[0:00] Shields. She is um not here tonight and

[0:04] board member Brian should be here any

[0:07] time. Um we [clears throat] will just

[0:10] get right into our work section. I want

[0:13] to remind everybody about work session.

[0:16] It's not as formal. We're not taking any

[0:18] votes and um we get to deep dive into

[0:22] some of the departments here at the

[0:24] district. So um let's just go ahead and

[0:26] get started with our D technology report

[0:32] from director Dustin

[0:35] Nelson. I'm gonna call him Dr. Dustin

[0:38] Nelson. Congratulations.

[0:40] >> No, I was just telling Jackie. I saw it

[0:41] on the agenda. I'm like, I'm not used to

[0:42] seeing.

[0:43] >> I know. It's so great.

[0:45] >> So, um, yeah, what better way to start

[0:47] off a work session than talking about

[0:49] technology. In the past couple months,

[0:51] if you've been paying attention on the

[0:52] Hill, there's been so much discussion

[0:54] about technology and a lot of changes

[0:56] coming down the line and we're just

[0:57] trying to figure out how to move forward

[0:59] with those changes and and what that

[1:01] looks like. So,

[1:02] >> Dustin, do you have a mic?

[1:04] >> Yeah, sorry.

[1:05] >> I was going to use a mic.

[1:07] >> I can't hear. [laughter]

[1:09] >> There we go. Mike, you know, we

[1:11] encourage our teachers to use mic in the

[1:13] classroom because it sparks better

[1:14] engagement with students. So, it makes

[1:16] so much sense that I'm like trying to

[1:18] tell teachers to use it and then I send

[1:19] up here not. Right.

[1:20] >> Yeah.

[1:21] >> So, uh yeah, with my presentation,

[1:24] hopefully you guys saw the recording. I

[1:25] kind of gave you guys a more in-depth

[1:27] view of the technology department. Um

[1:30] with that being said, I'm going to just

[1:31] kind of highlight a few different things

[1:33] through the through the presentation

[1:35] that I kind of want some of the public

[1:36] to see. Um here's our organizational

[1:39] chart if you ever want to dig into that.

[1:41] Um technology audits. And as I'm going

[1:43] through this, if you have questions,

[1:44] feel free just to ask as we go through

[1:46] because you've already heard the

[1:47] presentation. So,

[1:48] >> well, I'll start with the question then

[1:49] on your chart.

[1:51] >> So, it seems that your secretary has so

[1:53] many responsibilities

[1:55] and I would like you to elaborate on

[1:56] that. Like, is she spread too thin?

[1:59] >> Indeed, she does. So, um, Jen Benson,

[2:02] she's the secretary down in the

[2:03] technology department and she does so

[2:06] much for the school district. She really

[2:08] does. She's the customer service space

[2:10] for the technology department. Anytime

[2:12] anyone comes down there, she's, you

[2:14] know, you're greeted with a smile and

[2:15] how can we help you? She's she's willing

[2:17] to help out with anything. She has a lot

[2:19] of responsibility. You can see. So, as

[2:21] with any secretary, right, like they sometimes are just always sort of a

[2:25] little too thin with the work they're

[2:26] doing. Is this even working?

[2:28] >> No. No.

[2:31] >> Just replace.

[2:36] » All right. There we go. Much better.

[2:38] Okay. So, yeah. So, for her, she's over

[2:41] all of our purchasing. She does all of

[2:43] that. She's the one who's reaching out

[2:44] to vendors all the time. She saves me

[2:46] hours of time um doing a lot of that

[2:48] work. Um she also is responsible for

[2:51] working with HR to establish um new

[2:54] accounts. So, as new employees are

[2:56] starting, things like that or or if

[2:58] they're leaving the school district,

[3:00] she's the one who um sets up those

[3:02] accounts, activates them, deactivates

[3:04] them. [clears throat] She does a lot of

[3:05] work. And on top of all that, um, we

[3:07] have two help desk technicians and when

[3:09] they are not or when they are just

[3:10] slammed on help desk, she also picks up

[3:13] the phone and helps helps answer help

[3:15] desk calls. So I think just naturally

[3:17] working in education, I think

[3:20] it's probably safe to say that a lot of

[3:22] people are spread too thin. Um, I think

[3:24] it comes in waves, right? Like the

[3:26] beginning of the school year is just

[3:27] chaos for the technology department just

[3:29] because there's so much going on. Um,

[3:32] and with that, I think she just does a

[3:34] fantastic job. And, uh, yeah. So, shout

[3:37] out to Jen there because she really does

[3:39] do a lot for the department and for the

[3:41] district. And I think if you worked with

[3:42] her, you've seen you've kind of seen

[3:44] that. So, yeah.

[3:48] All right. I wanted to jump into

[3:49] technology audits. So, this last year

[3:52] about this time, we were going through four different

[3:56] technology audits at the same time. So

[3:58] we had our IT governance audit, a cyber

[4:02] security assessment. Both of these were

[4:03] conducted by a third party as part of

[4:04] the audit committee for uh the board and

[4:07] then we had an OLAG audit that was

[4:10] separate from the OLAG audit that was

[4:11] being completed at the same time here.

[4:13] Uh and then we also had the Department

[4:15] of Technology Services from the state of

[4:16] Utah come out and do some penetration

[4:18] testing. And basically that's where

[4:19] they're like trying to break into our

[4:20] network. Um so all those audits going on

[4:24] at the same time. We just got the

[4:25] reports in October. We got this one

[4:27] first and since we've had it, we've just

[4:29] been working through all the items as

[4:31] fast as we can and with that we had nine

[4:34] recommendations. Eight of those are

[4:36] already complete. One is currently um in

[4:39] progress and the one that's in progress

[4:41] is a policy that it's a data governance

[4:43] policy that I probably need to work with

[4:45] um Andy or Thomas Troder now in

[4:47] assessment. Um kind of impacts that

[4:49] department. Um,

[4:51] but with that, the the one thing too is

[4:53] like with policy right now, I kind of

[4:55] put all my policies on hold just because

[4:56] of all the changes with legislation. I

[4:59] didn't want to bring them to you guys

[5:00] and then two months later I have to

[5:01] bring them back. So, we have a lot like

[5:03] the there's some there's some

[5:05] legislation on like AI glasses that

[5:07] needs to be added to the employee

[5:09] acceptable use policy. There's a whole

[5:11] bunch of different things. So, anyways,

[5:13] you guys have any questions on the

[5:14] audits? The security one, this one we're

[5:16] working through right now. These ones

[5:17] are a lot more difficult and I think

[5:20] this is probably one of the areas we're

[5:21] spread really thin in the department. So

[5:23] like working to get those achieved is

[5:26] difficult right now.

[5:28] >> Yeah. So, the filtering audit, we've got

[5:31] a lot of questions about our filters and

[5:34] if they're effective, and I know that's

[5:36] a a statewide concern, and you mentioned

[5:40] on your presentation that accompanied

[5:42] this that we did extremely well on that,

[5:44] and I wondered if you would say for

[5:45] everyone's benefit what that means, that

[5:47] we do extremely well on that.

[5:49] >> So, basically, the the the state came

[5:52] out and they did testing on our

[5:53] filtering. They put in a bunch of

[5:55] keywords, all sorts of things, and they

[5:57] tried to get around our filtering and

[6:00] there was we found a couple small things

[6:02] that we fixed right away when they were

[6:03] here, but for the most part, they it did

[6:05] a really good job. The way that our

[6:06] filtering system works is it's kind of

[6:08] like an AI type model. It looks at

[6:10] websites and it categorizes them based

[6:12] on what it thinks it should be. So, if

[6:14] somebody builds a website today and they

[6:16] call it educational, it'll see it as

[6:17] that and it'll classify it as

[6:18] educational. But as soon as we realize

[6:20] or it realizes it's not actually

[6:21] educational, it will block the site. So,

[6:24] um, our filter that we switched to, we

[6:27] switched this one about two years ago

[6:28] and has been far [clears throat] more

[6:29] effective. Has far more controls than

[6:31] the previous one. So, I feel like we are

[6:33] in a good spot. Um, students are very

[6:36] they they have a lot of time on their

[6:37] hands at home with devices and I think

[6:39] they find ways to get around. Um, and

[6:41] when we know about them, we we shut it

[6:43] down. So, we really rely on our parents,

[6:45] teachers, administrators to let us know

[6:46] and we see things. But I feel like for

[6:48] the most part, we are definitely

[6:49] compliant with our policy and with

[6:51] federal requirements for SIPA with how

[6:54] our policy or our our filters are set

[6:56] up. But yeah,

[6:58] >> as a followup to that, kind of related,

[7:01] but not um I get a lot of consternation

[7:04] from students and teachers about

[7:05] specific sites that get blocked. And I'm

[7:07] not asking you at this moment to go into

[7:10] specific sites and say, but um if people

[7:13] have questions, do they just call the

[7:15] help desk for like why are they blocking

[7:17] Wikipedia? Why PBS? I don't know this

[7:19] answer. So they just call the help desk

[7:21] email you or what they do.

[7:22] >> Those two sites specifically and tell

[7:24] you exactly why. So PBS Learning, like

[7:26] you talk about PBS Learning, it's like,

[7:27] oh, that should be open for students.

[7:29] Why is it not? Um it has sexual content

[7:31] on there that students can access, which

[7:33] require your guys' approval to even be

[7:35] allowed in schools. Wikipedia, same

[7:37] thing. There's also some gender

[7:40] identification things that also um are

[7:42] not in line with it. So, um that's

[7:45] usually what we see. So, um what we'll

[7:47] do is oftent times like sometimes things

[7:49] are just categorized badly by the

[7:51] filtering system and they just need to

[7:52] be open. So, a student can't make a

[7:55] request, but they can go to their

[7:56] teacher who then can make a request to

[7:57] help desk. They can put in a ticket with

[7:59] the technology department and we can

[8:00] review the site. But we also have learn

[8:02] platform which is our data privacy

[8:04] metadata library. Essentially it

[8:06] highlights all of the programs that are

[8:08] approved for use in Tula County School

[8:09] District. And these programs go through

[8:12] a workflow of um goes through data

[8:15] privacy review, it goes through a

[8:17] curriculum review, goes through an ADA

[8:19] compliance review, it goes through a

[8:21] network security review, all to get

[8:23] approved or denied. So, um you can look

[8:26] up most programs in learn platform on

[8:28] the website and it'll tell you um if the application is open or not.

[8:33] Sometimes it's a website, sometimes it's

[8:35] not. Um sometimes it's a software

[8:36] program. We have all sorts of things on

[8:38] there. But um a lot of that work has

[8:41] really been done in the last couple

[8:42] years to really get us to be compliant

[8:44] with with state law. So, there are some

[8:47] programs like you'll read through data

[8:48] privacy agreements and stuff and it'll

[8:50] be like we're compliant all this stuff.

[8:52] Um, and then but they they'll refuse to

[8:54] sign like the data privacy agreement

[8:56] with the state of Utah which is which is

[8:58] law. They they can't screw that. So

[9:01] there are just some programs we can't

[9:02] approve and like Grammarly is one,

[9:05] Dualingo is one. Those are great

[9:07] programs, right, that you can use in the

[9:08] classroom, but they just they won't sign

[9:10] data privacy agreements. They say that

[9:12] they'll collect and sell our students

[9:13] information, which is a very bad deal

[9:15] when you're working with K through2

[9:17] students. So

[9:18] >> thank you. So there's a website people

[9:21] can go to look on the data library and

[9:24] that will be their first answer. If they

[9:25] still don't understand then reach out to

[9:27] the help desk and they can also make a

[9:28] request to change.

[9:30] >> Yep. And sometimes help desk can review

[9:32] those sites like right away when they're

[9:33] on the phone with them. If it's one that

[9:35] they're not sure then it gets elevated

[9:36] up for review. But if it Yeah. So

[9:39] >> thank you.

[9:39] >> Yep.

[9:41] >> All right. Um field operations projects.

[9:43] We have a lot. So we do have a rotation

[9:45] plan that's been in place for the last 5

[9:47] years that we implemented. Um however it

[9:49] kind of a couple years ago we realized

[9:51] it excluded a critical area in the

[9:53] schools which is like AV systems,

[9:55] intercoms, things like that. So for the

[9:58] last couple years on capital outlay what

[9:59] we do is we sit down and we review all

[10:01] the all the all the worst systems I

[10:03] guess in the district that need to be

[10:05] improved. We have some really old ones

[10:07] that are you know 20-year intercom

[10:09] systems that um when they go out they

[10:11] just they go out. There's no repairs,

[10:13] there's no parts. So, we've slowly been

[10:15] trying to add a few every single year

[10:16] just to get us up. And when we update

[10:18] some systems, that gives us parts for

[10:20] those older systems so we can keep

[10:22] limping them along, you know. So, um

[10:24] anyways, you see a lot of a lot of AD

[10:27] gym projects like Stansbury High School.

[10:28] We just upgraded the gym system there.

[10:30] That one um that one was

[10:34] original to the building. So,

[10:37] um let me jump over here. We're

[10:39] currently in the middle of a phone

[10:40] system migration. We're moving away from

[10:42] um Mel Connect, Mel Business, which is

[10:45] just um we have two different phone

[10:47] systems in the district right now. And

[10:49] that's a whole process. It's like a

[10:50] three-phase project. We're in like phase

[10:52] two. Um but we have until 2029 to

[10:55] migrate that system. Otherwise, we are

[10:58] we'll just anything on the old system

[10:59] will just not work. So that's been a

[11:02] capital project. Every year we've been

[11:03] requesting money um for little pieces of

[11:05] that to get that going along. Um summer

[11:08] rotation. I know there are some

[11:09] questions on this one. So this year

[11:10] we're doing the district office, Mil

[11:12] Canyon, Old Mill, Stanbury Park, and

[11:14] Sterling on the five-year rotation. A

[11:16] five-year rotation is a laptop, desktop,

[11:18] document, camera, uh keyboard, mouse,

[11:21] monitor, and we do have printers right

[11:24] now on a five-year rotation, but as soon

[11:25] as this is our last year, the five-year

[11:27] rotation. So now that we're completing

[11:29] that, we're going to move printers to an

[11:31] 8-year, but they were just so old in the

[11:33] schools, we needed to upgrade them

[11:34] sooner. So that's what that looks like

[11:37] right now. And then we have the 8year

[11:38] which is like projectors, audio systems

[11:40] in the classroom, um cabling, all sorts

[11:42] of different things there. So I know

[11:45] Elizabeth, I think you had a question on

[11:47] rotation.

[11:48] >> Yes. Um

[11:51] so how is it saving the district money

[11:55] and and how is it helping the employees

[11:58] with their workload?

[11:59] >> Yeah. So when I first came to the

[12:01] technology department, um the issues

[12:04] that we had is we had technology that

[12:06] should only be in service for maybe five

[12:07] or six years that was in service for

[12:09] like 10 or 12 years. And so what that

[12:12] was doing is our our field technicians

[12:14] were doing everything they could to just

[12:15] like piece these computers together,

[12:18] replacing parts on computers, um all

[12:20] sorts of things. So um so just like the

[12:23] labor cost itself of just

[12:25] troubleshooting and trying to get old

[12:26] technology to work with new software

[12:28] programs and things like that it was a

[12:30] lot of time. So I think there was some

[12:31] savings there. I don't have like details

[12:33] on what exactly that looks like from

[12:35] years ago. I wish I did but I don't. And

[12:38] then um the other piece of that is just

[12:41] as you look at the industry standard

[12:43] technology refresh is a common thing. So

[12:45] when you look at like private industry

[12:47] they'll do like a three-year rotation on

[12:48] computers. we do a fiveyear. Um, and

[12:51] then when I talk to other school

[12:52] districts, they do a fouryear. So, we're

[12:54] really doing everything we can to

[12:55] maximize our dollar and get our

[12:57] technology to where to where it can be

[12:59] before we before we swap it out. So, um,

[13:03] kind of like with the capital projects

[13:04] with like Ian's team with facilities,

[13:06] right? Like if we put off you put off

[13:08] the rotation and ultimately you're going

[13:10] to have a much bigger cost to replace it

[13:12] all at one time. So, for example, right

[13:14] now, um, Windows 10 just went away in

[13:16] October and everything has to now be

[13:19] Windows 11 or doesn't receive security

[13:21] updates. Security updates are important

[13:23] when you're handling, uh, student

[13:25] information, right? So, uh, moving this

[13:27] direction, we just if if we weren't on

[13:30] this five-year rotation, I would be

[13:31] standing up here today asking you for a

[13:33] few million dollars to go through and

[13:35] replace uh, computers in the whole

[13:37] district. And on top of that, we would

[13:39] have to do it in one summer versus like

[13:40] spreading it out. It's so it's much

[13:42] better for the workload too, a lot more

[13:44] manageable and it just creates a better

[13:46] experience for students and teachers in

[13:49] the classroom having updated refreshed

[13:51] technology. So I think that's important.

[13:53] I think that's one of the most um uh one

[13:56] of the greatest things I I guess I could

[13:57] say that we've implemented since I've

[13:59] been in the department is that

[14:00] >> Go ahead. I know time and attendance is

[14:02] a separate project outside of what

[14:04] you're involved with, but once it's all

[14:06] implemented, will your department be

[14:09] responsible for maintaining, answering

[14:12] questions, troubleshooting, all of those

[14:15] things with time and attendance as well?

[14:17] >> What do you mean by that question?

[14:18] >> The system itself probably. Is that what

[14:20] you're talking about?

[14:21] >> Yeah, the time.

