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Don't fight. Take a breath. Take a breath. There we go. Thanks, Ethan. Those are all good pieces of advice. All right, Wildcats. I'm here with Antos Kummore. Antos, we've had nine straight weeks of school. It's kind of a grinding part of the year. You know, it's tough. How are you doing? We're checking in on our students. How you doing this time of year? Doing pretty good. Hanging in there. Any advice you have for our Wildcats to get through these next three weeks before spring break? Do your best. Don't skip out on your work or like studying or anything like that cuz it really does help. Stay on top of things and that'll create less stress in your life, right? Yes, sir. Officer Lovado, you want to be on Friday funday? I don't talk to the press. All right, Wildcats. I'm here with Chloe Sam. We've had a long winter.

thank you special meeting none at this time discussion action session has recommended the Board of Trustees discuss and take action on the following items mutually agree on no more than five candidates for the 202 5 California School Board Association delegate assembly for sub region 16b and you see the names that you have in front of you there uh so we need a motion to approve or change or write in anybody I'd like to make a motion that we approve the five that are on here that are well there's six but the five that are currently serving okay so which which one is the asteros so we've got Maria Gomez Ronald Newton Gwen Dr Rogers Eric Swanson and Kathy Thompson okay great so a motion by um you Canon any second on that I'll second it any discussion all in favor I I I I any opposed hearing then that'll be the order thank you Amanda um adopt resolution number 2 42519 reduction of discontinuance of certific certificated Services any discussion I do have a question okay well let's go with a motion do we have a motion to approve so moved I'm sorry who was that Anita Anita okay I'll second and the second by um V by you can I'm sorry I'm getting we out here um okay any discussion go ahead uh Renee um yes so the um certificated staff I I believe I counted 48 um does this include the reading intervention Specialists who wants to address that okay yeah yes uh not there are some uh not all I believe there are several sites were disproportionate in terms of um the number of what we we call lli teachers I point it lesie because I know she's one um and I think the decision has been made to uh continue to fund one at each of the 10 uh categorically fund 10 one at each of the 10 schools elementary schools and anything beyond that would be reflected in this list I'm I and I speak from a place of concern as a teacher of the elementary ages um we're reading interv attention is a Saving Grace to so many um young students who need that early intervention I think it would be a shame to remove those supports at this time when I think about reduction I don't think of reducing our reading Specialists that provide that support to those struggling students um I think it's essential to set them up for success in the rest of their education and so I'm concerned about that thank you okay we have a motion and a second on the table so we'll do a roll call vote because I think there's opposition to this um Amanda you made the motion so you support this make a roll call on support uh yes okay okara yes um Anita Tucker yes no no okay Longshore so I'm sorry we're voting on yes or no on the adoption of the resolution of discontinous of certificate Services um so I would have to say no because that's good uh I vote Yes motion passes three uh two with Longshore and Tucker voting no Ry Buchanan oart voting yes item three adopt resolution number 2 42520 reduction of discontin of classified Services again any will we'll need a motion to approve I'm by a par yes and second second by bu Canon any discussion okay all in favor I I any opposed hearing then that'll be the order item four approve certif certificated and classif personal actions as listed make any a motion to approve I'll second that all in favor I I I no we don't have a discussion oh any discussion go ahead I'm sorry I'm just curious about this particular one uh even though I moved for it um those if you have certificated or classified Personnel that were issued a letter of to to transfer or to move to another position after we made the decision are we going to open up our retirement so that if they choose to go in the retirement block that they go into that retirement block without penalty we need to um be sure that that is open for them and give them even if it means just one week for them to submit their retirement paper so that they can also benefit from that service yeah that's actually agendized under the close session that we're going back into and so we will um hopefully have a readout when we come back out okay okay so we have a motion in a second uh all in favor I I any opposed hearing none that'll be the order item five approve the recommendation for requested leave as noted so moved second you Canan and opara all in favor any discussion okay any discussion okay all in favor I I any opposed them that'll be the order item six approve the course study adoptions for serenade Bravo incor and Chambers so moved and I'll second it we have a motion by Anita yes and a second by Buchanan any discussion all in favor I I any opposed hearing none that'll be the order item seven approve the recommendation of the administrative hearing chairperson effective immediately on expulsion case exp number 2425 so moved second you can I made a motion second by Tucker all in favor I I I any opposed hearing none them will be the order exposion case 22 20 24 25 so moved second second by okara you can I made the motion all in favor I any opposed I sorry everybody said I so on I8 was there discussion on that at all no we're not yet not yet okay yeah we're coming up to that right now so item eight adopt the Apple Valley Unified School District long range facilities master plan uh we call for a motion first and then we'll open it for discussion so move it was moved by I'm sorry Mar tuck Tucker second okay any discussion um yes I I just needed clarification um for this particular item that no additional spending for Capital outlaying outside of what is needed for safety and upkeep is being approved here m do you want to address it I I can no this particular master plan does not have any spending tied to it yet this is a this is a start for Apple Valley Unified we have not had a long range facilities master plan in the past um The Next Step would be for our facilities Department uh to work with our schools to prioritize projects and then um identify possible funding sources which could consist of general fund um fund 40 our Special Reserve for Capital outlay uh cops cop proceeds or general obligation bonds but no spending is tied to the adoption of the plan at this time great thank you okay so we have a motion and a second all in favor I I any opposed hearing then that'll be the order number nine approve the calers health program resolutions resolutions 24255 certificated bargaining unit resolution 2425 16 classified bargaining unit resolution 24257 unrepresented employees and resolution 24258 Board of Trustees motion bu Canon second Tucker Tucker uh any discussion all in favor I any opposed hearing then that'll be the order okay so we're going down to consent to recommend that the Board of Trustees consider approving a number of agenda items and they are one through 29 so let's go ahead and uh I'd like to pull eight okay so eight and then anybody else i' like to pull six and seven I think six and seven yes eight six six S8 okay so do we have a motion to approve one two three 4 through 28 Minus 6 7 and 8 actually skip seven seven is in seven you don't want to I don't want wait which ones are we pulling six and eight six and eight six okay so we have a mo we need a motion to approve items one through 28 other than 29 I'm sorry yeah 29 six and eight so moved okay I'll second it you Canon and a second op par we'll start with item okay so um we have a motion to approve uh we'll have discussion on six and seven so go ahead and um should we vote on vot on those okay okay so we have a motion in a second all in favor I I any opposed hearing none that'll be your order so we have six and eight to okay so go ahead and uh who wants to um I start with six go ahead what's your concern six U the concern that I have I noticed that we the change was made regarding this contract with uh the probation Department however it did mention something about the cost to the district and my the last understanding was that it was there was a grant and it didn't cost us anything but when I went back to read it it says that the district is responsible for 70,000 per person so was that Grant from our district or was it Grant from the county it's from the county probation so the original contract does come through with the dollar amount and then when they get the funding they send us the letter so the original contract we did not have the funding source yet it would have been a cost to us but um right as we were bringing it to the board the last time the letter came through and it was um approved for another year of us not contributing anything for the cost so the language should be uh uh clarified in the document that we're going to check off because the document that we have for this particular board meeting today did state that the board was respon the district was responsible to pay yes I was I'm a little bit curious about that for the um fiscal implication it says on February 12th the district received notification that sanino County Juvenile CT um coordinating Council has agreed to have our district portion of the probation officer salary funded through ab19 ab1 1913 Juvenile Justice crime prevention act so that's the indication we've got the letter they won't change the original contract because they have to State the amount then they tell us by the Grant and that's why it's stated in our in our background so they'll have to attach it to this documents so that nobody is confused down the road to say well that is the missing paper is here and we we want you to pay up we do we we um submit that to the business office along with the contractor once it's approved okay okay the next question that I have regarding this particular contract is um it gives us the information about what the probation officer can and cannot do um but I'm a little bit I'm still concerned that um if the if the probation officer begins to not notice this child and gradually this child now ends up in juvenile court system to become part of the juvenile system to to have a record um I'm just wondering when when the um our social workers that we have on campus or the mental health counselors that we have on campus and all of these people that we have Place put in place when do they come in before the child becomes a word of record yeah so um for clarification if a probation officer is on campus the only um normal contact with students is for intervention purposes training of Staff um but they do have case loads of students that are on formal probation from the court system those students if there is an issue on campus that they have violated something the probation officer can come assist with that situation they cannot notice things on campus and add any new um like they can't violate a student that has not been put on formal probation they can't um site them they have no jurisdiction over those students that would go through the normal process of if there was a a penal code violation it would be our Police Department or the sheriff's department so um they don't get to do anything like that they really are just there so that they can supervise before and after school they can be out supervising they can be supervising at lunch and at both campuses our probation officers are actively out there greeting kids talking to them getting to know them um the majority of the things that they help us with is are cessation programs and um referrals for um students to get support that they may need even if they're not in probation good thank you along with SAR they're part of the SAR panel okay so we'll um move on to can we vote on that one well we can just do them both let's go ahead okay go ahead and disagree with you but we'll go ahead SE uh motion to approve item six so move okay I'll second oara and you can you can all in favor I I any opposed hearing then that'll be order okay eight Eight's one that uh you wanted to pull yeah so just in the interest of avoiding any conflict of interest yeah so you guys would excuse yourselves at this point for a moment we leave yes okay see because we can't even vote or in the room for the discussion I got you I'll slow I see why you wanted to do by I didn't want to argue sorry it's okay I made a note when we were back I didn't know you were gonna throw them out well that's what they said should do okay so we don't need a report on it we just want to vote with the three of us here so motion to approve eight so moved and I'll second it okay Long Shore yeah made this the motion and if you can in second all in favor I I thank you you bring them back in real quick they went to the ladies oh yeah we did it okay so basically um we do need a second closed session so um we will need a motion to going to close session um I'll make the motion that we go into close session at 103m you have a second I'll second it okay so Raley made the motion and you can second it all in favor now we're going be talking about them time discuss Y St your Ps e e e okay okay so we're back from Clos session we'll call back the meeting the order at 1122 pm and we'll just do a quick roll call Amanda here Maria yes Renee here Anita here I'm here so um we recommended that we're going to reopen pars uh that was what was in closed session that was one item so the clerk will read um any report of action taken in closed session so um in Clos session the Board of Trustees took action in support of the following recommendation from the superintendent item B3 conference on litigation government code section 549 54.5 section D and 54956.9 five uh subsection nope just kidding Z Roa versus avusd on a motion by Rick Ry seconded by Maria oara the board voted unanimously to Den the claim of Zane Rocka uh b um on a motion by Rick Raleigh seconded by Amanda bu Canan uh with a unanimous vote the Board of Trustees approved the following do I read it's not yellow what that I can't see it and okay uh so to approve the non- reelection of the following certificated probationary employees identified by employee number number 0478 and number 8607 number 1548 effective June 30th 2025 and direct that the superintendent or her design give written notice thereof as required by law right item B7 conference with labor negotiator on a motion by Maria akara seconded by Anita Tucker the Board of Trustees approved the following uh approved the memorandum of understanding with the California School Employees Association CSEA Chapter 828 dated February 28 2025 regarding transfer processes through December 31st 2025 that it yep okay so we just have one more item is there any future items for any board members that want to agendize anything um I would like to put on the agenda um to discuss um Equitable access across our high school campuses okay so that'll be a staff report at some future time and with that um um our next regular board meeting will be April 10th 225 2025 at 5: PM uh there being no further business to come before the Board of Trustees recommended that we adjourn the meeting do have a motion so moved second okay did you catch all that um it was it was it was Buchanan and um Tucker Oh Maria okay all in favor I I I hearing none that'll be the motion or that'll be the order so I think this was a record 11:30

It's gloomy, cold, rainy. How you guys doing? We're checking in on our students today. Just doing a well-being check, seeing how you guys are doing this part of the school year. I'm doing good, but I'm a little tired. Could be better. Thanks for being honest. You know, I think we're all feeling that way, but we got three full weeks to spring break. What advice do you have for the Wildcats to get us to that spring break? Do your homework and study for your test. Sam, anything to add? Just make it to spring break. How are we going to make it there? I don't know. You think we will? Hopefully. All right. Thanks, Sam and Chloe. All right, Wildcats. I'm here with Leslie Vargas and Maria Nosa. We're doing a well-being check on our students. How are you guys doing right now this time? I want to graduate.

Yeah, I'm done. What advice do you have for the students here last few weeks trying to get to spring break? Try not to give up and like try to get your work done. Try to turn it in like whatever you have. It's going to help. Do something. Yeah. Don't do nothing. Yeah, just try try your best. All right, Wildcats. I'm here with Dylan. Logan. Dylan and Logan. Two seniors heading down the home stretch here. So, you've gotten through the tough part of the year, January, February. Any advice you have for students that are hitting that wall. Just continue going to your classes and uh try to not make a big deal of school, you know. Don't get stressed out. Just continue going to your classes. Keep doing what you're doing. As long as you're passing your classes, you should be good. All right, Wildcats. I'm here with Susa Ed.

Any advice you have for students to get to spring break? We got three full weeks. What what would you tell our students? If you're a senior or a junior, I would just think about prom and how you really want to go. We got some fun things coming up, right? Things to look forward to. Would coming to school on time also make things less stressful? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's currently 7:56. Let's get inside. That might create a little less stress for you guys, too. Yeah. All right, Wildcats. Thanks for all the good advice. We're going to get through this together. We got three weeks. We can do anything in three weeks. Find a way to get involved, though. We got Flick and Float coming up. We got a spring spirit week. Prom tickets go on sale at the end of the month. Latin Fever. There's things to look forward to.

Find a way to get involved. Get connected here at school. Make the most of the next 3 weeks. And spring break will be here before you know it. [Music]

[Music] good afternoon and welcome to the committee on education today is Monday March 10th 2025 it's 3:00 p.m. and the education committee is in room 229 first on our agenda this house bill 622 relating to the Department of Education this bill changes the date the due date of the Department of education's computer science legislative report from June 30 to 20 days prior to the start of each legislative regular session and this is effective 71 3000 okay to testify superintendent Aloha chair kidani Vice chair Kim and members of the committee I'm Teri Jima uh representing the Department of Education from the office of curriculum instructional design the department stands on its written testimony in support of this measure and thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you is there anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure if not members any questions yes Terry didn't we pass this bill on the Senate virsion and didn't we put the date is October I think yeah we are planning to submit it um submit the report by the end of October or sooner so that's part of our plan yeah well I'm surprising your testimony you didn't mention that because so you're okay if we put the Senate version into this Bill yes we we are planning to do that anyway thank [Music] you is there any further testifiers for House Bill 622 no further question questions members we are moving on to House Bill HD1 relating to Early Childhood educator special fund requires stien funds paid by a stien recipient under the Hawaii Early Childhood educator St stien fund program to be deposited into the Early Learning special fund repeals a Hawaii early childhood education educator special fund effective 71 3,000 anyone here to testify um yo AR call class from executive office on early learning hi Cher kidani Vice chair Kim and Senator Hashimoto I'm ID call across director of the executive office on early learning we are in strong support of HB 1065 and I thank the committee for hearing this bill this committee previously heard and passed out the Senate companion to this bill SB 1384 there are no substantive differences between the two measures but in their current form both vehicles contain defective effective dates we respectfully request that the committee consider amending the effective date for this housekeeping to upon approval and thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you next to testify elen Mash Early Learning board Aloha chair Vice chair Senator Hashimoto I'm elain yta I'm aloh from Maui and the Early Learning board stands on its testimony Mahalo thank you is there anyone else here wishing to testify in this measure if not members questions um question [Music] for what are some of the reasons for the return of the stien so there's a requirement from stien recipients to complete the program and to uh give back uh after the graduation but sometimes people have uh different challenges with completing the program for different reasons family reasons or something else and um we've had a few cases um where people are not able to continue their schooling for various reasons and so we request that they pay back the funds how much sens have been repaid today have been repaid oh so we've been collecting actually since we came here for the Senate bill and I can get that number for you and do you have a total of how much should be rep yes we know the exact dollar amount but I can get both of those for you the total amount um it was at the last calculation it was it was less it was maybe 20 or $30,000 thank you MERS questions thank you okay okay next on the agenda House Bill 904 HD1 relating to Charter Schools repeals the requirement for the Board of Education to annually report to the legislature governor and the public on public charges schools effective 71300 good evening to testify pj4 Public Charter School commission yes in place of pej good afternoon Senator kadani chair Kim and um Senator Cano uh at no Charter School Commission Executive Director and we stand on our written testimony thank you thank [Music] you capson po executive director Board of Education on capson I I'm on Zoom good evening chair kidani Vice chair Kim and Senator uh I'm capson poy executive director of the board uh the board does stand on our written testimony and support and we thank the committee for hearing this measure uh we believe it eliminates duplication and Reporting while still maintaining transparency and accountability Mahalo thank you capson members questions not I have questions capson if the Board of Education doesn't do its own review of the charter school commission's annual report who is the board expecting to do the review well Senator we think that you know the charter commission already does produce a pretty um comprehensive annual report and the board actually does look at that when it does produce its own report um I I think maybe another way to look at it is how the board engages with the commission and exercises that oversight uh one of the ways the board is looking to do that is the board's already starting to have the commission appear before the board uh for updates and discussion uh and monitoring and think that's a way to provide some additional oversight uh which goes beyond the report I think so you uh the board doesn't have any concerns with this measure then Senator um the board is supportive um right now we do think that uh right now as it is uh the commission does do uh its report and the board uh does many of the things that are in the commission's report are also put in the board's report um and like like said it's uh sort of duplicating the efforts of two agencies who are basically reporting some of the same uh information thank you then um would the board then after review send a report to the legislature or could they yeah would they continue to do that uh um well Senator um I mean we we could if if that were you're ask um I think the way the bill is uh laid out is we would I think the preferred option would be that the commission submits its report and that would be uh the report uh on Charter education uh in our state with the board providing some additional oversight uh and discussion and engagement at its own board meetings so if there were no uh report back to the legislature from the Board of Education um how would we address any concerns or transparency concerns that the board may have uh well Senator I think um you know we are the board I think is committed to trying to engage uh with this committee especially but the legislature generally meaning uh the report is not the only way to have discussions on um important public education uh policies and matters uh throughout the state and we would hope that we could continue to engage uh either here during hearings in our Senate education committee uh at Community meetings and at other venues um and and again just we we think that there are a lot of opportunities to have public engagement public discussion um and to get some of the information and issues discussed um many of the issues that the board CES in its Charter report are similar to the issues that um the rest of our Public Schools meaning Department schools face as far as uh funding uh Staffing and Facilities Senator Kim has a question yes so right now capson when you folks review the report from the charter schools do you folks give any guidance or do you do anything um what do you do after you folks review their report uh thank you uh Senator I um not everyone's interested in digging into the weeds with us there so thank you for letting us kind of I don't want you to dig in the weeds but give me an idea no well yeah we we'll try and take a high level view basically what we do is we start with the commission's report um and the way the statute is set up it it does require reporting to be slightly different it's the same information but it has to be sort of Recon figured and actually that's where I'd say most of our time is and effort is spent okay but when you I'm not talking about the reporting I'm talking about what do you do after you review the report nothing you just tell us about it is that it you folks don't oh sorry uh Senator the the board does the biggest thing the board does is uh in its report is add some fiscal data to it um now do you do you do you give any any um feedback to the Charter Charter Commission on their report sorry uh for misunderstanding the question uh yes uh or I mean I should say yes in the past when when the board has believe that um feedback was necessary um in the past the board has pointed out areas of uh concern um it it's been a little while since the board has had some major concerns um and I think um you know we've all been trying to work to coordinate and align our efforts so um to basically avoid having to say those things in reports and just be able to work together uh for the benefit of our K thank you so Charter commission do you folks send your report into the ledge Yes you do you send in your report and then Bo um Boe sends in their report yes okay annually before the start of session so would it be as a compromise perhaps where when the Board of Education reviews the report that you would just send to the legislature we have or send back to back to the commission that the board of education has reviewed this we have no concerns at this time or we have reviewed this and we feel then you would take that and then you would submit that along with your report to the legislature cover page yeah does does that make I don't know is that does that take care the concerns that maybe we would have to make sure that it's being reviewed and I think so so maybe we can amend this to to something like that yes I'm just trying to find a way to that we don't duplicate it yet but we're assured that b the board reviewed it and if there were concerns that you did bring it up to them and then you would take your report and say this is the boe's report to us and we would get it and one who besides the legisl receives a uh so we send it uh to the board legislature and the uh College libraries receive a copy and other state agencies that require either a hard copy or electronic but those be the major ones thank you further questions thank you thank you thank you okay [Music] Bill 620 relating to education this establishes a state policy to promote real Literacy for eligible blind students requires the individualized education programs and and Section 504 plans of eligible blind students to include the assessment and evaluation of eligible blind students reading and writing abilities instruction of brail and provision of real instructional materials under certain circumstances requires the Department of Education to establish a braille literacy Resource Center to testify superintendent Alani Vice chair Kim and um members of the committee my name is Kina Gardener I'm the assistant superintendent for the office of student support services and I'm here testifying on behalf of the Department of Education um we stand on our written testimony which provides comments on this measure um the department supports the intent of this measure but is proposing amendments as outlined in our written testimony that would ensure the measures fully inclusive and accurately reflects all students who have low vision or are blind and that the language describing individualized educational plans accurately reflect um federal guidelines Additionally the department recognizes that carrying out the mandates of this measure would require resources thank you for the opportunity to testify thank you next to testify Katie Kim Al no move to your left behind you little bit more there's a chair right there thank you micro mic there it is Mahalo for listening to my testimony today and holding this hearing regarding the bill I stand in strong support of this bill having at one time worked uh as an independent with Department of Education as an instructor as well as an advocate with the national Federation of blind working with parents and blind children in their individualized educational plans the bill addresses directly the need to for evaluation of the students blind and low vision one of the biggest occurrences I saw is if the student had any amount of vision than large print was used and can you imagine having a stack of papers with only one or two letters on each paper that's would be the size of the point of the font so that the student could read it but there would be no way that anybody could keep up with their classmates or their schoolwork with that kind of large print if they had Braille and they learned it early on they could continue to learn and Excel in their school and meet some of their own personal dreams and aspirations and eventually go on to higher education and quality work work my blindness itself came when I was an adult I did learn Braille I use it but I was a print reader until I was 36 but I have seen the effects of students when they're young if they don't learn brail early I just really believe this is an important measure and thank you very much for listening to my concerns and my testimony Mahalo thank you Katie member questions thank you and I'm open for questions thank you Katie next to testify Marie kood thank you Marie please name hi my name is Marie cof and good afternoon chair Vice chair and committee members thank you for hearing me I'm here in strong support of HB 620 as well um I stand on my written testimony and I I kind of wanted to add a little bit of what Katie was saying and I I think we've we've talked about this so 25 years ago in 2000 I was a part of uh P getting the ra literacy Act passed in New York state and our work is never done right we always need to to try to improve to get better um I think one of the things about the resistance in teaching bra is the idea or the prevailing idea that Braille is difficult but Braille is just like any other skill right so like how many people in this room right now and this is stupid because I'm not going to be able to see your head nding or your hands raising but how many people in this in this room know their way around a keyboard see I took I took typing in probably four or five raises their hand okay thank you all right so in ninth grade I took typing all right just a you know it was an itive that I I chose to take and this was the protocol you sat up straight they were stricter back then right you sat up straight you put your hands on your home row keys and you had to memorize the home row keys right okay a s DF J K LS and then you had to memorize the corresponding letters that connected to that finger and then Mr NYL in the front of my ninth grade class would turn on the record player while we had to stare straight ahead to the Blackboard and we would do drills okay what does this have to do with inadvertently Mr Nyon taught an entire class of cited kids how to type blind I didn't know it at the time right and I'm telling you what I I challenge any of you for a duel on a keyboard I am fast okay and I'm fast because in ninth grade I took one class and if you think about it right that was just a tactile skill it was literally taking the language and turning it into my fingertips that's what Braille can do for our kids right and there's something else just a little quick pet peeve that Mr Nyon did he didn't think we needed to learn the numbers and I curse him every time I have to type a number and I said to my daughter why why would he do that and he's like oh that's because he can just look and Peck and it's like oh so cheat right so you know but but when it comes to typing I'm really fast in college I was the one that transcribed all the ethnographies because I was the fastest typer right we did the interviews and the counseling sessions and I typed them all into a report bra can do this for our kids if one ninth grade class can teach me keep me proficient the rest of my life right and I'm so glad I have that skill now because it helps me with the technology and the keyboards if I can learn that in one class in nth grade imagine what we can do for these kids earlier on if we get the proper assessment if we get the instruction that they need and not just if they're completely blind if you have any Vision any Vision at all that's great use the tactile modality I talked about that last time but also add the bra add that skill so they can become proficient I can't unlearn typing it's like you can't not ride a bike right I can't unlearn typing those kids will not be able to unlearn brow and we will give them more than just a typing class we'll give them literacy that's going to give them the Independence that they need to be productive members of society so thank you so much for letting me bevel I appreciate you hearing my testimony thank you Katie memb questions a so Maria you forgot to tell them how we would get timed and we have to type so many words in a right exactly even more so yeah you would you would you would get time and you you would you so many words so without mistakes and and if you made mistakes you got docked for those right and if you looked down and I always like my my my cited counterparts they'd be like and I'd be like what does that do like I could never do it but yeah you the sad thing is when my son was going to school they didn't teach him the keybard they didn't teach him how to type I was they don't teach you how to type so you know he's the one figure of course he can he can use his thumbs to do to do all the thing but they didn't teach him how to the type for and I'm like you I to this day I can type without looking down yeah except the number except the numers the numbers are the hard one we're one of those looking pokes we're we're real you know we're the real deal so thank you so much yeah no problem thank you for hearing me thank you Katie questions if not I'm sorry um no thank you next to testify Marie K oh I'm sorry that was Marie oh sorry I missed one okay Virgil stinet steinet president nfb Hawaii is she here not here she's in support an huchi Deputy attorney general you're not you're you're not an I'm Rand I just needed to mention that for our uh people that are not cited your voice would throw them off I think they'd figure it out right away though you can't look down at your words no Shani sh Kim members of the committee Randall wat per Attorney General comments on this bill as outliner written testimony uh the department offer asked uh recommends one Amendment to the bill uh the new section 302 a CB on page five lines 1 through six of the bill states that uh every uh individualized education program or Section 504 plan for edible eligible blind student shall include an assessment of a students reability um under federal law eligible student assessments are determined by the IEP team um and if you mandate them through this law it uh could be contrary to that federal law so we recommend that that section be removed which section 302 a AC subsection B on page five mines 1 through six thank you for to and bail for questions members questions thank you R next to testify Donald Sakamoto National Federation of the blind of Randle here yes uh good afternoon chair Vice chair and members of the committee uh Donald Sako as a blind individual and a member of our national Federation of bind in full support of the bill as is with no changes if possible um my testimony I did write in uh my testimony about a well-known attorney F Hawaii and a representative of the state legislature 48 District Terence Tom now he learned how to read bill and became a successful attorney uh politician and we need more of these people in our schools to learn brao so they can be elect terance and have the goal to be uh famous or even uh be maybe president of the United States but this is why I support the bill because I didn't have BR when I was young I had to do with large print like some tesp said uh if I had that challenge to do it I would be much more perfected in brail unfortunately I learned it at whole Pono state agency for the blind at a later age when I was in my late 40s uh difficult uh when you have diabetes and it's hard to feel the uh the print real but I I fully support because the kids are Kies are like sponges so they learn a lot at the time and they can enhance their education after they leave uh Public School and go on to college or wherever they want to do in their life thank you for allowing me to testify Al thank you members questions if not and we also have comments and support from four other individuals James gashel uh yes thank you uh Madam chair Vice chair Kim and members uh I'm James gashel legislative chair for the national Federation of the blind of Hawaii um let me just say it's uh good to testify on a bill where everybody supports it um and I want to suggest a couple of things of of a more maybe technical nature um when the session started there were two bills on braal literacy one which uh chair Donnie introduced as SB 530 and one which chair Woodson introduced as HB 620 um this committee passed the Senate Bill back on February 7 with an sd1 and the sd1 was the amendment suggested by the Attorney General um the bill that's Advanced of course is the house bill and that's why you have that one here today um the most straightforward way to actually address all the various amendments that the department has put into its testimony and the Attorney General mentioned would be to substitute the text of sb53 sd1 and and I I you can ask them but I know the department supports that version of this bill National Federation of the blind of Hawaii supports that version of this bill I assume the Attorney General would since that bill adopted the Attorney General's Amendment at that time and I think it would be I can say more with more confidence that that would be the most workable version of this bill to adopt either one of them would be fine but with more confidence I would recommend SB sd1 as a substitute for the text that you have in HB 620 and Mahalo for hearing this bill and for hearing my testimony thank you I believe that is going to be the intent of this committee thank you anyone else here wishing to testify this measure if not members questions thank you that yeah that concludes the the bills that we have to hear and we are going to recess for decision making reconvening the committee on education this is Monday March 10th 3:00 p.m.

I'll move to approve the consent agenda item as presented discussion while you're voting we have a lot of very nice donations so we're very very fortunate to have excellent Community Support here in Bur we also have a new system this is our first new system we might have a few it did last time it reads at the bottom if you you noce it do okay see down there thank you concern any P J the floor and so I came to apologize to you tonight the problem of climb on a high horse sometimes you fall off and last month I fell off my high horse I I do feel strongly about LifeWise I think good for our children and our families and our scho I feel strong about but I left you with the impression that it the Supreme Court decision was a an a decision of compulsion and it's not decision of permission and so I just want to straighten that up I do feel strong about but I did left him with a wrong impression last month I just want to come apologize this I appreciate everything you say that any written Communications thank you service so we had we we added her recommendation um we're try to do that quarterly with uh Food Service grounds and transportation and maintenance so we'll have to do like a quarterly update for you guys and throw in a report there so yeah I appreciate their information their sharings on different things that they're doing in the district anybody have any questions on that get a chance to read that grounds and transportation same any questions I appreciate that they took the time to do it yes and then again maintenance question come any questions for Dar i' said before we went on that one on the maintenance looks like he has some challenges on being staff short staff that something that he's looking into are always look apprciate the challenges that he was yes we were fully staffed for about a heartbeat I think February and yeah we we had some employees coming from Tyson ended up giving jobs at s and they were offering quite a bit more than we could compete with so having said that that's that's the challenge but we're working on it any question for Matt Middle School Matt so just a couple adust Ms I was I didn't have the I what I had for the Dodge W for heart was one number and then we had some late come in uh we were about $94 shy of raising $7,000 for dodge ball for hard so just shy of it by by that so that was that was a great event I know the kids always look look forward to that um if I go over too much I may not have anything for my next board report but I'll go ahead and share it um on the sth uh our eth grade teachers went to the high school to talk about our eighth grade class and hey here are some strengths they have here are some concerns here are some things that that will help you um went very very well um eighth grade class it's a great class but just like anything else there are going to be some challenges there um and then also thanks to Mr Wilson on May 12th and on May 7th we will be offering physicals um uh two providers will be going to the high school on the 7th two will come to the middle school on the 12th and with Courtney's help we're going to try and get this sent out through parents Square where parents can sign up so we will be able to offer those physicals uh this year at the middle school like last year they offered at the high school so that will be something new coming up in May tomorrow we have home forensics meeting we have 20 teams which just more than last year and over 300 kids coming so if you haven't volunteered your time there's still time and so I know we're really excited to be hosting that that starts around 4 o' 334 o00 tomorrow and then the most exciting thing that happened well there's so much happening at the high school that's awesome um as we thank the newspaper for covering all of our goods and color that looked really good this month um but Donna Bing has been here for a long time and um so I don't know how far back but we had the red um scholarship winner and we were able to keep he knew he was a finalist um but we were able to keep it from him and then Cody and somebody were keeping him or Crystal actum were keeping him over there while his family snuck in and as soon as we had the whole gym out there we said yeah you know we have this quick assembly um it was cool he had the big $80,000 check in his hand um was able to tell the students um because their statistics were that 1,700 kids started the application and only 700 completed it and they gave $50 $80,000 scholarships across Kansas and so we have one of the winners and um big time so and poate was there um to shake his hand and I feel like that I mean that's where he's going to go here for the first year um so a lot of great things happening um and then he I said is there anything you want to say to the student body he's like take the time to apply and then all these senior faces were like yeah I was one of those that didn't finish it and so uh so learned back to the scholar lesson learned have we had anyone ever win that I Donna's been here I don't think years um and so I don't think so and as Donna congratulate Donna because this is her state championship this is you know this is like that for counseling department like you a scholarship so congratulate her and helping the kids with all that and of course the Bro awesome and and then the the information on the uh the data that you see we did based off of our last site council meeting not this current one in February but is we kind of we did a senior experience survey and so this is this is some of the data that we we took from that and we'll move forward with conversations and so in your spare time you can read that the good things were going that are going on and some of the things that seniors would have changed would change um and so and I'm looking for there too is did they have that they relationship with a teacher um do they feel like we were rigorous enough for them for their College and Career um goals those type of things so anyway so we did we we do listen and it just takes us a little time to sometimes get everything going with them yeah that's awesome I like that 38 and 39 had a trusting relationship with an adult and the interesting part back to the conversation earlier about clubs and activities even though everybody filled it out by the time that I ran this um because the the data is still coming in is that if you notice like there was if let's say there's 25 freshmen that were at when they were freshman they 25 out of 25 were involved when they were seniors just like 24 out of 25 were involved and so we're not losing those kids through their high school years on participating in something and not they didn't say they stayed with the same thing it's just that they're still involved in the school I'm excited for du credits next year yes yes you know that's a lot of work when I mean I know a lot of you guys are math Nur and Engineers but when a young she just turned 23 yesterday is started her Ms in math because this is her passion and what she wants to do for a long long time um and the kids are just thank goodness and then Courtney sleer it will be getting taking her practice this summer and our kids struggle with that speech especially Young ones that's you have to be very motivated to take an online speech force and um I've seen and so yeah right and so you have to get the five people to watch you and so on so forth and so we don't have a good success with that um with the younger ones and so offering an in-house and then plus just a reminder those that class of 2028 this the this freshman class has to have that speech for graduation so implementing this now um get the kids a a local person to teach it very qualified she has her Masters in English and stuff so she's she's qualified that's yeah what was your overall participation on your survey what percentage of kids completed coming in now now this survey when I ran it let's see um I think their first part says you can add them in 43 so we have 54 in the class right now is 56 excuse me and what we have there and then what did you say you're going to use that information for what the purpose of it for us to share with the staff um so if we really looked at a dip in that our seniors that have been with us for four years or no matter what don't have they haven't created that connection with staff members that's very concerning for high school um but then also the riger um do we offer items that are interest interesting to because one of the things with the site coun student brought up is and not being negative it's just that I don't like to have 10 extra minutes in class whereas a freshman like yeah 10 extra minutes right so you see the difference through in a senior's perspective um that's what we're going to look at um but plus then when they come back next year to talk like are we preparing them um for the future and so we also need to take a look why they're in why they're embedded into the learning um what they what we can take from now so I think that's our vision right yeah that's what we really need to be focused on yep anything else there she is I don't have anything really to um just our Skyward conversions uh going well with their training we're going to get our database um next week for the business side um so uh we just attended the Skyward icon conference and uh learned a lot and we're able to really if you had counted all the people there probably Kansas was most represented and it was a good opportunity to really um see how other districts are doing things and uh and it was really beneficial um later in the meeting uh you're going to be presented with a bid for some Network switches and access points uh with eate there's a 5year um like spending window with kind of an allotment assigned to school districts and uh this is year five um don't know if since it's a federal program don't know if it's going to be around next year uh for for the new round of five years so we probably would have waited uh maybe a another year before we looked to uh upgrade our switches and access points but while 70% of the funding uh is available to be recouped we thought it was wise to take advantage of that through the eate system anything else GRE I just have a few items again from our Recruitment and Retention information from our strategic plan again um we just are working on trying to do everything possible to uh improve salaries benefits um you know throughout the district at all levels we're also working again with our tuition reimbursement program the board started in 2018 um to be able to hopefully grow our own and we currently have one staff member at the middle school going through the tuition reimbursement program and I think they complete next after next school year correct correct so we'll have a new uh teacher in the fold to be able to to again benefit from that program and again we're just trying to do everything we possibly can with insurance benefits retirement plans salaries you know so on and so forth and a big part of that Recruitment and Retention is facility improvements and we're working on boag shop at the high school and we have the big project going on bond issue we'll be looking at hopefully to get that pass and get able to move on and um give ourselves ourselves a wonderful place for the as birth r five facility um again the Early Learning Center currently um we have 12 staff members current staff members here in the usd244 that are utilizing that service and like I said we have around 55 kids in that program now um with about a still about a 407 weighted list so uh again we just want to keep working uh to try to improve and make bur in the best place to so if you have suggestions they're always welcome and that's all I have thank you cra so uh I so uh we talked about a foundation last month um we've had two meetings so far um both meetings we had different people attend so we have a committee um that is moving forward um so Crystal Eon has been there Courtney Selena myself James Tyler osner Aubrey Drury um read my writing uh Craig Sarah rice uh we've talked about bylaws we're getting ready to apply for 501c3 uh we've come up with a name um we are meeting with udora so I reached out to the udora schools Foundation they have a very successful foundation for their school um and they their president replied um back within a few hours so we're going to set up a zoom meeting with them talk about how they got their Foundation set up what their you know some successes they've had they're pretty established they've been around for about at least seven years I believe um we talked about fundraising ideas different organizations to recruit from you know we want a wide range of members talked about Partnerships um I know James uh talked you know we talked about even at the first meeting Selena was there um we don't want this to be board ran that's not what this is we want it to be a Community Foundation that supports the school so uh you know we don't want it to be a school board Foundation that's what we're saying so um obviously the goal is to um have uh generate funds to support students and staff usd244 so that is um our main goal so it's going to be called I mean as far as the second me we talked about um it being called the Burlington academic support Foundation because we clearly wanted all funds um to do that to support academics so whether it's through education or things for teachers or students that's what we so um would you have a meeting this Friday it may get rescheduled may have some conflicts and then and um uh we are moving forward so I would I believe that it will be in full force by the time school starts so still a lot of work to do you have any interest in get a hold of Monique and talk to yes yes James we talked about like term limits and um you know like staggering some of those things all on same time yes if you know anybody that wants to be a member we need you thank you monque anybody else so moving to approval bhf renovation B correct I'm going to ince Adam croll from BHS he is Le I guess lead estimator is that technically your term we're going to call you that that's probably a good thing to be called so anyway Adam's here and he has been terrific to work with as well as the people from BHS on the L shot program and B on the hopefully the approvals tonight we can get to moving some dir here pretty quick absolutely so yes thanks for having me I'm here to present the summ of the guarante maximum EX for the 2500 for the we had we took bids a few weeks ago processed them brought them together to guarantee maximum price which you have a sum for meeting T that works going to begin March 25 and end in August and if we get going so U we had a base bid of 1,468 79 we had three alternates the first of 5853 to add the air conditioning function function to the rtus associated with the addition timate two uh was an add of $6895 to uh replace a little bit Paving which we're going to kind of land once addition place and then alternate three was an add of $1,277 to add some doors to an opening which we create between what is the current welding shop and what will be the new project area so in working through that those numbers with Craig he said all alternate should be four so those create a total project guaranteed maximum price at 1, 537,500 and so that's what I present this evening for and that is well within our budget we are in good shape as I shared with you before so um and would like to do the base bit as well as alter one two and three do you have any questions for me or for Adam and again you know I like having local subcontractor yeah to assist with that so that's always good to bring more business to the and while uni is not local they're the ones that have done epoxy work apprciate do app motion motion to approve the bids as presented by DHS construction second discussion and Adam you're more than welcome to stay or if you want to get back on the road we understand completely thank you all right thank you have a good night and dve safe yeah be careful okay so uh the board had a rather longy meeting concerning the for the elementary project U CM approval and so we had three companies that did that and so we have before you the company we s the Board of Education conduct for CMR Mar 7 uh Mall Gordon construction na Holtz and BHS construction and so motion there to approve uh these guys um are not we're not approving them to mil we're just approving them as as a potential contractor but to work with our architect look for bid make sure that's a real that's a really good point to make we don't have any fees associated with them in terms of they're going to help us work with Clark Simpson our architect our community advisory committee the um the bowcom corporation who's helping us with the pr piece and remember bowcom we are not paying any general fund money we don't have any expenses with bowcom that fee is being picked up by gmcn to help promote the bond issu so again um this works with us to help go through the process of trying to help inform educate share information and open meetings with everyone to um explain why we're looking at this as a the right option for the new bees we thought it was important to we have a kind of a figure our architect has a number in mind but we didn't feel confident that you know I was always having an architect does it and then your your construction guy comes they go oh no it's going to be a lot more than that or a lot less than that so we want these to work in together and get our price down there where that we're comfortable with and U so we feel like uh pleas like to go ahead make motion yeah motion to approve maard construction ATS project C is there a second second any discussion and again who those two you guys as board members for the work that you guys have done with the RFQ process the RFP process the deliberations the very thorough deliberations so again thank you so much uh you guys have uh really done an excellent job uh with this process so kudos to you guys as board members Okay so the're looking at the ksb membership um so we're belong to that every year so we we get a lot out of those folks and Christie's done an excellent job of showing some information there some historical um perspective on the different fees that we have thank you Christie um one item that you want to look at down below uh the board could see at the season pass May potentially save money on workshops for the this next school year so um last year is the the 2 425 year 50 we hadn't been using that much money in the past well this year we're up to $1,750 we got some new board members and we also have front office staff that are using the trainings that KB is providing so with that being said I think um you know the professionalism of you all and wanting you know maybe to learn and grow as board members as well as our office staff I think it may be worth it this year to go ahead and PVE $150 um uh to be able to benefit here the in this case $600 savings if we would have done last year but U um it would I think it would be beneficial if we look to do that this year and see you know we'll keep track and see what we're using I would agree because they have lots of programs that we can just send people to we just and not worried about the cost there that's so you have a recommended motion and a potential motion to add like everything goes up a little B motion approved the KSP membership renewal in amount of $1,946 motion to approve the KP membership renewal of the amount of 12,6 19640 you guys just want second motion second any discussion car as Craig just mentioned just a little bit ago so wees so you have for you the C legal assistance fund which is different from the C yes Remains the Same motion to approve KB legal assistance fund amount of $750 second discussion now back Craig mention motion and understand right 70% we 70% so yes it's 70% reimbursable right um and even though you would be approving if the eate funding doesn't come through for some reason we would be able to cancel um the project for go it to approve a bid for upgrades for network switch switches and access points for Burlington High School Burlington middle school and Burlington Elementary School in the of 9,963 from Network Computer Solutions contend upon approval of funding second Mo second discussion no discussion v motion car 6 thank you are the same switches County kind of didn't they just replace some switches recently um replaced a COR switch at the county that controls the internet for all the entities but yeah no these are the individual within the buildings yeah like your end points and your server [Music] rooms yes we do sure keeps working so a motion to Res recess an executive session for five minutes to discuss certified contracts pursuant to the exception exception for employer employee negotiation under coma and to return to open session this room at the end of that time including Craig Marshall and Lindsay gra second second discussion V so folks you'll be able to step out for five minutes you welcome to go back in the other side e e e so next on the agenda motion recess an executive session for 30 minutes to discuss non-elected Personnel ready to complaint exception under coma and to return to open session in this room at the end of that time to include Craig Marshall Chris Naf Sarah Faircloth Rustin Kimmel and Terell second Mo second discussion moot car e e e session to entc session for consultation with the attorney and engagement mock sorry any engag discussion privileg by the attorney client relationship discuss non elected Personnel for 10 minutes second okay how many minutes I'm sorry thank you yes you're leing all sorry no it's okay how about we just do a roll call vote till she gets figured out so I I I e e e just okay the board is back in session uh action on the executive session so uh the board made motion to deny the appeal on part as part of policy K you guys no forther discussion thank you thank you not there motion to deny thank you can you read that again motion to deny appeal as part of policy motion I did like elect but it was like C thank you for everybody sometimes it's really fast and sometimes it's slow yeah well is it typing in additional stuff yes I did get proficient about yeah there goes adding like additional motions yeah motion cares 6 Z okay else tonight okay yeah uh so Julie so motion to accept the retirement request of Julie temper as Burlington Elementary scho School librarian with regret at the end of the 20 2024 2025 school year second and did you you want to read that top part at the end of 2024 2025 School Year Julie will have top for 26 years 21 of those will have been with usd244 that's AES student regarding student issues closing items anybody um just again thank you for all the donations from the that's really big so thank you Jay thank you for your comments earlier yes thank you that's hard you got to do that in front of sorry but appreciate private offenses can be done privately private but I don't have anything else to it so your first

