001can't just show your badge and go through the front entrance. You have to stand in line and get a ba a wristband and then anybody with you has to do the same. So, it's there's a lot of more hoops and they do a lot more testing barn area, >> pre and post testing, random testing, all kinds of stuff like that. Soundness testing. Um, so it's Kentucky people. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, we'll see how it goes over the next year or two. Be interesting to see this Thunder Plains place in Cheyenne. They say it's something else. >> Well, they just opened something similar to what they're building here. That the gateway place they opened in. >> Yes. And that one, I guess, has gone over so well that they're that's why they expanded this
002one to make it bigger than they had originally planned. >> Yeah. I saw an actual advertisement for that on television over the weekend, if you can believe it. >> I was like, "Mom, that just said Evston, Wyoming. Are you kidding me?" >> Yeah. >> So, I couldn't believe they got on on the TV. >> They're throwing some money at it, for sure. >> Yeah. just bringing his computer or is he just like you're having so much fun at six, right? >> Are you going to be using your laptop or just over one page? >> Okay. >> I only was able to print 11. We didn't have >> That's right. We didn't have 12 covers. >> Well, I will take however many and then >> I can get you another one when we get more. >>
003So, where are you going tonight? >> Water. Hello. >> Get home at 9:30 or later. I actually get a zoom sweet water this year. So >> I don't want to drive over. I'm good. How are you doing? I'm good. >> Yes. And just down there, there's cupboards. Just on the left, there's a little fridge. Just open that door. Click. Keep going. >> Yeah. >> These ones. >> Now I know all the secrets. >> No, you do. Yours. >> I would stray from that one, but >> Okay. [clears throat] Just the bottom part, not the top. That's perfect. >> No, I so I talked to Speed Water >> and I guess they've been flying better. What is backy? >> So I saw something like that were different that were configurations. >> Yeah. >> All right. stretch
004perfectly happy next to you. Make sure you after they've been this is information [clears throat] done a very poor Who are people taking class through the summer? a lot of jobs. I'm not actually about this disconnect. I mean, I have people saying, "Hey, how are >> I doing? I don't I don't ever accept any I mean first. Did you get >> So it doesn't I was watching. >> Oh, really? Now it's the opposite. [clears throat] just certainly the situation that I was just out Redu difference of his attorney. >> So there's a salary he's going to There's a max That was the first thing that he said because you've got Alabama payout scraps service last year. Yeah. >> No, they're actually Yeah. >> Um on a sideways, >> um you've got to schedule. >> That's
005my word. Yes. >> I got that. >> What's your name? Yeah, this is Trevor. >> This is Trevor. >> Body president body president secretary. >> Secretary. >> Our president or vice president. Welcome. >> I guess the 4 day school week's not coming today. >> Say again. >> I guess the 4 day school week group's not coming today. Oh, we're going to put my horse. >> Dominic Stewart here [clears throat] and Yeah. And then it goes to meetings. >> Welcome. >> Yeah. >> Change seats. Sometimes I walk around that shop and I just kind of look around and I go why am I here? I don't know. I didn't come here to pick up that piece of garbage. I know there's something else. >> All righty. Um it is 6:04. um like to welcome everybody that
006uh [cough] is here or who might be on Zoom and I will call this meeting to order and uh we will now uh do the pledge of allegiance if you will join me. Thank you. >> I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. We will now need a motion to adopt tonight's agenda. >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we adopt tonight's agenda. >> Second. >> Got a motion. Got a second. Did you get Brian? Second. Okay. Uh any discussion? >> None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion carries. We've adopted the agenda. I need a motion to adopt the consent agenda items. A uh minutes approval. B payment
007of bill. C official newspaper approval. D depositories for district funds. And E sped related service contracts. >> Jenny. I have a motion. >> Brian. >> Oh, Brian. And then a second there. Okay. Didn't hear you. Sorry. Any discussion? None. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Eyes have it. Motion carries. >> Okay. We will now move on to presentations. Mr. Thomas. >> Mr. Peterson. If I may, I would like to introduce Laney Gild our student representative. >> Robo is primarily her. [laughter] >> That's not her. So, Laney, will you take a second, introduce yourself, tell us kind of where what you're doing in school, why are you here, and >> do you want me to speak? >> You're okay. >> Okay. Um, I'm Laney Gills. I'm the student body secretary. Um,
008our president couldn't be here tonight. He's at a basketball game, so that's why I'm stepping in. Uh, there isn't really anything in particular going on right now at the school that I feel. >> Okay. So, Laney, you're welcome to comment on any of the things we discussed. Some of the stuff are not as interesting as others. Um, but feel free to voice your opinion at any time. And hopefully these guys will uh remember you're here and ask you the tough questions. They won't. And we'll help you. Um, so I think with that, I'll introduce uh come on up our auditors and uh we'll have our audit presentation. When he said some's not as interesting as other parts, this is the song. [laughter] It was implied. [laughter] Um, my name is Mike Burton. I'm here representing
009Dorian Company, the independent auditing firm. I believe you guys had the financials in the board packet over the weekend. So, real quick, did anyone have any questions in regard to the financial statements before I go? Perfect. We're going to go to page 68, which is the third to last page. I'm going to go quickly because I've got another one to get to tonight. So, I know everyone's sad about that, but so page 68 is the summary page. And really, this just explains everything. So, the first portion is in regards to the financial statements. We expressed an unmodified audit opinion on that's the best opinion that you guys can receive. In regards to internal controls, we didn't identify any material weaknesses. We did identify one significant deficiency and there wasn't any non-compliance material to the financial
010statements. The non-compliance, some of the things we look at is budgetary compliance, making sure that all your cash is insured either by FDIC or other means. um those types of items there. In regards to the federal awards, this is a single audit. This is the audit that we give just in regards to federal expenditures. We expressed an unmodified opinion. There was no material weaknesses identified over internal controls and no significant efficiencies as well. So, no audit findings that needed to be disclosed. The major program that was audited in regards to federal awards this year was title 1A. Um, and everything that we looked over, everything looked great in regards to that compliance, documentation, approval, everything that way. So, looked great. The dollar threshold this year is 750,000. Next year it will be a million. Doesn't
011really make any difference for your school district and you guys did qualify as a low-risk oddity because you don't have you haven't had any findings in the past and you're audited every year. So, that's that. In regards to the finding, this it's the lack of segregation of duties. Obviously, we've talked about that in the past. Does anyone have any questions in regards to that finding? >> I have a question. We're a little better staffed than we have been. I know that will change when we get a retirement. Are we getting closer? >> The biggest thing was John wouldn't be able to do any journal entries. That's cuz there's no one really reviewing John's journal entries. I think you guys have mitigated it very well. Um, [snorts] and for what you do have, I think you're