[14:22] >> Oh, the system itself. I think that

[14:23] one's kind of split up between multiple

[14:25] people. So I think like technology has a

[14:27] piece in terms of like rostering

[14:29] employees and making sure that that

[14:30] information is correct in in correlation

[14:32] with working with HR and payroll. So I

[14:35] think that's I think it's kind of

[14:36] divided out between different

[14:37] departments. There's certain things like

[14:38] if we get a phone call on help desk it's

[14:41] u okay you're going to need to talk to

[14:42] this department about this issue or you

[14:44] know so it might be

[14:46] >> Yeah. Does that make sense?

[14:47] >> It it well I understand what you're

[14:49] saying but it does not make sense to me.

[14:51] I would like one department if possible

[14:53] where anyone can go to if they have

[14:55] issues with

[14:55] >> retirement. It's finance.

[14:57] >> Is it finance? Finance department

[15:00] >> because it seems pretty techy as well,

[15:01] right? Just trying to maintain the whole

[15:04] technical side of that as well.

[15:05] >> Yeah, we'll get calls of like people

[15:06] trying to log in that can't get in,

[15:08] right? Um and then we usually just work

[15:10] with finance, but we could we could

[15:12] determine what that looks like if we can

[15:14] have like one contact if it is finance.

[15:16] We can we can make sure that that's what

[15:17] happens.

[15:18] specifically person.

[15:22] >> Okay.

[15:23] >> So, I think like I said, I think there's

[15:24] like three pieces to it, but yeah. So,

[15:27] okay.

[15:28] >> All right. Any other questions on on

[15:30] this one? All right. Uh field operations

[15:34] workload. I usually every year kind of

[15:35] want to highlight what the ticket

[15:37] workload looks like for our field

[15:39] technicians. So, here's the elementary

[15:41] totals. You can kind of see the

[15:42] different ticket counts for the schools.

[15:44] Um and then

[15:47] u secondary you can see this one thing

[15:49] when you're looking at these numbers you

[15:50] can see like hey desert peak high school

[15:51] and Stanbury Junior High School these

[15:53] are brand new schools so why is the

[15:55] ticket um why is the ticket count so

[15:57] high and that's common thing with that

[16:00] we've noticed in technology is just when

[16:01] you first take on a school sometimes you

[16:03] think like oh it's going to be so much

[16:04] easier it's got all new technology and

[16:05] all this thing but there's just so much

[16:07] there's just so many little things that we have to work through and work

[16:11] out um after a building opens so I think

[16:13] you'll see these tickets maybe come down

[16:15] a little bit next year. Uh the other

[16:17] thing too is like with Desireette Peak

[16:19] High School, I think um with the senior

[16:21] class coming in next year, these will

[16:22] probably stay about the same is my guess

[16:24] because as the student count goes up, it

[16:26] does mean more devices in the in the

[16:27] school and more more assistance needed

[16:29] there. So Elizabeth, did you have a

[16:32] question on the tickets?

[16:33] >> Oh, I you answered it in the email.

[16:35] There was a correlation to the number of

[16:37] tickets versus the the student

[16:40] population at each school.

[16:42] >> Okay.

[16:42] >> Yeah. And um that's what we see. So when

[16:44] we look at like 1:1 devices specifically

[16:47] um that's about 30 to 40% of our field

[16:50] tech workload just across the board as

[16:51] an average. Um it's going to vary

[16:53] between schools right like IPA is not

[16:55] going to have like as many as Smith but

[16:59] >> is the goal to be at zero

[17:01] >> for tickets

[17:02] >> technology if I so I don't know

[17:06] >> I mean because each ticket you got to

[17:09] [clears throat] have someone working

[17:09] that to fix it. That takes time, costs

[17:12] money. Or is it to say we like tickets

[17:15] because not it keeps us busy, but it

[17:17] means that we're actually solving issues

[17:19] that are out there.

[17:19] >> I think these mics are all dying on

[17:22] [laughter]

[17:23] >> Let's put a ticket.

[17:26] >> And that's that's what it kind of looks

[17:27] like, right? So,

[17:29] >> um, so it take I don't know. I guess

[17:31] it's kind of a

[17:32] >> I don't mean to be silly with that

[17:33] question. I'm just wondering, you know,

[17:35] do we get to a point where we start

[17:36] reducing these and we feel good when

[17:38] they go down or

[17:39] >> I think Yeah. Yeah. So, I think what we

[17:40] want to see is a is a good balance, I

[17:43] guess. Not not I don't know. That's what

[17:46] I want to see. So, like when we

[17:47] implemented the rotation plan, I wish we

[17:48] had more data because I feel like if we

[17:50] would have seen the ticket workload back

[17:51] when we had before we were rotating out the

[17:55] technology, I feel like we probably

[17:57] would have had more tickets back then

[17:58] trying to just keep the same machines up

[18:00] and running like limping them along to

[18:01] get them to go, right? Um but at the

[18:03] same time, we adopted the rotation plan

[18:05] the same time we adopted a onetoone

[18:06] initiative. So, we loosened up some of

[18:08] the workload for the filts, but then

[18:10] picked it up on the Chromebook side. So,

[18:12] it it it would be interesting to see

[18:14] what those numbers are, but I just don't

[18:15] have those either. But, yeah, I don't

[18:17] know. I would say not zero because it's

[18:18] just I guess

[18:21] >> I guess it just highlights it highlights

[18:22] all the hard work the field techs are

[18:23] doing out in the schools. And, you know,

[18:25] I that's kind of our emphasis. Our goal

[18:27] this year uh really was to focus on um

[18:31] using the ticketing system more. So um

[18:34] we what we wanted to do is we really are

[18:36] emphasizing like priorit prioritizing

[18:38] tasks and communication back to our

[18:39] customers. So when a ticket's submitted

[18:42] we can communicate right through the

[18:43] ticket all that kind of stuff. So that

[18:45] was kind of our focus is to really

[18:46] increase the customer service side using

[18:47] the ticketing system and being more

[18:49] effective with the completing tasks. But

[18:51] I know what you're saying but yeah it's

[18:53] like yeah good balance I guess I want to

[18:56] see. So is there

[18:58] >> yeah so I you've already kind of gotten

[19:00] into this. I was just wondering how it

[19:02] compared to past years, but you kind of

[19:04] got into that. Um, the other question I

[19:06] had is could some of these tickets be

[19:09] reduced by a little more employee

[19:12] training so that it didn't have to get

[19:13] to the help desk or these things like

[19:15] I've got a black screen or like things

[19:18] are falling apart. This is totally

[19:19] outside my wheel. I I don't know what

[19:21] kind of tickets are most common for you

[19:23] to

[19:23] >> Abs. Absolutely. I think I mean there's

[19:25] some people that just are not techsavvy,

[19:27] right? and like we're here to support

[19:28] and help them and and get them through the day sometimes. Um but yeah,

[19:33] I mean more training can always be

[19:34] helpful out in schools. I think that's

[19:36] going to be a struggle moving forward

[19:38] with some of the recent changes that are

[19:40] happening with FP and stuff on the

[19:42] technology side. So I just it's kind of

[19:45] like our [snorts] training part that's

[19:46] going away.

[19:48] anyway. So,

[19:49] >> well, no, but also the 30 to 40% of it

[19:52] being onetoone devices is u extremely

[19:55] interesting with you you'll talk about

[19:57] this in a minute in the presentation

[19:59] about the conversations we're having

[20:01] about the role of technology in the

[20:03] district.

[20:03] >> So, anyway, that's something to think

[20:06] >> that that's coming right up.

[20:07] >> Yeah, sorry.

[20:08] >> Um, so network operations um -ate. So

[20:11] every year we have our network rotation

[20:13] plan and this is all fully reliable on

[20:15] our -ate uh reimbursement that we get

[20:19] from federal money essentially. So what

[20:20] -ate is is they provide funding for

[20:23] connectivity for internet to education

[20:26] and to libraries, public libraries. So

[20:29] the way that that works is um we are

[20:32] actually awarded on a five-year

[20:34] increment. So um and it's it starts on

[20:36] like so like 2020 to 2025 we had like $2

[20:38] million that was allocated to us but to

[20:41] get that money you basically have to go

[20:43] out and spend money on the network

[20:44] technology and then they reimburse you

[20:46] up to 60% until you hit that threshold.

[20:49] So we've kind of designed our network

[20:51] rotation plan around the money available

[20:53] through

[20:54] again this is fedally funded or federal

[20:57] money that we get. It's been very

[20:59] difficult working with this program last

[21:01] so this we just barely got this money.

[21:03] Well, we haven't even received it yet.

[21:04] So 32 $222,000 is what we're getting

[21:06] back this year, but uh because of all

[21:09] the worker shortages and stuff this last

[21:11] year, it has been such a huge pain to

[21:13] get applications filed and things like

[21:15] that. So what normally took a couple

[21:16] days is taking months. But we filed,

[21:19] we've been awarded the money, we're just

[21:20] waiting for it to show up and it's just

[21:22] taking a minute to hit the bank. So um

[21:25] with that too, um we work with UEN. So

[21:28] UEN uses part of our um - money to pay

[21:31] for all of our circuits for all of our

[21:32] buildings, which is the internet

[21:34] connection to them. So we don't pay

[21:35] anything for for our internet

[21:37] connections to our buildings, which is a

[21:38] lot of money. So they they help us out

[21:40] on that. Any questions on the rate, any

[21:44] of that?

[21:45] >> Good job.

[21:46] >> Okay.

[21:47] >> All right. Um I want to highlight this

[21:48] real quick. So when I first came into

[21:50] technology about 5 years ago, one of the

[21:53] initiatives that was tasked by me from

[21:54] building pit was to come up with uh more

[21:57] accountability for the technology that

[21:59] we have in Ed County School District. So

[22:02] we have millions of dollars worth of

[22:04] technology and back then when I first

[22:06] came in it was we didn't know where it

[22:08] was at I guess you could say. So, we've

[22:10] really we've really come up with

[22:11] processes and plans to five years from

[22:14] now, I can tell you that I'm 98%

[22:16] confident in our system that if I look

[22:17] like if I look up something in those

[22:19] devices that you have right there, it's

[22:20] going to show me that it's assigned to

[22:21] you. Uh we have such a really good

[22:23] program in place and part of that's just

[22:25] been a team effort of technology

[22:27] department coming together working with

[22:28] the employees of Tula County School

[22:29] District too because we every year we've

[22:31] been running those uh technology audits

[22:34] where you where the employees go in and

[22:35] put in like what devices they have and

[22:37] all that and that gives the

[22:38] accountability piece back to to it. So

[22:41] um yeah a really great program that we

[22:44] have in place. It's been led by Corey

[22:45] Price up in the warehouse and we now

[22:47] basically from the time we get

[22:48] technology to the time it goes to

[22:50] recycling we have a full process built

[22:53] out for it. So it's a lot of work. Um

[22:55] this last year on our audits our

[22:57] inventory we had seven sites that

[22:59] located 100% of their inventory in their

[23:01] schools. This is huge progress. We've

[23:03] only been doing this for three years and

[23:04] it's been getting better and better.

[23:05] Last year we had four sites. This year

[23:06] we have seven sites. So um better and

[23:09] better every year. These are the ones

[23:11] that the sites that got 100%. Um, and

[23:14] then we have many many other sites that

[23:16] were like 97 98%. So just a lot of good

[23:20] work by the employees and staff in these

[23:22] buildings and um and technology

[23:24] employees for all they've been doing. So

[23:27] any questions there?

[23:29] Okay. All right. Um, the only thing I

[23:32] want to highlight real quick on this is

[23:33] just we talked about learn platform some

[23:34] of that data privacy agreements. There's

[23:36] some new legislation for those. Um, and

[23:38] then we have some ADA compliance

[23:39] deadlines that are coming up. Um,

[23:41] federal deadlines for making sure our

[23:43] website, social media pages are all ADA

[23:44] compliant. Brett probably touched on

[23:46] that last board session. I don't know,

[23:48] maybe. Um, but we're working really

[23:50] hard. Communications is or

[23:51] communications is out there working with the teachers and and principles.

[23:58] And then we're also working with uh

[24:00] working Whitney Wallace is working with everyone on their department pages

[24:03] on the website. We're really doing

[24:05] everything we can to meet that deadline.

[24:06] So,

[24:08] Um, with that being said, here's the

[24:09] legislative updates and changes coming

[24:11] this year. Um, like I said, a lot of

[24:13] technology ones. So, like coming is like

[24:15] a parent portal for internet filtering

[24:17] in 2027 that's going to come out. So,

[24:20] that'll give parents a little more

[24:21] control when the when the devices go

[24:23] home, if they go home, depending on this

[24:25] other one, um, which is the balanced

[24:27] technology one. So, I mentioned in the

[24:29] recording, but we have a committee that

[24:30] we established. So before this bill was

[24:32] even uh proposed a few months ago, I

[24:35] have a tech leadership team and we were

[24:36] discussing the future of technology in

[24:39] Tula County School District. We were

[24:40] trying to make some decisions on on how

[24:42] to manage Chromebooks in the classroom.

[24:44] And then we were as we were having these

[24:46] discussions, we realized what is the

[24:48] purpose of this technology? It's not

[24:50] even defined anywhere with Tula County

[24:52] School District. Like what why do we

[24:53] have these in the classroom? And so, um,

[24:57] we worked on this as a technology

[24:58] leadership group, couldn't figure it

[24:59] out. And, well, we we tried we tried to

[25:01] work on it, but we realized it's a much

[25:02] bigger task than just the technology

[25:05] department. So, um, we put together a

[25:07] committee. We met a couple weeks ago.

[25:08] We've got Valerie Shields and Emily on

[25:10] the on the committee. We have, um, a

[25:13] huge group. We've got teachers. We have,

[25:15] um, a whole it's a whole whole group.

[25:18] So, but basically this this committee is

[25:21] establishing the purpose and the future

[25:22] of technology in Tula County School

[25:24] District. And as it all kind of came

[25:26] together, this bill was passed right

[25:28] here for balanced technology. And this

[25:31] gives specific direction on how some of

[25:33] these devices are used in K12. Um so

[25:35] like for K through three, it talks about

[25:38] um only using them when only using

[25:40] devices for when the teachers are

[25:41] teaching computer science standards or

[25:43] for preparation for assessment or taking

[25:46] assessments. Um, it also states that

[25:48] like K through six can no longer take

[25:50] devices home anymore. Um, and then as

[25:53] we're kind of looking at that, we're

[25:54] just we're kind of reanalyzing what what

[25:57] the future of the technology looks like

[25:58] in the schools and then more training

[26:01] for teachers on how to use it more

[26:02] effectively. I mean, whole it's a whole thing. So, I think this committee there's going to be a lot

[26:07] of great things that come out of it. Um,

[26:09] we're going to have a good good

[26:10] direction moving forward on what that

[26:13] looks like. So,

[26:14] >> sorry. This just occurred to me. So, if

[26:16] you don't know, and I can read the bill,

[26:17] too. I just Yeah. I'm wondering about um

[26:21] with K6 not being able to take devices

[26:23] home. So, does that mean if a teacher

[26:27] assigns a an assignment that has to use

[26:30] the computer and it has to be done at

[26:33] school, is it also illegal for let's say

[26:36] the kid is sick for two weeks? Um would

[26:39] it be illegal to check them out a device

[26:41] to loan? Is it zero ever?

[26:44] Can you do that?

[26:45] >> There is a specific bullet point in that

[26:46] bill that talks about like online

[26:48] schooling. So, I mean, so like the DEC

[26:51] there's no issues there. I think in that

[26:52] case, probably not. It might have to be

[26:54] paper packets for those students.

[26:56] >> So, make a substitution.

[26:57] >> It would have to be I don't think we

[26:59] could send them home. No. So,

[27:00] >> I I was just thinking about the way that

[27:02] things currently run and thinking about

[27:04] the adjustment that it will be.

[27:06] >> Yeah. And this whole bill has got us

[27:07] thinking differently about how we use

[27:09] the devices in in the classroom. And so

[27:11] we're thinking about completely just

[27:12] restructuring all the way up to K8 what

[27:14] that looks like. Um so just more to come

[27:17] on that. I think this committee is going

[27:18] to bring up a lot of good good things.

[27:21] But

[27:22] >> um I just want to touch on that. I know

[27:24] that um and I believe I don't know you

[27:29] kind of make me when I go to parent

[27:30] teacher conferences I always one

[27:33] conversation that I've had with a few

[27:35] teachers. I won't believe everything my

[27:37] kid says about you as long as you don't

[27:39] believe everything my concerns about

[27:41] being at home, right? But I know there's

[27:44] just started to be a little bit of buzz

[27:46] around and part of it we it's co right

[27:51] the not the terrible thing that happened

[27:53] in 2020 but brought about good things

[27:56] but people are some parents have started

[27:59] to ask

[28:01] is this too much can we not you know

[28:05] they're saying my kids on the computer

[28:06] for four and a half hours if they're six

[28:08] hours at school and then they've got to

[28:10] do assignments anyways and I'm assuming

[28:12] That's what you were saying. This this

[28:15] committee is going to start to look at

[28:16] that. What does technology look like in

[28:19] our district? OB obviously legislation

[28:21] is doing some of it. But anyways, I just

[28:24] think even teaching has changed a little

[28:26] bit because we were so excited about

[28:27] these devices, but then there's research

[28:30] now coming out really it's it is it

[28:34] better than the what paper and pencil

[28:37] that we use? So anyways, is that

[28:38] something I'm assuming that we're

[28:41] looking at? I think that's the best

[28:42] injunction with that.

[28:43] >> Yeah, that that's what that committee I

[28:44] think is going to help develop. So, um

[28:47] and that's the thing is like the

[28:48] research is both ways and so we're

[28:50] really just trying to figure out what

[28:51] and I the term that kept getting thrown

[28:53] around in that committee the last time

[28:54] we met was just balanced use of those

[28:56] devices, right? Like teacherled

[28:57] instruction is going to be way more

[28:58] critical than Chromebookled instruction,

[29:00] right? Just get on a Chromebook and go

[29:02] through a software program. And so I

[29:04] think that's what it is is it's

[29:05] establishing boundaries and guidelines

[29:07] and and support for teachers on how to

[29:09] use them more effectively.

