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Osborn Elementary District board meeting, Aug 18, 2026

1 h 24 min · 1 public speaker

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 1 h 24 min.

  1. Who spoke · first speaks at
What happened

What happened at this meeting

Osborn board approves revised fiscal year '27 budget and instructional time model 1:10:13

  • A district staff member opened a district celebration welcoming the newest staff members and invited principals to introduce their new educators. 15:46
  • A speaker at public comment and a report from the Osborne Education Association raised concerns about classroom temperatures and air conditioning outages. 58:50
  • The board also approved a first review of trust policy revisions after board members asked questions about conflict of interest forms and procurement authority. 1:12:05

Until Nov 4, lines where a board member takes a side don't name the member. Why →

Item by item (12)
  1. Public hearings on budget and time models 0:14
    • The first public hearing was held to discuss the revised fiscal year '27 budget. 0:14
    • A presenter said the one change from the adopted budget was an increase of just under $300,000 to the maintenance and operations budget to account for one-time dollars approved in the state budget. 0:51
    • A district staff member said the second hearing was the second of 2 required public hearings on the district's proposed instructional time models. 2:31
  2. Call to order and opening 3:24
    • Violeta Ramos called the meeting to order at 5:35 PM, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a land acknowledgment. 3:24
  3. Governing board reports 4:30
    • Ben Blink said the 2025⁠-⁠2026 school year marked the district's highest proficiency rates since before COVID-19, with English language arts 4 percentage points higher than the year before. 6:00
    • Ed Hermes said the district would partner with Latino Access, with board approval, to provide incentives such as access to sporting and cultural events, and described a bike safety event planned for October 4th. 8:53
    • Rhiannon Ford said they were selected for the National School Board Association Policy Leadership Cohort and that a related trip to Washington, D.C. in January was on the consent agenda. 10:33
  4. Welcome of new district staff 15:46
    • A district staff member invited principals to introduce new educators to their campuses and share what makes their school communities special. 18:06
    • Principals shared their schools' unique value propositions and introduced new teachers, social workers and other staff. 19:37
    • A district staff member introduced new members of the special education team and the new executive director of recruitment and talent. 45:11
  5. Public comment 58:50
    • A speaker at public comment raised concerns about classroom temperatures and air conditioning problems during the first week of school. 58:50
    • The speaker asked the board and district to consider 5 things, including classroom temperature guidelines, reliable temperature monitoring and a contingency plan for when multiple classrooms lose cooling. 58:50
  6. Consent agenda 1:01:37
    • Rhiannon Ford moved to pull consent agenda items C1 and D4 for correction. 1:01:45
    • Rhiannon Ford said the July 14th hearing minutes in item C1 listed a former clerk as present and should list Ben Blink instead. 1:02:16
    • Rhiannon Ford asked that a date listed in the personnel items under D4 be corrected, and a district staff member said staff would look into it and get back to the board. 1:03:10
    • The board approved C1 with the stated corrections, tabled D4 and approved the rest of the consent agenda. ~1:03:04
  7. Employee association report 1:04:49
    • A co-president of the Osborne Education Association said the group supported a total of 41 advocacy cases last school year and recommended more transparency on hiring and transfer practices. 1:05:19
    • A staff member speaking for the association recommended the district develop and seek board approval of a response plan for air conditioning outages. 1:08:14
    • The staff member said sites reported class sizes in the upper 20s, with some at or above 30 students, and encouraged the district to establish class size caps. 1:09:23
  8. Revised fiscal year budget 1:10:13
    • The board considered approval of the revised fiscal year '27 budget. 1:10:13
    • The motion carried with no opposition heard. 1:10:47
  9. Instructional time model 1:10:47
    • The board considered approval of the proposed instructional time model for the district's schools for the 26⁠-⁠27 school year. 1:10:59
    • The motion carried with no opposition heard. 1:11:18
  10. Trust policy revisions first review 1:11:18
    • One board member asked about optional wording on the timeframe for conflict of interest forms and said they liked the wiggle room in the language. 1:12:05
    • One board member asked about changes to procurement language and said a $100,000 sole source procurement without going before the board does not feel appropriate to them. 1:14:23
    • Rhiannon Ford asked that the policies be sent to legal counsel, and a staff member said staff would bring it to counsel and get back to the board. 1:18:54
    • The motion carried with no opposition heard. 1:19:46
  11. Student services staff handbook 1:19:46
    • A district staff member requested approval of the 26⁠-⁠27 Student Services Staff Handbook and said it would be included in the special education audit required by the Arizona Department of Education. 1:20:10
    • The motion carried with no opposition heard. 1:21:14
  12. Future agenda items and adjournment 1:21:14
    • Ben Blink said they would love to hear more about heat mitigation for classrooms and the AC outage, and mentioned a board retreat on September 18th. 1:21:36
    • One board member asked for a deep dive into recent enrollment numbers and a comprehensive policy on heat mitigation and safety. 1:21:59
    • Violeta Ramos adjourned the meeting at 6:54 PM. 1:22:49

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

Other meetings

Other meetings of this board

Video: posted by the district as “Governing Board Meeting 8/18/26”