012in the best position that you can be when we do look at controls. Um, realistically, you'd have to have someone reviewing everything that John did or John reviewing everything that someone else did. That's that would be the difficult part there. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> That's really it. The audit went really well. Um, John, his staff great to work with. Joe was fantastic to work with this year as well. I mean, always is. Um, anything that could be a potential audit concern is always brought to us even before the audit during the year. We're made aware of everything, which is fantastic. There's no surprises whenever we come and show up. Um, it's always great being able to do the audit and we have nothing that really we think needs to be brought to
013the board. So, any questions for me? >> No, thank you. >> Okay. Must be doing something right. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Go Bills. [laughter] >> I know him. >> Uh we will now move on to our school reports. Mr. Thomas, >> uh Chairman Peterson, members of the board, I've invited uh Mr. Rigby to spend a little bit of time and talk about our recent report that we received from WDE. I I think we're used to these reports, but it's something that we shouldn't be used to. It's something that we should celebrate. So anyway, I'm going to turn the time over to uh uh Mr. Riggby. >> Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Uh Chairman Peterson, members of the board, thank you for the opportunity. This is as much a a brag session as as
014anything that that we get to do. And so, um this is just it's district accreditation. I'm going to give you just the the 30,000 ft overview. Um several years ago, uh the Wyoming legislature said, "Why are we paying to have um an independent person come in or an independent organization, in this case, North Central Accreditation, do the accreditation for our schools?" Because we already have that in state statute. And so they switched over and the WDE does all of the all 48 school districts. They do the accreditation. So it's done through the Wyman Department of Education. they have a department for accreditation every year they go through there's 24 criteria that they look at and so every year by November for uh November 1st I before we get to that point uh Dr. Springer, I
015would go to him. I usually go in and review and then I'll ask him to go through and make sure all of our links are are still working and if there's anything that we need to update and he goes through it and looks at it and then basically we send a spreadsheet that has the links to all of our evidence. And so we do that every year and that's how we get accredited. Every 5 years there's what's called an on-site peer review of your district assessment system. So typically what that looks like went the wrong way. Sorry. Uh let me first show you. So trust but verify. So anybody out there right anything that I say tonight if you want to verify it here's where you go on our district website. If you look uh
016under the district tab under accreditation artifacts if you click that you'll get this long list of the 24 criteria. All right. So, the one I'm going to show you is if you were to click on district assessment system, which is number 10, this is the page that would show up. And I want to be very clear, everything that I'm going to share with you tonight is in that report, which is actually posted on the district website. You can [cough] read the the report in its entirety um if you're so inclined. So, uh let me just talk a little bit about a district assessment, a peer review, right? the every 5-year peer review, you usually have three or four uh school employees, right? They can be teachers, admin, district level from different schools. They will come
017to your district and then they meet with the principles [clears throat] and it's this big intrusive type uh activity where they go to the principal and say, "Show me your evidence for this, show me your evidence for that." Right? The cool thing because we are part of the high reliability schools network. All I had to do, I asked our principles, send me the information that you sent for your last certification. They sent it to me in files. I put it all in one folder, sent it to the accreditation team at the WDE. We didn't have to do the 3-day on-site review. They scheduled 3 hours to come in and visit with us. Doc, how long did they actually talk to us? >> 30 minutes, right? Because all of our stuff is there. Everything that we're
018asked to do for accreditation, our schools are doing through the HRS continual improvement process. So, they basically had everything that they needed. And so, what did they say? So, here are the six criteria that are part of that every 5year on-site review. And I'm just going to go through. I had to do a little bit of of cut and paste because some of them were fairly long. This is my favorite. Assessment culture is the first criteria. I love what they said and you guys should be proud of this. You enter one doesn't just grade students. They use assessment data to run the entire educational system for maximum student and program effectiveness. It's a welloiled machine where the report card is less a final score and more of a blueprint for the future. Wow. >> Isn't
019that cool? >> All right, let's just stop there. The [clears throat] other five aren't that cool, but they're pretty close, right? So, I just underlined some of these. So, alignment to standards. We have a systematic standardsbased framework centered on the principles of HRS and PLC's. What does that mean? It means that our teacher-led PLC's are collaboratively developing and implementing the scales and the learning targets and all of that stuff to measure student mastery and design targeted interventions. The cool part, our teachers and our teacher teams are making those decisions and and doing that work. It's not Doug. I guarantee you, okay, where's our right you guys? You do not want me writing the autocurriculum. Okay, I guarantee you Casey does not want that. Right? Who's best served to do that? Our auto teacher, right? They're
020the experts. And so that's that's what this confirms is that our teachers are doing that important work of developing our curriculum, implementing that curriculum, and using those assessments to make important decisions about our kids. Uh third one, measure of student performance. Comprehensive student performance system directly aligned to the Wyoming state standards. Right? What does that tell us? That means that we're doing our job. Wyoming state statute says we have to teach the Wyoming content performance standards. This confirms that's what we do, right? And then what I love, right, this is a K5 thing. When they look at CKLA and they look at MCL class, an impressive target of 98% end ofear proficiency on literacy skills. You guys should take a lot of pride in that, right? That when we're talking about our K3 literacy, right,
021our goal is 98%. That's cool. I'll just say I work with a lot of schools. If they had 50%, they'd be dancing in the streets. >> Okay. All right. Fourth target is assessment opportunities systems designed around providing varied assessments and targeted support with the intent of success for all students. That's our that's our mission, right? That's our vision statement. That's our mission is to provide the best education we can for all students. We didn't tell them that. They confirmed that through the work that those folks behind me all put together right as part of their HRS certification um documentation five cognitive complexity ensure the level of thinking required in local assessment. So this is work that we're doing now right as the assessment changes one of the things that we're looking at particularly is around
022depth of knowledge. What's the cognitive demand that our external assessments are asking of our students and how are we aligning that to our common assessments to the work that we're doing in our classroom? So instruction and assessment are we preparing kids for the rigor of the external assessments like the ACT white top that they're going to face. NAPE right is very rigorous assessment. So these are all just affirmations of the cool things that the people behind me are doing every day. Last one, data review employs a rigorous system uh systemic approach to data both the review, monitoring and improvement which serves as the foundation for instructional decisions and goal setting across the district. You guys see that in the pathway of excellence, our school goals, right? Our our people have come up here and talked