tast one two one two12 all e e e okay we'll go ahead and call the meeting in order first item on the agenda is approval of the agenda just have an amended agenda for supplementals on Executive [Music] session to approve the amended agenda motion by Allison second by Josh all those in favor say I I I any oppos same sign motion passes and then approval of the minutes from February 10th and February 25th any questions comments [Music] additions hearing none I would entertain a motion to approve those minutes motion by Alon second by you Josh all those in favor say I I any oppose same sign motion passes and approval of the treasurer's report that is uploaded read to view any questions to entertain a motion to approve the treasurers report second motion by Allison second second by Josh all those in favor say I I any oppose same sign motion passes 70 uh approval of the invoices are there any that you would like to call out Bobby yeah so one item last month you're going to see reimbursal for uh mileage for our parents um in and around Wilson that was only one way and we needed to make sure and do it round trip so you're going to see another item on here that's for the round trip rather than just one way so wanted to clear up any confusion on that and then the other big ticket item that you're going to see is our graduation Alliance bill um for $163,000 that's normal that's our normal um monthly allotment for our credits that we are reimbursed for from ksde so those were the big items any other questions okay hearing none I would entertain a motion to approve the invoices as presented motion by Allison second second by Josh all those in favor say I I any oppos same sign passes 70 the reconciliation cash balances report is up for your you everything is reconcile and balances to the [Music] bank recognition of visitors just do I camera I need to on camera just reminder you of five minutes okay get to C I'll try to stick with that um first of all thank you for being here tonight I do think your presence makes a difference in all these facilities um open enrollment started last year and it allows for open opportunities uh is open enrollment good or bad depends on the strength of the district and how they Embrace that um every District now must sell themselves private schools public schools strong success uccessful and stable um your Insight on the Middle School survey I think shows that you're duve tailing well with the Open Enrollment because again uh every school is in a different position now as far as what they do going forward we have to put ourselves out there you know these small communities exist and they're a treasure and we have to put ourselves out there uh advertise ourselves offer ourselves welcome uh individuals to join us and that's what open enrollment is allowing parents to do to see what everybody has to offer um the survey results I just kind of have a real brief um idea of what happened but um I think you started with pres fifth and sixth graders um the yeses will definitely increase your enrollment and your Revenue the money is tied to students so any student that comes increases your Revenue uh expenses should remain fairly stable uh and the cost per pupil should decline more importantly a yes vote is a vote of confidence and that's important positive customer satisfaction returns for both the state and the district and a vote of confidence in your communities uh strength success and St stability um you know there are some other things that happen besid yeses obviously in our in our everybody has an opinion so knows maybe and no responders I want to address those real quickly NOS are cause for concern uh why are they exiting um where are they going uh no maybe undecided inconclusive um and I kind of worry that maybe this survey wasn't big enough really I I think uh the present fifth and sixth grade ERS addresses the next one or two years but there's a lot more than that you've got you you've got discussions going on tonight about daycare and dayc carees are important they are your growth they're your feeders and and I think everybody should support support daycare um the Mayes um or the non-responders there's input their input is pivotal maybe more results uh would come in and maybe they did today um I I like to think of about Orchards and my mom and dad really like fruit so the sweet fruit are the on the low hanging branches and you have opportunities here to pick that fruit right in these neighborhoods right in your District presently there are a lot of homeschoolers that for one reason they've Lost That Loving Feeling for public schools and it it's the time to entice them back open enrollment and our present situations where we're in a lot of struggles both locally and nationally and uh around the world it's the time to entice and grow together um invite those people back invite homeschoolers back because they might have learned how hard it is to to educate their kids and if I was in this District which I'm not I would propose a pilot project it doesn't matter how small the numbers are you want customers be happy if you have one unhappy customer that's that can cause a lot of harm but if you have three five six yeses you want to embrace them and um there are 58 more middle schools in Kansas than high schools 58 and I didn't do the percentages because I'm not that great with math but um Mr Murphy I applaud you for initiating these discussions and the quick action you took to get this survey up and rolling uh one high school okay uh but yes to customer satisfaction a small Scale Pilot first then more sampling and surveys and expanding your uh offerings uh advertising what you've got I think right now is a critical pivotal time in public school education and you can ask anybody at the state of Kansas everybody thinks we're spending too much money on education wiah have a minute left a minute left wiah closed six schools last year they tried to pass a bond and they couldn't get it done uh but customer satisfaction are they are they doing what parents want with the money they have and this is a districtwide issue it is it's not just the this area the district has good leadership strong teachers and a family supportive environment a pilot project and I like projects you you have to have a purpose objectives and measurable outcomes uh Middle School St students are developing vital skills that will help them become leaders for tomorrow um the bottom line is more students equ more money whether it's 13 six students two additional for two additional years or more minimum that's uh taking six times 20,000 that's $120,000 for the first year and climbs to 240,000 for the next year and if you grab any other homeschoolers you're on the way uh so you've got families that want what's your offering stay strong and continue the conversation please okay thank you thank you okay and next item on the agenda is Administrative reports so we do have a couple of our principles that are still in buildings um for parent teacher conferences uh so they did upload theirs on there for you guys your guys's uh reading pleasure and then Miss Moore I believe has first I just um want to say thank you for coming it does go a long way in um showing your support for our school and for our community and so I appreciate you all being here tonight it was a nice night to drive up here it was nice and warm versus what we've had the first the last few times um on Friday we ended our nine weeks and so successfully and we have had the last four days off um today we're celebrating parent teacher conferences and so it looks like our numbers are pretty good with parents and and um lots of positive things for kids and looking good on the 14th um which is Friday we'll be having booster club Bingo and so everybody's getting prepared for that um next uh next week not this week but next week beginning on the 17th will be spring break on the 24th we'll be having site counsil um the 24th to the 28th we'll be celebrating read Across America on the 25th we'll have preschool Roundup and then on the 27th we're tentatively planning to have a mother father child dance so we're kind of getting trying to get that trying to do it then but I think it's probably going to have to slide into April just because of all the days we had off and trying to get all of it organized um we did have a valentin's day fundraiser which we've done for the last couple years our net sales um were $2,618 and so the proceeds whatever's left over um they will get every child in the building will be eligible for a yearbook as well as any additional funds are allocated for our playground updates so sounds like it's going to be pretty good um our fifth our sixth grade students went to Sven Lucas last Monday for the music Symposium none of our students receiv received less than a one and we actually had one had they memorized it would have gotten a two but they got a one plus so they did really well and everybody was excited and it was a good opportunity for everyone to experience that in our after school program we do have 23 students um that are rolled either full or part-time our reading groups are still averaging about six or seven I kind of passed in there the other other afternoon and was kind of listening and watching and they were really having a good time the Librarians are really working with um on our daycare the daycare has no openings at this time there is nine still remaining on the weight list however I did talk with some parents tonight and that's probably going to increase out to at least 4 so that'll get us up around again around that 1213 Mark again where we were um we're still in the process of getting the playground um fencing for them and get that done I've sent Mr Murphy the um the beginnings of that to get that approved to get that started and um then we're working on that expansion to get all of that done the ladies and I um Mr Murphy's going to cover a little bit more but I did want to give you a little bit on the middle school expansion um the surveys didn't results didn't really conclude it's kind of one of those things we're kind of on that do we go do we not go and originally Mr Murphy and I kind of said probably shouldn't go not enough but then we found out on Friday that maybe not everybody got the survey so there was I'm not sure how that because I sent home a class from Dojo which is Heth in sixth grade doe our parent communication and then I sent home a paper with the survey um link on it for them to scan a qo card so I don't know you know you never know if kids get those home either so that was one big thing so tonight during par teachers conferences um those are going back home one more time and I set up a new survey um sheet receiving sheet um in Google to um receive that new one just to make sure that everybody has an opportunity to participate in that and so um and like you know if we did decide not to go this year we would continue to take a look at this for next year because I think it's a phenomenal idea and I've heard really positive things and even fourth grade parents and third grade parents talking with me about you know yeah that would be a good thing going forward so our side council did meet we discussed the mother father child dance and also some some previous um information about K and some other things we've been talking about all the way through um I did tell you about the cool rug that we bought in preschool and so I I shared with you a picture it was really cool I was in there and they were so excited cuz they were able to like they can't touch it obviously but it was so big and so that teacher we just purchased um some really cool things to do with alphabet and some other fun things for preschool so it'll it'll create an environment for stem to grow and and give those kids those experiences our enrollment has not changed however I have received um notice that there are two students that may start with us the week after spring break so that'll increase there's a kindergartner and I believe it's a third grader that will potentially come in and there's two more that are discussing coming in from Russell and so if those come in that'll be for coming in before the end of the school year that's a pretty tough time to come in so again thank you for coming do you have any questions for me thank you yes thank you and then to item number nine the Open Enrollment numbers for the 2526 gr so we uh took our first look at these last month um we are recommending staying what with what we visited about last month as well so the numbers are attached broken down for each school um would you guys like me to go over those again from last board meeting or do you guys feel comfortable or have questions on it this is something once we get this set then it'll kind of let us get the ball rolling to make sure we meet all the deadlines on getting it pushed out and making sure we have the applications in and ready to go for any kiddos that are wanting to um join the district from outside the district nift year Mr Murphy I do have a question about that I did receive um an email this after or this morning from Power School okay with an application to enroll from Missouri but they're moving here to Wilson it was a kindergarten am I supposed to be receiving those emails no I don't know why you got that we'll have to ask Sher about that okay you the open en okay was it our open enrollment form it was okay so I would keep a hold of it so we can reach out to them once we I to open on I didn't just Su okay I didn't a motion to approve the Open Enrollment numbers as presented moot motion by Allison second by Josh any further questions comments discussion I'm just wondering are we voting on this what are we voting on right now we're voting on The Open Enrollment numbers on how many slots are going to be available at each grade level that we currently have right now in the district but not the junor high no no no we're not voting on it's under that open Moment on the list okay all those in favor say I I I any oppos same sign motion passes 70 and then item number 10 is survey results okay so I just want to spend a little bit of time going over what we have um so far from our online survey uh very optimistic about the fifth graders um there are nine students in that class we had seven students participate out of the nine so far uh five five of those families said they would maybe be interested so five out of out of the nine um we didn't get two back but hopefully we get those back uh today um kind of give you guys maybe an updated number moving ahead to next meeting so whenever you think about that five out of n that's a little bit better than 50% I was very optimistic about that so can I interject something I think something that would help me is just a question I know the maximum number would be 20 right we would set it at 20 but what would be our minimum like because that's one of the questions that's kind of difficult in this is at what point did we just say we can't do it versus you you know so I think what's you know because I like I have one class that has you know five or six in it and and we're teaching that on a full-time teacher Sal so I think that's really going to be a conversation for us to have and again these are just opening stages surveyed to kind of gauge interest out there but that's something we're really going to have to sit down is if we're going to move forward with this at some point whether it be next year the year after whatever look at schedule and see what what the feasibility is for the schedules so I don't want to I don't want to put a number to it right now until was you I just was thinking that something we need to talk about is like what's the minimum threshold that we would yeah economically be able to support you know so moving on to sixth grade um what we have on the sixth grade so we have 11 students in sixth grade right now we have seven students that participated four of those families said they potentially would be interested so kind of maybe the maybe side of it so we have four out of 11 right there um for the sixth grade but we do have four that didn't answer the survey so we're looking to try to get some feedback from those guys during parent teacher conferences uh to move forward on that and kind of give you guys an updated updated total when we get there so Miss Moore talked about uh sending it out Class Dojo and also a note sent home I did get some information that we had a parent not get it so I reached out to them via email this weekend and tried to push it out to them to get it I believe they responded because that was our 14th out of the 13 so um they didn't respond to my email at all but I believe they did get on and take the survey so um we do want to catch these parents at parent teacher conferences at this time uh moving into next year it's just going to be really hard to recommend four out of the 11 moving forward I think we need to reach out to the four and we need to probably reach out to the ones that didn't and get a get a better grasp on why they're not interested or you know what are some things we could do to maybe draw them back in some of the remarks you know what do we do with sport that'll be a question that we have and we talked about you know whether we combine Sports between the Middle School that that way um some of the other questions what would what would our offerings look like for our Middle School classes would it be more Elementary offerings or would it be more like what you would think of as a traditional middle school education with different you know seven different classes or eight different classes so those were some good that was good feedback from from the parents asking some of those um and I'm not I'm not going to sugarcoat at all we did have some parents that thought we were opening Old Wounds with and things like that so I do want to try to reach out to those parents and apologize that that's the way they took it that by no means means what we were trying to do we're just trying to gauge interest moving forward to see what's there so um questions on on survey information that we have so far and we'll get we'll get a little bit better numbers and and some more information once we have parent teacher conferences rolling today so the feedback I got was the survey was very confusing and it is so poorly written I don't know who wrote it am i b in Google I don't know but it just two pages and they just thought it was too confusing they couldn't understand a lot of it well I can read the survey I I have it here too and there's like stars and blanks and they just felt it was just too much so I I I I would love to read the survey to you guys so you know exactly what was on the survey so give me a second I'll pull it up I thought it was I'm not I don't want to I I thought it was well I'm used to like Survey Monkey you know that you yes and no question yeah the first question was are you a parent or student and they had to click whether they were a parent or student uh the next one says um if you are a parent or Guardian what grade is your kid in and they either click fifth or sixth grade um if offered were your student continue on through seventh and e8th grade at Wilson Elementary yes or no for button if you answer no can you briefly tell us why uh how important is it to have a variety of sports or extracurricular activities in seventh and e8th grade one's not important at all important at all all the way to a five that's very important so just clicked on which one um and then if they're interested if if they are interesting in adding seventh or eighth grade what extracurricular opportunities are they interested in they could click on basketball volleyball track and field band football Quiz Bow and then the last one at the bottom just says would you need transportation to and from school yes or no that was that's that's the survey so s just I know but it was when you printed out it was just confusing to the people that printed it out in paper and then there was the third page that was really confusing it was weird can I see that P please and we're just wondering the community of Wilson if we could have another month have like a public meeting and talk about to people is there a possibility that we could revisit it in the month I would love I would love if we could set up something for people to come in and visit about what that what that's going to look like I'd love to do that okay they had so many questions that'd be great this is nothing weird isn't it yeah this is nothing there's none of this it's when she printed she printed out that's what printed out too that was the strangest thing I've ever seen I was not cuz I wrote the survey myself okay and it was it says Witchita Bond failure yeah it it was like an sounds like an ad might been an ad printed off with it so they were really confused when all that printed out it looks like something that yeah that would have come up and then in the Middle look right here yeah that's something I would so that'd be great Mr Murphy yeah let me let me look into it and give me a little time to see what we can set up to get something rolling yeah that's the hard thing with some of that stuff that's to be online you can't just you have to be careful what format it prints in I mean the survey obviously they send it on a QR code and a link that you were supposed to log in and take it directly on there so get any comments back on the part that you said tell us why not oh yeah what can you share the comments I can give me just a second I got to pull back up okay Mr did we the four that did not reply did we get feedback from them saying that they the four didn't get it or was there only one out of the four that didn't get it or well I know one of the students isn't returning so and but I did ask her that even if she isn't returning to go ahead and fill it out and just put in the comment section that they're not returning then another student it was because they were they're still have an open wound and so they just were refusing to fill it out I asked them very politely I just said just tell me why just even if you just go on there and you you know throw me in the trash can is better than no response you know which is mine with me so so anyway so I asked them to do that hopefully they'll do it on the new survey because I just did I copied the exact same survey and um just made a whole new one and I put it in paper and I'll send it one more time out to through classroom dojo I think this time I'm going to put it um in a different way because I think maybe the way I did it on dojo might have been confusing I mean I'll I'll I'll tweak with it a little bit I mean I know sometimes people who are not Teck Savvy sometimes we'll struggle even today so just to help make sure we get everybody included in it overall everyone's really positive about it and I I have to say that even though we do he's going to read to you some of the things but overall most people are positive the biggest thing that we're going to struggle with and what I hear continuously is about the sports piece of it and I don't know how to hurdle up over that one because without enough to do it here right I mean we don't have eight-man football anywhere closed I could do basketball if I had six but that means everybody's going to play you know of that is you know just looking at it from a financial standpoint is trying to add it without adding also and just to be really honest with you you know our middle school kids go to bushon to practice every day right Chase ele Chase Middle School co-ops with us right they drive 20 minutes every day for football to bushon from our doorsteps here to bushon is 26 minutes so I mean it's newable so can I Kayla are you ready for these okay all right so the first couple said they answered yes uh one said I didn't answer no so those were some of the yes one said we would love to have seventh and eighth grade back at Wilson another one references need land transfer needs to happen to silven Lucas the divorce has happened it's time to quit playing around and let custody be decided uh there's a no answer how will Sports Go will we participate with Central Plains um there are no parents to my knowledge to plan on sending their kids to cland so it's easier for them to go to a different School speaking only what's best for my family um I'm basically it's time for a change with their kids being in another District their kids are going to go to that other District as well those grades were taken away a couple years ago uh because it wasn't important to the district and now they're trying to backpedal um was that comment yes Wilson Wilson Schools should be open um we will we would con we would continue at Wilson if possible this one says I am a potential yes I would appreciate some non-curricular extraa non-sports extracurricular sorry activities um my understanding this is another one my understanding no additional staff will be added um and it would still be part of an elementary school experience rather than a junior high type setup um I'll see I would assume there would be no Sports at Wilson which is another aspect of this age group so and the focus from my side of that is to give these kids an actual Middle School experience even though we're elementary teachers I mean they would have Middle School curriculum they would have Middle School teaching you know some of the teachers that we're looking at are Middle School teachers so I mean they were licensed middle school so it's not like you know I'm k6 but I've taught College I mean I have those experiences that can that's why we feel a public feeding would really help it answer to those questions and I don't disagree with you I think it's a good idea give me a little bit of time to get that set up here in the next week and I'll see what we can come up with okay Kay what was the place that we had the meeting with the new principal what was okay so on to item number 11 walking through the facility so miss uh Moore is going to take us on a tour through the Wilson facilities if there is a teacher's door closed we're not going to go in if they're in the middle of a conference and bother them um but we'll we'll talk about a couple things as we're walking through but we'll let her lead the tour so you guys are more than happy if you guys want to follow us around you can um if you want to chill out and here you're welcome to guys as well so so I think what we'll do is we'll start here and we'll go that way and I'll just take you around and then we'll go around that way and we'll end here that makes sense perfect you where everything's at though [Music] well are you I'm alive you're hi I'm David what's your name Roberta robera okay okay so this area we're actually have one of our a mural there was a the trophy keys that was there that we took out one of them had trophy for e e e go ahead and item number 12 okay so um I'm going to do a little bit of a presentation on everything that we've kind of talked about since I got here in July I know there's a lot we've looked at a lot of different options for agback so I'm going to take a little bit of time and pass a couple things out and go over these so before I get rolling I'm just going to give you guys some different options real quick so you know if we go option one I'm going to call it option one and that's leaving everything as is okay that's not any air conditioning to this building at all okay um if we did that we'd have to have a conversation about whether or not to leave the daycare open over the summer that's that'd be the hard part uh no AC for school next year um then we'd have to be on some sort of a Heat schedule that would that could involve an early dismissal if temps kind of reached a certain degree so that's option one I I don't recommend that um but there's really no right answers to this so there's this is this a tough decision guys so this handout right here is you guys are familiar with this because train gave us this back in 2022 so you can see all the options that are on there and and some of you probably already have seen these options before I don't know if anybody wants to look at these but here's a couple extras here with us okay um let me can I take one of them thank you sir okay so when they presented this in 2022 you had some different options on there anything from $350,000 at the time on up um Jesse pepper is the guy that we work with through train and he sent us an email on October 31st um to the district buy a new um intellipack unit um that would replace the existing unit up top and he estimated around $250,000 but then we would have to orchestrate a competitive bid for the installation of that and then you're talking about hiring a mechanic um and then any mechanic or electrical so he thought between $60 $65,000 for the electrical side on that so you're looking at the budget for that one um you know exceeding the 300 300 and uh $60,000 Mark or more so that's really replacing them replacing kind of what's up there and again I'm not I'm not an electrician but that's kind of the numbers that they shot us back in October so I have that down as option too okay um questions on that and I know we've talked about the train one before this does not change out any of the controls and it doesn't allow us um we would have to work through EPM to have the specific rooms turned on and off if that's what we decided to do so that's option number two this one is one that we've seen as well through C Cruise Corporation so I'm going to pass this one back out I did talk to Jeremy today a little bit because the one kicker with this these um split units is we have to have fresh air from outside to bring in we were planning on using the unit we had up there to bring in fresh air that's no longer um a viable option pass um so talking about this one just a little bit this is split units in the rooms um whenever I talk to Jeremy today and ask him what other options do we have to bring fresh air in we don't have the unit up top anymore he said that unit would have to be removed they would have to bring in another unit that was specifically designed to bring fresh air into the building okay that's for most of these middle classrooms middle offices um that don't have any any way for an outside wall to bring fresh air in so that he shot us a number of about $343,000 on that um but he said we needed to plan on probably $500,000 once we got done bringing the unit in on top to bring the are those would be the split units just to be very clear those are those are cool only those would not have any heating component in them the heating components would be a little bit more if we went with something that had a heating component in it you have better control of the controls now you know by turn on well right now right now with the heat um EPM has it controlled the way we have it set up and we haven't really got into trying to control anything for this summer yet because we don't know what that's going to look like does that answer your question Dalton yeah I didn't know if you're so shutting rooms off for heat now were you able to control out the boilers we are as long as we have to call EPM and they have to set each room for us yeah yeah okay so that's the split units um frad I believe it's malikot and we we put this one on there this is the HVAC engineer that we reached out to uh to give us some options um this is one you guys have seen before and the options that he's presenting I have talking to Fred multiple time have been able to talk to Fred multiple times you have that one pretty much awesome okay so he did have option number one which is it replace the exist train unit up there with an engineered air unit modifying the control sum so you can see the installed price the control price and the engineering fees on there so you know you're looking anywhere from one of his three options you know $530,000 on up uh Fred is on call today um if we do want to give him a call to ask him any questions about this we can do that so if you guys would like me to do that I can do that for you as well once we get done going through this um I did talk to him about other options and he said I talked to him about split units and he said bringing in the fresh air from outside is going to be the hard part where do we get that fresh air to keep that where it's being cooled correctly um he talked about said well what about window units and he talked about well you know usually those are subcontracted out if they go in a window you have to think about the you know the look from the outside of it what they're going to look like he said I can help you with how many square footage you know you need for window units but they don't you know he doesn't really shoot any window unit prices um so that's an option as well one option that I want to bring up um talking with the kermes this one's a little bit bigger packet and you're going to have to hang with me to walk through this one so the first page that's on there shows the current setup for Wilson Elementary School and I'll walk you through this a little bit more this is using the electrical system we have in place okay so um if you turn the page to this page right here this second page okay I'm going to kind of stand off to the side so if you turn it to the second page you're going to see 103 106 107 108 169 170 171 174 and 175 those are rooms that have double Breakers okay okay so we would have the opportunity to isolate those Breakers put a 110 window unit in okay they cover the the biggest one we could find is about 700 Square ft to help cool those rooms some of those rooms don't have double breakers for the outlets so you know you plug them in you're risking popping the breaker every single time okay so rooms 162 that I have marked in 166 those are the daycare rooms okay we could do two split units in those rooms okay and either use the 50 amp plug that's not being used the 50 amp breaker that's not being used down there to supply it because they both would need 20 amps okay so 40 amps that would be what would be considered the short run that I have marked on there okay if that one does not work there is a box that we have back here in the back that we could do a long run and put put that same those same 40 amps that we would need for those split units on there so I had uh the kerur come in and process two units on the next page okay you can see one installed with a long run price $1 17,5 184 you can see one that's installed with the short run if they can make that 50 amp breaker work from over there okay so you're looking those two split units okay anywhere from 156 up to 175 okay you guys have the authority per r board policies would this kind of be in an emergency to move forward with this if you want to at one of those prices okay now I want to be very clear on this one okay and you'll see on this page this does I'm I'm flipping back to this one right now this does not give us any AC in the office in the library the kitchen the cafeteria the art room they were unsure about the music room the teachers Lounge the virtual nurses or the counselor's office or the common area did I put I put cafeteria cafeteria to here now it could work out to where if we use the short run and that works to go to the two daycare rooms we could use the long run and maybe put a split unit in the library if if if it works out that way whenever they're doing the electrical so this option right here that we're talking about has I just priced some on the back this is a 110 unit it's a 700 squ ft window unit um It's At Home Depot just pulled it off at estimated price $552 a piece um cool 700 Square ft that's a little less than what those rooms actually are uh you are going to talk about having to modify the windows we're going to have to have somebody to come in and modify those windows guesstimate probably $1,000 a window to modify it for these window units in those nine classrooms um so this is kind of an in between you don't get everything cooled the way you would want to but you're also not talking about the same price tag I would estimate that somewhere between $30,000 and $60,000 depending on if we had to do another Split unit to the library if we could could is probably the best word there they say what was the so their only worry is in the when we pass the bathrooms over in that corner and that maintenance there's a breaker box in there and there's a 50 amp 50 amp double pole that's turned off and it's not on so they would have to trace that back and make sure it was still in good condition and where it would go and if it was fine then that's what they would use for the short run if that one's not good then they know they can do a long run from back here to feed those two rooms really anything more than that we're talking about more electrical you know we did talk about window units in every single you know most of the rooms the outside rooms that's still doable but then we're talking about putting another box running a line from outside maybe new pole as well to get to that you know that point and um when you start talking about the electrical side of it that gets expensive really really fast um a couple things that I want to keep you in mind okay so one thing that was brought to my attention that I didn't know was an option today something that could get us by for a while I guess there are are Chiller rentals for like some of the rental companies okay they'll bring out a trailer have a chiller on it they said that a lot of the hookups they would be able to hook up basically leave the trailer out back with the unit on it and they could use that to run air conditioning if we got in a bind they're supposed to be out this week yeah they what it does is they just hook up a temporary connection into our system they use them at like I don't know if you've ever been to Country Stampede or some of those places but they just back them in they'll wire it in they'll put it all together and he said that and there's an opportunity that we might be able even to purchase this that unit from them because he said he had four or five of them that were not in use and he wasn't ring him much anymore I don't know if this is something that'll work but um the gentleman I was married to before is an electrical and a mechanical engineer and when I chatted with him about it he's like why aren't you just renting a chiller and putting it out there cost wise I mean I don't know for sure what it cost us but it's certainly going to be cheaper than you know the AL out um this one comes out of Cleveland R South Carolina yeah it's not out OFA actually this one comes out of um ala okay to me that would be a short term thing it would be so my my my thought on that is if it if it got to where it would even get us through April and May and maybe June if we needed it I mean it'd be a great choice you know just just to kind of be thinking about you know moving into the summer depending on what you know some of these things if we decide to go the bigger route at some of these pricier options you know that's probably not going to be doable until I mean crossing our fingers even later in the summer I mean we' be we're going to be pushing it um but that could be a short-term fixed Chad until then so a couple things that I know I just want to remind you to make sure I'm doing my due diligence on this is you know if we don't have AC is that going to force us to lose more kids more faculty the answer to that is probably um on the other side is if only some rooms have the AC side of it that makes it tough as well especially you know when you're talking about trying to really retain kids and retain faculty and staff so that makes it really tough whenever we're talking about either option one not doing anything or the last option where we do the split units in the day rooms and then just a few window units to use the electrical circuits that we have now that makes it really tough um but when you talk about the price tag of it you know one thing you're going to have to keep in mind is is our EA report you know our every student uh succeeds act report we have to fill out every year um just kind of breaking that down 2324 per pupil cost at Central Plains Elementary School was 115 that's what we spent as a district and at Wilson we spent $24,000 per pupil if we put another $300 to $500,000 that $24,000 per pupil Mark is going to go up to probably around $30,000 for per pupil at Wilson so when you look at okay at Central Plains Elementary School we're spending 115 and to Wilson we're spending 30,000 it's a pretty wide Gap now that's just a report that's filed on our our building report so it's not like they're holding it to something but that's something that you know I'm just trying to make sure I look at this from every angle to give you as much information as possible on this this is this is a big decision um items y so like the at the high school that'll be added in there yeah and I don't I don't I don't have the high school broken down on here don't hold me to this number Caleb but I think the high school last year was 18 maybe 18,000 per pupil it'll go up so it'll go up too well I I estimate all of them going up they're all going to go up every year um you know so I just wanted you guys to be aware of what that Gap when you're kind of compared to elementary schools could look like if you know what you guys decided to do on that if we want to you know and I it's just hard because we're coming down to the end of this you know with the chiller rental if that's a possibility I do want to explore that and see what that looks like to give you guys some more flexibility or options and I don't know Miss Moore setting that up and Miss Mo thought they would be out this week sometime to kind of give us what that looked like so we can present that to you guys as well Park PR at all well the Paul Park he just thought he was just connecting into us and we were just a stand alone system when he heard the word EPM that kind of s so I don't want to quote you a number because the number he gave me was if he just direct lined it in and that we controlled it you know through the the system but because we have EPM that kind of puts us in a different L I do want to say something from an administrator but I also say this from a teacher perspective when I met with teachers on Friday during our staff meeting one of the things that came up and and I express this um we we the students that we have in our school are single most important important asset and if we have to go to a Heat schedule we are releasing students to what there's no where they going to go we have parents that work there's no facilities where do where do they go I can open up the one room I showed you and clean everything out that's air conditioned now that's on a separate air conditioning system and given them after school program but I have 80 some of kids in this building I'm not going to get 80 kids in there so that's one of the things that I the teachers really wanted to express they're willing to do and I it was really heartwarming to hear what they said we do whatever we had to do to make sure every kid got what they needed when they needed it we just don't FOC comfortable just saying okay well we can't have school today and we're going to let you go and because there's no place for them to go you know that room how is it air conditioned it's a separate unit that was installed it's just for that room it was utilized as part of the ACT go did gr say what if we did something when they would be able to do that I asked him if they could get it done by the summer and they said they they thought they'd be able to squeeze it squeeze it in on our um map here which room is that again that has that separate air condition it is room number it's the isn't it the the one maintenance room the one that has air no the one that has air conditioning it's over here yeah it's over here yeah it's the it's when you go down it's not numbered it's going to be is it by that blackout right area yes sure I'm not building so I was right it's right it's this area right here it kind of looks like the u- shaped right above 10 it's not a big room I'm telling you that's not a big room no you know it would it will handle our special education program well but it's going to be CR you know it's it's not nearly as big as that one either so we're going to lose some square footage there but to effectively and efficiently use the building to the best of our ability utilizing that room would cut down the need to have another room you no air conditioned and the thing about having the chiller that's on a trailer remember that comes in on a semi-trailer it would be parked out back they'd run temporary um flowthrough up to um our current unit so that it would flow out you know through our current unit but it would operate off of The Chiller not off of that but it would have to be controlled through EPM right and I'm not sure all of that I'm just telling you what he says you can't control that it you got a call every time I've had to call every time when we've had to do something with it you somebody here to do it I don't know the answer can't we can't we have tried but we run you want talk about beating your head against the wall EPM is a pain in in net but you asked a question about our heat we were able to fix all of the rooms that are currently utilized to ensure that they have heat so every room that's currently occupied has heat running through the EPM system so next year you know that system is is functional fully functional so anytime we've had to do anything with the Klo this this winter i' I've called them I've had to call them right off train somebody to do that yeah I got that all try to get that answer for you are you looking for us to um make a motion uh or do you just want to bring more information next month or what I would what I would really like to do is I would like to see how this Chiller thing works because this was just brought to me today and it's a could be a great idea and maybe the 24th and and I don't want to keep calling you guys in for special board meetings but I feel like before we get April we need to have a plan but if you did the chiller you'd be cooling the whole school all summer could be yeah so if we decide to do that for the daycare Go a different route right yeah so would you be smarter to do the Min the two split units for the daycare and then theiller for few months spring and summer it would it would relieve a lot of stress from us in our daycare Department if we knew the day cares were going to be up and running without a problem this summer so you know I and I I really feel like you guys need some some time to think about this because I know we've talked about it over the past seven months that I've been here but I mean we're to the point where we're going to have to make a decision on what the long-term stability for the hbac is going to be here I mean at some point we're going to have to do that here pretty quick but I think we we probably make a motion for the split units for the daycare yes and then depending on what you come up with on the chiller we could have a special meeting if need be and if the kerm can come yeah and if the kermes can come in and look at that do that right then we could know does that get us another long run to the office maybe maybe not to the office but to the library to have idea right so if you want to make a motion if if you want to make a motion to move forward with the split units in the daycare room then can get together um let me look and see when real quick is it on I think it's the second Monday right it's the 14th of April not the gentleman he said he was was going to Hay this week so he would get a in contact he was supposed to email me and I've been checking he wants to come out and look at what it he does wants to make sure that he can tie into the EPM CU he's really concerned about that and he's not sure that there's system out there that can tie into that because it's so old right I mean we're talking you know whatever 20 plus 30 years whatever it's been 26 yeah 26 I think at this point um I would entertain a motion to proceed with the installation of split units from the dayare either at the long run or the short run whichever is necessitated so a motion up to the [Music] 17,850 per unit no no no no no that that was not per unit hold on that that was for that hold on let me get back there no that this is for Marvin no because if you look on there no that's for the whole thing that's for both units because it's two two ton mini split units okay Y is that just for the units or is that installed that's installed that's the run the run the labor that's everything so that's up to the long run up to the long run up to 17580 450 there is a motion from Alon and a second from Kayla I need the motion repeated oh I would move to accept the bid from kermer Electric of up to $17,542 giving volume the ability to Bas that on the flight okay and this is to proceed with the installation of two unit with okay got it for the dayare just for the daycare right just to be clear on that that one room is a kindergarten room right now but it will become once we get get to that point okay I think I got it that's Alison's motion Y and seconded by Kayla okay thank you and you'll let us know on whether it's long run or yeah as we'll be able to do anything the long yeah I think once we get this this part approved um they're going to come in and look a little more at those boxes and make sure which route we have to go whether it's that long run or that short run so like I said if it is a short run that gives us the capability of putting another Split unit somewhere on an outside wall if you guys wanted to but that's pretty well Max Capacity for the boxes that we have right now without bringing a lot of electrical in not a lot but enough electrical to do that in the other outside rooms where are youing the room we are discussing that right now we don't have an answer for that yet that actually I do have an answer for you well let's let's discuss that a little more before we give it to everything's okay any other questions or comments about the Min split or the split unit in the daycare rooms okay we'll proceed with the vote all those in favor say I I any opposed same sign motion passes 70 okay on to item number 13 the ACT to fund accounting software okay so um our accounting software that we use in the district office right now is called fund accounting um fund accounting is server based which means we have to be in the district office to connect to that so we've been without heat for a while in there we finally got heat back this week so it was nice but there were some of those days it was really cold that I think our our secretaries could have done some of their things from home and not have had to been in there with blankets on and and some of that sort of stuff but um the grant that Scott got us hooked up with is to move to apto fund accounting okay this is a cloud-based program which allows us to access our accounting software anywhere um the breakdown though is going to be a little bit difference so the total cost for the training and the app defund is $30,000 our grant that Scott was uh Fortune enough to get is68 so that leaves the district funds $1 13,28 if we decided to move that way um the annual fee is $1,719 which is comparable to what we pay now for um fund account fund account so I think a way to look at that is just like it's a matching Grant I mean so many of those grants are anyway um they raised their C their quote from March to October but Scott there was some about the the the training side of it though right the training side of it there pieces of it that we might not have to have on site that we could have virtual and not have to pay for somebody to come in on site I for the training they ra price so it might not even be quite even be quite this much I don't anticipate of being over that but I I don't think it's going to be that much once we get the training down so um there is some there is some tension there just because it's learning a new system and some of that um but Diane has you know she's she's gonna gonna do it she's going to be okay but it is some some transition they're learning something else the best CH change over time would be midall after school started oh we have school started everything then we can kind of dive into that and get it roll one um so when you transition to that will you go backwards to the start of the fiscal year and run both systems to make sure it all matches they're going to do the conversion that's why we so they'll we picked up the fund there's a couple of other ones out there but we picked up the fund because it's it's owned by haris school Solutions which also owns fund accouny so they can upload everything okay so I was shooting we have to do it now to get the grant by June 30th Lucas studied this about two years ago to switch to APTA fund and it was just unaffordable but then when Scott wrote the grant you're right it's like a 50/50 so I'm not going to be stubborn and not accept the grant because the Grant's very important to help offset the cost eventually this district will have to go to something different than funded coming because they don't support it anymore it's going to be obsolete so that's why we're doing doing it now and then I suggested fall so we can get the budget document all done on what we're familiar with get all that going get teachers contracts go and negotiations settled get the new payroll started and then we'll start it on after okay we kind of talked about that with accounting services and it seems like even like QuickBooks and all that they're going to wanting everything more online instead of a desktop version anyway so well right now this is our on our server at the district office and if the server goes down electricity goes out we blew a breaker a couple times trying to plug in heaters well then then our software was gone so with it being cloud-based we don't have to worry about that we don't have to worry about the server or anything like that so and the training will be done with our Live app correct once they once they yeah they'll train us on our on our numbers our down yeah I would end entertain a motion to approve after fund as the accounting software for usd112 motion by Alison second second by Josh any further questions comments and discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I any opposed same sign motion passes 70 and the lease agreement at the clap on daycare center okay so uh the lease agreement is uploaded to the online board system the abcc when I say that again that's the advancing child advancing Barton County Child Care Department um they did review it on their side their board did approve it that was on did I go with that that was Thursday last week I believe they approved the lease agreement I did send it out to our private Council in Salena for their review they everything looked good on that side of it um there will be some other agreements once we get rolling for operational side of it but just the lease agreement in itself for basically the land where it's built that sort of thing um is involved in that lease agreement so our private Council has giv us a go-ahead moving forward with that so that's kind of where we're at on the lease agreement for the the daycare center side so uh to move forward anymore with any of the Serv or anything we have to have the board approval um for that if that's what you guys wish to move forward with so so again I guess just review this doesn't necessarily mean it's 100% go anything is just the next step in the process that we have to see for the possibility yeah so once Once the lease agreement's done they do the surveys uh they have the blueprints done I'll bring that to you guys whenever they have that finished for us to look at together make sure we're all on board moving forward because one of the things when you read that lease agreement is we kind of have foot in the door on the building side of it as well so um hopeful that would be by the next board meeting but things with this are going to have to get rolling really really fast to meet the deadlines for the fall so I would entertain a motion to approve the leas agreement as presented motion by Josh second second by Allison any further questions comments discussion hearing none all those in favor say I I any oppos same sign motion passes 70 go for Mr President I move that the board go into an executive session pursuit to the Kansas open meeting act to discuss non-elected Personnel for the topics of resonations Administration and supplementals to protect the privacy of individuals to be discussed with Mr Murphy present and return to open session in this room at still 15 uh probably 10 would be sufficient 755 7:55 wait no that clock is wrong oh it is it 751 y yep 751 second say e e e we are back in Open Session I move to approve the resignation of Daisy Adams as first grade teacher at Wilson effective the end of the 2024 2025 school year motion by Allison second second by Josh all those in favor say I I any oppos same sign motion passes 70 I move to approve shayen shei as the principal at Central Plains Elementary School for the 2025 2026 school year with salary to be determined later motion by Allison second second by Josh all those in favor say I I I any opposed same sign motion passes 7 zero I move to approve the contract for Bobby Murphy to be extended to a three-year contract and to add terms to state that the salary is to mirror the percentage raises of the certified staff of the district motion by Allison second second by Josh all those in favor say I I I any opposed same sign motion passes 70 I'm sorry it's move to approve Hannah Baron as a high school assistant track and field coach for the 2024 2025 school year second motion by Allison and is second by Josh all those in favor say I I and any oppos same sign motion passes 70 Mr President I move that the board go into executive session to discuss confidential student information pursued to the exception oh sorry relating to actions at Al and favorably affecting a student under the KO Ma and returned to open session in this room 78 758 with superintendent Murphy and well and High School Middle School principal Jess Murphy to be on call motion by Josh second second by Allison all those in favor say I I any oppos I motion pass have [Music] go e e e all right we're back in Open Session I move to approve Joel shriber and Addison green for work study for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year I'll second motion by Allison and second by Josh all those in favor say I any opposed same sign motion passes superintendent report okay so I'll give you guys some updates here State basketball schedule um girls playing DOD City versus Troy Wednesday at 4: so whenever I talked to past administration they said if it was a 2:00 game they got out an 11 4:00 game usually was at 12:00 was Miss 6:00 was 2:00 dismissed then if it was 8:00 they usually didn't get dismissed so we're trying to follow that as the same as it's been in the past um so school will be dismissed um Central Plains Elementary school middle school high school at 12:00 on both days um whenever I talk to Miss Moore about this they don't whenever we've done that before Wilson still has school they they they move forward so um I asked them if that's kind of where they were at with it still and they said yep they want to continue with school so um that was that part of if we are fortunate enough to win either one of those will play on Friday Saturday um and then again I listed the schedule on there um I don't remember if it was the boys or the girls but if one of them are fortunate enough to when I know one of them plays at 2:00 on Friday the girls play at 2:00 on Friday play at 4 yeah so um we do have hotel rooms um right now and it'll just depend on whether we win or lose I know they're all the girls are going to come back Wednesday no matter what coach Styles wanted to come back and then if we win then we'll go back up on Thursday and if the boys win then they'll stay and then if the girls H won Wednesday then we'll stay so it's kind of a lot of hiff ss and which ways this go and that way so um um it's kind of the breakdown for that so we we've also been working with Lee burfield quite a bit the past couple weeks uh we've kind of been working on getting that layout nailed down because when we met with the contractors um until we have that layout nail nailed down um it's going to be kind of hard to move forward so we've been really working on that once we get that nailed down we'll be able to move forward trying to get a more of a hard number from those for estimates for you guys from the contractors um I did attach to our board the super on superintendence report the kind of revised plan that's on there we're still working on a couple things right now so the daycare rooms and the walkth through and the bathrooms um we've talked about Windows a little bit we've talked about maybe a a connecting door from the kindergarten room so we're supposed to get another plan we talked about making the girls restroom a little bit bigger and doing away with the utility and keeping the storage so um running all that by our administration at um Central Plains Elementary School to get their feedback as well so we're still working on this and I'm hoping to have an updated blueprint maybe within this week to kind of give to you guys a weekly announcements so um moving on for the executive director for daycare operations we talked about I wanted to spend a little time visiting with you guys about this because I don't know if I wasn't clear I wasn't understanding um advancing Barton county is still interested in going half with the daycare executive director with us they want that executive director to be in charge of all the ones in Great Bin that they have plus the Claflin one plus the Wilson plus the holwood ones and they're thinking about like an $80,000 salary for that person that we would have like half of that I I I I have a really hard time with that whenever I visited with Sarah I said you know I think for us it might be more beneficial to go our own way and have one person in charge of ours but also working with me and the Claflin one in case they take it over CU my concern is we're trying to get the one work on getting the one open here in Wilson and how much time that's going to take I just want to make sure the person that we have in mind for that has time to do the district stuff and I worry with them having all the ties with Great Bin that they're going to spend a lot of time down there so I wanted to visit with you guys a little bit about that and see where you are out on that um you know if we have to spend $40,000 on a salary you know we might as well spend $40,000 on we know somebody we know is going to be here thoughts yeah even if you have to spend a little bit more I it' be better to okay I'm not sure how that works in practice in theory that sounds awesomely efficient but I just don't think that there's any way with the miles between that they get what they need if really nice because if we can make it if we do move forward with the daycare and Hol Roode as like moving if we move forward with the modular unit if they had an office there but they also had an office here in Wilson so when they came up here they you know had a room to go to to work or if they were at the you know the the elementary school they had a room to go in to work for that as well so I did upload the job description on there for you guys to look at and kind of give me some feedback on that when you had some time um so we'll move forward that direction uh FL summer rotation we've been talking to our Administration about the flooring continuing that rotation so we going to get um some looks at that to continue here and continue at Hol Rood and what's going to be updated at the high school though is going to be the entryways because the entryways are what's being taken out from the flooring that's in there for the asbest removal so when we talk about the high school we already know it's those entryways that are going to get get that go that direction so had a technology meeting last week with our technology committee um we're moving went forward with our rotation and we're hopeful that by the next board meeting we can have some of those technology ordering items for your guys' approval to Mo forward with for next year uh we do have the a reap Grant it's a Federal grant that we get funds for um that goes towards our technology purchases so um we really want to get that Federal grant spin up and out of our account as quickly as we can for next year so uh scheduling Staffing talked a little bit about this we we continuing to work with building principles to work on Staffing and efficiency and scheduling for next year so we're going to continue doing that and we'll try to keep you guys in the loop as we're moving forward we got a lot of irons in the fire but we've really got to start nailing that down um this last nine weeks to what that's going to look like for us and all of our buildings next year so um the other item I did want to bring up to you guys um a little bit everywhere but I do want to bring it up just because I've had some people ask me about it you know we have some Big Ticket items coming up whatever we decide to do here for HVAC you know whatever we decide to do at spacing for the elementary school at Holly Roode um you know we've talked about some different things at Claflin whether it be you know um additions you know we're going to be running in at some point to that huge population we have at the elementary school being in the middle school and high school pretty fast so you know I I did have a few people talk to me about you know where would we be at at a bond um so I know we've had some people communicate with me on that and I know I've been here seven months and I do know the dissension I don't want to say dissension that's probably not a good word um just the things that this District's been through in the last couple years there's a lot of hard feelings is probably the best way to put this and this and this you know when we're talking about some of those big ticket items you know whether it be HVAC or whether it be adding space at the elementary school I mean that Capital outlay fund gets going pretty quick when you start talking about some of those big ticket items so um I did have some people talked to me about hey they would maybe be before that some people said there's no way that that's going to pass in our neck of the woods well maybe if each school got something maybe it would pass so I just wanted to open that up and kind of get your guys's opinion on that and I know this might not be the best time to do it but um any other feedback or thoughts on that well we know that Wilson the bond would never pass at this point the feelings are too raw right now so if it came down to not having HB in the building and no air conditioning to a bond I'd have to ask I really haven't talked to anybody about it so I really don't know I'd have to talk to some people see what they felt but um I really don't know I can answer the one way or the other right now okay you think be know I don't know I for even for the farmers I know my patrons would say no no matter what it's just too many bad feelings right now they're just hurt I think they definitely would need to see a plan yeah to see what everything you know what are okay is it for you know a 500,000 or is it going to be for the $1.3 million units you know I mean I think it would they would definitely have to have to know know exactly what the money would be used for um at least I would um but I really don't know how it would go I mean my gut tells me it' be kind of tough but not impossible but I don't know I really just don't know my be I think right now we have so many irons in fire and so much other stuff going on that to do a bond issue Justice and to have you know strong feeling which one way or the other even to get numbers out in front of people to let them know is just H so much leg work and time this isn't really the time to pursue it it's because we're not we don't have a strong enough feeling that it would be worth the effort at this time so that being said how are we are we of projects yeah our Capital outlay fund is in you know it's in it's in a good position right now but we just and again all this is just from what I've heard and known I don't want to get back to the part where I think that we might have been 6 years ago 8 years ago I don't want to get back there so that part just really makes me nervous I mean when you start talking about $1.2 million air conditioning systems and $1.3 million um mobile units it goes with it goes really fast so um that that's you know funding some of those is going to have to be a year-by-year project and maybe even breaking it up like we've had conversations about the modular unit if we move forward at the Hol rote of doing part of it this summer with some of the foundation work and things that need to be done to try to have the unit here next year if that's what we decide to do you know you know um there are other options out there for spacing too I mean um but then again those bring up some old feelings as well so I don't that that makes it tough and I don't want to keep ripping the scabs off of things that you guys have already had to go through I don't want to do that to you guys Le purchase that's an option so that would be that would be an option and then we'd want to pay that one off before we even started you know moving forward on something else you know set priorities which one goes over and we kind of did that a little bit and on with with when we did the December meeting was it December and honestly the mitigation stuff's came in on budget for everything so far so we've been really fortunate there so that's been good that's helped our Capital outlay fund I mean as of right now in our Capital Outlet fund and again bought a bus last year so keep that in mind but right now we've spent $328,000 less this year than what we spent last year at this point so I mean we're in a good spot there we're hopeful that we're going to be able to put some more of that back and maybe with our general fund be able to have extra left over to put some of that back um to be able to use on those items but like you said if we go the lease purchase route then um you know which one's going to take precedent over the other and that's a that's hard because you either got air conditioning or you're setting sorry in classes like like this you know so that's that's tough I don't know with that but um they're both needed very much so that is all I had on superintendence report you guys have any questions with any of that that I can [Music] answer thank okay item number 18 board member reports anybody have anything only thing I got would be have you found out on the negotiation ringing if there's an online deal yet there isn't there is yeah they're supposed to be sending that out at the end of I don't have the link yet yeah they have well remember we emailed them and they're supposed to send us the link it was delayed yeah we don't have the link you send it to yeah I'll make a note um so February 22nd the ru neck reinforcers had their first charity event and that went wonderfully and they raised gross over 77 000 so we were able to present you with a check for our half of the fency awesome thank you awesome nice congratulations on a successful event great it was a lot of fun lot of work but a lot of fun a lot of people put a lot of time and effort into it okay item number 19 open Agenda items okay and item number 20 next month's agenda so we'll bring in some Personnel items to you guys hopefully technology as well we'll have our supplemental list too um to present to you guys for next year there could be some openings in that still that we don't have filled that we're still kind of waiting on a couple teachers um to see if it's a a draw for teachers to come in with a couple of those supplementals that we have open right now so and then we also have summer school on the agenda as well so when we get this other room for the daycare here is that going to let all those other kids on the list in yes should should and I I don't anticipate just with what we had to do at Hollywood I'm not going to say it's going to be a month I think our we're shooting for the start of next year probably we're student for for when I say start of next year the start of next school year is probably when that's going to be up rolling I think it's done sooner than that great but I'm not going to say a month like I did last time well both of those girls that we have in the daycare here are eligible to be directors right so they don't have to do any kind of Licensing training they're already there we just got two in one room because we just have the one room so that would be out of the way we wouldn't have to do that the training side the training the license have to get another license we do we' have to get another license go through the fire marshall and all that stuff so do we get funding for those children in dayare okay and we talked about this before chly just it's really a a a way to draw in young families and teachers to the community so we really try to keep it open now you know our one here in Wilson I think we only have maybe one teacher that takes advantage of that but that's just the way that the families have fallen I mean it's not anything but um with the pattern Grant we're going to come out in good position this year moving forward and as long as that keeps opening up we'll be good but if the Patterson Grant ever did get get away from us and we didn't get it or you know then there would be an expense on the district for that whenever you talk to other districts that have that I mean it's nothing for a district to spend $40 to $50,000 a year just on the daycare component but they use that as retention for teachers so if you think about it from the retention side is it worth it yeah it is so but hope that we get it for the next few years I know it is going to open again next year so I'm hopeful that we will be fortunate enough to apply for that and go that direction okay I would entertain a motion to adjourn motion by Alison second by Josh all those in favor say I I any oppose same thing pass you got another yes y yes not even cut yet [Music] hey I'll give an email out once I hear back from I can train somebody I'll try to get that my weekly notes this we

