UCSD #1 April 14, 2026 School Board Meeting

001I think it's the same thing. I know. I know. I know. I know. >> Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. >> [cough] [clears throat] >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Absolutely. We'll slide the back. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have laughed, that was Huh? Yeah, cuz they put it out on Facebook and everybody gets Okay. I was like talking about it our last Yeah. So, I thought Oh, Jenny. the wild life I show you I don't know what I brought up. Thanks. I thought my mind Can't pretend that it doesn't work. But, no one else see what's happening. You ran so well, I'm going to quit. Right. Let's read the double and I asked Do you hear about it? What is this for? Where is the mic? Yes. What's that? I don't know what house

002in the corner. We were on the corner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I had spoke with him multiple times I did It's just illegal. I never suspected him. Brian This is when the This is when the season starts. Yes, sir, all here. Hey. Tony Stark I love it. That's my guy. It's SRO tonight, huh? I mean, talking to the man. It's not public. It's not public. >> Right. Well, that's that's that's true. Yeah. Just a month late, but It's a little behind schedule. A little bit of both, maybe. I can do that if you Yeah. That'd be great. Yeah, we're good. Okay. It is 5:00 after, and we need to get going here. So, I need to call order the Uintah County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees School Board meeting. And if everybody will

003join me, we will say the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So, we got a full house, and I I guess if we will in our agenda, we are going to discuss the girls softball first and then the classics kind of after that. If you guys want to just step out, if you feel a little too claustrophobic, you can do that, but the first in our in our agenda items, we will be talking about the girl's softball in a presentation to begin with, and then the classics after that. So, if you guys want to stay in here, that's fine. If you guys want to step out for

004a minute, then that's fine as well. So. Welcome. Okay, I need to have a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. Mr. Chairman, I move that we adopt tonight's agenda as presented. Second. I have the motion. I have a second. Any discussions? I'd like to move to amend the agenda to add a discussion and action item around staff climate survey. Okay. So, you want to add a discussion item then on climate survey. An action item, yeah. So, that would fall underneath discussions. It would become item E. Yeah. And it would be the climate survey. Okay. Then also with that, are we looking at doing as as an action item tonight or doing it that later? >> Discussion. Just a discussion for tonight? Is that what we're all we're doing to modify the agenda? I think it's >>

005you're just doing to modify the agenda at this point. Modify the agenda, but I'm modifying the agenda is going to be discussion and action, or is it just discussion? Discussion. Potentially both, depending on the discussions, [clears throat] though. Well, well, well, no, because if we discuss this and if you want to go to an action item, I can't do the agenda. I want discussion and action item. So, you amend it by both. Yeah. Okay. And that will go down as action item G. Climate. Okay. Any other discussion? Wait, so you need a second. I don't think you have a second. To her amendment. >> To the motion, to my amendment motion. I will second it. Okay. So, okay. She amended it but there was So, her amendment is the motion? Yeah. And then there'll be

006in a second to it. So. Okay. Okay. All right. So, I have a motion and a second to adopt the new agenda adding E to discussion item as the climate survey. And action item G for the climate survey. Yeah, I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussions? All in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Nay. Nay. I need to have a roll call. We do. Okay. Brian. Nay. I. I. Jessica. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's all slow down. Brian, you were I was nay. Nay. >> [clears throat] >> I. Okay. John. David. I'll be a nay. David. I'm okay to discuss it. Yay. Jenny. Nay. Dan. Uh yay. Caleb. Nay. Janice. I. Five four. So, it's adopted. Passed. Okay. All right. So, we will um we will approve the uh

007changes and modifications to the agenda. And move forward. Okay. I need a motion to approve the consent agenda items. A, minutes for approval. B, payment of bills. C, approve sped related service contract. So moved. I have a motion. Second. I have a second. Any discussion? Dan. Mr. Chairman, I need to recuse myself for check 1193. Okay. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. Okay. Mr. Thomas, we can move on to our presentation. We have a girl's softball presentation. I'm not sure who is going to lead the charge, but come on down. Introduce yourself. Hello. Good afternoon. I'm Emma Barker. I have played soft I have played baseball up until my third grade year. After that, I have moved on to playing softball. If there's anything

008I've learned from playing, it's that this is more than just a game. It's memories, friendships, and opportunities. If we don't have a high school team, then this will end after our seventh grade year. I love the game of softball, and I really want to go to college for softball, but that won't be an opportunity if we don't have a high school team. So, please give us a chance to wear our school's name and be proud to represent it on the field. Thank you for your time and cooperation. Thank you. And thank you for your Yeah. Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. My name is Jessie Barnes. I am the executive director of What? Oh. My home address? Yes. Just give your name. >> [laughter] >> 106 Second Avenue. Okay. I am the executive director

009of the Union County Safe Task Force, Sexual Assault and Family Violence Task Force. I'm here tonight to support this dream, this uh team, uh this athletic at our high school. This is far more than just an athletic decision. It's a critical investment in the safety and confidence and long-term well-being in the young women that you see here tonight. Research shows that girls who participate in sports are 41% more likely to report high self-esteem and it's experience significantly lower rates of anxiety and depression. And that comes from the Women's Sports Foundation. These benefits matter deeply when we consider that one in three girls will experience some form of dating violence between age 11 and age 18. And over half of the females report experiencing sexual harassment at school before graduation. High school graduation. Team sports create

010strong peer networks and they create trusted adult relationships. Two of the most powerful proactive factors against isolation, coercion, and unhealthy relationships. When girls have access to a supportive, girl-centered athletic environment, they build assertiveness, boundary setting skills, and the confidence to recognize and reject harmful behaviors. An all-girls softball team gives them a safe space to grow, compete, and lead without pressure or comparison while surrounding themselves with mentors who can identify early warnings early warning signs of distress. By supporting the team you are not just supporting a sport, you're supporting and proving strategies to prevent violence against girls. You're improving mental health and you're empowering our community's girls. You're sending a clear message that our girls do matter. Their safety matters and their opportunities matter. Together this is how we Evanston's community build strong young women and

011a stronger school community. Thank you for your time. Thank you Evelyn. Thank you. It's just My name is Evelyn. Some of us have played together since we were little kids and but we don't have the chance to continue playing for our school to get a scholarship for college. But we want to give girls in our school the chance to compete, grow and make our community proud through our softball. I want the opportunity to wear our school's name across my jersey and represent the community I'm proud to be part of. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Evelyn Socolo and I want to say that this is more than just a sport to me and us. It's a place to grow, build confidence and feel like we belong. I love my softball teammates. They are like

012a family and I hope to be able to continue to play with them for many more years. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Journey Trammel. We are asking for the same opportunities that boys and students at other 4A schools already have. We are one of the only two 4A schools in Wyoming West that doesn't have a girls softball team. We are asking that we can have the opportunity to build more memories with the people that we have played with since we were little kids. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Um hi, my name is Bella Johnson and this will be my third year in softball and hopefully not my last. Um softball is more than just a sport. We play with like our teammates since we were little and I feel

013like if we have a a team here at the here at the high school, we'll have a better opportunity more opportunities to go to college. Me for one, I know plenty others also would like a scholarship for the high school to get a team a team and 45% of females in Wyoming don't can't afford to go to college. Uh so I feel like getting a team at high school would be a great opportunity. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Oakley Tramel and softball is something I love it and it hurts knowing that I can't play for my own school like other girls in the Wyoming can do. So please consider making a softball league for girls. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name name is Asia Matthews. I've been playing

014for softball for 12 years and I'm hoping that this won't be my last meeting and a lot of these girls have played together on the same teams for a long time and that's why we're asking to please not let another group of girls go through high school without ever having a chance to play for their own school. We are asking not for something extra but we're asking for an opportunity instead. We want to represent our school and build something meaningful make our community proud. We hope you will give us this chance to create a high school softball team and make memories that will last forever. Thank you for your time. Thanks. All right, anything else? I'm not. No, I just want to thank these girls for stepping [clears throat] up the way they did. We

015have one more. Okay. I want to say something. That's fine. Um I think you need to give us your name. Okay. My name is Telyn. I uh coach for the Name and address. Uh Telyn Macomber. Uh 138 Source H Drive. Okay. Um I coach for the rec center for the girls softball team and like Jessie said, the girls with strong self-esteem have a less chance of being victimized of from violent relationships, abusive relationships, even um from drug addictions and even child abuse can be detected from a good strong support system and that's what I've seen at the younger ages. I coached third to fifth grade last season and some of these they go to all different [clears throat] schools and they came together and they were a team and they built those connections and I

016feel like connections are really important for girls to have and so to build those connections through high school, through softball is really important and we need to give our girls a chance. Thank you. Thank you. We thank you. Good evening. McKenzie Williams, 316 Gannet Drive. My daughter will be a junior next year. I think she got 2 years. 1 year of slow pitch, 1 year of fast pitch and then rec summer season because she was a full on the freshman year, she couldn't even play that summer. She was heartbroken, and then all she had was volleyball. I coached plenty of these. Emma was probably this big. Um kind of a goal for me was to be able to watch her. It was kind of heartbreaking when we knew there wasn't there wasn't a softball team.

017So, please consider. I watched this room I don't know. We had maybe two teams in the beginning when I started coaching. And now it's up to I don't even look at all of them. It's so fun to see all of them. The last year they were asking for so many coaches. Coached a couple years, but it's just been super fun to watch all these girls grow, and to get it taken away is kind of sad for the community. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I do want to applaud you girls for standing up. I know it's scary to stand up in front of people like Chairman Peterson with his grumpy face. Yeah, but I but I do want to applaud you for having the courage to stand up for your for your beliefs and

018your passion, and and addressing us the way you did. So, congratulations. If I could, Chairman Peterson. Um just a few comments. So, we did ask the softball group to come back uh in March, and uh at that time we were going to explore the option and talk about it again. Um provide some numbers so we kind of knew where we're sitting. Um look at the weather uh conditions. I don't know who out there uh elected uh to have the weather they did, but thank you. It was a great uh winter. So, we appreciate that. Um and the other issue we had is really there were two. Um facilities, weather, but financial's the big one. So, if you stick around for a few more minutes, I do have a budget update, and you'll actually be able

019to see the numbers of why um we have concerns and restraints. And so, um I appreciate uh what we see, and what I'd like to do, if it's okay, um if you're here to support softball, uh how many of you are seniors? And then take a senior would come. No. How many of you are juniors? How about will be juniors? Will be seniors? Stand up. Come on, if you are. And so, I just want to count you. Yeah. Okay. How many of you are [clears throat] sophomores? Will be sophomores next year? One. Okay. Two. Two? How many of you will be freshmen next year? Two. Three. Okay, two, three? Four. Or four. Okay, how many of you will be eighth graders? >> Great. 11. How many of you are going to be Someone in the

020hall. Someone tell us how many. Eighth graders, stand up. Eighth graders, stand [clears throat] up, be proud. Okay, great. Thank you. Any seventh graders? Any out in the hall? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um how about lower than sixth graders and lower here in support? All right. Great. All right, six. Okay. Cuz that was one of the concerns is maintaining numbers to have a team. And so you typically you are talking to a JV varsity team. I don't have to have two, but that's typically what we do. Um we just started middle school soccer this year. It's the first time for middle school soccer. We had over 40 um boys and I think over 30 girls for middle school soccer. So that's been a positive addition. Um but again, that's kind of the issue that we

021had and wanted to talk about is they're going to be competing with each other for numbers cuz there's also track. Um now there's middle school soccer. High school you have those options, too. So uh that's one of the things we'll have to take into consideration. Um this is something that the board would have to discuss probably at their retreat to determine if it's something they'll continue to pursue. Um financially, that's the big issue that we have to explore. Uh we're in a kind of undis- undiscovered country with our budget this year. Uh we had some significant changes. I will talk about them later uh that will impact all activities. So uh stick around. You're welcome to stick around and hear that discussion about where we are with that. Um but that's kind of where we

022are with this is >> Brian, I didn't catch the numbers. Was there enough for a high school team? No. Well, there might be more girls than just here that Yeah, I mean >> But I can't tonight there's not a Yeah. Yeah, and that's what we That's what we'd do. We would You'd probably start with a sophomore team or a freshman team. What's that? Yeah, so that's one of the issues we'll have to consider, but resources and finances is the big one. We'll talk about >> If I may. Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Um many of us here have daughters. Um Um I've got granddaughters and I've got great granddaughters. So, this this has nothing to do with >> [clears throat] >> I mean, I'm just going to lay out the facts. I did a research

023and shared it and I believe it was one of the last of the 16 teams that are in Wyoming that have a team. Um, their school board >> [clears throat] >> um, required uh, the parents to come up with $35,000 in order to start a team. And and the school board said that they would commit to half uh, the other $35,000. And they only committed to the softball team for 2 years. Um, they estimated $2,000 to $7,000 a year per per player just to go to the games. The games start uh, practices can begin this year March 19th. Um, I'm sorry, March 9th is practices. March 19th the the games start. And then the regional attorneys are from May 15th to 16th. May 21st to 23rd is the state attorney. There's a total of 16