023to you about their school goals. That's all based on data. Where are we now? Where do we want to get to? So, last thing I want to tell you, right, it's it's about our teachers, right? They're the superheroes. They're the ones that are doing the day-to-day work and uh the district assessment system, all of that stuff that I just shared with you is the work that they're doing in their schools. >> Must be okay. Yes, it is. All right. You guys have any questions? >> No. >> I know. Really nice. Thank you. >> Say that again. [laughter] >> Which part? Which part? You did well. You did well. I was teasing you. You did well. >> All right. Awesome. >> I had a question. Yeah. >> Um the uh measure of student performance. So we
024have the impressive target of 98% year-end proficiency on literacy skills. That's the target. So what are we at or how close are we? >> Depends on the grade. Kindergarten you're going to be at 98%. First grade is going to drop just a little bit according to our beginning of the year assessment that we just did. But then class they're going to be closer to about 88%. Second grade is going to be right about 85%. third grade drops a little bit, but so too does the expectation they're going through that assessment. >> Yeah. Kindergarten, if we're below 98% in any of those classrooms and their readiness for first grade, they're extremely disappointed. Good question. Yeah. Anything else I can't answer? [laughter] >> Okay. Thank you guys. Appreciate the time. >> Thank you. >> General Peterson, if
025I may, one more kind of a school report. even though it's not. Um, just like to recognize Horizon. Uh, Principal Payne notified me this week that Horizon has just been certified level three in HRS. So now all of our schools K12 are certified level three and of course our elementaryaries are certified level four. So hats off again showing great work. >> I think it does pay off when we talk about uh these state assessment systems. We're doing work. That's the right work at the right time. >> That's all you got to worry about. >> All right. Thank you. Um, we will now move on to our discussion items. Mr. Thomas, >> John, why don't you come sit by me down here just row some important information. Um, John and I and Chairman Peterson met in
026Kemer last week and we met with uh eight of our representatives uh state representatives [snorts] and uh most of the superintendents from Southwest uh school districts. We had a 2 and a half hour meeting that talked about um recalibration and John just provided you a document that we provided these legislators at the time. Um, so I'm going to give you a real quick kind of what occurred and what this document does. Um, recalibration is a process that's been in place since 2006. They've recalibrated every 5 years since 2006. So 2010. In 2017, they did a mint recalibration. So they did an extra recalibration. So they're right in the middle of the process. By law, they have to recalibrate every 5 years because of the Campbell cases that we were a part of. We sued the
027state back in 93 that resulted in the Campbell cases. Um, and so they're in the process of recalibration. The purpose of recalibration is to look at the state's funding formula and to make sure it is costbased. Well, unfortunately, they have not approved a recalibration event since 2010. So, they do the work and they can't get it approved. Um, they have consultants that are part of the process and the consultants have met periodically throughout the state doing this professional judgment panels. We had one here. Um, and then they make a recommendation to the legislature. the legislature either takes that recommendation and adds to it or takes it away. This is a compilation for the first time this early of how this impacts our district financially. Um John and a team of other uh CFOs throughout the
028state were able to crack the 100 model and were able to input this information and find out how it impacts our funding. And this reccalibration impacts us drastically. So I'm going to go through this so you guys can read it on your own. But first of all, the first section is a review of the Campbell cases, the lawsuit, and why we do what we do by law. The second one is um a summary of what the recalibration members have suggested to add to the recalibration effort. So simply uh PAS and the consultants they came up with a model and said this is your model. Then the members of the committee added to it and so you could see that each of the committee members added something. We were able, John was able to take what
029they've added and come to a dollar value and we were able last week to talk to our representatives about how that impacts school districts in Southwest Wyoming and it is impactful. Um our hope was through suing the state and the ruling that we had they would look at salaries and other components and make a significant effort to improve teacher salaries. They have made an effort to improve teacher salaries but at other expenses. So section two is what each of the representatives or senators have suggested to add to the model. Section three looks at each of the things that they've added. There's 13 components to this recalibration and John was able to find a dollar value. So when you go through section three and it talks about adjusted ADM, you'll be able to see how that
030will impact us, positive or negative. Um, and I could spend more time on each of these factors because some help us, some hurt us. Um, but it's very clearly written. So, as you go through this, you can understand what they're talking about. If you get to section uh four, it talks about um kind of the overall impact uh with what happens to salaries and links it to what's happening in other states. Can I >> Yes, Joe. at the bottom, page seven, um, at the at the bottom of the section of the topic page that gives you the put everything together. And so if you want to look at um if you want to discuss this with a legislator or um somebody, this is what the the recalibration with the legislative suggestions cost us on those
031elements. So it's not what pyon and are suggesting. It's what the legislature they take pyod and then they say and we want you to do this and this and this. >> So that's a good and that's that's a good point. So if you're looking on page seven at that chart you can see that there are certain certain things that help us and there are certain things that hurt us and the paragraph right below that chart sums it up. The sum of the positive model elements is 4 million 6,000. Um the contrast is 4 4,840,000 in negative elements. So it results in a negative impact of $78,000 to us. So why this is important is because they're going to do specific things that impact us in different ways. Um you can see the biggest one for
032us is RCA, which is regional cost adjust adjustment. They're changing that. It impacts in a us in a positive way. The other positive change is teacher salary. So they do um do a positive impact to salaries but we don't feel that it's constitutional or legal um because what they've done is they've gone to an average which helps us but they don't have an adjustment for experience or education which is written into the law >> that they have to have. So they're doing away with educational funding for teachers that has been in place for 50 years. Each year of experience, you get a bump. You get education, you get a bump. That's been removed from the model, which is a shame. >> Um, but [clears throat] the biggest impact to us is in class size. So,
033if you go back to page five, you'll see a chart there that talks about class size. And I know you're going to look at this and say, "Well, they're not changing very much. They're really not. But the impact is drastic to us. So, let me try to explain. We have a prototypical school district. We receive money for our class sizes. We do not fund We do not hire the number of teachers that the model funds. We hire less. But our class sizes are amazing. The money that we don't use to hire those teachers goes into the difference in teacher salaries. So it allows us to pay more than the model pays. It allows us to add teachers in other locations. For example, it may say in the model you get uh 14 first grade teachers.
