LCSD1 School Board of Trustees Meeting - August 18, 2025

001for you. Um, as Madame Chair said, um, it is tonight we will be talking about our updated fee schedule that will be a motion in our open meeting for your consideration this evening. You'll um, I believe you have a hard copy of the updated fee schedule in front of you. Um, and it's obviously online for those of you who are going by computer as well. And um just want to give um one of the questions that I we might anticipate is um how did we kind of arrive and adjust these numbers and so we have a couple of very aable um members of cabinet here to to help with that. Um I think as we were taking a look at updating our fee schedule, one of the um bits of reference uh that we wanted

002to look at was what uh are some of our comparable districts doing on this topic to see how um their ideas on what proposed fees might match where we wanted to go. And I might call on some people as we go here. And Amy, could you remind us um about that effort to reach out to other districts to see kind of where they were on use uh living fees? >> Uh sure. So, we started with kind of a a survey just on on websites um of districts who had publicly available fee schedules posted. Um we gathered those. Then we started reaching out to districts that we knew had um facilities that we felt they probably were charging something. Got those. um they really run the gamut. Some districts leave it to building level discretion um

003on what those fil those fees may be and how um they're assessed, who they're assessed to. Others are very prescriptive um more like RP schedule um have traditionally been where it's you have kind of tiers of usage and then um dollar amounts attached to each of the types of facilities you might be renting. Um, in particular, um, I think, uh, Netrona County was one we looked closely at just because of the comparability between the size of the district, the number of facilities that they have. Um, obviously, you know, we have an extra high school. Um, but similar enough in size and and community that we thought that that would be a good starting point. But we also pulled um from smaller districts like Teton um the subw one, subw 9, Sheridan, Uenta. Um again, basically

004anyone that had one available we took to look at and sat down with what we had um the districts had in place previously um to start looking at are these are these at least in line with what other districts are charging? Um >> and and I I I believe it's correct in that kind of analysis of what others are charging and what we our prior fee schedule had contemplated um we in fact saw a number of fees reduced substantially is that correct >> or not no fees at all but is that >> um correct um Dr. And so, um, as we were going through, there were some things that, um, based on what others were doing, um, we started looking at are these lines? Is this something that we should be charging the fees for,

005um, at all? And so you'll you'll notice that um if you look at what have been the 2022 NFP schedule versus um the new schedule being proposed and previous versions of this of schedule going back to um 1998 is about to be the earliest version of this. But um you know so classroom usage you'll notice that there used to be a charge um to for somebody to rent a a classroom for use and those those charges have been zeroed out. Um we maintenance um upkeep associated with just a classroom um is pretty negligible. And so, um, sort of the thought was for those those places that are are smaller that don't require a lot might be just go through a vacuum up to the crash. It's not adding an additional duties to um our the

006custodial staff. Um, those fees have been zeroed out. Um, I think um most of them so there's a lot that have gone to no charge. There's several that have been um reduced. So um for instance, so the high school commons area, if you're not requesting that um things be set up and and moved around for the high school commons. Originally the the thought was to charge for that area at 3750 an hour and now it's gone down to about $25. Um the same kind of thought process. Um again most of those were you know so the music rooms were charged at one point in time. Um again the the kind of upkeep the wear and tear on those rooms is negligible enough that those have been zeroed out. So, um, that was a lot of

007kind of how we looked at comparing what other districts are doing within the state of what we were doing. One thing to keep in mind as well is some districts have built their facilities using um, wreck district. So, you have the shine community rec district who um, with portions of different fees a lot of times playground. So facility facilities that um have been funded with rec dollars um are generally open to the public and not charged to fe and that's across the board in just different districts even though that you know investment might not actually still be being um recuper or you know they might be losing money on that but because it was done as a fee um they're not charging. So some some districts have athletic facilities that are completely reck funded um

008and they don't charge for those fees. So we kind of took those out of consideration for the fee for the facilities where um district funds rather than funds were used to um build or maintain. And um either Jed or Andy or maybe both um could you uh talk to the board a little bit about the cost pressures associated with using our facilities and and how these might go towards recouping some of the the financial impact on usage. >> Yeah. So we um previously we had broken down what it cost us a year to maintain some of the bigger facilities such as fields, auditoriums, gymnasiums, and swimming pools. Um those are probably the four biggest that we have. And you know, it's it's really subjective because it depends on the time of year when you're talking

009about the heating and the cooling. There's we do not figure like any wear and tear, broken equipment, replacement of equipment, uh damaged equipment or facilities when people are in there and we don't you know know who's damaged it. We generally something we take on the cost of maintaining and repairing. So as we went through that um just trying to figure out what it actually you know what what does it cost us to keep that one of those bigger facilities up and running for an hour. Um, it's somewhat easy to come up with an annual cost because we can take all our receipts we've spent and all of our most of our manh hours. Um, it's really hard to break it into an hourly cost because of the again we don't have any wear and tear

010or damage included in there. Um, a bigger event might have two or three custodians versus one. So, you would double or triple that. Um, a big uh, say a swim meet might have our pool tech guy there longer than you would be just for an hour. uh practice or meet. So th those do vary a lot. Um and the heating and cooling of those facilities, whether it's in the dead of winter or early fall when it's hot out. Um so that that also is a fairly big range. So we've broken that down um somewhat into an reasonable hourly cost that would recoup um recoup part of that money. I don't I don't think it probably is going to come quite to exactly what that would be, but um that's where we're at on that. So,

011I do have those numbers. Um like an auditorium if we were going to run that. And again, this is sort of depends on the the turnout, right? So, the the amount of people in there, the amount of if there are concessions, you know, whether there's food or not has to be cleaned up, um how heavy the bathroom usages, paper towels, toilet papers, um and whether or not it's one or one or two or three custodians. But an auditorium, the minimum amount that we put in there is about $150 an hour. Um that includes a technician running a lights and sound system in there as well. uh stadium like a football field runs about just under $100 an hour. Um again, that's that's kind of just the minimal hard cost that we could associate with that.

012A large gym such as the fieldhouse at Central or the large gym at either of the other two high schools, there's a little over 100 about $105 an hour and a swimming pool. Um, again, this is based on what we felt the costs are and they're using it. Um, swimming pools costs go up in the chemical supply area by the bather load. So, how many people you have in the pool. Um, of course, locker rooms depends on if they don't use them or use them. Um, and what kind of condition they leave the locker rooms in. And those run about $256 an hour is where we were at. So, those are what we felt was our best best uh guess at what the minimum it would cost us to be running while they're being active.

013>> Judge, do you have anything? >> Um, yeah, Madam Chair, one of the other things that we did when um we did some outreach was to look at just the the total revenue that the other school districts were bringing in for facility rentals. And that's readily available information to us. all the school districts across Wyoming have to report in a specific revenue account the revenue that they receive for facility rentals. And so, um, I did reach out to a handful of the seven or eight or so districts that tend to collect more in revenue than our district to get a an idea that is there something skewing those results. Do they have, um, you know, radio tower rentals for sale service or something that that might be a part of that? Um, the districts I

014spoke with, um, didn't cite any of those, uh, factors. They said that there were a couple things that were common across uh those districts of Duke Lemore is they use a facility scheduling software just like we do here. Um they're diligent about doing the billing and it's typically for things like community events and a lot of club sports um is what generates that revenue um for those school districts. Uh they also explained that um similar to uh what Mr. Knap just went over um the cost or the intent is to cover costs. Um, and this is very akin to another piece that um has been presented to the board a number of times is the theou for non-district use of district vehicles, specifically buses. Um, you're you're familiar with that process. Um, and that comes

