A Publication for

The Boarder

the CFSD Community

Staff

A Summary Report of the April 14, 2015,

C F S D Governing Board Meeting
Preston Martin received a medallion for scoring 3
points. Rueshil Fadia received an individual 10th
place trophy, and Ryan Thompson received a trophy
for being regional co-champion.
Southern Arizona Research, Science and
Engineering Foundation (SARSEF)
Many CFSD students were award winners at this
year's SARSEF science project competition. Note:
Their teachers are shown in parentheses.
CFSD Star Award
The governing board honored the Catalina Foothills
High School (CFHS) planning team for its contribution
to the high schools designation as an A+ School of
Excellence by the Arizona Educational Foundation.
Board President Carole Siegler honored the following
individuals: Eric Arellano, Sergio Camacho, Angela
Chomokos, Jay Christopher, Cheryl Joseph, Julie
McCrea, John Moes, Mark Rubin-Toles, and Pam
Short.

Superintendent Mary Kamerzell shared the following

student and staff achievements.
Catalina Foothills High School
The following social studies students qualified for State
History Day competition: Natalie Aaronson, Atharva
Deshmukh, Nizar Hadeli, Ingrid Heim, Calvin Holst,
Sarah Kaddoura, Adian Jackson, Ryan Kemmer,
Jordan Knope, Gia Longo, Nadia Louri, Rebeca
Moreno, Tess Nakonechy, Elyssia SalamancaFernandez, and Alexander Reich.
Their advisor is Summer McCall, CFHS social studies
teacher.
Orange Grove Middle School
The OGMS Chess Team placed second in the K-9
section at the Regional Scholastic Championships. The
K-9 team consisted of Rueshil Fadia, Justin Fritz,
Preston Martin, Ryan Thompson, and Jacob Waitt.

Canyon View Elementary School

2nd grade, 1st place
Ella Wiegand, How does my flower get
power? (Jocelyn Dubs)
3rd grade, 1st place
Felix Fan, Good wipe, bad wipe, gentle wipe,
harsh wipe (Melissa Schantz)
3rd grade, 2nd place
Julia Beskind, Is Ultraviolet-C light as effective
as alcohol for cleaning your cell
phone? (Melissa Schantz)
Sahasrakshi Dasika and Harini Rajendra, Shoo
away pesticides? (Mary Clark)
3rd grade, 3rd place
Sahasrakshi Dasika and Harini Rajendra, Acid
rain: germinators or terminators?
(Melissa Schantz)
5th grade, 1st place
Aiden Baruch, Improving thermal performance
of emergency shelter for hot climates (Cheryl
Williams)

Bhargav Ghosh, Point of Parabola (Libby

Hays)
5th grade, 2nd place
Emily Kamp, Germ in a Shepherd (Josef
Torres)
5th grade, 3rd place
Rohini Ghosh, Experimenting with Tsunamis
and Wavedepth (Libby Hays)
Catalina Foothills High School
1st place
Sylvia Zarnescu, A novel approach to
treatment for ALS through metabolomics in a
Drosophila model (Terry Fortunato)
Manzanita Elementary School
5th grade, 1st place

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Nathaniel Cross, What if Ringo's mom had

made him play the violin? (Elizabeth Pagels)
Simone Gelety, Oh say can you sing? (Kelly
Taylor)
Nathan Kuo, pH-antastic sourdough! (Julie
Stigler)
Noah Wellman, What lives in the holes
outside? Can Raspberry Pi help? (Julie Stigler)
5th grade, 2nd place
Brianna Brinkley, Ant Pheromones (Nina
Hernandez)
Natasha Myer, Project wind (Kelly Taylor)
Maggie Probating, Soils that foil? The effect of
soil type on radish growth (Jennifer
DeBenedetti)
5th grade, 3rd place
Emmeline Close, The search for the
Goldilocks ball (Kelly Taylor)
Melina Leonard, Hydroponic vs. organic
growing systems (Elizabeth Pagels)
Elliott Liu, Viewing stars with filters under light
pollution (Julie Stigler)