024high school teams in the state of Wyoming. $2,000 I don't know. For me is that's that's a lot of money. So so the reality is is is money. Doesn't mean the the board's going to say no. It doesn't mean that. Doesn't mean they're going to say yes, but just like the superintendent said, the reality is is funding funding is uh, is a is a major portion of it and uh, the reality is it cost a lot of money. Uh, the athletic director is he he's a proponent of this. I he's heard he said that in this meeting. But the reality is is uh, those are the issues is is who's got the checkbook. So, but I'm I'm all for it. I agree with what you said. Um, I've got I've got plenty of females in

025my life and and their lives are important to me and and I know it is the others and uh, sports is a big is a big deal. I know that. I grew up playing sports. My sisters grew up playing sports. It's It's a It's a positive thing and I know that. So, but anyway, I just wanted to put a little bit of aspect in that. >> If I can, one more comment. Um one of the things that needs to happen is our legislators need to know that we have programs that we'd like to add instead of programs we have to take away. Um our legislator this year are opposed to K-12 activities. Um they reduced our funding, which I'll talk about later. Um you need to talk to our legislators and they need to support

026what's happening in our schools, not only activities, but everything we do because that's what we're looking at is significant changes and reductions. So. And I don't think there's probably anybody in this room that doesn't understand the benefit activities and would love to see every activity that we could possibly Um but again, there are sometimes where we have to be realistic in what resources we have. Thank you, Chairman. That's all I have. Okay. All righty, thank you. Can you come up and talk before the board, please? We don't want this getting into something. Shay McDonald, Wilderness Point. I I couldn't hear. Sorry. >> it. Shay McDonald, 182 Wilderness Point. Thank you. I just wanted to know if we had the option to fundraise. To get us started. >> That's a very good question. Um we do

027have some restrictions to fundraisers. Um typically the way I'd say the current boards have gone is if there are monies that are required to participate in activity, they should be raised by the student. Um community fundraisers, especially 35,000, would be a significant burden to every activity. Um and so it's probably something would be a violation of our own policies. So what is the 35,000? What does that mean to you? That was for Sheridan. >> Sheridan. Sheridan School District. Roughly 50 to 70,000 dollars to run an activity. That's on [clears throat] the I think the low end. Well, I spoke to the Green River and Rock Springs coaches and the lady who bought their equipment set up, she said 53,000 and she said 16,000 per season, most of it going to travel. So I'm not sure.

028And you you also have expenses for coaches and equipment. Right. >> Uniforms, all that. So that's >> that's what I mean. 50 to 70,000 I think is low estimate. But yeah, that's that's kind of where we are. Um we'll know at the end of the soccer season what it cost to cost to add middle school soccer. So that would help us in that direction. I I think uh I'm not speaking for Mr. Dubois, but it's it was a creative thing that I think Sheridan must have did to solve a problem with uh the funding. So I think that's a big burden. I think that's what you said. Yes. Thank you. All right. Well, how did we come up with the funding for soccer? Can you please come to the front? Where I I don't want

029this to come into a screaming match. >> Yeah. If you want to send something to the board, please come forward. I just want to know how you came up with Name and address. You got your name and address? Kelly Hour, 152 County Road. Okay. Thanks, Kelly. How did we come up with the money for the soccer when we've never been able to come up with the money for baseball? This isn't like it's just now happening. This has been ongoing for years. We budget. But baseball is never part of it. Baseball right now we don't offer. So no, it's not part of the budget. You used to not offer soccer, either. >> You're right. And uh we may not be able to offer soccer next year. So, I mean, those are the things you get in

030the reality of of You look at what we've done budgets through the last 14 years and the reductions we've had. We've reduced programs at the high school. We've had to. Um sophomore programs we've had to reduce. We were fortunate to add soccer. Um And And again, if you stick around for the budget discussion, you'll see that we we uh we're very committed to activities K-12. We overspend our budget, what's allotted by the state. Um significantly. But same as your budget at home. If your budget's cut, you have to make changes and uh hard changes. Um and that's the discussion that this board's responsible for. We'll present to them a budget and they'll move forward with it in July. But uh yeah, we have to fund everything K-12, not just the activities. So. Stick around for

031the budget discussion. You kind of see some of how all that goes together. >> we I This was supposed to be just a presentation, okay? We We If you want to stick around and do this during discussion time, we can do that, but this has moved beyond a presentation. So, when we open it up to uh discussion items, you're more than welcome to stay around and discuss this, but we need to move beyond the presentation part and move forward with our our board meeting. So. But thank you so much and and please stay around. Uh now now now you got to come up here. Come on. Eric Calvert, uh 152 County Road. I just had one question. What if we get a company to sponsor it? I'd love to see that. >> [laughter] >> Again,

032okay. >> Cuz I worked for the I worked for Wyoming Lottery and And there's a lot of money that goes in it, just out of Evanston. Yeah. That would have to be a discussion on our financial side. That's that's I don't I don't know where money's mingled, where they Would that be able to maintain that for years? I don't know if we can >> That's what I was asking if that was something that would went against the school or cuz I know the company that owns the lottery, they sponsor teams in like Georgia and down south. So, that was just And that's the long-term commitment, right? If we open this up and we do this and if somebody steps away from that commitment, then we are we are fully responsible for funding this. I just

033wanted to make sure it was okay before I went and asked them if that Come come to us and business is a business is a business. Yep. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thanks. Moving on. Good question. No. No. Ah, come on. Okay. Now, with the presentations, just give me a minute. We'll be in discussion in just a minute and you can come forward, please. Okay? All right, thank you. This that's what I was worried about, this going a completely different direction than it This was supposed to be a presentation. If we want to do it during discussion time, then please come forward, but we need to move forward with that. So. We're done with the presentation, then? Yes. Yes. Okay, we're done. Moving on to Now we can move on to Yeah. >> [laughter] >>

034I just So, now we can move on to Well, that would be in public comments, though. It would. So, it'll be a while. It would be a while. So, I will be Go ahead. This will be the last. So, please come up, name, and then we will move on. >> [clears throat] >> Megan Matthews, 3959 alley at 107. My question is, what do we do now? Like I'm part of the mom group that came in the fall. We did the presentation in the fall. Got a 45-minute conversation. You said come back. We came back. I just want to know what we can do now. Yeah. So, like I don't want to stay and stick around and have any more conversations. Just like let us know what we as parents need to do. What we need

035to find out is what our budget's going to be, and that's what's going to happen with Mr. Thomas. Our legislative body has decided to alter our budgets from the past, and there's going to be significant changes, and one of those changes is coming to activities. That they've hit, and they've hit hard. And so So, I just like So, do we just wait for you guys to contact us? Like what do we Jana Peterson, what what I recommended is anything that's new typically comes through the board retreat, which occurs usually in July. That's where they set their agenda, the strategic plan to develop everything for the next school year. That is when a decision would either have to be made, yeah, we're going to continue uh pursuing softball, or we're not for now. So, like do

036we need to come back to another board meeting? Like one parent, a whole roomful of people Well, what Meg, what would really be nice if we had numbers. And that was what we asked. >> We came with numbers in the fall, though. But we asked that we look at numbers now. I mean, they need to They need to know if we can sustain a team. So, we need to know the numbers. Um and not just We need to know individuals that are that are interested in playing. Those numbers we need. So, we had a petition signed with everybody. We did a survey. That's what I like we I just don't know what else we need to do. >> Well, the Sheridan parents went before the school board and came up with some specific numbers, then

037the school board discussed it, and they made the decision. >> that in the fall. Am I wrong? I mean, am I wrong? I We had a hundred responses from our survey. But we didn't have any dollar figure, did we? Yeah. Yeah, that's like that's what I'm saying. I feel like we already did the presentation, and all you guys said was like we love the idea, we'd love to do it. Come back in the spring when the weather's bad, cuz that was the biggest concern was the weather. You said come back March 8th, that was the exact date. We're back, And I just am asking like, what we need to do? So, from that point to this point, what happened is the legislation. Right. And that was the concern, is we needed to see what happened

038to our We have no Yeah, to our budget. So, the other thing is don't think that we set idly by and don't Please do not think that we are anti-softball. No, I know that. You guys said you don't know or just don't know what >> We have We have laid out the fields. We had turf field come up. We went down and we walked through two or three different areas, looked at putting artificial turf in. We laid it out. They gave us different conceptions of putting softball fields out there. We have not set idly by, but the thing that has been scary for the past couple of months is we have no idea where we're at budget-wise. None. The budget >> it's The budget's set on the third Wednesday in July. Yeah. And if that's

039a priority for the board, they can begin those discussions. So, in July is when they establish their priorities moving forward. Okay, so sorry, just one more time. What do we need to do in July? Anything or do we just wait till you guys like get reach out to us? Do we need to reach out to you again? Like, what do we That's what I'm asking. Like, cuz we have a group message of all the moms and we just need to know what we need to do. I don't think you need to do anything. I would love to see better numbers um because like I said, it it's you have to have a the numbers that can sustain a team. Um cuz we certainly couldn't start with the varsity [clears throat] team with these numbers unless

040there's significantly more. How would you like us to present the numbers? Like, written statement from every >> Name? Name, address. Yeah. Grade. Name, address, and grade? Yeah. Okay. Well, it doesn't have to be a commitment, just that they are interested in playing class. Last year, juniors, we didn't even have any No, there was There was a the of juniors. No No seniors. Yeah, so you would have That's the thing. We need in order to field a varsity and a JV team, we have to have certain numbers and it certainly didn't show at the high school level, JV and varsity. >> Not yet. It will come, but they're >> Right. But that is hard to get girls to commit when there's no program like we don't Well, if they know, I mean, we'll get the number.

041We can try to get the numbers. It's hard for girls to say like, "Yeah, I want to play softball." when they don't know they can play softball. So, they go a different route. And I also think and again, maybe it's not my place, but this sounds like this is a community issue. We have a rec center. I think you need to approach them and say, "We need to have ninth grade age fast pitch." >> We've talked about it. We can't because there's nobody to compete with because all the teams in Utah have high school teams. We put it on that in the fall as well. So, I That's I'm just I'm just I'm not trying to I'm just asking like what else >> No, I I understand, but you see the the predicament is the

042board commits to a team, which we can't staff. I have something I have I have a question. I'm We This is We need to move on with the the agenda. So, I This is the last comment. I appreciate that. We need to move on to our presentation Well, our discussion items and then if you want to stick around for the public comments, then please do so. But, this is this is gone on a little bit longer and that's why I wanted people to come forward instead of it just becoming a come up and and a public discussion comment section, which that's not now. So, we need to Thank you so much. I appreciate it, but we need to move on. We need to move on to our discussion items cuz we have a group full

043of young women to discuss drill team, too. So. Okay. General Peterson, I'd like to invite the EHS Classics to come down. Okay. Good evening, Chairman Peterson, members of the board. Um I'm sorry we don't have our full team here tonight, but we are coming back um just to formally follow up from the discussion that we had from the March board meeting in regards to our team's opportunity to attend Nationals. Um I have submitted some possible dates as well as costs associated with the different Nationals competitions to um Mr. Kohler and Superintendent Thomas. And um so we are just here to see what your thoughts are with those dates and those proposals submitted. Um this is part of a small portion of the group of girls that would be attending that Nationals trip. Again, none of

044them um having done so before, so a new opportunity for them. Um I'm happy to answer any questions you have or if you want to hear from the girls, I'm happy to turn the mic over to them as well. So Candace, you haven't selected a date yet? You don't know >> So the concern about the date is the dates aren't out yet. >> Okay. Um registration for these competitions do not open until August. That's the soonest I can register for them as well as um solidify the the cost of those. Um the only problem is is waiting till August, then there's not much time to get the funds together to attend the competitions. And And you're just going to attend one competition talking >> just one. Um we're a division two based off of our

045student count. And there's two different competitions that we can attend. When I talked to Mr. Kohler about this one does fall over a holiday, so it's less time out of school. If we do choose to do the NDA National Championship, the other UDA National Dance Championship is right after our state competition. The other problem is our state competition hasn't been published either. So we're kind of in this waiting game of seeing when those dates are solidified to what competition we can go to. But again, [clears throat] we can't even register until August. How much funds do you guys have available right now? We won't be using any fundraising. It will be individual. How much funds do you have available right now? To go towards it? Yeah. We won't be using any of our budget to

046go towards that. It's It's going to be paid for out of pocket by each >> So separate. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> And I know they talked about 3-4 days maximum being out of school. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. The competition itself lasts three days. But then you have to allow time for travel. But it's It goes usually over the weekend. There's time there. Yeah. Do you know the venues where they're physically at? I believe both of both of the ones that they gave me were in Florida. Yeah, both of them in Orlando. Again, there's there's other competitions that you could go to, but they're not as nationally accredited. It's It's kind of takes out The reason why again we wanted to do this is because the state of Wyoming has moved to UDA UCA judging. Um

047we pay a lot of money for choreography, a lot of money to cut music, and it costumes. Where we're just going right now just to do one competition, one competition in Utah that let us in, but um we're just trying to get more for it, get our name out there. We're following every year we're in that runner-up position. We're close to first state championship. Um I just the time and the effort that these girls are putting in every single morning for 8 9 months at a time. I'm trying to get them more opportunities. Uh ladies, do you have any comments? So, my name's Torrance Walker, 836 Summit Street. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> I'm going to be a senior this year. And this [clears throat] has been my fourth year on the team, and it

048used to be something like Nationals that they did every 4 years, and I know it was something that especially my grade has looked forward to. We spend 5:30 to 7:00 a.m. every day of the school year working on these dances and perfecting it, and we all have requirements for school. We do all these things to keep ourselves well-rounded, but dance is something that we put so much time and effort into that it's really sad to just have state, and then it's all over. And the talent on this team is just like getting higher and higher every year, and I really think the opportunity to showcase all of our hard work at a higher level would be really beneficial, especially for the younger girls coming in so that they can really see like how much is

049out there and all these opportunities that do exist, but even if it's not something that we can implement like constantly, I think like once every 4 years would be like such great thing for this team to have. And like Kenda said, we've been like every year that I've been on the team we've been in the top three in state for both our dances. So, we've been performing highly and doing well, but this would also push us to do even better. So, I think our state results would also reflect that. But yeah, I just really appreciate the opportunity to participate in a higher level event with this team that I spend so much time and energy working on the goals. Thank you. Thank you. Um hi, I'm Bailey Wright. Do I have to say my address?