015out of the state requiring that they they cover the cost of transportation services. buses, insurance, um gas, um and they they require school districts to um develop a a a calculation that covers those costs. Um so it's very similar to that that process as well. The state contemplated their cost for non-district use um as well as a cost for non-district use of our facility. So they're very again very similar um to that process. But um as you can see there there's a a number of solicitors that do blimp it a considerable amount more which kind of just gives you an idea which ones are charging which ones are are utilizing that same process. Yeah, a couple questions. One, I've always been curious. This is off to the side frontier. They use I mean they pay

016to >> trust. That's correct. Um so we have that that umou with um Cheyenne Frontier days. One thing that's a little bit different is um they provide the compensation for the the drivers that are utilizing the bus. Um they they also have their insurance policy that they have to pay for the fuel and the state. This is another area that's a little bit different is the state requires even the depreciation on the vehicle to be covered. So they know a bus is going to cost $200,000 and the the life of that bus is roughly 200,000 miles. So they require us to cover the appreciable cost of utilizing tattoo. That's not something that's built into the the facility costs. >> Yeah. I was curious, do you to use the pool you need both a custodian and

017the pool technician? >> Yes. So our manager, trusty co uh pool technician, we have certified pool operators and they have to check pool four times a day. So they check in the morning, noon, evening and night um and bal make sure the pools are balanced. That's the piece that they play. So when we have um you know and whe well whe even if it's a school event if we have like a meet on a Saturday we'll bring both technician in whether it's an outside event or an internal on a Saturday or times check pool and then the custodians there for the cleaning. So they're cleaning you know obviously the pool area locker rooms restrooms what whatever part of the school they're using. Um, and that is where in these hourly costs, we're not really accounting

018for anything bigger than what would take one custodian. So for a meat, that makes sense. So when they, you know, swimming comes up just completely because I think they're probably the most user heavy, I think, of all of the entities that use our facilities outside. U Madam Chair Trashi, I I think probably our gymnasiums get heavier use in the pools. The he the pools do get pretty heavy use. They're probably close. >> And they do um probably cost a little more to run because of heating the pool and the chemicals. And you're not just heating the pool, but heating that big area, >> you know, part of the building. So >> So does So for practice, I know the club team uses now >> most of the time. um for practice most days of the

019week. So for most days of the week, they would pay the rental fee as a custodian and a tech for their practice. During the week, during regular business hours, we're not charging for each they are in we're only charging for the facility use during those hours. when charging for the sodiums on overtime hours and um Saturn well Saturdays for so at 5 a.m. Is that overtime hours? We had not allowed Sunday use because of lack of staffing. >> Great. Did you have some? >> Um, so my other question, I noticed we took the charge for the lights off, >> the city lights. >> Yes. >> Well, we went back. Those numbers were it looks like probably accounted for back in the initial facility fees in 1998. Um and so after redoing them and of course

020lights are newer and and more efficient today. We just thought with what we were charging for the facility itself um that we could include the lights in that it the light usage on most of the fields most most of them do not use them at night. They might use an running, you know, later in the fall when it gets darker, you're running into the night, but not you're not like a four or five hour event. So Andy, um, thinking along those lines and the like my son played the youth tackle football for four years and we have I mean with the city, but because it's that's a city program, we would not be charging when those kids are using our football fields. Is that correct for practice or games? >> That's correct. >> Yeah. So

021u madam chair just as a point of clarification as well on that we have a reciprocal use agreement so with the city of Cheyenne and so uh the district is able to use city facilities and the city is able to use district facilities with no use with no fees associated so um I think about maybe two years ago is that right Jed um is when the district agreed to that agreement that that still is in place so for those types of activities there will be charge for the city Um we have a couple of other um similar MLS with with entities that um provide kind of a benefit um and for the districts where those DS are addressed. >> Sure. Um and then I had another just a clarification question, but when we say on

022here recurring dues, what is the definition of that or is that in somewhere else in admin rag or policy? What what is rec is it is that like monthly or is it like the boy scouts you pay once a year to be a part of a troop or um what is a recurring due? >> U madam chair we don't have that defined but um just a a Google search before this it's essentially if if you're paying to participate then um you're going to it would require facility. So if there's if it's a nonprofit and you're not you don't require um a fee or a due to participate in that nonprofit then you will not be charged fees if there is a fee associated. >> Okay. >> Thank you. So I had and I I you

023know don't want to question the research you all have done but I had put out an email um because um I this has been something that continually comes into my face right um and um I had had some conversations with some of the other districts some meetings I had and it it sounded you and I I appreciate this this that outlines what they may bring in total. It sounded like what they were publishing was not always what they were charging um at some of the districts. Um this makes it look more concrete. I do appreciate that. But um a lot of them said, "Yeah, we this is what we publish, but if they serve kids, K12 age kids, then we don't charge as much and it's not always articulated in fe." And so I, you

024know, I I do worry a little bit about all of the club teams. Um, and I will, you know, if you run numbers for the swim team, spare money because they do practice somewhere. Um, you know, I wondered about that would be a real disservice if it goes back to the 3750 $50 a charging 250 or the 150 is brings back less than that. I don't know parent that paid for having kids in club teams for a long time. Um, you know, and we've had a couple of people say out loud that their kid did in other districts, you know, that they did pay fees, but they were not as much as some of our clubs may end up paying >> with those fees. Are we making a profit at all >> with our fees?

025Yeah. >> Um, >> I mean, are we >> We're not in it to make money, right? I mean, we're just are we trying to just break even or are we? >> Currently, I don't think we're doing that. But >> yeah, >> I would say that uh these like I said, these charges I think are significantly lower than what it cost a statue of Rose. So, >> okay. >> Um I >> I just I would like to have that just kind of on record and out there. We're not we're not doing this to just start running a profit, right, on facility usage. Yeah, Madam Chair, I I don't believe there's going to be any profit on this. Um there's not what I would say is is as I mentioned, you know, that there's so many variables

026in it. I don't know how you could pin it down to an exact hourly charge. So, we've taken the minimum that we think it's going to cost running that with, you know, basketball in the gym, a swim team, pool, whatever it might be. minimal custodial usage. Um, facility tech on a Saturday, one hour. Um, and that's that's kind of where we're at with the charges on this. It uh I think it comes a long ways from from being >> Thank you. >> And you know, I I think you are hitting on a a solid point here. These are costs that somebody is going to incur. And when external groups pressure our facilities and and that's not to say that we don't love to see kids use our facilities, but when external groups create a cost

027pressure on our district, somebody has to help somebody has to pay that bill and it will either be the district paying for external groups to use or those external groups will help defrace some of the costs of their choice to use the facilities. But um but I think it's important to know that that those costs will be incurred um by someone. And so the question just becomes do we ask the external groups who are asking to use our facility to help defay some of that pressure. >> Thank you. >> Um trust. >> Yes. Thank you. Dr. Newton, didn't you talk to one of the I mean were they pretty understanding the people that were in charge of the spending? >> Yeah. Um, Madam Chair, Trusty Cook, um, I did was in conversations several months ago

028with uh, um, I forget his title, the director of um, of that group. And of course, um, the all of this is proposed um, updated fee schedule that will be based on tonight's vote. So our conversations were reflected on at that moment what were the was the current um arrangement and and how do we best accommodate it. Um we try our best to accommodate requests. One thing I think it's important to note for our classified folks um these are people who are working five days a week for us and then we internally create pressures on them on Saturdays for our own events. And so all of these external events um are asking our employees to literally um give up their weekends uh or at least a portion of the weekend. And sometimes we can accommodate

029that, sometimes we can't. So up to this point, we've been trying to be um to work with groups to say we'll do our level best. Um however um we can't nor should we make our classified folks work 60 hours a week just to accommodate um these requests. So when they were able and willing uh we were able to make some things work. But again those conversations in the last few months were with the current um uh fees that were in place. And tonight's um motion in the open meeting is uh will be the board vote on these updated fees. >> We did get a detailed email. I saw that >> I don't want to hog all the question time, but I did have another question that just kind of I I would have asked it