Sunrise Drive Elementary School

Kindergarten, 1st place
Class of 24, How to sink a
marshmallow (Maura Baker)
1st grade, 2nd place
Basil Wood, Going the distance: which folded
airplane design will fly the farthest? (Allycyn
Jacobs)
2nd grade, 2nd place
Vivianna Colson and Ella Franklin,
Hydrodynamics of
swimming (Natani Sundstrom)
Reid Park Zoological Society Award,
Madeleine Hazzard, Do animals
adopt? (Tieyan Gonzalez)
4th grade, 3rd place
Shaurya Chauhan and Travis Dover, Free
power and energy from the sun (Denise
Ybanez)
5th grade, 3rd place
Class of 4, Snazzy Sudoku - Can Sudoku help
improve memory? (Michelle Luff)
Max Hagerty, Wild fire (Michelle Luff)
Michael Lee, The case of the blue garlic (Teri
DeFoor);

2nd grade, 1st place

Zoe Wung, Traffic during morning drop-off and
possible improvement (Shu-Fen Wung)
3rd grade, 1st place
Zoe Iacomini, Do you want a fluffy
pancake? (Christie Iacomini)
3rd grade, 2nd place
Diana Klestadt and Steven Klestadt, Gabions
save the soil (Ingrid Klestadt)
4th grade, 2nd place
Renee Li, Dull or shiny (Yan Lin).
Odyssey of the Mind
The Manzanita Odyssey of the Mind team placed first
in Arizona. The team will go to World Finals in May.
Team members are Dillan Douglas, Logan Douglas,
Keana Kuo, Brendan Miller, Maggie Proebsting,
Savannah Sarah, and Bethany Zashi.
Their coach is Jae Fagan, MZ music teacher.
Special Olympics
At the March 28 track and field Special Olympics
competition, the following athletes earned medals.

Shan Donau, 4th place, Running Long Jump &

1st place, 100 Meter Run
Emily Dong, 2nd place, Running Long Jump &
3rd place, 100 Meter Run
Maggie Johnson, 3rd place, Running Long
Jump & 3rd place, 100 Meter Run
Brennan Polito, 1st place, Running Long Jump
& 1st place, 400 Meter Run
Chad Preble, 2nd place, Tennis Ball Throw
Paul Gravina, 2nd place, 25 Meter Assisted
Walk
Niko Tax, 2nd place, 50 Meter Dash

Their coaches were Melody Bailey, Sabina Satpathi,

and RoseMarie Cress.
Speech and Debate Competition
The following Catalina Foothills High School speech
and debate team members recently competed in state
and national qualifiers. The state qualifiers are:

Ventana Vista Elementary School

Kindergarten, 1st place
Ezra Mandel, How does your Jack-O-Lantern
stay fresh the longest? (Leah Mandel)
1st grade, 3rd place
Ethan Bialis and Annalise Runyon, Which
sunscreen is best? (Jennifer Olson),

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Elana Quint - 1st place Lincoln-Douglas

Debate, 1st place Impromptu, and 2nd place
House 2 Congress
Max Quint - 3rd place Lincoln-Douglas
Debate; Alexander Relich - 1st place Public
Forum Debate and 2nd place Impromptu
Sumhith Aradhyula - 1st place Public Forum
Debate and 1st place Original Oratory
Sena Maruflu - 1st place
Dramatic Interpretation and 1st place Prose
Erin Chapman - 5th place Dramatic
Interpretation

Natalie Tedards - 5th place Prose

Madeleine Owens - 5th place Humorous
Interpretation.

plan of health benefit options available from July 1,

2015, until June 30, 2016. All employees working
between 30-40 hours will have the amount of district
contributions toward these benefits prorated based on
their respective full-time equivalencies.

