What is our state testing like window? Like how soon can we begin or when does the testing need to be completed by? How many days do we have to to do our testing? Um I'm sorry, I'm going to interject because the agenda item is the on the approval of the amount of iPads. I believe, and Ms. Flores, correct me if I'm wrong, that convert that question's a little bit out of the scope of what it's agendaized. We can ask that, but Yeah, and and so it was, you know, it's my understanding that one of the main reasons we need to refresh our iPads is because when the state test gets whatever their update is, then we need to update those iPads or the needs um they need to sync up. So, if our if our iPads aren't up to snuff or up to the right >> We have to have hardware that meets the minimum specifications for and beyond that, we also were are currently dealing with the fact that like over the life cycle of the devices, we lose devices.
Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Pierce? You mentioned that the that there plans to uh kind of fill in the gaps that would be left with, you know, interventionists leaving. Do you have examples of how that might Brad can probably best help us. Sure. So, we we look at the case load of all of our support staff. So, with special education, reading specialist, I think one thing that schools have struggled with in the past is um like what's equal and what's equity, right? So, equity to me means you put your resources where the most needs are for students, the most at-risk students. Um but schools are often based on equality. So, like each school gets one nurse, they get one principal, they get that's how we've typically functioned and we really can't afford to literally afford to keep going in that direction. So, we have to look really carefully about where to put our resources.
So, maintenance ends up trying to burn them, put them on a burn pile, whatever, trying to destroy them. Um we have had some staff reach out and say, "Hey, I I could use a couple pallets." I think one of the big things right now, obviously, coming up to graduation, people are using pallets for decoration. I have a daughter getting ready to um graduate, and I'm not offering that as an option. I would be fine if the board didn't approve that. >> [laughter] >> I'll probably end up putting a couple pallets in the back of my car, but uh it No, it's it's a great thing if the board would approve. Um obviously, we're very cautious about giving things away, but in in essence, the board would be deeming these pallets of no value to the district for our disposal, and I'm just, you know, staying as transparent as possible and asking the board's permission to offer these pallets out to our staff before maintenance has to burn them or get rid of them.
We have a certain amount of attrition, and so I don't know where we're at now, but I'm assuming our numbers are starting to become problematic from wearing out of the devices. The iPads are far more resilient than some of the other platforms like the Chromebooks, but still over time with the type of use that they take, you know, in a classroom, they do eventually some of them begin to fail, and then over time, we have to replace them. So, if we were to not do that, we would both have fewer units. We also have the the challenges of if they don't meet current hardware specifications, they may not operate adequately with the software platforms, and it's both the state testing and some of the other tool sets that we use in the classroom um both in preparation for state testing, our benchmark assessments, all of those different types of things, you know, they're constantly maintaining them.
So, when we look at both the interventionist case load and the reading specialist case load, that is something that we took into consideration is whether that person, if there was a reduction, whether that person could take on part of that case load and still best serve their students. I mean, some of their points are very valid like scheduling and all those types of things are still to be worked out, but there is capacity within those positions in order to serve our kids. So, a question I would have then is uh based off the staffing we'll have for next year, are we uh fluid or adaptable that if the needs change in buildings, we can add resources to buildings as needed for students that would require them? I mean all I all I would say is I I feel like and I as as somebody who's been in this role for 12-13 years, I think we've been pretty good about doing that when it's necessary.
How many pallets are we talking about? Half a semi load? A lot. We have a stack behind maintenance, 30 or 35, 40, and then each school they'll get We pick them up from them occasionally, five or six at each school. I mean, we could have 50 to 60 pallets and they just keep coming. They're they're like cockroaches, they just keep >> [laughter] >> I I think it's a great idea to give them back to the staff if they want to have them. Yeah. But um you might want to call Rocky Squires, or there's another pallet place in Waterloo. They'll they'll recycle them. They'll come and get them and just give them to them for free to get them off the parking lot. Okay. Other than burning them. Yeah, that's great. Offer them to staff, and then we can reach out to Rocky, for sure. Yep.
And then the other thing that I'm always concerned about, and Russell could probably speak more eloquently to this, is there is a certain point at which Apple no longer supports the devices for updates, and then what you do is you create security risks in your environment because [clears throat] if Apple's not releasing security updates for the devices, then you have um they're not called loopholes, but you have basically exploits that are available to hackers to be able to, you know, take control of devices that are in your network. But again, I'll I Sorry to I probably should just have you come up and answer all this, Russell. >> [snorts] >> Yeah, everything Mr. Mann said is absolutely correct, and we're approaching that date where operating system updates are likely going to be um end of life for the models that we have, and that's when we run into the the software, especially with the assessments and the state assessments, not supporting those older versions of the hardware.