030even before our meeting, but I didn't think of it before. So, if the answer is no, it's fine. But did we in looking at this at all, do did you guys look into it all, what say if we use the the city's pool for a swim meet if if you had it for 5 hours or eight hours. Do we know what those costs would be to reserve those facilities? I mean, do you I'm just wondering how or the beast facility, how do these what what we would be assessing? Do we know how those might compare to other community facilities? You do have that. >> U Madam Chair, we did and I don't I have them handy, but we did pull um the city facilities. So these um the municipal pool rents their facilities um to

031to make sure that these aren't extraordinary. >> Okay. Thank you. for for Maryland. Anything? >> No, I mean I think we've gone over this a lot and learned a lot. I I don't think we'll ever make the swimming people happy ever, no matter what happens, unless we give it to them for free forever. Um, I think we're meeting our fiduciary obligation to not lose money on our facilities as well as be able to do the upkeep so that we can continue to offer it to our students. Um, and I think it's fair. I mean, I think the fact that so many other districts are charging as much or more than what we're charging shows that we're not gouging anyone. Um, and you know, my kids were in soccer and we wanted to play at LC

032in the winter. We had to pay a fee to play at LC in the winter. I mean, it's just part of part and parcel of having kids in activities. And I think it's fair. I do think it's important though out in the meeting tonight that we make all of those points that you know this is you know long time in the making. We are not making money on this. We are merely covering the cost of running our facilities. Um and um you know a lot of thought and efforts being gone into what to charge and who to charge. Yeah, I I maybe should have mentioned this earlier. Um, one piece of this that you don't see reflected here is just the administrative costs. Um, you have facility scheduling software. It's not free. Um, you have

033a staff member on the end side that is responsible for all facility scheduling. We staff a full FTE. My accounts receivable specialist is doing all the billing. If you look at kind of the historical revenue collections, we we are not even touching those cost those three costs. Madam Chair, I think to J's point and I mentioned before, we're not looking into any um replacement or wear and tear facilities either, you know, as well. So, we just after 60 years built an $18 million pool. So, that's cost us $330,000 a year for a pool just to have one. Um we resurface every competition gym floor every year. They're about 30,000 a floor. Um, you know, we're not including any of that maintenance that's covered within, you know, granted there's more district use on a gym floor

034than there is outside use, but the same number of hours is the wear and tear that he receives. So, I think that we have quite a few of those calls. I could go on on them, but those are some big ones. >> Anybody else? Britney, did you have another question? >> I don't know that I have questions per se. I don't like I don't know. >> You want to talk about them here or are there more? >> Okay. Anybody else? >> All right. >> Madam Chair, that is it for our um for the updated fee schedule. We do have a little bit of balance of time if uh any of the board would like to open the discussion beyond that topic to anything on their mind. Um knowing that we have uh what 27 minutes

035until the open meeting begins. >> So maybe 17 minute discussion if anybody has anything else. >> Maybe not. All right. Well, I will just call us out of this work session for now then. >> Well, I Oh, you do have something. Go ahead. >> A couple concerns. One, I'm still concerned with the cell. Maybe cell phone won't, but I guess we'll figure that out after we address it. >> Um, I was talking. So, this is we could just kind of say whatever, right? Now, >> we just can't do official business in here, right? We can't nothing that would take a vote or a consensus. >> So, just a couple things. Um, one this weekend I was somewhere and um and this one gal said heard although was a teacher and kids can't turn the cell

036phones at the on the high schools they just won't you know so um then it will be and and this specific teacher said I don't she didn't talk to me it was her mother talking I don't even know if I'm going to really enforce that So, >> so I thought, okay, that's where we're going to, you know, when one does and the other one doesn't and has said with her students and if adult comes into the room, put those supplements. So, and then two my concerns and down the road I don't know a work session but I think attendance is a challenge and I don't know how we can address that but um it'd be something I think we need to be brainstorming about you know some high schools have done the attendance um contract

037I don't know you know high is doing that but I do think that these we have some real problems with attendance. >> So in for us in terms of a board, are you thinking of a presentation by staff to the board on attendance, a work session? Is there a policy or something you're thinking about? I I guess I don't just I thought this was the time we >> Absolutely. I'm just trying to get where you're Yeah. I mean, I wrote down attendance. >> But and my concern is attendance. And I do think that, you know, Britney opened my eyes last time to say, Barb, it's it's us to figure out what the problem is, not how to solve. >> And so, but I do think attendance is a really big deal. I don't know. It

038would be nice to be able to discuss that a little bit. I don't know if you approving attendance. Okay. >> Okay. >> Good. >> Do we do we have a is there a policy that deals with attendance? >> Yes, there's um of course we have um slightly different um issues with elementary versus secondary. In many ways, if an elementary student is not coming to school, um it is not because the 5-year-old is >> can't drive themselves. So, um we have slightly different the problems even though they are both certainly problems. Um I would say that there's a nuance to this in that um we probably have some um students that are being uh educationally neglected in getting to school. Um then we have I I would I might suggest in the secondary we sometimes have

039that but we have a whole host of other issues um the absences that um kids have uh due to athletics um activities that pull them out of the classroom. And while we know where they are and we excuse the absence, um if being in the classroom is as important as we all know it is, um even those uh kids that are with us but gone from the classroom, we've got a problem. Um and and we also just have um the nuance in our secondary schools of kids who um some of them are their own legal adult. They're 18, they're emancipated, and they're calling themselves out. So um how we approach the solution I think begins with us clearly understanding the different kinds of problems um with the um the different reasons and and ways kids

040can not be present in school. Um it's it's a bit challenging when you get past the point of where you're trying to encourage. Um I'm not sure that we've always seen great success in punishing a student or a family into better attendance. Um but with that said, we have as as Barb mentioned some high schools that are trying some new um new approaches. But I would say what seems to be appealing about the approaches is trying to get families as part of the solution much earlier in the process um to convince them of the importance of being there. So, um the um the it's certainly an important piece in what we're trying to get accomplished. And I think um as I said, the solution will be by fully understanding the problem, but we're happy to

041um engage in those conversations. >> I also think parents, at least elementary, know how to play the game. you know that they take their kids out certain amount because they know that they'll get dropped after a certain number of passen. So I have heard of parents kind of >> and at times we do there's a statutory um requirement that 10 consecutive school days a student is dropped for non-attendance. And as a former high school principal, we would have kids then reenroll on the 11th day, come that day or at least some piece of it and be gone for another 10 days. and we repeat the cycle. So again, the solution for that student is going to be very different than for somebody who's fallen behind academically because the basketball team's on the road an awful

042lot. So um different challenge, but um getting, you know, um the best bet we have with kids is if they're in front of our highly qualified staff. >> So thanks. I just that's I just see it as a challenge and I'd love to learn more into it. Absolutely. Good. I didn't think about all those avenues of attendance, so I appreciate that insight. >> We can start pulling together some data. I'll uh I see Jeff nodding back there. Um trying to get a better handle on um what kind of numbers are we really looking at as far as uh patterns and is it by level, by school, by triad, by you know um um time of year. I think sometimes we see a little bit more uh attendance issues on Fridays and Mondays than we do

043in the middle of the week. All those things that may not come as a surprise, but um we can start trying to quantify some of what we're seeing as well. >> Is is there a gra is there attendance part of graduation requirements? >> That's uh that's a great question. Um, board policy does allow, does not require, but it does allow credit to be pulled from a student who is absent more than 10 days in a semester for any reason. I would say that that has there are often extenduating circumstances. We have some kids that are literally hospitalized more than 10 days. Um, we have some kids that may be absent quite a bit but still have very good grades. And so I think there is a question in administrators and counselor's minds. Um should we