oh good got to wall suggestion when we took e e e March board meeting to order um I am actually the vice president so I'm taking over today so they with me this is going to be a really great time with a full room um I welcome everybody to our March meeting and if you are willing and able please forag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all [Music] agenda um Madame vice president I would like to request that we move item number 10 on the agenda um both 10 A and B which under business and finance to up under item number seven so it will become the new eight eight will become the new nine nine will become the new 10 Etc if you um you will yes ma'am I'd like to make motion to adopt the agenda with the correction I will second all in favor all right next we have our call to public and um I'm gonna read a really long sheet here um this is in regards to the call to the public I have one sheet on here you will be at a on a time limit that's it um all regular and special board meetings of the board shall be open to the public the board invites the viewpoints of citizens throughout the district and considers the responsible presentation of these view points vital to the efficient operation of the district the board also recognizes this responsibility for the proper governance of the schools and therefore the need to conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner the board therefore establishes the following procedures to receive input from citizens of the district any individual Desiring to address the board shall complete a form and give this form to our superintendent or our secretary superintendent the board president shall be responsible for recognizing speaker maintaining proper order and adhering to any time limit set questions requiring investigation shall be referred to the superintendent for a later report to the board questions or comments on the matter that are current under legal review will not receive a response in considered necessary the president shall set a time on the length of the comment period in order to ensure that each individual has an opportunity to address the board the president may also set a timel for individual speakers personal attacks upon board members staff Personnel or other persons in attendance or absent by individuals who address the board are discouraged policies are provided by the board for deposition of legitimate complains including those involving individuals on conclusion of the open call to the public individual members of the board May respond to any criticism made by an individual who has addressed the board presentations for unsed services will not be permitted companies or businesses offering Services of possible interest into the district should send information to the district office to appropriate School District official the superintendent shall Ure that a copy of is posted at the interest of the boardroom and an adequate supply of form avilable okay with that said you will be on a three minute timer and it looks like Tiffany D roer do I have any others okay so you will have thank you for coming you will have three minutes okay my name is Tiffany D roer I'm parent of Daniel and Ruby der roer students of Chino Valley Unified School District I stand before you today to discuss the following concerns students safety communication and integrity I would like to begin with student safety student safety regarding Transportation has created issues for parents and students a few issues are parents removing students from using the transportation provided accusations made regarding substance abuse involving bus driver students removed from in-person learning to online or homeschooling because of the safety lacking regarding the transportation of their student to and from school Communications parents school and transportation Communications for the well-being and safety of Chino valy Unified School District students alterations made for bus routes should be communicated by email and or full contact with parent or Guardian one cannot assume a voicemail to be a sufficient form of communication it's incidents that pose a potential threat to the students immediate safety should be brought to the parents of whom's children or child was involved communication between the school and Transportation Department for the whereabouts of each student at any time they are present on the bus integrity five values of integrity and how they correlate to the issues regarding Chino Valley Unified School District transportation honesty forming informing parents of whose children are involved in incidents regarding regardless of the incident trust the ability to trust the decisions made on safety are based on our children's welfare and safety initiatives are taken with common sense not unsafe decisions B based off arbitrary reasons fairness the transportation management should maintain good working conditions and safety processes in reporting safety concerns including forms for reporting stop sign violators respect respect con respecting concerned parents in regards to lack of communication and safety of Children's Welfare responsibility to take action in prevention in regarding to parents of students who are involved in incidents compromising Chino Valley Unified School District student welfare at this time I'd like to thank the board you board members for taking the time to hear my concerns pertaining to the safety and well-being of our community's children regarding before and after school transportation thank you to we can look into this reach out to you we cannot communicate I understand okay thank you so much thank [Music] you um we have a Yavapai County Spelling be champion and I would like to have missil come on up and she's going to introduce our County um spelling be champion and I want to say that this is a really really big deal because we have not had a County Spelling be winner in the district ever as far as I know and this is the first time in 15 or 20 years that a public school student has actually won the County Spelling be it's typically been won by homeschoolers so we have a lot to cheer for so first I'd like to say that last year she competed in our spelling beat and took it at at District level and then went to the county competition this year same thing and this year you won the yava county spelly be and I would like to present you with this who is she oh I'm sorry Rebecca I'm sorry I just know my student I'm sorry cockins here and eighth grader mom in the back is who our beloved teacher Miss cockins high school so board members I'd like to you present and help me cheer on Miss ckins for so congratulations and I don't I haven't opened it but she gets a check congratulations we're so proud she's so embarrassed we're so sorry good job it's okay we all feel like that I would like a picture please yes all the pictures in the room please yes I'll stand next Mom do you want to be part of it here we go one two three upca picture one more picture when is the state B when is I don't know oh March 15th [Music] oh yeah [Music] pictures good luck at the skate her name is also proudly on our Marquee it is on our Marquee so miss Bill yes all can go on to the next thing if you can oh I do so it is my month to present Heritage Middle School but I say this with love for myself you don't need to hear from me I would like you guys to have the listen to the students present so I'm going to give you they're going to give you an update on the extracurricular activities we have at HMS and some of the sports as well i' like to start JJ come on up I'll stand next to you the whole time next slide please hi my name is John gard and I'm in htn htn is a club where we film the news for HMS sorry you're you learn skills like scripting filming acting and many more skills that you you would need in real life especially if you're a YouTuber like me we we Comfort our news reporters in make making the news fun we put our effort in the filling and editing for example for today's news I looked like Mario because March 10th book written on the calendar looks like Mario anyways we put tongue twisters in the news too just for fun we also make sure that the people at the school district like our news most people do it I'm saying most because some people think we're annoying but they're wrong if you're wondering where these come from these are from my beloved mom lean Gart I'm John Garden representing hn thank you for letting me be here and talk about our club all right you keep going through for me there she was doing the news there keep going is that right okay Art Club come ony all right there's a few a few Art Club pictures hello my name is Randy AI I'm here to represent Heritage Middle School Art Club Art Club provides an opportunity for students to come together in a community outside of the classroom setting to engage in conversation on different ideas happening when you are stressed out you can turn to Art Club to calm you down I can also do a project in art finish it in art Club bring it home and show my family my amazing art and they'll be so thank you for letting me speak about my amazing CL and then I want to shout out my teacher MBI she's all the way in the back with the pink hair [Music] quilting Nora here come on quilting Club is a new club that you guys just approved for this year so this has only been in effect for a month yeah so I'm Norman row I'm the president of quilting Club at Heritage Middle School this is just something that we make we learn how to sew and thanks to um like dreed machines is another thing we do we learn how to go with seams and we just have a really great time and I'm really thankful for all of the people who help us and they're amazing instructors and I'm really happy that you guys approved this so what would you say is something that you use outside of school from the skills you've learned um I constantly ask my mom if we can sell at home but we typically don't um I kind of wish we did but we don't um but I can tell people about quilting because some ask how I do it and I can tell them so it's very fun to be able to express my interest in this I joined with the hope of learning this and that's exactly what I got out of it so I'm really happy that you guys BR this thank you thank you archery is there two of you or just the one I don't know where gett is okay there's her and a bow that's enough hello I am BR Gatlin I am representing the archery club archery I would say is a sport where we can meet other kids with different skill levels we often get to go to competitions out of school AR has helped me with multiple sports that I do has also helped me grow as a hunt Hunter it has helped me learn um the different components of a bow the different drawback strength I have and it has overall given me something to go forward that is that I can express my stress in or my angers show your bow and arrow here would you like to see my bow the number one rule in archery is to never Point your we just point at the ceiling that's better same she's being very humble she just went to the state competition this last weekend and are you number eight or something like that I believe so woohoo see demonstration I'll [Music] hold we practice Ary range that is down by the little houses at our school we typically don't use these arrows our arrows are a little bit better in use and it's very safe for other students to use this one is a typical I would say hunting arrow in my standards but I highly doubt it's not um I have question does um each person that is and do they have their own bow and arrow so the school provides bows for us and there are left-handed and right-handed bows if a student wishes to have their own bow then they are more than allowed to bring it or to purchase their own we do we do um I don't know how to word this we do provide some arrows we are running a little bit low but we are working on getting some more and some new targets along the way Arizona Game and Fish was our partner several years ago um that helped us um in cooperation with Ben Avery helped us to get the bows that we needed the arrows that we needed the targets and training for our coaches right so all right thank you come [Music] on good evening and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak with you and share what Su and Council has been doing we participated in the territorial early Days parade HMS brought home the second place float trophy it was a great achievement and amazing effort put in by everyone involved we also started this year off with a fundraiser we raised money and were able to give our highest Achievers bikes Stanley Cups and gift cards this was a successful year for us we have had many successful dances this year our 80s dance was a big hit students were able to dance the night away in their brightest neon colors we were looking forward to our our Hawaiian Honolulu wait Luan dance in April we have introduced lunchtime activities one of everyone's favorites was guessing the staff member based on their baby picture student council is revving up to hold an assembly for the eth graders preparing them for the camping trip up and com we are super excited for what is planned this has been one of the best years in student council we look forward to many more events for our [Music] peers excuse me so to answer the unasked question no we are not allowed to fly them in here but that is our smallest in our largest drone like to turn it over to the girls now hi my name is Bailey I'm 12 years old and in sixth grade at Heritage Middle School this is my first year in drug club with Mr Lynch out of all the different clubs I decided to choose Joan Club drun I decided to choose drun Club because I I believed it was a great opportunity to work and learn Lear with technology and machines this is something that I have hopes of working with in the future and possibly going into the air force After High School up until this point my life has revolved around 4 career in livestock reading and showing also one of the things that has giving me the courage to be here today this year has given me chances to do something different and I really love going to school to be in Mr Lynch's advisory class computer science class and drone Club this is the only opportunity for me to actually be able to work with a actually with a flying with actually flying such a CO cool machine machine such as a drop they are very expensive and we could not otherwise afford one as a one income family I look forward to all the things I learn I do and believe being a young lady working with technology is amazing just like young woman who shaped the world during World War II who who went to work and Emelia art who bravely proved that woman could also fly not not just I am thankful that Mr Lynch is my teacher and a teacher that believes in me the world needs more Rosie derivators who also want to pave the way and prove woman can do anything thank you so much for your time good evening my name is EJ and I'm representing drone Club at htn not HMS I'm sorry it's at Heritage Middle School I find that drone Club is a marvelous way to learn how to fly code and have a blast with drones learning how to fly drones can help in later life as well both in jobs or entertainment purposes for example the Dr the jobs that you can get with the knowledge of flying a drone are a real estate photographer by flying a drone through the house for showings Construction in land surveying mapping drone technician and for the military by being a tactical unmanned aircraft system operator there are two different types of licenses you can get a trust license and a commercial license a trust a trust license is a recreational purpose only meaning you cannot fly over people or ask for money for the pictures or videos you take a commercial license means you can fly over people and ask for money for the pictures and videos you take but the with the knowledge of flying a drone also comes responsibility you can learn responsibility here by having to take care of these expensive drones and making sure they aren't damaged you have to watch where they go and if you crash you have to speak up about it drone Club is also an excellent way of making friends and finding out more about each other as you grow and fly together thank you for your time today thank you you grab the drones good job good job think we have a couple more oh they're [Music] coming hi I'm anel and this is we're both eth gr and this is my second year and Jess and this is my first year NHS is a wonderful club by far it has taught me so many things about public speaking and being confident myself teaching others has also taught me loads of responsibility and time management skills um it's definitely taught me how to be a better person and um how to around people better way and be more kind to others and um it's allowed us to be more social with other with our peers and have more fun other people I would use the skills I learned from mghs to go to competitions not only for like public speaking but for like Banquets for like for my father's military and like speaking at National events as livestock shows and as or AG members uh you could use it or I would use it in the future um as being somebody maybe in a higher position in a job and being able to speak in front of people which can be hard for a lot of people um but also using it [Music] to um njs is extremely welcoming Club many like-minded kids that help each other build each other up and just show us all these opportunities that we would not have of like by ourselves such as going to getting like better jobs and getting putting on your college resume put getting colleges and scholarships and also just opens a whole new world career um being in our Engineers Club we have sent many thank you um we have made many thank you posters um we made thank you posters for our Veterans Day assembly um and we' also sent a lot of cards and Christmas cards to our teachers and staff you for your this something you have to qualify for or anybody so to qualify you need at least a 3.5 GPA or higher and maintain that throughout the year and if you get pretty sure a couple people like five or more merits you can get kicked out and you have to have recommendations for Life teachers okay right thank you last but not least wrestling I don't think she's here I mean are there two other wrestlers here yeah if our wrestlers that are here would stand up wrestlers who are here just go again stand up just I could talk for you okay all right just the one we were just GNA showcase uh we're GNA have our winner come up so wrestling is one of our sports that we do we went second second at a battle of the belt um in Prescot Valley at Finley Toyota Center the girls team won second place [Applause] overall all right so I just want to let you guys know some after school sports that we have give you an update any question I'll keep that in mind I'll keep that in mind thank you thanks for coming [Music] go good evening board and members of the public tonight I wanted to highlight a few things in the superintendent's report first of all February was a really fun month because we got to recognize a lot of Staff members during February so we have employees of the quarter Danielle Frederick who's a first grade teacher at Territorial and Morgan bestest who is a par professional in our extended resource program at Del Rio school we recognize Cody Ashen brener who's a fifth grade teacher and Veronica aan who is a PA professional with our language learning students at Heritage we recognize Stacy Krug a science teacher and Christen steber the librarian who is by all accounts and what everybody tells me just fabulous and Julie Bas our science teacher at the high school Lucy Swope who is our library Aid and here at the district office we recognize Charlie Alon who is our purchasing agent and our procurement specialist so we had a lot of fun I want to remind the board and our viewing public that our awards for employee of the quarter are sponsored by Jet's restaurant so Donna from Jets provides a goodie a lunch gift certificate a little gift in the bag for everybody who is a winner so it's really fun we get to go around and kind of prize Patrol it so it's a good morning um we also recognized our brand ambassadors those come that's sponsored by Chino Valley Education Foundation and we encourage employees to nominate someone who they believe best recommend like represents our brand so they represent different parts of it whether it's the providing safety for our students whether it's the they exemplify working together or they exemplify preparing students for the future so our brand ambassadors um that we recognized were Debbie golden who is at chano Valley high school and will be retiring this year Dan Eisenberg who a lot of you know as the voice of the Cougars and Jim Eisen BR Jim Eisenberg they were all recognized for very different things their photos have been featured on the district social media and Chino Valley Education Foundation social media as well I also wanted to let you know know about our current enrollment at territorial we have 589 students remember not all of them are there all at the same time because our preschool students are there half a day so when you look at that you could see that Brandy has the second largest campus and is probably super glad they're not all there at once because it is really really tight at Del Rio we have 481 students Heritage has 467 and cbhs has 66 63 I also want to remind you that Del Rio and Heritage only have three grade levels each our other two campuses have four grade levels each so for budgeting purposes as a reminder preschool students and kindergarten students only generate half funding Arizona does not fund all day kindergarten but we provide all day kindergarten free to our community um it's a great expense to the district but we believe it's worthwhile to help students be better prepared for the challenges they'll face in first grade so a couple other things this month you may have seen that the Arizona auditor general released their District spending reports I've included that report for you overall we spent 66% of our budget in the classroom we spend 10.9% on student transportation and food service so that means about 77% of our overall budget goes directly to the classroom or to support students administrative costs are 11% and our plant operations so everything we need to run the buildings from our electrical to um maintenance all those things cost 11.8% something that's notable is that um when they release the spending reports on average Charter Schools spend 22% or greater on administrative costs that's something that's always been under scrutiny because um it is definitely lopsided for regular public school districts compared to charter schools that they're spending a very disproportionate amount on their administrative staff um so something I gave you the full report for your reading pleasure you're welcome to remove the report from your board book and take it home with you or there's a link on the auditor General's website and I think we put a link up on our home page as well um to access the report also Mrs Massie prepared for you this wonderful giant list in case you think nothing ever goes on in the school district she prepared this giant list for you to take of all the activities that happen between now and our next board meeting so this is just one month's worth and remember we invite you to attend as many of the things as you would like to drop in and see all the fun things that are going on also make sure you're keeping up with our district social media page Chino Valley School Chino Valley Unified School District um because you can see all the different things that we highlight students of the week um staff of the quarter our brand ambassadors and things going on on each campuses today we had the pleasure of having a tour at the Yavapai College CC facility with our partner institution Mountain Institute CED and members hillborn and Johnson were able to attend the tour today and I didn't know if they had one or two quick things they wanted to say that made an impression on them today I mean everything is so I would wish more and more children certificate and learning is just amazing learning to build homes learning the fix cars um body and the inside of the car um welding um I can't even remember it but um yeah and another thing was the technology that they're learning on what was that called where they're doing those uh so the 3D printing yeah 3D printing that was something too but um I was just amazed and it was a long walk to go through everything but it was worth it I mean I just was I'm gonna piggy back on everything that that Mara said also I I have to say there was a lovely lady in here H talking today about the Drone club and just seeing the drones at at the CED campus that was amazing going in and seeing the air traffic control room where they're learning how to do air traffic control um uh it was it was it's really impressive you can see every airport there possibly is which um that these people are really we are so fortunate in our community to have Yavapai College and this Vocational Technical uh Career Training Program um and here's a little piece of trivia that I didn't know but I'm going to give some kudos to City Daniels because she was on the original group that helped put together and form the uh the CED program and she was telling us a little bit about it so I would encourage you all to come talk to Cindy and and find out what you did because without her and that whole group I think um well let me just put it this way they are such a valuable addition to our education community so and I the thing that I thought was probably one of the most fun things you guys learned on the tour today is that the UA unmaned aircraft systems the uas program that commonly known as drones is taught by a cbhs graduate oh there you go so which is pretty SP C and teaches the unmend aircraft System Program for the college so super cool as well so I I appreciate um everyone who go along on the tour this Wednesday night is the Spanish speaking tour um so parents of children who are Spanish speaking can hear about all of the programs in their heart language to learn about all the stuff that cbhs has to offer and anytime anybody wants a tour Institute said they'd be happy to arrange it for us even if it's oneon-one and so everybody can get a chance to see it so do you does anybody have any questions about the things in the superintendent report all right moving along Financial reports John E man that was fast well this is just your report it's not the thing yet all right of the board quick look at our report for the end of February 2025 uh expenditures in our operating fund 12.5 million budget of 19.4 million Ben in our capital account 564 th000 budget of 1.1 million we've really been watching that we probably had 40 meetings since school started back in July all the folks that can spend all the sites all the principles all the directors uh last year we spent over 2.4 million in our Capital fund this year we spent 564 th000 in our Capital fund we might have another 80 to 90,000 to go we can move dollars if we need to that back to our operating so we've really watched that this year and we less than 30% what we did last year and we don't have any big plans to open more POS there um and addition to that fund the capital fund we've been able to bring in revenue report 7 7.8 million since July 1 in our 691 fund to keep our facilities upgraded and I believe the there's a a purchase order for Del Rio school and a purchase order for Heritage Middle School that have each we we spent on each of those so far $800,000 for our weatherization on top roof Rehabilitation and over 5 million per school for our HVAC systems and there's $10,000 left on each of those purchase orders for just WRA up and out we're really close to having those completely done I think all the systems are up and running and more than 50% I believe installed would could you correct me Chris for sure more than 50% installed at Territorial and the high school at this point for hbac systems uh Park little more than that a little bit more yeah we're about 65 70% we're on we're on the down slope great great I see invoices I don't see all the units going on the roof and everything that happens with that but uh so they've been here since that those companies Progressive roing mechanical since about June of June of 24 so going on 10 months we see a lot of them here and they actually have a permanent place for the representatives out here architect and cl as well just just north of our campus here so we've got tremendous support for these two contractors others expense and revenue million that actually coincides with our $7.7 million in and the cash all funds for the month end of February I have a question um so you just talked about the 2.4 that we W last year we we did buy some [Music] textbooks Transportation Vehicles we picked up last year I might need a little help I could look it up all of our purchase ERS but uh then yeah and that also includes some transfers back to our operating fund that weren't pure expenses but I can I can give you a summary I can also tell you two things right off the top 138,000 of that last year and that included 138,000 this year went to pay our debt service on our many houses 93,000 went to pay our debt service on our track over here by the high school so right there is 20 230,000 right there um and then we have a lot of software these Larry might be able to tell me I bet our software which mostly comes for our operating operating costs and our annual renewals is over 300,000 for all of our software yeah if you look at our financial and our attendance software and our HR software and our student student software so that's that's what I know that's what I see probably closer to 400,000 okay great thank you a little bit all right next is our um consent agenda and before I meet this approval does anybody have anything want removed for further discussion consent so this is an action item and I will I will approve s agenda as presented okay all in favor for a second okay second everyone all right moving along okay now we'll go back to the business and finance John livson this is to you okay well we got some good news uh business and finance for for approval for Action items first one is a revenue budget U this is not required by the Department of Education it's not required by the auditor general it's a suggestion from our Auditors and when the Auditors put together reports especially on our federal and uh federal funds and state funds and on our major funds in the district it's helpful to them to see a budget that the board has approved because you don't really get a chance to approve Revenue budgets but they like it and I've had a couple conversations and I thought it would be a good idea to just do that uh the revenue budget is towards the back towards the the large legal document there U it's the I guess B is in your section 10 10 a and it is yeah it's actually 10 a the question thank you so you see a couple Pages up there a page one that's got our operating budget our capital budget and and actually they're different than what used to seeing like operating budget expense is 19.4 million right now you see a total there 18 milon 97 that's Bud including Carri forward prior year so it's basically every penny uh and you say well how could we have a revenue budget of 18.9 and an operating expense budget of 19.4 well part of this uh Revenue budget is going to be connected to our expenditure budget I would hope you would just approve the revenue budget it's an estimate and it's the best numbers that we had back in July it's the best numbers that we have now and it's something I think you should do and it makes for a little bit more accurate a little bit more I guess a perspective effective identified audits because if you have a revenue budget of 10 million and you spend 12 there's questions if you have a revenue budget of 12 million and you only spend 10 Auditors want to compare Against The Target just like our targets here if you don't have a Target we have targets I have targets superintendent Daniels knows we have targets but the Auditors would like to know those targets too last year we had a million dollar increase in instruction and that took a little little time to outline where we went to thate okay um any questions all right this is an action item I ask um I will approve the budget for 24 2 okay moving on to you again great thank you so this is our third planned uh revision of our expenditure budget and that's again an estimate of what we believe we spend throughout the course of the year but in addition to that if you go right in front of it that's the large legal papers right after that little one you look at for the revenue it's there's report there dated in the lower La part of February 20th and this is a report from the state so even though it's called an expenditure budget they really do track our revenues for us too because you can't have an expenditure really significantly different than your revenues so if you see that page one it's it's right here after 10B and you're look down here you see 154,000 that line item right there that's a combination of two new things and this is good news for our budget it is for our operating budget 19 440,000 we get to add that 154,000 for for two reasons the state sees that the 1300 students that we have on free and reduced lunch in the district generate an extra cost for the district so they're giving us a factor of about.

e e e back in an open session can everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge of alleges to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for do anyone have anything to add to the agenda can I please have a motion to approve the agenda motion second Vian and Tiffany enters yes Peter yes Bennett yes yes Johnson yes Lions yes yes uh academic spotlight good evening everyone so I'm not going to do a whole lot of talking because I don't want to talk about anything that Jen is going to cover but um Miss Neil uh did a book study with a number of the other Math teachers not just in our building but in other buildings over the summer called building thinking classrooms and she's made some pretty exciting changes in her classroom that I'm going to have her talk about with Marielle one of our instructional coaches as Josh said I'm Marielle Brown and one of the instructional coaches at the middle school um I did a book study last summer on building thinking classrooms and the idea that um math instruction has mostly defaulted to mimicry and less thinking and so the idea would then be to change that back to involving students and um coming to conclusions about math um and Jen really took off with it I think um as much as she does not want to stand up here and talk about herself um she really stepped out of her comfort zone and is making a really big impact in her class room and so I'll turn it over to J uh thank you thank you for having me come um yes I'd like to share what I've been working on with the seventh graders here in math lately um with this book study for vertical or with building thinking classrooms uh the main concept is using the vertical whiteboards um and what it has shown in that research was that students are more likely to get started faster so they're quicker to get started on their work they're more likely to try because the whiteboards are a non-permanent surface so that if they were to make a mistake they can quickly erase it and it has been promoting a lot more mathematical discussion in class amongst peers so I'd like to show you some of the setup I have in class and some pictures of how students have been working so first I started with the whiteboards that I had in class uh because we have whiteboards in the front and the back and I was able to make five whiteboard stations for student use uh but I needed to create at least four more so that I could have enough groups for all students to be working at the same time the hard part was figuring out how I wanted to hang those whiteboards uh I didn't want to drill into the concrete well I just wanted to make it hopefully a non-permanent uh solution until just to see how things went so I took a 24x 36 whiteboard I found command clips and were able to put them underneath kind of as a support and then another clip on top to kind of hold that whiteboard in place and it worked out really well uh for the students to be able to stand at the whiteboards throughout my class I also had to think about where students were to keep their supplies so they markers they erasers we got magnetic cups I have little like makeup rounds that they use for erasers and then I have clear magnetic like plastic sleeves that I put their tasks in that are also able to hang up on the whiteboards uh the groups they talk about being random groups for the students I have each board is numbered with a number a color and a shape so that way I have three different characteristics to divide the groups up and students to get into these random groups so to kind of just promote working with new different people rather than students trying to group together with their friends I think it also allows for more mathematical conversation as well because students know that even if that group doesn't isn't with their friends or with anyone else that they know or are willing to generally talk to they only have to do it for an hour right the next time they come they get a new card they get a new group I think that benefits us as teachers as well because the first day we did it like the two kids you wouldn't have wanted in a group together Ed up in the same group and so for our benefit we were like okay we can do this for an hour um and those conversations even in that first day when the kids didn't quite know what the routine were was was really impactful uh within that book study it talked about group size and it recommended groups of three sometimes students um in pairs they might struggle a little because they didn't have that third person to collaborate with groups of four became a little too social so I try to do groups of three when I do my random group groupings so for my random groups I have the boards labeled with the number color and shape and then I created student cards to hand out when they come in with those same numbers colors and shapes but they are all mixed up I wanted to find a way to make it as I don't want to say difficult but they're middle schoolers and they like to try and trade cards to be with their friends so I wanted it to be as random as possible I also added a spinner wheel so that as they had their cards we would spin the wheel and they could see that it was random and not me pretending it was random and making purposeful groups so that they could collaborate with their peers when we started we started um first talking about expectations what it looked like to collaborate at their boards how they work together how they can take turns with the marker so everyone gets a chance to work and then how the other two students are supporting that third person by explaining and telling them what to write we started with non-curricular tasks it's still a m mathematical thinking task but it was more logic based and reasoning and critical thinking so an example we had was uh a Farmer John problem so a farmer had some chickens and pigs one day he noticed that their animals have a total of 22 legs how many chickens and how many pigs might they have can you come up with another solution and how do you know you have all the solutions so it still had all that math and reasoning uh but it gave them different ways to solve different excuse me different solutions and then they were successful with their work because they could see uh how each group kind of solved in a different way then as we started getting into curricular tasks I had kind of three different setups I would take the explore task out of our resource of Big Ideas Math or I would create a scaffolded task where I would start with a problem they already knew and then kind of slightly change that problem to make it more challenging so by the time they got to the end they were already successful with our new to topic that we were learning on and focusing on for that day and then I've also used it as a review activity letting students go up to the whiteboards and work in groups while students are in their groups uh it's nice because I can see all of their work throughout the classroom so I'm listening to their conversations I'm checking in with each group I'm observing their work uh I'll take a different colored marker and I'll go to those whiteboards and I'll put check marks by their good things or my favorite thing to do is this Circ something that and put a little question mark by it that they're not quite sure about and I just kind of step away and they look at it and they're not sure and they start talking and they're like I found it and they see their mistake and they see what they've done wrong and now they've created and done all this math work without me having to tell them and just that aha moment has been a lot of fun to watch um I continue with those open-ended questions how did you get that tell me your process what was your step my my favorite question to ask is are you sure even if an answer was correct on the board if I just ask the students are you sure they look back at their work and they kind of question it and they start talking back and forth again like how did we get this are we sure we're correct what did we do and it just again continues and promotes that mathematical discussion and helps them deepen that understanding I think a big change with the vertical um learning spaces too is that um we encourage what we consider mobilizing of the knowledge we have a group that's stuck on this board and they might just turn around and look around the room and see what steps someone took to get started and then all of a sudden their group is like oh hey the first step is this and they're able to get started on their own and kind of move that knowledge around and it also like Jen said takes that knowledge that the Whiteboard and the teacher are the only person with something to bring to the table or knowled or content out of the room because then every kid in that room is able to access the task in some way um Jen also does like a summary at the end where she asks students what to look around the room and try and come up with the big idea what did you notice What similarities did you find what strategies were similar what was different um and in being in her room while the students have done this when she moves into the notes or summarizing activity the students can almost lead the content for that day because they've done practiced and seen other people do it it takes that again that the teacher is the only person bringing the knowledge to the room off the table so yes we will do those class examples after the whiteboards and it's been really exciting to see that the students are now telling me how to solve the problems as we try and do a class example together because they've kind of worked through that process already um when they start their independent work I've noticed that they've been more willing to start right away they've had more discussions at their tables with other students uh if they get stuck rather than just stopping and giving up they've been successful on these whiteboard tasks already and I've already had some of that discussion and it's just been exciting to see and to hear that this has promoted and encouraged some of that mathematical discussion some of the other excuse me benefits I found uh I have students coming to class asking me can we do whiteboards today I don't get many students asking me about doing math each day um they want to socialize with their peers and these middle schoolers are now coming in like can we do whiteboards what are we doing today and it's really exciting to hear that they want to come in and do this and start doing their work on this new I mean they're still doing the same work but it's just a new format for them um I've seen students who normally would not participate in group work are now standing at the board writing down with a marker they're explaining to their group they're getting more involved um and encouraging others in their math work when normally they wouldn't have and those math conversations have increased quite a bit and it's been good to hear all that new math vocabulary um as you can see they're very involved they don't even notice that I was going around taking pictures last week um and that's good and last week I also asked a couple of them like what do you think of the whiteboards and here were some of their quotes that the students had to say that they like using the whiteboards they find it fun and easy I like that I get to collaborate with my peers this inspires others to show me or others how to do math you can learn new things with the people you are with I like that I get to move around the room and we aren't always at our desks working and I like that I can see strategies from other students so it's been really exciting to see see um how they've grown in the last couple months through this kind of new task that we've been working on and I'm excited about what's going to come next so just wanted to share what the seventh graders have been doing in math so thank you I appreciate it I just want to say Kudos the Jen for really stepping out of her comfort zone and trying some new things the book that we read really was all about how students get used to the game of school and all the things that they expect the routines and so this kind of breaks them out of that so that they have to think because it's not what they expect so if the teacher is always standing up in front of the room and doing the math problem they know if they wait long enough the teacher just going to give them the answer right they know even if the teacher says the groups are random the teacher actually picked them in ahead of time so now they're like mad because you're making them work with this kid that they don't want to work with so it really just flips everything that kids expect on its head so that they have to think because it's it's different than what they're used to so very exciting and I'm really proud of Jen for taking the leap thank [Applause] you yeah thank you that was nice uh academic Rec conditions Dr P start right it is my pleasure to recognize Serenity Sanders as our primary student of the month Serenity and Miss Wy will you come on up Serenity consistently demonstrates our star expectations of safety responsibility and respect in all that she does not only does she lead by example but she also encourages her peers to do the same holding others accountable in a way that Fosters a positive School environment her commitment to these values extends beyond the classroom as staff have shared that she also carries out these expectations at home Serenity we appreciate your dedication in making our school and Community a better place congratulations take a picture h [Applause] okay and on to the elementary student of the month um would like to introduce Emily Burger to come on up our fourth grade Emily B burger and then her teacher Mrs Andrea Woods who nominated her so Emily is an absolutely fantastic young lady you will be very excited to get her next year here at middle school and I will be very sorry to see her go she is extremely hardworking she is dedicated she is kind she is compassionate she is the embodiment of our school's star expectations and she is just gracious in so many ways she ran for student council and she congratulated the the winners without being asked she asks where um how she can help she steps in without being asked she always ask questions what can I do how can I make this better and it's just been my pleasure to nominate her for this award so congratulations ma'am [Applause] Miss McDonna so I am very excited to have TJ Monroe as our Middle School student of the month so come on up so while he was nominated by his eighth grade teacher Miss Zach she couldn't be here tonight but I was lucky enough to have TJ in fifth grade during that weird welcome back from covid year and I cannot tell you how proud I am of you to see you just blossom and grow and learn so much and become a true leader in eighth grade so I'm proud of you but I'm going to read what Miss Zach wrote too T.J Monroe is one of the hardest working students I've had the pleasure of working with here at Big Hollow on a daily basis TJ is always giving his back best he is great about participating in his classwork asking questions when he has them and being a role model in our Warrior expectations TJ follows our safe respectful and responsible expectations each and every day this year TJ also exhibited these expectations while on the boys basketball team thank you TJ for being a role model to all Big Hollow students [Applause] Mr Cornwell for employee of the month I am happy to to welcome our employee of the month from the Middle School Adrien payro [Applause] up Adrien was nominated by his sixth grade science counterpart Susan suek so I'm G to read what she wrote about Adrian Adrien is an incredible I was like I didn't even say anything funny yet geez Adrian is an incredible educator and overall person he is a team player and wants everyone and every student to be successful in the classroom he thinks of innovative ways for students to learn and isn't afraid to dress up and participate in all facets of school spirit that's true we were just talking about some of his many costumes uh that Christmas sweater oh boy um Adrien is the type of person who you want on your team he is an Innovative creative thoughtful teacher and a true team player he have an he has an effervescent personality that he uses to help others around him uh he is never too busy to lend an ear or help out to the best of his ability the care that he takes to create lessons for students is truly exceptional to be a part of Adrien exudes kindness and celebrates all success he sees at the end of a lesson unit or end of the day congratulations Adrien [Applause] than [Applause] all right congratulations D next item board member code of conduct review Joe I will abide by majority decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels all right thank you anybody any questions on the consent agenda okay please have a motion to approve to consent agenda Mo second Ash and Joe yes yes yes Johns yes yes Lions yes yes all right before we get into the business of the board if you you're more than welcome to stay but if you choose not to none of us take offense yeah uh the superintendent's report Dr first thing is the Staffing plan 2526 anybody have any questions on the Staffing plan can I please have a motion to approve the final Staffing plan for 2025 2026 motion second Doug and Tiffany yes yes Johnson yes yes yes yes the summer school learning opportuni so this is just informational it's regarding our summer school um we are going to collaborate gin again this school year for summer and we have 22 enrichment classes this year we will have Summer School from June 2nd to the 20th with no school on the 19th Monday through Friday 9 to 11:30 each day with two courses as we've done last year as well uh it'll be free of charge English language Learners have Invitation Only and they have already received their invitations for the Y summer school which will be at the same time and our special education esy okay coaching update hi there I know it seems like we have a lot of people I promise this won't take all night uh we just wanted to give a quick update to the board about how coaching has expanded in year two we've certainly done a lot with our coaches and they have had quite a reach so they will be sharing a bit about that today um just to kind of remind you we're doing a student centered coaching model and our coaches have been engaged in coaching Cycles with individual teachers as well as well as teams of teachers and partners we also provide professional development specifically for our coaches and then they provide professional development for our teachers in a variety of different ways at teacher institutes during um early releases at times and then through those coaching Cycles um or committee meetings as well and then they do meet with teachers through like grade level teams and a variety of other activities so I will turn it over to the coaches and some of our teachers are also here to share their experiences with you as well hi I'm Nicole race and I'm the primary instructional coach this is Veronica contus she's the kindergarten dual language teacher her and I have had the opportunity to work together throughout this school year so on the board here you'll see a cycle that her and I did together it was in kindergarten a math cycle with our new curriculum we co- plan together we co together and we come up with a student goal and then we track how we're going to check the student progress track their progress so up here we have four weeks worth of data that we use to cheack an addition and subtraction unit check their progress and then you can see from week one to week four there's a lot of significant student growth and even a lot of the students by week four were able to show Mastery in the skill um I'm going to let Veronica talk a little bit and share her experience with coaching as well well I'm going to read this because I want to make sure to don't miss any point because I need to make sure that I receive the $200 that promise to me it's just a joke this is just a way to show you that I can joke because we are very good uh we we develop a Great Fellowship you know uh coaching it have been a great blessing and a blast for me a blessing because learning a new curriculum is not easy you know and have been so helpful to have someone to help you plan share the work get different ideas go teach and get help right away I don't have to come on somebody come help me she's just right there so that have been amazing it's a blessing for me it have been a blast because with the assistance on Ni Call I have enjoyed learning new teaching strategies I have been adapting the lesson according to the unique needs of my students they are doing language so it's hard for them to call cover all their their their needs and we have been doing that and the results are there we have collecting and comparing data and having someone so enthusiastic like Nicole to celebrate my Student Success I can't deny it that for me having us a blessing in Applause having this and seeing my students success in in math so that's all that I have to say [Applause] hi I'm Beth Linsky I am the inclusive or inclusion coach of inclusive practices practice that all day um and my coaching role just kind of ensures that those students with diverse learning needs have everything that they need throughout the day so they can access the curriculum and just everything around the campus um and this was just a snap of a working with a kindergarten teacher on transitioning she had four students in her classroom that really struggled um you know eloping from the line or refusals to transition so throughout the course ofv two of them are fully independent um and then one you need attend so we're going to keep working on that um to support them oh and so I'm I'm Beth onaf friend yes going uh and she pays $500 uh for so Veronica you should hold out next year uh so hi I'm Linda heeman I'm uh one of the primary PE teachers um I have worked with Beth since day one at Big Hollow for me which is not yesterday or last year it's been um 20 years together um Beth has been someone that I could always count on or go to with any ideas to bounce back and forth she's always been available to help and what I think um a really powerful part of this role for her is that now she doesn't have her own classroom so you're not going in while she's trying to put out her own fires um and she's able to like really focus on kind of what you're asking she comes in and sees it she's giving you direct like right away oh okay that's not going to work we need to try this and with where in before you know you come to your colleagues you ask for help they give you an idea you go back and try it and they're not actually seeing it so they're maybe seeing like hey you need to maybe stand here like just a very simple feedback that's immediate we're not taking six weeks of data to can you come help me you know and we're getting things kind of done and kind of nipped and um the support I think has been overwhelming and I I think it also comes with like a little respect because she's built such a reputation in the district so coming in um I'm I'm more than willing I want her to come in all the time you know it's been a really um powerful position and I think a really um hugely benefiting our students and our teachers so good work [Applause] Beth hi um I am Kelly schmidgall I'm primarily in the elementary school as an instructional coach I've dabbled a little bit in the kindergarten um and done a cycle there as well in the primary um and then Renee holey is the other um Elementary coach and I have Christina Lancaster with me Christina and I did a um fourth grade writing cycle um we focused on narrative writing we came up with a goal that students will use writing strategies to add detail to a narrative that focuses on One Moment In Time and an organized welldeveloped paragraph and from there we kind of work together we plan together um I would come into the classroom and work with her amazing students she has a really great class um and you can see the growth so from you know Baseline to post assessment um we had some some really good growth and I will turn it over to Christina we had great growth hi everybody um we writing can be kind of teaching writing can be kind of daunting um and wanted to be very scaffolded I do have a unique pretty great group of kids and I wanted to make sure they were challenged at their level so we did a pre-assessment and Kelly and helped me go through it because for me sometimes it's very hard to evaluate writing because I just want to change all the eyes to capitals and put the periods in instead of it's hard for me to focus just on the content sometimes and she really helped me um put together a rubric help teach the kids put set aside different goals that we were going to meet with the class class um and as you can see by the results the results were phenomenal they went from writing three or four sentences to writing two or three pages and the detail was amazing so I had a student write about the first time they went to a Packers game at Lambo field and it started out I went to Lambo field I saw a Packers game it was really fun then I got in a car and went home and by the time we were Ed Kelly had worked with him I worked with him we put together this a a structured program for him and it was two pages we knew how the crowd sounded we knew what the helmet sounded like when they hit each other just really paid attention to the detail and Kelly has since been a huge resource for me I go to her with a lot of things um and uh I look forward to working with her [Applause] more I'm Marielle Brown I am one of the instructional coaches is my counterpart at the middle school we're uh with Kelly the OG coaches here at Big Hollow so you're all welcome um we I did a seventh grade social studies cycle with Lauren um we worked really hard on having students analyze the origins purposes and processes connected to like rights and developing laws um in this cycle Lauren really wanted to work on as a first year teacher her routines and making sure that she was meeting the needs in small groups but it also kind of morphed into um questioning which happened to be my personal goal of growth this year um was asking better questions to get better answers and um Lauren really jumped in with both feet we worked really hard with her kids and we saw some really good growth from um some from one summative to the next I don't know if I like it right here um so I chose instructional coaching because I want to be a better better educator this coaching opportunity has provided me with resources planning and in-class support through modeling and feedback originally I sought out instructional coaching to be more to more effectively use small groupings to increase participation and a higher level of student engagement throughout the process of instructional coaching coaching me and my coach were able to Target other areas which I could benefit from additional resources and support I am able to more effectively meet the needs of all my students and help them capitalize on their strengths and supporting their fellow classmates currently my um seventh grade social studies colleague and I receive periodic support how to question student on a students on a deeper level these tools and feedback have pushed our students to apply defend compare and explain Concepts within their writing and during small and large group discussions due to to the additional coaching support at the middle school my students and I are able to collaborate and express our our ideals more uh more [Applause] effectively hi I'm Renee holey over at elementary working with Kelly um we wanted to give you an idea about other things that coaches we as coaches do so for K through four we've been supporting um a lot for our IM math adoption this year um so in things that we've done for that is we've attended the IM leadership PD uh we've worked in many most of our coaching Cycles have started out with the IM math curriculum to um get through the adoption help through planning and um instructional strategies through the adoption of IM am um we've used teacher surveys to support areas of needs with the teachers and then we've um to um to support in those areas at GLT meetings with teachers and also we've U held adventures and learning sessions that are optional um in the mornings in elementary and primary building too right um in our adventures and learning we did Roundtable discussions this year and we we focused on math engagement Strate strategy since um that is so important with IM the IM curriculum um we facilitated peer observations where teachers could go watch a peer maybe that piloted I am and felt a little more comfortable um and then after that we would attend with them and debrief after and talk about what did you see what do you think you might want to try in your classroom um we've developed Choice PD for institute days um two of them that I believe it was um Kelly and Marielle right that you did the math um they did mathematical practices and Ma talk questioning patterns in mathematics um we've had we've presented PD at staff meetings mainly the look fors for I am as we we run through the implementation and what um we should be seeing as we go into classrooms what teachers should be and it was kind of rolled out gradually um and then attending observations at outside districts with teachers for them to see the curriculum [Applause] this is just a quick um update as some other responsibilities that we've done at the primary building as well so we've supported GBC days with kindergarten in first grade um we've heavily supported the math implementation as Renee just said so I'm not going to go over that um as far as the pilot this year we've attended trainings we've gone to outside districts to watch it happen in place and we've also conducted some peer observations from teacher to teacher to see the opposite curriculum that's being piloted as well um those are all the coaching cycles that I've participated in this school year and then as far as professional development Renee touched on it a little bit with the adventures and learning I did a kindergarten in first grade look fors for the first phase of the implementation plan for our um new math curriculum and then held sessions at the November and February in as [Applause] okay and this is our first year um with coaches at the primary building so we're very excited that teers volunteer so far to participate out of how many okay that's good add the elementary um pretty similar to the primary the GBC um one thing that um I worked with uh Spanish language arts um the Dual language program to kind of start developing those priority standards um and proficiency scales for that so that was a little bit um different but otherwise we've done Math and Science GBC work um same thing with the reading pilot primary the math implementation when I talked about those are our coaching Cycles at the um Elementary so far this year and the PD again the adventures in learning The Institute day um and um the February writing uh rope session was led by myself and Sarah and then that this is just kind of a comparison from last year when it was just me um I had eight teachers par ipating in Cycles this year we've had 17 teachers participating in cycles and some of them are have participated in more than one cycle um and then we've also started some team Cycles um in specifically in writing partner Cycles in math and reading and then three out of the four new teachers this year engaged in coaching Cycles so just some additional information there my was just say like hi I'm Sarah AEL one of the Middle School coaches and like period I didn't bring a friend so but I made this chart so um so at the middle school we've got a pretty big staff so I'm in a column for GVC so that's when they have those curriculum work days they're planning out their units um basically we've met with everyone um planning that's like if someone wants a planning partner because sometimes elective teachers they don't have a planning partner they're just kind of on their own or sometimes maybe teachers aren't well like ready for a full coaching cycle but they want someone to bounce ideas off of and then we have all of the either full Cycles or minic cycles that we've done and so we broke them down by grade level um and then at the bottom we listed all the other things that we do and a lot of what uh K4 is listed we do that too um this year Ela is piloting three different resources so we have to do that there's tons of stuff going on I basically live and die by my Google Calendar if it's not on there I don't show up because I need to be all the places at all the time um and so then this year I made this chart too so last year at the middle school it was brand new so we had eight uh cycles and planning Partners this year we're already up to 24 and we're actually going to round four next week so that's really great um and like teachers reach out to me today and they're like can we do a team one so it's really great I'm excited for the growth [Applause] any questions or I just how's the buyin I think as you can see from the data it's been tremendous um we see really positive things I know I was at a couple of meetings where teachers were just really celebrating and complimenting our coaches because they've been able to build those relationships with teachers and been able to kind of like spread their wings and support everybody so I think it's really been impactful and we're definitely spreading that culture of coaching at Big Hollow okay good and how long is a coaching cycle coaching Cycles Can Depend they usually last about six weeks which aligns with like one unit typically um however it can be sh short shorter or a little longer kind of depending on what their goals are between the teacher and the coach anything else wonderful thank you thank you thank you the calendar graduation is May 28 at 7M and then the final day of school Friday May 30th all right good only grade yeah um thank you anybody questions on the employment recommendations can I please have a motion to approve the February employment recommendations motion second Dar Tiffany yes ERS yes Bennett yes Johnson yes Peter yes Lions yes yes uh anybody have any questions on the administrative assignments for 2526 can I please have a motion to approve the administrative assignments for 2526 motion second Doug and Ash all in favor I any oppose eyes have um anybody have any questions on the termination of a contract with gappa right can please have a motion to app the notice termination of a contract with gappa Security Solutions motion second uh Joe and Vivian yes pet yes Lions yes yes Benn yes Johnson yes yes another pod reconstruction anybody questions can I please have a motion to approve the construction project Big Hollow Elementary second Doug and Tiffany all in favor any oppose I have it uh we accepted a resignation from Kevin hosen middle school special ed teacher we accepted a resignation of Kristen feifer middle school special ed teacher we accepted a resignation of Rachel Ford middle school health and physical education teacher accepted a resignation of nor norin Hernandez middle school computer science teacher we accepted the resignation of Elizabeth wlaw lunch Monitor and we accepted the resignation of jasine Ortiz lunch monitor any any question the for requests monthly reports for the board the next regularly scheduled board meeting will take place on Monday April 14 2025 Clos session beginning at 6: pm.