[29:11] um and just you know so

[29:14] >> it's it's across the board. One thing

[29:15] we're looking at because the seven

[29:17] through eight um it requires parents to

[29:19] opt in to let them take them home. So

[29:21] instead of opting out like it is now

[29:23] it's opt in which is just going to

[29:25] create so many difficulties that we're

[29:26] possibly looking at just going classroom

[29:28] steps all the way up to 8th grade. So

[29:30] they don't even go home

[29:31] >> which could save the district quite a

[29:33] bit of money if we're not having one to

[29:35] one

[29:36] >> possibly. Possibly because if we have to

[29:37] have a classroom set

[29:39] >> Yeah. Yeah, if you have to have a

[29:40] classroom set in a classroom of 35

[29:42] students, but there's only 35 students

[29:44] in that classroom once a day, it's going

[29:46] to be

[29:47] >> like you have to have enough in there

[29:48] for that class period. So, just

[29:50] >> we're trying to like work out all that.

[29:52] There's a lot of good conversations

[29:53] happening. So, that'll be coming.

[29:55] [clears throat] But

[29:55] >> yeah, it's the same. Okay.

[29:57] >> Anyways, thank you.

[29:58] >> Yeah. Um anyways, any other questions?

[30:01] There was a bill like on rural buses

[30:03] putting Wi-Fi on them. There's some

[30:05] funds available for that. Not sure that

[30:07] um I know we the ones I that come to

[30:10] mind is like the IBA bus, right? An hour

[30:12] a day back and forth between Wendover

[30:13] and Ibopa, but with that there's a huge

[30:16] lapse of cell coverage there. So,

[30:19] >> but we already have it on on some

[30:21] >> we have it on activity activity buses.

[30:23] So,

[30:24] >> yeah,

[30:25] >> but not on that IBA that hour a day

[30:27] ride. No, no, but again, again, like the

[30:30] majority of that ride, there's no cell

[30:32] service, so it' be hard to get, but

[30:35] Starlink could be an option. Yeah, it's

[30:37] expensive, but

[30:39] >> could be an option. I know some other

[30:40] districts are looking into it, so

[30:42] >> yeah. Anyways, you guys have any

[30:43] questions? I'm taking up way more time

[30:45] than I wanted to. So, [cough]

[30:47] [clears throat]

[30:47] >> go ahead. Yeah, just um with all the

[30:50] funding cuts that are happening with a

[30:51] lot of these things, um you don't

[30:54] obviously need our approval for every

[30:56] little thing you do, but I'm um

[30:58] wondering if when you make adjustments

[31:01] due to those funding cuts, if maybe you

[31:03] could compile a list and eventually send

[31:06] that to us, maybe an email. And the

[31:07] reason I'm asking is because when things

[31:09] happen in the schools, um teachers or

[31:12] community members, neighbors will come

[31:14] to us and say, "Oh, why is this

[31:15] happening?" or whatever. And a lot of

[31:18] times we won't know the answer because

[31:21] we don't know why it happened. So

[31:24] anyway, I know that there'll be a lot of

[31:27] impacts with those funding cuts and that

[31:30] maybe if I mean if you think nobody will

[31:32] notice, that's fine. But if you think

[31:33] there's something that's coming out that

[31:35] people would notice, I would love a way

[31:37] to just be on top of that.

[31:39] >> Yeah, I think we could look in that. I

[31:40] know like the so recently the computer

[31:42] science money was cut, digital teaching

[31:44] and learning money was cut and like

[31:46] those are going to impact those are

[31:48] going to impact us because that's like

[31:50] edtech positions. That's also um that's

[31:54] also like school AI that's our approved

[31:56] AI platform for schools to use. [snorts]

[31:59] It's a very safe environment for

[32:00] students to use. Teaches them good

[32:02] practices but that money is gone. So um

[32:06] I guess we have to decide do we keep

[32:09] that program? Do we try to find money

[32:10] for that program? Do we get rid of that

[32:12] program and try to find some other

[32:14] resources that are cheaper or free? I

[32:16] don't know. It's hard with AI programs

[32:18] like that just because of the way they

[32:19] collect data. Um, so like I said, those

[32:22] programs are critical for just safe safe

[32:25] environments to keep the kids in. So

[32:29] anyway,

[32:30] >> thank you.

[32:30] >> Yeah, you guys have any other questions?

[32:32] I will get out of here, but if you guys

[32:34] ever have any questions, feel free to

[32:35] reach out anytime. So, okay. Thank you.

[32:41] very much. Okay, next up we

[32:44] will have our student services director

[32:47] report. Um, Heather Castino, you got two

[32:50] right in a row.

[32:55] » All right. Hopefully that's not too

[32:57] noisy for you. Dustin's going to get

[32:59] that up for me.

[33:02] >> This is one of his many jobs is to help

[33:04] us at board presentations. So,

[33:09] I'm excited to be here tonight to talk

[33:10] about student services. My goal for

[33:12] tonight was just to try to help you

[33:14] understand the the depth and the breadth

[33:16] of student services and what we cover.

[33:19] So, and I'm not going to read word for

[33:21] word from each slide. So, if you have

[33:23] questions, just stop me. So, at Student

[33:25] Services, we're dedicated to empowering

[33:27] our students and their families. Our

[33:29] mission is to strengthen students

[33:30] physical, social, cognitive wellness

[33:33] while ensuring safe, equitable learning

[33:35] environments that prepare them for the

[33:36] future. So everything we do in our

[33:38] building is focused on helping students

[33:40] succeed.

[33:42] Um, a big part of student services and I

[33:45] didn't add it on here and I'm going to

[33:46] talk about it first is because it's not

[33:48] like a physical thing that you see in

[33:49] our building that happens but um I've

[33:52] commandeered a few members of my team

[33:54] and we do the ALPS every month with the

[33:56] administrators and so our ALP focus this

[33:59] year has been champs classroom

[34:01] management and that's a big part of

[34:03] prevention and good teaching for helping

[34:06] principles to teach teachers. So we

[34:08] train administrators through that

[34:09] process. And then um another thing at

[34:12] student services that involves me

[34:14] directly is case management. So each

[34:17] week we meet on Thursdays and we make

[34:19] sure that students have due process when

[34:21] they have behaviors that have risen

[34:22] above the level that a school should

[34:24] deal with. Um this was a big deal for

[34:27] me. Uh last year you guys approved to

[34:29] change some of the wording on the

[34:30] policy. we were able to kind of condense

[34:32] the committee a little bit so it wasn't

[34:33] 20 people and um we've streamlined those

[34:37] processes. I'm I'm pretty happy with how

[34:39] it's running now and the procedures and

[34:42] we my my big focus is when a student

[34:44] misbehaves and they have a consequence,

[34:46] we still have to support them through a

[34:48] consequence. And so, um I've held many

[34:51] meetings over the last year and three

[34:53] quarters with students and parents. Um,

[34:55] by the time they come to me, we're

[34:57] usually calm down, you know, and I love,

[34:59] this is one of my favorite parts about

[35:01] my job. So, I love talking about it

[35:02] because I I think those kids you get the

[35:05] biggest reward for when you help them um

[35:07] get through whatever they need to get

[35:09] through and to still be successful in

[35:10] school. So, that's a big part of what I

[35:12] do every Thursday. Section 504s. This is

[35:16] something I'm still learning about. I'm

[35:17] going to attend the LRP conference this

[35:19] year to help, but make sure that

[35:21] families feel supported when they need

[35:22] help from schools or schools feel

[35:24] supported when they need help

[35:25] understanding how to help students that

[35:27] have a 504

[35:28] or um something that is hindering their

[35:31] education. Nursing. So, I asked each of

[35:34] my directors to kind of give me a

[35:35] positive and Addie wanted me to share

[35:38] the nurses. We have six nurses. They are

[35:40] spread very thin among all the schools.

[35:42] We have one healthc care aid at Sterling

[35:46] and last week that healthcare aid was

[35:48] able to successfully administer an

[35:49] EpiPen when needed. So Addy wanted me to

[35:51] point that out and um save a kid before

[35:54] they were carded off in an ambulance. So

[35:56] kind of a big deal.

[35:58] >> Um teen centers. So the teen

[36:00] >> make a comment about nurses.

[36:02] >> So uh at the last working board meeting,

[36:04] Ian really invited us as board members

[36:06] when we're in a school to talk to all

[36:08] the employees. And so I took his advice

[36:10] not only [snorts and clears throat] for

[36:12] Did I say Andy?

[36:13] >> Oh, okay. Andy, did I said the right

[36:15] name, right? Ian. Okay. So then I took

[36:17] his advice to, you know, ask all the

[36:19] employees and I spoke with the nurse at

[36:21] one of the school and she just said, "We

[36:23] love our job, but we're spread so thin,

[36:26] but we just love it." And we know we

[36:28] could go be a nurse somewhere else and

[36:30] make more money, but we just love the

[36:32] students and everyone who we work with.

[36:35] >> Yeah, the nurses are a great group of

[36:36] people. They're very positive. I hardly

[36:38] ever see them because they really are

[36:39] just running. In fact, I don't use my

[36:42] assigned district car. I allow them to

[36:44] take it all the time because they're going constantly. So, it's

[36:48] awesome. Um, teen centers. So, teen

[36:50] centers in our district, they're

[36:52] designed, as you guys know, to help

[36:53] students usually before school, during

[36:55] lunch, or after school. Um, through or

[36:57] through structured hall pass access. Uh,

[37:00] we try to keep the kids in in class as

[37:03] much as possible, but then help them as

[37:05] needed. Um and then giving them services

[37:07] for food, hygiene, you know, emotional

[37:10] regulation, academic support, connection

[37:13] to school staff and different support

[37:14] systems and school appropriate mental

[37:16] health support when needed or connecting

[37:18] them with the counselors as needed or

[37:19] the social workers that we have. Um I

[37:22] will say with teen centers, something

[37:24] that I'm working on because we've kind

[37:26] of found that the funding even though it

[37:28] seems like a lot of money doesn't go as

[37:30] far as we would like it to go um when

[37:32] actually building teen centers. So, my

[37:34] goal for teen centers and the vision

[37:36] that I would like to see happen is to

[37:38] focus on getting access at every single

[37:40] school, no matter if it's a teen center,

[37:41] a wellness center, or a care closet,

[37:44] which could be at an elementary or a

[37:45] junior high. Um, over the past year and

[37:47] a half, we've kind of done a clean out

[37:50] at student services building in our

[37:52] warehouse bay of stuff that's just

[37:54] sitting there. I'd rather have that out

[37:56] in schools, getting it into the hands of

[37:58] those that need it. So, that's going to

[38:00] be my focus going forward for the teen

[38:02] center vision and kind of have a model

[38:03] that supports every single school. Um,

[38:06] instead of some that we can maybe build

[38:08] something in, we can probably find rooms

[38:10] and make things work. It's just being

[38:12] creative in each school. Um, I'm going

[38:15] to leave the prevention one because I'm

[38:16] going to talk about that a little bit

[38:17] later. Crisis response. Um, principles

[38:21] call me multiple times during the day,

[38:24] you know, for help. Um, and this is

[38:26] something we're going to be working

[38:27] towards right now. I've been working on

[38:29] at Dr. Ern's direction, a student code

[38:31] of conduct that we'll kind of change the

[38:33] behavior model in our district for next

[38:35] year. We'll be sharing that out and and

[38:37] making sure that principles have that

[38:39] person that they can bounce something

[38:40] off of if they need to. So, trying to

[38:42] always be available when they need help.

[38:45] Um, so more to come on that and then I

[38:49] think I'm going to go ahead and forward

[38:51] on

[38:52] >> Can I ask you a question?

[38:53] >> Go ahead.

[38:54] >> Going back to case management, you know,

[38:56] those are all referrals, right? Mhm.

[38:57] >> Are they up or down? I mean, more or

[39:00] less than what we're we've seen last

[39:03] year even.

[39:04] >> I think from when I started, probably

[39:05] down a little bit. Uh, we did point out

[39:08] to school level administrators that

[39:10] district policy says that they could

[39:12] suspend a student for up to 10 days if

[39:14] it was something. So, that kind of made

[39:17] it so they weren't coming for every

[39:18] little thing, if that makes sense. Like,

[39:20] they're kind of handling. And then that

[39:22] um student code of conduct, we're going

[39:24] to do a lot more focus on what we have

[39:27] district case management. We're going to

[39:28] help people build local case management

[39:30] in their buildings and kind of determine

[39:33] how they can handle those situations

[39:35] appropriately. We try to make all of our

[39:36] decisions unemotionally.

[39:39] We use a a matrix that we apply to every

[39:42] single case that's a safe schools case

[39:44] for example. So that we're not saying,

[39:46] well, I feel like that kid was naughty.

[39:48] let's give them a year, you know, which

[39:50] we hardly ever have a kid on a year

[39:51] suspension. Um, but if something

[39:53] warrants that, it definitely could

[39:55] happen.

[39:56] >> Um, that would be an extreme safe

[39:58] schools type thing. Um, the

[40:00] conversations are interesting with

[40:02] parents and getting them to understand,

[40:04] you know, when when I just was on the

[40:06] phone with a mom yesterday talking to

[40:08] her and and trying to talk through, you

[40:10] know, your student may have a

[40:12] consequence, but we're going to this is

[40:13] how we're going to support you through

[40:14] that. And then I want schools to be able

[40:15] to build that at at the local level,

[40:17] too. So, you can suspend a kid for up to

[40:19] 10 days, but along with the suspension,

[40:21] what supports are you putting in place?

[40:22] You can't just do a flatout suspension.

[40:24] And we've tried very hard with students

[40:26] to make sure that we're supporting if we

[40:28] put a student on a long-term suspension,

[40:30] which for me, the longest has been a

[40:33] year, just recently, but um that's a

[40:35] very extreme case. I put reminders in my

[40:38] calendar, and I am calling those

[40:40] parents, you know, every couple months.

[40:42] I've scheduled meetings every quarter.

[40:43] We're doing that review every 45 days to

[40:46] make sure they are getting their due

[40:47] process, you know, and really helping.

[40:49] Um, Mr. Curfew tells me, he says, "You

[40:51] don't want a school to prison pipeline."

[40:53] You know, we need to try to fix that.

[40:54] And so, we're trying to make sure that

[40:56] we have supports in place that way. So,

[40:58] >> thank you.

[40:59] >> That probably more than answered for

[41:00] you, Elizabeth.

[41:01] >> And then, how many employees do you

[41:03] have?

[41:04] >> So, we have at student services 36 in

[41:06] the building at different times of the

[41:08] day. And then Mrs. choir supervises 39

[41:12] counselors also. So, um, we did push out

[41:16] some ML aids. They used to be kind of

[41:19] based out of our building and we sent

[41:21] the funding out to the schools. So, we

[41:22] now have them working with their schools

[41:24] more because that's been kind of a thing

[41:25] that I've pushed as the director. I

[41:27] don't want people sitting in student

[41:28] services, you know, as much as possible,

[41:31] but like I have meetings all the time,

[41:33] but other people that need to be of

[41:35] students, I expect them to be of

[41:36] students and that's come down through

[41:37] the directors. So, McKini Vento

[41:39] specialist, the title six liaison, the

[41:42] anybody that can, we should be out

[41:44] helping kids. We shouldn't be sitting in

[41:45] our offices, you know. So, we we have

[41:48] done that. So, 36, but they're not all

[41:50] there all the time. In fact, sometimes

[41:52] it kind of looks like a ghost town, but

[41:54] that's okay. They're out working. So,

[41:56] any other questions? I just kind of

[41:59] wanted to comment just in anyways when

[42:02] you said a 504 for students I kind of I

[42:05] thought wait I thought that special ed I

[42:08] actually know please anyways so

[42:11] different between an IEP and a 504 yes

[42:14] >> it's a funding me it's the mechanism in

[42:16] which it's funded or federal

[42:18] >> is generally academic

[42:20] >> no not always Marissa can probably

[42:22] answer this is where I'm still learning

[42:23] >> I know

[42:24] >> so the difference between 504 and IEP

[42:26] 504 is the accommodation based where IEP

[42:28] is you need services as well. So you

[42:31] might have a disability but you might

[42:33] not need require special education

[42:35] services or you might have a disability

[42:37] and you only need accommodations. And so

[42:38] that's the biggest difference. It's just

[42:40] your access to accommodations versus

[42:42] access to accommodations and services.

[42:44] >> And so is there a reason why they're in

[42:46] two different departments?

[42:49] >> It gets messy.

[42:50] >> Okay, that's gone back and forth over

[42:53] the years. took it under us um at one

[42:55] point.

[42:56] >> Federal funding for IDEIDA I feel like

[42:59] shouldn't be servicing 504. So, I think

[43:02] that's what I was saying.

[43:02] >> Yeah. So, I think there needs to be a

[43:04] distinct

[43:04] >> real distinct.

[43:06] >> Okay. That's what she was saying.

[43:07] >> There's other districts that do bowl,

[43:09] but I think it just depends on

[43:10] >> I hope I don't get in trouble for saying

[43:12] this, but I'm just going to advocate

[43:13] because we've had this conversation a

[43:15] lot. We could have a 504 person in our

[43:17] district that that's what they do.

