001Call me in order. Call rise for the pledge. >> 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. >> All right. Can you get a roll call? Sure. Wonder absent. Vene here. Stephus >> here. >> Gardin >> present. >> Campo >> here. Dehan >> here. >> And Highboard >> here. We have Gu. >> All right. As a courtesy to the members of the audience and the board of education, please silence your cell phones. Um public will only be able to speak during public comment is signed up. Do we have any? >> Good. All right. Moving right along. On approval of the agenda. Can I get a motion? >> All those in favor? >>
002Yes. opposed. Motion passes. Number two, the presentation from Central. >> You bet. Well, we are very excited to have Mr. GMY and his crew here. Uh looking forward to this presentation. We'll turn it over to him. Mr. Gy, take it away. >> Yeah. So, come on up here, guys. Um, so I'm I'm just going to kind of >> Yeah. >> Oh, man. Where do I got you? Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm good. So, I've got Mrs. Venheisen from our fourth grade classroom here. Then I have Miss Hell Room. and I got for you here and they're going to chat a little bit about what they're doing right now in their fourth grade class. So, I'm going to just move the PowerPoint and they're going to chat. So, >> Okay. Thank you. >> All
003right. >> Um, thank you. Yeah, like Mike said, I'm Kelly Venheisen. I teach fourth grade at Central. Um, we were given the opportunity um at the end of this summer to pair up with a student of mine from 1987. It's named Joey Sabin. He tells me that I taught a unit on the agitid. I guess back when I taught whatever I wanted so um that has been his lifelong dream to be in the act and he's going to for the first time in March and so we have been um just in contact with him doing different activities. >> Right. You want to tell them a little bit about the rod or you want to >> go ahead. >> I'm going to give you the speaker or the microphone. Okay. I'll just hold it up. >>
004All right. Go ahead. >> The Idid is a sled dog race in Alaska. The year this year is the 54th time for the race. The race is about 1,000 miles. It starts on March 8th this year and takes place and takes 8 to 15 days to complete. My favorite dog of Joey's is Monster. >> The Marshers take 12 to 16 dogs. Joy's taking 16. Our class made blankets for all the dogs. We also wrote letters and sent dog treats. There are 26 checkpoints in the trail. We plan to keep up on how Joey and his dogs are doing. At the at the checkpoints, the musher rests and eats and takes cares of takes care of all the dogs. My favorite dog is Rockstar. >> We have a poster of all the dogs there. >> He
005has he's bringing 16 with him. >> And um like if you click on that um right here. >> Yeah. >> It just I think it just tells about his journey and his is that the VA racing yet? >> Oh, this one's actually the idea. the other one and go the other way. >> Sure. >> So, he's grew up in Granville and went to >> Yep. He all the way through Granville. Yep. >> Mhm. >> Mrs. Venheisen. >> Yeah. >> He was my neighbor. >> Really? >> Yeah. He used to come with a diaper on to my door and ask if my younger daughter could play. >> Oh my gosh. What a small world. I remember that. He cried for his mom a lot. >> Yeah. This is a kind of a slow >> Yeah, it
006is a slowite to get up. Yeah, but he has um so it's VA racing. So that's what that link would take you to. >> I'm hoping there's less snow here than you know for an I did. But >> we have been colder than >> Alaska >> recently. Yeah. >> So there's Joe. We had a picture of his dogs and then his partner I think in there Willow. She also is a musher. >> Oh my goodness. >> Yep. So they'll take turns. >> Do you have a picture of Monster? Yeah, that'll be on I think on one of the other slides. >> How did you pick your favorite dog? >> Well, I think I picked I mean Monster because Monster looks really cute. >> Yeah. So, the girls um told you what it's about. Um this
007is the 54th one. Um we're going to follow him on the checkpoints. they'll have like cameras and stuff so we could check in with him along the way. So that's a whole different program where we could have sent things to each checkpoint, but we chose this one. Uh, so what we've done is the kids have written letters to Joey, uh, pictures. We made dog blankets for all the dogs. And, um, one of my parents owns Zeke's Barkery, and so we sent a bunch of dog treats. And, um, we also adopted one of his dogs, Hannah. >> A. >> So, there they are. >> There we are making the blankets. And then, um, that's my dog, Leia. She's the model. So, they're just made out of fleece. The parents donated all the fleece >> and the
008kids made them all and we sent them to Alaska. >> So, >> yeah. I want to add um I know that senior survivor is going on right now and a lot of the funds that we do from senior survivor comes back to our buildings for our student assistance fund. >> That's what paid for this stuff right here. Help by all these things and uh so kiddos can have this kind of experience in the classroom. So, yeah. >> That's awesome. >> Thank you. So, that's the post for the dog. So they they all have a favorite. >> Not all the dogs are in the race, but though those are his. He's only taking 16 with him. >> Only 16. Yeah. >> The whole class. >> Yep. >> How awesome. >> How long has he lived in
009Alaska now? >> I don't know exactly. Quite a few years, I think. >> Yeah. >> I think his bio said 2017 he started. >> All right. There. I don't know if that's when he moved there, but that's when he started mushing. >> Started mushing. So in Ael, she's our senior survivor partner. So she just came from a competition. >> So thanks for doing both for us. >> Yeah. >> So that's what we've been up to so far. We can let you know how he places and stuff. >> Which one was monster in there? Which one was monster in those pictures? >> Peek. Do you remember which one monster is? >> Come point to >> You're a survivor. We know you can. Jason's down there. >> Which one? This one? >> That one or this one?