welcome uh to our March work session I'm glad to see all of you here this evening um want to appreciate Tanya for helping us out tonight and driving and so Tanya welcome thank you for doing that this evening and so we have three agenda items for you and so Mr brimberry will turn the first one over to you which is the Viking Success Academy all right board uh and Community tonight's one of my favorite nights of uh all the different board meetings we have I'd like to invite up uh Mr Malone Mr boxold Mrs brimberry come on up there and maybe Miss uh Mrs brimberry and and Coach Malone if you could set the mics we do have some uh we have student here as well tonight but let me tell you a little bit about um what you'll hear tonight and uh they have a presentation for you as well the Viking success Academy for our community and uh for our newer board members uh is a program we put in a couple of years ago to handle situations where kids were um dramatically behind on credits at the high school level um when Mr trout and I arrived I didn't feel comfortable with the programming um for that was available to our kids if they were far enough behind and I was not encouraged to be honest with you with Mr mofa and I as we first looked at the cohort analysis of graduation rate and projected rate of not having multiple buckets for kids from multiple places in the school system in terms of the high school setting um Progressive schools have a bucket and a program for all kids at the level they're at and so we began immediately looking at it uh Mr trout and the board has been extremely supportive of us bringing forward different programs that'll help uh an audience within our school system system and the one of them I'm most proud of uh is here tonight with the Viking Success Academy they'll talk a little bit about uh their program a little bit about data and then we'll take some questions uh in terms of specifics you might have for that okay so thank you for being here Mrs brimber I want you start us off young people that we work with um and just absolutely love it um want to um thank John and Taylor for their being in the grind every day and doing what they do um they work really hard um with these students um they give it everything they've got and I just appreciate them and what they what they can get done with these students um so just a little bit of our information um so the um data that you see um it's ever changing um it has changed tremendously since I sent this um for example we've had 60 credits finished since I sent this last week um so this is not just Viking success students um this is building level um but our Viking success students obviously work hard but we've got 328 students in the high school that are working on apex we have not quite 14400 courses assigned to them and in our building um we have finished I think we're up to like 714 um credits earned in those um but we we service um probably we've serviced 375 students or more um and I don't know the students are just they're just wonderful um we've had seven seniors officially graduate um so far this year and we've got several more working that way um when we took over um obviously all of us were new um it was a little rough at the beginning with the students because they had to get used to us and we had to get used to you know what they their expectations of us were um they the trust um that they had we had to build that um I think I had somebody comment with Mr that um there was a student that said you know I really didn't like him at the beginning now she said I don't know what I would do without him so I'll uh comment on that as well um I saw the first month in Success Academy as we brought in a very talented staff to deal with our kids um the kids that maybe didn't have hope that they could graduate because they were behind uh have an immediate defense mechanism of why would this program help me nothing's worked so far for me and I understand that and I will tell you uh that the uh as the Director with Mrs brimberry Mr Malone and Mr boxel they work hard on relationship building and then when that gets in place we work extremely hard on yes you can yes you can graduate yes you can have a successful life yes you can use this as a springboard and nobody's um journey is determined because of three rough years academically and so these three people have some experience uh um I'll let them tell you about the the other parts and let Mr Malone and Mrs uh Mr Box will talk as well but um the idea of relationship building has to be 100% of the it has to be the goal number one before goal number two three and four can take place and I've heard a student sitting at this table say I wasn't sure that anybody believed in me because I wasn't having success and until she met Success Academy and now she said is it all right if Mr Malone gives me my diploma and that is called Full Circle and so that's what that place stands for in this school and so I I want to make sure the board understands this it's a very important prong but I'm just so proud of the three teachers that are up here on their work that's getting done with uh with our kids at Huntington um I'll leave this to Mrs bimber to talk a little more about her Data before she turns it on to Mr Malone here yeah um I don't really have much more to add than that um obviously you can see the numbers up there um we still have a ways to go with some of them but um we're getting there um I've been meeting with groups of students and um ironically that seems to be uh working very well with uh getting some productivity out of them so um but again going back to you know these students my passion in teaching is the atrisk students um I don't think I would ever do anything different than what I'm doing and the kids have to be told what they can do um in the classroom what they can't do what they're not doing they're not going to make it whatever so we um need to build that that confidence in them that they can do it and that they will and they've been proving that well you hit the hit the green button there when I first started you know I was trying to figure out you know I'm obviously made it through school made it through college and you know how am I going to help kids that are struggling in the classroom and um first thing you know I'm a dictionary guy I look up the word opportunity and it said a set of circumstances that make things possible I begin to realize that a lot of students that me and Mr Box will have they have a set of circumstances that don't make things very possible and so um and it would break your heart to hear some of the stories that the kids would share with you about life experiences that they've had that I've never had to deal with I've never lost my two parents are still alive have a lot of students who have lost a parent sometimes two of them uh we have students who uh may have family members that have drug addiction and so another young lady told me her younger brother got killed in a car crash and it was the reason why she wasn't doing her work and was struggling in school so it's things like that that kind of made me realize that I am doing more Mr Box was doing more for kids than when I was in the classroom because in the you're planting trees you'll never see grow but I'm I'm seeing kids being helped I'm seeing them make it I'm seeing them graduate and I feel like I'm really making an impact and so that that's important also but again uh as Mr brimberry was talking you know everybody has their defenses I have my defenses and um it was probably took a month before the kids would loosen up come and talk to you you know and again it is about relationships but I couldn't tell you how you to start that type of relationship it's just something that just naturally happened once the kids know that you care about them I remember telling them that I'd rather be down there with them than in the other part of the building that's no knocking the kids in the other part of the building just how I truly felt and so again they're starting to buy into doing their work uh finding a pace to do their work and the coaching both of us you know is good too because we have a way of encouraging them or letting them know you need to get need to get going because we have this amount of weeks left you have this many credits to complete and so we got to get going yeah um relationships are the biggest thing and I know we've said this multiple times already but it doesn't always mean being their best friend either though um sometimes you gota be hard on them I coach Malone and I both coach I coach football coach mone's track in basketball and like you said sometimes you gotta kick him in the butt a little bit but that's good for him and there's a lot of positives that come out of that and I think eventually kids recognize that and like Mr bberry Mrs bberry said that once they understand that they can do it that someone's behind them that someone believes in them then they can do a lot we have a lot of kids have made up 20 credits probably even the kids that have graduated early already made up 19 still leader board at right now 24 credits and a semester and a half it's pretty impressive I think so now those kids they've been through a lot lot of single parent households living with grandparents maybe living aunt and uncles we have a pair of boys that or brothers that don't live together um so yeah like Mr M said unbelievable circumstances that some of these kids in the community come from and just takes a little bit of positive reinfor get all right I'd ask uh our two students that joined us uh I know I've talked to both these uh people in the last week one was beaming over there on the very end from uh believe uh you're ready to graduate if I'm not mistaken and uh I think he was showing it by bounc around the room a little bit when I walked in there Mr trout and so if you guys could uh hit make sure the green button's on um and then introduce yourself and uh talk to us a little bit hello um I'm Kristen sler I'm a part of can you hear me now okay perfect um I'm Kristen sler I'm a part of the Viking success program um I have written down a little bit of my story if you would like me to go ahead and share um at the end of my junior year I got told that I um only had 11 credits and I wasn't going to be able to graduate with the rest of my class and so I had a conversation with my guidance counselor and she had told me about the program and I was like okay it was it's going to be a lot of hard work but I can do it and um now I'm graduating on time in May and I'm very proud of myself and without this program I wouldn't be able to go on with my career and go to cosmetology school I would have to figure it out some other way um but this program has s has such a positive effect on us kids because is a lot of us kids got told that we would never do it and like Mr bberry said a lot of us thought nobody believed in us until we met these lovely three people but yeah um like I said I'm almost done and I'll be graduating on time thankfully but yeah that's my story and all I have written down unfortunately so and you did very well thank you for for being here tonight wonderful so my name's Lennon Deer uh I wrot down basically my time in there how it went and how I felt about it so to start I uh kept switching back and forth between online and regular school because we kept moving around all the time and once I buckled down in regular school they put me in that program to make up the credits I lost but my time in the Viking success program was incredible from the start Mr Malone and Mr Box were not te they truly cared about helping us succeed their support and encouragement made all the difference allowing me to graduate early U at first I struggled arriving halfway through the year and barely making any progress but Mr Malone gave me simple advice and it was to stay on top of my work and i' see enrollments drop he was right as I chipped away from all my enrollments I saw the numbers drop and it really motivated me to keep going uh what also engaged me was the embod I built with my teachers talking to Mr Malone and Mr boxel about football and uh parlay it really it really made my time enjoyable there so I appreciate them for that um the connection with them really made a difference made the class enjoyable kept me focused uh Viking success is an incredible program I really hope that people keep it a part of this school for years to come because it it helped me out a lot I was 14 credit behind and it helped me build it up in just a couple weeks so that was great um I just want to say a big thank you to Mr Malone Mr boxel and Mrs brimberry for helping me get there and graduate early so thank you guys very well done um board and uh any of any of us if you have any specific questions for these uh three uh teachers or our two students uh now is a great time and I'm really really proud to see our two students here tonight there's you know 75 or that are currently at some capacity involved but uh these two drew the Short Straw and uh we asked them to come and so I appreciate you guys being here tonight Chuck I'm gonna what I'm going to say here is when I come on as a board member we had none of this and with Brian War pup and Matt Roth and me we fought to build the career center because we were looking at not every kid's fit to go to college and and and I thank God I talk a loud enough I don't need it I thank God that you guys are looking after the kids to get them out of this high school we are so thankful I was a board that you're doing what you're doing I appreciate what you're doing because I've lived in this community my whole life I've been on this board 10 years now and we tend to overlook things we were worried about you know every kid's not going to college but you guys went on and now you're taking care of every kid to make sure they have that opportunity to at least do something after school and I thank God that we have you guys and it makes me proud to set in the seat that you're teaching our kids I just want to say you guys are inspirational I mean this is um just a great couple of stories and and you did great both on both of you um speaking in front of people can be kind of a freak out and um this is uh this you guys did fantastic um Good Luck to you and uh all the best and we'd love to have you come back and visit our board meetings because they're so exciting of course um and and share later when you guys are more successful too yeah I'd also like to ditto I don't think thanks is probably enough for the staff members but um because it sounds like you guys are just nailing it and thank you is probably not enough but thank you for everything you do and thank you for caring um I I had I got three kids two were college kids great students and I got one that he just he was like you guys I mean he he was he only did what he had to do and um you know so I I can relate to to these guys and um appreciate all your extra efforts to help them graduate waight and congratulations and I really appreciate everything congratulations to all of you this is fantastic to the board that was here previously and the superintendent and everyone the teachers that put this together Mr brimberry this is fantastic to the teachers and what you're pouring into these students and to the students for working so hard it's just amazing to see if I ask you if there was one thing that you could have today for that program or for your success what would it be who would like to share one thing just one thing that you could have to help for success and we let them write their name on it we put them on the wall and they're across that just something to go a little you know that for them to set a goal to reach I don't but you know we tried to ask them what are some things we can do with their classroom to make it more aesthetic and them wanting to be there more because I mean we're getting breakfast for them at this present time there's some other things because we have some kids that are down there all day and no one's going to stare at a computer all day there just some comfort things that we think about that we would like to have now what those things are I couldn't tell you but I just think about the the environment of the classroom very good somebody else kids oh yeah she's got an idea I think I agree with Mr Malone the the Comfort aspect especially with most of us being down there most of the day would be wonderful um but we're good right now we got we got nice chair and stuff but you know like just to make it so it's not like the same four walls kind of situation but yeah I don't know I just think yeah the Comfort aspect of everything for most of us that are down there most of the day so like I said grow the bond with their students I feel like that really helps out a lot too the football talks like I mentioned too that helped comfort me and get me relaxed in there instead of being stressed about all my work so they like if they continue to grow bonds and get some more like decorations change up the room a little bit from here and then that'll really help people focus and buckle down not to be a broken record give him a chance for him to turn it down Mike S all right see if that'll work uh I just want to thank you all for showing up tonight um last year we had a presentation as well and I was really energized after that presentation and then we hired the person in charge to be a so it's great to hear that program is continuing to grow I can't wait to see what happens next year with you guys as you continue to grow to the students um as Mr mure had said I had a child that I wish this program was here when he graduated as well um I wish you the best of luck in everything that you do continue on this I hope you gr take the skills that you learned here and move forward with that and I look forward to hearing what goes on with you guys in the future uh the you and do that part of the reason I'm a Schoolboard member is because uh someone said that they wanted the diploma I will more than gratefully get out of the way to have someone else hand you the diploma as well that and I look forward to seeing you all at graduation it's part of the best thing that we do here um we do a lot of other stuff but truly that's one of the best days that we get to do um so I look forward to seeing you guys on that day I can't wait to do that so congratulations and to Mr chop Mr brimberry keep up bringing great stories like this because I like this this is what this is what we need to do and this is what we need to celebrate in this community you bet thank you I had a couple questions about the programming so on your your one paper so I'm assuming but I don't know uh so you have VSA so what's VSA virtual Viking acad Academy okay so then it says four to seven pods and then one to three pods so is that classes okay okay so is then the independent the all day students students mostly seniors who their schedule is full of AP courses and they couldn't get a single class in so we put them on apex um that it doesn't have to be a dual credit class it could be an elective or whatever um so we actually have 141 students that are working independently beside out of their seven periods a day um and we have um you know that it could be that they're half CER and their iners the rest of their day and they need that extra period or they work or whatever so um we are fortunate that we can offer this program to such a variety of students um because we're seeing less non-traditional students now and so we have to find a way to get their credits and get them graduated um and so so we different buckets we have a group of virtual students who work mostly from home we do have some that are half day students virtually and then they go to the Learning Center or you know maybe they work here half day and virtual half day um and then the special education students I also help oversee their Apex um accounts but they've got you know their teacher records and they've got people um that I do help some of the behind the scenes on you know adding classes and those kind of things so um you know to say that this program and we're a part of a large group and takes a lot to get all these kids caught up and graduated so the the 13th I'm assuming that's a a last year senior that failed yes yeah um three of the 13 um students are um special ed students um so they just needed some extra time to finish um we did have a young man who came back um to finish on apex because he wanted to get a job in Maran at the is it the wal Distribution Center or something well he couldn't do that because he didn't have a diploma so he thought better of it and said I need to come back and finish so we are getting people like that coming back and wanting to finish as then the SE that's the special education students Mr Melcher you've uh your question is excellent um you're going to get some more information on our next presentation on uh virtual education platforms to consider and what has become clearly obvious to Mr trout um Dr diots and myself is we have um we have two jobs that have um that have exploded here one is our Viking Success Academy that has literally a possibility of 75 kids a cohort and then you have um the virtual education students well right now we don't have a virtual education director so those 300 and some students and 1100 opportun ities are falling out right now um with our director but as both programs do um what they need to be doing that next bucket will be a question here for the board to consider as a virtual director as well in the future I say that because it is exploding on Singletons which would be maybe a dual credit at some other place it could be a scheduled conflict it could be kids outside full day well we don't have that person right now to monitor those 200 or 100 or for us 91 students um and so all of that is following in the same bucket right now and the next presentation we'll talk about different buckets we could to do a little bit better job on Purely virtual so your question's excellent so the the virtual side of it that's got to be pretty difficult because I mean that would be harder to build those those relationships and and I mean that's kind of like talking to somebody on the phone um and I mean that that that's got to be a difficult task yeah so um I communicate with the students via email um that which seems to be the easiest but um I do make phone calls home and so it's just all work the communication piece is critical whether it be by phone by email whatever the students have been really good about communicating if they need something um you know I my door is always open so if they need something and they stop by my office what I'm doing and help them first so thank you very much okay as we tied this up uh first of all students thank you um it's just so great to hear your stories today and I'm so proud of you um makes me smile can't wait to watch you walk walk across the stage and a couple of months it's hard to say that but it's that's it's here and it's hon us teachers thank you is hardly enough um your investment into these young people um will reap a right lifetime of rewards and I am so incredibly grateful for what you do with these young people each and every day um and for you to come alongside them and every teacher wants to hear this story right what a legacy um the three of you are leaving and I mean that what a legacy they will never forget you um and that's that's amazing um that you're leaving that kind of Legacy so what you didn't know is that um and the board didn't either but Kenny Butler does we're going to get our picture taken with you okay and so we being the school board and um they're going to get their picture taken with the five of you right there and so your face will show up on the screens in my office every day now so see lucky you um to have that but thank you we appreciate you being here so Kenny get us organized here how about a nice round of applause e e e okay as we um as we move forward here to our next agenda item um this will dovetail into what we just talked about Schoolboard um for those of you for to help us out with the mics you've got to really get that mic up close to you so we can hear you okay so the closer the mic is to you the better off the sound will be so just FYI for that as we're going through this tonight so Mr brimberry we'll turn it over to you as you talk about our online possibilities here okay um for the board and uh for your information on this Apex is a part of a company called edmentum edmentum has uh various different options for virtual education you have your um the one that you're familiar with and you just heard we have um a need for other options and uh Dr digs and Miss Brown are going to talk about that next option and then uh Mr meler your question Dove Tails right into what are all the kids taken that are Singletons if you will schedule conflict what are the kids taken if they don't come in our building well right now we have very limited options and we're trying to expand the options for different buckets of kids if you will and so they'll talk a little bit about those options tonight and take all the questions we want so thank you thank you everybody for the opportunity to speak here this evening and the table could not have been set better uh from that presentation because what you just heard um is what can happen when great people are equipped and empowered to be successful um and that's exactly what Mrs brimberry Mr Malone and Mr boxel have been able to do um I would say um one of the challenges one of the ceilings to what they can do though um would be the options and tools available to them um this is not a high school that we all went through or that was even an existence say pre-co five to 10 years ago um there are so many more unique circumstances so many reasons that students need flexibility or options throughout their day and we have provided a couple of those but where we're missing I think an opportunity would be what I'll call somewhere in the middle um between an imperson experience and a little bit more of that credit recovery option that Apex provides and so what we're going to share with you tonight is something that I know I get to present tonight and maybe take a little credit for but frankly um the tires were kicked on this before I arrived um but I have been caught up to speed I feel that it is a solid option for us as we continue to put tools in the toolbox of our teachers and our Educators um I would share with you that options not only are critical now but they will continue to be critical as we move forward um I think later this spring uh Miss Brown and I will both return to you to share what the new diploma requirements are for the current class current e8th grade class or the class of 2029 um we have to be thinking futuristically and I would say the more options we have available to meet our students needs the better we will be positioned to help them get across that graduation stage um and we can't continue to use the same tools that we have now we have to start thinking about that future um this edmentum tool is one that we would like for you to just learn about tonight um I'll share a little bit about what it is and then I'll pass the Baton to Miss Brown um our assistant principal here at the high school to share kind of the construct that we think that fits within here at Huntington North High School um edmentum is kind of that middle ground option uh between the in-person experience and the credit recovery option it is that virtual experience um that affords synchronous learning opportunities it affords some one-on-one instruction through tutoring with some of the Educators that are a part of the EDM minum company um and it also provides um a little bit more of um I guess besides the synchronous it affords some more um supports academically um so if if you think about a hybrid model where some of it is done independently away from that synchronous learning um where it's given time given uh opportunity to meet with a teacher um it includes both and both synchronous and the in between opportunities um courses are 18 weeks long which matches up really well with our academic semester so this is less of a self-paced and more of a section by section piece by piece process that would mirror and match our current academic semester I will tell you that it is more aligned with and more more aligned with our current in-person courses and more rigorous in terms of academics um than the Apex courses so for students that might need to step away from the in-person experience because they're facing a temporary health challenge maybe they're at Riley Hospital getting treated for um an illness which we have students that do pretty much on an annual basis or maybe we have students that had to step away because of Behavioral or discipline issues and challenges this allows them to do that preserve credits that are academically rigorous and then when they hopefully are reintroduced to the person experience here at Huntington North High School they are better equipped to pick up right where they left off um and these courses help them to do that um as you can see on the slide edmentum is not a startup company it's not something that just has popped up overnight um they serve over 5 million students in over 43,000 schools and that's Nationwide and so we have had experience with similar products and programs previously but this one affords that nice balance of flexibility and rigor for what our students need um I will tell you our posture and our philosophy so to speak as a high school is to place um kind of our gold standard so to speak with the in-person experience for students that are able to do that we hire great professional Educators that build relationships that give experiences in the classroom um in person that can't be replicated otherwise but we also recognize now in 2025 that's not a fit and a need that every student can satisfy we also recognize to The Other Extreme of that Continuum that Apex is more of a credit recovery option this is a great solid rigorous academic option that many of our students can benefit from so what that looks like more specifically at Huntington North High School I'll pass that over to Miss Brown so I'm a little choked up because Lennon hugged me right before he left and he said you remember when I was a freshman and you made me promise I would graduate on time I'm going to do it Miss brand which makes me just a little peaps I have to tell you that so um Mr dagit did a really nice job of kind of laying out where we're at we have a number of students who just come with unique situations that this is a little over 30 years for me here at Huntington North High School and things keep happening that I'm like I've never seen that before and we've kind of been um put to the fence once or twice to try to figure out how to help those kids and I don't ever want to have a kid like Linux come through here and we can't find the solution for them right the really great thing about this product is one it is a long standing company so we know exactly what we're getting and we've been in business with them for a really long time just using a different product so it's not when when Michelle bberry calls them they know her by name they handed me a water bottle at a big conference and they're like Lynn glad to meet you so it's it's a huge company but their local representatives are really good to work with that's not a small thing when we're trying to help kids a piece that often happens for us is kids show up here in September in October in November in December and throwing them into the middle of your traditional chemistry class in November not always a great fit right this will give us a way for them to continue to get a quality education and be slightly off sync with their peers so that then we can them back up things like homebound instruction when I was a young teacher they would send me to kids homes you're smiling because you know exactly what I'm talking about I would go and sit in a at a kitchen table sometimes with a kid once a week for an hour and try to teach them as much as I could and then somebody else would come in the next night and try to teach them while I think our teachers are amazing that one hour week is not the same as a consistent through a semester with a licensed teacher who understands our state standards and has a given curriculum to support them along with tutoring hours as well and then kids who just have a number of life situations it never occurred to me 10 years ago that we'd have parents that walk in and say hey we're gonna be on the road for the next six months because my job's going to take me on the road and so my students going with me or um we're going to be missionaries for a year in name the country we've had that happen here can you support my students so they can graduate on time even though they're going to be in El Salvador was the last one that that I remember so this will help us with all those pieces another nice piece is along with the regular education they also have service hours for IEP and our LEP students so that if a child has an IEP they Not only would have that original teacher the way we do here at the school but they would have a special needs teacher they would come along in the virtual world their teacher of record here at Huntington nor high school then would still be responsible for them throughout their till they graduate that's a piece that is very difficult for us to support in some situations when it when a student for example is at Riley Hospital for a long period of time there is a huge catalog of courses that that kids can take and while we think our teachers are best served for our kids we also see this new diploma piece and we know that there's going to be all kinds of pieces that are going to be what if for kids and as we're building that for individual kids this will be a nice support system for us that we could use in a relatively easy situation I think we're ready for questions if you have them for us board I would add uh thank you to Dr D Miss Brown for coming what are we really talking about here and which group of kids would be if I were sitting in your seat I would want to know so the Success Academy kids that you just spoke with are kids who are dramatically behind and at risk of graduation with their Co cohort cohort being their class we know uh Dr digits and I have a meeting very I think this week or next over analysis of all four Co cohorts in our district in our high school and so we're going to know who that group is but not all of them are dramatically behind and maybe Apex isn't the platform okay um the ones that are down there were 10 12 15 18 credits behind and that's not possible you know seven periods a day two semesters some of that is not possible to make up and and still graduate so we know that group well you saw Mrs bim's presentation there were approximately 300 and some kids on some form of virtual education well if 75 or any one year in the Success Academy who are that other group if you will that other group would be number one 91 Kids 6 through 12 who do not come to us and 60% more of their or more of their day is outside what we call Brick and Mortar which is outside our buildings the state will classify them as virtual students so we know 91 Kids 6 through 12 are on a virtual platform well the one we have that is in use is apex not all of those students are academically at risk and may need a more challenging academic platform so that group that bucket is important to have another option for recorded or live teaching online is this platform tutors are is this platform well who are these other kids you said there was 143 when I look today that are on what I would call a Singleton platform which means they've had a schedule conflict of some sort and it didn't work so how did they get that class and still do all these other things they do and I would tell you many of those kids are the busiest kids in your school and that's another bucket of kids well they're not at risk academically they just are so busy they can't get the one in because they're taking three dual credits they're taking all the stuff they they're on every team and Club known to man what platform do you give them well the ad menum platform which is live or recorded education with a teacher would be their platform they know their schedule so although we can pick it live it can be recorded and it's like a college class for them but it's at the high school level we know there are 140 some of those in the high school right now well they only are on apex and what we're talking to you about is another bucket that we believe in has had more success than um maybe what we've got in place already academically there's another group that this platform will be marketed to if we approve this in the future here there are 300 I don't have it in front of me maybe 323 students that live in our County who don't go to anything related to Huntington schools but live in our County and they take another virtual online option the state sends us that uh report if you remember I showed you a slide and there was 14% of the kids that live in our County don't well of that group there's 300 and some that make up that 14% that are on another platform other than Huntington's so what does that mean well those students are not our students even though they could be they live in our County and so what I would tell you is whatever platform we do approve for virtual education we will be marketing to those 300 and some odd students who live in our district now what do you get from that well number one I think we should be responsible for all kids in a platform that live in Huntington County we're the best game in town and I it's not arguable whether it's in person we hope whether it's a hybrid iners and a little bit of virtual or whether it's it's not working out but even for those kids we have the Success Academy but what about the true virtual I'm not coming to the building but what do you have for me well this is another option that we would Market to them the tuition is $7,100 is depending on the state the year you get 85% of that for a virtual education student okay so we know that we know what that money that could come into Huntington would be be for those 300 students and then I would tell you that what does it cost and we'll present this at a future meeting if you so choose but most platforms will will ask for about half of whatever your state tuition would request because they're paying their teachers to teach it it's a virtual option this particular program is $2500 per student for full-time virtual well that's a cost but it's also a benefit so so if 20% of the 300 were to come back to Huntington next year um and so you're at 60 you're going to get around you know five grand $4,500 of that money for tuition support which expands more programming and offsets more cost for multiple buckets so I tell you that because it's not a One-Stop shop it's multiple buckets with the same platform but it's a it's a different platform if you will and so I want you to be clear clear when you ask questions why do you need it we need it for a lot of levels one academically one for Singletons one for kids that come in late one for medical one for Pure V uh virtual we have 91 right now and so those things if I were in your chair I'd want to know why are you asking this you already have a platform this is more rigor um if I was Mr Allen and the board members that were remaining I would also say well you have IU well how come that one isn't being utilized Miss Brown um in a very positive professional manner this is who you are uh how has that worked out with that particular platform for our kids and and staff the difficulty I don't believe is the rigor in IU online certainly not um they had a stellar principal for a very long time who as they often do took that Stellar principal and gave her a higher position since then they've had difficulty finding a principal and so we've had difficulty making that go as smoothly for our kids as we would like it to go also edmentum has a good deal more flexibility IU online um is a completely asynchronous class there are no live teachers involved there's recordings but there's no live teachers and there's certainly not tutoring hours so a student who was taking chemistry for example and maybe struggled they're still taking it by themselves and doing some of that work where with momentum if you're struggling at all there are tutoring hours that you can sign up for and then you have a licensed teacher that's going to answer not just recover the material but actually answer the questions you have work through the questions you have directly and so that would make it a better fit for so many of our students than IU online questions for Dr digits for Miss Brown myself um anything to do with ad mum and virtual platform thank you for listening to to our is this is this something we would start in 25 26 school year that would be the goal and the hope I think we're ready ready for that and it does fill a gap that our AP courses and if a student took the AP course uh with Ed minum they would still take the exam here at the high school with Mr Campbell there are not dual credit courses available it is always my hope I I've said this with every step of the way and with every change that we come through that as um as students become more involved in the high school we could get them here with some of those dual credit classes some of our CTE classes one benefit ad mum has is they have some CTE classes embedded now obviously I say this with pride but it is just a fact we have the best CTE school in the state of Indiana nobody can touch us over a kid sick at Riley we'd have a backup plan they could take some of those classes with edmentum and still be in line for graduation and Mr melt on a comment on that um Mr trout and I were talking today so say a student needed an AP those are 325 per semester per student that's a side cost it's not a full-time virtual so there's your cost uh for CTE core and electives is 295 and so your Singletons that a kid might need or du to his circumstances or her uh those do come with a cost but so does our Apex uh they come with a cost too um Tanya works hard to make sure we have enough licenses for all our kids but I would tell you um that's a that's a really good question is can they and the answer is yes my only thinking on it was from experience I you know I had a senior that wanted to take everything she was taken but yet then she found out that um you know oh crap I I need I need this I need a language or I I need correct extra math or whatever and so you know I didn't know if it yeah they it would it would be available as a Singleton for those circumstances and their um the array of opportunities is massive with 43,000 different you know school system kids I say that because it is a um you know I don't know of a a school district or state that does not is not very familiar with edmentum so if a kid is in it and it's just not working um you know like he was doing both back and forth I mean if a kid gets in it starts out is it easy I mean do you switch who monitors it and then can you switch to a different instructor or how do you um what I would yeah what I would tell you is it depends on the kid so if he's taken six classes here and he's one Singleton course for a CTE course or something or even seven plus one we'll say we'll use your circumstance then their counselor and if we had a virtual director would both be responsible you heard Mrs bmra say we have 340 some kids well that's a massive amount I mean that's a you're borderline a 2A School uh as Dr diot and I were talking about one we getting closer to being a school within a school right and so who would monitor it The Singletons would be if we have a director of virtual education and their counselor are both responsible if we have a full-time it would be a similar circumstance but you have to understand like you said that one we don't see as much because they're full-time counselors is going to do the ReachOut which is what you heard Mrs brury talking about but the virtual director or whoever is in charge of our Pure virtual kids would be 100% accountable for that meeting that parent that communication I I would add one additional Advantage um again depending on circumstances and student skill set but take math for example math is just hard um in processing and it's hard to do on your own without supports and structures from a from a teacher and an educator so if we have a student that's not being successful um in the traditional classroom or is at Riley Hospital an even better example to expect a student that's maybe facing chemotherapy or traveling or for whatever reason can't be there to be able to learn algebra 2 on their own through Apex um without the supports that a platform like ad minum could provide um not impossible uh but I certainly wouldn't want to walk that road by myself and so again that's another support structure that's there um to answer your question directly it's another layer of option so if there's not success in Ed minum which we think there would be um there's still kind of a Next Level intervention with Apex if needed after that thank you and there's two other pieces I would add there is a grace period where we can withdraw a student and um not have to pay for that course so if a kid is in a Singleton situation and they think it's good idea to try to do this online piece and they're in it for a few days and they're like this is not for me can you please find another solution we could withdraw that student and not be charged for that class the other piece is that we will have um reports that will run on every student as often as we want to run to see how often they're in the class uh their grades in that class at any given time so we can do that secondary support as well we're not blind until they give us a semester grade that brought up another question so the attendance part of it so I'm assuming that your reports that you pull would pull the attendance because the attendance is important yeah not just for being there and learning but it's also the state likes to see your really Jay Jay does a wonderful job and and our principles when we go uh synchronous um our attendance rates are we know when they lost and we know when they enter and so um Ed Mum would advise us on that policy but I do know that um we're not recreating the wheel on that there are place there are policies in place just like if we when we do five six days a year so I want to compliment Mr trout Mr bber and the high school administration for continually re-evaluating what we offer our children and looking for gaps and finding I had hopes for IU because I knew that was going to fill a gap and when it doesn't quite work out I appreciate it I appreciate you guys identifying that Apex may not be the right fat for all of our students and finding that as well so I compliment you all on that and finding ways because what I think we need to do and continue to do and I want to reiterate a statement Mr bberry said is I think we are the best option in education in this community for our students and for the community that I think we need to continue to to do this type of work and find it and figure out if we have a gap how we can improve it to make us that much better so uh I can't wait for you guys to bring forward uh this forward to us to to have a vote at some point um and I continue to keep doing what you do because I know you all have a great I just see I know I I've known Lynn for way too long and I know she has a passion to make sure that kids succeed uh and I can't wait to see what comes next so keep up the good work it is slightly embarrassing that my former students have gray hair I'm just gonna say so I think that yes I agree that we are like the top um education facility in this area except virtually and this puts us there virtually um as a virtual educator myself at two separate schools in the last several years um this is a great platform and I'm really excited to for us to have this um and I also think with all the new graduation requirements that are coming down the pipeline this is going to be a game Cher for our students so thank you for bringing it to us thank you Mrs Heim I know you have extensive knowledge of virtual education I appreciate the numerous questions you've answered for uh me and our processes as we look down this road I also thank uh Dr D he has jumped in with both feet to say the least uh coming here at the semester and Miss Brown is the most humble person I work with and she has a vast knowledge of different platforms for virtual education so I trust their judgment greatly had a quick question on the uh the the actual content of the classes let's say I have a student who who gets sick and has to go week eight how does the content of the classes in ad mum compared to the content in the classes will will it be the same weeks will it be um pretty easy crossover so The Curriculum maps do not line exactly to the Huntington North Curriculum maps so it would be difficult depending on where we were in a semester to make that shift um and so we'd have to determine what was best for the student and and how much how much physical energy they have right and so and and we do that now with sometimes kids continue to do their canvas work and the teacher reaches out and works with them independently sometimes we shift to Apex sometimes we take a break because they just physically cannot keep up sometimes it's a semester class that turns into a year-long class because we have to pce things out so depending on when a kid came to us and what their difficulty was that's where the the guidance counselor potentially a director the administrative team the parents the kid we all sit together and we create what's the best plan for that kid where we are right this second board one other item that i' just keep in front of you because it again Services kids that have a different schedule or a need um on Wednesday nights we have what um Mr mofen and Miss Brown and I would call Twilight school and so from three to six some of our kids come in and do an evening of school there are a variety of reasons that might you might get an invite to that and uh what I would tell you is but it's not always discipline okay so those options are there as well because of sometimes life is in the way and so why do I say that because it's a virtual education but in person with us from 3: to 6 I've done that since we got here sometimes it's Tuesday Thursday sometimes it's Monday Wednesday sometimes it's longer depends on what group we're looking at and the need of them and I say that because I'll continue to say we are an exceptionally Progressive school that is on the right track to be the state's one of the state's best school systems you have to Market and understand your audience to the point where you're um you say well yeah yeah but we've also got these 15 what about these 12 or these 60 these 91 what about these kids what about the 12 and uh middle school right now can we do a hybrid the answer is yes on every one of them we want to be that way and so I say that because um I've not Mr trout every time I've brought something forward or or any of our leaders Jay Peters and or any of them or their principles it says make sure you let me know how we do it I want to think about what this cost I want to make sure the budget works and if it helps these kids let's do it and I say that because that is through and through right now administratively so why are you seeing these types of little presentations on different buckets of kids because they deserve one and the old method doesn't work for all kids and so we're going to continue to be Progressive and our goal is while this administrative team is all in place is to become one of the top school systems in Indiana and we think these programs help us so our uh motto is every student every day right is in our strategic plan that we just adopted and what you've seen this evening are two examples of how we're trying to attack that issue um some of us around the table um went to high school a couple days ago and it was one siiz fits-all nothing wrong with it that's just how we that's just how education was done all those years ago now um um if we're going to be accommodating uh 4,800 schools 4800 students in our school district how do we do it best and what you've seen this evening are two examples of how we want to help students uh for a variety of reasons um each and every day so it's my goal to bring this back to you at the March 24th school board meeting for approval um we'll have Mr brimberry spell out the um Finance part of this just a little bit deeper for you so you have an understanding um but what they what the three of them didn't tell you is is that it might have been over a year ago that I was uh strongly encouraging uh at that time Mr mcglothin and and Miss Brown and Mr brimberry to we have got to have an online presence we have got to get into this game what they haven't told you is that's about 12 months of work to get to this point they have done incredible work uh of sorting through figuring out how do we best um and I was kind of relentless on Mr brimberry at times of where are we how's this going what's happening but when Dr DS came on um it really helped us bring this bring this piece to you at the level that we have and so please know it's Our intention to bring this back to you at the March 24th Schoolboard meeting please if you have questions between now and then uh please reach out to the three of them uh Chuck's been over the finances with me I'm extremely comfortable with it quite frankly I don't think that'll be a hangup of it all but you owe I owe you that piece of it so you can see it through and through so that's our intention any other comments questions well thank you appreciate the three of you thank you very much uh up next and you know we save Mr thornsberry for the end you know he's kind of like the closer here right Terry are you like the closer Terry the first the first two been really good they're pitching a no hitter right now so no pressures do my best okay uh it's Terry has um wow if you came to the open house last Thursday night here or you went to the uh one over at the um administrative Center um we got to Showcase a lot of Terry thornsberry work you know was amazing and so Terry uh we continue uh to enjoy our partnership with you and everything that you have going on and so what you're going to learn tonight is now we're going to talk about floors at Huntington North High School as if we haven't this is one of the pieces that we probably haven't talked about our floors but do your picture on yeah that's you [Laughter] grandpa I didn't hear anyone say anything yeah um yes so Terry we'll turn it over to you at this point in time Chuck anything I'm sorry Chuck anything that you want to say about this before we lead in I'm sorry no I appreciate Terry being here um he can go through the flooring part and then uh literally if you have questions on any of the other projects tonight's a great night for it you've got access to uh the best I've ever worked with and uh we'll try to fill in any you know answer any questions you might have okay thank you Mr trout Mr bombery I appreciate it um and again appreciate the opportunity and um the projects are vidiian projects and I have a team behind me that works really really really hard I just to get be the face of this because they don't want to come and do this so uh so I get the short straw which I actually enjoy doing this a lot so um I didn't realize I was going to talk about the other projects that are going on and I don't have images but anybody who wants to take a tour of the building after this meeting I'll be happy to go show you anything that you want to see um because I see it a few times a week so a lot going on in the building um so I'm going to go through the list of of projects that um I could remember that are going on we have we've actually have over 20 some projects with Huntington since 2021 so it's amazing and I wrot I typed up the list last week I like holy cow that's we've been busy so it's been great um so the large HVAC project uh for the building is uh on schedule to um again hard and heavy this summer a lot going on in the um South Penthouse so it's the large Penthouse that you can't see from the entrance um it's actually larger than the one you can see from the entrance and a lot of work um going to be done to get that work done this summer otherwise they are working on tweaking and fixing bugs and other things in the part that they already have finished from last summer so it takes a lot of effort to dial all this stuff in and get it to play nice because it's not uh as it used to be where it's just um manual everything now is electronic and there's a lot going on to get that getting that worked out so uh science block and family and consumer science are complete there are a few small little uh pending things on science block that are getting wrapped up doors in security another project we have um some minor changes that we're making to a few things at the end to to um accommodate a few things in different parts of the building so that's getting wrapped up here soon lights and ceiling so if you get a chance to go out and walk in the hallways and look up a lot of light and ceilings are missing um in other hallways you can now do surgery um and the impressive part is those light fixures are only at 50% of their brightness yeah so if you cranked them up all the way you would need a welding mess to walk down the highway so they're on the hallway it's that's 50% the classrooms will be at a 100 but the classrooms have dimmers so they can be adjusted according to the teachers preference um so with lights ceilings it's actually piping as well and a new PA system for the building so that's underway as well uh restroom renovation which is actually part of the 2024 uh General obligation Bond the other projects so far were part of the 2022 Bond restroom renovation we just met with the contractor last week and they're getting started we're doing sub mitt and they're getting prepared to to start construction inside the building um tomorrow we are putting this is uh out of capital project so we're putting Lincoln and Flint Springs Roofing replacement project out to bid tomorrow and also salamony HVAC replacement project which is very similar to the project here at the high school it's part of the 23 General obligation Bond and that project project is starting we've met with the contractor numerous times just trying to work out schedules and phasing and now that admin is out of the building that frees up some opportunities to start working in that back portion of the building so um that's getting underway here real soon especially the a lot of work in the gymnasium is going to be done over spring break um and we are also working on I think from the last board meeting um I came and presented we're working on the facility assessment updates for all 11 buildings so um staying really busy so all of those projects I just mentioned and the one I'm about to present to you are all on schedule to be completed by the end of this year so this summer is going to be crazy I mean busy uh uh for me uh for few people at this table namely that man um and uh the other parts of the team Pat and others are really busy uh Beth Rich um uh Mrs kitchen out at uh at salony just busy busy busy and the contractors so there's just a lot going on um no one except for contractors and those of us I just mentioned uh will be in this building during the summer this coming summer um it's going to be busy in here everything's on schedule to be done by the end of the year we'll probably have a few things to tweak going into January February but but that'll be it so any questions on all of those to begin with you said 21 projects since 21 20 some it's I it's like 4 25 24 25 projects since 21 right okay I realized there was a lot I just I never had put a number to it like either W so um so this project we have talked about before barely um it was on multiple presentations in the past about what projects do we want to do at Huntington North this project the cafeteria and this flooring project was part of it but um that that one always got pushed aside or that can down the road um but then we realized and and rich brought it up this was a year or so ago he said you realize when we put new lights in everything else is going to look horrible and I'm like oh it'll be fine well when you put the new lights on you're like holy cow that tazzo is really showing its age um but luckily with the tazzo you have it's real cous Tazo um it can be polished and brought back to life um because it's been whacked now since 1970 over and over and over and over again so this presentation is going to show you what we're dealing with so uh first slide here is uh the floor plan of the building and then you'll see that in yellow are all of the hallways that have tazzo um so we're going to um go in and grind that tazzo and and get out the scuffs and the bumps and the bruises and bring it back to life uh the green uh is either concrete now that either has wax on It sealer other things and if you go back at the arena you'll you'll notice a lot of that's yellowish looking that's old ambered wax it'll yellow over time so that's all going to come off um the blue will be new rubber stair treads for the arena so uh it's very very very expensive to restore the concrete and polish concrete on stairs it's a lot less expensive to put rubber treads on there plus it makes the stairs safer uh at the same time and then the red will be walk-off mats uh back in the Fieldhouse uh instead of tile so also if you think about back at the um Fieldhouse those hallways that are in green are shown as polished concrete because we're going to remove the tile that was originally uh installed there because it's got a lot of stress cracks it's got a lot of damage and it doesn't look good um and we're going to we're gonna change things up go to Polished concrete and I'll explain that more when we get into this so next slide so it's hard to get pictures of the tazzo to show you its condition um because oftentimes the lights reflect off of it and it's difficult to see but if you go out and walk around the school and especially in the hallways now that have new lights you'll see what I'm talking about so it's showing its age like I mentioned scuffs scratches stains cracks and uneven appearance um throughout next slide so that one you can actually see some of those scuff marks that's just around the corner here out in the hallway that you come in off the dock and then down the h a lot of things get hauled through that hallway and it really takes a lot of abuse again same thing here you just see a lot of uh deterioration in um the concrete from just bumps and bruises over the years next slide so this is at the mural wall and um there's a lot of staining along that wall in some cases there were lockers along there which you'll see here in a second but when they had to Abate the asbest that was under the tile in the classrooms that stained some of the uh um tazzo outside of that perimeter they did what they could to contain it but it's liquid and the Tazo will actually absorb it so they're going to they're going to uh grind that out and and bring it back so next slide so that's a location there at one of the hallways that go into the science and that's where lockers used to sit so you can see what waxing around lockers does over time to the terazo so um and and Beth and her team tried to clean that up and it it's going to take grinding to get that out next slide so this is a condition that happens at a lot of the column locations and this is just natural aging of the building uh concrete and tazzo both like I said are a cement based um material and it shrinks over time concrete shrinks that's why you see cracks in concrete but that's also why you see these saw cut joints because we try to tell the cracks where to go cracks don't listen real well and they do whatever they want so even though that joint is right there in that picture that straight line it didn't want to crack there so so we're going to have a lot of these cracks uh filled and dealt with we are not going to cut out all that tazzo and replace it we there are some areas in which we are going to cut out tazzo and rep place it and try to blend things in and then other cases where we have to go completely across the hallway we're just going to change that color of tazzo to probably an off uh like a gray or something a dark gray charcoal um to make it obviously different just because we don't want to try to match everything perfectly it won't it won't it won't look that great so next slide um this is uh the base so wall base if you look in here we have a really tall black rubber base um that is a condition demountable walls the walls that were built in this building that were made to move around which never got moved around but that's plastic and it's broken in a lot of areas um it it's got a ton of wax on it and so we're going to take those off throughout the entire building and replace it with new rubber base similar to what you see in here next slide so that is the rubber base that is in the building and if you look at it closely um it's got a ton of wax buildup on it because you can't strip that back off when strip in the floor um and it's in really rough shape so we're going to take all that out as well and and dress things up next slide so this is back in the Fieldhouse so the existing floor tile in the Fieldhouse is cracked in multiple areas which I have pictures of here in a second and we're actually going to tear all this out including the uh tile wall base and we're going to go with polished concrete texting Graphics similar to what's in here but I'm going to um add a lot more to it so we're going to have fun with it and really dress that up so um I I get to have fun with wall mirral and floors so uh we'll see if we can get Gary in the floor somewhere so so yeah yeah it is I have fun with it so um next slide so that is if you go back there and look you will find areas in which the floor is correct some of it's obvious that it's the concrete under the under the tile that cck which then um worked its way through the tile and shows up other could be weights or something that was dropped because the weight rooms nearby here there's other things that could have been dropped H through the hallway uh next slide that's one of the worst areas it's that's actually all the way down to the concrete floor so that makes it difficult to clean it's also a tripping Hazard um causes some issues so that's why that's why we're going to deal with this rich rich brought it up and said is there any way we can um deal with this and we looked at Capital money and we're like okay we could do little sections at a time why don't we instead do it as part of the overall flooring restoration project and do it all at once so next slide again this is this looks more like an impact crack to me that something was dropped in that area and cracked the floor um next so that's just the image over here um the difference is in um in here if you look you can see right in front of us between these tables you can see where the old tile was on the floor um because this had VCT Tile in it it was glued down we have a different condition for the fieldhouse in which it's all of that ceramic tile um and in Lo of just tearing that tile up and polishing the concrete like this we're actually going to do an overlay on that floor so that it'll look brand new so we get to start from scratch with brand new instead of instead of old like this is um and then we're going to incorporate the red the black the logos um you'll see Ike the vi quite a few times I think you're gonna we're gonna have fun with it and really dress that up because I know there's a lot of future thoughts about what happens with all the pictures on the walls and bringing that up to a more Modern Display um and just really making that space more exciting back there um it's all getting new lighting and ceiling back there and already a lot of that's already done so it'll really look nice when when we get to that point so um why are we doing um all of this it's obvious because the condition the look and Rich was absolutely right a couple years ago when he said you put the new lights in it's goingon to make everything else look bad um it's because you can see it um but a a big part of this is that with polishing the or grinding the tazzo and then we're going to seal it we'll never have to wack waack it again so you actually if you're in here at I don't know 6 o' in the morning Chu which I am a lot so uh you'll see a guy riding a machine around scrubbing the floor every single day or Beth I saw Beth the other day riding this so uh and so I think it's therapeutic it's like mowing the grass you just go out and do it um we won't have to deal with waxing the floors which is a tremendous amount of work in the summertime when contractors aren't all over the place um and with the polished concrete it's the same scenario you're going to reduce the cost of materials for wax buffing machines scrubber pads uh the manpower to get all that work done um we're also doing that same thing with the lights because you're no longer going to be replacing light bulbs all the time it's going to be led so that's going to free people up to get other things done so they can really work on the details of this building and continue to improve it so um that's my presentation on floors and I tried to make it exciting as I could so no that's good the one other piece of this is that we did not talk about finances with this um just so you know um we're able to consider this project due to the fact to you um within that we wanted to get this back out in front of you like Terry said initially it's been a long time since we talked about it um but we have room in the bond uh to do this and why we're doing everything else that's going on here this just made logical sense for us um to bring this back to you uh more details will be forthcoming but we wanted to get this out to you today to put this back up on your radar uh Terry my question is timelines what what are you considering for timelines here right we're um probably 75% finished with drawings already as we hit the ground running on this one and um planning to have it out to bid right now uh Rick and I in our office are trying to look at schedules and figure out what's going to work but it'll either be the end of this month or the beginning of April and it'll be out to bid it'll bid for two weeks and then um we've already talked to contractors we actually have a contractor helping us who did this floor looking at conditions trying to help us understand the best way to attack the the issues um and then start of construction be before summer y questions for Mr thornsbury it'll the schedule is going to allow them to go up to December and it um there could be and and we're going to try to tackle the worst of it the um demo and removal of that tile back at the Fieldhouse during the summer um but also contractors they asked me so is this first first shift second or third I said yes get it done and get out by the by December get out get out of the building so um we can accom dat and and and one of the contractors I talked to they're they're doing the same thing at other school corporations and we've done this before as well if they have to they can just cordon off and do half the hallway then they'll do the other half of the hallway um so they can work around students best part of this whole project is we're getting out of the waxing game it is so very much so and eventually all the VCT will be out of the classrooms yeah so that was my next question that only Le that we only need to to wax the BCT and the classrooms right and we're going to attack that as we do the classrooms that's the that's the idea which is our next which I've done which is our next big discussion I've done this for a lot of schools in which we've got rid of waxing completely in their building except their buildings are not as big as yours is you know this is I'm going to take you back where ter started that's why the facility planning is so critically important as we go back and update that entire facility plan for every building in the district your job as a board it's going to be rather difficult is beginning to reline up those projects across buildings and areas you know what takes precedent why does it take precedent um I've been so pleased with your support and Direction and all the work that we've gotten done here in this building it's been amazing it really has been nothing short of amazing um but we also have other needs in and other areas throughout our district and so how do we how do we go back and relign all this up um Mr McGloin Mrs Smith and I have already begun looking at bonds coming off what's going to happen where is it going you know what's that's going to do I'm also GNA be hesitant to give you a lot of that information until I know what comes out of this legislative session because there is a ton of language in there trying to limit the scope of what we can do how we can do it when we can do it even though we're not raising taxes and even though we're not doing all these things there's a lot of language in so many of these bills dealing with that so I would be really hesitant to give to to give you any information about that until we know legislatively what happens out of this session and so this however is not impacted by that but just know I'm going to be end where Terry started that that facility planning is going to be something that we're going to be having lengthy multiple discussions over over as we try to realign what our priorities are in this District including this building but also all the other areas in our in our school district any other comments questions for Mr thornsbury can you go back to that first Slide the one that had the diagram on it so in the in the gym what all are you doing in the in the gym I know it it covered the green so are you doing the uh you're doing the stairs but are you doing the top top of the stairs the flat areas right so the landing at the bottom of the stairs is concrete now it has sealer and wax built up on it and then the stairs themselves will get rubber Treads and risers and then the next Landing the next step up and then the stairs go up and then you're on the rubber running track that's original to the building um so we're going to polish all that concrete except for the stairs we're going to cover up the stairs um but we're going to polish that concrete and that might be where you see the biggest logos you've ever seen uh put into the Flor um to really get that space uh what it needs because it's those stairs are so drab and just no excitement you can so I really want to dress that up and bring some color in there and then the the red the walkoff mat carpet tile so is it you talking like carpet squares they are carpet squares so if you go over to the admin building and go into the entry VES that's exactly what's there um which um that helps get some of the dir off of your shoes before you track it into the building completely um but right now in those vestibules is tile and rugs and so those work as well but a lot of times those have to be cleaned or you end up Contracting that cleaning and there's more cost to that uh or they get shifted and they're stuck in the door then the door doesn't close I mean there's a lot of things that happen with them so we like to use the the walk-off tile floor tile uh mats because they uh it's like a thick scouring pad if you've ever ever felt it yeah perfect thank you so what happens as we do the halls and then we get rid of more lockers uh the lockers are being assessed as we do this um and those because we're talking about this project as well as future projects and making sure that we have the proper count be my next that was going to be my next question with Mr sitting back there is have we have we right sized our lockers for a while um and that's good um I've had that discussion multiple times with Mr mcin and we had that discussion again last Friday and so and this morning I gave him the Mee meeting minutes from Friday's meeting and highlighted is you need to tell me how many lockers we're dealing with and what we can get rid of or what we can shift around or where we can move them um and and what makes sense and it doesn't make sense to just pull lockers and do all that on Earth and put them back right that's why this future facility planning is just so critically important you've got me started to think about the future John so I'm just trying to figure out keep pushing out there y um and thank you for all you do but I do want to make the board aware what Mr trout so nicely did not mention is Senate bill one is going to as it sits today really affect how we do projects in the future if it STS the way it does today so I know we haven't talked about it but at some point it would be really good to talk about it the specific part of it that I do not like and I think we need to work on trying to get changed is limiting how we do geob bonds in the future I'm not sure why they're affecting that because as I was talking to other members of Schoolboard members last Friday that's going to be the biggest thing because we use that to keep our tax rates solid steady and it allows us to do projects small chunks all the time and what I have not gotten anybody to answer to me is why they're attacking the GE and why they're doing that what they're basically saying is if we geobond we then cannot go out and get another geobond until two years after that one is expired and that will severely hamper how we go forward and do projects here at the corporation which is why we're trying to keep the tax rate flat which in turn it will begin to roller coaster roller coaster um which is not what anybody wants U on any side of this equation so thank you anybody else comments questions I have a quick question and and then maybe a comment did you say that in the Fieldhouse you're taking up the tile correct okay just a comment not many of us sitting around this table remember um the push back from the community in the um materials that were used to build this building and Crest View as well you know they were just too expensive why do you need terazo why do you need Mark and I think when you look at a building that's of this age and and what what's being done to bring it up to speed is that all it's just fantastic that we're able to do what we're doing and it speaks to using quality materials and having a plan in place that speaks to the Future and what's going to happen I totally agree and I I am so thankful that at least the Tazo you have is a neutral color that we would still use today in some school corporations we have buildings that are a few years old older than this and it has the most beautiful colors of green and brown and and you're like that's what you have we can't change the color and Tazo is outrageously expensive um so it but it is bulletproof as long as you take care of it and and the waxing has helped protect it right but now it's time for a good polish and a good seal and it'll what'll look different is if you get the opportunity the before is look at the floor with the lights on and look at the clarity of the light fixture in that reflection like in here wait until we polish it and then you'll actually be able to see the outline of that fixture definitively and it makes a world of difference um and it's going to be bright and shiny and I'm looking forward to it great well you know just like the student said before of the learning environments that we are creating for our students matters a great deal and this is um one of those pieces where what we're doing in those hallways matters a great deal I think what that's what's going to be the struggle with with what do we do next in this building and in the rest of the district as we begin to realign um our priorities with this school board into the future and so um why we're able to get this done I've had multiple people uh say to me that they are amazed that we are getting done what we're getting done um in the matter in which we're doing it and that's true and I think Deb your Point's well taken if not for the foresight of so many people 50 years ago literally years ago 55 years ago okay um we're literally able to do things that we're able to do in this building because of how this building was constructed and so U and it'll be good for a long time to come too so um it's very encouraging anybody else comments questions and then go ahead so Mr trout one of your comments reminded me when I was here at the open house there was a parent and uh maybe five or sixy old they were standing on one corner of the science block where you have new Lighting in a new hallway and right next to Old Lighting in front of the library and that that that young child looked down the bright hallway and then looked down the library hallway and turned to their parents said dad that hallway looks sad emotionally sad and the reply from the dad was what if you were in here every day and is right because that wears on students it absolutely does and and um and how you feel in a space much like the students that were up here earlier how they feel in their space if they feel like they're in a box then sometimes you feel trapped so it is important to make the space as exciting as possible so if logos and color on the floor and people came in here and and were excited to see the changes and the differences um it's still the same space we just dressed it up differently Mr trout one final comment uh at the open house which was fantastic Dr diots and your team it was impressive but I was sitting in the cafeteria and uh a it was alumni day here I mean there were alumni everywhere right well mom was in here her husband was in here they're both Vikings and their kids were with them that go to our elementary schools and she said I took a picture of this when I was this in this cafeteria this summer and my husband said that's not at Huntington North and she said yes it is it didn't look like when we went there it's unbelievably nice and so he they brought him in and he was floored and she was laughing and she said this was so needed on an update at Huntington North but now look at the experience these kids are getting so it was a great reminder um from a guy who took 25 years away from here but the alumni that came back John were so thrilled of the work that's been done for the new kids and their kids that are coming through so I thank Terry and the board for your vision on this um he won't tell you but Dr diot myself rich and um some others um start conversations at about 6:00 a.m.