[43:19] along with other

[43:20] >> that's why I was like whoa

[43:22] >> cuz it's a lot you know you add on um

[43:25] and and just wrapping your head around

[43:26] all the different things you know making

[43:28] sure so someday when the money tree

[43:31] grows wherever we've planted it

[43:33] >> you know [laughter]

[43:34] >> that's something to think about but um

[43:37] counselors so we do have right now 39

[43:39] counselors in our district um Mity has

[43:43] done Mrs. Sors has done a great job of

[43:45] training. She has those counselors in

[43:47] there every month, you know, and they're

[43:49] getting training that's specific to what

[43:51] they need and she works really well with

[43:52] them. I'm just super impressed with her

[43:54] ability to manage all of that. She's

[43:56] also taken on all mental health. I

[43:58] changed the structure at student

[43:59] services and she's over all mental

[44:01] health because I felt like that kind of

[44:02] landed in that realm. Um, so the school

[44:06] counselors, they play a critical role in

[44:08] student success. They provide direct

[44:09] services such as classroom instruction,

[44:11] college and career readiness, dropout

[44:13] prevention. Their work is data driven

[44:15] and aligned with state expectations to

[44:16] close the gaps and improve outcomes. So,

[44:19] this kind of shows how they all lot

[44:21] their time. If you've ever Well, I'm

[44:23] married to a counselor, so I guess this

[44:25] makes sense to me. He has to do a

[44:26] portfolio every year. You know, he has

[44:28] to make sure that he's falling within

[44:30] these percentages and doing what he

[44:32] needs to do. And it is a shift. People

[44:34] sometimes think a counselor is just

[44:36] there to help with scheduling. they do

[44:37] so much more than that. So, especially

[44:39] and it's very different in the

[44:41] elementary versus the secondary

[44:42] counseling realm. So, counselors are

[44:44] essential

[44:46] mental health services. So, um the

[44:48] project aware grant

[44:50] uh if you may remember that's how we

[44:52] have funded social workers that we've

[44:53] had in our district. We currently have

[44:56] social workers based at Desert Peak,

[44:58] Dougway, Grantsville, Stansbury, and

[45:00] Tilla. Uh the base pays for the Dougway

[45:04] one currently. that Twilive funds their

[45:07] own and then the other three schools,

[45:09] Stanbury, Desert Peak, and Grantsville,

[45:11] are looking at possible funding sources

[45:13] because the Aware grant does end on

[45:14] September 29th. It it actually ended on

[45:17] January 14th this year. I don't know if

[45:19] you guys knew that. It was doed and um

[45:23] some lobbyists and stuff kind of came in

[45:25] and we weren't sure what to do because

[45:26] we were told on the 14th that we were

[45:28] responsible for their pay as of that

[45:30] day.

[45:31] >> Anything they worked after, that got

[45:33] overturned on January 16th. So, we were

[45:35] able to continue on. Um, lots of great

[45:38] work by people in our state. Stephanie

[45:40] Rolley has been amazing with federal

[45:42] grants and she helped jump on that and,

[45:44] you know, we submitted our our voice as

[45:48] part of that to try to help. So, the

[45:50] project aware is ending. um that has

[45:52] helped with the social workers, the

[45:54] schools, the model that we are promoting

[45:56] that is if a school wants their own that

[45:58] they find the funding source that they

[46:00] can maintain for that and then uh within

[46:03] that realm stick to our salary

[46:05] schedules. So that follows you know

[46:07] along with other positions

[46:10] um we're also looking we're kind of have

[46:11] a relationship with Inter Mountain

[46:13] Connect Dr. Ernst and I met with them

[46:15] was I think it was Mr. Brian's

[46:16] suggestion and talking about some

[46:18] virtual social work visits for students.

[46:20] And I think that would be amazing having

[46:22] been a principal in rural schools. That

[46:25] would have been an awesome resource to

[46:26] have available to be able to get a kid

[46:28] help, you know, and and do it quickly.

[46:30] And I think people are so used to that

[46:32] now, you know, and that that way of

[46:34] doing things.

[46:36] Um, federal programs.

[46:39] So, I'm going to start out this one with

[46:40] a positive. So, we did get an audit of

[46:42] federal programs this year and there

[46:43] were no findings. So, yay. Um, Dustin

[46:47] was talking about how stressful

[46:48] everybody is this time of year.

[46:49] Stephanie, really stressful time is

[46:50] December. I thought I was going to lose

[46:52] her for a while. [laughter] It was

[46:54] crazy. She was so worried about this

[46:56] audit and then they came. It was the

[46:57] state director and one of the um his

[47:00] assistants and it was awesome to sit in

[47:02] that meeting and hear all the good

[47:03] things that Stephanie has implemented.

[47:05] She's just a magician with that kind of

[47:07] stuff. So, we currently have six

[47:09] schoolwide title one schools and I think

[47:11] this is an answer to Elizabeth question

[47:13] you had. So, we use the school free and

[47:15] reduced lunch numbers to determine

[47:16] whether or not a school is schoolwide or

[47:18] if they're targeted. So, they get less

[47:20] money when they're on a targeted track,

[47:23] but the three schools that are targeted

[47:25] this year will most likely be schoolwide

[47:27] next year because their numbers have

[47:28] shifted. So, um we will probably have

[47:31] nine schools in schoolwide status. So,

[47:33] that depends on the amount of funding we

[47:34] get. Um we do never know what that

[47:37] funding is going to look like,

[47:38] especially lately. It could change. So,

[47:41] [clears throat] and the federal

[47:42] government and the state are being very

[47:45] strict about spending. And so, we have

[47:47] put in some procedures for schools,

[47:49] things they used to be able to just buy.

[47:52] They don't get to just buy anymore. They

[47:54] have to get approval through Stephanie.

[47:56] Um, and I do want to mention, we've done

[47:58] that with all of student services. Some

[48:00] things that I've put in place. No, no,

[48:03] nothing is purchased without going up

[48:04] the ladder. Like, we are being very

[48:06] careful and conscientious about what we

[48:08] spend money on. um because we do want to

[48:11] spend the money wisely.

[48:13] So, title three, this is multi-english

[48:16] learners and um we help students gain

[48:20] English proficiency and meet state

[48:22] academic standards and we also have two

[48:24] liaison that are based out of our

[48:25] building and they are busy. They get in

[48:27] there about 7:15 and they go all day.

[48:30] They're always translating um for

[48:32] schools, they translate for families,

[48:35] help people when needed. They're great.

[48:37] If you've ever met Angelina, she's

[48:39] amazing. She's such a powerhouse of

[48:40] helping people and she's been in our

[48:42] district for over 20 years, you know,

[48:43] she just really knows what she's doing.

[48:45] Um, the title six and title four, title six. So, title four focuses

[48:51] on providing students with a

[48:52] well-rounded education, improving school

[48:54] conditions, and expanding the use of

[48:55] technology. So, I was thinking about

[48:57] that money and kind of how we currently

[48:59] spend it. We mostly use that money for

[49:01] refocus aids in our schools. So that

[49:03] would kind of meet those first couple

[49:05] things, providing students with to

[49:07] access and improving school conditions.

[49:09] The schools that do have a refocus aid,

[49:12] they have loved having refocus aids.

[49:14] They are those people that when a kid is

[49:15] having trouble, generally they've been

[49:17] elementary schools. That person is the

[49:19] person who can take them, let's walk and

[49:21] talk. Let's walk and talk it out, you

[49:22] know, let's figure out what's going on.

[49:24] Um, we've done lots of support for kids

[49:27] with Rethink lessons. We've used Rethink

[49:29] a lot in our district and the the lady

[49:32] that is kind of our serer for Rethink,

[49:35] Marie, if we tell her, hey, we have a

[49:37] kid who is having problems with touching

[49:39] people in private parks. What do you got

[49:42] for us? And she will get lessons for us

[49:44] and get those back and we're able to

[49:45] have those refocus aids or counselors or

[49:47] whoever needs to go through those as

[49:49] part of a behavior contract and help a

[49:51] kid um change their behavior. Yes.

[49:54] >> Yes. Refocus aids. I have loved loved

[49:57] working with refocus aids in elementary

[49:59] schools. I'm curious about um the

[50:01] position. Is there a district-wide

[50:04] standard of training or protocol or

[50:07] things that

[50:08] >> So Julie Spindler kind of um she's not

[50:11] their supervisor. Their principal is

[50:12] their supervisor, but she does bring

[50:14] them in and they get trained. I believe

[50:15] it's monthly.

[50:16] >> Oh, good. um they start, you know, the

[50:18] beginning of the year and she has them

[50:19] in there and she's kind of going over

[50:20] best practices with them and what to do

[50:22] and and if we had more money that would

[50:24] be a great way to spend money, too. I

[50:26] mean, they're just they're needed. So,

[50:29] um title six Indian education added to

[50:32] your list.

[50:33] >> Sorry. Sorry, Jeremy. I know we're

[50:36] asking for all the money, but everybody

[50:38] else needs money, too. So, the title

[50:40] six, this is um Indian American Indian

[50:42] and Alaskan native students. We

[50:44] currently have 119 qualified students.

[50:46] These are students who have a tribal

[50:48] number when they fill out their

[50:50] application. This is kind of a cool

[50:52] program, really unique. Um I know

[50:54] Emily's done a lot with this out. She's

[50:57] traveled to IDPAW many years to go out

[50:58] to our annual meeting out there. We do

[51:01] cultural nights in our building. We do a

[51:03] special graduation ceremony recognition

[51:05] for these guys. Um it's a lot of fun. So

[51:09] if you've ever met Dr. Foster from the

[51:11] state office. He's coming out this year

[51:12] to our cultural, you know, recognition

[51:14] night for the graduates and it's just a

[51:16] neat experience. So, um, really neat

[51:18] guy.

[51:19] >> And there was a gentleman, gosh, Bob's

[51:23] probably going to remember his name

[51:24] better than me. Virgil

[51:25] >> Virgil.

[51:25] Johnson.

[51:26] >> He retired this year. His wife actually

[51:28] passed away. So, he retired, but he was

[51:30] teaching the goshoot language to our

[51:31] students in Igopa. And it was a pretty

[51:33] cool program because it's kind of

[51:34] considered a dead language now.

[51:37] >> And so, it was really neat to be able to

[51:38] go and see that. and his his wife passed

[51:40] away and he just decided he was kind of

[51:42] done. So, um that's a change for us out

[51:45] there. So, if anyone knows anybody

[51:46] available,

[51:48] let us know. Uh Mckin Vento.

[51:51] [clears throat] So, Mckin Vento um is

[51:53] the homeless assistance act. So, it

[51:55] ensures that students experiencing

[51:57] homelessness can enroll, attend, and

[51:59] succeed in school.

[52:01] So, it's part of the Education for

[52:03] Homeless Children at Youth program. And

[52:06] how do you describe Mckin Vental?

[52:08] There's so much that happens with McKini

[52:09] Vental. We help with food. We help with

[52:11] clothing. We help with hygiene kits. Um

[52:15] we the education foundation, we've tried

[52:18] to shift the the load a little bit and

[52:20] they've taken on they have a

[52:21] relationship with the Church of Jesus

[52:22] Christ of Latter-day Saints and we can

[52:24] get a student a voucher to go get items

[52:28] of clothing from DI for free now.

[52:30] Whereas before our student services was

[52:32] kind of this building that had this

[52:33] closet that was kind of a mess and we're

[52:35] kind of getting that not we keep a

[52:38] little bit of that on hand but we don't

[52:40] do it to the extent we did before

[52:41] because now we can let families go pick

[52:42] out what they want to pick out. Get them

[52:44] a voucher. They go get what they need.

[52:46] We do gas vouchers for families that

[52:48] need to get kids to a bus station or

[52:51] even to school. There's not a bus

[52:52] station. Um

[52:55] and we've had to change the processes

[52:56] because people do abuse things. And so

[52:59] when we figure that out, we try to

[53:00] tighten it down and have a good

[53:01] procedure for that. Um, we do also help

[53:05] if there's a family that comes into our

[53:06] building that may not necessarily

[53:08] qualify for Mckin Vento, we're going to

[53:10] help them if we can and we try to find

[53:11] those resources. Many donors, especially

[53:14] around Christmas time, come to student

[53:15] services and hand us money, you know, or

[53:18] here, I have these items or I have if

[53:19] you need food, we'll go go get food. One

[53:22] hiccup that we can kind of see happening

[53:25] is that the new food die regulations.

[53:29] We got to figure out how to work that

[53:31] out. We don't know what to do because we

[53:33] give weekend meal kits all the time to

[53:35] kids that experience hunger over the

[53:37] weekends

[53:38] >> and now we can't pass out food that has

[53:40] I don't I don't know the exact dies but

[53:43] >> so we're going to be talking about that.

[53:46] goes into effect July one. So

[53:48] >> So is this a crossover? Has it been

[53:52] tricky? Is it just something we're

[53:54] working on or maybe it's too much? Um,

[53:59] McKenna McKini Vento and the teen

[54:02] centers and

[54:03] >> so that

[54:04] >> is that opening a can of worms beyond.

[54:06] >> Am I okay to speak the way I would like

[54:08] to see it? Dr.

[54:09] Yeah,

[54:10] >> I I do feel like that could be that

[54:12] umbrella

[54:13] >> and it should be that umbrella because

[54:15] the way that I envision it, teen center,

[54:16] wellness center, care closet,

[54:18] >> and then that part of student services

[54:21] is the one managing all those resources

[54:23] and getting them out. Does that make

[54:24] sense? And then sourcing grants,

[54:26] sourcing donations, sourcing. So that's

[54:28] the direction I would like to go is to

[54:30] have it all be part of that because I

[54:32] think those flow so well together anyway

[54:34] and should to support students and and

[54:37] teen centers all over the state look

[54:39] different. They don't look like Davis

[54:40] everywhere. They look um we did some

[54:42] training with um what's the name of that

[54:45] group you listen to the policy project

[54:48] >> policy

[54:49] >> they talked about like Morgan Morgan has

[54:51] a very high socioeconomic rate their

[54:54] students deal with mental health. So

[54:56] they said in our teen center we're

[54:58] helping kids with mental health whereas

[55:00] in Davis they have kids who are homeless

[55:03] >> you know so it's different and and even

[55:04] in our district you could have a

[55:06] completely different teen center at

[55:07] Desert Peak than you would in Wendover

[55:08] versus Twiligh versus Dansbury versus So

[55:12] I I do think going forward we need to be

[55:14] able to work with that and make it

[55:16] function for each school and then get

[55:17] the resources where they need to be. So

[55:21] >> yeah,

[55:22] >> that's where I would like it to go.

[55:24] >> We're working on that. So,

[55:28] um, any other questions about that?

[55:31] McKini Vento. So, parent and family

[55:33] engagement. This is one. It wasn't a

[55:34] finding for our, um, title one audit,

[55:37] but just a suggestion. We are going to

[55:39] work more on student services on trying

[55:41] to have more parent engagement. How can

[55:43] we help parents do needs assessments,

[55:45] figure out what they need? Um, we have a

[55:47] couple liaison that it is their job to

[55:49] work with parents and families and

[55:50] figure out what we can do to help. Um,

[55:53] be careful not to just throw a resource

[55:54] at a problem without knowing that the

[55:56] resource is going to help the problem.

[55:57] That's kind of a big deal. And then I

[56:00] did want to point out, um, Mckin Vento,

[56:03] we have 161 students for Mckin Vento. I

[56:07] have been pushing, we have one leazison

[56:08] right now, Jennifer Berth.

[56:11] I told her that the moon goal that

[56:12] regards graduation rate is her baby. You

[56:15] know, she needs to be out talking to

[56:17] those kids. Like we need to be finding

[56:19] those kids, seeing what they need,

[56:20] getting help so we can have success

[56:22] stories with kids from McKini Vento,

[56:24] too. That we were featured on I can't

[56:26] remember which channel. Is Brett here?

[56:28] Remember what? [clears throat]

[56:30] >> Channel four.

[56:32] >> I think it was channel 4.

[56:34] >> Jennifer KTV. Jennifer did a great job.

[56:37] So, you can click that link there if you

[56:38] want to watch that talking about what we

[56:40] do in our district.

[56:42] Um, so

[56:45] sorry, I don't want to take a ton of

[56:47] noise this time either. Prevention.

[56:50] in our district is I love

[56:51] this graphic that Julie put on here.

[56:53] Should we build a fence at the top or

[56:54] should we put an ambulance at the

[56:56] bottom? So, prevention is building the

[56:58] fence at the top. You know, we want to

[57:00] protect students. So, it covers all

[57:02] these areas. SEAL, you know, PBIS,

[57:05] suicide prevention, educators handbook.

[57:07] We look at our data from there.

[57:08] substance abuse, attendance initiatives,

[57:11] bullying prevention, grant writing,

[57:13] community collaboration, safe UT refocus

[57:15] mentors, which we kind of talked about,

[57:16] and youth and care. Um,

[57:19] she did one one thing I wanted to point

[57:21] out. We have a school, it's North Lake

[57:23] Elementary. They have been following our

[57:25] attendance procedures to the tea. A lot

[57:28] of the schools are doing a good job, but

[57:29] North Lake has made sure they they hired

[57:31] a person that deals with attendance

[57:32] because that was one of their findings

[57:33] on their state, you know, that they're

[57:35] in

[57:36] >> turn

[57:36] >> turnaround for. My gosh, I I'm not a

[57:38] principal anymore, so these words have

[57:39] left me. But, um, they have taken their

[57:42] attendance from 90% to 92%. Which is

[57:44] awesome. So, and it's been hard. They've

[57:47] had a few hard things they've had to

[57:49] deal with, but they've stuck with it.

[57:50] And I really commended Stephanie Lindsay

[57:53] for her work in that area. So, a lot

[57:55] going on with prevention. I have a

[57:57] question about that slide.

[57:58] >> Yep.