010>> Um, >> this one is Rockstar. >> That's Rockstar. >> And the one. >> This one or this one? >> The one to the left. >> That one. All right. >> There you go. This one's cute. Look at his ears. >> That's awesome. >> Really cool. >> Thank you. You know, they used to do that also at South. So, I can't remember if it was Mrs. Bear or Mrs. Vzno. They often they would track the IDID rod as it was going through class. They would talk about speed and math and they do all that really cool stuff with it, too. >> Yeah. >> If monster leaves the >> going at 10 miles hour, whatever. >> So, did he just reach out to you out of nowhere and >> No. So, um, there's like a communications
011director and then he reached out to Central. >> Oh. >> And said, you know, are you interested? Do you want to get in touch with them? And I said, sure. So, then me and Joey started talking. >> Oh, cool. >> So, how long has he been doing this race? >> This is his first time. >> This is his first. >> Oh, no kidding. >> He's done other races. He just got done with a Copper Basin and he took That's 300 miles. Okay. >> And he took 10 new dogs. So that no intention of winning that, >> but he's the dog's got to get started somehow. >> Yeah. >> Wow. All right. >> Yeah. I think it mentions right up here the different races he's been in. >> Um looks like right here he was in
012what's called the Copper Basin 300, the Yukon Quest 300, and this is his first time running the Ida rod. >> That's amazing. >> Yeah. >> So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you. That's awesome. >> It's cool to see people come back. >> All right, >> on the next item, the consent action agenda. >> Thank you. >> Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> All those in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? >> Motion passes. >> Uh I or number four, regular action agenda. The WCT TV contract termination. Um, it is recommended the board of education authorize district administration uh to terminate district participation within the agreement contract for the WCT TV community access cable TV station. Can I get a motion? >> So move support. >> So Dr. Merkel is with us
013to he's on that committee and he'll tell you all about it. >> Uh it's a very illustrious board. >> What does that come with? Anything? Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um but wet in the board write up I included the original contract because I think it's important to note there that >> um >> done a typewriter. Yeah. >> Yeah. At its time um was pretty innovative um and a great thing uh to have for the community. Uh but the reality is um it's outlived its life. Um, and a couple years ago, um, a great collaboration. It's kind of a fun board for me to be on cuz I get to go and they're they're, um, the assistant from Hudsonville is on it and the city uh, managers from Hudsonville and and Granville and, uh, some
014city council members. So, we talk about a lot of great community things and the ability to cover great community things. We we did a new strategic plan um right before co to try to increase relevancy. We knew it was dying but what we learned it is that the reality is it's rooted in legality that doesn't allow us to do anything different and so that's what has made it outlive its life. Um and so in conversation we think we can we call it a transition because we think we can do better community uh collaboration between just our our communities um in a in a more progressive way that WCT doesn't allow us to do. And I just want to share a few things with that and and I'll answer any of your questions because my guess
015is a lot of people didn't even know that we had a formal agreement with WCT. And a lot of people also didn't realize that WCT has actually been off the air for about 14 months and and we've had zero calls of complaint. I mean it that it speaks to the relevancy unfortunately but we had to we had to shift everything to digital and so we had to go through this. So we had to pause it. Well they couldn't get up and running. They couldn't get up and running and it it was all through this piece. So, it founded in 1988 uh between the three communities and three school districts. Uh Georgetown Township and Jensen actually bowed out a couple of years ago. Um they just didn't want to be involved anymore, but the opportunity was
016to use these peg fees. When cable was new, this was part of the innovation. They they required fees for the cable companies to come in and run their lines and use public utilities. they collected some fees from that to run public access uh TV with the intent with an educational and a public community focus. So through the years WCT uh would publish community events, Fourth of July parades, the annual Hudsonville fair, um city council meetings uh were more recent uh a more recent ad. Uh school events and then original content. Uh part of being a community access channel was that anybody could um provide content and it was a lot of churches um would submit their content and it would be on there. Those who are Granville people for a long long time may remember
017Hot Tracks. That's the big thing. If anybody knew WCT, it was oh yeah, Hot Tracks back in the 80s or 90s was a big deal and you can still find it on YouTube. Um uh but like I said, church services and then those community events were were the main things and it was a channel on cable on the on the cable access. But the reality is these PEG fees and franchise fees were run through cable subscriptions. But the legality of a PEG fee is it can only fund equipment. So, just like we talked about some of the restrictions in our funding uh for a school district, we we can't fund operating the station with we can collect franchise fees, but those have gone down with fewer people utilizing cable. Um, and as you can imagine,
018you see it with our operating bills, the cost for operating a station goes up. And so, we've had trouble finding station managers and um and things like that. And we even went so far as to get an attorney a legal opinion or if there was a way around these peg fees like being able to operate the station with that and you you just can't. They had to change the law. Um and they're not looking at changing the law. So and then the digital shift is the other one. The the cutting the cable cord people are. And so when you go back and you think about the content churches, for example, they don't need WCT anymore. They're broadcast. I mean look at the church where we hold our graduation. I mean, and and that's a big