044pull credit for a student who has an A in a course because they've exceeded that threshold amount? Some of what the high schools are contemplating are not maybe quite that rigid, but um starting to talk about loss of credit um which again would be absolutely um allowed for in board policy to do. Of course, I believe that the conversations working with kids and families upfront in advance of that has far more to do with getting them back on track than just simply threatening. Um, of course, for those kids who are failing five classes, saying if you don't attend better, we're going to bail you from your class. Well, that's already a moot point because they're currently failing. So, again, different kids, different circumstances, and what likely might work. I'm going to say because very active

045kids, multiport kids are going to miss more than 10 days for many classes. >> And interestingly, the board policy says excused or not, 10 days is the cap. That can be the cap to pull credit, >> but not school sponsor. And that's where I think we have administrators trying to be very thoughtful to say this kid has missed a fair amount, but they were sick and we've legitimately proved that they've missed less than the golfers and so is it really fair to pull that credit. So, um I would say they're very thoughtful conversations that have gone on thus far. I think they're looking to renew those conversations. That was a conversation that they uh engaged with me this last spring. the the high school principles because um in addition to the concern being brought by

046this group, it's a concern that they're living as well. Knowing that kids being in school matters greatly and the less we see kids, the less we're going to be able to find success. >> It'll be interesting in those numbers to see whether there is in whether the postcoavid spike that we had in absences is improving or not. It'll be interesting to see. >> Is there one sport? Yes. requires those athletes to be out more regularly. >> Uh, that's a great question. I I think certain sports see certain days that are pressured hard. Like I I might be wrong, but it seems like Fridays with golf is >> the kids miss Fridays a lot simply because you can't get on a golf course anything. >> Track meets often times are on Saturdays sometimes. Um, so there's

047a little less pressure there for events that could be on Saturdays. Um, so I I think we're um, and then some sports have just more events. Um, football only has a limited number of games and so how many half of those will be home. You probably won't miss school. The away games you will as opposed to basketball that's a couple of games a week. So I think there's different pressures on different um, sports and then different days of the week. I can remember um some uh teachers really frustrated that the sports that happen the same day every week um you just never see the kid. If it's Friday, you you see them maybe Thursday, you don't see them again till Monday. That's a lot of time to um to not touch base with kids. So

048um but perhaps that'll be an opportunity for um principles to tell their story and not me tell the story for them. >> Yeah. And on the Fridays where they did every single class, that was always a bummer. They miss all the homework for the entire weekend. >> Yeah. Anybody else? All right. So, we've got 15 minutes until we start out there, but we will um call our work session to an end with this point. Reconvene in six o'clock. It's 6 pm and I'd like to call this meeting of the Laram County School District number one board of trustees to order. Uh we will start tonight with the pledge of allegiance. So if you'll please stand and join us. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for

049which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Dr. Newton, do we have any adjustments to tonight's agenda? >> Madam Chair, there are no adjustments to this evening's agenda. Madam Chair, I move to adopt the agenda. >> I second. So >> we have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. All in favor say I. >> Anybody opposed? Thank you. That has been adopted. The first item uh that we're going to start with tonight is our LCSD1 employee spotlight. Uh we started this program in January to recognize outstanding uh staff members uh in our district. Um tonight we will be um through our board employee spotlight pro program recognizing um a recipient Janet Edwards. And so I'd like to ask Janet and her supervisor Jen Brownhill, the director

050of human resources to come forward please. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. U this is Janet Edwards, HR specialist, and she was nominated as a recipient of this award because she's just quite simply amazing. Uh Janet has been with HR since April of 22, but with the district since August of 2001. So, her entire career has been dedicated to making our students and our staff at this place a better place to be. And we're so grateful for her. When you think of Janet, you think kind, funny. I personally think a little bit of a Disney fanatic. Um, always willing to help, always comes to me and says, "Is there something I can do to help the team? Can I do something more?" Just willing to chip in. She's just amazing, truly. And, um,

051Jana would much prefer to be behind the scenes. this is a certain kind of torture for her right now. Um, but in the time that she's been in HR, she's grown and I, you know, I've asked her to go on stage and present and she hates it, but she does it and she does it well. So, um, I know I speak for the team when I just say we're so grateful for you. >> Thank you. >> I would like to thank the board of trustees for recognizing me this evening. I really do enjoy my position supporting the staff and students of the district and the kind words mentioned mean a lot to me. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So we hang on just we have a little bit more recognition and then we'll shake

052hands. But we have a certificate for you. Um Jen, if you don't mind to grab that. Sorry I didn't have it out when we started. And then um I'd also like to now call up PJ Brennan who's the senior vice president of Warren uh Western Vista and he'd like to say a few words and hand out a certificate to you. >> Good evening. Uh here at Western Vista, we're really proud to be uh partnering again with Larry County School District uh one concerning the uh student of the week program. And as that uh is going to be beginning soon, uh we're really proud to recognize Janet tonight um and all that she's accomplished. And so thank you Janet from us at Western Vista for all that you've done to dedicate uh to our students and

053our community. >> Yes. >> And then now I think we'd like to just get a quick photo of of the three of you if you don't mind. And Awesome. Thank you guys. >> Okay, now >> congratulations. Thank you. >> Thank you. We will now move into the public comment portion of our meeting. The purpose of the board meeting is to conduct the business of the district publicly. The board sincerely values community input and feedback on school operations and welcomes public comment on both agenda and non-aggenda items. Individuals wishing to comment during a board meeting must sign up by 55 5:45 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Sign up for public comment can be done electronically by accessing the forms available in board docs under the public comment portion of the meeting agenda. Alternatively, individuals

054may also contact Darlene Davis to be added to the electronic signup sheet. We will begin by hearing public comment on agenda items tonight, followed by public comment on non-aggenda items. Please keep in mind this is a time for board members to listen and consider, but not to comment or debate. The board asks that all speakers first state their first and last name. Second, keep their comments to three minutes or less. And third, please note that if you wish to discuss matters pertaining to the employment of a district staff member, such as the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, investigation, discipline, or dismissal of an employee, that this will not be done during the public comment portion of the meeting. Such comment should be directed to the assistant super actually it's the executive director for human resources

055or you may request to meet with the board during executive session. So at this time we will do um public comment concerning agenda topics and we have four individuals signed up for that. Um I'm going to go in the order that they were signed up. So tonight we will start with Joanne Hassel. Joanne. Good. >> Well, hello. My name is Joanne Hassel. I am the parent of two students in the district, Nicholas and Emma, one in fifth and sixth grade. Um, Nicholas has been a swimmer here with the Capitol City Athletic Swim Club for, I don't know, three years now. Um, and it has been hugely beneficial um to him. So, I'm here to speak about the proposed facility use fees. Um, I'm a little concerned about some of the fees and how high they

056are. Um, especially for the swimming pool at $150 per day plus um personnel fees, even though it's not clearly specified which personnel would be needed. There's a pool tech listed and a custodian. Do you need both? Do you need one? It's hard to tell. Um, you know, sports are really important for kids both for their physical and their mental well-being. And, you know, here in Cheyenne, we don't have a lot of opportunities. And so, the school facilities have provided lowcost options for kids of all income levels to be able to participate. By charging these fees to these nonprofit clubs, um, you are going to increase the amount they have to charge for dues, which will then price out a number of kids. we don't have elementary school sports in the schools. So sometimes this is

057their only way to participate in these sports and have that opportunity. Um clearly you know if them being on the field or in the pool is increasing school costs then yes charge a fee to cover those costs but the fees listed on the facility fee use schedule don't seem at least in my opinion to correlate and it would be nice to have some transparency um on that. Not to mention, you know, these are all taxfunded payer, you know, facilities that should be open um and be able to be used by the community for the benefit of the community and especially the students of Laramie County um school district. Um as a pediatrician, I'm a firm believer in the right of every kid to learn how to swim because drowning is a huge problem. We do

058not have enough swim lessons here in Cheyenne. And so like the swim club provides some of those swim lessons. They're taught by high school students from the district. And so it helps both of them together. And so by increasing those fees, we once again increase the cost of already limited swim lessons. You know, parents sitting there trying to sign up as soon as they open because there are too few swim lessons here there. So I think it would be great to relook at the fees, see what is necessary for the running of the facilities and make sure we're not putting undue burdens on clubs and parents um that are then preventing kids from participating in sports. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. >> Uh, next I'd like to call up Dylan Ford.