[Music] f e [Music] he [Music] f oh [Music] e [Music] I [Music] to [Music] n [Music] okay hello here we are welcome to round two of the ihsen tetrio playoffs my name is Jaden I'm the captain of The Varsity smash team here on the bluff cyber tigers and a support player on the Cyber Tigers OverWatch team today we have a very special guest we have Mr Meyer one of the counselors at the elementary school and a longtime supporter of the Esports program do you want to introduce yourself any more than that Absol well just want to say I'm so happy to be here tonight I got to do this one other time with you Jaden earlier in the season had a a black doing it I really support the Esports team the coaches the students it's fantastic program from bluin high school and tonight's a special night big deal we got tetrio tournament and so you guys will really enjoy the show tonight I'm sure but I'm glad to be here thanks Jaden uh he's the allstar behind the mic and so I'm going to support him tonight mostly but glad to be here thanks for your kind welcome thank you we're very happy to have you here and thank you for supporting our program for so long absolutely you're about to see it in action we have multiple playoff matches for multiple of our cyber Tigers yes here we are here we are at the bracket so right now we're looking at the bracket that has started last week so if you're just tuning in like me this began last week is that right Jaden some matches took place last week yeah this began last week um currently in the bracket the only cyber tiger eliminated has been Owen so that is five out of six still remaining okay and unfortunately we are guaranteed to lose some tonight uh the nature of the bracket you know we can't all win um but it's sad to see some of our guys go that's for sure but yeah for those who who are eliminated great season though right I mean just a fantastic season by all yes absolutely yeah let's see uh getting into our current roster first up in our first match of the night who you will see later on we have EMT AKA Lego Master yes there he is yeah I appreciate that yeah so EMT here he is uh he finished the regular season top 10 he was Ninth Place finisher and tonight we'll compete against ye stroke of Pendleton Elite and he took out Owen last week uh so we'll get some Revenge maybe tonight Owen with Emma that'll be great so this is an exciting match em will get the chance at Redemption for his fellow cyber tiger we wish EMT the best of luck yes let's see if e stroke takes out two of our cyber tigers or if he gets his comeuppence up next we have Alex AKA Gail leis that's right he tied Jordan this is uh yeah he he well no I'm sorry he took Seventh Place 17th place and we begin facing our very own Hunter tonight in the only Canon event so yeah Canon event of the night and so we'll cut to that uh later this evening but yeah unfortunately they have to play each other him and another Bluff and cyber tiger so interesting match up tonight for that yes you will get introduced to Hunter later on and you will be able to see that cyber tiger versus cyber tiger Cannon event later all right all right up next we have Baro AKA X dark ninja nice he tied Jordan for fourth place uh this season and he'll be facing oh Anon o 12 from planfield high school tonight so I believe that's his seed he's 12th SE oh he's 12 okay thank you yeah J he's 12th seed okay and so uh dark ninja we playing him tonight so good luck to dark ninja mhm and the person that he's tied with we have Jordan aka stricky X1 that's right he tied Baro fourth place this season as well he'll compete against gjn from Indiana Gateway Digital Academy tonight so that'll be an certainly a very exciting match tonight between those two is that a new face I haven't heard of gjn yeah she's right here from Indiana um digital High School yeah so good luck to Jordan in his match against that player I see and yes uh the Challenger of Alex tonight uh the number one seed in the tournament the star of the team second generation Hunter AKA lazy Soul he's got two usernames sugar Lords that's right everybody out there in Virtual land he plays first place overall and he'll be challenging Alex for the right to move on tonight so an All-Star amongst us here with uh with this player with Hunter and finally on the he also has two names man finally on the Cyber tiger Tetris roster clay AKA Firestorm AKA night walk nice clay he's seventh place for the regular season he'll be going up against Jaden 445 a 10th Place seed from Monster High School and that should be a very close match but we sure wish the best of luck to Clay in his match tonight as well as they hope to move on in the brackets of tetrio yes very see that is all of the squad that is your cyber tiger tetrio roster yeah and thanks for tuning in tonight I hope we got a good crowd out there yes than I'm sure we do I'm sure we do cyber Tigers they draw hopefully a nice crowd and so are we about to begin the match is this about ready to start here I believe yes our first match of the night is a has already started actually oh wow here we go jumping right to the action yes we have EMT AKA Lego Master on the left side of the screen okay I believe for every single matchup your cyber tiger will be on the left side of the screen so root for the left okay that's good good information there so rooting for EMT on the left side and the action has begun as you see yes and as you'll see um so the way that Tetris a traditionally single player game has been turned into a battle uh like a battle 1V one format is each time you uh clear a line a certain amount of lines you send those gray blocks at the bottom of your opponent's screen called garbage blocks to their side and the objective is to make them top out I see continues to rise and rise and that's when the stress levels increase and uh the players begin to really begin frantically playing and oh it looks okay there we go EMT nice nice even a novice like me could tell that was a great move and but good job takes the first win yes really oh yeah there multiple ways to send garbage you can get those uh a combination of single Line clears you can clear two lines to just send a little bit uh three lines at a time for a good amount four lines at a time a t-pin double or a t-pin triple or an all clear that's the real damage you will see uh what some of that stuff means later on I won't elaborate on t-pins yet yet but you're going to see them a lot later on tonight again we're rooting for Emma tonight he's on the Le hand side of the screen ye stroke uh from Pendleton Elite the team that uh that player is representing tonight Em's doing great again in game two took the first game there and with great fashion and now here is game two yes playing well uh this is a I don't think our like top little light things are resembling that very well but this is a uh best of five format first to three round wins wins the game and moves on okay yeah thanks for explaining that so uh best of of five so first person to win three games and 's already on the board with one win so that's a great start for him oh that was a good combination there for uh for EMT on the left hand side there very nice triple GNA bring it into a double to get a little combo going you said the te- spin is that that was the phrase you used right explain that again to me and to the the crowd out there because a very important move in this game is that correct yeah an extremely important move uh that you will see more and more as we get into higher higher levels like with uh you know Hunter Baro clay all of them use t- spins very often so a t-pin is when you make a t-shaped hole with your blocks and then you spin a t block into it and it will send just as many um so if it clears two lines that's a t-pin double and it will send just as many lines as clearing four lines doubles the impact yes and with a if it clears three lines that's a t-pin triple and it will send more than a uh quad line clear oh wow like that very very nice very nice the Grays were referring the gray blocks referring to as junk and so that that will continue to rise the level and you can say junk you can say garbage garbage oh that's what it was yes yes okay something like that oh okay right there we go that's tied all right well you know in tournament play you just kind of expect it to be close you want you both players doing their best right so one to one it's a it's okay start yeah we're narrowing the field down to the best players so it's going to get close it's going get close absolutely so again EMT on the left hand side tied up now one to one for the the match and so the oh oh boy Strokes s some great damage through okay but Em's hanging in there oh two quads okay impressive though as em was almost at the top of his screen he he to fight and look at how well he's doing now it's about even he got some very desirable blocks ye stroke sending through some combos you got to build up a little bit more before he can do some more damage so that gives EMT some time to recover yeah good point good point yeah this is a close match and with each passing game it becomes even more important to for the player to do their best and I can see they're both trying their hardest it looks great there we go pretty even he's almost in a position where he can yep he's clear a bit of that garbage well done Emma he's he's playing hard yeah there's the quad what a battle yeah this one's very close yeah I like how you can see the time as it's been going is the time is is that a time there yeah 1 minute 14 seconds oh yeah it's on both sides I was about to say that uh and it's covering his time but it just noticed that it's on both yeah oh big damage coming through from stroke oh that's what the red meant oh I saw the red happen yeah the red means you're in danger it means panic okay oh misplacement oh man can he recover can he recover oh I see all those X's now above his screen he's working hard wow okay all right he lasted about as long as he could absolutely he fought to the bid end on that one so now we're two games to one so this is really important for EMT to to really try to get a win here in this game otherwise it' be elimination is that right yes okay yeah see he's got to win two more rounds before ye stroke can win one okay yep but if anybody can do it my money's on emit to make this happen he's hitting his space bar very hard apparently uh I don't experience this much because I'm not really in the room that often but apparently he's known for hitting his space bar very hard okay okay I can understand that it feels you know just better more impact you know sure sure it sends more blocks definitely totally so yeah well we're sure rooting for EMT he's he's trying his very best hanging in there smashing the space far you would say oh there we go he's got a line block right there that's very good oh boy well he's countering right back with some big damage though oh un okay all right well boy e stroke again yeah from Pendleton elite team took the win over emit but boy got a hand at emit he really tried hard got the first game win that was exciting yes and never gave up he did not get three OED no he did not get three never gave up the 3-1 unfortunately that is the of the season for EMT okay okay the heart of a tiger though that EMT I tell you he tried his best and we sure give him a lot of credit we are down to four cyber Tigers left in the tournament we have Baro X dark ninja going up against anano route for the left side that is Baro that is your cyber tiger all right so here we go yep here we go it'll be interesting for someone like me to see the maybe the differences in playing style the speed maybe even as we uh yeah yeah they're very different in play style like EMT usually goes for more like uh he usually goes more for the quads uh dark ninja he really likes the t- spins he's the first t- spins and on the season look like Baro was fourth place which is a probably very high ranking I would think he setting up sp there it is the t- spin double if you can see it it's too fast to happen so quickly wow there he goes getting some good combos aqu quad is setting up a t- spin but wow very nice Baro very very well done dark ninja did not need that extra t- spin that he set up Anan is going to top out before that yeah well done okay going on now into game two again rooting for the left hand side with dark ninja T spin double he setting up a triple and a double who who and that's enough damage that was an incredibly fast game wow that was like under 10 seconds nice quick round very nice in and out of the second round going into the third Bara needs one more round to be done for the day and move on in the tournament he is going to Mis drop that though know that can happen I'm sure as you're intensely focused and it's just a matter of one you know One Tap of the keyboard and yeah you can misplace a a piece but yeah no matter what level you play of Tetris there's one constant one wrong tap might just like end the match yeah luckily it was at the beginning of the match so it's not as significant you can fix that here you go he's playing more for the quads now he is not really in the position to do any ke spins but for a lot of quads yeah he's done four quads back to back he's going to break his streak there oh wow and that that is it right match is over yes match is over well done good three 0 for Baro he's moving on in the tournament excellent another cyber tiger moving on to the next round very nice perance yeah very very good okay all right all right next up hopefully uh the same name jokes can go away because because we have uh clay going up against Jaden 445 all right so clay here he's uh going up yeah Jaden 445 here we go match is about to start they are in the room route for the left side that is clay that is your cyber tiger that is night walk okay very very good seed seven versus seed 10 this should be a pretty good match this should be very even match yeah good point Jaden all right there's a te- spin double setting up the t- spin triple into another double that's about the same combo that was doing great great start it happens so fast you really have to focus even when you're just watching it you know to appreciate all those t-pins in the moves it's yeah impressive I still don't know how they set them up I at least know like about when they're coming cuz I can see the t-shape hole ah yes I can at least call it out I barely know how to commentate it I just know how to say that it's about to happen happen and and then you can see the Damage Done on the other side when those things happen looks like clay has got his opponent kind of on the ropes here he needs a bit more damage a quad coming through from Jaden though okay it's going to take a little bit more from clay he's not really in a position to do any big damage that can put Jaden away but neither is Jaden for play okay there we go there he's making some room now yeah they're both just trying to get into their preferred uh Comfort positions to get those lines s yeah I do do notice you can see the uh the upcoming pieces they in the middle of the screen for Clay on the Very extreme right for for Jaden yeah helps the player know what's coming next and they can kind of strategize a bit Yeah they have a lot more like strategy mechanics in this version of Tetris they have the next column so you can see what block is next yeah and also each player has a hold where they can press left shift on their keyboard to store whatever block is being uh oh is about to be like on the screen ah I see that okay they they both have a piece in the hold compartment yeah so if you don't like the block that is about to be sent you can swap it out for whatever you have in hold interesting I'm glad you pointed that out I do not remember that from the first time I commentated so very cool and I can see they're both utilizing that mhm it's extremely important yeah in competitive Tetris yeah which somehow is a thing so crazy oh this is this is a big difference when I play Tetris as a as a middle school or maybe Elementary kid oh wow okay very good clay takes the takes the win yeah the game has been extremely uh revamped like I don't think even in the like first iteration like the Game Boy stuff of Tetris I don't think they ever had hard drops right right I think you're right um that was when I first started playing with the actual old Game Boy which uh goes a long time back but here we are tetrio game number two play he won the first game and uh about to win the second wow yeah he pulled off a t- spin triple into double and that was big damage coming through impressive impressive work clay good job on that much faster round than one much faster yeah okay game three here clay wins he moves on this is a big win y yes here we go starting off well it's exciting to see the Cyber Tigers advancing on oh I'm sorry go ahead Jaden sorry I was calling out the triple and the double again okay yep thanks for doing that for viewers out there it's it's helpful when you can comment on those occurrences big yes Jaden his screen is red that means it's time to put him to bed he's hey all right another cyber tiger makes it through he is the winner I saw him pull up that text box I believe he was saying GG oh okay okay very good that is Clay moving on in the bracket I believe he's a the most likely matchup is one of the best players in the division stalo up next for him I believe that's SE oh wow he'll have his hands he'll have his hands cut out or his hands full for that match yes big matchup coming up next for Firestorm next week when we get back into bracket is it next week I it might not be I'm not sure okay I'm not sure either I think we got spring break Shenanigans going on oh it's about that time of year that's true yeah anyway we have uh that is Clay right there and yeah he is it's not clay actually I apologize it's Jordan Jordan mixed up yeah Jordan he's playing G gjn notice the uh maybe Korean characters there in the username his opponent which is uh very neat I find very very cool yes sorry it's difficult for me to decipher that uh I wasn't talking about uh the other person I was talking about uh Jordan with his what is that I'm trying to find the right word no vowel name you know oh okay go right whenever I forget what vowels are called I think to the continents yeah yeah oh no I don't think of the continents I think of um that game show Wheel of Fortune oh yeah Wheel of Fortune yeah right it's a whole mechanic in the game buying a vowel buy a vowel okay so pretty even match so far um at least with the gray garbage there yeah daily reminder that uh left side of the screen is who you're rooting for that's right that's right yes I'm unfortunate misplacements there for Jordan yeah here we go quad coming through though and so I uh I read a note here that uh just like original Tetris says the longer you play the game the faster the game picks up perhaps uh so that's interesting too a mechanic of that so the longer the games last minute two minutes long the quicker starts to happen yes I think roughly like 3 minutes is when it's like all right you need to hurry up we need a winner of this round so it will really speed things along yeah that's when it gets to ridiculous speeds that are guaranteed to end it basically within the next 30 seconds okay okay so all right Jordan uh loses game one but that's okay we it's the best of five so first player to make three wins moves on y see if he can come back here against gjn there's a t- spin double he's going to need to stay on the side of the screen the triple double set up oh very nice yeah more and more I'm starting to see that happen J I'm glad you're pointing it out because I can sort of see them begin to to be there wow very well done great comeback in game two he responded very very well very good now it's tied up let's see if Jordan can keep up this momentum that he has gotten see that happened fourth place overall in the regular season Jordan tied uh tied with one of our guys right into double set up yeah he's tied with a Baro I believe very nice yeah sets up the double there it is very ni sets up another double is he going to set up another one yes he is could it be I believe that'll work it no it won't okay all right yeah he's just going to settle for the quad and have to break his back to back streak oh yeah um the more te- spin triples uh t-pin doubles or quads you get that adds to your back to back score and the higher your back to back score uh the more damage you do okay okay very good and it gets broken by getting a line clear that isn't one of the three that I just listed okay so it's got to be consecutive in nature yeah back to back there we go very nice two quad impressive wow I can see in the background his teammates are quite impressed by those sequence of events good job to Jordan all right Jordan on Match point he needs to win this round or if necessary the next to move on keep and trible into to double the signature combo that's going to be enough wow that that was amazing I couldn't even hardly watch I mean it just happened so fast so wow well done well done uh Jordan with the win moving on round excellent yes very very good and it looks like with all of our cyber Tigers advancing only one has dropped out unfortunately we must say goodbye to one of them right here yeah in tonight's Canon event cyber tiger versus cyber tiger we got Hunter it is the Canon event of the night yeah wow root for whoever you want Hunter is on the left Alex is on the right no matter what a cyber tiger will advance no matter what a cyber tiger is out of the playoffs oh wow hard to yeah hard when this thing happens but you know again with the way the tournament is set up these things happen yep and they I believe they will continue to happen okay yeah I think you're right I think you're right that cyber tiger could face a cyber tiger again next round I think Baro and Jordan might be facing off next time okay Hunter got the win there defeated Alex there for game one mhm yeah what kind of other uh matchups would we have the winner of this face is ye stroke so ye stroke's got a chance at a three Pat against uh the Cyber Tigers oh wow hopefully we can break that Trend right yes yeah okay Hunter here is uh seems like is a little bit more in control I see the red that went round okay yeah the red means not good right yeah the r the red means Panic okay yep y see if you saw that happen to Alex the righted around his uh yeah the border that he was in trouble I see there we go Hunter on Match point he needs one more round win to move on he's going to scratch his head yeah during the match okay definitely confident or maybe he just really needed that scratch the quad coming through got a t- spin double yeah there we go oh W okay Hunter moves on yet the star player continues his run through the playoffs yep yep and I believe yeah I believe going to be Hunter versus ye stroke I think you're right oof o yeah the captain of the team is going to get a chance to avenge two cyber tigers that have fall that happens yeah it's it' be a perfect time for that to happen uh during the next match and so okay very very good wow couple of cyber Tigers we got to say goodbye to you know but they had a great season really I mean they just came to all the practices and showed up and did their very best so we got to hand it to them I mean just hold your head up high um all right uh do you mind getting some sponsors while I get be happy to do that figured out yeah this is really really neat you know I just come here and am impressed by the production uh from top to bottom all the players and the staff and the coaches and so a lot of this can't be done without the without the sponsors and so shout out to Adams Wells Adams Wells here locally um internet provider uh yeah directly responsible for Esports players to be able to compete because of their incredibly fast and reliable fiber internet service if you're in the market for internet TV or phone service check out adamswells.com again that's adamswells.com big thank you to them for sponsoring the Esports team thanks also to the Moose Garage in bluon uh special thanks to their for their support check out the garage here in town they're on Main Street Main in W bash in the corner there Game Cafe room music venue for the Youth of bluon a safe great place elementary students middle school students I'm not sure if there's an age limit there but a big thanks to the Moose garage for them also auction it or auction it do you have a favorite nonprofit that could use an awesome fundraising idea auction it is an online and in-person auction platform um that can help your nonprofit host a great Charity Auction so again auction.io is where you can find them at and so we thank uh big big thanks to those sponsors for making this happen yes auction very cool they're on my jersey oh auction yeah there it is there it is they're very cool they're very cool all of our sponsors are absolutely absolutely uh we will see you uh next time for Tetris well well I mean next time is tomorrow when you'll see OverWatch but yes on April 7th the tetrio bracket will continue with our matchups I believe uh if my if my calculations are correct oh yeah perfect I didn't even need to write this down there it is there it is we are going to have Hunter okay so on one side of the bracket we're going to have Clay the lone cyber tiger over on that side of the bracket going up against stalo seed two of the entire bracket is going to be a difficult battle let's see if clay can pull through on April 7th meanwhile on the other side of the bracket with all of our other cyber Tigers that's right I'm waiting for the switch over there we go there they are we have on this side of the bracket we have three cyber tigers in the top four that's very impressive we're going to have the captain of the squad Hunter taking on Yeet stroke and on the other side we are going to have Jordan versus B another Canon event will be played can four cyber Tigers left in the tournament let's see on April 7th how many will be remaining but as usual at least one of them is going to go I know it's sad to sad to see that happen but boy what a great season what a great season what a great representation for the bluff and cyber Tigers four in the last you know in the brackets here as they continue on it's just great it's just a great tribute to their hard work and it all pays off tournament time so good job to those guys been a great season for EMT and Alex who are unfortunately out being a great season for Hunter Jordan Baro and Clay we're going to continue their runs A month's time absolutely yeah absolutely so a month more to practice hone their skills get ready to go and uh yeah hopefully that their season will continue on even Beyond April 7th that'd be really wonderful to see that yes it would be very good but anyway that is all the matches we've got for tonight uh thank you for tuning in with us this evening join us tomorrow for the first round I mean our first round everyone that isn't two teams first round of OverWatch 2 you'll get to see me playing a little bit probably not because I'm the support but like you'll see a little bit of me well best of luck to you Jaden and your teammates for that I hope it goes well tomorrow night for you thank you yes it's OverWatch cyber Tigers versus Gibson okay is that 5:00 P PM start time like like tonight okay all right very good very good yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] aahah [Music] n [Music]

hello and welcome to the select board update for the meeting that happened on Wednesday March 5th I am Yolanda Greaves the host of Around the Clock as well as the current chair of the ashin select board for thanks so thanks for listening to this update we started our meeting a little bit late after 7 o'clock after having had an executive session we jumped in to Citizens participation we had Donna rower who is currently on the Council on Aging she is the vice chair she came in to request that we reduce that committee from 9 to 7 which we then did later in our meeting during our consent agenda but they are also looking for volunteers so if you are a senior or not quite yet a senior but want to help out and participate they have a meeting the first Thursday of the month from 10:00 at the Ashen Senior Center if you're looking to participate you can fill out a talent Bank form and then take it from there we also had then a legal update from Lisa me our lead legal uh Town Council she talked to us a little bit about NSTAR the eversource project case that hap that started probably about five or six years ago still ongoing nothing there Burnham circle is a section of town where road work was done the developer didn't finish things and we as a town were brought into that we also had an update on the ugc and Gainer property that is two different uh pieces of litigation that it's going on for about the property that is up on Memorial Drive and neither has been concluded yet from there we then had an update from Rob Sher former member of the select select board he is the town representative to the MBTA advisory committee uh there was certain committees that you don't need to be a select Bard or planning board member but you can be appointed to that so he came to give us an update on some of the budget issues that's going on with that as well as the expectations for some increased Regional Rail which may mean some e increased trains coming through town some increased train traffic and then the other discussion was a little bit about the quiet Zone that we're still looking for but we're not sure if it's going to happen and do we want it to happen so be tuned uh in for more updates on that we then went into our old new business we had an update about the recent tri board meeting so the tri board meeting is Select board school committee and finance committee as well as superintendent and town manager assistant Town manager uh they had their Finance person from the school as well as our town Treasurer and basically talking about the fiscal year 26 tax uh budget process so fiscal year 26 starts on July 1st of 2025 and looking at what our expected revenue is and what our expected uh expenses are and the fact that the two do not match and what are we going to do to either try to make them match either by increasing revenue or using one-time funds or reducing services and bringing that EXP expense expectation down so be tuned and paying attention for more conversation on that we then discussed uh a little bit about a communication plan so we have Beth Reynolds who is our economic development director as well as Communications and she has uh Jordan working with her who they do a lot of the events at the corner spot as well as put out newsletters and information about what's going on in town and we will be getting an update that will actually be pushed out to our next meeting we had an update on the dog park yes the dog park is still going forward it's been quite a process we just had bids opened where we are looking to uh actually start construction sometime this spring so we had some our bids we're now working with an organization called the Stanton Foundation who does dog parks uh getting grants from them as well as some CPC funds so keep tuned because most likely there will be shovel in the ground sometime this spring for an Ashland dog park and the location for that is going to be off of Memorial Drive just past trolley Brook Trail we then had a discussion about an open meeting law complaint that was filed against the select board uh there's a member of the public who um filed a complaint we had probably five uh executive session sets of minutes from 2024 that had not been released yet and as volunteers it's the process process sometimes to make sure that happens we work with our town staff so those were reviewed in executive session on Wednesday so now once they get finalized by legal team we will then be able to release them out uh at after our next meeting we talked about the town meeting warrant uh it will be it has closed yep uh so intent it's not closed intentions were due if you have articles for Town Meeting those were due by February 28th remember town meeting is always the first Wednesday in may we then talked about the baa Grant and select board grant program so if you would like to participate and submit a grant request if you are a nonprofit you can go into our baa grant program where you can request up to $4,000 in one cycle in in one period and 2,000 in the next if you are not a nonprofit and would still like to apply there is the ability to apply for a small amount from our account we also discussed the select board scholarship we offer two one we offer two $2,000 scholarships to two seniors that are graduating that live in Ashland if you're a high school graduate you don't have to go to Ashland Public Schools but you do have to be graduating high school and live in Ashland and those applications are available on the town website or possibly through your school from there we talked about some REM some volunteer opportunities that are going on we approved our consent agenda and then we received an update from this uh Town manager on uh some Town manager some other projects um we we looked at he T talked us to us about the downtown project and we signed and approved a memorandum of understanding so that the building where NYX is in there's there was no good place for them to attach and go underground to do their utilities so they're going to be coming right next door to the sidewalk and'll be going through the town Town Hall parking lot and going to the back of the building so that we can really get rid of all the wires that are going on that are currently in downtown and we're hoping for that project to be finished sometime in October we finished our meeting at about 20 of 10 so we were done in a timely manner uh and that was the meeting for March 1st from the select board if you have any questions make sure you reach out to select board members or Town manager for any questions and of course you can go watch the full meeting if you want to see the full detailed discussion on each of these items

agenda we are looking at decision making and for House Bill 622 HD1 we are going to uh replace this bill with the language and Senate version Senate Bill sd1 and basically it defects the date to October of each year rep the reporting date yes okay uh Senate Bill I'm sorry House Bill 622 HD1 passed with amendments uh chair corrector I five five eyes recommended recommendations is adopted thank you moving on to House Bill 1055 HD1 relating to Early Childhood educator special fund recommendation of chair is to pass with amendments making it effective upon its approval chair Vol I any members voting no any members voting with reservations here none all five members present recommendations adopted thank you moving on House Bill 904 HD1 this is relating to Charter Schools recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments uh the amendments are to retain statutory language requiring an annual board report changing reference from board to commission as appropriate um and third inserting language requiring the board to review and approve the commission's report before submission to the legislature and governor and public okay with that hille 9904 HD1 passed with amendments any members voting no any members voting with reservations hearing n all five members voting I recommendations adopted thank you and moving on to our final bill House Bill 620 HD1 related relating to education the recommendation is to pass with amendments and we're deleting its contents and inserting the contents of Senate bill 530 sd1 which is a senate version of this bill and it encompasses stakeholders feedback and also allows doe to fully Implement on the intent of this bill members questions the recommendation Senate Bill 620 sorry House Bill 6 20 ht1 pass with amendments any member voting no any members voting with Rec with reservations hearing none five members all voting I recommendations adopted I just want to say that I got to serve with um representative Tom his office was right next door to me he carried his Braille machine everywhere he went and you could always hear him on his Braille machine yes and he was always with his Braille and I was always impressed that he he could do that um so yeah so I that this is a really good bill Madam chair so thank you thank you that's the end of our agenda thank you this committee is a journey