019church, but even the smaller churches, they're streaming their own content. They have their own YouTube channel. They they they put that out. And so, the need isn't there. Um so, our conversation is is to evolve this um collaboration. Uh the city of Granville and and and our uh school district are committed to doing what we can together to continue to be collaborative with community events with a more direct connection. So we'll work more directly with the city. Uh the city can redirect resources. So they can take those peg fees and put them into other things. they can they can they can put it into a media manager and and other things to stream things, but then they can also fund other ways to um broadcast events. And so one of our ideas that we tried
020to do in evolving WCT was um we tried to connect the station with our AV club and Mike Cox was brilliant of course to work with. >> Um and we started doing some neat things. One of the best things we started uh a sports broadcasting club um to do uh sideline and color commentary for some of our our games and events. We can still do those things. In addition, we've already had conversation for our journalism classes to uh put out local content, cover community events and and do more broadcast journalism. Those are things we can do together more directly without the almost constraints of the cable access channel. So all of those uh community opportunities. One of the things we've talked about is our you guys know this, but our AV program is topnotch. I
021almost felt bad sometimes. I know this is live. I don't think anybody from Hudsonville is going to watch it, but the our AV program was steps ahead of where Hudsonville was. And so we were all trying to do these things collaboratively. um and and we were just a little farther ahead. So we would have conversation about well we can't hire people through WCT. We were struggling to do that. But in an opportunity like this, the city could almost contract with our students to do side jobs of filming these community events and build their resumes and their video expertise profiles and things like that. So, um that's our recommendation. We can move forward um without the constraints of WCT. It's a little sad um but it's the next step to to move past that. So, it's
022just a formality. Um because you saw the district signed the agreement, our legal felt that it would be good to have board action to say, okay, our our recommendation is to terminate that. What I wrote up is to authorize us to terminate it in the past. In 1988, the superintendent signed it. So, I'll ask Raj to do the same thing when when that comes and we'll terminate this agreement. WCT isn't anything that cost us necessarily. Um, money in the end is going to benefit us because one of the things is we're going to divvy up all the equipment. So, I already sent Mike a list of, hey, here's all the equipment from WCPT, anything you want. And I'm sure excited about that. They have some nice cameras and equipment because we had all those pen
023dollars and all we could buy with it was equipment. >> So, what's the funds that you uh refer to there? >> Well, so funds. So, right now the city c the city of Granville >> um elects to put in funds in addition to their franchise fees. >> So, they're putting community money into it. >> And that's what these PEG funds are. >> No, the PEG fun those are separate from the PEG fun. The PEG funds are directly from the cable companies. >> Those are like cable taxes. Okay. >> So, if you look at your cable bill, you should see a PEG fee on it. >> Okay. All right. >> So, we pay nothing. >> We pay nothing when the city does. >> That was my next question. >> Correct. >> Good. >> The nice thing
024is um we already do this with our our Granville Athletics, right? They live stream things also. So, we have that and it feels like a cable station is is I mean >> that feels pretty good. Um >> Um >> Well, that's a good question because the the it's not necessarily Well, I guess it depends on the sport, right? Mhm. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Well, I mean, yes, >> some of them are the >> But that's what I I wonder. >> Yes. Um and the MHSA still does regulate some of that, but a lot of like if you're building an or updating a facility, and our gym might even have it. They have these huddle cameras, they're called. >> They're just cameras now. >> Well, you have to pay a fee. We pay a pretty big
025fee. You have to buy the camera first and then pay the fee. And it's by sport. So, right. like hockey has one but um yeah I'm glad that they're partner I'm going to put you're going to partner more with AV across the board and um I mean we already have students who have gone on and they come and do all the sports casting right so >> yeah we've learned a lot with >> our I hope we can you know do more of the other events too though because that's the one thing I I noticed that is lacking a little bit right whether it be the concerts right you know or even the plays right if we can do that on a delayed >> and it's not necessarily. It could be for the entire community, right?
026But I do think like some of the homes, the senior homes we have around where they can't get out, right? I know we've at times done gone there and done like a a truncated version of a show or something like that. But I think it might be a nice thing for for some of those groups to be able to that are maybe homebound cuz especially I get the theater, it's a cost, right? That's a way for us to make some money, but all the rest of the concerts aren't, right? And there's no cost to get into a band concert or a choir. couple of questions that we would need to investigate first. So like a play for example, that play bill >> licensing fee is going to have a licensing fee in and around it.
027But you're right, what's usually those come with a delay type thing or or anything else. Same thing with a a concert, a music concert. We pay we pay licensing for whatever music they're playing. >> Um unless it's into public domain. Um but again, all things we can learn and figure out. >> Yeah. our AV department, and I know I'm biased, but you know what I mean? >> I You guys know that our our um AV uh department received an honor from NPR that they got the best podcast in high school >> last year, which is for the suburban. If you have not listened to that, I'm telling you, you want to get a pulse on where kids are, listen to that podcast because that is something I >> and it is such a great cross-section
028of students and experiences and >> what a diverse population we have. It's a it's a huge >> gift and so if we can do more, I agree with you that it is kind of limited. Okay, so we have athletics are working and then and even not all all the games, right? So it that definitely has been something that >> since I'm on that booster board as well, it's been something that we pushed for and paid for. So that's one of those things that has to be a discussion, too. Like we weren't paying for this, so we don't want it to become a burden financially again. But >> I think our basketball expansion that's that's >> that's an immediate impact of the expansion because none of those things we were able to do with WCT anymore.