050Yep. >> Sure. >> Okay, 208 Turkey Court. Um along with what Tori said, that a part she left out is we also do summer practices. In the summer we practice from 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. and we also do additional Saturday practices, which are typically 3 hours sometimes. So, that just like shows how much work we put into dance cuz we're all passionate and we all love it. And to have another competition on top of state would help us get the extra feedback so that we can like know that what the time we spent working like we're getting something out of it. Like Wait, sorry. I'm trying to make sense. Um Sorry. So, an additional like a competition would give us feedback so that we can work on our dances even more to make it even

051like more ready for state because a lot of the people we compete at with state, they already they go to other competitions before us and even after us. They get the feedback for us so they're more prepared, I guess. And so we only go off of like Kansas' feedback, which is good but to have additional feedback from judges that are judges at state uh would help us immensely at state competitions. Thank you. Thank you. When is the last time that's fine. Did Did you go 3 4 years ago? >> We went So, it we went my first year so I'm going on year five coaching. So, none of these girls have the opportunity. >> the last time was 3 4 years ago. You went to Florida. Yeah, it'll be 5 years in in February. So,

052how many you planning on taking? We have 22 on our team this year. And the goal is to take all 22. >> to it's going to cost each one of them X amount of dollars to get there. Yes, 15. >> This is a This isn't every year. It's going to be Yeah. I I would like the Nationals part, or not the Nationals, the Regional part I think should be an every year thing to get us prepared for that, which we talked about the last board meeting, it didn't sound like that was much of an issue, but this Nationals trip I know you guys don't like it, and I know we have to draw the line somewhere, and I and I get that, but I you know, we look at other clubs and then organizations that

053are going to these National trips, same place every single year. I think a team that is putting in as much time and effort and representing the way that we are, I don't think once every four years is a lot to ask. When their parents are funding >> every four years. Is that what you're looking at? For Nationals. For Nationals. >> For Nationals. Yeah. Yes. So, what are cuz you mentioned that all these other teams are being judged, so they're going to different competitions. They're So, what other competitions are these other teams going to to be judged? Where's Yeah, Regionals. So, what That's the one in Denver. But you chose not to go to Denver. No, that's last board meeting, that's when I wanted to go to in November in Denver is a Regional competition. But

054then I piggybacked off of that about attending Nationals this year, cuz we'll be the first of in the last five. And it sounded I I was under the impression for Regionals that that was something that cuz transportation it was part of a school activity, we wouldn't be missing those designated school days. Maybe I got the wrong impression there, but my understanding was Regionals was not the big one, it was this Nationals that I needed to come back for dates and Yeah, Regionals because it's in Denver still within the policy, we'd have to get board approval. Okay. It's It's an overnight trip. It would be. Yeah. So, you'd have to get that approved, too. And funding for that would be >> um all of the other schools that go to, it's state approved through the transportation

055department. It's a reimbursement. It's reimbursed. We like that. And those fees, the fees for regionals, that would not be an extra cost to the girls. That would come out of our booster, which there's funds there to pay for. Okay. All right. And >> [clears throat] >> what are the dates? Do you have dates in November yet? Uh it's usually the week before Thanksgiving. But again, nothing comes out till August. That still is is that up in the air till August? >> Yeah. Okay. So, regionals is not a pre-qualifier for nationals. It is not. So, nationals is Let me Let me take that back. If you don't attend a camp in the summer where you qualify, so this last summer we attended an NDA camp where we qualified for nationals. We could have gone to nationals

056straight away. If we don't attend one of those camps, then you have to qualify at a regional competition to attend nationals. [clears throat] Okay. I plan We already are scheduled for um the camp this summer. They'll go to that in the end of June. And then regionals, hopefully November. A competition in Utah, maybe two. In December and January. State in January. Nationals in February. Yeah, what I would recommend about the regional thing is just submit a trip request form and Also, another thing I wanted to mention is that we do have like grade requirements for being on the team. And so, I definitely understand that like missing school can be an issue, but I think our team has consistently proved that we're capable of like pushing through like kind of like the barriers of missing

057school and we would be willing to put in like all the work we have to do to stay on top of those things even if we're missing additional time for going to dance. And also, yeah, like we just put so much time into this. I think some people don't really understand like exactly how much time we spend at dance because I spend more time with these girls than I spend like with my family. Especially during state we have morning practices and afternoon practices and Saturday practices and all day practices like it's just so much and being able to showcase that would be like a really good step to move forward and keep progressing as a team. Well, I can't speak for what the board's going to say, but I can tell you that you have

058an ally in me and that is because I believe that some of these opportunities like you're discussing provide provide education and experience that can't be had within the confines of the city limits of Evanston, Wyoming. And so like I said, I can't speak for the board, but I certainly appreciate what you're saying and I understand where you're coming from and I sympathize. And it it it it is an action I'm later. Yeah. Um and it is a um exception to policy that the board's making, but that's what the board can do and has to do not anyone else. So, that's what they're really wanting to honestly is an exception to the And and and so you girls know your coach has been here several times and she has talked to us about your grades not

059by name but what you do and and your level of commitment to your education. She has been here and it's you know, I know you guys appreciate her. >> [clears throat] >> And but we appreciate the fact that she came here and expressed all of that as well. So, all of the things you're doing we are very well we very well know exactly how great people you are, great students and great athletes. We know that. And um I do apologize because um we won't well, I speak for myself. We have prom practice at 7:00 that I'm instructing along with my juniors and they have ballet class at 7:15 that they have to attend. So, we will not be here for that action item. No pressure. But, just so you're aware when we sneak out. Well,

060they have So, I guess it's the action item for both trips, or is it just for the one? I I asked her to submit another request for regionals. Okay. So, it will be voted the the the action item will be for >> This one's for nationals. This one's for nationals. >> Yeah. Good. Thank you. Yes. My My assumption is if you approve the national one, the regional one's probably a breeze. So, we'll just see how it goes and then go from there. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. We'll let you get on your way. Okay. Thanks. Thanks, ladies. Enjoy prom practice and what was it? Ballet. Okay. Discussion item, budget update. I got to turn some uh Maybe it's better on here. Sharon Peterson, members of the board. Um appreciate this opportunity. We've been uh

061And by we, I think it's the administrative team, but especially John, have been putting a great deal of time into our budget and kind of where we sit. Probably because it's unique. It's much different than we've seen in the past because of the instructional silos that we have. Um just a quick reminder, this is um a representation of the funding formula. The block grant you hear about so much, and the key is this: school resources plus district resources equal base resources. Then base resources are multiplied by regional cost adjustment adjustment and external cost adjustment, which is cost of living increase, which we do not get this year. Um reimbursements, which is special education transportation, and this produces our foundation guarantee. Um makes it look pretty easy, but it's anything but easy. This year I've probably

062spent more time talking about um budgets, talking about finances because of recalibration, uh communicating with our uh staff, communicating with our legislators, um doing my best to lobby and support of what we think is important. Um And uh it's been a little bit frustrating. Let me get to maybe. I gave you a copy of this document. It's on your desk. I apologize [clears throat] for its size, but this is This is the same document that I've used to talk to our legislators, to talk to our school staff, to talk to our parents. Um the difference with this is this is specific to us. When I talked in front of the board before and to parents and to the staff, it was the whole state resources. This is specific to us. And you can see, and

063I'll make it a little larger. I think I can do that. Um and and I hope you can follow along. You can see better here than I think in others. Um this first section here represents the current funding model that we're in right now. This section here represents the one that's being proposed through recalibration. The important part are all these little colors to the far side cuz this is the differences. Um it is it is quite complex. Um and a little bit frustrating. I'll be honest with you. Because two reasons. Um, they threw so much money at the funding model this year, we're actually going to be in a good place this year and maybe next year. But in the future, I think there are some things that really put us in jeopardy that we

064need to continue to work on. Remember one of the eight school districts in WUA that sued the state? I think this has made it worse. Bottom line is needs to be cost based. This is far from being cost based. So, I'll try to show you some specifics. Are you okay if I enlarge it a couple more times? Because it's really at the end um, that's important. So, you can see here district level resources. Remember the chart? School resources district resources equal base resources. So, basically this is half of our funding model. So, these are the district resources. Not all of them, but the ones that matter. Central office and library. So, it's professional, clerical, and non-professional staff, all of them. Um, operations and maintenance which are custodians, maintenance workers, groundkeepers, anything to do with our

065supplies, utilities, and there are some other things in there. Um but it's not all of the categories and you'll see that rather quickly uh when we start talking about this. But district resources are truly our operational budgets, everything to do with that, the 15%, but it also is a proportion of our staff. So, staffing plus our operational budget. Um First thing I want to show you is if you come across here, you can see that um I took Current year funding is $10 million. Next year funding for district re- resources is predicted be 8.25 million. So, if you look at the categories, can you guys see those? Do you want me to go one larger? Maybe two. Three, four. You can go quite a bit larger. >> Okay. Um And we'll look at look at

066the red here and we can still see. So, if you look that's a reduction of 2.2 million, which is a 21% reduction um in our district resources made through changes to recalibration. It's a reduction of central office staff, which includes maintenance, of 4.65 FTE. You can see that right here. That's a change of 7%, which is a reduction of 1.9 million or a 23.9 reduction. Um You come across here, you can see clerical, which is secretary, uh non-personnel kind of it depends the category and there are other categories in there which when put together it ends up being a positive but the overall impact to district global resources is a significant reduction for us. Um Is that that 3.2 million? It's this one right here. This is the overall reduction after everything in the district

067resources are considered, we lose 1. million 1. 0 million dollars, which is a negative 3.6% uh decrease. What happened is when they changed the model, class sizes and we tried to explain this. When you change class sizes, you change all the multiples multipliers in the model, not just the size of a specific classroom. Remember, this is a funding model. This has nothing to do with our staffing. But it uses the term FTE or teacher equivalents, full-time equivalents. But that's how we're resourced. That's where we get our money. So, a reduction of 4.65 FTE doesn't mean we're going to cut 4.65 positions. We're funded for 4.65 positions less next year than we are this year. That's what's critical, not now, but moving forward. And this is just district resources. Notice all the red. Um I I

068spent some time with our legislators. They're very, I think, pleased with the amount of money that went to education, $125 million statewide over 2 years, that's $250 million. So, they put a lot of money into this, but at the same time, I think they've made our situation even more dire for the future. So, the next category, let me go down. This is where we get into the screwy part. School-level resources. Notice that it's a reduction of 1. million 1. Uh It's Let me see if I can slide that over. So, from 28 million to 27 million or a reduction. But what is critical is if you look at the categories, this orange represents the silo that they created. So, the funds in that silo can only be used for those positions. So, they took roughly

069$17 million and siloed it. So, it doesn't really help uh all the other positions that we have in the district. Where kind of hits the road is right here. Notice regular classroom and core teachers is a reduction in FTE of 18 full-time equivalents. So, if we had to follow the model in terms of a staffing model, we would be expected to cut 18 positions K-12. It'd be nine through K-5 and nine through 6-12. Again, this is a funding model, not a staffing model. We we determine the staffing in our own district, but we are resourced for 18 less teachers. We're not reducing 18 teachers, so how in the world can this be cost-based? It's not. If you look at the 4.2 that you see right here, that is specialists or elective teachers, a reduction of

