The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board met last week and was treated to a presentation by a student led council.
The Principal’s Council from Washington Elementary School is made up of fifth and sixth grade students who advise principal Amanda Leonard on student wants and needs.
Leonard said, “These kids volunteered for the council and were recommended by their teachers as leaders and stand-up citizens in their classrooms.”
To begin, Anna Ortiz said, “We meet together on Fridays to talk about how we would like to improve the school and give Ms. Leonard ideas on how we can make it better and what we would like to see change.”
The children then took turns speaking about some of the projects they have initiated. For example, they were able to add variety to their physical education classes. Layla Barker said, “This week fifth grade is offering to capture the flag, hard ball, wiffle ball and walking club.”
Gabriel Gerber added, “We even created videos with rules and expectations for students playing the games. We wanted to make sure everyone knew how to play them.”
Other positive things the council has inspired include a kindness weak, inclusivity activities and other physical activity options. The club is looking forward to their paint ball tournament in April.
In other business, the governing board:
* Ratified vouchers in a routine procedure that allows the board to submit vouchers to the county superintendent between meetings.
* Accepted a donation in the amount of $1,750 to Winslow Junior High School from the Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research at Colorado State University for their participation in a student survey about substance abuse.
* Approved the rehire list for the 2022-23 school year.
* Approved the hiring of Casey Hancock as district business manager effective July 1.
* Approved the hiring of Kristina Greer, secretary at Jefferson Elementary and Angel Luna, special education bus aide; and the retire and return to work of Penny Brimhall, Winslow High School Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology Coordinator.
* Accepted the resignation of Marianna Castuita, Bryson Sheppard, Kayla Dalton, Alphena Armao, Cheryll Daly, Joseph Larsen and Sarah Shumway.
* Approved George Gould as a volunteer for Winslow Junior High School student council.
* Approved fundraiser activity requests from the WHS Band Club, WHS Track Club and WHS Volleyball Club.
* Approved the fiscal year 2021 audit financial statement. Business Manager Shirley Lomeli explained that one finding did take place but was immediately corrected and the audit was accepted. The entire document is available to view online on the Arizona Department of Education website at www.azed.gov.
* Tabled an agenda item regarding implementation of “reset rooms” in the 2022-23 school year. The board voted to table the item due to lack of information on job descriptions of staff specific to the rooms.
* Approved the salary schedule for the 2022-23 school year. The sole change is the starting salary for certified teachers is now $38,000.
* Approved a compensation increase to all district employees of 3% and an addition of a $1,200 sign-on support payment for staff who were employees in the 2021-22 school year and begin a new contract in the 2022-23 school year.
* Approved an incremental increase to the $500 fee that is currently charged to certified staff that do not fulfill their signed contract.
* Approved Teacher Synergy as a sole source provider for the remainder of the school year and any summer school supplies that are needed through Teachers Pay Teachers.
* Heard the financial report for April, in which Lomeli explained 67% of the school year has lapsed with 54% of the budget spent.
The next meeting of the Winslow Unified School District Governing Board will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, in the board meeting room, located at 800 N. Apache Ave.
