Scottsdale Unified School District No Dream Too Big . . . No Challenge Too Great

The Governing Board approved to publish the budget for the 2004-2005 school year in the newspaper. The budget must be advertised in newspapers for 10 days prior to the adoption. The Board also set a date for the Budget adoption, which is scheduled for Tuesday, July, 13.

In other action, the Board:

• Was provided with training on what employees can and cannot do during the election cycle. Chris Thomas, attorney for the Arizona School Boards Association, discussed the guidelines for the school elections.
   
  The Governing Board members and district employees may: allow outside groups to rent school facilities for meetings; respond factually to citizen questions; hold public forums for all sides to discuss; provide voter registration materials in the front office; and provide and distribute publicity pamphlets. Thomas said district employees can freely speak about the election during their time and not while on school property.
   
  The Governing Board members and district employees may not: pass a board resolution in favor of the election; allow others to campaign on school property; solicit contributions; circulate petitions during school hours; wear political buttons during school hours; distribute written materials to students; and use district resources, including e-mail, phones, paper, and copy and fax machines for election purposes.
   
• Discussed the early admission to kindergarten or first grade policy. The Governing Board directed the administration to develop procedures to determine student readiness for early admission.
   
  Under section 15-821(C), students who reach the required age before Sept. 1 are eligible for admission to kindergarten and first grade, respectively, during the current school year. Students who reach the required age on or after Jan. 1 are ineligible for admission to kindergarten and first grade during the current school year. Between these two absolutes, the Legislature has given governing boards discretion to admit children who reach the required age on or after Sept. 1 but before Jan. 1, if admission is in the best interest of the children.
   
  The Governing Board has no obligation to exercise the discretion permitted under the statue and may choose to simply adopt a universal policy that the Sept. 1 deadline is absolute and that no requests for early admission will be considered. This discretion, which most districts use, allows for decisions to be made by professionals on early admission.
   
• Approved the issuance of a Request for Proposal for bus advertisement.
   
  SUSD is seeking a full service advertising and marketing agency to develop and institute revenue-generating advertising on district school buses. Implementation of an actual plan for advertising will be submitted to the Governing Board for discussion and approval prior to acceptance.
   
• Accepted gifts valued at $138,767. The gifts were received from Chaparral VICA Club, Desert Mountain Band Boosters, Desert Mountain Choir Boosters, Desert Mountain Choir Council, Anasazi PTO, Arcadia PTO, Copper Ridge Elementary School PTO, Desert Canyon Elementary School PTO, Hopi PTA, Laguna PTO, Sequoya APT, Exxon Mobil, Linda Forrest, General Mills, Girl Scout Troop #63, Jeffery Lahrer, Salt River Project, Shea Homes and Westcor Partners.

The next Governing Board meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m., Tuesday, July 13, at the Education Center.

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