0704.2 FTE or $657,000. Additional CTE teachers, we about broke even, but still a percentage decrease. Um the these blue areas through here, the next four, really don't impact us. Minimum teachers, these are small school minimum teachers expectations, alternative schools, small school teachers, and small district teachers. Why that's important is a small district with let's say 100 kids K-12, they get a certain number of teachers guaranteed. So, that was that's in the model, it's always been funded that way. If you recall, at first it was very negative to them, they made some changes, so now it's at least positive, but that doesn't impact us. These next categories are the things that I've been talking about very loudly. This one right here, line 49, instructional facilitators, notice it's an increase of 8.3 FTE. We don't use instructional

071facilitators. We haven't followed that model in seven or eight years. But again, it's in the silo. The good news to that is that's money that we can use for the other positions. So, if you look at that that one with instructional facilitators, and maybe I need to clarify. The reason why we don't use instructional facilitators as a category in their own, our expectation is that we have instructional facilitators at every building. They're called principals. They're the instructional leaders. And we have funds available for the federal government for staff development. Title two funds. Significant dollars. We bring people in to our schools. We don't send our teachers out as much as we used to. We bring the talent in and teach all of our teachers. Also, the idea of PLCs, professional learning communities that we follow,

072that's another way that we improve our instruction on a day-to-day basis. So, uh instructional facilitators is an increase of eight FTEs. This is the killer one. Summer school and extended day teachers is an increase of 17.28. We already have a robust summer school. We don't need additional summer school teachers. We already have a robust a robust after-school program that's partially funded through federal funds. Um that is 1.33 million dollars. And then the next one is tutors. These are certified positions. We have built our tutoring into the daily schedule. Students receive remediation and enrichment through their WIN time, uh Red Devil Pride time. It's already built in the schedule. To me, what the state did is they took money from our classrooms and put it into these special teachers, and then threw a ton of money

073at it. So, it looks like in the state, you're saying, "Well, we are getting additional money." And I'll be real honest, we do have funds to provide an increase, large salary increase. But again, this silo can only be used for those specific positions. So, we don't have flexibility to pay all the people that are in the district resources out of that silo. They had told you how they'll spend the state money. It's really what it goes out to. So, if you if you keep going down, this is part of the discussion I was talking about. You can see lots of red. Uh substitute teachers, nurses, guidance counselors, people support, librarians, um start getting into the red back here. Um percentage increases in FTEs. Uh 3.58 uh aides, uh principals, there's a reduction in FTEs there.

074Assistant principals, alternative school principals, small school assistant principals, which doesn't impact us. Secretarial staff, clerical staff. You can see that there are significant changes to the model when they change the class sizes. So, we do have funds available for our teachers. But for operational accounts, we are fortunate that the RCA, remember how the RCA impacts went up. We get a 9% increase, which we've never had before because of an RCA. Without that, we'd be screaming poverty. But because of that, because we already fund nurses, because we already fund our element fund elementary counselors, and because of the funds that came in with the middle school specialist, we do have funds this year to pay other staff members that are not in the silo. If the state would have just taken those three categories, facilitators, summer

075school, and tutors, and left it in the classroom teachers, I would have probably recommended we pull out of the lawsuit. Because they are funding us. But now they are the way that our funds are resourced, they've cut. The most significant is classroom teachers. Makes no sense. And how [clears throat] is that cost-based? Okay? Now, let me keep going. Doesn't get any better. These next categories down here at the bottom, you can see these are non-staff costs. These are funded per student. So, gifted and talented, professional development, supplies and supplies and materials, um formative assessments, equipment, technology, and extra duty student activities. If you look at the student activities, notice this is the budget they're being proposed is $985,000. Um this is our current budget. Let's erase that out. $1.2 million dollars. So, roughly a $252,000

076cut in activities. But, there are two departments that we subsidize because of our commitment. One is food service and one is activities. Our actual expenditure in activities is $1.6 million dollars this year. So, we have to find over $600,000 in order to fund what we offer now. There's no guarantee that that'll be the same cost next year. It's going No, it might go up. No, they've funded this same model next year, but I guarantee it where they're going to change this. I can't guarantee it, but I strongly They're going to come back and say you don't need summer school teachers, you don't need instructional facilitators, you don't need tutors. That money will be gone. And that's our buffer. Yeah. And then we are in trouble because they have reduced our FTEs by 18 for classroom

077teachers. We have no plan and we'll continue budgeting until July to reduce programs. But we're going to have to be fiscally responsible probably better than we ever have in our activities department, which may mean less equipment. They may have to hold off on uniforms. We may not be able to go to certain events that we've gone to in the past. Our expenses for activities and I'm now I'm talking athletics, our travels reimbursed, but it's hotel costs, which you guys know we have to spend and coaches. And then when we offer a tournament here, no one pays us for that. We we pay for those tournaments. Good for our kids. That's why we supplement Activities are not just athletics. Those are K-12. Everything that we do dealing with activities, kindergarten through 12th grade, not just athletics.

078Athletics is a part of that. So, if we couldn't pull this off and had to reduce $600,000, you're talking programs. You're talking music. You're talking art. You're talking all those extras that the activity budget pays for. So, kind of scary. So, the idea that we added soccer may have been ill-timed. Um we're going to do everything we can to maintain that program just because of the number of kids involved. Um but it is I think it's scary for the future. Next year, they and they've already said they've already approved a $125 million for next year, too. That's Next year is just status quo. Yeah. That's not additional money. Without a cost of living increase or something to do with insurance, we're looking for another $1.5 million to fund our salary schedules and pay for our

079employees insurance. I do think in terms of an overall position with um the lawsuit I think the legislators really stepped in it. Um we're not changing what we do. Activities is a perfect example. Right now, we spend $1.2 million. You're going to give us $985,000. We haven't changed anything. How can that be cost-based? They added uh shot clocks $15,000 a school, unfunded mandate. Uh we will have shot clocks next year in basketball. >> Yeah. Uh we don't have an option. I guess we could have said just at the high school, but both of our middle schools have shot clocks. Um so, we can do what we do with with that, but um it is it is a little ominous when you just look at this side of the spreadsheet. And you see all the areas

080that we've been reduced. Um I I again, we are fortunate that we have John, that he can look at these budgets, work with the state uh get some inside information. We will do everything we can to spend the money in the silo. You can see right Where is that at? It's roughly $17 million in that silo where our hands are tied how we spend it. If you come down to the bottom, you can see that activities is a 20% reduction in the budget. So, I know a lot of people think we spend way too much money on activities. Well, we're going to spend a lot less because that's a 20% cut. Um overall it's a 3.2 million dollar reduction, but then when you look at the reimbursables, they did not touch special ed, they did

081not touch transportation. So, we're 100% reimbursed for those individuals. So, bus drivers, special education teachers are really in a good position right now. Yeah. They didn't go after them this year, they'll go after them in the future, I think. Again, I hate to be negative, but uh I see that happening. Um so, they were left alone. You can look at our overall budget minus those uh um reimbursements is roughly 40 million dollars. Another scary thing is how they've handled uh health insurance. This year, you know that they uh went on a direct they're going to reimburse us for our health insurance cost, but they have maximums. Our the amount we spend on our family insurance is under the maximum. So, we will receive about 300 dollars a month for everyone that is on family insurance

082less than we need to. In other words, we're not going to be reimbursed the full amount because they reimburse us at the state amount. Singles are reimbursed at a higher amount, so we're actually going to make some adjustments on how we do that. Um so, we can get the maximum amount of reimbursement from the state. So, our insurance is no longer block grant? No, no. It's 100% reimbursed. So, um we're not really sure how that will impact us. You can see that what they did is they took this number, this 4.8 million dollars, and purposely slid it in a district resource. So, it made it go blue. But it's a reimbursement. So, in other words, uh the the spreadsheet you'll see from the state does look like this. But overall, that's what they've done. Even

083with all that said, that's a 4.17% increase in our funding. Where we are as we get to that point, we start negotiations, we will have funds for our employees to get a raise. And I think it'll be significant. Stay tuned. We'll give you more information next board meeting where we are with that. But at the same time, we're precarious with our operating budgets. We'll use every cent available for those. We will leave money on the table in the silo. We can't spend it all. Because you can't give those individuals in the silo more of a raise than those outside of the silo. We wouldn't be operating very operating very long if we said the classroom teachers will get this much, our instructional aides will get this much. If you're in maintenance or you're an administrator,

084you don't get that much. That's just not the way we work. So we'll leave some money on the table and that's why I made the point. If they wouldn't have created the silo, which they could have gotten rid of, there were several amendments that got rid of it, they didn't vote for it. We would be able to pay our teachers more. Even reducing activities, even reducing the amount of money we get from interest, they did all those things which impacted us. The most positive thing for us was the RCA. I hopefully they don't adjust that again we can keep that. >> [clears throat] >> But that's kind of where we are with budget. It is kind of undiscovered country. We've never been through a situation with silos. We will have to track the unspent silo

085amount and use it in the future within that silo. What I see is the longer we have that, the problematic that's going to be. As long as we're we can't spend that money in other areas, it's going to be problematic year after year in the future. How often can you carry that over? Uh I think uh as long as you want um I think. No? Um one of the things when they passed these silos, they also passed um certain accounts you could put that money into. We're not going to use those accounts, but uh I'll let John explain [clears throat] that. Okay. What do you mean? Is this one? Yeah, it is. This one. Uh Mr. Chairman and members of the board, let me also explain kind of what you're seeing, okay? I have been

086tracking for the last 10 years how the the model has been funded. And so what this what this model is doing is tracking it over time being consistent. Okay? And so there's an important point that uh Superintendent Thomas made, and that is the health insurance additional funding that was on the bottom. If you go down to yeah, uh BE 81 on there. The state did a calculation, and they're saying, "Hey look, we're going to reimburse you at cost for your insurance." And and they pulled it from all of the different spots in years past. And so so that I'm being consistent, uh I did not feel like it was a a consi- it it's like a all of a sudden it you've got $4 million is showing up in district funds. And by the way,

087that makes the district funds look positive, and so that's why you went down to the bottom. Now, there is a 17.9 million dollar silo. And what we are doing right now is trying to calculate all of the potential costs that we can go to put it towards that silo. And I was in a meeting last week or um and and one of the things that we discussed was the idea of what goes into the silo and what does not. And and for instance, substitute teachers, they're not calculated as part of the silo, but they will be counted as we use them. So, that's that's actually a good thing. Now, the board and um recommendation from the from administration will be uh do we set up instructional reserve accounts? We will need to and the state

088is WDE will be um calculating how we met that target of 17.9 million dollars. Were we under by, you know, a million dollars or less? Right now, if we spend everything that I think we can spend, we would be about 300,000 dollars under, which is it's close, but it you know, but again, do you spend every last cent? And usually you you kind of in budgeting you kind of look for, okay, we think this this will happen. So, that may be something. But, we will uh get that number from the state much like the pre-97 number that we had a fund balance. We we track it. We don't put it on our books, but we track it. And we think we'll do the same thing. We will track it. As Superintendent Thomas is saying, what

089happens that the next year and your 300,000? Now that's 600,000 or whatever. It's a million. That's that's the problem that I'm I'm kind of going, well, okay, but what what happens with that? And so we're we're working on some um first in, first out. Uh that's jargon for Sorry. Um how we'll go about using that money um in the in the future and things. So, we've got to both protect and I and I see why this the legislature they're they're trying to protect instruction. I think that's the thing that Superintendent Thomas has said, we protect instruction first. But we also have to look at the big picture as as a whole and and things. So, do you have any questions about this spreadsheet? It is tracking literally 12 years of model changes. You're only seeing

090the last two. That's what's that's what this is about. It's just Okay, so they gave us money for this year, they gave us money for this year. What's the change? And we've got to be consistent. And with the new model what what I think has happened is you've got some some playing of things and absolutely the biggest thing I see is reduction in classroom instruction either regular instruction or the um uh specialists and you've got an increase in summer school and after school instruction and instruction facilitators. And so like I um Superintendent Thomas said, we are looking at uh are there other things that we can count as an instructional facilitator time? The true benefit of a block grant, which this is supposed to be, is a $40 million entitlement. We could put the money

091where we felt it needed. Um we were resourced through the model, but if we didn't have those model components, we chose what we did differently. And we've gone through those before as you know what we've done differently. Uh this year we're fortunate because we were already paying for nurses. We were already paying for elementary counselors. So that money comes to us and is good. We're already paying for summer school, so that money comes to us. But almost $18 million out of the block grant that we cannot decide where it goes. They've taken that responsibility. So this is the problem for me is we're going to end up giving a large increase to our staff, which is where the intent is, supposed to go to our staff. Um and financially we'll be sound this year. Um

092there are still so many unknowns with this. If the lawsuit comes through, the first thing is they're going to find that the silos are not cost-based. That is not Even the the consultant said, "Don't put it in silos." We have to get that changed through legislation in the future or we are going to have some significant We'll have money in certain accounts and not in the others. They gave us money and then they took it away in other areas. Their whole point of looking at an average teacher salary of 74,000 is where the money came from. For us it's came through the RCA. That's a good thing to say that the average teacher salary should be 74 because it's a significant increase. And John and I are committed to move our teacher average salary as