059>> Madam Chair, members of the board, uh, my name is Dylan Ford. I'm just asking for a little clarification on the proposed changes to the facility schedule. And I also have one more thing at the end. Um, so as a member of an organization that has a currentou agreement with LCSD1, as well as an article in the certified contract that guarantees district meeting spaces, I just wanted to make sure that passing the proposed changes to the facilities use wouldn't impact the agreements and the years of precedent that CTA and the other units have with the district uh to begin charging those groups. So that was just my one question. On a completely different note, uh I've been working uh the new educator orientation the last couple days. It's one of my absolute favorite events to

060see the energy of new educators. Um CTA always buys the new hires breakfasts uh on these days and this year we also asked them to complete a survey at the beginning that asked them why they chose LCSD1. Um and I have the very very rough data for you right here. So uh there are 57 respondents um and they could choose multiple options. Uh so the options were competitive salary, insurance and benefits package, family ties, history and Cheyenne, um good reputation, recommendation, career shift, uh they just like the area or military assignment. Um so our number one uh most chosen the draws for why to choose LCSC1 was family ties history in Cheyenne with 32 respondents choosing that. Uh the second was uh like the area with 19 respondents choosing that. And then the third was

061uh competitive salary which was 16. So what this shows to me is that our primary draw is overwhelmingly family ties and preference for the area. Uh so that could be a way that we can market because I know we struggle hiring uh new educators. So we could be marketing the area or trying to do pipeline programs like the authorization exemption or um high school like continuing doing those programs that help keep people in the area because we know we're already strong there. Um, this also shows to me that while our salary has progressed a bit, um, it's got a a still got a ways to go with just 16 out of 57 choosing that. And I think it also shows that we need to do more to promote our insurance and benefits package, which is

062probably the best in the state. Uh, only six people chose that one. So that really does show that there's just not enough awareness around that. So that's all I have for you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, the next individual signed up is Jojo Oha. >> Hi. Uh, I'm Jojo Joe Ha. I'm the high school head coach for South and I also run the youth program for wrestling Gladiator Wrestling Academy. Um, so I seen that there was some new proposals about going into the next year or whenever this may take effect and um, I just want to take the time to say like how it would affect our organization that we had. Um, we started really small, you know, 30 kids, second year went to 50 and then we had end up paying some fees

063and that kind of cut back because we got to raise the fees. Um so just with that alone it's just when we have to look forward to paying or not look forward may look into paying more for facility usage it's going to um you know dwindle that number down whether it's going to be 15 20 30 whatever you may um charge it's going to end up impacting negatively. Um so what our cost what we do in our club is it helps these kids. It covers fees for some that can't afford it. Um, so paying more fees on what we're already trying to do to help the community is just like I said gonna impact negatively. And with that being said, there was only like a description of like the gymnasium and being like the kitchen

064and I think swimming was on there too in the auditorium. U obviously we don't really use those areas unless we're going to run a tournament then we use the the gym itself, both the gyms. So I don't know what that leaves for like the wrestlers when we're situated in that one room. um looking at some numbers just to punch them out. If we end up going this route and having to pay, it's going to be a few thousand dollars just to do to upkeep just with the practices. So, that's going to, like I said, it's going to draw a lot of family away from us because on this certain note we're at right now, the fees are in effect. So, we were actually going to lower the prices so we can make our numbers go

065up. Um, we went from 30, like I said, to now 80 to if we lower them, you can see upwards of 100, 120 kids, you know, and that's pretty big for any sport. And this sport, particularly wrestling, the girls are really starting to amp up since it's new, right? Um, so with that said, all we do is just to help the kids. And what it's been able to do for us is like bring in more middle school kids, high school kids, and also get the high school kids implemented and helping the youth. they're coming in and they're helping. They're putting their time, okay? And uh all of this is voluntary work. So, it's it's not like we're a nonprofit out there, you know, to to make money. We're trying to raise money to help these

066kids with opportunities. Um and we've been able to do that. We had a couple of kids actually go to some um pretty good colleges wrestle this recent years, and that's new to us, but it's been the work of the club that's helped out. Um, you know, so in the end, um, it's it's just it's just ongoing problem that if we're going to be raising prices, we're just going to be, you know, punching oursel in the faces and just it's just going to be hard to grow a sport when we have to come up with extra income on top of it to keep it going, you know. That's all I had. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> And uh, our last speaker that signed up is Amy Torto. Dear members of the board, I respectfully would like

067to say that I am saddened and disappointed with what appears to be an underhanded approach to what should be a meaningful discussion regarding the facility use fees. It is no secret that our club, CCA, and other clubs care deeply about proposed fee schedule changes to our public buildings in this community. and to have no real announcement regarding this new business agenda feels very underhanded. This room should be full. Um, I personally was texted by a co-orker at 3:30 this afternoon. Um, and this should have been in the paper. We should have an opportunity to talk about this. First, I urge you please table this discussion. schedule a public discussion including every community stakeholder or better yet a table discussion with clubs and coaches to come up with fees that make sense. If you do not,

068our public schools should be free to kids in Cheyenne all the time. Club sports are not making money in Cheyenne. We are training the local youth to play sports for Cheyenne high schools. Youth and their families don't need additional barriers to keep kids in extracurricular activities. The pool fees would more than double our monthly dues and many for families cannot afford that. Club sports are good for our youth. Activities that reduce anxiety, stress, mental health, and childhood obesity to name a few. Whether it's swimming, whether it's wrestling, none of these clubs are making money. I know many of you on this board. I've had discussions with you outside on all topics. You're good people that care about the kids in our community. And I don't know who's feeding you this information that these clubs are

069making a profit. They're not. The buildings are here. There's nowhere else for these kids to practice and play. Please make them free or please at least talk to the coaches and the people that are actually running the programs. I don't know what lobbyist groups are telling you this information, but it is misinformation and our kids need to be in extra extracurricular activities. They just do. Thank you. >> Thank you. There was no one signed up tonight for public comment concerning non-aggenda items. Um so we will move next into board communications and reports. Um first >> I did miss the deadline right up here. >> I said I didn't know I was supposed to sign up. So I was trying >> um you know that has been actually since the beginning of January how we've conducted

070our meetings. Um, I'm guessing you're both here to speak about the fee schedule. >> Um, and but I'm are you would you Amy, do you do you have anything to say that is different than what's already been said? >> Um, just a few things here and I'll I'll try to brief them. >> I'll step down if she can speak. >> Okay. So, we'll limit it to three minutes and then we'll we'll cut it out. This is an important issue and it's not lost on this board that it's um you know it's it's a highly charged meeting and conversation tonight. Um so we'll allow it tonight. Um just just one but please if if you don't mind to keep it to things that have not already been said. My my guess is that >> yeah just

071give me a pause here and I'll try to sum that up >> and we we will limit it to the three minutes. >> Thank you ma'am. My name is Sarah Delay. Um and yes I am here for Capital City Athletics. So again, the the biggest purpose for us to come and speak is like as a community swim club, we respectfully ask the board to consider keeping facility fees at a level that allows you swimming programs to remain accessible to all families in Larry County and negotiate with community clubs so they can keep our door so we can keep our doors open so we don't have to close. Like we don't want to do that. We want to keep this accessible to every family, lowincome especially. That's that's our biggest thing is we want to make