21 so that 1325 students times that factor equals about 24 more students those students generate $98,000 and they've never done that before you have these other costs to me would you be9 000 to do it that's the report that gives me the authority gives us the authority to add it to our budget and you see that positive number out there to the right that means they have a higher number than we do which is zero ours is zero and this is the first year they've done it but I wait I try to be really careful on the state isue then we add to 19.4 million and it becomes 1959 so that's distri they also gave us a onetime allocation of 50 55,000 for additional capital we can comine them both if you see the asterisk there the description of these extra funds ispl free and reduced program lunches and District additional assistance which needs Capital this for year 25 supplemental funding so I could leave it at a zero and they would always have 154,000 allocated for the district I don't want push it in and then we have till May 15 we have May 12th meeting is that Monday in May at the May 12th meeting there may be some significant changes and there may be some other funds we can capture and that's when they line up the student from the last couple Tuesdays ago February 25th was our 100th day and that's the day they take the final count for the district but to document those students it's called make Integrity so if there's three students there that might have had some excess absences or weren't completely documented correctly our student count could drop but if we picked up a few more again before that 100th age they might bump that so I may be coming back to you the May 12E but I like to have zero all the way across the end that means we budgeted exactly what they allow us to and then we can live with that awesome well like I said is an action item I approval of a second verision of a 2425 expenditure B budget um final fy2 budget will not be determined until April 10 Department toiz okay in a second [Music] second all right moving along to our Personnel report soce Pres morson we're actually going to now since we switched the agenda around we're going back to 88 now which is kind of the whatever numbering system we changed around Y and I will be presenting this evening with your permission since assistant superintendent wol was unable to join us this evening absolutely so first up the original 88 um District staff is recommending the approval of the salary placement schedule for the 1.0 ft cbhs athletic director position last month at the board meeting you approved the uh fulltime ad position but we did not bring you a placement schedule at that time so um just as a reminder the switch to a full-time ad was a revenue neutral move for the district because we eliminated a full-time athletic secretary position which made up for the balance of the ad contract so on the page following the agenda item you will see the recommended um salary placement schedule and this is a full-time position it is a 12 Monon position so it's working 2080 2090 hours a year depending on the whole leap year thing um and you can see what the the base placement would be this is not a guaranteed move this is not a salary schedule this is a placement schedule so we use the years of experience and the degree level of the applicant to determine where they would begin but they're not guaranteed any kind of moves through that schedule this is just for initial placement it mirrors our Middle School assistant principal placement schedule and the reason for that is the high school ad does not have any administrative responsibility so it's a standalone position just for athletics um this person does not evaluate staff other than coaching staff so we feel that this is a a fair um salary schedule and to that end we've had around 30 applicants for the job just G ask they have um I spoke to Mr pra who is our administrator who oversees that Athletics today um they have they have it winow down right now they believe to three who they would like to interview on March 27th and before that there will be a call going out during the evening we'll have open hours for the public to come in and meet the ad candidates and offer feedback to the selection committee because um cbhs recognizes that the High School athletic director position is very public facing and does interface with lots of different members of our community interfaces with lots of different parents so we're going to send that call out across the district to and get it on our Maran website to encourage people to come and offer input um because so many community members do interact with most of our coaches are community members not full-time staff members so this is the placement schedule for that and so I would ask for your approval of the placement schedule I think this is much needed in our district so I'm really excited about us time I agree because every sport needs to have an overseer so I I okay this is an action item I would like to approve the salary placement schedule for the 12mth athletic director position at and the second all second all in favor okay back to you okay so every year we receive rates from our insurance company our health insurance provider who provides for our employee health insurance this year um Nationwide Health insurance premiums are going up significantly and how health insurance premiums work it's on a three-year rolling average and they compare what we can contribute um for our premiums to how much we bill in claims and that helps determine what our rates will be for the coming year Nationwide rates are increasing between 20 and 30% for um personal health insurance premiums and one of the things our district our three-year average loss ratio that's how much the claims were against the premiums was 107% so so our three-year rolling average they like us to stay between 80 and 84 kind of Bank you know some money against future losses last year was a particularly High year we had about um 150% loss ratio but our three-year average really helped us out what I would like you to know is um The Proposal that is before you this evening is from our current provider um and our manager for our health insurance is called chyos and our health insurance that is that is available to employees is called United Healthcare UMR um because of the increase in rates it was a significant increase in rates you can see here it was about 18% when all was said and done we actually have a broker who can also shop for us for other rates so we met with the broker um last Thursday and instructed the broker to seek rates from other companies on our behalf and um one company failed um refused to bid because of our loss ratio um another one was a rate increase far higher than chyos we had one um company come in with a lower increase but they could not guarantee the rate and the insurance coverage for employees would have been abysmal and so I have decided to go forward with a recommendation to you about our insurance with a few other pieces of information as we've been talking about through the course of the school year about our enrollment and the need to cut money from our budget you've been very wise and have um eliminated some positions due to attrition to help save money in our budget when we saw the rate increase and and District staff administrative staff and director staff you heard from Miss wolf last month had done a very very good job cutting costs you heard that from Mr Livingston tonight especially in our capital accounts we were able to reduce projected spending on Personnel related items by $1.1 million we knew when we did that we're hedging against potential you know continued loss of students we know Yavapai County has the lowest rate of birth to age 18 in the state of Arizona and that that population continues to diminish in our County so we knew because of that we would probably be continuing to face some enrollment decline we knew that we needed to in order to face a 10% student enrollment decline we would need to cut $982,000 from the budget we are able to cut 1.1 million with the idea that that would enable us to provide raises and then we got our health insurance rates so we looked at a couple of things we have been offering our employees as the basic plan the hdhp 2500 which is a $2500 deductible if we continue to offer that our rates would go up almost 500,000 which killed our capacity to give a raise so instead we went back to our provider we took a hard look at and asked is there something between an hdhp 2500 and an H hdhp 5000 that we can give our employees nothing currently exists in our group like our large group of multiple employers that would enable us to do that so we sat down we took a pretty hard look at where we were financially and we figured out that if we made the basic plan for everybody an hdhp 5000 and we have the money we do to contribute to their HSA so what we're proposing as our plan for next year for our employee health insurance is that the basic Plan offered is the hdhp 5000 they can buy down to the 2500 or they can still do the PO but we are going to put $1,250 in each employee who takes our insurance um we'll put $1,250 in their HSA for them to help cut the distance between the increase and the deductible by half the other thing that we're going to do and Katherine verer who is our district RN and the chairman of our district Wellness committee has been bugging me about this for years and this was the year um we are going to offer some Wellness incentives for our employees so we'll have a list we have an employee group working on a list we've already received a list from um chyos to help employees could choose up to two items from that list could be like an annual physical a mamogram um like glucose screenings things like that for each of those two activities they choose will'll put another $250 in their HSA so they can earn up to $500 kind of in Wellness bucks if we want to call them that and they'll receive $1,250 from the district to put so all told if somebody uses their insurance to the fullest their deductibles only going up $750 and there is no coverage difference between the 5,000 and the 2500 this year in your packet you'll see um the IRS has raised some of the um thresholds for contributions the insurance company raised some of the maximum out of pocket a little bit um for example tedoc will no longer be free IRS says we have to charge for teledocs I think it's like 20 bucks or 50 bucks or something like that um so there were some changes at the federal level those are reflected in the plan so what we did was we work you know we worked and worked on this trying to figure it out like how could we maximize it for employees because health insurance is a very valuable reason why a lot of people come to work and so what I did was um we put together a presentation Mr Livingston um and myself and Miss wolf contributed we put together a presentation and then last Tuesday Mr Livingston and I took the show on the road and we started at 6:45 in the morning and we presented to every employee group in the district so we presented to Del Rion Heritage staff before school that day we presented to district office staff we presented to um facilities maintenance custodial transportation we presented at Territorial and we presented at cbhs um we took employee feedback during the meetings and we strongly encouraged employees to email us with questions or concerns or additional ideas I received no email um HR received none and Mr Livingston received none so the questions that we fielded were more about things like what's the maximum HSA contribution can people still contribute on their own yes um and what do we know exactly what all the wellness activities will be can my hiking Club count we're like okay things like that please bring back through your superintendent advisory committee group and so I would tell you there was quite a bit of interest in the wellness activities and we want to emphasize that because employees that Focus On Wellness are less likely to use health insurance later so we're trying to be a little bit proactive So the plan that you have in front of you tonight is the one that is that we would offer the hdhp 5000 as the basic plan that we would provide the $1,250 to the HSA for every um employee who participates in our plan we cannot do that for people that take the PO that's not allowable by law but if they do the 25 or 5,000 we can and they can earn up to $500 more with the wellness activities so that's the proposal that we have for you this evening that's the exact proposal that was rolled out to the employee group we solicited feedback from them we asked our broker to seek um additional and just so you know the um when the broker came back with um an increase that was less than what chyos was projecting um this may not be kir Ross's final offer to us this would be the maximum that we would have to pay because they know we're shopping we're hoping that they'll come back with something a little lower um the um our broker was the insurance that the broker was able to put forward to us with a lower um increase was Etna which has very very few providers in this area so we did not feel like that was fair to our employees to not have access to doctor in this area so what you see before you is something that we feel is um is fair it's Equitable and um going this route enables us also to make recommendations in a later board agenda item for some um compensation increases so I'll entertain any questions you might have um says the maximum increase would be 750 for employee is that for the year that is in their deductible that's for the plan year so $750 D they don't have to pay it it's their dedu able increases by 750 if they participate in the wellness activities is that like for surgery or something it could be anything doctor visits whatever you use your insurance for yeah any other questions I do I have a question um you're still shopping right no we're done that's yeah we're done shopping that is absolutely the um our broker shops every every um group out there um refused to respond because of our claims this this is the final recommendation um kyos may come back with a number that's slightly lower we don't know that but this is our final recommendation if they do come back with something lower is that come no this is this is just the max we can't wait because um so we have to um when we issue work agreements to employees on March 15th we have to provide a cover sheet that by law states what their total compensation is and that includes health insurance okay thank you you're welcome we we do this every year yes ma'am I we tried so um maybe next year we won't have as many claims believe me everybody in this room's hoping because it's threeyear average so even if we have a normal claim year our rates could still go up because we're carrying a year that was very very high okay this is an action item I'd like to approve the 2025 26 employee benefits plan is presented and a second all second all in favor than okay J okay um next one is something that we realized we failed to do sometime last spring um we've been doing it in practice because it was mentioned in a board agenda item but we never had you vote on it to publish it so this is a request to publish the base salary portion from M for certified employees so this doesn't include the 16,500 that comes from classroom site fund so if if you turn your agenda item over this is the um certified entry schedule m& o portion only and you'll see a note on the bottom that this is for um certified staff so teaching staff things like that um so when you see the base number the 376 that's the M portion and the classroom site fund portion is 16,500 it's what we been doing in our contracts we just never approved it for publication so that's what we're asking for you for tonight so our teacher entry level pay this year has been 535 it's just we have to specify what comes from M and what comes from classroom Cy emphasize again our teacher base pay entry level just out of college is 535 any questions also is an action item I would like to approve the 2025 2020 20 2025 or is it um the classified wage increase beginning July 1st 2025 actually this is not the wage increase this is the placement schedule oh I'm sorry I messed up it's okay okay approved the 20 2025 20 26 a certified placement salary schedule as presented and the second I'll second all in favor okay okay so the next one is the classified staff wage increase for the 25 26 school year so staff is recommending um this classified staff is we're recommending a wage increase of 50 cents an hour plus 1% so our classified staff this would be um you know secretaries par professionals things like that with the caveat that we're recommending a wage increase of a dollar an hour for all Personnel who are certified to drive a school bus with children as passengers this will increase the cost for the District of $2,947 the 50 cents an hour plus 1% is 123,124 149,90 188 and the impact of Grants because we have several staff our pay from Grants is 29,257 this classified increase begins July 1 and I'd like to differentiate um we we are working hard on making sure that we're increasing our classified wages because um we want to stay number one in front of minimum wage and the 1% helps our classified staff are definitely getting on closer to the retirement end what we know is for example we are in competition with Safeway McDonald's places like that even though our wages are similar remember 12 and a half perc of every employees wage goes to State retirement that's the law and so when they work at Safeway or McDonald's for the same dollar per you know dollar amount per hour they don't lose 12 and a half percent to State retirement and so we need to stay in front of it and stay competitive the reason for the differ with the drivers remember our drivers aren't full-time employees most of them are about halftime but they do receive health insurance but what we did an analysis on average driver wage for other districts in our area and the average driver wage in other districts is $19 an hour ours was riding at about $1 1875 I don't want to lose drivers to neighboring districts when drivers are hard to get and keep um for something like 500 bucks a year so we're recommending that that we bump the driver pay that's people who can drive kids in buses and I want to distinguish there because like we have some Mechanics for example that can drive the buses to like take them out and test the work they've done and stuff but they don't have the kind of license that allows them to drive kids around so they're a typical classified employee compared to someone who can actually drive children talking about like the CDL um CDL with additional certifications on it yep any fur question no I'm just glad that have our drivers make a decent R and if they're going to another school district and they liveing driving back and forth anyway they're to lose that 25 cents an hour so but anyway I just wanted to say I'm really happy we can do that you want me to make the motion yes please okay I motion to put the 2025 2026 classified power rate increases can I get a second please Al all in favor I okay moving along Daniel okay the next is um contract renewals for certified staff and therapists the district is recommending approval of certified staff renewals for the 2526 school year um behind this are all the names of the employees and their wages for you to see their contract amounts staff is recommending an increase of $2500 for all classroom site fund eligible employees and that's certified staff and therapists 1,500 is a permanent dispersement and 1,000 is a dispersement for this year only it'll be reevaluated next year together this is a $2500 raise to be paid out in bi-weekly checks this increase this will increase the distribution from classroom site fund from 16,500 a year to 19 ,000 per year the total cost to classroom site fund including all employee related expenses employer related like the F Medi our contribution to State retirement is $353,900 two4 C increase to our classroom site fund um and when whomever if we have a motion on this I would request that we um pay attention to the action requested because the date is required State Statute okay I have a question I'm not sure how really work all the th so yeah it's like speech therapist yes okay but that's not like um like counseling or anything that lines [Music] up so um our therapist our counsel our guidance counselors at the high school who help students um like pick their courses and we do have um two Grant funded school counselors one at Heritage Middle School and one at territorial okay so when we get a grant employee then it turns into or any of these that were Grant employees that now turn in the grants gone no okay yeah you're welcome um and in this I just when it says action requested yes yep sorry yep you're right good good catch on my Tyle there yes 2526 contracts so it includes the $2500 dispersement from classroom site funds in your packet immediately following the agenda item are the Personnel who are funded from Grants the next Pages after that are all the Personnel funded from M and classroom site fund both okay great that does anybody have any more any questions on this one and this is um an action item we can approve it please motion to approve the 2526 certified contract renewals for certified staff eligible from classroom site fund with the contracts to be issued on March 15 and a second I'll second all in favor Miss Daniels okay um our next recommendation is for administrative and director staff and the reason that this is on a different agenda item is because they cannot be paid from classroom site fund um State Statute stipulates that their funding needs to come from other sources than classroom site fund so District staff is recommending approval of administrative and classified director supervisor contracts for the 2526 school year again down below it should say 26 the salary amounts include a three and a half% increase the total cost to the district for the increase for all positions is $ 52,2 48 eight administrators and three directors continue to receive a $6,000 insurance stien that was um established by the board 16 years ago and the network administrator and District nurse do not receive the additional insurance benefits included in their pay and in also with the most recent administrative hires the total increase $918 and once again the contract renewal list is just follows the agenda item for you okay any questions this is also an action item so motion to approve the 25 is of 26 yes ma'am Administration administrative and director second all in favor okay I miss Heidi just gonna say that right do um so with the Personnel report um you also have the supplement on your table and so on adding together if we do my math here real quick there are there will be six new certified employees with the supplement um one more so three new classified we have um two more resignations and retirements so Al together we have a classified sub we have 10 resignations and we we have a certified change and seven classified changes six extra Duty and 188 time sheets okay any questions two with an action item I motion to approve the personel report in supplement and the second all in favor okay I'm moving on to our for subcription curriculum right yep [Music] okay hi madam vice president of the board um I'll just kind of give you a brief flyover for the course descriptions um there were a lot of adjustments things that were outdated that we've updated um so in the agenda item we'll start with we had we removed cyber security from our oncampus options in partnership with CED so we removed that from the course descriptions and there were some other additions like water management and ecoin in our agricultural sequence so um as a third year that may become an option for our students and at the end of the sequence they'll be awarded a certificate from yapay college and then within our special ed there were some changes some some some clarification if you want to go into detail the color coding um red is we completely removed yellow is either an update or something brand new so sometimes within the course descriptions you'll see a one or two word change or sometimes a brand new course description um depending on the nature of it and and you'll see that as you go throughout in our special ed Department we clarified the math course descriptions and sequence them based on our curricular outcomes so you'll see uh uh math concepts which is fundamental math facts uh goes to pre-algebra then to algebra a algebra b is new for us algebra A and B basically takes one full year of Algebra 1 and breaks it down so a semester of Algebra 1 becomes an entire year for algebra a and then algebra b is the second semester of algebra and then in English uh placement scores were updated as a prerequisite for AEK um which is our dual enroll program and in social studies course descriptions are updated to reflect the removal of Honors Academy requirements that's only in effect for our current software Junior and senior so after that um Honors Academy will no longer be a provided option we now have an honors diploma so we wanted to open up more options for students to take honors classes um and they could cherry pick if they want whereas if they were in the Honors Academy they had to take certain classes but uh we realize that some kids who want to be challenged or sometimes need to be be challenged don't need to just apply to the academy we can recommend them to take certain classes and then some additional certifications are added like I had said to our CTE Department we updated our leadership class descri uh course description so at the last board meeting we had a parent come and express some concerns and and it was necessary for us to update what the requirements were going to be for student council SL leadership class so we updated that and then with the elimination of Honors Academy removed some of those prerequisites to now align with our diploma requirements so we have three diplomas you have your standard um so our basic state standard requirements then you have the vocational one so it's more career and college readiness where it emphasizes more in the CTE category so we would ask that kids they want to take two or more programs that's more of the pipeline they still have to do everything else but this is above and beyond normal requirements and the honors diploma um is highly focused on academics um with yaaay college concurrent and and then dual enrollment programs on campus any questions for no I just I think that it's really great that you guys are looking more into this and then I also appreciate you guys looking into the leadership class course and changing that I just that goes to show that we are listening and I appreciate that yeah thank you any questions no I just think you've done an awesome job you know especially when you have parents you know complaining or saying when you're listening just pleas that we don't always get it right so you got to own it and move on and I have a really good team like I know I'm the one that's presenting but this took my counselors my admin um secretary I mean and my teachers department chair so I they make me look good a thank you m c and this also is our [Music] action and the second second all in favor okay that's it thank [Music] you oh my

we have any public comments okay please have a motion to adjourn moot second Ash and Vivien all in favor I any oppose I have it meeing adjourned

and sometimes 8:00 pm and sometimes on vacation ations but the end product is fantastic for our kids and that's why I did it so I appreciate the board and the leadership on it okay Tim I have a question on the the flooring with the tile and in the Fieldhouse that you say you're going to put concrete back new concrete back in there what's it's an overlay a quarter inch overlay of concrete okay I just curious how thick it was yeah that'll actually help with some of the transitions because we have to make up the tile and and the motor set that's under it so that it's perfect it'll help it because we were trying to figure out how to deal with the transitions at the doors anyway without having to ramp up to them so this will help offset it actually the flooring contractors recommended it to help resolve multiple issues plus give us a new look to that floor instead of similar to what we have here thank you good question any further questions for Terry we'll move on to our last agenda item I'll take a motion for AG so moved and a second all those in favor sign amiz saying I I those opposed