093close to that as possible at the same time improving the position for support staff, administration, and every other employee in the district. And we think we can do that. So, that's that's the woe is they really kind of messed us over, but at the same time they put enough money into it, we're going to be okay. The good news is we are going to be okay. The good news is other districts are not, and maybe they'll sue the state. So, there's going to be a lot of impact from other individuals about this silo and how it's negatively impacted them. We're not We're not going to be by ourselves. So, can you do me a real quick favor in plain terms, explain the different buckets of money and why they can be used for certain things

094and not for other things. Cuz you look at this and you're saying, "Okay, there's $40 million. Why can't we move that and shuffle that around to go into other programs, especially when we start talking about the hit we're going to have to our activities?" And so, that's So, if you can just explain that real So, one of the final recommendations of Larry Pikes, who was the the main consultant, was leave the block grant alone. And the idea was is is that the money this is this is a funding model, not a staffing model, okay? But, we do use it as guidance. Don't get me wrong. I mean, you kind of we we hire one superintendent. We don't you know, we we hire um seven uh principals and and an assistant principal or alternate principal and

095things. We follow that pretty much. But, what the the silo did was it said, "Okay, here's the amount that's funded, and you you've got to spend that amount in there." The challenge is is that the really it's the summer school. I mean, that's saying you're going hire 17.28 full-time teachers. Not not summer school teachers. The equivalent of 17 full-time teachers to to do summer school and after school programs. Well, at the same time you've got 18 you cut 18 regular teachers. So, just to me, as I look at it, I go, "Okay, net those together and guess what? It's just kind of a push." And and you see that's negative $2 million, $2.682 million in regular classroom teachers. And then you've got an increase of 1.33 and 600,000 and 578,000. You see those numbers. Add

096those together, okay? So, so it's a little bit of a shifting of things. Um it makes it a little bit harder. Um and and I've been working with uh what's called school finance state advisory to make this so that this is painless as possible. Um we could do a a a query report to kind of figure out who has made the salary, who has not. And and I'm not I'm not wanting to to put any more money into district resources than than instruction. But it it makes it just it it ties my hands just a little bit. And that's the part where I'm going, "Okay." Yeah, so if you if you look at the big picture and we always use these terms, out of the $40 guarantee, 85% of that goes to salaries and benefits.

097What they've done is they've taken that 85% and taken a portion of of $18 million, and said you can only use it for these positions. And that's We've always had the 85% to use for all of our employees, from custodians to secretaries, um to teachers to administrators, uh to bus drivers to maintenance guys, and now our hands are tied. Um and this is the list right here. So, if you added this column up, that's the almost $18 million. You can see where we can spend our money. Um There's there's not a lot. It is instruction. So, if you think of what deals with instruction, it's your classroom teachers, it's your instructional aides. We don't have to worry about special ed teachers and paraprofessionals because they're reimbursed. They're in a different pot of money. But roughly,

098we have 277 certified teachers. And then we have 277 support staff. And a large percentage of those are outside of the silo. We have 18.5 administrators outside of the silo. So, our task, and we've talked about this before, is to find a way that we can fund them from silo funds. So, and we are doing those things. We're working with every school district to see, of course, number one, what is legal and what we can do, but at the same time, it's a [clears throat] game we've been forced to play. That didn't need to be there. But the the biggest challenge I see is when we talk about the increases to salaries, and still we're disappointed in the funding model. That's because I think uh some school districts and some people will say, "Hey, we're

099good with it. Look at the increase we got." No, this is the future of education. You can't fund 18 less teaching and us be okay with it. That is really the key because then they're going to come from those other areas that are funding this. Basically, summer school, construction facilitators and tutors are funding all of that 18 million dollars basically. Um little bit scary. That's the increase. That's new, not cut dollars. So, that's the difference. We still have a block grant. But 18 million dollars we cannot touch. We cannot move from that silo into areas where we feel we need. Activities, um extra teaching positions, especially programs we offer in our elementary, um music, art, uh science, which are not funded in the model. We choose to pay for it out of the block grant.

100Our community I I think and I'd say demands, but their expectation that we provide music K-5, that we provide art, that we provide science. Those are things that are not funded in the model that we choose as a district to fund. That's what's going to happen is our ability to work outside of the funding model will be more and more limited each year. Because we can't use those siloed monies anywhere else. So, are you saying we might be cutting some of those positions? This year, no. >> No. But next year, possibly. Maybe not even next year. But again, that's the position is what they did is 125 million this year, 125 million next year. For us, next year status quo. The increases we give this year will have to be funded next year. That's not

101new money. That is just to maintain. The only way we'll be able to afford increases in salaries and insurance and any of the other Yeah. utilities, uh, supplies is if there's a cost of living increase next year in addition to the $125 million. So, our state made roads to improving teacher salary competition. By moving the average to 74,000, that is a positive move. But what they, I think, miscalculated is Utah's not sitting still. Utah's already talked about a 6% increase for their teachers. So, we'll move up, but not significantly else. Everyone else is going to move up with us. The unknown, we're going out to bid here shortly with insurance. That unknown scares the heck out of me. We have to plan that we're going to be spending more money on health insurance. So, that

102has to be available even though we won't know how much that increase will be till after we negotiate. So, but we've considered all that and we're still, I'm telling you, we're in a good place. But we can't sit on our laurels with our legislators and say that what they did is a good thing. >> Yeah. You can't reduce classroom instruction and say it's a good thing. You can't reduce activities and say it's a good thing. And if they reduce activities and then said, "Okay, you can spend your money anywhere you choose." At least we could have managed that. But by hamstringing us with $18 million, we're going to manage the best we can this year and next year, but something needs to happen after that. Well, and cutting classroom teachers is going to increase class

103size if it comes to that. We have to do that. So, neither of those are good options. >> Yeah. And that's what was crazy and and some of you were part of those discussions. When we told them before recalibration even began, "Don't mess with the model. Don't cut those class sizes because you don't understand. It's not the number of kids sitting in the classroom that you're cutting. You're cutting our funding resources in every category. And that's what they did. Um it just doesn't potentially reduce the number of classroom teachers we have. It reduces the number of groundskeepers, number of secretaries, the number of administrators, all across the board. Um like I said, we were fortunate to be in that group that the RCA increased us, or we would really be in trouble. So, I'm telling

104you we're okay. Uh our teachers and our staff are going to get raises. Um health care will be managed and taken care of. Hopefully, we can come up with something everyone be excited with. Um but we need to be wary of the future. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Moving on here. Moving on. We can move to the meet and confer date. Um members of the board, just kind of how meet and confer starts is uh you authorize that we begin the process. Uh typically, it's This is a week later. I was hoping that we could do it after we receive the bids, but the bids won't come in till the 22nd of May. We have so much after that we need to get negotiations done on the 20th. So, health insurance, even though

105it's still an unknown, will be a part of negotiations as it always is. But Wednesday, the 20th, is when we'd like to hold negotiations just to let you know that we're going to start that process, invite EEA to take participate if you are okay with that. May. Yeah, 5:30, we usually have uh quick dinner and then we start negotiations at 6:00. Typically four or less. Help if you would really like to, you can let me know now. I'll put you on the list and remind you. Um but it is after another board meeting, so we'll remind you next month. What was that date? 20th. >> 20th. Wednesday the 20th. I think it's 20th Wednesday, right? Yeah. That's it with that. All right. Yeah. Okay. Okay, we can now move on to the discussion of the

106health insurance request proposal. Trying to get to it. Oh. So he's asking permission to Yeah, permission to go out to bid. Yeah, you should have had a chance to look at that packet. Um we recommend that you approve that the the packet. RFP is a request proposals. It is really pretty open. It allows um really any kind of insurance. Uh fully funded, self-funded, partially self-funded. Those are what we're asking for. Uh any provider in Utah that serves Wyoming, any provider in Wyoming, we'll look at anyone that puts the bid. This is by far the most open proposal because we've included um self-funding. We haven't included that for 15 20 years. So we recommend that this RFP go out. It'll go out tomorrow. They roughly have till the 22nd of May. We'll have a bid opening.

107Um probably ask Mr. Hoffman to help John and I and then we'll share it with the committee, make a recommendation to the board about the insurance package we go with. Uh I'm kind of excited to see what's out there. Yeah. This is for next year. >> Next year, starting September 1. Is it all going through Hoffman, the RFPs? So So they Yeah, the RFPs will go out to whoever and we're going to put it on uh different ways of advertising and things. Um Dan is is Dan and Gibson are managing the list of of the analysis those those things. Yeah, all we're doing is health insurance. We could have done all of it, but I thought we've got some some cost uh savings containment. things with other insurances. Okay, we'll take take our winnings with

108dental and vision. Yeah. Life. Yeah. Yeah. So it's only that. So um we'll send them to specific individuals that have requested them and then it's an open bid. You just have to request information. We put it in the paper here and in Salt Lake papers. And I think we do Wyoming daily, too. My my question though is so Cigna getting uh cost from Cigna, they they that would not be a partially funded or fully funded plan. That would just be enrolling in the state plan. So how do we get that those numbers so we can compare? They'll They have an opportunity to bid, too. They have Yeah. That's the fully funded program. Yeah. So fully funded, self-funded, all of them. Any option. And we're interested to see what Cigna has to offer because it would

109kind of simplify things because that's what our reimbursements based on. Right. Is that insurance? Right. But also, this is not the state's proposal. This this upcoming year the state is going to be asking us for our insurance information to bring everybody into their form. This is different. This is We still would you know, control. Because that's still up in the air on the legislative side. If you want >> still choose to self-select into the state plan. If >> And that's the number I want to see along with these RFP numbers. If if you want my opinion, I don't think the state will force us into any kind of health insurance. It was such a negative the feedback was all negative. There was no positives. There was no positive reason to go to the state's plan.

110And one of the reasons Yeah, one of the reasons why they were pushing us that way is so they could get the ghost employees out. They've done that through legislation. They're no longer there. They're not going to care what insurance company we have. But I think what she was asking was a comparison with that plan. >> We can't force them to bid, but we're inviting them to bid. Not [clears throat] for a fully funded plan, for enrolling in the state Yeah. >> insurance. That's That's a That's a fully funded insurance plan, which we're requesting bids for. Yeah, so it's anyone that offers insurance can bid on our insurance. Fully funded, self-funded, partially self-funded. >> [clears throat] >> So, recommend later when you get to action items that you approve the RFP and we go out

111to bid process. Okay. Any other discussion with that at all? The RFP? Okay, we'll go to action item E, the climate survey through the state school board. Yeah, um so uh Wyoming State School Board Association, uh we're able to contract with them to administer the climate survey for staff all staff employees. Um uh I think it would help to have a third-party administer for the survey. Um, you know, we're looking at trying to increase um employee satisfaction and there's a lot of Yeah, I think it would benefit us to and and teachers to to feel like this is coming from an outside independent source. Um and the goal my goal with doing this is to see an increase in staff participation. We have pretty low staff participation numbers in the survey. Um, if this can

112if moving it to a third-party could help increase that participation, I think it's a win for us, especially if we're able to potentially reduce turnover, um we're able to validate what we're doing as a district, what we're doing with HRIS um by having a specific survey that's tailored to our district with specific questions that that are are getting the feedback and results that we want. So, the cost would be $4,000 for them to administer it. Um again, if we can retain one employee um based on this, then we're saving money in the long run. Um is what I is what I'm thinking. I'm proposing. Do you have a copy of their survey, what they would entail? I don't have the actual copy, but I do So, they have a list of standard questions, but then

113we're also able to add change, make it our own in any way we want. Um So, yeah, basically, once we contract with them, we can go through that process of identifying what are the questions we want to answer, have answered and have as part of the survey. You we the questions for $4,000. For $4,000? Pretty expensive questions. And we can tailor the questions >> [clears throat] >> Yes. >> that we already tailor. Can I ask a question? >> Yeah, but the third party administrator I think is [clears throat] important in increasing participation. I don't think it's going to increase participation. Can I ask a question? >> Go ahead. Yeah, that's fine. Um the principles that are in here, if if it's okay for me to ask and if you volunteer to respond, I would appreciate

114it, but how if we did something like this, how much participation would it really increase with your staff at your schools? You know, cuz it he was he was telling us superintendent told us about 250 out of 600 plus that typically do it 33, 40% every year. How much would that really increase if we did something like this? Do you think? I know it's hypothetical. Well, I think it could potentially increase the use, but I think at the end of the day, people do what they want to do. If they don't want to fill out a survey, they think it's 20 minutes not worth it. But I think potentially it could work more people filling it out knowing that there's an outside conducting it and um they would be more willing to answer honestly. I

115re- I remember in Fort Riley, Kansas, I was in the first first infantry division. We had a battalion command climate. It was actually a division command climate. >> [clears throat] >> We were ordered to do it. And there was a lot of us officers that were objected to that, but we had to because we were ordered to. So, I mean so I know that there's people out there that I ain't going to fill it out because it ain't going to make a hill of beans anyway. So, I understand that as well. If I >> No, like I said, even at the state level, it's done and it's I think probably nationally it's going to be the same thing. I think we're going to see 40% 35 40% Mr. Peterson, if if I may a little