029Some of you may have seen the OWC truck at some football games, some basketball games, but they cover very small amount because they couldn't staff it. >> Um, >> so we think we can do a lot better. >> Good. >> Onward and upward. Let's go. >> Any other discussion questions? >> Thanks, Scott. >> No, thank you guys. >> We look forward to see what you guys come up with. Yeah, love to see more coverage of our events. >> All right, let's go ahead and uh let's see. Is there? No, there's no cost to the socialism, so let's do a regular. Um, all those in favor? >> Yes. >> Opposed? >> Motion passes. >> All right. On to the next item. The 2025 2026 budget amendment is recommended. The board of education approve the resolution within
030the 2025 2026 amended budget booklet as presented for the general fund. Can I get a motion? >> So moved. >> All right. >> And we'll turn things over again. All right. Um, so just wanted to give you an update where we are versus where we were um, back in early June. So um, the proposed we had a lot of unknowns at the time and those have now become our known. So um, there wasn't a state aid budget in effect when we had our budget hearing. Um and we um set a foundation allowance at the time at 10,000 per pupil. Um it came in at $10,50 per pupil plus some adjustments to categorical funding. Uh the blended count we projected down 34 students to 5,500 and we came in at 54.98. Um I can never not
031guarantee you that that will be ever that close ever again. That was just um uh and I know we talked last meeting about the consensus revenue estimating conference and the state um and their uh projection on membership, you know, down 10,000 for the next couple of years. Um, so I do anticipate um when we start looking at rolling up our enrollment, we probably are going to have probably another little dip um based just on birth rates for the year. So um federal grants uh for 2425 rolled over uh the majority of what was rolled over um is title funding, but title funding that's allocated to our non-publiclix. Um so that's the majority. We we did spend all of our IDA and all of our uh preschool IDEIDA and all of our title. Um so we
032did the other piece to that is with the federal shutdown that occurred and then the extension of um the budget we just now um earlier well end of January got our final allocation for title one for this school year. So, um that was adjusted in the amended um budget as well. And then we rolled up staffing levels from um 2425. We were able to finalize some FTE because in June we know there's retirements. We know there might be resignations, but we don't have them um finalized until um this fall in the fall. So, >> the staffing levels for the budget then remain constant? >> Staffing levels are down slightly from last year. >> Okay. So the initial was just rolling the numbers over said hey everything's the same but in the future or for the
033none. Yeah. >> Just want to make sure I understood. >> Yeah. So so yeah when when when we have like known retirements like we have probably a couple right now >> um what we do is we we do roll them up as just a baseline starting point and then we'll adjust as we go forward. >> Okay. So, um just a reminder on the sources of revenue, um you know, property taxes, program fees, and investments are our local dollars. And when we talk about program fe fees, we're talking a lot of um there's some Medicaid dollars out there as well as treehouse and preschool. Um and then fees for uh paytoplay athletics, um and entrance fees and stuff like that to sporting events. Um, state money is, um, basically the foundation allowance plus the categoricals. Some
034of those large categoricals include um, your special ed funding, your at risk dollars, um, and a lot of the theers retirement pieces that are involved there. So, um, federal dollars, we're we're back to where we were um, pre2020. So title idea that is what we receive in Granville. A lot of that is based on our um census uh poverty population in within the city and the or within the district. Um so we we tend to fall free and reduce probably around 33% um overall which has does have an impact actually on our at risk funding um not so much on on free meals anymore but that's a different fund. So >> that's incredible. >> What's that? >> 33%. >> Yeah. >> Mhm. Um incoming transfers that's mostly enhancement millage. Um and then some like region
0353 uh transportation costs. So a lot of that stuff is between the ISDs and some stuff between region 3 in terms of special ed billings that we do. And then the other uh revenue type is mainly our food service transfer for paying the general fund back for indirect costs. So when we look here um you know proposed revenue we were looking at 82 million5 um based on a couple of things um the the change in the um per pupil amount and um the additional amount for at risk funding and special ed categorical funding. We did see that state funding jump to the 53.6. Um, it does reflect the reduction in the 31A which would have put us at 54 uh4 I think it was cuz I think that was around $800,000 that >> um hopefully
036was deferred. I guess we'll put it that way. Um, pending that lawsuit. um little bump in the federal sources again mostly title one and IDEIDA and then our incoming transfers um are adjusted for our region 3 transportation reimbursement. And when you see that region 3 transportation reimbursement go up, there is an offset on the expenditure side because that means that our um region 3 transportation costs have gone up as well. So, um, typically what we see is, um, well, like I think right now we have like 1.34 million in expenditure and so 70% of that is returned back to the district. Um, and it that's that flows through the Kent ISD. Um, so moving on, some of you can see our federal sources for the year. I did include a couple years back, so you
037could see where some of those other dollars kind of fell off. Um, and like I said, we're we're back to about normal, if you will, in terms of the title and the idea funding. Um, just so just so you know, when we talk about title one, we're talking academic intervention. Title two is instructional coaching mostly. And then that that's also a piece where we have funding that we set aside um for our our non-publiclix as well. Um we have the language intervention for um title 3 eel and immigrant funding. Um and then title four is some academic enrichment. So that again is a little bit of instructional coaching. Um also use able to use it to cover some nursing costs. Um and IDEIDA is our special education flow through and then our early childhood special
038ed. Um so again we're when we look at like the object types in the budget we're looking at salaries and benefits that is um the biggest um portion of our budget approximately 84% is um tied up there. purchase services. Um, can if you think about all of our our sub costs, this is really anything that's kind of like a a contracted service outside of your salaries and benefits. So, we have our custodial and then our daycare. And in addition to that, we have software costs as well. Supplies, majority of that is tied up in utilities and um the building budgets. And just a reminder, you know, the the buildings are allocated, well, this year it was 5% less, so it was $95 per pupil based on um how many students they have in their building
039for K4. And then I think it was 125 for oaks. Um and it it get it goes up incrementally the higher or the grade level. So >> has that been interesting in the shift with it just being K4 then in the elementaryaries and Um yeah, I mean that that it they've yes, they've had to adjust a little bit. I mean the still you have your three larger buildings, right? Centry Park, Cummings, and Grand View. >> Um I think the interesting thing now is uh Central is no longer the smallest building in the district. I know. So uh kudos, I guess, >> but they're not penalized roof, right? Yeah. >> Yeah. They're not penalized. The the buildings aren't penalized if they don't spend their money. We want to encourage, right, thoughtful spending. So, we we don't
040want to get to the end of the year and they feel like they have to spend their funding just to get something to get something. So, we do typically carry that over. >> Um, okay. >> Capital outlay, we have vehicles and equipment. Um, >> and then others that those um special ed transportation costs and the regional tuition. So, we house two regional programs here in Granville. Um we have a full continuum for regional regional ASD and then we of course have our awesome uh transitions program as well. So but like um Byron they host the um MOSAI program so we do have students that attend there. Wyoming has the EI program same thing. So we do trade we trade some invoices back and forth. >> I think we we had delayed like buying new buses
041or postponed it. Is that >> we we did we um we entered into the the lease agreement for the current school year. >> Um we are in the process of seeing what the buyout would be um or whether or not we'll lease for one more year with them. The um buses, you know, with the passing of the sinking fund um we can utilize the scing fund but not until the summer of 27. So, we might do we'll we'll have to see how things shake out budgetwise. Um, but we might do one more year on the lease or potentially buy outright if if if the funds are available for that. >> Great. >> Um, I do have uh, you know, Arlon and Ryan and I we're we're working through um, just a replacement schedule. I mean,
042we already have a replacement schedule, but we're going to dial it in a little more um in terms of maybe not as many, but being able to utilize those syncing fund dollars and just have it planned out so that it's it's there for the future. >> Does the company you lease from give you kind of like a scheduled um depreciation rate that you can go on? >> Yep. So, what they'll do is they'll look at um market value right now. >> Okay. in terms of Yeah. But um I will say, you know, they've done a they transportation department's done a great job with that because with that lease also comes x amount of miles. So they're making sure that those three buses are on shorter routes and such. >> That's smart. >> It's a short.