[57:58] >> Thank you. Um, so when I was looking

[58:00] through this presentation, I saw there's

[58:03] 12 different boxes and that's exciting

[58:05] that we have so many different resources

[58:07] that we have in our toolbox, but also I

[58:09] was wondering what's being done to make

[58:11] sure that these things are working

[58:13] together instead of repeating and not

[58:16] that in some areas we might not need

[58:18] like a too deep situation, but just

[58:20] making sure that everything is is really

[58:22] efficient. Um, this came in my brain for

[58:25] the first time. I think I even said it

[58:26] in the board meeting is when we were

[58:28] approving PBIS plans and you look at the

[58:31] plans and there's so many different

[58:33] things and you're like, okay, are we

[58:34] just

[58:35] >> whatever sticks to the wall or is there

[58:37] a straight line that shows us

[58:39] >> because we know we're going to be more

[58:40] effective if we're

[58:41] >> streamlining our effort. Um I will say

[58:44] where we're headed with our student code

[58:45] of conduct is a streamline of all of

[58:48] these like MTSS, multi-tered systems of

[58:51] support. What are we doing? What do we

[58:52] do when this happened? now I do what um

[58:56] and so looking at all these things and

[58:58] kind of implementing everything into

[59:00] that plan and then training schools so

[59:02] that they're able to handle you know

[59:04] what they can at their level and then

[59:05] getting district support when they need

[59:07] it.

[59:08] >> Um did that answer your question?

[59:10] >> Yeah, I mean yeah I I'll be interested

[59:12] to see how it plays out as as you're

[59:15] doing this. So thank you.

[59:17] >> This is actually my favorite part of my

[59:19] job. I like dealing with this kind of

[59:21] stuff, but I know principles are ready

[59:24] for spring break. They're done with

[59:25] dealing with that kind of stuff. Um,

[59:27] [laughter]

[59:28] so youth and care, I changed the

[59:29] structure of youth and care in our

[59:30] district. I actually added this onto

[59:32] Julie Spinber's responsibility and she

[59:34] has done an awesome job with this. So

[59:36] youth and care is based off of five

[59:38] pillars, you know, and I'm not going to

[59:41] read it all to you. You guys can read

[59:42] that. But one thing I did want to

[59:44] mention is every student who is in youth

[59:45] and care custody in our district has a

[59:48] check-in connect mentor and that is the

[59:50] program that Youth and Care uses

[59:51] statewide. Um these mentors are meeting

[59:54] with their kids weekly. You know,

[59:56] they're trying to build relationships.

[59:57] They're trying to offer support

[59:58] academically. Um getting in getting them

[1:00:01] in touch with the people that they need

[1:00:02] to when they need u mental health

[1:00:04] supports or anything else. Um some of

[1:00:07] these kids come to us and they come to

[1:00:08] us and they're only here for a short

[1:00:10] time. you know, they're in and they're

[1:00:12] out. So, we do the best we can. We've actually held multiple meetings

[1:00:16] with um the boys home. Can't remember

[1:00:20] what it's called. My gosh. Tonight,

[1:00:21] >> Live for Life.

[1:00:22] >> Yeah. Live [clears throat] for life. And

[1:00:24] it's been a very positive. They're going

[1:00:25] through some growing pains and changes

[1:00:27] at their building. And so, we can't

[1:00:29] control what happens at their building,

[1:00:30] but we can control when we get those

[1:00:31] kids to school, you know, and and trying

[1:00:33] to work with them and change schedules

[1:00:35] because they have a bus that drives them

[1:00:37] all to school. and um had I've had the

[1:00:40] pleasure of meeting with a couple of

[1:00:41] those students and it's been awesome.

[1:00:43] You know, they have a lot of aces in

[1:00:44] their life that they're dealing with and I think we have to look at those

[1:00:48] kids differently and um it they're

[1:00:52] actually my favorite kids to meet with.

[1:00:54] But um yeah, youth and care does a lot

[1:00:56] and it's not just students who have done

[1:00:58] things. There are people who are in DCFS

[1:00:59] custody and things like that. Uh, one

[1:01:01] thing we do run into is sometimes we're

[1:01:03] not even notified when a [snorts]

[1:01:05] student is placed in the district and we

[1:01:07] find out they're on the case load, you

[1:01:08] know, so as soon as we know, we try to get on that and offer help and

[1:01:12] support when we can. Um, it has been the

[1:01:14] goal with this group. Also, Mrs.

[1:01:15] Spindler has hired she has money within

[1:01:18] the program and she's hired more of

[1:01:20] those check and connect manners and

[1:01:21] they're not in our building. I didn't

[1:01:22] want them based in our building. they

[1:01:23] are based at schools, you know, and

[1:01:25] they're helping kids and that's been

[1:01:26] awesome for those kids to get to school

[1:01:28] and see that familiar face, someone that

[1:01:30] they can talk to if they need to and

[1:01:32] that also kind of shepherds them, you

[1:01:34] know, to class or whatever is needed.

[1:01:37] So,

[1:01:38] I think that's it for me. Any questions?

[1:01:42] >> Yes. This one about um you mentioned a

[1:01:44] long time ago and I should probably know

[1:01:46] this answer, but uh we're talking about

[1:01:48] that you have out now student services,

[1:01:50] which is really exciting. Um and this

[1:01:53] year I know you started with champs

[1:01:55] training the principles and so when I've

[1:01:57] been in the schools people are using

[1:01:59] champs with you know a variety of

[1:02:01] degrees. So is the goal that this year

[1:02:04] we are training the principles and next

[1:02:07] year we'll see it in the schools as a

[1:02:09] full implementation. We we've taken it

[1:02:11] more of it's it's a lot harder to do

[1:02:12] that with behavior because behavior

[1:02:13] doesn't go away,

[1:02:14] >> right?

[1:02:15] >> So they've been most of the principles

[1:02:17] have been actually going back and

[1:02:18] training as they go right away,

[1:02:20] >> but then next year we would expect that

[1:02:22] to be like if I was a principal still,

[1:02:24] we've handed everything to them, you

[1:02:26] know, all the presentations, it'd be a

[1:02:28] great start to your year to just begin.

[1:02:30] And I've shared that with them multiple

[1:02:32] times, you know, and if you need more,

[1:02:33] let us know. We'll get you more, you

[1:02:35] know, um we'll help them however we can.

[1:02:37] We've given every school a chance books.

[1:02:40] We've done the money's kind of gone for

[1:02:42] all of that, but if we need more, you

[1:02:44] know, we'll try to see what we can do.

[1:02:46] But that is the goal. And then we're

[1:02:47] kind of hitting a little bit of a reset

[1:02:48] button with that ALP idea because we're

[1:02:50] going to be rolling out the student code

[1:02:52] of conduct. So, we may step back just a

[1:02:54] little bit and go to schoolwide. And

[1:02:56] then as you go through local case

[1:02:58] management, what does it look like

[1:02:59] schoolwide? What does it look like in a

[1:03:00] classroom? What does it look like in a

[1:03:02] tier two or tier three intervention?

[1:03:04] That's where we're going with Alps is

[1:03:06] creating those levels and very clearly

[1:03:07] training principles so that they can

[1:03:10] train their staffs to make sure that

[1:03:11] they're handling and creating MTSS.

[1:03:13] >> So you haven't identified a specific set

[1:03:16] of annual high leverage practices or you have already and you're pushing

[1:03:19] pause.

[1:03:20] >> We had it. We're going to back up just a

[1:03:23] little bit because now we're we're

[1:03:24] rolling out the student code of conduct

[1:03:25] which is a lot more comprehensive and I

[1:03:27] wanted to work within that framework.

[1:03:28] >> Okay. So, it'll still be doing all the

[1:03:31] same things, but we're going to step

[1:03:32] back a little bit, make sure we really

[1:03:34] clearly train because when I came into

[1:03:35] Ambassador, kind of trying to figure out

[1:03:38] what to do. Now, we're a little more

[1:03:40] solid on what we need to do

[1:03:42] >> instead of just what should we do, now

[1:03:43] we're solid on what we need to do. So,

[1:03:44] we're kind of doing that to make sure

[1:03:46] it's very clear and supporting those

[1:03:47] schools as they build that within each

[1:03:50] school.

[1:03:50] >> That's awesome. And I'm wondering what

[1:03:52] the feedback loop has been with been

[1:03:54] like with CHAMPS from the teachers and

[1:03:56] the principles. Um, I haven't heard as

[1:03:58] much from teachers and that's something

[1:03:59] we're going to try to get a lot better

[1:04:00] at next year getting out in the

[1:04:02] buildings and doing those kind of like

[1:04:03] calibration visits like teaching and

[1:04:05] learning does.

[1:04:06] >> But from principles

[1:04:08] generally all positive. They really

[1:04:10] appreciate it. You know, we've tried to

[1:04:12] model everything we teach them and they

[1:04:15] leave [snorts] our sessions with

[1:04:16] activities they can go and implement

[1:04:18] immediately with teacher with teachers.

[1:04:19] Then teachers could implement

[1:04:20] immediately with students

[1:04:22] >> because we we kind of flipped the switch

[1:04:24] at first. Um, I felt like I felt kind of

[1:04:27] overwhelmed with Alps and it was kind of

[1:04:28] just me and I brought on my team and

[1:04:30] I've been very appreciative of them cuz

[1:04:32] two of them have never even been

[1:04:33] teachers, you know, and so for them, but

[1:04:36] they're very good teachers of adults and

[1:04:38] we model, like I said, we model

[1:04:40] strategies. We try to always give them

[1:04:41] something new to use and try with their

[1:04:43] staff. So, that's been they've been very

[1:04:44] appreciative of all that. And we've had

[1:04:46] multiple principles go back and do it

[1:04:48] and then send us photos and and they

[1:04:50] come back and say, "Hey, I tried this

[1:04:51] and it was awesome." So,

[1:04:53] >> I like the the idea of starting the

[1:04:55] calibrations next year because there are

[1:04:57] teachers that I've seen

[1:04:58] >> um do it effectively and then I mean

[1:05:02] just from observing but then there's

[1:05:05] others that are kind of frustrated with

[1:05:06] the amount of like okay wait so every 15

[1:05:08] minutes I'm like things [clears throat]

[1:05:10] around so it'd be nice to to help them

[1:05:13] >> and understanding how to make it work

[1:05:14] for you.

[1:05:15] >> Yeah. For their own situation. So I'm

[1:05:17] really glad that you guys are going to

[1:05:18] get there and do that.

[1:05:19] >> Yeah. Heather, as you think of student

[1:05:22] services, and I appreciated your first

[1:05:24] slide that talked about um kind of the

[1:05:26] mission and purpose and what you're

[1:05:28] trying to do, are there two or three key

[1:05:32] indicators that you already know about

[1:05:35] or come to the top of your mind that

[1:05:37] really allow you to know we're winning,

[1:05:40] we're losing, we're we're we're doing

[1:05:42] what we need to do, we're not doing what

[1:05:44] we need to do when it comes to student

[1:05:46] services. even just one, two, maybe

[1:05:49] three. They said, "Look, if you want to

[1:05:51] know how we're doing, here's where you

[1:05:53] look and you can see year-over-year."

[1:05:55] I'm just trying to put in data because

[1:05:56] there's so much great information. I'm

[1:05:59] still trying to figure out. Okay.

[1:06:01] >> So, two for me that come to mind

[1:06:02] automatically are I feel like case

[1:06:04] management

[1:06:05] >> is a completely different

[1:06:08] um system than it was when I came in. It

[1:06:11] and I'm going to be honest, I was

[1:06:12] principal in Wendover and we have

[1:06:15] streamlined it. so much that and I feel

[1:06:18] like it's a much more supportive um

[1:06:22] system and and I I am going to say on

[1:06:24] that note, not everybody's always happy

[1:06:25] with decisions of case management um

[1:06:28] which to me is kind of a win too because

[1:06:31] sometimes you have to put responsibility

[1:06:34] back where responsibility needs to be

[1:06:36] and and then also support schools as

[1:06:38] they're dealing with student behavior

[1:06:40] and consequences. It can also flip and

[1:06:43] there are things we could improve, you

[1:06:45] know, helping people. It's exactly what

[1:06:46] Melissa was asking about or maybe it was

[1:06:48] Emily. Um really knowing if what we're

[1:06:51] doing is effective at that school level.

[1:06:54] You know, for me that will be a win-win.

[1:06:55] Hopefully next year at the end of the

[1:06:57] year, schools feel very confident about

[1:06:59] local case management. You know, that's

[1:07:00] my goal. We've kind of refined district

[1:07:02] case management. Um an example is if

[1:07:04] you're ever in Clark Johnson

[1:07:07] High, Shayen Jones Miller has taken, she

[1:07:09] was on our case management team earlier

[1:07:11] in the year. She took everything we did

[1:07:13] and she created her own system and it

[1:07:15] has been working awesome for her. You

[1:07:17] know, she has um behavior and fraction

[1:07:20] chart. She's using a matrix. That's what

[1:07:23] I need to happen. I need to have schools

[1:07:24] have the initiative to take it back. And

[1:07:26] that's what we're going to work through

[1:07:27] next year is how do you create this at

[1:07:28] the school level because even though

[1:07:31] they still deal with hard things, they

[1:07:32] deal with them more efficiently, if that

[1:07:34] makes sense. And I feel like we deal

[1:07:35] with things more efficiently. Um we're

[1:07:37] not wasting people's time and we're also

[1:07:39] giving kids due process, which is the

[1:07:40] bottom line. Um, one of my models at

[1:07:42] student services is if it becomes about

[1:07:44] us adults, we're not doing it right.

[1:07:47] Everything we do has got to be about

[1:07:48] kids. So, if we start having

[1:07:50] conversations more about the

[1:07:51] comfortableness of adults, I don't know

[1:07:53] if that's the right word, we have a

[1:07:55] problem. So, and then my other win would

[1:07:58] be exactly that. I have changed the way

[1:08:01] student service functions as a group.

[1:08:03] There are a lot more checks and balances

[1:08:05] in place. Um, and once again, that has

[1:08:08] not made everybody happy, but I'm okay

[1:08:10] with that. You know, I can I can go home

[1:08:12] at the end of the day and feel like I'm

[1:08:13] confident that I've done my job. Um, I

[1:08:16] always tell my employees, our job is not

[1:08:18] to make Dr. Ern's job harder. And so, we

[1:08:22] have we think of that all the time, you

[1:08:23] know. So, if we're doing these things,

[1:08:24] even though they're hard, we're putting

[1:08:25] things in place like a Qualrix form

[1:08:27] where people have to ask permission to

[1:08:28] make a purchase because then before the

[1:08:30] purchase is made, it goes through

[1:08:31] Stephanie who's over all grants. She's

[1:08:33] looking at the grant and she's making

[1:08:35] sure that that purchase falls within the

[1:08:37] terms of that grant. If it doesn't,

[1:08:38] sorry, you're not purchasing it. And

[1:08:40] that is just things we've tried to put

[1:08:42] in place to have a check and balance.

[1:08:44] So, for me, those are the two quick

[1:08:46] wins. Um, and then as far as schools, I I do feel like people feel supported,

[1:08:52] but on the flip side, I think people are

[1:08:53] frustrated, too, you know, because

[1:08:54] behaviors are [clears throat] hard right

[1:08:56] now. They're hard everywhere. And so,

[1:08:58] working on that,

[1:09:00] that's I do feel like it's a win. We're

[1:09:02] heading the right direction. So, okay.

[1:09:06] Yeah, we can go.

[1:09:08] >> All right.

[1:09:10] Okay. Well, we we'll just let you stay

[1:09:13] standing.

[1:09:13] >> Hopefully this one's

[1:09:14] >> for our cell phones. I know this has

[1:09:16] been on the

[1:09:18] >> box or on the I don't know. We've been

[1:09:21] talking about it for a while and it was

[1:09:22] leadership kept saying

[1:09:24] >> super kept saying just wait till the

[1:09:26] bill passes before we bring it up again.

[1:09:30] >> The bill has passed. that's passed.

[1:09:32] >> Um, you guys probably all know the bill

[1:09:35] is passed and that's the exact language.

[1:09:37] A student may not use a cell phone,

[1:09:39] smartwatch anyway, you can read it all,

[1:09:41] but during school hours, they cannot use

[1:09:43] it. That's the rule. And we actually

[1:09:44] like that wording instead of bell to

[1:09:46] bell. It's a little bit less confusing,

[1:09:48] we think, to say school hours. The

[1:09:51] kicker is this piece right here. This

[1:09:53] was the little thrown in. It didn't it

[1:09:55] was not in there in the beginning and it

[1:09:57] got thrown in later. Um, we have to

[1:10:00] establish a policy that allows a parent

[1:10:01] to request an accommodation for their

[1:10:04] parent student to briefly use their cell

[1:10:06] phone or other technology in a specified

[1:10:08] area that the school designates during

[1:10:10] non-instructional time.

[1:10:13] So, that's not a 504, that's not an IEP

[1:10:15] that requires a cell phone. This is just

[1:10:17] anybody like if I wanted my twins to be

[1:10:19] able to use the phone, I I'm able to

[1:10:21] say, "School, when is the time that they

[1:10:24] can contact me?"

[1:10:26] So, I I've thought a lot about this and

[1:10:28] I I kind of put it later. Um, I'll just

[1:10:31] go forward to that slide real quick. So,

[1:10:34] I thought, should the district say this

[1:10:36] is the time, but then I was thinking

[1:10:37] today, I was like, I think that kind of

[1:10:39] looks different school by school. But I

[1:10:41] don't know what you guys think cuz I I

[1:10:43] think or maybe it looks different in the

[1:10:44] elementary level versus the junior high

[1:10:46] level versus the high school level of

[1:10:47] when because I will say as a principal

[1:10:50] if I was told I had to figure out how to

[1:10:52] monitor 100 kids kids and when their

[1:10:54] designated time was

[1:10:57] >> I'm ready to move on like so I do feel

[1:10:59] like there needs to be kind of a set

[1:11:02] time you know that's designated and I I

[1:11:05] don't know how you guys feel about that

[1:11:06] but I feel like the school should have a

[1:11:07] little bit of say in that. Scott,

[1:11:10] >> I I I think that this is one where we

[1:11:13] need to step up as a board and and so

[1:11:16] we're consistent. I I think one of the

[1:11:19] hazards we have sometimes is well at,

[1:11:22] >> you know, blank HS whatever, you know,

[1:11:25] 12 grand, whatever. They do it this way.