e e e Joe will you let me I think all right there we go hello everyone good evening I will uh call my name is uh Gabriel harp I'm chair of the an arbor energy commission and it's chair I'm calling this meeting to order I'm participating from my home here in an arbor um welcome to the March 11th uh 20125 electronic meeting of the energy commission we'll conduct this meeting like iners meet like inperson meetings and Commissioners during the roll call please indicate your current address um also during the meeting please remain on camera and just as you would be visible during inperson meetings and please M mute your microphone when not speaking uh we uh public comment will be conducted by via telephone only and to speak during the public comment opportunities please call one of the following two toll-free numbers 877 85352 47 or 99 and enter the meeting ID number 956 8718 7876 on your phone this information will also be available on the published agenda in the Public Notices section on the city's website and on the broadcast of this meeting on CTN Channel 16 AT&T channel 99 and online at www.a2gov.org watch CN Joe would you please read the land acknowledgement statement yep um I acknowledge that the land the city of an arbor occupies is the ancestral traditional and contemporary lands of the anab including oawa oju and bodwad and W do peoples I further acknowledge that our city stands like almost all property in United States on lands obtained generally in unconscious ways from indigenous peoples The Taking of this land was formalized by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807 knowing where we live work study and recreate does not change the past but a thorough understanding of the ongoing concept quences of this past can Empower us in our work to create a future that supports human flourishing and justice for all individuals okay and we'll move on to the roll call Joe would you please take the roll call yep um commissioner burwitz president Nan Arbor council member Briggs Ken Manson Wisconsin commissioner colen Garcia I see you I see there we go sorry you see me and now you can hear me I am present and I am in an arbor good uh chair harp present here in an arbor Vice chair Hans not currently seeing um commissioner 11 here and I'm aror council member Malik here from Ann Arbor's second ward commissioner mki here in Ann Arbor and commissioner overc has a late running meeting and is hoping to join us here shortly um chair you have a quorum thank you okay we'll move on to the approval of the agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda as posted and a second so moov commissioner coven Garcia in a second Commission burkwitz uh Commissioners please raise your hand if you'd like to propose changes or discuss an issue seeing No Hands raised all those in favor of approving the agenda as posted U please raise your hand and say I I all those opposed please raise your hand and say no okay the motion the agenda passes the agenda is approved um we'll move on to the approval of the minutes there there a motion to approve the minutes as posted please raise your hand and say commissioner colen Garcia and seconded by commissioner mki um although uh any changes to the agend to the excuse me to the minutes um okay all those in favor of approving the minutes please raise your hand and say I I I all those opposed please raise your hand and say no okay the minutes are approved thank you so much um we will move on to the public input this is an opportunity for people to speak for up to three minutes if you are watching on CTN please call 888- 78899 or 877 85352 47 and enter meeting ID 956 8718 uh 7876 this information is also displayed on the meeting agenda and video feed City staff will select callers that have raised their hand one by one using the last three digits of your phone number to electronically raise your hand to indicate your desire to speak please press star9 on your phone you will hear an automated announcement in the host allowing allowing you to speak when speaking please move to a quiet area and mute any television or background sound so that we may hear you clearly and please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments do we have anyone on the line Joe um first up caller ending in 134 thank you Mr Lang and chair harp Ken Garber 28 h Hill Court thank you for bringing back the carbon pollution impact fee you discussed this at your September 2023 meeting the current version tries to address all your concerns requires little staff time since it only affects buildings of 20,000 square feet so reporting is done through the existing benchmarking ordinance two reporting paths both of them easy no energy modeling required real world example provided electrification cost specified emissions conversion factor explained I read Dr st's Friday email stating that this ordinance is quote almost certainly not legal in Michigan end quote and that the city cannot quote penalize someone for following building code end quote it's really too bad that staff already decided this state law does not directly address the question it's a gray area I've shared a legal argument that notes that there is nothing in the state construction code act that explicitly permits gas and the energy codes are written to be generalized standards usable by governments across the world giving local governments in theory considerable leeway especially in a strong home rulle state like Michigan so legality is an open not closed question a separate question is whether the fee is actually a tax according to the bald Fe Lancing president if deemed a tax fine it could be put before voters Burlington voters approve theirs with with a 2/3 majority but I'm a realist this ordinance is going nowhere still I hope you at least discuss the problem it tries to address fossil fuel infrastructure and new construction this somehow continues five years into a20 in violation of the plan um now on the question of combining the energy and environmental commissions please don't go along with this the energy commission's work has been vital you you developed the Dark Skies ordinance the EV Readiness ordinance and heard true combining commissions will make local government more efficient just like the new Administration is making the federal government more efficient by getting rid of advisory boards for economic data school safety and food safety I worry that the new sustainability commission will just be an OSI Echo chamber without initiatives of the zone why does this matter it's clear now that the a20 goals will not be met 30 seconds that's on all of us not just OSI what we need now is more expert and committed citizen involvement and input not less to address our Collective failure to decarbonize and we need an active and independent energy commission both to support OSI and to hold it accountable thank you um caller and ing in 945 caller ending in 945 if you're talking you're still muted hi my name is Larry junk I'm a resident of Van Arbor 2128 Wallingford Road Third Ward and I'm uh speaking to you tonight in the hopes that this resolution or measure similar similar could be passed this is the uh same resolution to which Ken Garber was speaking resolution 0519 ordinance to promote Energy Efficiency and decarbonization I'm not qualified to speak on the uh legal or political aspects of this my comments will adjust the larger picture our world is careening into a worsening climate crisis caused by the burning of fossil fuels with excess release of CO2 and methane an example in the news recently which you're all familiar with is the LA wildfires caused in large part by a year-long drought due to climate change these fires caused 29 early deaths and many deaths are yet to come due to delayed effects of the deadly air pollution and damages are estimated at over $250 billion another is Hurricane Helen in October 24 where the worst damage was in Ashland North Carolina this hurricane caused 221 early deaths thus far many more yet to come and estimated losses have surpassed 75 billion as a physician I'm particularly concerned about the more widespread effects of fossil fuels and of climate change on health it's now recognized that indoor gas appliances especially stove tops release methane which can contribute to respiratory irritation worsening asthma and deaths among infections caused by climate change lime disease and Deni are among those already worsening in this country and many other infections are expected to worsen deaths caused directly by excess heat now surpass 10,000 per year in this country and the highest risk is in agricultur workers elderly and disabled persons and persons of low income the proposed resolution would help an arbor to reduce its carbon emissions in accord with the provisions of the city's carbon neutrality pledge passed by the city council in November 2019 and a day20 plan approved by Council in June 2020 in the past year the majority of developers of large residential development have found a way to go fossil free and this attest to the workability of doing so supported by the recognition of a long-term economic benefit to the residents the desire of many of their potential home buyers and renters to have clean sustainable energy and to have the energy of the present and the future rather than the dirty energy of the past I hope that this uh commission if you cannot approve this resolution will'll find a way to incorporate its principles that of encour thank you devel free thank you thanks um no further callers okay thank you so much um okay well we will move on to the first item then on our agenda um and this is a resolution that was uh brought forward um to the commission um this is a resolution recommending an orance to prod promote Energy Efficiency and decarbonization and new construction and major Renovations through a carbon pollution impact fee and this was a revision uh revision of a uh this was revision of of one that was Prior introduced previously um before we get into that um Joe I want to pass it off to Joe um who I think wanted to just uh add a few notes about our discussion um potentially today today and then um and then I will come back and I believe I believe we need a motion to open discussion on this as well is that accurate yeah so move in a second commissioner M thank you yeah um just one quick note uh for those listening in case they hear any of this problem and just as a reminder Commissioners too um a privilege confidential memo was distributed to the commission members earlier today on some of the potential legal implications of this resolution uh but I do want to note the spe the specific contents of the memo are not able to be discussed due to that privileged nature so just as a reminder to folks here and then in case anyone is wondering on the call back to you thank you um and just just to set up the the conversation one one um or the discussion and I'll open it up in in in just a minute and if if we might um if Commissioners could um as your uh perhaps sharing questions or comments if you might uh try to bundle those together and and and if you raise your hand I'll I'll try to move move through folks as as we work through this um you know one one of the reasons that that as as I said before um this was brought previously to the commission there was some feedback given um uh draft was circulated um to a few uh different Commissioners and also I believe to members of the other members of the public um and I believe it was important to bring this resolution uh forward again to a discussion of the commission sort of broadly um around some of the incentives disincentives and measures that we might have um to reduce um carbon emissions and in particularly buildings in in an arbor and so um with that said um I will say you know some one of the things I hope we can also think about in the discussion of this resolution is also uh what other um measures might be appropriate um as well and to think about what kinds of things uh might be done to improve this resolution or um perhaps think about other ways that it might uh modifications that might be made um to the resolution as well um in ways that might uh achieve its goals um and and imagine that there's a variety of different ways to accomplish that um so with that said I'll open it up for discussion if everyone has any any comments or clarifications or or questions that they they would like to um address commissioner mki um I was hoping that I might be able to introduce the resolution um since uh I've worked on it um a significant amount first of all I want to acknowledge um the work done on this by Ken Garber this is largely um done at his initiative he was the one that um brought it to the Commission in uh 2023 and asked for that it be considered um he wrote the initial draft um with a little bit of input um from me but um this is largely his work he's continued to put a lot of work into it I also want to acknowledge that um in December when we discussed bringing this back to the commission um that we agreed that a small group a non Quorum um subset of the commission would look at it again um and um chair harp stepped up and um met with uh Ken and me I met once with um Ken alone we reviewed the entire text and I should say the entire video of the September 2023 uh discussion and we noted all of the various comments that were made at that time so uh first of all it I just really want to acknowledge the work that's been done by by various people there were also people from the community that reviewed this and provided input including some of the content that's in the footnotes um I want to also because I think it's important for our second topic tonight um review the context and um Ken Garber has done that already but I think all of us know the last 10 years have been the hottest on records in in the industrial EGS and since we've been keeping records um CO2 concentrations are now 425 parts per million what a lot of people don't know certainly any lay person listening to the meeting um won't know necessarily that the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere was between 170 and 300 parts per million over the last 800,000 years so as long as there have been humanik um species on the planet it's between 100 and 70 and 300 PPM we're now at 425 and what's really key is that the rate of change is far faster than that's ever occurred before that means it's very difficult for species to be able to adapt to this rapid change in our climate another point of context um an Arbor's current emissions are roughly very very actually very close to two million metric tons of CO2 per year that's um the city of an arbor including the University of Michigan we have been decarbonizing according to the greenhouse gas inventory the expanded inventory um that we reviewed in November of last year since 2015 at the rate of 0 038 metric million metric tons of CO2 per year that's a little less than 2% per year if we are to reach our stated goal of Net Zero by 2030 we have to decarbonize at a rate that's 7.5 times faster than that that's not 7.5% that's 750 per faster than what we're doing right now if if we wanted to if we were to move the date out to 2040 it would still be three times faster than what we're doing right now 300% I think most of us have worked in organizations before that have tried to make change and I think we all know that that rate of change in in a human organization is really really tough in indeed it's almost unprecedented in an organization like we have reflected here where we're not in a command control environment we are in an environment where we have essentially 120,000 independent actors so I think that context is really important as we think about what is it that we can do to accelerate our decarbonization activities and in that spirit this is one of the the reasons that we're looking at buildings as we know make up about a third of emissions um by the way at the University of Michigan buildings make up almost 98 % of its scope one and scope two emissions our our our inventory includes a little bit more than that I think as we know Transportation but um it's buildings are really really important um let's see I wasn't got my notes here sorry um so as the whereas Clauses State um there have been 32 developments that have been approved since the a20 plan was approved that have are natural gas connected and um the number of square feet are there but what's important is that the emissions from those buildings eat up about the equivalent just these new buildings eat up the equivalent of about 2third of a year of decarbonization activities so it's not insignificant especially if more and more buildings um are built um with natural gas applian um the trend is a positive trend but nevertheless they're still being built in ant Arbor and certainly in in the surrounding Community we know that there's two ways of addressing this one is with carrots and one is with at sticks and this has been also emphasized in this meeting and in memos that have been given to the commission um most recently the Planning Commission approved a new development um where a 30 % height bonus was given that's a significant benefit in my view to the developer um there's another option of course and that's what's reflected in this this um resolution which is that there can also be regulations that have sticks and I think we've all been in in in entities that have used a combination of carrots and sticks um I can look at my family and there was a combination of caran sticks when it had to do with my behavior and we know that the city uses carrots and sticks we know that the county the state the and the country uses carrots and sticks and so what we've seen so far is that um carrots um have worked in in some degree in some cases but also those come at a cost and some of the cost is is that we're seeing very very tall buildings throughout the city and a lot of people are are pushing back on that um as been mentioned in some of the comments sent to uh the uh the commission um there are cities albeit in other states that have taken action along these lines um Burlington Vermont did so we discussed that back in 2023 um since then Ashlin Oregon is charging a fee for all new natural gas um appliances um that are are purchased um Los Angeles has an all electric building code granted these are all uh in other states but these are not completely foreign to the environment that we're in in operating here these are not examples from Japan or um a European country or something like that so we known all along that the legality of this is an issue um we um have been provided with um now three different uh perspectives on this we have a memo from missy we have a memo that I sent out with some um input from Ken that came from a uh graduate of Michigan law school who's now practicing law in Minnesota hopefully Commissioners were able to read that and then we have this new memo that we received uh as confidential uh input this afternoon but clearly that's something that's hanging over all of this um I would just close by saying that um there is value in US discussing this um just by the mere fact that we are indicating to the community that this is important to us that we think it's really important that we accelerate our decarbonization activities um you can see the Trump Administration doing this where it's taking clearly illegal action but it's doing it with a purpose it's doing it with a purpose of communicating to the country this is the direction that we're taking the country in and I think um we should think about that and what we do not only in this commission but what we do in council chambers and with staff Etc is that we we stand really strong behind our principles and we do everything that we can to push the envelope on on what may potenti may we may feel is is uh is limited in terms of what we might be able to do so I I I appreciate the opportunity to talk for three or four minutes in that regard this some of this carries over to as I said to the next the next topic so um I'll just leave it at that and then have other Commissioners weigh in and we can talk about whether or not we read through the resolution or what we do as far as um next steps are concerned thanks thank you council member Briggs yeah um thank you for that background and that um reminder of where we're at John this is um uh the science behind this is is really clear right it's horrifying to see um a new presidential Administration come in um and not even um no longer support um climate work but not even discuss sort of allow those terms to be used right um it's um and we're seeing um it's scary times to be living in um in terms of of the work that we're trying to do and then also the levers that we have to use um in in the state that we live in and so um I do want to start by saying thank you thank you to you and to um Mr Garver and um Cher harp and others who've contributed on this I do you think it's important that we're talking about this um and talking about okay what are the tools that we have why is it that um we're not seeing certain types of um uh legislation move here forward here in an arbor because this is something I would absolutely support um if there was the opportunity to do so um I think we we are one of the things that we can do in terms of demonstrating that this is something we support there there are ways um we've done this in the past we've encouraged our um St State Legislative delegation to consider changes and it's I'm happy um to bring forward resolutions to council that talk about the changes that we would like to see in state law that help would allow us to um to make more progress in Michigan whether or not we think that those have the opportunity to move forward or not sometimes those are symbolic actions that we can take but um as um as um Joe mentioned earlier I think having a continued conversation around incentives um that's a place that we I think have the opportunity to continue to to press further on in in the city um and that it's something an area that we struggle with um but it's something that you know we really need to be identifying you know what is um what are we doing what what more could we be doing so I'll leave it at that thank you council member Malik hey thank you uh I would Echo council member Briggs uh in my also adding thanks to uh commissioner mki as well as Mr Garber and Sher harp and any anyone else who worked on uh this resolution I'm of course relatively new to both city council but also this commission so I sadly wasn't here for the discussion in 2023 um but I understand you know this is a a long time coming and a lot of effort went into this so I appreciate you know prompting this discussion uh the push to decarbonize requires bold ideas uh especially for the city to meet its otherwise ambitious climate goals uh overall on the consideration of the tools available to us uh the resolution that we're discussing is one that does seem to make the city susceptible to challenges you know and while I agree with the spirit of the resolution I do fear any potential legal challenges uh this would prompt could ultimately be a discr discr distraction for otherwise you know uh full steam ahead climate efforts um as has been mentioned you know there's other likely less legally fuzzy ways the energy commission could pursue Energy Efficiency uh rather than punishing the least efficient approach which you know it's ideal to you know punish the least efficient but I don't know if it's possible here um I was able to tune in earlier today to a u ofm presentation where they discussed um their various climate efforts including considerable geothermal activity solar and other unique ways of thinking about climate impact with many of their new construction projects if we could find ways of basically taking their model of new con approaches to new construction to many of the approaches to new construction that exist and finding ways to you know eliminate the least efficient uh energy approaches and incentivize further the best ones I think you know it's doable I don't myself know how to do that um but I know some of the expertise here and with City staff I know it probably does exist so again conversations like this kind of help bring ideas together so I think we're on the right path but I appreciate the the good discussion thanks thank you um I'll I'll jump in and just share share a few comments and sort of questions that that I've been thinking about as I've um been reading through the um the resolution itself um you know and and I think one has to do with sort of what we're bringing forward to uh council members and I think has always been mentioned that the most perhaps the most effective um policy is going to be a mix of incentives of disincentives and other measures and so I would really encourage the commission to try to um think and bring forward this this represents one um perhaps a disincentive um to uh uh fossil fuel combustion in retrofits um but I would consider I would encourage the commission to bring forward a variety of different options in addition to in addition to this one as well um both because I do think that um I hesitate to call it a menu but I do think that having a a number of options available can provide not only a more um uh a broader set of topics for discussion but also a way to get at um those topics in in in a sort of you know an an efficient way and one of the things that calls to mind is I believe city council may have um put a request I believe this was last spring um associated with some of the economic development and sustainability uh resolutions from city council perhaps uh requesting um City staff to investigate what some of the possible measures and incentives could be and so this calls into my mind um perhaps it's worth um uh trying to better understand what may have been done in that space and what might be brought forward and what we might be able to discuss as a result of that as well as whatever uh commission members um might might bring forward as well um because I think combined with the resolution on the table um things like and I think we've discussed this previously things like um uh helping to facilitate projects um that are uh uh working both with City staff with developers with with contractors um and that achieve these kinds of goals can itself be an incentive um because there as many of you know there's there can be um just lots of collaborative challenges associated with navigating different policies and and moving things through uh the the permitting approval processes and and and other Associated issues and so that was that was one example um and there might be others um I I think that that would be important to discuss um one of the things that this does make me wonder about from you know with this with the sort of question of how it's How how it's framed um is is there and and and this gets to the question of options for the city to undertake is is there anything prohibiting uh city council from for example um uh creating a zoning ordinance that in general would cover the whole city or or large large uh portions of the city that would be a would be uh intended to reduce the impacts of some of the the combustion or or the uh emissions from fossil fuels it in it of itself um and I don't know the answer to that but um it's it I think this resolution sort of invokes that um as a question um in my mind which would be something different from the way that it's currently framed um in terms of a focus on specifically new construction and specifically buildings um and and that may have diff different implications um as Ken Garber in in the comment public comments earlier noted um I believe there there was some qu this this is um framed as a fee um and I believe that he he raised the question of whether or not um it was a tax or or something associated with that as I sort of parse that issue I think about some of the kinds of um some of the kinds of things that the city does um that may need fees um to uh provide those kinds of um the responses and the kinds of um things that it does um so I I'm thinking about things associated with climate impacts like insurance rates I'm thinking about things like storm worm water and water treatment infrastructure associated with increased rainfall I'm thinking about things like River surges and Associated contamination events associated with that uh I'm thinking about things from increased wind velocities um associated with some of the climate impacts I'm thinking about emergency planning and responses and and all those kinds of things that the city experiences so um just in the sense of how we think about um fees versus taxes I think one of the key Provisions that I written into this resolution is that it outlines a fee in that has a a particular amount uh in this in the resolution it's $190 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent and my understanding of how that's calculated is it's basically a way of pricing or valuing the future impacts and and of pricing that into the current um sort of economic calculus that that's being made and So currently we're saying that that amount is zero um and we're not accounting for those impacts but as we perhaps um consider pricing that in that may be um well in this case it's $190 per CO2 ton equivalent in the future it may be much more than that um and so I think part of what we're considering is sort of how much are we valuing the future um relative to to the kinds of things that we're doing and so I think that's one of the key considerations in one of the the conversations I think that perhaps um this body might have have in terms of sort of where are we setting that that uh fee rate um do are we valuing at $10 are we valuing at $250 um how much does the future matter in terms of the impacts that we're that we're experiencing now but also potentially in the future um uh just a couple of other comments one is I believe this in the conversion factor that this resolution is taking into account both the emissions produced at the source um let's say from heating or or I believe it says um it's Focus primar looks like primarily focused on on um heating domestic hot water cooking appliance process heat and things like that I believe in the converion factor that that's taking into account both the emissions produced at the point of combustion in the building itself but it's also accounting for Upstream emissions as well so to my reading it's not focusing solely on what's happening within the building but it's also thinking broadly about the impact of of um uh fossil fuel emissions as related to new construction and these retrofits so that may be an important consideration in terms of how the city conceives of um whether or not this is focused on um sort of where the the scale of this is focused um I guess is the best way of put best way of putting it um and so those are just a few things that I wanted to to to put forward but um as we as we think about this but um I'll I'll pass it on if anybody else has any any comments or questions m mki i was a pregnant pause before I raised my hand so hopefully others if they if they have something to say they will raise their hand um I I appreciate um the discussion I appreciate all the uh ways of looking at this and potentially thinking out of the box that came from chair harp um I would like to pose two questions I guess to um the commission and to um City staff and our Council Liaisons um the first is I'll go back to the various memos that have been going around regarding the legality um I would appreciate some feedback as to whether or not the perspective in the email that I authored quoting input from Mr Garber and also um Mr Hall whether that was or not was shared and considered um by City staff and the legal department um maybe that can be answered tonight um the other thing that I wanted to offer is um a reminder to the commission that um the Ann Arbor environmental group called The Wolfpack um has a climate action team I'm a member of the Wolfpack and that team that group has devoted the greater part of the last two years to looking at building electrification and what we are now calling zero emissions buildings and how we might be able to really provide carrots and sticks um a combination mostly carrots um to actually drive that in the city um there have been a number of reports well first of all there were two two um sessions that we sponsored Ed with um a number of developers involved the last one actually was um just last fall in something like October uh it was attended by Missy um uh a previous one was held about a year before that the Lessons Learned if you will from that were summarized those have been shared with um the city I shared them I believe in email form with this commission but what I would like to offer is that that uh if without necessarily dropping this idea of a carbon fee with the open question honest legality even though there seems to be a preponderance of um opinions or views uh uh and and Technical arguments that it it may not be legal but leaving that on the table um I would offer that maybe we consider a working session with members of the Wolfpack in particular the chair of uh the climate action team to work with us to review all of the ideas that were generated with the input of developers so this is not just the Wolfpack members sitting we actually um involved a number of developers um mostly local developers um but a number that have developed in in an arbor but also some outside an arbor um and I think uh those should be Revisited uh I mean frankly I mean let's let's again put this in context the the a20 plan was available as a draft five years ago so we've had five years to deal with this it in the plan as it stated in the whereas Clause it very clearly states the assumption that all buildings from 2022 where is it it say says right here all new construction from 2022 through 2030 and Beyond is built to Net Zero standards which includes no natural gas consumption we've all known this for 5 years and we have yet to come up with something that's really really strongly in support of that whether it's a combination of or whether it's just um carrots or sticks are a combination of the two so I think we really deserve together with staff and legal support to devote a work session to this and and see what the best Minds can can come up with I mean there were some Provisions in the ira that uh that help that um you know when when the plan was drafted there was a trump Administration when it was approved there was a trump Administration we had no idea there was going to be a Biden Administration that there was going to be an IRA and now we're back to a second Trump Administration so it's not like we can say well this is just because of trump that we can't do this so um th those are so I guess I'm posing a question and I'm posing uh a path forward so that we look at this broadly and we look at um as we've been discussing here what could be effective and legal both carrots and sticks thank you thank you and and I'll just note I believe we we do still have a a standing working group um that was uh created specifically for that that purposed in in in some ways and so that that could be a a a mechanism as well um within the the coming coming weeks to to do exactly what you're saying commissioner mki Joe yeah um and just to an to one answer the question yes that information was shared and evaluated as part of that consideration um and the other is you know just in response to moving forward and stuff like that too I think you know however we kind of do that um you know whether it be in a working session working group what what have you I think it it would beneficial to make sure that we have various you know members of staff to the extent we can too just so we can be you know trying to catch these things and working on it in a way to make sure we're you know able to do stuff and do it in a way that you know we um you know don't come up with something that we can't do or you know just making sure we have that kind of consideration involved as we go um just to and also to make sure that you know folks are on board we're not just sitting and you know and this I'm saying Beyond OSI as well so we're not just sitting there and you know coming up in our in our own corner or anything like that but making sure we're getting all the different holders involved both in terms of you know folks out in the community as well as folks um on you know in City staff as well to help move all that forward so definitely in favor and would would be open to um you know making those connections and getting all that that going Mr burtz uh you know what everyone has said before thank you for everyone who put work into this um I very much support the carbon pollution impact fee or TA or whatever um mechanism would make sense um by pending you know legal component um a couple comments on on that um and then the broader topic for some of legality um I just want to flag there's like a coalition of nonprofit legal centers um that I'm connected with through my day job um that often does like so Bono analysis of stuff like this and trft building decarbonization policy and legality all across the country I would love to at some point maybe connect um OSI or any staff with this uh entity perhaps they could you know take a look they're you know obviously not as expert on the state of Michigan's laws but they um um you know they do webinars like every few months on the status of like every legal talent to it's a preemption around the country and um in tes and Tes on on gas sign are buildings and things like that too so um I think they might have some more like ideas best practices examples from other places to share and they might even be able to take a look at Michigan Statute and see how that compares to you know what has has or hasn't happened in other states um okay and then let's see the um our working group um came up um so I'm going to just kind of uh respon to that um forget exactly um timing but you know we we put together like a working group just to like take input and try to take a look around and do some research of like what options are out there take look at the menu um we did take a look at all the recommendations provided by the wolf pack and we try to like pull out um and consolidate some things um and potentially um there are some you know options there most of them are like incentives um I I think the carbon pollution impact fee or attacks on gas um and whatever shape it takes form would be the strongest possible mechanism and the strongest possible way to get at this and actually create gain of anything that we reviewed or considered um I think it was referenced earlier that you know sticks are a little more powerful than carrots often and um we've seen it both in practice and just in theoretical discussions but um so I think think you know I would be happy to go back to the drawing board or you know reconvene or jump into another process looking at this in more detail um but I'll just say like I think that you know um there was like a natural gas connection fee or a carbon pollution impact fee both came up during that process and they were I think the two strongest mechanisms um except for there was one other thing um we talked about this during the Ben marking meeting we had um a month or two ago um and it's a building performance standard or building submission standard um again I think there were questions around the legality of that in Michigan um but those were the three mechanisms that seemed like the absolute strongest that would you know actually get some momentum some traction on this um I think a lot of the stuff that the work group came up with otherwise were mostly incentive and you know may or may not be there comments or questions okay commissioner mki question uh how do we bring this to some type of closure do we table it do we um take a vote I I'm I'm I I don't know the answer to this question that's why I'm posing it um even if we take a vote knowing that potentially it isn't legal does that make a statement that we collectively agree that needs to be made um and then uh maybe it dies after the energy commission uh what are people's thoughts on how we bring this agenda point to closure so that we can move on to other things um while necess necessarily you know putting a spike in the heart of this thing um in terms of the general topic as well as the specific topic what do other people think I I don't I don't know I I see Joe's hand raised so I'm I'm gathering that he may have uh two process thing I mean one um since technically this came back with revisions and all that this would be a first reading so if we wanted to actually vote on it itself we would have to bring that at another meeting and vote at the the second reading um the other is depending on how folks feel do not let me influence whatever I say here is if we you know feel a certain way and we don't think it's going to go one way or the other and we don't want to have a vote on it we can postpone it indefinitely um so that's that's the other option if you don't want to have a direct vote on yes or no on the resolution so two two Pathways there depending on whatever uh folks want to do commissioner Coen Garcia did you have a comment I um I I think it's important that um we do somehow um present a statement for for moving forward with this um I also really support uh this um this effort this endeavor and um I would I would be give a statement of you know we should have a group work on it further polish it hone it see what we can do to have this be um something that's more palatable for our um city council but also that does align with our with our goals with our a20 goal as a path potential path for for moving moving this forward um perhaps a postponement with the intention to um perhaps make further changes um with feedback I as John suggested from say the working group that Encompass different actors uh as well perhaps broadening the provisions of this resolution um might be a way forward and and so if the commission were to for example postpone it um and and additional work were to happen from that working group uh we might be able to bring it back again for another first reading council member Briggs yeah I was going to suggest something um somewhat similar to that so um since you have to when you're postponing you often have to postpone to a date certain or an action you could we could postpone pending a um recommendation from the working um group and that would come back um to us with you know potentially something um or um and perhaps having an opportunity for us to have some of those other conversations that were were brought up within the context of this conversation tonight as well that that sounds excellent I would I would certainly support that path um just speaking for myself commissioner mki um as do I um and that includes the working group potentially interfacing with Mike and this group that he mentioned um they that's a possibly you know a win-win uh opportunity where they get a better appreciation for what the situation is in Michigan but we also here in ant Arbor in Michigan gain perhaps an appreciation for what kind of legislative tweaks might be um necessary to enable something like this so I I think um tbling this um um pending uh let's say action from the um the working group maybe we could uh to council member Briggs this point um put uh a date on there so we also have a sense of urgency so we say that um the intention is to bring it back by I'm going to make up a date um by May or June or something like that um I mean that'll be somewhat dependent on what happens in the next agenda Point uh but uh yeah I I would I would support um uh council member briggs' framing of this council member Ricks yeah just to clarify I wasn't suggesting adding a date um even though I understand your idea the it can be an action so we had a conversation around this Council relatively recently around postpone it because we weren't quite sure how to respond so the feedback is that we can you know we can postpone pending a recommendation from another committee and I think I believe that we I believe it is possible to say postpone pending a recommendation um from the working group would be then you know doesn't then it comes after us you know after some action although that's not a formal group so you know there's not a formal vote there so I don't know I'm I'm a little bit out of my scope of you know legality here but I Joe is got his hands braced not on that particular point so if there's anything you had to wrap up on that go go ahead okay um yeah the only other thing I just want to say is if you know going to the working group side of things if we and to be clear I'm not saying this in a way of like to influence or anything like that but just to um if we can just include staff in that just so again we can be there and we can be having conversations like this um just that way that we can help you know help guide the guide it in the direction of you know what we have capacity what we have legality to the extent we can um just to you know I fully understand in this situation there's definitely some FR frustration folk are feeling just because you know we've gone so far going through all this to get something up there and so just want to make sure we can try to catch things um early on as as we go forward so having staff in that capacity I think would be helpful so just want to note that if I can quickly say Amen to that that um I spoke with um another commissioner uh recently about this and uh we talked about some of the things that commission has worked on in the past some of the ordinances they were mentioned Also earlier um and in in all of those cases um carlen will remember that other people um perhaps who dialed in will remember that um in almost all of those cases not necessarily the lighning ordinance but certainly herd and certainly the EV charging ordinance we worked hand in hand that was always a staff person in those meetings and I think um that would be really helpful certainly as we go forward to make sure that we stay within boundaries or know that we're pushing boundaries that maybe have a little bit of flex as opposed to Jumping way outside boundaries that just are never going to be politically or legally palatable and I want to welcome commissioner overp um and also just brief the sort of discussion of the resolution seems to be uh migrating towards a proposal to postpone um the resolution um and um sort of uh pass it to the working group um to make prospective changes with uh um others others involved um as well from from across sort of different uh actors as well as City staff um and that the working group would then make modifications to the proposed resolution um to and and and bring it back to the commission do I have that correct um and so I suppose this is a good time to ask is is is is that the appropriate process um to ask if there's a motion for that proposal or a motion to vote on that particular proposal um uh to move forward on on this I see counc council member Briggs and commissioner Coen Garcia thank you okay all those in favor of postponing the resolution and referring it to the working group to work with City staff and other uh groups to uh improve and add other um uh incentives disincentives measures um as as appropriate or as they see and then um bring that back to the commission all in favor please say I all those opposed okay the motion is approved and thank you everyone thank you for the discussion and look forward to um uh seeing some uh some further uh modifications made on that and taking it Forward um okay thank you very much we will I believe next on the agenda agenda is commission business um and um I believe so this is a discussion on combining the energy and environmental commissions to create a new sustainability commission and um I will first maybe pass it to Joe to introduce um this briefly or council members um and maybe you can kick us off with the sort of General nature of of of what this is I I I know all of you received an email from me sort of basically outlining um the the Contours of this but I wanted to leave it to City staff and and to to council members to sort of um uh describe a little bit more what the sort of current current thinking and plan is um as they're as they're thinking about moving this forward council member Briggs yeah thanks um yeah so uh as this has been a sort of t IC in the background as um commissioner mki brought up at at our last meeting and um I do want to you know make sure that everybody around this screen recognizes that um any delays in this conversation I I personally take um great responsibility for um this is one of these conversations that I think under the best of circumstances would have occurred a lot more quickly so that um it uh didn't drag out over um having having conversations in the background to see if this is even an idea worth pursuing and bringing to the commission um and so my apologies that um uh it's kind of been delayed and we've seen that sort of reflection in terms of whether or not to to bring forward new sort of commission appointees that has zero to do with how much we respect um and admire the work that you guys are doing as volunteers here so thank you so much for doing that um and bearing with us as we just struggle with schedules and um and busy busy life um happening um outside of these commission meetings so that said um the idea of this is really been sort of a long time in incoming in the sense that over since the idea of an energy commission and environmental commission have been conceived of by the city or by Council in the by past councils um in advising Council the structure of the city as an organization has has shifted and so we now have an office of sustainability and Innovation um and that is where a lot of our work um obviously of of this nature happens and and yet our commission structure hasn't shifted to sort of reflect and respond to this new um new city structure and so you know we wanted to at least um you know bring forward this concept that we might be better off um realigning our our commissions a little bit so that it better supports um and reflects the the work of of the organization um I do want to kind of tackle head on uh respectfully some of the comments that were raised during public comment this is not an idea to become more efficient in this in the concept uh uh in the way that the Trump Administration or the musk uh um apparatus might be conceiving of it we are not thinking of a efficiency in terms of uh getting rid of people and uh you know crushing Concepts and ideas and good work that's happening that is that is not the goal of this at all um it's really sort of the idea of just um structuring it so we can actually hopefully accomplish more um it's also I do want to know note um that the concept of what the role of the commission is and sorry if I'm rambling right now um but the role of the commissions are um we want to make sure that they're good advisory bodies to council and obviously Council doesn't always know exactly what sort of advice um we need so we really respect that um but it is an intermediary between staff and and council is a body it's not to be an independent independent sort of check on our office of sustainability Council and our city our city administrator runs you know is is responsible for the staff council is responsible for policy um commissions don't serve as oversight bodies over staff that's not how they function in the city and I think it's kind of dangerous to think of them in that capacity so as much as I respect the work of of advocates in our community I see that as an really important citizen engagement role um I don't see that as a function uh a healthy function of commissions um and how we should conceive of them so I did want to bring that up because it came up in public comment but um anyway uh this is really a concept of just um restructuring our commissions combining energy and environmental um in ways that um we wouldn't lose any bodies here um but that we might be able to more effectively accomplish and um address the the challenging work line ahead of us Joe do you have your hand rais yeah I just want to um also just give a couple thoughts and we can get more in discussion on what everything is would potentially look like and all that but just some again higher level things uh just to throw out there is a real you know driver for this kind of like what council M Briggs was saying is using everyone's time in a more effective way including in you know largely using Commissioners time in a more effective way as well as we think about it um one of the things that you know it's kind of um and I I say when people have either left the commissioner or things like that and i' I've talked to folks to just kind of hear their kind of input on some of it that was kind of one of the things people have have felt in various ways is that we're not doing as much we're not my time doesn't feel um valuable and all that and that's where some of this comes from as well um but as we move forward want to make sure we're doing this in a way that we can use everyone's time in a way to drive this this work forward rather than kind of spreading out in a whole bunch of different directions um I'm to kind of just take our you know example we were just talking about here you know where we came forward you know have some sort of you know uh potential resolution goes through and then we come to the point where we've spent a whole bunch of time on this but then we get somewhere where we might not be able to move forward um want to do something where we can work together to get to a spot where we don't run into a potential situation like that rather where we're all working together collaboratively all throughout so that everyone is able to work towards something that we are able to do aligns with you know city council and to some extent staff priorities of what we're able to do um you know with the resources we have um and then get all the valuable input that folks have that you know we just would not be able to have either as staff as council members but the you know expertise experience you have um so I want to make sure that we're doing that in a way that you know again I keep saying the same thing but working together collaboratively to achieve those kind of goals in line with again what we are able to do um and that's kind of some of the the driving focus of this is just making sure that we can be more effective use everyone's time more effectively uh to work together to accomplish those goals and that's from staff perspective what we what we were thinking of um in these discussions commissioner colen Garcia can you give an example of how um it would look to be more effective to have the combin for example um like like but we're just topic we just finished something like that if that would come before a combined commission yeah I mean so oh sorry go ahead yeah just an example please yeah um so yeah just purely taking the you know the resolution we just went through so one as an example of broadly what we're thinking of for potentially looking at this would be um again the combin structure and again when I say that we're not asking anyone to step down anyone resign like nothing like that everyone who's currently on the commissions would still be on the commission um but basically kind of somewhat similar to the um where the environmental commission is right now and they have their work groups thinking about doing that in a similar capacity but each year um at the you know we can decide how that structure best Works whether that's on the calendar year on the fiscal year what have you um but working together um you know with uh with led by Council but with input from staff on creating a work plan that would then come to the commission the commission would work through it of seeing here's the things that are um you know specific focuses um that align with again what is happening uh both from again City staff city council things like that where the commission fits in um you know have those discussions make sure we're all in alignment with those kind of things and then from there um establishing work groups based on those various topics um Commission ERS would then you know be able to you know select into those work groups um and would be able to move forward from there being able to go you know diving deeper into that kind of work in that workg group structure those um those work groups would be supported by staff so that again we're able to go through all these various um you know topics that might come up from that perspective so um to you know and then you know going from those work groups those work groups would come back to the broader commission everyone would talk about it we'd go through what we learned what we've you know suggesting going forward with and then the broad commission can then you know have their discussions from that perspective vote as Mak sense going through the normal procedures from there um if we're just taking the topic that we kind of just went through just purely as an example you know say we were you know going through and during that um you know that that um uh that that plan for the year the work plan um going through and being this is a topic that has been identified say we'll just use building electrication broadly um that is our topic for the year that's what we're all working working on there would then be um you know voting to establish a workg group on building electrification saying during this year or setting up very specific time frame for both the work group and a deliverable for the work group of what they are going to do um so then over you know over that time frame the folks in the workg group would find um would beat with um within the workg group as well as with staff be able to go through and then you know have those kind of discussions periodically um coming back giving reporting out to the uh commission to get input things like that um and then you know at the conclusion there's that set deliverable that was said this work group is going to do in this time frame they're going to present this provide this provide whatever um or if anything comes up that can also be included in that um so that way we're able to go through we're able to dive deeper into those because I think that's also been kind of one of the struggles at times is you know we have these broader meetings and it can feel a little hard to um you know really dive into some of the subjects as deeply as we might like just due to that kind of structure this so this will allow more of that um but also throughout again because you're able to um you know we're working with staff we're able to bring in you know those staff resources to be able to go through and if we get to something it's like hey here's what we're able to do here's what we're not able to do here's what the resources you know just resources we have what are the resources you have um so we can go through that kind of collaboratively to come to something that you know is both something that's you know really Innovative and really you know driven by a lot of the expertise that's on the commission but also just making sure we're grounding it in some of the real realities that we might face um because a lot of that stuff is very you know hidden in the sense of we don't you know you don't we're we're not necessarily in it every single day and so being able to you know have those come up and make sure that we're not working on something that is just not possible not a possibility so that's kind of what we were thinking of so again say in that situation we went through where like we started off okay this might not be feasible what else could we do go through come up with different ideas suggestions bring those back to the commission and be able to move forward from there as as a commission so that was a little wordy and I probably jumped all over the place so happy to have others fill in council member Briggs yeah I was just going to add a little bit to that the other component of the working groups is that they while they would also be made up of staff and Commissioners that they'd also we could also have members who are community members on that those working groups as well um and that the working groups um they could be better aligned potentially with our um in addition to the work plan they could be aligned with our our climate work um so that we are really more strategically thinking about um how we're moving forward um but so that that would be the goal um I think we kind of heard in that last conversation you a desire to bring all of those entities in and we recognize that the the issues that we're dealing with right now are pretty complex um and uh so it allows us to to have more substantive work being done um and it might take a little bit more time but it's you know but I think what we're hearing is the community is ready to put in that type of work just highlighting off of that too um by having those work groups being able to bring in other people is another thing that we you know we've heard from some folks is they're like I would really like to participate in something like this but I can't dedicate a three-year term coming in every single month to something like that so um we know there's a lot more folks in the community too who have a lot of valuable feedback and want to participate and want to do more and they you know definitely can rais the point where it's it's hard for me to communicate by just doing a three minute public comment period at the beginning and end of each meeting I have more to contribute I want to contribute more and this this enables that um that ability for some more folks who might not be able to commit to say a full term on a commission or anything like that um so noting that as well council member Mal and I I you know council member Riggs and Joe said a lot of what I kind of had planned to say as well but um I also wanted to add that I saw it floated that you know combining these commissions was due to council member time uh as the only council member uh on both the energy and the environmental commissions this year uh I can happily say I do enjoy them both um and despite my workload uh do enjoy attending both in a given month uh but the advantages I think of combining them does you know outweigh uh my enjoyment of attending both uh but uh you know I think there is just a strong need to refocus and kind of align um the the aims of the commissions and I do think you know there is a lot of synergy to be gained between kind of the perspectives that both could bring um but I did want to push back on the idea that it's because of council member time which is just not the case thanks I was wondering if um either council members or or Joe might be able to speak to a little bit to the current um timing or timeline for for how this is being considered and sort of what what what that process might look like sure um unless anyone else wants to jump in before me all right um yeah I mean broadly like I said this is the first time we're talking to you all about it we want to make sure we can get any feedback to make sure you know we're not missing anything um as well as just make sure we get that full understanding um if you know if say everyone well one I just want to note we're we want to get all the feedback we can but we also as we've clearly demonstrated we want to be moving forward on this where we can because you know we pointed out we we've gotten smaller as a commission we haven't filled because of this thing um so we want to try to do that as quick as we can but with respect to making a well-informed decision um in a world where we are all you know all aligned Everything feels okay um we would be looking at hopefully by the end of May is when we would have a decision kind of made and then being able to move forward um starting and you know probably potentially take that following month off so if it was may take June off to go through all the logistics of getting everything all set um to have the new um group going forward by July again that's say we're all align but if there's significant differences things like that um we do not have to stick to that uh but that's just kind of the situation where if everything was in alignment that's about how long it would take to to go forward so apply that to whenever Everything feels good that timeline thank you commissioner mki uh before I speak carlen you had your hand up and I want to make sure that you have an opportunity to talk that matter any sorry y I just really quick wanted to um commissioner har perfectly took my questions but I also wanted to mention about your participation on the environmental commission and since you're talking this is perfect I have nothing to say does anybody else have any comment or should I go ahead and and share some thoughts on this so if anybody else has any other comments they can raise their hand yeah so um first of all I want to make it um clear to everyone by starting out with a statement that I think this is this discussion is absolutely necessary um the discussion outside the commission um preceding this um and what we're discussing here today um I talked before about the context that we're need to increase our rate of decarbonization by a factor of 7.5 or even 3.3 times to reach carbon neutrality by 2040 so something absolutely needs to change you know at multiple levels this is you know something as Ken Garber said this is not just the commission this is not just staff this is everybody in this whole city um and and well beyond that um let me if I may just mention a few things there is a whole field of study or science behind um Performance Management continuous Improvement um a a basis of it is um the shuart cycle or the Deming cycle it's plan do check at so we have an a20 plan we've been doing that plan um we do a greenhouse inventory every year that's a check and the ACT is also often referred to as adjust and I think what we're seeing here is that we need to adjust um we need to adjust at every level in in in in societ because we're not we've had plans we've had all kinds of good ideas but we're just not doing it so to reinforce what I said at the beginning this is absolutely necessary and I and I really welcome this and I'm glad we're finally discussing it in the commission and not just among council members and staff in one meeting with h the two chairs that took place last fall so a second comment um why we have a new department that we never had before I mean when I first joined the energy commission 2016 we had about a quarter head working on energy and climate literally a carlen knows this she joined a couple years after me a quarter to a half ahead Nate gisler some of you might remember him that's it so the situation has changed completely um but if in terms of the structure of the commission being changed I would like to recommend we're supposed to be making policy recommendations that people really think about the structure of the city behind this um when Missy was hired and uh the office of sustainability was created um I had a role that was called the executive policy advisor for sustainability I uh met every two weeks for an hour with a city administrator um I reviewed the job description for Missy's position I was on the interview committee um I fully endorsed uh Missy's selection she was great and she still is great um but what I want to point out is that job description initially and the title of the department um and actually as Howard Lazarus the the then City administrator introduced her to city council I was present she her scope of work was really going to be um a wide breadth of sustainability topics not just climate and energy but what's happened in the meantime is that really she's been focused and the the Department's been focused on on a20 plan related activities and solid waste is still in public services um water quality is in public services um natural features and biodiversity uh is in in public and in yeah I guess it's in public services and some other areas I may be even um and so we really don't have alignment between what is proposed as a sustainability commission and sustainability structure and uh hierarchy Within in the city so if we're really going back and doing pdca and looking at acting and adjusting I think we have to consider what else we need to do um I raised a concern um a couple of meetings ago and with a few other people and I'd like to repeat it here um because um you know actions um are really important and and not just words and I'll just summarize it with one with one statement and that is we've been we've been seeing this develop over several years this top first came up um with between Howard me and other people Howard Lazarus at the time in 2018 but what what frankly really bothered me is that the most consequential policy discussion that relates to climate and energy that I'm aware of that's come up in the last year is whether or not the city should spend $1.7 million on a phase two study for the feasibility of an meu the phase one study went through this commission we devoted the greater part of three meetings to that so if the commission really is a partner in policy issues why didn't that topic get discussed at all in the energy commission so again when we think about pdca and acting and adjusting if we are really going to be full partners then topics like that need to somehow I don't know in which way but they need to somehow go through the energy commission otherwise really um we're we're not really advising Council on policy issues and let's see I would only offer one more thing and that is a concern that if you look and having served on the environmental commission as the liaison and I appreciate the the opportunity to represent you on the in the environmental commission for something like six of the last seven years um these topics and and uh uh uh commissioner peek um Dean over peek certainly understands this as as the dean of of seas there these are this is a huge breath in an an environmental if we're looking at this sustainability you know water quality um biodiversity natural features uh energy energy systems climate uh air quality you know these are independent fields of study and if you really want to have good policymaking it's absolutely necessary that there is not only an sustainability uh commission but there are really strong well staffed with expertise people that are that are knowledgeable in these areas and if it's just a sustainability commission and people aren't willing to put the time in to the working group and that's frankly not always been the case on on both commissions at least from my perspective um then the breadth and scope of a sustainability commission without these really strong Wells supported well staffed uh staffed meaning also from the commissioner side we're we're going to run into problems and we're going to be looking back again and say okay we've now done another two years and we've gone through another pdca cycle and we haven't accelerated our decarbonization and we have to do something different again we don't have time time is running out so thank you for allow me to expound on on those thoughts thank you commissioner overc yeah again I'm sorry for being late uh my boss required me at a meeting and uh life is fun at U ofm the uh yeah I I have to agree I mean with everybody's what's you know the common denominator of everything everyone's saying is we're not going fast enough and that that requires adjusting I think the way John said was really makes sense um and I think what you got to at the end of your presentation John if I heard it right maybe I just wanted to hear it is that um you know we're an innovator we're a leader trying to be anyhow um part of being a leader in this space is being a systems oriented uh effort you know where you don't just go carbon neutral or you know clean up your Parks and Recreation and things you you do everything simultaneously to achieve a true uh sustainable City and a sustainably low carbon city um and I don't think I'm you know we're not going to get a huge staff uh we're not going to get a huge amount of resources we've got to figure out how to do this in a a differently um and that requires commitment from people so somehow I think what you're saying John and and again I don't know how to do it uh but I think we got to try and really put effort into it is to uh and and by collapsing this into a sustainability committee rather than the separate ones is to try and get more of our fellow citizens involved because we have in this we're blessed in this town with some amazing this city the some amazing expertise and um very passionate expertise too um and I'm not saying just the U ofm um obviously but uh U ofm brings a could bring a lot to the table so I just hope that you know I'm willing to try and help here the timing isn't optimal I me given that you know the university we really there's a lot of dealing with the existential threat that is you know the new Administration in Washington but you know um I I sense a lot of people want to step up you not fight you know step back and give in but to step up and do more um and I think in the University we have to do that or else higher education will you know be made obsolete in America um we really have to do more as University and hopefully we can focus some of that on partnering with the city um partnering with the state to really set an example for the kind of sustainable world we want to in our our future generations to inherit so I'm all in and I just need to figure out how to find the time to do my share of the work council member Briggs yeah thank you thanks for those comments um you can hear just in the last couple of minutes it's the the pros and cons of why you know why this seemed like a great idea at sometimes and maybe not you know a challenging idea at other times and so um there's been a little bit that's been part of the the EV and flow of you know how do we restructure if we were going to restructure how do we restructure in a way that um um sets us up for the for more success because I think that there has been um regardless of how many folks are on the commission at times just a bit feeling of spinning the wheels and are we are we aligned as much as we want to be um and are we using all of our talents and energies and you know uh in the best ways so um you know this proposal is an attempt to try to to get us closer to there um I think you know we can all acknowledge that there's some really big challenges outside of you know even as outside of the city right we've got the state constraints we've got the federal constraints um got International challenges when it comes to this topic right um there's no there is no easy path forward there is no one structure that is going to make us go wow gosh that's solved it for us um but um you know I think we're hopeful that um this is an opportunity to to have some of those tough conversations and and align us for um you know better align us essentially um so you know I'll just say I'll just say briefly from my perspective um as I've heard these conversations I think there's there's value I think I think there's oftentimes a tendency in in different kinds of organizations sometimes to add complexity when the challenges are complex um other times there's opportunities in simplifying um and and focusing and and and that I heard it in either commissioner msky or commissioner overc's statements too um as well as the overview from um council members finding ways to sort of Matrix how the city operates both in in staff and governance and different organizations whether it's the university whether it's different groups that are working on this different forms of expertise is is really critical and and there's something about the commission structure that makes that sometimes challenging in terms of doing action and and and putting together ideas and Concepts and and working them forward and I think if anything um if there's you know as as Council takes this forward thinking about that kind of structure that makes it sort of open participatory in ways that that can help enable ways of working that that bring together um expertise from across and make that even more workable I think that's that's a really positive thing um and in ways that help sort of as as others have alluded to um build build alignment so that we can have focus and and and get more inertia around some of the major major things that we're trying to solve commissioner mki you and and again I want to encourage everybody else to to speak up so not that you know I'm I'm talking over other people um uh commissioner PE thanks for teasing out some of my thoughts and and elaborating on them I agree entirely and what again as a suggestion to staff and councel is to to think of this more broadly as I mentioned before look at the city of the struct structure of the city and aligning it um look also at the climate and energy advocacy Comm uh Community I mean if we're going to do an adjustment here and we're going to act on on that um there's some people that are really interested in let's say the advocacy community that just really want to be Advocates but they're also in that Community people who really want to do something and maybe those people can be brought into um you know these new subcommittees or something like that I mean the Wolfpack is certainly an example that they we want to do things people in an climate partnership and then the other organizations Sierra Club CCL some of those people don't necessarily see them as polic themselves as policy experts and um and in a situation where they can advise Council and and potentially indirectly staff but think other people do I mean that's how you know look at Mike's background I mean he's a great addition to to this commission and so my my suggestion is that we take on this topic more broadly and not just look at the commission structure um and then I want to point out one other thing and I've talked about this I think probably with some of you um and the fact that I worked in business um is is completely different than working in in in in government but in business you know it's really outcomes and only outcomes that matter and that's not always the case in government but in this case I would make an argument that it is I mean we're dealing with physics and we're dealing with the laws of nature and so it's not plans it's not efforts it's not um what else did I write down um actions it's not accomplishments the only thing in the end that matters if we're going to reduce uh the impacts of climate change is outcomes and so we have to be totally focused on outcomes granted accomplishments and efforts and plans and all these other things hopefully eventually lead to outcomes but if we're not getting the outcomes then we have to re-evaluate our plans our efforts our actions and what we Pur receive as accomplishments if they don't lead to outcomes that's not true of everything that government does but in the case of fighting climate change it's outcomes and we need to think of that we will not change the physics or the chemical the chemistry aspects of this or the other laws of nature if you will we we have to be focused on outcomes thanks commissioner orac I'm going to get a PO focus on something besides an outcome but I think you're right um to get those outcomes we got to focus on um strategy and for a strategy one of the thing one of the ideas uh is like I'm I'm thinking I'm like I've made these promises let's I'll drag some U folks in from the University um Gabe can do that too I mean we have multiple uh University guys men and women on this committee through time and uh but I think one of the strategies I've used on working groups or committees like this commissions is to think strategically about um pairing individuals so that you don't have one person who's like having to really do the carry the water you have uh small teams in the critical areas where things have to be done and so um couple of us have sort of you know Joe and Gabe and I for example have been talking about how do we get the city and University to work together more effectively we haven't done anything my fault but um certainly I think all three of us have thought about it and I just think um to make it happen uh we need to be committed to working together to make it happen and um we got to make sure whoever is on these small teams has the time to do that uh and the the the sort of passion to do it um and so we need and so I'm only raising this because I think we need to think of those other areas the second thing about strategy is we got to come to grips with the 2030 uh goal uh and and how we how we deal with that you know I don't know what everyone else is thinking but I'm I'm thinking uh it ain't going to happen um and it's not like the end of the world but I think if we're we got to we've got to convince our colleagues in the city that it's a good thing for us to be realistic uh and still be highly aspirational in other words we're not going to do it by 2050 we're not going to do by 2040 but you know let's at least get a little more realistic in 2030 I I don't know where the answer is um and you know we're coping with the same problem U ofm where you know you literally have to move out people out of buildings for extended periods of time and you can't do that all at once and you got to drill all these bore holes I mean it's just like physically impossible to do it before 2040 probably um even though I think you know some of us thought 2035 so we we've got to really come to grips with that um and I think that will help us because there are people on this University who might be like I'm only going to do this if if their targets are realistic they can be very ambitious but they got to be realistic thanks can I speak to that real quickly yeah and I could be totally wrong you know I'm I'm just my own thought go ahead Eric yeah I was gonna I don't want to cut you off okay um yeah I completely you I think you raised some good points um you know around the concepts of strategy and and goals it's something I certainly struggle with there's on on Council we have a number of goals we're trying to reach um I tend to focus a lot on our as well on our transportation plan and our and our goals there um as well as our our climate action plan which they're they they they are they are connected of course um you know I think in the transportation world at to use another example there's what we see sometimes at the state level is that um for example in transportation deaths that they are projecting an increase the goal is actually an increase in deaths um because that's the trajectory but it's a more modest increase in deaths than we would like to see on our roadways and so and so you know that is a maybe a realistic goal um and yet it it doesn't Inspire or seem to set the tone that we want to have in any sort of way and so you know we are we are working with our you know our 2030 um carbon neutrality goal um at least for now I personally think it has some merits because what it suggests is that our resources and our time and our energy needs to be aligned to the greatest degree possible in achieving those goals and that that should be the focus of our budget adoption and our all of our how we're aligning our resources recognizing that um it is an aspirational goal at the same time um that we're not going to um we we can't achieve it by 2030 right and so I think the question of when that gets shifts shifted is is is a good question for all of us to have a good conversation it's one we have to have as a city um at some point um when it comes back to this conversation around the structure of the commission um for this I I so far in the conversation I'm not I'm hearing questions I'm hearing I'm not hearing significant I'm not hearing opposition to the concept what I'm hearing is that if we proceed with this we need to be very thoughtful about how we're structuring it so that we are um if we if we are moving into in a new form that we are thinking very strategically about how those working groups are set up and um thinking through the details so that we are hopefully lining ourselves up for um better alignment more success um in in achieving the outcomes that we want to see um and you know that's what we would need to kind do next um is to further refine some of that work and that thinking that we've already done um so if as this conversation proceeds if there are folks that are saying you know absolutely not this is just not a trajectory that direction we should be headed I think we do want to hear those opinions too if not you know further refining this so that we are um you know saying okay we got an interesting idea here how do we how do we capitalize on in a way that that um sets us up well I think I think in the interest of time we might move move on um from this discussion for the moment um and I think as a as an opportunity to um as this has been sort of the first introduction um maybe if there's other thoughts or comments that that Commissioners might have um uh you might be able to share th share those also with the council members and and staff as well um and I was just going to I just want to give us just a few minutes for a Qui a quick break before moving on to the rest of the agenda and sort of capping off off for the evening's meeting did you have a quick quick comment um John Comm I I if I may sorry again um I I think that the due date um of or the target date should be negotiable I've heard Missy say a number of times um everything is negotiable except for the date um I I think it needs to be negotiable um looking back at the the the how the date was set the two commissions energy environmental both passed resolutions in support of a climate emergency and set a Target date of 2040 when it was taken to by to council by council member chip Smith he wanted to be aggressive and suggested 2035 in the meeting when it was approved by Council council member Eaton raised his hand and said I think it should be that was in my view I mean I'll say it he may not appreciate it um but I think it was essentially virtual virtue signaling and I think given now the fact especi back then University of Michigan didn't have a plan University of Michigan has a carbon uh neutrality plan of its own or or targets that it set in scope one and scope two emissions will not be zero until 2040 so the university is one-third of emissions so in light of that um the city's not going to change that and because it's also a realistic Target I think we really need to talk about the Target and I think that will engender trust and I think what the transportation committee is doing engenders trust that's a smart thing we we we have to be able to have our citizens or in any organization the people in it understand what our goals are and that they make sense and then hopefully get behind that and then not just be totally frustrated at the end because the goals have been held up held up as this has to be met and everybody sees that it's unlikely to be met so and and the last thing is I came into this meeting being I would say somewhat opposed to the new structure um but if we really look at this holistically um I'm certainly open to it um and if hopefully we can come up with um better plans better structures better strategies that really start to accelerate our our activities thanks for allowing me to say that again commiss burkwitz yeah sorry to uh delay the the break but um I I don't have um thoughts one way or the other about the commit fure game for anything and always support you know more collaborative thoughtful um engagement so happy to go however wherever um regarding the 2030 date as the you know the a20 clan uh timeline and goal um I do feel like it's maybe preemptive to uh push that back at this point um uh and um I have a few reasons why um one you know right now it's the most aggressive um uh carbon neutrality commitment in the country um I think that makes the city of an arbor much more attractive to all sorts of different um funders foundations corporate philanthropists uh formerly the federal government um maybe no longer for three and a half more years um and so I think there's value um in having that I'll also say like I'm recalling a conversation we had I think last year where um I don't know if it was Missy or someone else was talking about how the city was starting to explore um entering into a virtual power purchase agreement to get our electricity to 100% Renewables um you know uh if you know there are um the other mechanisms like the sustainable energy utility don't um fill up all the electricity Renewables by then so you know essentially I think there's like one lever away from getting all of our electricity from complete renewable sources and I know that doesn't fix transportation and the building sector but it has major dividends power sector I think is the most really important of the three seers um in in the carbon neutrality plan so I'll just say that you know I I feel this everybody talking about like we have to move faster um and we're way behind a much to things we are but I also think we're closer in some aspects of it than we realizer that we're talking about tonight thank you okay um let's just take a a quick uh three minute break and if we could come back at uh 7:54 and and we'll just pick back up with the remainder of the agenda next would will be the staff report thank you everyone e e e thank you for the quick Break um next on the agenda is the uh staff report yes um yeah first thing I want to just note um there was an attachment in this area this was something that was um brought to council as well but basically it's just a report that's just kind of going over all the various things we have been doing um around the various Michigan public service commission proceedings over the past few years um I'm I'm not going to go through everything because we'll be here for much longer than any wants to be here um but I really encourage everyone to check that out wanted to make sure we shared it here um as well just because I think it's it's definitely one of those things that kind of is in the background and it's not you know the most fun thing to to go through and be like legal proceedings um but you know there's a lot of really good work being done there so I highly encourage if you haven't to check it out um additionally um just want to go through through a couple quick reports here of just saying um mentioned it before but we are um we're now in the when it's available but um designed to help lower the cost of transitioning from gas to electric lawn care equipment uh with the leaf blower ordinance um discounts for electric lawn care equipment are available as well as rebates for electric leaf blowers um through May 31st so for more information including rebate and discount amounts as well as the different eligibility requirements you can go to OSI a2gov.org Le blowers um for our next sustainability Forum uh moving away from an unsustainable linear system that focuses on take make and waste requires rethinking the social and physical infrastructure that drive material flow throughout our society uh so you can join us in the third session of the 2025 sustainability Forum series to learn more about our circular economy initiatives their role in uh the city of an arbor circular economy efforts and how you can get involved you can attend in person at the downtown Ann Arbor District Library or virtually on March 27th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