072sure that low-income families are not priced out of this. So, um we help support the mission of the school district. Um we help support community recreation. Uh that is $2.2 million that is given to the school district, right, for safety. We have lifeguard safety training, CPR training, and job opportunities for kids as well as as well as uh swim lessons. Um, sorry, I'll just try to make sure I don't repeat. Um, again, we we help to uh it's not just a recreation, right? This is a public safety investment. It develops job ready students with CPR and lifeguarding certifications. It helps support school athletics by training future varsity athletes. It fosters healthy, active lifestyles for youth athletics. And I guess some of the biggest things is that at the state level, we took this to the

073state level and we asked the Wyoming legislature and the biggest thing that was stated is that the only district struggling to work with the community is this one here. It was mind-blowing to me. This is the only one. Everybody else, they they voted it down because this is the only one that has a problem. And I don't understand why. We want to work with you. We want to work with the district. So, um, just a couple of questions. What is the cost of the pool or the gym sitting empty after a high school practice compared to what it is for the 90 minutes for age per school age kids? What's the cost? Right? Where does the money collected for these facility fees go and how does it directly benefit the students? What changes will the

074district make to ensure swim lessons are available at every age group of students to fill the gaps in life-saving instruction? What district policy in Wyoming are you following to justify charging these kinds of community fees when other districts are not? Where does the money go from raising from 3750 to $50 an hour in a public facility, especially when there is no direct district staffing or cost during our practices? And why is there not a discussion and collaboration with organizations of the community? Again, just raising fees for pool use uh places that benefit at risk and could force families and childrens out of the water or just out of the facilities. We ask the board to help keep fees at a level that reflects communitywide benefits for swimming and other clubs. And VR club is not

075a special interest group, but as a partner in education, safety, and youth development. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Now, going back to board communications and reports upcoming meetings. Um, just would like to call your attention to a few things. Um, this Friday, August 22nd, from 11 to 1 is the LCSD1 all staff picnic, which you are each invited to. Um, I sent out an email, but just to to recap here, we're going to be changing a little bit how the um, our board planning meetings are going. um the first board planning meeting of the month, we're going to return to what this board used to do and that is to have an executive team meeting um with the executive officers of the board with the superintendent and we will do that board planning

076and um during that time but maybe also a little bit of future planning and you know discussion about our our work sessions and what topics you might be on future agendas. Um, so that will be the the first planning meeting of the month. So in September, that will be September 2nd. We're moving all of these to Tuesdays at noon. Um, that one we're going to schedule from 12:00 to 1:30. Um, September 8th is our next regular board meeting at 6:00 p.m. because we scheduled the work session tonight um to learn more and have more discussion about the fee proposed the proposed fee schedule. Um we will not be doing a work session on September 8th. Um then September 16th will be a regular board planning meeting um when I'd love to have um two trustees

077who were not a part of that executive team. If if two of you were able to attend that, we can make note now of who that would be. Again, it's on a Tuesday and it will be at noon going forward. Um, so do do you know your schedules or are you able to talk about the 16th? >> What's that? >> I'm all >> Okay. Okay. Trusty Cook is available. Trusty Burton. Maybe not. >> Maybe not. >> Okay. Trusty Humphrey. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, we will put Trustee Cook down for that one and then let's revisit that at our September 8th meeting and see if um if anyone's else is able to come to that one. Uh and then on September 22nd will be our second regular board meeting u for September at 6 PM

078here in the boardroom. Right now for individual board communications and reports, does anybody have anything they'd like to share or discuss? Trusty Cook. >> Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, last Friday I popped in at the new teacher orientation. I just wanted to thank the new teachers for being willing to be um start this new profession. So, um, I I stopped by Coyote Ridge is where it was and uh, Chelsea Cox, the principal, walked me around, and it was quite fun. I mean, I was able to meet teachers that are going to be teaching where I used to teach, so I could talk to them and um just said that we are there to cheer you on and hope that they succeed. So, that was really fun. >> Thank you for that, >> Trusty Class.

079>> Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to share that um you know a few months ago I I want to say quite a few months ago um my Brown um member of our community who's now passed on made a really wonderful contribution to all three of our um high schools and I was able today to go and visit Central High School and they have used their um donation funds to buy a new scoreboard for our football field and also for our indoor um sporting center, our gym and it's quite impressive and it's exciting and I think just the the everyone is excited about it and so it was really wonderful to see how they put that money to use and um just want to again thank um the Brown family um for that contribution

080and all the contributions that have been made over the years to our district. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Anybody else? No. All right, then. I will turn it over to Dr. Newton for a report from the superintendent and staff. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of um quick announcements this evening. As Trusty Cook said, we did welcome our new teachers last Friday. I believe there were 104 that uh were filling the the gymnasium at uh Coyote Ridge and they uh I think they're the same age as they ever were, but maybe as I get older and older, they sure do look younger and younger, but we're very grateful that they will be joining us um in the district this year. Of course, we have our returning staff coming on board this week and we

081are just right around the corner to receiving kids for the start of the new year. Um, I wanted to uh publicly acknowledge the generous support from our Cheyenne Community Recreation District um in their grant um awarding to our Elevate Athletics program um this year, which will help defay those costs for um the elementary athletics programs in our school. Um very very nice use of those uh funds if in my estimation. And the last one, as I often do, uh when we have an agenda item that that may need just a little bit of explanation on consent, um you'll see that there is an admin approval and there's often a question whether these are new positions or um or replacing somebody. And I would just both like to explain and thank uh Dr. Cheryl Fog who

082will be uh up for approval tonight on the consent agenda. This is a temporary admin placement. This is the second time that in our moment of need, Dr. Fog has stepped in to serve as a temporary principal in our elementary schools when somebody has to go out on leave. And so, um, we are very grateful to Dr. Fog for her efforts and stepping forward when on very very short notice when we are in our most need. So, um, I wanted to bring that to your attention and also an opportunity to thank Cheryl for that. So madam chair with that that is the end of my reports for the evening. >> Thank you Dr. Newton. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda routine matters. All agenda items listed with the designation of CA are considered

083to be routine items by the governing body and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion on these items. Any item removed from the consent agenda will be considered in its normal sequence on the agenda. Does any board member request to remove a motion from the consent agenda? Okay, don't see anybody. >> Madam chair, I move to approve all motions listed as consent agenda. >> I second. >> Do I have a motion? Second to approve all motions listed as consent agenda. All in favor say I. >> I oppose. >> All right, those have been approved. Next on the agenda is new business. Um, do we have a motion? >> Madam Chair, I move to approve the updated fees for the facilities use in Laramie County School District number one. >> I

084second. >> So we have a motion and a second to approve the updated fees for facilities use in Laramie County School District number one. Before we go to a vote, I would guess we may have some questions or some discussion from the board. So I'd like to to allow that at this time. if anybody wants to start. Trusty Hel. >> Thank you, Madam Chairman. Um, yeah, I mean, there's several things I think we need to say about this. Number one, there are no lobby groups. Number two, um, this is a fee schedule that um, has been updated, but has been in place for many years. Um and uh we were instructed um after some uh legal uh things that we needed to change the way this uh fee schedule is done and we are following

085um those rules basically of what we needed to do in order to get this done. Um I think it's important and we can have um some of the administrators speak to this to know that a lot of thought and effort um by many of the staff on the administration have has gone into trying to make this as fair and equal and um as painless as we can and yet still uh maintain um the buildings um that we are uh responsible for maintaining. Um and so our understanding uh that of what we have been told is that this um these fees are much less than many other of the school districts in the state are charging um and that we were trying to truly just uh pay for the costs of running our facilities. Um, and

