented. Second.

We got a motion and a second to approve all certified contracts as presented. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. 6.8, placement of chart corrections.

So on the classified placement chart, on chart J, on the main chart that has all the charts, The J column on the main chart is correct, but when we broke them out into individual charts, the chart amount on J was incorrect. So we're asking to approve the changes that we corrected on the individual chart J, as well as the description. So again, the main charts that shows all the columns is correct but the individual J chart was not. So we had to make those corrections on the individual placement chart of J and we're asking that you approve the corrections to the J chart.

Move to approve the corrected classified placement chart J and the new classified placement chart as presented. I'll second.

We have a motion to second to approve the corrected classified placement chart J and the new classified placement chart as presented. Any discussion? All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries, thank you. Okay, 6.9, 6.9, fall coaches and athletic stipends for the year 26-27.

So what you have before you is the fall coaches that we're recommending for cross country, football, volleyball, cheer, girls soccer, boys soccer, and junior high softball with the corresponding stipends. And again, I just want to thank the athletic director and human resources. We've put in a better procedure in terms of coaches having to apply by season, fill out an application, and just hopefully, well, not hopefully, but we're doing a better job in terms of having a selection process, a hiring process. and then spreading that out towards all the different seasons. So I would recommend that you would approve the recommended coaches and stipend amounts for the fall 2027, 2026.

Are any of these new?

Some of them are new. Many of them are returning. If you have specific questions, I could get the athletic director to comment.

No. I just, looking down the list, I know a lot of the names are familiar and have been with us for a while.

Most are returning, but we do have a few new ones.

Certainly appreciate it. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that work.

I move to approve all fall coaches and athletic stipends for the fiscal year 26-27 as presented. I'll second.

Motion and a second to approve all fall coaches and athletic stipends for the fiscal year 26-27 as presented. All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Okay, out-of-state travel. Dr. Farnsworth.

So again, we seek board approval for our girls soccer. They attend this tournament every, they have been for the last several years. It's in New Mexico. And we would ask that you would approve this overnight tournament starting in August 27th through the 29th.

I move to approve the out-of-state travel for girls soccer to a tournament in Gallup, New Mexico as presented. Second.

We've got a motion and a second for the out-of-state travel for the girls soccer team at a tournament in Gallup, New Mexico, as presented. All in favor? Aye.

Aye. Aye.

Motion carries. Down to event workers. Dr. Farnsworth.

So just to give you a little bit of history, there's been some audit findings because when we get workers to work athletic events, like take tickets or run the scoreboard, Sometimes it's like running down the hallway, hey, can you stop being a secretary and come take tickets for junior high softball or whatever? And that's really not the best practice. So what we decided to do a couple years ago, that's why you'll see such a long list of names. We take all the employees across the district and we ask that you approve them. They're not all going to work an event, but in the event that they do, they've already been approved. And then we also have community members that we are asking that you approve who they don't work for the district, but they will want to either work a scoreboard or take tickets or whatever that helps out with the athletic program. So we would ask that you would approve all of the event workers as presented.

I move to approve the event worker employment for fiscal year 26-27 as presented. I'll second.

We've got a motion and a second to approve the event worker employment for fiscal year 26-27 as presented. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Thank you for taking care of all the rough corners on that one. Okay. 6.12. Shaley. Yes.

So way back when, U-Haul approved the 1% increase for all the employees. We were talking to our lawyers about the addendum that we do. And they stated that the board has to approve the fact that some, when we did the placement charts, that those that are getting paid more than what they fell on the placement chart will get a 1% increase on their current wage. So we're not going to decrease them because they didn't make more on the placement chart. So I may have made $16.70 on the placement chart, but I'm making $18 now. So we're not going to penalize them because they didn't make as much on the placement chart. So we're going to just give them the 1%. So the lawyers said that you guys have to approve that we're not going to penalize them for not being higher on the placement chart, but we're going to give them the 1%. So the board has to approve that. I hope that made sense.