116bit of history why we ended up with this this survey is probably in 2015-2016 we were approached by a group they wanted to do an independent survey. We ended up spending $15,000. The survey was sent to every home that have students in our district and every home in our community. Went was sent to every employee. That's why it cost so much money they mailed it and I'm sure this one's not mailed or it cost us more. The return on that investment was about 16% return of those surveys that were actually mailed to them. It was unfortunate. >> survey. So you're going to you sent it to our staff too. It was a staff satisfaction. The return rate is going to be less cuz parents are are are you know, are going to be busier in

117terms of returning. It is to be specifically only for staff employees. Well, and again that was the directive is we don't want to spend $15 $15,000. Let's come up with a survey that simply simply gives our employees a chance to comment on climate and to add concerns and also give us kudos and they do both cuz you've seen them. It's unfortunate that anyone thinks they can't trust their school board and their administration to do this without any kind of repercussions. I challenge you to find one person that there's been any negative repercussions. I understand maybe they say there would be But there hasn't We don't do that and we wouldn't do that. I want to know what they're thinking. So I'm not going to but anyway I'm open. We can do this. I don't mind

118but again this was a simple quick satisfaction survey that we put to our staff. We've done it for a number of years. We have that data. It's always been extremely positive. The most positive year was the COVID years, but because of what the board committed to for employees. But again, it's really what the board chooses. If they wanted to pay for the survey, we can get a good one. I like Qualtrics School Boards and they'll be good. So, whatever the board chooses on this. Question. >> [clears throat] >> Dr. Engles, what do you think? I like the idea of long uh data that's collected over time. I think it shows a difference. I just looked up quickly in my dissertation cuz I was doing surveys in the work that I did there. Uh the goal

119was 40%. That was good. That was significant and that was good. And so, if I got above 40% on my survey return, they were thrilled as a committee. And I just looked it up quick, Chat GPT glass. Again, take it for what Chat GPT is worth. Uh by capital, some of it's good and they list the primary sources. But many fields report 30 to 60% as an average response rate. And that's a good response rate. Uh online surveys usually are around 44% and that's what we do. And we're getting about 45% with what we normally do with our staff. So, when you look at large reviews, uh you look at the chart that says below 30% is weak, 30 to 50 is acceptable, and 50 to 70 is is solid. Uh I I guess if

120you're going to go with a something that's new, it'd be nice to get uh that data as a baseline this year, and then we have a transition into next year, and then you'd have at least 2 years worth of data at the end of end of next year or two survey cycles that you've gone through. So, I think I remember going through this whole process. I remember sitting in this room with all that there were 40 people here, teachers, administrators, the first time that we gave this survey. And we all came together and we all sat down and we looked at the results and and you know what the percentage we got that year? About 38%. Uh the people who did that. It was the first year of the survey and and there was a

121it was almost like a double blind situation where you couldn't there was no way that you could check on who was doing that. But we reassured people of that but you might have people who say, "Yeah, you do whatever you want but I'm not putting my I'm not putting my neck on the line with this." But we sat here, we came up with a lot of what we thought was good information that we shared out and we started to lift up and then we continued to move forward with it. So, the consistency I like of what we currently have. I'm not opposed to saying, "Hey, let's you know, if you want to look at something else." I'm not opposed to that. I think I would just ask what happens if this May we get 38%.

122Are we going to then get a say? Because the reason is that we're going to do this so we can get a higher percentage. What happens we give it in May, are we going to continue to go down that road? My other question would be if we're going to do a survey, let's pick our questions early and not change them every year. Oh, we really want to find out about this. >> [clears throat] >> I would say let's be consistent on the questions that we're going to ask and we're going to do it just off the cuff. Thanks for asking, Mike. I do think um staff participation is a measurement of staff culture, right? My We're talking about you mentioned your employer, you're seeing 40% My employer is 90% because of our staff culture. So,

123I do think >> is your It's a smaller organization. It's 20 people. people. But um but I think what is um what what it's a testament to though is if there's a culture around these surveys, then you do see a higher response rate. And that's what I want to try and build. And I I I agree because as an administrator, we'll do we'll do the principles also give a parent satisfaction survey every year after building level student representation What percentage is normal? I But that's an old school. 50 60% Anyone that gets less than that Just curious. So the premise of care was that we have a low response rate, bad culture. I think um I think it's a a warning sign that we should look at. Not not a bad culture, but a culture

124that isn't prioritizing these feedback loops. So is there a potential that there are people out there that are that are okay with the way things are running, so they don't feel a necessity to respond? But that's when we we want to encourage them to respond, so that the feedback loop is comprehensive. Right? Yeah, that's great. I want I want all of this feedback. I want every staff to participate, and I'm trying to eliminate as many barriers as possible, so that we can get as close to that goal as possible. But the main barrier that as we've discussed has been it's been given by the school district. That's one barrier, but and here's a solution for you. >> [clears throat] >> I know it was taken away last year, John. I was busy. I would do

125both of those surveys. And do this survey, both. And give people an opportunity to see what kind of to get See what kind of results you get out of that as well. Be nice to have some of that comparative information and data they have. Once and longitudinal data and the way that they do it as well. What you're looking for with trying to get more participation. Might also be the time of year. Maybe we give the survey in September? I don't know, you give it in May. Uh May is a tough time for you guys. >> [laughter] >> And some of our stuff is like maybe you Maybe you send it out at two different times. Yeah? Just to see Yeah. That's a great idea. Tell them they don't get their last paycheck till they

126turn it out. >> [laughter] >> Then they know that they know that they didn't fill the survey out. Yeah. That's That's one of the things we do. That's one of the things we've asked our principals is when they do their exit when the staff turn in their keys, whatever. We don't think we turn that anymore, but there usually is an exit interview at the end of the school year to encourage them to fill out the survey. And we've done that every year it's been offered and still that's our rate. But um you know, the old the old adage silence is acceptance. Um if we did have a negative culture, I think it would show up on our numbers because the 277 that would respond, you'd have a higher percentage that respond that climate was a

127factor. And right now, climate has been very positive for years we've given it. Extremely high, unheard of high. Um so, I don't know. >> [clears throat] >> Again, recollection of what we what we were in and what we went down in 2016 and 17 and direction from the board was to give our staff an opportunity opportunity to express concerns about what's happening in the district and to be able to voice so we could track climate. That's what we've done. Um if there are other concerns specific, then we should generate different questions. If that's the case, we need to go to a different survey. So, just so you know, um and again, it's truly up to the board if they think that's information that we need. We use that information. You guys know that we review

128it at the retreat. And I cover it in the opening every year for the last 9 years. These are what [clears throat] you said are concerns. These are the things you like. This is what we're doing differently based on our school improvement improvement plan. Based on that salary survey, and anyone who has not provided their feedback, that's on them. Because they could have. They had an opportunity. Um and you guys have read some of the negative comments. We we haven't taken them personally. We just take them and say, "Okay, there may be something behind it. What can we do?" We show them to our principals, ask them, "What are you going to do in your buildings to deal with these issues?" And they come up with their building improvement plan. So, it is an important

129part. The survey is an important part. I do like it as an exit survey. You could use this as an exit exit survey, and then at a different time of the year um do another survey, too. But again, we tried to keep it simple because of the responses to the $15,000 was not positive. Do you have to keep the questions like, "What is your position? What school are you at?" No. We don't. Okay. Because Right. "Are you certified, uncertified?" You know. And that is important. Demographics. Every survey has demographics. Well, I'd just say, "Do we have to have all of those?" "Are you elementary, middle school?" Would they have to Well, if you want to be able to drill down your data to find out is this an elementary concern, a second middle school, or

130secondary, you need some feedback where the comment came from. Some kind of foundation. >> Usually, you can tell. You know, to me the most frustrating thing that I've heard all night was was when Dr. Eagels and this isn't about you, this is just the phrase that you used and it indicates a an issue is when you said neck on the line. Because there is no neck on the line. I mean, when you're talking about filling out this survey, there is no neck on the line. It doesn't matter. You can put in there that that Ryan Thomas is the suckiest superintendent that we have ever had. >> Don't quote that one. That's one of the ones we actually like. Let me pick a different one. >> [laughter] >> No, anyway, the the point is there's no

131neck on the line. It's just data that we use to operate with. And so that's frustrating if there are still people out there that think there's some kind of neck on the line for voicing an opinion when we're actually asking for input about you know, what's going on because there is no neck on the line. How many people are not tenured every year? What's the percentage that's tenured? Rarely. What's tenured? Typically about 99.99% are tenured. >> Exactly. Yeah. So that's the real problem that we have here. >> But before I before I stop talking, I want to I want to give my opinion and that is given our current somewhat uh uncertain financial situation, I think right now as a board we need to be making sure that when we do do expenditures, they're on

132something that's going to guarantee us a return. And and I don't feel like this is this is one of those things that's going to be a guaranteed return. I think this is a maybe let's spend the $4,000 and see what happens. And I'm not on board with that. Here we are. Okay. Should we move on? Yeah, we can move on. So. There's no other comments, we will go to public comments. I think we scared everybody off. Well, >> [laughter] >> uh-oh. She She sitting in the back hiding. Everybody be careful. She's coming after us. >> [laughter] >> For the first part >> [laughter] >> Mr. Thomas, first of all, when he showed up to Liberty Avenue, not all legislators hate activities. >> [laughter] >> Oh, yeah, I should stop. Did I say some? You I

133thought you said all legislators hate activities. I just want to make that I don't know if I heard that right. I think the current >> activities. The current legislators came to that conclusion. I think the mic was turned off when when he was saying how much he appreciated you. >> [laughter] >> Well, and that's kind of what I wanted to talk about. I know that, you know, a lot of data out here and I appreciate John particularly and and also Superintendent Thomas. Poor John got stuck going to a lot of these recalibration meetings. I don't know if he went to all of them or not. Did you, John? No. Poor man. Uh if I hadn't been assigned, I might not have wanted to know. [laughter] Uh put thousands of miles on my car this summer.

134Uh And we had a lot of informal meetings before the formal meetings where everybody kind of hashed things out. And those were pretty intense. I will tell you that. Uh because a lot of us don't agree on a lot of things. And you know, I'm I'm to the point now where I just pretty much maybe it's old age, but I'm calling people out now. On this recalibration committee, there were 12 of us. Uh eight Freedom Caucus members. Uh I was the only public school teacher. Uh one law professor or not law professor, professor from U Dub. A nurse. And uh a computer guy from Jackson who's the other Democrat. So, we pretty much were voted out voted on pretty much everything. The whole time. And you know, we tried to work I tried to work

135with everybody. Um It's It's very difficult the last 2 years. Uh particularly in the house, you probably noticed uh They have the majority over there and I call them the no freedom caucus because they seem to want to take freedom away. Mhm. And you know, micromanage some things. And I I don't want to personally attack anybody, of course, but um it honestly, if we hadn't changed a lot of things we changed it in our January meeting quite a bit uh because four of us said we're not going to vote for this. And our two chairmen wanted so badly to have a 12-0 vote so they could tell people, oh, you know, we're we're in agreement, it's a bipartisan, you know, blah, blah, blah. So I said, well, I won't unless we can come to give

136me a little bit and then I'll vote for it because I knew that once it got to the Senate that I could get enough votes on my committee, we could make a few changes, you know, so so finally they they did make some effort to move to the middle a little bit. Um and I will tell you this, my uh my my goal all along was to obviously try to get teacher salaries up where they needed it to be because as the superintendent has mentioned a number of times uh we were losing losing ground to the states around us. So we needed to get that that salary up and we adjusted it twice. Uh we bumped it up to 70,000 and then we finished up with 75,000. Um so that was that was to me

137that was a that was a a really good thing that we did. Uh I did not ever get on board with the silos, not once. And what I tried to do was to get uh I did try to get two people in the in the Senate to bring it up towards the end, but I wanted to get as much through our amendments in the Senate chairman the Senate education committees we could because I knew if it got to the floor and we couldn't get what what my committee had amended, then there was no sense trying to take the silos out. Plus, I kind of had a ulterior motive. I had talked to a couple house members who were very reasonable and very respected, and asked them if they would bring amendments to try to get

138rid of the two silos. We had a superintendents silo, and we also had the instruction. And they did bring those amendments. Didn't pass. Um And what I tried to tell those folks on the committee is I understand, you know, they kept saying, "This is why we're doing it." But to me, it's like, well, this is one of the reasons. Uh some of our superintendents, when we had when we voted on ECAs, they don't get the money to the teachers. And so I said, "Well, that that's silly. That's like saying nobody gets playground duty because Johnny messed up in classroom in the classroom." Cuz we know that there are some superintendents that were getting the money where it needed to go. But some of them weren't. And that's part of the reason that the instruction silo