086so, um, I I I I don't think it's been, um, done, uh, in the dark, and I I don't feel like it's been, uh, uh, done under underhanded. Um, but, uh, I apologize that if if that's the general idea of the of the community. Um, but I would um I would just ask um if uh one of you guys could just kind of explain the process of how these fees came up and maybe even talk about the hours that went into deciding who is under which tier um on that's listed on this. Thank you, >> Madam Chair, Trusty Hinkle. I'll uh at this time just depending on who might be best to answer the question, I might call forward Mr. Cigarelli and and uh Mr. Knap as well as uh Miss Polly. I um I'll

087I'll get us started though. Um this is an updated facility P schedule. It is broken up into tiers and the basis of um tiers one and two has um aside from governmental entities and school events um it has everything to do with nonprofits who are either charging families fees that's tier one or nonprofit groups who are not charging reoccurring dues to uh to participate. the um the group that will be coming up to to discuss this a bit looked at other comparable school districts um in um trying to get a basis of how our old fee schedule um compared to what others comparable districts are charging and knowing that there are some similarities but also some differences in facilities. I think it's worth noting that many of the fees that we formerly charged have now

088been dropped. um some in cost and some down to no charge at all. That's not certainly true on uh our facilities that are higher impact that that do um incur costs to the district for use. Um so at this time perhaps I'll have um Miss Paulie quickly explain some of the um different school districts that she looked at for our comparable costs and gentlemen if you wouldn't mind coming forward too. >> Thank you Dr. Newton. Uh Madam Chair. Yes. So, um, the district tried to do a survey of basically everything that was publicly available. So, on district websites that listed out their facility fee schedules, um, we gathered all of the ones that we could find easily. For the ones that we couldn't, we reached out to individual school districts and asked them what they

089were charging. Um, we got a pretty good chunk of the 48 school districts, I would say. Um, as you can imagine, depending on size, depending on types of facilities, um, the fees charged really kind of vary. Um, but so we tried to kind of focus on districts that are similar sized. Um, you know, Nrona County is probably our closest. Um, but also Campbell County. Um, and even between with just those two districts, um, how fees are charged are very different. um Campbell County appears to leave it more at the building level discretion whereas Camp or excuse me, Nrona County has a more um facility fee schedule that's more in line with what uh this district has traditionally adopted. So we began there. We also looked at other community uh facilities that are available within Cheyenne.

090So looking at LC as well as city facilities um and then uh Mr. Nap and his team spent a good portion of time um trying to cost out um as best you can um kind of a minimum cost of what those fees are to the district when somebody else comes in and uses those those facilities. I turn it over to Mr. Curelli and Mr. Knap for any further clarification. >> Thank you, >> Madam Chair. Uh, as Miss Paulie mentioned, I think there's been a lot of time and effort put into this. Um, and I think it's worth noting some of the things she mentioned that as you look around the districts in Wyoming, her and her associate have reached out to many of them. Mr. Cicerelli has reached out to business managers around the state.

091I've reached out to operations managers around the state. Um, our uh, scheduling person in facilities has reached out. Um, we've we've tried to be as comprehensive as we could on districts around the state. And as you all know, there are no two districts in the state that are e the same size or they have the same um type of facilities that e either one of them would have either side. So, when we looked at this, we went back through um some of what our fees were. We waved some of them. We included fees in others. And then we we sort of focused on four of the bigger facilities that we would um see the most use in. And that would be of course swimming pools, large gymnasiums, stadiums, and auditoriums. And when we put the

092fees together, if you'll notice that previously, I think um for example, a swimming pool was $37 an hour. um where we're at right now and feel very comfortable that we're under the cost it takes us to operate a swimming pool when there is um a swimming group in that pool at that time. We're also under what it would cost us to operate a gymnasium with a group of basketball players or volleyball players um or a track team in there at that time. Um and the same follow suit with stadiums and auditoriums. The fees that we put together when we compiled some of the costs included lights, heating, cooling of the buildings, the pools, the entire um facility that is in use, what it if and what technician they might need, um building supplies such as

093consumables, um restrooms, chemicals, any equipment it takes to maintain that building, and um custodial hours as well. What this does not take into account is um if an event like this would take more than one custodian uh two or three custodians. It doesn't take into wear and tear on our facilities. It doesn't take into account annual maintenance on our facilities. Doesn't take into account damage. Does not take into account um if we have a group in there, one group may come in and not use the locker room very heavily. The next group it may take two hours to clean it up behind them. So those fees are not included in any of of what we've compiled here today. So I'm I'm pretty comfortable with what we've come up with. Uh that we are just trying

094to cover some costs in a time where uh we've faced underfunded major maintenance for years and we've seen some declining enrollment which leads to declining funding and uh I think this is is uh at very best a minimal attempt to recuperate some of those costs. Madam Chair, um Mr. Nap and Miss Paulie did a pretty great job of summarizing the process. Um I think I could just add that um some of the other costs that aren't factored into this are administrative. The costs for running facility maintenance, scheduling, software, our staffing um involved in that process, our account receivable folks are certainly not built into those costs. But um as far as the takeaways in conversations with other school districts, there's there's two commonalities. Um the first is that uh the school districts that um have

095been billing representing roughly a million dollars for the state as a whole. Um our district uh is on average less than four or 5% of that total. Um the districts that are uh posting more revenue um there are two things that were the takeaway. The first is that they're diligent about adhering to their facilities rental schedule. And the second was that um similar to us there was no intent for profit. This is uh an exercise in making sure that those operating costs are covered. Um, and that's the kind of the philosophy that the other school districts have applied. Um, but Madam Chair, with that, I'm happy to address any questions that might uh come from our side of the shop or um address any other questions board members may have. >> Thank you. Anybody else?

096>> Are we allowed to ask questions or >> This is just an opportunity for the board to Okay, so that made not available to the public. Uh I'm not sure that it's I miss probably. >> Um Madam Chair, so I'm not sure what the data you're referencing, but you are more than welcome to request it and we can happily provide what we've got. >> Yeah. Yeah. uh questions like that one that are real specific. If you know if you want to just let us know exactly what you'd like to see um we'd certainly love to provide what we have. >> Okay, Trusty Humphrey. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um just a clarifying question. So, what I'm hearing is that even with these new fees that are being proposed tonight, we aren't fully covering the costs

097associated with the usage of our that our facilities may see at the outside groups. Is that correct? >> Yeah, Madam Chair, Trusty Humphrey, um to the best of my knowledge with the numbers we put together, I would say we are not breaking even with these fees. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Ashby. Um, so to the point about the um when you may need an extra person or pay the personnel fees, can or can we publish something with this fee schedule that articulates some of that or how how is the qu the statement was made that um you know there's the asterisks in here that indicate that then there's a charge for personnel fees, but it doesn't, you know, dictate or didn't articulate which personnel and in whipped situations. That's will something be published

098with this that goes that articulates that. >> Um, Madame Chair, Trusty Ashby, I think yes. So, I think that the majority of the the you know, when you're talking about the kitchen, um when you're using a kitchen, I think it that I, you know, you're going to use nutrition staff. Um but we can we can further break that down to exactly which personnel are required for the space. Madam Chair, Trusty Ashby, I would like to add to that that generally we go through one facility scheduler and through our facility scheduling system, it has to go through um our facility scheduler who then would review that with whoever puts this in and talk to them about what they need. So again, um with kitchen space, if it's if it's a cafeteria being rented without equipment or

