Page 26 - The Edge - Summer 2021

AASBO SPRING CONFERENCE

BY DON HARRIS
Jacob Boyle Todd Poer Dr. Patricia Estes Jay Mann Erin Bronner Bob Young Stephanie Arbaugh
The Best of AASBO’s Best Practices

Making up for lost time and the cancelled Spring Mesa Public Schools
Conference of 2020, AASBO increased the number of Todd Poer
Best Practices Awards to six this year. Director of Operations
Dr. Patricia Estes
Jim Migliorino, Deputy Superintendent of Fiscal and Director of Federal Grants
Business Services, Deer Valley Unified School District, Mesa Public Schools instituted a pilot program to
announced the winners during AASBO’s virtual 2021 consolidate K-7 summer school programs during the
Spring Conference on April 9. Each gets a certificate summer of 2019. The nominator wrote: “This is no
and a $50 Amazon gift card, plus they earned “bragging small feat when considering the logistics of transporting
rights,” Migliorino said.
the students to the host site; instituting a standardized
curriculum and storing the teaching supplies; feeding
The range of accomplishments could help AASBO the students, as well as before and after school
members make improvements at their own districts, programs; daily cleaning of the host site, as well as the
Migliorino said, and he encouraged them to submit deep cleaning performed at every site over the summer;
their own Best Practices nominations next year. and coordinating any construction projects that might
Here are the winners
need to occur over the summer.” Eight programs were
consolidated into three, saving over 351,000 kWh, with
Holbrook Unified School District
Jacob Boyle that money going back into the classrooms.
Business Manager
Nearly 70% of parents strongly felt that their student
According to his nominator, Boyle was selected for was more prepared for the next grade level and 86%
proposing to convert part of the high school library of students had a very good experience. Based on the
into a student union lounge. He felt the space was successes in all areas and facets, Mesa will have 32
grossly underutilized, could be doing more to meet the summer school programs consolidated into 12 host
needs of the students, and improve the culture of the school sites this upcoming summer.
school. Boyle brought together stakeholders from the
school, including teachers and students, the Facilities Creighton School District
Department, and Food Services. Jay Mann
Chief of Business Operations and Development
“He led a committee through a needs assessment, Erin Bronner
planning, design, and execution phase,” the nominator Director of Child Nutrition and Wellness
wrote. “The results are pretty incredible. The Creighton School District serves a large population
library, that once housed over 14,000 books and not of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch. The
much more, now in addition features a café offering nominator explained: “In some of our extremely low
nutritious snacks and drinks, a stage, art gallery wall, socioeconomic communities, they have the reputation
study spaces, charging stations and collaborative work of being a ‘food desert’ where for some students the
spaces. What’s more, there has been an incredible only real meal they receive is at school. Any good
uptick in usage, plus an increase in the number of books school district knows that if the basic needs of students
being checked out. Prior to the remodel, 1,991 books are not being met, learning can be a struggle.”
were checked out during a 6-month period, compared
to 4,575 books this year.

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26 THE EDGE SUMMER 2021