[1:11:27] How come we don't do it that way?

[1:11:30] >> Yep.

[1:11:30] >> And and

[1:11:32] you know, and and not have to have the

[1:11:34] principles take those bullets. I I think

[1:11:36] that that's why we're on a board and

[1:11:38] that's what I think, you know, we need

[1:11:41] to just say this is what we're doing as

[1:11:42] a district. You know, it may not be time

[1:11:45] of day, but if it's

[1:11:46] >> if it's lunch, it's the defined lunch

[1:11:49] period, right? We don't have to say it,

[1:11:51] you know, starting at 11:06 to 12:02,

[1:11:54] but

[1:11:54] >> but we could say lunch period and it's

[1:11:57] that would then apply to each school.

[1:12:00] That's just my sense. And you you asked

[1:12:02] what the board thought, but I

[1:12:04] >> in my mind, let's not recreate

[1:12:08] >> a policy first.

[1:12:09] >> What what I wonder if will happen with

[1:12:11] this one is that you know how people

[1:12:12] talk and once one parent says, "Well, I

[1:12:14] got an accommodation, you know, and then

[1:12:16] you're going to have more and more." And I do I do even think, man,

[1:12:20] it's going to be hard to remember which

[1:12:22] 300 kids have that accommodation now

[1:12:24] versus the 800 that don't.

[1:12:26] >> Uh it just seems so big to me. Yes. Just

[1:12:29] one clarification I think is helpful for

[1:12:32] this conversation is that the

[1:12:34] accommodations that have to do with the

[1:12:36] 504 IEP are separate from this thing

[1:12:38] that we're talking about. So you know

[1:12:40] like the diabetes or the sensory

[1:12:42] processing or whatever

[1:12:44] >> that's already taken care of and so now

[1:12:46] we got a whole conversation.

[1:12:47] >> So you're managing another and that's

[1:12:50] what yeah. So just in talking to the

[1:12:55] board,

[1:12:57] >> does this start with going through the

[1:12:59] policy committee and hashing it out and

[1:13:03] >> having ideas?

[1:13:04] >> That's not the procedure that we have

[1:13:07] now for policy committee. We were not

[1:13:08] the idea team. No, but I think but I

[1:13:11] think what you're saying and what

[1:13:13] Scott's saying and maybe what you're

[1:13:16] saying, Heather, is come with come to the policy committee, whatever,

[1:13:21] with a time.

[1:13:23] >> I I agree. I agree with Scott. I think

[1:13:26] it's going to be very laborous to try to

[1:13:29] designate everything and you can't

[1:13:31] remember all these. So it's easier to

[1:13:32] designate a time whether it's the lunch

[1:13:35] hour or or what it is

[1:13:37] >> as far as what maybe SCES feels

[1:13:40] superintendent those those type of

[1:13:43] things I think that has to come to us

[1:13:45] through policy how however you want it

[1:13:47] to come

[1:13:48] >> and then it's going to more like every

[1:13:50] policy does I you know Emily I think

[1:13:53] that is the role of policy committee to put it together it's a draft every

[1:13:58] policy that's brought to the board is a

[1:13:59] draft and and We may debate it's, oh, I think it should be passing time. Oh, I

[1:14:06] think it should be and we can debate

[1:14:08] that and we're going to get I I

[1:14:11] guarantee we'll have public comment on

[1:14:12] this one and and then we'll we'll we'll

[1:14:15] morph it. But at least I think you get

[1:14:17] the template and the bulk of the work

[1:14:18] done in the policy committee and we

[1:14:20] bring it as a first read and and the

[1:14:24] board may tweak it a little bit from

[1:14:26] there and then we're going to get a

[1:14:28] whole lot of feedback by the time we

[1:14:29] have a third read. And

[1:14:31] >> I also think it might be a good idea to

[1:14:32] reach out to other districts and see how

[1:14:34] they interpret that or if model policy

[1:14:37] because that once during the day is it a

[1:14:39] half hour?

[1:14:40] >> Yeah. And I want to know what briefly

[1:14:42] means

[1:14:42] >> is Yeah. Is it [laughter] because that

[1:14:45] could be interpreted

[1:14:45] >> because I think if we do it during lunch

[1:14:47] that means they might be on for all of

[1:14:49] lunch but passing time

[1:14:51] >> and and if you want input brought to

[1:14:53] policy committee I could do reaching out

[1:14:55] to student services directors too and

[1:14:56] say what are you going to how are you

[1:14:57] going to handle this you know just to

[1:14:59] get some input [laughter]

[1:15:00] >> um before we continue

[1:15:02] >> can we continue on that thread one

[1:15:04] second

[1:15:06] >> um just to say that um I'm not anti

[1:15:08] coming up with ideas actually I love

[1:15:10] coming up with ideas better than I like

[1:15:12] following up for refining them. It's

[1:15:14] actually so much easier. Um but

[1:15:17] according to the the procedure that

[1:15:19] we've adopted and all the flowcharts we

[1:15:21] have, I would love Chantel to address um

[1:15:25] how this would work with that.

[1:15:28] >> So Heather would bring together a policy

[1:15:31] with what she thinks the recommendations

[1:15:33] would be to the policy committee, but on

[1:15:36] the forum indicate that these are the

[1:15:38] areas the board has input in and that

[1:15:41] can be changed. And so then uh in the

[1:15:43] policy committee, those are the areas

[1:15:45] that we at the board would discuss about

[1:15:48] those changes that they want made. Uh

[1:15:50] which comes back to what Scott was

[1:15:52] saying that we work out the details and

[1:15:54] >> and at the end of the day, the reality

[1:15:55] is we have input on the whole thing. I

[1:15:57] mean, we can

[1:16:00] we probably ought to follow model policy

[1:16:02] and we ought to follow state law, but

[1:16:03] the reality is we can adopt something

[1:16:04] that's left field.

[1:16:07] >> Yeah. And as long as it's in compliance

[1:16:09] with the law, then um we're we're good.

[1:16:12] We can get stricter than the law.

[1:16:15] >> Um usually can't get looser than the

[1:16:16] law.

[1:16:17] >> We do have schools that are stricter

[1:16:18] than that right now. There are schools

[1:16:20] that from school hours with no

[1:16:22] accommodation and they love it. So this

[1:16:26] will actually throw a little wrench, I

[1:16:27] think, in their

[1:16:29] >> you know how the law reads. Sorry, I can

[1:16:31] >> This is exact wording. Oh, from the from

[1:16:34] the legislation.

[1:16:35] >> We have to allow those accommodations.

[1:16:37] >> Whenever it says shall

[1:16:38] >> shall

[1:16:39] >> Yeah.

[1:16:39] >> We have to shall,

[1:16:40] >> right?

[1:16:41] >> But it's at a parents request.

[1:16:44] >> Yeah. That's where you kind of and and

[1:16:46] I'll be honest, just thinking as a

[1:16:47] school administrator, can you imagine

[1:16:49] managing all of that? Like those forms

[1:16:51] are going to come in somehow. We've got

[1:16:52] to figure out

[1:16:55] >> and and I'm I'm thinking of I was

[1:16:57] looking at numbers Dr. Ernson sent out

[1:16:58] from the October one count and you have

[1:17:00] Stansbury High that's at 2,200 something

[1:17:02] kids. Am I right? Maybe I'm wrong. Like

[1:17:05] I'm looking at all these kids and I'm

[1:17:06] thinking, you have a accommodation. You know, oh my goodness. Can you

[1:17:10] imagine? It's almost like they need a

[1:17:11] cell phone lounge. You're allowed to

[1:17:13] come with your cell phone lounge pass

[1:17:15] during this time.

[1:17:18] [clears throat]

[1:17:19] >> So Todd,

[1:17:20] >> you know, I thought the slide that

[1:17:22] showed

[1:17:24] survey you did.

[1:17:25] >> Yeah. Are you getting there still?

[1:17:27] >> Yeah.

[1:17:27] And I guess the only question I

[1:17:29] had about this is there's quite a

[1:17:31] difference, right, between parent

[1:17:32] response and staff response.

[1:17:35] >> And at least as far as I'm concerned,

[1:17:37] I'm one of seven on the board, but uh so

[1:17:40] maybe it doesn't really matter, but I

[1:17:43] think we really want to do this more for

[1:17:45] the staff.

[1:17:46] >> Yeah.

[1:17:46] >> And help the staff out because they're

[1:17:48] the ones who have to manage this

[1:17:50] dayto-day in the classroom.

[1:17:52] >> Parents, yeah, I get it. they can, you

[1:17:54] know, submit, you know, a, you know,

[1:17:57] some sort of request that maybe it

[1:17:59] doesn't fit their child specifically,

[1:18:01] >> but at least as I approach this, I want

[1:18:05] to try to help the teachers out as much

[1:18:08] as possible.

[1:18:10] >> And I'm not Yeah, parents matter too

[1:18:12] obviously, but you see where I'm coming

[1:18:14] from.

[1:18:14] >> Well, and I was I was kind of looking

[1:18:16] just the difference. You know, we of

[1:18:17] course had more parents respond, but 55%

[1:18:20] of the parents somewhat agreed or

[1:18:22] strongly agreed altogether and 42% were

[1:18:25] on the disagree spectrum. And then over

[1:18:27] here, we had 78% of staff agreed versus

[1:18:31] 15 that didn't. So, it is a different

[1:18:33] mindset, but it's exactly what you said.

[1:18:35] They're the ones who are dealing with it

[1:18:37] in the classrooms daily. So,

[1:18:39] [clears throat]

[1:18:40] >> yeah, that's hard.

[1:18:43] which to me means that we need a policy

[1:18:46] that they get backed up on because

[1:18:48] >> yes, I mean I kind of made the comment

[1:18:52] last time we talked about this and this

[1:18:54] is no reflection on a particular school.

[1:18:57] I think it's everywhere that household

[1:19:00] that say oh there was a change.

[1:19:04] >> Yeah. And that was after we passed the

[1:19:06] last policy. And then

[1:19:09] >> every time I receive a text from one of

[1:19:11] my twins during the day, I think the

[1:19:12] same thing.

[1:19:14] >> We just want to make sure that our

[1:19:18] staff, we we support them.

[1:19:21] >> And I appreciate what Scott said about

[1:19:23] taking the, you know, the hit for that,

[1:19:25] like being a board and saying this is

[1:19:26] the hardest.

[1:19:28] >> I would suggest that it's different for

[1:19:30] elementary for each

[1:19:32] >> level I I I it it doesn't what what we

[1:19:36] set for policy for first graders is not

[1:19:38] the solution for 10th graders.

[1:19:40] >> So I guess what I need from you guys is

[1:19:41] do you want me to gather some

[1:19:43] information and some suggestions for the

[1:19:45] different levels kind of like I did when

[1:19:46] we redid the cell phone policy get the

[1:19:49] new policy put together with the correct

[1:19:50] language and then some suggestions for

[1:19:52] >> I think that falls into the kind of that

[1:19:54] flowchart with policy.

[1:19:56] >> When would you like it done by? We

[1:19:58] probably want this ready to roll next

[1:19:59] year.

[1:20:00] >> It's got to be ready to roll for next

[1:20:01] year. So this is a

[1:20:02] >> and they've got to put it in their right

[1:20:04] their handbooks. They've got to be able

[1:20:06] to communicate. The schools use so

[1:20:09] >> Scott's talking about public comment and

[1:20:11] we need one or two or three reads. It's got to be

[1:20:14] >> Do you want it on April's Can we get it

[1:20:17] in April?

[1:20:18] >> If you can get it to me by the end of

[1:20:20] this week.

[1:20:22] >> Boy, Hannah. Okay, I'll try. [laughter]

[1:20:25] >> I think we need it by I think we need it

[1:20:26] on the April meeting. Okay. Yeah.

[1:20:28] >> And if if you have to give her a little

[1:20:30] bit more time, I do it.

[1:20:31] >> Oh, yeah. April

[1:20:34] the week before.

[1:20:36] >> Sure.

[1:20:44] » Well, if I can get input, I'm going to I

[1:20:46] think I should input some input from M

[1:20:48] administrators because I feel like

[1:20:49] they're the ones who are kind of in the

[1:20:51] trenches.

[1:20:51] >> Yeah.

[1:20:52] It doesn't have to be, remember, it

[1:20:53] doesn't have to be perfect when it goes

[1:20:55] to policy committee, but you've got to

[1:20:56] have a good idea. But it's got to be

[1:20:59] >> by if we're going to roll it out

[1:21:01] >> for the fall to be ready for

[1:21:04] >> Do you guys think I need a committee to

[1:21:05] add this language? I don't think I do

[1:21:06] because it's pretty cut and dried. Like

[1:21:08] we we just redid the policy last year.

[1:21:10] >> Let Let the legislature take their

[1:21:12] arrows, too. Yeah. So, we'll just I'll

[1:21:15] fix the policy so it reflects that and

[1:21:16] then I'm going to get some input this

[1:21:18] week and then I'll work over spring

[1:21:19] break to have something ready to turn in

[1:21:21] right after. Is that okay? Or do I need

[1:21:22] >> I'll need it by Friday.

[1:21:24] >> Okay. I'll have it ready by Friday on

[1:21:26] Monday.

[1:21:27] >> So,

[1:21:30] thank you.

[1:21:31] >> I think I have directions. You're

[1:21:32] welcome.

[1:21:33] >> I I think this could be very Well, never

[1:21:36] mind. I The research is out there.

[1:21:40] >> Yeah. and we have got to help our

[1:21:42] students.

[1:21:43] >> And I do want to point out Dustin let

[1:21:45] you know that the policy project

[1:21:47] >> the policy project right now has $5,000

[1:21:50] per school to help with implementation

[1:21:53] >> if we get on it quickly. So if we're

[1:21:54] done by Friday, maybe I could start

[1:21:56] working on that too

[1:21:57] >> because we can purchase the yonder bags,

[1:21:59] we could purchase signage, we could

[1:22:01] purchase lots of different things to

[1:22:03] help with the campaign to advertise

[1:22:05] this. So that could help us also.

[1:22:08] >> So

[1:22:14] Okay. Special education.

[1:22:17] Thank you very much. You're welcome.

[1:22:32] » All right.

[1:22:34] So, I sent you guys an audio recording

[1:22:36] beforehand and so I'm just going to

[1:22:38] highlight and talk about a few things

[1:22:40] and then at the end I'll leave any

[1:22:41] questions uh time for questions.

[1:22:45] All right. So, I wanted to just first

[1:22:48] start off talking about challenges in

[1:22:50] special education. Um, as you guys know,

[1:22:52] it's not just a district-wide challenge.

[1:22:54] It's across the state of Utah, across

[1:22:56] the nation. Um, one thing that we have

[1:22:59] realized over the last few years is just

[1:23:01] uh teacher retention in special

[1:23:03] education as well as hiring certified

[1:23:06] special education teachers. So, I just

[1:23:08] wanted to touch briefly on this. So,

[1:23:10] currently we have 23 teachers who are

[1:23:13] getting the Apple S, which is an

[1:23:15] alternate pathway to become a special

[1:23:17] education teacher or they're in a

[1:23:19] master's level um course and getting

[1:23:22] their masters in special education. We

[1:23:24] have eight long-term subs. So, two years

[1:23:27] ago, we moved from ESS sub employees to

[1:23:30] Twilla County School District uh special

[1:23:32] education teacher long-term subs, which

[1:23:35] they have to show progress towards their

[1:23:36] degree. We have to open the position.

[1:23:39] And if we if there is a certified

[1:23:41] teacher, we do have to go through the

[1:23:42] interview process to hire those. And so,

[1:23:44] we currently have eight long-term subs

[1:23:46] and then we have about 72 certified

[1:23:49] teachers. And so the challenges that

[1:23:51] we're seeing um we have people at the

[1:23:54] district office that were hired to be

[1:23:55] teacher specialists to go out and to

[1:23:57] mentor. Well, right now they're

[1:23:58] currently holding case loads of about

[1:24:01] 150 because we have multiple teachers in

[1:24:03] buildings that can't be a teacher of

[1:24:06] record under IDA. And so there it's kind

[1:24:09] of falling on either certified teachers

[1:24:11] in the building to case manage and be

[1:24:12] the teacher of record or my specialists

[1:24:15] at the district office to go in and

[1:24:17] support. And so they're not able to go

[1:24:18] in and mentor. And so that's just one

[1:24:20] challenge that we're seeing um across

[1:24:23] the board is just not being able to

[1:24:25] retain teachers, but also hiring

[1:24:27] certified teachers. Another challenge

[1:24:30] we've seen is just behaviors and the

[1:24:32] increase of uh complex um students who

[1:24:36] have multiple needs. Uh we used to back

[1:24:38] when I I mean 10 years ago when I first

[1:24:41] started, we saw a lot of mild behaviors.

[1:24:42] We saw students who are just being

[1:24:44] serviced for reading or just math. Well,

[1:24:47] now you have students with very uh

[1:24:50] complex IEPs with a lot of services to

[1:24:53] meet their needs. And so, um I think not

[1:24:55] being able to retain or hire certified

[1:24:57] teachers, it really puts the pressure

[1:24:59] on. And if you I I was an alternate

[1:25:02] route teacher. I didn't my first day, number one at Clark Johnson, I had

[1:25:07] no teaching background, no courses to

[1:25:09] even know what I was doing. And now we

[1:25:11] have 23 teachers that are falling in

[1:25:13] that as well. That on day one, they're

[1:25:16] doing the best that they can. They got

[1:25:18] our opening intro that we had for our

[1:25:21] special education opening, but they

[1:25:23] really don't know what to do on the

[1:25:24] first day until they start taking their

[1:25:26] courses um and become competent as a

[1:25:29] special educator. So, just a few of

[1:25:32] those challenges that we're running

[1:25:34] into. Any questions on that? Yes.