043>> Um and then we take a look at the expenditures. So we ended 2425 at 85 million9. Um we did a lot in terms of um savings through attrition between the end of the school year and the proposed budget. Um we are looking um like we're back around 856. So a little bit less than where we ended 2425. Um but some of it has to do with the um the contracts that we put in place. We did put in um some we we did arrange rearrange the steps um or I'm sorry the scale everybody got a step so it wasn't like necessarily a flat percent across the whole scale um and that was done strategically it was um good you know working collaboratively with with the GA um there's also some essentially I want to
044call them a retirement incentive but when um when someone leaves and they've had at least 15 years in the district, um they're eligible for a sick day payout. >> And now and with this contract, they're also eligible for um a uh basically essentially a a severance payout based on years of service. So, um some nice things to take, you know, on the on the way out. Um that wasn't in the proposed budget initially, so um I have those in there now. Um, let's see what else. So, yeah, we adjusted the capital outlay for the bus lease that was in there now as well. And then, um, some of our our utility costs and the carryover budgets from the prior year were added back in. So, um, and I sorry, that's just just a regurgitation. Salaries
045were adjusted for actual staffing levels. Same with benefits. um benefits have been adjusted to account for open enrollment. Um open enrollment in our district is calendar year January through December. So we have our open enrollment in November which allows us to know in December what the new levels are going to be for individuals. So >> we can plug that in there. there is like a little bit of shifting usually between those who are going to take insurance benefits versus cash and loo. So, it's usually kind of a wash between how many change each way, if you will. Um, and we've kind we've talked about the rest of those items. So, this um is a chart that I started putting in um the last two years and this year I added the student count at the
046bottom. So we can kind of just go through. You can see the total number of employees. Those are the six main categories that we track. Um I mean everybody's assigned to one of those categories, but um that's how that's how they lay out um over the past 5 years. Um, and you can see, you know, our our staffing levels are still, um, based on student count anyway, they're still higher than what they were in 2022 when we had more kids, like 90 more kids. So, >> I can >> I don't know if you have any questions on this one or need a bit to look at it >> clerical and support. I guess I'm just looking here percentage-wise. >> Yeah. So, um you in that category, you have you have all of your building support
047staff. So, your office support staff, you have all of your pair professionals, you have um uh shoot, I'm trying to blink. Um, your library, uh, media. I'm trying to go through the contracts right now and I I feel like I'm missing one. >> Food service would be in there. >> Correct. Yeah, food service. But you do have >> I think to answer that most easily. Um and we we tracked it back to like 2020 when we looked at our support staff and from that year up to 2025 um we steadily increased and we cut back significantly on the number of care approach to begin our year but we're back to where we were and part of that is just we have kids that need the support right so like we look at it and we
048try to reset every year but in doing so we know that we're going to have other kiddos that are going to need some support. You know most the buildings that are going to need some support. So coming out of like the kindergarteners this year were born during that co year, right? And so as we've kind of seen some of those behaviors increase, we just wonder if going into 26 27 27 28 if we take out some of the cloud that was created during that 18month window. if we start to see some shifting in that. But most of that growth is related to a pair of pros and monies that need to help support our kids so that they can be in school. >> Yeah, I can see like the other um the other areas that's
049you're adding buildings, right? You know, so your staff's going to go up in some of those. I was trying to figure out for the uh uh >> Yeah, I'm just trying to understand the change. >> Some of that maybe playground supervision. Yeah, there'll be some playground supervision and even the lunchroom supervision can't be charged to uh cafeteria. So, that does fall under there as well. Um uh that's a great point and I do I thank you because I did miss that just a minute ago. When we talk utilities, you know, we had Oakstown um right, was shut down, right, in terms of so they could just go through and >> get it taken care of that year that it was shut down. those utility costs are funded through the bond. >> So that's the other
050piece to this. You're you'll see some swings in the utilities because now basically pretty much every building is fully going to be funded through the general fund now because those bond dollars are gone. Those projects are complete. So, >> um, uh, so in your packets, I know I I gave you the budget book, um, and then, you know, make this presentation off of that. So, we're looking at about, I think it was a million7 or a million 83 shortfall for the current school year. That does bring us down to 6.73 million um, fund balance projection at the end of this year. or 7.09%. Um we are um we are working through a lot of areas right now. We met with our admin team um last week. We have individual meetings with each administrator this week
051and then next week with every sup with each of the supervisors. Um we've gotten a lot of good ideas. We have I mean we've looked a lot at our printing costs. Um, and so I know I know as soon as you guys tell me you don't want that anymore, I'm I will gladly stop printing it for you. Um, but um, >> but there's a lot of things we we've talked about. We've talked about digitizing a lot of forms. And one of the things that we've taken care of in our office alone is that that monthly PE card is no longer um, printed. And um uh Katie Dunning is the one who's responsible for working through making sure the charges are legit and they're charged the right accounts and there's the backup and all that. Uh