That's only fair.

Yeah, yeah. Didn't realize that we had to do that. So that's why we're bringing that back to the board tonight.

Thank you. Any comment on any of that?

I move to approve that employees whose current salary is higher than their assigned rate on the salary placement chart will retain their current pay rate and receive a 1% annual increase as presented. Second. Second.

We have a motion as second to approve that employees whose current salary is higher than their assigned rate on the salary placement chart will retain their current pay rate and receive a 1% annual increase as presented. Okay, any discussion on that? All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Okay, 6.13. Dr. Farnsworth.

So we've already kind of reviewed this once before and I'm bringing the strategic plan back to the board for official approval. And before you do that, I just want to publicly thank, we had many, many committees. We had an identity committee. We had a culture committee. We had an academics committee. We had a continuous improvement committee. We had a business and finance committee. And we had an operations committee. So we had six different committees led by... groups six different groups of of people employees across the district that many of those were led by leaders within the district many of them by campus principals or other administrators and i just want to publicly thank them and all the individuals that participated on the committee it took us a year to have multiple multiple committee meetings and come up with this strategic plan um And so I'm presenting it to you. This would kind of be the foundation of a lot of future work that each of these committees has felt that we need to do in SHOLO. And so I would entertain any questions, but I would ask that the board approve this strategic plan.

I guess now that we've got this plan and so many people had input on it, are we going to monitor it through the year to see how we're doing?

That is my goal. My goal is to incorporate components of this into my goals. So when you meet with me, I will have goals that align to the strategic plan and give periodic updates to the board. There's quite a bit of heavy lifting that we identified recently. And so the biggest question we've been asking ourselves is, like, who's going to do it? We've all got five or six different jobs. But it's good to have a plan. It's good to have a target. It's good to realize that we had a lot of input. And we're going to do our very best to start, you know, taking on this strategic plan. And it's like, how do you eat an elephant? We're going to start one bite at a time. Yeah.

Takes a while to eat an elephant, so. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate all the hard work that went into that and all the people that had a part of that. Thank you for doing that. Thank you very much. Okay.

I move to approve the strategic plan as presented. Second.

Got a motion and a second to approve the strategic plan as presented. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Okay, 6.14.

Shaylee. Yeah, I can do this.

So we,

Long story short, there are times when we have individuals, families who disagree with our special education delivery of services. And so there's a process outline that if they're not happy with the process, they can go follow a due process hearing and it gets heard at the state. And so there's a level of hearing where where parents get to say, well, hey, this is what I think should happen. And we say, well, this is what we're trying to do. And they try to arbitrate, try to come up with a solution. And so we do have a hearing in process. And so this is a contract from the Department of Education that says, hey, you're responsible to cover some of the costs. And our attorney fees are paid through by the trust, but the hearing process through ADE is not necessarily covered by the trust. And so we are gonna have to cover some of those costs. I think I saw a bill for like $233. And so we would ask the board that you would approve this IGA with the Arizona Department of Education so we could continue these hearings and that we can pay for this, for the use of the hearing officer.

And we have one ongoing right now, you say, huh? We do. Have we had some in the past recently or kind of a new deal?

I, you know, I just finished my second year, so this is the first that has gone this far in the hearing process. Usually we can, we work it out. Gotcha.

Curious to know where those funds would be paid from. It comes out of M&O.

M&O?

Mm-hmm.

Very small amounts of money, though.

I move to approve the Office of Administration hearing contract for the 26-27 school year as presented. I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second to approve the Office of Administration hearing contract for fiscal year 26-27. Strategic plan as presented by the administration. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Thank you, John.

