YUHSD Governing Board Meeting at a Glance

The Yuma Union High School District governing board convened Wednesday evening, May 11 for a public hearing and regular meeting. Both are viewable at https://bit.ly/3PpyTMD.

PUBLIC HEARING

A public hearing to review budget revisions for the 2021-2022 year was held before the regular meeting. Chief Financial Officer Dianne Cordery presented on the changes, highlighting that the maintenance and operations budget increased a little bit over $2.2 million, the capital budget increased about $889,000, grants have increased by $4.7 million and the classroom site fund has increased just over $250,000.

She explained that many of these changes were due to carryover from the last fiscal year and a change in student enrollment. Where previously the number budgeted for was at 10,919 students, the district must account for 11,104 instead.

“We’re very conservative when we build our budget,” Corder said. “It’s built off of the numbers from the previous year so we don’t allow for any growth in the numbers when we calculate it for our adoption. And then when we do the revision, then we know the exact numbers and that’s when we come back and we capture that money for that time for those students.”

REPORTS

Reports were made on the summer learning options in the district, which will be available from June 7-24, the Ready Now Yuma billboard campaign, which spotlights two students from each YUHSD campus, and research by Kofa High School Athletic Trainer Shannon Carmody on the retention of athletic trainers.

Carmody shared that she completed the research as part of her graduate work in attaining a Master’s degree. She interviewed athletic trainers across the country who’ve stayed 10 years or longer in their positions and found that they’re most likely to stay longer if they feel supported by administration, feel secure in their job positions and feel connected to their community.

Career and Technical Education Executive Director Lorie Honeycutt was also acknowledged for having been given the SkillsUSA Cornerstone award.

FINANCIAL TRENDS

CFO Dianne Cordery stated that the district should be at 83% of the way through its budget at this point. Up to May 1, YUHSD has expended 60% of its maintenance and operations budget or $54 million out of a $90.6 million budget–well below the 83%. Cordery said that this is because the district is building up a contingency for Somerton High School, which is currently under construction.

YUHSD has also spent 17% of its capital funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, or $2.7 million out of a $16.2 million budget. For the Student Activities Report, Cordery stated a revenue of $64,000 and expenditures of $37,000. This provides an ending cash balance of $768,00 for all the student accounts across the district and $134,000 for 2021-2022 activity.

CTE SPRING COMPETITION OUTCOMES

Over 520 CTE students in career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) participated in spring competitions this year. A student representative presented on the topic, explaining that all CTE students in the district are enrolled in a CTSO.

This means that there are currently over 7,800 students enrolled among the nine Arizona CTSOs: Arizona Thespians, Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), Educators Rising, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), Future Farmers of America (FFA), Future Health Professionals (HOSA), SkillsUSA and Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC).

These students competed in various events throughout the spring, and for some, the season isn’t over, but to date, YUHSD students have placed or earned medals in 164 CTSO events. 35 different individual or team winners will captured first place or gold level and will advance to national competitions in the summer. YUHSD CTE will also be sending 58 student leaders to focus training in order to transition from CTE ambassadors to CTE leaders or state officers.

CALL TO THE PUBLIC

Gay Thrower, chair of the Yuma High School Athletic Hall of Fame, spoke during call to the public to request a longstanding memorial at Yuma High for a hall of fame member who had just passed away: Bob McLendon.

Tom Tyree joined Thrower in representing a number of former basketball coaches, athletes, students and colleagues in support of requesting that the governing board name the Yuma High gym after McLendon.

“Bob was a giant in education and you’re all aware of all of his accomplishments as an elected official serving on the Arizona Board of Regents,” Tyree said. “... but if Bob were here–and he told this to me many times and his wife recently did as well–I think his greatest accomplishment was that of being the head basketball coach at Yuma High School for 19 years. During that time, he accumulated the most victories of any basketball coach in the long history of Yuma Union High School and I had the good fortune of not only getting to play with him, but getting to coach with him as his assistant coach.”

Tyree shared that in a very short amount of time, the petition to name the gym after McLendon had already received 360 signatures from community members as well as former players that now live all over the country.

Arizona open meeting law prevented the governing board from responding, but Board President Phil Townsend stated he will request information on how to proceed from Superintendent Gina Thompson.

DONATIONS

The governing board voted to accept the month’s donations. The most sizable ones were from: JJ Flooring Group, which donated 500 square feet of flooring valued at $1,090 to Cibola High School; the Arizona Department of Education through DonorsChoose, which donated items valued at a total of $2,180 to Cibola; Levi Storms of Game One Athletics, who donated a Schutt Vengeance football helmet and a Schutt Vengeance Professional Series football helmet valued at $1,199 to Gila Ridge High School; the San Luis High School Class of 2022 Club, which donated three full-color backdrops with stands and bags valued at $1,696.41 to San Luis High School; and Mellon Farms, which donated tillage valued at $1,950 to San Luis High School’s Land Lab.

CONSENT AGENDA AND ACTION ITEMS

The governing board unanimously approved the consent agenda, which is comprised of items of a routine nature that typically do not require deliberation.

For action items, the governing board first approved the revised 2021-2022 compensation packet. This revision adds an executive director to the Interdisciplinary Arts Program as the result of a previous study session.

The board then approved the list of hard-to-staff positions for the 2022-2023 school year for the referral payment program. Superintendent Thompson explained that this program has proven helpful in recruitment and retention.

The governing board also approved the 2021-2022 budget revision that was reviewed during the public hearing.

Lastly, the board approved the 2022-2023 compensation packet, which involves specifics on performance pay and raises for various types of employees.

ASBA AGENDA AND DELEGATE CHOICES

The governing board took no action in proposing new issues for the 2023 political agenda for the Arizona Schools Boards Association (ASBA). Board member Carlos Gonzalez was selected as the board’s delegate to the ASBA delegate assembly.

The next governing board meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 8.