e e good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the March 11th 2025 meeting of the Clifton Board of Education our committee of the whole budget presentation meeting please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God ivisible for libery and justice for all thank you roll call Mr shahada miss bassford here Mr brunak here Mr kova here Dr Danny here Mr Mahia Mr siano here M Suarez here vice president Santiago here president Paris here we have a quorum thank you uh commissioner siano could you please read our mission statement absolutely Mr President the mission of the Clifton School District in an open and reciprocal Community Partnership is to provide all students with a quality education to develop the skills necessary to become literate lifelong Learners who are responsible and productive citizens contributing to a Democratic Society in an everchanging world thank you the New Jersey open public meetings law was enacted to ensure the right to the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon in accordance with the provisions of this act the Clifton Board of Education has caused notice of this meeting to be publicized by having the date time and place thereof posted at the city clerk's office Clifton Public Library administration building senior citizen Nutrition Center on cable TV in the local press on the district's website a mail the presidents of parent teacher organizations this meeting will be tape recorded in accordance with policies 0168 the Clifton Board of Education is holding its special meeting today uh Committee of the whole preliminary budget hearing uh action may be taken okay next I turn it over to Mr shahada the floor is yours uh Mr Paris and Commissioners if I May uh before Med begins uh in the past we've done a presentation where I spoke Mark spoke Janina spoke um I completely trust and rely on Mr shahada to run all of the financial aspects of this district and I trust him completely so he will be giving the presentation tonight uh he can certainly answer any questions you have uh and so can I there's not a lot to really discuss I think you'll see when the presentation is done that um we're hoping that we increase by 2% which is what we're legally allowed to do uh without any further vote and that will just maintain operation so Mr Shada thank you very much I get that give you a second there all right good evening Commissioners budgets are more than just numbers on a page they are a reflection of our values our priorities and our commitment to the future of our students tonight I present to you not just a financial plan but a blueprint for sustaining excellence in Clifton Public Schools before I begin the formal part of my presentation I would like to thank our team for all of their help and cultivating this budget for you all with all of the funding uncertainties coming from the federal government and every indication from the state that this year's Aid would not be as generous I am very proud to put forth this budget for you all over the past few days we have provided you all with a lot of information some was simple some was complex I will say this now and I will say it again on May 1st this budget is what is best for the students this budget is what is best for the staff and this budget builds a stronger more sustainable future for our entire School Community it reflects our commitment to Excellence equity and fiscal responsibility ensuring that every dollar spent supports the success and well-being of our students and staff remember this number this number is what is needed to maintain the daily operations of the 2526 school year this year we were awarded 5.9 million in state aid and here is how the state is telling us to allocate that money roughly $4 million for special education a little over 50,000 for security and just about 2.5 million for Equalization Aid which covers the cost of the growing enrollment and here is how that $5 million is being spent salary increases for $5 million health benefits increased astronomically by $7.4 million Charter Schools increased $3 million pcti decreased $1.3 million added District private schools decreased $440,000 contracted trans report ation decreased $385,000 and County Special Services increased $180,000 now the negatives you see are due to a one-time credit this will not be the case next year year-over-year we continue to spend less per pule than the Pate County and state averages despite the glaring disparity we maintain programming extracurricular activities ensure all of our students and staff have what they need in the classroom or on the field now here is that same chart in number format if you guys notice Clifton for the past decade or so hovers around 47% while pay County and the state of New Jersey are over 50% now just to further illustrate this large discrepancy between Clifton and neighboring districts here are a few districts that far surpass Us in spending per pupil as you will see these six districts chosen by proximity to all of us are nearly 60% of their respective tax pie Wayne 54.8% West Milford 59.2% Bloomingdale 55.9% Hawthorne 55.6% Pompton Lakes 56.4% and Ringwood a hair under 60% now I found an interesting article online that showed how much the top 30 schools spend per pupil based on their tax intake now I'm not going to bore you and sit here and read each one but I do believe it is extremely important to highlight the these 30 schools on average are pulling in just over 72% of their municipality's tax intake please take a moment and just review this list now a little under 48 cents of every tax dollar goes to the schools as I mentioned before despite these glaring disparities which were outlined in the previous slides we have consistently maintained and increased programming extracurricular activities and ensure all of our students and staff have what they need in the classroom or on the field today we are proposing a 2% tax increase to ensure all programs initi Ives and supports are maintained for the 2526 school year it allows us to meet all of our contractual obligations in addition the funds for Pope Paul have been strategically placed into the last budget and allows us to fund it for the next seven years with just that amount it shows on this graph that our portion will increase but please keep in mind this does not reflect what the city or county will do I can almost guarantee you we will continue to hover around that 47% mark and it is extremely important to mention that every school district in this State regardless of size is the largest p p uh portion of their tax pie now I've taken the liberty of creating a list of what the tax impact would be from a 1 to 6% increase based on our presentation this evening I highlighted the 2% now based on the average assessed home in the city of Clifton according to the doe State a notice the proposed 2% increase would it create to roughly $8 per month or just over $100 per year now respectfully the district has seen many years of a 0% tax increase listed here and well before that other boards made the best decision with the information they had on hand at that time it's also important to mention those are the co years and during the co years districts were flooded with grant money that expired unfortunately two years ago so at that time it was the fiscally responsible thing to do to not raise taxes now when the state is calculating how much Aid to give a district it's comprised of of a multitude of factors one of the main components is whether or not the Local District asked the taxpayers for an increase the state's rationale is very simple if they don't need money from their locality they don't need money from us this year and every third year of the formula the state uses real numbers than rather than a factor and as such our difference in the local fair share has grown exponentially this is why the state encourages and expects each district to go up to that 2% cap now if you guys recall last year this time last year when I was given this presentation our local fair share difference was 15 million because that was based on just factors that the state was using socioeconomic all that good stuff now it's at 44 million so we're short changing our children over the years $44 million and in closing I want the board and the public to understand the large amount of time and effort we put into creating this budget as stewards of public monies we do not take this job lightly and remain steadfast in our pursuit of transparency and fiscal responsibility for those commenting on Facebook and other social media platforms from the recesses of their homes spreading mistruths and pointing the finger at the big bad school district I have one thing to say our jobs are simple but not easy do the best we can with what we have to ensure our children have the best educational experience possible giving them the best opportunity to succeed again thank thank you for your time this evening I'm looking forward to presenting the final Budget on May 1st and I happy to answer any questions you guys may have thank you Mr shahad i' like to open the floor uh commissioner brunak thank you Mr President thank you Mr President Mr shahada please I'd like you to please explain to to our colleagues and to the public at large what the increase was for the benefits it's around 20% of the increase and explain what happened in the prior year of the policy that it increased that significant amount thank you yeah last year I believe the benefits increased $3.4 million this year or about 7.4 um basically it's payto playay its usage so we switched over two years ago to a a self-insured policy which means that there is the possibility and we have been doing much better with usage so if we pay every claim that comes in up to a certain amount I believe that amount is 250 with the stop loss coverage um unfortunately and as the community knows we have had many illnesses within the District of of Staff members their their spouses their children um and unfortunately insurance is a huge gamble so you know this year it did increase 177% the medical was relatively decent it was about like four and a half 5% but the prescription was north of uh 40 and that was on a two-year plan that we had from two years ago and now it's time to renew um we do hope and are praying for Everybody's Health first and foremost um it's more important than any dollar amount that you can put on that but we do feel that this year will be uh a much better year for our health insurance we have already seen uh the trends going down so we hope that continues starting July 1 when the New Year policy when the new policy starts over thank you Mr President uh Dr Danny uh thank you Mr President um Mr shahada I just would like um for you to maybe explain to the public or or so that if um if there's not a 2% um increase would there be staff Cuts if you did not go to the 2% would there be staff cuts that would affect students um I I can't say for certainty uh the last thing that and I'm speaking for Dr Robert toy uh Miss go L and Mr Jan G here we we have no intention on cutting staff uh we would uh do our best to collapse programs but ensuring that everybody still has a job at the end of the day I don't like to this hypothetical I I don't want to cause outrage but if this 2% is not passed tonight or rather on Thursday and on May 1st uh we are in a significant hole of roughly $3 million so I I hope it doesn't get to that I I feel this board is um supportive of the 2% that we're we're putting forth and you know that's you guys are the ultimate deciders and Dr Robi if you would like to add anything to that uh absolutely Mr Shad I concur with everything you said staff cuts are absolutely the last thing we would do absolutely the last thing um I could tell you that if if we didn't go to 2% that we would have a financial deficit I don't believe it would Impact Staff but it would impact kids it would impact programs that impact kids um I'd also like to point out U Back to what Mr brunak talked about with the health benefits um what we saw happen not just in Clifton but Statewide and nationally is during the pandemic for a couple years there people didn't people let things go people didn't go to the doctors get checkup and what happens the last couple years people are catching up and there have been a lot more uh significant medical issues speaking from my own personal uh experience that have um that have come come about and that people are are discovering so that's why our claims have gone up we do think it's a blip on the radar um so we do anticipate that it will go down next year but it's just very unpredictable uh so that that those Health costs those health benefit costs is a is something that's really beyond our control um but causes significant um hardship on the district and also just to piggyback off of that um at our County meetings when we get the notes and all that stuff uh they said budget for north of like 25 % increase you know we were very fortunate that our prescription went through the roof and not our medical because if our medical went up 17% we'd be having a completely different conversation right now because that's about 35 million in itself the prescription is a fraction of that so I'm very grateful that it panned out that way anyone else I have a comment Mr Paris May uh Dr Robert to has oh thank you very much for very comprehensive ensive um presentation and thank you for answering my questions today and sharing them with the board today um I asked you several questions about sustainability and can you tell the everybody in the in the audience what you told me about our stability we are on very solid site Financial footing if you guys notice every year in June um primarily last year and the year before when I when I came on um myself Mr USI Mr Sanel Mr burn we have uh we make a conscious decision to stop purchasing for non-essential things around the new year um it is not a hard stop but it allows us to retain a lot of money that would be spent on things that are not totally necessary um as such in June you guys will see every year a resolution of us putting a lot of money into the reserves uh we had the foresight many years years ago after meeting with the assistant superintendent and Dr Robert toy that we don't know what the formula would look like after a new governor takes office this one has been very gracious to us so we have been putting a lot of money into the reserves and you may have seen that in this past audit I think there was like1 19 million in capital reserve nine in uh maintenance reserve and like seven in fund balance um obviously that money we do not want to use because that means you have to make it up next year in your budget so if you're having a shortfall this year a high probability you'll have a shortfall next year so we don't like to use that that is a last resort that's a crutch and it would not be well if we have to make that up for multiple years in a row because eventually that money will run out but I do anticipate uh a rather large um withdrawal into our Reserve accounts this year just I I just like to keep the bank healthy just in the event something goes terribly wrong out of our control of course okay um my other question um I asked I asked a bunch of questions sa the whole board got it so I'm I'm glad that you answered you sent it to everyone um the budget for this year with the 2% does that include any new any hires for the new building for the the proposed building on Valley Road it does not uh so this year we are not asking for any staff any new staff rather there are Replacements uh those who retired those who resigned those who unfortunately you know that just aren't with us anymore for whatever reason um but we do have staff that was last year's budget that with the intention of putting it into the new building after it is fully fully secured and operational God willing September so so we have the money for to staff yes right and then we have the money to do any kind of Renovations that we need to do to improve the the quality of the building the building is actually in great shape but we do have money allocated to improve on whatever we need for the building so we're set with that building somebody had asked me that and I do want to to say one other thing that building will not whatever it pans out to be will not be any lesser than a current Clifton building now the same security same technology everything it's going to be even across the board but we have money set aside for that okay and the other question I did ask you about the grant yes and and I'd like to really see if we if the grant writer we are using it's we're say we're we're making it's in a positive for us than a negative because we we spend so much money a month and uh I'd like to see that we're actually doing a lot better than what we're spending to pay this this gent but uh thank you very much for your and I do just want to say uh Miss bass for that as I told you these grants 99% of them are competitive grants so uh we do uh missus Lage works on it more than anybody uh works with whomever that Grant is whatever Department it's touching and sometimes we get them sometimes we don't but it it's no fault of the grant WR or any of our staff it's the the crer I'm not just saying that I just want to make sure that it's cost Ive to keep the person employed and if we're not if it's we're not you know in the positive I'd rather see us do something else of course Mr Paris I just want to go back to the idea of local fair share I think it's a critical point U Mr shat spoke about it but the calculation that the state uses for this I I don't know the exact formula but it is a Formula that is used uh Statewide where the state basically tells you based on your community's demographics tax rate and all the other factors here's how much you should be raising in taxes and the fact of the matter is that according to their calculation we're $44 million below where the state believes we should be now let's say the state is wrong their formula is wrong let's just say if it was half that do you know what we could do with an additional $20 million my point in even bringing this up is that we're doing pretty good with what we have right um and to keep the momentum going it's only reasonable to increase by 2% inflation this past year was about 3 and a 12% right so just to just to maintain what we have we really need more than 2% but based on the on our planning and the budget that we've created we'll be in really good shape with 2% so please just keep those things in mind we can't change the past right we can't change what happened in the past and and again those boards and those superintendents during those years made those decisions and they were good decisions at the time based on all the factors that they knew um but that doesn't change the fact that we're 44 million less than where we where we should be so please keep that in mind thank you commissioner siano I'll jump in on this thank you so much all right the same problem I had last year which is you know I do my research is this tax assessment $1 178,916 funny you mentioned that uh the last time a tax assessment was done in Clifton was in 1998 oh I actually looked it up and that is the average assessed Home in Clifton and I cross reference it with the doe state aid notice that said 1078 223 whatever that number is um so my numbers are factual based on the Ci's assessment I so I can't rejigger that number even if I wanted to because I don't know what the housing increase would be right but what I can say confidently is that $8 or so on that cheat is what the people will be paying based on that 1998 number so regardless of what you may believe some your house is assessed that if that's not what's at City Hall if that's not what is being reported to you on your you know tax bill every year it's irrelevant you're going off of that number I have on that sheet so the tax assessments are are you're saying the average tax assessment is 178 this is average everybody's different right correct so everybody's going to be paying different from $834 right of course so just me running quick numbers most assessments are 238,000 246,000 279,000 yes you have a handful of houses that are assessed at 168,000 and when you take the average I don't think this is the same average which is why we're in the middle of a reassessment right now which still hasn't been done which we're still reassessing oh yeah they are they're still reassessing since our last budget meeting uh because nobody's letting people into the houses which I understand um so they go off the land they go off the approvable assessment for the total taxable and just roughly it's 238 246 279 and part of that problem is you're seeing record high numbers in housing right now and that increases the land assessment um looking over this so the numbers you gave me and I was a board member last year with the tax increase of 3.89% so before that was 4% before that was 2% right correct so over the past since 22 23 we're looking at about 10% over the past three sure okay yeah and I'm just you know and my whole thing is I just have trouble putting this onto the taxpayer over and over and over again where right now you're seeing record high numbers you talk about inflation inflation is horrible right now but who's hitting it more than anybody you know the homeowners are hitting it the homeowners are spending $10 a carton on eggs um so that's just where my head is out but that's that always just bothered me the assessment thing and it's not your fault that's you're doing this was an amazing presentation which you gave it to us you gave me everything in advance I appreciate it looked over everything that assessment though is going to drastically change soon we don't know when it could be another year we could be having the same conversation of 178 next year right because that's how many houses aren't letting people Mr siano and Commissioners if I may and I'm not an expert on this topic on house assessment so somebody who's smarter than me on this please can explain this better than me got you if today all of Clifton was reassessed it doesn't mean that if your house is assessed for double that that your taxes will double because they change it change the formula changes so Mark could you explain that better you know in a way like but the point is even if it was reassessed today it doesn't mean that your taxes double or triple because your assessed value dou the assess rates uh as the assessed value goes up the rate taxed is modified to some bring has somehow bring it to equilibrium so property value is going up you do a reassessment everyone's PR goes from 167 to 270 the rate that the town or the County charges for the taxes is then adjusted normally downward to not for the entire burden onto the taxpayers to pay for that rate so it's a forgive me it's a game it is it's a it's a it's a weighing and balancing it depends on how aggressive the assessments are versus how much pain the taxpayer can ultimately absorb um it causes all kinds of tax appeals it causes all kinds of Mischief but they will assess at a higher level but tax it at a lower percentage there's some correlation commissioner it's not a direct correlation Mr I also want to say now so when I run these numbers the total taxable value of Clifton is a little North of5 billion the city is only collecting taxes at $311 million our tax factor is about 16.65% if I just remember that correctly so when that goes up to 20 billion next year you know after the reassessment whatever that number may be the other number will catch up to it you divide one into the other and you'll still get that same tax rate which will still hover around that 16 17% so just because as Dr Robert told you mentioned your house value doubles does not mean that you will be paying double in taxes it's still Apples to Apples and to make things more complicated S2 which is the funding formula that we're dealing with which was deemed constitutional in its application um which I disagree with personally but that's neither here nor there um that does factor into property wealth and the socioeconomic wealth the economic wealth of of the residents and the property values not including Pilots so if the if the town has lots of Pilots they don't get it doesn't get added into the S2 formula which is why a city like Jersey City all those years got a ton of state aid then all of a sudden they did a reassessment with all the beautiful buildings down town that were built and they started taxing them what they were supposed to be taxed all of a sudden Jersey City um lost millions they got with Millions doll they got hit with fair share they they got hit hard that's what that is right um yet we Clifton was one of the districts that was underfunded for many many years and we finally have been brought back to where we should have been the whole time but that doesn't account for all the years where we didn't get what we were supposed to get just to bring you up the current I have I got the data from the state of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs it's a uh Municipal tax summary Clifton average taxes 2024 that's the most recent data they have $1,684 per home is the average and if you backtrack into what Mr shahada said as far as percentage of taxes going to schools his estimate of the impact on the average home is pretty much dead on that's the actual numbers for the district and that doesn't include any credits or adjustments that people receive and that's according to State Department of Community Affairs 2024 data it's hard to project what's going to happen in the future but that is a a valid average tax number for for our town today yes commission what happens if we don't and we leave it the same we leave it at zero what happens what happens next year that's what I need to know our administrative team will have to get together and make some very hard decisions that will impact students can you give can you please give us like such as like I need to know what you think it's G where it's start it would be the you know in a hypothetical way I I hate to throw something out there that you know because people are watching and they like oh well they're going to cut this program if we don't go to 2% I don't like to do that but we I'll tell you we'd have to find $3 million that the number IID we we' have to cut programs equivalent to the amount of $3 million without trying to touch staff that could be uh extracurricular that could be Sports probably would be but like not academic stuff maybe not by computer cor correct you'd probably start at extracurricular first that's where you'd start thank you yeah anyone else any other comments questions um I just want wanted to ask a little bit about Federal funding um given the current situation what is your confidence level going forward on federal funding because Clifton does receive a lot of title money from Department of Education which is little questionable at this point I think our federal funding is about $23 million more or less um this proposed or anticipated to be 23 it's about a million short of last year um I I feel confident that the money will still be there next year I I believe what's taking place in Washington uh will be stuck in the court system for a very very very long time and eventually it will be um dismissed or they'll withdraw um I'm not an attorney by any threats of the imagination but I do believe we will be fine okay Mr Paris I also believe that if what we hear about the Department of Education the Federal Department of Education going away or um some of the things that are funded through uh Federal money like special ed and Title One programs for our most atrisk students I I cannot see the federal government cutting those programs but what could happen is they get funded by a different department right if the Department of Education no longer exists that money just goes somewhere else right Mark is that what you're saying would be the Department of Treasury is most likely where that would come from whether it's a funding difference or not um I I am not as optimistic as you frankly um I think that there is pain coming and it's going to be real but I don't have my crystal ball is broken I can't say that with Assurance but um I I turning over the funding source to the Department of Treasury is one thing the amount of support and all the rest of it that comes through the federal department of education is another matter entirely and Title One and whatever other you know grants and and programs that there are um I'm just not that optimistic but you need to say something Mr sh we miss we have been told to plan but this is a typical thing we have been told to plan for 80% of what we received in the previous year however they say that most years to plan for 80% of what we received the year before [Music] just piggybacking off that that's the state's rule of thumb they even for state aid or any money that we get 80% is the number they say to budget with just in the event something goes terribly wrong so that isn't concerning or alarming for my office commiss brunak yeah thank you so this this number that you're describing you get 80% does that have to do with Federal funding or this has to do with State funding both uh so I I think specifically what uh was asked was uh from Mr Paris president Paris rather was Federal funding so if we're anticipating 23 million they would say take 80% of that which probably leaves around like 18 million or so to budget for but you know we we I think we find out those numbers in July is augusti is of what we get from the federal funding so we'd have a you know I really hate to just guess and give you fake numbers you know we can have this conversation in July when the numbers come out and we can have a real conversation about that but until then we are budgeting you know the 23 million that we are anticipating and if it's more or less you know we just have to just roll roll with the punches at that point Mr President Mr president vice president Santiago thank you president Paris so just piggybacking or adding to what you're saying um what Miss kusich said was um that's what we have been told to budget past years and this is very very different time right going forward if we've been told that last year and the year before it's a time when there's an Administration saying that they want to eliminate the entire Department of Education right so it's very different in the past and um I think what you've mentioned in terms of reserves you know has left us in a good position for the unexpected right and you know you've done a great job Administration has done a great job with that compared to other jurs compared to other municipalities or other depart areas where um we've been prudent um in our spending and smart to save for those rainy days and for the unexpected and I think that that's going to potentially be needed in the future and um so just my thought on on that and Mr Santiago I I believe I did share with the board I know I shared it with the administration of our um our stress test I think I don't know if you guys got a chance to see that it's pretty long and boring but as you can see there was multiple scenarios if we lose 10% 15% uh 5% whatever it was of things that we would have to do and you know God forbid that I'm not here next year you know I just want to hand that off to you guys so you guys know what to do if you know worst case scenario something happened so if you guys want to com to that have any questions I do believe we are in in in a very good place um but you know things change administration's change hand formula will change but I think we would be able to navigate and weather any storm that comes anyone else any other questions yes yes Dr Danny uh thank you Mr Paris um I actually um I I would just like to know um you know so tax verion know I would like to know what exactly maybe not necessarily I would like to know what would be C what would be cut if um like in the past we have gotten you know like all right so you want a 1% you want um you know 2% 3% 4% um like for me to do my due diligence like I I would like to know at a 1% what would be C what would be cut and I don't need to know that right now because I don't want you taking guesses but I would like to know um you know because there are people that are struggling um I would like to know I'd like to do my due diligence I'd like to know at 1% with my conscience what am I cutting so you know it's it's enough to say well yeah maybe it isn't you know Athletics but I but I want to know because you know I am in education and I do see a lot of wasteful spending on my not saying that Clifton is wasteful spending but I see it you know and um you know just hearing a lot of things with like even the federal Cuts with the jobs and things and there are people who I know who work in the federal government and they're like wow you know like I'm doing a lot of work now um things are getting done I mean so I I don't know I mean you make you start thinking about you know people and struggling and and the amount they have to pay and the taxpayers have been very you know um generous to us with the referendum and then we pass the 4% and I I really you know in good faith would want to know for that 1% what are we cutting so I I can answer that um so let me just start from the beginning so typically on a normal year I think for the past two years because we did have the option of going up to 4% because of that bank cap yeah um I gave you guys a 0% at at the the instruction of the finance committee a 0% a 2% and a 4% this year I can say unequivocally 0% we're cutting $3 million worth of stuff we don't know what it is because it would have to be scattered throughout but I can say with 100% certainty it will impact children negatively regardless of if it's an extra curricul icular whether it's a math club a math class it will hurt children so regardless of what it is you know 1% 1.5 million it's still going to hurt children and I'm pretty confident that we don't want to have these tough conversations with them and I'm pretty sure the board doesn't want us to have those tough conversations with students parents staff members um so there is no real answer even you know it would be a game time decision at the time of you know getting ready to open the buildings of what we would have to shave but I can't say it will hurt children negatively thank you Mr shahada it still doesn't answer my question maybe this will answer your question Dr Danny just just to maintain what we have to do what we did this year we need 13 million additional dollars just to keep what we have so maybe that's another way to look at as opposed to what are we going to cut I just wanted to the price of everything went up right benefits all that salaries goes up right your salary went up yeah Zer zero I mean your board salary I'm not talking about your teach salary Dr Danny I'm not saying we would cut this but just something popped into my mind right that our extra money ran out last year and uh Miss Kus levich could correct me if I'm wrong but there was tutoring money in there for learning loss catchup and we as a board decided we wanted to maintain that program and if my memory serves me right that was about a million and a half dollars in our budget so I mean I didn't look at every align item in the budget but I'm just pop there's a million and a half dollars what does that do that that impacts the students that need the most help to get caught up but something we don't have to do that we as a board decided we would fund that continue that um but there's a big hunk of money it it wouldn't Impact Staffing in a sense that mean you wouldn't be losing any staff by doing that but you would be losing a a resource that um our students are getting that help them catch up just like I said no I understand all that I do um we can get you an answer yeah I just but here's what I would ask yeah for us to do our due diligence to really give you that answer remember what Thursday night's vote is Thursday night's vote is to allow us to submit this budget to the county superintendent so they can do their approval you're not actually voting on this budget till May so what I would ask was that we don't need to have this to you by Thursday night no that we could have this to you in time so we could do do Jill do diligence and give you an appropriate answer she gave me on Friday Friday Friday okay and remember remember guys whatever Thursday night you vote Yes to submit this to the county we can change whatever we want between Thursday night and when we vote to officially approve the budget in May so voting yes Thursday night just means yes you can send this to the county for approval okay anyone else any other comments oh yes commission I just want to apologize I was stuck in traffic for over two hours um J St traffic is not it um but when I was sitting in the car just listening to the Board of Education meeting all I heard was you know obviously you guys all know where I stand and supporting the students as much as we can having been to you know at College where kids were bragging about having you know horses in their you know their gym class from California you know so all you hear is that so we raised our taxes the last two years now you want to raise it again but we got more money I think the point is to tell them all the things that cost more money now all the things were being charged more money now I think that's the thing people don't understand sometimes they may say well hey we got an extra you know a little bit a little bit more basically um but now you want to raise our taxes again I think we need to go on kind to like what Dr Danny was saying what would happen if we lost you know that 2% what would we lose I think that's what the community needs a better understanding of they need to see what what they would lose cuz if they don't see what they're losing they don't see the benefit of raising that extra 2% and that's all I thought on the call right here I'm like man if I was a homeowner I would also be here at the Board of Education saying you know what it is a lot because as we said before we raised it you know twice in the last two years um so to Dr Danny's point is it possible to maybe have another presentation of some of the things that could go wrong not saying that those would be the ones to go but what would have happened I would whatever the board wants I will do it it's not a problem and whatever Dr Rober toi asked to me um I can get you guys that information just need some time because we these are conversations that we need to have because um I can get it you guys I would not want to present this I don't want to cause public outcry um we can discuss it in very general terms after you guys have the information in hand um but I don't want to say like we're going to cut room 103 at school 77 you know like I want to we could also bring bring it to the final committee and let the finance committee decide you know how we want to proceed um in the future I mean that's fine I would just ask as I said that just this is not something we want to just you know pick out of a hat and say oh you know we're going to get rid of this um we just want to make sure that if if I may we give you something appropriate to the public when the last time the board voted 0% when I was in I think 10th or 11th grade half my teachers lost their job that's just a quick example of what happened 2016 2016 more than half my teachers lost their job and I remember as I'm crying in the bathroom um I came late home room so I say go down to my locker put my stuff in next thing you know boom I see a teacher run out of the classroom and that was one of my favorite teachers um starts crying in you know basically in front of me and I see that I'm like wow what happened and then you hear what happened at the Board of Education meeting the night before and and I do want to say that there was uh according to our historian Miss cusa levage there were massive Cuts in 2011 uh and 2016 that we have not yet caught up from so we're still short staff from what we had in 2011 and 2016 you know this new formula that came in with uh Governor Murphy in 2018 very generous to us because it was what was it was done right for the children and the districts it wasn't a political move it was districts needed the money got the money that has allowed us to relatively catch up to where we need to be but as you could see by the state's metrics we're still 44 million short of what we have and you know just going back a few years uh I think in 2016 when I was looking at the historical data because I know I thought Mr C bass was going to talk about the home assessment number that I gave um Clifton in 2016 the increase that they got from state aid 685,000 in 2015 like 300,000 year before that was zero so there was years and years and years of neglect from the state and unfortunately um you know people had to be laid off the taxpayers had to pick up some of the burden and you know we apologize for that however at the end of the day we're just trying to do right by children nobody in education is getting rich at least here in Clifton uh we just want to ensure our children have a better opportunity to succeed than we did when we were students and I think all of us can sign on to that so I think the 2% is more than fair I think it's it'll help us just keep what we got going here as Dr up said we have good momentum let's keep it going well we we will get some scenarios out to the Commissioners and also there's still time plenty of time to uh submit some more questions to Mr shahada we have I mean just th is just our preliminary vote right so we still have April meetings I think there's two more meetings before our final May budget I think there's two more regular meetings somewhere there so we have a month month and a half that we can still gather more information so president Paris if I may yes I may I'm sorry sorry so as they gather that analysis for us I think it's a good idea obviously right it's hard we don't want to scare anybody by just saying things um it's good idea to understand what we're really talking about but when you provide that if you don't mind um what does even that mean right because it's easy from arms length to look and say well if we cut this and we cut this but what is that impact when you provide that that data to us what does that mean to our kids right how does it impact what are they going to lack so if we say it could be this it could be that I mean we mentioned a Athletics earlier right who which one do you want it to be the cheer team that three repated just now do you want it to be the girls basketball team that ended the season on a run that turned it around by hard work which one I think for all my colleagues just something to throw out there to think about what are you comfortable with cutting right what are you going to be comfortable with we do need data from you guys and ask that but what are we going to be comfortable with eliminating and I think we need to know how that's going to impact our students before we just say well you know if it's if it's maintenance so you might say well it's just maintenance well how's that what does that mean in terms to our kids and to our schools and to our staff um just something rhetorical to just think about can I um I know Mr Shad in the on our first year our first term you gave us like a a bullet point list like 1% 2% 3% would you be able to send that out again something very similar to that so that was quote unquote the wish list of you know when we were looking to increase staff because we did have the ability to go from zero to 4% because of that bank cap uh that wasn't a possibility this year so basically what I'm hearing is do in Reverse it's to reverse correct so the the scenarios that I'm going to be giving you guys you know it's a $3 million scenario and I can break it down to 1.5 and I can break it down to zero and we you know just basic math each teacher costs us roughly $130,000 with salary and benefits on average so take 3 million divided by that you probably got about 24 25 teachers you know so that's not what we're going to do but you know that's just one of the scenarios that I will show you guys I think it's important to point out too that this Thursday night I'll be doing a presentation on the opening of our new school of our plans for opening a new school now's not the time to to to we're opening a new school now's not the time to be going 0% or reducing you know um so maybe after Thursday night's presentation too when you hear the plan for that um you might have a different perspective too but we'll absolutely put something together for you guys so that you can make an informed decision okay um it's no problem no problem at all yes commissioner so the way I look at it is really just based on trends when you talk about financial budgeting you're looking at what you've spent before assessing programs if you want to continue them and just looking at Trends so if the trends are that you know we want to keep keep these programs and we see the the costs are moving are moving up for them obviously we need to the money needs to come come from somewhere to fund it so either we approve the programs or we don't approve the programs it's basically what it comes down to now we're looking at um negotiations that have already been done on salary increases and those are averaged around what this year three and a half 4% we still have three bargaining units left by the way we got like 40 in this place so right off the bat you're already looking at something over 2% so that has to take from somewhere um so knowing yes we did get additional funding some of that is going to go into into the salaries for for individuals um and then we saw that large health benefit jump of7 A5 million now you're talking about a $3 million downfall on a 2% right so that's really like two and a half no almost 5% right we're talking about so our increase for health benefits is 5% I mean it is what it is right so and then and then that's aside from just maintaining buildings yes we have a referendum and that's been paying for some of these things so hopefully we won't have to maintain those things as much in the future like bathrooms and things like that that things would have gone they generally won't go now because they're new newer hopefully um but the way I see it is that's the only way to maintain right now is to fund something that you believe in and move it forward and since everything else is going up more than 2% I can't see us doing anything less than a 2% so I understand the hypotheticals of 0 1% but for me to put something out there like that and then have on someone think in the back of my mind that I'm the low man on the poll because I know that my job might be cut next or something I mean if I'm if I'm somebody in that profession I may be looking somewhere else to go so I'm like you know what next year the Year and after I don't know if that's something that's going to pan out here depending on who's in the board and what the situation is so while while I totally understand what you mean and and you should get whatever it is you're you're asking for I'm not saying that um I just don't necessarily like that idea and I think if we just look at it holistically we know that like I said 5% increase in in health benefits that has to come from somewhere yes we had additional aid but you see all the other numbers that increased as well so I think it's a sound budget if the vote for was for today I'd obviously be voting for a 2% and can I just miss Danny Danny before this year was an anomaly look at the decreases that we got from pcti I don't think Judy miss bassford you have been there for 15 years there's never been a decrease in bcti never don't hold your breath that's going to happen next year the contracted Transportation if you guys remember last year it was up Millions because we couldn't find they couldn't find drivers the added District placements you guys see our special ed numbers that are are booming through the roof so we were very fortunate this year that these were negatives next year it's a completely different ball game so this 2% is going to help us this year and hopefully next year as well Dr Danny so I just like I said I think think it's important that I have this information again um for me to do due diligence when we were provided you had a wish list that you wanted and you had the 1% 2% and I understand that that was the wish list but when you spoke to the taxpayers and they came up to you they came up to me and they said to me you know wow you know you did why did you do this what you know why because this is what I believed in and this is what I believed as an educator was necessary and I want to do that same due diligence whatever it is right now it's to say willy-nilly because you decided yes you put this out but you know what that means nothing because it's not attached to the student you don't see when they ask why did you well because Mr shahada and his team are great and they said a 2% is what they need you know I get it but that's not how people are people want like yeah because you know what this might be cut that might be cut you want would you want to make that cut do you want to tell me where you want me to make that cut and that is why like I said I think for me to feel that I'm on here and I'm doing the best that I can I want to see that it's like a reverse thing like you said but that's what I want to see because you know people out there you know they're expecting us to do the right thing and then you can say yeah I did the right thing because this is what would be and like you said um Mr Mahia and Mr Santiago it's like yeah where where do you cut where what so yeah I I just I want to see that that's what I want to see and I don't mean to make work for you because I get it like you have better things to do then provide me with things like you know but but what I'm saying is no seriously that's my job you know but I'm saying that it's it's just it's it's what I need to to have that clear conscious problem Dr D yeah I serve at the pleasure of the board I was I agreed early on when you first asked I'll get you the list everybody else started talking uh I am in no place toow everybody not to talk I told you I'll get to the list we we had already established we had already established that Mr shahada was going to get that information to the entire board so you will you will get your fired up there you'll get your information yeah Mr kova got you fired up and Y Mr Paris yes I just want to reiterate Lucy's point we I'm a visual learner I want to see it in writing I want to see what people are going to come up see what you don't experience and Danny doesn't experience and the lawyer and the people behind you got at Shop Right at stoping shop we get questions we're at a game we're at an event people come up to us and asks us they ask us why did you do this last year I had took a like a visual picture of your presentation in my brain I was able to Rattle stuff off you you tell me that we need 2% to sustain this district for next year that's why I asked the question about Paul six on Valley Road because I want to make sure that we're we're fluid that we can open that building and relieve some of the burden of the um the buildings that are experiencing High rates of student enrollment I was in a first grade kindergarten a first grade class reading on on Monday and there was 24 children in a first grade class no that to me I have to tell you I was I walked in and the first thing I was said to myself w i Ste back was there's a lot of children in this classroom and I was upset and the teacher did a fabulous job and she handled everything brilliantly and she's a she's a veteran teacher and she knows who I'm talking about so I'm sorry that I'm bringing you up but I didn't mention you by name but to me that was upsetting to me to see that and to walk into some of the other schools that were impacted by the rain the other day that Heavy Rain that we had and then they have issues now that we have to to fix the roofs again that's I would like to see this is what we need and this is what we we need to stay this way like Lucy said I want a list of what we would have to cut God forbid we didn't get the vote I've never not given you guys the information you requested in a timely manner I will I will 100% I'll start working on it tomorrow I'll meet with no I appreciate it but I need to I need to know that so when people come up to me and question me and I'm at the dino trying to enjoy dinner with with a group of people and they ask me out loud I don't look at them and go you can let them know if they ask I want be a to first person we're letting go was chewy thank no chewy does a very good job okay is there is there any any other yes commissioner s you were very quiet tonight thank you president Paris um and just so the community knows where I stand I really appreciate um my colleagues comments um and commissioner kova I I appreciate what you shared and and I agree um and just speaking for myself as a homeowner has a parent of a child here in District um I I absolutely agree with maintaining as is I know there's much room for improvement such as class sizes teacher shortages substitute shortages and many other things that we need more money for so 2% is the least we can do especially if it's the expectation from the state so I just wanted to share with the community where I stand that if it was a vote today it would be a yes thank you commission I promise the last com president I promise this is my last comment but since we continue come on get it um so we we we all get we get those same questions about I'm a I'm a I've been living here 30 years I've been my my taxes have gone up they probably almost double right um we get those questions uh what was great about the Strategic plan is that we had people all stakeholders who don't have children in the district don't have children at all um parents we had a variety staff and including you know in those sessions and before that some of the themes have always been overcrowding as commissioner bassford was getting to um to Transportation before and after care the shortage of teachers has been an issue Nationwide before covid before covid we were already short teachers right so all that has just compounded and continues um so you know these are the issues in terms of overcrowding and we've got PA Paul that we're working on which is great um these have been the issues that parents and everybody um as well as um not just the property uh the taxpayers but also parents who meet you in the schools or in the street bring these same issues up over and over for years and so um just something I think we need to keep in mind echoing the sentiments that we've been talking about today thank you commissioner Santiago commissioner Seattle why not one more time right so if it were a vote today I would vote no I'm going to be the odd man out okay I would vote no because of my own personal reasons because of the what I see going on all the time we're raising taxes everybody's raising taxes the congestion tax the city tax the County taxes sewer tax tolls are going up I work with the power one I see how much this is hurting people I see people selling their houses because they can't afford the taxes and I go fill up the little pantry and guess what the next day it's gone people are hurting now more than ever convince me to go up 2% I'm not going to say I won't but I'm going to say right now because of these factors I can't do it I I I see how it's hurting people send me that information say Joe we're going to cut the music program I'm be like oh no obviously I'm not going to let you cut the music program you know what I mean like put this stuff in front of me cuz right now this is what I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around I as mentioned a handful of times I'll get you guys the information but please just allow me to send budget to the county on Thursday because they're on my back so I just want to get that off to them I have a question if we vote to send the what actual budget are we voting uh to send to them with the 2% with the 2% and then as a board how do we Rectify that say we want to not go 2% what is the mechanism tell me and then we change it May 1st for the final so we vote Yes we vote Yes for the budget on Thursday I want to be very clear so people know what we're doing and we all know what we're doing that goes with a 2% increase to the county budget for approval for compliance purposes only right then from there we can go back and forth with go one two 1 2 0 one two so when do you think that you would have that information to us that we all requested I can let's come let's come to an agreement of a decent a date I think we'd like to have it for the next finance committee meeting which is April today actually is the this is the finance committee meeting so um second Tuesday second Wednesday in a April so fourth like the 9th April April 9th okay if I had a guess that's fine because this way we can all have time to read it and digest it and then if we have to make any kind of adjustments we can meet as a board and do it over making deals all right okay move moving on safe to move on at this point uh I want to move to public rec recognition because it's already 8:00 and I'd like to kind of try to keep that always uh on on board before 800m so uh this portion of the meeting is open to the citizens of Clifton for the purpose of addressing any subject matter pertinent to and are directly related to the operation of the Clifton Public School District residents are requested to sign the register provided for this purpose and to State their names addresses and subject matter comments are limited to five minutes per person issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appro apprpriate the board asked that members of the public be courteous and mindful the rights of other individuals when speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights supported by the laws of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments in light of the legal rights of those affected are identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments we shall start with virtual Mr Rose no one on Virtual okay motion to close virtu motion motion by commissioner Mahia second and by commissioner Suarez um anyone like to approach the table it is now not a Podium any longer moving on up that got at the table look at that I pay for that table I'm banking on that too personally I'd rather be a me thank you good evening uh Elias Ragsdale first of all I want to say that I appreciate wholeheartedly and I think residents in Clifton do too the questions of the administration and the pushing back against what was presented anyone uh when making a big purchase or a financial decision would look at the price tag for one item and say okay well what's cheaper and what would I be losing if I go with this cheaper option and seeing what the differences are at least seeing them um and like one of you said you know it's about doing your due diligence as a commissioner of the Board of Education representing taxpayers here in Clifton um and also you know I understand a 2% tax increase maintains our current operations and covers our current expenses um but has Administration taking a look at our current expenses themselves identifying areas where we can cut costs and eliminate inefficiencies because um what I think at least is you know Cuts aren't always bad if you're cutting something that's inefficient something that doesn't work properly doesn't work well something that teachers um aren't particularly liking and think is effective or what students don't believe themselves are effective for their own learning um and before asking taxpayers to contribute more shouldn't we make sure that we're operating as efficiently as possible um as I said finding and addressing wasteful spending ineffective programs or areas where resources are being used poorly are there Vehicles we don't need um positions that we don't need things like that have we made an effort and assess this before even coming to the conclusion that 2% is how much uh we need to continue operating it's important that you show um everything that you can do to save money before turning to taxpayers for more thank you thank you El anyone else motion to close motion to close commissioner brunak seconded by commissioner Mahia um the only thing left on our agenda is just a review of the two resolutions that last time we spoke to you about that we were putting together for New Jersey school boards um we did submit them um we had some I would say technical mistakes in the the formatting um which makes us now postpone those uh entries to njsba till their next delegates meeting which we will do um so these will go back to the legislative committee we we will also solicit additional resolution requests from you and we have plenty of time this time and uh we'll make sure we put them in the proper formatting so that we can get them considered um but I just I'm not going to read these to you now I think you can you can read them they're in the uh on the agenda uh and lastly is board member comments so we're going to do board member com comments this evening ladies and gentlemen yes you have nothing or you have something yes I just want to well let's let's start then with commissioner Kenova he's be first up uh based on our rotation thank you commissioner Pastor no comments tonight thank you none for no comments tonight okay thank you Dr Danny uh commission Mia um um really quickly um big shout out to all the the student athletes who did a tremendous season I know we have another meeting on Thursday just want to give them a big shout out because I know many of them say they can't wait until you know June or July to get recognized so big shout out to them um for everyone at home listening to the presentations what I recommend is doing a little bit more research sometimes people just hear one thing and they make up their mind just on their own um I know I told Mr shahada this before I'm working like on a 10year plan down line down line to see how much you can actually raise the taxes going 10 years in advance and it sucks you know it sucks to say that like if we do a 0% within the next 5 years one in seven people are going to get fired you know after doing the math and all that I think people really need to take the time to sit in do the math do the Excel spreadsheets I feel sometimes I know not all of us are great at it but you have to do it and if you do it you'll see how much we're going to be losing I hated being the student at my school who didn't have the best opportunities I'm thinking to myself wow you guys had all this cool stuff a genium that big wow you know and then us you know not to say you know anything bad about Clifton but at the time it was just you know Clifton you know oh you want to clion it's all right and then I know a lot of us are thinking well there are some schools here who do 0% for like the last 10 years look at look at their schools look how not to you know discriminate against them look how awful they are I have some of those students in my very own classes and I think you know a kid from Clifton would outpace them any day of the week um thank you very much thank you commission here commissioner siano uh just commissioner Canova very sorry for you and your family's loss commissioner bassford I'm very sorry for you and your family's loss it's been a r rough week for you guys and you have my condolences that's all I have commission thank you commissioner Seattle commissioner Suarez now just thank you for the thorough present otherwise I save my comments for Thursday thank you commissioner B yes well I was going to wish the Kenova family for the passing of your father-in-law uh Rose and the girls and your entire family find the strength and the love and the support and surrounding you during this difficult time please know that we are all here to support you Joe in any way I know it's difficult he was a good man he was a good man um additionally our hearts go out to the Colangelo family of Woodland Park um on a tragic L of nicolea yesterday uh to Lauren my dear Lauren uh alesandro and the children we extend the deepest condolences and sympathies in the time of Sorrow We Stand Together as family offering our love and support and strength keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers we'll get through this I promise I I promised your mother and father we take care of you take care of you thank you commissioner Bas commissioner brunjak deepest condolences to the Kenova and castaldi family and and I will reserve the rest of my comments for Thursday thank you for your time and God bless America have a good night everybody thank you commissioner Brak vice president Santiago thank you president Paris my condolences again um I just want to commend our board I hope the public is watching it's just the beginning but we we weigh we don't we don't take this lightly we weigh the issues we have questions we have healthy debate and we disagree agreeably if we do disagree um it's just great to see and I just want to commend everybody for you know our dedication that we take so seriously and just um Happy Irish American Heritage mud to everybody thanks thank you commissioner Santiago um condolences to the Kenova family on their loss um I'll reserve my additional comments till Thursday so I'm looking for a motion to adjourn mot I think is there anything else on my agenda no so motion to adjourn motion by commissioner SW commissioner somebody commissioner Brak motion to adjourn seconded by commissioner Suarez thank you sorry I didn't see who did have a great evening e e