6.15 asba law conference delegate dr farnsworth so every year we come before the board and we ask that one of you if you're able to be the arizona school boards association delegate and what that means is that you would represent the school district in selecting you know political priorities that they would then represent to the state legislature The conference is scheduled for September 9th and the 11th and will they change the delegate voting this year? Because of some religious holiday Conflicts they've decided to move the ASBA delegate voting to Wednesday instead of Saturday So it starts at the beginning of the conference September the 9th We don't have the exact details on that, but we know it's going to be September the 9th in the morning and then the conference goes Wednesday Thursday Friday and So just again, if there's a board member that would like to be the delegate for this year, that's a discussion you should have. And then also if any board members would like to attend the conference, we would like to know so we can secure registration, hotel, and do those types of things. So I would entertain any questions at this time.

Any interest from the board to attend that?

I guess we'll just leave it at that. If you decide later, you can just let me know. We still have a little time.

It happens to fall on my granddaughter's birthday. Oh, yeah, that trumps it. I might be able to go either the day before or the day after since it's a three-day event. We'll be in touch.

Let us know, and the registration has already opened.

Okay.

So it opened July the 7th. Today's the 9th. So again, no pressure. As soon as we know, we'll book a hotel. We'll do registration, and then we'll just go from there.

Sounds good. Thank you.

Okay, well, I guess we'll just leave that open then, huh? Mm-hmm. Okay. 6.16, gifts and donations.

All right, so we have Donation from the Show Low Youth Foundation for the high school Cougar Day prizes for Stugo at $4,216.74. For the high school, the Highline Vending of $171. At the high school, Show Low Youth Foundation for FBLA state competitions of $2,500. And at NHE from Chris and Matt Jones for library books of $227.79.

Thank you for that. I would just like to tell everybody that donated these funds, we appreciate it, especially the Show Law Youth Foundation. And to bring that to mind, they have their annual banquet the 8th of August.

Isn't that correct? Yes, sir, and I'm glad you brought that up. I just want to remind everyone, and it'd be great if the board is able to do it, the tickets are on sale, and it's a great event. They spend a lot of money back towards the schools and towards our kids, and they do a great service to the community, and if we could at all help sponsor the Sholo Youth Foundation, it's a worthwhile event.

I agree, I think I've been to every one so far. And they do a great job. Okay.

I move to approve all gifts and donations as presented. I'll second.

Got a motion and a second to approve all the gifts and donations as presented with a big thank you. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. School property disposal, Ms. Davis.

The ones that are on this agenda tonight are all IT-related items. So there's just one page of them, just outdated and broken items.

I was a little surprised to see a VCR on there. Yeah. Okay.

Well, hopefully we get a lot of money for that.

I move to approve the school property disposal as presented. I'll second.

Got a motion and a second to approve the school property disposal as presented. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Future agenda items.

One of the items that I'd like to get the board's feedback on is if we look at the September board meeting, that's at the same time as the ASBA law conference. I will be at the ASBA law conference. And so scheduling a board meeting on the 10th, I will be out of town. So I know it's two months away, but it may be good if we could look at our calendars and see what the board's directive would be. Would you want to go the week before and have it on September the 3rd or the week after, which would be September the 17th?

17th is better for me.

Okay. You're good with the 17th? Yes.

Me too, I don't know if I'll be here the third, so.

Okay, so let's, does John have an opinion? John, what do you think? Hey, John's good. Okay. We'll pencil in the 17th of September. And then the other item for the August agenda is if we could do an executive session to look at the superintendent contract. I've reached out to the district attorney, and she's going to reach out to Mr. Larson, the school board president, and just... double check and see if there's any questions. And then if that would be appropriate, we could look at that in August. So.

John, you good with that?

Absolutely.

Okay. So yeah, I guess we'll go that direction. Okay. Anybody here that wants to address the board? I got no papers. I guess not, huh? Okay. John, do you see how you do this now? We've only been here like 40 minutes. Thanks a lot. We'll be here a little longer then. Okay. Well, we appreciate everybody being here. And we need a motion to adjourn or we're just adjourned?

I'll move to adjourn. I'll motion to adjourn. I'll second then.

Got a motion and a second to adjourn. Everybody have a good week. Thank you.