139thing happened because not everybody was using the money what they felt like was wisely. So So there's that. I think there's also a little bit of control. Uh some of these folks on that committee have a real thing about control. All you had to do is watch the Joint Appropriations Committee this year, and you could see there was some control from certain factions, mostly Freedom Caucus guys, and they wanted to control the budget top to bottom. Made cuts that made no sense. I mean, let's cut 60 million from U dub. And people ask, "Why?" Well, we want to get their attention. You don't just cut to be cut. There there's got to be a reason. And it it just it made no sense. And so, luckily, we did some behind-the-scenes things again, which I hate

140to say we have to do that a lot, but we do, and we got at least three or four, I call them fence jumpers, used to just jump back and forth on votes, we kind of got them to sway over to one side so that we knew we could get at least get a recalibration bill through because we're we were required to. Statutorily, we're required to do that. We hadn't done it for 15 years. And with the lawsuit hanging over our heads, we knew we needed to get something done. And was it the best product? No. Uh did I like everything in it? No, absolutely not. Um We've already had one more informal meeting already. Uh 31st. And we already talked about that a little bit. They don't want to hear it, but I said

141I'm already hearing things, you know, in different school districts cuz I I not only talked to Superintendent Thomas, but I talked to of course the Lyman School District, the Mountain View School District. They have some of the same issues, of course. And of course uh the Freedom Caucus, their attitude is they we we gave you $250 million. Actually, I think it might be 275. But bottom line is uh with the silo, it it takes away control from your school boards. Takes control away from your administrators. Because in the past, you could use some of that money, you know, you know, to facilitate in different areas. Same with the the health insurance with the ghost teachers, you know, if you if if someone didn't take the insurance, you could use that money that the state gave

142you anyway for other things. So, there's lots of things that I mean I know how you move money around. I mean I don't know I don't know how John does it, but I mean I know that there's None of us know how John does it. >> [laughter] >> And we don't want to. He's kind of a magic man, I got I got to tell you. But um the bottom line is we've already talked about it. I think there'll be some tweaks with what's happened this year. That's only if the elections go the way I hope they go. If we elect a lot more of the Freedom Caucus folks, we're in trouble. And I was really planning on kind of going off into the sunset and being done with this thing this year. But I'm already

143hearing that there's two Freedom Caucus members who want to run for my Senate position. And I don't know. I may not even know who I am next year, but I'm going to I'm going to step up and run again because I can't allow some of these guys with their extremist views to go in and just start cutting all of our budgets and cutting people just for the heck of it. Um I know they think that there's a reason for this and that and whatever, but put the reason out there. It It's the same thing with the health insurance. I kept asking questions, why do you want to go to the state health insurance? Is it cheaper? They could never show me. I said, why would why would I vote for something that no one's shown

144me any data? So, I said, let's So, my last amendment on that bill was let's get a study. We were going to give them $100,000 A&I to study and say, will we if we can save money, okay. I still don't like the idea of making everybody go on the plan cuz there's already 30,000 people on the state plan and there's about 30,000 public school folks. So, all of a sudden you got a plan with 60,000 people. Is it really going to save us money or not? I don't know. And right now we only have one one company as you mentioned before that has been in the state's health provider. So, I think they're so big that a lot of other health companies don't put a bid in. But my bottom line is before you vote

145for something like that, get some data and find out if that's really the case. If we can save money, okay. Now, I don't anybody's supposed to save us money as long as it's good for everybody. But when you take choices away from your boards, your administrators, and and you know, which is what we've done really with the silos. You know, we've given as Superintendent Thompson mentioned, we've given more money for salaries. Um and again, we still have uh some more work to do. So, we are going to work on food services nutrition this year. Uh SROs, uh computer science and those kinds of things, we still have some work to do. But I do think there'll be some tweaks, but again, the elections are going to be so very, very important. So, uh and I'm

146not saying I'm not necessarily the right person, but I use usually really try to bring uh some common sense and I try to work with people on both sides of the aisle because you have to in order to get things done. So, I'm happy to serve again if it happens. But but I'd rather not, yeah. So, if you know somebody else that wants to jump in and there are some money that that you know, what I don't know. I think Mr. Bennett, aren't you getting off the board? Maybe you should think about it. I can could not take the travel that you take. Yeah, there's there's a lot of travel. I I'm sure I've aged 20 years in the last The question I have is there's there's no other teachers in that could be on

147that group? In in on in the legislature or what? You know, There's very few educators >> know if they really want a lot of public school teachers on there. Uh four of those folks on that committee don't even have kids in the public schools. >> Really? They've either home schooled them or private schools or charter. So, and that that kind of tells you a lot. Which I'm not I'm not denigrating those at all, of course. Every every parent should take, you know, have a choice to take your kids wherever you want for education, but yeah, I I don't know if I hadn't been a Senate Education Chairman, I don't know if I would have been put on the board, but anyway, I just want to let you know that uh I I will continue to

148work with this recalibration committee this year cuz we're going to going to tweak it and I'm hoping that we can make some changes next year if I'm if I'm back uh reelected, I'll I'll work harder to try and get some more folks thinking cuz I just don't think a lot of these guys really thought about the the long-term repercussions, you know, when you take a bunch of money and you silo it. And I mean, they had some of them had some really good intentions. I don't want to, you know, disparage them for that, but uh I think there's going to be some some nightmares. Even though every district for a while there, Natrona was going to lose money, but I think every district actually got more money by the time we ended it, so. But

149I'm happy to answer questions. Senator Schuler, I have a I have a couple of questions for you. Um There's there's going to be an election for Superintendent of Public Instruction. Uh would would you be in a position to help us decide who would be the best for that position? Well, I know two of them two of the people that are running right now, I do know. Um I I would be very much supportive of of one of them. The other one is Freedom Caucus and I don't know them. Don't think I can support pretty much any of those guys cuz uh they u- unfortunately, they they just see this narrow view and they don't necessarily want to think about the whole big picture. So uh but I can talk with you privately. >> Yes, yes.

150And that's fine. Yeah. [laughter] >> Better not say anything I shouldn't. Is that signed by the governor, that position? Uh no. >> Elected, no. Not signed. Always elected. >> Yeah, it's elected. Yeah, it's elected. Okay. Who's running? Do you know who's even running? Uh yeah, I do. Uh Tom Kelly and Chad Auer, A U E A U E R. They're the only two that I'm aware of right now. There might be some others. I know there's a couple more. I can't remember their names, either. Yeah, I have Yeah, I haven't had time to really look at them. >> [laughter] >> Well, and I haven't had a chance to personally thank you for inviting me to the uh Sunday outing that uh a couple of weeks ago for uh the gentleman that's running for governor and

151I appreciate that and hopefully that will uh come to fruition, also. So Yeah, actually, I I think there's 10 or 11 in the running for the House. And I think there's one of those gentlemen that's coming to town tomorrow that I'm going to meet with. I want to try and meet as many of these folks as I can so they kind of get an idea. Yeah. Cuz I I wouldn't want to you know, say yay or nay on some of them until I meet them or visit with them or talk to them. Yeah, William and I was in a meeting last week and looking at what happened in there. >> Yeah. And I appreciate her because she made the comment, "I'm here. I've heard about this gentleman. I need to know more. I want to

152gain more." And that's the way you have to do it. I mean, we we do too much name recognition. That's right. And we never know about the candidate enough. Absolutely. We pay a price for Anyway, keep up the good work. I think there's a lot of folks here I can appreciate all of you. General Peterson. Can I make comment? No. >> Winnie, I thank you for running again. That's probably the most important comment I can [laughter] make. I thank you for doing that. And just one ask. Once we make the decision with our staff salaries, please represent that it wouldn't have taken a silo. We're still going to give as much money as possible to our employees. We could have given more. But we were restricted. So, hopefully everyone sees that we're making the effort.

153And I can't imagine every district does not, but we have the opportunity to make a significant difference because of what was done. And we will, but please take that back and say this is what's happening in in districts. We complained about teacher salaries. You've done something about it, but fix the other things and we'll be good. But just again, and and maybe it's a thank you. Thank you for what what if when we get to that point that you see that we're doing for our staff. So, thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you. Good luck. Hang in there, girl. It's a tough one. >> [clears throat] [laughter] >> Uh my name is David Vincent, 448 Smith Avenue. Um I'm a teacher at the high school. I teach science. Um I've taught at the middle school

154as well. Um I wasn't going to speak, so but first let me preface by stating that I'm very fortunate with my job. I've always felt supported by Superintendent Thomas, Doug Rigby, my PLC partner former Derek Hayter, my principals Scott Kohler and Rick O'Driscoll as well. Um I am in agreement with what member Arch brought up about an anonymous survey. Anonymity allows teachers fear of repercussion. I I personally don't fear repercussion. I feel I'm competent at my job or Doug continues to tell me so. Um But I have spoken and I'm also the EEA president. I should have stated that as well. I've had numerous members come and tell me that they would actually be more inclined to participate in surveys if they did not come from a school district employee. Um like I said, I

155personally I I feel like I want to make my place of employment better and I do that by participating in the survey. So I'm one of the 44% that participates in it, but I do know in speaking with members at the middle and the high school level that they feel that it's easy to track who they are. So when I was a newer teacher with Derek, one of the questions is are you certified? Well, yeah, I'm certified. How long have you been in the district? Where do you teach? Okay, that pinpoints it directly to me. I never felt retribution or fear of retribution because I felt supported by Doug, by Derek, by my principals. But I do know that there are people even though they are tenured, they still fear what could potentially happen to

156them. I'm not saying that anything would happen to them, but they still have that irrational fear that it would negatively impact their standings in the district, or that um you know, that okay, if they can pinpoint me because I've been a teacher for 40 plus years. And they could not necessarily fire me, but they could add more to my plate that would be detrimental to my position as an educator. So, um I personally feel like it's a valid um request, and I feel like $4,000 in the grand scheme of things, yes, I know we're all pinching our pockets right now, um but $4,000 in the grand scheme of things, I think is a valid price for giving teachers and all educators, whether that's an ESP an educational support professional or an educator who is certified,

157it gives them the opportunity to respond anonymously without having that potential fear. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hello. Hello. All right. Casey Harden, uh 30 Where am I? 3684 Elmyra Road 107. I didn't plan on talking either. But I did just want to mention a couple of things real quick. I know you're probably tired of hearing about softball, but a little background on me is um uh been here for about 7 years now. Uh I've coached these girls ever since I've been here in some capacity. Um director and assistant athletic coach again. And just a little bit of history in the past few years, it it's grown in the rec center. Um Every year I've I've coached. Uh this year is no different. Um we usually say at the last two or three

158years we've said about uh, three teams worth. That's what we said. We're over, we're under each year, but we said about three teams uh, every year. Um, I hope it's pretty obvious why any high school girls weren't here. Um, I mean, it's most of them probably don't see this coming during their time, so they're not going to come, you know. Um, and why the majority of the ladies here were were middle school age. Um, for that. So, I guess um, I was going to I was trying to tell myself I was going to try to help you out, but I'm actually going to try to help me out because I know when I go home tonight I'm going to get an earful from my wife about this and that uh, the first thing she's going

159to tell me is the board is not going to make a decision, they're going to push it off, and we're not going to hear anything from them. Uh, the only thing I ask is I hope you make some kind of decision. I do know that partici- participation wise, that that wouldn't be an issue. I think you'd have plenty of girls to make make a couple teams. I I don't have any issue with that. So, if that if that was the reason, I personally wouldn't buy that just from my history here with what I do with the wrestling. Um, budget, Totally understandable if it's budget, especially what's coming down the the pipe here, okay? Um, so I guess the only thing I'd ask was I wish you would make a decision. I hope you do, and

160I hope you let people know what what that is. Because I guarantee the water cooler out there, you guys can't see around the corner right there, but they stood out there for quite a bit of time talking, and I just know when I go home it's going to be uh, I'm I've got about a couple more hours on it. you know I'm just saying. Um, it is going to be that you know I'm not making a decision I want to hear something. Okay. So, just let you know that real quick. Um I see the last I guess the last thing I want to say is um probably one thing about the surveys real quick. Um I've heard this several times since I've been in the district from different avenues and you know about um you

161know it's on me if I don't fill out that survey. Okay. That that's the term I heard denied but it it's been said a different other terms but you know it's my fault. You know if I don't fill out that out. Retribution stuff like that. All I got to say is you guys are in a position of power. I am not in a position of power. And so if I say something bad it's just human nature that you're going to think that something something could happen. Okay. Um I don't I really don't care to tell you what I think you may have even asked me and I've even said it before without being asked. Um but that's usually what I hear. I can name off several people right now that will not fill out that

162survey because of that. Okay. Uh on the flip side I'm not sure if $15,000 is worth an extra 10% or 5% or whatever you get on the two you know I'm not sure that's worth it or whether you would even get it. But I do know that the fear of retribution is real. Okay. So, I guess that's about all I had to say to you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks Casey. >> Any other public comments? None? We can move on to our action items. So, I need a motion to approve the EHS classic trip request to the Nationals down in Florida. >> So moved. I'll second. I have a motion, I have a second. Any discussion? Yes. >> Can't No. Just one question. >> Jessica. Jessica. Go ahead. I I know that they have not

163submitted the request for the regional. I know that. However, can you can we as a board pre-approve it knowing that they're going to submit it anyway? That way they have the news for both activities at one time and you know what I mean? That's just a question. Sure we can. I wouldn't. But at the same time, I I see it as a different request. As really one of the issues, the reason why we have the policy we do is because of the expense. And the uh liability issue. Because you are extending yourself in terms of a national trip, which um you know, we we cover all through the state of Wyoming, but those are expenses that you would typically wouldn't have. The expense here is for individuals. Is it a burden for those 22 individuals?