Congratulations to Elana Quint who took 1st place in

Lincoln-Douglas Debate to qualify for National
competition.
Their coaches are Chris Lambert and Taylor Johnson,
CFHS teachers.
Approval of Professional Salary Schedule for 20152016
Assistant Superintendent Denise Bartlett presented the
proposed 2015-2016 professional salary schedule. The
proposal included supporting one vertical step
movement for current certified employees returning
next year. The cost increase to the Maintenance and
Operations budget is $295,572.00. The governing
board approved the salary schedule and step
movement.
Approval of District Contribution to Cafeteria Plan
of Employee Benefits
Dr. Bartlett presented the proposed benefit renewal
options for qualifying employees for 2015-2016.
Employees are offered three options for medical
insurance plans. The Plan A Copay Gold medical plan
is currently covered by the districts contribution to
benefits for full-time eligible employees. For the 20152016 school year there will be an 11% increase to this
plans premium rate. The district contribution
necessary per full-time qualified employee will increase
from
$4,200
to
$4,644.
The
administrative
recommendation was to continue to pay for the full cost
of the employee only Plan A Copay Gold plan.
Dental plan rates for Employer Dental Services will
increase by 3%, and Delta Dental rates will remain the
same.
The rates
unchanged.

for

SightCare

services

will

remain

Other benefits under the CFSD cafeteria plan that will

continue to be offered at the same premium rate as this
years are Basic and Voluntary Employee and
Dependent Life Insurance, Voluntary Short-Term
Disability, and United Pet Care.
P & A Administrative Services, a third party
administrator, will continue to provide COBRA and
Flexible Spending Account management with no
increase in cost.
The governing board approved the list of benefit
providers, and approved $4,644 toward a cafeteria

Approval of Certified Contracts for 2015-2016

Dr. Bartlett presented a list of professional staff being
offered contracts and addenda for the 2015-16 school
year. This was the first round of contract offerings for
next year. The governing board approved the issuance
of these contracts.
Administrative Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Maintenance
and Operations (M&O) Budget Proposal
Superintendent Kamerzell presented the administrative
budget proposal for the FY16 Maintenance and
Operations Budget. She reviewed revenue and
expenditure planning assumptions and presented an
at-a-glance budget summary of revenues and
expenditures that highlighted anticipated changes to
large budget categories.
Dr. Kamerzell reported that five (5) state funding
adjustments will occur for 2015-2016 that will net a
decrease in revenue for CFSD.
The proposed budget sustains program offerings for
students and maintains the current staffing formula that
defines student-to-teacher ratio. The proposal
reallocates funds from multiple areas of the budget in
order to fund a modest increase to employee
compensation, support contractual cost increases for
outsourced services (e.g., student transportation, food
service, groundskeeping, custodial), and pay for a
November bond/capital election. There are also a
myriad of other adjustments to expenses both
positive and negative that are required each year.
Dr. Kamerzell cautioned that this budget proposal
spends down reserves and that without an increase in
revenue next year, we will face difficult decisions about
necessary expenditure cuts in 2016-2017 that may
negatively affect student programs and services.
March 27 Arizona School Boards Association
(ASBA) Spring Legal Webinar Report
Board Members Eileen Jackson, Amy Krauss, and
Carole Siegler shared information from the March 27
ASBA Spring Webinar.
Consent Agenda Items
The governing board approved the following consent
agenda items.

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March 24, 2015, regular governing board meeting

minutes
March 24, 2015, executive session governing
board meeting minutes

March 26, 2015, special governing board meeting

minutes
March 26, 2015, executive session governing
board meeting minutes
Expense voucher memorandum
Personnel memorandum
Gift and donations memorandum
Fund raising request memorandum
Field trips request memorandum
th
4 quarter tax credit eligible fees
Award of IFB#15-05-16 cooling tower removal and
replacement at CFHS

Upcoming Board Meeting

The next regularly scheduled governing board meeting
is Tuesday, April 28, 2015, 6:30 p.m., Catalina
Foothills High School, Building 4, Room 712.
The tentative agenda is:
Super Volunteer Recognition
Student Recognition
Fiscal Year 2014 Audit Report
Fiscal Year 2016 Maintenance & Operations
(M&O) Budget Discussion
Consideration of smartschoolsplus Phased
Retirement Program (first reading)
Consideration of Proposed Revisions to Policy
GCQE Retirement of Professional/Support Staff
Members (first reading)
Consideration of Proposed Revisions to CTE/JTED
High School Courses (first reading)
Consideration of New Middle School World
Language Course (first reading)
April 20 Pima County Board / Superintendent
Collaborative Meeting Report

CFSD

Please welcome these new hires/rehires:

Adam Norzagaray, Computer Technician 1, Canyon
View Elementary

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