034Well, we have 12 based on our class size numbers. Let's say that's two teacher salaries that we can put elsewhere. And guess where we put them? in K5, we put them in K5. We have music, we have PE, we have media, we have science. These are things not funded in the model. So without that extra class size money, we can't fund those things. So when they talk about changing the model and class sizes, it'll impact us drastically in what we can do. So K5 is a pretty powerful impact. I remember the days when we had one music teacher that split four elementaryaries. That's the model they're talking about that we have to go back to. That is not a positive thing for us at all. The biggest impact I believe is 68. Um in roughly
0351990 we went to a middle school philosophy. We added teachers. So there's a PE teacher actually multiple PE teachers at each school. There's multiple music teachers at each school. There's vocational teachers at each school. This model takes all that away. There is no funding for those positions. We would have to go back to sharing a music teacher between the middle schools, sharing of vocational teachers between the middle schools. Not only does [clears throat] it impact our funding, it impacts the programs we can offer. The easiest to to to work on would be our 912 because all we do is raise class sizes. We wouldn't have to be away program. But even that we have one vocational credit. Make sure I get this right. Done. One vocational credit is required for graduation. And we have how
036many vocational teachers? >> Six. They're not funded. Our [snorts] board and our community provides the model we believe is essential. This change in class sizes will force us in a different direction. We no longer would have surplus funds to create the educational model that we believe is essential. Um even though this is a push for us and it's really a push for every other all 48 school districts. In other words, we'll give you some for teacher salaries, but we're going to take it away with class sizes. Um, it potentially impacts us significantly. This would require us if we want to continue to stay competitive with salaries to reduce staffing. So, that's kind of where we are now. Um, it's not good news, but this is earlier than we've ever we've had this information earlier than
037we've ever had it before. So now you can go to our representatives and say if you do this, this impacts us negative negatively to the tune of such and such. It will impact our middle school program. Um, it will impact those things that I think our community just seemed are standard. Music every day, PE. Um, So, we're going to have to, I think, be a little louder this time. There is another recalibration meeting next week. John will go. Um, and David could tell you how he felt about the meeting with our representatives. Um, we only covered about four areas. We covered the class size. We covered insurance which you notice insurance isn't even on here but uh the recommendation from the committee was go to the state's insurance which will have a significant impact on
038what we do and how we do it. So Dave what was your kind of thoughts? >> Um I'm going I'm going to lead off with this. There was an email that came out that there is a meeting with our local uh representatives that is going to be in Lyman on Monday the 19th at 6:30. And all I can say is please, please attend. You need to be there. There's some other factors that were out there that Ryan didn't hit that is kind of scary. The vote might happen in April. And in April is when we renew contracts and there might not be a lot of time for us to adjust accordingly to whatever that legislative body decides to do. The thing that would be best for us is if they were to kick the can
039down the road, per se, for about a year and and wait for the uh Supreme Court uh decision and ruling on things and then maybe a year from this year uh make adjustments at that point and then just kind of keep it as is. if they go into this reccalibration what they're doing um there is several districts we're one of them that is included that is going to take some significant hits there's no if ads or buts about it if they pass this the way it currently sits >> we uh we have uh Senator Scheler who's very supportive and and I think listened very well the other member of the committee which is a representative of Winn County because he covers Bear River. Um that I don't think I think all along we met months
040ago with this same group and he flat out told us he's going to give us some then he's going to take some away. Well, I [clears throat] understand that but don't take it away where we're forced to change what we do in K12. Um and at the same time the message from u the courts was you need to make this costbased. It's not costbased if you give us an increase and make us cut to get to that increase. Uh so it is it is important I would say probably more than ever when the legislative session starts and these bills start going forward especially this one. This is always the the budget bill is always the last one to go through we make sure that we talk about these certain areas. The challenge that I think
041is out there and I do think they did this on purpose is if you look at the RCA that's a positive thing for us. It's a extremely negative thing for other school districts. So, we get a $2 million hit, which hey, that's great. But 24 out of the 48 school districts take a significant hit with that. Um, so it's not so great. So, how how are you going to are you going to put district against district? Um, I think class size hurts everybody. The ADM, the three-year rolling average hurts everyone except for four school districts that are growing. Four out of 48 would have more students than they did last year. We're down another 25 kids already. >> So >> yet the rolling ADM was the other thing we just talk about because they just
042want to go to one year at this point. >> So those are things that significantly impact us. Um not the result I think from the lawsuit. Um we'll have to wait for the ruling of the Supreme Court. And even then, if you've read the newspaper Wyoming State Daily, the governor comes out and says every I thought he did a great job. Every state employee needs an increase based on these factors. And then comes out of the committee and the committee members said, "No, we're not going to do that." So, the governor doesn't have any weight with the legislators. we hopefully maybe the uh the judicial system might but uh >> so one other thing that I wanted to point out just a little bit and it's kind of interesting when we were in that meeting
043one thing that was brought up this is the first time in the history of the state of Wyoming that we we made more money off of interest and our savings uh with our rainy day account at $25 billion than we've made in revenue. >> Jeez. So, you're saying they've got money >> and they I was told they're putting $400 million into the rainy day account this year. >> So, you know, we we talk about and John's had this for a while and again, hats off to John. This is so well done. This is specifically for us. I think every district is going to follow suit and do one specifically for them. The WDE just sent out a document that is specific for the state. And just as this reflects on us statewide, it's a 888%