164It's got to be a burden for someone on that team. Um now, they can start early, they can earn that money, but what we don't want to do is fundraisers in the community. That's also violation of board policy. So, that's really why we have this procedure in place. Is the cost to the individual, school time, of course. High school can't approve those dates cuz there are no dates. What they're looking at is that if there are any major tests that the kids would miss. We don't know because we don't have the dates. Um I don't think attendance at school for that group is a concern. No. But at the same time are you going to hold the line if you get another group that comes that maybe you have a different concern about that. We

165can make that decision at the time. So >> my question. >> Yeah. No. No, the question was can we do it both at the same time? He's he's explaining they're two different events that we should do it probably separately. >> That's my That's what I was going to say. That's what I was going to Thanks, John. Yeah. Any other discussion? If I may, Chairman, what I would do though is if you guys approve this tonight, I would just take the next trip that came through if met all the criteria and just do it through the uh uh consent agenda. They we wouldn't make them come back. Right. Okay. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? I's have it. Motion carries. We need a motion to approve the personnel uh items that

166was discussed in the executive session earlier. Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the personnel discussion >> Oh, I should probably Should I go down because you've also got three approved certified staff contracts. Yeah, I would separate them. The first one is >> to say. That's what I need to do. So The first first one is the resignations. And so how do you classify that one? That's just >> [laughter] >> You're going to accept it or You're going to accept it, yeah. Okay. So accept the accept the resignation. There we go. Okay, I need a motion to approve the resignation as discussed earlier in the executive session. >> Chairman, I'll approve that uh motion to accept the resignations as presented. Second. Got a motion, do I have a second. Any discussion? All in favor, say

167I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it, motion carries. Do we have any contracts? We don't have any contracts in there. Yes, we do. A significant number. Oh, okay. So, these would be the ones that are listed on that memo. Okay. All right. I need a motion to approve the contracts that were identified. So moved. I have a motion. Second that motion. I have a second. Any discussion? All in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it, motion carries. I need a motion to approve the certified staff contracts for 2026-2027. Mr. Chairman, I have moved that we approve the certified staff contracts for 2026-2027 first reading. I second. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, just take a pick. If everybody seconded, do we have to vote? >> [laughter] >> I don't think so. Uh, any discussion? All

168in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it, motion carries. I need a motion to approve the permission to request proposals, RFP, for health insurance providers. So moved. I have a motion. Second. I have a second. Any discussion? All in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it, motion carries. I need a motion to approve bus lease early out. So moved. I have a motion. Second that motion. I have a second. Any discussion? All in favor, say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it, motion carries. I need a motion to, uh, the proposal to change from bus lease to bus purchase. Mr. Chairman, I move that we, uh, go with the proposal to from bus lease to bus purchase. Second. I got a motion I have a second. Any discussion? Yes. Question. >>

169Okay. I just want [clears throat] to make sure I read it right. There's no penalty from CNN to do that. No, there's no penalty, but there's also no you don't have a we're not getting the payment and they're not taking the interest off. So so really this is all it's doing is it's putting us in a position so that we get reimbursed in full. The state's the state's doing Which includes the interest from the state. >> Yes, the state will reimburse us in So we're seeing the $500,000 sooner than sooner than split like later. And then the last one is there any other transportation vehicles that to be reimbursed >> [clears throat] >> other than those buses? Um these right here are what is kind of going on. You've got this schedule that that I

170modified. Um there may be some additional discussion about you know, using uh cobbled money to buy additional vehicles, but we don't we're not bringing any proposals this year. Okay, any more discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. I need a motion to approve the Davis Middle School roof financing agreement. So moved. Second that motion. Do you have something to say, John? Oh, okay. >> [laughter] >> It was looking like you were going to say something, so I have a motion I have a second. Any discussion? Who came up with that plan? Jaron Jared, it up over a couple years. >> Excuse me. Jared Dennis presented this in his presentation. We were short money from the state, so the only way we could get that money is to finance

171it over a period of years and then use major maintenance that comes in in the future to pay off that debt. So, really it was the only way. Kind of crazy that they're not paying for the whole amount in one year. We have to cobble it together, but it's it allows us to actually get the work done now. So, that was Mr. Dennis. Okay. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. Okay, I need a motion to approve the climate change survey as provided by the Wyoming State School Board. So, moved. I have a motion. I'll second it. I have a second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? I. Do I need to roll call? >> I would. Okay, roll call. Brian. Nay. I. I.

172Nay. Nay. Nay. Nay. Nay. Nay. I. Caleb was a Nay. Nay. And Janice was an I. 6-3. 6-3. Okay. Defeated. Okay. All righty, that is the last of the action items. We now move to our board round table. Any comments? Well, that was quick. That was quick. It's 2 and 1/2 hours, 3 hours. That wasn't quick. No, I I do. And I want I want all these lovely young women that were in here earlier. I feel bad addressing them the way that I did. I just knew we needed to move on. So, please don't take that personally the way that I handled it. I hope I didn't come across too rough. Um This is This is not easy. I wished I had a billion dollars that I could hand out and just give and give

173to every program that is out there. This is a decision that is gut-wrenching. Cuz you want everybody to be happy and you don't want your kids to hurt. And I I just It's something we will discuss and we'll have to sit down and look at. But when you get hit with a $600,000 hit on your budget, it's not only whether you're going to add a program, it is whether you're going to be able to save existing programs. >> Yeah. That's That is what's tough. And like I said, we'll ask John to do some magic things and and maybe take a look at it. But looking for an answer right now, I think is it's a little tough till we find out exactly where we're at on things. I had a question and you closed it

174just before. If he came up with the money from that company, would we you you know, you said >> what we would need to hear from John is if if legally we can do that. Because yeah, that would be fantastic. But the other point that they brought up is is what if they decide to pull their sponsorship, then we're stuck with it. >> Yeah, you got to do it. You got to >> And we won't know what type of a financial situation we might be in when they pull out. >> What if you got the money up front? For 10 years? For No, but he said if he got the money from >> what I'm saying. But is it for 1 year or is it 10 years down the road? >> we'd need to ask

175that. I wondered if somebody came up with the money or if they fund-raised for more than 1 year, is that a possibility? Yeah, I I don't know the answers to your questions. The one area that I haven't heard is what is the capital situation in terms of location? I mean, are we Are we putting it in the the softball complex? You know, Allen costs next to Allen. Are we talking about the baseball fields? It's the high school. >> Are we turning that into Because there are totally different things If you're talking about field turf, you're talking about change in that nursing field. You've got the American Legion that's still you're going Wait a minute. So, I don't even know what that is. So, that's that's the area that I don't >> That's another question. Yes.

176put up a schedule. There's a capital component that hasn't even been addressed, you know. No, I know the the expenditure of the facility. But, the other thing is are we going to be embattled by Title IX if we say we're going to go down to a public field to compete where we're not on our ground in in our field. Up front, everybody's going to say it's nice, warm, and fuzzy, that everything's good. You know, and then you think you're fine with that? Okay. All right. Chairman Peterson, I I do think it would be wise if we provided them an answer. I mean, it doesn't have to be a final um you know, finality um because there are so many questions that need to be answered, and I don't know if they've been answered. Uh so

177many questions that I have about unknowns, and one of them is of course We've already talked about these. Um the big question is could we pull it off? And we're pretty amazing. We can do some amazing things, but we can we maintain it at the level that we expect to maintain our activities, which would mean dedicated field for our kids. Um holy cow. Those Those go beyond even the weather um is comes back to that and then how are we going to provide financing for all of that and at this point in time where we are we can't answer those questions. The board was never proposed a motion to add or not add soccer or excuse me softball. So in terms of your answer you could provide an answer with nine individuals but you can't

178provide an answer from the school board. I could make a recommendation and you could respond to that recommendation. That was really my point financially if it's going to be in the budget you would have to put it on a proposal to look at this for the 2026 2027 school year or past that and I think some of that is the conditions is representative of the numbers to make this program work. They're not here yet but that doesn't mean you close it off totally. Financially there are too many questions. I think that answers the big question but in terms of the big picture of what we offer and how we offer it we don't do anything half-assed. Pardon me. And we can't do this that way either. So that's the biggest question is can we do

179everything? No, we can't. Is it Is it obvious that providing activities for the youth is an important part of our instructional program? Yes, it is but we provide activities for our youth. There are so many things that they can participate in already. Um 6-12. So we're not denying them that because they can do other things and they do other things. I mean we have such a high percentage of participation already. Would I love to do it? But, I just don't think financially we're in a position to say yes at this time for the 26-27 school year. If we get to the budget session in July and the board feels strongly about that, they do it the same way they did it with the field house. Make a proposal, it goes on our strategic plan, and

180you begin looking at it. Um but, this isn't a decision I think you can make in one night, yes we're going to do it, yes we're not going to do it. Um cuz there's a lot of questions to be answered. But, I do think they deserve a solid response as soon as possible. That this is what we're thinking, this is where we are with the timeline, and uh we'll have to see. Hopefully, our enrollments don't continue to decline. We lost almost 80 kids in January. Wow. Um that's $80 * $16,000 that we lost. Can't blame it on the weather. No, we can't. Uh whoever in that group arranged the weather, we need to keep them on that. >> Yeah, we were pretty good. Good uh Must be an outdoor media. I think I think it

181would be helpful if we like laid out every every question that we have. What designated field are we going to have? How much is it going to cost to get um their equipment and uniforms, and if they can have a sponsor outside sponsor that will fund that, and what that looks like. I think we need to make a list of what all the questions are so that we can say, "Okay, this is the answer to this question." >> would do if you prioritized it as part of your strategic plan. You would begin that process. Um and you'd begin to examine it, but there is I just don't think there's any way you could pull it off for the 26-27 school year. >> think so, either, but But, you can continue to study it. I mean,

182that's the whole point is we will study it, but again, who are you going to a for that? We already have so much to do. It's another thing. If you're going to move forward and you're interested, task us with it. But if you're not interested, you don't think it's going to happen, let's just don't do it to do it. Part of that is a budgetary question that will be answered in July. Then look at your strategic plan, put it in there, and decide what you're going to do, move forward, not move forward. You can answer them before that. Especially with that kind of response is we don't think this will happen in '26, '27, but we are going to work on it. Uh that'd be my recommendation, I guess. I mean, that's really what happened

183with soccer. Kind of we just looked at it, looked at it, looked at it. Number of kids that are out there. Obviously, we have kids to support it. Um and even that's a little of a question mark. We reduced the number of track kids at our middle schools, which may not be a bad thing. We added them to soccer, Yeah, if you've ever been to the meet >> Yeah. Yeah. 20 heats meet at the high school with both middle schools. >> 20 heats of the 100 running. And but again, those are those are kind of the position. I just don't think you can answer them today. No, I'm not saying today, but I'm saying I think we need to compile all of the concerns, what would be Yeah. required of us to get figured out,

184and then come up with the answers to those questions. Yeah. At some point with these numbers that you saw, you're going to have to make some significantly hard decisions. Oh, absolutely. If we're not resourced for the staffing that we have, what do we do? Yeah. Um because not every year are they going to raise the average teacher salary 9,000 bucks. No, it's not going to. I don't know if that helps anyone, but that's kind of where we are. >> Well, it's where we're at. I I think the biggest issue to start with is where are they going to play? You know, and and it it we we had Mr. uh Easterbrook come up last fall and give us a bid on what it would take to to turf the field at the high school where

185you could play girls softball, you could play Little League baseball, you could play Junior Legion baseball, and then end up end up with a soccer field in the outfield. But it's still 1.6 million. That was That was last fall. This next fall probably more than that. So, I I think that there is a way to approach that with the city, the rec district, um the school district uh to if that's where it gets to to to figure out how to finance it. But that to me is the biggest obstacle. Yeah. And then uh what it what if we could find a sponsor, that'd be great that would commit to whatever, but uh I think the field is the biggest obstacle that >> That would be the biggest expense. Biggest expense and the biggest obstacle to

186overcome. >> And I think we're 4 or 5 years into paying off the domes, right? Yep. Yeah. Well, and then we still have to replace at some point the turf at the high school. Yeah. Yeah. 10 12 years. Anything else? I move I move that we adjourn. I think we have a motion to adjourn. I have a second. All in favor say aye. We're not even going to discuss it. Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. Dave knows how to take the opportunity to address There was silence on these ones. done. >> [laughter] >> It's not the end.