052but it was pretty fun Friday when she showed me the stack from the July PC card versus the current one. And we're down to like very very little. And that will continue that soon that will be eliminated. Some of that had to do with just the timing of of going trying to go digital right before Christmas break and that. So, um, but the the next ones will be pretty much everybody will be digital. So, um, we yeah, and I know the buildings are talking about that with their staff and etc. So, um, other things that we've identified, you know, just unplugging things, right? there are certain things that really don't need to be plugged in throughout the buildings and and our principles will have those conversations at their staff meetings and such. So, um fund
053bal oh as a as a per pupil fund balance. So, that that fund balance would be about $1,14 if you wanted to look at it on a per pupil basis. And then and we always talk about this, right? backing out like the fund balance is a percentage of expenditures of total expenditures but after you back out the UAL and the federal grants um you're looking at like a 7.88% and the state has a couple different calculations they look at before they send you things for early warning which is below the 5%. So, and then this is just there for uh showing you the fund balance history. Um, you know, I would really I would really love to get that back up around that 9 10%. Um, and just s from a sustainability piece. Assuming that
054funding was consistent, I think that's pretty easy to do. >> That the challenge is the funding though. Mhm. >> When I think you said this before, but when do you kind of consider the code red, you know, percentage that, you know, you're really kicking into a little bit of panic mode? >> Uh, probably right now. I mean, >> it depends on who you ask. >> Yeah. >> If you ask her, it'll sound different than if you ask me. And I say that because I mean obviously her she is always looking at numbers and there's so many things that we're not not sure about. I mean when I started we were below five and that was panic mode that cuz you're you're very close to I mean the state coming in and dictating a lot of
055things you do. Um it took a long time to build up and then when we did we got to you know we made had that policy that the board said we don't go below seven and if we do then there's certain things that we have to consider. So um and now yeah that's that's where we're at. So when Heather says now it's now because that's where we we're at. Could you go down lower? You could, but then it starts it it's it's tough to get out of that, especially in the cycle we're in. I mean, I've seen in 37 years this kind of a ride financially in schools and right now we're we're kind of here. So, I know Heather knowing what that trend or pattern is, now is now is that time. Um, I've
056seen it go down and I've seen it go up. It could it go lower? Yes, it was. You can see even in 17 it was 6.84. It was lower than that 2015 and we've built up as you can see. Um, and now we're on that cycle unfortunately with some of that down. But the good thing now is that we've we know what those cycles are like and and and because we have a 7% uh you know uh floor if you will that you've said it allows us to take more action instead of saying well we could go lower or we could you know do that and that's how we ended up getting there the last time. Um, Rockford as an example is very low, very low, a lot lower than us. And they they've ridden
057that forever. >> I mean, they have always been around that a lot of times we're around that five mark. >> When does the state is that is there a point when the state says that's where we're sending in a an emergency management team? uh that that would be if you um if you were a deficit district. So you would that would be you know going the oppos obviously going the other way. The early warning for the state is the 5%. >> Um they don't necessarily send in an emergency manager but you have to do a lot of paperwork and extra >> um submissions to them so that they make sure that you are on track. they start they start dictating a lot more of how that's going to go >> starting at that time alert
058>> even and when we um so one of the things that we have here um that not every district has is back in that time frame of being below 5% we moved to um payrolls on the 8th and the 23rd of each month and we did that intentionally because the 23rd is the latest you can get your state aid payment. So to make sure that we had enough to be able to make payroll. Um we did not have to borrow during that time. Uh we had some creative things that I really at least I've been through it so I know what we can do. Um, but if we, yeah, if we got closer to that four and a half, we would probably need to look at borrowing just to make sure that we we're able
059to make our payroll and such. So, >> so what are what what's next, right? You know, um, >> yeah, >> what do we do? >> So, what's next is, like I said, we'll continue to meet with our team. We have we have some ideas um, from the staffing side of things. Um I don't know if you want to. >> Yeah, I think the the first thing we did with our with our principles and I asked them to go back is we went through a practice of getting groups and brainstorm and no idea is a bad idea. They threw all that at the fly paper and saw what stuck and then we started talking about our our paper copies give us an easy it's an easy trim. Venture a guess how many copies we make in
060a year on average as a district. 9 million. You cut that by 25% you can save $200,000 in just copy cost. Not toners, not printers, not repairs. It's it's just saying one page essentially one page per kid per day six and one page per kid per teacher per kid per week at the high school. We would save around $200,000 just in copy costs. >> My question as a former teacher >> would be though, I mean, I remember when I was still teaching, I was creating a lot of my own curriculum, which meant I had to go online, which meant I had to generate stuff off of that material and then recreate it and then the only way that I could present it and have my students use it >> was if I printed it off.
061>> Sure. >> So, are are there steps being put in place? So that is not necessitating that kind of use of paper. >> Well, so that's that's the thing, right? That's why you have everybody pull together and say, "What are some ideas that we can have?" >> Okay. >> So, if you had 135 kids in your class and you printed 155 copies to make sure you had 20 extra copies for the kid that lost one, even though they could receive it via email, you just saved 20% by only printing 135. Right? So, it's it's some of those those pieces that we're just asking our our folks to start thinking about. >> Heather mentioned um plugging in refrigerators, coffee makers, rice cookers, heaters, those kinds of things. Are those things that we need to look at?