044increase in funding. That's what the good things they've done to us.88%. Overall and everyone in the state. So, everyone's taking a hit somewhere. [cough] >> [clears throat] >> So I think I think the message for us and for you is this is probably earlier than we've ever really kind of talked about the skies falling but you have to have confidence in the process we follow and confidence that the last thing we'll do is impact classrooms. We'll have to make changes elsewhere. But at some point, if this continues on more than a year, um in order to keep our staff competitive, we'll have to reduce staff. So, uh um a lot of challenges ahead. I think the message and we've shared with the principles is be ready to tell your staff is you better communicate not
045with our two legislators. They need to communicate with all of them from Southwest Wyoming because they were all there. We had, I think, nine, eight. Not all of them weren't there. You're right. We had one of our representatives there. Attitude, but we're just going to have to keep working that they are educated. Um, Senator Schuler made a request, her request, and you can go back and look under section two, uh, about interest income. I'm pretty sure she had no idea the negative impact that would have in our district and she's not supportive of it now since she's seen the negative impact. That hurts us to about $450,000. >> And we're a relatively small district. Imagine [clears throat] how that impacts the districts that have millions and millions. We have 6 million reserve, four and a
046half to six um in reserve. But the districts that have lots of money, that impact is significant because they've lost the ability to use that interest. >> So, >> no. And then the other thing you brought up just a little bit, just trying to uh uh maybe revisit is the insurance side of things of how they're trying to push us into the state insurance plan and take kind of the control away from the districts themselves on the policies and plans that they want. that the state's plan requires certain things that would be in direct conflict with our board approved policies dealing with benefits provided to hourly employees. Um there may be some improvement but there will be additional costs and that's the part they don't realize is there's one school district that uses the state
047plan. We've had the opportunity to go to the state plan multiple times. we've chosen not to because it is not beneficial to our employees. We lose that option if the state passes the law that we go to that and we would uh we'd have to make significant changes. Um will it still be insurance? Yeah. Will it still be quality insurance? I think so, but not taking our decision making right out of it. Um, will we still be able to use doctors along the Wasatch front? I believe so. Then I think there'll be some additional expenses to that. So when you ask him flat out if if the model is supposed to be costbased, why don't you just support us in our current programs and our current health programs? We're not giving away the farm. We're
048pro trying to provide quality insurance to our employees. Um when asked how is it possible that the state's plan has received a zero increase in the last 5 years each of the last 5 years when national trend is above 10%. They cannot answer it because it can't be done. They've manipulated the numbers somehow. There's a national trend has been pretty clear and you can track that night and day but 0% increase because that's what they've used to fund our healthcare program. So we've received nothing in 5 years in a row from the state for additional healthare and our numbers. You guys know our numbers. So anyway, um want you to be aware of this. You have a copy of it. I go through it uh ask a lot of questions as we move forward. I'll
049be as active as I ever have been with our legislators. I've tried to set up a meeting with the representative that missed um this opportunity and I have not heard back yet. So, I'm going to keep trying make sure John and I can sit down with him. John, do you have anything else you want to add to what's been done? Um well, first off, there there will be we think by the end of the week legislative um draft draft legislation. So that will get at least the the things on the the plane board. We'll know one of the big issues is is when is the implementation date because when we get the model at the end of March um and and a lot of decisions need to be in play. Um so so yeah it's
050uh I I think that that uh if if we take the meeting that we had um I know that there were some representatives and legislators that were had some turned ideas. Um but there's also some that are kind of very entrenched in their ways. So um I think the most interesting part for me was at the end the legislators had a chance to say a few things and two things stuck out. So the first one was uh chairman of this recalibration committee Hiner said that his goal was to get us competitive with our uh adjoining states. So if you look on John's chart on page nine you can see kind of the brown line at 15. That's with these proposed changes where we sit. We're 15th from the bottom in the state of Utah. If
051you look at the lighter brown, number seven, that's where [clears throat] we currently are in the state of Utah. So, is it an improvement? Yeah. Does it make us competitive? No. Um, uh, kind of a fallacy. And we can show them that it's not competitive, but yet it's they just continue to say same thing probably to the governor. Nope, we're not going to do that. The other thing is is one of the representatives made it pretty clear by saying that we need to prevent districts from willy-nilly ending in entering into legal battles with the state. We did not enter into our legal battle willy-nilly. Um 10 years of trying to work with the legislators to do what they were supposed to do and when they refused in 2002, our board took the appropriate action and
052sued the state. again puts us in a little better position than maybe the governor and state employees, but only until we get the ruling from the Supreme Court. So, that's really all I had unless there are additional questions. >> So, on page nine, that center column, it shows Park City School District. Does that mean they're paying their teachers 99,000? >> That's their average salary. >> Their average salary in that [clears throat] district. >> Yeah. And higher than that. Yeah. >> Wow. And >> we'll go down to 38. Richard County. >> Yeah. Yeah. 38 is what we patterned our most recent salary schedule at. And I still think I've said it, no one's corrected me. I think we're the only school district in the state that has a top out salary for teachers at over $100,000.