[1:25:38] >> Yeah. So, um, we know that money is a

[1:25:43] problem, but really it's advocacy that

[1:25:46] I've been trying really hard on a state

[1:25:48] level to always be talking about this.

[1:25:50] Um, so the question is,

[1:25:54] I can think of a lot of ideas, but more

[1:25:57] than just anecdotally, what are your

[1:26:00] impressions of why we're in this

[1:26:02] shortage and what would what would help

[1:26:04] us to get out of the shortage? Um, are

[1:26:06] there resources and data we could look

[1:26:08] at to say there are proven ways to

[1:26:11] gather the shortage that aren't just

[1:26:13] like here's an idea? Um, yeah.

[1:26:16] >> Yeah. So, I was tasked, I believe it was

[1:26:18] in December, Dr. Ernst asked me to send

[1:26:21] in just kind of a draft proposal of what it would look like, what could help

[1:26:24] special educators in Tilla County School

[1:26:26] District. And through my research, many

[1:26:29] states have given special education

[1:26:30] teacher stipens, which pays for um it

[1:26:34] could be a $5,000 to $10,000 stipen in

[1:26:36] addition to what they're currently

[1:26:37] making as a special education teacher.

[1:26:39] That helps out with, hey, we know you

[1:26:41] have high case loads. We know that

[1:26:43] you're writing IEPs well into the night.

[1:26:45] We know that you're not lesson planning

[1:26:47] um at your at the time that's given

[1:26:51] throughout the day, that you're taking

[1:26:52] that home at night. You're dealing with

[1:26:53] behaviors. you're being pulled and not

[1:26:55] being able to provide services because

[1:26:57] you're juggling so many different

[1:26:59] plates. And so that was one suggestion

[1:27:01] that um that I found u just through the

[1:27:04] research that I did was just adding that

[1:27:06] additional stipen um in addition to what

[1:27:09] they're doing. But I'm definitely open

[1:27:11] to any suggestions that you guys may

[1:27:14] have, but I think just money shows that

[1:27:17] they're valued, right? We know that our

[1:27:18] special educators go above and beyond

[1:27:20] and so do our general education

[1:27:22] teachers. But when you're juggling so

[1:27:24] many different plates and then there's

[1:27:25] the requirement of you have to do more

[1:27:27] and you have to get your certification.

[1:27:29] Um I feel like that's a big hiccup. One

[1:27:31] other thing that I've ran into is Apple.

[1:27:35] It's not just if you're a general

[1:27:36] education teacher and you want to get

[1:27:38] your Apple to become a math teacher. The

[1:27:40] requirements to become a special

[1:27:41] education teacher is completely

[1:27:43] different. They're going above and

[1:27:44] beyond. They have to show competency in

[1:27:46] multiple areas. they have to take

[1:27:48] courses. And so in addition to what

[1:27:50] they're already doing and being asked to

[1:27:51] do as a teacher, they have to do more to

[1:27:54] become qualified to be a special

[1:27:55] education teacher because IDA is so

[1:27:58] strict.

[1:27:59] >> Yes.

[1:28:00] >> So in the research you did, money is

[1:28:03] keeping special education teachers in

[1:28:06] >> Okay. Yeah. Paying.

[1:28:07] >> Is that just in other states or other

[1:28:09] districts or what is it?

[1:28:11] >> It was mostly outside of the state of

[1:28:12] Utah is one area that they focused on is

[1:28:16] hiring. Um, one, hiring certified

[1:28:18] teachers. If you can't get them, how do

[1:28:20] you build your own with what you have?

[1:28:21] We have the grow your own pipeline,

[1:28:23] which has helped. We have some paras

[1:28:25] coming up that are currently in programs

[1:28:27] that in the next few years they'll

[1:28:29] become certified teachers, which I think

[1:28:30] is helpful, but I think down the road

[1:28:32] paying for the additional time that

[1:28:34] they're doing um because it's not just

[1:28:36] writing an IEP, it's collecting data,

[1:28:38] it's progress monitoring, it's um

[1:28:41] contacting parents, it's writing

[1:28:42] behavior plans, it's um collecting data.

[1:28:45] So, I feel like they're juggling so many

[1:28:47] different plates that it's like where do

[1:28:48] you even start? And so, I feel like just

[1:28:50] adding that additional bonus helps with

[1:28:53] retention as well.

[1:28:54] >> Okay.

[1:28:56] >> Yes.

[1:28:56] >> Uh, two questions. One is if um maybe I

[1:28:59] should just send you an email. I'd love

[1:29:00] to get a link to that research. That

[1:29:03] would be great. So, I'll probably follow

[1:29:05] up on that. Um, the other thing is, um,

[1:29:08] I'm aware of a few people that have

[1:29:11] their special special education

[1:29:13] certification that have previously

[1:29:14] worked in it in the past, but it was

[1:29:16] just too much. They weren't being

[1:29:17] compensated for it, so they're just

[1:29:19] doing regular classroom teaching work.

[1:29:22] Um, how many of those people I mean, you

[1:29:24] probably don't know off the top of your

[1:29:25] head about how many of those people

[1:29:28] exist? So, like if we suddenly had a

[1:29:29] stipen, would we suddenly have people or

[1:29:32] there's only really like a couple? So we actually pulled that data this year.

[1:29:37] So we have we there's a lot of

[1:29:40] university programs that you can be dual

[1:29:42] certified. So you can go and get your

[1:29:43] gen your elementary but then you're also

[1:29:45] going to get your sped minor. Most of

[1:29:47] those people have no like yes they got

[1:29:50] the minor but they didn't teach special

[1:29:51] education. So those were the ones that I

[1:29:53] automatically like crossed off the list

[1:29:55] and I'm like okay well if they don't

[1:29:57] it's not going to help our cause for

[1:29:58] them to write IEPs for us if there was a

[1:30:00] stipen. Um there are a few I would say

[1:30:03] we lose about three two to three every

[1:30:05] year that go from sped to gened just

[1:30:07] because the task demand is a lot and so

[1:30:09] if we were to offer a stipen they might

[1:30:11] come back or they might just love what

[1:30:13] they're doing. Um but yeah I can pull

[1:30:16] that data for you and send that to you

[1:30:17] as well.

[1:30:18] >> Thank you very much.

[1:30:18] >> I will say we had this is I liken this

[1:30:22] to the problem we used to have at our

[1:30:23] desk schools Doug way and win over where

[1:30:25] we would see a lot of turnover. When we were with the University of

[1:30:28] Virginia, they said, "You've got to

[1:30:30] incentivize." They said, "10,000 is the

[1:30:32] magic number." Ever since we've

[1:30:34] incentivized a nest school with an extra

[1:30:37] 10,000, our turnover is extremely low at

[1:30:42] our nest schools. I don't know how many

[1:30:45] teachers will come back, but I do think

[1:30:48] some will come back to special ed, and I

[1:30:51] do think it will keep some in special

[1:30:53] ed. And I'm just going off what we did

[1:30:56] at the nest schools that 10,000 is the

[1:30:58] magic number. I don't know that, but

[1:31:00] that would be my my guess. For whatever

[1:31:03] reason, I think mentally 10,000 sounds

[1:31:06] better than 7500. You know, I just think

[1:31:09] it does something. And so, um, I do

[1:31:11] think that I I concur with with Director

[1:31:14] Lowry that I I love to see this. If I

[1:31:18] had a list of goals to accomplish as

[1:31:21] superintendent, it would be that uh all

[1:31:24] of our special ed teachers would receive

[1:31:25] an additional $10,000 stipen for all the

[1:31:29] extra work they do.

[1:31:30] >> Can I clarify clarify that question

[1:31:33] which is there is already some state

[1:31:35] funds,

[1:31:37] right? We're we're using some of that

[1:31:39] money. It was used to be math special ed

[1:31:42] science. Now we

[1:31:44] >> shine money. No. So,

[1:31:46] >> so there is already a chunk. For

[1:31:48] argument sake, let's say it's 5,000. If

[1:31:50] 10's the magic number, it really is only

[1:31:52] going to cost our district five more.

[1:31:54] >> Yeah, we'd have to do the math.

[1:31:55] >> Does that make I mean those are

[1:31:56] approximate numbers, but you're not

[1:31:58] suggesting another 10.

[1:32:00] >> No, not on top of

[1:32:02] >> I just wanted to clarify that.

[1:32:06] >> Perfect.

[1:32:09] » All right. Um,

[1:32:10] >> so just a priority goal we had this year

[1:32:12] was our manifestation determination

[1:32:14] review.

[1:32:16] >> Oh, yes. Really quickly, except I'm

[1:32:18] going to push back.

[1:32:21] >> If if 10,000's the magic number, we they

[1:32:24] already get 5,000.

[1:32:27] >> Sure.

[1:32:29] >> Five's less than

[1:32:29] >> five more. If 10,000 is the magic, 5,000

[1:32:34] isn't keeping them there and and they

[1:32:36] feel that

[1:32:37] >> I think it's going to take 10,000 from

[1:32:40] where they

[1:32:41] >> and and that may be well and good,

[1:32:43] >> but you've got 71 teachers. You just

[1:32:46] spent a million dollars.

[1:32:46] >> No, I know. I

[1:32:47] >> I'm reading you back to the reality on

[1:32:49] finances and and the re Dr. said it's

[1:32:53] 10,000 more. If they go back to a

[1:32:55] general classroom, they're going to give

[1:32:57] up the five. Okay. If you're if they go

[1:33:00] back They're getting 10,000 more than

[1:33:02] they would if they were teaching.

[1:33:04] >> Okay. They get more what comes up to

[1:33:07] they would get.

[1:33:08] >> Okay.

[1:33:08] >> They get from one source.

[1:33:11] >> Okay. Thank you. I just wanted

[1:33:13] sometimes. Yes.

[1:33:14] >> Should I tell a comment?

[1:33:16] >> So during this last legislative session,

[1:33:18] just so that you're aware, shine funding

[1:33:20] was cut back quite a bit.

[1:33:23] >> Yes.

[1:33:23] >> Even more than before.

[1:33:25] >> And [clears throat]

[1:33:26] and [snorts] so I know math and science,

[1:33:28] but do special ed still get it or no? it

[1:33:31] now. But

[1:33:31] >> right now in our policy, we wrote Shine

[1:33:34] for special education because we

[1:33:36] recognized that there was a need, but we

[1:33:38] don't know what our allocation's going

[1:33:40] to be. So, it's based off of the

[1:33:42] allocation that we received because the

[1:33:44] way we wrote that policy was so that the

[1:33:46] district's not kicking in money or or

[1:33:48] held right

[1:33:49] >> to uh maintain that amount of funding.

[1:33:53] And because it did take a decrease, we

[1:33:56] don't know what our allocation is, but

[1:33:58] we can suspect it's going to be

[1:34:00] considerably less.

[1:34:02] >> That makes sense. And and you know, and

[1:34:05] 10's great, sure, but we still

[1:34:08] >> everything's money.

[1:34:09] >> No, I agree.

[1:34:14] » I will say stipens are great, but there

[1:34:17] are other areas to consider. Our life

[1:34:19] skills teacher, there is an inequity

[1:34:21] piece. our life skills teachers at the

[1:34:22] elementary versus life skills at the

[1:34:24] secondary. They get preps. Elementary,

[1:34:27] they don't get any preps. Most of the

[1:34:29] time we're trying to get them lunches

[1:34:30] and paras lunches and that's not taking

[1:34:32] place. So, I think yes, a stipen would

[1:34:34] be great, but there's things that we

[1:34:36] could do to help um with that teacher

[1:34:38] retention for them not to feel so

[1:34:39] overwhelmed. Starting with our behavior

[1:34:42] classroom teachers or our moderate

[1:34:44] classrooms that are self-contained as

[1:34:46] well as our life skills classroom

[1:34:47] teachers just to uh help them see what

[1:34:50] we're trying to do and recognize all

[1:34:52] that they're doing. Yes.

[1:34:53] >> Yes. And so, I even had an administrator

[1:34:55] say to me, "We need more moderate

[1:34:57] classrooms."

[1:34:58] >> Yes. I think we should have moderate in

[1:35:01] multiple areas. Um it's something that

[1:35:03] you open it up and it grows and everyone

[1:35:05] wants wants to send these kids there

[1:35:07] which is great because we know that the

[1:35:09] need u the need is there but it's just

[1:35:11] have we have we have to have parameters

[1:35:13] in place but I think growing it is

[1:35:15] something that we need to do. Yes.

[1:35:17] >> You know I saw this slide um and I went

[1:35:20] back through the slides just quickly to

[1:35:21] see if I was missing it. You've got a

[1:35:24] ratio here for school psychologist

[1:35:27] uh to students that looks like

[1:35:29] recommended 1 to 500 at twilelet it's

[1:35:32] one to over 1100. Mhm.

[1:35:35] >> Are there any other I'm looking for data

[1:35:37] so I can see how big is our gap.

[1:35:40] >> Mhm.

[1:35:40] >> Is do you have a slide in there on how

[1:35:42] big is the gap that we have right now at

[1:35:44] Twilla School [snorts] District?

[1:35:46] >> Um like for our school sites or

[1:35:49] >> do you know what I mean in terms of gap?

[1:35:51] We've got this number of teachers. We

[1:35:53] need [clears throat] this number of

[1:35:54] teachers. Here's the gap.

[1:35:57] >> Um I haven't done that for teachers but

[1:36:01] >> okay but this isn't teacher. This is

[1:36:03] >> Yeah. So, this was our school site

[1:36:04] ratio, but I can come up with one.

[1:36:06] >> I saw that one, but I'm I'm asking for

[1:36:09] another slide that shows you how many

[1:36:10] people are school sites.

[1:36:12] >> I just Yeah.

[1:36:13] >> How many more teachers would you need?

[1:36:16] >> Exactly. How many more special education

[1:36:18] teachers do we need?

[1:36:19] >> Oh, so how many more special education

[1:36:22] teachers do we need? That's

[1:36:23] >> Well, I feel like we've been very

[1:36:24] generous over the years where I'm not

[1:36:28] going to ask for more just because I

[1:36:29] know the current state that we're in in

[1:36:31] our district. I mean 10 to 15 would be

[1:36:34] great and fantastic but the reality is I

[1:36:36] think we would be happy with three right

[1:36:39] um and I can come up with a ratio I was

[1:36:41] explaining in SCS last week that it's

[1:36:43] not just case loads that we're looking

[1:36:45] at case loads is a one one indicator we

[1:36:47] also have IEP services so we might have

[1:36:50] a case load of 10 kids or 10 on a case

[1:36:53] load in a self-contained classroom but

[1:36:56] the amount of minutes on their IEP makes

[1:36:58] it self-contained and so they're

[1:36:59] teaching bell to bail and so My ratio is

[1:37:02] going to look very different from

[1:37:03] self-contained to a mild moderate case

[1:37:05] load. But we have elementaryaries that

[1:37:07] are at 47 on a mild to moderate case

[1:37:09] load that within their whole entire day

[1:37:12] they they're trying the best that they

[1:37:13] can to provide services. But it's so

[1:37:15] hard with their current bell-to bell

[1:37:17] that we have and only having two

[1:37:19] teachers in the building with high case

[1:37:20] load numbers with as amount of uh

[1:37:22] service minutes on the IEP that they're

[1:37:24] juggling so many different plates to be

[1:37:27] able to deliver services to these kids.

[1:37:29] But I can definitely get you a ratio

[1:37:31] number of what that would look like if

[1:37:34] that would be helpful.

[1:37:34] >> Hold on for a question.

[1:37:35] >> No, I think that we didn't understand

[1:37:36] what at first you're saying that you

[1:37:38] would like a ratio like we have for the

[1:37:40] school sites. You would like one that's

[1:37:41] also for the other.

[1:37:43] >> Not necessarily. I want I I I just

[1:37:45] simply want to know.

[1:37:47] >> Yeah. How many additional special

[1:37:50] education teachers do we need

[1:37:52] >> so that we can handle the load that

[1:37:55] we've got here?

[1:37:56] >> And that's a goal, right? It doesn't

[1:37:58] mean you're getting it, but and we

[1:37:59] appreciate you being conservative, but

[1:38:01] if you what what is the goal? And we can

[1:38:04] march towards that if we knew the target

[1:38:06] is

[1:38:07] >> we start marching. We need an additional

[1:38:09] 10,000 5,000 wherever we go. We've got

[1:38:12] to do something here. And I and I just

[1:38:13] didn't see.

[1:38:14] >> Yep. I can get that for you guys.

[1:38:17] >> Yes, I'm

[1:38:17] >> sorry. We're kind of um all over the

[1:38:20] place in your presentation, so I

[1:38:22] apologize for that. But um I wanted to

[1:38:24] go off what he was talking about. Um,

[1:38:27] and let's see. Let me make sure that I

[1:38:30] am the right.

[1:38:33] Did I just say my intro? And I don't

[1:38:35] know why I wouldn't introduce this. Um,

[1:38:38] [laughter]

[1:38:39] >> all over the place.

[1:38:40] >> Yeah, we're so all over the place. Um,

[1:38:44] [cough]

[1:38:45] [clears throat] let me just think about

[1:38:46] this.

[1:38:49] >> Yeah, move on.

[1:38:51] >> Okay.

[1:38:56] So, with our manifestation determination

[1:38:59] review last year at this time, we got

[1:39:01] two letters of non-compliance. The first

[1:39:03] letter Yes,

[1:39:04] >> that was why I raised my hand.