062Um, >> have you guys looked at Have you also looked at um >> I mean I've had talks before even with Arland about the the lights on in parking lots and in South right behind my house and >> all those other things. I mean that that's huge cuz those lights are on >> all night and I mean I know the the poor middle school was on non-stop for the first year. I don't I haven't followed through to see what it's like now. all those things we're we're we're digging into when we're looking at we're looking at all of our contracts and all of our purchase services and saying are the things that that we don't need to to be able to roll back. Um so like we're we're digging in on all of those pieces,
063but that's where we're asking our staff to look at it so that they can work with the building leaders and say, you know what, I think this is something that we can do. I think this is an area that we can commit to. Um because we're so large, those small scale moves matter. >> A small scale move in different places if everybody's doing that matters. And that's um you know 700 employees, those small scale moves really matter. And so whether it's copies, plugging things in, unplugging things, making sure you turn off the lights when you're leaving the room, making sure you turn off all the computers when you're not using them. If you're a computer lab, turn off TVs, looking at the lights that you have on exterior, find out when those need to be
064on, when those need to be off. All of those things matter. We're talking about all of those things before we even say we need to look at staffing and make sure that we're we're still good there. >> Yeah. And so those are some of the things that we're in the midst of again throwing ideas at the wall and see what sticks to five paper for a little bit before we start making those moves. But >> um we're we're digging in on all of those pieces because whatever we can whatever we can preserve now takes that percentage and bounces it up for the closer we get to eight, more comfortable we are. The closer we get to nine, even the more comfortable we are. Um, and I think there are meaningful things that all of us
065can consider and look at when we start looking at staff. We we've um like and Walter can speak to this too from the from the tech side of things. A lot of TVs in those buildings, right? He's he's able to set those up on a timer so that those can go off too. They shouldn't be on over the weekend necessarily, right? Like I think the the hard balance is we have a lot of activities in our buildings and so that does regenerate a lot of electricity, right? I mean >> and in the middle school I know initially there was some issue with the the the units and making sure that they were um scheduled on and off at the right time because it was only partially complete at >> that interior lights too, right? >>
066Yeah. And like I said, then those were that was partially a construction piece cuz they were only it wasn't fully finished. It was it finished enough to have occupancy but not to do what it was supposed to do. >> Um but that middle school is busy. >> I mean the high school's busy. Oakstown is busy. >> Um so which is great. We want that for our kids and our community and our families. >> Um but there is an offset, right? >> Yeah. You look at I mean there's so many vampire electronics, right? Whether they be >> Wi-Fi that you're not using a third of the day, >> right? So if you look at a third of the electricity that's those things are sucking. There's no one in the building that you know for a third
067of the day. So how do we how do we figure out even some of those cost, right? But >> is heat like on a timer? >> Yeah. >> That already is. >> Yeah, >> that's a tough one because those are big buildings to try to warm back up. Yeah, that's I don't know. >> My kid complains about it enough that it gets down to 55 degrees in my house, right? I can only imagine trying to get a whole building up to temperature. >> Okay. All right. Well, appreciate it. Keep doing what you're doing. >> We have faith in you, Heather. >> All right. Any other discussion, questions? All right. >> Thanks. All those in favor of accepting the new uh budget amendment say I. I. >> Opposed. >> All right. Most passes. All right. Here
068we go. Wireless network infrastructure refresh. It's recommended the board of education approve the purchase and installation of the 304 Ruckus wireless access points in the amount of $291,760 from Vector Tech Group. Can I get a motion? Some >> support it work. All right. Well, >> uh, yeah. So, this is, uh, the replacement of most of the wireless access points throughout the district. Um, you know, we just talked about saving budgetary costs. Um, I'm happy to say that this project is primarily paid through bond dollars and then also a percentage of federal dollars that we applied for as a grant. So, um, this would replace the access points in most of our buildings. The reason why it's not all of the buildings is um we're able to take and shift some of the newer wireless hardware
069and shift it to smaller buildings like central and cover those buildings. And then a building like the middle school that's relatively new already has pretty new wireless network hardware in it. So we're not looking at replacing the system. >> It's a lot of paper for just those two rules. >> Yeah. >> Thought you were going in some really detail though. So, so you're able to switch that out because it's newer equipment and it covers a broader area or a larger area or I don't >> No, not necessarily. So, for example, at the middle school, we're able to to balance the the power of the access points in the classroom. So, we were to able to recover some of the additional access points from the middle school and then take those access points, cover a smaller
070building like Central with some of the newer hardware. >> So, that lowered the overall number of access points we had to order. >> All right. All right. For the audience, this is how much paper came with this one item. That's why I thought more discussion come from. >> Yeah. Yeah. Heather and I, you know, we discussed, you know, maybe in the future we don't necessarily need to include the the big stack of paper. We can do that digitally. >> Yeah. I appreciate the specs on this and PDF to your iPads. Yeah. There we go. Yeah. >> All right. Fair enough. >> Any other questions? All right. Let's do a roll call vote on this one. >> Okay. Camp. Yes. >> Gardin, >> yes. >> Dehan, >> yes. >> Sephus, >> yes. >> Wonder, yes. Hywork,
071>> yes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right. And then on to the next item, the wireless infrastruct network infrastructure refresh. It's recommended the board of education approve the purchase and installation of a Cisco 9400 core network switch for a total purchase price of $77,659. Can I get a motion? So >> move support. Uh so this is the replacement of the core network switch that lives here in the data center at the administration building. So all of the network equipment throughout the district um it's kind of a star topology. So there's a network switch closet throughout all the buildings in the district. They all feed via fiber back to the core switch in this building. So that core switch network uh really keeps the district running as a whole. Um, that piece of equipment actually dates
072all the way back to 2008, um, when I first started at Granville Public Schools. And then we did a minor, uh, uh, like a a card controller upgrade to it. I believe it was in 2013. So, that bumped the speed a little bit. Um, what we're looking at replacing it for now is Cisco is going to no longer support that piece of hardware. So, we don't carry support contracts on some of the edge network switching equipment that we have in the district because if an edge network switches switch fails at the high school, for example, I have spares on the shelf, I can take one out, put a spare in its place, and we're, you know, not major impact. We do carry support on the core switch here at the administration building cuz if that