053You have to have a master's degree and [clears throat] 30 years of 25 years of experience, but it gets there because that's our competition. >> Um, and that will continue to be our goal that we're competing with. Look at the districts that we're competing with. Rich, Los, which is Heber, um, >> Summit, North >> Summit, which is North Summit. They're within 50 miles of us, and we're not competing right now with any of these salaries. And to have a representative say, "Yeah, we're going to make you more competitive, but at the same time, we're going to yank away your class sizes." My final statement to the group was for years we've had the most competitive salaries in this region and we attracted the best and brightest teachers. Now we don't. >> It's also our class
054sizes that attract teachers because our class sizes are so attractive compared to our neighbors in Utah. >> Now they're taking that away. There'll be nothing to attract teachers and to retain teachers. they'll have 35 kids in their kindergarten classroom just like Utah. >> So, um it's just a shame and one we need to make sure we point out. >> So, [clears throat] let me ask you this question. As a board, how will we know what to to uh convey to our representatives >> because a lot of us know that is there a bill out there that we need to be pushing down the road? >> Not yet. John's talking about that will come out. >> We will have that week. Yes. Okay. If you let us know >> what it will be is it'll be
055the budget bill. >> Okay. >> And there'll be these 13 components. >> So this is a budget session, right? >> Budget session, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> But that budget bill will be the last thing they get to, >> but it's specific to schools. >> Yes. >> So it doesn't go before that school committee. >> It does. Education committee both Senate and House will look at it appropriations and appropriations. So there's a lot to happen before this makes itself a law. Um a lot of back and forth um lot of discussion um and as I said before is they've never ever passed the recalibration model from the consultants. [snorts] They've never been able to since 2010 which you're paying these consultants. They make a recommendation and you don't follow it. They go with what
056they call the legislative model which is typically much less than the consultants are advising. This one is unique. Very first thing that came out of chairman Heiner's mouth was we want everything from the picus reccalibration model. They've never done that before. So this is everything that the consultants are suggesting and then they added to it that last 10 minutes of that meeting last recalibration. Are any of the representatives that have been talking with on the education committee? >> Yes, Senator Schuler, >> the only one. >> She's she's chairman of the Senate. >> Out of how many are on the committee? 10. >> 14. 14. I think they said there were 14. >> Yeah, I was going to say 10 12, [snorts] but probably is 14. >> 14 in there. Yeah. Just >> um [clears throat]
057>> So, Ryan, is this state hurting for money? >> No. >> Well, then why are they fighting? I don't understand. >> Punishing us. Punishing who though? They're punishing their own kids. >> Punishing the kids. No. And if you ask me my opinion, which I think you're asking, is it's a function of the the majority in both House and Senate now want less taxes going to anything in the state. Everything's less taxes. Um, and less funding. That's why they just flat out said no to the governor. No, we're not going to put 111 million into our employees. It just makes no sense to me. We have the funds. >> Um, >> even though very underpaid as well. >> Yes, I do think uh they hurt themselves with the property tax reductions. I think they took action
058before they realized what it was going to do down the road. I heard $750 million deficit in three years. That's two more years now. And it's hurting communities. We're fortunate enough. I think we're kind of big enough that we're okay. But these small communities are losing ambulance services, for example. Um, so now ambulance services 90 miles away because property taxes will reduce it the way they are. We have an entitlement which they're going to have to find a way without property taxes to fund us. This is how they're doing it. They're reducing our entitlement. It goes from roughly 40 million to 38 million. >> Um, that's what you can see on these charts. So, um, why are they doing that? I think some of it's just mean-spirited, but more or less I think it's the
059philosophy in our House and Senate. Spend less, spend less, spend less >> projects. Yeah. >> So anyway, that's my thing. >> Okay. Thank you for your time. >> Well, I just wanted to just please if you have the opportunity, go Monday the 19th at 6:30 over in Lyman >> and attend the meeting. So, we'll be Senator Schuler and Senator Heiner and probably others, I think. But, uh, it'll be interesting how they do that because it took us two and a half hours to talk about four four of these points and they're they're going to give it an hour. >> So, >> Mr. Williams, excellent. Thank you >> As always, thank you. >> I actually got uh emails from two superintendents that said, "Wow, that's quite a document." And they'll copy it to do their own.
060So >> yeah, should we contact them and tell them how awful John is? [laughter] >> Yeah. You know what? >> His personality he doesn't play well without >> Thank you. Thank you. >> You know projects. You know projects. >> All righty. Well, that was fun. We will move on to our next uh discussion item. Uh the district calendar. >> Mr. Thomas, >> I'm going to come back up. Chairman Peterson, members of the board, this is the calendar that we actually approved last year, which will come up here in a second. That's not [clears throat] boxes yourself. So, if you recall last year's calendar that uh you approved, last year, you approved the calendar for the 2627 school year. And uh if you remember when you approved it, it was a year out and I said
061there's some issues with the calendar. The reason why there's issues is truly um Memorial Day. Memorial Day in 2027 is on the 31st of May, which is after our graduation. That's only a problem because the last Monday of the school year, we now are in school. before we weren't. So, we have an extra day in the calendar, which sounds like a good problem. But if you want to start on a Monday and end on a Friday, that's a bad problem. So, I have a recommendation to solve uh that problem. >> Well, we're breathing. Oh, we cough. So, what I propose is this. I'm just going to cut to the proposal is and I ran this by the administrators and they are in support is that we don't start on a Monday. We start on a
062Wednesday. So this is the actual calendar. So we start on Wednesday the 26th and then everything else is roughly the same as it's been forever. Uh we end on a Friday the 28th. Graduation of Horizons is on the 28th. graduation of high schools on the 29th. One difference is we do not have a comp day in March. If you recall, the wisdom behind the comp day in March is that usually the second Friday in March was the highest missed day in the school year because it aligned with state basketball, state cheer, and state dance. Well, that doesn't impact us anymore because state cheer and state j dance have been moved off of that. They do it at a separate time the end of January. And since we've done that, our boys and girls teams have
063not qualified for state together. We've had one or the other qualify, but so it hasn't held true. The comp tie, I think, would comp time would be better served at the beginning of the school year. Uh we don't start on a Monday. Monday is a delayed start. What happens in the younger grades is they come at a certain time, the very next day they go at a different time. This allows us them to get a little under their feet before they have a different calendar on um that Monday. Uh we we we'd adjust the staff development days. Um and again, it it works out pretty consistently. the 2728 school year, which will also approve next month, is exactly the same as this. Um, I'd like to show you that, I think. So, again, you start
064on a Wednesday, we end on a Friday the 26th. Um, and that Monday again is Memorial Day after we've graduated. What's nice nice about that and why we're ending on a Friday is that allows parents to travel for graduation. Now they have the long weekend they can take. So, uh we did look at calendars that ended on a Wednesday, started on a Monday. Uh again, administrators felt this calendar was better. We looked at a calendar that took those two extra days and added additional time uh for Thanksgiving break. Again, they felt it was better to uh put those comp days at the beginning of the school year before school starts. Best weather in Wyoming is in August. So that delays the start of our school. >> I don't know about this year though. >> No,
065everything's a little different this year. We don't follow any patterns. >> Snow this August. >> So that's my recommendation. You guys realize with the calendar, you can do a million different things as long as you have 175 contact days for kids, >> right? pinched somewhere in that calendar and you have 200 185 contract days for staff. Within that you have um a lot of flexibility but we chosen to see this as an instructional tool. We take a traditional two weeks at Christmas, a week at spring break. We have uh three days at Thanksgiving. We have two days at autumn break which is hunting vacation. um pretty traditional, pretty consistent, and I think it served us well. And so this is like I said, my recommendation is we go with uh this start time in this