[1:39:05] >> Oh, okay. [laughter]

[1:39:08] It was the letters of non-compliance. I

[1:39:10] was going to say as far as what he's

[1:39:12] saying about the additional teachers,

[1:39:15] um, I guess getting into compliance and

[1:39:18] how many people it would take to do that

[1:39:19] I feel like is a really important piece.

[1:39:21] So, I was going to ask you about that.

[1:39:23] Yes. So just the broad overview of uh

[1:39:27] special education compliance. There's

[1:39:28] many indicators that come with it. Uh

[1:39:31] right now we have one file compliance

[1:39:33] specialist that just focuses on the file

[1:39:35] itself. Is it compliant? If USB came and

[1:39:38] did a monitoring visit, would it be

[1:39:40] compliant? Um, every other indicator

[1:39:42] that we get non-compliance uh letters

[1:39:45] on, uh, it really falls on me and my two

[1:39:48] assistant directors, uh, being able to

[1:39:51] identify, okay, root cause analysis,

[1:39:53] what's our corrective action plan, are

[1:39:54] we doing it right, what does the data

[1:39:56] show? Um, it really has just taken the

[1:39:59] three of us over the course of time. And

[1:40:01] so with manifestation determination,

[1:40:03] that was one indicator that we got

[1:40:05] flagged on. Normally, we'll just get an

[1:40:08] indicator of non-compliance for

[1:40:10] indicator 4, which is suspension and

[1:40:12] expulsion. Uh, as we started doing a

[1:40:14] deep dive last year into the data, we

[1:40:16] noticed that there were some data

[1:40:17] discrepancies. So, we kind of tattled on

[1:40:20] ourselves to USB and we just said,

[1:40:22] there's something going on. The data

[1:40:24] that you have in your report isn't the

[1:40:26] data that we're seeing on Utre. And so,

[1:40:28] as we did a deep dive, we realized that

[1:40:30] there was data inaccuracy across

[1:40:32] platforms. So that's where um our

[1:40:35] indicator number four non non-compliance

[1:40:38] letter came was the data inaccuracy. And

[1:40:41] so not only are we looking at suspension

[1:40:43] and expulsion, we noticed that on

[1:40:45] educators handbook the way that

[1:40:47] suspensions and expulsions were listed

[1:40:49] didn't go into Skyward and then Skyward

[1:40:52] is what filters into the state. And so

[1:40:54] there was this missing piece along the

[1:40:55] way of it might be listed as 15 on

[1:40:58] educator's handbook for out of school

[1:40:59] suspension but on um in Skyward it's

[1:41:02] only at 7.5 days. Well that's the data

[1:41:04] that's going to go into Utrex. So we got

[1:41:07] a non-compliance report on that and so

[1:41:11] we came up with our own internal review

[1:41:13] action plan. So monthly we do in um

[1:41:17] leadership we do a behavior corner. They

[1:41:20] review data across platforms. We send

[1:41:22] out notices to school teams to let them

[1:41:24] know you're hitting that seven-day

[1:41:26] threshold. You need to hold a

[1:41:27] manifestation. We pull weekly reports

[1:41:30] for um to just check the data accuracy

[1:41:33] across platforms. And I am happy to

[1:41:35] report right now we're we've met our

[1:41:37] timeline requirements for manifestation.

[1:41:40] So you have to hold the MDR before the

[1:41:42] 10th day. And then data accuracy across

[1:41:44] platforms has been 100%. So big win for

[1:41:48] us. Are we where we want to be? No. We

[1:41:50] know that we are suspending students at

[1:41:52] a higher rate, but we're going to be

[1:41:54] putting in, like Heather mentioned, the

[1:41:55] student code of contact uh conduct,

[1:41:58] putting in uh preventative strategies to

[1:42:00] help with this. But I I like that we

[1:42:02] we've been able to control our timeline

[1:42:05] requirements and to we are able to

[1:42:07] control the data accuracy piece as well.

[1:42:09] Any questions? Yes.

[1:42:10] >> Yeah. And as I've read through that,

[1:42:12] it's um expulsions of greater than 10

[1:42:16] days in a school year by race or

[1:42:18] ethnicity. Y

[1:42:20] >> for students with IEPs. So are they

[1:42:22] saying that we're somehow targeting

[1:42:26] students

[1:42:27] >> essentially

[1:42:28] >> based on racial profile or ethnicity?

[1:42:30] >> So when you're looking at it, they know

[1:42:33] that students of race and ethnicity are

[1:42:35] at a higher um at risk category for

[1:42:38] being expelled uh the suspension,

[1:42:42] expulsion, dropouts. So they're just

[1:42:44] risk categories. And so that's one area

[1:42:46] that they look at is race and ethnicity.

[1:42:48] So they're saying, so this last year

[1:42:50] with our indicator 4, it was

[1:42:52] African-American. We had students that

[1:42:54] were above the threshold in comparison

[1:42:57] to all students in Tula County School

[1:42:58] District. That subset of students uh

[1:43:01] were marked higher than the rest for our

[1:43:03] suspension and expulsion.

[1:43:05] >> Yep.

[1:43:07] All right.

[1:43:10] I'm not going to do a deep dive into our

[1:43:11] annual performance determination review,

[1:43:13] but just a brief overview. Um, IDA

[1:43:17] requires USB to hold us to uh or make

[1:43:21] determinations annually about the

[1:43:23] performance. Uh, there's four

[1:43:25] indicators. So, you could meet the

[1:43:27] requirements, needs assistance, need

[1:43:28] intervention, or need substantial

[1:43:30] intervention. So, I'm happy to report

[1:43:32] for the second year in a row, we're in

[1:43:34] the needs assistance. So, essentially in

[1:43:36] number two, um, which we're making

[1:43:38] progress. Are we at or where are we

[1:43:42] where we want to be at? No. But we are

[1:43:44] making progress. And so just a few areas

[1:43:46] of growth, preschool transitions, we

[1:43:48] were 100% compliant. Um participation

[1:43:51] and proficiency, we saw a growth

[1:43:53] increase. Dropout and graduation, a

[1:43:55] growth increase. And then corrections of

[1:43:57] non-compliance, we meet the requirements

[1:43:59] for that.

[1:44:01] I wanted to just talk about the these

[1:44:05] two, which is really cool. So at my

[1:44:07] state meeting last week, we were

[1:44:09] recognized in these two categories for

[1:44:11] our post-secary transition program. The

[1:44:13] first one is our post school outcome

[1:44:15] survey. We were ranked number two in the

[1:44:17] state uh for getting survey completion

[1:44:19] rates. And then the next one is we were

[1:44:22] number two for medium leas for

[1:44:24] competitive employment opportunities for

[1:44:26] students with disabilities. So um just

[1:44:28] kudos to our transition team. We have

[1:44:30] one of the best transition programs in

[1:44:32] the state. And so just a very good

[1:44:34] highlight um that they they deserve and

[1:44:38] I'm happy that they were able to be

[1:44:39] recognized.

[1:44:40] >> Marissa.

[1:44:41] >> Yes. I just want to say Marissa's kind

[1:44:44] of underelling that and your performance

[1:44:46] determination you [laughter]

[1:44:50] that is a big deal that it's not perfect

[1:44:52] but I will say four years ago when I

[1:44:57] started in this job it was just normal

[1:45:00] that on the vast majority we were a four

[1:45:04] right that's the worst one uh and we've

[1:45:08] made so much progress in this area

[1:45:10] Marissa and our team have done such an

[1:45:13] amazing job and she really did underell

[1:45:15] that. That is just it is a huge

[1:45:17] accomplishment in the world of special

[1:45:19] ed to have this much growth in our

[1:45:22] districtwide program. Um yeah, I agree.

[1:45:25] We're not where we want to be, but man,

[1:45:28] it we're so much better than we were

[1:45:30] four years ago. So, just hats off to her

[1:45:33] and her team.

[1:45:33] >> Thank you. Thank you. It's the

[1:45:36] perfectionist in me. I am not where we

[1:45:38] want to be yet, but sometimes I forget

[1:45:40] to celebrate the small victories. So,

[1:45:42] thank you.

[1:45:42] >> Or the large ones.

[1:45:43] Yes.

[1:45:46] [laughter and gasps]

[1:45:46] All right. We talked about the

[1:45:48] challenges and I'll just end with the

[1:45:50] good things happening. So, power hour

[1:45:52] training two years ago, Dr. Ham uh

[1:45:55] mentors came to him just trying to

[1:45:57] problem solve. It was a bigger uh

[1:45:59] district-wide issue. We had paras and

[1:46:01] aids where across the district that we

[1:46:04] felt like we weren't giving them

[1:46:05] adequate training. And so two years ago

[1:46:07] with the mentors and my special

[1:46:09] education team, we came up with power

[1:46:10] hour. Last year it was a great success.

[1:46:13] Um but we got some push back from

[1:46:15] principles saying you're telling me what

[1:46:17] I can do with my money. Like these are

[1:46:19] my aids. And so we just decided, you

[1:46:20] know, like let's control what we can

[1:46:22] control. And we just decided to do power

[1:46:24] hour training for our special education

[1:46:26] paras. And so we've had we've utilized

[1:46:29] the early release Tuesdays. So thank you

[1:46:31] guys so much for that. It's a great

[1:46:33] opportunity for us to pull our pairs to

[1:46:35] train them. Um, and there's many topics

[1:46:37] that we've discussed and next year we'll

[1:46:39] provide the training again and provide

[1:46:41] additional supports and resources. One

[1:46:43] thing that I've learned with them, it

[1:46:45] opens up that collaboration piece. They

[1:46:47] feel safe in that environment. They feel

[1:46:48] like they're building relationships with

[1:46:50] people they might not have built

[1:46:52] relationships with and they know who to

[1:46:53] turn to. Um, so we've had over 130 PAR

[1:46:56] educators each day that we hold the

[1:46:58] training. And then this year with Dr.

[1:47:00] Abraham's approval, we sent five PAR

[1:47:02] educators to the National Resource

[1:47:04] Center for PAR educators, the virtual

[1:47:06] conference, um, which we had so many

[1:47:08] that wanted to go, which was a great

[1:47:10] success. I wish we could have taken all

[1:47:12] of them, but it was on their own time.

[1:47:14] We just paid for them to attend and the

[1:47:16] resources that they got, um, they came

[1:47:18] back and they're presenting to our team

[1:47:20] in April. And so, it's just it's an area

[1:47:22] that I feel like we need to continue

[1:47:23] with because our paras are ones that are

[1:47:25] running the classrooms. We wouldn't be

[1:47:27] able to do our jobs without them. And so

[1:47:29] being able to train them appropriately

[1:47:31] is is going to benefit our jobs. It's

[1:47:34] benefiting the students, but it's also

[1:47:35] allowing them to feel a sense of

[1:47:38] community within special education. Any

[1:47:40] questions? Yes.

[1:47:41] >> So how did you select the five?

[1:47:43] >> So we presented it in I believe it was

[1:47:47] November's power hour training. If

[1:47:49] anyone was interested to send us their

[1:47:50] names, we put everyone in there and then

[1:47:52] we just put it on one of the virtual

[1:47:54] spin wheels and it selected. We did have

[1:47:56] a few alternates just in case we know

[1:47:59] life gets busy and so I think two people

[1:48:01] dropped out so we were able to choose

[1:48:03] from the alternates but great success

[1:48:05] and we'll definitely be doing it again

[1:48:07] next year. Yes.

[1:48:09] >> So I think this is super amazing. Yay.

[1:48:11] Good job. Um, also I've had teachers,

[1:48:15] special ed teachers tell me that they uh

[1:48:17] would like time to be able to train

[1:48:19] their own paras in their classrooms that

[1:48:22] they can be on board with the the things

[1:48:25] that are going in on in their specific

[1:48:27] classrooms, but they don't feel like

[1:48:29] they have time to do that. Um, what

[1:48:32] would you recommend for them? Yeah. And

[1:48:34] that's when I think a teacher came to us

[1:48:36] last week and we see it more so in our

[1:48:38] life skills class like in our

[1:48:40] self-contained classes where it's like

[1:48:42] busy all day every day and then crisis

[1:48:44] happens and then they're like we need a

[1:48:46] training, we need a debrief and so we've

[1:48:48] talked about maybe utilizing some of the

[1:48:50] power hour training time for them to

[1:48:51] maybe once a month meet with their

[1:48:53] school teams. I'm open to suggestions. I

[1:48:55] think it's very vital in what they do.

[1:48:57] The debriefing part after an incident

[1:48:59] happens is so crucial to being able to

[1:49:01] say h we did this wrong. let's do this

[1:49:04] better next time. And so we're trying to

[1:49:05] prioritize what does it look like moving

[1:49:07] forward for additional training

[1:49:09] opportunities.

[1:49:12] And then Sher Levit was a USB marvelous

[1:49:15] mentor. Um she is one that we hired when

[1:49:19] I first started. We felt the need. The

[1:49:20] mentors just stated, you know, we know

[1:49:23] what we're doing as mentors, but the

[1:49:25] special education side of things, uh we

[1:49:27] just don't have a good understanding.

[1:49:28] And so we hired Sher Levit um as a

[1:49:32] special education mentor for our new

[1:49:33] teachers and she was highlighted or

[1:49:35] she'll be highlighted in their April 3rd

[1:49:37] meeting as the USC marvelous mentor for

[1:49:40] what she does. Um this is one that I I'm

[1:49:44] so grateful for. Three years ago, you

[1:49:47] guys approved for us to consolidate

[1:49:49] three uh part-time positions into one

[1:49:51] full-time position. This is our student

[1:49:53] success coordinator, Michelle Garbett,

[1:49:56] and she works with our atrisisk students

[1:49:58] that we've identified and then she

[1:50:01] really focuses on those seniors. So, as

[1:50:03] you can see over the course of time, um

[1:50:06] she's worked with students and she's

[1:50:08] helped students graduate. And so, this

[1:50:11] year, you can see we have 15 students

[1:50:13] that will graduate. So, 11 seniors are

[1:50:16] potentially going to graduate. One

[1:50:18] student that was in our transition

[1:50:19] program that was working with her will

[1:50:21] graduate. And then three students that

[1:50:23] we identified as fifth year seniors last

[1:50:25] year will graduate because of Michelle's

[1:50:27] work. So this just goes back to one of

[1:50:29] our indicators of dropouts and

[1:50:32] graduation, our moon goals. What

[1:50:34] Michelle has done has truly impacted um

[1:50:37] students access to being able to

[1:50:39] graduate. We've seen a decrease in

[1:50:40] dropouts and an increase of graduation

[1:50:42] for students with disabilities. And so

[1:50:44] this is just a vital position that we

[1:50:45] have in our district um and identifying

[1:50:48] and being a support and being able to

[1:50:49] collaborate and set goals with these

[1:50:51] students. so they can graduate and so um

[1:50:53] I'm just grateful for all that Michelle

[1:50:55] does. Any questions? Okay.

[1:50:59] Um Medicaid billing um special ed is

[1:51:02] just very unique. We have multiple

[1:51:04] funding sources. We have state funds, we

[1:51:06] have federal funds, and then we have

[1:51:08] Medicaid funds. And so within Medicaid,

[1:51:10] we can bill for students who are covered

[1:51:12] under Medicaid for personal care,

[1:51:15] speech, occupational therapy, behavior,

[1:51:17] um health care plans. There is a

[1:51:19] Medicaid expansion that will it's it's

[1:51:22] already happening. We haven't um done

[1:51:24] much with it, but it provides additional

[1:51:26] opportunities uh for students in our uh

[1:51:29] district who are on 504s healthcare

[1:51:31] plans as well as IEPs to be able to

[1:51:34] provide services and get reimbursed for

[1:51:36] those services. And so every year we

[1:51:38] have to do a Medicaid compliance review.

[1:51:40] Um they look at multiple things. They

[1:51:42] look at is the IEP current? Um is the

[1:51:45] student uh the services we're providing

[1:51:47] an eligible service? is the

[1:51:48] documentation provided and I'm happy to

[1:51:51] report we received 100% compliance on

[1:51:53] this for the second year in a row. Um,

[1:51:56] which is another big win in our books.

[1:51:58] Anytime we have the documentation during

[1:52:00] an audit, um, just goes to show what

[1:52:03] we're doing and that we're compliant

[1:52:04] with everything. And then the last one

[1:52:06] is just unified sports. If you haven't

[1:52:09] met Nate Pullman, he he's amazing. Um,

[1:52:13] Nate has done so much with unified

[1:52:14] sports. Tilla High School. They won two

[1:52:17] state championships last week in

[1:52:19] basketball for unified. Um soccer has

[1:52:21] great success. What he's done um in the

[1:52:24] last little bit in his role as an

[1:52:27] adapted PE, but also with unified is

[1:52:30] just great and it's removing those

[1:52:31] barriers. And so I just wanted to give

[1:52:33] him kudos for all the hard work he's

[1:52:35] done. And that's it. Questions?

[1:52:40] All right.

[1:52:42] Thank you guys.

[1:52:43] [clears throat and snorts]

[1:52:45] Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:52:48] I think um every department is huge in

[1:52:51] our in education, but special ed with

[1:52:53] the

[1:52:55] extra laws put in adds I mean education

[1:52:58] has so many laws behind it, but is it

[1:53:01] fair to say that special ed trumps every

[1:53:05] single

[1:53:06] other area of education as far as laws

[1:53:09] go? So, thank you. It's It's amazing how

[1:53:14] much you do with the so we appreciate

[1:53:16] it.

[1:53:17] >> Thank you.

[1:53:20] >> Looking for a motion.

[1:53:22] >> The motion

[1:53:27] by Todd. All in favor? I

[1:53:39] Thank you so much for your

March 24, 2026 - TCSD Board of Education Work Session

Transcript