Um we always are going to look at our um student needs and prioritize those at the highest level. Um sometimes it's adding staff. We've done that over the years to be adaptable. Sometimes it's maybe doing something a little bit differently. It really just depends on the situation, the need, um how many students need to be supported, etc., etc. So, it can look a lot of different ways, but I would say for a pretty uh you know, an educational organization that's can can be large and can be slow-moving, I think that um at times we can be fairly adaptable and move to support our students better. Um that takes flexibility in everybody, but I would say I think we have a track record of doing a pretty good job with that. We may not be perfect, but we've done a pretty good job of doing our best to try to support all of our kids cuz that's our mission.
Mhm. Yeah, they recycle them. I didn't realize they would take them. Yep. Okay. It's a win-win. [snorts] Cuz our guys, we spend a lot of time going around all the driveways and the back of the buildings, and they have seven pallets stacked up We grab them, put them in our truck. And then we got to wait for good weather if we're going to put them on a burn pile, you know, so it's Mhm. It's a lot of work. Mhm. All right. Um do I have a motion? [clears throat] I'll make a motion. Second. Motion and a second.
That's the that's the largest risk, and then if we continue security updates, other software or other apps become less viable for use. Uh and it's absolutely correct. Our the the devices themselves are aging, battery life is reducing right around 5 years, that becomes a more significant issue for aging hardware. And President Gade, I just to clarify, I do have reservations on on approving this, so I wanted to try to get as much information as possible. You know, studies increasingly show that that tablets tend to reduce student outcomes, so I want to make sure that, you know, if we're going to spend this big chunk of money, that it's indeed um going to help improve our outcomes and and be worth it, you know, because again, like I I kind of dove deep this last week knowing this was coming up on the agenda to see, okay, well, how beneficial is this technology?
I have another question just for those that are watching cuz no one else is in here that won't know the answer to this question, but could you define FTE and how we get to one FTE? Yeah. FTE is full-time equivalent. It's basically a full-time position, right? And so, a 1.0 is one person who's filling or or it's a full-time position. Typically, one person fills one FTE. Um there have been times, for instance, when we had uh we had a we had our KEI positions that we we just reduced because of full-time kindergarten. Sometimes we had one person filling a 0.5 FTE KEI and a 0.5 FTE kindergarten. That equates to 1.0 and one person fills that. So, hopefully that made sense. Thank you. Any more questions for Dr. Pierce? Yeah, Steve, can you comment on so um the 8.5 FTE reduction in VESPA. So, I guess maybe it goes to your question right here, but um what does that look like in terms of like I guess BEA licensed teachers?
Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppose? Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Item I, miscellaneous. I'll turn it to our board members to see if they have anything to share this evening. I'll go first. Um Sometimes. Oh, yes. I've been accused of being a rah-rah person, so I'll own it. Uh there was a cheerleading camp going on at the middle school in the front yard. >> [clears throat] >> Perfect in the front yard. It really matches my hair. Uh so tonight we had a cheerleading camp, softball game, tennis match, track, soccer. If you're sitting at home, you need to get out while the weather's nice. Uh we also have indoor volleyball if the weather's not nice. Check the schedule. That typically doesn't change because of the weather. Um in May, Little Mermaid, May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. So if you're writing things down, I I'm not going to talk any slower.
And unfortunately, it seems like a lot of screens, whether it's tablets or and even to a certain extent, well, even Chromebooks are have have negative impacts, so I want to make sure that I'm doing my due diligence with our our funds. Um So, yeah, I just wanted to to make sure you knew that. Um I'm back to my other questions. Um so then going back to that that question, um cuz we we had discussed yesterday, Mr. Mann, um that, you know, sometimes we need to have we have a certain window that we need to make sure we get our testing done and completed, and if we don't have enough tablets or they're glitching, and it takes longer, right? Yep. So, that's why I was curious, how long does the state give us to administer our tests? I believe off the top of my head, it's about a 2-week window, but I could be wrong about that.
What what is So, these are non-licensed positions The I know the VESPA The 8.5, right? Yeah, yeah. So, what is that How are we accounting for that in the licensed teachers for full-day kindergarten? So, what what Well, ironically, um it depends. Um in some buildings, for instance, um Brad might have to help me with this a little bit, but in some some some uh we may have had Let's say there was one Again, it's hard because this year this year 1.0 FTE kindergarten teacher, they're teaching two sections, right? Cuz they have one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. And the next year we're flipping it, so like there's a little mix there. But like there could be a school right now where they have 1.5 kindergarten sections, right? So, one person is teaching two sections, and then the other person is teaching one section of kindergarten maybe that other section of KEI.