066ending, which is really what the board sets in the calendar. Oh, >> thank you. >> Yeah, I'll really confuse you if I get another. [snorts] >> That's not my intent. So Ryan, if we take away that March day, where do we make up a snow day if we happen to need one? >> Um, same as we we actually I think have a better structure now. We can do it virtually. So we're working on that now. So if we have a snow day between now and the end of the school year, we'll make it up virtually. And the state allows us to do that K12. >> Yeah. >> So we won't have to come back for another day. Um there are still inclement weather days built into the calendar, but can you imagine trying to come
067back >> in June? >> Yeah. >> After Labor, after Memorial Day, it's just not an effective way to do it. So now we can just make sure the structure is in place. >> Students can get online, um get their assignment, reading into that assignment will give them credit for the day. So pretty straightforward, pretty nice way. We'd probably do a delayed start first and if we can't go then we'd cancel. The last thing we try to do is cancel the day of school. Our job is keep schools. So that's how that would work. But there still is inclement weather built in there. They're not very effective days. We still have Martin Luther King uh day as kind of flexibility. Right now it's not a student day. That's a half staff development day, half comm day
068for our teachers, but that still sits in the calendar. We probably would never go on President's Day, uh, which is the 15th of February. You could, I wouldn't suggest it. >> Yeah. >> To make up a sick day. You could even go on spring break, but again, I wouldn't suggest that either. I probably >> We can do it virtually. Let's do it virtually. >> Yes, >> we're going to try that. I've already talked to Scott and I I think he's okay with this is if you remember in April we do uh maybe it's May the senior projects >> and so the seniors come everyone else gets the day off but we're going to do virtual for the day off you still have to sign into your teachers classrooms do your work you get credit for
069the day so we're just not giving them a free day off sorry [laughter] >> what do you think of the calendars by the way >> looks good to me >> there you Thank you. >> I like starting on a Wednesday. >> Oh, good. >> Yeah, our teach our our principles are pretty excited about that. I was surprised. >> And what that does that moves up even the contract days for new employees, >> gives them an additional week and then we can not squeeze it in, but we'll have that 17th through the 22nd as staff development and also the 24th and 25th we bring our teachers in. So, I think it works out well. So, this is what I'll recommend that you approve um next month. Um hopefully you can see that this is a 5
070day a week schedule both. >> Any questions? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good. I'm up next. >> You are up next week. All state music for 27. >> Um, that's actually built into the calendar and now it's going to be better. Um, we've agreed and I hope you guys are okay with this to have all state music at our high school. This is every musician in the state of Wyoming. It's a huge event to pull it off. It's over Martin Luther King. Um, we don't have students school that day for students. Um, and Tuesday is when they have their performances. So, we couldn't have school at the high school on Tuesday. And now that we're going to go virtual, we'll just have a virtual day and so the kids will do that virtually. Um, our
071teachers run it. So, the teachers need some time. So, it helps them and that our music teachers and uh it's a really great event for our community. You can just imagine how many kids come to our community. >> How many would you expect? >> It's hundreds. I don't even know. Are there accommodations? They struggle, but we've done it twice in the past that I >> So, they have to make reservations a year out or something. >> Yeah. >> The the most challenging thing is actually places to eat >> cuz our place is fold up pretty early and some of these events go a little later. Um, we'll and I'm sure our music professionals [cough and clears throat] and Mr. O'Neal will talk to the local providers and see if we can get some of these
072places opened up really well. >> It'll be all at the high school. >> All at the high school. So is there a fee that associated with >> I don't think so or we just and you guys are good because you have a all state pass anyway. >> Yeah. >> So you would be free admission. >> So that being said that Tuesday it's just going to be the high school that's going to be virtual and the rest of the classes school. >> What we've done in the past is just not have school that day and it's worked out. But now let's do it virtual. >> Okay. >> And I just think that's smart. So that was part of the part of it when you approve the calendar you approve that Tuesday. Um I think it's 2028
073or is it 2027? >> 27 27. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. And we do that next month. >> No. Oh yeah. You approve approve it next month. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions? >> No. Sounds great. Nice. >> Okay. You want me to keep going? Yes. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Lifetime service stipen. >> The lifetime of service stipen. We uh plan to offer it again. How it works is if you recall, I think in 2016 the board approved this stipen. It rewards employees that have [snorts] spent their career in Evston. So it provides $100 a year for each year they've worked and then it increases their sick leave payout. Um, and it can go into a uh health retirement account, health savings account that the district pays for. Um, it's just a nice thing
074to do for our retiring individuals. So, we will get that out tomorrow. The deadline is February 28th um 27th I think this year. They will bring that to the board the first of first board meeting in March. Once you approve it, they still have three days to withdraw their retirement if they choose. Okay. The qualifications for this is at least 20 years of service in our community. Um, and they've qualified for retirement. So, either they've hit the rule of 85 or they're 60 year old. It's been a great plan. Um, if you recall, typically we budget for five support staff and five certified staff. This year, I think you may get more than that. board determines if there's a cut off point or if you reload all of those. That's up to you. We discussed
075that. >> So your expectation is more than 10 >> Yes. >> folks will retire. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I'll put that forward. Like I said, you guys get final approval on the board meeting in March. >> March. Okay. The next one is plan to provide the early nose uh stipen. Bottom line is I put out tomorrow if someone notices notifies us that they're going to resign or retire at the end of the contract year, we provide them $500 incentive to let us know that so we can start either finding a replacement or reducing through attrition. Um we usually get about 10 individuals that notify us that they're leaving at the end of the contract year. It's not enough money to encourage somebody to retire early, but it is a nice thing to do to get
076the message out. We do most of our hiring in March, so that's timely for us. >> Okay. >> And the budget session. No, who's not. Any questions about that? >> No. >> Moving on. Um the Wyoming school board's legislative forum. What's the dates for those here? >> 22nd and 23rd. >> 22nd 23rd of February. Um we've always I think sent somebody. There's been a couple years when we couldn't make it because of weather. Um and we'll send another vehicle if you're interested. So think about it. You probably let us know uh by the next board meeting or earlier than that probably. registration. So if you close >> registration open what they do at the forum is you actually meet with Brian Farmer and they review all the pending legislation and where it's at. >> Um
077we always set up a dinner with our local uh representative and senator. We take him out to dinner and talk about uh um the legislation. It's uh it's a long way to go. But if you've never been to the cap, uh we go to the cap on Monday and you can actually meet with our legislators. It's really really cool. >> So a [clears throat] neat opportunity. Um they have a meet and greet with all of all of the legislators are um invited and this year could be quite an interesting year depending on if you know who is not supporting the education blah blah blah. Um but it's a chance to do some lobbying. So, if you want to attend, um, we usually get the rooms at, uh, Little America. May have to switch if we
078don't get them early enough. That's where the form, the form is actually at >> Little America. Yeah. >> So, let us know. Let Jerry know or let me know. That's all I had about that. >> Okay. The last of our discussion items, unless you have something else you want to share. >> No. [laughter] your title already. >> All right, we will open it up to public comments. [clears throat] I'll give it about five more minutes. [laughter] >> Next. Okay, we will now move on to our action items. So, I need a motion. Well, we didn't even do that. We have no resignations or contracts to >> We do have a um leave of absence request. >> Oh, we didn't attachment in there. >> I can tell you that should I've got it if you >>
079Okay, >> we have a teacher that has requested a leave of absence. >> Um she's actually uh going to have twins, >> so she's going to take that school year off. She is a um very good teacher, but she is a a continuing contract teacher. So when she comes back in a year, if she chooses to come back, she will have a position in the district. She is a math teacher. So we hopefully we'll still have teaching math then. >> Anybody else want to look at that real quick? >> Recommend that you approve that leave of absence. >> All right. >> Motion to approve. Second that motion. >> I have a motion to have a second. Any discussions? None. Uh, all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? [clears throat] Eyes have it.