073piece of equipment dies, then we're looking at no internet, no phones, no security cameras, major things like that. So this would replace that piece of equipment with a brand new core switch. Um not only obviously would it be covered by the support agreement, but it also includes some additional speed and you know upgrade technology things get faster. So >> Walt are all those um are all the fire panels uh attached to those core switches too? >> They're actually not. Um so the fire panels in the district use a cellular data connection as their primary. So when there's a fire in a building, they send the signal out that way. >> Okay. Thank you. How long do these last once they last that long? >> A coarse switch piece of equipment like this, I would expect
074to get at least 10 years out of it. Obviously, we were able to extend the life of our existing piece of hardware um pretty far. I can't promise that we get that many years out of it, but I would expect at least 10 years out of it. >> You get to take this one home and >> it's about the size of this podium. So, you could use it >> I was going to say you you probably had a cab or you probably had a closet and now you what? You need a cabinet for this new piece of improvement. No, actually Zo has bigger technology. The the new one is about half the size of the >> Okay, so it got smaller. All right. Yeah, fair enough. All right, >> that's good. >> Good. Any other
075questions? >> Um, just a comment. Um, you know, the timing we just showed you an amended budget and you see what we're trying to do. These this funding is different than that. You know how we talked about funding is different and different things. For example, if you look at the wireless network infrastructure, you can see that was 2024 bond federal e-ate reimbursement. So those things aren't coming from that same money that in general we just showed you. Uh there are specific areas where specific money can be taken out of. And so when you see uh as an example and see where where the funding sources, just want to remind you of that because I think it would be easy to go, well heck, you just told us we're not doing the best, but now you're
076spending 224,000 and 77,000. >> And that's vain. Is that so? because so much of our funding, right, like we get funded now for things that came through last year, a year and a half ago. Is that the same thing with this this federal funding, too? So, this is an old grant that was is now in fulfillment. >> So, we apply the federal government gives us a um so they reimburse us for our internet connection. That's one category of funds. They reimburse us. They have what's called category one funding that will do things like pay for the course switch. So we have a budget per year for that that they'll reimburse us. And then they have something called category 2 funding that will pay for things like edge network for the wireless system that we're asking
077for here. We apply for that grant annually. They give us a budget and then um depending on there's a whole bunch of political factors that come into play there, but they'll approve a certain percentage. So in this instance, you know, we apply for the whole percentage or the whole amount that we're going to purchase and they'll come back and say we're going to fund that at 47%. >> All right. Does that again apply? This one has already been applied for and approved. >> Correct. >> Okay. All right. >> We have to actually purchase it though, submit that information for them to be able to reimburse us. So that will take the reimbursement fees will take a little bit. >> Okay. So all right, >> we probably won't get the reimbursement until the fall. Okay. >>
078So, they'll end up being >> But that is a promised reimbursement that is not like because some of our grants have been yanked back, right? So, that's what I'm wondering. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. That we do receive a a commitment letter from them saying we're committed to giving you this funding for that. >> Just check it. >> All right. >> Any other discussion? >> All right. Do roll call. >> Okay. is absent. Campo, >> yes. >> D, yes. Steph, >> yes. >> Gardine, >> yes. >> Stan, >> yes. >> And Highwood, >> yes. Motion passes. Thank you. All right. Um, and then the last item we have on the reports discussion, uh, the superintendent search update. Um, so, uh, just to give you guys a quick, uh, update of where we are there.
079So, uh, Bob and I, um, has spoke with, uh, uh, we came in, we spoke with Roger, got an opportunity to speak with Roger, been in contact with MASB, um, about getting in a consultant to help with the search. Um, that is going to be Mark Palmer. Um, Mark is someone from the east side of state. He's worked in Shephard uh, uh, school district, Fowlerville, Lake Oran, Clinton. He's on the Clinton County Board of Education. Right now, he's uh, filling in as a principal at the Kalazoo Career Connect campus. um kind of a um as a part-time or not a part-time gig, but a contract gig uh for them. So, he's going to be coming in and helping us. Um our first meeting uh we talked about uh obviously all February 11th, we're going to
080do 7 p.m. just cuz that's the way we've always done it. He was fine with that time. So, try to keep some consistency there. Um some of the guidelines that you know we've shared with him is obviously, you know, starting with an internal search, right, and going that route. Um and then with a a target of being completed with this whole process by uh spring break. Um so he's going to come in uh February 11th uh speak with us, talk a little bit about what that timeline looks like. Um you know, we'll finalize our uh posting. He'll get that out right away. That'll start the clock, which usually is a post of 10 working days. Um and then he'll uh um we'll talk through, like I said, the entire process when he's here. um there's
081things we're going to we need to agree on about hey how do we want to uh approach getting any type of feedback uh from different uh stakeholders um and we'll talk through that a little bit and then what that interview process looks like um and the timing there. So um it's going to be hopefully it's going to be good that it's relatively low fee for us and we've got some discounts available too which I'll fill out those applications to get that uh for us. So hopefully it's not going to be too much of a um it won't cost us that much to get this whole process taken care of, which is which is good, right? Especially when we talk about the the things we've got going on right now when it comes to funding. So
082um I guess any questions I can answer for you guys now at this point or um >> the process of posting the the opening and such. That's you you know how that's going to all work. >> Yeah. And that's like I said, we'll finalize and agree upon the posting, you know, when he's here and then he'll he'll get it posted probably through Holly or Raj. uh we'll get it posted and you know we talked a little bit about it but you know and I even talked to Raj about this he's probably already already on top of it but um getting maybe just a section on the uh homepage with a drop down hey superintendent search right we'll give some of the key dates and and things that we've got going on and and um uh
083when those meetings will be and so forth. So but we'll get that going on the social media side as well. So >> yeah, >> any other questions? >> Thanks for doing that. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. We'll keep getting moving forward. All right. Um, no public comment right now. Um, so the next regular meeting of the Granville Board of Education will be Monday, February 16th at 7 p.m. at the administration building. And then a special meeting we talked about, uh, will be on the February 11th at 7:00 p.m. here in the building. So uh with that all that we are adjourned