099without the kitchen equipment use, we wouldn't have a kitchen manager there. she would verify that and vet that out. If we needed a kitchen manager, if we needed um an additional custodian, if we needed setup for anything, if we needed a auditorium uh technician, if anything that we would need extra, they would that has an asterric, they would go through that with her and then of course it gets approved at the school level as well. So there's a couple places that gets vetted. They would be aware that that charge was coming. >> Okay. >> Trusty. Just thank you madam chairman. Um just on that question is there I mean it has the asterisk on there but is there somewhere we we could add to this you know what the you know for the cool the

100average for the tech is this or the I mean I guess I I guess we just want to try and be as uh transparent as possible for all charges that would occur when somebody rents one of these spaces. So, I guess we're just trying to say, is there a way to get that information published along with the schedule? >> Yeah, Madam Chair, Trusty Hankle. Um, we could break that down. As we probably said, under each one at the end of the facility fees, if you look, there's the nutrition staff, custodial staff, pool technician, and a technician charge. >> So, those would be the four things that would be added. Um, again, you would have to go, you know, under the pool and put down custodial staff, pool technician, which wouldn't be that big a deal,

101but um, we'd have to break it down in layers whether they were needed. >> I I didn't realize that's what that was. And then is that per hour that those >> Yes. costs. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Class. >> Um, thank you, Madam Chair. I was just curious, uh, we had someone speak up about wrestling rooms and I was looking through the fee schedule and I wondered about this issue of just being as transparent as possible if I'm missing that or if that's considered under another term. Confirmed. >> Madam Chair, Trusty Colson, um that would be listed that's um where we've got that included be under auxiliary gyms. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Miss Netta. And madam chair, I I just want to I I guess this is for our superintendent. Uh we had a

102public meeting on this I want to say maybe well several months ago and then this has been under um work by our staff and we had a work session again tonight on it. Um, but I do appreciate the attempt at least to keep our community in the know that this is something that we were looking at because of of just the costs of running a district and providing this uh access to our buildings and to our to our different um different facilities. So, I just appreciate that effort and um uh trying to keep our our community informed of why we're doing this. >> Can I make a com? Um, so I wanted to comment there was a question earlier about um that they'd made it a run at some legislative pieces last legislative session and

103that um they voted it down because nobody other districts were having an issue with the implication that um our district was causing the issue. I work with districts all across the state with their um boards and with their administrators. And one of the things that I I ask about is no, they don't have any issues, but they also have had their um fee schedules in place for a very long time and they've never had anybody question them. They just bail them. And so no, they don't have an issue, but they've also never had anybody question their schedule. >> Thank you, Trusty Hunter. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I guess just another clarifying question. I'm kind of having a hard time wording it properly, so forgive me. Um, but so if we weren't going to

104charge fees, obviously it costs the district money to have people in spaces when there normally wouldn't be people in spaces. um that money would most likely and maybe I'm assuming this but that would impact general fund, major maintenance fund, different funds that are needed to stay for school use so that our kids can have the best facilities, the best instruction material. So if we weren't going to implement a fee schedule, we would be hindering those budgets. Is that appropriate to say, >> Madam Chair, Trusty Humphrey? Um that's correct. Um a majority of the costs are going to be borne out of our general fund u for routine maintenance and regular maintenance. Some major maintenance certainly would be impacted, but even when you look at nutrition services, those type of things, all of our staff are

105paid from the school lunch fund. So that would mean more deficit school lunch fund. um anticipating maybe a follow-up question. Uh the revenue that's collected from the facility rental fees goes right back into our general fund. It goes back into educational program. It covers the costs. Um it doesn't go where anywhere else but back into our general fund operations. >> Thank you for clarifying, >> Mr. Sarelli. Just to clarify though, um I asked something along this line in the work session and I know it's been said out here, but that money going back into the general fund is not we're not making money with these fees. Correct. We're these fees offset costs. We're not doing this as a fundraiser. We're not doing this to boost our our general fund. >> Madam Chair, that's correct. This

106isn't to fill in budget deficits or to cover shortfalls. Uh this is just just to cover those operating costs. Um you heard me explain earlier, this is a very similar principle to how the state requires us to charge for non-district use of school buses. The state requires that they're paying for transportation in a school district. Any non-district use, regardless if it's a pro for-profit, nonprofit, has to be charged an operating cost for the use of those buses. The same principle is applied here. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Hington. >> Thank you. I just had one more comment. Thank you guys. I appreciate truly all the work. I know this has been a huge undertaking by um all of you. I appreciate it. And um I would just like to say that I um you know

107there's been a lot of issues we've been dealing with recently unfortunately that um try to take some of the control of our uh school district away from uh local control that has been voted in to to make policies and and rules for this district. Um and this is um one of those issues that we have to deal with that has um we have all spent a lot of time. These guys have spent a lot of energy, effort, sweat, tears, all those types of things to try and get this done. And we appreciate that. But this is our fiduciary duty. We were elected to um uh be good, responsible spenders of the money that the state has entrusted to the school district. So I I I hope um the community will understand that we have taken

108this responsibility seriously and have spent many hours um going over this and we are concerned about what the costs are, but we're also concerned about being able to do things like replace a pool when a pool needs to be replaced and having the funds to do that, replacing the tracks that need to be replaced when it's time to have that done. So, these are things that we take our fiduciary responsibility very seriously and I um and I appreciate the administration for uh getting us the information so that we can do that. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Just before we go to a vote, I um Mr. Torres, you had mentioned that there was no announcement on the agenda item tonight and I just wanted to address that. Um, our agendas are published the week before

109and that while that's not a lot of time, it was announced during our last board meeting on August 4th that we would be u meeting on this in a work session and having this vote tonight. Um, I did also note that there was an article in one of the I don't know which newspaper it was, but noted an article online about this being an agenda item tonight. Um, so I, you know, we did not, and we haven't been broadcasting for months. I'm not sure we even knew when we would be meeting and having this exactly on our agenda, but there has been some notification and it has been out there. And I'm I'm sorry if there were folks in the community that did not hear that or didn't see it, but um, at least for

110the last two weeks, it's been public that this would be discussed tonight. Um, and I also would like to thank our staff and really I'd like to thank our board too. We we get tasked with making some very hard decisions and there are things that we as a community or we as parents might not always love. Um, I think that all of us up here have children and grandchildren who do activities. Um, they're involved in activities that we pay fees for. Um, and we get it. Um, but as Trusty Hinkle pointed out, we are entrusted as as trustees to be good financial stewards for this district. And sometimes we have to make decisions um that are not popular. But um when we when we look at declining resources for the district, when we look at

111trying to be creative to um not have to make big cuts or not have to cut staff and not that these facility fees do that at all, but we have to be good stewards across the board. And um sometimes it means looking at fee schedules and updating those um maybe when they haven't really been updated. and probably too long. And maybe if if this district had and this board had been over the years more consistent about um looking at that fee schedule um instead of just letting it, you know, go the way it had been for years. Um this might not be such a tough vote tonight. Um, as Trust B trusty Ashby said, other districts around the state just do this and they charge it and and no one um comments much on it,

112but it it might be because they're they're just used to it and that's a matter of doing business there. So, um this is tough. I hope you all recognize that. Um, we would probably rather not be voting on anything fee related for community, but um to be um responsible um for the the finances of this district and to have that oversight um with our incredible staff. Um we've got to take a vote tonight. So, if nobody else has anything um we'll go to a vote. So, we have a motion and a second to approve the updated fees for facility use in Laramie County School District number one. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> And oppose. >> I. >> Okay. So, that passes um 5 to one vote. The next regular board meeting

113will be held on Monday, September 8th, 2025 at 6 PM. The district or the business of the district is now done. Do we have a motion? >> Madam Chair, I move to go into executive session prior to adjournment for the purpose of possible student long-term suspension, expulsions, personnel, legal advice, and potential litigation. >> I second. Do we have a motion and a second to go into executive session at this time? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. >> All right. We will go into executive session and we will reconvene.