080Motion carries. Right. >> I need a motion to approve the audit as presented. >> So move. >> I have a motion. >> Second. >> I have a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? I have it. Motion carries. I need a motion to approve the all-state music calendar adjustment to the calendar for 2027. >> Really what you were approving before is that that day would be without students at the high school, but now >> you're approving that student will go virtual. >> Virtual. Yes. So, >> okay. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a 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 board positions on region five
081Boseies and Boseies number one and Evston Park and rec department. Mr. Thomas, >> any discussions [laughter] and if you want to continue doing that? [clears throat] >> So we have them written down because I can never remember them. So >> so on the Boseies >> um CBV Boseies is Dan Wheeler. We did get a letter from um the director >> mayor that would like to keep [clears throat] Dan [laughter] if he would like to they would love to have him and and so Dan you okay with continuing on CBRV board? >> Sure. >> Okay. Um, EPRB board is and really who we'd approve is Dan Wheeler and Brian Woodward. >> Yeah, I'm good. >> We're good. Okay. >> Okay. You both number one is Brian Woodward and Dave Bennett and Dan Wheeler. >> I'm good.
082>> Yep. >> Good. Good. Good. Making that easy. >> Okay. Yeah, that was pretty easy. >> Unless [clears throat] anybody else would like to serve and >> vote on it. Any nominees? Any requests? None. So, I need a motion to approve the board positions. >> Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the board positions. >> And I'll second. >> I have a 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 uh the concealed carry for the employees that were discussed in the executive session. So moved. >> Second that motion. >> I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. We will now move
083on to our round table. No comments, >> Mr. Chairman. I' I'd like to just after seeing that uh presentation from Doug, I'd like to thank the administrators for the hard work that they've done and it shows and I I you know, I talking to different people from different districts. I've had a sister that's taught in in Utah and um you don't realize how amazing this district is until you really start comparing it to outside districts and um I hope you don't ever feel underappreciated. You are hugely appreciated for the work that you do and it is phenomenal. So, thank you. >> Well said. Yeah, I don't know that I have a a coherent thought put together yet, but I I met with a group of teachers last month who were um concerned about some students
084in our community who are homeless currently and there are seems like there's some kids falling through the cracks and there's not a solution per se at this point, but um I guess anybody watching on the video or or um has has resources or has ideas of things to So, um I'd welcome being contacted because I think there's a there's a need. >> Well, hopefully those individuals have communicated that with uh director Williams because we do have mento funds to support kids. >> The biggest challenge is identifying >> come out. >> Yeah. >> And there is not a lot of services, but there are things we can do and funds available. Matt Williams, director Williams is the overseer of that student service. So, uh, Dave, I don't know if you'd have any interest. Um, you'll remember
085back in the summer we talked about the exchange program between our high school and high school in Germany. >> Germany. >> Would there be any interest from the board on having someone come in and address us with an update on that where currently happening? >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, most certainly. Yeah. >> Be nice to know where things are heading right now. >> Get on the agenda. Okay. Let's see if we can get that on the agenda for next meeting. Okay, that'd be awesome. >> I know a guy. [laughter] >> Anything else on the round table at all? >> I think uh Mr. Chairman, as a board, we need to really be aware of this budget session and find out what we can do to support our district and and not just our district, the whole
086state as far as where we're coming from. And then we need to get in touch with our people and let them know where we stand because they do listen and Hiner's a a pretty good guy. Scott is. I know him. And so we got some good reps, but we have to make our position presented to them. >> No, and I agree. Um I think the the superintendents that were in that meeting, they were phenomenal. I think they presented their positions really well. I think they represented the state very well. The only thing that I'm concerned with and it's moving the peg from those that are so entrenched in their beliefs. >> Those are the individuals that have the voting power right now. So, >> but [clears throat] you we have to try. >> We have
087to at least know who they are to start. >> Yeah. >> Presenting ourselves. I say another word. >> Yeah. >> All right. Do I need to modify the agenda because we don't not no longer going into the executive session. So, >> not needed, I Not needed. Okay. >> All right. Is there anything else for the round table at all? >> I move that we adjourn. Mr. Chairman, >> I have a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> I have a second. Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Eyes have it. Motion carries. We are >> Don't leave. I have a bunch of things to sign, but we're going to be in there. So, let me bring that. >> Perfect timing, Jeff. >> Nice timing. Where's the ice cream? Nice timing.
088It's great.