Also, senior awards night is in May. Get to that. That's May 4th, 7:00 auditorium. So Go Barons. Great. Lots happening. Yes. Good stuff. Lots of good events. Thanks, Theo. Um I have to give a shout-out to eighth-grader Miss Gracie Fordyce. Uh she at the middle school track meet last night broke the uh discus record that was held from 1998. Oh. Yes. So against Carroll last night. So congratulations to her. >> That's awesome. Cool. That's awesome. It seems like a family thing. Who held Are they throwers? That was Daniel Dean, wasn't it? It was me, actually. >> you? It was you? That's what I was going to comment. >> Why did you leave that out, Lauren? >> That's cool. >> [laughter] >> Humble. >> Did you get your picture with her? Uh I I found out afterwards after we were at dinner, so I told her dad tomorrow night at the next track meet we'll get our picture together.
And I understand, I'm sorry to interject, and I understand the questioning, but the what's on the agenda is the on the approval of the amount of iPads, not necessarily how long it take tests for the funding. So, although your question is valid, it's not in alignment with what we're trying to specifically approve. Now, you're getting into the weeds of a conversation of testing, how long, which they're all valid, but not specifically for the agendaized item. So, this is more of an approval of a budget, and getting into the weeds of testing or agendas, that that's not aligned specifically to the approval of the amount of money, if that makes sense. And I think it's important to share that we hear and share your concern about the impacts of screen time on students. I know Mr. Donalt and his team, one of the things that they've been working with teachers on is, you know, ensuring that, you know, time spent with screens is intentional, purposeful, and important.
So, we got rid of that 0.5 section of KEI. Um and we would have honorably dismissed both people because we honorably dismiss all of our part-time staff members every year. Um kind of see where we're at and then we hire back. And so in that situation that scenario I just gave you, there's one FTE of a BEA person teaches the kindergarten. Um we'd have to add another section to cuz we have two sections from that one person cuz going from two sections of a half day to two sections of full day. And then we probably have a third BEA person to hire to fill that other point was a point five kindergarten now is a 1.0. So 1.5 kindergarten sections this year is 1.5 FTE. Next year three kindergarten sections is three FTE. Right. That makes sense. Yeah. But the irony is because of how our numbers played out, we're actually not necessarily adding 8.5 FTE to kindergarten.
>> Oh, that's cool. >> Well, it's really cool that you were there to see it, too. Well, I wasn't able to see that one. >> [laughter] >> I didn't need to experience it. But yes, we'll we'll get a photo. We got a photo last year with the 4 by 100 team that broke the record with Jackie Kemp and I, so big shout-out to the throwing coaches, uh Miss Morehead and Coach Kemp as well. So they've been doing a great job with those girls. What was that year it was held? 1998. >> [laughter] >> Uh 98. 98 was the >> [laughter] >> Ask him what year he graduated. Oh, dear. Yeah. Yeah. A rough year. Thank you. Uh I only got one request for next board meeting. Matt, you did a great job night with the presentation. Can we hear about where we're at, update on the plan?
There was a time in this district as in all districts, especially coming out of the pandemic, where, you know, screen time became more ubiquitous, and people kind of got lulled into the sense that you're spending a certain percentage of your day on the screen, and our attempts to not only create intentionality, but continue to look at the research that's coming out in order to set appropriate guidelines at varying grade levels is definitely on the table for us, and I don't know if you want to elaborate on that additionally, Mr. Donalt. I think intentional is the word that we use most often when we're discussing technology and student use of technology. Uh while these are one-to-one programs, one-to-one means access at the appropriate time as determined by the teacher to facilitate the learning. Uh and I I also we talk in terms of learning to be intentional not just through instruction from the teacher but using devices and technology effectively and and having that access and working through issues of digital citizenship and appropriate use and and regulation of time is important for the learning that's happening in our classrooms but also the the people that are developing that are going to be using this technology in their life and in their profession and in their own own development, too.
Or to excuse me um yeah to to to we're we're we're using our existing staff. That's kind of I know that Tony when we first looked at this and knew this was coming, he was anticipating a larger add and it hasn't played out that way because the numbers. I mean in one big one you can see we have minus three people at Batavia High School. That's just a complete numbers game and it's kind of that might be is that that might be the last kind of of our reduction that we've had in students over the years that's finally hit at the high school. I don't know that we'll have too much more of that. Joanne would know better than me but Right. This is the biggest one we have. So does that make sense? Does that answer your question? >> sense and my point was I think we're we're shifting our resources around That's correct.